Michaela Read Online Free PDF Page B

their first taste of carnal delight in a public ritual. The Coming of Age Festival was an annual celebration on Plasius which had taken place since before the planet’s records were kept. Now that the exhibition dance to attract a Kalquorian clan was out of the way—
    Michaela gasped and sat straight up on the lounger, her blanket clutched to her chest. Her mind latched onto her meeting with Korkla’s clan. Good heavens, had she really spent over two hours talking with them last night?
    Her mind replayed the time spent in the Kalquorians’ guest quarters. Michaela had expected to have only vague, fuzzy recollections of her time with those beautiful alien men after all the drinking she’d done. Yet her memory proved to be crystal clear. She remembered everything about the clan, right down to the smallest details.
    The sweet and perfectly featured Govi, who loved to take pictures with his handheld. He must have recorded a hundred stills. Brutish but riveting Raxstad, who kept making silly faces while Govi snapped away. And commanding, kind Korkla, who laughed at it all. Speaking, joking, and teasing and – yes, they had flirted with her too.
    Michaela had expected them to send her away mere seconds after meeting her and confirming her oddity. Instead, they entreated her to stay late until she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. At that point, the three men had accompanied her to her quarters, making sure she got ‘home’ okay. Then there had been a lot of bowing and wishing her pleasant sleep, as if they’d found it hard to leave her there. At last Korkla had ended the long goodbye with a promise to see her again in the morning.
    Michaela had barely taken off her clothing and slipped into her nightgown before falling to the lounger and into sleep. Thank goodness leshella and shel didn’t result in hangovers. She felt perfectly fine now.
    Michaela looked out her window. A sliver of Plasius’ first of two suns was sneaking over the hedge outside her room. She had agreed to meet with Clan Korkla again at mid-morning. Her pulse slowed. She had plenty of time to ready herself before the Kalquorians’ visit.
    Michaela rose, calling for the window to dim and the lighting globes to illuminate. People, both castaway Earthers and Plasians, would soon be stirring. They’d go for strolls, enjoying the lovely lawns and gardens of Israla’s estate. Some would walk right past Michaela’s window.
    The highly sexual Plasians thought it funny that Michaela never let them peek in at her. In fact, more than one of the aliens had outright pouted. She’d been told they wished to see her rare dual-gender ‘treasures’ when they walked past. They had gone so far as to say Michaela was being selfish to keep herself hidden away from their sight.
    “No one sees the freak show,” Michaela muttered to herself as she moved towards the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. “The last thing I want to be is an object of disgust.”
    She took her time getting ready to see Clan Korkla, eating and then bathing, her mind replaying the night before all the while. The three men had been so nice to her, even the big fierce gorilla Nobek Raxstad. Could they really be attracted to one such as her?
    As Michaela soaked in the basin fed by a small waterfall in one corner of the room, she looked at her crotch, distorted by the rippling water. She swallowed hard. Last night with all the booze in her system, she’d almost thought it possible she could find love ... or at least men capable of overlooking her bizarre form. Now in the brightness of morning, her head clear and not carried away by inebriation and lust, she knew better.
    She was a freak. No one could see her as anything but that.
    Michaela left the burbling basin to dry off. Then she crossed the room to the closet that held her clothing. The door obediently slid open at her command. It was stuffed full, due to shopping excursions since she’d come to Plasius. It still contained