When they were finally all cared for and spread out among the huts of the village, she turned to Eli. “It’s harder than it looks,” she told him. “But it feels good, too. Now, tell me about Earth.”
The others had all gone, leaving him alone with her. He tried to satisfy her curiosity. But sometimes he wasn’t too clear about what he was saying. It wasn’t easy to get used to the idea that a pretty, innocent young girl could be half alien kangaroo, half a being close enough to divinity to work miracles.
“I think we’ll stay here a few days,” she decided abruptly. “I want to know more about Earth people and to study you. Maybe I can even go to Earth and cure people.”
It was bad enough trying to go to sleep while he knew she was lying naked in the next room—she’d insisted on having him quarter Kleon and herself. But the picture of her on Earth eventually blotted all that out. The planet administrator here was a neo-Blavatskyite of the worst kind, and he’d love nothing better than taking back a real goddess, law or no law. Once the senatorial families learned of what she could do, all hell would break loose. There’d be at least a dozen kidnaping attempts a month, and probably half as many palace revolutions to control her. She’d be worse than the Tarshian hypnotic lizard of the last century. Besides, there’d be trouble here at the idea of letting her go, and she’d probably get killed before she really saw Earth.
He tried to argue her out of the idea during the next few days, sometimes with the casual help of Kleon. But she was quite sure she could handle anything, and she’d made up her mind.
“Besides, nobody hurts a virgin goddess,” she told him, as if that had anything to do with his arguments. It did serve to throw him off, though.
“Why a virgin, anyhow?” he asked. “You have a head goddess you call the Mother-Principle, but then she incarnates only in virgins. Isn’t that contradictory? I suppose she’d blast you asunder if you lost that one virtue.”
“She’d leave, because she’s the All-Mother, not the One-Mother. Anyhow, I can’t really breed—I’m not naturally fertile with our men. Maybe, for children and if I loved a man, in your terms, I wouldn’t mind not being a goddess—but I’m not going to lose what I have for nothing.”
Her words jerked his own thoughts back to level, with the sharp realization that he’d begun thinking of her as human again. Damn it, she might look like a woman, but even their basic cell structure was different. It would be easier to breed with an Earth tree than to have children with her. Not one of his chromosomes would match with hers. And morally, no matter what other reasons were involved, sex was related to having children. Besides, he knew nothing about Sayonese anatomy. Under her skirt, she might not be human at all.
She giggled. “Eli, if you want me to take off my clothes, why don’t you ask? I don’t mind, really. Then you can see for yourself.”
“Go to hell!” he told her, and stomped off, determined to pack and leave at once. A man could stand just so much. Innocent she might be, but she knew she had him going and sBj& was enjoying it.
Still, he was tfierVton the fifth day, when he really should have been beginning the trip back to Kalva. Of course, they could have traveled together, but that would have been awkward. Instead of packing, he was walking beside her toward one of his favorite loafing spots at the top of a little hill.
They came to a little dip in the ground that cut off the wind and he threw down a blanket and dropped onto it. He hadn’t slept well the night before, and he intended to nap now; She’d brought along the single book Kleon had preserved from his schooling—a tissue edition of some of the books of Earth’s old Bible. She and Kleon must have memorized it, but they still pored over it regularly. He sprawled out and she snuggled down beside him. Probably deliberately, she was closer than she had to be. He could feel her breasts move against him as she breathed.
He sat up with a yelp, staring at her. Breasts? She’d been absolutely flat-chested when he first saw her! But she wasn’t now—not by a long ways.
“You wanted them, so I changed,” she said contentedly. “It’s about time you noticed! And I took away the green in my skin you didn’t like and made the line where I should have a pouch disappear, too. See?”
He saw, but at the moment he was more fascinated by what was there than by what wasn’t. If she were using padding, she was doing a darned good job of it.
“They’re real,” she told him. “I picked the ones in your mind you liked best. You can feel, if you don’t believe me. I don’t mind. After all, it won’t mean anything to—to me….”
But her breath caught as sharply as his, while his fingers slipped under the halter. He felt her tremble, and her nipples were lifting and eager for his hands.
For a minute, she bent to him, her lips parting and reaching for him. Then abruptly she tore away, staring at him with wide, startled eyes. For the first time, he saw fear on her face.
“No!” she whispered.
But it had to be. He saw it clearly now. Once she gave herself to him, she’d lose her dangerous powers and be just another girl. Maybe the change in her would be only a loss of faith hi herself, but that didn’t matter. It was his solution. Earth would never hear of her, and… and it had been ten years since he’d held a girl in his arms!
He started toward her. Her face paled, then firmed again, and something seemed to explode in his head. He staggered, missed his footing, and fell.
“No,” she repeated. “Not now. Not yet. I have to think.”
This time he waited, knowing he could do nothing to force a creature with the powers of a goddess. The pressures hi huii rose and fought for expression, but he could only lie and wait. And in the end, it was she who came to him, slowly pulling the halter off as she moved toward him. He lay immobile until she was almost touching him before he groped for her. She pulled closer, straining against him with heaving breasts.
“Show me hi your mind again. Show me everything,” she whispered. “I have to be sure.”
His hands had found the slit hi her skirt by then and the buckle, but he tried to follow her wishes with his unclear, churning thoughts. And suddenly she was completely against him, with nothing between, panting in his ear. “I’m sure. Eli, I’m sure!”
Ten years was a long time.
The last Eli saw of Meia, she was sleeping in complete exhaustion, but with a touch of a smile on her lips. She muttered something in a weak voice, and he kissed her lightly, trying to keep his mind from thinking too loud.
It was dark before he reached his house. He located his riding beast, saddled it, and started toward the building to collect his manuscript. Then he saw Kleon reading it, and gave up. He was in no condition to face the questions of the old man. He led the animal out onto the trail, mounted quickly, and headed for Kalva, hoping only that he had enough money on him for the trip.
It was a long rMe, and there was time for more than enough thought. Sometimes he gloated to himself over the end of herf power, as ft his victory proved that she had never been more than he was. Sometimes shame came over him, either at the breaking of the taboo against aliens or at what he had done to her. And always there were other feelings that he cursed and ranted against, but which lasted longer than the others.
At the end of a year, when his transfer was okayed, he spent all his money to send her a box of luxuries, using the village as her address. When his transfer ship was delayed, he began to fear she might trace him back, but he saw no more of her.
Instead, it was the aged Kleon who came, and by then it didn’t matter. Eli was inside the passenger fence, getting final clearance, and no natives were permitted. Kleon tried to pass and was turned back. Then, as he saw Eli, one thick arm swept forward, tossing something over the fence.