FREEWORLD

Chapter 4


During dinner, Megan tried, with limited success, to keep her mind off the main course, which she was not eating, by concentrating on creating a believable story as to the purpose of her trip. Random planetary exploration, she decided, was her best bet, throwing in as near an approximation of the truth as she could -- that there had been no signal from this wormhole, so it was not known that the earlier ship carrying the "gods" had come to this system. Exploration was never done in a one-person ship, of course, but she felt confident Jason wouldn't know that. As it turned out, he did not. He did offer up the official genesis-of-Freeworld story, which cast the gods as the explorers, from the homeworld, Earth, on which they had been as much in charge of things as they were here.

The dinner party adjourned to the living room, which Megan discovered was also the home of the "dogs" she had seen earlier. They had their own area of the room, including a soft pad, a box for their wastes, and food and water bowls similar to... the dolly's. Not Janica's. Megan tried as hard as she could to stop thinking of her as Janny.

The tails of the "dogs," Megan saw to her amazement, were functional: some sort of muscle tissue must be attached at the base, as the women were wagging their tails happily at the attention they received from Bret, while barking joyfully. The boy picked up a ball and tossed it across the room, and both women scrambled to reach it first for the honor of returning it to the boy. The one with Heather's face won out, and trotted back to Bret with the ball clenched in her teeth, her tail twitching madly.

After Bret was sent off to bed, Jason excused himself for a moment and returned to the kitchen, coming back with his dolly clinging to him, lavishing attention on him happily. Jason sat in the largest chair in the room, facing the one Megan had taken, and reopened the conversation about Earth, from dinner. Megan fascinated Jason with descriptions of Earth and its society, avoiding mention of the sex of any of the people in charge, and went on to the safer subject of her experiences on other planets, all while trying to ignore the dolly, who was kneeling in front of Jason's chair, between his legs, rubbing the side of her head against his thighs. When she reached for his zipper, he snapped his fingers and pushed her hand gently away, which she accepted grudgingly as a signal that it wasn't the time for that. She settled for rubbing her naked body against his clothed one to the extent she could from her kneeling position, moaning very softly now and then. Megan repeated to herself again and again, it's not Janny, it's not Janny.

Jason smiled at Megan. "I'm just really amazed you don't have dollies." Megan, unable to backtrack on her unfamiliarity with dollies, had at least asserted a knowledge of "girlimals." Jason went on, "They're more intelligent than most girlimals, and very devoted, as you can tell. No language skills, of course, but there's a set of gestures it can understand. Anyway, is there going to be much traffic between here and Earth, now that you've 'rediscovered' us? I'm sure we could use some technological improvements, though I can't imagine how we'd pay for them. We don't have anything to trade that Earth would need."

Almost choking with amusement at the idea that the government on Earth would accept what was going on here and set up a trade partnership, Megan responded vaguely, "I'm not sure what happens in the case of running into an already established settlement..." She stopped, again trying to adjust to the scene happening in front of her. Janny -- Megan couldn't help it, it was Janny -- was kissing and rubbing her nose against the crotch of Jason's pants, her breathing growing more ragged, with frequent whimpers of need, as if she was reaching the edge of her ability to hold back. Megan quickly shifted her eyes away from the scene as she noticed Jason had seen her look. She didn't realize at the time how Jason was going to misinterpret it.

He gasped and shook his head. "Oh, I am SO sorry. I'm being a really terrible host." He snapped his fingers, and Janica still had enough self-control to stop and look at him intently. Janica's eyes followed Jason's finger as he pointed directly at Megan, and he tapped her shoulder, pushing her gently in Megan's direction. To Megan's horror, Janica came to her feet, quickly walked across the room to Megan and dropped into a kneeling position in front of her. The dolly's eyes, so, SO much like Janny's, focused on Megan's intently, clearly waiting for instructions from Megan, of the only kind she could understand: what kind of sexual attention did Jason's guest want?

Megan froze, with no idea how to react. Based on her knowledge of various Earth cultures, she knew that one thing common to nearly all of them was a tradition that hosting a visitor entailed sharing certain things, as Jason was demonstrating now, and another was that refusing a gift was considered rude -- sometimes unspeakably so. While Megan considered this, Janica quickly pressed herself against Megan, her hands roaming gently but insistently over the shiny material of Megan's flight suit, while kissing Megan's suit-covered leg just above her knee. Janica's hand finally settled in the crotch between Megan's legs and squeezed the material gently, no doubt hoping to sponsor an erection, while her lips and tongue slowly worked their way up the inside of Megan's thigh.

Megan's head buzzed, unable to sort out the tumult of impressions flooding her senses and emotions. Janica, the real Janica, had been, throughout Megan's childhood, the tall, lithe goddess Megan worshipped and for whose approval Megan desperately strove. Megan could no more conceive of a sexual attraction to Janica than a small child could entertain erotic fantasies about her own mother. As for the possibility of an attraction in the opposite direction... Megan would sooner expect the sky to turn red, with a hint of lemon.

Megan clamped down on a shouted Janny, stop, please, don't, her skin crawling with horror at the thought that Janica desperately wanted her sexually, yet Megan still had no idea how to stop the dolly without giving grave offense to a man whose goodwill she might very well need. Megan knew instinctively she couldn't control the dolly: the dolly would accept orders only from her master, who had ordered her to please Megan, and the dolly would stop at nothing to make her master happy. Megan grasped gratefully at the first solution that finally came into her head. "Oh, Jason, this is really nice of you, but I'm so exhausted from my trip, and I really walked a long way from my ship... I just don't think I could handle your dolly just now. Later, for sure, after a good night's sleep, I'll really look forward to it..." The dolly's tongue had nearly reached Megan's crotch, and she was making those desperate whimpering noises again.

To Megan's intense relief, Jason slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "What am I thinking? Bad host again. Of course you'd be tired." He snapped his fingers again, and Janica's head whipped around. She eagerly ran back to Jason, and Megan was spared the most revolting experience of her life. For now, at least. She knew she had just promised to accept Janica's attentions later, but, well, later was later. She'd handle that when it came. At least she'd have more time to plan a new dodge beforehand.

Jason rolled his eyes, as if suddenly realizing something, and went to Bret's bedroom, saying softly, "Bret, you sleep out here tonight. That okay?"

"Sure, Dad!" came the voice from inside the room, followed soon after by the pajama-clad boy. He was as excited as any child by a change from the usual order of things.

Jason turned to Megan. "You can have Bret's room, here," he said, pointing with his thumb behind him. "He's got his own bathroom, which you can use, of course. Take a bath if you like. I know that gets the knots out of my muscles after a hard day."

Megan was surprised to find how nice the idea sounded. Her legs were aching, and though the suit's air-conditioning was functioning at optimal capacity, she couldn't help feeling fairly ripe -- perhaps that was in her head, but a bath would be wonderful. She muttered a non-committal "Thanks," not sure of the wisdom of removing her suit, knowing that even Jason's warped gender-consciousness wouldn't override his realizing her true sex if he saw her naked. It seemed almost impossible he would intrude, though. Surely a guest in a bath was accorded privacy that Jason wouldn't invade, at least without warning. Megan stood, even more conscious of the aches in her legs, and said, "I think I'll sleep until noon."

Jason smiled. "We'll try not to disturb you. See you in the morning, Martin."

At least this time she wasn't confused by a feeling he might be addressing someone else. "Sure thing."

*   *   *   *   *

Megan shrugged out of the last piece of her many-zippered flight suit and dropped her sweaty shorts, shirt, and underwear on the floor. The steam from the tub felt relaxing. She wished she could lock the door, but it had no lock; it barely had what would qualify as a latch. But the bathroom was separated from Jason by Bret's bedroom, so at least she would probably hear him coming.

She stepped into the tub and let herself slip inch by glorious inch into the welcoming water, leaning back against the end of the tub and closing her eyes. She felt she could stay here for hours, if only the water would stay warm. Already she could feel the aches in her legs easing.

She convulsed as she saw the door opening, her arms moving lightning-fast to cover her breasts, pressing her legs together under the water trying to hide her lack of appropriate male equipment. She gaped in astonishment as she saw the dolly in the doorway, and nearly blurted out, "Janny!"

From the living room, Jason called out, "It's trained to bathe you. I know it'll make it very relaxing. Works wonders for me. It generally keeps that separate from sex, so it probably won't try getting you stirred up if you still aren't in the mood. Just sit back and let it work its magic."

There was no excuse she could imagine for refusing this time, and she probably couldn't get rid of the dolly in any case without Jason coming in.

There was no time to consider an escape anyway -- the dolly was already climbing into the tub. Obviously she wouldn't just sit outside the tub to bathe Megan. Megan helplessly watched as the dolly sat in the tub facing her, her expression blank, put her legs around Megan's waist, and took up the sponge and soap.

To Megan's relief, the dolly did not, indeed, seem bent on making this anything especially sexual -- she simply started rubbing the soapy sponge softly over Megan's shoulders. Megan began to relax, leaning forward as the dolly reached around her to start sponging her back.

Megan suddenly remembered that Janica had washed her on occasion -- Janica, ten years older than Megan, had sometimes been left in charge of bath time when their mother had a meeting or for some other reason had to be away in the evening, though she'd always done it from outside the tub. Tears welled up in Megan's eyes as she remembered her sister's soft ministrations, and critical eye towards Megan's cleanliness. Megan didn't think Janica had bathed her since she was about six, but the memories were there nevertheless.

The dolly suddenly stopped soaping Megan, a puzzled look in her eyes, and reached for one of Megan's breasts, squeezing gently. Megan saw the dolly look down at her own breasts, rubbing one hand against the swollen glands on her chest. She sees we're alike! thought Megan. There's something she wasn't expecting! The dolly's gaze dropped down to Megan's female parts, and reached down and rubbed Megan's mound with her hand, below the waterline, her eyebrows knitting even closer together.

Yes! thought Megan. I'm just like you! We're women, both of us! And sisters! Whispering, not wanting Jason to hear, Megan whispered "Sisters!" She took Janica's hand and guided it to her chest, repeating the word. She put her own hand, with Janica's, on Janica's chest, looking intently into her eyes, willing her to understand. "Sisters!"

The dolly's jaw dropped, and a look of concentration Megan hadn't seen there before came into her eyes. Janica's lips curled, and she tentatively pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "S-sss..."

Her eyes alight, Megan whispered, "Yes! Yes! We're sisters! Say it! You can do it! Siss-ters!"

Looking so closely into her eyes, Megan thought she detected exactly the moment when the dolly's attention wandered. It doesn't mean anything to her, Megan thought dejectedly. She can't focus on it. It's a meaningless idea, that we are somehow the same, that we have a connection.

The dolly forgot, as well, that she was supposed to be bathing the stranger, and had gone back into sex mode, her earlier order to pleasure Megan not effectively cancelled. She threw herself forward suddenly, wrapping her arms around Megan, her lips seeking out Megan's. Megan didn't even have time to blurt out "No!" before Janica was against her, her thighs suddenly squeezing tightly against Megan's waist, her breasts pressed against Megan's, her tongue exploring deep within Megan's mouth, effectively preventing any protests by Megan. Janica's hips gyrated against Megan's, the friction of their crinkly bushes making Megan's crotch burn. The force of Janica's attack banged Megan's head painfully hard against the back of the tub, and Janica forced her tongue in still deeper, almost seeming to brush against the back of Megan's throat. Megan tried to push the dolly away, frantically thinking to herself, Janny, no, you can't, we can't, we mustn't, it's wrong, it's wrong, when suddenly the sound of a finger snap from the living room ended the attack. Janica leapt from the tub and ran, dripping, out of the room. Megan, breathing in shock through her wide-open mouth, heard Jason call out, "Night, Martin. Sleep well."

Megan, dazed, did her best to bathe herself while her breathing returned to something like normal, and emerged from the tub at length to dry herself, still shaking. She's not Janny, she's not Janny, she told herself over and over. She's an animal bred for sex. Sex is all she knows. They made her that way.

Yet she was still Megan's sister. There was no way to deny that.

In bed, Megan listened for what she judged at least an hour, maybe two, while grunts, groans, the dolly's familiar whimpers of passion, and creaking bedsprings kept her informed of the frantic sex taking place in the next room. My sister, she thought to herself, and her master.

They quieted at last, and Megan, somehow, fell into a deep, welcome sleep.

*   *   *   *   *

Megan opened her eyes as the windows hinted at dawn. There was a pleasant smell drifting into the room, and a crackling sound. Megan quickly put on her clothes and flight suit, surprised at herself for taking a chance on sleeping naked -- she must have been so tired last night it affected her judgment. She left off the gloves for now, confident her hands alone, under the circumstances, would not be enough to give her sex away.

As she entered the kitchen, Jason smiled at her over his shoulder. "I guess you wouldn't want bacon. I do have some cereal and fruits, though."

Megan choked, coughing to cover it up, glad her stomach didn't have anything in it. Bacon! From the... She closed her eyes, then opened them quickly before an undesired mental image could take hold, of Jason slaughtering one of the "pigs."

Jason looked at her with concern. "You okay, Martin? I hope you got enough sleep."

"Oh, fine, it was very comfortable. Just had something caught in my throat just now." Megan looked around the room. The dolly was in her corner, with one hand clutching the photocube of Jason, eating her breakfast -- down on her hands and knees, eating it dog-fashion from a bowl. It didn't seem natural that a woman with all her body parts would eat that way, but presumably she had been trained to do it like that. These men never missed a trick in reducing women to the status of dumb animals. Out in the living room, through which Megan had passed, the other two women, with the better excuse of not having hands, were eating from their own bowls in the same way.

Megan joined Bret at the table, as the boy was finishing his last "bacon" strip. With considerable effort, Megan thrust from her mind the source of the meat and started planning her day. Somehow she had to find the real Janica. As Jason set down the promised cereal bowl and a grapefruit, Megan asked, "Which way do I go to get to the... well I don't know what name you have for it, but the center of things. Where the gods are." She wasn't especially eager to meet a god, to say the least -- any one of them would instantly recognize her for what she was, even in the suit -- but the closer she got to them, the closer she was to Janny. Megan anticipated doing a certain amount of sneaking around. If she was caught, she always had her blaster.

Jason grinned. "You're in luck. I was going to need to get to the market in town in a day or so. I can just as well go today. Nothing really needs doing around here today."

Bret looked up, wide-eyed and excited. "Great!"

Megan smiled back at Jason. That would save a lot of time and effort if the... headquarters, or whatever it was called, was any great distance. "I really appreciate that."



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