Life Cycle of the Kaelen

   Ellen Grode, Mission Commander Dale Kendai, Mission Specialist
   The kaelen

   The kaelen seemingly fill the common insect niche in the planetary
ecology.  While the kaelen have four legs rather than six as in insects on
many systems, they share enough common traits with traditional arthropods,
such as a chitinous exoskeleton, three main body parts, compound eyes,
etc., that we classify them as equivalents to the traditional class
Insecta. As we learned however, they are far more than mere insects.

   N/K identified a number of characteristics distinctive to the kaelen.
First are the large, feather-like antennae, which can be half as long as
the insect's body.  Second is the large ribbed abdomen.  Third, and most
puzzling to many, was the fact the kaelen observed seemed to all be male.
While the number of individuals sampled by N/K was of necessity (and
thankfully) small, all were genetic males.  Adult males average about
twelve inches in length; juvenile males average from eight to ten inches in
length.

   N/K speculated, as have many xenoentomologists, on the role of the large
feathered antennae.  They are indeed sensory organs of breathtaking
sensitivity and versatility.

   In their report, N/K speculated that the kaelen could detect the probe
fields projected from their survey ship onto the planetary surface below.
N/K were taken to task by many for this, with the repeated argument that
since even wide band probe fields represent incursions only a few
centimeters in diameter, and sample such a low percentage of the energy at
the probe interface, that they are virtually undetectable.  We demonstrated
the kaelen can and do detect probe fields, and do so in calm meteorological
conditions from meters away.  This is why we have so few close-up wide band
recordings, having to make do with biometric recordings made from our own
ears and eyes.

   Initial Survey Steps

   Our ten month subspace journey from Survey Outpost 12 to the planet was
uneventful and yet insightful.  It gave us time to study in detail all the
data recorded by N/K's initial orbital survey, adapt to the target
environment, and practice language skills.

   We entered a standard synchronous orbit above the planet.  No artificial
radiation sources were detected over a 48 hour scan, so probe fields were
projected onto the planet surface.  Initial readings from the target area
were used to refine our environmental simulation of the planetary surface
in the ship's exercise and recreation deck, so we could improve our
environmental accommodation.  Of particular interest to us was developing
melanin levels sufficient to tolerate exposure to the local sun.  Put
bluntly, we had to work on our tans as the people of the planet are mostly
nude in tropical conditions.  The Polynesian heritage we shared, and which
helped select us for this study, gave us a good start.

   We should mention a bit more on our selection for this mission.  As
usual, we were selected by the Survey AI and offered this mission.  We
eagerly accepted.  Our Polynesian heritage allowed us to fit the physical
characteristics of the native peoples with only slight cosmetic alteration.
Of vital importance was our complete ease with insects.  Finding a team
with the requisite linguistic and anthropological skills was not
sufficient; what was needed was a team who would not scream at insects this
size crawling on them, and living with them.  As is also common with many
survey teams, Dale and I are husband and wife, and are amenable to the
close quarters and working relationships demanded by the long subspace
flight to the target planet, and the survey itself.

   Based on our review of the N/K survey, we posed a number of hypotheses.
First, we assumed the kaelen's sensory apparatus was a keen olfactory
receptor.  We would be coming in as outsiders, and would smell different.
We wished to minimize this difference as much as possible.  Second, we
assumed the kaelen could probably sense our probe fields, especially high
bandwidth probe fields, and planned a set of trials to test this
hypothesis. We structured further plans along the rejection or acceptance
of this important hypothesis.

   Following the agreed upon plan, we studied a small island group a few
thousand kilometers from where we would eventually make planetfall.  We
made use of the ship's probe fields, tractor beams, and replicators to
provide us with native air, water, and food.  This allowed us to immerse
ourselves in the native environment as much as possible, and adapt to the
climate, as well as food, drink, and living conditions.  Weaning ourselves
from modern sanitary facilities and learning to use and live with chamber
pots was difficult.

   We wished to use the probe fields in the standard way; making
audiovisual recordings of native interactions to enable us to study not
only linguistic structures, but also develop better cultural models.

   We initiated trials to determine if the kaelen could sense probe fields.
Experiments repeatedly showed that under calm meteorological conditions an
adult male kaelen could detect a wide band probe field at a distance of 2.6
meters with a standard deviation of .2 meters (n=126).  Low bandwidth
(sound only) probe fields were detectable at a distance of 60 centimeters
in calm meteorological conditions (n=44).  The kaelen became agitated at
the presence of probe fields, and attempted to make physical contact with
the probe fields.  Post-trial analysis of the initial experiment pointed to
the largest variable in detection being meteorological -- the more
unsettled the weather, the lower the probability of detection.  A quickly
planned and run experiment pointed to local atmospheric electrical
activity, especially the presence of ions and moisture, as reducing
detection probability.

   These results suggested we could use audio only probes in a satisfactory
manner, although not close-up, and high-level audiovisual probes very
rarely.

   Using this approach, we studied a select group for a period of three
standard months.  Our language skills increased, as would be expected, but
we had many difficulties with the shipboard AI linguistic system,
overruling it with increasing frequency.

   After another month of mainly audio survey of our target group, we
initiated insertion onto the planetary surface.

   Insertion is always critical, often times defining success or failure of
the overall survey.  It is axiomatic in the Survey Service that a survey
mission of this nature is a mission for life, a life which may turn out to
be both short and unpleasant, as every Survey student learns from studying
the records of the infamous Ballou/Martin expedition.

   Since the planet is technologically primitive, conditions effectively
required that we be inserted totally devoid of detectable artificial
instrumentalities.  We would land on our island in a boat replicated from
one used at our study site some thousands of kilometers away, and we would
land naked.  We planned to make planetfall and insertion along the edge of
a seasonal storm; this would provide enough disturbances for probe and
effector fields to be used without risking detection.  Once landfall was
made, we would rely only on our own biometric relays sending what we
experienced through our ears and eyes back to the ship.

   Given the kaelen's proven sensitivity to probe fields, we were initially
concerned about our own implants, but quickly concluded we couldn't do
anything about them.  We each had the standard biometric monitoring and
relay equipment: power pack and main node in the right femur, link package
behind the breastbone, and the usual interface nodes along the spine and in
the skull.  If these proved to be a difficulty, we'd have no choice but to
abort the mission.

   In planning insertion, we gave our ship's AI leeway in guiding us
through the storm system; we were to be delivered to the target island
without serious injury.

   While we thought our instructions to the AI clear, in retrospect we
neglected to consider the latitude given the AI, and the seemingly wry
sense of humor it used in interpreting our instructions.  We suggest this
topic would be a fertile field of study, and one of substantial interest to
future survey teams.

   The remainder of this report is written from the perspective of Mission
Commander Grode.  Mission Specialist Kendai concurs with this report, and
will file a separate report in the future dealing with his specialty,
planetary ecology.

   While some may decry the reporting style, and we can hear them already
over the light years wondering where we were at Survey when they taught us
to write objective reports, we respond with the comment made by Martin in a
similar situation: Life is subjective.  Similarly, some may decry the
intense sexual content of this report.  Indeed, many who knew us closely at
Survey may find it difficult to believe.  That's life.

   Insertion and First Contact

   I thought I had been clear and concise with the AI.  We would be
tractored down through the atmosphere to our sail craft.  Both Dale and I
have substantial experience sailing small craft.  The AI would use ship's
sensors and effectors to guide us along the edge of the storm for two days,
then deliver us onto the target landfall without serious injury.  The goal
was to simulate a craft taken greatly off course by a storm.  Emergency
extraction would take place up to the point of landfall if and only if our
lives were threatened.

   Our target island was midsize, with a population of about four hundred
split among three main villages.  The area and village we chose had a
number of fresh water ponds, waterfalls, and areas with deliberately
cultivated crops.  As is common in these societies, dwellings are small
huts, some clustered, and some spaced out.

   The bloody AI put us through two and a half days of hell before dumping
us shipwrecked on a beach just before local sunset.  Countless times we
fully expected to feel the tingle of effector fields surrounding us and
pulling us from the edge of death.  Evidently "serious injury" to our AI
did not include being half-drowned, battered, bruised, and exhausted --
physically, mentally, emotionally.  I was almost overjoyed at being slammed
by the surf face first into the sand of that beach.

   Dale and I huddled together for a while, still lashed by wind and sea.
We were pulled up onto shore by a group of males in a fishing party.  As
recounted by N/K, nets are used to catch fish.  As they pulled us up to
safety on the shore, we saw our small boat in pieces on the coral reef and
along the shore.

   We knew we'd be identified as outsiders, but our studies so far
indicated that strangers were welcomed.  We'd deliberately immersed
ourselves in a slightly different dialect -- one which would allow us to
communicate, but would still identify us as not-from-here.  This is an
important survey guideline: don't try to be what you're not; you can't fool
natives.

   We were questioned briefly by one of the men.  Since the societal
structure is uniformly matriarchal over all the areas surveyed both by us
and by N/K, I answered.  This was a good plan, as Dale had swallowed a
large amount of seawater.  As he was being moved, he vomited up this
seawater, which contained a couple of small fish, and lost consciousness. I
quickly verified his vital signs; once we hit the beach emergency
extraction was cancelled.  The ship confirmed that he was merely
unconscious, and unharmed.  He was battered, bruised, and half drowned, but
to the damned AI he was unharmed.

   We were brought to a small covered area on the outskirts of the village,
well sheltered from the storm that continued around us.  We waited there
for some period of time.  I was still so shaken that I didn't consult my
retinal chronometer.

   Our reception committee was startling.  We'd speculated at the reception
outsiders would receive.  Certainly it would be armed men, concerned about
protecting the security of their people and lands from possible marauders.
But we were approached by a group of eight women, with a larger group of
women behind them.

   The eight who approached us were older women.  They were not the oldest,
as we could see one or two obviously older women in the second group.  But
these women were certainly among the elders of the village.  More striking
was the fact that each of these women had many kaelen riding on her, at
least two or three per woman.  One woman must have had six or seven; two
were old kaelen, and the rest were smaller, younger individuals.  As the
xenoentomologists suggested, the age of an individual kaelen is easily
estimated by size and by the characteristic sheen of the exoskeleton.
Older individuals take on a smooth almost gemlike glow.

   The kaelen were riding on their shoulders, hanging from the woven skirts
that are the only clothing worn by both sexes, or on top of their heads in
the case of smaller kaelen.  The women circled around us.  That's when I
noticed the noises the kaelen were making.  I detected a few different
noises.  For a moment the women just squatted around us, touching us
gently, asking us if we were injured.

   A couple of the mid-sized kaelen hopped down from their carriers and
came to us.  Dale was still not quite with it.  I watched as a young
kaelen, perhaps nine inches long, brushed his leg with its antennae, then
walked up his body and up to his head.

   I felt a brushing sensation on my side, and felt one walking up to sit
on my shoulder.  Its legs felt slightly sharp, as if barbed, but not
painful, very similar to the simulations we'd trained with.

   As they did this it hit me; we were alive.  We'd made planetfall, and
survived not only the storm, but also our damned AI.  I was able to relax
for the first time in days.  I was hungry, sore, and tired.  Now I could
relax, and relax I did, for I was exhausted.

   One of the women asked our names.  We'd decided on local sounding names
taken from our sample group, but when she asked me, I said, "Ellen." I
pointed to Dale and said, "This is Dale, my husband." She smiled and asked,
"You are not from here?" She had a wonderful warm smile.  I knew we were
safe.  I told her we were from far away and had been caught by the storm.

   She gave us another warm smile.  She told us we would be taken to a hut
where we could rest and recover; there would be time for more talk in the
morning.

   Three men carried Dale.  Two women helped me walk to the hut.  I was so
tired, yet felt kinship, compassion, and safety.  They helped us into the
hut.  There inside were the typical woven mats.  Two sets of gourds were by
the entrance: one set containing a mixture of water and fruit juice for us,
the other set to be used as chamber pots for waste.

   As they helped us to the mats, I noticed a number of kaelen climbing up
the inside of the hut.  I straightened Dale out, moving him to a
traditional rescue position on his side, in case he was to vomit up more
water.  One of the other women helped me lie down next to him.  She told
me, "He will be fine.  You are safe." She held my hand gently, looking down
on me.  It seemed as if she made a gentle clicking noise a few times.  I
noticed the kaelen were making noise again as well.  She told me "You are
safe.  Now you should rest, just rest." It felt so good to be lying down
again.  I was so relaxed; I felt so comforted now.  She let my hand down
near my side and got up slowly.  It seemed as if the kaelen's clicking
slowed down after she left.  I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, and
drifted to sleep.

   First Days

   To acclimatize ourselves, we'd been sleeping on similar mats on our ship
for the last almost five months; it hadn't been easy.  Still, when I woke
in the morning, I couldn't remember a night when I'd slept better.  I
looked up and saw our kaelen committee still in the top of the hut.  I
rolled over and looked at Dale.  He was sleeping soundly.  My retinal
chronometer showed it was a little after seven in the morning local time. I
made an inquiry to the ship; both our vitals were nominal, which is to say
I was hungry from not eating for two days.  I sat up and used my chamber
pot (something else we'd practiced for months), then had some water and
juice.  It was delicious.

   Dale stirred.  I greeted him in the local language.  We talked briefly;
he felt much better, although hungry and sore as well.  We heard some
motion outside the hut momentarily.

   He used the chamber pot and we shared the rest of the water.  As we did
so, our kaelen chorus started in again.

   We smiled at each other; it was good to be alive.  "What should we do
while we wait?" I asked him with a smile.  He evidently shared my idea, as
he moved over and we kissed.

   We've been lovers for years, as are similar survey teams.  Still, there
was something special, something more fulfilling, more exciting, about our
lovemaking that morning.  He caressed my nipples for a while, then slipped
inside me as I drew my legs up.

   Possibly it was the excitement and relief of just being alive, but I
came with a suddenness and intensity that surprised me.  He followed soon
after.

   As we lay there together afterwards, to our chorus singing a slightly
different tune, he looked at me and said something he said rarely.  It's
something I longed to hear, something every woman longs to hear.  He said,
"I love you," and he said it with a strength and emotion I'd never heard
from him before.

   I knew he said it from his heart.  I held him to me and told him, "I
know.  I love you, oh I love you."

   We held each other for a while, until a voice from outside the hut said,
"Would you like to talk?"

   Custom held that we put on our skirts and invite the person in.  We did
so.

   We were joined by two of the older women from our group last night.
Each woman had two or three kaelen, all older adults.  They joined in the
song of their kin in the thatch of the hut.

   One asked, "Did you sleep well?"

   I smiled and said, "Better than in a long time."

   "You are from far away," she said, her face, her voice, her person
radiating calm.

   I sighed a little.  Their language didn't have the words or the concepts
for how far away.  "Yes, very far."

   "Why have you come here?" she asked simply.

   This was the big question.  We'd planned and modeled how to answer.  But
I threw our planning aside and said, "We wish to live with you and learn
your ways." I guess that's the simplest way to describe what a cultural
anthropologist and a planetary ecologist do.

   "Why?" she said.

   I thought of all the data we'd reviewed.  All the speculations of both
others and ourselves we'd discussed.  All the anomalies.  It was such a
peaceful place.

   I looked in her eyes and said, "You have something special here.  We
want to learn it, live it." That's what we wanted to do; live with them,
live as they did.

   She smiled and nodded her head.  She looked at her companion, who looked
a bit older, as did her kaelen.  She too nodded and smiled.

   Our questioner extended her hands to me.  "You are welcome here.  You
must be hungry."

   Dale and I laughed.  "Yes, we are."

   The hut was crowded with the four of us.  The two women left first; Dale
followed me out.  Others were waiting outside and helped us stand.  As was
Dale, I was a little wobbly from the intensity of recent events -- either
our raft ordeal, or our lovemaking.

   The others looked expectantly at the older of the two women.  She turned
to them and said, "They are from far away.  They are here to learn from us.
They are welcome as family."

   That generated some noise from the crowd of twenty or more of both sexes
and all ages.  We received hugs from the adults.  The women hugged me.
Dale got hugs from both men and women.  I noticed a number of the women
seemed to be sizing him up.  As our hosts started walking to another area,
I took his hand and tucked it into the back of my skirt, pulling him along
in the manner traditional for a wife to take her husband.  I heard some
noises of surprise from women behind me.  I didn't look back, but it seemed
the women giving him the eye didn't have kaelen with them.  Neither did I.
That was the first time I hypothesized kaelen were an indication of
bonding, of marriage.

   We went to a central clearing and sat with a slightly larger group of
men and women.  There we were presented with more drink, and the wonderful
bread that forms the staple of their diet.

   This bread was only briefly mentioned by N/K, but plays a vital role in
both the culture and our understanding of it.

   It is made from two different cultivated roots.  The roots are skinned,
washed, then mashed.  This is done separately.  Either root alone is not
palatable.  But when mixed together in the proper proportions and baked, a
wonderful product results.

   The mixing, kneading, and baking is a major task of the women during the
day.  It took days for me to learn to get it right.  Cooking this bread is
a process between baking and steaming.  A smoky, steamy fire is built in a
hut similar to the ones used as dwellings.  The dough is placed on sticks
suspended above and around the hot steam to cook.  Other things may be
added besides the two roots, and cooking time varies from a few hours to a
day.

   The result is light but filling.  Shipboard analysis showed it to be
almost nutritionally complete.  With a little fish and some fruit, a
complete if somewhat bland diet is obtained.

   One of the kaelen-less women sat near Dale and offered him some bread.
Our studies prevailed though, and he respectfully declined her offer (she
was quite beautiful) and turned to me.  I broke a piece off the chunk given
me and offered it to him.  He took it, kissing my hand, as was the ritual
we'd seen and practiced.

   I heard an audible sigh of despair, followed by young female laughter.

   As we ate, we were quizzed again about our arrival and passage through
the storm.  As I had last night, I told them we were from far away, and
didn't know where we were.  We had been carried for the storm for at least
two days, and wrecked here.  Everyone but Dale found the story of his
regurgitating two live fish quite humorous.  He was asked questions, and
answered politely.

   After a bit the group started separating for their daily tasks.  We were
told we should rest for a couple of days before joining in with the work.
The men spend the days fishing, collecting fruit, collecting and preparing
wood for fires, and cultivating crops.  The women spend the day raising the
young, weaving and mending nets and clothing, preparing bread and other
meals.

   One young woman was assigned to us as a guide.  She called herself Dina.
She was short, perhaps a head shorter than me, with thick black hair.  Her
posture was gorgeous, as was the way her hips and breasts swayed as she
walked.  She had three kaelen riding with her.  I though I remembered her
in the group with the eldest of the women from last night, but wasn't sure.

   The village area she showed us was well planned and looked very stable.
This was one of the puzzles.  How could you have such stability in an
island-style culture with no metal tools?  They cultivated crops; they were
beyond mere hunter/gatherer or slash-and-burn agriculture.  They were
practicing methodical cultivation.  Raiding, piracy, warfare seemed
unknown. We had yet to find linguistic equivalents for many of our
so-called advanced society's more brutal traits.

   We visited an area of huts near the freshwater pools.  The first pool we
visited was large and open to all, and used for swimming and bathing.  The
second was smaller and more remote.  It was obviously for more ceremonial
uses, but those weren't spelled out.  Along the edge of this area was a
spot where it seemed huts had occasionally been burned to the ground.
Could it be possible there was violence in this society after all?

   We returned to the larger fresh water pond and took the time to bathe
and relax.  We could tell many eyes were upon us.  The only other couples
there were ones with small children.  These women left their kaelen with
the children while going into the water, or left the kaelen on the bank
while going in with the kids.  I started noticing that the vast majority of
women having kaelen had only one; those with more than one were treated
with great respect, and most of these seemed to be older.  Our Dina seemed
to be an exception to the rule.

   Knowing open displays of affection are common in the society, and seeing
some in other parts of the pond, I pulled Dale to me and kissed him near
the edge of a small waterfall.  My motive was to show the other women he
was mine.  I became quite distracted in his strong arms though.

   We headed back for a light lunch of more bread and fruit.  Dina
suggested we might like to nap, and thinking of his holding me earlier, I
agreed.  We returned to the hut in which we'd spent the night.  As we took
off our skirts we heard the skittering of three or four kaelen climbing up
the inside of the hut.  We lay down and snuggled together.  I definitely
had other ideas, but with our chorus making noise above us again, we
quickly fell asleep.

   Dinner included some cooked fish.  Afterwards we retired early.  To the
accompaniment of our chorus, we made passionate love.  I spread Dale on his
back and sat on top of him, rocking us to ecstasy.  After incredible
orgasms for both of us, including one of the few times in my life I'd had
multiple orgasms from intercourse alone, we snuggled together.  I drew him
to my breast and held him there, feeling him sucking gently, as we went to
sleep to our chorus.

   We were given one more day of slack before being put to work.  Dina
showed us the different areas of the village and helped us choose a hut.
We were located in an interesting area, bordering the elders' area and that
of the young married people.  We were accepted, but still different.  The
evidently unmarried women, those without kaelen, were becoming more sure
that Dale was attached, even though we didn't fit their model.

   I first worked alongside a group of women of mixed ages, from teens to
probably forties, preparing bread.  It took a few days before I learned the
right consistency and the right mixture; it was a matter of feel and of
taste.

   Poor Dale had a harder time of it.  While he was a little taller than
most of the natives, and about the same weight; he was much more muscular.
He wasn't nimble enough to climb trees, and while he was strong enough to
pull nets, his hands were still soft.  So he ended up working in the
fields. He'd come back in the evening tired and sore.  We'd wash, eat, and
collapse in our hut, rarely failing to make passionate love, and going to
sleep.  We always seemed to have one or more kaelen in our hut at night.  I
quickly learned to love holding him to me, suckling him gently, going to
sleep awash in a contentment I had never known before.

   To my delight, Dale's work was interrupted by storms; as we knew, this
was the stormy part of the year.  In those times we'd spend more time in
our huts.  So did the kaelen; we had more visitors during the storms, and
more time for even more passionate lovemaking.

   Questions

   We knew from our studies the society was matriarchal.  The governing
group (you couldn't say ruling group, not only because the term wasn't
applicable, but because the term didn't exist in their language) was of
women of mixed ages.  The common factor seemed to be that they each had
more than one kaelen.  A couple of the women had many.  With these women,
two of the kaelen at least were older individuals seemingly of the same
age; some had three.  A few women, older widows, carried their old
companions and a bunch of younger, smaller males, distinguishable not only
by the difference in size, but also by the gem-like sheen the older males
acquire.

   So the governing group was identified by the multiplicity of kaelen.
Now, is this cause or effect?  There were a lot of questions I wanted to
ask, such as that one, and some basics such as the life span of a kaelen,
but we'd recognized there were quite a few linguistic taboos surrounding
them.

   One of the anomalies pointed out by N/K dealt with a set of ritual
questions and answers.  If this is a matriarchal society, why is the answer
to the ritual question, "Who brings us life?" the phrase, "He does." And
the same answer to the question, "Who brings us peace?" N/K and
commentators aside, it didn't feel like deity worship to me.

   It is also axiomatic that any stable system consists of a gain element
and a control element.  Part of the energy of the system is diverted to
control, to feedback, providing stability.  How does that model apply here?
It's strange that this thought came to me only a few days after planetfall.
Something in me obviously found it important.

   Our lovemaking since planetfall had been glorious.  I've never before
been so completely satisfied, and satisfied so often.  One issue we had to
address was oral sex: Dale going down on me.  He really loves it, and so do
I.  Before arriving on planet, in years past, he would lie between my legs,
bringing me to orgasm before we'd have intercourse.  We learned in orbit
that the size of the huts, native gravity, and the so-called bedding
wouldn't permit that, at least not with ease or comfort.

   Of course we found an alternate solution while in orbit.  Dale would lie
on his back and I'd straddle his head.  He'd eat me to delirium, and when I
couldn't take any more, I'd impale myself on him.  It was a true win-win
solution, even if I did occasionally shake the hut a bit while holding on.

   A few weeks after planetfall, we had an even more spectacular evening of
lovemaking.  Sometimes I'd be joined by a kaelen during the day.  Sometimes
so would Dale.  While this was not the norm, we saw it in others as well.
It wasn't uncommon especially in teenagers to see them with a kaelen
accompanying them for a day or two.

   That observation started pointing out another pattern to me.  Kaelen
were carried almost exclusively by women.  Teenage women carried them.
Then women in their late teens did not, unless they were married.  Why the
gap?  Sometimes we'd see boys or men with them, but usually only for a few
days.

   Back to that evening though; I'd had a kaelen join me as soon as I awoke
in the morning, scampering from one of the older women to my shoulder as
soon as we arrived for the morning meal.  I seemed to be thirsty and hungry
all day, yet lethargic.  When I met Dale on his return in the afternoon, he
was quickly joined by a kaelen.  He was surprised and pleased; we both
liked the bugs.  We liked the way they sang to us at night.

   We both hurried through the evening meal.  Shortly after the end of the
meal, we were both itchy.  With perhaps unseemly haste, I tucked his busy
hand in my skirt and headed to our hut.  I scarcely got him inside before
we were grabbing at each other.  We'd become accustomed to lovemaking with
me on top; I think he enjoyed it more.  He seemed to lose himself in our
lovemaking more than in the past; he was much more passionate, much less
reserved.  But that night, even though I was so horny, even though I needed
him so much, I just had to lie down.

   He was an animal, a very passionate animal.  Even thinking back to our
early days together at the Academy, I have trouble remembering when we made
love as many times in a night.  I lost track of how many times I came, how
many times he came inside me.  I was lost in a delirious fog.  We'd finish,
I'd start to hold him to me, and after a few minutes he was ready to go
again.  He seemed possessed.

   We slept for short periods, or at least I did, and we carried on into
the day.  We missed breakfast, but anonymous hands left us fruit and bread
in the morning.  All I wanted to do was lie on my back and have him inside
me.

   We stumbled out of our hut for lunch, and ate heartily.  The younger
people smiled, but kept their distance.  Sometime during lunch the kaelen
that had been accompanying us left, to be replaced by different
individuals. When we walked back to our hut, anything but siesta on our
minds, we each had one on our shoulders.

   We made passionate love again, two or three times I think.  I was lost
in that haze again.  Then we slept.  We struggled to get up for the evening
meal, and went back to the hut afterwards.  I was sore and Dale was acting
delirious.  I don't know if I expected, wanted, or feared we'd be at it
again.  Instead, we cuddled up and went to sleep under our usual chorus.

   Other than both of us being sore the next day or so, it was as if
nothing had happened as far as the rest of the village was concerned.

   A while after that, I got my second period since arriving in orbit.
During the long journey whispering beneath the stars, menstrual periods are
suppressed.  While I resumed my normal cycle prior to planetfall, I was
still being medicated by the ship with a contraceptive.

   My periods are rough for the first couple of days.  I'm tender, my
bottom hurts.  In this society, a woman spends the days of her period in
one of a group of huts around the small pond.  There's an area set aside
for them to wash.

   Dina seemed to know the morning my period was due to start.  As she led
me to one of the huts after breakfast, I checked the chronometer; yes I was
due.  I spent only two days in a small hut, with food and drink brought to
me by one of the younger girls.  I slept and dreamed most of the time.  I
was a little surprised when a girl brought my food; I thought usually the
husbands did that.  I slept a lot, and surprisingly, my period was mostly
over on the third day and had been easier than any I could remember.

   Being reunited with Dale was also glorious; he really missed me and I
let him show me just how much.  That night after he ate me and then I rode
us both to delirium, he held me so close, suckling hungrily as we went to
sleep in each other's arms.

   [1] http://www.very.net/nikolai/erotica/pheromoa.htm

   Part 2 Answers -- Learning

   A few days later, Dina rescued me from the morning breadmaking.
Actually, I was enjoying the work.  I'd learned to let my hands do it while
my mind focused on women talk: how the various children were doing, who was
likely to pick whom for a mate, that kind of thing.  That was another
linguistic anomaly; a woman picked her mate, but He somehow had to bless
the selection.  We heard the sad tale of one poor girl who was heartbroken
at not being able to have her first pick.  Who is this He?

   Dina rescued me and led me to walk by the small pond.  She had her usual
three kaelen, and a visitor who quickly scampered to my shoulder.  We sat
by the edge of the pond, away from the falls barely audible in the
distance. Sitting down seemed to be a cue for our kaelen to start singing.

   I liked Dina.  She had been a good guide, even though I could tell she
was unsure at times.  This seemed to be one of those times.

   "Dina, what is troubling you?" I asked.

   She smiled.  "We have been talking." ("We" being the guiding group.)

   "You have not made Dale your husband," she said.  (While I've been
rendering everything in colloquial form, the verb she used for "have made"
was from the same root as the verb for making bread.)

   "He is my husband," I replied.  I certainly felt that way.

   She frowned a bit.  "But you have not *made* him your husband." She
emphasized with the hand gestures of mixing and kneading the dough.

   I looked at her.  "I do not understand."

   She shook her head, evidently not understanding either.  She repeated
with more emphasis both in her voice and in her gestures, "You have not
made him your husband."

   I sighed.  We were at an impasse.  What could I say?  I told her the
truth.

   "I don't know how."

   That seemed to be a revelation to her.  She lit up with a broad smile.
We stood and walked back to the village, back to the area reserved for the
women in the guiding group.  Dina had me wait outside one hut.  She spoke
softly and went inside when invited.

   She stepped out with an older woman, who also had three kaelen.  Dina
gave me a hug and hurried off.  The older woman said, "I am Adda."

   I remembered her from our first night; she'd been one of the eight.  We
walked back to a slightly different spot near the pond and sat down again.
Once again, our kaelen started up softly.

   She looked at me with wonder.  "You are far from home."

   I smiled and sighed.  You couldn't say "light-year" in their language.
"Yes, farther than you can imagine, farther than you have words to say."

   She picked up one of her kaelen, an old male.  He flipped on his back
and let his belly ridges be rubbed, hissing in satisfaction.  "You weren't
raised with Him."

   It was a question as well as a statement, and definitely used the
anomalous form of He, Him, we'd puzzled over.  He was the kaelen?

   "No," I answered truthfully.

   She sighed and smiled.  "Then we must teach you, as we would a young
girl."

   "Thank you, Adda," I told her.

   She smiled, but it was a smile with an edge on it.  "You must learn
well. If you cannot make Dale your husband, some other girl will."

   This was a shock; Dale with someone else?  "But he is my husband," I
said.

   She smiled softly.  "Not until you have made him so." She took my hand
and held it lightly.  "But you will.  He sees you are right for each other.
It is just some of the girls that don't, and, well, he is just a man."

   With that we stood up.  We went back to one of the central areas.  Adda
bid me to wait for her.  I pondered linguistics until she returned with a
teenage girl.  I recognized her, one of the older teenagers without kaelen.
Her name was Tala.

   Adda leaned over and took the kaelen from my shoulder.  "Tala will teach
you well."

   Tala sat next to me.  We looked at each other for a while.

   Finally I asked, "Where do we begin?"

   She laughed.  "We start with this." She made a clicking sound, tongue
against the soft palette, pursed lips almost as if sucking.  "Close your
eyes and do this," she told me.

   I tried it.  She did it again, and I repeated.  After a while I was
doing it well enough for her.

   As I was following her, my mind raced.  Where have I heard this before?
It sounds like one of the sounds the kaelen make.

   Another set of memories popped into my head.  I'd seen children, even
teens, acting up occasionally, yet rarely.  An adult nearby would start
making that sound and the child would calm down.  I even remember Dale
telling me of becoming frustrated while working, upset at the lack of
initiative the men showed, and having some of the men in the crew start
making that sound.  They seemed surprised, even startled when Dale didn't
calm down immediately.

   We spent the rest of the morning practicing the one sound.  As we broke
for lunch, Tala told me, "We will practice every day.  You must only
practice with me, not around Dale or others.  Understood?"

   She was treating me with respect, but still as a child.  I smiled and
said, "Yes Tala," using formal language.  She laughed and gave me a hug.

   After lunch we practiced a different sound.  This was a cooing sort of
trill.  It was much harder; she was much more exacting.  We took frequent
breaks, practicing both sounds.

   I was glad to get back to Dale and our evening meal.  In our hut I told
him of the day's events.  He was as curious as I was.  I took more notes,
then we curled up together.

   As I held him close, suckling him as we both love so much, I recognized
the sound the kaelen in the hut were making as the first sound I'd
practiced with Tala.  As I mounted him making passionate love, the sound
they were making was similar to the second one we'd practiced, but not
quite the same.  As we snuggled afterwards I recognized that first sound as
he suckled again, then a different, slower clicking as we drifted off to
sleep.

   Tala and I spent the next four days sitting alone by the pond, no kaelen
in sight, teaching me different sounds.  It was easy for me, practicing
with my eyes closed; my talent and training in linguistics becoming useful.
I was more aware of the sounds the women made, and of the sounds the kaelen
in our hut made at night and in the morning.  I was learning a language for
talking to the kaelen.  But why?

   I told her I wanted to try what I'd learned, but Tala kept admonishing
me not to, every day telling me I'd get to try soon.

   Three days later, after our evening meal, I saw Tala speaking with Adda,
both of them occasionally looking my way.

   I wanted to tell Dale about it, but by the time we got back to the hut,
we were both in a frenzy.  Strangely, I ended up on my back again, with my
legs around him.  How I wanted to squeeze him to me with all my strength,
but it was all I could do to keep my legs around his trim and muscular
waist.  Through a haze of desire I recognized our chorus was indeed a
chorus tonight; there were three sounds being made.  All were similar to
ones I'd learned, but yet different.  Through the night I remained on my
back, riding through orgasm after orgasm, feeling Dale pump into me,
filling me with his seed again and again.  We continued past lunch the next
day and slept through the afternoon.

   We woke before the evening meal.  I intended to wash, but Dina and Adda
intercepted me as I headed to the pool, taking me to a different area.  We
sat down in a very nice clearing among some very soft moss.  I was
surprised to feel tired and soon lay down on my back, my head and shoulders
propped up slightly, their kaelen singing a chorus of notes I thought I
recognized.

   They told me I'd done very well studying with Tala.  I'd have one more
day of lessons.

   "And then?" I asked.

   They smiled.  "And then the next day comes."

   We laughed together.  Dale joined us a little later, along with Dina's
husband, bringing food for all of us.  Dale had bathed.  He looked tired
and sore.  Even though we'd only been apart a short while, the first words
out of his mouth were, "I'm so glad we're together again."

   I laughed and said, "I love you.  You are mine." Adda and Dina seemed to
think that quite appropriate.  We ate a leisurely meal.  I let Dale feed me
while I lay on the moss.  I looked at him longingly; this would be a
wonderful place to take him, on this nice soft moss.

   But we ate, then washed our faces and hands, and retired for the
evening. I held him to me to our chorus, which sang a single tune as I
drifted to sleep feeling him still inside me.

   The next day I told Tala I simply had to bathe before we could practice.

   She smiled and joined me in the pool.  We went over to the small falls,
washing our hair in the cool fresh water.  A little way away from the falls
she told me, "You have learned faster and better than we expected.  Your
last lesson is very simple.  Three sounds." She made the first clicking,
sucking noise we'd studied, then a cooing trilling one, and finally a
slower clicking.

   We moved to our usual spot and practiced this tripart mantra, a few
minutes on each.  At one point I opened my eyes; it was during the cooing
trilling sound.  I was surprised to see that Tala's nipples were quite
erect; she was showing all the signs of intense physical arousal!  I closed
my eyes quickly, opening them again for the slower clicking.  After a
minute or so of this, Tala looked like she was having a very difficult time
staying awake, remaining sitting up.

   When I peeked to see her reaction to the first one, it was a very
peaceful look.  Where had I seen that look before?  It was familiar.

   We practiced again after lunch.  Just before we would stop for the
evening meal, Adda joined us, walking up as we were doing the first
clicking, sucking sound.  My eyes were closed but I heard her sit, and I
heard her kaelen echo our sound.

   "Very good," she said.  The kaelen stopped.  "Open your eyes."

   We both opened our eyes.  I noticed Tala looked very spaced out, almost
blissed out.  Tala looked to me and smiled.  She turned to Adda and said,
"She is ready."

   Adda said, "Thank you, Tala."

   Tala turned to me.  I bowed to her, as I would to one of the leaders,
and said formally, "Thank you Tala; thank you for teaching me."

   She smiled, bowed to Adda, and left.

   Adda turned to me.  "That was very good of you."

   I told her, "I meant it from my heart."

   She gave me a broader smile and said, "She is very good.  She will be
one of us."

   When Adda said that, she used the inclusive form of "us," including me.
I was somewhat surprised at that; I expected Tala would be part of the
guiding group.  But was Adda including me in that group?

   She laughed slightly, seeing my puzzlement.  "Come, you have time to
freshen up before our meal.  Rest well tonight; I will see you in the
morning."

   I washed up and met Dale for our meal.  I love him so much, and I know
he loves me.  Back in our hut we talked a little about the day's events,
but soon curled up together.  As usual, we went to sleep in each other's
arms, his mouth at my breast, and my belly filled with his warmth.

   The next morning Adda met me after breakfast.  We walked over to the
small pool in silence.  We both bathed.  Afterwards we walked over to a
different part of the ceremonial area.  She led me to a small hut.  She sat
down outside.

   "Go in, lie down, and do what Tala has taught you.  Do each sound for as
long as you can, and as many times as you can.  I will be here."

   I know I gave her a puzzled look.  She smiled and waved me in the hut.
"Please."

   I went in, took off my skirt, and lay down.  Rather than the usual woven
mat, there was a layer of the soft moss on top of the mat.  It felt
heavenly.

   I lay back, seeing perhaps a half dozen kaelen in the thatch above me. I
closed my eyes, and started with the clicking, sucking sound.

   I started, and they replied.  As they did, I felt that wonderful feeling
of comfort, of security, of peace envelop me.  How I wanted to hold Dale to
my breast, to feel him suckling me.

   I kept up that sound for some period of time.  Not knowing what else to
do, I switched to the cooing, trilling sound.

   Again the kaelen echoed.

   This time I was filled with passion.  I was beginning to understand.
But Tala had trained me well, so even as my mind raced, I kept up the
sound, and the kaelen echoed.  I must have stopped somewhere along the way,
but they didn't.  My mind was filled with the sound, and I was filled with
passion and lust.  I was wet, and so incredibly horny.  My passion built
and built until I found my hands moving on their own, one to my breast, the
other to my clit.  A slight press and squeeze was all it took to send me
crashing into orgasm.

   And still they kept on, cooing and trilling.  Without a touch I reached
orgasm again, and again.  Finally I remembered the last sound, and taking a
deep breath to control my panting, I started making the slower clicking
sound.

   After a few seconds the kaelen responded.  The passion faded, and I
faded into blissful sleep.

   I awoke on the moss and laughed gently.  I was understanding.  I
remembered Adda's instructions.  I began with the first sound again,
feeling comfort fill me.  Then I moved to the second, giving myself now to
the orgasms I knew were coming.  Then I did what Dale loved, going back to
the first sound, to suckle him again after making love, and then the third
sound to go off to sleep.

   I did this I don't know how many times, four or five at least.  I talked
to the kaelen, and they responded.

   I awoke to find Adda sitting beside me.

   She smiled and said, "You have learned well.  No word of this to him
tonight.  You will rest tomorrow, both of you, and tomorrow night you will
make him yours."

   I sat up.  I understood.  "Yes Adda.  Thank you."

   As we left the hut, I noticed some of the other women quickly bringing
tinder and unbaked bread and setting them inside the small hut in which I'd
spent the day.  We took a leisurely dip in the pool afterwards.

   In the water, I asked Adda about the women.  She told me it was a
special bread, one we would share tomorrow.

   As we walked back to the others, I thought I had the answers.  I thought
I understood the puzzle.  I was only half right, if that much.

   I knew now that the kaelen responded to the different sounds by emitting
something, drugs or pheromones, and incredibly powerful ones.  I'd learned
a vocabulary of over twenty sounds; I'd only used three of them.  But those
three were zingers.  They were all I'd need to "make" my husband.

   Pheromone based conditioning; that was it.  No wonder it was hard for
Tala to teach me, no wonder the others were surprised when Dale didn't
respond to the clicking sucking sound by relaxing.  They'd been conditioned
to these sounds all their lives.  A person starts making the sound, the
kaelen respond by emitting pheromones, which results in a corresponding
probably endocrine response in the individual, who relaxes.  Did I get that
right?  Hell, I'm an anthropologist and a linguist, not a neurobiologist.
But still, it fits.  Stimulus, response, response.  Condition it strongly
enough and you should be able to go from the first stimulus, the sound,
direct to the response in the individual.  Was that Pavlov, or Skinner?  No
wonder Tala looked turned on!

   I was laughing, drunk with my understanding as I saw Dale.  I swept him
into my arms, kissing him passionately.  I was so looking forward to
"making" him mine.  It was as close to a wedding as we were likely to get
here.

   After our meal we returned to the hut.  He immediately asked "What is
it? You found something." I kissed him and said, "It can wait.  I need to
hold you."

   He smiled, and softened into me as I held his head to my breast, even
though we were sitting up.  I looked up to see four kaelen in the hut.
Should I?  Adda said not to.  I heard a soft sound outside; someone making
that clicking, sucking sound.  The kaelen echoed.  I gave in to it,
becoming conditioned myself.  I lay back and held him to me.  I barely
noticed the change in tune that sent us off to sleep.

   Choosing and Making

   The next morning Dina and Adda led us off to a separate area for
breakfast.  We sat with the other two women.

   Adda handed me the bread, saying, "This is special bread for us to
share. Today is a day of rest for both of you."

   We shared the bread.  It had a different taste.  After a few minutes I
felt as if I was relaxing, melting somehow.  I looked at Dale and saw his
shoulders had loosened down.  I chuckled a bit.  After those sessions
yesterday, that hut had to be loaded with pheromones.  That's why we bathed
after some of those sessions.  The bread must be loaded with them and their
components.

   Either Dina or Adda spent most of the day with us, watching us bathe,
neck, cuddle, but not make love.  We napped in the afternoon in that soft
mossy spot, a group of kaelen singing us off to sleep.  We bathed again
before the evening meal.  After it, Dina led Dale off by the hand.  He gave
me a longing look.  I smiled and waved.  Then Adda turned to me.

   "Come with me."

   As we walked along, she told me "This is usually done by a girl's
mother. I've been chosen to do this for you." She turned and gave me a big
smile.  "I'm happy and honored," I told her, formally and with a bow.

   We walked to the hut of one of the eldest women; a widow who seldom left
her hut anymore.  We both bowed to her in reverence.  She smiled to us.
It's amazing that with their diet, these people keep almost perfect teeth.

   The woman must have had a dozen young kaelen on her.  Adda turned to me
and said, "Pick one."

   I looked at her questioningly.

   She nodded.  "Take your time.  He will help."

   Over the last few weeks I'd begun noticing more differences in kaelen.
With Adda for example, even though the three she carried were almost
identical in size, I could now tell them apart.  I knew which one seemed to
like her left shoulder.

   This was the first time I'd been allowed to actually touch a kaelen on
my own.  Before, they'd come to me, or others such as Adda had given them
to me.  Now I understood why youngsters, especially adolescents, and
sometimes Dale would have one; they were being used to moderate behavior.
But didn't that imply a sensing mechanism?

   I reached out to touch different individuals.  One seemed to tolerate my
touch.  Another skittered away.  After a few more, as I was getting
dejected, I touched one and he hissed in pleasure.  I picked him up gently
as I'd seen others do, and put him on the palm of my hand.  He was a
youngish male, about ten inches long.  He wiggled his body and antennae,
brushing my arm with them, then flipped over on his back.  I rubbed the
ridges on his abdomen and he hissed in pleasure and wiggled his legs.

   Both women laughed softly.  The old woman said, "You have chosen well.
He likes you." Again, it was that formal He.  I'd guessed correctly; "He"
was the kaelen.

   I looked at Adda and smiled.  "Now what?"

   She put her arm on my shoulder.  The kaelen in my hand, my kaelen now,
righted itself.  He brushed my arm again with his antennae.  Then he slowly
moved up my arm.  His feet tickled.  I saw him stop near a drop of
perspiration on my forearm near the elbow.  I saw and felt a small tongue
flick down and consume the drop, then the others near it.  Then he
skittered up my arm to my left shoulder.  His feet tickled again.  I felt
him go through my long black hair, and felt what seemed to be an antenna
touching my cheek and my neck, his tongue active again against the sticky
underside of my neck.

   We walked to the area of ceremonial huts.  I saw Dina sitting outside
one.

   Outside the hut Adda gave me a hug.  "Now go inside and make your
husband," she said.  "You know how.  Again and again until he is yours."

   My heart raced as I entered the hut.  It had moss on the floor.  I could
get used to this.

   I could tell Dale was nervous, excited.

   "What's happening?  Is everything all right?" he asked.  He was sitting
up naked.  I moved to my knees, slipping out of my skirt.

   "Everything is wonderful," I whispered.  Then I started the soft
clicking sucking sound as I held his head to my breast.  I felt the kaelen
on my shoulder turn around, so his abdomen was over Dale's head.  As the
kaelen began to echo me, I saw his abdomen move back and forth.  I heard
Dale take a deep breath, and felt him relax.  I took a deep breath and felt
it take me as well.  So comforting, so peaceful.

   I held him and rocked him in my arms, alternating between telling him I
loved him and singing along with my kaelen.

   After a while he'd melted into my arms; his suckling had almost stopped.
I lowered him back to the moss.  I felt down his body; his cock was limp. I
knew how to fix that.  I started making that trilling cooing sound.  My
kaelen responded, hopping down onto Dale and perching on his head, his
abdomen waving over his nose and mouth.  Dale took a deep breath and
moaned. I felt him stiffen in my hand.  Soon I slid on to him and began to
ride him.  I trilled again and leaned down to my kaelen to take a deep
breath.

   As if sensing what I needed, he climbed atop my head.  As I breathed,
sitting up slightly, the passion filled me.  I rode Dale through one
orgasm, and his coming deep inside me triggered my second.

   As he softened in me I slid off and held him to me again, starting the
first sound.  The kaelen responded, as did we both soon after.

   After a few minutes of that I started in with the trilling cooing sound
again.  My kaelen was still on my head, so we both felt the full force.  I
screamed as Dale came inside me, pushing me over the edge yet again.

   I suckled him again, feeling him relax.  I still wanted him.  I knew
what he was capable of, those two occasions when we'd been so frantic, when
he'd taken me so many times.  The linguist in me remembered the sounds and
could now separate them better; it had been a chorus from the kaelen, two
or three different sounds.  There was at least one that sounded like the
passionate sex sound, and there was one that sounded like the sleep sound.
I guessed that one kept me wiped out on my back.  So the other was the hot
bunny love trigger.  I knew there were different variations -- one to
excite him, one to excite both of us.  Which was which?  I went with
linguistic intuition and started the cooing trilling variant that sounded
male.

   My kaelen responded by hopping onto Dale's head again.  Soon Dale was
moaning and I was riding him.  I leaned over and took a deep breath.
Nothing.  I was amazed at the specificity.  I rode him until he came in me
again, then switched back to suckling and comforting once more.

   Dale started moving underneath me as if to get away.  I started the
clicking sucking sound again to comfort him.  After a few seconds though my
kaelen emitted a high pitched chittering sound, something I'd not heard
before.  As I was wondering what was up, I felt something skitter across my
leg and up my shoulder.  Another kaelen had joined us.  It hopped down to
join its brother, and was soon clicking away.  Dale settled once more into
my arms.  I felt my original kaelen moving along my body, tonguing up
moisture.  Had I worn it out and it called for reinforcements?

   After a while longer I started the cooing trilling that would enflame us
both.  As I rode him, I thought more of the vocabulary I'd learned.  I knew
now which sounds aroused just him, both of us, and guessed at which one was
for just me.  With that and my guess at which one kept me on my back, I
assumed the additives signifying just male or just female.  I smiled; there
was another sound in my vocabulary, a male sex one, but incomplete.  There
was one way to find out.

   I started making that sound.  Both kaelen echoed me, and Dale was soon
moaning and erect.  I slid on him once more.  It felt so good to ride him.
I picked up my chosen kaelen and holding him near my mouth made the sound
that should bring me to orgasm.  He repeated it, with his brother still on
Dale's head making the other sound.  I inhaled deeply and was filled with
fire.

   I rode Dale through orgasm after crashing orgasm.  Through my fog I
realized what I was doing to him, riding him without release for so long,
so I started the sound to release us both.  Both kaelen responded, and soon
Dale thrashed below me in orgasm, filling me once again and pushing me over
the edge.  I collapsed on top of him.

   I touched the kaelen, silencing them.  They skittered to my shoulders,
tonguing as they went, as I collapsed on top of Dale.  I heard him
whimpering and felt his lips moving rhythmically.  I slid to bring him to a
nipple and started the kaelen comforting us again.

   That felt so good: having him suckling gently, floating in bliss,
comfort, and peace.  As we floated, having slid apart, I felt kaelen feet
and tongues on me, especially picking up the fluids from between my legs.

   Even though I was still somewhat delirious, I started another cycle.
The kaelen responded, and our bodies followed.  I rode him, now speaking to
him and holding him to my nipple, telling him he was mine and I loved him.
Then as I felt another orgasm approaching I leaned over and whispered in
his ear, "Come for me, now!" My psychology profs would be proud of me; I
remembered that a strong stimulus-response pair can lead to stimulus
generalization.

   He moaned and shuddered and I felt him pulsing into me again.  I
squeezed the last drops out of him as I came, collapsing forward again.

   I was thirsty; my throat was dry.  I guessed at the sound to send him to
sleep.  The new kaelen hopped down onto Dale's head and echoed me, waving
his abdomen.  Dale soon sighed and I felt his body relaxing, going limp.  I
moved to the entrance to the hut where the water should be.  I took a big
drink, wiggling my hips a bit, feeling our mixed juices run down my legs,
mingling with the sweat.  I sat and rested, watching him sleep.

   I felt his legs as I moved up along his body a while later.  I
remembered a favorite from our early days, when I had my period and he
would be so horny.  I started the cooing trill that would bring him to
passionate release as I caressed his cock with my breasts.  He was soon
moaning and erect.  I ground into him and he started flopping around
underneath me.

   I guessed at the sound to keep him still.  I gave that sound to one of
the kaelen and put him on Dale's head.  Soon his moaning increased but his
body relaxed, except for his cock.  Then I moved down and took him in my
mouth.  I could taste my own flavors mixed with his.  I moved a finger
under him, and when I pressed on his asshole, he came in my mouth.  It
wasn't much, but it was his, and he was mine.

   I moved back to his head and kissed him, sharing what I hadn't
swallowed. He whimpered a little so I held him again to a nipple and
started comforting us.

   This time I was rewarded by both kaelen making that high chittering
sound.  We were joined by a third, who clambered up to my head and echoed
me, sending us into comfort.  When I felt my arms starting to give way, I
started the slow clicking to send us off to sleep.  I heard at least two
kaelen echo me before I faded into bliss.

   I awoke before dawn to the sound of a light rain.  As I rolled to my
side I felt feet skittering up to my shoulders and head.

   "Good morning boys, feel rested and ready to work again?" I whispered.

   I started the comforting sound and moved Dale to my right nipple; the
left was a bit sore.  He was hardly conscious, but soon sucking on me as I
told him I loved him.  I was enjoying floating in the bliss.

   My arms were feeling wobbly, so I rolled over to my back, squishing in
the now very wet moss.  It felt grand.  I started the cooing trill for us
both, and soon Dale was on top of me, thrusting so well.  There was enough
light to see his eyes were glazed, but he was smiling.  I was soon crashing
through one continuous orgasm, and was wondering if I could control my
panting long enough to have one of the kaelen relax my body, when Dale
came, shivering and pulsing weakly into me, then collapsing on top of me.
As he slid off to my side I called to the kaelen to send us off to sleep.

   The next time we woke it was late morning.  Dale was sitting up a
little, somewhat dazed.  He had a long drink of water.  He saw me stir and
handed me some.  I drank it eagerly.

   He looked at me with love, disbelief, I don't know what.

   "What?" he asked.

   I set our gourd cups down and pushed him to his back.  I straddled him,
looking him in the eye.

   "This," I said, then started the cooing trilling again.

   The kaelen started in, and soon Dale moaned and his eyes rolled back and
he held my waist.  I impaled myself on him again and rode us to a crashing
orgasm.  Afterwards I held him close, had the kaelen comfort us, and
whispered to him over and over, "You're mine now and nobody can take you
away from me."

   We floated in bliss for a while.  Looking out of the hut, it seemed to
be mid-morning.

   "Wake up sleepy head," I said, kissing his sweaty head.

   He moaned and rolled around a little.

   "Like to rinse off with me?" I asked.

   He smiled.  "Only if I can walk."

   We crawled for the entrance to the hut.  Our skirts were nowhere to be
seen.  As we approached the entrance, hands reached in and helped us out.
The hut was surrounded by about a dozen women, all from the guiding group.
Other younger women were rushing up carrying armloads of something.

   Adda was right next to the hut.  She helped me stand, and I gave her a
big hug.  She whispered in my ear, "You are one of us."

   I laughed softly; I had three kaelen.

   One of the younger women helped me down to the pond.  It took two to
help poor Dale.  Once in the water he was easier for me to hold.  I held
him floating in the water.  I looked back to see the hut in which I had
made my husband being set up for baking bread.  I laughed gently as I
looked down on him, floating on his back, my arm supporting his head and
shoulders, keeping his face above water.  He looked so peaceful, so serene
with his eyes closed.  I had made my husband, and now they were making
bread; another special bread for us to share.

   We went over to the small falls and I pulled him up.  "Wake up darling,"
I said as I raised him from the water.  "Wake up and hold me."

   He smiled as he regained his legs.  We stood under the side of the
falls, hugging and kissing, letting the cool water wash our hair.  Now I
had better understanding for this part of the ritual; we were rinsing off
the pheromones from a very wild night.

   We moved away from the falls and moved in the water again, washing,
hugging, and kissing.  Soon I saw Adda motioning to us from the bank.  It
was time to get out.

   We left the pond.  I was immediately rejoined by my three kaelen, who
had been with Adda while I was in the water.  I recognized the one I'd
chosen.  Or had he chosen me?  I reached out and took him from Adda.  I
rubbed his ridges gently, silently thanking him.  I put him on my right
shoulder.

   As I reached for the other two, they seemed eager, even anxious to
return to me.  I thanked them as well, putting one on my left shoulder; the
other clung to my arm.

   Two young women led me to a nearby long, seat-level rock.  Dale was
seated at one end.  Some of the unmarried girls were combing out his hair,
trimming it and his beard.  His eyes were closed and he was breathing
slowly.

   They sat me at the other end and began their work on my hair.  It felt
good to have it combed out.  My kaelen skittered down from my arms and
shoulders to my legs to give the girls room to work.  As the girls worked
they hummed a simple melody; joining in with the girls working on Dale.
The linguist in me spotted the slow heart rhythm; a very gentle, comforting
tune.

   I felt a brushing between my legs, then small tongues.  I opened my eyes
to the soft laughter of the girls to see my kaelen picking up the moisture
and remnants from my inner thighs.

   Once our hair was prepared, we were given special skirts to wear.  Their
weave was much finer than that of our daily custom.  I laughed gently as I
looked at Dale; he was standing, but still floating in a cloud.  One of the
girls smiled and took his hand, leading him to me.

   My kaelen on my shoulders again, my chosen one on my right, I tucked my
husband's right hand into the back of my skirt.  I looked at Adda, who
smiled and nodded.  She turned and we walked back to the village center.

   The mid-day meal was already underway as we entered.  The normal chatter
slowed and stopped as we approached.  Adda looked quite serene.  I felt
triumphant and radiant.  We walked a slow circle around the gathered
people, then sat at Adda's usual spot.

   Once we were seated, Tala approached us formally, offering bread and
fruit first to Adda, then to me.  After Tala handed us our food, while she
was still seated, I reached out and hugged her to me.  I whispered in her
ear, "Thank you, Tala, my sister." She withdrew with a smile that stretched
from here to the twin moons, and outshone the noonday sun.  Adda smiled to
me as well.

   We ate.  I fed Dale, who was still a bit dazed.  After lunch we returned
to our old hut.  Inside we lay down and I cuddled Dale to me.  I started
the kaelen comforting us, then led us off to sleep.

   When I awoke late in the afternoon Dina was outside our hut.  I stepped
outside, letting Dale sleep.

   I had a special ritual to perform at the evening meal, a ritual to honor
my mother and the elders.  When everyone was seated, Dina and I would go
retrieve the special bread that had been baking in the hut I'd used to make
Dale my husband.  She would help me retrieve it.  When we returned to the
group, I was to serve Adda first, then the other guides.  I was to save a
portion for me.  When I was seated, we would eat this bread first.  It was
only for the women, not for Dale.

   I nodded, and asked, "I'd like to give some to Tala as well; she is my
sister.  Is this permitted?"

   She laughed and said that for me, it was.

   I returned and woke Dale gently, holding him to me again, suckling him,
and having my kaelen envelop us in comfort.  Soon Dina returned and said it
was time.  I woke him fully and we put on our special skirts again.  I
tucked his hand into my skirt and followed Dina to the central area.

   Dale was more alert now; I could feel his fingers feeling my bottom,
caressing me as we walked.  I put more sway into my hips to encourage him.

   Dina led us once around the group.  Then Tala took Dale's hand and
seated him next to Adda.  Good, this would make it easier.  He gave me such
an apprehensive look as I started to walk away; I leaned over to him,
kissed him on the forehead, and made the clicking sucking sound a few times
quietly in his ear.  I heard him sigh and felt his shoulders drop a little.
I stood and followed Dina.

   Two girls were tending the bread making in the hut.  When we approached,
they bowed and left.  Dina and I removed the baked bread on the sticks,
placing it on a large leaf to make it easier for me to carry.

   We walked back to the group.  We circled them again, and I made my
presentation.  As I handed bread to Adda I said clearly, for all to hear,
"Thank you, mother." She gave me a beatific smile, and I saw tears forming
in her eyes.  I made my presentation to the other women, saving enough for
two at the end.  Then moving in front of Tala, I handed her a piece, much
to her surprise.  I said, "Thank you, my sister," and bowed my head.

   As I moved to sit next to my husband I was surprised to see Tala sobbing
not so quietly.  I leaned over, put an arm around her, and made the
comforting sound in her ear, squeezing and rocking her slightly until I
felt her relax.  My kaelen knew somehow not to join in.

   I sat up again and looked at Adda and the other women.  Adda smiled and
nodded, and took a bite.  We ate our bread.  It had a definite smoky, tangy
flavor to it.

   After that, we had our usual meal of fish, bread, and fruit, with the
usual conversation.  At the end of the meal rather than simply dispersing
as usual, Dina and Tala led us to the gap in the trees where we usually
entered the clearing.

   Starting with the elder women, everyone filed past us, giving each of us
hugs.

   While the hugs I received from most were formal and perfunctory, I got
special hugs from Adda, Dina, and Tala.  Some of the men too put more into
their hugs.  I noticed Dale got a number of slow sensual hugs from some of
the unmarried women, one of whom sighed wistfully after hugging him.  That
brought some tittering and laughter.

   One little girl, who couldn't have been more than six, extended her arms
up to me very expressively.  I picked her up and held her in my arms,
saying, "Thank you." When I put her down she said with the truth and
understanding of a little one, "You belong here."

   I don't remember much more of the receiving line; my eyes and mind were
cloudy with tears.  But soon the area was empty save for the youngsters
cleaning up.  Dina was beside me.

   She held my hand and said softly, "You have honored us all, especially
Adda, especially Tala."

   We hugged and I burst into tears.  I hugged Dale to my side, and soon
the three of us were together.  As I sobbed, Dina started the comforting
sound.  This time our kaelen chimed in, and soon I felt much better.

   Leading us back to our hut, Dina told us, "Tomorrow we will work
together all day making bread and preparing.  I will wake you early.  You
will take Adda's meals to her in her hut.  Tomorrow night you will learn
much more."

   Seated in our hut, I spent a while updating this report, something I'd
not done for a few days.  Since we were on planet without physical
instrumentalities, we used a backup approach we'd developed while in orbit.
Using the ship's ability to sense my body position and movements, and its
ability to project images into my visual field, I typed on a keyboard
visible only to me.

   This requires more bandwidth in our personal links with the ship.  As I
started, my kaelen became agitated, and indeed moved closer to the main
link node implanted under my breastbone, and to the power node implanted in
my right femur.  They started their comforting noise.

   As I wanted to retain a clear head for a while, I stopped typing and
waved a finger in front of them, saying "No, no, no." They stopped.

   I went back to typing, concentrating on my work.  After a few minutes I
felt antennae touching me along the neck, the middle, and the legs.  Then
they started making a low thrumming sound, one I'd not heard or learned in
my studies.  I decided to let them continue.

   And rapidly my mind not only cleared, but became incredibly sharp.  I
found myself imitating the sound, learning it as so much seemed to fall
into place.  It was similar to the effect of the drugs we use to accelerate
learning, but orders of magnitude better, and I felt sure it would be
without the ugly side-effects we've endured.

   I flashed back to our initial greeting.  I'd been surprised at the time
that a pair of obvious outsiders weren't met by an armed party.  I
shuddered.  We had been met by an armed party; armed with kaelen.  While I
don't recall the exact sounds the kaelen were making, there were a few.  I
remembered and recognized some.  We had been surrounded and quickly
rendered incapable of attack.  I felt the conviction that if we had been
considered dangerous, we would have simply gone to sleep and never been
allowed to wake.

   So much was clearer now about the symbiotic relationship between kaelen
and their (female) host.  I'd wondered what they ate.  Now I knew they
lived on the moisture and secretions from their host, and felt certain
their bonding was for life.  That's why I saw the same kaelen with the same
people.  Is their life span the same as their host?  I felt this was the
answer, and it filled me with wonder and awe.  How had this symbiosis
developed?  Is it limited to the female human?  And where were the females
of the kaelen species?

   I looked over at Dale.  He was typing furiously as well, updating his
ecology report.  My kaelen had gone quiet; I started the low thrumming
again.  They answered and I felt another burst of mental clarity.  I placed
one on Dale's head, the abdomen wafting over his forehead.  Dale took a
deep breath, and turned to me with sharp eyes.

   "That is incredible!  My mind is clear, clearer than it's been in days!"

   We talked for a while; I filled him in on my training and deductions on
the pheromone producing capabilities of our symbionts.  I also gave him my
analysis of our first greeting.  He nodded grimly; it made sense, so many
things made sense.

   We typed a bit and talked more as the effects wore off.  There were
still so many anomalies in this society, this ecology.  That we felt there
were anomalies strongly implied we did not understand the basic mechanisms
at work, and those mechanisms were far different from that which we
expected.  We both felt the answers were in the symbiotic relationship with
the kaelen.

   Our clarity began to fade into normal evening tiredness.

   I put my hands on his thighs.  "So tell me, how was it, being made into
my husband."

   He sighed and smiled.  "I love you.  I didn't know until we came here
how much I love you.  You take me to such a wonderful place, such a
wonderful fog that's only you.  I don't know how to describe what went on
in that hut.  I do know at sometime I gave myself to you, fully,
completely."

   I felt a stirring between my legs, and a feeling in my breasts.  I knew
what I needed.

   "And what would you like now, my husband?"

   He sighed and smiled, his eyes losing their focus, his eyelids moving to
half mast.  "Take me back to your soft place.  Make me yours again, and
after we make love, take me to sleep in your arms."

   And that is what I did.

   The Cycle Begins Again

   Dina kept her word, waking us as the sun was rising.  We were joined by
her husband.  We went quickly to an area off to the side of the bread
making spot.  Dina gave me bread, fruit, and water to take to Adda.  I was
to place it inside her hut, empty the chamber pot if need be, and return as
quickly as possible.

   When I returned, the men were nowhere to be seen.  Dina was mixing bread
and motioned me to her side.  "Our men are gathering wood for baking bread.
We must make a fresh batch and have it ready." Once mixed, the dough may be
stored wrapped in leaves in the cool ground for days.  We usually have an
unbaked supply set aside, especially during the stormy season when we may
not be able to make bread every day.

   We worked through mid-day, stopping only for me to take Adda's meal to
her.  I was given larger portions than normal, as for breakfast, and Adda
consumed them all.  We paused for lunch as we mixed and kneaded bread.

   As we worked Dina told me some more of the history of the village.  Adda
was from a long line of elders, guides.  Under my gentle questioning she
led me to hypothesize that membership was a genetic trait.  If your mother
was an elder, you were likely to be, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion.
He (there was that "He" again) selected who was to belong to this select
group.

   I started the low thrumming again, wanting to have an especially clear
head for a while.  My head cleared quickly as both our kaelen joined the
song.  Dina soon gave me a look of astonishment.

   "Is this new to you, or just something I haven't been taught," I asked.

   She looked at me with some awe.  "I've never experienced this before."

   I smiled.  "It clears and sharpens." They don't have a word for "mind."

   She nodded and practiced the sound.

   "Tell me about Adda?" I reminded her.

   She told me again Adda was from a long line of elders.  Her only
daughter became one of the group when she made her husband, acquiring two
kaelen.  Then she died giving birth to a daughter, Tala.  The phrase I
translate as "died" was closer to "became one with Him," but the context
made the meaning clear.

   That explained some of the reactions; I was glad I had honored Adda and
Tala.

   My mind skipped back to some of the ritual phrases.  "Who gives us life?
He does.  Who brings us peace?  He does."

   I thought about the society a bit more.  Once married, couples seemed
strictly monogamous.  But teens, the unmarried, mated like bunnies.
Eventually pairs were formed, tested, "made," with His blessing.

   I recognized more of the pattern now.  Young girls helped raise the
younger children.  They went through a period where they were obviously
trained to speak to kaelen, but were not bonded with them.  There was quite
a lot of sexual experimentation in the post-puberty teen group, obviously
taking place under kaelen influence.  From what I remembered of psychology,
this was probably very good for deepening the conditioning in both males
and females.  Then the females went through a period in late teens where
they did not have access to kaelen; this is where courtship and mate
selection occurred.

   That made sense; selection of mates was made with a clear head.  Under
kaelen influence, kaelen control, you would madly mate with anything.

   So why the hell weren't we awash in babies?  That question kept
reoccurring to me as well.

   It was answered by a cold thought.  "Who gives us life?  He does."

   My thought was aborted by the return of the men, and by some other girls
carrying a fruit I'd not seen very often.  I knew it grew high in trees,
that was about all.  Dina took them and wrapped them in leaves, along with
some gourd cups.

   It was getting close to time for the evening meal.  We moved all our
preparations to a hut at the edge of the ceremonial area, far away from all
else.  As we walked back to the central area, Dina spoke to us in a somber
voice.

   "Take Adda's meal to her; return and eat with us.  After the meal, Dale
will go back to his hut.  We will go to Adda and the cycle will begin
again. You will remain in the hut with Adda.  Dale, you will bring food and
drink for as long as they are in there; Tala will help you.  It will be two
or three days or more."

   I took Adda her meal, selected by another of the elders.  It had a lot
of fish -- more protein than usual.  I returned and we ate in silence among
the chatter of the others.  Tala and Dina, a few of the other women, seemed
excited, expectant.

   After eating we headed to Adda's hut, stopping to relieve ourselves
along the way.

   Dina stood back, motioning me to Adda's hut.

   I felt something formal was needed here.  "Are you ready, my mother?" I
asked formally.  I looked back at Dina, she smiled and nodded.

   Adda came out of the hut smiling.  She hugged me.  "Yes, I am ready, my
daughter."

   "You are far away from home, aren't you?" Adda asked as we walked to the
ceremonial area.  It was a phrase she used with me often, especially when I
asked questions, which I did frequently.

   I placed a hand on her back, my eyes filling with moisture.  "I'm not
sure anymore, mother." I thought of the long jumps underneath space, and
the hundred and thirty years it would take for the light that shone on the
place of my birth to reach here.  Would I ever see that place again?  Did I
want to?  Where is home?  What is home?

   We turned as we reached the area and went to another small hut, built
almost into a group of trees.  It was extremely well protected.  We stopped
and then I noticed Dina was behind us.

   Slowly, formally, Adda took her kaelen off and handed them to Dina.  She
motioned to me and I did the same.  The kaelen seemed agitated as well,
more so than for normal separation such as when we bathed.

   We crawled into the hut, and in the dim light I saw one of the few
ornamental artifacts I'd seen since planetfall.  Underneath a woven cover,
woven finer than the ceremonial skirts celebrating our marriage, and of
some age, was a container shaped from the trunk of a hardwood tree,
polished to amazing smoothness and shine.

   Adda sighed and lifted the lid.  "Choose three with well dried leaves.
Choose carefully."

   I moved up on my knees to look in the container.  It was filled with
small oval objects wrapped in leaves; each was about six inches in length
and perhaps three or four wide.  Most were wrapped in leaves which felt
dry; the occasional leaf still felt somewhat green, although it was
difficult to see colors in the dim hut.

   I touched them in turn, finally selecting three.  I handed them to Adda,
who put them on a broad leaf.

   She replaced the lid on the container, and returned its cover.

   She folded the leaf around the three ovals and we left the hut.

   Outside the kaelen were even more agitated.  We walked back to the
prepared ceremonial hut.  Peeking inside, I saw moss matting.  What was to
happen here?

   Adda handed me the leaf containing the three treasures I'd chosen.  She
turned to Dina and reached for a kaelen.

   "You are the one I chose, so long ago," she said, her voice rich with
emotion.  She rubbed him gently, smiling.  Then she sighed and entered the
hut.

   Dina said, "Join her.  I will be outside."

   I entered the hut.  It was still twilight, with some light filtering in
through the opening.  Adda had removed her skirt; I did the same.  For her
age, which I estimated to be mid forties, she had a beautiful body.  It
saddened me somehow.  She was grandmother to a beautiful teenage girl.  But
Adda and I were probably about the same age chronologically, even though
Dale and I looked to be in our late teens.  That was advanced technology at
work.  What was their average life span here?  It seemed to be sixty to
seventy years.  Even with no further medical treatment, I knew that barring
accidents, Dale and I would live well past a hundred and sixty.  With the
proper treatments as we approached a hundred twenty or so, we could exceed
two hundred, and enjoy it.

   Adda spoke to me, bringing my attention back to the present.  She was
lying down.  Her kaelen was agitated, almost dancing on her head.  She
patted the moss next to her and I sat.

   "Open them, one at a time, and place them here," she said as she
gestured to the area below her navel.

   She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.  I thought I saw her mouth
moving in the calming, comforting pattern.  What was she preparing herself
for?

   I opened the large leaf and picked up one of the bundles.  I unwrapped
it.  Inside was a cocoon, a very thin covering.  I tore it from one end; it
separated easily, revealing its contents.

   I was astonished.  I was holding an insect.  It had to be the female
kaelen.  Where the males are long, almost sticklike save for the abdomen,
the females were smallish and oval, their body parts close together, their
feathered antennae as long as their bodies.

   My eyes filled with tears as I raised it to my lips and kissed it.  I
felt Adda's hand on my thigh and looked at her smiling face through my
tears as I put the first one down on her.  This ritual was evidently to
replace the three kaelen who were now mine.

   The male kaelen raced down from Adda's forehead to the female.  It made
chirping noises as it circled, caressing it with its antennae as its
abdomen twitched about.  I felt flashes of strange feelings; exhilaration,
strange synesthesias as the female kaelen began to move.

   "The others," whispered Adda.

   I unwrapped the other two and placed them just as reverently on her
belly.

   The male was moving faster than I'd ever seen a kaelen move before; I'd
thought of these insects as being slow, but that seemed to be a matter of
choice.  Remembering our initial greeting chilled me; with that speed,
these were formidable weapons.  We could not have escaped.

   The strange sensations continued to flood me as the male revived the
females.  I steadied myself with my hands.  I looked at Adda; she was
making the comforting sound again, now audibly.

   I put a hand on her forehead lightly, and started making the sound
myself, stroking her forehead.  She managed a smile as she sighed to me,
glancing at me before her eyes drifted closed.

   I kept up my work comforting Adda while I watched the male.  The females
seemed to be revived from their torpor now.  The insects' antennae touched
and waved in what I soon saw were patterns.  How I wished I had a wide band
recording of this.  Then the male stopped and began moving along Adda's
body.  I felt her tense, so I resumed my comforting, with my voice and with
my hands, one on her forehead, one on her forearm.

   The male raced around her body, from head to toe.  He circled a spot on
the top of her right foot.  Then he raced to a female and they exchanged
signals with their antennae.  He moved slower this time, and she followed
him to Adda's right foot.

   When they reached there, the male circled again, making a strange
keening sound.  Through the dim light I thought I saw a drop of something
at the tip of his abdomen.  Yes, I did.  He lowered his abdomen and touched
the drop to Adda's skin.  Moments later she gasped and her body shook.
Then the male lowered his abdomen once more, and even though the light was
dim, I saw a stinger extend.  The stinger passed through the drop on Adda's
skin, and into the skin beneath.  When it pulled free, I saw a spot of red
coloring forming through the drop on her skin.  The female moved her
abdomen over the drop the male had left.  Her abdomen contracted and she
exuded something; it looked like a worm.  What's the term?  Larva?  It was
about two inches long, and one end attached itself to Adda's skin where the
male had left its mark.  Adda gasped again, then shivered as it made
contact.  After a moment I saw the larva start to redden, to expand.  It
was filling itself with her blood.

   While this was going on, the male had found another spot, this one just
above her left breast.  The same ritual was repeated with the second
female. Adda's reaction was less intense at the second drop and the second
larva attaching itself.  The third female was led to a spot on Adda's left
foot, almost at the little toe.

   As the third female was producing her larva, I noticed the first two
females had returned to Adda's groin, just above her thatch.  The male and
the first female exchanged signals and the male raced off again.  Adda's
left arm was lying palm up by her side.  The male found a spot about a
third of the way up her forearm from her wrist.  I could see the vein
underneath, even in the fading light.  I moved Adda's right arm so her palm
was also facing up, giving the male better access.

   Adda's breathing was more regular now; a relaxed smile was on her face.
Occasionally she moaned and shook with what seemed to be pleasure.  I could
smell her arousal.

   Each of the three females placed a second larva.  The first one then
placed a third.  How long would this continue?  But that was the last.  The
females returned to her groin, folding up again, antennae going down.  The
male rushed to each larva in turn, in the sequence in which it was placed,
seven in all.  They were all filling with blood, almost doubled in size
now. Thank God Adda was a strong woman, large and healthy.  Now I knew why
she rested today, and why she ate so much.

   The male went to her forehead and began another keening sound.  Adda
sighed and her body seemed to relax more.

   Then the pheromones hit me, and I lowered myself to the moss as safely
and quickly as possible.  My muscles turned to jelly.  I was filled with
bliss, and felt a strange sensation in my extremities.  I imagined my blood
vessels expanding; what's it called?  Vasodilation?  That's what the
linguist in me thought before I sank into the bliss.

   I awoke before dawn, sensing some movement outside the hut.  Food and
drink had appeared.

   "What do I do?" I whispered, hoping someone was here to guide me.

   Dina's voice came from outside the hut.  "Raise her head and help her
drink.  Give her all the juice.  The water and bread are for you."

   I noticed two different liquid gourds.  I took the one with the juice,
almost a fruit syrup, and raised Adda's head carefully.  The male kaelen
made a chirring noise, waving his abdomen.  Adda stirred slightly, and I
felt my body become amazingly alert, my heart racing.  Yet she seemed
almost totally sedated!  The effect of the larvae must be exceptionally
strong!  I remembered the chirring noise, and raised the gourd to Adda's
lips.  I gave her some of the thick liquid slowly, not wanting her to
choke. She swallowed, and then her mouth moved as if for more.  She took
the rest quickly, smiling when done.  I reached for the bread and had two
bites and some water before the male started keening again.  I collapsed
into bliss, barely being able to put down the water without spilling it.

   I awoke again about midday, judging from the sun angle.  I'd collapsed
on my side, and my left arm took a while to recover from its odd position.
I quickly ate the bread and drank the water, then used the chamber pot and
cleaned up Adda where she had gone on the moss.  Then I gave her more
juice. We went through the same cycle as before, but this time I was ready
for it and was able to lie down on my back before I faded out.

   The next time was mid-afternoon.  I looked at the larvae.  Of the seven,
four were long and thin, and three were oval in shape.  Evidently we had
four males and three females.

   Our cycle of eating and sleeping continued for I'm not sure how long.
Occasionally the male kaelen would check the larvae, stopping to feed on
beads of sweat on its way back to her head.

   Then after one cycle I awoke fully.  It was mid-day.  Rather than seven
larvae attached to Adda, I saw seven cocoons attached to a green leaf on
the side of the hut next to her.  The male was sitting over the spot on
Adda where the last of them had been attached.  I watched as he lowered his
abdomen, again touching a drop of liquid to her skin.  The drop touched the
open sore where the larva had been attached.  The skin seemed to change
before my eyes.  I looked to the spot on her right foot where the first one
had been; a round reddish mark was all that remained.  I smiled as another
piece of the puzzle fell into place.  That explained the small reddish
scars on the women.  They represented new kaelen.

   I was about to call to Dina for guidance when the male kaelen made
another sound, sort of a whirring.  Five kaelen rushed in -- the other two
to join Adda, and my three.  My three seemed happy to be back with me
again, racing along my body, picking up drops of sweat and moisture.  They
hadn't fed in some days.  How many?

   Adda seemed to be sleeping naturally.  I prodded her arm; she seemed to
have normal muscle tone again.  Dina entered the hut, with her kaelen.

   "What do we do now?" I asked.

   She smiled, then gave a quiet gasp as she surveyed the scene.  "Seven!"

   We wrapped all the cocoons in leaves, detaching them carefully from
where they hung.  When the females were wrapped, Dina placed them on a
large leaf and folded it.  The males were wrapped and placed on Adda's
belly.  The female insects were still sitting in place.

   Dina exited the hut and motioned for me to follow.  Tala and another
girl her age were waiting outside, as was Dale.  He moved to me, but Tala
and Dina blocked him.  The girls helped me stand.  We started walking to
the other hut.  We stopped outside its entrance.  Dina was carrying the
leaf with the three female cocoons.

   She said to me "You know where these go," holding the leaf out to me.

   I nodded.  First I took off my kaelen, my chosen one first.  I kissed
his abdomen as thoughts swirled through my head.

   All three kaelen on Dina, I took the leaf and went inside the hut.  I
removed the cover, and the lid, then placed my three small packages in with
their sisters.  I replaced the lid and the cover and left the tent.

   I tried to stand too quickly and almost fell.  As Dina helped me to my
feet, my kaelen rushed over her arms back to me.

   When we returned to the hut, Dale, Tala, and her friend were all gone.
Sitting outside the hut was a large gourd with juice in it, and a wooden
instrument which looked like a pestle.  Dina picked them up and waved me
inside.

   The male cocoons were nowhere to be seen.  The three females were on
Adda's body.  She seemed to be sleeping soundly.

   "What do we do about these?" I asked, pointing to the females.

   Dina looked at me and smiled.  "They have joined Him, their journey
complete."

   I was stunned as tears filled my eyes.  To be born as a larva, remain in
the cocoon, then be unwrapped to mate and produce a new generation, that
was the female's role.

   I saw Dina place the three females into the gourd, then take the wooden
implement and use it as a pestle.  She ground them for a few minutes,
mixing thoroughly with the juice, then strained the mixture into another
gourd.  She handed it to me.  "Give her the first sip," she said.

   I raised Adda's head gently.  As I did so her eyes opened and she smiled
at me.  I held the gourd to her lips and she drank.  Dina stopped my hand.
I lowered Adda and she closed her eyes.

   "Drink, quickly," Dina whispered.

   I took three or four gulps, about the same as Adda, trying to leave the
same for Dina.  It had a pungent taste amidst the fruit flavor.  The vapors
as they entered my nose sent me reeling.

   I handed the gourd to Dina who gulped down the remainder, then leaned me
forward onto Adda's body.

   As she did so I heard Adda moan, and I felt it rising in me.  My body
was swept away in an overwhelming rush of tangled, scrambled sensations.  I
saw, felt, heard, tasted, smelled the fabric underneath spacetime.  As I
was enveloped in an orgasm of a different dimension, I felt Adda's
presence, and Dina's.  And I felt my own mother's presence as she slept in
her bed, so far away.  I could feel the fabric of the sheets on her skin,
feel the reduced gravity in which she lived.  Then orgasm enveloped us all
and my mother and her startled cry faded over the staggering distance.

   I awoke to the keening of our kaelen.  It was mid morning outside.  The
three of us sat up slowly and hugged.  We all had tears in our eyes.  We
helped Adda out of the hut; Tala and some other girls were there and helped
us to stand.  As we moved to the pond to bathe the rest started baking
bread in the hut we'd left.

   Dina and I helped Adda into the water, leaving our kaelen in the
branches at the bank.  She was still a little weak, but recovering quickly.
She was a strong woman.

   We washed mostly in silence.  Then as we were rinsing Adda's hair under
the falls, running our fingers through her long black and gray strands, she
pointed into the sky.  One of the moons was still visible above the
horizon. She turned to me with a look of wonder, awe, astonishment.  With
tears in her eyes, she pointed out to the great beyond and whispered, voice
full of emotion, "That far away?"

   I nodded, tears filling my eyes.  "No: much, much farther," I whispered
as I held her.

   So she had felt the distance, the connection.  Dina held us as well and
I heard her sobs.

   As we moved to the shore, Adda looked into the sky again, then turned to
me and asked, "And you came here?"

   I nodded, holding her hand.  "We came to learn from you.  And we have
learned so much, yet so little."

   She shook her head and smiled.  We walked together to the central area.
People were gathering for lunch.  Dale was seated next to Tala.  He saw me
and jumped up, running to me.

   I held him in my arms as he wrapped his around me.  "Oh I missed you
so," he told me.  I hugged him and said softly, "I missed you too." Then I
held my mouth next to his ear and hotly made the comforting sound while I
held him, until I felt him soften.

   We sat and ate.  I was ravenous, as was Adda.  I noticed Tala looking
Adda over carefully.  After the meal, Dale and I talked softly as we
walked. I had been gone four days.  Word had spread quickly in the village
that Adda had seven new kaelen.  Dale heard from conversations that it was
the norm to have one for one.  Two was not uncommon, but three was very
rare.

   Back in our hut we quickly snuggled together.  Dale was hungry on my
breast, and I was hungry to hold him.  With just a little lead from me, my
kaelen took us deep into comfort.  From there we moved through passionate
lovemaking.  I relaxed on the bottom, feeling my strong and wonderful
husband plunge into me.  We returned to comfort afterwards, and went to
sleep unaided.

   Dinner was interesting.  I knew we had more special bread.  I would have
guessed it would be distributed as before, to the older women in the
guiding group at the beginning of the meal.  Humility is sometimes hard to
learn.  This bread was distributed to the unmarried women, and it was
distributed at the end of the meal.  They consumed it greedily and hurried
off, each with an unattached male.

   I was still chuckling at that as we entered our hut for the evening.  We
curled up together and Dale said, his head between my breasts, "Please
don't leave me for a while.  I need you."

   I held him to me and started the kaelen comforting us.  "I've got you,
and you're not getting away," I told him.  After a while I asked softly,
"Would you like me on top of you?" He shivered slightly as he squeezed me
and nodded his head, still at my breast.

   I moved him to his back and with our kaelen's help rode us both to
ecstasy.  I comforted him to me again afterwards, without kaelen help, and
we went to sleep.

   Part 3 More Questions

   The next day was a return to more normalcy.  I helped with bread in the
morning and overseeing net repair in the afternoon, but it was clear I'd
taken on a new stature in the group.

   The next day at breakfast as we sat in our new spot next to Adda, my
kaelen made a brief chirp as we sat down.  Adda gave me a puzzled look.

   "What is it?" I asked.  I hadn't recognized the sound.

   She told me Dina would watch Dale while I was in the hut for a few days.
There seemed to be some sadness or disappointment in her voice.

   I was confused momentarily, until I checked my chronometer.  I'd lost
track of time; my period was due to start, and if it was as usual, would
hit mid morning to mid afternoon.  Then shock set in when I realized my
kaelen had recognized it before I was aware of it.

   After our meal I told Dale I would be away with my period for a few
days. I comforted him as best I could.  I told him I would miss him, and he
should rest up for my return.

   I went and bathed in the small pond, where I had been seemingly so much
the last week or so, and found an unoccupied hut.  I lay down and my kaelen
immediately started the chorus that would relax my body.  I let two of them
do that, but picked up the third and softly made the sound to sharpen my
mind.  He stood on my forehead next to his brothers, his abdomen swaying. I
listened to the chorus and felt my body relax and my mind sharpen.

   The kaelen knew when my period was approaching.  Why weren't we awash in
babies?  What's going on here?  Who gives life?  He does.

   I wished I'd studied more xenobiology.  Those feathery antennae --
commentators called them olfactory sensors.  How about pheromone sensors?
It made sense; they had to detect as well as generate.

   Of course!  They knew my period was approaching.  They could sense your
state.  They probably knew when you were fertile.  They could sense
pheromones!

   Oho.  That made a lot of sense.  I recalled the times we'd spent
rutting, exhausting Dale while I was blissed out flat on my back.  Yes,
those dates correlated quite well with ovulation.  The damn bugs were
trying to get me pregnant!  I remembered back from my briefings that the
contraceptive which was given us didn't suppress ovulation, just the
implanting of the fertilized egg along the uterine wall.  Still, the bugs
were doing their damnedest to get me knocked up!  That's why Adda seemed
both sad and surprised when my period arrived.

   Okay, calm down.  That explains some of it.  But what about accidents?
Sperm could stay motile for some number of days.  And the unmarried women
-- they were having sex without kaelen present, as far as I knew.  Why
didn't they get pregnant?  How far does the control go?  Okay, it's
reasonable to assume the kaelen could prevent pregnancy.  Could the kaelen
influence sex of the offspring?

   Interesting questions, but right now I was tired.  I had the opportunity
to rest.  I started making that sound they'd started when I first lay down.
Linguistically, its components were female, rest, and something else with
female characteristics.

   I spent two and a half more blissful days in the hut.  The kaelen kept
me too sleepy to decode any more of the mysteries of this place.  I knew
now why there wasn't violence, or adultery.  Well, I didn't know why, but I
did know what the mechanisms were that kept it from happening.  Thorough
conditioning and bonding made it highly unlikely.  How had this symbiosis
evolved?  I wasn't sure of that, but I commanded the ship to notify me two
days before I was likely to ovulate next.  I wanted to study this process
in more detail.

   Again, basic physics says that a stable dynamic system has a gain
element and a control element, and some of the energy of the system is used
to maintain that stability.  It doesn't matter if it's basic electronics,
faster than light drive, or biological systems.  I could almost see
Professor Conn pounding the desk as he repeated that to us, so many years
ago.  What in this system was being sacrificed to maintain stability?
There was a price, and it was being paid.  How?  With what?  Why is this
particular memory so important?

   When I left the hut and bathed again I met Adda in the pool.  With some
sadness she hugged me and asked how I was.  I told her I was fine.  Once
again she gave me a misty look and said, "You are far away from home." I
nodded to her, but then answered, "I'm not sure, mother."

   The next few weeks passed more or less uneventfully.  Our presence was
changing things somewhat.  The ancient physicist Heisenberg proved that you
cannot make measurements without disturbing the system you are measuring. I
was heralded as discovering the sound that sharpened the mind.  Dale had
shown them how to select different stones, and flake them to make better
implements.  This helped in a number of areas, making cultivation easier,
making finer weaves possible for skirts and nets, better shaping of wood
for boats.  He also made suggestions to fishing strategies and crop
cultivation that would improve things, though not radically.  We didn't
want to rock the boat severely.

   Then one morning I got the reminder from the ship that ovulation was
approaching.  At breakfast I spoke with Adda about using one of the huts
with the moss bedding.  She smiled broadly, and made arrangements for Dale
to rest more that day.  Even though we were matriarchal, there was a male
hierarchy as well.  Dale's innovations, plus being mine, put him high in
that hierarchy.  That had him doing more supervision these days than
hauling of nets as he'd done early on.

   We had a peaceful dinner that evening.  I bathed with Dale in the small
pool afterwards, and then took him to the moss hut chosen for us.

   As we were removing our skirts the kaelen started noisily.  I quickly
quieted them; I wanted to at least start this, even if I wouldn't be in
control.

   Dale smiled at me and hugged me as we sank to our knees.

   "Thank you," he said.  "Can we hold each other first?  That will make it
easier to let go."

   I lay on the moss and said, "Of course." I turned to my side and pulled
him to a nipple.  He whimpered and started sucking.  The kaelen started the
comforting sound and I let myself go to it.

   I remember afterwards shifting into passion.  I was on my back again, my
body so relaxed and heavy, so hard to move.  I was so hot, and needed him
so much.  And he filled me again and again.  There was a time when he was
thrusting in and out of me and he was practically crying, sobbing.  I
gathered what strength and control I had and made the sleeping sound.  My
kaelen changed their tune and we were soon asleep together.

   When we woke in the morning they tried to get us right back at it.  I
silenced them, at least for a moment.  Dale sat up and I started to do so
as well.  One of my kaelen, I'm not sure which one, had sprung to my
forehead and started making the sound to relax me.  It happened so
suddenly, so intensely, that I didn't have time to stop him.  My body fell
back on the moss.  I felt the three kaelen moving across my body, feeding
on my moisture, especially between my legs.  It tickled and I laughed.

   I told Dale softly that they weren't letting me off my back.  He looked
over me smiling and said, "That doesn't sound so bad to me."

   He held my head and gave me some juice, thick and syrupy, followed by
water.  Then he lay down on top of me and we kissed.  He kissed me,
caressing my head and neck with his hands.  The damn bugs don't understand
foreplay.

   But they did leave us alone for a while, as Dale kissed and caressed my
body.

   Then he moved my legs apart and said, "Okay boys, you can take over
now."

   I laughed.  One kaelen started the passionate rutting sound, but
another, I recognized him as the one I'd chosen as he hopped to Dale's
head, started the comforting sound.  The other two chimed in.

   Dale smiled and sighed, sinking down to my breast.  After a while the
kaelen changed their tune.  I recognized them driving Dale into a frenzy,
and was momentarily surprised to recognize one sending me off to sleep.

   When I awoke it was mid morning at least.  Dale woke soon afterwards.
He smiled, but looked concerned.  "How are you?" he whispered.  He looked
at the kaelen with trepidation, almost fear.

   I pulled him to me.  He resisted at first but soon melted into me.  "I'm
fine," I told him.  I wiggled my hips and legs a bit.  "I may be a bit
sore, but I don't feel like it."

   The kaelen comforted us for a while.  For some reason I crooned over and
over, "I love you," as I held him to my breast, moving his head slightly
the way I know he loves.

   We got up a while later.  He carried me to the pool in his wonderful
strong arms.  I put my kaelen on a branch and let him carry me into the
water, letting go in his arms.

   We moved to the falls and he held me up.  I was so relaxed in his arms,
but then I saw the look on his face: concern, fear.

   "What is it darling?  What's the matter?'

   He shook his head.  "It's them," he said, nodding to the bank.

   "The kaelen?  What about them?"

   He sighed and held me close.  "They kept you asleep for a day and a
half. They ran me through cycles of making love and sleeping in your arms."
He smiled a little.  "I didn't mind that; it was intense.  But at one point
I was concerned.  I started to shake you, to wake you.  I always thought
they were slow creatures.  But they moved so fast!  I'd hardly grabbed your
shoulders when one was spraying my face, and it felt as if another stung me
on the back of the neck.  I collapsed on top of you.  Then for hours I was
sucking at you, in bliss, unable to move.  Eventually they took me back to
making love, but it was much more controlled.  They brought me to orgasm so
quickly, and then collapsed me to your breast again, over and over.  They
scare me."

   I held him to me.  I started to make the comforting sound but thought
twice about it.  Instead I cradled his head and rocked him back and forth,
back and forth.  I felt along the back of his neck gently and felt a small
bump.  "It's okay darling, I've got you.  They thought they were protecting
me.  I'll talk to Adda about it right away.  I'm sorry if they hurt you.
Are you okay?"

   He sniffled a little.  He was looking more relaxed.  Such deep
conditioning over just a few months -- how powerful it must be over a
lifetime!

   "I'm not hurt darling, just scared.  The amount of power, of control
they have is incredible."

   I agreed wholeheartedly.  We discussed the hypothesis that they
effectively controlled births, and were most emphatically trying to get me
pregnant.  We laughed a little; we thought the ship still held trump cards
in that game.  While rinsing I looked at the back of his neck; he had the
characteristic wheal of an insect sting.

   We went to the bank.  A few feet from the bank my kaelen started acting
agitated.  We knew they wouldn't go in the water.  So I stopped and held
Dale, and we kissed, in front of them.  They were thrashing around on the
branches like mad.  One even jumped down and rushed to the water's edge.
We got out slowly and they rushed me, running up me to my shoulders and
hair.  They started chittering, but I said firmly, "No!" waving my finger
in front of them.  They quieted down.  Then I pulled Dale to me again and
we kissed.

   "Is that better?" I asked him after a while.

   We'd put our skirts back on, but I could still tell it was better.  He
sighed his answer.

   I took us around the other side of the pond to an area frequented by the
young unmarried folks.  I'd seen a nice mossy place, and I wanted to show
both Dale and my kaelen that I still had some control (I hoped).

   The first place I wanted was most definitely occupied by a couple I'd
seen together for a while.  I smiled; there might be another making coming
up.  Dale squeezed my hand at the sight of the two fit youngsters locked
together on the moss.

   Luckily the second place was unoccupied.  We slipped off our skirts and
put them on the path to indicate to others this spot was now taken.

   He had a very nice erection for me.  "On your back," I whispered.

   He lay down, looking at me expectantly.  I straddled him.  As I
remembered what he'd told me, coming quickly, I formed a sound.  If I was
correct, he would be relaxed, blissful, and still hot and hard.  As I cooed
the sound, the kaelen took it up, one hopping to his head, waving his
abdomen over Dale's face.  I ran my hands over his body as he smiled and
his eyes drifted closed.  I picked the one off my left shoulder and told it
blissful easy release for me, and put it on my head.  I breathed deeply and
felt myself grow wet.  I slid on to my husband and gently rocked us to
ecstasy.

   Afterwards I leaned down and pressed a nipple to his mouth.  The kaelen
started the comforting sound.  I'd expected that, and said sharply, "No!"
They quieted instantly.  Then after a few seconds I started the sound
myself, moving over to hold him better.  The kaelen joined in and we were
united in bliss again.

   We woke and returned just in time for the evening meal.  While we both
had pretty blissed out looks on our faces, when we sat down next to Adda I
gave her a frown and told her softly, "We need to talk."

   After dinner Adda asked Dina to walk Dale back to our hut.  Dale smiled
to me and nodded.  Adda and I walked back over to our mossy conversation
area.

   I told her what had happened, and how it had frightened Dale.  She asked
what I'd done afterwards.  When I told her she smiled and said I'd done the
right thing.

   She then told me He recognized the power in our difference; it was
important for us to bear children.  She told me she was surprised I was not
pregnant already.  Then in great seriousness she added, "If you cannot have
Dale's children, perhaps others can.  You are far from home, and these are
our ways."

   I started making the comforting sound, as much for my benefit as hers,
but instead sharpened our minds.  In that clarity I knew what N/K had
surmised: we could interbreed with the natives.  I didn't mind Dale
fathering children.  But what about me?  Did I mind Dale fathering
children, other than our own?

   "Give us time," I told her, "our journey was long." I thought of how
long it would take to reverse the contraceptive process.  I remembered it
was an implant.  That would mean a return to the ship, or at least high
energy effector use.

   I looked up at the sky, then back to her.  "Our journey here took almost
a year in a small ship." Then I did something that's called intuition in a
professional, and wild guessing in anyone else.  "Having a child there
would have been very difficult.  Just as He chooses when to give life, it
was decided we should not have a child at that time.  This process takes
time to undo." (I actually said something closer to "this knot takes time
to untie.")

   She sighed and smiled, looking at the sky briefly, then back to me.

   "If I cannot carry his child in the next few months, then we can discuss
again having Dale father others," I told her.

   Adda nodded and smiled.  "Your journey was long.  We will give you the
time you need.  You have brought much to us."

   We hugged and went our separate ways.  Dale was sitting in the hut
typing when I entered.  We discussed part of my conversation.  I decided
not to tell him about the other aspect at this time.  We held each other
with ferocity, before I allowed the kaelen to lull us to sleep.

   Moths and Medicine

   Part of our Survey training of course was in field medical care.  We
were able to put this training to use, mostly dealing with scrapes and
bruises, occasionally with more serious incidents, mainly falls and cuts.
They didn't have any idea of shock, or of concussions, let alone of
splinting broken bones.  The kaelen helped of course in accelerating the
healing process and preventing infection, probably through boosting the
immune system.  I also learned which leaves were useful for what injuries,
for controlling bleeding, use as wound dressings, and the like.  I'd become
the unofficial village medic.

   One morning on our way to breakfast Dina gave me a lopsided smile and
frown, and told me I should keep a good supply of leaves and such handy;
we'd be seeing a lot of injuries.

   "Why?" I asked her.

   She gave me a bemused smile, then gave a fleeting glimpse up at the sky,
her way of saying to me I was far from home.  Then she said, "The
flutter-giggles are returning."

   I know I gave her a puzzled look.  She gave me an exasperated sigh, then
smiled and laughed.

   "I'll show you after breakfast.  You should show your husband later this
afternoon."

   I'll wander into Dale's field of ecology for a bit.  While there are
gaping holes in the ecology where even I would expect a species to fill, we
did have flying insects and birds.  All the other insect life we'd been
exposed to so far was devoid of the pheromone producing capabilities of the
kaelen.

   At breakfast we saw quite a lot of giggling among the teens, especially
the girls.  The boys were smiling as well, looking forward to something.

   "Is this part of a mating ritual?" I asked Dina quietly as we were
eating.

   She choked momentarily, but recovered quickly.  She and Adda were
getting used to my outlandish questions.

   "Yes," she said after a moment, "you could say that it is.  I hadn't
thought of it that way, but this is often what ties the final knot."

   Now I was more puzzled.  "So why the injuries?" As I looked around I saw
one girl who seemed to have a bump on her head.

   Dina laughed.  "You will soon see."

   After breakfast the teens dispersed quickly, mostly in pairs.  I watched
Tala take the young man she'd been with for quite a while.  Tala had quite
the look on her face, and so did the young man.

   Dale grumbled to me that it was practically a holiday; the only people
he could count on to work this morning were the older married men, and even
they'd be taking off this afternoon.  I hugged him and gave him a kiss
before he headed off.

   Dina led me around by the pools.  I noticed pale yellow moths
everywhere, usually with people chasing them.

   "Those are the flutter-giggles?" I asked (I'll call them moths from now
on).

   Dina nodded.  "Yes, let's go around the other side."

   We hurried to the other side of the pool, along the area Dale and I
called "lover's lane," for its secluded mossy patches in the shade.

   Dina stopped along the path and told me.  "Cup your hands together like
this, then breathe."

   She cupped her hands together, shook them a few times vigorously, then
put her nose in between her thumbs and inhaled deeply and quickly.  I
followed suit; we practiced a few times.  Behind us we could hear the
sounds of teens having fun.

   We went to one of the mossy areas.  As we were going in the path, Dina
said quickly, "Catch one in your hands!" as she spied some of the moths
sitting about shoulder level on some vegetation.

   We both quickly caught a moth each.  I started to shake mine, but Dina
said, "No, sit down first.  That's why they get hurt."

   I sat down on the soft moss.  Dina motioned me more to the middle of the
mossy area.

   "Now!" she said, "Follow me!"

   She shook her hands vigorously; I did the same.  Then she stuck her nose
between her thumbs and inhaled sharply.  I did the same.

   I was filled with a strange aroma that soon had me seeing intense colors
and turned my muscles to jelly.  As I slipped to the ground the synesthesia
exploded in me, mixing my senses with strong hallucinations, combined with
an intense orgasm.

   Sometime later I propped myself up on one elbow.  "Wow, some defense
mechanism!" I thought to myself.  I felt very good.  About seven minutes
had passed by my chronometer.  Now I knew how the injuries occurred, and
why Dina insisted we sit down.  I looked over at her.

   She was still on her back, a dreamy smile on her face.  One of her
kaelen was on her shoulder, the others were sitting in branches nearby.

   Her skirt was partially up, and the scent of her arousal hit me.  My
mouth started watering and I moved on my elbows to between her legs.  I was
still weak and wobbly.  I hadn't eaten a woman since our wild departure
party over a year and a half ago.

   I put my hands under her bottom and pulled her to me on the moss.  I
buried my face in her, enjoying her taste and her smell.  Some of the
synesthesia was still with me, as the sensations crossed over to other
senses, feeling her taste and smell on my skin.

   Soon I heard her moaning as she moved weakly on the moss.  Her moans
increased and soon she was shuddering through the first of many orgasms as
I enjoyed her hungrily.

   Finally I pushed myself up to sitting.  I know I had a satisfied smile
as I looked down on Dina.  She gave me that look of wonder again, albeit a
satiated look of wonder.  I extended a hand and helped pull her to sitting.

   As she looked at me, I asked, "That was new to you?"

   She laughed and nodded.  "Oh yes, very new."

   I couldn't believe it.  "Your husband doesn't do that for you?"

   She laughed again.  "He will."

   We both laughed together.  It took a while of precise questioning for me
to tentatively conclude that oral sex was unknown to them.  So was
masturbation.  As I contemplated this, I felt insect legs moving on me once
more, and the sensation of little tongues on my skin.  I watched the same
on Dina.

   I was amazed.  These things are so intimately involved in the sexual
cycle!  Is it even possible for these people to experience arousal without
kaelen assistance?  That would be another part of the puzzle as to why we
weren't awash in babies.

   It took me a while to phrase the question in a manner in which she could
understand, but they did have arousal without the kaelen, although not very
often.  If I understood her correctly, the men especially needed some
stimulus to get them going.  I guessed that once started, their
conditioning would take over.

   Dina went on to explain that many people, mostly teens, would catch as
many moths as they could during the period of a few days there were around,
going through the cycle of catching, collapsing, recovering almost
continuously.  They would do this singly, in pairs, in groups.

   The older ones though, the ones close to making their selection of
mates, played a different game.  There it was common for the man and woman
to go together to a place such as this.  They'd both catch moths.  The
woman would take the full effect of the creature.  The man would take just
a little, so he didn't collapse, and begin intercourse.  The woman would
recover to a wild ride.  Doing this with a man was a sign of commitment.
After making love in this manner, they'd usually catch another moth each,
and enjoy them fully together, collapsing in each other's arms.

   Then she gave me a serious look and said that this also went on with
married women.  This was the only time when a woman could ask another man,
married or not, to go with her.

   I sucked air momentarily as I considered her statement.  So there was
adultery, and it was permitted under these narrow circumstances.  Then I
smiled and laughed a little.  There was adultery and it would be practiced
with my husband.

   "Do you want him?" I asked.

   Dina laughed.  "No, I don't play that way."

   Then she looked serious again.  "But others want him.  It is up to you.
You need to teach him.  You can say no; he is your husband."

   I smiled and laughed again.  Dale would like this game.  "I'll teach
him, right here if I can." I felt my nostrils flare as I sucked in a
breath. He would feel so good.  "And he'll do to me what I did to you."

   Dina asked me quite without embarrassment or concern how to teach her
husband to eat her.  I gave her a lesson in female anatomy, causing some
quite strong physical reactions with the touch of my fingers, and described
how she should teach him.

   After that lesson Dina asked if I'd like another moth.  I laughed and
told her we should head back; I wanted to share the next one with my
husband.  I was sure he'd get to share many in the next few days.

   We stopped along the edge of the small pool; I washed my face.

   As I bent over to the water, my kaelen scampered down my back and into
my skirt, avoiding the water, as they usually do.

   Another question formed in my mind.  Every time I started becoming
intimate with Dale, our kaelen would respond in some way.  Yet when I'd
gone down on Dina, they'd remained quiet.  They evidently didn't consider
that sexual conduct I guess.  The thought of doing that to Dina again, with
the kaelen bringing us to easy release, my nipples sliding along that soft
moss, got me wet again; it was certainly sexual to me!  And yet kneeling
over the pool, knowing how wet I'd become at that thought, my bugs remained
quiet.  When I stood up, they scampered up my hair onto my shoulders again,
there to remain silent.

   We passed groups of young ones in various states of consciousness.  We
saw a number of pairs in different stages of the dance.  Then we came to
the large pool.

   As we rounded the corner, I saw a group about twenty meters away, again
in various states of consciousness.  One of the girls sat up slowly and let
out a horrible scream, the first noise of that kind I'd heard on the
planet. Then I saw why; a boy was laying face down in the water.  The
others just sat or lay there.

   I ran over quickly and pulled the youngster out of the water.  It was
clear he'd inhaled standing and fallen unconscious into the pool.  How long
ago?  I flipped him to his back as I felt for a carotid pulse and listened
for respiration.  What did that damn moth do to metabolism?  Since a couple
of the other kids in the group were still out cold, he must have been like
this only a short while.

   He had a slow pulse, but no breathing.  I pinched a nail bed on a
finger; it stayed bluish.  This was not good.  I positioned his head to
open the airway and gave him a rescue breath; it didn't go in.  I
remembered from my training that most drowning is caused by a very small
amount of fluid.  I gave him a shake, repositioned, and tried again, this
time with more force.

   I got chest rise, and a little chest fall with gurgling noises.  I put
another big breath into him.

   I was rewarded with violent coughing.  I pulled him over on to my knees
and let him cough up water.  He was gasping for breath and coughing.  To me
it was a wonderful sign.

   He tried to get up but I held him.  The kaelen started making the
comforting sound.  I quickly said, "No!" I didn't want him sedated or
depressed in any way -- I wanted the full force of panic to reoxygenate
him.

   I remembered the sound the kaelen had made to wake Adda in the hut, and
its effects on me.  I guessed at the male specific version of that sound
and made it.  It didn't affect me, but with my three kaelen making the
sound, and Dina's three, it certainly affected my drowning victim and his
male cohorts.  Soon I was having to hold on to him as he was breathing
rapidly; I could see his pulse beating rapidly and strongly in his neck.

   I turned him to his back and held his shoulders down.  "Relax and lie
there," I told him, looking at his eyes.  He was quite confused still.  I
moved my head back and forth, allowing the sunlight to hit his eyes and
watching the reaction of his pupils.  They seemed equal and responsive.
Good, that pointed away from major brain damage.  His male counterparts
were all awake now, and standing with the girls.  All were chattering
wildly.

   I turned to Dina.  "Move them away a bit and calm them down, please," I
asked her.  She nodded and stood up.

   As I watched my charge, I stilled my kaelen.  The boy's system was still
on high, which is what I wanted, pushing oxygen through his system.  Dina
managed to get the others moved back a bit; I heard the calming sound come
from her, and all our kaelen started to reply.

   I overruled mine with the male specific variant of the sound.  Soon my
recovering victim started relaxing, even sagging.  "You're still with us,
my friend," I told him.  "He was watching over you this day."

   I sat him up and held him to me, his head between my breasts.  I was
still running on adrenaline as well; this didn't excite me sexually.

   A larger crowd had gathered.  Dina kept them at bay as best she could. I
stood up, and helped the boy stand.  He was about fourteen or so, I'd
guess. He'd be a handsome man, thanks to me.

   We walked over to his companions.  They all looked tranquilized, as did
he to a certain extent.

   I turned him so he was facing me and said in a clear voice for his
companions to hear, "You will grow up to be a strong and handsome man -- if
you are more careful than you were today." I looked over them all; they
looked shocked.  Good.

   I turned and walked away from them slowly, pressing my hands on my skirt
to keep my hands from shaking.  I walked to Dina and the crowd.  Adda and a
few other elders pressed to the front.

   Adda asked, "What happened?"

   I smiled, trying to look calm and relaxed.  "One of them had a mishap
with a flutter-giggle.  He will be fine."

   I walked through the crowd as if nothing had happened.  I could hear
Dina giving the more detailed explanations behind me, how he'd been face
down in the water, and I'd kissed him to life.

   I stopped to consider.  What should I do?

   I turned to the group again and spoke to Dina.  "Dina, are you a fish?"

   The crowd laughed nervously.  Dina said, "No," with a smile.

   "Can you breathe water?" I asked.

   She shook her head.  "No."

   "Neither can he," I said, pointing at the young man, now sitting on the
ground with his friends.

   "When he fell into the water, he tried to breathe water.  He couldn't.
Some water stuck in his throat, and that stopped the air from getting in. I
didn't kiss him, I blew air into him." I took a deep breath and exhaled
noisily, demonstrating.  "That moved the water, and he started to breathe
again.  This is one of the things we know.  I can teach you." I used an
exclusive form of "we," excluding myself from the group around me, playing
on my strength as an outsider.

   That seemed to satisfy the crowd.  They began to disperse.  Adda and
Dina walked with me back to the center, putting their arms around me.  The
comforting sound started and I did nothing to stop it.

   We sat in the shade between Dina's and my hut.  I'd calmed down again,
at least partially.

   Adda stepped away from us.  She returned a while later.  When I looked
up, I was surprised to see most of the elders gathered.  One of them spoke.
"You took the boy away from Him." It was an accusation, and a dangerous
one.

   I smiled and shook my head.  "No, that is not something I can do.  He
used me, and the boy, to teach a lesson.  Maybe they will be more careful
now in their play with the flutter-giggles."

   My accuser smiled a little.  I saw I'd done well with many of the
others. "I told the boy that he would grow to be a strong, handsome man --
if he was more careful," I told her with a smile.

   My accuser smiled a little more and nodded.  She looked to Adda.

   Adda looked to me and said, "You are from far away.  You have much to
teach us."

   I sighed and shook my head.  "I have so much to learn from you, and so
little to teach."

   That seemed to satisfy them; the group dispersed, with Adda sitting with
us again.

   Sharing, and Sharing

   Dale arrived with a group of men a while later.  He sat next to me as
the rest dispersed to their usual places.  He gave me a wild, smiling,
confused look.

   "Had a good morning?" I asked.

   "You must have, from what I heard," he told me.

   "What did you hear?"

   He lapsed softly into our native tongue and whispered, "You saved a
kid's life."

   I nodded a little, then changed the subject.  "Have you met the
flutter-giggles?"

   He laughed a bit and shook his head side to side.  "No, but I've seen
what they do.  A few in my crew couldn't resist." He looked around a bit.
"And on the way back, I got some very interesting offers."

   I put a hand on his thigh and laughed.  "Well, I'll introduce you after
lunch, and we'll talk about some of those offers."

   It was an odd meal.  Not because of the food, which was the same as we
usually had, but due to the wide range of expression in the gathered
people. The range went from intoxication and joy, through lust, to some
still quite somber.  I hadn't met the parents of the youngster I'd saved
earlier; I wondered if I would.

   Some people ate and dispersed quickly, especially those who disappeared
in pairs.  We had a number of women, both married and unmarried, walk by
and give Dale the eye.  A couple of them were quite striking.  I could tell
Dale was interested.

   I wasn't sure how this worked in detail, so I leaned over to Dina and
whispered, "Does this sharing go for both unmarried and married women, or
just the married ones?"

   She smiled and answered in kind, "Usually just the married ones."

   Dale and I had finished our lunch.  I took his hand as I stood up, and
tucked it into my skirt.  "Why don't we take a walk," I told him with a
smile.

   He hopped to his feet.  Dina giggled a little.  "Be careful," she sang.

   I laughed as I walked toward the pond, my husband in tow.

   As we walked we saw groups of people, teens especially, already enjoying
themselves.  From Dale's reaction, he'd already seen some of this.

   We walked around to lover's lane.  The first two spots I'd have liked
were well occupied.  We arrived at another choice spot at about the same
time as Tala and her boyfriend.  When Tala saw us, she giggled and turned
quickly, taking her boyfriend off by the hand.

   We dropped our skirts on the path to give others notice.  Moths abounded
in the mossy area; they too liked the coolness and the shade.

   I caught a moth in my hands and sat down on the moss; Dale did the same.
I liked the approach Dina had used; go for it.

   "Follow me," I said.

   With that I shook the moth in my hands and stuck my nose between my
thumbs.  When Dale took a deep breath, I did the same.

   I let myself down to the soft moss, feeling Dale fall on to me.

   There's something to be said for synesthesia, that confusion and overlap
of the senses.  The synesthesia we experience in those few moments when an
AI is mapping and establishing direct neural connections is intense and can
be terrifying.  This was so comfortable, riding on that sexual wave,
everything overlapping and combining.  Especially the way it tapered off,
leaving some overlap to luxuriate in, as I felt my husband at my breast
once more.

   As he started to suckle I heard my kaelen start up.  I shook myself
awake and quickly said, "No!" quieting them.  Then I helped Dale sit up.

   "Some defense mechanism, no?" I asked him.

   He laughed, still a little spaced.  "Very good.  I wouldn't want to harm
them." He looked around and saw a few more.  "Ready to go again?"

   I took one of his hands.  I explained the couple's game to him, the
woman taking a deep breath, the man taking a slight one, and ravishing her.
His "interest" perked up immediately at that.

   Then I told him what I'd done with Dina that morning, going down on her,
and learning that this was unknown to them.  He was as surprised as I had
been.  We talked a bit about possible implications, and he quickly reached
similar conclusions to mine, broaching similar questions.  During this
process, his "interest" waned.

   That brought me to explaining some of the offers he'd gotten, and giving
him my permission to accept the offers from married women if he wished.
That got his interest up again, quickly.

   But he looked me in the eye, smiled, and said, "But right now I want
you."

   I looked him in the eye and asked, "And later?"

   He laughed, and I joined in.  He said, "I'll think about it.  But I'm
yours; please keep me."

   I saw motion out of the corner of my eye and reached out with both hands
to grab a moth.  Dale grabbed for one as I shook mine.  He caught his and
started agitating it as I took that deep breath, letting myself down on my
back on the soft fragrant moss.

   After floating through that space for a while I was enveloped by a
velvet tongue, plunging me once again into orgasm.  I was enveloped by a
deep blue velvet tongue, smelling of cinnamon and man scent, the blue
velvet feeling all over my skin, washing me in waves of sensation, of
pleasure.  My voice shook me pink and jasmine as he slid into me,
surrounding me from the inside and outside.  Our lips met in greens and
blues, softness and humming as he slid in and out like the surf, carrying
me on waves of sensation.  I crinkled and gathered together as I approached
the edge, letting go into softness and colors again, colors punctuated by
bursts of green as I felt his seed pumping into me.

   I felt him move again to my breast.  Electricity shot through me as he
latched on.  The power of his sucking brought my entire being into my
nipple.  Somewhere I felt and heard the kaelen start in again, taking us
into comfort.

   We sat up slowly sometime later, helping each other.  We hugged and
said, "I love you." I giggled as I felt my chorus skitter between my legs
to feast.

   I sighed and looked up at the sun.  An hour or so had passed.

   "Shall we go to the pool?  We should share this place," I suggested.

   He nodded and buried his head in my hair.

   As I stood my entourage went back to my shoulders and hair.  We put on
our skirts and walked back to the pool.  There were a number of couples in
the water, some splashing and playing, but most moving slowly together,
seemingly in postcoital bliss.  I hung our skirts and kaelen on a
convenient place and we waded in.

   "How was that?" I asked him.

   He nuzzled my neck as he carried me over to the falls.  "I was going to
ask you the same."

   "Mmmmm..." said it all.

   We washed and swam for a while.  We'd taught them a few new swimming
strokes over the months.  They'd been amazed the first time Dale did the
backstroke, and couldn't believe the butterfly.

   As more people started arriving, we moved to get out.

   "Going to accept any invitations?" I asked with a nuzzle in his ear.

   "Going to make any?" He asked, hands around my waist.

   I laughed.  "I hadn't even thought of it," I told him truthfully.

   He looked at me.  I told him, "But you should, with the married women, a
couple of them."

   He raised an eyebrow, smiling a little.  I hadn't told him my
conversation with Adda on having children.  This would be a good
introduction.  "Really, you should."

   He gave me a little more of a smile and said, "If you insist."

   I laughed and hugged him to me.  "Oh you men!  Don't worry, you're mine
and you're not getting away.  You can play for a few days, but remember
you're mine."

   "How could I forget," he whispered hotly in my ear.

   We got out and retrieved our skirts and kaelen.  I noticed a few women
noticing my husband.  He is, as they say, better hung than most.  I laughed
and tucked his hand into my skirt, and started to our hut.  We still had a
couple of hours until the evening meal.

   But he tugged me the other way.  Yielding, I let him lead me inland and
uphill some, off on the way to the cultivated fields.  We went along
another path, climbing higher on the hill.

   We crossed one of the streams that fed the small falls, then turned
uphill a little.  There by the edge of the stream was another mossy shady
spot.

   I gave him an accusing look.  "Been here before, have you?"

   He laughed and blushed a little.  "Only alone," he said, kissing my
hand. Then he reached up and caught a moth.  I did the same.  We sat down,
then shook our temporary captives vigorously, giggling as we did so; they
were well named.  He put his nose into his hands and took a deep breath.
He looked up in surprise to see me release mine to the wind, then put my
arms around him as he started collapsing.  I held him to my breast and
suckled him, moving his head around, telling him how much I loved him and
how lucky I was.

   After a few minutes I moved him to his back and started stroking his
cock to life.  When he was ready I certainly was, and I impaled myself on
him.  We both moaned as we slid together.

   Remembering what I'd felt, I ran my hands over his body as I rocked
gently.  Some soft touches along his abdomen, then along his thighs behind
me, elicited moaning and quivering.

   I rocked along gently, keeping myself on the edge, until I saw his eyes
start to open.  Then I leaned forward, put a nipple into his mouth, and
started rocking in earnest.  He moaned more and bucked underneath me.  I
came, and as I struggled to keep from falling over, felt him coming inside
me.

   One of my kaelen, my chosen, was still on my shoulder.  The other two
were sitting on nearby branches.  I started the sound to comfort just my
husband.  My chosen echoed me, and the other two quickly scrambled to me to
join in.  As I held his head to my breast I felt him soften.  I quieted the
kaelen and then said, "Sleep darling, sleep darling."

   I rocked him until his breathing shifted again.  I let go of him and
swung myself off, sitting on the moss and looking out, down at the pool and
part of the village below us.  One of the moons was up.  I looked straight
up for the stationary sparkle that was our ship.  Then I remembered and
laughed to myself; synchronous orbits are equatorial.  Where's the equator
from here?  I had the ship put a targeting reticule in my vision.  I turned
and looked, seeing a faint spot of light in the target image.  There was
our ship, our link with our civilization, our home.  What was to be her
fate?  She could stay in orbit for many decades, continuing her preassigned
studies, sending back a message torpedo every two to five years.

   I sighed.  It was only a few months until we reached that two year
point, two years gone from our base, almost a year on planet.  We should
work on our reports so we'd have something to show for our time besides
mounds of meteorological and geophysical data.

   I gave my chosen the sound to sharpen my mind and started working on
this report again.  Still so many questions, so many things we don't
understand.  And it's the same with Dale -- so many holes in the ecology,
with the primary conclusion being that this symbiotic structure had been
stable for quite a while.

   I worked for a while, absorbed in my work, until I felt a hand on my
shoulder.  I sighed, closed my connection, and turned to my husband.  He
was sitting up, with a tear in his eye.

   "What's the matter?" I asked as I wiped it away.  A kaelen skittered
down my arm and took the drop off my fingertip.

   He laughed a little.  "Nothing.  I come up here to think, to work on my
studies.  Like to see something?" he asked with a smile.

   I nodded.  He turned and picked up a rock.  I'd noticed there were rocks
in this spot that didn't look like they belonged here.  The one he had,
held in two hands, was a section a few feet on a side, split from something
larger.  He flipped it over and I gasped.

   "Recognize it?" he asked.

   It was the fossilized outline of an insect.  "It looks like the female,
but it's so big!" The fossil outline was partial but covered most of the
insect.  When alive, this thing had to have been eighteen inches long!

   I looked at Dale in awe.  "Where did you find it?"

   "Oh, up in the hills.  I have crews looking for interesting rocks for me
all the time.  They found it a few weeks ago."

   "Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.

   He laughed a little.  "I was going to, but it was the first night of
your ovulation.  You distracted me."

   I laughed and he laughed along with me.

   "What others?  Any males?" I asked.

   He shook his head.  "Not yet, at least not a complete one.  I've seen
some sections that can't be moved with male specimens that are relatively
the same size.  One spot must have hundreds all packed together."

   "Hive?" I speculated.

   He shrugged his shoulders.  "Good a guess as any.  I think this answers
my question as to predator species."

   I shivered at the thought.

   "Oh, and they had wings," he added with a tight grin.

   Now I was shocked.  The vision of these creatures, with the ability to
fly...  With their breeding pattern, no wonder there were gaps in mammalian
life forms.  A hive of these things could and probably did hunt host
animals to extinction.

   And my God, if one larva that size wouldn't mean certain death to a
human, two would, from the blood they'd consume.  "What about their prey,
ah, hosts?"

   "I'd call 'em prey.  Don't know," he said, "Wouldn't want to be around
then."

   "But then how..." I thought out loud.

   He smiled again.  "How did both species evolve?  How did the symbiosis
evolve?  Tell me, oh anthropologist, with a symbiosis such as this, how did
the humans develop a spoken language?  Why cultivated crops?"

   I shook my head in wonder.  "I don't know, I don't know." I know I was
smiling again.  Such wonderful puzzles!

   He sighed and stood up.  "We'd best head down for dinner.  I've had the
ship looking at surface and subsurface rock formations in the general area,
looking especially for likely fossil sites."

   "And?" I asked, putting on my skirt.

   He shrugged again.  "There are a few within a hundred clicks or so."

   I laughed.  We'd have to investigate; I knew that.

   Dinner was pretty jovial.  Tala seemed very well laid, as did Dina.
Well, so did I come to think of it.

   Early on a woman I'd seen before but didn't know came over to us and
very formally gave us some very nice fruit.  I accepted it and thanked her.
She bowed and left without a word.  I gave Dina a puzzled look.  She leaned
over and whispered to me, "The boy's mother." Ah, that explained it.  I
shared the fruit with our group.

   A while later a very attractive woman came over and sat in front of us.
She looked at Dale, then me.  I smiled, then nodded.  She acted as if I'd
just saved her life; her shoulders must have dropped two inches as she
exhaled.

   She very calmly asked Dale if he would like to see the flutter-giggles
with her.

   Dale looked at me, then at her and said, "Not tonight, I'm sorry."

   She looked heartbroken, until he said, "What about tomorrow after
breakfast?"

   She lit up; her nipples crinkled up.  She thanked us politely and left.

   When she was out of earshot Tala and Dina both laughed.  I patted my
husband on the leg.  "That was very good of you."

   He gave me a confused smile.  "What?"

   I just smiled back and looked at the ladies; we laughed together.

   After dinner on the way back to our hut he was propositioned again, and
set up an assignation for the afternoon.  When that young lovely skipped
happily off into the distance I squeezed his bum and told him, "You'd
better save some for me."

   He laughed and threw his arms around me, hugging me.  When we got to our
hut we noticed it had been lined with moss.  We had earned someone's
gratitude.

   We spent quite a bit of time that evening working on reports, using the
kaelen to keep our minds sharp.  When I realized it was after eleven at
night I called an end to that.  We curled up together and I let my crew
comfort us and take us off to sleep.

   I knew it was a dream.  I was running, and it was so hard, my legs
didn't want to move, yet I had to move, and move fast.  They were after me.
I looked over my shoulder and saw two of them, huge males, a meter or more
long, flying noisily toward me.  I knew they'd gotten Dale already.  I had
to protect my children, especially our son.  They were more important than
my safety; protect my children, my son.  It was so hard to run, so hard to
move my legs.  I started clawing with my arms, trying to move faster.  I
felt one getting closer.  I could imagine the stinger extending outward,
knowing a female was moving slowly along toward us.  He got closer and
closer....  The children....

   I woke up screaming incoherently.  Dale held me and hugged me.  I felt
my kaelen drop from their usual nighttime nesting spot in the thatch down
on to me, and it was all I could do to keep from screaming again and
flinging them away.  My heart was pounding.  They skittered up to my
shoulders and head and started the comforting sound.

   I quickly said, "No!" and stopped them.  I held Dale, I held him tight.

   "I've got you, you're okay, what was it?"

   I was still panting with fear.  "A dream, a very bad dream," I told him.

   He surprised me by starting the comforting sound; he did it pretty well
for a man.  The kaelen picked up on it after a moment, but I silenced them.
"Not yet," I said.  "Hold me please.  I need to be held."

   We lay down and he held me close.  I curled up in his arms, for the
first time in a long long while.  I finally started to calm down.  The crew
started moving around, picking up what moisture there was to be had on my
body.  I knew it had been a dream, but still my skin was crawling.

   I went back to pre-planetfall training and started my breathing
exercises to calm my body and mind.  With every inhale I calm the body and
the mind.  With every exhale I smile.  Focus on the present moment.  This
is the only moment.

   It worked, as it had worked for me for years.  I felt Dale's breathing,
slow and shallow; he'd gone back to sleep.  I sighed.  My chorus started a
sleepy time song.  I didn't interrupt them.

   I woke a little before dawn and used the chamber pot.  Then I held Dale
close, comforting both of us.  We got up later and walked to breakfast.

   "Want to tell me what it was about?" he asked, arm around me, protecting
me, as we walked along.

   I shuddered a little.  "I'll tell you before lunch; I'll meet you by the
pool.  You'll need to bathe."

   He laughed a little and gave me a hug.

   We were a little early for breakfast, but food was set out for us when
we arrived.  Adda soon joined us.  I saw Dale's morning assignation
watching us from a distance.

   "I know where our breakfast came from," I told him, nodding my head her
way.

   He smiled nervously and ate quickly.  It was funny.

   "Don't eat so fast.  You'll have plenty of time to play," I chided him.
I thought Adda and a few nearby women were going to choke from laughing
with their mouths full.

   He finished eating quickly.  I was taking my time this morning, not sure
what I'd do; probably go play with moths.

   He gave me an expectant look.  I laughed and hugged him to me.  "You can
go now.  Remember, play nice."

   He gave me a strong hug and whispered, "Thank you -- I love you," in my
ear.  He stood up and started walking to the pools.  The young lady with
the gleam in her eye met him along the way and practically dragged him off.

   I sighed and looked at Adda.  She smiled with me.  Then she said, "You
had trouble last night?"

   I nodded.  Huts have thin walls, and I made a lot of noise, and a noise
quite uncommon around here.  "A dream."

   She gave me a look of concern.  "About your home?"

   "No, about things that have not happened."

   We let it drop as Tala dragged in.  She looked beat.  I'd saved her some
of the fruit we'd been given, and offered it to her as she sat down.  She
gave me a half smile.

   "Where is your boyfriend?" I asked her, surprised to see her alone this
morning.

   She gave me a half smirk.  "Where is yours?" she riposted.

   I chuckled.  "The same place?"

   She nodded and laughed with me.  I put a hand on her shoulder.  She
sighed.

   As we finished eating I turned to Tala once again.  "What are you doing
this morning?" she seemed troubled, uncertain somehow.

   She smiled at the question.  "Could we talk?" she asked.

   "Of course."

   She looked around.  Evidently she wanted a more private place.  I nodded
to her and stood up.

   She stood and we took our leave of the other women.  We started walking,
pausing on the path to the pools.  Neither of us was particularly
interested in that area.

   "I know just the place," I told her, and led her back to the hillside
spot Dale showed me the day before.

   She liked the view, as did I.  I was glad Dale put the fossil pieces
away before we headed down yesterday.  They would take a lot of explaining,
especially since I didn't have the answers to the questions they posed.

   While there were plenty of moths around, Tala didn't pay them any
attention.  Instead after sitting down she began rambling, talking about
growing up, not knowing her mother, and being raised by Adda and other
friends.  She talked about her boyfriend, how serious she was, doubting how
serious he was.

   Something clicked in me.  I turned her to look at me.  She initially
avoided my gaze, but then looked me in the eye and gave me a nervous smile.

   "Tala, would you like me to act as your mother?"

   Her face lit up and she threw her arms around me, hugging me.  She
started going on about knowing I would understand but not knowing how to
ask, and on and on until I started my kaelen comforting us.  I held her and
rocked her gently.  She slid down a bit as she relaxed.  I gave her a
nipple.  As she suckled gently she sighed and relaxed even more.

   "Tala, you helped me greatly.  I will be happy to help you, if He allows
it, if they allow it.  I will help you."

   As I held her and rocked her I thought more of what she was asking of
me. Did I give her the final "test," or had she already done that?  I would
take her to choose a kaelen.  I would sit outside the hut while she "made"
her husband.  She would undoubtedly acquire at least one other.  And then I
would be called upon to start the next cycle.  Even with the kaelen
comforting us, that thought and my dream sent a chill through me.  Was the
dream a warning against just this?  I didn't think so.  I felt it was an
omen, but of something still in the future.

   I held Tala closer to me, rocking her.  Her pretty face was relaxed in
bliss.  I held her for a while longer, then sighed and helped her sit.  As
she let go of my nipple it struck me that the experience hadn't been
strongly erotic for me; I was comforting her, mothering her.  That was
opening a new set of very deep feelings in me.

   Tala sat up and gave me a dreamy look.  We both sighed in unison, then
laughed together.

   "Better now?" I asked her, caressing a cheek.

   "Yes, mother," she said softly.

   "Only if He allows it, if they allow it.  I'll talk to Adda as soon as I
can.  When do you want to make your husband?"

   The question seemed to take her by surprise, even though it felt
entirely predictable to me.

   "After the flutter-giggles are gone," she said.

   "And until then?" I asked.

   She grinned and spun around, catching a moth.  She held her hands out to
me and transferred it to my hands.  Then she caught another for herself.
We giggled together as we shook them, sliding more to the middle of the
mossy area.  I looked at her, then closed my eyes, brought my hands to my
face, and took a deep breath.

   Oh I'm glad these things only appear once a year, I thought as I
returned slowly to the world.  We sat up again.

   As we looked at each other, Tala frowned.

   "What is it?" I asked.

   "You are older, much older," she said, "Sometimes it shows in your eyes,
in the way you speak." We looked to be just a few biological years apart in
age, I in my late teens.

   "Yes," I said softly.  Suddenly I did feel older.

   "How old are you?" she asked.

   I smiled to her.  "Do you really want to know?"

   She thought in silence for a moment, shadows of thoughts washing across
her face before she said, "Dina told me you were from far away.  Yes, I
want to know."

   I took her hands.  "We were born far away from here, and our ways are
different.  We came here to live as you live, to learn what you learn.  I
have seen about as many seasons as Adda."

   That seemed to shock her, but not much.  She looked out at the sky.
There were a few clouds in the distance.  I expect she was looking for one
of the moons.  "How far away?" she asked.

   I sighed as she looked at me once more.  "Farther than that.  Farther
than you have words to say.  Our ship took almost a year to get us here."

   "Can I see your ship?  Did you build it?  Can you build others?" she
asked rapidly.

   "Our ship was built for us, and we cannot build another.  Perhaps you
will see it one day, but not soon."

   She sighed.  "You know so many things."

   I laughed a little and shook my head.  "I know different things.  If I
were a fish who had just grown arms and legs and could now breathe the air,
I'd know many things about living in the sea, but I wouldn't know how to
make bread.  Or a husband.  There are many things I want to learn, many
things for you to teach me."

   She nodded.  After a while she asked, "Will you leave us?  Will you go
home?"

   I shook my head again.  "I don't know.  Where is home?  Home is where
your family is.  Here I have a husband, a mother, and now my sister has
become my daughter."

   I saw the tears form in her eyes, and felt them forming in mine.  We
hugged quietly.  A new world of feelings was opening up inside me.

   She gave me another squeeze and sat back.  "Thank you mother.  We should
go."

   I gave her one more hug before we stood up.  We headed back down the
hill.

   We paused by the large pool.  I looked in the water for Dale; it was
still a while until lunch, but I didn't see him.  Tala saw her boyfriend
and smiled.  Then she turned to me and gave me a questioning look.

   "Go get your man.  Dale is to meet me here before lunch.  He must still
be playing."

   Tala laughed and gave me a hug.  "We will find him," she said, and
skipped off to her man.

   I watched them hug as they met.  Then they walked off hand in hand along
one of the paths.

   I sat in contemplation, thinking of my role here, my multiple roles.  As
I was lost in thought I felt a presence and looked up to see Adda sitting
down next to me.  She smiled.

   "Where is your husband?" she asked.  By custom, these assignations were
to be fairly brief.

   "He must still be playing," I told her.  Then I took her hand and said
seriously "Tala wants me to act as her mother.  I want to as well.  Is this
permitted?"

   She gave me another of her beatific smiles, then a warm hug.  "Yes, I
will tell the others.  We were not sure she would ask; we were not sure you
would accept.  Do you know what this means?"

   "No, but does anyone know the first time?  I owe it to you, to Tala, to
Dina."

   "That is a good answer," she said with a somber smile.  She got up and
walked quickly away.

   I wondered if she would talk to Tala, and in how much detail.  I'd asked
Tala, not the other way around.  Was I ready for this?  I'd answered that
question already; was anyone?  There was only one way to find out.  It was
just a dream, after all.

   I saw Dina, Adda, and some other women come by a while later and fan
out. A few minutes later Dina returned with Dale in tow.  As they got to
the edge of the pool, Dina took his skirt and he walked, almost
sleepwalked, into the water.  I stood and removed both skirt and kaelen.
Dina met me halfway to the water.

   "I rescued him," she said with a laugh in her voice.  "I'll wait for
you."

   I waded in; the water felt good, as it always does.  I caught up to him
and hugged him.  When he hugged me he had a ferocious hunger in his hands,
but weakness in his arms.  I led him to deeper water, holding him.

   "What happened?" I asked.

   He laughed weakly.  "It was the bugs again.  Things started out as you
had said.  We found a cozy spot.  She took a moth and I took a little whiff
of mine; not too much, but enough I thought.  I decided to give her a real
thrill, so when I woke up I went down on her.  You should have heard her,
maybe you did.  But when I slid into her, her bug took over.  It was like
one of our rutting sessions.  She was flat on her back, and the bug was
running me through cycles of coming in her and collapsing.  It was intense.
Dina rescued me."

   I held his head, pretty much supporting him as we moved to the falls.
"Poor boy," I cooed to him.

   He gave me a tired laugh.  We rinsed our hair and moved slowly back to
the shore.

   We put on our skirts.  Tala and Dina helped us comb out our hair.  Dale
thanked Dina for rescuing him.  She laughed.

   "Where is his playmate?" I asked.

   Dina gave me a sly smile.  "Still sleeping, with a smile that will last
until both moons are full."

   We laughed together as we headed for lunch.

   Adda and the others were already eating.  Once more, someone had brought
us lunch.  I looked around and could tell who it was.  She had slightly
larger breasts but smaller hips.

   "She looks like your type," I whispered in Dale's ear, nodding my head
her way.  "I wonder if they know doggy style?  Having her on top of you
might be difficult if she was unconscious."

   He looked up and moaned a little.  I laughed along with the rest of the
ladies.  "Too much play?  Does my baby need a nap this afternoon instead?"

   He smiled and blushed.  "Well..."

   Tala suggested, "You can always take a full breath, or catch two."

   I could see he might be contemplating that.

   As we finished lunch his afternoon paramour walked over.

   "Play time again big boy," I told him, messing up his hair a bit.

   He sighed, then looked at me and laughed.  He sprang to his feet in a
show of male ego.

   She approached us; she had a single kaelen.  Dale put his arm around her
waist.

   "Be gentle with him, he worked very hard this morning," I told her
helpfully.

   Dale frowned at first as we laughed, but was laughing as well as they
walked off together.

   I turned to Tala.  "Do you know about the moss in our hut?"

   She nodded her head as she swallowed something.  "Yes," she said when
her mouth was empty.  She told me it had been done by the group of teens
I'd helped.  They'd be keeping our hut cleaned and with moss for a week or
two as thanks.

   Dina asked me, "Do you have plans for this afternoon?"

   I smiled and said, "Your husband too?"

   She gave me a low laugh.  "Yes, but I was busy this morning."

   I shook my head.  Oh well.  I thought about it myself, but not
seriously. "I think I'll go shake some moths," I announced.

   Tala added, "She has a very nice place to do it."

   Dina nodded.  "May I come with you?"

   "Yes.  We'll need to be back in time to look for my husband, though.  He
may need rescuing again."

   We laughed, but Adda nodded seriously.

   The three of us went back up the hill.  We each caught a moth and sat
down.  As I looked up at the end of a deep breath I saw Tala had done the
same, but Dina was sitting there smiling.  What was she up to, I thought as
I melted to the mossy ground.

   I found out as I drifted back to the scrambled sensations of a tongue in
my center.  I heard someone (Tala?) start the kaelen on blissful release
for us.  I let go to the sensations.  I floated up again to the comforting
feeling, and felt a nipple at my mouth.  It was heaven to be held to that
soft warm nipple.  I awoke later and sat up to see Dina comforting Tala;
both had that look of bliss.

   When we were all capable of talking again Dina asked me, "How did I do?"

   I chuckled and ran fingers on her thigh.  "You did very well."

   Tala surprised me by saying, "Yes, she did."

   I looked at Tala, then Dina.

   Dina said, "And Tala practiced with me.  My husband is learning, as will
hers.  Soon we will all know."

   Tala added, "Just like with swimming."

   I laughed and was joined by the others.  It was a little different from
the new swimming strokes we'd taught them.

   I looked at the sun angle; it was getting late.

   Dina sighed.  "We should go down and rescue our men, especially Dale."

   As we headed down I said, "You think Dale will need rescuing again?"

   Tala said, "Oh yes, both of them are the same moon, as are most of us."

   I almost stumbled on the path down as my mind clicked the pieces
together.  What had we called it in college?  The female dorm syndrome?
Get enough females living closely together, and gradually they all slip
into the same menstrual cycle.  I knew that my cycle was out of phase with
most of the women in the village; it was actually quite nice.  During some
phases of one moon in particular, the huts held two women each.  Being out
of phase, I got one to myself.  So that meant we might be dealing with a
bunch of women at the peak of their fertility.  The bugs certainly could
tell that.  And they certainly seemed to want our children.  That explained
the ride Dale was getting.

   "Tala," I asked as we walked, "how will you keep from having a child?"

   She shook her head, this must be something everyone understood.  "He
will sing to me in my hut at night, telling me it is not yet my time.  I
will spend my days in the huts as usual."

   That answer was somewhat of a surprise, yet expected.  It was another
answer to my question of why we weren't awash in babies.  Did they prevent
fertilization, attachment to the uterine wall, or just insure a menstrual
cycle at the next appropriate period?  Or did they do something completely
different?

   "What is that sound?" I asked.

   Dina turned to me.  "We won't tell you, not yet," she said with a smile.

   I stopped and sighed; we were at the bottom of the hill path.  Large
mounds of feelings resettled inside me, moving, reshaping, and rebalancing.
I told them, "I know He wants me to have a baby; so do I.  These knots take
time to untie."

   We walked back to the pool area.  They told me to wait, and went off in
search.

   This time Tala and Dina both walked Dale back.  He was still dazed, and
they looked as if they were having trouble moving.  I laughed to myself;
this could be very good for a monogamous relationship after all.  They
dropped their skirts, and his, and Tala led him into the water while Dina
shed her kaelen.  I shed mine and quickly moved to them.

   I took my husband and floated him on his back.  He looked at me with
glassy eyes, smiled, and let his eyes close.  "They did it to me again," he
croaked.

   I looked at Dina and Tala; they were washing furiously.  They must have
waded through quite a cloud of pheromones.

   They came up out of the water smiling.  We all went to the falls.  They
stood under the falling water for a while.

   "How is his friend?" I asked.

   Tala gave a low laugh and Dina answered.  "He is working hard on this
one," she said, pointing to Dale.  "There were two kaelen there.  She too
will be smiling until the next full moon."

   It seemed to be a good recipe for success; pump them full of sperm and
keep them on their backs.  Perhaps I should check with the ship.  Even if a
trip up to the ship was necessary, I could do that from one of the peaks
and only be gone a few hours.  He was not to be denied it seemed.  He
wanted babies; he was going to get babies.

   Hmmm...  Going to the ship...  There had been a few days recently when
Dale hadn't been around for lunch.  He'd talked of fossil deposits a few
hundred clicks away.  The big problem would be in avoiding sonic booms
while the ship moved you inside an effector field.  Both of us had done
that many times in training.

   We got out and combed out each others' hair, Dale sitting more or less
comatose.  Dina whispered something to Tala, and Tala headed off as we
walked back, one of us on either side of Dale.

   We arrived back a little before dinner time.  We sat in our usual places
to rest.  I lay Dale down at my side, putting him in the rescue position.

   Adda came by a little later, joined by three of the other elders.  Both
Dina and I bowed respectfully.

   One of them said, "Thank you for helping Tala.  She is asking much of
you."

   I sighed and replied, "She has given much to me; you all have given much
to me.  I am happy I can give something back."

   Adda sat down and the others went to their usual spots.  Adda looked
down at Dale.  She started making a sound; it was male, resting, and
something else.  The something else was familiar.  I'd heard it during my
period.  Recovery?  Rebuilding?  I practiced it a little.  Adda smiled to
me and told me to sing it for him when he was asleep; it would help him
regain his strength.

   Dinner started a while later.  I got Dale to sit up.  I thought about
using the kaelen to give him a kick, much as I'd done to the boy I'd saved,
but thought against it.  Right now he needed to rest and recover.

   During the early part of the meal a very pretty young thing with one
kaelen came over to us, bearing a very nice array of fruit.  She put it
down in front of Dale and me, looking Dale in the eye and smiling as she
did so.  Her nipples showed her intentions.  She asked sweetly if he was
busy in the morning.  I expected a groan, but instead he said, "How about
tomorrow after lunch?"

   She smiled and thanked us, looked me in the eye, and when I nodded, she
bowed again and left.

   "You are insatiable!" I exclaimed after she'd walked away.  "Who are you
with tomorrow morning?" I accused.

   He handed me a piece of fruit and said, "You."

   I was still tempted to mash the fruit in his face, or worse yet, into
his chest so he'd have to bathe again.  Instead I said, "I love you."

   He nodded and said, "I know," then more softly, "I need to be held
tonight.  Protect me."

   That just about melted my heart.  His balls may belong to the bugs, but
his heart was mine.

   After dinner we went back to our hut.  I could tell we left a couple of
women frustrated.  They probably had another day or two.  I also got
inviting looks from some young men as I led my husband.

   Once inside, I comforted him and led him to sleep, putting him down on
the soft moss.  I started one of the kaelen making the restorative sound.
The kaelen hopped down and rested on Dale's head, its abdomen swaying over
his face.

   I sharpened my mind and worked on my report for a while.  I had more
answers, or more puzzle pieces, but still more questions.  The bugs could
regulate births, that was clear.  They could sense fertility.  Did they
prevent fertilization, implantation, or cause abortion to eliminate
unwanted births?  From my own training, to which I wished I'd paid more
attention, I remembered that for our science, the least meddlesome approach
to a woman's hormonal cycle and balance was to interfere with implantation
of the fertilized egg along the wall of the uterus.  But, who knows what
they'd evolved.

   Another puzzle that popped up was from Dale's comment on his morning's
rut.  I'd have to follow up and confirm that.  He said there had been but
one kaelen there, yet the woman had been flat on her back, and he'd been
run through the wringer.  Possible solutions included more than one kaelen,
each controlling one person; one kaelen switching from one sound (meaning
pheromone) to another, or most intriguing, one kaelen producing more than
one pheromone at once.  Did they synthesize on the fly, or did they have a
stored library ready to go?

   Once again it got late and I was no closer to solving this world's
puzzles.  I held my husband and let our kaelen sing us to sleep.

   Part 4 Changing Roles

   We both slept well, and woke to fresh fruit and juice inside our hut.  I
didn't know if it was someone thanking me for saving that kid, or more
likely, someone with hots for my husband.  We did our morning routine, ate
some of the fruit, and took the rest with us.  Dale was well rested.  I'd
slept well, with no unpleasant dreams.

   When we got to breakfast, I noticed our seating arrangements had been
shifted slightly but significantly.  Before, Tala sat between Adda and Dale
and me.  Now, I was next to Adda, Dale by me, then Tala.  This ordering
indicated the family relationship; I was Adda's daughter, and Tala was
mine. It was a simple change, but it made my head spin.

   When we sat down, Tala's boyfriend was with her.  They were about
through eating.  I gave them some of the fruit we'd brought, and looked
over my future son-in-law sternly.  Was he good enough for my little girl?
I'd have Dale find out more about him, and talk to him myself.

   They left soon after.  He bowed to me with newfound respect.  After they
were gone, I looked at Adda.  It seemed as if she was going to burst with
laughter, as was one of her friends.  She moved over to me and said, "You
did that very well.  I thought he was going to wet the ground, you gave him
such a great-grandmother of a look!"

   I broke out laughing, amazed at how quickly I'd adapted to the role.

   Dale received two more propositions, turning one down flat, tentatively
accepting one for the next morning.  We headed up the hill again, and after
sharing moths, I comforted him and returned him to the rejuvenating sleep.
I sat and thought, working more on my report, chasing a myriad of loose
ends.

   I woke him and we walked down again for an uneventful lunch.  Uneventful
if you ignore more propositions, for both of us.  Dale gave me a sly look
after one young man left some fruit for us.  He had bathed, trimmed his
hair and beard, and even cleaned his teeth.  I shook my head slowly side to
side and thanked him.  After he left dejectedly I laughed softly to myself
and whispered in Dale's ear, "I love you."

   Dale left soon after with his afternoon paramour.  We'd seen the two
from yesterday during lunch; they were both still smiling, although their
husbands looked a little glum.  I told him we'd send out the rescue parties
in time for dinner.

   Tala left with her boyfriend, Dina left with her husband.  Adda and I
sat together for a while.

   She said softly, "I spoke with Tala.  In some ways you are my sister."

   I looked into her eyes, looking across a gap that was inches, light
years, and thousands of years all at the same time.  And yet I felt so
close to her, to Dina, and to Tala.

   "Yes," I said with a lump in my throat.  "In some ways.  But we have
walked different paths.  In some ways we are sisters.  Yet you are my
mother, and sometimes you are mother to a child who knows very little."

   Adda nodded, looking across the gulf.  "And sometimes you are older and
wiser than all of us."

   The lump grew, my eyes stung.  "We came here to learn, and we have
learned so much, and yet so little.  You have taught me how to love and how
to give.  How can I thank you for that?"

   She took a kaelen off her right shoulder; I recognized him as her chosen
one.  She stroked him with a finger and he flipped over in her palm,
hissing and wiggling his legs.  She rubbed his belly, then looked up at me
smiling.  "You are thanking us."

   I bowed to her and went to one of the contemplation spots by the small
pool.  I asked one of the teens to let me know when dinner was approaching.
She smiled and bowed to me.

   I reclined on the moss, in the shade.  The breeze was warm and humid, as
it usually is.  How good snow would feel now.  My nipples shriveled up at
the thought and I laughed.  What would these people think of snow?  How
could I describe it to them?  I set one kaelen to restful sleep, the other
to rejuvenation and closed my eyes.

   I awoke to a girl sitting next to me with a gourd of water.  I sat up
and drank it, thanking her.  I recognized her; she was the one screaming
from a couple days ago.  "How is your boyfriend?" I asked.

   She said, "Very well, thank you.  We are all more careful."

   "Good," I said, then added, "Sometimes I'm not."

   That broke the ice with us; she gave me a relaxed smile.  As I moved my
shoulders I asked her, "Has my husband been found yet?"

   She laughed a little.  "Oh, they know where he is, they were very loud,
especially the woman."

   I could imagine how loud, and why.  I laughed as well.

   Then she asked me about our way of kissing.  I could tell she meant oral
sex.  I gave her a female anatomy lesson and described things to her,
telling her how to train her men well.  She thanked me and said she would.

   She helped me stand.  She was a pretty girl, probably fifteen.  She'd be
married in a year or two.

   We walked over to the pool.  Dale was sitting on a rock, not moving, as
two women walked away from him laughing.  I guessed it had happened again.
I'd have to tag the ones he'd been with for the ship to watch.  Let's see
how good these bugs are at regulating pregnancy.

   I took my skirt and kaelen off, and stood him up and removed his skirt.
He just stood there with a silly smile on his face.  We were standing near
a deep part of the pool, ten or so feet deep, and on solid footing.  I used
a variant judo throw to get him over my head and throw him into the water;
I dived in after him.

   He came up sputtering as I surfaced near him.  He turned to me and
grinned.  I took off swimming, and didn't let him catch me until we were in
shallow water.  When I did let him catch me, I didn't fight fair.  I
wrapped my legs around him, grinding into his cock, and got one hand around
the back of his head and squeezed his neck the way I know he loves.  I let
him struggle for a bit before I let him kiss me.

   We arrived for dinner a bit early and sat down.  Yes, the bugs had done
it to him again, and he was worn out.  "Does that mean you're going to rest
tomorrow, or just in the morning?" I asked.  He gave me a smile and I
laughed.

   Tala approached, with her boyfriend.  Both looked very well laid.  Tala
bowed and sat down.  Her young man dipped his head slightly and sat by her.
I frowned.

   I looked at him.  "Let me see your hands," I barked.

   He slowly held his hands out.  They were filthy.  I reached out and
rubbed his light beard between finger and thumb, coming away with residue.

   "If you are going to sit here with my daughter you are to be clean.
That means clean hands, face, and hair, and at every meal.  Understood?"

   He squeaked and nodded his head.  And he sat there.

   "Well?" I said.

   After a moment he scrambled to get up and started to leave.

   "Stop!" I called.  He froze in his tracks.

   "What is your name?" I asked coldly.  I thought I remembered his name,
but I wasn't sure.

   He squeaked again, and, "ben, ben," is all that came out.  It's a filler
sound in their tongue, such as "ah" in ours.

   "So, Ben it is," I told him.  "How do you show respect for your elders,
Ben?"

   He bowed, a little better, and started off again.  "Stop!" I yelled.  He
stopped.

   "Do you always run off without asking permission?"

   He bowed his head a little and squeaked some more, finally asking
formally, "May I go and wash up?"

   I smiled.  "Yes, please do.  We will save dinner for you."

   He looked at me and bowed, then looked at me again.  I waved a hand to
Adda; he caught on quickly and bowed to her and the other elders as well,
then ran off.

   I was biting my tongue to keep from laughing.  When his heels left the
clearing I let myself chuckle out loud.  Adda let out a very satisfied
laugh.  "Is this what you wanted, Tala?" she asked.

   I looked at Tala; she wasn't sure she was happy or not.  I held my thumb
and finger up to my nose to check my suspicions.  I was correct; they
reeked of pussy juice.  I held them to Tala's nose and she took a whiff,
blushing a bit.  I said softly, "You are training him well, my daughter."
She smiled and laughed with us.

   Dale gave me a raised eyebrow.

   "If you hadn't been so busy today, I would have told you," I said with a
satisfied grin.  He rolled his eyes but smiled and took my hand, kissing
it. I told him Tala had asked me to act as her mother.  That's why we were
sitting a little differently.  I also told Dale to check out our future
son. Tala gave me a quizzical look at that.

   "Ben," as I would call him from then on, returned much cleaner, and
before we'd finished eating.  We had saved him some food, which I think
surprised him.  The general rule for meals is simple; if you're late, you
go hungry.

   We finished eating and Dale took him aside for a chat.  As I was getting
ready to head back to our hut Adda said, "Come walk with me."

   I glanced at Tala; she seemed surprised.  Well, let's show the proper
respect.  I turned to Adda and said, "As you wish, mother." Adda gave Tala
a very self-satisfied look.  I went off with Adda.

   We went to one of the contemplation spots and sat down.

   "I approve of the way you are doing things.  Tala may not, but she's
young." Adda told me.

   "Thank you," I told her, "this is a new role for me."

   She shook her head, smiling.  "But you have done similar things before,
we can tell."

   I thought about the students I'd taught, those I'd supervised.  Yes,
there were some similarities.

   "But not here.  There are special things I must do, things I don't know.
Teach me, mother."

   She smiled and nodded.  "Yes.  You decide the day she is to make her
husband.  Decide when it will be best for you.  They are ready any time.
If you wait long enough, she will ask.  But it is better if you tell her."

   I sighed.  I was to pick the day.  I was to start the cycle again.  What
would be best for me?  Was this a test of my suitability, to see if I could
choose wisely?

   I thought for a bit.  She'd probably get two or three kaelen.  I
shuddered, remembering what Adda had gone through, what I was going to go
through, my dream.  Figure four days for the cycle.  Split the time between
the end of my period and ovulation to give me time to recover from my
period, and then recover from the ordeal before the bugs took me into rut.

   "Mother, tell me if my choice is wise.  Three or four days after
returning from the huts feels correct."

   She smiled and gave me a sigh of her own.  "Yes, that is the best."

   "Will you be there to help?" I asked, surprised at the emotion in my
voice.

   "I will help as much as I can," she told me.

   I knew what that answer meant; I'd gotten it from others, and even given
it myself.

   "Thank you, mother.  I will make you proud."

   She started to stand.  I stood and we hugged briefly.  "I know you will,
my daughter," she said before we started back.

   Dale was in our hut when I returned.  "How's our future son?" I asked.

   We hugged as I sat down on the moss.

   "He seems pretty good," Dale told me.  "I'll talk to the others, but I
think he's a hard worker, and healthy.  I had the ship do a scan on him.
But..." He shook his head slowly.

   "But what?" I asked as I felt his shoulders.

   He sighed and sat up a little straighter.  "It's the same with most of
them.  Honest, hard working, healthy, it's just..."

   "What?  What's wrong with them?" My interactions with males were quite
limited.  He had access to data I didn't have.  Did he see a pattern, a
trend?

   "They're all bubble heads, I guess," he told me finally.

   "And that means?"

   He sighed again.  "No spark, no inquisitiveness, no drive.  Ask them to
do something, they'll give their all to do it.  Ask them to think of a
better way..."

   "Are you saying they're dumb?"

   He frowned.  "What's that supposed to mean?  Cognitive limitations?
Along what dimensions?  What limitations derive from their language
structure, what from their environment, genetics?"

   I nodded.  "Okay, it was an ill formed question.  But I think you're on
to something.  All the females I talk with are bright, and most are
inquisitive.  If there's a difference, I want to know about it."

   It had to be the bugs again.  Anything unusual here leads back to the
bugs.  Could you breed smart females and dumb males?  Nah, I didn't think
so; the genetic and environmental components were too closely intertwined
between the sexes.  You'd end up with both sexes dumbed down.  That left
upbringing.  I hadn't seen how the young were raised.  How were the bugs
involved in that process?  What motivated the bugs?

   Still unsure, I used them to comfort us and give Dale the recharging
he'd need for the next day.  I slept well, with no nasty dreams, but one
with undercurrents all the same.  It was the bugs.  They were after one of
my old systems engineering professors, Professor Conn, of all people.  What
did that mean?

   The next day was a repeat, but a little more frenzied.  We had to rescue
Dale in the morning and in the afternoon, and that evening after dinner we
could all tell the flutter-giggles were just about gone for the season.  As
I led Dale back to our hut we could feel the cool damp wind that told us a
storm was approaching.  I laid him down on the soft moss and comforted him,
sending him to sleep, and then setting one of my kaelen to rejuvenating
him, while I had another sharpen my mind.

   I sat in the darkness, feeling and hearing the storm approach,
practicing breathing exercises I'd neglected for a while.  I straightened
my back and focused on my breath, letting the feelings roil inside, just as
the storm roiled outside.  I remembered what Barbara taught me so long ago:
"Serenity isn't freedom from the storm, but peace within the storm."

   Eventually I lay back on the moss.  I put a hand on his side; he moved a
little.  We are not natives, I told myself; we are members of the Survey
Service.  We are professional nomads; our home is nowhere, and wherever we
are.  With that, I let my companions sing me to sleep.

   The next morning was cool, windy, and rainy.  The flutter-giggles were
gone.  This made some people sad, and others happy.  Things could return to
normal once again.  Dale headed off with a small crew to check on some
erosion control measures he was trying at one end of the fields.  I worked
with Dina assessing the damage the moths had brought.

   Probably thanks to the scare the first day, we didn't have any serious
injuries.  Dina was surprised; there were usually a few broken bones and
some serious lacerations.  She'd been talking with one of the elders; they
had memories of a few deaths in the past from the moths, but none in recent
years.

   Dina told me she would guide me when Tala was to make her husband.  I
checked the chronometer; my period would be due in two days.  Give three
days for my period, three to recover; I told her it would be in eight or
nine days.  She told me to let her know the day before so we could make
preparations.

   That gave me a little over a week to prepare myself.  I spent the
afternoon in one of the contemplation spots.  I sat in a meditation posture
I'd used for many years.  Even though I hadn't used it much on-planet, my
body recognized it and so did my mind.  After a couple minutes my menagerie
started the thrumming sound to sharpen my mind again.

   I let the thoughts and feelings flow through me, experiencing them and
letting them go.  Something about this place was so peaceful.  But
something told me there was a price being paid.  It must be the reduced
population, the carefully controlled breeding.  It fit; they were trading
growth, which would force change, for stability.  I felt different parts of
me reacting differently to this thought.  Parts of me found this bargain
satisfactory.  Yet other parts knew that if this bargain had been made on
the ancient Homeworld, man would never have reached the stars.

   To never know the stars -- what a price to pay!  Yet as this thought
brought strong emotions welling up within me, I also realized the other
things they didn't know, as far as we'd been able to discover.  They didn't
know war, or famine, or hatred.  We knew now that adultery did occur, but
under careful societal sanctions.  Fighting, even arguing, were all but
unknown.  What price, peace?

   They didn't lie.  There wasn't much to be gained from it, for one thing.
Children, and teens, still tested boundaries as they grew; it's part of
growing up.  What was different here?  Other things clicked.  A hypothesis
formed.

   I contacted the ship and reviewed some of our biometric recordings.  I
experienced once more the sounds of our greeting that first night, then the
questioning the next morning.  Now I could recognize separate patterns from
the kaelen chorus.  One sound was a relaxation sound; that effectively
reduced our ability to mount a physical attack.  It also reduced our
greeters' ability to defend themselves.  Another sound in the mix was the
comfort-root.  The presence of those two explained why we felt so relaxed
and safe.

   Another sound was in the mix; one I'd not been taught.  I isolated it
and had the shipboard AI search for other examples of it in my recordings.

   It was present the next morning when we'd been questioned, along with
the relaxation sound.  And, it had been present on a number of occasions
where Dina had talked to me, especially early on.  I let the linguist in me
explore the sound, feeling for its root, its variations.  I hypothesized
the male variant and used command privilege to have the ship search Dale's
recordings for that variant.  The ship found it, and I listened to some of
those incidents.  I recognized elders' voices.  Adda had asked him a week
or so after we landed if he was my husband.  I listened to his voice filled
with emotion telling her he was and always would be.  I felt a tear roll
down my cheek, to be intercepted along my jawline by a small tongue.

   I opened my eyes and stretched for a while, lying on the moss, sheltered
from most of what was now light drizzle.  It was getting to be late
afternoon.

   Soon Dale came by.  I saw him separate from a group of men.  He'd made
himself a very silly looking hat to keep off the rain; we'd be seeing a
flourish of those now.

   He sat beside me and we kissed.  Then he lay down on the moss with his
head in my lap.  I decided to test my hypothesis.  It was perhaps
underhanded, but then that kind of behavior is one of the finest products
of our civilization.

   I started my kaelen relaxing both of us, comforting him, and after he
was very relaxed, started them on the male variant of my test sound.

   After a couple minutes I quietly asked him, "How many times have you
been off the island?" I'd gently probed him on this issue in the past, and
he'd always been evasive.

   He immediately answered, "A dozen or so, maybe sixteen.  There are these
rock formations about 150 clicks from here with incredible fossils.  I
think they may have been a hive species in the past.  The ship may have
found some more on the other side of the planet, it's too early to tell
yet."

   I started stroking his forehead again, then pulled him up and leaned
forward a little to get a nipple in his mouth.  I started him into deeper
relaxation.

   I silenced my kaelen shortly after that, and held Dale to me, thinking.
It was a truth-sound.  Why did that surprise me?  They'd already
demonstrated their versatility in affecting the body and the mind in other
ways.  Was it possible truth had a biological basis?

   Did this represent a new threat to us, to our security, or that of the
ship?  We knew the AI would not, and could not, land the ship.  It could
transport us up to the ship, and could transport others if we chose to do
so.  The closest we could come to self-destruct would be to send the ship
back to base without us.  That thought left me cold, and reflecting on that
deep sudden chill told me this was not yet my home.

   I heard people gathering for dinner.  One of the young women who helped
me occasionally stood at a sociable distance.  I smiled to her and nodded;
she turned and left.

   "Wake up, sleepyhead," I told my wonderful strong man.  I massaged his
scalp a little.  He woke up and reached up, pulling me down and taking my
nipple again.  He sucked for a few seconds.

   Then he stopped suddenly, catching his breath.  He released me and sat
up, giving me a questioning glance.

   I smiled.  "I just figured it out.  They've used that on us from the
beginning, but rarely."

   He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.  According to formal
protocol, he should ask my permission as mission commander before making
use of effectors to leave the island, or before making any use of ship
systems that could reveal our capabilities.

   "I don't mind.  It's your job.  I trust you to be careful," I told him.

   He still had a confused look on his face, sitting there.  I moved up to
my knees and held him to a breast, circling my hands behind his head and
holding him to me, making him moan.

   "I love you.  You are my husband.  That hasn't changed."

   He squeezed me and a sigh racked through him.  We held each other for
another minute or so, then got up and went to dinner.

   After dinner, walking back to our hut, I could tell he was still
thinking about what I'd done.

   In our hut I held his hands.  "I'm sorry if I hurt you.  It was the best
way to test my hypothesis."

   He smiled, even laughed a little.  "No, I don't mind that.  It's
fascinating, that's all.  How did a bug evolve that ability; it's so
specialized."

   "Abstract?" I added.

   "I would have thought so, but if they can fart truth, I'm not sure."

   I laughed at his choice of words.  "I won't do that to you again."

   He held my hands.  "It's okay, it's just another gland being stimulated.
But how did it evolve?  I can see relaxation, sleep, even reproductive
control.  But truth?"

   I speculated.  "Maybe in a deeper symbiosis, they recognize lies as a
threat to the host, and therefore a threat to them?  My question is are
they hard wired, or can they evolve and react to new situations, produce
new compounds?"

   He grunted.  "How about that mind-clearing thing?  That seemed to take
them all by surprise."

   I nodded; it had.  Dale was evidently making good use of the ship, why
shouldn't I?  I set up a quick search program to scour the planet searching
for instances of that sound.  If it wasn't in use elsewhere, that would not
help us decide between the reemergence of something dormant or a new
development, but it would be another clue.

   Then I told him of what I expected in the next week to two weeks -- my
period, recovery, helping Tala "make" her Ben, and then starting the cycle
over again.  I asked him to please stay on the island for me during those
key times.  He kissed my hand and said he would.

   We lay down and snuggled close.  I held him to me again.  My mind was
still racing so.  I had the kaelen lead us through comfort and into restful
sleep.

   I woke with a start in the middle of the night.  I didn't know what
caused it; it was something deep.  Dale woke and held me.  I had to resist
flinching when my kaelen recognized I was awake and dropped from their
perches to climb back on me.  Dale held me to his chest, his arms around
me. Then he started making the comforting sound.  My kaelen answered, and
soon eased us back into sleep.

   I woke before he did, as the sun was rising.  I recalled with some
surprise the way he'd comforted me during the night.  So they would respond
to cues from a male!

   I used the chamber pot, then had a drink of water.  He started to stir.

   I straddled him and as he opened his eyes I said, "This is for last
night."

   I started my kaelen relaxing him and driving us to ecstasy at the same
time.  He moaned as he fought it for a moment, then gave in.  When I felt
him let go I put a nipple in his mouth and rode him in earnest.  He came
quickly, triggering my own orgasm.  I let myself collapse to his side,
pulling him to me, letting the kaelen comfort us, and then felt them
feasting on our fluids.

   After breakfast we went up to our spot on the hillside.

   "You've been practicing," I suggested to him.

   "What?" he said innocently.

   "Speaking to the kaelen."

   He nodded with a lopsided smile.  "Might be useful some day."

   I agreed.  "Ever hear other men, boys talking to them?"

   He shook his head.  "Other than the comforting, relaxing sound, no."

   "Want me to put together a study program for you?"

   He smiled.  "Yes!  Want to learn more archeology?"

   "No!" I told him, and we both laughed.  I told him of my observations so
far regarding root formation and the use of modifiers.  I told him he
needed to practice well outside of earshot of other people, as well as
kaelen.

   The following two days passed without note, and I moved into a hut for
my period.  I'd planned on putting together Dale's study program, but just
felt tired.  I let my kaelen comfort and rejuvenate me, saving energy for
what was to come.

   I emerged two and a half days later, bathed, and headed for lunch.  I
sat down in my usual spot.  Adda gave me a wonderful smile; I'd thought she
would be disappointed that I was still having periods.  Dale and Ben
appeared shortly, with another group of men.  I gave Ben a careful eye; he
was fairly clean.

   Dale sat down next to me and gave me a quick squeeze and a peck on the
neck.  "I missed you," he said.

   I looked at him.  He seemed different.  "What's happened to you?" I
asked softly.

   He laughed and leaned over to my ear, whispering, "I'm five for five."

   "What?" I thought for a moment.  "Oh!  How do they know?"

   He shrugged.  "The bugs, what else.  I had the ship confirm.  Three
boys, two girls.  Genetically sound.  Looks like more support for the
Diaspora theorists."

   I poked him in the ribs.  "More support for male egos, if you ask me.
Do they know the sexes?"

   He shrugged again, handing me some fruit.  "Don't know.  I haven't told
anyone what the scans revealed."

   I talked to Adda after lunch; Dale was off again.

   Adda asked me, "Your husband told you?"

   I nodded.  "He must be pleased," I said, referring to the kaelen.
"Three boys and two girls."

   She looked surprised.  "How do you know?"

   I smiled.  "We know." I took a deep breath; I felt strong, rested.  "And
in a few days, Tala will make her husband."

   She nodded and smiled, bowing her head to me slightly.

   Damn, I thought as I walked.  I should have set up a prospective study
of the flutter-giggle induced rutting to see how many pregnancies resulted.
Probably two thirds of the female population of the village should have
been fertile during that period.  I could have the ship scan for early term
pregnancies.  Yeah, let's do that.  Do the scan during the early part of
dinner, distributed over the area to minimize how excited the kaelen
become.

   Why not just ask?  I asked Adda, "How many others will there be?"

   She had a thin smile at my question.  "Three others."

   I nodded.  I didn't cancel the scan.  I felt she was holding something
back.  What?  Why?  Or was I just imagining things?

   She changed the subject.  "In the next few weeks we may have visitors
from other villages.  We will need your help greeting them."

   I smiled and nodded.  "I will help however I can."

   She said, "I knew you would."

   I don't remember what happened during the rest of the afternoon, because
when the ship gave me the results of its scan during dinner, I choked on
the food I had in my mouth.

   After coughing violently and scaring the hell out of Dale and those
around me, the first thing I did was had the ship rescan with tighter
parameters; pregnancies restricted to conception during the period of the
flutter-giggles, and all pregnancies.

   A minute later the ship reported the same result.  I knew why Adda had
been tight lipped when she'd answered my question, and why I felt she was
hiding something.  She'd told me we were having Dale's five, plus three
more.  The ship reported eleven pregnancies during the conception window I
requested.  There were two women in the village most obviously close to
term.  Three others were about four months along.  Other than that,
nothing.

   I couldn't help but give Adda a pained look.  I hope she took it to be
from my choking.  She knew; she had to know.  My God, what a price for
stability!  I know from my study of history that abortion is common in many
societies.  It was practiced on the ancient Homeworld through the
beginnings of the Atomic Age and the first Exploration of Space, as hard to
believe as that was.

   Why did this bother me so?  Why did it shake me to my core?  Did three
women in our village know they were pregnant, and also know they would
never come to term?  Or worse yet, are they unaware that the decision has
been made for them?  Or is it Dale fathering five -- if I'd just kept him
to myself another morning, another afternoon....  If I'd kept him busy and
he hadn't knocked up some of those women, would the others have been
allowed to give birth?

   I was still shaken as Dale helped me back to the hut.  Inside, I held
him and sobbed.  The kaelen started to comfort me, but Dale silenced them.

   "Can you tell me?  What is it?" Dale implored me.

   I couldn't control my voice.  The damn bugs -- they had been working so
damn hard to get me pregnant.  Would that continue?  Stability fueled by
life?  I couldn't find my voice; I was sobbing so.  The kaelen started
calming me again.  As they did I held Dale and nodded my head.  He
understood and let them continue.  He held me, rocked me.  Gradually I
settled down.  Haltingly I explained to him the difference between what
Adda had told me and what the ship reported.

   Dale calmly pointed out what I already knew about history.  He also
pointed out that we were in their world; our models did not apply here.  He
asked if I had a model that could explain the difference, the three that
would be aborted.

   That snapped me back to reality.  What kind of investigator had I
become? I asked the ship to detail the pregnancies.  We both reviewed the
results.  One thing stuck out immediately.  Of the six pregnancies, three
were first time.  The other three were married couples who already had one
or two children.

   I sighed and held Dale; I almost laughed.  It made sense.  We knew one
or two children per family were the norm.  N/K's orbital survey had shown
that, as well as the apparent clustering of births in certain periods of
the year.

   It made sense.  Go for genetic diversity.  If I were planning a program,
that's what I'd do.  We were outsiders and represented new genetic
material. If we stayed, would I get knocked up by a native?  From a genetic
perspective, He would like that.  So why was I being given the repeated
chance to breed with Dale?  From a genetic perspective, it made more sense
for me to get knocked up first by a native.  With the flutter-giggles
around, it would have been easy to inflame my passions and keep me on my
back....  Possibly there was choice in this system after all, choice within
a limited range.

   "I love you," I told Dale.

   "I love you," he told me.

   We held each other close.  As much as I didn't want to, I started the
damn bugs easing us to sleep -- it was one of the few things that made
sense.

   The next morning I was ready to start with Tala.  Let's get the cycle
started again.  Before breakfast I saw Dina and told her we were ready to
go ahead.  She nodded, picked up some food, and headed out.  I told Dale to
keep Ben away all day.

   Adda greeted me cautiously at breakfast.  "Are you well today, my
daughter?"

   I sighed.  "I am better, my mother."

   She reached out and we held hands over the gulf.

   As breakfast ended, Dale called Ben and they headed off.  Tala started
to get up.  I looked at Adda; she smiled to me and nodded.

   "Tala," I said, "please come with me."

   She looked at me; apprehension, surprise, elation all swept through her.
She trembled a bit and bowed.  "Yes, mother," she answered formally.

   We went to the small pond and bathed.  I could tell by the way she
moved, by the way her body reacted, that she knew what was to happen.  How
many weeks ago was it that I started this journey, and started it in
ignorance?

   We walked silently to the huts by the small pond.  I saw Dina standing
by one.  We walked over to it; Dina bowed and left.  I waved Tala inside.

   "You know what to do, my daughter.  I will be here."

   I could see her eagerness, her nervousness, and her joy.  Her hand
trembled against the outside of the hut as she bent over to enter.

   I sat outside the hut, making myself comfortable.

   I sat in a formal meditation pose, one that had served me well over the
decades.  Inside the hut I heard Tala starting out.  I don't know if it was
from the sound alone, or if pheromones were drifting outside to affect me,
but I felt calm and comforted.  How many kaelen did she have in there with
her?

   She started the next phase.  Even though I was deep in meditation, I
heard her rapid breathing, then soft animal noises coming from her.  I felt
a tingle and inhaled sharply, passion filling me.  I felt my nipples react,
and felt the dampness between my legs.  I knew I had to move farther away
if I was to remain conscious through the next phase.

   I opened my eyes to see Adda standing a short distance away, hands
behind her back, smiling softly.  I bowed to her, flowed up to standing,
and moved a few feet further from the hut.  I reached a point where I felt
a breeze on my face; that would be good, and probably keep me safe, yet
still within earshot.

   Adda approached and knelt by my side.

   "This is a good spot," she told me.  "Someone will bring you lunch.
Dina and the others will arrive by midafternoon.  You want to wake her just
before she begins a new cycle, or as she begins a new cycle.  She should
complete three cycles at least."

   I smiled and bowed again.  "Thank you, mother," I said softly.

   Adda got up and left.  I reviewed my audio recordings for the last hour
or so and put chronometer marks on the beginning of Tala's cycles.  I
commanded the ship to track and predict, giving me visual updates.  Tala
was fairly loud in the hut.  Is that what I sound like?  I thought about
reviewing that time, but decided to settle back and wait.

   I was about to get up and go cue the kaelen myself when I heard Tala
start, and saw the ship generated marker flash in my vision.  I felt the
breeze on my face and settled back into meditation.

   I didn't go to sleep, but I did drift fairly deep into meditation.  Why
was I so emotional these days?  I'd learned decades ago that even though I
considered myself to be a cool analytic person, that was but a thin shell
covering a volatile and emotional core.  I thought I'd come to terms with
my emotional side in my late twenties.  I knew it was a source of strength,
guidance, and wisdom; all I had to do was listen.

   What was I being told by that part of me now?  I was unsettled, unsure.
I had a vision of a thick, viscous liquid on top of another liquid,
dampening it.  Then Professor Conn reappeared and started to speak, only to
be chased away by three huge winged male kaelen.  I let these thoughts and
visions drift through, not holding on to them.

   I remembered what he taught us, fitting it to this world.  A system that
seems stable is either growing slowly or decaying slowly.  Maintaining
stability requires energy, energy which is diverted from other parts of the
system.  Periods of instability correlate with rapid growth, change,
evolution.  You either fuel change or you fuel control, stability.

   Another marker flashed in my vision; Tala started another cycle.  If my
analysis was correct, the energy that would go into population growth was
fueling the control mechanism.  It was a high price for peace, for
stability.  How much were we disturbing this stability?  And how would the
system react to preserve itself?

   I shuddered at that thought, reliving for a moment my dream, legs moving
so slowly as I tried to escape the winged males.  No, not escaping; trying
to save the children, especially our son.  I remembered feeling they'd
already gotten Dale.  What did that mean?  What had they done to him?  I
felt it wasn't as simple as using him for a host.

   I started my kaelen sharpening my mind.  I didn't have all the puzzle
pieces yet.  I chuckled to myself; we never would.  Still, I felt I was
missing something; we were missing something.

   Another marker; Tala was going into passion again.  I listened to her
move through it quickly, easily, and more intensely.  After a few minutes
of silence she moved again into rest.

   I settled back into meditation.  Dale and I should take a day or so for
a formal review of our reports so far.  How do we do this within the bounds
of normal behavior?  By sharpening our minds, we could do it in a few
evening sessions, yet I wanted a longer period, and the ability to work in
a space where we could have projected visuals.  Even though the images
projected directly into my visual cortex were very high quality, being able
to move among larger projections, rearranging and editing, was still
valuable.  I laughed to myself; in spite of the augmentation, we are still
kinesthetic beings.

   Tala was midway through her third cycle when a young teen brought me
lunch.  The manner in which she presented it to me told me she considered
this an honor.  I asked her if she had eaten yet; she told me no.  I asked
her to sit, and shared my simple meal with her.  We ate quietly as Tala
went into another rest phase.  We finished eating and she slipped away,
bowing with a big smile on her face.  I settled in once again.

   Tala completed two more cycles before I heard the others approaching.  I
opened my eyes to see them sitting off at a respectable distance from the
hut.  I could also see Dina's hair moving gently in a breeze; she had
seated them well.  I had the ship flash its projection of Tala's cycles
into my vision.  Her next cycle would probably start in about fifteen
minutes.  Fine, I'd wait ten and go in.  I nodded to the group and closed
my eyes again.

   How would I prepare to go in there?  The place had to be loaded with
pheromones, and I'd be walking into it.  Two minutes prior to entering I
started my crew sharpening my mind, then used a little shot of the
stimulation sound.

   My mind was crystal clear and my heart racing as I opened my eyes.  I
smiled to the group waiting patiently with the unbaked bread, then bowed
and flowed up to standing in one motion.  I walked to the hut, bowed down,
and entered.

   Still I was hit by the cloud of pheromones -- the sensations and
feelings tugging at me.  The kaelen in the top of the hut scrambled around
at my entrance.  My chosen one made a chittering sound briefly, and all of
them went silent.

   I sat next to Tala.  I could also smell her arousal; what a delicious
body she had.  I chuckled to myself; that's not the way to think of your
daughter.

   As I was excusing myself for that thought, blaming it on the cloud of
pheromones, Tala opened her eyes.  They were somewhat glazed, but they
opened.

   I helped her to a sitting position and gave her some water to drink.

   "How are you, my daughter?" I asked.

   She sighed and blinked a couple times.  "I am well, mother."

   I gave her a hug and helped her out of the hut.  The others came quickly
and started loading in the materials to bake the bread we would share in
the morning.  I led Tala back to the pond and helped her bathe.  For a
while I held her floating on her back, holding her head above the water in
the crook of my arm.  After a few moments she relaxed and I moved her
slowly in the water.

   We washed in the small falls; the colder water helping to bring us both
back to a more alert state.  We got out, and the girl from lunch and one of
her friends combed out our hair.  With our skirts back on, and my kaelen in
place, I walked with Tala back to the village center.

   "Is it tomorrow night, mother?" Tala asked me.

   "Yes.  Are you ready?" I replied.

   "Are you?" she asked in return.

   I laughed and held her to me.  "No, I'm not.  But tomorrow comes
anyway."

   We were early for the evening meal, so we walked for a while, circling
lover's lane.  It was fairly quiet; we were still catching up on work
delayed by the arrival of the flutter-giggles.  Still, two of my favorite
spots sounded quite well occupied.

   Somehow we ended up by the seashore, near the spot we landed.  Tala
looked apprehensive.

   "What is wrong, daughter?" I asked.

   She stepped closer to me.  My kaelen were acting a little agitated.  I
touched each to calm them.

   Tala said, "I very seldom come here.  This is a man's place."

   That was interesting.  Why was it a man's place?  As I took a deep
breath of the sea air, I understood.  "We'll head back.  This is the place
we landed," I told her.

   We walked back along the path Dale and I had taken, how many months ago?
I understood why the shore was a man's place, why the kaelen didn't like
it. Woman's power was based on the kaelen and their pheromones.  The crisp
moving sea air rendered them ineffective.  As we walked along the path, I
started them sharpening my mind.  I should do this more often, I thought; I
needed to keep my analytical skills sharp.  And bury my emotional side
again, a not so small voice inside me called out....  Ahh balance; we're
always struggling for balance.

   We walked into the village center as people were gathering for the
evening meal.  Dale and Ben were standing around; they wouldn't sit down
until we arrived.  I laughed softly to myself; we entered the center on a
path pretty much opposite the one to the pools.  That should confuse
things.

   We were both happy to see our men, and they were happy to see us.  We
sat down to our meal.  Afterwards Tala and Ben headed off.  Dina and Adda
got my attention; I told Dale I'd meet him back at the hut.  He hugged me
hungrily and headed off.

   Adda, Dina, and I walked to the hut of one of the older women.  I
remembered it as the place I'd picked my kaelen.  We sat and I was
introduced.  Tomorrow I would help Dina prepare the hut that Tala and Ben
would use.  After dinner I would bring Tala here, so she could choose her
kaelen.  As we did that, Dina would lead Ben to the hut.  I would bring
Tala, and once she went inside, I would return here for two additional
kaelen; these I would place on the outside of the hut.  They would enter if
they were called.  Then I would sit and wait.

   She asked me if I was ready.  It wasn't tomorrow I that concerned me; it
was two days from now.  I looked at her and told her my daughter had asked
the same question.  After a pause, I gave the same answer I'd given Tala:
"Tomorrow comes anyway."

   She responded with a wonderful laugh.  We bowed and left.  As we walked
back, Adda said softly, "She hasn't laughed like that in a long time.  You
gave a good answer."

   I chuckled a little; I gave a very old answer.

   I stopped to relieve myself on the way to our hut.  I needed him inside
me tonight.  I was hungry and wet by the time I got to the hut.  I dropped
my skirt and pushed him to his back, starting my kaelen relaxing him,
bringing me to ecstasy, and holding him off.  I rode him mercilessly until
I was nearly exhausted.

   I slid off him and comforted him for a while, holding him to my breast.
Then I lay on my back on the soft moss and started the kaelen again.  I
started them bringing him up again, and releasing and relaxing me.  I felt
myself melt into the moss in a wave of passion as he entered me.  Sometime
later after he'd filled me, we rolled together and I comforted him, our
chorus once again singing us to sleep.

   The next morning before our meal Dina and I walked over to the hut Tala
had used the day before and recovered our bread.  We walked back to a
separate area; Tala and Ben were there, as was Adda.

   I handed them pieces of the bread, saying, "This is special bread for us
to share.  Today is a day of rest for both of you." I saw the shock of
recognition in Ben's face, and the look he gave Tala.  Tala smiled and
bowed to us.

   The bread definitely had its effects; I felt good, elated, yet calmed. I
wanted to hold Dale, to kiss and nuzzle with him, to roll around on that
soft moss with him.

   But Dina and I had our work to do.  Besides watching Tala and Ben, I was
told we needed to relax them if they got too excited.  We took a break,
then Dina showed me where the moss was grown.

   It was a cool, damp spot on the other side of one of the hills.  A
well-worn path led to it.  There were stone and wood implements here, used
for harvesting the moss.  It was simple work, although the moss itself was
heavy.  I was glad I kept up my strength through swimming; I was able to
carry more than Dina could.  At her suggestion, I also cut a small patch
for me to sit on through the night.

   After setting the moss in place, we had lunch.  After lunch Dina took
one of her kaelen and placed it in the brush above Tala and Ben.  She
motioned to me and I did the same.  I placed mine, then started singing
them to sleep.  The kaelen picked up the tune quickly.  Dina and I silenced
the kaelen remaining with us as we stepped away, watching Tala and Ben
relax in each other's embrace.  I remembered that, how wonderful it had
been.

   I learned that the making of the finely woven skirts was the task of the
younger girls; a pair were ready for Tala and Ben.  Everything seemed to be
in place, and under control.  Everything except me -- every once in a while
my heart would take off racing, wondering about my part of the ritual to
come.

   The rest of the day was easy on the young ones.  We woke them in late
afternoon and watched them bathe in the pool, obviously nervous with
anticipation.  Tala worked especially diligently in washing Ben's hair and
beard, glancing over to me occasionally.

   We ate dinner; I ate heartily, and Tala and Ben ate hardly at all.
After dinner I hugged Dale.  "Stay on the island," I whispered to him, "I
love you."

   He sighed and said, "I love you.  I'll miss you."

   Then I nodded to Dina.  She took Ben's hand and led him away.  I turned
to Tala and said, "Come with me, my daughter." Tala looked to me with
nervous anticipation and fell in behind me.

   We walked silently to the old woman's hut.  She was sitting outside
smiling when we arrived.  She laughed as we approached.  I turned to Tala
and said, "Pick one."

   Tala sighed and started choosing.  It was the same as it had been with
me.  I could see the concentration on her face, the disappointment as one
skittered from her touch, and the elation when one hissed in pleasure, then
flipped on its back in her hand, wiggling its legs.  Tala looked at us with
tears in her eyes.  She knew what was to happen; I hadn't.

   The old woman laughed again and waved us away.

   I took Tala and her new companion back to the hut.  I kissed her on the
forehead and looked her in the eye.  "You know what to do, my daughter.  I
will be here."

   She trembled with excitement as she hugged me.  Then she practically
jumped into the hut.

   After a couple minutes, I returned to the old woman's hut.  She waved
for me to sit, so I did.  Her smile was infectious.  She seemed to have
eight or ten young kaelen on her, and two old adults, each with a gemlike
shine.  Three of the youngsters skittered over to me, seemingly racing
around my body, each trying to outdo the other in taking the longest, most
circuitous, and most ticklish path to the top of my head.  I laughed with
her at their antics.

   Then she sighed and said, "You have much to teach us."

   "Thank you, grandmother," I said formally, "We have much to learn from
you."

   She looked up into the sky.  "You are from out there?" she asked.

   I sighed.  "Yes, from farther than you have words to say."

   "Without Him?" she asked.

   I nodded.  She laughed, shaking her head at such a strange concept.

   She touched my forehead with her hand.  "Go to your daughter."

   Tears filled my eyes.  I whispered, "Thank you," and left.

   Back at the hut I placed the three youngsters on the outside.  Then I
moved my chunk of moss over by a tree and settled in.  It was going to be a
long night, and a noisy one.

   After a while sitting there, my kaelen started a new sound.  I practiced
it, and as I did, felt myself slipping into a relaxed half-awareness.  I
was aware still, but not totally.  Time was different.  So was space -- as
I remembered the sensations of entering and leaving subspace, I felt the
tensors of spacetime somehow.  I felt our presence in the system, and the
local sun.  I drifted to the cycling of cries from the hut.  I heard the
chittering sound only once during the night, Tala's kaelen calling for
reinforcement.

   What did that reflect, I asked myself?  Was it a measure of the
strength, the drive, of the wife, or a measure of the effort required to
subjugate the husband?  In either case, it was no wonder I'd ended up with
three.

   Shortly after sunrise I felt someone approaching.  I opened my eyes to
see the young girl who had brought me lunch now approaching with breakfast.
I smiled and accepted it from her.  I moved slightly; my joints had
withstood the night well.  I gave silent thanks, looking at the stars, for
a summer spent studying meditation on a world with slightly higher gravity.
How many years ago had that been, and how many light years from here?  I
queried the ship; 230 light years away was its answer.

   Tala and Ben evidently woke some time later, and went through another
round of lovemaking.  Would they do another round?  I guessed they would.

   After breakfast time, the elder women gathered.  Adda came and sat next
to me.  As she approached, I bowed and moved over, giving her my moss patch
to sit upon.  She sat down, smiling.

   Young girls also appeared with the makings for another batch of bread.

   The gathered throng was treated to another round of lovemaking, ending
with a very passionate set of both male and female cries.  I head Adda
chuckling softly; I held her hand.

   A few minutes later we heard rustlings from within the hut.  I felt
Adda's hand at my back.  I bowed and swept up again, thankful for all that
practice.  I seemed to move smoothly, without much pain from sitting for so
long.

   I met Tala as she exited the hut.  I hugged her and kissed her.
"Welcome, my daughter," I told her.  She giggled a little, still somewhat
delirious.  I left her and her newly made husband in the hands of the
younger women.  One group took them down to the pool to bathe; the other
group set up the bread making in the hut.  I picked two lonely kaelen off
the outside of the hut and rubbed them briefly.  "Maybe next time," I told
them softly.  A couple of the elder women laughed at my remark.

   Dina led me down to the pool as well.  I took off my skirt and kaelen,
and went into the water.  I took a deep breath and swam underwater for
quite a distance, popping up to float on my back.  I swam on my back for a
while, using my arms and shoulders, working the kinks from my hips and
legs. I got out feeling rejuvenated.

   Two young girls scrambled to me, one winning out to comb my hair.  She
politely asked if I could teach her to swim like that.  I told her it took
practice, but I could.

   With my skirt and kaelen in place, I stood by the edge of the water and
waved the newlyweds in.  Tala brought her catch to shore.  He looked as
dazed as Dale had been.  The girls handled them both gently.  I smiled,
remembering.  It had not been that long ago!

   With their fine skirts in place, Tala with her two kaelen and dazed
husband in tow, I led the procession to the midday meal.  As Adda had done,
I led them around the gathered group and back to our sitting position.
Dale eagerly joined me.

   My young friend appeared again with fruit for me, and for Tala.  We
accepted it and began the meal.

   After lunch, I went back to our hut with Dale.  I think he had other
things besides a nap in mind, but I had the kaelen sing us to sleep.  I
needed the rest.

   Tala presented us with bread at the evening meal.  She had tears in her
eyes as she approached me, yet held her head proudly.  She said, "Thank
you, mother," in a voice choked with emotion.  After the meal I led her and
her husband to the spot between the trees for the reception line.  I hadn't
noticed it when we'd done it, but Dale and I got hugs as well.

   In our hut afterwards, Dale's lovemaking was frantic and driven.  I lay
on my back, letting the kaelen relax me, then take us to sleep.

   Part 5 Another Cycle

   When I awoke, Dina was outside the hut.  I spoke to her; Dale was to
leave me for the day.  My meals would be brought to me; I should eat
everything, and rest as much as possible.  Dale was practically in tears as
we hugged.

   "Don't worry darling, this has been going on for countless years," I
told him.  My comforting seemed to help him; it wasn't as effective with
me.

   I drank all the juice, then used the chamber pot.  I was definitely
going to increase my fluid intake today.  Tala appeared a while later with
breakfast.  As I recalled with Adda, the portions were larger, with more
protein.  I ate it all, drank more fluids, and then reclined once again on
the moss.

   I didn't know what to do next, but my kaelen did, or were they coached
from outside?  I'm not sure, but they carried me into a rejuvenating sleep,
where I floated for the rest of the morning.  I was almost awake for lunch,
and spent the afternoon on my back.  Dinner arrived and I surprised myself
by still feeling hungry, even though I'd eaten more today than I usually
did in two or three days.  I turned to my chosen, sitting on my right
shoulder as usual, and said, "This must be your doing.  Have you been
resting up as well?" I stroked his back and he hissed for me.

   I heard someone approach and my heart began beating frantically in my
throat.  My kaelen started comforting me, relaxing me.  I closed my eyes
and breathed deeply, accepting their advice.

   I heard Tala's voice outside the hut; she sounded shaky, unsure.
"Mother, it is time."

   I took another deep breath, exhaling slowly and with control.  I put on
my skirt and left the hut.  I smiled to Tala and Dina.  "I am ready,
daughter." I said it as much for my benefit as hers.  She looked so young
now, and I felt so old.

   We stopped along the way and I relieved myself.  Then we went to the
small hut in the trees.  I took off my kaelen and put them on Dina, my
chosen last.  I nodded to Tala, and she did the same.

   Dina handed me a large leaf, then Tala followed me into the small hut.
It felt like such a long time ago I'd been here with Adda.  Now it was my
turn to begin the cycle again.  I took off the woven cover, then the lid.
Tears filled my eyes as I looked down at the females, still wrapped up,
waiting to fulfil their destiny.  I sat to the side and told Tala, "Pick
two with well dried leaves.  Choose well, my daughter."

   She moved hesitantly on her knees.  I could see her hands shaking as she
touched the precious contents of the wooden container.  This should be the
first time she has seen the females.  She felt among the precious contents,
choosing two.  I placed them in the leaf.  I replaced the lid, and the
cover.  We left the hut.

   I handed Dina the leaf with our females.  Our kaelen were excited; I
knew why.  I picked up my chosen first.  "Are you ready?" I whispered to
him.  All three danced on me as we walked over to another small hut.

   I took the other two kaelen off and placed them on Dina; they were upset
and didn't like it.  I stroked my chosen as he moved excitedly.  As much to
him as to Dina and Tala I said, "It is time to begin the cycle again."

   I ducked inside the hut.  I dropped my skirt and put it by the entrance,
then let myself onto my back on the moss.  I tried breathing slowly in and
out, trying to maintain control.  I wasn't too successful, especially with
my chosen dancing excitedly on my forehead.  I was glad I'd closed my eyes,
feeling prickly feet on my eyelids; under normal circumstances he was
careful not to step near my eyes.

   I heard Tala enter.  I patted the moss next to me.  "Sit here please."

   She sat next to me.  "Now unwrap them one at a time and put them here."
I touched my belly, halfway between my navel and my thatch.  I almost said,
"Then hold my hand," but I swallowed the words, and started making the
comforting sound, as had Adda.

   It helped, almost a year of conditioning showing its effectiveness.  I
heard our precious packages being unwrapped, with a soft gasp of
astonishment from Tala.  Then I felt a cool object on my skin, and my
chosen start to move.

   I was afraid, more afraid than I'd ever been in my life.  I wanted to
scream, to run, to be anywhere else.  Yet I remained there, breathing
slowly, repeating the comforting sound.  I felt the other small package
being placed and my heart took another jump.  Then I felt warm hands on me,
and heard Tala making the comforting sound with me.  For whose benefit?

   But she did help calm me, especially her touch.  I felt the male dancing
around on my belly, and felt a female start to move.  The male started
running all over my body, circling on my left shin.  I felt him race back
to the female, then back to my shin, with the female following slowly.
Visions of my nightmare returned briefly, feelings of large females moving
slowly, ponderously, following the much faster males.

   I focused on the breath, focused on the sensation at my nostril as I'd
been taught.  Deeper and deeper, more and more relaxed with each breath.  I
felt a warm sensation on my skin.  I focused on the nostril, nothing except
the nostril and the breath, trying to banish the rising fear.

   I almost screamed at the pain, a hot searing pain in my shin, ripping up
my leg, shattering me.  What little fluid I had in my bladder escaped.  It
was all I could to remain still.  The thought flitted through my mind; I
could still move if I wanted to -- this was a symbiosis.

   The searing, stabbing nature of the pain decreased as the burning
increased.  I felt another sensation through the burning, seeing in my
mind's eye the larva issuing from the female and attaching itself to my
skin.  Focus on the breath; focus on the breath.  I felt the male moving
away, racing around on me again.

   Then the bottom dropped out.  I sighed and exhaled as my muscles
relaxed. I thought the flutter-giggles had turned me to jelly -- this was
much stronger.  I was filled with warm liquid pleasure, radiating through
my body.  The sexual edge built, carrying me into a limp orgasm.  It was an
orgasm that rolled along, never completing.  Through it I barely felt the
second searing pain somewhere on my right foot.  The burning mixed with the
pleasure, and then another wave of pleasure swept through me, carrying away
my mind.

   I had only dim awareness of waking slightly and drinking, so thirsty,
then slipping back into bliss, time and again.  My skin was hot.  The moss
felt so good, supporting me.  I dreamed of my mother, so far away.  She was
nervous and scared; I tried to comfort her as best I could.  At first this
scared her even more, but then she relaxed.  I told her how much I loved
her.

   I awoke a little more.  I felt different somehow.  I could move a
little. I flexed my legs and felt what seemed to be cool spots on my legs,
on my arms, and on my chest.  My head was lifted and I had some water.  It
was cool and delicious.  I rested.

   Then my head was raised again.  I opened my eyes to see Tala and Dina. I
took a sip, then another, of thick nectar with a pungent taste.  I relaxed
again and felt myself expanding.  My senses touched Tala, Dina, Adda, the
old woman covered in kaelen.  I felt the connection between them,
connecting us together like a tough fibrous root.  I reached out and
touched my mother again.  Another wave of orgasm spread through us,
rippling underneath space.  I held my mother one more time, telling her I
loved her, then felt her slip away as I tumbled back underneath space and
into sleep.

   I opened my eyes.  I was weak, barely able to raise my head.  It seemed
to be mid afternoon outside.  Dina and Tala were still collapsed by my
side. All our kaelen were with us again.  I had the ship check my
condition. The kaelen startled momentarily as the ship did its scan, then
settled down again.  I looked at the projection in my mind.  I'd been out
four days.  I had six small scars on my body now, six!  I was weak,
dehydrated, but otherwise okay.

   I moved to sitting, slowly.  I reached carefully for some water and
drained the gourd quickly.  I took my chosen from my shoulder and rubbed
his abdomen.  He flipped over and hissed, moving his legs.  "You did well,
my companion," I told him.

   My speaking broke the spell on Dina and Tala.  They both started to
move. Dina sat up first, and was surprised when I handed her some water.
We got Tala up, and gave her some as well.  She looked as if she'd been
through a very rough trip.  I hugged them both to me.

   Hands helped me out of the hut.  The elder women were there.  Dale was
standing beside Adda, tears on his face.  I smiled to him, and to Adda.
Behind Adda was Ben.  We were helped to the pool.

   The water felt delicious.  Oh how I wanted to float in light gravity
again, just drift in coolness for days.  I also wanted ice cream, mountains
of ice cream smothered in hot chocolate, with cherries and flaked coconut.
I wanted fiery hot curried lamb, so hot and spicy it would burn me from one
end to the other and I'd scream for days; mounds and mounds of lamb in a
thick rich sauce, over a small amount of rice.

   I laughed out loud as hands helped me up near the falls to wash my hair.
I put my arms around Tala and Dina, opening my eyes again.  Tala had a look
of awe, of wonder, and possibly a little fear in her face.  Dina smiled
with wonder.

   "You cared for me well, my daughter," I told Tala.  "What is bothering
you?"

   She looked over her shoulder, then back into my eyes.  "So far away."

   I nodded and held her.  "Yes, far away.  But we are here."

   She sighed and put her head on my shoulder.

   We moved out of the water and I let them comb out my hair.  I was still
weak, and very hungry.  After I had my skirt and my kaelen, I went to Dale.
He hugged me fiercely.  I noticed Tala holding Ben as well.

   "Thank God you're safe.  I heard you scream -- I wanted to help you, to
be there so much," Dale practically sobbed in my ear.

   Had I screamed out loud?  I guess so.  I held and comforted him.  I felt
stirrings inside me; food wasn't the only thing I was hungry for.  "I'm
back, and I need you," I whispered hotly in his ear.

   Adda approached; I gave her a hug.  "I hope I have made you proud, my
mother," I told her formally.

   She sighed.  "You did well, my daughter, very well.  You continue to
surprise us."

   She walked beside me back to the village, Tala on my other side.  A
hundred or so meters away though, my legs just gave out.  Dale, who was
behind me, swept me up and carried me the rest of the way, much to the
astonishment of the others.  How good it felt to be in his embrace!

   For me, the evening meal started early.  I ate an entire baked fish,
picking it clean.  Even without seasoning, it was delicious.  I was
stuffing away fruit and drinking thick syrupy fruit juice as the rest of
the village gathered for the meal.

   As the others gathered, it was apparent I was being held in a new
regard. Even some of the elder women bowed to me.  What did I see in their
faces?  Fear?  Wonder?

   I don't believe how much I ate.  Finally, though, I was full.  Dale had
to practically carry me back to our hut.  Inside, I held him to my breast.
He clutched me hungrily.  I don't remember what happened after that.

   I awoke the next morning with a very full bladder.  I grabbed my skirt
and headed out to one of my usual spots to relieve myself.  I felt fine
this morning, if a little on the hungry side still.  I should have had the
ship track me more carefully during the process.  I wonder how much weight
I lost?

   Dale found me.  "What was your hurry?" he asked.

   I held him to me.  "I really had to go.  Oh it felt so good to hold you
again last night."

   He ran his hands over my back.  "You can do it some more today if you
like."

   I laughed.  "I was planning on it.  I thought we could spend the day up
the hill."

   He nodded as we walked side by side down the path, arms around each
other.  "Sure you can make it up there?  You were pretty weak yesterday."

   I took a deep breath of the morning air.  "I'll do fine.  I'm pretty
much recovered, aside from still being hungry."

   He laughed.  "I don't believe how much you ate last night!  Of course
you were making up for four and a half days, and six males."

   I looked at him.  "All six were males?  Is that common?"

   He laughed a little.  "Very rare, not only to have all males, but also
three from each female.  A powerful omen, they say."

   People were already gathering for the morning meal as we entered still
side by side.  The unmarried women and their male companions (each woman
seemed to have one) were looking on with some anticipation.  Then I
remembered the special bread baked in the hut I'd been in.  I guess it took
a certain amount of time to cook.  At the end of the meal, Tala and Dina
appeared with it, distributing it to the unmarried women.  They ate
greedily and hurried off with their companions.

   I leaned over to Tala, sitting next to me.  "Is it that special?" I
asked her.

   She laughed and handed me a leaf with something in it.  "Yes.  I saved
some for you."

   I took it and set it under my skirt.

   Dina said to me, "You should rest today and tomorrow."

   I keyed my calendar.  I was due to ovulate in another four days.  Yes,
I'd better rest.

   I nodded to her.  "I am taking my husband up the hill for the day.  Can
someone bring us lunch?"

   Tala immediately said, "Yes, mother."

   I stood a while later, followed by Dale.  I took our gift, and putting
his hand in the back of my skirt, we bowed to the elders and headed for the
hill.

   The walk did me good.  I was much stronger, but not completely
recovered.

   Once in our special place, nestled in on the moss, I shared my gift with
Dale.  After a few minutes I felt the glow begin to suffuse through me.  I
pushed him on his back and played him as I played my kaelen, bringing us to
crashing orgasm after orgasm, until I collapsed in his arms.

   We recovered and I suckled him for a while, enjoying holding him to me
again.  I watched the lines fade from his face as he relaxed in
contentment.

   Tala and Ben brought us lunch shortly thereafter.  I could tell Ben
wanted to dawdle and look around, but his wife packed his hand in her skirt
and took him away.

   "Damn that was good, but I'm still thirsty," I announced most of the way
through lunch.  Dale looked at me and gave a mischievous smile.  He rolled
his eyes up briefly, and my kaelen started hopping around in excitement.
An effector-generated container appeared in front of us, containing a few
liters of water.  My kaelen scurried down and touched the field surface
with their antennae.  I dipped my hands into the water; it was cold!  I had
a drink; it was cold and marvelous, tasting like a mountain spring.  I
drank my fill, as did Dale.

   "Care to explain that?" I asked after the field whisked away and my
kaelen returned to normalcy.

   He laughed.  "It's from a spring near a fossil site down near the south
pole.  I get thirsty too, you know."

   I laughed and held him.  I started telling him of the experience; I
could tell he wanted to know.  He laughed with me at my hunger for ice
cream, chocolate, hot curries.  He reminded me that we'd been eating an
essentially fat-free diet for a little over a year.  I ran my hands over
his chest, moving closer to him.  I told him I realized that, as I looked
at his trim, muscular body.  The diet and exercise had done him very well.

   I started my kaelen relaxing him into ecstasy, and me into easy release.
I mounted him as he moaned, his eyes fluttering closed.  As I rode him, my
mind wandered.  And I commanded the ship to enfield us and take us to one
half standard gravity.  My skin prickled momentarily as the field enclosed
us and we got lighter.  My kaelen scurried around for a moment until I
refocused them on the task at hand, taking us further to ecstasy.  The
ship's AI used its initiative again, supporting Dale's body in a pattern
we'd used a lot in our journey here.  After an incredible series of
orgasms, I collapsed on to him and felt us rocking gently back and forth.
As I drifted off to sleep, I momentarily considered forgiving the AI for
what it had done to us.  Only momentarily -- it still had a long way to go
to make up for the storm.

   We woke to being dumped unceremoniously back into full planetary
gravity. My kaelen chittered and scampered in disgust.  A few seconds
later, Tala stuck her head up from the path.

   I sat up and smiled to her.  "Yes, my daughter?"

   "Mother?" she asked curiously, "I thought I saw something up here, like
the sun on water."

   I looked around us with what I hoped was a poker face.  She'd seen
reflections off the field the ship had projected.  I slapped Dale on the
thigh.  "Let's go swim," I told him.  It was the next best thing to low
gravity.

   He sighed and sat up slowly, although with a smile on his face.  Tala
laughed and headed back down the trail.  I frowned at Dale.  "That was
close," I said softly.  The AI had saved our hides, cutting the field as
someone approached.

   Dale shrugged his shoulders.  "Wasn't my idea, darling.  And thank you,
it was very nice.  I love rocking in your arms."

   I sighed and hugged him, feeling the hunger in my breasts, feeling it
spread between my legs.

   We went back down and had a swim in the big pool.  I enjoyed swimming on
my back, stretching out my shoulders, using the muscles.  As a teen, I'd
competed in swimming.  My shoulders still showed it, I guess.  We ended up
having an impromptu swim class for a group of teens.  Dale worked on
backstroke, I worked on crawl and breathing.  For a while I thought I was
going to have to take him to lover's lane before dinner, the way he was
watching some of those girls and their pert nipples as they swam for him.

   But fortunately or unfortunately, we both calmed down and went to an
uneventful meal.  Life seemed to be returning to some semblance of
normalcy. We retired to our hut for another normal evening of passionate
lovemaking, ended by going to sleep with him at my breast.

   If At First You Don't Succeed

   I haven't spoken much about illness.  That's because we hadn't seen much
or really any to speak of.  We of course see the occasional injury from
falls, cuts, and the like.  People who climb trees fall from trees.  Both
Dale and I have taught them improved ways of splinting and setting
fractures.  This has especially helped the young adults.  But we don't see
infection.  I surmise it's the kaelen again, able to act on the immune
system.

   So why oh why did I wake up a few mornings later sicker than I've been
in many years?  I vomited on the way to breakfast.  Dina and Dale helped me
to one of the small huts.  Dale was shooed away, but Dina stayed, then Adda
for a while as I was violently ill from both ends for a day and a night.
Well, they stayed outside the hut, not inside with me.  They wouldn't come
close and I couldn't blame them.  My head ached; my body ached.  I went
through fluids, and fluids went through me.  Even with kaelen help, I slept
poorly, waking to retch some more, spewing from both ends, then collapsing
again, hot and feverish.

   And I woke the next morning feeling fine, aside from my stomach muscles
being sore from the dry heaves and my poor asshole burned from gastric
juices -- and I'd wanted hot curries.  I bathed by myself, but had to be
helped back to the village by Tala and one of her girlfriends.

   I was early for lunch, but they brought me fruit and water anyway.  I
ate slowly, unsure what would stay with me.  But it stayed and by the time
people gathered for lunch, my appetite was back.  Dale was overjoyed to see
me, hugging and kissing me.  Evidently whatever I'd gotten wasn't
contagious.  He wanted to know how I was feeling.  He also reminded me that
we had a hot date that night.

   I laughed at that; he joined in.  We had a good lunch.  He had to
supervise some planting; he was trying contouring for better yields.  It
would be light work and he'd be back early.

   Adda was glad to see me recovered.  After lunch she led me to that
little mossy area.  It seemed as if she wanted to talk, but I was
exhausted. Seeing that, she smiled.  She had me lie down, and then leaning
over me, stroked my forehead as I'd done to her in the hut.  She started
making the comforting sound, soon echoed by our kaelen.  I let go to it.  I
sensed a new sound, or set of sounds a little later.  One was peaceful
sleep; another was a feminine sound, and as I drifted off I felt myself
being refilled with energy.

   Dale was very happy to see me at dinner.  We ate a good meal; my
appetite returned.  We bathed after the meal, and retired to our chosen
hut. I lay down on the cool moss and sighed.  The next day and a half were
an orgasmic dream as we gave ourselves to Him.

   Tired and a little sore, we dragged ourselves out of the hut and into
the pool.  We washed each other and held each other close.  At dinner that
evening, we smiled to Adda.  She sighed, and the way she did it got Dale
and me laughing.  Tala joined in, then Dina, and even Adda.

   We had a very quiet, very comforting evening and night, holding each
other, comforting.

   I haven't spoken much about dreams.  I still had them.  If I hadn't, I'd
have been worried.  That night I dreamed of making love in a cold place.
We were in a cold place, under much lighter gravity -- one of our postdoc
research assignments?  I pulled Dale to me, and we surrounded ourselves in
a blanket of what looked like fur, but felt and smelled like the wonderful
soft moss of this place.  I needed his warmth so much.  I wanted him deep
inside me.  I teased him until his cock was so hot, so hard.  I started
sliding him into me...

   And I awoke.  It was still dark out, humid as usual.  The kaelen were
quiet, my first suspicion allayed.  This dream must have come from inside
me, not externally influenced.  A cool damp breeze swept through our hut;
well, there was some external influence.

   I moved and Dale was awake and alert.  "What is it, darling?" he asked
softly, leaning over to kiss a nipple.

   I was still hot.  I pulled him on top of me and kissed him passionately.
I felt him grow between my legs as I ran my hands over his shoulders.  The
diet and exercise of this life had done us both very well; we were in
better condition than we'd been in a decade or two.

   My kaelen picked up on what was happening; they probably sensed my
arousal.  I certainly was feeling wet.  I signaled them to take us on a
wild but brief ride.  When our ride was completed and we lay panting in
each other's arms, I pulled Dale to a breast and had them sing us back to
sleep.

   New Dawn

   The next morning it was cool, raining lightly, and windy; a storm was
moving through.  I'd been thinking about the ship, and this was a good
opportunity.  Dale rushed off with some men to insure something or other
wasn't damaged by the storm.  I walked out to the beach.

   There, near the spot where we landed, the waves were being whipped by
the wind, or was it the other way around?  A storm was indeed approaching.
I queried the ship on how to circumvent or remove the contraceptive
implant. I received a request to do a thorough body scan and acknowledged.
It would take about half a second, and my kaelen would just have to get
used to it; they didn't like being at the shore anyway.  I felt the
tingling over me, something I hadn't felt for a while.  My kaelen became
agitated, skittering around in my hair, trying to keep protected from the
storm.  The scan completed.  After a minute with no results reported to me
the ship requested permission to rescan.  Surprised, I granted permission.

   That scan took a few seconds.  I put my hands up to calm the kaelen,
making the comforting sound.  They were agitated, but that's all.

   Then the ship told me I was pregnant.  After I regained my balance from
almost falling over, I requested confirmation and full analysis.  It
immediately confirmed.  I told the AI to rescan.  It did, focusing on my
pelvic region.

   Not only was I pregnant, but I was carrying twins, a boy and a girl.
The ship's systems could tell, even after only a couple days.  I thought
about sharpening my mind, but pheromones don't work at the shore.  That's
one of the reasons I came here, I reminded myself.  Instead I reviewed my
medical history and that of my family.  Twins were rare but present.  If I
held true to the family, as with my mom, her mom, her sisters and my
sister, pregnancy would be uneventful, if you ignored morning sickness for
the first trimester.  The way the women in my family traditionally found
out they were pregnant was by waking up one morning extremely sick.  Let's
see what the kaelen can do with that.  Genetic mapping showed the kids
would be strong, healthy, bright.  They would also have blue eyes.

   I scheduled the ship to do daily health checks, and to give me updates
on my health and that of our children.  I should be dosed with trace
vitamins and minerals as needed, and my growing family treated as needed.
The ship told me the contraceptive implant had a mechanical gate on it, and
the gate was now closed.  It would no longer be effective, and the
residuals would not affect the pregnancies.

   I closed my eyes facing into the storm, took a few deep breaths of the
sea air, turned and walked back.

   Adda was waiting for me at the edge of a small clearing.  "You left the
village," she said with concern in her voice.

   I took her arm and put it in mine.  "I walked to the sea to think."

   She sighed.  "You are so far from your home."

   I stopped and turned to her, putting my hands on her strong, broad
shoulders.  I felt the tears forming, and hoped I'd be able to say what I
wanted without choking up.

   "Mother, this is my home now.  This is where we will have our family."

   She looked shocked, surprised.  I continued.

   "I am carrying a boy and a girl.  They will have names that are new to
you, but they will be happy, healthy, strong, and loved."

   She looked puzzled.  "How do you know?"

   So there was a limit to His sensitivity.  What was I carrying after a
day or two, a couple hundred to a couple thousand cells each?  As I said,
I'm a linguist and cultural anthropologist, not a biologist.

   I smiled.  "I know.  And they will have blue eyes."

   She shook her head, then looked up to the sky.

   "Is it possible for you to leave?" I saw sorrow in her face.

   There are so many puzzles to solve here.  How long has this society been
stable?  How long had it taken to evolve?  I smiled again.  "Yes, but why
would I leave my home?"

   We walked together to the central area.  We met Dale on the way.  We
hugged.  Then I told him.

   "They did it," I said, looking at my husband, the father of our
children.

   He looked puzzled.  "Did what?"

   "It must have been that fever right beforehand; they were flushing out
my system."

   "Did what?" he repeated, a little louder, getting agitated.

   I held him to me, making the comforting sound, cradling his head for a
moment.  My kaelen chimed in and I let the feeling envelop us.

   Stepping back a bit I ran my hand over his short, trimmed beard.  Would
the boy look more like him, or like my brother?

   "They did it.  We did it.  Twins.  A boy and a girl."

   His knees buckled and I grabbed him.  Adda helped hold him up.  He shook
his head to clear it, then smiled.  "Confirmed?" he asked with a cautious
look and a deep breath.

   I nodded.  "Confirmed.  Blue eyes."

   He sighed.  I saw him look up; I could tell his mind was racing.

   "Do we risk it here?" he asked; do we risk having them down here?

   I held his head in my hands.  "This is our home."