Kaji's Challenge Read online

  Kaji’s Challenge

  by

  Alyssa Hope

  Text copyright 2017

  Alyssa Hope

  All Rights Reserved

  Is it necessary to say that any resemblance between aliens (blue or otherwise) and any living people (real or otherwise) is purely coincidental?

  All beings engaged in sexual acts are over the legal age of consent in their own particular universes.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 10.

  Chapter 1.

  Kaji fidgeted, staring at the wall in front of him and fighting down the urge to shoot someone. Anyone at all, preferably one of these idiots who was blocking his way to what seemed to be a very simple and perfectly logical objective. He wanted, needed, to get to his beloved, and instead he was playing dress-up, talking to fools and pretending to be somebody he wasn’t.

  He hadn’t asked to be an Ambassador, even if it was just a temporary assignment. He was wearing a jacket that was too tight and a neck piece that was strangling him, and staring at an over-decorated wall next to a door that has been – politely - closed in his face. Even worse, there was a blank wall in his mind where communication with his triad partner should have been. He was in agony, and fighting for self-control. The fact that he had been assured that it was a great honor to be given this assignment wasn’t making it any better.

  Maru and Tari laughing at him in their heads, while they kept perfectly straight faces, didn’t make it any easier. This one nasty little official was going to keep them waiting just to prove how important he was, or simply because he could. Protocol demanded that they remain standing while they waited, because apparently there was a rule against getting comfortable. The clothes proved that rule, if nothing else.

  The ship’s Captain, Oki, had explained it all to them in a strategy meeting as they were approaching this planet several days ago. Their ship was making a stop to restock at a place where they knew there were a number of those who they referred to as the Lost Children. These were ones who had been stolen from their home planet many years ago, when they were very young. Their Children on this planet, now young adults in terms of years but still in their androgynous stage, were not at risk, as far as anyone knew, but the ship needed some supplies anyway, so they would use the re-stocking as an excuse to find them and bring them home.

  Their planet had a treaty with this planet, so they weren’t able to just arrive on the planet, take their Children back and shoot anyone who got in their way. Arriving in the guise of a diplomatic and trade mission would allow them to locate these of their Lost Children and formulate a plan from there.

  There were no slaves on the planet, Captain Oki had explained, at least not alien ones. It was illegal to own the citizens of other planets as slaves anywhere within the aligned and supposedly civilized worlds who had been signatories to the treaty. It wasn’t, however, illegal to keep indentured servants, and to make sure that they never had two coins to their names so they couldn’t make any choices about their own lives, including leaving the planet. It was also perfectly legal to buy and sell servant’s contracts, and there was a lot of leeway in how servants could be treated. Kaji didn’t see how this differed from slavery, but he was only a pretend diplomat, so what did he know?

  The Ambassador, the real one back on their home planet, who had supported them before, had made it clear that he didn’t want to hear about buildings being razed to the ground or piles of bodies. He would, of course, find some way of explaining those if they were necessary, but he did hope it wouldn’t be necessary.

  He would also back up their story of this being a diplomatic and trade mission, and claim to know Kaji personally, and vouch for what a fine up-standing young officer he was, and of excellent family. Apparently these things mattered here. Kaji’s training had been more to do with hand-to-hand combat and weapons, and he wondered if he knew enough about formal protocols and which fork to use.

  Oki had just smiled at him and assured him that with the diversity of species, customs and manners across the universe, the secret was to look assured and keep your nose in the air. Kaji had proven himself to have both initiative and discretion, and that was basically all that was required. That and self-confidence. If you had done something it was because you had intended to, and therefore it was the correct thing to do.

  He’d spent several days watching recordings of the Ambassador in meetings and at conferences, and had learned a lot. Thrust and parry - far more subtle, but still the same strategy as sword play. There were even elements similar to the game of poker his human friends had introduced him to. Keep a straight face and don’t give your hand away.

  The other team from the ship, arriving on the planet early tomorrow, would have an easier time of it. They were shopping for a variety of supplies and trade goods, and would take the opportunity to poke around all kinds of interesting places and talk to all kinds of creatures, many of whom wouldn’t even have bad manners.

  Between the two teams, they hoped to find all of their Children quickly. They knew some of them were here, but they were having trouble pin-pointing their locations, which was unusual. They couldn’t even get a sense of how many there were, and Kaji was finding that very frustrating.

  The emerging bonds which formed between the triads partners usually made it simple to locate their loved ones, as they were drawn to each other instinctively. Many of the crew on the Crusader, including Kaji, had volunteered for this extended mission, probably many years before they saw their home planet again, because they knew they were looking for their beloveds out in the stars. Once they got to the right planet, going directly to them was not a problem.

  This time there was something wrong, some interference. He knew that at least one of his triad partners was here on this planet, as did Tari and two of those on the supply team. Six of them, four partners, maybe even eight partners, if they each had two in this place, although that was unlikely. There could also be some Children not in triads with crew members, of course, so they couldn’t make any hasty conclusions. No Children would be left behind.

  Hopefully as soon as they could get out and about in this overrated pile of buildings and filth that was the only large city on this backwards planet, they’d get a better sense of where their Children were, and how many of them they had to rescue. With one team moving in what passed for high society and the other in lower circles, it should be simple.

  Now Kaji was standing here, with his nose in the air, waiting to be admitted to the office of some minor dignitary or another who thought he was important and wanted everyone else to know it too. Kaji’s team, dressed as servants, stood slightly behind him and off to one side, as would be proper on this planet.

  A tall thin creature who had his nose even higher in the air opened the office door and motioned him to enter. It waved one hand at the other two. “They can wait here.”

  Kaji didn’t even break stride. “They are with me.”

  The three of them entered the office, and Kaji bowed deeply to the small miserable-looking creature behind the desk. His team stepped back to stand against the wall, total indifference on their faces. When he moved, they moved. When he was busy, they stood and waited. They also watched, listened and took mental notes. With the advantage of being telepathic, they could communicate with the ship if they needed to, as well as each other.

  The official, with a long title, including Minister of Interplanetary Trade, and no real power, was a small pinched man who didn’t look
like he had a happy life – and wanted to make sure no-one else did either. He didn’t even stand up when Kaji entered, obviously willing to take advantage of every way to make Kaji feel small. Either that or because he knew that Kaji would have towered over him if he had stood? What a silly small people these were. Kaji kept his face expressionless.

  Introductions over with, Kaji and the official settled in for an hour of excruciatingly boring small talk, by the end of which Kaji would have been happy to shoot himself if it gave him a reason to leave. It didn’t help that the two behind him were laughing at him in their minds, and making bad jokes about this small official and his bad taste in furnishings.

  This small self-important creature assured him that their supply team would be welcomed on the planet, although that assurance was a formality. Money was welcome everywhere.

  “We will assign a guide to them, to make their task easier.”

  Kaji raised his nose, slightly.

  “Many thanks, but I know how busy your staff are.” He had yet to see anyone here in the palace doing anything. “My team are professionals, and well trained. I would be shamed if they needed to take up anyone else’s time to do their jobs.”

  The official nodded, and was silent. Thrust and parry.

  Kaji finally achieved his main goal, which was an invitation to a palace reception the next night. They thought that this event was going to be an important part of their mission. Most of the important and wealthy people on this nasty little planet would be there, and he would be able to make subtle enquiries about the presence of any blue servants. Their people were a lovely rich shade of blue, and although the Lost Children would not have the brilliance of color of the adults who had been nourished in their family groups, they would still be distinctive.

  He knew that being seen to want something too badly would raise its price, or even make it unattainable, so they had prepared a story, one that would stop these people from simply hiding any blue servants away. The blue ones they would want to buy the contracts of were of some vaguely related species, and they had agreed to return any of them they came across to their home planet as part of some treaty. There were more treaties than there were sentient creatures in the universe, and no-one could keep track of them all.

  Some minor obligation to another species would not make their Children as valuable as would the truth, which was that they would give everything they had, even their lives, to get their Children home. No-one needed to know that, at least right now.

  If all the guests at the reception were as bad as this little creature it would be a hideous evening for him, but all of the guests would be bringing their own servants with them, and he had been assured that servants everywhere liked to gossip. Even if there were no blue ones to be seen at the reception, his own servants could mingle and talk behind the scenes, and gather information. They would also have the fun of it, he thought bitterly.

  He wished, briefly, that he was back home on his peaceful green planet, with his beloveds already safe and by his side and their adopted baby in his arms. Maybe one of his beloveds would be bearing, belly rounded with their child … Lost in this pleasant fantasy, he had to pretend to be deliberating on an answer when the small creature paused and stared at him.

  ‘He wants to know what your tastes in art are’, Maru prompted him. ‘He seems to think you are too primitive to have any taste at all.’

  ‘Thank you!’

  Kaji pulled himself together, with a visible effort. “Oh yes, art! I’m sorry, but there is so much depth to that subject, it just takes my breath away. And yet so much these days merely parades as art, doesn’t it, truly appalling … The Great Restoration, of course …”

  He debated boring the official as much as that thing bored him, but it would serve no purpose. He made his point, and then brought the conversation back to the pretentious little man’s own appalling taste, which seemed to please the thing.

  Chapter 2.

  Back at their rooms that evening, they tried to make sense of it. There were too many things that they didn’t understand here.

  ‘Everyone is polite, in a rude kind of way, but they look at us like we are some kind of strange animals. Is it our beautiful blue color? They do not seem to have a lot of variation in theirs, just all that boring light brown.’

  ‘Why would color matter? Our money is good.’

  ‘I don’t know, I just feel like they are looking down on us. Maybe it’s just those stupid little people in the palace. Have they made the connection between us and our Lost Children? Do they treat them like lesser creatures too?’

  ‘Our guns are good too.’

  ‘Enough, Maru. We must be patient, or we put our beloved ones at risk.’

  Maru just looked at him, probably knowing that what he really wanted was a direct approach, too. They were all getting worried, and frustrated.

  Kaji sat quietly looking at the map of the city and opening his mind up, but he couldn’t feel his third. Had he been wrong? No, they weren’t all wrong, their triad partners were here, and he had to be patient. A lot of things affected the emerging bonds and their ability to communicate with each other.

  It was the same with Tari. His third was here, he knew that, too, but he had been unable to communicate with him, even a little bit.

  There was something wrong, but he and Tari would find their two whatever it took, those two and the others, and get them off this miserable little planet and away from these miserable little people. Then they would be taken care of, and loved, always. The Crusader wouldn’t leave without all their Children. If all else failed, the ship was very well armed. They just had to find their people first, before they blew up the planet.

  Kaji slept poorly that night in a narrow lumpy bed in a cold room, but it wasn’t those things that disturbed his sleep. He dreamed of his triad lovers calling out to him, waiting for him to rescue them. Then he was rolling around naked with them, and bare skin was rubbing against bare skin, and hungry mouths found his breasts, and he found their breasts and nursed, and he could feel his final morph beginning. His penis grew and began to throb, and his hole leaked in readiness for his lovers, and he felt the same changes happening with them. He cried out in joy and thrust into eager hands, and then his lovers cried out in pain and left him, and he was left alone in the bed.

  They were here, and close, they must be. He stroked his penis in amazement. He had been on the verge of a climax, and he would not be able to do that without his triad lovers. Both of them here? His body was now almost completely sexually adult, hermaphroditic as the adults of his people were, and was becoming more so with every hour that he was on this planet. His breast ached to nurse his triad lovers, to begin the bond. The ritual nursing, of all on all, was such a huge part of creating the link between them and his body was ready for it.

  They needed him and he couldn’t reach them, for all the warrior that he was supposed to be. He shivered, and tried to get back to sleep again, but couldn’t. He tried to send thoughts out to his triad, but again it felt like his thoughts were hitting a wall.

  “Kaji? Are you alright”?’

  ‘Sorry, Maru. Dreams. Of my triad. They are here, but not here. How …?’

  ‘We’ll find them. We are smarter than these pretentious little beings, and we’ll find our people.’

  Tari was lying awake as well. ‘There is something very wrong. I am morphing, so they are here in this place. I can feel them, but not feel them, and then I feel nothing but pain from them. It is almost as though trying to find them causes them the pain? How can that be?’

  ‘Maybe we need to not think of them, if doing so is hurting them. Once we find them, they will be safe with us always, and no more pain.’

  ‘Walk away to get closer? Yes, maybe. An ancient strategy, but still a good one.’

  Kaji was jolted out of his musings by a different voice in his head, an alien one. ‘You’ve come for them?’

  He sat upright and stared at Tari and Maru, but his friends o
bviously hadn’t heard anything. He gestured for silence.

  ‘Yes. Who are you?’

  His two companions stared at him now, trying to focus and hear what he heard.

  ‘I don’t know. It hurts them when they try to talk to you. You have to get them out.’

  ‘Out of where? Where are you? Who are you?’

  There was no response.

  Tari and Maru were both sitting upright now, staring at him, having heard his side of that conversation.

  Kaji sat up long into the night, wondering who had reached out to him, and wishing that this could have been a nice simple mission where they could just shoot the fools and rescue their children. Now, knowing his loved ones were close to him and in need, frustration warred with anger. This was just getting more and more complicated. And why was there an alien who could talk to him and to his beloved, but not to the others on his team?

  Kaji stayed in their rooms in the morning, not wanting to but knowing that a proper important official would not be up and about, poking around in markets, before noon. This was another reason not to be anyone important.

  It gave him time to try and reach his new friend again, but there was only silence. Was his friend being hurt by the communication attempts as well? Who was the alien, and why did he care about Kaji’s people?

  At a decent time of day Kaji emerged from their rooms with his servants in tow, and pretended to enjoy a leisurely lunch before heading out to see the town. They met the supply team, who had spent a productive day in the markets already, and made a show of filling them in. Their hosts didn’t know they were telepathic, and they saw no reason to let them know.

  The Children were all in the main city, everyone seemed in agreement on that at least, but no-one could sense any of them directly.

  ‘How can we know they’re here but not sense them?’