Chapter 15: Fenton the Goul

A pair of cheetah muzzles nuzzling my face woke me. For a moment I didn't know where I was. It was peaceful. Flash and Dash were sisters. I knew their names. I knew their stories. Born in captivity, they were habituated to humans—not at all like that cheetah mauling a bicyclist near an African game preserve.

"Hi, girls," I said. "What's the news?"

"Promoted," a voice said. It took me a moment to recognize Lilith. "They are my honor guard now."

"What did the dogs have to say about that?" I asked as I sat up. The cheetahs crowded closer, Dash rolled on her back to have her belly rubbed.

"I promised them that they'd have more time with you," Lilith lilted. "They liked that."

"I had a lot of fun at last night's orgy."

"You mean yesterday morning's orgy," Lilith corrected. "It did last six hours. Here, drink this. No, darlings, Thomas needs to drink that stuff. Yes, he loves you, but he needs to get restored."

I was feeling good—if a bit depleted. The drink was some sort of sweetened yogurt drink—I think. It was thick and smooth and white and sweet with a sour tang. Almost immediately I felt an energy surge. One moment I was feeling good and tired, and the next I was energized and feeling VERY good. My penis woke up and erected to full throbbing size, jutting out like the prow of a sailing ship.

"I want you to meet Georgia," Lilith had her hands on the shoulders of a woman the same height as Governor Lilith. Like Lilith, Georgia was totally bald. Lilith had more curves—a barely-noticeable bulge that was our unborn daughter and Lilith's breasts were maturing to feed the baby. Georgia, in contrast, was totally lacking in secondary sexual characteristics. I was evaluating the lack of third-order sexual characteristics as well when Lilith announced, "Quit that! You're over-analyzing the situation again, Tom. Live in the moment. This is a beautiful girl. Georgia is a sponsor but she is in boot camp for the next three weeks to get used to my ways."

"But I'm ugly," Georgia's lower lip trembled.

"Tertiary," I mumbled. "That's the word! Your beauty has me babbling, Georgia. Tertiary sexual characteristics are clothing, hair style, accessories. I like it when my date is female and brings along her own Squad Automatic Weapon. Never can tell what happens in the movie popcorn line."

Georgia gaped at me and Lilith giggled.

"You are under the influence of that elixir," Lilith warned.

"Noted, ma'am," I acknowledged. "Hazel? Your eyes are hazel?"

"I'm trying to cure him of fixation on the Playboy-Barbie stereotype," Lilith's observation confused me. Was that 1959 Barbie, based closely on Bild Lili, or was that 2003 Barbie? Speaking of Barbie, was that Barbie Benton—a decided change from either Marilyn Monroe or Bettie Page—or some other Barbara in Playboy?

"Why not put him in boot camp like me?" Georgia pouted.

"Because Tom has been doing it my way since birth," Lilith explained. "See how the cheetahs love him?"

Dash was behind my knees and I realized I was about to be dumped before Flash stood on her back paws and pushed me backwards—I went down and there were two cheetahs atop me. They were doing the cheetah equivalent of giggling—they were amused, were having fun with me. I joined them in laughter.

"Is he high?" Georgia asked—I heard her over the mock-snarls of the cheetahs. "Won't he get hurt?"

"All of the cats and dogs and horses worship Tom," Lilith said, "there's a bear, too. I did lower his inhibitions so that you can meet the real Thomas E. Lawrence without his public masks. It's the Tom that the animals respond to. I think you'll like the real Tom. Just change the subject when he begins monologuing. Tom will analyze things to death. He's not ready for everything he'll find out, not now."

Lilith—I knew it was Lilith—made a coughing snarl, and both cheetahs bounded away, taking up position on either side of Goddess Lilith, my colony governor. Don't ask me the chain of command thing right now. I lost the thread at Colonel Mary Popov, the captain of our station and colony when it was underway as a star ship. Complicating things were plausibly deniable relationships with the Targeted Extraction Group and some sort of direct action committee. The latter was the reason that Colonel Dorman was still aboard the station—just more or less restricted to a section of the ship for his own protection. Colonel Dorman's safety couldn't be guaranteed in the kennel or stables or among the big cats—and I didn't want to lose any of my four-footed children because they mauled a troublemaker.

"Tom, stop thinking and start fucking!" Lilith scolded.

My inner monkey concurred.

Lilith pushed Georgia to me and I stepped forward to embrace her. Talk about avoid/approach conflict. Georgia didn't know whether to shit or go blind. She was aroused—I may not have been the source of her arousal. She was also afraid. Georgia wanted sex but didn't want sex.

"I don't know what to do with you sometimes," Lilith scolded as I hugged the trembling Georgia against me. She was small! So small! "Georgia, you are almost too short for him to be sexually aroused. Any shorter and he'd protect you instead of cherish you. Go have public sex. No secrets, Georgia."

"The floor here is soft," I knelt and pulled Georgia down with me. "Sponsor? You have the right to say no."

"Tell him, Georgia," Lilith commanded.

"I give up my right to say 'no' to you," Georgia's voice quavered. "You have the right to my body at any time and in any way you wish. You will have control over how my body looks in forty days. If you want to loan me out to other men, that's fine—I relinquish control. Lilith demands that all female sponsors be comfortable with lesbian sex, so any women or combination of women that you want me to service is permitted."