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  Nandi nodded approvingly.

  “See? It’s good, right?”

  “Really good,” Harper admitted. “I’ve never tasted anything like it. Can…can I have some more?”

  “Have as much as you like, silly. That’s what it’s there for.” Nandi trilled laughter again and drank another cup herself.

  Harper drank three more goblets of the purple drink, which tasted like a mixture of fresh squeezed peach juice, ripe strawberries, and mangos, before Nandi started tugging her over to the couch.

  “Come on—you’ll miss the contest.”

  “No, I should really leave now,” Harper protested.

  “Of course you shouldn’t—you have to get some new foot coverings, don’t you?” Nandi pointed at her one bare foot. “You can’t go out on the high road like that. Come sit down just for a minute while Auntie Bru-bru gets you new ones.”

  Harper started to protest again that she really needed to leave but the big, circular couch looked amazingly soft and comfortable. Despite the fact that ten or fifteen girls were sprawled around it, there was still plenty of room for herself and Nandi. Maybe she could just sit and take a load off for a few minutes before she got back on that awful road and started trudging her way back to Shad.

  It seemed like a reasonable idea so Harper allowed herself to sink down onto the couch with a sigh of relief. After all the crazy things that had happened to her that day, it was nice just to sit still for a while and sip the delicious purple punch and relax.

  At the other end of the couch, the game or contest or whatever it was, was continuing.

  “My turn, my turn,” a girl with mint-green skin was exclaiming. She stood up, her massive breasts wobbling under a tight white top which clearly showed the points of her dark green nipples, and began to recite a kind of poem.

  “There once was a girl from kan-fine, who liked to be took from behind,” she began. “When her male pulled it out, she started to shout—”

  Before she could finish, some of the other girls started pointing at her.

  “Hendie! Hendie, your nectar,” Nandi exclaimed. “You’re leaking, my dear. Better pump!”

  “Oh my!” The girl named Hendie looked down at herself in apparent consternation. Sure enough, Harper saw, big wet patches were appearing on her tight, white top.

  “Get her the pump,” someone said.

  “Here you go, Hendie.” Nandi got up and handed a contraption with two suction cups attached to long black tubing. The tubes, in turn, were attached to a clear, plastic looking bladder which was apparently for storing whatever came out.

  Harper assumed the girl named Hendie would go someplace private and pump her breasts. (Was she breastfeeding a baby? If so, where was it?) Instead, Hendie pulled up her top with a giggle, allowing her massive mammaries to tumble free. She fumbled with the suction cups until she got them secured over her saucer-sized nipples, and then flipped a switch on the tubing which appeared to start a kind of motor.

  There was a mechanical humming sound and the two cups began to suck and pull vigorously. Squirting sounds came from them as liquid was drawn from Hendie’s breasts and drained into the large plastic holding bladder below.

  Harper felt extremely uncomfortable watching this procedure. She had no problem with breastfeeding in public—she thought it was a beautiful thing. (Although, to be honest she was a private person and would never consider doing it herself.) But this wasn’t breastfeeding—this was pumping—extremely public pumping.

  The black suction cups looked somehow obscene as they slurped and sucked at Hendie’s huge nipples—almost like mouths which had latched onto her and were intent on draining her dry. Also, it seemed to be…doing things to Hendie to have her breasts emptied.

  “Oh…mmm,” she moaned, undulating her hips sensuously as the suction cups pulled at her nipples. “Oh, yes…”

  Harper wanted to look away from the strange scene but somehow her eyes seemed glued to the action in the center of the tent. She felt hot and uncomfortable and the red silky gown, which she was still wearing under Shad’s black t-shirt, was suddenly rubbing against her breasts, making them feel sensitive in a way they hadn’t before. But she scarcely noticed because her attention was fixed on the girl getting her breasts pumped.

  The situation was made even stranger by the fact that the other girls on the couch didn’t seem a bit fazed by Hendie’s behavior. In fact, they laughed and cheered her on.

  “Look at Hendie go! She’s forgotten all about winning the contest now,” one of them giggled.

  “I bet she couldn’t finish that poem now if her life depended on it,” said another.

  “Look at that naughty Hendie,” said a voice in Harper’s ear and she realized that Nandi had come back to sit with her.

  “Um…is this, uh, part of the contest or something?” Harper asked uncertainly. She supposed it might be. Or it might be an alien custom. She tried to remind herself again not to be judgmental of other cultures but really, this was so weird…

  “Part of the contest? Oh my no! Hendie’s just getting off on getting pumped.” Nandi giggled again. “She always comes at least twice—once she even had multiples. Watch!”

  But Harper didn’t want to watch. Now that she knew for sure this was some kind of a sex thing, she felt even more uncomfortable. Wanting an excuse to look away, she drained her cup of punch and got up to fill it at the fountain again. Behind her, she could hear Hendie coming to an unmistakable climax with a lot of panting and groaning involved.

  Ugh—what the hell is wrong with these people? Harper wondered. And to hell with not being judgmental. If it was judgmental to not like being subjected to a public sex show well, then, she guessed she was guilty as charged.

  When her cup was full, she went reluctantly back to the couch where Nandi and the other girls were clapping and cheering.

  “She’s so funny,” Nandi said to Harper, speaking as though she’d never left. “Most girls can’t come unless they have a customer draining their titties but Hendie says the pump is as good as a male in need any day.”

  “A customer draining her…uh…draining her?” Harper frowned. “What are you talking about? I thought the girls here were all nurses.”

  “Well we are, silly! We nurse the males who come to us in need of refreshment and release,” Nandi explained. “But when there aren’t any customers, we use the pump. It’s either that or let the nectar go to waste and we can’t have that—it’s much too valuable.”

  “It…it is?” Harper asked faintly. She was beginning to understand what went on in this tent and it sure as hell wasn’t first aid.

  Just then, Hendie finished pumping and turned off the motor which caused the suction cups to release her nipples. They popped free, leaving her long, dark green nubs looking swollen and full, and the black tubing dangled down to her waist.

  “Excuse me.” Not bothering to pull down her top, Hendie pushed past Harper and Nandi, still holding the pumping device in one hand. “Oh Pie-lo—I’ve got some fresh nectar for you…” she trilled sweetly.

  Pie-lo came into the tent, grinning expectantly. “Do you now? How sweet of you, Hendie.”

  He took the plastic collection bladder from her, which was now filled with pale purple liquid, and drained it in a few long, thirsty gulps.

  “Ahh…delicious!” he proclaimed, handing the bladder back. Hendie accepted it with a giggle and replaced the collection device before dropping the suction cups and tubing negligently on an empty section of the large circular couch.

  Harper felt sick. She knew breast milk was natural and full of nutrients and she’d even heard of some cancer treatment programs who asked breastfeeding mothers with extra milk to donate it because it was super good for patients doing chemo. But none of that knowledge could make her feel better about the fact that she’d just seen a grown man chug about a quart of the stuff in public right in front of her.

  “Pie-lo always makes certain none of our nectar goes to waste,” Nandi whispere