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From: "Islador Wolfwriter" <islador@lycos.com>
Subject: {ASSM} Nauarchus Stranded Chapter 1 (Mf, SciFi, Hist, Mdom, )
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Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 12:10:01 -0400
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This story is Copyrighted (2006) by me, Islador.  Don't copy it 
without writing to me and getting permission.

As for the basis of this story, well, it's a bit of a hodgpodge 
that I put together with some ideas from an admirer.  It's 
different--that's all the warning you'll get.

This does contain adult themes and will have sex in it--so if you 
aren't old enough to read it, then don't.


-- 
_______________________________________________

Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number.  -Lycos Yellow Pages

http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10

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   Chapter 1 :Nauarchus Stranded







   The girl stood on the platform shivering in her slip.  It really wasn't
a slip, which was being generous to the garment.  It was really rags in the
form of a small dress that barely covered her slight frame.  She held
herself as small as possible trying to hide behind the other slaves that
stood on the platform with her.  There were over a dozen waiting for the
sale to begin this morning.  Mostly men, a couple women, and her; she was
the youngest of the slaves for sale.



   The sale started, the yelling and cursing over the first slave raised a
raucous in the morning air.  The males went for quite a sum in these parts.
The Roman's were bringing back several fine specimens of working flesh from
the war in Gaul.  The girl had been captured outside a village being burned
to the ground for not giving up enough food to the traveling Legions.  The
lesson was taught well, give it up or suffer the consequences.



   When it was the girl's turn, she fought with the slave master as he
pulled her forward.  He swung his sap, hitting her on the neck and she went
limp.  There were many who laughed but none who offered a bid.  None of the
gathered purchasers wanted a wild girl on their hands.  The slave master
was forced to put her back into the pens until she woke up and he could
teach her some manners.



   She woke up sore and moaned.  She looked around to see where she was and
found herself back in one of the cages.  There were no other slaves in the
cage with her.  The one guard looked in her direction when she moved and he
grinned.  He waved his arm to catch someone's attention outside the tent
and the slave master walked in a few seconds later.  He unlocked the cage
and stepped inside.  He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her out of the
cage.  She screamed but he ignored the pain he was causing her.



   He placed her in the center of the tent and attached a rope through her
manacles and pulled her up off the ground.  Her small feet swung through
the loose straw on the floor.  She whimpered and begged to be let down, but
her cries went unanswered.  The slave master silently walked around her,
inspecting her, looking for the perfect place to begin her lesson.  He slid
a dagger out of his belt and cut off what little remained of her rags,
leaving her small frame naked in the flickering light of the torches.



   He picked up a short whip, one that is used to control unruly horses. 
He stepped around her until she could see the whip in his hands and she
began to cry and plead for him not to whip her.  The slave master squinted
in the low light and picked his spot.  The whip whistled through the air
and the crack of it hitting her skin sounded in the confines of the tent.
She screamed, of course, but it did her no good.  The slave master
continued to select places on her body where it would inflict the most pain
without doing any real damage.  He was very good at what he did.  He never
hit her in the same place twice and he never drew blood.



   What he did do is reduce her to a panting mass of hanging flesh.  The
pain she experienced shattered any vestige of humanity she had left.  She
was pain; nothing more, nothing less.  The slave master had never uttered a
word the entire time he whipped her.  He stopped before she passed out and
her body shut down.  That would defeat the purpose of what he was trying to
do.  Her breathing was ragged and whistled out of her dry, scorched throat.
He put down the whip and picked up a bucket of water.  Placing it where she
could see it.



   Her listless eyes tracked his movement, waiting for the next round of
torment to start.  She couldn't lift her head anymore; she no longer had
the energy to do so.  The slave master grabbed a ladle full of water and
sipped from it while she watched.  The thirst she was suffering from was
almost as bad as the whipping.  The sharp pain in her throat matched the
pain from her welts.  The need for water drove her to try and speak. 
Nothing but a small squeak issued from her mouth.  Her tongue was so
swollen she couldn't lick her lips.



   The slave master grabbed her hair and pulled her head back.  Her mouth
open but no scream came out.  The slave master nodded in approval and
lifted the ladle to her lips.  He poured a small amount of water into her
mouth and she almost choked.  She swallowed and he poured a little more. 
She swished it around in her mouth and swallowed.  She tried to speak
again, this time a slight hoarse whisper came out.



   ``Thank you, master.''



   The slave master nodded again in approval and gave her some more water.
When she had finished the ladleful that he had offered, he stepped back
from her and dropped in the bucket as he left.  He stepped out of the tent
and an older female slave stepped inside immediately afterwards.  The woman
picked up a small rag and the bucket of water, and she started washing off
the young girl.  She moaned when the old woman pressed too hard over some
of her welts but she never cried out.  Somehow she knew that if she did,
the whipping would start all over again and she knew she couldn't handle
that again.



   When the woman had cleaned her off, the slave master returned with a
large, rough canvas sack.  He pulled out his dagger and sliced two holes,
one on each side, and then a larger one in the bottom.  He lowered her down
onto the floor and she lay there in a heap.  He threw the sack at her and
only said two words.



   ``Get dressed.''



   She nodded and whispered.



   ``Yes, master.  Thank you.''



   He smiled and nodded.  He watched as she slowly slid the canvas bag over
her head and pushed her arms out the holes.  It wasn't a good fit, but it
covered her down to her thighs.  He grabbed her arm and helped her stand.
She wobbled and stumbled back to her cage with his help.  He closed the
door and locked the cage.  He walked out of the tent leaving her alone in
the cage.  The older woman knelt at the entrance of the tent with her hands
in her lap and her head bowed.  The young girl slowly hobbled over to the
corner of the cage and pushed as much of the straw as she could find into a
small bed and lay down.











   ******



   She woke up with a start when the slave master unlocked her cage the
next morning.  He pointed to the floor in front of his feet and she quickly
scooted across the floor and knelt down with her head bowed like she had
seen the other woman do.  The slave master looped a rope through the loop
on her collar and jerked it once.  She stood up and followed behind him as
he turned and walked out of the tent.  He led her up to the platform and
tied her to the corner post with the rest of that day's slaves.  She was
the only female today.



   The males sold quickly as it was springtime and the local farmers needed
field hands.  When her time came she followed meekly behind the slave
master to the center of the platform.  He touched her shoulder and she
knelt at his feet and bowed her head.  The bidding was immediate and brisk.
The slave master drove a hard bargain but she was finally sold.  She didn't
look up as her new owner walked up to the slave master and dropped a large
number of gold coins into his hand.  She kept her head down even as her new
owner approached her.



   She heard a deep voice above her telling her to rise and follow.  She
stood and did as she was told.  She looked at her new owners feet as he
walked in front of her.  They were the feet of a soldier.  She recognized
the caligae of the Legions, the ones who killed her family and put her into
slavery to begin with.  She quailed at the thought that she would now
belong to one of them, to be used by one of them.



   The thought that one of these monsters would have her after killing her
betrothed was almost too much.  She had been so happy a fortnight ago,
working on her wedding dress and looking forward to living away from her
mother and father for the first time in her life.  Then the Legions marched
into their valley and demanded all the food.  When they discovered that not
everything had been offered up, they taught the villagers a harsh lesson.
They killed all the old men and women that were too weak to work, and
shipped off the rest to be slaves.  The small children were left inside the
huts as they were set on fire.  She could still hear the screams in her
tortured nightmares.



   The memories brought swift hot tears to her eyes and she choked back a
sob.  Her new master turned and glared at her when he heard the muffled
noise.  He jerked the rope and pulled her along even faster as they walked
past the vendors and stalls of the local farmers hawking their wares.  They
reached the stalls of the local blacksmith and the soldier haggled over the
price of a new collar.  Once the blacksmith started making the requested
item, the soldier went over to the horse post and tied her to it.  He
walked inside the barn and retrieved his mount.  He inspected the horse and
all his belongings and nodding in satisfaction, he paid the blacksmith for
the collar and the new shoe for the horse.



   When her new collar was finished and secured around her neck the soldier
jumped up onto his horse and then reached over and untied her from the
post. He grabbed her arm and hauled her off the ground and threw her over
the pommel of the saddle in front of him.  It was a very undignified
position, but one that she could easily be controlled from.  She watched
the ground go by as they rode out of the village.  The exhaustion and pain
overwhelmed her and she slipped into nothingness.



   She woke up when she hit the ground and the air rushed from her lungs.
She coughed and sucked in a harsh breath and looked up to see her owner
swing down off his horse.  He landed next to her and reached down to grab
her arm and yanked her to her feet.  She felt the rasping calluses scrape
her arm as he pulled her along.  She struggled to keep her feet beneath her
as he strode to the large tent near the fire ring.  He flipped aside the
flap and tossed her to the floor of the tent.  She cowered there watching
him as he took the end of the rope attached to her collar and tied it to
the center post of the tent.



   She went pale and started quivering when he started to undo the straps
of his armor.  He saw her expression and he laughed, giving her an evil
grin.  Once he had his breastplate off, he dug through his pack and
produced a jar of oil and a rag.  He placed the breastplate in front of her
and then handed her the jar and rag.



   ``Clean and shine it so you can see that tiny face of yours in it.''



   With that he stalked out of the tent, heading for the fire ring and the
others that were gathered there.  She listened to their banter and hales as
her new owner strode into their midst.  She heard the name Tertius Aeresius
Paetus called out and his gruff reply.



   ``Get your sorry ass's off those logs and get back to work.''



   There was a loud chorus of laughter at this and then it trailed off as
she heard a slap and liquid sloshing.  She wondered what the sound was
until she heard one of them complaining about receiving poor quality wine
this week.  She looked down at her assigned task and opened the jar of oil
carefully.  She dreaded thinking what her new master would do to her if she
spilled any of the precious oil.  She rubbed the dust and sweat streaks off
the breastplate and listened to the soldier speak to her new master.  She
gathered quickly that he wasn't just another soldier; he was a Praetorian.
That meant that she might not be living in a tent for very long, he would
have a residence nearby that his family would be in.  She hoped that he was
married, that would keep his attentions away from her after they arrived
there.



   She listened to the soldiers talk about some of their concerns for local
events as she polished her master's breastplate.  They seemed to have a
minor problem of water-bearers going missing about every fortnight or so.
They hadn't really started to look for them because they had bigger
concerns with incursions from the Gauls.  She heard her master's gruff
voice bark at the others.



   ``Just where are these boys running away to?''



   ``We haven't found any trace, Aeresius Paetus.''



   ``Then I suggest you start looking harder.  What direction were they
heading for when they went missing?''



   ``To the north, towards AlpesPenninae, Aeresius.''



   When she heard the name, she knew exactly where they were talking about.
She had heard some rumors about that place herself.  A flaming ball from
the sky had come down there years ago and since then, it was rumored to
hold a monster or a god; some said both.  That was a dark, thick, forested
area that was almost uninhabitable to all, except perhaps goats and
roebucks.  This gave her an idea; it might be better to throw herself to
the mercy of a god than to face what her new Roman master was going to do
to her.  She held no illusions as to what her treatment was going to be
like, the Romans were merciless when they wanted something.



   She looked around the tent for something sharp.  She set the resealed
jar of oil on the floor and went over to the pack.  She spotted her way out
sticking up amidst the spare clothing stuffed inside.  She looked towards
the tent flap; the conversation was still going strong outside.  She slowly
pulled the handle out of the clothing, revealing the sheathed pugio.



   She glanced at the flap once more and made her decision quickly, she
unsheathed the leaf shaped dagger and cut the rope from her collar.  She
grabbed one of the large shirts from the bag and went to the back of the
tent.  She carefully sliced an opening in the side and slowly looked around
to see if anyone was outside.  Seeing nothing but trees, she silently crept
out of the tent and padded over to the nearest tree.  Checking again to
make sure no one could see her, and keeping the tent between herself and
the soldiers; she ran into the forest.



   She ran for as long as her legs and lungs could hold up, but eventually
she had to slow down.  She hadn't had anything to eat for two days and her
energy level wasn't up to the task of sustaining that kind of effort.  She
listened for any sounds of pursuit, but she didn't hear anything but birds
and insects.  She headed north towards the area that the soldiers had
mentioned, where servant boys had gone missing.  She hoped that meant that
there was a hidden trail that would allow her to escape the Roman, or that
there really was a god in the forest and it would take pity on her.



   She half walked, half ran for as long as she was able to keep her feet
beneath her moving.  Fear of what her owner would do to her if he caught
her, kept her moving even past exhaustion.  It was getting dark and she was
having trouble staying upright.  She was dizzy from lack of food and her
feet bled from the cuts and scrapes.  She caught the sound of trickling
water to her right and she stumbled in that direction.  She hoped it was
what she thought, a spring or a creek where she could quench her thirst and
rest for a few moments.



   She came into a strange oblong clearing where the trees on either side
were tilted away from the opening to the sky.  At the end of the clearing
was a large pool and a small stream meandered away from it down the hill to
the south.  She kept to the edge of the clearing, until she had no choice
but to cross open ground to get to the water.  It looked so inviting, clear
and sparkling in the fading light of the day.  She knelt at the edge of the
pool and cupped her hands in the cool water and splashed it onto her face.
She felt the instant relief of the cool water and she cupped her hands
again, this time drinking the refreshing liquid.



   The jolt of the cool water going down her throat and soaking into the
parched lining of her mouth sent a wave of relief through her body.  She
swallowed it as fast as she could, almost choking in her rush to fill her
stomach with the life sustaining liquid.  She sat back on her heels as the
rush that the water in her stomach gave her a renewed sense of energy.  She
suddenly noticed that there were no bird or insect sounds.  Her nervousness
returned full force as she looked around the clearing and listened more
carefully.



   That's when she heard the hoof beats coming from the direction of her
escape.  The adrenaline rushed into her bloodstream.  She grabbed the shirt
and dagger, running for the largest tree in sight.  She heard the voice of
her owner shout as he spotted her running across the clearing.  She looked
back over her shoulder as she ran and saw that he was almost upon her.  He
had a whip in one hand and the reins in the other as he charged across the
clearing after her.  She tried to dodge at the last second before the whip
he was wielding found her back, but she wasn't quick enough.  The lash cut
her from shoulder to buttock as he passed her.  The shoulder of the horse
struck her and sent her sprawling across the ground.



   She lost her grip on the dagger and shirt as she tried to catch herself.
Her hands and knees skidded across the grass as Aeresius spun his horse
around.  She had just regained her feet and was preparing to run for the
large tree again when two long rope-like things shot out from a misshapen
tree and yanked Aeresius from his horse.  His gargled scream stopped as the
tree suddenly sprouted arms and she heard the loud cracks of bones being
broken.  Aeresius's body fell to the ground in a lifeless heap; the tree
suddenly separated and part of it flew through the air in an arc and landed
next to the fleeing horse.  The rope-like things shot out from the upper
portion of the thing and they hit the haunches on the horse.  The horse
screamed and then fell over in a giant spasm and then went still.



   What she had taken for a section of the brown tree trunk suddenly
shifted color, becoming green like the grass.  It moved with a fluid like
motion and it turned to face her.  She was frozen with fear; the only
movement she was capable of was drawing a ragged breath to relieve the
crushing ache in her chest.  The thing was huge, it was easily twice the
height and it's torso was half again as thick as her former owner's.  She
watched as the rope-like appendages retracted into pouches on the upper
shoulders.  It had four arms, each ended with hands that had six fingers
that would easily exceed the length of her forearm and there were two elbow
joints, not one.  The beast's head extended from the upper chest on a thick
neck, it was flattened and oblong, with two extra large grayish irises, the
pupils were vertical slits that expanded and contracted as it approached
her.  When it blinked the eyelids came together from the sides.



   It stopped a few feet away from her quivering form and squatted down to
look at her.  It's legs bent in two places, folding together like a spring.
She didn't know what to do, the fear kept her from moving.  A thick black
tongue the length of her arm slithered out and waved in the air towards
her. It reminded her of a snake's tongue, except this one had six
prehensile forks that waved around in all directions.  As the tongue
retracted back, the beast's mouth opened slightly, it separated in four
petal-like flaps that were lined with several rows of hooked teeth.  The
end of each flap had one large fang that resembled the beak of a hawk.  She
tried breathing through her nose to keep from making a sound and the strong
smell of salty loam filled her nostrils.



   She risked a glance at her former owner's body a few feet away and then
she took a chance.  She slowly moved to her knees and bowed before the
beast.  She watched it change color as she moved, from the light green of
the grass to dark reddish orange, and the salty loam smell changed to hot
iron.  The thing didn't move other than to track her movement.  She
prostrated herself at its feet and said one word.



   ``Master.''



   She looked at its feet, noticing the four long toes that splayed out to
the front and two thick toes faced to the rear.  Each long toe ended in a
huge hooked claw that retracted and extended as the beast shifted its
weight.  She felt its fingers touch her hair and then it pulled her face up
to its own.  The long black tongue slithered out and each of the smaller
forks touched the skin on her face.  The heat coming from those sinewy
waving ends felt like they had just come from the fire.  She fought the
urge to pull away, but something told her not to move; that her life
depended on her ability to stay still.  The tongue covered her face in a
thin coating of slime, making her skin tingle like she had just scrubbed it
with a rough cloth.  The flaps of its mouth rippled as it retracted its
tongue.  It stared into her eyes, the beast blinked twice and it reached
out with its lower pair of arms, encircling her waist.  It uncoiled those
massive legs and stood up, taking her with it.



   The upper pair of arms reached out to her and the long triple jointed
fingers adjusted her hair away from her face and touched her cheek.  What
looked like rough skin was actually silky soft and slightly damp.  She
could feel its inner heat coming through that touch.  There seemed to be
extra large pads on the ends of its fingers and a slit on the top.  She
quickly found what those strange slits hid, its razor sharp hooked claws.
They rotated out like the claws on its feet did, except on the fingers they
completely retracted, hidden from view until it flicked them out.  The
hands were more articulate versions of its feet, four fingers splayed out
to the front of the large palm and it had two thumbs that seemed to rotate
on the wrist as it adjusted its grip on her.



   The thing's long strides carried them quickly across the clearing to the
edge of the pool.  It placed one of its hands over her mouth before she
could move her head and then they were suddenly in the water and the beast
was swimming down.  She tried to squirm but its grip was too strong for her
to move more than her legs.  She closed her eyes and prayed to the gods to
save her.



   I have, little one.  Stop fighting me.



   She went limp when that strange voice echoed in her mind.  Then it was
true!  This was a god!  She was saved from the Roman Praetor by a god; it
had killed to save her.  At least, that is what she hoped.  They continued
to go deeper into the pool, her chest starting to hurt from lack of oxygen
and her ears hurt from the pressure.  When she thought she was going to
pass out, they went through an opening at the bottom of the pool and then
there was air.  The god removed its hand and she sucked in a deep breath.
She coughed and opened her eyes, at least she thought she did, there was no
light.  She heard the splash of its legs and she felt herself being lifted
up out of the water.  She heard the strange echo of its footfalls as it
walked forward into the dark cave.  She assumed it was a cave from the way
the sounds bounced around in the dark.



   It stopped walking and she felt herself being lowered onto something
soft.  It felt like cloth, but it wasn't anything she was familiar with. 
It was cool inside the cave and it contrasted sharply with the temperature
of the god's touch.  It let go of her and then she heard a metallic sliding
sound and then a click.  She couldn't feel the presence of the god anymore;
the strange smell was gone.  She tentatively reached out her hand and
touched a cold, smooth surface.  She realized that she was inside some kind
of box or cage, one with solid smooth sides.  She felt the soft cushion
beneath her and decided that getting some rest was the best thing.  She
didn't know what the god would want when it returned, and since she
couldn't go anywhere, she didn't have much of a choice.  She curled up and
went to sleep.



   Nauarchus walked away from the room he had shut the primitive female in.
He hissed through his nostrils at the name he called himself.  Nauarchus
meant captain of a ship in the soldier's language, and it was as good as
anything to call himself when he would speak to the primitives.  They
either called him beast or god in their minds just before he killed them,
he didn't like the first connotation and the word deus sounded too much
like something else in his language and he wasn't about to call himself
that.  His real name was more of a thought image than a word so he didn't
even try to tell them anything when he chose to talk to them.  He thought
it rather humorous to speak to them just before killing them.



   He swam back up to the surface slowly, checking for any signs that
anything was around his pool.  He didn't sense any thoughts from a
primitive, so he walked out of the pool and onto the grass.  His skin
automatically shifted to match the surrounding color as he walked over to
the soldier's body.  He quickly stripped the body with his four hands, he
opened his mouth and bit it, injecting the carcass with his special enzymes
to dissolve and extract every ounce of trace metals and protein from it. 
He left it on the ground to wait out the process and went over to the
horse. The venom he had injected was starting to wear off, and he decided
that he didn't want it going back and leading even more soldiers here.  He
let it come out of its stupor and helped it stand.  He walked it over to
the nearest tree and secured it.  He would save it for a later meal.



   He stepped over to the soldier's body and picked it up, feeling the
softness of the muscles underneath the skin, he knew it was ready.  He bit
into the fleshy leg, slicing it open with his hooks and the soft red jelly
began to ooze into his mouth.  It only took him a few moments to have the
entire carcass reduced to a sack of skin and rubbery bones.  He tossed the
remains into the pool for them to finish dissolving away and then looked
over the belongings left behind.  The only thing he kept was a few gold
coins and then he tossed the rest into the pool to follow the body to the
bottom.  He hadn't figured out what to do with his coin collection, but
they seemed to be important to the primitives as bartering items, so he
kept them.



   He laid himself out in the middle of the clearing and tried to soak up
as much heat from the weak star that heated this planet.  He was constantly
trying to stay warm and the seasonal changes here were absolutely miserable
for him.  The cold season nearly killed him that first year after he
crashed on this miserable planet.  Trying to stay warm and hunt at the same
time was impossible.  He had managed to survive through the help of the
larger wild animals that roamed the forest.  He had taken an entire herd of
horned animals in one day and had kept the carcasses semi-frozen in the
bottom of the pool for the rest of the winter.  He had almost gone crazy
staying cooped up inside his tiny ship.  With no way to fix the dimensional
shifter, he had no way to contact his kin or leave this place.  He had
already resigned himself to the fact that he would die here.



   Now, he planned ahead for the cold times and he hadn't had much of a
problem staying alive.  The only other thing had been the lack of heavy
metals in the animals he was eating.  They had some of the heavy metals
that his body required, but not all.  Luckily their brains produced the
chemical he needed for his skin and its ability to change color.  They
didn't taste very good, but at least he could get some nourishment from it.
He missed the animals and food of his home world terribly.  Everything
thing here tasted like iron and sodium, granted he needed both, but too
much is just too much.  He had altered his enzymes to counteract the heavy
sodium content and so far the large amounts of iron hadn't affected him.



   He laid in the sunlight getting warm after his swim to and from his
ship. This made him think of the female.  He hadn't planned on keeping her
due to her size, but perhaps she would live long enough to give him a snack
if other food sources became scarce.  She hadn't tasted that bad when he
ran his tongue over her face.  Some primitives tasted horrible and he just
couldn't eat them, no matter how hungry he might me.  Something they ate,
probably, but he didn't want to find out.  Whatever the cause, he stayed
away from them.



   He wondered if it wouldn't be more fun just to keep her around as a pet.
However, that meant feeding and cleaning up after her.  That was a problem.
These primitives required food several times a day and the stench they made
afterwards was enough to make him ill.  Perhaps she could live out here in
the clearing and act as bait for other primitives.  Now there was a novel
plan.  Instead of being a hunter, he could trap them instead.  That soldier
had followed her into the clearing.  Perhaps that would work.  Then another
thought occurred to him, she would need some sort of structure to stay in
while she was out here.  That was something he really didn't want to have
around his hiding place.  He would think of something, if not, he could
always eat her like the rest.



   The sun had reached the point where its warmth was negligible and he
decided that he would go down to check on his new pet.  He remembered that
she would need food of some kind if he were going to keep her.  He went
over to the horse and started going through the bags that hung along its
sides.  The horse had almost recovered from his venom and it started to
shift and get very jumpy with him next to it.  He sent calming thoughts
into its simple brain and it quieted down.  He wished the primitives were
that easy, but for some reason, they were able to resist the higher
functions of his mind output.  Simple speaking was hard enough with them,
anything more and it gave him a headache.



   He found what he was looking for, a small sack of dried meat and some
kind of dried fruit.  That should keep her alive for at least another few
days, he thought.  He resealed the waxed cloth packet and headed for the
pool.  He leaped into it head first and swam for the bottom quickly, not
wanting to be in the cold water any longer than he absolutely had to.  He
swam through the airlock of his ship and stepped up out of the water.  He
shook himself to get the residual moisture away from his skin; he didn't
want to lose any more heat from his body.  He walked into the control room
and turned on the reactor, powering up the environmental systems and the
heat.  He only used the reactor when he was down here, he didn't want to
take the chance of something else breaking or burning up on his ship and
then he would die the next time the cold season came around.



   He switched on the lights, not because he needed them but because she
did.  He didn't want her stumbling around and accidentally touch something
and causing problems.  He went over to the room he had put her in and
opened the door.  She was curled up and sleeping on the cushion he had left
her on.  He reached down and touched her shoulder, gently rocking her tiny
body.  She jerked awake and stared up at him with wide eyes.  His tongue
flicked out and back quickly and he tasted her fear that was in the air. 
He dropped the waxed packet of food on the cushion in front of her and
watched her.



   She looked at the packet and then up to him, she nodded her head and
spoke to him.



   ``Thank you, Master.''



   He thought about what that word meant to the primitives and he figured
that was a fairly correct term for what he was to her.  He watched as she
opened it and began to eat the dried meat and fruit quickly.  From the way
she was eating, it was obvious that she hadn't eaten in a while.  If she
needed that much food now, he wasn't sure what he was going to do about
her. He decided he would worry about it later.  Right now he could smell
her blood and he looked for the source.  Her feet were cut and she had a
few scrapes along her legs and knees.  As she finished the last of the food
he had brought her, he also noticed that there were cuts on her hands.  He
decided that he didn't need her leaving traces of her blood all over his
ship.



   He picked her up and she made a small squeaking noise when he touched
her.  He ignored it and carried her down the passageway and into another
large room.  There was a long table in the center and he stepped over to it
and placed her on it.  He opened a cabinet door and pulled out the
necessary equipment and supplies.  He set them down on a tray and looked
her over from head to toe.  He realized he should have done this sooner as
spotted several parasites in her hair and her clothing.  He reached over
with his lower arm and grabbed a scalpel, and using his upper arms he
pulled the sack away from her body and sliced it off of her before she
could see what he was doing.



   The look of terror in her eyes at this point amused him slightly,
however, when he stepped away from her she calmed down a little.  He threw
the rag into the recycler and put the scalpel down.  She was watching his
every move but she hadn't said anything or made a move to run away.  He
activated the sterilizing shower and opened the door.  He reached over and
picked her up, this time she did say something.



   ``Please, Master, don't hurt me.''



   He ignored her and placed her standing up in the cubicle and slid the
door shut.  He heard her scream as the jets of hot water and chemicals
washed off the parasites and foulness that had accumulated on her skin and
hair.  It was over in just a moment and then he shut it off and opened the
door.  Pulling a drying cloth from a shelf, he quickly dried her off and
picked her up again.  He placed her back on the table, and examined her
feet.  They were bleeding again after the cleansing cycle, so he sprayed
them with a sealant.  None of her wounds required more than a light spray.
She relaxed when he sprayed her wounds.  She watched him carefully and he
could see the wonder in her eyes as he used the spray to seal the cuts.



   He picked her up again and using all four arms; rotated her around to
examine her entire body.  He was careful not to flick out his claws while
he did this; instead he flexed the tiny muscles on the pads of his fingers
and used the scales of his skin for traction.  This left little strawberry
colored circles on her skin wherever the pressure had required him to
squeeze a little tighter.  She had relaxed to a certain extent while he did
this, but the nervousness and fright didn't go completely away.  He flicked
the tips of his tongue out and could taste the various pheromones that she
was giving off.  One particular scent caught his attention.  He had never
tasted that one before in his dealings with the primitives.



   He placed her standing up on the table, putting her eye to eye with him.
He flicked his tongue out further this time and tried to figure out where
that scent was coming from.  There were two places on her body that were
exuding that scent, one slightly different than the other, but both new to
him.  He could also see an increase in surface skin temperature in several
places, not just the ones where his finger-pads had abraded her thin skin.
He put the two factors together and it made him laugh.  His mouth flaps
opened and closed several times, and his tongue waved in the air randomly.
This display frightened the female and the pheromones changed to pure fear
and the warm spots disappeared, the temperature of her facial skin dropped
rapidly.



   He didn't particularly care for the scent of fear from these primitives,
so he decided that calming her down would fix that.



   Little one, do not be afraid of me.  I was merely amused by your
reaction to my handling of your body.  That display is what you would call
laughter.



   The girl calmed down immediately when he spoke to her.  She looked at
him in awe, as his voice filled her mind.  She thought about what her new
master had done and how he had cared for her body.  He had healed her using
things she knew nothing about and this strange place he had brought her to.
It was a cave, but everything in it was made of metal.  Not even the Romans
had anything like this.  Her master was definitely not of this world, so he
had to be a god, just not one she was ever told about.  Was he a Roman god?
He?  Was it a he?  There was nothing on the outside of her master's body to
indicate that it was anything.  She knew what a male was supposed to look
like, but her new master defied all that.  Somehow, from that voice in her
head, she knew her master was male.  Her response to his touch solidified
that.



   What was she supposed to do when he touched her?  It was strange and
yet, the strength of his touch and all those fingers at once, were
enticing. She accepted the changes in her life without qualms.  She had to,
there was no other choice.  The day the Romans invaded her village, her
life as Sirona ended.  She was now nothing more than a slave and what? 
What was she now?  She had called him Master, but he had yet to call her
anything other than `little one'.  Compared to him, everything was little.
She watched him walk back and forth inside the room while he replaced the
items he had used on her.  His legs bent in two places, one going the way
hers did, and the other going opposite.  His feet pivoted oddly on his
ankles, almost like a bird's foot did.  His legs rotated outwards and
further back than she thought they should, this is what gave him the
strange walk.



   She watched his skin shift colors as he passed through the different
areas under the glowing spots in the ceiling.  Light without flame; how was
that possible?  This was something else that made her think she wasn't at
home anymore; that she had passed into some sort of underworld with a god
as her captor.  He had left her standing on top of the table but she felt
the urge to kneel before him; he must be a god.  She lowered herself to her
knees and prostrated herself as best she could on the strangely curved
tabletop.  There really was only one thing she could do to repay his
kindness; offer herself to him.  She was frightened of what that could mean
for her, but there was also something a little exciting too.



   He caught the movement immediately and whipped his tongue out to taste
for intent, but there was no fight scent in the air.  Instead there was
still a trace of fear, but that other pheromone was back in the air.  Was
she offering herself to him?  He scanned her thoughts briefly and found
that she was doing just that.  He stopped in front of her prostrated form
and tasted the air again.  His proximity to her raised the pheromone levels
greatly.  She was offering herself to him as a mate.  Interesting.  He
hadn't thought the primitives were capable of dealing with his physiology
in such a manner.  He wondered what his own excited scent and color would
have on the female.  He shifted from his neutral blue-green coloring to
brown with red lateral stripes.  His scent glands started exuding the
mating pheromone.



   With her head bowed, all she could see were his legs, and when the
colors shifted, she thought she had done something wrong and he was going
to punish her.  She waited for the punishment to begin when she smelled
something strange.  She remembered his scent when he had turned red, hot
iron had filled her nose then.  Now there was some red on his skin but it
was in stripes and the scent that filled her nose now was something that
reminded her of cooking.  It was a mixture of yeast and hot stone; it was
very strange but not unpleasant.  She didn't feel afraid anymore after
smelling his new scent; it had a calming effect on her.



   He watched her reaction and was surprised at how fast she calmed down
from her fear.  He thought about what his physical size and shape would do
to one of these primitives.  He hadn't thought about mating since his crash
and now he had a somewhat willing female in front of him.  There had been
no fight with another male or display on her part prior to this offer, so
his level of excitement was less than what it could be.  He let his mating
colors fade and picked her up.  He carried her out of the medical lab and
headed for her room.  He pressed the room sanitizer button and waited for
the room to be cleaned.  Once all traces of the parasites were gone, he
opened the door and placed her on the cushion.  He made sure she was
watching him as he pushed a button on the wall.  The metal turned liquid
and flowed out to make a chair.  He sat down across from her and stared at
her.



   She watched him move and thought about how all those fingers felt when
they touched her skin.  They were silky smooth when he pushed them across
her skin but when pulled against they stuck to her.  She looked up at him
as he pushed a colored spot on the wall and watched in shock while the wall
seemed to melt and then reform as a large chair for her master.  He sat
down and stared at her.  His coloring was back to that strange blue-green
mottling that shifted with the lighting levels around him.  She didn't know
what to do so she just sat where he had left her.  She started thinking
about her lack of clothing but the temperature inside her room had risen to
the point where she was just fine without it.  She realized that the longer
she sat there the higher the temperature inside her room was getting.  She
was almost sweating after a few moments, and the temperature seemed to
level off at that point.  It felt like she was sitting in the sunlight on a
hot summer day.



   He watched her body adjust to the increased temperature, and he could
smell the salt and other chemicals start to accumulate on her skin.  He
didn't mind it so much, the salt scent reminded him a little of his own
pheromones that he put out when hunting.  They stared at each other for a
few more minutes and then she adjusted herself to be on her knees with her
hands in her lap.  He recognized the posture as the one she used with him
earlier, acceptance of his ownership of her.  He leaned forward and tasted
the air again, searching for that other pheromone, and found it.  It was
there, but just barely.  So, he thought, she is still mildly interested and
isn't afraid of me sitting this close to her.  He reached out with one
hands and hooked one finger in her hair.  It was tangled from the cleaning
and didn't look right in that mass on her head.  He flexed a certain muscle
and his claws rotated out and he began to pull them slowly through her
hair. She winced a few times but otherwise stayed silent while he combed
out her hair.



   She didn't know what to think when he reached out and started running
his claws through her hair.  Since she didn't have a comb, she couldn't do
it herself.  She watched him carefully and when he was done detangling her
hair, he sat back and flicked his tongue at her.  She heard his voice
again.



   Why did you offer yourself to me?  Are you in season?  You seek a mate?



   She thought about his questions and tried to understand what he was
asking.



   ``Yes, I offered myself to you as repayment for saving my life.  The
Romans killed my intended husband before we could be together.  I didn't
know if you would want me for that.''



   Nauarchus watched her as she spoke to him.  He was intrigued by the fact
that she was pliant and willing to accept her situation.  The fact that she
was willing to offer herself to him in exchange for saving her life, that
was something new to him.  His people would never do that; they would fight
to the death and never submit.  The females of his species were much more
aggressive and they would definitely never allow themselves to be
subjugated like this.  Having a submissive and pliant sexual partner might
be interesting.  Would his physical size and shape work with one of these
primitives?  He hadn't really looked that closely at her sexual orifice to
see if it would even work.



   Show me your opening.



   She was surprised at the command but she did as she was told.  She
shifted off of her knees and lay on her back, spreading her legs.  She was
frightened that he would now do to her what she had offered.  The fact that
she couldn't see his sexual organ was the most disturbing thing.  What
would it look like?



   He leaned forward and examined her closely, seeing that she had fur
growing over the opening.  He did not find this fact aesthetically
pleasing; the fur reminded him of food not sex.  He thought about how to
remove it effectively.  He really didn't want anything that reminded him of
food on a potential mating partner.  He knew he could cut it off even with
the surface of her skin, but it would grow back and probably quickly
looking at the fur she grew out of the top of her head.  No, he wanted it
as smooth as his own species skin would be, that would be a more pleasant
experience for him.  He had one tool that might do what was required.



   He rose from his chair and walked out of the room, leaving her laying on
her back with a very confused and apprehensive expression.  He went into
the cockpit and opened the maintenance bay door.  He retrieved the tool he
wanted and began to adjust the output settings.  He was going to have to
test it first.  He wouldn't want to try it out on her first.  It could lead
to a very unpleasant outcome if the settings could not be lowered to the
appropriate level.  He walked back past her room and headed for the
airlock. He pushed one last thought towards her before diving into the
water.



   Stay.  Do not leave your room.  I will return shortly.



   She didn't know what to think now.  She had thought that he was going to
use her body for mating, but after he had looked at her and abruptly left
the room her apprehension level started to fade.  Now he was leaving the
cave and he had told her not to go anywhere.  This was very strange to her.
She wondered if she disgusted him in some way.  He wasn't all that pleasant
to think about in that way for her either.  His face was nothing short of
ugly and frightening; especially with those mouth flaps that were lined
with miniature razors and a giant hook.  There would be no kissing that
thing.  The tongue wasn't pleasant either, it made her skin tingle after it
had touched her.  No, having sex with her master would be an ordeal, she
was sure of it.



   Nauarchus reached the surface quickly, shooting out of the water and
landing on his feet.  He crouched, and swiveled his head around, looking
for heat sources.  There were smaller predators in this forest, but they
gave this clearing a wide berth, not wishing to come any closer to the
thing that had marked its territory with that strong of a scent.  The only
thing that was large enough to be a threat was the horse, and it was still
tied to the tree.  He walked over to the horse and sent a calming thought
to it so that it wouldn't make any noise.  He kept two hands on the horse
just in case it decided it didn't like the feel of the plasma laser.  Since
it was designed to fuse silicate fiber wiring, it should remove fur.  He
tested it a few times and decided that it would work on her since it
appeared to do no damage to the outer skin at all.



   He left the horse tied to a different tree so that it would have enough
to eat and stay healthy until he needed it for his next meal.  He loped
back to the pool and dove in, swimming as fast as he could for the airlock.
When he shot through and landed on the deck, her squeak of surprise brought
his attention to her doorway.  She was standing on the threshold,
apparently waiting for him to return.  He looked at the floor in the
hallway and tasted the air.  She hadn't left her room, just as he had told
her.  So, he thought, she can follow directions and isn't repulsed by my
presence.  He stared at her for a few moments and noticed that she flinched
and then dropped to her knees and prostrated herself before him.




























   
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