5 comments/  19069 views/  2 favorites

Genesis

By: oneiria



Adam Wolfe looked back at the mountain range, a two-day hike from where he stood now. Still no sign of modern man.

Maybe 100,000 years was too far back in time. The Foundation only been given one shot at it. The Earth was not likely to pass that close to a wormhole again for several millennia. No, actually make that more than a hundred millennia in the future from where (more accurately when) Adam stood now.

Some in the Foundation wanted to go back to Big One, to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant asteroid. But the suits at NASA were too cheap to spring for a million-year ticket and a big expedition.

That was OK. Adam was pretty sure that he didn't want a front row seat for the Big One.

They finally agreed to a smaller expedition (just Adam and a measly 100,000 years back in time). As it was, they had strapped Adam into a space capsule that had to be smaller than the one the Rooskies used to launch that poor mutt Laika into space back in 1957, a full two years before the Clovers sang the original "Love Potion Number 9" (although they had been that way since 1956).

The reentry had been a little warm, as the most of the recycled Space Shuttle tiles blew off his capsule, heating its surface to 900 degrees Fahrenheit (although the 755 degrees Kelvin temperature announced by the ship's computer sounded so much more refreshing). Whatever it was, it had been enough to turn the capsule's hull into a festive glowing red. 

Also, the parachute had opened a little late for Adam's taste, especially when the capsule hit the ground at 100 klicks an hour. Goddamn air bag didn't even deploy, the cheap Chinese shit.

At any rate, here he was safe on the ground in Europe in 998,075 B.C. (or so his I-Phone 2210 told him), and there was still no sign of modern humans. It looked like the gap in the fossil record was no fluke. But how could modern man seemingly arise out of nothing in France and then move eastward to slaughter all the other hominids in sight?

Adam flipped open his I-Phone and dictated his findings thus far. The plan was to bury the phone and the boys from the Foundation would find it 100,000 years from now with the GPS tracker. That's why the thing was powered by Energizer batteries. 

You see, the ticket that they bought for Adam was a one-way one. There would be no return trip.

Adam looked at the smoke-free woods. He sure as hell hoped that there were some modern humans here. As least three or four of the female variety, glad in bear-skin bikinis. Adam's war club began to rise at the thought. 

It was then that he stepped into the pit, was caught up in a rope net and lifted ten feet in the air.

They emerged from the bushes then, ululating and thrusting their spears in the air. The ones Jean Auel had called the Others. The Neanderthals.

They made short work of cutting down the net that held Adam, binding his hands and feet to a large spit, carrying him like a deer carcass back to their village, stripping him, and staking him on the ground with his limbs splayed like a human X.

The largest of them reached out to Adam, seeming intrigued by his brown hair, so unlike that of the carrot-top Neanderthals. Their leader looked up after playing a quick game of Tetris on Adam's phone, cheered on by a dozen onlookers. He nodded at Adam and smiled in approval. Then, he bumped his chest and told Adam his name. Elon.

He pointed to Adam, who quickly told Elon his name, feeling that it might be prudent to be as friendly with these people as possible, especially in view of the fact that they had just placed the human-size roasting spit they had used to carry him to their camp over a roaring fire.

The women rushed over to touch Adam's naked body, intrigued as women always are by his foreign nature and the strangeness of his body. They crowded around Adam then, wearing only loin cloths in this interstitial heat wave.

They were a pretty solid group of women, but then Adam had always liked them a bit zaftig. What impressed him the most where the size of their jugs. It was difficult to infer the distribution of soft tissue from fossilized skeletal remains, but those anthropologists who prepared him for this mission had underestimated these chicks' bra size by several orders of magnitude. Those magnificent honkers would go a long way toward explaining that anomalous curvature in the spine of female Neanderthals that scientists had been puzzling over for years.

In no time, those prehistoric boobs blanketed Adam's naked body, the women's mouths covering every inch of Adam's flesh, as their shaman poured some type of potion down Adam's throat. Adam felt his already steel-hard cock grow even larger as the warmth of the potion suffused his body. He had never felt this horny in his life. (OK, maybe that one time with Elizabeth Furman in the basement of her father's house. He couldn't walk for a week after that one.)

Adam looked down on his splayed naked body, which had been transformed into a sea of undulating red hair as the women ran their tongues up and down his legs, chest, neck and face, taking turns sucking his cock and lapping his balls, each one with a different technique, a different tongue, and guided by different desires. One woman, the strongest among them, forced the others from Adam's crotch, engulfed his cock with her mouth, and ran her hands around his back to grab his buttocks in her vise-like hands. She began to bob her mouth up and down on Adam's rod while lifting his body off the ground with her incredibly strong arms in time with her movements. Adam tried to match her thrusts with his own, which was not easy with his hands and feet staked to the ground and his pelvis suspended two feet in the air.

A particularly fetching auburn-haired vixen (if you disregarded her brow ridges for the moment, and Adam was already getting quite attached to that look) forced the others away from his face, and began to lick Adam up and down his cheeks, his eyes, ears, and lips, finally forcing his mouth open and thrusting her incredibly strong tongue in and out of that orifice in time with the drumbeats, which also guided the pace with which the alpha bitch sucked Adam's cock and kneaded his buttocks, while the other girls ran their fingernails over every accessible inch of Adam's splayed body.

Finally, Adam could take it no more, and poured his hot seed into the alpha bitch's mouth, as she pulled him upward and held him high off the ground with her incredibly strong arms, while she sucked every last drop from Adam's balls.

They collapsed then. But Adam's prick was still rock-hard. The shaman's potion would put extra-strength Viagra to shame.

Elon, the headman, came forward then to act as master of ceremonies. He pantomimed jacking off and pointed to each man and then to Adam's ass. OK, he got it. They were going to gangbang him.

Then Elon pantomimed Adam jacking off and pointed to a particularly comely blonde girl, perhaps a princess and evidently the closest thing to a modern human in these here parts. OK, Adam thought, they're going to pour their seed into me, and then I'm going to pour it right back into that little stocky fox. He was game for that.

Then Elon pointed to the roasting spit and the blazing fire, pointing at Adam and then at the spit once more. Then he pantomimed eating something from a bowl. OK, Adam thought, after I do the girl, they're going to roast me and eat me. He really wasn't game for that. 

They flipped him over like a pancake then and re-staked him, ass-side up this time. Elon, the headman, tore off his bearskin loincloth to reveal the largest cock Adam had ever seen (and he had bred bulls before his current stint as a time-traveler). It was fully eight inches long, but it was the Neanderthal's thickness that amazed him (he doubted their women considered Adam to be the more highly evolved primate, at least in that respect). Elon walked around to Adam's back, then lowered his massive torso onto Adam's more fragile flesh. He entered Adam quickly, penetrating him to six inches on the first thrust. He began to move slowly as he licked Adam's neck, ears and face, first gaining seven inches into Adam's passage and then the full eight. The craziest looking of the women then spread Elon's steel-hard buttocks with her hand and began to lick him up and down his crack, rimming him and tongue-fucking him to spur him to fuck Adam harder and harder. She slid her mouth down to Elon's massive bouncing balls, tea-bagging him as he drove into Adam's violated body harder and harder. The giant's chiseled torso slid up and down Adam's naked back as he pounded his way in and out of Adam's staked and helpless body.

The woman now had both of giant's balls in her large hominid mouth and shook them like a great white shark attacking its prey, and the big man exploded inside Adam's helpless body, filling him with a hot spray of prehuman genes. His tongue sought Adam's mouth, penetrating it in the aftermath of their lovemaking. Then he withdrew and slowly rose from Adam's back. The males had formed a line, and the next one at bat was the one they called Janger, his nine-inch cock already rising above his red pubic hair like a skyscraper.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

When they were done, they unstaked his battered body and helped him briefly to his feet, as the shaman poured another cup of his hot brew down Adam's throat. Adam's cock suddenly rose once more, throbbing with desire, desperately needing the feel of flesh surrounding it to take away the emptiness.

They re-staked him, supine this time, with his hungry, aching cock fully exposed for all to see. The semi-human girl that they had earlier designated as the receptacle for their collective seed (by way of Adam's digestive system) emerged from the crowd. She wore a white leather loincloth and nothing else, her tanned muscular legs magnificent in the late afternoon sum, her firm, huge Neanderthal breasts jutting out from her chest, her disheveled blond hair and brow ridges making a mystery of her eyes.

She shed the loin cloth, exposing the blond triangle of her cunt, and straddled Adam, raising his drug-inspired cock and guiding it expertly into her hole. She ran her hands up and down his naked chest and bent to kiss him, her soft hair spilling over his eyes, creating a mini-universe in which all that existed were their eyes, their noses, their mouths, their souls.

She began to ride him then, posting up and down on him like a stallion, her hands descending from his face, over his chest, and down to his abdomen. Another woman Adam had not seen coming suddenly squatted down on him, covering his mouth with her hot cunt. She began to slide up and down his mouth, using his ears as reins, silently promising to tear them off if Adam disappointed her.

Adam began to lap the new woman's cunt with all his might. He felt her fingering her own clit as she rode him mercilessly, sliding up and down his wet face rapidly, while the blond woman continued to ride Adam's cock, squeezing that throbbing member rhythmically with the hot moist walls of her protohuman, almost animal-like cunt. 

The other woman grabbed Adam's head, forcing it harder against her cunt as it devoured Adam's mouth, nose and eyes. She slid faster and faster on his face, as the other girl bounced up and down on Adam's cock more violently, matching her pace.

All three of them came together, Adam pouring his futuristic, symbolic seed into the cunt that rode him, as the girl went rigid, the walls of her cunt milking every last drop from his balls, and the other woman poured her juices all over his mercilessly ridden face. 

They lay there together in fading afternoon light, catching their breath, before the men finally came for Adam, bound his naked body to the roasting spit they had carried him in on, and placed him over the raging campfire.

The flames seared Adam's flesh, as his naked body swung from the spit. In the twilight, his eyes and fading consciousness could barely make out their faces, although he saw a large snake as it slithered toward the forest and heard the muffled cry of a night owl. 

Suddenly, the blond girl he had so recently fucked step forward. Adam rotated his finger to point at his own chest and said "Adam." Then he pointed at the girl.

She took one bite out of the apple she was holding and told him her name.

Eve.

Genesis



"Mom? You aren't ready?" I heard my brother say that August Sunday. My heart flipped over. Mom wasn't going to church with us?

I paused in getting ready and listened to the voices coming through the vents.

"No, Roger." Mom said. "I'm not feeling very well. I think I'll lay back down."

Yes! Oh, yes!

"Oh," Roger said. "Well, Lindsey and I can stay with you."

No! Oh, no!

"No, no." Mom said. "I love that you still walk in the faith even now that you are graduated from college. Lindsey needs that role model. Now more than ever, having graduated high school and starting college."

"I don't know how much of a role model I am," Roger sighed. "You know she never listens to me."

Never listen to him? Never listen to him?! What the hell did that mean, "Never listen to him"?

"I know," Mom said.

I know? I thought. What is this? Eviscerate Lindsey in absentia day?

"I know she doesn't listen very well." Mom laughed. "Stop trying to tell her what to do and just keep showing her what a man should be."

"Um, I don't know what you mean, Mom." Roger sounded confused.

"I know. And so does she." Mom said. "That's what makes it perfect. It's not an act. It's just who you are."

"Is this the whole 'just be yourself' speech, Mom? Because you have given it to me more than a few times over the last twenty-three years."

"Go to church, scamp." Mom laughed. "And don't come home without your sister."

"Have I ever?" Roger asked.

"No, as matter of fact, you haven't. Unlike your father."

I stopped listening. I knew everything I needed to know at that point. I was going to have Roger all to myself for the half hour drive to church and the half hour drive back. I only got to see him on Sundays anymore and rarely got him to myself, just the two of us.

I looked at the dress lying on my bed and shook my head. It would never do. I hung the dress I had picked out back in my closet and quickly flipped through the clothes hanging there. I pulled out another and felt my mouth stretch in a smile. This one would do. Oh, yes. This one would do very nicely.

I was putting on my makeup when there was a knock at the door.

"Come," I said.

"Linds, you about..."

I smiled as I heard him pause, knowing he had just set his eyes on me. I calmly put the finishing touches on my makeup and turned to face him. I wasn't disappointed. The look on his face looked like someone had just hit him between the eyes with a baseball bat.

"Ok, I'm ready." I said.

"Um. You're wearing that?" Roger swallowed and flushed. "To church?"

"Yes. Why?" I pretended to look at myself in the mirror once more. "I'm singing in the services today."

"You are?"

I fought a grin as I watched him search his perfect memory. The thought that he might have forgotten something threw him off the dress.

"You didn't say anything." He finally said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"I'm sure." He nodded firmly. "You didn't say anything to me. Or Mom either."

"Oh." I pretended to think it over. "Well, I must have forgotten to mention it. So, is Mom almost ready?"

"Mom isn't feeling good." Roger said. "She isn't going."

"Oh, no. Maybe we should stay here with her."

"We can't if you are singing."

"Oh, we can call and tell them we aren't coming." I waved one hand. "It'll be fine."

"No," Roger said. "If you said you'll do it, then they are counting on you. We're going."

He turned and walked back through the house. I laughed softly to myself. Roger's firm sense of propriety could be such a pain in the ass. But, it could be useful too.

"Mom, Lindsey forgot to mention she is singing today."

"She what?" Mom asked. "Oh, no. Ok, just give me a few minutes to get ready."

Oh, crap. I thought as I hurried through the house to cut this off. I had just wanted to make sure he would take me. I hadn't meant for Mom to come too.

"Mom?" I asked. "What are you doing? I thought you weren't feeling good."

"I'm getting ready to go hear my baby girl sing," Mom said, reaching for her wig.

Now that I looked at her, she really didn't look good. The latest round of chemo had really taken it out of her.

"Mom, you don't have to do that." I said. "It's not like you haven't heard me sing six times in the last four months." I thought quickly. "Besides, I don't know for sure that it was this Sunday. Roger said I didn't say anything, so I may be not remembering the right Sunday. And you really look like you need to lay back down."

"I'll be fine in a moment." Mom leaned heavily on her makeup table. Her skin was a greenish tint. She was sweating.

Guilt ate at me. I thought seriously about coming clean about my lie. But, then I would have to admit that I was trying to make sure I could be alone with Roger.

"Dad should be here to help you." I said angrily.

Mom and Roger exchanged "the look". The look they always got when I mentioned Dad. I felt another stab of guilt at the misdirection.

"Why do I need him when I have the two best kids in the world?" Mom asked lightly.

"You don't," Roger said firmly. "We don't. The three of us will be just fine."

"Yes, we will." Mom said, as she took her wig off once more.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"You two better get going, if you are going to make Sunday School" Mom said. "I'm going to lay down and rest just a bit. Call me from church if she is going to sing."

This last was directed at Roger. I almost sighed in relief.

"Lindsey Marie, what do you have on?" Mom said, really looking at me for the first time.

Uh oh.

"Um. My performance dress." I said, looking down at myself as if I didn't know very well what I looked like in it.

"Do you think it's entirely... appropriate to sing at church?" Mom asked.

"I don't understand," I blinked disingenously. "This is the same dress I wore for my recital, when I sang at Graduation, when I sang the Star Spangled Banner at the Rodeo, and when I did it again for the parade on the Fourth of July. What's wrong with it?"

Mom and Roger traded a different look this time. The one that said they were trying to decide which of them was going to explain this time.

"I mean," I continued. "If it's okay to wear the rest of the time, why is it not okay to wear to church? Isn't that what Brother Ronnie is always saying? That we shouldn't act one way the rest of the week and then act different just because it's Sunday?"

"I don't think that's quite right." Mom's eyes crinkled and she pressed her fingers to her lips, trying to hide a smile.

"Yes, it is." I asserted. "He says it all the time."

"He means," Roger sighed, "that we should act the other six days the same way we do in church."

"That's what I said." I waved my hands.

"I give up." Roger groaned.

"Well, we don't have time to worry about it now." Mom said, still trying to keep from laughing. "And you don't have time to change now. Go on."

Yes! Bullet dodged. We were in business.

"What are you doing?" Roger asked as I stood beside the pickup door.

"I'm waiting for you to open the door so I can get in." I said. "Why?"

"Um. Because Mom isn't going with us." Roger said.

"And?"

"And, you don't have to sit in the middle." Roger said. "You can get in on the other side."

"Well, that would be silly of me." I said, thinking quickly once more. "Then you would either have to walk around there and unlock that door and let me in and then walk back around to this door to get in yourself, or you would have to get in and lean all the way across to unlock that door, when instead I could just get in on this side so you only have to unlock one door."

Roger's eyes had that glazed look they always got when I dove into a huge sentence with one breath. Which is why I did it as often as I could, of course. He was my brother, my father figure, and the only man I would ever love. But, a girl has to have some fun, doesn't she?

Roger shook his head and unlocked the door, I climbed in as demurely as I could in that dress. Which wasn't very. Which was exactly the point.

I glanced over at him as I made some final adjustments and smiled as I saw his eyes fixed on my legs. The split on the side bared my leg just short of halfway up my thigh.

"Um, aren't you going to scoot on over?" Roger asked when I stopped in the middle.

"I need to practice." I said. "If I sit all the way over there against the door, then I wouldn't be able to hear the music from both speakers the same as if I sit here in the middle so they both reach my ears at the same time which is very important with this piece as -..."

"Okay!" Roger cut me off. "Okay, sit wherever you want."

I grinned at this evidence that I had him off balance. Roger only ever cut me off when I had managed to really fluster him. Otherwise, he would sit patiently and wait for me to finish. Even if his eyes did glaze over.

I welcomed the pressure of his arm against mine. If he hadn't been wearing his usual suit jacket it would have been even better. I shivered at the thought of his arm being as bare as mine, of our skin contacting each others.

"Are you cold?" Roger asked.

"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "It's August. It's eight thirty in the morning and it's already eighty-nine degrees. How on earth could I be cold?"

"Well, you are kind of scrawny." Roger grinned as he started the truck.

"What?" I blinked and looked down at myself.

"Even Colonel Sanders wouldn't want those legs, sis."

"Oh, ha ha." I scowled. "He'd take mine before he took Amanda's."

Aw, crap. Why'd I have to bring her up?

"Amanda has anorexia." Roger said, stonily. "She's been fighting it since we were fourteen. It's a miracle she's even alive."

"It's a miracle you put up with her crap," I growled quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Roger," I sighed. "You've been hung up on Amanda since you were both fourteen. She's been going back and forth between you and John like a ping pong ball for almost ten years now. Ten years, Roger! There's loyalty and love and all of that. And then there is stupid."

"You'll understand one day," Roger sighed. "One day, you'll meet that special guy and you will fall in love. Then you'll understand."

I blinked back tears and had to bite my lip to keep from blurting out that I had eighteen years, four months, and nine days before. To keep from admitting that since his hands first held me, the first in our family to do so, that my heart had belonged to him and only him.

"I thought you needed to practice," Roger said.

I swallowed and blinked a few times.

"I do." I said. "I was just waiting until we get out of town."

"Ok." Roger shrugged.

I could feel his big arm move against mine. God, how I wanted him to put that arm around me and hug me like he used to do so often when we were younger and I was hurt or frightened. I just couldn't think how to manage it.

When we were finally out of town and on a straight stretch of road, I leaned forward and put in the instrumental music for a song I had been practicing.

I poured eighteen years and more of love and heartache into my voice as I sang the words of boundless love for my audience of one in that pickup going down a stretch of country road towards a church that I had never planned to sing it in.

When I finished, Roger cleared his throat.

"That was... ah..." He broke off and was quiet for a moment.

I luxuriated in finally telling this wonderful man who happened to be my brother exactly what I had felt for him for almost two decades. Ok, so he thought it was just a song I was practicing. I knew different.

"Are you sure that's a church song?" Roger asked finally.

" 'Faith, hope and...' What is the greatest of these, Roger?" I asked.

"I don't think that's the kind of love that verse means, Linds" Roger shifted a bit.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, it just seems a bit more 'romantic' than 'agape' is all." Roger said.

"It doesn't say faith in what, hope for what, or what kind of love," I argued. "And where do traditional marriages happen? In a church, that's where. And how do you get more 'romantic love' than a marriage between a man and a woman? And what about the passage that commands them to be fruitful and multiply? And-"

"Okay!" Roger yelled. "Fine. Just don't be too surprised if Brother Ronnie won't let you do that one. Or did you already tell him what it was you were going to sing?"

"Well, no." I shrugged. Of course, I hadn't. I wasn't going to be singing in church today or any other time in the near future that I knew of. "You didn't like it?"

"I didn't say that." Roger answered. "I thought you did it beautifully, as you always do every song you sing. I just don't think it will go over well at church is all."

"Really?" I felt like I should be glowing. "You liked how I sang it?"

"Of course." Roger glanced at me and then back at the road. "You have an amazing voice. You could probably be a professional singer if you wanted to bad enough to get serious about it."

Such a Roger compliment. Praising and slashing the legs out from under you in the same breath.

"I'm serious about my singing." I offered quietly.

"How many hours a day do you sing, Linds?" He asked gently.

"I don't know." I shrugged. Who sings every day?

"Well, if you were serious about it, you would sing eight hours every single day."

"Eight hours?" I gasped.

"That's what it means to be serious about something kiddo." Roger said. "High school is done with for you. You don't make it in the real world without putting some work into it. Whatever you are going to do with your life, you need to pick something you love. Because you will spend eight hours every day doing it until you are old and grey."

"Jesus," I whispered. "The only thing I ever wanted to do that much was sex."

"What?!"

The pickup swerved and Roger overcorrected. Anyone that doesn't believe in angels is flat wrong. Because I am sure there was an angel somewhere then. Perhaps outside the truck, guiding it. Perhaps sitting with his arm against my chest while the other was working the steering wheel. But, when a long bed pick-up truck with a camper shell goes into a spin while you are going sixty-five miles an hour and you don't flip over, there is something intervening. I don't have Roger's head for math and science, but even I know that much physics.

"Are you okay?"

I blinked to find that the world had stopped spinning. Roger's arm was around me. I couldn't seem to catch my breath for a moment. We were in a field. Roger had put us through a fence and into a cotton field.

"Linds, baby, talk to me." Roger's voice said.

Baby? I blinked as I turned to look at him staring at me. Did he just call me "baby"?

"Honey, you are scaring me." Roger's other hand came up to cup my cheek. "Say something if you are all right."

"Something." I whispered. Baby and Honey? I was more than just alright. It was all right in that moment.

"Thank you, Lord." Roger closed his eyes and offered up a quiet prayer. "I don't know why you chose to spare us. But, I will try to live each moment as the gift it is from you."

He was right. God, was he ever right. I realized as I heard him say the words that each moment is a gift and we can't count on having another. It's up to us to seize the moment and live it. To fail to do so is to turn our back on the gift God has given us.

I leaned up and kissed my brother.

For a long moment, I savored the feeling of his lips against mine. Before I could change that kiss into the more passionate version I wanted it to be, he pulled his head back. I opened my eyes to find him staring at me.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too, sis." He bent forward and I prepared my lips for the return of his but he pressed them to my forhead instead. "I'm glad you're okay."

Before I could object or clarify, he opened the door and stepped out. I wanted to scream in frustration. I was so dizzy with the whipsawing emotions racing through me, I just wanted to cry. Hell, I was crying, I realized.

I tilted the mirror and checked my eyes. Sure enough, the waterworks were going and my waterproof mascara wasn't. Dammit. I opened my purse and set about damage control.

"Hey! You two okay?"

I looked around and saw a big man walking towards us from the road.

"Yeah, we're fine, Brother Bill." Roger called back. "A little shook up, but not hurt. Are ya'll on your way to church?"

"You betcha."

"Would you mind if my baby sis rode with you? I'm going to need to change this tire and she's, maybe, supposed to sing in the services. She can't remember."

"Well, I'm pretty sure she ain't since my missus is going to do the special. But she's welcome to come along." Bill said. "You sure you don't want me to stay back and help you though? We can send them on if you want."

"I appreciate that, but I'll be fine." Roger laughed. "I may not be there for our class though."

"And I worked hard on that lesson too, boy." Bill chuckled. "You're just about the only one that pays attention."

No, no, no, no, no. I wailed silently. I didn't want to go on ahead. I wanted to stay with the man I loved. We had almost died! I had told him I had loved him. I had kissed him! It couldn't stop here. It just couldn't.

But, I couldn't think how to stop it. Bill and his wife, with a voice like a creaking tree branch, took me on with them. My description of her voice may sound rude, but truly, I would think if God had meant her to raise it in joyful noise, he would have given her a bit let noise and a bit more joy. Her sour pinched face made me wonder how she could ever have ended up with a man as outgoing as Bill.

Considering that I really didn't want to be there, Sunday School was fine. Actually, it was a bit more than fine. We were studying Genesis. After creation. After the garden. After Cain killed Abel and was cast out with a mark upon him. We were studying the line descended through Seth to Noah.

"So, Seth was the father of Enosh." I said to my best friend Missy as we walked down the hall from class to the auditorium for service. "But, who was his mother?"

"You ask that every time since we were twelve," Missy rolled her eyes. "And as I say every time, 'Eeew'."

"No, really." I stopped and turned to face my friend who stopped and turned to look at me with a long suffering expression. "Think about it."

"I'd really, really rather not." Missy said. "I mean, seriously Linds. Maybe you don't see it because you and Roger are adopted, but yuck."

"I don't think that's it," I shook my head. "I mean, he is my brother in every way that matters. We grew up together. But, that wasn't what I was getting at. I mean, if Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, then there wasn't anybody else to have babies. And if God made more women after he made Eve for Adam, why doesn't it say anything about it? Because he didn't. Seth and his sister had a baby. More than one actually."

"Linds, seriously. I am gonna hurl if you don't stop it."

"Fine." I sighed. "But you know I'm right."

I turned away and walked on with Missy doing likewise. When we entered the sanctuary, I looked around but I didn't see Roger anywhere. I turned around and bumped into a solid wall of flesh.

"Careful, Lindsey." Roger said. "You'll hurt yourself."

I was so relieved, I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He laughed and hugged me back while he spoke over my head to Missy.

"Hi, Missy. How are you?"

"Fine, except we studied Chapter 5 of Genesis today."

I let go of my death grip on Roger to glare at Missy. She hadn't told him any year before this. Surely she wouldn't now.

"The eight ancestors of Noah, descending from Adam through Seth." Roger nodded.

"That's the one." Missy returned a grin for my glare.

"We should get out of the doorway and take seats." Roger said. "Oh, are you singing today, Linds?"




Genesis



"No, Bill's wife is."

"Oh, please no." Missy muttered.

"Be nice." Roger said. " 'For the Lord said, 'Lift up a joyful noise and it will be as a beautiful song unto mine ears'.'"

"His maybe, but it hurts mine." Missy giggled as she slid into a pew.

"Shhh." I snickered as I followed her.

I realized we had slid too far when Roger sat down and there was more room between us than I wanted. Without Mom on the other side of him, he didn't sit as close to me.

"You know," Missy whispered. "If my brother was like Roger, I might not think it was so ick."

"Mine." I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.

Until that day, Missy was the only person who had ever guessed that the love I felt for Roger wasn't exactly what most people thought went between a brother and sister.

She held up her hands in mock surrender and grinned at me. But, I knew that it was only partly in jest. In the wee hours of the morning while we were having a so-called "sleep over" that never seemed to involve actual sleep, she had admitted to me that she thought my brother was a hunk too. The only reason she hadn't ever made a move on him was out of friendship and respect for the way I felt about him.

I couldn't quite keep myself from snarling as I saw that bitch Amanda come in on John's arm. Not that I tried very hard. I didn't see any reason to hide the fact that I didn't like her and didn't think she was worth a drop of my brother's sweat.

They slipped in the pew two rows ahead of us. I didn't have to glance at Roger to know that his eyes were tracking them like a tank turret from the moment he spotted them. They always did. I ached for him that the woman he wanted was with someone else. I ached for me that he didn't want me the way he wanted her.

For, perhaps, the ten thousandth time, I studied the man Amanda had cast my brother aside for and wondered what she could possibly see in him. It had to be because his daddy was rich. It had to. Roger had him beat hands down in every other way. Looks. Charm. Intelligence. Everything a girl could possibly look for in a man, my brother had it all and John had nothing but money going for him.

And he had bought her just like he would buy a car. I saw Amanda's head start to turn and looked away. I didn't want her to think she was worth my notice. My eyes, naturally, went to Roger. She wasn't worth his notice either. But he kept staring and the pain and love in his eyes made me want to weep.

The music started then and I rose with my best friend on one side and the love of my life on the other. I lifted my voice with theirs and sang a song of gladness and joy.

I felt more than saw my brother stiffen. I felt more than heard his gasp. I turned and looked at him. All of the color had drained out of his face. He was pale as a sheet. And his eyes... his eyes looked like someone who had just received a death wound.

"Roger?" I whispered, leaning towards him. "Roger? What is it?"

He didn't answer me but turned like a man sleep walking and strode out of the auditorium.

"What was that about?" Missy asked.

"I have no idea," I said as I looked around.

And then I saw it. The morning sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows sparkled on something just two rows up. My eyes fixed on it and I gasped as I saw the large diamond ring on the ring finger of Amanda's left hand. An engagement ring.

"Oh shit," I murmered. "Missy, I have to go."

"What's wrong?" Missy asked.

"Amanda is wearing a ring." I whispered as I grabbed up my purse and went after my beloved.

"Oh, crap." Missy gasped.

Several eyes watched me hurry after my brother. I didn't care. As far as I was concerned in that moment, the building could fall in on them all with no survivors, just as long as it killed the bitch that just had to make sure that she put her left hand on her guys back laid flat so that the huge rock on her finger could tear the heart of the man I loved into shreds.

I caught him just outside the door to the parking lot. He was just standing there, staring across it without seeing it with his hands on his hips, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. I had seen him breath like that, just the same way, when he broke his collar bone. He hadn't screamed or cried. He had just sat there and breathed, just as he was doing now.

I cried for him.

"Oh, Roger. I am so, so sorry." I went to put my arms around him.

But, he turned and stared down at me with hollow, wounded eyes.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked. "You never liked Amanda."

"No, I didn't." I admitted. "But, I love you. And you love her. I am sorry she has hurt you."

"She didn't do it to hurt me." He turned away again. "She did it to be happy. And yes, I do love her. I wish her nothing but joy and happiness with him. 'If you love something, set it free.' Ok, she's free."

"Can we go home?" I asked in a small voice. "I don't think I can go back in there."

Roger turned and looked at me once more. His lips quirked in a smile. It wasn't much of a smile. There was a lot more sadness that joy behind it. But it was a smile.

"Sure," He said. "I don't think I really want to hear Bill's wife sing today after all."

I laughed through my tears and then I did manage to get my arms around my brother as I had wanted to.from the moment I had caught up to him standing there.

He laughed and stroked my hair gently as I clung to him, squeezing him as tightly as I could.

"It's ok, Linds." He said to the top of my head. "I'll be okay."

He was the first to pull away, of course. He always was. I wanted to stand there and keep holding him, but his strong hands pulled my arms away, leaving them feeling empty. So empty.

"Come on, little sister." Roger said. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

"Want me to drive?" I asked.

"No, I'll drive." He laughed. "I've ridden with you while you drove."

"While I had my learners permit almost four years ago!" I laughed with him. "I've gotten better since then. Promise. Besides, I never put us into a spin and ended us in a field like someone I could mention did just this morning."

"That reminds me," Roger stopped with his hand on the handle of the door of the truck. "What did you mean that sex is the only thing you've tried that you would want to do for eight hours? When did you have sex and who with?"

"Oh, no." I said. "No way am I telling you that. You'll be locked up for aggravated assault before the sun goes down."

"Lindsey Marie," Roger growled.

"Don't," I held up my hand, cutting him off. "You are not my parent. You are not God. You don't get to demand anything from me on this one. I'm eighteen years old which is a legal adult. What I do is between me and God, now."

Roger glared at me for a long moment.

"That may be," he said, finally. "But, I am your big brother. I love you. It's sort of my job to beat up anyone that hurts you."

"Well, they didn't hurt me." I stopped and amended myself. "Ok, the first time hurt a little. But, it's like that for all women. But most of the time we both felt pretty good about it."

"'They?'" Roger blinked. "'The first time?' Just how many times and with how many people are we talking about here."

"Oh, that's just fine, Roger." I folded my arms and scowled at him. "Could we get in the truck and out of the church parking lot for you to call me a slut?"

"I didn't mean..." Roger glanced around and pulled the door open.

His hand on my arm stopped me as I was getting in.

"I didn't mean to say anything like that, Linds." His eyes were warm and loving once more. "Honest, I didn't. I just... You surprised me, is all. I would still love you even if you allowed a thousand men between your legs. You're my sister and nothing will change that."

"Not helping, Roger." I scowled at him. "You really think I would let a thousand men fuck me? You really think a lot of me don't you.

"I didn't mean... I wasn't saying... Lindsey Marie, you watch your language, young lady."

"So, I'm a lady again instead of a slut?" I asked. "Which is it, Roger? A lady or a slut?"

While he stood there moving his mouth with no sound coming out, I crawled in the truck. I kicked my shoes off in the floorboard and propped my feet up on the dashboard. 

"Oh, that's real lady like." Roger snorted.

I realized that my skirt had ridden up a little and the slit on the side was baring my leg from my feet all the way back up to the top of my panty hose.

Suddenly, I was uncomfortably hot. I felt like I was going to burst into flames. And those damn panty hose were the worst of it. I lifted my hips and hooked my thumbs into the waistband. Cooler air, as cool as could be in ninety-eight degree heat and climbing, touched my skin as I jerked them down my legs. I realized as they hit my ankles that I had accidentally taken my panties underneath with them. But, I didn't care any more. I yanked pantyhose and panties alike from by body and threw them in the floorboard next to my shoes.

"Linds, what has gotten into you?" 

Roger was still standing in the open door of the truck, his eyes wide.

"A whole platoon of dicks according to you," I spat. "It was three, okay? Three boys and eight times total. I've had sex eight times with three different boys. Okay? But according to you, I may as well lay back right here and spread my legs like this and yell 'curb service'."

Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I leaned back against the door and put one leg on the seat, giving my brother an unobstructed view of my pussy.

"Linds!" Roger glanced around and sat up in the pickup quickly, causing me to bend my leg up and give him an even better look. He slammed the truck door and turned to look at me. I saw his eyes barely flicker down towards my open crotch, before boring into my eyes. "What on earth has gotten into you?"

"Let's see." I said. "My mother is dying. We were almost killed on our way here. The bitch you love ripped your heart out by getting engaged to someone else. My brother, whom I love with all my heart thinks I am some kind of slut. And it's fucking hot as God damned hell! I'm sweating and I'm itching and I just want to go home and check on Mom and take a shower and go to sleep and try to forget this day ever happened."

"Oh," Roger said. "When you put it all together like that, yeah, I guess we have had a busy morning."

I couldn't help it. Laughter burbled up through me. I was giggling madly and crying. My make-up was probably a smeared mess. And, lest we forget, I was showing my brother a view of me that only my gynocologist had seen.

"You think?" I giggled. "Roger, I love you. But if you don't get some air going in this sauna, I'm going to get my shoe from the floorboard and put it's heel in your eyeball."

"Cranky pants." Roger said, mildly, as he started the engine. "Oh, wait. You aren't wearing any."

If any had been listening closely, they probably could have heard the trail of my laughter as we pulled out of the church parking lot and went on our way.

"Linds, do you mind?" Roger said after I had calmed down a bit.

"What?" I asked, still fighting the giggles.

"Um, you are kind of displaying yourself here."

"Well, I'm hot and your eyes should be on the road anyway." I said.

Truthfully, the idea of exposing myself to this man I had loved for so long was turning me on as none of the three I had been with had managed. I'm not a total bitch, though. If he had said anything else, I probably would have turned around and covered myself. Probably. Possibly.

But, Roger just shook his head and kept driving.

I trailed one finger along the skin of my bare thigh as I nibbled on a fingernail of the other hand and studied my handsome brother's profile. His eyes didn't waver, but kept staring straight ahead. He kept watching the road as if I weren't all but naked from the waist down just beside him.

The fingers on my thigh inched towards my aching pubis. I wondered if I dared to touch myself here beside the handsome man I had lain awake at night and thought of while I touched myself just up the hall from where he slept.

"So, how many times did you and Amanda do it?" I asked, and immediately hated myself for asking.

"What?" Now his eyes flicked to me, then down to my bared vagina and then back to the road. A bead of sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I told you about mine, now you tell me yours." I said. "I've been with three boys, eight times between them. What about you?"

"I haven't." Roger swallowed.

"Now way." I said. "You're still a virgin?"

"I'm saving myself for the woman I will marry."

For some reason, the idea that my beloved, my brother, the man who owned my heart and my soul had never been with a woman stoked the furnace burning within me even hotter. I pressed my hand hard against my mons, trying to still the ache inside me, or at least relieve it somewhat.

"You must masturbate a lot." I said.

"What?" Roger glanced over at me again and jerked his eyes back to the road when he saw my hand nestled between my bared, open thighs. "No. I don't."

"Oh, Roger, come on now." I said as I slipped one finger between my nether lips and trailed the wetness to my swollen clit. "You're twenty-three and you mean to tell me you have never once had sex or masturbated? You forget. I do the laundry."

"What does that mean?" Roger didn't take his eyes off the road this time. I think, maybe, he was afraid to look at me.

"I've seen your sheets." I said.

I began to stroke small circles around my little nubbin. It felt so strange to be doing this here next to him. So exciting, too. It felt so much better than it ever had before.

"'Wet dreams.'" Roger muttered.

Oh, God. My virgin brother had never even touched himself. His only climaxes had come when he was asleep and his balls boiled over, when he couldn't really enjoy it. I curled my hand so that my finger slipped inside me and my palm was pressing against my clit. Wetness soaked the skin of the finger I slipped inside me as I stared at my beautiful, glorious brother.

I stretch out my foot and gently laid my toe in his crotch. I barely felt something hard and throbbing against my big toe as he yelped and the truck swerved.

"Linds!" 

His hand automatically reached out to protect me as he fought for control of the vehicle the same way it had during our earlier near miss. I wasn't sitting as close to him this time though. In fact, I wasn't sitting at all. I was lying down with my finger in my cunt and my palm making small circles on my clit.

His hand landed on my hand. His thumb somehow slipped down to graze me next to where my finger was working inside me. My brother's thick thumb grazing my labia shoved me over an edge I hadn't realized I was near. Colored confetti shattered my vision and I screamed as my hips bucked up to meet his touch. Warm wetness gushed past my finger as I experienced the hardest cum of my life.

The world went away for a moment.

When it returned it was filled with Roger's face hovering over mine.

"Linds! Linds! I'm sorry, Linds! Please, be okay!"

I grabbed him. With my arms and my legs, I grabbed ahold of this man that without trying had topped every sexual experience of my life. I wrapped my arms around his head and shoulders and fastened my lips hungrily to his mouth. I wrapped my legs around his hips and lifted mine from that long bench seat to grind against him.

"Lindsey, stop." Roger tried to pull away. "We can't do this. You're my sister."

"We're adopted." I panted against his mouth as I licked hungrily at his lips, begging for entrance.

"So? You are still my sister."

"And who did Seth fuck?" I moaned.

"Language, Linds! Please."

I had seen Roger drive a man to his knees by hammering on his shoulders just once. He was much, much stronger than I. He could get away from me easily. I couldn't hold him if he was really trying. So, either he didn't want to hurt me, or he wanted this just as much as I did.

I let him pry away one of my hands and then rolled it in his grip just as he had taught me. Once free, I immediately slipped it between us and felt him long and thick and throbbing just inside those pants.

"Fine," I whispered against his lips as I fumbled one handed with the fastenings blocking me. "Then who's cunt did Seth put his hard, throbbing cock into and make slow, sweet, tender love? Who did he cum inside and make a baby with, Roger? Who was Enosh's mother if not Seth's sister? Do to me what Seth did to his sister, Roger."

I had managed to fumble his pants open during my little speech and reached inside to wrap my hand around something I had wanted to hold for a long, long time. I moaned in anticipation as I aimed him where I wanted him and pulled with all of my strength in my legs.

Roger didn't budge. My hips rose higher to meet his as I tried to take him inside me.

"I can't. Lindsey, I can't." Roger rasped. "You're my sister. My baby sister, Lindsey."

I looked into his eyes and saw a raging turmoil of lust and love and determination to do what was right. To save me from himself, if that was what he believed was right.

"Please, Roger." I whispered, broken completely. "Please. I have loved you for so long. Have wanted you for so long. I love you more than you loved Amanda and for longer. You are the only man I have ever loved or ever will. Please, Roger. Please. Be my husband."

With an anguished cry, Roger drove into me. I felt my labia press inside me with him, felt the walls of my canal ripple and press aside as with one mighty thrust, he filled me with what I had been longing for. My shoulders felt bruised by the door handle, but I didn't care as he drove my breath from me in one wordless scream.

The world shattered and came together to shatter once more as he gave another thrust and a third. I felt him twitch inside me and felt a blast of warmth rush further into me. I clutched him tighter and bit his shoulder as a second and third flood of warmth touched me deep inside.

I sighed as my body rippled under and around his. I was made for this man, just as I had always believed, as I felt my soft walls tug at him as he softened within me.

"Thank you, husband." I breathed as my lips touched his. "I love you, my beloved brother."

Men are always the last to know. It took eighteen years, four months and nine days to get the man I was born for to claim my body that was his all along there on the side of the road in a pick-up on the way back from church. Sometimes, I almost feel sorry for how slow he is. I don't know what it was he thought we had done there, but he seemed surprised late that night, after Mom had gone to sleep, when I slipped into bed beside him, where I had always belonged. 

But, that is another story.



Genesis



Barbara awoke drowning. Either her eyes were unable to open or she had gone blind, she couldn't tell, but she could feel the water surrounding her. She expected the water to feel cool but her skin was on fire and the bubbling liquid made her feel like she was being boiled alive. She tried to scream but nothing came out. 

She held her breath and thought, I have to get out. She strained against invisible bonds and tried to force her arms and legs to move but her muscles mutinied. What's happening to me? God, please help me.

She prayed for help but none came. I can't go on. She let the air out of her lungs and took a deep breath to fill them with water. Air rushed into her mouth expanding her chest. Goddammit, let me die.

A black fungus-shaped apparatus clung to her mouth with a tendril snaking down her throat. Panic gripped her chest, but then she realized it was breathing for her. Barbara took the air in but the burning sensations over her body caused her to gulp. Her heart pounded. God, make it stop hurting. 

No sooner had she thought it than the water began to feel soothing, not just to her flesh but also to her fear. She became calm and her breathing slowed.

"The beginning is always painful." She heard a voice in her head like a sweet melody from childhood. "Rest." The word slipped between each layer of thought. 

The water stopped bubbling and gave way to small ripples. As each ripple passed over her she felt buoyant and free as though she was back in the womb.

"Sleep." The voice sang once again and she fell into a blissful sleep.

When she woke next she still couldn't move but at least she was able to open her eyes. She was inside a clear container filled with water. She couldn't feel the water and she was relieved her skin had gone to sleep. Through her blurry vision she could see a figure standing over her. She couldn't make out any features but she recognized the voice from before.

"You are almost ready."

The ripples soothed her thoughts, smoothing out the wrinkles in the fabric of her mind. A strong scent of lavender washed over her and she was suddenly with her mother. Her mother's hair always smelled of lavender. I must be dreaming, she thought.

She was reliving a memory when she was a little girl curled up in her mother's lap. Her mother was stroking her hair and singing her a lullaby. Barbara drifted off to sleep, knowing her mother would protect her.

"I will take care of you." Was that her mother's voice? She couldn't tell.

"Sleep." The song played for her.

She replied like a child being told it was bedtime. Yes, mommy.

She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. I can move. Was everything a dream?

She sat up and looked around expecting to see the familiar sight of her bedroom. Her cat Mara would be resting peacefully at her feet. The sun would be shining through the sheer curtains bathing her room in a gentle golden glow. Her art work would be hanging unceremoniously on the walls between framed photos of family and friends. 

Mara was nowhere to be seen. The sun did not shine through her curtains because there were no windows. There was no artwork on the walls, only curious markings, like hieroglyphics, that circled the room. Some of them took up a small space while others covered an entire wall. Light emanated from the walls without any visible source. 

Barbara swung her legs over the edge of the bed and let them dangle above the bright alabaster floor. She had been lying on what looked like a plain metallic table that was warm to the touch and pliable like foam. A desk and two chairs connected to it at one end.

Her head whirled when she stood up and she had to grab the edge of the table to keep from falling. She closed her eyes and leaned on her hands until her head stopped tingling. When she opened her eyes she realized she was naked. 

"Oh my god." The words barely escaped her mouth. The skin on her arms was mottled pink and black. Her legs were blackened and raw like a badly cooked steak. Patches of skin were missing leaving blistered areas covering every inch of skin she could see. 

"No, no, no!"

Barbara ran to the wall. Her fingers scraped frantically searching for a door but she couldn't find one. She sank to the floor and covered her face with her hands. Choking on tears that ran down her swollen face, she didn't notice a section of the wall glided open. 

"You need not fear." A voice said. 

A hand touched her shoulder and she screamed. The creature was not human and she scurried back and wedged herself in the corner. Barbara went limp and her mind reeled. She was aware of what was going on but it felt like it was happening to someone else.

"Will she recover?" A second voice asked.

"Yes." Their concordant voices played off each other.

"Perhaps the Bellite treatment has not removed her pain?" 

"The Bellite treatment was successful. I have performed enough study to come to that conclusion." 

Their words sounded far away. Who were they talking about? She felt them lift her up and lay her gently on the table. They left and the door shut again just before she passed out. ______________________________________________________________________________

Barbara woke with a start. Her eyes hurt from the light in the room and she shaded them with sore fingers. When she opened them she saw a gown laid out at the table end. She put it on and touched one of the blisters on her arm. "Oh god. Will someone tell me what's happening?"

"I will tell you." The sweet voice seem to come from every corner of the room. "I would like to come in."

"Who said that?"

"Don't be frightened. May I enter?"

She cowered down behind the bed.

"Please." The voice soothed her.

"Alright." She gripped the table and peered out over the edge. 

The most beautiful creature she had ever seen walked in. Its toned arms and legs moved with the grace of a dancer. It was tall and slim and hairless. Eyes like obsidian watched her stand up slowly. What the fuck is this? This is really happening! A thousand questions ran through her head but they all smashed together like a traffic jam before she could ask any. Her hand reached out as if to touch its smooth skin, covered in hydrangea blue, and then came back to her side. This is crazy. It carried a tray of food and laid it on the table.

"What's happening?" Her voice faltered.

"There is nothing to fear here." With a blink his eyes changed to a soft emerald green and Barbara let its words settle over her. "I am Arn." 

Barbara sat on the table and stared at him. "What are you?"

"You are among friends." It slid the plate toward her. "You must eat."

There were clear rectangle wedges that resembled jello. "It is safe." It picked up a piece and took a bite.

"Please just tell me what's going on."

"You have many questions. It is understandable after what you have gone through." It finished the food and sat on the opposite side of the bed.

"And what exactly is it I've been through?" She snapped at him.

"I will explain." He stood up and offered his hand.

"How about you just let me out."

"If you follow me..."

"I said open the fucking door." She ran to the place in the wall where the alien had entered and pounded against it. 

"There is nowhere to go."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" She was ready to start punching the walls.

It waved its hand and a panel opened up on the far wall. "See for yourself."

She saw a window and moved cautiously toward it. It took her a moment to grasp the meaning of the blackness and the stream of flickering dots surrounding a planet before her. A planet whose land formations confirmed that it was home.

She placed her scarred hand on the window as if trying to touch her home, to connect with it. Instead of the blue marble she had always marveled at in thousands of images since she was a child, she witnessed a grey and black cinder as if the very soul of the Earth had been drained.

"Oh my god. This can't be happening."

"It has happened." He walked over to her and stood behind her.

"What...?" was all she could muster.

It stood beside her looking at the dead giant in front of them. "The inevitability of greed...aggression."

She turned at stared at her host. Tears welled up and she slid down the wall like a slow moving mudslide. 

"Nuclear war began between two of your nations. It spread to others causing a chain reaction that enveloped the entire planet."

It knelt down and held her shoulders. His skin was warm and felt like crushed velvet.

"We collected fifty of your species before Earth's final destruction. You were found surrounded by fire. You were barely alive."

"I wish I wasn't."

She dragged herself off the floor and laid on the table. Then she curled up into a ball and wept.

"There is—"

"Please leave." 

Arn opened the door and left.

______________________________________________________________________________ 

Barbara slept for several hours until Arn entered her room and gently shook her awake. 

"I just want to sleep."

"It is time to wake." 

She sighed and rolled over, staring at him through heavy eyes.

"Why?" She turned toward Arn.

"You have slept enough."

"I don't want to get up." She rolled back over and buried her face beneath her arm.

"I don't understand." He sat on the bed.

"How could you? You're not even human." She laughed 

"I have been studying your planet's data stream. I want to understand."

"Well, maybe if you lost everything that meant anything to you and wound up like some refugee with nowhere to go, that would be a good start." She spit the words out at him.

Arn stood and walked to the window. He stared at the scorched world below. "It is time to meet the others."

She stirred and uncovered her face.

"Others?" She sat up.

"The remainder of your species." He turned from the window. "Surely you have been anticipating this."

She sat on the edge of the bed. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"Come." He extended his hand and she took it.

The alien was completely naked. A thin vertical seam in the center of a smooth crotch reminded Barbara of a vagina but despite the lack of a penis everything else about it seemed masculine.

"Arn?" She asked as they walked to the open door.

"Yes?"

"Are you male or female?"

"I am the male of my species." Barbara wanted to ask about the lack of a sex organ but they had just stepped through the door into a hallway filled with other creatures. She tried not to stare but couldn't help herself. They all looked identical to her host and she wondered how they were able to tell each other apart. Every one of them ignored her presence and offered a strange greeting to Arn in a language she couldn't begin to understand.

She walked past the same grey walls and bright bloodless floors she had seeing since she awoke. Her head spun at the thought that she was in space aboard an alien ship. This is crazy, she thought. 

Arn stopped and opened a door in the wall. "They are waiting for you."

She took a deep breath trying to find some deeply buried reserve of courage but came up empty. She wondered if she would recognize anyone. Would anyone from her neighborhood be in there? What if they were all strangers? Were they as confused and frightened as she was? Who did they leave behind on Earth?

Then it hit her hard. They were all gone. Probably everyone she knew, every place she had never visited had been consumed by fire. Her home, her entire existence vanished along with everyone else's. We are the last humans, she thought.

"Wait." She leaned against the wall and started to shake.

"What is happening?" Arn held her shoulders. 

She looked into his eyes which had changed to amaranthine. How could she make him understand? She couldn't.

"Nothing." She stepped inside the room with her arms folded tightly across her chest. The large room had the same design of hers but accommodated three long, metallic tables. There were men and women of different ethnicities sitting in front of plates filled with the same gelatinous food. No one had noticed her yet amid the murmur of cautious conversation, as if they were trying not to be heard.

Her fellow human survivors were all dressed in the same gowns which made Barbara think of da Vinci's "The Last Supper". A burst of nervous laughter escaped her and everyone stopped talking and turned to her. Barbara couldn't stop. She laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks.

Some people gasped and turned away. Whispers flew around the tables and she stared back confused. She wiped her eyes and stared at her hands. She had forgotten her burns.

"What is your name?" Arn bent down and whispered to her.

"Barbara." She could barely speak. The word came out strangled.

"This is Barbara." The alien announced to the room.

No one spoke. Barbara placed a hand on Arn's arm. "Please take me back to my room." 

"I do not understand."

"Please." She said more urgently and stepped out of the room.

Arn joined her in the hallway and they walked silently back to her room. He opened her door and tried to follow her in but she turned and placed her hand on his chest.

"Thank you, but I need to be alone." She left him standing in the doorway and went inside.

______________________________________________________________________________

Arn closed the door and returned to his room. At his desk he waved his hand and a screen appeared above the surface. He opened the Earth database and began his research. The data were collected shortly before Earth's destruction and were incomplete, but Arn hoped there was information that would help him to make sense of this case.

His door opened and Bal entered his room and sat down across from him. They greeted each other with a solemn exchange of words and a gesturing of hands to the forehead.

"What is her progress?" Bal asked.

"Fluid resuscitation is complete, there are no respiratory complications and there is no infection. Pain has been successfully nullified due to the Bellite immersion. Her radiation poisoning has also been corrected, but I am confused as to her mental state.

"Explain." Bal leaned forward, her coal black eyes unblinking.

"I assumed her re-insertion with her fellow humans would reanimate her. Instead it has made her worse." He kept searching through the database as he talked.

"Perhaps I could assist in this research."

"I would be most grateful."

Arn waved his hand and a second screen appeared. The two beings studied together.

"She is important to you?" Bal asked as the information on the screen sped by.

"They are all important. Our survival depends on their survival."

"Perhaps she is important to you personally." Bal's eyes changed to a burnt sienna.

"Does that put my posting in jeopardy?" Arn looked up from his screen. 

"Your accomplishments are well regarded. I only ask as a friend." She returned to her screen and said no more.

Arn went back to his screen and keyed in Barbara's room. He watched her at her desk, her head down and resting on her arms. He changed the screen and went back to his research.

Many hours later when Bal left, Arn keyed in her room again and lay on his bed. "Barbara," he said aloud. He remembered the expression on her face when she touched his arm and chest. Physical contact with species similar to his own was not new but he had never touched a human before now. He stroked his skin where she had touched him and held his fingers up to his nose. A distinct scent lingered on his skin. Interesting, he thought. He closed his eyes and his body began the dormant process. His eyes rolled over white and his consciousness drifted off. His body rested as his internal systems minimized. He slept until the scream awoke him.

Arn sprang up and checked the monitor. Barbara was lying in bed, eyes still closed. Her arms were thrashing as she screamed. He left his room and rushed to Barbara's bed.

"Barbara." He sat on the bed and touched her shoulder. Barbara bolted upright with a final scream. She looked around her and then burst into tears. 

"Are you in pain?" Arn asked her.

She slid closer, rested her head on his chest, and slowly wrapped her arms around his waist. 

"Could you hold me?" Arn did not move.

"Please, put your arms around me." She sobbed.

Arn gently rested his arms around her and remained motionless. Barbara's arms tightened around him and her cheek brushed his chest. Hot tears splashed his skin and quickly turned cold. Her skin bristled against him and brought an exhilarating sensation whenever she moved. Her hair smelled like panadal fruit, and the senses in his nose felt as though they came alive for the first time. Arn inhaled deeply and let his fingers glide through the soft strands. 

She nestled into him. Slowly, her breathing softened. "Thank you," she said. She fell asleep in his arms and Arn held her, feeling the rise and fall of her chest. The warmth of her body pleased him. He laid her back on the table and closed the window on his way out.

Back at his desk he touched the wet spot on his chest. He brought his finger to his lips and tasted her tears. The saltiness was a new taste. It sent shivers through his body. He touched the palm of his hand and could still feel the tangle of hair. Bringing his palm up to his face he opened his mouth and licked it. The seam between his legs opened and his fal emerged and lengthened. 

"What is happening to me?"

_____________________________________________________________________________

"I'm sorry about yesterday." Barbara said the next day when Arn sat down with her.

"There is no need for apology." 

"Could you open the window?"

With a gesture of his hand the window opened and she walked over to it. She placed her raw fingers on the window and stared out into empty space. "Where's Earth?" The words raced from her mouth.

He joined her at the window. "We have left Earth's orbit."

She felt adrift like a singular mote of dust in a windstorm. She had no time to grieve the loss of her home, no time to say goodbye. She imagined its ashen corpse floating in space, still making its revolutions in orbit, just like her. 

"Where are we going?" She whispered. 

"Epsal."

"Is that your home?"

"No. I am from Kreyt."

"Why are we going to Epsal?"

"That is to be your new home."

In all this time she hadn't thought about where she was being taken. She had assumed she would stay on board until...until what? She didn't know.

"Why are you doing this? Helping us?"

"We have been researching new species, finding those with the potential to join us in expanding our culture in the universe. We came to explore your planet but there was no time to complete our experiment."

"The war." Her mind filled with the images of the battles she watched on TV, the patriotic fervor she shared with her friends. Nausea swept through her. 

"Yes. On our arrival the war had started and your kind were being decimated. We decided to salvage what we could and decide once you were on board whether you were compatible."

"Compatible for what?" She took deep breaths hoping her stomach would settle.

"For reprogramming."

"I don't understand. Reprogramming?" A chill ran up her spine and alarms went off in her head.

"Your kind will be reprogrammed. Your minds will be erased of aggressive tendencies as well as the memories of your life on Earth. We will implant our culture in its place. This will better situate you to your new home and our way of life." Arn sounded like a politician promising a better life if elected. 

"Wait. You're going to brainwash us." She asked incredulously. She stormed away from him and stood by the chair.

"I do not understand this term." 

"You're going to take away our identities, take everything away that makes us who we are." She felt like she was talking to a child.




Genesis



"We are only preparing you for a successful transition which will also aid us in gaining allies across the universe. We will all be as one."

"No." Her hands were balled into fists.

"No?"

"No." She shouted. "I won't let you."

"You have nothing to fear. The procedure is painless."

"I don't fucking care."

He stared at her trying to comprehend her response.

"What did the others say?"

"They were hesitant at first, but they have accepted."

"Why would they do that?" She stomped off getting as far from him as she could.

"There is no other way." He sat down at the table. "Is this not to your liking?" He motioned to the plate of food.

"What?" She realized he was talking about her food. "Are you really asking me about the food?"

"Can you explain your behavior yesterday?" He changed the subject again.

"Did you see the way they looked at me?" She spat the words out as if they could choke her.

"Yes."

"I'm a freak. I'm horrible. I don't even look human anymore."

"There is no doubt you look human."

"You don't understand. My skin, my body. It's all been burned. I'm disgusting." She stretched out her arms as if he couldn't see the obvious.

"Your skin is a variation of other human skin. It is no different than anyone else's."

"We humans don't feel that way. We have a certain sense of beauty that shapes us all."

"Yes. Beauty. I have found some references to this in the data fragments. I have witnessed the beauty of your people. Your poems, your music. There was much beauty on your world."

"I'm talking about physical beauty. Humans like to look a certain way."

"You look human."

"Jesus Christ. Just fucking look at me." She tore off her gown and stood motionless.

He sat quietly. She could see he didn't understand and she picked up her gown and put it back on.

"Listen. I am not going to let you change my brain. I don't want to lose my memories and I don't want to lose my aggression," she said defiantly.

"That is the only way your existence can be insured. We have found that starting over on a new planet creates difficulties because of previous life experiences. Once you believe that you originated from Epsal your transition will be smoother and you will carry on our civilization. It has been this way for others."

"You've done this before?"

"Yes."

"I won't let you do this to me." She paused. "Wait a minute. There has to be someone I can talk to. Someone in charge."

"I work with others on this project."

"Then talk to these others and tell them I'd rather be dead than brainwashed." She marched to the window and turned her back to him.

Arn stood up. "I will talk to the others."

"Arn, wait."

"Yes."

"You like me, don't you?" She stared out into the empty blackness. 

"Like you?"

"I can tell when you're with me. I see the way you look at me." She waited for his response but he gave none. "Please help me."

He left the room. The door closed silently behind him.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Arn went to the quarters of Bal. Once inside he stood at the foot of the table where Bal was lying in the dormant stage. Earth information flickered on the desk monitor. He hoped that she had discovered something his research hadn't turned up. He thought of letting her sleep but he needed answers before he ran out of time. Barbara would be reprogrammed before they reached Epsal and it wouldn't be long before they entered its orbit. 

Barbara. She was different than the others. They all started out afraid but soon gave in to the idea of forgetting everything. They wanted no part of the pain they had experienced and were willing to lose their memories to achieve that. Barbara wanted to keep all of her experiences despite the pain.

"Damal." Bal said placing her hand on her forehead.

"Hulat." Arn replied in the same manner. "I am having difficulty with the human Barbara."

She moved to her desk. "Tell me." He sat down across from her.

"She is refusing the reprogramming. She also does not wish to interact with the others. It is her appearance that is governing her decisions."

"Explain."

"Her altered skin seems to signify inferiority in her culture. She does not believe she belongs to her people."

"The reprogramming would change that." Bal studied the monitor.

"I explained. She chooses to remain in her present state of mind."

"That is difficult."

"I wish for her to remain Barbara."

"Remain Barbara?" Bal froze the image on the monitor.

"She wishes for her mind to remain as it is. And I wish the same."

"I see." Bal rose from her chair and stood behind Arn. She pressed her fingertips into his temple and her blue eyes became cloudy like the sky moments before a storm.

"She asked if you like her. You did not answer."

"No."

"You have emotions for the female."

"Yes."

"And you admire their culture."

"Yes."

Bal took her hands away and sat back down. "I have an idea that may benefit you both. I will approach the council and report their recommendation."

"I am grateful."

Bal brought up a second screen. "For now perhaps this will help." 

______________________________________________________________________________

The next day Barbara sat at her desk waiting for Arn's visit, a plate of protein packs, barely touched, in front of her. Confusion and joy flooded through her since she had taken off her gown and looked down at her naked body. Her skin was normal. There were no scars or burns. Barbara ran her fingers over her soft, warm skin enraptured by its texture. She laughed to herself. How did he do it? She forgot everything that troubled her. "I'm normal." She kept saying over and over. 

"I thought you would prefer this," Arn stood in the doorway.

"How is this possible?" She couldn't stop touching herself.

He sat down. "Two days ago you were placed in a dormant stage. The process was completed this morning."

"I was asleep for two days?" She wanted to be angry but just couldn't feel it. 

"This is not your real skin. Think of it as a shelter for your body. You can remove it whenever you like. We thought it might aid you in your contact with the other humans."

"It seems so real." Even knowing it wasn't real didn't dilute her joy. "What do you see when you look at me?" She took his hand in hers.

"I see a human female who is compatible with our specie's way of life."

"Have there been any species that have not been compatible?"

"Yes."

"And what happened to them."

"They are extinct."

Barbara let that settle for a moment. "This is me. I am more than just a human female. I am Barbara. I am not like anyone else. Do you understand?"

"I do not."

"Every human is born with a unique spirit; an identity that we carry through our lives. We have a force of energy that is different from every other person. I have my own thoughts, my own feelings. My memories of all my experiences make me who I am today. I am the only Barbara that is like me, different from any other Barbara."

He placed his other hand on top of hers without knowing why. 

"You didn't answer me yesterday when I asked you if you liked me." Barbara smiled.

"I enjoy our time together."

"That's not what I mean." She touched his cheek with a gentle caress.

He stood up. "I must go now. Once the council has made a decision there is nothing more to be done. I just wanted to tell you that."

"Let me remain Barbara, Arn." 

He opened the door.

"I could be yours. If you let me stay who I am. I want to stay with you." She clutched his hand and tried to pull him close.

"It is not my decision." He hurried out without looking back. 

______________________________________________________________________________

Back in his room Arn sat at his desk and opened his hand. In it he held a piece of protein pack that Barbara had taken a bite from. He'd snatched it from the plate in her room, uncertain why he was doing it. Now, he raised it slowly to his lips and gave a tentative lick. He could taste her saliva, the enzymes saturating his mouth. His head began to spin. His heart raced. It was as if he could taste her flesh. Completely confused by his feelings, he hungered to feel her. It was as if he were not himself. I have changed, he thought. These new sensations and thoughts pleased him. Was this what it was like to be human?

______________________________________________________________________________

Barbara laid naked on the bed. "You're watching me. I know you are." She called out.

"I am." His voice came from every direction.

"I want to see myself." She leaned on her elbows and listened for his voice.

The wall opened in the wall. The light in the room brightened and the window became reflective. Barbara moved cautiously toward it until she could see herself. Her skin looked perfect. Every part of her body excited her. She traced her hands across her stomach and up to her neck and face. Her hands held her head and she stared at herself. Her eyes moistened and left wet streaks down her cheeks.

The face in the reflection was young and beautiful. There were no lines of aging or blemishes of any kind. There was only one problem. It was not her face. 

"Could you come see me?"

"Yes."

Barbara was still at the window when he arrived. He stood beside her and waited for her to speak.

"No matter how hard I try I just can't do it. That is not me." She pointed at her reflection. "I don't know who I am anymore." She rested her head against his arm. "Do you like to see me like this?"

"I enjoy seeing you."

Barbara moved away from him and stood by the bed. She laid her hands on her stomach and slowly brought them up to her breasts. She pinched the skin and pulled tearing a small strip that revealed her real skin.

"This is me. And I think you like this better." She sat down and held out her hand. "Come here."

He joined her and she took his hand and placed it on her breast. "Take it off."

"This is what you want?"

"I just want to be me."

Arn gripped the skin and pulled. It tore easily in a long pink strip that curled like the skin of an apple when it fell to the floor. Barbara touched her scarred breast and felt the thrill of being undressed. When he pulled another strip from her neck that ran down to her ankle, the air on her skin caught her breath. Each nerve ending worked overtime to tell her she could still feel. She knew that inside she was still Barbara no matter what she looked like.

She stood and turned around. Arn kept stripping her body, exposing her shoulders and back. His fingers traced along her buttocks and thighs. He revealed every part of her until she stood truly naked. Barbara lay on the bed. "Lie down with me."

He laid next to her and took her hand to his crotch. He pressed her finger against the seam and drew it up leaving a wet streak where it touched him. The seam opened up slowly, resembling a vagina, until his penis poked through. 

Barbara touched it gently. She thought it resembled the stamen of a flower. The head like an anther and the shaft like a filament. She was fascinated by its silky texture and its size.

The color of Arn's skin had changed to a deep auburn and his eyes turned the brightest blue. She stroked his penis, and as it hardened, it curved up in a beautiful arc. She didn't know the right thing to do with him, so she just let her instincts take over.

"I want to put my mouth on it." Without waiting for his reply, she took him between her lips. Her tongue licked beneath the head and down the shaft. Her mouth worked up and down on him. He tasted like honey spiced with nutmeg. She gripped his penis and stroked him while sucking as far down as she could go.

Barbara could hear a sound coming from Arn. She listened closely and it reminded her of the somber tones a cello would make without the sorrow. Barbara let him go and climbed on top. Spreading her vagina she lowered herself on his odd looking penis. 

Arn's body vibrated and she could feel the vibrations inside her. She was lost in the moment and closed her eyes feeling like a human being for the first time since she arrived. Her body responded in ways she had forgotten about. It was more than just physical. She felt like the darkness was finally beginning to lift. She fell against him and kept moving up and down on his penis. She wanted their fucking to never end. 

His hands held her waist and when she began to tire he lifted her up and set her down over and over. Her first orgasm frightened Arn when she cried out. 

"Have I hurt you?" He stopped moving.

"No. We humans show our pleasure this way. You make me feel good." She felt shame when she said those words. Billions of people dead and she felt no remorse. What right did she have to feel good? But she didn't care anymore. Why shouldn't she feel good? She was not dead. Her tears fell onto his chest and he took her hand and dipped her finger in the salty drops. 

"What do you call this?" He held up her finger.

"Those are tears. Have you never had tears?"

"No. What do they do?"

"They tell me I still have a life to live."

"I wish to taste this life."

He slid her finger into his mouth and shuddered at the taste. Barbara put her fingers beneath her eyes and wiped up enough tears to wet her entire finger. She kissed his lips then touched her fingers to them. He kissed the fingertips and his tongue lightly grazed them. She put her fingers in his mouth and slid them over his tongue.

Barbara came a second time and her orgasm was so strong she nearly fell off of him. Her body felt like it had melted away. She was no longer bound to it and had the same sensation she had when she was in the immersion tank. Buoyant and free like a dove with wings spread floating on an ocean breeze. She was about to cum again when she felt the muscles of his penis contract. He must be ready to cum, she thought. He thrust deep inside her and they came together. Arn held her in his arms until the staunch quakes that echoed through their bodies dispersed. Her skin was slick with sweat and she felt high like she had taken drugs.

She rolled of him and rested her head on his chest. His penis disappeared back inside and the seam closed. 

"My whole life I've kept people away. I've never let anyone get close. And when I arrived here I thought that was it. I would never have the chance to be a part of anything or anyone." She sat up and held his hand against her chest. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I do not understand."

Barbara lowered her head and tried again. "Something inside me has opened for the first time in my life. I want you to be a part of me, of my life. I want to stay with you."

"I do not wish for you to leave." For the first time his voice lost some of its sweet sounding resonance. His skin and eye color returned to its original blue.

"I don't have to. There has to be a way."

"There is a way." Bal's image appeared on the monitor. "I have just come from the council. They have decided in her favor. She will not be reprogrammed and has been given clearance to stay with us as long as she wishes."

"Oh my god. Thank you." Barbara said to the image. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She hugged Arn and rocked in his arms. "I can't believe it. I'll still be me."

"I am pleased, Barbara." 

She kissed him and her tears ran down his chest. 

He kissed her back, his lips awkward at this new custom. "Since you are staying with us I have many things to show you. I think you will be fascinated." 

"Can you show me now? I've been in this room for so long I just want to get out." She felt like she was whining and laughed.

"We can go now."

Barbara dressed and Arn opened the door. Before they could leave Bal paraded in with two others. They immediately took Barbara by the arms and pulled her from the room.

"What's going on?" Barbara demanded.

"It is time for the reprogramming." Bal's voice sounded cheerful.

"No. You said I didn't have to go." She looked to Arn.

"I do not understand." Arn grasped Barbara's hand and she clamped down on it.

"Do not be so troubled. You should both be pleased." He led them down the hall.

"What are you talking about?" Barbara struggled to free herself but the two aliens were too strong.

"I devised this for you Barbara. One last Earth custom before you leave us. I have studied the data stream and discovered the human desire to share in commemorating certain days. The most intriguing custom is the celebration of the day of truth discovered from false concepts."

"Let me go." Barbara screamed. She became like a wild animal trying to bite or claw her way free.

"You will be pleased." Bal said over her protests.

Bal stopped the procession and Arn stared silently at her. 

"The April of one. April Fool's Day."

Barbara looked at Arn who looked bewildered. She stopped resisting and burst into tears. Her crying turned to screams. I'm a dead woman. That's all I am. Her screams turned to mad laughter that fell flat in the still air. Her legs didn't work anymore and she was dragged down the corridor until she could no longer be seen.

"She was pleased." Bal said content with herself. "Are you not also pleased?"

He stared down the empty corridor. "I do not understand." He left Bal and returned to his quarters. The monitor on his desk was still on and Barbara's empty room was displayed. He rested his head down on his arms the way Barbara had done before.

Far from the room she had known as home, Barbra was led to a long line of her fellow humans. "It's the April of one everybody. It's all just a joke." She screamed. "They just don't understand. None of you understand."

They all ignored the screaming woman and waited their turn. Soon they would all forget and the last humans would disappear forever.



Genesis



Disclaimer: If you, or anyone else, have ever been in any such situation, I didn't know of it. Just a product of my imagination. No intention to portray any real persons or situations etc.

Chill, this is fiction!

___________________

___________________

CHAPTER 1

___________________

___________________

No sound.

Explosion. Beauty. Pains the soul with a poison from heaven. Colours. So many, new, impossible colours. A whole pantheon of colours never imagined or witnessed before by the human eye. Coming from, and going, everywhere. Ever-changing, ever-evolving. Lasting forever. The most beautiful forever known to man. Even if it lasted for only so long.

A feeling of a presence of... another? Where? Can't be seen. But can be felt. 

Someone else is here too.

Black.

Thud.

Excruciating pain.

*********************************

Dizziness.

A thunder in the ears.

Air so heavy. Like honey in air form. Cannot breathe. Have to. 

Heavy, forced breath. So much oxygen! So, unimaginably tiring. Air so thick! Too tired to breath again.

You have to breath, you idiot! You ain't gonna die on me now, you hear me? Just one more fucking breath! A small, shallow breath. Come on!

Small, shallow panting. I can hear it? Internally... yes. I can.

Thank God. Or whoever else.

*********************************

Thunder in the ears starts subsiding. Ears hurt so much. Air so thick. Gulps down again and again, hoping not to pierce eardrums.

What the hell is this? No place on Earth with this kind of atmospheric pressure. Its like in the sea, scuba diving. Not doing that now, though. Just breathing. Barely.

The thunder is the heartbeat. At least there exists one.

Start focusing on the sounds outside. Nah, too much pain.

Eyes seem to function too. Behind the eyelids. Light. Just open the eyes. You can do it, you fucking infant.

Eyelids have never felt so heavy.

Come on, you can do this.

Still dizzy.

**********************************

A rhombus of a strangely-coloured light as eyelids softly and tiredly open a small hatch. 

Closing again. 

Dizziness subsides. Another attempt to open eyelids. Rhombus again. Still opening.

What the heck?!

A white-ish, magenta-ish, grey-ish gorgeous beauty of a sky. Stars faintly visible, through the clear light. 

Ok, this must be the afterlife. Or similar.

Time to stand corrected: this is a hallucination. Or schizophrenia. Or, how the hell do they calls this, genius? The impossible worlds created by an ever-fertile mind?

Your mind is fertile alright. As fertile as a fucking rabbit. Screw that. As fertile as an army of microbes in a Petri dish eating agar and reproducing themselves like batshit crazy. Fitting description for you, my man? 

Hell yeah.

Two suns? Both of them smaller than the real sun? Bright White-Magenta-Bluish? And what are these? One, two, three moons? The magenta-like colours of dusk and dawn, only so more magenta than in reality?

You must have consumed a factory-load of industrial-quality LSD or equivalent, my man! Too bad there is no recollection of such an event.

And that gas giant right there, like the Saturn, as seen from, well, Enceladus? A partial view of the giant covering about one quarter of the visible sky? Its beauty beyond description. The whole scenery beyond description. So beyond description, it likely doesn't exist. 

Well, fuck, it really doesn't. You are stoned as fuck, asshole. 

Ok, this is fucked up. I am officially fucked up. Or plain fucked. 

Damn it.

Take a breath now. The elephant on your chest will grant you one small pant, gasp or equivalent.

I must remember to not die. 

**********************************

"help..."

Just a faint, panting whisper. 

From a girl?

Fuck. Hallucinations again.

"...help..."

Gasps, panting, an octave higher from the usual. Definitely a girl.

Rotations of the head are very, very tiring. As if the head weighs twice its normal weight.

Rotating head left, at the very tiring, very upper top of the field of vision. 

Shit.

Vanessa.

Shickity Shit. 

Fucking Vanessa. The Goddess. Of ice, attitude and torment. And painful, gorgeous, extra-terrestrial, divine beauty. 

She doesn't seem to be doing well.

"...help, please..."

Shit. She will die.

-"Vanessa?"

-"...yes..." a whisper, inside a strained breath. Hint of crying unable to surface. Too much shock. Too much pain. Too much weight. Too much oxygen. Too much air pressure. Too much everything.

I know how that feels.

-"Take small breaths, shallow". I take a breath. "No deep ones". Breath again. "Swallow", breath, "for your ears".

Pants at first, finds a rhythm. Swallows. Sounds painful. 

Ok, she sounds safe for now. She is a star athlete, it should help.

-"Have you opened your eyes?"

Pause.

-"No", feminine breath, "dizzy."

-"I must tell you", breath, "you are in for a surprise."

Pause.

-"Wha...?", feminine gasp. Panting, panicky. 

Shit.

-"Vanessa", breath, "Breathe", breath. "Find your rhythm".

I hear her doing just that. No other sound. She is obviously taking in the sights.

-"Where", feminine gasp, "are we?"

Shit again. The million dollar question. As if dollars mean shit here. Two suns, a Saturn and three moons. Dollars don't mean a rat's ass here, asshole.

-"Looks like another planet", breath, "in another solar system", breath. 

An applause for the genius, ladies and gentlemen. Hats off, Einstein, for so eloquently stating the obvious. As if two suns, three moons and a Saturn-like planet are everyday occurrences on Earth. Or our sun is actually two. Blue-ish stars, to boot. Which incidentally means, hotter. 

Pause.

-"H...how?"

Poor Vanessa.

Away from your social status, your circles, the potential suitors that line up single-file, fifty desperate people each time you go out, just to talk to you. The absolute, undisputed epitome of feminine perfection. The Queen Mother of the campus Goddesses. The dream of centrefold sexuality with classy beauty in one, unaffordable package. The top of the top. 

And from all that, here, in this... obviously alien world. Alone. With me. You sure know how to pick your dates.

-"I have no idea. I was just leaving the Accelerator Building, ready to take my bike. That's all I know."

Breath.

Shit, that was a long sentence! I must be beginning to get accustomed to the air pressure and all. It didn't come effortlessly, but it did come.

-"I... just closed my locker", breath. Crying ready to surface, too much pressure and weight to let it. 

Poor Vanessa. I understand, more than you know.

-"H... how did this happen?", small, feminine sob. "How did we end up here?"

-"I have a hunch, but I need to think."

-"Did you do this?"

Shit. Hell no, but I have an idea what happened, and then I don't. What does one say? The truth, asshole.

-"No. I am not a God or a teleporter or own a star gate", breath. "I cannot ever do this". Breath. "However, I do have a hunch on how it happened, but I need further data to be sure". Breath. "I am not responsible for this in any way, but I have", gasp - too long a breath, Superman! - "an idea of who is responsible, how and why", breath, "but I need more data".

Pause.

-"Josh?"

Breath. From me. The first time she refers to me by name. No "loser", "geek", "nerd", "Einstein", or other decoratory names as casually created on the spot by her Homo Erectus male companionship, or Kim Kardashian wannabe girlfriends. Just my name. She actually knows my name! Now this is a discovery worthy of interstellar travel. 

If this actually is interstellar travel, and not something even worse.

-"Yes?"

Pause.

-"I can't move", breath. Pause. "Can you move closer?"

Shit. The Queen Goddess asked for me. 

Ok, time to move.

Lets turn face down, Hercules. 

On my left side. Oh God, my ribcage! It feels like it is going to get crushed by my weight. But I am not that heavy! What in the name of fuck is going on?

After some strenuous time on my side and my suffering ribs, I manage to get on a face-down position. I actually felt myself falling while rotating. But that's impossible, right?

Well, only if the gravity here is higher than on Earth. Considerably higher.

Oh, so fucking super great. An alien planet on which we will probably die of decubitus or starve to death, die of thirst, or broken bones after a freefall from the wuthering heights of half the size of my dick, and still worrying about scientific facts. Once a nerd, always a nerd, muthafucka. What a fucking loser.

The shape of the horizon is very non-Earth-like. It seems flatter than the Earth's horizon, as I see it. I have actually measured its curvature as a kid as a part of a science project, so I can tell. And yes, there is a thing that one can measure called 'curvature', look it up.

Which, if everything else is to scale, this planet has a gravity, radius, diameter and great circumference larger than the Earth's, a mass quite larger, etc. Its atmosphere is rich in oxygen, and very heavier than Earth's. But you can't tell atmospheric density based on planet mass alone, so this is just our luck.

Hell, this actually IS incredible luck. We didn't 'arrive' inside the planet, buried in turf or magma. Or in outer space, where we would not know what to die from first. Or higher above the surface, which, given the higher gravity, would result in us having the mother of freefalls, with the predictable, messy results. Or in, at or above the sea, if there is a sea here. The planet that we arrived at has a breathable atmosphere. And we were eased in on it.

It could have been so, so much worse.

My third worry now is if we find drinkable water. My second, if Vanessa is ok, although I believe so. 

My first worry is to get up on my two feet.

Doesn't seem likely.

****************************************

Ok, let's try doing one little pushup. To get on my knees.

Yes, it is official. The gravity is quite higher than the Earth's. I feel the same as when I did pushups with weights on my back. But this time, I can feel my insides being the weight, and it is absolutely horrible. I feel as if they are going to fall off, inside my body. I have to keep my muscles tight to a certain degree at all times, otherwise I can have multiple internal injuries.

We weren't designed to have our internal organs this heavy.

-"Vanessa?"

-"...yes?..."

-"Don't move yet. I'll come over."

-"...ok..."

I start to move on my knees towards her. Not a nice feeling at all. Like a post-operative haze, only worse. There is no part of my body that was designed for any of this. Nor Vanessa's, come to think of it. I must help her, but how?

We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Romeo.

Covering the distance, I realize I have to make myself used to this. I must get stronger or die. So does she. 

Shit.

****************************************

Looking around, I can only describe what I see as a scene of devastation. Remnants of walls, ceilings, some clean-cut parts of a few birds and an unlucky cat lying around.

Vanessa and I are inside the circumference of a circular ring, about 2 meters in width and about 200 meters in diameter. Whatever was outside the ring was clean-cut. Inside the inner part of the ring stand the various demolished parts of walls and the maimed creatures. Which tells me that whatever brought us here chopped up a two-meter-thick spherical shell of whatever was there, with the same diameter as the ring. Anything outside the outer or inside the inner boundaries of the shell was sheared. Once here, anything below surface was probably buried in the ground. Anything too high above surface crumbled due to gravity. 

Nice work Sherlock!

We still are in one piece. I have seen no human remains anywhere. Ok, Vanessa and I were so fucking lucky. And so is everybody else as it seems. If not, they are buried below surface, we'll never know about them.

I take a look at Vanessa.

Yes, it is her alright. She wears tight jeans that showcase the body made for sin. Her boobs a bit flatter than what I remember, yet another sign of the increased gravity here. Normally they stood proud no matter the angle. Here, their weight matters. Her hair as beautiful as always. Her face strained from the shock. 

I am starting to feel the beginning of an erection, but my dick starts to feel so much heavier than it is used to that I worry it will fall off. That is enough to send any sexual thoughts away.

She keeps her eyes on me at all times. The closer I slowly get, the more comfort I see in them. She is really relieved that I am there. 

Hey asshole, this is not personal. You are a human being on an alien planet. The only one except her, most likely. Of course she would feel comforted by your presence. You are not her human of choice for this, but since you are here, you will have to do. The logistics of being stranded with the loser. What the hell did you think? 

She tiredly sends her right hand towards me. I lower myself on the ground, lying face down, and crawl towards her. I am right next to her. In spite of my pain all over, my kneecaps, my palms, elbows, torso, everything hurts. Even my brain seems dizzy from its own weight. Or is it the blood that goes lower because that too is heavier?

I truly don't know if we will survive, and for how long. The only thing I know is that we have to keep moving and changing positions, otherwise we will have internal injuries. Our insides weigh too fucking much.

I cover the distance between us and I touch her hand. She grabs mine with a vengeance. 

-"Please come closer..."

Who can say 'no' to that?

I turn on my side and then facing up, looking at the sky. I can actually feel the blood flow inside my head. Fucking gravity! I toss and turn and come near her. Ending up right next to her. Our heads a few centimetres apart. Holding hands. She looking intensely at me.

-"What do we do?"

Looking at those seas inside her eyes, the answer is easy.

-"We live".

Or die trying.

***********************************

I truly did expect our first date with Vanessa to be different. I expected it to be on Earth, at a nice, cosy little place, were we would be chatting away, me wooing her with my grandeur and innate charisma and her falling for my charms. I also expected it to never actually happen.

Well, here we are. 

Holding hands, each other looking inside the eyes of the other through heavy, tilted heads.

She, trembling. Shocked. Shell-shocked would be better. Me, a bit more used to this, but not really. Still feeling lucky in all our proverbial asshole of a luck.

-"Can you tell me what happened?"

-"I can only make a guess. For some reason, a chunk of our world, a spherical shell roughly two hundred meters in diameter and about two meters thick, was chopped off our world and sent here."

I can really utter longer sentences. This is truly a good sign. I am getting used to this.

-"Whatever was outside the boundaries of the shell was clean-shaven. Once here, everything crumbled due to gravity, or buried underground. We are at the happy middle, I suppose. Lucky we weren't maimed, buried or sent high up in the air or outer space."

Ok, time for the bad news.

-"By the way, the gravity here is higher than Earth's."

I let that one sink in.

-"So, we are heavier here than on Earth?"

-"Yes. Based on the time it takes my sweat droplets to reach the ground, I would say about fifty percent heavier. And this is all of us, every organ, our blood, our brain, our limbs, everything."

-"And the air?"

-"It is super thick, and the pressure is higher too. Like scuba diving or something. Definitely a thicker atmosphere than Earth's. Lots of Oxygen too. But gravity alone doesn't account for that. It is complex."

-"Maybe that's why I am so dizzy all the time."

-"Could be."

Pause.

-"We are actually lucky on that as well. Planets in the habitable zone with breathable atmospheres are not very usual in our galaxy. In our solar system, only Earth is like that. We could have gotten it so much worse."

We stop chatting for a bit. I see her look at the heavenly heavens above. She tightens her grip on my hand.

-"It is so beautiful", breath, "I have never seen or imagined anything as beautiful as this in my life."

Longer sentences. She is getting used to the air and gravity, as well. Great news.

-"Me neither, Vanessa. If it weren't for the gravity, it would be heaven."

-"Yes. Heaven."

Pause.

-"Vanessa?"

-"Yes?"

-"If we wish to live, there are a few things we need to do".

-"What?"

-"We need to be shifting positions, to make sure we have no internal bleeding of any kind."

-"..."

-"And then we have to kneel".

-"Kneel?"

-"Yes, to begin movement by kneeling."

-"oh..."

-"And then, we have to start walking. Slowly at first, because bones can be very easily shattered in high gravity. Given enough time, we can make it. We will adapt. But - "

Gasp and pant. 

"... we need to do all these, otherwise we are doomed."

-"Oh..."

******************************

And thus begun our stay at our new home.

___________________

___________________

CHAPTER 2

___________________

___________________

It wasn't easy.

It took for ever for us to find out how to move without hurting. We got used to it little by little, but it was not easy.

Shifting positions at first, a bit at a time. She was good at this, being a truly good athlete has many perks. She helped me too, I wouldn't have imagined it in a million years.

Then the kneeling. And the "stop staring at my ass" jokes. She was actually quite fun. The bad part is that I have been infatuated with her for a long time, as long as I have known her. Along with everybody else. And she knew all along. But here, we definitely needed each other to survive. Even that gave me a chance to interact. And I took all I was given.

When we walked our first baby steps, it was a sweet victory. We actually cried a little, with joy. In each other's arms. It was a no step for one man or woman, but a giant leap for our survival. Good ole' Neil "Not playing the cornet or riding a bike" Armstrong would have been so proud. Only he had a nice, light gravity to tackle. And no air, and an infernal environment. Shit, I preferred our own little big chunk of heavy hellish heaven.

Her locker 'arrived' here with her, and it had enough dry food and water to last us for a short while. I then found quite some more supplies in the wreckage in the inner part of the ring. For any dirty business, we each designated a spot outside the circle and used it when the need arose. Not much privacy, but we respected each other. At least, I know I did. I didn't really care if she didn't.

Our metabolic rates went sky-high pretty fast. We were frequently hungry but lost fat because of the sheer difficulty of existing in a high-gravity environment. Our bodies rebuilt themselves to cope. In a short while we were very stronger than before, with a denser bone structure; in time, we could actually mimic our basic movements on Earth. 

Time here seemed not to really pass. The two stars, the gas giant and three moons moved in the sky, but the overall lighting seemed constant. There were almost always multiple shadows. Although the rotation seemed to be smooth, the relative lighting shifted in a more-or-less unpredictable way. Many sources of light in their own, intricate dance, can do that. All electronics were dead from the very day we arrived, so there was no objective way to measure time. And I was not going to spend an entire chunk of time measuring how many hours passed between two instances of a similar configuration of the celestial bodies in the sky, especially when I did not even possess a true clock.




Genesis



The overall weather seemed completely unchanging. No excessive heat or cold, or humidity or lack of moisture. The same. Unchanging. Weather. I was pretty grateful for that. The last thing I would want, rain or snow, or, heaven forbid, hale. With this gravity, we were dead.

The real interesting part was me telling her my theory of what happened. I told her the part that I was to take part in a new physics experiment at the new accelerator in the University. My PhD advisor (yes, I am too fucking young for a PhD. Live with it.) wanted to run an experiment, creating a miniature black hole. It was not to last more than a few super-small fractions of a second before blowing up again. I, for my part, had reservations. Any number of cosmic phenomena could happen around our neighbourhood and feed the little hole, making it something bigger and so much more dangerous. A black hole is the one thing in nature than cannot be stopped by anything. At all.

He obviously went through with the experiment. I know that eight minutes prior to its supposing time, a huge solar flare was detected - I got an SMS from the local relay station. But that alone could not have done all this. Something much, much bigger, of cosmic proportions, was needed. What? I had no idea.

Did we miss our folks back home? Yes, I suppose so. For me, between all the people I knew and Vanessa, it was a very easy bet. I preferred it here hands down. For her? Not so. She missed her friends. I know she missed her army of suitors. Her supposing boyfriend - actually they weren't a couple, but they "surely are going to be, once we're back". This actually hurt. But I didn't show. I think. 

The great breakthrough came when I was able to actually tilt a rather heavy object in the middle of the wreckage, a part of a wall, and roll it over. She jumped her two-inch jump of joy with me when this happened. We would have hugged if we didn't smell like hell, both of us. 

We were ready to move on.

*******************************

I searched high and low in the ring for any types of usable material. I managed to create a small toolbox.

I also found a piece of magnet from one of the maimed lockers in the ring, and tied it with one piece of string found in the wreckage, making a small compass. It showed one particular direction as the magnetic north. I checked on it for some time to make sure it didn't change over time, and it didn't. It seemed that the planet had a steady magnetic field. Which meant that we could find directions with some small degree of certainty, thanks to the compass.

Vanessa thought that we should take either the way North or the way South, as these were the only directions that were for sure. I truly though that it weren't relevant, since all we were after for now was just a place to stay and all, but she wanted to be sure that we could always come back. Well, I didn't really mind. So, North it was.

We walked. Man, did we walk. All the while strengthening. Sweating. Smelling. But talking too. Learning about each other. Our hopes. Our worries. Our dreams. Stuff we knew. We talked about anything and everything, to our mutual delight. Both of us learning from the other. It never got boring, which was even worse for me. Goddess, very smart, and so impossibly interesting. Captivating. Enchanting. Damn. 

She never revealed her inner feelings to me, and talking about her 'potential boyfriend' got sparser and sparser. She seemed to be more introspective as far as her emotions went, at least the part of them that were linked to romance. But I didn't care. Even her farts smelled like roses to me. Infatuation makes shit out of a man's brain. But happy shit, to be sure.

It took so much more time than what is usual on Earth for our previous place to vanish behind us. It sure was a vast sonofabitch of a planet. After a while, after walking on barren soil, we started seeing something that looked like a forest. The more we approached, the clearer it got.

It truly was a forest, of sorts. 

The leaves were all black. Designed to absorb light from any wavelength and any direction it hit. Clever. Nature is always the cleverest when it comes to finding solutions to problems. We humans are infants compared to her. Although, we didn't have the billions of years it had to find those out. Still though, ingenious.

The trees seemed normal, Earth like, although impressively huge. Very thick and tall, considerably more than the hundred-meter Eucalyptus trees that I had seen in Australia as a kid, on a trip with my family. A rather strange phenomenon, given the gravity. So the 'plant' design is pretty successful all over the Universe. If we are in the same Universe, that is.

Some plants had seeds, others had fruit. The over-looming trees had nuts of various types. 

I grabbed a delicious-looking magenta-reddish fruit from a plant nearby, ready to eat it.

-"Don't eat that, Josh!"

-"Why?"

-"You are kidding me? You don't know anything about it! It might be poisonous!"

-"It might not even be compatible with our biology, Vanessa. For all I know, it may be made of silicon compounds. In which case I will suffer a horrible death in front of you. If we don't eat, we will both suffer a slow death. And I won't see you die. So there goes."

And before her very surprised eyes, before she could utter another warning, I sank my teeth into it. And this was my second taste of heaven.

I cannot even describe how incredible it was. I got an instant jolt of happiness. My organism loved it so much, it was painful. I couldn't wait to finish it and then eat another, and yet another. It was an addiction. The happiest of them.

Vanessa was very worried at first. But she saw that I was ok, and then she probably thought that if I was going to die, she would probably follow, so what the hell. And she ate too. She started groaning in pleasure as soon as she tasted her first fruit, and like me, she couldn't stop.

It was a very first for both of us on that planet to feel totally full. Happy full. And we didn't die. We just shat our asses off later. This time, we accompanied each other to our respective loo's. We would soon feel relaxed enough to hold conversations around each other during even that - looking the other way, of course. We used leaves to clean our butts. The whole thing felt natural. Maybe this is what Eden was supposed to be like? Me, Adam, and Vanessa, my very own Eve? Sans the fucking and all. And the forest, our own trees?

Well, we ate from all trees of the forest, and we didn't gain any new knowledge. There was no snake around us, and nobody scared us out. The only one to see us was our new 'Saturn', and I don't think he cared. 

The forest was not overly big. We didn't see any animals of any kind, which is probably good, since, due to the gravity, they would be extra strong, and most likely, a huge threat to our survival. So for the moment, no fauna, no problems. Flora was very enough, thank you.

The great thing about the little forest was a small lake in its middle, and a small river of drinkable water leading to it. It couldn't get any better! We could actually drink water and wash ourselves and our clothes and all. Not that we had an alternative change of clothes, but at least the change that we did have, we could clean.

It was a moot point to decide that the forest would be our new home, at least for now. We used the small toolkit we salvaged from the wreckage, and cut some branches to create a dome of-sorts, a make-shift, sorry-ass roof over our heads. Well, at least we had a house, our own forest, and our very own private pond!

Ours, I keep saying. Was there an "us" to begin with?

I never allowed myself the privilege of assuming that Vanessa and I were an actual couple. A normal, romantically involved couple - we didn't have any interaction of the sort anyway. No, what we were was a pair created by circumstances, and forged by need. Need for another human, and need for survival. These are so much more basic instincts that romance. And yet, they don't supplant it. How ironic.

I won't lie. I so much wished there was romance between us. I was infatuated with her, but only in my own mind. I wouldn't ever allow myself to fall for the only female on the planet. If she wasn't feeling the same for me, I had no alternative in case of a fallout, and it would simply be catastrophic for our survival. So my soul remained empty, and wanting.

*****************************

In time, we had established a 'normal' routine for our reality. We did a lot on our own, and some things together. We swam in the pond, usually not together, obviously naked. Swimming came easy, as the water had the same density as us, so it didn't feel that different from Earth. Getting out of the water was a torment, though. Anyway, at first she wanted us separate and I agreed right away. Then she proposed for us to swim together, but I refused. I didn't need the extra complication of having to see her naked, moving around me like the mermaid she was and increase the torment. She seemed a bit off but accepted it. At first.

Then came the day that changed it all.

I was in the dome. 

-"Josh! Help!"

Shit!

I got our of the dome as fast as I could. I walked fast towards the pond - running was still not an option for us - and found her inside the water, with her face contorted in obvious pain. Without thinking, I rushed into the water towards her, fully clothed. As I approached her, she seemed to walk backwards. 

-"Stay still!"

-"I can't! It has captured my leg!"

What?!

-"Hold on!!"

I reached her in no time, and grabbed her hands. I pulled her towards me. She jumped up all around me, throwing us both in the water. She started laughing, hugging me as in for dear life.

-"Gotcha, my genius!"

-"You lousy little shit, you scarred me to death and back! 'It has captured my leg', my ass!"

-"Would that be a bad idea?"

-"what do you mean?"

-"If it grabbed my ass?"

-"...depends on the 'it'..."

-"if IT", grabbed my hand, "grabbed", moved it, "my ass?", and put it squarely there.

She looked me defiantly in the eye. The most terrifying moment. Sweet terror. 

I couldn't utter a word. I was at a loss.

Her face started darkening. She started having second thoughts? She seemed in doubt. Shit. I couldn't let that happen.

I started bringing my face towards hers.

She smiled triumphantly and lit up the sky. She grabbed my face and took my breath away.

After the most heavenly time of my life up to that point, she let my face go. Always smiling, with a beautiful, shining face, full of... dare I say it? No. 

-"Vanessa, I..."

-"Shudup and kiss me."

-"oh...uhm...", and she pulled me towards her. 

Closing in for the kill, she whispered: "What part of", smooch, "shudup", smooch, "did you not understand?", smooch, "For a genius", smooch, "you are such a moron..."

If relativity is right, I fell into a black hole. All time stopped. 

I cannot relay the feelings I felt. Again. Our tongues wrestling. A whole dimension of feelings having opened up from nowhere. From ever.

After the small eternity of bliss and heaven, she took me to the dome.

She undressed me, kissing me in between.

-"Vanessa, I need to... tell you something."

-"What?"

-"I... have never..."

-"You are a virgin?"

-"...well... yes."

-"Then you are lucky, Josh".

-"Why?"

-"Because it is a great luck to lose your virginity to the one person you love."

Shit. She knew it all along.

-"You love me, don't you, Josh?". Shit. She definitely knew.

I blushed.

-"Yes. From the first time I saw you. I couldn't help it. And this, now, all of it..."

-"Shhhh. No talking now. Let me make this good for you."

That marked the true beginning of my real life.

Our lovemaking was... slow and sensual. Probably by necessity rather than by design. I didn't have any experience on Earth to know the difference. Also, my dick felt superheavy, and she on top of me felt like she weighed a ton, but that was only the gravity talking. Still, when she grabbed my cock and put it at her entrance, and started lowering herself on it, taking me inside my own velvety, hot, smooth, molten piece of true heaven, it was the most intense experience I had ever felt in my life. Incomparable to any other. I knew I was in love, head over heels, with her. It still didn't make it any easier for me; it didn't quench my need for true romance, in other words for her to be in love with me too, but still, it was so much better than nothing. I am pretty sure that the entire planet Earth would be willing to kill me in numerous gruesome ways to be in my shoes.

My pace quickened, and so did hers. She started trembling, and uttering the name of the Lord again and again, and writhed, moaned, screamed, and almost chopped off my dick. It was a losing battle for me. With a huge roar, as much as I could under the circumstances, I came. As deep inside her as I could. She came big time with me. And then collapsed on top of me, with a force of two women. Fucking gravity. 

This was something from another world. No comparison.

-"Josh..."

-"Yes?..."

-"It was amazing. You are amazing"

-"Vanessa, I love you. You are amazing. I don't know how you feel about me, but I know how I feel about you. And I am happy with it."

She didn't answer. She just stayed there, on top of me, savouring the moment. 

She never once told me how she felt about me.

I never understood how the fuck we ended up with her being the 'guy' in this relationship and me being the 'girl'. 

Shit. 

If she was going to be the 'guy' with me, it means that the part of her that wants to be the girl, as she should, would not ever be satisfied, as long as I was the 'girl'. Which meant that she would never, ever love me the way I loved her, at least as long as I was still delivering her role. At least as far as feelings were concerned.

Shit. I wanted to cry. Heartbreak. But with tons of lust to boot. Go figure.

From then end on, our days were filled with sex. We christened pretty much the whole forest, and the pond. The river we left out, because it was for drinking.

The upside of good nutrition and lots of good sex was the fact that I was getting stronger by the day. And so was she. We soon could run and jump small heights. And no matter how much we ate, we never gained any weight. Living in high gravity with an oxygen-rich, super thick atmosphere could do that to one.

With the amount of fucking going on, I couldn't believe that she wasn't getting pregnant. But she seemed not to care about that, which was, at a level of comfort, just fine by me. I asked her about it, and she said that she seemed not to have any period in that world. She didn't know why, but that suited her just fine anyway. It probably had to do with the gravity and the difference with the moons and all. Or something else I didn't know about.

___________________

___________________

CHAPTER 3

___________________

___________________

I started noticing the difference in light intensity one day as we had outdoor sex. She was on top. I saw stars. They remained there after I came. 

That is a problem.

I understood that whatever considered as 'night' in this world was probably going to happen soon. We had to prepare.

I took Vanessa and explained this to her. She looked up in the sky, and concurred. It seemed to her that the ambient light was decreasing and the starlight increasing. And the temperature seemed to start dropping.

We didn't have any time to waste.

We took our tools and went to the forest. We chopped as much wood as we could. We fortified our dome with a better roof, and strengthened the walls. We also made a sorry excuse for a door, but it would keep our whatever had to be kept out. Like the cold, or snow, hale and whatnot. Some of the wood we took inside the dome for firewood.

We just made it in time. When we fitted our door, there was only starlight and the three moons. 'Saturn' was covering more than half of the night sky. A truly beautiful sight.

It didn't last long. 

****************************************

-"What was that?"

-"What?"

-"Shhhhh... That! Didn't you hear it, Josh?"

A thud was more felt than heard in the depths of the horizon. 

-"Yes. It seems like thunder. But the sky is clear..."

-"For now! Did you take supplies?"

-"Yes, we have fruits and water, and leaves for the toilet."

I had actually installed a makeshift, turkish-type toilet in a small, covered expansion of the dome. I had even created a small water canal from the pond to flush water in the hole whenever we used it. It was only for emergency situations anyway, up till now at least.

-"Do you think we are safe?"

-"I hope so. The forest will protect us from the weather, I think."

-"Josh, I am scared!"

-"Hey, babe, we made it fine so far, didn't we?"

-"Yes, I suppose we did."

-"It will be ok."

-"Promise?"

Shit. This was my first 'man' moment in our relationship. I had to be able to say yes. 

I didn't feel sure at all. But the love of my life wanted to feel sure. So what did I do? I took it like a man. I lied through my teeth.

-"Yes, babe. I promise. We will be fine. I will make a fire now. Care to join me?"

-"Yes!"

She changed. I could see it. She felt like a woman. I took the lead for once. I was what she needed me to be. And she loved it.

I took some wood and a few stones and put it in the centre of the dome. Using the time-honoured practice of our prehistoric ancestors, I lit a fire, after quite some struggle.

Vanessa was elated. I actually could make a fire without a lighter. Me and the whole species of Neanderthal man, probably before that too. What a genius. Yet, she loved it more than the countless talks we had about physics and cosmology and the sciences, or politics, ethics, religion, or whatever. Even gossip, or the part of her circle that she was willing to discuss. Which grew with time, a rather good sign. Yes, she loved my fire-starting even more than that.

And then I got it.

Talk is cheap. Vanessa was a woman's woman. She needed to feel safe. She may wonder at my knowledge, but her base instincts make her need to feel protected, safe. Cosmology cannot make her feel safe. The fire I built with my own hands could. The dome I made and fortified, and she helped along the way, could. Her, helping me make her feel safe, made her feel like a woman. A true, visible change.

I started understanding that when I looked into her eyes, after I fortified the dome and lit the fire. She looked at me differently. With, I don't know, respect? Admiration? Even, God forbid, love? I truly couldn't say. But I felt something. Even if it was all me.

She attacked me with a passion I had never seen in her eyes before. We had the most passionate sex ever, right there by the fire. It was so intense. I had never felt her so alive, so... womanly. 

Yes, I seemed to have awoken the woman in her. I was in love with her too. 

Now, on keeping her awake, that is another matter altogether.

**************************************

The sounds of thunder seemed to grow ever louder, and come closer and closer. The sky outside was pretty dark, with 'Saturn' covering a good proportion of the sky, ever-increasing. Clouds started looming at the edge of the horizon, coming from the North. So, the gas giant was the bearer of the winter-night. It wouldn't last long, but it would probably come with bad storms and all that comes with an eclipse of the suns. 'Saturn' was no Earth moon. If nothing else, it was as big as any other gas giant. The night was probably going to last quite some time. Which probably meant that the storms themselves could very well last at least as long. Since there existed parts of the planet which actually saw at least one of the suns, antipodally located to us, this meant great differences in atmospheric temperature; this alone can very well start huge movements of air masses of different temperatures, which, under the right circumstances, could very well create storms. And by the sounds of it, big bad muthas of storms.




Genesis



This led me to realise something of profound importance. We didn't know shit about the planet. If it had a sea, or mountains. Or fauna. Nothing at all. Just a small stretch on its surface was all we knew.

Basically, we didn't know what to expect. And that part unsettled me. But I would die a thousand deaths rather than show this to Vanessa. I would rather die in front of her rather than have her doubt my conviction to keep her safe. I would protect her from whatever or die trying.

We cuddled by the fire. Having prepared as much as possible, we waited for the storm to come. Together. 

She wouldn't even let me move. She held me around her. She leaned her head into me. Like a woman that wanted to feel me protect her would. Like a woman that felt a total woman with me would. Like a woman that loved me as a man. Her man. I could almost feel it. 

But she didn't say it.

I almost asked her.

I never did.

Maybe it was for the best. Some things are better left to be said when they must. Not before. Not after. But who said that was not the moment for that to be said?

***************************************

The weather was getting worse. Cold and winds. Soon, the first spurts of rain. Heavy rain, but a heavy atmosphere makes it sluggish and its droplets small, so in the end not that different from Earth's. Good as well that I fortified the dome. It wouldn't have made it before, but now it seemed to hold well. No leaks of wind or water.

Vanessa never left my embrace. She just held me around her during the whole thing. She only left me to put wood into the fire. Then back to my embrace, refusing to let me leave for anything. If I needed something, she would go and get it, and then come promptly to my embrace again. As if she wanted me to be her protective shield, her armour. Not the knight, but the very armour.

All and all, the knight in the shining armour bull has some semblance of basis, ok. But what makes the knight what he is, is the armour. Without it, he would be in DEEP shit. The armour makes him what he is. It is as if Vanessa knew that. I was not her knight. I was her armour. With a heart. For her. Who needs the knight when one has that?

To be honest, I never, ever, felt so fulfilled as a man as that moment. I understood that a base part of our own existence is hard-wired in our DNA, and consequently our brains as well. I couldn't help wanting nothing else than to be the protector of MY woman. And she was that. At least that was what I felt, and that was what she showed me she felt too. And I decided I didn't want this to end. I was so elated to be her protector. I would gladly give my life to protect hers. I knew it to my core. 

Then we heard that awful noise.

Like a symphony from hell. On the lows, the thunder. Mid and hi-range, the winds and the sound of the forest being beaten by the air masses. On the high range, the rapping of the rain. And yet, through all that, something else. A sound like no other. A looming sound, probably coming from outside the forest. Different. Very threatening. At a very deep level.

I had to see what it is.

Vanessa hang on to me for dear life.

-"Josh, don't go!"

-"I need to know where this sound is coming from."

-"Don't leave me!"

-"Vanessa, you know that I love you. I would never leave you. But I truly need to know what we are up against."

-"I am scared. Please don't leave me alone!"

-"Vanessa, what's wrong?"

She held me so tight.

-"I... I don't know. It is some shitty feeling that I can't seem to get rid of. I feel that if you leave this door, I'll never see you again. And I... I can't bear that thought. Please don't go!"

And she cried. She wept like a child. I really wasn't prepared for this.

So she loved me after all? Or she was afraid for her survival in case I was hurt or died? Or both?

Well, whichever option was to be taken, the result was the same. She was scared for me. And that gave me strength, and conviction to protect her, even more than before.

-"Babe, listen."

She started composing herself.

-"I need to know the source of the sound, because I need to keep you protected. I do not have a deathwish. But your safety is all important to me, and I have to ensure it in any way I can. And you know what they say: Knowledge is power, right? I have to know. So that I am empowered to look after you. So..."

I never finished that phrase. She took my breath away. The most intense kiss.

-"My beautiful man. My sweet, sweet man."

She let me breathe.

-"Please be careful. And come back to me right away, ok? I need you right here, with me."

I started to the door.

-"Josh?"

-"Yes?"

-"...please be careful. I need you."

-"No worries, babe. I'll be fine."

And left the dome.

She didn't say she loved me. She said she needed me. Which of course is true. 

Stop being a sentimental little woosie and do your fucking job, Romeo! Or should I say 'Juliet'? Better now?

***********************************

It was very cold outside. The rain was as heavy as expected, but not the tragic thing that I thought when we first arrived in this world. It actually was the one thing that seemed to be common between this world and ours. The rain was pretty much the same. The thick atmosphere counteracting the higher gravity. Fine by me, boss.

However, the ground was muddy, and slippery, and the higher gravity made it so much worse to walk on. One wrong step meant that I could easily end up with something broken. And that would surely mean a very dire future for both of us. I couldn't risk it. So I watched my fucking step. Thank God for the torch I held, made of firewood.

The one thing that was pretty unique to this world was the firewood. There was something in it that kept it going, no matter the water. One could put the firewood in the pond, and it still would burn until there was none of it left, even in the water. There was no stopping the fire.

As I reached the outskirts of the forest, the sound was becoming more and more intense and all-consuming. I couldn't see anything at first. But then I started seeing some weird movement in the horizon, slowly approaching.

What the heck is that?

Lightning. The flash illuminated the whole plane outside the forest for a small fraction of a second. However, it was enough. 

My blood froze. 

I never have seen anything like that. If the horror movie effects teams saw what I had just seen, they would rate their own pathetic attempts at horror as nothing more than worthy of F-, as in 'fuck that, we are not even qualified to suck'. 

It was a moving wave of nightmare.

Creatures that cannot be thought of. A moving, quivering mass of huge insect legs and limbs, visible from quite some distance away, moving at a steady pace towards us. I wouldn't even want to imagine what they would do to us once they arrived.

There was only one option for us to be saved. Fire. The only thing that they are not used to, the only thing they cannot fight. No creature on Earth can fight fire. This, however, wasn't Earth. Still, no other solution came to mind. I would have to gamble and see.

I had to act now. 

I started with the tree right next to me. I set fire to the branches right over me. It caught fire right away, and started spreading upwards. Then I went to the next tree, and then the next. I did not stop at all, until I surrounded the whole forest. All the outer trees were on fire. It took me a long time. 

I ran towards our dome.

Vanessa was in. She was in a bad shape.

When she saw me, she jumped up and came to me and hugged me. 

-"God you are back! I was so worried! What took you so long?"

-"Vanessa, I have something very bad to tell you."

-"...what?"

-"I have set the forest on fire. It will all be burnt down to the ground by the time the storm is over. It will be no more."

She stood back.

-"What?! Wh... why? Why would you destroy something so beautiful and... and important for our survival? Are you out of your mind, Josh?"

-"Vanessa, there is something very bad coming our way. I don't even want to describe it. It is the worst thing I have ever seen, and it comes with the night, to annihilate. There is a good chance that the forest was done for anyway."

-"...so, you lit the fire because?"

-"On Earth, fire is the only universal constant. Every single creature fears the fire. And has done so from the age of the dinosaurs and before, till our present time. This is the only weapon that we have to survive. Provided the fire lasts until the storm passes, or the day comes, or they monstrosities decide to leave. Whatever comes first."

She tried to take all the bad news in.

-"Monstrosities?"

-"You can't imagine."

-"But what about the rain? Won't it put the fire out?"

-"No. The firewood here is special. It cannot stop burning until it has completely been spent. The rain will not affect the trees in burning. And the ring of fire they create is the only thing between us and them."

-"What happens then?"

-"We'll be fine. We'll see what we do, when this is over with. One thing at a time."

She was truly shocked.

-"Vanessa?"

-"Wh...what?"

-"I need you to trust me."

Pause.

The grand leap of faith.

-"I trust you."

Thank God.

-"I trust you with my life, Josh."

And she hugged me again, and kissed me to seal the contract. She was placing her life in my hands. It was up to me now.

-"Let's get out of here. We'll go to the pond."

I never said anything else. She gathered everything she could, and so did I. We left the dome. Outside, all hell was breaking loose. The monstrosities were approaching, the fires were approaching as well. All from all sides.

I took Vanessa to the pond. I told her to wait, came back to the dome, took the rest of the stuff, and some firewood, and started going back to the small lake. A few seconds after I stepped out, a tree started to fall.

I ran for my life.

A branch hit me. 

The pain was from yet another world. Sheer agony. 

The sound of the monstrosities was approaching. However, they did not seem to cross the front of the fire. Seems that my little plan was working... for now.

I made myself get up. The pain was something I had never imagined before. Still, I took everything I could, and limped towards the pond.

Vanessa saw me. She understood that something was not right. At all.

-"Josh? My God, Josh!!"

She screamed. And ran towards me. Grabbed the stuff from my hands, threw it all towards the pond, and helped me move. She half-carried me to the centre of the small lake. Then she gathered the firewood around us. A slow-burning circle on the water, around us. And she hugged me for dear life. I did the same.

Then it happened.

The huge fire-front encircled the lake. The trees on the banks started falling, towards the water. Both of us were scared shitless. Thank God we did not get hurt by the falling trees. They just kept slowly burning on the water, a few meters away from us. We were mid-circle.

Outside the trees, the monstrosities gained ground. We could see them. The heat from the burned firewood kept them away for now, but the rain and wind would change that soon. Thankfully, the burning trees around us kept the temperature pretty high, and they were slow burning, which means that they would be kept at bay for somewhat longer. They would buy us time.

The monstrosities came closer and closer. They were truly as hideous as I had seen them before. Their momentum had very much subsided, but not their rage. Or hunger. Or both.

Vanessa was beyond terrified. She could not even speak. She just hugged me for dear life, not daring to utter a syllable. Afraid of giving them a greater incentive to attack.

I just held her, and kissed her. And whispered to her:

-"Don't worry, babe. We will be fine." 

All the while imagining every which way monsters would cut me to pieces before eating me, or the other way around. I couldn't bare to imagine the same for Vanessa though. I just couldn't.

Soon, the first gigantic centipede-like monster started to touch the burning firewood that surrounded us. It was burned and hissed in pain. Still, it stayed put. A little while later, it tried again, gaining a bit of more ground. The same was happening all around us.

They kept coming. Slowly. But steadily.

Vanessa was weeping silently, in absolute horror. And yet, I was stroking her back and telling her, in her ear:

-"Don't worry, my love. It will pass. We will be fine. Trust me."

And the monsters came closer. Angrier, hungrier than ever.

Vanessa openly crying, fuelling the desire in the monstrosities. Me, comforting her. Them approaching.

When they were on the burning trunks, just a few meters away, I knew it was the end. I accepted it.

-"Vanessa, I love you."

And I kissed her.

And she kissed me back. And we closed our eyes.

Waiting for the inevitable.

The monstrosities louder and closer than ever.

I could feel them a few meters away, readying themselves for a quick, well-earned meal.

Sudden silence.

Commotion.

The sound of the monstrosities departing. In haste.

Light? Yes.

Day? Yes!

Day!

Day!!

DAY!!

We are saved!!

Vanessa collapsed in my arms, crying uncontrollably. 

I, a mass of nerves, doing the only thing that kept me sane after this rendezvous with hideous, certain death.

-"Vanessa, I told you to trust me. See?"

And she bawled her eyes out. In happiness. And kissed me all over. And cried some more. Never leaving me, never letting me go.

Maybe she actually loved me!

___________________

___________________

CHAPTER 4

___________________

___________________

Our forest, our home, didn't exist any more. Burned trunks of trees all over, and some burned corpses of insect-like monsters of various shapes and sizes, all above XXL, scattered around the place.

We couldn't stay there any more.

Where to?

I was ready to suggest further up North, but I saw the stars, and saw something I hadn't seen before. They were pretty much in a similar configuration as when we arrived here.

Which means that our arrival here was not as coincidental as we thought. We arrived at dawn. And survived till the next dawn. We passed the test. With flying colours.

I hoped that the whole thing sent the right vibrations to my head, because I had this nagging feeling that we needed to go back to the ring. As fast as possible.

-"Vanessa, I think we should go back."

-"To the ring?"

-"Yes. I don't know why, but I have a feeling we absolutely need to be there now. I feel like we passed the test. Now we go home."

-"You think so?"

-"Yes. I hope I am right. If I am not, we know what comes ahead, we will face it the same way. But I think we have a shot at going back."

There was no more need for stalling. We took everything we could, and started walking. We walked very faster than before.

It only took a few hours to reach the ring.

**********************************

It was a mess. Everything was scattered everywhere from the storm. We couldn't even pinpoint were it originally was.

Shit.

Vanessa saw the remnants of a wall which used to be in the middle of the ring. The one I had rolled. It is rather difficult for a storm to move walls of concrete. So I had a point of reference.

I used it to see where the ring should be. I drew large lines on the ground, the places that, theoretically speaking, Vanessa and I occupied when we arrived. I also tried to fix the rest, but that was impossible. If we ever went back, some buildings would collapse, due to the shearing of the spherical shell. It had probably cut off parts crucial to their structural integrity.

A very high-pitched sound. A glow from underground. It was time. We took our designated positions, in full haste.

-"Josh!"

-"Yes?" 

No sound.

Explosion of colours. The same, beautiful colours. But now, I have seen such colours before.

I felt her. She is somewhere around here. I hope she can feel me.

Black.

Thud.

Excruciating pain.

***************************************

My ears ready to blow.

I feel my blood getting ready to boil.

The atmosphere so thin. Where is the oxygen?

I cannot breathe...

Pull yourself together man! This is home!

Light...

The thunder in my ears...

A voice from the outside world.

"Are you alright, young man? Please respond!"

A loud cracking noise.

The nearby building starts to collapse.

Shit! Vanessa!!

I get up. Too easily.

And run towards the building that is ready to crumble under its own weight, having had a good portion of its structure shaved off by the material snatched by the ring and not returned.

People exit in panic.

Vanessa!!

The guard wants to stop me.

I toss him aside like a rag doll.

Shit, I forgot. I am strong now. I truly hope I haven't hurt him. He is not to blame in this.

I cut through the river of people fleeing for their lives, and head towards the lockers. I see her, sitting beside what used to be her locker. She sees me. She smiles. Her eyes smile. Her heart seems to smile too. 

I smile back. In kind.

The roof starts to crumble.

I jump ahead. Manage to cover her before a big slab of concrete falls on us both. 

Black.

****************************************

Light. 

Different. Not the one in the journey. This is different. White.

A tunnel.

In there, I see her. 

She was waiting for me.

-"Vanessa? Where are we?"

She smiled. A warm, loving smile. God I love her.

-"This is the only place I could come to meet you again."

-"I don't understand."

-"It is the afterlife, Josh."

-"But I saved you! How can you be here?"

-"You did, as you always did. You gave your life for me. You didn't make it. A terminal coma. I had to see you. So I came here."

-"Why did you come here?"

-"I wanted to tell you that I love you."

I felt all warm inside. And so impossibly sorry.

-"And you had to cross to this place to tell me?"

-"Yes. And tell you that if you are not down there with me, I don't want to be there either."

She looked at me with those seas of eyes, and her heart spoke to me, filling me with all the love I could ever need. And I doubted her. What a moron.

-"But then, you are annulling my offering to you. I offered you life, and I gladly exchanged mine for it. Why didn't you accept it?"

-"Because I don't want it if it doesn't include you. It has no meaning. I don't want your gift. It is you that I want in it. If you are to die, then lets be together here."

-"I don't understand..."

-"On the planet, I didn't know what I was feeling. I was attracted to you, but I wasn't sure. And then, you did all these incredible things. I understood that you were so much more than what you seemed. And then, the incredible love-making. And those eyes, looking at me with the love that moves mountains, or goes against the minions of hell and prevails... It was plain for me to see. I loved you back. I wanted to tell you all this before we came back to Earth. But I guess I ran out of time. And then, the collapse. I would have died a happy woman, happily waiting to tell you here, when you came over. I would wait for you. A lifetime is not something that long over here. But even then, you gave your life for me. And I never had the chance to tell you. I love you. As much as you love me. And I will be wherever you are."

-"How did you get here?"

-"I OD'ed myself with insulin. I am in a coma, just like you."

-"Is it recoverable?"

-"I don't know. Maybe."

-"Is mine?"

-"I don't know either. Maybe."

Pause.

-"Josh?"

-"Yes, my love?"

-"You were right about the incident. There was something huge happening."

-"What?"

-"The experiment saved life on Earth! A Gamma-ray burst hit the sun, causing a huge solar flare, which in turned altered the magnetic field of the Earth. A small fraction of a second after the experiment started, the burst passed over Earth. The rotation of the source was in relativistic speeds relative to our location, so it took just a small fraction of a second for the burst to pass Earth and leave. The Sun's magnetic field, as well as the the altered magnetic field of the Earth, due to the solar flare, and the huge power of the electromagnetic forces created by the experiment, helped focus most of the radiation of the portion of the burst allotted to Earth, like a system of magnetic lenses, to the black hole in the accelerator. Thus, the radiation was prevented from contaminating the planet and sterilizing it. Instead, it was funnelled to the super-spinning artificial black hole, which grew much bigger than anticipated, and triggered the creation of a spherical wormhole, twice. First and second time on location was only a few moments later, but on our part it was so much more. Which means that the laws of physics are not the same everywhere, as you suspected. Time doesn't flow in the same way everywhere. Obviously it flowed so much faster for us than on Earth. Of course, only us know this. This is the privilege of afterlife. You get to know so much. Time is unimportant here."




Genesis Alpha



New Year's Eve on Triton- FlashNews- The faculty of the Shoemaker Science Station are dressing the halls all this week for an event that happens once every one hundred and sixty five years. At 4,496 kilometers out, the planet Neptune will complete an orbit of the Sun, and the crew of mankind's furthest outpost yet is marking the occasion in a big way.

"We don't get a chance like this very often," Said researcher Christina Warner. "We haven't done anything like this since we left Earth. It's a once in a lifetime thing so, it might get a little bit crazy around here. We tried to save some provisions, like from the only time we received a shipment of steak so far, we put aside enough for the staff to have one each. I think everybody has a little bit of something or another put away for that special occasion."

Including a potent micro-brew. The local favorite is called Triton Tank-Swill and it packs a mean punch. Station Commander Merrill Weston likes it that way, but he'll have Gardenburgers on the grill with the steaks.

"The station family will be a Neptunian year old tomorrow," He says. "Sure, we landed here eleven Terran years ago, but to have made it this far, is a big step for us." In addition to his degree in Astronomy, he wears the title of station beer-meister, but won't divulge the secret that gives his Triton-brand its impact. An amateur brewer in addition to his more well known degree fields, he did say the ingredients were grown locally.

The party is set to start at the beginning of the station's next orbit around it's host world, Neptune. The site for the party is going to be in the middle of the station's massive greenhouse, filled with broad-leafed plants just perfect for sucking up Carbon-Dioxide and producing Oxygen.

"Mostly we're scientists," Merril said, looking on as decorations, made from scrap but still beautiful, cut the green sea inside the geodesic atrium with streaks of color. "We're construction workers when they send us new modular units to attach to the main habitat, but we can't forget that we're also human. That means that we're adults sometimes, and kids sometimes, and kids have to play. Being mostly self-sufficient has it's advantages."

When asked how his research was progressing, he had nothing but good things to say about the new Clarity-arrayed telescope installed here.

"What to say about our telescope? Wow, I wouldn't know where to begin. We're getting better shots of the Alpha Centauri system that we are of our own sun, it's like we're right next door. With the technology we've got, it would take us forty years to get there, and with Clarity it's like... like looking though somebody's window into their living room. We'll get there someday. I'd like to be around for the fireworks display but I know I did my part."

Done their part they have, and at the turn of the midwatch five rotations from now, the crew of Triton station will throw a party that, for most of them, will only happen once in their lives. Happy New Year from Triton.

1st Rotation

"What do you think, Merrill?"

The station commander lowered the hardcopy of the update I had filed, FlashNews those fucks. They never told me what I did to get sent so far from where anything was happening but I still filed my reports once every seven rotations. They were paying my way and the electronic credit transfers kept arriving so I've be here for a while. On the upside, this station is on the leading fringe of exploration and research, when I got the otherwise numbing news I tried to put things in the best possible light. There'd be a story here, eventually, then maybe I could get the fuck off this rock.

"This pretty well describes what we'll be doing," Weston said. "Yes, it's a festival but it'll be a working festival. We have several research protocols to cover this whole week. I think it'll be fun though, I've got a list of book discussion groups if you want to sign up for one. You're more than welcome to join in, of course. We like to think that we're good hosts."

"I'll be happy to. I hope I don't mess up your research by being a complete dullard when it comes to anything scientific, I just know how to craft words into something that everybody can understand."

Weston laughed, he was a fifty-something NASA colonel who kept fit by spending hours in the exercise module on the treadmill, gut like a steel plate, he could do 450 sit-ups in a row in Triton's weak gravity. He was the big man in charge when it came to station affairs and was a fair botanist in addition to being an outstanding astronomer. He loved it on Triton, the fuck. He pressed the talk button on the intercom mounted into his desk.

"Rachael, will you come in here please?" Weston said, then he focused his attention on me as he stretched out at his desk. "That's okay, this is one subject that I think everyone is an expert on. Besides, just remember that we'll all be one year old again for a short while, not literally of course, but you can do no wrong when you're a child, it's all about exploration."

"So what sort of protocols will we be testing?" I said. Everything I'd seen so far told me that this station would be the model for any settlements outside the system. The central geodesic greenhouse dome was reinforced by fibro-steel supports thrusting out of an artificial lake, deep enough for swimming and Kelp-beds lined the bottom, crop-fields tended by diver/aqua-culturists. It was heated by natural, geothermal sources and steam coming off it's surface help from it generated spawned floral growth as dense as it was at either tropic on Earth, a spot of paradise in a dark, cold place. Don't get me wrong, there were a few things that made it nice.

"Yes, Doctor?" The module door rolled open and Weston's personal assistant came in with an electronic assistant, stylus poised over the sensor pad, ready to take notes. Rachael Strauss was a stunning example of humanity, a trim 5'7" with shoulder-length Brunette hair and dark cats-eyes.

She was a recent arrival from Mars and the rumor was that she enjoyed considerable sexual control over than one man. Rachael had superstar, bee-sting lips and a body darkly tanned by the station's lone UV projector. She liked wearing Lilly musk and wearing fitted shorts with a gray half t-shirts under the blue jumpsuits that were the standard uniforms. Hers were fitted and she wore them to slay. Her legs merged smoothly with her firm, heart-shaped derriere. The jumpsuit was unzipped to the waist and the sides rolled and held back by Velcro tabs. A bellybutton ring flashed from her smooth stomach but more interesting was the engaging way her nipples poked through her bra-material to indent the t-shirt fabric.

"You'll be happy to know that our friend Maxwell has accepted our offer to join in the study starting today."

"Fine, I'll add his name to the pool list," Rachael said curtly and lifted the EA to make a note. Her contribution to the team was as information specialist. "It's good to have you on board, Mister Noble, and just in time to, this should make things a little more even. Still, we'll be lucky to put together ten couples, we'll still have a couple triple-groups though."

"It shouldn't effect the outcome of the study," Weston said. "You can fudge the draw for him. We want to make a good impression."

"Of course, Doctor," Rachael said and gave me an uncertain eye. Despite several months among the crew of Triton station, I was still being accepted by some. "I think I could find one or two people to look after him, if he behaves himself."

"Oh, I won't be any trouble." I said as she turned on her heel. I watched her ass cheeks shift under the elastic blue cloth, the cleft of each showed tantilizingly as she turned. "Unless it's absolutely called for."

"Good, well Mister Noble, I'll keep that in mind." Rachael said and the look in her changed to one appraising a product.

"In answer to your question, we'll be going over the Bingham Fertility Protocol," Weston said and took a pull off of the self-heating cup attached via magnet to his desk. It was filled with a greenish-sludge that I knew to be his latest batch of Triton Tank-Swill. "It was proposed back when we first started settling Mars. Basically, we'll have round-table study-group discussions and workshops. Once we finish at the end of fifth rotation, there'll be a reception in the atrium. Fun stuff, a cookout, swimming, you know."

"So what's the Bingham Fertility Protocol?"

Weston laughed, making me feel somewhat stupid, like an ape being given a banana made out of wax, always tested.

"It was proposed by a Doctor Estes Bingham back during the early colonization of Mars, twenty-eighty or so. They were trying to put natural methods back into the birth-process but they needed to make it more efficient. They needed to find a way to begin populating the planet without all the lab equipment available on Earth. Then inter-system vessels powered by solar sails came along and made affordable exodus from Earth possible."

"I see," Said I, though I really didn't. "What's the first study group covering?"

I got a mental picture of a bunch of brainy-types sitting around discussing Proust as Weston leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. He wrinkled his brow with intense concentration on the screen as he tapped on the desk's integral keyboard.

"Here we are... the first study-group will cover the complete, unabridged Kama Sutra... the Herrod's translation, I believe."

"The what?" In all honesty, I had never heard of such a thing. It was clearly a title among the hundreds of millions that mankind had stored in electronic form, stored forever in ice-cold orbital data-cores.

"It was an ancient India educational text containing rules for spiritual copulation. It was quite a popular reference until about twenty-fifty A.D. until it was replaced by the Sexomicron, that we'll be covering during fourth rotation. There's also the Story of O on second rotation and the Joy of Sex, complete series on the third."

"Who?" I said, getting tired of hearing names and titles that ten generations of human-kind had forgotten about.

"These were another two guide-books that were considered advanced for their time," Weston said. "We had to order them in data cube form from Earth but they arrived in plenty of time. You should sign up to lead a workshop, I think there are a few good ones left."

"Sure, just show me the list and I'm in." I said. I didn't know what he was talking about but I was thrilled to be included.

"Fine, fine... just one moment here." Weston said and clicked through several different files. "Ah, yes, it looks like we have the Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices on the fifth, the Manual of Human Sexuality on the sixth, and during the seventh rotation we rest and picnic in the big greenhouse."

"Well, how old fashioned of you." I said, Weston wasn't wearing a cross but he seemed like the type. Clean cut on the outside, he always had a smile on his face. Sometimes I found it infuriating that he seemed so happy with his lot. Everyone on the station seemed to always be too busy to stop and have a talk, or a kiss, or tumble that I was beginning to feel like a ghost.

"Doctor, your workshop partner is here." Rachael called in over the intercom.

"Fine, send her in." Weston said.

A girl came in, none of the stationers carried identification and age was sometimes difficult to tell, but my guess was that the tight-breasted female with the baggy, orange Nomex emergency-suit on was between 16 and 18 Terran years old, was my guess, if she hadn't been fixed. The badge on her breast was red instead of blue. She was the child of an original stationer.

"Maxwell, let me introduce you to my workshop partner, Molly Flint. I believe you've met her parents? They were sitting across from you during chow."

"Of course, she looks just like her mother." If she aged half as well as her parents did, Molly would be a stunner into her 50's and a professional somebody if she ever decided went back to Earth. As far as she would get was Mars, as only a fertilized embryo, her coding had been altered and Earth was closed to what was being fashionably called "genetic tampering."

She wore her red-hair braided long in a ponytail that hung down to her waist. I could see that the zip-up was hiding a set youthful curves that were of an animal bred to compete. She came to attention in front of Weston she made up with intensity. She was the assistant-captain of the station zero-gravity gymnastics team and practiced daily, now her cheeks wore the red streaks that indicated she'd been crying. Her family name was born out in her eyes, as gray and dark as the stone the settlement was built into.

"What's wrong, angel? Are you okay? How did phase three go?"

"It hurts, it felt like I got stung by a bee when the piercing needle went through, now my tongue is all swelled up."

"Say hello to Mister Noble." Weston said. She turned my way and I felt a needle go through me, I was impaled on her eyes.

"Please to meet you, Mister Noble." She answered automatically, those same eyes lacked any spark of interest that was more than passing, but her "S's" sounded like "Th" and her "T's" were blunted by a thick tongue having trouble with words.

"I won't think any less of you, there are people all around this system that talk like that and it doesn't go away, let's have a look at it." Weston said. Without hesitation, Molly sank to her knees, sucking on her bottom lip. She closed her eyes and put her head back, then opened her mouth wide. Watching her lips parts was like watching dawn break on the day you'd remember for the rest of your life. "Go on, don't keep us waiting."

The pink tip of her tongue trembled it's way out of her mouth, followed by the thicker body, the cause of distress was immediately visible, a pea-sized silver bead atop a stainless steel post protruding through sweet spot, just perfect for dual-duty use.

"It's not so bad," Weston said and nodded approvingly. "The swelling should go down in a few orbits. We can stop if you like, but I would really be unhappy to see the protocols fall behind."

"It's Ok," She said and wiped her sniffles away. "I'll be alright. I trust you, Doctor."

"That's a good girl," Weston said and stood from his chair. "If you'll fetch the apparatus we'll get started. I'll set up the audio/visual gear."

She jogged off to fulfill his orders while he moved to the portable video disk player on the floor next to a small therapy bench covered with a thick layer of reactive memory gel. It conformed to the shape of the body and could give comfortable support for hours, as Weston was about to demonstrate. Molly opened a storage locker beside the door and removed something phallic-shaped with lots of straps dangling from it's triangular synth-leather support.

"My dear, you'll have to forgive me, I've forgotten what number you watched last time." Weston said as he half-turned and got her attention with a wave, but he had it all along. Her eyes never left him except for when she

"We're on number eight."

"Thank you, Molly, please carry on." Weston said as he rummaged through mini-disk cases. He found the one labeled #16 and slid the disk inside into the player. I scanned the title as he set the case back into the rack. Cum-Eruption Finals 2120 was hand-written on the spine with a permanent black marker.

Molly laid her prize on the table and for the first time I could get a good look at what it actually was... a "penile-suppliment" to use station lingo. It was seven inches long and at least three in girth, made of flesh-colored rubber, and was held in place by a ring and several support straps apparently to keep it in place over whichever orifice it was being inserted into. She looked over her shoulder and backed toward me. "Unzip me please, Mister Noble?"

"Of course, Miss Flint, you had survival instruction today? I understand that some part parts of it can be pretty tough." I said. The suit delivered partial protection from vacuum and sealed the neck with a collar that a helmet-locked onto. It would provide atmosphere in the event of a depressurization. I cracked the seal at the ring and pulled on the zipper-tab. The smell of a warm, young body rose up with the moist air with that of Lavender water, the combination made my nostrils flare, triggering a flood of Testosterone and Gonadotropics into my system.

"It was fine. We had micro-gravity practice today in the training dome. I was wonderful, I learned how to fly almost. I pulled off a triple-flip, double-twist during practice, micro-gravity kicks ass."

"Does your mother know you're using that kind of language, young lady?" Weston said. "I assure you that it is quite unnecessary in this setting."

"Sorry, Mister Weston."

Then, in a lower tone, he turned to me and said. "I'll show you what we to with potty mouths around here, Mister Noble."

Molly cringed as Weston seized the dildo apparatus from off the table. "Let's get continue with phase four, assume the position, Molly."

He used the rubber phallus as a rod and pointed at the memory-gel chair. Molly slipped off her jumpsuit and climbed onto it, assuming a comfortable face-down position that would allow her to see the video-feed monitor. She looked at him with weepy eyes filled with utter yielding as she opened her ripe lips.

"Ok, resuming at eighteen hundred hours, video number eight." Weston spoke into the personal recorder attached to his label and started the video feed. The semi-final rounds were first. A blonde with elf-like features appeared, working her tongue around the shaft of a man's cock.

Weston slid the rod across Molly's tongue, pushing it deeper back into her through until it the synthesized scrotum sac butted up against her lips. Once in-place, Weston used the straps attached to buckled the dildo into place.

"You should have seen what happened when we first started preparing for this," Weston said as Molly opened her eyes and focused on the video. "Poor Molly was gagging so much around the supplimental that I thought I was going to have to find myself a new workshop partner."

I could see that the harness around her head was moving somewhat. Molly was working her tongue up and down the length of the prosthesis, the device apparently quite comfortable in her mouth. Her eyes were fixed on the action on screen. The sucktress had a piercing through each cheek to accomidate a camera instead of Stainless-Steel beads, but she had one of those through her tongue as well and was dragging it against the contestants shaft with enthusiastic vigor.

"What workshop is this for?" I said. Molly was beginning to leak. Saliva from her mouth, but it was the scent of juices flowing from elsewhere that caused ugly, primal urges to rise up within me. This fresh female, right here in front of me, any part of her would feel better than velvet glove around my cock. My heartbeat sped up as my imagination went into overdrive, her soft lips working my shaft, her face thrust forward eyes, closed, to receive a sticky shower, little pearls of white spread across freckled cheeks, neck, and chest.

"This is for the Manual of Human Sexuality group, we're doing a presentation on the effects of suggestive media on the developing mind. It should be a hoot."

"Call me old fashioned, but there's going to be a lot of fucking going on during this protocol, isn't there?"

"Well, of course, that's the whole point."

To Be Continued...



Genesis & Exodus



Genesis & Exodus

The beginning, before Silky

I hate big cities. I hate them all. Of all the big cities I hate, I hate Chicago the most. Nowhere else can you freeze between the door and the cab; nowhere else does the L go on forever; nowhere else can eating a lousy meal by yourself take four hours and cost forty bucks.

Why I ever thought that moving there would lead to fame and fortune, I don't remember. I've got plenty of money. I didn't sell my home back in Alabama, I just moved there to a crappy one bedroom apartment with the train outside the window and graffiti on the walls. I rented a PO Box for "Great George Industries." Talk about grandiose!

At least I had told myself to limit the amount I would waste, so I had put a hundred thou or so in the GG account and got a Business Visa to charge to. At least I wasn't using my serious money.

I do believe that things happen for a reason. Why else did I come to this cold, lonely concrete prison? Why else did I take my rental car down the wrong street and stop at that one particular corner? Why else was it on that night?

I had been in Chicago long enough to have gone through the hundred years of winter. I had seen both days of spring and summer, and now knew that this was one of the last times I could drive with the windows down; not that anything except noise, dirt, and stink ever came in. Until that night.

I stopped at that fateful gerrymander, getting my bearings, knowing I was lost but too angry to admit it, sorry I had not opted to get a GPS, when among all the racket came an aerosol of syrup sweeter than a virgin's ass.

"Hey My es ter! Ya'll waa unt soome Soo there un Com for unt too wa um ya'll up too ny et? It was the sound of home! I translated to 'hey mister do ya'll want some Southern Comfort to warm ya'll up tonight?' in my head.

This amazing girl was sticking her head in my open window. How she could put that much breast into such a small space I didn't know. How she could consider that clothing I didn't care. Twin sapphires burned into my eyes, and her smile made the inside of the car warm all by itself. Her long blonde hair formed a diaphanous halo for her head.

"Well, mister? What do you say? For $200 I can make you forget your wife and your girlfriend."

Suddenly everything clicked and I knew what to do; I realized that all my life had been just a prelude to this moment. My years in Rotary Club, on the Chamber of Commerce Board, on the City Council, counted for nothing. Here stood a hooker, a street whore with a background somewhere in the South, who was offering herself to me for $200.

"How old are you?"

"I'm 18. Want to see my ID?"

"What do I get for $200?" I asked.

"Anything you can imagine," she replied with a little roll to her shoulders to be sure I saw her tits.

"How much for a weekend?"

She didn't bat an eye. "$3000. But I have to tell Big John where I'm going." I'd hate to play poker with her.

"No. Get in now and you'll get $3000. Walk away and I'm gone to the next girl."

She got in. 

There, now, I made the decision that has colored, no, painted in brilliant hues, the important part of my life. There and then the tipping point, the moment that defined everything else. I did something I had never done before nor have I since. Screw a prostitute? Get a back alley blow-job? No! Worse! I Kidnapped her!

As we left the city, she asked where we were going.

"I'm taking you home with me. You belong to me now."

"Big John will kill you, and beat the shit out of me."

"You're never going to see Big John again. You'll never work as a 'ho again. And Big John will have to kill me to get to you, and he can't."

Those blue lanterns looked out the window for at least five minutes, calm and resolute, calculating. 

"Cool," was all she said.

I turned onto the Dan Ryan and picked up I-80. The girl who had no name curled up and went to sleep. In for a penny, I guessed. I took the I-65 and didn't stop until I got to Indianapolis, and there pulled into the Hertz at the airport. They were pissed that I returned a local Chicago rental there, but if you pay enough, people put up with being pissed. 

I pulled the girl with the golden hair with me to Avis, and rented a new car. 

When we were ten miles down the road, she spoke for the first time in Indiana. "Covering your tracks?"

She wasn't stupid. The car was rented to GG industries, on the GG card, that only had a PO Box. They could eventually find the crappy apartment but it was an empty tomb. Somebody would know the tag number, and look for it. I rented the Avis under my name on my card, so the trail was dead. I doubted Big John would look that hard, but he might.

In Seymour, I gave out. I pulled off the ramp into a Holiday Inn Express, and checked into a room. Two beds.

"I've got to get some sleep. Don't talk to anyone, please. Are you hungry?"

"Naw, I'm good. I just need to pee."

"Help yourself"

"You wanna watch?"

Of course I knew she would sexualize things. See the world as she knew it. Figure there had to be payback, but there wasn't. I took her because it was the right thing to do. I didn't want a slave or a sex toy. I was a good guy. I didn't take her for me.

"No," was all I said.

When I woke up, I realized she wasn't in the room. Then I heard the shower, and relaxed a little. She came out in a cloud of steam, hair wrapped in one towel, body in the other. Where do women learn to do that? Is there a special class guys don't get?

"Very nice shower!" She said. Apparently she didn't waste words. "Do you have a name?"

"George."

"George. Monique." She didn't offer a hand, just nodded.

"That's over. Your name is... Jessica. Like Jessica Rabbit. 'Not bad, just drawn that way.' In the movie?"

"I don't watch a lot of movies, where I live."

"You don't live there any more, remember?"

'Oh, yeah. So now what?"

Unfortunately, I had no answer to that. Sleep had restored my energy, but had not offered any solutions.

"I'm taking you to Alabama. I'm hearing a Mississippi accent, right?"

"Yasssuh."

"Any family?"

"No."

"Any friends?"

"No."

"Well, I guess you'll live in Alabama with me." I realized the 'with me' as I said it. I had no idea.

Well, George, I hope you slept well," she said as she let the towel drop. The one on her body. God, what a body! I think her legs started at her armpits, but then where did those marvelous tits join in? Her accoutrements were absolutely hydraulic and there was so much skin! Her shaved crotch had not a hint of pubes, and the cinnabar of her slit was obvious. I shook.

"Jessica, please put on your clothes." I was a good guy. 

"You gonna make me?"

What the hell? How was I going to make her put on clothes?

"I said please."

"Nope!"

What to do? If I could only stop staring at all that pale pink skin! At those nipples that perfectly centered her dark areolas. At that hairless pussy. At the sweet and succulent symmetry of her thighs.

I tried holding out her skirt. She shook her head. I tried to grab her, to force her. Eighteen year old naked girls have no handles. Everything you grab is wrong. After fifteen frustrating minutes I had only managed to be even more aware of her skin, its smoothness, its warmth.

"I guess I'm just a bad girl, George. You ever spank a bad girl?"

What is the movie where the girl (Madonna?) said she could tell who liked rough sex, even if they didn't know it themselves? She was right! My erection heard that question loud and clear. I had never even thought of such a thing. I was one of the good guys.

She turned and bent over the bed, the one she had slept in alone. She rubbed her incredible derrière with her palm, and patted it gently.

"You want to smack this ass, George? Listen!" And she slapped herself. The noise consumed my world, the loudest detonation I ever heard. 

"Or this?" and she smacked her butt with her belt, and left a small red line, like the edge of heaven. "Oh, that feels so good! It makes me so slick between my legs! I like being spanked, because I'm a bad bad girl!" 

How the hell a good guy could wind up whipping a working girl on her defenseless stark-naked cheeks with her own belt in a motel in Seymour, Indiana, I don't know. But I do know it made him harder than he had ever been before, and that each blow was harder than the last, and that he pounded on her flesh until his arms gave out, and then thrust his bursting cock into her wanton wet cunt, and shoved and shoved and shoved and shoved until he exploded in her crevice and blasted every gram of his anger and hate and fear and loneliness into her depths, and collapsed weeping on the bed with her enfolded by his arms. 

The path of righteousness can be as hard to find as a winding mountain trail at midnight in a pouring rain.

We changed cars again in Nashville. Better safe than dead. We ran thru a Wal-Mart and grabbed some clothes; I didn't know until then that she was pantiless. Finally we pulled in the drive in Sweet Home, Alabama. I didn't know what to do, but at least it was warm outside.

I spent days as a spy. I worked out how to get a fake birth certificate, and from that a driver's license, and from that an official name change. "Jessica George Rabbit" now had an identity that did not tie to her old life at all. She had never finished school; I got her a GED test, which she passed effortlessly. 

One day she dropped a plate and broke it. "Gesú Bambino! Maledizione! Maria Più Santo!"

I looked at her in astonishment. "Parli l'Italiano?"

"Si. Io lo so bene." 

"How did you learn Italian?"

"I told you I didn't watch many movies. Knowing Italian is useful in Chicago."

Gradually we learned each other. I learned that Big John had forced her to always use condoms, as "a sick 'ho don't make money." So I had one good thing to say for him. He also told her she was "worth more on her knees than her back." He was right; she could do things with her mouth on my penis that left me lying exhausted for hours.

I gave up the idea that a good guy wouldn't have sex with her. God built her to satisfy my hunger, and who am I to disagree with Him? 

We had a honeymoon, a spiritual and sexual saturnalia, a bacchanal where our kisses were the only wine, but were enough. The Goddess Venus would have wept with jealousy. 

Have you ever been fucked with a dildo up your ass? I have. Have you ever jerked off into a beautiful girl's face while she willingly smiles and urges you on with words so nasty I can't repeat them? I have. 

Have you ever been strapped tightly to a bed, while an Angel with legs longer than time lowers herself onto your cock as slowly as ice melting, and then stops when her lower lips just kiss your knob? And then lever herself up and down just a fraction of an inch, until you lose your mind? Until you were so desperate that you begged, pleaded, and promised her furs, cars, houses if she would just drop one inch down, and have her smile and ignore you, and continue to graze your glans until an evacuation starts inside your balls and ass and guts and spews with such Herculean force that it could have stopped the Earth in its orbit? I Have. 

I have cum in her ass, her mouth, between her tits and in her hands. I frotterized her buttocks, and shot semen all over her back. I've fallen down in the shower chasing her slippery body around, and she has soaped my dick until I blew holes in the bathroom wall. 

I learned that she liked the whippings. Not beatings, not masochism. She got aroused when the tip of a belt caught her exactly on the crease between ass-cheek and leg, veridically behind her vagina. I purchased a small whip and made her orgasm with cogent proper (or improper) slashes. And I squirted on the floor, just seeing her response.

We had a very good time. I fell in Love, and didn't know what it was. And Jessica loved me. She really did, and does. 

"George, do you know that girl that lives down the street? The little red head?"

"I've met her, I think. I know her dad vaguely, went to a ball game at his house once. She has one of those 'designer' names, like Paris or Kimberly; Silly, maybe, or Slinky, no, Silky, that's it. Like the cloth. Why?"

"That is the most adorable girl I've ever seen; She doesn't have a clue, but she wants to fuck like a timber wolf."

This said with absolute certainty, although I wasn't sure about the timber wolf part. "How can you tell?"

"Duh. I worked for Big John. She would be on her back in ten minutes flat, if she had the chance."

"How do you know this?"

"I followed her. She came by the house yesterday, walking down to the store. Don't worry, she didn't see me. But I looked at her walk, the swing of her rear end, the bounce of her boobs. I watched boys watch her. She puts out a vapor of pheromones that leaves guys walking into walls and tripping over their feet, and she doesn't notice at all. We need to hook up with her! Why don't you ask her?"

"Ask her to have sex with me? How would I do that?"

"You're a smart boy, George. You got me; now I want her." 



Genesis: Electro-Pyro







Genesis: Electro-Pyro



April's eyes lit up as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What did you say?"

 "June, you know the girl that keeps asking for a rain check everytime you ask her if she wants to hang out?" Jennifer explained. 

 "Oh yeah, she's cool." 

 Jennifer chuckled. "Yeah right. Everytime you try to get her out of her shell, she turns you down at every turn."

 "I don't think she doesn't like me or a loner," April explained kindly, "I just think she is shy that's all. Someone new in the neighborhood, knowing nobody, and you expect her to be the friendliest person in the world." 

 "Well, yeah," Jennifer said. "I mean she comes into this town and into church looking friendly as well as normal, but scared to make friends? In a small town like this, people can get easily suspicious."

 "Those people need to mind their own business." April said not making it sound so cruel.

 Jennifer wondered if there was more to April and June's relationship besides names on a calendar. "April, do you like June?"

 April gave Jennifer an appalled look. "No, I mean she is cute and all but me and her in a relationship. I doubt she is that interested and I doubt she is like that."

 Jennifer shrugged and reached over her side to shut off the light. "If you say so, if you do I won't hold anything against you." Jennifer pulled the covers over her body and closed her eyes to go to sleep.

 April turned to the other side of the bed but did not shut her eyes. Not yet anyway. She couldn't help but wonder if she did feel something for the new girl in town? She pondered the question over and over in her head until she went to sleep. 







Genesis: Electro-Pyro



After hearing a few seconds of silence Erica knew it was time for their escape. "Okay now!"

 The four women crawled from under the table and began to run for it. June took a glimpse of Ms. Archer pointing the gun at them realizing it was too late. They took too much time in hiding when Ms. Archer was busy reloading. 

 The women heard a loud, "POP", and ducked hearing the door window shatter in several pieces. 

 June felt like one of them was not going to make it out alive and had no other choice but turn to Ms. Archer. Absorbing the heat from the air, June fired a heat wave at Ms. Archer's .38 heating up her gun until it felt like she accidentally put her hand on a hot skillet. She dropped the gun on the floor.

 "Stupid, fucking, old bitch!" Erica yelled absorbing all the electricity until it poured out of her pores and circled around her body. She reached out her hand and shot a small bolt at Ms. Archer.

 "ERICA NO!" June warned but it was too late. 

 The bolt hit Ms. Archer making her spasm for a second before she collapsed on the floor. 

 Erica and June stood breathing hard and staring at the damage of Ms. Archer and her own private massacre. They glanced at each other both thinking differently on what they have done and what they should have done. 

 Hearing the sirens of the police headed their way, Erica and June quickly left Meredith Archer with the dead bodies she created. 







Genesis: Electro-Pyro



June didn't know where all this rage was coming from. "Erica what is your problem?"

 "What's my problem, what's my problem? Were we listening to the same bullshit in there because I could have sworn you were sitting next to me?" 

 "I admit Father McBane's words of wisdom maybe a little radical at times but his word is quite helpful." June defended. 

 "To who?" Erica spat. "To normal people who have one body part that defines them and fucking the opposite sex?"

 "To people who have lost their way Erica."

 "Who said I was lost?" Erica asked outsmarting June.

 "After being born into this world confused about our bodies and ourselves and now something else you don't think we are lost in some way?" June asked innocently.

 "Hell no I don't think I'm lost," Erica shot back, "you may feel that way, but I'm proud of who I am. I got nice ass, tits, and a long, thick, dick to go with it. I'm two of both worlds and guess what? People love it." Erica saw June roll her eyes. "I can be anyone and have anyone, man or woman so I don't have a problem being who I am. I'm surprise you do."

 "Well in this part of town being yourself is not healthy."

 "Correction, you picked this part of town," Erica pointed out roughly, "I wanted to go some place fast and accepting like California, New York, or Virginia some place. Not no hillbilly, backwoods, religious stick up your ass, Nebraska!"

 "We needed some place where we are not easily found," June explained, "do you know how many LGBT people are openly out in those states? Too many and I wouldn't be surprised if they were getting secretly convinced, persuaded, or promised a better life if they put their trust in The RC (Rainbow Coalition)." June pulled into the parking lot in front of their apartment. "It's just another thing The Coalition would do to do more experiments on us like lab rats just to figure out why we are who we are."

 Erica sighed as she stepped out of the car and slammed the door. "I'll take my chances thank you very much."

 Erica walked away from the door of their apartment.

 "And where are you going?" June asked getting really fed up with Erica's rebellious nature.

 "Believe it or not, I'm going for a walk," Erica answered, "I need a break from you, the rest of your crew, and this whole bullshit of a town." And she turned and walked off angry.

 "Fine!" June said as she slammed the door and locked it. She headed to the door of her apartment. "You biker looking goth bitch!" She said as she opened the door, walked in and slammed it shut behind her. 







Genesis: Electro-Pyro



"And what did you see?"

 "I saw power," Jennifer said, "raw, unbelievable, power. Power I've never seen before."

 Erica stared sternly at Jennifer not moving her crystal blue eyes from Jennifer's almond colored ones. "So what do you want me to say, you got me?" 

 Jennifer leaned a little closer over the table so she could whisper to Erica again. "Look, I'm not here to dog you. Neither out you, I just...I just..."

 "Just curious?" Erica finished. 

 Jennifer looked down as if in shame and looked back up at Erica who had this crooked looking smile on her face. Jennifer felt like she was the one that was caught. "More like intrigued." 

 Erica's smile widened. "I'm glad to hear it."

 Jennifer looked down one last time and licked her lips bracing herself for the next question. "So what are you, some type of alien or something?"

 "You mean like Superwoman?" Erica asked. "I may have power but I'm not invulnerable. And no, I'm not an alien from outer space."

 "Then what are you if you don't mind me by asking?"

 Erica licked her lips lightly and leaned further on the table. "Can you keep a secret?"

 "Sure." Jennifer answered truthfully.

 "Good, because what I am about to tell you is going to change everything you know."



 "April?" June said shocked that she even appeared at her doorstep. "W-what are you doing here?"

 April blushed nervously. She learned that it was rude showing up without an invitation, but for some reason she just had to see June. "I'm sorry I came over unannounced. Are you busy?"

 June looked from side to side wondering if anyone was with April. "How did you find me?"

 "It wasn't very hard," April began to explain, "You already told me where you live so I just drove down here to see you. Finding your room was difficult but the owner of the apartments told me your apartment number. I think he was hitting on me."

 June rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he is a little touched in the head if you know what I mean?" June made April chuckle which June appreciate. "You want to come inside?"

 April's smile widened in glee. "I would love too."



 "Wow," Jennifer said amazed at the true story she just heard, "So you and June are not really women?"

 "No, we're women alright. Just with a little something extra." Erica corrected. 

 "And The Rainbow Coalition did this to you?"

 "I guess you can say that."

 "And The Rainbow Coalition really is not a company helping the LBGT community? And they are after you two?"

 "All of us actually."

 "So there are more of you, with the same powers?" Jennifer asked getting more fascinated by Erica's story. 

 "Not the same but yeah, we all have something special about us."

 Jennifer looked down at the ground wide eyed and still trying to wrap her head around the story. It was unbelievable that a billionaire company was doing heinous experiments on human beings just because they wanted to know why they are who they are. It was an abomination. Jennifer thought it would be a good idea to take Erica to the park to get to know each other better and understand who she was, but now after learning the truth Jennifer wanted to find a wooden bench and sit down to process the whole information. 

 "So The RC are trying to find some of the people who escaped the facility and now scattered around the world?" Jennifer continuously asked more questions. 

 "Correct." Erica answered.

 "That means you and June are really here because you are on the run?!" 

 Erica didn't give the answer to her right away but decided to tell her anyway since the truth was already out. "Correct."

 Jennifer turned to finally find a bench. "I really need to sit down."

 Erica and Jennifer sat at the wooden bench silent for a minute. Erica knew Jennifer really needed to get her mind right before asking anymore questions. 

 "So you and June are actually superhuman transgender women?" Jennifer asked making sure she heard right. 

 "I think we already established that."

 Jennifer looked down at her hands. All these questions and feelings she never felt before surfaced. Jennifer was more curious than before, but she remembered the old saying, "Curiosity killed the cat". But she couldn't help but want to know more about Erica and June's amazing history. 

 "I got one more question," Jennifer asked.

 "Shoot."

 "You two escaped from The Coalition along with other transgenders right?"

 "Right."

 "So if you escaped, someone had to push the button to let you all out of your cages. So who helped you all escape?"

 Erica turned her eyes to the trail in deep thought. She never thought about that question. Hell, she really didn't care until now. "That's a good question," Erica said looking like she was in a daze, "because we definitely don't know."







Genesis of Sin



It had started with the fruit. Everyone knows that. What is not known in today's world is that this fruit fermented as it hung on the tree. The snake knew it, though, and when he saw Eve emerge into a 20 year old image of absolute beauty he convinced her to pick just one of the large fruits that hung heavily from the tree. He told her that he simply wanted her to feel it. The skin was soft and smooth, although the fruit beneath seemed firm. "It really does feel nice," she had thought to herself. She slid both hands over it, squeezing it ever so gently as she did. 

Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, a stream of liquid shot into her face. She had squeezed it a bit too hard and a small slit had opened in the skin. Eve licked it off her lips, tasting the sticky nectar. It was sweet, but had another quality to it that she hadn't tasted before. She squeezed the fruit gently again, watching closely as the fluid oozed from the hole. She knew that she had been told to keep away from that tree, but Eve couldn't resist. She stuck out her tongue, licking it up. It was so good that she greedily pushed it against her lips and squeezed again. Still not getting as much as she wanted, Eve sucked on it... pulling hard with her mouth to get out as much of it as she could. 

To Eve's surprise and delight, it was so full of juice that it filled her mouth to overflowing. Some of it flowed out, down her chin, and over the rest of her body. She swallowed and gulped down all she could before noticing that a strange feeling had come over her. Her head was light and she was suddenly unsteady on her feet.

It wasn't long before the long, slithery python had slithered down from the tree and across the grass. When it reached Eve, it slowly wound its way around her body, across her plump breasts, and between her legs. Eve remembered how she had felt herself get so moist and wet down there. She had instinctively spread her legs open wider and began to rub herself against the thick, powerful serpent. The snake knew what it was doing, sliding back and forth against her until she could hardly stand it anymore, his tongue flicking across her nipples which had become hard as rocks. 

The image of Adam came into her head as she heard the snake hiss soft words. "It feels so good, doesn't it? But, you know that your brother has a snake, too, right? Perhaps you should see how it feels when it's his snake rubbing against you." She pictured that, seeing herself rubbing hard against Adam while at the same time bucking her hips up against the firm flesh of the snake. She felt the muscles in the snake pulse, making it's body swell out hard and thick. A moment later and Eve's own body shook violently as her mind exploded into a million flashes of light. She screamed in new found pleasure, her voice echoing across the garden.

If only it hadn't felt so good. She still felt guilty that she had caused herself and Adam to be expelled from that paradise into a much harsher world...

The snake, of course, had nurtured the idea that she should go back and try it again until the thought had grown too strong for Eve to resist. He was once again at the tree when Eve came to have another taste of that juice. He was watching as Eve again felt that peculiar feeling... his bright, keen eyes intensely interested as she lay down in the grass. When her hand slid down between her legs and she started rubbing herself, the snake slithered over and put his mouth next to her ear. "What are you doing, my dear? Did you find something that is fun to rub with those little fingers of yours?"

Eve found her throat dry, but managed to get out a choked, "Yes." She rubbed herself first with just one finger, then with two as a feeling of intense pleasure started to wash over her body.

"But, what if your brother followed you here?" the serpent asked with a voice of cunning beyond her ability to discern. "What if he is watching what you are doing, my dear? Would you like him to see you like this? Would you like it if he watched you touching yourself?" Eve had her eyes shut tight as she imagined Adam there, confused but fascinated by what she was doing. She spread her legs open wider, rubbed herself harder, and threw her head back as that wonderful feeling of release once again gripped her body. 

It wasn't until after several more trips to the tree, and several more releases of pleasure, that she had brought the fruit home. Adam had appeared unsure of what his sister was doing as she stood in front of him, holding the fruit that he knew to be forbidden. There was a strange, watery look in her eyes. It was like she was laughing, but the happiness was a little bit different. He was older than her, so he should have realized that something wasn't quite right.

She convinced him to also just taste the juice, first showing him how to do it as she sucked on the skin. For some reason, Adam very much liked how Eve looked as she did that. His eyes focused on her tongue lapping over the smooth surface and her wet lips as they spread over the roundness of the fruit. It stirred something strange inside of him. When she handed it to him, though, Adam was less sure. She urged him to just try it, telling him that she had drunk from it several times already. Finally, he put out just his tongue and took only the smallest taste. He also found it to be delicious and pleasurable. He squeezed out more, letting it run into his mouth. 

As he drank, Eve watched his eyes also change just a bit. She could tell that the juice was having the same effect on him. She slowly slid a hand over his chest, feeling his skin and rubbing in small circles. It felt so good that she wanted him to try it with her. Taking Adam's hand, Eve slid it onto her own chest then guided it onto her round breasts. She looked down and saw the tips swelling out then looked up and saw that Adam was noticing the same thing. No longer guiding him, he moved his hands around on his own. Soft touches lead to firmer squeezes and eventually his fingers slid up to the tips until he had both her nipples between his thumbs and fingers. Eve's eyes closed and her body arched towards him in response as he pinched her swollen, rigid teats. It was clear she liked what he was doing to her.

Eve's hand that had been roaming his chest moved lower, sliding down over his belly until she reached that object between his legs that, due to the snake's whispered words, had recently become so very interesting to her. Their eyes both looked down as she touched him there, and both of them were watching with interest as it grew from hard to harder. Eve slid her hand around it, feeling it pulse against her fingers. She took the fruit from Adam and pushed it once again to her mouth as she slowly stroked her hand up and down along the growing length. She sucked hard and fast, wanting to get out whatever drops she could still nurse from it and, not yet understanding why, wanting Adam to watch her do it.

She could no longer remember for sure how she had ended up on her knees in front of him. She thought she had a vague memory of his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down. But what Eve could remember and clearly visualize was how the mushroom head that was now right in front of her eyes had grown so huge, turning a dark shade of purple like she'd never seen. It looked almost scary, pulsing and swelling with a life of its own. She noticed how the smooth tip had a slit then saw that a drop of clear fluid was leaking out, glistening invitingly. It made her mouth water.

Eve knew what to do with that. She leaned forward, opened her mouth, and gently ran her tongue under the bottom then up and over the tip. Adam's juice coated her tongue. Eve tasted it, surprised that it was salty instead of sweet like the fruit they had shared. But, Eve immediately loved it. She wondered why Adam had not shared it with her before today.

She looked up at Adam who was watching very closely what she was doing. She took him with one hand and squeezed, wondering if she'd get more from him. When nothing happened, she put both hands on him and squeezed again. Still, nothing happened. "Don't you have some more for me?" she asked him as she looked up, a disappointed pout on her face. "I'd love to get a whole mouthful of that. Please? I only got a little taste! Can't I please have more?"

She licked him some more, hoping that would coax more juice out of him. Nothing started to flow and she started getting desperate, so Eve opened her mouth a little wider and slid her lips slowly around that bulging head, taking only that part into her mouth. Maybe if she sucked a little harder, more would come out for her. She kept looking up at Adam as she did this and saw his eyes take on a dark cast to them that she had never seen before. It was then that he reached down and grabbed the back of her head, pushing himself deeper into her mouth.

Adam didn't know exactly what was happening, but he could feel his balls start to get very tense. He thought that maybe there was more of that juice inside of him. Lots more. Without knowing why, he started to move his hips forward and back... sliding himself in and out of Eve's mouth. That felt so good and then the tense feeling turned into something else. Spasms shook his body. He threw back his head and groaned loudly into the sky. The world began to spin around him.

If Eve was surprised by how much juice was in the fruit, she was much more surprised by the amount of juice that suddenly began spurting out of Adam and into her mouth. She swallowed as much and as fast as she could, but it still kept flowing. She couldn't keep up and pulled herself away for a moment. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she watched more streams shoot out, splattering all over her face. She opened her mouth, wanting to catch as much as she could. Then, as soon as she got her breath, she took him back in her mouth and sucked some more. Eve thought that it was like the fruit... when the juice was gone then there was no more... so she sucked him for a long time to make sure she got every delicious drop.

Eve's hand slid down over her own body and between her legs. Just like at the tree, she found that she was very wet with her own juices. Adam saw what she was doing and also took notice. Like Eve's amazement at what came out from him, he was also extremely interested to find that Eve had her own glimmering liquid that oozed from between her legs. He found himself just as irresistibly drawn to know how it tasted. 

He pushed Eve back and spread her legs open so he could get at that spot. Eve not only let him, but spread herself wider. Her meetings with the snake had already made her aware of how good it could feel when she was touched down there. Adam first ran his tongue along her thighs, licking up the juices that coated her there. He found it very fragrant and delicious. The more he tasted, the more he wanted. He licked further up her thighs, soon seeing that the source of all that juice was the pink, flower-like flesh between her legs. Carefully, he used his fingers to spread her open then ran his tongue all across the exposed flesh. Yes, this was the spot. It was sticky. Delicious. He licked her again, then again and again and again. 

Eve watched at first, but very quickly she felt that same feeling start to come over her that she felt when the snake had rubbed against her. She started breathing fast and her heart pounded. Her hands slid onto her tits and she realized how hard the tips had become. It felt good to squeeze and pinch them as Adam kept licking her. He had moved up just a little, finding a new spot that had swollen out to capture his attention. His focus on that spot sent a shiver through Eve's body and, when Adam sucked her into his mouth it sent her over the edge. She went stiff as a board all over for a moment as her muscles all contracted at once followed quickly by an involuntarily bucking of her hips as she thrust herself up against his mouth. 

Adam didn't know what was happening to Eve as her body started to spasm and shake all over. Suddenly, a fountain erupted from where he had been licking her. He tried to slurp it up as fast as he could, but realized he was missing a lot of it. As he tried to slide his hand under her to catch what he was missing, to his surprise his fingers disappeared inside of her. The effect on Eve was immediate. She screamed loudly, then sat up onto her elbows with eyes wide open in shock and pushed herself even harder onto his fingers. He watched as she thrust herself up and down, riding on his hand like she might ride on a horse. 

She was silky soft, warm, and very wet inside and for reasons he didn't understand it made him grow hard once again. It didn't take him long, though, to figure out why. A new thought sprang into his mind. He pulled Eve up toward him and onto his lap. She was limp and breathless, but when she felt his hardness pressed up against her slippery wetness, she understood right away what Adam wanted to do. Sitting up, she put her arms around his neck. She licked his face, tasting the juices from between her legs. It intoxicated her more than the fermented juice they had drunk earlier. 

"You want to try putting that inside me, don't you," she said to him in a soft, breathless voice. Then, she looked down and saw how big Adam's rod had once again grown. Eve slid a hand between her legs then slid a finger inside herself. It was so tight. "I'm not sure if it will fit," she said to him. "It's really, really tight little hole and that thing of yours is huge." Her eyes lifted up and looked right into his. "I'll try, but you may have to push it in. You might have to push it really hard, OK?"

She got up onto her feet and squatted just over him, putting her arms around his neck to help support herself. They both looked down as Eve moved herself just above Adam's hard pole that was sticking straight up in the air. She moved in small circles, letting him first rub against her opening. "Are you sure that's what you want?" she asked him with complete innocence while at the same time pressing her breasts into his face. "Do you really want to put that inside of me? Is that what you want to do?" When she felt Adam's hands slide onto her hips, she got her answer. 

He pulled her down hard and they both cried out loudly as he popped just barely past her opening. The feelings were more intense than anything either of them had ever experienced and it was so strong that it made Eve jump back up, her eyes wide and her mouth open. A searing heat burned between her legs from the feeling of being stretched open by Adam's thick pole. She panted hard, at first looking down in complete disbelief that his monstrous snake had fit inside her. After a short time, she looked up. Their gazes locked, and she realized immediately what was coming next. 

"Again," Adam said to her as he pulled her down onto him, once again plunging as far as he could. This time, he got almost halfway inside. It felt so good to Eve, but at the same time she once again felt like she needed to get away so she lifted herself back off of him again. "More." Adam almost growled it this time and pulled her down again, not waiting for her to look ready. He buried himself even further, nearly all the way. Several more times, and then all on her own Eve slammed herself down as hard as she could. She shrieked in a mixture of delight and pain as she felt like he was tearing her open. She finally had taken it all.

Adam held her firmly in place for a moment, not letting her jump off right away. "You did it," he whispered to her. "You got it all, didn't you. Now, let's try it again." As soon as he loosened his grip, Eve slid back off then rammed herself back down onto him. Her body jerked a little, bucking up against her brother that she was straddling. Eve loved how it felt having Adam's hard rod plunged deep inside of her. With a little twist of her hips, she tilted herself forward and started rubbing up against him without letting him go.

Now it was Eve that was urging on Adam. "More," she said to him, sliding up then ramming back down. "More." This started a rhythm. "More. More. More. More." Now Adam and Eve were both locked in the same desire. She bounced herself up and down while Adam grabbed her around the waist to help her, pulling her down onto him as he rammed himself up into her with as much force as he could. Eve changed her rhythm ever so slightly so she could meet his upward thrust. Their bodies slammed against each other and Eve's fluids flowed so much that it coated both of them. 

Eve could see the dark look in Adam's eyes return which made her think that maybe more of that sticky fluid was going to come out of him. She began bouncing faster and faster, and with a rough, breathless voice she urged him on. "Yeah. That's it. Just like that. Don't stop, keep it going. I want it. Give it to me! Give it to me, deep! Just like that. I want it deep! Yes, yes, yes, YEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!" Eve's body went hot all over and she realized that she was once again going to shoot a fountain of fluid, this time all over her brother's thick rod ramming inside of her. She squealed loudly as the eruption began.

Eve's body shook and, as Adam watched her gush fluids once again, he could feel that tight little hole of hers tighten down hard onto his shaft. It felt too good and this time Adam knew what was coming. His balls began pulsing and he roared in delight as he felt streams of liquid pulsing up and out of his rock hard shaft. A moment later and Adam buried himself, pumping a huge load of sticky fluid deep inside of her. Eve was no longer fully aware of what was happening, but remembered later how her legs shook as she felt him filling her. She knew that she had loved it, and that's all she knew for sure. When he had finished, they collapsed into each other's arms, gasping for breath and bodies flushed with the hot excitement of their carnal delight. 

--------------------------------------

Watching from just beyond their view in the thick forest, the man with a gray beard that Adam called "Father" and that Eve called "Daddy" watched his adult children fucking like wild animals. He recognized the look in Eve's face as she screamed in orgasm... the same look that her slut mother had when he -- or anyone else that happened to be around -- gave her a good hard fucking. He couldn't believe his eyes. After his wife had left, he'd set down rules to make sure this wouldn't happen. He didn't want to admit it, but Eve was just like her mom.

They had to be sent away. There was nothing else to do. Punishment wouldn't help... she was her mother's daughter. This would happen again and again. It wouldn't just be Adam, either. He knew that there would soon be other men that Eve would seduce. Feeling how hard his own cock was from watching her just now, he worried that it might even include him. He couldn't stand the thought of watching his daughter's degeneration into debauchery.

So, they went away. The sheltered life they had known was gone once they were out in the world. Adam had it very hard, but Eve quickly found plenty of men that were willing and ready to take care of her. Of course, they wanted something, too, but Eve was more than willing to give them whatever their desires demanded. She found that their pleasure was most often her pleasure, and that even the occasional pain carried it's own strange kind of reward. 

Later, she had children including one named Cain and one named Abel. That story... well... that's also very interesting... but it's a tale for another day.