It was a couple of days later when the time for my big announcement came. This would also be the time the Queen would formally announce me as the king of Kupolinis and introduce me to the people–the women–of the city. It would be a big day for me as well as for the city.
Two of the palace attendant girls came in to prepare me. One of them I recognized as Saiyani the girl who had brought me food the other day while I was with the Queen.
"Hello, Saiyani," I said when she came in.
"Hello, my king, we are here to prepare you to meet the people," she said, smiling warmly knowing that I remembered her name.
"And who might you be, lovely girl?" I asked the other woman who I'd not met yet.
"My name is Tanaii, my king," she said shyly. Tanaii had shoulder-length black wavy hair and green eyes and a very nice figure.
There wasn't a woman I had seen so far that wouldn't turn heads anywhere they went on Earth! It was as if I was the judge in my very own Miss Kupolinis pageant!
"It is nice to meet you, Tanaii," I said smiling.
She blushed and looked down, "Thank you, my king, it's nice to meet you as well," she said softly.
The two girls took me by the hands and led me to a very large bathroom with a huge tub. The tub looked more like a small hot tub than it did a bathtub but they had already begun filling it with water which was nice and hot.
They added some special oils and fragrances (one of which smelled like the flowers I had first noticed when I crashed on this planet) and then they helped me undressed from my house robe and I got in the tub.
Then they did something that surprised me at first–they got in the tub with me! Now I knew why the tub was so large!
Saiyani climbed in and got behind me in the tub with Tanaii in front. They began washing me and I had a very hard time keeping it "professional"! I talked with the girls as they worked–both to learn more about them but more to keep my mind off the wonderful feelings they were causing me. The first part of the plan worked... the second not so much!
"So girls, how do you like working here in the palace–and be honest with me. I want to make this place nicer for everyone if I can," I said.
"Sire we all love working here, especially now that we have a king to please and pleasure!" Tanaii said, smiling at me.
"You make this place nicer simply by being here Sire," Saiyani added.
"Well I have to say, with the company here, I couldn't think of a nicer place to be stranded. And being the king in a land full of beautiful women is going to be... interesting, to say the least!" I said. The two girls giggled at my remark.
"We are just happy to have our king after all these many years without one. We are all so happy that you are here my king," Saiyani said. I turned and pulled her forward to kiss her then turned back around and kissed Tanaii as well.
Once my bath was finished, the two girls helped me to get dressed, then asking permission to leave, they curtsied and left me alone to finish getting ready.
Finally, it was time for my debut as king. Queen Aurquan came into the bedroom. "Are you ready, my king, to meet your people–our people–of Kupolinis?" she asked.
I took a deep breath. "Yes, I guess so," I said. I don't know who I was trying to convince more, her or me.
"Relax my love, you will do fine. You are a great man and you will be a great king," she said smiling, those blue eyes sparkling like a couple of diamonds. She kissed me and then turned and led me out of the place, followed by all ten of the palace attendants.
The attendant girls took seats at the back of the small raised dais while the queen and I sat closer to the front. In front of us, was a small podium for giving speeches and such.
I looked out at the faces of the women of my kingdom. Could I really do this? Could I really be king? Tara was sure of my abilities, I was not. I was just a deliveryman–a space trucker if you will. Could I take such responsibility and actually lead these people?
Tara looked over at me and smiled. She knew what I was thinking. She knew my doubts and she knew I could do this even if I wasn't so sure. She rose, and with all the grace and poise she always carried, she moved to the podium and began.
"Ladies of Kupolinis, today is a great day for our land. After many, many years of doing without, we have been blessed to finally have our king.
"For those of you who do not know the story yet, four days ago a spaceship crashed on the Plains of Honnika. I sent a party out to find out about it and when they arrived, they found there was a passenger, a man, alive and unhurt save for a few bumps and scratches in the vessel. They brought the stranger here and some of you saw him when he arrived.
"He is unable to return to his own planet, as his ship has effectively been destroyed in the crash. After discussing matters with him and helping him to understand us a little, he has agreed to become our king," she said.
A murmur went through the crowd at her words and people began whispering and pointing at me. I fidgeted in my chair slightly. I didn't want to seem uncomfortable but I was... very uncomfortable at the moment.
"And so," Queen Aurquan continued "it is with the greatest pleasure that I want to introduce our new king, King Adam, to you, my people. I know that you will give him the same warmth and respect that you give me. Now... King Adam!" she said, turning to me and clapping. A loud, thunderous applause came up to me from the crowd.
I took a deep breath and stood, moving up to the podium and standing with Queen Aurquan on my left. I waited a couple of moments for the applause to die down before speaking...
"Ladies of Kupolinis, I want to thank you, first off, for this warm and wonderful welcome. I have never felt more at home, even in my own world, as you have made me feel here. Your Queen has been most gracious to me, and the staff here at the palace have treated me as if I already was king!
"Yes, I am, in fact, an alien to your planet, as your Queen has told you. However, Queen Aurquan explained to me that we all come from the same home planet far back in our history. And yes, our two worlds have taken different paths and had different histories, but we are all still descendants of the same planet Mygrostia that you learned about in your own schools.
"As I look out at all the beautiful faces in this crowd today, I still can't believe how fortunate I am to have landed here, of all the planets I could have crashed on. And learning that this is a planet of beautiful sexy stunning women can only be called incredible. I look out amongst you all and I can honestly tell you that each and every one of you would have your pick of men back on my planet.
"So being the king of Kupolinis is more than just an honor, although it truly is that. But it is going to be the utmost pleasure as well. This is every man's fantasy planet and I get to rule over it!
"But this planet, as wonderful as it is, is not without its problems. For one, I see a lot of very beautiful women who have never known the joy and the warmth of a man's love. Queen Aurquan has told me about the Drakoonians and what they did to your men and it is terrible.
"The Drakoonian menace is no more, however, it has left all of you here to try to carry on. And you have very successfully. I applaud your efforts and your resilience. You have created quite a world for yourselves here.
"It saddens me though that so much beauty goes unappreciated and untapped. However, I have an idea to help with this problem. I have given it much consideration and discussed it with the Queen and I think it will help bring us all closer. Let me explain...
"Back home, there is a story that there was a kingdom threatened by a terrible monster and that monster could only be appeased if a virgin was sacrificed to him once a year. So the ruler of that kingdom created a lottery where one name would be drawn and that poor girl would be sacrificed. Now I don't plan on sacrificing anyone, but the lottery thing gave me an idea.
"Because I am surrounded by a sea of beautiful, exciting women and all of you have never known a man, my first order of business as your new king is to create a lottery–we'll call it The Kings Lottery. And for this lottery, I am going to allow each of you that wishes to participate to put your name on a card like this and then put the card in this box.
"Each day, I will draw a name from the box and that girl will get to be my partner for the night. She will come to the castle and spend the night with me, pleasuring me and being pleasured by me. I will do this every night until each one of you has known a man at least once. I do not want anyone here to never know the pleasures that a man can give you and know what you can do for him in return," I said.
I could hear the collective gasp and whispers as the women talked amongst themselves about this unusual royal command.
I broke up the whisperings a moment later. "Is L'natria here? If L'natria is here please come forward," I said. I waited for a moment and then saw her working her way to the front of the crowd. I took a step down and offered her my hand, helping her to the dais to stand next to me on my right side.
When she was in place, I continued, "I am appointing L'natria to be in charge of administering the Kings Lottery. I shall call her the Head of the Lottery. A name will be drawn from the box at noon each day and a messenger will be sent to the winner's house to notify them that they have won. They will have the rest of the day to prepare themselves for our date. Then that night, my royal carriage will arrive at their door to pick them up and bring them here to my castle. They will spend the night and in the morning, the carriage will return them home again.
"Now should your name be called and for whatever reason, you cannot attend, you will not lose out; your name will simply be returned to the Lottery and drawn again another day. So no one here will miss out on the opportunity to feel a mans' love. That's is my humble gift to you the beautiful ladies of Kupolinis," I said.
One of the ladies raised her hand, "My king, if I may be permitted a question, how much will it cost to participate in your Lottery?" she asked.
"What is your name, beautiful one?" I asked her.
"I am called Sheni," she replied, curtseying.
"Well, Sheni that is a very good question. Thank you for bringing that up. Ladies, there will be no cost whatsoever to participate in the Lottery. As I said, it is my gift to you. And by the same token, I don't want any of you to feel you have to go out and spend your hard-earned money..." I turned to the Queen beside me and asked, "You do use money here right?"
"Yes, but it's called krilou," she said.
"... I don't want you to spend your hard-earned krilou to buy a dress or outfit for our date. It is not needed. It is not the dress that I am inviting to the castle, it is you. A present may be wrapped in fine, glittery paper and bows, but it's what is inside that paper that is the gift. And so it is with you. You are my gift, not that fancy new dress. So save your money for what you need it for. Take my word for this, you are all beautiful and desirable just as you stand here today," I said.
To say that this news caused a stir in the City of Kupolinis is an understatement. I was sure that this announcement would be the gossip and a source of much discussion in the coming weeks and months!
"Now it is my wish and hope that you will think of me not just as your king, but also as a friend. In my world, most kings and high ranking government officials think of themselves as above the people. It is hard therefore for the average person to reach out to them, to talk with them and to be social with them.
"I do not wish this for us. I do not want to be some figurehead in a castle that no one can see and who only pops their head out once or twice a year to wave to the crowds.
"I have discussed my wishes with the Queen and now I will tell you; I will be coming out and walking amongst you quite often–some may say too often. But I want you to feel free when you see me to come up and say hello, to feel you can sit down and talk with me and not be concerned with the fact that I am king.
"On a similar vein, I want you to feel you can come to the palace here if you have a need and that you will be welcome. This is not just the place where the King and Queen live, this is the seat of your government.
"So if you have an issue or need my help somehow, then come and let me know. I am not above getting my hands dirty! I don't know how other lands run things, but you have made me feel so welcome and a part of your community. And I want to show you that same warmth and welcome when you come here," I said.
When I had finished my speech and announcements, the women all applauded and cheered loud and long. They all seemed quite pleased with what I had said and I was getting good feelings about how I came off with them as well.
I stepped down from the dais and went into the crowd of beautiful women who were now my people. I kissed many hands and received many curtsies as I walked slowly through the crowd. Everyone wanted to see me, to touch me, and to feel what a man felt like. I didn't mind, the truth was, I wanted to feel them just as much!
As I "went out among my people", Tara smiled and then returned to the palace, leaving me to my visiting. Life in Kupolinis didn't have a lot of the unsavory elements that my home planet did. With no men, there was no jealousy, no cheating or affairs, no spurned wives. They had also eliminated crime as everyone there had everything that they wanted, everything that was available to anyone.
So I was in no danger in walking amongst them–in fact, I couldn't have been safer or more welcome at my own family reunion!
L'natria walked with me as we strolled around town, the first time she and I had been together since arriving in town. For "appearances" sake, we didn't hold hands or show any special affection towards each other although we both wanted to I think.
And being as we were followed by a throng of curious women, we never really got a chance to be alone even for a moment. But that was okay–I was going to be around for a long time and I knew we would get our chance.
As we walked (and between hellos to the town ladies) we talked about this Lottery idea. I told her my ideas on it and she had a couple of good ones of her own. She said she would be honored to run the Kings Lottery and she would get right to making the cards for everyone to write their names.
I told her I would draw a name every day for five days and then take a day off. That would be the Queen's Day and I would spend some time with her. I had decided to make a calendar of sorts, a chart where I would mark off hash marks so I could figure out days.
Since I had no idea of time or how many days were in a Shatabhisha Galli year, I would have to create some way of knowing how long I had been here. I knew what day I crashed and if I started right away and kept at it, I could calculate what day it was back on Earth.
It seems silly now that I have been here so long... they didn't have holidays like we did back on Earth–no Christmas, no Halloween, no Thanksgiving. In fact, with a constant temperature of around what would be 70-75 degrees back home all the time, there weren't even seasons as I knew them.
The only holiday in Kupolinis would be when I calculated I had been king for a year. But that was an Earth year and I don't know if even that was relevant!
When our walk was over, I told L'natria to come with me back to the palace, that I had more to talk about with her. She was all too happy to accompany me, and we went back to the palace. I took her into what I would call the Council Room, a fairly large room with a huge table.
"Sit, L'natria, please. Would you like something to drink?" I asked.
"A glass of water would be nice, my king, thank you," she said. I clapped three times and one of the palace attendants came in.
"Yes, my king?" she said. I told her to please bring us a pitcher of water and a couple of cups. She curtsied and scampered off to get them.
"L'natria, I wanted to talk to you because I want you to be the head of my concubines. You told me when we met you wanted to prove yourself worthy of being one of my concubines and you certainly did that. And this Lottery won't last forever. I figure that in a little over a year, or what is known on my planet as a year, at least, I should have had every woman in Kupolinis at least once.
"After that, I will decide what I want to do. I could go for another round and have each of you a second time, or I could then set up my concubines. I will have to see how this first time goes. But whatever I decide, there will be a place for you in my palace, L'natria. I told you not to go very far. I want to keep you close by, my beauty," I said.
About that time, the attendant girl arrived with the water. She placed it on the table and curtsied then turned to leave again, giving us privacy once again.
"My king, I would be honored to have any place in your palace. If you wish me to be head of your concubines I will do it happily, If you wish to grant me another post, I will do that with equal enthusiasm. I too, wish to stay close by, my king!" she said breathlessly.
"What do you do in Kupolinis, L'natria? How do you earn your living?" I asked her.
"I work at the market, my king," she said.
"And are there others who work there as well?" I asked.
"Yes, there are four other women who work there with me. Why do you ask?" she asked.
"How difficult would it be to find someone to replace you? Is there anyone you know who would want the job?" I asked her.
"I'm sure there is someone here in Kupolinis that would like to take over. It's a good job and my boss is nice to everyone, my king," she said still puzzled where I was going with this.
"Well, then I want you to go to work tomorrow and tell them you will be quitting. Give them some time to find a replacement for you–I don't want to make it hard for anyone–and then I want you to come to work here. I will find something for you to do. You can start by working and running the Lottery. But I will find you a job after that," I said.
"Oh, Sire! I would love to come to work here! It has been my dream to someday see the inside of the palace... and now I get to work here! Oh, this is so wonderful! Thank you! Oh, thank you, my king!" she said, so excited she was bouncing in her seat.
"Not just work here my dear. I want you to take up residence here. That won't be a problem will it?" I asked.
"You want me... to live here, Sire?" she asked dumbstruck.
"That's right. I want you to call the palace your home. I have walked around the palace and the grounds and there are plenty of rooms we can convert. In fact, the only places I haven't been yet are the attendants quarters and I will be seeing those in the next day or so.
"So once your job at the market is over and they have found a replacement for you, I want you to come live here in the palace," I said.
"I... I don't know what... to say, Sire," she said.
"Well yes might be a good start," I said with a smile.
L'natria jumped up from her chair and nearly bowled me over as she rushed to me, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing my cheek over and over. "Yes! Yes! Oh, yes, my beloved king! Oh, Sire, you have made me so happy! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said excitedly.
