The Sinners of Erspia

It seemed to Laedo that the whole globular chamber was banging like a drum to the beating of his heart.

He had never known anything like it, not even in a pleasure house. Somewhere he could hear an uncontrolled roaring and wailing, both a man's voice and a woman's, and he completely failed to realize, at first, that it was his and Histrina's voices he was hearing.

How long did it go on for? He couldn't tell. He was submerged in his urges; there was no time. But eventually, after slaking his desires more deeply than he would have thought possible, he recovered his senses somewhat. He was lying on the floor of the orchid, arms still clasped around Histrina.

The gun lay a few feet away.

Only that forced him to clear his head. Otherwise he would probably have gone on, reaching plateau after plateau. He disentangled himself, casually picked up the gun, then wrapped it in his strewn clothing.

“Come on,” he said huskily, “let's get back outside ... for a while."

They stood up, and each laughed to see the other. Skin and hair were golden, dusted and shining. Still chuckling, Histrina bent to scoop up her gown.

Then she looked around for the gun, a frown crossing her features. Laedo forced himself quickly through the opening and lowered himself to the ground, then walked away at a steady pace.

Some distance away a man and a woman were standing looking up at the projector station. They were the same two, as far as Laedo could tell, who had entered the lavender orchid. Histrina caught up with him. He turned so as to keep his face to her. She seemed upset, furious, in fact—dangerously so. But, as long as he had the gun...

Placatingly he smiled. “That was great, wasn't it?"

“Give it back to me,” she said in a hard voice.

He ignored her. “There are no insects here,” he mused, looking up at the jungle, then at the sky. “No animals, no birds. Only people. The flowers use us to fertilise themselves with. That's why they're so big."

It was a marvellous piece of adaptation. Elsewhere it would have betokened an interesting line in selective evolution. On this planetoid, of course, the case was a little different. The orchids hadn't evolved quite by themselves. A guiding intelligence had given them a hand, or so he imagined—the intelligence of Klystar.

"Give me my gun," Histrina said in a low, controlled screech.

“It isn't your gun,” Laedo said calmly. “It's mine, and I'm keeping it."

“Give it to me, you—” Histrina flew at him, snatching at the bundle of clothing under his arm, kicking and scratching.

“Stop it!” he bellowed. Putting out a hand to fend her off, he placed it squarely on a voluminous breast, and pushed her away.

Panting, she stopped, to stare over his right shoulder. Cautiously he turned. The other couple had strolled up. They were smiling a greeting.

“Haven't you finished?” the man said pleasantly. “You should have stayed in the bell."

“We have finished, actually,” Laedo murmured. He inspected the two, interested to think they were the same whose ecstatic cries he had heard earlier. They were perfect physical specimens. The man was also undeniably handsome, and the woman beautiful. Quite obviously they were accustomed to their nakedness and had no use for clothing of any sort. They moved with a natural gracefulness, and radiated an air of unabashed friendliness.

Pure children of nature, he told himself. He was reminded of legends of man before the Fall. Something else they radiated was the sweetish odour of orchid pollen, an odour which he realized also surrounded Histrina and himself. The yellow dust clung to them all over, drenching the hair of head and genitals and adding a golden patina to the skin. Histrina, he noted, was eyeing the man up and down and was evidently excited by him. For his part, he found it hard to keep his eyes off the woman. Desirable though Histrina's body was, he had to admit that the other female surpassed her in comeliness.

“I haven't seen you two before,” the woman said in a warm contralto. “Are you from another region?"

“We come from another world altogether,” Laedo told her. He pointed to the bulking projector station.

“We came in that. It's a spaceship, of sorts."

They glanced back at the station. “So that's what it is,” the man said. He and the woman cooed, as though at something surprising, but then turned to Laedo again. Their lack of genuine astonishment was, to Laedo's mind, itself astonishing.

“Will you stay here long?” the man said.

“Some time, perhaps. It depends."

The woman spoke again, looking speculatively at Laedo. “Do you have flowers on your world?"

“Flowers? No, not the sort you have here. Only tiny ones.” He demonstrated with his hands.

She pulled a face, as a child might. “I think I'd rather be here on Erspia."

“Erspia?"

“There you are!” Histrina said furiously to Laedo. “I told you this was Erspia!"

Laedo lowered his head towards her. “But it isn't Erspia,” he insisted quietly.