Beasts

Beasts

By Vic James

vicjames2@hotmail.com

Copyright 2014 by Vic James

http://www.vicjames.com

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This story is fiction. None of the characters are based on real people. You can see a list of my stories at the Nifty Prolific Authors page by my name.

Twenty

"You look happy to have your wedding canceled. I know I would have been," Jake said to me. "Either one of them."

We all laughed, nervously.

"I'm delighted that it happened before we got there, not while. I've been worried about the moon ever since I heard the Neos were there," I said. "I just assumed they would try to break out at some point. Desperate people will do anything. And who knows what desperate, crazy people will do?"

Jake went back to the front of the ship.

"I just got some news from Sunvision," Marshall said. "They are about to announce that the prisoners escaped without spacesuits."

"Definitely crazy," I said. Then I thought maybe it wasn't so crazy. We were going to go out without suits.

"Nanites?" I suggested.

"That seems likely. The video of you in the airlock has been picked up by all the news services," Marshall added. "Just about everyone has seen it."

I put my face in my hands.

"It's not your fault, Eric."

"I know that, but why do the Neos pay so much attention to what I do?"

"Just about everyone does, Eric," my mother said. "You are one of the most famous people on the planet. You are the Anti- Martin. You look like him, you were raised by him, but you are his opposite. There are chapters in Behavioral Psychology books about us. Jib showed me one."

I laughed. It was so odd.

"Am I that popular?" I asked Marshall.

He nodded his head.

"I told you the video has been run by all the news services. My interview with you has been viewed by four point four billion people. It included the video of you in the open airlock and your announcement that you can become pregnant and plan to have a baby. There may have been people who did not know or remember who you are, but after viewing the interview, they do."

I sighed. It was my own fault. I should have said, "No comment," to everything.

"Eric, there have been two movies made about us," Mother said. "Lyle Jackson played you in one of the movies."

I stared open-mouthed at her.

"Ben Jackson would have been better," I finally said.

Digger barked out a laugh.

"I have trouble imagining me fu-making love to Ben Jackson," Digger said.

"Hey! I'm an action hero! Or I could be." I said, laughing.

The others laughed.

"You could be, dear. I always told you could be anything or anyone you wanted, although I wasn't specifically thinking of Ben Jackson or action heroes," Mom said.

We all laughed.

"You better not have meant Lyle Jackson!"

"Hey! I like him," Tom, the cameraman said.

"I do, too," Constance said.

"I know about three movies," Jud said. "Did you count the erotic, animated version of Snow White, with Eric as Snow White and Digger as Prince Charming?"

I stared at Jud. I really hoped he was joking.

"What? Was Digger supposed to wake him from the tank with a kiss?" Mom asked.

"Right," Jud said.

I put my face in my hands. Then it occurred to me that if they were doing Snow White, Dad would be the evil stepmother. That had to be a really weird movie.

"No. I missed that one," she said. "Actually, I haven't watched any of them, although, on Earth, people were always asking me about my opinion of them."

"Anyway, your interview was Sunvision's highest rated program, ever," Marshall continued.

"They are making a lot of money off you," Judith said. "Did they pay you much?"

"They arranged to take us to the moon," I said.

Judith and Jake laughed.

"You mean on the flight they would have made anyway? Big deal," Judith said. "You should demand more. It doesn't matter that you don't need it."

"We have a verbal contract," Marshall said. "Eric, it was not our intention to underpay you. We got more viewers than we expected, and you surprised us with your pregnancy announcement. Our normal audience is eighty-five percent Beast, so we are accustomed to much smaller audiences. Sunvision was planning to give you a cash wedding present. I am sure the network will want your reactions to the Neos' escape and the postponement of your wedding. You can ask for more money for that interview. Considering the response to your last interview, I feel certain the network will pay whatever you ask."

I sighed. Money was no longer important to me. I knew the head of Sunvision was Harry's sister, so in a way, I felt like it was family. Harry was Dr. Rosenbloom's lover, and Dr. Rosenbloom thought of Digger as a son. Still, other people needed money and there was the colony to consider, too.

"Thanks, Marshall. I will. I will either contribute the money to charity of give it to Dr. Rosenbloom for the colony."

Marshall smiled at me and I smiled back. Then I sighed. I had no earthly (or lunar) idea of what I should charge for an interview. Naming an exorbitant amount seemed too similar to what I did to Stuart Burke, and the situations were completely different. But did I want to donate less to charity than I could? What I didn't want, was to be greedy.

"Speaking of charities, I was telling Constance about your trust," Mother said. "The La Roche Charitable Trust. She is a director of Central Charities. CC is one of the groups you have been supporting."

"It's a wonderful thing you did, there, Eric. You've helped a lot of people," Constance said. "That was one of the reasons I was so eager to officiate at your wedding."

"There hasn't been any publicity about the trust," Judith said. "You should mention it, Marshall," she said to him.

"I wasn't aware of it. You are right. I will bring it up."

"Eric has donated over forty million dollars since he set it up," my mother said. "And he wasn't even conscious!"

I laughed and several others joined it.

"I don't want a big deal made about the trust. I would prefer that it not be mentioned. I'm not sure forty million is very remarkable, considering how much I received from Stuart Burke."

"You set it up to be self-sustaining," Constance said. "That's a good thing. If you had donated half your money at one time to charities, it would have been feasts followed by famine, once the money was gone. This way, charities like CC can count on your gift and include it in our annual budgets. That is much better than a one-time lump sum donation, at least for us."

I nodded. I hadn't thought about it that way-from the charities perspective. I just didn't want the money I was donating to run out.

"Maybe you should put half the interview money into the trust and half into the colony," Mom said.

"That sounds good. But I have absolutely no idea what to charge. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them," I said.

Jud looked at Marshall.

"Don't you have guidelines of some kind?" Jud asked him.

"Yes. But they really don't apply to the kind of mega-numbers were are getting with Eric," Marshall said. "We are smashing records here, at least for Sunvision. Hmm. Let me call Meredith. She's Harry's sister. By the way, I spoke to her last night. I told her Jud and I want to go to Mars. She promoted me to head of Martian operations. That is effective immediately, so I may be remaining with you to cover the early steps of colonization. Harry thinks Dr. Rosenbloom might not be too enthused about having Sunvision so closely involved with his colony, so nothing is certain at this point."

"That's great, Marshall. I'm happy for you."

I smiled at him. Both he and Jud seemed happy.

Digger pulled me against him. I called Digger silently.

"Are you disappointed about the moon?" I asked him.

"No."

"Good. I'm glad. This way Alek, Pan, and Jock can attend."

"That's true. Do you want to get married on the station?"

"That's fine. I also thought it might be nice to get married on Aegina and spend our honeymoon there."

Digger squeezed my hand.

"That sounds like fun. Do you want to ask Richard?"

"Yes. But maybe Dr. Rosenbloom will want us to get married in space, for publicity."

"Hmm. He might. I'll call Harry."

We all started getting calls from friends who'd heard the news about the moon. I spoke to Alek and then got a call from Em.

"Hi, Em."

"Hi, Eric. I wanted to surprise you, but I guess you heard."

I thought about what she meant. I gave up. I had no idea.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, no one told you? I'm on the station. I hoped to make it to the wedding."

"Oh, wonderful!"

"Alek told me you seem to be happy with your new body."

"I am. Now my mother is planning to upgrade her body."

"Really? Wow! Are you disappointed about the moon?"

"No. I lost interest in going there when I found out the Neos were there. I was doing it for Dr. Rosenbloom. He wanted to show what my new body can do. I will be happier getting married on the station or in Aegina-that's a virtual environment of Richard Jensen's, where he tests his Beasts."

"Oh. I want to meet him. I wrote a paper about him in college."

"You can't miss him. He's the only Faun in existence."

"He's a Faun?"

"Yup."

"How does he look?"

Hot, sexy, delicious? I didn't think these were things I should tell her when I was about to marry Digger.

"I think he looks hot, but I don't know if you will."

Digger nudged me. I turned to him.

"Hold on a sec, Em."

"Dr. Rosenbloom does want us to get married in space," Digger said. "We can always honeymoon in Aegina, if we want."

"That's true. The ceremony is only three minutes long. It doesn't much matter to me where it is, as long as it isn't on the moon."

"Why did you agree if you didn't want to get married there?" Constance asked.

My mother answered for me.

"We owe Jeff Rosenbloom. Eric was doing it for him. Eric might have died if it weren't for Jeff."

Constance nodded.

"Well, I'm happy you don't have to get married somewhere you don't want to be. You memories of your wedding will be happier."

I nodded. "They will."

I got back to Em.

"Are you still single?" I asked her.

"No. I got married and had five kids. I abandoned them though, to go to parties."

I burst out laughing.

"Did you even keep one, just for memorabilia?"

She laughed.

"A lock of hair. That's all. I gotta go. There's a party."

I laughed. I wondered if there was any possibility she and Richard would hit it off. But Em needed to be loved and I didn't think Richard would want to spend enough time on a lover to do it properly. Still, lots of workaholics married. Maybe they could both be happy.

"Richard is a lonely workaholic. If you play your cards right, you could get mostly ignored as Mrs. Emily Jensen."

She laughed.

"Is he really lonely?"

"I think so. He claims all he wants is sex, but he mostly talks about relationships. I don't know how you feel about Fauns, but you should introduce yourself to him. You two have a lot in common. You teach religion and he is a god."

She laughed.

"What?"

"In Aegina, he is a god."

"You're joking!"

"Nope."

"Wow! I would love to see how the virtual people treat him. That sounds fascinating!"

"He's gone through a lot of relationships because they say he isn't spending enough time with them. The thing is, his work is important. Dr. Rosenbloom's goals for Beasts is for them to be able to live on places other than Earth, and Richard is the one working on the problems. Should he give up on relationships? I don't know. I know I like him, though."

"I want to meet him. Maybe I can find out some of the answers to those questions. Do you have a picture of him?"

I did, but one was the picture Digger took of me sucking him and the other was off him sitting in his chair with an erection. I quickly cropped his dick out of the picture. You could see where it had been, though. I sent it to her.

"Whoa! He is lonely!"

I laughed.

"Did you overcrop?"

"No."

"Oh, my! If you have this photo, I assume he's flexible," she said.

"He says he is now bisexual, but I think he's just desperate. He says Fauns have overactive libidos and he doesn't have time to change bodies."

"Hmm."

"Does that mean you aren't interested?"

"You aren't exactly describing the man of my dreams."

I sighed.

"Still, it sounds like I will at least get some sex."

What if he wasn't interested, though? But who would not be interested in Em?

"I think so. Maybe more," I said.

"Well, I'm standing in front of his door. With my luck, he will have gone from bisexual to gay since you saw him last. I'll let you know how it goes."

"OK. Bye!"

"Bye, Eric. You don't know how wonderful it is to talk to you again. Your voice is different, but I can sure tell it's you."

I smiled.

We disconnected.

I took Digger's hand and held it. I started getting a little sleepy. Then I heard my mother gasp.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"The escapees are dead. They just showed a list of them. Your father wasn't one of them, but the two men who tried to kill you are dead."

I sighed. I was relieved. I didn't think I loved Dad anymore, but I wasn't sure. I was definitely glad he hadn't died. Thinking about it, I realized I wanted some kind of closure with Dad. I sighed. What I wanted was for him apologize for hurting and killing so many people, accept my relationship with Digger, and renounce religious extremism. I was never going to get what I wanted from him. I would have to accept the fact that I would never see him again and our relationship was dead.

"Do you think they escaped so they could kill me?" I asked my mother.

"I have no idea."

I checked the news. The escapees hadn't gotten very far. They had suffocated within five minutes. They would have been found sooner, only they were headed in an unexpected direction. Their suffocation meant they either weren't using Rosenbloom's nanites, or they didn't wait long enough for a queen to form. With them gone, I felt like a weight had been lifted off me. I felt safe.

I called Richard.

"I got your email," I said to him.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. A friend of mine named Emily Meadows wants to meet you. She arrived on the shuttle. Do you have time to speak to her?"

He laughed.

"She's here now."

"Oh. OK. I was wondering, can we honeymoon in Aegina?"

"I don't see why not. It's relatively simple. And it will be much prettier than the moon."

"I'm sure of that! Is it as simple as going into a game?"

"Well, there is no interface for it, but it uses the same principles."

"How are the beaches?"

"Perfect, of course. You won't actually be having sex with Digger, though. I mean his penis won't really be inside you, it will just seem that way."

"Right. OK. Thank you, Richard."

"I'm happy to return the favors you have done me."

I smiled.

"Bye."

I checked the latest news. A prison guard admitted smuggling in the nanites. The nanites were manufactured by Dean Pharmaceuticals. The head of Dean, as well as several of its scientists had been arrested. They were charged with murder and being terrorists. I smiled when I realized they would probably be residents of the prison on the moon, themselves. The lead scientist admitted the nanites had never been tested and were supposed to self-destruct once the prisoners were no longer in vacuum. They didn't work at all. The prisoners died and the nanites did not self-destruct.

I watched video of Lars Olsen, the head of Dean Pharmaceuticals being led away from his home by Agents. He snarled at a newsie who asked him a question. The newsie laughed and mockingly waved bye-bye to him as he was led into a vehicle. I felt like mocking him, too. As a matter of fact, I felt great! I wondered how he had avoided being identified as a Neo. I replayed the video of him being led away from his house. I froze the frame and looked at the house, this time. It was huge. There was a Rolls Royce Beacon in front of it. There appeared to be something shiny in one of the downstairs windows. I asked my meme to identify. It said there was a ninety percent chance it was a candelabra made of gold. Lars had expensive tastes. Maybe he wasn't a Neo and did it for the money. I unfroze the video and watched him snarl at the newsie, again. I decided I needed to learn how to snarl. It might be useful at some point. There was a kind of a sneer and a growl. I could do both of those! I started laughing and the others all looked at me.

"Can I help it if bad things happening to my enemies cheers me up?"

"No," Mom and Marshall said, at the same time. I chuckled.

Digger put his arm around me and I leaned against him. I saw Mom smile as she watched. I had one great parent and one loser for the other.

Digger called me silently.

"Maybe we should hold off getting married," he said.

"Why?"

"You seemed open to the idea of a group marriage, and Pan and Jock both want that."

I thought about it. The fact was, I loved Digger intensely. I was in love with him. I wasn't in love with the others, although I thought I probably would be eventually. The group marriage might not ever happen. Alek might not have any desire to marry and it seemed strange to be sleeping with someone who wasn't your husband when you had three husbands!

"I want to be married to you. How can I commit adultery if I'm not married?"

Digger laughed.

"Are you planning to commit adultery before we even get married?"

"Hell, yes!" I said. He laughed. "There's Alek, Richard, your brother, Jock, Gino-"

"Gino?"

"I've never had sex with anyone named Gino, but I think I should."

He laughed.

"Definitely! Any Bruces?"

"Nope!"

"So Gino and Bruce and Stanley," Digger said.

"I forgot about Stanley!" I said.

"Poor Stanley. OK, I will marry you."

"Thank you."

The Captain announced that we would be at Beasthold in two hours.

I decided to call Alek.

"Hi, Alek!" I said to him.

"Hey! Are you headed back?"

"We are. The captain just announce we will be there in a couple of hours."

"That's great."

"I can't wait to see you," I told him.

"I miss you, too. The short time the three of us were together, was almost the happiest, if not the happiest of my life. It's odd, I know. And considering what was happening at the time, it is also a miracle. I felt like I belonged. That is what made me happy. It stopped and I became very aware of the loss of that. The fact that I was the reason it stopped made it worse."

"Well, I still love you."

"Oh, Eric. I am so glad of that. I've decided I have to be in love with you. You'd think I would know, but I've been wondering if I only felt infatuation with my temporary spouses. Maybe that's why it always faded. I feel differently about you than anyone else. I don't know if Dig told you this, but we frequently took a bottom up to his place to share. And by frequently, I mean at least once a week. I loved it. Sometimes Digger would jack me off into the bottom's mouth."

"Oh, shit! I want to do that!"

Alek chuckled.

"We will. I want it just as much. I want my best friend to feed his lover with my cock."

My dick got painfully stiff. I could feel Digger looking at me. I'm sure he could smell my lust. I brought Digger into the phone call.

"I'm talking to Alek."

"Whatever you are telling him is turning him on," Digger said.

"I was talking about when we would share bottoms."

"Oh. We did do that once or twice."

"Uh, right. Is that the version you want your fianc‚ to hear?"

"No. I was just wondering whether we should postpone the wedding. He told me I have to marry him so he can commit adultery with you."

Alek burst out laughing.

"Did you really say that?"

"I did. Will you cooperate?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. It's guaranteed. Dig, Eric wants you to jack me off into his mouth," Alek said.

"That sounds like fun. But most people don't do that on their honeymoons," Digger said.

I laughed.

"None of us are like most people," Alek said. "And I'm glad about that! We have the non-religious extremist, the porn flik star, and the country bumpkin."

I laughed.

"You are from Lancet City, Alek," Digger said. "It's not quite the country."

"I meant you!" Alek said.

"I'm a country bumpkin?"

"You were born in Alaska."

"I wasn't born at all!"

"Oh. Then I suppose you escape being a bumpkin on a technicality," Alek said. "But, did you really think that one flik made you a star?"

"It was the most critically acclaimed porn flik of its day. It was a Wednesday, as I recall," Digger said.

Alek and I laughed.

"That could very true be true. I distinctly remember that was a slow Wednesday. And kind of boring," Alek said.

Digger laughed.

"It was good seeing Em, again. They had me propped up next to her in the shuttle," Alek said, changing the subject.

"Was it really that crowded?"

"There were thirty people in it. It was an extremely illegal flight. We all signed releases. We weren't exceeding the weight allowance, so the flight was uncomfortable and long, but not scary. We took turns sitting."

"Alek, what exactly do you have in mind for our relationship?" Digger asked.

I really wanted to know the answer to that question.

Alek sighed.

"I want us to be together. I want to share our lives more than just being friends who live near each other. I want those wonderful three-ways we had to be a daily occurrence. I don't want to wonder with whom or whether I will have sex with. I want to know I will have it with the two people I care most about. I want a very light, low cal marriage."

I laughed.

"So you want to be almost married?" I asked.

"No. I want to be barely married. That's a little more than almost married."

Digger laughed. I grinned.

"That answers my question. Eric and I have been discussing possibly having a group marriage someday, maybe after we move to Mars. It would also include Pan and Jock."

"Hmm. I wouldn't mind that, but I don't have any interest at all in sex with either of them," Alek said.

"No. I assumed that. But you are at least open to the idea?"

"Yeah. I can't commit right now, but it sounds nice. I can see how it would be good for the kids, since they would all be Eric's."

"Right," I said. "They would all live in the same house or cubical or-"

Digger laughed.

"You mean subterranean Martian dwelling, I think."

"Right. One of those," I said.

Alek laughed.

"Yeah. I'll give it some thought, but it sounds nice. What about sleeping?"

"We thought the three of us would sleep together and Pan and Jock would still be together," Digger said.

"Really, that isn't any different than what I had in mind. I assumed Jock and Pan would be next door. Next door, next bedroom. What's the difference? A couple of meters? We will all be in each other's lives, whether we call it a group marriage, or not. I've spent a lot of time with Pan and Jock. They don't argue nearly as much. That used to drive me crazy, as you know."

"That's good," Digger said.

"Can you two get away for sex, as soon as you get back?" Alek asked.

"Sure," Digger said. "We know you are horny."

I was horny. I wanted Digger. I thought about us both going into the restroom for sex, but it would be so obvious to the others. I didn't care much about what the others thought, but I wasn't comfortable doing it in front of my mother. I leaned my head on Digger and went to sleep.

"We're here."

I opened my eyes and sat up. Jake was opening the hatch. I unbuckled my belt and stood. We left the shuttle.

"When would you like to have the ceremony?" Constance asked.

We were stopped in the hall next to the airlock we had just entered.

"We need to get everyone together," Digger said. He turned to me. "Soon, though, right."

"Yes."

Mom took the bottle of nanites and gave herself another dose.

Digger called Alek, and Pan. I called Em. A couple of minutes later, Alek, Jock, and Pan walked toward us smiling. They were up on the curve of the station, so were slightly above us and their bodies were at an odd angle from my perspective. Then Em hugged me from behind. I laughed. I turned around and hugged her back. I looked at her.

"What do you think of the new me?"

She nodded.

"You look nice. Very handsome. Are you still gay?"

I laughed.

"Yes, I'm happy to say."

She turned to Digger and hugged him. Then Alek, Pan, and Jock reached us. We hugged and Alek kissed me. It wasn't a peck. He shocked me by thrusting his tongue into my mouth and kissing me passionately.

"That's enough. Don't hog, Alek," Jock said.

Alek pulled away. I looked at Jock's hand.

"It looks different," I said to him.

He laughed. I knew the others didn't know what I was talking about, but I was not about to tell them. Jock and Pan hugged me. Jock whispered, "I want to kiss you like Alek did. But I'm not as extroverted."

I smiled at him.

"You can."

He grinned and did. I turned to Pan. We kissed, too.

"Jock took some pictures of each of us. Do you want them?" Pan whispered.

"Only if they are filthy."

Pan laughed.

"They are artistic, erotic poses designed to make your dick hard."

"Is there semen?"

"No. You told Jock to save it for you."

I guess I did.

"I didn't mean it literally."

Pan grinned at me.

"Are you sure?"

I laughed.

"Maybe I did. But I didn't expect him to do it."

"You are making Jock's dream come true. He wants to make you happy. He really wants you to like him."

"I do. I like him a lot. If it wasn't for the wedding, I would want to have a three-way with you. I think he's very sexy. You excite me because you look like Digger."

"Good! Digger said you seem to like the group marriage idea."

"Yes. I guess at this point, I'm just assuming it will definitely happen, I just don't know when. Alek likes the idea, too."

"That's great!"

"Well, is this everyone?" Constance asked.

"I think so, unless Harry wants to attend," Digger said. "I'll call him."

"Wait!" I said. "What about Jib?"

"He is with Jeff. Jeff wants him to leave for Mars immediately," Mother said. "He will bring ice from the poles to the site and get started on the water system. That way water won't have to be delivered from off-planet for the construction crew and later for the first colonists. I will be in the tank, anyway."

"Oh."

"Now who is this fine looking lad?" I heard a male voice behind me ask.

I turned around as Digger yelled, "Dad!"

A smiling couple stood behind us. Digger hugged his mother while his father introduced himself.

"My name is Dad, or Father," he said to me.

I chuckled.

"I like the name--names!"

"Good, because you can use either one."

I hugged him.

"I'm so happy to meet you." I pulled away. "I was afraid I never would."

I looked at both of them. They were fairly non-descript. In a crowd no one would notice them but-"

"I'm afraid you two are my heroes," I said to them.

His mother chuckled.

"Come again?"

"It's just that Digger is so perfect-"

"See, Alek?" Digger said to Alek, who laughed.

"When we have kids, I hope to know what you did, so they will turn out as well. No offense to my mom, but my childhood was not a model one."

"You turned out just fine," Digger said.

"I suppose we should write a book and share our secrets with the world," his mother said to his father.

"It would take fifty books to share all our wisdom," his dad said.

"We only want to share the child-raising wisdom," his mother said. "You know, the part about taking pictures and videos of a gorilla to Alaska and asking a mad scientist to manufacture a duplicate."

We all laughed.

"He was mad when we asked," his father added.

Then his mother hugged me.

"I'm Julia. You can call me Mom, if you like. My name is not a secret," she said, looking at her husband.

"It isn't a secret. It's Dad or Father. But not Pops."

"Those are titles," Julia said.

He sighed.

"I told you that if people say my true name, I'm not certain the universe won't end," his father said.

I laughed so hard my side hurt.

"I'm very pleased to meet you," I said to his mother when I stopped laughing. I looked at his father. My father. "It is better to be safe than sorry."

"It is, and that is what I've always said on the subject," he said, grinning.

"What does your mother call him?" I whispered to Digger.

"He told her his name was Honey. She calls him Honey. Don't ever repeat this. I found out it's really Wattle, with T's, not D's."

It was an odd name. I could understand how he felt. It wasn't a name I would want, either.

"Sometimes she has what she calls Nom de Jour and she makes up a name to use for him that day."

I shook my head smiling. I hoped they would come to Mars with us.

A few seconds later, Harry walked up to us smiling. He took the bottle of nanites from Mom and gave himself some.

"If you'll follow me, I have suits ready for those who need one at the next lock. That's the one we will be using."

We followed him.

"We don't have enough fitted suits, so some of you will be in bubble-suits."

Digger stood behind me with his arms around me, while we watched the others suit up. Pan and Jock were in a single bubble- suit. 'A bubble-suit for two', as the song went. Em was going to take a bubble-suit too, because she, Mom, Constance, and Judith were all the same size and the station only had three fitted suits in that size. Judith insisted on taking the bubble-suit.

"I'm not part of the wedding party. You are," she said to Em.

There wasn't a suit in Em's size, since Constance and Judith were the same size. She got into a bubble-suit, too.

Digger's parents went into a single bubble-suit, too.

I was shocked when I saw Dr. Rosenbloom and Jib walk up.

"Do you want a bubble-suit?" Harry asked him.

"No. I'm fine."

"I'm so glad you can attend," Digger said.

"I am, too. This will work just as well as the moon."

Dr. Rosenbloom walked over to Digger's parents and said something that made them laugh.

Jib walked up to us. He surprised me by hugging me. I hugged him right back.

When we pulled apart, I said, "I'm glad we finally get to meet."

"I am, too. I'm leaving tonight, though."

"Oh."

"Don't worry. You don't have to spend part of your honeymoon with me," Jib said to Digger, who laughed. "I have to get to work immediately. I have a lot to do before I leave."

He walked over to Mom. He bent down and kissed her. I guessed he must be well over two meters in half. He put his arm around her and she looked so happy.

I was shocked, again when Richard joined us. He didn't take a suit, either.

I looked at Em and she was not looking at Richard. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything. But Richard had not walked over to her. He stood by Dr. Rosenbloom.

"Where are the paddles?" Harry asked.

"I have them," Judith said. She opened her bubble-suit and gave them to Harry. Harry gave me one and Digger the other.

Mom took the nanites from Harry and handed the bottle to me.

"I'll worry less if you take some more."

I pressed the end of the bottle to my arm.

"Did you take a pill?" I asked her.

"Yes. I'll probably sleep twelve hours after the wedding. I have too much adrenalin, now."

I nodded.

"Does that mean you can't come with us on our honeymoon, Mom?" I asked.

I laughed when I felt Digger let go of me.

"Joking!"

We laughed.

"I must really trust you, Doctor, because I am more nervous about getting married than I am about going into space without a suit," Digger said.

I turned around and hugged him.

"Thank you. Take some more nanites, BB."

He did.

That was how I felt, too. I had been in space twice without a suit, but never married. I wondered if you were supposed to enjoy your marriage. I loved Digger with every fiber of my being, but I was not enjoying myself at all. I just wanted it to be over. Tom was fiddling with the cameras. They wouldn't float where he directed them in space and the camera over his ear could not see out of the suit helmet. He spent a while arranging them. While the rest of us waited. Judith looked at me every few minutes and chuckled. I'm sure my feelings were showing on my face. I wanted it to be over. How could a ceremony that only lasted three minutes take so long, I wondered. We spent so long waiting that Pan and Jock got out of their bubble-suit.

"It was getting too hot," Pan said.

I received some photos from Digger. I looked at them. They were hot! There were lots of closeups of his cock.

"I want to get you in the mood for the honeymoon."

He sniffed.

"That's better. I smell lust."

"You should see the guy in these photos! Do you think anyone would notice if I pulled his dick out and started sucking it?"

"Your mother might."

I laughed.

"Spoilsport. Don't you have any cumshots?"

"How's this?"

He sent me another photo. It was of him lying on his back in bed. His stiff cock lay flat on his belly. Semen covered the black hair on his belly and chest. He was grinning at the camera.

"I see something big I want to lick."

"Oh, do you? Alek took that photo."

"Has he ever come on your face?"

"No, but we've shot on a lot of bottoms' faces together. Why? Do you want to lick it off me?"

I smiled.

"Yeah."

"We'll do it, then. Call him and tell him. I want to hear what he says."

I called Alek. Silently, of course.

"Hey, Alek."

"I'm standing next to you, you know."

I laughed.

"I don't want my mother to hear this."

"Oh! It's nasty!"

"Yup. I was asking Digger if he would let you come on his face. I want to lick him clean."

"Oh, fuck! Of course!"

"I want you to come on his cock and balls, too."

"Sounds like fun! I'm in a space suit, though."

I laughed.

"I was thinking about after the ceremony."

"Oh, after! I thought that would be the ceremony." I laughed. "At the end of the service, the lady minister would say, 'You may now lick your husband's face clean.'" Digger and I both laughed.

"Oh. That won't work," I said.

"Why not?"

"I can't open my mouth in a vacuum. The nanites won't let me."

"Stupid nanites."

We all laughed. I felt much better. I was having fun. I hugged Alek in his spacesuit.

"They usually don't make you wear these to weddings. You know that, right?" Alek asked.

I laughed.

"We wanted to do something a little different," Digger said.

"Personally, I think the audience would prefer the ceremony I described, to yours."

I laughed, again.

Dr. Rosenbloom interrupted Tom's camera fiddling. "Can we please do this?"

"Just make sure you have one camera on Eric and Digger and the other on Constance," Marshall said to Tom.

"Will you suck me off a couple of times before you leave for your honeymoon?" Alek asked.

"He's only marrying me so he can commit adultery with you," Digger said.

"I forgot."

"So after the ceremony, you want us to sneak off for some quick sex?" I asked him.

"Well, I would rather it wasn't quick."

Digger laughed.

"Maybe you should go on the honeymoon instead of me," Digger said.

"That does sound like a better plan to me."

I laughed. I looked at Digger. He nodded.

"You could go on the honeymoon with us," I suggested.

"Virtual sex is better than nothing, but just barely. I don't want to pretend I'm fucking you. I don't want to pretend I'm coming."

I nodded.

"Well, I want both of your cocks really inside me."

"We don't have to go to Aegina," Digger said. "Or we can spend time there, but come back for sex."

I looked at Richard. He was looking at Em, but she was looking at me. I waved and she grinned.

"Let's do that," I said to Digger and Alek. "Virtual sex is what I did as a teenager when I couldn't have real sex. I have two hot men, now."

"Well, one, anyway," Alek said.

Digger laughed.

I looked at Mom. She was hanging on to Jib. I hoped she didn't collapse after the wedding. She wouldn't see Jib again, for a while. Jib wasn't wearing a suit, either. I wasn't sure he was attending the wedding, though.

"I think we're ready," Marshall said. "Do you have an arrangement preference?"

I shook my head no.

"Mrs. La Roche, will you stand by Eric? Oops. Sorry. Mrs. Driggs."

She nodded.

"Alek, do you want to be next to Digger, as best man?" Constance asked.

"Yes."

"How are we going to keep from drifting apart in space?" I asked.

"We aren't leaving the station," Dr. Rosenbloom said. "It would be very complicated to hold still. This door leads to a large docking area for ships, a hangar. There will be plenty of room for everyone. Your names are marked on the floor. You simply stand where your name appears. If your name is not there, just stand somewhere behind Digger and Eric. When everyone is situated, we will evacuate the air and the ceremony will start. These suits have sticktight on the feet. You'll notice it when you try to walk. It will make it slightly difficult, but you won't have to walk far. The sticktight will prevent you from getting sucked out with the air."

He pushed a button and the door opened.

We entered a large room and found our places.

I noticed Em was looking at Richard. It looked to me like she was trying to decide something.

The ceremony was over, practically before I knew it. I looked around and saw our smiling friends and relations. Even my mother looked happy. And in a vacuum without a spacesuit, that was really saying something. I was looking forward to the next page of our lives. I smiled. Or maybe it wasn't a page, it was a book. I looked at my new father and smiled.

The End, For Now