Aliena Read Online Free PDF Page B

gotten it just from observing him on the way here. She obeyed the lights and signs.
    In due course they pulled up before his house and parked. She had performed perfectly.
    “Aliena, I am amazed and gratified. Let me kiss you.”
    She opened her shirt. “Kiss me here.”
    He didn’t argue. He leaned across and down and kissed her breast.
    Her quick intake of breath pushed the breast against his face. “Oh, it tickles! But not so much.”
    He drew back. “Cover yourself so we can go to the house.”
    She did, and they did. He set the staples on the table, ready for the next meal. “Tickle me,” she said, removing her shirt.
    He tickled her ribs. She leaned toward him, but this time did not kiss him. She was slowly getting it right.
    She fetched the novel. This time she read it to him, pausing only on words she had not encountered before, which he happily provided. Her learning ability was simply fantastic.
    Then she paused. “Oh.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I feel wet.”
    “Wet?”
    She stood and drew down her skirt. “Here. Am I sick?”
    There was blood on her panties. “No, Aliena,” he reassured her. “It is your period. Don’t you remember? It comes every month.”
    “One month ago I was transplanted,” she said. “Three weeks ago I obtained awareness in the new body. They taught me to walk and eat and urina—to pee. One week ago they brought me to the house. Sometimes my head bleeds, from the healing incision, but not my body. This is new.”
    “Aliena, a normal human woman has a period about every month. Her—her uterus bleeds, slowly. It lasts for several days and then passes. The body’s last period must have been while you were unconscious. There is nothing wrong with you.”
    “But what should I do? This is staining my clothing, and it is uncomfortable.”
    “Cramps, probably. They will pass.” He considered. “Lucy surely left sanitary equipment.” He went to her room and rummaged until he found a box of tampons. “Take off your pants, wash the area with the cloth, and put one of these in your vagina. That will soak up the blood. In a few hours you can change it.” Seeing her expression, he held up a hand in a stop signal. “No, I can’t do it for you. Martha could, but not me. There are instructions in the box. Read them. Follow them. You will be all right.”
    She took the box and went to the bathroom. “And put on new panties!” he called after her.
    Before long she returned, looking entirely normal. “I have done it. Thank you.”
    “Oh, you are welcome, Aliena. You are learning what you need to. Maybe we should celebrate.”
    “Celebrate?”
    “Do something fun. Maybe drive somewhere interesting. Where would you like to go?”
    She considered. “Do you have a sea?”
    Surprised, he answered bluntly. “The nearest shore is about two hours’ drive away. We could go there. But swimming is not recommended for a woman during her period. Well, maybe it’s okay, I’m not really knowledgeable about such personal details, but--”
    “You have a sea,” she said.
    “Yes. When your period is finished, we can go there, if the power has not yet returned. We can swim. You do know how to swim?”
    “No. Not in this host. But you will teach me.”
    She loved the sea, but could not swim? “I will teach you,” he agreed.
    She opened her shirt again. “Kiss me.”
    He was becoming accustomed to her single-mindedness. He kissed her breast and licked the nipple. “Oh, I am starting to feel the mating urge,” she said.
    “Then maybe we have done enough of this.”
    “No. There is farther to go. But I am learning.”
    “You are learning,” he agreed.
    At night they slept together again, holding hands. Brom did not say so, but he knew that he was falling in love with this strange, smart woman. Who would surely leave him once her associates returned. He cursed his own folly, to no avail.
    They continued their routine of running in the early morning, shopping and reading and