(I'm no good at Gimp or Photoshop, you'll just have to imagine that Iris has thistle-colored eyes. Though I do now have an anime-ish avatar depicting Iris.)

"In Tandem Orbit"
By = Sure As Elle

Chapter 9: "Testing, Testing, 123"
Note: Chapter title inspired by the song "Testing, Testing, 123" by Linn Therese Solem

As soon as breakfast on Thursday was over - which Kam and Iris were up for, Kam went to classes, Iris went home, and I went to work. Kam was excited the whole time, though, and we talked more about her moving in. She was so excited to get moving in that we decided she could move in some time next week, like Tuesday if she could be ready by then. She excitedly agreed, saying she would start getting ready after classes, and every day between now and then, Saturday excluded of course.

After that, the rest of the day was fairly ordinary. Iris had been tired enough at breakfast that I would be willing to bet she went back to sleep when she got home. I didn't see her at the library until my shift was almost over, anyway. She came over to my place again afterwords for dinner, and apart from some kissing and cuddling, nothing much happened.

Friday was different, and apart from seeing Iris at the library and talking with her during some of the slow parts, the rest of the day was Iris free, due to my late hours on Fridays. But like I'd told her before, we introverts need some time by ourselves anyway, so I wasn't too bothered. Besides, I knew she'd be over sometime after 8 AM on Saturday.

In fact, Iris wasn't as early as I'd thought she'd be, not coming over on Saturday until 9:30. Apparently, she'd been reading a bit late into the night and was doing good to have gotten to bed early enough to be properly awake at 9:30. Even though I'd already had my breakfast, I made her something, since she'd gone straight from bed to dressing herself to coming over to my place. To my delight, she'd worn the silver dress I liked. Though this time, she'd worn some kind of under-dress under it, so it wasn't as see through this time. I guess that was because she didn't want to be dressed quite as flirtatiously when she'd be going to this intelligence test today.

"You know," I said as she finished shoveling up the last of her eggs, "having breakfast this late is gonna make having lunch a little difficult."

She shrugged. "Not really. Mama's picking us up at noon, we can get some drive-through on the way to the test thing."

"Are you going to be able to eat lunch that soon after breakfast, though?"

She shrugged again, looking at me placidly. "Why not?"

"You aren't nervous or anything?"

"Well, a little bit. But you're gonna be there, and besides, it's not like I have a whole bunch invested in this. Whatever the test says, I'm still me. And I doubt it will really affect the fact I've designed some cool stuff that Mama says will get patented. Some of the tools I designed are prob'ly gonna earn me enough hours to pay for college and supplement any future income enough for me to live comfortably."

"Wow. Well it's good you're taking this so well."

"You'll be in the room, right?"

"I will if I can be. I haven't had an opportunity to find out yet if I can."

"Well that's okay either way." She looked around a little, then asked, "Where's Kam?"

"I don't know, she hasn't been by yet. She left on Thursday morning for classes, and I haven't heard from her since. I think she's been busy getting ready to move."

"Speaking of your sister," Cleo the house AI said then, "she's informed me that she's on her way and should be here by 10:30."

"Thanks, Cleo."

Iris scrunched her face then in concern. "I hope she's not gonna wear something super sexy this time, I dunno if I could handle that on top of the testing stuff."

"Well if she is, I'll have her wear something of mine before we go out. She and I are close enough in size we can wear each other's clothes."

"That must be neat to be able to raid each other's closets like that. You know, you and I should get some kind of matching outfit."

"Yeah, that sounds cool. We can do that after the test thing today. I wanted to get you something anyway. Something to look forward to."

"Cool! I like shopping."

"I think everybody does, if they're honest with themselves. Some people just like shopping for different things than others do."

After Iris's breakfast, we sat down on the sofa, cuddling each other while we read our own respective books while we waited for Kam to arrive. After about half an hour, though, Iris peeked over at my own book, curious.

"Whatcha reading?"

"It's a historical romance. Takes place during the turbulent 21st century, when certain kinds of love - like our own - were banned. There were even a lot of places where adults who loved other adults of their own gender were at danger of anything from joblessness to death. This one has a lesbian inter-generational romance in it, between a girl and a friend of the family. It's a little more tense than I really like to read, given the forbidden romance angle, but the characters are interesting, and how they deal with the trials their love is put through is also interesting."

"Hmm... I don't think I've read anything set back then. What's it like?"

"Well, only the interestingness of the characters and how they deal with the situations is letting me tolerate the setting. I rarely read novels set back then or farther back, because I hate nearly everything about the era. I'm pretty sure that if I'd lived back then, I don't think I would have made it to 25 before... well..."

" 'Well' what?"

"Um... committing suicide," I said softly. "Being trans back then was even more fraught with peril than being homosexual or bisexual, though being a paedosexual was even worse. Any sex with anyone under the arbitrary age of 18 (in most places) was seen as being rape even if it was consensual. And having an asexual romance with a minor wasn't viewed much differently than a sexual relationship with a minor was. Anyone convicted of sex with a minor was put in prison with people who would kill them if they knew what they were in for, and one of the 'treatments' for the 'sickness' of paedosexuality was chemical castration. And even if you made it out of prison, you were persecuted for the rest of your life, lumped in with serial rapists, and given so few options of employment and housing that most convicted sex offenders (as they were called) ended up jobless and homeless."

Iris shuddered. "That sounds downright evil! Even Greshnok 4 isn't that bad!"

"You don't know how true that is. Life sucked for most people back then. Unless you were rich and white, and preferably male, your life sucked to some degree or other. Homelessness was rampant and viewed as an inescapable part of reality. Most people got paid ridiculously low wages for long hours of work, basically just enough pay to get away with saying it wasn't slavery. It was a world where most people had to work more than 40 hours a week just to afford a small apartment, and then couldn't buy food without help from the government. Which wasn't much help at all, as the rich men in charge kept cutting back the amount of help you could get, and set up this arduous obstacle course just to get - and continue to get - that necessary help."

"I don't wanna hear anymore. I'm glad we don't live in such a primitive-"

"Kamaria's ride is pulling up now," Cleo interrupted.

"Thanks Cleo."

We set our eBoards aside and got up to open the door for Kam. Iris got to the door first, opening it and looking out. She sighed in relief as she saw what Kam was wearing: denim overalls, a red blouse, and plain black trainers. She had her hair back in her usual Afro puffs, too. Quite a conservative outfit for her, in fact. Even when she wasn't trying to tease me or others, she rarely dressed so conservatively.

I checked my Omnus for the time. "Your estimate was off. It's almost 11."

Kam shrugged. "So I'm not great at ETAs. I knew that much. Which, in fact, is why I came as early as I did. I didn't want to hold anyone up. You guys eaten yet?"

I closed the door behind her as she came in. "Yeah, Iris and I have both eaten. She came in later than I'd expected, too."

"Yeah, we're gonna get drive-through on the way to the test," Iris supplied.

"Mind if I make myself a sandwich in the meantime?"

"You should know you can. Especially since we're gonna be living together soon."

"Thanks, sis."

Iris and I sat down at the dining table and watched Kam make herself a turkey sandwich. Halfway through that, I decided to get up and put some water on to boil so we could all have tea. I asked them what kind of tea they wanted, since I have a lot of different kinds. Kam had black tea, Iris had green tea with lemon, and I made myself some jasmine tea. Soon we were all sitting around the table, sipping our tea.

After devouring half her sandwich without saying anything, Kam washed it down and broke the silence. "So, sis, have you talked with Mom and Dad yet about going over there to visit next Saturday?"

"What? Oh, I forgot. Sorry," I said, blushing.

"Figured you had. Which is why I reminded you. But before you call them, might I suggest they might want to meet Iris?"

"Oh. Yeah. But I'd have to ask Matria first."

"Ask her after. After all, they might not be able to do it next Saturday. You need to be sure first, before you ask Matria."

I nodded. "Good point. Okay." With that, I called Mom on my Omnus. Soon, her image appeared, her graying hair pulled back in an Afro puff ponytail.

"Rianna! Long time, no see. It's good to see you again."

"Sorry about the long gap. I'm afraid I'm a bit absent-minded."

"Yes, Kam told us that after she saw you again that first time. Are you calling to set up a time to come over for a visit?"

I nodded. "That I am. Is next Saturday good?"

"Of course it is. Kam already mentioned it to us, just in case you forgot. Are you bringing your girlfriend Iris with you?"

"If her mother says yes. I don't think there's much risk of her saying no, unless they have plans they haven't mentioned to me yet."

"Well if they do, Sunday works for us, too. Your father and I both have weekends off."

"What about the twins?"

"Oh, they're still living here. And weekends are good for them, too."

"Great. I think Iris and the twins would get along great."

"I can't wait to meet your little sweetheart." She turned to look at Iris, and grinned. Iris blushed. "Is that her?"

"Yes, Mom. That's Iris. Iris Zahane."

"You're a cutie, little one. And such pretty thistle-colored eyes! You two will have such beautiful children, if you want them."

Iris's blush turned into full tomato face, which set Kam off giggling. "Mom," I said, "you're getting ahead of yourself. Sure, she's 14 instead of 8 like I'd thought, but she's got almost a decade before she'll be physically ready for kids. And we've only been dating for about a month."

"Oh, you two will still be together then, God willing. I have a nose for spotting true love, and even through the Omnus I can tell you two have true love. Plus, I have some interesting stories from Kam."

I gave Kam a Significant Look, and she feigned innocence. "Yes, and I will be having a discussion with her later about that."

"Now don't be too hard on her, I'm certain she gave me the censored version of the stories."

"Okay, mom. Well, I'd better call-"

"Wait! I have an idea!" Iris said, using her own Omnus to call Matria. Before long, two two women were chatting at each other as floating heads. It was too long a conversation to bore you with, but by the time they hung up, Matria had cleared Iris to go meet my parents. "After all," she had said, "You've met her parents, it's about time she met yours."

By the time that was done, there were only 20 minutes left before Matria would be coming over to pick us up. I looked over to Kam, who had long since demolished her sandwich. She was ready to go already. Iris was ready, too. But I was still in my house clothes, so I went to my bedroom to change and get ready before going.

Matria ended up pulling up about 5 minutes before noon, not long after I'd finished getting ready. I spent a couple minutes making sure I had everything I needed, and then the three of us were getting into the Zahane family vehicle. Kam got in the front passenger's seat, while Iris and I sat in the back, holding hands. Iris was getting more nervous than she'd been earlier, so I squeezed her hand gently in solidarity. She smiled and leaned against me; I could feel her nerves decrease a little as she did.

I was mildly surprised when Matria stopped at Taco Tavio's on the way for drive-through. Not because of the place, of course - Iris's favorite restaurant was Taco Tavio's. What surprised me was that Matria was going to let her eat tacos in the car. Which is indeed what happened. Luckily - and I hadn't known this, Taco Tavio's has recyclable "portable tables" that you can unfold and strap to your neck, to catch any food before it has a chance to fall to the floor of a vehicle. If I had known that, I would have gotten tacos, too. As it was, I got a medium sized burrito. Matria insisted I use a portable table, even though I knew I could eat a burrito without making a mess. But her car, her rules, so I, too, had a portable table.

One of the benefits of our modern world is that, since the car's AI was doing all the driving, Matria was able to eat while the car drove us to the test center. Thinking back to the novel I was reading, I was glad she wouldn't have to wait until we parked to eat, like people used to have to do, if they didn't want to be morally bankrupt by risking killing people by eating and driving at the same time.

The car dropped us off at the front door of the testing center before going off to find a parking spot. It was a large, modern building, but looked comforting instead of intimidating, which helped Iris a lot. We went inside and up to the information desk, where they referred us up to the third floor. A little flying drone led us to the right elevator, then from the third-floor elevator to the right waiting room. Once we were there, it headed back.

Matria went up to the desk, since there was no line (though there were other families waiting in the waiting room). The receptionist looked up from her work and smiled. "What may I help you with today?"

"I'm Matria Zahane. My daughter, Iris, has an appointment here at one."

"Okay, let me look that up," she said, even though the AI in her workstation was already pulling up the appropriate file. "Ah yes, Iris Zahane, 1 PM. And who are the other two ladies?"

I stepped forward. "I'm Rianna Goode, Iris's girlfriend. And this is my sister Kamaria."

The woman's face twitched disapprovingly when I'd said I was Iris's girlfriend, but she didn't comment. I wondered if this woman was an immigrant from some other world. As paedophobic responses went, it was a mild one, but it was still unusual for Paxum. Or was I reading too much into it, given the novel I was reading? I wasn't sure. At any rate, her demeanor didn't change the least.

"Ah, I see. Here for moral support, are you?" She was still warm towards us, so I decided I'd misjudged. I made a mental note to put that novel aside, as it seemed to be warping my perceptions.

"Yes. And I was wondering, Iris and I wanted to know if she can have others in the room with her when she's doing the test."

The receptionist nodded. "Yes, that will be fine. In fact, if having someone familiar in the room will help her loosen up and be herself, it's encouraged. Do you both want to be in the room with her?"

"Um... let me check." I turned to Iris. "Is that good? Or would Kam be too distracting?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "In what she's wearing, no. It's cool, she can come with, too."

"Okay. Kam?"

"Sure. I mean, I can always leave if it becomes a problem."

"Yes, both of us will be going with."

"And what about the mother?"

Matria shook her head. "No, I don't think my presence would help. I'll wait here for her. Unless you want me to come with?"

Iris shook her head. "No offense, Mama, but just Rianna and Kam."

The receptionist took that information down, and then directed us to wait. I checked the time as I sat down; there was 20 minutes left before 1 PM. Iris sat on the sofa next to me and started reading. To get back a little at her for earlier, I read over her shoulder, but I was mildly disappointed; she wasn't reading anything salacious. It wasn't even fiction; she was reading some kind of technical manual, for what, I don't know. She didn't seem to be getting far in reading it, no doubt from nerves, since she'd devoured that book about building custom VCs before.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked in deliberate imitation of her, from earlier. She giggled appreciatively before answering.

"It's the latest issue of 'Virtual Design Engineer's Journal,' the best technical journal there is for virtual design professionals. I know I'm not really a professional, since I don't have any formal training, but I can get through it pretty well usually, with some help from the eBoard's tools."

I nodded. Eboards have lots of built in tools, like dictionaries and encyclopedias to define terms, and Mesh access to get more information about things in the texts. Of course, such things had existed in some e-readers since the 20th century. These days, any eBoard without those tools was considered defective, and returned or exchanged.

"I see. You read technical journals for fun?"

She shrugged. "Yeah."

"Cool. I've read such things before, though not for that particular subject. Like, for art and stuff. I wouldn't say it was fun, per se, because a lot of it was challenging for me, but it wasn't the opposite of fun, either. I think if I'd been smarter, or interested enough in something, I might be able to say I'd read such things for fun, too."

She sighed contentedly, and snuggled up to me some more.

"Hey, you should bring that with you. Maybe read it as part of the test. That's bound to make an impression."

"Oh," she said, sounding surprised. "Wait, yeah; you said I could just like, do stuff in there, right?"

"Yes. You just do whatever seems interesting enough to you, and the AIs get all kinds of data from it."

"Cool. Yeah, okay, I'll bring my eBoard with me."

"By the way, how long have you been getting this kind of thing? And is it the only one you get?"

"Oh no, I get like, a couple dozen different journals, and some science and technology magazines, too. They come out at different times and stuff. The one I'm reading now only comes out every few months."

"And your family never noticed you getting all this?"

She shrugged again. "I have an allowance. The house AI makes sure I don't buy anything illegal, super expensive, or particularly violent, but I guess it never occurred to the AI to tell my family I was reading these things."

"Well I guess that makes sense. House AIs have stricter privacy rules than school AIs do. I guess the AI must have figured what you read wasn't anybody's business but yours, unless you told it otherwise."

"Probably."

"Zahane, Iris," a woman of Indian or Pakistani descent called out. She, Kam, and I got up, Iris waving her eBoard and saying "That's me!" The woman shook Iris's free hand and introduced herself.

"Hello Iris. I'm Doctor Anata Patel. Which of these lovely women is your girlfriend? Or are they both?"

Iris blushed and shook her head. She didn't seem to be able to speak, so I spoke instead. "I'm Rianna Goode, this is my sister Kamaria."

"Ah, Rianna Goode, so you're her girlfriend. I understand you're the one who figured out Iris might be a prodigy?"

"I don't think there's any doubt she's a prodigy, given that some of the things she's invented are in the process of getting patented. It's just a matter of finding out how much of a prodigy she is. But yes, that's true."

"Odd, how it wasn't caught sooner."

"Yes, indeed. A perfect storm of bad luck in that regard. I could go on in detail about it."

"Please do, as we walk to the Observation Room."

It wasn't a long walk, but we weren't walking very fast, because apparently this information was important; Dr. Patel was taking lots of notes on a tablet computer as I spoke, anyway; even after we got to where we were going. When I finished up, Iris looking bored, Dr. Patel nodded and smiled.

"Thank you for all that. Anything we can do to help figure out how to help other children sooner is appreciated and very useful. No system is ever perfect, after all. It can always be improved upon. Anyway, Iris, we're here. So let me just explain a few things before we go in."

"Okay. Can I sit down while you do?"

"Sure thing," she said, pulling up chairs for all of us. When we were all seated, she waved someone else over, then continued. "Okay, so my assistant Piotr here has in his hands the sensor we'll be putting on your head before we go into the Observation Room." A white man with blond hair - name tag confirming he was Piotr - showed her the "funny helmet" I had told her about during our vacation together. Only, it didn't look the way I remembered it. Or more accurately, they didn't look as I remembered them. For there were two of them. One looked like a crown, and the other looked like a fireman's helmet.

"We have lots of different designs, to suit the individual taste of the child being tested. Even ones for older children, as well as the old design. Anyway, there are sensors in these hats that constantly scan and monitor your brain activity. When combined with the room's other sensors and cameras - a lot like the scanners and cameras of a house AI, just more of them - they give us a pretty good idea of how your brain works, especially in regard to various stimuli."

Iris nodded, eyeing the crown-shaped sensor hat. Dr. Patel continued speaking, but nothing she was saying was anything new to either us after that point. Then she asked us if we had any questions, so I brought up the question of the eBoard. I was glad when the doctor confirmed we could do that, on condition that we allowed the monitor AI access to the eBoard's memory so it could examine what she was reading, as well as the metrics about her tool usage, the eBoard's estimate of her reading speed, and the same for the other nonfiction she read. Which meant we had wait while Piotr fetched Matria for permission. While we waited, though, Iris made a list of reading materials she would let them access if Matria agreed to the access, since Iris wanted to make sure they didn't see anything she might be embarrassed about. I rather got the impression, from this, that some of the nonfiction she read was raunchy or just embarrassing, which piqued my curiosity.

Before long, though, Matria approved the access to Iris's list, Iris picked out the crown-shaped sensor hat, and Iris, Kam, and I went into the Observation Room with Dr. Patel, who gave her a tour of the room, explaining everything available for use in it. The room was huge and contained all kinds of things, from old fashioned blocks and paper books, to a VC, a three-vee with a wide selection of educational entertainment, and even Autonotinies. I found myself wondering what they would get out of a kid playing with Autonotinies, but I didn't feel like a long explanation, so I didn't ask.

After the tour concluded, Dr Patel left the room, and the test begun. I did note that I hadn't seen her turn on the hat, but then I rather suspected it had been on since before Iris had even entered the room. Since Dr. Patel was no doubt going to monitor things from another room, if she'd forgotten to turn the hat on, she would come back.

Iris started out by reading from her eBoard, snuggling against me as she did. But she kept looking up at the other stuff, distracted no doubt by the other enticing activities. But she kept up with her reading for about 40 minutes before finally giving in and putting it in her pocket. Iris went over to the VC instead. I watched her as she did, and what I saw astonished me a little. I couldn't tell what she was doing at first, but when she finished this unidentified activity, I saw that she had used the VC's Mesh access to set up a remote connection to her own home VC, something I later found out she'd had to set up from home first, and must have done before coming over to visit me.

Once she had remote access to her own VC, she spent the next hour and a half working on one of her designs, apparently tuning out everything else in the room. It was fascinating watching her work, even though I didn't have much idea what she was doing, since she was doing it so fast. Kam, too, was fascinated. And I rather suspect Dr. Patel - wherever she was - was watching raptly as well.

As wrapped up in her own work as she was, Iris eventually stopped, looking a little weary. She saved her work, disconnected the remote access, and stepped away from the VC. Then she looked around the room some, wandering around it, considering. Finally, she poked me in the shoulder and asked, "You two wanna play Autonotinies?"

Of course I did. Kam did, too. So we followed her over to the quite extensive Autonotinies set and set to work. We built two separate families, at Iris's insistence, Iris doing her own while Kam and I collaborated on our own. Then Iris started directing one of the children, a young girl, to fall in love with one of my figures, one that was supposed to represent me. Naturally, Kam's figure got involved as well. Iris wasn't really very satisfied with this, though; she stared at the figures disapprovingly for a minute or two before explaining her thoughts.

"These Autonotinies all look too much like each other. Sure, they come in different races, but the figures look too much alike anyway. The kids are shorter, but otherwise they don't really look like kids. I think they could be improved. Personalized, 3D-printed figures would be nice. Maybe with interchangeable parts. And non-human figures, like robots or werewolves and so on. Maybe some pets, like little robotic dogs or cats. And cars! Yeah. Hmm..." She pulled out her eBoard suddenly, and switched it to data entry mode, taking down some notes. It looked like Iris had a new project in the works.

When she put her eBoard away again, we went back to playing. The romance among the three figures representing the three of us blossomed more, and got married, tiny Iris and tiny me having kids of their own. But then our play started to take weird turns, as I knew it would, and an hour later, there were two opposing armies of Autonotinies fighting each other, because one group had kidnapped tiny Iris, and tiny me had raised an army to get her back. My army had beaten back the opposing army, and tiny me was wrestling the opposition's leader in a fight to the death as Kam's figure snuck tiny Iris out of the compound to safety, when Dr. Patel came into the room, making us all look up.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said, "but it's almost 5pm."

"Oh my, really?" I asked, looking at my Omnus. Sure enough, it was 4:45. "Oh crud," I said, "we've been playing Autonotinies most of this time."

"Oh don't worry about that," Dr. Patel said, smiling and with suppressed laughter in her voice, "we learned loads. It's probably more than enough to get a good idea of Iris's intelligence, but we would like to get some more tests in, sometime."

"Okay, if Matria's cool with it. But if I'm going to join her again," I looked to Iris, who nodded at my unasked question, "then I should inform you I work on the weekdays, until 4 most days. And then late at night on Friday. And we have plans next Saturday."

"Yeah, sis, but now that I think about it, nobody ever said which meal that was gonna be. We could make it be dinner, which would get both things in."

"Ah, yes. Well, let's see what Matria says."

Dr. Patel took the crown-shaped sensor hat back from Iris, who looked mildly disappointed that she didn't have her own with her. This time, I noticed her switch it off. "So I was right, and you had it on before she even went into the room?"

The doctor chuckled. "Yes, that's right. I didn't think you'd seen that."

"I hadn't. I surmised it."

The doctor escorted us back to the waiting room, where we found Matria engrossed in her own eBoard. She looked up when the door opened, and put it back in her pocket. We spent some time discussing another appointment, which we set up for next Saturday at noon, just to squeeze another hour in.

Later, when we got back into the car, Matria called her home on her Omnus, and found out that her husband and wife were already done with dinner, since they hadn't known when we'd be back. So Matria announced to the rest of us that we were going out to eat again. To my relief, we did not go to Taco Tavio's again, but instead we went out for Chinese, actually eating in the restaurant this time. Iris had Kung Pao shrimp, I had beef and broccoli, and Kam had a combo of Mar Far chicken, Kung Pao chicken, pork fried rice, and some princess prawns. Iris, Kam, and I shared some of our food with one another.

While we ate, Iris talked about the test, with occasional additions by Kam and I. Iris was still astonished that I'd been right about it being just "doing stuff" in a room while the hat scanned her brain and the AI's sensors and cameras watched and listened. When she paused to eat some food, I told Matria about how Iris had remotely accessed her VC from the VC in the room, something Matria apparently didn't know could even be done.

"Is it too late to go shopping?" Iris asked, when that subject had been exhausted.

Matria checked her Omnus. "No, there are some places that are open until midnight. Not that we're going to be out that late. I figure we could shop a little until 9. But we should do the bulk of the back-to-school shopping tomorrow, if that's okay with Rianna."

"I'm okay with it if Iris is."

"Cool! It's cool with me." She paused, thinking. "If I get to stay over at Rianna's again tonight."

Matria smiled indulgently and rolled her eyes. "Sure, I don't see why not. We won't even have to stop at the house, since I left your overnight bag in the trunk."

With the promise of shopping to inspire her, Iris finished as much of her meal as she could in a hurry, boxing up the rest. Then she badgered us gently about going until we, too, boxed up our meals and went back to the car so we could go shopping.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the shopping trip, as it wasn't really interesting enough to go into. We were all full from the meal, and only Iris had any energy to really get enthused about the shopping. Though I did put forth the effort to help her get several new outfits. I'm going to save most of them for later description as she wore them, but a couple I just have to talk about now. One was a gold version of the silver dress she was wearing already that day. But most notable was one she wanted to wear on the first day of school, which had the butterfly-shaped CLogo on it; above the logo were the words "Amor es Grande," and under the logo was a nanothread weave that looked identical to the rest of the fabric, which was programmable to say anything you wanted it to. It could even scroll text. Iris programmed hers with "I'm Iris Z. I'm with Rianna G." Thinking back to her idea this morning, I paid to have an adult sized one made for myself. In the programmable text, I had mine say "I'm Rianna G. I'm with Iris Z." We wore them out of the store.

This made me have an idea, so I programmed something into my Omnus for later; I had decided to give Iris her birthday present - the locket with my picture in it - to her for her first day of school. But I didn't have it on me, and I thought it would be best to give it to her the day before she went back to school. Plus, I needed time to think of another birthday present.

The only other really noteworthy thing from our shopping trip was that Kam asked to be dropped off at her current place, so she could do more getting ready for the move. I was a little disappointed that Kam wouldn't be staying over, but as she told me, she would be living with me soon, so "won't be long before you'll be glad to have me be elsewhere for a night or two." I had to admit, an introvert and an extrovert living in the same room together might get difficult. But hey, Iris can't stay over every night, so Kam could use the spare bedroom sometimes if I need some space. And we had lots of experience living in the same room together, from when we were kids.

Matria dropped Iris and I off at my place, and would probably enlist her husband or her wife to help her get the shopping out of the car. Along with her overnight bag, Iris took one other outfit, a pink halter dress I'd gotten her, and we went inside. Once the door was closed, Iris set her stuff down on the sofa and pulled her silver dress off. I almost had some kind of startled, silent fit over it until I remembered the under-dress, which turned out to be a slip. Then she pulled that off, too, and I just kind of stood there, locked inside my brain. I only saw her panties and her bare back, though, before she pulled her nightgown on.

When she turned around and saw my face, looking surprised, then amused. "Liked the view, did you?"

I was still mute, so I simply nodded. Iris sighed, and took my hand, pulling me gently into the living room. "Kammie explained in an email all about how to help you when you get like this. You know, your embarrassed muteness. Come, sit down."

Taking her lead, I sat down on the sofa. It was only when I did that I noticed she'd sat down before I had, and I was a bit of a ways down from her. Not ideal for snuggling. I still hadn't gotten my words back even enough to really think much about this fact.

Iris noticed, though. "Hey silly, whatcha doin all the way down there? Let's cuddle."

For whatever reason, I didn't scoot down like she asked. Instead, I kicked off my shoes, and lay down, so my head was in her lap, looking up at her face.

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Well okay. This is nice, too."

Still unable to speak, I instead made a sound like a purr. Iris giggled. "Okay, so I guess I have a really big kitty here cuddling me. S'alright." She began stroking my forehead, and running her fingers through my many braids. "Good kitty. You're a pretty kitty, yes you are."

I grinned and decided to play along, so I made a meowing sound. "Mrow," I said, making my hands into pretend paws and batting playfully at her own black, straight hair that hung down now that she'd taken it out of its ponytail and let it hang freely around her beautiful face. I examined her face, its Asiatic features looking different from this angle, and pondered her ancestry, wondering at the series of circumstances that brought people from either China or Japan (I didn't know enough about Earth ethnicities to be sure) to a new colony light years from the home world, to settle on Lucem and become part of the new hermaphroditic species of humanity that lived there now.

Then I thought the same kinds of thoughts about my own ancestry, wondering what route my ancestors had taken on Earth from Africa before moving to Paxum. This was an even more interesting series of thoughts, since many of Paxum's founders had been Child Lovers, and the goal had been to create a world where romantic relationships between children and adults could happen without the specter of rape hanging over it. I was glad they had succeeded, because I didn't think I could live anywhere else.

"Iris?"

"Yes?"

"What's it like for couples like us on Lucem?"

"Ah. Yeah. Not as good. Not horrible, like on old Earth, or Greshnok 4, but not as good. Think back to the United States of America in the early 21st century, how teleiophile gays and lesbians were treated. It's better than that, but it's kinda similar, with it being a controversial issue. It used to be better, though."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah. But it was also worse, too. See, Lucem's founders didn't know about Paxum's founders until they met up. I guess the partnership almost fell through when they found out about the CLs in Paxum's group. But there were enough open minds in the Lucem group to salvage the partnership. But for the longest time, CLs weren't welcome on Lucem. It got better gradually, and was pretty cool until about a century ago, when it got worse again. Now it's gotten better, but still a big issue. My family was pretty outspoken in favor of CL rights, even though none of them are CLs themselves. It's not why we left, though. In fact, we almost didn't leave because of that. But Daddy and Mama got better jobs here, Taanlen got a good job, and the economic system here is actually cooler than Lucem's."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Lucem has a communist kinda system too, but it doesn't work quite as well as over here does. I don't know the details, though. But we were poor on Lucem. Which ain't anywhere near as bad as being poor on Greshnok, let alone old Earth, but still, we went from living in a tiny, crowded apartment with another family, to living in our own house here. We even own a car, here! And my parents have the same jobs here that they had there, they just get paid better here."

"What does Matria do, anyway? She seems to always be home."

"Yeah, well, she works from home. Daddy still leaves the house to work, but Mama and Taanlen work from home. Always have, in fact. Even on Lucem."

"Cool. So aside from Child Love, what's the LGBT situation on Lucem like."

"Well given that gender is pretty much a case of what you feel like being at any given time, due to our anatomy, what your gender is and who you have sex with aren't a big deal at all there, apart from the child love thing. Poly marriages are even cool there. My parents were all glad to find out poly marriages are cool here, too."

"Yeah, we had a lot of LGBT people in our founding group."

"Uh huh. And Lucem's founders were almost all 'gender rebels' as the history goes. Everything from trans people and gender-queer folks, to agender people. Almost no cis people at all in our founding colony. Most that were there went over to Paxum; the ones that didn't mind CLs, that is."

Feeling very glad that her family had moved for me to be able to meet Iris, I purred again and snuggled my face against Iris's belly, closing my eyes as I did. I felt her run her little fingers over my ears, tracing the lines in them, and it tickled a little, so I giggled into her belly. Then I sighed contentedly, just glad to be able to snuggle with the one I loved, when who knew how many millions or even billions of people in the universe would have envied me this simple pleasure. I felt sad for those people, who just wanted to love who they loved in peace, and I felt annoyed with the founders of Lucem, who should have known better than to try to restrict love. What was it about human nature that so many people could forget the persecution they'd once faced for something, and then turn around and do the same thing to other people? How could groups that had suffered so much at the hands of their oppressors turn around and join those oppressors against someone else who just wanted what they had?

I knew how, of course; I was intimately familiar with Paxum's history. In so many places, rape culture ran rampant, and instead of taking the effort to combat rape culture and create a culture of consent, as the founders of Paxum had done, so many people the universe over found it much simpler to find a scapegoat. First it had been the homosexuals and bisexuals, when homosexuality had been equated with sex abuse - especially sex abuse of children. And now in many places, that position had been replaced by Child Lovers and paedosexuals, all because people didn't want to put forth the effort to stamp out rape culture. Because it was easier to say "well at least we're not those damned paedosexuals" and join in the oppression, than it was to risk their cozy new position in the hierarchy of acceptability and actually stand up for their supposed ideals of "you should be able to love who you want." Damned hypocrites. I made a mental note to look into what, if anything, I could do to help the CL community of Lucem. I couldn't worry about the whole universe, but I sure as hell could do something about something going in my own back yard.

Then I thought of Iris, and of other children and minors on Paxum that were, or had been, in loving relationships with adults. I thought about the kind of power there could be if all those people knew about the situation on Lucem, and came together to tell their stories, and broadcast those stories to Lucem. Because in their own back yard, so to speak, was a planet where the system worked pretty well, where there were who knew how many hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of people who had fond memories of such relationships, from the child's side of things. Hell, I personally knew at least four married couples who had started out as inter-generational relationships, and were still happily married.

I turned around, my head still in Iris's lap, and - looking up at her - asked her to hand me my eBoard, which was on the table next to her. Then, like she'd done with hers earlier, I entered some notes about the things going through my head into a text file, so I could forget about it for now and just enjoy being with Iris. When I was done, I handed it back to her to put back where it had been.

It's not easy clearing something like that out of my head, but I had lots of experience with needing to clear bothersome thoughts out of my head in order to cope, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. And having my head in Iris's warm lap, her fingers caressing my face, made it easier. I was warm, and being held my someone I loved, and we were enjoying some quiet time together. My hand found her free hand, and even though it was slightly awkward, physically speaking, I held her hand in mine, and rubbed my thumb in a slow circle on her hand. The lingering thoughts mixed with my happiness, and I found myself appreciating what I had so much more. And I felt tears start to run down my face.

"Aww," Iris said, wiping at one of the tears, "is my bebby sad?" I shook my head. "So she's happy? Tears of joy? Aww... I'm flattered."

She bent over and kissed my forehead softly before sitting back up again. I closed my eyes and snuggled up to her belly again, which made it easier to hold hands with her, just reveling in the closeness, and her warmth.

I didn't remember having fallen asleep, but when I woke up, I was alone on the sofa, a blanket over me. I sat up, looking around, wondering where Iris was. I was about to get up and look for her, when I remembered Cleo.

"Cleo, where's Iris?"

"In the restroom. She went straight there after covering you in a blanket."

"How long was I asleep?"

"I do not know for sure, not having the right sensors. But you began to snore about 40 minutes ago."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I got up and went to the kitchen to make some tea. I was just pouring the hot water when Iris came out of the restroom.

"Sleepyhead is outta bed, I see," she said, grinning.

"It was very comfy there with my head in your lap."

"Really? You didn't hurt your neck?"

Oh, yeah. "Now you mention it, I do have a slight crick in my neck." I set down the kettle, and popped into the restroom to inject a pain reliever into my neck using a hypo-spray. (Yes, it was among the things inspired by Star Trek, and named after the historical work's device of the same name.)

"Perhaps," Iris said in her most regal-sounding voice as I came back into the kitchen, "we should anon to your boudoir, my loyal subject." Then she dropped that accent and said normally, "I noticed you have a small three-vee in there we could watch in the comfort of your huge bed. It'd be just like during the vacation, only better."

"Okay, but if you haven't already brushed your teeth, you should. I don't want Matria to get mad at me for letting you get out of the habit."

Iris sighed melodramatically, but said, "Fine," and went back into the restroom. I sat down and looked at my tea - green tea with nothing else in it - and sighed. I was gonna have to do the same, but I would have to wait my turn. A part of me didn't want to, though, because I'd either have to cover the tea with toothpaste taste or vice versa. I shrugged and drank my tea while waiting for Iris.

A few minutes later, I was done getting ready for bed, and was even changed into my PJs. With that done, I opened my bedroom door and let Iris in. She ran in and jumped on the bed, crawling under the thick comforter and the blanket underneath it with a contented sigh. I more sedately got in bed next to her, snuggling up to her under the blankets, and grabbed the remote for the three-vee. The remote is a lot like an eBoard, but thicker in breadth and slimmer in width. It's a touch-screen computer tablet sort of thing that has a lot of functions built in, and is very easy to use because of those functions.

We spent a few minutes surfing channels before settling on a comedy we both liked, about a 10 year old girl and her 30 year old boyfriend who lived in different cities, and the trouble they had to go to in order to spend any time together. It was called "Long Distance Relationship." The episode we were watching involved them both trying to get the other to a surprise party, complicated further by the boyfriend's workplace having issues he had to help with, and something about a problem with the AIs that ran the buses. To be honest, it wasn't the best episode, especially since it was hard to follow what was going on, but it was worth watching for the happy ending where the two of them got to spend some quality time with each other. I held Iris's hand under the blanket, and snuggled up to her.

After that show was over, we got bored, and turned off the three-vee. Instead, we snuggled some more. Then Iris climbed up on top of me - still under the covers - and kissed me. I kissed back. I opened my mouth, and her little tongue came in to wrestle mine. I was getting hard, but if Iris noticed, she didn't react. I held her head gently and kept kissing her. We were both getting really into it when Iris farted, causing us both to laugh into each other's mouths before pulling back.

"Oh my GOD, you little stinker!"

"Sorry, sorry," she said, laughing fit to burst. "I'm really-" she farted again, and in response, I pulled the covers over her head, hot-boxing her. She pretended to cough and gag melodramatically, shouting something about chemical warfare.

"Hey, kiddo, it's your mustard gas!"

She popped her head out from under the covers, gasping for air in an exaggerated fashion. "I thought you above attempted assassination! As your Queen, I'm going to have to punish you."

Iris crawled out of bed and started going through my closet. "What are you looking for?"

"Something to punish you with. Aha, just as I thought!" She pulled out a huge box of floggers, paddles, and other accoutrements of BDSM.

"Hey now, put that back!"

"Why, you embarrassed?"

"A little. Obviously not too much, if I can still talk."

She didn't put the box back. Instead, she looked through it. I felt like getting up and making her put it away, but a part of me - a part that was getting horny thinking about letting her spank me - kept me in my bed.

After discarding several things as possibilities, she went with a nice simple wooden paddle, about an inch thick, and hefted it. I pulled the comforter up under my eyes, trying to look contrite.

"H-how did you even know it was th-there?"

"I didn't. But I'm glad I found it. I can have a lot of fun with this box." She put the box back, and brought the paddle over to the bed. "Out from under the covers! You were mean to your Queen, so now you must be disciplined."

"No," I said in a bratty voice, sticking my tongue out at her before ducking under the covers. "You can't make me," I said from under the comforter.

"If you don't come out now, I'll start whacking the bed til I hit something that's you."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again, Your Majesty!"

"Apologies aren't good enough, I must punish you. OUT. Now!"

Whining quite well for someone who wasn't a kid anymore, I came out from under the covers with a pouty lower lip. Iris threw the covers off me and climbed onto the bed. "On your hands and knees, peasant!"

"Y-yes, your highness," I said dejectedly. Slowly, but not too slowly, I complied, getting on my hands and knees on the bed. Iris considered me thoughtfully.

"Move your front down closer to the bed. On crossed arms. I want your butt up in the air."

"Okay," I said, complying. "J-just, please don't hit my naughty bits."

"You may tuck them out of the danger zone if you wish," she said, looking up at the ceiling as I did just that.

"D-done, Your Majesty."

"Good." I felt her moving on the bed, but couldn't see her, as I was looking right into the mattress. Then I felt her pull my pajama bottom down. I still had my panties on, but it seemed she wanted less fabric between the paddle and my butt.

Time dragged by as I waited in tense expectation, excitement, and dread. I had no idea when she was going to do it, or even if she would really go through with it. The waiting was horrible.

WHACK! I made a small whimper, even though it hadn't hurt much.

"Trying to fool me, are you? Well I'm not fooled. I'll have to hit harder."

WHACK! This time, it stung a little, lingering slightly.

"Dang, this is harder than I thought it'd be. Hold still, I'll be right back." I felt her climb off the bed again, and heard her go through the box of paddles and stuff again.

"Aha," she finally said with delight, "a cricket paddle. Excellent." She climbed back on the bed again, and again I waited for her to strike.

THWACK! This time, my cry of pain was genuine. "That's better," she said, then hit my bottom again, harder. I shouted, and Cleo spoke.

"Rianna, I heard shouting, are you and Iris okay? I can't see what's going on in there."

Iris answered, saying, "Just a little BDSM, Cleo. I'm spanking Rianna, cuz she's been naughty."

"Ah, okay. Do you have a safe-word?"

"Oh shit," she cussed. "I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder, Cleo."

"You're welcome. I leave you now."

"So what's your safe-word, Rianna?"

"Diplodocus."

She giggled. "Okay, diplodocus then. Ready?"

"Y-yes."

CRACK! went the paddle on my bum, and I cried out again. Then it happened again, much harder this time, and I wailed, crying again.

"Safe-word yet?" She asked. I shook my head no. "Okay then."

SMACK! I felt my whole body move with that one, and though it hurt as much as the last one, I only grunted. Unsurprisingly, the next blow was harder. I just gritted my teeth and bore it, though. I could feel myself crying, but I really was enjoying this immensely.

THWACK! CRACK! SMACK! With every blow, I made as little noise as I could, but I was still making noises at least as loud as the smacks themselves. Iris checked with me every now and then to see if I needed to stop, but I kept shaking my head 'no.' I guess I really am a sub after all. Just in case the big box full of paddles in my closet wasn't a clue.

She kept at it, resting her arms a little now and then, until I was sobbing like a toddler and couldn't have said the safe-word even if I'd wanted. Iris stopped then, putting the paddle away.

"Can you lie down?" she asked. Taking this as my cue, I attempted to do so. My arse hurt so much, though, that I had to roll onto my stomach. Iris climbed up next to me and put my head on her lap again, comforting me, letting me cry into her pajama-clad belly. I felt her gently pull my PJ bottom back up. I suddenly wondered, if it hurt this much with my panties on, how much it would have hurt if she'd been spanking my bare ass.

Iris made soothing cooing noises at me as she ran her hands along my ears and braids and neck, as best as she could with me still sobbing enough for my whole body to shake.

"I'd kiss your bum, but it's a bit far away at the moment, and it might sting." I couldn't help myself, I laughed at this. I was still sobbing, still in pain, but my sobs were mixed with laughter. It was a peculiar feeling, laughter mixed with pain and crying. I kinda liked it.

"Anyway," she said, "I'll kiss your noggin instead." And she did, she kissed my forehead. It was just so sweet and gentle. I was beginning to calm down, and that helped. I felt my sobbing stop, though my eyes were still wet and puffy, my arse still hurt, and my breath was still ragged.

Iris changed positions, and when she was done, she was lying down on the bed; my torso was partially draped over her own, my head in the crook of her right arm. I was so much bigger than her, I couldn't imagine it was comfortable for her. I looked up at her inquisitively, but she just shushed me gently and began to sing me a lullaby. Her voice was lovely. I felt so safe there in her arms, and so at peace. I drifted to sleep in her embrace.

~ ~ ~