Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 For propagation of the species.  (MF)

   The last thing April Augillard remembered was the turn on the way back
home.  She'd jogged this way several times before.  With the hard work and
luck that she'd put into her property, she knew that all around her was
under her control.  When she felt the shock, her body pulsed and she went
down.  She tried to shake off the grogginess that seemed to pull her back
down, but her head hurt, and her hip, and her shoulder...

   "Why did you have to take one of them?"

   "My darling, I only meant to show an example to the council," he cooed.

   "These are an endangered species.  They've been decimated to this one
place on the outskirts of the known universe.  You can't just pick one up
and take it home," his designated partner snapped at him.

   "I can pick her up and place her in as a sport of the ones that we
already have.  An increase in the gene pool will possibly give us an idea
of how we can go back to physical reproduction.  You well know that they
are the closest we've found to ourselves."

   "Hack, do not put us in the same category with those hairy simple
things. You know how I hate that."

   He gave her hand a stroke and said, "We are anatomically very close. 
The fat deposits and the hair are the only differences.  Enzymes, hormones,
digestion.  They're all the same."

   "Why do we not use their eggs and sperm to solve our problems?  We don't
really need them..."

   "Kyot, we both know that won't ever happen.  Oh, she's moving.  I should
go make sure she doesn't hurt herself like that one male from the desert."

   "Uuunnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhh," she moaned as she tried again to gain full
consciousness.

   The room was way too bright for her to see anything.  She figured a
hospital was the only place in the world so bright.  She raised her good
arm to her face and rolled to a sitting position.  Why was she on the
floor? April looked around her and felt to see if everything was where it
should be.  The pain was still there, but not as urgent.  A dark rectangle
opened and she knew it was bad.  She moved away from the sound of footsteps
approaching.  A tall thin bald man in a blue gray shirt and pants stepped
in and closed the door behind him.  He spoke in a series of ranging murmurs
and clicks.  He spoke casually and waved his hands in front of his body as
if she understood him.

   He click a button she hadn't seen before, and three larger bald men came
in.  They conferred briefly and quickly grabbed at her by her clothes.  She
shrieked and struggled.  They were tearing her jogging pants and shirt. 
She tried to get free.  The first man reached out and touched her face.

   She immediately stopped struggling, and he spoke at length in that
strange warble.

   "What?" She finally got the nerve up to interrupt his obvious lecture as
the men holding her let her drop back down to the floor.

   "Oh, uh, I beg your pardon," he said in an odd accent.  "I assumed by
your sport that you would understand... Oh, never mind.  Are you native to
this," he pulled out a metallic gray rectangle from his pocket with his
free hand, "country?"

   "Yes," she tried to be as calm as he sounded.

   "We found you on the road, miles away from town.  Do you have someone
that we should reach for you?"

   "Uh, my mom and dad, maybe."

   He squatted to be closer to her level and said, "I am ..."

   She couldn't understand him again.

   "Here, let me write it down."

   He pulled out a stylus and drew in long flowing letters.  HCLSTR.  No
vowels.

   "Uh, no, that is not how one reads in this place.  Here."

   He inserted letters, Haclustor, and smiled up at her without opening his
lips.

   "I was saying before, that we are a very closed gene pool and we are
trying to learn about your reproduction.  We have kept your species
isolated in case we needed to fall back on physical means to this end.  You
have done what we thought you would do.  You have populated the earth and
managed to explore even your own galaxy.  By your skin color and body type,
you are typical of west African plains bred.  We do not have a vast
collection of your type as of yet.  We will.  Our methods of reproduction
were mainly scientific in nature.  The chosen combinations are no longer
viable for us.  With your DNA we could extrapolate for our own species and
possibly learn ..."

   "Hell, no."

   "Huh, you didn't appear to be the urban type, which is why I chose to
try archaic on you.  We have a few males you might find to your liking. 
Obviously, you will not be returned to your home.  We can place a copy in
your place and you will be allowed to raise your young as earth born."

   "This is some sort of a neo-nazi joke, right?  You're gonna breed me
then use my kids as target practice?"

   "No," he stood back up and curved his neck in shock.  "Neo-nazi?  Rex,
Cross-reference check."

   <<Neo-nazi: a group of people related to racial identity and genocide of
all others which do not meet specific criteria.  Main physical
characteristics of a neo-nazi- A lack of hair on the head, or a series of
ornate tattoos signifying unity with a larger group of racial separatists.
Criteria: fair complexion, no trace of contamination by presumed mud races.
No relationship with said mud races.
Mud races: African decent, Southern Spain decent, Mexican decent, Asian

decent...>>

   "Enough!" The oddly hairless man cut off the computer generated
response. "What is your name?"

   April didn't say anything.

   "Alright, I have no hair.  I have never had hair.  I am not a...
neo-nazi.  I explained that we..."

   "You don't know about sex, so you expect me to show you how.  I got it
the first time.  Not if you were the last man on earth."

   Hack let out an exasperated sigh and said something in a series of
clicks.  The three men looked at each other and shrugged.  They took off
their shirts to reveal bare hairless chests.  They formed an informal group
in front of her and pulled their pants down to expose their private parts.
Not a hair peaked out from where it was supposed to be.  Then April noticed
that they had very short eye lashes and their eyebrows were almost
invisible.  She thought they must have plucked their bodies once too often.

   "Still not convinced?" He spoke loudly and he shoved a finger into his
eye.

   He pulled out a contact lens and dropped it to the floor.  He stared
with one pale, yellow flecked eye and one blue one for a moment then almost
yelled at her, "Do you understand now?  We are so weakened that we barely
produce pigmentation of any kind.  I am allowed to breed because I still
have some color left.  I would never reproduce with anyone other than my
chosen mate.  I owe it to my people."

   April looked away from the strangeness of the completely bald men
exposing themselves to her.  Hack gave them a command and they picked up
their clothes and left the room.

   "Please, you can just rent a video and get what you're asking for."

   "Rex, explain why video reference of sexual acts is not advisable."

   <<Said acts can not be recorded and reviewed in three dimensions for the
purpose of strategy and connection of parts.  Pheromone analysis, body
sensation record, and heat registry can not occur.  >>

   "Besides," Hack sighed again, "our females don't have exactly the same
anatomy.  You seem to have developed fat deposits around your mammary
glands which were unnecessary for non-lactating nurture."

   April looked down at her shirt and bra covered breasts and tried to
imagine having no hair on her at all, and no breasts either, would look. 
She gave herself a shiver and noticed Hack look down and then back up
again. It unnerved her slightly.

   "Will you agree?"

   "Uh, okay," she agreed.  "It's not like you'd put me back if I said no."

   "I will bring in a picture visor.  You can choose any male you would
find of interest."

   After he left the containment unit, he pulled out the other contact and
blinked.  As expected, Kytrd, his mate was waiting just beyond.

   "It would have been easier to just drug her like the others."

   "But, we don't know how you should act.  Don't you want to know how a
female makes a choice, and what she does to signal that?"

   "This is another of your games.  We have done what you wanted.  I am not
pregnant yet.  Why would it make a difference.  You call me honey, darling,
sweetie.  It doesn't work," Kyot whimpered at him.

   "Be patient, Kyot.  We may not be compatible.  We didn't choose each
other, so it may take longer."

   He guided her to the observation area and pointed to April's screen. 
"See?"

   She lay on her stomach with the small laptop in front of her.  She
chewed at her lower lip and moved on to the next picture.  Full frontal
nudity.  What a way to make a choice.  All of the captive talent was
obviously flaccid and without much interest.  She'd have to look into their
eyes and try to figure out who might not be too bad.

   "Excuse me," she yelled up to no one.  "I need to talk to these men.  I
can't choose.  What if he doesn't like me?  There's a lot of white bread in
this thing."

   <<Proposed mates should be narrowed down upon introduction?>>

   "Yes, exactly."

   << Prepare for introduction in four minutes.>>

   Hack smiled as the enclosed ramp was connected to her cell and the men's
barracks was opened.  To make sure nothing happened to the female, all of
the men were stripped and assigned a guard.  Hack himself opened her door
and guided her in.  The men gasped in unison when they saw her.  Hack noted
the way that they spoke between themselves and stared at every inch of her
dark brown skin and solid brown eyes.

   "Hey there, baby girl," April heard from the back.  "How come you're
awake?  I haven't seen a live one in maybe two years."

   "She is to choose, uh," Hack referenced his palm device again to say,
"Eddie.  You act right and it might be you."

   April scanned quickly for the faces that she'd singled out from the
photos and quickly pointed them out.  There were six out of twenty that
made the first cut.  These men were given permission to dress and were
taken to individual cells to wait for her to make a visit.  When April was
told this, she clicked her teeth and said, "It's not that easy.  I can't
just say that one and hump him.  You should have grabbed a hooker.  They'd
do that with no questions asked."

   "We have no cultural experience with hookers," Hack softly said as they
walked to the first room.  "There would be no point in bringing one.  We
are to learn of sex in a more natural environment."

   "Ha," April flashed her teeth at him and he recoiled.  "This is nowhere
near natural."

   "And how not?"

   "I've never ever had a choice between so many guys before.  I'm too
smart for most of the ones you've got here.  A girl doesn't do that.  She
lines one guy up and spends a lot of time at it, too."

   "Why just the one man?"

   "To look after her kids."

   "Unnecessary, where you are going."

   "I'm gonna do it anyway."

   "Out of curiosity, why did you not pick more of the same variety of
male?"

   "Honestly?"

   Hack stopped her in front of the first man's door, "honestly."

   "I went with the eyes.  I looked at each man, and went with what they
told me inside."

   He blinked his yellow eyes at her and cocked his head to the side. 
"Hmm, quite a strange concept."

   "David, I know you will be nothing but courteous to..." Hack looked down
at April.

   "April," she blushed.

   The man in the room was the first one she showed to Hack.  He was tall
and firm with a ready smile and the bluest eyes she`d ever seen. 
Everything about him screamed child of the sun.  She would have never
approached him in other circumstances because she could picture a bleached
blonde on each arm.

   "April showers bring May flowers," David smirked at her as the door was
shut on them.  He bent down toward her in a conspiratorial way and touched
her arm.  When she looked up at him he seemed to shy away.  She assumed it
was because he was used to his partners being asleep when he was put to
work.

   "I've never seen you before, so you're new."

   "I just got here," she said as she noticed the warmth in her face.  He
was very good looking.

   "Yeah, well.  I'd have remembered you.  You're taller than what they
picked before.  And you`re skin is better.  It`s not..."

   April could feel the full on blush over her face.

   "Wow.  Do that again," he smiled with her as she laughed nervously.  "I
haven't seen that before.  I guess you're as nervous as I am, then."

   His hands were rough when they slid down her arms to capture hers.

   "Do you want to sit down?" He offered her the bed with a nod in that
direction, but he held her still with his gaze.  "It's been so long, I
don't know what should come next.  May I?"

   His hands gently went to her face and he put his lips to her forehead.
She touched his wrists when he didn't let go of her.  His fingers massaged
into the loose ponytail that she'd used for the run she never finished, and
he reached her nose with his lips.  He picked her up and sat her on the
bed. He scanned her face then gave her a quick kiss.

   "I can't do this," she whispered.

   "It's okay," he immediately reassured her with a hand on her thigh. 
"We've got time, right?"

   <<What did you find unsatisfactory?>> Hack's annoyed voice came through
a loud speaker.

   "I can't just put it in her, Hack.  I mean just look at her."

   <<David, please allow the female...April to answer.>>

   "I like him a lot, but I don't feel right about it."

   <<Approach the door, please.>>

   April touched David's shoulder and went through the opening.

   The moment the door shut behind her, Hack was behind her.

   "You don't feel right?  You allowed him to touch your mouth with his. 
That is only done between mates."

   "Here," she touched his warm hand.  "That means nothing to me."

   She hesitated then brought his hand to her face, "This means a little
more, but not much."

   She dropped his hand and hopped up to plant a kiss on his cheek, "That
definitely felt like nothing."

   Hack looked at his rectangle and said, "You're body temperature rose and
your vaginal opening produced lubrication.  You responded to him."

   "How do you know that?  I'll probably respond to a lot of them, but
that's just a physical response.  I don't feel much of anything for any of
them.  Maybe, I should.  I've never got any kind of a spark, so I'm
probably a dud."

   "We will go on to the next one."

   "What difference will it make?  I'll just get really horny and they'll
get frustrated.  Just take me back to my room."

   Hack felt a strange warmth where she'd kissed him.  Her breasts had
rubbed against his arm when she did that.  He felt a strange pull in his
abdomen when the door to her cell finally closed.

   Kyot noticed his flushed face and rubbed his arm.  "She refused them
all?"

   "No," he shrugged.  "We'll just put her in with them.  They'll choose
for her."

   He really didn't want to do that, but she had seemed so final in her
rejections.  The men were given spare rooms with only a bed and a series of
holographs to pass the time.  As Hack looked at each man, he emphasized the
need to decide for her who would be her mate.  When they heard the word
mate they realized what that meant.  The lucky guy would have a live woman
for as long as she was productive.  The internal unrest started there.

   Hack watched as the generally calm men began to posture and snap at each
other before the girl was brought in.  They stayed back and eyed her as she
was shown the new arrangements.  She looked up at the alien with fear and
he touched her face.

   "I wish you well," he soberly said.

   She clutched his sleeve and begged, "You can't do that.  I've never
lived with a bunch of men before." She lowered her head and said, "I've
only had two boy friends in my life.  You can't just give me to them!"

   "You refused the choice," he smoothly replied as he pulled away her
hands.  He called out to the guards and they exited with him.

   She turned around to them and faced their probing eyes.  They were all
bigger than she remembered.  Her teeth chattered involuntarily.  David
smiled softly and sat down at the common table.

   "We won't bite," A dark featured man with hazel eyes said and dropped in
next to David.

   She walked slowly and sat down on the opposite end of the table.  The
others crowded in next to her and spoke back and forth as if she wasn't
there.

   Hack turned down the sound and watched as they gave her only quick
glances and discussed who it would be.  She was making herself seem small
with her head down and her hands tucked between her thighs.  Hack rubbed
his face and watched the others.  They responded by moving ever so slightly
closer to her.  David stood up and took position behind her.  He rubbed her
shoulders as he spoke slowly and with an air of authority.  Hack turned the
sound back up.

   "She's a person, just like us.  She picked us, because she liked us.  We
can't betray that.  I don't care what you say, it has to be up to her."

   "Look, old man, you had your chance.  We just want to make sure everyone
gets a turn," the one with sandy brown hair stood up.

   "Jack, there's no reason to scare her.  She's not some whore we all paid
for." David gave her a kind wink.

   "Look, we can play cards for it.  Winner spends the first night with
her," the black one said.  "It won't mean she fucks.  We just spend the
night in her room.  Then at the end of the week, if that's not time enough
for her, we make another plan."

   "Yeah, that's a good idea," the caramel color one smiled at her.  "You
might as well just let me go in, `cause I'll stomp you all, like I usually
do."

   ***

   Hclstr watched the next few nights carefully to see her responses.  The
sensors in her body gauged the same kind of response as before, but it
would always stop at a certain point.  David won more time on day four with
similar outcome from lesser effort.  His hands roamed across her back and
he gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.  Her heart rate increased as he
settled in next to her and wrapped an arm around her.  They looked at each
other and he pressed closer.  She snuggled into him and sighed.  There was
no groping of her breasts to produce the reaction going on inside her. 
Hack watched with fascination as David's skin became profuse with blood. 
Hack punched up David's sensors and gasped.  That drew Kyot to pay
attention.

   "What is that spike for?" She startled him by pointing at a graph.

   "Dvd has restricted blood flow to his extremities."

   "That is not the blood flow screen.  His heart rate is high."

   "It is another blood flow.  Kyot, he is directing his blood to his
penis, chest, face, neck.  His torso is becoming more sensitive.  He hasn't
reacted this soon, before.  He is generally near sperm deposit before this
happens.  I've never seen his chest and neck so full of blood."

   April's hands helped him remove his shirt and she ran her hands over his
side and neck.  David finally cupped her breasts and kissed her on the
mouth.  She opened her lips to him and his tongue slid in.

   Hack turned Kyot from the screen and kissed her.  She responded with
curiosity and opened her pants.

   "You may insert at any time."

   She bent over facing the screen.  He entered her with some difficulty
and worked inside her.  His eyes were glued to the screen.

   David slipped under her shirt and made contact with her bare flesh.  She
gasped and wrapped herself around him.  She felt something rubbing against
her thigh.  She reached down and touched it.  She touched his chest again
and looked into his eyes with a little shove.

   "You're ready," she breathed.

   "Yeah, I am.  It's okay, though.  You don't need to...mmmm."

   Her hand moved pleasingly across his crotch and squeezed at his fully
erect cock.  He kissed her passionately as she stroked him through his
pants.  He moved his hips slowly as she cupped his balls inside his pants.
His cock moved in and out of the tunnel her hand had formed out of the
fabric and he held her into the kiss that he sustained.  He let out a grunt
and looked down at her still working hands.  She stopped only when she felt
him ejaculating forcefully into his underwear.  The wetness soaked through
quickly and she was hugged into him strongly.

   "Mmm, April, I could get used to you," he murmured into her hair.

   Hack shuddered and spent into his mate with a gasp of joy.  Kyot looked
at him in surprise.

   "Uhh, mate, you are hurting me inside.  Why did you push so hard?"

   Hack trembled on his arms over her.  "I....I don't know.  I had to.  I'm
sorry, Kytrd.  I wanted to be inside you."

   His voice rasped as he came down from the euphoria, "I needed to be with
you."

   Kyot let out a sigh and covered herself up.

   Hack looked up and noticed the two subjects had returned to normal and
were sleeping with their limbs intertwined.  It was as though they'd
allowed him to borrow some of their passion.  End

   This work is solely the property of Undertaker's Mistress and is
intended for individual use.  Request permission for republication.  2004.