Chapter 26

Earth time: Monday, 4:29 PM Mountain Standard Time, January 3, 2011

Aina time: 8:30 AM day 83 of 1408 H.E.

I was standing in a barren cornfield in the center of Nebraska. It had taken us close to four hours to drive here from Pine Bluffs. A'moth and Isabelle were walking around a short distance away, the dry icy snow crunching and squeaking beneath their boots. The car registered to my new identity was parked on a narrow farm road about a hundred meters away.

I shivered in the cold. The outside air measured -15C when we left the car twenty minutes ago, and I didn't think it had warmed up any. I looked at the sun making its way slowly to the horizon. We still had about an hour of daylight left, but the light had no warmth to it.

I had only the dimmest of ideas of what A'moth was doing. She and Isabelle were both wearing backpacks over their parkas. A'moth would walk a few meters, stop and pause, walk a few meters in a different direction, stop and pause, again and again.

The three of us had debated whether to do this in daylight or darkness. We finally picked daylight, both to make it easier on Isabelle and the time was a better fit to our cover story of searching for a lost dog. I sighed in the cold, patiently watching my bride through my frosted breath. My mind wandered back to our incredible last night together.

There have been major changes in both our bodies. I started noticing mine Christmas day. My eyes and hair are darkening, turning black. My face is changing to more masculine features. And my body is becoming more powerful. I ran a mile yesterday in five minutes flat, almost two minutes better than my previous all-time best. And I wasn't even pushing it.

A'moth's changes are more subtle. She looks more wiry, and she's confessed she feels filled with nervous sexual energy. Over the last two weeks A'moth has been having an increasingly difficult time controlling her urges to have intercourse with me. I cuddle with her nightly, petting her in non-sexy ways to help her relax and unwind.

Last night was a watershed. We had completed all our preparations for today, and had turned in early to be ready for our four-hour pre-dawn ride. A'moth was undressed and I was sitting on the bed next to her prone body, petting her ass.

It's a strange activity, very calming to her but quite erotic for me. A'moth has a very sexy butt, as least to me it is. It's full of taut muscle, very powerful. It's also covered with a light, downy fur. It feels absolutely wonderful to pet, ultra smooth and silky.

My petting last night wasn't working at all. A'moth had one of her hot flashes, and she started to pant and sweat. I was lying by her side, trying to be gentle with her and wondering what to do. A'moth almost decided for me. Without speaking a word, she lifted her hips and splayed her legs. She rotated her pelvis so that her rump was about a foot off the bed and turned up for copulation.

I sat up and went behind her, and she started wiggling her butt up and down at me. Her vulva was quite human looking and closed, but also flush with blood and very pronounced. The body language was unmistakable. She wanted me to mount and be inside her.

I almost couldn't control myself, she was so beautiful and desirable. I tried to link-think with her, but all I got was a swirling mass of frenetic emotions, image after image of flashes of being a female, being mounted and entered, intense waves of anticipation of submission and orgasms.

I persisted trying to link-think with her. I didn't want to hurt her, or me. I finally got out a few disjointed words from her. "Gary!... Don't... Fuck... Dangerous!!!"

I looked back down at her vulva. I could see her muscles clenching it closed. It a burst of realization, I saw the monumental battle raging inside A'moth's body. In another burst from our shared mind, I saw the danger of me caressing her sex, having the vulva open for me in invitation. I saw a vision of me overcome with lust from smelling the sex pheromones of her vagina. A'moth started to whimper with the decay of her unfulfilled orgasm, and I saw another danger in her mind, the unreleased sexual tension tearing at her body, damaging her reproductive system.

I decided to help her orgasm without fucking her. The mind link between us disintegrated. My hands were still on her butt, and I gripped her cheeks and separated her, getting my first close-up view of her naked rear.

I gasped and shook my head in bewilderment. There was no anus. None at all. Her vulva was a bright red from her arousal, but the crack of her butt was smooth and unbroken, all the way up to her back. And then I saw something...

It was a hairline crack in a fold of skin, about halfway up her butt, running from one butt cheek to the other. I bent low and sniffed it. It smelled interesting. Almost without thought my tongue came out and licked it. A'moth let out a loud gasp. I tried to link- think again. It was an absolute chaotic jumble of emotions, but I got the idea that A'moth was pleading with me to do it again. I began to lick the center of her butt crack.

After a few licks I was hooked, joining with A'moth's arousal and washed over by the emotions. I teased the hairline crack with the tip of my tongue, and crack pulled down, just like an eyelid, exposing a pink and tense circular muscle beneath. I laid the flat of my tongue against her anus and began to moisten it, large vertical strokes across her exposed anus, my tongue tasting the engorged muscle as I stimulated it.

In a dim region of my mind, I finally understood A'moth's intense interest and pleasure in licking my butt and rectum. Her taste was highly arousing, salty and a bit bitter and so, so sexy. I quickened my licks, flattening my tongue and drawing it forcefully across her, stimulating her entire anus. I kept it up until I drove her to orgasm.

A'moth started to shriek, her entire body vibrating and covered with sweat. I tried to link-think with her but her mind was a churning mass of white-hot emotions. I backed away in astonishment and more than a little fear. I sat there behind her on the bed, wanting so much to help her but at a total loss for what to do. Fortunately the orgasm ran its course, and A'moth was soon lying on the bed, panting with exhaustion.

"Gary..." she stammered as she worked to catch her breath. "Thank you... Thank you for resisting... It would have been very dangerous... for you... to copulate... my mating tooth... my cervix... Sex is different... with Chungierans... Your body... isn't ready yet..."

We petted each other for a bit. A'moth was relieved we'd probably be apart for at least the next few days. She gave me a quick kiss and popped to the basement to sleep...

"I have it Gary!" A'moth called out. I snapped out of my daydream in the cornfield. A'moth and Isabelle were standing about fifty meters away. I hiked over to their position. The field of barren corn all looked identical to me, but A'moth seemed very interested in this particular spot.

A'moth smiled at me. "I'm all set, and I hate long goodbyes. If I manage to jump Isabelle with me, I'll meet you in Chicago as planned. Otherwise, it's Plan B. You and Isabelle head back to Pine Bluffs. Goodbye my love!"

My tongue was tied, I just nodded my understanding. A'moth had previously confided that the particular jump she was trying to make was so difficult, there was no way she would try to jump Isabelle and me together. Our plan was to separate. Isabelle came and gave me a swift strong hug and then went back to A'moth. They hugged each other tightly, and then...

It was completely weird. A'moth's jumps are always clean, sharp pops into nothingness, but not this time. She stood still in deep concentration for about thirty seconds, and just as her face broke into a deep frown, she and Isabelle were surrounded by what looked like millions of tiny bright-blue fireflies. My last look at Isabelle was at her face, her eyes wide open in wonder. The fireflies swirled around them faster and faster and then collapsed, brightening and collapsing to nothing.

I blinked my eyes. What had I just seen? I waited for ten minutes, but the cornfield remained barren and unmoving. I hiked back to my car and my new identity as Steven Smith.

Future Interlude VI: The Bonding Of The Twins

Aina time: 5:25 PM day 210 of 1473 H.E. (one week before the Red Bird Festival)

The last of the day's sunlight was fading from the skies as Kalea left the faculty lounge and headed to one of the residential housing complexes at Athens University. She admired the great variety of trees as she walked across the campus, thinking that the extensive garden forest in the center of the University was probably one of the most beautiful sites in all of Aina.

She walked along a stone path, watching the deep golden sunlight mix with the Earth spruce and hickory trees, the super-food breadfruits and allnuts, and the ripe buds of the native trees. There were stands of the bushy Orangewoods and towering Silverblacks, and then the distinctive aroma of the low-hanging candle-nut trees. The granite paving stones beneath her feet were still covered with traces of wet snow from the morning storm, and the air had the cold but fertile smell of life waiting to burst forth. "Looks as if spring might start a little early this year..." Kalea thought idly.

She climbed the wide steps of the entrance to an undergrad dining hall and walked inside. She looked around and soon saw Mayoni and Ekela sitting together and chatting. Kalea served herself a light dinner from the buffet, smiling happily at the selections and serving herself a selection of fresh super-greens and breadfruits from the Southern Hemisphere, local fish, and a large glass of orange juice fresh from a semi-automated farm in what used to be Central America.

Kalea heard a familiar voice sing out behind her, " Aloha honored and revered great aunt and professor! "

Kalea laughed and turned around to greet Ku'uaki. "Ha! What a title! And how are doing, great nephew and guardian brother?" Kalea couldn't help grin as she said it. Ku'uaki was the son of Lynnea, Mayoni's daughter, and thus Mayoni's biological grandson and thus Kalea's great nephew. But he was also a year ahead of the two sisters throughout primary school, and Ku'uaki had always acted like a protective older brother to the two girls.

"I'm doing just fine Kalea! Being a sophomore is a lot more fun than being a freshman, more electives!"

Kalea smiled and nodded. "What in particular do you like?"

"The pre-med, I think. I think I might follow in my grandmother's footsteps, become a doctor."

"Speaking of whom, want to join us for dinner?"

Ku'uaki smiled and shook his head. "Uh, I've already eaten. And I'm heading off to a planning meeting with the marriage class."

Kalea flashed him a knowing smile. "Have your sights set on anyone in particular?"

Ku'uaki blushed, "Ah, perhaps..." They exchanged goodbyes and then Kalea walked across the dining hall and stood behind Ekela.

"Mind if I join you, o' noble one?"

"Oh hi Kalea!" said Ekela looking up, smiling at the reference to his Hopewell name and gesturing to a vacant chair. He glanced at Kalea's tray. "I see you like the deep-river fish too!"

Kalea nodded and took the invitation, sitting down on the other side of her sister. "My nephew Marcus has a great recipe for this! He roasts the fish with Earth citrus and green pepper spices."

Ekela nodded and then laughed. "Kalea! Marcus is your nephew! I never thought about it. It must have raised a lot of smiles..."

"That he's fifteen years older than I am? Yeah. He used to tease me about it when I was a toddler. He loved calling me Aunt Kalea..." Kalea noticed a small frown appear on Ekela's face. "Ekela... What?"

Ekela blinked. "Huh? Oh! I was just wondering. Should I be calling you Professor Kalea here?"

"Huh?!" Kalea burst out laughing. Mayoni looked at her sister and smiled. Kalea had been getting a bit moody lately, and Mayoni was glad to see her having such a good laugh. "Certainly not! Ekela! How long have we known each other?"

"Oh, I know, more than twenty years, we met in pre-school. Still... I am your student."

Kalea shook her head and tried to stop laughing. "You're taking a course from your girlfriend too. Do you call her Professor Mayoni when you kiss her goodnight?"

"Well..." Ekela was blushing.

"So keep the titles for the classroom, and maybe my office if there are other students around." Ekela nodded. Kalea ate a few bites of her supper and then continued, "So, how's your course with Mayoni coming?"

"Okay. Oh my gosh! Speaking of which, Mayoni... Isn't your exam on entanglement tomorrow?"

Mayoni stared at her boyfriend. "Well, not just entanglement. The test also covers Chapter 1 of Quantum Consciousness. You should be familiar with the papers of Penrose and Arnold."

"Yikes! You mean all of them?"

Mayoni smiled. "As a first-year undergrad?! No, of course not. The test is on the basics. Just review Hilbert-space formalism and Godel's theorem."

"Oh... Okay. Uh, mind if I go study?"

Mayoni smiled and shook her head no, and then hugged her boyfriend. They shared a brief but affectionate kiss, and then Ekela took off for an evening at the dormitory library complex. Mayoni finished the rest of her dinner chatting with her sister.

At the end of the meal as Mayoni was rising, Kalea quietly asked, "I take it nobody has complained about you dating a student?"

Mayoni shook her head. "I've talked to the administration. They trust that I won't do anything stupid... They trust Ekela too..."

Kalea nodded and walked with her sister away from the table. "Staying at the University tonight?" They cleared their trays to a conveyor. Nearby was a stairway leading underground.

Mayoni shook her head. "No. Tomorrow morning my teaching assistant will administer the test to my undergrads, and my graduate class isn't until the afternoon. I'd thought I'd go home and review my plan for presenting some new material. How about you?"

"I'm free tomorrow. I'm heading home too." Kalea smiled. "Well, free except for a reporter interview. Havika and I are giving short blurb on 3-D mirror elliptical symmetry for the masses. Ah, my dear brother. It was all his idea. I just added some minor help with the mathematics."

Mayoni smiled and held hands with her sister as they walked down the stairwell. They soon reached the subway platform. They picked a small two-person car that would take them first to the transport hub at center city Athens, where they would catch an express lane to Olympus. They sat in the car and Mayoni pulled the hatch closed. She then typed in their destination and stared at the transport display for a moment.

"The new vac-lane is available..."