“Wouldn’t that eventually cause the hub to get reported as faulty?”
“Not if we don’t use it too much.”
“That explains why you’re storing most of the information locally. So it looks like Joco is the one who set this system up. He may even have set up the whole hideout. I wonder if Suna or Zun know about him?”
“Who?”
“Suna and Zun are newgens who come around here from time to time. I haven’t seen either of them for a while, though.”
“I hope they won’t mind us using the computer.”
“Doesn’t matter if they do. This is too important. Just be careful, okay? Looks like Joco’s under the equivalent of house arrest over this.”
“I will.”
I stood up. “All right. I think I need to talk to Joco and find out if he knows anything about what happened to Cassandra. Maybe talk to Suna and Zun, too.”
In order to catch the newgens attention, I set up a new holographic monitor on the tablet and opened a simple text document with big glowing letters.
WE NEED TO TALK. MEET HERE ONE HOUR AFTER DARK SHIFT STARTS.
Leaving that open while we were out would catch their attention next time they came to the hideout.
Joco wouldn’t be so easy to get to, though. I only knew where he was during the light shift, and even then, only a vague notion. I needed a reason to go down to the river again to look around for him. Maybe I could claim I dropped something? No, that wouldn’t work; we were naked going down the river. There didn’t seem to be any good excuse to go looking for him.
Sending him a message for a rendezvous was out of the question. Even though we could send it pretty much anonymously, we couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t be intercepted. The Scouts didn’t have their eye on me, as far as I knew, but they were definitely watching him.
The next morning, a thought occurred to me. Suna was a newgen. So was Zun. From the few conversations I had with them, I knew they had communities of similar newgens not far from the academy. Where were they actually located?
While Shirley was having her morning shower, I took out my tablet and did some research. There were several groups of newgens, numbering from a few dozen to a hundred or so, scattered around the headquarters. A group of Chevalier newgens lived quite close, just a couple of kilometers along the ring. Some more inquiries found that their living and working areas were just beyond where we had met Joco. If we went there, we’d travel right through his area.
Shirley came out of the fresher and looked over my shoulder. “What have you got there?”‘
“The historical information is so impersonal. I want to interview some newgens in person. There’s a group nearby. I thought I could go interview some of them.”
“Sure, why not? You’re doing well in most of your studies. We can bring our tablets and do some review along the way.”
We dressed and packed up our things, but instead of making our way to the promenade, Shirley took me down a corridor I had never used before. The sign over the door read
Transit Hub
.
I groaned inwardly. Of course the station would have some way of moving people and goods quickly; it was too big to depend on just walking. I had expected something like Joco’s little truck, but instead, we found ourselves climbing into what amounted to a large elevator car mounted in a tunnel that ran around the ring of the station rather than up and down. Shirley waved her implant over the car’s reader, spoke our destination, and we started moving. We were going to go right past him.
As we sat in the accelerating car, Shirley turned to me. “What’s wrong?”
I tried to wave it off. “Nothing.”
“You’re worried about Valka, aren’t you?”
Air started rushing past the car and a strong vibration ran through the frame. What could I say? I couldn’t lie to her, but at the same time, could I trust her with the information? There was little else I could do but take the risk.
“We’re looking into it.”
“Challers!” She put her hand on my knee. “You can’t.”
“We can.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. I hoped that if there were listening devices in the car, the noise of the rails and the wind would make it hard to hear what I was saying. “We found a place where we can get secure access to the network and it won’t get traced back to us. I found out who Cassandra’s instructor was at the academy.”
“Who?” she whispered back.
“Joco.”
She nodded, recognizing the name. “So that’s why you wanted to come out this way today.”
“Yeah, except this route’s going to go past him. I expected to go out on the oxygen deck.”
“That would be a long walk, wouldn’t it?”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I guess I didn’t really think this through.”
“If you had told me what you were trying to do, I could have helped.”
“You’re not going to try to stop me?”
“I guess I owe it to Masters since I never tried to help him while we were partners.” The car slowed down, approaching our destination. She helped me to my feet. “We’ll figure something out. Besides, talking to the newgens will be good for your research. Just be careful.”
We disembarked and walked into a large circular plaza, several levels high, with balconies on either side. It was empty, except for a desk in the center of the floor where a single newgen sat working at a console. He didn’t look up as our footsteps echoed through the vacant hall.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I wonder if we could talk to someone?”
He looked up from his console and looked me over, lingering a bit on my cadet uniform, and then over at Shirley. “About?”
“I’m doing research on newgens—history, culture, that sort of thing.”
“I see.” He arched a thin eyebrow and went back to his console. “I shall contact Kal Oreis, our arts director. It will not be a problem to make time for you. Please proceed to the second balcony on your right. Director Oreis will meet you there.”
“Thank you.”
We made our way up the wide ramp leading to the balconies. “I have the impression I am being indulged.”
“You’re a Scout,” said Shirley. “We’re the whole reason all of them are here.”
At the top of the ramp, we were met by a tall Chevalier newgen in a short white tunic with a red stripe down one side. Her long black hair made me think of her more as female than male, even though I knew the concept was meaningless for them.
“Welcome to our little community,” she said. “I am Kal Oreis. You’re interested in learning more about newgens.”
“Yes. I’m Cadet Challers Dizen, and this is my mentor, Captain Shirley Smith.”
“Pleased to meet you both. How can I help you?”
“Ahm . . .”
I kicked myself for being so unprepared. If I had been thinking, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I could have thought up some questions on the way. Now I looked like an idiot standing there in front of someone who was clearly an important person in the community.
Shirley saved me. “Perhaps we could start with a tour? I’m sure Challers will remember the questions he prepared once we get started.”
Kal smiled. “Of course. If you’ll follow me?”
The newgens lived in apartments that ringed the central plaza on the upper levels, and worked in offices below them, monitoring automated factories in other parts of the station, analyzing and balancing resource needs, and operating mining drones in the asteroid belt. Exactly the same kind of thing you’d see on any other station.
“What do you do for fun?” I asked.
“Oh, the same thing anyone else does. Games, sports, long walks out on the oxygen deck. Gossip. Come on, I’ll show you.”
We found the recreation area in a set of terraces overlooking the oxygen deck. Water cascading down from fountains near the top filled tubs and pools as it flowed down to a stream that ran across the oxygen deck to the river. Some pools steamed with warmth, some had a thin covering of ice. Most were empty, but there were newgens in groups of twos and threes and fours lounging here and there.
Director Kal turned to me and smiled. “Care to join me for a swim?”
Suddenly, I found it hard to breathe. “Oh, I don’t think that’s necessary.”
From the look in her eyes, I could tell she had more in mind than just a dip in the water.
“Mister Dizen. You’re here to learn about our people. As you’ve seen, we’re really no different than you, all very mundane, except for one thing. Sex. If you’ve come here to learn about us, then there’s really only one way to do that.”
I felt Shirley’s hand on my shoulder. “Actually, Challers, an encounter like this was already planned. It could have come a little later, but given your interest in newgens, I thought today would be perfect for it.” She moved next to Kal and took my hand. “Director of art includes the sexual arts, Challers. It’s part of the job.”
My heart thudded. “You could have warned me.”
“Would you have paid any attention during the tour if we had?” Kal kicked off her slippers and descended a set of stairs sculpted into the side of a pool. With her back to me, she pulled her tunic up over her head and laid it on the side. Her slim back was muscular, but not enough to dispel her femininity.
“I guess not.”
Shirley took my hand and led me to the edge of the water. “Come on. You can do this.”
“Are you coming with me?”
“Oh, of course. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
We stripped off our uniforms and joined Kal in the waist-deep water. I was glad for the luxurious warmth of the water, because otherwise, I would have been trembling. All of the anxiety I had felt talking to the newgens by the river had returned. Back then, I was worried that they would want to have sex with me, but with Kal, it was coming true.
Shirley stood behind me, urging me forward by simply not giving me anywhere else to go.
She whispered, “Touch, Challers. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Touch.”
I put one hand on Kal’s ribs, and she turned her head and smiled over her shoulder at me. She took my hand and moved it around to her chest to cup one small, firm breast. I felt her nipple rub against my fingertips.
Slowly, she turned to face me and lifted her face towards mine. Our lips met and she put her hands on my sides, not quite an embrace, but close. She smelled like butter. Shirley pressed close behind me, squeezing me between their bodies. I felt something brush my thigh.
“Was that . . .”
“Yes, Challers,” said Kal, “that was my cock.”
“Do you want me to touch it?”
“I would like that very much, but if it makes you uncomfortable, then don’t.”
I felt my breath catch in my throat. I was as nervous as the first time I was naked with Shirley, or the first time I stole a kiss in the communications room with Valka. All the control and reserve I learned in my sessions with Shirley evaporated.
Shirley reached around me and stroked my cock while Kal’s hands caressed my chest and shoulders. My own hands felt most comfortable on Kal’s breasts, so I kept them there. I closed my eyes and let my head roll back, enjoying the sensation of four hands roaming over my body.
I could feel Shirley moving around to my side, and then there was a splash and we separated. I opened my eyes. Shirley had lifted Kal out of the water and set her on the side of the pool, so she could bend down and take Kal’s rigid cock into her mouth. After a few slow plunges, she took the organ in her hand and turned her head towards me.
“Give me your hand,” she said and reached out to me.
In a daze, I gave her my hand, and she pulled it in and put it on Kal’s body, just below her cock. Folds of skin connected the underside of her penis with the lips of her pussy. In truth, it was all one organ—no clear boundary where cock ended and pussy began. The entire area was hairless, either from a depilatory or by design. I stroked it as Shirley went back to sucking the male end, and Kal lay back on the hard stone patio that surrounded the pool. Kal took my hand and guided it to her breast, inviting me to play with it the way I had before.
“You like this?” asked Kal, between sighs of pleasure.
I swallowed. I had to admit, the novelty of Kal’s body excited me. There was something unnameably frightening about it, but the fear was more like the lurch of going out of an airlock for a hull inspection—not something to be avoided, but an excitement to savor.