Maya was laughing with joy. I watched her, smiling, as she floated effortlessly in the deep turquoise liquid, her arms and legs spread wide. I had been hesitant to receive my company's gift of a holiday to this secluded, luxurious planet, but now I was happy we'd accepted.
The planet Oasis had been discovered ages ago, its transformation to a high end resort was a more recent development. The planet had no land masses, it was wholly covered by turquoise, opaque liquid, which couldn't quite be called water. Scans hadn't revealed any lifeforms in its unmeasurable depths. The liquid itself contained multitudes of minerals that supposedly did wonders to one's skin. It was salty enough to easily float a person, like it did to Maya now - I could see the front of her body arching above the surface, the smooth islands of her breasts, tummy and thighs glistening in the evening light. Her dark hair formed a morphing halo around her head, flowing like seaweed. She looked at me and I felt my heart twitch.
"Come on in!" She said. "It's wonderful!"
Who could turn down an invitation like that? I stripped, hesitated for a while and decided to leave my underwear on. On a rational level I knew there were no threats here, but I still didn't feel comfortable exposing my dick to the unknown depths. I had read an unsettling article about how one of the early explorers of the planet had disappeared. I had shown it to Maya, but she just laughed and told me I was too gullible and shouldn't believe everything I read.
Maya had jumped right in, squealing with joy when she had almost bounced back from the viscous liquid, but I descended more gingerly via the stairs at the edge of our raft's terrace. Our quarters were quite comfortable; there was a standard sustenance module for food assembly and hygiene, sizable bedroom and living area with big windows and selection of entertainment both sexually and otherwise, and absolutely nothing else. I hadn't lived this spaciously in all my life, and I suspected the same was true for Maya. Space stations and colonies tended to be scant in that regard.
Our "Love Shack" was but one of many, scattered along the surface of the planet to maximise privacy. We were told the raft would follow our identity chips, so we could float freely or even swim, and the raft would follow our movements. For the weak of faith there were "panic ropes" attached to the edge of the platform, and I grabbed one before sliding over to where Maya was.
She smiled, her deep blue eyes twinking, echoing the hue of the water and sky without quite matching with either of them. Setting sun made her skin glow golden. She didn't mock me for grabbing the rope, for which I was grateful.
"Come on, try it," she urged. "Just float, here, let me show you."
Her slim hands felt slick on my skin as she gently guided me to lay down. She cradled the back of my head, sliding her other hand along my back, persuading my body to relax. Her fingers lingered at the small of my back, on the triangle plateau before the arch of my glutes, and I remembered how she had said she loved that spot.
She eased her hand from my head slowly, slid it down the side of my arm and settled to float beside me, her fingers crossing with mine. I held her on one hand and the panic rope the other, closed my eyes and tried to relax.
Liquid was warm, almost exactly body warmth, and felt pleasantly smooth against my skin. There wasn't much difference between water and air, just enough for me to feel the line along my body. There was no sound; rafts were motorized but ours wasn't moving, and the other ones were far, far away.
The Oasis was a popular honeymoon destination for the wealthier part of the population all across the galaxy. The less wealthy favored the space spa on the planet's orbit. When The Oasis Company had begun to experiment with love shacks, they had realized they needed to compensate for the added mass they introduced to the planet to maintain it's delicate balance. They had withdrawn the corresponding mass of water to their orbiting establishment, providing access to the planet's rejuvenating waters to those who couldn't afford this level of luxury. There were medical appliances, rumors of incurable conditions being cured by soaking in planet's water, but mostly it was used for decadent indulgence.
I couldn't have afforded this luxury, and neither did Maya. My employer had been most gracious to reward my recent project's success with a standard week in this paradise.
I hadn't often been on the surface of planets as open as this. I was used to the confined spaces of space ships, stations on more hostile planets, my quarters on my home station; my work took me on long stretches of stays on different environments, depending on where my skills were most required, and on some I'd had the privilege of getting somewhat used to open spaces. Still, I felt better with my eyes closed, when I could imagine walls surrounding me.
Time lost its relevance. Universe narrowed down to Maya's hand holding mine, with a side note of my hand holding the rope, then expanded again to the vast and complex ensemble it was, with a strong feeling of us being in the center of it. When I couldn't take any more, I opened my eyes to see the system's star was setting, bathing the vast mass of liquid in gentle pink and gold hues.
I turned to Maya, she turned to me, and slowly we wove around each other, kissing.
I had known about Maya for a long time. With as few genetically functional individuals as there was, and as much data and match markers, I'd always had a short list of possible partners. After we'd both reached adulthood we had contacted each other, gotten to know each other, even made love transmitted by sex bots. None of that came even close to this, her slick naked skin against mine, her breath on the wet skin on my shoulder.
"Yuck," she said and spat into the sea, laughing. "That tastes horrible!"
I laughed with her. "Maybe we should take this inside?"
"Oh we definitely should," she said and towed me inside.
We made slow, sweet love for most of the night. Afterwards, she slept and I held her. She was strong, witty, independent, but in her sleep she curled close to me and felt small and vulnerable. I breathed in the scent of her skin and felt deep contentment.
-#-#-#-#-#-
The days blended into each other instantly. Everything stayed the same, feeling like the most wonderful dream I'd ever had. Me and Maya mapped each other, perpetually winding up for sex or winding down from it, making discoveries and sometimes surprising even ourselves. I was really falling in love with her, something I'd anticipated from the very early days of our communication, and my mind envisioned a shiny, glimmering future for us. Maya's assignment was coming to an end, and we had agreed she would accompany me from now on. We would be together for real.
