Everyone was seeking an opportunity to get off-planet before an asteroid destroyed all life on Earth, and the Zorteff controlled the colony ships. But if you were not a scientist going into space for training or someone selected for the colony ship, your only chance- if you were a woman- was to go with the Zorteff as one of their "servants." If a woman did that, she would live, but it would be as a sex slave on the Zorteff home planet.
Maria Rosales was one of the few people on Earth who truly had a choice. She could leave as a scientist, or on Colony Ship Eight, or she, like the rest of the population of the planet, could watch the colony ship depart and pray that this was not the orbit of the asteroid which spelled the end of all humanity.
I really don't know if I started out to write a Science Fiction Story and got too erotic or was going to write an erotic story and got too SciFi. Sex wise, it is pretty tame compared to what I normally write for erotic stories. I debated deleting it, or doing a total re-write, but something about the story just feels right, so I am posting it as is.
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WARNING! This warning is probably not really needed for this particular story, but I am including it because it definitely applies to most of what I write.
All of my writing is intended for adults over the age of 18 ONLY. Stories may contain strong or even extreme sexual content. All people and events depicted are fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Actions, situations, and responses are fictional ONLY and should not be attempted in real life.
If you are under the age or 18 or do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality or if you reside in any state, province, nation, or tribal territory that prohibits the reading of acts depicted in these stories, please stop reading immediately and move to somewhere that exists in the twenty-first century.
Archiving and reposting of this story is permitted, but only if acknowledgment of copyright and statement of limitation of use is included with the article. This story is copyright (c) 2015 by The Technician.
Individual readers may archive and/or print single copies of this story for personal, non-commercial use. Production of multiple copies of this story on paper, disk, or other fixed format is expressly forbidden.
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Maria could remember the very moment when the countdown clocks in every major city on Earth clicked past the one year mark and switched from displaying years and days to displaying days and hours. Every vidcast on every network in every country showed the silent crowds who gathered beneath the giant billboards in every major city as Earth began what could very well be its final year of existence.
The clocks had begun at 27 years, 231 days. They now read 87 days. The hours didn't matter- not yet. The day would come when the hours mattered, and then the minutes, and finally the seconds, but for now 87 days was sufficient information.
The massive asteroid, about one-fourth the size of Earth's moon, had first been spotted nearly two centuries ago as it wound its erratic path through the solar system. At first the doomsday prophets claimed that there was no way that it could miss the Earth. Then, for some unknown reason, its orbit shifted slightly and the new prediction became that it would pass barely 1.2 lunar distances from the Earth. That estimate proved optimistic. By the time the asteroid finally passed the Earth, it was only 0.73 lunar distances away- a very close miss in space terms.
It was feared that at that distance, the huge asteroid would be close enough to the Earth that tides would be disrupted by its gravitational pull. Especially in California and around the Pacific rim it was also feared that severe Earthquakes might be triggered by its passage. Surprisingly, neither occurred. There was some very slight disruption of the tides, but the gravitational effect was much, much less than expected and no major Earthquakes occurred.
What happened next, however, was truly Earth shaking. Shortly after the bright glow of what looked like an irregularly-shaped moon passed out of the night skies, the first Zorteff ship arrived.
When the odd-shaped craft descended slowly out of the sky and came to rest in Central Park in New York City, USA, that nation- and the world- was thrown into a panic. The massive space ship towered above the trees in a small clearing and could be seen easily from the steps of the American Museum of Natural History which was across Central Park West from the landing site. For that reason, New York police used the museum as their forward station. Their tactical teams soon surrounded the elongated sphere which seemed to be supported on three, massive, tubular legs.
Nothing happened for four days as tensions- and military presence- grew. Then on the fifth day, a stairway lowered from the bottom of the ship and one of the Zorteff slowly descended.
The Zorteff were bi-pedal beings whose body shape was vaguely humanoid, but whose skin surface texture and coloring were very reptilian. Their lizard-like heads and humanoid bodies were covered in a gray, scaly material that looked- and, as was later discovered, felt- very much like the skin of a snake. They did not wear clothing, but the patterns of color in their scales- especially on their abdomens- gave them the appearance of wearing very-tight fitting uniforms of some sort. No outward signs of genitalia were present.
The Zorteff who descended the ramp was carrying a large sign in one hand which said, "IN PEACE WE COME. COMMUNICATIONS WAVE UNDERSTAND NO. TALKER VOLUNTEER WE NEED. FEMALE HUMAN MUST BE."
The lizard person was wearing a boxy headset far back on its head and was holding a similar unit in his other hand. He... or she... or it... stopped at the base of the steps and held out the headset toward the wall of police, national guard, and army soldiers which now surrounded the ship.
One of the National Guard officers stepped forward, obviously speaking on a shoulder mounted radio to someone. After a short conversation, the officer lay down his weapon and began to remove his body armor. The last item removed was the helmet, at which point, it became apparent that the officer was not a he, but was, in fact, female. With the body armor removed, the loose-fitting uniform hinted slightly at her femininity, and with the helmet removed, her fine facial features and regulation woman's haircut confirmed her gender.
She stepped forward slowly and cautiously, pausing every few steps to see what action or reaction came from the reptilian creature. Any aggressive movement would have been met with significant firepower, but the large, gray lizard person stood passively immobile at the base of the ramp. Finally she was standing directly in front of him.
The headset in his hand was at her eye level. He moved his arm slightly, extending the headset toward her, and she took it from his hand. He then moved his arms to his own headset and lifted it off of his head and put it back in place. Surprisingly, it sat behind, rather than over, what appeared to be his ears. The officer did the same and placed the headset on her head with the cups or whatever they were, just behind her ears.
"I can hear him," she radioed, even though the lizard did not appear to be speaking or making any sort of sound. "He says that our language- our means of communication- is so different from theirs that they cannot program their translators. They need to make a direct mind connection to gather more data on our way of communicating by speech. I need to go with him inside the ship. He promises that I will be safe."
The lizard being turned and walked back up the ramp into the ship. The officer followed him. She did not return for three days. When she did, she was carrying several small, radio-like devices. A similar device was hanging around her neck.
"These are translators," she said. "They can be worn by a person, or connected to a radio system. The Zorteff wish to speak with the leaders of Earth. They have a very interesting proposal."
So began the events that would forever change life on Earth.