by M. D. Cooper
“Feels nice. What is it?”
“Silk.”
“Oh, okay.” After a pause, she added, “What’s silk?”
“It’s a material woven from the cocoons of the silkworm.”
“What?!” Isa jumped up, giving the cloth a suspicious look. “That stuff comes from worms? People must have been desperate for cloth in ancient times.”
“Not at all. I think it was a luxury textile,” Martin said with a wink.
“Worm cloth was a luxury? I take it back. They weren’t desperate. They were really desperate.”
“It wasn’t made from the worms, silly. It’s actually made from their cocoons, and they weren’t worms, they were moth larvae.”
“Oh, right,” said Isa. “That makes all the difference. Erin, come check this out. We’re sleeping on worm-spit bedding tonight.”
While Isa and Martin had been talking, the bathroom light had been clicking on and off.
“This is so weird,” Erin called from the room. “The light switch is on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling. Hold on a minute, I want to check out the… Stars. Hey, you two, come and see the weird san!”
A short while later, Martin was regarding his reflection in the hotel room mirror.
“I’m really not sure about this.”
“You look great,” Erin said. “And it’s better than swimming naked, which you do all the time. What’s the problem?”
“When I swim naked, there’s no one else around.”
“Well, it’s what Usef recommended,” said Erin. “He knows what he’s talking about, right, Isa?”
“Oh yeah,” Isa replied. She was already changed and was lying on the bed as she waited for the others to get ready, trying to get used to the idea of the ‘traditional’ bedding. “All the guys wear them. If you don’t, you’ll look out of place.”
“Hmm….” Martin said. “I still don’t know.”
Isa could see why he was having doubts. His thong was so tiny, he was only barely decent, and Martin was a conservative guy. But then, she knew that Usef’s had been the same when they went tsunami surfing, as had the swimwear of all his fellow male Marines.
She shrugged. “It’s just what people wear around here. I wouldn’t be surprised if the place turned entirely nudist soon.”
Martin’s eyebrows rose in alarm.
“Don’t forget, that would apply to the women too,” Isa added.
Martin grinned. “Now that, I could get used to.”
“Me too,” Erin laughed.
“You would say that,” said Isa. “You’re nearly naked yourself as it is.”
Erin looked down at the strips of fabric that scarcely covered her. “I guess this bikini is a little scanty. I didn’t really think about it. Should I change?”
“No, you’re fine,” said Isa. “Come on. Let’s go, or we’ll miss the wave.”
They left their room and hurried down the stairs to the lobby, where other guests were also making their way out the front entrance.
Isa, Erin, and Martin took three of the remaining a-grav scooters from the hotel lot and rode them through the streets of the small city to the port. There, they boarded the ferry that carried the tsunami surfers out to the location where they would catch the wave.
Just a few hundred meters to the west, the ocean floor dropped off sharply. It sloped at the perfect angle to pick up the earthquake-induced water surge and throw it high into the air as it washed over the shallows.
The surfers would be carried along with the wave, surfing for kilometres, until the wave finally dissipated and deposited those who managed to stay on their boards onto a wide beach.
Or so Isa had heard. The previous time she’d tsunami-surfed, a massive storm had spoiled the fun. This time, she was hoping to ride the wave the entire way.
As they waited, paddling idly on their boards, Erin said, “I can’t believe we’re out here. I haven’t done anything this much fun in ages. I feel like a little kid.”
“Isn’t this place great?” Isa asked. She was enjoying Athens even more with Erin and Martin there. If I could only figure out what to do about a job, she mused, my life would be perfect.
As she watched the seascape and Athens’ tropical, mountainous terrain in the distance, she realized that she would love to do something that entailed working outdoors, where she could appreciate the work of the FGT. Maybe not in Athens; the hedonism and partying wouldn’t be so enjoyable if it was available all the time. But maybe she could work on Troy or Tyre, which weren’t as developed as Carthage.
“I might go diving later,” Martin said.
“You want to go diving?” asked Erin. “Why? You dive all the time on Carthage.”
“I’d like to have a look at what’s down there.”
“You want to see what’s living down there?” Isa recalled her few minutes of terror after she’d been stranded by the massive storm and she’d thought something in the ocean was touching her.
“I do,” replied Martin. “What’s weird about that? The FGT seeded this place. I’m curious to see how they established things.”
“Here it comes,” Erin exclaimed. “Get ready.”
She was right. The horizon was lifting. The tsunami was on its way. They began to paddle harder as the water in the shallows began to rush out toward the west.
“There’ll be plenty of time for diving later,” said Isa to Martin. “For now, I’d concentrate on surfing if I were you.”
“Huh,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at the wall of water that was rising behind them. “Piece of cake.”
Seconds later, the wave was upon them, lifting them high as it burst over the shallows, racing inland.
“Hoooo-weeee,” yelled Erin. “This is amazing!”
As they were borne along by the tsunami, Isa concentrated on simply not wiping out. She didn’t fancy another wait for the search-and-rescue pinnace. Martin was clearly in his element, however; he rode his board like he had a hundred of years of experience…which might have been the case.
A little farther down the line of surfers, Isa could see Usef.
Sure enough, within a short time, Usef was putting on his usual performance. Martin took this as a challenge and began to copy the Marine’s moves. Soon the two men were attracting stares from all around, until finally they both went too far and simultaneously tumbled down the watery cliff and into the blue-green deep.
When the tsunami finally petered out and deposited Isa onto the beach at the end of the ride, she was elated. She’d managed to remain on her board the whole way. She was breathless and windswept and looking forward to telling Erin and Martin about her success.
* * * * *
Isa had showered at the board return facility up the beach from where the tsunami finally petered out, but it seemed a waste to not make use of the traditional version in their hotel room too. After a long, delicious dinner, she and Erin decided to take another shower, together, before going to bed.
As they stood under the hot spray, Erin picked out a bottle of shampoo and squirted it onto Isa’s hair. She began to lather up the liquid and said, “This is so much fun. Why did we ever stop doing this?”
“Mmmm, it smells wonderful,” said Isa. “I want to try some of this, too. It says that you pu
t it on afterward.” She pointed at a bottle on the shelf labeled ‘Conditioner’.
“Okay.” Erin directed the shower spray to rinse Isa’s hair. As she washed the foam away she ran her fingers through the long black strands. “Your hair’s so beautiful. I love it.”
“You could always grow yours,” Isa said.
“Oh no. I like it short.”
“Yeah,” said Isa. “I like your hair short, too.”
Her back was toward Erin, but she turned around as she spoke. Water was streaming over Erin’s body, glistening on her skin, making her look more beautiful than ever. Isa wrapped her arms around Erin’s waist and drew her close before kissing her.
Erin returned her kisses passionately, lifting a hand to gently press against the back of her neck. Then Erin’s lips left Isa’s as she moved her kisses down Isa’s neck. Soon, Isa forgot all about shampoo and conditioner and traditional showers, as Erin began kissing her breast and sucking gently at her nipple. She steadied herself against the shower wall as pleasure coursed through her.
“Hey,” said Martin. “Don’t start without me.”
Erin chuckled and stopped what she was doing.
“Gee, thanks, Martin,” said Isa, straightening up and giving a mock glare at the man who was standing in the bathroom doorway, hands on hips.
“We’re just enjoying the novelty of an old-fashioned shower,” Erin said mischievously. “What’s wrong with that?”
“From what I remember, you don’t need an ‘old-fashioned’ shower to do that,” Martin replied. “So do you dry yourself with one of these?” he asked, lifting a cloth from a rail.
“It’s called a towel,” said Erin, laughing at the joke, as Martin owned a rather impressive array of towels—though none made of natural fibers like these. “Didn’t you study any history?”
“I was more interested in natural history. Are you two done?” He held the towel open. “Want some help getting dry?”
Erin stepped out of the shower, and Martin wrapped the towel around her.
“Hey, what about my conditioner?” Isa asked.
“We can do that in the morning,” said Erin. Martin was rubbing the towel over her back and sides. She took a corner of it to massage her hair dry.
“Okay,” Isa said. “I’m going to use the air dryer for my hair, or I’ll be here all night.” She turned on the dryer and stood under the blast of warm current. By the time her hair was dry, only a minute or two later, Erin’s towel was on the floor, and she and Martin were locked in an embrace.
“Huh, now who’s starting early?” Isa asked, stepping out of the shower. When neither Erin nor Martin responded, she added, “Y’know, if you two wanted a taste of each other’s dinner, you could have done it while we were eating.”
Erin glanced at her, laughing softly. “I bet you didn’t mean for that to have nearly as much innuendo as that.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
She walked across to the couple and took Erin’s hand, leading her out of the bathroom. Erin allowed herself to be led, but Martin failed to let go of her, and so was towed along by default. The three of them reached their four-poster and tumbled onto it in a confused group, laughing.
Working out the logistics of three people making love was still a novelty to them, but they had a lot of fun trying. Erin tended to apply her engineer’s mind to the problem, Martin had a habit of focusing on others’ needs, while Isa just gave in to sensuous delight.
Later on, as she curled up with Erin and Martin to finally go to sleep, she elected to be the medium spoon. Erin was little spoon and Martin was big spoon. Isa wanted to be in the middle because the nightmares she’d suffered from her time at the Sirian mines hadn’t abated; if anything, they seemed to be getting worse. When she woke up scared and in darkness, it would be a big comfort to find herself between the people she loved.
Isa was on the verge of falling asleep when Martin whispered, “Hey, guys. Are you still awake?”
“You know, technically, that term isn’t correct,” Erin replied. “We aren’t guys, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I made you both honorary guys a while ago.”
“Okay,” Erin said. “I can accept that.”
“So,” said Martin, “I had an idea. I was wondering, what do you think about us having a baby? Not now, obviously, but it’s something we could think about.”
Isa was suddenly wide awake. “Huh? A baby?” she repeated.
“That’s funny,” Martin remarked. “I thought I just said that.”
“Seeding the Med back on Carthage isn’t enough for you?” Erin asked. “You want a human baby, created from all three of us?”
“Sure,” replied Martin. “It wouldn’t be difficult. I could make random selections from our three sets of genes and create the embryo in my lab.”
“I don’t know,” Isa said. “It’s a big step. And Erin is always so busy, I guess I’d be the one to carry it.”
“You wouldn’t have to,” said Martin.
“You mean we could use a proxy womb?” asked Erin. “Seems a bit cold-hearted.”
“No,” Martin said, “not a proxy womb exactly. We could grow the baby in one of my marine seeding wombs. I could fix the temperature, the nutrients, etcetera. It would be cool. A real water baby.”
“You plan on growing our child in the ocean?” Erin asked indignantly, sitting up.
Isa felt her turn to look at Martin even though they were in pitch darkness. She giggled. It had only been a moment since Martin had suggested the possibility of having a baby, and now the idea had suddenly become ‘our child’.
“It’s just an option that’s open to us,” said Martin. “If neither of you wanted to be pregnant, growing the baby in the ocean is a solution. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Hmm…” said Erin. “I’m not sure you won’t give it fins and a tail instead of legs, too.”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” Martin said.
“Hey, you two,” said Isa. “Cut it out.”
Isa pulled Erin down to the bed again and cuddled her. Erin and Martin often seemed to rub each other the wrong way. The fact that they had simply fallen in love rather than having been perfectly matched by an AI was apparent.
“I wouldn’t mind carrying and looking after our baby if we decide to have one,” Isa admitted. “It would certainly give me something to do. But I was looking on job sites tonight while we were eating, and I saw an opportunity I want to apply for. If I don’t get it, maybe we can think about increasing our family to four at some point.”
“What’s the position?” asked Erin.
“It’s right up my alley, actually. You know how I used to work in Placement Services? They’re trying to increase the numbers of settlers on Tyre and Troy. Everyone wants to stay on Carthage, but it’s better for New Canaan as a whole if the populations are more spread out. The information on Tyre and Troy doesn’t seem to be enticing people to leave Carthage, so Placement Services wants to commission a couple of people to make infomentaries on the other planets. Give a more personal view, you know?”
“Sounds like a great opportunity,” said Martin.
“I thought so, too,” said Isa. “But I might not get it.”
“Of course you will,” Erin said. “They’d be stupid not to have you.”
“Aww, thanks,” Isa said. “I’ll apply in the morning.”
She snuggled against Erin’s back, and Martin wrapped an arm around them both. Soon, Isa was drifting to sleep again.
Then Erin suddenly stiffened. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” Isa asked.
Erin pushed down the comforter and moved out of Isa’s arms. “I just got a report from a monitoring station out near Sparta. I didn’t know they had their arrays up, so I never asked…dammit, I have to go.”
“Erin,” Martin said, “what’s going on?”
Erin was already on her feet. “Damn. How do I turn on the lights?” She tried a voice command, and when the lights d
idn’t respond, she cursed some more. “Where’s the light switch? I have to find my clothes. I have to go back to Carthage.” She crashed into something. “Dammit. How the hell did people used to manage without the Link?”
“Erin,” Martin said, louder. “Calm down. Unless you’re planning on commandeering the Odyssey, there aren’t any flights until the morning.”
“I might just do that. Where’s the damned light switch?”
Isa felt Martin reach away from her. There was click, and Erin was suddenly visible in the middle of the room, naked and with tousled hair half-obscuring her face.
Isa said, “Come and sit down and tell us what this is about.”
Erin returned to the bed and picked up a robe. As she was putting it on, she said, “I guess it can wait until morning, but I’m going to have to go back to Carthage early. The monitoring station had a perfect view of the explosion at Irridia and picked up the beta particle emissions and gamma waves…. The thing is, by their calculations, there were only gamma waves from the first blast.”
“Only gamma waves?” Isa furrowed her brow, thinking back to what she knew of nuclear fission. “That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Erin nodded vigorously. “At first they thought that the beta particles from the first explosion were mingled with the later blasts, but they mapped them all out and determined that the initial blast did not give any off—just gamma rays.”
“This is way beyond my ken,” Martin said as he stared into Erin’s eyes. “What does it mean?”
“There’s just one thing that matches that explosion’s energy and profile and only gives off gamma rays: antimatter.”
“Antimatter?” Isa asked. “Why would they use antimatter?”
“Exactly,” Erin replied. “They wouldn’t. It would be insane to use it with all that uranium in the ore. And not only why would they use it, but how the hell did they get it? They would have had to file a special request, and even if they had, it would have been denied because…well, about a thousand reasons.
“I suspected sabotage from the beginning, but I couldn’t find any evidence; I’m pretty sure I just got it. I think the supervisor was trying to discredit the lead engineers. I need to report this to Tanis.”