Scouts

by Nobilis Reed

  I heard the device beep and knew it would be counting down. A bonus for ending early, eh? I could deal with that. Emotional reaction? No. The machine was probably reading physical reactions.

  I opened my eyes and spoke softly. “A long time ago, a young boy sat on his mother’s lap. He had his hands cupped, like this.” I turned my hands to enclose a small space. “Holding something.”

  Zun and Suna leaned forward, looking at my hands. Trace cocked an eyebrow. Tough audience.

  “‘What have you got there?’ she asked.

  “‘It’s something wonderful.’” My whisper suddenly became a roar. “‘See!’” I flung my arms wide, as if throwing something in their faces.

  My audience leapt back. Zun nearly overturned his chair.

  “End,” I said.

  Trace chuckled. “Nicely played.”

  I shrugged, and checked the score. “Well, not nicely enough. Even with the time bonus, you still won the competition.”

  Trace shook her head. “Not like it means anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Zun put his chair back into position and sat down to catch his breath. “Winner of the game gets to ask one favor of the loser.”

  Suna gave me a little shrug. “Better luck next time.”

  To Trace, she asked, “So what would you like for your favor?”

  “Remember me.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I would have liked to see Trace off, but she disappeared completely, as if she had never been there. I had only known her a few days, but when she was gone, I felt a hole in my life where she had been.

  Like the bigger hole where Valka had been.

  I threw myself into my studies. My research project on the Ovors got high marks, both from the automated instructor and from Shirley. There were even a few facts in there that she hadn’t known—like how the Ovors had preferred the transcendent orgone drive early on, and had designed their stations to separate into individual pieces in order to travel to new systems.

  When Astronavigation class finished the math section and started with the scientific and technical material, I actually found that I missed the math—for about five minutes. The reality of faster-than-light travel had always had a strong hold on my imagination, and being able to actually start learning it was an incredible treat.

  Gradually, my evening Physicality sessions with Shirley became more and more intimate, though she never went so far as to actually let me penetrate her. When I asked her about it, she maintained that that particular act was reserved for our first session on the ship. Setting it aside would make the experience all the more powerful.

  I saw Valka from time to time, usually passing in the hallways, and while she was polite, there was a coldness there that didn’t seem to thaw with time. Every time it happened, I felt my stomach drop another notch closer to my toes. At least she looked healthy; she had gained more than a few milliLowells and the skinny, angular Valka I had known on the station was long gone.

  The hideout was empty much of the time. I checked up on it once every few days, but rarely stayed any longer than was required to keep up the supply of dried leaves. I could see evidence that Suna had been there, cleaning the place up, but I rarely saw her. Either she had gotten what she wanted, or she realized she wasn’t going to get it from me. That was fine.

  About forty days in, Shirley told me that her old boyfriend, Robert, the one she had been recruited with, would be arriving in a few days. She planned to take a few days off from mentoring me to be with him. Robert’s pilot, Grecca, would replace her while she was away. We would spend a day together, the three of us, to see how we got along.

  Grecca met us at the morning Physicality class. She turned out to be a tall, willowy woman with pale skin and long, blonde hair pulled back into a braid running down her back. Her tight Scout uniform revealed a slender figure with only the vaguest feminine curves.

  After a brief warm-up of partner movement exercises, Shirley gestured in the direction of a circular padded mat in the middle of the room. “Why don’t you show her what you know, Challers.”

  I nodded and stepped out onto the mat. Mentally, I reviewed the movements I had learned, and then shook the circulation into my arms and legs.

  Grecca smiled and stretched. “Is he that good?”

  Shirley nodded in my direction. “Learn for yourself.”

  With a raised eyebrow, Grecca turned and strode out onto the mat. She definitely seemed at home there, moving with even more confidence than Shirley. She rubbed her hands together and then settled into a loose, fluid stance. Her movements were slow, balanced, and measured. Each step had the precision of a drop of water falling into the exact center of a bowl, ripples going out and coming back to the same point.

  Her reach, I guessed, would be a bit longer than mine, so I waited for her to make the first move, standing in a ready position. She lashed out suddenly, grabbing for my wrist. I stepped back and to the side, but in the lunge, she had put one foot behind mine and I found myself falling. I twisted and rolled away, narrowly avoiding another grab for my ankle, but I was on the mat and she was still on her feet; a bad position for me to be in. I tried to reverse direction and roll up to my feet, but she was on top of me, and we crashed back down to the mat with her long legs wrapped around my midsection from behind.

  On our sides, we grappled for a few seconds—she trying to get control of my arms by forcing them behind my back and me struggling for leverage to get her ankles unlocked. She was quicker, but I was stronger and she had a hard time working my arms backward, even with her good position. I managed to force myself to my hands and knees, lifting her from the mat. Shifting strategies, she tried to lean backwards to pull me back on top of her, but I ducked my head and rolled forward, sending her sprawling onto the map, and letting me slip my abdomen out of her scissorlock.

  When I got back to my feet, my shorts had slipped down around my knees, pulled down by the grip of her thighs as I escaped. I could hear Shirley laughing behind me, but Grecca only smiled playfully as she sprang quickly to her feet. She didn’t give me a moment to pull them back up. She leapt at me, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to move quickly. I ducked, trying to roll down under her and kick off my shorts, but she adjusted quickly and landed on top of me before I could roll away. She quickly got my arms behind me, pinned between her arm and her body, and then rolled onto her side to get her legs wrapped around my abdomen again.

  I struggled, but couldn’t get free. “Augh! Submit!” I shouted, giving the signal that I admitted losing the bout.

  Even though I went nearly naked most of the time at the academy, my face burned with embarrassment at my exposure.

  Grecca chuckled. “Is that all I get? Shirley, you have been treating him too leniently.”

  Shirley stood nearby, shaking her head. “Perhaps I have.”

  “When Robert taught me to grapple, there was a penalty to pay when I lost. Are you ready to pay the penalty, Challers?”

  “What penalty?”

  “This.”

  Her free hand danced on my ribs—a light, rhythmic touch. Tickling. I didn’t think I was ticklish, at least not much, but Grecca was an expert. Within seconds, she had figured out exactly what touch was required, and where, to send me into paroxysms of laughter. Only after I was panting helplessly did she release me, leaving me breathless on the mat.

  I climbed to my feet, finally, and pulled my wayward shorts back into place.

  “Care for another try?” she said.

  “Depends. Do I get to do the same to you if I win?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  We took our places on the mat and started again. Grecca was fast and sneaky, but I knew I was a good deal stronger and she needed a lot of leverage to beat me. If I let her grab me on my terms, I could turn that to my advantage.

  I lunged, knowing that she’d easily dodge me and grab my arm for a classic hip throw. As I was passing over her
back, I grabbed her around the midsection with my free arm and held on, pulling her down as I fell. Her weight fell heavily on my chest, but she was more stunned than I was, and I managed to pull her arms in and pin them both with one arm across her chest. She arched her back and pushed with her legs to try to escape, but that stopped when I wrapped my legs around her, forcing my ankles between her knees, and took control of her legs as well. She was at my mercy.

  “Well done!” cheered Shirley. “See, I told you he was good.”

  Grecca bucked and thrashed in my grip, but she didn’t have the strength to break free. I tried to tickle her, but with her arms bound in front of her chest, I only had access to a small area of her underarms. Forcing her narrow wrists together, I took them in one hand and raised them over and behind her head, and then I had her. I took her elbows in one arm, forcing them against my shoulder, being careful not to put too much pressure on her neck. She was completely immobilized. I let go of her wrists and explored her armpits with my fingertips, ready to begin searching for the right spot to tickle her.

  She sputtered a bit as I ran my fingers along the fabric of her uniform on her armpit, but it didn’t have the impact I hoped it would. I caught Shirley signalling to me. She was lifting a curled hand, as if tugging on something. I got it.

  I pulled up her shirt on that side to touch her bare skin. That was what it took. In seconds, I had her screaming with tickle-induced laughter. I gave her brief respites for breathing, just as she had done with me, in between thrashing, shrieking bouts under my fingers.

  Oh, did that feel good! Having my tormentor at my mercy filled me with a sweet sense of power.

  “Oh, please,” she gasped. “Stop, stop! Submit!”

  I was probably enjoying it a bit too much. I let her go and stood up, helping her to her feet. The hem of her tight white shirt had ridden up over one small, pink-tipped breast and I felt my cock twitch in response. She had been so undone that she hadn’t noticed—or didn’t care.

  Grecca caught her breath and straightened her shirt. I caught the faintest hint of sexual tension in the air.

  She had a huge smile on her face. “I forgot how much fun that was.”

  “Robert doesn’t like it?”

  “Not really room on the ship for it. Too many hard things to run up against.”

  Shirley walked out onto the mat. “So you like this game, do you?” Shirley smiled. “Ready for another round?”

  “I think so.”

  “I’ll warn you, I’m not nearly as ticklish as Grecca.”

  “You’re also stronger. I can’t just power through with you the way I did with her. But we’ll see how it goes.”

  I’d like to say that I held my own in that bout, but it was no contest, as it had always been with Shirley. She was a master of this kind of combat, and had taught me every trick I knew. There was a quick flurry of moves and countermoves, and I was face down on the mat. She scooped her legs under mine and pinned my legs between her thighs and ankles, then maneuvered my arms into the small of my back one by one. I could buck a little and kick my feet, but her balance was excellent and I had no chance to dislodge her.

  “Oh, you’re in trouble now.” Grecca strode into view and knelt down just out of reach. “Give it to him, Shirley. I want to see him squirm.”

  As a fighter, Shirley was my better, but she wasn’t the veteran tickler Grecca was. She managed to get a few twitches and squawks out of me, but she sure didn’t have me howling in hysterics.

  After a few minutes, she grunted and sat back. “I’m not getting through,” she said. “How did you do it?”

  Grecca chuckled. “It’s a light touch. You’re working too hard.”

  I took the conversation as an unguarded moment and rolled suddenly to the side, knocking Shirley into Grecca. It was a little bit of a dirty trick, but if there’s anything Shirley taught me it was to use every possible advantage. While they thrashed around trying to disentangle themselves, I leapt onto them. The air whuffed out of their lungs and I easily took control of Shirley’s arms, locking them behind her back. Grecca somehow managed to wriggle out from underneath, but without use of her arms Shirley wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Well ,well,” I said, “I think this is a rare victory.”

  “No fair.” Grecca coughed, catching her breath. “I wasn’t even part of the fight.”

  “You were giving aid and comfort to the enemy, so that makes you an entirely fair target.”

  “All right,” said Shirley, “you’ve got me. Do your worst.”

  “My worst, eh?” I made sure I had Shirley’s arms firmly in place, with one hand holding them against her back, and shifted slightly so I could use the other hand anywhere I wanted on her body.

  “I can take it.”

  “All right. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  I braced myself, then flipped her on her back, as suddenly as I could. I swept her arms under her back with my knees, pinning them underneath her. She tried to get her feet under her to push me up and off, but I grabbed one knee and hooked it with my elbow, curling it up and doubling her over. With the same hand, I grabbed her ankle, immobilizing her leg. Her foot, extended out in front of me, was the perfect target.

  Slowly, I drew my hand closer to her foot. Her eyes grew wide. I saw her lips form the word no, but she didn’t quite say it.

  I showed no mercy. As soon as my fingers drew the slightest touch across the sole of her foot, she burst into laughter, and it only intensified as I continued. She thrashed and flailed, but she was wearing herself out faster than she was wearing me out.

  “Stop!” she shrieked, finally losing her dignity and composure after several minutes. “Please!”

  “You want me to stop?”

  “Yes!”

  I let go of her foot and immediately grabbed her breast, groping it the way I knew she liked, with her nipple squeezed between my fingers.

  Her eyes sprang open and she gasped in surprise. “What are you doing?”

  “Doing my worst.” Her gasps turned to moans as I pulled her shirt up and worked my hand underneath. “You want me to stop?”

  “Challers, you . . .”

  “Yeah. You’re used to being the one in charge. Well you gave me permission to do whatever I like, and this is what I like.”

  It was, I realized, the truth. I did like this game, I liked it a lot, and I was going to play it for all it was worth.

  I didn’t know if she’d ever let me play it again.

  I squeezed her breast, pinching her fat nipple between my fingers, kneading and stretching the flesh. “What do you say, Grecca? Should I stop?”

  “Vack, no.” Grecca knelt again, a few feet away, watching us with one hand up her shirt and another down in her pants. “Make her come.”

  “Gotta do what the superior officer says, Shirley. Unless you want to countermand the order?”

  Shirley was shaking her head tentatively, but she didn’t say a word.

  I twisted, getting my hand behind me and worming it up the leg of her shorts. One creeping push at a time, it approached her pussy. The angle was awkward, but she had stopped thrashing around, so I was able to get my hand right up to the edge of her cunt.

  She was sodden—soaking wet.

  I pushed on, working my way deeper, gradually slipping my fingers between her juicy lips.

  “I think you like this, too. You’re not used to this. Most of the time, you’re the one in charge, the one deciding what will happen where and when.”

  I pulled her shorts down under her ass. I couldn’t see very well, but I knew that her pussy would be much more exposed.

  Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted, and I could feel her sweat soaking through my shorts. I reached behind me and put my hand on her pussy, finding her familiar sensitive places just by touch.

  “Am I right? Are you as aroused by this as I am?”

  She nodded, too far gone in her ecstasy to speak.

  I didn’t need to see what I
was doing to do a good job. I knew Shirley’s sex almost as well as my own. I rubbed and tweaked, and occasionally thrust a finger or two inside, watching her face for the clues as to which should happen when. After only a couple of minutes, I left her gasping and mewing on the floor.

  Grecca helped me to my feet. “That was an impressive performance.”

  “Why thank you,” I said.

  Shirley made quiet little sounds, but they weren’t really words.

  Everything, once again, had changed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Looks like he’s all yours,” said Shirley, as she stood up from the table, leaving her lunch half-eaten. “I’ll see you in a few days.” She gave Grecca a friendly hug.

  “Have fun.” Grecca winked.

  Turning to me, Shirley took my hand and kissed the palm, the same gesture she had made when she first met me, and then left without a word.

  “What is that?” I asked Grecca. “Kissing my hand that way? At first I thought it was a Scout thing, but she seems to be the only one who does it.”

  “I don’t know. Shirley’s done that as long as I’ve known her.”

  “How long is that?”

  “I met her during my time at the academy. She came to visit Robert much the same way he’s coming to visit her now.” She pulled out her tablet. “So, a free hour until Astronavigation class. What would you like to do?”

  “I usually spend it working on my independent research project, but that seems a little impolite.”

  “Why don’t you show me what you’ve been doing? I saw the work that Shirley sent to Robert; it’s really impressive.”

  “Okay! That sounds great.” I pushed my lunch tray aside and took out my tablet. “My first project was on the Ovors. Now I’m working on the Sinden.”

  She set her tray on top of mine and sat forward, her expression full of eager anticipation.

  “I don’t really have anything compiled yet. I’m still just gathering sources.”

  “That’s fine. Show me what you’ve got.”

  I opened the Sinden directory. “Here’s a recording of a visit to a Sinden station.”