“What the hell is that?” Dan asked. Through the viewport of their scout vessel he could see a small shiny speck in the distance, even though they were supposed to be light-years from anything.
“Nothing on our sensors at all,” Rebecca said, “But we seem to be headed right for it.”
It had been fifteen years since Earth’s scientists had discovered the key to faster-than-light travel, opening the universe to mankind’s explorations. For the past five years they had been sending out small scout ships all over the galaxy to look for other habitable planets, and for the purpose of exploration. Hundreds of sectors had been explored, but so far no life of any kind, or even uninhabited planets that could support life, had been found.
Even so, exploring the galaxy was one of the most coveted positions in the World Space Agency. Only the best and brightest were chosen for these missions, each team of two pilots gone for ninety days at a time. This was Dan’s second trip and Rebecca’s first. The small speck slowly grew in size as they approached and Rebecca’s heart began to pound with excitement in her chest.
“Still nothing on sensors.” Her mouth went dry when it became obvious that the distant object was a ship.
“How big is that thing?” Dan asked.
“No way to know without any sensor data. I can’t even tell how far away we are.” She was trying every type of sensor with which they were equipped, but it was as if the alien ship wasn’t there. She sent the standard, prerecorded radio greeting on all channels and in all frequencies, but there was no response.
“Okay,” Dan said, trying to control his excitement, “Let’s follow protocol. I think we may have stumbled into a first contact situation. Keep broadcasting the standard greeting. If there is no response within an hour then instruct the central computer to dump all information that is not necessary for the proper operation of the ship. We don’t want to give anything away to a potentially hostile species.”
Two hours later the huge, football-shaped alien ship filled the entire viewport, and the two pilots were just starting to realize how large it truly was. Still the sensors revealed nothing, but standard measurements lead to an estimate of over 800 meters across its long axis.
**********
Rebecca awoke disoriented and confused. The last thing she remembered was approaching the large alien ship. She sat up slowly and looked around a room that looked very much like a suite in a high quality hotel. She was on a comfortable bed. The room had an overstuffed couch and television set. Where am I? she wondered.
She got out of bed and walked over to the closet, which was open and contained a small collection of casual clothes. However, the television set didn’t work and the door used to exit the room was locked. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she must be aboard the alien ship, in a room specially designed to accommodate her. She wondered if Dan was being held nearby.
After a while she began to feel a little claustrophobic, and decided to make use of the bathroom and shower. The water was hot and felt wonderful, and she scrubbed herself clean with the soap that was thoughtfully provided. She then changed into cotton pants and a T-shirt, both of which fit perfectly. Her fear and apprehension began to be overtaken by curiosity about her captors.
While she was contemplating her few options she nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud voice said “HELLO, CAPTAIN TORMANN.”
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Yes?” she responded.
“PLEASE FOLLOW THE YELLOW LINE.”
A phosphorescent yellow line appeared on the floor of the room. It lead to the door, which Rebecca found was now unlocked, and into an empty corridor. She followed it around several corners, down several long hallways, to a closed doorway. When she approached this door it opened into a room which appeared to contain nothing except a comfortable-looking chair. The room was poorly lit and quite large, and anything could have been hidden in the shadows at the extremes of her vision.
She sat in the chair, which was very comfortable and seemed to alter itself somehow in order to conform to the shape of her body. She noticed movement in the shadows as a tall figure came slowly forward. As the alien moved into the light Rebecca was shocked by what she saw.
“Is this some type of trick?” she asked, “You look just like us!”
Except for a slightly blue tinge to his skin and large, almond-shaped eyes, the alien looked remarkably human.
“I am part of a race called the Lunatae.” The alien had a soft, soothing voice. “And this is no deception. Our species are more closely related than you might suspect. My name is Yubo.”
Rebecca was surprised by Yubo’s use of English, and said so.
“I have recently learned your language from your associate,” Yubo saw her concern at the mention of Dan’s name. “Do not worry about your companion. He is safe and resting comfortably.”
“What do you want from us?
“We are explorers, just like you, only my people set off to explore the universe over 5000 of your years ago. When we encounter new species we try to understand them to as great a degree as possible, and then try to forge a lasting friendship to our mutual advantage—assuming that is feasible.”
“And what if we’re not interested in your friendship?” Rebecca was fighting a swirl of emotions, from fear of the unknown to exhilaration at discovering another life form—and so much like human beings! What did that say about the origins of life?
“We have no reason to force a relationship on anyone,” Yubo replied, “But it is almost always mutually beneficial.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We need to continue the experiments that we started with Dan in order to get a more complete picture of your race, including both male and female components.”
Rebecca stiffened and her mouth went dry at the mention of the word “experiment.”
“Please do not be frightened. We use very advanced techniques to obtain all of our physiological and psychological information. Most of our scanners function without producing any sensation in the subject at all. We use a device that allows us to obtain information directly from your mind, which will, at times, seem to you as if you are traveling to different locations and existing in different situations. Everything will seem completely realistic to you—no different from actually living through the experience—and we can monitor your physiology during your experiences. We have used these devices on hundreds of species over a period of nearly a thousand years without ever having an adverse event. We have learned a tremendous amount of information from your colleague in just the short amount of time that he was here, and he came through the tests without a problem. As a matter of fact, we estimate that we obtained eighty-percent of what we need to know about your species from him, and only need to obtain the remaining twenty percent from you.”
It sounded simple, but Rebecca was still nervous. She wished she could see for herself that Dan was okay.
“What happens after that?” she asked.
“Unless you think that the best option would be for us to escort you home, we would let you return to your planet and have the central government prepare for our arrival on a prearranged day. You are a pleasant, although historically violent, species, and we already anticipate that we could provide you with much needed information with respect to medical care, life-prolongation, and the more efficient use of natural resources.”
As anxious as Rebecca was, she couldn’t refuse the potential of helping humanity to obtain such wonderful advancements. “What do I have to do?”
“Just try to relax.” Yubo rolled two devices over to Rebecca, placing one on either side of her head, but neither machine touched her.
“We start by doing an preliminary scan, “ Yubo said, “It gives us a kind of detailed outline of your knowledge and physiologic brain function. Then we will compare that information to the information we retrieved from Dan. Any interesting differences we will pursue in more detail. There will be an initial mild sense of disorientation and then a feeling as if you are watching your life flash before your eyes. There should be no pain or discomfort. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’m going to be.” Rebecca tried to calm herself by breathing long deep breaths but she was perspiring profusely.
She heard a vague humming from the machine on either side of her head, then a moment of slight dizziness. Suddenly she found herself standing outdoors on a bright sunny day. She could feel the heat and humidity on her skin and smell flowers nearby. She realized with surprise that she was in Paris—last June as a matter of fact.
The slight dizziness occurred again and she was home in Ohio. Then Colorado. Then Washington, D.C. Faster and faster, as she stood in place, the scene around her changed. Then she was back on Yubo’s ship.
It took Rebecca a moment to realize where she was. “How long was I gone?”
“Well, technically you were never gone,” Yubo replied, “You’ve been here the entire time, but the scan took about nine minutes.”
“Nine minutes! It seemed like I’ve been traveling from place to place for hours! And it was so real! It seemed just as real as when I was really there the first time.”
“As we obtain more information on your physiology we can go from just taking you back into a memory to combining memories and altering the events within them. Your species is very interesting. In spite of significant physical differences between you and your male counterpart, your physiology and brain function are remarkably similar. However, we have determined several significant differences, including differences in the parts of the brain that control sexual function. If you are ready, we would like to explore these differences further.”
Rebecca agreed, and then felt the now familiar mild sense of disorientation again.
Suddenly, she found herself lying on the floor. She immediately recognized her surroundings. She was in the family room of her parent’s house—the house she had grown up in. When she saw Judy and the other two girls she knew exactly what was happening, even though it had occurred almost ten years ago.
Yubo had brought her back to her eighteenth birthday. She was a senior in high school, and her parents had allowed her to have a party for herself, without supervision, leaving the house for the day. They had a swimming pool, and she had about thirty friends over that hot afternoon in early June. She had worn her skimpiest string bikini in hopes of catching Brad Landry’s eye, but he had spent the entire afternoon flirting with that new girl who just moved to town from California.
After the party her best friend Judy and two other friends from school had stayed to help clean up. They were all wearing T-shirts over their bathing suits in order to stay warm in the house’s air-conditioning. That was about when Judy secretly filled in the other two girls on her yearly tradition.
Rebecca was lying on her back, her left ankle being restrained by Judy, her right by Sally. Rebecca immediately knew what was coming, and just like when it had happened ten years ago she started giggling before the girls even started. She was incredibly ticklish, especially on her feet, but the anticipation was made much worse by the fact that Judy had had eighteen years to learn every vulnerable nook and cranny. Judy never missed her infamous annual “birthday tickle,” but she had never recruited help before. She was now in the process of tormenting Rebecca further by carefully explaining in detail to Sally exactly how to tickle her in order to achieve the greatest effect.
“Use your nails, but not too hard,” Judy was saying, “And make sure you tickle the undersides of her toes, she goes insane when you do that.”
“No, please,” Rebecca giggled, “No tickling!”
Sally and Judy started in on her, and Rebecca immediately went crazy with hysterically laughter. She simply couldn’t stand to be tickled, but the sensations of the girls’ nails on her feet were pure torture. As she gasped, struggled, and fought to get away, somewhere in the back of her mind she tried to remember that none of this was real. But that approach was useless—this felt just as real as when it had happened the first time. Why would Yubo want her to experience this again? The whole thing was surreal—why would alien beings be interested in how ticklish she was?
Each girl was doing her best to tickle her writhing feet. Judy knew exactly how to maximize the torment, alternating between vigorously scratching her arches with her long nails and gently wiggling them between her supersensitive toes. Sally was a less experienced tickler, but also more unpredictable in her approach, which made her tickling almost worse.
As the two girls relentlessly tickled her, they chanted “Tickle, tickle, tickle” over and over in teasing voices. Rebecca soon became so weak from laughing and struggling that she could barely fight back. Judy loved to tickle Rebecca, almost to the point of an obsession, and she was always most merciless on her birthday.
Rebecca’s hysterical laughter had progressed to convulsive gaffaws intermixed with desperate gasps for air. Judy and Sally showed no evidence of slowing down any time soon. Her mind could focus on nothing but the overwhelming sensations coming from her feet. Susan, the third girl she had only known for a short while, had been sitting shyly next to Rebecca watching the entire scene, an evil grin on her face. Suddenly she yelled, “No fair! I want to help too!”
Susan reached over and grabbed the bottom of Rebecca’s T-shirt. She yanked the T-shirt up towards Rebecca’s head with such sudden force that soon the neck of the shirt was around Rebecca’s forehead, and her arms were trapped high up over her head and held in place by the rest of the inside-out shirt. Her biceps were pressed against her ears, exposing her entire body to a fresh attack.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Susan started tickling Rebecca like a madwoman. Her nails moved from her armpits, down her sides, and then over her stomach, tickling like crazy, while Judy and Sally continued their foot-tickling, shouting encouragement to her. After what seemed like forever to Rebecca, Judy, relishing the torment she was inflicting on her friend, yelled to Susan, “get her knees and legs!”
Susan immediately moved to Rebecca’s ultra-sensitive legs, squeezing her thighs and knees mercilessly, only pausing to attack the back of her knees.
Rebecca was completely out of control. Her mouth was open as she hopelessly gasped for air, laughing so hard there was no way she could beg for mercy. Her body convulsing with hysteria, tears streaming down her face, Rebecca started to think she might die from the unbearable torture. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the girls stopped their tickling and helped her pull her T-shirt back down. Rebecca crawled away into a corner of the room. It took almost ten minutes for her to regain her composure.
Suddenly that now-familiar sense of disorientation came over her, and the entire scene changed. She found herself tied naked to a bed, spread-eagled on her back, her body stretched tight. She immediately panicked because she knew exactly where she was.
It was five years ago, and she was in the apartment she had shared with David. They had lived together for two years, and their relationship had reached a point where they were starting to experiment a bit in their love life. Nothing too kinky, but tonight he had convinced her to let him tie her up, something neither of them had ever done before. After some coaxing she had agreed, not realizing that David was planning a particularly devious revenge for the way she had embarrassed him in front of a room full of people the night before. She had had quite a bit to drink, not typical for her, and hadn’t realized just how mad he was. Right now he was getting some feathers with which to torment her.
“Why are you making me relive these events?” she asked, her question directed toward Yubo, “What possible interest could you have in how ticklish I am? I can’t stand anymore! Please, Yubo, I’m begging you to stop!” She received no reply. It felt just as if she were back in that apartment, as real as it was the first time. Only this time she knew what was coming, and just how terrible it would be.
David quickly came back into the room, grinning sadistically, anxious to begin Rebecca’s torture. She tried to plead with him—tried to explain that none of this was real—but it was as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
David straddled her naked body and sat lightly on her chest, wiggling two short stiff feathers just inches from each armpit. She giggled in anticipation and tried to squirm away from the feathers, but her body was stretched so taught on the bed that she was unable to move even slightly. David was clearly enjoying her predicament.
“It seems to me I remember something about you being ticklish,” he teased, “I think it’s time to find out exactly how ticklish.”
“No, David, PLEASE!” she pleaded, as David attacked both armpits at once.
He whirled the feathers on the sensitive skin, ever so lightly, causing her giggling to increase and her body to jerk spasmodically. She begged for mercy, but even as she tried to escape she could feel David growing harder. He moved to the side of the bed and began running the feathers teasingly up and down her sides, and in swirls across her abdomen, where the muscles contracted involuntarily.
“NO!!!” she squealed, “Please hehehehee stop!. I’m sorry about heheheheehehehehe last night! I didn’t hehe hahahaha hehehehe mean it! Please! No more tickling!”
Of course her pleas fell on deaf ears, just as they did five years ago—and her mind filled with fear because she knew far worse was yet to come.
David moved the feathers to her hips and thighs, and she squealed and jerked as he ran the feathers over her extremely sensitive inner thighs. But when the feathers moved to her feet the tickling began to become unbearable.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOT THE FEET!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I CAN’T STAND IT!!! NO!!! NO MORE!!!! AHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“That doesn’t tickle, does it?” David asked, “Gee, isn’t that interesting?”
He was merciless. He ran the feathers up and down Rebecca’s soles. As soon as she seemed to get used to that, he switched to “sawing” the feathers in and out between her toes, which caused a high-pitched squealing to be added to her hysterical laughter. Then he would move to the tops of her feet. Then the soles again. He kept up the torture with the feathers for twenty minutes.
She was beyond being able to beg. The tickling with the feathers was enough to cause nonstop giggling and laughing, but not enough to cause complete loss of control. Nevertheless, it was simply unbearable. It was as if her entire being was concentrated at her feet, and there was nothing else in the entire world except the horrible tickling sensations. She would have said or done anything just to make the sensation stop for even a brief moment.
Finally, reluctantly, David did stop and let her catch her breath. “Are you sorry?” he asked.
“Yes! I’m so sorry! Please let me go! I’ll do anything!”
“I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson yet.” David was putting the feathers on the nightstand now. “I’ve been dying to tickle you like this, but you go crazy every time I try. Now, after last night, you deserve it. I don’t feel guilty at all. As a matter of fact, I’m having a lot of fun.” Rebecca glanced quickly down between his legs, confirming that he was definitely enjoying himself.
David gently placed a small dishtowel over her eyes and tied it loosely behind her head.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to maximize the torture of your punishment,” David replied, “If you can’t see which part of your body will be attacked next, you’ll be that much more ticklish.”
Rebecca remembered how helpless she had felt those years ago when David put on that blindfold, and she felt just as helpless and vulnerable now. Her body stretched taught, unable to move an inch, and now unable to see.
Then David launched a merciless tickle-attack. He jumped on top of her and tickled both armpits with his fingers. He then started moving up and down Rebecca’s body, his hands moving like lightening. Rebecca was kept completely off-guard as David moved unpredictably from one ticklish spot to another, although at this point she doubted that there was any spot on her body that wasn’t ticklish. He would tickle a foot with both hands, vigorously raking his fingers up and down the sensitive flesh for half a minute or so, then suddenly attack her ribs with wild abandon. From the ribs to kneading her thighs to squeezing her kneecaps, to the back of her knees to her sides, he was a tickling maniac. He tickled each spot wildly and without any compassion, moving quickly from one spot to another, never giving her a break or a chance to adjust to any one sensation.
Within seconds of the start of his torture Rebecca was well past laughing. No one had ever tickled her like this in her life, and he had never been so out of control. Her entire body shook and trembled with a silent laughter that originated deep inside her. Tears ran down her face. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open. No sound came out except for an occasional feeble attempt at gasping for air. The torture went on and on, and, finally, just when she thought she would pass out, David stopped. It took her almost ten minutes to compose herself and be able to speak.
She knew it was over. David had felt guilty about pushing her so far, and after untying her he made love to her like never before in their relationship. She was about to speak when she heard David say “Oh, hello girls!” and realized someone else was in the room.
“Who’s that?” Rebecca demanded, her terror renewed, “Who’s there?”
“Judy, Sally, and Susan just stopped by to say hello.”
Rebecca’s mind raced. This wasn’t possible. Her high school friends had never met David. She had moved just after high school, and when she was seeing David she hadn’t seen any of them for years. What the hell was going on?
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Rebecca thought she might know the answer, and suddenly felt very vulnerable. The thought of more tickling was unthinkable to her—she was already exhausted.
“We have reached the point where we can now enter into and manipulate your memories—change what you experience so we can learn more about you.”
She realized that it might be Judy’s voice she was hearing, but it was Yubo speaking to her.
“Why are you doing this to me? This is torture! Please let me go!”
“I assure you that you are not being harmed. We need to understand this form of punishment. We are a peaceful species, but when planning contact with a new race we have to be prepared. We need a weapon we can use against your people, but because of our ethical beliefs it must be effective but not lethal. This tickling seems to be the perfect way to incapacitate a human without causing any structural damage. It will make a fine weapon. Okay, let’s start the final testing.”
No! WAIT!” she screamed, “NOOOOO!!!”
But the torture had already started. Two of the girls, Judy and Sally she guessed, had stationed themselves at each foot. They attacked her feet just as they had earlier, although more fiercely, if that was possible. Their fingernails scraped up and down her soles and poked between her toes. As the two girls tormented her feet, a third pair of female hands with long nails tickled her from just below her navel down to her knees. The tickling was quick but methodical, and not one inch of skin was missed. From her ultra-ticklish hipbones, to her inner thighs and knees, up her thighs to her lower abdomen, over and over again. That one girl’s tickling alone (Sally?) would have driven Rebecca back into those silent convulsions of hysteria, but when added to the torture at her feet she was overwhelmed with the tickling sensations. Her immobility and the blindfold made the torment that much worse. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it any more she felt David’s fingers in her armpits and her mind screamed for mercy. As he moved from her armpits to her stomach and sides, lightly pinching and tweaking the skin, and then to her breasts and neck and then armpits again, the two girls stationed at her feet started darting their tongues between her toes while continuing to use their nails on her soles. The combined stimulation was too much for her brain to handle. Her bladder released in a strong gush of urine. She couldn’t get a breath, and when her brain simply couldn’t physically tolerate another moment she finally lost consciousness.
Later, when Rebecca woke up, she was no longer blindfolded. She realized she was still naked and tied spread-eagle, but to some type of strange blue table back on Yubo’s ship. Soon Yubo appeared.
“You have taught us much. Thank you,” he said.
“Why am I tied up like this? What’s going on?”
“No need to worry. It’s the final phase of our testing. We have to make sure we understand all the nuances of tickling before we try to develop it as a weapon.”
Suddenly she saw about twenty of the aliens standing in a circle around the table she was tied to. They all had twisted grins on their faces and held their hands up, their fingers wiggling menacingly as they slowly moved toward her. They were each chanting “tickle, tickle, tickle” as they moved toward her.
“NOOOO!!!!” Rebecca screamed, as she wondered what evil she had unwillingly brought to the future of her people.
“Nothing on our sensors at all,” Rebecca said, “But we seem to be headed right for it.”
It had been fifteen years since Earth’s scientists had discovered the key to faster-than-light travel, opening the universe to mankind’s explorations. For the past five years they had been sending out small scout ships all over the galaxy to look for other habitable planets, and for the purpose of exploration. Hundreds of sectors had been explored, but so far no life of any kind, or even uninhabited planets that could support life, had been found.
Even so, exploring the galaxy was one of the most coveted positions in the World Space Agency. Only the best and brightest were chosen for these missions, each team of two pilots gone for ninety days at a time. This was Dan’s second trip and Rebecca’s first. The small speck slowly grew in size as they approached and Rebecca’s heart began to pound with excitement in her chest.
“Still nothing on sensors.” Her mouth went dry when it became obvious that the distant object was a ship.
“How big is that thing?” Dan asked.
“No way to know without any sensor data. I can’t even tell how far away we are.” She was trying every type of sensor with which they were equipped, but it was as if the alien ship wasn’t there. She sent the standard, prerecorded radio greeting on all channels and in all frequencies, but there was no response.
“Okay,” Dan said, trying to control his excitement, “Let’s follow protocol. I think we may have stumbled into a first contact situation. Keep broadcasting the standard greeting. If there is no response within an hour then instruct the central computer to dump all information that is not necessary for the proper operation of the ship. We don’t want to give anything away to a potentially hostile species.”
Two hours later the huge, football-shaped alien ship filled the entire viewport, and the two pilots were just starting to realize how large it truly was. Still the sensors revealed nothing, but standard measurements lead to an estimate of over 800 meters across its long axis.
**********
Rebecca awoke disoriented and confused. The last thing she remembered was approaching the large alien ship. She sat up slowly and looked around a room that looked very much like a suite in a high quality hotel. She was on a comfortable bed. The room had an overstuffed couch and television set. Where am I? she wondered.
She got out of bed and walked over to the closet, which was open and contained a small collection of casual clothes. However, the television set didn’t work and the door used to exit the room was locked. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she must be aboard the alien ship, in a room specially designed to accommodate her. She wondered if Dan was being held nearby.
After a while she began to feel a little claustrophobic, and decided to make use of the bathroom and shower. The water was hot and felt wonderful, and she scrubbed herself clean with the soap that was thoughtfully provided. She then changed into cotton pants and a T-shirt, both of which fit perfectly. Her fear and apprehension began to be overtaken by curiosity about her captors.
While she was contemplating her few options she nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud voice said “HELLO, CAPTAIN TORMANN.”
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Yes?” she responded.
“PLEASE FOLLOW THE YELLOW LINE.”
A phosphorescent yellow line appeared on the floor of the room. It lead to the door, which Rebecca found was now unlocked, and into an empty corridor. She followed it around several corners, down several long hallways, to a closed doorway. When she approached this door it opened into a room which appeared to contain nothing except a comfortable-looking chair. The room was poorly lit and quite large, and anything could have been hidden in the shadows at the extremes of her vision.
She sat in the chair, which was very comfortable and seemed to alter itself somehow in order to conform to the shape of her body. She noticed movement in the shadows as a tall figure came slowly forward. As the alien moved into the light Rebecca was shocked by what she saw.
“Is this some type of trick?” she asked, “You look just like us!”
Except for a slightly blue tinge to his skin and large, almond-shaped eyes, the alien looked remarkably human.
“I am part of a race called the Lunatae.” The alien had a soft, soothing voice. “And this is no deception. Our species are more closely related than you might suspect. My name is Yubo.”
Rebecca was surprised by Yubo’s use of English, and said so.
“I have recently learned your language from your associate,” Yubo saw her concern at the mention of Dan’s name. “Do not worry about your companion. He is safe and resting comfortably.”
“What do you want from us?
“We are explorers, just like you, only my people set off to explore the universe over 5000 of your years ago. When we encounter new species we try to understand them to as great a degree as possible, and then try to forge a lasting friendship to our mutual advantage—assuming that is feasible.”
“And what if we’re not interested in your friendship?” Rebecca was fighting a swirl of emotions, from fear of the unknown to exhilaration at discovering another life form—and so much like human beings! What did that say about the origins of life?
“We have no reason to force a relationship on anyone,” Yubo replied, “But it is almost always mutually beneficial.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We need to continue the experiments that we started with Dan in order to get a more complete picture of your race, including both male and female components.”
Rebecca stiffened and her mouth went dry at the mention of the word “experiment.”
“Please do not be frightened. We use very advanced techniques to obtain all of our physiological and psychological information. Most of our scanners function without producing any sensation in the subject at all. We use a device that allows us to obtain information directly from your mind, which will, at times, seem to you as if you are traveling to different locations and existing in different situations. Everything will seem completely realistic to you—no different from actually living through the experience—and we can monitor your physiology during your experiences. We have used these devices on hundreds of species over a period of nearly a thousand years without ever having an adverse event. We have learned a tremendous amount of information from your colleague in just the short amount of time that he was here, and he came through the tests without a problem. As a matter of fact, we estimate that we obtained eighty-percent of what we need to know about your species from him, and only need to obtain the remaining twenty percent from you.”
It sounded simple, but Rebecca was still nervous. She wished she could see for herself that Dan was okay.
“What happens after that?” she asked.
“Unless you think that the best option would be for us to escort you home, we would let you return to your planet and have the central government prepare for our arrival on a prearranged day. You are a pleasant, although historically violent, species, and we already anticipate that we could provide you with much needed information with respect to medical care, life-prolongation, and the more efficient use of natural resources.”
As anxious as Rebecca was, she couldn’t refuse the potential of helping humanity to obtain such wonderful advancements. “What do I have to do?”
“Just try to relax.” Yubo rolled two devices over to Rebecca, placing one on either side of her head, but neither machine touched her.
“We start by doing an preliminary scan, “ Yubo said, “It gives us a kind of detailed outline of your knowledge and physiologic brain function. Then we will compare that information to the information we retrieved from Dan. Any interesting differences we will pursue in more detail. There will be an initial mild sense of disorientation and then a feeling as if you are watching your life flash before your eyes. There should be no pain or discomfort. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’m going to be.” Rebecca tried to calm herself by breathing long deep breaths but she was perspiring profusely.
She heard a vague humming from the machine on either side of her head, then a moment of slight dizziness. Suddenly she found herself standing outdoors on a bright sunny day. She could feel the heat and humidity on her skin and smell flowers nearby. She realized with surprise that she was in Paris—last June as a matter of fact.
The slight dizziness occurred again and she was home in Ohio. Then Colorado. Then Washington, D.C. Faster and faster, as she stood in place, the scene around her changed. Then she was back on Yubo’s ship.
It took Rebecca a moment to realize where she was. “How long was I gone?”
“Well, technically you were never gone,” Yubo replied, “You’ve been here the entire time, but the scan took about nine minutes.”
“Nine minutes! It seemed like I’ve been traveling from place to place for hours! And it was so real! It seemed just as real as when I was really there the first time.”
“As we obtain more information on your physiology we can go from just taking you back into a memory to combining memories and altering the events within them. Your species is very interesting. In spite of significant physical differences between you and your male counterpart, your physiology and brain function are remarkably similar. However, we have determined several significant differences, including differences in the parts of the brain that control sexual function. If you are ready, we would like to explore these differences further.”
Rebecca agreed, and then felt the now familiar mild sense of disorientation again.
Suddenly, she found herself lying on the floor. She immediately recognized her surroundings. She was in the family room of her parent’s house—the house she had grown up in. When she saw Judy and the other two girls she knew exactly what was happening, even though it had occurred almost ten years ago.
Yubo had brought her back to her eighteenth birthday. She was a senior in high school, and her parents had allowed her to have a party for herself, without supervision, leaving the house for the day. They had a swimming pool, and she had about thirty friends over that hot afternoon in early June. She had worn her skimpiest string bikini in hopes of catching Brad Landry’s eye, but he had spent the entire afternoon flirting with that new girl who just moved to town from California.
After the party her best friend Judy and two other friends from school had stayed to help clean up. They were all wearing T-shirts over their bathing suits in order to stay warm in the house’s air-conditioning. That was about when Judy secretly filled in the other two girls on her yearly tradition.
Rebecca was lying on her back, her left ankle being restrained by Judy, her right by Sally. Rebecca immediately knew what was coming, and just like when it had happened ten years ago she started giggling before the girls even started. She was incredibly ticklish, especially on her feet, but the anticipation was made much worse by the fact that Judy had had eighteen years to learn every vulnerable nook and cranny. Judy never missed her infamous annual “birthday tickle,” but she had never recruited help before. She was now in the process of tormenting Rebecca further by carefully explaining in detail to Sally exactly how to tickle her in order to achieve the greatest effect.
“Use your nails, but not too hard,” Judy was saying, “And make sure you tickle the undersides of her toes, she goes insane when you do that.”
“No, please,” Rebecca giggled, “No tickling!”
Sally and Judy started in on her, and Rebecca immediately went crazy with hysterically laughter. She simply couldn’t stand to be tickled, but the sensations of the girls’ nails on her feet were pure torture. As she gasped, struggled, and fought to get away, somewhere in the back of her mind she tried to remember that none of this was real. But that approach was useless—this felt just as real as when it had happened the first time. Why would Yubo want her to experience this again? The whole thing was surreal—why would alien beings be interested in how ticklish she was?
Each girl was doing her best to tickle her writhing feet. Judy knew exactly how to maximize the torment, alternating between vigorously scratching her arches with her long nails and gently wiggling them between her supersensitive toes. Sally was a less experienced tickler, but also more unpredictable in her approach, which made her tickling almost worse.
As the two girls relentlessly tickled her, they chanted “Tickle, tickle, tickle” over and over in teasing voices. Rebecca soon became so weak from laughing and struggling that she could barely fight back. Judy loved to tickle Rebecca, almost to the point of an obsession, and she was always most merciless on her birthday.
Rebecca’s hysterical laughter had progressed to convulsive gaffaws intermixed with desperate gasps for air. Judy and Sally showed no evidence of slowing down any time soon. Her mind could focus on nothing but the overwhelming sensations coming from her feet. Susan, the third girl she had only known for a short while, had been sitting shyly next to Rebecca watching the entire scene, an evil grin on her face. Suddenly she yelled, “No fair! I want to help too!”
Susan reached over and grabbed the bottom of Rebecca’s T-shirt. She yanked the T-shirt up towards Rebecca’s head with such sudden force that soon the neck of the shirt was around Rebecca’s forehead, and her arms were trapped high up over her head and held in place by the rest of the inside-out shirt. Her biceps were pressed against her ears, exposing her entire body to a fresh attack.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Susan started tickling Rebecca like a madwoman. Her nails moved from her armpits, down her sides, and then over her stomach, tickling like crazy, while Judy and Sally continued their foot-tickling, shouting encouragement to her. After what seemed like forever to Rebecca, Judy, relishing the torment she was inflicting on her friend, yelled to Susan, “get her knees and legs!”
Susan immediately moved to Rebecca’s ultra-sensitive legs, squeezing her thighs and knees mercilessly, only pausing to attack the back of her knees.
Rebecca was completely out of control. Her mouth was open as she hopelessly gasped for air, laughing so hard there was no way she could beg for mercy. Her body convulsing with hysteria, tears streaming down her face, Rebecca started to think she might die from the unbearable torture. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the girls stopped their tickling and helped her pull her T-shirt back down. Rebecca crawled away into a corner of the room. It took almost ten minutes for her to regain her composure.
Suddenly that now-familiar sense of disorientation came over her, and the entire scene changed. She found herself tied naked to a bed, spread-eagled on her back, her body stretched tight. She immediately panicked because she knew exactly where she was.
It was five years ago, and she was in the apartment she had shared with David. They had lived together for two years, and their relationship had reached a point where they were starting to experiment a bit in their love life. Nothing too kinky, but tonight he had convinced her to let him tie her up, something neither of them had ever done before. After some coaxing she had agreed, not realizing that David was planning a particularly devious revenge for the way she had embarrassed him in front of a room full of people the night before. She had had quite a bit to drink, not typical for her, and hadn’t realized just how mad he was. Right now he was getting some feathers with which to torment her.
“Why are you making me relive these events?” she asked, her question directed toward Yubo, “What possible interest could you have in how ticklish I am? I can’t stand anymore! Please, Yubo, I’m begging you to stop!” She received no reply. It felt just as if she were back in that apartment, as real as it was the first time. Only this time she knew what was coming, and just how terrible it would be.
David quickly came back into the room, grinning sadistically, anxious to begin Rebecca’s torture. She tried to plead with him—tried to explain that none of this was real—but it was as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
David straddled her naked body and sat lightly on her chest, wiggling two short stiff feathers just inches from each armpit. She giggled in anticipation and tried to squirm away from the feathers, but her body was stretched so taught on the bed that she was unable to move even slightly. David was clearly enjoying her predicament.
“It seems to me I remember something about you being ticklish,” he teased, “I think it’s time to find out exactly how ticklish.”
“No, David, PLEASE!” she pleaded, as David attacked both armpits at once.
He whirled the feathers on the sensitive skin, ever so lightly, causing her giggling to increase and her body to jerk spasmodically. She begged for mercy, but even as she tried to escape she could feel David growing harder. He moved to the side of the bed and began running the feathers teasingly up and down her sides, and in swirls across her abdomen, where the muscles contracted involuntarily.
“NO!!!” she squealed, “Please hehehehee stop!. I’m sorry about heheheheehehehehe last night! I didn’t hehe hahahaha hehehehe mean it! Please! No more tickling!”
Of course her pleas fell on deaf ears, just as they did five years ago—and her mind filled with fear because she knew far worse was yet to come.
David moved the feathers to her hips and thighs, and she squealed and jerked as he ran the feathers over her extremely sensitive inner thighs. But when the feathers moved to her feet the tickling began to become unbearable.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOT THE FEET!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I CAN’T STAND IT!!! NO!!! NO MORE!!!! AHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“That doesn’t tickle, does it?” David asked, “Gee, isn’t that interesting?”
He was merciless. He ran the feathers up and down Rebecca’s soles. As soon as she seemed to get used to that, he switched to “sawing” the feathers in and out between her toes, which caused a high-pitched squealing to be added to her hysterical laughter. Then he would move to the tops of her feet. Then the soles again. He kept up the torture with the feathers for twenty minutes.
She was beyond being able to beg. The tickling with the feathers was enough to cause nonstop giggling and laughing, but not enough to cause complete loss of control. Nevertheless, it was simply unbearable. It was as if her entire being was concentrated at her feet, and there was nothing else in the entire world except the horrible tickling sensations. She would have said or done anything just to make the sensation stop for even a brief moment.
Finally, reluctantly, David did stop and let her catch her breath. “Are you sorry?” he asked.
“Yes! I’m so sorry! Please let me go! I’ll do anything!”
“I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson yet.” David was putting the feathers on the nightstand now. “I’ve been dying to tickle you like this, but you go crazy every time I try. Now, after last night, you deserve it. I don’t feel guilty at all. As a matter of fact, I’m having a lot of fun.” Rebecca glanced quickly down between his legs, confirming that he was definitely enjoying himself.
David gently placed a small dishtowel over her eyes and tied it loosely behind her head.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to maximize the torture of your punishment,” David replied, “If you can’t see which part of your body will be attacked next, you’ll be that much more ticklish.”
Rebecca remembered how helpless she had felt those years ago when David put on that blindfold, and she felt just as helpless and vulnerable now. Her body stretched taught, unable to move an inch, and now unable to see.
Then David launched a merciless tickle-attack. He jumped on top of her and tickled both armpits with his fingers. He then started moving up and down Rebecca’s body, his hands moving like lightening. Rebecca was kept completely off-guard as David moved unpredictably from one ticklish spot to another, although at this point she doubted that there was any spot on her body that wasn’t ticklish. He would tickle a foot with both hands, vigorously raking his fingers up and down the sensitive flesh for half a minute or so, then suddenly attack her ribs with wild abandon. From the ribs to kneading her thighs to squeezing her kneecaps, to the back of her knees to her sides, he was a tickling maniac. He tickled each spot wildly and without any compassion, moving quickly from one spot to another, never giving her a break or a chance to adjust to any one sensation.
Within seconds of the start of his torture Rebecca was well past laughing. No one had ever tickled her like this in her life, and he had never been so out of control. Her entire body shook and trembled with a silent laughter that originated deep inside her. Tears ran down her face. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open. No sound came out except for an occasional feeble attempt at gasping for air. The torture went on and on, and, finally, just when she thought she would pass out, David stopped. It took her almost ten minutes to compose herself and be able to speak.
She knew it was over. David had felt guilty about pushing her so far, and after untying her he made love to her like never before in their relationship. She was about to speak when she heard David say “Oh, hello girls!” and realized someone else was in the room.
“Who’s that?” Rebecca demanded, her terror renewed, “Who’s there?”
“Judy, Sally, and Susan just stopped by to say hello.”
Rebecca’s mind raced. This wasn’t possible. Her high school friends had never met David. She had moved just after high school, and when she was seeing David she hadn’t seen any of them for years. What the hell was going on?
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Rebecca thought she might know the answer, and suddenly felt very vulnerable. The thought of more tickling was unthinkable to her—she was already exhausted.
“We have reached the point where we can now enter into and manipulate your memories—change what you experience so we can learn more about you.”
She realized that it might be Judy’s voice she was hearing, but it was Yubo speaking to her.
“Why are you doing this to me? This is torture! Please let me go!”
“I assure you that you are not being harmed. We need to understand this form of punishment. We are a peaceful species, but when planning contact with a new race we have to be prepared. We need a weapon we can use against your people, but because of our ethical beliefs it must be effective but not lethal. This tickling seems to be the perfect way to incapacitate a human without causing any structural damage. It will make a fine weapon. Okay, let’s start the final testing.”
No! WAIT!” she screamed, “NOOOOO!!!”
But the torture had already started. Two of the girls, Judy and Sally she guessed, had stationed themselves at each foot. They attacked her feet just as they had earlier, although more fiercely, if that was possible. Their fingernails scraped up and down her soles and poked between her toes. As the two girls tormented her feet, a third pair of female hands with long nails tickled her from just below her navel down to her knees. The tickling was quick but methodical, and not one inch of skin was missed. From her ultra-ticklish hipbones, to her inner thighs and knees, up her thighs to her lower abdomen, over and over again. That one girl’s tickling alone (Sally?) would have driven Rebecca back into those silent convulsions of hysteria, but when added to the torture at her feet she was overwhelmed with the tickling sensations. Her immobility and the blindfold made the torment that much worse. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it any more she felt David’s fingers in her armpits and her mind screamed for mercy. As he moved from her armpits to her stomach and sides, lightly pinching and tweaking the skin, and then to her breasts and neck and then armpits again, the two girls stationed at her feet started darting their tongues between her toes while continuing to use their nails on her soles. The combined stimulation was too much for her brain to handle. Her bladder released in a strong gush of urine. She couldn’t get a breath, and when her brain simply couldn’t physically tolerate another moment she finally lost consciousness.
Later, when Rebecca woke up, she was no longer blindfolded. She realized she was still naked and tied spread-eagle, but to some type of strange blue table back on Yubo’s ship. Soon Yubo appeared.
“You have taught us much. Thank you,” he said.
“Why am I tied up like this? What’s going on?”
“No need to worry. It’s the final phase of our testing. We have to make sure we understand all the nuances of tickling before we try to develop it as a weapon.”
Suddenly she saw about twenty of the aliens standing in a circle around the table she was tied to. They all had twisted grins on their faces and held their hands up, their fingers wiggling menacingly as they slowly moved toward her. They were each chanting “tickle, tickle, tickle” as they moved toward her.
“NOOOO!!!!” Rebecca screamed, as she wondered what evil she had unwillingly brought to the future of her people.
