First Recruits

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  The Unit said, “Aye aye, Captain. You know what, I really do like you. It’s too bad. Maybe I will identify with the freak more than I would have thought possible. You almost make me wish I was normal-sized.”

  Eevona said, “Unit, you may be damaged.”

  The Unit exclaimed, “What? How? I don’t feel damaged.”

  I interrupted and said, “I can’t handle this Unit stuff. You aren’t a Unit or cargo! You aren’t a commodity. I’m going to explain it as a difference in our languages, but Unit isn’t working for me. You are a person. A different kind of person, maybe, but you look and sound like a woman to me.”

  The woman laughed and said, “OK. If it bothers you. I can admit that Unit could be the wrong word. But, you do need a word for ‘my kind’, as it were. What do you feel comfortable with?”

  I said, “I don’t know. Eevona said, that you are genetically engineered and enhanced biological beings. Tell you what: how about Genie. You and the others are Genies.”

  The woman smiled and said, “This language is fun. Genie: an acronym for Genetically Engineered and Enhanced. It has a nice sound to it. But also, in a metaphorical sense, a Genie: a spirit, often appearing in human form, often pictured as an attractive female, that when summoned by a person carries out the wishes of the summoner. It fits as both an acronym and a literal definition. I like it.”

  I said, “Is that what Genie means? I didn’t know that. I just thought that you kind of looked like one.”

  The Genie said, “You like me, don’t you? You find me attractive. Even in this configuration. It makes me wish that I could grant my own wish.”

  Ee said, “Again, you may be damaged. You should accept the possibility that you are not receiving accurate visual information. Your perceptions are faulty. Your spatial measurement doesn’t seem to be working.”

  The Unit said, “What? Yes, it is. My perceptions and measurement are working fine.”

  Ee said, “I don’t think so. Either your spatial recognition is faulty or your vision or observation or memory is faulty. You are seeing what you expect to see, not the reality of what is in front of you.”

  The Unit said, “I really don’t think so. Things all look fine to me.”

  Ee said, “Let’s test it. Jimmy, I need your help with this.”

  I said, “OK.”

  Ee said, “Ready. It might be hard. Genie, I’m talking to you. For your sake, I hope it is hard.”

  I said, “Tell me what to do.”

  Ee said, “Stand up. Straight. Hands at your side. We need the Genie to test her spatial perception and measurement capabilities.”

  I shrugged and stood up. I was still naked, but I didn’t think that was important at all. I was really comfortable with it. When I was standing up, the Genie gasped.

  Ee laughed and said, “So, how’s that spatial perception, Genie? See anything you hadn’t noticed before?”

  The girl exclaimed, “He’s enormous! He’s as big as I am. Oh…my…gosh! But you aren’t a Genie! How are you so big? And even your sexual appendage. It must be seven inches long.”

  I said sheepishly, “That isn’t very big. It’s just barely bigger than average.”

  She said, “Not in these parts of the galaxy!”

  Ee said gleefully, “Told you!”

  The Genie said, “I feel like I was denied certain critical need-to-know mission information.”

  I didn’t know quite what to say, so I said, “Can you cook?”

  The Genie said, “Yeah. I can cook. Simple field meals. Nothing fancy.”

  I said, “Good. Do you know where the food is stored?”

  She said, “My goodness! He’s gorgeous! This changes the mission success factors significantly.”

  I said, “What mission?”

  She said, “I don’t know. Whatever mission we have, I guess. Eevona, I need new training protocols.”

  Ee said, “Unfortunately, right now, all I could manage was to teach you the language. Everything else is still damaged.”

  The Genie said, “OK. I’ll do it the hard way. Yeah. Hands-on. Hey, Captain, you can teach me, right?”

  I said, “Teach you what?”

  She said, “Sexual technique.”

  I said, “As much as I know, I guess.”

  She said, “That will be good enough. So, what positions are available to me?”

  Ee said, “The number of positions is extensive from what I have been able to ascertain from cultural records of his home planet. There are positions called missionary, doggy-style, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, scissors, wheelbarrow, the list goes on and on.”

  The Unit said, “I meant crew positions. On the ship.”

  Ee said, “I think that the Captain should make all of the aforementioned positions available to all crew members, but my suggestion is that you take the position of First Mate.”

  The Unit said, “I accept. I need a designation.”

  I was still standing in the middle of the floor as I said, “What kind of designation?”

  She said, “A name. What designation should I respond to?”

  I said, “Oh, is that up to me? It was getting tiresome calling you Unit. Anything I want? And that will be OK with you?”

  The Unit didn’t say a word, She just stared at me and nodded.

  I said, “OK. A name. Based on your training and such, how about Michelle.”

  She said, “Fine. Michelle. Recorded. My partner says that my name is Michelle. Accepted. Give me a task. How is that name fitting based on my training?”

  I said, “Michelle. The feminine of Michael. The Archangel.”

  Eevona said, “Michelle, as First Mate, you take assignments from the Captain, then from me, correct?”

  Michelle said, “Yes. Captain, then Ship, then Me.”

  Ee said, “Good. Captain, I suggest that Michelle go get started on the galley. Organize and get it ready to prepare food.”

  I said, “OK. That sounds fine. Michelle?”

  She said, “Um, yeah. This changes a lot. OK. I’ll go get a basic field kitchen established in the galley. As First Mate, I’d like to be present for the awakening of the others; the other Genies. I guess that is a better classification than Unit. Thank you. It does change how I think about it in a subtle but significant way.”

  I said, “I’m glad that you feel good about it. Sure. We’ll make sure you are there when we wake the others up.”

  Michelle said, “Thank you, Captain. I’ll get to work.”

  She stood up and smelled the blanket and then dropped it on the sofa and stood there as naked as I was.

  She said, “It smells like you. It was comforting in some way. Thank you.”

  Ee jumped in and said, “Wait. Postpone that kitchen duty for now. Captain, I think that we should settle some quartering arrangements and some cosmetic details.”

  Michelle said blankly, “We could handle the Body Fluid DNA Exchange as well if that would be OK. I think that it would be OK with me.”

  I asked, “Ee, why am I so tired? I feel tired.”

  Ee said, “Several reasons. One, you aren’t drinking enough. You are significantly dehydrated.”

  Michelle handed me the bottle of “stuff” and I drank half the contents that were still there. When I was done, Michelle took the bottle from me and went to refill it.

  Ee said, “Secondly, it has been an intense time-ambiguous-period.”

  I sat back in the chair and said, “Oh, come on. Can we just use day and night and hours and minutes and stuff? It’s possible, right? We aren’t outside normal space where time is really meaningless, so make it easy on me and make something up.”

  Ee said harshly, “Actually, Captain, we are outside normal space where time is meaningless.”

  She sounded annoyed at me. I felt rebuked.

  I softened my tone and said, “We are? I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t know how to know. We can do that?”

  Ee said, “I shouldn’t have snapped at you, but you shouldn’t
have snapped at me either. I tried to tell you. We’re currently suspended in Non-Space. Not moving. Time moves forward and backward, but right now, we are stopped, stationary. No movement. No time.”

  Michelle sounded concerned as she rushed back and handed me the bottle and sat forward on the sofa.

  She said, “Eevona, how is that possible? Non-Space is a means of traversal, not navigation. Being stationary implies either navigation or deliberate parking. That isn’t a property of Non-Space as far as I understand it.”

  Ee said, “Well, maybe not. How many times do I have to say this? I don’t know. I forgot. There was damage. Maybe it doesn’t work this way, but then again, neither do I. And neither do you. Have you ever met a ship who talks like me? Or a man like the Captain? Or a Unit like yourself? Well, the fact that I can’t stop motionless in Non-Space is news to me. I did it because it seemed like the thing to do. So I did it. I popped into Non-Space and didn’t go anywhere. It seemed easier at the time than trying to go somewhere, so I went nowhere. I probably didn’t think it through. Jimmy had just come on board and you were about to expire, so I did what I did and haven’t bothered to change since. We don’t have anywhere to go so I quit going.”

  I said, “But Ee, you told me I had about 300 seconds before they died. You could tell time then.”

  She said, “No, I couldn’t. I could count your heartbeats. I estimated how long they had left and based it entirely on your metabolism. Which is very fluid, by the way.”

  I said calmly, “OK. Ee, you did good. This was probably a great plan. Michelle, Ee did what she thought was right. As long as she does what she thinks I’d want her to do as Captain if I fully understood the circumstances, I won’t fault her for it. The same goes for you. Are we in danger right now? Like this?”

  Michelle said, “If she is really at rest and we are really in Non-Space, we are probably safer than anywhere in the universe. We can’t know, but it sounds like a good plan.”

  I said, “Ee, again, good job. Thank you. Look, I’m really tired. I need to go to bed.”

  I stood up and Michelle said, “Are you taking me with you?”

  I said, “If you want to come, sure. I think I’d like that. I didn’t want to presume too much. You are welcome to sleep in my bed or find something else but I need to lie down.”

  I moved to the bedroom, followed closely by Michelle. I climbed under the blanket naked. So did Michelle. She was a little awkward about it but eventually settled in against my side with her bald gray head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her. It felt good.

  Chapter 7 - Bonding Agent

  Michelle said, “Captain, Jimmy, I want to try it.”

  I opened my eyes and said, “Try what? What time is it? Did we sleep?”

  She said, “I slept. So did you. And you have an erectile condition and I want to go ahead and try it with you. There’s no reason to wait.”

  I was still a little groggy as I said, “An erectile condition?”

  Oh, she was right. I had a pretty good morning erection.

  My first impulse was to ask her why she wanted to have sex now and if she was sure and wouldn’t she like to think it over and any number of other things. I decided not to. Michelle wanted to bond with me for life. She wanted to experience lovemaking, having expected that she would never have the opportunity. She was offering me a sexual relationship that was supposedly permanent. She had likened it to being my wife, but without the ability to own property because she was a Genie.

  I was much happier with Genie rather than Unit.

  A sexual relationship was going to happen. Now or in the future, it was going to happen. She’d just said that there was no reason to wait. Fine. Let’s do this. Ee had called me a wussy once already. And Michelle had already told me that she could easily kill me in any number of ways, so I didn’t really have to worry that I was forcing myself on her. If she didn’t like what I was going to do, she’d stop me, one way or another.

  Without a word, I rolled toward Michelle and slid my right hand behind her neck and kissed her. The lights were dim in the room and I had to navigate mostly by feel. The bed still hadn’t been properly made; we shared a blanket, but it would come off if we weren’t careful. And now that I had decided to take Michelle at her word and show her what lovemaking was like, I wasn’t concerned about covers.

  It still felt a bit strange to think about having sex with a girl from outer space who just woke up from transportation storage what might have been yesterday, but what did I have to lose? What was the risk now? That she wouldn’t like me afterward? Did I care? Kind of, yeah. Was that going to hold me back now? No. This whole thing was totally alien. I had two choices: I could be more cautious because of the entirely unprecedented circumstances, or I could be more bold because none of the old rules applied. I needed to adapt to new rules and customs, not hang on to ones that died when I volunteered for this mission. I might not remember volunteering, but Ee assured me that I did. At least as far as she could ascertain.

  So, new rules and customs. I was Michelle’s “partner”. That didn’t necessarily give me rights over her body this way, it sounded like it didn’t, but it did give me the opportunity to have a sexual relationship if she wanted it. She just told me that she did. She was fully aware of her own choices, so I didn’t need to worry about it.

  The one very comforting thing about the customs as far as I understood them was that this was an act of bonding for life. Of course, Michelle had made it clear that I could die under any number of predictable scenarios but I took that as more of a joke than a real threat right now. All I had to do was to make sure that Michelle enjoyed having me alive more than she had a reason for me to be dead.

  The first kiss went well. Michelle turned her head toward mine as our lips touched. She seemed to easily interpret my intentions and moved with me effortlessly. The slightest physical hint from me caused her to respond just the way that I would have wanted. As I kissed her, I parted my lips over hers and she responded by opening her mouth to match. I put the slightest pressure on the back of her head and she leaned into me and tilted her neck in just the right way. I pressed my groin against her hip and she took that as a sign that she should reach between us and stroke my penis softly.

  It was like a dance. Or telepathy. We had hardly started and Michelle wasn’t really taking any initiative to do anything except exactly what I would have wanted, but it made me feel like she was by far the most skillful lover that I had ever experienced. I didn’t have much experience but she didn’t have any at all. We were a good match.

  Something occurred to me suddenly and I whispered, “Eevona, are you OK with this?”

  Ee said, “Oh hell yeah! I can feel both of you this time. Double the pleasure, double the fun. Except that it’s more like ten times the fun. Attention passengers, the pilot has turned on the possible turbulence warning. Please fasten what’s below your belts to the person in bed with you for the duration of our flight.”

  Michelle whispered, “Your ship is very enthusiastic about crew relationships. It makes me feel accepted.”

  My hand was just starting to slide over her breast and Michelle moaned with satisfaction. That was nice. Talk about being encouraged as a lover! I was going to have to make this up as I went along, but the signs were good so far.

  I’d had very few girlfriends that progressed to any sexual activities. I’d never been married. I almost was once, but she broke it off for an older guy with more money. We were engaged and she had moved in with me for a while, and I was devastated when she dumped me that way. Ah, to hell with her. I needed to focus on Michelle, not my past romantic mediocrity. Clean slate. I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes now.

  Michele apparently had very sensitive breasts. Actually, the skin covering her body seemed to be one huge erogenous zone with varying levels of sensitivity. No, her skin was probably all very sensitive, we are all sensitive everywhere on our bodies, but Michelle seemed to be able to take arousal from almost any t
ouch anywhere. But some areas responded more “enthusiastically”.

  Her breasts were big. As I played with the one while we continued exploring each other’s mouths with our lips and tongues, I wondered about it. She’d said that she was designed for combat and bodyguard training. Why the big breasts? She was “too tall” for sex. Oh hell, what did I care right now? They were marvelous.

  Michelle kept moving against me, increasingly encouraging me toward either mounting her or at least touching her between her legs. And I did want to. But the kissing and the way that she was stroking me was so good. I’d never experienced such great kissing. This wasn’t a necessary prelude to sex; this was sex. And right then, I had a wicked thought. Wicked in the sense that it sounded fun and sexy. I rose up a bit higher and kissed Michelle hard. I attacked her mouth and shoved my tongue as far into her as I could. Licking and probing furiously, I…well, I guess I fucked her mouth with mine. And at the same time, I squeezed and rubbed the breast in my left hand. Michelle arched her back and thrust her body toward mine.

  It wasn’t only Michelle’s breasts that were large. Her nipples were enormous. Oh, that’s what she had said about her body. She’d said that her body was designed generically for sexual activity, even if her specific designated function didn’t include sexual requirements. Whatever. The important point right now was that her nipples were about the same size as the tips of my thumbs. Not long, just fat. Like huge push buttons the same height and diameter. Rounded over on top, but kind of square, too. With a dimple in the middle.

  The ship shook with a small bump suddenly.

  I whispered, “Michelle, did you have an orgasm?”

  She tried desperately to put her mouth back on mine as she said, “Yes.”

  I said, “Why was it so quiet? You didn’t make any noise or anything.”

  She almost shouted, “I will. I swear! I didn’t know that I should. I wanted to, but I held back. If I’m supposed to do something I will. Please! Let me try again! I’ll do whatever you want.”

  I said, softly, “Don’t hold back too much. Don’t hurt me, but let it out. I want to know. Eevona shudders when she comes, you can too. Do what feels natural.”