32: Thursday, July 16, 2200 hours CST: Anming
At 10 PM, Zach arrived home at his quarters. With breaks to take care of Colette, he'd gotten another two and a half hours of work in. That was a total of five and a half hours for the day. Colby jumped gleefully into his arms in the low gravity. She gave him a big wet smooch with lots of tongue. "I have a surprise for you, baby," she said.
"What is it, honey buns?" Zach asked.
"Now hear me out," said Colby. Uh-oh, Zach thought. "You should know that Colleen is peeved that I moved in with you."
"She is?" Zach said with what he hoped was convincing incredulity.
"Yes, she said there were a lot of women trying to get their own piece of you. She made the point that you needed your own place to retreat to. I apologized for having starved everybody else out with my attentions towards you since we got here. Colleen stopped me to get to the more important reason."
"Which is?"
"The other reason is that Anming is going through a difficult time. Colleen put me in there, as her second in command, to watch over Anming. I was to make sure she was getting back on her feet properly. I hadn't guessed that. Colleen didn't make it explicit when she bunked me with her. She thought it would happen naturally, which I understand. I admire the hell out of Anming, by reputation only mind you. I'd never met her. I guess we all tend to think our idols are made out of stainless steel. I didn't know she was facing any difficulty. I understand why she'd want to be circumspect about it, I suppose. I mean, she is arguably the finest theoretical physicist ever, and that includes Einstein, Feynman, and all the rest."
"I agree. Even to us lay people, she's a God," interjected Zach.
"Plus she's creative and she's even witty as we saw in the excursion vehicle. To be honest, I was intimidated to be suddenly sharing a bedroom with her," Colby confessed. "My discussion with Colleen was left unresolved. She wanted me to think about it, think about Anming, think about what would be best for you. After my talk with Colleen, I thought I'd better at least go and actually get to know Anming. I figured I could find out how I could support her and then do that. We got to talking honestly and openly like sister crewmates should. Then I heard what had happened to her. I couldn't stand it. What that rapist did to her was sickening. I was so angry at that evil man I couldn't sit down. I cried my eyes out. I guess you and Ayana and Colleen know all about it, but it was quite a shock to me. "
"Me too. I cried too, and I'm a doctor. I'm supposed to be able to see injuries dispassionately. I couldn't," Zach admitted. "So I still don't get it, what's the problem? Why do you need me to hear you out?"
Colby continued, "Well by the end of our heart to heart, we were sisters in every other sense than genetically. We wanted to share a room. We wanted to hang out and play go. We had confided our interest in you to each other. We talked about our dalliances with you. I heard how she lured you to her lair for a red hot smooch session. You must have done good, boyfriend. She ran to Ayana and got cleared immediately for 'flight', as one might say."
"Wow," commented Zach.
"So at the end of THAT discussion, we were both like, would it be too weird for, like... the three of us?" Colby ventured. She quickly continued, "Neither of us have ever done anything like that. We had some more discussion. At the end, we were like YES! We are going to share everything! Including sleeping with you at night and even the naked sexual parts, Zach. That is, if you don't mind."
Zach opened his mouth to comment but Colby shushed him. "Hear me out," she continued. "Neither of us are interested in women in that way, sexually I mean. But we are definitely gum-swapping buddies, so no problem. We don't mind if things get naked and messy with the three of us. We're not going to be grossed out by rubbing up against each other in bed. We might even hug or hold hands while sexual things are happening. Or watching each other, you know. In other words, by doing this, we're not handing you a logistical nightmare. You can come at us any way you want and we're ready to roll with it, baby. So will you try it?? Anming is so sweet! We guarantee that we'll make it work. Please say yes." Her eyes were imploring.
Zach realized he still had Colby cradled in his arms from when she jumped into his arms and kissed him. He put her down and said, "Sure, especially since it's so important to the two of you. I'll try it."
"Okay," said Colby, "Here's the plan."
"There's already a plan?" said Zach with a smile. These women and their plans would be the death of him.
"Of course there's a plan," replied Colby. "You two have never... right?" She made vague gestures of the fingers of her two hands getting together.
"Heavens, no. She's been injured," Zach answered.
"Well I insisted. The two of you should break the ice together in a lot more normal way than with me hanging around. So we want you to go to her room and spend the night with her."
"Let me get this straight," said Zach. This sounded like some kind of trap.
"I know," continued Colby, "I really wore you out last night. You still look pretty wrecked. Anming and I talked about how passionate we were last night. I told her how you weren't able to keep your hands off me all night long. She's fine with just cuddling you tonight if you're too tired. That's what you and I were going to do. I don't want you to feel obligated to make love to her."
"I appreciate that very much, honey," Zach said. Mixed signals were coming from Colby. On the one hand, she was telling him to "break the ice" with Anming. On the other hand, they had planned to not have sex tonight themselves. Would Colby's feelings be hurt if he had sex with Anming?
"You're so understanding," said Colby with a big smile. "I'm so happy!" she squeaked. She got on her phone right away, presumably to text Anming the good news.
Zach figured he had better make sure Colby was reassured, physically reassured, of his love and attraction to her. Sorry, Colby's pussy. He ventured, "Can I ask a favor?"
"Sure, anything, honey-dog," Colby answered, still texting on her phone.
"I was looking forward to cuddling with you tonight. Could I sneak over after Anming is asleep and hang out with you a bit?"
"Sure, honey-dog. Knock yourself out," Colby said, still texting away madly on her phone.