by Jay Kohl
Marcus, still thrusting, straightened and reached down, gripping Brad’s ass to lift him higher. Then with one last grinding jerk, he growled deep in his throat, collapsed forward and Brad felt the burning come spurt inside him.
With a final searing kiss, Marcus lifted his head, still panting.
Brad had intended to make a casual joke as they separated, but the look Marcus gave him stilled his words. It was as if Marcus had touched his soul with his potent gaze. Brad’s heart contracted inside his chest and a combined sense of longing and loneliness filled him. They’d become close since sharing their abode. Very close. Marcus knew his moods and somehow always managed to lift his spirits when the job they were trying to do felt hopeless.
He would miss Marcus more than he could possibly say.
Chapter Two
During the night Darla spent more hours than usual in her lab. Time was now of the essence. She’d been developing a chain reaction sequence that was aimed at switching on certain genomes in a particular order using pheromone enhancers as a trigger. This sequence was one she’d developed via computerized simulations, but as always, when dealing with biological material, experiments never quite followed the same course as the simulations. To date she’d managed to enliven two of the desired genomes but the sequence required eight or more triggers to create artificial fertilization. The X- and Y-chromosomes would partially pair, but only specific donor chromosomes would do that much. Others simply died in the test tube, almost always the XX sequences. They so needed to be able to generate more females if there was even a hope of survival long term.
By the time the third of Saturn’s visible moons had set, she was no closer to her goal of triggering one more genome. Intuitively, she knew that the answer was just out of reach and that answer, when it came, would be a real breakthrough. Yet every night as she walked the short distance back to her suite, she felt just a little more depressed that she’d failed yet again.
And last evening, despite her elation over being chosen seedbearer and the positive feeling her interview with Marcus had left, she’d slept poorly for what remained of the night. Her mind kept flitting between the research failures and her apprehension over what the upcoming mission would hold. While mankind had become quite adept at space travel, there was no guarantee their journey would reach the destined landing point. She wouldn’t know their destination until a full briefing with the entire team tomorrow. Secrecy was imperative to avoid the panic that had occurred when the original Io settlement foundered. Many died on overloaded escape pods. Even though science had overcome some of the most unwelcome environments, others, like Io, simply would not allow life to be sustained. What if it was all for nothing? It was a prospect they had to face.
So Darla paced the room, tired and short-tempered.
Now Brad Hunter was half an hour late and he hadn’t shown enough courtesy to inform her. It certainly didn’t auger well. A precious half hour lost that might have taken her one step closer to the biological answers she sought.
Just as she decided to give him no more than five minutes further, the chime tinkled.
“Finally,” she murmured to herself as she pressed the door release.
When Brad walked into the room she forgot her annoyance. Though not handsome in the classical sense, his sharp, angular features were striking. Unlike the fair-haired and pale-eyed Marcus, Brad was hauntingly dark. His eyes resembled chips of obsidian she could easily fall into given a little encouragement. And his jet hair shone with an almost unnatural gloss. The NatAm bloodline appeared strong in him.
“Apologies for my lateness. My research assistant managed to lock himself inside the hermetically sealed cool room just as I was leaving the lab. We had to act fast to avoid contaminating an entire batch of hormone enhancer as we extracted him.”
Though still not happy, Darla nodded her understanding. Hormone enhancers were complementary to her work and production was slow.
“There was no damage?” She raised a brow.
“Doesn’t appear to be. We’ll run more tests tomorrow just to make sure.”
“Well, come in and have a drink.” She turned to a nearby dining table and picked up two vials. “I hope you like Amberwine.”
He smiled and took the vial of golden liquid, brushing his fingers over hers as he did so. She felt an encouraging ripple of static electricity travel up her arm. As he sipped, he kept his eyes trained upon hers, and when his lips caressed the thin vial, Darla imagined those full lips upon her skin. When he swallowed, she did too.
“So tell me, why do you want to join the seedbearer expedition?” she asked as she moved to the couch where she’d been ravaged by Marcus the evening before. Just the idea made her core dampen. Or perhaps it was the sight of Brad’s lips that affected her?
“I have a feeling this research station will need to close down soon,” he said. “The population is diminishing. Unless there’s a sudden breakthrough with our fertility research, within ten years I doubt there’ll be enough fertile women to keep us going, especially if a number leave as seedbearers.
“My research is important to me. So it is probably best to be heading out earlier rather than later.” He looked at her meaningfully. “I’d rather leave for a good purpose than simply to save myself when the situation becomes dire.”
His answer would have impressed her more had he not been staring at her breasts when he said it. But still, he had a point. To found a new colony was far nobler than merely escaping the inevitable decline of their species.
“And what makes you think we’d be compatible in such a quest?” she challenged.
He moved to sit beside her and she was suddenly overwhelmed by his scent: male and musky. Every nerve in her began to buzz with anticipation. The look in his eyes as his hand lifted to slide along her leg, toward her core, made her skin heat and her clit throb. He’d barely touched her—would she melt completely when he fucked her? She gulped a deep breath, knowing she’d find out soon.
“I’m sure we’ll fit perfectly,” he murmured as he leaned in close to plant a wet, open-mouthed kiss on her lips. He tasted of the spicy Amberwine. His tongue filled her mouth and she sucked on it with a low groan.
His hand covered her pubis and pressed firmly. She felt the juices flood from her and was grateful the thin film of her skinsuit stopped her from coming there and then.
“I think we should dispense with all this latex,” he said as he stood.
Under the fabric his cocked bulged massively just inches from her face, tempting her. But she wanted him to take the upper hand, she wanted him to make the moves.
She didn’t have to wait long.
He peeled the fabric from his chest, slowly, like a dancer at one of the exclusive clubs she sometimes visited when her hormones ran rampant. As he revealed himself to her, she was amazed at his total hairlessness. A true NatAm. His skin looked so sleek her fingertips itched to reach out and touch, but she was enjoying this performance too much.
The sideclaw fastenings on his trousers simply fell away when he ripped and flung them behind him. His cock jumped out strong and proud and so close to her lips she lost the battle to restrain herself. Leaning forward she took him between her lips. The heat of the smooth head startled her, and then she tasted his pre-come and was lost. Opening her mouth, she took him deep and was rewarded with a shuddering groan from Brad. She raised her eyes to see his face enraptured. She slid her tongue up and down and his legs trembled.
“Suns and stars!” he whispered desperately. “Your mouth is so different from his.”
Darla understood what he meant. In a culture with so few women, every man usually had one or more male lovers. Often, the act of sharing an apartment forced them together. Even though there were sex cubicles with every device available for satisfaction, for the most part humans still preferred the contact of others of their kind.
She released him and stood to face him
. “You will happily leave your lover?”
He shrugged. “Marcus and I share. It is either him or me.”
Marcus? He cohabited with Marcus? And they were lovers? That suddenly made her feel a little awkward. Had they discussed her? Had Marcus told Brad what to expect? Was she now the object of a competition?
He didn’t appear to dwell on the dilemma, deftly removing her skinsuit in several swift moves. “Oh yes,” he murmured as his eyes traveled over her pale skin. Echoing his earlier move he cupped her mons and squeezed. Her clit swelled automatically and her breath caught.
“Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered as he lifted her and speared her deep and hard. His cock filled her and her channel pulsed. Wetness flowed from her, lathering his cock and balls. “Yes, milk me,” he grunted, thrusting in quick, short, slippery bursts.
He dropped to his knees before the divan and laid her back, making sure he stayed within her but freeing his hands to do their worst. Her nipples ached as he circled them with his fingertips before he took one in his mouth and sucked.
“Fuck,” she cried as his finger flicked her clit. So many sensations were throwing her closer to the abyss. He flicked again and she cracked, bucking against him as she came around him. “Fuck me!”
In answer he gripped her hips and thrust hard, grinding his pubis against her, over and over, and she just kept coming and shuddering until she wanted to scream. Arching her back she bore down until he exploded within her and she could feel the hot come pump into her.
He collapsed onto her chest, breathing great gulps of air.
* * * * *
Marcus kept himself busy in their small cubicle of an apartment and tried not to imagine what was happening at Darla’s place. He’d never have thought it possible, but he was jealous. Jealous! Yet he didn’t know who he was jealous of…Darla for being with Brad, or Brad for being with Darla? It hadn’t been until faced with this contradiction that he’d examined his feelings. He’d never really associated sex with emotion, never much thought about it all.
Until now.
He kept having mental pictures. Of Darla, naked and flushed and wet. Her breasts full, with nipples erect. But he also daydreamed about watching Brad. His cock angry and ready. His own cock jumped at the mere thought and he glanced across at the bathing cubicle with its variety of pleasure accessories. Part of him wanted to wait for Brad’s return and brand him by giving him the best fuck he’d ever had. But he also knew if Darla performed as she had with him, Brad would come back well and truly spent.
Would she suck his cock? Was she doing that right now?
With a resigned grunt he headed for the cubicle and pressed the door release. The pleasure chair had seen little use in recent months. He stripped, then sat and stared down at the control console. He commanded the cursor to run through the various menus. Eventually he settled for a scenario that guaranteed he’d stop thinking altogether. He’d chosen a threesome…something he hadn’t bothered with before but now seemed appropriate. The vid screen lowered to surround his head.
The female he chose vaguely resembled Darla, and the male was a NatAm like Brad. Leaning back he let himself be drawn into the show as the pleasure seat molded itself around him. Latex fingers drifted over his chest in unison with the female of the vid. He jumped a little when his engorged cock was surrounded by a wet mouth in time with the man in the vid. He bucked into the mouth and was rewarded by a dribble of oily salve that trickled warm over his balls.
The seat slowly lowered and reshaped itself and the mouth on his cock was replaced with a wet pussy as the woman in the vid straddled him. She was tight and hot, and became Darla in his mind. He wanted to come. Biting his lip he tried to hold back. He’d programmed so much more and he intended to enjoy the oblivion it would bring.
The seat lowered further and he now lay flat, with the woman pleasuring herself on his cock, riding him with slow, sure strokes. His cock felt enormous and ready to burst. Then he saw the man behind her cupping her breasts and laving her neck with his tongue. Marcus’s heart pounded—he was ready. He needed them both.
As if in answer to his desires he felt his ass cheeks parting with the pressure of the pleasure seat. The NatAm male had a glint in his eye as he stared straight at him. Then a false cock, feeling so like Brad’s that Marcus’s stomach clenched, began to press against his anus. He fought the urge to wriggle away and deliberately relaxed, letting the slippery latex breach him.
He groaned as the cock surged into his ass and he was suddenly lost. The woman in the vid began to come, her channel pulsing against him and dripping her wetness all over his cock and balls. Hot fluid—filled with nerve stimulant—dribbled down between his ass cheeks and onto his anus, adding to the heat that screamed through him. He pumped his hips against both sensations, relishing the alternating fullness in his ass and the hot suction on his cock.
He cried out as he erupted. His last conscious thought was of Darla and Brad.
“Having fun?”
Marcus’s eyes snapped open. The vid screen had disappeared into the wall and the only element of his solo interlude to remain was the suction cup that surrounded his cock to ensure every dollop of semen was collected for scientific testing.
Snapping the chair upright, he removed the cup and pressed the abort button on the seat. “What can I say?” Marcus shrugged.
Brad laughed. “Don’t worry—I did the same thing when you were with her.”
Marcus’s brows rose, but he didn’t comment. He knew part of the reason he needed to be diverted from knowing Brad was with Darla was because he and Brad had shared so much in recent times. They’d traveled together to this research station and had struck up a loose professional friendship long before that. Their cohabitation seemed to be as natural an event as the movement of the moons. Then their physical relationship, though emotional attachment was never spoken of, was just as natural. They’d come together with the ease of people who understood each other. Physically, they were suited too. Their tastes satisfied whatever cravings each had without any hint of discontent between them.
But they’d never really talked about how they felt beyond the physical. Now—now the question of them being separated, one of them going on this mission while the other stayed behind, had brought it to the surface.
He had to admit he had strong feelings for Brad.
Did Brad have similar feelings for him?
* * * * *
“So have you decided?” Stone asked before she’d even settled into her chair opposite.
Darla glanced out the window at the clouds of opaque gas that had prevented early astronomers from seeing the moon’s surface. It had only been when it became clear that the Earth would not survive beyond the twenty-second century that scientists chose to scrutinize Titan’s atmosphere and surface more closely.
The early colonists needed to overcome many obstacles to make the small areas of the station habitable, but they did it. Over a period of eighteen years, hermetically sealed bubbles were built to house the small pioneer colony. It was only after the research station had been established that they found conditions were so hostile to human reproduction.
Science and technology had ultimately resolved all their other issues, but to date no amount of research had adequately answered the fertility problem.
And now they were being forced to abandon another home.
“Dr. Wynter?”
“Sorry, Dr. Stone…you were saying?”
“I was asking whether you had made your decision. Time is of the essence.”
She took a deep breath and looked him squarely in the eye. “I’d like to request both Hunter and Olsen accompany me on the mission, please, sir…and that Dr. Foster follow in the second pod.” She didn’t want to plead, but she knew it was exactly how her request sounded.
But Stone was already shaking his head. “Foster is needed for logisti
cs at your destination.”
“But can’t either of the other two—”
Stone held up his hand to stop her. “I’m sorry, Dr. Wynter, the decision is made. Foster has been working on this for several months. He is best equipped.” Stone stood, signaling the interview was over. “Go back to your preparations, doctor, and make up your mind soon.”
With no other option, Darla left the office. But it annoyed her. Every single member of every colony had the survival background and engineering training to cover the logistics of any mission. Such training was standard.
The only reason she’d been chosen for the mission was because she was eminently qualified. Stone didn’t want to choose her—he’d always seen her as an irritant—but the urgency of the situation had forced him to. In return he probably delighted in the idea of making her life uncomfortable. Stone knew of her dislike of Dr. Foster. Several times Foster had commandeered aspects of her research just as she felt she was getting to a stage of breakthrough. At that time Stone and Foster were firm friends, and when she demanded his intervention, Stone had simply waved her away as if her complaints were unimportant.
Darla didn’t know why but it was obvious the relationship between Stone and Foster had soured—and it was well known that they were rivals for the next position as director of the combined Saturnine Research Council. So sending Foster away was likely a strategic move on Stone’s part. Having Foster and Darla man the mission solved two problems at the same time while ensuring Stone a smooth path to career advancement.
She’d always thought Stone was well-named—cold, immovable and unfeeling—and in this he proved it. Even with mankind in danger of extinction, his own needs came first.
Chapter Three
Darla was confused. She’d spent the past day and a half deliberating as to which man she should choose. She’d avoided seeing them since the interviews because both men attracted her far more than she could have imagined. She knew her cycle was causing havoc chemically, but she kept thinking about archaic customs like loving relationships. Not just for her, but also for Brad and Marcus.
