A New Direction for Humanity Ch. 02

Yup, main character of this story is still transgender.

***

"No, 'Frozen Moon' is the name of a specific poem, it is not a figurative frozen moon right here."

"How can I tell the difference?" Shae asked. Learning the metaphorical Rei-sa dialect was actually even harder than she'd imagined. Including Rei-sa, she knew six different languages but learning this was more like learning about literature.

"It is written differently, and when spoken, the inflection is different. Frozen moon. 'Frozen Moon'. Do you see?" Shae's tutor, Ipla, always enunciated very clearly for her. It was actually extremely helpful, many Rei-sa had a tendency to mumble.

"So, a frozen moon references something that's redundant, right?"

"Beyond redundant. It can also reference something done symbolically, with no practical purpose. On rare occasion, it can be used glibly, to imply that someone is foolish, lacking self-restraint. You will see it used as a verb, in that case.

"Right..." Shae muttered, taking notes.

"That is all the time I have, for today. I will schedule another session to see you with the Vakita when I can."

"Thank you so much, Ipla, I will tell my Ji'rai that I learned more today than I did in a month alone."

Ipla stopped halfway out the door, and turned around to look at her. "Your Ji'rai?"

"...Yes?"

"Vakita Xiac certainly Taslek Kassren..." Shae wanted to ask him what that last bit meant but he left before she could.

Shae checked the time on her tablet, the same one she'd been using back on earth had been returned to her. She was due back at Xiac's chambers in... eighty seven units of time. That was... twenty minutes? More? Less? No, it was more. Shae wanted to stop thinking in minutes and hours and days but that was going to be difficult. Thinking in Rei-sa would be a bit easier but changing the language you thought in had always been hard for her. One of her professors back on Earth had claimed to be able to do it at will, but she wasn't sure how much she believed her.

Shae put her notes and her tablet into the Rei-sa purse that had been provided for her, which for her size was basically a small duffel bag. It was actually kind of silly, she felt like she was setting up to go to the gym. The classroom that they'd been occupying wasn't empty... or, maybe it was a conference room? A common room? Several Rei-sa were having meetings or classes or something. Shae awkwardly ambled around the mostly-empty low tables, her giant purse digging into her naked shins. She really didn't like being naked, the ship was cold as balls and she kept banging into things.

"Attention. Naa course correction in five seconds." Shae was so absorbed in thought that she barely even heard the announcement over the speakers. She did, of course, feel it when the Mekorial fired thrusters, temporarily reorienting her 'gravity' to be upwards and to the left.

Shae shrieked in surprise as she suddenly 'fell' sideways for a second. Her bag went flying and she tumbled onto a nearby table, landing flat on her back once 'gravity' reoriented itself to be back down towards earth again. She stared up at the ceiling of the conference room, dazed, naked, hurt.

"Stupid human! What is the Vakita thinking, letting her wander around the ship?" The voice came from directly above her, and a pair of hands grabbed her roughly, dragging her off the table.

"Ow! Stop, that hurts!," Shae cried as the Rei-sa pulled particularly hard on her arm.

"Idiot, she cracked my terminal," The Rei-sa complained, not even looking at her.

"I am terribly sorry," Shae offered a bow that she'd been taught as soon as she got her footing, hoping the context was appropriate.

The Rei-sa gave a bit of a start, and looked at her, surprised. "You speak?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes, I am still learning. I'm sorry I have never been on a spaceship before and I don't have magnetic boots yet."

"It's fine, just pay more attention and try to brace yourself next time," The Rei-sa seemed embarrassed, or maybe just uncomfortable. She reached over and grabbed Shae's bag and handed it to her.

"Thank you very much," Shae took her bag and scampered off towards the tram station. She called a tram and waited... She waited a while. Eventually one came to pick her up and she got in. She had to dig out her tablet again, and accessed a new program that had been put on there for her. It synchronized with the tram system, and displayed her list of destinations. Her list of destinations was just the Vakita's suite right now since Xiac was limiting where she could travel to. She selected it, and pressed her thumb hard into the slot next to the normal tram control panel. The scanner accepted her DNA verification and started speeding off towards the Vakita's suite.

Shae checked the time again. She was due back in twenty one units of time. This would be cutting it close. The tram slowed to a stop and let her out into the foyer. Reep was there, sitting cross-legged behind her desk, staring intently at her control terminal.

She looked up at Shae. "Why are you bleeding?"

Surprised, Shae looked down. There was a cut on her thigh, and a trickle of blood was creeping down her leg on its way to stain her Ji'rai's floor. "Oh, I fell when the Mekorial altered course. It's nothing really..."

"It will not be nothing of it gets all over the place, and I have to clean it" Reep said, standing up from behind her desk and rushing over to Shae. Gods but the Rei-sa were fast when they wanted to be. Reep quickly ushered her back into the bathroom and into the shower stall. Without warning, a blast of water hit her.

"Ah! Fuck that's cold!" Shae swore in english. Reep hadn't adjusted the temperature for her. The blast of water only hit her for a second to wash the blood trickle off her leg, but it left Shae shivering.

Reep wound a small piece of stretchy fabric around the cut on her thigh, and applied pressure. Shae winced as she did, but it was brief. When she let go, the material stayed snugly in place. Reep threw another giant towel around her and dried her off.

"There. Now go see the Vakita, you're late."

A wave of panic rushed through Shae and she forgot all about asking if she could keep the fluffy towel and ran over to the Vakita's door. She stopped and knocked five times, as she'd been told. There was a click and the door opened. Shae walked in with her eyes downcast. Xiac was working in her office on the right side of her suite and paid Shae no mind. Quietly, Shae went over to her corner on the other side of the room Xiac had a mat brought in for her, a little round thing that sat on the floor that Shae couldn't help but think looked like something a cat would sleep on. Well, it was very soft and warm so it could be worse.

As soon as Shae sat down, the felt the warm draft and shivered in pleasure as it drove her chills away. She'd also been given a little heater that stood next to her mat and it was just the best thing ever. Shae curled up on her mat for a little bit to warm up and rest. She'd been with Ipla for almost nine hours - twenty two hundred time units, and she was pretty exhausted. Gods, this was so cozy, she wanted to have a nap. A nap sounded soooo niiice. She couldn't. She had review to do.

Shae sighed, sitting up and digging around in her bag for her notebook and pencils. She opened them to the first page and started making adjustments to her notes. The two of them worked in silence for a while, say for the soft scratching of Shae's pencil.

A loud crashing sound from Xiac's side of the room broke Shae's focus. Her Ji'rai was staring wide-eyed at her terminal, one hand balled up into a fist... or, the Rei-sa version of a fist on her desk where she'd slammed it into the metal surface. Her hand was palm-up, fingers curled together. She let out a string of words that sounded like Shae wasnt supposed to repeat them.

"Reep!" Xiac bellowed. Reep poked her head in the door. "You get a hold of Skaha and you tell her if she is not on the Mekorial today then I will slag her ship myself."

"Ill get the message through and let you know when I have confirmation, Vakita Xiac." Reep disappeared.

Xiac stood up and angrily stalked over to her throne-thing which was just a few meters away from Shae's mat. She flopped down on it, muttering to herself. Shae watched the exchange but didn't say anything.

"You were late today, Shae." Her Ji'rai finally spoke.

Shae's throat went dry, imagining Xiac's fist smashing her skull just like the desk. "I'm so sorry Ji'rai I fell when the ship course corrected and-" Shae stopped. Xiac was staring at her.

"I did not ask you why you were late. I understand that you are struggling to adapt here. In fact I would be shocked if you were not." The Vakita's words were kind but her tone was not. Somehow it made Shae even more anxious.

"I will try to stick to the schedule you have made for me, Ji'rai." Shae murmured, casting her gaze downwards.

"I am not angry with you, Riten. The schedule is not important today but it will be in the future. As my property, your actions reflect on me. I have no need for property that makes me look bad." Xiac had been calling her Riten sometimes. Shae kind of wanted to ask someone what it meant but at the same time she also kind of got the gist.

Shae nodded, but didn't respond. She felt a little better but she was still scared and frustrated. Living on this ship was hard, she wanted to go home. But does my home even still exist? Many places had been struck by orbital bombardments. Maybe her apartment had gone up in smoke.

"Come here, Riten, sit with me." Shae looked up, blushing. Xiac was patting a spot on her throne next to where she was lying. Shae nervously stood and padded over to her Ji'rai. How was she supposed to sit on this thing? It was at like 70 degrees off the floor. How did Xiac rest on it? Shae walked up to the throne and turned around to put her butt on where Ji'rai had indicated. As she got close to the padded surface, she felt herself being pulled towards it. The pull actually caught her by surprise and for the second time that day, she fell sideways.

"Eep!" Shae squeaked as she tumbled ass-first onto the throne. Xiac laughed at her and caught her as she fell, sparing her the embarrassment of accidentally shoving her face into her Ji'rai's tits. Rei-sa apparently did have breasts, they just weren't as big and were usually hidden under their clothes or armour. Today, Xiac was wearing something that looked like it was made out of leather or animal hide. It was much simpler and... tighter than the dress she'd been wearing yesterday. It was black and was trimmed with some white fluff around the shoulders and down the sides of her legs.

"Gravity field manipulation," Xiac explained, chuckling at how flustered she was. "It generates it's own gravity."

"I see," Shae murmured. It was kind of disorienting, lying down on the padded surface while perpindicular to the floor. She twisted around so that her back was towards Xiac. She was not about to jab the most important person on this ship with her erection, which seemed like it might be showing up any second.

Xiac gently placed her hand on Shae's head and started stroking her hair as she grumbled to herself. A shiver of embarrassment and pleasure traveled down Shae's spine. This felt... much nicer than she would have expected. Shae sighed and snuggled into Xiac's side without even fully realizing what she was doing.

"Your hair is soft, Riten. I think I will make an expectation of you that you take care of it," Xiac said her voice, her voice low, She sounded tired.

"How were your lessons today?" Shae paused. Had Ji'rai just asked her how her day at school was? There was something just... very domestic about that. Which was a bit odd seeing as how she was lying on a sci-fi gravity bed with an alien queen. Or whatever it was the Vakita were.

"They were good, Ji'rai. Ipla is very patient and a good teacher. We mostly worked on grammar today."

"Mmm, I could tell right away. You're already making fewer mistakes." Xiac started tracing circles and lines across the back of Shae's head. She flinched as a finger ran along the outer edge of her ear. Shit, well, there was the boner, pointing straight at her face. Shae thought about covering it up with her hands but that would probably draw attention to it.

"I fell when the ship course corrected. I wasn't paying attention."

"It is hard without magnetic boots. I have someone making you a pair." A hand ran down her side while the other resumed petting her.

"T-thank you, Ji'rai." Shae squeaked, becoming increasingly hot and bothered by the attention she was receiving.

"Shae, this seems to happen to you every time I have you near me." A finger ran across the tip of her penis.

"Ji'rai! Ah...! Please... no..." Shae trembled. Oh, gods that touch. She wanted to touch herself so bad.

"No? That did not seem like it hurt, Riten." Xiac didn't seem apologetic but she did take her hand away from Shae's cock.

"It's doesn't, it's just... embarrassing..."

"I think you misunderstand, Shae. You are my property. You are not allowed to withhold things from me." Xiac ran her hands up Shae's tummy towards the underside of her breasts. "Especially not this beautiful skin of yours."

Shae was breathing heavy. Fuck she felt so horny and so submissive right then. She'd always been a bottom with her boyfriends but she never knew how intoxicating this feeling of possession could be.

"Ahh fuuuck." Xiac brushed a hand across Shae's swollen nipples. Her boobs were on a growth spurt right now, so they were sooo sensitive.

"Fuck? Is that a curse word, Shae?" Shae realized she'd sworn in english on accident.

"Y-Yes..." Shae admitted. Ji'rai had said she wasn't allowed to withhold things...

"Naughty girl," Xiac whispered playfully, groping her tits slightly more roughly.

Shae saw stars and squirmed against Xiac. She felt a slight tickling on her thigh as a drop of precum started trickling down.

A soft beeping interrupted the sound of Shae' moaning and mewling. Well, it tried to, Shae was far too gone to stop now.

"This had better be important," Xiac muttered. Shae glanced up and saw her interacting with the terminal built into the side of the throne. The terminal was hands-free, like all Rei-sa tech, so Xiac continued petting and fondling Shae while she responded to whatever had demanded her attention.

They stayed like that for... well it felt like forever but was maybe no more than ten minutes. She spent the entire time strongly considering masturbating, the teasing was driving her crazy. Dribbling semen all over the Vakita's gravity lounge seemed like it might upset her though, so she held back. She also didn't know if she was even allowed. Do the Rei-sa even have orgasms or sex?

"There. Done. Now, Riten, I wanted to see if what happens to your body is similar to what happens to ours." What the fuck did that mean?

"Ah!!" Okay so apparently it meant she was going to rub Shae's penis. "Ji'rai, that's..." Shae could barely speak.

"Withhold nothing from me, Shae." It was too much, the teasing and the edging had her right on the brink, and Xiac gave her that push off the edge.

Shae screamed, thrashing around in Xiac's arms while her hips thrust forward again and again into the empty air. Her cum leaked out of her in a manner not fitting of the mind-breaking release she was going through. She almost thrashed herself off the pad, but Xiac and the gravity field kept her in place.

Gasping for breath, Shae slowly calmed down, her vision going blurry. She typically went almost blind for a good thirty seconds after she came, this time might be... longer. Shae exhaled contentedly, leaning back into Xiac. She started stroking Shae's hair again with her other hand (that had better be her other hand, anyway). She felt exhaustion take her, and she drifted off to sleep.

*****

Shae awoke to the sound of arguing. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes groggily. How long had she been asleep?

"And if we were back on Rei, then you'd be absolutely right. We are a long way from Rei, Skaha, how do you think the Confidence will go if it comes to that? The Rei-sa will want someone experienced leading this campaign."

"If you think for a second I would believe such an idiotic bluff then you maybe you are crazy enough to open fire on my ship." Xiac was arguing with another well dressed Rei-sa, or... maybe crazily dressed was a better way to phrase it. She was tall and skinny, her hair woven together in two tails that resembled braids that interwove around her neck like a collar or a noose. Her outfit was made out of a soft-looking green fabric that was solid and tight around her long arms and legs, changing into a loose non-uniform mesh where her limbs met her body. It looked all the world like spandex to her.

"If you continue to interfere with my operations then I would be a Lekka not to. Do your forsaken job. Further unprovoked killings of human civilians that are under guarantee will not be tolerated."

"I am not trying to sabotage this little diplomacy thing you're trying with the savages, Xiac, I know well enough that it will fall apart on its own."

"I do not care if you are doing it on purpose or not. The guerrillas have no real influence or power, you do not need to bombard them indiscriminately."

Skaha glared at Xiac, looking like she was on the verge of agreeing with her, but didn't quite want to do it so easily. She finally noticed that Shae had woken up and was watching them. "Your... Human is doing something."

Xiac glanced over at Shae for a second. "No, she's not. What are you babbling about?"

"Why do you even have that thing in here? You sleep here, Xiac, it could stab you or something," Skaha was eyeing her disdainfully.

"Shae, come here," Xiac beckoned. Shae stood up, she realized she must have been moved back to her mat after she passed out. She walked over to Xiac and Skaha, stopping at Xiac's side and looking up at her. Xiac reached into her desk and pulled out a... was that a sword?? Okay, so maybe it was a Rei-sa sized dagger or a knife. Xiac extended the knife towards Shae handle first. "Take this," she instructed.

Shae reached out nervously and took the knife from her. She was shaking a little bit, and she looked back and fourth between the knife and Xiac. She had no idea what was going on and this was making her very uncomfortable.

"If you want to stab me, Riten, this is the best chance you will ever get."

"Ji'rai I would never..." Shae looked at the knife like it was a poisonous snake. "Please, Ji'rai I don't want to hold this anymore." Xiac took the knife back from her, and gave her a quick pat on the head with her free hand.

"Of course you don't, dear. Now, go and lie back down, you look tired.

Shae felt a wave of relief wash over her once the knife was out of her hands. "Thank you, Ji'rai," she gave a little curtsy the way Reep had shown her and hurried across the room back to her mat.

"Yes, that's very cute. Was that really necessary, Xiac?" Skaha didn't sound impressed.

"Apparently it was. Shae will be assisting me, that is why she is here."

Shae laid back down on her mat and started to doze off a bit, enjoying her little heater while Xiac and Skaha griped at each other for a few more minutes before Skaha eventually left.

"There are some things there for you, Shae. I've also added a few things to your schedule, and given your terminal access to a literature library. Ask Ipla for some recommendations next time you see him." Xiac went back to her desk and sat down, looking very intense as she worked.

Shae looked around and saw a box next to her mat, much like the one that the soldiers had put her stuff into when she'd first boarded the ship. She actually also saw the Vakita's gravity pad was now an empty frame covered in electronics. Shit, she'd come all over the mattress, hadn't she?