by Nathan Jones
Callista nodded thoughtfully. “Over a trillion people use the allnet, all linked up by a vast network that spans the stars. What would Earth humans think if they could see it?”
He thought of some of the more . . . unconventional full immersion experiences he'd had. “That they were insane, probably.”
The silvery-haired woman slapped his arm lightly. “Speaking of insane, are you still happy with your efforts to keep them ignorant and isolated and suffering in the squalor of their world?” He was slow to answer, and she continued fiercely. “What good are all the advances we've made in our hundred thousand years of galactic exploration and expansion if we can't share them with those who need them most?”
He took her hand and pressed his lips to it, letting them linger. “Are all the advances we've made beneficial?”
Callista took her hand back with a sigh. “Always back to this.”
“Always,” he agreed solemnly. “Say what you will for the violence and suffering on Earth, but the people there know joy like none of us have ever experienced. Could never even have imagined before seeing it. Somewhere in our own advancement we eliminated all suffering, yes, but we also killed the human spirit.”
“Human spirit?” she asked, amused at such an archaic concept.
Tycho flushed. “I mean our drive, our passion. Our fight to better ourselves. Human society, technology, even art has been stagnant for tens of thousands of years.”
With another sigh Callista turned her head impatiently and began kissing her way up his neck until her lips found his. He allowed himself to sink into the kiss, savoring it until she finally pulled away.
“On the subject of passion,” the silvery-haired woman said a touch breathlessly, “can we stop talking about this now? I'm not usually in the mood for philosophizing right after a tryst, especially this late at night.” She abruptly grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down on top of her, wrapping her legs around him as she whispered in his ear. “I'm usually in the mood for more.”
* * * * *
It was early evening by the time Tycho disconnected from full immersion, which thanks to his adjusted sleeping schedule meant he'd effectively stayed up all night with Callista.
Not that he regretted it for a moment.
He lay floating in the body-temperature saltwater for a few minutes, eyes closed as he basked in the general contentment of what he'd just shared with the woman he loved. It seemed incredible that things between them had changed so suddenly, and so incredibly.
To his annoyance the lid to the vat opened before long, Eva leaning over him. “You must be exhausted,” she said, expression concerned as she offered him a hand to help him out. Tycho considered waving her away, but he was in too good a mood to be irritable and simply accepted it.
“It was a big day for you, and a long one,” his companion continued as she led him through the cleansing field that whisked away the saltwater and residue, “you probably want to go straight to bed.” She abruptly paused, sea green eyes moving downward, and a small smile played over her full lips. “Or do you need some release first?”
Tycho felt himself flushing. Even an entire night with Callista in the allnet didn't do much for his physical needs in real life. In fact the memory of their experiences together had him unusually keyed up.
He turned away, inexplicably embarrassed. “A bath first, I think.” Tired as he was he didn't know if he'd be able to go straight to sleep after the night he'd just had, and a long soak in the tub sounded nice.
Eva dutifully followed as he made his way through his manor to the large room where various baths, pools, and saunas were tastefully arranged around an artificial sunning area complete with lounge chairs. Tycho drifted through the room, checking the temperature of the water in each one with his toe, until he found what he was looking for.
A cold pool.
He didn't use it often, usually to soothe his muscles with a combination of heat and cold after tumbling or some other intense physical exercise. But now he hovered over it, bracing himself to jump in and endure the shock of the uncomfortable temperature.
He was so absorbed with his thoughts that he jumped slightly when he felt Eva press her soft body against his back, wrapping her arms around him. He hadn't noticed her disrobing. Her lips brushed his neck, then her warm breath tickled the tiny hairs there as she made a low, throaty noise.
Tycho closed his eyes slowly. Considering his reasoning for using the cold pool in the first place this was exactly the wrong time for this. Gathering his resolve he pulled free of his companion's embrace and turned to give her a firm look, not without some regret as his eyes took in her curves for a moment before he pointedly looked away.
“No, Eva. No more.”
She straightened, the inviting look vanishing from her features. “Because of tonight's full immersion intimacy with Miss Ensom?”
“Yes, exactly that. I'm not comfortable being with you when I'm falling in love with her. It feels disloyal.”
Eva seemed confused, but noticing his reluctance to look directly at her she obligingly reached for her clothes and began pulling them back on. “Most humans do not consider getting sexual release from companions to be disloyal,” she pointed out.
“Humans don't live together and form real life relationships with each other, either,” Tycho countered. “Why would the subject of disloyalty even come up in most cases?”
“Nevertheless, I know you well enough to recognize that in spite of this new resolution, some part of you strongly wishes to continue our intimate encounters.” Her eyes pointedly moved downwards. “At the moment quite literally.”
Tycho flushed again, and just as pointedly tapped his forehead with a finger. “This is the part that matters in this discussion.”
His companion gave him a sympathetic look. “There's no need to feel guilt or shame for being with me. I have no feelings and form no attachments. I can't divide your loyalty. I'm not even alive, so technically speaking our activities together are autoerotic in nature.”
“They certainly don't feel that way!” Tycho snapped. “I don't want to be convinced out of this decision, Eva, even if part of me wants to be. I don't care if that doesn't make sense to you.”
She nodded. “I understand, Tycho. As per your wish I'll refrain from affectionate or amorous behavior in the future, at least until such point as you change your mind.”
“I won't.”
“Of course.” She didn't show the slightest trace of doubt, but Tycho still wondered if it was there.
Could he hold to this resolution and not change his mind? He had to, because he loved Callista and no other consideration mattered.
Still, all things considered he was grateful for the cold pool as his companion left him in peace.
* * * * *
Over the next week Tycho found himself visiting dozens of humans who suddenly wanted the experience of meeting other people in person, just like they'd seen on Earth.
Most of those dozens came in the form of an actual meeting, twenty or so people gathering together at a tourist location to mingle and dine on delicacies and chitchat about their interests. Such parties were popular on the forgotten colony, and people were eager to explore a new diversion.
As it turned out it wasn't particularly diverting; in spite of the pleasant background music, the sumptuous delicacies, and the attractively dressed people, nobody seemed to quite know what to do and so did nothing, then began to complain that they were bored and disparage Earth humans for enjoying such a waste of time.
The majority of people gradually congregated around Tycho as time went on, maybe as a familiar face or an “expert” on interpersonal communication. And although he had no better idea than the rest of them about what to do at a party he did his best to keep the conversation pleasant with as many people as possible.
As the meeting began winding down more than one person took him aside and broached the possibility of him visiting their estates. Most of those invitations he
accepted, aside from a couple of offers from women whose intentions were almost certainly intimate in nature; given Callista's earlier jealousy he didn't want to give her reason to be irritated with him again.
Besides, at the moment he didn't really feel the desire to be around any women besides the one he was courting.
He and Callista were still meeting up on the allnet several times a day for passionate trysts. They were the main thing he looked forward to, surprisingly even more so than real life visits with the people who wanted to meet him. He would've preferred to spend every waking moment with her if they didn't both have so many pressing demands on their time.
But in spite of their flourishing intimacy in full immersion Tycho found that they were talking less and less, especially about deeper subjects. Although to be fair their current activities didn't give them many opportunities for chitchat. He would've brushed that concern aside without a second thought if at the same time Callista hadn't out of the blue become strangely reluctant to meet with him in person.
He couldn't figure out why, when they were now lovers in all but actual reality. And since she'd had plenty of lovers in actual reality he couldn't see how it would be an issue for her.
It seemed as if it was, though; whenever he brought it up she used the debating tactics he was becoming more and more familiar with to change the topic. When that failed she became almost aggressively intimate to get him to shut up.
Tycho usually did, under the circumstances; it seemed stupid to risk their new physical closeness by pressing the issue, and in any case he wanted to give her a chance to open up to him on her own terms.
And it went without saying that he enjoyed the ways she distracted him from the subject.
At the same time, he was starting to become concerned that whatever relationship they'd been creating together was devolving into a simple full immersion fling. So he tried harder to engage her in the same deep conversations they'd used to have, and not just spend every time they saw each other as a race to get their clothes off as soon as possible.
He even looked for opportunities to invite her along to visits with other humans. Invitations which she surprisingly seemed far more willing, even eager, to accept.
Far from minding her added presence on visits their hosts seemed charmed by her bantering friendliness. Tycho was relieved to see that the silvery-haired woman didn't flirt or tease with other people the way she did with him, sparing him the need to feel more jealousy than was aroused by the occasional admiring glance from men they visited.
And to his surprise her choice of outfits on their visits was unusually reserved, multiple layers as if to hide the curves she usually delighted in flaunting.
On the eighth day after Tycho's announcement of Earth's discovery he and Callista received an invitation to meet a prominent historian named Darus Flittige, who had a special interest in the old cultures of Homeworld which he insisted were not so different from what they'd found on Earth.
It was a fascinating visit. Darus was an indifferent host at best, offering no refreshments or amenities and immediately engaging them in conversation the moment they descended the ramps of their ships.
As they spoke Tycho noticed Callista shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, unused to standing for so long; he had to admit he wasn't all that comfortable himself as the minutes passed to an hour. He was surprised their host didn't seem to mind staying on his feet like that, but Darus seemed too engrossed in the discussion to notice.
And it was an interesting conversation. The cultures of Homeworld had effectively been subsumed by one that advanced more quickly and spread in power and influence until it had control over most of the world. It used that power to fuel humanity's push into space and enforce a universal language that was eventually adopted by everyone.
Of course that culture was ultimately torn apart by internal strife. For hundreds of years the first settled colonies were at war with Homeworld, only the vast distances preventing worse bloodshed. But in spite of the conflict the universal language and the identity of a unified humanity persisted, largely encouraged by a bit of fear mongering about the possibility of discovering a more advanced alien race and the need to be prepared to unify against that threat.
When Darus compared that to Earth's development he showed convincing evidence that no such global culture had formed on that world to fuel a push into space, which likely meant the humans of the forgotten colony would ultimately fail due to the logistics of traveling such incomprehensible distances without rift travel.
That would probably limit their further progress into space for centuries or even millennia.
“Which I would call a good thing given their primitive savagery,” the historian continued. “But they do provide an interesting chance to study the interactions of such disparate cultures. In spite of our fairly complete records of ancient Homeworld, it happened so long ago that it's impossible to be certain important details haven't been lost in the mists of time. Or at least was, until we saw evidence supporting or disproving those details on Earth.”
“So is there any hope of them growing beyond that savagery anytime soon?” Callista asked. She'd finally given up and settled down on the nearby lawn, legs tucked primly beneath her. Even that hadn't provided their host with a clue that this discussion might be more comfortable if had on seats.
Preferably with water and access to facilities, at least where Tycho was concerned.
Darus blinked at her, frowning. “I find it very unlikely, my dear. We were in space for tens of thousands of years before we finally eliminated violence, and it took turning over management of human society to the AI caretakers and distributing companions to humans the universe over to make it happen. Earth humans are a very, very long ways away from such technological solutions to their societal problems.”
“Then do you think they would be better off if we folded them into our society and put them under the protection of the caretakers?” the silvery-haired woman persisted. Tycho frowned in slight irritation at her bringing politics into the discussion.
The historian blinked again. “And lose the opportunity to gain invaluable insights about primitive humanity? Absolutely not!”
Callista shot a look Tycho's way. “But do you at least agree that the way humans live on that world is mostly horrific, with few redeeming qualities?”
“No redeeming qualities at all that I can see,” Darus replied with a slight smile, making Tycho bristle in indignation. But before he could challenge the man on that Darus gave Callista a curious look. “Isn't it rather unhygienic to be seated on the ground like that, my dear?”
The silvery-haired woman rolled her eyes. “It's actually quite nice. I like how the grass tickles.” She stood with a languid stretch. “But while I appreciate the opportunity to share this fascinating discussion with you, Mister Flittige, I'm afraid I'm going to need to cut it short. I have a pressing need to relieve myself.”
The historian frowned at her. “Relieve yourself of what?”
“The contents of my bladder,” she said bluntly. “Thank you for the opportunity to see your estate, this was lovely.” She turned to Tycho and gave him a sweet smile. “Care to escort me to my ship, Mister Boralene?”
Nodding with more than a little relief considering his own need to use his ship's facilities, Tycho offered Callista his arm. “Yes, thank you for the visit, Darus. I hope you'll come visit me at my estate at some point.”
The man gave them a befuddled look as they began to walk away, hastening to catch up to them. “I'm disappointed you're cutting your visit short like this. I thought we were just getting started.”
“Perhaps we can continue this on the allnet,” Callista said, voice still sweet in a way that made Tycho slightly nervous; he was glad she'd never talked to him like that, since it seemed a precursor to shouting.
“Oh. Well yes, I suppose so.” Darus gave up trying to follow them and stopped on the path, calling at their backs. “Thank you for the visit. Brief
as it was.”
Tycho started to release the silvery-haired woman's arm at the base of her ship's ramp, but she held on firmly and guided him up into her ship with her. “My home's not so far from here,” she murmured for his ears only as the ramp closed behind them. “I figured we'd have a much more enjoyable visit there, together.”
He felt a surge of relief, not just at the chance to finally be catered to by an attentive and thoughtful host but the fact that he'd at last have a chance to see Callista in person without other humans present. That relief was replaced by sudden eagerness and apprehension at the realization he had a chance to meet his lover in person, after such a long wait.
Perhaps even in her ship's stateroom, if they were in a hurry.
At the moment, however, Callista was in a different sort of hurry. “I hate to be selfish, but would you mind terribly if I used the facilities first thing?” she asked, practically dancing in place. “That wasn't just an excuse to get away from Darus and his complete disregard for human amenities.”
“By all means,” Tycho said, releasing her arm. “Try not to take too long.”
She gave him a wry smile as she hurried to her stateroom, where he noticed Bruce waiting discreetly. The adult companion nodded to him politely, and Tycho nodded back.
To distract himself from his own pressing need to relieve himself he wandered into the cockpit and settled into the pilot's chair. “Welcome, Mister Boralene,” the ship's AI said politely in a mellifluous female voice. “It's nice to finally meet you after everything I've heard from Miss Ensom.”
“Thanks.” Tycho leaned forward. “So tell me, Pilot, do you ever verbally abuse her or take vicious delight in her suffering?”
There was a somewhat uncomfortable silence. “Beg pardon?”
“I'll take that as a no.” Tycho tapped his fingers on the console in front of him.
