The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

A huge illuminated tank of marine flora and fauna stood in the center of the restaurant. Along one wall, illuminated from above, was another long narrow tank where dozens of multicolored jellyspinners swam. Each was the size of a person’s head. They had spiral ridges along five sides and spun on their axis, which propelled them through the water. Darreth noted them briefly as they sat down near the tank.

  “I study their ancestors,” Naylon stated as he jutted his jaw out toward the tank.

  “You really find that kind of work interesting?” he asked with a puzzled look.

  “Absolutely,” Naylon told him, his face lighting up. “You wouldn’t believe how interesting it is. Of the seven Inhabs that have higher life forms, Andakar is the oldest, geologically speaking. Even older than Earth. My research adds to the evolutionary knowledge of not only our planet, but helps develop the parallel evolutionary tree information we’re piecing together.”

  “Parallel evolutionary tree? What’s that?” Darreth flipped his menu over and looked at the back. He spied a drink he liked in the refreshments section and decided on it.

  “Sorry about that. It means we piece together how life developed here and compare it to other planets. That way we get a broader perspective of the conditions necessary for life to evolve.”

  “Oh. I can see why that’s important,” he said as he nodded slightly.

  Naylon noted they were serving stuffed julutbe sandwiches, one of his favorites. The waiter came, read off the specials, then they ordered. Darreth studied the slow moving jellyspinners. The ridges of the nearest one were flashing with an iridescent glow in the subdued light of the tank. They were quite beautiful.

  “About our last date,” Naylon began.

  “Yum,” Darreth mocked.

  “I just wanted to say that just because I was horny that night it doesn’t mean I’m a complete slut… anymore.”

  Darreth ignored the excuse. “I was going to see what you were up to this evening. There’s a new vid I’ve been meaning to see. It’s a recent release from Earth. I thought you might like watching it with me. You can, you know, point out the sights to me.”

  “I guess I have to remind you we left Earth half my life ago. I barely remember anything about it.”

  “I’ve never been there. You can still tell me all about it anyway,” Darreth told him.

  Naylon draped his shirt over the chair at the counter in Darreth’s small kitchen. Darreth’s was next it on the seat. Many men preferred being shirtless, as their culture was conducive to being scantily dressed in the first place. Darreth was impressed that for an academic type Naylon had a nicely proportioned upper body. He wasn’t exactly buffed but he had scant body fat. Naylon on the other hand reveled in Darreth’s look. Darreth had a more athletic build than he. Nonetheless, Naylon didn’t feel all that self-conscious about the difference in their bodies. He felt he was just fine the way he was.

  One of Naylon’s favorite Earth foods was fresh popcorn. Corn wasn’t something readily found on Andakar, since it wasn’t grown on-planet. But Naylon knew the stores that catered mostly to nonNates, and had secured a small container of it the day before. It had been stowed in his kit bag. They were in the kitchen with the popcorn emptied into a large pot with a glass lid on it, shaking it occasionally. No automation for him. He was making it the old fashioned way.

  Darreth took a big whiff of the aroma that had filled the small bungalow. “That’s coming from a bunch of dried seeds?”

  “Kernels,” Naylon corrected. “It used to be a staple crop on Earth.”

  Darreth took another deep breath, savoring it. “That is kick.”

  Shortly, most of the kernels were popped. Naylon dumped them into a bowl and shook some salt over them. They both headed back to the couch.

  Darreth sat back and activated the holoscreen across the room. Naylon offered the bowl to Darreth, who took a kernel, then another, then proceeded to devour an entire handful.

  “This is great. I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of it before,” Darreth told him.

  “We’ll have it more often if you like, but it’s expensive.”

  The vid started, a story about a love triangle focusing on an astronaut on her way to Mars. It was an historical dramatization of the almost mythical story about the planet’s first colony.

  Many times while the vid was playing Darreth grunted or chuckled or even outright laughed heartily. Naylon was enamored with Darreth’s short outbursts, the way he’d touch Naylon’s arm when something particularly funny was said or done, or the time he turned toward him and rubbed Naylon’s stomach in a slow and sensual way, giving Naylon a partial swella in the process. Darreth briefly grasped Naylon’s tumescence through the gauzy fabric of his pants at one point. Darreth’s action was spurred because of the love scene between two of the main characters, a man and a woman. But he didn’t try to do anything else after that to elicit a further response. Naylon was surprised, but didn’t pursue it.

  After the vid ended Naylon decided to spend the night. The two men lay in bed side-by-side, clad in nothing but their smiles. Naylon felt unbelievably relaxed.

  The meter-wide window had been de-energized, making it transparent. The window started at the floor, went up the wall and, following the roofline, angled at forty-five degrees. It stopped halfway to the apex of the ceiling above them. The nebula’s illumination had already filled up the sky, brightening the night with an even glow. The yard outside was swarming with nocturnal flying insects looking for a meal. The two men were insulated from them in the quiet of the room, now with low sound of music playing behind their heads.

  “You don’t mind spending the night with me?” Darreth asked.

  “Are you kidding? It’s not every day I get to spend the night with a man. At least not recently.”

  Over the next hour both men told the other about their most recent relationship and how it had ended. That led them to talk about their childhoods.

  Darreth told Naylon about his first crush in primary school. Naylon said he must have been a late bloomer. It wasn’t until he entered secondary school that he developed a crush on his next-door neighbor. Neither man had ever experienced discrimination of the sort that had plagued gay men and women in centuries past. Both had read stories about when society wasn’t as advanced as it was today. It was simply inconceivable that religious and political opposition could have led to the discrimination of an entirely normal part of society. All of that had ceased long ago, longer than space travel had existed.

  “So, do you still see him?” Darreth asked.

  “Which him?”

  “Jento.”

  “Not since he moved to Kehail province.”

  “What’s he doing there?”

  “Teaching at the university that just opened in their provincial admin center.”

  “See, you have to date outside your specialty.”

  “What does that mean?” Naylon asked warily.

  “You’ve been dating only academic types. What you need to do is keep dating me instead.”

  Naylon was silent for a moment, watching a hoverbat dive close to the window with its large maw wide open and scoop a swath through a swarm of insects. Naylon turned onto his side and ran his hand up and down Darreth’s chest, felt his nipples grow hard, and watched his penis lengthen. He briefly ran the palm of his hand across the top of his hardening shaft, then cupped his balls before letting go. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ve been going about this completely wrong.”

  Darreth turned to face him and rested the side of his head on his opened hand. “You know, I really like you. You’re good looking, nice, and like I said before, you don’t have that Earther attitude I can’t stand.”

  “Stop it. Look what you’ve done to me.”

  Darreth did the obvious and grasped Naylon’s rock hard swella. “No kidding.”

  “Really? You like me?”

  “I’m letting you spend the night, aren’t I?”

  “Really,” Naylon insisted.
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  “I’m not kidding. You’re different.”

  “I’m not so sure those differences are ones you might like.”

  “In what way?” he asked, curious.

  “I think our views on a lot of things aren’t the same.”

  “Like what?” Darreth asked.

  “I’m not exactly conservative.”

  Darreth didn’t answer. He didn’t want to get into a discussion like this right now. Regardless, the conversation he recently had with his father came to mind, making him momentarily feel tense. He was feeling particularly amorous though and instead of letting Naylon continue that thought he started planting kisses on his mouth while he slowly climbed on top of him. Viewpoints could wait until a later time.

  Chapter 7

  The first time a starship left the Sol system under powered flight control was on February 12th, 2316. The 500th anniversary of that date had been anticipated for two years now. The newsgrid had been covering the scheduled festivities, a scale model statue of the first faster than light ship named Arion and its three-person crew was to be unveiled later, speeches had been given, and a time capsule was to be buried in Tokaias’ main plaza. The exact date of the quincentennial for each Inhab was sort of arbitrary due to time dilation factors, but this was the day when Andakar decided to celebrate. The newsgrid held retrospectives of the first through the fourth centennial celebrations. They covered the expansion of the Inhabs over that time, then the official kickoff of today’s event, which started in the late morning. The requisite speech had already been given by Corren Grusics, the Consortium First Executive on Earth, and had been recorded for re-broadcast on Andakar before the fireworks were to begin tonight.

  The fireworks display at Provincial Park along the waterfront was to be held in a few hours. The grounds could hold over two hundred thousand people, and they had been streaming in since early morning to stake out a spot. The park was already quite packed despite its ample space. Luckily, it had been nice out all day with no rain in the forecast.

  Siloy, the rest of the Council, and the wait staff, along with a contingent of security people, were milling about in the huge administrative building overlooking the park. The building’s location provided for a spectacular view of the bay, the foothills in the distance, and the mountains further inland. The city, which spread out along the crescent shape of the bay, completed the view.

  Darreth had been with his father since morning. Due to the high level functions associated with such a memorable event, Siloy was obliged to be very visible for the celebration. Darreth not only accompanied him as his son, but also in an official escort capacity as well. Thus, he was in dress blues, which, although they looked heavy and hot, were in fact light and airy, just like a tunic. Official uniforms on Andakar had always been fashioned to be comfortable first, with their functional look being second. Regardless of his official capacity, Darreth told his father he had to leave briefly to meet Naylon at the entrance foyer. That was where he had asked Naylon to wait for him.

  He had sent Naylon an official invitation flimsy earlier in the week by courier. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to enter the building. Naylon was stunned when it arrived. It meant Darreth had given him access to one of the most high-level parties in town, perhaps the most high-level party of the entire year.

  Darreth passed by dozens and dozens of people as he headed toward the foyer. As usual, there were the subtle looks of disgust here and there. His uniform was the reason. He knew that. There were still a significant number of people who opposed having a military space station in orbit. Regardless, Darreth ignored the occasional frowns. He had long ago decided it was unbecoming of anyone to do so.

  “Wow, you look really nice,” exclaimed Naylon after Darreth found him.

  “I was wearing the same uniform when we first met.”

  “But you look different now.” Naylon knew why, too. He was beginning to have familiar feelings of losing control of his emotions when he was around Darreth. It had happened only once before when he was seventeen. His romance with Keldis during his last year of secondary school had taken his breath away whenever they were together. After all, it was his first real relationship. It was nearly three months before he regained control of himself. It was only afterward when he realized that although he and Keldis were great when they were naked together, they had little in common once they were clothed. Keldis complained about the way Naylon dressed, was oddly rough when he should have been gentle, and more than once had said he liked girls. Both eventually moved on. Naylon to another boy and Keldis to a girl. Despite that, they remained friends for the rest of the school year. Their friendship eventually faded altogether when they attended different tertiary schools.

  That was a long time ago. Naylon was a completely different person then. Darreth wasn’t Keldis, both he and Darreth were adults with their lives well underway, had careers to concern themselves with, and experiences in and out of relationships to temper them. But it was happening to Naylon again. The heart palpitations, the steady thoughts about what Darreth was up to day and night, the fantasizing about Darreth’s lean body. All of it.

  “You look pretty good yourself,” Darreth told him, sizing up his formal tunic.

  “Thanks. I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.” He looked around the foyer. Marble Doric columns supported the high ceiling. Ornate stonework extended along the molding clear to the far end of the room. There the hallway opened up to a huge room with tall windows and a sizeable patio with a wide semi-circular balcony that jutted out over the park. The windows were so large that even from this distance Naylon could easily see a huge expanse of the bay.

  “I never knew this building was so elaborate inside,” Naylon told him as Darreth pointed the way.

  They stopped halfway to the end of the long foyer. There, a corridor ran left and right. “Those two wings have quarters for up to five hundred people,” Darreth told him.

  “That many,” Naylon stated, impressed.

  “Most of the building’s for conference space.”

  “So, who’s here I should know?”

  “Who’s here is every member of the Council. And lots of the big shots from every major corporation on the planet. There are even some people from Rylerra. I’m not sure you would know any of them. Most can be quite stuffy, if you ask me.” He had grown up enduring functions like this and had become kind of jaded by them now. Darreth led the way down one of the halls.

  As they continued toward the end of the long foyer, Naylon studied the busts that lined it in their alcoves. Heavy tapestries provided soundproofing to the otherwise highly sound-reflective stonework. The walls were also ornamented with a series of paintings, most of which depicted people Naylon didn’t recognize. The open doorway at the end terminated at a marble balcony that overlooked a large rectangular floor below filled with people. Wide staircases off to the left and the right wound downward to the floor. A wide bar that faced opposite the huge bank of windows was packed with people ordering drinks from eight bartenders. Diffuse sunlight streamed in through the wall of tall windows that faced the park, illuminating the hundreds of formally dressed people who were gathered in the room.

  Even amidst the sea of famous and not so famous people, Naylon already identified Darreth’s father standing with a small group of people down and to their left. The small group was close to the bottom of the staircase. Darreth and Naylon went left and proceeded down the wide staircase to their level.

  Darreth leaned toward him before they got there. “I want you to meet him before it gets too crowded.”

  “This isn’t crowded?” Naylon managed to sputter. There must have been hundreds of people there already.

  “You wouldn’t believe the number of people they can pack in here.”

  Siloy saw Darreth and dismissed the two men and woman he was talking to with a broad smile and a slight hand gesture just as Darreth and Naylon got down to the last step of the stair.

  Siloy James-Po wasn’t exa
ctly an imposing figure, but rather a commanding one. He was several centimeters taller than either Darreth or Naylon. His formal dress, completely white with black sashes, multi-colored patches and the gold inscribed bar over his left pocket that indicated his station, went well with his distinct, angular face. Naylon right away noticed Siloy’s genuine smile. The man reached out first with both hands to shake Naylon’s, too. Naylon immediately felt comfortable in his presence. This was nothing like the quite impersonal view he had of the man during his Citizenship ceremony.

  “So, this is the man my son’s dating. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Doctor Ress, it is? I hope you won’t mind this stuffy formal event.”

  “Please. Call me Naylon. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, sir. You have a fine son.” Naylon couldn’t believe he said that. It sounded awkward and trite.

  “Fine son, indeed. I’m glad he’s dating an academician for a change. He needs a lot more intellectual stimulation than he lets on.”

  He’ll get plenty of another type of stimulation from me too, that’s for sure, Naylon thought with a grin.

  “Please dad.” Darreth shook his head as if to stave off the inevitable stories of his youth or other such embarrassing anecdotes. He glanced at Naylon.

  Naylon knew he needed to change the subject before that happened. Before he could do so a woman and two teenagers approached. The woman clasped Siloy’s hand in hers and smiled at Darreth.

  “Mother,” Darreth greeted. “Uh, Naylon, this is my mother Kyana. Mom, Naylon.”

  She reached out and had Naylon take her hand.

  “Nice to meet you Ms. James-Po.”

  “I’ve not heard a lot about you Dr. Ness, but what little I’ve been told I like. Now that I’ve met you I like you even more.” Naylon felt awkward at such an unusual greeting. It sounded almost like a come on. He wondered if his cheeks had gotten red enough to be noticeable.

  Darreth spoke up right away. His mother could be forward. He hadn’t prepped Naylon about his family and wanted to keep the introductions short and sweet at this point. “This is my sister Kella, and my brother Tann.”