(
Note to readers:
This is about a dream for many of us confined to Earth's gravity: Sex in weightlessness. To follow the story, you should read the five chapters in order [you can click on my profile above, or the Stories link, to find them all; they should all be published here in early March 2021]. If your main interest is the sex, you can choose which chapter(s) to read based on who does what to whom. All of the sex is international, and in some cases interracial. This chapter's sex is by a German man and a Nigerian woman, with oral, penis-in-vagina, anal fingering, foot sucking, and body arrangements possible only in zero gravity. Every character is at least 18 Earth years old.
(This happens on a large scientific expedition bound for Mars, between 2050 and -60. Terms and acronyms you need to know are X-PAN Mars Lifter One [XPML1], the spaceship; Exertion and Recreation Volume [ERV], the ship's open space for sex; the International Space Exploration Commission [ISEC], which appointed the academic scientists on the ship; and X-PAN, the private company that owns the ship and employs the crew, some of whom are also scientists. I hope that other terms, like sleepwrap and showersuit, are self-explanatory.)
***
Anissa and Florian drifted side by side, each with an arm around the other's back. With their free hands, they waved in the direction of a safety camera on the bulkhead, and said "Helllooo!" with wide smiles.
"I am Anissa Olambayo. We hope that you can see us on Earth, and watch us give each other joy."
"I am Florian Eisenbach. Anissa and I are life partners, and we are on our way to Mars."
Anissa felt her muscle relaxant working at knots in her back and legs, easing them. This made her smile more genuine as she said, "As you may know, we intend to remain on Mars to the end of our days, serving as a gerontology experiment while we carry out work in our scientific disciplines."
Florian's slow, slight movement at major joints, not obvious in the weightless floating of their nude bodies, showed him that new cartilage had grown as intended. "The long-term effects of Mars's gravity, less than four-tenths of Earth's, will be learned through our life there. There will be useful data for the planet's forthcoming permanent residents."
"Here on the spacecraft, however," said Anissa, "we have no gravity at all! This is a boon to our bodies, as long as we tend to the special needs of humans in this environment."
"I am eighty-seven years old!" declared Florian. "Dr. Olambayo is eighty-five. We have been sexual lovers for many decades, and intend to remain so on Mars. As well as in this chamber, which is called the Exertion and Recreation Volume."
"We will now make love," she said, "with no attempt to cover ourselves or hide our pleasure. We invite you to observe us. If you are more interested in our work, you can follow it through other portions of the data feed from this ship,
X-PAN Mars Lifter One.
"
"But don't shy away!" he said. "Please learn that people of our age can be actively amorous. For your whole lives, please love with your bodies as well as your hearts and minds!"
She held her smile to the camera for two seconds, then looked at him. "I hope that nobody on Earth ever hears that, my dear preacher."
His fervent look softened. "I know, I should simply provide an example. But when prudes shout, I must shout back."
She let her free arm spread. "Are there prudes in here?"
"There areβ" he began, but then saw her amused expression. "No," he said. "Only the most wonderful person who ever lived, and the fool she tolerates."
She brought her free hand in as she pivoted her body to meet his, then gently stroked the back of his neck. "Yet somehow you remain my favorite lover," she said in the mock perplexity he knew so well. "And the one with whom I will die on another planet."
He closed his embrace with her. "We will live there long enough to welcome permanent residents," he said, "and, if they are willing, love them."
"A pretty dream," she said, getting a leg past and around his, so she could press their groins together.
At which point they stopped talking. Anissa enjoyed their tender silence. She, too, proselytized for free love, and for sex with many lovers, singly and in groups. Florian's example helped her realize when she campaigned too much, and she then returned the favor by reminding him to dial it back.
Florian moved his fingertips on and around a dimple above her buttocks.
So little has changed,
he thought.
I touch her wrinkles with some of my own, yet what we feel is like what it was when our skins were smooth and taut.
Anissa slid a breast against his ribs, wondering if this part of their deception would truly work.
If the artificial intelligence must show our body contours as they are,
she thought,
How can it make me seem young if I sag?
She had not thought to ask about this yesterday. As diligently as she and Florian had worked to delay internal aging, they did nothing to disguise their external aging. Anissa was committed to combating ageism, but regretted the melanin loss that had changed her rich brown hue to a dim tan.
With a long sigh, Florian felt the beginnings of the blood flow of passion, always welcome and cherished, but now to be nurtured and built gradually. He knew he was vastly blessed, for the enduring health of himself and that of his soulmate, and for their ardor that had never dimmed. Yet even he accepted that their pursuit of other partners, here on