by SA Payne
attempting to study.
Then the Network drive had been fixed and the engines no longer were scratching portals for the
Demons to slip through and the entire science of Bio-physics became a quaint, almost old
fashioned side venture. It was agreed that it was interesting to know just why some people were
born with a higher skill ranking but it no longer was important.
Until thirty years ago when an entire town on a colony in the middle of nowhere was found torn
into shreds and their logs and files showed sobbing, terrorfied people speaking of demons and
monsters. There had been no Network drives present to contain a flaw in and slowly, it became
clear that these monsters once thought safely contained in their own space, missed the open
buffet of their human fests. Suddenly Bio-physics was all the rage and the scientific world started scrambling for solutions. Only to discover that a tear between space worn open from the other
side wasn't so easily closed from our side.
Any place now was a potential target as groups and gatherings of humans one by one were
attacked. Survivors only options became to run away, carrying the fears with them and acting
like lightening rods for charging up new attacks. The scientific world went back to the original
research and Ichi's grandfather's theory about high level psis. Successes were slow but it
became a proven fact that a high level human psi was capable of shutting down, containing and
sealing a rift.
Except when they were out matched, in which case the psi was quickly overwhelmed and killed
in horrible ways. Limiting the already shallow pool of people with the skills and inclination to stop the Demons further. And all the while, the place with the highest concentration of psis was
embroiled in a shameful occupation and slowly was being pushed toward extinction.
Ichi didn't fully understand the politics. He was a Concord citizen after all and the idea that any system wouldn't wish to join the Concord boggled his mind. But Avalon, like a handful of others,
clung to their independence. Worse, they flaunted their scorn of the Concord, harbored
smugglers and loosely defined inter-space laws. Ichi was starting to learn it wasn't done
maliciously but it was almost a cultural need for the people of Avalon to cause trouble. If a
garden had a sign reading `do not walk on grass' he was pretty sure they'd take picnics in the
center, if a computer system had fourteen levels of security, he knew they'd find ways to hack in
just to see why, it was just in their nature.
It was deemed that Avalon needed to be reigned in. Why should the Concord go to the expense
of terra-forming a new world to colonize when Avalon was 80% unsettled and filled to bursting
with rich resources. Two birds with one stone and off the Fleet went with boatloads of colonists.
And Avalon, a world of mostly pacifists that had no formal army and no Fleet except for a
handful or merchant ships, was quickly overwhelmed and occupied. All property and land was
seized and given to Concordant Citizen landlords given free rule to civilize the savage
population. Tens of thousands were killed, on both sides, as the occupation pushed the normal
peaceful nature of Avalon too far and they took up quiet arms with an informal militia. The
resistance was met with greater laws, less freedom for Avalon citizens, more restrictions and the
harsher the laws, the more they fought.
Until the Fleet drew a line and dropped the Bare Earth Virus. It had never been used before but
Avalon's isolated nature and the blockade that had been in place for a decade made it a likely
test grounds. The Concord's own citizens were merely collateral damage, expendable and
replaceable. The Bare Earth was insidious. It attached to everything, soil, air, plants, animals, it contaminated everything in an ecosystem so long as it was able to mutate and grow.
The first weeks, and even months, weren't so bad. A handful of the population fell ill, a handful
died, most of Avalon had laughed and teased that the Fleet had underestimated their stronger
constitutions. They Avalon scientists knew better, Bare Earth was only learning their system. The
second wave killed thousands and each wave there after killed more as the virus changed to
become deadly to another segment of the population. Some mutations caused madness, some
killed quickly, others killed with painfully slow. And now cut off from any supportive order, chaos tore what little civilization that was left apart. The occupying clung to control as best they could, fighting the virus and the weakened Avalon citizens. The planet stood on the brink of extinction.
Wiped clean of human life it would only take five years once cleansed for the Bare Earth to
degrade in the eco-system and make the planet habitable again. Five years was a short time to wait when the Concord had been fighting for decades.
It was chance or fate that dropped a street child with no family and no name into the hands of
their doctors. Mercy Shillelagh had proven unusually resistant to the virus but just how the
Avalon researchers managed to find a vaccine was still a closely guarded secret. They saved
their world, their culture and way of life with that vaccine and it gave them a weapon like none
before. As they only people immune, the upper hand was instantly theirs.
And rather than seal themselves away, it was Mercy Shillelagh that stepped forward to combat
the growing danger from the other worldly demons that so plagued the Concord. As the human
with the highest psi rating of ninety four and an affinity for the Demons bio energy like none
before her, she became the founding member of the independent Psi Guard. Following her
example, over half the Guard's ranks were soon filled with Avalon citizens, all working as
independent contractors and making the money required to rebuild their world.
Avalon had used that boost as a spring board. With their world ruined, their natural resources
torn and tainted and decades of clean up and repair ahead of them, they encouraged the
surviving citizens to exploit the one resource no one could take from them. Within a handful of
years, Avalon was producing some of the finest researchers, scientists, computer programmers,
and academic elite anywhere. Their research facilities were of the highest caliber and their
concerns for security meant that they were on a very short list of places that Ichi could bring his very deadly swarm to for a controlled study.
It didn't mean he was comfortable living around the unusual people, even without the added
factor of psychic skills. Their informal ease with each other and their casual approach made him
uneasy. So many from Avalon had lost so much that all of them now were bonded tighter than
family and it often left Ichi feeling even more like an outsider.
So he'd gone and befriended the most casual, most informal and the one person on their little
research station that had the highest psi rating. Will was everything that made Ichi uncomfortable
but somehow, as the years had gone by, it was only around Will that Ichi ever found himself just
being himself.
That didn't mean when he was drunk and just knowing things he had no right knowing, Ichi still
didn't want to kick him. It was unnerving and well beyond intuition. Being drunk himself didn't
ease the unhappy stab of pain or the bitterness of embarrassment at having his secret so
casually uncovered.
"I'm not horny as hell." Ichi protested.
That only dre
w snickers from Will. "What's his name?"
"There's no name to tell." He muttered out around his growing blush.
"Bullshit there's not. Come on, come on, I'm not strong enough to pluck it from thin air, tell me?"
He poured more drink into their glasses and nudged at his reserved friend.
"Andrew."
"Andrew." Will nodded, rolling the name across his tongue. "All this time and I had no idea you had a boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend." Ichi tossed back right away without thinking.
That just raised Will's eyebrows.
"It's just... I'm not..." He sighed and knew Will would never leave it alone until he explained.
"We've just know each since University."
"Is he a bug doc too?"
"No, he's an ecologist." He'd given up trying to get them to not call him a bug doctor.
"Is he, you know?"
"I'm afraid I don't know."
"Sexy."
Ichi ran a hand over his face and prayed that Will would just pass out. "Will..."
"Show me a picture!" He hit on the idea and sat up. "Come on, I know you've got them, don't make me dig in your files!" Will lurched toward the panel access and had his hands smacked by
the less drunk Ichi. "Ow!"
"Stop! Okay, fine, a picture." Part of him wanted the sympathy and part of him just wanted to poke at the wounds a little. He tapped a few commands and the vid screen lit up with a picture
from the last time he'd crossed paths with Andrew.
Will whistled under his breath. The Ichi he knew, always serious, rarely smiling, looked different.
He was relaxed, a shy, half grin teased his mouth and actually touched the slightly almond
shaped, light hazel blue green eyes. The near black hair was crushed under a wide hat that
shaded Ichi from the bright sunshine. He also wore loose, long sleeves and a carefully buttoned
up shirt in an effort to protect his station sheltered skin from the harshness of real sunlight.
Andrew hung across his shoulders, smiling brightly with startlingly white teeth. His shirt was white but cut to show the lean strength of his shoulders and arms. Will guessed that Andrew was
shorter, so maybe five six to Ichi's five eight, but seemed larger just from sheer personality. His skin was darkly black, his eyes a lighter shade of brown and he wore his hair into twisted
dreadlocks that brushed the top of his shoulders. Even Will had to admit the man was
handsome.
"I'm impressed, Ichi, didn't think you had it in you! You two are cute."
"Cute."
"I'm straight and I'd do him. Hell, Amanda would be all over him. Who knew you had such a cute boyfriend."
"He's not, it's not like that."
"Even kinkier, who knew you're into casual sex." Will chuckled and sprawled on the sofa,
enjoying watching the normally unshakeable Ichi squirm.
"It's not, we're just friends. He stuck up for me at school. Entomologist are at the low end of the geek totem pole, I had tech nerds beating me up." He finished the contents of his cup in long
swallows, trying to push down the awkward and uncomfortable memories of his years at school.
Andrew had been several years older and the only bright spot about the time.
"Amanda's cousin, he'd be a perfect part time boyfriend. He's dumb as a box of hammers but
that boy can bench press you."
"No, and I swear, Will, if you send him my name I'll do something awful to you with ants."
"You wouldn't." He refilled Ichi's empty glass.
"I would too!"
"You wouldn't cause it would hurt the ants."
Ichi sighed. "Okay, so I wouldn't, but I can be clever if I have to be." He collapsed back on the sofa and rubbed at his eyes. "God, I'm so horny! It's been almost four years, Will, four years."
"I'm sorry, friend, I really am. As soon as this mess blows over, I'll take some time off, we'll go home for a bit and I'll introduce you around. We'll get you laid."
"I don't want to just get laid, I..." He sighed and kept his eyes shut. His people simply did not discuss things like sex and Avalon, well on Avalon there wasn't much that wasn't discussed. "I'm not comfortable with people. I don`t really like most people."
"No shit." Will teased, laughing again. "You talk baby talk to bugs that would happily eat you alive. I think we're all pretty clear on the Ichi isn't good with folks concept."
"It's not easy for me to be... physical with someone. Andrew and I have a history, we're
comfortable."
Will's laughter stopped. "I do understand." He reached over and took up the access panel for the vid screen. "Here."
Ichi opened his eyes and saw the company logo across the screen. "No." He shook his head.
"Hush, just make a doll, give me some idea what type you like." He'd punched up PETS
companion doll creation site. It would have been more fun to make a living companion but that
page was password protected for customers with bank accounts large enough to accept such a
heavy cost.
"You first." Ichi mocked, knowing that Will wouldn't.
"Sure." He began to click on specifications adding hair and eye color to the generic female form, widening the hips, adding curl to the hair.
"Oh, that doesn`t count, it looks just like Amanda." It didn't, not really, but the doll appearing on the screen was gaining an eerie semblance to Will's wife.
He glanced up and grinned in a silly besotted way. "It does, doesn't it? She's my dream woman, can't blame me for that. Only, I bet the doll version of her wouldn't hog all the covers at night."
"This is pointless."
"Your turn. Taller or shorter than you?" He switched the doll's basic form to male and waited.
"Same height."
"Hair color?"
Ichi sighed. "Brown."
"Eyes?"
"Brown."
"Build?"
"Average."
Will glanced up. "Ichi! I'm taking this seriously."
"You're drunk."
"So are you."
"Point taken." Ichi glanced to the bland, ordinary looking man taking form on the screen. "I'm ordinary, ordinary suits me."
"This is supposed to be fun, what's your ideal? And you aren't ordinary, you talk baby talk to swarms." He cleared the image. "Now, taller or shorter?"
Ichi dropped his head back onto the sofa and sipped at his drink. "Taller, just a little though, not too tall."
Will grinned with an evil bent. "Build?"
He shrugged. "I don't care."
"How about like this?"
The doll on the screen suddenly was built like a muscle man and Ichi raised his eyebrows in
surprise. "Do I seem like the sort that would be attracted to that?"
"Naw, this seems more your sort." He punched a few more commands in and the body changed
into a slender, lean waif.
Ichi forgot to be embarrassed. "No, not really, graceful, lean, but toned."
"Like Andrew?"
"Yes." He answered softly and watched the doll's body grow long, slender, lean muscles. He looked like a dancer now, strong but elegant.
"Skin? Andrew dark?"
"Sure."
"Be honest."
"Lighter." He admitted.
"How much lighter?"
Ichi glanced down to his own golden skin and shook his head. "If you laugh at me I swear..."
"I know, I know, the ants, now out with it."
"Lighter than me, I like seeing... it's just..."
Will nodded in total seriousness. "I understand, I'm the same way with Amanda, I like seeing my hand against her paler skin."
"Far too much information, but yes."
Will lightened the skin, made it several shades from pale but also several shades lighter than his
friend. "Okay, eye color?"
Ichi shrugged, fascinated no
w. "I don't have a preference."
"Light or dark?"
"Light."
"Hair?"
"Again, I've never worried about it. Light, I guess."
Will nodded and clicked generic light for both, unspecific the computer would pick a random
combination if the doll was ordered but for the display it just put on pale blonde with blue eyes.
"Short hair? Long? Mid length?"
"Shorter, but long enough to run hands through." A shaggy, layered, slightly longer than short but not quite mid length cut appeared on the doll and Ichi found himself nodding.
"Endowment?"
"Tell me you just didn't ask that?"
"I'm your best friend, if you can't be honest with me?" He grinned and the doll's penis grew to a ridiculous length.
"Average!" Ichi finally admitted. "Just average, I don't think about these things."
"What kind of guy are you? I've spend hours thinking about Amanda's breasts, they're simply
perfect you know. I couldn't improve them in any way."
"Again with the information I don't need." Ichi shook his head but watched, fascinated, as the dolls penis returned to a normal size.
Will went all the way, showing dozens of eye, lip and nose shapes, face styles and cheekbone
levels and bit by bit he plugged in Ichi's choices. He was surprised at the man being put together, he had expected Ichi to cling to his concept of ordinary. Instead, the doll that appeared body part choice by choice, was becoming a rather handsome, unordinary example of humanity. It wasn't
pretty and not the least bit feminine and if Will was being objective, Ichi was closer to pretty than the doll had become but there was no denying the doll was quite attractive.
"My friend, you need to order this doll."
"I most certainly do not!"
"It comes with tight gripping ass action and a super suction mouth." Will read the specs off.
"You did not just say that." Ichi was too drunk to blush but he wasn't too drunk to flush with a tinge of interest.
"And get this, it has a tongue attachment! How neat is that? The central computer will regulate it's skin temperature, it has real soft touch artificial skin, you can even set it to breath, blink, and have a heartbeat. It's designed for easy cleaning too."
"We aren't having this conversation."
"Aw, Ichi, no one would mind, I mean, you wouldn't be the first person to order one, I promise you. We all know how difficult it has to be for you. We've actually been toying with hiring you a
