ay the tight straps made her soft flesh bu
eyes wide and frightened. He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that her fear elicited a strange, contradictory reac
uman being, especially a female, but it would have to do. She might not like being strapped into it so tig
ldn't wait to see her
lection of the green and cyan ship's pre-launch diagnostic display sparklin
tars in the night sky steadily brightened, the ship already into the upper atmosphere within a minute. A few seconds later, what color there was in a Terran night had drained fully away, subsiding to the deep black of the interstellar star field. The G forces reduced dramatically, leaving Rose a panting, trembling mess in her chair. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her lips quivering. "That was... awful." Then her face went distinctly ashen, and her eyes flew open. "Oh my fucking God... I think I'm going to throw up!" "Relax now, it's just freefall. The grav generator will kick on in a moment." He found the way her long, red locks floated about her face to be almost magical, a lovely, haunting sight he knew he'd never forget. Two clicks followed, artificial gravity returning, the weight of her hair going limp across her shoulders once more. She let out a long, shuddering sigh. "Jesus, I have a whole new appreciation for... astronauts. Felt like my stomach was floating up into my throat." "Luckily for you, you'll only have to do that once. I've lost track of the number of times I've had to go through an escape sequence." Rose stayed quiet as the nav computer moved the transport to an intercept course with the Vidu Rei. Kosha allowed himself to think of what was to come, once he got her back to Yaanfahr. The first problem was how to hide her from Meloran. He thought he had an idea, but it would make her essentially off-limits until they touched down in spaceport. That wouldn't do. Depriving himself for that long wasn't an option. He'd have to think on it some more. There was still some time while Meloran was still on the surface. Humans were not at all unknown to the average Yaanfahri, and stories of Yaanfahri-human congress did circulate around both the academy and within the ranks of the navy itself. He'd never actually met a Yaanfahri who'd managed to smuggle in a human, but it was an open secret that at least a few of them were indeed held clandestinely in Yaanfahri hands. One did not need an excess of imagination to know the purpose of keeping human females. Especially during hi
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