by Jamie Hawke
In fact, I recognized that name. Orion Corp. was one of the largest organizations back on Earth, the main competitor of Helios Corp. and one that many were quite confused about. Their dealings were secretive, and if they had come out here, to Gurstrad, a whole new world of strange and incomprehensible possibilities opened up.
The book had pointed us in the right direction but had given me more questions than answers. None of the other ones we’d skimmed through had anything related, though the history and legends of various supers captured in those books were fascinating. The stuff of comics, movies, and games back home was the ‘boring history book stuff’ here. I had to laugh at the idea of kids rolling their eyes in boredom at the subject matter.
“Something funny?” Charm asked, and I glanced up to see her and the other ladies, all nude and looking amazing, waiting at the door to head out.
“Just happy to get a chance to relax,” I said, trying to ignore her eyes eating me up, moving across my body with lust. A nice feeling, to be sure, but one that never failed to embarrass me.
“Hurry your pale ass,” she said with a wink, and followed the others out.
“We need to get hot springs installed on the ship,” I said, joining them to shower off the grime before getting in.
“I don’t think that would work well,” Charm replied with a laugh. “But I’m all for it.”
“Sounds great to me,” I said. “Maybe some superpower that keeps water from leaking or something like that?”
The others laughed, though I was semi-serious. As I lowered myself into the water, I could already imagine this becoming a daily occurrence. It felt amazing, but hot damn, that water was scalding. After a few minutes, our bodies got used to it, and before long we were floating around, splashing, and having a great time.
“Sorry, about before,” Gale said, turning to Shimmer.
It took a few seconds of silence, but finally Shimmer leaned back against the side of the pool, resting her head on the rocks and staring up at the blue sky, and said, “If I want to be part of the team, I need to start acting like it. No worries, here.”
“You are part of the team,” Gale said. “After the way you carried yourself back there, I have no doubts.”
“Thanks.” Shimmer lay there, eyes closed, amazing breasts exposed in the sun—I couldn’t help but stare as water beaded down them, a drop pausing as it reached one of her light-pink nipples. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked around before saying, “Besides, being told my pussy tastes like honeysuckle is definitely a compliment. Kinda makes me wish I could bend that far and had a longer tongue.”
We all cracked up at that.
“Girl, that’s nasty,” Gale said, then turned my way. “But seriously, I want to know what I taste like.”
All the ladies turned to me. There they were, sitting around me, some submerged in water, others sitting at the edge with beads of water trickling down their sun-kissed skin. Gale grinned and pushed herself out of the water, leaned back, and spread ‘em.
The pressure was on, and I wasn’t about to back down. Floating over to her, I stopped with my head between her thighs and said, “What, everyone’s going to watch me?”
“Exhibitionism,” Charm said. “It’s Gale’s new thing. And don’t for a second pretend you’re not into it.”
Gale grinned, her hips moving in anticipation. I chuckled, gave another look around, and then dove in. She was freshly cleaned by the baths, so at first all I got was the wet bathwater taste. Then, as I went deeper and came back out to trace her lips with my tongue, kiss the sides of her pussy, and then move to her clit, I started to get a sense of her.
I started to pull back to say so, but she grabbed my head and pushed me back into her. Laughter echoed from the other ladies, but I was getting into it.
Something moved down below and I pulled back just enough to see. At first I thought there was an animal there, then realized it was Charm’s tail. Next I saw her, looking up at me from below the water right before she went down on me like a mermaid.
It might not last long, but this could be fun. The other ladies started slipping down into the water too, each bobbing down and taking over when the previous one ran out of breath. First Twitch moved in for Charm, then Shimmer—with a moment’s hesitation and a shy bite of her lip—ducked down and took it over, her golden white hair floating out behind her.
Hands found my head again and guided me back to the delicious pussy in front of me. We went like that, me going down on Gale until she squirmed and moaned while the other ladies seamlessly took over for each other. Finally I understood what the king of the merpeople felt like.
When I pulled back, Shimmer and Charm were looking at me with wide smiles. Twitch rose a moment later, swallowing and then gasping for air.
“Looks like I won,” she said with a grin.
“Won?” I asked.
“It wasn’t official, but in my mind I was hoping I’d be the one to make it happen,” she explained, earning a laugh from Charm.
“Ah, now I feel like you owe me,” Charm said, caressing my cheek and then taking one of my fingers in her mouth. When she took it out again, she added, “Soon, yeah?”
“Er, yeah. Happy to help.”
Shimmer shook her head, smiling in bewilderment. “I don’t know about you all.”
“Girl, you’re one of us now,” Gale said, staring down at us from the side of the baths. “Speaking of which… Breaker?”
“Yeah?”
She tilted her head, waiting.
“I think she wants her answer,” Charm whispered into my ear.
“Oh, yeah—vanilla pudding.”
“Vanilla?” Gale frowned. “Sugar, did you see me? Do I look vanilla?”
“You asked about taste. I’m telling you, when you get wet—on your own, not from the baths—the taste reminds me of vanilla pudding. Don’t ask if you don’t want the answer.”
Gale ran her tongue across her teeth, still unsure what to think about that.
“Honey,” Twitch said, putting a hand on Gale’s dark leg, “there are way worse answers he could’ve come up with than any sort of pudding. And if it helps, vanilla’s my favorite.”
“Chocolate here,” said Charm. “But with vanilla wafers in it. Ooh, or maybe banana pudding with ginger cookies… tough call.”
It took another moment, but finally Gale burst into laughter. “You’re all too much,” she said, nodding to Shimmer. “Girl, you got some work ahead of you, trying to understand these weirdos.”
“I’m sure,” Shimmer said, and they all shared a smile.
“Is this some weird ladies’ moment that I should leave for?” I asked.
“Actually, I think we should all be leaving,” Twitch replied. “What we did here was right, but it’s time to continue our search.”
“We stay much longer and I’ll get pruny anyways,” Charm added.
She was the first out, her soggy tail quite the sight in the bright sun compared to her pale skin. The others followed and I was last, taking the opportunity to appreciate what a lucky man I was. Both Charm and Shimmer spared looks my way that showed they felt as lucky as I felt, hunger in their eyes.
Damn. Lucky didn’t begin to cover the half of it.
We walked back to the dressing room to the sounds of stifled laughter. Turning toward the sound, I quickly covered my crotch and stared, dumbfounded. There on the far side of the baths was a large window I’d noticed earlier, but assumed was another dressing room or something. Apparently, it was an entrance.
Standing there and waiting their turn was a group of men and women in bathing suits.
“Let’s get out of here,” Twitch said. “Quickly.”
Gale waved and received a round of cheers, but Charm grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along, Shimmer laughing behind them but running while trying to cover herself as best she could.
Soon we were dried and dressed again, and made our way out to the feast hall. We saw others arriving, some of whom ha
d been in the baths—we hoped they wouldn’t say anything. A few of them glanced our way with grins, but that was all.
The feast came and went, with some of the students sharing stories of their sides of the battle. Our hosts were more than gracious when we finished eating and explained that we couldn’t stay long.
“We didn’t find much on Gurstrad,” I said, leaning over to speak with Angeline. “I don’t suppose there’s any more you could tell us?”
“It’s not on the maps,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not the ones we have access to, at any rate.”
“How about more battles like the one here?” Gale asked. “We’ve been told that the Gurstrad location is highly contentious, so finding areas with ongoing battles might lead us in the right direction.”
Angeline looked around to see if others had answers, then shook her head.
“That said, we have managed to find a few survivors in the enemy wreckage.” She frowned, unsure, and then said, “If you’d like to question them—”
“We would,” Twitch interrupted.
Angeline gave her a polite smile and motioned to the guy next to her. “He’ll show you the way.”
We thanked everyone and left to a round of cheers, along with a couple of winks from a few of the women who, I think, I’d seen at the baths. Or rather, who’d seen me. I waved politely on my way out.
The guy led us to a series of caves along the side of the hills, on top of which the houses and other buildings of this city had been built. It was dark and damp, the type of place I wouldn’t want to stay more than a few minutes, that was sure.
“If you want one who’s conscious and able to talk, this one’s your man,” the guide told us, standing off to one side after opening the cell.
On the sand-covered rock floor was a man in red and black, gray hair matted over to one side.
“You fighting for Ranger?” I asked.
The man grunted, looked up at me with one eye bloodied and swollen, and said, “We follow orders.”
“That’s what this is?” I scoffed.
“And whose orders would that be?” Gale interjected.
“My superiors.”
“Well, your superiors told you to attack a school planet,” Gale said, clenching her fists. “You’re lucky I haven’t knocked your teeth out already.”
“I’m loyal. I follow orders. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”
Twitch pursed her lips, then motioned for Charm. “Do your thing.”
“Hmm,” Charm said, looking the man up and down. “No thanks.”
“Not that thing… the other thing. Don’t you have a charm that can make him talk?”
“Oooh, like a truth charm?” She thought about it. “I don’t know. But what about…” She breathed into the man’s face—tints of white and silver. For a moment the man looked normal, then his eyes went wide and he started clawing at his own skin, pulling blood from his cheeks.
“Fuck!” I said, kicking him back and then lunging to hold him down. Gale grabbed him from the other side, helping. “How was that supposed to do anything?” I demanded of Charm.
“It was an experiment,” she said. “Never did master the truth stuff…” This time she leaned in and tried red.
The man groaned, tried to struggle one more time, and then relaxed. When his eyes lost their crazy, there was a completely different look to them—infatuation.
“Hey there,” he said to me.
I frowned, still holding him down. “What do you know of Gurstrad, or any large-scale battles nearby?”
“We had a message saying all hands needed to report—hence amping up the pressure here, to hurry and move on, to join… but it sounded bad. What do you want to talk about that for, though? Tell me your name, where you’re from… your favorite dessert?” He leaned in and winked. “Or better yet, breakfast?”
“Where was it?” I demanded, ignoring his advances.
He shrugged, looking annoyed, but finally said, “You’re familiar with the Extrante Zone? A bit further on from our present location, but not far.” Pursing his lips, he gave me puppy dog eyes. “Now, how about that breakfast?”
“We have enough,” Twitch said, motioning us to follow.
Doing so, we made it to the bars before the guy slapped my ass and giggled. I was glad to have the guard lock the door between us again.
“You know where that is?” I asked Twitch to confirm.
“I’ve seen it in the system,” she replied. “For now, let’s get into the sky, and then make our way over.”
“Doesn’t sound like enough to go off of,” Gale said.
“Maybe not,” Twitch admitted. “But it’s more than we had before.”
We trudged back to the ship and were soon sky-bound, then up and into space, all of us feeling recovered and relieved. While we flew in the direction the prisoner had said and continued to run scans, Twitch showed me how to use my new coding skills, or tried to, as I wasn’t the fastest at picking it up.
More than once we met a dead end, but when Twitch finally got me to master the art of making a hole appear in a wall, I considered it time well spent. Gale had gone off to take a nap, and so had Shimmer—though I suspected they were talking through their problems. Charm had gone off to find more food, she said. I had a hard time believing that, considering how much I’d seen her eat at the feast, but couldn’t imagine what else she’d be up to.
I was about to ask Twitch to show me something else with coding, but she held up a hand, eyes wide. She leaned forward, adjusting her screens.
“Tell me we’re there,” I said.
“I’ve definitely found something,” Twitch said, pulling up a section of her map and pointing, then enlarging an image capture. “Holy shit…”
“Holy fucking shit.” I stood, moving to the screen to stare at the image it displayed of the Blue Lady. “She survived…?”
There was no doubt about it though. There she was, the image of her on a space station mid-fight. We had no way of knowing if this was connected, but somehow it seemed like too big a coincidence not to be.
8
We stared at the image a minute longer, until the doors opened behind us and the other ladies entered.
“You’ve got to see this,” I said. “It’s the Blue Lady.”
“You mean Andromida,” Charm said, rushing forward and then grinning. “Holy shit, wasn’t sure I’d see her again.”
“Andromida?” I asked.
“Yeah, her real name. She was traveling with your brother, actually. Well, not when you were there, but—”
“Why is this the first time you’re mentioning it?” Twitch asked.
“Oh, huh.” Charm looked pensive and scratched one of her fox ears, then shrugged. “Yeah, I didn’t think about it. There was this snake lady too… I think.”
“How’d she survive the prison ship explosion?” I asked. “The Blue—er, Andromida?”
“I don’t know.” Charm grinned, looked like she was about to go, when her tail twitched and she spun back at me, wide-eyed. “Oh… Oh!”
“Yes?”
“She was talking about pyramids, and we’re going to pyramids, right? Maybe…?”
“Charm,” Twitch let the image disappear so we could watch the battle again, seeing Andromida on her assault, “I’m not sure what to think of you sometimes.”
“Thanks!” Charm gave her a bigger smile, then returned to her seat. “So, we team up with her?”
“Again,” Twitch said, frowning. “If we can.”
“What’s she fighting?” I asked. “Or who?”
“Looks like…” She zoomed in again and we could see debris from ships destroyed, breaking apart around the space station. The space station itself was also in chaos, flames raging and holes blasted, other men and women in various attitudes of shooting and using powers. “…Supers. Maybe supers who would be standing in her way of reaching the pyramids?”
“Let’s get there fast, then,” Gale said. “Before t
here’s nobody left to ask questions of.”
“Agreed,” Twitch said, and we were on our way.
It hit me then that I’d kicked some major ass back on that battlefield, so I checked to see that I was now level twenty-eight. It was taking more effort and longer to level up, but still happening, at least. With the skill point I went ahead and got the insanity skill under the Gale and Charm combo, then checked out my stats. I had a pretty good shield recharge time—down to only thirty seconds from depletion, and my strength had increased to the level that I could probably bench four times my weight now, at least. I’d learned in the fighting pits that it worked without the suit on as well, so was feeling pretty badass.
I grinned over at Charm who was grinning back at me, and then she laughed out loud.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re so smug,” she replied. “It’s hot.”
“Do you ever think anything he does is not hot?” Shimmer asked.
“Huh.” Charm thought about it for a bit. “Well, he’s kind of a prude. You know, in the bedroom.”
“Excuse me?” I frowned, trying to ignore the laughter from the other ladies.
“I’m just saying, we could be wayyy more experimental in the bedroom, but you—”
“Bullshit,” I interrupted. “Name one thing you want to try that I wouldn’t be into.”
“Fire.”
I stared at her. “You’re fucking serious. That’s terrifying.”
“Not a lot of it,” she said, still not joking as far as I could tell. “But you know, hot candlewax, maybe a bit of flame—just enough that we could heal from. Twitch can heal small things like that, right?”
“I’d rather not have to,” Twitch said, still focused on the ship’s display and some searches she was running.
“Okay, no fire,” I said. “I’m kind of scared to tell you to name another…”
“You don’t want to know what I’m into, fine.” Charm folded her arms, pouting.
“Tell me. What else?”
“Well, we’re in space. Ever thought of turning off the gravity and having fun like that?”
“Actually,” I looked around and could tell Gale and Shimmer were at least into the idea too, “that sounds fun.”