Part 9
John had been sitting on the window seat for hours with his arms clasped around his knees pulling them tightly against his chest. He relished the physical and mental quiet and didn't question at the moment this little bit of good karma. His thoughts flickered...why did the evening star keep repeating its movement across the night sky like that? What was it about god-like aliens that made them either bad-assed ugly or unbelievably lovely? He let himself drift sprinkling dreams among his mussing while keeping half his attention on Keeta as she moved about his cell looking at everything. She had been drifting from item to item for the past few arns since she had done her magic and banished the krethia; picking things up and putting them gently down in exactly the same place leaving no trace they had ever been moved. She asked him from time to time what the use of this or that of his stuff was used for. Ignoring her chitchat, he had tried to engage her in conversation as to why she was really there and who had sent her. Keeta continued to evade his questions with comments about some new object she discovered.
John hugged his knees tighter giving up on trying to interrogate the clever alien as his thoughts slid along a familiar groove... Aeryn and Nyka. His family's absence ached like a festering wound, but he try to take comforted that at least they were safe from the Collector. Only to turn his brooding thoughts to what the Peacekeepers might be doing to them. Gawd, why did all the shit have to keep coming their way?
"Humans? That term seems familiar to me," Keeta interrupted his ruminations. She sank beside him, curling long, shapely legs beneath her and settled in the corner of the widow seat.
John sighed and struggled for patience with the elf who had done him a small favor with the giant leech. "You must have heard it from whoever sent you here."
"No, it comes from my species' recollection," she mused cutting an eye toward him. "Tell me about your homeworld."
Turning his gaze to her, he shook his head. "Look, I appreciate everything you've done for me. But..."
"You hold me no thanks. It is my mission is to keep you safe."
Long experience in the Uncharted Territories had taught him to be direct and brutal when it was time and to never trust anyone willingly. "Well, I find that a little hard to believe when you won't give me any information to verify what you are claiming."
Leaning her head back against a stack of pillows, she studied John's face and could see all the frustration and anger just below the surface ready to explode at any microt. She read the krethia's workings and worried about how far along its parasitic growth had proceeded to have this much control over the human's emotional state. She nodded to herself and looked down at her hands where they rested on her lap trying to figure out what to tell the man to both distract him from the reality of her purpose as well as sooth the workings of the beast. If only she could find a way to get hold of the Collector's narl and remove the krethia. If it had progressed in its purpose to the point of integrating itself with the human's deeper brain functions where instincts and primal urges were born, then it was almost too late. She looked up at John and without revealing any of her concerns, calmly replied to his frustrations, "I gave you the child's tile, that I had received from your wife, Aeryn Sun."
He rubbed a hand over his face and looked up at her bleakly, "Only thing is Aeryn and the others are under Peacekeeper control. Far as I know you could be working for them."
"And if I am? Would you want to join your family there, or would you want them to join you here?"
That shut him up.
"I am here to take you back to Moya safely or keep you safe until your friends can rescue you," she leaned forward laying a hand on his knee, smiling. "I can assure you I do not work for the Peacekeepers or the Scarrans. The species that requested for my people to intercede only wants you kept alive and free." She was beginning to actually regret her ultimate purpose because it meant the possible destruction of this good man. She sighed slightly.
"And that species would be?"
Shaking her head she leaned back against the pillows once more. "You were going to tell me about your homeworld, Earth."
Exasperation coursed through him. He was tired of playing games. He shook his head and said. "Nah, I don't think so. Until you're ready to play truth and tell. I don't have much to say about nothing."
"I had been warned you were stubborn as a Peacekeeper. I begin to understand that Humans and Sebaceans are indeed alike in more then appearances." Smiling, she stood up and whispered in a haunting voice, "I have much truth to tell. Come let us rest upon the bed."
A flutter of anticipation rippled through his gut as he watched Keeta elegantly glide from the window seat to the bed and arrange herself on its far side. A nagging feeling was screaming from the depth of his mind that following her on to the bed wasn't a good idea. He drowned the voice out rationalizing that he needed to do whatever it took to get away from his tormented freak show. He closed his eyes and gave into the deeply erotic pull and stood up from his seat. No! This isn't right! As he paused and tried to turn his body away from the bed he again felt the intense burning fire run up his spine and along with a different heat that moved from the pit of his stomach down to his inner thighs as his crotch pulsed and pulled. This is different, he thought as he twitched with the intense flow of almost pornographic urges that erupted throughout his body accompanied by sharp daggers of flaring agony at the base of his skull. Pain and pleasure, that thing controls me through pain and pleasure. Gotta fight it...this is not right...He argued and tried to push through the emotional tsunami.
Stiffly, John moved to the bed stifling a moan as the burning pain shot up his spine and down his legs. Stumbling, he made a grab at the bed, when arms locked around him breaking his fall. Unable to gain control over his legs he pulled Keeta down to the top of the bed. He found his face crushed into a soft neck, he could feel the thundering tempo of her pulse vibrate through him, magnified by the sizzling heat of her skin. A virile combination of wilderness and feminine filled his nostrils, and hot yearnings shot through him like high voltage. Shaken by his involuntary response, he tried push away. She shifted under him causing his breath to catch in the back of his throat. Keeta's deep blue star-irises met his periwinkle blue orbs and he saw through his emotional hurricane that the powerful pull of his need had ignited an equally intense response in the elf.
With his arms around her, he rolled them over until he was on top. He found himself unable to break eyes contact with the beautiful woman. His hands rested on each side of her head, he felt as if he was falling into the depths of those beautiful oceanic blue eyes. He shook his head violently to dispel a whispery voice in his head,
"Take her, you want her. She is waiting. You need this like water to a drowning man. Release your fluid levels. She is warm, inviting, open, willing. You are a man, act like one." The voice echoed harshly in his ears driving him to distraction.
"No!" he cried hoarsely. "No! Get outta my head! Out!" But still his body betrayed him.
"I can help you. Trust me," Keeta whispered, close to his lips.
The sound of her voice brought John back to his senses dispersing the tormenting urges like a cold shower. Yes, that's it, Johnny boy. Think of blunt razors, chess moves, Rygel's excretions, Scorpy's leather-face up Braca's ...ah...ah... whatever... what else had-had worked in the past? He could control this primal thing. He slowly calmed. "No," he said shoving himself physically across the bed from where she lay. Perhaps he should have done better and stayed completely away from her. The close proximity between himself and Keeta continued to produce emotional and physical reactions in him that ran the gauntlet from attraction to passion, from total distrust to hope bordering on a feeling that, under different circumstances, they might have become.... Breaking the line of thought he concentrated on trying to shake off the strong emotional effects of sexual need overwhelming his senses. "Damn!" he cried as he tried to stand only to fall back onto the bed as the krethia intensified its two-pronged attack. He slumped forward with a grunt, his arms resting on his legs as he let his head hang down.
Keeta pulled her slender legs under her, adjusting her body so that she ended up kneeling directly behind him. She pondered the human's stubbornness in the face of what seemed to her an obvious solution to his problems with the krethia. On the one hand, she admired his loyalty to his mate, but on the other hand, his totally alien rejection of recreation bewildered her. She had already seen the glimmer in his eyes that said that he totally understood the diabolical nature of the parasite. She had to fulfill the job set by the Collector, that of satisfying the hunger of the krethia, or she could not fulfill her overt task of keeping the human sane until he was rescued. She purred as she reached out her fingers and traced a pattern down the center of his back, pausing ever now and then to apply pressure at certain points.
"John, stay calm, let me do my job. The krethia needs me, as do you. Do not fight this or you will pay a terrible price. Let it happen. It has nothing to do with you and your mate and everything to do with keeping you safe. You know I am right. Breathe slowly and let the magic work."
Keeta could feel his muscles tensing with each new attack the krethia inflicted onto his nervous system. Leaning forward she continued to murmur, "Relax and let the pain slip away. Relax."
Yeah, right. John thought sarcastically. He should pull away, his common sense told him, but her touch felt so good. The throbbing, burning pain was lessening with each stroke. Closing his eyes and accepting the pleasure, John leaned back into her touch. Weakness poured over him as though his bones had melted. Heat started to radiate from his back to spread throughout his body. Once more desire stirred within him. He could feel where her hands now rested against his lower back branding him with the searing heat radiating between them. His attraction and desire for her was becoming more obvious as evidenced by the sweat rolling down his chest and the increasing tightness and discomfort growing each microt
Abruptly, John threw himself off the bed and away from her massage. Standing in the middle of the room, he rubbed his hands over his face in an effort to wipe away the riotous thoughts bombarding him. The feelings of extreme guilt finally blocked out everything going on around him, even Keeta moving from the bed to stand directly behind him.
"John, you know that you are going to have to give in to the sexual needs of the krethia," she said, "Only our sharing will relieve the pain. Give it what it wants and it should subside and stop its integration of your body for a while." Keeta thought he would be rational. She needed him to see that he was trapped in a no-win situation and her way was the only logical solution. She hoped that more drastic solutions to the invasion of the parasite would not be necessary, but if so, then she was ready to also invade his mind to protect him and her species even if it meant their deaths.
Turning, her eyes captured his, holding them as she delved into his soul, the intensity of her gaze piercing through his habitual defenses, threatening to unmask his innermost secrets. "NO!" he grunted as he pulled his eyes away from hers.
Breathing heavily he didn't know what was more dangerous the elf or the krethia. He had to find away out of this crazy situation before he either lost his mind or his soul.
"John?"
Holding his hands out as if to ward her off. He begged in a raspy voice. "Please, I can't. I love Aeryn."
A deep, grinding pain wrenched through his body, burying itself deep in his stomach. Images of Aeryn flickered across his mind as he tried to block out the craving for Keeta's touch. What the frell was the worm doing to him? Aeryn. He needed his Aeryn.
"I will not harm you, John Crichton," Keeta said. "Please let me help you with the krethia. I know I might be able to control its impulses after we have joined together."
Shaking his head John startled when a gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Jerking around, John faced Keeta and growled, "I said no. I won't...I can't give into this need."
The words died on his lips when Keeta place her hand on the side of his face. She whispered in a deep sedative voice, "Come to me. I can help with the pain."
Violently shaking his head in denial, Keeta tried one more time to reach him through reason. "Listen one more time, John Crichton, these feelings you are having, they are not yours. You know this. I know your heart is dedicated to your love, Aeryn Sun. You are not betraying her trust. By lying with me. All will be well if you accept what is inevitable."
She continued to stroke the side of his face without saying another word. John didn't want her touching him. He didn't want to feel warm pliant flesh as Keeta pressed up against him. He didn't want to feel the smoothness of her body. But, most of all, he didn't want to feel the wild beating of his own heart, which came from only thinking of the things he must not experience.
Closing his eyes, he fought down the impulses of what in his heart he knew would be an irreversible mistake. His head agreed with what Keeta had been repeatedly saying, but his heart knew he could never forgive himself if he didn't stay "clean."
No, he mustn't respond to her touch, not with his senses so aroused by the very presence of her, and his emotions being controlled by the leech. He didn't know how much longer he could hold onto them, so raw and bleeding were his emotions from the constant chaffing of guilt, anger and now lust.
Her arms circle around his waist pulling him closer to her's. He could feel her round breasts pressing against his chest. He could hear Keeta's breath catch in the back of her throat as her nipples tightened in reaction to their close proximity. A molten flame coursed through him, settling deep within, before bursting into a rampant blaze.
He gazed into her eyes. In a whispery soft voice she breathed, "Yield." Yield. The word echoed in his mind joining the internal whispers that had not stopped pounding and he felt his control slipping away. The voice that kept shouting no was fading into the very deepest regions of his mind. Staring at her lips he mused at what harm would it be if he was just to kiss her once? How would an elf taste upon his lips? Without thought he half closed his eyes and lowered his lips onto hers, when a sharp flash of images invaded his mind. Images of a raven-hair beauty moaning and rocking in his arms. More snapshots blew across his memory —pictures of their hot, erotic desire burning him to his very soul as her kisses blazed a trail over every part of his body leaving him weak with desire and need.Shaken by this scorching memory, John pushed away from Keeta trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Tripping in his haste, he sat hard on the floor, raising a shaky hand to his face as his passion dispersed beneath the cold douse of shame. Gawd, how could he? How could he forget about his love, Aeryn so easily? How could he yield to the leech? How could he? The pain of the Krethia was nothing compared to the throbbing shame of betrayal that washed over him.
Keeta stared at the Human in surprise. Never had she found such an alien so intensely desirable. For an instant she felt embarrassed by the stark lust she felt for him, and didn't understand why. Keeta was neither been coy nor indiscriminate when it came to recreating. When it came time to choose the place or man she would simply pick and enjoy the pleasures. In her need to help John to control the krethia, until they could remove it, the fastest and simplest way she could think of was through a sexual connection. She was truly amazed at the shear strength of will power this Human was showing in fighting the krethia and her. Trying to think of a new way of approaching him, she opened her lips to speak when she looked up, startled by the unexpected sound of the door sliding open and of the lights brightening on command. John and Keeta turned and faced the doorway in surprise.
Marcella couldn't see anything in front of her. The wind was whipping the dust around, filling the air with a gray cloud that made it impossible to see more then few denches. There was a black shape to her right and she knew that had to be her contact. She hoped that he could see her.
Officer Romus along with three other Peacekeeper commandos wrapped their protective gear more closely over their faces as they stared blindly into the dust storm, which had increased in volume since they landed on the forbidden planet. Cursing under his breath, Romus watched a large gray form waddle into their line of vision. One of his officers looked up from his hand scanner. "Sir, it's the Ickora woman we were ordered to meet."
Romus moved forward slowly, leaning into the wind, trying to make his way to the target. He shifted his weapon from his right hand to his left, making sure he wasn't taken by surprise. Stopping in front of the female alien, the commandos spread out with their weapons trained on her.
Before he could speak, the Ickora woman looked directly at him and said in a loud voice that they could easily hear above the noise of the wind, "You come with the offer?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"Let us speak out of storm. Come," she said, turning she motioned with her hand. "Come."
Signaling for his people to follow, he turned and moved in the direction the Ickora woman had gone. He momentary lost her bulky form in the sandy gloom; then once more caught sight of her only to have her disappear again as the dust grew thicker. The bleeping of the scanner drew his attention back to the other officer.
"Sir, there is a shelter directly ahead of us."
A voice called out. "Well, are you coming? Time I don't have much of."
They pushed forward and found the entranceway into the shelter. The room was mutedly lit, by the look of it; a fire had gutted the area. Blackened scorched walls greeted them as Officer Romus stepped into the area.
"What offer from your leaders for John Crichton?" Marcella demanded from across the room.
"The reward is..."
"I know reward amount!" she snapped. "Not enough need more. Scarrans offer more."
Romus started at the huge, ugly green creature with distaste. Keeping his disdain out of his voice he said calmly. "We are willing to double the amount as long as he is safe and unharmed."
A calculating look came on her face. "Triple and I will bring him to you personally."
Officer Romus remained quiet for a moment as if thinking over the proposal. The truth was he was remembering the Admiral's orders, to procure Crichton at any cost. After his first frell up on Moya with Sun, the Admiral had given him this one and only chance to regain his honor and career.
"How do I know you can deliver?"
"You have credits and transport. I will deliver Crichton to you alive."
"When and where if we agree to this?"
Shaking her head Marcella chuckled. "No tell until we have a deal."
"We have a deal," Romus said stepping closer to her. "If you betray us in any way we will come after you and anyone that stands between us and Crichton."
"Threat all you want. You know nothing about Collector. I am the only way you can do this. Only one that can get close," she bragged throwing him a chip.
Catching it, Romus didn't take his eyes off the Ickora woman. "You wait for two arns at location on chip. Two arns."
Nodding his head, he watched as Marcella slipped back out into the dust storm and disappeared into the haze. Soon Romus thought he would have Crichton in his hands and his full honor would be restored. After a few microts he turned and motioned for his crew to return back to the Marauder so he could report to the Admiral.
