Maleka grabbed Jonas first, then Bruin, pushing herself between them, her hands rubbing their hard c.o.c.ks. I watched her for a few minutes before going to stand behind Bruin to put my hands around his waist, clasping his d.i.c.k, moving my hand up and down the hard shaft. I was rewarded with his groan of pleasure and he turned to almost brutally take my mouth.

"I have an idea," he whispered. "Turn around and lean over slightly."

I did as I was told and gasped as he slid into my hot body. Reaching under my knees, he brought my body close to his, feet off the floor. He turned around to face the other couple. "Jonas, do the same. Bench."

A bench rose out of the floor behind us and did the same behind Jonas and Maleka. Bruin sat down, and once they were down, I realized just how close we were. I reached out and began to stroke Maleka's body once again, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her c.l.i.t as the men moved in and out of us. Soon, we were stroking each other fast and furious as we both cried out as an o.r.g.a.s.m took me by surprise. I slowed my motion and leaned in to take her mouth in a deep kiss. Pulling back , I looked at her breathing hard, aware Jonas and Bruin also kissed.

Bruin leaned in to whisper in my ear. "I want your a.s.s."

"All right," I whispered. Lifting my body off him, he lifted me high, and slowly allowed my juices to flow down my body, lubricating everything in their path. Leisurely, as if we had all the time in the world, he lowered my b.u.t.t onto his huge c.o.c.k. I groaned as the head entered me and pa.s.sed the tight ring of muscle. This was vastly different from Jonas being in my a.s.s as this man's p.e.n.i.s had a circ.u.mference of at least an inch bigger. But instead of slamming me down fully, he held me there, not moving until my body felt comfortable with his intrusion. To help, Maleka reached across the short s.p.a.ce and again, caressed my c.l.i.t while Jonas caressed my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"Try to relax and let the sensations wash over you," she said. "I'll have Jonas do the same to me, that way you can touch me at the same time."

I moaned and nodded my head. I didn't know how long the man could hold me in this position. My whole body weight was on his arms. Watching, I saw Jonas lift Maleka up and slide his shaft up her a.s.s slowly as she groaned and leaned her head back on his shoulder. Her pink slit was open to me and I reached over to pet her growing c.l.i.t. Bruin moved slightly and inched in a little more, stretching my body yet again. The feeling was somewhere between pleasure and pain. Groaning, I leaned my head back on his shoulder and panted hard, my hand still touching Maleka. "I want to lick you," I said suddenly, knowing if I had her bud in my mouth I would concentrate on her pleasure more than my own thus ignoring any pain Bruin's c.o.c.k would cause.

Jonas stood, Maleka in his arms and moved the couple of feet toward us.

With her c.u.n.t at eye height, I spread her v.u.l.v.a with my fingers and looked at the pink nib. Rubbing her with my thumb, I leaned in to taste her cream I saw coming out of her. It was sweet with an almost orange flavor I knew must have come from the soap. I licked her from top to bottom paying special attention where her and Jonas's body connected. There was something totally erotic seeing them joined and my breathing came a little quicker. She grabbed my head and moved me to her c.l.i.t where my tongue swirled and my teeth nibbled until I had her a quivering ma.s.s. I pulled back and placed my thumb on her again.

"Please, don't stop," she begged. "I'm so close."

I gasped as Bruin moved once more.

"I'm in."

"Good, don't move," I whispered. "I want to finish Maleka." Leaning back into her, I licked one stoke and moved first one thumb, then the other in quick succession up and down on that tender area, watching the hard piece of flesh grow just a tiny bit more. Wrapping my tongue around her, I gently sucked and she screamed, grasping my hair and pulling me tighter to her. My tongue continued its a.s.sault until I could feel no more quivers.

Sitting up, I leaned back into Bruin, allowing him to rub my b.r.e.a.s.t.s bringing them to hard peaks. I watched as Jonas sat back down while Maleka leaned forward to take my lips in hers, knowing she could taste herself on me. She pulled back and leaned her head on my shoulder while Jonas pounded into her over and over, until the strokes became longer and shorter, followed by his cry of release.

"I'm going to do what you just did for me," she whispered when Jonas finally tugged himself out of her body. "Bench, wider. I'm going to make you feel fantastic."

Jonas sat next to me and began to kiss my b.r.e.a.s.t.s as Maleka sat on the floor in front of me. I could tell he, or maybe it was Bruin, stoked his shaft as she spread me much the same as I had her. Moving her fingers up to my c.l.i.t, she circled it with each stroke becoming firmer. Soon, she pressed a finger into my v.a.g.i.n.a, moving in and out. My body arched and Bruin took that moment to lift me up and down on his hard c.o.c.k. "Ahh..."

"It will be okay, concentrate on me and what I'm doing."

I looked at her and nodded. Placing another finger in me, she pulled some fluid from me and lubed Bruin's p.e.n.i.s as Jonas continued his attack on my b.r.e.a.s.t.s for a few more moments. Rising on his knees, I could see his shaft was again hard and watched as Bruin's mouth took in the huge head. My p.u.s.s.y clenched in response at seeing them touch each other in this manner. I reached up and tweaked one of Jonas's nipples as I knew what a turn on it was for him. He threw back his head and groaned, pinching my breast in response.

I was brought back to the woman between my legs when she inserted a third finger into me, I could feel her pressing on my inner g-spot. I arched up slowly bringing both her and Bruin out of my body. He slammed me back down on him as sensations washed over me like a warm rain shower. Groaning, I reached for Maleka's hand. She went down on me again and this time, pressing inside me, she first licked, then bit down on me gently.

I tumbled over the edge, crying out my release. Bruin moved me up and down on his shaft as my o.r.g.a.s.m seemed to go on forever. Quickly, he stood up and placed me on my knees, pounding into me, fast, then slow, wrenching every bit of feeling as he could out of my body. I looked behind me and saw Jonas did to him what he did to me with his shaft going in and out of Bruin's a.s.s. Their groans filled the air when he shoved into me deeply as Maleka crawled under and put her lips to me one more time. I leaned down and did the same to her. Almost in unison, we all cried out with release and my body continued to quiver again and again.

Leaning my head against her flat abdomen, I lay there for a few minutes breathing deeply as her tongue occasionally flicked my very sensitive c.l.i.t. The amazing thing about what I felt went deeper than the s.e.x. I had already been more than half in love with Jonas and knew it would take very little to feel the same for Maleka and Bruin. "Thank you," I whispered. "That was fantastic." Bruin removed himself from me and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek.

"You are very welcome. We'll have to do more later, in celebration."

I pulled myself away from Maleka and managed to sit up. "That is if I can prove myself worthy."

"Baby, you've definitely proved yourself worthy." Jonas smiled.

"You know, I love you, don't you?" He nodded and I looked at the other two. "And I know I'll love you just the same, just give me a little time." I breathed heavily as the o.r.g.a.s.m slowly left my body. "But now, I've got to get to work." I stood up and tried my best to wash myself , but found my body wouldn't respond to my commands. Jonas pushed my hands out of the way and soaped me up, washing all my delicate parts with great care. I reached over his body as he washed my feet, to place a gentle caress on both Maleka's and Bruin's faces. These were the people I would love forever, be with forever. Now I just needed to make sure I could be here for them like they were for me.

I tried my best to stop fidgeting but there were only a few times in my life where I had actually spoken before a crowd so large. But I knew once I started talking, these people would have to listen. I looked at the eight people in a semi-circle before me. These were the council I had to convince I was worthy to keep in Atlantis. The crowd behind me consisted of family and friends of my three mates. Some were for me being here, and some were against. I knew I couldn't have everyone like me, but I certainly wanted to make sure everyone could tolerate me.

The gavel came down once, twice, and finally one last time to get everyone's attention. "The council is now in session and everyone is to be quiet until the public question period has begun."

The woman, Lydica Mantech, was the head council person and scowled at everyone. Bruin had told me she was over a hundred, but you wouldn't know to look at her. She was beautiful with black hair and the same turquoise eyes Maleka had. Apparently, they were related somehow. Right now, I didn't care how.

"The reason we are here is to confirm the topsider, Lindsay Lanigan, can make a valuable contribution to our society. We already know the mate-family unit of Maleka Contin, Jonas Adaria and Bruin Thorn have already accepted her into their mate unit as evidenced by the papers filed with us yesterday."

I was a little surprised the papers had been filed only yesterday at first, until Maleka made it clear she had wanted to meet me first. After I had fallen asleep, she signed her name and the papers were filed immediately for my inclusion into their tight knit unit.

"However, it has come to our attention she may not be happy here without a job to perform. What this council needs to determine is whether she has found a suitable subst.i.tute for her Earth job. What response do you have for us, Lindsay Lanigan?"

I slowly stood and wiped my sweaty palms down my pants. "I believe I have found something I can be just as pa.s.sionate about in your world, as I was about Atlantis in mine." A collective gasp could be heard and I smiled. This had not been expected, but the three hours I had between our wonderful shower and now, I had spent in total research and I was determined I would blow their socks off.

"Would you care to explain?"

"I have a few slides I need to show you, then a possible demonstration, if the council will agree." I managed to look at each council member briefly, then turned to Jonas. We had all agreed he would be the logical choice since we had worked together before. "First slide please." I waited until the picture of the first portage I had seen was displayed. "When I arrived, I had lots of questions and still do. On my journey from the hospital on Earth to my new home here, I had to pa.s.s through this doorway. I stopped because I was really intrigued by the symbols I found around the portal. They seemed as if they were Earth runes so I briefly questioned Maleka and decided if I ever got a chance to study them at a later date, I would."

"No one can read that gibberish," a dissenter in the crowd yelled.

I turned and stared him down. "You don't know me very well and I would like to finish before you criticize me." I looked to the council. "May I continue?"

"Yes, you may and anyone else who says anything before Ms. Lanigan is finished will be removed. Is that clear?" A murmur went through the crowd.

I waited until the sound died down. "Maleka told me that very thing when we first discussed the subject. She said no one, except maybe the shaman, could read the language anymore and your s.p.a.ce explorers had found a couple of other similar portals."

"That is correct, Ms. Lanigan, but what has this to do with what you plan to do?"

I smiled broadly. "Everything."

"Please explain."

"Now, let's look at this picture with all three doors." I walked over to the large screen. "There are eight symbols or letters on this door that aren't on the second door. But on the third door, all eight are there with the first one being located at the very bottom of the left side of the door frame on door one." Suddenly, I had everyone's attention. "There are also other common symbols on door two and three. And so far, I think I've isolated forty-seven different symbols. The symbols on door three are found on both the other doors with only eight of them being in common between the two doors."

"So what does this mean?"

I frowned. I knew they would ask me questions. "I have a theory."

"And that is?"

"Actually, I thought of it from what Maleka told me the door was called. You call it a portal or portage , which just means it's a doorway between two places, or rooms or whatever. She also told me it was already here and sometime in the past, a person went through and found themselves below the seas of Earth in a ready built place."

"That is true."

I sighed. "Well, that indicated to me immediately someone knew exactly which two places the portal connected."

"That seems logical. Just what are you saying?"

"I think you can set the portals to connect two different places in the universe." It came out in a rush. This had me really excited and I truly hoped they would allow me to test this in front of them.

"But how can that be. There's no apparent energy source and nothing happens when someone walks through."

I nodded in agreement. "I know. I'm not sure about the power thing yet, but I think the reason you don't see any change is that the door physically connects the two as this one has done for probably a millennia. You only have to use the symbols when the two places are far apart and possibly not the ones that were originally connected."

Another murmur went through the crowd and the gavel came down again. "You mean, if we had tried the other door in s.p.a.ce we would have come out here?"

"I don't think it is that simple. I think these may be like a string of pearls with each connecting the two it touches. I do believe there might be a portal which connects to them all, but I won't know for sure unless the one you found on the s.p.a.ce ship links to here. Like I said, I do have a theory I'd like to test and if that doesn't work, I have another one. But you'll never know until we try." I stood there silent. The ball was in their court.

Councilwoman Mantech conferred with the other council people. "What do you need to test this theory?"

"I would like us to go to the lab where the portal from s.p.a.ce is located. Would that be possible?"

"Not only possible, but very easy to do. The lab is located right under this floor. Please step back to the edge and we'll open the floor. I'll call for the door to brought in."

I walked back to the edge of the circle to stand behind the table. I smiled at my mates. This was the moment of truth. I closed my eyes and prayed I was correct. Once the floor had been pulled back, it took only moments for the door to be brought in. A staircase, spiraling around the circle, went to the lab floor. I watched in amazement as all this happened in about five minutes. I would definitely like the toys they had here. Looking up again at the council, I asked, "I would like Maleka to help me with this portion of the experiment. And I forgot, I do need a stepstool."

"You have our permission to proceed."

I reached for Maleka's hand and she rounded the half wall, which separated the observers from the main floor. "Are you ready for this?" I whispered.

"Absolutely. If you prove yourself, they have to tell you who complained," she whispered back.

I looked at her surprised, but continued toward the stairs and down. "I don't care about that. You'd have to tell me how to behave anyway." We got to the bottom and I walked around the door. I only had had the front picture, but now I noticed there were symbols on both sides of the lintels. "Wow," I murmured.

"What was that, Ms. Lanigan?"

I looked up at the council. "I said wow. There are symbols on both sides of the lintels of this portal. I didn't realize that."

"Is it going to affect your demonstration?" The last councilman asked.

"I don't think so. Jonas, toss me the handheld please and the ball with the message on it." I reached up to catch the small piece of equipment he tossed down as Maleka caught the ball. "Before this meeting, Bruin called a trusted friend and placed him on the Earth side of the door between our worlds. We gave him a communicator and can talk to him while we do this experiment. He's also stopped all foot traffic until we're done. Bruin, can you please confirm he's ready?"

"Ronin, are you ready?"

Static squealed from the communicator at first, then a voice rang out loud and clear. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't quite on the right channel. I'm ready."

"Bruin, please have him leave the channel open." I saw someone bring in a stepstool. "Thanks, I'm just not quite tall enough to place my hand flat against each symbol." Peering at my handheld, I looked up again at the lintel. I'd have to match the symbols exactly. Tentatively, I touched the first symbol, which matched the ones on the portal between Atlantis and Earth. Nothing happened. Sighing, I continued on and touched the second symbol.

"Wow...it looks as if the portal closed...I can't see Atlantis anymore," Ronin stated as the crowd began to chatter.

I smiled and looked at Maleka, excitement danced across her face. "Maleka, please show everyone what's on the ball." She held the ball up and showed the phrase we had written there. Pick me up was written in big, bold letters. "Thank you. Now I'll continue." I touched the third and fourth symbols.

"The portal is starting to shimmer again and now the symbols are lighting up. I can only a.s.sume you are doing something to them."

"Which ones?" Bruin asked.

Ronin described just where on the portal the lit symbols were. They were an exact match of the ones I had touched so far. I quickly touched the next two. "It's important you touch them in the order they appear on the portal you are trying to get to from left to right. I believe the symbol in the bottom left is the symbol for this portal with each portal having a unique identifier. The exact address to the next portal is the sum total of all eight symbols pressed in the correct order."

I climbed on the stepstool to get to the last two symbols, making very sure I wasn't in the portal's frame at all. Pressing on the last two symbols, I quickly got down and watched. The s.p.a.ce between the lintels began to shimmer and shine, almost looking gla.s.sy in appearance. I broke out in a big grin. I could see the Earth away station. "We did it! Maleka, throw the ball!" I cried.

"I see something through the portal. It's all skewed, like Atlantis and the away station are when we're standing just on one side of the portal. Hey, what's this?" A few seconds pa.s.sed. "It's a ball and it says Pick me up...what's that all about?"

Pandemonium broke out in the council room. I jumped for joy and clutched Maleka tightly to me. "It worked, it worked."

The gavel worked overtime as Councilwoman Mantech brought it down again and again. "We will have order."

I glanced up and smiled broadly at Jonas and Bruin, mouthing the words, thank you. Finally, the room came to order once again and I waited for a response from the council.

"Ms. Lanigan, I take it you can reopen the door between our worlds."

"Yes, ma'am. I just have to step through this one and touch the symbols for Atlantis again on the Earth door. As long as the symbols aren't touched again, their connection will be reestablished. I also think that the connection that is touched last is the portal that remains open. Or at least I believe that's what happened. I'll need to study this more."

"Thank goodness. This would have been a horrible demonstration if you couldn't undo what you just did." She glared at me. "I expect you to have a report on this demonstration and a proposal on my desk in a month. Maleka, instruct her on what I expect." She began to get up, then stopped. "I would definitely like to know what it uses for power. Do you need a physicist?"

"I did minor in math and physics, but someone who understands astronomical physics would be great. I just think that this was originally meant for long distance s.p.a.ce travel." I could see she was going to ask the obvious. "I know that Atlantis and Earth are a fair distance apart, but we are practically neighbors in the vastness of s.p.a.ce."

She nodded. "I do believe that is Jonas's specialty. Bruin will be your mathematician, while Maleka can study the impact on humanoids. This will be a great project for a family unit. Let me know if you need anything else. We'll try to get you anything you want." She turned to leave.

"Councilwoman Mantech, can I know who brought up this question?" Maleka stepped forward.

She turned and looked down at us. "You should talk to Jonas."

"Yes, ma'am." She glared up at Jonas.

I reached for her hand. "Don't worry, this gave everyone something to look forward to. I need to go through the portal, then get home. Want to come?"

She nodded. "I better, because if I go up there, I will smack him."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her through the portal. The news had spread fast and there were people waiting to offer us congratulations. We got through everything as quickly as we could. It took just a few minutes and help from Ronin to get to all the symbols, but once they were touched, Atlantis came back in view. Quickly, we raced home to meet Bruin and Jonas.

Walking in, the house had the subtle glow once again from candles spread throughout the living and dining rooms. The table was set with what looked like the best china and the aromas coming from the kitchen were sumptuous. I turned and smiled at Maleka. "Now don't get mad. It all worked out for the best."

"He should have discussed it with me." She stamped her foot in obvious frustration.

"He discussed it with me." Bruin walked in, hands holding two serving platters, which he sat on the table.

"Was I the only one not told? Again?"

Jonas followed him in with a salad bowl and what looked to be another vegetable bowl. "Maleka, you've been resistant from the moment I said I might have found our fourth member on Earth."

She frowned and looked at the ground, sighing deeply. "I hate it when you do this to me."

Bruin walked up to her. "What are you talking about it? You love it. You hate the details."

She looked up at him. "Maybe I do."