Tales From the Stream

Author's Note

When we last left our happy gang of pirates, they had barely escaped a security lock down after a bar fight broke out. They've been hiding out in a nearby moon crater with the lounge singer, a J-Pop star named Aidoru.

Aidoru has the physical form of identical triplets, but shares a single linked consciousness. If you didn't think that was going to lead to some kinky shit on board The Black Prince, you should probably have your head examined.

*

Chapter 13: Naughty Kitty

Droning guitars and thundering drums reverberated throughout the corridors of The Black Prince. The accompanying bass line rattled anything that wasn't bolted down.

Emily marched down the corridor, her magnetic boots clicking in time with the beat as she walked. Her hand was high overhead with index and pinky fingers extended, and the remaining fingers tucked under her thumb.

She stopped when she reached the lounge, lowered her hand, but kept her head nodding to the beat. Emily stood about a meter behind Jade, who was down on her knees in front of the Megacomf sofa.

"Just a sec," said Jade. She braced herself with her left hand, grasping the Megacomf's internal framing, and leaned in with a cordless drill in her right. The cushions of the Megacomf floated in a weightless semicircle around her.

The whine of the drill barely registered over the volume of the music. The only evidence of it putting a hole in the deck plating was an acrid smell that wafted in the air. Emily moved her gaze to Jade's backside as she took in the scene.

"Any luck?" said Jade, lifting the drill and turning to face Emily.

"How do you feel about pink?"

Jade peered over the tops of her safety glasses. "Normally, I'd say it's my favorite color, but maybe not in this case."

"Hm," said Emily. She took a step forward. "Is that steal tubing or aluminum?"

"Magnesium alloy, I think. And carbon fiber in other places."

"These Megacomfs are built to last."

"Sturdy or not, I'm still securing the seat belts directly to the deck," said Jade. "Which, by the way, is a total bitch to drill into. Either that or this bit is dull... Maybe both."

"About those seat belts..."

"You serious about pink?"

"Hot pink," said Emily. "Three spools."

"Whoa."

The drone of guitars heightened to a fever pitch of crunching power chords as Jade finished her sentence.

Emily raised her voice. "It's the only color with enough filament on it to 3D print the whole batch. I suppose we could do one in each color for a rainbow effect."

"What's with this music?"

"It's Aidoru's," said Emily.

Jade stood up and clicked her boots to the deck. "Sounds a little on the Goth side of J-Pop to me."

"I don't think it's her band, per se. It's a playlist."

Jade went rigid. "Better not be streaming. The signal could give away our position and—"

"It's not," said Emily. "I locked down all outgoing signals from the ship. Including the long range WiFi. Nobody's going to find us. At least not by our electromagnetic signature."

"So let me get this straight," said Jade. "While we're busy running from those Orbital Security assholes, our little Aidoru makes a stop to pick up her iPod? I'm not buying it."

Emily shrugged.

"And who keeps that many spools of hot pink around for 3D printing? What ever happened to basic black? Black is a very piratey color."

"Maybe the lady you stole this ship from wasn't into the whole pirate thing."

"Hmph. Her loss," said Jade. "So it's hot pink or—"

"Kitty, no." Lúcia's voice echoed from one of the crew cabins.

The guitars and drums reached a frantic crescendo and, all at once, fell silent.

Jade raised an eyebrow.

"Or a mish-mash," said Emily. "I might be able to get the printer to blend multiple colors together, for a woven look, but that'll take more programming time. What are you into for décor?"

"Hmm." Jade rubbed her chin.

"Naughty kitty," said Amaliya from down the hall. "Mama is not happy at all."

Emily turned her head toward the new sound. "What the—?"

"I'm not sure I want to know," said Jade. "But yet, I feel compelled to find out."

Emily nodded.

Another song started, with a dark and droning guitar intro, before erupting into a one-hundred eighty beats per minute drum part and something that alternated between screeching and angsty Japanese spoken word.

The two women turned and set off together, hands in the air and boots clicking in time with the beat as they bopped down the corridor.

* * *

The aft corridor.

Jade and Emily had only made it two meters when Jade stopped to pluck a granola bar wrapper out of the air. She crumpled it in her hand.

"I think we might need an all-hands meeting on the importance of cleaning up after ourselves," said Jade. "Particularly in zero-G. One of these getting sucked into the air handling system could make a bad day for all of us."

Emily took a step forward and reached for a second wrapper.

Jade snatched a third wrapper from the air. She smoothed it out in her hands and flipped it right side up. "S'mores flavor," she said.

"Kitty!" Amaliya's voice echoed down the hall. "Very naughty."

Emily and Jade exchanged glances and continued down the corridor. They reached the doorway of the garden room. Jade peered inside. Several plants had been knocked over with clumps of loose soil strewn around the pots.

Reg, the small metallic harvester crab, was doing his best to put things back in order. Without magnetic boots, that effort consisted of holding a small dustpan in one pincer, a matching brush in the other, and wrapping his two back legs around the supports on a nearby shelving unit to anchor himself.

Behind him floated another granola bar wrapper. There was no sign of anyone else.

"Next on the list," said Jade. "Mag boots for Reg."

Emily nodded.

"Reginald me boy," said Jade, stooping to pick up a pot of bean sprouts, while coaxing the loose soil back in the pot, "don't worry. We'll find the scurvy knaves responsible for this mess and keel haul the lot of 'em."

"Kitty, no" said Amaliya.

"Kitty, please," said Lúcia from down the hall, "you have to do what mama says."

Jade stood up. She and Emily locked eyes for a second.

"I don't think we'll have to look far," said Emily.

Jade placed the bean sprouts back in the empty nook where they belonged. She scooped up Reg, rubbed his belly, and set him on her shoulder. She and Emily turned toward the door.

* * *

The end of the aft corridor.

Jade reached out and crumpled a final granola bar wrapper floating in the air.

"Kitty," said Lúcia, just on the other side of the doorway. "No."

The music stopped.

Jade and Emily poked their heads into the crew berth where Lúcia's voice came from. Inside, Lúcia and Amaliya where standing with their hands on their hips. They had their backs to the door and were looking down upon the three bodies of Aidoru, who were down on hands and knees, and wearing nothing but black cat ear headbands atop their heads.

Several pieces of the room's furnishings were floating around, disorganized and weightless. Jade plucked two more granola bar wrappers out of the air before settling her eyes on Aidoru and the chocolate smears around her mouths.

She turned her gaze to the cat ear headbands adorning the heads of all three Aidoru. She looked to Emily. "I guess we know who's been in the spool of black filament."

Emily nodded. "Seems like there should have been more of it left, though."

One of the Aidoru turned around to rub a cheek, sticky with marshmallow and chocolate, against Jade's calf.

Jade reached down to scratch behind Aidoru's cat ears. "I don't remember you having a tail when we left the bar," said Jade. "Do you remember a tail, Em? Everything happened so fast on the station, and..."

Another Aidoru turned and made her way to rub against Emily's calf. Emily looked down. "They all have tails," she said. "Mystery solved on the remaining black filament."

"Hm," said Jade.

"Yeah," said Emily. "Do I even want to know how she's holding those in?"

The Aidoru not rubbing against Jade or Emily raised up on her knees and batted at one of the bed pillows. It sailed through the air and knocked into the far wall before changing trajectory to bang into the desk chair, knocking it askew.

"Kitty," said Amaliya. "That's enough." She clomped across the room to fetch the pillow.

All three Aidoru turned simultaneously at the sound of Amaliya's voice. The two rubbing against Jade and Emily turned and joined up with the pillow basher.

Each Aidoru pushed off each other, and various objects in the room, to pace a slow circle, tails high in the air as they went. They stopped simultaneously, clustering around Amaliya and looking up.

When Amaliya crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air rather than returning Aidoru's gaze, one Aidoru reared up and took a swipe at the bunk, sending the other bed pillow flying.

"Kitty!" said Amaliya. "That's enough."

"Do I even want to know?" asked Jade.

"We're playing kitty," said Lúcia.

"Naturally," said Emily, biting her lip as she grinned.

Reg turned his eye stalks to Jade. Jade shrugged.

"Amaliya and I are the mommy cats. Aidoru is pretending to be our kitties." Lúcia walked over to retrieve the second pillow, placing it back on the bunk. "They are very naughty kitties."

Emily dashed her hand over her mouth. Her chest heaved once, and then she snorted. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't laugh but it's just so surreal."

"I like the tails," said Jade.

"That was Aidoru's idea."

"Mm-hmm," said Jade. "And what keeps them attached, exactly?"

"You know," said Amaliya. She made a circle with her finger and thumb on one hand, and poked the index finger of her other hand through the opening.

"This is so much better than seat belts," said Emily.

"It looks cute and fun," said Jade, "but we have to think about Aidoru here. She's just an innocent—"

Amaliya snorted and quickly covered her mouth.

"It's not funny. Consent should never be taken lightly. Just because—"

"Oh, it's funny alright," said Amaliya.

"And this was all Aidoru's idea," said Lúcia.

"The girl's a freak, captain." Amaliya turned to Aidoru. "No offense, kitty."

All three Aidoru moved over to circled around Amaliya's feet. Every so often one would stop to rub her cheek on Amaliya's leg or to shake her tail.

"And you're okay with this?" Jade said to Aidoru.

The three Aidoru moved to where Jade was standing and began rubbing against her leg. She brushed her cheeks down the length of Jade's calf while pushing her rear end up in the air. She shook her hips and the black tails all wiggled in unison.

"I guess that's a yes on the question of consent." Jade reached down to stroke an Aidoru behind the ears. "Interesting use of 3D printing."

Amaliya shrugged. "Aidoru's idea. Apparently, whenever she's not performing, she's an avid reader of erotic manga. To pass the time, I guess."

"You haven't lived until you've heard the lurid details of your shipmate's sexual fantasies laid bare within the constraints of the ancient art of haiku," said Lúcia.

"And granola bars?" said Jade. "May I assume by the sticky cheeks...?"

"The tails," said Emily. "They are awfully cute." She reached down to pet the Aidoru closest to her. Emily trailed her finger down Aidoru's back and ended by circling where the end of the black tail pressed against taut pink flesh.

One Aidoru shuddered while the other two purred and curled around Emily's legs.

"So what's with the music?" said Emily.

"Aidoru's choice," said Amaliya.

"She really did stop to get her iPod while we were running from those Orbital Security clowns?" said Jade. "And I thought I was bold."

"iPod?" said Lúcia.

Three Aidoru looked up at Emily. Emily smiled back.

"Not exactly," said Amaliya. "She has one built in. Three, actually."

"What's built in?" said Jade.

Aidoru pressed her cheeks to Emily's leg. She continued looking up at Emily.

"Aidoru has a music player implanted behind each ear," said Amaliya. "For accompaniment when she's performing. She can cast to any audio system within a hundred meter range. One in each body for triple redundancy, and to minimize the chance of technical difficulties while on stage."

"She told you all this?" asked Jade.

Amaliya nodded. "In haiku."

Aidoru bumped Emily's leg with her nose. Emily took a step back. Aidoru followed.

"Our gal's got Bluetooth?" said Jade. "How sweet is that?"

Again, Aidoru moved in and bumped Emily's leg with her nose. Emily took another step back. Aidoru turned her attention to the bunk behind her and moved beside it.

Aidoru locked eyes on Emily. In a blur of motion, Aidoru lashed out to take a swipe at the bed pillow. The pillow went sailing into the far wall.

"Kitty!" said Amaliya and Lúcia, simultaneously.

Aidoru raised her nose in the air, joined hands and pushed off the floor and various items of furniture here and there, to turn a weightless circle around Emily while wiggling her tails.

Jade smirked. "Looks like you mommy kitties have your hands full."

Emily nodded.

"It has been a challenge," said Lúcia. "Kitty is strong willed. But we love her very much." Lúcia stooped to scratch Aidoru behind the ear.

Aidoru purred for a moment. Three Aidoru bodies contracted into a tight ball. Aidoru planted her feet against Emily's and Lúcia's magnetic boots. Pushing off while uncoiling her bodies, Aidoru sailed through the air, turning a somersault, finally ending up at the crew bunk, where she latched on with her hands.

"She's got cat-like grace," said Jade, "I'll give her that. Very adept at zero-G. And very acrobatic."

"Must be all that granola bar energy," said Emily. "Anybody check the label for sugar content?"

Jade nodded.

"As a performer under contract," said Lúcia, "even her meals were tightly regulated. I did not think it bad to let her binge this one time."

"I suppose we can cut her some slack if she wants to sugar it up," said Jade. "But let's try to get the wrappers in the reclamation chute. It wouldn't be any fun for anybody if one of those got in the air handler."

"I will keep a close eye on her," said Lúcia.

Aidoru had stretched out on the bunk, her bodies clustered together with legs intertwined. She held the bedposts in two hands, while guiding three hands over the flat of her stomach to the smooth, moist clef between her thighs.

Jade smirked. "I don't think she'll be going far for a while."

"Kitty!" said Amaliya. "We have guests."

Lúcia had moved to the desk chair, where she sat down and locked her magnetic boots to the floor with a click. She turned her gaze to the cluster of Aidoru on the bunk.

Aidoru slid her fingers in until the first knuckles were hidden from view. She arched her backs. With a free hand, she took turns tugging at her tails, stretching the taut pink skin that kept them locked in place, holding them there, and then letting them get sucked back in.

Lúcia propped her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands. She sighed audibly.

Jade turned to Amaliya and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think you'd better keep an eye on both of 'em," she said.

Reg turned to Jade for a moment and then buried his eye stalks in her shoulder.

The cluster of Aidoru writhed on the mattress. As she did, the ship's sound system began emitting the low droning note of a single, heavily distorted electric guitar. Aidoru tugged on a tail in perfect time with a snare rim shot that echoed with a heavy reverb.

Jade turned at Amaliya. "Good luck with that, mama kitty."

The lone cry of the guitar was joined by another, in a slow, crunching progression of power chords. Aidoru raised up with only her feet and shoulders remaining in contact with the mattress. She pressed in with her fingers until the second knuckles disappeared.

The guitars and drums joined together, their tempo increasing. Aidoru threw her heads back as her mouth gulped at the air. She pulled at a tail, stretching herself, and let go at the last moment.

The music got louder and faster.

Aidoru thrashed her heads against the mattress in a movement that sent two of her bodies floating several centimeters above the bunk, while the other clung to the bedpost in a white-knuckle grip.

Jade turned to Emily. "I feel like we should give the kitties some privacy," she said. "But yet..."

Emily nodded slowly. "If ever anyone needed seat belts on the Megacomf..." she said.

The music reached a crescendo. Aidoru alternated between mumbled haiku and high-register, nasally pinched shrieks. All were perfectly timed to the driving beat.

"I'd say it's worth cleaning up a few granola bar wrappers," said Jade.

Reg looked up from Jade's shoulder and turned his eye stalks in a wide semicircle.

"I really shouldn't be staring," said Emily, "but..."

Amaliya tugged at the zipper of her jumpsuit. She had it down halfway. Her chest was flushed pink. With her other hand, she was fanning her face.

The volume of the music increased. Aidoru had given up holding onto the bedpost and was now floating above as she writhed. The guitars erupted in a frantic and dissonant staccato melody.

Aidoru's core went rigid. Only her extremities continued moving, with her mouths gulping at the air and her toes kicking against nothing. Her eyes were squeezed tight.

With a final shriek, the music fell silent. A few seconds later, Aidoru opened her eyes, surveyed the circle of faces around her, blinking. She curled up around herself, closing her eyes once again.

Aidoru's breathing evened out to a slow and regular pace.

"I will never be able to unsee that," said Jade. "And you know what? That's okay."

"Wow," heaved Amaliya.

Emily nodded.

Lúcia lifted her chin from where it was cradled in her hands and sighed.

"When kitty wakes up," said Jade, "she's on deck swabbing duty. She made a mess of the garden room and it's not fair to leave it to Reg to clean up."

Jade spun on her heel and walked into the corridor.

* * *

In the lounge.

"So," said Jade, standing while she surveyed the faces of the crew seated on the Megacomf sofa. "What do you think?"

"Hot pink, huh?" said Amaliya.

"Not the color," said Jade. She stepped forward to tug on the shoulder harness running over Amaliya's chest. "The ability to keep us all safely strapped in."

"Oh, that," said Amaliya. She wiggled in her seat. "Yeah, feels secure."

"That's good. Safety's important. You're a fine pirate crew. The best any captain could ask for. And I don't want any of you coming loose and getting hurt."

Amaliya nodded. She turned to Aidoru next to her. Aidoru wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing and she still had her cat ear headband on. Hot pink safety belts crisscrossed her chest.

"How's it feel?" Amaliya said. "With your, you know, um, tail?"

"Having myself filled,

Where normally I am not.

A unique feeling."

"That's one way to put it I suppose."

Lúcia giggled.

"So everyone's on board with the new seat belts?" Jade moved her eyes from one face to the next. There were nods all around.

"Great. Once the heat's off of us, we'll want to get back in the Stream and put some distance between us and that station," said Jade. "So if anybody has a destination in mind, let me know."

"Aye, captain," came the chorus of voices.

Aidoru fixed her eyes on Lúcia and licked her lips. Lúcia's eyelids fluttered.

"Til then, let's remember to clean up after ourselves, alright? That means no garnola bar wrappers floating in the halls." Jade looked at Aidoru.

"Aye, captain."

Aidoru kept her gaze on Lúcia. She traced a circle around her nipple with her index finger. Her gaze never wavered.