Page 13 of Temple

He paused. “My sympathies.”

“Thank you. It makes it easier to travel.”

“Why?”

“I can never return home. I know not to keep things I can’t carry.”

“Where did they find you?”

“The companion temple. I got there through a comedy of errors and was found to have a high sensuality rating. When they asked for me to come here, I wasn’t doing anything interesting at the time.” She paused. “May I clean up my mess?”

He glanced toward the balcony. “The bots are at it. How far did you get?”

“Pretty far. Is that the purpose of the statues, or do you just have an enormous... ego?”

He jolted and looked at her. “What did you say?”

“Well, I have run out of introductory protocol moves, so now I have to go on instinct. I am terribly blunt, so you might want to grab one of the other ladies.”

“Why did they bring you here?”

“Oh, they want you to assist in getting mineral rights to a gemstone-laden asteroid field. They didn’t say who you had to negotiate with, but the inference was that you didn’t own it yet.”

Zell looked at her and touched her cheek, smiling softly. “What do you want?”

“Uh... I have an attendance contract, which I have completed, and then there is a performance contract, which requires two orgasms per week. I think I am done there. And after that, they send me back to the Temple.”

“Is the Temple home?”

“It is a good place with good people.” She shrugged. “They allowed me to give into my impulses, which is funny because it was something I couldn’t do at home.”

“What impulses?”

“The ones that made a mess of that statue. Sorry about that.”

“They were suggested by an artist a few centuries ago. You are the first candidate to use them for the intended purpose. I have another question.”

“Please. My evening is pretty free.”

“Why aren’t you unconscious?”

“What?”

“You put out a lot of energy. Why haven’t you fainted?”

She shrugged. “This wasn’t even my best effort. My compliments to the sculptor.”

He walked over to the statue, leaving her standing with no tail interference. He was wearing trousers or a long skirt that was belted at his waist and nothing on his torso. He watched the rat-sized bots cleaning the statue and ran his fingers across the appendage in surprise before sliding his smallest finger along the join between erection and body.

He bent and slipped his fingers along whatever remained on the stone belly. He turned and looked at her, his thumb rubbing against his fingers. She watched him calmly as he lifted his fingers to his lips and licked cautiously. There was a gold flicker in his eyes as he licked again. “This is interesting to wake up to. Are you in heat?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“So, this is average?”

Sage shrugged. “No. I will be receptive in the next few days, but it has been made clear that I am not your type. I do not wear your preferred body style. I have to compensate with a tremendous pheromone load.”

He moved, and she blinked as he was suddenly in front of her. “Compensate?”

---