“You mean referred, past tense,” Jess interjected. “We used to be Steve's core team. But we really do work for Jake now.”
“Right and now that you work for me,” Jake spoke up. “Your part of my core team. And so are you Sam. That is if you'd like to be.”
“Do you really mean it Jake?” Sam asked. “Or are you just pulling my leg?”
“I mean it Sam,” Jake confirmed. “Just promise me you'll study and learn all you can. And most importantly, that If you ever do want off the team, for any reason, you will tell me about it instead of trying to tough it out.
You see Sam when I saw you master your fear, I knew you had the right stuff. Add to that your desire to understand things like how and why and my mind was made up.”
There were tears in Sam's eyes.
“Can I login to the Hillside database from here? he asked. Or will I have to wait till we get back?”
“Neither!” Jake said.
“Logging in to Hillside from here wouldn't be possible Sam,” Jess followed up. “But we have a nearly complete copy of it's data core in the onboard AI unit. It's not likely that you'll ask it something it can't answer.”
For the rest of the trip out, the atmosphere in the shuttle was more like a school than a spaceship. If they weren't busy sleeping, eating or exercising, they were all busy using the computer. Jess was most often cast in the role of teacher, because of the three of them, he had the most experience. Before long however, he found himself having to study hard just to keep up with Sam's hungry mind. He didn't have to explain much to Jake however. He also noticed that Jake's data requests took more than twice the bandwidth of Sam's and his own combined. They were over 50 hours into the fringe flight when Sam suddenly cried out.
“That's it! That's all I can cram. I can cram no more,” Sam said. “I'm sorry Jake but I just can't study any more for a while.”
Jake, who was just getting out of the shower walked into the main cabin while still toweling off.
“Don't be sorry Sam,” he said. “Considering you don't have nanites helping your brain digest all this stuff. You've already learned more in the last 4 hours than I'd have thought you could in a whole week. And the sequence of your follow up data requests tells me your actually starting to understand most of what you've read.”
“What?” Jess interrupted in an incredulous tone of voice. “Do you mean that on top of your own massive data flow, you've actually been monitoring the content of ours as well?”
“Well ya Jess,” Jake replied. “Perhaps it was rude to pry, but I don't really think that anyone who realistically expects to screw Cindy some more, right in front of me, really expects to have much privacy from me.”
Then Sam spoke up with an odd expression on his face.
“Umm Jake it might be better if you didn't talk about my having sex when your big cock is so umm visible.”
Actually Sam,” Jake replied. “I'm not so worried about that anymore. I've been studying a lot of things, including you. And I've decided that even if you were stronger than I and even if I didn't have my nanites. I actually could depend on your knowledge that I'm not that way. And feel safe! Even if I had to pick up the soap while you were behind me.
I know you can't help liking my butt any more than I can help liking it whenever I get a peek at some cute girl. I've decided that I'm secure enough in my masculinity that I don't need to worry about how your looking at me any more.”
“That may be so.” said Jess. “But we don't have any girls with us.” Then with a knowing glance in Sam's direction he added, “Or available boys, for that matter. So unless you'd like to reduce us to a big ‘wish they were here’ circle jerk, lets go easy on the subject please. But speaking of which. You know Sam you have been sporting a woody under that jumpsuit of yours ever since Jake said you were on the team. That leather is so form fitting that it wouldn't have been any more distracting if you had been naked the whole time. So since we're only a few hours away from our destination I'd suggest you drop that leather in the auto-fresher.”
Then he turned to face Jake.
“I wasn't talking about our privacy Jake,” Jess resumed explaining. “Not from you at any rate.
I've been tracking the sheer volume of data you've been pulling in and I'm surprised you can process it all so fast, never mind doing so while simultaneously keeping an eye on our studies. But then you know that already don't you?”
“Yes Jess,” Jake replied. “I was also reading your data flow... I've discovered that when I'm using a data terminal, my nanites are able to enhance my learning process so much that the ship's AI can't feed me fast enough. That's actually why I started watching your raw data streams in the first place. It didn't use up any of the AI's capacity to run them across the bottom two lines of my terminal screen. And decoding and assimilating the data in them helped keep me from getting too bored while I waited for the AI to answer my data requests.”
Jess just stared at Jake for a moment.
“I don't suppose you were also taking your data as another raw stream as well were you?” Jess asked.
At first Jake just nodded.
“It could send it through faster if it didn't have to waste any cycles preprocessing it,” he finally explained.
“Perhaps you should know,” Jess replied. “That if my reading on your bandwidth of data consumption didn't include preprocessing. Then your data absorption rate was exceeding even Steve's best recorded rate.
Unless you count when Steve resorted to letting his nanosymbiont learn it for him.” I think we can assume that this is definitely going to be the personnel communication interface your nanites are going to use to communicate with you. I'd suggest teaching them how to build you a virtual terminal of some kind so that you can always tap in to their information.”
“I've already done that,” Jake's said. “In actual fact I've gone with something like a heads up display. I see what my eyes tell me. But just above and below that I've got data screens. And that's how I could do it so fast. My nanites processed the raw data streams the AI sent me. Then they displayed the formatted output on my internal screens. After which, I suppose, they are internally helping my brain file the information away more efficiently than I could do without them.
But I still have to have an input for them to process. And they don't talk to me like Steve's symbiont does.”
Sam had just walked out of the shower while drying his hair.
“Did you say that it won't bother you anymore, if your sometimes the reason I've got such a hard on like this Jake?”
“Just so long as you don't expect me to help you with it Sam,” Jake who was also still naked said. “But I do expect that you'll remember to also think about you and my Cindy. Because ‘THAT’ is going to be the only reason your nudity is causing my pole to stiffen.”
“And I still don't have a girl to seduce,” Jess spoke up. “And I really don't want to wind up running mine by hand so would you two...”
Even as he said that he could feel the effect of Jake's nanites beginning to pump out anti-sexual pheromones.
“Thank you Jake,” was all he said.
Jake was about to suggest that Sam strap in, because unlike the fringe effect insertion, returning to normal space was often bumpy. No matter how accurately you calculated the exit point, it always took some maneuvering to match relative velocities with the destination. There was also frequently a need for sudden evasive maneuvers to avoid hitting space debris. When he pulled up Sam's seat on the view screen however, he saw that he was already strapping himself in.
“Looks like you did your homework again Sam,” Jake said. “Here we go.”
Sam saw the multicolored swirl on the indistinct gray background suddenly get replaced by the blackness of normal space. Except that there was a large bright object on the left edge of the screen. Then he saw before them a view of a planet with a moon that bore a strong resemblance to Luna. At which point he felt the inertial dampers kick in to high as Jake abru
ptly dodged something that looked like a satellite.
Immediately he heard Jess talking into the communications system.
“Hillside starshuttle to Luna base,” Jess said. “We are on a peaceful trade and information sharing mission to Slowlane. We request landing coordinates for Luna inspection.”
There was a brief pause.
“Luna control to alien craft, the voice only transmission said. “We haven't heard from Hillside in many years. We will need you to reaffirm your cooperation with our import/export restrictions, which have not changed. Are you sure you want to land?”
“If prime David Miller is still creating those wonderful paintings,” Jess said. “We are quite sure we'd like to land.”
”Very well then,” the voice acknowledged. “We are transmitting coordinates and flight path specifications. You are to follow the flight path without deviation. Luna out!”
They landed in what looked like a deserted crater on the far side of the moon. About 30 seconds after they touched down a section of the crater wall proved to be a large access door. Which quickly opened to reveal a ramp leading down into an underground habitat. A few seconds after it opened, a specialized personnel transport rolled out from the ramp and approached their shuttle's primary airlock. Then it began slowly extending a telescoping docking collar towards their airlock's own docking collar.
“Don't forget Sam,” Jess reminded him. “They might not expect us to have the same moral values as they do but their culture is fairly homophobic. So even if they realize that you like boys, don't make the slightest move towards even inquiring if one of them is interested.”
“Yeah I know,” Sam replied. “But according to the files I've been reading, they wouldn't object if I put some moves on any single woman I can find. Or if I were to ask a married man for permission to fuck his wife. Yeah I got all that. But what about my tattoos?”
“If your careful to explain that your a member of a subculture where sexual experiences between partners of the same gender are acceptable,” Jess explained. “And then immediately reaffirm that you have no intention to promote that behavior here on Slowlane. Then the tattoo's shouldn't be an issue.
In fact you might even find men going out of their way to offer you the positive heterosexual experiences their wives can provide you with. But don't count on it.
Anyway, as long as you don't actually put any moves on any guys while your here, the worst that's likely to happen is they might demand that you keep your tattoos covered up while your here. Though I suppose it's possible that if they really get offended by them, they might insist that you return to our ship prematurely.”
“Attention!” the airlock intercom sputtered to life. “We have confirmed the air seal between your guild design docking collar and our docking seal adapter. All occupants are therefore requested to disembark at this time. Excursion suits will not be required.”
“Don't worry Sam,” Jess said. “Their technology may seem outdated by Hillside's standards. But they engineered their systems well. So if they say we won't need them, we really won't need them.”
As he said that he led the way through the airlock and into the waiting personnel transport.
“The gravity out here is very low however,” Jess continued. “So until we get inside their artificial gravity equipped habitat area, I strongly recommend using the hand rails.”
“Welcome to Luna,” said the transport's driver. As he sealed the transports airlock and retracted the telescoping docking seal. “For your information, I've left the seal adapter on your ships docking collar. That way, it won't matter which of our transports bring you back when your ready to leave. Please do take a seat and fasten the seat belts for the ride inside.”
Sam found that there were plenty of well positioned hand holds inside the transport. So he didn't find it difficult to comply. Though he didn't do so as smoothly as Jake did. Jess of course, was more used to low gravity environments. So he moved as smoothly as the driver.
The driver offered no conversation as he drove down the ramp and deployed the docking collar to access one of several airlocks inside a large rectangular chamber. That airlock opened into a room with a large table, about a dozen chairs and a walk through medical scanner system. It also had a form of artificial gravity system that boosted Luna's natural gravity to something close to Earth's. So Sam had little difficulty complying when they were asked to walk through the scanner and then to take a seat.
The Luna ‘intake’ inspection team were concerned about Sam's tattoos. They remarked that the alignment of the female image's nipples with his own real ones could possibly be suggestive of a form of transgendered role playing. Then they apologetically asked if there was anything like that in Sam's actual behavior patterns. They were talking to Jess but it was Sam who answered.
“It's perceptive of you to see the possibilities that particular tattoo implies,” he said. “However, Jess here has been most diligent to explain what is and is not considered acceptable behavior here. And if I may be allowed to speak more explicitly, I can assure you that it is not in my nature to seek sexual encounters with anyone who would be offended by such behavior.
If necessary I would be willing to agree to keep my upper torso covered during my stay here. But that might interfere with one activity I've been looking forward to. I would very much like to meet some of your unmarried women.”
“So you do at least ‘like’ girls,” the unnamed inspection team leader interrupted Sam. Then he turned back to face Jess. “Will you certify that your friend is capable of confining his attentions to available females?”
“Absolutely!” Jess said with a nod.
The inspector then gestured toward Jake.
“What can you tell us of your other friend here? He doesn't scan well. What is it he is hiding?”
Jess actually smiled.
“If your asking about his sexual behavior, I'd only suggest that you lock up any available women you don't want him to play with. But as far as what he may or may not be hiding. I suggest you ask him.
All I can tell you is that he is my current boss. And that he is an apprentice to the questor who deeded Hillside to him.”
The inspectors mouth sort of fell open.
“quQuquestor?” he stammered. Suddenly his attitude was considerably less domineering. He turned on his heal and addressed Jake as one soldier might a high ranking officer from a powerful ally's military forces.
“Pardon me Sir, I was unaware of your status,” the inspector said. “But the presence of a guild nanosymbiont would explain most of the unstable results our bioscanners obtained from...” Jake stopped him with a raised hand.
“Actually my guild status is still just an apprentice to a questor. My nanites have yet to actually form a true nanosymbiont for me. You may rest assured however that I will honor your trade restrictions at least as well as the last questor to visit you did.”
The inspector seamed relieved as he informed them that their request to visit Slowlane was granted and that they would have seats on the next shuttle.
They were escorted to a comfortable lounge to wait for the shuttle's scheduled launch. A few minutes later, four young female officers entered the lounge. Two of them were wearing pilots stripes. One was blond, the other brunette. The other two, who were wearing medical staff uniforms, were both redheads. One of the pilots, the brunette, addressed them.
“I'm sorry gentlemen,” she began. “But I'm afraid my shuttle won't be ready for launch for a little over three hours. But we would like to make the delay less tedious if we can. My companions are all unmarried. And my husband has granted me permission to play today.” Then after a brief pause she continued. “I'm supposed to inform you that this lounge is under video surveillance. But if that isn't a problem, I'd like to know which of you has that unusual tattoo my husband told me about?” Sam stepped forward.
“That would be me,” he said. “But tell me, is your husband one of the inspectors we met a little while ago? An
d is he the one monitoring the lounge?”
“Yes, my husband was the inspector who actually spoke with you,” she said with a chuckle. “Unfortunately my husband's duties don't put him in a position to directly monitor us at the moment. But he has made arrangements to join me later when, as a participant to whatever happens here, I'll have a right to review the recording. So he will be watching later.”
“In that case, I'd like to know if he sent you to test if I was telling the truth about liking girls?” Sam asked.
“No,” she said. “He was recording his impression of your tattoo when I walked in to his office. I was so intrigued, I begged him to let me play with you. I did have to promise to review the recording with him.” She giggled. “Though he did make me promise to do my very best to make sure your first Slowlane experience with an available female was... I believe the words he used were ‘first class’. But he sometimes plays with words so I'm not quite sure he didn't say ‘first ass’.”
Sam smiled.
“Well I don't think any of us are bashful enough to worry about the camera,” Jake interjected. “Though I notice you haven't told us your names yet.”
“And we won't,” said the other pilot who was starting to disrobe. “We are officers in the service of Slowlane. Our names are irrelevant.”
At this point Jake shrugged and turned to face the exact spot where he had already detected the surveillance equipment.
“Enjoy the show!” he said.
Then he waved at the concealed camera as he too began to strip. After which he reached out and touched the newly exposed skin on the shoulder of the first pilot.
“I've got two questions,” Jake said. “Do you get to play with all of us? Or just Sam here?”
She looked down towards Jake's erection. Then she licked her lips.
“That depends on whether my companions wear you out before I get to you,” she replied. Then she returned her gaze to Sam's tattooed body.
“You said two questions?” she prompted.
“Yes you mentioned Sam's first Slowlane experience,” Jake continued. “But we are still on Luna base. Does that mean you get to play some more after we land?”
NanoSymbionts Page 24
