The Story of Ira Weatheral
His name was Ira Weatheral. He was a mild mannered man, an accountant for the World Government's Bureau of Superficial Statistical Analysis, who had been snatched from the Earth just before it had been catastrophically destroyed by Temperature Change, though he remembered nothing of it.
He arrived a week after Haggis. He was a replacement for Judy Sepferton, a woman who had had many chances but had never been able to achieve an Experimental Score above 520. They had found her flash frozen in her quarters and Assada had conducted a memorial service in her honor, praising Ajuba in all his wisdom for protecting and guiding them.
Ira was unfrozen the day after Judy's body was wheeled across Bermuda. At first he was disoriented like everyone else. He let himself be seduced by Laura Giancomo and agreed to the pairing where his own genotypes would be suppressed in favor of hers. Haggis had attempted to warn him against that but Ira had been so spellbound by her beauty as well as her large breasts which made excellent handfuls. Ira had basically been an almost-virgin when he was taken and so the idea of having sex with a blonde bombshell made him instantly smitten.
They scored a combined total of 530, which was average, strictly speaking. Then Susan Shinn got her claws hooked into him and he agreed to partner with her.
Once again Haggis implored him not to let her suppress his genes again.
"She says it's for the best, Haggis," said Ira.
"Whose best?" Haggis wondered.
"She's been doing this for a long time and says she knows what she's doing," said Ira.
"If she's been doing this for a long time then she obviously has no idea what she's doing," said Haggis. "If she did, she would have produced a successful match by now."
"Don't listen to him," said Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor. "Haggis is a good man, but he's only been here for a few days. Susan is a great match. I've seen her produce matches with scores of 700, even 750."
"Really?"
"Yes," said Taylor. "A passing score is 800. She's so close. Let her do what she wants and you both may win together."
"Thanks! I will!" said Ira. He quickly got up to find Susan.
Haggis turned to Taylor. "I haven't heard that Susan got scores over 700."
"She has," said Taylor.
"You would think an achievement like that would be public knowledge," said Haggis.
"Public to some," said Taylor. "Has your memory started to return yet?"
"My memory?"
"Of what you did for a living back on Earth?"
"Yes," said Haggis, abruptly getting up. "I was a portable lie detector."
********
The combined score for Ira and Susan was 490, even less than Ira's first attempt. Susan apologized profusely but hypothesized that maybe Ira needed to find a different kind of partner who could better complement his genetic deficits.
After two low scores no one wanted to partner with Ira Weatheral. And such was the situation for a number of weeks until he met Becky Lesch.
They had much in common. Ira Weatheral was a shy man and Becky Lesch was a shy woman. At 28 she was three years younger than him, but since both were over 500 years old that hardly seemed to matter. Becky was not a virgin, not exactly. It had taken Paul Tanner six months of steady courting to get the shy reference librarian out of her shell. He smiled at her, took it easy, took it slow, and never pressured her for sex... at least, not very strongly. Gradually, small kisses grew into bigger ones, kisses grew into hugs, and hugs grew into fondling, and finally, five and a half months later, Paul got into her pants. It was a frightening, bewildering experience at first for Becky, but by the third time she had just begun to get used to it and even began to like it.
And then the Earth had suddenly been destroyed by Temperature Change and the Federationistas had rescued her, though Becky had no memory of it.
Becky grieved for Paul and was far from ready to take another mate, especially one she was expected to instantly repopulate New Earth with. The idea of having sex with a man she just met only compounded the problem.
And so for the first three weeks of her stay on the Space Station she had elected not to participate in the Experiment, rebuffing gently but firmly every man who wanted to get to know her.
Ira saw her sitting alone in Bermuda sometimes and smiled shyly at her. And sometimes, she would smile shyly back at him. But he couldn't work up the courage to approach her openly.
Ira was sitting in one day in Bermuda with some of the guys when Susan Shinn walked by. Ira thought Susan was very attractive. She was young, and although they all had white hair, a byproduct of the cryogenic suspension, she had managed somehow to dye it blonde, making her look young and virile.
"Hey Susie baby," said Craig Cobin. "You come looking for me?"
Susan's eyes narrowed. "Why would I do that?"
"So we can do it," said Craig, waggling his eyebrows.
"I already partnered with you once, Craig. The results were underwhelming, to say the least." She turned to go.
"I'm not talking about partnering, Susie."
She paused, turning back. "Then what do you mean?"
"A fuck. Just a plain fuck. Wouldn't you like to have me?"
Her eyes narrowed again. "I already had you, or don't you remember?"
"How could I forget? You were hot, Susie babe!"
She gave a small smile. "What's the point of having sex if we're not going to partner again?"
"The point? The point is in here, babe," said Craig, grabbing his crotch.
"You're ridiculous." She waved a hand dismissively and turned away.
She hadn't even acknowledged Ira, who she had just partnered with and was sitting five feet away.
"She'll be mine again," said Craig confidently.
********
Becky Lesch sat in the Entertainment Sphere, just watching the spectacle watching the spectacle of giant colorful energy waves paired with musical sounds. She turned her head and stiffened when she heard someone enter the room.
"Hi," said Ira.
"Hi," said Becky.
"Mind if I sit here?" Ira asked.
"I don't want to partner with you!" said Becky. "I thought everyone knew that by now! Please don't ask me!"
Ira stiffened. "I'm sorry. I just came here to see the light waves." He turned to go.
"Really?"
"I always come here," said Ira. "It's a nice place to think. But I don't want to disturb you, so I'll go-" He turned to leave again.
"Wait!" Becky bit her lip. "You can stay."
"Really?"
"I'm sorry I was short with you," said Becky. "I want you to stay. Please, stay." She patted a segment of floor on the catwalk next to her.
Ira sat down next to her. "My name is Ira."
"I know," said Becky.
"You do?"
"I asked Hot Dog your name," said Becky.
"You did?"
"You look at me, in Algeria sometimes," said Becky.
"I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," said Ira. "Perhaps I should go-"
"No." Becky put an arm on his shoulder. "It's all right."
They sat and watched the light waves surfing around the room. They were safe on the catwalk, but if they ventured off of it the waves could tear them to pieces.
"I like the orange," said Ira.
"I like the yellow," Becky said. "The sound of it is nice."
"Yeah," said Ira. "You know, you can change the sounds, if you like."
"Really? How?"
"Just move your arm. It reacts to us."
"Really?"
"Try it!"
Becky raised her left arm. The light wave became broader, redder and the music from it became deeper, richer. She raised her right arm, and the light became blue and the music became more ethereal. Then she kicked her legs in the air and laughed as she created a massive cacophony. As they played with different combinations, Becky looked into Ira's eyes and realized this was the first time she had laughed since she had come here.
********
"Shinn Girl."
Susan Shinn gave Craig a wintery smile as she walked by his table in Bermuda. "Hey Craig."
"Ready for me to pound your pussy?"
Abner Dune's eyes grew wide.
She blinked as if slapped. "Craig, I will
never
be ready for you to pound my pussy."
"You seem to like it well enough the first time."
"You were... adequate." Her lip curled, but she looked faintly amused.
"Second time is always better."
"A shame, because I'll never know," she said, petting her blonde hair self consciously. "I'm off to more important things."
"Harrison Welton," said Craig.
"How did you know?"
Craig tapped his enormous twisted nose. "The nose knows."
She laughed. "All right, I'm trying to partner with him. But Shelly and Laura and Missy are making plays for him as well."
"Shelly and Laura and Missy don't have half your sex appeal, sexy girl."
"Thanks, Craig," said Susan.
"So?"
"So what?"
"Are you ready to have sex with me?"
"I already told you no!"
"Come on, Susie! Let's fuck!"
Ardis McDuff's eyebrows shot up. Abner Dune covered his face in his hands.
She leaned towards him. "Listen very, very carefully Craig." She cupped her breasts. "You will never touch
these
again." She grabbed her groin. "You will never plow into
this
again. Get used to it, loser!"
She turned and walked away angrily, her hips and ass swaying with every move.
"She wants me. I can tell." Craig looked supremely confident.
"Does she?" Donnie Burch asked. "Didn't sound like it."
"Her mouth says no. But her eyes say yes."
"A pity you can't fuck her eyes," said Dickie Weymouth.
"True." Craig openly squeezed his crotch without shame. "But I have to empty my balls
somewhere
."
"Try your quarters."
"I have a better idea." He got up and went over to the Weeping Girl. He talked with her for a moment and then they heard him say, "It will be all right. It will all be all right. Come, come."
She let herself be pulled out of her chair. Craig took her in his arms and they walked away. He looked back only to leer and wink at the others.
"Is he for real?" Abner asked.
"He has a strong sex drive." said Haggis O'Leary, who had watched in silence. "That can be a real asset in a place where everything is about the urge to reproduce."
********
Becky Lesch and Ira Weatheral got to know each other. They spent hours every day in the room filled with colorful, musical live waves. Once Becky realized that Ira really
wasn't
trying to partner with her or get inside her pants she relaxed visibly. Ira started to remind her of Paul, not in the way he looked, but in his gentleness, his curiosity, and his patience with her. Over time it was only natural that she would start to form an attachment to him.
Sometimes they would just stare at each other, face to face, in complete silence. They would have staring contests until one of them started to laugh. Becky finally realized that she was subconsciously hoping Ira would kiss her, but he never did. Finally she took the plunge and kissed him. It was just a little peck on the lips but Ira looked shocked.
"I'm sorry... I had just the urge-"
"Don't apologize! I loved it!" said Ira. "I've been wanting to do that for days!"
