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The Naked Planet

By: Seanathon



Author's Note: I wrote this short story to pay homage to those classic sci-fi paperback novels of the fifties, the golden age of science fiction, and their authors: legends of the genre such as Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Poul Anderson, just to name a few. This story is also my entry to the 2014 Literotica Nude Day contest. A minimum of 25 votes are required for the story to be eligible for the contest, so any and all votes are appreciated (and comments too)! 

*All characters involved in sexual situations in this story are eighteen years of age or older*

* * * *

"And they were both naked...and were not ashamed." Genesis 2:25

He woke with a violent start, and burst forth from the cold, dark liquid that enveloped him. He couldn't see in the smothering darkness, but he could feel something latched onto his face, its tentacles constricting around his head.

He panicked as he blindly clawed at it, tearing at its rubbery flesh as he tried to rip it loose. Finally it gave, and he wretched as he pulled it away and felt its tail slithering out from deep in his throat; with an anguished cry, he wrenched it free and threw it into the darkness.

He took a deep lungful of air, savoring the sensation of it filling his lungs, and listened to his heart pounding in the eerie darkness as the delirium faded and the first rays of memory pierced the fog blanketing his brain.

He was in space. 

"Cabin light on," he said, and a faint blue glow illuminated the interior of the small, windowless, capsule.

He was sitting waist deep in a pool of golden liquid in a stasis pod in the center of the capsule. The stasis mask he'd torn free from his face was hanging down the side, its straps broken. He stood up and beads of golden liquid rolled down his naked body as he stepped from the pod. 

There was a storage compartment on the side, and he pulled a neatly folded, light gray jumpsuit from it. He put it on, zipped it closed and bent over to grab the black boots from the compartment.

A wave of dizziness rolled over him and he grabbed the side of the pod for support. He shook his head, trying to clear away the final few filaments of fog that still blanketed his brain, and then pulled the boots on.

His memory was returning. He'd been in deep sleep, but had no idea how many days, months or even years had passed since he'd left the space station. He looked around the cabin and saw a red light flashing on a console.

Red was bad. He remembered that. The light should have been green if he was awake.

He leaned over the console and stared at the warning light. Something was wrong, that was why the ship's quantum computer had woken him from deep sleep. He touched the screen and the monitor woke with a silvery glow. 

The chronometer showed that he'd been traveling for a little more than two hundred days since he'd left Earth's orbit. But he knew that, with the time distortion caused by wormhole travel, there was no way of knowing exactly how much time had passed on Earth. 

He slid the screen sideways and a star chart appeared, showing that he was now on the other side of the wormhole, a section of deep space far from the nearest solar system.

Everything appeared to be going as planned; why was the warning light on? He slid the screen again to check the ship's indicators, making sure all systems were working correctly and that the craft was still on course. When he saw the readout he blinked, not believing it, and wondered if the deep sleep delirium was still making him imagine things.

He checked the indicator again: ship velocity zero. He knew the reading was impossible. The craft should have been plummeting through space at more than twenty-five thousand miles an hour. How could it be motionless?

Looking at the start chart again, he saw he was in an empty sector of space; there was nothing to land on. And if the mission had been successful and the spacecraft had landed, the light would have been flashing green, not red. He sighed in frustration, wishing there was some way to see outside of the ship. But he knew there were no windows or external cameras; they weren't considered necessary for the mission he'd been sent on.

He tapped a corner of the screen to check the external sensor readings, and leaned closer to make sure he was seeing them right. The temperature and atmosphere readings were exactly what he would have expected to see if he'd landed on a HET class planet -- habitable, extra-solar, and terrestrial -- and the ship definitely wasn't moving. He had to be on solid ground.

Tapping commands into the console, he tried to override the controls on the quantum computer to take a new bearing; either the star charts were wrong or the galactic positioning sensors weren't working right. But it was pointless, the protocols they'd put in place specifically for him prevented anyone inside the capsule from being able to override any of the ship's navigational systems.

He banged his hand off the console in frustration; if the ship didn't realize that it had landed, he'd never be able to initiate another launch sequence. Even if he had somehow stumbled across a HET class planet, he'd never be able to leave. Never be able to let them know that his mission had been successful. He was marooned. 

He stared at the escape hatch, knowing that if he opened it and the ship's sensors were wrong and the star charts were right, and he was still in deep space, he'd die instantly. He'd already cheated death once, could he cheat it a second time? 

The survival belt was mounted to the wall, and he took it and fastened it around the waist of his jumpsuit. He then tapped a button on the console and a weapon compartment slid open. He removed the disruptor pistol from inside and attached it to his belt.

He tapped a command into the screen, telling the computer to open the outer door. There was no protocol against opening it in deep space; the scientists could have never imagined one would be necessary as opening the door there would mean certain death.

The command was delayed a few seconds as the cabin adjusted to the outside pressure, and then the door quietly slid open.

He staggered back as sunlight flooded the small capsule. To his eyes, so sensitive after more than eight months of utter darkness, the light was blinding.

But as his eyes adjusted to the glare, the colors outside came into focus. He stepped through the opening and the first thing he noticed was the sky, which was a brilliant azure blue. Around the capsule was a lush forest, filled with wild, alien flora. The strangely shaped leaves of the plants and trees were all shades of green and purple, and vividly colored red and yellow flowers dotted the forest floor.

The explosion of color was a shock to his senses. The bleak colors of Earth were nothing compared to the wild palette of the alien landscape before him.

He knew there was life in this forest, he could hear it. Insects buzzed through the trees and winged creatures, similar in size and shape to the birds on Earth, flew overhead. He wished he could have compared it to a wild forest back home, but the only ones he'd ever seen had been sealed for their protection in terra-domes. 

Climbing down from the capsule, he took his first step on the alien planet. The ship's sensors had already confirmed the temperature, radiation and atmosphere were all acceptable; now he had to find the most important thing -- simple, beautiful and oh-so-precious water. 

He knew it had to be here. He refused to believe that a forest as spectacular as this one could grow without it. He just had to find it. He turned around, wondering which direction to head in. There were no remote sensors on the ship, nothing he could take with him to help look for water. 

The craft had been designed for one purpose, to find a HET class planet, and he was the guinea pig, the canary in the coal mine that would explore the planet. If he survived, the sensors in his suit would send a signal back to the ship, the ship would return through the wormhole -- with or without him -- and a pulse signal would be sent to Earth, letting them know a habitable planet had been discovered.

But the green light had never turned on. The craft's landing systems must have automatically activated as soon as its sensors detected that it had entered an atmosphere. But as far as the ship was concerned, its navigation system operating off the information provided by the star charts, it was still drifting through outer space. 

He shook his head in disbelief. How could Earth's astronomers have missed something like this? It was light years away, but still well within the area of the galaxy considered observed space.

He grabbed a spear-head shaped leaf from a nearby branch and tore it in half, hoping its physiology would give him a clue to where he might start looking for water. He looked up from it to see if there were clouds in the sky, and saw a movement in front of him.

Something was on the other side of the tree. He dropped the leaf and drew his pistol, slowly backing away toward his spacecraft.

Then he saw her, shyly peeking out from around the tree trunk. He shook his head, sure that he had to be dreaming. But he knew there were no dreams in deep sleep, and the sounds and colors of this world were too vibrant, too real.

The girl stepped out from behind the tree and tilted her head as she watched him with an untamed curiosity.

She was completely nude, and by Earth terms, he would have described her as looking to be in her late teens. But no earthly words could capture her indescribable beauty. She stepped through the grass toward him, her gently tanned body perfect in every way imaginable and her long, tawny hair, bleached blonde by the sun, tumbling down her back. Though she was half a head shorter than him, her legs were long and lean. But he'd be lying if he said he was looking at her legs.

Her full, firm breasts were flawless and he couldn't take his eyes off them as they bounced toward him. She was a vision, and her ethereal beauty and stunning form made it impossible to look away.

As she closed to within ten feet of him, he leveled the pistol at her chest and said, "Stay back!"

But if she knew the danger she was in, she didn't show it; she just flashed a disarming smile at him and kept coming.

His finger tightened on the trigger. She looked so human, but he knew she couldn't be. Fearing her appearance had to be an illusion, he imagined her arms morphing into tentacles as her jaw slowly distended, revealing a maw of razor sharp teeth just before she devoured him like a Venus flytrap.

She was so close now. The weapon trembled in his hand. She reached out for it and he quickly pulled it away, out of reach behind his back. If her appearance was an illusion it was a damn good one; he couldn't kill something that looked like her. 

She was right in front of him; her naked flesh inches away from the fabric of his jumpsuit. He could smell her scent, like wildflowers, and he didn't think he'd ever smelled anything so beautiful in his life.

She leaned close, sniffing at his uniform while he inhaled deeply of the exotic aroma of her hair, intoxicated by the heady perfume, and then she wrinkled her nose and stepped back, still staring curiously at his uniform. 

When she'd first come toward him and he'd seen her body he didn't think anything could be more perfect; now that he saw her face, he realized he'd been wrong. Her soft lips and perfect teeth drew him in, but what really captured his attention were her eyes. As they stared softly at him from beneath her long lashes, he noticed they were hazel and had turned golden in the sun. And he could see there wasn't a speck of fear in them.

She flashed her beautiful smile again and he felt like his heart was going to melt. But then it skipped a beat instead, as she reached out and gently slid her slender fingers across his chest, feeling the fabric.

He glanced down and saw that she was running them across the name tag sewn on the front of his uniform, tracing the letters.

"Caleb," he said, reading the tag. "That's my name, Caleb."

She glanced up at him, watching his lips move, and then repeated, "Kay-leb."

"You can talk! That's right," he said, and pointed to himself. "Caleb."

She then brushed her fingers above her breast, the same place a name tag would have been if she'd had any clothes on, and said, "Hannah. Name is Hannah."

Caleb blinked in surprise. "You speak my language?!"

She tilted her head in confusion, not understanding the word.

"Like me, you can speak like me?"

She smiled and pressed a finger against his lips and then against her own. "Talk," she said.

Caleb's mind reeled. How was it possible that she looked so human and spoke his language? Ancient legends hinted that Man had first come from beyond the stars. Was it possible that they'd ended up on this planet too?

"Who...I mean, what are you?" he said. 

"Hannah is daughter."

"Yes, I know that. I mean...umm..." Caleb was finding it hard to concentrate on what he wanted to say. She was still running her hand across his uniform, fascinated by the feel of it, and as she touched him he couldn't help stealing a peek at her firm, high breasts with their beautifully upturned nipples, and sneaking a glance down her flat stomach toward the tawny patch between her legs, glistening in the sun.

She kept running her hand across the breast of his uniform, captivated by the strange surface. And then, as if to emphasize the differences that were confusing her, she took Caleb's hand and placed it on her own breast.

His pulse quickened as he felt the soft but firm flesh, her erect nipple pressing into his palm. And as he gently squeezed her full breast she stroked her fingers across his flat, muscular chest.

"Different," she said, glancing down at his hand, which was still caressing her firm, perfect tit.

"Uh huh," he moaned, "we're different."

She ran her hand down his uniform, letting it slide lower, toward his waist. "What is it?" she said.

He let go of her breast and glanced down, hoping she wasn't referring to his rapidly stiffening cock. But then he realized she was talking about what he was wearing.

"This is my uniform," he said, swallowing nervously as her fingers traced up across his Adam's apple and then returned down his chest. "You know...clothes."

She shook her head at the strange word.

"Clothes...this is what we wear on the planet I come from. Don't your people wear clothes?" he said, secretly thankful that -- if they did -- she wasn't wearing any now.

She bent down, picked a purple flower and placed it behind her ear. "No wear clothes. Wear flower."

"It's beautiful," he said, and smiled at her. But behind his smile he couldn't help thinking how primitive the people of this planet had to be if they hadn't even learned to wear animal skins and furs yet.

She reached toward him, pulling at the fabric of his uniform. "Take off clothes."

Caleb blushed as he pulled her eager hands away, and said, "I can't do that. I have to leave them on."

"Why? Why wear clothes?"

"They...umm...they keep me warm," he said.

She blinked in confusion at his answer, and then turned her heart-shaped face toward the sun, smiling as it gently caressed her skin with its golden rays. "Warm," she said.

"Yes, I realize it's warm here...very warm," he said, sweating under his uniform. "But that's not the only reason I'm wearing clothes."

He was about to say he also needed them for protection, but he realized the flimsy fabric the jumpsuit was made of wouldn't protect him from a sharp stick. "I just...I just wear them because I need to."

She shook her head, unable to make sense of his answer. "Take off clothes."

"No, I -- I can't."

"Take off clothes," she repeated, as her hands slid across his uniform, trying to figure out how to remove it. Then her hand slid below his belt, brushing against his swollen cock.

She started when she touched it, taking a step back in disbelief, and then pounced on it like a kitten that had spotted something moving beneath a blanket.

"What is it?!" she said, pressing her hand against his crotch with unconcealed curiosity.

Now he really blushed. "It's my...umm, you know...my penis," he whispered, as if afraid someone would hear him.

"Pee-nizz?" she repeated, trying to pronounce the strange word while her hand squeezed him through his uniform, exploring every inch.

"Uh huh," he moaned, as she massaged his stiff flesh through the soft fabric. "You know...a penis. A cock."

"Cock," she said, enjoying the feel of the strange word in her mouth. She used her finger to trace the outline of his erection, unable to take her eyes off of it. "Take off clothes. Show Hannah cock."

Caleb glanced around. He had no idea what the males of her species were like, but he guessed that they wouldn't appreciate finding their first visitor from outer space alone with one of their women, showing her his hard-on. "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea," he said reluctantly. 

But she wouldn't be dissuaded. "Show Hannah cock," she repeated, and tried to tear away the fabric covering his crotch.

"Whoa, gentle!" he said, surprised at her strength. "You're going to tear more than the uniform."

She stepped back, gently biting her lower lip as she kept staring at his obvious bulge. "Please, Hannah will be gentle. Show Hannah cock."

Caleb glanced around again. It seemed like they were alone. A little part of his brain, probably the part connected to his penis, reasoned that if he showed it to her he might be able to convince her to lead him to water. Besides, she was obviously curious, and definitely persistent.

He took a deep breath and checked a third time to make sure they were alone. With a nervous smile, he started undoing his belt.

He knew it was stupid to feel self-conscious about being naked when she was standing completely nude in front of him, but he still felt awkward as he slowly unzipped his jumpsuit.

Hannah instantly stepped forward, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she slid her hand inside. He couldn't unzip it fast enough for her and she forced her hand down, squealing with delight when it wrapped around his stiff cock.

"Gentle," he moaned.

Now that her hand was already in his jumpsuit, he didn't bother undressing any further. He just stood there, nervously keeping an eye out for unexpected company as Hannah's cool hand explored his cock and fondled his balls.

But she didn't want to just touch it, she wanted to see it. "Take off clothes," she said, her blonde hair soft against his chest as she leaned against him, trying to peek down the front of his uniform.

Caleb nodded. Her touch was driving him crazy, and his cock was throbbing in her hand. He was just pulling his right arm out of the sleeve when they heard it.

A horn sounded in the distance. Loud and long, like a foghorn warning of unseen danger. She started at the sound, and turned to look in the direction it came from.

"What is it?" Caleb said.

As the horn sounded a second blast, she yanked her hand out of his jumpsuit. And by the time the third blast had sounded she was already running back through the trees toward it.

"Hey, wait!" Caleb cried, pulling his uniform back on as he ran after her.

He was only seconds behind her, but she was soon outdistancing him as she raced through the woods with an animal grace while he stumbled behind her, tripping over roots while branches whipped at his face.

She was disappearing into the distance. He could see she'd reached the edge of a clearing ahead and he called, "Hannah, wait!"

At the sound of her name she stopped and looked back at him, waiting for him to catch up to her. When he did he fell to his knees, sweat beaded on his forehead as he gasped for air and tried to catch his breath.


The Naked Planet



Her breast rose and fell steadily and only the faintest sheen of sweat showed on her smooth skin. It was as if she'd strolled through the wood instead of leaping across it like a gazelle.

"Why did you run?" he said. "What was that noise?"

"The makers summon the daughters back to the temple."

"Wait...who is, I mean...what?"

"Hannah must go," she said. "This place is forbidden."

Caleb looked around, a growing sense of unease taking hold of him. "Forbidden...why is it forbidden?" 

She didn't answer; she simply turned and took off again, running across the large meadow. Caleb chased her through the tall alien grass, as high as his chest, and as they ran he kept looking back, fearing that something might be gaining on them. But when she reached the far edge of the meadow she stopped, so suddenly that he nearly ran into her.

"What's wrong," he said, with a final glance over his shoulder to make sure no alien beast was about to have him for dinner. "Why did you stop?"

"Hannah is here now."

"Here...what do you mean here?"

"In the grove."

He looked around them. Nothing looked any different than it had on the other side of the meadow. "What are you saying...this place isn't forbidden?"

"No, not forbidden. The grove is Hannah's home."

But as he spun around he could see no walls, no signs, nothing to differentiate this place from where they'd started. "How can you tell that we're in this grove?" he said.

She stepped past him and pointed. "The boundary."

Caleb blinked in surprise. He'd run past in such a panic he hadn't even noticed it: a six foot-wide swath of grass completely flattened in a straight line across the meadow like it had been crushed beneath an invisible wall.

He stepped forward and ran his hand through the air above the swath; the hair on the back of his hand instantly stood on end.

An energy shield, Caleb thought. They're using some kind of force field to keep creatures out...or is it to keep them in? He turned and studied Hannah more closely; her people weren't as primitive as their lack of clothing made them seem.

"Who put up this boundary?"

"The makers," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The makers? And they say it's forbidden to go past here?"

"The makers command the daughters not to leave the grove."

He was about to ask why, when she suddenly started walking away again.

"Hey, where are you going?" he said, hurrying to catch up to her.

"To the temple."

"Why?" he said, as he tried to keep up with her quick stride.

"The makers have summoned the daughters."

"No, I mean, why have they summoned you?"

"Hannah does not know."

"Is it because of me?" he said. "Are they summoning you because of me?"

She turned back to him, confusion in her eyes. "What does Caleb mean?"

"Did they see me land? Did they see my ship land?"

"Land?"

"Yes, land. I'm not from here."

"Hannah knows. Caleb is from the forbidden place," she said.

"No, I'm not. I'm not even from this planet. I come from up there," he said, and gestured toward the sky.

Hannah blinked as she stared into the sky, where strange birds flew overhead. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him halfway around, "Where are Caleb's wings?"

He turned back and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Hannah, I'm serious. I come from far above the sky, from far above the stars; I'm from another planet, called Earth.

"I flew here in the silver ship you saw, and I've been sent here on a mission, a very important mission. That's why it's important that you tell me everything you know. These makers you keep talking about, are they the rulers of your people?"

She frowned, not understanding what he was saying.

"Do they rule your people...tell you what to do?"

She nodded. "The daughters obey the makers."

"And what are they like, these makers, are they like you?"

She shook her head no. "The makers have long, gray hair. At night, when the daughters sleep, the makers come out of the temple."

"They only come out when you sleep?"

She nodded.

"Then how do you know what they look like?"

"Hannah woke up and saw a maker once, walking past the daughters through the dark toward the water."

The word hit him like a thunderbolt. Caleb squeezed her shoulders tightly. "Did you just say you know where there's water?!"

Hannah nodded, confused as to why he was so excited.

"You have to take me there -- right now!"

She shook her head. "Hannah must go to the temple."

"No!" he said. "I need to find the water, and I can't do it without you. Please take me there, take me to the water before you go to this temple."

Hannah hesitated, unsure.

"Look," he said, desperate to convince her, "you said yourself that you don't know why these beings you call the makers are calling you back. What if it's because they know you went to the forbidden place? What if they mean to punish you?"

Hannah scrunched her eyebrows. "Punish? What is punish?"

"You know...hurt you...take you away."

Hannah started at his words, her eyes filled with fear as she stared back in the direction of the temple.

"What is it?" he said. "What's wrong?"

"The makers have already taken some of the other daughters away," she whispered.

"Why would they do that?"

"Hannah does not know. Does Caleb think the makers punish the daughters? Will the makers take Hannah away?!"

"Hey, calm down," he said, hearing the rising panic in her voice. "As long as you stay with me, no one is going to take you away. I'll protect you. Why don't you just take me to the water, and then we can go to the temple together to find out what these makers want."

She hesitated for a few moments, weighing her choices. Finally, she said, "The water is not far. Hannah will take Caleb there." 

He let out a relieved sigh, and as she turned and headed through the trees he followed her. He wasn't sure, even if he found water, of how good his chances were of getting a message back to Earth. But he was sure of one thing -- to have any chance at all he'd have to keep far away from the temple and the mysterious makers waiting inside.

They walked through the wood for nearly ten minutes, and Hannah hardly said a word the whole time. Finally, Caleb broke the silence.

"So you, umm, didn't see me...my ship, I mean...falling from the sky?"

Hannah looked back over her shoulder at him and shook her head.

"Then why were you even in the forbidden place?"

She hesitated before finally answering, "Hannah just goes there sometimes."

"Why do you do that...just curious?"

"Ker-yuss?" she said, struggling to pronounce the curious word.

"Yes, curious. It means...eager to learn...wanting knowledge."

She looked back at him, still not sure what he meant.

"Like this," he said, gesturing toward his crotch. "When you first found it you were curious...curious to see what it was."

Hannah turned around, and a sparkle returned to her eyes. She'd been so distracted by the unexpected summons to the temple that she'd nearly forgotten about her new toy.

"Cock," she said. "Hannah wants to see cock. Take off clothes." She immediately reached for the zipper and this time, Caleb didn't stop her.

He'd been trying to stay focused on his mission as they walked. But he'd found it increasingly impossible as he watched her sexy, heart-shaped ass sway back and forth in front of him as he followed her. His cock had responded accordingly, and now all he could think about was how good it had felt when her hand had been down the front of his jumpsuit, touching him.

He fumbled with his belt, unable to tear his eyes off her perfect body, and got it undone just as she pulled his zipper down and past it.

His stiff cock sprang out of his jumpsuit, and she squealed as she stepped back, like she'd spotted a snake. But her fear of the unknown was quickly overwhelmed by her curiosity, and she reached forward and pulled his jumpsuit down far enough for his swollen shaft to swing completely free, hanging heavily in front of him.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at the thick length. "Caleb has a tail!" she said.

He laughed, and said, "It's not a tail. Tails are on the back. This is my cock. Don't you...umm...don't you want to touch it again?"

She nodded and tentatively reached out her fingers toward it.

Caleb's cock twitched in response, aching for her touch. But then his ears, always extra sensitive when he had his cock out, heard something.

The sound had been so faint when they'd been walking that he'd mistaken it for the wind through the trees. But now that it was closer, and now that they weren't moving or talking, he heard it more clearly: a distant, ominous rumble, echoing through the woods.

"What's that?" he asked, as he reluctantly pulled Hannah's hand off his cock and quickly zipped his jumpsuit back up. He'd never heard a noise like it, and wondered if some sort of alien machinery was rumbling toward them.

Hannah pouted as he put his cock away, and then turned to see what had captured his attention. She listened, and said, "What does Caleb mean...the river?"

Caleb's eyes went wide at the word. "A river -- we're near the water?!"

She nodded. "Hannah has brought Caleb to the water."

He ran past her, weaving through the trees as the roar grew louder. He stumbled and rolled down a bank but didn't stop, leaping back to his feet as he kept running forward. And when he burst forth from the trees and saw the sight before him, he felt a surge of joy and relief.

When he'd told her to take him to the water, he'd expected to find a thin trickle or maybe a rivulet. But he'd never expected this. A river raced past him, its water white where it tumbled over dark, half-covered boulders. It was no more than thirty feet across, but to Caleb the sight was awe-inspiring. 

He raced to the water's edge and threw himself down on the bank. Cupping his hands together he took a drink of the precious fluid and now, even more than when he first saw Hannah, he prayed that this wasn't some form of deep sleep dream. He hadn't even thought to ask her if it was safe to drink, but as he drank the cold, clean water he thought he hadn't tasted anything sweeter in his life.

Hannah was beside him and he looked up at her, a huge grin on his face as he felt the spray from the river, cool on his skin. "This is amazing!" he said. "I've never seen so much water in my life!"

"There is no water where Caleb is from?"

He shook his head, still in disbelief, and smiled. "Not like this. I mean, there once was, a long time before I was born. But fresh water doesn't just run wild like this on my planet. It's all safely stored and hidden away in artificial aquifers."

"Hidden...why?"

"Well, to make sure no one takes it of course."

She wasn't sure if she'd heard him right. "Take water?"

"I know it probably sounds crazy to you, but on my planet water is more precious than anything. So to me, seeing all this...it's amazing!"

She smiled. "Hannah is glad Caleb is happy."

She took his hand and led him farther down the river. Soon, it leveled out and deepened and the roar of the rapids disappeared behind them.

She reached forward and started to unzip his jumpsuit. "Take clothes off. Swim."

Caleb took a quick step back as he glanced fearfully at the river. "In there? No, I mean...I can't. I don't know how to swim."

She smiled. "Hannah will show Caleb how to swim. Take clothes off." She reached for his zipper but he knocked her hand away.

"Stay away from me. I'm not going in there -- I'll drown!" he said, his eyes filled with fright as he watched the dark river crawl past.

"Fine, Caleb does not have to swim, but take off clothes. Hannah does not like clothes."

He shook his head, clutching his jumpsuit as if it was some sort of talisman that would protect him from the river's depths. 

"I won't take them off," he said, taking a step further back from the bank and away from her. "I know wearing them seems strange to you, but I'm keeping them on...I'm keeping them on."

Hannah eyed him with disappointment and turned to the river. She splashed into it and on her third step launched herself into a shallow dive and knifed into the cold, clear water. She reappeared downstream, surfacing with her wet hair glistening in the sun and smiling at him like swimming was the most natural act in the world.

Caleb followed her down the bank as she swam easily against the current, finding eddies and pools to rest in. A tree had fallen across the river and as she neared it she reached out and grabbed one of its branches. Holding on, she let the current lift her as she languorously stretched out in the water on her back, with only her breasts breaking the surface.

As she lazily drifted there, holding onto the end of the branch while the river glided past her, Caleb saw something stir in the shadow of the fallen tree. The dark shape moved from the darkness into the light, its metallic flesh catching the sun as it headed right for Hannah.

"Hannah!" he cried, but her head was tilted back into the river and she couldn't hear him. He quickly drew his disruptor pistol, knowing he'd only have one chance to make the shot. The weapon's aim assist caught the creature's movement and the pistol shifted in his hand as it locked onto its target. He fired and the disruptor beam blasted the alien menace, knocking it sideways as it floated lifelessly to the surface.

Hannah heard the shot and spun around in alarm to see what had caused the noise. A look of shock crossed her face when she saw the silvery body appear and she stood up in the waist-high water, splashing toward it to grab it before it floated past. 

She was confused as she held the small creature, no longer than her forearm, in her hands. The disruptor beam had left no wound, but the creature was dead.

"What did Caleb do to fish?"

"Fish? That's a fish? It -- it was coming right toward you. I thought it was going to hurt you, so I killed it."

A look of horror crossed Hannah's face. "No!" she cried, as she held the lifeless creature in the water, moving it back and forth, as if she thought it could come back to life in her hands. "No kill."

The river caught the fish and pulled it free from her hands, taking it to its watery grave.

She watched it disappear and then turned back to Caleb, who was still standing on the bank holding his disruptor pistol.

"No," she said. "No kill!"

Caleb stammered as he tried to apologize. "I -- I didn't know what it was. I thought it was going to -- "

She was on him in a heartbeat, and her hand locked on the barrel of the disruptor pistol. 

"Careful!" he said, shocked at how quickly she'd moved. He tried to pull the weapon away, worried that it might go off and hurt her, but her grip was like a vise. And then she wrenched it in the opposite direction, easily tearing it free from his grip.

Caleb winced as he grabbed his fingers; she'd nearly broken the one on the trigger when she'd pulled the pistol away. And then he watched in amazement as she turned her anger on the weapon, clenching her teeth as she squeezed it in her fist.

His jaw dropped as the casing cracked, and he heard the carbon fibers splintering as the disruptor crystals inside shattered into pieces. Then, with one final display of Amazonian strength, she crushed the pistol in her hand and it exploded into harmless fragments. 

He stared at her in disbelief. He'd seen those weapons withstand hammer blows, but she'd shattered it like a light bulb. Her strength...her speed...was incredible.

Her appearance was so human-like, that he'd nearly forgotten he was on an alien planet. He'd already seen a glimpse of her people's technology, now that he'd seen a glimpse of their power he knew more than ever he had to get back to his ship. Had to find a way off this planet so that he could send a signal back to Earth to let them know what he'd found.

Hannah took a step toward him and he quickly took two steps back, stumbling as he fell backward onto the grassy bank.

She stood over him, her wet hair plastered to her face, with her eyes filled with sorrow as she shook the last few fragments of the destroyed weapon from her hand. "No kill, Caleb. No kill."

He nodded quickly in agreement, and she reached down and lifted him effortlessly to his feet. 

"Hannah leave now...go to temple."

He saw the sadness in her eyes as she turned to go, and he hurried after her, trying to explain.

"Hannah, please. I only killed the fish because I thought it was going to hurt you." When she ignored him and kept walking, he added, "Besides, it's only a fish. If you hadn't let it go we probably could have eaten it."

She spun around, a shocked look on her face. A tree was nearby, and she stepped toward it and plucked a purple fruit from a low-hanging branch.

"Eat fruit. No eat fish," she said, thrusting it toward Caleb.

He took the fruit cautiously, turning it around as he sniffed it. "You eat these?"

She nodded and picked a second fruit for herself. Her teeth bit into the succulent flesh and she sucked at the juice inside.

Caleb cautiously took a bite, and as the sweet flavor flooded his mouth his eyes went wide in surprise.

"Good?" Hannah said.

"Good? It's amazing!" he said, as the juice trickled down his chin.

Hannah smiled as she reached out and wiped the juice from his chin with two fingers, and then put them in her mouth and sucked them clean.

Caleb stepped toward the tree to pick her another fruit, but stopped when he heard shouts from farther downriver.

"What's that?" he said. "Is it the makers?"

"No," Hannah said, cocking an ear toward the voices. "It is only the daughters, swimming at the waterfall."

She led Caleb along the river until they reached a point where it seemed to disappear into thin air over the edge. They'd reached the top of the waterfall, and Caleb's eyes were filled with wonder as he watched the seemingly endless flow of water churn over the edge and tumble twenty feet to a pool below.

"It's amazing," he said, "and so beautiful."

Hannah pointed to the pool beneath them and he ducked back as he saw the swimmers below, the source of the shouts they'd heard.

She went to call out to them, but Caleb quickly clamped a hand across her mouth.

"Wait!" he whispered.

"Why?"

Caleb glanced at the pool below. He knew he had to get back to his ship, had to tell Earth about this planet. But his instinct told him that wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed, and right now secrecy was his only weapon.

"I just -- I just don't want anyone else to know about me yet," he said. "I'm a stranger here, and there's still so much about your world I don't know. Can you do that for me? Can you keep me a secret for now?"

She eyed him carefully, listening to her friends in the pool below, and then gave him a playful smile. "Will Caleb take off clothes? Show Hannah cock?"

He nodded yes and, after checking the girls down below to make sure they couldn't see him, nervously smiled at her as he started undoing his belt.

"Then Hannah will keep Caleb secret," she said, and reached out for his zipper.

As she unzipped his uniform, he moved a leafy branch aside, giving him a clearer view of the pool below. Four naked, nubile girls were swimming in it, and they all appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties like Hannah.

She already had her hand down the front of his jumpsuit, wrapped around his thick shaft. Her other hand was trying to tug his outfit down past his waist.

"Careful," Caleb whispered, as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves of his uniform.

"Take clothes off," Hannah said.

"That's far enough," he said, holding his uniform just below his hips, ready to pull it up at any second if they were discovered.




The Naked Planet



"No," she said, and tried to pull the uniform all the way down to his boots.

"Yes," he said, clutching his uniform around his thighs as he kept nervously glancing around. "Sorry, but I'm a little uncomfortable being completely naked, especially when we're...like this."

"Like what?" she said, as she kneeled in front of him, trying to get a closer look at his cock.

"Let's just say that where I'm from, if anyone else caught us like this, with me half naked and you doing what you're doing...I'd get in a lot of trouble."

"Trouble?"

He nodded. "Where I come from, being naked outside like this gets you arrested."

She stared up at him, not sure what he meant.

"Don't worry about it," he said, trying to stifle a moan as she played with his rapidly stiffening cock. "Let's just say I'm glad we're not on my planet."

He looked down at the pool, where two girls were still swimming in the cool water. But that wasn't what had caught his attention. He was watching their two friends, who'd moved to a large, flat rock at the water's edge.

One had long, dark hair and was lying on the rock, letting the sun's heat dry her body. And as she stretched out on the rock, with her eyes closed and her legs spread, her hand was tangled in the hair of her friend who was eagerly licking her pussy.

The second girl was still half in the pool, and Caleb could see the water gently lapping at her perfect ass as her tongue lapped at her friend's swollen clit.

The dark-haired girl arched her back, her nipples erect and her mouth open as her friend's tongue worked its magic between her legs. Overwhelmed with pleasure, she tried to push her head away, but her friend only wrapped her hands tighter around her thighs and pulled her closer as she renewed her oral assault.

Her moans echoed across the pool and she clamped her thighs against her friend's head as she came. Hearing her excitement, Hannah stood up to see what he was watching.

"Caleb likes how the daughters kiss?"

He arched an eyebrow. "We kiss a little differently on my planet. We kiss on the lips."

Hannah smiled. "Daughters kiss like that, too. But the special kiss feels better."

"I bet it does," he said. "We like to give each other 'special kisses' where I'm from, too."

Hannah stepped back and looked unsurely at his equipment. "How?"

His cock twitched in response to her question. "Do you...umm...do you want me to show you?"

She nodded, flashing him an eager smile.

Caleb, still keeping an eye on the pool below, placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her back to her knees.

"Put your hand on my cock again," he whispered. When she did, he wrapped his around hers and pumped it gently back and forth a few times.

"That feels good?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

"Uh huh," Caleb moaned.

She kept pumping his cock, stroking it back and forth as she watched his balls bounce. Then he put his hand behind her head, guiding it closer.

"I'm going to teach you how to do the special kiss," he said.

She nodded, wide-eyed as his cock got closer to her face.

"Keep doing what you're doing with your hand," he said, "and then put the tip in your mouth and suck on it like you did with that fruit, gently, like you're trying to get the juice out. But don't bite...just suck."

She nodded again, opening her mouth as he slid the head of his cock between her lips. She moaned as his size stretched her mouth wide, but she did as instructed and sucked on the end like it was a piece of purple fruit, swirling her tongue around the tip the whole time.

Caleb groaned as he ran his fingers through her silky blonde hair, watching her pump his shaft as she sucked him. He glanced down to the pool and saw the two girls on the rock had switched places, while their two friends kept swimming in the pool, seemingly oblivious to their moans.

As he watched the girl on the rock, her hand wrapped in her friend's dark hair as she ground her swollen pussy against her tongue, he slowly started to rock his hips back and forth. He was so focused on the action below that he didn't even notice he was doing it, but every stroke pushed more and more of his cock between Hannah's lips.

She'd let go of his shaft, and had her hands braced against his thighs, trying to keep her balance as he fucked her mouth.

Finally realizing what he was doing, he tore his eyes away from the pool and stopped. "Sorry," he said, pulling his cock from her mouth with a wet pop as she gasped for air.

But Hannah didn't want him to stop; she'd loved the sensation of sucking on his cock. With a look of lust, she wrapped her lips around his length again, bobbing back and forth as she tried to fill every inch of her mouth with his thick shaft.

Caleb groaned in approval, his head tilted back as she pushed him closer to the edge. She sucked him faster and faster, one hand jerking on his cock while the other reached up to caress his chest.

He knew he was about to come. He tried to pull away but she didn't let him, grabbing the back of his thighs as she kept her lips locked around his cock.

Hannah thought she knew what was coming. She'd given her sisters many special kisses and loved that moment when they squealed in pleasure and desperately tried to push her head away, every lick of her tongue exquisite torture. She also loved the taste of the sweet juices that flowed like honey when they came, but she'd never expected anything like this, as Caleb flooded her mouth with a thick load of cum. 

He'd called her curious before, and she was. She savored the feel of it in her mouth, the taste, and she desperately tried to swallow every drop. But his cum seemed to keep coming and coming.

Caleb moaned and his knees nearly buckled as his hips kept pumping forward, shooting shot after shot into Hannah's willing mouth. Finally, she couldn't take any more and she pulled her lips off his cock with a gasp, cum spilling over her lip and down her chin.

"Did that feel good?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.

He staggered back a step, dizzy with pleasure. "You have no idea," he said with a laugh.

Hannah wiped his cum from her mouth and leaned back on the grass, resting on her elbows. Spreading her legs, she said, "Now Caleb will give Hannah special kiss?"

When he looked between her thighs, he thought he saw heaven. His cock, so completely drained moments earlier, twitched back to life in response. 

Hannah's body was perfect, the sun kissing every golden curve, and her downy, blonde pussy glistened from the excitement of sucking on him. 

Caleb dropped to his knees and was crawling toward her as she gently bit her lower lip in expectation.

He glanced toward the pool and saw all of the girls were out of the water now, with a pale redhead lying on her back while all three of her friends took turns giving her pleasure. But the four of them suddenly stopped and stood up. Seconds later he heard what they'd heard; someone was coming up the trail and calling a name -- Hannah.

She stood up and peered over the waterfall. Caleb grabbed her and pulled her back down, making sure they couldn't be seen from below.

As they watched, an auburn-haired woman emerged from the wood at the edge of the pool. She was completely nude and went to talk to the four girls who'd recently been swimming, but Caleb couldn't hear what they were saying over the sound of the waterfall. When she finished talking, they nodded and headed down the trail she'd just come along. She went to follow them, but just before she disappeared she took one last look back -- right at the top of the waterfall.

Caleb ducked down, hoping she hadn't spotted him. After a few moments, he checked again; she was gone.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Noa," Hannah said.

"Why's she looking for you?"

She stood up and shrugged. "Maybe Noa wonders why Hannah did not go to the temple."

Caleb stood too and pulled up his jumpsuit. He knew he had to get back to his ship, had to figure out a way to send a signal back to Earth. "Hannah, I know I said earlier I'd go with you to the temple, but -- "

She hit him so fast that he didn't even realize what had happened. All he remembered was the impact; the crushing, painful blow of her shoulder launching him off the top of the cliff and sending him plummeting toward the dark pool below.

He hit the water hard, and it knocked the air out of him as he plunged into the dark depths of the pool. But the shock of the cold water quickly brought him to his senses, and when he realized where he was terror bubbled within him.

As Caleb frantically clawed at the dark water, trying to pull himself back toward the surface, forgotten memories flashed like lightning through his brain. He remembered their hands, holding him down as the golden liquid filled the stasis pod, and he remembered their laughter as he screamed, panicking as the liquid steadily rose above his mouth and nostrils. When he was completely submerged, he'd thrashed back and forth in the pod, fighting to break free, but they were too strong. And when he finally couldn't hold his breath any longer, unable to fight the urge to take one last gasp of air, a searing pain knifed through his throat and lungs and he was drowned in darkness.

Darkness...Caleb's eyes filled with panic as he looked up and saw the light of the pool fading above. His hands and feet swept futilely through the rising bubbles, and he felt himself being drawn deeper into the depths, his jumpsuit billowing around him like a shroud. His side ached with a stabbing pain. His lungs were about to burst.

The water exploded in front of him, a white jet of bubbles that knifed down from above. He felt hands grabbing at him, and then he was being dragged back toward the surface, back toward the light.

Caleb gasped for air as soon as his head broke free from the water, taking a deep lungful as Hannah, with one arm tightly wrapped around his chest, pulled him toward the edge of the pool. He heard another explosion of water behind him and looked back to see another girl powering through the water towards them.

He was helpless as Hannah dragged him onto the rock that the other four girls had been laying on only minutes earlier.

She kneeled over him and swept her wet hair back over her shoulder. "Caleb is hurt?!"

He shook his head no, still trying to catch his breath, his heart pounding. But he was hurt. Every time he took a breath he felt a shooting pain in his right side, right where he'd been hit. He looked up as the other woman, the one that had knocked him from the top of the waterfall, stepped naked from the pool. Her auburn hair looked black when it was wet and she wrung the water out as she walked toward him.

Hannah held her arm across his chest, shielding him. "Please, Noa, Caleb is friend."

Noa stood above him, the sun was behind her and he had to squint to see her. "Is this why Hannah did not answer the temple's summons? Outsider is not friend -- outsider is from the forbidden place!"

"No, Caleb is not from the forbidden place. Caleb is from -- "

"All outside the grove is forbidden," Noa said, cutting her off. "Hannah must take outsider to the temple, to the makers."

Hannah looked down at Caleb and gently brushed his wet hair back from his face. "Noa is right. Caleb must come to the temple."

"No," Caleb groaned. It felt like his ribs were broken. He knew he'd waited too long. He should have returned to his ship as soon as he found the river. "I need to go back, Hannah," he said, and tried to sit up.

Noa put a foot on his chest and shoved him back down. "No, outsider must come to the temple!"

He cried out in agony as his back hit the rock hard, and clenched his teeth as a wave of pain rolled over him.

"Caleb is hurt! Let me see," Hannah said, and unzipped his jumpsuit.

Noa stepped back, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as Hannah pulled his clothes down around his waist. There was already a dark, purplish bruise on the side where Noa had hit him with her shoulder, and he winced in pain as Hannah touched it.

"Come to temple. The makers will help Caleb," she said.

He shook his head no, but Hannah was already pulling off his boots. She poured the water out and threw them aside. Grabbing the legs of his uniform, she went to pull his jumpsuit down.

"Hey!" he said, trying to hold it up. "I need this."

"No," Hannah said. "No clothes." With a yank she pulled the wet uniform off and tossed it aside, where it landed in a wet pile.

Caleb tried to cover his cock with his hands, but Noa had already spotted it.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide with shock. "Outsider has a -- "

"Cock," Hannah said, as she pulled his hand aside and comfortingly caressed it.

Noa took a step back, as if she feared it would attack her.

"Do not be afraid, Noa. Come and touch cock," Hannah said.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Outsider is different. Outsider must come to the temple and see the makers."

"I can't," Caleb whispered to Hannah. "I'm hurt too bad. I have to get back to my ship."

Noa had overheard him. She glared as she said, "Outsider must come to temple now! Will Hannah disobey the makers?"

Her head hung down in shame, she said, "Hannah is sorry, but Noa is right. Caleb must come to temple. Hannah will take Caleb back to forbidden place after."

"No, I -- "

But her mind was already made up, and he grimaced in pain as Hannah pulled him to his feet and tried to put his arm around her shoulders. 

"I'm okay," he said. "I think I can walk on my own."

Hannah led the way out from the pool and Caleb followed her. Naked and hunched over, he kept one hand over his genitals and his other hand pressed against his sore ribs, every step sending a jolt of pain stabbing through his side. Noa followed behind the two of them, and he felt her eyes burning into his back as she watched his every step.

They followed a worn path through the trees for about ten minutes before they came to the rim of a large valley that the river tumbled down toward and continued through. In the center, sitting all alone, he saw a domed, circular structure with dark green walls.

"Is that the temple?" he said.

"Yes," Noa said, and shoved him in the back. "Keep moving."

Caleb winced as he stumbled forward, and Hannah held his arm for support as they continued onward.

The valley was dotted with giant trees and wild alien vegetation carpeted its floor. The area around the temple, however, had been completely cleared. He'd expected to see a small village or some sort of dwellings nearby, but there was no other sign of civilization to be seen. Other than the birds flying overhead, they were the only thing moving in the valley.

"Where's everyone else?" Caleb said. "Where are the rest of your people?"

Hannah looked down toward the valley floor, and also seemed surprised at the complete lack of movement.

"It is strange that no daughters are near the temple," she said.

Caleb said, "Maybe they're all inside?" 

"No," Hannah said, "no one ever goes inside the temple. It is forbidden."

He blinked in surprise. "You've never been inside?"

"Not since the birth day," she said.

"The what?" 

"The birth day. The day the daughters emerge from the temple."

"Emerge from the temple?"

"Of course," Noa said, "that is where daughters are made."

Caleb stopped, trying to process what she was saying. They seemed so human; right down to their belly buttons. "What are you saying? These makers...they made you?"

Hannah smiled as she nodded her head, as if he finally understood. "The makers made everything. They created this grove for us; the trees, the river, the fish and the birds, the sky and the stars."

Caleb couldn't believe what he was hearing. Earlier, Hannah had told him the makers were gray-haired fiends that crept out after dark to steal girls and drag them back to the temple. But now she was describing them as some sort of divine beings. He was about to ask another question when a jolt of pain arced across his ribs.

This one was worse than all the ones before. His knees buckled and he fell forward, clutching at his side as a wave of pain rolled over him. Thinking he might pass out, he rolled onto his back and lay naked on the grass.

Hannah hurried to his side. "Caleb is hurt?"

He looked up at her and nodded, his teeth clenched as he took shallow breaths and tried not to move.

"I can't go on. I think my ribs are broken."

"Noa will carry outsider to temple," she said, and bent down to pick him up.

"No," he said, wincing as he tried to push her hands away. "Please, I just need to lie here...until it stops hurting so much."

Hannah shoved her away from him. "Noa has hurt Caleb!"

"Hurt me?" he groaned. "She nearly killed me."

A flash of anger crossed Noa's face. "No! Noa would never kill -- never!"

"I know," Caleb said, holding up his hand to calm her down. "I didn't mean it. It's just a saying where I come from. I just need to rest...please."

Noa paced around him, staring at the ugly bruise on his right side. Hannah sat back down beside him and stroked his hair, trying to comfort him. When she saw it wasn't working, she slid her hand across his torso and down between his legs.

"Hannah knows how to make Caleb feel better," she said, and started fondling his soft cock.

He nearly told her to stop, he was in too much pain, but he was surprised to find it actually was making him feel better. He started to relax as she stroked him, and took a deeper breath.

A spasm of pain knifed through his ribs and he coughed violently, making the pain even worse. In complete agony, he rolled onto his side and doubled over as a second cough crashed through him. And something moved. His eyes popped open and he took a deep breath -- the pain was gone. He gingerly felt his side as relief flooded through him. The rib must have only been dislocated, not broken, and popped back into place when he coughed.

"Caleb is okay?" Hannah said.

He nearly said yes, but then he saw Noa, watching him, her eyes still filled with distrust. He knew she would take him to the temple at the first sign that he was feeling better. And he knew he wasn't ready to go there yet.

He let out a fake groan and fell back onto the grass, pressing his hand against his still tender side. "It still hurts," he lied, "and I think that cough made it even worse."

Hannah had her hand on his leg, watching him with concern in her eyes.

Caleb glanced down at her hand, and said, "You can...umm...keep trying to make me feel better if you want."

It took her a second to realize what he meant, but when she did she flashed him a playful smile and wrapped her hand back around his cock. Now that he wasn't distracted by the pain in his ribs, he quickly responded to her touch.

Noa watched in amazement as his cock grew thicker and longer while Hannah stroked it.

"What is happening to tail? Did outsider hurt tail, too?" Noa asked, wondering why the head of his cock had grown swollen and purple just like the bruise on his side.

Hannah shook her head. "Not tail -- cock. And Caleb feels good when Hannah does this," she said, proudly pumping his pole up and down.

Noa moved closer, kneeling beside him and resting her hand on the inside of his thigh as she watched, fascinated, while Hannah jerked him off. 

"Does Noa want to try?" Hannah said.

She quickly shook her head no, but kept her eyes on his thick length as Hannah knelt down and started sucking on it.

Caleb groaned as her mouth wrapped around his shaft and his hand, which had been squeezing Hannah's firm ass while she played with his cock, slid beneath her and between her legs.

She moaned around his thick pole as he teased her, brushing his fingers across her tender folds while reaching for her clit. Her pussy was so smooth, so wet and so ready.




The Naked Planet



Hannah moaned in disappointment when Caleb suddenly pulled his cock out from between her lips. Sitting up, she wiped her wet mouth with the back of her hand. "Was Hannah doing the special kiss wrong?" 

"No," he said. "You were doing it good...too good. I only stopped because I thought you might want me to teach you something else. Another way we give pleasure where I'm from, besides the special kiss."

She nodded eagerly. "Hannah wants to learn."

He moved toward her and brushed her blonde hair back from her face. "We call this making love, and it feels better than anything else."

She reached her hand between his legs and slid it back and forth along the length of his swollen cock. "Love," Hannah said. "Yes, make love."

"Lie down," he said, and Hannah obeyed.

Caleb spread her legs, so focused on the beautiful triangle between them that he barely noticed Noa pacing around them, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she watched him.

He put one hand on Hannah's hip and held his stiff shaft with the other. He rubbed it up and down between her swollen lips, getting it slick with her juices, and then circled the knob against her clit.

Hannah moaned as he teased her tender pussy, loving the feel of his hard cock as he rubbed it between her legs.

Caleb knew she was ready. He lined the head of his cock up with her tiny hole and thrust forward.

Hannah gasped in surprise and scrambled backward as fast as she could, trying to get away from him.

"It's okay, I'll be gentle," he said. Grabbing her ankle, he tried to drag her back, his cock twitching in anticipation.

Hannah kicked his hand away and covered her pussy with her hand. With a shocked look, she said, "No, it is forbidden!"

He blinked in surprise. "Forbidden...what's forbidden?"

"This is our sacred place," Hannah said, her hand cupped over her delicate mound. "Nothing may penetrate it."

"Well, I wasn't going to...I mean, I was, but -- "

"It is forbidden," Noa said, stepping between him and Hannah and glaring at the sacrilege between his legs. "The makers command the daughters to never let it be violated."

Caleb covered his cock, uncomfortable with the hostility in Noa's eyes as she stared at it, and went to kneel beside Hannah.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," he said, "but I saw what your friends were doing at the waterfall, giving each other the special kiss...giving each other pleasure. That's good, right?"

Hannah nodded.

"Well, this feels even better. I didn't realize there'd be anything wrong with trying to give you pleasure. If you'd just let me show you -- "

"No, it is forbidden!" Noa interrupted. "Do not listen to the outsider's lies, Hannah."

She gently bit her lower lip as she stared at his swollen cock, still aimed directly between her legs. "It brings pleasure? When the cock is in the sacred place?"

He nodded. "More pleasure than you could ever imagine."

She gingerly moved her hand away from her pussy, and nodded. "Show Hannah, make love."

Noa tried to move between them. "No, Hannah, the makers have forbidden it!" 

Hannah pushed her away, and said, "Then the makers must be wrong. Why is it forbidden if it will give Hannah pleasure? The makers say it is good to give and receive pleasure."

Noa's jaw dropped, astounded at the heresy she was hearing. "Hannah is being tricked; do not believe the outsider's lies."

"It is Hannah's choice, not Noa's," she said, and reached for Caleb's hand.

"It is forbidden," Noa said, but Hannah was no longer listening to her. 

She pulled Caleb close and kissed him softly on the lips. "Making love...is good?" she said. 

Caleb nodded. "Lie down. Let me show you."

She did as instructed and lay back on the grass, soft as a bed beneath her. The sun blanketed their naked bodies with its warmth, and Caleb moved into position on top of her as she spread her legs for him. "It might hurt a little at the start, but it will get better," he said.

Hannah nodded, and he thrust forward slowly, ever so slowly, as her tender pussy parted before him. As he entered her, she winced in pain and grabbed his hips to stop him.

"It'll just hurt for a second," Caleb said.

Hannah nodded and closed her eyes.

He pushed forward again, and she grimaced as he stretched her painfully wide. Her pussy was so tight that he barely got half his length inside before he stopped again, letting her get used to the feel of having a cock inside her. 

Hannah's mouth was half open in a mix of pleasure and pain. She tilted her head forward and looked between her legs, amazed that his huge cock actually fit in her tiny hole. Noa still had her back to them, but kept sneaking glances back over her shoulder, watching.

"Are you okay?" Caleb said.

Hannah nodded, trying to relax and enjoy the feeling of having her tiny pussy stuffed with cock. "Is this making love?"

"No, this is," he said, and leaned down to kiss her as he slowly started to rock his hips back and forth.

Hannah groaned as he fucked her with a steady rhythm, and she clawed at his back as the pain slowly faded to reveal the pleasure underneath. She gasped as his length probed her, touching her in places she'd never been touched before, giving her pleasure like she'd never felt before.

As Hannah cried out and moaned, sprawled out on the grass as Caleb fucked her harder and faster, Noa watched.

To Hannah it was pure bliss, her body locked together with Caleb's like they were one. But to Noa's eyes, it was something completely different.

She saw Caleb, grunting like a beast as he slammed his swollen cock between Hannah's legs, punishing her sacred place. She watched as he arched his back over and over, driving his cock deeper and deeper, with a look of pure pleasure etched across his face.

Noa's eyes went wide, and suddenly she was on Caleb's back, her arm wrapped around his neck as she wrenched him off of Hannah.

Caleb's legs kicked at the grass as he tried to pull her arm loose while she dragged him backward. But it was locked around his neck like an iron bar, her strength unbelievable, and as it crushed his windpipe he could feel consciousness slipping away.

Hannah jumped up and ran toward them, fighting to pull her arm away. "Noa, stop!"

With a growl, she flung Caleb away, sending him sprawling across the grass.

Hannah ran to his side to make sure he was okay and then glared back at Noa. "Why does Noa hurt Caleb?!"

"The outsider has tricked Hannah," she said, her eyes flaring with anger.

Caleb sat up, trying to catch his breath. "I didn't do anything, I -- "

"The outsider is not hurt," Noa said, pointing her finger at his side accusingly. "The pain was a lie!"

Caleb froze; he'd been so focused on Hannah he'd forgotten to keep up his act.

Hannah looked at him, realizing for the first time that he was sitting and breathing normally, with no signs of pain. "Caleb is not hurt?"

He put his hand to his bruised side. "I -- I was, but when I -- "

Hannah let out a surprised gasp, and looked down between her legs as the thick load of cum he'd fired into her only seconds before Noa had pulled him away finally trickled out.

"There is the proof!" Noa said, pointing to the mess between her legs. "The outsider has violated the sacred place, and lied and tricked Hannah.

"And Hannah has also disobeyed the makers, and done the forbidden. Hannah must go to the temple too!"

Hannah glanced up at Caleb, and he saw the guilt and shame in her eyes as she tried to wipe away the sticky, incriminating mess between her legs. He went to move toward her, but Noa intercepted him. 

Her hand locked around his wrist like an iron manacle. "The outsider will come to the temple, and answer to the makers."

"Okay," Caleb said, knowing he had no choice now. "But Hannah didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who made the mistake."

Noa shook her head. "Hannah has disobeyed the makers twice, now. It is forbidden to go past the boundary and forbidden to violate the sacred place; Hannah has done both."

"No," he said, "it's my fault she -- "

"Stop, Caleb," Hannah said. "Noa is right. Hannah has done what is forbidden, and must go to see the makers."

Noa yanked him forward and Hannah followed behind them as they headed naked toward the temple. He knew he had no hope of breaking free from Noa's grip, but he wished he could go back to console Hannah, who was walking fifteen feet behind them with her head hung in shame.

Noa's words, her accusations, were ringing in his head. But then one rang louder than the rest. "Wait a second," Caleb said, slowing down. "You said Hannah went past the boundary. How did you know that?"

Noa glared at him and pulled him hard by the wrist, forcing him to keep up.

As he stumbled behind her, he continued: "She never said she'd been there. Maybe you suspected that I came from there, but she could have met me in the grove. Why were you looking for her? And when you came toward the pool, why were you only calling her name, not anyone else's?"

Noa glanced back over her shoulder at Hannah, and hissed at Caleb, "Silence!"

Hannah hurried up until she was beside them. "Caleb is right. Why was Noa only looking for Hannah?"

Noa glanced between the two of them and, unable to tell a lie, said, "Noa heard the voice of the makers. It told Noa that Hannah had disobeyed and gone past the boundary. The voice said an outsider was there too, and commanded Noa to bring Hannah and the outsider to the temple." 

Caleb felt a rising fear. The makers had known he was here all along. Somehow, they must have detected his ship entering their atmosphere. "Why do they want to see me? What are they going to do with me when you bring me there?"

"Noa does not need to know why. Noa is a good daughter. Noa obeys. Noa always obeys."

"But what -- "

"Silence!" Noa said, and pulled him toward the temple.

The three of them walked in silence, and Noa kept a firm grip on his wrist. As they neared the temple, the structure began to take on an eerily familiar shape. Though covered in thick, alien vines, he could see the walls were made of metal, not stone. And there was something white on the walls -- writing.

Caleb yanked his wrist free from Noa's grasp and ran toward the wall, with both girls following right behind him. He tore the vines aside to see the writing better, and his jaw dropped when he realized what the letters spelled -- they really had taken him to the Temple!

The large white letters had faded over the years, but he could still clearly make out the vessel's name on the hull: SS Temple. He remembered the name, the Temple was a generation ship named after Earth's 42nd president, James Temple. But he also remembered that it was supposed to have been destroyed centuries ago.

"What is it?" Hannah said, tracing her finger along the strange characters.

Caleb said, "This ship -- the Temple -- it's from my planet!" 

They both looked at him in confusion.

"It's like me," he said, pointing up toward the sky. "It came down from the stars."

Noa shook her head. "The outsider lies. The outsider came from the forbidden place, but the temple has always been here."

Caleb stepped back so he could get a better view of the ship. He knew this was just the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of the generation ship was buried in the ground beneath it, accessing the planet's resources. "Don't you see? This explains why you're so like me -- you're human! And I bet the makers are just like me, too; you must all be descendants of the original crew."

Hannah was bewildered, but Noa's eyes welled with tears as she kept shaking her head. "No, the outsider lies. Noa is a daughter of the temple. There was nothing before the temple. The outsider is not the same as the makers!"

She grabbed his wrist again and squeezed it so hard he thought she was going to break it. The crushing force drove him to his knees.

"Okay...okay!" he groaned. "You're right...just take me inside...it's time for me to meet your makers."

Noa nodded. "Yes, it is time."

As she led him toward the entrance to the Temple, Caleb wondered -- if both Hannah and Noa really were human -- how they could have become so strong, so fast. He knew the original crew must have died off centuries ago; could they really be their descendants, or something more? But those were questions that would have to be answered later. For now, all he was worried about was finding the Temple's quantum computer.

If the quantum computers in the Temple were still operational, he might be able to access his ship remotely and bypass the protocols that were keeping him stranded on this planet. He could escape and return through the wormhole, letting Earth know what he'd found.

Noa pointed to her right and he saw the doorway to the Temple, open and waiting.

Caleb stepped through and looked around in awe. He'd never seen the inside of a generation ship before, only read about it. He'd never realized they were so huge. 

He turned around and saw both Noa and Hannah standing on the other side of the doorway, peering curiously inside.

"Come on," Caleb said, gesturing them inside. But both of them quickly shook their heads no.

"It is forbidden," Noa whispered.

"Didn't the makers tell you to bring Hannah and me to them?"

Noa said, "Yes, but -- "

"Then you'd better do as you're told," he said, and grabbed Hannah's hand and pulled her through the doorway.

Noa watched as he led Hannah into the Temple and disappeared down the corridor. She wrung her hands, unsure what to do, and then ducked through the doorway and ran after them.

Caleb looked back as Noa caught up to them, and the three of them continued down into the depths of the vessel.

He was still in awe of the size of the ship, but Hannah and Noa were in awe for a different reason. Neither of them had ever been inside the Temple before, and as they walked naked down its hallowed halls, keeping their arms wrapped around themselves for warmth, they looked around nervously, wondering where the makers were. The cold steel felt strange beneath their bare feet and the artificial light paled in comparison to the bright, warm sun they were used to. 

But Caleb was at home here, and as they walked he examined the controls and consoles that lined the walls of the vessel. They were centuries-old technology, but everything still appeared to be functioning perfectly. He wasn't surprised, the generation ships had been designed before wormhole drives had been perfected and were intended to travel through the depths of space for millennia, the only way possible at that time to cover such massive distances.

He found a schematic of the ship on the wall and traced his finger along the corridor they were in. The room he was seeking was up ahead. He turned to head toward it and then looked behind him; Hannah and Noa were gone.

He ran back the way they'd come, checking every side passage and doorway. He hadn't gone far when he glanced in a doorway and saw the two of them, staring at row upon row of golden pods inside a large chamber.

Hannah looked up when she saw him, and stepped close to one, touching the foggy glass as she tried to see into the amber liquid within. "What is it?"

"Stasis pods. Designed for long distance travel...they help you sleep," Caleb said, trying to explain it in terms she'd understand. He'd never seen so many before. Most long distance ships carried four or less; the Temple had more than a hundred.

"So people are sleeping inside?" Hannah said.

Caleb shook his head. "No, the pods are programmed to wake their occupants as soon as a habitable planet is reached. The person sleeping in that one would have got out years ago."

Hannah leaned closer, trying to peer inside. When she saw the face on the other side she screamed and stumbled backwards, trying to get away.

Caleb caught her, and she hugged herself tightly against him. "Hey, hey, there's nothing to be afraid of," he said, stroking her hair. 

When she reluctantly let him go, he stepped toward the pod, expecting to see a corpse within: the only possible explanation as to why its occupant was still inside. But as he wiped the glass to get a clearer view he was shocked to see the person inside was alive, a young dark-haired female. There was a stasis mask on her face and golden liquid swirled around her.

"It is Rebekah!" Hannah cried. "Rebekah is dead!"

Caleb shook his head. "No, she's just sleeping. How do you know her?"

"Rebekah is one of those that the makers took away," Hannah said.

He stared at the face, frozen behind the glass. Hannah had been right; the makers had taken the girls. But why?

Hannah ran her fingers frantically across the smooth glass, looking for some way of opening it. "Please Caleb, wake Rebekah up."

He examined the ancient stasis pod controls on the wall, looking for an override command, and said, "I'll try."

"Please don't," a voice behind them said, "You'll ruin all of my hard work."

Caleb spun around. An old woman was standing by the doorway to the pod chamber. The spacesuit she wore was a design that hadn't been used in centuries, and her long, gray hair was tied back in a neat bun.

He instantly covered his cock with both hands while Hannah covered her pussy.

Noa, recognizing the voice of the Maker, threw herself to the floor of the chamber and pressed her head against the cold metal.

The old woman sighed, "Please, Noa. Get up from there; it's cold."

She scrambled to her feet. Still keeping her eyes downcast, she said, "Noa obeys the Maker. Noa has brought Hannah and the outsider!"

"I know you do, Noa, and thank you for bringing them here as I asked."

Turning her gaze on him, she said, "Welcome to the Temple, Dr. Caleb. My name is Dr. Bell. Dr. Jessica Bell."

Caleb looked at her in astonishment when he recognized the famous name. She was part of the ill-fated crew of the Temple, supposedly dead for centuries.

"You...the Temple...you're both supposed to have been destroyed in a galactic storm!"

"I'm glad to hear it," she said. "That means at least part of our plan worked out as intended."

"But...even if you weren't destroyed, how can you still be alive after three centuries?!"

"You have to remember Dr. Caleb, that our vessel didn't have the wormhole drive that powers your craft. I spent more than two and a half of those centuries in deep sleep."

He blinked in surprise. "You...you know about the ship that brought me here?"

"I do," she said. "As soon as your spacecraft entered our system the Temple picked up its signal, detailing every aspect of your voyage."

As she spoke to him she noticed Hannah, her head down as she tried to hide her nakedness.

"Hannah, my beautiful daughter," she said, as she stepped toward her and brushed her hand against her cheek. "Why do you hide your body in shame?"

She looked at the floor, and tears flowed down her cheeks. "Hannah has disobeyed the Maker. Hannah has done what is forbidden. Please don't punish Hannah."

"Nonsense," said Dr. Bell, as she brushed the tears from Hannah's cheek and pulled her head to her shoulder. "I would never punish any of you, my dear. The rules we made are only meant to keep you girls safe. I would never be angry at any of you for breaking them, just disappointed if you were somehow hurt in doing so."

Hannah sniffed and hugged herself against the old woman. Stepping back, she looked her up and down, and said, "Why does the Maker wear clothes? Hannah does not like clothes."

"Please, stop calling me that. Call me mother. And yes, I'm afraid I do wear clothes. Not for any vanity, mind you. I'm as proud of the body that nature gave me as you should be. But as the years pass I find this ship colder and colder; this suit is the only thing I have to keep me warm."

"But why stay in here?" Caleb asked. "Why not go outside then, if you're cold?"




The Naked Planet



"I would love to," she said, as she smiled proudly at Noa and brushed a hand against her cheek. "Nothing would warm my heart more than to leave this place and spend the rest of my years with my daughters. But my time is growing short; every second is too precious to waste when there is still so much more work to be done."

"And the girls," Caleb said, nodding at the occupied stasis pods. "Are they part of your work?"

"Not in the way you think, Dr. Caleb. I know it appears as if the girls are in suspended animation, but they are not."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it would be better if I start at the beginning," she said.

"Three centuries ago, a philanthropist who'd learned of my work in genetics approached me. He told me of a theoretical astronomer who'd discovered a planet more than four light years away that he believed to be capable of supporting life or, more specifically, human life.

"His plan was to gather up one hundred of the Earth's leading scientists and visionaries into a group -- one half male and one half female -- and transport them by generation ship to the planet, more than two and a half centuries distant by the technology available for space travel at that time.

"Of course, generation ships were meant to find HET class planets, which we intended to do. However, ours was a one-way trip. If successful, we had no intention of returning to Earth to let the people know of our new planet. We'd seen what humanity had done to the old Earth and we had no plans of letting them destroy a second one.

"Our vision was to create a new Earth, populated by our offspring and taught not to repeat the mistakes our ancestors had made. To cover our tracks we erased all information pertaining to the planet in the interstellar archives and databases, so that it would appear as empty space on any galactic charts. And when we reached the edge of Earth's system we sent back a false distress call, followed by a signal that we knew could only be interpreted as the destruction of the Temple by a galactic storm.

"And then we settled in for our long journey, a two-and-a-half century long dreamless sleep. But while we'd left Man behind, we should have known that we could never leave behind the evils that men do.

"One of the men woke up early, two years earlier than planned. And he overrode the controls to wake up one of the other passengers, a very beautiful young woman who looked exactly like Hannah.

"Hannah's mother?" Caleb said.

The old woman smiled. "In a way, but...please...let me continue.

"He woke her up and told her that the ship's stasis support systems had failed during the long voyage. Her boyfriend -- he'd been so young, so handsome -- was now a skeleton in an otherwise empty pod.

"He told her that they were the only ones who'd survived, told her that, like Adam and Eve, they'd have to repopulate this planet on their own. In her grief, she believed him, and for the next month he had his way with her.

"But she started to notice things. The men were all dead, but what about the women? All of our pods were still filled with golden liquid. Our readouts showed we weren't dead -- we were still in deep sleep.

"She was too close to the truth, so he attacked her. Stabbed her in the neck with a vial of the same golden liquid that kept the rest of us in stasis, and after she blacked out he returned her to her pod.

"Because she was right, there hadn't been a failure of the ship's stasis support systems -- they'd been sabotaged. He'd intentionally programmed them to shut down all of the men's pods a month after we went into deep sleep.

"He knew we were headed to paradise, and he didn't intend on sharing it with any other men. He then woke up the next woman and told her the same lie. And when she saw through it he attacked her too, forcing himself on her before finally injecting her and returning her to her pod.

"Like a fiend he worked his way through the women. Some of them he didn't even bother waking up. The ship's recordings show him climbing into their pods, having his way with them while they were still in deep sleep.

"My god," Caleb said, "he must have been a monster."

"He was, and we were trapped alone in the depths of space with him. But one of the women he woke, she suspected the lie as soon as he spoke it. And when he came at her with the needle, she was ready for him. She wrestled it from his grasp and managed to plunge it into his own neck. She wanted to kill him, but she knew he was the last man. For the sake of humanity and our new Earth, she spared him and returned him to his pod."

"Was it you?" Caleb said. "Were you the woman?"

She shook her head and smiled sadly at him. "Unfortunately, no. I wish I had been though. I wish I could have taken the place of every single one of those women, so none of them would have been forced to suffer through the pain he inflicted upon them. But he never tried to wake me up. Can you guess why, Dr. Caleb?"

When he didn't answer, she sighed, and said, "That monster was my husband. And it was my fault that every other man on this ship was dead."

Caleb shook his head. "You can't blame yourself for what he did."

"Oh, but I can. You see, he should have never even been on that voyage in the first place. When he told each woman how he'd play Adam to their Eve, no greater lie was ever told. For one of the prime requirements for our new world was fertility, and it was my job as chief geneticist to test every candidate and make sure they were suitable. But I lied. I knew my husband was sterile and, thinking I couldn't live on a new world without him, I falsified his fertility records.

"We'd only been married for two years, but he fooled me, oh, how he fooled me. I never knew the nightmare that slept beside me, never realized the pain he would cause. 

"But that's in the past. By the time we landed here he was dead; you are the first man to ever step foot on our planet."

Caleb glanced at Hannah and Noa. "But if there were no men, how..."

"How were our daughters born? Right here," she said, and tapped one of the golden pods.

"What do you mean, they're clones?" Caleb said.

"No, they were conceived, but these pods were their wombs. Have you ever heard of parthenogenesis?"

Caleb shook his head. "My field was hydro science."

"The word means 'virgin birth'. Normally, forty-six chromosomes are necessary for life; one half of them from the mother and one half of them from the father. With parthenogenesis however, it's possible to combine two female eggs to provide the forty-six chromosomes necessary for life.

"It took me decades to perfect the process, but eventually, using eggs from the other women who landed here with me, I created embryos and used the pods -- "

" -- to create children!" Caleb said, as he turned to stare at both Noa and Hannah.

Dr. Bell smiled proudly. "Precisely, and aren't they beautiful? Made in our very image, but better...so much better.

"When I restructured their DNA during the parthenogenesis process I made a few changes. We would no longer be the weaker sex. I discovered a way to make them faster...stronger."

"What about the others?" Caleb asked. "The other women who landed with you, are they all...gone?"

"Sadly, yes. I'm the last survivor of the Temple. The rest of them died years ago, the last just a few years after the first girls were born. Alone with my work, I couldn't spare the time to play with them, to teach them. 

"They were forced to live on their own, to survive on their own. I would watch them from the ship's monitors, and relied on the girls to care for new daughters as they emerged from the Temple. But I was never able to spare them the time, or the love, that they deserved. I was never able to be a real mother to them. 

"I wanted to, but I couldn't. After what my husband had done, I knew I had a debt to the women of the Temple to make sure that our original vision of a new Earth succeeded. And I knew for it to succeed, my work would have to go on after I'm gone.

"That is why I have chosen those four girls in the pods. My time is growing short, so I have adapted the stasis support systems to input data from the knowledge banks of the Temple directly into their brains, allowing me to give the four of them a lifetime of learning in less than a year. When they emerge from those pods they will be able to run the generation ship on their own, so that it will keep producing children long after I'm gone."

"But you don't need to worry about that anymore," Caleb said. "I can use my ship to send a signal back to Earth. Settlement ships can be here within a year."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," the old woman said.

"But it is," he said. "I can use the Temple's quantum computer to override the one on my ship. Then I can go back through the wormhole and let Earth know about this planet."

Her voice turned icy cold. "You misunderstand me, Dr. Caleb. What I mean is that I won't let it happen."

"But you have to -- even if those girls know how to run the pods after you're gone, this place will never survive. With only females being born, the population will die out as soon as the generation ship breaks down or runs out of power. It will only be a matter of centuries before your new Earth is wiped out of existence."

"Maybe so, but I would rather have my daughters enjoy a few centuries of paradise than an eternity of hell."

Caleb blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about men, and how I won't let them poison this place. You know, Dr. Caleb, that the last man I saw was my husband. Why is it my bad luck that the next man I meet had to be a murderer too?"

Her words hit him like a thunder bolt, stunning him. She knew.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out, Dr. Caleb? Like I said, as soon as your ship entered our system it automatically broadcast a warning about its passenger -- you."

Hannah glanced between the two of them. "What is...murderer?"

The old woman gave her a look of pity. "There is a snake in our garden, my dear, and I don't mean that thing between his legs. I'm afraid your friend is a killer, Hannah. And he has killed many, many people."

"No!" Caleb said. "It wasn't like that, I -- "

"Please, Dr. Caleb!" the old woman shouted. "Don't try to feed me your lies, too! I recognized the spacecraft as soon as I saw it on my screens as a convict ship."

She glanced at Hannah and Noa, and said, "You see, girls, the old Earth is a very, very bad place. They're not only killing their own planet, they like to kill each other too. So to kill two birds with one stone, as the old saying goes, they've come up with a solution for both problems.

"They've designed deep space capsules called HET ships to search for habitable planets. But knowing that such a voyage is essentially a suicide mission, as no ship has ever returned, they came up with a novel approach to find volunteers to man the ships -- they use inmates who have been sentenced to death for their crimes against their fellow men.

"If their mission fails, they get a slight reprieve before their eventual death sentence is carried out in the depths of space, and if they succeed they're promised a pardon."

"I'm not a murderer," Caleb said.

The old woman laughed, her eyes filled with disbelief. "I saw the readout myself: Damian A. Caleb -- charged with over  three thousand counts of murder -- and found guilty on every single charge. I believe they call that genocide."

"No," Hannah whispered, shaking her head from side to side. "Caleb would not kill."

He turned to Hannah, hoping to explain, but before he could speak the old woman continued:

"Do you know what I did when they woke me up and told me what my husband had done, Dr. Caleb? I went to his pod and opened it. I knew the other women wanted to keep him alive, thinking that we couldn't survive without a man. But I knew we could; nature always finds a way. So I strangled him...strangled him to death with my bare hands.

"I was his executioner, and now I feel no guilt at being yours too, carrying out a sentence long overdue." 

She reached behind her, and when her hand came back around she aimed the weapon in it at his chest. Caleb instantly recognized the disruptor pistol. The gun was ancient but he knew, if functional, it would still be lethal at this range.

He put his hands in the air. "Please, listen to reason."

Dr. Bell shook her head. "Move away from him, Hannah. My hands are old, and a little shaky."

Hannah tried to move closer to him but Caleb put his arm out, pushing her back. "Please, Dr. Bell," he said, "don't shoot.

"I know people died -- many, many people died -- but I didn't murder them. You have to understand, it was an accident...a tragic accident. Please let me explain."

He turned to Hannah, and said, "I told you before that on my planet, we don't have water like you do here. We once did, but we took it for granted, and we realized too late that water was the most precious resource we had. By the time we did, ninety percent of it was undrinkable. It's funny now, but they used to think the biggest problem facing Earth was overpopulation; we fixed that.

"It was my job, as a water scientist, to try to figure out how to make the water usable again. And my people desperately needed a solution, as thousands of people were dying of thirst every day. I was working on a compound that would have made the polluted water drinkable again, a compound that made sure a drink of clean water wasn't a perk only the wealthy could enjoy.

"But the government wouldn't approve it. They demanded another year of clinical trials, and until those were completed actual human trials were out of the question. And all of this time, more and more people were dying of thirst every day.

"The bureaucracy, the red tape that the government made us wade through, drove my assistant crazy. She figured that, if these people were going to die anyway, why not give them the option of trying our compound? I refused. I could see her logic, but I couldn't risk any illegal trials being discovered and having our funding pulled.

"My assistant didn't care. She refused to sit idly by while thousands died; she was sure we'd perfected the compound. But I still said no, I knew we couldn't risk releasing it without at least one successful human trial -- so she gave me one.

"She took a vial of toxic water, so toxic that one sip would have killed any human, and she added our compound to it. The water cleared, the toxins vanished. But I told her there was still no way of telling if it was safe. So she drank it...she risked her life and drank it. I watched helplessly, horrified to see her put her life on the line to prove her point. But it worked. The water was safe. I can't describe how we both felt, not only relieved that she'd survived, but knowing the lives that our discovery would save.

"She was so excited, but I knew her demonstration meant nothing. The government still wouldn't approve the trials without further testing. So she took matters into her own hands. Without my knowledge, she produced a batch of the compound and sent it to a refugee camp, telling them it would make the water safe for them to drink.

"And then she got sick. It was weeks after she'd drank the vial, but we both recognized the symptoms right away as water poisoning.

"Because the compound hadn't removed the toxins, it had just temporarily neutralized them. And somehow, when the compound worked its way out of her system, the toxins remained. She died. Thousands of people in the refugee camp died. 

"I went from a savior to a monster overnight. I was sure I could fix the compound, I just needed more time. But there wasn't any more time. Someone had to pay the price for what had happened. I told them the truth, but they didn't believe me and found me guilty of the murder of my assistant and all of the victims in the refugee camp.

"They sentenced me to death and forced me into the convict ship. But I'm not a criminal...I'm not a murderer."

The old woman gave him a look of pity. "I believe you. It's sad that so little has changed on Earth in the three centuries since I left."

Caleb felt a flash of hope. "So you'll let me return to my ship? If I don't send that signal, if I don't let them know about all the water here...our people are doomed."

"They are no longer my people, and they were doomed long before we were even born, Dr. Caleb. And while I sympathize with your plight, I'm afraid I still must do what's necessary," she said, and raised the disruptor pistol.

Hannah recognized the weapon as similar to the one Caleb had killed the fish with and rushed forward. "No, no kill!"

But he held out his arm and pushed her away, out of the line of fire. "Stay back, Hannah. I don't want you to get hurt."

"And neither do I, Dr. Caleb," the old woman said. "You seem like an honorable man, but the sins of your sex seem to follow you. You have been on our planet less than a day and you have already taught my daughters shame and tempted them with your lust.

"I thank the stars that the Temple detected you when it did, so I could send my other daughters and the younger girls to the far end of the valley, away from you and your taint -- the taint of Man."

She steadied the disruptor and aimed it at his chest. "If I don't do this, others will follow you here. I'm sorry, but it's the only way."

She fired the pistol and as the gun flashed Caleb instinctively threw his arms up in a futile effort to protect himself. But nothing hit him. At first he thought she'd missed, and then he lowered his arms and saw Hannah lying lifelessly on the floor in front of him.

He knew instantly what had happened. Hannah must have moved toward him at the last second, and Dr. Bell, who'd probably never fired a disruptor pistol in her life, hadn't realized the weapon's aim assist had locked onto her instead of him.

"No...no!" she screamed. "You see what you've done!" She raised the pistol, ready to take a second shot at Caleb, and he knew this time she wouldn't miss.

But then Hannah moaned in pain. They both looked down at her in amazement; no human could withstand a full force blast from a disruptor pistol. Then Caleb remembered -- Hannah was much more than human.

"Hannah!" the old woman cried. With a surge of relief, she lowered the pistol and hurried to her daughter's side.

Caleb knew this was his chance. He ran toward the doorway and hit the interior door control on the way out. The door slid shut behind him and he raced naked down the corridors of the Temple, heading for the quantum computer control room he'd seen on the schematic.

He heard the whoosh of the door opening behind him, but he wasn't worried; he knew he was far enough ahead that the old woman wouldn't be able to get a shot off at him. Then he heard her shout: "Noa, stop him!"

Caleb looked back in fear. He heard Noa's bare feet pounding down the corridor as she pursued him faster than any human possibly could.

He looked back and saw her coming around the curve of the corridor, her eyes narrowing as soon as she saw him, like a hawk seeking her prey.

Caleb had reached the control room. He ducked inside and slammed his palm against the interior door control. But just before it slid completely shut he saw Noa's fingers appear, curling around the side of the door. He cringed, expecting the force of the hydraulic door to amputate them. But it didn't. And slowly, inexorably, she started to pull the door open again.

Caleb's jaw dropped, he knew the hydraulic force on that door had to be nearly a thousand pounds. But Noa was stronger.

He raced to the quantum computer console. He knew he only had seconds before she'd be through the door. He tapped commands into the screen and was relieved to see his spacecraft's data appear on the monitor. Dr. Bell hadn't terminated the connection after linking to his ship's onboard computer.