Chapter 8: Dream

D+2

"I have something to tell you," Randall takes me aside. "But I'm not sure if I want to tell you."

It is the next morning, the start of our first full day among the Longtons. Randall has just returned from a swim in the river. Except for the aged and the young boys, all male Longtons walked to the river to bath. Randall naturally went along with them.

"What happened?" I question as he takes me by the arm and leads me away from the communal cooking area. "Are we in danger? Did something happen? Do we have to leave?" I immediately assume the worse.

"Not that!" He says only, calming my fears but giving little assurance. I thought maybe the Longtons discovered a lie and we had to sneak out of camp.

"Is it the satellite?" I take another guess. "Is it something with the satellite? Did someone already get hurt by it?"

"Not that either," He answers succinctly. "It has nothing to do with the satellite at all. It's with the Longton men!"

"What about them?" I give up. "What is it? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

"Maybe I did!" He shakes his head. "I don't know! Maybe I just imagined it, but I know what I saw!"

He stops walking only after we are on the outskirts of camp. We stand amongst the trees, a hundred yards away from the nearest Longton, clearly out of listening range.

"Maybe I shouldn't even tell you!" He confesses. "Especially you, being a woman and all, maybe I shouldn't tell you. I can't believe it myself!"

"What?" I question, my curiosity rising. "Stop talking in riddles. Just tell me!"

"Well, I saw it when I bathed with them," He speaks slowly. "I saw it when we were down by the river. At first I thought I was seeing things, but then I looked again and again. I couldn't fucking believe it!"

My curiosity turns into irritation. "Randall!" I rebuke him. "It can't be that bad! Just tell me." I have to almost beg.

He remains silent for several more seconds, but at least I can see he thinks about it. He looks as though he is contemplating how to tell me.

"It has to do with these Longton men," He finally starts. "I discovered a little detail about this planet that the previous expeditions failed to mention in their reports."

He speaks quietly, almost in a whisper. Even though no Longton is anywhere within listening range, he talks as though they might be listening to us with hidden microphones.

"Maybe, I suppose, the other expeditions never discovered it, although I find that hard to believe. I figure they never mention it in their reports for the same reason they didn't tell us about the bedrooms. I think they maybe felt too ashamed to tell us."

His mention of the bedroom sends a shiver through my body. A hot wave of sexual energy passes through me. I think of the sex toys he used last night to give me pleasure.

"Go on," I prod him. "Don't keep me in the dark. What are you talking about?"

"I was just out at the river," He starts again. "I just got back from taking a bath with a bunch of Longton men. I saw them in the water, and they were swimming in the nude."

A second wave of sexual energy travels through my body. It hits me as soon as he sounds the single word, "nude." An image immediately forms in my mind of a group of young, handsome, and very "nude" Longton males. In particular, I picture Keviniski in the nude, casually swimming butt-naked. I cannot help but be stimulated by the thought.

"So what?" I try not to express too much enthusiasm. "Of course they were nude. Why would someone take a bath with their clothes on?"

"You don't understand," He shakes his head and speaks slowly. "I'm not sure how to explain this, but when I saw them naked I couldn't help but notice these Longton men are really well built."

I laugh a little. "Is that all?" I can't help but laugh at him. "You mean you only just discovered this now? I could have told you that five seconds after we first met Daniel and Jelick!"

"No, no, no!" Randall interrupts. "That's not what I mean! It's more than that. I mean they are really well built!"