My mind raced with thoughts. Did they have Maeleons in there with them? Had they also been fucked silly by aliens? The idea filled me with hope. If so, maybe they’d be in less of a hurry to leave...
“Jaeyoung? Paz?” I called.
At first there was no answer. I hesitated by the doors. I didn’t want to barge in, especially not if the effects of the fruit were still active.
After a few moments, Paz called out miserably, “In here.”
I entered the hut on the right with Zat’tor trailing behind me. To respect Paz’s privacy, I half-covered my eyes with my hand just in case he hadn’t fully recovered. But he was mostly dressed in his hardsuit. Dark circles rimmed his usually bright eyes, and his shoulders drooped. He was exhausted.
“Paz, what happened?” I asked sympathetically.
He cast a haggard look my way. “You don’t wanna know,” he mumbled.
“Trust me, I think I know,” I said wryly. “You were unbearably horny after the feast, right?”
Paz squeaked like a mouse. “How’d you—”
“The same thing happened to me. I didn’t know what was going on until Zat’tor told me the fruits are an aphrodisiac.”
Paz groaned. “Crap. That explains it. And we ate so many of them...”
Glancing around the otherwise empty den, I noticed no signs of another person.
“Were you alone the whole time?” I asked.
He bit his lip. “Yeah. After you left the feast, I started getting... effected. That nice Maeleon who made the onesies—Linn’ar, I think—noticed I wasn’t, uh, well. He brought me and Jaeyoung to these huts and asked if we needed help.”
“By help, you mean with your arousal, right?”
Paz blushed to the tips of his ears. “Yeah. But I was so embarrassed and freaked out. I asked to be left alone.”
I cleared my throat. “So, you took care of yourself?”
“All night long.” Paz sighed. “And now I’m tired as fuck.”
Zat’tor tilted his head. “Linn’ar would have been happy to assist you. I’m sure any of my siblings would.”
Paz looked flustered. “I-I couldn’t accept their help. Anyway, Linn’ar seems way more interested in Jaeyoung. I heard him outside all night asking if he needed help, but Jaeyoung kept barking at him to go away.”
That was unusual behavior for Jaeyoung. He was always so composed. But this was an unusual situation—not one any of us were prepared for.
“I should check on him, too,” I said.
Paz eyed me and Zat’tor. “So, did you two...” He raised a brow, made a circle with his finger and thumb, and slid his other index finger inside in an obvious innuendo.
I blushed profusely. “I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said under my breath, turning to leave.
But Zat’tor apparently wasn’t satisfied with my evasion because he proudly told Paz, “Yes, I bred Levi all night long.”
“Oh,” Paz said, eyes going wide. He tapped his chin and tilted his head, no doubt imagining the mental image. “Huh. And I’m using my imagination here, but does it actually, you know... fit?”
“Absolutely,” Zat’tor agreed.
“Goodbye, Paz!” I called as I shoved past the door to stand outside. Huffing, I tried to shake the flustered feeling. Taking alien dick was one thing, but discussing it with my crew mates was another. It was uncouth for a captain.
I paused. Could I even call myself ‘captain’ anymore? Did I deserve the title? I’d led my crew right into a crash...
As the image of the ship’s busted hull flashed in my mind, I asked myself: Did Iwantto crawl back into it and fly back to Earth? What awaited me there? A massive chewing-out from the admiral, first of all. Maybe even dismissal from my position. And what about after? I wasn’t looking forward to the soul-sucking loneliness waiting for my return. My parents died when I was a young adult, so I had no remaining family, and I had no close friends, either. I had my crew, but they didn’t count. They probably still resented me for crashing on Eukaria and ruining their careers.
