Page 24 of Her Alien Boss

He really has gone all stern again. For a moment, I felt like he was almost sweet and protective, the way he put himself between Drak and me. But I guess he’s going to deal with me regarding the ship issue, and I guess he’s going to do it the way he has dealt with everything. Physically.

I bite my lower lip and I try not to say anything. Saying things in moments like these always makes them worse.

“Fortunately, there is a chance for this to be a learning experience for you. The way you’re going to be trained to the machine involves sensors that connect to you. They’re going to read your outputs and in time, that will control various elements of machines in our research.”

I nod along, pretending to understand. I think I get it. The words are simple enough. It’s just that the concept is super weird and I can’t see why anyone would want this, but I guess science tends to be that way. It seems fucking odd and then suddenly you have a microwave.

He rolls out a relatively low padded table device that looks small compared to the rest of everything in the room. I realize that is because it is made for me. Arkon taps the padded surface.

“Come and lie down,” he says.

It’s odd. Like a massage table, but with way more points of articulation. I lie on it, and find that it’s very comfortable. As soon as I am in position, he starts strapping me to it and moving the various parts of it about. He moves the knee part of the legs down, so I’m in a kind of bent over position. He straps my thighs and my calves down so I cannot move them. He does the same to my forearms and wrists, both of which have their own little padded places to go. Then there’s my torso and head. My head pokes through a hole in the not quite a massage table, and he secures that with a strap behind it. Another two run across my back. By the time he is done, I am snugged up so tightly against this padded device I cannot move at all. It’s unexpectedly comfortable.

“How is that?”

“It’s good,” I say, my voice kind of muffled.

He makes a pleased sound. “I thought you might dislike it. You have the temperament of someone who wants to run about and be free. Though, the ship’s steward did tell me you took to your kennel on the vessel very well.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” I mumble toward the floor as he keeps adjusting me. He’s spreading my legs open wider, into a position that is actually very lewd.

I feel a bolt of excitement at the notion of what he might do to me next. It could be anything. The rules I grew accustomed to on Earth clearly don’t apply here, and that mention of all the debt I’ve incurred has made me particularly, almost stereotypically keen to work what I owe off another way.

“Is this going to hurt?” I ask the question with some nervousness.

“The point isn’t to hurt you,” he says. “But given you’ve been naughty here and there, I suppose it’s worth telling you that it could be painful if I wanted it to be.”

“Oh, no,” I giggle. I wish I didn’t have that reaction, but the truth is I am so snugly held and there’s just something about being completely at the mercy of a stern alien that gives me an almost unbearable lightness. He’s not going to hurt me. He needs me for work, for starters, and even if he didn’t, he has been more indulgent than stern, even when I deserved punishment.

“You think this is something amusing?” He growls the question down at me. I wonder if he is trying to sound stern, or if he is just letting his amusement leak through. Whatever one it is, I am getting those little bolts of excitement again.

He taps my ass lightly, affectionately.

“You enjoy this almost too much,” he says. “But that is a good sign. We’re going to be using a lot of different interface approaches with you…”

“Wow,” I say.

“Wow what?”

“I’m strapped down so firm I can’t even move and somehow you managed to make it boring.”

He laughs and smacks my ass, harder this time.

“You are not going to be bored for long,” he says. He flips up my skirt and lowers my underwear, and I am instantly much less bored.

“What…”

“Relax, if you can,” he says. “As I was trying to explain, controllers and such are often used by the hands. But the hands are limited in the number of fingers they have and how fast they can move. There are other parts of your body with finer, faster reaction times. Such as here…”

He lets the tips of his heated fingers run lightly over my sex.

“You want me to interface with a machine through…”

“Mhm,” he says.

“I don’t see how…”

“You don’t need to understand it yet,” he says. “Today is training. You’re going to receive stimulus and that will calibrate your body and the machine. Hold still. I am going to attach some… oh, I suppose you don’t have any choice but to hold still,” he laughs.