Kal’s favorite sexual acts are those that allow him to watch the face of his sexual partner to see the pleasure he brings to them. He enjoys bringing pleasure to another and he has learned a lot about the various species of the universe through sexual intercourse. He has enjoyed sexual encounters with a being of every IP represented culture, except for Earthlings, and it is rare that he has had an unpleasant encounter. One encounter in particular stands out as his worst experience and it happened so long ago that he often forgets it. He’d met a Fhetatian couple, male and female, who were in the Regions hiding out after they stole a store of valuable goods from their section King. They did well for themselves in the Regions by trading their stolen wares and they arranged a meeting with Kal that was organized by the Ointite man that Kal was loyal to at the time. The Ointite man was called Tazil and he protected Kal from threats in exchange for his companionship, but he also used Kal to perform favors for his friends or others that he bartered with.
Tazil left Kal with the Fhetatian couple in the covered stronghold of a powerful criminal organization where the couple had bought their way to prominence. He was led into their home that was fashioned like many homes in the Regions that were not spacecraft, mostly welded metal with simple doorways and windows with no covering. The home of the Fhetatians was crowded and there was a raucous party raging when Kal was introduced to them. They were inside the home surrounded by others in an orgy. Kal wasn’t uncomfortable with the crowd of sex, but it all seemed very aggressive. The couple looked at him with sinister smiles and then asked him to perform. They presented a naked Rhasdwiis female who was chained and apparently their property. When Kal protested, he was assaulted and his clothes were ripped from his body while the couple watched and laughed. Kal was raped and he only managed to escape the couple when everyone had fallen asleep. When he was back to Tazil, he told him about the encounter because he wanted Tazil to do what he did next.
Tazil was a member of the Ointite Mind Snatchers, a group from the planet Oin that were banished from their homeworld for abusing the very special telepathic talent that all Ointites have, but never use. Tazil was a scary man. He had the large head common to Mind Snatchers, and the veins that bulged his temples showcased the intense concentration of which he was capable. Tazil went to the stronghold and exploded the heads of the Fhetatian couple without ever touching them.
Kal had strong feelings for Tazil, and it pained him to end their association after he met Yiel Dharle, but he knew that Yiel and his association with the fabled Xx Dictator could secure the Safe Zone that he had endured so much to bring about. Their last meeting was tense.
“You no longer need me,” Tazil said somberly, not looking at Kal. “I understand that you must do what is in your best interests. But know that leaving means you are just any other being of these regions to me and my family. Good luck in your pursuit of Nothing.”
Kal could sense his anger and rather than rile him up, Kal decided to leave quietly and he prayed that he never encountered Tazil or the Mind Snatchers ever again.
His time with Yiel was better than any period of his life in the Regions. He got to know Yiel’s friends well and they accepted him because they accepted the explanation that he was an asset Yiel used in diplomatic negotiations with other powerful criminal organizations.
Kal took to Yiel quickly and he realized soon after he went to live with him that Yiel excited him more than most anyone else and he looked forward to their time alone when he could slowly clean Yiel’s feathers before carefully massaging his bulging sexual organ that was like the cloaca of birds on Earth, and Kal did something to Yiel that he had only ever done with his first love, Pen Nuren; he penetrated him with his penis that was longer than his hand and similar in shape to a human penis, but prehensile and capable of removing eggs from a fertile female.
That encounter sealed their love for one another. When they were done, they talked very candidly as they sat casually on Yiel’s bed.
“There is no dictator,” Yiel said. He was rolling a cigarette that was made of jarra weeds, named for the avian creatures that were abundant on Hafjeran, like the weeds that were dried and usually smoked after meals when one was satisfied.
“What do you mean?” Kal asked. He wanted to believe in the myth of Xx, but he knew that the existence of a leader in the Regions would make attaining his goals of peace too easy, and nothing came easy in the Regions.
“You know what I mean,” Yiel said. “No one rules all of this. I made him up. The Mind Snatchers aren’t based in the Regions, some of them just live here, but they have a lot of power. They don’t have any need to be in control of everything, they’re mostly just recruiting for their mobile army and whatever nonsense they’re up to. There’s a group of Bromeris, the Scholars or whatever stupid name they call themselves, but they don’t bother anyone that doesn’t bother them. We’re the other big power and we take what we need, fight whoever stands in the way. If there was a leader, they would be Mind Snatcher, Scholar, or Dharle, and none of us have interest in that. There is no dictator.”
“Why would you make it up?”
Yiel shrugged. “I thought maybe I could do it. I tested it out, saw how people would react to it. No one with power cares, but people like you, scraping together an existence, you wanted to believe there was someone bigger than all of this. I don’t have any need for that though. I hoped the other big players would be rattled by the notion, but they hunkered down and got meaner so I backed off of it. No need to rock the boat unnecessarily.”
After they slept, Kal woke the next day and found a space spacesuit with a bulbous helmet, like a fish bowl, and he manually tinted it dark black so that when he wore it, he could see through it, but the observer saw only black.
When Yiel woke, Kal was standing next to the bed with the black helmet and Yiel startled to find his weapon.
“It’s me,” Kal said, removing the helmet before Yiel shot him.
“What are you doing?” Yiel said furiously.
“This is Xx. I’ll wear it, and you back me up while I negotiate peace.”
Yiel shook his head slowly. He couldn’t say no to Kal, not after the experience they had shared together. It might make Kal mad and unwilling to do it again.
“Fine, but this better double my haul back to Hafjeran.”
“Order breeds success,” Kal said with a bright smile as he slipped the helmet back onto his head.
PRL Serials 