Archive-name: JourEntr/j916-206.txt
Archive-author: Elf Matheiu Sternberg
Archive-title: Asking Aaden


     A Tale of Pendor 206 / 0916

     "You are cleared for connection, Rat's Asking, in docking port
24-24.  Do you copy?"

     "Two-four by two-four, we copy, correct?"

     "Affirmative.  Pilot confirms.  See you in twenty minutes.  Welcome
to Parma, Rat's Asking."  The radio clicked off unceremoniously.  Tasha
leaned back in her chair and sighed.  "Well, we're close, David.  I'm
going to get myself a cup of coffee.  You want some?"

     "Nah," David replied.

     "You should learn to like decaf," Tasha teased him, grinning before
she unbuckled her harness and hauled herself out of the pilot's chair by
her lanky Katckin arms.

     "Only in my worst nightmares," David muttered, glancing over the
controls.  Docking a cargo freighter was an enormously dangerous task,
but David felt confidence in Tasha's extraordinary ability to maneuver a
ship against a docking ring.  The next ten minutes, however, consisted
of nothing more than waiting while the ship coasted closer to Parma,
against which the 60,000 ton freighter would look like little more than
an insect on a barn wall.

     Tasha returned to her chair, a ship's mug in her hand.  The mug
found its place in a gryostabilized holder Tasha had built herself, and
then the Katckin found her own seat.  She pushed the button to
Engineering.  "Denni?"

     "Engineering, Tasha," a voice replied from the other end.  "Power's
at optimal control."  David glanced over at the speaker and sighed.  He
didn't understand why, but her voice alone had become enough to give him
a small frission of pleasure.  "You'll have everything you need to make
this docking as sweet as your reputation deserves."

     Tasha smiled; there had been no sarcasm in Denni's voice, just an
intent to help Tasha continue with her perfect driving record.  "Thanks,
Denni.  I'll buy you drinks when we land."

     "I know where the best bars are."

     "I bet you do," Tasha laughed.  "Bridge out."

     Tasha spent moments examining her controls.  She sighed.  "It's
hard to believe how good she is.  David, can I ask you a question?"

     "Ask away."

     "I want you to know that I'm having something of a breakdown."  She
glanced over at him, and he glanced back, surprised.  "I've always
believed in you.  When I first came onto the Asking as your Navigator, I
did so because I knew that you had never made a bad decision.  You had
made some losing decisions but your ratio was always in the black from
the day you bought her.  I checked your record and I knew that no matter
what I was boarding a good ship.  It's not often a junior officer gets
to make that kind of decision; usually, we're forced to take whatever we
can get.

     "But this time, I don't see the outcome of your decision.  It's all
happening so fast, I can't tell if it's going to be for good or for bad.
For the first time in my life I wonder if you're doing something that's
going to put you in some sort of red.  And to be honest, I'm forced to
just have faith in you.  You've always done me right in the past, I have
to believe you're doing the crew right now."

     "Tasha..."

     "No, you don't have to say anything," she said, glancing back at
the clock.  "I'm impressed that it's taken you this long to do something
selfish, something that you wanted strictly for yourself without
thinking about us or the ship.  But now that you've decided, I just want
to remind you that we're still here, and we worry about you.  And I want
you to be sure."

     David smiled, reached across and patted Tasha on the shoulder.
"Thanks.  I'm sure, Tasha.  Don't ask me why, but I am.  And I won't
forget you."

     "I have faith that you won't."

     David grinned.  "Docking in three minutes."

     "I see it, I see it."  She glanced out the window.  "Space, I can't
believe how big this thing is."

     "Have you looked at the Ring yet?"

     "Forget it," Tasha said.  "That's just impossible to hold in my
head.  This thing, at least, looks like a space station."

     David nodded.  "You'll do fine, Tasha.  You always do."

 
 
     "Nervous?" Dennielle asked.

     "Very," David replied, looking up at his... fiance?  Coimelin?  One
very beautiful mephit?  That was for sure.  "What do I call you?"

     Denni seemed startled.  "I don't know.  What do you want to call
me?"

     "I was debating between coimelin and fiance."  He smiled.  "I am
going to marry you, you know.  Big in-house wedding, broken glasses, the
whole thing."

     She smiled.  "I know.  I wonder what I'll look like with the veil
and everything."

     "You'll look beautiful.  Nothing makes a fem prettier than her
wedding dress."

     She swallowed nervously.  "Come on," she said.  "Let's go."

     They made their way down the hallway and out the coupling into
Parma.  "It's hard to believe I'm doing this," David said.

     "It's hard to believe I want to do this," Denni replied.  "Here we
are."  She smiled.  "SDisk."

     A pleasant, masculine voice said "Listening.  Destination, please?"

     "Shardik Castle."

     David watched as the world vanished, to be replaced with a long,
gleaming hallway that opened up into a wide room.  Within, David saw a
bewildering collection of a half-dozen children swarming around, a
rather harried-looking melCentaur trying desperately to catch one of the
smallest ones.  "Hello?" Denni called.

     "Hi!  I'm Conrad.  And you must be Dennielle!"

     "Um, yes.  This is my fiance, David Elohim."

     The Centaur, who had finally managed to round up the Satryl infant
that had tried to walk away from him, stepped carefully around the other
children and walked over.  With his free arm he reached out and shook
David's.  "Pleased to make your acquaintance.  I assume you're here to
see Ken and Aaden?"

     "Dad's home?" Denni asked.

     "Yeah, they're up on the roof."

     "Thanks.  Are you one of Carroll's?"

     "Yep," Conrad replied.  "I think you might want to go up as soon as
possible.  You never know how long they'll sit still in one place."

     "Not long enough," Denni grumbled, smiling.  She led David over to
an open hole in the floor, mirrored by another in the ceiling.  "Ever
use a G-tube, lover?"

     "A few times," David said.  "Usually at refined metals operations."
He followed her into the tube and up to the ceiling, where they
dismounted from the tube and walked the short hallway to a set of
stairs.  Denni led him up the stairs into the sunlight.  David blinked,
feeling nervous.  It was hard for him to believe that at the end of this
walkway Kennet Shardik sat, waiting for them.  "Like a spider?" he
wondered.

     Denni led him down the catwalk.  To his left a small pool of water
circulated lazily; despite its small size, it seemed to be in something
of a constant state of agitation.  To his right, a small grove of trees
seemed to occupy the entire length of the Castle roof, from where he
stood to what appeared to be the opposite edge.

     Looking around, David was stunned by the surroundings.  A moment
ago he had been on a starship and a few steps later he was standing on
the roof of the most powerful house in Pendor, possibly much of the
galaxy.  A wind blew through his fur, carrying the scent of the ocean
that looked like it was just a few steps away.  The sun shone down, and
he had to shield his eyes from it as he looked up and watched the Ring
disappear up and away from where he stood.

     "David," Dennielle said.  "Come on."

     She walked away from him, and he followed, feeling small compared
to the building, the construct, the world he stood on.  Or was it
correct to say 'in?'  She turned a corner, and at the end of it a
railing ran along the edge of the roof.  Before that a large, wooden
table in the shape of a ring, with an opening in it facing him, stood
there with several chairs around it.  Two mels sat there, talking over a
PADD.  The larger of the two, holding the PADD, was a tall Mephit with
black fur.  He was very broad and David recognized him as Aaden
Satpulov.  The Human next to him was unmistakable; the pronounced chin
and long hair were all there.  Kennet Shardik.  Denni cleared her throat

     Shardik looked up.  "Aaden, I believe this is one of yours," he
said, smiling.

     Aaden Satpulov glanced up as well.  "Denni!"

     "Hi, Dad," she said, crossing the short distance as he stood up.
She gave him a warm and friendly hug, and he returned it just as warmly.
"How have you been?"

     "Not bad," she said.  "I saw the stars and I made it home in one
piece.  In fact, I came here because I need to ask you for something."

     Aaden looked back behind her.  David's feeling small intensified
under the calm, close examination of the big Mephit.  "Who's this?"

     "This is David Elohim.  He's the Captain of the starship The Rat's
Asking, the ship I'm working with right now.  I, uhm, this is kinda
silly, but I want to ask you for your permission to marry him."

     David saw Shardik's look confused for a moment, and puzzlement
crossed Aaden's face as well.  "Marry?  You mean, like, a ritual sort of
bonding?"

     She nodded.  "David, come here."  She reached her hand out.

     He walked forward, nervously, and she eased him close to her, her
arm around his waist.  "David, this is my father, Aaden Satpulov.
Daddy, this is my coimelin, David."

     "I'm pleased to meet you," Aaden said.  "I guess I should make the
other introductions.  David, I'd like you to meet one of my coimelin,
Kennet Shardik."

     Shardik reached his hand out.  David took it and shook, briefly.
"My pleasure.  You must really have caught Denni's heart.  She was a
very choosy young girl."

     "I think it's the adventurer she loves in me," David smiled, trying
to joke.

     "Must be it," Aaden said.  "She always was going after the
daredevils."

     "David is hardly a daredevil," Shardik said, glancing at a PADD of
his own.  "According to your registry at Parma, you've been a very
successful cargo hauler for the past forty years.  You've never
knowingly taken on illegal freight, and you've always lived within the
law."

     "I've tried," David admitted.  That sensation that he was small
enough to put under a microscope returned.

     "Dave?" Shardik asked, looking up at nothing.

     "Huh?" David asked.

     "Not you," Shardik said.  "Oh, great, I've got two Davids in my
house.  David Majors."

     "Here, Ken.  I figured you were asking for me."

     "We're going to need two more spaces for dinner, and I think these
two lovebirds are going to need a room for the night."

     "We have space on my ship," David said suddenly.

     "Oh, wouldn't you like to spend one night here?  I mean, we have
big, comfortable beds and an unlimited water supply and the widest array
of entertainments imaginable."  Shardik smiled.

     David thought about it.  "Can I at least call my ship?"

     "Feel free," Shardik said, tossing the PADD.  It skittered across
the table and stopped right on the edge.  "Yes!" Shardik laughed.
"Perfect shot."

     David picked up the PADD, eyeing Shardik curiously.  Celebration
like that seemed out of character, immature almost.  It certainly didn't
fit a man many believed to be a deity, although from where David stood
it was obvious he was not.  "Do I just ask for the Rat's Asking?"

     "Connection secured," the AI replied.  The screen cleared and
Patricia peered out at him.  "Captain!"

     "Hi, Pat.  How's the ship status?"

     "Not bad at all," Patricia admitted.  "We've got the full refit,
the bank has cleared the financing, and we're fully refueled."

     "I estimated a profit of eighteen percent.  What did we make?"

     "Nineteen point six," Patricia said.  "How's that?"

     "Better than usual," David admitted.  "At that rate, I wonder why
you need me?"

     "You hold the lease," she pointed out, smiling.  "What do you need?

     "I, uhm, I'm going to spend the night here.  If you need me..."
David looked up.  "How could she get in touch with me?"

     Aaden said, "Just tell her to ask the AI for T.R. David Elohim."

     "Pat, if you need me, ask the local AI for T.R. David Elohim.  I'm
going to be at Shardik Castle."

     Patricia's eyes widened a little, then she nodded.  "Take care of
yourself."

     "I will," he replied.  "David out."

     "Rat's Asking, out."

     David placed the PADD down on the table again.  "I'm guess that's
it.  My ship is ready to lift in a moment's notice, so we're just going
to get a night's sleep and take off first thing in the morning."

     "I assume you've got a flight schedule already laid out?"

     David nodded.  "I'm going to Terra next.  I know Pendor's attitude
about marriage and commitment is casual, but my parents aren't going to
be so easy to convince.  They were first-generation Neorats and their
Patrons were Conservative Jews.  I don't know quite how that happened,
but they were raised very well, and absorbed some of their Patron's
views.  I think they mean marriage as a lifetime commitment."

     Shardik's puzzlement returned.  "As I recall, Jews are not
especially sanctioned against divorce or polygamy.  Maybe I'm wrong."

     "I wouldn't really know," David admitted.  "But I intend on going
down there and asking them for permission.  I know it'll be hard; Jewish
Orthodoxy had many strong objections to my parents' being given the
right to say Mitzvah."

     "No surprise there," Shardik said.  "As the religion grows smaller,
it becomes more desperate to solidify its position and make itself look
like the right answer.  How many Jews are there on Terra right now?"

     "One point four percent," David said.  "Last time I checked."

     Shardik scratched his chin.  "Fourteen million people is nothing to
sneeze at.  I assume that's by a process of self-identification?"

     David nodded.

     "Ken?" the voice of the AI interrupted their conversation.  "I just
rang the dinner bell.  People will be congregating up here for dinner
soon.  Please stand away from the table."

     "Right.  Okay, everybody move towards the crosswalk."  Shardik
stood up and led the way down the catwalk.

     The table lifted itself from it's current position, and David had
trouble telling if it floated or walked towards the large grassy
quadrant of the Castle ceiling.  He was also quite sure that it grew as
it moved, until it filled nearly the entire quadrangle.  Chairs began to
appear, both within and without the circle, as did placements.  Shardik
smiled.  "That is such a fascinating effect."

     "How... how is it done?" David asked.

     "Teleportation, mostly.  Some robotics in the table, and some
illusionware to make you think you're seeing something that's not there.

     David nodded.  "I thought teleportation was a power-intensive
activity."

     Shardik pointed up.  "You see that thing up there?"

     "The sun?" David asked, squinting his small black eyes.

     "Yeah, that thing.  It provides more power than we could ever use. 
The shadow squares are covered on their sunsides with klystron tubes.
You should see them.  They're constantly converting the sun's power into
microwaves which then get masered to receiving stations on the walls.
The accuracy required is pretty intense, but we've never had a problem. 
An alternative method was to build the reflecters beyond the ring, and
have the maser beams shot into receivers along the underside of the
ring.  That become untenable when we realized we were going to need the
underside for environmental maintenance and the like.  Besides, the ring
walls are fifty kilometers thick and the beam spreads to a maximum of
two kilometers at any given moment.  There's backup upon backup upon
backup to make sure that nothing ever goes wrong."

     David nodded.  "Sounds like a dangerous plan."

     "It can be.  It means that along the circumference of the southern
polar rim there's a good chance of running into a fatal dosage of
microwaves at any second.  We're talking about millions of Joules per
second.  But we keep traffic away from the region."

     "I bet it would make a good defense weapon," David said.

     "It will," Shardik smiled, "if we ever need it to.  That's why
there's a matching set of projectors on the northern polar rim of the
shadow squares, even if there are no receivers on the northern polar
wall."

     People started filtering in slowly.  David found himself surrounded
by an array of Pendorian species, and Denni was kept busy catching up on
old times and introducing everyone to the mel she was going to marry.
Some people found the idea positively entrancing, although others seemed
to think it was a bit silly.  But all of them were willing to go along
with the plan, if that's what she and her coimelin wanted.

     Dinner, David found, was a relatively informal affair.  A small
cadre of people were apparently volunteered to serve dinner that night,
one of whom was Shardik himself.  "What'll you have, Captain Elohim?" he
asked, smiling.

     "Uhm..."  David pointed to a few items, and Shardik dished them out
of the wheeled cart he was leading around the table.  Finally, after
everyone seemed to be served, he sat down between Aaden and a femTindal 
that David guessed, although it was pretty apparent from her white
eyemarkings, to be P'nyssa Traken.  Denni sat next to Aaden, and he next
to her.  Shardik looked down the table.  "So, tell me, David, can you
promise my little girl a long and happy life?"

     "Daddy!" Denni objected.

     "No, wait.  It's a fair question.  I should be able to answer it.
All I can say, sir, is that I will try to give her the life she wants."

     "Fair enough," Shardik said.  "Denni, do you really want to be a
starship crewfen for the rest of your very long life?"

     "Yes," she said easily, smiling.  "Absolutely.  It's really the
only life I can imagine for myself.  And now, with David, I think I
could do it as happily as I could ever after."  She reached down and
took his hand.  He squeezed back.

     "Sounds like a match made in heaven," Aaden said, smiling.

     "Or at least in a vacuum," P'nyssa observed.  Shardik laughed.

     As desert was being served, Aaden turned to David and said, "Can
you tell me something?  What does the name of your ship mean?"

     "Oh, that," David replied, smiling.  "It comes from something my
parent's Patrons used to say.  I was a very inquisitive child, but I
would ask first before I tried to take something apart.  I was always
asking questions.  Even though I was the second child in the household,
and my Patrons had already raised my folks, they always called me 'the
rat.'  I guess because I was the runt in the house at the time, being
only four or five when this happened.  But they would say, 'The Rat's
asking again,' when I wanted to know something, like where do babies
come from or how does an oven work.  'The Rat's asking again,'" David
repeated.  "I attribute my success to my ability to ask questions over
and over until I get to the right question with the right answer.  I
figured, when I bought my first starship, that it needed a name to
symbolize that success.  'The Rat's Asking,' was it."

 
 
     Long after night had fallen, Aaden led David and Dennielle to a
room that had been set aside for them.  "I understand I won't be seeing
you in the morning?"

     "No, we'll be leaving early.  Almost at half-past 13," Denni
replied, turning to face her father.

     Aaden nodded, pulled Denni close into a hug.  "You're as bad as
Rainy is, Denni.  You know you'll always have a place here."

     Denni nodded.  "Give everybody my love, Dad.  I know where you
think my home is, but I really think my home is in the stars, and I need
someone like David to share it with."

     Aaden seperated himself from his daughter, turned to the nervously
shifting rat that stood to one side.  "I don't know if you know what
you're getting yourself into, young mel, but I agree with my coimelin;
you've always taken good care of your loved ones in the past, even if
that loved one was a starship.  Take care of my daughter; I don't have
very many."

     David nodded, gulping air.  "I will sir."

     "Good man.  Well, goodnight you two.  I'll probably be up for
another three hours or so, and our dom is right there, across the hall. 
Just knock."

     The door to their own room opened as Aaden retreated down the
hallway, and they entered the room as the door closed behind them.  It
looked like a living room; to their right was a fully stocked kitchen.
The back wall was apparently a sliding glass door; David stepped out
onto a narrow porch (barely two meters wide) and looked out.  To his
left, the ocean; to his right, the mountains.  Leading away in front of
him was the flat stone surface of what he knew must be the Marbletop
Mountain Range.  "David?" Denni asked, her voice floating by him.

     He turned.  "Yes?"

     "I'm going to take a shower and get ready for bed.  Would you...
like to join me?"

     David thought about it.  It's not true that starships are usually
desperately low on water supplies; in fact, most ships have an abudance
of water that would have shocked the maritime sailors of yesteryear.
Nor is it that starships lack hot water exclusively; starships very
often have an overabundance of heat, and engineers are constantly
looking for ways to redistribute that heat about the ship.  Cold water
is more likely to be the missing commodity than hot.

     What starships lack, more than anything else, is space.  So much of
the wallspace, floors, ceilings and hull of the ship is dedicated to
either life support or cargo that there's usually very little room left
over for creature comforts like a shower that can hold two.  Despite the
largess of his bedroom, David's shower was still nothing more than a
cubicle built to the specifications of one (1) standard human frame.
For him, it was quite spacious.  But Denni, who was both taller than the
average human and probably a little thicker about the middle, filled his
stall to capacity.  They could never shower together onboard.

     Now, though, he was land-bound, and probably they had ample room in
the shower downstairs.  Shardiks did have reputations as a bit
sybaritic, and that probably extended towards their bathrooms as well as
anything else.  "Denni," he replied, "I'd be delighted."

     "Come on, then."  She held out her hand, and he took it.  He wasn't
surprised to find another gravity well leading downwards, this time into
a bedroom.  "That's the bed?"

     "Uh-huh," she said.  "Huge, isn't it?  Come here, you've got to see
the showers.  I grew up in these things!"  She giggled and led him
through a very ordinary wooden door into the bathroom.  Done entirely in
blue tile, the room was dominated by a giant, frosted-glass box in the
far corner from the door he had entered.  "That's the shower?"

     "That's it.  Go on, get in.  I need to use the toilet.  I'll see
you when I get in there.  The controls are easy."  She opened the door
and shoo'ed David inside before closing the door again.

     David surveyed the room; Vaguely square, but for a slice that ran
across the two main walls of the bathroom, giving the room a lopsided-
pentagon geometry.  On one wall a small spherical showerhead made of
gray was stuck into the tile.  Below it he found three touch controls
marked "Temperature," "Pressure," "Massage."  He touched the
"Temperature" control.  Nothing happened.  Then the "Pressure" control.

     Suddenly, water spat out of the showerhead and flowed into the
stall.  He ducked under the falling stream and put his hand out.  "Ow!"

     "Too hot?" Denni called.

     "Yeah.  How do I turn it down?"

     "Run your finger down the 'Temperature' control until it's where
you like it."  David did so, and he finally found a temperature he
liked.  A bottle of liquid soap completed his needs, and he dove into
the needling stream, sighing.

     "Like that?" Denni asked as she entered the stall.

     "I feel like I'm washing in a basketball court in the rain."  He
laughed, glancing over at her beautiful, naked figure.  She laughed and
stepped forward, hugging him.  "I love you," she sighed.

     "I love you too," he replied, his hands reaching down to caress
along the insides of her thighs.  She shivered slightly.  "Your tickling
me again," she warned.

     "I know."

     She grabbed him tightly and pivoted on her heel, turning him around
until they had rotated half way and she was in the shower stream.  "Let
me get washed, would you?"

     He smiled and said "Can I wash you?"

     "Would you?" she asked, smiling down at him.

     "You'll have to kneel for me to get your headfur."  He felt
thrilled as she dropped down to her knees.  There was something vaguely
obscene about the gesture, but he ignored it as he poured soap onto his
paws and began stroking it onto her head and about her cheekruffs, down
the backs of her rounded ears and onto her neck.  She let out a soft
moan of pleasure as his hands worked against her fell, stroking deep
against the tired muscles underneath.  "Can I take that showerhead off
the wall?" he asked.

     "I think so," she said.  "I don't imagine they'd have the guest
room arranged differently from the rest."  David reached up and pulled
the showerhead away, and the sphere came free in his hands, still
spitting water.  He was surprised at the amount of strength it took to
hold the thing still.  Three controls, like the ones on the wall, were
located on the back of the ball, and he dialed the pressure down low.
Once satisfied, he rinsed her head and face clean of soap.  "There, now
you won't get suds in your eyes."

     "Thanks," she smiled.  He poured more soap into his hands and began
his way down her back, scratching in small, sudsy circles.  She sighed
gently, and in a moment of daring he reached around her chest and
stroked her breasts.  She moaned softly, and he caressed them with a
little more strength, enjoying their massive firmness, enjoying the
feeling of her large nipples passing underneath his fingers.  She cooed.
"David..."

     He grinned as his hands slid down her belly, rolling the soft skin
under his palms.  "I love you, Denielle."

     She turned slowly, the suds still covering her body, and leaned
forward, taking his unerect sheath into her mouth.  David gasped as the
warmth of her tongue spread over his sheath, and he felt the blood
rushing into his groin, his erection becoming apparent almost instantly.
Her mouth slid along the length, and he hissed into the echoning
showerstall at the intense pleasure her suckling mouth was causing him. 
"Oh, Denielle..."

     "That got you excited, I see," she said, grabbing the soap and
pouring some over David's erection.  "I need to be cleaned, David.
Outside and inside."  She grinned.  "Can you do the insides, first?"

     David smirked.  "That, my love, I can do right now."  He slowly
pushed her down to the padded floor and slid between her legs.  Between
the soap and her excitement, his cock slid into her cunny without
hesitation.  "Oh, yes," she gasped.  "I love you inside me."

     "Good," David said.  Holding himself up by the arms, he began a
slow, easy stroking as his cock slid between the lips of her cunt.  The
slickness was almost too much; he didn't feel much, but looking down at
the sudsy mass of foam collecting between their groins, watching his
cock sliding in and out of her blackfurred and tight cunny, made his
pleasure seem all the more intense.

     Denni's hands reached down between them and held her lips open, a
finger stroking her clit softly.  The top of his pubic bone struck
against her fingers every other stroke or so, and he found the sensation
odd.  He knelt between her legs, making love to her, his hands pressed
against her sides.  He felt his climax rise, and when he came he growled
loudly, his voice heading into high octaves and ending in a whimper.
"Oh, Denny," he gasped.  "I love you."

     "Love you, too," she said.  "Hand me the showerhead, would you?  I
need to rinse off."

     "Huh?"

     "Watch," she said.  She aimed the water at her cunny, dialing the
pressure low and rinsing the sudsy mess out and off with the water.
David watched, feeling somewhat peculiar as she dialed the pressure
higher and higher.  Her breathing became rapid and shallow as her cunny
seemed to swell, pushing out against the pressure of the water.  When he
looked into her face, her jaw was off-center, biting her lip, and eyes
were clamped tightly closed.  Her breathing came faster and deeper, and
suddenly she came loudly, moaning and shaking.  "Oh, wow!"

     "Denni?"

     "David?" she replied, looking up at him.  "What?"

     "Your orgasm seemed really strong.  I can't do that with you."

     Denni reached out, her hand stroking his cheek.  "You do other
things for me, David.  We don't know what we're capable of as lovers,
but even if you could never bring me orgasms as powerful as that, it
wouldn't change that I love you.  That's different, it exists for
different reasons."

     David nodded, then lunged for her and hugged her tight.  "I love
you."

     She murred her reply, hugging him closely.  "Let's get finished."

     "Okay," he said, reaching for the soap.

 
 
     A soft buzzer went off over David's head.  He opened his eyes and
looked up at the mirrored ceiling and shook his head.  "David," the AI's
voice said over the speakers, "You said you wanted to be awakened at
thirteen and twenty."

     David yawned.  "Yes, thank you, Dave."  He felt a little
self-conscious about addressing a room with his own first name, but he
figured he would get over it eventually.  He nudged Denni lightly.
"Denni?"

     "Hmmm?" she said, looking up.  Her eyes were pale and unfocussed.

     "Ship pulls in an hour and a half.  Let's get ready to go."

     She was immediately sitting upright.  "Let's go, then."  They
dressed efficiently in light-blue jumpsuits with The Rat's Asking logos,
a rat, rampant, with a questionmark hovering before its eyes, emblazoned
over the left breast pocket.  She kissed him softly on the cheek as the
SDisked back to Parma.  Twenty minutes later, they were in their
respective stations.

     David took the microphone and pulled it towards him.  "Okay,
people, we're going to watch Tasha do her stuff in reverse, and in less
than thirty hours we should be seeing the beautiful blue skies of Terra.

--
"Asking Aaden"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., And Related Tales
are (c) 1989, 1990 Elf Matheiu Sternberg.  May be freely distributed by
cybernetic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for
personal use.
--
elf@halcyon.com  (Elf Sternberg)