Amongst Us

Amongst Us

Hvela Luka noe maneuvered into a low orbit over the planet. Of all the planets he had explored, it was one of the more beautiful ones with its blue appearance and white moisture clouds floating in the thin atmosphere. He scanned the surface, listened to some of the primitive radio broadcasts, and watched vessels move through the air, over the vast oceans, and over the land. After scanning the surface and getting his bearings, he would drop down to the surface and integrate himself into one of the societies for further study.

It was his society’s way. His home world had reached environmental balance, then began to explore other systems to see what they could learn from them and determine if they were ready for contact from other worlds. Most were not, and per his initial assessment, nor was this one.

He maneuvered the Zvedena Sveltost into another orbit. He was commander, engineer, and staff, for he was the only one aboard the ship. Of their scout ships, the Zvedena Sveltost was the largest, initially built for a crew of fifty. It had served them well doing missions to nearby systems from their home world, but when they began surveys of systems much further away, the ship had been refurbished for a crew of one, then sent out with Hvela Luka noe, one of their best scientists.

After ten orbits around the planet, he had determined which society might be the best to integrate himself, and he plotted a course to its national area. Once darkness settled over the area, he dropped down into the atmosphere and made his way to the southern section of the country, one of the least populated areas, an area with foliage that would allow him to hide from detection.

“Gulf of Mexico,” said Hvela Luka noe aloud as he maneuvered over the body of water, placing the name into his memory banks. He flew over the coast and over the land. He picked up several aircraft flying over the region and knew most were commercial flights carrying citizens to different places, but some were official flights of one sort or another. He flew over the area called Mississippi and came upon one. It was a reconnaissance craft they called RB-47. He dropped a drone to examine it more closely.

He watched his monitors of what the drone was picking up. Initially just dark sky with lights scattered over the land and stars above, then he saw the lights of the aircraft and he put the drone on a course to intercept it. The drone quickly got into position over the aircraft, and he scanned it, then wanting a good image of it to send back, he ran the image generator over the aircraft, its blue light illuminating its shape.

The aircraft sent out communications that were reporting something unidentifiable and Hvela Luka noe smiled at their primitive nature, then he directed the drone to return to the Zvedena Sveltost. He pulled upward and watched the aircraft fly west heading toward the area they called Texas.

The aircraft was amusing to him, with its three primitive jet propulsion engines on each wing. In a moment of mischief, he dropped down over it, easily keeping pace while listening to the pilot’s report something over them even larger than before.

“Enough,” Hvela Luka noe uttered, using the native language to become accustomed to it, then swung the Zvedena Sveltost around heading east. He would go to the area he had mapped as a good place to land, a place he could hide his spaceship. He flew east over the area they called Alabama, descending until flying over the Tom-Big-bee River with the Alabama River in front of him. He dropped down into a low flight path, barely clearing the trees. He passed over a tributary, and saw it had the perfect place to set down.

It was a large circular area on the tributary, at a meander, one large enough to set the Zvedena Sveltost onto the surface of the water. He eased down, gently setting the craft on the water and killed the propulsion drives. It had taken a long time to reach this destination, and he was eager to disembark and start his mission. He grabbed up his pack and went to the cargo hold where the shuttle awaited him. Before leaving the control room, he took one last look around, knowing he was leaving more than just the ship behind. He was leaving his world, Svejet Vode, behind. It was 21,345, the era of Prostansvo, the expansion of their culture across space, but here on Earth, it was July 17,1957, and a step back in time to a more primitive era where tampering with nuclear technology was considered the pinnacle of science.

Moving along the corridor, he had one stop to make, knowing the multi-dimensional printer was loaded up with the data needed. He entered the room utilized up to this point to make spare parts, new clothing, and food and drink. He entered data based on his surveys for clothing appropriate for this world, printing various options. Then he printed documents he would need, birth certificate, driver’s license, social security card (still unsure what social aspects it granted him), and other documents, while dressing in what the Americans called jeans with a white shirt. He needed a level of wealth in this capitalistic society and printed out what the Americans called Treasury bonds, then he printed some money, ten thousand dollars in various denominations that he hoped would be sufficient for some time. If he needed more, he had a small portable printer and molecular atomizer to break down mass for reprinting, but as part of his mission, he hoped to find means of earning money for a better understanding of their market system and society in general.

Once dressed, he sorted through the documents, looking at the identity he had created for himself. He considered it a good American name, one that wouldn’t draw attention: George Anthony Hollingsworth, and he would do like a lot of people in this society and adopt a shorten version of one of his names for casual use. He would go with Tony. He looked at his reflection, considering his physical appearance against those he had surveyed. He was six foot four inches tall, taller than most, despite being short for his own people, and even though he was somewhere around sixty earth years in age, he looked like a young man, no more than eighteen or nineteen years in age. He knew his weight in Earth’s gravity would be 185 pounds. He studied his jet-black hair, how it covered the top of his head and thin lines over each eye, but grew nowhere else on his body. He looked at his silver-grey eyes, then the facial features like those of humans. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears. An often repeated evolutionary arrangement that worked.

But there were differences between his species and the humans of Earth. He didn’t suffer the whims of evolution giving him one passage for breathing and consumption, instead he had an air passage from nose to lungs, and a passage from mouth to stomach. He had greater rotation of the head, not unlike the Owl on this planet. His fingers were slightly longer than humans, as well as his penis, which was eleven inches long and just before ejaculation, swelled thicker to lock one into their partner. He wondered if humans could endure the swollen thickness during intercourse. And because his home world was colder, a planet with ice covering eighty percent of its land area, male’s testicles were naturally tighter to the body, not hanging all loose like humans, and rubbing them was such an exquisite pleasure, one could reach release by that alone.

With everything packed up, he headed to the cargo hold. It was opened to the night sky, and he climbed into the small shuttle and rose upward until clear, then swung around and headed northeast toward one of the small towns where he would begin his life as a human. As he flew away, the cargo hold closed and the Zvedena Sveltost powered down and slowly submerged out of sight.

Grounded

Tony came out of Sun Drugs and headed down the sidewalk for the diner at the far end of the shopping mall. He worked as a cashier at the drugstore, and to the people of Monroeville, Alabama, he was eighteen and just graduated from high school. The drug store had a counter in back that served hot dogs and burgers, but he wasn’t sure his stomach could handle any more of the processed food, so he was going to the diner for a meat and two veggies, knowing it was better for his system.

He had been on earth less than a month and found Monroeville a quaint little town, but he needed access to more data and with such primitive computers, barely in use in most of society (how did they function?) he had decided to enter one of the community colleges, it being too late to get set up properly in one of the major universities. It would also be easier for him to not draw unwanted attention to himself.

As he walked along the front of the shops, he watched the people out for a day of shopping then looked across the parking lot at the combustion engine machines they used for transportation. He didn’t know if they could have picked a worse way to travel, unless some of their foolish ideas about nuclear powered cars came to fruition. Or maybe a nuclear-powered car wouldn’t be so bad as compared to the gas spewing devices filling the parking lot. He was being hypocritical, for out in that vast asphalt lot sat a new Chevrolet Corvette with a 283 cubic inch engine with dual four-barrel carburetors, putting out a laughable, but impressive to the locals, 245 horsepower. But it was fun to drive, feeling the wind whipping around the windshield and the warm sun beaming down on him. Despite all its faults, it made him smile when he drove it.

And it wasn’t lost on him how that car did nothing for him keeping a low profile, but then again sometimes the best way not to be noticed as different was to draw attention to yourself in ways that were deemed normal, thus a bigger distraction from the aspects that were different.

He came to the entrance to the S. S. Kresge Co. store just as Blake Evan came out. Tony considered him the perfect ‘country boy’, with his faded jeans, plaid shirt, and straw cowboy hat pulled down low over his head, shading out the face. Blake Evan Hopkins was the real thing, the son of a farmer, and one of the locals that intrigued Tony more than most. He wondered about the body within the clothes, for the seat of the jeans showed a round firm ass, and the arms were nicely developed showing the boy worked out, probably foot ball while in high school. As they passed, Blake Evan nodded then stepped off the sidewalk to cross the drive, heading toward what Tony knew as a 1953 Ford truck in a faded jade color and white grille. It truly was a primitive device, but with Blake Evan behind the wheel, it was such a stereotypical image of the farm boy. He wished Blake Evan showed some interest to fuck around, but knew in this age, sex between two males was considered a crime, what some called a ‘mortal sin’, whatever that was. If only he could find a female that sparked his interests like Blake Evan, or maybe that boy that really was eighteen and wore baseball jerseys all the time. David McKenzie was a fine specimen Tony also wanted to fuck, but every time he saw David, there was at least one girl in tow.

As to the females, there was Patricia Henderson with her flaming red hair and friendly personality. How often she had openly flirted with him, he couldn’t remember, and he had considered her, wondered if she could handle him. If she would let him fuck sterile semen into her for there was no way he would allow active semen to enter her. The results could be disastrous. But in the end, when she was in front of him trying to get him to ask her out, he pictured Blake Evan or David.

Maybe things would be different at the community college when he got there at the end of the month. If only the societies on the planet were not so intolerant of someone finding sexual pleasure with another. It was all about making babies and not having sex for the mere pleasure of it.

 

As he approached the entrance to the diner, he was running through a list of things he had to do in the next two weeks. Confirm with his landlord they remembered he was moving out of the room he was renting before the end of the month, make sure the bank had his change of address and new checks on the way. He would need to get his textbooks once he arrived in Troy, and he still needed to remind Mr. Hester of his last day at the drugstore which was next Monday. Come the end of the month, he will be a freshman at Troy State University. He would take the required courses but as soon as he could, he intended to take Anthropology, Art, Environmental Studies, and History, the latter he was especially looking forward to. With such primitive computer technology, he would need to use the university system to gain further insight into the place he was calling home.

The Freshman

Tony found the routine of going to classes, studying, and the simple social interactions with others strangely satisfying. He found himself smiling as he crossed the small campus or made this way through one building or another. And he sized up the students, taking note of each one that intrigued him. Those that defied norm in their attire or the way they handled themselves. Some confident, assured in their goal of getting a degree, others focused on their immediate surroundings or the requirements of one class or another, unaware of being looked upon when moving around the campus. Then there were the shy ones, those that would look at him then look away, afraid of being seen looking at another. Tony felt admiration for them the most, the way they tried to open up around others but let their shyness pull them back within themselves.

It was a shy one that had the focus of his attention the most. Jesse Baldwin was a freshman who always sat two rows above him in History. Tony wondered if it was so Jesse could look at him from behind. He hoped so and was determined to find out if the way Jesse looked at him before and after class was more than mere curiosity. He knew the guy’s physical attributes having secretly scanned him. Five foot eight- and one-half inches tall, one hundred and fifty-two pounds, six ounces, and a cock that promised to be seven or eight inches long when erect. Brown hair and dark brown eyes, the thing that seemed so mysterious to him, how they seemed to conceal so much, made more pronounced by how they looked away when someone looked back.

If only he had a device to read someone’s mind. He could scan brain function, see how it responded to stimuli but to know the thoughts within, was something not within his people’s grasp. Maybe it was better this way. The ‘maca and mus’ game (or cat and mouse game for earth people) gave him the feeling of predator after prey. It was enticing, this chase with quick glances and hovering around each other.

Tony was tempted to turn and see if Jesse was looking at the front of the classroom or at the back of his head, but he knew to turn his head that much would freak out anyone who saw him. So, he shifted within his seat, waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the end of the class, and for him the end of his first week as a freshman at university. The professor was still talking about early civilizations, when humans were barely walking upright and still figuring out how to grow food. He knew he had to sit through this part to get to the sections he was most interested in, but it made sitting in the hard wood chair uncomfortable.

The bell rang, and the professor stepped away from the chalk board, turning back to the class.

“We’ll pick up on Monday. Don’t forget to read chapters 3 and 4, and next Friday there will be a quiz.”

Groans and moans from some in the classroom, but Tony wasn’t worried about some quiz. Instead, he was worried about missing an opportunity to speak to Jesse, who seemed to be able to bolt out the classroom the fastest of anyone and disappear among the others, but Tony was determined it wouldn’t happen today. He stacked his books and grabbed them up and turned to go up the steps to the exit. Jesse was at the door, and he saw him turn right. Right toward the library. Maybe that was where he went after class.

As Tony made his way out of Patterson Hall, he considered how it explained how Jesse could disappear so quickly after History. The library was the building to their north, and he had always come out, heading south with most of the others, heading in the direction of other classes or the student housing. This time he turned right, heading north to the library and saw Jesse on the sidewalk heading to the entrance. He smiled, knowing the library would be a perfect place to engage with him.

Entering the library, he stopped just to take it in again. It was his favorite place on campus. A place he could discover much of what he sought, at times wondering why he took classes when he could just as easily use the library for all his research. But he knew that would ultimately be a lonely endeavor when classes allowed him interaction with humans, an interaction he was becoming endeared to more than he cared to admit.

Looking around the first floor, he searched for Jesse, not seeing him at any of the tables or moving among the stacks. He went to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. At first it appeared Jesse wasn’t there either, but then he saw him come from the stacks on the right going to a table where his textbooks sat. Moving down the aisle along the row of tables he watched Jesse set three books on the table and take a seat. A notebook was opened, pen uncapped, which Jesee put the cap into his mouth and chewed as he opened the first book and thumbed through it.

“Hey, you’re in my history class. Can I ask a favor?” said Tony as he came to stand on the opposite side of the table.

“Huh…oh…I guess,” said Jesse.

“The professor went over some aspects of the Mesolithic period that are not in our textbook. Did you get them written down. I think I dozed off or something for I didn’t get them all.”

“Yes, I wrote all of them down. Do you want to copy them?”

“If you don’t mind,” Tony replied seeing the way Jesse looked at him. It was there, a longing. He could see it, then just as quickly, see it concealed behind those dark brown eyes. There was something about this chase for the attention of another that was intriguing. It made his heart rate increase.

Maybe his culture was missing out on something when interactions were so casually engaged.

“No, no, I don’t mind. Just let me find my notes,” said Jesse as he pulled out another notebook, with ‘history’ written across the front of it.

Jesse was meticulous, keeping subjects separated, and Tony smiled as he sat down and took the offered notebook. “Thanks.”

As he pulled out his notebook and pen, uncapping it, he kept glancing across the table at Jesse. “What are you researching?”

“It’s for an English paper.”

“What did your professor assign in your class?”

“A report on a nineteenth century author, and it couldn’t be an American.”

“Really? We’re assigned poetry, having to analyze one from the Renaissance.”

“Poetry?”

Tony heard the tone, knowing it was not something Jesse appreciated. “Who did you choose?”

“Oscar Wilde.”

 

Tony had managed to stay with Jesse for over four hours in the library, at times the two of them silently working on their assignments and at times talking quietly across the old wooden table. He got Jesse to talk about himself and saw a slow relaxing in posture. The youngest of five from Defuniak Springs, Florida, just to their south. His mother taught science at the middle school and his father worked for the state’s forestry service. His older siblings were all moved away, his sister just older than him by three years at Auburn University. No, he didn’t have a girlfriend. No, he wasn’t in a fraternity. Yes, he lived on campus in a dorm and had a roommate who was a Journalism and Communications major. He was majoring in Economics, and no, he wasn’t sure what he would do upon graduation. After some cajoling, Jesse admitted he wanted to run his own bookstore and felt like learning the business side was more important than majoring in literature. Yes, he had a car, a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air that had been his mother’s car until she bought a new Bel Air. Jesse wished it were a convertible and not a boring black.

Tony told Jesse of his created life. The only son of Walter and Mary Hollinsworth from Oak Hill, Mississippi, a small farming community where his father farmed and his mother volunteered in their church. A life that sounded all-American and more importantly, one that would have left little paper trail should someone go looking for a past that didn’t exist. He told of his dual major, History and Anthropology, fascinated by how civilization arose. No, he didn’t have a girlfriend and wasn’t looking for one if he was honest. No, he wasn’t in a fraternity, although it was intriguing how a bunch of guys lived together, jokingly wondering what foolishness they got up to. No, he didn’t live in a dorm but off campus in a house on Smith Street, and no, there was no roommate. Yes, he had a car, a 57 Corvette.

He saw it, the look of astonishment. That was how he would draw Jesse in. But first he had to explain how a farmer’s son from Mississippi could afford to have a Corvette and live off campus.

“My uncle passed away a few years ago and not being married, left me everything. After we sold his house, car and truck, and what he had saved, it gave me a nice sum of money.”

Jesse accepted the story without question, for he knew it was more about what his car was than how he got it.

“You want to see it?”

“Yes!”

“Why don’t we call it a day, and I’ll come pick you up for dinner. It’s only 5:30 and if we’re on the road by 6:30 we can make Montgomery in time to eat somewhere…my treat.”

“Okay,” Jesse replied, trying hard to keep the excitement out of his voice.

 

Sitting in the passenger seat, the top off with wind buffeting them as Jesse drove them back to Troy, Tony kept looking over seeing the huge smile on the face. Jesse had been stunned when he offered to let him drive back, and after one stalling out, finally got the feel of the clutch and shifts of the car, taking them south on 231.

“Why don’t we go back to my place. I have Little Richard’s newest record and some Elvis Presley.”

Tony knew this new rock ‘n roll was all the rage, and he had bought several records to familiarize himself to this music, despite the fact he preferred classical music for its more integrant arrangements.

“But’s it’s nearly eleven,” said Jesse.

“So, it’s Friday night. You have somewhere to be early in the morning?”

“No.”

“Then let’s hang out at my place. I’ll take you home when you get tired. Or you can crash at my place tonight and we can grab breakfast at the cafeteria when I take you back.”

Jesse hesitated so long in answering, Tony came to believe there was no way he would ever get him alone. Then Jesse sped up, raced the engine a bit, then looked over smiling.

“Okay.”

 

Elvis Pressley was singing First in Line, the music filling the living room. Through the arched doorway, an open bottle of bourbon sat on the dining table with an empty ice bucket. On the sofa, Jesse at one end and Tony on the other, turned sideways with his bare feet only inches from Jesse, that sat silently, listening to the music.

“Elvis or Little Richard? Which do you like the best?” said Tony when the song ended and it was silent for a few seconds before the next song started.

“I think I like Little Richard the best,” Jesse replied. He slid down on the sofa, moving is ass near the seat’s edge stretching out his legs.

“Little Richard does have more soul,” said Tony.

“Yeah,” Jesse whispered.

Tony touched Jesse on the thigh, just a quick brush with his foot. Jesse didn’t move and Tony saw the eyes look down at his foot, then up his leg until looking at him. This time there was no looking away; their eyes locked together. “I like you,” said Tony and he saw the face turn red and look away, but Jesse didn’t reply. He touched the thigh again, holding the contact.

He rubbed the thigh pleased by Jesse not pulling away. “You want me to stop?” said Tony and Jesse shook his head no. He ran his foot back along the thigh, over the hip and pushed upward, dragging the tail of shirt up revealing the smooth skin beneath. He rubbed his foot alongside the stomach then the lower chest. Jesse tugged on the crotch of his pants.

Tony put his feet on the floor and scooted over next to Jesse. He put one arm over the back of the sofa and reached across with the other. As he rubbed the top of the thigh, he raked fingers over the short hair, ticklish to his fingertips. Jesse shrugged up his shoulders and giggled, then looked over at him.

“I’ve never…”

The sentence trailed off, Jesse unable to say what he had not done.

“I have,” said Tony, moving his hand down to the side of the head and turning it toward him as he leaned to it bringing their lips together. Jesse didn’t pull away, instead kissed him back, roughly, hungrily, and he pushed his tongue into the mouth, feeling Jesse open to it.

Tony ran his other hand from thigh to the crotch where he manipulated the cock trapped within. He felt it enlarge with his ministrations then Jesse pushing upward against his hand. He undid the buttons of the shirt and got it off. He rubbed his hands over the lean torso, across hardening nipples and undulating stomach. He ran his hands along the top of the pants and Jesse slid his ass further down giving him better access, and he slipped fingers beneath the waistband raking them through pubic hair. He wanted Jesse naked and he undid the pants, then got on his feet in front of Jesse, and took the pants by each leg. Jesse raised his ass letting him tug them off. White boxers tented obscenely, and Tony wasted no time, reached down to take them by the waistband. “Get this off,” he said with an urgency, and Jesse raised his ass again letting the boxers slide easily down the legs. Tony slipped them off each foot and playfully tossed them aside as he went to his knees and moved up between the legs. He took the hardening cock and tongued it, licked the head and down the shaft until Jesse moaned. He licked the nuts, fascinated by how they hung loose from the body. He took one in his mouth and tugged it, making Jesse cry out. He worked his tongue over them, then up the cock until he could capture the head in his mouth.

Cock in his mouth, he moved his mouth on it. Down until his nose pressed into the pubic hair, up until only the sensitive head was in it. Up and down, he moved on the cock until Jesse was slowly pumping hips upward.

“Tony!  I’m going to cum,” said Jesse.

Tony tightened his lips around the cock and worked his tongue over the sensitive head. He wanted Jesse to come. He wanted to feel that cock erupt in his mouth. He wanted Jesse to fill it with cum. He wanted to know what it was like with a human, and he wanted to know what it would taste like. Jesse cried out and shoved upward. The cock swelled a bit, then blasted wad after wad and Tony captured each one letting it fill his mouth. He captured the taste of it, an odd flavor he couldn’t describe, but he wished Jesse could pump out a larger load as he swallowed the cum load in his mouth.

 

Tony sat up on his heels and looked at the naked Jesse, desiring him, wanting to push their sex further, but aware he may have to go slow. He rubbed the thighs and looked at the dreamy face. “You want to go to my bedroom?”

Jesse nodded. Once standing, he held out a hand to help him up, then led him through the dining room, into the small hall and to his bedroom at the back of the house. He left the lights off but the door open using the hall light to dimly illuminate the room. As he removed his own clothes, Jesse stood near watching him.

Naked, cock hanging heavy, ready to become erect, he stood before Jesse. “You can touch me, if you want,” he whispered. Jesse approached him, came up close, taking his cock in hand. He responded to the touch, growing erect, as he tilted the chin up and kissed him. He manipulated Jesse’s hard cock, kept him aroused. He wanted to fuck him, to fuck that round firm ass, but knew he needed to guide Jesse through the pleasures of sex between two men, or he might scare him from going all the way.

Jesse responded to their foreplay, staying erect, soon pumping it through Tony’s hand.

“I want you to fuck me,” said Tony and he felt the hand on his cock stop, a moment of surprised hesitation, then it resumed with its manipulation. There would be no stopping now. He guided Jesse to his bed, falling back on it, pulling Jesse to follow. He brought the lean body between his legs. With knees raised, he felt the cock rub alongside his cock as Jesse grew more aroused. “Jesse; put it in me.”

Tony guided Jesse to get on his knees and hold his legs behind the knees. Legs pushed apart it was obvious what was to be done. Cock raked across his ass, then pushed against his opening. “Do it. Do it, Jesse, penetrate my ass.”

He felt the cock penetrate him. It was thinner than cocks back on Svejet Vode and he wondered how it would feel fucking him. How different would a fuck with a human male be. The cock moved inside him, pumping into his depths. Instead of an almost painful fullness, the cock moved easily inside him, rubbed his insides until his own cock drooled on his stomach.

“Fuck…me,” Tony exclaimed as Jesse sped up, fucked faster, harder, unable to hold back. “Fuck me; don’t stop.”

Tony threw his head back and closed his eyes as lips moved over his neck and cock fucked his ass. Jesse increased to a furious pace, then fell out of rhythm. Thrusts inward became jabs, hard shoves, then Jesse shuddered with release.

 

Jesse lay next to Tony, breathing hard, skin glistening in the dim light. Tony touched him, raking fingers over the chest, stomach, and down to the still hard cock. He toyed with it, stroked it, keeping Jesse aroused.

“What do you want to do next?” whispered Tony.

A short silence, then Jesse was touching him, hand rubbing down his stomach straight to his hard cock.

“Will you do me?”

 

Tony had Jesse on his elbows and knees, head held down. He pumped his cock over the top of the ass then raked it up and down the ass, focusing on the tight opening. He knew Jesse had to be loosened and he stepped back bent down to the ass. He put his mouth to it and licked up and down between the cheeks. Jesse shivered and cried out, shocked at what he was doing. Tony smiled, then tongued the tight opening until it was wet and loosening to his ministrations. Then he fingered it, working one finger, then two and finally three into the ass twisting and pumping them until Jesse loosened around them. He rose on his knees and moved to the ass, putting his cock to it.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” said Tony.

Jesse pushed back and Tony smiled as he held the narrow waist and pushed back. He felt the ass open to him, his cock squeeze through a tightness that made him shudder. Almost halfway inside him Jesse opened up, and he easily sank nearly every inch into the ass. He held still, letting him adjust to the penetration, then he slow fucked him.

Jesse was silent at first, but as Tony increased his pace, fucked with more authority, he began to moan and utter obscenities. When he began to push back as Tony thrust forward, Tony smiled and tightened his hold on the waist as he increased his pace again. He smacked against the ass and made the bed squeak and bang into the wall, and he didn’t slow, just kept fucking until he needed to cum.

He buried his cock inside Jesse and felt his cock swell thicker. “Fuck!” Jesse cried out then shuddered as his cock swelled to its full size, the size of a man’s forearm, and he came. Each ejaculation shook him and made him gasp for air. Then he was spent and his cock shrinking until it easily slipped from the stretched ass.

Jesse rolled to his back and looked at him. “Jesus, that was…intense,” said Jesse.

“Yes, it was,” said Tony as he lay next to him feeling the hot sweaty skin against his own.

 

Jesse seemed distant the next morning and Tony knew not to push it. Sex between men was so taboo, it wasn’t surprising Jesse would feel some guilt or regret. He dropped him off at his dorm telling him he would see him in class on Monday. It would give Jesse time to process what they had done.

That afternoon, still feeling playful and horny, Tony went to the library to do some reading to try to distract himself.

He entered the building and moved up the stairs where the books he sought would be located. He browsed the stacks, pulling one book then another, until he had five in his hands, enough to occupy him for the afternoon. The tables were mostly empty, only two occupied, one by a woman and the other by a man, both head downs focused on their studies. He moved to the back of the room and took the last table, sitting with his back to the wall so he could look across the room.

He had been sitting for only a minute or so, when a guy came out of the stacks with two books in hand. He cut his eyes up watching the guy head to the next table, sitting facing toward him. Tony smiled at his luck. The guy was tall, nearly his own height, with blonde hair and even from the distance between them, he could see the eyes were blue, a vivid blue, so different from his own.

Not wanting to get caught staring too often, Tony forced himself to focus on the first book in his stack of reading material. He read page after page, getting through one chapter after the next, until nearly an hour had passed. He sat back, relaxing his eyes and allowing his brain to process everything he had read. He looked at the guy at the next table, seeing him writing furiously, probably trying to finish up some report due the next day. When the guy sat up, there was a heavy exhale as he smiled at the completion of his paper. Tony knew the guy would get up and leave, and he wanted to delay him with some excuse. He got up and moved to the guy’s table being watched as he approached.

“Hey, are you in my history class?” said Tony.

A smile, then the shaking of the head. “No, sorry, I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh, really. Maybe you can answer my question.”

“I doubt it,” the guy replied jokingly, “but ask away.”

“When did the last ice age end? Was it the end of the Pleistocene or was it the beginning of our epoch, the Holocene.”

“Oh, I don’t remember that, sorry.”

“I guess I’ll dig through the book again and figure it out.”

“Good luck. I struggled with those epochs then dates all through history.”

“Tell me about it,” said Tony creating the impression of something common between them. “I’m Tony.”

“Howard.”

After a short conversation of the usual introductions on campus. Then Tony went into the stacks to pull a couple of books then went back to Howard’s table and sat on the opposite side. A few more comments between them, then they settled down, each working on their assignment.

After about thirty minutes, Tony kept wondering about the best way to hit on Howard. He had no idea if Howard would show any interest, but was so attractive, he had to know if there was a possibility. Maybe he would slide his foot over until he touched one of Howard’s feet. Howard might jerk his foot away, but then again, he might not. He slid down in his chair about to slide a foot across the floor when he felt Howard’s foot press against it. The contact was held, and he looked up at Howard. Howard looked back, and they smiled at each other.

“You want to go to my place and study?” said Tony.

 

Tony couldn’t believe his luck. Two guys in two days. He held Howard’s legs behind the knees and moved forward until his cock touched the ass. He pressed against it, feeling the slickness from his earlier ministrations.

“Do it, man. Punch that dick into my ass,” said Howard.

Howard was no virgin; a confession made earlier about a first cousin then a bagboy at the grocery store his family shopped. A guy who had defied the norms and sought the pleasures he desired. As Tony pushed against his loosened ass, it was obvious what Howard really desired.

Tony eased into the ass, inch after thick inch, stretching it open even more than his three fingers. He pushed the legs forward then down until he had the knees pressed into the mattress either side of the torso, and he buried his cock inside him and shivered at the feel of it.

“Damn, you’re tight,” Tony uttered as he looked down at Howard, who had his head tilted back and breathing hard through his mouth. He pressed down on the legs and began to fuck. To tug outward until nearly slipping free, then pushing inward until his hips pressed against the upturned ass. He fucked until the bed squeaked and rock and soon banged into the wall. He fucked until his body felt feverish, sweating pouring down his face and chest. And Howard took it.

“Fuck me,” Howard pleaded, “fuck me.”

Tony hammered Howard’s insides until he needed to cum. He buried his cock in the ass and swelled thicker. Howard shuddered and clutched at the bed.

“Fuck, what are you doing to me,” cried out Howard.

Tony came, his cock ejaculating wad after wad into the ass until he was finally spent. His cock deflated and he eased out of Howard.

“Don’t stop; not yet,” exclaimed Howard.

“Nasty fuck,” Tony uttered to himself, as he twisted Howard’s legs to get him to roll over. “I’m not stopping,” he replied as Howard flipped to his hands and knees.

“Come on, Tony. Fuck my ass. Fuck me again. I want it…yeah…like that…” Howard uttered as Tony sank back into his ass.  

Tony hammered the loosened ass, drove into Howard’s depths, over and over. His hips smacked against it rocking the two of them, giving their fuck a physicality that surprised even Tony. “Yeah, take me…take me,” he uttered as he held tight to the waist and fucked.

Tony leaned over the sweaty back, put his arm around the neck and brought Howard to his knees. He slid his hand down the sweaty chest, over the undulating stomach and around the hard cock. He stroked it as he fucked the ass, rocking Howard within his embrace. He fucked until gasping for breath and Howard was a whimpering, drooling mess, pleading with him not to stop, to keep fucking. He felt Howard’s cock swell thicker, then the ass pushed back taking all of his cock. Howard shuddered, jerked, then came, thick wads of cum arcing out in front of him.

Tony felt the ass spasm around his cock with every ejaculation. It was too much. It pushed him to the point of release. He buried his cock inside Howard, swelled thick, and came.

Connections

It was late in the day, the sun set and the sky quickly darkening. Streetlights and building signs were on and the light cast out of storefronts illuminated the dark areas of the sidewalks. Tony moved down the sidewalk of Oak Street, Downtown Square to his left. He was going to the drug store to the north of the square at the corner where Elm Street crossed. He saw Howard cross the street ahead of him then went into the drugstore. It was a popular place among the locals and students, with its grill in back serving hamburgers and hot dogs, and the thickest milkshakes in town, something Tony had come to crave far too often. He smiled, knowing he wouldn’t be eating alone.

The bell rang out when Tony entered, and he moved down the central aisle past medical supplies then soaps and shampoos, until he was at the counter. He stopped when he saw Howard on one stool and two over from his right, Jesse, both with menus in hand. It meant neither had ordered yet.

“Hey guys, can I sit between you?” said Tony. It caused Howard and Jesse to look around then at each other. “You guys don’t know each other?” he added as he slipped onto the stool between them.

“No,” Jesse and Howard said in unison.

“Well, let me introduce you.”

 

Tony left the drug store satisfied. He was full and had done what he considered a good deed. Still inside, Jesse and Howard were huddled up talking about music and Howard’s hi-fi record player. It was a Thorens TD-124 Howard’s uncle had bought him. His uncle was in California working in the music industry and sent it to him for his birthday back in July. Tony knew by the way they looked at each other that once Howard got Jesse alone, they would be doing more than listening to music. He chuckled at the image of the two guys fucking, initially wondered who would be dominate, knowing it would have to be Jesse, for Howard was aggressive, but an aggressive bottom. He chuckled at the image of Howard begging Jesse to fuck him harder as Jesse hammered his ass, then whistled as he made his way back to campus.

The One

Tony left the cafeteria after having lunch with Jesse, dragging out details of his relationship with Howard. Tony told him he was glad he found someone but cautioned him to be careful. Jesse nodded in agreement, swearing they were careful. He wondered how long their relationship could last with attitudes so against it, or if they would endure where so many others drifted apart.

He strolled past one building and was about to pass the next when the need to piss hit him. He turned up the steps and entered the unfamiliar building. He stood in the foyer, wondering where the toilets would be located. Down the hall each way, he saw no sign for one. He turned to the stairs and saw a sign pointing down to the floor below signifying toilets were on the basement level. He descended the stairs and found entry doors to a large lecture room and a hall leading to a door at the rear where the basement came out on grade. Halfway down the short corridor a sign hung from the ceiling: Restrooms.

It was another short corridor that led to a maintenance room and two toilet rooms, one male and one female. Tony entered the Male toilet room to find the fluorescent lighting blinking on and off over the two wall hung lavatories. To their right two urinals, then two stalls. He found the blinking light maddening and saw the one over the stalls was half burned out but not flashing, so he went down to the last stall.

As he relieved himself, he saw a hole in the side wall, then he saw the shadow of someone in the adjacent stall moving. He finished pissing but stood there, cock in hand, wondering if his neighbor was looking through the hole at his cock. He turned slightly, intrigued by the notion of someone watching him. Knees came into view below the stall, then a tongue came through the hole.

Tony smiled at his good fortune. He had a cocksucker wanting to service him. He had heard about men hooking up in toilets but never imagined doing it himself. But a willing mouth was too good to ignore. He stroked his cock until half hard, and turned to face the hole, letting his neighbor get a good look at it. Then he moved to the hole slipping his cock through it into a wet mouth. He moved forward until close to the stall wall as he felt the guy sucking him. He became rock hard and pushed most of his cock into the guy’s mouth choking him.

The mouth moved along his cock, slowly until he grasped the top of the stall wall and held his breath, then the mouth moved faster, pushing his arousal until he was close. He pushed forward until pressing against the stall wall making it squeak, and the guy choked and sputtered and drooled on his cock. Then he pulled back, looking at the mouth at the hole and his cock bobbing up and down with his arousal. He moved out of his stall and to the door of the one with is cocksucker.

“Come on, open the door,” said Tony, knowing how he sounded desperate, and he was desperate. Desperate to see his cocksucker. Desperate to engage him face to face, or cock to mouth as it were. The latch slipped free, and the door swung inward, and Tony wasted not a second in pushing into the stall, closing the door, and latching it. The guy looked up and he saw a boyish face, cheeks rosy red. He saw short light brown hair and looking up at him, dark brown eyes. Eyes pleading and longing before the guy looked down. He took the guy by the head, holding it between his hands, tilting the head up to look at him again.

“What’s your first name?” said Tony, wanting the connection to be more than just an anonymous hook up.

“Clifford.”

“Clifford, I’m Tony. Now suck me. Show me you really want it.” Tony turned the head down aligning the mouth with his cock and he moved forward watching inch after inch disappear into it. He pushed forward until Clifford had eight inches or more, then he began to fuck. To ease back and push inward, over and over, until drool trickled down his cock and over his nuts, then he increased his pace. Clifford took him, every inch he pushed into the mouth.

“Take me,” said Tony, and he held the head of his cock on Clifford’s tongue, watching his cock swell thicker until stretching Clifford’s jaws, and came. He shuddered with every ejaculation as he filled Clifford’s mouth. He felt him swallow around the head of his cock and it made him shiver.

 

Tony stepped back, cock still hard, and he looked down at Clifford licking his lips.

“You like it?”

“Yes,” Clifford replied sheepishly.

“I’m good to go again. You want to suck me off again…or would you want to try something else.”

“I…huh…want to try—”

Tony didn’t wait for Clifford to finish; he pulled him to his feet. The pants and boxers fell around Clifford’s ankles, and he saw the cock, nice and hard, the head redder than the rosy cheeks. He spun him around and pushed him forward until bracing with hands on the back of the toilet. He pulled the shirt up revealing the smooth round ass, and he raked his cock across it, smacked the right cheek with it, then he put it between them and pushed against the tightness, wondering if Clifford had ever gone this far.

Tony stepped on the pants and boxers, pulling one leg free, and he pushed the feet apart hearing Clifford moan. He pushed against the tight opening and heard him breathing hard. He pushed again, penetrating the tight ass. Clifford stifled a cry out and was visibly shivering as Tony eased inch after inch into him.

“Do you like me inside you?” said Tony.

“YES,” Clifford exclaimed breathlessly.

Tony smiled, took the narrow waist between his hands and began to fuck. He fucked slowly, driving deeper with every push inward until his hips pressed against ass. Clifford had all eleven inches buried in him. Tony held still, letting Clifford become fully aware of being penetrated by a big thick cock. To sense the fullness of the penetration. Then he began to fuck again, only faster, pumping cock inside Clifford as fast as he could. He fucked until gasping for breath and desperate for release. He fucked as Clifford uttered obscenities and moaned far too loud for the public toilet. He fucked until at the point of release. He pushed into Clifford all the way and felt his cock swell thicker. Clifford shuddered within his hands and moaned. After a second of feeling the tightness around his cock, he came, shuddering with every ejaculation.

Tony stepped back until resting against the stall door and watched Clifford remain bent over. His load trickled down the right thigh and Clifford’s right arm was moving furiously. “Turn around and let me watch.”

Clifford spun around and sat on the toilet. He pulled his shirt up showing Tony his flat stomach, hard cock being stroked, and nuts drawn up tight. “You want to watch me?” said Clifford.

“Yes,” Tony replied. “Let me see you come.”

Clifford stroked his cock furiously. He began to push upward at the hips, then he pushed upward hard and came, raining thick wads of cum over the front of his shirt and stomach. Tony was truly impressed by the load, shocked by the amount of it. He went to knees and began to lick it off the stomach, then he pushed the slimy hand away from the cock and sucked it clean. When he got on his feet, he saw Clifford’s expression change, and he knew there was a realization they had been in the toilet far too long.

“Clifford, get dressed and let’s get out of here. I’ll wait for you at the lavatories.”

“Okay.”

Tony washed his hands as he heard Clifford getting dressed, the belt buckles tinkling until finally secured in the pants. Clifford came out of the stall where Tony waited with a wet paper towel. “Here, wipe off your shirt.”

“Thanks.”

“I need to go. Are you alright?”

A nod of the head, then a shy grin. “Thanks.”

 

Tony couldn’t believe how often he could have a guy swinging on his cock. It had been two weeks since getting sucked off by Clifford then fucking his ass, and he had pumped a load down some basketball players throat, fucked a junior down in a wooded area below campus, got sucked by a nursing major in a little used bathroom in McCall Hall, and was walking out of a dorm where he followed a guy in his English class to his room for an afternoon of sucking and fucking until he was totally spent and greatly satisfied.

He strolled across the Quad, wondering if it could be like this all the way to graduation. He did a rough calculation of how many times it would be and whistled, then chuckled, drawing the attention of two passing girls. He was on the other side about to cut between two buildings when he saw Clifford.

Clifford was coming out of the building to his left and right beside him another guy. Tony saw how they looked at each other, shy bashful smiles with eyes looking at the other then looking away. He smiled for it seemed Clifford had moved from anonymous hook ups to actually making a connection with another guy. The guy was tall and lean, with black framed glasses and dark hair slightly longer than the norm. There were straight leg jeans accentuating the long legs and a white T-shirt scandalously tight. The two guys looked like opposites in demeanor and Tony knew that could mean a satisfying relationship for both.

Clifford looked up and saw Tony and waved with a smile. Tony waved back, then gave him a thumbs up, making him look away embarrassed.

Tony headed to his place, wondering if he should prepare dinner or go out for something. He liked some evenings at home, classical music playing through the house, a simple dinner then a bit of reading, mostly history that took him far beyond where his class was currently. But he was feeling anxious. He wanted to do something, so he resolved to go to the barbecue place on the edge of downtown. It wasn’t the healthiest place to eat, but it would be busy with other students and locals of the small town and surrounding region. A place full of human interactions, something he craved. To be among them feeling a part of it all.

 

As he suspected, the barbecue restaurant was busy, but it appeared those waiting would soon be seated. The hostess seated a party of four, two elderly couples, then she sat three girls, and when she came back, she looked at Tony and the person just behind him.

“Two for dinner?”

“Oh, I…” Tony hesitated to tell her he was alone, turning to the guy behind him. A fellow student, and he quickly sized him up. About five foot ten inches tall, lean build, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He saw the signs of a beard coming in where the guy hadn’t shaved that morning. “Hey, are you alone?” said Tony.

“Yes. I waited late to ask anyone and—”

“You want to share a table with me?”

“Huh, oh, yeah sure, I’ll share a table.”

“A table for two,” said Tony to the waitress. He turned back to the guy. “We might as well not eat alone, right?”

“Yes,” the guy replied.

“I’m Tony.”

“Tony; I’m Skip.”

“Skip?”

“A nickname.”

“This way,” said the waitress and Tony motioned for Skip to proceed in front of him.

 

Tony sat opposite Skip, that he now knew the full name, not the nickname: Wendell Alton Jones. He was still unsure how the nickname Skip came about for his own was obvious. Skip was an art major, quick to explain he wanted to teach while doing his own art on the side. Tony had given him his story; one carefully crafted to avoid scrutiny.

Their waitress brought their check and Tony grabbed it up. “I got this,” he said, then going back to the question he had been trying to work into their conversation. “You don’t have a girlfriend?”

A hesitation, a look away, all signals of someone who was hesitant to answer. Skip sat back and sighed.

“No.”

“Well, we’re in college, so we’re supposed to have fun, right?”

“Yes…I guess.” Skip made it sound as if he wasn’t sure that was the case.

“What are doing tonight?”

“I was going to start a paper due at the end of the month.”

“What? You’ve got three weeks to do that. Why don’t you come over to my place and we can listen to music and hang out.”

 

Skip sat on the sofa while Tony poured them a soda with a little bourbon mixed in. He carried the drinks to the living room and sat as close to him as he dared, holding out a drink.

“Thanks,” said Skip.

“I didn’t over mix it for it’s best not to get hammered,” said Tony, wanting Skip to keep his wits about him.

There were a few slow sips of their drinks, Tony sitting back relaxing, wondering if Skip would be willing. Of the guys he had hooked up with, Skip captured his attention in a way he couldn’t describe. Maybe it was the artistic nature, someone who looked at the world differently, seeking a sense of beauty.

“Do you ever feel like you don’t fit in?” said Skip.

Tony chuckled, shaking his head. “All the time.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I know there are things about myself that most would not consider normal.”

“Like what?”

Tony saw the seriousness of the expression, a need to know, and he wondered, he hoped, it meant what he was thinking. He was about to take the dare Skip may or may not know was being put forth.

“I find I’m attracted to other guys more than women.”

He saw the eyes go wide at his admission, then he saw a faint smile before Skip took a drink. “Have you ever considered it? Sex with another man.” His sense of Skip said this was not being too forward, that he wasn’t taking the risk he initially considered it.

“Yes,” Skip replied in a low voice.

“Have you ever acted on it?”

“Once. Have you?”

“Yes. Here at university if you want to know.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I want to do it with you.”

“With me,” Skip replied, unable to conceal his smile.

Tony leaned toward him, close enough to see how the beard was trying to come in along the jaw, sparse, patchy, showing Skip to still be a teenager, not yet fully matured. He put a hand on Skip’s thigh and lightly squeezed.

“Do you want to stay with me tonight?”

 

It seemed different from the others. It was different. There was no rushing to get naked or crude utterances, instead it was simply him taking Skip’s clothes off, one garment at a time, kissing newly exposed flesh, touching it, caressing it softly, making him shiver. He eased down in a squat and pulled the white boxers down the legs freeing the cock. He helped Skip step out of them, laying them to the side, then he ran his hands gently up the legs as he leaned to the cock. He captured it in his mouth and sucked. He toyed with the head, tongued it until Skip was pushing forward. He held the firm ass and pulled Skip forward, letting the cock push into his throat. It was a long cock, but not near as thick as his own. He knew most were more like Skip in their thickness, and he moved his lips along its length until only the head remained in his mouth. He worked his mouth on it until Skip was breathing hard.

“Tony…I’m going to cum,” Skip uttered breathlessly.

Tony pushed forward, taking the cock all the way, and he felt it swell thicker, then blast the back of his throat with cum.

Tony stood before him, wondering where to lead their sex next. He took Skip in hand, feeling the slick cock was still hard, rock hard, and he smiled at how Skip was still so aroused. He leaned down and kissed him. When he pulled back, he began to undress for Skip, eager to get naked.

“I want you to fuck me,” said Tony, and he did. He wanted Skip to feel the intimacy he felt. He dropped his shirt on the dresser, then his jeans, and finally, his boxers. He saw Skip look at his expanding cock, and he stroked it slowly for him. He moved to the bed and lay back on it. “Skip.” He didn’t need to say more, and Skip came to him, cock sticking straight out from the groin, rock hard, ready for fucking.

Tony raised his legs resting them on the shoulders as Skip moved closer until he felt the cock touch his ass. “Come on, Skip, put it in me.” A push against his tightness, then he stretched open taking the cock. Skip pushed inward, halfway, and held still.

“Tony?”

“Fuck me,” Tony replied.

Tony clutched at the bed as Skip fucked. Initially a slow fuck, one that let him feel every inch working through his opening, then faster and faster, until Skip was breathing hard, face and chest glistening with sweat, and their fuck hard enough to rock the bed beneath them.

“Keep fucking…don’t stop…fuck my ass,” said Tony and Skip moved over him, folding him in half, then hammered his ass. Hips smacked against it as cock bore into his depths. It made his own cock drool on his stomach.

“I’m close,” Skip exclaimed, then he shuddered and jerked as he jammed his cock into Tony’s depths, until finally spent.

 

Skip lay next to Tony gently toying with his cock. He caressed it with his fingertips, slowly stroked it, then held it up seeing its silhouette in the dark room. “How big is this thing?”

“Eleven inches,” said Tony, thinking eleven and one quarter inches to be exact.

“I’ve never seen one this big,” said Skip and Tony heard a questioning tone. Skip turned to him bringing their lips together. When he pulled back, he hovered over Tony’s face. “Will you fuck me?”

“Yes.”

Tony rolled Skip to his back, and he moved over him. He kissed him, touched and caressed his body, fingered his tight ass until loosened, then he moved into position and slowly entered him. He wanted Skip to relish the feel of the penetration, to desire this connection between them, tonight and in the future.

 

Message from Home

Skip was asleep next to Tony, facing away and softly snoring. Tony nestled against him relishing the feel of the body against his own. It had been a year since they met. They were sophomores and Skip was living with him, as a roommate to outsiders, but for him, someone who gave him the companionship he hadn’t known how much he desired.

The room was silent, not even traffic passing his home. He sensed the time, knowing it was some hour before daybreak. He looked at his watch: 3:35 A.M. He wondered if he could get back to sleep. It wasn’t his people’s nature to sleep so much, a third of each day devoted to it. It seemed a weakness of humanity in some way, but he had to admit, there had been Saturdays or Sundays when lying in bed longer than the five hours he needed but nine or even ten hours had seemed such a luxury.

A beeping sound, and Tony sat up quickly, knowing immediately what was making the sound. He rushed to the dresser across the room, slid out the bottom drawer and felt underneath the linen stored in it. He brought out a gold flat rectangle that was emitting the noise and rubbed his finger over the surface, then rushed out of the room to see what message had come from his home world, Svejet Vode.

Pacing back and forth in the kitchen, he listened to the message again, wishing it would relay something different. But it was the same.

Commander Hvela Luka noe, we bring a warning. The government on Czerwona has launched another offensive mission. They have forced the people of Sveun to surrender to them and are now on their way to the planet you are studying. We believe they intercepted your report when you first arrived and found the planet’s minerals and abundance of water too tantalizing to ignore. They have launched two Starlight cruisers, knowing they can easily overtake the more primitive planet.

They will be there, based on the calendar of that world, on October 19, 1958.

We have contacted the leader of S tar Phae, President ZuxL and they have launched four Red Fighters to intercept but they will not arrive in time. You need to intercept those two Starlight cruisers and slow them down.

General Jezena Dorevic

 

Tony replied to the message, confirming it was received, and he would intercept the two ships.

“What are you doing?” said Skip.

“Nothing; just came in here to get some water. Go back to bed. I’ll be there shortly.”

It was Thursday night, and he would leave as soon as he got his gear. It was buried in the backyard, and he needed Skip to be back asleep before digging it up. Once he was on the road, he knew it would take about an hour and half to get to Monroeville and the plot of land he had purchased when first arriving. A plot of land heavily wooded with an old barn on it, one hiding his shuttle.

He looked in on Skip, got dressed, then eased outside. He got a shovel from the toolshed and went to the back of the yard. Six paces due east from the dogwood tree he sank the shovel in the ground and began to dig.

Bag in hand, the hole filled in, and shovel put away, he looked through the dining room window making sure the house was still quiet, indicating Skip was still in bed. He put the bag into the passenger footwell of his car and went back inside to write a note, telling Skip a cousin had called him seeking his help back in Mississippi and he would be gone for a few days, hopefully not more than four or five. He put the note on the dining table and slipped out of the house.

 

Skip had overheard him talking into that gold device in a language he had never heard before. Then he saw him digging up something in the backyard. He watched the Corvette back into the street then pulled away as he held the note left for him. Tony had never acted strangely, and he knew something was up that pulled him away in the early morning hours. Tony had never skipped a class, much less a whole day, and the insinuation was troubling, for it could only be something bad.

Why he did it he wasn’t sure, but he quickly dressed and rushed out to his 53 Dodge Coronet and took off down the street hoping Tony hadn’t got too far ahead of him. He cut over to 29 the main highway heading west and drove as fast as he dared through town. He nearly passed Tony, who was at the service station that catered to truck drivers and those who worked different shifts at a nearby papermill or textile mill, thus it was open all night. Tony was at the pumps filling up and Skip turned on a side street and kept watch. Tony paid for the gas and got back on the road, and Skip eased out and followed.

Skip kept back from Tony so as not to be recognized. Once the sun was up, he would have to further increase the space between them. They motored west on 29 to Luverne, then north on 331 a short distance, then headed west again on 10. When they passed a sign for Greenville, Tony suddenly turned left.

Skip kept pace, wondering what route Tony was taking, for he thought he should have kept going to Greenville, before heading west toward Meridian, Mississippi. He wondered if it was the southern part of the state they were heading, and he had gotten it mixed as to where Tony had said he was from.

They motored south and west, until passing through Evergreen, Repton, eventually coming into Monroeville. Tony turned on a county road and Skip wondered if he should follow, but he knew he would lose him if he didn’t. He turned on the narrow road, and followed as close as he dared. Tony went less than a mile and turned off the road and Skip slowed, giving Tony time to get off the road to where he was going.

Skip turned to see a narrow asphalt drive, alligatored and breaking away along the edge and after a short distance into the woodland, he came to a gate. Had Tony locked it back? He pulled up and jumped out, finding the padlock hanging open in the hasp, and he quickly unhooked the hasp and swung the gate open. Once pulled through and the gate closed, he proceeded slowly.

It seemed like a long drive into the woods, but Skip knew it had not been far when he came upon the old barn. He pulled to the side of the lane under an old oak tree and parked.

 

Tony knew not to rush, for he had to make sure he had everything he needed and made no mistakes that got him spotted by someone nearby or driving by the property. He had his car pulled into the barn and locked up. He set the security system for a delayed start, giving him time to leave. He went to the next bay and pulled the tarp off the shuttle. He looked it over as he realized it looked like the small submarines the military was using. Only difference was the windows at the front of the cockpit area no submarine would have. He threw his gear inside and started to climb in when he heard a noise and turned to see Skip standing at the front of his car staring at him in shock.

“Skip! What are you doing here?”

“I…I…what is that?”

“Not now. I don’t have time to explain but will you trust me?”

“Don’t have time? Why? Where are you going?”

“Skip, I’m sorry, but I must go. We’re in danger and I need to try to avert it.”

“We’re danger? Is the Soviet Union about to attack us?”

“No…but it’s something like that.”

“Take me with you.”

“What? No, you need to stay here. It’s dangerous and—”

“Then you need me. I can help.”

“No, not this time.”

Tony tried to think of something to say, some reasoning that would get Skip to leave and go back to Troy. He exhaled heavily, knowing anything he said was not going to come out right. He looked down into the cockpit at the four seats, thinking there was plenty of room, then he chastised himself for thinking it. When he looked up, Skip was about to step up on the shuttle.

“Skip—”

“I’m coming with you.”

“But…we’re going somewhere you…”

What was he going to say? They were going out to the edge of the solar system to try to delay the Starlight cruisers from another planet. That another planet was sending Red Fighters to make them flee, or if they had to, take them out. How would that sound with all the fearmongering about UFO’s and aliens. Even his own arrival had stirred up rhetoric about UFO’s.

“Where are we going?” said Skip as he stepped up next to Tony and looking down into the small shuttle. “How far can we go in this thing?”

“A very long way, but this time, it is a short distance to the Svedena Sveltost.”

“The Svede…what?”

“The craft that can make it to where we need to go.”

“Then let’s get in and go to this Swede Toast or whatever you called it.”

Tony smirked as he watched Skip climb into the cockpit. “I need to sit in the front seat.”

“I figured as much. Hey, what kind of writing is this?”

“It’s Korean.”

“Oh.”

Tony climbed in and closed the top hatch. The shuttle rose and he eased it backward until pushing the rear doors open.

“Whoa, this thing really flies!”

“Yes, now hang on, we need to hurry,” said Tony as he spun the shuttle around and accelerated over the treetops and headed west. He set a course west-southwest, and soon they were flying past the fields and coming over woodland. He flew over the Alabama River and swung southwest, following its meandering path.

“Jesus, this thing is fast,” said Skip, looking over Tony’s shoulder.

“Sit back; we’ll be landing soon.”

Tony swung west over the marshland of the rivers. He opened the heads up display, tapped a few icons, then closed it as they came over a narrow body of water. He followed it, swinging around a right curve of the slow-moving creek until the large round body of water came into view. He could see the lights of the Svedena Sveltost below the surface, the ship coming online.

“What is that?” exclaimed Skip, once again looking over Tony’s shoulder.

“It’s the Svedena Sveltost, the spacecraft that will take us to the edge of the solar system.”

“What? You’re playing with me.”

The Svedena Sveltost broke the surface of the water and rose halfway out. A large panel opened in top revealing the cargo hold, and Tony maneuvered over it and set down inside it. The shuttle had barely shut down when he had the hatch open and climbing out.

“You wanted to help, so come on. And grab that black bag,” said Tony.

Skip followed Tony carrying the bag. They passed through sliding doors into a corridor that lit up as they moved through it. They went some distance then entered a control room for the ship and Tony rushed to the seat at front, pointing to one to the right of it. “Sit there and strap in. Breaking out of atmosphere can be a bit rough sometimes.”

“What?”

“Skip. Sit.”

Skip strapped in as Tony opened two heads up displays. He touched icons first on the right one, then the one on left. A screen came on in front of them and they could see the water’s surface and the woods around the edge of it. Suddenly they were rising, and the trees quickly disappeared and all that could be seen was a starry sky.

“We’ll be gone before daybreak, so no one should see us,” said Tony as he maneuvered the spaceship. The nose angled upward, and they accelerated, hard, pinning them in their seats.

“Shit,” Skip uttered.

“We’ll be out of atmosphere in 12, 11, 10…” Tony counted down to one and suddenly the view out was a brilliant view of constellations in space, with a blackness between unlike anything Skip had ever seen. Tony checked a screen before him. “We have to go; they’ll be here soon.”

The spaceship accelerated away, and soon they passed the moon.

“Tony.”

“Yes?”

“Who are you? Seriously, who are you really?”

Tony looked over at Skip and frowned. “I’m sorry. There is so much to tell you, and it shouldn’t be like this.”

“Tell me.”

Tony sighed, then began to tell Skip the truth. His name was not George Anthony Hollinsworth, but Hvela Luka noe and he was from the civilization on a planet called Svejet Vode. He told of his mission, of finding a life on Earth that pleased him, gave him someone he cared about, then he told Skip of the message, one warning him of Czerwona’s approach to take over Earth for its minerals and water. How another civilization from a planet called S tar Phae, one his planet had treaties with, was coming to their assistance, but would be late getting here and he needed to buy them time.

As they passed Mars, Tony finished telling Skip everything, and he waited for a response.

Skip looked out the window at the red planet as they flew past at an alarming rate, and he sat back and exhaled slowly.

“Are you okay?” said Tony.

“No. Yes, but…you’re not human.”

“No, but we’re very close to humans. We share a similar evolutionary path, using the same building blocks of life.”

“And you’re here to study us?”

“Yes, to determine when we should approach your world.”

“And I bet we’re deemed not ready.”

“You know your civilizations are not ready.”

“How long do you think?”

“By the last half of the next century…maybe.”

“A hundred years or longer?”

“Yes…I think so.”

“Do you love me?”

Tony froze, for now he heard the fear in Skip’s voice and knew he was questioning everything, including their relationship. Was it even real to him, Skip was wondering, or just part of his cover. “Very much so. I hope to spend my life with you.”

“You’re not leaving soon?”

“No.”

“And despite society’s view upon it, you want to share a life with me?”

“I can work around it. Can you?”

A long silence, a chuckle, and Tony waited without looking over.

“Wow, this is insane. But right now, all I can think about is the relief I feel that you’re not going to leave me behind.”

“So, that is a yes.”

They flew past Jupiter, the large gas giant shockingly huge, filling up the screen for a moment as Tony maneuvered around it.

“I thought we’d pass Jupiter first, not Saturn,” said Skip.

“That was Jupiter.”

“But it has rings.”

“Yes, but they are very thin and not visible to earth, not yet anyway.”

“Will we go past Saturn?”

“I’m afraid not. We’ll arc around Neptune, then out into open space, hopefully catching up with the Czerwonians before they get near the solar system.”

“How are you going to stall them? Does this thing have weapons?”

“It has a particle beam gun, a laser that is meant for defense against space debris, and two electromagnetic guns. Oh, and one old style nuclear fusion missile, we use for clearing an area of space debris.”

“I didn’t understand any of that except for the laser guns.”

“Don’t need to know how it works, as long as it works,” Tony replied, as he scanned for the approaching ships. He knew they could approach in stealth mode but hoped the primitive nature of Earth made them arrogant and therefore approached without it.

Tony kept an eye on his monitors while Skip kept looking out, watching the seemingly unchanging space around them. He saw a blue planet coming into focus, growing larger by the second as they approached it. The planet looked large, and he knew from science class it was the fourth largest planet, four times the size of Earth. Tony flew straight toward it, then swung around it at alarming speed, the planet filling up the screen then just as quickly it was gone, nothing but deep space in front of them.

“Gotcha,” Tony exclaimed.

“What?” said Skip.

“I’ve got the two Czerwonian ships on screen. They are headed straight for Earth, no wait, one is changing course,” said Tony, watching the monitors.

“Where is it going?”

“Straight for us and the other ship is continuing on course.”

“Then one will make it to Earth.”

“Maybe not,” said Tony as he turned toward the ship heading toward Earth and accelerated, pushing the ship to fly as fast as it could. “Come on, fly you bastard,” Tony said to the ship, as he jettisoned the shuttle craft to save weight.

“What are you going to do?”

“Intercept the one heading to Earth and play it by ear for the other one.”

“Can you fire the weapons at it?”

“Not yet…but soon.”

For an agonizingly long time, they flew to intercept one ship while the other was adjusting course to intercept them. The triangular paths of the three ships were on one monitor and watching it made Skip breathless. He clutched the arms of the chair and found himself leaning forward. A ding sounded and Tony brought up a display.

Skip understood nothing Tony was saying but someone appeared on the screen, their skin a dark red with compound eyes and a mouth like he had seen on crabs. Tony communicated with the person then closed the display.

“What…who was that?” said Skip.

The commander of the S tar Phae Red Fighters. They will be here in…about six hours.”

“Too late to help.”

“Yep. Let’s do this,” said Tony bringing up a different screen, one that glowed red, and Skip didn’t need Tony to tell him it was for weapons.

There was an energized sound, then something shooting out, but nothing visible on the screen, but the monitor showed a red dot flashing as it moved toward one of the ships.

“Rail gun, and don’t bother looking for the projectile. It is too small and fast to see.”

Tony did an evasive maneuver, then fired another weapon.

“What’s happening?” said Skip.

“We’re trading fire with the approaching ship. Right now, I’m just trying to keep them busy until I have…just about…now,” Tony exclaimed.

“Now…what?”

“Particle beam…and…”  Long seconds ticked by, then Tony rose in his seat. “Yes! We hit the one heading to Earth. Scan is showing hull breach and a debris field around it.”

An alarm sounded and Tony maneuvered frantically. “Hang on, this is going to be close.”

Suddenly the ship shuttered, and alarms sounded. Skip could hear air escaping from the ship, then the door behind them closed, sealing the control deck.

“We’re hit?” Skip asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Tony replied shutting down the ship.

“Is it that bad? We’re sitting ducks like this.”

“I know and that is what I hope they think.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s see if we can draw them close.”

Time ticked off slowly as another alarm sounded making Tony shut it off. “Shit, we’re still losing air,” said Tony as he kept hitting icons on one monitor then the other. “Come on, you bastard, get closer.”

“Maybe they realize we’re not dead,” said Skip.

“Right. Let’s change that.”

“What are you going to do?”

Tony hit icons on a monitor and Skip heard something behind them, then he saw out the screen debris from the ship floating in space.

“Let’s see if that works.”

Skip looked at the screen at the vastness of space not sure if he wanted to see the alien ship approaching or not. The waiting was making him feel insane but what came next scared him to death.

“Here they come,” said Tony in a low whisper as if he could be overheard.

“Where?” said Skip, mimicking Tony tone.

Tony highlighted a blue object, then enlarged it on the screen. “A Czerwonian battleship,” he said with trepidation.

“Battleship?” said Skip looking at what appeared to be a blue cube with light shining out of small squares covering the visible surface.

“Don’t let the simple shape fool you.”

“What can we do against it?” said Skip realizing the ship was huge, much larger than them.

“Maybe an old-style weapon we had repurposed. It might be time to bring it back.”

“Old?”

Tony looked around and smiled. “The nuclear fusion missile.”

Tony returned the screen to normal size, but Skip saw the ship had closed the distance between them quickly, growing larger by the second.

“Shit, they are energizing a rail gun. They aren’t taking any chances. This is going to be dicey,” said Tony as he tapped the red screen then brought up the ship’s system.

Skip saw the missile speed away just before Tony had the ship back up and spinning around. They accelerated, gravity increasing until Skip thought he would be crushed by it. Tony tried to get them far enough away and out of the projectile’s path while monitoring the missile. “Come on, don’t miss,” he exclaimed looking at one monitor then the other. “Shit, it’s not a rail gun projectile, or not like any I’ve seen.”

“What do you mean?”

“It keeps changing course to stay on us.”

Something tore through the ship, breaching the hull far worse than before. Alarms sounded and the ship stopped accelerating as one system after the next shut down. The lights went out and smoke vented out of panels in the walls. Then the ship began to spin. “Tony!” Skip cried out.

 

Phu Hit-aks Red Figher

“What is the current situation,” said Commander A’thit, looking over to Cha, his first officer.

“Commander, it appears all ships are destroyed.”

“Destroyed?”

“Well, two appear to be intact but are floating without power.”

The monitoring screen changed to a diagram of the solar system they had entered. Red dots came up showing each planet, only five of the eight within the parameters of the area shown from the star out to their location. Cha moved a pointer over the screen.

“This is the eighth planet out, one the humans call Neptune and here in this area between it and the seventh planet, called Uranus, is one of the Czerwonian ships. It appears intact but is it still sending debris out into space and has no power or atmosphere. Over here,” pointing to an area closer to Neptune, “this is a debris field of the other Czerwonian ship, and it shows some radioactivity.”

“Radioactivity?” said Tait, Comms Officer.

“Hvela Luka noe used a nuclear fusion bomb?” asked the Commander.

“It appears so,” said Cha.

The commander chuckled. “Such a crude device. But in war…” His voice trailed off for the crew knew what he was inferring.

“What about the Zvedena Sveltost?” said the Commander.

“It is here,” said Cha pointing to the red dot between Neptune and the destroyed Czerwonian debris. “It is without power and has debris floating around it.”

“Sir,” one of the Science Officers cried out. “The Zvedena Sveltost still has atmosphere in one part of the ship.”

“Plot a course for that ship,” exclaimed the Commander. “Get us to it post haste.”

 

 

Skip blinked awake, a light shining in his eyes. Something was said he didn’t understand. He felt weightless and wondered if this is what death was like, for he knew he had to be dead. He tried to move but found he couldn’t move his arms or legs, but he sensed movement, then realized he was moving down the passageway of the Zvedena Sveltost. At the cargo hold, he saw it was open but was covered by a white panel that opened as they approached. They floated up to it and onto a platform in a room that was white, including the floor. The opening in the floor closed and Skip was suddenly released. Someone hovered over him, compound eyes scanning him. They put a device to their throat and spoke.

“Earthling, can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“We’re going to check you for injuries but I’m afraid you are different from Hvela Luka noe. We’ll do our best.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s already in medical bay being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.”

“Can I see him?”

“Let us examine you first then you can see him.”

Skip suddenly remembered what happened, how they got hit by the cube ship approaching them. “What about the ship that was attacking us?”

The device was put back on the throat. “It is destroyed.”

“So, Earth is safe?”

“For now.”

 

Skip moved through the ship followed by the others, still feeling like it was all a dream. He was in space on an alien craft, something reinforced by the crew he moved among as he made his way to the cargo hold. Tony, or Hvela Luka noe as the crew of S tar Phae knew him, was going on about some plan to protect their solar system from the Czerwonians, or any other civilization that decided Earth or one of the other planets was suitable for conquest or mining. He entered the cargo hold seeing a shuttle craft being readied for their return to Earth. It was nothing like the spaceship Tony had brought them out in. It was shaped like an arrowhead, low, sleek, and unlike the Phu Hit-aks Red Figher, that was solid white, not red as the name might indicate, but was solid black. A ramp was down at the rear of it where crew were coming and going as they made it ready for flight.

A crew member approached and touched a device on their throat. “Skip, you can go on board. Hvela Luka noe will come on board as soon as he and the commander finish.”

“Thank you,” said Skip and he headed to the ramp.

 

Tony thanked Commander A’thit and the crew and headed to the shuttle. He moved toward the shuttle noting the similarities of the Red Fighter to his spacecraft, then more importantly, the differences. The oxygen level was lower, and he found himself taking deeper breaths. And the lighting had a blue tint to it. He moved the base of the ramp and looked around one last time, hoping he never needed their help again, but if he did, knew they would come.

The black shuttle craft was all prepped for the flight to Earth. Hanging above were small fighter craft and Tony knew the other shuttles were down one level. He looked around for Skip worried if he had succumbed to the alien nature of everything around him, or if he was still dealing with it with a smile had he had done over the last few Earth days. They had been in orbit around Neptune for three days.

Tony walked up the ramp and through the small cargo hold into the crew quarters. The ship could carry twenty, but today it would be only two on its one-way journey. Entering the cockpit, he saw Skip sitting at the console for the Communications staring at the symbols on the screen. At the sound of him entering, Skip turned and smiled.

“Are we finally going home?”

“Yes,” Tony replied, sitting in the pilot’s chair and touching the screen a few times. They could hear the ramp close, then some whir as the drive system came online. “This thing is really nice.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is so much faster than our shuttle craft. It is damn near as fast as the Zvedena Sveltost.”

Skip felt the shuttle lift off the deck and move forward. The cargo hold doors slid open and soon they were clear of the Phu Hit-aks. Tony reached over Skip and touched the comm panel.

“Commander A’thit, we’re clear. Thanks for everything.”

“Safe journeys and a long life, To-ny,” Commander A’hit replied, using his Earth name.

The black shuttle moved out into space then accelerated away, moving in a wide arc that would take them back to Earth.

 

Home

Tony slowed their approach, timing their arrival when the United States would be on the dark side of the planet. They flew past the moon because Skip wanted to see it up close, then turned to Earth, flying toward the artificial lights illuminating the land areas in the darkness.

“Where are we going to land?”

“The same place we left from. I need to hide this from prying eyes and under the water in that desolate place seems the best.”

Tony piloted them down into the atmosphere, and as before, he flew over the Gulf of Mexico then over the least populated areas until hovering over the isolated waters between the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers.

 

Tony kept looking into the mirror to make sure the old Dodge was behind him. He wished Skip stayed closer, but Skip kept back far enough the car’s lights were not bright in the mirror. They drove across the countryside, already past Monroeville, Evergreen and Greenville. The sign for Luverne flashed in his headlights as he passed it. Troy was less than thirty minutes away, and Tony couldn’t wait to get there and to their bed. He felt like he could sleep for days.

 

Back to Normal

Tony moved over Skip, thrusting into his depths. He felt the hands moving over his back, the fingers pressing into his skin. It was almost desperate the way Skip clung to him, as he had for the last four days since their return. He kissed the neck hearing the moans and soft pleadings from him, then he moved along the jaw until their lips were pressed together. He kissed him hungrily, passionately, until breathless. He felt Skip shift beneath him, and he increased his pace, fucked harder, faster, knowing it was what Skip wanted.

“Tony…fuck me,” uttered Skip.

Tony laced his fingers into Skips and held him down as he kept fucking. He drove into Skip’s depths until he sensed his being through his cock. The sensitive nature of it, how it felt moving inside Skip.  He shivered as he shoved inward, all the way, and he held still for a moment relishing the feel of it.

Tony rose to his knees and guided Skip to roll to his stomach. He moved over him, hovering over the lean body letting his cock rake across the ass. Then he aligned with the loosened opening and sank back into him. He began to fuck again, at first slowly. He pushed inward until his hips pressed against the ass, then tugged outward until his cock hovered over the ass.

“Tony…please.”

Tony sank in the ass and increased his pace, fucked with a renewed enthusiasm, pushing himself to the point he needed to cum.

“Tony, fuck me, fuck me Pump it in me,” Skip exclaimed while pushing his ass upward.

Tony fucked until he felt himself close to release. He would slow, let his arousal subside, then renew fucking. Fucking until his body felt like it was burning up, sweat covering him and raining down on Skip. He fucked until moving easily inside him, pumping his cock until finally, unable to hold back, he buried it inside Skip and held still. It swelled thick, thick as a man’s forearm, and Skip shuddered beneath him, then cried out.

“Tony! Do it.”

Tony shuddered as his cock exploded inside Skip, pumping wad after wad inside him until finally spent.

 

 

They showered together, the water warm and comforting. Skip braced himself on the tile wall looking over his right shoulder. “Tony,” he uttered.

Tony moved to him, pump his cock between the cheeks, then he penetrated him again. He pushed inward until his hips pressed against the ass. Then he slowed fucked. A pace that would allow him to last a long time. Since their return, Skip had wanted to be fucked every time. He knew when Skip finally wanted to fuck him, the shock of the trip into space would finally be worked out within his mind.

Skip pushed back on his cock as he pumped it into Skip’s depths. He worked his hips in a steady rhythm, fucking and fucking, until his need for release overwhelmed him and he buried his cock inside Skip and held still. It swelled thick, then emptied his load into the ass once again.

 

For weeks, Skip would bring up their trip into space. Sometimes it was something in the news that caused him to bring it up. Another satellite launch or some news about future mission. Other times it would be some book Skip would be reading that would illicit a comment or question. Tony noticed Skip’s reading had changed. The books stacked in the living room included The Martian Chronicles, Between Planets, Childhood’s End, Of All Possible Worlds and Citizen of the Galaxy. Even his art was changing, becoming more experimental, influenced by open space and Neptune and Jupiter. Images from magazines were pinned to the wall, imagines mostly created by Chesley Bonestell, another influence on Skip’s art. Tony saw Skip’s grades improve, then compliments penciled onto the back of some drawing or painting. For Tony it was the black or sepia ink drawings that captured his eye the most. He had framed two of them for the living room, always eliciting a response from any new friends that visited them. He could see how Skip’s artistic ability was improving and in some future time become recognized.

 

Another Time, Another Place

Tony eased into the house hearing the voices of friends from inside. He felt hollowed out, a part of him gone. He knew he shouldn’t feel sad, for Skip and he had sixty-seven years together. A long life by any measure. He looked into the mirror in the mudroom that hung over the coat hooks seeing an old man. He had aged along with Skip, each losing their lean bodies and angular features, growing softer, gentler in a way, as the decades passed. He had been an engineer with NASA and Skip was always the artist.

Tony moved through the kitchen where Susan, Mike, and Carlos were getting more glasses down or cutting more ham, placing it on a platter next to roast beef and an assortment of cheeses. It appeared so normal, such a human endeavor, a way of mourning. Gathering in support and sharing stories, memories, and food.

“Tony, will you be okay?” said Carlos.

Tony smiled, nodding his head. “Of course. We had a long life together and I know my time is short and I’ll follow Skip.” He knew the insinuation of an afterlife comforting them, even though he knew he would simply cease like Skip once his day came.

He moved into the dining room, looking at his friends moving around the table as they talked about Skip and his life. On the wall over the buffet an original Bonestell hung, a gift for their tenth anniversary. He entered the living room where Justin jumped up offering him a place to sit. He eased down into the armchair and looked around the room, feeling the love and kindness of all those there to comfort him. He looked at the end wall, a place that most would have a television but where Skip and he had placed a side table, a Shoki winged console by Nakashima, an extravagant gift from Skip back in 1967 after his first successful gallery opening. It was an original piece, made in 1941, and sitting on top, photographs of their life. One of Skip and him taken in San Miguel de Allende on one of the narrow streets in the Centro district. Another showed Howard and Jesse with them in Paris, one of many trips they took together over the years. Then there was one taken on a small tributary of the Tombigbee River, a round area with a pole supported cabin on one side of it. He knew the black shuttle was still beneath those waters.

“Charlie says you’re going to sell the house,” said Meredith with a worried look.

Tony smiled. “Yes, I’m afraid I shall make no new memories in this place. Let someone else inhabit it and create their own memories within these walls.”

“What are you going to do?” said Tobias.

“I think I’ll travel for as long as I can, going to places Skip and I had visited over the years.”

“Sounds lovely,” said Meredith.

Tony knew she, of everyone in the room, understood some need to move on. She had done so when her first husband died twenty years ago.

As stories of Skip were repeated, Tony let his mind wander, relive precious moments with Skip, then he smiled at the memory of taking Skip into space. It had been foolish to put him at such risk, but looking at the black ink sketches hanging over the sofa, he knew the experience had been priceless.

 

Tony stood by his 1957 Corvette as the real estate agent and buyer came out of the house. He waved goodbye, climbed in the Corvette, and started the engine. It rumbled to life, and he eased it into reverse and backed into the street, then pulled away, wondering if the museum in New York City had gotten Skip’s work from the 1970’s hung and if the museum in Boston was going to hang the work from the 1990’s or if they would do the 2000’s first. He had donated most of Skip’s work to one museum or another. Laying on the passenger seat were Skip’s journals. He knew they could not fall into the wrong hands because they were so personal, so open about their relationship and everything that had happened to them. The trip into space in 1959 and the visit by a delegation from his home world, Svejet Vode, along with some from S tar Phae and Sveun. He tried to remember, was that in October of 1996 or 1997. He knew it was Halloween, for the trick or treaters were wandering the streets of the neighborhood.

He set his stereo to his phone and brought up old rock ‘n roll, the Rolling Stones coming on first, and he drove through the city until getting on the interstate. He would drive north, out of the peninsula of Florida then head west. He didn’t know if he would go all the way to California or Washington, or maybe he would turn south in Texas and head down into Mexico. There were vacation homes in all three places. It was just a matter of where he wanted to go first.

 

Tony turned off Pila Seca going north on Zacateros until he came to the two-story façade with a pair of French doors with balconies on the second floor, and along the narrow sidewalk, double doors and a garage door within the light coral colored façade. He got out of the Corvette to open the garage door. He had returned to his younger self, once again looking early twenties. A young man walking past gave him a longing stare and he smiled at him as he got the garage door opened. He pulled the car into the garage and grabbed up the journals. He moved out into the courtyard that ran along the side wall of the lot. To his left the long porch with columns evenly spaced along it and through the French doors sat the formal living and dining room. The house had been Skip and his vacation home for over two decades, and now it would be his home, at least for now.

As he moved through the rooms heading to the primary bedroom in back, he remembered all the time Skip and he had been there, one or two months at a time. He wondered how long his grief would last among all the reminders surrounding him. In the dining room, the two black ink drawings hung prominently over the sideboard, and he stopped to admire them once again.

He would always miss Skip, a person that had been so important, a factor in his life on Earth, one no one else could replace. He knew he still had a long life in front of him, and sooner or later, would want the companionship of another.

 

Two years later

Tony strolled up Hidalgo across Mesones, until he came to little restaurant within an orange and red façade, and entered the dark interior. He made his way to the small bar, taking a stool near one end, then looked around the room. Most of the customers were Mexicans with only one table with expats at it.

He ordered a drink while looking over the menu, trying to decide what he was hungry for today. He had found himself staying inside too much of late, letting his memories overwhelm him, until he finally had to go out into the city. He had roamed since early afternoon until feeling famished.

Drink placed in front of him; he ordered grilled steak and Chipotle corn tacos and leaned back taking a sip of the Paloma. Someone sat next to him, and he looked over to a young man motioning to the bartender.

“Paloma, and the steak tacos,” the man said, and the bartender nodded in confirmation.

Tony looked over at the young man. Early twenties or so, lean build but nice definition to the biceps, but what really captured his eye was the black curly hair and dark brown eyes and strong line of the jaw. The guy looked over and smiled.

“I saw you roaming the streets and thought you must be lost,” said the young man.

The guy had noticed him walking around, and Tony smiled. “I was just clearing my head.”

“Do you live here or are you a tourist?”

“I live here.”

“Really,” the young man replied, smiling back.

“Really. I’m Noah, Noah Armstrong.”

“Enrique Perez.”

“Enrique, I assume you live in the city.”

“I just moved here from Guadalajara.”

“Big move. Why did you leave?”

“A bad break up and a desire for new surroundings, and my uncle hired me to run his boutique hotel.”

“You don’t look old enough to run a hotel.”

“I’m twenty-six and have worked in the business since I as eleven.”

“Wow.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“Nothing. I have money from an uncle and his partner and I’m just living here while working on my first novel.”

“So, you want to be writer?”

“I think it would give me a new life.”

“What king of novel? Romance?” Enrique joked, chuckling.

“Science Fiction.”

“Like Star Wars?”

“Like Star Wars.”

The bartender brought their food and Enrique realized Noah and he had ordered not only the same drink, but the same meal, and he smirked at the coincidence.

“Are you dating anyone,” said Enrique.

“No, at the moment I’m single. Why, do you want to date me?” said Noah boldly, wondering if Enrique was gay. He sensed it, got some read of him when he had mentioned the breakup that brought him to San Miguel de Allende, and he didn’t feel like playing around to find out.

Enrique looked at him with surprise, then smiled. “I’d love to go out with you.”

 

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Author’s Notes:

1. The catalyst for the story was a UFO sighting on July 17, 1957, referred to as the RB-47 UFO.
2. The average income in 1957 was $4,713.00 for men and $3,008.00 for women.
3. The price list range for a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette was $3,176 to $3,756.

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To get in touch with the author, send them an email.

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