The Naked Planet

Her breast rose and fell steadily and only the faintest sheen of sweat showed on her smooth skin. It was as if she'd strolled through the wood instead of leaping across it like a gazelle.

"Why did you run?" he said. "What was that noise?"

"The makers summon the daughters back to the temple."

"Wait...who is, I mean...what?"

"Hannah must go," she said. "This place is forbidden."

Caleb looked around, a growing sense of unease taking hold of him. "Forbidden...why is it forbidden?"

She didn't answer; she simply turned and took off again, running across the large meadow. Caleb chased her through the tall alien grass, as high as his chest, and as they ran he kept looking back, fearing that something might be gaining on them. But when she reached the far edge of the meadow she stopped, so suddenly that he nearly ran into her.

"What's wrong," he said, with a final glance over his shoulder to make sure no alien beast was about to have him for dinner. "Why did you stop?"

"Hannah is here now."

"Here...what do you mean here?"

"In the grove."

He looked around them. Nothing looked any different than it had on the other side of the meadow. "What are you saying...this place isn't forbidden?"

"No, not forbidden. The grove is Hannah's home."

But as he spun around he could see no walls, no signs, nothing to differentiate this place from where they'd started. "How can you tell that we're in this grove?" he said.

She stepped past him and pointed. "The boundary."

Caleb blinked in surprise. He'd run past in such a panic he hadn't even noticed it: a six foot-wide swath of grass completely flattened in a straight line across the meadow like it had been crushed beneath an invisible wall.

He stepped forward and ran his hand through the air above the swath; the hair on the back of his hand instantly stood on end.

An energy shield, Caleb thought. They're using some kind of force field to keep creatures out...or is it to keep them in? He turned and studied Hannah more closely; her people weren't as primitive as their lack of clothing made them seem.

"Who put up this boundary?"

"The makers," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The makers? And they say it's forbidden to go past here?"

"The makers command the daughters not to leave the grove."

He was about to ask why, when she suddenly started walking away again.

"Hey, where are you going?" he said, hurrying to catch up to her.

"To the temple."

"Why?" he said, as he tried to keep up with her quick stride.

"The makers have summoned the daughters."

"No, I mean, why have they summoned you?"

"Hannah does not know."

"Is it because of me?" he said. "Are they summoning you because of me?"

She turned back to him, confusion in her eyes. "What does Caleb mean?"

"Did they see me land? Did they see my ship land?"

"Land?"

"Yes, land. I'm not from here."

"Hannah knows. Caleb is from the forbidden place," she said.

"No, I'm not. I'm not even from this planet. I come from up there," he said, and gestured toward the sky.

Hannah blinked as she stared into the sky, where strange birds flew overhead. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him halfway around, "Where are Caleb's wings?"

He turned back and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Hannah, I'm serious. I come from far above the sky, from far above the stars; I'm from another planet, called Earth.

"I flew here in the silver ship you saw, and I've been sent here on a mission, a very important mission. That's why it's important that you tell me everything you know. These makers you keep talking about, are they the rulers of your people?"

She frowned, not understanding what he was saying.

"Do they rule your people...tell you what to do?"

She nodded. "The daughters obey the makers."

"And what are they like, these makers, are they like you?"

She shook her head no. "The makers have long, gray hair. At night, when the daughters sleep, the makers come out of the temple."

"They only come out when you sleep?"

She nodded.

"Then how do you know what they look like?"

"Hannah woke up and saw a maker once, walking past the daughters through the dark toward the water."

The word hit him like a thunderbolt. Caleb squeezed her shoulders tightly. "Did you just say you know where there's water?!"

Hannah nodded, confused as to why he was so excited.

"You have to take me there -- right now!"

She shook her head. "Hannah must go to the temple."

"No!" he said. "I need to find the water, and I can't do it without you. Please take me there, take me to the water before you go to this temple."

Hannah hesitated, unsure.

"Look," he said, desperate to convince her, "you said yourself that you don't know why these beings you call the makers are calling you back. What if it's because they know you went to the forbidden place? What if they mean to punish you?"

Hannah scrunched her eyebrows. "Punish? What is punish?"

"You know...hurt you...take you away."

Hannah started at his words, her eyes filled with fear as she stared back in the direction of the temple.

"What is it?" he said. "What's wrong?"

"The makers have already taken some of the other daughters away," she whispered.

"Why would they do that?"

"Hannah does not know. Does Caleb think the makers punish the daughters? Will the makers take Hannah away?!"

"Hey, calm down," he said, hearing the rising panic in her voice. "As long as you stay with me, no one is going to take you away. I'll protect you. Why don't you just take me to the water, and then we can go to the temple together to find out what these makers want."

She hesitated for a few moments, weighing her choices. Finally, she said, "The water is not far. Hannah will take Caleb there."

He let out a relieved sigh, and as she turned and headed through the trees he followed her. He wasn't sure, even if he found water, of how good his chances were of getting a message back to Earth. But he was sure of one thing -- to have any chance at all he'd have to keep far away from the temple and the mysterious makers waiting inside.

They walked through the wood for nearly ten minutes, and Hannah hardly said a word the whole time. Finally, Caleb broke the silence.

"So you, umm, didn't see me...my ship, I mean...falling from the sky?"

Hannah looked back over her shoulder at him and shook her head.

"Then why were you even in the forbidden place?"

She hesitated before finally answering, "Hannah just goes there sometimes."

"Why do you do that...just curious?"

"Ker-yuss?" she said, struggling to pronounce the curious word.

"Yes, curious. It means...eager to learn...wanting knowledge."

She looked back at him, still not sure what he meant.

"Like this," he said, gesturing toward his crotch. "When you first found it you were curious...curious to see what it was."

Hannah turned around, and a sparkle returned to her eyes. She'd been so distracted by the unexpected summons to the temple that she'd nearly forgotten about her new toy.

"Cock," she said. "Hannah wants to see cock. Take off clothes." She immediately reached for the zipper and this time, Caleb didn't stop her.

He'd been trying to stay focused on his mission as they walked. But he'd found it increasingly impossible as he watched her sexy, heart-shaped ass sway back and forth in front of him as he followed her. His cock had responded accordingly, and now all he could think about was how good it had felt when her hand had been down the front of his jumpsuit, touching him.

He fumbled with his belt, unable to tear his eyes off her perfect body, and got it undone just as she pulled his zipper down and past it.

His stiff cock sprang out of his jumpsuit, and she squealed as she stepped back, like she'd spotted a snake. But her fear of the unknown was quickly overwhelmed by her curiosity, and she reached forward and pulled his jumpsuit down far enough for his swollen shaft to swing completely free, hanging heavily in front of him.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at the thick length. "Caleb has a tail!" she said.

He laughed, and said, "It's not a tail. Tails are on the back. This is my cock. Don't you...umm...don't you want to touch it again?"

She nodded and tentatively reached out her fingers toward it.

Caleb's cock twitched in response, aching for her touch. But then his ears, always extra sensitive when he had his cock out, heard something.

The sound had been so faint when they'd been walking that he'd mistaken it for the wind through the trees. But now that it was closer, and now that they weren't moving or talking, he heard it more clearly: a distant, ominous rumble, echoing through the woods.

"What's that?" he asked, as he reluctantly pulled Hannah's hand off his cock and quickly zipped his jumpsuit back up. He'd never heard a noise like it, and wondered if some sort of alien machinery was rumbling toward them.

Hannah pouted as he put his cock away, and then turned to see what had captured his attention. She listened, and said, "What does Caleb mean...the river?"

Caleb's eyes went wide at the word. "A river -- we're near the water?!"

She nodded. "Hannah has brought Caleb to the water."

He ran past her, weaving through the trees as the roar grew louder. He stumbled and rolled down a bank but didn't stop, leaping back to his feet as he kept running forward. And when he burst forth from the trees and saw the sight before him, he felt a surge of joy and relief.

When he'd told her to take him to the water, he'd expected to find a thin trickle or maybe a rivulet. But he'd never expected this. A river raced past him, its water white where it tumbled over dark, half-covered boulders. It was no more than thirty feet across, but to Caleb the sight was awe-inspiring.

He raced to the water's edge and threw himself down on the bank. Cupping his hands together he took a drink of the precious fluid and now, even more than when he first saw Hannah, he prayed that this wasn't some form of deep sleep dream. He hadn't even thought to ask her if it was safe to drink, but as he drank the cold, clean water he thought he hadn't tasted anything sweeter in his life.

Hannah was beside him and he looked up at her, a huge grin on his face as he felt the spray from the river, cool on his skin. "This is amazing!" he said. "I've never seen so much water in my life!"

"There is no water where Caleb is from?"

He shook his head, still in disbelief, and smiled. "Not like this. I mean, there once was, a long time before I was born. But fresh water doesn't just run wild like this on my planet. It's all safely stored and hidden away in artificial aquifers."

"Hidden...why?"

"Well, to make sure no one takes it of course."

She wasn't sure if she'd heard him right. "Take water?"

"I know it probably sounds crazy to you, but on my planet water is more precious than anything. So to me, seeing all this...it's amazing!"

She smiled. "Hannah is glad Caleb is happy."

She took his hand and led him farther down the river. Soon, it leveled out and deepened and the roar of the rapids disappeared behind them.

She reached forward and started to unzip his jumpsuit. "Take clothes off. Swim."

Caleb took a quick step back as he glanced fearfully at the river. "In there? No, I mean...I can't. I don't know how to swim."

She smiled. "Hannah will show Caleb how to swim. Take clothes off." She reached for his zipper but he knocked her hand away.

"Stay away from me. I'm not going in there -- I'll drown!" he said, his eyes filled with fright as he watched the dark river crawl past.

"Fine, Caleb does not have to swim, but take off clothes. Hannah does not like clothes."

He shook his head, clutching his jumpsuit as if it was some sort of talisman that would protect him from the river's depths.

"I won't take them off," he said, taking a step further back from the bank and away from her. "I know wearing them seems strange to you, but I'm keeping them on...I'm keeping them on."

Hannah eyed him with disappointment and turned to the river. She splashed into it and on her third step launched herself into a shallow dive and knifed into the cold, clear water. She reappeared downstream, surfacing with her wet hair glistening in the sun and smiling at him like swimming was the most natural act in the world.

Caleb followed her down the bank as she swam easily against the current, finding eddies and pools to rest in. A tree had fallen across the river and as she neared it she reached out and grabbed one of its branches. Holding on, she let the current lift her as she languorously stretched out in the water on her back, with only her breasts breaking the surface.

As she lazily drifted there, holding onto the end of the branch while the river glided past her, Caleb saw something stir in the shadow of the fallen tree. The dark shape moved from the darkness into the light, its metallic flesh catching the sun as it headed right for Hannah.

"Hannah!" he cried, but her head was tilted back into the river and she couldn't hear him. He quickly drew his disruptor pistol, knowing he'd only have one chance to make the shot. The weapon's aim assist caught the creature's movement and the pistol shifted in his hand as it locked onto its target. He fired and the disruptor beam blasted the alien menace, knocking it sideways as it floated lifelessly to the surface.

Hannah heard the shot and spun around in alarm to see what had caused the noise. A look of shock crossed her face when she saw the silvery body appear and she stood up in the waist-high water, splashing toward it to grab it before it floated past.

She was confused as she held the small creature, no longer than her forearm, in her hands. The disruptor beam had left no wound, but the creature was dead.

"What did Caleb do to fish?"

"Fish? That's a fish? It -- it was coming right toward you. I thought it was going to hurt you, so I killed it."

A look of horror crossed Hannah's face. "No!" she cried, as she held the lifeless creature in the water, moving it back and forth, as if she thought it could come back to life in her hands. "No kill."

The river caught the fish and pulled it free from her hands, taking it to its watery grave.

She watched it disappear and then turned back to Caleb, who was still standing on the bank holding his disruptor pistol.

"No," she said. "No kill!"

Caleb stammered as he tried to apologize. "I -- I didn't know what it was. I thought it was going to -- "

She was on him in a heartbeat, and her hand locked on the barrel of the disruptor pistol.

"Careful!" he said, shocked at how quickly she'd moved. He tried to pull the weapon away, worried that it might go off and hurt her, but her grip was like a vise. And then she wrenched it in the opposite direction, easily tearing it free from his grip.

Caleb winced as he grabbed his fingers; she'd nearly broken the one on the trigger when she'd pulled the pistol away. And then he watched in amazement as she turned her anger on the weapon, clenching her teeth as she squeezed it in her fist.

His jaw dropped as the casing cracked, and he heard the carbon fibers splintering as the disruptor crystals inside shattered into pieces. Then, with one final display of Amazonian strength, she crushed the pistol in her hand and it exploded into harmless fragments.

He stared at her in disbelief. He'd seen those weapons withstand hammer blows, but she'd shattered it like a light bulb. Her strength...her speed...was incredible.

Her appearance was so human-like, that he'd nearly forgotten he was on an alien planet. He'd already seen a glimpse of her people's technology, now that he'd seen a glimpse of their power he knew more than ever he had to get back to his ship. Had to find a way off this planet so that he could send a signal back to Earth to let them know what he'd found.

Hannah took a step toward him and he quickly took two steps back, stumbling as he fell backward onto the grassy bank.

She stood over him, her wet hair plastered to her face, with her eyes filled with sorrow as she shook the last few fragments of the destroyed weapon from her hand. "No kill, Caleb. No kill."

He nodded quickly in agreement, and she reached down and lifted him effortlessly to his feet.

"Hannah leave now...go to temple."

He saw the sadness in her eyes as she turned to go, and he hurried after her, trying to explain.

"Hannah, please. I only killed the fish because I thought it was going to hurt you." When she ignored him and kept walking, he added, "Besides, it's only a fish. If you hadn't let it go we probably could have eaten it."

She spun around, a shocked look on her face. A tree was nearby, and she stepped toward it and plucked a purple fruit from a low-hanging branch.

"Eat fruit. No eat fish," she said, thrusting it toward Caleb.

He took the fruit cautiously, turning it around as he sniffed it. "You eat these?"

She nodded and picked a second fruit for herself. Her teeth bit into the succulent flesh and she sucked at the juice inside.

Caleb cautiously took a bite, and as the sweet flavor flooded his mouth his eyes went wide in surprise.

"Good?" Hannah said.

"Good? It's amazing!" he said, as the juice trickled down his chin.

Hannah smiled as she reached out and wiped the juice from his chin with two fingers, and then put them in her mouth and sucked them clean.

Caleb stepped toward the tree to pick her another fruit, but stopped when he heard shouts from farther downriver.

"What's that?" he said. "Is it the makers?"

"No," Hannah said, cocking an ear toward the voices. "It is only the daughters, swimming at the waterfall."

She led Caleb along the river until they reached a point where it seemed to disappear into thin air over the edge. They'd reached the top of the waterfall, and Caleb's eyes were filled with wonder as he watched the seemingly endless flow of water churn over the edge and tumble twenty feet to a pool below.

"It's amazing," he said, "and so beautiful."

Hannah pointed to the pool beneath them and he ducked back as he saw the swimmers below, the source of the shouts they'd heard.

She went to call out to them, but Caleb quickly clamped a hand across her mouth.

"Wait!" he whispered.

"Why?"

Caleb glanced at the pool below. He knew he had to get back to his ship, had to tell Earth about this planet. But his instinct told him that wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed, and right now secrecy was his only weapon.

"I just -- I just don't want anyone else to know about me yet," he said. "I'm a stranger here, and there's still so much about your world I don't know. Can you do that for me? Can you keep me a secret for now?"

She eyed him carefully, listening to her friends in the pool below, and then gave him a playful smile. "Will Caleb take off clothes? Show Hannah cock?"

He nodded yes and, after checking the girls down below to make sure they couldn't see him, nervously smiled at her as he started undoing his belt.

"Then Hannah will keep Caleb secret," she said, and reached out for his zipper.

As she unzipped his uniform, he moved a leafy branch aside, giving him a clearer view of the pool below. Four naked, nubile girls were swimming in it, and they all appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties like Hannah.

She already had her hand down the front of his jumpsuit, wrapped around his thick shaft. Her other hand was trying to tug his outfit down past his waist.

"Careful," Caleb whispered, as he pulled his arms out of the sleeves of his uniform.

"Take clothes off," Hannah said.

"That's far enough," he said, holding his uniform just below his hips, ready to pull it up at any second if they were discovered.