Despite Humanity's recent advances in space and meeting with other species, some people just lived their normal lives on this pretty blue ball every alien called "Deathworld". Nick Bourbon was among such normies, working honestly and not attracting attention. So he was very surprised when Earth's officials suddenly came to his home at lunchtime on Friday.

"Work as... an interspecies masseur?" he clarified after the proposition was made. He definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Yes, Mr. Bourbon." nodded a tall man in a black suit, who was the leader of the group. He introduced himself as Frank Hold, the right hand of some higher up in the government of the United Earth Federation. "We have examined your dossier and consider you a perfect candidate for this job."

"Yes, it is true that I have a Ph.D. in Xenobiology, but massage?" Nick scratched his head. "I am doing this as a hobby, nothing more."

"We are aware of that." Frank unfolded one of the documents he brought with him and turned several pages. "Hmmm, yes, here it is. There is a lot of good responses about your, one could say, "handwork" from human and several alien citizens on Earth. Several of them were incognito... but quite influential."

Nick gave up a slightly embarrassed smile. Yes, his parents found that this talent of his is a great way for him to earn some cash. After several procedures, everything fell in place like a domino tide. Word went around, with more people wishing to partake in Nick's "magical" touch. But he didn't know that he, well, touched someone of high value in terms of money and power.

"Okay, let's say I agree but aren't Cornucopia like the center of the galactic activity? Is it okay to send me there?"

"UEF officials consider you satisfactory for this position, Mr. Bourbon." smiled Mr. Hold and pushed his interlocutor another document. "And here is your normal salary. With premium not included."

The young masseur felt his blue eyes getting wider than the legs of several very amorous species that learned of humanity's sexual prowess. Those were big enough figures for him to feed one's family, both close and extended. Guess the answer was obvious.

Luckily for Nick, the majority of paperwork was gladly performed and dealt with by the government. All he had to do was pack clothing, personal items, and other essentials. While the family wasn't very eager to part with their lovely son, they understood that such opportunities shouldn't be squandered. Besides, the contract dictated that Bourbon Jr. could take a break for some time and visit Earth.

Besides that, something else was stirring in Nick's heart. Was it wanderlust? Or just plain curiosity? Either way, that promised to be quite a journey. The work of the masseur wasn't something extraordinary. But would it be the same among aliens?

"Let's find out then~," the young man said to himself optimistically, while observing a big shuttle about to land before him and his luggage.

 

Traveling to the Cornucopia station was... quite fast, actually. Despite its location being two sectors away from Solar System. Nick talked with his manager, an older woman that was ordered to accommodate him upon arrival and be his de facto liaison with UEF. She explained that my presence there was requested under the label "as fast as possible". And because of that, Mankind's navy deployed a special Hermes-class courier ship, which used Twistspace Jumpdrive.

"Wow..." was the only thing the future masseur could say about that. Majority of known alien species used FTL drives, which were relatively slow, but reliable. Twistspace Jumpdrives were extremely fast and accurate by artificially warping the distance between two points, but demanded a lot of fuel and sometimes malfunctioned. Besides that, their manufacturing was a long process, so there were not many of them yet. Nick even felt a bit proudful for such luxurious treatment, but then his common sense kicked in. This might not be such a cakewalk after all...

But before he began wondering what was really happening, the ship tore space and time, exiting back into reality.

"Cool!" Cornucopia was the biggest space station Nick has ever seen. As expected from the center of the galactic political and business activities, it was at least fifty kilometers long and twenty kilometers wide. Under a certain angle of view, one could really compare its form to, well, the Horn of Plenty. That came from somewhere, right? Thousands of lights glistened on its structure, filling the dark vacuum of the cosmos with life. Long and numerous lines of ships stretched from it in every direction. One could consider this station as one of the galactic Wonders.

"We are almost there." notified his agent, pointing out how several nearby picket fleets noticed their vessel and requested an identification code. This place was of high importance to lots of space civilizations, so it was guarded like the dragon's hoard. Upon closer inspection, the human masseur noted lots of detachments, that patrolled space around Cornucopia with praiseworthy vigilance.

 

 

 

Short docking and a quick ride to the place didn't give the human man a lot of time to enjoy the scenery or talk with locals. But what he did enjoy was the parlor itself. It was relatively small and compact, but with a reasonably high ceiling to accommodate big species. There was a high-tech adaptable massage table in the middle, which could get bigger, smaller, wider, thinner, higher, lower, etc.

"Incredible stock here!" Nick was pleasantly surprised by how well-supplied this establishment was. Different devices, salves, ointments, refreshments, and even special certified drugs were all in big amounts and specifically prepared for every known alien species. His education immediately kicked in, instantly spotting which is which and how to use them. "Can't imagine how much money was spent on it!"

"Not that much, to be honest." smiled the agent, giving the human masseur his dataslate. "Your room is in the back of the parlor, together with the bathroom and kitchen. If any supplies are needed or something happens - inform me immediately. We've provided you with starting allowance - everything else is your gains and salary agreed in the contract. You are registered here and have access to the majority of civil services. The law manual is also downloaded, for reference. Welcome to Cornucopia station, Mr. Bourbon."

"Thank you, Josephina. I will do my best." notable excitement was now coursing through his veins, but Nick decided to suppress it. This is serious work and he has to take it as such.

When the agent left and Bourbon Jr. found himself alone in his new workplace, the young man began preparations. First, he checked that everything was working fine and then filled his quick-access fridge with all the necessary appliances, to avoid searching through storage to find them.

The second was a professional uniform. It wasn't much different from what massage professionals wore on Earth, just slightly more futuristic. But in the case of humans, it also included a very powerful biofield. Humans were Deathworlders, after all, so to not cause a disastrous pandemic they had to wear this thing even in their sleep. Thankfully, UEF provided one before sending Nick off.

With them even close contact with aliens was harmless. Thirdly was, obviously, the opening. The holographic sign above the entrance of the parlor was... slightly suggestive. "In Human Hands" was both a pun and something to see in the xenophilic dirty magazine. But if it attracts clients though...

Upon finishing everything, Nick finally turned his status on social media from "Closed" to "Open". It was time to see if that investment was worthwhile.

 

 

 

"Blasted everything..." a young alien woman was attending a large business meeting, sitting at the head of the table. Her tenderly green skin, slightly angled facial features, branches, and leaves that replaced hair, and also piercing yellow eyes gave her a tree-like look, but the majority of attendees were of the same species as her. She was just the prettiest and the meanest among them.

Female xeno only partially listened to the report of her underlings' though. Her attention was captivated by several other problems. First of which was her hurting back. A sitting lifestyle that included a lot of paperwork and pencil-pushing wasn't exactly nice to your spine.

"Stumps and charcoal, I will rotting invest in some fricking therapy, chair, and lighting! Is it really this difficult to make the appropriate illumination?!" the businesswoman swore to herself while throwing a very irate glance at the clock.

"... and that concludes today's report." finally finished a short alien by her side, likely the secretary. "Root Sequoia, what do you think?"

"Focus on the stocks in question, the rest is good!" she quickly stated, before quickly standing up and leaving the room. "The meeting is over - get back to work!"

"Yes, Root!!!"

Sequoia climbed into her personal transport, which was a very intricate combination of living plant tissue, metal, and electronics. As soon as the signal was given, the driver lifted the machine into the air and joined the ongoing stream of busy vehicles.

"Blasted badlands, I can't take it anymore!" she complained, whipping out her personal dataslate. She needed some help with this pain or a lot of workers might end up unemployed and homeless at the end of the cycle. "Okay, what do we have... waste... no... stupid... I don't like those... Hm?"

In the process of browsing all of Cornucopia's massage parlors, the woman suddenly found something new. It was the "In Human Hands" one, which was stated to be run by... humans. And reviews were also looking promising, to say the least.

"Change of plans!" Sequoia felt how her breathing became heavy, darker green flushed over her cheeks and her knees started to rub each other in anticipation. "Drive to this address!!!"

"Yes, Root Sequoia."

 

The first half of the day went pretty smoothly. Several clients picked up Nick's new parlor and left very satisfied. They were all aliens, of course. There were few humans on this magnificent station, but their number was steadily growing, because of course it did. Anyway, the young masseur took it as a way to warm up and scrub some rust from his skills.

"Hm?" suddenly Nick had a strange feeling of being watched. And not just from a glance of curiosity, no, that was a very intense gaze of a predator eyeing its prey. Slightly shuddering, the man took a look around. For just a moment, but he swore off seeing some humanoid ogling a young masseur from a single window near the entrance with lewd eyes. "Am I seeing things?.."

But then doors to the parlor opened, signaling the arrival of another customer.

"Welcome to the "In Human Hands" massage parlor. Do you have an..." Bourbon Jr. turned around, carrying a friendly smile on his face, but the view of the new customer forced him to stutter a bit. "... appointment?"

The woman before him was dressed very skimpily, but upon realizing what species she belongs to, the questions died away on their own. Green skin, planty "hair" and angled facial features - a Plantis, species of mammalian/plantoid hybrids.

"Yes, Mr. Masseur, I've made an appointment." as aliens that took the majority of their nutrition from natural light, Plantis wore very little clothing, and back on their homeworld locals just went full commando. The specimen before Nick only had a blue thong and something that was undeservingly called a bra. With triangles that barely managed to cover the nipples. And that was considered "too much" by their standard. "My name is Sequoia Redwood, Plantis species."

"Splendid~" Nick lightly clapped, beckoning the woman to come in. "Please, come in. Tell me what bothers you?"

"M-my back hurts..." Sequoia did her best to keep it together and not start acting weird. There was a human male, a tall and strong one, right in front of her. A good looking too, but masculine. Those muscles definitely carried enough strength to break her apart. Plantis tried to speak in short sentences because her mouth was salivating profusely. "And I wish... to receive solar treatment."

"Understood. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Relations between UEF and Plantis space state, The Grand Forest, were far from cordial. Their first contact began with a short skirmish because plant hybrids thought that the human exploration vessel was part of the pirate group. Soon a moderate battle group was dispatched to take down the presumable "lawless den", which in reality was just one of the human colonies. But since UEF was timely warned by the escaped exploration crew about the hostile aliens, Plantis were met by the small fleet and powerful ground defenses. The war between two species was about to become serious, but luckily it was resolved by the Galactic Council, who intervened before blood flew with thousands and millions of casualties. The peace treaty was signed, but tensions between species remained difficult. Some members of the Council even accused The Grand Forest of creating a convenient casus beli for exploitation and bullying of others, since they already did stuff like that in the past. But the human ambassador softly defused the situation and promised, with a lot of barely hidden warnings behind his words, that UEF doesn't seek conflict with Plantis. And also promised to return the recovered bodies of those spacers that fell during battle-turned-quick-retreat in the orbit of that colony. Hybrids weren't pleased but kept to themselves.

When Sequoia lay on the massage table, it quickly identified her physiology and carefully adjusted itself to suit her. The nice feeling of moisture underneath was quickly followed by the sudden wave of pleasure coming from above.

"Wow~" the solar treatment was one of the most important parts of bodily care for Plantis that were outside of their homeworld or in places with less than optimal lighting for them. Female aliens expected modern parlors to have this technology installed, but what she experienced now was better than what she had in her penthouse. "What did you do?!"

"I have a high degree in Xenobiology, my lady~" explained Nick, who observed as the carefully calibrated light emitter above radiated onto the green body of the technically naked woman. Plantis had a mix of regular muscular tissue and tree bark, which was usually pretty sturdy. But under solar treatment it became much softer and relaxed, allowing relief of stress and removing bad formations under the skin. "I know which intensity and angle to use to replicate your homeworld's natural lighting."

"It is like I am back home~" completely relaxed, the business lady was still intently looking at the masseur. He waited until solar treatment was complete, meanwhile stretching his hands and fingers to stay ready for the main procedure. Sequoia's heart was pounding from the sight of flexing muscles, expecting those to soon be applied to her tenderized body. "Ohhhhh~~~"

When human began the very massage, Plantis couldn't stop moaning and shuddering from every touch and movement. Pleasure and pressure were on point and precise, like a well-calibrated instrument. But all she could think about was that:

"Big strong human above me... I am completely at his mercy... If he wants... he could do anything to my helpless body... Mmmmmm, yes, be harder there... Please, grab me by the neck... I am a prisoner here... Show me your dominating force..." humans were often portrayed in Plantis media as big dumb brutes. Some took it literary, to soon find out how wrong they were in a bloody or/and hilarious way. Sequoia was... different in that regard. Deviantly different. "Hah... hah... hah... I am getting wet..."

"I am done." these words were like thunder in the middle of a sunny day. Her dreaming went so far that Plantis lost the count of time. Upon looking at Nick again, she realized that he stood beside her, waiting for the female alien to get up. "Are you feeling better?"

"Uh? Oh, yes! My body feels so light..." Sequoia checked her back. It didn't hurt and was more flexible than before. That feeling was absolutely alleviating. But she wanted more! "Thank you, Mr. Masseur, but could you do my front too, please?"

"I am sorry, but your session has come to an end." politely declined the human man, pointing at the clock on the wall. "My next client will arrive soon. If you want to have another massage - please, make another appointment."

"And I can't persuade you otherwise?" she got closer to him while reaching for her leafy hair. Since Plantis didn't like wearing clothing, they had to keep important stuff somewhere. Branches, leaves, and rots on their heads were good for small and medium items. A black credit card appeared in between Sequoia's fingers, seductively reflecting local light. The smile on her face belonged to a person that thought money could get them anything.

Nick continued to smile as any serviceman should, but his eyes weren't. Crossed arms, narrowed eyebrows and patient demeanor were about to give someone a new perspective on things.

"Lady Sequoia, I don't take bribes. Satisfaction of my clients and transparent, well-earned reputation will provide me with more profits in the long run. I would like to kindly ask you to leave and make another appointment if you wish to."

Plantis froze up. Firstly, she's never met someone who couldn't be bought. That was so unexpected for her, she lost the ability to speak. And second, the masseur was looming above. He wasn't threatening her, but clearly stated: "I won't attack you unless I have no other choice." That felt both scary and... quite arousing.

"... May I ask for your name?" she finally conceded, hiding the credit card back.

"Nick Bourbon, lady Sequoia."

She paid the fee and went for the exit. But there she stopped and gave the expecting masseur an intrigued look.

"... I will remember that."

"Thank you for using the services of the "In Human Hands" parlor. Come again~"