Amor Fabula Ep. 01

*** I have a ton of writing that is not erotica, where the flow of a particular story did not allow for explicit dalliances or trysts between characters. It might be interesting, I thought, to throw in an erotic twist or two while using characters I've already established for other genres. Such stories will be included in this series, and also short stories with strong fantasy, horror and science fiction elements, and a few oddball stories that just don't fit into any of my other 'typical' erotica niches.

Most of these stories will have plenty of sensual / sexual / erotic content. A few might have subdued or incidental sexual interaction, but this minimal sex will be crucial to the story's structure. I will be sure to note the overall genre, and if applicable, a statement regarding low erotic content.

To begin with, the following short story is in the space sci-fi category. This is the first story I submitted to Lit, quite some time ago. As such, I feel it isn't as polished as my later writing, but regardless, it was the first of its kind for me and I still love it. ***

*****

Outpost Seventy-Seven

"Good heavens, Hendricks," The bored Sergeant complained, allowing his dusty binocs to drop down onto his chest. "I wish I had something to shoot."

"Give it a rest, Packerd." Corporal Hendricks, dark skinned and muscular, answered. He was seated on the floor, his back resting on one of the small tower's short steel walls. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep things quiet out here. It helps me think."

"Oh, come on." Packerd replied. "Wouldn't you rather be on an outer outpost and right in the middle of all the action? I heard four-fifty-one had an entire squadron of aliens come down on them all at once."

"I heard a lot of good soldiers got killed there." Hendricks said, reaching to his belt to unclip his canteen. "So, no thank you. I'd rather be safe and sound right here on Outpost Seven-dash-Seven. Besides, how long do you think the three of us would have lasted against a whole squadron of aliens?"

"There wouldn't have been just three of us." Packerd corrected. "Not on the outer perimeters."

"Sir," The last member of their tiny detachment, the rookie Osimi, spoke up. The young man glanced nervously at his hand-held monitor. "I've got movement approaching from the east, about thirty yards out and behind the rocks."

"Not some stray animal?"

"No sir." Osimi shook his head. "It just passed our second line of sensors. It appears to be headed right for us."

"I guess you're going to get your chance after all." Hendricks dryly commented. "Let's just hope it's not an entire squad of those buggers."

Packerd was already scanning the hillside with his binocs, concentrating his attention on the rocky outcrops that sprouted out from the valley floor. "I see something."

"Not some animal?"

"Negative." Packerd replied. "It looks like a woman."

"A woman?" Hendricks asked. In unison, both he and Osimi got to their feet. "You've got to be kidding. What would a woman be doing out here?"

"Osimi, get this on the recorder." Packerd directed. "Caucasian female, twenty five to thirty years of age, long brown hair, wearing a blue colonist uniform. Looks pretty battered from here."

Hendricks was staring through his own binocs. "Got a nice rack too, from what I can see."

"Sir, should I include that on the report?" A perplexed Osimi asked. "About her nice rack?"

"No, you shit-head." Packerd looked back at the newcomer impatiently. "Stick to the facts."

"That was a fact, Sarge." Hendricks grinned.

"Shut up, Hendricks." Packerd returned his attention to the woman, who was now only about twenty meters away.

"Admit it, she has a nice rack." Hendricks insisted.

"Yeah, so what?" The Sergeant agreed. "Her patch says H-A-M, which is what, Hamilton colony? How far are we from Hamilton colony, Osimi?"

The young soldier punched in the query on his hand-held. "About ten clicks, sir."

"What the hell is she doing out here then?" Hendricks asked, retrieving his rifle from where he'd been sitting. "You don't suppose she could be an alien, do you?"

"I don't think so." Packerd shrugged his shoulders. "Not unless they've learned to mimic humans with nice racks."

"Here she comes, sir." Osimi cautioned.

"All right, I'll handle this." Packerd stated, lowering his binocs once again. His voice boomed out across the desert. "You there, identify yourself!"

When the woman didn't respond, Hendricks raised his rifle and trained its magnifying scope on her.

"I repeat," Packerd insisted. "Identify yourself!"

The woman's response was to raise her right hand and flip the team off.

Hendricks snickered as he lowered his weapon. "I see you've got yourself a feisty one, Sarge."

Packerd stepped over by the tower's ladder and began a quick descent onto the dusty dirt below. When the woman was near enough, he called out, "You're from Hamilton colony, aren't you?"

"Not anymore." The woman hissed back, coming to a halt in the tower's shadow. "You got any water?"

"Sure." Packerd said, offering her his canteen. "It's a little warm, though."

"I'll take it." She replied, unscrewing the lid and taking a long sip. Afterwards, she poured some over her upraised forehead. "I've been walking for almost three hours."

"What happened?" Packerd asked, glancing back briefly as the other two soldiers made their way down the ladder. "Why are you even out here?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, we've got nuthin' but time out here." Hendricks said, drawing closer to further scrutinize the woman, and more importantly, her assets.

"Fine." She explained. "My name's Daubert, Erica Daubert. I'm a hydroponics engineer on Hamilton. My husband Maxwell is head of the division. I became concerned when he didn't show up for lunch on time. I went looking for my husband in the fruit gardens, and I found him screwing one of the girls from communications."

Hendricks laughed softly, causing the woman to stare wickedly in his direction.

"Anyway," She continued. "I was pissed off and I wanted to leave the colony right away. So I grabbed the first transport I could find and I took off. Turns out I was still having shitty luck, because that transport wasn't even charged up. It ran out of juice before I could make Jefferson. I used the scanners to find you guys. Any more questions?"

"No, that'll be enough, Mrs. Daubert." Packerd patted her shoulder consolingly. "I'm afraid we won't be able to take you to Jefferson colony anytime soon, since we're assigned here until tomorrow morning. When our relief shows up, we can take you there, since it's on the way to where we're headed, which is Newton colony. Until then, you're welcome to rest in our transport. It's right over there. Feel free to use any provisions you might need."

"Thank you." Erica nodded. "It doesn't matter where I go really, as long as I don't have to go back to Hamilton again." She glanced down at her dirty uniform. "You know what I'd like to do, is to get out of these filthy clothes and use your humidifier."

"Sure, you go right ahead, ma'am." Packerd motioned towards the youngest member of the group. "Osimi, will you show Mrs. Daubert to the transport?"

Clearly, Hendricks was disappointed not to be assigned to the task.

"Yes, sir." Osimi obliged, taking the lead. "Right this way, please."

The two older soldiers watched them march away.

"Nice ass, too." Hendricks mused.

"You know," Packerd grinned. "I was just about to say that myself."

It was a full two hours later before they saw the pair returning towards the lookout tower. As expected, Osimi was in the lead, trudging through the dirt like the dedicated trooper that he was, with the young woman lagging a good ten feet behind. What they had not expected, however, was for Erica to be wearing an entirely new set of clothes. She had on a set of army-issue underwear; a white tank top that nicely curved under what had to be D cup breasts, white boxers, oversized and leading to her tanned and lean legs, and a pair of all terrain sandals. Her brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, exposing clear green eyes, strong, prominent cheekbones and full, sensuous lips. She was a very striking woman, Packerd realized, glancing over at his buddy.

"What are you staring at?" Erica, noticing the close scrutiny she was receiving, growled in Hendrick's direction.

Hendricks simply shook his head. "I just don't see it. I mean, how could your man go and cheat on you, with you looking like that?"

"Well, he did." Erica shot back, taking a few steps towards the commanding officer. "I hope you don't mind, Sergeant Packerd, but I asked the Private if I could borrow some of his clothes. I didn't see any point in putting my uniform back on in the sorry condition it was in."

"It sure breaks up the scenery around here." Packerd admitted. "But as long as you don't mind Hendrick's ogling, I don't have a problem with it."

Hendricks grunted back at the Sarge, before going back to disassembling his weapon. Due to the heavy dust content in the air, the soldiers took apart and cleaned their weapons at least twice a day.

"You can stay inside the transport if you'd like." Packered continued. "If you stay out here, you're just going to get all dusty like the rest of us."

"I don't mind." Erica replied. "I've been cooped up for the last two weeks, shuttling between the hydro gardens and my living quarters. It's kind of refreshing to be outside for a change."

"Suit yourself." Packerd told her, taking a step towards the tower. "But if we have any type of emergency, please obey our instructions. It might save your life."

"No problem, sir." Erica answered with a mock salute, walking directly up to the tower's short ladder and starting the quick climb up. "I've always wanted to go up one of these things."

Packered watched the lady ascend, gazing past her athletic thighs and under the folds of her loose boxers. Embarrassed, he glanced back over at his buddy Hendricks, who was grinning back like a kid in a candy store. Courteously, Packered waited until the woman had reached the top, before he began his own ascent.

"Wow, you can see all the way to Devil's Peak from here." She commented, holding her hand out over her eyes to reduce the glare.

"When the wind isn't hurling dust in our eyes, we can." Packered stepped up beside her. "When it gets really bad, our visibility might be cut down to just a few meters."

Erica turned towards the Sergeant. "You haven't come across any aliens this far in, have you?"

"None at all." Packerd shook his head. "But still, they keep us out here just in case."

"Hey, Sarge!" Osimi called up from ground level. "Since the sun's starting to go down, is it okay if I head back to the transport? I was hoping to download some music files from the satellite before I went to bed."

Packerd glanced down at his watch. "Sure, you're shift's almost over, anyway. Hendricks and I will hold down the fort for the night. See you at daybreak." The sergeant glanced over at the pretty newcomer. "You're welcome to spend the night in the transport."

"Thanks, I might do that later." Erica replied, smiling for the first time since she'd arrived. "I'm a little too restless to get any shut-eye right now, though. Is it okay if I hang out here?"

"Sure." Packered nodded. "Since we don't have to worry about any aliens lurking about at night, we usually set up a small campfire and swap war stories to pass the time. You're more than welcome to join us."

"That sounds like it would be interesting." Erica chuckled.

For the first time, Packerd caught a glimpse of the real Erica Daubert. She was a strong and vibrant young woman, he contemplated, recalling how much she reminded him of his ex-wife, back in the days before everything went sour.

The flicker of flames began to break up the shadows on the hills around them. A few moments later, Hendricks' voice carried up to the tower. "Hey, Sarge, the fire's up!"

Erica was facing the far horizon, watching as the last of the day's sunlight faded away. With some reluctance Packerd turned away from the attractive woman and looked over the edge of the tower. "We'll be right down."

Upon descending, they found that Hendricks had set three thermal blankets around the fire, which was fueled by a couple of slow burning Dura-Logs. Cleverly, Hendricks waited until the other two were seated before he settled down on his own blanket, positioning himself so that he'd face the woman most of the time instead of his commanding officer.

Probably trying to sneak a peek under those boxer shorts, Packerd mused, reaching for his backpack to retrieve the accursed Vita-Pack rations.

"Oh, hey! I've got you covered, Sarge!" Hendricks stopped him, tossing over a small pouch of viscous fluid to both him and Erica. "It's my own special blend."

"The last time I tried one of your special blends," Packerd reminded him, turning the pouch over cautiously. "I had the runs for a week. What'd you put in it this time?"

"Oh, you know, something to keep us awake through the night." Hendricks answered, somewhat mischievously. "Something to keep us going all night long."

Erica glanced at the man suspiciously, but said nothing.

Packerd unzipped a corner on the pouch and began sucking on the dark fluid. He paused to savor the liquid. "Tastes like chocolate."

"It's got some chocolate in it." Hendricks admitted.

Before long, the trio had consumed the entire vitamin drink.

Hendricks passed around a package of crackers. As Erica was munching down on one, she glanced over at the Sergeant. "So, what's your story? Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere, instead of heading some platoon down by the Boundary where all the action is? You certainly seem capable of it."

"Thanks." Packerd grinned. "I was in command of a platoon, actually, a couple of years ago."

"What happened?"

"Nothing worth mentioning." He replied. From his tone, it was clear that the subject was closed.

"Come on, Sarge." Hendricks insisted. "Tell the lady what happened."

"Yeah, tell me."

Packerd shook his head.

Erica turned towards Hendricks. "Now I'm curious. You tell me."

"His wife cheated on him." Hendricks told her.

"Hendricks, that's personal." Packerd scolded him with an accusing finger. "I'm warning you!"

"And he lost his platoon? I don't follow." Erica questioned.

"She cheated on him with his superior officer." Hendricks explained. "The Sarge here beat the shit out of that Lieutenant. Broke the man's arm, from what I hear."

"Hendricks!"

"So, as retribution, the Sarge here got demoted to a field scout."

"Hendricks! That's enough!" An inflamed Packerd shouted, jumping to his feet and glaring at his subordinate. He glanced at the young lady in frustration, then spun around and stalked off towards the watchtower. Within a few moments, he scaled the ladder and disappeared from sight.

"I guess it's a touchy subject for him." Erica commented. "How long ago did that happen?"

"Two years ago." Hendricks replied, now sounding sympathetic. "The worst part of it is, she really tore him apart. Except for the occasional brothel, he hasn't been with a woman since. Even then, he won't sleep with any of the whores. All he does is sit there and talk about his ex."

"He must have really loved her." Erica commented.

"I guess." Hendricks shrugged his shoulders. "What about you? Is that the first time your man has gone out on the town without you?"

Erica lowered her head. "No, it's like the fourth. The fourth that I know of, anyway."

"And you're still with the same guy?" Hendricks said, incredulous. "Why do you keep going back to him?"

"You know how it is in the colonies." It was Erica's turn to shrug her shoulders. "You stay in the same place for a few years, trying hard to work your way up the pecking order. I finally start getting somewhere, making some real money, and then something like this happens. If I were to get a divorce, my husband stays at Hamilton, along with all the benefits and perks that I helped him earn. I get shipped over to another colony where I have to start all over from the bottom rung."

"So, you just let him do whatever he wants?"

"What else can I do?" Erica looked away. "I hate him for what he did, but I don't want to lose everything I've worked for."

"Have you ever thought about getting back at him?" Hendricks asked tentatively.

"Of course I have." Erica faced him. "I've never had the guts to go through with it, though."

"Why not?" Hendricks asked. "I mean, he keeps doing it to you, right? Why shouldn't you be able to go out and have a little fun on your own?"

"I don't know." Erica shook her head. "I wasn't raised that way, I guess."

"Well, maybe you should try it."

"What are you saying?" Erica looked the man in the eye. "That as soon as I get to Jefferson colony, I should grab the first guy I bump into and take him to bed?"

"What I'm saying is," Hendricks carefully worded his answer. "You might not even have to go that far."

Erica glanced over towards the tower, before she slowly got to her feet. "That drink you gave us, I know what that was. I deal a lot with chemicals, you know."

"What are you talking about?" Hendricks asked, suddenly nervous. "It was just vitamins and chocolate."

"I'm not as stupid as you look." Erica stepped away, kicking off her sandals and stepping barefoot into the cool sand. Within a few seconds, she covered the distance to the tower.

With a sour expression on his face, Hendricks watched her go.

Sergeant Packerd was scanning the horizon with his night goggles when Erica stepped up beside him. He lowered the device, glancing nervously at the woman, then sheepishly turned away. "Sorry I got so pissy down there. You probably think I'm an idiot."

"Don't fret over it." Erica replied. "Shit happens all the time. You just have to make the best of things, right?"

"I guess." He said, shrugging his shoulders and turning away.

"You know, your buddy thinks I should cheat on my husband." She admitted. "To get back at Max for how he cheated on me."

"Hendricks always has sex on the brain." Packerd shook his head. "I apologize for his behavior."

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

"About me cheating on my husband?"

The Sergeant shrugged his shoulders again. "I don't know. It won't really fix anything in the long run. You might have a good time now, but..."

"I'd like that." Erica cut him off, placing a hand on the taller man's shoulder.

"What's that?" Packerd asked, turning just as she pressed her body against his.

"To have a good time." She said, raising herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

The grizzled sergeant was stunned momentarily, but when the second kiss came he lowered his lips to meet hers. Her lips were soft, moist. As he ran his tongue across their edges, he was startled by her tongue's audacity, darting and playful, reaching out to encircle and ensnare his tongue. After a few moments, Erica broke off. In the dim light from the campfire below, Packerd could make out her smiling face.

"That was nice." She whispered to him. "It was steamy and passionate. Not like my husband's cold lips at all. Do it again."

This time, the sergeant pulled her closer to him, holding her by the waist, reaching up to caress her hair as he brought his mouth down onto hers. She gasped, her body briefly tensing up, before she loosened up and returned the embrace. As they kissed, the soldier's arms continued their exploration of the woman's back, reaching under her flimsy tank top to run across her soft and smooth skin. Feeling more and more daring, Packerd next slid both hands into the waistband of the woman's boxers, gently skimming across the pronounced flesh of her ass and tightly clenching his fingers on both globes.