I find it interesting that Tereskàdians are able to engage in sexual intercourse without the female becoming pregnant if she has given birth to the maximum three cubs. Tereskàdianologists had maintained that once the female has mated for the third and final time then no more sexual intercourse can occur. When you think about the fact that Tereskàdians can live for ninety, a hundred, a hundred and ten years it seems rather silly that our whole sexual system should shut down. True, a female does no longer have an estrus cycle, but that does not mean we have to stop loving each other sexually.

So it was on this early morning, in our cabin, that Rhalhea and I were locked together. We had begun with mutual grooming, and one thing led to another… Rhalhea reminds me that we had not done this since before we set out from Alharhan. I haven’t been keeping track, I told her. She doesn’t say anything, but her purring indicates that she is enjoying our intimate relation.

The cubs are still asleep, but even if they wake up, there is nothing we can do to separate. We will be locked together for three hours, and only time will release my organ from her vagina.

We communicate via our whistling dragons who have decided to engage in sexual intercourse as well. When Tereskàdians and whistling dragons are of breeding age, both of them must mate at the same time so that both the Tereskàdian cub and the whistling dragon cub are born at the same time. After the female has given birth to three cubs over a span of ten years (at ages 15, 20, and 25) then the strict requirement for mating becomes null and void. This means that sometimes Tereskàdians will mate, sometimes the whistling dragons, and sometimes both at the same time. The early Tereskàdianologists believed that reproduction was the one and only reason Tereskàdians and whistling dragons mated, but that has been proven false. There are those, however, who are still surprised to find out that we do this, especially when they find out that we have three cubs.

Later, after we have separated, I take the elevator to the bridge. Captain Lhuâdel is sitting in his ‘command chair’, as he calls it. He doesn’t seem to be very busy, which doesn’t really surprise me because I have this impression that there is nothing to flying from Alharhan to Tereskàdhar. You can pretty well set the ship on automatic and it could fly itself without the benefit of captain or crew. But that would eliminate a lot of jobs and Alharhanians would certainly not want that.

I ask Captain Lhuâdel if there is any place where whistling dragons can fly and he tells me there is a place on Deck 6 that is modeled after the A’hădharhas National Park, except to a smaller scale, of course. When I hesitate, he tells me that the weather conditions can be artificially created so that if we Tereskàdians wanted it colder, with snow, all we had to do was request it verbally once we were inside A’hădharhas, as it is called. We’ve been aboard this ship a number of times now, I tell him, and each time I learn something new. Did you know, he says, that most people are aware of only about 10% of this ship?

When I get back to my quarters I find Rhalhea and Jhorhea awake, but Rheža and Jhalhemha still asleep. Jhalhemha is in Rhalhea’s pouch; Rhalhea tells me that the cub had poked her head out earlier, then stuck it back in to nurse at the pouch teat, and she had fallen asleep again. I decided to wait until everyone was awake before taking them to A’hădharhas. In the meantime, I ate some raw meat that was left over from the night before and drank from Kykherhenha.

There are so many decks on this ship that it is impossible to visit all of them, and even if you could, it would be impossible to see everything on each deck. It is like trying to visit every venue in Treskebhar. When the doors of the elevator opened on to Deck 6 it looked like any of the other decks. I knew, though, that like the other decks this one had something different to offer, and its one main attraction was A’hădharhas.

It wasn’t hard to find the place because there were signs all over the place, leading to a large double door. When we approached it, a disembodied voice inquired as to our intentions and I told it that we wanted to go inside. The double doors hissed open and we stepped inside. As soon as we did, the doors slid shut behind us.

To be continued

Pešhŏsŵha’hănhashen 1.489/Day 568

I have noticed that Jhalhemha is spending a little more time each day out of the pouches. She is still very small, but her fur is growing, and she looks like a miniature version of her mother. When she drinks from the pouch teat she does so only briefly, preferring our chest teats instead. One thing that I do have to admire, though, is that she does not spend her time going in and out of the pouches. Once she is inside she stays inside, and she usually does this in the evening when she is ready to go to sleep. When she is outside during the day she prefers to stay outside, slipping into the pouches only when she wants to take a nap.

At this moment Jhalhemha is out of the pouch, having emerged about half an hour ago. She is watching me as I work on my journal. We are alone in our quarters; Rhalhea has taken the older cubs to the swimming pool on Deck 7. She wanted me to come as well, but I said I wanted to do another journal entry. There is nothing to write about, she said.

Maybe not. This voyage has been pretty uneventful so far, which I don’t mind in the least. I don’t know if I want anything exciting to happen; if it does, it usually means bad news for the Tereskàdians. Ten years ago it was the murder of twenty-six cubs and their whistling dragons, and when we journeyed from Alharhan to Tereskàdhar Tharhedhal told us that Alharhan and Tereskàdhar would be destroyed in the year 5700.

Jhalhemha has located my left teat and is now nursing. Her eyes are closed, but I know she is not sleeping, because she is sucking pretty good, and her breathing indicates that she is still very much awake. I get up, carry her over to the door. I stand in front of it, not sure if I want to go out into the corridor. I’m spending too much time in here, I tell Kykherhenha. I don’t want to go to the Meeting Place because I have no desire to run into Fhelhomha Leskel. It is obvious that her infatuation with Jhar Morněl has not waned, even though many years have passed since his death. I am afraid she will blame me for his death, and that does not bode well for me or my family.

Kykherhenha suggests that we should join Rhalhea and the cubs on Deck 7. What I really want to do, she says, is spread my wings. This ship is so big there must be a place where a whistling dragon can fly. I told her I would talk with Captain Lhuâdel.

Deck 7 seems to be an area for the athletic minded. There are about five swimming pools here, as well as areas for exercising, running, wrestling, and many other athletic endeavors. When I check Swimming Pool 5 I find Rhalhea and the cubs at the side of the pool. Their fur is wet and scraggly, indicating that they have just emerged from the pool. Rhalhea waves me over and Jhalhemha, who has finally released her grip on my teat, and I join her and the cubs.

I notice that S’horžăm is floating on his back in the middle of the huge pool. I also notice that there are no Alharhanians here. This pool is strictly for Tereskàdians, Rhalhea says. Whenever we went to one of the pools Alharhanians said we couldn’t swim there, so Captain Lhuâdel decided that this pool was just for us. If we can’t go to any of the other pools then the Alharhanians can’t use this pool.

I gave Jhalhemha to my mate and dove into the pool. I swam the length of the pool and back again, the last half underwater. Kykherhenha watched me from the edge of the pool; she said she didn’t want to get her fur wet because she was still thinking of finding a place where she could fly.

When I emerged from the pool a little later I felt much more refreshed. Swimming had made me hungry so I suggested to Rhalhea and the cubs that we should get something to eat. When we entered the dining room the first thing I noticed was Fhelhomha Leskel sitting at a table close to the door, eating something green and stringy that didn’t look at all appetizing. But then, it could be because I am a carnivore, and she would probably have the same thoughts about raw meat.

I ushered Rhalhea and the cubs back out very quickly because I did not want to speak to Senha Leskel. I hoped that we could avoid her until we left the ship, but I was afraid that might be next to impossible.

Pešhŏk. 34.489/Day 566

I am writing this in our quarters because I do not want to run into Senha Leskel. She is staying on Deck 11, which is quite a few floors above where we are staying. I wanted to meet some Alharhanians while on this ship, but I don’t know if I could have put up with much more of Senha Leskel’s constant jabbering. I think she was talking about Tezuelhan milk or ‘horàlynhal milk or some such commodity, but I might have shut off my hearing on several occasions, just so I could give my poor ears a rest.

Jhorhea is bored. So what else is new? How do you convince an 11-year-old cub that there is always something new and interesting to see on a spaceship. You can ride up and down the elevator, you can visit the library, or the Playroom, or the swimming pool… No, that wouldn’t do, would it? Those places have already been visited more than once, and now they are just boring.

So what am I to do? I’m just her father; I can make suggestions and hope that one of them sticks, and she will go out and follow my advice. But it seems that no matter what I suggest, the usual answer is, Oh, Papa, I’ve already done that. So now she is here with me, lying on her bed, studying her tail. A moment later Khedrhokhazh presents his teats and she drinks. Well, at least she won’t find that boring, because that is one activity that is instinctive in all Tereskàdians.

Rhalhea has taken Rheža and Jhalhemha to the Playroom. Jhalhemha came out of my pouch early this morning, and immediately sought out Rhalhea’s teats. She fastened on to the left one with the eagerness of someone who might not have had a drink for days. As soon as Jhalhemha was attached Rhalhea told me that she was taking the cubs to the Playroom.

Jhorhea is still with me because she didn’t want to go, and Rhalhea wasn’t going to force her. So my eldest daughter who has just finished sucking on Khedrhokhazh’s right teat is now preening herself. When I asked her if she is going to go somewhere later, she said she might, but there was no enthusiasm in her voice.

I was not about to spend my time in our quarters with a daughter who didn’t seem to have any plans for the remainder of the voyage, so I decided to go to the Meeting Place again. I don’t know, because I don’t want to run into Senha Leskel again. But then, she is so far the only Alharhanian who has bothered to talk with us. Even though her subject matter doesn’t appeal to me, I doubt that many other Alharhanians are eager to talk with us.

She is in there, sitting at one of the smaller tables, playing a game with cards. Looking at her, I would say she was almost as bored as Jhorhea, but unlike my daughter who is bored because she has nothing to do, Senha Leskel seems bored because she has too much to do, too much of the same routine that demands too much of her attention.

She is so engrossed with her card game that she doesn’t even notice me looking at her. Kykherhenha tells me that maybe we should leave her alone, that she probably doesn’t want to see us right now. But I have this feeling that she could use some companionship, so I walk over and ask her what game she is playing. She looks up, and her eyes seem to filled with a kind of sadness that seems to be a combination of loneliness and fear. I don’t want to ask her what is troubling her, so I just take a couple of steps back and tell her maybe I should leave her alone. Sit, she says quietly.

She tells me that she has been thinking of Jhar Morněl, even though she doesn’t want to. I was his mistress, she says, and my brother… He once worked for him. He was with him when he killed S’hĕrhe’s cub, but at that time we all followed Jhar Morněl. He was the one who had made plans to rule Tereskàdhar once Thalif VIII died. He was the one who made plans to destroy all the Tereskàdians, on Alharhan and Tereskàdhar. And Tevren and I, we went along with it, as did many other Alharhanians living on Tereskàdhar.

I don’t know why she was telling me this, unless it was some sort of confession. I want to ask her what all this was leading to, but I do not want to interrupt her. So I let her keep talking, about how Tevren suddenly had a change of heart, how he tried to convince other Alharhanians that Tereskàdians were not animals who had to be destroyed. I sided with him, she says, and I’m glad when Jhar… when you killed Jhar Morněl.

I look at her closely, because the lie that she has just told me is so strong that I can smell it. I know that she still has feelings for Morněl, even after all these years. I begin to fear shiver very slightly, not enough for her to notice, but enough for Kykherhenha to ask me what the matter is. I tell her that Fhelhomha Leskel will have to bear watching, because she is not what she seems.

Do you miss Jhar Morněl? I ask. She tells me she is glad he is dead, and another lie oozes forth from her lips. There is no doubt in my mind that Morněl still holds a memory in her mind, and she does not want to let go.

I am writing this part in my quarters. Rhalhea and the two younger cubs have not yet returned from the Playroom, and I am starting to worry. I have contacted Rhalhea via our whistling dragons, and she tells me that they will be just a little longer. I tell her to come to our quarters right now because I have something to tell her.

When I tell my mate about my suspicions regarding Senha Leskel, she tells me maybe I was interpreting it the wrong way. She was lying, I say bluntly. She still has feelings for Jhar Morněl, and that’s what makes her dangerous.

We will have to keep our eyes and ears tuned constantly.

Pešhŏk. 32.489/Day 564

As the ship sails silently onward to Alharhan I have noticed that many of the Alharhanians here are doing their best to avoid us. I don’t really understand this since I was hoping to make some friends on this lengthy journey, but it seems that everyone has their own agenda, and no one has time to form any friendships. Hey, I’m not asking for anything permanent, but a friendly greeting, or a brief chat now and then would be nice.

When I told Captain Lhuâdel about this he told me that on Deck 15 there is a large room called The Meeting Place where Alharhanians gathered to meet, and talk about different things. He suggested I go there and look around, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that. I had a feeling if I were in that room the Alharhanians would be talking about me, not to me. There are many Alharhanians who still think that we Tereskàdians are stupid, that we don’t understand what they’re saying. Just because we look like animals.

When I told Rhalhea about this she suggested that we go. What have we got to lose? she asked. I wanted to tell her we would probably lose our self-respect, but I didn’t. I was trying to think of an excuse not to go, but I couldn’t come up with a good one.

Jhalhemha was in my pouch when we took the elevator up to Deck 15. Jhorhea and Rheža were sleeping soundly in our cabin. I was not worried about them because I had locked the door. There were about three hundred and some Alharhanians aboard this ship, and anyone could harm my daughters, so I wasn’t going to take any chances. Rhalhea told me that I worry too much, but after what happened ten years ago, I wasn’t about to risk my daughters’ lives.

The Meeting Place was the biggest room I had ever seen. In my twenty-six years on Alharhan and Tereskàdhar I had seen some huge rooms, but this dwarfed them all. I think about fifty of the quarters we were staying in could easily have fit into this one room. I noticed there were videophones at strategic locations which probably meant that if someone wanted to talk with someone on the other side of the room he would probably have to use one of those videophones.

Plenty of chairs and tables filled the room, and I noticed that most of the chairs were occupied by mostly middle-aged and elderly Alharhanians. At several of the tables Alharhanians were playing cards, and I recognized one of the games as pent’hăr, Khe’ăr and Lheana’s favorite game. I stopped to watch them play, but I got a look of cold hatred from two of the players, so I moved on.

Just when I thought that we were going to be ignored a female Alharhanian walked up to us. She had a clear drink in her hand, which I guessed to be shelenhar, a popular alcoholic beverage on both planets. The first thing she did was ask us if we had a cub which was nursing. The question didn’t really surprise us because, even though one might not see a cub, all one has to do is look at the parents’ chest area, and if the teats are rather prominent, it isn’t hard to figure that the parents have a nursing cub. So I told her my daughter Jhalhemha was in my pouch and she was sleeping right now.

It wasn’t long before we were sitting at a table where the Alharhanian asked us if we wanted something to eat. I looked at Rhalhea who said she wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t bother to order anything, either. But that didn’t stop the female from ordering a big meal.

My name is Fhelhomha Leskel, she said. The moment she announced her name I knew who she was. The sister of Tevren Leskel, the President of the planet Tereskàdhar. I started to tell her my name, but she knew who I was, and she knew all about me, as if my entire life history was etched on my fur.

I asked her why she was going to Alharhan. I’m going on behalf of my brother, she said. He wants me to open further business negotiations with Alharhan, and specifically the country of Te’hănys. She went on to tell me in more details what those business negotiations would entail, but I wasn’t really listening. At one point I yawned loudly, and she stopped talking. I know I’m boring you to death, she said, but when I’ve finished talking with President Ten Arbhonhal, Te’hănys and Tereskàdhar will become business partners in a highly competitive market.

Through our whistling dragons I told Rhalhea that we should excuse ourselves from Senha Leskel before she really puts us to sleep.

Pešhŏk. 30.489/Day 562

We are well on our way back to Alharhan, but we are still closer to Tereskàdhar than to our destination. It will be just under three months before we reach Alharhan. I know we have a long way to go because we are still using the Tereskàdian calendar; when we reach the halfway mark, we will be informed that the ship is going to switch to the Alharhanian calendar. Speaking of Alharhanian calendar, I don’t even know what the date would be there right now, but figuring it out roughly, Alharhan should be halfway through the year 5699.

Damn, every time I think of a date, it reminds me of Tharhedhal and 5700. You try to deny it, but it’s just that the way he was so serious about it makes me wonder. We Tereskàdians aren’t psychic, we don’t predict the future. We don’t even give a damn about the future until it gets here. I remember my Mama saying, Live for today, don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. And here is a Tereskàdian who is so sure that something disastrous will happen to Alharhan and Tereskàdhar.

I did it again. I’ve been thinking about this, and of course Kykherhenha has read my mind, and I have angered her again. We are in our cabin, alone, because Rhalhea has taken the cubs to the playroom on Deck 7. It’s been twelve days since we boarded the ship, and it’s been twelve days since I updated the journal, so I was glad when Rhalhea and the cubs left us alone.

We dined with Captain Lhuâdel on the third day on the ship. The captain asked us how we enjoyed our stay on Tereskàdhar, and when I told him what had happened to the village where I was born, I guess my voice was rather sharp,, because he looked rather surprised. I told him it was a matter of wanting to be back home, of wanting to stay, after what we had seen, Alharhan is the place we call home now. He wanted to know if we would ever go back to Tereskàdhar, maybe when the cubs were grown, and we were older. To die there? I asked. I looked at Rhalhea. Through our whistling dragons, she said, she wouldn’t mind spending our last years on Tereskàdhar.

But why am I thinking about that now? Rhalhea and I are twenty-six years old, our cubs are still living at home, and one of them is still nursing, so our thoughts are on a lot of other things besides old age and dying on Tereskàdhar. We Tereskàdians live a long time, so we still have about seventy, seventy-five years of life to look forward to. Old age and death are in the far future, and we are nowhere close to that, so we are not even going to mention it until the time comes.

Our cabin is on Deck 3, and as far as I know, we are the only Tereskàdians anywhere on the ship. I would have liked to have met other Tereskàdians, but now that Jhar Morněl is dead, there is no reason for Tereskàdians to flee their home planet. What I’m wondering about right now is the Tereskàdians who are living on Alharhan. Quite a lot have been born on that planet, but are they interested in learning about the planet where their parents, their grandparents, their ancestors were born? Or have they become so ingrained into the life of the planet Alharhan, that they don’t even care where their parents and grandparents came from? I’m a divided Tereskàdian; my hindpaws are firmly planted on both worlds, Tereskàdhar, because I was born there, and still have strong memories of the village where I was born and lived, and Alharhan, where I work now, and live
with Alharhanian friends.

Later that day I go to the library. They have enough books there to keep you satisfied the entire trip. They have these soft chairs you can sink into with your literary treasure and while away the hours. I had left a note for Rhalhea on the message board, so if she and the kids want to find me they know where I am.

I am amazed at how many books are still written about us. Not as many as in the 56th century and the early part of this century, but it seems that every time I look, there are new books being published. I am looking at a thick tome called ‘Sexual Interviews’ by somebody named Pherozh dhar Vhal who, according to his biography on the back, is a Professor of Tereskàdian Sexuality at the University of Treskebhar. Hmmm, I’m familiar with most of the staff at the University of Treskebhar, but the name dhar Vhal escapes me. I’ll have to ask Rhalhea about that, since she spends more time than me at the university now.

A thick book of interviews. Those Alharhanians want to learn everything about us, don’t they? When we do it, how we do it, why we do it… ‘Once you are locked to the female, do you ever want to change your mind?’ Now what kind of stupid question is that? Of course 100% of the Tereskàdians interviewed said, No. I mean, once you are inside a female, you can’t get out for three hours, so what is the use of thinking, I think I’ve changed my mind. A Tereskàdian’s mind just doesn’t work that way. Ah yes, another case of My mind is my mind, and your mind is your mind.

I must have dozed off a bit, because the next thing I know Kykherhenha tells me that Rhalhea and the cubs are here. The first thing Rhalhea does is pass Jhalhemha over to me, and the first thing my youngest cub does is go for my left teat. Rheža wants to know what I’m looking at so I show her the book. Jhorhea says she is bored. Bored! How can she be bored when there is so much to see and do on this ship. Except for certain restricted areas, you can go anywhere you like, see anything you like, do anything you like.

I put the book away, and my family and I go out into the hall. While most of the Alharhanians passing us ignore us, there are a few who offer greetings. The ship is a world unto itself, and for the three months it takes to go from one planet to another, we are its citizens, and we must abide by its rules and regulations.

This is a far cry from the time when Rhalhea and I and over one hundred cubs traveled from Tereskàdhar to Alharhan.

Pešhŏk. 16.489/Day 548