The Riders of Sirius Minor

"I'm trying to decide whether I liked you better with the Rider Mask or not."

Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor and Sophie Astor were lying in his bed in his quarters on the USS

Immortal

. Taylor's crew was supervising the recovery effort to help the surviving colonists. While all the members of Taylor's crew had survived, the same couldn't be said for the colonists. Of the 2,000 of them, nearly 248 had "disappeared". Undoubtedly they had been consumed by the Hive. The Hive had been slowly consuming them one by one. A cave had been found full of bones that were hundreds of years old, undoubtedly a silent testament to the last species the Hive had enslaved.

The surviving colonists suffered from varying degrees of psychological trauma. A fleet of spaceships was on its way now from Earth with the finest World Government psychologists, social workers, and race, gender, and sexuality specialists to help them recover.

Sophie's naked legs were intertwined with Taylor's, her heavy nuclear tipped breasts pressed against his. Their genitals felt incredibly relaxed.

"The Rider Mask! Don't tell me you actually found me attractive wearing that hideous thing!" said Sophie indignantly.

"Somehow it looked kind of cute on you. Of course, anything you wore made you look cute, Sophie."

That earned him a kiss.

"It

is

nice to see your face again," said Taylor, caressing hers as he looked lovingly at her.

"I'm glad it came off me," said Sophie. "And Doctor Sane says the rashes on our backs should heal in a few weeks. But there are still some thing we

can't

remove." She reached down and held up Taylor's spent penis. The Hiveflesh around the tip had melted away, but the green glowing curved bone symbol remained.

Inseminator

. Sophie spread her own legs, revealing her own Slave Mark, the upside down U symbol with a dot in it which marked her for sex and fucking and alien reproduction.

"It's the price we pay for saving the world," said Taylor. "But

this

is not a price we have to pay." He reached down and fondled the green gem which was hanging from Sophie's cuntlips by a small chain. "You didn't remove yours?"

"No," said Sophie. She blushed slightly"I thought it looked kind of nice."

"But it's a tracking gem. What if the Hive uses it to find you?"

"I'm not worried. I have

you

to protect me." She kissed him again. Then she lay her head adoringly on his shoulder. "I still don't understand. You were faking it, the entire time?"

"Yes," said Taylor.

"How did you resist it?" Sophie asked.

"I already told you."

"Tell me again," she said, tugging at his arm.

"Some Passive Observer you are!" Taylor said. Then he sighed and smiled. "All right. You remember how we were taken over by the plant people on New Eden?"

"How could I forget!"

"They rewrote parts of our DNA. They

changed

us," said Taylor. "But in retrospect, they shouldn't have been able to do that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean my

screaning

ability. I always thought this gift given to me by aliens from 500,000 years into the future was an ability to sense things. In some ways I could sense the 'rightness' or 'wrongness' of things, according to an objective standard I can't put into words. And that's all I thought it was. But it turns out it was more.

Much more.

Not only do I have the ability to sense 'wrongness', but I have the ability to fix wrongness, and to make myself

immune

to wrongness. The plant people of New Eden should

never

have been able to change my DNA. They wouldn't have been able to, if I had realized then what I do now about the true nature of my power."

"I got my first hint of this when Susannah Barrington tried to use the alien airborne pheromones on me. I instinctively

screaned

it, realized the wrongness, and then neutralized it."

"You did?"

"I did," said Taylor. "And then when you came to me, and seduced me into joining the Hive, I quickly thought about it and realized that the Hive would never be able to control me."

"Why?"

"Because... the Hive is a wrongness."

"But wrongness is subjective," said Sophie.

"It

is

subjective, but my ability compares it to an objective standard of some kind. Or maybe it's not an objective standard, merely a subjective standard which agrees with my own sense of intuition," said Taylor. "All I can tell you is that when you offered to bring me into the Hive I got a strong...

feeling

... like that I would be immune to it."

"A feeling is a very uncertain thing to rely on for such a big decision," said Sophie.

"That it is," Taylor agreed. "Just as you

felt

that joining the Hive would enable us to be together."

"That was the biggest mistake of my life," said Sophie bitterly.

"Was it?" said Taylor. "Your joining enabled

me

to join. When I joined I was able to infiltrate the Hive Mind and destroy it."

Sophie tapped his chest impatiently. "This is the part I don't understand. If you could destroy the Hive with your

screaning

powers, why didn't you do it the very first time you were introduced to the Hive Mind?"

"I needed to be in physical contact with it," Taylor explained.

"Oh! So you needed physical contact to destroy it," said Sophie.

"No," said Taylor. "I needed physical contact to better

understand

it. The Hive operates on a very complex wavelength."

"Wavelength?"

Taylor sighed again. "Every form of life operates on a certain kind of wavelength... a wavelength of life, like a transmittable DNA. Do you understand?"

"Not really."

"Maybe I'm not using the best words for it. I'm a starship Captain, not a physicist or biologist. Take my word for it, every species has its own special kind of thing let's just a calll... a wavelength. But the Hive is... complex. It operates on multiple wavelengths. It was not sufficient to

screan

it from a distance. I had to be in close proximity to understand it. Only then could I destroy it."

"Oh. So you were just waiting for your chance to get close to it so you could analyze it and eliminate it," said Sophie.

"Correct."

Sophie paused, considering. "Wait a minute. When you got dunked inside the Hive Mind, that wasn't the first time you were in physical contact with the Hive, were you?" She looked up at him. Taylor said nothing. "That's right, it's all coming back to me. After our riders matured, you were sent to fuck the Hive Mind for a while. You were in intimate physical contact it for hours, maybe days. Couldn't you have destroyed it then?"

Taylor was silent.

"Michael?"

"Yes," said Taylor. "I could have destroyed it then."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because I loved being with you so much."

Sophie's jaw dropped open in shock.

"You have to understand the broader perspective, Sophie,

my

broader perspective. I wanted you so much! You left me! I never believed in your future prediction that showed we would be together. I saw we were in a situation where the Hive Mind put us together. I had an opportunity early on to end it, but if I

had

ended it, what would have happened then?"

Sophie didn't answer.

"The Hive Mind would have been destroyed, and you would have left me, again. I wanted to delay that happening as long as possible."

She looked searchingly into his eyes. "And so you... let it continue... to enslave us...

all of us

... simply so you could spend a few more days with me?"

"Yes." The fact that the answer came so simply and easily shocked her to her core.

"You let the Hive Mind fill us with alien eggs... you participated in impregnating us with creatures which would destroy us... all to spend a few more days with me?"

"Yes," said Taylor. "Think about it, Sophie. Think about the eleven days we spent at the cabin. Wasn't that the best times of our lives?"

"Being impregnated with alien creatures?"

Taylor stared into her eyes. "The dinners. The games. The flirting. The beach. The sex. The playfulness. The fun. The relaxation. The firepit. The golfing. The Diversity Volleyball. The singalong. The competition for my affections. Didn't you enjoy it? Didn't you enjoy any of it?"

"Yes," she said reluctantly. "What we were doing was terrible... helping those creatures grow inside of us....

but

if you separate that from everything else, if you treat the experience as something that somehow

was

separable... it was really... really...." She struggled to find the right words, "....nice."

"It was the best time of my life," said Taylor simply.

Sophie's eyebrows shot upwards. "Being with me? Or with Susan and Mushy?"

"Being with all of you." He saw her expression. "But you most of all," he said, squeezing her tightly. "I wouldn't have traded that time we had for anything in the world."

"And then, afterwards, when we gave birth, and the Hive Mind was about to kill you-"

"Well, of course at that point I had no choice but to destroy it. It was either that or let the Hive Mind destroy me," said Taylor.

"You weren't even wet," said Sophie, stroking his hairy chest. "When I saw you afterwards, you were still dry. How could you plunge inside that bubbling head and not be wet?"

"It was a

wrongness

," said Taylor firmly. "How could I possibly let a wrongness affect me?"

It was at that moment that Sophie realized how powerful Taylor had become. He could plunge into a hot oily liquid and simply "decide" he wasn't going to become wet.

"And your rider," said Sophie. "It had no idea that you weren't under its control?"

"Oh, it thought it controlled me," said Taylor. "It was sure of

that

. That's what it told the Hive Mind. My rider... well, the best way to describe it is that my rider was living inside a virtual reality simulation. A VR simulation I created for it."

"Your rider never had any control over you?"

Taylor shook his head.

"So when you first got your rider, and you seemed to resist, that was all an act?"

Taylor nodded.

"And later when your rider matured, and you seemed to accept the Hive, and do whatever it required cheerfully, that was all an act too?"

Taylor nodded again.

"So you were never under the Hive's control?"

"No," said Taylor. "And I did it all to be with you."

Sophie shuddered as she felt intensely aroused despite what they had just done together minutes earlier. She gave him a long, passionate kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said dearly.

Taylor sighed. "I'm going to have to get back to the control room."

"Not yet!" She grabbed him tightly. "Just a few more minutes!"

"I have to relieve Susan," said Taylor. "She's been on duty for too long while you and I had fun." He paused. "I suppose I'll be needing

another

new first officer."

His current first officer, Chloe Fema, had been one of the worst affected survivors of the Hive. She had had a total mental breakdown and had to be hospitalized.

"Susan would make an excellent first officer," said Sophie, a finger playing with his chest hair once more.

"She would," said Taylor. "But she doesn't have the rank."

"You could give her a field promotion," said Sophie.

Taylor snorted. "I just promoted her to Lieutenant Commander a few months ago. There's no way I could promote her to full Commander so quickly."

"Why not?" Sophie asked.

"The Admiralty would never accept it."

"Who cares about the Admiralty?" Sophie sat up in bed, her tits pointing at him accusingly. "Michael, you have just saved the planet Earth.

Again

. Anything should be yours for the asking."

"Sophie, that's not the way things work," said Taylor.

"Really? What would happen if the Admiralty tried to retire or even discipline you?" When Taylor didn't answer, she said, "There would be an enormous outcry. You're the most famous Captain in modern Survey Service History. You traveled to the year one billion to save the Earth from the Black Box. You just saved the Earth

again

from the Hive. The Service owes you

everything

, Michael. You, with all your vaunted

screaning

intuitive abilities, simply don't realize it. You say the Admiralty has power over you, Michael, but only because you let them!"

Taylor thought about it and realized it was true. He had let Admiral Jekl browbeat and intimidate him because of the normal chain of command. But Taylor

wasn't

in the normal chain of command. He was the most famous officer in the Service. He

screaned

that Sophie's words were true.

"I could do it," he said slowly. "I could promote Susan to full commander, and make her my first officer. Thank you, Sophie."

"I'll take my customary fee." She kissed him strongly. When she pulled back, he saw her looking at him oddly. "What is it?"

"Sophie, you've just given me the answer," said Taylor.

"Answer to what?"

"The answer to

us

, Sophie!" Taylor swallowed excitedly. "I know how we can be together! It's so simple... so obvious!"

"Tell me!" she cried.

"You're an ambassador in the Foreign Service."

"This I know," said Sophie.

"What if you were stationed on the

Immortal

officially and permanently, as the ship's formal Diplomatic Officer whose skills could be deployed whenever there was a need for them?"

Sophie frowned. "Survey Service ships

don't have

diplomatic officers."

"They do now," said Taylor. "I'll inform the Admiralty."

Sophie noticed he didn't say he would "ask" the admiralty; Taylor simply said he would

inform

them. Sophie's jaw dropped open as she realized that Susan's solution... was also her own!

"We can be together? Really?"

"I don't see why not," said Taylor. "If the Admiralty is too afraid of me to challenge Susan's promotion, they certainly won't challenge yours. We can be together Sophie. Finally!"

"Finally!" Sophie cried, hugging him tightly. "I don't believe it!"

"Believe it!"

Sophie kissed him again. Suddenly she realized something. "My Future Prediction."

"What about it?"

"It actually came true!"

"Oh, Sophie, no-"

"Yes, it did!" said Sophie. "I joined the Foreign Service just as I was told to! We both joined the Hive! We destroyed the Hive! Then we realized

this

solution! My Future Prediction worked!"

Taylor held her in his arms and stared at her in such a manly way. "Sophie, you never needed to waste a ton of money on a Future Prediction. You should have known that we never were going to be apart for very long."

And then he got up from the bed and then got down again on one knee.

"What are you doing?" Sophie cried, her body stiffening.

"What I should have done a while ago," said Taylor. "Sophie Astor... will you marry me?"

********

Sophie struggled to get her vocal chords working again. Finally she gasped, "What?"

"You heard me. Will you marry me?"

Sophie's eyes narrowed. "Do you love me, Michael?"

Taylor chuckled. "Do you really have to ask?"

"What about Susan?"

"What about her?" Taylor asked.

"Do you love her too?" Sophie asked.

Taylor licked his lips and looked away a moment. Then he looked back at her. "Yes," he said. "I have developed feelings for her."

"You love her." It was not a question.

"Yes," said Taylor. "But I could never love her like I love you, Sophie."

"Why?" said Sophie. "She's younger! She's perkier! She's more fun than me! Nearly all the games we did on the vacation, from golfing to that incredible singalong, were all planned by her!"

"I know that!"

"She smiles more than I do! She laughs more than I do! And did I mention that she's younger?"

"Yes, you did," said Taylor.

"So why do you prefer me over her... if indeed you really do?" she asked.

Taylor sighed. "Sophie, Susan

is

more fun to have on a vacation than you."

Sophie's shoulders slumped.

"But my main criteria for choosing a wife is not to pick someone who's going to be the most fun at parties," said Taylor. "I want a woman who I have the strongest emotional connection with. And that woman is

you

, Sophie Astor! Your powers of observation, your sharp wit, the way you look at things... Susan is nice, really nice, but you're so much more interesting! If I'm locked up in an empty room for hours and hours,

you're

the one I want to be with!"

Sophie's shoulders slumped and she smiled. "Oh Michael! That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me!"

"So you'll marry me?"

"Yes! I

will

marry you!" She kissed him, and one thing led to another, and then they were making love again.

********

They lay together in bed in the dark.

"Sophie?"

"Yes, Michael?"

"Do you want me to tell Susan to apply for a transfer?"

"Why, Michael?"

Taylor frowned. "Because of her attraction to me. It might make things... awkward."

"And what about

your

attraction to her?" Sophie smiled in the darkness. She took his hand and put it on one of her breasts. He obligingly squeezed. "You know, Michael, I've become a realist."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you. What I've realized is that any normal, well-adjusted, red-blooded woman under your command is going to be attracted to you. If that's the case, why not give in to the inevitable and choose someone who is actually competent, as well as someone I personally like?"

"So.... you wouldn't mind if Susan stays aboard...."

"If she wants to." A hand played over his penis in the darkness. "In fact, I may be willing to loan you out... for special occasions...."

Taylor stiffened in bed. "Sophie, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"During our time together I developed a certain... fondness for dear Susan. I came to think of her as a sister," said Sophie. "I know we were under Hive control during that time, but I think that connection was pure. I've grown to really like her, Michael, and even to develop feelings for her."

"Feelings?"

"And so... occasionally... from time to time... if dear Susan grows especially needy, or we feel that she's earned it, I may... lend you out to her, to let her blow off some steam...."

"You... would let me have sex with Susan?"

"Occasionally, and only with my advance permission," said Sophie, still playing with his penis in the darkness. "Perhaps I would even permit her to... relieve your tensions... while I am on my Space Period."

"You would let me have sex with Susan while you are having your Space Period?" said Taylor incredulously.

She slapped him lightly in the face. "Try not to sound so eager!"

"Oh. It sound terrible, then," said Taylor.

Sophie laughed and kissed him again. "You are so adorable, you know that?" She paused. "It would obviously be a new kind of arrangement, for all of us. And Susan might not even be willing. We would have to work it out... and see where it takes us....."

********

Taylor had never looked more handsome. He was wearing his full dress uniform while Sophie was clad in white. They stood in his quarters before the holographic form of the World Government Marriage Robot.

"Do you Sophie Michelle Astor, desire to take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," said Sophie.

"Do you promise to stay with him, to love and cherish him?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to both work together to fight racism, sexism, gendersim, and assophobia on the Planet Earth?"

Sophie looked a bit startled but said, "I do."

"Do you promise to work together to fight man-made anti-environmentalism, to fight for economic justice, to fight Laquintaphobia in all its forms-"

"Fuck that," said Sophie.

"Excuse me?" said the Marriage Robot.

Sophie slammed down the TERMINATE button and the image of the Marriage Robot faded. "I just remembered something important, Michael! Something

very

important!"

"What is it?" Taylor asked, fearing she had changed her mind.