I stopped to let Howles take this in, trying to shake the feeling that this was a little speech I’d be giving dozens of times during the course of the next weeks. Whatever the cost, I thought. It was either this rigmarole, or come right out and assure them that I was using trusted, established technologies developed on the planet Takanli, and that they needn’t worry. I wondered briefly what the inside of a 21st century insane asylum looked like.
Howles stood, walked around the model which I had put on his desk. “You’ve done your homework, I can see quite clearly”, he said. “The Ministry is, in principle, interested in your proposals and prepared to enter into discussions regarding the sale or leasing of one of our facilities. As you might know, we’ve been asked to make yet more savings, and some of our older facilities are to be auctioned off. Should the Minister find merit in the proposal, as I certainly have, he may choose to offer you an airfield before the auction stage is reached”.
I shook his hand, thanked him for his time, and made sure everyone had contact details. His staffer made a provisional appointment for me to see the Minister, early next week. I walked out feeling pretty good; no-one had laughed at me and Howles, at least , had listened intently and recognised that this wasn’t some harebrained scheme. I kept smiling all the way through security, and then called Gemma. I had a feeling a very pleasant evening was in prospect.
*****
“God, I never thought I’d eat here… did you win the lottery or something?” Gemma looked terrific in a little black dress, I was quick to comment as I picked her up. We took a cab to one of London’s more exclusive restaurants. How on Earth Hal had managed to get reservations was, he informed me, a closely-guarded secret. I suspected he had hacked the restaurant’s computer system. Right now I didn’t care. The waiter seated us both and we began perusing the menu.
“So, how was your meeting?”, she asked, sipping a martini.
“Actually, rather good”, I replied, sounding surprised at my own good luck. I explained for a couple of minutes about the airfield plan, the spaceplane and having recently come into some money after a particularly profitable piece of share dealing. “Nothing illegal”, I stressed. “Just decided to cash in. That’s our seed money for the project”.
She was amazed and wasn’t afraid of showing it. “I thought that was just theoretical, what you told me in the pub. I had no idea…” I promised to show her the presentation and the model at a more convenient time. “I’d like to see it. Are you going to do the solar thing, too?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves”, I warned, smiling. “I’ve not even got a runway yet, let alone a plane or a spaceplane. Let’s just see how things go.” We moved on to talk about her day, and how close she was to completing her thesis. Food arrived, and it was excellent, but we were a lot more interested in each other. By the end of dinner, she had confided that she had pretty much the best night of her life at my place last week.
“I had a really lovely time”, I agreed with a lustful grin. “What are you doing later tonight?”
Gemma finished the last bite of her dessert, put down her fork and said, “letting you do anything you want to me.” Her hand found mine under the table and she stroked my hand suggestively, thumb and index finger joined to make a hole for my fingers to slide through. My thumb joined in, mimicking a steady circling of her clit. She leaned across the table to whisper. “I’m wet already. Shall we go?”
The cab ride to her apartment was about twenty minutes, which was far too long for either of us to wait. I had my arm around her in the back seat and we kissed almost constantly. The cabbie didn’t seem to notice as I gently stroked her neck, and then down to her breasts, which formed a wonderful, full shape through her tight dress. I found the hardness of her nipples and massaged them gently between thumb and forefinger. She moaned softly into my ear, licked my earlobe and said, “please… touch my pussy… I can’t wait…”
Sliding my tongue into her mouth, I let my hand move slowly up from her knee to her inner thigh and she parted her legs slightly to allow me in. A glance forward confirmed that the driver either couldn’t see or didn’t care. As my fingers approached the incredible warmth coming from between her legs, I became aware that she wasn’t wearing any panties. Instead, I found her soft curls, already heavy and moist with her juice, and then the outer lips of her cunt, which opened immediately to let my fingers slide inside her. She gasped into my ear and bit my earlobe this time, sending a shiver through me. My erection desperately needed release.
We arrived and quickly tidied ourselves up before I tipped the driver handsomely and we took the elevator up to her apartment, near the top of one of Pimlico’s blocks. I knew we were hoping the same thing, to have the elevator car to ourselves, but a young black woman, dressed to go out and carrying a bright red handbag, joined us at the last moment, perhaps meeting someone in one of the flats. We stood behind her, grinning mischievously. Gemma kept making erotic gestures or rubbing herself briefly between the legs, for my benefit. The girl got out a few floors beneath ours, and we were alone. In seconds, I had her dress up around her belly button and my tongue on her clit, sucking at her swollen, lovely pussy. I think she came, leaning on me for support. We arrived at our floor and nearly ran to her apartment.
Only ninety seconds had gone by, and my cock was already in her mouth. She adopted the same wonderful method as before, one hand stroking while she treated my tip to a tongue-bath, or soft kisses, or the warmth inside her mouth, alternating.
“Careful baby, or you’ll get another drenching…” She smiled wickedly and pulled off her dress in one fluid motion. Within seconds, she was on top of me on her bed, easing my cock inside her, letting herself fall and become impaled. My tip explored the entrance to her cervix each time she brought her hips down, and was sucked lovingly by her soft cunt lips each time she withdrew, only to plunge back down and accept me within her again, repeatedly, endlessly. We both needed it. As she spasmed and shouted with pleasure, I spurted my cum into her body for the first time.
It had been brief, but we both knew there was more to come. Gemma relaxed with me for a while, kissing and stroking each other, and then got drinks and returned to bed.
“I’ve never met anyone like you”, she told me. I helped her use tissues to absorb the semen which oozed from her pussy. “You lick me as it your life depends on it”, she said as I grinned at the praise, “you fuck me as though you’ve not had sex in years”, I continued smiling, “and you’ve got the brain of a genius”. I kissed her tenderly to thank her. “I think I’ll have to hang onto you”, she said between kisses, stroking my shoulder and then my back with her fingertips. “Definitely”, she whispered, “most definitely…” And we were back in the world of sex. Of its own accord, seemingly, and only ten minutes after gushing into her pussy, my cock was pressing once more at her entrance, demanding admittance. “Fuck me.”
We took our time. My cock slid back inside her thoroughly lubricated pussy and I made love to her for half an hour, in missionary and from behind. Her juices flowed like a river as I gave her dozens of orgasms, both from the delicious pressures of my cock against her sensitive g-spot, and also the deft circling motions of my fingers on her clit when I was behind her. One of her orgasms, seemingly a combination of the two, was so strong it forced my cock from her pussy. She apologised while I licked her cunt and then slid back inside her.
Soon it would be time to decide where to have my own orgasm. “Do you want to come inside me again, or somewhere else?” Gemma’s face was the picture of pleasure.
“Whatever you’d like, baby”. I was behind her, slipping in and out of her pussy and getting nearer to the moment of crisis.
“Do you like anal sex?” she asked with hope in her voice.
“I love it. Do you?”
“Sometimes. I know I’ll love it with you, though. If you want to finish in my bum, I think I’d like that.” I gave her a few more strokes and then withdrew, smearing her copious pussy juice ov
er her anus, slipping a finger inside to let her feel something penetrate her, and dropping plenty of saliva on both her entrance and my cock. In a flash of memory I recalled making love to Xathan and my balls swelled with the thought. I went slowly, easing my tip inside her and waiting for her to relax before going further. Her bum felt wonderful, as tight as any I had tried, and she pushed out to let me slide my cock about half way in. That was more than enough, I decided, beginning my rhythm and reaching under to stroke her clit. “Oh, God..” she breathed as I played with her. “This is going to be too much…”
I didn’t stop, knowing that her orgasm would be incredible, as would mine. I frigged her clit ceaselessly, responding to the little movements in her thighs and the changes in her breathing, her facial expression, the words she murmured. Then it was time. I let her come first, peaking massively and squeezing my cock so hard I wondered if I would ever be able to withdraw. Once the spasms were over and Gemma was left gasping, repeating my name as her juices ran down her thighs, I let myself go inside her. A boiling stream of cum shot into her bowels, then another. Spent, we lay gasping for a long, lovely moment together, washed up in the bathroom and then cuddled together in her big, soft bed.
A long, natural sleep was just as refreshing as an hour with the Inducer, I found the next morning. And one is particularly inclined to acknowledge the joys of living when, upon waking, you find that your penis is being gently and expertly sucked by a beautiful young student. Gemma obviously couldn’t wait to taste me this morning, and brought me close before straddling me and taking me inside her. I have always enjoyed sampling my own taste from the lips of a lovely girl, and Gemma was certainly lovely. I thrusted up into her, filling her pussy with my swollen meat. Before long we were both coming, her face buried in my shoulder and my cock buried in her cunt, oozing hot sperm into her body.
I held her for a long, long moment. She felt just wonderful lying on top of me, her breasts against my chest, her pussy still allowing my cock to soak there, her soft lips on mine, her hair surrounding us both. We kissed all morning, made love again, came again, kissed again, cuddled for hours. The rest of the world had ceased and her bed was the only place in it. Only because we were both starving did we even get up.
I took her to breakfast near her apartment and we tucked into a full English each. “What are you doing this weekend?” she wanted to know.
“What’s on offer?” I asked cheekily.
“Well, we could take a long walk around London and see the sights”, she said, “or we could spend the rest of today, tonight and tomorrow in my bed.” I grinned at her. “Either is OK with me, but I’m going to insist on at least some of the latter.”
I polished off my coffee and grinned at her. “I think we can arrange that. How about a little walk around, though? Some fresh air… maybe Hyde Park?”
We took the tube, which was crowded, slow and stifling as usual, to Marble Arch and revelled in the bright sunshine of this August Saturday afternoon. The park was fairly busy with people playing Frisbee, letting their toddlers wander around or just chilling out on the grass. We walked all the way down to the Serpentine, arm in arm, talking about my work, her work, England, whether we would consider living abroad (I told her I was open to suggestions), just whatever came to mind. As we reached the lake, my thoughts flew back to the Phoenix and I wondered if she was OK, resting in the deep water. I was sure Hal would let me know if there was anything wrong, and I knew he was thoroughly tapped in to the Cruiser’s systems.
We continued on into South Kensington and past the Albert Hall, stopping to see if there was anything on we wanted to see. The Proms concerts were due to start soon – I’d have to get myself to London for a few of those, I promised – and we found ourselves in the centre of London’s museum district. “Fancy half an hour in the science museum? There’s a nice little Japanese place around the corner we could go to afterwards.”
Gemma loved the idea, knew the place inside out, and virtually raced me to her favourite section which dealt with Earth sciences and the world’s current environmental problems. I was so familiar with this material I suspected I could have written the displays myself:
‘Greenhouse gases, largely from fossil fuelled power stations and transport, cause an increase in the levels of solar radiation trapped by the atmosphere. This heats the surface of the sea, causing unexpected and violent weather. It heats the ice at both poles, causing an early annual melt and decreased annual freezing. This pushes up sea levels, causes problems with the fresh versus salt water balance in the North Atlantic and encourages flooding in low-lying areas. Deforestation and land erosion contributes to the problem by interfering with the carbon and oxygen cycles. Phytoplankton in the sea cannot tolerate the increased temperatures and die off, causing mass extinctions of ocean life. The warming affects harvests, causing a crash in world food supplies. Developing nations suffer the most. Then we’re all totally fucked’.
We wandered around the displays, refreshing our memories. Gemma had comments on almost everything, clarifying points where the museum staff had written for the layman. “The North Atlantic current is unlikely to cease entirely, and certainly not for a long while, even with the amount of ice which is being dumped into the sea there”, she commented. “It won’t be like The Day After Tomorrow. Things happen more slowly, but just as certainly, in real life”.
Her passion was all too evident. She loved this Earth, and its humans, for all their foibles and short-termism and stupidity. I realised that, beyond this being a technical challenge in which I was engaged, and beyond even the primal motor which seemed to drive my desires to help, underneath it all there was a fundamental respect for humanity. I surprised myself slightly with this observation. Normally, I would consider myself rather sceptical of people, alarmed by their capacity for evil and insanity. Instead, I found I wanted to help them simply because they were part of me. It was this which drove everything. I stood at the Oceans display and enjoyed this epiphany.
“Come on”, I said to Gemma, hauling her away from an interactive exhibit on ocean currents, “I want to show you something.” Time to do some serious showing off. We entered the Space gallery and I was delighted to find an exhibit on new forms of propulsion. “Aha”, I squeaked like the Mad Scientist, raising a bony finger, “ze ion drive!”
Gemma took a look at it, giggling at my German accent and owlish expression. “Zis”, I explained”, zis is ein method for deep space propulsion”. She was cracking up quietly, behind her hand. “A stream of charged particles is emitted here”, I said, pointing abruptly to the engine bell, “and produces an impulse which propels ze spacecraft steadily forward. Zis is referred to as Streaming Low Impulse Transfer, or SLIT for short”, she was really giggling now, “as opposed to the more traditional, high-impulse Cryogenic Uni-dimensional Nuclear Transfer, or…”
She cut me off with a hand over my mouth and, once I seemed to have stopped, nearly collapsed with the severity of her giggling fit. I loved making her laugh, especially by being an unreconstructed geek. I could be entirely myself, entirely silly, entirely human with her. “Wanna get some lunch?” I offered.
We ate at the Sushi restaurant nearby, experimenting with just how much wasabi we could both handle. I remembered the bizarre vegetable Falik had given me to try on Takanli, which had a similar taste, and about the blow-job restaurant where the girls had gone down on us under the table. I’d like to be doing exactly that to Gemma right now, as a matter of fact.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was Hal. I apologised to Gemma, explained it was business and it wouldn’t take a second, and nipped outside into the sunshine to take the call.
“We have our airfield”, was what I heard.
“What? Where?”
“RAF Sculthorpe, near Fakenham in Norfolk. Do you know the area?”
“Not really, Hal. What kind of airfield was it?” This was good news, I could hear already.
“The Americans used it for their atomic bombers. The p
lace is enormous, long runways and plenty of space. There is a village on the edge of the base, but it is some distance from the main runway and we could build more hangars as we see fit. The ministry just emailed, on a Saturday no less, to offer us first refusal. We need to go and take a look.”
I grinned to myself. “Good work, Hal. Look, I’m tied up in London until at least tomorrow, but let’s plan to get over there on Monday. I should be back tomorrow night. Cool?”
“Cool.” I immediately had an idea. “Hal, could you fix a couple of things for me?”
Gemma was finishing her sushi and the small bottle of sake we had ordered. “I’ve just had a little bit of good news which deserves properly celebrating.”
*****
We finished our meal, paid up and were met outside by a sleek, black limousine.
“You have style”, she said as she climbed into the cavernous space in the back. “You most definitely have style.” The limo eased into the traffic and took us on a quick tour of the sights, just for the hell of it – Buckingham Palace and through to Westminster, the London Eye and the Abbey, Whitehall, Piccadilly Circus, and thence to Knightsbridge for a spot of shopping. I had my hands on Gemma for most of the ride, massaging her breasts or stroking her panties under her dress. She insisted I didn’t actually touch her pussy, not yet. We would save that for later. But I could tell how wet she was.
Gemma asked if she could have a few minutes’ shopping on her own, so I left her to it and walked around the Knightsbridge area. I loved the mix of buildings, particularly the red-brick apartments on the south side. What would it cost to get hold of one of those, I wondered? There were a couple of estate agents on the high street and the prices, understandably enough, were intergalactic. By most people’s standards. I set Hal on the case, just to see what was around.
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