The Spiral Road, page 60
part #1 of The Spiral Roads Series
“IS this our new home?” she asked, after thoughtfully letting the drink settle. Jen looked at him as well with this question. He thought about it.
“I don’t know. It has to be for a while, I guess, so might as well make it the best we can. But I haven’t heard anything over the grapevine about them getting that door to work in reverse yet, have you?” Both women indicated no. “People are still coming through. We know they have to move those poor folks stuck in the quarry. They can’t keep them there much longer, and that means most of them will be going to the city on the coast. Even if they find a way back soon, a lot of people will have to try to survive here for quite a while.” Gil stopped, and they all considered it for a time.
“I don’t know if I mind it much.” Jen said, thoughtfully. “I wish Mom and Dad had come, but this is not what I was expecting when we went into that thing.”
“Neither was I, babe. But it could be worse. What if none of us had come? We wouldn’t have met Lucy; we wouldn’t have this kickin’ cabana.” He gestured around with his free hand, sipping again from the tiny cup, as they all laughed. “It’s better, here, somehow. Isn’t it?” He looked at both of them, genuinely interested.
“I don’t know about better. Different maybe. Medically, we just took a big step backwards, our ability to deal with large numbers of chronic disease cases and trauma has gone back to the sixties. But then again, the lifestyle here will weed out a lot of that chronic disease over time, making the population healthier overall. We may not live as long though.” Deenah spoke out. She was knowledgeable when it came to these things. They all thought about that, and how that could affect them as a family.
“I like it better here.” Jen said, in her usual decisive manner. “I was just thinking today that I like this house better than our last one, even without the indoor plumbing. I still miss my Nitro, though.” She pouted, prettily. “The trees are gorgeous, the stone blends in, and best of all, no black tar pavement. I hadn’t realized how much I could always smell it, everywhere I went, endless roads and parking lots, frying in the sun. If I have to trade my car for clean air, I guess I can live with that.” They all agreed, and Gil leaned over and hugged her, leaving one arm around her shoulders. He knew she had loved that oddly resilient vehicle.
“I have to admit; I have lost some weight since we got here. All this walking has done wonders for my butt.” Dee smacked herself on her own behind, rolling to one side as she did so, all of them giggling. The alcohol was kicking in, mellowing them. They sat and chatted for another hour or two, listening to old music from their playlists, as the stars rolled by overhead. The orange and golden patch of nebula, with dark lanes and hills of dust, floated like a wraith in the sky. The blue pearl of their companion planet, Cobalt, swam along, following the hidden sun.
Finally, Gil felt his head spin lightly, as the long day and the few shots of moonshine he had allowed himself made him feel sleepy. He stood, to head inside to bed. Jen and Dee climbed unsteadily to their feet as well, laughing and giggling like high-school girls. While he banked the dying coals, Jen bustled around, cleaning up. Dee helped her, both of them taking the blankets and leftover items into the main room of the roundhouse. He unclipped the lanterns to light the interior. They would have to figure out an alternative soon, although the light from the stars and planet glimmered through the cuts high in the walls, enough to navigate by in a pinch.
“I’ll check on Lucy, you two go ahead and turn in.” Deenah told them as she took one of the lanterns from Gil, switching it on as she did so, ready to head to her small room. He sat the other one on the high niche built into the wall, illuminating the quaint space with dim, white LED light.
“I’ll run up and look in on her with you!” Jen said, still breathless from their efforts, and a bit giddy from the powerful moonshine. The two of them padded out of the main room, leaving him to adjust their bed. He heard them whispering on the way out. The rear of the roundhouse had another curved wall, matching the one in front, making a sort of private hall along the rear, accessible from either side. They had walled up one side with a sapling and thatch wall, using the other as the entrance to a makeshift master suite.
The air mattress had given up the ghost back in the quarry, punctured beyond repair by sharp stone fragments. Now they used handmade pads of crushed nutshell. He rolled their vaguely beanbag-ish blankets full of nutshell around, checking for insects or rodents, having found none yet. Shaking them out, he laid the six of them in a double row, against the exterior curved wall. They used rolled-up blankets as pillows against the stone as a headboard. He covered it back with a layer of blankets and their sleeping bags, and pulled out a light cotton sheet they had brought from home. Laying it atop the rounded bed, he tested the firmness, before stripping down and getting into bed under the sheet. Settling in, he waited for Jen to return as he relaxed and closed his eyes. He heard her come in, and noticed her turn out the light in the main room. Her figure slipped around the open entrance to the bedroom, backlit by the starlight left over.
Coming to the bed, she slipped out of her shorts and t-shirt, letting her hair fall free, as she shook it out. Standing next to the low bed, she let him look for a moment, then slipped under the sheet. She began stroking him, running her hand along his chest and stomach the way she knew he liked, playing with his chest hair. He cuddled her, nuzzling her as she licked his neck and ear in return. They lay there and played with one another, inflaming their passions. He felt himself growing hard, and then growing frustrated as she prolonged his torture, her hand squeezing him gently, but not moving enough to get anywhere. Preventing him from moving quickly, she stayed beside him while he lay on his back, unable to get at her in the way he most wanted. She laughed softly, both of them giggling as she teased him, fun a regular part of their lovemaking, humor welcomed. He was so focused, he never heard a thing, until Dee spoke to them softly from the doorway.
“Uhmm, would you guys mind if I joined you…?” She stood in the doorway a few feet from their recumbent position, lit by the shifting starlight. Her dark hair flowed around her face, keeping it in darkness, while the light behind her made the flowing, see-through, ankle-length laced drape she wore shine like an aura. It lit the fine, milk-white curves of her hips, narrower than Jen’s but still attractive. Her long legs were fabulous, their shape alone giving his erection an extra tweak, as it jumped in his wife’s hand. Her generous breasts rode lower on her chest, without a bra on, and had large brown nipples that were erect in the cooling air. She stood balanced on her toes like a cat, as though wearing invisible stilettos. He was speechless, literally, and could only stare for much longer than an indignant husband should.
Luckily, Jen saved him. With a wicked giggle, and a long squeeze on his still erect member, making him groan, she answered her friend.
“Sure, Dee, come on in. At least part of him has already said ‘yes’.” She met his eyes, as Gil tried not to mess up his next move. He had been set up! He thought frantically; was this really okay with Jen? Had she wanted this before? Had Deenah? Did he want it, risking the consequences to their marriage?
“It’s alright, Gil. We want to thank you for everything, above and beyond, that you do. And Dee needs this. Do a good job.” Jen whispered this in his ear, as Dee dropped her insubstantial lingerie and slipped in beside them, on his other side. Having two curvy women, one blonde and one brunette, in his bed was the fantasy every boy had, and few adult men gave credence to. It usually only existed in fiction and pornography, and most mature men realized that. And yet, here he was, here they were, and it was at this point his brain gave up arguing with him. He kissed his wife hard on the mouth, passionately, as they both smiled through the kiss. He broke it, and rolled over to meet Dee in a kiss just as strong, while Jen caressed his back, leaning close to nibble on his shoulder.
As his hands roved over Dee’s pliant and willing body, feeling new curves and textures, he realized how long it had been since he had been with anyone other than Jen. Realized how different, and good, that could feel. If anything, his erection grew harder with the thought, the excitement making him take her. Her legs wrapped around him, meeting him as he rolled on top of her, into her.
“Oh, yes, God that’s good!” Dee called out, not a yell, but more than a gasp, as she panted with him. Her hips bucked, and Jen laughed with them as they both got into a good rhythm, caressing Gil along the small of his back, as he happily went about his work. After a short time, it became hard to hold back, especially when Jen began stroking the small of his back and ass with her fingernails.
“Ooo, he likes that! I can feel it.” Dee gasped at Jen, who giggled and leaned in to kiss Dee lightly on the cheek. “Oh, he is so WIDE…” She moaned, whipping her head around a bit as he increased his pace, thrilling at the compliment. Gil had never thought of himself as a stud, certainly wasn’t what he would think of as ‘hung’, not after a stint in the Army. But it was hot to hear her driven to such outcry by his lovemaking. His large hands cupped her ass as he drove repeatedly into her, both of them spilling over the edge of one of the bedding bags, her neck and back arching back as she came. He kept his strokes long and slow, pressing up against her G-spot as she did so, finally climaxing himself while holding as deeply inside her as he could. Her long legs gripped him like a vise, refusing to let him go as he pumped his way through a long, voluminous orgasm. Deenah twitched in time with him, as he throbbed within her, slowly withdrawing.
Gil lowered his head to her breasts, kissing them lightly as she whimpered and shivered, Jen stroking them both indiscriminately, as she lay beside them. Slowly, he came back to himself enough to recognize that he was still in bed with TWO women. Easing out of Dee, he rolled off of her gently, with a final kiss. As he did so, she struggled back onto the bed beside him. He held her with one arm, as she lay alongside him, her head on his chest and shoulder, gazing at her friend across from her, who had curled up on his other side. He stared at the ceiling and breathed, trying to slow his panting. Jen and Dee reached out to one another across his flat stomach to clutch hands, smiling at the event that had just occurred. That’s when the laughter began. First Dee chuckled throatily, then Jen, and then Gil. Before long they were all laughing heartily, the relieved tension pouring out of them like holed water barrels.
“It’s been a long time. Gil, that was fantastic!” Dee breathed, kissing him again on the mouth. He kept it shut afterwards. Barely. The grin was impossible to stop.
“Hush, you’ll give him a complex.” Jen said, laughing at his face. “And he isn’t done yet…” She moved her hand down to his still-wet erection, which had softened but not completely departed him. Pulling him to her, she kissed him while she stroked him with her hand, knowing him like only a wife can. When he was good and hard again, she climbed atop him, as she loved to do, easing down onto him slowly. With a deep sigh, she came to rest comfortably on his hips, and began to ride him, her nails teasing his chest. Dee nibbled his ear, stroking his face with her hands, kissing him hungrily.
Eventually, Jen bent down to them, curled over him, her petite body shining in the pale light as she kissed them both. While he lifted her in the air with his thrusts, her friend Jen was helping her steady herself atop him, holding her hand. The heat between them all radiated, becoming a flame that could not be quenched with sweat alone. Dee climbed to her knees, kissing Jen while holding her face, as he throbbed inside of her. The two women moaned, Dee moving her fingers in her own neatly trimmed pubic hair. Jen came, thrashing atop him, whimpering, while he held out. As she fell into the arms of her friend, they tangled together beside him in the center of the bedding. Dee rose over Jen, who lay on her back panting. On her knees, she looked back sultrily at Gil, and raised herself for him. He moved behind her, grasping her waist, and was in her in seconds. Only for a moment, as he went into a frenzy, thrusting into her bucking body from behind while she knelt across the satiated body of his wife. He looked down at Dee’s perfect ass, and his happy wife underneath her. Jen smiled up at them both, as he climaxed deeply within Deenah, who joined him, howling her pleasure out in an echoing wail.
He fell into a pile of soft, womanly flesh, and scratchy military blankets, unable to believe what his mind was quickly reviewing over and over, to make sure he didn’t forget a moment of it. No one said anything, though there was a bit of delighted groaning and sighing. He reflected on how good it had been, how natural, how much fun they had. He didn’t bother to analyze it any further than that, as sleep was claiming him quickly. The last thing he remembered feeling before he drifted off was Dee and Jen finding a place on either side of him, cuddling into his warmth as they all cooled and stuck together. It was true bliss. Bliss, cubed. He smiled, drifting off into the best sleep he had ever had in his entire life.
When he awoke a few hours later, with a full bladder, it was dawn. The shadow of the mountain still blocked the direct sunlight from the village, but light had awakened the jungle life, which had awakened him. It was slightly chilly, and he was alone in the large pile of bed. The urgent need to relieve himself drove him to rush to the chamber pot, naked, before he could dress and look around. Before that, he had to wash with water and a rag from the other chamber pot, liberally splashing himself to get clean. As he did so, he could smell breakfast, oatmeal with chopped fruit and nuts, and cornmeal cakes with salted fish and strips of steamed jerky bacon. They often had fresh eggs as well. The girls had obviously beaten him awake, and started the morning meal. He smiled to himself, then looking around to make sure he was unobserved, performed a ‘Yes!’ move with his fist, bringing it down to his waist as he raised a knee. Laughing at his own juvenile behavior, while still relishing it, he went to find clothes for the day. Rummaging through their packs, he found a t-shirt and some less-worn jeans, and some light khaki shorts he could carry to change into if he wound up doing something for which he wouldn’t need the heavier protection afforded by denim. Putting these along with a few other items into his daypack, he walked barefoot around the draft wall, into the cobbled courtyard.
Both Jen and Dee were seated on the logs by the hearth, sipping something hot from a cup. Suddenly his nose told him something else. He took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh morning air, along with the heavenly scent of some of their hoarded coffee. Legs wide, hands on hips, he must have looked like an actor in an adventure epic, greeting the new day, ready for conquest. Both of the women looked up at him, and dissolved in laughter.
“Oh God, if he breaks out in a Tarzan yell, I am gonna die!” This was from Jen, who skewered both his accidental pose and his love for old movies in one fell swoop.
“C’mon, stud, no need to preen, we still think you’re hawt!” Dee fell off the log laughing, as she delivered that blow to his ego. Gil felt himself blushing, helpless to prevent it. He stood there uncomfortably, unsure of what to say, until Jen noticed his discomfort. Jumping up, she ran over to him, hugging him as he relaxed. She looked up at him earnestly, and kissed him carefully on the lips.
“Gil, sweetheart, thank you for taking care of us, last night and always. Now, don’t mess it up by saying anything stupid.” She grinned at him, and he returned it. “So, come and have some coffee.” She turned away, light-footing it back to the hearth, while he noticed how sexy she was this morning, in her shorts and tee. Dee too, for that matter, long legs stretched in front of her. He settled between them, accepting his coffee quietly, with better grace than he naturally possessed, thanks to Jen. Leaning back, he turned to meet Dee’s gaze, inches from his own. She smiled at him as well, and leaned in to give him a lingering, soft kiss on the lips. He returned it, a bit uncomfortably in the light of day, but when Jen just smiled at them both and rolled her eyes, somehow it became the most natural thing in the world. He decided not to overthink it.
They passed the morning java jam in pleasant silence, until Lucy and Robble appeared, blinking and sleepy, searching for their breakfasts. Gil rallied himself to head off to the riverbanks to find a project for the day, or more likely get corralled into another’s. Jen and Dee got themselves and Lucy ready for the day’s schooling, and their own shifts at the hospital in the quarry. Just like any normal suburban family, on any normal suburban day; Dad going off to work building a village on a new planet, the Moms taking the kid and her lynx to school, before they headed off to work in a hospital full of refugees involuntarily transported through a wormhole. People can and will adapt to almost anything, and find that it becomes the norm overnight.
51
In the weeks Marius had been in the complex, he had been interviewed, poked, prodded and examined, all with his willing cooperation. His mother, Susannah, was interviewed about his past, his education, his father and his medical history. Other than his frighteningly high IQ, he was otherwise normal, to all appearances and tests. If anything, his physical coordination was lower than average for his age and development.
But the main focus of investigation had been the strange disc he claimed to communicate with. No emanations, vibrations or other transmission between them could be detected with any of their portable equipment. The one portable CT scanner they had showed increased activity in certain portions of the child’s brain, but they were not completely atypical, and could not be positively identified as a result or symptom of that inner dialogue. For all the scientists knew, that was just how his brain operated, and had nothing to do with the disc.
Markley and Cynthia monitored the investigation, and the teams. They were discussing the data, or once again, the lack of it.
“Dammit, Cynthia, this is ridiculous! We might as well be apes playing with a gantry crane, for all we understand of how this thing works.” He slapped the table with his palm, as they sat in one of the hutments, reviewing the reports from psychologists, medical teams, researchers.
