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Calculated Risk Ch. 01

By: Etaski



Author's Notes: This story is erotic fantasy written by Etaski. I reserve the right to be listed as the author of this story, wherever it is posted. If found posted anywhere except Literotica.com with this note attached, this story is posted without my permission. © Etaski 2010

This story is a Star Trek story, written on request by a reader here on Literotica. Moreover, it is a Pon Farr story. If you don't know what that is, not to worry, it'll be explained.

There are no canon characters used in this story; all characters are original, though I researched canon information on the setting and alien physiology from various Star Trek wikis, particularly Memory Alpha.

A hardcore Trekkie may find something inconsistent with those details, but please bear in mind that this was written by a casual fan, for a casual fan, with the hope that others may enjoy it as well. Thank you. 

****

Just what was a "wild-ass guess," anyway?

It was one of those things that humans did sometimes. Often it was the result of short-cuts or failing to look far enough ahead, or of simply not having enough information at the right time, being caught off guard. It was that last-ditch effort—based almost solely on intuition and impulse—that essentially made a call out to the universe.

It was, if nothing else, a last act, because doing nothing in the face of crisis was unacceptable. Especially under pressure.

Humans might call it bravery. Courage.

Vulcans more often called it impulse in light of oversight.

Meanwhile, Madeleine Coupiska was willing to settle for "luck."

It was good luck that she was still breathing and had only bruises and body aches after the shuttle had gone down. It was good luck that the buckled metal wasn't warped so badly that she was to be sealed in a baking coffin under the hot suns and that she had been able to get the door open to get out onto the sand. It was good luck that there was a spare survival pack, containing a functioning respirator and night torch and some water in two canteens, plus emergency rations and a small med kit.

It was bad luck that her compass was shattered and that the communications inside the shuttle had gone out; it was bad luck that she didn't know exactly where she'd struck ground, only that she was likely a good few days walk from the nearest Vulcan city of Ta'Ralor.

It was *very* bad luck that the pilot hadn't made it. It wasn't just the heavier gravity of this planet that weighed her down as she sank to her knees outside the wreckage. After she'd used the numb aftermath to take stock of her situation and gather a few much-needed facts and supplies, that was when regret and sadness for a man she'd only recently met had begun to press in with the shock. She couldn't stop from crying then, even though she knew she was wasting water in an environment where she wouldn't have much to spare.

Going by "the book" in this situation, it said that a person should stay put at the wreck site so that any search parties could more easily find her and she would conserve her energy and resources by not stumbling around. Generally speaking, it was very good advice.

The problem in this specific instance was that no one would notice her lack of communication until at least ten days from now.

She had been on her way at last to visit a very small tribe of Vulcans farther to the west of Ta'Ralor. It was to be Pith'Regin in that region, loosely translated as the Time of Reflection, a periodic ritual both social and solitary in nature. She wanted to observe it on behalf of her research for resource material, comparing and contrasting the cities with a few more rural outposts.

The agreement had been that Madeleine could do so only provided that she brought no technological devices that would interfere and distract during this time of quiet, which would last six nights. At that point, the tribe would send one of their best runners back to Ta'Ralor to send back the shuttle to retrieve her. She knew a good runner from their location took three and a half days to reach the city, even if a shuttle jump would only take a few hours at most.

Still, it had been a generous offer from one of the most reclusive tribes on Vulcan. The message had leapfrogged in via relay communications barely five days after she'd arrived on the planet and had made the general request known to a few different outposts that promised to spread the word.

The odd thing was that they had also added a request. She was to pick up the runner they'd mentioned—a 21-year-old Vulcan named Skaun—if he was still in the city, and bring him along with her.

The message had ended abruptly: "Check medical facilities."

Madeleine had agreed to abide by the terms and to search for the runner in the city, naturally curious by now. It had taken a better part of the night to track down news of an unknown Vulcan in Ta'Ralor; several Vulcans at the three hospitals and a dozen clinics recognized the name but would not or could not tell her where he'd gone next.

Finally she found something solid at one of the smaller clinics. Pressing an urgent message for him from his tribe—only partly true—they'd finally told her that Skaun had signed a waiting order three days ago to purchase something included an anticipated medicinal delivery. He'd already picked it up and had presumably left the city that evening, on his way back to his tribe immediately after claiming his purpose for being there.

Damn it. Would they still let her come out now, without the runner?

She'd sent the information back to the outpost to pass on to the recluse tribe; after a few more hours waiting, they'd made a reply. They thanked her for the information and did not renege on their offer. She could still come to them and stay for Pith'Regin.

But that message had ended thus: "Search for our runner on the ground while on the shuttle. Pick him up if you can, Ms. Coupiska. It is of great importance."

Again, she'd agreed. But what in the world was going on?

It would have been rude to ask. Whatever it was, it was private, though she could guess that someone was sick.

The Federation scholar had next hired a shuttle already planning to head Vulcinis up north; the pilot was a human man who'd be "leapfrogging" through his own set of outposts before reaching the larger city, dropping off and taking on cargo as he went. He was willing to take her on as well, and they would leave in the morning. Vulcans might be nocturnal by nature but humans still preferred to fly by day, even if it was hot as Hell on this planet.

According to her hosts, there was a "most likely" route the runner would have taken; it was not the first time a runner had come down from those mountains, after all, and it was logical to use the most efficient path.

What she'd already considered, however, was that the Vulcan runner would've taken shelter when the suns rose, while they were flying, and even if they'd waited until evening to leave, neither she nor her human pilot would be able to see him on the ground in the nighttime with their own eyes. Infrared would probably work, but that would be vying with any other nocturnal creatures roaming around—which could be many. With infrared it was hard to determine more than "it moves" and "it's big/small."

She'd weighed the options but her pilot had argued, saying it would slow them down and the risk was too high to try any nighttime search. What the small tribe asked was too much.

So they left that morning not expect to see him at all, and Madeleine was prepared to tell the tribe that when she got there. They'd still keep scanners on the ground, though, just was in case they got lucky.

It was well into morning when she had suddenly jerked upright in her seat and jabbed at the screen. "There! Look!" she cried to the pilot.

They were both shocked to see an adult Vulcan indeed still running along the ground in the daylight. The pilot had glanced at her and she knew the expression. Now they had to do as they'd agreed they would do: they had to try and pick him up in the harsh wilderness with few safe places to land.

That attempt to land had been their undoing. As they slowed and banked over a series of higher hills, something had seemed to strike the shuttle from below. The motion had been chaotic and her memory was fuzzy; the vertigo as the world had spun out of control made her nauseous, but she clearly recalled the smell of sulfur and a sound like a hot, blasting roar as their shuttle was knocked violently to the side.

They'd been too close to the ground and the pilot had been unable to recover them out of the spin, though he'd shouted something about hitting a sand-slide instead of naked stone.

That had been the wild-ass guess; straining the controls toward one crash site over another. She still didn't know how he could've seen it, or pulled toward it. But he had.

Madeleine had been knocked out for a little while but awoke still strapped in her seat, daylight and sand leaking through the cracks in the hull. The pilot was strapped to his seat as well and mostly intact...but his neck had been broken somehow by the impact.

Pure luck.

This likewise broken shuttle hadn't been planning to return to Ta'Ralor for months. Her fellow researchers were expecting a runner to return in ten days to say she was ready for a new shuttle to be sent out. Until then? They wouldn't even think about sending out a search party, probably not until the runner was overdue by three days or more.

Thirteen days minimum. She did not have nearly enough water and food to last that long sitting in one place on this arid, desert planet. She had to leave the crash site and take her chances. She had to find help. She could always bring someone back here later to get the pilot.

She had to find that runner before he got too far away. Or maybe just find his tracks and follow him.

He had to stop soon; he'd been running all night.

****

Skaun had calculated the risk, taking together distance, nights, and interaction with people: a three in seven chance that he would be caught in the wilderness between two specific locations when the time arrived.

Twenty-eight point five seven percent.

Acceptable, because his brother needed the medicine from Ta'Ralor or his chance of survival would not rise from what the doctor had said: thirty-five percent.

Not acceptable. His own risk was lower.

There had been a brief debate between the elders, the healer, Skaun's parents, and Skaun himself. Skaun was the one known to be closest to Pon Farr within his tribe; they were correct in that it was very dangerous for him to leave now. Yet Skaun was also their fastest runner, he knew the path to the city very well, and Srill was his blood relation, his younger brother who'd contracted a persistent illness that wouldn't leave his lungs without stronger medicine than they had.

"No matter what," he had debated, "this Pith'Regin will not be a peaceful one for me. Between Pon Farr and Srill's weakening state, I will be the most distracted. It is most logical that I be given this task on which to focus, to run to Ta'Ralor and bring back what my brother needs."

They had agreed to his reasoning even knowing the risk. Actual items of value to trade were spare but the elders seemed to think it would be enough for the medicine without Skaun having to spend days working to earn it.

Unfortunately it was not also logical to send a female with him. They had no unmarried female runner both of the correct age and who would be able to keep up with him. In addition, the risks of leaving her mid-way between the tribe and the city to meet him coming back out-weighed the potential benefit. The exact time frame was unknown, delays were possible, and as a result, they could lose two of their young adults rather than one.

Skaun had agreed with them: he would go alone.

That had been eight nights ago. He had made it along the known route to Ta'Ralor in less than four nights. Unfortunately the medicine hadn't been immediately available from the hospital, and he'd waited the rest of that night plus three more for an expected shipment to come in. He had stayed in one of the temples to conserve the trade credit he did have, and offered simple work in exchange for food, keeping mostly to himself.

That delay, however, had upped his calculated risk from twenty-eight percent to fifty-six. Skaun was not certain of the moment Pon Farr would come upon him, but he could narrow it down to a three-day window. The evening they received the shipment at the clinic, he had two choices: he could stay in Ta'Ralor for up to another seven nights, wait for Pon Farr and to act on it, then return. Or he could run against the suns and try to make it back in three nights, just in time before he may be overtaken.

The net difference was four to eight more nights that Srill would have to wait. If it had only been four since he left the tribe, Skuan would choose it for his own sake. But it had already been eight. That would total at least fifteen nights, possibly more, if he stayed in the city to wait out his time. He did not have anything of enough value to justify to a pilot for a trip via soaring shuttle; he did not think he would win a debate on that, and working for that same value would take even longer than waiting for Pon Farr.

No matter which way he looked at it, Srill's chances of recovery would be lower than thirty-five percent when he returned, if he was not too late. Skaun did not miss the fact as well that if he was caught by the insanity out in the wilderness, he may not make it back at all and both brothers would die.

Absolute value dictated that if Skaun stayed in the city, it would most likely result in one brother surviving: himself.

Yet doing so would invalidate his argument for going in the first place. It wasn't perfect logic, it was calculated risk which had just gotten higher.

But his brother was worth the risk or he wouldn't have left.

Unable to accept more delay, Skaun decided to run against the suns and that fifty-six percent.

The first night had gone as expected: his tough, bare feet and long legs kept a measured, constant rate, his pack at its heaviest again with his new supplies, the second most important one next to the water—the medicine—packed specially to prevent breakage.

He did not think of much beyond Srill as he ran; he focused, and he breathed. Skaun allowed all meditation he experienced as he travelled across the ground to minimize distraction and control his exhaustion.

His lungs filled and filtered the air in large quantities; his heart beat at around two hundred forty-two beats per minute. His blood vessels were fully dilated, releasing as much heat as possible as his skin remained dry and restricted water loss; hard as he was running, he did not sweat.

He did not have to blink or shut his eyes often, though dust and particles were ubiquitous in Vulcan air; nictitating membranes moved horizontally across his eyes when necessary, keeping them moist and protected while maintaining visibility.

When Skaun noticed the first disruption in his runner's equilibrium, he saw that had pushed himself far into the deep red, Vulcan dawn. His heart seemed to shudder then, surging then slowing notably before regaining its powerful pace.

It was disconcerting, but when nothing else happened for a while, he mentally recalculated his risks—eighty-six percent—and continued. He would have to run longer before resting to compensate.

As the first sun climbed higher and the young Vulcan monitored his rising internal temperature, he also noticed a change in his gut, a tightening of muscle and what he could only call a flutter in his stomach. The back of his head began to ache.

"I'm tired," he thought to himself, stopping briefly to drink water. "I truly must to rest."

Still he kept jogging for a little longer, slowing down as the heat increased and his mind wandered more than any Vulcan was comfortable letting it wander. He wasn't even sure what the last thing that he saw had been when he heard the familiar volcanic vent blast hot gas into the air.

It grabbed his attention and he stopped, his insides still shuddering uncomfortably. Skaun didn't blink against the sudden particle surge in the air—he didn't need to—as he located the chimney of smoke and air two hillcrests to his left. He did blink in pure surprise, however, as a shuttle careened out of control as a result of the blast, streaking over his head and going down somewhere out of sight several hills to his right. He well heard the expected crash.

The Vulcan stared expressionless for a moment before realizing variables had changed more than he could have predicted, and finally accepted that his initial calculated risk had become a one hundred percent certainty. He sought out a rocky overhang to sit in the shade, drink a little more water, and ponder what to do next.

Srill was still waiting. Skaun could ignore the downed shuttle and try to keep going. Though he knew it was too late to avoid Pon Farr, he may still be able to travel regardless. He could feel some physical changes starting already, it had come too early by his estimate, but he could neither retreat to Ta'Ralor in time nor make it back to his tribe before the neurochemical imbalance might triple in strength over the next forty-eight hours. He knew his motivation would be doubly powerful, at least.

He still had to sleep, however; it would do his body more damage to keep running in the daylight. It was time to wait for evening. And if he'd miscalculated his window of time, how could he calculate what the effects of lack of sleep would be, possibly progressing plak-tow much more quickly? After all, it was called plak-tow—the blood fever—for a reason. No Vulcan wished to die by insanity.

Additionally, those in the shuttle may be dead or may still be alive. He would have to search for the crash to find out. And then what? He would not be much help, and he might even be a danger to them, particularly if his imbalance led to kal-if-fee, the challenge fight to the death with another male. Though the violent outburst might—might—help relieve the imbalance, Skaun had no desire to kill an innocent who may already be injured.

There may even be a living female in that shuttle, one who may be willing to help him, if she was not hurt too badly. If she was Vulcan. If she was unmarried. So many "ifs."

There were now several new risks, but with too many unknown factors. He did not have enough information to make a logical decision with a knowable outcome, except for one: if he stayed here alone, he would be lost to the blood fever, and the victims in the shuttle crash would not likely receive any help. He was the only one who could help in a timely manner.

"Please understand my thinking, Srill," he thought as a powerfully heavy feeling entered his chest and traveled to his head. "I regret failing you."

Skaun replaced the water container in his pack, stood up, and went searching for the shuttle.

****

Smashed compass or not, Madeleine at least knew by the suns which direction would lead her back to that "path" where she'd seen the Vulcan running. At least she hoped so.

She was so sore, pulled muscles tightening up with every minute it seemed, and she practically had to climb on four points of contact every moment, over and down hills as she fought against the higher gravity. She had only been on Planet Vulcan for a week; it usually took several weeks and plenty of working out to build the new muscle needed to move as the natives did across the challenging landscape.

She had mostly been sitting at her computer doing preparative research and walking around the city. No big work-out there. Hell, that's why she was taking a shuttle and not *hiking* out to this place in the middle of nowhere!


Calculated Risk Ch. 01



She was so thirsty, frequently lifting her respirator to take swigs of water but trying not to use it all up too fast. Her head ached and her muscles were shaking as they labored to pull her up and down the baking rocks. She was thankful for the goggles, boots and gloves protecting those more sensitive parts of her body, but she was sweating far too much beneath her clothes for it to be a good thing.

At one point Madeleine wasn't sure whether or not she'd missed the specific valley where she'd seen the Vulcan. She was gasping as she turned around tiredly in a circle, vainly hoping to see footprints or some other tracks. She didn't see anything. Was she in the right place? How could she hope to catch up to him, being so much smaller, weighed down by gravity, injured, tired, scared...?

On impulse she drew in the deepest breath she could through her respirator, lifted it from her nose and mouth, and projected at the top of her lungs, "SKAAAAAAUUUN!"

She drew in breath before covering her nose and mouth again and immediately started coughing. Oh, she was so not in shape for this...

At least she'd heard an echo of her voice off the hills.

She caught her breath with the respirator and tried again. "SKAAAUUN! GOLTOR!"

God, she hoped he heard her.

****

Skaun had just found the shuttle and was investigating. He saw footprints arranged in a chaotic pattern just outside the wreckage, noted they led away from the shuttle, and decided to take that extra moment to look inside. He saw the single body inside, probably dead on impact, and was not sure what he could determine about the one other that had been here amidst the dislodged cargo and supplies tossed around in the crash.

But there had been one more, and that one was alive.

Not seeing any supply that was worth the added weight, Skaun left the crash site, following the tracks of the survivor. He was not even out of eyesight of the wreck when he thought...

Though that he heard his name.

Someone was calling his name?

Skaun stopped, his internal conflict growing as base fear added to his imbalance.

Was it sun delusion that he heard his name on the wind?

The voice had been female. Was it instead another trick on his perception from Pon Farr, one he had never experienced his first time through this? He had exhausted himself in the running, had put himself under so much strain, it was reasonable to think so.

Goltor. The voice was speaking his language, asking for help.

The young Vulcan shook his head and continued following what tracks he could see, sensitive eyes straining in the bright light. If it was not a delusion, then the tracks would lead him to the same source as the voice. Yes, he could trust that logic. Ignore the sound and focus on the physical shapes in the ground....which seemed to be stumbling a lot, supporting his theory that they were the tracks of the survivor.

Skaun had nearly returned to the point where he'd left his path, just a little farther to the west and in the direction of his tribe, when he finally crested the last hill and could see a small humanoid form on its knees and sitting in direct sunlight with no shelter, the essential picture of confusion, pain, and exhaustion.

*We are of a pair, then,* he thought and began to approach.

He determined she was female fairly soon, but knew she could not be another Vulcan; the legs and stature were not long enough and she was too small for even the shortest among his race that wasn't a child, and she most certainly wasn't that; her breasts fully mature.

"I greet you without ill."

Her bowed head jerked up too quickly in surprise, and her body flinched as if it pain. Her eyes focused on him quickly from beneath the visor on her helmet, though, and she slowly got to her feet; he could see she was immensely stiff. She barely reached the level of his chest in height, and the female curves of bust and hips were measurably larger than he was used to seeing; normally those measurements were in proportion only on a much taller Vulcan woman.

He did not consider it a physical flaw or deformity on this one, but a simple contrast. She was human for certain, and he knew from his trips to the city that human women possessed greater variety of form, primarily, he'd learned, because the human home world had a much greater variance of climate and resources than did his own. It made logical sense; the different environments necessitated the different forms.

"Are-are you Skaun?" she asked in accented Vulcan, her voice muffled through a respirator.

He could not see her eyes as dust had layered over dark-lensed goggles to protect her more vulnerable eyes. To her, his expression didn't change. To him, her expressions never stopped.

"Yes. How do you know my name?" he asked in return, glad they could communicate.

"A message from your tribe in Ta'Ralor," she answered, seeming to weave for a moment as if she wanted to collapse. "I was trying to find you. I was too late to...int...intercept before you left again. I saw you running and we made to land—"

The corners of Skaun's mouth tightened and he had to interrupt. "What was the message?"

"What?" she asked, taken aback and sounding uncertain.

"The message from my tribe."

"Oh...no...it..." She paused, trying to collect thoughts that were doing no better than his own at the moment. "Was for me. The message. Only asked me to take you on the shuttle. Nothing else, just that it was important."

No mention whether or not Srill still lived. Skaun was quiet, making the obvious logical leap that the shuttle was now scrap and that attempt to pick him up had failed.

It would have solved much had she intercepted him in Ta'Ralor. Or had the crash not occurred. He was almost sorry for having learned it.

That heavy feeling returned when he'd thought about his brother lying sick two running nights hence to the west. This small, injured human could not run like a Vulcan; it would take as many as five nights to reach his tribe escorting her. It was not possible; he would be taken by madness by then. Even an attempt to return her to Ta'Ralor may take two to three nights; not much better. The only benefit of doing that for Srill may be if....

"I will take you back to Ta'Ralor, starting this evening," he said abruptly. "In exchange, I need you to provide another shuttle to fly me to my tribe. Can you do that?"

She stared at him; she didn't seem to be following his reasoning. "Wait....what?"

Skaun shook his head, see he was confusing her. "The sun is too hot, we are both tired, let us find shelter. We will discuss."

There were many caves Skaun knew of between the city and his tribe; it was not difficult to find one deep enough that would offer protection from the scorching rays and heat of the day. He helped her climb, physically supported her when she seemed too weak to pull herself up or hold her balance. Tired as he was, he did not find her to be that heavy.

After they were inside, they did not discuss much. Skaun watched the human fumble around in the dim and ultimately remove her goggles and turn on an energy lamp. She searched inside her pack for medicine pills, which she swallowed with some water from her canteen. She'd needed to take off her respirator to do that, and he finally saw her face; it was a reasonably handsome one, with eyes that were large and very dark and skin that was a smooth, uniform brown. She removed her helmet before long, seeming irritated at getting it off and gasping a breath when she did. He saw short-length black hair, matted down with moisture just before she ran her gloved hands through it massaging her scalp and making strands of hair stand up in random places. Her mouth and face moved expressively as she did so; the act seemed to provide some relief or pleasure.

She looked back at him, the lost, confused look still present before her face fell as something occurred to her. "I'm sorry for delaying you, Skaun. Your tribe said it was important I find you and bring you back. Now I'm not sure what you'll do. I'm...sorry."

The Vulcan didn't reply at first and didn't make any motion toward her. He was in trouble regardless, but when he thought on it further, the humans' crash hadn't only added complexity to his plight. It had also created an opportunity.

He may still make it back home in two days if this human could get him a shuttle. It might result in no net delay when compared to him running the trek on his own.

Assuming he could fight Pon Farr for long enough.

It was unfortunate that she was not an unmarried Vulcan.

"Will you find me a shuttle once we return?" he asked again, and she nodded almost immediately this time. He nodded back. "Apology accepted. Now I need to sleep. I recommend you do the same, and we will begin travel once the suns have gone down."

She looked hesitant as she settled down on the hard ground, and he caught a frown cross her expressive face. "My name's Madeleine Coupiska, by the way. Thanks for asking."

Skaun tilted his head slightly. "I did not ask, Madeleine Coupiska."

She huffed a breath. "I know, I know, exactly...why not? Vulcans are normally polite and you have greeting rituals, don't you?"

He looked down in thought and felt only confusion, a drifting sensation as he pondered her question. Indeed, why not? He had a simple theory—exhaustion and distraction—but did not see the point in analyzing it. Humans were inquisitive, he'd heard, asking many questions that didn't always make sense. This reasoning could lead to probing questions which were very private for him.

"My apology for the oversight, Madeleine. Well met."

She squinted at him but appeared to accept the answer. "Okay, then. Well met, Skaun. Thank you again for helping me. I guess I will see you in the evening."

She turned off the lamp.

****

Skaun slept deeply, his body far too taxed to do anything else, but his mind wouldn't stop roaring.

The sound was raw, loud, and dangerous. It filled his dreams to their very borders, swelling and surging, and with it came an image of someone standing in silhouette against a rising moon. He was screaming at the sky, at the stars, arms raised and fists clenched.

Each time the sound would pause, he thought, *No more, my throat is so soar, no more, please...*

Then after he'd drawn breath, it began again.

Never in his life was he so frightened than when this need which would not be denied overtook his sense of reason. The first time he went through it, they'd been prepared; his tribe was there to help him, and he'd only suffered for a few hours. This was only his second time, and it had been many years during which he'd just grown into his adult body. During those years he'd learned the wisdom of reason, balance, control, and clarity.

For this second Pon Farr, he was alone. Unless he did the unthinkable, the unspeakable...he may die from the suffering.

How could he succeed in returning the human woman to the city? How could he make it back to Srill, if all he was doing, all he could do...was scream?

Perhaps if he'd known it would be like this, he would never have left.

****

They had not fallen asleep near each other, of that Madeleine was certain. The young Vulcan had even moved away from her to the other side of the cave before settling down in the dim to rest. Even though she'd thought she would be too wired to sleep, too upset from the crash, too worried or guilty or sore whatever else was swirling through her mind...the painkillers she'd swallowed had worked to make her more comfortable and she actually did fall asleep.

Some hours later when the cave's mouth was not blazing nearly so bright and the cave itself was even darker than before, her lethargic consciousness registered a tugging sensation down by her waist. It was followed by harder jerking and a cooling sensation on her skin. She groaned when she moved her limbs and twisted her neck; the painful soreness woke her up more quickly and she opened her eyes but couldn't see anything.

She could sense a presence above her, though, and she could feel tough, dry hands touching her skin, following her thighs up to her hips and to her waist. She realized her pants were already bunched around her knees and the hands were preparing to tug down her underpants.

"Wait," she gasped, her mind foggy and disoriented. "Who's there? What—?"

Was she dreaming?

The thin fabric was jerked from beneath her backside and quickly slipped down her legs. She tried to catch it, to halt its progress but missed by a long shot, her muscles whining in protest. Air touched her bare pussy as fingers trailed back up her inner thighs, palms pushing her legs farther apart, which were bent at the knee with her ankles locked together by her pants. Thumbs quickly reached her core and started stroking her lips. Then one pushed an inch or so inside and she felt her flesh give and wrap around the digit.

Fear surged and she fully woke up, truly panicked. Not a dream at all, this was real!!

"Stop!" she cried, twisting violently to the right to get on her stomach, trying to draw her limbs beneath her and belly-crawl out from under her attacker before ideally scrambling to her feet. She wouldn't have gotten far with her pants now down around her ankles, but the large shadow fell upon her the next instant anyway and the air whooshed out of her lungs.

The unfamiliar feeling of dust and grit pressed to her bare belly and into her pubic thatch nearly succeeded in distracting her a moment. Then she could feel an erection wedged between her naked butt cheeks—still restrained by clothing, thank God—and someone was breathing hard well above her head as he clasped tightly to her. Whoever it was, he was at least a head taller than her, and much, much heavier. There was no way she could get out from under him; she could barely breathe.

Who had entered the cave while they were sleeping? Why attack them, attack her? Was Skaun okay, was he even still alive?

Her captor humped his straining ridge along her crack several times, his breath deep and shuddering, before the weight shifted to one side and she thought he was fumbling with his own trousers.

"Please, don't," she wheezed at first before the other seemed to raise off her some to let her breathe. Her lungs filled and her voice was much louder the next instant. "Don't, don't hurt me! Skaun, help!"

She struggled ineffectually and started hyperventilating; before she knew it she'd worked herself into a horrible coughing fit. The Vulcan air scratched at her lungs even at her research office and it seemed every time she started breathing harder her lungs gamely challenged her to hack up her very toenails. It was one of the reasons she had put off adjusting to the gravity by working out.

This time was no exception and indeed was worse because she was in a full-blown panic. She'd probably be coughing hoarsely the entire time he raped her and she couldn't stop him, she could barely control her bladder and that was probably ready to let loose...

Madeleine almost didn't notice that the weight had lifted off her completely until someone was rolling her coughing self over and pressing something to her nose and mouth.

"Breathe, Madeleine."

Her next breath wasn't as bad as the one before, but she still coughed as she absorbed that it was Skaun, and he was strapping the respirator in place for her. His voice had sounded strained and when she raised a hand to touch his wrist in relief and thanks, she felt that his hands were shaking.

Shaking? Vulcan hands didn't shake unless it was something truly beyond their control.

"Are you hurt? Did someone—? Who just—?" she stammered.

"Peace, calm," Skaun said. "What is wrong with your lungs? Why are you coughing like this?"

"Huh?" She was incredulous, now a little irritated and a lot embarrassed as she remembered that her crotch was still open to the air. She pawed at her pants and underwear to pull them back up as she croaked, "No, answer me first! Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good. The one who attacked me, is he gone?" She coughed again, slapping some of the dirt and grit from her belly and crotch before tugging her clothing back up over her full backside.

The Vulcan was quiet for a moment, leaning back from her to sit on the ground. "No, he's not gone. He's still here."

She tensed in fright. "He is? Where?"

She wasn't sure in the darkness but she thought she saw a vague outline of him tilting his head. "In front of you. I attacked you. I'm sorry, Madeleine, I was...sleeping. Your coughing sounded...familiar. I became aware of what I was doing and stopped."

She was stunned into silence for several long minutes. He did it? He had stripped her from the waist down and touched her, stuck his thumb inside? He was the one who jumped on her and started dry-humping her ass? He had been about to push down his own pants to—

"That's impossible!" she exploded. "Vulcans don't act like that! Not even in their sleep!"

When Skaun made no reply, Madeleine turned to search haphazardly for her pack. Anything to give her something to do. "I need my night torch, I need some light..."

"Your pack is behind you and to your left."

Begrudgingly she followed his direction and found it quickly, her fingers finding the familiar shape and retrieving it, turning it on. Skaun flinched when she put it right in his eyes and he raised his unsteady hand to shade his eyes.

"Please do not shine that in my face," he said.

Her own hands were shaking a little bit as well. "You ask what's wrong with me? Well, what's wrong with _you_? Why on Earth would you try to rape me in my sleep?!"

"We're not on Earth. We're on Vulcan."

"You know what I mean!" she retorted hotly. "Answer my question!"

"Pon Farr," he said quietly.

She stared at his lit face, with those sharply-angled eyebrows and keen, pointed ears and gaunt face. His hair was dark but not quite as dark as hers, cut about the same length but without the curl, and his eyes she remembered in sunlight had been a beautiful sky blue. He was not as pale as some Vulcans were, and she expected that was in part due to his being a tribal runner; he just spent more time outside, even with the suns up. She could not, even now, read any familiar emotion on his face.

Finally she said, "I do not know that word."

"That is as it should be."

She suppressed the urge to fling the torch at his head and said instead between clenched teeth, "So define it. Please."

"It is highly private."

"Well, it is 'highly private' to stick your thumb inside my birth canal, isn't it?" she growled at him.

He sighed softly. "Did I?"

"Yes, you did."

"Point accepted. It is when an individual Vulcan experiences a neurochemical imbalance. It occurs in a rough seven year cycle and is the time where our own race's drive to procreate cannot be ignored. We hold to a ritual so as not...to do what I did. We do not normally talk about it with outsiders, as there are many misconceptions. Again I apologize to you, Madeleine. In truth, I do not want to harm you."

After a few moments, Madeleine finally pulled the torch from his face and aimed it on her pack to make sure everything was there. She considered the scrap of information he'd given. And she would be traveling with this loopy Vulcan for the next day or two back to the city?

"So...will you be able to control yourself?" she asked. "Until we get back to Ta'Ralor?"

The following silence was not encouraging, and she saw an unguarded expression on his face when she brought the light of the torch closer without blinding him again. It chilled her.

She'd never seen despair on a Vulcan face before.

"What?...what haven't you told me?" she asked.

Skaun didn't answer at first. When he did speak, it was as if he was making the effort to sound emotionless, rather than it just being the way he was. "My brother is ill. I must return as soon as possible."




Calculated Risk Ch. 01



"That explains the message...now forgive me if I sound callous, but...so?" she asked, working with what she had but still not seeing where he was going with this. "We can make it back to the city, charter a shuttle, and you get the medicine you picked up for your brother to your tribe. We can do that, can't we?"

Again there was a pause before he spoke. "There are...side-effects the longer we deny the Pon Farr, Madeleine. You experienced the consequences of one tonight. They will become stronger with time." She stared at him, and he added, "It is called plak-tow." 

That she could translate. It was literally "blood fever."

"You use that phrase for insanity," she said quietly, and Skaun nodded.

"We have been known to die from it, Madeleine."

Her mouth was hanging open in the silence that followed. So this Vulcan whom she was supposed to pick up in trade for coming to study Pith'Regin was indirectly the reason the shuttle had gone down in the first place and the only one who could guide her back to either place: the city or the tribe. Only now he was implying that not only couldn't he help her, couldn't show her the way back unless he had sex with her, but also that he would die if he didn't. And, indirectly, so would his sick brother without his medicine.

Three lives in the balance, including her own, and it rested on her shoulders to make the choice. Assuming Skaun didn't just lose his mind anyway and bend her over a boulder to fuck her silly.

It was the most unfair choice she'd ever faced. After the crash and the disorientation, the fear and the guilt of leaving the pilot, and then waking up in the dark to someone physically attacking and overbearing her—

*I can't deal with this right now, I just can't!*

"The suns are down, let's get packing," she demanded hurriedly, getting painfully to her feet. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get that shuttle and get you home."

She pulled a few more painkillers out of the med kit, taking them with a bit of water and rations. She heard Skaun ingesting from his supplies as well; he didn't say a word more about their situation. She couldn't wear her goggles at night and still see even a little bit so she kept those packed, but she still donned her respirator and helmet, just in case.

Much as she wished otherwise, the Vulcan needed to help her down from their cave; she couldn't see as well as he could. Though she could admit it would be a much more comfortable temperature traveling at night beneath the moonlight, her risk of injury went way up because her night vision wasn't acute. To avoid any bad falls, she needed his help, just as she needed him as her guide out in the wilderness.

And he needed someone to have sex with.

Madeleine was highly aware every time they were touching; holding hands (even through her gloves), him holding her arm or taking her by the waist to lift her down from a higher point.

She knew that she was short compared to most people, but the point was really exaggerated next to the Vulcans and this one in particular. His legs were so long, if he'd made it this far in a day jogging...how long was it going to take them to retrace his path?

Because of her and her short legs, probably a Hell of a lot longer.

She kept going over things in her mind. She felt like she was being trapped into making a "choice" that was no choice at all, and she'd been brought up not to sell her body, to trade it for things or favors. It went against her idea of self-respect. If there was another way, any way at all, she was supposed to find it.

But when survival of others might depend on her giving it up...? Who'd have thought that scenario would actually come up in her lifetime?

She glanced up at the Vulcan. He kept eyes forward and his face overall stoic, though she saw a tick in his cheek. While the idea—maybe—wouldn't seem so disconcerting with a human man (hopefully a cute one even though any cute man saying he needed sex or he was going to die was flat-out lying),...when she thought about being intimate with a Vulcan whom she didn't even know except in this "Pon Farr" state (which he made clear was not his normal personality), her stomach gripped itself and almost turned inside out with fear.

She was a researcher, but a scholarly one; an observer, a reader and writer, she handled databases and contributed to the vast knowledge of the Federation of Planets. This trip had been one of her smaller "hands-on" goals; she was just supposed to watch a ritual in a rural setting, that was all!

At twenty-six, she wouldn't even call herself "experienced" within her own kind. A few lovers here and there, some interesting experiences with guys who ultimately were her friends, but her work and space travel always came first and they didn't stay together.

What was she supposed to think about making it with aliens? What if she got pregnant? She wasn't even sure that was actually possible, but she certainly didn't have a condom. Even if there had been prophylactics in the shuttle or her bag, they wouldn't have survived the trip down to the ground!

Besides, how could she be certain it would actually help Skaun, and in turn, help her and his brother? What did he need from her? How often did he need it, what could she expect? If it was more treatment like back at the cave...well, no, thank you!

Then there was how he was feeling, or thinking, about touching her. Just because she was the only female within miles, and not even his own kind, what did he think about that?

Maybe if she were him...an ailing brother might be pretty powerful motivation...

Every so often she felt a tremor pass through him. He was trying to resist, he really was, and he hadn't been emoting much frustration with how the journey was going at first; only an occasional frown or exhale. Their progress had been abysmally slow between her not being able to see well enough to maintain even a quick walking pace and Skaun having to stop every now and then to try to determine where they were, and whether they'd strayed from their path.

Twice they'd had to backtrack because he'd lost his sense of direction. He had stopped apologizing to her; he simply travelled, and stayed standing, shuffling her along. Half the night had passed, and she could still see the top of the mountain which had contained their cave.

It was...maddening. And she was growing more and more uncomfortable with the expressions that were crossing the Vulcan's shadowed face. They implied barely restrained violence...and pain. She actually heard his teeth grind once, and she caught him looking at her like he was considering violence before his hand tightened on her wrist and he forced himself to look away. He pulled her along, making her stumble, then in less than a quarter mile they had to backtrack a third time and he growled. He actually growled in frustration in that stony face.

*We're going to die out here,* she thought, a deep dread of her fate—stronger than any fear she had of coupling with a Vulcan—finally making her see reason.

What the hell was it worth, anyway? Her pride, her distaste, her insecurities? Was it worth dying for, staying in denial until it was too late that some miracle would happen to excuse her from facing this? It was just the way it was. She could choose to act on it, or she could choose not to. Sometimes fairness had nothing to do with the workings of the universe.

"Okay," she said, tugging hard on Skaun's arm and he looked down at her with such intensity that butterflies attacked her stomach in droves and she leaned back. But she forced herself to say it again, "Okay."

He stared at her. "Oh-kayh?"

Madeleine swallowed. Goddammit, she'd been speaking her own language! She switched to his. "I'm willing. If it will...I mean...yes. How about yes?"

"Yes," he repeated, even his own words not sinking in.

"Yes!" she blurted in his face, feeling her own flush blazing hot with embarrassment. He needed her to spell it out; wasn't that just like a Vulcan! "I am willing to mate with you, Skaun, if it will help your neurochemical imbalance! Your Pon Farr! Understand?"

He stood perfectly still for the next moment, and for that instant she thought she'd just made the biggest fool of herself. He was going to tell her that it would not help mating with a human, that it wasn't good enough. He'd never actually asked her to help him, had he? He was going to reject her offer now and die anyway and she'd done all that soul-searching for nothing...!

Then Skaun moved. What she witnessed was like steel cables snapping under three hundred tons of pressure.

The Vulcan snatched her up off the ground before she had a chance even to gasp and she felt one arm like a metal band around her waist and the hand of the other supporting her rear end. She instinctively clung to him, arms around his shoulders and her legs wrapping around his waist as the Vulcan began climbing to a higher point from where they started. She could feel his muscles bunching and straining to carry them both upward, and the rate of his heartbeat pounding in his chest against hers frightened her. Was it about to explode?

Skaun chose a place that afforded them some protection from wind and dust and visibility under the moon. With vertical rock on three sides, there was also a small overhang that offered a partial ceiling while still able to see the stars. Some of the finer dirt had collected in that pocket and been compacted so it wasn't naked stone, even if it could never be deemed "soft." Still, it almost seemed cozy for a place way out here; just big enough for the two of them.

In sheer defense, her mind kept her attention firmly on things other than what was coming; she wondered if he'd been here before in his past treks, or if he'd seen it just now from afar? Was his sight that good or had he rested here before?

Hey, it was better than bolting and breaking her neck in a fall.

Skaun lowered to his knees still holding her, so that not only was she sitting in his lap but his erection was again pressing into her, this time between her thighs. She felt his hand rub and squeeze at her backside as his breath shook and she found herself staring at him in wide-eyed astonishment as he fondled her. His face hadn't broken its mold too much, he was still struggling against the violence, but the intensity of his eyes even in dim light was more emotion than she'd ever seen on any Vulcan before.

Now it made a lot more sense, what she'd been told about avoiding a casual "mind meld" with a Vulcan. They didn't lack emotions as many other races assumed; they suppressed them. There really were powerful feelings beneath the surface, and a telepathic bond could be painful to the unprepared. She truly was seeing something not meant for outsiders.

He reached one hand up, working at the buckle holding her helmet in place; she helped him get that off, dropping it into the dust beside them, enjoying the cooler air move through her matted hair. She shrugged her small pack off her back to set next to the helmet, and looped the two canteens over her head to join them.

Then Skaun unbuckled her respirator and she started to protest as he removed it before he covered her mouth in a kiss.

She held still, not at all sure how to kiss back at first, noting his lips were drier than hers but just as hot, maybe more so. Odd; the average internal temperature of Vulcans was a good six or seven degrees cooler than humans, she knew that much.

"Blood fever," indeed...

Skaun didn't try to thrust his tongue into her mouth as she half-expected; he kissed her as if tasting her lips, then took another taste, then sampled another, and another, as if he could not be satisfied with a few.

Madeleine couldn't deny that it made her feel good, really and truly desired. She put it out of her mind that Skaun was following a biological imperative and grew to enjoy his kisses; it was mostly lips, with only tiny flicks of tongue. It was nice. She didn't even get the urge to cough. He was still gripping and fondling her ass but spent long minutes just kissing her.

Madeleine was wearing a sweat-wick shirt with a built-in support bra topped by a light flight jacket that buttoned in the front. Skaun was wearing a plain brown, long-sleeved shirt that probably had to be pulled over his head. Offering a hint of a direction, she started unbuttoning her jacket, getting partly stuck as she tried to shrug out of it and urging Skaun to help. He did, and soon the jacket plopped on the ground half-covering her helmet.

Next she was tugging upward on his shirt, exposing a lean, toned stomach that was overall paler than her own soft brown belly. Again the Vulcan silently answered by helping; he shrugged out of his larger pack at last, but his arms were too long so Madeleine couldn't take the shirt off all the way. He finished it for her and tossed it to the side as she held on to his torso.

Skaun possessed a very long ribcage; she could tell it had a few more ribs than hers, and it expanded a lot more, the timbre of a breath lower as greater volume drew air in deep. She also noticed his chest was hairless, though she couldn't tell the exact color of his nipples in this light but they looked...darker, like they were bruised, not pale or pink despite the light color of his skin.

Her stomach fluttered again as Skaun started tugging her own shirt up; she coughed once and then slowed her breath, closing her eyes and lifting her arms up while her thighs squeezed harder to stay in his lap. One of Skaun's arms supported her back as the other pulled up on her shirt, the hardest part being the need to peel the built-in bra up and over the large swell of her breasts.

She felt her cheeks flush and her nipples tighten as generous flesh spilled out, exposed to the night air and his hands. The Vulcan didn't start mauling them (again, as she sort of expected; everyone else had), but stroked each one and gave a squeeze before pulling her into an embrace that mashed them almost flat to his chest. Again she could feel his heart beating and lost count before ten seconds was up; it was beating at least double that of hers....and she thought hers was tripping along at a good rate!

"Madeleine, I need—" Skaun began in a croak, one hand going again to her ass and reaching farther beneath her.

She jumped a little in his lap when his long fingers easily reached her crotch, stroking through her pants.

"How...do I know you are ready?"

"Uh—" she started in brilliant eloquence. His fingers felt pretty nice...and her pussy was sensitive as he touched it, probably ready to go; the kisses had done wonders. It also made her feel better that he didn't know that for sure; he was just as uncertain about their different biology and mating rituals as she was. "Well...will it be only one time?"

"Not...likely." The tone was guarded.

"So we could go slower the next time?"

He answered after a pause. "Yes."

"Then I am ready."

The Vulcan took her at her word, though to his credit he didn't shove her off his lap; he lifted her off and set her with her rear on the ground. His eyes swept from her zipper down her tear-resistant trousers to her incredibly well-laced boots that would take a lot of time, dexterity, and concentration to remove, then finally around at the space available within the little cove.

"On your knees like me," he said, "but facing away."

Thinking she had followed his train of thought, Madeleine rolled to one side and got up on all fours, shirtless with her breasts hanging down, presenting her ass to him. She held perfectly still as his long-fingered hands reached around, unbuckled her belt and began to open her pants.

*Oh my God...* was all she could think right then. She was really going to do this. She experienced a breath-taking thrill when Skaun pulled both her pants and panties down to her knees in one gesture. Somehow she was aware of every inch as it was exposed, and she felt genuine moisture between her legs as it cooled in the night air. The Vulcan tested that moisture with his finger but didn't linger before she heard him unfastening his own pants. It must have been satisfactory, though now she did kind of wonder what amount of moisture he considered "normal" for a ready female?

That thought flew from her mind the next instant as his hands took hold of her hips. She looked over her shoulder at him, but too late to see his genitalia, and in the deep shadow she wasn't sure she would have made out much out anyway.

Her breath stopped when she felt him nudging and probing at her. It did feel familiar; it wasn't some crazy hook or corkscrew shape or anything, which was a relief, but Skaun himself seemed unsure of the angle for the first couple tries. She tilted her hips up, arching her back as much as she could, trying to help though their differing heights didn't make it easy.

"There," she breathed when he got it wedged in the right place, bracing herself. "Push."

That he did. He plunged all the way in with one thrust, and Madeleine gasped loudly as her body stretched quickly to accommodate him. It was such a shock that it almost hurt; it had been almost a year for her since her last time, and this had been none too slow of a re-introduction.

She half-expected Skaun to stop and ask if she was alright, or maybe apologize for the discomfort, but he didn't. He withdrew and thrust in again and her mouth opened in a silent moan as he quickly fell into a hard and eager rhythm, practically plundering her pussy in an urgency that was overwhelming.

He leaned over her back and crossed one long arm beneath her, across her chest and holding to her opposite shoulder. The other hand stroked her flank and belly and cupped her breasts from time to time. She could feel his heart against her back, heard his gasps near her ear as his chin rested on her shoulder.

In an image she'd never before been able to imagine for the Vulcans, Skaun had mounted her, covering her back like an animal, and he clung to her as he worked a desperate pace inside her. She had to brace her arms as a bit more of his weight transferred itself to her.

The evidence of crumbled control thrilled her more deeply than she would have expected; it was easy to believe that she was encouraging him, allowing him to indulge and finally express this pent-up lust after seven years. She felt beautiful and very desirable; the slick clutch of her sex around the Vulcan's piston became the center of her pleasure and she groaned as his hips slapped against her haunches.

God, this was...exciting.

"Skaun," she gasped, taking thrust after thrust, finally willing to get lost in the moment. "Yes..."

"Yes..." he repeated breathlessly, stroking even more quickly in response to her voice. Air passed more raggedly between his lips and his grip on her breast began to tighten.

"Are you close?"

He didn't answer, she wasn't sure that he could right then, but he was trembling and she felt the tension rising.

"Are you going to ejaculate inside me?" she asked, again not really expecting an answer. She just liked saying it, using the only word she'd heard Vulcans use for cumming: the medical one.

She actually got a small groan in response this time.

"Ejaculate inside me, Skaun," she encouraged. "Do it."

The Vulcan choked on an inhale and his arms tightened even more around her as he mashed his hips against her plush buttocks, pressing in as far as he possibly could and holding still.

That was when she felt the most extraordinary thing in her sexual life.

She couldn't even be sure how to explain it; she knew he was cumming and the thought absolutely thrilled her, but the way his penis was moving inside her defied description. Instead of the occasional throb or pulse, there was a flexing of his member that almost felt like...waves running along her birth canal, massaging her on the inside. It was as if the involuntary muscle constriction seemed...deliberate? No, no, that wasn't possible, but it certainly was much slower than the rapid-fire squirts she was used to with human men.




Calculated Risk Ch. 01



Skaun moaned very softly with each wave that she could feel, and he held himself deep still inside her, not withdrawing an inch. She had expected it to be over quickly once he started, but it wasn't; it went on for a good long while. She could only stay as she was, on all fours with the Vulcan covering her back, feeling every moment and every flex inside her as he deposited his alien semen into her body.

Unfortunately that gave her time to start thinking again.

*Oh my fucking God...* What if she contracted something weird from this? She'd already wondered if she would become pregnant but it was a little too late now.

It had been a good forty seconds and Skaun was still held fast in orgasm. It seemed to be passing through him in long, rolling swells rather than sharp peaks.

She tentatively tried to move forward—maybe he only needed a sign from her to get off—but nope, his grip tightened significantly, warning her to stay still, and he remained as he was. His lips touched her shoulder, the back of her neck, and his free hand slid from her breast down her belly to her mound as the waves relaxed, bit by bit.

Maybe it was a little late for him to think about touching her down there...but when he shifted, withdrawing his penis a little and pressing it in again, and he started idly fondling her, she had to admit it felt good...

She felt her pussy flex wetly around him and sighed to herself. Anyway, what was done was done. The point of allowing him to couple with her had been to survive. She'd just have to consider the consequences later.

(continued)



Calculated Risk Ch. 02



Author's Notes: This story is erotic fantasy written by Etaski. I reserve the right to be listed as the author of this story, wherever it is posted. If found posted anywhere except Literotica.com with this note attached, this story is posted without my permission. © Etaski 2010

This story is Star Trek fan fiction, written on request by a reader here on Literotica. Moreover, it is a Pon Farr story. If you don't know what that is, not to worry, it'll be explained.

There are no canon characters used in this story; all characters are original, though I researched canon information on the setting and alien physiology from various Star Trek wikis, particularly Memory Alpha.

A hardcore Trekkie may find something inconsistent with those details, but please bear in mind that this was written by a casual fan, for a casual fan, with the hope that others may enjoy it as well. Thank you. 

****

Skaun felt the most profound lifting of stress in his life as he relaxed atop Madeleine. Gratitude soon followed and he kissed the back of her neck, noting how strong her scent was at the nape.

Her body was as hot as a Vulcan woman during Pon Farr but her skin was much moister and incredibly soft, delicate even. Even through the fever, he held some fascination in touching her skin. Her breasts were plump and womanly, as were her hips and buttocks; more so than he was used to, perhaps, but on this small human woman, it seemed to suit her.

He was concerned how much water this coupling had used up in her, though. Part of the reason he had taken so long to reach orgasm and had needed to thrust so hard was because she had produced an abundant amount of moisture in her birth canal; it had almost been too slippery. Even now the wetness coated their thighs and around their groins, quickly drying and becoming tacky, and more water was being lost through that soft, much more pervious skin as she sweated. He could detect a light sheen in the moonlight.

If this was normal sexual response for humans, then Earth indeed had an abundance of water.

When he felt and heard her cough softly, he asked, "Do you need your respirator?"

"In a minute," she murmured quietly. "Although I ask, if you're not going to focus, then please take your hand from me?"

Skaun realized she was right; he was still touching the skin beneath wet, curled hair between her legs, mainly because he knew it as the center of Vulcan female pleasure, but also because stroking it caused her birth canal to squeeze pleasurably around him and he thought she liked it. "Does it hurt?"

"No. You're... stimulating me. But not enough."

Of course. If, and then. She'd used the conditional logic. It implied in the same statement that if he did focus, then she wanted him to keep touching her. She would like release, too.

He was beginning to notice how indirectly Madeleine chose to communicate with him.

Though he was softening inside her, he stayed as he was and rested his chin on her shoulder again, closing his eyes and concentrating on her physical responses as he began touching her with focus this time.

She flinched at first, peeped, but did not try to extricate herself. Her body grew hotter and moister again, and she began making more sounds as he continued, which was a little distracting as he tried to listen to her breathing and heartbeat.

Finally, though, he came to the conclusion that her heartbeat was nothing like his, far too slow, and he couldn't use it as a guide. Her breathing was also much quicker, and that was opposite, too. She was trembling in what he thought was a good way but wasn't sure how he could help her find her orgasm if he didn't know her physiology...

"Wait! Do that again!" she said loudly, finally recapturing his attention to the sounds she was making.

Do what again? He repeated the last gesture he remembered.

"Yes! That! Ohhhh!"

Vocal signals were the key part of her ritual? Very well.

Skaun learned that the more rapid and unsteady the breathing, the better, and the higher the moans and bird-like calls, also the better. The Vulcan began meditating on those sounds, letting his hand respond without analyzing it. She had saved his life; if this pleasured her in return, then it was good. Though his penis slipped out of her during this time, she didn't seem to note it beyond a moment as his fingers answered her growing urgency.

"Oh, God....oh, God! Yes...press harder..."

When he did, Madeleine began making noises he'd never heard before from any creature.

Successive, short wails, almost "caws," quickly rose in pitch until it was quite high. Then she shuddered, and shuddered again in near silence, muscles in her abdomen flexing rapidly over and over again as she exhaled on further successive moans, each one lowering in pitch.

It had only taken perhaps fifteen seconds from the time her voice had begun rising to its highest, the shuddering itself about four to five seconds; now she was relaxed. According to her signals, there didn't seem to be a logical reason to keep pressing on her sex, so Skaun pulled his hand away and she sighed without protest, relaxing further.

"Thank you," she breathed. Then coughed.

"And you as well."

The Vulcan shifted off her and leaned back, still on his knees with his pants bunched around them, as he reached for his pack. He had five small containers of clean water, one three-quarters empty. It had been enough to provide him with five days water rations if he needed that much time. At least one container could be considered excess for him, and he was thinking that any excess water should go to Madeleine.

When he offered it, asked her to drink, she protested, shaking her head with a few more dry coughs.

"No, no, I have my own," she said. "I don't want to take yours."

"Your physiology is not meant for extended exposure in a desert, Madeleine," he answered. "I have more than I need, and you have just lost more than you can spare because of me. Drink it."

She was quiet for a moment but took the container. "I'll sip it. Input equals output for me. If I quaff it, I'll just pass it out again sooner. But thank you."

Skaun was interested at her highly informative answer despite himself—he knew his liquid waste was only about half of what he ingested, so that was different— but nodded in acceptance without asking more detail. And she did start sipping it in between coughs and using the respirator to ease her lungs.

He had one scrap of cloth that he could spare for them each to try and wipe off as much of the now-tacky lubricant as possible without using their drinking water for bathing. It wasn't ideal, but not even the human woman suggested such a thing and just accepted the cloth he offered to dry wipe.

He caught her trying to look more closely at whatever was on the cloth without resorting to using her torch lamp.

"You are wondering how Vulcan semen differs from human semen?" he deducted.

"Huh? What?" She brought her head up again quickly and seemed uncomfortable. "Well...yeah."

"I couldn't tell you. Go ahead and use your lamp if you need to see," he said, "just let it be quick. Light can attract some animals out here."

She accepted the offer to satisfy her curiosity after she finished dressing. When she'd put the lamp away again after a handful of seconds studying the cloth, Skaun decided to ask.

"So what did you determine?"

He could see her smile, pale teeth gleaming dully under the moon. "More viscous, and it seems like you release it more in...globules, I guess. And there's a pale blue tint to it."

"That's what I recall, yes. How does it compare?"

He was curious, truthfully; now that his head didn't hurt so much and he was started to absorb his actions from a more rational view, he'd also begun having thoughts on what Madeleine thought of the experience. He saw most of those thoughts as superfluous, but he could have one answer before they refocused on their trek.

"Uh...I'm used to thinner, more watery, and either clear or white in color."

"I see."

After a pause, she said, "We should get going, right? You seem okay now."

Skaun nodded, hesitated, then said, "It may take...more than once to alleviate Pon Farr completely, Madeleine."

She nodded, her face seeming to darken in color for a moment before fading, which was bewildering. "Yes, you said that. It's okay, I'm still willing."

"I'm grateful."

She blinked and actually looked surprised at his statement but said nothing as he watched her take a few more pills from her med kit. She offered without him asking that they were for sore muscles, to relieve stiffness. It was a good idea.

They gathered everything together, climbed back down the hillside, and returned to their path. Their progress seemed to pick up substantially, even with Madeleine's poor night vision, and they both made good, efficient effort with their limitations. Conversation was sporadic and brief, mostly initiated by Madeleine when she seemed to need to fill the quiet with something, though most of the time they just had to conserve their breath for moving.

The short woman gamely kept up with his long stride by performing a plodding, almost relaxed jog, which seemed to put less strain on her overall than trying to walk very, very quickly. He, in return, let her know if something large was in her path over which she might trip.

Before the first sun was to rise, the horizon turned a deep red, heralding that their travel must end once again. He calculated that, while they had lost a lot of time early in the night, they were perhaps one more full cycle away from the city if they pushed a little farther into the day. He did not fail to notice that Madeleine's footing grew more sure and her energy level even seemed to pick up as the red light spread across the sky and the first sun edged up over the horizon. She smiled at the sky a few times.

Perhaps it would not be difficult at all to push farther into the day; like the previous one, he would simply have to gauge when the heat became a true danger. The light itself was not a deterrent, so they kept going without having to vocalize the decision to do so.

He began thinking ahead to possible caves where they may be able to take shelter. There they would lie down; would he lie next to her or not? Perhaps...perhaps...

"HEY! I said, are you okay?" Madeleine asked loudly without her respirator, from in front of him and a little above.

Skaun blinked as he realized that he had lost the immediate past in his memory; the second, larger sun was already rising and he didn't know where that time had gone.

"You were staring," she said.

"At what was I staring?" he asked.

"My butt. Or my breasts. I climbed up first and turned around...you'd stopped. You were just standing. At first you didn't hear me through the respirator." She shifted her weight as if nervous. "Is it time again?"

Observation leading to a logical deduction. And still his mind drifted, and his middle began to tighten. The air was starting to heat up, and dust was picking up in the air as it started to shift with the temperature change.

"I reason so," he said.

"No point in fighting it and getting lost again at this point only to waste more time, right?" she said.

Also reasonable.

"No. It is also getting hot."

"Alright, then. Where?"

She readily gave him a very broad smile, and he stared back at her; he did not quite understand why she was smiling at him like that. Unless she felt...anticipation for another coupling with him?

Skaun looked around him and pinpointed a decent shelter he recalled, neither particularly shallow or deep, not far ahead. He pointed, "There."

Madeleine was breathing a little more quickly than she had been during any other time of their travels today. Her face and her mood were significantly more friendly than they had been earlier in the night, when she did not understand their situation as well as she did now.

As they entered the small shelter, she turned unstrapped her respirator without hesitation, setting it, her helmet, and her gloves down on the ground with her small pack. She waited for him to set down his own pack too before she wrapped her arms around his middle in a show of affection that he at least did understand, even if that surprised him as well.

Her warmth and scent drifted upward, he felt her softness pressed against his chest, and his groin quickly responded. Willing, and not reluctantly so. It helped him relax and give in to Pon Farr more quickly and with less fear for what he would do to her. 

However he still started like a high-strung tetanuck when she touched his sex first, and it sounded like she caught herself in a laugh.

"Sorry."

"Not needed. It...did not hurt."

"Could I...?" She began tugging at the fastening of his pants. "You undressed me first last night and I couldn't see anything."

Basic fairness didn't provide him with a counterpoint, so he nodded and allowed it, one fist opening and closing a few times as the coming roar in his head began first as a hum, knowing it would grow. Trembling slightly, he otherwise held still as Madeleine exposed his organ to the air. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened a little.

Skaun glanced down at his normal, hairless self. His skin was much paler than Madeleine's uniformly brown skin even though he had earned more sun-color as a runner than many Vulcans. His genitals usually had a faint green coloring to them and they were typically drawn in much closer to his body for protection. When he was almost fully erect, as he was now, his testicles dropped a bit more as well and the blood rushing to the area forced a much brighter, deeper green into the skin.

He did remember detecting a bright ruddy reddish color between Madeleine's legs in the dark just before their first coupling when he'd sampled her readiness. It spoke of a fundamental difference in the functioning of their bodies, more than the amount of water or scent that passed through their skins.

"Are you disturbed?" he asked.

Madeleine shook her head, recovering from her stare. "No, no...we both breathe oxygen and I knew Vulcans had green blood because of the copper in it. Mine has iron...so I have red blood. My sex will be very red." She looked up at him. "Does that thought disturb you?"

Skaun shook his head. "I have already seen it, and there is a logical reason for it."

She paused before caressing her hand gently across him and he stiffened, sucking in air. The sensitivity had risen a great deal just in the last few minutes and that caress had made him see bright lights. The roaring got much louder in his head.

Now she did laugh softly. "Hm....may I taste it?"

"It?" he asked, no doubt with a bleary expression.

"Your...erection."

He stared at her. "Why?"

"I take it oral pleasure isn't common for you?"

"It's not...unheard of, but..." He struggled to form words as she kept touching him. He couldn't. He didn't know how to describe that it took time, more than a taste, for enough saliva to form in Vulcan mouths to make it worthwhile; at least not in a way that would compare and contrast for her. He didn't understand. He only knew that significant saliva did not even enter his mouth until he was already chewing on something edible (which was a disturbing thought here).

"So may I?" she asked again.

He just nodded, figuring if it was not comfortable he could just ask her to stop. She got down on one knee, barely of a height to line up her mouth with his groin. He tensed, not knowing what to expect.

In retrospect he wondered why he was so surprised that her mouth was immediately slick and so wet that it shocked him into a loud groan. Her birth canal was just as wet, if not more so. The natural lubrication in her mouth kept her actions very comfortable and stimulating as her reddish-pink lips and tongue slid effortlessly across his greenish flesh and one of her hands caressed his testicles.

"Guh..." he gurgled, his fingers finding their way into her short black hair as he touched her head gently. It was a uniquely enthralling sensation and he felt so much pleasure that he let her go on for some long minutes as blood rushed in his ears and the sounds in his head escalated.

Yet he was wary of coming to completion this way. The time it took for him to finish and how urgently he already knew he responded—determinedly clasping hard and pushing in deep, aware of nothing until he was finished ejaculating—he could easily block her air passage and suffocate her.

"Enough....Madeleine," he choked out, stroking and patting her head. She reluctantly pulled that extraordinary orifice off of his erection and he caught his breath. "My th-thanks, but....it must be...in your birth canal...soon, please..."

She smiled up at him and nodded, standing up. He watched as she unbuttoned and removed her jacket, adding it to her things, then crossed her arms and peeled her shirt up and off.

He stared at her large breasts, noting in the admittedly better light of the early day that her nipples are as dark a ruddy-red as her sex. He hadn't seen that very well last night either. She was right about the critical difference their blood made on the color of their skin in certain areas.

When she paused and arched her back, lifting her breasts in an offering gesture, he obliged her request, reached out to squeeze and stroke them, experimenting with the nipples and how they responded, tightening and becoming erect as he rubbed and pinched them. She made a few more of those vocal sounds that told him she enjoyed it.

Skaun was becoming too warm and so voluntarily removed his own shirt, and Madeleine touched his own nipples almost immediately, her smile broadening. He could guess why; they had the same dark greenish shade as his genitals. They both matched in their proper colors.

The human began opening her own pants, saying, "I don't want to remove my boots—"

He nodded, glancing at his very tough, bare feet. Madeleine's feet were probably as tender as her hands and eyes....and the rest of her skin. Traveling without the boots wasn't an option for her and it was overall safer to keep them on in case she needed to move quickly.

"—but do you think we could do it facing each other somehow?"

Skaun considered that as well as he could with his raging distraction, thinking of the most efficient way he could mate with her while having her able to see his face. It was a reasonable request, he knew.

He quickly grabbed their shirts and laid them along the ground to provide a little padding. His hands shaking slightly, he took the woman's arms and encouraged her to lie down on them, kneeling by her.

She leaned to kiss his lips and he answered, aware of hot lips and a wet tongue that flicked at him; he returned the kisses but didn't use his tongue as much. Soon he started tugging urgently on her trousers and underpants, bringing them over very full curves and bunching them all the way down at her ankles this time. She moaned softly, now set on her back, as Skaun lifted to rest her heels on his shoulder. It raised her buttocks slightly off the ground and gave him access to her brightly colored sex.

Now at last in position, the roaring inside his head finally overwhelmed his control and he looked down, able to see and to press the head of his erection in exactly the correct spot this time.

He felt her give, open to him, and like the first time, he thrust in all at once. Madeleine cried out, then cooed as his next thrust was easier, having been slicked up a little more. Once again she grew very wet very quickly, and he had to thrust hard to overcome it and build toward his release.

He became accustomed to the feeling and he had no objection as he lost himself in the rutting.

****

Madeleine's eyes were open as Skaun closed his; she wanted to watch his face as he fucked her so energetically. She had imagined him grimacing a lot last night, but saw now that his face was more slack than tight. He didn't look relaxed so much that it was more he wasn't wasting any energy on his expression; his mouth was even open a bit.




Calculated Risk Ch. 02



He was certainly putting all his focus in one place...

She was glad that he had liked the blowjob—he'd certainly been fairly dry at first and tasted different, but still musky—but she was not sure why he'd made her stop the way he did. She was glad they were facing each other now, even though she couldn't really reach her clitoris to try to get off as well. Maybe afterward, like last time? It wasn't like he could focus much on her at the moment anyway....

His long arms could easily reach her breasts and shoulders, and he alternated gripping and stroking her in various places, anywhere from her neck down to her hips. It did please her that he touched her in other places as he plunged in over and over; alien or not, he was appreciative of her female curves.

She enjoyed the moment for what it was, not really focused on herself coming but observing as much as she could now that she could actually see.

Skaun shifted her legs a bit higher at one point, folding her up a little more and thrusting in even more deeply. She could feel sore muscles stretching, edging toward protest, as the tip of his penis—which lacked any foreskin but not because he'd been circumcised—nudging persistently against her cervix. If he pushed much harder it would hurt.

The Vulcan could reach her face now as one hand gripped hard to her shoulder for leverage and the rough, dry fingers of the other stroked from her temple down to the skin of her cheek and beneath her jaw.

He did that three times, his thumb passing over her lips, and it felt astonishingly intimate; she rather wished he'd open his blue eyes to meet her dark ones. She herself could barely graze her fingers along any of the Vulcan's skin except his long arms. She took hold of his hard forearm and squeezed, holding on to it.

As his hand fully cupped the side of her face, she began to hear a low, very low droning sound that was distracting and disconcerting. It was in the background but getting louder. Was it a shuttle passing overhead? An animal? A rock slide? What was it?

It slowly grew in volume, and as it did, Madeleine could feel her pussy heat up as if it had been set on fire. It sounded like someone yelling, echoing, and some crackling sensation started in her toes and fingers and spread inward, making her groan as it overtook her torso. It felt as though some kind of drug had been introduced to her system, and she was able to follow its progress as it diffused throughout tissue.

She thrashed and jerked involuntarily as the powerful effect grew, and she climaxed suddenly; she hadn't been prepared for it and it slammed into her gut like a boxer had thrown an ecstatic punch: every bit as much pain as pleasure.

When it had settled—if not actually passed— she tried to look around her, she didn't want to look at Skaun. But again she couldn't see; it was dark.

How could it be dark already?? The suns had just risen!

She could still feel the Vulcan cycling in and out her but now it felt strange...she became less and less aware of being filled and more aware...of doing the filling. It felt so wonderful, was such a relief, her warm, sticky flesh was so soft and willing and the sensation was heightened with emotion, by deep gratitude to her and love for another who was not here but may be greatly affected by their act nonetheless.

Her breath caught as this washed through her mind repeatedly and her lungs started to itch deep down and she coughed once, twice. Immediately she saw an image in front of her eyes, one of an adolescent Vulcan boy whom she didn't recognize, lying one a traditional pallet inside a simple hut. He looked thin and weakened, and when he coughed, bright green dots spotted his lips or the cloth that was held to his mouth. The hand that held the cloth was hers...

...or, not hers. His. Skaun's hand held the cloth.

She squirmed or tried to, bewildered and more than a little frightened, with pleasure still washing over her like waves of cool water.

She saw herself working long hours in the lab, thinking and talking with colleagues, and writing. She felt anew her great excitement at the news of the research project she would be involved in; she would get to travel and see new places, observe and add to the collection of knowledge for the Federation of Planets. She did have resources.

They both still believed she could get Skaun that shuttle he needed.

At the reaffirmation, Madeleine felt a greater relaxation within herself, a giving in or giving over...and she was terrified at the power of the first contraction she felt, the way it swelled and inexorably overtook her, held her helpless. Oh God, it was so powerful, it felt so good, but was so slow even as her heartbeat seemed to triple her normal rate in her own ears.

No...not her heart. Skaun's. She struggled for at least one independent thought but failed.

With the second and third crests, she didn't know how long they lasted but everything, every thought and sight and smell blacked out for her except for those unearthly crests of sensation that she experienced right alongside him. She may have screamed, or moaned with each luscious wave, she wasn't sure, but it felt too big for her to contain in silence.

The following swells began to run together and she stopped counting, barely catching her breath as she prepared for the next one. Something about it reminded her of stories she'd heard of childbirth or rollercoasters: *Hold on, breathe, hang in there, because here we go again...!*

She was lost.

She could barely move when she became semi-aware of the hot, dry air again, as Skaun gently unfolded her body to set her feet to the ground. She winced as the stiff muscles acquiesced only grudgingly. She was really, really wet between her legs...

"Madeleine? Please answer me."

"Hm?" she asked, her eyes unable to focus on the fuzzy face above her.

"Tell me where you are."

She turned her head slightly away from him, eyes looking around interestedly like an infant in a cradle. Then she looked back. "I'm in a cave. With my pants down."

"Correct. And my name? What is it?"

It took a moment, but she answered, "Skaun."

The young Vulcan nodded and started dabbing that dry scrap of cloth between her legs again, wiping up the worst of the moisture for her as she lay topless on her back. She vaguely wanted to protest him coddling her but really didn't have the energy. She only wanted to sleep; it was time to sleep...

The Vulcan patiently tugged her panties and pants back into place and did them up for her. He didn't make her get off their shirts upon which she still laid; he encouraged her onto her side and pressed his chest against her back, putting an arm around her in a bewildering but very comforting gesture.

"Go to sleep, Madeleine."

****

The shallow cave was cooler and the shade of dusk the next time she opened her eyes, and she immediately started sobbing softly, tears leaking out of her eyes and her body shaking. It woke up the Vulcan but he was silent for a long time as she shook and sucked in air from time to time. She was still facing away from him and certainly didn't want to roll over.

Skaun got up on his elbow, leaning over and she hid her face with her hands. "Madeleine?"

"What was that? What did you do?" she mumbled.

"What was what?"

"Why could I see your brother lying there, and why could I feel what it's like for you to cum? And jeez, fuck, how do you stand it??" She uncovered her face and looked over her shoulder at him with a dirt-and-mud streaked face.

The Vulcan blinked and she could actually see the double-layer covering his eyes that she hadn't noticed before. He was staring again and hadn't seemed to hear her question. "Why does water flow from your eyes?"

"It...it...I don't know! It's how we express strong emotion, I guess!" she blurted, sniffing and wiping her nose, then crossing her bare breasts as she sat up stiffly. "And that's sure as Hell what I felt. Now you answer me. I saw...S-Srill. His name is Srill, right? I felt your orgasm. Did you do a...a mind meld? Was that what it was?"

He sat up as well and shifted a little back from her, looking at the ground a few moments before looking back. "Yes. Telepathy through contact. I...it's a normal occurrence during Pon Farr—"

"With other Vulcans, maybe!" she barked. "It didn't happen to me the first time!"

"I was...holding back," he said, now sounding a little unsure.

"And you didn't hold back this last time?"

"You already know the answer to that question."

"Okay, then why didn't you hold back?" she demanded.

"You were...willing. You were smiling at me, holding me, and asked me to mate facing you. You...used your mouth on me unlike I've known any—"

She closed her eyes and shook her head, making a gesture with her hand that begged he stop talking.

God, he was right...she'd been looking forward to it, as though she had been looking at it much less a necessity and more like very welcome contact out in the wilderness. She had thought it would be a repeat of the first time, only a little more familiar and little more comfortable, because she'd done it once before.

It definitely hadn't been that. It had been even more alien, and she almost felt pregnant by him regardless, having part of his memories and those intense feelings still inside her head.

"Could've warned me...." she whispered. "I had no idea it felt like that...."

"I am sorry, Madeleine. I have to claim complete ignorance on your reproduction. Yet I cannot change what's already happened."

She was quiet, not even sure what she was arguing about or what she wanted out of it. He said he was sorry. He was part of a race that could share thoughts and emotion beneath that cold, logical veneer they put up. It was "normal."

Fine. She couldn't do it with him again, though, no way she'd risk this raw exposure again. How far could he travel now before...?

A hint of urgency sprouted in her chest as she recalled the memory of Skaun's brother as clearly as if it had been her own. Srill was still waiting for them. For him.

"We should go, shouldn't we?" She echoed her earlier words in a tighter, controlled voice as she reached for their tops beneath her, handing him his to beat the dust out of it before putting it on while she did the same. "You feel better, right?"

"Yes. It may have passed, Madeleine, I may not need to mate again."

"Frankly, I hope so."

****

That same sense of urgency grew stronger as the second, more distant sun finally set and Madeleine found herself pushing much harder than she had the previous night. She still couldn't see as well but Skaun held her arm over rough spots and chose easier paths even if they weren't the most direct.

She wondered whether the urgency was something she was feeling through his touch or as a "leftover" from the sex, still planted in her skull, but regardless the urge to run, and keep running forever, was only relieved by maintaining as fast a pace as she could in the dark. In a way she really appreciated the focus and peace it gave her from her own thoughts and doubts.

Somehow she had a good understanding of just how much she was slowing Skaun down and in frustration she pushed harder and harder. She wasn't trained for this the way he was, though, and the planet's gravity still weighed her down more than her companion. Small jumps for him put extra strain on her ankles and knees and lower back. She'd finished her water before the night was a quarter done, and Skaun gave her another container of his.

They ate while walking and shared few words, saving their breath for climbing. She didn't complain but knew she was still going through her water too quickly; her tongue constantly felt thick and tacky, she started to cough even through her respirator, and her feet and legs were not only hurting from the long hours but dehydration cramps were shooting up her muscles at the half-way point of the night.

From there they saw a diminishing rate as she started limping and her teeth were constantly gritted against pain.

At last Skaun took her shoulder and forced her to stop. "Thank you for everything you've done to help, Madeleine, but you're no longer able to help as you are."

A shock of fear spiked down her spine as she wondered what he meant by that? No longer able to help? Was he going to leave her out here? Was he going to...do something...?

An expression of surprise showed on his face and he let go of her shoulder as he said, "I won't hurt you. I won't leave you to die. I promise."

"Okay, then...keeping talking," she murmured, her heart still pounding as she shifted from foot to foot. God, they ached so much...

"We're not far away, another few hours if I carry you on my back."

"You've got to be joking."

"Jokes are not very useful out here."

"So you're going to carry me instead."

"You weigh only as much as my pack when full, Madeleine."

That comparison sort of surprised her. Even though she did know Vulcans were stronger than humans, she hadn't seen herself as only the same burden as a supply bag.

Great. That was going to stick with her for the rest of her life. Thank God her lab colleagues hadn't heard that. She was out of water, though, and hurt so much, was so tired. Could he really handle it?

"Well...okay," she agreed.

Skaun removed his pack and set it carefully on the ground, picking out certain items—particularly Srill's medicine and the last bottle of water—to transfer to her own smaller bag, which she'd keep on her person. He was going to leave the rest of it here, but he removed two of the straps before he kneeled down to let her climb onto his back, and together they used them to lash her arms and legs about him so she had some leverage and relief against the strain on her limbs.

Madeleine felt a little dizzy as he stood up. So this was what it was like to be tall.

When Skaun started a long-loped gait, it took them working together so her less balanced weight wouldn't work against him. Once she found the right angle and way to cling to him and he became accustomed to the feel of the woman on his back, their pace picked up again and Madeleine watched the moonscape with her eyes wide open as it passed rather quickly by her.

She felt and heard the deep, deep breaths Skaun was taking, felt his legs flexing and pushing against the ground to carry them over it. It was kind of like riding a horse, all that power bunching beneath you and somehow both pounding the earth jarringly hard while the scenery still glided smoothly past.

Skaun's skin was hot against her, radiating as she held on, but the only reason it was growing humid between them was because of her. She really did leak water like a sieve....

For a few hours she said nothing, tried to think nothing, to ignore the pain of her body and only listen to Skaun's body as he carried her. It was meditative. A few times she got sleepy but was shocked awake by the mental image of falling off the Vulcan's back and cracking her head on a rock—helmet or no helmet, a fall would hurt—and more or less remained awake.

Skaun didn't speak, and in fact his body moved so rhythmically in every way that she wondered whether he wasn't meditating a little, too.

In those few hours, as he'd said, she saw city lights glowing just beyond a jagged line of hills and mountains, and she felt Skaun's excitement in addition to her own. She made a happy sound that made no sense but the Vulcan patted her leg briefly as if saying, "I know."

As always with long trips, that last ten or fifteen minutes dragged on as they got closer, as Skaun brought them closer. Eventually, though, they made it to the gate and the sunrise hadn't yet begun.

It took little debate to convince those they met that Madeleine needed medical attention quickly.

****

Even while her human medic was setting up an IV drip to rehydrate her, Madeleine was demanding to see her research partner, Mr. Perette, and would someone please wake him up and bring him here? It was extremely important.

Skaun had been taken to another room to be checked out as well, and the wait seemed interminable as she was treated for the blisters on her feet, the pulled muscles and various scrapes from both the crash and the general trek, and from the sex.

Apparently she had a lot of deep tissue bruises in her abdomen that bewildered her medic at first. She kept her mouth shut until her partner arrived. There would be plenty of evidence for recent sexual activity in her exam, she knew, the medical staff weren't stupid, but she wanted Skaun gone before then and not to get caught up in any red tape.

Tom Perette showed up looking groggy but dressed in his tawny brown jumpsuit, his sandy brown hair disheveled as if he hadn't combed it.

"Maddy, don't take this the wrong way, but what the Hell are you doing back so soon? What happened and why are you here?"

She urged him closer, keeping her voice low. "The shuttle went down before I got there. The Vulcan in the next room helped me get back here, but it was rough going. Now I really need you to help me with something. Skaun, that's the Vulcan, has a sick brother he's trying to get back to. As his reward for helping me, I want us to fund a shuttle to take him back."

Tom stared at the intensity on her face, saw how tired she looked and could at least deduce the last few days had been hard ones. Maybe she was lucky to be alive.

"Well...alright, that shouldn't be a problem. We do have some spare fuel ration in the grant. So when do you want to do this?"

"Now. Immediately. The longer he stays here, the greater the chance he won't get the medicine there in time."

"Gotcha."

After a pause, she said with a touch of exasperation, "So go get him. He's next door, he should be fine to leave. He's not so banged up the way I am."

Tom smiled jokingly at her, "Thy will be done, Shorty. So I take it the observation of the Time of Reflection is delayed?"

"Hell, yes. I'm in no shape to go there and watch a tribe of Vulcans for ten days. We'll push it back to next year."

"Check. Want someone to escort him?"

Madeleine shook her head. "More people means more weight, means higher cost to the shuttle and it's unnecessary. I still have to justify the fuel use. Just make sure the pilot is someone who is coming right back here afterward so we know it was successful."

"Okey-dokey."

Tom left to go to the next room and she heard some soft talking, but not much. It seemed the medic was okay with letting Skaun leave because she heard two sets of feet walking out of the room before long.

Her chest squeezed, partly in fear, partly excitement, as she couldn't decide whether she wanted Skaun to say good-bye or not. What would they even say to each other?

The Vulcan did pause outside her door but didn't enter; they made eye contact with Tom watching. Skaun lifted his right hand and saluted her, palm forward with his fingers parted between the middle and ring finger, his thumb outstretched.

She felt a lump in her throat and swallowed against it. Tears welled up in her eyes and she mimicked the gesture with a nod.

"May your brother get well soon," she said quietly.

Live long and prosper.

****

When the shuttle finally landed on an extremely small platform a quarter mile outside Skaun's village, his elders were already there nearly clustering around him as he stepped off, eyes straining against the too-bright light of day.

The human pilot had given him a wave good-bye but said he'd remain there until the Vulcans stepped away and then he'd lift off and head back. It had only taken a few hours to get Skaun here; the suns were high and hot in the sky, but not even twelve hours ago he'd still been walking with Madeleine back to Ta'Ralor under moonlight. He was exhausted but still determined to carry his task to the end.




Calculated Risk Ch. 02



"Skaun, do you have that which you went for?" his mother asked him, touching his shoulder.

He nodded. "I do. Does Srill live?"

"Yes. You've arrived by shuttle. Did it work, then, did the message reach you?"

"Yes, but...not ideally."

His father was watching the shuttle door close behind them as they moved away. "Where is the researcher who was supposed to escort you?"

Skaun shook his head. "In Ta'Ralor. She decided not to observe us this year. I will tell you the whole of it later, if I may, Father."

"Of course. We will wait."

His parents slowed some, letting Skaun move ahead toward their home; their healer was waiting just outside the door. They watched him and then looked at each other.

"I didn't sense any imbalance in him," the mother said to the father. "Either it has not yet begun, or he found a solution."

Skaun's father nodded solemnly. "He was guarding his thoughts. We will simply have to wait for him to speak, my wife."

As Skaun entered out of the sun and into the dimmer hut, he saw the unfortunately familiar scene of Srill trying to sleep between racking cough fits. His younger brother's eyes were closed at the moment. He dug into Madeleine's small pack and pulled out the padded package, handing it to the healer, who got to work immediately.

"He's been holding mostly steady the last eleven nights," the healer told him. "He is not much below twenty-five percent, and he kept saying you were coming quickly as you could."

"He was correct," Skaun said and gently took his brother's cool hand to hold as he watched the healer perform two different intravenous injections, then mix up a solution that he would feed the ailing boy more slowly, in a very similar way to the way the medics had fed water into Madeleine at the hospital.

Srill flinched during the injections and his breathing jerked and rattled in his chest.

The healer smiled. "There. We will wait, much as we have been." He looked at Skaun. "And you? Has Pon Farr come yet?"

The young Vulcan nodded. "I found a release for it. I will be okay."

The healer's sharp eyes skimmed over his form, unwashed but uninjured. "I deduce it was not a fight."

"No. I found a solution from Ta'Ralor."

"A few days meditating in the city?"

"No. I'm not that skilled yet. Too many distractions."

Again the healer eyed him, forming a conclusion from the process of elimination. "Fortunate timing. Unmarried, I trust?"

Skaun nodded but otherwise made no reply. He let him assume that the unmarried one had been another Vulcan.

Srill squeezed his hand then and drew his attention immediately. The adolescent smiled weakly, dull blue eyes barely open but looking at him. It was a welcome sight.

*I will meet Madeleine one day,* he said with astonishing certainty inside Skaun's mind.

After a moment of hesitation, a ghost of a smile twitched at the corners of the Vulcan runner's mouth.

*Become well, young brother, and I will see it happen.*

****

Much thanks to wellmet for the request and the inspiration for this story. --Etaski