Ch. 2 : An Introduction To The Alien Household

     Chris went to work for the company. The work seemed interesting, far more so than he could expect from any Earth company jobs he might have been offered. He wondered why there were not more humans competing for this position. The work seemed to be more like a private hobby than a serious business prospect, and yet, as he understood, the aliens were keen to acquire the culture of Earth, and in more depth than most of the people of Earth themselves experienced. To Chris it was a pleasure to start work under the friendly direction of Contraik. He got to know the other workers in the office, alien and human. The human receptionist on that first day of interview asked him how he had got on as he was leaving. “They have asked me to work for them and I have accepted, for better or worse.”

     “That’s great. My name’s Gloria. So we will be seeing quite a lot more of you. You won’t regret it you know. They are good employers, so much better than my old ones. I used to work for an attorney’s office. I was just a number to be used and abused with as much work as they could get out of me. I didn’t know this was an alien company when I came for interview. The knowledge might have put me off, but knowing what I do now, it was the best move I ever made. I enjoy my job now.”

   Chris suspected her motives. She might just be saying that to him on the instruction of her bosses. But her message was clear that although aliens may appear distant they are good to work for. She seemed honest enough and her own story appeared to mirror his own.

   As he returned to work the next day and in the weeks after he found the receptionist’s words to have been true. He noticed that the other human staff were happy also. Indeed so were the alien workers with whom he could converse perfectly well. The workload was indeed easy, and nature of the trade was very interesting to him.

    He was called into Urilt’s office after two or three weeks and asked by the big alien whether he would be willing to spend part of his working time in the house of his family, helping them to complete ‘household duties’. Chris queried what these duties involved. “To assist household members in looking after the house; to be friendly and sociable, assisting household members with their enjoyment and appreciation of human culture. My wife Braidt will show you whatever you need to do. The work will not be hard or difficult for you. We have observed your nature and consider that you will be perfectly suited to this assisting role.”

   Chris was curious and surprised. He had the impression this was a cleaning, and other servant duties, kind of job. The bit about conversation sounded pleasant but a little vague. As such it might make a pleasant change from the work he had done in the past, but the office work and the search for worthwhile literature had given him a sense of interest and prestige which was already doing him good.  Why then, if they told him he was so suitable for the collecting work, did Urilt wish to give him these household tasks which surely many less qualified workers would be able to perform. He was not sure whether this was a demotion from his office work, but Urilt seemed to assure him it was not. As he was the boss and seemed firm in his decision, Chris felt he could hardly refuse. The new job was to be performed in the afternoons on three days of the week. It sounded easy.

     Chris took well to his household duties, when he was there. They were no more onerous than his duties in the office, and being more ‘personal’ they were more natural. The aliens slept on padded mats rather than beds. These were much like the floor mats of gymnasiums and health clubs, but more padded, and quite as comfortable and unyielding as beds. On one occasion, a few days after his arrival in the position, he was asked by Urilt to stay overnight, to act as an on call servant. He stayed over after his afternoon cleaning duties without complaint. After all Urilt had promised him that he would be paid at the same rate during the evening and during the night although he would be sleeping. It seemed like a lot of money for little work, and it would be interesting to see how the alien household operated during the evening and night.

     He finished his duties and came into the comfortable lounge where some of the household were to be found. One of Urilt’s wives Braidt had overseen his work so far, and she was present, engaged in reading some more of Earth’s literature. He had talked a little with her on each of the last few days, particularly about Earth literature, which she said obsessed her very much at the moment. He found her very dignified, her brain was sharp and enlightened. She expressed feelings in a way that her husband Urilt never had, nor some of the other aliens. His conversations with her had been a large reason for his pleasure in working here at the house, although all of the household had been friendly to him. “What are you reading today?” he asked, politely.

    “Today I read a fantasy.” She named the author and showed him the book. The name was obscure to him but he saw the colourful cover of a noble warrior, climbing an exotic mountain. Behind was a beautiful scantily clothed dark haired maiden. In the distance they were pursued by some evil looking warriors. He knew the kind of literature. He enjoyed it himself when he had the time.

    “I don’t know this author, but I enjoy this kind of book. It is different from the ones you have been reading over the last few days. Have you finished all the other books?” he asked.

   “Some of them are finished. Others I will finish when I want to. You know I like to investigate different books.” They had talked before about some of the books she had read in the past. She read very widely judging by the varied subjects and genres she chose to read. She read factual and fictional books. He could not help but be impressed by her knowledge, or her taste. He had found himself admiring this female alien’s mind, and wishing that she were human and more attractive to him.

    She was not unnattractive by any means. He could imagine that, as alien females went, she was strong sleek, healthy and well built. Her skin was smooth, and thick, stretched tautly over her face, arms and legs. There was no slack or flabbiness. She seemed to him youthful and vigorous, powerful like Urilt, a fine specimen of her species. A major defect in alien attractiveness, as Chris saw it, was their skin colour – grey. It was a tinge rather than a complete colour, much as the black skinned are not really black, and the yellow skinned are not really yellow. There was always pale whiteness, but rather than pink or brown there was grey. Some aliens were darker skinned, and some were very pale. Braidt was somewhere in the middle of the range. Braidt’s face, like all of the aliens’ ,seemed half human to Chris. As such it had a human beauty to it, a long face, a long slender nose which dominated her face more than it would any human; forehead higher than any human’s; eyes piercing purple on soft violet, and some aliens had other colours’ greens and yellows; instead of circular the pupils were a diamond shape. The ears were large, and some stuck out as well; Braidt’s in particular, and she had no hair to  hide them with; even then they would have stuck out through the hair. All of the aliens were hairless, which was one of the things which to Chris made them appear most alien. As to the rest of their bodies Chris could only guess from the shape which their clothes would reveal, except for the arms and lower legs which they kept bared when the temperatures were warm; they were strong muscled, smooth skinned, and not dissimilar to human limbs except for their palor. Surely they were related to humans, he thought, but there were many differences in ability, character and psychology, as well as the physical differences.

     “I was wondering what you want me to do next,” Chris offered when there was a brief pause in conversation.

     “You are in service. I will instruct you when I want something. For now you are serving me very well. Thankyou.” Chris found her words quite incongruous. He was not at all clear what his duties entailed here, apart from the ones he had just finished performing. Neither Urilt or Braidt had given him a full explanation. Even in the office he often waited to be instructed and Urilt and other managers were often unconcerned when human employees were sitting with nothing to do. These people seemed to be without urgency, although all the humans obeyed quickly when instructions were given. No one wanted to anger these powerful creatures who everyone felt wary of. Evidently here she was quite happy to talk with him about human literature. He must take his lead from her. It seemed that here he was a general servant. He knew not what the extent of his duties might be. They seemed to have little distinction between business duties and the personal. In a human company business and the personal were sharply delineated. He supposed as this was a ‘family’ company that they were not so concerned by the distinction.

     “There is something you can do for me now,” she looked at him carefully with her purple eyes. He had the feeling that he was being analysed in some way, not for the first time among the aliens. She had done this to him when he first came to the house, three days before, as had other members of the household, Urilt had done it when he was interviewed for the job, and occasionally other aliens in the office. He felt that a judgement was being made about him. Those staring eyes made him uncomfortable. “Follow me.” He turned to follow her into a room along the corridor. He felt regret for having said anything about work, because now it seemed she had some real work for him. Just moments before they had been having such an interesting conversation. The room they entered was relatively bare except for some soft benches, such as you might find in a gymnasium, floor mats which he had already ascertained were used by the aliens for sleeping on, a couple of mirrors, and some Earth furniture – a settee and some comfortable chairs. The room had been made comfortable with rich red and soft violet patterned wallpaper, and there was a book case on the wall. He surmised this could be Braidt’s own private room, because of the books, but maybe not.

    She turned to him. “I want us to relax together. I do not want to shock you, or to hurt you. You don’t relax much do you?”

   Chris began to suspect where this might be leading, but her intention was not yet clear to him. What exactly did she mean by ‘relax’. He felt nervous and fearful, but he told himself to trust her, she was showing some sensitivity to his feelings. “No, I suppose not. What do you mean by relax?”

    “We sometimes like to relax with humans. You relax us very well. Relax means what it says, neither unpleasant or threatening. Your word for what I mean is sex.” She waited to let her words sink in. Chris had been correct in his suspicions, but still he did not know exactly what this strange creature intended. “I know your kind do not always wish to practice these arts with us. We are different. But we love you,” she emphasised the word ‘love’. “I do not intend to do anything which is against your wishes. I intend only to touch you, to see you, and for you to touch me in return. I do not intend you to fuck me. I place no expectations upon you. You do not have to love me. But I want you to let me love you. I will show you my body so do not be alarmed.” She cast off her purple robe. There was no other clothing beneath. It seemed they were all naked beneath the robes, or maybe that was only because she was in her own house. He felt unprepared for what he saw. “Look at me,” she said.

   What he saw was not different from what he might have expected. Her body was pallid grey, more pallid than the arms and face perhaps. Otherwise it was not so different from the female human form he coveted so much on the pornography channels and net libraries. The breasts were not enlarged, they seemed fairly flat by comparison to the porn stars he so cherished, but were not many ‘real’ women like this. They fitted her well. He could see her rib cage, just like the human one. She was slender, her stomach full but not flabby. Her hips were wide, he suspected wider than many humans. Her arse must be very large, and her arms and legs were powerful and muscular. Her feet were bigger than human, with seven toes per foot. All in all it was a nice body, better than he might have imagined. He wanted time to think and become attuned to this offer. He didn’t know whether it was he who was to receive the benefit, or whether this was an abuse of his humanity, and his employment status. He felt confused but the time was now, and he did not wish to lose the favour of this employer.