The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 10. Chapter 10 - Pleasure Island

Kosephaji, Relliduna, and Pelipi spent a lot of time above deck as the ship made its way south. It had been 11 days since Relliduna was attacked, and he was continuing to recover. He hobbled about the ship, chatting with all the hunky deckhands. One of the crew found a cane in the ship’s hold that assisted Relliduna immensely. Its brass handle was shaped like a fish that was very phallic, and Relliduna thought it was amusing.

A few crewmembers figured out a way to secure Pelipi’s box to the main mast so he could remain with everyone above. He talked – and flirted – with many men and women of the crew, blinking in delight as he chatted to his heart’s content.

“We’re almost there,” Ogomo boomed to Kosephaji one morning as the sun was starting to rise. He chuckled. “We’ll likely arrive at the archipelago by late afternoon today. This chain of islands is… well, it’s one of a kind,” he concluded with a smile.

With the sun still high in the afternoon sky, the boatswain in the crowsnest cried out, “Land ho!” and a short while later, the ship arrived at the largest island of the Uodila Archipelago. The anchor splashed and sank to the bottom of the harbor waters.

The island chain was many days journey from the mainland, and several of the ship’s supplies were running low, so Ogomo went to the market on the wharf to place the orders for what he needed. He smiled as he watched his crewmembers head in different directions for their shore leave.

“Enjoy your time here, you salty minnows!” he boomed to them with a laugh.

A lovely breeze was blowing in from the ocean, as Kosephaji assisted Relliduna down the beach. He was holding Pelipi’s glass box by its handle. After a short distance, they found themselves in front of a seaside shack with a sign for fried fish and finifa. There was a little note describing finifa as a locally made fruit-medley liqueur. Relliduna set Pelipi’s box down on a table beneath a broad umbrella.

“Pelipi, it feels so weird to have you out in public with us,” Kosephaji said, as he and Relliduna each took a seat in the shade.

“I believe what Ogomo told us,” Pelipi declared. His light blinked with enthusiasm. “He said this island is run by Shifts, and I feel completely safe and comfortable being out!”

Relliduna looked around. “Ogomo wasn’t lying.” He pointed. “Look, there are three Bio-Shifts over on the pier. They’re just sitting out in the sun and fishing. One of them looks like… a frog.”

“Do you two think we should stay, as in stay here?” Kosephaji asked.

“This little village is so isolated,” Relliduna replied. He looked out at the waves. “It’s beautiful, and I’m glad the trip brought us to this little slice of paradise, but it’s so far from everything.”

“And Ogomo said the people who live here have a hard life,” Pelipi added, “and not only due to the remoteness.”

“My, my, ’ello there, cuties!” said a cheery round woman who came out of the fried fish shack. Her skin was weathered from her years of island life, and a little grey streaked her long braided hair. “You lads interested in nibblin’ what I gots to offer?” She gave them a kittenish smile; she was easily twice their age.

“Are you flirting with us?” Pelipi blinked at her.

The woman looked down at him with only momentary surprise. Then she stroked a fingertip along the edge of his box, as if a talking flashing light in a glass case was the most common thing.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to question a dame’s motives?” she asked, and she let out a boisterous laugh. “What’ll it be for you three on this fine afternoon?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve got any scorpions, do you?” Pelipi asked.

The woman looked curious. “Well, now, I’ve never had that request made of me before, and believe you me, I’ve been requested all sorts of things.” She shot the trio a wink.

“What a tease!” Pelipi said merrily. “I’m so glad we stopped here at your place.”

“As am I,” she replied with a broad smile. “Now, what can we figure out for you, since I’m fresh out of scorpions?” The woman chuckled. “Do you want something raw?”

“He eats mostly live insects and scorpions and spiders and stuff,” Kosephaji explained.

The woman perked up. “How about a nice little crawler? I don’t serve them, but they’s usually in the shallows. Dolo!” she called aloud, surprising her three guests.

A tall, muscular young man strode around the outside of her shack. He was shirtless, wearing only an apron and a pair of very short shorts. His feet were bare, his hair was dreaded into tidy locks, and he rippled with muscles.

Kosephaji and Relliduna gawked at him.

“Hello, Dolo,” the woman cooed to the beefy hunk. “Do you think you could catch our guest here a crawler? I think it’d be the perfect meal for him.” She looked down at the light in the box and asked, “You are a him, right? Didn’t mean to assume.”

“Yes,” Pelipi replied, “the three of us are boys.”

Dolo smiled at Kosephaji, Relliduna, and Pelipi, and he headed out into the surf.

The woman’s eyes moved over Dolo. “Mmm, mmm, mmm,” she hummed to herself. “Couldn’t you just sop him up like a biscuit?”

Relliduna snorted and Pelipi let out a single laugh.

Kosephaji whispered a breathy, “Yes!” and his friends both giggled at him.

Pelipi asked between his blinking titters, “What do we call you?”

The woman crossed her arms under her substantial chest, and her cleavage bulged. “Just call me Mama.”

“He is very good-looking,” Kosephaji murmured to no one in particular. He was gazing out at Dolo, who was bent over with his hands in the shallows.

Relliduna reached out and squeezed Kosephaji’s arm.

Mama started to say, “He’s a bit of…”

“Caught one!” Dolo blurted out, standing upright and raising a small creature above his head.

“What’s a crawler?” Relliduna asked.

“They’s an invasive species of sea urchin that ain’t got no natural predators in these waters,” Mama explained. “They gorge themselves on everything at the bottom of the food chain. Ain’t much eating on them, so we don’t often fish’em.”

“I can’t wait to try it!” Pelipi declared.

Mama smiled. “And what about you two fellas?”

“What’s delicious, Mama?” Pelipi asked for Relliduna and Kosephaji. “That is, besides you,” he added playfully.

“Aren’t you just a wicked scamp?” Mama replied, giving the top of his box a little slap. She turned to Relliduna and Kosephaji. “Might I offer you both a basket of fried fish? I can do you spicy, and mellow.” She gave them a coy smirk.

“That sounds good,” Relliduna answered. “I’d take a spicy basket.”

“Oh, I’ll give you a spicy basket, alright,” Mama cooed to him.

Relliduna blushed.

“I’ll take a mellow fish basket, please,” Kosephaji added.

“Some like it hot,” Mama said with a wink. “I’ll have them right out for you, lads. And how do you want me to prepare the crawler?” she asked Pelipi.

“He eats his food raw… or rather, living, whenever he can,” Kosephaji explained.

“Dolo!” Mama called out again, as the muscly cook began to head back around the shack. “Leave that.”

He placed the spiny thing onto the tabletop, and Mama stroked one finger along the man’s collarbones.

“Thank you, Dolo,” she said in a sultry tone. “And please start one spicy basket and one mellow basket.”

Dolo gave the table of three guests a dashing smile, and he headed into the shack.

“Wow, he’s really good-looking,” Kosephaji repeated.

“It’s nice keeping someone around who’s easy on the eyes,” Mama commented. “Now, how’s about I bring you something strong to drink?”

She followed Dolo, and when the woman was gone, Kosephaji asked, “Pelipi, how on earth are you still a flirt, even though you’re bodiless?”

“It’s a gift,” Pelipi replied with a sarcastic and elevated air. “It just comes natural.” He laughed. “And I couldn’t help but notice you two boys eye-fucking that side of beef.”

Relliduna guffawed and Kosephaji snapped, “Pelipi!”

“That was a bit raunchy,” Relliduna added.

“He is hot, though,” said Kosephaji.

“You like ’em big and dumb, don’t you?” Pelipi asked.

Kosephaji let out a dramatic gasp, and Mama popped back out of her shack with a trio of beverages before he could respond to Pelipi with something sassy.

“Here you go, boys, three finifa. Wrap your lips around these. Can you drink?” she asked Pelipi in his box.

“No, Mama,” he replied, “but the boys can share mine. Or maybe you’d like to take a load off and join us for a spell! We’d love your company.”

Mama gave his box a knowing grin, and she said to Kosephaji and Relliduna, “I’ll let you two lads share the third finifa. Be out in a jiffy with your food.” She headed back inside.

“You’re awful!” Relliduna said to Pelipi.

Pelipi laughed and his light was radiant.

Just as Mama was returning, Kosephaji commented, “I think I could stay on this island.”

“Oh, you don’t want that,” she responded to him. “These islands are brutal to us year-rounders. We’s just on the cusp of storm season, too. This paradise ain’t for the faint o’ heart.”

She placed baskets of fried fish in front of Relliduna and Kosephaji. Relliduna’s was topped with a chili pepper, and a slice of pineapple came on the side of Kosephaji’s.

“Tell me,” Mama said to Pelipi in a come-hither voice, “how do I feed you?”

“Mama,” he gasped, “I think I’d be blushing right now if I had a body!”

“I can do it,” Kosephaji interjected. He stood and picked up Pelipi’s box.

“Bye, Mama!” Pelipi called out in a singsong voice as Kosephaji carried him a little way down the beach.

The sun began to set.

Kosephaji lifted Pelipi’s lid and said with a laugh, “You really are awful!”

“I know; I know. Awfulness is one of my finer traits.”

Kosephaji scoffed playfully, and he dropped the entire crawler into the box. A shrill high-pitched noise ripped through the air, and accompanying it was a noxious cloud that almost made Kosephaji dry-heave. He took a few steps back, as the stink wafted out to sea on an ocean breeze.

“By the great river!” Pelipi cried out in delight. “Mama! That was delicious! Mama, can you hear me? I’ve never eaten anything like that before!” His light was very bright.

“Pelipi, I don’t think she can hear you,” Kosephaji said, trying to catch his breath. He coughed a few times. “I’ll bring you back over there in a second. That was horrible.”

“I can’t help it!” Pelipi whined. “I’m sorry that the way I eat is so gross to you.”

Kosephaji laughed. “Don’t be a pouty bitch! Gurl, you’re one of us. You know I love taking care of you.” He sealed Pelipi’s box and picked up his friend. “And just look where we are.”

Kosephaji held the glass box in his hands and extended his arms toward the sea. He slowly rotated, allowing Pelipi to take in a panoramic view of the ocean, then the coast, and around toward the island. Kosephaji kept turning with Pelipi’s box until the coast on the opposite side came into view, and then the ocean again filled the horizon.

“It’s breathtaking,” Kosephaji said. He began to head back over to the table and added, “Pelipi, I’m so glad you’re here with us.”

Mama had planted herself in the chair beside Relliduna, and she was drinking the third beverage.

Relliduna raised his glass of finifa to Kosephaji and said, “This is really good.”

Two hours later, the sky was an inky indigo and the stars were flickering. Torches burned around Mama’s shack, and shadows danced to the sound of music being played somewhere not too far away.

Kosephaji and Relliduna were drunk. The two of them were whispering to each other in lusty voices about Dolo, and Pelipi was laughing at his inebriated friends.

“Why don’t you guys go talk to him?” Pelipi encouraged.

“It’ll take a lot more of this,” Kosephaji said, eyeing his drink, “before I have the guts to talk to him.”

“I just want to touch all those muscles,” Relliduna added. “So yummy.”

“Yes, I am!” declared Mama, who exited her shack with another round of drinks. By then she had learned the trio’s names.

“Please, join us, Mama!” Pelipi urged.

“How would you like another crawler, Pelipi?” she countered with a cheeky grin; she had fed him several since sunset, and she did not seem to mind the stench.

“It really doesn’t bother you?” Kosephaji asked her.

“Not in the least! Pelipi is an absolute delight!” Mama picked up his box. “Come along with me,” she said to him, and she headed down the beach. She placed him on the sand and said, “You sit tight while I find you another crawler.” Mama hiked up her skirt, flashing Pelipi her bustle and a wink, and she stepped out into the shallows.

The water started to glow in front of her and Pelipi asked, “How are you making that light?”

“It helps me find you a crawler,” she replied, not answering his question. She shuffled a few steps, leaned her face close to the water, and then she laughed aloud in surprise and stood bolt upright. “That’s cold!” she cried out. There was a matching pair of wet patches on the fabric of her shirt where it covered her breasts.

Pelipi let out a boisterous laugh.

“You got me wet,” Mama teased, “and I found you another treat.” She held up a very large crawler.

Kosephaji and Relliduna could hear Pelipi and Mama cackling together from a ways off, and then the loud sizzle of her feeding him.

“What a flirt!” Relliduna said with a snicker.

“I like that he’s enjoying himself,” Kosephaji added. “I almost feel like he’d be better off staying here. What’s the name of this island again? No matter how many times you tell me, I just can’t seem to remember.”

“That’s ’cause you’re drunk!” Relliduna snorted a laugh; he was also feeling much drunker than he was trying to let on. “And anyway, Pelipi belongs with us, not here.”

“Oi, lads!” boomed Ogomo’s voice from down the beach. “We need to leave! Finish up and head back to the ship!”

“What’s this then?” Mama asked, as she returned with Pelipi.

“I guesshh we need to go,” Relliduna slurred, unable to maintain his composure.

Kosephaji giggled and said, “Duna, yer drunk.”

Mama placed Pelipi’s box on the table, and she stepped up to Relliduna, so that she was standing right over where he was seated. Beneath her damp shirt, Mama’s large erect nipples were like gumdrops, and they were very close to Relliduna’s face. She wiggled back and forth in front of him and asked in a breathy voice, “See anything you like, Duna?”

“Erm… we need to… uh…” Relliduna looked toward Ogomo’s ship. “I… umm…”

Just as Kosephaji was finishing his last sip of finifa, Mama suddenly leaned down and planted a passionate kiss right on Relliduna’s lips. He made a little noise of surprise and Kosephaji choked on his drink, coughing and sputtering. Pelipi burst out laughing and his light blinked energetically.

Mama’s tongue quested into Relliduna’s mouth, and he found himself giving in. To his surprise, he even found himself enjoying the woman. A moment later, Mama took back her lips, and she was wearing the sweetest of smiles.

“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” she said, gazing into Relliduna’s eyes. She turned to Kosephaji and Pelipi. “The three of you are welcome here with Mama anytime.”

Kosephaji and Relliduna rose nervously from the table. Mama was a little intimidating, and yet they were not sure that they were ready to leave her.

“Bye-bye, Mama!” Pelipi called out, as Kosephaji helped Relliduna stumble in the direction of the ship.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Kosephaji commented.

Relliduna scoffed. “Even more so for me!”

“I, for one, loved it!” Pelipi declared from his box. He was tucked under Relliduna’s arm. “Was that your first time kissing a woman?”

Relliduna blushed even more than he already was; he was grateful that it was dark out. “Yeah, I’ve never kissed a girl before.”

Pelipi laughed. “Mama is not a girl,” he said. He then asked, “Kosephaji, did it make you jealous that she kissed Duna?”

Kosephaji guffawed. “You mean, instead of her kissing me? Of course not!” Relliduna had kissed a few of the boys who he and Kosephaji fancied back in Ruburge, and Kosephaji thought it was very cute that Mama kissed his friend. “Maybe it surprised me a little.” Kosephaji giggled and added in a quiet voice, “I’ve never kissed a girl either.”

“You big idiots,” Pelipi said through his laughter, “Mama is all woman!”

Kosephaji then commented, “I will say, I do feel a bit drunk.”

Relliduna snorted a laugh. “So do I,” he admitted.

“Sorry to cut your fun time short, lads,” boomed Ogomo from the dock, “but there’s a storm coming, and we’d best be on our way before it makes landfall.”

Kosephaji looked at the stars. “But there isn’t a cloud in the sky and there’s barely a breeze.”

Nahli spoke up. “One of the locals is a Shift weather-manipulator and he warned us that it’s headed this way. It’ll hit Uodila before dawn.”

Relliduna handed Pelipi’s box to Kosephaji, and Nahli helped Relliduna make his way up the wobbly gangplank.

“Ogomo, we’ve been having the best time!” Pelipi told the giant, and his light flashed intensely. “Thank you for bringing us here.”

“My pleasure,” Ogomo boomed with a laugh. “Sorry we can’t stay. Get onboard with Duna, you two.” He smiled at them. “We shove off as soon as the last of us arrives.”

Nahli helped Relliduna down to the cabin and Kosephaji followed with Pelipi.

The alcohol had diminished Kosephaji’s inhibitions, and before Nahli headed back upstairs, he asked her, “How come Ogomo lets you be part of the crew?”

“You mean, because Demifae usually hunt your friends’ kind?” she asked in reply, nodding toward Relliduna and Pelipi.

“Yeah,” Kosephaji said, “how’d you become friends with him?”

Nahli smiled. “Ogomo is my baby brother.”