“We love you,” they tell me. “We only want you to be happy.”

They tell me so day and night, speaking not only with words but with their bodies.

And of course I have no choice but to believe them....

For more than five years I had been pursuing a legend. Millions of years ago, the legend claimed, a fantastically advanced race, popularly known as the Ancients, had suddenly died out, leaving behind a cache of indestructible machines with properties that mere humans could only dream about.

Most people believed the story was just a dream, or at best fruitless wishful thinking. I was one of the few who believed it. I had studied the various accounts and found certain details that were common to almost all of them. It seemed they were just consistent enough to be true - perhaps.

The stories were of course far less consistent in their descriptions of where the treasure trove was actually located, which was why it took me so long to find it. I eventually discovered a region of the galaxy where space had become distorted, so that a particular planet might sometimes appear to be here, sometimes there, and at other times a thousand light years away. That was why the reports were confused as to the planet’s position, and it was also why it was so hard to find in the first place. I had no choice but to search the entire region, a zone in which millions of planets could be hidden. For two more years I painstakingly searched the zone from one end to the other, always painfully aware that the planet I sought might be right in front of me but hidden by a spatial fold.

And then one day, quite by chance, when I stopped in a nondescript solar system to reload the ship’s deuterium tanks from a gas giant, I began to detect anomalous readings from a small planet closer to its sun. Scarcely daring to hope, I disconnected the scoops and burned a fair amount of the deuterium I had just collected in a powered interplanetary dash.

The planet was a sight for sore eyes, a dazzling blue-white jewel that looked like Earth’s long-lost twin sister. The sensors quickly confirmed what my eyes were telling me. The environmental conditions were ideal for human survival and there were no dangerous micro-organisms to worry about.

And directly on the equator, in a thickly-forested region, was a faint glow that exactly corresponded to the position of the anomalous readings.

I’d found it! I was going to be the richest woman in the universe!

Part of me was exhilarated, another part was in denial, part of me was scared, and another part had feelings I couldn’t begin to describe.

The part of me that remained objective and rational decided it would be wise to let my emotions settle down before proceeding, and so I went to bed. The stimulators built into the bunk gave me a terrific orgasm, and I fell asleep contentedly.

When I woke I took the lander down to the surface. Any Ancient civilisation worth its salt would have left defences against approaching vehicles, so I kept clear of the structure and landed several kilocubits away.

When I opened the hatch the heat and humidity were overwhelming, but my nanos immediately began to compensate for the climate and my discomfort began to lessen within minutes. Equipped with a small pistol and a cutting tool I set off into the dense forest toward the alien complex.

After a few hours I finally arrived in a huge clearing. A mere kilocubit in front of me stood a vast alien city composed of a substance that seemed to combine the properties of crystal and metal. Rainbows shimmered and glittered between its lacy translucent spires. I was transfixed by its beauty.

Then, as my eyes were drawn downward from the spires to the glowing city at their feet, I was struck by an incongruity. Before the city was a crude wooden stockade consisting of vertical wooden stakes with sharp pointed tips. Such a primitive defence, although clearly the work of an intelligent species, was far beneath the level of the Ancients. They might have disappeared, but the planet was clearly still inhabited by somebody who didn’t want anyone trespassing on the Ancient city.

It wasn’t long before I had proof of that. After I had taken some vids of the city I decided the best way to get past the stockade was to draw out its builders and attempt to negotiate with them. Whoever they were, it was a fair bet that they wouldn’t have advanced weaponry, although it was just possible they might possess primitive firearms. I was armed with a small but powerful stun pistol and my reflexes were artificially enhanced. With a little luck that would be enough to protect me from any serious attack. I was gambling, though, that the natives would ask questions before shooting.

And so, looking as casual as I could, I slowly walked toward the stockade, keeping a careful eye out for concealed traps and pitfalls. After a few minutes I began to feel several pairs of eyes watching me. As I got closer to the fence I heard a cry and turned to see that several of the natives had emerged from concealment and were rushing toward me brandishing wooden spears.

I froze where I stood and raised my hands. This seemed to placate them somewhat; they ceased their charge and approached me slowly and warily. Although I appeared unarmed to them, the stunner was in my jacket and was set to a broad dispersal pattern. I was holding the remote trigger between my toes.

There were five of them, two male and three female. They were broadly humanoid, tall and graceful, with large green eyes and manes of jet-black hair. The hands in which they held their spears had long, slender fingers. Their bodies were golden with leopard-like brown spots, and naked from head to foot. The females had small but shapely breasts, and the males...well, let’s just say that the sight of them led me to some interesting speculation. Their scent was exotic and intoxicating.

They were so close to human that they might have been genetically modified from human stock. They were certainly human enough to be sexually attractive.

One way or another, I was determined to find out just how human their sexual practices were.

One of the females spoke in a quiet, musical voice, no doubt asking me who I was and what I wanted. I smiled (without baring my teeth, which could have been interpreted as a hostile gesture) and said, “I do not understand your language.” But while they had been speaking, implants in my brain had begun to analyse their speech. Within a few days, assuming my plan was successful and they allowed me to stay with them, I should have sufficient fluency in their language to hold a conversation.

Gesturing with their spears, they walked me for about six kilocubits around the perimeter of the Ancient compound until we arrived at their village. It was very much as I would have expected, consisting of a circle of wooden huts with straw roofs. My captors took me into one of the huts, and two of them guarded the doorway while the other one left, presumably to get advice on what to do with me.

The interior of the hut was pretty basic. The only furniture was a wooden pallet bed with straw matting. Apart from that the hut was empty except for an earthenware water jug. With nothing better to do I sat on the bed and waited. It was a little harder than I was used to, but not too uncomfortable. If things went according to plan I was going to have plenty of time to adjust to such a bed, and not just for sleeping.

After what might have been half an hour a small delegation arrived at my hut to try and figure out what to do with me. Some of them were clearly elders by their faded skin colour and the lines in their faces, but I was pleased to see that even the older natives had managed to keep their bodies in fine shape.

It was too crowded in the hut with all the natives as well as me, so they herded me back out into the sunlight. Then they crowded around me, muttering among themselves. They pawed and tugged at my clothing, unable to figure out if it was part of me or not, so I demonstrated to them that it was removable. I had been careful to deactivate the stunner and other hidden devices in my clothes, but I had some others hidden about my body that I suspected would soon prove useful.

I was right. Once I revealed my body to them they all wanted to find out what it felt like. Tentatively at first and then with increasing boldness they began to explore every nook and cranny of my body with those long articulate fingers of theirs. My breasts seemed to particularly fascinate them. They’d obviously never seen any that were as big as mine, although by human standards I’m not exactly top-heavy.

And so they fondled and caressed me all over, and I fondled and caressed them back, and my captivity suddenly seemed much more bearable.

And as they continued stroking and licking my body, my sensations automatically activated my sexual enhancers, which lifted my pleasure to a higher dimension. And not just mine; the enhancers also generated an aura which surrounded my new friends and increased their pleasure as well.

After only a few moments they all began to wail and moan with ecstasy, and I became aware that I was moaning with them. And then we were all frozen for a small eternity in a simultaneous communal multiple orgasm.

Afterward we all lay in a heap, exhausted but euphoric.

I think I may have slept for a while. Then one of the males got on top of me and began licking my breasts while I stroked his muscular back and buttocks.

He made love to me for most of the afternoon. He didn’t talk much, except to say, “Ssa,” which I figured must be his name. I didn’t say much either, except “Yes”. I suppose he must have thought that was my name by the time he was done.

I must have fallen asleep again, and when I woke I found myself lying on a straw bed in one of the huts. Night had fallen, but the planet had a highly reflective moon which shone through the hut’s open doorway. Ssa and one of the females were sleeping quietly on another bed. His wife or regular girlfriend, I supposed.

Then the female stirred, gave a very human yawn, lifted her head off of Ssa’s chest and turned to look at me. I looked back and gave her a friendly smile.

Moving slowly so as not to disturb Ssa, she disengaged herself from his arms and stepped over to my bed.

“Rru,” she purred, slowly stroking my arm.

“Hello, Rru,” I whispered, caressing her cheek.

That was all the invitation she needed. Within moments those long, slender fingers were proving just how articulate they could be in the most intimate parts of my anatomy. Once again my enhancers were turned on as soon as I was, and this time I turned them up a notch.

Rru and I spent the whole night stroking, licking, poking and slapping each other. It didn’t take long for us to wake up Ssa, who spent the rest of the night watching and masturbating excitedly. Of course, I made sure the enhancer field was strong enough to include him as well.

By morning all three of us were exhausted but happy.

These aliens were incredible lovers. I had big plans for them.

Once they were robotized I could fit hundreds of them into my ship’s cargo hold. Back home they would make a fortune on the slave market.

But first I had to persuade them to let me visit the Ancients’ city.

Over the next few weeks I settled into life in the village, leaving my redundant clothes neatly folded beneath the bed.

Since I had no hunting skills I was put to work growing crops and medicinal herbs, and weaving baskets - a surprisingly therapeutic task. The days were long and hot and my fellow workers took regular breaks, during which they would make love to each other and me. Pleasant though their lovemaking was, especially with my sexual enhancers set on High, I always found myself stealing a glance at the shimmering towers of the Ancients’ city in the distance.

After the evening meal I would retire to Ssa and Rru’s hut where they would favour me with even more lovemaking before sleep. So the days passed in a haze of orgasms, while my translator implants rapidly picked up the native language. Naturally the first words and phrases it taught me were things like “yes”, “don’t stop”, “faster” and “I love you”, but within a fortnight I was able to communicate fluently with my voice as well as my body. The natives called themselves the People - how imaginative, I thought, until I learned that it was short for the People of the Gods.

Once I was fully fluent in the People’s language I went to their elders to make a request.

“I came to see the Ancient city,” I told them, using my own word for city since they had none. Despite not having a word for it, they knew what I was talking about.

“The Abode of the Gods is not to be visited lightly by mere mortals,” they told me.

Whatever else they thought of me, they obviously didn’t consider me a god. Fair enough. Whatever the Ancients were, they certainly must have had godlike powers that would make my own linguistic and sexual magic seem pretty tame.

Still, I kept asking the elders day after day, and they made polite excuses day after day. Impatient as I was, it was hard to get angry at them, since they always refused so politely and then fucked me blind by way of apology.

Day after day.

And each night, disappointed but euphoric, I returned home to gentle Ssa and passionate Rru, who did their very best to make me feel welcome.

And so the planet’s neverending golden summer rolled on in a haze of artificially-enhanced pleasure.

I was almost beginning to regret having to enslave my kind, innocent lovers. But when all was said and done, business was business, and anyway, I would still have the sensory recordings of all my experiences with them. The original recordings would provide me with pleasant memories and I was guaranteed to sell millions of copies at a fantastic profit. My trusting friends were not only making me feel good, they were making me fantastically rich with every touch and caress. Oh, yes, I almost regretted my decision to sell them down the galactic spiral.

Just like I almost regretted having the girl I lost my virginity to turned into a sexdroid after five standard years of blissful togetherness. But as I said, business was business, and I put all of our sense recordings on the market as well. Set me up for life.

It’s what she would have wanted. Or if not, she’s no longer complaining.

But before I put my new friends in a similar position, I was determined to get into the Ancients’ city. No bunch of primitives was going to distract me, however pleasantly, from what I’d been searching for for so long.

They were able to get into the city; there was no doubt about that. While I was out in the fields of a morning I would often see one or a small group of them walk through a distant gate in the stockade. And then just before sunset they would emerge with rapt expressions on their faces.

Whenever I asked one of them what they had seen in there, they would just look at me with a dreamy expression and mutter, “The Gods. I saw the Gods.”

And then they would embrace me fiercely, and the outcome of that was inevitable.

I tried asking them about the Gods, but their answers were hardly more illuminating.

“The Gods made the People,” one of them told me. “The Gods love the People. The Gods are all-wise, all-knowing and all-powerful. Life and love are the gifts of the Gods. Every act of love is an act of worship. The Gods protect us from all harm. Should any seek to threaten us, the Gods need only lift their smallest fingers and they will threaten us no more. This we know because the Gods have told us, and so it cannot be otherwise.”

“That’s all well and good,” I told them, “but I wish your wondrous Gods would see fit to invite me into their Abode. I long to see them.”

Of course it was their advanced technology I really wanted to see, but I didn’t feel it necessary to mention that.

“The Gods will act in their own time,” they told me. “After all, time is theirs to command. All we mortals can do is try to be patient, and until then...”

She and her friends embraced me again.

“...there is always time for worship.”

And so there was.

Somehow in between all the sex, crops got grown and baskets got woven, and the seasons turned. Not so you’d notice much - the planet’s shallow axial tilt meant that there was a warmish, dryish season and a coolish, dampish season, and they segued from one to the other almost imperceptibly.

It was during the dampish season that I finally got the message I was waiting for. Rru and I were making love in the warm rain, watched appreciatively and sometimes helped by the other villagers, when Ssa came running from the direction of the elders’ hut and fell to his knees beside us.

“Chosen,” he gasped. “We have been chosen. All three of us. Tomorrow. The Gods....”

Once Rru and I realised what he was saying, the three of us laughed and embraced and danced in the rain, and the other villagers joined in to congratulate us. Very little work got done that day.

The next day I set out for the Ancients’ city with Ssa and Rru. They were as excited and happy as children on an outing, and I was excited as well, but at the same time I couldn’t help feeling some trepidation. Suppose the Ancients’ city suddenly took a dislike to me?

Then again, they surely wouldn’t harm any of the People, so as long as I stayed with Ssa and Rru I should be safe.

The guards at the stockade saluted us, put aside their spears and opened the gate. Beyond, the metallic crystalline towers shimmered hypnotically, and the three of us moved forward as if in a dream. There was no visible opening in the base of the structure, and yet somehow we found ourselves inside.

Ssa and Rru stared around in awe at the vast, shimmering, unidentifiable structures that filled the interior. Coloured lights with no visible sources played over their surfaces, and gauzy curtains of light drifted languidly between them humming melodically as they went.

“So beautiful,” sighed Rru.

“Truly the Gods are more wondrous than we ever dreamed,” breathed Ssa.

They must have taken my silence for awe. It was true that I was hugely impressed by the Ancients’ devices, but my thoughts were mainly concerned with the power they contained. So much power. Who knew what it could all be capable of? Genetic manipulation? Time travel? Immortality? If only I knew what it was all for, the knowledge could be worth a fortune.

And if I could learn to control the Ancients” power for myself...then I would truly be a god.

Slowly our footsteps were drawn to the centre of the vast structure. Flickering lights played about our bodies, sometimes becoming substantial enough to momentarily caress each of us intimately. The closer we got to the centre the more frequent the caresses became, so that by the time we reached it we were all thoroughly aroused and stroking each other passionately.

At last we arrived at the centre. We stood in a large circular space beneath a huge, glowing three-dimensional web of fine strands, hundreds of cubits high and more than two hundred across, that glowed and pulsed rhythmically. It reminded me of nothing so much as a diagram of synaptic connections in a brain, and I realised that that was exactly what it was. We were standing within the Ancients’ central computer itself.

And even as this realisation struck me, the lights that had been playing around (and with) our bodies began to coalesce into glowing columns that quickly took on humanoid shapes.

Avatars, I thought. Physical representations of the Ancients’ computer programs.

+Greetings,+ they said, speaking not with words but directly into our brains. +We welcome our beloved Ssa and Rru and their honoured guest.+

Ssa and Rru bowed low, and I copied the gesture. Just as well to stay on the Ancients’ good side.

With that, the three figures moved forward and embraced each of us. Their bodies might be some kind of holograms, but they felt solid enough.

+Let us honour you with our love,+ they said.

They lowered the three of us onto what felt like invisible cushions, so that we were floating on air as they made love to us. Mine just happened to have a male body, and I was soon in no doubt as to its solidity.

It remained solid for hours, moving tirelessly and rhythmically inside me. I came after only a few minutes, and the sheer wealth of sensation blew my sexual enhancers out of the water. It seemed the Ancients had enhancers of their own, and they were far more advanced. Just another piece of the Ancients’ technology that I was going to have to get my hands on, I thought, and then I couldn’t think at all, as for the next hour or more I just came and came and came like there was no tomorrow.

I was beginning to think it would never end, when finally the avatar slowed his thrusts and my sensations began to subside. After a few minutes he stopped, but did not withdraw or become flaccid, and I lay in a state of languid euphoria.

“Oh, my,” I murmured, running a finger in lazy circles over the avatar’s back. “I wish it could be like that every time.”

+What else do you wish for?+ it asked.

I smiled. I wasn’t about to reveal my plans for the People, but it surely wouldn’t hurt to tell it the rest.

“I wish I knew how all of the Ancients’ technology works,” I told it. “I wish I knew how to control it for my own ends.”

The avatar showed no sign of hesitation.

+That knowledge will be granted to you,+ it told me.

“Just like that?” I asked. “All of that powerful knowledge in my grasp, just for the asking?”

+Yes,+ it promised. +All the knowledge that we possess. Your brain will need to be enhanced so that it can store and process all of the information you require. You need not be alarmed - the process will cause you no physical or psychological harm. Do you accept?+

I didn’t hesitate for an instant. “Yes,” I said, “I accept!”

All this time, the avatar’s penis had remained fully erect inside me, and now it began thrusting again. As my sensations once more began to build toward the first of another endless chain of orgasms, I could hear Ssa and Rru talking to their avatars.

“We wish that our friend might stay with us,” said Ssa. “We wish to share our love with her forever.”

“That is also my wish,” said Rru. “Her body is so beautiful, and her lovemaking is such a joy. I could not bear to be parted from her.”

Sorry, kids, I thought. Once I have the Ancients’ secrets I’ll be shipping you off to the Black Nebula sexdroid traders.

And then I was coming again. I couldn’t stop coming for what felt like days.

And then I slept.

When at last I woke, the avatars were gone, and Ssa and Rru were kneeling by my side.

“The Gods have told us everything,” said Rru, gently stroking my face.

“We found it hard to believe at first,” said Ssa. “We did not want to believe you could betray us so, yet we know that the Gods cannot lie to us.

Drowsy as I was from all the sex I had had, it took me a long moment to realise what they were talking about, and then I felt my blood run cold.

“We were very sad,” Rru told me. “We loved you, and we did not wish to see you punished.”

She was still stroking me, but her hand had moved to my breast. Meanwhile Ssa had begun caressing my sex, and the erotic stimulation was a strange counterpoint to my fear and guilt.

“We begged the Gods to have mercy,” Ssa told me, “and they have heard our plea.”

“The Gods have agreed to spare your life,” said Rru. “You will not be harmed in any way.”

At those words, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. I knew that the People could not lie, and their Gods would not lie to them. Considering the power at their disposal, there was no telling what the Ancients’ avatars could have done to punish me had they seen fit.

And yet, I still had a vague feeling that something was wrong...

By now Ssa’s and Rru’s touches had almost brought me to orgasm, and it was obvious that the Ancients’ sexual enhancers were still operating on all three of us.

I was on the verge of orgasm when Ssa told me:

“The Gods have allowed you to live, but to make sure you can never harm the People, they have forbidden you ever to move again.”

And then my body exploded into another everlasting climax, and for hours I couldn’t think about what he had said.

When next I woke I was in Ssa and Rru’s hut. It was night, and they were sleeping in each other’s arms on the other bed.

Surely what they had told me could not be true. I was almost afraid to find out, but....

I tried to stand up. There was no response. I tried to raise my arm. Nothing happened. I tried to open my mouth, to flex my fingers, to turn my head, to wriggle my toes, to lick my lips.

Nothing happened. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I could only lie like a helpless doll.

The Ancients’ technology had paralysed me by altering my brain so that it could no longer send commands to my voluntary muscles. The change was permanent and irreversible.

My genital muscles were of course a different matter. I was still capable of orgasm when stimulated. And the Ancients’ technology was going to keep me alive, young, beautiful and in perfect health for a very long time indeed.

I knew this because I now possessed all the knowledge that I had wished for. I knew how the Ancients’ technology worked, and all of the wondrous things it could do.

The irony was not lost on me. The Ancients had granted my wish for knowledge, while at the same time ensuring that I would be forever incapable of exploiting it.

I understood things that no human being had ever guessed. I had knowledge of worlds and races beyond number. I understood the nature of time and space and the many subtle ways in which they could be manipulated for good or evil. I understood how the universe began, and why, and how and why it would end. By human standards the Ancients truly were gods, yet there was an infinity still to be learned, and so they had left their mortal forms behind in order to search for understanding that was beyond the limitations of mortal flesh.

Before they left, however, they had created the People.

Genetically engineered from primitive humanoids, the People were an experiment to prove that an intelligent species could exist in a state of peaceful harmony with nature and itself. The experiment was a shining success, but the Ancients had no illusions about the vulnerability of such an innocent race to exploitation from less harmonious beings, and so they had placed the People’s planet within its protective spatial distortion field and left their avatars behind to guide them and protect them against anyone or anything that might threaten their peaceful existence.

Like me.

And while I was contemplating these things, Ssa and Rru woke, stepped over to my cot and began to fuck me. I couldn’t stop them. I couldn’t resist.

I couldn’t move.

They had made love to me a thousand times before, and as far as they were concerned nothing had changed, except that I was more passive than before.

I couldn’t move!

They could do anything they wanted to do to me, anything at all, and there was nothing I could do to prevent them - now or ever.

I COULDN’T MOVE!!!

Realising that I couldn’t embrace or caress them any more, they considerately moved my arms and hands over their bodies for me, and I began to realise that being manipulated like a doll while I was unable to resist was a huge turn-on for me.

How I loved them, my gentle Ssa and passionate Rru, and all of their kind, peaceful People. I wonder now how I could ever have dreamt of exploiting such beautiful, innocent beings.

The Ancients’ enhancers were still operating upon all three of us, and so we spent the rest of the night and most of the next day in a state of hyper-orgasm.

Then more of the People came to visit me, one by one or in pairs, until the entire village was taking it in turns to make love to me. I had become the People’s love goddess.

Countless generations of People have come and gone and made love to me since that day, and I will live to be made love to by countless generations yet to come.

At last I have come to realise that the real treasure of the Ancients lies not in their technology or their advanced scientific knowledge. Their true treasure is the People themselves, a race for whom the joy of life and love is worth more than all the gold in the universe.

As of course it always was.