(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 2"
By = Sure-as-elle

Author's note about the last chapter: There was some confusion from at least one reader about a sentence in the first chapter, where it has the sentence "the two sub-species were also gengineered to take 10 Terran years to age from Terran age 8 to Terran age 18, and thus we have much longer childhoods than the original Terran sub-species." What I meant to say is "the two sub-species were also genetically engineered to age half as fast as Terrans once they reach age 8, for a period of 20 years, and thus do not reach physical adulthood until age 30."

Also, any grammar/spelling errors in dialogue are most likely done on purpose, especially in Iris's dialogue.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Two: First Date

Saturday

That morning, I was dreaming about Iris; we were just holding hands and talking in the dream. I don't know how long the dream actually was, but it felt like an hour. And then the dream Iris started to glow brighter and brighter and became an angel. I was in awe, and would have stared for a long time, but she got so bright I couldn't look at her anymore. The light got so bright that I woke up and realized that the sun was shining right in my eyes. Birds were chirping, and it was all like something out of a daydream, and I turned over in bed and burrowed under the blankets to keep out the sun. I wanted to sleep, and dream of Iris more, but after what felt like 15 minutes, I knew it was no good, so reluctantly I got up and began my day.

Unlike the day before, I was calm. I guess it was because I knew Iris, and however well or badly the date went, it was probably unlikely to end in anything worse than just being friends and no more. Sure, I probably could have corrected myself with all the many horrible ways things could go wrong, including horrible accidents where we both tragically lose our lives, or I heroically sacrifice my own to save Iris's (which I would totally do for any child, even one I didn't know, but for kids I didn't know, I would probably at least hesitate a second or two first), but, well, I try not to think that way. I don't always succeed, but if I catch myself starting to go down roads like that, I can usually redirect my own thoughts. Didn't need to it that morning, though.

I sat down with a bowl of cereal to watch some three-vee cartoons as though I were Iris's age instead of 30 (hey, give me a break, I'm only 10 years out of my adolescence, and I have about 140 years of life left to live!). I hadn't dressed yet, so I was still in panties and an over-sized t-shirt that served as a night shirt. As I ate, a part of my mind looked forward to the day when Iris and I could do a morning routine like this together. This made me lose track of the show's plot as I daydreamed about the ways that could happen. I was unsurprised to find that it didn't matter how it happened; even just having her kip in the spare bedroom, everything totally platonic – just two friends having a sleepover, was enough for me. Maybe it was too soon to know, but nonetheless I knew she was my soul-mate, whether the relationship would ever be ever sexual or not.

After breakfast I showered, shaving my legs as I did. Then I lounged around the house nude and sat on the couch, the three-vee off, reading a biography of Barack Obama, a man who had once been the President of a country called the United States of America. As I read it, some of the events I read about seemed so outlandish – mostly the work of the Republicans – that I wondered how badly the histories had been warped over the centuries. Surely nobody sane enough to be elected to public office would threaten to default on their country's loans and threaten economic collapse and possibly government downfall just to try to ruin a leader they didn't like? And surely no more than a couple people like that could ever exist at a time! This was starting to sound like a book about conspiracy theories, but less amusing. I put down the book with a snort of disbelieving disgust and picked up a novel instead. It was about creatures from outside of our reality trying to destroy us all, and sounded far more plausible to me.

Later, deciding what to wear was a lot easier than the day before. I didn't have to impress anyone I didn't know, so I just wore something comfortable but nice enough to get away with wearing at most church services. It was a purple dress with a black short-sleeved sweater, as it wasn't terribly hot outside, and we'd be mostly indoors anyway. All in all, it took me maybe half an hour to get ready and go out to the car, and I wasn't even trying to be fast.

Yes, I had walked to her house the day before, but this time we would be going downtown, so it made no sense to walk all the way there when I was just going to have to have the car pick us up anyway. Speaking of which, the silly car sounded almost annoyed as I turned it on and set the location, almost as though it was annoyed it was being woken up for such a short trip. This wasn't the first time I'd wondered just how smart the AI in my car really was, if maybe the rise of the machines was indeed almost upon us.

"Your journey is less than 10 blocks, Rianna," it said churlishly, "are you sure you wouldn't rather walk?"

"Don't be rude, Jeeves, you tangled neural net; I'm picking up a date and then we're going downtown. If I want advice, I'll ask."

"Yes, Rianna," it replied, chastised but still petulant. I put the seat back a little and placed my hands behind my head, relaxing as Jeeves – the car's AI – carefully backed up and drove exactly the speed limit the short distance to Iris's house. As we pulled up, Jeeves sent a message to the house's AI, but it was unnecessary, because Iris threw the door open hard enough to where, even from this distance, I could hear the house's AI chastising her, and ran out to the car. Out of courtesy, I got out and met her partway. Matria walked calmly up toward us as I met Iris. I looked her over, and was impressed by her pale pink dress and white leather sandals. As I reached her, I got down on one knee before my little darling, her face flashing with startled bewilderment until I took her hand in mine and kissed it gently.

"My princess," I addressed her. "Your coach awaits."

She blinked at me a moment, then sighed with visible relief and amusement. I raised a single eyebrow questioningly.

"Wow, for a moment there I thought you were gonna propose marriage, and I was gonna say you're getting ahead of yourself!"

I laughed at this and hugged her. "Also," she told me seriously, "I prefer to be addressed as 'My Queen' or 'My Royal Highness.'"

"Of course, my Queen," I answered, kissing her on the forehead. I looked up at Matria, who had reached us. "So, ground rules?"

"Yes. I want her back by eleven. And I want her back safe and happy. I'll understand if she's unhappy for something that wasn't your fault, but if it was your fault, well... my response depends on what's happened."

"I'll guard her with my life, and get her home safely or die trying."

She chuckled. "Okay, I think that's a little excessive given the circumstances, but I'll take it."

"Wait, eleven? That late?"

"Well, the show ends at 10, so I'm taking into account driving time and, er..." she leaned forward and said quietly in my ear, "an after-show treat, if you feel inclined to offer it."

"Gotcha."

Iris frowned up at her mother. "Whatcha talkin bout that's so secret?"

"Nothing huge," Matria said, "I just didn't want to give you any ideas that she might not want to be pressured into."

Iris's frown turned into a very serious and yet hilarious attempt at side-eye, and we both chuckled at her expression. She just shook her head at rolled her eyes at the both of us.

"Any other ground rules?"

"Hmm... I think that about covers it. Oh, one more: have fun, you two."

"We will, mama," Iris ran up to peck Matria on the cheek as I opened the door, then literally hopped in like a little bunny. I made sure her fingers and dress were clear before I closed the door and went around to the "driver's" side myself.

Once we got in, I told Jeeves we were headed to whichever Taco Tavio's was closest to the Metropolitan Centre. I put up my seat most of the way so I could see where we were, and to talk with Iris as the car drove us there. As it pulled away, Iris excitedly waved farewell to her mother.

"Lavernia Metropolitan Centre For the Fine and Performing Arts," Jeeves commented. "There is a showing of-"

"Yes, Jeeves, we know. No need for commentary. We have tickets. Just shut up and drive."

"Yes, Rianna," he said. I could practically hear him roll his eyes at me; or he would, if he had eyes rather than cameras. We ignored him and talked while he drove.

If you're unfamiliar with Paxum's traffic control system, it's simple. The cars are AIs, which can mimic human behavior and might possibly be alive, but there's been no proof yet. Anyway, they're connected to a traffic-only Mesh (as opposed to the primary Mesh we use for almost everything else, which back in the 21st century would have been called the Internet). The local Traffic Mesh, or Traffic Grid as some people call it, was comprised of every single car in the region, cameras that watched traffic flow and looked out for pedestrians and other hazards, the solar roadways that lit up wherever they sensed something potentially dangerous or in danger on them, and Processing Nodes, which are basically Mesh servers that keep track of it all and make corrections wherever needed. Thus car accidents are extremely rare on Paxum. Probably Lucem, too, but I don't know a lot about that planet. (Those solar roadways, by the way, supply the planet with 90% of its power, wind and water power getting the other 10%. Some places have fusion generators, too, but those are places that need a lot more power to do science experiments, unusually high-energy industrial stuff, and the like.)

After maybe 40 minutes of talking while Jeeves took us sedately to the taco place, which seemed like a lot less because of our conversation, he neatly pulled up to the door and informed us we were there. Excitedly, Iris flung her door open and slammed it closed, while I got out more gently so as not to irritate Jeeves too much. Once we were safely to the door and out of his way, Jeeves drove off to find a place to park himself.

"Iris honey," I said gently and quietly as we walked in, "from now on do you think you could open and close the doors of the car more gently? Jeeves gets irritated when people manhandle his doors."

"Oh okay, sorry bout that. I just was really excited. I'll try to remember that."

We sat down across from each other in a couple of booths, and picked up the e-scrip menu to study it. They apparently had sensors in them that read the sizes of our hands, or were connected via Mesh or private Intramesh to the restaurant's cameras, because Iris's menu tried to suggest the Kid's Menu to her, but mine did not do the same thing. She ignored its advice and insisted on seeing the normal menu. It complied without any fuss, as it wasn't complex enough to have a personality like Jeeves did. It was just a regular computer. Hundreds of times faster than anything the 21st century ever had, but still just a computer, not an AI.

Aside from giggling a little at "fish tacos," which I admit I did too, Iris was very serious while contemplating her choices. Finally, though, she chose a five-taco meal and a small drink.

"You gonna eat all that?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yup."

"You gonna be able to walk to the Centre without bursting or puking?"

She gave me a very pointed yet slightly amused look and said, "Yes, I'll be fine."

"If you insist," I said, the corners of my mouth twitching. I looked at her order again, noticing this time that she'd ordered the tacos with 5-alarm sauce on them. I opened my mouth to say something, but knowing Iris's intelligence as I did, I quickly shut it again. Either she knew what she was doing or she'd soon learn a very powerful lesson. As tempted as I was to say something, I figured it was more likely she knew what she was doing. Though that didn't stop me worrying enough to have a hard time concentrating on what I wanted to order.

Iris's menu must have assumed we were ordering together, because her order blinked "pending" while I continued to struggle. Finally, I decided to get what she was having, but with sour cream and shredded spinach on mine. Also I opted for 3-alarm sauce, not being brave enough for 5-alarm. I ordered, we submitted our orders, and while we waited for our food we went back to our discussion of Dargon's history book, which she had finished a couple nights ago, though she hadn't had a chance to get the next volume yet.

I was just beginning to add in comments about what I'd read in the Barack Obama biography I'd read that morning, when a woman in uniform brought our meals over to us. We thanked her and soon, we had our mouths too full of spicy tacos to do any talking. I almost choked on my food when Iris took a third bite of one taco with no sign so far that the taco was at all spicy, whereas I was already taking a drink to recover from my first bite, and mine was two alarms less spicy than hers. She noticed, and gave me a look that plainly said 'ha, told you so!' without words.

"I guess that'll teach me not to make any assumptions about you, Iris."

"Darn right," she said with a smirk before taking her first bite of a second taco.

For the most part, we quietly ate our tacos. I supposed Iris's reason was the same as mine: the food was just so good that, despite the heat of it, I wanted to savor the flavor, and whenever I swallowed, my mouth began to crave more. So there wasn't really time to talk while we were busy granting the wishes of our mouths.

Halfway through her third taco, Iris slopped some down the front of her dress. I started to go into panic mode, wondering if I was going to have to run to a clothing kiosk for a replacement, but she just wiped it off with a napkin, leaving no stain or even a wet spot behind. I was confused, and Iris noticed this. "Oh," she explained, "it's a meta-material fabric. Looks and even kinda feels like cotton, but it's designed so stuff just comes right off. Makes cleaning up after four kids a lot easier, according to Mama."

"Oh. Wow. I'll have to remember to get the template for that, it sounds dead useful. Do they still have to be laundered?"

She shrugged. "Not much. Mama just dunks em in plain water for a minute or two and then hangs them up. They dry in a couple minutes, since they don't retain water or much of anything else. They do it by wicking moisture away. Amazing to wear in the summertime, even more comfy than runnin around nudie." She winked at me with a grin as she took another bite of taco, and I blushed as I imagined her running around the house or even the yard nude. Of course, I knew she could; our culture not being into body shame or sex shame, anyone could go almost anywhere nude at pretty much any time. Exceptions were made for safety, of course, but otherwise nobody gave a shit one way or the other what, if anything, anyone wore. Well, most people anyway.

I chuckled inwardly as I ate some more of my taco. Iris was turning out to be a little flirt. She made it clear last night that she wasn't ready for any "kissy or sexy stuff" yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't flirt and tease. It wasn't encouraged behavior, but neither was it discouraged. The way our culture worked, you had a greater chance of being killed by a shark while being nowhere near water than you did of being sexually assaulted; most people on Paxum, if they got too "excited," would just run to a nearby restroom to rub one out, try to kill their own mood by thinking of something gross or boring, or else just stew in their own juices. Some people even got excited by that last one. As for me, her wink merely made me a little more flustered than I'd been before.

After she finished her tacos and her drink, Iris asked if I wanted my last taco. I refrained from making a comment about getting her hollow legs ahead of schedule, and simply shook my head. I was still hungry for it. She shrugged and looked back at the menu, though by her expression I think she wasn't really hungry enough to order anything else. Probably just her mouth still craving more taco.

Putting the menu down, she began to talk at me, apparently not expecting a response. "I could eat here every day, for every meal, if Mama let me. But she says tacos are a sometimes food, since I eat so many at a time. I try to come here at least once a week, though. Maybe you can come with me when I do. I can work round your work schedule." I half-grinned at her pronouncing the word like "shed-jull" but had my mouth full of the last bit of taco, so I couldn't respond.

Iris rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Oh wait, you have a lunch break I guess. So we could go on your lunch break, if you wanted to. Or I could bring you some to the library. Or, well... no, on second thought I guess grease and librarians don't mix, at least not days they're working. Though I suppose you'd have to wash your hands anyway."

I chewed and swallowed, smiling at her prattle. I didn't mind that it wasn't her usual astute conversation, that it was more like the kind of prattle one would normally expect from an eight year old. I just liked hearing her speak, in that moment. Hearing that one-sided, half-to-herself babbling was like soothing music to me. It hadn't really dawned on me until that moment just how much I liked hearing her voice. There was something about its pitch and timbre that was almost hypnotic, but without dulling the mind.

She didn't seem to be aware that she was babbling as she started wondering aloud if the library's paper books were made of some kind of meta-material paper, since she couldn't remember ever accidentally marking on a book. I was done with my food and drink, and had been about to snap her out of her monologue when she'd said that, and it made me pause another minute while I thought about it.

"Well," I interrupted, "that's an excellent question. I don't know the answer to that."

Iris blinked at me in bewilderment. "What's a good question?" Apparently, she had moved on in the minute I'd been thinking.

" 'Are the library books made of a meta-material?'" I answered.

"Oh. Oh yeah, that. Was I babbling?" I just grinned at her.

*

We were having a proper conversation now, as we walked toward the Metropolitan Centre. It wasn't until we reached the doors and noticed the sign for the concert that we paused.

"Damn, we're twenty minutes early," I groused, looking around. "But no matter, there's a place right over there to walk under some trees. Interested?"

Iris gave a little, slightly mocking curtsy and a grin, held her arm out, and said, "Why yes, milady, that would be lovely."

Rolling my eyes and smiling, I took her arm and we walked along the path through some trees, but it was slightly awkward with our height difference, so we changed to holding hands instead. The trees turned out to be some sort of flowering tree, and were in full bloom. One of the blossoms drifted lazily through the air and landed on Iris's shoulder. I carefully picked it up and placed it in her hair by her left ear, which was closest to me. When we approached the reflective surface of a window, Iris looked at herself in it, but was disappointed by the lack of proper colors. I held up my Omnus wrist computer and snapped some pictures of her and her new pretty flower.

"A pretty flower for an even prettier flower," I commented, and she blushed.

"How pretty am I?"

"In every way. Appearance, scent," I sniffed her hair, and she giggled, "texture," I stroked her cheek lightly with the back of my fingers, "but most importantly intelligence, spirit, and heart. I'd say taste, too, but I'd have to lick you, and I didn't want to startle, upset, or creep you out."

"Oh, go ahead," she said demurely, holding out her left hand.

"By your leave," I said, taking her hand in mine, and lightly licking the palm of her hand. "Hmm," I said thoughtfully, "salty. And--" I began to cough and flail a bit, trying to wipe off my tongue with my hands and making Iris's face look panicked, but it was over quickly.

"What? What happened?" she pleaded.

"Some of your five-alarm taco sauce," I said, my eyes watering. "You didn't wash your hands after eating, naughty girl. I hope you didn't use the restroom after eating."

She rushed to assure me she hadn't, and I rushed to calm her down and let her know I was fine and already ready to laugh at the situation. This got her to grin sheepishly at me. "Come to think of it," she said, suddenly looking pensive, "I should probably go to the restroom before the concert."

I looked at the Omnus on my wrist. "Yeah, let's both do that. There's about 10 minutes left before they start seating people."

It was a close call, but we went to the restroom and back to the line just in time for them to start seating people. As Iris wiped her still-damp hands covertly on her dress, which wasn't very effective, I got the tickets out and handed them to the attendant. Xe scanned our tickets, looked at the result on xyr screen, and stamped our hands with temporary nano-LED tattoos in the shape of the CL heart-within-a-heart symbol. I knew from previous experience that it would fall out overnight, and if not, it could be washed out in the shower. After a second attendant seated us and left a pair of e-scrip pages with us, and Iris looked questioningly at the temporary tat, I explained that to her.

Satisfied, Iris looked at the e-scrip page in her hand, and I followed suit. It had two buttons displayed on it, one for the show's program, and another for the menu. I pressed the button for the menu, and it expanded into the menu, the other button hiding, smaller, in the upper left corner. Iris copied me, and after a minute or two, we had ordered two drinks and some popped amaranth, which is like popcorn but healthier. A few minutes later, a robotic attendant came around with a cart, doling out drinks and amaranth from it. We got our order and it continued on its way. It made sense for a robot to be doing this job, as there were hundreds of people in the theater, and it would have been a difficult, demanding, and stressful task for a human.

I took a small bit of amaranth, since the show hadn't even begun to begin yet, and poked the button for the program. Along with a list of the songs of each dance, the names of the dancers, and the people playing the music or conducting it, the program also had lots of extras, like interviews with the dancers, behind-the-scenes stuff, a 2-hour long documentary about the troupe, clips of previous performances, short bios of the dancers, and several scores of still shots. The program was also linked to the three-vee cameras pointed at the stage, to give people better views through close-ups and to save a copy of the official recording of the show for later viewing pleasure. Of course, there were other uses for the material in the program, which we could take home, but nothing wrong with a little harmless fantasy. (The menu part of the program would doubtless go inert once the performance was over.)

Putting the programs lengthwise into handy program holders attached to the seats in front of us, we no longer had to hold the e-scrip programs to watch close-ups. Iris was having fun cycling through different cameras to watch the band setting up, and the stage hands finish up their work on the stage.

Before long, they finished setting up, and the lights turned off. The chatter of the crowd died out, the stage lights turned on, and the show began.

I could try to explain the whole experience, but you really have to see it for yourself. I will restrict myself to the highlights, instead of boring you with a crappy retelling of the whole thing. The performance was a relatively modern take on Swan Lake I think, as someone had interpreted (how liberally I don't know) for pole dancing. I have to say, it was a good interpretation. It had all the elegance of the original ballet version of Swan Lake, with an added dimension as the dancers, as modestly clothed as the necessities of gripping a pole with body parts like thighs permitted, did all sorts of acrobatics on poles both vertically and horizontally aligned. They swung around poles by their arms, climbed up poles backwards and forwards, suspended their bodies over the stage holding onto the pole with nothing but their thighs, spun around in that same suspended state, jumped down from one pole to another to be caught by the hands of another dancer also on a pole (both vertical and horizontal poles), slid down some poles and spun straight outward by their hands on others, and did somersaults on the horizontal poles. They also did something similar to somersaults on the vertical poles, using their calves and forearms instead of hands and feet to grip the pole. Their feats of strength and skill and daring got oohs, ahhs, gasps, applause, shrieks, and even screams from the audience, for everyone watching could see this troupe – mostly children with a few adults mixed in – were risking life and limb for their entertainment. (Well, there were cushions on the stage for safety, but there was still risk involved.)

I think the best part of the show was the intricate human diamond shape toward the end, where all the dancers in the troupe were hanging from different poles in different precarious positions, hands grabbing other hands or sometimes feet, the right and left points of the diamond made of two adult dancers holding their entire body weight, straight outward, in their two hands without any help. That had to hurt! Even more impressive than that, they held the diamond shape for several minutes (no idea how many) while the smallest member of the troupe, an 8 or 9 year old girl, took up a position in the middle and did a solo dance up in the air that ended with her bending in half while facing the audience suspended between two vertically-alligned bars, her legs bending over her shoulders. She held it for maybe 30 seconds, then moved her legs, straight, to either side and held that pose for another 30 seconds, before starting up a series of spins, in-air twirls, and daring leaps, before landing on the floor and doing a split, and bowing as she did. And then everyone went into one awesome final number that I won't even attempt to describe, as there was too much going on at once to relay, even if I could remember it all.

When it was over, there was the briefest moment of utter silence before the theater exploded with noise as everyone stood up, jumped up and down, screamed themselves hoarse, whistled, howled, stamped their feet, and clapped their hands raw to let them know how awesome they were. I couldn't even see the stage for all the exultant audience members, but watching the recording later, they had all bowed multiple times, tried to leave a few times only to come back out for more bowing while flower leis, feather boas, and even the odd panty or two were all tossed on-stage in celebration. Despite the noise, Iris managed to convey to me instructions to lift her up over the crowd, which I did; she immediately began to scream and pump her fists and hoot her appreciation along with everyone else.

As soon as we managed to extricate ourselves from the mass of people flowing out the exits of the building, we walked to a public park a few blocks away to get away from the noise. My ears were ringing for a few minutes in the blessed silence, and though it was late, we took the time to just walk hand in hand quietly through the park, the solar-panel sidewalks lighting the path for us. We didn't speak. I don't think either of us could, after all the screaming and cheering earlier, and we were both enjoying the silence.

After maybe 15 or 20 minutes, we came across a mandolin player playing under a streetlight. The man, whose skin was lighter than mine but still the brown of African ancestry, made a movement like he was going to put his instrument away, until he saw us.

"Out kinda late for playing music, aren't you?"

"Hoping to bring a quieter kind of beauty to the people leaving the Metropolitan Centre. But they're mostly gone now, so I was gonna head home. But, oh," he said, spotting the still-glowing CL logos on our hands. "Lovers out for a stroll, then?"

"Yes," I replied. "It's only our first official date, but we've been friends for a couple of weeks."

"Wow," he said, scratching his head with the hand that wasn't holding the mandolin, "that's fast. But from where I'm sitting, looks like the beginnings of true love."

"I hope so," Iris said before I could.

"Me too," I agreed, looking at her and noticing in surprise that the flower from earlier was still in her hair.

"Well dang, but I'm a sucker for love and romance. I can't put my mandolin away yet; this calls for a slow-dance song. That is, if you're interested?"

I looked to Iris, and was glad to see the radiant grin on her face as she nodded excitedly.

"Okay then, one slow song coming up," the man said, positioning his mandolin to play again. I didn't know what to do with my arms at first, and nor did she, but soon I had mine draped over her shoulders, and her arms were around my waist.

The musician sent a simple chord into the night to start, then began to weave a lovely slow song I didn't recognize around us as we began to sway to the music. It was lovely but awkward, and it didn't take long for Iris to try standing on my feet to get her head closer to mine; it wasn't terribly effective. It was also rather painful for me, so in even less time I lifted her up and set her standing on a nearby park bench, where the height difference was much more manageable.

Iris leaned her head on me under my chin, and I rested the soft part under my jaw onto her head. We held each other close and swayed gently to the simple, calm, beautiful music he played for us. It was like time slowed down, and nothing else existed outside of Iris, myself, and the man playing the music. Even the man seemed far away, and his music might have been part of the fabric of reality, the mandolin's strings singing the two of us into existence as though she and I were the very reason for there being a reality at all. The mandolin player was God, and we were His creation.

It felt like we were there in that personal Paradise dancing for hours, but it wasn't that long. My Omnus beeped with a message from Jeeves saying he was coming to pick us up now, or we wouldn't have time to get back by 11. I lifted my head to tell Iris, and noticed she was asleep in my arms, only chance and my grip on her keeping her from falling.

The man stopped playing shortly after my Omnus beeped, and he looked at me questioningly. I mouthed, "My car says we have to go home or we'll be late," and he nodded, mouthing back, "You cherish her." I responded with a silent "I think I already do," and his grin was the biggest I'd seen it all night. It was still probably dwarfed by my own.

As quickly as I dared while still being very cautious not to wake her, I took Iris up in my arms and carried her over to where Jeeves was pulling up. No doubt seeing my predicament with his cameras, Jeeves opened both front doors at once. Because it didn't really matter and because it was closer, I put her in the so-called "driver's" seat while I got in the passenger's side instead. After making sure we were both clear of his doors, he closed them. Iris was already secure; I secured myself and Jeeves began to drive away towards home.

She slept the whole way there, and I spent that same time just watching her sleep with what I hoped was a beatific grin on my face. It wasn't until Jeeves pulled up and opened the doors that she woke up a little, mumbling about how she was trying to sleep. But she woke up enough in the time it took me to get to her side of the car that she was able to talk while I held her in my arms.

"I had lots of fun tonight, Rianna," she mumbled at me. "I hope we can do something else soon."

"Likewise, my little Iris blossom."

I carried her to the door. Someone inside must have been watching for us, because I didn't even have to knock when the door opened. Matria stood there, looking at Iris in momentary concern before recognizing that her poor little sweetheart was all tuckered out and barely awake.

"Mama, can Rianna curryme ta ma bed?" Iris slurred wearily.

"Of course, sweety. Rianna, follow me."

Wishing I'd gotten Iris into a better hold first, I struggled to follow Matria upstairs into Iris's bedroom. Sadly, I didn't get a good look at the room, as it was dark, lit only by a night-light. I lay her in bed and kissed her forehead.

"I dinnit... I dinnit brush my teef yet," she slurred so badly I felt certain she'd fall asleep on the spot, but she didn't.

"That's okay, sweety; one night isn't going to make a huge difference. You just go to sleep."

"Goonight," Iris said thickly. "See ya layder, Ri... Ri..." and then she was asleep again.

*

After saying my goodbyes to Matria, I told Jeeves to drive himself home, because I wanted to walk. "Yes, Rianna," was all he said, but it sounded both exasperated and amused.

As he drove off, I walked along the sidewalk, feeling almost like I was floating home, I felt so amazing. Looking back, I'd say I was drunk or high on romance, pleasantly intoxicated by Iris and the romance of the night. I felt briefly annoyed that I hadn't gotten the mandolin player's name, but it was quickly crowded out by my mind replaying that dance in the park. In that moment, I could barely even remember the event we'd gone to except as something small on the horizon of my memories. I must have looked really sappy as I twirled and swayed with an invisible dance partner as I walked home.

I barely even noticed Jeeves in his parking spot when I approached my house, and I don't actually remember getting from the front yard to the inside of my house, I was so lost in my own little world, but I somehow managed to brush my teeth and get changed for bed, deciding I'd shower in the morning.

You might think I masturbated, but honestly, I was too far lost in my romantic high for it to even cross my mind. It felt like both hours and just mere minutes I lay there giggling like a fool, staring at the ceiling and sighing with a shuddering catch in my chest every few minutes. At some point, my now-embroidered memories of dancing with Iris drifted into dreams. I slept better that night than I had in months, even though I twirled and spun with my lovely Iris for what felt like all night long, on a ballroom floor made of flower petals and rainbows.

~ ~ ~

(To be continued)

(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 3"
By = Sure-as-elle

Author's note: Paxum has a different school system than the United States. There is hardly any homework at all, because homework is counterproductive; the schools are low-stress, teachers work one-on-one with the students in their small classes to figure out how they learn and how to make learning the necessities of life interesting to learn, treating children as unique human beings with highly individual interests, learning styles, and patterns. Because the teachers are intimately aware of their children's progress, tests are rarely needed; when they are called for, tests are done in a disguised way to keep the child from knowing xe is being tested. It is more structured and focused than Montessori schools, but is still a far cry from the rigid, assembly-line "education" system of the US. Teachers on Paxum also get assistance from teacher's aides and from the school's AI.

* * *

Chapter Three: Sunday Surprises

On Sunday morning, I was awoken by my bladder a full ten minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I turned off the alarm and went about my day getting ready for work later at 10 AM. It was 9:30 already. But then I only eat cereal in the morning, and I live just a few blocks from where I work. I was ready in 20 minutes, and was still five minutes early.

I spent the first couple hours doing my job with my mind dwelling on the date the night before, and whenever we had lulls in the traffic, I told Aren all about it. As far as I know, Aren is a happily married bisexual teleiophile, but that didn't stop her wanting to know every detail about the date Iris and I had. She was stunned by my description of the pole dancing, and told me she was thinking about seeing it sometime, which made me happy to know I'd possibly converted someone else to the pole-dancing fandom. But of course the part she loved best was the part that I, too, had loved best; the dance after the concert. Aren actually had to stuff her fists into her mouth to keep from squealing, since she didn't want to disturb the patrons.

Not until shortly after noon did Iris show up, waving with a smile briefly before finding her way to the Dargon books by memory. I was busy checking another patron out, and so could only wave back. I was still busy checking patrons out when Iris got in line, a huge stack of books in her hands. When it was finally her turn to be checked out, I noted she'd grabbed the next four Dargon books in the series, as well as a 300 page book on how to build your own custom VC (VR computer), and three novels, one adventure and two romance (both romances were by authors I'd recommended to her).

"A little light reading?" I asked her jovially.

"Yes," she said, with a totally straight face.

As I checked her out, I started checking her out, and what I saw almost made me drop what I was holding. Today she was wearing a backless halter top, blue with bright yellow sunflowers all over it, and a short skirt of the same blue as the top. Her shoes were the same white buckled sandals that I'd seen so many times on her. I hadn't realized the night before that she'd been wearing tights for both our date and our pre-date, but today she had bare legs and feet under her sandals, and I sure noticed that, even though it was a little difficult to see her legs from that angle. Her skin was a nice honeyed amber color, and seeing it for the first time on her legs made me tingle pleasantly and feel warmer. It also put a small catch of emotion in my breath, and by the way Iris smirked up at me, I could just tell she'd noticed.

"Is it hot out there today?" I asked in lieu of a comment on her clothing.

With a knowing smirk on her face and in her tone, Iris responded, "Yeah, sure is. Hot in here, too, don't ya think?"

Aren chuckled and I did indeed feel very warm all of a sudden, with a mixture of embarrassment and lust.

"Um, well, cool," I said lamely. "Well here you go, Iris my Queen."

I slid the books over to Iris, and as she reached to grab them, her hand touched mine. Now I know what an accidental touch feels like, and this was not accidental. The way she touched my hand, and the length of time she did it, while no more than five seconds, made it obvious she was teasing me. I resisted the urge to either fan myself or reach forward and kiss her, as there were still a couple people in line behind her.

She took her books and put them in a bookbag, slung it over her shoulder, and made to leave, but instead asked, "When's your lunch break?"

"Don't have one today. We're only open til 2PM, so aside from a granola bar, no food until then."

"Oh, well, that's good too. I'll be over in the lounge, reading." She waved and left, and I waved back. Before she was out of sight, she blew me a kiss, and I naturally "caught" it and blew my own back.

*

When 2 o'clock rolled around, Aren and I finished closing up. Iris was still in the lounge, so engrossed with the book about building VC's that she jerked with a startled cry when I said her name. Admittedly, I had stood there watching her for a few moments before speaking, because the moment I saw her sitting there, her book propped up on one knee, her right foot resting on the chair so her panties were visible, made such a great pose I just knew I had to draw her in it. So I admit I took a picture of her with my Omnus wrist device before I got her attention.

"Oh," she said, recovering quickly and blinking around at the dimmed lights, "the library's closing already?"

"Yes it is, my Queen. You've been sitting here reading for nearly two hours straight. A good book, I take it?"

"Oh yes, very," she said, getting up and following me to the door. "I knew a little of this stuff, but this goes into so much good detail, which is good, cause I wanna make my own system. The one downstairs is the family system."

"Wow. Between this, the building stuff in the toyroom, and the designs in the VC you told me about, you sound like you're on your way to being an engineer."

She beamed at me, and I locked the library door behind us. "Yeah, I've been wanting to be an engineer for a couple years now. But mainly cause I wanna invent stuff, too."

"You gonna go into nanoengineering as well?"

"Well yeah, I hope. All the best inventing comes from nanoengineering anymore."

"You hope?"

"Well yeah, I dunno yet how good I'll be at it. I've got a long way to go before I get to a point where I'll know if I can do it."

I patted her shoulder comfortingly, saying, "Oh, I'm sure you'll be great at it. After all, from what little I know of nanoengineering, it's all done in VR anyway. You model your inventions in VR, have the computer turn it into a template, the material is printed out, you test it to make sure it works right, and there you go. Hell, you probably have the know-how already to experiment with nanodesign at home. For all you know, you could become famous for inventing something at age 8 or 9. A lot of great inventions over the centuries have been made by kids. Hell, even back in the 21st century there were kids inventing things like a way to clean up the garbage and pollutants in Terra's oceans, or the girls that made an electrical generator powered by urine."

Iris made a disgusted face but hugged me and thanked me for the encouragement anyway. I had to stop so she wouldn't knock me over; luckily we were just on the sidewalk and not halfway across a street. Not that the Traffic Mesh would let any cars run us over, but accidents could still happen.

"Well with that in mind," Iris said excitedly as we continued on our way, "maybe I can do something in nanoengineering for the science fair."

"Science fair, eh? Looking that far forward already? Cool. Well that sounds like a lovely idea. You let me know when the science fair is, and remind me the day before, and I'll come see you in it." Then I was struck by a related thought, and continued, "That reminds me, when do you start school again?"

Iris faltered a little. "Two weeks from today. Two weeks from now, and I won't be able to come to the library as often!"

"Well I work from 10 AM to 4 PM on Tuesday through Thursday, from 1PM to 9PM on Fridays, and I have Saturdays and Mondays off. Though, I could always ask to trade Mondays and get the whole weekend off. Orrin has been asking for more hours lately, and I don't think he does anything on Sundays."

"Oh, so I could meet you at the library most days and we can go places from there."

"Sure thing. And then we have Saturday together as well. And Sunday, too, if I can convince Aren to change my schedule."

"Aren's in charge of your schedule? Well just tell her why you want the change, and I'm sure she'll be glad to change it."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Suddenly we were standing at my front door. I turned to Iris and asked, "Do you have the permission of your family to be here now?"

"Oh, I completely forgot!" Iris tapped some things on the panel of her own Omnus and was soon having a conversation with a little three-vee version of Matria. "Mama, the library is closed. They were really busy, so Rianna and I hardly got to talk at all. May I please have lunch and maybe even tea with Rianna?"
"What does Rianna say?"

Iris turned the three-vee projection on her Omnus so that Matria was facing me. "It's fine by me if it's fine by you, Matria."

Matria nodded and smiled. "You two have fun, then. See you later, Iris honey. Love you."

"Love you too, Mama," Iris said and tapped the panel to end the call.

I opened the door and Iris followed me in. "Oh, by the way, in the future please don't have your feet on the furniture of the library, okay sweetie?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry bout that."

I hugged her. "It's okay. So anyway, what would you like for lunch? I think we should go out to eat, or order in. I don't want to make anything right now."

"Can we order delivery then? I just wanna stay here with you today."

She kicked her shoes off and plopped onto the couch. I went into my bedroom briefly to change into shorts and a t-shirt, then plopped down next to her, kicked my own shoes off, and we spent a few minutes deciding what to order. It took some time, but we finally decided on Chinese food. I ordered cashew chicken with curry and rice, and Iris ordered Kung Pao Shrimp, extra spicy, but with lo mein noodles.

While we waited for our food to arrive, Iris cuddled up to me and she and I talked about what she was reading. But we didn't get very far in the discussion before I started to notice she was fidgeting a lot and rubbing her back.

"Your back sore, my Queen?"

"Yes. I didn't have that backpack on long, but I musta had it on really wrong, cuz my back hurts."

"Well would you like me to massage it for you?"

"Yes, please." And with that, she flopped over face-down on the sofa.

"It would probably work better on the floor, the sofa has too much give."

"Great idea," she said, getting down onto her belly on the floor. I followed her, and as I knelt behind her, I took a few moments to admire her bare back and legs before I began to expertly massage away the knots in her back muscles.

"Mmmm... you're really good at this. How'd you get so good, Rianna?"

"I had a lot of spare time last year, so I took some massage therapy classes. It's good to have someone to practice on, after all this time."

"Well, ohhhh... this is so good I think I can get Mama, Papa, and Taanlen to volunteer for it, if you want."

"That might be cool. Still, you may enjoy getting a massage, but I really enjoy giving you one."

She attempted to giggle but it turned into an almost orgasmic shuddering moan. I must have done something that felt really good. No wonder some people talked about "erotic massage." I'd not touched anything except her back, and yet she was practically melting into the floor. I wondered if she would later make lame excuses to get me to give her another massage. Well, I thought, I'll just have to let her know she doesn't need an excuse. Seeing how much she's enjoying this makes me feel pretty awesome myself.

After a few minutes, Iris made a small sigh that sounded decisive, waved her right hand feebly, and said, "OK, that's 'nuff for now." Obedient to my Queen, I stopped and stood up with the unmoving help of the sofa arm. I looked down at Iris, and the way she was laying there on her belly, so relaxed, reminded me of a cat I used to have that would flop down, his legs every which way, limp as a rag doll. I know, because I used to pick him up when he was like that, and you'd think he was inanimate the way he didn't respond. I wondered if Iris would be the same way.

The house AI beeped at me with a message that the delivery guy was pulling up. I went to the door and got our food, thanked the man for his work, and set the food on the kitchen table. I went back into the living room and saw Iris was still laying there, sighing softly.

"Dinner is served, my Queen."

"Nggghhhh..."

I poked her gently on the thigh with a toe. "I'm not gonna feed you while you're on the floor, you'll have to sit up."

"So comfy..."

"The floor is comfy?"

"Oh. Right. Is there a word for 'not comfy, I just can't get the energy to get up'?"

"Hmm... is 'lazy' the word you're thinking of?"

She shook her head slightly. "No, that's not it."

"How about 'Iris has melted into the carpet and now I need to scrape her out like so much gum?'" I almost laughed at my own comment, but managed not to. Iris giggled, though. But said nothing and didn't move. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plastic spatula and took it back into the living room.

I put on my best melodramatic voice and said, "Oh my goodness, there is this big melted lump of Iris in the carpet, guess I'll have to scrape it out," got on my hands and knees again, and started to stick the spatula underneath her like I really was trying to scrape her out. Iris started laughing and wriggling about.

"No!" (more laughter) "I'm up, I'm up! Staaaap iiiiit!"

"Okay," I said, and immediately stopped. Iris sat up, leaning against the sofa for a moment, and looked up at me and sighed.

"Up!" she commanded, holding up her arms like a much smaller child. "Your Queen wishes you to carry her to the food."

Tossing the spatula on the end table, I hunched over with one eye closed and responded in an Egor voice, "Yesh, mashter, ash you wish, mashter," and hauled her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Egor-limping into the kitchen.

"ACK! Put me down, peasant! This is most undignified and unbecoming of a Queen!"

I set her down standing on the kitchen floor by the table and said in my finest butler voice, "Dinner is served, Your Highness."

Finally she sat down. I followed suit and soon we were dumping our Chinese food onto our plates and tucking in. I was only mildly surprised that Iris used chopsticks like a pro, even better than I did. We ate normally and without comment for a few minutes before I asked, "Want to try some cashew chicken?"
"Sure. We can trade."

I held out some cashew chicken for her on my chopsticks, and she snapped it up quickly. Then I tried some of her Kung Pao Shrimp the same way. Before long, this ended up with us feeding each other each other's own meals, so I was using my chopsticks to feed Kung Pao Shrimp to Iris, while she fed me my own cashew chicken. This was the cause of many snickers and giggles from the both of us, especially when we messed up and dropped lumps of food on the table. We scooted right next to each other to make it easier after one piece fell on the floor, and we were as close to cuddling as we could be in two separate chairs.

Then Iris upped the ante by snatching some of my chicken away from me at the last second. I was all prepared to be annoyed with her, especially when she put the piece in her own mouth, but then I noticed she was merely holding it with her mouth. I could see the giggle and the dare in her eyes, and knew what she wanted me to do. So I leaned forward and carefully extracted the chicken piece from her mouth with my own. We came very close to kissing, and possibly we technically did. She chuckled as I ate the piece.

I swallowed, and noticed Iris had some sauce on her lips. So in tune with the silly mood in the air, I leaned forward and licked the sauce off her lips. She wiped it off a little (I did lick her, after all) but was still smiling and grinning. Then she looked at her plate. "All gone," she said, disappointed. "Oh well, I can cuddle you now."

While I was still eating, Iris sat down in my lap and snuggled up to my chest. I ate the last of my meal, trying not to drop any food on her as I did, but she didn't move much even after I finished. I set Iris down on the chair while I cleared up. She got up as I did and said "Sofa please."

"No, you wash your hands first. Wouldn't hurt to wash your face, either."

She sighed as though she was being extremely put-out, but did as asked. Before long, we had both washed up and were sitting together on the sofa again, Iris snuggling against my chest again. We began to talk again, about all kinds of things, but the mood was calm and even a little quiet. She ran a hand along the dark brown skin of my arm, and I gently ran the fingers of one hand through her hair, softly against her cheek, and along the nape of her neck. My other hand was a little awkwardly positioned, but I still managed to run its fingers along her back with a soft touch. Occasionally it tickled her, and so took some adjustments to avoid doing that, but after a while I got into the rhythm of it.

I can't say how long it was before she shifted position a little, her head going higher up to my collarbone, because I was losing track of time again. I resumed my gentle caresses, and bowed my head a little to take in the scent of Iris's hair. It was devoid of artificial scents, and so her natural aroma – the warm, clean, earthy scent of childhood – was untainted by any other odors. I don't know if you know what I mean, exactly, but every child I have ever been around gives off the same kind of scent; it is clean, warm, and smells a little like soil, like the smell of the earth. Every child I've been around smells that way, though each child's scent is slightly different. Granted, I can count the number of young girlfriends in my life on one hand, but I used to babysit my younger siblings, and then neighborhood kids, and they all smelled that way. I've always loved that scent. I don't know if it's a scent all human children in the universe produce, but every child I've ever met did. And it is quite different from the much muskier scent adults produce. No matter how often people bathe, once the scent of the shampoo fades, or if they use unscented shampoo, a person's natural scent can be detected, and adults and children smell quite different.

If Iris knew I was smelling her hair on purpose, she gave no sign she knew or minded, so I continued. For how long, I don't know, but eventually Iris lifted her head and looked at me. I kissed her forehead, and she smiled.

"Yes?" I asked, sensing a question building.

"Can we lay down on the sofa instead of sitting up?"

"Sure thing, my Queen." I scooted my top half sideways a little, which helped me to slump down against the pillows at the end of the sofa. We were now laying down, though also sitting up at an angle, which was good because if we were completely horizontal I might have gotten vertigo.

"That's better," she said, and scooted up until her face was over mine. Slowly, gently, she leaned closer and began to kiss my cheeks, my chin, my forehead, even my eyes and nose. I couldn't help but chuckle a little, because it tickled somewhat.

I was closing my eyes when the kisses stopped. Opening my eyes to see why she'd stopped, I saw Iris's gorgeous thistle-colored eyes staring into mine. It was like she was trying to memorize my retinal pattern, her gaze was so intense. I made a funny face at her to disguise my slight discomfort, and she seemed to snap out of a trance. Many emotions flashed through her eyes very rapidly, too rapidly for me to process at first, but then I saw the light of coming to a decision in her eyes, and without any more warning than that, she kissed me right on the lips.

This was no simple peck on the lips, either. Her cute little nostrils were flaring to get her more oxygen, for she was determined to kiss me properly. It was kinda wet, but pleasantly so. I had just started to take a more active role in the kiss when it got wetter. She was using her tongue, trying to get me to open my lips. A little surprised but pleased, I did, and soon our tongues began to explore each other as a certain something between my legs got even more excited than it had been up to that point.
It was bliss. Her scent filling my nose, the taste of her lips and tongue in my mouth, her small warm weight on my body, her legs brushing my own, strands of her hair falling around us and brushing against my ears and cheeks and neck, my hands on her exposed back and shoulders, and now she was running her own hands through my many braids, but less gently, as though she were considering holding me down by my hair at some point. She and I were the only things in the universe in that moment, even more singularly than we'd been the night before.

She surfaced for air briefly, then kissed me again. It was my turn to melt, and as I did, I barely noticed her cautiously pulling me against the sofa by my hair. It didn't hurt, it turned me on even more! Iris paused briefly mid-kiss, probably in response to my stiffness down below, for she giggled a bit into my mouth before resuming. And oh, that little minx, she scooted her body slightly away from it as she giggled, which was as good as a command from my Queen that I was to get no relief from her; she wasn't ready for that, if she ever would be, and in that moment I knew I didn't mind one bit. Quite the opposite! I didn't want relief in that moment.

After a while, Iris pulled her mouth away from mine and began kissing and sucking on my neck. I briefly wondered if I would get a hickey, before thought was driven from my mind. From there, she moved on to just under my ear, and then she was sucking my earlobe, which is one of my biggest turn-ons. My girl-cock was almost painful from all the excitement, and I wondered if I could get an orgasm just from snogging.

Iris moved on to the other ear, and I lifted my fingers up so I wouldn't risk digging my fingernails into her back. When she stopped, I felt like crying, but I was soon rewarded with more glorious tongue wrestling.

And then, mid kiss, as my girl-cock throbbed its most painfully with need, Iris pulled away from the kiss with an evil smirk on her face and sniggered at me. I really did cry then, just a little, realizing that she knew full well how much I wanted relief, and was denying it to me. She sat up at the other end of the sofa, wiping her face dry, still trying very hard not to laugh. She smirked at me, the little vixen, and said, "If you want relief, you can go into your bedroom and give it to yourself it if you want. I'll wait."

I practically ran to the bedroom and shut the door in an almost-slam on my way into bed to rub out my sexual tension and frustration. While I did so, I could hear Iris cackling like a madwoman in the other room. Maybe she hadn't set out to wind me up so, but I knew that when she saw the opportunity, she had taken it. I was dating a child with a very evil sense of humor, it seemed.

*

After I had taken care of my little problem, I went back to the living room to find Iris clutching a stitch in her side, but no longer laughing. Her face fell a little bit when she saw mine, and she asked sheepishly, "You're not cross with me, are you?"

"A little. But, well... there's no denying I enjoyed that immensely. I didn't know I would, to be honest, but I do. So if it happens again, I won't mind."

"Okay, good. Cause I was just enjoying kissing you, and then I saw your girl-cock making a little tent down there, and I knew you were, uh, getting excited, so even though I'm not ready for sex, and dunno when or if I will be, well... no harm in a little teasing, right?"

I sat down on the sofa next to her. "Ah, but when you stopped and told me to finish myself off, you enjoyed that, I could tell."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Well duh!" We both giggled at that.

I yawned. "Okay, would it be too much to ask to just cuddle again? No more kissy stuff, just cuddles?"
"A Queen's duty is to her subjects," Iris replied haughtily, and snuggled up to my chest again. Before long, we were back to that quiet mood we'd been in earlier, me stroking her hair, face, and back while she stroked my arm again, talking quietly now and then about not much. At some point, we drifted off to sleep.

*

My Omnus woke us both up after who knew how long, and groggily I answered it. Matria's slightly concerned face popped up and almost immediately relaxed into a smile. "Ah, so that's the explanation; you two lovebirds fell asleep. Is that a sofa?"

"Yeah. What time is it?"

"It's almost 6," Matria informed us.

"Oh crap. Tea!"

"Yeah, we were waiting on Iris. Is she coming home, or will she be dining with you again?"

"I dunno. Let me ask Her Highness. Iris?"

Iris was barely awake. "Home? Food? I dunno." She looked at me questioningly.

"Well, maybe you should, Iris. My food is kinda... well, I'm not as good a cook as your family is, and that's when I put forth the effort."

The look on Iris's face plainly said she'd barely even registered my words as being words at all, much less made any sense out of them.

Matria chuckled "Well that decides it, you need to come home and Mama will get you woken up with food and drink."

Iris must have woken up a little more, because she asked, "Mama, can Rianna come over for tea, too?"

Matria smiled warmly and said, "If she wants to, yes."

Well of course I did. I told Matria I'd love to join them, and soon I was changing into something comfortable but suitable to be seen wearing out in public. In this case, it was a simple one-piece dress. Getting out of my shorts and t-shirt was more work than getting into the dress was.

Tea with Iris's family was again simple, cold, and delicious, given the heat of the day and how it was lingering. Iris did indeed wake up a lot, though I think she may have still been a little on the tired side. Our discussion mostly involved Iris giving a slightly censored account of the day's events. Matria seemed to pick up on this partial dishonesty, and prodded for the truth. Iris rolled her eyes at her Mama and said, "Don't worry, Mama," she said a little pompously as she buttered a piece of bread. "We didn't have sex. I'm not ready for that yet. But if and when I ever am, it will be safe sex."

Matria nodded, seeing the truth in it. "Good, that's good."

"And even though we've only been officially dating a couple days now, I trust Rianna. She's shown me she considers my feelings, stops when she's told to, doesn't do stuff she shouldn't without my permission, and is very thoughtful and practical, as well as being fun to talk with. A Queen could not ask for a better subject."

Everyone chuckled as I felt my face warm up, and I suddenly became very interested in my potato salad. By the time I looked up again, the conversation had moved on.

"So," Taanlen said, considering me from the table's far opposite corner, "I never caught your surname, Rianna."

"Oh. My name is Rianna Goode."

"And a fitting name it is, too," commented Iris, folding another piece of buttered bread in half before biting into it.

"Hey, that reminds me, I never caught Iris's surname either."

"Our family's surname," Derris said, "is Zahane."

"Interesting name."

"Thanks. And in case you were wondering, no, I don't know what it means, if anything."

I shrugged. "A lot of surnames are that way."

After that, the rest of the Zahane family had Iris and I tell them all about our date from the night before. They were almost as good an audience as Aren had been earlier, and I could tell by the words they exchanged with each other that a family trip was in the works, probably to the next city over, where the Mocksville Children's Dance Troupe would be playing next.

When dinner was over, Iris took me back down to the toyroom. I kinda wanted to play with the Autonotinies again, but Iris took me over to the VC to show me some of her designs. Having never seen any of her work before, but knowing her intelligence, I knew to expect above-average work, but looking at the work coming up on the three-vee display nearly floored me. She started off the exhibit with a design for Mesh-linked swarmbots the size of ladybugs that could do precision work with scores of tiny little tools that, even with the computer's built-in tools, must have taken weeks to design. The little robots were extremely versatile and could be linked to an AI so they could easily be made to switch specialties.

Astonished, I checked the backstage data, which records the design process, which is useful data for many reasons. The reason I checked it then was to see how many tools she had used to make it, and my astonishment grew; she had used minimal tools. So unless she had spent hours in autistic hyper-focus – and to be honest, I had no idea if she was on the autism spectrum or not – it would have taken her months to design this. I checked the timer; the design had taken a month and a half to complete.

"Wow. So little tool usage."

She shrugged and blushed. "Well, most of the built-in tools were getting in the way. But if you look at this bit, you'll see I downloaded a few bonus tools. And then this one over here, I actually designed that tool myself."

"You made a custom design tool? Iris, that alone... if you can get that tool authenticated, that alone is enough to get you a lot of notice in the design world. Granted, it's the Mesh-design world as opposed to engineering per se, but still..." an impossible thought struck me then. "Iris, this... this isn't your first creation, is it?"

She snorted. "Oh God no. Most of my early stuff is pretty cruddy. No, I don't wanna show you any of that crud. Just the stuff I really like."

"Well just let me say WOW. This is the most intricate swarmbot design I think I've ever seen. I know I'm only an interested reader of stuff like this, and nowhere near an expert, but still... if this design is viable, if it works like intended... hon, I don't think you'd need to experiment with nanodesign to win the science fair, with this design. I mean, if you still want to do that, by all means do, but... I think this alone would floor most judges. The size and intricacy of those tools, I can't even begin to imagine the practical uses of this swarmbot, but I'd bet anything there's scores, if not hundreds, for people to figure out. Iris?"

Iris was hiding her face in her hands. "Iris honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, her voice muffled.

I gently pried her hand apart, and she let me. Her face was red as a tomato, and her eyes were watering; my lavish, if deserved, praise of her abilities had deeply embarrassed her.

"Oh Iris," I said, holding her close to me. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. But I meant every word. It's incredible. And you say there are others?"

She nodded weakly, not speaking at first. Then, as if it hurt to speak, she whispered, "this isn't even my best work..."

I revised my opinion of Iris then. I wasn't in love with a merely intelligent girl. I was in love with a child prodigy. If this girl didn't grow up to have her name in the annals of science and technology for the next 1000 years or more, it would be a truly damned shame.

*

Once I managed to comfort her out of her embarrassment, I decided that one jaw-dropping design at a time was enough for the both of us, and we went over to the Autonotinies after she put the file away. Iris was slightly subdued at first, but before long I managed to get her to forget all about her earlier embarrassment and really get into the game. As it was, we again were in the middle of a highly interesting scenario when Matria informed us it was Iris's bedtime. While Iris grudgingly trudged upstairs, I gave Matria a significant look. Matria nodded, and – knowing what Iris was going to want – we both followed her up to her bedroom.

As soon as Iris was in bed, Matria took me to the dining room and asked quietly, "What is it?"
"Don't be alarmed, because it's nothing bad. It's just... there's something I think you, Derris, and Taanlen need to see, on the VC downstairs. It's absolutely amazing, and the implications... I don't think you'll even believe me if I say it without you seeing the thing."

Matria nodded, and left the room. A few minutes later, I was escorting a bewildered Derris, Taanlen, and Matria downstairs, and pulling up the swarmbot design. It took some explaining of the meaning of the backstage data, everything Iris had told me, and everything I had told Iris, before it began to dawn on them what I was inferring.

"Wait," Taanlen choked out at last, "wait, so... are you saying... are you saying that our little Iris is... a genius or something?"

"More than that. I think you'll find, if you get some of her designs properly authenticated by a trusted, accredited authentication service, that Iris is, in fact, a child prodigy." They just gaped at me, unable to speak. I might have laughed if I wasn't feeling pretty much the way they looked.
I have to wonder if they had as difficult a time getting to sleep that night as I did.

(to be continued)

(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 4"
By = Sure-as-elle

Chapter 4: Normal Day, Normal Girl

I woke up Monday morning to my Omnus, which was sitting on the bedside table, vibrating and beeping at me about an incoming call. Groggily, I reached over and picked it up. Iris's face came up on the holo display. Confused, I looked at the time display; it was almost 8 AM.

"Iris. Kinda early, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sorry about that Rianna, but the adults over here are being really weird today. Not talking as much, sounding weird when they do talk, and looking at me funny. So can I come over? You can sleep some more if you want, I can just read."

"Well I was going to wake up soon anyway. Do you have permission to come over?"

She turned her eyes upward and said, "Fahima?" The holographic display shivered a little as a string of numbers and letters came up, and then the words 'AI insertion into call.' Iris's image became small and went off to one corner while a Middle-Eastern woman's face took over. There was something about the way the face moved that was too controlled to be a human face. This had to be the avatar of their house's AI.

"Hello," said a pleasant female voice with an Arabic accent. "I am Fahima, the AI of the Zahane household. At 735 hours, I recorded Matria Zahane giving Iris Zahane permission to visit Rianna Goode, if Rianna Goode also gave permission. Shall I display it?"

"Uh ... okay," I replied. The image shivered again and a three-vee recording of Matria and Iris's conversation about permission was displayed. It wasn't very long, but I could tell Matria was indeed acting a little oddly. Understandable, after what I'd found out last night, but still ... I decided I'd better have a talk with them at some point. Child prodigy or not, she was still a child and it was best to treat her like a normal human being as much as possible.

"Okay then," I said once Fahima's image returned. "Yeah, Iris, you can come over." Iris's small image jumped up and down a little, and she exulted and hung up. Fahima was still on the line, but soon said her polite farewells and hung up, too.

I put the Omnus down on the table and got out of bed to get ready. I still had my toothbrush in my mouth when Iris rang the doorbell. The avatar of my own house AI, Cleo (short for Cleopatra), appeared in the air before me, asked if I wanted her to let Iris in since I was busy. I gave her the thumbs-up, her image vanished, and I heard the door opening.

"Oh, you in the loo?" I rolled my eyes, since I couldn't answer. Cleo answered for me, thank goodness. I spat and rinsed, told Cleo to let Iris know I'd be awhile, and went about my morning routine.

When I finally got out of the shower and came out wearing a towel on my head and another over my body, I saw on my way to my bedroom that Iris was laying on her back on the sofa, shoes off, reading an ebook of some kind on an e-board, which is a bit like e-scrip but thicker and stiff, kinda like the front or back cover of a hardback book. They're heavier than e-scrip but not by a lot. Perfect for reading. Iris had hers held in front of her face by a flexible meta-material device that was being anchored to her head by being wrapped around her ears; looked a little odd, but kept her from having to hold her arms up for long periods of time. She even had it set to turn pages by voice command.

I came out of the bedroom later in comfortable clothes just in time to hear Iris say, "Turn," to her e-board.

"What you reading, sweetie?"

"Voice command off," Iris said, before sitting up and setting the e-board aside. "I'm still reading that romance novel you suggested to me, 'Under An Alien Moon.'"

"You enjoying it so far, then?"

Iris grinned. "Very much so."

"Excellent. Well, I'm gonna make a proper breakfast for once. Have you eaten yet?"

"No. I tried, but like I said, the adults were acting weird." There was something in her voice, in the way she said that, which was making me think that she knew exactly why they were acting weird, and was looking for some sign of it in me. I chased that particular 'elephant in the room' away by looking at Iris's thistle-purple eyes, and suddenly all I could do was sigh and smile like a lovesick fool. It took me a few moments to remember to get back to the process of cooking.

Iris followed me into the kitchen, wanting to help, so I let her get eggs and other ingredients. I was gonna cook us up some omelettes and some waffles, nothing too complicated. And with Iris's help, it went even faster than usual. Before long, we were sitting down to eat. My own omelette had ham and spinach in it, and some onions. Iris's, not surprisingly, had those things but also had so much cayenne pepper that it looked like she was eating a brownish-red pancake.

When we were done eating, and our dishes were in the dishwasher, I went into the bathroom again and used some mouthwash so I wouldn't have to brush again.

"What's that?" Iris asked.

"Odorless, tasteless mouth wash. Great for after meals. You want to use some?"

"Sure, I'll try it." She did, and looked surprised that it really didn't have any taste or odor.

After that was done, we lay down on the couch cuddling, each of us reading from our own e-boards for at least an hour, not talking. We didn't need to talk, just cuddling was enough in that moment. I'll admit, at first I had a hard time concentrating on my book with Iris's warm weight on top of me, but after a while I got comfortable and just lay there running the fingers of my free hand through her hair gently as we read.

I don't know how long we lay like that before Iris set her e-board away and started to look at me, but it didn't take me long to notice. I looked back at her curiously, but she didn't respond. She was just staring, with a thoughtful expression on her face. I don't know if she even noticed me looking back at her. She did this so long that I was starting to turn back to my book when she spoke. "Rianna?"

"Yes?"

She paused a moment before speaking. "I know you're pansexual and panchrono, but ... well ... do you have a preference? As far as genitalia is concerned?"

I smiled warmly. "Yes and no. Like yourself, I like girls more than guys, though I do like some guys. Technically, I'm not exactly panchrono, it's just the most convenient label; I like young girls, but not young boys. There are the occasional exceptions, some little boys that were amazingly gorgeous. I don't care if the young girls I like are cis or trans, though. It's odd, I know, that I love penis on little trans girls, but if the penis is on a little cis boy, I'm not interested. I don't care for little trans boys, either. Not sure why.

"Anyway ... with adults, I have a strong preference for women, whether cis or trans. Where men are concerned, I mostly go for older men. I've been that way as long as I can remember. I tried to seduce one of my elementary school teachers, but he wasn't even a little bit paedo.

"But also, I'm ... I guess I'd call it greysexual, or grey ace. I like masturbation, but sex I can take or leave. But sexual attraction, well, that's just another matter altogether. I masturbate to thoughts of having sex with people, but it doesn't bother me if I don't have sex."

"Have you masturbated while thinking about me?"

"From the first day I met you. Not every night, but often enough."

She smiled, a little distantly. "Good, good." I waited to see if she was going to say any more, as she was looking pensive again, and I was right. "So it wouldn't matter to you if I was cis or trans? It just matters that I'm a girl?"

I kissed her forehead. "To be honest, at this point I think I love you enough for your mind and spirit that you could end up a boy, whether cis or trans, and I would still love you and want to be with you. And I don't think it would affect our cuddles or kisses. I'm also friendly with little boys, even when I'm not attracted to them, and I think there's a strong chance you could have presented as a boy and I would still have fallen in love with you. Perhaps not as quickly, but still..." I trailed off.

Iris hugged me, her head on my chest. "I'm glad to hear that." I waited again, wondering if she was going to tell me she was a t-girl or something, but she didn't. When she finally lifted her head up again, she said, "This has been fun, but if we sit here all day, I think I might fall asleep, and it's much too early for that. We should do something."

So we spent some time discussing what to do, and the whole time we did, Iris sat on my leg in such a way that, had she been trans, would probably have hurt a lot, which deepened my confusion. Maybe she was cis, and worried that I would prefer other trans girls to cis girls? And yet I remembered the bulge against my neck the other day when I'd given her a piggy-back ride. What was going on here? I looked at her questioningly as I listened to her thinking aloud. She caught my glance and grinned coyly, otherwise ignoring my look. It suddenly occurred to me, she was doing this on purpose. Maybe she'd figured out how much the mystery of her genitalia was bugging me, and was teasing me, doing on purpose what she'd done mostly by accident the other day while we'd been kissing.

Well, I thought, if that's how she wants to play it, I'll just pretend it isn't bugging me. I got my expression under control, and contributed to the discussion. In a few minutes, we had decided just to go out window shopping. I called up Matria while Iris got her shoes back on.

"You know," Matria said after I asked her if I could take Iris out, "it's so tedious, all this asking all the time. As long as you let Fahima know where you and Iris are, you have blanket permission to take her pretty much anywhere in the city. Fahima knows what the exceptions are, and will let you know when you need to. Oh, and same time restrictions; have her here or at your place by 11."

"Thanks. You're right, it was a little tedious, but I didn't want to say anything. Can we stipulate that Iris needs my permission before she can come over here? I would prefer she not barge in while I'm in the middle of ... er ... something, if you catch my drift. Not yet, anyway."

"Understood and agreed. You two go wherever you want in town today, just have fun and be safe. Have your Omnus send in updates every now and then, okay?"

"Will do." Matria gave a small wave and hung up.

That taken care of, I grabbed my purse, and led Iris out to Jeeves. I assume Cleo told Jeeves of our plan, for his doors opened as we came out the front doors. And once we were both safely in, the doors closed. I told Jeeves a place to drop us off at, and we were underway shortly thereafter.

The trip did not take as long as the trip to the pole dancing concert had, maybe 25 minutes this time. Iris was talking at me about something she'd read in the book about how to build a VC, and since I knew nothing about any of that stuff, I just listened to her voice but not her words, getting lost in thought about the mystery that was Iris as I did. As it was, Iris had to prod me out of my stupor when Jeeves arrived at the destination. We got out, and Jeeves went off to find a parking spot.

"Let's try not to get anything today, we're just looking, okay honey? Of course, if you see something you absolutely must have, I might be convinced to get it for you, but I don't think your family will appreciate you bringing a whole bunch of things home."

"Gotcha," Iris said, immediately running to the nearest clothing store to goggle at the displays.

I suppose I should briefly explain about Paxum's economy. Some ignorant people say we just have machines make everything and we don't do any work, but that's not true. One thing that is true, is that we don't really have money per se. We have a system by which AI's and other computers track how many hours we work; those hours are put into personal accounts and work a little like money, in that we trade minutes or hours of our own past or future labor time in exchange for either someone else's labor, or products. And as an added incentive, the prices are usually 15% higher, so that if you spend - for instance – 60 minutes working on something, it gets sold for 69 minutes.

But basically, everyone's hour is worth the same, and there are people who take that idea further by refusing to charge extra, so that an hour working at a library can buy an hour-long dentist visit, or even an hour with a lawyer. Everyone gets their work time recorded by their Omnus; even artists record how long it takes them to make their art, including time to purchase and retrieve materials. Teams of AI's analyze the footage to make sure nobody is purposefully dragging their feet. You can take as long as you like to do something, but only time spent actually working counts. It's not as bad as it sounds; a lot of jobs entail a lot of waiting around for things to happen, so most of the time spent on the work site on those jobs counts, since you're not at home. And since prices are fixed so they're always just 15% longer than cost on most things, there isn't much inflation. And if you work for a corporation, at least half of the profit is always passed on to the employees, so the better the business does, the more the employees get paid, which is incentive to do your best work. The rest of the profits are restricted in what they can be used for: expansion of the business, donated to public works and other community-enhancing projects, or passed on to the employees.

You can save your work-time towards expensive goals, too; but there's an earning cap. I don't remember exactly what the earning cap is, but I do know that somebody with a million hours in their account would start to be investigated for fraud the instant the AI's spotted it, which would be a nanosecond after it was entered. Oh wait, I remember; the earning cap is 500,000 hours. No more than 500K hours in an account at any one time. That's roughly 57 years, and even with a projected lifespan of between 170 and 230 years, that's 146,400 hours (roughly 16 years) more than you could work in 170 adult working years. Though I'll grant you, only a corporate account would have anywhere near that much.

And now enough of that boring old nonsense. I've exhausted my knowledge of the subject anyway.

"Ooh, look at that!" Iris said, pointing at a crown with excitement in her voice. It was just a cheap toy crown, probably came out of one of the lower-quality 3D printers, as it only cost 6min, a price that was probably based mostly on what it cost the owners of the shop to lease the template and maybe the lease on the printer. I doubt it took more than 30 seconds to actually print it out. But it had something of a "queen" aura about it, and didn't look too bad for a 6min product.

"A crown fit for a queen," I said. "Want to take a closer look?"

"Yes please!"

"Okay then." We went inside and the store clerk looked up from something he'd been writing to look up at us with a slight smile, glad to have customers.

"Welcome to Tomas & Tomas Trinkets and Toys," the middle-aged Caucasian clerk with glasses and a balding head announced to us. "Looking for anything in particular?"

"I wanna look at the crown closer," Iris announced, pointing at the crown in the window.

"The 6min golden one?"

"Yes please."

"Sure thing," he said cheerfully, fetching it for Iris to look at.

I let her examine the crown while I looked at the things in the transparent display case that doubled as the man's transaction desk. The things in there were significantly more expensive, ranging from 30min to several hours in cost. I wasn't actually planning on buying anything, but then I saw a pair of beautiful necklaces that cost an hour apiece, and came as a set. They had the CL logo heart-within-a-heart; both the hearts were pink in this version, and it looked very well made. I wanted to look at them more closely, but I didn't want to alert Iris to it. I wanted to get them, but between feeling like I was rushing things, and thinking it would make a great birthday gift for her in October, assuming we were still dating by then, it would be a great gift. And if it didn't work out, well ... something to remember her by.

Luckily for me, Iris set the crown down after trying it on, and told me to keep it there while she wandered off to look at other stuff, because she wanted the crown enough that she offered to dip into her allowance to pay for it. I watched her wander off, and when I could only just see the top of her head behind a display, I turned to the clerk and quietly told him I wanted to look at the necklaces.

"Oh," he said quietly, but went quiet, glancing briefly in Iris's direction before giving me a conspiratorial wink and smile. He opened up the case and lay them down so they would be blocked from Iris's sight. He slid an e-scrip across as well, and it started up with a text-and-picture sales pitch he'd apparently pre-recorded.

I picked one up to look at it, occasionally glancing at the sales pitch. According to it, these necklaces – once activated – lit up when they got within 5 feet of each other. Each one the size of a kumquat, they could also be made to vibrate and/or play a tune either at the same time as they lit up, or manually. Oh yeah, and they were lockets, opening up to display a 2D digital image.

Glancing back at Iris every now and then, I thought about it. A 2hr purchase for something so small was not usual for me, but between my regular job, my art, and my usual frugality, I wasn't rich, but I was comfortable. I decided to get it. I nodded at the store clerk.

"Excellent," the man said quietly. We touched Omnuses, and the sale was complete. I'd paid for her crown, too. I put the necklaces into my purse, and took the crown over to Iris.

"Here you go, honey. I figured my Queen might as well wear her crown while she peruses the rest of the store."

"Thanks, Rianna!" she put it very carefully on her head in front of a mirror, discovered it had hair clips, and clipped it in place. "Perfect."

We spent a few more minutes looking around at the other things in the store, but thankfully nothing else caught either of our fancies enough that we had to have it right then. Iris and I both gave the clerk (who was, I suspect, also the store owner) a happy wave and a smile, and I winked conspiratorially at him. I could hear him chuckling as the door closed.

For the next couple hours, we mostly window-shopped. We didn't go into many stores, though one of the ones we went into was a clothing store. Iris, seeing bathing suits on display, explained it reminded her that her family were going to the beach this coming weekend, and Matria had authorized a suitable amount from the family account to pay for it. I was a little subdued as I watched her trying on things at first, since it seemed I'd be away from her for two whole days, from what she'd said. She noticed this mood of mine, though, and looked surprised at me.

"Oh didn't I tell you? You're invited, too!" This cheered me up greatly, and I was able to be much more helpful in her decision-making process. Of course, it also meant we took a little longer while I shopped for one for myself. We tried on lots of samples to see what things would look like on us, and once we decided on what we wanted, the store clerk customized the templates to our measurements and printed out our new swimsuits. We tried on the finished products, to make sure they fit, and when they did, we changed back.

In the end, we left the store with a cute aquamarine two-piece bikini for Iris that, while sexy, was not overly so; my own swimsuit was a pink two-piece with blue accents. I had been so very tempted to suggest she get a bikini that tied on, and thus could be untied, but I resisted that urge. Iris had the sort of mind that she would have gone along with it just to annoy her mother, who would worry that it would get lost. And the fact that it would annoy her mother would probably just make Iris laugh harder about it. I couldn't imagine Iris purposefully losing something that cost what it did; the suit didn't cost enough for Matria to get angry if Iris lost it, but she would be disappointed, and that would be enough for Iris to feel really bad about it. So I made a mental note that if I ever really wanted Iris to have a swimsuit like that, I would get it for her.

By the time we were done at the swimsuit store, it was getting to be time for lunch. I used my Omnus to find Jeeves, who wasn't far away, and we put our purchases into his trunk, and left him parked there while we walked off to look for someplace to eat. We ended up going to a Mediterranean place for chicken, hummus, and falafel, which was 'very yummy' in Iris's words.

After eating and spending an extra half-hour digesting, Iris and I set out again, wandering around the neighborhood, trying to decide where to go next. It was Iris who spotted it first.

"Hey look at that! A cuddle theater? What's that?"

We read the advertisement outside the 'cuddle theater.' It was a movie theater – more of a multiplex, really – boasting beds, recliners, and bean bag chairs to cuddle on while you watched the show. Intrigued, we went in to discuss which movie to see. We decided on a romance movie.

"Two tickets to see 'Connected Hearts, ' please. One adult, one child, couple rate." The words 'couple rate' didn't get us in any cheaper, but I said them for honesty's sake. They'd be checking things out with a quick Mesh sweep anyway, so it was best to be up-front about it. They scanned my Omnus, and in a matter of seconds, Matria's trust-level signature came up on the three-vee. I was astonished to see she'd upgraded me to level 5. Since the trust-levels only went up to 8, it was even more amazing to get a 5 so quickly. I sure hoped Matria wasn't being overly trusting.

Everything having gone through just fine, the clerk handed me our tickets, which were a significantly cheaper e-scrip than that used for the tickets to the pole dancing concert. I thanked her, and Iris and I went off in search of the concession stand for some small snacks, since we'd just eaten lunch. After we got our snacks, I asked how to get to the theater that our movie was in, and I was informed that touching a button on the ticket would send directions to our Omnuses.

"Can I push the button?" Iris asked as we walked away from the concession stand.

"Of course, my Queen." Iris grinned and pressed the button. Both my Omnus and hers immediately lit up with a three-vee map with a red line to follow, the both of us represented as blinking green lights. There was also an arrow pointing where to go. Holding hands, Iris on my left, since her Omnus was on her left arm, we followed the directions. When we got to the open theater door, the directions vanished, briefly replaced with 'Enjoy the show! Please remember there is no sexual intercourse allowed in the theater.'

There was a small line to get in, as people walked around the half-lit room with its odd assortment of mismatched furnishings. A cursory examination of the furnishings showed they were kept meticulously cleaned. My Omnus flashed again with the message 'All our furnishings are made of 100% Dreckfort brand Anti-Filth Meta-material, guaranteed clean and safe or twice your time back!'

"That's what my dress from our first date is made of," Iris commented. "Mama says the cost of using the template is worth it for what she saves in laundry costs."

After some discussion, we decided on an over-sized recliner that was amazingly comfortable, and Iris lay next to me on it as we leaned back, cuddling, to watch the movie, such as it was. The movie was an adaptation of a book Iris and I had both read, and she didn't think it was any better an adaptation than I did, judging by the way she was criticizing it with me. It was so bad that we couldn't even focus on cuddling, and left halfway through the movie in disgust.

Once we left the theater, we decided to call it a day, and so we walked back to Jeeves to have him take us home. As soon as we got back to my place, Iris ran home really quickly to put away her new swimsuit, then came running back to my place afterwards. She and I both kicked off our shoes, Iris took her crown off and set it aside, and we sat next to each other on the sofa, just quietly reading for several hours. Halfway through, Iris had her head on my lap. It looked rather uncomfortable and bad on her neck, so I rearranged myself on the sofa so that she was leaning the back of her head on my chest instead.

We were still in that position over an hour later when Iris tossed her e-board aside and sat up to face me. Curious, I set my own book aside as well. Something about her posture was making me uncomfortable, it was like she was nonverbally saying 'We need to talk, ' which of course is rarely good.

She must have sensed my distress, though, because she took my hand and said, "Oh don't worry, I do want to talk but it's nothing bad."

"Okay. What about?"

"Well, I've been thinking off and on today. Between your answers to my questions this morning, the fact you haven't treated me any different since figuring out what you did last night – you know, the whole child prodigy thing, and how I have come so quickly to trust you and feel safe around you, it's only fair I let you in on the secret now."

"If that's what you want to do, my Queen."

Iris smiled. "Well, I do. So, I will." She paused a moment to breathe deeply before speaking. "My whole family are from Lucem."

Well that was anti-climactic, I thought. "Okay. You're a Lucite. What about it?"

She looked at me oddly, like I'd sprouted a third eye or something, before sighing and rolling her eyes. "You plan for every possibility, and then this happens," she muttered to herself. Then, addressing me, she asked, "What do you know about Lucites?"

"Admittedly, not much. I know they're a different sub-species, but what the difference is, I don't know. I can't even remember if it came up in school or not." I frowned thoughtfully. It occurred to me that either I hadn't paid attention during those parts of school, or there was a major hole in the curriculum. After all, the planet Lucem could be seen with the naked eye from here on Paxum, and the two planets were colonized by the same group of colonists.

"Well," Iris explained, "the difference is pretty big. Have you ever heard of clownfish?"

"Um ... are those the fish on Terra that can change sex? Wait, are you saying Lucites can change sex?"

"Yup. We're sex-shifters. We can change from one sex to the other overnight."

I blinked. "Well that sure explains a lot." Iris giggled. "So, uh, Iris ... how does that work, exactly? I mean, if you don't want to answer ... I don't want to seem rude."

"It's okay. When I go from testes and penis to vagina, everything, er, gets sucked in. Well, except the first third of the penis, which becomes a clitoris of sorts. And of course, going the other direction, it all kinda ... slides out."

"And it doesn't hurt?"

"No idea. If it does, I never feel it by the time I wake up."

I took a few moments to process this. Then another question occurred to me. "So, er," I said, feeling my face warm up, "does that, er, does that mean you have a vagina all the time?"

"Yes and no. It seals shut when I let the dangly bits dangle."

I just sat there, not knowing what to think for a while. But then I noticed Iris starting to worry, and I snapped out of my weird mood, leaning forward to pick her up and hold her in my arms to cuddle. She grinned happily at me and snuggled close.

As we cuddled, I got lost in thought. I realized I'd heard oblique references to this from people in my life before, but I'd had no idea what they were talking about, because it was like some shameful secret. Sure, kids are encouraged to play with gender, but most people on Paxum end up settling on one or the other. It stands to reason that a society that thought gender non-binary people were weird would make veiled, snide comments about it behind peoples' backs. Paxites are far too polite about gender stuff to treat anyone differently to their face, mostly, but it was still true that if this got out, people would talk.

"I don't know how open you and your family are about this, Iris, but I suggest you ask your parents to keep it as quiet as they can. I don't mind, and nobody will treat you any differently to your face, as far as I know of, but, well..."

"Oh yeah, I know all about that. Sure, Papa said it wasn't a big secret, but he still just considers it to be nobody's business but ours. He made it sound like I was the one wanting something kept secret, and while I did want to know if you'd like me for me and not for being a Lucite, it was more Papa trying to throw you off the scent. I think. It's kinda confusing. But yeah, basically, don't tell anyone else about it, but don't deny it if they're seriously asking."

"Alright, my Queen."

We sat there cuddling some more for a little while longer, then we ate dinner at my place, because Iris still didn't want to risk being around the adults in her family in case they were still acting oddly around her. We ate dinner in the living room, while watching programs on the three-vee, getting up from that activity just long enough to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. But all good things must come to an end, and I had work the next day, so eventually I had to escort Iris back to her home.

"I told her," Iris said to Matria as casually as anything as she strolled by to go get ready for bed. Matria blinked after her and then looked at me.

"So ... she told you what?"

I came inside and closed the door. "That you're all from Lucem."

"Oh, that. When did she tell you?"

"A couple hours ago."

Matria relaxed. "Good. Then that means you handled it well and she still wants to be with you. Otherwise, she would have come straight home, possibly even crying."

"Well if something as monumental as her being a child prodigy doesn't make me treat her any differently ... Oh, about that..." And I pulled her aside into the other room where I could see Derris and Taanlen, and had a polite discussion with them about treating their daughter like a normal child as much as possible.

Matria chuckled at my concern. "Oh don't worry. Yes, things were a little weird this morning, but with Iris gone all day long, we talked, and we got used to the idea. I don't think she'll have to worry about us acting weird around her anymore."

"Okay, that's good to know."

"Always so concerned about Iris, it's almost maternal. You would make a great parent, I think."

"Thank you."

When we'd said our farewells, and I kissed Iris goodnight, I went back home and got on my VC to browse the Mesh for information about Lucites, and Lucem's history. It was fascinating. I'll spare you most of the details, but one question I'd refrained from asking Iris was answered. The answer to that question also answered why Derris looked so androgynous. They were all androgynous, of course, because of how being a sex-shifter affects the secondary sex characteristics, but apparently Lucites can choose to never switch sex, and if they remain one sex or the other during puberty, they look more like you would expect that sex to appear, and so I guessed that Matria and Taanlen might have done that, while Derris no doubt liked to switch still. Then again, Matria and Taanlen were both mothers, and pregnancy makes the breasts swell up, especially for Lucites, and then it takes a year or two of non-use of the breasts for baby food to make them go back down again. Sometimes they never do go back to their original size, either.

The more I read, the more envious I got, too. I identify as trans female because it's easier than putting up with the judgmental looks of people trying to disguise their true feelings, but I'd never really been comfortable with that identity. I would identify as bi-gender if I had more guts. Reading about Lucem made me wonder if I'd somehow blocked memories about that planet out of anger that I hadn't been born a Lucite. Because I'd never told anyone but a few trusted friends that while I liked my girl-cock, I've always wished I could switch back and forth between having a dick and having a pussy.

I sighed, turning off the VC, and decided not to let my envy intrude on my relationship with Iris. And when I got into bed and drifted off to sleep, I knew it wouldn't.

(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.)

Author's note: There is sex in this chapter, between two adult characters, and it is consensual incest.

"In Tandem Orbit, Chapter 5"
By = Sure-as-elle

Chapter 5: Surprise Visitor

I have to admit, I was disappointed that my morning didn't have Iris waking me up, or any pleasant dreams of Iris. In fact, I looked next to me on the bed, and for some reason I was inexplicably saddened that she wasn't laying in the bed with me. I can't explain it, except that maybe I've found The One and the sensation was a symptom of that knowledge. Or maybe I just really missed that one time we fell asleep on the sofa together. Whatever the reason, I got up that morning feeling slightly sad.

As I went about my routine, however, I perked up with the knowledge that I was probably going to see Iris again today at work, and again after work, knowing her as I did. So by the time I was done with breakfast, I could hardly wait to get to work.

I was not terribly surprised that Iris wasn't at the library for the first hour, since I start work at 10 AM, and since it had been noon the last time she showed up. It was a busy day for us, but not too badly so. Not busy enough to keep me distracted from wondering when she would show up, once noon came and went. By the time it was 10 past 1, I was starting to worry.

"No, relax," I told myself in the loo, looking at myself in the mirror. "What am I doing? Why am I worrying? She's a kid, kids have lives of their own, they go places and do things. Hell for all I know she just figures I'm working and I won't see her til I get off. Yeah, that'll be it." By the time I got out of the loo, I had calmed down and was able to go about my work normally.

As it turned out, Iris came in at 3:30, half an hour before I was to get out, hauling behind her a little red wagon with all the Autonotinies stuff in it. It seemed she knew what book she wanted this time, and went straight for it. I was lucky enough to get to check her things out for her, so I saw it was another romance novel.

I looked at the card representing the digital version of the book. "Took you three whole weeks to finish 'Under An Alien Moon, ' eh? But obviously you liked it, this is by the same author."

"Only took so long because I was savoring it, and because I had other things to read."

"Hmm ... I notice this is one of the rare Kiernan Teliemann books that isn't asexual romance. 'Supernova Of Passion, ' eh? I remember this one is pretty raunchy."

Iris shrugged, but her face had turned red. "I was in the mood for something raunchy. Read a good review of it."

I chuckled. "Well I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, if not more. Which actually, you might get more enjoyment from it than I did, since the story is narrated by the young girl in this one."

"Well, I got a lot of, er ... enjoyment out of the last book too." Her face turned scarlet.

I raised my eyebrows, astonished. "You..." I leaned closer on the pretext of getting the book transferred to her e-board. "So you get sexual pleasure from ace romances too, huh?"

Iris looked very surprised, but pleased, to see that she wasn't the only one. Her grin as she thanked me made me feel a stirring down below. And then I noticed what she was wearing, which wasn't a lot. Apparently it was hot again today, for her top was basically a glorified scarf covering her little nipples, and the skirt, if you could call it that, wasn't even enough to cover her panties. Those had little pink hearts on them. I suddenly felt an uncomfortable tightness in my panties.

Taking her e-board back, Iris gave me bedroom eyes and winked with a smirk before turning around. Then she 'accidentally' dropped the e-board and bent over to pick it up, giving me quite the show. I was very glad it was almost 4.

When I finally got off work, I caught Orrin coming in for his shift. "Oh Orrin, I'm glad I found you, I wanted to ask you something." I explained to him the change in my love life, and how I wanted Sundays off now, and we started discussing possibilities for trading. When we'd worked out what we wanted, we went to Aren and told her. She approved it right away. Starting next week, Orrin would work Sundays. And since I might need more hours anyway to buy Iris things, I not only took four hours of Orrin's Monday shift for him, I would now be working 9am to 5pm Mondays through Thursdays, keeping my 1pm to 9pm Friday shift, with weekends off, which gets me a full 40 hours a week.

I left the building and went over to Iris, who was sitting on the bench reading her e-board. Once more I surreptitiously took a picture of her with my Omnus as she remained unaware of my presence. I suddenly realized I hadn't told her about that. I made a mental note to do so, especially seeing as I was planning on making paintings of her based on these.

"Iris, my Queen," I said regally, curtsying. She looked up from her book and smiled.

"Are we going to your place again?" she asked.

"Sure, just let Fahima know where you're going, okay?"

Iris jumped up, and I noted she had thong sandals on today instead of her usual white leather sandals with the buckles. I also noticed it was indeed really hot, and I was overdressed. The walk back home was thankfully short, since it was so hot. The moment I closed the door behind us, I thanked God for air conditioning, and went to my room to get changed. I had the air on low, so it was still mildly warm in the house, but it was a comfortable warmth. I changed out of my work clothes and into some short shorts and a spaghetti-strap top.

"I'm heading to the loo, Iris, okay?"

"Okie dokie," she said, setting up the Autonotinies in the living room. I left the room and went to the loo to do my business.

I was almost done in the loo when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Iris shouted. I dried my hands and opened the door, to see Iris opening the door. I wasn't worried, because Cleo wouldn't let the door open for Iris if it wasn't someone I knew. I wondered who it could be for a few seconds before I saw who it was. My younger sister Kamaria, the one I'd told Iris about the first time we'd played Autonotinies together. And she was, at 26, nearly a full-grown adult. To the eyes of someone who thought her a Terran, she would look 17 years old. And she, uh ... was very well developed for her age. Both of us had been taking puberty modifying treatments for years, and so were very much women developmentally, except that neither of us had gotten 'bottom' surgery.

Kamaria looked strangely at Iris, and I soon saw why. Iris was openly staring at my lovely sister, and what was more, Iris ... well let's just say that the skirt was lifted up by evidence that Iris had certain things fully extended, and one of those things was making itself rather obvious. In other words, she had the world's most obvious boner showing off her panties to anyone who could see past Kamaria.

My sister raised an eyebrow and smirked at this evidence, which snapped Iris out of her stupor. Her face turned bright red as she stared, horror-struck, at her hardon-tented panties and took off like a shot for the loo, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh. Sorry, Rea, didn't mean to scare off your girlfriend. That was Iris, I take it?"

"Um, yeah," I said, distracted. "Uh, come in and sit down, we can talk in a bit. I have to see what I can do for Iris."

Kam chuckled and sat down at the kitchen table. I closed the front door and went over to the loo door. "Iris, honey? Are you okay?"

"She's probably just rubbing one out, Rea, I don't-"

"No, I saw something in her eyes, Kam. It was something else. Iris? Can you hear me?"

I put my ear to the door. I could hear crying. I hesitated, not sure what I should do. Cleo would override the lock if I felt it truly necessary, but I wasn't sure I should.

"Iris, if you can hear me, would you please slap the door or the wall or something?" After a second or two, I heard her slap the door once.

"Okay good. May I come in? Slap once for yes, twice for no."

A pause for several moments, then one distinct thud against the door, and then the sound of the lock being unlocked. "Okay sweetie I'm coming in now, step away from the door, okay?" She slapped the door once more, I waited a few moments, then opened the door.

Iris was sitting on the toilet lid, holding her knees, her face in her lap. I closed the door behind me and sat on the bathtub next to her, laying a hand on one leg. She had stopped crying, or had at least stopped making noise while crying.

I squeezed her leg gently. "You don't have to be embarrassed, sweetie. Boners happen. They have a mind of their own, you know, and my sister is very pretty."

She looked up at me, her eyes red, and sniffed. "That's not the problem."

"Okay, well ... um..." I was at a loss, with no idea what she was upset about.

"I knew, knew she had to be your (sniff) sister, one of them anyway. You two look so much alike. But ... well..." she paused, thinking, like she didn't know how to word her feelings. "I'm ... I'm with you."

"Well just because you're in a relationship, doesn't mean you stop being able to appreciate how other people look. Why, your family are pol-"

"Not it either."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll let you finish."

She grabbed some toilet paper and dabbed at her eyes with it. "I ... well, I had thoughts, and feelings. Sexual ones. Powerful ones. I ... feelings different from my feelings for you. But I don't know her, and I know you, and I think I love you already, but I haven't had any ... well I suppose there was the other day, when we were kissing, I got really excited but I didn't feel like I was ready, but then again, I was kissing a beautiful woman, and we were rubbing up against each other. But this ... she was just there, a stranger. It probably sounds stupid."

I picked her up and held her, and she didn't object. Running my fingers through her lovely black hair, I tried to comfort her. "Iris, sweetie, like I said, the body responds as it will. The penis has a mind of its own. And, well, so does the part of our mind that likes sex stuff. We don't really have any control over stuff like that, and it's nothing to worry about. It doesn't have anything to do with the part that decides who we love, okay?"

Iris sighed, and nodded. We sat there, silently, for several minutes before Iris sat up and said, "I think I'm ready to go back out again."

"Alright, my Queen." We stood up and left the loo together. Iris looked at Kamaria with a sheepish sort of almost-smile.

Kam smiled at Iris. "Don't worry about the panty-tent, kid, I have that effect on everyone." Iris and I laughed, and Kam's smile broadened.

"I'm gonna pop on home for a bit and change," Iris said.

"Alrighty. See you in a bit."

As the door closed behind Iris and I sat down across from Kam, my sister leaned over to glimpse Iris out the window. "Cute kid," she said. "Almost cute enough to make me reconsider my stance on dating kids. Almost. She seems sweet, too."

"Yeah, she is. When she's not being a cruel and wicked little girl."

Kam chuckled. "Well from your last email, I'd say that's just your cup of tea now, eh?"

"Yeah, probably. Speaking of tea, Kam, you want any?"

"Eh, okay."

I got some tea from the dispenser for us both and sat back down, handing Kam hers. She sipped it a little, looking at me expectantly. I just looked her over for the first time; I hadn't had the opportunity with Iris freaking out. My sister was wearing a red tank top and blue jean shorts, with some simple black flats for shoes. Her hairstyle was unlike I remembered it; it used to be in Afro puffs, but now it was just tied back in a poofy ponytail.

"Okay, so now I can ask you why you're here without any warning."

"I wondered when you were gonna ask that." She sipped her tea again.

"So are you going to answer?"

"Yes. Well, you might not believe this, but I was literally in the neighborhood anyway, and it occurred to me I haven't seen you in ages, so I dropped by. Maybe I should have given some warning, a few minutes' heads up."

"I don't know how much that would have helped. Iris might still have answered the door, and even if she hadn't, she might still have had the same reaction to you."

"Well, like I said, I have that effect on people."

Rianna chuckled. "Oh you're not vain at all, sister mine."

Kam shrugged. "It's only vanity if you use your looks to determine your whole self worth. Anyway, it's good to see you with someone else, if you're not going to be with me. You're too shy for your own good, Rea."

"Thank you for your concern. It's only partially shyness, though. I also happen to be rather picky. I want someone intelligent, but also someone who is kind and compassionate, and fun to cuddle."

"So naturally you go for a child prodigy," Kam said, grinning.

"Well I didn't know that when I met her, as you well know. But I did sense she was exceptionally bright for her age. Well ... that, and the fact that one of the first things she told me was that reading high school level books was 'slumming it' for her."

My sister laughed in earnest this time. "Oh ... my," she said, struggling to speak by trying to stop laughing. "She used those exact words?"

"Yes, she did. It was cute, coming from her. Not snooty or anything like that, like you might expect. She doesn't judge those books as unworthy of her, just not as interesting, I guess."

"Good, good." She sipped her tea again. "You know, to be honest, you picked well. Bright, kind, compassionate, and not bad looking either. I'm pretty much 99% teleiophile, and even I have to admit she's beautiful and kinda hot."

"There's more I haven't told you about her, yet. Something I haven't really had time to tell you."

"Oh?"

"Well," I hesitated. "I don't know if I should say yet without her permission..."

"Something private, I take it."

"Oh yeah, you could say that."

My tone of voice must have clued her in to something, because she raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. I thought about going into it, but decided not to. Instead, I asked, "How's college?"

Surprising me by not pushing it, Kam just shrugged. "Going pretty good. Professor Jillert has started talking with me about getting my own lab at last, says the school will fund my research. I think she's just trying to keep me on in the school since I have a knack for teaching, but I'm not even graduated yet and already I've got four job offers to consider."

"Anything in particular catch your interest?"

"Well, I am putting serious thought into accepting the offer from PaxDynamics Laboratories; their Applied Neurological Sciences department was impressed by some of my papers on Talvertsen's Hypertrophy Disorder, especially the one where I identified some genes that might play a role in the development of the disorder. They want me to work on the team trying to find a cure for it."

"Wow. That's pretty impressive."

The door opened up then, and Iris came back in, dressed in a little red sun dress. It looked like it kept her cool without as much risk of showing her panties. And unless I was much mistaken, it looked like she was wearing short pants under it as well. She looked briefly at Kam, and blushed, but made what looked like a mighty effort to put her embarrassment to the side, and sat down at the table next to me.

"Hey, there's my Queen," I said. "Oh, and this time you wore your crown."

"Yeah," she said, not looking at Kam. "I can't believe I forgot it earlier."

"You know, hun, Kam here is in her final year of college, training to be a scientist. She was just telling me about a job offer she's considering."

"Really?" Iris exclaimed, looking up excitedly at Kam, all embarrassment gone. I had calculated correctly, then. "You're gonna be in a lab and do science stuff? What kind?"

And so Kam launched into an explanation of her work on various genetic disorders at great length, and I won't even pretend to have understood or remembered enough of it to even try to describe it here. I have to admit my eyes glazed over, as this was way outside my level of knowledge, and I felt very out of place in my own home. I understood just enough of what was going on to tell you that Iris was no expert either, but she knew enough to ask what sounded like relevant, interesting, and even impressive questions about the subject. The more they spoke, the more Kam looked impressed, even awed. I got the impression she hadn't really believed Iris was a child prodigy until then.

Eventually, the conversation started to die down. When it had been quiet for almost a full minute, Kam said, "Well, Rea, you told me earlier there was something else you had to tell me about Iris, but you didn't know if you had permission. I'm burning with curiosity, Iris. Does the Queen give permission to her subject to discuss it?"

Iris chuckled. "Uh ... hmm..." she took several minutes to think about it, her eyes staring off into empty space, before her body language shifted to tell me she had come to a decision. "Yes, I give you permission to tell her."

"Thank you, my Queen."

"You are welcome."

I smiled, then turned to Kamaria. "Well, I don't know how much you know about Lucem, but-"

"Oh wow. You're a Lucite, Iris?"

"Yup. My whole family, too."

"You have two moms and a dad, right?"

"Yeah."

Kam stroked her chin thoughtfully. "So the first Lucite I've ever met in person, as far as I know, is an 8 year old ... girl?"

"That's right," Iris confirmed.

"Wait, so ... I'm confused."

"That's for sure."

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically. "No seriously, what do you know about Lucites?"

"Rianna, my sister, are you trying to tell me that the fact Lucites are sex shifters was news to you when Iris told you about it?"

I felt my face getting hot again, and hurriedly looked at my own hands.

"Yeah," Iris said with an almost-laugh in her voice. "When I told her I'm a Lucite, she just kinda stared at me and was like, 'And?' like she had no idea."

Kam set her tea cup down, and it almost fell over. "Oh, my poor, naive, sheltered elder sister. Gender fluid herself, and never knew there was a whole race of sex-fluid people living a few hours' space flight away from Paxum."

"Yeah, well..."

She shook her head and sighed. "Well, Iris, I don't know if you know her well enough to know this yet, but we should probably ease up on the teasing now, or she won't talk at all for several hours."

"Aww drat, I wanted to tease her summore. Oh well."

"Well anyway, I don't know about you and Rea, Iris, but I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since noon. Shall I order us a couple pizzas?"

"YAY! Pizza!"

"Rea?"

I nodded without saying anything.

"Rea, my love, you're gonna have to talk to say what you want on your pizza."

I gave her a significant look. She sighed. "Yeah, Rea, you're right - I do already know what you want. Kalamata olives, pineapple, and chicken. So predictable."

"Blech!" Iris made a face of disgust. "I want normal black olives, pepperonis, and mushrooms on mine."

"Will do, little lady. One of each. As for me, I can eat anything they can put on dough."

I smiled. "She's right, actually. She once ate a mayonnaise, peanut butter, tofu, and kidney bean pizza on a dare, and liked it so much she had one a week for the next couple months."

"Please stop," Iris said, holding her hand over her mouth. "I'm gonna be eating soon, I don't wanna blow chunks."

Kam laughed and walked away to order the pizzas.

Once the pizzas arrived, a pair of jumbo-sized pizzas, we spent the next hour eating and talking. I managed to get Iris to try some of my pizza, and though she still didn't like it, at least she could say she'd actually tried it.

After that, we washed up, and soon the three of us were setting up the Autonotinies in the living room. Kam got the honor of commanding them to begin moving, and we spent the next few hours laughing and chasing each other around and stuff, because my sister has always been incapable of playing quietly. Kamaria had great fun pretending to be a monster, chasing the tiny little robots around while making horrid screeching noises at them, and I have to admit it was pretty damned funny to see them flailing their little arms around and screaming in their tiny little squeaky voices. It got even funnier when Iris tried to play hero, and the Autonotinies, finally managing to screw up some courage, attacked both of them with little plastic spears and tried throwing 'ropes' of string in a hilariously futile effort to tie up the giant 'monsters.' It was like one of those ancient Godzilla movies, but a lot funnier.

When all three of us were thoroughly exhausted by that, we put the Autonotinies away and sat down on the sofa to watch some three-vee. I held Iris in my lap, smelling her hair and running my fingers along her arms. She, in turn, rubbed the thumb of one hand on the exposed thigh of my leg. Kam kept looking sideways at me with an expression on her face that I couldn't read. I tried to ignore it, and focus on the show and on Iris.

After a couple hours of this, it was starting to wear on my nerves, so when the channel paused between shows, I turned the volume down and turned my head toward Kam. "Okay Kam, I don't think I can take much more of your weird looks. What's on your mind?"

Iris turned her head too, curious. Kam worried her lips a little, thinking. "I dunno if I should say."

"Trust me, not saying is more annoying than saying."

She sighed. "Fine then, I'll say." She looked at Iris. "I take it, Iris, that you and Rea still haven't done more than snog?"

I frowned a little. "What makes you ask that?"

"Rianna," she said, turning back to me, "if you were any more sexually frustrated, you'd be humping the table leg. Iris might not have noticed, but I've known you long enough that it's obvious to me."

"Oh."

"And I didn't want to say, because it's not really my business, and also I didn't want Iris to feel pressured into doing something she's not ready for, especially not by me, when she's not even my girlfriend. But, well, Rea, I think you need to get laid. If not by Iris, then by someone else."

"Kam, you know full well I'm not poly. If I had sex with anyone else than Iris while she and I were dating, that would be cheating."

"Not if I gave you permission, it wouldn't," Iris said.

"But Iris, I already said I'm not-"

"Oh cummon now! This is silly. You used to date other people. Do you hate them, now that you're not dating?"

"What? No, of course I don't. What kind of question-"

"You love them still, right? Even though it didn't work out. Right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"So nobody ever forgets their previous loves, and unless something really bad happened, you never stop loving them, either. Even hatred borne of love is a sign you still love them. If you didn't still love someone you used to date and now you hate them, then you wouldn't hate them. You'd be indifferent or something."

"Okay ... so what's your point?"

"My point is, everyone's a little bit polyamorous. Humans don't mate for life, not really. Animals that mate for life don't break up. If one dies, the other one never mates again. But humans, that kinda thing doesn't happen very often. Humans are naturally at least a little polyamorous."

I was confused. I mean, I understood what she was saying, but I couldn't grasp the relevance, not exactly. "Are you telling me that if I need sex, I'm free to find someone to scratch that itch for me, as long as I get permission from you first?"

"Well DUH, silly head! I'm saying I'm opening the relationship for you. I live in a poly family, I know how that stuff goes. That kinda thing is normal for me."

"But I'm not poly!"

"Have you ever tried it? How can you say you don't like it if you haven't tried it, eh? Or does that only apply to food?"

I squinted at her warily. "Touche, Iris Zahane. Your logic is flawless. But who, pray tell, would I have sex with? I'm demisexual, this I know because I've tried having sex with people I had no emotional connection with, and I got nothing out of it."

"So have sex with someone you do have an emotional connection with."

Okay, now I was getting frustrated. I snorted. "And who, I repeat, do you propose-"

"Oh my GOD you're dense, you silly head! Kamaria, of course! You told me you and she used to do the sex together."

I blinked at her, surprised. Then I looked at Kam, who also looked surprised, which deepened my own surprise. We both stammered. "I, uh..."

"Yeah, we..."

"Well I had college, then my job..."

"Then I had college..."

"And well, I guess..."

" ... first time I've seen her since last Christmas..."

" ... never seemed to have the time..."

Iris face-palmed. "Oh God, I hope I don't get this dense when I grow up."

This snapped us out of our stammering, and we looked at each other. Kam spoke first. "I always wondered why you didn't come over more often. We live in the same city, after all, and you have weekends off."

"Hey now, I did try. The first half-dozen times I tried, our schedules were opposite. So, well..."

"Ah, I think I see. You're a creature of habit, and once you gave up - fully intending it to be a temporary giving up - you got into the habit of not trying."

I could feel my eyes watering. I tried not to cry. "Kam," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I thought so. To be honest, I didn't just happen to be in the neighborhood. Your letters ... you have this great emotional connection with Iris already, and I know you, Rea, I do. You said she wasn't ready for sex. I knew you'd find that difficult. So I came over hoping ... hoping something like this might happen. I was surprised to find it working."

"Let me guess ... you didn't call, in case you chickened out?"

"Well, yeah."

Iris slipped off of my lap with a smirk and sat cross-legged on the floor looking at the two of us. As she had no doubt intended, I took advantage of this to reach forward and give Kam a hug, just as she mirrored me. Then we were both crying, and stammering out apologies through the crying and the sniffs, and we just held each other tight, glad to be reunited after years of being ... well ... distant, I guess. What kind of distance, exactly, I don't know. Emotional, physical, whatever. It felt as good as it felt bad. I was feeling guilt, but also happiness. I think we were both letting go of a lot of emotional baggage. And there, no doubt grinning triumphantly like a little imp on the floor at us, was Iris.

She did not stay on the floor, though. After a few minutes of watching us reconnect emotionally, Iris got up off the floor and disappeared for a few minutes. I didn't see where she went, I was too intent on Kam.

After Iris showed up again, she said, "Well I should be heading home. I'll let you two lovebirds have some alone time together." She winked.

I wanted to protest, but I didn't. She was right, Kam and I needed some time alone together. Iris waved goodbye and left. I heard the door open and close.

"Shall we go to my room?" I asked.

"Yeah, sounds cool. There room to cuddle?"

"Yes. And more."

She grinned and stood up. I led her to the bedroom, and we closed the door behind us.

Kam leaned against the wall. "So, are we gonna get naked or stay clothed?"

"Well I know which one I would prefer," I said, pulling off my shirt and undoing my bra.

"Here, here," she said with a grin, following suit.

It didn't take us long to get totally nude. I took a moment to run my eyes over her body, admiring her breasts and her girl-cock before I hopped into bed. Kam soon slithered in after me and up my body. It felt amazing, not only physically but emotionally, like cheese might taste to a person who hadn't eaten in days. She lay her head down on my breasts and practically purred.

"You've got some mighty fine breasts, Rea. Better than I remember."

"Thanks. I'll probably be able to say the same about yours, once you let me feel them."

She sat up a little, thrusting out her chest. "Here you go, sis, take a feel."

Sitting up myself a little, I then reached forward and fondled her breasts. Their brown skin was not quite as smooth as I remembered it, but still felt amazing. I luxuriated in the sensation, and began to gently pinch and twist her nipples whenever I wasn't running my hands over the curves of her breasts. Kam seemed to be enjoying the attention; she was leaning her head back and biting her lip, with her eyes closed.

I scooted a little closer without interrupting what I was doing, and leaned forward to start kissing, licking, and nibbling her breasts while my fingers played with her hard nipples. She slowly leaned back until she was lying on the bed again, and I leaned in with her. I could feel my cock getting hard, and as I leaned against her, I felt Kam's cock push against my tummy.

My kisses worked their way, eventually, to one of her nipples, and I proceeded to tease it by gently running my tongue along it. I did that for several moments before taking the nipple into my mouth and sucking on it, my tongue massaging it, making Kam's back arch a little. I could hear her moaning with delight.

"Mmm, yeah Rea, just like that, yeah..." she was mumbling, saying lots of different things, mostly encouragement.

Knowing what she likes, I gently began to nibble the nipple. She continued to encourage me, so I nibbled a little harder, and she started to breathe too hard to really speak much.

And then, disappointing her, I left that nipple and started kissing my way over to the other one, where I started the process all over again. Again I licked in circles around her areolas, grazing the nipple on occasion, then licking the nipple itself, before clamping down my mouth to suck hard on her other nipple.

Again, I nibbled on her nipple, and pinched the other with my fingers. Kam's back arched again, and her cock was practically making a tent of my stomach. Her breathing was ragged, and I briefly wondered how long it had been since she had gotten laid. Maybe she'd known how frustrated I was because she had been feeling the same way?

"Oh ... God ... Rea," she stammered. "My cock ... damn the nipple and pleeease suck me off!"

Okay, so I knew which direction to go now. But I know her, and so I knew she'd be pissed if I just jumped right to her cock, so I began kissing and licking slowly along her breasts, then down her stomach. As I did, I ran the fingers of one hand along her thigh, teasing her, the diaphanous touch wending its way in vague meandering patterns toward, then away from, then toward her crotch, tormenting her poor erection with the promise of ecstasy, then withdrawing the promise, back and forth.

My kisses traveled to her hips, and my fingers brought their caress to the skin above her erection. Then back down to the thighs, teasing that poor cock, which bobbed and jerked in response to my toying with it like a sexy game of cat and mouse.

"Fuuuuuck oh god oh god just fucking suck iiiit," Kam groaned in horny frustration, pushing her lower body toward mine, poking me in the boob with her cock. This gave me an odd idea, and so while my kisses lingered on her hips, I lowered my left boob and rubbed it gently against her cock, which had her moaning and groaning even more.

Kam wrapped her legs around me and pulled me down, making me forget my kisses. She soon had me on my back and was straddling my chest, her hands squeezing my breasts together as she fucked the space between them with her dick. Faster and faster she titty-fucked me, her breathing getting more and more heavy and ragged all the time. Before long, she was crying out with every stroke. Then the telltale shuddering shout of orgasm as her cock shot sperm all over my chest and neck. I even got a little on my chin.

When her breathing eased up with relief, she scooped up her spunk with a finger and offered it to me. I licked it off her finger, savoring her spunk's flavor on my tongue for a few moments before swallowing.

"That was ... new. And interesting."

"Yeah, well, I would normally appreciate the slowness, but this time, I didn't. So when you ran your boob along it, well, the inspiration hit me and I went with it. Anyway, I see you're still pretty hard yourself, so shall I help you out with that?"

"Yes please."

Instead of teasing me all over like I had done to her, Kam scooted down and grabbed my erection with her hand and began pulling back the foreskin. She blew gently on it to excite it even more, then began to kiss and lick up and down the side of it, making it throb with joy. She kept this up a few more minutes, also licking the head in teasing circles, until pre-cum was weeping down the side of it like tears of frustration, and when she judged me hard enough, took its length into her mouth and began to suck in earnest, her tongue massaging it like a pro. But then again, Kam had always been damned good at blow jobs.

My own breathing was becoming ragged this time, and I could hear myself moaning and groaning as she got me closer and closer. My back arched, and I felt myself getting right up to the edge. The feelings intensified but I did not quite get over the hump. For a moment I worried this was our first time all over again, but she gently pushed down on my balls with her hand and pushed my cock head into the back of her throat, which was the trigger. With a loud cry, I blew a load right against her uvula, and she coughed a little and pulled out. Once she stopped coughing, she licked up the cum that was squirting onto my leg and dribbling down my deflating cock.

Once she had me all cleaned up, Kam crawled forward and began to cuddle with me. Both of us high off sex endorphins, we began to giggle and titter like school girls after a few hits from a bong, occasionally locking lips or blowing raspberries against one another's bellies or breasts. Kam started to hold me down at one point as she made fart sound after fart sound against my tummy, and only stopped when I was laughing so hard I was wheezing, trying to find my breath. But I got back at her when she had her back turned to check the time, when I blew a raspberry on her butt.

She laughed and hit me on the shoulder. "Stop it! No seriously, something caught my eye." Kam stood up to go take a closer look at whatever it was she'd seen.

I made a pouty face at her. "Aww, come back. I'll stop, I swear!"

Kam picked something up off the dresser. "What's this?"

Her tone of voice was so serious and concerned that I got up and looked for myself. It looked like a pair of die, but there was something off about them. Kam weighed them in her hand. "These are not dice," she informed me. "They're too heavy. And they don't have the feel of weighted dice, either."

Kam walked over to her clothes and pulled a tool out of the back pocket of her pants. It was small, and what it was exactly I don't know, but she started using it on one of the die, until she popped off one of the sides.

"It's a three-vee camera! Someone's been spying on us!"

I thought back to earlier that night, and Iris's disappearance right before she left. "I think I have a shrewd idea who. Cleo?"

My house AI answered, "Yes, Rianna? How may I help?"

"Do you see these?" I held the dice up to the only camera that should have been in the room, one that looked at the only window and nowhere near the bed.

"Yes, I do, barely. Those are very small three-vee cameras."

"Yes they are. Are they emitting a signal?"

"Now that you mention it, I am indeed detecting a signal. Shall I run a trace on it?"

"Please do."

"Processing," she said. A minute later, she answered, "the signal is being beamed to the house of Iris Zahane. And the living room camera shows Iris entering your bedroom while the two of you were on the sofa."

"Why that little imp," Kam exclaimed.

"Thank you, Cleo, that is all for now." I picked up one of the camera-dice, looked at it, and said, "When I next see you, Iris Zahane, I am going to tickle you until you beg for mercy, and then tickle you some more, because you will have deserved it for this. I hope you enjoyed the show. I'm not angry, just annoyed you didn't ask me first. We will talk about this tomorrow."

And with that, I took the cameras in the other room, putting them in a safe-like device known as the quarantine cube. Kam came out shortly after and said, "I found several more."

Once we were sure we had all the cameras collected and put in the quarantine cube, Kam and I lay back down in bed. "Silly child," I said, "she could just have asked. I would have said yes. Not sure about you though."

"Wouldn't have bothered me either."

There not really being much more to say about the matter than that, we sat in silence for a few minutes, cuddling, until Kam finally decided to speak.

"You know, Rea, I live at the college. When I graduate, I'll need somewhere to go. I have enough time saved up for a place, and if I accept one of those job offers, I wouldn't need to spend that savings, but I think it would be cool if we could live together, even if only for a while. You do have that spare bedroom, after all."

"Hmm ... I dunno. I mean, I love having you around, but I like it just being Iris and I most days. Hard decision."

"I'd be glad to go do something else with myself whenever you want alone time with Iris or by yourself. And I'd be working most days anyway. Anyway, it's not for more than half a year yet, so you have plenty of time to think about it."

"Okay, I'll think about it then."

"Good," she said, laying atop me with her head in my chest. "That's good."

In minutes, Kam was asleep. I was drowsy too, and soon followed her into dreamland.

(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.)

[i]Author's note: "snog" means "make out/kiss."[/i]

"In Tandem Orbit, Chapter 6"
By = Sure As Elle

Chapter 6: All Wet

On Wednesday morning, I groggily sensed a presence that was both familiar and foreign at the same time, the warm presence of my sister Kam nude under the covers with me, and for a moment I was confused before remembering the events of the previous day and night with a smile. It wasn't quite time to be up yet, so I snuggled closer to her, missing the familiarity of it from across the years we'd been apart. How could I have been so against the idea of polyamory? I would have to ponder that seriously some other time, when I was more awake.

Kam being a heavy sleeper, didn't wake up from my movement. Not even when I finally pulled myself out of bed and began my day. While I got ready, I had Cleo check Kam's schedule, and found Kam didn't have any classes til this afternoon, and her Omnus was set to wake her in plenty of time. Not wanting to bother her, I ate my breakfast and then left her a note saying she could stop by anytime in the future, though please check with Cleo beforehand in case I was out or busy. I also added a bit about how much fun last night had been, how much I missed her, and how much I loved her and was glad we'd reconnected. I told Cleo to make sure Kam got it, and then left for work.

My day at work was unremarkable, except that Iris came around a half hour before work was over with a sheepish grin on her face and a wobbly little wave. I winked at her and she grinned broader before wandering off somewhere else in the library.

When I got off work, I saw Iris once more sitting outside on the bench, reading. I finally got a good look at her; she was wearing a simple blue sleeveless summer dress. I couldn't see what she was wearing on her feet, though, because she had them tucked under her.

I sat down next to her, and she looked up from her book momentarily before looking at the ground sheepishly. "So, did you enjoy the show last night?"

She turned bright red and nodded, not speaking. I leaned closer, and said to her, "Do you want a hug?"

Iris nodded and leaned into me for me to hug her. She still didn't speak. I knew the feeling.

"Like I said, I'm a little disappointed you didn't ask us first. Even if you were sure we'd say yes, it's always best to ask first. We could've given you a better show, for one thing."

She looked up at me and sighed. "Yeah, I know I should've asked. But I didn't think about it. I just wanted to see if you actually, you know, did it. I wasn't planning on watching the whole thing, just enough to know... but well, I er..." She pulled away gently and nervously touched her index fingers together. "I may have gotten a lot of, shall we say, enjoyment from the experience?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. It was just so cute the way she avoided talking about the subject directly. "Well," I said, once I stopped laughing, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. So, uh...would it be impolite of me to ask which mode you were in?"

"Oh, I was in red mode."

I blinked. "Pardon?"

"Oh yeah, it's a Lucite thing. We say 'red mode' for, well, having certain things extended. And blue mode is for the opposite. I actually got to an orgasm last night. Might've been better in blue mode, but," she shrugged.

"Well, if I understand these designations correctly, then yes, in blue mode you might have even had [i]multiple[/i] orgasms."

"Yeah, that's what people say."

"Oh by the way, I remembered something." And I proceeded to tell her about how I had taken several pictures of her with my Omnus, such as on the night of our first real date, and how I intended to make those pictures into art if she permitted.

"Cool! Yeah, go ahead and take pictures of me whenever, as long as I'm clothed. For anything else, I... well..." She seemed unwilling to say it, probably because she hadn't given me and Kam the same courtesy, so I finished for her.

"...ask permission for nudes? Of course. Just remember, the same applies to me and Kam."

She nodded, looking down at the ground again, so I leaned close to her again, and she and I hugged again. That all settled, she and I got up and walked over to my house.
I would like to say a lot happened. I would love to regale you with a detailed story about the whole day like I've been doing, but honestly, we mostly just cuddled, read, or watched three-vee. We had sandwiches for dinner, so nothing special there. It was just a lovely quiet afternoon and evening, the two of us enjoying each other's company. Iris went home again like usual, and I read a little more before going to bed.

*

Thursday wasn't really remarkable, either. Kam had school most of the day, I had work, and Iris didn't even show up at all. I did get a message from her, though; seems she was excitedly preparing for the vacation this coming weekend. I must admit I was excited, too.
I slept in on Friday because my hours are later on Fridays, but still no Iris. This time she was busy packing, which I spent some time doing as well, before leaving for work. I still didn't see her at work that day, and when I got home late after work, I would have been really surprised if Iris had bothered to show up by then, especially with the next day's excitement.

*

I woke up at 7am on Saturday and got up almost at once, for I too was excited for the trip I'd been invited to. I got everything ready, ate breakfast, did the rest of my routine, then got a call on my Omnus from Matria, saying they were going to pick me up at 8:45. Since it was only 8, I flipped on the three-vee, since I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on reading.

It took what felt like ages, but finally Cleo informed me that they were pulling up. I grabbed my things and bolted out the door with them to see a large blue van parked behind Jeeves. Inside the van I could see Derris and Matria in the front, Taanlen in the middle with the teenaged Avra, and Iris was in a rear passenger area behind which was a storage area. A lot of things were also put inside a detachable storage device atop the van's roof. Iris was grinning like mad, bouncing up and down on the seat.

Derris got out and helped me get my stuff into the back. Iris chattered at me the whole time, to which I smiled. I so love the sound of her voice, it didn't matter that she wasn't saying much of anything, I just liked to hear her voice. When we got everything packed, I got in the back next to Iris, and we prepared to get underway. Iris was so excited that I had to work my patient charm to get her into her seatbelt. With everyone secure, the car pulled out and started the drive to the beach.

The trip took 3 hours, but Iris chattered herself out after only 40 minutes, and so we spent most of the ride playing some computer games together on a gaming device she'd brought with us. After taking 20 minutes to decide we didn't like the first choice of games, we spent the rest of the time on the second choice, a two-player cooperation game, and were working together on the final boss level when the car announced we were 20 minutes from our destination, the hotel we would be spending the night at. We finished the game with 5 minutes to spare before pulling up to the hotel.

After we checked in and unpacked our stuff into the room, we all went outside and walked several blocks to a nearby restaurant cluster for lunch. I knew the moment we saw a Taco Tavio's there among the restaurants in the area, that we would be going there, and sure enough, I was right. Naturally, Iris ordered five of their spiciest tacos. Before we left, she went to the restroom and, upon coming back, said, "I was extra careful to remember to wash my hands well this time, Rianna!" The rest of the family looked at me in confusion, and when my face turned back to its normal temperature, I explained about the incident on our first date with the hot sauce on her hand when I kissed it.

With lunch finished, we went back to the room to change into our bathing suits and get our things ready to go to the beach. When we had everything with us we needed, Derris checked something on his Omnus and led us to a short bus line that would take us on the ten-minute ride to the beach.

The beach we went to was long and wide enough that it wasn't too horribly crowded, but we could see areas farther down that had even fewer people on them, so since it was a partly-cloudy and pleasantly breezy day, we took the time to walk to a less-crowded area.

It was not my first time seeing the ocean, but apparently it was Iris's, because she gawped open-mouthed at it, and ran laughing into the waves - at least, she did once Derris finished warning her about going too far, and about undertows and stuff. As she nodded and ran off, wearing armband flotation devices (I noted with relief), I also made note of a lifeguard station nearby, its lifeguard monitoring the screens showing footage from cameras of different kinds pointing at the water so that AIs could track the humans for safety. There was also a small fleet of automated rescue crafts with robotic arms for dragging humans out of the water and speeding them back to the shore to be resuscitated. (It helps, I'm sure, that Omnuses are waterproof.)

Derris, Matria, and Taanlen set up a sun-shade and put some beach chairs down under them for the three of us while Iris and Avra went into the ocean to play in the waves. I didn't want to sit there all day long, but I sat there for a few minutes at least, taking distance shots of Iris with my Omnus. I'll be honest and say it wasn't for my art. At least, not mostly for that. Iris looked very nice in her little aquamarine bikini, and a part of me was annoyed that I hadn't suggested a tie-up set; specifically, the part that wanted to untie the ties and watch the bikini fall off her. This part was more active than usual because I could see, even from this distance, that Iris was in "blue mode," as she would say. This made me think briefly about Avra, who was topless where Iris wasn't, even though they were both sex shifters; but then, he seemed as assurred of his identity as a boy as Iris was of her identity as a girl, so I put that thought aside and continued to admire Iris from afar.

I sat there being a quiet perv, stewing in my own juices, for maybe 15 or 20 minutes before deciding I'd had enough, and getting up to join them. Iris noticed me coming and said, "Finally! I thought you were gonna be boring like the other adults," and soon the three of us were splashing water at each other and laughing fit to burst.

From what Iris had said, I expected the three Zahane adults to sit in their beach chairs all afternoon long, but I noticed another group of adults moving into the area and drafting them into a game of beach volleyball. I asked Iris and Avra if they wanted to join in, but by then the three of us were immersed in making sand castles, so I wasn't surprised that they weren't interested. I hadn't really been, either, but I thought I might as well ask.

Now you'd think, with her skill at designing things on VC, that Iris would have had the best sand castle of us all, but no; in fact, the medium seemed to frustrate her, for no matter how hard she tried, her sand castle looked more like crumbling blobs of wet sand than a building of any kind, while Avra's sand castle was a little above average. I think it helped Iris's mood that mine was not much better than hers; I am a painter, not a sculptor, after all. In fact, Iris eventually just shrugged at her crumbling sand castle and said "Meh. Kinda sucks, but whatever."

"Yeah, mine isn't very good either. I guess neither of us are very good in this medium."

"Yup. Bytes and pixels are much more cooperative than sand. In a VC, things usually stay where you tell them to stay, and you can always undo mistakes. Here in the real world, with sand, not so much."

"Oh yea, but the laws of physics are a pain sometimes, right?"

"Yup yup. Oh well, the best part of making sand castles is destroying them, right?"

"Indeed. Though only your own, of course. And yours is close enough to Avra's that you might want to wait until he gives the go-ahead. He might want to take a picture of his before it gets knocked over, and if you demolish yours now, his might get caught in the crossfire."

"Yeah. Well I can add a moat and some little stick people anyway, then Avra and I can pretend to be dragons when he's ready."

As it turned out, Avra wasn't impressed enough with his own work to want to get a picture of it, and so with a nod to his little sister, the two had an epic mock dragon fight in the area, which I started filming on my Omnus, the two of them like great monsters very dramatically nearly missing stepping on villagers or knocking over buildings many times before Iris-dragon grabbed Avra-dragon's ankles and sent him straight into his own castle backwards, while roaring. She scrambled up onto him, also roaring, and pretending to claw at him. They wrestled each other for a while, rolling over her own castle. I took my Omnus off and set it up in a little hillock of sand to continue recording as I joined in, the big mama dragon roaring at her... cubs? Dragonlings? for them to stop fighting, because they'd wasted all that delicious human meat. I picked the two of them up in my arms - for Avra, while adolescent, was only maybe 15 years old, which of course looks younger for Paxites and Lucites - and tried to haul them away from the wreckage, but they were too heavy for me, and I toppled backwards onto my own sand castle.

When we were done laughing so hard we were all clutching stitches in our sides, I went over to my Omnus and stopped the recording, putting the device back on my wrist, and sat back down next to Iris as the two of them sat there, still recovering.

"A part of me thinks that would have been even more fun, not to mention hilarious, if you'd brought your Autonotinies with you; we could have had little terrified villagers running around for real. But another part of me is glad we didn't. Quite apart from the potential pain of falling on one, they're not terribly bright, so I can easily see them running off into the ocean and getting swept away."

"Yeah. Actually, I've heard of that happening," Avra said. "Kids bringing their Autonotinies to the beach to inhabit the sand castles or to build their own, which I imagine would be fun to watch, and then like you said, they either get too close to the ocean, or they run off in terror during roughhousing and either way, get swept away. But even more interesting, sometimes Autonotinies wash ashore, still able to walk around. Usually they drop dead a few hours after that, their batteries depleted, but still, kind of cool."

I tried not to stare at Avra, though I'm not sure how successful I was. Aside from the dialogue in the game, it was the most I'd heard him say... ever, really. I made a mental note to ask Iris later if he was shy or if he was just naturally quiet.

"Yeah," Iris added when he stopped. "And then some of them end up in the Ocean Skimmers." I nodded; it made sense, after all. Ocean Skimmers are automated ships that constantly wander about the oceans, skimming garbage out of the ocean and recycling it. An early version of them had been invented by a young inventor in the early decade or two of the 21st century, but it took a bunch more decades for them to begin to be made and implemented. With the rise of metamaterials, many of which were very resistant to any kind of decay, they'd become even more important than they'd originally been. Fish choking to death or being poisoned by plastic was bad enough, but some metamaterials could cause truly gruesome deaths indeed for any wildlife unfortunate enough to ingest them.

We got into a discussion, then, about the various things that could happen to Autonotinies, including some people who just flat-out released the small machines into the wild with programs that included a fear of returning home, and a desire to find ways to keep their batteries charged. So while human homelessness was not an issue on Paxum, it wasn't terribly unusual to see homeless Autonotinies wandering around. Of course, their range was limited; Autonotinies usually become inert if they end up too far away from their home base, IE the little wirelessly networked house unit they came with.

I pointed this out, and added that I thought that might be part of the reason why the company that made them designed them to be too difficult to customize to really be worth the effort. That wasn't the only reason, of course. Autonotinies were one of the few products from the capitalist colony Greshnok 4 that Paxum had, which only worked out because a company on Paxum was paying the Greshnokkians for the Autonotinies with rare minerals mined from local asteroids and adjacent lifeless planets.

Being a bit tired out, the three of us went over to take over the beach chairs while the other adults were playing volleyball. After being out in the sun, even with the breeze and the evaporating water clinging to me, which had long since dried, it felt good to sit in the shade a spell. But the heat was getting more oppressive, so when Iris and Avra got up to go into the water again, I followed them into the cooling waters.

Our mood in the water this time was much different. Avra went off on his own, wading in the waves, while Iris and I drifted together and cuddled in the water. I began to float, with Iris floating atop me; we just stayed like that for a few minutes, bobbing in the water as waves went past us, before she used her legs to get a better purchase on me. I felt a surge of warmth as she did, and felt my swimsuit bottom get tighter. Judging by her wry facial expression, Iris had noticed as well.

"Well I'd always heard wood expands in water, I guess this proves it," she said; I once more felt the familiar sensation of my face warming up.

"Smart ass," I playfully countered.

"Yes, but I'm [i]your[/i] smart-ass, right?"

"Sure thing, my Queen."

"You know, you can come up with other pet names to call me, too, for some variety."

"How about 'my flower'?"

She grinned. "I like that one."

"Me too. So, my flower, I notice you don't have any pet names for me. You don't even call me Rea, like my sister does. Always just Rianna."

"Oh. Well, that's an oversight I should correct."

I waited for her to continue. When she didn't, I asked, "Are you still thinking, my flower?"

"Yeah. Your name doesn't lend itself well to pet names, and I don't want something cliche, nor do I want to use Kamaria's pet name for you."

"Well if it helps, the rest of my family calls me Rea as well."

"I appreciate the attempt, but that doesn't help."

"Alright. There's no rush. If you think of one, let me know, but it's perfectly fine to take your time if you need to. I like the idea of having something special."

"Okie dokie, when I think of one I'll run it by ya." She sighed, and snuggled in a little more, but pulled back a little, making a face.

"Something wrong?"

She hit herself on the side of the head a little. "Got some water in my ear."

"Well don't beat yourself about the head. Come on, let's go back, I think your parents brought something for that."

She sighed. "Do we have to do that right now? I like it here."

"Me too, dear. Hmm... well, it'll probably be fine if we wait a little longer. Just, let's try to remember it needs doing, okay?"

"That's easily handled." She lifted her wrist, pressed a button on her Omnus, and said into it, "Remind me when we get back on land, I need to take care of the water in my ear."

"Understood. Reminder set," the Omnus intoned, the text of the reminder flashing on the display briefly before the Omnus went into standby again.

We went back to our own sort of standby mode too, floating there, relaxing. I don't know how long we were like that before she spoke again. "I think I just peed."

"Meh. The ocean is full of pee already. Human pee, fish pee, and so on. But I'll make sure not to get thirsty anytime soon."

"Silly person, you can't drink ocean water! It's not good for you."

"I know that, my flower. It was a joke."

"Is that what they're calling it now?"

"You know, my little Iris flower, with your eye color and your occasionally impish behavior, I think you might have been better named 'Thistle.'"

"[i]Thistle[/i] be the last time I let you call me 'Thistle,' you impudent scallywag!" And with that, the relaxed mood instantly transformed into a silly mood, and we started splashing water at each other and chasing one another about, playing a game of Shark and Seal. I started out as the shark, naturally, but I think Iris made a far more convincing shark when it came her turn to try to catch me. I had barely been able to touch her during my time as shark, she was so much better at swimming than me (probably went to the pool a lot, the little whelp), and it took all my energy to get away from her when she was the shark. As it was, I had to head toward shore.

"Hey no fair! No going on land!"

I pulled myself ashore and turned back to face her. "I'm a seal, remember? Seals can go ashore."

"Oh, OH!" Iris jerked around a little, which confused me, until she spoke again, "what's this? I... seem to have ingested some kind of... mutagenic chemical. Evolution... changing me. I... I AM NOW A LAND SHARK!" She stood up and ran at me, and I yelped and, staying true to my role, tried to drag myself away like a seal, even going so far as to bark like one. I had an ulterior motive for this; soon enough, she caught me, and began to mock-bite me.

"I, the land shark, have caught the seal! I'm eating you right up! You will be in my belly!"

"Oh no! Oh no! Whatever will my pups do without their mother? Please have mercy on me, Ms. Land Shark!"

"No! I'm gonna eat you, and then I'm gonna take your pups and fatten them up for later. And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Ahhhh!" I writhed about, making piteous moans as Iris nibbled me all over. This quickly devolved into me giggling like a drunken high schooler at prom, because her mock bites were tickling me.

Luckily, the land shark did eventually take pity on me, and stopped before I started to laugh too much. I lay there, recovering as Iris snuggled up next to me on the sand, waves occasionally washing over our lower legs. Once I calmed down enough to stop giggling, Iris leaned closer and began to nibble my ears lovingly, and I could do nothing but lay there enjoying the sensation, the pressure in my bikini bottom returning in earnest.

Wanting to do something for her, too, I tried running my hand along her arm, but between the wrinkliness of my fingers, our skins' wetness, and the sand on her skin, that didn't work out well, so I stopped it. Iris lay herself atop me and started to nibble the other ear. In this position, I was able to run the backs of my fingers against her own ears, which probably didn't do much for her, but she gave no sign that it bothered her, so I continued it.

"Ugh! Get a room!" We both looked up at this voice, and saw Avra rolling his eyes. "I'd rather not witness my sister and her girlfriend getting hot and heavy, especially in public."

"Nobody's forcing you to stay here," Iris pointed out.

Avra countermanded with, "Actually, our parents kind of [i]are[/i] forcing me to stay in this general area."

Iris rolled her eyes. "Yeah but you could always look somewhere else. Your Omnus will tell Mum, Dad, and Mom where you are. Or go back into the ocean. Nobody's forcing you to look at us. Or maybe it really turns you on and you don't want to admit it."

Avra snorted and crossed his arms. "Well yeah, probably, if you weren't my sister. If you were some other girl, I wouldn't have stopped you."

"Rianna and her sister are lovers, so I don't-"

"Yeah well I'm not into that kinda thing. You're pretty, I guess, and maybe if you weren't my sister... but, well... you are." He turned bright red, something which was obvious with his ginger hair and lightly freckled complexion, and walked off in an embarrassed huff.

"Wow, what a mood killer," Iris commented. "But kinda funny, and flattering, to know he fancies me."

"I do [i]not[/i] fancy you!" Avra shouted back at her without pausing or even really slowing down. In fact, he sped up.

"It's okay," she shouted back, "I know I'm highly fanciable! I make all the boys and girls drool!"

"[i]You[/i] drool!" I could barely even hear him that time. Iris shrugged. "Soo..." she said more quietly at me, like a question.

"So, I think I've been in the water too long, and need to get my land legs back. What say we go for a walk?"

"Okie dokie." She stood up and strained to see where Avra was going, then pointed in another direction. "There's some nice trees over there, we can take a nature walk." Before we did, we brushed sand off each other and got into some sandals, since whatever sand that wasn't being pummeled by ocean waves was getting quite hot in the sun. We also took a moment to poke Iris in the ear gently with this device that made sure her ears were free of water and disinfected the ear canal just in case, before heading off on our walk.

Our time in the water must have gotten to Iris pretty bad, too, because we'd barely made it to the large rock marking the beginning of a small nature trail before she had to sit down again. My own legs were recovering faster, but that might have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't been swimming as much or as fast as Iris had been. When we stood up again, Iris eyed the path and then asked me if I'd let her ride on my shoulders. I agreed, knelt down, and soon I was standing up with her perched on my shoulders, and she was grabbing the top of my head to keep herself from falling backwards.

It wasn't a terribly long path, so after our first time through, we went through it a few more times, twice with her on my shoulders, and the last time side-by-side, holding hands. Actually, we only went through another 2 and a half times, stopping to rest on a bench under a large oak tree. At least, it started out as just a rest and a cuddle. But then the romantic mood came back, and this time Iris climbed up on my lap, straddling me, and initiated a kiss.

She seemed to be focusing her attention on making it a really good kiss, only pausing a couple times to giggle and comment as she felt "little Rianna," as she called it, make its presence known from beneath my bikini bottom. Naturally, I returned the attention. And I must say, Iris was a fast learner. Her technique already seemed to have improved from our first real kiss, like she'd been paying attention at the time and not just getting lost in the sensations like I'd done. Probably she was doing the same now, too. I suppressed a grin at the thought that I was teaching her to be an excellent kisser. Since Kam had taught me kissing, I guess that meant I was paying it forward in a way. That made me imagine Kam watching us, which I could totally see her doing, even if she wasn't a fellow paedoromantic, which got me harder. Iris giggled again, more of a titter than a giggle. [i]Heh,[/i] I thought, [i]titter.[/i]

I couldn't help it; I snorted mid-kiss, which made Iris pull out and break into a fit of the giggles. Which, naturally, set me off giggling too. We both made several attempts to go back to kissing, but those only made us laugh harder, until we both fell over in the bench laughing like a pair of hyenas at a comedy show. Neither of us noticed the sun getting lower in the sky, the day getting slightly darker. We just kept giggling. We would stop every so often, attempting to restore a serious atmosphere so we could go back to kissing, but it was just that really tense suppression of laughter that kept invariably exploding out of one or the other of us, setting the other one off.

We were in the middle of an extended giggle fit, one where both of us were struggling to stop so we could breathe again, when the others found us. I was upside down in the seat at the time, but I was able to look up and see Taanlen smiling with wry amusement at us. Derris and Matria were grinning, as well. Even Avra had to fight to hide his smile at finding us acting like a couple giggly toddlers; I imagine he'd been expecting to walk in on us snogging. Which, of course, we had been doing, before we got caught up in an extended giggle fit.

Seeing the rest of her family finally, somehow, got us to calm down and stop laughing. We righted ourselves and stood up.

"Okay you two sillies, it's time for dinner. We need to shower and change first. Are you done cackling like loonies?" I nodded, not recovered enough for words yet. Iris did the same.

"Good," Taanlen said. "We're going out for seafood. Come along."

They turned around; Iris and I followed, still faintly amused, but all giggled out for now. But we did keep looking at each other with amusement and smiling all the way back to the hotel room, like we were having some kind of silent conversation that was funny.

Once we were all changed into our street clothes, everyone got in the van and drove a couple miles to a really nice seafood restaurant. I was a little worried, at first; I wasn't sure if I had it in my budget for a place like this, yet. But at my concerned expression, Matria informed me that they were paying for my dinner, too. I was relieved. Maybe in a couple months when I'd been working my increased hours for a while, I could afford to splurge on a place like this, but until then, it was a relief to be treated by someone else.

The room was abuzz with talk, and quite busy, but there was no line. Before long, a woman in a uniform walked up to us and said, "Hello and welcome to The Pearl Room, I'm Misty, I'll be your server tonight. Table for six? Or are there more?"

"Only the six of us," Taanlen said.

"Ah," Misty said, spotting Iris's crown. "And royalty, no less. This way, my liege, my lords, and my ladies." Iris smiled and looked at me, mouthing [i]I like her.[/i] I mouthed back [i]I like her too.[/i]

When we got to the table, which was plain old wood and had nothing computerized at all on it, I began to get an inkling of the kind of place this was. When I noticed that the menus were also analog, this was confirmed. This place, which was fairly busy, spent extra hiring servers who actually took orders themselves, rather than ordering from a networked menu. Between that and the fancy, fresh seafood they served, it was no wonder the place was expensive. A lot of places only hire human servers at all because it's got a more personal feeling to it than having a robot roll out with your meal, but at this place, their servers actually serve.

After some internal debate, I ordered a platter of crab. I wasn't the only one, either. Iris, to my surprise, ordered calamari. Nobody commented on this at first, so I didn't either. For all I knew, she'd had it before.

When Misty left to give the cooks our order, Taanlen turned to Iris and asked, "You do realize calamari is squid, right?"

"Yes."

"And that it's really chewy, a bit like rubber?"

She shrugged. Taanlen rolled her eyes and smiled. Then she started up conversation, and before long, we were all joining in, except for Avra, who was quietly reading something on his e-board.

Matria, who had for some reason decided to sit on my left side (Iris was on my right), got my attention without alerting Iris, and said into my ear "we found a woman qualified to authenticate Iris's design work, and her initial reaction to it was to suggest we get her tested to see how smart she is, and in what areas. But we haven't set up an appointment yet, mostly because none of us knows how to broach the subject with Iris. We don't want her to be unnerved like she was that first couple days. I was wondering if you could do it? No pressure, it's fine if you don't, it's just that she's so comfortable around you, and vice versa."

"Sure, Matria. I'll see what I can do." She looked relieved, and went back to talking with someone else. As for me, I kind of drifted off in thought, so zoned out that Iris had to prod me in the side to get my attention when the food finally came.

"Silly goose, woolgathering at the dinner table," she said in a fake 'affronted royalty' voice.

"I needed to make yarn for a sweater, my queen," I jokingly explained.

"Well don't; such behavior makes you a baaaad girl," she said, making the 'baaad' sound like a sheep. I laughed, and so did the rest of the adults. Even Avra smiled at the joke.

Despite apparently never having had it before, Iris loved the calamari, and ended up eating all of it. I was glad to see this; adventurous eating in children is a mark of bravery. A lot of adults look down on picky eating, but children have more tastebuds than adults do, and the ones they have are more sensitive as well. But with age comes a dulled sense of taste, which I'm sure would make a great anti-adult slogan, too. But more to the point, with a better sense of taste, kids who are 'picky' are picky because, frankly, the food often doesn't taste at all the same to them as it does to adults.

After the main meal, we all had ice cream for afters. By the time I was done, I felt like I'd have to be rolled home. But instead of just leaving, we stayed and continued to talk about various things. Iris got bored of whatever it was the others were discussing, and she and I got to talking instead. During a lull, I decided to broach Matria's earlier suggestion.

Iris was the one who got us on the subject of her designs, mentioning a new plan she was working on for a solar-powered personal vehicle she hoped would be able to go just about anywhere. So when the lull opened up, I said, "Well let me know when you get that one done, because that sounds pretty cool. I would have loved to have had something like that as a kid."

"Yeah I want one too, which is why I'm designing it. Not sure how I'd make something that big, though, but oh well. I think there are places to go that have industrial-sized fabricator devices."

"Oh, speaking of your designs, my flower, your parents took some of them to an Authenticator. Sounds like she was really impressed with them."

"Really?" Iris turned a little red, her eyes downcast, but she was smiling. She suddenly reminded me of me, how my cheeks flush and I go quiet when embarrassed.

I leaned closer to Iris, and she leaned against me for emotional support. "Yeah, she hadn't even gotten around to doing a full Authentication, just looked at it like I did, but of course with a professional eye. She thinks your school might not have any idea how smart you are, and that having you get professionally Observed by some nice specialists and their AI's might help you get more out of school. Does that sound like something you'd like to try?"

"I dunno. What's the testing like?"

"Ah, well, I do know a little something about that. I was tested as a kid. I was found to be above average, but not too much so. It's easy. They just put this funny helmet thing on your head and let you loose in a special classroom with all kinds of cool stuff, and you do whatever you want in there, and the people and the AI's monitor the readouts from the funny helmet as you do. It's just like being alone in a classroom at school while the teacher has stepped out for a while, but with a silly hat."

"Oh, okay. That sounds fun. Yeah, you can tell Mama to get me an appointment for that. But on one condition."

"Let me guess, you want me to go with you?"

"Yeah."

"Well I don't know if they'd let me in the room with you, but I can ask, and even if they don't, I can be there up til that point, and be waiting for you when you come out."

"Sounds good to me, Rianna." She hugged me, then said, "You know, I thought of a pet name for you. I'm gonna cal you 'my anchor' because you're my emotional anchor. I was gonna go with 'my rock,' but I like 'my anchor' better."

"I like it, too. You can call me either, or both. I don't mind being called a rock."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

When we finally decided to head back to the hotel, Iris skipped ahead to the van, which gave me the chance I needed to pull Matria to the side and relay to her the conversation Iris and I had had, about getting her tested. Matria was pleased that I'd managed it so quickly, and said she'd get on that as soon as we all returned home.

*

Back at the hotel, the three Zahane adults decided to go find the hot tub. I gathered from the way they were talking, that they were planning on being nude in there, and since I didn't feel comfortable being nude around these people I didn't actually know all that well despite the fact I was dating their daughter, I politely declined the invitation to join them. It seemed Iris wasn't interested, either. She said she'd had enough of water for one day. Avra also was uninterested. He went somewhere else in the hotel, I don't remember where, and I'm not even sure he said where he was going anyway.

When everyone else was gone, I asked Iris what she wanted to do, and after a few moments of thought, she said, "I wanna go outside on a walk with you. It's getting dark, we can look at the stars."

I agreed that sounded like a good idea, and grabbed a beach towel in case we wanted to lay down anywhere. I informed Matria where we were going, and soon we were out walking along a path leading from the hotel to a nature area that was mostly wild grasses and a few small bushes and trees. It led uphill, but the incline was gentle, so we held hands and made our sedate way up the path.

The night air was balmy as we walked, a small bit of sunlight still shading the sky a light grey. There were a few streaks of clouds in the sky, but otherwise our view of the sky was clear. A few stars had already come out, shining bright in a darkening sky untouched by manmade pollutants. Like I did whenever I could see the sky, I tried to find the star that old Earth revolved around, but it was impossible. Maybe I could see it, maybe not, but I couldn't identify it if I could, not being an astronomist.

When we got to the top of the hill, it evened out and there were no more trees or bushes, and we had an unimpeded view of the land around us, blocked only by the hotel.

"I can see the ocean from here," Iris exclaimed, pointing.

"Yes. And I can see the little wooded area we were walking through earlier."

"So do I."

We spent a few more minutes admiring the scenery, or what little of it we could see in the dying light, before the only light left was the stars in the sky, and a couple of brighter dots I'm pretty sure are two of the four moons Paxum has, only one of which is really obvious as a moon when it's out. Actually, I could see the blackness that was Paxum's shadow on that moon, which appeared to be half the size of Earth's moon, Luna, if pictures of Luna from Earth were to be believed.

"Iris, look! See that round, black circle? I'm pretty sure that's the moon Azikiwe."

Iris looked where I pointed, squinted a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, that'd be it. Only one I know how to find. No idea where Probst, Albaf, or Singh are."

"A little odd that the four genetic engineers responsible for the Paxite subspecies chose such small celestial objects to name themselves after," I said. "I guess it was a humility thing, maybe?"

"Well I dunno, they can all be seen from the surface, if you know where to look."

"So, speaking of the founders of my race, do Lucites know who founded their race?"

"Yeah. It was a huge team, but there are six credited with the biggest breakthroughs. Hmm... I can only remember four offhand, though. Dr. Jane Allison, Dr. Nascha Hataalii, Dr. Ananya Raji, and Dr. Pranav Arun."

I nodded and spread the large towel down on the grass for us to sit on. It was so big it practically qualified as a blanket. I was glad I'd brought it; I was a little tired from the combo of all the earlier activity, and then the trudging up the hill. There must have been some flowers nearby, because Iris brought me a handfull of yellow dandelions.

Handing me the flowers as she sat down next to me, she said, "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman."

I couldn't tell in the dark if she was blushing or not, but I could feel that I was. I took the flowers with a smile, sniffed them, and said, "Thank you. Beautiful flowers from my own beautiful flower." I moved the flowers to my left hand and ran the back of my right hand's fingers along her cheek. I could feel her cheek get warmer.

As she lay down next to me and began to snuggle closer, I searched my purse by touch for a hard case I knew I had with me. They were for my sunglasses, but the flowers fit well in there without getting squished, so I knew they'd be safe in there with my sunglasses until I got back to the hotel. I told Iris what I'd done, and I felt her nod her head in response.

We lay there on our backs, looking up at the stars, amazingly bright in the black sky, the two of us silently astounded by the sight. Words were driven out of my head as I looked up into the abyss. It felt so good, staring into the vastness of outer space, the warm weight of Iris beside me, and only after an unknown amount of time did something profound occur to me, that I just had to share with Iris.

"It's amazing, don't you think, that almost 600 years ago, this spot on the planet would have been bare rock, the planet's thin air would have been unbreathable, and the robots that were sent ahead of the colonists would just have been beginning the terraforming process? It kind of blows my mind that the solar roadway technology we use today was around before this planet had life."

"Yeah, didn't the robots use solar power?"

"Yes, they did. And Earth was using it, too, once the oil reserves began to be depleted, and climate change was threatening the human way of life."

"Have you ever been in space?" she asked.

"Me? No. Never been more than a few hundred miles from Lavernia. But you came here from Lucem, right? What's it like?"

"Well, it was kind of a short trip. Lucem is about the same distance from Paxum as Venus is from Earth. We were only in the ship for a few days. But oh my goodness, I saw Lucem from space, and it was lovely. Amazing blue and brown and green, and so small. Everything I'd ever known for my whole life was so tiny, from space. And Paxum looked very similar. But Paxum was new, and I wondered for so long what it would be like. Not just on the trip over, but also for the couple months we planned and packed for the trip."

I held her hand in mine, and she continued. "It was both climactic [i]and[/i] anti-climactic when I saw Paxum after we landed. Everything was so much like Lucem. The same plants, the same animals, for the most part. The same kind of landscapes. Same sky. Same air."

"Yeah, the robots did a great job terraforming the place."

"Uh huh. But the differences are neat, too. Like, some animals our two worlds have, can't be found on Earth. Some are new. Like duth-duth birds."

"Yes. As I understand it, there were holes in the ecology. These holes weren't world-shattering in importance, really, but the founders wanted to fill them anyway, and didn't have the DNA of the animals that filled those niches. Either because the animal that had filled that niche on Earth had gone extinct, or because nobody knew what animal had once filled a certain niche, or because there were no viable genetic samples of that species. Or, just because the founders hadn't brought the right DNA templates. So they used what they had and made some new species."

"Dunno bout you, but what really gets [i]me[/i] is that there are planets out there that already had life, but nothing sapient. And so, like, those colonists [i]had[/i] to use genetic engineering, because some of those worlds were too different from Earth for them to survive on them otherwise, at least without resorting to like, living inside hermetically sealed buildings their whole lives."

"Agreed. And then, too, remember that our ancestors had it easy; our founders didn't have to travel at relativistic speeds. There could still be people out there, between the stars, traveling at 97% the speed of light. Every so often, one of those groups is discovered. And some people wander like that by [i]choice[/i]. They know about FTL, and may even occasionally use it, but mostly they just drift between the stars."

Iris shivered, but not with cold. She crawled up on top of me and lay her head down on my chest. "I can't imagine living like that, never seeing sunlight, just drifting from one pinprick of light to another." She shivered again. "Let's talk about something else, now."

"Puppies and kittens and bunny rabbits," I said, eliciting a slight giggle from Iris. "You know, speaking of animals, Iris, does your family have any pets?"

"Taanlen has a white cat, but he's the only one. He doesn't get along well with other animals, we tried. So long as he's there, he rules the roost."

"Not even any turtles or goldfish or anything like that?"

"Nope. He'd find them, and eat them or bat them around." She sighed. "What about you? You ever have a pet?"

"My family had a dog once. I didn't have much to do with it. I might like a cat, I dunno."

"It would be cool if you got a kitty that liked us both. Snaggletooth - that's Taanlen's cat - is a big old grumpybutt who mostly stays in her room because he doesn't like anyone else. He growls at anyone who isn't Taanlen. I'm glad he stays in her room mostly."

Iris snuggled in closer, and just lay there quietly. I sensed something in her quietude that made me decide not to speak, either. I just lay there, listening to her breathing. We lay like that for... I don't know how long. But finally, Iris sat up, looked at me thoughtfully for a little while, then stood up.

"It's buggy out here. I need a shower."

I sighed, but got up myself. "Oh okay. Probably best." I looked at the time. It was only 9:30, but it was pretty dark out, so going in was probably a good idea. I grabbed the towel, lit the way with my Omnus, and we headed back down the hill to the hotel. It took me a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the hotel, but by the time we got back into the room, they had adjusted.

Because the room was actually two rooms connected, there were two showers, and both were available. A quick check of things showed the others were still out and about somewhere in the hotel. Iris and I took different bathrooms and showered. Iris must have been doing a more thorough job than I, because she was still showering when I got done. I got into my pajamas and lay down on our bed to read.

I was halfway through a second chapter before Iris came out of the bathroom in her teddy-bear PJ's, her hair tied up inside a towel to dry. She bypassed the bed, though, and sat at one of the desks with an eTab, kind of like an eBoard but it was a simple computer. I could kind of see what she was doing on it, and it looked like she was writing something. Could have been a journal entry, or could have been an email, who knew. I kept on reading.

Iris was only on the eTab for about 20 minutes or so (I wasn't really keeping track) when she put it away, took her hair out of the towel, and hopped up onto the bed next to me, snuggling up to me. She reached up a moment to press something, which was apparently the control for the bed's privacy screen, since that started to whirr along the track around the bed on the floor and ceiling. The privacy screen, as I understand it, is made of a meta-material that is soundproof. It also blocks out the light from the rest of the room. Naturally, personal bed lights on the ceiling lit up as the screen closed.

"I want to snog," Iris said. "I'm feeling kissy. What about you?"

I marked my place and set the eBoard aside on the end table. "Well, I might need a little encouragement there, but I'm sure you'll be able to provide it."

"Oh okay, silly bean, how about this?" Iris lifted the covers up a little and crawled on top of me, her pajama-clad crotch and mine making contact. My womanhood responded, naturally, to this beautiful little girl sitting right on it, and Iris giggled as it did.

"Mmm, you sure love to tease me," I purred.

"And you sure do love to be teased, right?"

"Very much, yes."

Iris shifted forward, her body pressed against my pajama-clad breasts. I felt my nipples harden as Iris bent down and kissed me on the lips. I opened them automatically, and her wonderful little tongue slid into my mouth and wrestled with my own tongue. I held her close, my hands slipping under her pajama shirt to feel the skin of her back underneath them. Iris's hands were clutching my head, one hand in my braids, the other one rubbing my ear lobe. I decided to return the favor, and freed one hand to rub at one of her earlobes.

When we paused for air, Iris moved from my mouth and began to nibble my neck. It felt so good that the hand still on her back moved up far enough to lift the whole back of her pajama shirt up in the back. Once I got control of my other hand again, I grabbed her little butt with it, and she giggled. Then her nibbling mouth got to my earlobe and I felt her little teeth and tongue wandering over and around it, which made me grab her tighter. When her tongue began going inside my ear, I almost came on the spot, my back arching, my delighted moans eliciting more giggles.

And then, the little devil rolled off me, giggling sadistically, for once more she had left me hanging. I shot her a piteous look and she just pressed the button to open the privacy shield. I slid out of bed, Iris plainly trying not to laugh too loudly, and ran to the bathroom.

Once the door closed, I pulled my pajama pants and panties down and sat down on the toilet seat lid, looking down at the evidence of Iris's sadism. I normally would just have finished quickly, but I decided not to, this time. Instead, I took my erection in hand and teased it, keeping it interested but drawing out the pleasure and also diminishing its excitement just enough so that I wouldn't go off at the slightest effort. Once I was sure it was at the right level, I got some lube out of my travel bag and slowly began to massage my girlcock with it.

I closed my eyes and imagined myself in bed with a naked Iris. I was nude, too, and this time I was the one kissing her neck, and working down to her undeveloped tits. I imagined what they would feel like in my mouth as I licked and sucked on them. While I did that, in my mind's eye, I ran my hands along her belly, with the slightest trace of a taco pudge, and along her hips, which from my weeks of knowing her I imagined as having the very beginnings of a curve to them.

My eyes still closed, I ran my hands along imaginary-Iris's bottom, feeling its warm plumpness and firmness, as my mouth continued on its journey to kiss the ghost of her belly, and closer to her sex. I had to pause a few moments when my imaginary trip along her thighs almost made me ejaculate prematurely, but once it calmed down a little more, I resumed my sexy daydream.

Starting this journey, I had pictured her in "blue mode," fully intending to give fantasy cunnilingus, but when my mind's mouth finally got to imaginary-Iris's sex, she was in "red mode," and I was picturing a cute little pre-pubescent girl cock and testes. I kissed a wandering trail around them before finally kissing her member. I kissed it, and licked it, getting almost too excited to continue. I began to grow slightly impatient with myself, so I pictured myself pulling back the foreskin and putting the whole thing in my mouth. I sucked it with a passion so strong I knew my body was miming the act with my mouth and one free hand, and I must look silly if someone were to walk in on me.

In the way minds work sometimes, IE non-linearly, as I was giving my fictitious blow job, another, stronger image overlapped it, of Iris and I just cuddling under the covers. This was hardly a new thing for me; being demisexual, the majority of my lust is tied in with my love. And so it was this image that pushed me over the edge into orgasm. I felt my oversized clit pulse with ejaculate, and I slumped backward against the toilet tank.

When I came, I realized that the lust aspect of my feelings for Iris had slowly been building for much of the day, and had roared up like a bonfire when her "encouragement" had poured proverbial gasoline on that fire. I knew this because suddenly, the bonfire of my lust became mere embers. The [i]other[/i] fire, of my love for her, had been somewhere between campfire and bonfire for a week or two, and had not diminished. I cleaned up and left the bathroom, knowing I could now go back to Iris.

I opened the door to the bathroom and paused, hearing something. Iris had not closed the privacy screen again, so I could hear her breathing heavily. It was closed enough, though, that I couldn't see her. I went quietly back into the bathroom, but since my lust had been sated, I merely sat down on the toilet and waited another 10 minutes before opening the door again. When I did, Iris was quiet.

"You finished in there, Iris?"

She started, but as I had not put myself in view, she had to poke her head around the partially-closed privacy screen to see me. "What did you see?" she asked nervously.

"On my honor, my Queen, I saw nothing. I heard just enough to give you more time alone, however," I said with a grin.

She blushed, but grinned back at me. "Well, I'm all done. I finished five minutes ago, and I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long."

"Ah yes, I wanted to take my time."

Iris yawned deeply. I yawned in response. "Well," she said, "I'm tired now. I'm gonna go to bed. What about you?" She pulled up the covers for me.

I felt a good kind of butterfly feeling in my tummy at this. I had been wanting to fall asleep with this little cutie at my side, and wake up in the morning with her still there. Now it looked like it might happen. Not that I was surprised, mind you; the way the rooms/beds had been booked, it was either sleep next to Iris or sleep on the floor. But here was the moment at last, and it made me feel warm and happy.

"Yeah, I could use some sleep too. Almost zonked out in the bathroom, which would have been embarrassing."

Iris chuckled at that, and I got in beside her. I noticed she was still fully clothed. I wasn't sure what she'd done earlier, whether she'd pulled things down for access to Jill herself off, or had just put her hand down her PJ's, but whatever she'd done, there was no evidence of it now. Well, it wasn't really my business, so I internally shrugged and closed the privacy screen, and cuddled up next to Iris.

It took us a while to get to sleep, because neither of us were used to sleeping in the same bed with each other, and we kept talking, fidgeting, and giggling. But eventually we wore each other out, and drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

(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.

* * *

(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

Author note: This chapter contains another sex scene
between the adult characters Rianna and her sister Kamaria.

Author note 2: From a short chapter last time, to a long one this time. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 8: A Grey Matter

Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal. I went to work, Iris eventually ended up there and followed me home later, where we spent time reading, talking, and/or watching three-vee before she went back home, which wasn't as much time as I would have liked, seeing as I was working til 5 PM Mondays through Thursdays now. It wasn't until Wednesday that things began to get more interesting.

I was at work on Wednesday when the first interesting part started. The library's 3VP - basically an oversized, land-line Omnus - beeped at noon to indicate an incoming call. This in itself was not unusual; even in this era where most people could ask their house AI for any kind of information, some people still preferred to speak with a real human being. It was only when Matria's image appeared holographically over the 3VP that I realized this was an unusual call.

"Matria?" I said, perplexed at the incongruity.

"Hi, Rianna. I would have called you on your Omnus, but I decided since you're working, to call the library instead."

"Oh, okay. How can I help you?" I asked. Hey, this was the library line after all.

"Well I tried both yesterday and Monday to get through to them, but finally I did it."

"Through to whom?"

"To the testing center, to make an appointment. They're on the other line. I wanted to check what would be a good time for you, since she wants you to be with her."

"Oh okay," I said, and told her my schedule for the next few days. She switched to the other line for a bit - which, as it transpired, meant she was calling me from her VC, while she had the testing center on her Omnus.

When she returned, she asked me, "How does this coming Saturday at 1 PM sound?"

"Sounds good to me, Matria."

"Good. We'll pick you up at noon, since Iris said she might want to visit you before then."

I chuckled. "Sounds good to me. Tell Iris she can come over any time after 8 on Saturday."

"I'll let her know."

Something occurred to me, and before she could hang up, I said, "Oh Matria, hold up. One other thing I want to ask you."

"What's that?"

"How old is Iris, anyway? I uh... I never asked." Which is true enough, I mused.
She laughed. "Funny, I'd have thought that was one of the first things you'd ask, after a name."

"Yeah, well, it seems to have slipped both our minds. So how old is she? She's not here right now, or I'd ask." A minor fib, to be sure, but necessary.

"Oh she's 13. Her 14th birthday is in a couple months, in fact. So you might want to start birthday shopping for her if you're going to." Her words had the ring of truth to them. Well, I thought to myself, that confirms it.

"Thanks, Matria, I will. And wow, you know, 13 going on 14, that makes it even more unusual that her high intelligence wasn't spotted before now. I'm going to have to have words with someone about the quality of schools in this city."

"I'm not sure that'll be necessary. We had the same thoughts in the days after you figured it out, and the consensus here was that she's just very shy and withdrawn. Part of why we were surprised, in fact, was that she's never done very well in school."

"Yeah, well, that's not always a good indicator of intelligence. Some kids do horrible in school because they're not smart enough to do the work and get too frustrated trying. Others, like me, don't do well in school because it's too easy, so they don't see the point of doing things that easy. Imagine if you, as an adult, had to go back to kindergarten. It would be frustrating, insulting, and dull. If Iris is anything like I was, she'll feel the same way."

"Hmm... I'd never thought of that before."

"Of course, your lot raised another good point: Iris is shy and withdrawn. I suspect she and I have a lot in common, in that respect. I'm an introvert, but another reason for my shyness in childhood - which I'm still working at getting over - was being too smart, and as a result not fitting in. I know the AI system is supposed to figure out who's gifted and who isn't, then put the gifted kids together so they have some peers, but I can easily see how the system didn't catch on with Iris. If she only does work that interests her at home, and not at school, the school AI's wouldn't have a clue, if she was just 'phoning it in' as the expression goes."

"You know, now you've said all that, I've noticed she's a lot less withdrawn these days. Especially around you, but also with us. I think you're a good influence on her."

"Yeah, sometimes we brainiacs just need kindred spirits to understand us. And kids often don't have the knowledge or experience to realize what they need, or to put it into words. But I think when we saw each other that first day in the library, we recognized something in each other that we both needed."

"Do you mean the day that you and she first spoke with one another?"

"Well yeah, that was the first day I'd ever seen her."

"Ah. In that case, I have a minor confession to make."

"What?"

"Well, that may have been the first time you saw her, or perhaps the first time you noticed her, but it wasn't the first day she'd noticed you."

I felt my cheeks getting hot. "Um... w-what? What do you mean?"

"She'd been going to that library every day for the two weeks prior to that. I should know, she was babbling at me about it every day after, and she had even more to say that first day you and she spoke, too."

"I... wow. Really?"

"Yes. That first trip to the library, of course, was just a normal trip to the library. Or at least it started out that way, but then she saw you, and spent the next two weeks gathering the courage to make an excuse to have some kind of conversation with you."

"But..." I thought about it. It's not like I noticed every child that came through the library. Even if I had glimpsed her in those two weeks before we'd officially met, I might not have necessarily remembered. I wondered, then, if part of the 'love at first sight' kind of feeling I'd felt that day had been recognizing, on some level, that she was interested in me. I tried picturing her face that day, and thought I saw those signs, but I couldn't be sure my memory was telling me the truth.

"Wow. That's..." I was at a loss for words.
She chuckled. "No worries, dear. I can tell what you mean by the look on your face. You're flattered, happy, and mildly embarrassed to find that she had a crush on you long before you noticed her."

My face fell a little. Matria backpedaled, "Not that- well, she was kind of trying to be unseen, at least until she wanted to be seen. She's got that invisibility thing down pretty well. Or she did, anyway. She used to dress quite plainly, even tomboyishly. But ever since that day you two met... well, as I understand things, she dressed in that glittery silver, partially-see through dress that day because she wanted to be noticed. She had that dress specially made with her allowance. She wanted you to notice her, and you did." Matria was grinning, now. I guess I was, too, if you could count a crooked, awkward, sheepish grimace of mixed pleasure and embarrassment as a grin.

"What's more," Matria said, "she hasn't dressed in any of her old clothes since meeting you, except her PJ’s. You've brought her out of her shell."

I simply nodded mutely.

Matria's eyes flicked to a place over my shoulder, and she said, "Anyway, don't forget: Saturday at 1 PM. We'll pick you up. Bye!" The projection flicked off, and I was left there feeling profoundly giddy and embarrassed at the same time.

"Come to think of it," a voice I was expecting from over my shoulder said, "I didn't think to mention it, but I recognized Iris that day. I was astonished at the difference in her dress. Matria's right, she was coming here every day for two weeks before that day."

"Hi Aren," I managed to say in a small voice. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Well let's see," my coworker said thoughtfully, sitting down at her seat next to me, "I came in around the time Matria said Iris is almost 14."

The heat in my face could have started a fire if it got any hotter.

~

Another couple hours later, Iris came in and waved at me briefly before going to her favorite chair to read. I waved back, even though I was busy helping patrons. I managed to notice what she was wearing: a sky-blue halter dress that showed off the top half of her back, and matching shoes. I wondered how much she was spending on her new clothes, a thought that led in turn to a decision to take her shopping sometime, spend some of my wages on her.

After another 20 minutes, something else unusual happened; my sister came in and came up to me. I looked up at her, noticing her hair first. It looked like it had started out in her usual two Afro puffs, but then it seemed she'd braided it, so that four small braids hung from each spot where Afro puffs normally were.

Then I noticed her outfit. Boy did I ever notice it. She was wearing extremely short denim shorts that showed off her ass nicely, and a tube top that held her cleavage in so inadequately that her cup was about to runneth over with the slightest disturbance. I looked at her crotch; her trans-womanhood must have been tucked away, for there was no sign of Little Kam. My own Little Rea was most pleased by the view.

I tore my eyes away from my sister's delectable body with difficulty, and somehow managed to shift my brain into the right gear for human speech. "Oh, uh... hey Kam, how're you?"

"Good. And you?"

I looked around to see where Iris and Aren were, and then - seeing the coast was clear - filled her in on what Matria had told me over the 3VP; all of it.

She chuckled. "Wow, somehow that doesn't surprise me at all, even though it does. It sounds like something Iris would do. What I am surprised to find out is that she was even more shy than you, before either of us met her."

"Well she's opening up more around me and around her family." I remembered something suddenly, and added, "Oh yeah, and she made a friend at the beach Sunday. Karra, a cute 10 year old mixed-race girl, half African and half Japanese. They traded contact info, even."

Kam eyed me in a way that annoyed me, and asked me salaciously, "So, you're looking at other little girls now, too? For shame, for shame. You gonna turn our triad into a quad?" She was joking with me, but it still annoyed me a little. I was, after all, still getting used to the idea of being polyamorous.

"I was only looking. I am a lover of beauty, and she is a beautiful little girl. But she's not my type," I said, trusting Kam to know what I meant.

"Ah, so not brainy enough for you, eh?"

"Yes. Just a bit above average, I think. Smart enough that I think she and Iris will make good friends, just not a prodigy or anything like that. Besides, the two of you are all I can handle. I'd go spare trying to add a third, even if I wanted to."

Kam chuckled again. She looked about to say something, but I suddenly remembered something I had to tell her before I forgot.

"Oh by the way, Kam. I found out she's not actually 8."

"Oh? How old is she then?"

I proceeded to tell her about the conversation Sunday with Iris about her age, how the fib got started, and how Matria confirmed it for me. Kam was surprised by the information, and looked thoughtful for a few minutes, saying nothing.

Finally, though, she did speak. "Interesting. And certainly worthy of more discussion, but I think I need more time to think before we do. I mean, I did come here today because we haven't had much in the way of conversation since we uh," she looked around before finishing, "made love the other day... but, well... our lovemaking is kind of what I wanted to talk about. I had a lot of fun, and whether we just talk or fuck, too, I still want to spend more time with you."

"Yes, but I'm at work right now."

"Yeah I can see that, seeing as I'm right here, too, silly bean. And I didn't mean to disturb you this long. I just wanted to check with you to see if I could go into your house before you get off work, and wait there for you."

"Iris will probably be coming over with me."

She shrugged. "Cool. I like the little runt. I haven't had a child friend since I was a runt myself, but I like her, and it only makes sense for us to be friends, seeing as we're both lovers of yours. But hey, she goes home by 10, right? Gives us two or three hours alone together, right?" She ran a finger softly along my hand, sending shivers up my arm.

"Um," I said, finding it hard to focus on speech. "I... yes. That's true."

She sat down on the desk in front of me, her round, firm ass cheeks in easy reach of my hands. "So is it okay if I hang out over there and wait for you?"

I nodded mutely, my brain in a daze.

"Great! Thanks, sis." She kissed me on the forehead and scampered off. I felt Little Rea stir some more as Kam's ass bounced away from me and out the door. I watched her until I couldn't see her anymore, and only then thought to wonder what Iris would think of that outfit. Then I wondered if Kam was planning on teasing the both of us. I know she said she wasn't into kids, but then again, I hadn't been polyamorous not long ago, and Kam was more open minded than I was, more willing to change. I made a mental note to ask her about it.

~

The last hour and a half of work that day was dreadfully dull, or would have been, if Iris hasn't come over to liven things up a bit. She came over on the pretext of returning a book, and then just grinned up at me and said, "Hi."

"Hello there, my love."

"Hello to you too, my lovey bug," she said.

We just sat there staring at each other for a few minutes; lovingly, at first, and then it started getting a little awkward. I began to cast around for something to say.

"That's a very lovely dress you have on today, Iris," I said, glad I hadn't resorted to something stupid like the weather.

"Thanks. I like it a lot too."

"You always have such pretty clothing. It's hard to pick a favorite. Well, no, not really. I think my favorite is that glittery silver see-through one you wore the first say you spoke to me."

"Thanks," she said, blushing and grinning, "it's my fav-" she froze mid-sentence, then slowly turned her head to look at me, her eyes narrowed so suspiciously that I couldn't help bursting out laughing, it was so damned adorable and hilarious at the same time.

"What do you mean, the first day I spoke to you. That was the first day we even met."

I grinned. "Weellll," I said, drawing the word out with an amused tone, "so I thought, too, until Matria and I got into a conversation earlier." I proceeded, then, to tell her what Matria had said about those two weeks before we spoke. The more I said, the brighter red her face got, until it was bright as a tomato. I think her ears even got a little red, too.

"And so," I finished, "if it was attention you wanted, you sure got it."

She did not respond, just continued to stand there, bright red in the face, obviously embarrassed. But at least she was still looking at me. In her place, I would have been looking at my feet.
She opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, and turned her eyes to look at a fruit fly that had landed on the desk. I took her hand in mine. "It's fine, honey, you don't have to say anything. I have long experience with being unable to talk when I'm embarrassed."

After a few minutes, Iris's face returned to normal, and she looked into my eyes - and my heart skipped a beat still for those gorgeous thistle-colored eyes of hers. She smiled sheepishly and said, "Well... I did dress for attention at first. Then I found I liked the clothes themselves. I didn't used to like dresses when I was little. I was surprised to find I like them now. I'll probably go back to somewhat-boyish stuff when winter comes, but, well... Mama wasn't wrong, about me being invisible before. I liked it that way for a long time."

"Did you really like it, or did you do it because you felt like, with no friends, you ought to be invisible? Because either way, I can relate."

"Really? You felt both ways?"

"Yes. I'm an introvert, and a lot of times I genuinely like being by myself for a while. But introverts are still human, we still need to socialize. We're just a lot pickier about who we spend our time with, because even being around people we love can be draining on some level, even if it also energizes us."

She looked thoughtful all of sudden, then her eyes went wide. "Wow. I never thought of it like that before, but that's exactly how I feel! When we first started to date, I thought I'd never get tired of being around you, and then I found I needed some alone time, and it was making me a little annoyed with myself and worried, but I tried pushing that down. Wow. I'm an introvert. Introvert..."

"Yeah, and Kam is an extrovert. People energize her, so she spends as much time with them as she can. Of course, even extroverts need time alone sometimes. If, uh, for no other reason than having romantic time alone with themselves."

Iris giggled at that euphemism.

We talked some more, about this and that. I told her about the test appointment on Saturday, and we discussed that some, too. I also told her Kam was at my house waiting for us, but before I could get to warning her what Kam was wearing, we had to stop because I had to do a few things before my shift was over. Iris went back to her favorite chair to read some more while I finished up.

When Iris and I were heading out the door again, I said, "I really do like that silver dress. I haven't seen it for a while. I wouldn't mind seeing it again."

"Really? I thought, afterwards, it was a bit too flashy."

"On most people, maybe, but it looks great on you."

She brightened. "Well, okay. I'll wear it some more, then."

I started asking her more about her clothes, what she had spent on them, and if she fancied me taking her on a shopping trip, since - according to her - school was only a couple weeks away. She liked the idea, and we discussed times to go out, finally deciding to go out after the test on Saturday if there was time, or Sunday if there wasn't.

It wasn't until we got in and Iris ran into the living room when I remembered that I had once again forgotten to warn Iris what Kam was wearing. Iris ran into the room, saw Kam in her short shorts and dangerously under-designed boob tube, and it was like she'd seen Medusa - she was statue-still, her eyes bugging out of her face. Then her face went bright red again. I had a moment where I remembered that Iris had said her family were nudists, and wondered suddenly why she was reacting so strongly to Kam's outfit. Then I realized it wasn't the outfit, or lack of one, that was the problem. Kam was very attractive, and Iris was very attracted. The first time they'd met, it had caused Iris such mixed and guilty feelings that she'd cried in the bathroom til I calmed her down. What would happen now?

Well for one, even though it was a longer dress, I was pretty sure I would see signs of Littler Iris if Iris were in red mode today; but she must have been in blue mode, with her bits retracted into her body, because I saw no such stirrings down below.

Iris blinked. Still staring at Kam, she calmly kicked her shoes off, and sat on the sofa at the opposite end of Kam. Kam looked at her with concern, clearing worrying - like I was - that Iris would take off crying again. I guess having seen the two of us naked when she secretly filmed our intimate reunion had only made matters worse.

"Iris?" I asked, tentatively.

"Hey little runt, how are you?"

We waited a bit more. Just as I was about to speak again, Iris said simply, "Boobs."

That broke the tension; Kam and I burst out howling with laughter til our sides ached, and it didn't take long for Iris to join in. Soon, we were in a heap on the floor, laughing so hard I had to force myself to stop so I could breathe.

When we were all calm again and could speak, Kam said, "Okay, so I admit I wasn't thinking when I decided to wear this. I uh, I only wanted to make my sister hot under the collar, I forgot to consider your feelings, Iris."

"It's okay," she said, obviously leering at Kam's breasts. "I could have used some warning, but I like to look." This was so funny that I wanted to laugh, but I was too laughed out to try. So I settled for ruffling her hair.

"If I didn't know better, Kam, I'd say you were into kids, and dressed this way to flirt with Iris."
Iris stood up then, her dress caught in such a way that we both got an extended view of her pink-heart patterned panties before she pulled it back in place, and Kam said, "I'm beginning to think that may be open for debate, especially now I know she's older than she let on."

"Ah, so you know that too, now?"

"Yes. Don't fret, little pet, I've had those moments where I say things without thinking about them, too. It happens to the best of us."

"Yeah, and in some ways it wasn't really a lie either. Thirteen you may be, but your heart is still firmly eight, I think."

Ignoring this, Iris turned to Kam and asked, "Why does me being almost 6 years older than you thought make 'the matter up for debate'?"

"Well, Iris, it's because I was 14 when Rea and I started having sex, and also... I guess I just feel more comfortable, more secure, taking the word of a 13 or 14 year old that he or she is ready for sex, than I would an 8 year old. It's hard to explain exactly why, especially without making broad generalizations. Anyway, I didn't say I was convinced, just that you're smart enough, kind enough, mature enough, and pretty enough that I'm thinking that if you were to ask me to kiss you, or more, I'm no longer sure I'd turn you down."

Iris blushed again, but was smiling. A flattered blush, then. I looked at Kam, then back at Iris, and started imagining the two of them kissing. I was surprised to find that, instead of feeling jealous, I was feeling turned on. Little Rea liked the idea very much.

"Can I watch?" I blurted out. I immediately put my hands to my mouth, horrified with myself. The two of them just stared at me for a moment, then looked at each other, both looking a little embarrassed. Then they looked away from each other uncomfortably, but I got the sense it was a different kind of embarrassment; like maybe such a thing could happen, and they were considering it.

"I... I just meant, you know, if it... if you were to, well, actually..." I made an opening gesture with my hands. "You know, if it were to happen, even just kissing, I would mery vuch... I mean..." I started flapping my hands, desperately trying to get my brain back in gear, to no avail. Well there go my words, I thought to myself as I went mute again. Giving up, I slapped the floor in exasperation.

The two of them giggled at me a little, but then Kam put a hand on Iris's hand to silently tell her to stop. Obviously, Kam recognized where I was at, mentally speaking. They shared a look that clearly communicated that I needed time to untangle my thoughts. But then, Iris got this look on her face that I recognized as her 'up to no good' face. I struggled to get my words back, to stop whatever she was planning, but she turned to look at Kam. Kam looked perplexed, clearly at a loss for why Iris was looking that way.

I watched, mutely, as Iris sat on Kam's lap and leaned forward, kissing her on the lips. Kam's eyes went wide in surprise, but she made no attempt to stop Iris. In fact, she started to relax after a bit, like she was enjoying it. It had started as a normal kiss, but then Kam reluctantly opened her mouth - no doubt in response to Iris's tongue - and it became a french kiss. I felt iron butterflies in my stomach, and Little Rea stood up tall, hidden by my clothes.

Clearly getting into the spirit of Iris's evil plan, Kam pulled her closer and began to kiss in earnest, with all her years of experience at her disposal. It was quite hot, too. Kam's hands were exploring Iris's body, roving over her exposed back, across her little butt, and back up her back and onto her shoulders, like Kam wanted to feel every part of her. Iris, for her part, was straddling Kam's lap, dry-humping her through their layers of clothes. I couldn't help it, I had to put my hand down my waistband and try to do something for Little Rea. I felt I could almost come just by watching, and I had to bite down on my other hand to ease some of the excitement welling up.

Almost as though she were psychic, Iris pulled out of the kiss to look at me. "No coming," she said. "Wouldn't want to mess your clothes. And no getting nudie, either."

I moaned but nodded, removing my hand. If I couldn't come, there wasn't much point to masturbating with my hand. But it was kind of a moot point anyway. Kam was sitting there, looking shocked and bemused, Iris still on her lap.

We waited. Finally, she turned to Iris and said, "Not an unpleasant experience, but I still prefer adults. I guess it would be fun to do that to tease my poor sister, though."

Iris grinned. "So uh, how far would you be willing to go to tease her?"

"I don't know. We'll have to find out later, though; I'll have to process this awhile before I can know if I'm up for more than that."

Iris was only half-listening, though; her attention was still focused on my sister's barely-contained bosom.

"It's not like you don't know what they look like, silly," Kam said to Iris with a mockingly accusatory look. Iris looked up at her face and blushed, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, uh... yeah. Sorry about-"

"Rea already told me about her conversation with you about it. That's sufficient for me. I've always been an exhibitionist. Now, why don't you go over and kiss your girlfriend this time."
Iris giggled, and let Kam stand her up. She came over to me and straddled my lap the same way she'd done with Kam. I felt Little Rea respond to her warm weight as I put my arms around her and pulled her close. She kissed me on the lips, and I could taste Kam's green apple lip gloss on her lips, which just made me even more excited. I never knew sharing could be so fun, before today.

I put one hand on her little bum as she dry-humped me, and the other hand on the back of her neck while we tongue-wrestled. I found myself wishing she were wearing a two-piece outfit, so I could slide a hand into her clothing, but alas, I could not. But the top half of her back was exposed, so I could run my hand up from her bum to there, let it glory in touching her bare skin there. I don't think I've yet said, but I love touching Iris's skin. Whether it's her back, her face, or just a hand, there's something electrifying, something intensely exciting, about feeling her skin under my own.

Even better, of course, is her lips on mine, her little tongue on mine, the feel of the inside of her mouth on my tongue as it explored inside her cheek and the back of her throat. And those little warm puffs of air coming from her little nostrils, blowing against my cheeks.

I once more had one hand on her bum, but this time the other one caressed her ear and the side of her face, down her neck. She shivered with delight and giggled into my mouth. Her own hands had been holding me close, but she let one loose then to copy what I'd done, her little hand caressing my face and neck. We came apart then for air, looking lovingly into one another's eyes, and after a few moments, I leaned closer to kiss, nibble, and suck on her neck. She threw her head back, exposing more of her neck, which I gave all my attentions to. I put more enthusiasm into it than ever, sucking harder on her neck, and she gave little whimpers and moans of glee. I was probably going to leave a hickey, but I don't think her family would mind if Iris hadn't minded.

Frustrated at her choice of outfit, I let my free hand creep up her skirt along her leg. For a moment I found it hard to focus on her neck when my hand was tingling at touching her thigh. I wasn't just sliding my hand up it, either; I was gently massaging it with my thumb, and squeezing it with my whole hand. I was at her outer thigh, but then I moved to the front of the thigh, and then to the inside of it. I worked my way up a little bit at a time, all while giving her neck hickeys, until the tops of my fingers touched her panties. Which is when she put her hand on mine, moaning, and said, "No farther."

"Yes, my Queen," I said, nuzzling the place under her chin. "Your word," I kissed her. "Is my," more kisses. "Command."

I kept my hand where it was, still massaging her leg, this time running my thumb in circles.

Without warning, Iris pushed me away, and for a moment I worried I'd done something wrong, but then she tackled me so I had no choice but to lay down. Luckily, there wasn't anything behind me to block my way to the floor, and the carpet was soft enough to prevent me getting hurt. I would have complained, but my mouth was too busy with little girl kisses to make any sound.
Since I was laying on the floor now, instead of just sitting, I let my legs unfold. I felt Kam take my shoes and socks off, and run her hands along my legs. So now I was getting attention from both of the people I love.

Iris stopped kissing me, and sat up, still straddling me, feeling my breasts through the fabric of my blouse and bra, and dry-humping my crotch.

"My Queen," I weakly protested, "I might mess my clothes if you keep doing that."

"No, that would be me making you mess your clothes, it's not the same as you doing it to yourself." She stopped, though, looking thoughtful. "But you're right, best not risk it."

She scootched forward, until she was straddling my abdomen, rather than my crotch, before going back to feeling me up through my clothes. I gave a shuddering sigh, because despite how much my body ached for release, my mind liked being denied that release. I liked getting more and more sexually frustrated, until I was almost crying for release.

With Iris there on my belly and feeling up my breasts, I could feel Kam kissing my legs in a slow upward direction. But Iris didn't stay in that position long. She eased herself down so she was pressing down my boobs with her stomach, trying to kiss me. When she found she was too far past my lips, she scooted her butt down near my crotch again, but not on it. Her face was still not exactly aligned with mine, but she was still able to kiss me, just not on the lips, not without it being really weird and awkward. I had no interest in her sucking on my upper lip awkwardly, so I was glad she was kissing my face.

Scooting down again after a few minutes, clearly frustrated that she wasn't able to kiss me properly, Iris was able to go back to tongue wrestling with me. Kam, meanwhile, was kissing my thighs and massaging my legs with her hands. Between the two of them, I felt I was about to come in my pants anyway.

I was just wondering if Iris knew that Kam was back there, when Iris let out a small fart. Kam made an exaggerated gagging noise, which set Iris and I off giggling madly. Then all three of us were having giggle fits. Iris slid off of me and got up, still giggling. I wasn't sure what she was up to, even when she pulled my blouse up to reveal my belly. Only when she leaned forward did I know what she was up to, and it was too late. She began blowing raspberries on my belly, making me tense up and burst out cackling wildly. Kam got in on the action by holding down my flailing arms and legs, letting Iris blow more raspberries on me.

After a minute or two of this, I managed to break free and grab Iris, holding her down and lifting her dress up to get at her belly. "No fair! No fair!" she shouted, her pink-heart patterned panties exposed for all to see as I blew the biggest raspberry I could on her belly, making her wiggle around and cackle, too. I kept it up a little bit, but stopped before she could start having trouble breathing. I let her go, and she stood up, putting her dress back in order.

I turned to Kam. "And now, my sister," I said, then jumped forward to hold her down. She fought me, but I pinned her down. "Your turn, since you helped Iris hold me down." Iris got in on the action by helping me hold down Kam's arms, and I blew raspberries on Kam's stomach this time. She shrieked with laughter, struggling, but I kept it up. Again, I stopped short of the point where she'd have difficulty breathing.

We all lay down on the floor when it was over, catching our breath. After a while, I started to wriggle about. I was still horny, despite our laughter and play. Of course, there was something oddly erotic about blowing raspberries on the bellies of the two most beloved people in my life. Especially when my mind reminded me of how close my mouth had been to Iris's nether regions. And also, I had in my mind the memory of her in her panties, a clear camel-toe belying that she was in blue mode.

"My Queen," I asked her, pleadingly, "I'm still feeling horny. May I go take care of things, please?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess you should. We still have dinner to have."

"Thank you, My Queen!" I got up and went into my bedroom. I also heard Kam get up and say that she had to go to the bathroom. So she'd gotten aroused, too? I grinned at that thought, then slid off my clothes to get some relief.

~

I came out of my room several minutes later, changed into my lounging clothes, and found that I couldn't find anyone else. I checked the bathroom, putting my ear on the door. Kam was still taking care of business in there, and it sounded like she was almost done. But where was Iris?

"Cleo, where's Iris?"

My house AI beeped to show she had been listening, then said, "Iris is in the guest bedroom."

"Ah... taking care of business, I suppose."

"I would not know. I have no cameras in the bedrooms."

I nodded, and started to put the kettle on for tea. I looked in the fridge, wondering what to make for dinner for three people. I found some steaks, some green beans, and potato salad in the fridge, which sounded good.

Taking the things out of the fridge, the kettle started boiling. I went to pour water into my cup, and that's when Iris came into the kitchen.

"Hey there, sweety. Want some tea?"

"Yes please. What's for dinner?"

"Steak, green beans, and potato salad. Is that okay?"

"Yes. I love steak. Cloned, right?"

I snorted. "Of course it's cloned meat. I couldn't afford the real thing even for a special occasion."
"Good, because I won't eat meat unless it's cloned meat." She sat down at the table. "I'll have mine medium well."

"Gotcha." I started the green beans, then threw her steak on the pan and watched it sizzle.
"So I found you have a guest bedroom. I can't believe you never mentioned it before."

"Didn't I? I could have sworn I did."

"If you did, I forgot. Anyway... can I stay over tonight?"

I blinked. Then I smiled. "You only ask this now you know I have a guest bedroom?"

"Well yeah. I sleep naked most of the time, and whether I had clothes on or not, you might not be able to sleep with me there."

"We've napped together before," I said, checking the steak as I did.

"I guess. Maybe we can sleep over in your room some other time. But I want to sleep over in the guest bedroom tonight, if I can. I have a suspicion you and Kammie will want to sleep together, after you do other stuff."

The bathroom door opened. "Did I heard my name?"

"Hey Kam. Iris was talking about sleeping over in the guest bedroom, since you'd probably want to sleep with me in my room."

"Cool. What's the verdict?"

I turned to Iris. "Ask Matria. If she says it's okay, then it's okay with me."

"Okay!" She called Matria on her Omnus, and soon we saw the woman's head floating there in the air. Iris and Kam explained things and aked the question while I cointinued tending to the steaks. Iris's was done, and I was working on Kam's, which wouldn't take as long, since she liked hers rare. To be honest, I wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.

"Well," Kam said when the call was over, "Matria said it was cool with her. She's going to bring a few things over of Iris's - toothbrush, teddy bear, and so on - in an overnight bag."

"Good."

"And for the record, since you clearly weren't paying attention, she also said Iris could sleep in your bed if she wanted to. Especially since - and I didn't know this til now - you two slept together during the vacation." I didn't have to look at her to know she was grinning mischievously at me.

I turned the steak over. "Yes, and alas, while it was lots of fun, it wasn't the kind you're thinking of."

"Somehow I'm not surprised. You know, Rea, you and Iris have kind of a sub/domme thing going on. She may be the child in the relationship, but she is definitely your domme, and you are most assuredly her sub."

"We prefer Queen and subject, thank you very much," Iris said, her nose up in the air like she was a fancy high-born woman looking down her nose at Kam.

"Same kind of thing, though. Power exchange; Rea, as the adult, could easily take the dominant role in the relationship, without even sacrificing her caution against doing anything to hurt you. But instead, she's the sub. She almost never suggests doing anything, you know, kissy or sexy. When she does, it's with the flavor of asking permission."

"So?"

She shrugged. "Just making an observation. And, come to think of it... I think you've been like that with kids your whole life, Rea. You were like that with me, when we were younger. Ha! So you are a sub! Wish I'd known that years ago."

The steaks were finally done, so I brought them over. I checked on the green beans, too. They were done as well, so I brought them, too.

"So of course," Kam continued, "part of the reason Iris hasn't slept in your bed is probably because she knows you really want to, and she's being an evil Queen and not letting you. Though wouldn't it be more evil to sleep with her, but insist it only be sleep and nothing else? Because obviously, while the romantic part of Rea loves the idea of genuine sleep with you, another part of her doesn't want you in that bed for sleep."

"Shall I have to charge you with treason for revealing state secrets, Miss Kamaria? Don't make me have to command Rianna that she can't do sexy things with you, either. Because you should know, she'll heed my command if I did."

Kam made a lip-zipping motion. "Sorry, I'll be good now."

"Yes, you're always Goode. Even when you're bad," Iris said with a grin. We began to eat, then. Iris sighed, looking wistful.

"What's the matter?"

"Here I was hoping to lure the both of you into my panties, but Rianna likes being denied, and Kam isn't really interested in kids. Le sigh."

We chuckled at that. "You know," I said, "whenever you're ready to do more than kissing, I'm ready whenever you are. You don't have to wait."

She shrugged. "I like being denied, too. And you being the same way gives me the excuse. Besides, my birthday is so close, I've decided to give us both a present for my birthday, if you know what I mean." She winked at me, and I felt my face grow hot.

"So... so," I croaked, "does that mean you're technically ready for sex now, but you're putting it off til your 14th birthday?"

"Yes. I want it to be special. Also, I haven't decided what mode I wanna be in when it finally happens."

I paused, thinking. "I don't know what mode I'd want you to be in, either. Both modes have their pros and cons. Hmm... would it help your decision if I suggested you consider whether you're ready for penetration or not?"

"Not really, I know that's not gonna happen anytime soon. I'm too small, still. So that's not really a factor."

"Yeah," Kam said. "I never questioned you were eight, you're so small for your age."

The rest of the dinner was largely quiet, as the three of us were lost in thought. I was trying to focus on deciding which mode I would prefer, so she could take my suggestion into account, but all I could think of was birthday parties in the nude, and Iris's mouth around my Little Rea. My face continued to burn hot with embarrassment the whole time.

I shook myself. Iris was right, this should be special. It was going to be her first time, after all. I would have to take my time, draw out the pleasure, help her get the most out of the experience.

"Blue mode," I blurted out. The others froze, and stared at me.

"Pardon?" asked Iris.

"If you want it to be special, to last a long time, to get the most out of the experience, you have to be in blue mode. It takes longer to get to orgasm, and you'd have multiple orgasms in that mode."
Iris grinned. "Yeah, yeah! That sounds great. Blue mode it is, then," and she took a big bite of steak.

"So Matria told me that the test thing will be Saturday at 1 PM, so I can go with you."

"Oh, okay. Glad you're gonna be there with me."

"May I come as well?" Kam asked.

"I don't see why not," Iris said. "I don't think Mama would mind."

"Yeah, you'd just have to be here by noon, that's when Matria is picking us up."

"Us? Am I to take it that means Iris will be here too?"

"Yeah, she'll be coming over sometime after 8 AM."

Just then, Cleo alerted us to Matria being at the door. Iris went over to answer it, and soon came back with an overnight bag in her hand. Which took several minutes, actually, since she spoke with her Mama for a bit, as did we, a little, getting the OK from her for Kam to go with us to the testing on Saturday, among other things, before leaving.

~

After dinner was done and things were washed and put away, Iris took her overnight bag into the guest bedroom, took out her things, and changed into her nightie which - if she was telling the truth about usually sleeping nude - didn't get a lot of wear. It was so cute, too; a nightgown with little brown smiling teddy bears over a sky blue background. Her cute little feet were bare, and I gave a little pleased sound at the sight of her lovely little feet with their pink nail polish. She had a blue stuffed toy rabbit in her arms as well.

"Jumping the gun a little bit, aren't you?" asked Kam. "It's only 7 PM."

"Yeah maybe, but I like to be prepared. Besides, I'll probably be going to bed at 9, to give you two some more time alone together."

I gave her a look. She looked all innocent at me. "Whaaaat?"

"I think you know what."

"You moved all the cameras last time, remember? And I haven't had a chance to go back in even if I was gonna be naughty and not ask permission. And I would ask permission, if I were interested. I mean, I still have the first video."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's the truth! But... well... if you wanted to give me permission..."

Kam and I laughed. I turned to Kam. She turned to me. We both turned to Iris and said, in unison, "No."

"Aww... why not?"

"We would prefer privacy this time. Maybe some other time," I said.

Iris sighed. "Fine, fine. I promise, no cameras. Or any other recording devices," she said, anticipating my next comment. She even had her hands up, to show she wasn't crossing her fingers. Which made her drop the toy.

I picked it up and looked at it. "And who's the cute little bunny?"

"Oh, that's Captain Catherine Carrots. She's the captain of a spacecraft that fights monsters and delivers tasty veggies to kids all over the galaxy."

I grinned. Iris may be 13, but sometimes it was hard for me to think of her that way. Not only was that information so new, she also acted much more like a younger child around me, in some ways; mostly good ways, in her case. But then, I knew some adults that were the same way. I guess she just has that kind of personality, and she might grow out of it. I hope she doesn't, though; I like her just the way she is.

For the next couple hours, the three of us just watched three-vee together on the sofa, enjoying one another's company, until Iris fell asleep on my lap. It being 9 PM anyway, I carefully picked her up and carried her to the guest bedroom, Kam bringing Captain Carrots along with her. Together, we tucked Iris and Captain Carrots into bed and turned out the light, leaving a nightlight on just in case she needed one - she hadn't said.

Once back in the living room, Kam asked me, "What now, huh?"

I looked at Kam in that skimpy outfit of hers and turned off the three-vee. "Now, I want to remove you from that outfit and do naughty things with you."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

We went into the bedroom together, then, and Kam lay down on the bed while I shrugged out of my lounging pants and top, standing there in only my bra and panties. Then I knelt down onto the bed that, now I thought of it, could easily have fit Kam, myself, and Iris in it all at once. I put thoughts of Iris to the back burner of my mind, though, because I couldn't have her the way I wanted, yet, but I did have my sister here in front of me. And those tits of hers, trying so hard to escape their cloth prison, were calling to me.

I reached forward and cupped her breasts in my hand. I felt their warm roundness under my palms, and rubbed them, massaged them. Once more, I relished the sensation of her smooth brown melons, though this time they were still partially encased in cloth. I reached my fingers into her cleavage and freed her breasts manually, popping them out. Once I did that, I began to kiss her breasts, worshiping them. For truly, my sister was a brown goddess of sex.

I kissed her breasts, licked them, sucked on them, every movement of my mouth and tongue a hymn to her divinity. She leaned her head back, enjoying the attention, as I continued to massage her breasts while I sucked and nibbled on her nipples. I suddenly remembered Iris and Kam kissing each other, and felt a surge of passion go through me in response. I suddenly knew what I wanted, and I did not want to go slow this time.

Not wanting to rush too much, though, I kissed my way up her chest, disappointing her, but then nibbled her neck, eliciting a positive response. I lingered there for a while, but then moved up to her ears, sucking the lobes into my mouth and nibbling on them. Then I whispered into her ear.
"I want to fuck you in the ass right now."

"Yes please!" she cried. I wasted no time yanking off her tight shorts as fast as I could, which wasn't nearly fast enough, and then her panties. Soon, she was bottomless and rolling over onto her stomach, her ass in the air.

I took a moment to appreciate her round, beautiful ass. I slapped it, and it jiggled slightly. I took another moment to feel her ass cheeks under my hands. When the moment was over, I grabbed a condom and some lube from the bedside table and lubed her asshole and prepared my protected girl cock (which was less, in her case, for STD protection, and more to do with keeping my little soldier clean). Her asshole took a bit more work, as I had to put my longest finger into her arse first. Then I wiped my hands off on a towel, grabbed that ass, and got Little Rea in position.
Thrusting gently, I heard shuddering moans from Kam as my girl cock went inside her rosebud. My eyes rolled back in my head; I had almost forgotten how good this felt, and had almost come from that one thrust alone. She felt tighter than a 3rd grader, a thought that only excited me more. I thrust again, with equal delicacy, and felt around with my right hand under her for her own girlish erection, to give her wrap-around.

"Harder, please!" Kam insisted, so I obliged. The hissing intake of air sounded positive, so I did it again.

"Oh gawd, Rea, faster! Faster!"

I thrust faster, and faster still, and I could feel familiar quivers of enjoyment from her.

"Harder!"

I had to pause for a bit, though; I was damn near coming already. I sped up my hand's activity on her overlarge clit instead, to make up for my having to pause. She whimpered with pleasure when I did, which made Little Rea throb inside her. I tried again, thrusting harder and deeper into her rectum. I smacked her ass again, which she seemed to enjoy, going faster again without her say-so, which also seemed to be the right call.

For some reason, my mind's eye imagined a nude Iris sucking Kam's nipples while I was back here fucking Kam's ass, and I sped up again at the thought. Kam grabbed some big pillows and a towel from nearby, moving my hand from her cock. She was soon dry-humping the pile of pillows in time to my fucking her ass, which freed my other hand so I could hold tight to her arse with both hands while fucking her.

A few minutes more of this, and I was about to come. Knowing what Kam liked, I pulled out at the last minute, leaving the condom hanging out of her ass, and caught my spunk in my hand. I crawled over on three limbs and offered my palm to her. As expected, she licked and sucked my semen out of my hand and swallowed it.

"Your turn, Rea," she said.

Nodding, we switched places. She put a condom on her Little Kamaria and I soon felt cold lube on my asshole. Then her fingers were in there, too. And not long after that, she grabbed my ass, and I felt pressure at my asshole. A gentle pressure at first, then slightly more insistent, and I felt my sister's cock invade my ass. I felt my face burn hot from the pressure and momentary dull pain of the blessed intrusion. I was suddenly very happy at this intimate moment; my sister and I were united, a connection I felt much more being on the receiving end.

The pain went away, and now there was just the wonderful pressure on my prostate as Kam's girl cock went back and forth, in and out and into my ass in a pleasant rhythm. I could tell her little soldier was bigger than I remembered it, from the way it felt inside of me.

This was heavenly; I didn't need reach-around, or dry humping, it felt so good. And when Kam took a moment to run her hands along my back as she fucked me, I felt a pleasant shiver go up and down my spine. And when she pinched my nipples, I almost came on the spot.

She smacked my ass as I had done to her, and that felt good as well. "Faster," I said, and she obliged. I felt the rhythm of the thrusts increase.

"Harder, too?" she asked.

"Yes!"

My ass started to get a real pounding then, which was exactly what I needed. I put my hand under my girl cock, because just a few minutes into these faster thrusts, I ejaculated right into my hand. Kam soon came as well, and it had a familiar sensation. For Kam knew my likes pretty well, too, and so she had cut the tip off the condom so I could get an ass-load of her semen while she still got to keep her cock clean.

Kam pulled out, condom and all, and I rolled over, feeling amazing. After taking the condom off her cock, she squatted over my face, and I saw she still had a condom sticking out of her butt. I grabbed it with my teeth, and together we gently got it out. She retrieved it and threw it away, and I wiped my face with a sanitary napkin just in case.

When we finished cleaning up, Kam took her top off, since I hadn't actually removed it earlier, and lay down nude under the covers with me to cuddle. She was the big spoon this time.
I smiled as she ran her fingers along my cheek, and asked, "Do you remember, the last time we did this, asking me if you could move in?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well it looks like Iris will be using the spare bedroom whenever she stays overnight, so you can't have it."

She sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"But my bedroom is quite large. You could sleep in here with me."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Cool. Do you think there's enough room?"

"I have a storage room that's only got a few things in it, you can put most of your stuff there. Some could go in the spare bedroom, if you don't mind Iris being able to get at it. And essentials could fit in here well enough. Oh yeah, and there's a computer room with my VC in it, and that has enough room for another VC."

She leaned forward and hugged me. "Oh thank you!" Then, to my astonishment, she started to cry.

"What's the matter, sis? Kamaria?"

She wiped her eyes. "Nothing. Just, tears of joy. I've missed you since you left. I'm happy to find you're just absent-minded, and even happier that we're lovers again. You were the first person I ever loved romantically, you know, and they say nobody ever gets over their first."

I hugged her even tighter. "I'm sorry I'm so absent minded."

"Forgiven. But you know, the others are missing you too. We should invite them over some time, introduce them to Iris, and vice versa."

"That sounds great. What about next Saturday? Not the one coming up, but the one after it."

"I'll have to ask them. I think so, but I don't know."

"Okay, you do that. I'll work on other possibilities in case they can't. I miss them too, ya know. It's just... I keep forgetting to call or write or visit or whatnot, and then putting it off when I do remember since I rarely remember at convenient moments. Maybe with you around I'll not do that so much?"

"We can hope."

I yawned. "Well, Kam, I'm tired. It's time for me to sleep."

"Yeah, me too."

"I love you, Kam."

She rubbed my breast and patted it. "I love you too, big sis."

So with one last smile in the light, I turned the light off and we snuggled up to one another, drifting into sleep together.

~ ~ ~

(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.

~ ~ ~

(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 10: "A Very Goode Party"

Chapter 10: A Very Goode Party

I awoke Sunday morning to the smell of eggs, sausage, and hash browns. Opening my eyes, I looked around the bed and did not find Iris. She wasn't there, so either she was in the kitchen making those smells, or Kam had come over. I looked at the time; it was only 9 AM.

A few minutes later, I came out into the kitchen with new clothes ready for after my shower, and sure enough, Iris was in the kitchen standing on a footstool and cooking breakfast. The footstool was not strictly necessary, in my opinion, as it made her taller than she needed to cook. I glanced at the table, and saw there was also orange juice, toast, and jam on the table, as well as two place settings.

"Queen Iris doing servant work? How irregular," I commented with amusement.

She glanced up at me with a haughty expression. "The best Queens are servants to their subjects. And I'll have you know I am perfectly regular, thank you very much."

I snickered at her joke, and continued to the bathroom. "I'm gonna take my shower. You need in there before I go?"

"Why thaank you, my dear," she said in a faux aristocratic tone, "but Queen Iris has already sat upon the throne recently. You may make yourself presentable at your leisure."

Snickering again, I closed the bathroom door and went about 'making myself presentable,' as she had said.

When I came out, Iris had finished cooking, and the food was on serving trays on the table. She had even rinsed out the pan and put it in the dishwasher. When I left the loo, the electric kettle was finishing up boiling water for tea. Since Iris was at the table already, I brought it over and made myself some tea.

"So," I said, sitting down opposite her, "to what do I owe the honor of thy regal servitude this morning, my Queen?"

Iris scooped some scrambled eggs onto her plate, and said, "I was up, I was hungry, and I thought it might be nice to wake you up with cooking smells."

"Glad to find out you know how to cook. Waking up to the smell of smoke and the blare of fire alarms would not have been pleasant."

"Yeah, Mama and Papa taught me how."

"Not Taanlen?"

"Taanlen couldn't cook to save her life."

I chuckled. "Well let's hope she never gets abducted by murderous foodies, then."

We both laughed at that, then got to the business of eating.

"Very delicious," I eventually said. "Excellent cooking. I look forward to you doing it again."

"Thanks."

After we ate breakfast and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, I took note of the fact that Iris was still in her nightie, and asked, "Have you had your shower yet, my Queen?"

"No. I wanted to wait until after I was done cooking, so I wouldn't risk getting my clothes dirty. I'll do that now, though."

While she went to her overnight bag to get her day's outfit out and then go take her shower, I checked my messages, one of which included details from Matria about the rest of the shopping today. I sent back an acknowledgment. When that was done, I turned on the three-vee, not wanting to get too engrossed in a book.

I was idly flipping through channels when Iris came out, her hair tied up in a towel. She wasn't wearing the dress she'd taken in, but rather a bathrobe, which surprised me. From a couple peeks I got as she walked, I could tell that if she had anything at all on under the robe, it was nothing more than panties. Turning red, I tried to calm the stirrings down below that this knowledge had inspired. If Iris noticed my discomfort, she gave no indication, just sat down on the sofa next to me.

"Hey, check channel 489, will ya? I think The Lyrmops is on."

Curious, as I'd never heard of that show before, I switched to the indicated channel. My eyes were immediately assaulted by a riot of primary colors as a variety of puppets and a diverse cast of humans sang songs, told stories, and other things of the sort you would expect from a show designed for small children. I was even more curious then, wondering what appeal this show could have for a 12 year old genius girl. I mean yeah, in some ways Iris was young at heart, but still... it didn't seem like something Iris would like.

However, as the show progressed, I found myself drawn into the story, and caring about the characters. The show was in many ways a typical kid's show, but in other ways it was deeper. It had layers, things that younger kids would ignore, that older kids and even adults would notice. And not your standard hidden dirty jokes, either. There were some pretty simple yet accurate explanations of various concepts from science, at least in this episode. I was impressed.

The titular Lyrmops, I eventually discovered, were sentient blimp-like puppets from a gas giant, who traveled through the universe with human children and adults as guests in a brightly-colored spaceship that was no bigger than a house on the outside, but was much, much bigger on the inside. I was reminded strongly of the twentieth-century TV show "Doctor Who," but instead of traveling around space fighting monsters, the Lyrmops traveled around the universe teaching their guests (and the audience) about things like black holes, supernovas, faster-than-light drive, or the cultures of other human colony worlds. Even - as I found from a second episode we watched - going through "time wormholes" to learn history lessons.

When the episodes were over, Iris lost interest in the channel and got up to go get dressed in my bedroom, presumably because it was closer. I tried to get interested in whatever show was on next, but after the incredible experience of The Lyrmops, I found I couldn't concentrate on the other show at all, so I went back to channel-surfing. But I made a note in my Omnus about that show; Iris wasn't the only one young at heart, and the librarian in me couldn't help but think that The Lyrmops would make a great show to have a showing of at the library, followed up by going with the kids to look up books relevant to the episode. It would be a great way to get kids interested in reading, especially since the show had a section about books.

I checked the time; it was almost 11 AM. Each Lyrmops episode had been half an hour long. Matria intended to pick us up at noon, do some shopping, then have lunch at 1:30 or 2, before doing some more shopping. While trying to decide whether or not to tell Iris this, I noted that she'd been in my room for a very long time. I kept waiting a few more minutes. Just as I was debating whether or not to check on her, she came out of my bedroom, fully dressed in the pink halter dress I'd gotten for her yesterday. Her hair was almost completely dry, and pulled back in a ponytail with a pink fluffy scrunchie in it, that matched the color of the dress perfectly.

"Looking hot," I commented, wolf-whistling.

"Thank you, thank you."

"Come on, model it for me, spin around."

Iris obliged, letting me see the dress from every angle. It went down to her knees, and showed off her bare back quite nicely, as the back of the dress dipped down to just above her butt, so I could see the small of her back. Iris also wore simple black Mary Janes and white socks that barely went past her ankles. Looking at her hands, I saw why she'd taken so long; her fingernails were painted the same pink as the dress. She'd done a great job on them, too.

"Oh my," I said, taking hold of her hand and gently pulling her over to me so that I was able to dip her down in my arms - which made her giggle, "you're gorgeous today. Such a magnificent outfit, it flatters you so well. And your nails are perfect."

"Thanks, Rianna," she said, still being cradled in my arms from the dip. Our eyes connected, and we began to have a moment. It was one of those moments that seems to last a lot longer than it really does, and at the end of it, I leaned forward, pulled her up a little, and kissed her right on the lips. She tasted of strawberry lip balm, and had put on strawberry perfume as well.

When we finally pulled out of the kiss, I smiled at her. "You are as delicious as you are lovely, my Queen."

Her smile went all adorably crooked, and her cheeks turned red. "W-well," she said, falteringly, "I... well I guess I'm dessert."

"Yes, you are. A dessert I very much want to eat," I said, raising my eyebrows up and down suggestively. Which... broke the moment, causing Iris to laugh so hard that she had to stop a couple minutes later to catch her breath.

"Too much, eh?"

"Just... just a little," she agreed, still chuckling.

We spent the rest of the time til noon going to channel 489i, the on-demand version of the channel The Lyrmops had been on, because it let us scroll through the shows on offer and watch reruns on demand. We were, of course, watching a rerun of The Lyrmops. As we did, Iris sat on my lap, and I lay my right hand on her thigh, stroking it idly with my thumb.

When that episode was over, she directed me to another show, not as good as The Lyrmops, but diverting and short enough to fill the 20 minute gap until Matria arrived. During that show, I rubbed Iris's back, reveling in the sensation of her exposed back beneath my fingers. With my hands busy on her back, Iris had trouble concentrating on the show, and gave up after a few minutes, just relaxing into the massage. I even got bold enough to nibble on her neck and shoulder a little, to which she gave little sighs and moans of pleasure, her head craning back, and her eyes closed.

It wasn't until the doorbell rang that I realized that maybe 20 minutes before a shopping trip had been a bad time to get Iris and myself wound up. Iris sat bolt upright, shouted "Mama! Oh shit!" and ran off into the bathroom.

"Uh, Cleo, is that Matria?"

"Yes."

"Please let her in, and inform her we're, uh... not quite ready yet."

"Sure thing."

I heard the door open and Cleo talking to Matria as I went into my bedroom to, er... take care of the situation that had developed in my panties. I did it as quickly as I could, then wiped my hands off with a sanitary napkin before leaving my bedroom again, where I found Matria sitting patiently on the sofa, a questioning look in her eye. One look at my face, though, and her expression turned to one of amused knowing.

"I noticed the bathroom door is closed," she said. "Iris is in there, I take it?"

My embarrassment rendering me mute, I merely nodded. Her knowing look intensified.

A couple minutes later, an excessively calm and collected Iris came stately out of the loo, looking very much like a queen.

"Mother, what a pleasant surprise," she said. Matria and I both snorted a little in a laughing sort of way, but said nothing at first.

"Well," Iris continued in a completely different tone - that of a nonchalant child, "we going or not?" Not waiting for a response, she opened the door and went out to the car.

Grabbing Iris's eBoard along with both our purses, figuring she'd forgotten about them, I followed Matria out of the house to the car. Once inside and sitting next to my little girlfriend, I focused on helping Iris forget about her embarrassment. By the time we got to the mall, she had forgotten all about it.

This shopping trip wasn't even as interesting as the one the day before, so I won't waste your time with most of it. The only thing of any note was that for the first couple hours, starting with our conversation in the car, we talked off and on about my family, and as a result she got more and more excited to meet them, an excitement that evolved to add impatience by the time we stopped for lunch. She talked of nothing else throughout the meal, even talking with her mouth full, to Matria's displeasure.

She kept going back to it afterwords, too. There was no shutting her up, either. So I finally asked her if she would like to meet them tonight instead of next Saturday. I felt reasonably safe asking this, as I was sure Mom wouldn't mind. Part of her would prefer some warning, to make a nice meal, but for the most part she would be glad to see me again, and glad to meet Iris.

Iris loved this idea, so I called Mom up on my Omnus; a few minutes later, we had arranged to have dinner with my family at 6pm. I had hoped that would silence Iris on the subject for a while, but it just made her talk about it more. I called Kam up to update her on the situation, and Matria updated her own family.

So it was that Matria dropped Iris and I off at my parents' house at 4:30.

"Wow, your parents live way on the other side of the city from us."

"Yes. I would have preferred a job closer to home, because I love my family, but the job I got was at the library where I work now. It was the only opening at the time."

"Well I'm glad it worked out that way, cuz otherwise we wouldn't have met."

"Me too, my Queen, me too."

As we walked toward the door, it flew open, and I saw a teenage-appearing face in the door - one of the twins. Zie ran out to tackle me in a hug. It happened so fast that I didn't know which twin it was, until we were on the ground, Iris laughing as soon as she saw I was okay.

"Jabari, excitable as always I see."

"DOGPILE ON THE REA!" Imari shouted and jumped on top of us.

As soon as I caught my breath, I said with a mixture of irritation and amusement, "Imari, Jabari; you two are 24 years old. You're too old to be jumping on me."

"Sorry," they said in unison.

"It's just that you're--"

"--so fun--"

"--to jump on!"

They got off, I stood up, and dusted myself off. Luckily, I was wearing stain-resistent clothing, so I didn't have any grass or dirt stains. When I had collected myself, I said, "Iris Zahane, this is Imari and Jabari Goode, AKA the twins. They're nonbinary gender, and 'zie' and 'zir' are their preferred pronouns."

"It's also acceptable--"

"--to use the pronouns--"

"--for whatever gender we present--"

"--like him/her for Imari right now--"

"--or she/her for Jabari, at present--"

"--but sometimes we're neither."

They looked at each other, then said, "So zie/zir--

"--if you're ever unsure."

A bit dazed by the sheer... twin-ness of Imari and Jabari, Iris just nodded, her mouth slightly open. That made me chuckle.

"Iris, you might as well just forget what they said and just use zie and zir, since the twins switch presentation about once an hour."

"Oh we're down to--

"--once every two hours--"

"--more or less."

Iris giggled at this. I just rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, you two--"

"--should come in--"

"--and meet Mom and Dad."

The twins ran inside. As they did, I made note of their clothes. Imari's clothing was a red shirt and blue pants, and Jabari wore a turquoise top and a pink skirt, with blue pants under the skirt. Both tops were cut like blouses. There was something off about Imari's top that I couldn't figure out; it looked thicker, for one. And true to their presentations, Imari had a normal Afro, and Jabari had zir own hair in Afro puffs.

We entered the living room, and Mom and Dad met us there. Dad was just as solid as usual, tall, broad-shouldered, with a lovely deep voice. And Mom looked like an older, slightly less thin version of Kamaria, something I'd never really noticed before. I wasn't sure what I thought of that fact. The significant differences, other than age, were that Mom was dressed in a loose-fitting one piece dress, her hair tied into an Afro version of a loose bun at the back of her head. Dad's hair, on the other hand, was trimmed fairly close to the scalp, the temples going grey.

Iris got really quiet and withdrawn as the reality of my parents faced her, even though their faces were warm and friendly. I hugged my parents a very long time, to make up for my long absence. When we finally pulled apart, I tried - brokenly - to explain why I'd been gone for so long. They stopped me mid-sentence.

"Yes, honey," Mom said. "Kam explained. Hopefully she'll be able to make up for your absent-minded nature."

"I hope so, too. I love you all."

That little drama over, Mom noticed Iris. "Ah, this must be Rianna's new girlfriend that Kam told us about. I take it you're Iris?"

Iris merely nodded, rapidly withdrawing into herself, so I spoke instead. "Sauda Goode, meet Iris Zahane. Iris Zahane, meet my mother, Sauda Goode."

"N-nice... nice to m-meet you," Iris said, her voice starting quiet and getting down to a whisper by the last word.

"Oh, no need to be so nervous, my dear, we don't bite."

Iris moved to stand against my side, sort-of hiding from my parents. It made me remember that Iris had been terribly shy before knowing me. It looked like meeting my parents was bringing that out again.

"Ah, yeah... I forget sometimes, Iris is shy. I forget because she isn't this way with me." I held her close to me, taking her hand. This seemed to hearten her, because she came out from behind me a little. But her expression still reminded me of a deer in headlights.

"Anyway, Iris, this here is my dad, Bosede Goode. Daddy, this is my girlfriend, Iris Zahane."

"Hmm... I see what Kam means, Iris; you don't look 13. You're kind of small for your age, do you get enough food?"

"What? N-no -- I mean yes. I mean, more than enough food."

"Now Daddy, her family gives her plenty of food. Some people are just smaller than others by nature."

"Sorry, Iris, I don't really think you're underfed, I just... sometimes I say stupid things, and I'm sorry for that." A look of thoughtfulness briefly crossed his face before he got down on one knee, and said, "Please, Queen Iris, forgive this poor peasant his foolish words."

Iris giggled, relaxing, and slipped into her Queen persona. "You are forgiven, my subject. But do not insult yourself so by calling yourself a peasant. You are a Lord, and this is your castle."

"Does that make me nobility too?" I asked, amused.

"Of course it does. What, you did not think a queen would consort romantically with a lowly peasant, did you?" Then she fell out of character and into a thoughtful silence for a moment, before continuing in her usual voice, "Actually, I think if I were really an actual queen, I would spread the wealth around and the peasants would all become, I dunno, not-peasants. They'd be well off."

"Hey Iris," said Jabari, "have you noticed yet? Have you noticed the funny thing about Dad?"

Dad rolled his eyes and chuckled. Iris shook her head. "What?" she asked.

"Bosede Goode. B. Goode. His name is B. Goode."

Iris and the twins laughed at that. The rest of us just rolled our eyes.

"Sadly," said Imari, "Mum doesn't have a funny name that way. S. Goode isn't a laugh the way B. Goode is."

"How about you, Imari? Your name is I. Goode. Which is a lie." I grinned at the effect of my words; even Imari was laughing.

Jabari sighed. "I wish I had a funny initial too. Maybe I should change my name to Xander."

"Xander?" Imari inquired.

"X. Goode."

"Goode one, Goode one," I told them.

"Well how about we all sit down in the living room?" Mom suggested.

"Goo--great idea," Iris said. "I'm beat from all the walking we did earlier." I led her to the living room, and she plopped down on the big fluffy loveseat. I sat down next to her.

When everyone was seated, Mom said, "Dinner's not quite ready yet. Also, Kam isn't here yet. So I thought we could talk, catch up, while we wait. Now, how about you two tell me about how you met?"

Iris and I took turns talking about how we met, what we'd done since then, including about Iris's test. We had just gotten around to today's shopping trip when the doorbell rang, the house AI informing us it was Kam.

I was relieved, when Kam entered the room, to see she was dressing more modestly than usual. Her hair was the same as ever, but she was in a strapless blue dress that ended at the knee. It was a very nice dress, and she was wearing sneakers with it. Nice sneakers, but still sneakers.

"Sorry for the odd mishmash," she said when she noticed my look, "but I've been packing, and most of my shoes are packed already. Same with my clothing."

"Kammie," said Dad, "do you need any help moving in with your sister? I have a rare day off this Tuesday, I can help. I also told my friend Mike, and he said he would be glad to help as well."

"Oooh," Kammie cooed. "Mike wants to help? Yes, you and he can help. Will he, uh... be shirtless?"

"I wouldn't know, I didn't ask him."

"Kammie fancies Mike," started Imari.

"--has since she was 15," Jabari finished, the twins making exaggerated kissy noises at Kam.

"Now you two, behave yourselves better."

"Good suggestion, Mom--"

"--we'll take it under advisement--"

"--and file that suggestion in Box Zero."

The twins laughed, and everyone else rolled their eyes except for Iris, who was confused.

"Box Zero is a reference to an old TV show they used to watch. In the show, 'Box Zero' contained a miniature black hole, so anything filed in there would get gobbled by the black hole. It's like chucking something in the bin, but more permanent."

"Ah."

"What was the name of that show, anyway? I remember it being pretty good."

" 'Captain Pilot Guard's Adventures in Retirement,' " supplied Imari.

"It was the story of a woman named Captain Pilot Guard of the Galactic Military, and what her life was like after she retired. She wanted a calm, easy retirement, but saw more action post-retirement than she had during her whole career in the military."

"Yeah, it was a comedy/drama," finished Kam. "I watched it with the twins sometimes."

"We all watched that show," Dad said. "It was excellent."

"Well anyway," said Mom, "dinner should be ready now."

Nodding, I got up. Iris, who normally would have been yelling and running to the dining room, was walking sedately behind me. I guess she was still feeling shy around my family.

When Imari and Jabari went past me, I looked at their outfits and finally couldn't contain my question anymore. "There's something odd about your outfits, what is it?"

"Glad you noticed, older sis. We designed them!"

"Yeah, watch what they do," Imari said.

Iris and I watched Imari as zie pulled on the thicker fabric of the top, making it come down as a skirt. Then zie touched something on zir sleeve, and the color of the clothing changed to bubblegum pink.

"Yeah, and watch me!"

Jabari pressed a button on zir sleeve, and the skirt moved on its own power and became part of the top, zir turquoise and pink outfit changing to forest green.

"We designed them ourselves. A new brand of color-changing and shiftable clothes for non-binary - enby - people like us. We're already selling them in a small shop at the downtown mall nearest the Brighton's."

"Wow. Your own store? What's it called?"

"Same as the brand name," said Imari.

"Which is - drumroll please."

Imari gave her twin a drumroll on the table with her hands.

"Green With Enby!"

Iris laughed. Most of us groaned at the pun.

"Good one," Iris exclaimed. "Almost makes me want to buy one."

"We take it by that comment--"

"--that you aren't an enby?"

"Physical sex wise, I could, seeing as I'm a Lucite, but gender-wise, I am 100% girl."

"Yeah but that covers a lot of ground, fashion wise. Some girls wear pants. Some girls wear battle armor. Some girls wear clown outfits."

Iris shuddered. "Don't say the c-word."

"You a caulrophobe, my Queen?"

She nodded.

"Well we shall not mention those things again, your highness!"

We all sat down at the table, to a meal of roast beef and vegetables. It was cloned beef, which some people say tastes different from the real thing, but I've never been able to tell the difference. At first, eating was a silent affair. After filling our faces for several minutes, though, conversation started up.

"So, young lady," Dad said, looking at Iris, "what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Iris blinked, her mouth full, her eyes wide with surprise and bewilderment. The rest of us laughed gently, and her face turned red. When she got her food swallowed, she sat up and spoke.

"Um..."

"Sorry about that, Iris dear. I was just trying to be funny. But on a serious note, tell us how you two met."

Dinner conversation started there, with Iris and I telling Daddy how we met, and continued to stay on our relationship through most of the meal, but then wandered into asking about the testing Iris was going through, and school.

While we were eating dessert - apple pie, Dad nodded amicably at Iris and said, "I know you two haven't been together long, but you seem to be a lot closer than Rea was with her last girlfriend, what was her name?"

My face turned red, so Kam answered for me. "You mean Lalita?"

"Yes, Lalita, that's the one. You and her always felt to me more like friends. I know you and she both tried to make it work as a romantic relationship, but I wasn't terribly surprised to hear it wasn't working out."

"Yeah, we're just friends now. I guess that's all we ever really were, despite trying otherwise."

"Rianna and I don't have that problem," she said between bites. "We're very passionate as well as friendly." She went back to chewing and did not immediately notice the raised eyebrows and looks. Then she looked up and saw them, and her face turned red.

"She means that we've kissed, and it was quite intense."

"So," asked Imari, "are you two doing the naked horizontal tango yet?"

"Imari!" snapped Dad warningly.

Both Iris and I had gone mute from embarrassment, so Kam spoke instead. "No, it's okay. As far as I know, they've not done anything sexual with each other. In fact, last I heard, Iris was waiting until her 14th birthday to do anything sexual."

Iris and I both nodded to this.

"Ah, well, okay," Dad said, looking a little uncomfortable. It was too much information for him. Kam noticed this, too, and said nothing more on the subject. Everyone went back to their pie.

After dinner was over, I took Iris on a tour of the house, which wasn't terribly interesting, at least until we got to my old room, which still had some of mine and Kam's stuff in it. I wasn't expecting to be in that room long either, but Iris spotted a framed picture on my desk and picked it up. It had a younger me and a girl who looked to be near Iris's age in it, the younger girl being of Indian descent.

"Who's this next to you?"

"Ah, that... that's Lalita. That picture was taken when she was 11 and I was 24."

"How old is she now?"

"She's 18 now. We still chat a lot, we're still friends."

"So she's still in high school?"

"Just graduated last May. She's taking a year or two off before going on to college."

"Does she know what she's gonna do at college?"

"Yeah. She's going to go to a trade school and become an electrician."

"Wow, really? That's cool."

"Yup. A very girly girl in many ways, otherwise."

"Can I meet her sometime?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You want to meet my ex?"

"Well you're both still friends, right?"

"Yeah."

"So I want to meet a friend of yours. Besides, if she's a friend of yours, maybe she could be a friend of mine, too. I need more friends."

I noticed that she hadn't said 'friends her age,' she'd said 'friends.' I felt sad for her, and also a little confused. Such a vibrant, interesting child she is, and Kam and I were really her only friends. I could identify... I hadn't had many friends growing up either, but I did at least have some friends.

"I'm making a note in my Omnus to ask her about meeting you. I wouldn't mind seeing her in person again myself. It's been at least a year since we met up in person."

"You know," she said, putting the picture back down on the desk, "I like it here. I like your family. Especially the twins."

I picked the picture back up and looked at it, feeling nostalgic. "What, even my Mum and Dad? You seemed... intimidated by Dad."

She shrugged. "He takes some getting used to, I admit, but he seems nice enough."

"I think the twins would love to have a kid to spend time with. They're like big kids themselves."

We left my old bedroom and went to the living room, the picture of Lalita and I still in my hands. I decided to take it home with me. It also made me realize that I didn't have any proper portraits of myself with Iris. Or, really, any portraits of Iris on her own. Oh sure, a few snapshots here and there, but no proper pictures. I was going to have to fix that. I made another note in my Omnus, about that.

While most of us sat in the living room digesting our food and watching the three-vee, the twins and Iris ran off downstairs to their room. I smiled, knowing Iris would love the twins' room, if it still looked the way Kam had said it looked, in one of our previous conversations. She'd told me it was still not much different than when they'd been 12, full of bright primary colors and strewn with toys and clothes, the walls covered in posters of fairies. So doubtlessly they still had their old Autonotinies set as well.

A few hours later, I noted the time, and saw it was getting late. I wasn't entirely sure when Matria wanted Iris home, so I figured I should err on the side of caution, not wanting to risk bothering the Zahane family at home. I got up and went downstairs to the twins' room, and found it empty. So I started looking around the house for them, finally finding all three of them in the VC room. I surveyed the scene quietly; Iris had once again gotten control of her own VC from a remote connection, and was talking animatedly with the twins about the things on the display, which looked like people, standing still. She seemed to be seeking their input.

"So," I said from the doorway, when there was a lull in the debate, "whatcha doing?"

They all turned around to look back at me. Iris grinned and turned all the way around in her seat to face me. "I've been working on a project lately, designing a customizable version of Autonotinies."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. At first, I wanted to modify the existing Autonotinies, to get more diversity in skin color, gender expression, and size of the units. But then I discovered that it would be far easier to design something from scratch than try to modify the existing pieces. Autonotinies are imported from Greshnok 4, a capitalist society, and they've purposefully designed them to be very near impossible to customize."

"Ah, I recall you talking about customizing Autonotinies. How far along are you?"

"Not very. Just beginning to work on the basics. When I heard about the Green With Enby clothes, I had the idea of color-changing skin for my version, so I was looking for input from these two. From what they've said, I should be able to modify the color-change design for small units, but I may have to make them slightly bigger than Autonotinies."

"Cool," I said, sitting down to get a closer look. "Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Not yet. I want something catchy, like Autonotinies, but different obviously."

"Hmm... how about Bitty Bots?"

"Well that's a good possibility. I'll have to look into whether that's been taken yet or not."

"Yeah. I'll see if I can think of any other names for you to consider."

"Cool. There's no rush. I've barely gotten anywhere on the actual design. It's gonna be at least a few weeks before I have enough to even begin considering getting the prototypes printed out."

My Omnus beeped with a message from Matria. She wanted Iris to stay in her own bed tonight, a sentiment I had to reluctantly agree with, given that I had work in the morning.

"Well as much as I hate to break up your fun, I have work tomorrow in the morning, and Matria wants you home tonight, Iris, in your own bed."

"Aw poo," she said, looking disappointed. But she didn't argue; just started putting away her files and shutting down the remote connection to her home VC. The twins looked disappointed, too.

We did not immediately go home, but stayed about another half an hour, talking with the twins about meeting up again sometime. They really had fun playing with Iris, and were basically setting up another play date, or trying to. Of course, Matria would have to approve of any plans they made, so such plans were tentative until then.

Then when that was done, my family, Iris, and I spent a few minutes saying goodbye to each other before getting into my parents' car and having its AI take Iris, Kam, and I to our respective homes before driving itself back to its own home base. I was mildly disappointed that Kam was going to be going back to her apartment, but I would not have gotten much sleep that night if she had come back to my house with me, so it was probably for the best.

Since Kam's place was on the way, the car dropped her off there first, then went to the Zahane household next. To save it time, I got out when she did, since it was a short walk from her place to mine, and sent the car on its way again once I was sure she had everything of hers.

That night, I fell asleep easily, happy as I was to be reconnecting with my family.

End note 1: The name “Lalita,” for those of you who have read Orbital Velocity chapter 2, means “beloved.” It also means “desirable.”

End note 2: If anyone else has any ideas on what Iris might call her version of Autonotinies, please comment here or email me at [email protected]

(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 11: "Testing, Dinner, and a Movie"

Monday was fairly dull, aside from some time with Iris watching three-vee after work, but nothing worth going over here happened then. Tuesday was much the same, except for giving the permissions needed for Kam, my dad, and one of his friends into the house to move a few things of Kam's in, most of it going in the attic. Kam's nerves were frayed enough from moving that I gave her a massage after the fact, which she enjoyed so much she fell asleep on the couch. When Iris came over later, she and I went into my bedroom and watched the three-vee in there instead. Kam's snoozing must have been contagious, because we fell asleep, too; this had not been in the plans, but luckily Cleo was on top of things. Though there were no cameras in the bedroom, Cleo apparently figured out what happened anyway, and told the AI for the Zahane household that we'd accidentally fallen asleep, so Matria didn't make an issue of the unplanned sleepover. Didn't help my nerves when I woke up and found Iris still there, of course.

Having Kam there helped immensely that morning. Somehow, neither my getting out of bed, my panic, or the cooking smells from the kitchen woke up either of them. That it didn't wake Kam up didn't surprise me; she could probably sleep through a tornado going through the living room. But Iris... the fact she didn't wake up from all that had me checking to make sure she was still breathing. She was.

I left a note for Iris on the inside of the bedroom door, and another on the bathroom door just in case, which was for Kam as well. I would later find out from Kam that Kam had woken up while Iris was still in the bathroom, and that Kam had made breakfast for both of them before Iris headed home. She must have changed at home, too, because when I saw her later at the library, she was wearing a different outfit from the one she'd fallen asleep in.

Kam was busy with school and with homework the rest of the week, so there weren't any adult fun times between us, to both our disappointment. But at least we were together, which helped my mood more than I had even guessed. It was awesome having her to talk with, even if only for the few-minute long breaks she took between work or study sessions, and of course Kam and I slept in the same bed together most nights.

Friday morning, Iris came over to spend time with me before work, since I work 1pm to 9pm on Fridays. She came over at 11am, leaving only a couple hours before I had to go, so we just talked. At one point in the conversation we were discussing her school again, when something occurred to me.

"So what are the hours for your school? When do you start?"

"Well, school starts at 11am and gets out at 6pm."

I nodded; that made sense. On Paxum, elementary school starts at 10am and gets out at 5pm, but teenagers don't do mornings well at all. Teenagers are generally not able to learn much before 11am, so their schedule got moved forward an hour. Since Iris was going to be 14 soon, her schedule made sense.

"So I take it your schedule was the same last year, too?"

"Yeah, that was when it moved up a year,” Iris responded, apparently getting an idea of my train of thought.

"Have you been getting up this early all the time I've known you, or are you just getting used to it?"

"The first one you said. I get up by 10am most days. I'm usually in bed by 2am." She paused, thinking. "Don't tell my family I stay up that late."

"Well at least you usually get a good 8 hours of sleep."

"Yeah, but I kinda need more. I've been working on getting to bed by midnight, in preparation for school."

"Ah."

There was a bit of a silence, but then Iris broke it. "I know we can't do it today, but if I got up a little earlier tomorrow, we might have time for me to take you a place I think we'll both like before Mama picks us up for the extra tests."

"Oh? Where?"

"There's a pretty awesome playground in the neighborhood I discovered a couple days ago, it's huge and it's got plenty of room even for you to climb around on it. I looked it up afterward on the VC, and it was designed for both adults and kids."

"That sounds pretty cool. When do you want to go?"

"How about 9am?"

I nodded. "Sounds good. That'd give us a few hours there. You'll have to tell Matria where it is, so she can pick us up there."

Iris nodded, putting a note into her Omnus about it.

"Hey, since we're making plans for tomorrow, I have something to run by Matria, if you agree: how about I call Jeeves to pick you and me up after the tests, and we can have dinner and a movie after the tests?"

"Oooh, I love that idea!"

The rest of our conversation involved discussing where to eat and which movie to see, of the ones that were available, as well as the possibility of Iris staying overnight afterward. By the time it was time for me to go to work, we had our plans sorted out and we'd already talked with Matria about it. So I had a lot to occupy my mind as I took Iris with me to the library with me. Still, I did notice Iris leave an hour later for the night, because she made sure I noticed as she waved at me.

If I'd had a lot to think about then, I had more to think about when I got home. When I stepped into the house, Cleo informed me that I had a priority email from Iris. I had a moment of worry about that, so I hastily turned on my VC and checked my email. The worry instantly turned to embarrassment, my cheeks turning hot.

"Wow," Kam said from behind me, startling me. I'd forgotten she was home, and hadn't seen her. Considering the image on display, my embarrassment deepened.

"No seriously, Rea, WOW. Even I think that's a hot picture."

The image in question was of Iris, that she'd taken with her VC. In the picture, Iris had her hair held up with chopsticks; her back was turned to the camera, and was bare. She wore a red silk robe with her forearms in the sleeves, and the rest was draped so that it covered her butt, in a way that suggested she was nude underneath. I doubt she was, but it was suggested. Her face was in profile as she looked over her shoulder at the camera, and her expression was a cross between coyness and wickedness at the knowledge of what the image would be doing to me.

Kam giggled at my discomfort, but left the room. I'm sure she thought she knew what I was going to do, but I was going to surprise her on that score. I sent the picture to my photo printer, and also saved a copy on my Omnus. I hung the printed copy up in a frame on my wall, where I could see it from my bed.

After a few minutes of staring at it, I got up and closed the door and locked it. I guess I wasn't going to surprise Kam after all.

I woke up at 8am the next morning and made breakfast. Iris did not join me, so she must have been eating at home. When 8:50 rolled around, however, the doorbell rang.

"Hey there, Iris," I said, taking in her outfit. She was wearing pants and not a skirt, a bit of a departure for her. The pants were pink, though. Pink Capris. And she also had on a purple top with spaghetti straps and little pink flowers.

"You done eating yet?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, you vixen, I am."

Iris turned red briefly. "So you enjoyed the picture I sent you?"

"Yes. Several times last night, and once again this morning."

Iris giggled. "Good. I enjoyed taking the picture, too."

She had not come in yet. I grabbed my fanny pack - which was serving as my purse today - and followed her out. I was dressed for play, too, in blue jeans and a red blouse. I noticed she had a little fanny-pack purse as well, blue with yellow flowers on it.

"In fact," she said as she began to lead me to the playground, "I, er... I might have enjoyed the picture myself, er, once or twice."

I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. And after Iris got past her embarrassment, she began to laugh as well.

We turned the corner, and there it was: the playground Iris had been leading me to. It was... well, the park itself was about average size, but the playground equipment set in the middle was huge. We were about a block away still, and though the park itself took up about three blocks, the set in the middle took up most of the park. There were multiple slides, multiple bridges, at least a dozen ways to climb into the thing itself, and self-repairing padding all around the outside of it in case anyone fell (or jumped) off. And that was just what I could see from a distance.

"Wow," I said.

"Yeah, I know. And it's big enough for most adults to play on, too."

We got closer, and I began walking around it to take it in. I could see a series of plasteel tubes to climb through, nets to climb, monkey bars, swings, and other things. It looked amazing.

Iris ran up to it and began climbing on, and I followed right behind. Before I got on it, I noticed that the padding around it was predictive; it was firm when walking on it, but if it sensed someone fell or jumped from a height onto it, as Iris did to demonstrate, then it became like a safety net, in that it let the person make a huge depression in the material before more slowly pulling itself back up to its usual level. There was still the possibility of two people falling on each other, but I suspect the material could depress even more in order to prevent that from causing a serious injury. (Or at least, to try.)

Iris climbed back on, and I actually managed to follow this time. The thing was big enough for even two adults to spend a goodly amount of time hunting around for one another on it in a game of Evade. Which we were doing, of course. Iris called out "Evade!" when she was already far enough away to avoid me, and ducked into a plasteel tube immediately after saying it.

"Why you little scoundrel," I playfully called back, climbing over to the tube entrance she'd gone into. When I got there, I found it quite large enough for me to climb in without feeling terribly cramped. The tubes were also a complex network even larger than one could see from the outside. In fact, I rather suspect some of the tubes went underground. You'd think such plasteel tubes would be dark, but there were simple, soft lights embedded in the tubes; lights that, I would later realize, whose brightness was dependent on the brightness of the outside without ever going out completely.

As you might have guessed, some parts of the tubes were vertical, and had rungs to climb up and down them. Other vertical tubes had no rungs; they were for sliding down only in some instances, and in others they were at an angle where one could climb through them without needing rungs. The plasteel was slick where it needed to be, and had a more gripping surface where that was necessary. Which of course meant that going up a down slide was practically impossible, but there were always nearby climbing tubes so one could climb up and go back down a slide tube as many times as they wanted to.

I would later discover, doing some research on the set, that pretty much the whole thing was made of plasteel, because plasteel had useful properties for a playset. It was strong like steel but didn't corrode, was resistant to absorbing heat from sunlight but didn't reject heat either (and was, therefore, always the same lukewarm temperature), was non-conductive (and therefore, lightning was not an issue), couldn't be scratched or dinged without significant amounts of force (that could only be done by machines), and was impregnated with repair nanites anyway, just in case. Those same nanites also made the entire set color-changeable through several interfaces in the set. Also, just in case somebody got stuck somewhere, the nanites could be programmed to help free the person (with the right override sequence).

The labyrinth of tubes was so much fun for both of us that we only had 45 minutes left of play once we got out of them, out of the 3 hours we'd had.

"We spent over two hours in there!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, that was a lot of fun, for sure. Well, I'm going to the monkey bars now."

"Aha!" I shouted after her, "I knew you were a monkey! And I'm the zoo keeper who has to recapture the monkey!"

"Eeek!" She deftly swung away on the monkey bars while making monkey noises, and I swung after her with a lot less grace. And, well, a lot less ability as well. I ended up falling off halfway over and having to start over again, giving the little monkey time to climb into other areas of the playset.

With lots of effort and - I'll admit - a little cheating when Iris wasn't looking, I got across the monkey bars and started climbing the various levels of the playset, which were full of interesting interfaces for changing the colors, opening hidden doors or closing them, even moving the pitch and yaw of the levels' floors, and more. It was basically an entirely different kind of labyrinth, only in this case you could see the person you were chasing if they were tall enough to be seen over the walls. The floors of these levels were made of the same kind of material as the protective floors outside the playset, just in case somebody fell from one level to another, and the walls were soft, too.

I finally managed to "trap" Iris in one of the levels near the edge. This one had no slides, firefighter poles, or secret escape routes as far as I could tell. In fact, it appeared to have only one entrance. I couldn't get in, though, because between me and the entrance was not just a closed door, but also a tube bridge to climb through, with no place to stand up at the end; if the door was closed, you had to go back.

From previous experience from the day, I knew the doors could be kept closed as long as someone was in there, and wouldn't open again unless the person left. Obviously, given their ability to catch falling people without them getting hurt, the floors had pressure sensors along with whatever other sensors it used to predict how it would have to react. So I had no chance of getting in at her.

Or so she thought. She couldn't see me in the level before the tube bridge, because her level was lower than mine was. I peeked through some view slats to get an idea of the lay of the land, and figured out a plan. I snuck out of that level, going down two more levels, then turned left twice, getting to a level as close to hers as I could, which was slightly behind hers. I noticed her poke her head over the wall and look up at the level I'd been in before, then hide again. That's when I made my move.

I climbed carefully and quietly onto the wall of the level, and used my adult size to try to reach a bar on the outside of her level. I had to jump to grab it, but I caught it. I then noticed some other bars under her level, and used them like monkey bars.

"Ha!" she said, worrying me a moment before continuing, "You're stuck over there. You could come through the tube bridge, but I have the door closed. Ha! You'll never catch me!"

Quietly, I continued my trek underneath her, to where I could pull myself up in her blind spot by the tube bridge's entrance. It took a lot of work, but I felt safe to try; worst that could happen was falling onto the reactive safety flooring. I pulled myself up and ended up face-to-face with Iris.

"Boo," I said. She screamed, falling backward against the far wall, in genuine startled fear. Then, realizing what was going on, she screamed in delighted, faux fear as I continued climbing the wall into her level. I was by the exit; even if the door wasn't closed, she wouldn't be able to escape that way.

"I've got you now," I said. "There's no escape! The Rianna monster is gonna gobble you right up!"

She playfully screamed again, then surprised me completely by hopping up the back wall, putting her legs over it, and jumping off while laughing, right onto the reactive safety flooring.

I finished my climb into the level, the doors of which were opening again, and walked over to the far wall and looked down. She lay there on the ground as it gently rose back up, giggling.

"You're a sore loser, my Queen," I called down at her.

She responded with a loud raspberry and 'moose antler' hands at her temples.

"Well, if it's good enough for you," I said, moving to the wall to my right and jumping off as she had done. This way, I wouldn't land on her when I fell.

"EEK!" she shouted anyway as I landed upright on the soft and yielding surface, scrambling to stand. I ran up the divot's sides and after her. She was heading towards the tube labyrinth again, but I caught her just in time, from behind. She was laughing very loudly, attempting to speak, as I pretended to gobble her up.

"Bleh," I said, having gotten one of her hairs in my mouth. "Needs some barbeque sauce," I said in a gravelly voice. "I'm gonna take you to my cave and throw you on my barbeque, human child."

"You don't want me, I'm skin and bones."

Holding her with one arm, I used my free hand to gently pinch her arms, legs, and her butt. "True you could be plumper, but you feel plump enough to eat regardless."

We didn't hear Matria's car pull up, and when she got out, Matria found me carrying Iris over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, talking like an ogre.

Smiling, she caught my attention. "Ah, you two silly geese, it's time for lunch."

I put Iris down, and she ran over to her mother excitedly. "Taco Tavio's?" she asked excitedly.

"You don't want to go there for our date, later?" I asked.

"Hmm... no, I wanna go somewhere nice for that. Somewhere we havta wait for our food to be cooked."

"Well, into the car you two."

We both got in the back, snuggling against each other and talking. With my Omnus, I looked at the area we planned to go for our date, for dinner locations. By the time we'd all arrived at Taco Tavio's, we'd decided to go to a nice Italian place called Antoni Brothers Fine Italian Restaurant, for our dinner date.

As usual, Iris ate quite a lot of tacos for lunch, making me wonder where she put it all. I myself had a burrito enchilada style. And of course, after lunch we went to more testing of Iris's genius. This time, the tests consisted of the doctor asking Iris a lot of questions in a relaxed, casual manner. Some of these were the kind you'd expect in a test of knowledge, but others were about her habits, her hobbies, and what she liked to read about. A lot of those consisted of gently encouraging Iris to go into a full aspie-like info-dump mode, making me wonder if she was on the autism spectrum, like Kam and I were. I guess the tests will help determine that, too.

There was some play, but it was directed play. One of the 'directed play' tasks was having her give her best shot at solving a Rubik's Cube; she didn't get very far, but then neither myself nor Kam had ever done any better. Another was having her draw, first with paper and pencil, then with a computer. She wasn't bad at drawing with paper and pencil, but she wasn't especially talented at it either. She did better drawing on the computer, but not a lot better, when the task was 'draw a scene from your life; she improved significantly when given the task to design something. It wasn't as good as it would be with her preferred design program and tools, but it was still pretty good. She designed a chest of drawers; simple, but a very good drawing. A lot better than her attempt at drawing a human face had been.

Luckily, they didn't schedule any more tests. They indicated they might at some later date, but for now they weren't going to, especially with school so near. Iris and I were both grateful for this. As much as I thought knowing more about her abilities was a good idea, I was keen to have my weekends with Iris back.

Jeeves met us outside, pulling up right behind the Zahane vehicle, and we said our farewells to Matria before getting into Jeeves to go to the restaurant for the dinner part of our 'dinner and a movie.'

The restaurant we'd chosen was pretty nice, without being too nice for my budget, or requiring reservations. We were mildly under-dressed, but nobody said anything and nobody stared.

Like I expected from a nice restaurant like this, they had actual human servers. Ours was a waiter, a handsome man with beautiful brown eyes, slicked-back black hair, and a clean-shaven face. I caught Iris staring at the handsome waiter, who looked like he had Mediterranean heritage, and Iris wasn't the only one to notice that his neat uniform complimented his firm butt. We were both blushing and nonverbal when we noticed that. I suddenly found myself wishing Kam was here to help us.

"Good evening, ladies," he said with a deep and sexy voice that made our predicament worse. "My name is Antonio, and I'll be your waiter for tonight. Can I get you some drinks to get started?"

Not having Kam with me, I tapped a shortcut button on my Omnus, to activate the avatar of Cleo (my house AI) that resided in my Omnus. Suddenly her voice came from it, saying, "Please excuse my mistress for a few minutes. She has autism and needs a few minutes to become verbal again."

"No problem. I shall go get some water for you. Here are the menus; drinks are on the back." And true to his word, he left the menus and scurried off.

I had tried learning sign language once, to help me when I went nonverbal and Kam wasn't around, but I'd given it up because it didn't help. Whatever it was about my brain that made me go nonverbal affected all languages, including sign language.

"He had a nice butt," Iris whispered to me, her cheeks still red.

"I noticed."

We looked over our menus, and decided quickly on drinks. I programmed them into my Omnus in case we both went nonverbal again. But it proved to be unnecessary; I was prepared for him by the time he got back, and though Iris was still quiet, I managed to order drinks for both of us. I had ordered a low-alcohol champagne for both of us. This particular kind had something like 5% alcohol total in it, and 95% grape juice. Legally, I could have gone with a higher percentage for both of us, but I didn't really want either of us to get drunk, and I wasn't all that fond of alcohol to begin with.

"Ah, champagne," the waiter commented, with a sigh. "Tell me, are you two...? Is this a case of amore?"

We nodded. "Y-yes," I croaked out.

"Beautiful, beautiful." He paused momentarily to scan our Omnuses with his, which he explained was policy. My Omnus informed me he'd checked my Trust Level as set by Matria, and was pleased with the results. "Even better. Forbidden love is just so depressing. Anyway, would you like any meal suggestions this evening?"

"Yes, please."

"Well everything is delicious, of course, but I highly recommend the Stromboli bread. It comes in several varieties, of course. My personal favorite is the sausage marinara Stromboli bread. Filled with fresh Italian pork sausage, rich mozzarella, home-made marinara sauce, as well as chopped portabella mushrooms, zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers that we grow on the roof. We use cutting-edge cooking equipment and tools to ensure everything is cooked to perfection."

I nodded. I'd seen the five-level vertical farming greenhouse built onto the roof of the place before we'd come in.

"What do you think?" I asked Iris.

"That sounds yummy!" I noticed she was practically drooling, which made me chuckle.

I turned to our waiter. "Is your meat real or cloned?"

"Sadly, it is cloned, and the milk in our dairy products is synthetic. We aren't quite high end enough for real meat, but we appreciate the compliment of your question. However, I am happy to note that we do get our meat and dairy from Ezrix Co-op, which has the highest quality meat-cloning labs and artificial-dairy labs on all of Paxum."

"Okay, then, we'll have the sausage marinara Stromboli bread."

"What size would you like? There is single-serve, small, medium, and large. The medium is big enough for two adults to share." He indicated the size of it with his hands, and it looked big enough to both of us, so we ordered the medium size.

"Excellent! I shall bring you some bread sticks to tide you over until it arrives."

Sure enough, a few short minutes later, he dropped a large basket of Italian bread sticks and a bowl of butter at our table for us. We started buttering up bread and eating it at a reasonable pace, and had barely started when he returned with the champagne, pouring us each a generous measure.

When he left, we began talking about various things; mostly about Antonio's handsome face and firm butt, but also about which movie to see. I also reminded her that I'd gotten permission for her to stay at my place for the night.

"Yeah, I know. I saw Mama move my overnight bag to the trunk of your car before we left. Anyway, do you think Antonio is, well... into kids?" She blushed.

"Now now, you can't expect everyone to be the sexuality you want them to be. And anyway..." I looked back in the direction he'd vanished to, then back again, "Nah. I was gonna say you're already in a relationship with me, but to be honest, if you could get a piece of that, I'd want details."

She chuckled. "You wouldn't be jealous?"

"I would be hurt if you had a relationship with anyone else without telling me first; I might even be hurt anyway. But for him... for him, I'd even watch if I could. I want me some of that, too."

"I kinda thought so. Oh, hush, he's coming this way."

Antonio was just checking on some of his other customers, but he had indeed passed close enough to hear if we'd kept talking. When he walked away again, we both giggled.

Checking around to make sure nobody else was watching, Iris began to do something naughty with a breadstick and her mouth, which had me fighting the urge to guffaw in a loud and uncouth manner. She was getting really into it, when I saw Antonio coming again and stage whispered at her, "Here he comes again!"

She choked briefly, the breadstick falling out of her mouth, and began to cough, while I continued to try to restrain my laughter.

"Are you okay?" Antonio asked in concern at Iris's coughing. She turned so red - ears included - that I worried her hair would catch fire, and hid her head under the table.

"She's fine," I assured him. "She's just a little embarrassed."

He chuckled. "Alright, then. If you need me, just press the button." He gestured at a box in the middle of the table. I lifted the lid on it, revealing a green button to call the waiter.

"Thank you," I told him before he took off again.

After he left, my Omnus buzzed. When I checked it curiously, I saw it had caught a local A.R. (augmented reality) alert. Some people have implants in their eyes or brains that let them view postings on A.R., usually for stuff like concerts, missing-persons alerts, or even just A.R. 'graffiti.' Omnuses could pick these things up, too. I had mine set to ignore most of it, but I recalled now that I did have it set to notify me of things that might interest Iris, when we were out.

So, I opened it for more details. Iris looked at it too, as the holograph was a cube-shaped posting which displayed its info on all 6 sides. I made it bigger, to see the text. It was an ad for something called 'Fairy Convention' a couple weeks from now; not next weekend, but the one after. It was local, encouraged cosplay, and only cost 25 Hours apiece, meaning it would cost me 50 for both me and Iris, but I had a decent savings that could handle that. It sounded like fun.

"Wow! A Fairy convention! Can we go?"

"We'll have to discuss it with Matria, of course, but if she's cool with it, it does sound like fun." I scrolled through the extra information. "There are panels with various related subjects, vendors, a costume contest, a separate couples costume contest, and a concert with several artists in attendance, that includes dancing. Ah, and no outside food or drink. The food prices will probably be high to compensate for the cheap entrance fee, but that's no problem."

"I could even use some of my allowance to buy something cool," Iris said excitedly. "Oh, hey, here comes our food," she finished.

Sure enough, Antonio was carrying over a decent-sized Stromboli bread on a large platter, a waitress ahead of him bringing over plates for the two of us, and another waiter refreshed our champagne. I gently made sure Iris knew this would be the last glass for both of us. It'd be water after that, or else a drink much cheaper than champagne. She nodded, and nursed hers much more slowly.

Antonio cut several pieces for us, and started out with our first pieces. After asking if there was anything else he could do for us, we shook our heads and thanked him; he and the others left us to our meal, but not before Antonio said he'd check on us later. I paused before eating anything, to shoot a text message off to Matria about the Fairy Convention.

He had not been lying about how good the Stromboli bread was; it was almost orgasmically delicious. There wasn't too much or too little of any ingredient, they all tasted excellent both individually and together, and everything was cooked perfectly. The outside crust was crispy and buttery, but not too much so. The inside was, of course, softer because of the marinara sauce, but every bit of it was perfectly cooked; if there was any raw dough in it, I hadn't found any yet. Neither, it turned out, had Iris.

Iris made a sound somewhere between a "tasty food" moan and an entirely different kind of moan, that made a couple other diners turn to look at her. I wasn't sure, but I may have been making the same sound as well.

"Oh my goodness," she said after swallowing, "I think I have a new favorite food!"

"Better than tacos from Taco Tavio's?"

She pondered that a moment, then said, "Their tacos are still my favorite fast food. This is my new favorite non-fast food."

After that, the two of us barely spoke, as we ate. It was so delicious, we were taking our time to savor every bite. It took us long enough to eat it all that it was a good thing we hadn't ordered a larger one; we were stuffed, and given that we were going to the movies later, we wouldn't be able to keep any leftovers. Thankfully, there weren't any.

Our waiter came over a few minutes after we were done and asked about deserts, but we were both too stuffed to take him up on that. He chuckled in an understanding manner and left again. We spent another 20 minutes talking and digesting before getting the bill.

The bill came to 30H, which was a very inexpensive price for the best Stromboli bread in the world and a total of four glasses of champagne. Our service had been excellent enough (and our waiter hot enough) that I gave him a 10H tip. Given that we'd be too full for more than maybe a medium popcorn at the movies, I thought that balanced out well.

"I wanna go there again sometime," Iris said as we went out to the car. "I hope Antonio is our waiter again next time. I never did figure out his sexuality."

"I echo that sentiment."

Just as we got into the car, I got a text message back from Matria, giving permission to go to the Fairy Convention when it came up, assuming nothing more important came up between then and now.

While the car drove itself (and us with it) to the mall where the movie theater was, I checked the time; it was 7. "The movie doesn't start for another hour, should we go shop for costumes for the Fairy convention?"

"That sounds cool," Iris said, her still-full belly making her slower than usual.

I would tell you about the trip to several stores in the mall to piece together our costumes, and about the costumes themselves, but I want that to be a surprise for later. Let's just say, we were going for the couples costume contest win, and our costumes were very interesting.

After getting our purchases into my car's trunk, we got back to the theater in time to get in line for the movie, and then in line for the concessions. I got us a medium popcorn and some candies in boxes in case we had more room for stuff later, and a pair of sodas. We sat in the back, at Iris's insistence, and waited for the movie to start.

The movie we were watching was a romance movie, the movie version of a novel we'd both read. Both the novel and the movie were named "Crossing the Stars," which was a pun, given that the story was about two star-ship freighter pilots on opposite sides of an inter-planetary war, running through dangerous parts of the solar system to both deliver their cargo and clandestinely meet each other for brief trysts, who eventually get found out and executed for treason. IE, star-crossed lovers who had jobs crisscrossing the solar system, hence the pun of the title. Both pilots were women, but they were also both adults; so, not the usual fare for either of us, admittedly, but it had been an interesting read. We'd also heard lots of praise for the movie.

It soon became apparent that the movie did a stupendous job of following the book's events, so we could tell that anyone who had never read the book would have had no trouble grasping the complexities of the story. And well, as interesting as that was, once we figured that out, it wasn't long after that before we both started letting our minds wander to other things, like the fact that we were both in a dark theater together, and sitting in the back where nobody would be noticing us. Not like it would matter on Paxum if they did, but still... it reminded us both of paedoromantic stories that took place in places and times less accepting of our kind of relationship, which leant it an air of illicit thrill, making even something as simple as holding hands or cuddling together feel more exciting than usual.

We only ate about half the popcorn before Iris set it aside and pushed the seat arm between us down into its niche between the seats so we could cuddle without the chair arm being an uncomfortable obstacle. She leaned her head against my bosom, I held her right hand with mine, and ran the fingers of my left hand through her hair.

I don't know how long we were like that before Iris slid up onto my lap, her head on my shoulder now, one leg between mine. She grabbed my right hand and set it down on her leg. The skirt was hiked up, but I was a little disappointed to be reminded she still had pants on under her skirt. I didn't give any indication of my disappointment, though.

However, she must have been thinking along the same lines as I was. She fidgeted a moment, making me wonder what she was doing. Then I heard the faintest plop of shoes coming off and hitting the ground, all the warning I had before she just took her pants off right there in the theater and shoved them in the little purse she'd brought with her. I sat there, my face hot with shocked embarrassment. Sure, she'd been wearing a skirt, so it wasn't like she was bottomless or anything now, but still... she'd just taken her pants off in public without saying anything about it, and now she was sitting down on my lap again, putting my stunned hand back in place on the top of her thigh, the skirt once again hiked up on that side.

I heard her giggle as I continued to sit like a deer in headlights, and she whispered in my ear, "You're silly. It's dark in here, nobody saw anything. Pet my thigh, My Subject; it'll make you feel better."

The order had done what nothing else had, and brought me back to the world of Those Not Mimicking Statuary. I was still shocked silent, but she was right; running my hand along her thigh, feeling her young, baby-soft skin under my hand was incredibly relaxing to me, and after several minutes of this, I was back to a state where I could have spoken if I wanted to.

From what I could hear, she was enjoying being "petted" on her leg just as much as I was enjoying doing it for her. Maybe even more so! Eventually, she even directed me to do the other leg with my other hand at the same time. Her skirt was hiked up on both sides now, and if it hadn't been so dark, I would have been able to see her panties. (And yes, a few brief contacts I'd had that far up had told me she was indeed wearing panties.)

Iris was practically melting into me, the skin contact of my hands on her legs was relaxing her so much. Yet, at the same time, she was also getting very excited. Being curious, I did a small naughty and let my thumb brush gently between her legs once, to see if I could tell if she was in red mode or blue mode. I found that she appeared to be in blue mode, as I felt no red-mode bulge. She slapped my hand just hard enough to tell me to not do that again, and I went back to stroking the top of her thigh.

She whispered, a few minutes later, "You can do the inside of my thigh if you want."

Feeling my face turn hot again, I nonetheless did as she instructed, fluttering my thumb and fingers in a light, gentle, almost-ticklish touch over the insides of her thighs that sent delighted shudders, moans, and heavy breathing through my little girlfriend's body.

I kept doing this, and her reactions kept getting more and more energetic, until she was literally stuffing a fist into her mouth to keep herself from making enough noise to turn every eye our way. I was getting extremely turned on at the ecstasy I was causing her, and every once in a while I could make out giggling as my lady-boner poked up against the fabric of my jeans.

Her body was now tense with sensual pleasure, and she was pushing against me, her feet firmly planted on the floor, her neck lolling over my shoulder, little moans escaping the fist she still had in her mouth. But she soon took that out and said, quietly but not a whisper, "Kiss me!"

I wasn't sure how to do that, the position we were in, but I started to try. The answer involved removing one of my hands from her thigh, scooting my own butt to the left, and using my free hand to hold the back of her head as I kissed her awkwardly, my other hand no longer able to do anything because of the conflict of actions. Iris seemed to realize it was a choice of one thing or the other, and she changed position to straddle my lap. I scooted back in place to make us both more comfortable, as I held the small of her back with one hand, and her head with the other, kissing her passionately, our tongues wrestling one another eagerly.

It was a little daring, but I couldn't exactly ask her with my tongue down her throat, so I slipped the hand at her back under her blouse to feel the skin of her back against the skin of my hand. She did not object; in fact, she moaned a little more delightedly when I did it, and giggled.

The way we were positioned left no more doubt in me that Iris was in blue mode, if you get my meaning. We were only four layers of clothing from having penetrative sex right there in the theater. Though realistically, even if we'd both been nude, I would not have even dreamed to do that to her without her pausing to give me permission first; Iris was the one in control here, not me, which is just how it should always be: the minor in the relationship being the one to initiate everything. Besides which, it'd been my experience that sex was best put off as long as possible, the teasing and torturing of getting closer and closer, delaying gratification, made it absolutely amazing. No matter how good a quickie might feel, it was like a granola bar compared to the Thanksgiving dinner that came at the end of a long period of delayed gratification.

As if just the thought of delayed gratification was another version of saying 'What could possibly go wrong,' Iris pulled gently out of the kiss, smirking evilly at me, and turned around again on my lap, leaving me both frustrated and content. After all, it made the wait sweeter, and anyway, my girlfriend was comfortable cuddling with me. It's always nice to cuddle.

Curious to her mood, I tried stroking her leg again, and she took my hand gently but firmly and moved it, holding it with both her hands. I repressed a sigh; that was that. I only wished she would let me get up and go to the restroom so I could 'take care of things,' but I took her position and her grins and giggles at my discomfort as a sign that I was being silently ordered to stew in my own juices.

We sat in silence like that for the remainder of the movie, just relaxing, cuddling together, eating the rest of the popcorn and candy I'd got us. Little Rea eventually calmed down too. It was nice, cuddling with Iris. But it was getting late, and I was getting tired. I was glad when the movie ended and we left the theater.

As we walked toward the exit, where Jeeves was waiting for us, I asked, "What do you want to do when we get back to my place? I don't know about you, but I'm knackered."

"Me too." Iris went pensive for a few minutes, before speaking again. "I like it when we both nap in the same bed. But that room is Kam's room now, too."

"Well, the bed in the guest bedroom is the same size as mine. If you want, we can use that one. If Kam is still awake, she'll understand. If she's asleep, I'll leave her a note and she'll still be cool with it."

"Good," she said, leaning against me and sighing, "because I love cuddles and shared snoozing."

"Me too, my Queen."

After we got home and unloaded everything, I found Kam already asleep in my--I mean our bed. So I left a note for her on the doorknob, took a few things I needed from there, and moved them up to the guest bedroom. When I got back downstairs, I found Iris was in the restroom; and by the sounds coming from in there, she was taking a shower. That sounded like a good idea to me, too; I decided I'd have one when she was done. So I sat down on the sofa to watch some three-vee while I waited.

She came out later, her hair in a towel, already dressed in a pair of teddy-bear print PJs, and plopped down on the sofa to watch the three-vee while I took my own shower. I had a funny surprise in store for her when I was done, because I'd bought new PJs the other day, that were basically an adult-sized version of Iris's favored teddy-bear PJs.

"Oh my goodness, we have matching pajammers!" she said in a stage whisper when she saw me, and then giggled. "We match!"

"Yes indeedy we do, clothing wise anyway; I'm still black and you're still of Asian heritage, of course, so we haven't started to match in that way."

"You silly billy you! That would never happen. Though if it did, I wouldn't mind looking like you."

"And I wouldn't mind looking like you either, sweetie," I said, booping her nose with my finger.

I sat down next to her on the couch, and we continued watching the three-vee together until our hair dried enough to go to bed. I turned off the three-vee, picked Iris up and flung her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes as she giggled, and hauled her up to the guest bedroom.

It was a little odd sleeping in the guest bedroom, but having Iris next to me helped. I'd thought her continued energy would have her up for at least an hour, but within 15 minutes of the lights going out, she was asleep. Sighing contentedly, her warm body pressed against mine under the covers, both of us in matching PJs, I soon followed her into slumber.

Note: Synthetic dairy on Paxum is just as good as real dairy; in fact, like cloned meat, there's no chemical difference between real dairy and synthetic dairy, except for alternate varieties for people with allergies.

Note two: The “monetary” system of Paxum is based on Hours. H is short for Hours. So think of the 30H bill and 10H tip as being like $40 altogether. There was more on this in a previous chapter.

Note the third: I had a much more... interesting... and longer version of this story originally, the difference beginning somewhere in the theater scene, but after I finished the story that day, I had to ponder if it violated the rules for Storiesonline.com. I later checked out their rules again, and it did indeed violate the rules, so now you have this version instead. Sorry.