Copyright 2024 – Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
Riordan had to admit that he must have missed this the most during that time when Xana was dreaming inside a water tank under Ferix's care. The feeling of having his Xeno husband so close to him, his large hands moving over his body. He mumbled something in appreciation as Xana insisted around his belly. With Junior sleeping soundly underwater – he was getting more and more independent these days, and not only because grandpa had taught him about that being the proper way to get bigger and stronger – the parents now had their privacy, too.
"When do you think I'm due?" Riordan asked and reached for Xana's face.
"Hmm," Xana purred in his ear, "I might have to conduct a serious examination of your lovely body."
"Only you'd make that sound sexy," Riordan replied in kind. "Have you thought of names for our twins?"
"Since I was the one to come up with a name for our firstborn, I'm thinking of leaving these to you. We'll negotiate the others when they come around."
"I've never asked you. How do you know when there's an egg inside you? How does that happen?"
"When we mature, we create an egg inside us. Consider it biological determinism. But, with your presence on Xeno, and by that I mean that of Earthians, we began developing a stronger desire for copulation, and with it, our bodies began creating more eggs."
"Really? We trigger your ovulation or something?" Riordan snickered and got silenced by a short kiss.
"The more attached we are to our bearers, the more this happens."
"Awesome," Riordan said dryly. "That's why we'll end up having about twenty kids or so. Because I'm making a hormonal mess out of you."
"You can make whatever you want out of me. It's how it happens. You're also the one who will carry those eggs until they're ready to hatch, so something tells me we're even." The gentle laugh that followed confirmed for Riordan all he needed to know.
Xana rested his head on one palm as he lay on his side, his eyes shining faintly in the night light. Their soft warmth made Riordan feel at home, even if they were rushing through space, who knew how many light years away from Earth. To tell the truth, he hadn't quite felt at home there. His home planet. Wasn't that weird?
"It's not weird," Xana said in his stead.
"Hey," Riordan protested meekly, "stop reading my mind."
"You're the one letting me do it."
"Right. Nice try," Riordan said with a snort, but he pulled Xana close by wrapping one arm around his shoulders. "So, you think it's my turn and that I should name the twins. Hmm, let's see... Wait, wouldn't be a little strange if I gave them Earthian names? Won't the other kids bully them in school?"
"Who would dare to bully a Lei?" Xana raised one eyebrow in question.
"Right. And I suppose Junior would have something to say if anyone dared to touch his siblings."
"I think he will be very protective of them. That is one strong trait of our bloodline."
"Your dad came to rescue you then. All of us. Could you hear him in those moments? Did you know he was close?"
"Not so close. It was more like a faint sensation. And I wasn't focused on him that time, anyway. Should I have been more attuned to his trying to reach me, maybe I would have delayed my intervention. But I'm glad I didn't. It seems to me that everything happened as it should."
"Like fate?"
"Something like it. Gamni poisoned me, and I survived. With Ferix's help, I became immune to that poison and that helped us all when we were attacked again. Doesn't it feel to you like it happened for a reason? All of it?"
"You suffered a lot." Riordan kissed Xana's cheek, moving his lips slowly along his jawline. "I would have done without your pain. And all the anxiety I went through while waiting for you to get well. But I suppose you're right. Maybe it was fate that made us come together, too. My decision to leave Earth. Your decision to get an older dude to be your bearer."
"You're not old at all," Xana replied promptly. "Despite your strange opinion of yourself."
"I did turn thirty. How weird," Riordan said, confused for a moment, "I have no idea when my birthday was."
"Your biological age is younger than that. Compared to Earthians of the same age," Xana mused out loud.
Riordan stared at his husband. "What do you mean?"
"Why do you think your kind is so addicted to seth? It makes them healthy, younger even."
"Not that I was expecting to suddenly get arthritis or something like that, but... So, how old am I really?"
"How old do you feel?"
"I forgot my so-called birthday. It looks like I'm starting to forget things," Riordan joked. "Now, for real, how old am I, on the inside, so to speak?"
Xana caressed his arm, moving slowly towards his belly again. "Around twenty-four. An Earthian of that age."
"Well, that's pretty cool then. That means we'll surely have time for fifteen more brats."
"Even longer," Xana said in his most enigmatic voice, and it seemed that he was no more in the mood to talk.
He moved over Riordan and pushed himself between his legs. Xana was a lot gentler than before, when they had just met. It looked like they were both considerate of the lives growing inside him, and it did make them realize another face of their passion more.
Riordan gasped lightly as Xana pushed his tail in first, making him wet and pliant, readying him for his large cock. With his arms and legs wrapped around his husband, Riordan felt truly like being made love to. Even if they moved so slowly, the force of his climax wasn't less in any way, and it rushed through him without giving any of them a moment's notice.
"So quick?" Xana teased him.
"Oh, shut up, I'm preggo. You're touching my ass, I'm it," Riordan shot back. "Don't worry, there's more where that came from."
"Good to know. I might keep you up all night, then."
"Great. Get to work, then."
Xana laughed against his lips before sneaking in his tail again. Even stretched like that, Riordan experienced mindblowing pleasure. So, he was twenty-four again, apparently, and the fact that he missed his thirtieth birthday didn't matter at all.
There was definitely an important difference between whatever Ferix used as a term to describe Xeus's state, and that of His Royal Chancellor. The young doc had been happy to see him, seemingly more willing to receive guests than he'd used to be.
Marn was curled into himself, his massive tail coiled several times over, and his entire body appeared to be covered in a thin film the color of mud. Riordan touched the glass and stared at their leader, wondering whether his good thoughts would reach the older Xeno when he was like this.
Ferix waited patiently by his side. Or not so patiently because his gloved fingers tapped against his arms as he held them crossed over his chest.
"You're dying to tell me something, right?" Riordan turned to face the doctor.
Junior was a few steps away, his entire attention trained on his grandpa. Xeus was resting, although maybe that wasn't the right word, or maybe he was just keeping his eyes closed, because Riordan could tell his son was communicating with his grandfather in their usual fashion. It warmed his heart to see the little one being so close to Xeus. Even if they were so rational all the time that they didn't realize they needed it, these snakemen craved love. They even thrived because of it. Like Xana, and his many promised eggs.
Kyle was there, as well, but he had remained by the door, in a respectful stance. They hadn't had the time to tell each other everything, but it was a great comfort to know that his homie was so close to him again.
"Well?" he asked when he realized that Ferix hadn't answered his question.
"Ask me," Ferix said bluntly, but his eyes were shining.
"About brumation, right? Can His Royal Chancellor hear us? Can you communicate with him?"
"No," Ferix shook his head, "he is, as you would say, in a world of his own."
"Is he in any pain?" Marn didn't appear to be suffering, but he looked like a mud statue, so who was to know?
"No. His body, however, needs an important amount of energy to recreate itself."
"Recreate? Wait, is he going to emerge from there a baby? I mean, a Xenolite?"
"No, nothing as radical as that. But, when he does get out of brumation, he will look younger for a while. And he will need to reacquaint himself with his own knowledge. It is a complicated time in a Xeno's life." After watching his patient for a while, Ferix turned towards Riordan with the same shiny eyes. "It's the first time I witness the process," he blurted out.
"Riveting stuff," Riordan said with a small smile.
"Riveting indeed," Ferix confirmed eagerly. "I make sure that His Royal Chancellor has everything he needs for the process to happen within natural parameters."
"What does that mean? Natural parameters?"
"Basically, we don't have the ideal conditions here. Xenos normally brumate at the bottom of a swamp."
"So, that mud on him," Riordan pointed at the tank, "how did it get there?"
"I made it," Ferix said promptly. "With the help of many synthetized elements, and a lot of trial and error."
"It sounds like a lot of work. But you're a genius, so I'm not surprised that you pulled it through." Riordan examined Marn's unmoving shape for a little while longer. "Ferix, is there anyone older than His Royal Chancellor on the ship?"
"General Lei," Ferix confirmed what he had also thought.
"I hope he's not going to go into brumation, as well," Riordan voiced what was on his mind. "Because that would make things really complicated. I mean, I suppose that a leader is needed, and preferably one that is a little more conscious than that." He pointed at the Xeno frozen in his own world behind the glass.
"The Council will deal with the ruling aspect of things for a while," Ferix explained. "But it is customary for Xenos to have a ruler, a single consciousness that is aware of everything and everyone."
Riordan felt his skin prickling. He got this sort of sign now and then, and he had no idea what it meant. As if he were supposed to understand something more, beyond what he was told or witnessed. "Can my father-in-law really be that? I feel like Marn is special in his own way. This consciousness thing you're talking about."
"The older a Xeno gets, the more far-reaching his abilities become."
"Or hers." Riordan looked at Ferix. "Are there female Xenos that live as long? Some wise matriarch to rule us all?"
Ferix shook his head. "Females live considerably less. As far as my limited research points out, it is the reason why our species evolved the way it did, the males carrying an egg the same way and using hosts to bear them until they can hatch."
"They don't live as long," Riordan said quietly and felt a pang of sorrow squeezing his chest. Lewis's girl, his and Xana's... were they meant for a short unhappy life? There was so little he knew of the way female Xenos lived.
"It is still more than the lifespans of Earthians," Ferix said, keen on putting his mind at rest as it seemed.
"That's a good thing to know, I suppose. Can I ask you something else?"
"Go ahead," Ferix said courteously.
"Why aren't other Xenos of the same age as Marn and Xeus?"
"There might be on other ships in the fortunate case that they survived."
"Fortunate? Marn believed that we would be in a serious competition for Tanez if that were the case."
"Tanez is famed to be a large planet," Ferix explained. "But even paradise needs taming. We'll need all the Xenos we can possibly have."
"And humans."
"Yes, of course."
Riordan nudged Ferix playfully. "I hope you're not thinking of us as nothing else but egg pouches, Mr. Biologist."
Ferix threw him a guilty look and then relaxed. "If the general becomes our supreme ruler, can you put in a word with him? For me to be allowed to study the human anatomy in detail?"
"You're still keen on that, I see. I can try, but he might be just as firm about it as His Royal Chancellor. Don't be too impatient to grow up, Ferix. Your kind seems to do that at rocket speed. It frightens me sometimes."
"I don't understand, but I am aware that you know what you are saying."
Riordan put one hand on the glass and then brought his forehead close. Even if Ferix had told him that Marn was gone to the world, he still wanted to let him know how much it would mean to everyone if he woke up and ruled again as before.
"When you were lost outside the ship, where were you?" Ferix asked with the curiosity particular to his age and profession.
"I wish I could tell you that, but I have no recollection of it. Do you know what happened?" Riordan had no idea how much Marn told everyone. Maybe he kept everything to himself. Maybe that was a bit too much and had eventually worn him down.
"We fought the enemy and won," Ferix said simply. "But you couldn't have survived being outside, and yet--" He stopped and seemed lost in thought. "Our survival, it had something to do with you, is that correct?"
"What makes you say that?" If Marn had his reasons to keep everything a secret, perhaps it wasn't wise to run his mouth about everything.
"I never saw His Royal Chancellor worried. But he was then. Somehow even more than counselor Xana Lei, your husband." The way Ferix used such terms proved that he was still getting around to becoming familiar with them.
"I'm sure that can't be. Xana was worried sick," Riordan said.
Ferix seemed disconcerted for a moment. He appeared to mull over something. "Maybe he was just worried in a different way. I can't define it."
"Try it anyway." Riordan felt that it was important, even if he didn't know why, at the moment, at least. "And did you see Marn during that time? I thought you'd never abandon your lab, not even for a short walk."
"He came in here several times. He wanted to make sure that general Lei received the best care. I don't understand why he would even doubt such a thing. I am in charge," Ferix said petulantly, reminding Riordan again how young he was, despite his vast knowledge and incredible genius.
It made a lot more sense in hindsight. Marn probably wanted to see if Xeus could take over in the event that he needed to rest in that manner that involved him being in some sort of a coma. Surely, he could check all that without leaving his quarters, but maybe Marn and Xeus were good friends, and he wanted to see his loyal general.
"You helped the ship survive," Ferix said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "How did you do it?"
"It's a long story. And it feels to me like I dreamed it all sometimes."
"If it's long, just think about it for a moment, and with your permission, I will see it through your mind."
Riordan looked at Marn again. There was no way of telling whether he was still alive or not. But he trusted Ferix and his big brain. Seeing how Junior at his very young age had fought side by side with others, keeping Ferix away from the truth was based on nothing but tenuous reasons. He closed his eyes and recalled that scene of destruction, the way the snake deity had guided his arm to order the destruction of those space ghosts, with the price of those unborn souls. Even after some time, he still didn't know how to feel about it all. A price had been paid. He just couldn't grasp all the consequences, not now at least.
"Incredible," Ferix whispered. "But understandable."
"What do you mean?" Riordan asked, turning his head.
"I sensed their presence. I still do."
Riordan moved his head so fast something popped in his neck. Ferix threw him a concerned look. "It might be a sign of old age," he joked. "Don't worry about it. What do you mean? What do you sense?"
"They exist in a different way that you and I exist. I was wondering about the propitious coincidence, that I started to sense them after the attack ended. Or maybe I sensed them during the attack too, but I was too busy defending the ship like everyone else to realize it. They are already part of the consciousness we share as Xenos. They are part of us."
"Do others sense them? The same way you do?" Riordan asked.
Ferix shrugged. "I cannot be sure. It's a very subdued experience, and conditions must be met."
"Are they... well?" Riordan had no means in his vocabulary to express what he wanted to ask.
Another dumbfounded look from Ferix convinced him that he wasn't off the mark. The young Xeno couldn't possibly understand what he meant with that question.
"They are part of us," Ferix repeated the same thing. He looked at Marn, too, his face free of any concern. "I assure you that His Royal Chancellor will continue his brumation with success. There's hardly any difference between what he has here and the conditions on Xeno. A lot of our elders must still be there."
"Do you mean, bromating in the depths of the swamps on your old planet?"
Ferix nodded. "Yes. Even with the devastation that occurred during the conflict that forced us to embark for Tanez earlier than expected, any calculations point out to that being a possibility."
"They will wake up to a different world," Riordan murmured.
"Xeno is still their world," Ferix reminded him.
"Not ours, though."
"No, ours awaits at the end of our journey."
They were without a home now, Riordan thought. Or maybe, better said, Tu'lek was their home. And his and Xana's children, the unborn ones, were still there, part of it all.
tbc
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