0 comments/ 36071 views/ 3 favorites Naked Space By: Alii Nui One half-billion years ago an impactor ten kilometers across crashed into the planet Vicksberg, heating its seas and killing off ninety-two percent of the planet's aquatic bio-mass. As far as life on land, nothing above the micro-organism level survived but for a few hundred breed of insects and primitive vegetation. As a result, Vicksburg enjoys a tropical climate with no life deadly or even much bothersome to humans. It was only a matter of time before an enterprising entrepenuer turned the world into a resort. Alex was blissfully relaxed as he lay on the towel which covered the hot sand of the beach. The heat of the planet's sun baked into him, turning his rich brown skin a even deeper tone of mahogany. With his eyes closed he could hear the waves sizzling onto the sand at the tideline, a few meters away. He could also hear voices of other people as they talked and laughed and played on the beach. The sound of music drifted down from the band up the beach at the hotel's bandstand. He felt good. As a matter of fact, he felt great, the best he'd felt in a couple of years. He took a deep breath, smelling the salty air, and exhaled with a contented sigh. An insect landed on Alex's naked and oiled belly. Without opening his eyes he swatted it. A few seconds later he felt another tickle near his navel and he swatted at it again. This time, however, he heard a giggle. He opened his eyes and the world was rose-colored through his sunglasses. Olga sat beside him and laughed down into his face. Her body tanned and equally as oiled as his own, glistening in the noonday sun. She'd been tickling him with one of her coral-pink painted fingernails. "Very funny," Alex said. He reached up and gently pinched one of the rosy nipples which dangled above him. "Hey!" She squeaked, then giggled again. "Are you planning on laying here all afternoon? You do know that there's a whole ocean not five meters away. You have heard of swimming, haven't you?" She flopped down beside him and playfully jabbed a finger into his navel. He swatted at her hand again and missed as she pulled it back. "I came here to rest, not excercise." "Oh? Well if you stay there much longer you're gonna get sunburned on your wiener." "My wiener? How old are you?" Alex looked down at himself and shrugged. "Everything looks okay to me. You'd do better worrying about your own acroutrement. After all, there's so much more surface area to burn on those babies." He said, pointing at her heavy breasts. "Boy, you sure know how to turn a girl's head." She laughed again, plainly happy to be on holiday and with no trouble in mind. "Just don't blame me if it does burn and all the girls start to avoid you." Alex smiled fondly at Olga. His relationship with her had turned into the damnedest one with which he'd ever been involved. The debaucle of their Peacekeeper special service field-training had bonded them in a strange way. One moment they were sexually teasing one another and the next they were behaving like brother and sister. He didn't really mind the sexual tension, but he'd never had a sister and Alex found he enjoyed that sort of intimacy more with Olga. With the flat of his hand he touched her well-tanned plump thigh, the skin hot from the Vicksberg sun. "Are you having fun?" "Yeah," she smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "So, are you gonna come swim with me or what?" "Olga, honey, you don't listen worth a damn. My plan is to stay right here and do nothing. Even if my wiener does burn off." "You let it burn off and I'll stop hanging around you. It's your best feature." He squeezed her thigh and laughed. "It's good to know where I stand." "I'm going back in the water. Bye." She gently pulled one of his sparse chest hairs before jumping up and running away with a laugh. Alex got up on an elbow and watched her go, kicking up flares of sand with her feet, the tan globes of her butt bouncing as she waded into the blue sea. He lay back and put his hands behind his head, then closed his eyes again. Along with four other Peacekeeper special-ops course graduates, Alex and Olga had decided to spend their two-week leave together before they reported to their respective assigments and went their saperate ways. The planet Vicksberg was famous for its tropical warm seas and clear skies, where eight days out of ten were sunny days. Alex, no stranger to luxury, thought the place bordered on decadent. Even for a delux resort its facilities were superior. He felt the famous resort hotels of his homeworld Mars could take a lesson. And the best thing, Alex thought, was that the they'd been at Vicksburg for only two days. Twelve more to go. The sun grew hot on his chest and Alex rolled on the beach towel until he was on his stomach. Finding a comfortable spot, he sighed, contented. He'd drowsed well toward sleep when a voice pulled him back to wakefulness. "You're going to need more oil on your back. Your towel must've soaked it off." Alex turned his head, opened his eyes, and saw Yvone Rashad for the first time. With her standing over him he stared straight up at her ponderous breasts. Ye gods, those can't be factory-issue, was his somewhat unchivalrous thought. After a moment he took in the rest of the woman. She was about average height, light brown hair, pretty long-lashed black eyes. An attractively exotic hooked nose was positioned above lips which were slightly puffed. Her body was atheletic, Alex could see the double row of abdominal muscles beneath the tanned skin of her belly. She wore flip-flop sandles on her feet and aquamarine varnish on her toes. "Hi," he said. "Hi, yourself," she cheerfully returned. "I'm Yvone. Yvone Rashad. You're Alex, right? I noticed you the other night in the Magician Room over at the Starfall. Olga and I chatted for awhile but I but didn't get a chance to introduce myself to you." As with Alex and Olga, she too was on holiday, recuperating from her latest age reversion treatments. "I'm sorry you didn't. Oh, I'm being rude," he scooted over on his towel. "Please, sit down." "Oh, I don't want to intrude." "Making room for a beautiful woman is not considered an intrusion where I come from." Inwardly, he cringed some, the statement sounding like a clumsy pick-up line. However, Yvone's smile broadened briefly at the compliment. "Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll sit down only if I can oil your back for you." "Great," Alex said, with a casualness he didn't feel. "That would be very nice of you." Yvone sat down on the towel and kicked off her flip-flops. She picked up the squeeze bottle of oil and squirted some of the pale amber liquid into her palm. He felt her cool fingers touch the warm oil to the hot skin of his back. Alex felt his cock stirring and was glad that he was lying belly down. "You have a very long back," she said, as her fingers began to knead his skin. Alex had to clear his throat before he spoke. "Yeah. It's where most of my height comes from." "Well-developed muscles too," she opined as he strong fingers continued to work in the oil. "But I suppose special-operation training would get you into pretty good shape." "Guess so." He closed his eyes again. With her hands on him, traveling up and down the long muscles of his back, and the sound of her low-pitched sultry voice, Alex felt his growing erection jerking stiff, trapped between his belly and the towel. "You're tense," Yvone accused. "Am I?" His voice had come out somewhat higher than normal, close to squeaking. "Yes, your muscles are all knotted up." She pressed the pads of her fingers hard into his back. "See, here and here." Her fingers dug into the knots. "Ow." He jerked away a bit, careful not to turn over. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." "It didn't hurt, exactly. Just surprised me. Don't apologize." "It's been awhile since you've had a massage, hasn't it?" "Yes. For the last month I've either been studying for exit exams in the simulators or taking them, or doing field training. There hasn't been much time for nonessentials." "Then you're in dire need," she said in her warm voice. "I'll give you one." "No, you don't have to go through the trouble." "I insist. Just relax. I'm very good at this. You'll enjoy yourself. Come on, be a sport." Yvone threw a leg over him in a straddle, resting the chusions of her shapely rump on the back of his thighs. Alex grunted as he felt her weight settle on him, her softness against his own naked skin, and then her bodyheat soak into him. For one frantic moment he thought he would just lose it and ejectulate onto his beach towel. Get a grip, he warned himself. But as her hands begin to press and squeeze the muscles of his neck, he couldn't help but relax under the wonderful pressure. "This feels too good," he groaned. "See, I told you you'd enjoy it. You should have it done more often," she gently admonished. "A massage is not a nonessential." "I'll remember that." He fell quiet, enjoying her hands on him. The more Yvone loosened the masses of tension in his muscles the more lanquid Alex became. The sound of the ocean and the voices of the other sun-worshippers on the beach faded. As Yvone exerted herself he became aware of her scent, a musky and salty fragrance. The natural scent of a woman. It was all just too good. Alex couldn't remember ever feeling so fine. "You're a real angel of mercy," he muttered. "You know that?" Yvone leaned over close and he felt the weight her her breasts settle on his back and shoulders, the hard stubs of her nipples nudging against him. She whispered in his ear. "You're a sweet-talker. I'll have to watch out." There was a smile in her voice. She straighthened up again and the pressure of her breasts lifted away. "You know something," his said in a drowsy voice. "What?" "I don't have fantasies this good." "That's gallant of you to say." "And no one's ever called me gallant before either," he chuckled. "And I suppose no one's ever told you how sexy you are." He heard that smile in her voice again. Alex craned his neck and looked at Yvone out of the corner of his eye. "What'd you say we continue this in more private surroundings." "Why," she asked innocently. "Why do you think?" Yvone moved up on his body until she could meet his mouth with her own. He felt her lips part into a wide smile a moment before her tongue sneaked over his teeth and slide across his own. He tasted her mouth, surprised by the flavor of grape ice-cream, and felt her breath go down his throat. All of her weight was on him and he could feel her short pubic hair tickling the small of his back. # # # Olga had reached her fill of frolicking in the surf. The salt water had gotten into her eyes and begun to sting them. Her fingers were pruned. She waded to shore, her feet leaving deep impressions in the silver sand of the shore. She brought a hand above her eyes, shading them, and scanned the beach for Alex on his towel. She saw that he was still where she had left him, but some amazon had him pinned and appeared to be kissing him. "Well, ain't this some slap-happy crap," she muttered, and became aware of a hot streak of jealosy within her. Olga told herself to calm down. After all, it wasn't as if Alex was her private stock or anything. They were just good friends, buddies, she told herself. Even if they had been lovers, Olga reminded herself that her culture didn't even believe in monogomy. But that doesn't mean I have to like it when some giant bitch comes along and invites herself to a piping hot piece of Alex, she thought. She stomped out of the surf and up the beach, nearly tripping herself in her haste. Yvone was the first to break their kiss. She sighed as their lips parted and rolled off Alex. Only her thigh and lower leg remained draped over his back. With her legs parted he could feel her wetness against his hip. Her lips had grown red from the kiss and her bronze face had flushed. Her breasts heaved pleasantly against him. She looked steadily into his eyes. "I know you won't believe it but I didn't plan for this to happen." Frankly, Alex didn't give a damn. It was happening and that was enough for Amboseli Mimm's little boy. "I want you," she said, huskily. "And I want it to last a long time." Alex never got to issue a reply because it was then that Olga returned. "Well, hello, honey. Miss me?" Alex looked up. "Olga." His voice was thick and his eyes dreamy. "Hi," he said, stupidly. "Hi." The pink tip of Yvone's tongue licked at the corner of her mouth. She didn't seem particularly distressed by Olga's arrival. Olga hands were fists resting on the curves of her hips. She scowled down at them both. "You two seem to be getting along just fine. Making out with my guy, Yvone?" Yvone smiled comfortably and stroked Alex's arm. "Don't you believe in sharing?" Olga opened her mouth to deliver a hot retort and then closed it again. She scowled speechlessly down at them, then laughed. "Take him," she said, throwing up her hands. "Save him from a sunburn in an awkward place. Just produce him in time for dinner." ### She screamed when she felt the wide head of his cock forcefully bury itself between the fat lips of her cunt, invading her drenched slit. They had been fucking for the better part of an hour when he took her doggie-style on his bed in the hotel room. Her round and firm light-brown ass under the guidance of his large hands. A deep-pink blossom on each wobbling cheek marked where he had spanked her. Her big tits, reddened from Alex's rough handling, swung wildly under her. Yvone's scream trailed off into a lustful sob as she felt her pussy spasm again around the wide cockhead, for what felt like the thousandth time. "Oh, Alex," she shuddered, feeling her juices gush around the huge snout and wide shaft of his dark dick. "Yes, baby," he grimaced through clenched teeth. His fingers made deep dimples in the soft flesh of her ass. Her tightness and molten heat sending waves of electric pleasure up his thick worm-veined pole. Yvone looked back at him, over her shoulder. Her exotic dark eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "Baby," she moaned. Then she blinked, and the crystal tears cruised down her flushed cheeks. "Fuck me, baby," she sobbed. "Fuck me numb." "Is that what you want, slut?' He hissed, then smacked her shaking ass again with a hard hand. "Tell me. Tell me what you need, bitch." She yelped and bucked forward, reacting to the sting of the spanking. "I need," she rasped. "I need that big black cock bad, baby. Take all my pussy with that giant cock, own it." Alex could only grunt in reply as he felt the woman's walls take him in a vise-grip so hard he felt the small cords of her vaginal muscles ribbed along her tunnel. "Your pussy is was too sweet," he growled down at her, his dark cock seeming a scale-level too big for her. But her nether lips had lewdly stretched wide enough to accommodate his mammoth girth. The deep brown shaft was generously coated in her honey. Another chuckle rumbled up out of his broad chest. "Too goddamn fine." They fell into a rythum, a long deep stroke at moderate speed. While Yvone began to mumble incoherently as she bit into one of the pillows, Alex knuckled sweat from his eyes. He could smell their mixed scents, the smell of fucking strong on the air. He slapped Yvone's sweaty ass again, deepening the pink of her buns, forcing a yelp from her. Yvone had the best pussy he had ever fucked. And Alex been having sex since the onset of puberty, Martians weren't puritanical as a culture. He had never taken a woman with the developed musculature and vaginal control of Yvone. Not to mention her all-out enthusiasm. He reached out, grabbing a fistful of her sable hair, wrapping it around his hand, using it as a rein to pull back her head so that her panting mouth humg open. "You're my little cockslut," he snarled close to her ear. "Yes," she grunted. "Say it." "I'm your cockslut. Your dick-hungry bitch." Yvone went crazy on him. She was both slamming herself back down the length of the long pole and rotating her ass, setting up a double pattern of friction on the sensitive glans of the Alex's dick as he sawed in and out of her. A wet spot developed under them as Yvone's churned juices and Alex's precum was pistoned out of her cunt and dripped off the heavily swinging fuzzy sac of his fat balls. "I'm gonna cum," Yvone moaned. "Not without permission, bitch." She groaned, both in need and hieghtened aroused reaction to his command. A fresh gush of her cream coated his cock. "May I cum," she whined. Alex, his dark skin sheened in heavy sweat, chuckled. He could feel his massive cock swelling fatter in the kiln of Yvone's active pussy and knew he was close to his own climax. "Please," she whimpered, soulfully. It was too much for him. "Cum," Alex growled, then slid himself completely in her. The vast snout of his cock banged against her backwall. "Cum," he repeated himself, and exploded, splattering her quivering chamber with his super-pressurized overheated semen. He came in strong fountains of lava-hot jism. Coating her cunt, then flooding her with thick and sticky wads. As he stroked, the cum began to foam and bubble out from around the seal of Yvone's pussy. For her part, the woman shuddered along her entire frame, her right hand pulling and twisting her clit as she orgasmed. Yvone's slick body jerked and rammed back against Alex, impaling herself brutally down and around the cock, energizing her climax until a light of purest white detonated behind her closed eyelids and she fell forward, her body lifeless but for her rapid breathing. Alex's cock drooled cum as Yvone's heavily-creamed pussy pulled away. He rolled over and lay on his back, catching his breath, feeling his cock throb in the aftershocks of the pounding it had given and taken. He closed his eyes, intending only to rest them until her regained his strength. He was asleep within moments. Beside him, equally drained, Yvone also fell into sleep. ### Alex sat with his back against the headboard. Yvone's head lay in his lap, and he gently traced the shallow spiral of her ear with the tip of his finger. With his other hand he lightly, slowly rubbed up and down her spine. He couldn't seem to stop touching her, couldn't get enough of stroking her satin skin. Although Alex had known other women who became very sensitive after climaxing, who couldn't stand post-coital stroking, Yvone didn't seem to mind. She hummed with pleasure beneath his touch, encouraging him, her body completely at rest. While Alex caressed her, Yvone delicately ran her own hand down his leg. His body was not very hairy, and what hair there was lay soft and fine hair on his dark young skin. She rubbed from his inner thigh down to his knee and back up again, tracing circles and curly-cues. Outwardly relaxed from their lovemaking and nap, a thread of anxiety nevertheless ran through Yvone's thoughts. She hadn't expected to be moved so by Alex. She hadn't anticipated anything beyond physical attraction. This unexpected tenderness from him and toward him had not been in her plans at all. From the moment she'd seen him in the hotel's casino lounge, Yvone had recognized Alex as a member of the ruling Martian Mimms family. She knew he was the prodigal son of the most powerful family in Sol Space, Alexander Ilmoran Mimms. On the spot, Yvone had become determined to get his story, it was simply too good an opportunity to ignore. But somewhere between approaching him on the beach and going to bed with him Yvone's resolve, not to mention her professional ethics, had faltered. She could've kicked herself. It was ancient wisdom that reporters ought never become emotionally involved with their subjects. While she could be a relentless badger when in pursuit of a story, she was basically an ethical professional. Yvone had never misrepresented herself before. Certainly she'd never sexually seduced a potential interviewee. It had gotten out of hand somehow. Yvonne sneaked at peek up at her young lover's handsome face. Naked Space He's really only a boy, she told herself. What am I doing? You let your attraction for him overpower your good sense, old girl, that's what you did, she admonished herself. Yvone knew her undergoing recent age-retardation treatments was partly to blame. The massive youthful hormone flood which rushed through her system was apparently more than she could consciously control. The sight of his athletic dark brown body against the stark white of the beach towel had knocked her thoughts far beyond the bounds of just getting the story. She chided herself again for reacting like some inexperienced adolescent instead of the mature woman that she was, a woman who had lived for more than a century. Yet, even in the midst of her guilt self-chastisment, Yvone felt that there was something irresistable about Alex. It was something beyond his body, an indefinable quality threaded through his personality, his mannerisms and way of speaking. And she had seen the affect she'd produced in him, had liked the way he'd openly admired her refreshed body. No pretense, no studied coolness, and something in her recently tweeked glands had automatically reciprocated those feelings. Had that been the way it was in her youth, attraction immediately met with attraction? She couldn't honestly remember. In any case, all of that was merely a distraction to the fact that the man who held her in his arms was nearly as young as her own youngest child. What a mess. "Alex." "Umm?" She moved her head on his lap so as to get a better view of his face. "I have something to tell you." "What?" He stopped tracing the relief of her ear and began to stroke the hair at her temple. "Your hair is beautiful. Fine black silk. For that matter your body is beautiful. Your eyes, your mouth, your neck. Your breasts are epic, there's just no other word to describe them. And I love your nose." He touched the point where it hooked downward. "Hush. You're not making my confession any easier." He grinned down at her. "Okay. What is it?" She wanted to tell him. She wanted to say that she was investigating the explosion of the Unrepentent for her newsnet. She even had a name for the piece, 'What killed Amboseli Mimms?' She wanted to tell him what a stroke of luck it'd been to find him here at Vicksberg. Interviewing him meant that Yvone's already huge reputation would increase tenfold, not to mention the fat asking-fee she could set for such a colosso scoop. Ilmoran Alexander Mimms, the poor little rich boy who had been in a starship explosion and lived to tell his tale. Yvone knew enough about the super-rich to be aware of their extreme mania for privacy. She could understand their need to be out of the spotlight. After all, there were always groupies of the rich and powerful, the hangers-on, and the wannabes trying to grab a piece of the fortune, or to gain second-hand fame by being near them. She knew that, as a reporter, she was one of those people. It was in the very nature of her job to be a parasite, to snatch pieces of the newsworthy. His voice brought her back to the moment. "What is it," Alex asked. He had begun to stroke her hair again. She decided it was too far into the game to come clean. There was no reason to bring any of it up. She was on vacation. Leave it at that. "I'm sorry, what?" "Your confession," he reminded her. "Oh, yes. Well, I just had an age-reversion, recently. I thought you should know, I'm more than one hundred." Alex shrugged. "I don't care. It's a relief. I thought you were going to tell me you were married to some psychopathic homicidal maniac who's insanely jealous." Yvone laughed. "No. I haven't been married for a long time." Alex looked down into her eyes, his grin lost for the moment. "Seriously, your age doesn't matter to me." "Hmm. You know what they say about young men who make love to older women." He traced the rise of her cheekbone with his fingers. "No. Why don't you tell me what they say." "They say that such men are searching for a mother-figure." The moment the words were said she regretted them. Alex only laughed. "My mother was nothing like you. How about if we get dressed for dinner. Oddly, I seem to've gained an enormous appetite." She gave him a tender smile. "Me too, and something tells me we're gonna need all the calories we can lay our hands on." ### For two weeks Yvone had watched him. She'd studied the way he ate, how he lifted and held his fork, the way he brought it to his mouth. How he chewed. She'd seen how his eyes sparkled when he was amused, the way his head tilted back when he laughed. And each time their glances had met she'd felt a quiet thrill go through her. Yvone knew she had a killer crush on Alex. She'd known it from the first. And now, at the end of their time together, it seemed to her that the last few, precious days had been foreshortened. It seemed that time had passed too quickly, that they'd somehow been cheated of their due. She sat on one side of the bed in her room, the room they'd hardly left for a fortnight, and watched Alex as he stood before a full length mirror. She could see his reflection and his expression was a sad one, as he dressed himself in his uniform of emerald green tunic and black slacks. Highly polished black boots were on his feet. He straightened the silver infinity button at his collar. The silver lieutenant bars at his shoulders glittered, having caught the sunlight coming through the windows. His many dredlocks fell straight down his back and were gathered by a black leather sheath between his shoulder blades. He tugged at the hem of his tunic so that there were no folds in the garment and he caught her gaze in the mirror. "I love you," he said, deeply serious. "Come with me." Yvone shook her head and lowered her eyes. "We've talked about this, Alex. Let's not go through it again. It's difficult enough to let you go. Don't bring anymore unhappiness into it. You promised." He scowled. "I know what I promised. But if you truly--" "Don't." She interupted and held up a hand, warding off his words. "Don't say it. As ridiculous as it is, I love you. You know I do. I can't go with you, though. You know that too. I have a life outside of this resort." He turned from the mirror and went to her. He bent down on one knee and took her hands in his own. "How am I supposed to leave you?" The openly pleading look in his dark eyes almost broke her heart. "Oh, Alex. You're so young." She pulled her hands from his and put her arms around him in a tight embrace. Her chin brushed his tunic collar when she spoke close to his ear. "I do love you. I can't tell you how much. And I can't tell you how much I'll miss you, how much I miss you already. But you have to go and live your life now. You have to find your path. I've found mine, you'll have to find your own, without me. At least for now. This is your time, baby. You're all fresh and green and you should taste everything in your own way without an old woman like me slowing you down. You're on your way to your first assignment, your adventure's just starting. We'll be together again, lots, maybe so much that you'll grow tired of seeing my face." "Never," he said, with hard passionate conviction. She caressed the sides of his face and then kissed him. "You have my code. You can mail me and tell me all about the exotic worlds you've visited and all the different people you've met and I can live them through you. But for now it's time for you to go without me." He broke their embrace and looked into her eyes. "I'll never love anyone else," he fiercely said. Yvone smiled a bit at that. "If I thought that were true I'd haul you off to a psych-tech. You're a good and decent and sweet man, Alexander Mimms. Those qualities will attract people to you whether you desire it to be so or not. Listen to me, my brave young officer, you'll fall in love again. That's as inevitable as the tides. And you'll find that each love will be unique. My happiness is knowing that I'm included in your life, sweetness. I don't require a promise from you which you can't possibly keep. I'll hold precious this time we've had and I flatter myself that you'll do the same." "And what about you, Yvone? Her brow pinched in puzzlement. "What about what?" "What about you? Will you find someone to replace me?" "No one can replace you, Alex. It's been a long time since I've felt for someone half as much as what I'm feeling for you now. A love like ours is something I thought I'd outgrown decades ago. You've given me a gift which I can't help but cherish. Don't worry about me. I have many friends and a very large family. I'm only alone when I want to be, like I said, don't waste time worrying about me." "I can't help it." He squeezed her hands. "Oh, stop being so sad. It makes you look like a stupid puppy. And get up, you'll muss your uniform." "It's wrinkleproof material," he said. But he stood as she got up from the bed. They held hands and she kissed him softly on the cheek. "Now go," Yvone said. She took him by the shoulders and turned him toward the door. "Go. Don't turn around." After a moment of hesitation he went. When the door had snicked shut behind him, Yvone dropped back to the bed, all her strength gone. For two days she had steeled herself for their goodbye. In her head she'd reheared her speech many times. She had been careful to keep her emotions from boiling over in front of Alex, but it'd all been an act. She hadn't felt in her heart the maturity she'd projected. The irrational part of her had screamed for her to go with him. Yvone had longed to cast off everything, every responsiblity, everything she'd worked to achieve for decades and to go with him. But, she'd told herself that it was the height of lunacy to think that she could relocate to some backwater base station, away from her life, away from the action. And if she had, what would she have done there? She knew she couldn't share the life of a twenty year-old spaceman. She was more than five times twenty, it was a fantasy she couldn't quite make herself believe in. But a part of her, and not just the romantic part, would forever wish that she could have somehow gone with him. # # # At the resort's spaceport Alex climbed into the shuttle which would take him and the others up to the transport in orbit around Vicksburg. There was an empty seat beside Olga, he silently sat down and strapped in. Surrounded by the excited conversation of the others, Alex's thoughts were turned inward. "Well, if it ain't loverboy," Olga said, in a snide tone. Through his misery, Alex scowled in warning. "Knock it off, Olga." "Oh, why so sad, Alex? Don't worry, you won't go deprived. There're women with even bigger boobs all across the Galaxy." He turned to her, ready with an angry retort. Alex knew that Olga had developed a dislike for Yvone, although he didn't understand why. It just seemed that the more time he'd spent with Yvone the sharper had become Olga's tongue. He had warned her off the subject of his affair more than once, but the woman seemed incapable of keeping her sharp and nasty comments to herself. Because of Olga's own free-wheeling sexual ways Alex didn't really understand how she could be jealous of the relationship he'd developed with Yvone. In truth, Olga's negative attitude wasn't precisely one of jealousy. She wasn't upset so much that Yvone had managed to sweep Alex off his feet, but more because the two of them had formed something which had excluded her. Olga was mystified by the emotional mechanics of monogamistic love, despite her great experience and expertise in the physical side of relationships. With rare exception, emotional attachment obscurely threatened her. Alex intuited some of Olga's motivations, and the insight somewhat modified his response. "Just don't screw with me right now," he quietly warned her. "Sure. You got it. I just don't understand the attraction, is all. What'd she do, give milk with those things?" Alex just barely managed to hold his temper. He forced himself to remember that the two of them had helped each other through some rough times. He reminded himself that they were friends. With all of that in mind, Alex's voice was rough but restrained when he spoke. "It's against regs to strike a fellow officer, Olga, but you'd better hear me. The next smartass crack you make about Yvone, I'll do my best to beat the living shit outta you. Copy?" Olga shrank before his anger. "Yeah, five by five. Take it easy. I was only kidding," she said, her tone hurt. "You go too far sometimes." With that he settled back in his seat and closed his eyes as the shuttle lifted off.