(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, Chapter 7"
By = Sure As Elle

Author's note: This is a bit of a shorter chapter than usual, but it has a surprise in it that should make some of my readers happy and eager.

Chapter 7: Wave Aloha

My Omnus went off at 10 after 7 that morning, waking both Iris and I up as I rushed to turn it off. But it was probably for the best, as the privacy screen was still closed, blocking out all light and sound, so I might not have woken up for quite some time otherwise. Iris rolled over and fell back asleep, but I got up, opened the privacy screen, and got out to go to the bathroom and take a shower. By the time I was stepping out, fully dressed, Iris was waiting for the bathroom and looked like she was almost fully awake.

She, too, used the toilet and then showered. I was making sure my things would be ready to go when 7 PM came around, since - according the the note that Derris had left us - that was when we would be leaving for home. I suppose they thought we would sleep til 8 AM or later when they wrote it, for the others were waking up in time to wait for Iris to finish her shower. Her mother couldn't wait for the toilet, though, and went on in anyway.

Iris and I decided to cuddle in bed a little while we waited for the others to get ready, since we'd all decided to go to breakfast together. It was one of those continental breakfasts that came with the room.

*

Breakfast was okay. Not great, but not bad either. Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, bagels, and a number of other things were there for us. I had eggs, sausage, an apple, and some cereal. Iris had eggs, bacon, toast, a banana and an orange, and a sandwich she made from a pancake and some sausage and cheese.

I noticed as we ate that Avra was giving the both of us a wide berth, sitting as far from Iris and I that even Iris noticed. I guess he was still not over Iris teasing him about "liking" her. I wasn't sure if he really had those kinds of feelings for his sister or not, but either way he was not happy about the situation. I looked at Iris questioningly about it, but she just shrugged.

We went back to the room to change into our swimsuits, naturally. When we finished that and began heading out to the beach, Avra again stayed far away from us, and when we finally got settled in one spot, he wandered off God-knows-where, so the two of us were left to entertain each other, since the other adults were all heading off to another part of the beach, one where nudism was encouraged. Of course, it was perfectly legal to be nude anywhere on Paxum, as long as you're not endangering your life or safety, and as long as you're not being lewd, but all the nudists were apparently going off to the nudist part of the beach, which was around the corner behind... whatever the heck it's called when part of a hill goes out into the ocean.

Iris ran out into the ocean, so I followed her. She was, apparently, just in the mood for swimming around without playing. Whether this had anything to do with Avra's absence, I don't know, but I swam behind her.

We swam around like that for quite some time before going back on land. I think it was at least an hour we'd been in the ocean. Iris began to shiver, so I grabbed her towel and patted her dry, then myself.

"Thanks, Rianna. That's much better. Hey, wanna sunbathe?"

The sunlight was warm enough, now that I was dry. "Sure, why not?" I said, laying our beach towels down to lie down on. I did her towel first, since it was her idea. I was putting my own down when Iris took her bikini top off and set it aside. I froze in place staring at her, my face burning hot and my stomach filling with butterflies, then looked away.

"What's the matter?"

"You... you're..." I tried to speak, but it was extra difficult because I was more embarrassed and excited than I usually was.

"They're just nipples," she said, laying herself down on her back. "Tiny little things, too. Remember, I'm a sex-shifter, just like the rest of my family. My nipples are no more strange than Avra's, and you had no reaction to his yesterday. And since he sometimes shifts his sex even while still presenting male, I have no idea what mode he was in yesterday. Probably red mode, as I think I saw a bulge, but I could be wrong. Anyway, what's it matter?"

"I... well, I suppose you're right. But, well... you present as female."

"So? I could go completely nude if I wanted to, there's no law against it. So could you. And toplessness isn't nudity. I mean, I can kinda understand getting all excited over an adult woman's boobies being out, even though they're just things for feeding babies. But sheesh, I'm a kid. Mine are tiny and useless, just like if I were an adult man. Heck, I've seen bigger boobies than mine on cisgender Paxite and Terran men.

"Also," she said after taking a breath, "there's nothing inherently sexual about nudity."

"Yeah, okay. Just... you've never taken your top off around me before."

"So you thought I was super modest or a prude or something like that?"

"I suppose I must have."

She turned to face me, propping herself up on one elbow. "Listen, my family are nudists. They wear clothes in public, and when company is gonna be around, but otherwise not. I wasn't sure why they don't do it in public except in certain places, until Mama told me that the rules are different on Lucem. They're a little more prudish there, which is weird, considering everyone there's got the same parts."

She lay back down and put a hat over her eyes and lay there, topless, soaking up the sun.

"So why don't you take your bottom off, too?"

She made a shrug-like gesture. "I don't fancy risking my bits getting burnt."

I giggled at this, even though it made sense, and then I, too, put a hat over my eyes. I could have taken my own top off, too, but I didn't feel comfortable doing so. And I sure as Hell wasn't going to take my bottom off, partially for the same reason as Iris's, but also because I still had the bits I'd been born with. I could have gotten SRS, but I kinda liked my girl-cock. I wished, once more, I could have been born a Lucite, able to retract things to look like a cis woman down there. But since I couldn't, I just kept my bikini on, and set my Omnus so we wouldn't overdo it..

We lay sprawled on the beach sunbathing for about 20 minutes when my Omnus went off. We both sat up and Iris and I took turns slathering each other with sunscreen, since we weren't about to go back inside yet. It's a meta-material based sunscreen, blocks out 98% of UVA and UVB light, which is a bit overkill for Paxum, since our ozone layer has never been damaged, but whatever. I like it. Though I more enjoyed helping Iris make sure she was well covered. She insisted on doing her own chest, though. I was slightly disappointed, but the impish grin on her face (and the wink) when she told me this made me understand she was being evil to me again, which made me giggle.

However much I enjoyed lathering sunscreen on Iris was nothing to how much I enjoyed being lathered up by her. True to her teasing nature, she avoided my breasts, though by the look in her eye, she had to work rather hard to avoid the temptation. But lying on my front while she lathered up my back, shoulders, and legs was amazing, those little hands of hers on me. I made a mental note to ask for a massage from her at some point, since that would probably feel absolutely divine, even if she didn't have the training like I had.

When we were done, we sat and waited a few minutes for the sunscreen to set into its waterproof mode, and once it did, she put her top back on (probably more so she wouldn't lose it than for any other reason), and we began to play in the sand together. She didn't seem too interested in sand castles this time, probably since she wasn't very good at them, so instead we drew designs in the sand for a while and had fun destroying them while pretending to be giant robots destroying the crop circles of the aliens, which was because the aliens were trying to communicate with humans to help defeat the robots. Which was all pure silliness of course; if there were any other sentient species in the galaxy, nobody has run into them yet. Other planets with life, yes, but so far nothing that looks even remotely capable of human-level or better intelligence.

While we sat down to rest a bit, I got to talking with Iris about that, and she agreed it was odd. She also told me something I hadn't known before, namely that some people were studying the the possibility of making other Earth species sentient, uplifting them so humans wouldn't feel so alone in the universe. The notion sounded vaguely familiar, and I said so.

"Yeah, there was a science fiction author in the 20th and early 21st centuries that wrote about a future with uplifted chimps and dolphins. I think dogs and gorillas may have been uplifted, too, but it was ages ago I read it."

"Wow, you read classic literature?"

"This surprises you?"

"Well, to be honest, all you've checked out this summer from the library has been romance stories and non-fiction."

She put her nose up in the air in mock pretentiousness. "I have a diverse range of literary interests, thank you very much." It was perfect, but she ruined it by breaking into a fit of the giggles, which made me giggle as well. Unlike yesterday, though, it did not last long.

"I have an idea," she said, and began digging in the sand. "Bury me in sand!"

"Well okay, then, my flower. Not sure how well Irises grow in sandy soil, but if you insist..." And so I began helping her dig a hole. "Vertical or horizontal?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you want to be buried standing up, or lying down? Or maybe at an angle?"

"Eh, lying down. It's easier to do, and easier to get out of in case the water gets closer for some reason."

So we dug out a trench for her until it was deep enough, and then she lay down in it, and I began covering her up. Only when she was entirely covered, except for her head, did I say, "Or if the water suddenly gets farther away."

She blinked at me in confusion. "What?"

"Oh, it's just that if the water suddenly rushes away from us, that's a warning sign of an oncoming tsunami, which is a giant tidal wave that could kill everyone in the city."

For a moment she looked like she was going to do the stereotypical little kid thing and scream in panic, but then the panic in her eyes became faintly amused annoyance. "Har har. You and I both know Paxum isn't naturally volcanically active. There's no molten core, it's rock all the way through. If it weren't for the artificial volcanic vents with nanites melting rock and releasing it into the ocean at a controlled rate, there'd be no lava or magma anywhere on the planet."

"Ah, so you were paying attention in geology, then?"

"Of course I was. No plate tectonics, no earthquakes. No earthquakes, no tsunamis." She stuck her tongue out at me and sat up, uncovering herself. "Anyway, now it's your turn."

We began digging again, a much bigger ditch, and before long it was me laying down in the sand and being buried. Iris had insisted on the ditch being much deeper, too, and technically I was at an angle. When I was completely covered, I had a lot more sand on top of me than she'd done. Which she had been counting on, apparently; she lay down belly-first on the sand above my chest and stared into my eyes.

"MWAH HA HA!" she cackled with evil laughter, "now you are at my mercy! For I am the kissy monster, and I shall now kiss you mercilessly!" Before I could respond, she kissed me full on the lips, her hands on my head. I started to chuckle into the kiss, and she used the opportunity to get her tongue into my mouth, so we began to duel tongues.

I saw the appeal of this plan, for her. Between the extra sand on me and her own weight pressing down on me, I could not move my arms or my legs, so I had to 'endure' this wonderful kiss from my girlfriend without touching her with my hands. Nor could I do anything about the activity between my legs that arose from the kiss. I was helpless, and I loved it. I began to wonder, suddenly, if I was kinky. Maybe I should be buying some kind of restraints so I could be helpless and at Iris's mercy at home. This thought made me even hornier, and made my girlcock very hard indeed. And now that I realized this, I knew Iris would love the idea of being my master, and I her slave and her sub.

The kiss was going strong, and I was expecting it to last a deliciously long amount of time more, but then Iris's stomach made a loud grumbling. She pulled out of the kiss and said, "Darn. Guess I gotta dig you out so we can get some lunch."

Disappointed but a bit peckish myself, I nodded, and she began to dig me out. Before long, enough of the sand was gone that I was able to pull myself out the rest of the way. "Better hit the showers," I said, as we were both sandy.

"Yeah," she agreed.

After a quick detour to the showers to get clean, we went to a lot nearby that had a bunch of food carts parked there, with different kinds of food. I was not the least surprised when Iris wanted to get food from a place with tacos, even though it wasn't a Taco Tavio's. This one was called Divine Tacos and Burritos. I wondered about the name, until I found out that the owner of the cart was named Jesus, which made me giggle. It wasn't pronounced at all the same as the famous Jesus the Christ's name, but it was still amusing. And a little unusual, on Paxum. Christianity was a bit of a minority religion on Paxum as well as on most other worlds these days. True, the founders of Paxum had been mostly Unitarian Universalists, and UU was originally a form of Christianity, but the Unitarians hadn't considered themselves Christians for at least a few centuries now.

So we got some tacos - Iris's very spicy, naturally - and sat down at a table to eat and talk about various things as we did. Mostly we discussed religion, since I was thinking about it and had brought up Christianity.

"Well, there's a lot of UU's on Lucem, too. But there's also a lot of Hindus and Buddhists, too. I think the top three religions are Unitarian Universalism, Buddhism, and Humanism."

"Ah yes, there's a lot of Humanists here, too. Mostly secular Humanists, though."

When we were finished eating, we washed up and then went back to the beach. Iris felt too full to swim, so we stayed on the beach.

"Want to do sand castles again?"

"I dunno, I'm not much good at them."

"Well it can be a joint venture this time, I'll help. Which is to say, I'll build it and you design it."

Her face lit up at this. "Okay, that sounds good."

And so, taking my directions from Iris, I built while she suggested ideas. I came in occasionally with advice when something she suggested wouldn't work, which was my subtle way of helping her get a handle on the medium of sand, because knowing how something works in the real world is a good idea for a designer. True, I didn't know how well or poorly she understood other materials, but hey, whatever, I knew she had trouble with sand, and you never know what kind of knowledge can be useful to us creative types.

Halfway through, another young girl around Iris's age, more or less, wandered over and started using a digger bot to build a sand castle within sight of ours. The two girls - Iris and the new one - were also in speaking range, and they got to talking while we were all working on our sand castles. I was intrigued by the other girl, but not at all in the same way as with Iris. The girl was smarter than average, but not enough to particularly catch my interest. No, what intrigued me was I couldn't suss out her ancestry. Her color was interesting, as was her face; her hair was black but its texture was hard to determine by sight; and while she was pretty and wore a two-piece bikini that showed off her lovely belly, my interest was purely a mix of aesthetics and curiosity about her ancestry. After almost 20 minutes of wondering, I finally decided to ask.

"So, Karra, er... mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'm curious what combo of genetics made such an aesthetically interesting face." Iris looked at me in mild curiosity, but did not seem worried. Probably she had sensed that I had no interest beyond admiring God's artistic talent.

"Oh, Mama is black, and Daddy traces his family all the way back to Japan."

"Cool," Iris and I said in unison. The two girls giggled at this.

"So what species are you?" asked Iris.

"Paxite," Karra answered. "And you?"

"Lucite."

Karra nodded, and I admired the fact she didn't seem to find anything odd about being a Lucite. She looked at me as though to ask.

"I'm Paxite, too."

"Cool. I'm ten. How about you, Iris?"

"I'm..." She paused, biting her lip a little, and glancing at me. "I'm eight."

"Really? You sound a lot older."

"Yeah. I'm just... well... I read a lot."

I nodded. "She's being modest. She's--" I paused, stopping myself from revealing something Iris might not want widely known, especially since it hadn't been confirmed by testing yet, and finished, "very bright. It makes her sound older."

"Cool. What about you... er... I didn't catch your name."

"Rianna. Spelled R-I-A-N-N-A, even though it's said 'Ree-ah-nah.' I'm 30."

"Rianna is my girlfriend," Iris said, holding my hand. I gently squeezed her hand.

"Neat. My aunt Dana met her husband when she was 14 and he was 32. They have three kids now. You two getting married?"

"Oh," Iris said. "It's much too soon to think about that. I've only known Rianna for like, a month."

Karra smiled at us. "Well you make a cute couple. You look very happy, too."

"Thanks," Iris said, blushing. "So, uh, cool digger bot. Looks almost like a sandworm."

It was a transparent attempt to change the subject, but Karra didn't object. She talked a bit about it, because she didn't know much about bots, being basically an ordinary kid without any interest in machines. Iris looked like she wanted to tell Karra all about the toy, but held back. Instead, we finished our two sand castles; Karra also had some Autonotinies with her, and she put them carefully in both sand castles. The little robotic people just stood there scratching their heads or shifting their weight from one foot to another.

The castles all done, we took pictures of them, and then we all set together getting ready to have fun knocking them over. We set the digger on the castles, pretending it was an angry sandworm, and had fun watching the little Autonotinies running around in panic, and making sure they didn't run into the ocean. When the castles were knocked over and the Autonotinies gathered up and put away, the three of us went off chasing the digger-bot, having sworn revenge on the sandworm for its destruction, as well as for several 'deaths' it had caused to the people of the castle. Since all the Autonotinies were just fine, we pretended the dead people had all been eaten alive by the sandworm. Iris said we should find it and rip open its belly to free the people, and Karra and I agreed. But when we tracked it down, Karra dropped several large marbles down on the sand and protested that the sandworm was just waiting for its eggs to hatch so it could feed its babies

This sparked a pretend argument, Karra and I on the side of the mama sandworm, and Iris wanting to free the people in its belly. The three of us ended up rolling around on the sand pretending to be wrestling. Well, I was pretending, anyway, given how much bigger I was than them. They, however, were actually wrestling. Not very hard, but still genuinely wrestling. I was playing referee for the two of them when Karra's mother came over, smiling, to inform Karra it was time to go. Naturally, there was much disappointed whining because of this, but finally Iris and Karra traded contact info by touching their Omnuses together in a certain way. This done, Iris sadly waved farewell to her new friend.

When Karra left, Iris and I went into the ocean to swim and try to get some of the sand off of ourselves. While swimming, Iris told me that Karra lived in town, and so went to the beach often. This meant it would be too far to drive to visit Karra very often, but with the power of the Mesh, and three-vee chat, the two friends would be able to stay in touch. I was glad she'd made a new friend. According to earlier talks with Iris and her family, Iris did not have any real friends at school. Some acquaintances, yes, and most kids at school were nice enough, but nobody she really counted as a friend. I could relate; I hadn't had many friends growing up, either. Like I had been, she was just a lot nerdier than other kids.

We didn't swim around for long, surprisingly. Iris seemed to be too tired for it, but not tired enough to nap. So we left the water after a while and headed back up to the hotel. As we did, I asked her if she wanted to try the hot tub. She paused, thinking, then said, "Only if there's nobody else there."

As it turned out, there were about a dozen hot tubs located around the hotel. We were able to find one that didn't have anybody else in it, and as soon as we got to it, we slipped out of our sandals and into the hot, bubbling water.

The water was amazing! We both leaned back and relaxed, the hot tub designed in such a way that it was easy for Iris to lean against me. She looked rather thoughtful as she sat there, a look I recognized. I wondered what she was about to say. Finally, she looked up at me, while biting her lip.

"What is it, my queen?"

"Would you be mad if... if I told you I'd fibbed a little?"

"Hmm... that would depend on what you'd fibbed about. But as long as it wasn't anything that could get someone hurt, I don't think I would. And even in that case, I would want to know the truth so I could help keep someone from harm."

She sighed a little, but still seemed tense. "Okay, that's good. It's nothing like that. I just... well, it kinda started the day I met Kam, she said I was 8 years old, and I... I said 'That's right.' "

I blinked, and started trying to remember. "Yeah, I remember that. So... you're not 8?"

"No. Well, it never came up. Heck, I don't think I knew your age, even, until earlier. Anyway, I told Kam she was right even though she wasn't, because, well... to be honest, I don't know why I did it. And then other stuff happened and I forgot all about it. That is, until Karra asked me. And I knew she was 10, and I believe she was telling the truth, and so here I was older than her and yet you thought I was 8, so..."

"So you panicked, didn't know what to do, so you compounded the lie?" I supplied, gently, playing with her hair a little.

"Yeah. And now I have to tell you my real age and then I have to tell Karra about the fib, too."

"Well, if she's as nice as she seems, she'll understand. Like I do."

She relaxed significantly, leaning into me. "Thanks! I'm so glad you're not mad."

"It's an understandable thing, given the situation. Sometimes people do things without knowing why, and then it becomes a problem later. Just means you're human. But now that the secret is out, just how old are you? Older than 10, I know that much."

"You might not believe me."

"You're being honest with me, I can tell. Yeah, I believed you before, but I wasn't looking for signs of lies then, and I was this time."

"No, it's not that. Well, partly that. But also, I'm kinda small for my age."

"You're not going to say you're 20, are you?" I joked. "Not that I'd judge you for that. If you are, you can tell me."

She laughed. "No, not that old. I'm 13."

"Wow. Just a year younger than Kam was when she and I first started to have sexy fun times together."

"Not so much. I turn 14 in two months."

"Cool. Are you going to have a birthday party?"

"Before I met you, I would have said no. But now I guess we could have a small party. Kam could come, too. Hmm... I wonder if Karra could come, too? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask, sometime."

"Well, my little teenage love, I have a gift for you that I guess will have to wait until your birthday, now."

"Ugh, no fair teasing me! Now I'm gonna wonder what it is constantly til I get it." She began to pout very melodramatically, and I couldn't help but laugh, which got her laughing as well.

We sat there quietly for a time, snuggling each other, which was quite pleasant. Finally, though, she sat up and got out, because she was getting wrinkly.

"Ugh," she said as she got out, "my body weighs 1000 pounds and is made of jelly!"

I got out myself. "Then I suppose," I said, trying to pick her up, "that I'm... ugh... me too," I finished, giving up. "Here I was, all set to claim superhero status by picking up the 1000-pound girl made of jelly, and it turns out I'm just the same as you."

It took us a few minutes to get our land legs back. When we did, we dried off and went back to the hotel room, since it wasn't dinner time yet, and lay down on the bed like a pair of lumps. I really wanted to have the energy to cuddle, or kiss, or something, but I just didn't, and neither did Iris. We were still laying there when Matria and the others came in.

"Okay, lazy-heads, it's dinner time! We're going out for Chinese."

"Yay! Iris said, rolling herself upright as fast as though she'd never been tired. As for myself, I got up a little less energetically, and it took me most of the ride to the restaurant to shake off the exhaustion.

Iris surprised us all by ordering orange chicken, at the restaurant. I guess she'd gotten her fill of spicy food earlier. I had broccoli and beef. We chatted about our respective days, Iris and I leaving out the revelation of Iris's age, because I don't think her family knew I'd thought she was eight, nor that Iris had fibbed about her age, and there really was no point bringing it up.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and started packing up. We had to leave at 7PM, because I had to get home in time to get enough sleep before work in the morning. We were only 10 minutes late getting started, because Avra had misplaced something temporarily, but finally we were off.

“So,” I asked her as we got underway, “something I don't get is, you said you moved here when you were five. Is that true? And if so, how come we didn't meet til you were 13?”

“Yeah, that's true. We used to live on the other side of the school district. Same district this whole time, different house.”

“Well that explains some of the things you told me about school, too. And it explains why we only met recently. There's another library over there, one I've never even been to, much less worked at.”

“Yup,” she agreed.

Iris and I talked some more about this and that, but between the busy day and the food, Iris nodded off after about an hour and a half. I left her to her nap and spent the trip home reading, with occasional pauses to think about Iris's upcoming birthday, and the trip to get Iris tested. It struck me as even more amazing, in a slightly depressing way, that she'd actually managed to go 13 years, not 8, before anyone realized her genius. It made me worry about the state of the schools in the area.

Iris was still asleep when we pulled up to my house, and all through the unpacking of my things. I kissed her forehead before they left for their home, and she stirred faintly, but did not wake up even then.

When I finally went to bed myself, I dropped off within minutes of laying down, and dreamed about birthday parties.

* * *