Sex in Sci-Fi Ch. 03

'It's still to early to be sure Slate. I just wished I had a full lab nearby - the mini-lab's great but doesn't have the fine tuning necessary for marginal variances and that's what I think I'm getting.'

'Explain please - in words of one syllable.'

She grinned back at me, it had originally taken a long time but during the time we had been together she had learned to translate most of her scientific jargon into a form that I could understand.

'O.K. All of the islands we have stopped at so far are similar, in composition and vegetation I mean. Right?'

'Right!'

'Wrong!'

'Wrong?'

'Yes - they're not. Or at least I think the mini-lab is finding that they're not. As I said, the variations are tiny, just below the margin the mini-lab can identify - I think. If we... Yes of course - damn, how stupid of me! Slate, can we skim non-stop for a day tomorrow? Would you mind if we did that?'

I understood what she was saying. If there had been constant but very minute variances from one island to the next - if we jumped a lot in one go - she might be able to get a positive answer from the mini-lab.

'Of course, how far do you think you need to go darling?'

'Let me look at the map-screen a minute, I'll just see which way has the largest number of islands. I'm sure it's just numbers that count, not distance.'

In a matter of minutes we had plotted a course that gave us the maximum number in the smallest run, a few more to feed the plot into the auto system - I wasn't risking my limited navigation skills on a course as complex as that - and, with that done I saw her visibly relax.

'Thank you darling, you're very considerate of me. It must be such a bore for you sometimes.'

'Not when I know what you're doing and feel I'm a little involved in it. It's when you're locked away inside yourself that I get a bit, well jealous I suppose. This is fun, I can understand what you are doing, it's like detective work - and maybe I can help in some way.'

She gave me a big hug and kissed me. 'Of course you help. Now, let's eat, get an early night and be away as soon as the sun comes up. We'll have to think of something we can do to pass the time tomorrow, it's going to be boring I'm afraid, just sitting watching lots of water and islands go past. Any ideas?'

'Several - and they all revolve around us being naked most of the day, so I'll fix the skimmer's roof, to protect us from the sun, while you start dinner. O.K.?'

She laughed happily. 'More than O.K.!'

The following day passed in a pleasant haze of sun, water and more than a fair amount of sex - so by the time we felt the skimmer turning and slowing late in the afternoon both of us were weak and quite tired - pleasantly so of course - and certainly neither of us was complaining! But once on shore even Mierka couldn't be bothered to rush off for samples, as I had expected, I set up the dome and fetched some essentials from the skimmer while she started getting a meal organised in the food-prep.

As I trekked back and forth between where I had moored the skimmer and the dome I looked around to see if I could actually see any of the variations Mierka was hoping to find. I didn't of course - but the island did give the impression of being another that hadn't been visited before. We had seen several like that, more frequently as we travelled further from the resort centre. No matter how careful people are they almost always leave some sign of their passing, even if there is no rubbish there will be other signs, logs or stones moved to clear a dome-site, branches broken, soil turned over, tracks made. I had become quite good at spotting such tell-tale signs but here there were none, not close to the water anyway.

I did see signs of life though, as we had on most of the islands, again there had been more as we got further from the resort, birds, lizard-like creatures and quite a lot of scurrying noises amongst the vegetation. As well as seeing a number of tracks and various birds flying overhead I also spotted several types of fruiting trees, one of which had become our particular favourite, so naturally I picked a couple of pieces that seemed ripe, thinking they would make a nice finish to whatever Mierka was making us for dinner.

By the time we had got everything ready the sun was just about to sink below the horizon and Mierka and I stood and watched, with our arms about each other's waist, as its red-gold brilliance set fire to the water. Once the sun had gone it quickly began to get quite dark and the dome lit up behind us, its soft glow and the gentle hum of the equipment blending with the sound of the water lapping below us and the slowly increasing star-light above. We stood there for a while, enjoying the early evening then, almost reluctantly turned and went in for our meal.

As we ate we talked and I tried to get Mierka to explain just what it was that she was hoping to find in her test results the following day.

'I wish I knew love. I just think it's odd that there is even a chance of there being the variations that I think I might find. You would expect that with the islands so close together there would be little opportunity for much variation at all. Some islands might suit certain plants and creatures more than others, for whatever reason - but when you find the same species on many islands but that, at the micro-level, each one is slightly different - that's crazy!

'Any ideas?'

'Not really. I need to do more work first. But what it could mean is that what appears to be a member of the same species could have quite different aspects to it from one place to another.'

'Explain please.'

'Well - let's take something simple.' She looked around for inspiration and caught sight of the fruit I had picked on the way back from the skimmer. 'Ah, just the thing, our favourite fruit. Now, we know quite a lot about this, let's forget micro-botany for a minute, we know it's sweet but has a hint of acid that gives it that lovely fresh taste. Now suppose we find that a similar piece of fruit, picked on this island...'

'Those pieces are from this island lover.'

'From this island!'

'Yes, I picked them as I came back from the skimmer. They look identical to what we've been eating all the time.'

'And they may be - but suppose they're not. Suppose, just for argument's sake, that here they are more acid and less sweet. Another few dozen islands away they might be totally acidic, not a trace of sugar at all. That's the sort of thing I mean. But, as I said, that's just a small, obvious variation, the effect could be much more dramatic - even if it were less obvious.'

'If it's true, any ideas as to how it could have come about?'

'Well it seems to me - and I'm no geologist remember - that the islands have to have been virtually separate, self-sustaining ecosystems for a very, very long time now, the life forms on them have had time to branch, become sub-species in their own right. But I'm only guessing of course.'

Just then we heard a sound, at first we both thought it was wind and as it steadily became louder I saw that Mierka began to look a little apprehensive.

'Do you think there's a storm coming? Is the dome strong enough Slate?'

I assured her it was - but as the sound continued to increase in volume I began to wonder about it myself.

'I'll stick my head out and see what I can.'

'Be careful darling.' she said as I released the door panel and poked my head out. At first I couldn't see a thing but as my eyes got used to the darkness I found I could see straight down the channel that the skimmer had followed earlier. Dead calm, not even a ripple disturbed the surface of the water. Then I realised that the sound was actually above us and, looking up found that I could see what was causing the noise, or at least their silhouettes. Birds! Hundreds and hundreds of birds, flying straight over the top of us, it was the noise of their wings that had startled us.

'Come and see Mierka. It's quite safe, come and see!'

Nervously she joined me and as she followed the line of my arm, pointing skyward, saw the birds.

'Wow! They must be fruit bats - or something like them, night feeders anyway. Where on earth are they all going? We haven't seen a concentration of fruit trees anywhere, at least not one big enough for all of those.'

Her nervousness vanished in a flash and before I could stop her she was out of the dome and running down the beach so she could get a better line on their direction of flight.

Of course after that our trip took on a second objective, to track where the night-flyers', as we dubbed them, were heading for - after Mierka had taken all the samples she needed for her mini-lab trials of course. So, while she took a series of those from amongst the nearby vegetation, I spent some time poring over the map-screen, looking for and plotting the larger islands on the course the night-flyers had been taking and then explored a little further afield, making a point of also collecting a few samples for the mini-lab to work on.

We caught up with each other around mid-day and took shelter from the increasing heat of the sun beneath the trees at the edge of the beach. To protect herself from scratches and bites while hunting through the undergrowth Mierka had been wearing her protective coverall which she slipped off while I cut up some of our favourite fruit for refreshment. Even though her under things were practical rather than provocative I still found myself enjoying the sight of her semi-nakedness and felt the familiar faint stirrings of arousal as she moved around sorting and preparing the samples we had collected between us. When she had finished and we sat down and started munching on the fruit I could tell that she was simply bursting to say something.

'How are the early results looking lover?' I asked as casually as I could, smiling to myself as I saw how restrained she tried to keep herself as she answered.

'They're looking good actually. Of course it's far too early to say anything definite. I need to do much more work to be sure. But, just between you and I, I'm a bit excited about the whole thing.'

I grinned openly as I put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug.

'I'll do my best to keep it a secret, I'll try not to let anyone else know darling.' I whispered, chuckling as I peered furtively around us and then spoke in a low whisper. 'Trust me. What do you think you've found?'

She realised how silly her caution had sounded and smiled back at me as she cuddled closer.

'I know you think I'm too cautious - but it is early yet, the mini-lab's still chewing over some data. But it does look as though I was right - there seems to be a big jump in the variations I thought I was getting.'

'Fantastic! So your theory is right, that's wonderful darling!' I responded excitedly, squeezing her even harder.

'Hold on, hold on! I don't know it's right yet, it just looks as though it might be. And I don't have a theory at all, just some odd observations. Don't get too carried away Slate.'

'And don't you be so conservative darling. You'll crack it, I know you will. When you publish the results you'll be even more famous, you'll see I'm right. Now.' I said as I turned her face towards me. 'I'd better make the most of you before your fame gets too widespread and you have far more desirable men than me knocking on your door.'

Her lips were still covered with the acid-sweetness of the juice from the fruit we had eaten and I sucked that off as my tongue slipped between them to snake around inside her mouth, while my hand slipped down between her legs and closed gently over her sex. She responded even more quickly and more hungrily than I had expected and once started, I was surprised to find that my own need was far more powerful than I had realised - in only a matter of seconds we were stripped and my cock was hard up inside her, then all to soon, flooding her with a quite enormous load of semen.

Afterwards, I held her tight, my cock still twitching inside the hot wetness of her pussy as we lay side by side, gasping for breath, recovering from the suddenness and sheer force of our climaxes.

'I didn't realise just how much I wanted you lover.' I muttered. 'That was simply incredible!'

'For me too darling. I haven't come as quickly or as strongly as that for years. I don't know what got into me.'

'Me - my cock I mean.' I answered quickly and we grinned at each other like two kids who had discovered sex for the first time.

'Now, where do we go from here - with your work I mean?' I added quickly, my cock slipping from her as I eased myself into a more comfortable position.

She chuckled. 'I thought for a moment you were offering me a second helping. But you mean work. Well, I have to feed the rest of these samples through the mini-lab, that'll take an hour or two, then I'd like to run some more detailed comparisons, between these results and my earlier ones, see if I can get a definite plot of the changes. Then I need to think a bit. Then see if we can track the night-flyers of course. Is that O.K.?'

'Of course. I've picked out what I think are some of the most likely islands, working on the basis they would have to be fairly large to sustain the number of trees I imagine there would have to be to feed the number of creatures we saw. Of course that could be wrong, they could have spread out over a wide area after we lost sight of them - but somehow I don't think so. Anyway we have to start somewhere.

Why don't you finish your work on the samples, we'll stay here tonight, get a better fix on their flight-path and then head off first thing tomorrow.'

During the rest of the day I helped her as much as I could and packed away the things we wouldn't need that night while she waited for the mini-lab to finish its data processing run. Having finished everything I could do I settled myself down and plugged into some music, smiling fondly at the look of intense concentration on Mierka's face as she examined the progressive results of the analysis - and being surprised to find that just watching her was beginning to arouse my need for her again.

But then, as I was seriously considering interrupting her work, I saw the expression on her face change suddenly and knew that the mini-lab had finally finished - and that the results were dramatic.

'What have you got darling?' I said, getting up and going across to stand behind her.

She looked up, startled, she had obviously been so deep in thought she had forgotten I was there. 'Oh - sorry Slate, I've been miles away. But look, here and here and this too!'

She pointed to what to me were meaningless jumbles of figures and symbols. 'What do they mean?' I asked.

'I wish I knew. But there are definite shifts in structure, major shifts. For instance, look at the results of the tests on the fruit, the one we like so much I mean.

These are from the ones we brought with us from the resort.' She said with a note of rising excitement in her voice. 'These from the first we picked in the wild. And these, from the ones you picked yesterday.'

Even though I hadn't the faintest idea what they actually meant, I could see the changes in the patterns of the figures. 'See, there's a radical shift in their chemical structure - yet to us they are virtually identical. It's fantastic!'

I suddenly wondered about the effects the changes might have. 'Are they safe?' I asked.

'Well we're still here.' she said, grinning up at me. Then, pointing at one group of figures, added. 'But I'm confused by this component here, see how different it is across the sets of sample results. Although there's a trace in the first, which becomes a little more pronounced in the second, here in the third set there's a totally new component showing. It doesn't make sense and I've no idea at all just what it means. Maybe we'll turn green or something.' she cracked. 'I can't wait to see if there are any similar trees on those larger islands, so I can check again.'

If Mierka wasn't worried why should I be - but somewhere at the back of my mind there was a niggle - just a small one and at that stage I didn't know if it was a worry or a thought, so I left it to work that out for itself.

Mierka spent a while studying the results, making sounds of suppressed excitement from time to time then pushed herself away from the unit. 'It's no good, I'll just have to try and be patient, until I can put this stuff through the equipment at work I mean. The mini-lab doesn't have the deductive capacity, it's fine for analysis but I need help in making conclusions. We'll just keep feeding stuff into it, so its big brother has more to work on.'

We ate early, assuming, quite rightly as it turned out, that the flock would pass over us at about the same time as the previous night, so we were waiting for them and I was able to get an accurate fix on their track, check it against the islands I had short-listed that morning and narrowed my selection down to just three of them.

Having done everything we could until morning we took a stroll along the beach and I found that just the feel of her hand in mine was enough to bring back even more strongly the feelings I had experienced earlier. So, cutting short our walk I took her back to the dome and was more than pleased to find that she was not only willing but just as eager to make love as I was.

*

Chapter 3

The Orchard

On nothing but a hunch I plotted a course for the second of the three islands I'd elected, which at the speed the skimmer could do, wouldn't take us too long to reach and, after waking early and packing the rest of our gear, we set off.

From what I could see, it was virtually identical with the island we had just left. I knew it was bigger, several times bigger but from what I could see of the little bay we pulled in to, there was nothing to separate it from the one we had left less than half an hour before. But, while I unpacked and set up everything we had only just taken down and put in the skimmer, Mierka was off, taking still more samples. An hour or so later, with a print-out from the map-screen and some basic essentials in light packs on our backs, we set off on an exploratory trip - at first skirting the dense growth that came almost down to the water's edge, later heading up along the path a small river cut through it.

Neither of us was used to hiking long distances through unpaved country and we would have made better time if we had been fitter, as it was, it was well after mid-day before we came over a low rise - and saw it. A shallow bowl, that stretched for three or four klicks and was crammed full of trees, trees bearing fruit, fruit that looked exactly like the one that had become our favourite!

'I don't believe it, I just don't believe it!' Mierka gasped. 'We haven't seen anything even remotely like this on any of the islands. It's simply incredible! Like a plantation. Like an orchard!'

We made our way down the rock strewn side of the bowl and as we reached the roughly grassed level area and began to walk amongst the fruit trees I noticed that beneath each one there were droppings and that as we made our way slowly through the trees, heading for the centre of the area, the droppings became more concentrated.

'I'm sure this is where the night-flyers come. Just look at the mass of droppings under the trees.'

'Yes, I've been thinking exactly the same thing. And see how fresh they are - and how much half-eaten fruit there is too, that's obviously what attracts them. We must have arrived right at the height of the season - a week or two earlier, or later and we might never have noticed anything.' She picked a particularly luscious piece of fruit and rolled around in her hand, looking at it thoughtfully.

'I wonder why they come here - in the numbers that they do. There are trees everywhere, we've found them on every island we've stopped at and seen them on virtually every one we've passed. What would make them fly all that extra distance?'