The Keepers: Pien: The Keepers, #2

By Pepper North

Pieter Nillson wakes up to find that he has been transported to the planet of Nrantia.  He is in the care of his Keeper, Huma, who will have total control over all aspects of his life and body.  Renamed Pien, she tries to help him adjust to his new life after learning that he will not be able to return to Earth. Physically, Pien is much smaller than his Keeper and the other Nrantians.  Huma takes care of her as if he were a very young child.  He is forced to wear a quobon which is similar to an Earth baby's diaper, drink from a bottle and sleep in an enclosed bed.  Huma's care for his body is very invasive and thorough.  His Keeper's punishments for Pien when he chooses not to follow instructions are swift and applied to his bare bottom.

Are you brave enough to travel beyond the stars and discover the magic that can blossom between a Keeper and his or her charge?

• Language: English
• Publisher: With A Wink Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Oct 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223361190

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Huma stood in the receiving bay of the space center. She tried to look calm and collected, but inside her seven-foot body, she was a bundle of excitement and nerves. Many cycles ago, she had completed the complicated forms and submitted all the information required to be considered as a Keeper. Only a very small number of Nrantians qualified to become Keepers. Of that elite group, even fewer were ever matched with a human. She was here to be matched with the small human whom she would tend carefully for the remainder of his life. The responsibility was enormous, but Huma knew the rewards would be even greater. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, practicing once again the human expression called smiling.

CHAPTER 1

Last week, she’d pressed her hand to the panel next to her outer door to answer a calling. She was startled to find an inspection crew at her home. They swept in without any notice and took an entire pinkness and greenness to examine her home and the nursery that she had prepared for her human. Huma had stood straight and proud next to the front door without a single movement. She did not wish to jeopardize her impossibly lucky honor. She knew that if everything passed their inspection, she would bring a human home to tend for the rest of his or her life. This was the dream of many and the reality of a very select few.

Finally, the inspectors had gathered in her largest room. They compared notes and quietly discussed their findings in low voices that were impossible for Huma to hear. She held her breath, hoping with every bit of energy in her body. When the lead inspector turned, the decision glowed on his triangular face. As he walked over to her vigilant position, Huma released her breath silently. When he extended his top arm on his dominant side, Huma knew that she had not only passed, but that she had passed with the highest honors.

She allowed herself to smile at the inspectors as she thanked them for their consideration and dedication to safeguarding the precious humans. They all patted her on the back and congratulated her. She was given the instruction to attend the Keepers’ Institute starting the next pinkness. The legendary Oreg would lead her classes. Her human would arrive in four pinknesses. She had many preparations to complete.

Once the inspectors had left, she allowed herself a brief minute to celebrate. She danced around her large living room, swinging her arms around in joy. Finally winded, she stopped to wrap her arms around herself. She had been chosen. Her life now had a new purpose. She would be a Keeper! Huma walked to the nursery that she had designed so meticulously for her human. Without ever knowing if she would even be chosen, she had designed the nursery for a special human male. She had not been notified of the sex of the human whom she would tend. Somehow, she knew that he would be male. She sat in the large gliding chair and allowed herself to dream.

CHAPTER 2

The next pinkness, she arrived at the Keepers’ training center to begin her first class with Oreg. Walking into the training room, she discovered that there were four other Keepers in training attending the classes. As they all congratulated each other, Oreg entered the room. They quickly straightened to alert status and greeted Oreg with the traditional Keepers’ greeting. It is an honor to meet you, Keeper. May you have the skill and devotion to protect your human at all costs.

Oreg inclined his head toward them and waved a careless hand to indicate that they should sit. He was an average-sized Nrantian, but his reputation as the undisputed expert on facilitating human adaptation to their world filled the room. Virtually all the humans who survived past a hundred Nrantian lora had been assisted in their transition by Oreg or someone he had trained. Oreg did not waste any time. Welcome to the most important training you will ever undertake. You have been chosen to be a Keeper. Your final pairing with your human will only occur if I feel that you are ready and able to accept the responsibility of this job. With that said, let’s get started. The humans are slated to awaken from stasis in three pinknesses. We have a lot to discuss. With a wave, the tops of their desks began to glow with the first topics: Transition, Tools of Acclimation, Early Challenges.

By the end of the first pinkness, all the Keeper trainees were staggering under the load of information that had been shared with them. Their instructions were to return to their homes to eat a nutritious dinner before putting in a special code to their computer learning systems. They were to listen to this as they slept to internalize the training. During the second day, they would focus on Training, Nutrition, and Rewards. It would be followed by another round with the learning system. The following day, they would be introduced to their human. 

On the second day, they had a few very important guest speakers. Several Keepers from surrounding areas attended with their precious humans to illustrate techniques and share challenges. Their humans were very shy around the unfamiliar Nrantians except for one adorable blond-haired male. He had walked right up to Huma and climbed up on her lap to cuddle against her warm chest. She had instantly fallen in love with him. The new Keepers had already previously decided that the most challenging of all the possible personality traits of humans would be the stubborn, I-have-to-do-it-myself type. Huma immediately changed her mind when the blond’s Keeper pointed out to her the danger of the human being stolen or damaged. He was so friendly that his Keeper had greenness terrors in his sleep that an evil Nrantian would just carry the human away.

Huma thrived on the training. She absorbed all the information like a magriri plant. She spoke to Oreg often, asking for his advice and opinions of the different theories of human-raising. The two developed a friendship that Huma hoped would continue after her training. She had a feeling it would.

CHAPTER 3

Finally, on the third pinkness, Huma stood in the receiving bay in line with the three other Keepers who had passed the training. One of the trainees had broken under the immense pressure and had voluntarily withdrawn. This was not a job for everyone. Huma was impressed that out of the five trainees, Oreg had inspired four to undertake this massive responsibility. He had mysteriously spoken of the rewards of the caretaker’s job. They would need to discover this for themselves he had informed them. 

She stood straight and strong as the ship docked. A large cargo door opened, and three stasis beds were wheeled toward the new Keepers. The four new Keepers looked at each other in concern, watching the cargo door to see if another stasis bed would emerge. It did not. The Chief Medical Officer stopped in front of Oreg. The two men talked briefly before Oreg turned around with the bad news written on his face. He walked to the new Keeper on the far left. Huma tried to keep her eyes trained on the stasis beds, but at the sound of pure grief, she turned to see her classmate sag with emotion. The purple of his fur turned a dull, dark shade from the grief that filled his body. Tears flooded Huma’s eyes. His human had not survived the long journey. Oreg comforted him and called forth another Keeper to escort him home.

Looking desperately at the remaining humans, Huma tried to remember and focus her mind on her extensive training to prevent herself from responding emotionally. She could recite all the steps Oreg had designed to care for a human first emerging from stasis. She knew they were fragile, but she had not considered that they wouldn’t survive the long trip. A strong hand landed on Huma’s shoulder. She looked to Oreg who had stepped next to her.

"Huma, it is time for you to meet your human. He has been specially