Ship of Terror
by Melanie Brown
Copyright  © 2024 Melanie Brown

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Ship of Terror

“Hey Tony! Wait up.” I called out to my long-time friend. We were in the university’s parking lot and he’d just opened his car door in order to enter his car.

He turned to face me as I approached. “What’s up, Mike?”

I caught my breath as I ran up to him. “Hey, man. I’ve been trying to call you.” Tony and I have been friends since before the first grade. Until recently, we lived next door to each other.

Tony chuckled as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He flipped a switch on the side of the phone and said, “Sorry dude. I silenced my phone for a lecture this morning. What’s going on?”

“I wanted to make sure you knew about my party Saturday.”

Tony looked at me sideways. “You’re having a Halloween party?”

I shrugged. “Kinda sorta. Seemed appropriate. I got a new game for the Brainbox 4000 that I thought it’d be fun to try out.” The Brainbox 4000 of course is the deeply immersive video game console that feeds the game directly into your cerebral cortex via a headset.

Tossing his book bag into his Tesla, Tony raised his eyebrows at me. “New game? What did you get?”

I grinned. “Ship of Terror. It’s a bootleg.” I held up the module. Bootleg games generally lack the protections designed into legit games.

Tony frowned at me. “Isn’t that game from Ukraine? I’ve heard its buggy as hell.”

I nodded. “Early versions, yeah. This is the latest release and it should be clean.”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t know.’

“Hey. What’s this?” asked Lester, a mutual friend who was walking by. He snatched the module from my fingers.

I frowned. “Hey Les, hand that back. I don’t want you zotting the game.” He wasn’t handling it strictly by the edges. Zotting is where static electricity damages a micro circuit.

Les brushed my hand aside. “I’m being careful, dork.” Even though there wasn’t much on the game’s case, Les studied it carefully.

“Oh cool!” exclaimed Les. “Ship of Terror! Gamer Insider said this game is dope. Five stars with a caveat that it could lead to permanent brain damage.”

Tony laughed as he shook his head. “Well hell. Sign me up!”

I punched Tony’s shoulder. “You doof. All Brainbox games come with that warning.” The Brainbox 4000 uses your own memory of how things look to either refer to real objects or create new ones. Makes for faster processing and deeper immersion.

Les held up the game module in front of both Tony and me. “Yeah, GI said this game has the highest level of immersion of any game currently on the market. East European games usually do.”

Tony snatched the module away from Les to take a closer look. He smirked, “Yeah because most East European games don’t bother with the safety features.”

Les shook his head. “Safety – smafety. Where did you get this?”

I snatched the module back from Tony. “Un-huh. Nothin’ doin’. I don’t reveal my sources.”

Les looked at me. “So dude. Have you played it yet?”

Tony said, “That’s what we were discussing before you poked your fat nose into it.”

Indignant, Les said, “Well excuse me all to hell and back.”

“To answer your question, I’m planning a Halloween party next Saturday to play this game. Want to join Tony and me?”

Putting up his hands, Tony said, “Whoa. I never said I was coming.”

“Like you’d pass this up!” I smirked.

Knitting his brow, Les asked, “How many players?”

“Sammy is coming. He has an expansion chassis so that will give us space for eight players,” I said.

Grinning, Les said, “Ace in the can, man! Count me in!”

Tony was looking at his device. “I just looked up this game and it says one of the major problems with the game is residual character lock.” Residual character lock is where your mind stays locked as the character you were playing. Usually for no longer than two or three minutes, but sometimes up to four hours. But four hours is extremely rare.

I shook my head. “That’s rare, dude. That can happen on commercial games too.”

Les looked like he’d eaten something bad. “I had that happen to me a few months ago. I was kissing my sister for hour after we’d quit the game.”

“Yuck.” Tony said, “I’ve seen your sister.”

“I need to get to my next class. You two are coming, right? Good. See ya.”

*          *          *

“You’ve assembled quite a motley crew, Mike,” said Billy “doc” Brown as he chewed on a piece of pizza.

I laughed before swallowing a slug of soda. “Yeah, I guess my friends are all a bit snarfy. But that’s good. They’re all good gamers.”

My dorm room was pretty crowded. I’m sure I exceeded my dorm’s guest limit with having seven guys over. But the game Ship of Terror recommended a minimum of six players and a max of sixteen. Even if I could have rounded up another expansion module, I don’t know that many people. At least not who are good gamers.

I got a sudden slap on my back. I turned and saw my old friend Greg. I grinned. “Hey Greg, you old scruffy nerf hearder. I’m glad you could make it.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting months for someone to get this game. How did a poor college kid like you afford this game?” Greg took a bite of pizza.

I grinned. “My old man popped for it. I don’t think he really knew what he was buying.” Greg chuckled.

“Well, if it ain’t the old Denebian Slime Devil himself!” I looked up to see my old friend from middle school.

“Hey, Sluggo. Glad you could come. I wasn’t sure if I had your correct email. Whatcha been up to?”

“Couldn’t be better, dude. Getting expelled was the best thing to happen to me. I’m now interning at Akira Gaming. Hey, word on the street is that this game is fucking sick. I can’t wait to stick my brain in it.”

I laughed. “Me too. As soon as everyone had had some pizza, we’ll play.”

Looking concerned, Sluggo asked, “You do have enough water bottles on hand, right?”

I nodded. “Oh yeah. I made sure of that.” You tend to sweat when playing on the Brainbox. The more intense the game, the more you sweat and the more you need to hydrate.

The party was starting to get noisy. I think everyone had gotten a few slices of pizza in them. I picked up my personal headset, a top-of-the-line model from Anthrax Gaming, and shouted. “Okay every. I’m going to start the game. Everyone grab at least two water bottles and get jacked in. Nobody will be allowed to join after I hit start. This is one of those games that don’t allow for early exit. It only ends when complete or all players are dead. Everyone got that? If you need to take a piss, do it now.

Everyone got up to head down the hall to the dorm’s common bathroom. We got curious looks from the other tenants in the dorm.

After about fifteen minutes, everyone returned and found a comfortable spot to sit. Objectively, a game time could be over a month or maybe more. Subjectively, the Brainbox only allows a half hour of game time. Some folks who have cracked their Brainboxes to allow longer play run a large risk of frying their brain.

Looking around, everyone was positioning their headsets and chugging a water bottle. I waited until everyone’s headset displayed a green light and then I pressed the start button.

In front of my eyes popped up the word “Synching” as the game connected to my cerebral cortex. The blackest black I’ve ever seen appeared before me. The title of the game in blood red letters hung in the blackness before and some really cool atmospheric music started to play. Text in Russian began to scroll across my vision. I had to laugh when the game displayed a skull and crossbones.

Finally, the screen displayed “Initializing characters”. This was a notice built into the game system so it wasn’t in Russian. The words “Forming lobby” appeared just before the screen when completely black again. Everyone is placed in the lobby before the game play starts and it’s the place you go when your character dies as no one can exit the game until the game completes.

Someone in the lobby laughed. “Hey! Who’s the chick?” Good question. I only invited guys to the party. A chorus of “Not me!” went up in the lobby. I checked my character. Oh shit. It was me! My girlfriend and I had been playing a game the night before and I had let her use my expensive headset and apparently the game had locked it as female.

Everyone laughed when I admitted it was me. The game can’t be reset and restarted. I was a girl for the duration of the game. What really sucks is that I won’t just look like a girl. I will be a girl. I will be totally immersed as a female. In the game, if I stood naked in front of a mirror, I would see a complete woman, vagina and all. Terrific.

The words, in English flashed on the screen “Thank you for purchasing instead of stealing this game….Yeah Right.” Blackness again.

“Game begins in 30 seconds…” followed by a countdown.

My gut lurched and vision blurred…

*          *          *

My vision cleared and I could see I was sitting at a console of some kind. Before me was a large window looking out on the blackness of space. I wasn’t alone. There were several others, all men, wearing form fitting space suits/uniforms with places for various attachments. I had a little different uniform. I wore a tight fitting cat-suit with built-in booties and gloves. It had a kind of quilted appearance. My long brunette hair spilled out of the neck ring where one would attach a helmet. My tits were very pronounced in the suit and the suit was tight around my crotch area.

“Lieutenant, report. Why did the ship bring us out of cryo-sleep?”

“Give me a moment, captain.” In a rare event, our computer system on the USC-Hudson had revived the bridge crew. The rest of the crew remained undisturbed. I was surprised by how sweet and feminine my voice sounded.

I quickly scanned the computer’s logs. “It seems the ship detected a faint distress signal. It’s far away, actually.”

Captain Striker walked over to my console and leaned over my shoulder. His cheek close to mine, he asked, “Who the hell is out here? There are no trade routes in this region. Is it a ship or an outpost or what?” I smiled slightly as the captain slid his arm around my shoulder.

I taped the display. “Telemetry is coming in now.”

“Put it on the main screen, Lieutenant.” There were only four of us on the bridge at the moment. We were the only ones revived for this event.

I punched a button on my console. “Yes, captain.”

The image from my console displayed on the main screen on the flight deck.

The captain read aloud the main items displayed.

“Serial #: 78721456B78
“Model: Deep space hauler
“MFG: GlobalHulls
“Planet of Origin: Earth
“Registration: Ukraine Areospace
“Registration #: 46723
“Name: Tiberius
“Crew: 50
“Tonnage: blah blah
“Lieutenant, Is the date the distress signal was sent correct?”

I double checked the telemetry received. “Yes, captain. It was sent twenty-three years ago. Also, this vessel was declared lost twenty-one years ago and all crew considered deceased. May I remind the captain that protocol requires investigation of any and all emergency signals.”

Capain Striker sighed. “I know I know. Seems pointless though. After twenty years, I’m sure there’s no one left. But we do need to collect the ships logs. Navigator. Chart a jump to that ship and let’s check it out.”

The navigator and XO said, “Yes sir. It’s near an uncharted gas giant, but that won’t be a problem.” He started punching keys on his console.

The captain turned to me. “Lieutenant, defrost the science team, medical team and security team 3. I doubt we’ll need them, but protocol demands.”

I smiled at Captain Striker. “Aye aye, sir.” I turned to a different console and started the requested revives.

*          *          *

Pointing at his own helmet, Captain Striker said over the comm. link, “Okay, team. Everyone verify helmet seal, transponders on, standard kit.”

Everyone tapped their helmets, verified their transponders were on so none of us get lost. The transponders provide the additional benefit of not allowing our energy weapons from shooting our own team members. The rest of the kit included food pellets and extra oxygen just in case. We pack an energy weapon because you never know what you’ll find in these old derelicts.

I checked my wrist device. “Tether is secure, captain.”

The captain nodded at me. “Thanks LT. Equalize pressure.”

Normally, we’d use the air lock umbilical to provide a temporary tunnel between vessels. But in this case, we have no idea if there are any lethal pathogens or other airborne issues that we don’t want a connection between ships. So we pop a magnetic tether to the other ship and manually pull ourselves across. Slow, but safer.

As soon as our airlock pressure reached zero, Captain Striker broke the hatch’s seal and opened the hatch. There was a brief white mist as the remaining atmosphere was sucked through the hatch.

Following protocol, I was the first one across so I could prep the airlock on the other side. The captain would bring up the rear to make sure everyone got across.

The view from crossing over to the other ship was mind numbingly beautiful. The derelict was in orbit around the gas giant STX45-7, obviously the seventh planet in the STX45 system. Aside from being given a name, it was uncharted. We knew nothing about it. The colors in the banded atmosphere were absolutely gorgeous. And we were incredibly close.

I had brought an emergency power pack along just in case, but the airlock controls responded to my touch. The interior of the airlock was bathed in light which made me hopeful the rest of the ship was powered.

After everyone had crossed over, I started to pressurize the airlock. I looked at my wrist console. “Nitrogent/Oxygen atmosphere. Nominal mix. CO2 levels a bit higher than normal. Should be safe.”

Marcus, leading the medical team said, “After you open the door to the rest of the ship, I need to do a sweep to make sure there aren’t any dangerous microbes or pathogens.”

A few moments later, we were all standing in a hallway of the Tiberius, having removed our helmets.

Jonas, science team lead said, “Air’s a bit stuffy. No smell of decay. Frankly, I was expecting to see skeletons all over the deck.”

Looking grim, the captain said, “We should split up. Security, start in engineering and the sweep forward. Medical, find the infirmary and check the medical records, science team, sweep the science section. If you can, find out why this ship is even here. The Lt and I will check out the bridge.”

There was a mumble of “Aye sir.”

Lt. Jonas said, “Do you need someone from my team to go with you?

The captain shook his head. “We’re good.”

Jonas shook his head and smirked. “Of course, sir.”

Captain Striker frowned at Lt. Jonas. “Teams, I need a report every half hour. You have your assignments, let’s go.” He started walking down the corridor towards the ship’s bridge. I hurried to follow him.

After we rounded a corner and was out of sight from the rest of the team, Levi took my hand. I only get to refer to the captain by his first name when we’re alone.

I smiled at Levi as he took my hand. “You know, Levi. The crew is starting to notice.”

Levi shrugged. “Who gives a shit. I’m still there captain. At least until next month when I get that transfer. You’ll come with me, right?”

I smiled at him. “Of course I will, honey. I’ve heard they have room for me in operations over there.”

He smiled at me as he ran his fingers through my hair. “I promise to get us both a new space assignment. But I can’t pass up this promotion.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Too bad you’re not like Lt. Jonas. He’s rotating back to Earth after this run.”

Levi gave me a quizzical look. “You want to go to Earth. Now what I’ve heard is…”

“Captain, Security team, Laslo reporting.”

Levi frowned as he punched a button on his comm. link. “Captain here. Report.”

Laslo said, “We’re down here in engineering. The engine room more precisely. This is bizarre to say the least.”

Levi shook his head, “Don’t keep me guessing, Laslo. What did you find?”

“Signs of a major fire fight, captain.” said Laslo grimly. “The engine was deliberately destroyed. This tub will have to be towed and just left here. It’s not moving on its own power again. But sir…”

“What is it, Laslo?”

“The walls are blackened from some pretty serious fighting. Equipment destroyed. But…”

“But what?”

There was a pause. “There’s no bodies. No blood stains. No bones. Nothing. It doesn’t make sense.”

Levi narrowed his eyes. “That makes no sense. Continue your sweep and report back in half an hour.”

“Aye, sir.”

I held onto Levi’s arm. “No bodies? And who would destroy their engine and strand the whole ship out here?”

Levi shook his head. “I have no idea. Let’s hope the logs at the bridge will provide us with answers.”

I tapped the device on my sleeve. “According to the original blue prints, we’re not far from the bridge. But I…”

Looking down at me, Levi asked, “What’s wrong, honey?” He put his arm around me.

“It’s stupid, I know. But I just can’t shake this feeling we’re being watched.”

Levi smiled. “You’re just letting yourself get spooked by this large empty ship. This corridor is a bit cramped for anything to be here to watch us.”

I nodded. “You’re right.”

*          *          *

“Any luck?”

I shook my head. “They sure didn’t want anyone getting into their files. They not using any of the approved company encryption methods.”

Levi nodded. “Keep trying, babe. Oh, incoming message. Hey doctor. Find anything?”

“I think so, captain,” said the leader of the medical team. “Despite the extensive damage to the computers in the infirmary, I found something really interesting.”

“Whatcha got?”

“We need to wrap up this investigation and quite frankly get the hell away from this gas giant.”

“Just tell me what you have, doctor.” Growled the captain.

The doctor explained, “There’s a radiation field generated by this planet that over time and we’re not talking very long, starts to effect the mind. It’ll eventually start to mutate our cell structure. Captain, the crew on this ship all went insane and morphed into bizarre creatures.”

Looking worried, Levi said, “Oh my God. How long does this take?”

The doctor said, “A few days at least. We should leave the vicinity of this planet soon.”

“I agree. Gather up whatever you’ve collected there and we’ll meet back at the airlock.”

The doctor said, “Aye, sir. I have several blood samples I want to bring with me for analysis.”

“Only if the samples are secure,” said Levi looking rather grim.

I looked at Levi and felt cold. “Lee. I’m scared. Seriously. This is a ghost ship. I want off it.”

The captain nodded at me. “Yeah, we need to go. Transmit those files back to the ship. We’ll let the home office try to decrypt them.”

He played with my hair as he punched a button on his comm. unit. “Security.” Silence. “Security, report.”

“Why aren’t they reporting back?” I asked.

Frowning, Levi said, “Good question.” He punched another button. “Science team. Report.”

“Science team here, captain. We’re in the ICS. We just finished copying the ship’s surveillance camera’s data. The men here are getting spooked, captain.”

“Spooked? How so?”

“We’re hearing strange noises like growling and some we can’t even identify.”

“Get everything and head back to the rendezvous point at the airlock. We’re bugging out,” said Levi.

“Thank God. This place is a creepy as…”

“Science team? You cut out.”

Just silence.

“Guys? You there?”

Silence

He punched another button. “Doc? Report.”

Sounding annoyed, the doctor said, “We’re on our way to the airlock per your instructions.”

Trying not to sound concerned, Levi asked, “Have you met up with the science team or security?”

“No sir. Haven’t seen them since our arrival.”

“I’m scared Lee. I just completed the transmissions.”

Levi nodded. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

He turned and I got right behind him when our path was blocked by a large, snaggle-toothed scaly creature with arms ending in large talons. It emitted an evil hiss along with a foul stench of dead flesh.

“Holy shit!” Levi quickly pulled his side arm from his belt and firing the energy weapon into the chest of whatever the hell that thing was.

The creature screeched and collapsed. Instead of dying, the wound began to heal.

I screamed, “It can’t be killed!!” Shrieks and screams started all around us.

Levi grabbed my hand. “Let’s go, babe!”

He led me at a dead run through the cramped corridor. With my side arm, I shot two of the horrible creatures. Levi took down two in front of us. Could these monsters be what’s left of the Tiberius’ crew?

We finally arrived at the rendezvous point. The medical team was waiting. They all had their weapons drawn.

Doc shouted to Levi, “What the fuck is going on, captain? We’re hearing screams all around us.”

Captain Striker said, “As nuts as it sounds, the Tiberius apparently isn’t dead. Have you seen the security or science teams?”

Doc shook his head. “Not a peep.”

Captain Striker said into his comm. link, “Attention teams. Report in. We are evacuating this vessel.”

Silence.

Suddenly six disfigured, scaly creatures bounded into the area. Snarling and snapping they slowly approached us. The captain and the rest of us fired our energy weapons at the creatures. They got close, but finally all went down along with horrible screeches.

Doc looked around with disgust. “What the fucking hell?”

Captain Striker gritted his teeth. “Exactly. I’m going to assume the other teams are down. We can’t wait. Lt, man the airlock. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

I said, “Aye captain.”

As we all headed for the airlock, Captain Striker stopped and growled under his breath, “Shit!”

The doctor looked at the captain, “What is it, cap?”

“We can’t just leave this vessel here to be a trap for someone else,” said Captain Striker. “We have to destroy it.”

“How do we do that?” demanded Doc. “We’re not a military vessel.”

“We’ll have to go down to engineering and force an overload on the reactor.”

Doc frowned, “That’s suicide, cap. Just tag this as a no-go area.”

“Too dangerous. It’ll have to be me. Nobody else here is qualified.” The captain took a deep breath. “Once the overload is initiated, we’ll have almost twenty minutes to evacuate. That should be enough time to get back.”

I grabbed his hand. “Levi no! Let’s just get out of here!” I fought back tears.

The monsters we’d shot started to stir. They got another round of fire.

Doc said, “Well, if I can’t stop you, I might as well go too and help.”

Levi shook his head. ‘No doc. My idea. No need for you to take the risk as well.”

Doc looked at me and chuckled. “Now you don’t want to leave your little girl here all alone would you?”

I grabbed Levi’s arm. “You’re not going! Let’s all get out of here!”

Levi managed to dislodge my grip. “Lieutenant! Operate the air lock to get the medical team evacuated. And maybe the security or science teams will return. After the medical team gets back across, pressurize the airlock and wait inside with the door closed and wait for our return. The airlock should keep you safe.” To my shock, he bent down and kissed me in front of the others.

He punched Doc’s shoulder lightly. “Let’s go.” He turned and they both ran down another corridor towards engineering.

I took a deep breath and fought back my tears. I turned to the medical team. “Alright team. Let’s get you back to the ship. Into the airlock.”

One of the medical team members looked at me and asked, “Shouldn’t we wait? Maybe we should all go help.”

I said, “You heard the captain. Everyone into the airlock.”

I stood by the airlock hatch as everyone on the medical team filed into the airlock.

“Everyone make sure your helmet is locked on. Use the tether to pull yourself across and enter our ship’s airlock A crew member will help you in.”

As soon as everyone gave me a thumbs up, I closed the hatch and locked it. I pushed the button to start pumping air from the airlock. When I got the light that the outside hatch was locked closed, I began pressurizing the airlock again.

I wish I knew how Levi was doing. I should have gone with him instead of the doctor. Once the airlock was pressurized, I stepped in and closed and locked the hatch.

Moments after the hatch locked, something slammed hard against it. Looking through the hatch’s window, a snarling, snapping, slobbering mouth of teeth pressed against the glass. Several more of those horrible creatures began slamming their bodies against the hatch and clawing at it. It was a terrifying sight. The noise they made was deafening. I started to cry again. I shrank back from the hatch.

I covered my ears to try to block out the insane screams and howls from these monsters. I wanted to slide to the floor, but I wouldn’t be able to see Levi return. Fifteen agonizing minutes passed by before I heard blasts against the hatch.

Finally, Levi was banging on the window and shouting. I unlocked the hatch and nervously opened it. Levi brushed past me.

“Shut and lock this hatch!” shouted Levi.

As I latched the hatch door, I said, “Where’s doc?”

Levi started to slide his helmet over his head. “He didn’t make it. Put your helmet on girl.”

I looked around the interior of the airlock. My helmet wasn’t there. I looked out the airlock window that was increasingly covered in goo to see my helmet on the floor outside the hatch. I pointed at the window.

“Ah shit!” Levi yelled. “What the fuck is it doing out there?”

I started crying. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll never survive getting to it,” said Levi as he pressed his face against the glass. “The reactor will blow in about ten minutes. It took longer than I thought it would to get back here.”

“Lee, you’ll just have to leave me here. Go! Get the hell out of here!” I started bawling my eyes out. My stupidity is going to myself and my guy killed.

Levi inexplicably looked out the exterior airlock window. “It might be close enough. Honey, I have a plan.” He put his helmet on and locked it in place. He walked over to the exterior door.

Over the comm. link he said, “Come over the door. Now start taking deep breaths. Deeper Hyperventilate. I’ll stand by this switch. As soon you’re ready, I press this, the explosive bolts holding the door fire. The escaping air pressure will propel you across to our ship.”

“Lee, that’s insane!” I shouted. “I’ll die.”

Sounding stern, Levi said, “You’ll die for sure if you don’t try.”

This is totally nuts. I started breathing hard filling my lungs with as much air as I could. I can’t believe I’m doing this.

I stood at the ready by the hatch. Levi shouted, “Hold your breath!”

I sucked in my final gulp of air. Levi hit the safety for the explosive bolts and I was suddenly flying across the void towards our ship. Lee was holding onto the tether still attached to the dead vessel. Is flying the right word?

My lungs felt like they were about to burst as I approached our ship. Several crew members were waiting to grab me. If the nitrogen in my blood starts to boil, I’m a goner anyway.

I’m not going to make it. My lungs feel like they’re on fire.

I’m almost there. I’m exposed to space. I’m not going to make it. This was insane.

I’m going to die.

Arms grabbed and I was jerked inside the airlock. The hatch closed and a beautiful blast of air filled the room. I started coughing. I felt millions of pin pricks on my skin. I had a sudden headache. I felt weak and dizzy.

Someone shouted, “Infirmary now!”

I passed out.

*          *          *

“Hey gorgeous.”

I opened one eye. “Hey Lee. I made it.”

Levi smiled at me. “I see that.”

“I guess we cleared the explosion of the Tiberius?”

Levi nodded. “You should have seen it. Beautiful explosion. I was told you can leave the infirmary tomorrow morning provided you can give them a bowel movement. They just wanted to keep you under observation tonight. They’ve never had someone pull that stunt before.”

I laughed. “I don’t plan to ever do that again!”

“I don’t blame you.” Lee bent down and pressed his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and moaned. I put my arms around his neck and we kissed a long time.

*          *          *

Everything faded to black. The words formed in front of me in big red letters, “Game Over – You Won!”

And then the game system closed down. Tony and I were the only players that survived all the way to the end. But there was one problem. Tony and I were stuck. Residual Character Lock. It lasted for two hours.

I looked around. I was still locked into my character and so was Tony. Everyone had left my dorm room except Tony and me. We were both naked on my bed and kissing each other deeply.

Tony gasped, “How long does this lock last?”

I grinned. “Who cares?”

We kissed for a long time.

The End