Human After All

by Connie Bailey

  “I’m actually more comfortable with a Scenario.”

  “Then make one up, but don’t tell me about it,” Lochler said. “Bathroom is that way. My space is down that little hall. Come to me when you feel comfortable enough.”

  “Thank you,” Jaymes said. “Whatever your reasons for helping me, I’m grateful.”

  “Beautiful,” Lochler repeated. “I’ll be waitin’.”

  DRUE buttoned his jacket over the subkyoo X on his chest. He was glad he’d worn something under his trousers, but was sure he looked ridiculous in nothing but a cut velvet coat, matching boots, and a black thong that barely covered his cock and balls. He wished he’d had more sympathy for Jaymes in that overcoat.

  Halz turned from watching Lochler speed away. “Come on,” he said to Drue. “It’s not far.”

  Drue sized up the pair of Grangers as he’d been doing almost constantly. They were both large and heavily muscled, armed with who knew what sort of weaponry, but Drue knew several esoteric forms of martial arts that gave him an edge at close range. He was trying to calculate whether it was enough to allow him to disable these two without sustaining major personal damage. Realistically, if Drue was going to do anything, it should be now while he only had a couple of opponents to deal with. Who knew how many men were at the compound? On the other hand, the Grangers hadn’t done anything overtly threatening beyond the sexual posturing most males displayed when there were desirable mates present. He hadn’t reached a decision by the time they reached the gates of the Grangers’ base, and then it was too late.

  VII.

  JAYMES knocked on the plain plasmod door at the end of the short hall. Lochler called out, and the T-bred entered a large area divided into spaces with hanging curtains of polished metal pieces on chains. Drawn to the shrapnel tapestries, the T-bred reached out to touch the anodized curve of an ancient cell phone casing.

  “These hangings are quite innovative,” he said. “Who’s the artist?”

  Lochler laughed. “There’s no artist. I put those together during hiding times when we can’t go aboveground. They’re like walls, but not, you know?”

  “I’ve seen lesser work lauded by critics at galleries in the Cloister.”

  “I knew you were from The Cloy.” Lochler bounced up from his free-form chair. “You’re so fine.”

  “Thank you. You’re a very handsome man.”

  “Not too rough?”

  “Perhaps around the edges,” Jaymes responded diplomatically. In truth, it had been a long time since he’d seen a man with so much body hair. The fashion had been for smoothness for several decades now, and most men routinely used their bath’s depilator function on their bodies as well as their beards. Lochler’s shirtless state revealed a wealth of dark hair in a T pattern across his pecs and down his abdomen, disappearing into the waistband of the drab green trousers. “Physically, you’re quite imposing, if I may say so.”

  “You just did. Sorry we don’t have sonikleen.” Lochler gestured to the large piece of rough cloth Jaymes had wrapped around his hips.

  “I figured it out,” Jaymes said. “An interesting sensation… drying off with fabric.”

  “I like the way you look with your hair wet.”

  “Thank you. There’s a craze among Exotics right now for this spray that makes your hair shine like it’s wet. I think there might be some light-refracting material in—”

  “Not interested,” Lochler interrupted. “Reckon that was rude of me, huh?”

  “It’s your house,” Jaymes equivocated. He took another look around. “It’s not what I expected.”

  “It’s not bad,” Lochler said. “There’s a few things I miss, though.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I’d like to have a dog,” Lochler said, surprising Jaymes. “Can’t, though. Dogs just don’t like me since the docs modded me.” He sighed. “Shall we get down to digits, then?”

  “I don’t need currency at the moment.”

  “It was just a phrase. I don’t have any capital. So why don’t you tell me what you do need?”

  “A way back to the Cloister.”

  “Tricky. I’d expect a lot in return.”

  Jaymes held his arms out from his sides, letting the toweling fall to the duracon flooring. “Is this enough?” he asked.

  “It’s my wildest fantasy come to life, but… I have to be practical. If I risked my life to get you home, I’d need a bit more than one night in heaven.”

  “What do you want? An extended stay?”

  “Something along that line. Suppose I take you to the nearest urb where you can get transport back to the Inners? Call some of your fancy friends to come fetch you.” Lochler paused. “You don’t like that idea. I can tell ’cause in this pack we have a little somethin’ extra, courtesy of our hitch with Covops. I can literally smell fear and taste deception. I can’t read your mind, but I got a real good idea what’s goin’ on behind those big eyes.”

  “You haven’t asked what I’m doing here.”

  “I figure it’s either a party prank gone bad, or you’re in the kind of trouble that’s gonna keep you duckin’ for the rest of your life. You didn’t drop and rock my cock at the prospect of gettin’ in touch with your friends, so I’m leanin’ toward you bein’ in some unbelievably fubed up sitch with that hell-whore Zot.”

  “People will be coming after me,” Jaymes said. “Some of them will no doubt be Combat-Ulteem Grade.”

  Lochler blinked. “Is this a load of murd? See Youz are comin’ here?”

  “There was one on the roof of the building when we fled the Cloister.”

  “This is bad,” Lochler said under his breath. “Real bad.”

  Pulling a plasmod box from under the platform bed, Lochler took out a pair of moss green leggings and a faded black pullover. “I wear these under my clothes in the winter,” he said. “They should do for you until you find somethin’ better. Just put ’em on and don’t squawk.”

  Jaymes drew on the knitted leggings and pulled the shirt over his head. The sleeves reached his fingertips, and the hem came down to his thighs, but the colors didn’t clash, and the garments were soft from much washing. He felt almost like himself again, except for his bare feet.

  “Here!” Lochler called, and Jaymes looked up in time to catch the pair of soft boots the Granger threw at him. “I just got done repairin’ ’em for Kayel. He won’t mind if you borrow ’em for a while.”

  “What are we doing?” Jaymes asked as he worked his feet into the flat-heeled boots.

  “Why are you running?” Lochler countered as he finished buckling a weapon belt around his torso.

  Jaymes swallowed, struggling against the compulsion to answer the question in full. “I’d prefer not to say.”

  Lochler chuckled. “I really do like you, darlin’. You got heart, you know? But I believe you when you say you’re in big trouble ’cause I feel how deep your fear goes. If you say a See You is comin’, then I say it’s time to find a new den. Once those boys get the scent, they don’t stop for nothin.’”

  “And you’re taking me with you?”

  “You still owe me, and you’re not gettin’ outta my sight until you pay up. Here.” Lochler tossed a small bag to Jaymes. “Raisins. They’ll keep you goin’ until we can eat proper.”

  “What about the other… the rest of the pack? Aren’t you going to…?”

  “Contact ’em?” Lochler smiled. “I already have. Did you think I was just out for a drive when I met up with you and the men? I was alerted that the patrol was comin’ in.”

  “Are you saying you can sense one another’s thoughts from a distance?”

  “Not thoughts exactly, but somethin’ like it. Everyone in this pack can do it, some better than others.”

  “Is it communicable?”

  “What?”

  Jaymes swallowed a mouthful of dried fruit. “Is it like a field that others can interface with if they’re near you?”

  “I don’t know.” Loch
ler frowned into the middle distance. “What made you ask that?”

  “Xtrasens is an interest of mine,” Jaymes said quickly. It was amazing how easy the lies came when the inhibitor was gone. “The myth of it, I mean.”

  “Myth,” Lochler snorted. “They really keep you stupid in those metacorp crèches, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

  “I’ll explain on the road if we have time.” Lochler strode from the room as if it were understood that Jaymes would follow him.

  Having little other choice, Jaymes picked up the coat Drue had thrown over him a lifetime ago and hurried after the Granger.

  DRUE watched Ferrin and Halz whisper furiously, wishing he could hear what they were saying. His curiosity was satisfied seconds later.

  “We need to move faster,” Halz said.

  “Why the sudden need for speed?” Drue wanted to know.

  Halz and Ferrin exchanged a glance before Ferrin spoke. “Lochler says don’t go into the compound. It’s not safe anymore.”

  “Did he say why?”

  “I didn’t ask,” Ferrin stated in a tone that said the subject was closed.

  “He was worried, though,” Halz said. “He sent word for Kayel and the others to leave the salvage and be wary on the way.”

  “Where are we going?” Drue asked as they began to trot.

  “A rallying point near an urb called Watertown,” Halz answered the Exotic and then responded to Ferrin’s expression. “What harm is there in telling him that?”

  “He could tell someone else.”

  “They’d never find us,” Halz said confidently. “And if they did, we’d shred ’em.”

  Ferrin nodded. “Damn right we would.”

  “So stop bitchin’.” Halz punched his comrade’s arm and picked up the pace.

  Drue kept up, his brain swarming with speculation. What had happened to make the Granger leader abandon his base? What had the T-bred’s subverted programming compelled him to tell Lochler? Had Cloister Militia already tracked them using the Gentren locator implant? Intercut with these thoughts were mental images of Jaymes and the strapping pack leader in various explicit and lurid tableaus. These visions shouldn’t have had the slightest impact on Drue, but no matter how hard he tried to dismiss them, they bothered him much more than the thought of pursuit and capture by the officials.

  JAYMES climbed off the makeshift motorcycle for the second time that day, with his hair now dry but in wild disarray and his crotch buzzing from the vibration. He didn’t see any sort of dwelling nearby, but assumed they had stopped for a reason. As he looked around the small forest meadow, Lochler embraced him from behind. Jaymes had been expecting something of the sort eventually and didn’t move as brawny arms pulled him tight against the Granger’s broad chest. He thought about questioning the wisdom of doing this now, but he wasn’t in charge. For several long moments, they stood in silence, simply breathing in and out, with the sun getting hot on the tops of their heads.

  “This is nice,” Lochler said, breathing in the clean scent of Jaymes’s nape. “When I was a young man, I never thought I’d be so grateful just to be still for a few minutes.”

  “Why?” Jaymes asked softly.

  “The Pops hunt us ’cause it’s not legal to live here, and since the President-General gave them the option of deletion, they just come in blazin’ and clean up the mess later.”

  “The P.G. wouldn’t do that. And Population Control isn’t about deleting people, even if they aren’t Citizens.”

  “This is what I meant when I said you were kept stupid.” Lochler slid his hands down to rest against Jaymes’s flat belly. “Could we talk about it later? The ronday is just beyond those trees, and we don’t have a lot of time before the rest of the pack gets here.”

  “What would you like to do until then?”

  Lochler let one hand drop lower, cupping Jaymes’s cock and balls through the soft fabric of the leggings. “I think you have the same idea,” he said, squeezing resilient flesh.

  “Can you blame me? This is all very exciting,” Jaymes replied breathlessly.

  “Exciting or scary?” Lochler nipped lightly at the tender skin of Jaymes’s neck.

  “Both at the same time, plus a lot of other feelings. It’s quite… intense.”

  “You really are somethin’ special. Your Zot friend is sexy right down to the ground, but you…. Well, you’re sexy, no mistake, but it’s… quieter, if that makes any sense to you.”

  Jaymes nodded as he closed his eyes. Lochler was merely stating the difference in two classes of Companion. Jaymes had never questioned why he was earmarked as Thoroughbred Class; he’d just been thankful for the privileges that came with the T designation and the subkyoo brand. It had never seemed odd to him that his looks, carriage, and temperament were reminiscent of all other T-breds. Deportment and presentation were large parts of the training from the cradle on up.

  “I want you too,” Jaymes said, deliberately pitching his voice a quarter octave lower as he pressed his buttocks to Lochler’s crotch.

  “I know you’re just sayin’ that ’cause it’s part of the act,” Lochler said in Jaymes’s ear. “But it sounds sweet nonetheless. Somebody like me, soljer since I was sixteen, fightin’ to earn that Citizenship capital, burnt out, cast off, not able to hack into the private sector, not fit to live with civilized people anymore…. Somebody who can only find peace in the wilds has to give up a lotta things, luxuries you take for granted in the Cloy. But right now, I feel like the richest metacorp exec in the Inner Circle.”

  “You said you had an unlimited day pass once,” Jaymes said, reaching back to grasp the other man’s ass cheeks. “What was your employment?”

  “Bodyguard, tertiary tier, bouncing mostly. The top two tiers are always filled by Combat Ulteems. But once, I had a berth in a Hote house, patrollin’ the grounds. Yard guards slept in a barracks, so I never went in the house, but I’d see the owners and their guests in the gardens. Watched the Sire’s heir take a T-bred in the roses once. Birthday present. Up ’til now, that Companion was the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen outside a dream.” Lochler slid a hand under the hem of Jaymes’s tunic, letting his fingertips glide over the hard abs to the smooth pectorals. The callused edge of his thumb brushed the peak of Jaymes’s left nipple, and the Companion gasped softly. “You like that?”

  “It’s very pleasing, but if we don’t have much time?”

  “Halz and Ferrin weren’t that far behind us,” Lochler confirmed.

  Jaymes turned in the circle of Lochler’s arms. At six feet tall, it wasn’t often that the T-bred had to look up to meet another man’s eyes, and he found the experience oddly thrilling. Taking the initiative, he pressed his mouth to the Granger’s, letting his lips drift apart as his hands returned to Lochler’s firm ass.

  Lochler didn’t need any further provocation. Wrapping an arm around Jaymes’s pliant waist, he cupped the back of the Companion’s head in the other hand. Leaning in, the big man took control of the kiss, groaning into Jaymes’s mouth as the T-bred kneaded his lower cheeks. Breaking the kiss slowly, Jaymes made his way down the front of Lochler’s body, undoing buttons, snaps, and ties as he tasted each square inch of skin he bared to the light. The Companion settled onto his knees, fingers curling around the Granger’s hard cock, licking a cool stripe up the underside before taking the head in his mouth. Lochler burrowed his fingers in Jaymes’s silky hair as the T-bred gradually took his full length. There was something almost unbearably arousing about the sight of the aristocratic beauty, nose buried in the curls of a thick bush, his sculpted lips wrapped so sweetly around the root of a hard cock.

  “Kill me now.” Lochler murmured his customary expression of deep satisfaction.

  Jaymes lifted his head, letting the rosy length of flesh slide from his mouth as his fingers crept up the ladder of Lochler’s ribs. Pinching both the Granger’s nipples between thumbs and forefingers, Jaymes twisted in opposite directions as he
engulfed the entire eight inches again in one smooth motion. He flicked a glance up at Lochler’s face as he took a deep breath through his nose and swallowed several times in succession. The Granger’s grip on Jaymes’s skull tightened like a vise until Jaymes pulled back.

  “It’s all right if you’re aroused by rough play, but I’d like to know beforehand. Just for safety’s sake.”

  “Oh, hell, I can’t believe I forgot. You boychicks have combat skills. What a howl it would’ve been if I went to mount and you broke my neck. Is there some kinda key code?”

  A shudder ran the length of Jaymes’s frame. “No. There are agreed upon Scenarios with predesignated cues, but you can’t—” Tiny pearls of sweat sheened Jaymes’s upper lip, highlighting the small tattoo. He tried with all his might to sidestep Lochler’s question, but he could not lie now any more than he could to the Deep.

  “Jaymes!” Lochler said sharply. “What are you thinking on?”

  Jaymes dove on the other man’s cock, stroking, sucking, and licking ardently. He wet his fingers and bestowed slippery caresses on Lochler’s heavy balls and musky crack. Bobbing his head vigorously, he nudged at the Granger’s hole to the same rhythm. The tip of one finger pushed past the entrance to Lochler’s passage, and he cried out.

  “Whoa! Halt!”

  Jaymes looked up in consternation.

  “It’s good,” Lochler assured the T-bred. “All of it. Stratospheric. But I don’t want to deploy in your mouth.”

  “How do you want me?”

  “On the bike.”

  Jaymes glanced at the sinister-looking collection of metal, leather, and rubber. “All right,” he said gamely.

  Lochler watched, his cock pulsing in anticipation, as Jaymes pushed the leggings to his ankles and bent over the saddle of the motorcycle. “That’s almost enough to make me shoot off right there,” he said as he moved behind Jaymes. The Granger leader pushed Jaymes’s shirt up to his neck and rested a hand between the winged shoulder blades. “Spread your legs a little more,” he said brusquely.