Author's note: I'm just trying my hand at sci-fi/non-human erotica. All planets/moons/stars mentioned in the story are real - except the planet Gliese-H. I think this is a cute story. I had fun using my imagination.
Chapter 1
Ryan sat alone in the cafeteria eating a horrid combination of what he surmised to be thawed preprocessed food mixed with military rations. It was all the facility had. They might as well have just offered the humans protein powder instead of attempting to make this garbage resemble real food. He shook his head and kept eating, keeping his eyes downward, while occasionally looking around the nearly empty room.
As Ryan sat and ate, they watched him; they always watched him. They followed him, they would attempt to whisper as they chatted about him in their language, they laughed at or about him - at least he thought it was laughter. The Gliesens never spoke to him, unless you count the shy cafeteria worker that served food. A nod and a "hello" was all he offered to Ryan and most likely everyone else.
For 200 years humans and Gliesens have worked together, lived together, fought wars against a common enemy together, and colonized and terraformed moons and worlds together. But after all these years humans and Gliesens were still very much awkward around each other. Humans exhibited more paranoia and fear toward them if anything - as is the nature of humanity; fear toward things that are different.
As Ryan sat and ate, he heard two females chatter about 25 feet away. He quickly glanced in their direction only to see them look toward each other with embarrassment. He rolled his eyes and continued eating alone.
Ryan was usually always alone. He was the only human for miles on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, where he was stationed as a logistics officer. He kept track of and monitored supplies and other random necessities for the colonies in the equatorial region of the moon. He hated it there. It was as if the terraformers hated it too and shut down the terraforming process halfway through. Humans and Gliesens still had to wear breathing masks when going outside, if they could stand the temperature. Titan was around -290 Fahrenheit before terraforming began. The machines used were able to get the temperature up to a nice, warm, -40 Fahrenheit. Going outside was only done when it was an absolute necessity; besides the freezing temperature, it takes about 15 minutes to get the breathing mask and protective suit on - a major annoyance. He thought about Mars and its 80 degree summer weather and sighed as he ate. Why couldn't he have been assigned there? He would've loved to work logistics for the mining operations on Martian moon, Phobos.
The Gliesens seem to have a much easier time on Titan. Their bodies were covered in varying shades of brown, grey, or black fine fur which may have helped keep them warm. While Ryan has never actually touched Gliesen to be sure, they didn't appear to be carrying a lot of heat storing blubber. Still, they seemed to like it there, a fact which somewhat annoyed him.
Gliesens themselves were a fairly lithe, bipedal, tall, fur-covered species that originate from a Venus-sized planet that humans have named Gliese-H. It orbits the in the outer edge of the habitable zone of a human-named star called Gliese 581; about 22 light years from Earth. The actual name of the planet and host star in the Gliesen's native language is nearly unpronounceable for a human.
Ryan and his friends back on Earth would make fun of Gliesens as they tried to figure out what sort of Earth-based creature they resembled. He figured they were a cross between a wolf, cat, and a rabbit. They had long, pointed, rabbit-like ears that sat near the top of their heads. Their noses were similar in shape to a common house cat's except the nostrils were slightly more slanted and less circular. Their overall muzzle looked somewhat canine whereas their mouths looked more feline. Their teeth were quiet similar to a wolf's or some other canine species; large incisors with their back teeth appearing as though they were designed to chew food - not cut through it. Their eyes were large and slanted slightly upward instead of to side like a human's. The iris of their eyes was also quite large and circular. They ranged in colors from red, pink, or purple, with a black, round, pupil. Their sclera, or the white area of a human's eye, was black. They were, on average, several inches taller than humans. The males would approach 7 feet where the females were a few inches shorter. Both sexes were lean and lithe, the males only slightly more muscular. The most unusual part of their appearance was from the knee down. Their thighs looked fairly normal but below the knee, their feet and ankles resembled some sort of rabbit-dog hybrid; inverted ankles and long paw-like feet. Their four fingered hands were also similar to paws but not as strange as their large feet. Their "claws" weren't as sharp as a feline, but could draw blood if enough force was used.
After 200 hundred years of interacting and living amongst humans, the Gliesens seemed to have adopted human hair styles. Some humans thought it was cute, others thought it was stupid, and Ryan was neutral on the subject. Perhaps they were trying to fit in more. The two species have studied and learned from each other for two centuries now. Cross styling of hair and clothing was bound to happen. More and more humans were wearing Gliesen-like robes. Not Ryan though. He stuck to cargo work pants, boots, and a standard collared work shirt.
Ryan heard more chatter from the direction of the two females as he ate. Their language was very difficult for a human to speak. Theories behind that include humans having a wider, flatter tongue, as opposed to a Gliesen's longer, thinner tongue. Certain words in their language were simply too difficult to say. They, however, could speak heavy accented English. It takes decades for their students to become masters in the language, but with enough practice and study, they managed to pull it off quiet well.
"He's so much larger than the other humans," Annie said in her native language. Her actual name wasn't Annie of course, but all human studies majors at the university on Titan were required to pick an easier-to-say human name.
"Quiet down! I'm sure he's already figured out we're talking about him!" Annie's friend, Amy, said.
"Ok, ok!" Annie said and then quietly sat watching him. She noticed Ryan's much more muscular frame. She and Amy would laugh about how most humans were so overweight and unhealthy looking. Ryan was different. Out of the several dozen humans the two Gliesen students have interacted with, he was the tallest at 6 foot 7 inches, and the most muscular. Annie would follow him occasionally, struggling to be discreet, and see him enter a fitness center. She loved to watch him.
"Annie, snap out of it!" Amy swatted at Annie's long dark auburn hair.
"What? I just think he's different from the others, so much larger too. He smells better than them," Annie sniffed the air, easily able to smell his fairly weak cologne from 25 feet away.
"I'm going to talk to him!" Annie exclaimed as she pushed her food tray aside.
"No! Don't do that, it's not wise, and it may startle him. He could be armed," Amy said as she grabbed her friend's arm to hold her in place.
"Stop it! I will smile and make eye contact. It'll be fine. Listen to this," Annie said as she cleared her throat. "That sounds sort of like a human sound, right?"
"I guess," Amy rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"I'll be back soon," Annie said as she stood and walked toward Ryan. Her long green robe dragged along the grey paneling of the floor, covering her feet, as she moved slowly toward him.
Annie was on the shorter side for a female of her species. She was exactly Ryan's height. Her short fur was mostly a medium shade of brown. The fur around her chin, mouth, neck, ankles, and feet was a tan or off-white color. The rest of her body was covered in a long green robe. From what could be seen, she appeared lean like the others of her kind. She had what appeared to be breasts, but the robe was so loose and flowing, it was hard to tell their size or her exact body shape for that matter. Her nose was black and appeared to have a leathery texture, her hair came down to her middle back and was an auburn color, finally the large irises of her eyes were a darker pink - almost red.
"Hello," Annie said to Ryan in English after she cleared her throat. She said it in a way that was almost like she was asking a question.
Chapter 2
Ryan looked down as Annie approached, his heart rate increased as she got closer to him. "Ugh. What does she want?" he thought. He preferred to be left alone. When she spoke, he slowly looked up at her. She was awkwardly smiling down at him, her large incisors clearly visible.
"Hello," she said again. To which, Ryan simply nodded.
"May I sit here in front of you? At this table?" Annie asked in her thick accent; it sounded like a strange combination of eastern-European and Asian. She had a slightly higher pitched voice, almost nasally sounding, similar to a younger human female.
Ryan cleared his throat, "Uh, sure, I guess." He said as she quickly took a seat in front of him. He kept his eyes down and kept eating.
"What are you named?" Annie asked, still not having mastered the language, as she watched him eat.
"My name is Ryan." He said not looking up at her.
"Ah. I am named Annie. That is the name I chose for me!" she cheerfully explained. Ryan simply nodded, glancing briefly up at her.
They sat in silence for a few minutes then Annie spoke up, "You are a tall human."
Ryan raised an eyebrow as he ate, "Thanks, I guess."
"How long are you, uh, have you, been alive?" she asked.
Ryan smirked at her mistake in word choice. "How long am I?" he thought to himself, "I could be an inch or so longer," he said in his head as he chuckled.
"I am 30 years old," he answered as he looked directly in her large eyes.
Annie became lost in thought as she tried to remember what humans refer to as years. "Their home world takes 365 days to orbit its star, so that's one year," she thought to herself. "Our home world takes half that time. Our professor explained that it would be roughly 182 days. So a year on my planet is 182 days. So that makes him," she paused and then said out loud.
"Sixty years old!"
"Excuse me?" Ryan asked, confused by the creature in front of him.
