Chapter 4

We landed – what more can I say? The odd thing was, it felt like coming home. Is that weird, or is that weird? A group of humans dressed in a uniform that was an olive-green form of what is sometimes called 'utilities', 'fatigues' or 'battle-dress' amongst others, but which I'll just refer to as 'uniform', were heading across the field towards my ship. However, they wouldn't arrive before one of the 'cars' I'd used before got here with the 'default' avatar.

"Hello, Romy."

"Welcome back..." she glanced round and saw the humans still some distance away, "Hex. I missed you."

"You did? I missed you too."

That was about as far as we could go before we had to pretend to be formal, before the half-dozen representatives of E and C arrived. They were evenly split by gender, but otherwise apart from their heights, appeared almost identical. That was mainly due to their expressions, which were all so serious as to rate the term 'dour'. They all had very short hair, though the women's was slightly longer. Possibly, under those shapeless uniforms, their bodies were different shapes – who knew?

"Captain Finch? We've been expecting you for weeks."

"I'm Hex Finch," I said, "I wanted to come back, but I was sent off on a six-week run to get me out of the way."

"Oh? Well, you're here now, so perhaps we can get on with what we called you here for."

"Excuse me, but I don't think I know you?"

He scowled as I pointed up the discourtesy he'd shown. His face darkened slightly and he cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes. My ... apologies, Lieutenant," he said stiffly. "I am Colonel Abercromby..."

I interrupted, "It's Captain Finch," I said. He opened his mouth to say something, but I went on, "Naval Captain, that is, not 'Captain by courtesy' or Army Captain."

His mouth flapped a bit and his face darkened more ... a lot more. I had, after all, pointed out we shared a substantive rank, though legally he no doubt out-ranked me by his appointment and probably by date of rank too. After several minutes, he cleared his throat again. "Very well ... Captain." He then indicated the woman on his right, "Captain Burton, my Executive Officer,"

She and I exchanged nods.

He then indicated the others from left to right, "Lieutenants Gracie and Donas," a man and a woman, "Warrant Officer Pearson," a man, "and Sergeant Katsinski," another woman, whose face I was sure bore a very slight smile for me. One eyelid drooped a little; was that a wink?

I nodded as each was introduced, and when the Colonel finished, said, "A pleasure, Ladies, Gentlemen. I hope we can all get to know one another better."

"I don't think you'll be here long enough, for that, Captain," the Colonel said, evenly. "Now, can we proceed?"

"With respect, Colonel, I've been awake over sixteen hours. I wouldn't want to make any mistakes because of tiredness. What is local time here?"

He glanced at his wrist minicomp. "Seventeen twenty-five, local."

"Fine," I smiled, "Suppose we meet at the Operations Building," I pointed at the first building I'd entered on arrival, "at oh nine hundred tomorrow?"

He took a deep breath. "Very well. I suppose that will have to do."

I turned to Romy. "Authorisation Alpha, six, tau, five three, beta, two one, theta. Is the dwelling I used before still available?"

"Certainly, Captain. May I escort you there?"

"I would be grateful, Andromeda."

"How do you do that?" Captain Burton blurted. "We haven't managed to access anything since we've been here!"

"Captain," Romy said, facing her, "that is Captain Finch's access code. You will each require your own, which will be matched to your voice-print." She turned to me. "If you wish, I can arrange codes, transport and accommodation now..."

"Certainly," I smiled, " Authorisation Alpha, six, tau, five three, beta, two one, theta."

"Voice-print and code acknowledged," Romy said, "transport is on its way."

It was mere minutes later that another – somewhat larger – vehicle appeared. Apart from its size, it was virtually identical to the one next to me, right down to the default avatar. The voice was different, though – a pleasant tenor.

"Ladies, gentlemen ... if you would come with me, please?" it said with a slight bow.

Romy and I watched them board the vehicle and be driven away. Movement beside me caught my eye; Romy shimmered and became herself. Her beautiful, red-haired, freckled self, who hurled herself at me and pulled my head down so our lips would meet – not that I resisted in the slightest.

Have you ever experienced a moment of rightness? I'm not sure if I can explain. I don't play golf, but I imagine the feeling of hitting the ball just right and having it sail right down the fairway to land on the green might be something like. I've come close, sometimes, in mathematics, or in sailing the old-fashioned way. (Piloting a fold-ship is different as most of the tricky stuff is computerised.) Sitting in the pilot's seat the first time I did a solo run, entirely, personally, responsible. Anyway, If I haven't got the idea across, I can't do any better than that. Kissing Romy, holding her as she moulded herself against me, was somehow, just... right.

When we broke the kiss, she pressed her face against the junction of my neck and shoulder and whispered, "Welcome back, Hex."

We stood like that for an age, though the pressure of her body against me had an immediate effect of which she was obviously aware. She wriggled against me. "I should take you home," she said, looking up with a glint in her eyes.

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.

The scenery (such as it was) flashed past, but it took an age to get to the house. I dare say it is possible to ... fuck ... in one of those cars, but it would take a contortionist. You certainly couldn't make love. On the other hand, we were pretty close together and I could smell her arousal which really had my motor running. We left a trail of clothing on the path and just barely made it into the house before she pushed me to the floor and lowered herself on to me with a groan. I'm certain she was coming before she hit bottom and I was barely a second behind. Her whole body shook, her eyes closed and an eerie wail came from her open lips, cut off as she fainted. I managed to stay conscious and retain enough motor control to catch her as she fell forward onto me.

It wasn't anything I'd experienced before, even with Romy on my first visit and certainly not with any previous girlfriend, but I was content ... nay, delighted ... to wrap my arms round her and feel her weight on me, the softness of her bosom on my chest. To inhale her fragrance and stroke her silky skin...

I woke in bed – it was dark – spooned up behind Romy, her bottom pressed against my erection, both her hands pressing my hand against her breast. She was laying on my other arm, her breathing slow and quiet. I must have moved or something, because her breathing changed and she turned in my arms. It was no longer dark; several of the 'sculptures' were glowing, giving enough light to make out her face next to mine. Her eyes, dark in the gloom, were on me.

"Again?" she asked.

I didn't say anything, just dipped my head lower to suck on a proud nipple, which made her exhale hard, with a noise like 'Gahhh... ', which I took to express pleasure. I liked what I was doing, too (duh... ) so I played with the nipple with lips, tongue and teeth until she started to whine, when I transferred my attentions to the other nipple to give it the same attention. No-one could have been more surprised than me when she climaxed, her body shaking, hips jerking – I'd heard of women climaxing from nipple stimulation, but never seen it. Besides, she wasn't human ... was she?

"Please, Hex..." she pleaded, tugging at my body.

I didn't need any more encouragement to cover her with my body. That second time, it was tempting to pound her, but I managed to take it slowly. At least, slower, much slower, than before. We perhaps lasted fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of ... something rather beyond pleasure, culminating in ... I don't know how to describe it. Maybe ... an out-of-body experience?

I'd told Katy that I loved her, lightly, and often, but I realised that the affection I had for her was merely a pale shadow of what I had with Romy. Yet, how could I be in love with a ... machine? A ... solid hologram? The words were on the tip of my tongue, teetering on the edge of tumbling out.