Lewis Merriwether and Clark Williams took point with enthusiasm. They were the best of the third platoon of the 5^th Company, Easy Company, of the 11th Special Forces battalion, the best of the best. They picked their way cautiously through the thick brush, following the signal from the transponder hidden in that feminazi Professor Susan Kurtz's baggage, one month ago. A full platoon of Special Forces ought to be more than a match for a few hundred three-quarters naked, female savages. The Portal had a refractory period proportional to the square of the number of living beings transported. A platoon size unit of forty men might be sent once month. A company size unit of 200 men might be sent once each two years unless balanced by a return transit. The soldiers on Alternate Earth had no way to communicate back home, except by a physical message.

Lew heard the sound of running water. Clark crept past him to look down the embankment and saw two dozen, stunningly attractive young women cavorting naked and carefree in a pond beneath a beautiful waterfall. Lew joined him and the two grinned ear to ear at the sight before them.

Clark simply forgot himself and his peril. He just stood up. His camouflage suit kept him hidden from the inattentive women in the water, but not from the mosquitoes. "Damn mosquitoes," he whispered hoarsely. He was as surprised as anyone when a feathered arrow blossomed from his chest. He opened his mouth to speak. No sound emerged except for a wet gurgle and he drooled frothy blood. The arrow had pierced his lung. Strength fled from his limbs and he simply toppled over dead onto Lew's prone form.

Lew felt Clark's full weight fall dead upon him and saw the dead man's glassy stare. He crawled out from under the body of his friend and searched for the unseen attacker. He saw none. The birds still rested quietly on their perches. Another arrow whizzed by his ear and he just ran.

He dashed through the jungle and wondered briefly if the Annu'I set traps like other primitive people. Hearing signs of pursuit, he stayed to a game trail to maximize his speed. The rain forest enclosed the trial like a wall. He cursed when he saw signed an obvious pit-fall dug right on the game trail and looked for an alternative path through the brush. He felt like he was already trapped within the walls of cage and panicked. He saw a narrow passage and jogged to the left. About 10 meters down the narrow track, he stepped in an unseen snare and was jerked abruptly from his feet.

He hung head down, suspended by one ankle with his hand a tantalizing foot above the ground. He was screaming and yelling still when warriors emerged from the jungle. Mihali cut his throat simply to stop his noise. Rihali had had hopes that they might use himto carry his friends body back to the village. Instead, runners took one carcass and the both skins to the chief village. Of the three Annu'I hamlets, two received haunches and one received a full saddle. The forequarters were reserved for the warriors' families. Mihali and her band set out to locate any other invaders. She had never seen males like this - among her people the Annu'I or among the hated Annu'Lu.

"So you went to the 'get together' at the old Kappa Kappa house?" asked Ashley.

Meaghan nodded, yes.

"Remember, it's called the old Kappa "Klappa" house - the major source of sexually transmitted disease on campus - 'Kappa Klappa' - get it?" said Hannah, proudly wearing her Sigma Tau Delta - STD - sweat shirt

"Yeah, Professor Marlow from my Women's Studies course recommended that we go and meet those women from the Alternate Earth." Megan replied. She slapped at a mosquito and continued. "Kim Hunter, her doctoral student, is actually living with them There're about a half-dozen visitors and a half dozen grad students staying there now. And well, here's the story as best as I understand it. Professor Karen Marlow led an expedition to rescue Professor Susan Kurtz - as if Kurtz needed rescuing in the first place. Marlow acted in good faith, but she was set up by the CIA and in the end the women pretty much ended up saving themselves, Professor Kurtz, and Professor Marlow. When the smoke cleared, the government was just about as embarrassed as a government can be. Marlow got a lease on the old Kappa Kappa house - you remember - the fraternity that was closed down in the date rape scandal. . An embassy of some sort - it was really neat. On their world, the women run everything. Society protects and nurtures women and children. They have peace and no war. Violent crime is almost nonexistent. The environment is protected and no one is afraid. It's so hard to believe."

"The US army thought that they would be easy pickings but they were wrong - twice." Hannah recalled

"I heard they're cannibals," Cameron offered. "Really!" she insisted, seeing disbelief on the others' faces.

Meaghan shook her head forcefully.

"Well, maybe not exactly cannibals. The women kill and, uh, eat their males," Cameron continued.

Hannah could not restrain her grin.

"- not like that! Hannah, can't you get your mind out of the gutter! Uh, like praying mantises or, ugh black widow spiders. Their males and not each other - ugh." Cameron corrected herself.

"That's just an accusation," Meaghan responded. "That's the kind of rumor that racists and, fascists always spread about, the others, the 'OTHERS,' you know. They say that Jews eat Christian blood in their unleavened bread. They say that the Aztecs were cannibals."

"Well, what I heard was that the US Expeditionary force was cut off and captured to the man, somehow. Our government wanted to ask for an exchange of prisoners, but first they discovered that we had no one who could talk to the Annu'i and then they discovered that we had no prisoners to trade. We had nothing else that they wanted in particular either. In the end, the prisoners were auctioned off and sold, uh, as livestock, they say. Tell me. Did you eat anything when you were at the old Kappa Klappa House?" asked Hannah suspiciously.

"Not much. They served some sort small chunks of meats to roast on skewers over a small charcoal fire - a hibachi. They some sort of had sweet potato tortillas and all kinds of sauces for dipping - tropical fruits - avocado, tamarind, mango, papaya, and pineapple. It was really delicious!" concluded Meaghan with some satisfaction

Just what kind of meat was it? Where did it come from?" asked Hannah.

Meaghan really didn't know and it hadn't even occurred to her to ask "It couldn't be!"

Professor Karen Marlow, Kimberly Hunter, and Bunny Greenberg rapidly overcame the disorientation of transport and followed the warriors into the village at dusk. They had passed through the Portal without incident and were famished after a long day on the trail. Professor Kurtz had preceded them by a full year. Her arrival had been followed by two scouts and then an entire platoon of marines - now lost - by 10 months. The platoon had been sent to try to recover the scouts, the military insisted. Professor Marlow had offered to learn about the marines and extracted a promise that there would be no further military interventions. It was her one and only nonnegotiable demand.

The Annu'I tribeswomen met them on their arrival. Obviously, they had been watching the Portal. Once on the trail, they kept up a ferocious pace. They stopped only once when their leader retrieved some plant or other in the jungle. The tribeswomen were obviously used to the pace. Kim Hunter demonstrated her grit and year of training. Despite her seeming frailty, Bunny kept up too. She worked out regularly. Professor Marlow did not Rahali, their leader, hoped to reach the village by dusk and drove them mercilessly. A plague of mosquitoes only added to their torment.

As they trotted through the village, the Professor saw women of all ages. She saw young women holding their infants to their breasts, women sitting in groups in front of their huts pursuing this craft or that, and old grannies standing in small groups and chatting, now that their day's work had come to an end. Hair color and skin tones varied, although all were deeply tanned by the sun. She saw naked children of both genders playing energetically amidst their elders. Older girls wore no more than loincloths. Young women wore short aprons or lappets. Many were bare-breasted. Older women wore long skirts of beaten bark and brightly colored vests. However, she saw no men and no boys past the age of toddlers. Older males lived in the male village, except for the a small number of young men who stayed in the main village.

The wicker huts were grouped around a central larger hut. Flowers were everywhere. Along with their perfumed fragrances, the hungry Professor could smell the enticing aroma of food, roasting meat. In order to reach the village by dusk, Rahali had not allowed the party to stop since they had broken camp in the faint glow before dawn. The aroma of food made them all the more hungry. The gnawing hunger was akin to pain for those unused to deprivation.

Rahali and Mihali led the strangers directly to the central hut. She motioned that they might take off their packs and enter. packs were heaped beside the entrance. Much relieved they entered the hut. Inside, bare-breasted young women in brief lappets handed them gourds holding fresh, cold water. Never had simple water tasted so refreshing. Others proffered wicker trays with smoked meat. The meat was chewy but delicious too.

Without fanfare, an older woman emerged from an inner chamber of the hut. Her name was Aratti, the head-woman of the village, and with her was none other than the long lost Professor Susan Kurtz. The Professor, her petite frame barely containing her fierce will, looked tanned and fit and none the worse for her ordeal. She wore neatly pressed cotton slacks and a clean white tee-shirt. Her deep brown eyes and close cropped black hair gleamed in the light of oil lamps. She appeared quite well and in no distress of any kind.

 

"Karen!" she exclaimed. "Fancy meeting you here. Welcome to the village of the Annu'I." The women embraced briefly.

"Glad to be here," Karen answered after she had swallowed a second morsel of the succulent meat. Karen had a light brown hair, a medium build and stood a head taller. "Good to see you too! We were so afraid for you. Look's like you're in better shape than we are. Tell me, will I have any chance soon to take off my boots and wash my filthy body. I really was going to rescue you, but it almost appears that you and your hosts have rescued me."

Mihali conducted Professor Marlow to one hut while Istari conducted Kim and Bunny to a second hut to prepare for they welcoming feast. Mihali motioned for the Professor to sit, then clapped her hands and a young man entered. She smiled at the woman's reaction. The man was completely naked. His strong body was unmarked, unlike the women who affected various piercings and body paint. Mihali left Karen to her own devices. Karen wished that she had stayed.

The youth knelt before the Professor. She tried to mask her unease with his casual nudity, mocking her own cultural rigidity. In her world male nudity was a threat. She looked down at him and pointed to her self - "Karen," she said. She pointed at him and asked, "What's your name?" She spoke very slowly and distinctly.

He looked at her with a puzzled expression and smiled. "En," he said quietly. "My name is En. How do you do? Please, let me help you with your boots."

His strong hands felt good on her tired feet and legs. The Professor couldn't help seeing. His heavy sex hung blatantly between his muscular thighs. She tried not to stare. She wished again that Mihali had stayed.

"How did you learn English?" she asked.

"My mother and my aunts housed a number of the outlander males our warriors captured. I learned English from them."

En asked her to follow from the hut and she complied.

"Where are they now?" the Professor asked, but En just smiled and kept walking. They entered a hut that boasted a large tub of warm water. The immanent opportunity for a bath quickly distracted her from her half-hearted interrogation. She was surprised when En offered to help her disrobe. But he was naked already, she figured, and here people apparently had no resaervations. She briefly wondered how she might look in comparison with the lithe and fit tribeswomen whom she had seen.

The Professor soaked in the warm, fragrant water. A seemingly endless relay of laughing, chatting, young women carried in buckets of hot water and made her luxurious bath possible. The warmth penetrated the tired muscles of her calves and legs. En's strong fingers loosened her tired muscles. The warmth soothed her much abused feet. She closed her eyes and rested. She closed her eyes and welcomed the quiet. She hardly noticed when the girls had filled the pool and left her alone with En once more..

She really enjoyed the feel of En's strong hands on her tired body. It had been along time since a man - any man - had last touched her body - that way or any way at all, come to think of it.. Her mind marshaled all of the arguments. As a Professor of Women's Studies, she knew all of them very well and she was certainly old enough to now the difference between love and lust. However, she was also old enough to have some empathy for her own appetites and simply indulge herself once in a while.

En was great and she was glad that she did it. Without her asking, he went down on her the way she loved. He was patient and gentle. She had cum twice before she took him into her and when she had cum again, he was still hard and ready. When she gave him his pleasure, she felt like the Goddess dancing with the Wind Serpent and calling the world into existence. Then he went down on her again. The pleasure threatened to kill her.

Istari took Kim and Bunny to their hut. Istari could speak some English, but was not as fluent as Mihali

The furnishing were simple, just two raised sleeping platforms. There, they found two youths, Kidu and Emesh.. Emesh was native to the Annu'I, but Kidu had been captured from the Annu'Lu in a chattel raid one year before led by Mihali and Rahali. They had found him out gathering under the not so watchful eyes of the Annu'Lu warriors and quickly subdued him. Mihali gagged him and tied his wrists behind his back securely, then led him back to the Annu'I village by a leash attached to his scrotal sac. Now, he was adapted and a full member of the Annu'I tribe.

The children all loved him because he allowed them to play capture. He let himself be overwhelmed by noisy bands of tiny warriors and let them practice their skills securing and leashing a male.

Bunny stared at the naked youths. "Prime beef ," she marveled, flipping her thick, blond ponytail. "I'd love to get my mouth on either of them.

Kim shook her head, embarrassed - as always - by Bunny's unabashed sexuality

Istari promptly agreed that the males, now fully grown and ready for harvest would yield excellent meat. She looked forward to the feast also, but she had thought that women on Professor Kurtz's world chose not to make such use of their males.

Istari and Kim went to look around the village. Bunny refused the invitation and decided to stay behind with Kidu and Emesh , once Istari had assured her that the males were safe.

When Kim and Istari toured village where the males lived. Istari brought the strong, bitter tea that the males drank and carried back their some of the food they had gathered or grown in their garden plots. Male children stayed with their mothers until they were three years old. Then the youngest males were cared for by the 18 year olds, the 4 year olds by the 17 years old, the 5 year olds by the 16 year olds and so on. Kim met the women who supervised the male village and the hand of warriors who protected them against wandering off or being carried away by raiders form the Annu'Lu. The 19 year olds lived in the male compound in the main village. Kim saw no males older than 19 years.

Bunny lay back on the on the bed dreamily while the two naked youths massaged her battered, sore feet. Her eyes were more than half closed. Bunny was so tired after the day's exertion. She had heard that the Annu'I ate their males. As her drowsy mind passed into sleep, she saw herself straddling one male who deliciously nuzzled her hungry sex with his mouth and tongue while she closed her soft red lips around the hot, hard cock of one of her attendants. Her well manicured hand massaged his plump ball sac. She groaned aloud and fell fast asleep, exhausted.

After a time, Kim and Istari returned. Bunny slept on. Kim let her sleep.

They all met at dinner. Professor Marlow grilled Professor Kurtz about the simple economics of it all.

"We all know, Karen," Professor Kurtz began, "in hunting and gathering societies, women gather most of the food stuffs. Here the males garden while the women hunt and gather. On our Earth, males - especially the older males consume much more than their share of resources with their societies and wars. Here there are no older males."

"Any way you look at it," Kim Hunter offered tentatively, "this system reserves more resources for women and children."

Kurtz and the headwoman, Aratti, told them the story of the first invasion.

When she learned of the invasion, Aratti had been shocked by the news. The idea of armed males seemed a perversion of nature. She denied the possibility until Mihali showed her the weapons, male genitals, and hairy, pale skins that they had taken.

Professor Kurtz had deeply admired at the warriors' courage in the face of the soldiers' guns and railed at her government's duplicity. She warned the others that the first two were likely the scouts for a larger, well-armed force.

When Aratti learned, she dispatched Inanni and a band of warriors to locate Rahali to watch the Portal and shadow the invaders. Despite their courage, her warriors knew that they could not match the firepower. A stratagem was required.

Susan Kurtz found the transponder in her baggage.

Never had the warriors captured so many males at one time. The outlanders were still unruly even after they had surrendered and were disarmed. Herded into a stockade they hammered on the stout wooden gate, beating their hands bloody. Several formed a human ladder to allow one of their number to scale the twelve foot wall. Before he could drop to the ground, a warrior with a padded bamboo pole pushed him back inside.

Generally, the tribeswomen sacrificed one male each month. In addition, one or two outlanders might be captured by the hunters and slaughtered for private trade or consumption. A fully grown male might yield 100 pounds of meat and meat kept poorly in the jungle. Carcasses were usually consumed on the day they were slaughtered although some meat might be dried in the dry season. About 600 women lived in the main village and the three hamlets. Each might expect no more than a taste.

Never had the women had so plentiful a supply of males. Tribeswomen came from all over to see the outlanders. Aratti, the headwoman, ordered a male slaughtered every day. The carcasses were gutted and butchered. The soldiers were much more hairy in general than the Annu'i. Susan Kurtz showed them how to use burning straw to remove body hair.

The Annu'I employed a traditional cooking style. The flayed, gutted carcasses were butchered. Large cuts of meat were boiled in huge caldrons, then cut into fist sized pieces and seared on sharpened sticks. The Annu'I practice of cooking and eating males was the major cause of their long conflict with the Annu'Lu.

Professor Kurtz shared a humorous story. One of the males ordered the others to halt their assault on the gate. He pushed to the front and tried to speak to his captors. The warriors sent for Professor Kurtz. Karen had her doubts but she went.

"I'm Lieutenant Wilson," the marine explained, guessing that she spoke English from her attire.

The Professor nodded, but did not introduce herself. She was uncomfortable conversing with livestock.

"Tell them we're soldiers, warriors like them," he pleaded. "We're prisoners of war and I demand that they follow the Geneva conventions," the Lieutenant concluded, pleased with the strength of his arguments.

The Professor shook her head. She was surprised how little he moved her. "Do you really want me to tell them that you and your men are warriors?"

The Lieutenant nodded, yes and the Professor shrugged.

Mihali laughed to hear the retelling. "When I heard his claim, I laughed so hard that I nearly lost her pee. Inanni drew her newly acquired commando blade and spoke menacingly in her own tongue. None of us had learned English yet." All eyes returned to Professor Kurtz.

The Professor continued. I told the officer, "If you want to convince them that you're a warrior, Lieutenant, you'll have to prove it."

"Does she want to fight? Give me a knife and I'll fight her.," he retorted

"She doesn't want to fight. She's done fighting and she won. She wants you to remove your clothes."

Now the poor Lieutenant was confused and hesitated.

"It's up to you, Lieutenant. If you want we can just leave you in there and go about our business."

His men crowded close around. The Lieutenant growled to his men to get back. They retreated grudgingly, leaving him some room. He searched Mihali and Inanni's savage faces and tried desperately to penetrate the American woman's quizzical look. She had never told him her name. Reluctantly, he stripped down to his undershirt, underpants, and socks.

"Not good enough, Lieutenant," the Professor explained as if to slower but still earnest student. "Naked."

First the Lieutenant removed his socks, then his undershirt, and finally his underpants.

Mihali pointed at him and laughed. Inanni laughed too and even the Professor could not restrain her chuckle.

The Lieutenant covered himself as best he could. "Why are they laughing at me? They demanded that I strip and I stripped. I wasn't my idea. Haven't they ever seen a naked man?"

Even the Professor smiled. "You say that you're a warrior. They say that no one can have one of those and be a warrior. They want to know if you really thought that you would fool them."

Now the Lieutenant was confused. "One of what?"

"A penis." Everyone laughed.

Aratti, the head woman, continued. Stripped naked, the outlanders were much more manageable, but there were just so many of them. She was unsure exactly what to do with them. Meat was so plentiful that only the prime cuts were eaten. In ones and twos, the headwomen gave males to women from outlying hamlets so that all might share in the bounty. She even sent a pair to the Annu'Lu under a flag of truce.

Professor Kurtz saw the reception that her first story had received and ventured a second.

A certain Corporal couldn't understand what had come to pass. P had forgotten his name. Why had the old lady Lieutenant surrendered? He was a large man and naked, his heavily muscled physique was obvious to all. That damned feminazi Professor and two slight savage girls entered the compound like they owned it, without regard for the forty naked men confined there. "Hey, bitches!" the Corporal had called.

The women ignored him.

"Hey, cunts! Look at me!" He stroked his male parts. On Earth, a male can terrorize a dozen sane, healthy women just by threatening to expose his male parts. Here, no one paid much attention. Certainly, no one was intimidated.

Rahali and Mihali just looked at him and grinned. They didn't understand a word that he said, but found his loud antics amusing. He appeared to be an outstanding specimen.

Suddenly, the Professor felt fear. She couldn't completely repress her instinctual reaction to his size and undeniable potential for violence. She was afraid and she didn't like it.

"Hey, girlies! I've got some USDA prime meat for you!" He waved his fat cock in their direction. His grin was maniacal.

"What is he saying?" Mihali had asked the Professor.

Susan Kurtz said she had thought for a moment and finally understood the absolute impotence of his threats in this time and place. She suppressed a chuckle, both then and now. "He's boasting about the quality of his flesh."

Several hours later, his flayed carcass was butchered and boiling in a large cauldron. Several hours later still, many could testify to the veracity of his arrogant claims.

Kim offered that now that she was there, she knew something about firearms and might teach them to use the weapons that they had captured.

 

"Well," Professor Marlow concluded. "The Government let us come as peaceful emissaries. I got them to promise no more soldiers!"

The Professor stood among the close-packed celebrants and struggled mightily to maintain her scientific detachment. A day of fasting - this time voluntary and in keeping with the ritual - left her stomach all too vocal in its urgent complaints. The flowery fragrance of the burning incense was intoxicating. She felt weak and giddy. The compelling beat of the drums and the rhythmic chanting of the worshippers discouraged rational thought. Their excitement was irresistibly contagious.

Kidu entered the Temple, followed closely by Aratti and Mihali, his captor. When the Professor saw him, her feelings roiled. His golden skin glowed in flickering light of the torches. Memory crowded upon memory. He was covered in a faint sheen of perspiration. His face was calm, but his breathing was a bit rapid and a bit shallow. No one could deny his magnificence. The Professor marveled at his courage and dedication.

When Kidu came closer, she wanted to flee. She looked quickly to Susan Kurtz standing to her left and grinning, and to Irami, the elder, who stood to her right. Kidu stood before her and bowed his head. He reminded her of En. She wasn't sure that he even saw her. She wanted very much to embrace him. She wanted to flee with him. However, Mihali held out the bone-handled knife. The Professor looked into his dark eyes and did what was required. She accepted the honor. She grabbed a handful of his thick, dark hair and cut his hair that had never before been cut. She could not stop her tears.

Mihali turned and hurried from the enclosure, crying herself, while Rahali ushered the youth to the altar and the waiting attendants. En knelt before the altar and Rahali wielded the club as he had asked. He knew that she would not fail him in her crucial task. Upon the signal of the high priestess, she struck him once and truly. Before he collapsed, the four attendants caught him, two on each side. Two stood on the step below altar and two stood on the step above. The four together they lifted him, by his legs and hips, head down, and displayed him to the celebrants. As tall as he was, his thick arms lay unmoving on the ground. His sex flopped limply against his flat belly.

The attendants draped him supinely over the roughly fashioned stone altar. His head hung back, baring his throat. His eyes were closed and his jaw was slack. A junior priestess wielded the sacrificial knife while the drums and the chanting reached a crescendo. She opened his throat while her kneeling attendant held a broad deep patera below to catch the blood. Blood spurted against the altar and against the priestesses. The celebrants groaned aloud.

The Professor thought that she might have fainted for a time. The pale form was carried from the altar while the celebrants filed silently from the Temple. The women, still excited by what they had seen, followed the torch-lit walkways on either side of the structure to the inner courtyard, now alight with smoking torches that flickered in the moist tropical breeze.

Dried gourds filled with of fermented cassava juice awaited revelers. All stopped for some refreshment.

"An awe-inspiring ritual," Prof. Kurtz commented as she quaffed her second gourd. "The boy was magnificent and Rahali put him down so smoothly. They had tried to extend the same honor to the Lieutenant of the captured Marines, but he hadn't the dignity and ended up butcher meat." She wondered if emesh was waiting fro her in her hut as she had arranged.

Behind the Temple, behind a bamboo screen, the abattoir workers worked furiously. Once a sharp, heavy axe had severed his head, his resemblance to anything human diminished. They gutted and flayed his headless carcass with skilled hands and sharp tools. The flayed carcass was quartered and then butchered while the skin was hung for display.

Large cuts of meat were boiled in one of two bubbling cauldrons.

Karen Marlow didn't take part in the festivities. She had known Kidu. The Professor kept her disapproval to herself. She went back to her hut and fucked En again. She worried that this could become habit forming.

Kim Hunter, always eager to experience the new and unusual, was an eager participant. She stayed close to Mihali and Rahali.

Bunny had even slept with Kidu. Rahali and Mihali had warned her about doting too much on one male, and she had had several others. Still, she just couldn't bring herself to watch the ceremony. However, hunger and the aroma of roasting meat brought her from her hut. Once among the Annu'I, however, the festive mood was contagious and irresistible. Bunny soon forgot both her diet and her reservations. She wondered if she would have a chance to try all the males before they were eaten. Perhaps, Rahali could tell her which ones to try first.

Arruru of the Annu'Lu people watched the proceedings with disgust. The Annu'I shamelessly butchered the male carcass and threw the pieces into boiling cauldrons. An insult to the Goddess. About one hour later, the chunks were fished out and cut into fist size pieces. The Annu'I seared these over wood fires talking and laughing all the while.

Arruru swallowed her disgust and gestured to the warleader, Ishtaru and to Annatu, Nanu and the others. The warriors on guard likely seethed in resentment at missing the festivities. Likely, they nursed their grievances rather than warded their charges. This would be a great time to raid the Annu'I male compound. Perhaps, a fair number of males could be recovered.

Arurru herself silenced to one guard they found awake. Her comrades burst into a hut and secured three of the largest males. They were quickly gagged. Their wrists were tied behind their backs and they were led off by leashes tied to their scrotal sacs. The women and their captives disappeared silently into the jungle. The remaining males raised the alarm.

Arruru hung back to confuse any pursuit. The penalty for capture was a year and a day as a slave. Women were rarely killed or injured in these endemic raids and reprisals. Mihali led the pursuit. Despite Arruru's skills, she could not evade capture. She did buy time to allow her comrades to escape. Three males had been redeemed from the hated Annu'I.

Arrurru was a warrior. The Annu'I stripped her naked and she glared at them fiercely, ignoring her cuts and bruises. Her anger was barely constrained. She would serve them for a year and a day as required by custom. They would try to impregnate her. Any child - male or female - belonged to the Annu'I. They would try to make her share their foul meats. She would die, rather than surrender her principles.

Mihali, Rahali, and Kim hid near the male compound of the Annu'Lu village. Mihali said that dusk was likely the best time for an abduction as the males likely straggled back to their village after a day's gathering and gardening. This way, they might win some time to disappear back into the jungle before the alarm was raised and darkness would aid their escape.

Mihali pointed out the cooking pits of the hated Annu'Lu. The Annu'Lu ate their males just like the Annu'I.

Kim Hunter noted that the Annu'Lu roasted male carcasses whole on a spit without boiling. As the meat cooked, the crispy outer layers were shaved away and eaten, leaving uncooked flesh underneath to roast. The Annu'I thought that eating flesh without boiling it was filthy. The Annu'Lu thought that butchering a carcass before cooking it was uncouth. It had more to do with theology and showing proper respect to the Goddess than food preparation

After an hour's dash, Rihali finally allowed them to halt. The male groaned in his bonds and fell to the ground.

Rihali went back to scout to learn if anyone was following them. The languages of the Annu'I and the Annu'Lu were very similar and Mihali offered the male some water on condition that he make no sound. He assented and she removed his gag and gave him two long swallows. Kim, giddy from shortness of breath and the exhilaration of their success, caught her breath, took a mouthful of water, cleansed her mouth and spit. Then she slowly took a long drink of water.

Meanwhile, Mihali replaced her captives' gag and tied his ankles. When Rihali came back and reported no sign of pursuit, she removed his scrotal leash.

The male lay among the shadows in the moonlight. Mihali sat beside him. She murmeured in comforting tones and milked his cock with her fist. His eyes were wide with terror but his body responded promptly to her touch. Mihali was surprised by her easy triuimph and took his response as her triumph. She called softly to Rihali and Kim. "Look at this - who wants to have him first? You, Kim?"

Kim was unsure and hesitated. Rihali didn't ask twice or wait for long. She shrugged and straddled the bound male, lifted her apron and settled on his ready sex. Terrified as he was, his erection faded. Rihali groaned in disappointment, but reached into a pouch on her belt and retrieved several leaves. She crushed these between her fingers, then poked a finger into the bound male's mouth and painted the inside of his cheeks and gums. His erection promptly returned. Rihali quickly took him into her. She took her pleasure deliberately and ground her way to orgasm. The male stayed hard but was too unable to ejaculate. When Rihali had finished he glistened with her juices, but his cock still stood invitingly. Mahali took her pleasure too.

Kim thought long and hard and finally decided that she might try. She was intellectually opposed to rape. The male wasn't exactly resisting. He may be too frightened to fight, but he wasn't even protesting. Maybe, the asshole really even liked it. She always sought something new. Her jeans and panties presented a greater problem than the tribeswomen's lappets. To her surprise, she was already wet when she straddled him. He was hot and thick inside her and it felt so good. She ran her fingers over his mouth and teeth. He opened his mouth and she fisted his mouth with relish. She found her pleasure easily despite her friends' raucous comments. Kim was breathing hard when she dismounted. She had taken two orgasms quickly, the second even more easily than the first.

When Mihali stood over him once more, Kim thought that it would all start again. Instead, Mihali placed her hand on her sex and separated her labia. She looked up at Kim and smiled, then she released a steam of urine to mark her captive.

When the three returned to the village, it had been abandoned. Miryami found them and quickly guided them away to where the others were in hiding. More soldiers had arrived two days before - a full company well-armed and well aware of their predecessors' unexpected defeat. They search through the jungle for the village, methodically and systematically. They battled the dense foliage and the mosquitoes and didn't depend on any technological device. The village was hidden, but daily life had carved paths in the jungle. The soldiers had craft enough to find these.

When the soldiers finally approached the village, the tribeswomen had already fled into the jungle leaving their garden plots and most of their males, behind. Their campsite was moved daily to avoid detection. Foodstuffs were always in short supply. Some warriors were assigned to shadow the enemy. Hunting was severely impeded by the need to track the soldiers and avoid detection. The children were always fed first.

Mihali's male was slaughtered immediately. One by one, the few other males were slaughtered. The Professor Marlow was outraged. Professor Kurtz tried to reconcile her. Rationale arguments that food was short, feeding the males placed one more burden on the inadequate food supply, and their yield was better now while they was still well nourished, did nothing to assuage her anger. She wouldn't partake at all and she grew steadily weaker.

The tribeswomen held Professor Marlow in high esteem and truly wished her approval. They wanted her to eat to maintain her strength. However, she condemned their anthropophagy and forbid anyone to touch her male En. The idea that a male might belong to an individual and not to the tribe was alien to the Annu'I. However, Aratti consulted with the elders and they decided to honor her request. En would not be slaughtered. En himself viewed the scene with terrible confusion. He deeply wanted to help his people.

While her fiery will blazed unabated, the Professor weakened physically. Still, she refused any food until the children had eaten. She ate less than her ration. As time passed, she slept more and more of each day. Finally, she required assistance even to walk. En tended her lovingly.

Finally, she was too weak to argue much when Rahali came to her with rich broth. When she did argue, Rihali just ignored her protests. On the first day, she ate only a bit, before she suffered terrible stomach cramps and vomiting. On the next day, she ate a bit more and held it down. Diarrhea began and abated only with herb tea. On the third day, she ate still more. Her strength gradually returned. En was always there for her. When she began to wonder about the origin of the broth, she knew that she was on the path to recovery.

Inani roused her early one morning for the day's march. The Professor ate her ration of soup- actually relishing the chunks of meat that had simmered long with the spices and vegetables. When she learned that the soup had been made from the body of a soldier, she found herself oddly lacking in condemnation. The soldiers had after all deprived them of their homes and threatened their way of life.

Now as nowhere to be found. Aratti told her that he had gone ahead with Mihali to the next campsite to await them. Over the day's long trek, her hunger mounted. Now that she was stronger, her hunger was even more compelling. As they approached the end of the long day's journey, she detected the aroma of roasting meat. At first, she thought that her famished mind was playing a trick on her, but as she walked on the aroma became undeniable.

Finally at the campsite, she saw girls and women clustered around small fires roasting chunks of meat. Obviously, the Hunters had brought in a male. Suddenly food was plentiful and they ate with abandon,

Professor Marlow surprised herself with her response. The meat was clearly human or more specifically male. Despite her intellectual qualms and reservations, she found herself salivating; her hunger was undeniably piqued. Her expected horror and disgust were strangely absent. With envy, she watched Professor Kurtz enjoy her dinner with no appaent conflict. Once she had begun to eat, her ambivalence evaporated too.

Someone handed her a stick with a fist sized piece of steaming flesh. Marlowe ate with enthusiasm. Her hands were greasy. Juices ran down her face and soiled her blouse and she didn't really care.

The edge off her hunger, she suddenly, she remembered En. Where was her En? She looked for Mihali and didn't see her. Marlow stopped eating and put down her leaf and searched the camp. Her suspicions grew and she really didn't want to ask.

"Where's my En?" she demanded, when she found Mihali eating with Rahali and Inanni.

Mihali looked at her for a long moment. She held up the stick with its chunk of roasted meat.

The Professor threw her stick to the ground. She battled a cold fury. "I begged none of you to hurt him! I pleaded! You owed me that much."

"No one of us touched him, Professor. En saw how much we starved and took Rahali's knife, and cut his own throat. See, you also enjoy his gift."

The Professor fell to her knees weeping. Her friends, wishing not to exacerbate her embarrassment, ignored her and went back to their feasting. It had been too long since they had eaten like this.

Alone in her grief, the Professor remembered that En had always looked forward to being chosen for sacrifice. The invaders had seized the temple and denied him his altar and his ceremony. Despite them, En had succeeded in sacrificing himself for his people. Perhaps, after all, she should take some pride in his victory.

Two weeks passed and the first of the soldiers became ill. Malaise was followed quickly by weakness and lethargy. Every day more and more soldiers reported themselves ill. The dwindling number of healthy soldiers tended to their sick comrades. No one died. Every day fewer soldiers scoured the jungle for the tribeswomen.

Despite his limited tools and increasing malaise, the medic quickly identified the virus that caused the illness, a virus carried by mosquitoes. Professor Kurtz had sent back weekly blood samples before the first invasion and nothing like this had been found in her blood. He found antibodies to the virus in the blood of every native male whom he tested. Perhaps this virus was like polio or mononucleosis, causing a mild illness in young toddlers, but major disease in older adolescents and adults. He had no native females to test.

After four weeks, the soldiers abandoned the hamlets and retreated to the main village to care for their sick. The women returned to their hamlets and watched the invaders intently.

Aratti sent the priestesses into the jungle to gather the herb used in making the bitter tea that the males drank. Never had the women played host to so many males.

After six weeks, the women returned to their village. The soldiers were too ill to resist. No one fought back when the women took their weapons. Kim showed the women how to care for the weapons and started a class in their use. No one resisted when the women took the soldiers' filthy clothes and left them stark naked. Almost 200 males were divided into more manageable gangs of ten. One gang at a time, the males were driven to the river and washed. Only then, were the soldiers allowed to drink the bitter herbal tea that kept the endemic illness in check for the native males. Curiously, the illness rarely affected women.

The soldiers' rations were hardly sufficient for both the soldiers and the women. The women found their tastelessness more than noxious. Once again, gangs were sent as gifts to the neighboring tribes. Aratti freed Arurru and sent her home with 10 males as a peace offering to the Annu'Lu. She ordered that one or two males a day might be slaughtered. Even Professor Marlow did not complain.

This seemed like a time for peace between the Annu'I and the Annu'Lu. Kim Hunter talked with Arurru and Inanni. The she talked long and hard with Professor Kurtz in order to increase her understanding of Annu'I and Annu'Lu customs and beliefs. Then, she devised a new cooking style that would satisfy the aesthetic and religious requirements of both the Annu'I and the Annu'Lu. A flayed male carcass might be trussed whole and then boiled, Annu'I style, before roasting on a spit over an aromatic wood fire. The flavorful crispy outer layers of flesh might be shaved away, Annu'Lu style. The carcass was respected as per Annu'Lu custom and boiled as per Annu'I custom. After a worrisome pause, all agreed that the method was a success. Arruru and Inanni agreed that the procedure was proper and the results were delicious. Kim was glad that she had had so many carcasses for her various experiments.

Professor Marlow gathered up the dog tags, the doctors' log, and Bunny and headed back to our Earth. She brushed aside the CIA's pleas for secrecy and told her story. Her evidence overwhelmed their dispirited pro forma denials. Across party lines, the substantial majority of women in the Congress and Senate were unified and resolute in demanding protection for this unique, twice betrayed gyni-centric culture. Few in the defense establishment saw much prospects of success for battling an aroused female majority. At best, they might bide their time. In the meantime, Professor Marlow's college might open an exchange program right in the Midwest, in the heartland.

Brad and his pledge class stared through the bushes at the Kappa Kappa House and considered their next move. The pledge master was some sort of bastard. He demanded proof that Brad and his fellow pledges had been inside the famous Kappa Klappa House. Some things never changed at Midwestern University. The heat and humidity of the late summer nights was oppressive. The mosquitoes were as voracious as ever. Hazing lived on.

However, much had changed since the Annu'I women had taken over the old Kappa Klappa House. Women flocked there from all the dorms and sororities on campus. No male was known to have ever visited. If any male vsisited, known was ever known to have left alive, the upper classmen teased the freshmen boys. Their reputation preceded them.

This Kim Hunter, now Doctor Kimberly Hunter, an instructor in the Women's Studies Program, had set up a women's self defense program. The Campus Police were supplemented by women's patrols with as many of their boyfriends as they could coax to come long. It was a cheap date. For once, the campus was safe at night and students of both genders enjoyed the novel freedom from fear. The Campus police took credit for the sudden turn of events. A few wondered to themselves just where to absent miscreants ended up, but no one really wanted to ask.

Some things didn't change. Summer nights were hot and humid in the Midwest. Mosquitoes were large and rapacious. Fraternity pledges played pranks, while the College authorities indulged their wild mischief.

Brad looked at the Kappa Klappa house and searched for way in. He heard women's voices from the enclosed yard behind the house over the suddenly loud breathing of his friends. He smelled mesquite together with the sweet fragrance of the flowers. Maybe Zach was lucky to be home sick. A buzzing mosquito landed on the back of Brad's left hand. He felt the tickle of its legs and slapped at it, almost by reflex. The sudden noise startled his friends. "You know," Brad whispered. "I don't think that this is the right night for this stunt."

"Yeah," said Tim. "You don't think."

"Do you really want to face that ass hole," asked Mike.

"Which ass hole," asked Tim, very well knowing the answer already.

"Brother Bob, the pledge master - you're really an ass hole, Tim." offered Zach. "Brad's right. Maybe another night would be better. Let's get us the hell away from here. Far away. Any questions, ladies? Let's get!"