by Walker Long
“Mmmm,” he moaned as a hand slipped into his crotch. That felt so good! He could even put a finger or two inside and really get things going. But no. There were things to do. Quantrill got out and dried himself with one of the huge, fluffy white towels from the rack.
If only he could sit back and order room service, he though with a smile. That would be heaven. Instead he was going to have to venture out to find some food. Maybe there was more pineapple. He had some rations in his pack if nothing else. He grabbed his baggy, grey fatigue pants and started to pull them on. He was going to look ridiculous – again. Combat fatigues just didn’t suit a female body. They weren’t meant to.
Then he remembered the clothes in the closet. Why not? Nobody was coming back to this planet anytime soon. Besides, anyone who stayed in this hotel was richer than God. They would barely notice a few missing outfits. He scurried to the closet with a little giggle.
There were several men’s suits in lightweight fabrics and muted shades. Past those were a dozen dresses in bright, tropical colors. He grabbed something silky with a floral print that looked really lovely. The tag said “Size 2,” which didn’t mean anything to Quantrill, but the dress looked like it was in the neighborhood of his current dimensions. He pulled it over his head and ran into the bathroom to stand in front of the mirror.
It was amazing! He looked like a girl in a vid ad – except for his close-cropped hairdo, of course. The dress fit snug along his narrow waist and curvy behind. Below that it flared out to drape loosely down to just above his knees. The deep V-cut neckline simultaneously covered up and showed off his big, round breasts. The fabric was soft and stretchy so he hardly knew he had it on. He had no idea dresses were so comfortable!
In the back of his mind, Quantrill considered it might be a bit strange for a Marine in an active combat zone to go around in a flirty sundress, but he had breasts and a vagina and had spent most of the night before having sex with a man. Wearing a dress was the least of his problems.
Down in the hotel lobby he found a dozen or more Marines at the café tables busily chatting among themselves. Jabara and Potter were sitting together sharing a bowl of what looked like fried rice. Quantrill walked up to their table, but before he said a word all conversation suddenly stopped as the entire room turned to stare.
“Where the fuck did you get that dress?” Jabara asked in a stunned voice.
“Oh this old thing?” Quantrill said with a giggle. “It was just something I found in the closet.”
“Daaaamn,” Potter exclaimed and looked Quantrill up and down with wide eyes. Several other Marines made similar noises. “You are fine!”
“Shut the front door!” Torgerson walked over to exclaim. “I can see why the LT has got the hots for Q!” Several men at nearby tables nodded in agreement.
“No,” Quantrill insisted in his high pitched voice. There they were, ragging on him about the Lieutenant again. He couldn’t let the rest of the platoon think he and Hardaway had some kind of relationship going. He’d never live it down. And if the word spread to the division command, the Lieutenant might end up in the shit. “He just knows none of you lot are man enough to handle me,” he teased and thrust out his hip like he had seen women do in the streams.
“Whoaaa!” the crowd called out. The men had a good laugh and then went back to their conversations. Torgerson frowned and went on his way.
“What’s the plan for today?” Quantrill sat down at Jabara and Potter’s table. Jabara was on the PinkVector and made a surprisingly shapely female. He was well proportioned – just way oversized. Potter had been given PinkVector on C224A and was just himself this time.
“Sergeant Prince is making out a duty roster,” Jabara told him. “We will rotate men on guard duty …”
“Hey what is that you’re eating?” Quantrill interrupted. “It smells delicious!”
“Guan has commandeered the hotel kitchen,” Potter told him. “All their food was spoiled, of course, but I guess there’s a big garden out in the trees somewhere with vegetables and herbs and who knows what all.”
“Fuck,” Quantrill breathed. “I’m gonna get some of that. I’m starving.” He stood to leave but Potter waved him back down.
“Don’t worry,” he insisted. “I’ll get some for you.”
“What the fuck was that all about?” Quantrill asked quietly when Potter was gone. Potter had never gone to get him food before. As an answer, Jabara just cupped his own ample breasts under his gray t-shirt and gave them a little jiggle. Quantrill nodded. Men were suckers for nice tits.
“Hey, have you seen the LT?” Quantrill asked as casually as he possibly could.
Jabara smiled. “What? Didn’t he kiss you goodbye this morning?”
“Fuck you,” Quantrill rolled his eyes. Becoming a woman apparently hadn’t made Jabara any more sensitive.
“Okay, okay,” Jabara chuckled. “He took a couple other guys out to set up a perimeter around the buzzard. Implosion radius plus ten meters.”
“Shit,” Quantrill said with a shiver. “I hope I don’t get assigned to patrol that perimeter. Fucking buzzard.”
“Oh, you won’t,” Potter said. He was back with a steaming bowl of rice and vegetables for Quantrill. “Only male personnel will be in the field. Women are on downtime.”
“What the hell for?” Quantrill protested.
“Because!” Potter insisted like it should be obvious. “You’re women. That makes you unfit for duty.”
“Fuck,” Quantrill grumbled. “I’ve got tits, not a broken leg. What am I supposed to do all day?”
“I can think of a few things,” Potter said with a suggestive leer.
Quantrill was about to offer a profanity laden retort when he was interrupted by the whine of powerful turbine engines flying overhead. All the Marines in the hotel lobby rushed out to the hotel patio to get a look. Quantrill grabbed a big bite of his breakfast and followed close behind. He got out to the patio in time to see a landing craft in full hover gently set down on the beach.
It was similar to the birds that the Marines would drop in, only much larger. Loading ramps swung down at the back and side of the ship and dozens of men streamed out. Each was wearing a full body hazardous environment suit. They looked like giant balloon people trundling across the beach. A pair of Marines in battle gear walked out of the treeline and greeted the new visitors. Then one Marine stayed on the beach to watch over the cargo bird while the other led a group of scientists into the forest.
“They’re pretty anxious to check out that buzzard,” someone remarked. It was true. They hadn’t had boots on the ground for more than thirty seconds and they were already heading to the crash site. Quantrill knew the buzzard was a rare find, but couldn’t understand why anyone would want to go see the horrid thing.
“Fucking nerds,” he grumbled.
“Quantrill, there you are!” a stern but feminine voice called out. Quantrill turned and saw an attractive older woman in Marine fatigues walking toward him across the patio. She seemed familiar and he knew she must have been a member of the platoon but couldn’t place her. “You’re assigned to Corporal Guan in the kitchen.”
“Sergeant Prince?” Quantrill asked. The way she ordered him around reminded Quantrill of the platoon’s second in command. “Is that you?”
“Affirmative,” Prince replied. Quantrill was stunned. Even Sergeant Prince got the PinkVector this time! What was even more surprising, the grizzled, old Marine ended up as kind of a babe. She was almost unrecognizable. “Report to the kitchen PDQ. You’ll assist with meal preparation and cleanup.”
“The kitchen?” Quantrill grumbled. “Sergeant, I’m not actually a woman, you know.”
“Could have fooled me,” Prince replied. She looked Quantrill up and down and then turned to leave. “Nice dress, by the way,” she added before disappearing back inside the hotel.
“Who ended up pairing with Prince?” Quantrill asked when the Sergeant was gone.
“Torvaldson
,” Jabara answered. “Picked like fifth or sixth, too.”
“Damn.”
“Right?” Jabara agreed. “Imagine banging a hot chick who also outranks you. How hot would that be?”
Quantrill only shrugged. It had been pretty hot to get banged by a hot man who outranked him. In fact, it was probably the hottest thing he’d ever done. He wasn’t sure rank had anything to do with it though.
“Anyway, I better get to the kitchen,” Quantrill said without much enthusiasm.
“Don’t feel bad,” Jabara told him. “They put me at the front desk. I’m supposed to help these science geeks find rooms to stay in.”
“This will give you a chance to work on your customer service skills,” Quantrill teased. He made his way to the kitchen. The hotel boasted a huge, industrial kitchen with stainless steel everywhere and a dazzling array of appliances and equipment. Guan was in hog heaven. His family ran some kind of restaurant back home, so this was right in his wheelhouse.
“Look at this double boiler!” Guan was exclaiming. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah. Beautiful,” Private Shrike looked up from scrubbing down a countertop and replied. Shrike’s voice had a bored tone that told Quantrill that the young Private was as unimpressed with kitchen duty as he was.
Both Shrike and Guan had been given PinkVector, but their transformations were not particularly dramatic. Neither one could be considered attractive as a woman. In fact, Shrike looked like his old self, only with a pair of rolled up socks stuffed down his shirt.
“PFC Quantrill, reporting for duty.”
“Oh, excellent!” Guan beamed. “You can be the sous-chef!”
“The what?” Quantrill asked skeptically. As an answer, Guan handed him a heavy, white apron and directed him to a bank of refrigerators at the back of the room. The refrigerators were now running again but they had been without power for more than six months. Quantrill spent the rest of the morning throwing out rotten food.
Guan and Shrike – mostly Guan – managed to put together a decent looking spaghetti and meatballs. The spaghetti noodles had kept pretty well in the hotel’s pantry and Guan figured out a way to fry protein paste from their ration packets into something resembling a meatball. They made a sauce from tomatoes and herbs from the local garden. Quantrill figured it would have been downright mouth-watering if he hadn’t just dumped a load of rotten eggs into the composter. As it was, his appetite was AWOL.
They served the rest of the platoon, along with a few members of the science team, in the hotel’s café. Quantrill hauled out big trays of spaghetti and hauled back stacks of dirty dishes.
“Hey, how’s it going out there?” he asked Potter when he saw his squad mate sitting down for lunch in the café.
“Man, those science boys are busy little beavers,” Potter told him. “They’ve built this big-ass dome out of prefab panels. Covers the whole fucking buzzard. Got an airlock and everything.”
“Damn,” Quantrill said in appreciation. “They’re planning on staying a while, huh?”
“Suits me fine,” Potter leaned back in his chair. “Standing around protecting this fucking dome from a Bug attack that ain’t gonna happen is a hell of a lot easier than fighting off real attacks.”
“That’s true,” Quantrill admitted.
“And this place is fucking awesome,” Potter went on. “We got great weather, good food, and some sweet pussy.”
“Oh, yeah?” Quantrill asked. “Who are you paired up with?”
“Jabby,” Potter said with a wink.
“No shit?!” Quantrill exclaimed. Potter and Jabara! He tried to picture those two getting it on together, but his imagination failed him.
“Yep,” Potter nodded. “He makes one huge woman, but I’m not complaining. If you know what I mean. Although,” the Marine went on, “if you wanted to stop by my room later, I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”
“One pussy per customer,” Quantrill said with a humorless grin. He wasn’t remotely interested in Potter that way. Besides, Jabara might feel insulted. Even worse, Lieutenant Hardaway could be pissed. Nobody wanted that.
Quantrill spent the rest of the afternoon washing dishes. Then he helped Guan and Shrike prepare a second meal, which made even more dirty dishes. Guan set out some fresh fruit for the night shift to nibble on, then announced he was done for the day. He told Quantrill he could take off as soon as he finished the last load of dirty dishes and then disappeared. Shrike followed close behind, leaving Quantrill alone in the kitchen.
Quantrill was scrubbing out the last pot when he heard the kitchen doorway swing open. “Sorry, kitchen’s closed,” he called out without looking up from his work.
“That’s okay. I’m not really hungry,” a familiar voice replied. Lieutenant Hardaway!
“Sir!” Quantrill dropped his pot into the soapy water and whirled around. He stood at attention and saluted smartly.
“At ease, Q,” Hardaway chuckled. “You’re not even in uniform, you know.”
“Oh, right,” Quantrill agreed sheepishly. “Sorry, sir. My uniform … you know … it doesn’t fit lately.”
“I bet not,” Hardaway replied with the slightest trace of a grin. “You look lovely, though.”
“Thank you, sir,” Quantrill said softly. He felt heat in his face and looked away. It was strange, he and Hardaway had been naked and wild together but somehow just one flirty little remark was enough to embarrass him.
“So I was thinking,” the Lieutenant began. “We might take a walk. On the beach? When you’re finished here, of course.”
“That sounds … awesome!” Quantrill giggled and whipped off his white apron. He had been stuck in the kitchen all day and getting some time outside was perfect. Of course, experience showed he wasn’t going to refuse anything Lieutenant Hardaway asked of him.
The sun was sliding below the distant horizon as they walked down to the quiet beach. The sky was painted with brilliant tones of yellow, orange, and red, fading out to a deep purple high above. The ocean twinkled like a million diamonds under the fiery sky.
“Oh, my God!” Quantrill exclaimed and squealed with joy. Then he chuckled in embarrassment when he realized how ridiculous and girly he must sound. He couldn’t help it! It was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. “I’m sorry! It’s just so, so beautiful.”
“No, no. Don’t apologize,” Hardaway insisted solemnly. “It is beautiful.”
“Everything here is fantastic!” Quantrill gushed. “I wish I could just stay forever.”
“Yeah,” the Lieutenant agreed. “I felt the same way the first time I came here.”
“This isn’t your first time here?”
“No, I used to come here with my family on vacation years ago,” he explained. “Many, many years ago.”
“Wow, that would have been amazing,” Quantrill said with a sigh. The two walked along in the deep sand. Quantrill’s hand accidentally bumped into Hardaway’s, but instead of pulling away the Lieutenant took Quantrill’s small hand in his own. Quantrill smiled and felt the blush rise in his cheeks once again.
The two walked in silence for a while, holding hands beneath the darkening sky. Quantrill felt more at peace than he could ever remember feeling. Was it the place? He had loved Lapis Lazuli from the first moment he stepped off the lander. Not even the dying buzzard could make him want to leave.
He felt a quick pang of jealousy that Lieutenant Hardaway had spent his childhood vacationing in places like this. He had never really had a family vacation when he was younger. His mother’s days off work were few and far between. It was strange – he’d always imagined Hardaway had a similar childhood.
“So was your family really rich or something?” he finally asked.
Hardaway didn’t say anything for a while. He seemed to be lost in thought. Quantrill was beginning to think he’d offended the Lieutenant by asking. “We have plenty of money,” Hardaway finally replied. “And my father works in the government, so he has lots of connections.
”
“Ah, I see,” Quantrill said with a nod. Connections were more important than anything when it came to getting ahead in the world. That’s where opportunities came from. “I’m surprised your dad didn’t use those connections to get you out of combat.”
“Nah,” Hardaway waved off the suggestion. “He and I had a bit of a falling out before I enlisted.”
“So he’s mad that you’re in the Marines?”
“Hardly,” the Lieutenant said with a rueful laugh. “He loves it. It makes him look extra patriotic in front of the other party bosses.”
“Oh,” Quantrill replied softly. He was picking up on a lot of resentment from the Lieutenant. It was time for a tactical retreat from this discussion.
“If I had known it would only end up helping his career I might not have enlisted,” Hardaway grumbled. His anger was building. Quantrill decided it was time for drastic action. He stopped in his tracks and pulled on Hardaway’s arm to get him to stop as well.
“Well, I’m glad you ended up here,” Quantrill said with what he hoped was a bright, joyful smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Oh, really?” Hardaway asked with some interest. “Why is that?”
“Well, you’re a great Lieutenant,” Quantrill replied, feeling a bit nervous under Hardaway’s intense gaze. “You … you … saved our asses more times than I can count. I don’t even want to think about how many of us would have bought a farm by now if it wasn’t for you.”
“And why else?” Hardaway insisted. The tall Lieutenant edged closer to Quantrill, pinning him in place with his steely, blue eyes.
“What do you mean?” Quantrill breathed.