… which woke him up.
Adel blinked. He lay in bed between Meri and Jarek; both were still asleep. They were under a yellow sheet that had pink kites and blue clouds on it. Jarek’s arm had dropped loosely across Adel’s waist. In the dim light he could see that Meri’s lips were parted and for a while he listened to the seashore whisper of her breathing. He remembered that something had changed last night between the three of them.
Something, but what?
Obviously his two lovers weren’t losing any sleep over it. Speedy had begun to bring the lights up in Meri’s room so it had to be close to morning chime. Adel lifted his head but couldn’t see the clock without disturbing his bedmates, so he tried to guess the time. If the ceiling was set to gain twenty lumens a minute and Speedy started at 0600, then it was… he couldn’t do the math. After six in the morning, anyway.
The something was Jarek—yes. Adel realized that he’d enjoyed having sex with Jarek just a bit more than with Meri. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed her too. There had been plenty of enjoying going on, that was for sure. A thrilling night all around. But Adel could be rougher with Jarek than he was with Meri. He didn’t have to hold anything back. Sex with Jarek was a little like wrestling, only with orgasms.
Adel had been extremely doubtful about sleeping with both Meri and Jarek, until Meri had made it plain that was the only way he was ever going to get into her bed. The normal buzz of his opposites had risen to a scream; their deliberations had gotten so shrill that he’d been forced to mute their input. Not that he didn’t know what they were thinking, of course; they were him.
Jarek had been the perfect gentleman at first; they had taken turns pleasuring Meri until the day before yesterday when she had guided Adel’s hand to Jarek’s erect cock. An awkward moment, but then Adel still felt like he was all thumbs and elbows when it came to sex anyway. Jarek talked continually while he made love, so Adel was never in doubt as to what Jarek wanted him to do. And because he trusted Jarek, Adel began to talk too. And then to moan, whimper, screech, and laugh out loud.
Adel felt extraordinarily adult, fucking both a man and a woman. He tried the word out in the gloom, mouthing it silently. I fuck, you fuck, he, she, or it fucks, we fuck, you all fuck, they fuck. The only thing that confused him about losing his virginity was not that his sexual identity was now slightly blurry; it was his raging appetite. Now that he knew what he had been missing, he wanted to have sex with everyone here on the Godspeed and then go back to Harvest and fuck his way through Great Randall Science and Agricultural College and up and down Crown Edge. Well, that wasn’t quite true. He didn’t particularly want to see the Manmans naked and the thought of sleeping with his parents made him queasy and now that he was an experienced lover, he couldn’t see himself on top, underneath or sideways with his ex, Gavrila. But still. He’d been horny back on Harvest but now he felt like he might spin out of control. Was it perverted to want so much sex?
Adel was wondering what color Sister Lihong Rain’s hair was and how it would look spread across his pillow when Kamilah spoke through the closed door.
“Send Adel out,” she said, “but put some clothes on him first.”
Adel’s head jerked up. “How does she know I’m here?”
“Time is it?” said Meri.
“Don’t know.” Jarek moaned and gave him a knee in the small of the back. “But it’s for you, brother, so you’d better get it.”
He clambered over Meri and tumbled out of bed onto her loafers. Their clothes were strewn around the room. Adel pulled on his saniwear, the taut silver warm-ups that Meri had created for him and his black softwalks. The black floss cape had been his own idea—a signature, like Kamilah’s medallion or Sister’s veil. The cape was modest, only the size of a face towel, and was attached to his shoulders by the two merit pins he’d recycled from his Host uniforms.
He paused in front of a wall, waved it to mirror mode, combed fingers through his hair and then stepped through the door. Kamilah leaned against the wall with her medallion in hand. She gazed into it thoughtfully.
“How did you find me?” said Adel.
“I asked Speedy.” She let it fall to her chest and Adel saw the eating man again. Adel had noticed that her eating man had reappeared again and again, always at the same table. “You want breakfast?”
He was annoyed with her for rousting him out of bed before morning chime. “When I wake up.” Who knew what erotic treats he might miss?
“Your eyes look open to me.” She gave him a knowing smile. “Busy night?”
He considered telling her that it was none of her business, but decided to flirt instead. Maybe he’d get lucky. “Busy enough.” He gave his shoulders a twitch, which made his cape flutter. “You?”
“I slept.”
“I slept too.” Adel waited a beat. “Eventually.”
“Gods, Adel!” Kamilah laughed out loud. “You’re a handful, you know that?” She put an arm around his shoulders and started walking him back up Dream Street. “Meri and Jarek had better watch out.”
Adel wasn’t quite sure what she meant but he decided to let it drop for now. “So what’s this about?”
“A field trip.” They started down the Tulip Stairway. “What do you know about physics?”
Adel had studied comparative entertainment at Great Randall S&A, although he’d left school in his third year to train for the Harvest Olympics and to find himself. Unfortunately, he’d finished only sixth in the 200 meters and Adel was still pretty much missing. Science in general and physics in particular had never been a strength. “I know some. Sort of.”
“What’s the first law of thermodynamics?”
“The first law of thermodynamics.” He closed his eyes and tried to picture the screen. “Something like… um… a body stays in motion… ah… as long as it’s in motion?”
“Oh great,” she said wearily. “Have you ever been in space?”
For the first time in days he missed the familiar buzz of his opposites. He lifted their mute.
—she thinks we’re a moron—buzzed minus.
—we are a moron—plus buzzed.
“Everybody’s in space,” he said defensively. “That’s where all the planets are. We’re traveling through space this very moment.”
“This wasn’t meant to be a trick question,” she said gently. “I mean have you ever been in a hardsuit out in the vacuum?”
“Oh,” he said. “No.”
“You want to?”
—wow—
—yes—
He had to restrain himself from hugging her. “Absolutely.”
“Okay then.” She gestured at the entrance to the Chillingsworth Breakfasting Room. “Let’s grab something to take away and head down to the locker room. We need to oxygenate for about half an hour.”
—but why is she doing this?—buzzed plus.
There were two ways to the surface of the Godspeed: through the great bay doors of the Well Met Arena or out the Clarke Airlock. Adel straddled a bench in the pre-breathing locker room and wolfed down a sausage and honeynut torte while Kamilah explained what was about to happen.