Part One:
The Terrace

Zhaan spoke into her comm-badge: “Are you sure that one of Moya´s shuttles is incapable of picking us up, Pilot?”

“Positive. The nebular gasses that Moya inadvertently ingested must be carefully purged over a period of days. The shuttle you and Chiana flew cannot return while this is taking place, for all the shuttles were effected by the gas and must be cleared.”

Zhaan sighed in frustration. She and Chiana had gone down to the uninhabited planet to explore a high mountain castle. Chiana had initially wanted to go, but Zhaan joined her to make sure the Nebari didn´t steal anything. Now, this happened. Zhaan swore under her breath.

“On a brighter note, the weather should be fairly light and warm. According to Moya´s sensors, there may be one solar flare, perhaps two. Crichton intends to attempt another wormhole while you are down there, but the solar activity appears too light for him to do more than experiment.”

Zhaan considered with an interior grin that perhaps this trip wasn´t a total loss. “How soon to the first flare?”, she asked, trying to hide her hunger.

“Within the next quarter-arn or so. It should be intense, but brief. It will not be a danger to you or Chiana. Communications will be run infrequently to avoid being monitored by any unknown hostiles, so we will be running what Crichton calls ‘radio silent´.”

Brief, frell!, Zhaan thought. Then, she spoke into the comm-badge. “Well, at least there is a stable food source down here, so we won´t starve. Wish the others well, I will cease communication now.” With that, she cut the connection.

Turning to Chiana, who looked rather sheepish, she said tersely, “Well, it seems we have no choice but to explore this castle of yours.”

Chiana shrugged and said, “I´m sorry. I didn´t know that the little lever would open Moya´s vents up. I´m a thief, not a frelling engineer.”

Zhaan sighed. “Well, come on, we might as well settle inside the castle somewhere.”

They trudged up the mountain pass towards the strange, alien edifice.

The castle was hundreds of cycles old, and appeared as empty as the planet. There was evidence of a disused spaceport in a deserted town nearby, so the inhabitants may have left the planet. While it was a beautiful planet, there was indication that industry had left scars on it, so the people probably had left the planet to let it heal. There was no sound of civilization, just the quiet songs of animals.

The castle itself was a mystery all its own. Apparently, it had not been constructed with individual stones and masonry, but carved out of the mountain rock. Furthermore, there were occasional pockets of hot air geysers that kept the castle walls and interior moderately warm. The planes and angles of the castle reached like fingers towards the sky.

Zhaan and Chiana entered through a partially collapsed doorway. There was remarkably no dust in the main entrance chamber, and soon they saw why. A remote little machine, like a DRD, was moving quietly throughout the castle, keeping it nearly spotless.

Chiana glanced at this little robot, which was grey and not the yellow she was familiar with in little helpers. She figured that this little droid had nothing of value, and looked elsewhere.

Zhaan meanwhile looked around the entire room. Mildly dark, the main source of illumination seemed to be prismatic crystals that hung in ornamental arrangements from the ceiling. Very pretty, but the crystals only worked partially, as some of the crystals had fallen and shattered over the years. More light was showing through holes in the ceiling.

Chiana pointed to Zhaan´s left and said, “Hey! That might lead to a treasury room or something!” Zhaan looked over to where Chiana was pointing and saw a passageway with stairs leading upward. She turned and frowned at her companion.

“We are NOT here to plunder the riches of dead kings, Chiana!”

“Well, it´s not like anyone here is going to be wanting it anytime soon”, she replied, shrugging.

Zhaan sighed and said, “Well, just remember the arrangement.”

“Yes, mother. You will accompany me to any place that might have a hint of treasure or valuables in it.” Chiana looked irritated.

They ascended the stairs together.

Reaching the top, they opened a tall, wooden door and came onto a stone terrace. Zhaan smiled and said, “Perfect! This will be wonderful for my photogasm!”

Chiana looked confused. “Photogasm? What´s that?”

Zhaan turned to her and said, “Delvians are very sensitive to intense solar flares, and we experience extreme sexual pleasure during solar flare activity.”

Chiana´s eyes goggled. “So, uhm, you get, uhm, you get…”

“We get incredibly aroused. It is most wonderful.” Zhaan looked skyward, “The flare Pilot mentioned will start soon, so I will be… indisposed. You may wait here if you like, or not. Just don´t go too far away.”

“I won´t.” Chiana was interested in what Zhaan had said, so she responded. “No, uh, I´ll stay here so you don´t worry about me stealing anything.”

“As you wish”, replied Zhaan, her voice becoming thick.

Then Zhaan turned towards the sun and began to undress.

First, she lowered her outer robe to the ground and it slid slowly down her legs. Next, Zhaan reached for the edges of her white rode neckline and parted it, letting it cling to her azure body. It held onto every curve, almost sliding downwards with reluctance, as if it didn´t want to stop touching Zhaan. First, it revealed her bare shoulders, then it slid and exposed her bare blue breasts to the sun. Moving sinuously, it lay on her round buttocks until gravity pulled it lower and it whispered around her slender legs, pooling around her ankles.

Stepping from the discarded robe, Zhaan removed her shoes, and then sat down. She lay back and the sunlight shone directly on her prostrate form. Chiana wasn´t sure, but she thought that Zhaan´s dark blue nipples hardened slightly in response to the sunlight. Zhaan began to breathe heavily.

In the sunlight, Chiana saw the darkish thatch between Zhaan´s legs, and felt slight heat. She watched Zhaan´s breasts rise and fall in quickening succession as Zhaan started to breathe faster and faster. Her mouth uttered high-pitched moaning noises and Zhaan´s toes splayed outwards as she felt intense pressure building.

Chiana inhaled slowly and it had a tremor to it. She had always viewed Zhaan as overly maternal and annoying, but now she saw that Zhaan could be sensual and damned arousing. Her voice thick and trembling, she asked, “Zhaan?”

“Yes?” Zhaan didn´t say this as much as exhale it.

“This, uhm, photogasm thing, uhm…”

“Yessss…?”

Chiana took the plunge. “Uhm, is it any better if someone helps you?”

A smile appeared on Zhaan´s face. “Goddess, yes”, she breathed.

Chiana approached on cat feet as Zhaan slowly sat up. Zhaan said, “Just do whatever from behind me, so you don´t block the… sunnn.” She said this last with a throaty, rising voice.

Chiana sat behind Zhaan, one leg on each side of Zhaan´s blue waist, and Zhaan lay back in Chiana´s embrace. Zhaan´s head lay on Chiana´s right shoulder and her breath tickled Chiana´s neck. Zhaan gave off a wildly feminine musk. Chiana inhaled this and began to give in to Zhaan´s smell. Then Chiana pulled off her gloves and went to work.

First, she cupped her hands on Zhaan´s blue breasts and started to rub them. Zhaan gasped, and Chiana´s hands moved slowly, then faster over the warm flesh of the former Pa´u. Her eyes closed and breathing rapidly, Zhaan encouraged every touch, every squeeze, and caress. The supple skin of Zhaan´s breasts shivered as Chiana squeezed, rubbed, squeezed, and tickled. Tracing patterns on the nipples, and then squeezing them, Chiana made Zhaan shudder with each ministration.

Then, Chiana moved her hands down and stroked Zhaan´s belly and navel. One finger played in the little button-shaped center of Zhaan´s navel, and Zhaan sighed longingly. Zhaan opened her legs invitingly and Chiana accepted the invitation.

Chiana´s hands moved further down and clutched at Zhaan´s furry triangle. It was indeed wet, very wet and Chiana licked the fingers of her right hand. She plunged fingers into the slit and rubbed at all the walls she could find. She found the nub and squeezed it between two fingers, making Zhaan´s breath hitch. Zhaan´s hands clutched first at Chiana´s panted legs, then at her white hands and guided them urgently deeper. As Chiana´s fingers roved and rubbed in Zhaan´s furry moistness, Zhaan moaned.

Zhaan´s mouth played at the white flesh of her Nebari lover, and Chiana moved her neck and throat closer to Zhaan´s questing mouth to offer all the exposure that she could. Zhaan´s tongue and lips softly played along the younger woman´s flesh. Moving her mouth with skill, she tasted and touched the thief´s neck, shoulders and throat. This caused Chiana to forget everything except Zhaan.

They lay there for arns, Chiana groping and giving pleasure, Zhaan receiving it unabashedly and greedily. Zhaan´s moanings and sighings were like music and her breath warmed Chiana´s neck and shoulder. Zhaan´s smell was wonderful, and the Delvian seemed to approve of Chiana´s own. The two women had fine coatings of sweat on their skins, which was smelled, licked, and kissed as the lovemaking continued. Chiana´s mouth hung slack and Zhaan opened her eyes occasionally.

Then, Zhaan climaxed, once, twice, three times. Her blue back arched, sweat glistening, and she inhaled sharply. “Ohhhhhh… OOHHHHHHH!” Zhaan lay back, drowsing slightly in Chiana´s arms. Then, with a mischievous grin put her hand behind Chiana´s head and pressed her lips against the Nebari´s.

The kiss was long and hungry. Their tongues chased each other around as Chiana and Zhaan clutched at each other´s mouths greedily. Then, Chiana´s tongue escaped and roved slightly over Zhaan´s upturned face. Zhaan bit the tongue lightly and buried her face in Chiana´s neck, inhaling the lovely odor of the Nebari´s skin. Chiana gasped almost explosively as Zhaan licked and nibbled so sweetly there.

Zhaan was biting Chiana´s bottom lip slightly when her comm-badge chirped. Pilot´s voice queried, “Zhaan, Chiana. I am calling to inquire if you are all right.”

Grumbling, Zhaan had to turn over to reach her comm-badge. She held it and tried to get her breathing under control as she responded. “Everything´s fine, Pilot. This castle is excellently insulated from the cold and does not appear to be surrounded by hostile forces. How was John´s test flight?” Behind her, Chiana giggled silently into her hand.

“Crichton received some data that he feels is invaluable, but that is all. Aeryn and D´Argo are arguing over something in the landing bay and Rygel is nowhere to be found.”

“All right, it sounds like everything´s normal aboard Moya. Has the purging been completed?”

“No. It will take several more days to finish it. Are you sure you´ll be all right on the planet´s surface?”

As the light from the solar flare died down, Zhaan grinned at Chiana and replied, “Oh, I´m sure we´ll find something to keep us occupied.”

Chiana licked her lips.

END PART ONE