Oath Of Seduction: Seducing Sharon

card. It had her name on it. She studied it in silence. Obviously, he really had made preparations for her. As Liken handed the officer his ID card and responded to his questions, Sharon waited impatiently. She wasn’t going to drop this discussion.

The customs officer handed Liken back his card and then asked for hers. With a bureaucratic look of apathy that was recognizable on any planet, he glanced at her card and then handed it back. With a disinterested smile, he waived them forward. Sharon went a few more steps and then halted in awe.

She had been so focused on Liken that she had not noticed her surroundings. She gulped as she took in the two portals for the first time. She had never traveled off planet or seen one of the portals. Each portal structure was at least two stories tall. Made like an oval gate, the metal was unrecognizable. There were lever-like devices to the side that appeared to operate the opening and closing of the gate. Inside the open gate, was dense, flat blackness.

It would be like stepping into nothingness. She watched the other portal as Shimerians coming to Earth stepped through unharmed. They didn’t appear to be missing any appendages.

Liken, remembering his awe and momentary fear when seeing the portal the first time, waited for her to begin walking again. In this situation at least, he would give her time.

Reminding herself logically that Liken had obviously survived it, she started walking. At the edge of the portal he stopped and looked down at her. “Sharon, we cannot go at the same time. Unpledged females such as yourself must arrive on Shimeria alone to signify you are coming of your own free will. I will go first. Once I disappear, step through.”

She pulled her eyes away from the portal to look up at him.“You trust me to step through after you?” she said with some surprise.

“Of course,” he said with a smile. “You have courage and will not break your oath. Besides, my mind brushed yours. I have some sense of what you feel. You have been through much today, but you are curious, too. I will be waiting on the other side,sherree. Once there, I will satisfy your curiosity. I will satisfy you in any way you desire.” With a wink and a quick kiss, he stepped through. With one step, he was gone and Sharon was left staring into the dense blackness of the portal.

For about ten seconds, she considered proving him wrong. With a sigh, and a muttered “Idesire to stay here, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Know-It-All” under her breath, she stepped through. She had made her choice. What the hell.

Chapter 3

For a moment, time stood still. Sharon felt a numbing blackness pressing in all around her. Her lungs seized, she couldn’t breath. Her body felt as if she was falling, but she couldn’t see or hear anything. Then, before true panic could take hold, light blinded her and she felt air rush into her lungs.

She was standing on the other side of the gate. Liken quickly gathered her close, whispering softly, “Well done,sherree. The disorientation will pass in just a second. It is a little overwhelming at first. Just concentrate on your breathing. In, out, deep breaths…”

Sharon looked up at him and said, “I…don’t…like…portals. I’ve just…decided.” She gave him a weak smile. “That sucked.” His arms felt warm and the weight of them around her felt comforting.

He laughed. “You will be fine.” Gesturing with one arm to the room around them, he said more seriously, “Welcome to my world, Sharon.” His voice was quiet, rather solemn.

Sharon looked around her. She didn’t really know what she expected, but the room around her looked pretty much like the room they had just left. Even the bored customs officer looked the same, only his sheer size and that vague power the Shimerians seemed to have in common gave him away. He was gesturing with one arm for her to proceed. His voice carried strained politeness, although the undertone of impatience was clear. “Progress forward,Isshal. More passengers await.”

Sharon’s mouth dropped open. What an insulting planet! She heard herself say with quiet dignity, “No problem, asshole.”

Liken gave a choked laugh. “He did not call you an asshole. You insult him,sherree. He was merely addressing you formally.Isshal is the Shimerian equivalent of “ma’am”.”

The transport officer was looking at her with a combination of anger and shock. His face had gone red.

Sharon felt her own color rise along with her embarrassment. “I’m so sorry. Really. I’m new here and I thought…”

Liken laughed and said, “It is okay, Sharon. Let us move along.”

She let him pull her through the room. She definitely wasn’t on Earth anymore, no matter how familiar everything looked. Of course, she had expected something totally different for her first experience of another planet. Feeling somewhat disappointed, she followed Liken up two flights of stairs and into a large lobby area.

Liken, sensing her disappointment, said, “It is a way to help with the disorientation. Making both buildings look essentially the same makes the drama of the voyage a little more mundane. It is supposed to be calming. Being on a new world for the first time can be somewhat overwhelming. If you will notice, the signs in this building are in various languages. The top is Shimerian, but underneath are several Earth languages as well as other planetary tongues. There are differences here, but after the shock of the trip, it is best absorbed slowly.”

Understanding the common sense of his remarks, Sharon remained silent as they walked through the lobby. There were no windows, just the bland walls of an office building, although they looked pink. She knew other people had to have left the building before them, but she couldn’t see any exit doors. She let Liken guide her toward one of the walls. As they moved, she thought to ask, “What time is it here?”It had been late afternoon when they left Earth.

“It is early moonstime. Ahhh, I believe about eight o’clockin the evening, byyour time. I should probably remind you that Shimerian moonslight is different.” Liken pushed a large button on the wall. She watched in amazement as part of the wall opened and slid inside itself.

“Different how…” the words had no sooner left her mouth than she could tell he had opened a sliding door. Outside the building was a city street, similar to the streets where they had left. There were no vehicles or modes of transportation visible. There were offices made of rocklike materials similar to brick, but they were glowing in the moonlight. The light was pure silver. Looking up, she saw two large silvery moons overhead right next to each other.

Liken saw where she was looking in the evening sky.“Those are Tilus and Noman,”he explained.

Stepping out into the light, she noticed her skin glimmering as if she had been dusted in mother of pearl. It was strange. Liken’s skin remained the same color. “Why am I shiny?” It was bizarre, but kind of neat.

He said, “I do not know. I am sure there is a scientific reason, but all humans experience the same thing in moonslight. It is very attractive. Some Shimerian women even try to emulate it by applying glittering powder. It never looks the same.”He could feel his body harden at the sight of her glowing in the moonslight. She looked delicate and beautiful.

“So, there are native Shimerian women here?” she asked. She had seen women travelers paired with some of the Shimerian men back in the portal room. The women had the same dark hair and intense charisma of their male counterparts.

“Yes, but very few.” He sounded a little sad. Then, his mouth lifted in a smile, “Of course, if there were more, I might never have met you,sherree.”

Visions of him kissing another woman as he had kissed her in the empty office came to mind. She didn’t like the thought.She didn’t like the feeling of jealousy that accompanied it, either.Resolutely pushing those thoughts aside, she asked, “How do we get to your home?”

Liken watched the changing expressions on her face. That brief flash of jealousy pleased him immensely. His little librarian was feeling possessive already. Things were progressing nicely. Not wanting her to guess at his happiness, hepointed to a sign saying “shimvehi.” There was a staircase leading downward next to it. “It is like your subway. We will be using it to get toour home, Sharon.”