understand how a little sharing of emotions can help the diplomatic process, but one thing seemed a little confusing. How does it help with the language problems?”
“The affinity effect goes far beyond mere empathy. The closer the contact, the deeper the affinity; at the deepest levels you can transmit information and ideas freely. Most of the races here speak languages we can never hope to learn in any degree of fluency. We just can’t make the sounds, when their languages even use sound at all. But to get to those deep levels of affinity…”
“You need to have intimate contact. I see how it works. I also see how threatening it could be.” Kay could feel the trembling subsiding. “Victor, I want to ask you a very big favor.”
“Yes?”
“I want you to show me this deep affinity.”
He gave a puzzled look, and then his mouth fell open. “Oh, my.” He pulled away, his gaze dancing away to the corners of the room. “I don’t think the Department would condone that kind of thing.”
“The Department isn’t here. And the sooner you can give me the information I need, the sooner you can get back home.”
“But… my wife…”
“I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.” Kay extended her hand. He took it, and Kay felt a fresh blossoming of fear. The aliens terrified him, true, but the affinity effect scared him too. He had been brave indeed to face it for the three weeks he was stranded here. “Where do these meetings happen?”
“Each embassy has a place, a sanctuary of a kind, where they can make the guest ambassador comfortable- at least physically. Let me show you.” He let go of her hand and crossed to a side door, which opened at his touch. Beyond it lay a circular room about four meters in diameter, with portals scattered around the walls and ceiling. A soft amber light shone from the ceiling, illuminating a shallow bowl-shaped floor scattered with pillows.
“Very nice. It’s missing a few things, but it’s workable.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and led him into the room. She went slowly, monitoring his feelings through her own, trying to keep him from slipping into full-on panic. “Let’s just sit here a while.” Kay pulled up a large firm pillow and sat him down on it, then took another and sat at his feet. Gently, she took off his plain black shoes and began massaging.
He let out a deep sigh as her fingers deftly worked out the knots in his muscles. It was becoming easier for her to segregate his feelings from her own, recognize the ones that were alien to her. It felt a little like a drug, operating on the most primal parts of her mind. She tried to analyze the feelings, the guilt and shame and anxiety that did not normally form a part of her professional life, to find if there was anything that would identify them as foreign.
The feelings faded, however, gradually eroded by the sea of comfort and good will that she sent to him along with the massage. There was little reaction when she gently removed his shirt and turned him over to work on his back. “This doesn’t seem too unpleasant,” she said, keeping her voice low. He murmured some vague syllables of agreement.
There were some stirrings when she turned him over again, and laid gentle kisses on his forehead and lips, but they faded quickly. His emotions stirred again, a mix of guilt and anticipation, when she opened his trousers and wrapped her lips around his flaccid cock. Slowly, that tension melted into the warmth of arousal.
She was not one of those women who walled herself off from the people she serviced, but she wasn’t used to getting turned on this soon in an encounter. Usually she relied on fantasy or memory in order to ignite those emotions. Not this time.
Victor’s desire was flowing into her through the affinity, lighting fires wherever it went. Regardless of the source, her body was reacting. Her breath came sharper. The room felt warmer. She could smell not only his scent coming up, but also her own, even through her clothes.
“You see?” he said, in between breaths. “Even like this…”
She decided she wasn’t going to worry that her body wasn’t reacting the way she expected. After all, wasn’t it a good thing to be turned on during sex? Who cared whether the arousal was home-grown or imported. She was going to enjoy it just the same-and maybe even learn something. Surprised, yes. She was surprised The single- minded maleness of the drive, the unrelenting, testosterone-fueled power, was very unfamiliar. But that didn’t make it any less appealing.
While she was sucking his cock, she quickly pulled off her clothes. This skill had served her well in Berlin, but this time there was an added urgency. She wanted him in a way she had never wanted a man before in her life. It didn’t matter who he was, it didn’t matter that he’d be leaving in a matter of hours, it didn’t matter that she’d probably never see him again in her life. She needed to fuck him, and needed to fuck him now.
She climbed up onto him, took his cock in her hand, and lowered herself onto it, driving his hips into the pillow underneath. She gasped as the sensation broke through, feeling not only the delicious fullness of being penetrated, but also the incredible pleasure of being the penetrator. Simultaneously, she was the fucker and the fuck-ee, riding and ridden, dominant and submissive. She could feel his hand on her breast, and feel her breast in his hand. The buoyant, driving, ecstatic synergy was like nothing she had ever felt. She cried out, growling and weeping and squealing in pleasure. Her mind was a shout caught in an endless echo chamber of ecstasy, an image caught between two mirrors.
Orgasm came quickly, more quickly than she had ever had before, and with far more power. Her heart thudded in her chest, sweat broke out everywhere, and their combined screams echoed from the bare walls, and then…
She was not alone. Victor’s thoughts were there, a mostly-unintelligible mass of impressions, thoughts and feelings, until one finally rose to the surface.
››Thank you.‹‹
››That was incredible,‹‹ she replied. Communicating in this environment was instantaneous and effortless.››I should be the one thanking you, but I understand.‹‹ Of course she understood. The information was right there, offered to her, and she took it.
His mind had been coming apart. He dreaded every day working at the embassy, but going home was just as scary. Would anyone be able to help him? How could they heal a mind that had endured things no human had ever endured? But those worries were gone now. By bringing him here, into the affinity, and giving him a human mind to connect to, she had saved him. Like a cast, guiding a broken limb into its proper shape, her mind gave him the support he needed to pull himself together. He wasn’t healed, not yet, but she could see he had the resources to do it now.
››Now comes the hard part,‹‹ he thought.››My memories, plans, all my thoughts of my work here. It isn’t pretty.‹‹ The experience of contact with Victor through the affinity wasn’t a strictly visual one, but her mind resolved the memories as a ball of sticky black bubbles, held together with slime and webbing and wire.
She hesitated. She could feel Victor’s unease radiating through their link, and no matter how she prepared herself, it would not be pleasant to absorb those memories. The fear reflected back to her from Victor and she knew that the more she waited, the harder the job would be. Bracing herself, she sent back,››Go ahead.‹‹
The memories enveloped her. The terrifying encounters flashed through her too fast to interpret, but the emotional context was clear. This man held a profound shame about sex, which was violated and inflamed every time he needed to contact one of the other races. Knowledge came with these images, knowledge of trade deals and technology transfers, but they were inconsequential compared to the memories of what he had been forced to do to obtain them. I wondered why a man with so many issues would take this job.
The torrent ended abruptly, and Kay felt the contact fade. She became aware of her surroundings to find herself still straddling him, though his softened cock had slipped out. The strange sexual urge that had taken her was gone, and she felt a strange combination of relief and loss. She rolled onto a nearby pillow and let out a long, calming breath.
Victor’s eyes, clearer and steadier, regarded her. “Will you be alright?”
“I think so. Now that the contact is broken, the memories don’t have the same emotional impact. I’ll be able to handle things, I’m sure.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
She smiled. “I know.”
“I guess that doesn’t leave much to say, does it?”
“No. It doesn’t.”
He chuckled and pulled himself up off the floor. “I guess I’ll go pack up my desk. Let me know if you need
