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  Nandi nodded approvingly.

  “See? It’s good, right?”

  “Really good,” Harper admitted. “I’ve never tasted anything like it. Can…can I have some more?”

  “Have as much as you like, silly. That’s what it’s there for.” Nandi trilled laughter again and drank another cup herself.

  Harper drank three more goblets of the purple drink, which tasted like a mixture of fresh squeezed peach juice, ripe strawberries, and mangos, before Nandi started tugging her over to the couch.

  “Come on—you’ll miss the contest.”

  “No, I should really leave now,” Harper protested.

  “Of course you shouldn’t—you have to get some new foot coverings, don’t you?” Nandi pointed at her one bare foot. “You can’t go out on the high road like that. Come sit down just for a minute while Auntie Bru-bru gets you new ones.”

  Harper started to protest again that she really needed to leave but the big, circular couch looked amazingly soft and comfortable. Despite the fact that ten or fifteen girls were sprawled around it, there was still plenty of room for herself and Nandi. Maybe she could just sit and take a load off for a few minutes before she got back on that awful road and started trudging her way back to Shad.

  It seemed like a reasonable idea so Harper allowed herself to sink down onto the couch with a sigh of relief. After all the crazy things that had happened to her that day, it was nice just to sit still for a while and sip the delicious purple punch and relax.

  At the other end of the couch, the game or contest or whatever it was, was continuing.

  “My turn, my turn,” a girl with mint-green skin was exclaiming. She stood up, her massive breasts wobbling under a tight white top which clearly showed the points of her dark green nipples, and began to recite a kind of poem.

  “There once was a girl from kan-fine, who liked to be took from behind,” she began. “When her male pulled it out, she started to shout—”

  Before she could finish, some of the other girls started pointing at her.

  “Hendie! Hendie, your nectar,” Nandi exclaimed. “You’re leaking, my dear. Better pump!”

  “Oh my!” The girl named Hendie looked down at herself in apparent consternation. Sure enough, Harper saw, big wet patches were appearing on her tight, white top.

  “Get her the pump,” someone said.

  “Here you go, Hendie.” Nandi got up and handed a contraption with two suction cups attached to long black tubing. The tubes, in turn, were attached to a clear, plastic looking bladder which was apparently for storing whatever came out.

  Harper assumed the girl named Hendie would go someplace private and pump her breasts. (Was she breastfeeding a baby? If so, where was it?) Instead, Hendie pulled up her top with a giggle, allowing her massive mammaries to tumble free. She fumbled with the suction cups until she got them secured over her saucer-sized nipples, and then flipped a switch on the tubing which appeared to start a kind of motor.

  There was a mechanical humming sound and the two cups began to suck and pull vigorously. Squirting sounds came from them as liquid was drawn from Hendie’s breasts and drained into the large plastic holding bladder below.

  Harper felt extremely uncomfortable watching this procedure. She had no problem with breastfeeding in public—she thought it was a beautiful thing. (Although, to be honest she was a private person and would never consider doing it herself.) But this wasn’t breastfeeding—this was pumping—extremely public pumping.

  The black suction cups looked somehow obscene as they slurped and sucked at Hendie’s huge nipples—almost like mouths which had latched onto her and were intent on draining her dry. Also, it seemed to be…doing things to Hendie to have her breasts emptied.

  “Oh…mmm,” she moaned, undulating her hips sensuously as the suction cups pulled at her nipples. “Oh, yes…”

  Harper wanted to look away from the strange scene but somehow her eyes seemed glued to the action in the center of the tent. She felt hot and uncomfortable and the red silky gown, which she was still wearing under Shad’s black t-shirt, was suddenly rubbing against her breasts, making them feel sensitive in a way they hadn’t before. But she scarcely noticed because her attention was fixed on the girl getting her breasts pumped.

  The situation was made even stranger by the fact that the other girls on the couch didn’t seem a bit fazed by Hendie’s behavior. In fact, they laughed and cheered her on.

  “Look at Hendie go! She’s forgotten all about winning the contest now,” one of them giggled.

  “I bet she couldn’t finish that poem now if her life depended on it,” said another.

  “Look at that naughty Hendie,” said a voice in Harper’s ear and she realized that Nandi had come back to sit with her.

  “Um…is this, uh, part of the contest or something?” Harper asked uncertainly. She supposed it might be. Or it might be an alien custom. She tried to remind herself again not to be judgmental of other cultures but really, this was so weird…

  “Part of the contest? Oh my no! Hendie’s just getting off on getting pumped.” Nandi giggled again. “She always comes at least twice—once she even had multiples. Watch!”

  But Harper didn’t want to watch. Now that she knew for sure this was some kind of a sex thing, she felt even more uncomfortable. Wanting an excuse to look away, she drained her cup of punch and got up to fill it at the fountain again. Behind her, she could hear Hendie coming to an unmistakable climax with a lot of panting and groaning involved.

  Ugh—what the hell is wrong with these people? Harper wondered. And to hell with not being judgmental. If it was judgmental to not like being subjected to a public sex show well, then, she guessed she was guilty as charged.

  When her cup was full, she went reluctantly back to the couch where Nandi and the other girls were clapping and cheering.

  “She’s so funny,” Nandi said to Harper, speaking as though she’d never left. “Most girls can’t come unless they have a customer draining their titties but Hendie says the pump is as good as a male in need any day.”

  “A customer draining her…uh…draining her?” Harper frowned. “What are you talking about? I thought the girls here were all nurses.”

  “Well we are, silly! We nurse the males who come to us in need of refreshment and release,” Nandi explained. “But when there aren’t any customers, we use the pump. It’s either that or let the nectar go to waste and we can’t have that—it’s much too valuable.”

  “It…it is?” Harper asked faintly. She was beginning to understand what went on in this tent and it sure as hell wasn’t first aid.

  Just then, Hendie finished pumping and turned off the motor which caused the suction cups to release her nipples. They popped free, leaving her long, dark green nubs looking swollen and full, and the black tubing dangled down to her waist.

  “Excuse me.” Not bothering to pull down her top, Hendie pushed past Harper and Nandi, still holding the pumping device in one hand. “Oh Pie-lo—I’ve got some fresh nectar for you…” she trilled sweetly.

  Pie-lo came into the tent, grinning expectantly. “Do you now? How sweet of you, Hendie.”

  He took the plastic collection bladder from her, which was now filled with pale purple liquid, and drained it in a few long, thirsty gulps.

  “Ahh…delicious!” he proclaimed, handing the bladder back. Hendie accepted it with a giggle and replaced the collection device before dropping the suction cups and tubing negligently on an empty section of the large circular couch.

  Harper felt sick. She knew breast milk was natural and full of nutrients and she’d even heard of some cancer treatment programs who asked breastfeeding mothers with extra milk to donate it because it was super good for patients doing chemo. But none of that knowledge could make her feel better about the fact that she’d just seen a grown man chug about a quart of the stuff in public right in front of her.

  “Pie-lo always makes certain none of our nectar goes to waste,” Nandi whispere
d confidentially as the green-skinned male left the tent again. “He used to suck it out like the customers do when our titties got too full but Auntie Bru-bru caught him at it and she got so mad!” Her eyes widened expressively. “So now if she’s anywhere around the tent, he just drinks it from the collection bladder.” She lowered her voice even more. “So be sure if your tits fill up and there aren’t any customers to drain you, you use the tubing, okay?”

  “What are you talking about?” Harper demanded. “Why would my tit—uh, breasts fill up like that?” She almost said “like yours” but it seemed rude somehow, although it was clear that Nandi had the same “issues” as the other girls in the tent.

  “Well because you drank the sex-milk of course.” Nandi looked at her as though she was simple. “I mean, it takes a little while to take effect and there is a short period where you can only let a male nurse but not fuck you at the same time or it negates the effects. But after that passes…” She pointed at her own huge mammaries and giggled. “Well, it’s all fun and games!”

  “Fun and games?” Harper looked wildly from her half full cup to the tall silver fountain. “So that’s…that’s sex-milk? And it makes your breasts, uh, fill up?”

  “Of course, silly!” Nandi exclaimed. “That’s what it’s for—to fill our titties with nectar so we can nurse males in need.”

  Head spinning, Harper tried to calculate. How many glasses had she had of the stuff anyway?

  Something like five or six, whispered a little voice in her head. You just couldn’t chug it fast enough.

  Harper’s stomach rolled at the implications. She felt a mixture of disgust and panic.

  Have to get rid of this stuff before it affects me like it has all the other girls here!

  “Excuse me!” She scrambled off the couch, dropping her half-full goblet on the carpeted floor, and ran for the flap of the tent. She had to get out of here! She had to be sick and she didn’t want to puke in public.

  She made it out into the dusty landing area where the flying snake had first dropped her off before sticking her finger down her throat. Harper had always hated throwing up—it was her least favorite thing in the world and she dreaded getting a stomach flu. But right now she didn’t hesitate—she had to get rid of the sex-milk she’d drunk before it changed her into an empty-headed idiot with breasts full of strange liquid who would happily let a stranger suck her nipples.

  Her stomach heaved and a rush of pale purple liquid came up. It tasted just as delicious coming up as it had going down…which only made her feel sicker.

  “Oh…” Harper moaned and then she puked again…and again.

  “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Suddenly Auntie Bru-bru was by her side. “Whatever is the matter, my dear? What has made you sick?”

  “What has made me sick?” Harper used the hem of her t-shirt to wipe at her mouth and then swiped at her streaming eyes. “That…that stuff I drank. Apparently it fills your breasts while it empties your head. Oh God…” Just the thought made her stick her finger down her throat once more and be sick again.

  Had she gotten it all? What if there was still some of the weird sex-milk in her system? What if it was too late? She shivered, feeling ill and horrified at the thought. But her aching stomach also felt empty. She’d thrown up so much—it must be all out of her. Right?

  “Oh, God…” Harper moaned, straightening up again and putting a hand to her midsection. “Oh, God…”

  “Oh, Auntie Bru-bru! What’s the matter?” Nandi suddenly came running up. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know, Nandi my dear. The new girl seems to have had a bad reaction to the sex-milk,” the older woman exclaimed.

  “Of course I had a bad reaction to it,” Harper gasped, wiping her mouth for a second time. “It makes you freaking crazy. And I’m not the new girl. In fact, I’m leaving right now.”

  She still felt shaky on her feet but she threw back her shoulders and headed for the blue tape which surrounded the open area around the yellow and blue striped tent.

  “Oh no,” she heard Nandi gasp. “Auntie Bru-bru—stop her!”

  The older woman sighed regretfully. “I’m afraid I can’t, dearie. She’ll have to find out the hard way, just like the rest of you did.”

  Harper paid no attention to their chatter. She meant to lift the blue tape and step under it to get to the green, cobblestone road which she could see just a few feet ahead.

  But the moment her fingertips touched the tape, an electric jolt went through her and suddenly, it was as though a thousand prying fingertips were digging into her ribs and sides and armpits…the sides of her knees…the tops of her thighs—all the places she was most ticklish.

  Harper fell to the ground, bizarrely convulsed with laughter. It felt like she was being tickled mercilessly by invisible beings and for a long time all she could do was roll in the dust and laugh helplessly though the situation was in no way funny.

  At last her laughter trickled off to giggles and then to panting silence as she tried to fill her lungs with air. After a moment, she became aware that Auntie Bru-bru’s blue prune face and Nandi’s more youthful one were both leaning over her, peering at her anxiously.

  “What…what the hell?” Harper asked weakly. She couldn’t frame the question any better than that. Her head felt woozy from laughing so hard and she was still trying to catch her breath. She’d always hated being tickled.

  “You touched our tickle-fence,” Auntie Bru-bru said apologetically. “Some nursing tents use a pain-fence to keep their girls in. But, well, Pie-lo and I don’t like that. We run a happy tent here—like to keep the girls cheerful.”

  “Well, I’m not one of your girls. I was brought here by mistake, remember?” Harper demanded. She stood on shaky legs and brushed the dust off herself as well as she could.

  God, she was really a mess with her hair all tangled and her clothes all dusty and sticky from the spilled sex-milk. Her mouth was filled with cloying sweetness which made her want to be sick again.

  “I’m afraid you are one of our girls, dearie,” Auntie Bru-bru said, matter-of-factly. “See, tennick flesh is expensive—it cost me plenty to bring you here and I can’t lose my investment. Besides…” She cocked her head to one side. “You might be hefty but your skin is a pretty color—so creamy and brown. I’m sure lots of males in need will want to nurse from you once your breasts start to fill.”

  “That’s not going to happen!” Harper exclaimed. “You can’t just keep me here!”

  “Oh, but I’m afraid we can, girlie.” Pie-lo suddenly came out of the tent and grabbed her by the arm. “No fussing, now. Just remember you’ll feel better once your breasts begin to fill.”

  “They’re right,” Nandi assured her anxiously. “I was upset to be here at first too, you know. I was on my way to visit my cousin on the other side of the market and I had no notion of going to live at the nursing tent. But after I drank the sex-milk and my breasts started to fill, I saw how nice it was here.” She grinned. “Now I never want to leave.”

  Harper stared from the grinning girl to the old woman in dawning horror and understanding.

  “That story you told about your pet snake bringing me here by accident—that was all a load of bullshit, wasn’t it?” she demanded, glaring at Auntie Bru-bru’s wrinkled prune face. “You have that damn snake steal girls all the time! Probably every single one of the girls in that tent had other lives and you kidnapped them and turned them into some kind of weird milk-whores! Well, you’re not doing it to me!”

  She twisted away from Pie-lo and rushed for the blue tickle-tape again. This time she intended to slide under it without touching it at all. But the moment she got near it, it was as though a thousand tiny fingers reached out and found her vulnerable spots again.

  Not fair, Harper thought hazily, as she fell down laughing helplessly for the second time. Not fair—I didn’t even touch it this time.

  “The field gets more sensitive every time you try to escape, girlie
,” Pie-lo explained, hauling her to her feet. “We have some girls here can’t even come out of the tent for fear of getting zapped. Come on now—we’ve got some customers to service. You come with me and I’ll show you how things are done.”

  “No!” Harper moaned, pulling against his grip. But she was too weak to break free a second time. She could only drag her feet as he pulled her back into the blue and yellow striped tent.

  Suddenly homesickness overwhelmed Harper, forming a lump in her throat that was impossible to swallow. What a mess she was in! She wanted to be back home—in her own time and her own place. She wanted to brush her teeth and take a hot shower and wash her hair. She wanted to wake up and realize this whole adventure had been one long bizarre dream and she was going to be late for work if she didn’t hurry up and get going.

  But it seemed there was no waking up. Instead, she was dragged back into the tent with Nandi leading, promising Harper would see how exciting things were in the nursing tent.

  Inside, it was a different scene from before. The girls were up off the couch, standing in a row. They were nudging each other and giggling a little, but for the most part they were silent.

  As they neared the front of the tent, Harper could see the reason for the change. Standing near the front flap of the tent were two alien males, one with green skin and one with a pale purple epidermis. They were eyeing the assembled girls speculatively, like men at a butcher’s shop looking to pick out the best cut of meat.

  “That one,” the male with pale green skin pointed at a girl with a pale pink complexion, like cotton candy. “She looks ripe and juicy.”

  “A wise choice, my lord,” Pie-lo said, stepping forward and dragging Harper with him as he went. “Bianetta is one of our best nurses with the sweetest nectar. Would you like only to nurse at her ripe tits or do you also wish to fill her with your shaft?”

  “How much?” the male wanted to know.