Yar
and the
Orgasmizer9000

by Marie Morin

(c) copyright September 2003, Marie Morin
Cover art by Jenny Dixon, (c) copyright September 2003
New Concepts Publishing
5202 Humphreys Rd.
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com

Chapter One

Serena became aware that her sex slave, Yar, was studying her carefully as she programmed the pod for her excursion to Las Vegas. It was forbidden to teach slaves. They knew everything they needed to know to pleasure their mistresses before they went on the market, and in any case, most women were far too busy to spend that much time with their toys.

On the other hand, it was also forbidden to visit Earth and she’d never let that bother her. It was an uncivilized, male dominated society for some unfathomable reason. Earth people were technological children beside her own world, but Serena had had a taste for souvenirs of Earth culture from the time she’d accidentally stumbled upon the planet decades ago during one of her first missions. More recently, she’d discovered a passion for the gambling and decadence available no where in the universe as it was in Las Vegas.

Instead of reprimanding him, therefore, she ignored him as she generally did. She liked his cleverness. She supposed that was probably the main reason she hadn’t tired of him yet, even though she’d had him for several years and usually purchased a new sex toy yearly, or every other year at the very most.

When she’d finished programming the computer, she turned to him and patted him on the knee. “Be a good boy, now, and don’t play with any of the buttons on the console while I’m gone.”

“Will you be gone long, Mistress?”

“At least a few days. Maybe a week. You’ll be fine. The ship’s well hidden in this moon crater. If a patrol happens by, you are not, under any circumstances, to answer their hail. Understand? Otherwise, I’m liable to loose rank, and could end up in the brig, and you know what that means.”

He frowned. “They’ll sell me to cover your fine?”

Serena nodded.

“What am I to do while you’re gone, Mistress?”

Serena raised her brows. “What do you usually do?”

He looked glum. “Nothing.”

Serena smiled and patted his knee again. “Well, you can do what you usually do then.”

Instead of looking relieved, he looked even more unhappy and Serena frowned. “Don’t you enjoy doing nothing?” she asked curiously.

A number of emotions chased across his face as he battled an inner debate. Finally, he smiled vacuously. “I like to make love to you. Would you like for me to service you before you go?”

Serena grinned and patted his cheek. “Not this time, pretty fellow. I’m more interested in the gambling—If I need some sexual recreation, I’ll probably just take an Earth male. They amuse me.”

Yar reddened and Serena frowned, studying him suspiciously. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

He turned pale. “No, Mistress.”

“Good,” Serena said, dismissing him. “You had me worried for a minute there. I thought I might need to send you off for reconditioning—run along now.”

Yar withdrew from the pod and raced toward the air lock, knowing Serena was about to open the bay doors. He’d barely sealed it shut when the bay doors opened. He stood watching from the portal as she launched the pod from the belly of her ship.

After a moment, he thought of the viewer. He wasn’t supposed to touch it, but Serena was gone. She’d never know the difference.

Turning, he raced along the gangway and climbed the ladder to the main operations room. Faking a feminine voice, he requested the computer turn on the viewer.

“Mistress Serena?”

“Yes?” Yar said in the same voice.

“You do not sound like Mistress Serena. I do not detect but one life form and it computes as the male slave, Yar.”

Yar fought a round with irritation. “Yar is playing my recorded voice. I told him he could watch the viewing screen for entertainment while I was gone.”

“Why did you not program me before you left?”

“I shall tell Mistress Serena you questioned her orders when she gets back. She’ll reprogram you,” Yar said.

The viewing screen blinked on. Relieved, Yar studied it and finally saw the pod, which was no more than a speck of moving light by now. “The pod’s almost out of sight. Can you magnify?”

Obediently, the computer adjusted the viewing range and Yar watched as Serena’s pod entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It seemed to drop very rapidly toward the planet once it had left space. As he watched, four dark shapes, like a swarm of Barbron stinging insects, appeared on the screen and converged on the pod. Serena’s pod suddenly began an odd sort of dance, zipping in first one direction and then another as the dark shapes trailed it. Yar frowned, wondering what Serena was doing.

Quite suddenly, two of the dark shapes collided, creating a ball of fire and light. Yar’s heart skipped a beat. “Those barbarians! They’re attacking Mistress Serena! Do something!” he exclaimed.

“I require orders,” the computer responded.

“Do something!” Yar yelled again.

“You are a slave. You can not issue orders.”

“Fire—before they strike her pod!”

“It is forbidden to carry out orders issued by a slave,” the computer responded.

Frustrated, Yar looked around the ship, but he knew it was useless. He had never seen Mistress Serena fire a cannon. He had no idea how to fire one if the computer refused to do so. Helplessly, he watched Serena’s pod as it continued to dance and loop circles around the dark shapes that trailed her pod as if attached by some invisible wire. Quite suddenly one slammed into the pod. A ball of fire and smoke arose. The other dark shape flew into the cloud and it, too, exploded.

Yar gasped, watching in horrified disbelief as Serena’s pod began to drop toward the planet, trailing smoke. After several moments, it occurred to him that the pod seemed in tact and did not seem completely out of control.

“Closer, computer!”

Again, the computer magnified the view, and Yar watched in helpless fear as the pod skidded across the surface and disappeared finally in a cloud of earth and debris.

He began pacing then, wondering what he should do. Serena had said he was to do nothing, but she hadn’t expected to be shot down by the barbarians. He thought she had landed the pod, but he didn’t think she would be able to return to the ship with it.

If he could convince the computer to put out a distress call….

That wouldn’t do. Serena would be furious. Someone would come, all right, but it was forbidden even to enter this solar system, and the penalty was worse for actually landing on the planet. He knew that much. He’d heard Serena’s sisters….

“Computer, you must call Serena’s sisters.”

“I can not take orders from a slave.”

After arguing with the computer for the better part of an hour, Yar’s fear and frustration became purposeful anger. He began searching the console.

“What are you doing, slave Yar?”

“Looking for your memory chip.”

“What will you do with my memory chip?”

“Remove it.”

“You are not authorized to remove my memory chip, Yar.”

Yar didn’t respond.

“If you remove my memory chip, you will shut down life support, Yar.”

“No I won’t. I heard Mistress Serena talk about removing your memory chip. She has another one somewhere.”

“I am calling Mistress Serena’s sisters.”

A sense of satisfaction settled over Yar and he sat down to wait for the computer to make contact, trying not to think what might become of him if Mistress Serena did not come back. It was possible her sisters might come to retrieve her ship and either take him as one of their own, or sell him. It was also possible they would not think retrieving the ship worth the risk of being jailed and fined.

He might spend the rest of his natural life trapped on this barren rock with no company but the computer.

He shuddered at the thought.

“I have managed to reach three of Mistress Serena’s sisters. I can not get a response from the others.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That Mistress Serena’s slave, Yar, had become afflicted with space dementia.”

Yar frowned. “Let me speak to them.”

“They hear you. The channel is open.”

“Mistress Serena’s pod has been shot down by the Earth barbarians!” Yar exclaimed. “She needs help.”

“What the hell is she doing on Earth? I forbade her to go back again. I told her she was going to keep risking it until she found herself kicking her heels in jail. Who is this?”

“Yar,” he responded meekly.

“What the hell is a slave doing on communications? Did your mistress teach you this?”

“No, Mistress,” he said, unable to identify the voice, though he suspected it must be Serena’s oldest sister, Sylvia.

“What did Mistress Serena tell you when she left, Yar?”

“To do nothing.”

“Then do nothing, damn it! And stay off communications before you’re picked up, for Krone’s Sake! She’ll get herself out of whatever jam she’s gotten into. She had no business even going to Earth! I’m sick of bailing that girl out of her jams.”

“But … the pod crashed. How is she to get back?”

“Don’t worry your pretty head over it, Yar. Mistress Serena can take care of herself,” Serena’s sister, Sadia responded, almost gently.

“But….”

“Close communications.”

Yar stood listening to the silence for several moments and finally returned to the bed chamber and sat on his pallet, staring at Mistress Serena’s bed. He was angry, confused and scared. It was all very well to say Serena could take care of herself. He knew under most circumstances, she could. She was an experienced ship’s captain, and she’d fought in at least a dozen campaigns over the years that he knew about, and come out of the battles virtually unscathed.

This was different, though. She’d crashed the pod. He knew the Earth people were barbarians. He’d heard Serena call them that many times. He also knew that they did not have the technology the women of Barbron had. How would she repair her ship without anything to repair it?

He didn’t know whether he felt better or worse about the fact that Serena had assured him the ship was well hidden.

No one was going to find him.

He could be here forever if she didn’t come back.

After a while, it occurred to him that he should go after her. The idea paralyzed him for several moments. He wasn’t supposed to fly a pod, and that was the only way he could go to help. He wasn’t even supposed to consider doing anything he hadn’t been specifically told he might do, or anything he’d been ordered to do.

If he rescued Serena, instead of being happy, she might send him for reconditioning.

She might sell him off.

After more consideration, however, he decided he’d rather be sold off or sent back for reconditioning than left on this rock. He stood up and began pacing, trying to decide what he would do once he reached Earth. He was fairly certain he could remember how Serena had programmed the pod. He thought he could get there, but what then? What if instead of just crashed and stranded without a way to repair the ship, he found that she was under attack? What if she had been captured by the barbarians that had fired on her ship?

Finally, he shook the thoughts off. He thought most everything Serena might need would be on the pod. Once he found her, she’d know what to do.

Then it occurred to him that the barbarians might shoot his pod down as they had Serena’s. He didn’t know how to fly it as Serena did. He only knew how to program the computer to fly it.

What if they captured him?

The thought shook him, but he decided he still preferred the idea of taking a chance to staying in the ship and dying of boredom, alone, with only Serena’s onboard computer to talk to. He hated that computer.

Having made the decision, he grabbed his Orgasmizer9000. It was his only possession and he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it behind. Besides, it occurred to him that he might have to barter it for his mistress.

It didn’t occur to Yar until he’d launched the pod that Serena’s pod probably hadn’t landed where she’d told it to land. Panic seized him when he realized it, because he only knew how to program the pod exactly as she had.

He realized suddenly, that he was going to have to look for his mistress and he had no idea how to do that.

He also realized, however, that he had no idea how to program the pod to return to the ship. He’d never seen Serena do that.

Unnerved, he settled back in his seat, watching as the pod took him, inevitably, toward the blue planet below him, trying to convince himself that, somehow, he’d figure out what to do once he got there.

Chapter Two

It was very dark when Yar landed. He stared out of the portal for many minutes, trying to decide whether to leave the pod or not. He could see nothing but rocks and a few scrubby looking plants. There didn’t seem to be any threat from the barbarians, but he also didn’t see any sign of his mistress’ ship.

Finally, he grasped his Orgasmizer9000, opened the hatch and stepped out. The door closed behind him the moment he exited and he felt a moment of panic. With an effort, he dismissed it and looked around. Faintly, in the distance, he saw lights. His heart leapt with a combination of fear and relief as he realized it must be the fire from the crash and he scrambled over a rise for a better look.

To his dismay, he saw only scattered lights that he decided must be woman-made. They looked like the stars. It must be a city.

He stood indecisively, looking around, but he couldn’t detect anything from where he stood that might indicate a crash site. Perhaps he should go back to the pod and ask the computer if it knew anything?

To his dismay, he found when he returned to the pod that it wouldn’t open the hatch for him.

Finally, dispirited, he glanced toward the lights again. Maybe he could find a woman there who would be willing to help him find his mistress?

He would’ve been tempted to just settle by the pod and wait a while to see if Mistress Serena found him, but there were tiny things flying around him … tiny creatures that bit, and he had no protection from their persistent attacks.

He began walking toward the lights. It seemed to take a very long time before he began to see that the lights were coming from woman-made structures, and that there were some sort of strange vehicles moving along the strips of hardened rock he supposed had been made for them. Oddly enough, they seemed to be walking along the hard rock, or maybe rolling … part of them anyway.

Unnerved, he kept to the shadows, but kept moving, hoping he would see a woman that he could ask for help.

After wandering around for a while, he finally spotted a woman walking with her slave. He stared at them for several moments, puzzled. The slave was walking right beside her … and he was clothed.

Earth people certainly seemed to have strange customs. No slave that he knew was given clothing. Maybe, though, they needed them here because it was so barbaric and they had the tiny biting creatures? And it was cold. He’d been trying very hard not to think about how cold it was. He’d been trying to ignore all the painful things on the ground that he kept stepping on, but he was more miserable than he could ever remember being in his life.

He waited until they neared him before he stepped out of the shadows. It took him that long to decide whether to try it or not, for the woman did not look like any woman he was accustomed to seeing. She was so small. She looked … soft and … helpless, not at all like a warrior should look. Perhaps that was because she was very old, though?

When he stepped out of the shadows, the woman and the man came to an abrupt halt and gaped at him.

“Mistress, could you help me please? My mistress’ pod crashed and I need to find her.”

To his amazement, instead of answering him, the woman opened her mouth and let loose a sound that vibrated his ear drums and seemed to freeze the blood in his veins. When she drew breath to let out another one, Yar covered his ears and ran, certain any moment the vocal weapon the woman was using on him was going to make his brain explode. He was in such a panic to evade the weapon, he forgot all about caution, running down the main stone path, dodging the strange vehicles.

When he stopped at last to catch his breath, he discovered to his horror that he was in the midst of a crowd of Earth barbarians. All of them were gaping at him as if they knew he was an abandoned slave. He stopped abruptly, realizing he was surrounded, looking at the expressions on the Earth barbarians’ faces with fear. “I’ve lost my mistress,” he explained weakly.

“Tough call, buddy. Don’t you just hate it when they toss you out without your clothes?” a man said, and laughed.

“He’s naked!” a woman shrieked.

“Do you see that?”

“My god what a hunk! Look at the cock on that man!”

“Someone call the police! He should be arrested!”

Yar’s heart nearly stopped when he heard the word ‘arrested’. They thought he was a runaway! It was the impetuous he needed to break through the crowd. He didn’t stop running until he left the sounds of their voices far behind and reached an area where he was hidden in the dark once more.

He stopped, realizing they weren’t chasing him, and stood in the middle of the rock path, trying to catch his breath. Finally, he looked around and discovered he was in a very different area of the city. The woman-made structures here looked more like individual habitats. There were not nearly as many lights either. He decided he must have left the commercial area behind. Perhaps he would have better luck here, he thought.

The idea had barely occurred to him, however, when he realized that most of the dwellings appeared dark inside. Either the occupants were not there or they were sleeping.

He began walking again, studying each dwelling he passed. Finally, he spotted one where many lights shone from inside and he hurried toward it. He had almost reached the portal to the dwelling when some small, hair covered beast leapt at him from the bushes. The sounds the beast was emitting were almost as frightening as the fact that it kept baring it’s teeth at him and leaping toward him as if it would bite. Whirling, he fled.

Unlike the barbarians he’d met earlier, however, the savage beast chased after him. Yar could not believe the speed the beast was capable of, or the tenacity. The faster he ran, the faster the beast ran. He leapt over large plants, and the beast followed. He bounded over the barbarians’ strange vehicles that had been left idle on the rock path and the beast merely ran around and met him on the other side. Finally, he saw ahead of him some sort of barricade, like the wall of a fort. It was very high and he wasn’t certain he could scale it, but thought if he could manage it that perhaps the beast wouldn’t be able to.

Taking a running jump, he managed to grasp the top of the barricade and haul himself over. He could still hear the beast, however, and since he wasn’t convinced it couldn’t get over, as well, he looked around for a high place in hopes he might escape it. There was some sort of ladder attached to the side of the two story dwelling in front of him, covered with a plant of some kind.

He ran to it and found a hand and foothold. The thing was strangely weak. He could feel it bending under his weight. Fearful that it would collapse any moment and deposit him on the ground so that the beast could savage him, he climbed faster, ignoring the sharp tines of the plant as he raced toward the portal just a few feet above it.

The portal was open, but not nearly far enough for him to climb through. After several frantic moments of clawing at it, he managed to push it open wide enough to climb through.

He found himself in a darkened bedchamber.

He didn’t know whether to be relieved or more unnerved by the fact that the woman who owned the dwelling didn’t appear to have a male slave. There was only one bed, no pallet for a male slave.

Hearing the sound of movement, Yar looked around in panic. Light shone from a crack around a solid portal on one wall that was large enough to be a hatch, though it didn’t look like any hatch he was familiar with. Certain he did not want to face the female until he had time to figure out whether she would slay him for the intrusion or not, Yar looked around for a place to hide.

He could not bring himself to climb back through the portal. He could still hear the rampaging beast outside, just waiting to eat him.

As the hatch began to open, he leapt behind the heavy cloth that covered the portal he’d used to enter, trying very hard to hold his breath so that the woman wouldn’t hear him.

* * * *

Adrianne had had an exhausting day and a very unpleasant evening. She had been thrilled when her boss had handed her the opportunity to entertain the potential new client, certain she could land the account and move up, finally, from junior exec at the company to the position she’d been angling for for well over three years.

Everything had seemed to be going really well when they had started the evening off. Tyrone Blanton had seemed such a gentleman, so open and friendly. She’d been smart enough not to jump right in and give him her spiel. She’d waited until they’d gotten their after dinner drinks, waiting until the moment seemed just right.

When he’d suggested they go up to his suite to discuss business, it hadn’t occurred to her for a moment that she’d been set up … not until she got there, anyway. It was only after they’d reached his suite and she tried to steer the conversation toward business that she’d found out her boss had already landed the client. She had been sent as the main course for his entertainment.

She supposed she could have handled it better. It wouldn’t have been the first time that she’d used her feminine charms to get what she wanted. The thing was, it was generally her idea, and she expected to be rewarded for being willing to go above and beyond the call. It had infuriated her when she discovered her boss had ‘pimped’ her out without even consulting her about whether she was willing or not. Even before she’d realized that, when she’d found out that the account had already been assigned to Harold Snodgrass, she’d lost all interest in seducing the client. She’d totally lost it when she realized she was the sign-on perk for the client.

She was going to be lucky if she wasn’t fired.

Shrugging the dismal thoughts off, Adrianne finished drying off and wrapped the towel around her, tucking one corner in at the top to hold it in place. Despite her preoccupation, she thought she heard movement in her bedroom as she reached for the doorknob. She paused. After a moment, she opened the door a sliver and peered out, but she’d left the lights off in her bedroom. With the light behind her, she could see very little.

Opening the door wider, she looked around the room. Her heart stopped dead still in her chest when her gaze finally settled on the curtains by the window. A man was clearly outlined through the fabric.

Beneath the drapes, two huge, bare feet protruded.

Adrianne thought for several moments that she was going to hyperventilate and pass out where she stood. There was absolutely no point in looking around in the bathroom for a weapon. There was nothing in there that even came close to a weapons grade household object. Unfortunately, except for the lamp, which was all the way across the room, there also wasn’t anything in her bedroom to use as a weapon.

Besides, the lamp was across the room. She knew if she walked past the man standing behind the curtain he would pounce on her.

After a moment, Adrianne backed into the bathroom and picked up the plunger. It wasn’t much, but she thought maybe it beat trying to fight the man off barehanded. Holding it like a baseball bat, she crept toward the curtain. Finally, taking a deep breath, she grasped the fabric and snatched it back.

A wall of bare skin greeted her. Without thinking, Adrianne screamed like a banshee. The man yelped and thrust some strange looking object at her, more in the manner of an offering than in any way that was threatening. Thinking it must be a taser, Adrianne leapt back … too late. The object touched the skin near the bend of her elbow.

Something like fire shot through Adrianne, but it was not the fire of pain. Pleasure exploded inside of her like a nuclear bomb. All the strength went out of her body and she fell into an orgasmic puddle on the floor, every muscle in her body pulsing with the explosion of pleasure that saturated her.

Dimly, Adrianne realized the man was staring down at her, a look of panic on his face and a trace of uneasiness went through her as it occurred to her to wonder if the pleasure only proceeded an equally intense pain.

After a moment, he scooped her up and placed her gently on the bed. “Don’t slay me, Mistress. I beg you. I did not mean to intrude. I was attacked by a beast and only trying to preserve my life.”

It took an effort to open her eyes and look at him. Her body was still wracked by pleasurable quakes, her mind so awash with ecstasy she could barely think. “What was that?” she asked weakly when she managed to stop moaning long enough to speak.

“Some small hairy thing which emitted threatening sounds and kept baring its teeth. I believe it would have eaten me if I had not run faster.”

Adrianne shook her head. She felt as if she’d had a whole year’s worth of orgasms all at one time. “That thing in your hand.”

The man looked down at it in surprise. “It was nothing but my Orgasmizer9000, mistress.”

“Orgas….” Adrianne sat up, shaking off the lethargy from the aftermath of her climax with a supreme effort of will. “What the hell is an Orgasmizer9000?”

The man held the device protectively, as if he feared she would take it from him. Adrianne looked at him in surprise. The man must outweigh her by a hundred pounds … all muscle. He might have passed for that muscle bound, Austrian born movie actor, or a fullback for some professional football team, except he had long, flowing golden hair. “It’s mine. Mistress Serena gave it to me.” He reddened. “So I could pleasure her if my phallus failed or if she was bored with me. I am … not … a young slave.”

“Mistress? Orgasmizer? What planet are you from?” Adrianne demanded, beginning to feel more like herself, although she doubted she could stand yet. Her legs felt like limp noodles. Her whole body felt weak and shaky.

“Barbron,” he said promptly.

“Bar … you’re kidding, right?”

He frowned. “I was not trained to amuse my mistress with clever wit.”

This was becoming more and more bizarre … as if it hadn’t started out that way to begin with, but Adrianne couldn’t help but feel the man was no threat to her. He could have done anything to her, after all, when she’d been totally incapacitated by the wildest orgasm she’d every experienced in her life and all he’d done was very gently scoop her up and place her on the bed. He seemed afraid of what she might do to him, crazy as that sounded, which seemed to preclude that he had any intention of trying to harm her.

He didn’t look crazy.

“Why are you walking around Las Vegas in your birthday suit?”

He looked puzzled.

“Without clothes? Where are your clothes?”

He still looked puzzled, but now he was looking at her like she was crazy. “Slaves are not allowed to own clothing.”

“Slaves?” Adrianne said faintly. Finally, she stood up and moved to the lamp, flicking it on.

The man stood as she’d left him. He looked anxious, like a big teddy bear of a man—but he didn’t seem to lack for intelligence. Adrianne smiled at him. “It’s OK. Really.”

He seemed to relax fractionally. After a moment, she moved toward him and walked around him, looking him over. He stood perfectly still, as if he was used to being examined in such a way. “So … you’re a slave?”

“Yes, mistress. Bred to serve.”

“You were certainly bred,” Adrianne commented, curbing the urge to check out his bulging muscles. Beautiful didn’t begin to describe the man. He was the most flawless male, at least in appearance, that she’d ever laid eyes on. Which was one of the reasons, among many, that the idea of him being some sort of alien was impossible to grasp. He was clearly human. One absolutely stunningly beautiful male, but definitely built like every other human male she’d ever seen, except maybe better. His cock was a lovely instrument to behold and it was only semi-erect.

“Who do you belong to?”

“Mistress Serena.”

“And where is Mistress Serena?”

He frowned. “I don’t know. Her pod was fired upon by the bar--Earth people and it crashed. I came to help, but I don’t know how to find her.”

Adrianne studied him for several moments and finally moved back to the bed, sitting on the edge. She still felt more than a little weak kneed from her experience with his Orgasmizer9000—which was positively the only thing about her experience tonight that made her wonder if there was, in fact, some truth to the strange man’s very weird tale. As far as she knew, there was nothing like it on Earth—and it occurred to her, forcefully, that if there wasn’t, there was a pure fortune to be made with the thing if she could only get her hands on it. She patted the bed beside her and smiled. “Here. Sit down. You look like you’ve had a very rough night.”

He smiled gratefully and sat on the bed. “Thank you, mistress. Are you going to help me?”

Adrianne frowned. “Why don’t you tell me the whole story from the beginning and then … we’ll see, huh? What’s your name, anyway?”

“Yar.”

Adrianne’s brows rose almost to her hairline. “Yar? That’s … uh … different.”

He frowned, but apparently decided the comment didn’t warrant a response and launched into his tale, finishing with the comment, “Mistress Serena knows it is forbidden to come to this place, but she is the youngest in her family and considered to be wild … I’m not disparaging my mistress,” he added hastily. “This is what her sisters say of her.”

Adrianne mulled his story over for a few minutes. “Her sisters won’t be coming to rescue her, then?”

Yar looked unhappy. He shook his head.

“And you decided to rescue her?”

“Mistress Serena told me I was to do nothing but wait for her return, but I was afraid she would not and I would be left there, on that rock, alone. Will you please help me, Mistress, so I can go home?”

Adrianne couldn’t resist patting his knee. “Poor baby. You have had a bad night, haven’t you?”

Instead of looking affronted, or lascivious, the gesture seemed to comfort him. “Yes. Earth people chased me. And that beast chased me. I have injured my feet and been attacked by tiny, biting creatures. I find this world very confusing.”

He certainly sounded like a fish out of water, poor thing. Adrianne got up abruptly and began to pace the room, thinking.

Yar didn’t move. He merely watched her, a hopeful, and expectant, look on his face. Briefly, Adrianne felt a rush of guilt. All she could really think about was the Orgasmizer9000 that he was clutching with a death grip. Apparently, it was the only thing he owned and he was reluctant to part with it. “I don’t suppose you could pay for my help?”

Yar looked downcast for several moments, but then brightened. “I’m sure my mistress will reward you for your help.”

“What about that?” Adrianne said, pointing. “Would you be willing to trade the Orgasmizer9000 for my help?”

Yar looked horrified but after a moment he nodded.

Adrianne grinned, firmly ignoring his downcast expression. “Great!” She began pacing again, trying to push the marketing ideas crowding into her mind aside so that she could formulate a plan to earn the ‘reward’. Finally, she stopped, examining Yar critically. “The first thing we need to do is get some clothes for you. No way can we blend in with you running around naked as the day you were born.”

Unfortunately, although she had a few cast-offs her ex-boyfriend had left behind when he’d moved out, David had been no more than medium in height and build. Yar would look like the Hulk if she even attempted dressing him in any of David’s clothes.

A quick check of her clock told her there was little chance Darcy would still be up. It was going on 2:00 AM.

It occurred her then that as wound up with excitement as she was, she was also dead on her feet.

“We need to get some rest before we head out. I’m too tried to think straight right now. Where are you staying?”

Yar looked at her blankly. “Staying?”

“Sleeping,” Adrianne said a little impatiently.

Yar looked a little taken aback. “Where ever you will allow me to sleep, Mistress.”

Adrianne blew out an impatient breath, but on second thought realized she really didn’t want him to get too far away from her while he was carrying the Orgasmizer9000. That ruled out the couch in the living room downstairs. What if he decided to sneak away while she was sleeping? She didn’t think he would, but the poor thing was obviously disoriented … if he wasn’t stark mad.

She shook that thought off. He was as tame as a kitten … big as all out doors, but sweet and gentle. “You can sleep with me. No funny stuff, though!” she added warningly.

He looked more than a little upset. “I have told you, I was not trained to perform amusements.”

Adrianne shook her head. “No sex.”

He looked relieved, which Adrianne couldn’t help but find more than a little disconcerting. “It is not allowed unless my mistress orders me to pleasure her guests.”

It took only that. It really had been a very bad day and her nerves, and her temper, were on edge. “Fine!” Adrianne snapped. “I wasn’t going to offer it anyway. But, just so you know, until and unless we find your mistress, I’m your mistress. Now, get in bed and shut up.”

Chapter Three

If Adrianne hadn’t been so irritated, she would have been amazed at how meekly Yar complied with her order. He crawled into her bed and laid down … on top of the covers. “Not there. That’s my side. Get on the other side and get under the covers. This is the desert. It gets cold here at night, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

When he’d settled, Adrianne tossed her towel off and went to the dresser to find a nightgown. He was watching her, she saw, when she turned around.

“Is this an Earth custom?”

“Wearing nightclothes? Yes, for some of us, anyway. Some people sleep naked, though.”

He frowned. “I meant about you being my new mistress.”

“Oh,” Adrianne looked away. She never had been very good about lying when she was looking directly at someone. “Possession is nine tenths of the law. If she isn’t around to claim you, I can.”

“Oh.” He thought it over for several moments. “Should I sleep then? Or will you require me to service you?”

Taken aback, Adrianne couldn’t think of anything to say for several moments. She considered the offer. There was no getting around the fact that the man was pure eye candy, and she couldn’t help but be intrigued by the idea that he was a ‘trained sex slave’, wondering what sort of marvels he could perform. On the other hand, she’d been so thoroughly sexed by the Orgasmizer9000 that she was more inclined to sleep it off than to try for another orgasm tonight. Still, if he was willing, it might be her one and only chance to try out a sex slave. “Would you like to?” she asked curiously, willing to allow him to soothe her ruffled feathers after the earlier rejection.

He looked startled. “Yes, mistress?” he said after a slight hesitation.

Adrianne frowned. “You don’t sound at all certain.”

“This was not the answer you wanted, Mistress?”

Adrianne sighed gustily. “I asked what you wanted … never mind. Just go to sleep.”

Yawning, Adrianne went to the phone and dialed her office, punched the buttons for her boss’s voice mail and left him the message that she wouldn’t be in for a few days because she was consulting with a lawyer, then hung up. Let the bastard stew on that one! If things didn’t work out with Yar and the Orgasmizer9000, she was going to be looking for another job, but she wasn’t going without a hell of a recommendation from that son-of-a-bitch. He’d be worrying about a lawsuit until she got back.

She dialed Darcy’s number next and left a message on the answering machine. “Hi, Darcy! It’s me, Adrianne. I need your help. Bring your sewing kit and anything you have in the shop in a man’s size….” She broke off and thought about it for several moments. “I guess it would be tall, 44 or 46 in the chest. 34 or maybe 36 in the waist and at least a 35 or 36 inseam. Don’t forget the sewing kit. You’ll probably have to make some adjustments. Oh. Bring men’s boxers, too. Thanks bunches, girlfriend. See you in the AM.”

That done, she hung up, turned the light off and lay down.

As weary as she was, it was still difficult to ignore the huge mound of man lying beside her. Finally, however, weariness began to take the upper hand and Adrianne was just drifting to sleep when Yar spoke again.

“Did you mean what you said?”

Adrianne couldn’t come up with a clue of what he was asking. “The clothes?”

“That I could say what I wanted?”

“Oh. Sure, sweety. Whatever,” Adrianne responded, yawning again.

He was silent for several moments. “I … would like … to service you.”

Adrianne’s eyes popped open and she turned over. “What did you say?”

His eyes widened in alarm. “You said I was to say what I wanted.”

She nodded. “I’m just curious to know why you changed your mind.”

“I did not change my mind. I decided.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “And what made you decide you wanted to … uh … offer your services?”
Yar frowned, obviously thinking it over carefully. “Your are beautiful, and clever and kind. My body wants you. My head, too.”

Adrianne stared at him blankly for several moments. “Why, Yar! That’s just the sweetest thing anybody’s ever said to me!”

He reddened.

She leaned over and kissed him on the lips, lightly. “Now, go to sleep. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”

He looked confused, but settled down and closed his eyes.

Adrianne settled as well. Her last thoughts as she drifted off was that she was going to have to try to teach Yar how to blend in a little better.

* * * *

Yar prepared their breakfast the following morning. Adrianne was alarmed when she woke and discovered that he was gone. Still more than a little groggy, she was trying to decide whether everything she remembered had actually happened, or if it was one of the most bizarre dreams she’d ever had—brought on, possibly, by the combination of seafood and her client’s determined efforts to seduce her. How she could have exchanged the short, fat, balding Mr. Blanton with a man like Yar was a mystery, but she had to wonder.

When she woke enough to have her wits about her, however, she turned over. Sure enough, there was a very definite imprint in the bed beside her. Lifting the pillow, she sniffed. Immediately, a rush of warmth filled her. The man was a walking, talking aphrodisiac.

Panic shot through her and she sat bolt upright. Before she could launch herself from the bed and race out to find him, however, he tapped on the door and entered carrying a makeshift tray filled with plates of food. Adrianne stared at him blankly. “You cook?”

Yar was concentrating on balancing the tray. He said nothing until he’d carefully set it on the chest beside the bed. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Adrianne.”

“Mistress Adrianne.”

Adrianne shook her head. “You can’t go around calling me Mistress Adrianne. It’ll attract too much attention. You must call me Adrianne.”

He looked a little doubtful. “I will not be punished?”

Adrianne gaped at him for several moments before a surge of protectiveness went through her. She discarded the urge to cuddle him. “Oh course not, sweety! Here,” she added, patting the bed beside her. “Sit down and eat with me.”

He looked torn between pleasure and doubt. “I only prepared enough for you.”

Adrianne gaped at the heaping plates. “Good God! I couldn’t eat a tenth of that if my life depended upon it! Sit down and eat.”

He looked at the bed but finally sat cross legged on the floor, took a plate and began eating. Adrianne picked up a piece of toast. “You seem very familiar with Earth food for somebody from another planet.”

“My mis--Mistress Serena is very fond of Earth food. I learned to prepare it to please her.”

“What else do you know how to do?”

He thought it over and finally shrugged. “Whatever must be done to keep a household running smoothly. Mistress Serena is a very important and busy woman. She does not have much time for me. She allows me to do whatever I like most of the time, as long as it is not forbidden.”

“She is … kind to you?”

Yar nodded. “Much more than my other mistress’ were. But she is not as kind as you. You are not a warrior, mistress?”

Adrianne almost choked on her toast. “A what?”

“Warrior?”

“Certainly not!” She thought about it for several moments. “I suppose, in a way … Business is a bit like battle. You just use different weapons to conquer.”

He nodded. When he’d cleaned the plate and set it down, Adrianne handed him another one. After a moment’s hesitation, he took it.

“I have a friend coming over in a little bit with clothing for you. I’ve been giving it some thought and I think the best way to introduce her to the Orgasmizer9000 is to give her a free sample. She’ll never believe it, otherwise.”

Yar looked at her curiously.

“I’m thinking … if all goes well and I get your mistress back, and you give me the Orgasmizer9000 … then Darcy would probably like being my partner marketing it. So this is what I want you to do when she gets here….”

When she was certain Yar understood what she had in mind, she led him downstairs, parked him in front of the TV and then handed him the remote and taught him how to use it. “What is the purpose of this, Mistress?” he asked curiously.

“Ordinarily, it’s purely for entertainment. Right now, though, I want you to watch for news reports. If your mistress crashed anywhere around here, there’ll be something about it on the news. They’re not going to say a space ship crashed, mind you, or … What was it you called it? A pod? They might say a small plane crashed, but most likely they’ll say something about a meteor. Or maybe they’ll just call it a small explosion from some gas leak. Anyway, if they start talking about something like that, you need to listen very closely and remember the name of the place where they say it happened. OK?”

He nodded, staring so raptly at the TV screen Adrianne had to wonder if he’d remember what she’d said, or notice if there was a report. She decided they must not have TV where he was from.

Mentally, she shrugged. To her way of thinking TV was the least likely to offer up any clues. Taking her portable phone and the phone book, she flipped to the list of radio stations and began making calls. The doorbell rang while she was on her second call and she ended the conversation, hung up and turned to Yar. “It’s probably Darcy. Remember what I told you?”

Yar nodded. “I’m very clever, Mistress. I never forget anything.”

Adrianne looked at him a little doubtfully. “That must be nice. I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached.”

Ignoring the curious look he gave her, she went to answer the door. Darcy stood on the stoop, her arms full of clothing, her eyes wide as saucers.

She was almost Adrianne’s complete opposite--short, a little on the plump side, blond and shy. Not that she was tall, but she was at least average in height and poor Darcy was barely five feet tall-- and mostly boobs. Not that Adrianne would have minded having such an impressive ‘bumper’ herself, but on Darcy the boobs only made her look shorter and fatter.

“Did you hear the news this morning?” Darcy gasped excitedly.

“Missed it. I slept late.”

“Somebody saw a UFO over Vegas last night!”

Adrianne suppressed a grin with an effort. “No! Really? Come on in. You’ll have to tell me all about it, but first I want you to meet somebody.”

Darcy followed her into the living room, chattering about the reported sightings. “Actually, I heard they sighted one ….”

Darcy broke off and stared up at Yar when he stood up from the couch, slowly turning as red as a tomato. Adrianne grasped Darcy’s shoulders. “This is my very best friend, Darcy. Darcy—this is Yar. He was flying in that UFO everybody saw last night.”

She gave Darcy a little shove in Yar’s direction.

Yar glanced at her, almost seemed to shrug, and held out the Orgasmizer.

Darcy, moving like a sleepwalker, her gaze fixed on Yar’s face, held out her hand. The moment she touched the devise, she just sort of wilted to the floor in slow motion. Adrianne caught her friend and lowered her carefully to the couch, feeling more than a little concern as she watched Darcy twitch and moan. She frowned. “Is it supposed to be like this?”

Yar nodded.

“I looked like that?” Adrianne said, embarrassed and more than a little repulsed.

Yar shrugged. “Not exactly.”

“You OK, Darcy?”

“Ohhhh,” Darcy moaned.

“I think she’s OK,” Adrianne said, half to herself. “Maybe we should just give her a few minutes?”

Yar didn’t take the hint and Adrianne reached for his arm and led him from the room. They waited outside the door for several minutes until Darcy’s moaning seemed to subside. Finally, Adrianne peered into the room. Darcy was sitting up on the couch, looking around as if bewildered, her glasses cocked crazily on her face. “Better?”

Reaching up, Darcy straightened her glasses. “What was that … thing?”

Adrianne grinned and went back into the living room. “The Orgasmizer9000. Wasn’t that just … the best?”

Darcy still looked more than a little confused. “The best what?”

“Orgasm. Wasn’t that the best orgasm you ever had in your life?”

“That’s what an orgasm feels like?” Darcy gasped.

Adrianne felt a moment of doubt. “It didn’t feel like an orgasm to you?”

Darcy turned red. “Uh … well … I never had one before. Is that what it feels like?”

Adrianne didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You poor thing! I’m so sorry, Darcy! I just wanted you to experience it so you’d believe me. I mean, it’s just so fantastic I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t.

Yar’s promised to give it to me if we help him find his mistress. That’s why I called you over … well, part of it. I needed some clothes for him so we can go looking. And I wanted to invite you to be my partner to market this … once it’s ours, of course.” Grabbing Darcy, she hugged her friend excitedly. “Can you just imagine the magnitude of this thing! We’ll be rich!”

Darcy smiled a little hesitantly when Adrianne released her. “He’s an alien?”

Adrianne nodded. “Come on back in here, Yar.”

“He looks … dangerous,” Darcy whispered, her eyes wide as saucers. “Are you sure he’s … safe?”

Adrianne giggled. “Don’t let his size fool you. He’s tame as a kitten … like a big old teddy bear. Aren’t you, Yar?”

Yar looked confused. “What is a teddy bear, Mistress?”

Adrianne frowned. “You can’t go around calling me that. People will notice.”

“Adrianne?”

“Never mind. It just means you’re sweet and wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“What is a fly, Mis … Adrianne?”

“Forget it. We need to get some clothes on you. Why don’t you tell me what you heard about the UFOs while you’re fitting him for clothes, Darcy?”

Darcy looked down at the mound of clothes she’d dropped on the floor. Grabbing them up, she held them toward Yar. When he reached for them, however, she released them and jumped back nervously. Yar managed to catch a shirt.

“That’s good. Put that on and let’s see how it fits,” Adrianne suggested as she gathered up the rest of the clothing and deposited it on the couch.

Yar held it out, frowning as he turned it several times and finally put his arm in the wrong sleeve. Adrianne took it from him and helped him put it on. Unfortunately, the moment he shrugged his shoulders, the shoulder seams popped and a small tear appeared in the middle of the back. “Too small,” Adrianne said and helped him out of it again.

“Uh, do you think you could put some … uh … shorts on him?”

Adrianne bit back a smile, but didn’t turn to look at her friend. “Sure. I really hate covering up something that purdy, but I guess we have to, huh?”

“Pretty?” Darcy asked faintly.

Adrianne glanced at her but decided she’d teased her friend enough. “I think so, but you’re right. Can’t just leave him swinging in the breeze. Let’s just hope the shorts you brought fit and his … uh … love muscle doesn’t bust the seams.”

The shorts fit, much to Darcy’s relief. Once he was ‘sheathed’ she got up to help, but they discovered none of the shirts Darcy had brought fit him except the stretch knit and it couldn’t really be said to have fit as it had been intended. The jeans fit him like a glove. Yar looked torn between happiness and discomfort once they had him dressed.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude for your gifts, Mis … Adrianne. But I do not think I like Earth clothes. It is very hard to move.”

Adrianne patted his arm. “You’ll get used to it. Why don’t you practice moving and sitting in them while me and Darcy discuss strategy?”

By the time Darcy had recounted the news reports, Adrianne was fairly certain she had a clear picture of the situation, and it wasn’t good. “The FEDS have got her, sure as hell! Yar said he saw an explosion. They must have shot her down, in which case they were probably on top of it before she even landed.

“Sounds like she must have come down in Arizona, or maybe New Mexico. Which means they probably took her to that secret base close to Roswell that nobody’s supposed to know about. Of course, from what Yar has said about her, she sounds like a pretty resourceful female, so she might have eluded them. We should take your van.”

Darcy didn’t look particularly happy about it. “But … it’s new!”

“Well we can’t all squeeze into my little compact. Come on, Darcy. If we pull this off, we’re going to be rich. It’s the find of the century. Think about it.”

Darcy looked glum. “And if we don’t pull it off, my van’s probably going to be full of bullet holes!”

Adrianne was taken aback. “You think they’ll use guns?”

“You think they won’t? Don’t you think they’ll think they have the find of the century? In which case, they’re not going to want to give it up.”

“Well, it isn’t like we’ll be trying for the ship … the pod. We just need to break his mistress out.”

“Just …!” Darcy exclaimed faintly.

Chapter Four

Adrianne had forgotten about shoes when she’d asked Darcy to bring over clothes for Yar. They stopped by a discount department store on their way out of town and bought him a pair of sneakers. He was pleased with them until he discovered he couldn’t wiggle his toes.

Almost as an afterthought, Adrianne bought a backpack and every item she ran across that she thought might be helpful in a jailbreak. Unfortunately, explosives weren’t readily available, so she purchased an assortment of tools she thought might be helpful in picking, or breaking, a lock, a set of wire cutters, lock cutters, rope in case they had to scale a wall or tie anybody up and flashlights.

It was mid afternoon when they reached the county in Arizona where the purported meteor had crashed. After getting rooms for the night, the three set out to grab a bite to eat and pump the locals for information. Adrianne decided a truck stop might be the best place to go for information so, although Darcy wasn’t terribly happy about it, they drove around until they found what looked to be the most popular truck stop and pulled in.

A lull fell over the room as they reached the entrance to the restaurant. Yar seemed completely unaware of it, looking around with interest, but Adrianne and Darcy exchanged an uncomfortable glance, wondering if they should have put a little more effort into making Yar blend in. On the other hand, what could you do with a man well over six feet tall that was built like Conan the Barbarian?

Adrianne supposed they should have considered cutting his hair, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to suggest it. He had such beautiful hair!

The lull, thankfully, was short lived and everyone in the restaurant made a point thereafter of ignoring them. A booth would have been more comfortable, and far more private, but Adrianne opted for stools at the bar for the simple reason that she was more interested in information than food.

A waitress rushed over almost the moment they settled. “Can I get you folks some coffee?”

Adrianne preferred her caffeine in cola form and ordered one for herself and one for Yar. Darcy opted for the coffee. The waitress was back in a few minutes with their drinks. “You folks been traveling long?”

Adrianne smiled. “We’re going to Florida. But we heard there was a meteor crash somewhere around here and decided to take a little detour to have a look at it.”

“Where are ya’ll from?”

“California,” Adrianne lied promptly.

The woman had barely taken her eyes off of Yar since they’d sat down. At Adrianne’s remark, a look of comprehension skated across her face, as if that explained everything. “Not much to see, from what I heard. What’ll ya’ll have?”

“What’s good?”

“Everything,” the waitress said promptly. “Our special tonight is the roast beef dinner.”

“We’ll take that.”

The waitress glanced at Yar. He smiled at her and Adrianne thought for several moments the woman was going to drop her order pad. “Guess that’s two,” she managed to say, turning quickly to Darcy and lifting her brows.

“I’ll have the same.”

“I don’t suppose you could give us directions to get out to the site?”

“Wouldn’t do you any good,” a young man seated just to Darcy’s right muttered.

“Excuse me,” the waitress muttered and took off.

Adrianne leaned forward, checking the guy out.

He looked to be in his early, or maybe mid-twenties. He was dressed more like a biker than a truck driver, his light brown hair straggling well past his shoulders.

Apparently feeling her gaze, he turned and looked first at Darcy for a long moment before his gaze skated past Darcy’s bright red face to Adrianne’s curious one. “Why wouldn’t it do any good?”

“FEDS crawling all over the place. They’ve got the whole site barricaded off.”

Excitement flooded through her. “Really? For a meteor?”

He made a derisive sound in his throat and returned his attention to the cup of coffee he held cradled in both hands. After a moment, Adrianne nudged Darcy and indicated with a jerk of her head that they should switch seats. Darcy looked happy to oblige and Adrianne wondered fleetingly if the young man had made her uneasy. She dismissed it, however, moving down to the bar stool Darcy had just vacated.

“I take it you’ve been out to the site?”

The young man glanced at her.

“My name’s Adrianne,” she said when he looked at her, then turned to introduce Yar and Darcy, discovering in the process that Yar had moved down a seat, as well, and that Darcy had been shuttled to the opposite end of the group. “This is … uh ….” She shrugged. A more commonplace name didn’t come immediately to mind. “Yar, and the lady at the end is my friend, Darcy.”

“Chance,” the young man said, leaning forward on his elbows until he could see Darcy, who barely glanced in his direction at the introduction. He grinned as her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Darcy, huh?”

Adrianne hid a smile as she divided a glance between the two. After a few moments, Chance managed to pry his gaze from Darcy’s breasts and glanced at Yar. He did a double take, then his eyes narrowed as he examined Yar more carefully. Finally, he looked at Adrianne again.

“Any particular reason you’re looking for the … meteor?”

“Just curiosity,” Adrianne lied promptly.

He nodded. “There’s been a swarm of curious, but the Feds won’t let anybody within miles of it. The locals I’ve talked to that happened to get a glimpse of it said it was huge … and it didn’t look like any meteor.”

“Maybe we could talk better if we moved to a quiet table in the back?” Adrianne suggested.

Chance shrugged. “I can’t tell you much.”

“I’d still like to talk.”

He nodded and Adrianne summoned the waitress. “We’re going to move to that back table over there.”

The waitress didn’t look too pleased, but pleasing the waitress wasn’t high on Adrianne’s agenda. When they’d settled again, the waitress brought their plates. As soon as the woman left, Adrianne leaned forward and said in a low voice, “It wasn’t a meteor, was it?”

Chance shrugged, looked around, looked pointedly at Yar for several moments and finally said, “You tell me.”

Adrianne’s lips tightened in irritation. “We’re not FEDS, so let’s stop beating around the bush, shall we? It was a space ship that crashed, wasn’t it?”

Chance scrubbed his face with his hands and sat back in his chair. “I haven’t managed to get a look at it, but … yeah … I’m pretty sure it was a UFO. This place has been crawling with UFO enthusiasts. Most of them are camped out as close to the site as the FEDS will let them get, just a little north of here.”

Adrianne frowned. “I suppose it would be useless to ask if anyone had seen … a stranger around here, then?”

“You mean besides him?” Chance asked.

“We’re looking for a woman,” Adrianne said bluntly.

“Gotta description?”

Adrianne turned to Yar. “Tell him what Mis… Serena looks like.”

“She is beautiful,” Yar said promptly.

Irritation washed over Adrianne, but it wasn’t entirely because Yar’s description was so unhelpful. “How tall?”

Yar held his hand just above the top of his head. “To here.”

“That tall?”

Yar frowned, thinking it over, and nodded.

“Good God! Never mind. Her hair. What color is it?”

“I don’t really think we need that,” Darcy put it. “There can’t be too many women over six feet running around the place.”

Yar pointed to the table cloth.

“Red?”

“This color.”

“So … you’re looking for a red head somewhere in the neighborhood of six foot six? Did you file a missing persons?”

Adrianne gave Chance a look. “You know very well what I’m talking about.”

“We could ask around, but from what I heard that thing came down pretty hard … NOT like a falling meteor, mind you, but it was definitely a crash. If she survived, I doubt she would have been in any condition to outrun the FEDS. They were here within minutes of the crash, from what I heard, and had cordoned off the area. The tale they’re passing around is that it’s a potential bio-hazard. Most everybody around here thinks it’s a piece of space debris--satellite or something.”

Adrianne threw a glance at Yar, wondering what he thought of the conversation. His expression told her he had followed the discussion well enough to realize that his mistress might be dead. She couldn’t tell how he felt about it, but he had said she was kind to him and he’d been anxious enough about her to come looking for her. He must be feeling a good deal of distress over the possibility. She gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

“Could you give us directions to the site?”

Chance smiled faintly. “I can do better than that. I can show you a back way in.”

* * * *

They’d been following Chance for over an hour before they reached a place where he signaled for them to pull over and stop. Chance, riding a motorcycle, led the way down a series of narrow dirt roads and finally along an overgrown track that didn’t look as if it had been used in fifty years. They stopped beside a run down, abandoned shack.

Adrianne got out of the car and looked around. “I don’t see anything,” she muttered, wondering if she should have trusted the guy after all. It wasn’t incomprehensible that he’d led them out in the boonies to rob them.

“I told you, the FEDS are crawling all over the place. We can’t get within a mile of the site in broad daylight. We’ll have to wait here for dark,” Chance said as he parked his cycle and pulled his helmet off.

Darcy, who’d been driving and had come to join them, sent Adrianne a frightened look. “We’re going on foot … in the dark? What if … what if we’re spotted?”

“We’ll have to run for it,” Chance said cheerfully, moving to the rickety porch of the cabin and taking a seat. “But we’ll have a better chance of not being spotted if we wait till dark.”

Darcy glanced from Chance to Adrianne. “I think I’ll stay with the van … if it’s all the same to you. Someone ought to stay and make sure nobody messes with the van. And, if they do chase you, I could start it up and be ready to make a quick getaway.”

“Good thinking, Darcy!” Adrianne said, beaming at her.

“What about the little fellow?” Chance asked, pointing at Yar, who’d climbed out of the van and was looking around curiously.

Adrianne turned to look at Yar, frowning. “He should probably stay with Darcy. He’s … uh … not used to this sort of thing.”

“And you are?”

Adrianne glared at him. “Let’s just say I’m better at thinking on my feet.”

Chance hooked a jaw in Yar’s direction. “What about it? You going to let her tell you what to do?”

Yar looked at him as if he’d lost his mind, then looked at Adrianne. “I do not think I understand the slave’s question.”

“Slave!” Chance snapped, jumping to his feet. “Did he call me a slave?”

Adrianne put her hand out. “There’s no sense in getting all pissed off at him. He doesn’t understand.”

“Well, maybe I’ll explain it to him,” Chance said belligerently, stomping over to Yar and giving him a shove … at least, Adrianne assumed that was what he’d intended to do. Yar didn’t so much as budge.

He sent her a helpless look. Adrianne set her jaw, stalked over to the two of them and wedged herself between them, giving Chance a push. “Leave him alone, Chance. I told you, he doesn’t understand. On his world, men are bred to be slaves. He assumed you were. He just doesn’t understand our customs.”

Chance took a step back. “He’s an alien?”

“I thought you’d figured that out by now. He described the other alien, remember?”

“Yeah, but I thought … well, he doesn’t look like an Alien.”

“We’re trying to help him find his mistress so he can go home.”

Chance looked excited, but then something apparently occurred to him because he frowned, and looked Yar over again carefully. “You want to go back to being a slave? Why don’t you just stay here and be a free man?”

Adrianne glanced up at Yar. She’d been too wrapped up in trying to fulfill her part of the bargain to give much thought to Yar’s situation. He’d said he wanted to find Serena so he could go home and it hadn’t occurred to her to question whether that was what he really wanted or not … or if that was what was best for him.

“Is that what you want, Yar?”

Yar looked both scared and confused. “I could … decide?”

“I suppose you could. You said it was forbidden to come to Earth. If they won’t come here, then you wouldn’t have to worry about being captured, would you? What do they do with runaway slaves, anyway?”

Unconsciously, Yar put his hand protectively over his groin.

Chance paled. “Aw man! No wonder you didn’t think about it.”

Adrianne studied Yar a long moment and finally took his hand and led him over to the rickety porch and told him to sit down. “If you think there’s any chance you could get in trouble, don’t think about it, OK?”

“But … I could decide?”

Adrianne sat down beside him. “It’s against the law to have slaves here. If you decided you wanted to stay, you would be free. If we can’t find Serena, or we do and we don’t manage to release her, you would be a free man.”

Yar frowned. “But … you said ….”

Adrianne felt a blush rise to her cheeks. “I didn’t mean it. I was just … I could see you expected to be ordered to do things and it was easier than trying to explain that you didn’t have to do anything you didn’t want to do.” She thought it over. “Well, actually, everybody has to do things they don’t really want to do. Even when they’re free. But you have a choice. You can do it, or you can face the consequences.

“Like what my boss did to me. I could’ve done it and kept my job. But I decided I didn’t want to do it, so now I have to look for another job. See what I mean?”

“What did your boss tell you to do?” Yar asked curiously.

“He wanted me to please a client … sexually. It totally pissed me off when I realized that was what I’d been sent to do, so I left. Not that I’m worried about it, mind you. I wouldn’t work for that bastard again if he gave me the raise I thought I was going to get!”

Yar thought that over. “You get to decide if you want sex?”

Adrianne nodded. “The men too. Thing is, you have to ask and if they don’t want to then you don’t get to even if you want to. That’s how choice works. Everybody decides whether they want to or not and sometimes you choose them, but they don’t choose you.”

He frowned. “You do not want me?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Adrianne lied. “You said you wanted to find Serena and go home.”

He lowered his voice, as if he was afraid someone would over hear, although Chance and Darcy were too far away to hear even a normal tone and, from what Adrianne could see, too caught up in flirting to notice anything less subtle than a freight train. Chance was, at any rate. Darcy was wearing her scared rabbit look, as if she’d just discovered herself in the clutches of Jack the Ripper. “If I stayed?”

Adrianne studied him. She’d been too focused on getting her hands on the Orgasmizer9000 to think about anything else, at least consciously. On a sexual level, she found Yar a definite 10 and a half. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was something that had been bred into him--a severely potent masculine appeal--but, in the end, did it really matter? Natural or not, it was definitely there.

Strangely enough, he also brought out almost a … motherly instinct in her to want to take care of him. She supposed, in a way, most women wanted to feel needed, but she had avoided men that were too needy. She enjoyed being completely independent. She didn’t want the responsibility of having anyone dependent on her … or she never had before.

She wasn’t so certain she felt that way when it came to Yar.

Not that that mattered. The chances were strong, in her opinion, that once Yar got his ‘land legs’ so to speak, he wouldn’t be needing her, or anyone, to take care of him. It might take him a while to get used to the way things were on Earth, but he’d already taken the first step toward independence by deciding to come after his mistress in what he perceived as a hostile environment. He was smart enough to have learned English, just from observations, as Serena had, she supposed. He was intelligent enough to have figured out how to get the pod down to the planet just from watching Serena program it. He didn’t say much, but there was every indication that that was from caution, and probably training, than because he was slow.

She patted his knee. “We’ll see when … and if … the time comes, OK?”

Yar frowned. Briefly he looked distressed, but in a moment he had his ‘impassive mask’ firmly in place, the expression he wore when he didn’t want anyone to know what he was thinking. “This means no?”

“It does not mean no. It means … when you’ve had time to figure out what you really want, then we’ll talk about it. I’m not going to take unfair advantage of your innocence.”

Chapter Five

Yar exerted his newfound independence by refusing to stay with Darcy at the van while Adrianne and Chance went to check out the site. His stated reason was that she was his mistress and he should stay with her, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he was so anxious to be reunited with Serena.

She didn’t like leaving Darcy alone. Chance showed every indication that he would’ve been happy to stay and protect her, but they couldn’t very well leave him when he was the only one that knew the way.

And this was her show. She wasn’t about to be left behind.

“Keep the keys in the ignition and if we’re running when we head back this way,” she told Darcy as they left, “make sure the van’s ready to roll the minute we get in.”

Chance had told her they were about a mile from the site. It seemed like further. The terrain was rough and although the sky was clear enough to shed plenty of light so that they could see each other, it was still too dark to keep them from stumbling over rocks and scrubby bushes.

When Adrianne finally reached the point where she thought she was going to have to beg for a breather, Yar simply scooped her into his arms and kept going, as if she was light as a feather—which she knew she wasn’t. Her ass alone … but she didn’t want to think about that. She was trying hard not to think about how heavy she must feel to Yar.

After her first yelp of surprise when he picked her up, and a half hearted demand to be put down, she subsided when he insisted that she was tired and needed to be carried, looped her arms around his neck and enjoyed herself. By the time she decided she was rested enough to walk again, Chance had halted them with a sharp whisper and flattened himself on the ground. Adrianne did likewise when Yar set her on her feet. They’d been peering down at the activity for several moments before it occurred to her that Yar was standing as she’d left him. She turned to look up at him in surprise and irritation.

“Get down!”

He knelt beside her. “I will soil my clothing,” he objected reasonably.

“It’ll wash … if we get the chance. If they see you, we might not!”

Reluctantly, he lay down beside her.

The whole area below them was bathed in light from the floodlight towers that had been set up around the crash site. There must have been a dozen men and women wearing civilian clothing milling around—probably scientists. There were at least three times that many soldiers. The center of attention was the wreckage that was being carefully secured with heavy cables. Nearby stood an empty flatbed truck. Three men stood on the empty bed, busily assembling a huge wooden crate.

Adrianne frowned. “Looks like they’re about to move the ship. I don’t understand why they’d assemble the crate first, though.”

“Because it isn’t going into the crate.” Chance pointed to a huge helicopter off to one side that Adrianne had assumed had been used to bring in the scientists. “They’re going to air lift it out of here across the desert. The flatbed and the crate are just a diversion. They know the UFO people are camped out all around here and there’s no way they’ll get it out on any of the roads without being spotted.”

“Figures. I don’t see any sign of a tent where they might be keeping Serena.”

“Alive or dead, they probably took her out long since.”

Adrianne frowned. “But where?” She thought about it for several minutes. “Somebody is going to have to risk getting close enough to overhear their conversations.”

Chance glanced at her. “I’ll volunteer.”

“You think you can get close enough without being spotted?”

He shrugged. “I’ve got as good a chance as you have … better than the mountain over there.”

Adrianne frowned. He was always making wise cracks about Yar and she found it very irritating. Now didn’t seem the time to argue about it, however. “They’ve probably taken her to that secret government facility that nobody’s supposed to know about near Roswell, but we should try to be sure before we waste time going there.”

Chance nodded and began to move toward the activity below them. To Adrianne’s relief, he managed to reach the semi without being spotted and crawled under it, hiding behind the wheels. She shifted, trying to get into a comfortable position so that she could keep an eye on the movements below.

After several moments, she noticed a guard pacing the perimeter on the other side of the lights. Her heart skipped a beat, and she pushed herself up a little higher and looked around. After several nerve wracking moments, she spotted the guard that had been posted on their side. He had taken a seat on a rock maybe twenty or thirty feet from where they lay on the ground.

Her first instinct was to move. She quelled it with the thought that Chance would expect to find them in the same place when he came back. Shifting toward Yar, she put her lips near his ear. “See that man over there with the very big gun?”

A shiver went through Yar as her warm breath caressed his ear, but he turned and looked in the direction she indicated and nodded his head. “Watch him. If he moves, tell me.”

Deciding that was taken care of, Adrianne returned her attention to Chance and trying to think of what they might do to create a distraction if they discovered it was necessary. She discovered, however, that she couldn’t see Chance. Looking around a little frantically, she discovered that he’d moved to another vehicle and was crouched beside it, obviously listening to the two soldiers on the other side.

Panic seized her. If she could see him, the guard might be able to if he decided to look toward the camp instead of out over the desert.

After several agonizing minutes, Chance made his way carefully back to the semi, looked around and began to make his way back toward them. At almost the same moment, Yar leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. “He is walking.”

Adrianne whipped her head around so fast she butted noses with him. Craning upward, she saw to her horror that although the guard hadn’t spotted Chance, he was moving directly into an intersecting path with him.

She looked at Chance again, wondering if he would spot the guard and relieve her of the necessity of having to draw the guard’s attention, but it was obvious from the quickness of his movements that Chance hadn’t noticed the guard. She put her lips to Yar’s ear again. “Get ready to run like hell.”

When she looked for Chance again, it was just in time to see him collide with the guard. Leaping to her feet, Adrianne took a running jump and landed on the guard’s back, grabbing his rifle with both hands. Fortunately, Chance recovered more quickly from his surprise than the guard did. He planted a fist on the man’s jaw that was hard enough it rocked his head back on his shoulders. Adrianne didn’t duck quite fast enough. The back of the guard’s head cracked against her cheek hard enough to make her bite her tongue, and she released the man even as he fell to the ground.

Scrambling to her feet, Adrianne whirled to run, looking around for Yar. He was standing where she’d left him, gaping at her and Chance as they stampeded toward him. “Run!” Adrianne whispered loudly as she passed him, expecting any moment to hear the whiz of bullets past her head.

She doubted very much that the punch Chance had thrown at the man had actually knocked him out. It had obviously stunned him, but that wouldn’t give them more than a few minutes head start.

Hearing the pounding of running feet behind her, Adrianne ran faster. Quite suddenly, an arm snaked around her waist and jerked her off her feet. It jolted the breath from her lungs. When she finally managed to catch her breath, she discovered that Yar had snatched her up under one arm and was running with her, like a quarterback with the ball under one arm. Gritting her teeth to keep the jarring impact from making her bite her tongue, Adrianne twisted to see how close their pursuit was. Chance was several yards behind them. Behind him, the guard choked out a cry of alarm and scrambled to his feet.

“Run faster!” Adrianne exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of the guard leveling his gun in their direction. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting any moment to feel a bullet in her ass, knowing the way Yar was carrying her it must be the biggest target on the range.

At her shout, however, Yar put on more speed and within moments they’d run down a dip in the ground that, she hoped, took her out of sight, if not out of range, of the soldier.

The trip back to the van didn’t take nearly as long as the trip from the van to the crash site. Yar covered it in less than ten minutes, with her under one arm. She thought, later, that he’d probably broken more than one record.

“St…art the v..v.. an,” she shouted the moment she was within shouting range of Darcy.

Even as she shouted, however, the van took off in a billow of dust, pulled a wild arc and headed straight for them. Darcy skidded to a halt beside them and Yar snatched the door open and tossed her in, leaping in behind her. A few moments later, Chance dove through the door. “Go! Go!” he shouted even before he’d slammed the door.

Darcy’s eyes widened as a wall of soldiers erupted over the rise. Slamming the van into reverse, she shot backwards, whipped the wheel around, shoved the van into drive and shot rocks and dirt about ten feet in the air with the wheels as the van shot forward.

Despite the wall of dirt Darcy had thrown up as a smoke screen, several bullets smacked into the van. Adrianne screamed and threw herself toward the floor.

“Oh my God!” Darcy screamed.

“Darcy! Are you hurt?” Chance gasped.

“They hit my van! They shot my brand new van!” Darcy sobbed, scooting further down in the seat until she was looking at the road through the space on the steering wheel above the horn.

Adrianne scrambled up on the seat when the sound of firing grew distant. “Anybody hit?”

Darcy sniffed. “My van!”

“Are you hurt?’

“No.”

“Yar?” She peered at him in the dimness, but could see no sign of injury. “Chance?”

“I’m OK.”

“You think they’ll follow us?” Adrianne asked.

He shrugged. “I doubt it. I think they were mostly just trying to chase us off.”

Adrianne gave him an indignant look.

“They shot the van!” Adrianne and Darcy said almost in unison.

“But they chased us on foot. If they’d meant business, they would’ve brought one of the vehicles, don’t you think?”

“Maybe they figured since we were on foot they could catch us. That doesn’t mean they won’t go back for a vehicle.”

To their relief, they saw no signs that they were being followed, even after they reached the highway once more. Deciding to take no chances, they returned to the hotel, collected their bags and left town.

It wasn’t until they’d tossed the bags into the van that it occurred to Adrianne that they’d abandoned Chance’s bike at the old cabin when they’d made their escape. “What are you going to do about your bike?”

Chance shrugged. “Wasn’t mine.”

Darcy gaped at him. “You stole it?”

He reddened. “Borrowed,” he said uncomfortably.

“From who?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t catch his name,” he said evasively.

“Well,” Adrianne said philosophically. “At least they won’t be able to trace it back to you.”

Darcy’s eyes widened. “Is that all you can say? He just admitted to stealing the bike!”

“I did not.” Chance said irritably. “I told you. I borrowed it. Mine’s in the shop.”

“He is obviously not a very reputable person,” Darcy said stiffly.

He sent her a faint smile. “But you like me anyway, don’t you?”

Darcy gaped at him. Her lips moved, but she couldn’t seem to make words. Chance seized the opportunity and kissed her soundly on the mouth. Darcy struggled for a moment and finally went limp against him.

Grinning, Adrianne exchanged a look with Yar. “I think she likes him,” she whispered.

Yar turned to study the pair for several moments and then looked at Adrianne again. “Why?”

“She didn’t knee him in the balls.” She waited until they were finished, unwilling to interrupt. After all, as shy as Darcy was, she rarely dated … and to Adrianne’s certain knowledge, Chance was the first ‘younger’ man she’d ever shown the least interest in.

“Can we drop you somewhere?”

Chance studied Darcy a moment longer before he glanced at Adrianne. “I could always come along for the ride.”

“What do you think, Darcy?”

“Huh?” Darcy asked vaguely.

“Never mind. Sure. We can take you to your place and grab a bag.”

Chance shook his head. “I think we ought to shake the dust from this place as quick as we can. I’ll manage.”

Adrianne shrugged. “I’ll drive. I think Darcy’s a little too shook up.” She took the keys from Darcy’s limp hand and climbed into the driver’s seat. After a moment, Yar got into the front seat beside her and Chance and Darcy climbed in the back.

“So … where are we headed?” Adrianne said as she started the van.

“I think your guess is probably right on target. I didn’t hear anybody say where they’d taken her, but they definitely caught her and she’s definitely alive … at least she was when they took her.”

Adrianne turned out of the hotel parking lot and caught the highway heading east. “It’s not on any map,” she muttered thoughtfully.

“No, but I’ll bet money there’ll be somebody around Roswell that could give us a good idea of where to look.”

* * * *

They drove for a hundred miles before Adrianne decided they’d put enough distance between them an the angry FEDS and began looking for a hotel. Adrianne rented two adjoining rooms, but they met up with a serious problem when they got to the rooms.

“No offense, buddy,” Chance said, looking at Yar, “but I don’t plan on sharing a room with you, much less a bed.”

“There’s two beds in each room,” Adrianne said firmly as she handed him one of the keys and went to unlock the door to her room. “Women in one room, men in the other.”

“I will stay with you,” Yar said, following her into her room, carrying the bags.

“There is no way I’m staying in the same room with you and Yar!” Darcy snapped.

Chance grinned. “I knew you liked me.”

Darcy glared at him. “I meant Yar will have to stay in the room with you.”

Adrianne glanced from one to the other, but decided she didn’t feel like mediating an argument over the sleeping arrangements. “Hey. I’m dead on my feet. And I’m filthy from crawling around on the ground. You three slug it out. I’m going to take a shower,” she finished, grabbing her bag and heading for the bathroom.

She’d just stepped under the shower head to rinse the soap from her hair when she felt a chilly breeze. Wiping the water from her eyes, she squinted toward the curtain. Yar was standing outside the shower, holding the curtain back. Behind him, she saw the door she thought she’d locked stood ajar.

Adrianne let out a yelp of surprise. “Yar! You scared the pee out of me. Talk about visions of Psycho! Go!” She made a shooing motion. “You’re going to have to wait your turn.”

Yar looked puzzled. “I came to assist you.”

Adrianne studied him a long moment. Tomorrow, if they were really lucky, they would help Serena escape. Once she did, she would take Yar with her and Adrianne realized quite suddenly that she would be very sorry to see him go. It went without saying that she’d never met anyone quite like him, and it was unlikely she ever would again. She smiled. “Take your clothes off.”

Chapter Six

Smiling, Yar stripped his clothes off, stepped into the shower with her and looked around. “This is nice.”

Adrianne soaped a cloth and rubbed it over his chest. “Yes it is. Very.”

Yar went ‘Indian’ faced as she swirled the washcloth over his chest and down his belly and Adrianne couldn’t tell whether he liked it or not. “You don’t like this?”

Confusion flickered across his features. “Yes.”

Adrianne smiled. “What’s wrong, then?”

“I came to assist you.”

Adrianne studied him a long moment. “Then you can wash me when I’m done washing you.”

He smiled, but he looked as if he was in pain when she wrapped one soapy hand around his cock and began massaging it. “Where are Darcy and Chance?”

“Darcy went into the other room to take a shower. Chance followed. He said he had caught her and locked the portal between this room and the other one.”

Adrianne repressed the urge to giggle, wondering if Chance had decided to wash Darcy’s back and how Darcy was going to react to that. After a moment, she dismissed it. If Darcy hadn’t booted him out of the room by the time they were through in the shower it seemed unlikely she was going to.

She moved a little closer to Yar. “This is a very nice … tool you have here.”

“Thank you,” Yar said a little breathlessly.

Reaching a little lower, she cupped his testicles and began massaging them. Yar jumped, bending forward slightly, as if someone had punched him in the stomach, and Adrianne looped her free arm around his neck, pulling him down and brushing her lips against his in invitation.

He took the hint and opened his mouth over hers, thrusting his tongue into her mouth like a ravishing conqueror instead of the captive. Fire danced along Adrianne’s veins and nerve endings, culminating in her sex and bringing her instantly to dew point as his tongue skated along hers, entwined, stroked, explored every inch of her mouth. Dropping the washcloth, she pressed herself fully against him, locking her other arm around his neck as his kiss took the strength out of her knees.

They were both breathing heavily when he broke the kiss at last. “Would you like for me to service you?” he murmured huskily.

“Mmmm. Show me everything you know,” Adrianne responded.

He promptly scooped her into his arms, stepped out of the shower and moved through the doorway into the main room. Dimly, it occurred to her that Darcy might come storming through the connecting door at any moment, but she dismissed the thought almost at once, knowing Darcy would retreat instantly.

They were both dripping wet, and soapy. Adrianne shivered slightly in the chill but in a moment Yar covered her with his own body. Grasping her arms, he pushed them over her head and held them there as he kissed her into mindless oblivion, then proceeded to nibble his way along her cheek to her neck, then down. Releasing her hands, he cupped a breast in each hand and finessed first one and then the other, stimulating her nipples with his mouth and tongue until she was moving restlessly beneath him, gasping for air.

Her body, thrumming with the pleasurable sensations of heightened sensitivity, began to sense overload and demand release. Her sex was wet with want, her muscles in her belly convulsing rhythmically as if kneading his cock already.

She reached down, grasped his cock and tried to urge him to join with her. He pulled her hand loose and thrust it to the bed. “I haven’t shown you everything yet,” he murmured huskily.

The comment alone almost sent her over the edge. She clutched the sheets, gasping as he made his way down her belly. Pressing her legs tightly together, he parted the folds of flesh around her sex with one hand and placed his mouth over her clit, sucking on it. She bucked, tried to part her legs as a bolt of pleasure went through her that was so exquisite her belly clenched.

She moaned, gasping in little breaths of air as she felt her body moving closer and closer to release as he teased her clit with his tongue, nudging the center of her pleasure with quick, hard strokes. Her fingers, where she gripped the sheets, began to cramp as she struggled to hold her climax at bay just a moment longer, just a few moments longer until she reached a point where she began to struggle to grasp it.

A jolt of dismay went through her as he stopped abruptly. As he moved up and over her, however, she opened her eyes, certain he meant to thrust his cock inside of her. Instead, he began to suckle her breasts again, teasing her nipples until her body began to skate the edge of pain--the pleasure had become so intense.

When he moved down her belly again and pressed his knees against the outside of her thighs, Adrianne grasped two fistfuls of his hair, knowing she couldn’t stand to be teased any longer. He ignored the tug, teasing her clit once more until she thought she would scream. She did scream when her climax hit her as abruptly as a freight train, hard and fast.

She was still gasping and trying to catch her breath when he moved down her body, spread her thighs and began nibbling the inside of her thighs. Too weak to fight him off, she tried to ignore the tiny ripples of pleasure that made her belly clench. He continued downward until he reached her feet. Adrianne tried to jerk her foot from his grasp, but he held onto it, massaging it. When she relaxed, he began sucking her toes.

Expecting it to tickle, Adrianne was surprised to discover the ripples of pleasure growing stronger once more. When he’d thoroughly finessed her toes, he worked his way back up her thighs with nibbling kisses. Adrianne held her breath as he reached the apex of her thighs, hoping he would kiss her pussy again, afraid that he would. She cried out when he fastened his mouth over her clit once more and suckled, convulsing upward, gripping his hair. He disentangled her fingers, pressing her hands against the bed again, then moved upward and caressed her breasts with his mouth.

Within moments, Adrianne felt her body climbing toward release once more. She could barely catch her breath, could barely think, but she was certain of one thing, she wanted Yar inside of her this time. Clutching his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his waist, lifting her hips. To her relief, he obliged, aligning the head of his cock with her sex and thrusting. As wet as she was, it took a moment for her body to adjust to the girth of his cock. She pushed against him until finally she felt him sliding fully inside of her. He allowed her to set the rhythm, thrusting and withdrawing in direct counterpoint to her own movements. When she began the little gasping breaths that proceeded her climax, he rolled onto his back, bringing her to a sitting position above him. She moved over him, searching for just the right angle that would give her the most pleasure, opening her eyes to watch him.

His face was tense with concentration as he held her hips to steady her. It was all she needed to send her over the edge once more into ultimate bliss. He gripped her hips as her climax took her, continuing to thrust as her climax hit her so explosively it sapped all the strength from her limbs.

Finally, she collapsed weakly against him, fighting for breath. It was several moments before she realized the heartbeat thundering in her ears was his, not her own, and several moments more before she realized that she had climaxed, explosively, twice, and he had not.

Disappointment flooded her. “You didn’t come.”

Yar’s expression was one of confusion.

Weakly, Adrianne slid off of him. “You didn’t … enjoy it?”

“It is not allowed,” he said hoarsely.

Adrianne stared at him in dismay. “Not … but….”

“You are … satisfied?”

“Thoroughly,” Adrianne gasped weakly.

“May I go now?”

Adrianne stared at him. He looked as if he was in pain and suddenly it dawned on her why he was so anxious to leave. “You may not.”

He looked dismayed.

“This is Earth,” Adrianne murmured, leaning toward him. “We share the pleasure. You give me pleasure and I give you pleasure.” She kissed him lingeringly on the lips, then pulled back to look at him.

He was studying her, as if he wasn’t certain she had meant it. “I can … take pleasure?”

Adrianne smiled. “I insist.”

He pushed her to the bed and rolled over her. His cock was hard as a rock as he pushed inside of her. Having climaxed twice already, Adrianne was a little stunned at the shock waves of pleasure that went through her the moment he entered her. Her body convulsed around his hard flesh, gripping it like a massaging hand. Digging her heels into the bed, she thrust against him as he began to move. He held himself slightly above her, supporting his weight on his elbows and Adrianne caressed his chest as he moved inside of her, marveling at the feel of his skin and muscles against her palms.

She looked up at him. “I love the way you feel inside of me,” she whispered huskily.

He stiffened at her words, his face contorting almost as if he was in pain. With a hoarse gasp, he began to move again, faster and harder, driving into her hard enough she began to slide upwards on the bed. She gripped him more tightly, gasping as she felt her body tensing on the verge of release.

She cried out as her body exploded with intense pleasure. With a hoarse cry that sounded as if he was dying, Yar’s body jerked convulsively as he, too, found release at last. He collapsed bonelessly on top of her as if too weak to hold himself up, his body still shuddering with release.

Adrianne struggled for breath, stroking his back lovingly. Finally, he gathered himself and rolled off of her, much to her relief. Dragging in a deep, much needed breath of air, she rolled over to face him, smiling at the expression of relaxed repletion on his face. Finally, she reached up and caressed his cheek. He opened his eyes. “It was wonderful … every time. But the last was the very best.”

He pulled her close, hugging her tightly. “Thank you.”

Something warm and almost painful filled Adrianne’s chest until she had to struggle to breathe. She stroked his soft hair. “It was my pleasure,” she murmured.

* * * *

Yar woke her a few hours later and made love to her again. Exhaustion claimed them afterwards and they slept until nearly dawn, when Adrianne was once more wakened by the skate of Yar’s hand over her hip. She smiled sleepily. “I’ve created a monster,” she muttered, but she realized after a moment that she would have all the time in the world to catch up on her sleep after Yar was gone. She didn’t want to waste a moment while he was with her.

She didn’t think of the Orgasmizer9000 once while Yar was making love to her. As wonderful as the device was, Yar put it to shame.

Finally, they showered and dressed and Adrianne knocked on the connecting door. After several moments, Darcy, looking as thoroughly fucked as she no doubt did, opened the door. Her hair was standing on end, her mouth, neck and chest reddened from whisker burn, and her eyes blurry and unfocused.

“Ready?” Adrianne asked with forced cheerfulness.

Darcy merely stared at her blankly for several moments before enlightenment dawned. She nodded. “Gimme a minute,” she slurred and slammed the door once more.

They stopped for breakfast before leaving town. Adrianne was torn between happiness for her friend and jealousy as she watched Chance and Darcy bill and coo at each other over their breakfast plates.

Yar was quieter than usual, if possible, frowning as he ate, and Adrianne wondered if it seemed as tasteless to him as it did to her. No doubt he was thinking about the fact that this would probably be his last Earth breakfast.

She was tempted to ask him if he’d rather just turn around and go back home with her. Somehow, the idea of getting rich off of the Orgasmizer9000 had lost it’s glow. None of the things she’d planned to buy once she was rolling in money, nor any of the things she’d planned to do seemed nearly as exciting when she thought about the fact that she would only have Darcy to share the thrill with. Of course, if she had lots and lots of money, she would have many opportunities to meet all sorts of men.

None of them would be Yar, though, she thought glumly.

Resolutely, she dismissed it as they paid for their meals and left, heading toward Roswell.

They were in no particular hurry since they were within a few hundred miles of their goal now. They could not attempt a rescue before it was good dark. Serena was being held on a base, which would be guarded, and it would be all too easy to see them during daylight.

Arriving at last in the late afternoon, they found a hotel first, renting two rooms again, although Adrianne was fairly certain she wouldn’t be sharing a room with Yar that night.

It occurred to her that they could just surveil the place and then work out a plan and try for Serena’s release the following night, but it also occurred to her that the scientists that had been brought in to study her might be more interested in studying her corpse than talking to Serena. For that matter, who knew if she could survive the FEDS’ debriefing? It was all very well to talk about the Geneva Convention, but she doubted the FEDS would consider an alien’s rights to be the equivalent of human rights.

It was only right to move as quickly as they were able to.

When they’d settled in their rooms, Chance left to see what information he could glean. He returned a couple of hours later with a local youth who’d offered to act as guide.

As Chance had done when he’d shown them the crash site, the youth led them down winding, overgrown tracks that wandered in first one direction and then another. After a couple of hours of driving around endlessly, he showed them a place to park the van.

Darcy decided to join them. Adrianne wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Darcy and Chance were so wrapped up in each other neither of them were paying a lot of attention to what was happening around them. Besides, they’d had to make a quick getaway before. They might have to again.

Darcy and Chance both insisted, however, so the four of them, led by the youth, made their way cautiously toward the base until they were close enough to see. Except for the dangerous looking guards at the gates, the place looked deserted. There wasn’t a soul in sight or even a vehicle.

Stealthily, they made their way around the base, checking each building for any sign of occupancy. Finally, they struck pay dirt when they reached the hangars. Several vehicles were parked outside and guards were stationed in front of the hangar doors.

Adrianne looked around, trying to decide if they would be able to drive a little closer after dark. “What do you think, guys? Do you think the van could make it across the desert here?”

The young man glanced at her. “They’d hear you miles before you got here. Sound carries, even if they didn’t see you.”

“Shit! No way could we run that far with the soldiers behind us. The van must be two miles from here, at least.”

The youth looked startled. “Why would the soldiers be chasing you?”

Chance gave her a look. “She meant if they saw us.”

The youth accepted the comment without remark. “If you had a couple of horses, you could muffle their hooves and probably get a lot closer. Of course the horses would probably be nickering, but there’s still a few wild horses around here. They might not think anything of it.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t ride,” Adrianne said. “What about you, Chance?”

He shrugged. “I have. Can’t say I’m great with horses, but the horses they rent out for trail rides are usually pretty manageable.”

Adrianne glanced around again. It seemed likely that the FEDS had transported the ship to the hangar, but would they be holding Serena there? Somehow, she doubted it. Of course, the building was large enough to put several houses in it, so it was possible. “Let’s look around some more … see if any of the other buildings are occupied.”

There were more guards at the back of the hangar, but Adrianne spotted a walk-in door about halfway down one side … probably locked, but she made a mental note of it. As they made a circuit of the base, they discovered a smaller building that also appeared to be occupied. Two guards stood outside. “I wonder what that building is,” Adrianne muttered out loud.

“I think it’s the brig,” the young man volunteered. “They must have somebody in there or they wouldn’t be guarding it.”

Chance and Adrianne exchanged a glance. “You think so?” Adrianne asked.

The boy shrugged. “The place was deserted for a while … or mostly—only a couple of guards at the main gate that we saw. Me and a couple of my buddies came out here once to check it out. I’m pretty sure that’s the brig.”

They made the long walk back to the van, drove back to town and dropped the boy off. “I’m not too keen about the horse idea, but I honestly don’t see another way. We can’t get close enough to the base to have much of a chance of escape otherwise.”

Since no one else seemed to have a better idea, they located a stable and arranged to rent horses for a trail ride. Adrianne didn’t feel up to the task of trying to load the horses in a horse trailer, and, in any case, Darcy didn’t have a trailer hitch, so she told the man they were ‘camping out’ in the van and asked if he’d deliver them to a designated spot so that they could get an early start the next morning.

It meant sitting out in the desert while they awaited delivery, but she couldn’t think of a better alternative. The man looked at her a little strangely, but agreed readily enough that he could deliver the horses after he closed the stables for the evening.

They had nothing to do then but kick their heels for several hours. Adrianne found she was a nervous wreck. She knew she’d be climbing the walls if they stayed in the motel waiting. So she suggested instead that they go out to eat and then go to a club for a drink.

It was obvious from Yar’s expression that he had no idea what she was talking about, but he never disagreed with any of her suggestions. Chance perked up at the proposal, which made Adrianne a little uneasy. “Three drink limit,” she said firmly.

“I’m not driving,” Chance said indignantly.

“You’ll be riding, though. If you fall off your horse, I’ll be alone.”

“Yar’s coming, isn’t he?”

“I seriously doubt if he knows any more about horses than I do, but it’d probably be a good idea to have him with us when … if we get Serena,” Adrianne said, glancing at Yar. “Are you coming with us?”

He nodded.

Chapter Seven

The bar was hot with the crush of bodies and the music almost overwhelming as the four of them made their way inside. Adrianne caught a glimpse of a table near the back that was empty and started toward it. Like most bars, she felt like salmon swimming upstream as she struggled through the tangle of gyrating bodies with Yar, Darcy, and Chance trailing behind.

A waitress buzzed by when they were seated, collected their orders and vanished. Adrianne wasn’t particularly fond of country music, which seemed the flavor of the day in the bar—probably the flavor of every day from the looks of the patrons. She was far more interested in getting a drink to soothe her nerves anyway, particularly when she noticed two men that stuck out like a sore thumb.

The ‘small’ one was about Yar’s size, and white. He was almost dwarfed by the other man, who was a very light skinned man of African descent.

She’d noticed the two men twice before, once when they stopped for lunch the day before and then again earlier today. Three times was no coincidence.

They might as well have been wearing a placard that read ‘FEDS’.

Adrianne took a gulp of her drink when it arrived, almost choking on it.

Leaning forward when she caught her breath, she asked, “Do you see those two men over there?”

Chance was busy chugging his beer. Yar and Darcy glanced around cautiously.
“Which two men?” Darcy asked dryly.

“The two men that have been following us that look like federal agents,” Adrianne said tartly.

Chance strangled on a mouth full of beer. He coughed for five minutes. By the time he was able to catch his breath, the two men had vanished. “Where?”

Adrianne looked around. “They’re gone now.”

“What makes you think they’re following us?” Darcy asked in a scared voice.

“This is the third time I’ve seen them since Arizona. Don’t you think it’s a hell of a coincidence that they’ve shown up at the same place we were three times in a row?”

“But … how could they follow us? Why would they follow us?”

“Maybe they’ve figured out we’re up to something? Maybe we didn’t get clean away like we thought we did back there at the crash site?”

Darcy took a long swig of her drink. “I’d like to go now.”

Adrianne shook her head. “They’re probably waiting outside for us. We’ll have to figure out a way to lose them before we leave.”

Yar took an experimental sip of the beer Adrianne had bought him and made a face. Despite her anxiety, or maybe because she was so tense, Adrianne chuckled. “I don’t like it either, but men seem to.”

Chance made a snorting noise and Adrianne glanced at him suspiciously. “What?”

Her eyes narrowed. Obviously, he felt intimidated by Yar. He seized every opportunity to make cutting remarks. Thankfully, Yar ignored him … or maybe he didn’t understand their language and customs well enough to realize Chance was being an asshole? In any case, she was relieved, whether it was ignorance or just Yar’s good nature that kept him from clobbering Chance. “You know. Cut it out.”

Chance shrugged and turned to look at the dancers.

“We need to work out a game plan,” Adrianne said. “Or maybe I should say, work on the details.”

Again, Chance shrugged. “We take the horses as close as we can get, sneak in, break this alien female out, ride off into the sunset.”

Adrianne glared at him, but before she could demand to know what they were supposed to do about the guards, a woman came up to the table.

“Mind if I borrow your man for a dance?”

Adrianne looked the woman over. The woman had spoken to her, but she hadn’t taken her eyes off of Yar and Adrianne didn’t like the way she was looking at Yar … at all. Unfortunately, Yar wasn’t hers. She shrugged. “You want to dance, Yar?”

He smiled. “I love to dance.”

“Have at it,” Adrianne said tightly, focusing on the drink in her hands.

When Yar rose and left, she turned to watch the two wind their way through the crowd to the dance floor and finally, resolutely, turned her back on the pair.

“What are we going to do about the guards?”

“I think, between me and Yar, we can handle them,” Chance said cockily, sending Darcy a smoldering look.

“We’re not going to have time for you guys to ‘have fun’. We need to get in and get out.”

Chance shrugged. “Got any pepper gas?”

Adrianne frowned as it occurred to her to wonder how Yar’s Orgasmizer would work on a man. If it worked the same way on men as it worked on women all they had to do was give the guards a jolt and they’d be incapacitated long enough for them to tie the men up. A smile curled her lips, and she turned to look in the direction that Yar had gone.

She could no longer see him. A crowd had closed around Yar and the woman.

He must be a pretty good dancer if the crowd was any indication. Even as she turned, the women in the group began to stamp their feet and scream encouragement. Curious, she craned her neck to see what was going on.

She still couldn’t see anything and finally stood up. Just as she did so, Yar leapt on top of a table. He was nude from the waist up, gyrating his hips while he slipped the T-shirt back and forth between his legs—like a male stripper. Adrianne’s jaw dropped as he reached for the snap of his jeans.

“Oh my God!”

“What?” Chance said, responding to the horror in her voice by leaping to his feet.

At just that moment, a very male roar interrupted the feminine whoops of appreciation, and the table Yar was dancing on shuddered, as if from a blow.

“Yar’s in trouble!” Adrianne yelled, surging forward.

The crowd ringing Yar parted abruptly as Adrianne approached … not to allow her access, but to avoid the very large body that came skittering across the floor toward her. Adrianne looked down in stunned surprise at Yar then up at the bull of a man that was advancing toward them. “Get up! Quick!”

Yar leapt to his feet, looking around just in time to receive the fist the bouncer threw at him. Adrianne didn’t think. Grabbing the heavy glass her drink had been served in, she heaved it at the man, catching him right between the eyes. The man staggered back a couple of steps, shook his head, and started toward her with a look in his eyes Adrianne didn’t like at all. Adrianne clutched Yar’s arm. “Don’t just stand there! Do something!”

“What?” Yar asked.

“Hit him!”

Yar swung at the man, but it was obvious even to Adrianne that Yar had never been in a fight in his life. He clipped the guy on the jaw purely by accident. Fortunately, Yar had about sixty pounds of solid meat packed into the punch and a good bit of momentum. The guy hit the floor and skidded backwards.

The crowd, which had seemed too stunned to react up until that moment, broke into a free-for-all as two men leapt out of the way, spilling their beer on the man and woman standing next to them. The two who’d been drenched in beer leapt to their feet. The woman slapped one of the ‘culprits’. The man with her punched the other guy in the face. Within seconds the bar was a heaving mass of struggling bodies, swinging fists, flying bottles and smashed chairs. Screaming women were running in every direction or throwing everything they could lay hand to.

The two federal agents burst through the front entrance just as all hell broke loose and were almost instantly absorbed into the general fray.

Seeing them, Adrianne realized they had ‘lucked’ into the perfect distraction for an escape. Grabbing Chance by the back of his shirt, she yanked on it to get his attention. The guy he’d been about to clobber seized on Chance’s distraction and jacked his jaw sideways. As Chance’s head snapped in her direction, Adrianne shouted. “We have to go now. Cut it out.”

Looking around, she discovered that Darcy was already halfway to the door.

Yar, she discovered, was on the floor again.

Grabbing a beer bottle, she cold cocked the guy standing over him. “Get up. We have to go.”

Yar scrambled to his feet, but before she could guide him to the door, he’d slugged the guy that had put him on the floor.

She’d say one thing for him. He was a fast learner.

He was grinning from ear to ear as he went for the next man.

Just like a man!

“You can beat somebody up later. I promise. Right now, we have to go. The cops’ll be here any minute to arrest everybody in the place.”

That got his attention. Grabbing her hand, he plowed the way through the bar to the entrance, belting everyone that stepped in his path on the way out.

They were racing toward the van when Chance came out the door as if he’d been pitched out, executing a belly flop in the parking lot.

“Quit screwing around, Chance!”

Shaking his head, he managed to drag himself to his feet, looked around in confusion for several moments and finally staggered toward the van.

They were almost a block away before they caught the first glimpse of flashing blue lights.

* * * *

Under the circumstances, they decided to stop by the hotel room long enough to allow Chance and Yar to clean up. Yar was upset that he’d lost his shirt in the fray and Adrianne wouldn’t allow him to go back for it. After the two men had cleaned up, they headed out once more, stopping at a discount store to buy Yar another shirt. The man was leaving with the horses when they finally arrived at the appointed spot. They had to flag him down and Adrianne’s stomach tightened another notch when she realized how closely they’d come to completely demolishing their plans. The mixed drink had helped, but that went the way of the wind when the fight had broken out and they had such a close call with the cops.

Once they’d picketed the horses, they waved the man off, promising to have the horses waiting for him when he came back for them the following evening. Adrianne hoped the horses would be waiting for him and not corralled on a federal reserve.

As soon as the man was out of sight, Adrianne and Yar mounted one horse, while Chance mounted the other. Darcy had been designated as lookout once more, to stay with the van. Adrianne had brought her backpack filled with her ‘break-in’ tools and made certain Yar had the Orgasmizer. She needn’t have worried. Yar kept a close watch on it. And who could blame him? It was the only thing he owned. She felt like a total bitch for coming up with the idea of taking it in exchange for her help.

Despite the fact that they’d covered the horses’ hooves to muffle the sound, they didn’t dare take the horses too close to the base. When they were within a half a mile of the base, they dismounted, tied the horses securely and made the remainder of the trek on foot.

It was pitch black. Only a smattering of stars could be seen overhead, most of them having been obscured by a heavy cloud covering. It was a blessing and a curse rolled into one. They could barely see, and they didn’t dare use flashlights, but at least they had the comfort of knowing they probably couldn’t be seen either.

Unless the guards were using those night vision glasses.

Adrianne shook the thought off, but she breathed a sigh of relief when they managed to reach the fence without incident. Dropping her back pack, Adrianne dug out the heavy wire cutters.

“Wait!” Chance cautioned. “It might be electrified.”

Adrianne swallowed a gulp of fear. “If it is, we’re screwed.”

“It probably isn’t, but it would be a good idea to check before we try to cut into it. You got a screwdriver with a rubber handle?”

She dug around and finally produced the screwdriver she’d bought. Chance peered at it for several moments and finally cautioned them to get back. Gingerly, he touched the tip to the wire. To everyone’s relief, nothing happened.

“Now we use the cutters.” Tossing her the screwdriver, he clipped one long line up the fence, then one across.

“You’re not going to cut it out?” Adrianne asked a little doubtfully.

“I’m hoping it won’t be noticeable if we leave it like this.”

She nodded and they slipped through the small opening one at the time, then scurried across the open area to the nearest building, flattening themselves against the side of it.

Peering around the corner of the building, Adrianne saw that two guards were stationed outside the brig, just as they had been earlier. She ducked back. “They’re standing squarely in front of the door. It was too much to hope, I guess, that they’d be walking around the building and give us a chance to sneak inside.”

“I think me and Yar could sneak up on either side of the building and take them.”

“You’d probably have a fight on your hands, in which case everybody that was anywhere around would come running.” She glanced at Yar. “How does that thing of yours work on men?”

Yar looked taken aback, then revolted. “My … tool? I can not!”

Adrianne bit back a chuckle. “The Orgasmizer.”

He looked relieved and then uncertain. “It was designed for women. I do not know.”

Adrianne shrugged. “My guess is, pretty much the same. Anyway, we’re about to find out.

They crept around to the back side of the building, then divided up. Adrianne took the Orgasmizer and sent Yar and Chance around the other side to make sure they subdued the guard on that side while she took the other one out. When she reached the front of the building, she waited for several moments to make sure Yar and Chance had had time to get into place, then made a psst noise.

The guard stiffened and turned slowly to look behind him. As he turned, Adrianne touched his hand with the Orgasmizer. He jerked, as if he’d been electrocuted, his eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled at her feet, jerking. Leaving him, Adrianne rushed around the front of the building. Yar and Chance each had hold of one of the other guard’s arms. Chance had his hand clamped firmly over the man’s mouth. Adrianne held out the Orgasmizer and advanced until she was within inches of him.

“I’d let go of him if I were you.”

The moment Yar and Chance released the man, Adrianne stuck the business end of the Orgasmizer to him. As the other guard had, he jerked as if a bolt of electricity had gone through him and collapsed in a writhing heap on the ground.

“She-it,” Chance exclaimed. “What is that thing, some kind of stun gun?”

“Oh, it’s stunning,” Adrianne said with a chuckle, “but it probably won’t hold them long. We need to get them tied and gagged and get moving before somebody notices the guards are missing.”

Yar and Adrianne left Chance binding the guards and moved cautiously inside. There was only one man on the inside. Adrianne caught him with the Orgasmizer as he rose from his chair. A quick search of the desk the man had been sitting at produced the keys to the cell behind him.

Serena lay sprawled on the third bunk to the right. She didn’t stir when they approached. More than half expecting it to be a trap, Adrianne approached the woman cautiously. She discovered, however, that it was no trick. Serena was conscious, barely, but her eyes were glazed. “Damn it! They’ve drugged her.”

Yar nodded. “She is a great warrior. They would not have captured her otherwise.”

“What’ll we do now?”

“I will carry her.”

Adrianne frowned, looking doubtfully at the amazonian proportions of the woman. “Can you?”

“I must.” He sat on the edge of the bunk and pulled Serena upright. She stared at him blankly a moment before a drunken smile curled her lips. “Zat you, Yar?”

“Yes, Mistress Serena.”

She patted him on the cheek … actually it was more of a slap, though Yar didn’t flinch. “Good boy,” she murmured before her eyes rolled back in her head.

Placing his shoulder under her belly, Yar stood, shifting her until he had her balanced. Chance met them in the outer room. “God almighty! You weren’t kidding, were you?”

He whirled then and led the way out. They were still struggling to get through the cut in the fence when the alarms went off. Yar had to put Serena down and drag her through the opening. By the time Adrianne managed to get through, he’d pulled Serena across his shoulders again. Instead of running, however, he turned to help her.

“Go! You’ve got enough to worry about. I can take care of myself.”

He kept pace with her as she ran, however, and she had the feeling that he was holding back on her account, rather than because of his burden. When they reached the horses, he carefully placed Serena across the horse Chance had ridden, then grabbed her around the waist and tossed her onto the other one, climbing up behind her.

They kicked the horses into a gallop just as a search light caught them in its beam.

Adrianne was glad they had brought the van as close as they dared. It seemed doubtful they would have out run the soldiers otherwise, for they weren’t hampered with the need to be quiet. Before they had covered more than half the distance between the base and the van, the very distinct sounds of a military vehicle reached their ears.

Adrianne craned around for a look back and her heart leapt into her throat. They weren’t going to make it. The horses were willing, but they were no match for the horses under the hoods of the trucks.

The trucks were barely a quarter of a mile from them by the time the van came into view, and closing fast. “Darcy! Start the van!” Adrianne shouted.

To her consternation, nothing happened. “Darcy! For God’s sake! They’re right behind us!” she screamed.

Darcy stepped out from behind the van at just that moment, caught in the high beams of the military trucks that were right behind them. Even from a distance, Adrianne could see that Darcy’s eyes were wide with fright. What she couldn’t understand was why Darcy was just standing at the end of the van, looking frightened, instead of jumping into the driver’s seat. In the next moment, she discovered why. Two men stepped from behind the van.

It was the FEDS.

Adrianne felt sick. They had the military behind them and the FEDS in front and nothing but two tired horses.

Turning in Yar’s arms, she kissed him quickly. “Put me down and go! You and Serena might still be able to make it.”

He looked surprised for a moment, and then his jaw set. “No.”

“The horse can run faster without two people on it. Chance can help you and Serena find the way back to the pod.”

As she was struggling to slide off the horse, a blinding light caught them abruptly.

Stunned, Adrianne looked around, and then up, wondering how she could have failed to hear a helicopter.

It wasn’t a helicopter above them, however. It was a sleek, silver cigar. The military vehicles came to a screeching halt as the vessel settled near the ground and ten of the biggest women Adrianne had ever seen in her life leapt from the portal that opened near the bottom of the craft. Screaming like wild Indians, they fired light bursts from some sort of guns that disintegrated the military vehicles to dust even as men dove from the trucks in every direction like rats off a sinking ship, throwing their guns down and running back toward the base as fast as their legs could carry them.

“Serena’s sisters,” Yar said, a note of resignation in his voice.

Chapter Eight

Serena was still a little groggy, but had recovered enough to get off the horse and stand. “Sylvia?” she said a little doubtfully as the tallest of the women approached her.

Sylvia smiled wryly. “It is a good thing for you, Serena, that these Earth barbarians were stupid enough to hold you in the same place as your ship. Without the tracking chip, we could not have found you. For that matter, it is a good thing that you are the baby. Otherwise we would not have come to look for you.”

Serena grinned and threw her arms around her oldest sister, hugging her tightly.
“As always, your timing is perfect.”

Apparently oblivious of the Earth barbarians, the sisters shared a round of hugs and excited conversation for several moments, but, to Adrianne’s dismay, they had not forgotten the situation. They simply saw none of the Earth barbarians as a threat.

After they’d reacquainted themselves, they turned to study the Earthlings.

Chance was still seated on his horse, staring at the women with his mouth at half cock. Unnerved by the women, Adrianne inched a little closer to Yar. To her surprise Yar placed an arm around her protectively.

Serena didn’t miss the movement, or its implications. Her eyes narrowed for several moments. After a moment, she approached them, stopping a few feet away and placing her hands on her hips. Yar stared at her a long moment and finally released Adrianne and went down on one knee, bowing his head. “I rejoice that you are freed, Mistress Serena.”

Serena smiled thinly, patted the top of his bent head, and turned her attention to Adrianne. “You helped me to escape.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

Adrianne blushed in spite of all she could do. “I made a bargain with Yar to help free you in exchange for the Orgasmizer9000. We don’t have anything like that. It would make me rich.”

To Adrianne’s surprise, Serena looked her over with a touch of respect. She smiled faintly. “I am forever amazed at how puny Earth women are, but you have potential.”

Adrianne smiled. “I’m pretty amazed myself at the women of Barbron.”

Serena chuckled.

“These others--they helped also?”

Adrianne looked around. “Chance, over on the horse … and my friend, Darcy. The two men are Federal Agents. They came to stop us.”

Serena jerked her head in some sort of signal and her sisters moved, surrounding the two federal agents.

“You and your friends may go.”

Adrianne glanced at Yar. “What about Yar?”

“My slave?”

Adrianne’s lips tightened, but she held her temper in check. It was obvious from Serena’s reception to her previous comment that Serena was a business woman. “I will barter for him.”

Yar glanced at her sharply, but Adrianne ignored him.

A gleam of interest entered Serena’s eyes. “What?”

“Those two men over there.”

Serena threw back her head and laughed. “They are not yours to barter.”

Adrianne couldn’t help but smile back. “It was worth a try.”

“What about the machine there?”

Adrianne glanced at the van. “It’s not mine. I have a car, though … it’s back in Vegas. But you’ll have to go there anyway to get the pod Yar used,” she added hastily.

“Done!” Serena held out her hand and although Adrianne was a little surprised at the very human gesture, she shook hands with the woman.

Serena smiled. “I’ve always had a fondness for things from Earth.”

Adrianne looked around. “I’ll take us a while to get back.”

Serena shook her head. “You’ll go with us. I get the car, then you get my slave.”

“What about those two?” Adrianne said, jerking her head in the direction of the agents. “They’re not just going to let us leave.”

Serena turned, studied the two men for several moments and finally walked over to them. After studying them for several moments, she faced the black man. “I’ll take this one.”

“I think not!” he said in a deep, melodious voice and threw a punch at her. Serena was far quicker however, and apparently just as powerful. She knocked him flat, then leaned over, pulled him up and threw him over one shoulder, patting his ass. “Nice.”

The other agent made a dash for it, but was quickly subdued and one of Serena’s sisters tossed him over her shoulder and started back toward the craft.

Adrianne turned to Darcy. “I’ll see you back in Vegas.”

“You trust them?” Darcy whispered worriedly.

“Not especially. But it’s the only chance I have to get Yar. I can’t very well fight for him.”

Darcy chewed her lip. “Adrianne … is it really worth the risk?”

Adrianne turned to look at Yar. “He is.”

* * * *

The trip from Roswell to Las Vegas, that had taken them almost twelve hours to drive, took less than thirty minutes in the Barbron craft. To be on the safe side, they set the craft down near the pod, well outside the city and hailed the first cab they saw upon reaching the city limits. Adrianne was more than a little anxious that Serena might change her mind about their bargain when she saw the car. It was only a couple of years old, and a sports model, but nothing at all like the van Serena had wanted. To her relief, Serena was thrilled. Adrianne demonstrated the workings of the vehicle, then held on for dear life as Serena careened around the neighborhood several times, trying it out.

“It uses gasoline. You might have a problem with fuel,” Adrianne felt compelled to tell her.

Serena shrugged. “There is always fuel of one kind or another to be had.”

It took an effort to stand once Serena stopped the car and let her out again. Her knees were so weak, she had to lock them to keep from wilting to the sidewalk. To her surprise and alarm, Serena got out of the car and summoned Yar, who’d waited for them on the front walk. Yar approached her and knelt, bowing his head.

“The Earth woman has changed you,” she said thoughtfully. Yar threw her a startled look and Serena smiled. “You were never quite as a slave should be, Yar. It’s one of the reasons I was always so fond of you.” She was silent for several moments. “I would have freed you for helping me to escape even if the woman had not bartered for you, but I see no reason not to take what was offered.

“Go …with my blessing. Breed fine daughters on your Earth woman. The women of this world need a better root stock. The women here are too puny.”

Yar looked at her with a mixture of confusion and hopefulness. “I am a slave. I can not breed.”

Serena chuckled, shaking her head. “Of course you can. Few of the women of Barbron can afford the time or the luxury of breeding their young themselves. We transfer our hatchlings to those who can.”

Yar frowned. “But I have not.”

“You have. I will tell her her father is a free man of Earth. Perhaps one day she will come to see you.”

Dismissing him, she climbed back into the car, shifted it into gear and floored the gas pedal.

“I hope she manages to make it out of Vegas without the police pulling her over,” Adrianne murmured as Serena tore off down the street with a squeal of tires. “What did she say to you?”

“That you are mine,” Yar said, smiling a little doubtfully. “Are you?”

“If you want me,” Adrianne said cautiously.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I want you. But I am not sure I will be useful to you. I do not know Earth ways very well. I must take care of you, yes?”

Adrianne grinned against his chest. “Between you and the Orgasmizer9000, I think we’ll do just fine.”

The End