Two Days

A bit of sci-fi erotica I wrote when I realized I had no experience writing erotica.

But like everything else, continued efforts lead to rewards….

I slapped down the gloves and kicked off the boots as soon as I got inside. The air in my unit had a pleasant, almost Terran scent to it. Working in the artificial stuff… it gets into your skin and your hair, and no matter what they tell you, the scent just doesn’t shift. I had planned for a long, relaxing shower; I had the credit to burn for the water.

I’d slipped off my shirt and was setting the oven to make sure I had a meal as soon as I was clan, when the com chirped. It had that little tone that told me it was Kate. I half-smiled and tapped the node at my wrist to consent to the link, but only audio; I didn’t need the full link to give her the olfactory of me fresh off work.

“Hey handsome.” Her voice was over 350 million miles away, and yet so close I shivered involuntarily.

“Hey you,” I said. “Just caught me walking in the door.”

“Only two more days.” I could hear the smile in her voice.

She couldn’t see me nodding, “And a big bonus. Going to take us out as soon as I get home.”

There was a pause.

“Is that all?”

I puzzled at why she’d ask. “It’s a big bonus…?”

“You’re not even looking.” She pouted.

I frowned, then tapped at my wrist for a full link; she’d obviously paid for visual at her end.

The scent of spices drifted through my senses as I stared off into blank space. She’d paid for the entire package. I smiled. Then I blinked.

“There. You like?”

Kate’s pale skin was wrapped in a black kimono that came just above her knees and just to her elbows. The red obi held it only lightly shut, and the opening at her throat v’d down to offer the hint of enticement; it was pretty apparent she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it.

My breath must’ve caught in my throat, as she smiled wickedly. “I thought you might. I know what Daihun did for you…”

It had been the movie we’d watched on our second date. Right before I’d been called up to Jupiter. We’d made out like teenagers after the movie was over, but again… Second date. We’d assumed there’d be more.

“The things I’m going to do to you…” She said, quoting the film, even in the sultry tone of voice the star had used.

I made sure the tactile link was active, and reached out, my hand feeling like it was brushing silk. Her grin became more feral, and she leaned in. I could feel her breath, hot against the flesh right behind my ear. She whispered, “Do you like it?”

I nodded, then realized her view didn’t give her that response. I started to answer in the affirmative when the tactile link simulated the feeling of Kate’s teeth gently nibbling my ear. The response became a moan.

“You’re killing me here,” I said.

She giggled, and released her love-bite, “Only two more days.”

My pants fell to the floor. “I’m not sure I can-”

She took a step back, “Oh no.”

I froze, my underwear half off.

“No what?”

“I have your bio-feed going. I want you all ready when you come back. If you come now, then you won’t be as excited when you finally get here.”

“I promise,” I said, “I’ll be plenty excited.”

The tactile link almost made me twitch as I could feel ‘her fingers’ gently trailing down my chest. “If you say so,” She said. Then the touch paused. I could almost feel the gears in her head turning.

“Only I get to touch you.” She said.

I was going to protest, but her fingertips traced downward.

I shivered as I felt the odd dichotomy of her gently taking my cock in her hand, but still feeling the briefs there. I was quickly completely naked; I know some people are into the odd sensations that can come from the tactile versus reality, but I’m not one of them. Kate chuckled, “Mmmm, so hard, so hot… Can’t wait…”

She began stroking, and my eyes rolled back into my head. I’d been almost puritanically faithful for the entire time I’d been at the station; release had been self-and-manual only. My eyelids fluttered closed.

The stroking stopped. For a brief moment, I panicked at the thought that the signal had been glitched, but then I heard Kate’s quiet voice again.

“Uh uh. Keep your eyes open.”

I opened my eyes. She’d waited for me to do so. The stroking continued as her free hand came up to pull the kimono’s shoulder down, exposing her ivory skin and the serpent tattoo that coiled down the side of her body. The beginning of the slope of her left breast was in view, and the silk of her clothing slid with maddening slowness, which was mirrored by the slowing of her strokes.

“You’re killing me here.” I gasped.

Her voice dropped from the seductive, husky pretense. “It’s been just as hard for me, Thomas. But it’s only two more days.”

She released her hold, brushing the fingertips along my shaft. “Only two more days.”

Her face wasn’t the sultry seductress anymore. It was Kate, the girl I’d fallen in love with, the girl who liked to tease, but also knew how to fulfill the promise given by the tease. The girl I’d sworn off all others for while I was here at the station.

“Two more days, kiddo.” I said. “Then you better book out several days off.”

“Already done, sweet.” She said, pulling the shoulder of the kimono back up. “And I’ll make sure this outfit is warm and ready.”

I could feel her lips against mine, gentle, soft, but with just a touch of that hunger.

“Two more days.” I said.

“Counting the minutes.”

The contact clicked off. I sighed. It’d have to be a cold, cold shower.

“One more day!”

I’d been shuffling through some last-minute paperwork on my way to the shelling stations when the cheerful voice rang out from behind me. I smiled as I turned.

“Yep. Just one more.”

I also took an involuntary step back. I knew Zipora was born a spacer, and thus had a much smaller personal space than most. She was tall and willowy, and her close proximity didn’t help keep my mind from drifting a bit.

“Heading back to Kate?” She inquired. She laced her fingers behind her back and rocked her shoulders back and forth in almost child-like glee.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “It’s been …”

“Too long?” Zipora’s voice and gaze dropped a little, but only for a moment; the innuendo was obvious, and there was no need to hammer it home.

“Something like that.”

“Something like that.” She echoed, nodding. “Didn’t have to be.”

Zipora had flirted with me when we’d both first arrived. I’ll admit, I did a little flirting back, but in a completely friendly way. Unfortunately, it quickly became obvious that she would’ve liked a little more flirting and a little less clothing between us. She was tall and willowy; not exactly my type, but I would be a terrible liar if I said I hadn’t felt more than a little tempted.

After one night of the two of us drinking and swapping stories about our homes, she’d pushed the issue a little fast, and, after breaking away from a kiss, I explained about Kate, and moreso, I explained that I wanted to remain faithful. Zipora was disappointed, but understood. Unfortunately, ‘understood’ still meant she hit on me from time to time. Like right at that moment.

Her grin, her expression, were both offering and questioning. I once again took a step back. “So, back to Saint Louis with you?”

She had the good grace to only look disappointed momentarily. “No, my boyfriend asked me to stop by first for a few days. You’re not the only one who’s been up here a little too long.”

Again, that fey little smile. “Lucky guy.” I opined.

“You don’t know the half of it.” She smiled. “But hey, only one more day! Let’s get it done!”

She turned on her heels and jogged off towards the com center, leaving me with my paperwork. One more day. I had to keep myself distracted.

As it turned out, it wasn’t that hard. This wasn’t my first jaunt planet-ward, nor would it be my last, and while the pay was pretty good, the paperwork was endless. Everything we did had forms attached to it, and on the last day before transport? It was the forms that stated that you’d filled out all the earlier forms, then the forms swearing that you didn’t forget to fill out any other forms. Maddening, really.

But the day passed without any particular incident. The work got finished, I double-checked to make sure the pay-out (minus all the fees; communication, personal suite, teleport cost) was going into my account, I took the anti-vertigo meds for the trip, which left me a little loopy, and, an hour before leave-taking, I made my way to the platform.

There were five of us going back that day. Myself, Zipora, Mansley from security, and two others from the shell that I don’t think I ever interacted with.

I gave Mansley a nod, “Getting away from all this as soon as possible, huh?”

He nodded, looking down at his gray suit. The gloves and the high-buttoned collar were starched to a razor crispness. “I don’t ever want to see a security outfit again.”

I could understand. Mansley, despite being built like a cybered-out professional combatant, followed a lot of Earth communication, most of it dealing with the fashion trends. I made a mental note; I’d need to get some gloves once Kate and I were tired enough to want to go back out into public again.

Zipora looked a little more out-of-it than the rest of us. The anti-vertigo drug is completely necessary; hyperspace vertigo can quickly become permanent. Thing is, the meds can leave you a doped-out monkey for a day or two. I hoped her boyfriend would look after her well. I gave her a little smile, and she gave me back one that was considerably more queasy than usual. Her voice was a bit slurred as she said, “Let’s get this over with.”

We each stood on out place on the platform, and responded to our name and ID numbers. The door was sealed, and the energy matrix powered up. Then we got forced through what felt like a red-hot blender at post-relativistic speed, and ended up on Earth.

We left decontam together, one of the pair I didn’t know leading the way. There was a small handful of people at the terminal; we were the only humans in the first beam, but there would be more coming, and families and loved ones waited impatiently.

Zipora stumbled past me, and a linebacker of a man hurried to the edge of the ramp to guide her down. The boyfriend, I assumed.

I didn’t have too much time to think about it as Kate burst from the crowd and leaped into my arms. I spun her with the momentum, thankfully managed to keep my balance, and kissed her hard, a pleasant little mew coming up from her throat.

Mansley walked right past us, mid-kiss, and took the gloved hand of a dark-skinned beauty who smiled at him and fluttered her eyelids as he kissed her fingers. I released Kate, and began to realize that she and I were getting some stares.

“Things changed while I was gone…?”

Kate smirked, and looked to the crowd, “Oh… Yeah. Uhm… Don’t worry about it. Just take me home and ravish me, okay?”

I suddenly didn’t care how Victorian things were looking. Kate gave a whoop of amusement as I hoisted her over my shoulder and walked briskly to the nearest tram.

We sat in the back, and kisses were exchanged amidst odd glances from people looking back our way. It grew slightly awkward, and finally, as we emerged a block from her home, I had to ask. “What’s going on? Why all the dirty looks?”

Another kiss followed, but Kate grinned demurely afterward, “Sorry, Thomas. It’s been weird here. People…” Her voice dropped to a near whisper as pedestrians passed by. “Sex is becoming more of a taboo subject.”

“So if I tried to ravish you on your front step-”

“You’d probably get arrested, consensual or no.”

I blinked. I’d been joking. “That bad?”

She nodded in response. “C’mon, let’s get inside.”

We climbed the steps, and I waved my hand in front of the door. There was a buzz, then nothing.

“You changed the lock?”

She waved her hand and it clicked open. “No, but the thing’s fritzed out on me before.”

I frowned, but she grabbed my elbow and pulled, “We can look at it later.” Again, the lean-in-and-whisper, “I want you to fuck me til I can’t see straight.”

It had the desired effect. In two minutes flat we were in her walk-up. As soon as the door closed, I pressed her against the wall, our mouths hungrily searching for each other, locked in a kiss, then a sigh, then another kiss. I’d unzipped her jacket and pushed it to the floor, and she’d done the same to me; despite our chaotic need, our actions were almost synchronized.

We were half-stumbling toward her bedroom. My boots were off, and she was working on my shirt as I gently squeezed her left breast through the thin fabric of the gray t-shirt she wore. She groaned and shuddered, and looked toward the wardrobe in the corner of her room. “Screw it,” she said, “The kimono can come later.”

I tried to form a witty one-liner about who could come and when, but she leaned in and gently nibbled on my neck, something she knew drove me crazy. I let out a cry of penned-up lust, and I could hear her almost-giggle as she continued, finally releasing my neck and saying, “Sounds like I’ve still got it.”

“Not fair,” I mock-grumbled, “I don’t know you well enough for a counter-attack.”

“Not yet.” She teased, then slipped out of her shirt to reveal the creamy expanse of her torso, broken only by the long serpent tattoo that snaked between her small breasts. “Care for a guide?”

“Only if we take the scenic route.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and, with agonizing slowness, began to unfasten my belt. “Oh, you like to take it slow, then?”

I decided to play along, as much as I wanted not to. “I figure we’ve got at least a couple of days, right?”

“Mmm hm,” She said, unzipping my pants, “I’ve got the next four off. Figured I’d plan ahead.”

“Clever g—” I tried to speak, but she began stroking the front of my briefs, and my words malfunctioned.

She giggled, “I am clever, at that.”

My underwear came down, and the stroking continued. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt my skin begin to flush.

“Mmm, even bigger in real life,” she said appreciatively. She then released me and laid back luxuriously on the bed, stretching her body out. She raised her legs and pressed her bare feet against my chest. Without instruction, I removed her pants and tossed them casually over my shoulder. She undulated pleasantly, pointed at me, then curled her finger to indicate my approach. I didn’t need to be told twice.

I was on the bed beside her, tracing the path of the serpent down her chest, pausing to suckle at one of her nipples. She let out a gasp, and shivered. “Well-worth waiting for.” She said. I could feel her moving to remove her panties, and, as I switched to the other nipple, I slid my hand down her torso, the tips of my fingers lightly stroking her waist, and down to her hip.

“Lower,” she gasped, but I wasn’t about to rush. Besides, I still needed a little payback for the tease from two days’ previous. I kissed her solar plexus as I stroked her upper thigh. She began kneading my shoulders, subtly pushing me further down her body.

When I was low enough, she lifted her legs again and put them against my shoulders. “Please!” She gasped, and I acquiesced.

Her taste was tart, but wonderful. Every movement of my lips and tongue extracted a gasp or a shudder from her, and, in turn, each movement and sound she gave made me harder and harder.

Fingers joined tongue, but after a few minutes, she whimpered, “I need you inside me!” I gave her one more long lick, and, as an afterthought, a kiss on the thigh, then moved my way quickly back up her body. To my surprise, she entangled me in her arms and legs and rotated, quickly mounting atop me.

She let out a stifled cry as she slid down, my shaft enveloped by her sex. I felt like I was melting from the heat, but that at the same time I was getting impossibly even harder at the same time. She moved up and down once, as if testing the fit, then shut her eyes and began grinding her pelvis against mine.

“So… Damn… Good…” I gasped out, and she gave me a smile that turned into her biting her lower lip. The grinding turned into her pumping her hips up and down. Soon enough she was reaching between her thighs and pushing herself that little extra bit. She cried out twice with abandon, and then looked down to me. I was so damn close to my own climax, I couldn’t say a word; I made what encouraging noises I could.

I shut my eyes as she continued atop me, and I could feel everything rushing together to a pinpoint behind my eyes. And then…

It froze.

I could feel myself on the edge of orgasm. That frantic, hungry need about to be satiated, but… It wouldn’t budge.

I twisted and grabbed Kate’s hips, moving so I was atop her. My thrusts became more urgent. It was becoming excruciating. At first, the look on my face must’ve been one of exquisite ecstasy, as Kate urged me on, but my seeming dilemma must’ve become apparent; her look grew to one of concern.

She pushed back on my chest a little, and gave me a questioning glance. I could only sigh and hope that the exasperated look of need on my face would be enough.

Kate nodded, and pushed me back a little further. While we’d never had penetrative sex before that day, we’d handled each other, so-to-speak, before I’d left for off-world. She rolled me over onto my back again, and took me in her hand. Bending down, she began to lick the tip of my cock as she stroked it. The need to orgasm became white-hot intense… But would not release.

After a few moments, she stopped. She continued to hold me, but her look was one of confusion.

“Is… Am I… Is it…?” She had a dozen questions that all amounted to the same thing: Was she not getting me off?

I was in an amount of agony that I had to stop. I gently withdrew her hand. “I don’t know what’s happening,” I admitted. “I’m right there. I’m right damn there, and I can’t… I can’t…”

Kate looked concerned, but she rubbed my thigh comfortingly, “It’s okay, love. It’s okay. We’ll cool down. We’ll try again in a little bit.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice, and a brief pause before, “If you want to…?”

“More than anything.” I said. “Just… Give me a few minutes.”

She lay down next to me, and breathed heavily, “You’re amazing, by the way.”

It made me smile a little bit, “You, too.”

She hmmm’d and draped an arm over me, “I could get used to this.”

I said nothing. I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

Kate fell asleep next to me, and, after almost an hour of the pulsation going through my body, I started to settle. I looked to her, and felt her breath against my face. She was gorgeous as she slept, and I shivered a bit, hoping this was just a one-time thing. It had to be.

I slipped out from under her arm, and quietly went into her bathroom. There, I turned on the shower, and, stepping in, I began to fantasize back to what had just occurred. I began masturbating, thinking of her taste, her warmth, her softness, and the heat inside her. I could feel the orgasm building and building, and…

It froze.

Again. Same feeling. I began to panic a little. This couldn’t be happening. Why couldn’t I climax? It wasn’t a lack of desire, it wasn’t a lack of sensation, and it sure as hell wasn’t a lack of arousal on my mind. I just couldn’t come.

I washed until I could calm down again, and slipped back into the bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed.

Kate stirred and moved up behind me, draping an arm over my shoulder. “Everything all right?”

I shook my head, “Something’s wrong. I can’t…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I am going to worry about it.” I said, then suddenly felt incredibly selfish. “Sorry. I… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, love. We’ll figure out what’s wrong and we’ll get through this.”

I took her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers, as I’d seen Mansley do with his lady-friend. Kate held me tight, and a short while later, we were both asleep in her bed.

We spent the next twenty-four hours alternately trying awkward attempts at sexual release and scanning deep feeds to figure out if there was someone or something out there that could help us. We learned, very swiftly, that with the ‘new morality’ in play, finding a doctor, or anything even looking like a doctor, that would even discuss orgasm, much less treat a possible dysfunction of one, would be a time-consuming, almost impossible process. We also learned that the line between pleasure and frustration, usually startlingly thin, is agonizing when it becomes a wall.

In the cool of the afternoon, we both lay on the bed once again, sweating, exhausted. It had taken most of the day for Kate to convince me it was all right not to try to pleasure her during all this; somehow it still didn’t feel right, and that might’ve made things worse, and… Lather, rinse, defeat.

Kate got a twinge-chime on her media. She accessed it and frowned a bit.

“What’s up?” I panted.

“I’m not one hundred per cent sure,” she said, “Could be something, could be nothing. You remember Isaac?”

I thought for a moment, then sat up and nodded. “Guy you dated before me-”

“Two years before you.”

“What about him?”

She pursed her lips, trying for a moment to come up with the right words for the situation. “He… Uhm… Does a lot of work with cyber-sexuality….”

I took her hand reassuringly. I didn’t care about her past, but there were times she was still insecure.

She smiled a little sheepishly, “I guess he watched some of the feeds as well; ones we were asking for advice on. He wants to talk.”

“Where and when?”

She looked relieved, and sent back a reply. A moment later, she nodded. “He can talk in an hour and a half. He lives in the Coriander.”

The bohemian section of town. I nodded, and kissed Kate. The warmth through me wasn’t sexual; it was trust and comfort. For the moment, that was far, far more necessary than anything else between us.

Isaac’s place was a walk-up; this was done more for style than anything else. I was pretty sure there really weren’t any buildings left in the city that didn’t have elevators or transmat. So, stylistically, Kate and I walked up to the fourth floor. The murals in the stairwell were, on the lower levels, pictures of everyday life, but as we raised floors, the pictures took on more sinister visages, all leering and darker shades. The building was eight stories tall; I wondered at the possibility of an inverted Dante’s inferno.

We reached Isaac’s door, which had a garish-looking imp with a huge phallus painted upon it. Neither Kate nor I deigned comment on the irony. I knocked.

A moment or two later, the door swung open, and there stood Isaac. It was a reminder that Kate had a ‘type’. He was practically a mirror image of me, skin slightly darker, hair in cornrows. He smiled a bit wolfishly as he saw Kate, and I felt my hackles rise, just a bit.

“Come in, come in! Or wait, is that the wrong term?” He grinned and winked, and I immediately wanted to punch him in the face.

Kate gave me a ‘be nice’ look, and we entered Isaac’s place.

The entire front room seemed to be wall-to-wall cyber equipment. Diagnostic stations, repair bays, and things I couldn’t even fathom the usage of. Over the hum of the cooling system I could hear something in the background; at first I thought it was people talking excitedly, but after a moment, as it raised in tempo and pitch, I realized it was the sound of enthusiastic sex in another room.

Isaac had the good grace to look sheepish as he noticed Kate and I had heard the noise. He quickly walked over to a console, tapped a button, and said, “Hey, we’re done for the day. I’ll see you both tomorrow, bright and early. We’ll have a third then, too.”

The human sounds cut off, and I swear I could hear a little bit of disappointment in the trail-off. Isaac smiled at us both again, “Gotta put food on the table, and the more the great unwashed masses -say- they don’t want titillation in their lives, the more the demand goes up from those who aren’t lying to themselves.”

Isaac fiddled with some controls for a moment or two, then, as if he’d forgotten Kate and I were even there, walked into the back room. It was a few minutes later he came back with a crate marked with Cyrillic words and a tangle of cables sticking out of it.

“So, from what I understand, you’re having problems with the gun, as it were? Not firing correctly?”

I wanted to punch him even more. Kate squeezed my hand gently. I held back my more violent desire.

Isaac sat and motioned for us to do the same. As we found chairs amidst the chaos, he untangled cords.

“You’ve got a standard Om-Up spread?”

I nodded, “Got it installed nine months ago.”

He gave a thumbs-up, “After the upgrades. Good choice. Full sensory package?”

I nodded, and he considered this as he took out two long, heavy-gauge cables. “Okay, I’m going to hook you up and run a diagnostic. Should be quick and painless. Then we’ll get to the-” He looked directly at my crotch, “Root of the problem.”

I chewed my lip, and kept reminding myself that this guy might help me.

Isaac walked behind me, and maddeningly made small-talk with Kate while he plugged me in. He then attached the cables to his Frankensteinian lab table, and began tapping away.

“May sting a bit.”

Understatement of the year, of course. For about five seconds, it felt like my entire body, inside and out, was being jabbed with barbed needles. My vision went white, and I cried out. Kate put a hand on my shoulder, and Isaac laughed. “Sorry about that. Keep forgetting to reset….” His voice trailed off as he picked away at his keyboard. “Stupid Russian tech. Never quite got the interface adapted to….”

Again, he trailed off, and the pain shut itself off like a switch. My vision came back, and Kate looked worried.

As if sensing my growing frustration, Isaac held up his hands, “It’s gonna be okay. Diagnostic almost over. Now just follow my finger with your eyes…”

The diagnostic only took a few minutes. Isaac said there was nothing overtly wrong with my software or hardware, though, of course, he said the later dripping with innuendo. He then told me to lean back and stare at a point at the ceiling, and remain immobile. It would only take a few minutes.

Kate cradled my head, and a few phantom sensations began to rocket through my body. There were moments of burning, and moments of pleasure; phantom smells and shocks, and a long thirty seconds wherein there was an unscratchable itch right between my shoulder blades.

Finally, Isaac let out a laugh. “Ah ha! Got it… I think. Go ahead and sit up.”

Isaac carried over a portable screen as I leaned back up. “Here.” He said, pointing at a long graph with a stream of numbers underneath. I stared.

“And that would be?”

He laughed again, “The problem, man! The problem. You’ve got some kind of weird kink.”

I narrowed my eyes, and he laughed, “Not that kinda kink. I mean, you might, though. You never can tell. Do you-”

“Just get on with it.” It was Kate this time, and that surprised Isaac into a more serious frame of mind.

“All right. Here’s the thing. That right there? Some sort-of bad loop in your memory processing. What were you doing at this point?” He tapped a time and date stamp.

I sighed, “I was using the com system.”

He frowned, “Just that? Full-band, perhaps?”

I nodded, “From Jupiter.”

Isaac’s eyes went wide, “Ah! Okay. Well, there was some sort-of feedback that’s caught in your memory input. You’re in a micro-loop. Can’t get past it in that tactile sensor-array.”

A diagnosis, at least. “Can you fix it?”

He shook his head sadly, “Give me a mega-corp lab for about a month, and a budget to match? Maybe.”

“There’s no way to fix this?” I clenched my fists.

“Oh, it might go away on its own.”

“Might?”

Isaac shrugged, “And that could take years. There’s something that got messed up in the communication that caused this. If I had more information on the com-stream, maybe I could narrow it down a bit more.”

“That’d get you a fix?”

Again, the shrug, “It might. I can’t guarantee anything.”

I looked back to Kate, and she gave me a reassuring nod.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get you all the info you need. We’ll be back.”

Isaac’s wolfish smile re-appeared, “Any time you wanna come, please do.”

Kate practically had to drag me out.

Pleasant Wayside was only a few miles outside of town. Anyone driving straight through it would probably see it as a quaint little rural town, full of rolling hills with pre-agra-plant fields and cow pastures. There was even a general store with a rusting sign outside. Anyone who stopped, however, would quickly pick out the hum of a mini uplink station in the ‘worn out’ ice cooler outside said store. A walk through the field would find a translucent solar sub-grid hovering some yards above, and more often than not, the barns had full uplink stations, hot tubs, and plenty of esoteric tech hidden away from public view. The long-and-short of it was that Pleasant Wayside was a place for the wealthy to retreat and not look wealthy.

I was vaguely surprised Zipora’s boyfriend lived here. Then again, she’d never talked much about him; poor form to talk about significant others while flirting, I suppose.

Kate had been quiet most of the way out. As we passed the general store, though, she sighed, “I’m sorry about that. He’s such an ass.”

“It’s okay. We’ll get this fixed. Then we don’t have to deal with him again.”

She looked unsure, but put her hand comfortingly on my arm once again. The unspoken thought that he might not be able to fix me at all still hovered.

Left at the stop sign, right at the bar, (“Real chicken wings served daily!”) then left around the duck pond, which was enormous, and we were at the intersection beyond which was Zipora’s boyfriend’s home. I didn’t even know his last name, so there was no real way to contact him in advance. I’d only hoped Zipora would be present, and be willing to delve into her own work files for us. Luckily, I was relatively certain that, if I had to tell her why, she’d at least be sympathetic.

We pulled into a long drive. The house was set into the side of a hill, and there was a pleasant-looking yard with a pair of goats wandering about in the back. Kate and I walked up to the front of the faux-wood edifice and I knocked soundly on the door.

A full minute passed. I sighed, and just as we were about to turn and head back for the car, the door swung open.

Zipora looked a little disheveled. No shame there; she wasn’t expecting guests. Her gaze was one of slight disbelief.

“Thomas? What’re you doing here?”

“Uhm, I’m sorry, Zipora. I need to talk to you about some issues from Jupiter. It’s sort-of important, and I didn’t know your boyfriend’s last name, so-”

She waved away the explanation, “Come in! Come in!”

Kate, my better tactful side, said, “We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”

Zipora escorted us into the front room, which, in contrast to the outside, was far from rustic The media center in the corner belied any attempt at a Luddite appearance, and the humming of the central air threw off any further equivocation.

“No, no. Danny’s upstairs. We were just….” She frowned, and quickly changed the subject. “What can I do for you?”

I took a deep breath. “Can you… Maybe… Check into some communication logs from two days before we got back? I need some technical information.”

Zipora arched an eyebrow, “I have a feeling I’m going to need a drink. Can I get you anything?”

A few minutes later we sat in the kitchen, sipping wine. I was laying it all out to Zipora, trying to straddle the line between too much information and too little detail. At first, her expression was amused, but soon she was nodding, her gaze serious.

After I was done explaining, she put her glass down and poured herself another. “I think I can get the info for you. You said it’s a kink? A micro-loop?”

“In the tactiles. Right at that moment.”

She nodded, and blushed a little. “Yeah. Okay. If you have your access code handy, I can get you that information. Give me a minute.”

I looked through my data as she left, coming back a few moments later with a work-pad. She hesitated, “I’m really not supposed to be doing this, you know.”

“Yeah. I owe you one.”

She hesitated again. “No problem.” Another long hesitation. “I need to get fixed, too.”

I blinked, and stared at her. She sighed, “I was… Danny and I were fooling around, too. Right at the same goddam time. And I got back, and…” She shook her head, looking away, “I thought there was something wrong with me. I couldn’t climax. Just like you.”

“Oh shit, Zipora… I’m sorry!”

She waved it away, “If your friend is right, there may be a way to fix this. Let’s check it out.”

I gave her my codes and she tapped away. A few moments passed. She fiddled with the controls again. A smile began to creep across her face, just a little. She looked to both me and Kate, “Very nice.”

We both blushed slightly, and I could feel the arousal again; not just from the thoughts of the fantastic tryst with Kate, but because maybe, just maybe, the denial would be behind me soon. We still had two days, after all…

The next few hours consisted of Zipora running her own diagnostics. They were considerably more accurate and less painful than Isaacs, but, to be fair, she had a better idea of what she was looking for.

Danny came down from upstairs, and he and Kate chatted amiably while the tech was being applied. It turned out he and Kate had gone to the same university, and had some mutual friends. I could hear them laughing over stories of past incidents in the next room, and for whatever reason, it made me more relaxed about the whole thing.

The sun set, and the four of us had dinner. Kate explained, between bites of pot roast, that she was pretty sure she’d isolated the ‘kink’, and that she was now running some simulations to see what could be done about it. It’d probably be an overnight thing. Kate and I agreed that I should stay and that she should probably get some sleep; I’d contact her with any significant updates. She gave me a long, lingering kiss, and I watched as she drove out back to the dirt road.

It was almost two in the morning when I walked back into the makeshift lab that Zipora and Danny had set up. Zipora was humming a little tune as she looked at her work-pad. I walked up behind her.

“How’re things progressing.”

She started a little, and looked over her shoulder at me. “Not bad. Things are moving along.”

She gave a long stretch, and turned back to her work. I hesitated, just for a moment, and put my hands on her shoulders. “Thank you for this.”

Zipora gave a positive little response-grunt. I could feel the tension in her shoulders. She’d been at this for hours, practically a machine. Gently, I began to knead at the knotted muscles.

She shivered, and let out another little grunt, so I continued. My thumbs pressed into her shoulders, and then slightly downward. She was amazingly tense, but the muscles began to ease under my ministrations. As my hands got between her shoulder blades, she sighed and turned her head again, “Thank y-”

I kissed her.

It was gentle, and tentative at first, but she didn’t pull away. In fact, she turned her torso to better face me, and better lean into the contact.

After a moment, she broke contact. “We… Shouldn’t. We really shouldn’t.”

I stroked the side of her face, and kissed her again.

She moaned into my mouth, and reached to lift my shirt. Her fingertips were electrical as they traced up my torso. I reached down and unzipped her top, pulling it open. She was naked underneath. Her nipples hardened in the cool air.

Zipora stood and finished pulling my shirt over my head, then threw it to the floor. I pulled off her top and added it to the pile, leaning in to kiss her once again. I grabbed one of her small breasts and pinched the nipple, drawing a gasp of shock and pleasure from her.

She put her arms around my shoulders, and I scooped her up; she was surprisingly light. Breathlessly, she said, “We … We shouldn’t…”

I shook my head, and she, disagreeing or not, reached to push aside her work-pad. I laid her out on the table, and began tugging her pants off. She assisted, and within another moment she was completely naked. I noticed a few scars across her stomach, and reached out to run my fingers across them. She shivered once more, and grabbed my hand, guiding it to her sex. “No fooling around,” She said.

It was a little awkward; I was trying to get out of my own clothes while stroking her slippery folds. She helped by keeping her own hand atop mine; guiding me towards what brought her pleasure. After a little guidance, both manual and verbal, I began to get the hang of it, though, and by the time we were both unclothed, she had both hands free to reach for me, drawing me close for another lingering kiss.

I rubbed the head of my cock against her opening, but she pulled away slightly. She gave me a wicked little grin and shook her head, “Not like that. Like this.”

She turned, and got on all fours, then looked over her shoulder at me. “Fuck me.” She said simply, then repeated. “Fuck me.”

Zipora knew what she wanted, and she wanted it simply. I climbed up on the table as well, and, without further fanfare, sunk myself into her.

She let out a long, low groan, and pushed herself back onto me. I grabbed her hips and began pumping in and out; she was already drenching wet, and the movement was smooth and inestimably hot.

I could once again feel that need, that hunger, building up inside me. It was different this time, though, to be fair, I was more than a little distracted. After a few minutes, Zipora reached under herself and began using her fingers the way she’d guided mine. Her groans came through clenched teeth, and with my own orgasm seemingly approaching, I knew what fresh hell this might lead to.

Zipora’s whole body was quaking, and her gasps and groans were getting more frequent as my thrusts became faster and faster. Finally, I leaned over her and said, quietly but insistently, “Come for me, Zipora. Come.”

And the dam broke for her. She cried out in both ecstasy and relief, her entire body shaking. Her sex was convulsing around me, and I felt the rush of oncoming orgasm….

And it froze.

But this wasn’t about me. It was about Zipora. She thrashed once or twice more, then let loose a long, contented sigh. After a long moment, she pulled off of me, and lay, face-down, on the table.

I heard footsteps from upstairs, and slid from the table, grabbing my own clothes. I barely had my underwear on when Danny came through the door. He stared at me, and then at Zipora, blissfully half-conscious on the table. His gaze turned back to me.

“Did it work?”

Zipora turned herself over, half-slid off the table, then practically jumped into his arms. “Let’s go check!”

It had been Zipora’s theory; that somehow the ‘kink’ loop was all about whatever sexual thought was ‘stuck’ in our heads when the glitch occurred. It took a little embarrassment on her part to admit that, while she’d been cyber-sexing with Danny that night, she had, in fact, been thinking about the fact that we only had a couple days left on the station, and that she’d not been able to convince me to take advantage of that fact; she’d grown close to orgasm fantasizing about me taking her in her lab.

Danny was amazingly understanding.

From upstairs I heard frantic lovemaking; squeaking bedframe, hushed half-whispers, encouraging cries, moans and groans of sensual pleasure. It did little to defeat my arousal, but the nervousness over whether Zipora’s theory would actually work kept my libido somewhat at bay.

Finally, there was a long, simultaneous cry, and a silence as movement seemed to stop upstairs. The silence grew longer, and I held myself back from calling up to see what the verdict was. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long. There was a little bit of laughter, then Zipora’s voice.

“Take Danny’s car, and go fuck that girlfriend of yours for all you’re both worth. Oh, and don’t forget the kimono.”

I rocketed out of Pleasant Wayside like my ass was on fire and my hair was catching, but it still made getting to Kate’s place feel like it took forever. I ditched Danny’s car in a no-parking zone, and almost laughed as I got the strangest looks from people buttoned up to their necks.

The transmat was on the fritz, so I took the stairs three at a time and pounded on Kate’s door. A moment passed. The door opened, and Kate had a wary smiled, “Did… Did it… Did you find-”

I scooped her up into my arms and carried her into the bedroom amidst her own excited cries. I put her down on the bed, then started trying to explain as quickly as I could as I disrobed.

“It was a loop to what I was fantasizing about during the conversation. If we can get through that, it should fix it.”

Kate didn’t need any more instruction than that. She practically ran to the wardrobe and grabbed the kimono. Her pyjama top began to slide off her back, but she then paused.

“Just a second…”

For one brief moment I thought she was going to prod for information about Zipora, and while I suspected that, given the circumstance, she might be okay with it, it would still make things a little awkward right then and there.

But bless her socks, that wasn’t at all what was on her mind. She ran into the bathroom and, a few moments later, as I was completely naked, sauntered out.

“Like what you see?”

She was stunning. I don’t know what sort-of tech she used to get her hair up and her nails done like the girl in Daihun, but she’d mirrored it completely. The kimono was closed all the way up to her neck, just as in the film.

“Very, very much.” I said.

She didn’t walk over; she stalked. I could feel my pulse pounding with each step she took, and when she reached out with two fingers and drew them down my cheek, I felt as if I was about to be very willing prey to her vampire.

I was about to say something else, but her hand suddenly went to the back of my neck and pulled me in for a hungry, needing kiss, and my mind just sort-of short-circuited when it came to anything more clever to express. Her nails clawed down my back, and I fumbled for the obi that held her wrap closed. I was harder than I’d been since I’d gotten back to Earth. I needed this so very badly, and from her own little whimpers, it sounded like Kate did, too.

She partially opened the kimono, and I kissed down the side of her throat, down once again past the serpent that coiled past her shoulder. The silk of the garment brushed my cheek as I kissed between her breasts, then it slid to the floor completely.

“Fuck, Thomas! Oh ghods!”

Kate had reached down and taken my cock in her hands. It was pulsating, almost quivering with lust. She gave it a gentle stroke, then smiled wickedly. “You’re going to explode!”

“That’s the plan,” I said, and without much fanfare beyond that, we fell into a tangle of arms and legs on the bed.

Her need, I found, was as great as mine, but this time there was no tease, no attempt to hold back anything. Tomorrow, or the next day, we’d begin that game once again. We’d have time for subtleties and seductions. Now? It was raw and animalistic; so much so that I’d end up with a little scar on my shoulder from a bite. But that didn’t matter at the time. All that mattered was the moment. And that moment drew closer. And closer.

And then froze.

I almost cried out.

To make matters worse, Kate was on the edge. I could see it in her eyes, feel it on her skin, and when I seized up… So did she. Not in any cyberpathic way, no; she just… Knew. And that was the end of it.

I fell into her arms, and wept a bit. We were screwed. Completely screwed. The mixture of complete sexual arousal and abject despair was playing havoc with my brain and body, and I began to shiver uncontrollably.

Kate held me and shh’d and tried to make reassuring sounds, and I wanted to be reassured, but this was too devastating. We were so close, and now? Who knew. Zipora’s theory hadn’t borne fruit for us. Would I have to go back to Isaac? Would there be no cure at all? I tried to think about how the future would look between me and Kate. I know; in hindsight, sex is sex, and there’s a lot more to a relationship than that. But at that moment? All the agony the sex was causing was the center-and-only of my world.

We held each other for a few hours, not saying a word. We both drifted in and out of sleep. My arousal dimmed. Finally, just before dawn, I disentangled myself from Kate. She looked at me with questioning, almost fearful eyes.

“I’ll be back,” I reassured her (and I think myself as well). “I just need to walk a bit.”

“I’ll be here for you.” She said, and after on the briefest of pauses, she repeated. “I’ll be here fo you. Always.”

I gave her as hopeful a smile as I could, pulled on my clothes, and ventured outside.

The day was already hot, and the mediatrons promised something blistering. There were walkers out already; a mixture of those that desperately wanted to get to their jobs quickly, and those that had nowhere in particular to go. Everyone outside of myself were wearing the gloves and high collars, even in the ghastly temperature.

The world had changed. Sexuality was a distraction. That’s what every advertisement and every bit of fashion seemed to imply. And at that moment? I couldn’t help but think they were right. I stared at the passers-by. None of them looked so miserable. Maybe sex was just too complicated. I thought maybe I should just accept that.

I stopped at a park, not really sure where I was going, and watched the people some more. They interacted just as they had when I’d left, but it seemed more sterile. It didn’t really change anything, did it?

I fed the ducks. I watched people. I began to sweat in the morning heat. I got odd stares, apparently, for daring to bare my hands. I felt like a circus freak; ‘Come see the deviant! See him pay for his unnatural lusts!’ It felt like everyone knew, and everyone was staring.

I couldn’t take that for long, so I got up and started walking again. Within an hour, I was back in Isaac’s neighborhood. There were heat shimmers coming off the sidewalks by then, and almost no shade. I was considering going back to the mad sex-scientist, just to see if there was something to be done; anything. If not… I began to consider Jupiter again. One of the long-trips. Get me away from this all. Live like an anchorite in space. The money would be good, and I wouldn’t have to think about all this.

It didn’t help when I crossed the street two blocks away from Isaac’s place and saw a couple in the entryway of the graffiti’d building. He was young, and tall, and thin, and drenched in sweat. She, shorter, with long dark hair and a near hourglass figure. Neither had gloves, or high necklines. They were kissing, with that passion that comes from a brand-new relationship, and his hand was reaching up to fondle her breasts through her shirt. I could only watch in a mixture of growing lust and jealousy. The sweat was pouring off of each of them, and as my own arousal began to build again, I realized I needed to get somewhere cooler.

I dragged my eyes away from the amorous couple and looked around desperately. Then I saw it. A building that had always meant cool shade for anyone who could afford it. Just down the block was a cinema. I rushed towards it, then froze.

I blinked twice. A desperate plan formed in my head. It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work.

It had to work.

I linked up and called Kate.

“The things I’m going to do to you…”

The throaty whisper sent shivers down my spine, and instantly the arousal came back. Kate leaned in and kissed my neck, then my lips, but this time there wasn’t the ferocious hunger. It was playful; flirtatious. I returned the kiss equally, and as she pulled away, she smiled. She then munched a bit of popcorn.

She wasn’t in the kimono. That was all on the screen. Amanda Marie, the character from Daihun, wore it like a second skin, and promised all manner of things to the lover she’d met in Hong Kong. The two shared adventures and a bed, and my arousal just went higher as Kate and I watched in the back row, though the rest of the theater was empty.

Towards the end of the third act, in which Amanda Marie was betrayed by her own nation, and her lover would be the only one who could save her, Kate leaned in for another kiss. This one was longer, and her nails dragged down the back of my shirt. I put my arms around her and brought her in close, one of my hands then drifting up her side to gently squeeze her breast. She whimpered a little into my mouth, and broke from the kiss.

“Naughty thing.” She said teasingly, but didn’t do anything to break from my ministrations.

“When I’m called on to be.” I whispered.

“Consider yourself called upon.” She grinned wolfishly, and our lips met once again.

The film ended, and it took a few more minutes for our make-out session to end. She then broke the kiss, and took off her top. The lights were still down, but her pale skin almost glowed in the darkness. She straddled my lap, and leaned in, whispering hungrily in my ear, “The things I’m going to do to you…”

I let out a groan, and involuntarily thrust my hips against her. She gave me a teasing smile and drew back slightly, then reached down to unfasten my pants, drawing my cock out and stroking it gently.

“I need you…” I said, my mind short-circuiting in its need to express in words.

Her grin grew wolfish again, “How much?”

I could only groan in response.

“I’ll take that as a good sign.” She said, and shifted off of me so she could pull off the rest of her clothes. I took the opportunity to shuck off my pants and underwear.

Kate sat back down, and curled her finger, beckoning me. I needed no encouragement. I lifted her calves and, with a sigh that came from deep inside me, I slid between her legs, and began thrusting into her.

I tried to keep slow. Lord knows I tried, but I could feel that build-up once again, running like a freight train toward the broken bridge in my mind. I tried not to think about it. I tried to think only about the sensations between myself and Kate. The incredible, tingling, hot, unbearably smooth sensations that were driving me forward inexorably.

I looked down at Kate, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Come for me.” She whispered.

And I did.

It felt like something just snapped, and I was orgasming as if a dam broke. I thrust harder and harder, and the sensation seemed endless. Kate cried out and wrapped her legs around me, holding me hard to her. I cried out as well, the pain and frustration finally succumbing to pure pleasure. I gasped, and shuddered, and then fell into Kate’s embrace. She smiled, and stroked the side of my face. “It worked.”

I couldn’t even speak. All I could do is nod weakly.

It had taken almost every penny I’d had from my bonus to rent out the theater on such short notice, and get them to play an older movie. It was worth it.

I’d finally figured out that, when I’d talked to Kate from Jupiter, it wasn’t the kimono that I’d been fantasizing about. It was our second date, when we’d gone to see Daihun. The second date where we’d made out like horny teenagers. I’d been extrapolating in my mind how much I’d wanted to have sex with Kate before I’d gone off-world, and all it took was, just like with Zipora, to act out that fantasy.

Outside the theater, once again dressed, Kate kissed me and said, “You think you’re up for some more?”

“Why not?” I smirked, “We’ve still got one more day.”

I’m back on Jupiter now. What can I say? I’ve got a job, I go where the job is. Kate and I still link, frequently, and once a month we blow some saved cash for the full sensory. She’s amazing, and I think maybe next time I’m home, we may start looking into something a lot more permanent.

Zipora’s here, too, and while at first there was some awkwardness over the whole thing, she and Danny are still together, and I suspect he’ll be up here before too long. Zipora likes to tease me and Kate with graphic details.

Kate and I still frequent the forums we originally looked to for help, and more and more we’re seeing other people being open about the kink. We tell them our solution, privately of course; Earth is still messed up about not talking about sexuality, or sharing fantasies, so we do what we can to help.

For now, I’ve got a couple more shifts to go. Then it’s back home. After all, that’s where the heart lies.

Only two more days….

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