This will make more sense if you read the earlier parts. Don't worry, they're fun, action packed, and build the tension. Read them first! Also, all characters in sexual situations are 18 years or older. Enjoy.
"I heard Jacob was out of his room." Mason found his brother-in-law reading in the observatory. He sat down heavily in the chair next to John and stared out at the stars. Mason had a lot on his mind recently.
"Yes, we saw him when I was fixing one of the water recyclers." John didn't look up from his book. A cold sweat sprung out on the back of his neck at the mere mention of Jacob's name. Although, John couldn't have said why.
"We?"
"Well, Pricilla was with me." John finally looked over at his portly brother-in-law. "How is Lil coming along with her research? Any progress?"
"Did Jacob ... um ... spend alone time with my sister?" Mason eyed John closely. The man had always cut a regal figure. But John looked somewhat diminished at the moment. Mason couldn't put his finger on it.
"Sure." Anxiety reached for John's throat. Why was he so nervous? "Jake needed some help. I didn't think it was the best idea, but she is his sister. She told me she helped him fold laundry for a couple hours, took a shower, and then came back to help with the water recycler. She said the time they spent together soothed Jacob some, and suppressed ... his urges."
"They folded laundry for more than two hours?" Mason leaned forward, his belly pressing on his thighs through his Colony Control uniform. "Isn't that ... strange?"
"No? It was brother-sister bonding."
"No one seems to be listening to me, but I think we need to gird ourselves. There are unpleasant facts playing aboard the Errand into the Wilderness." Mason wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Our dear brother Jacob, I think, should be considered lost at the moment. There is a wretched heathen masquerading in his skin. It carries the most foul, aberrant organ and means to do ungodly things to us."
"That's heresy, Mason." John's book fell from his fingers and thumped on the carpeted floor. "Jacob has taken the sacrament and bled for Him. He is no heathen. He is no polygamist. He is your brother."
"How much laundry does our small family possess? Enough that it would take hours to fold?" Mason wasn't giving up. He needed someone else to see what was plainly set before them.
"If Pricilla said it, then it happened." John's hands trembled. "I ... I ... can't believe ..." He took several deep breaths. "She would tell me if there was ... trouble."
"Okay, nothing happened." Mason couldn't believe they were so thick. He certainly wasn't going to allow his wife to be alone with his brother. "But in the future, don't leave them without a chaperone. At least until we figure out what's wrong with him."
"I ... I ... have to go." John stood and rushed from the room, leaving his book on the floor.
Mason watched him go, thinking how unmanly a retreat that was. He reached down and retrieved the book.
First Love
by Turgenev. Mason tossed it on John's empty chair in disgust. Why on earth would Colony Control supply them with that ancient drivel? He turned his gaze back out to the stars.
~~
Humility fidgeted in her uniform in front of Jacob's door. She moved the reinforced vial from hand to hand. It was a bad idea going to see her brother-in-law. That very morning, she had promised her husband she wouldn't do exactly what she was about to do. She could have Mary collect the sample. Or let Errand into the Wilderness do it. But ... she rang his bell and the door opened.
"Hello, Jake. Your last sample was lost so I ..." Humility's words faded away. "Oh, my heavens," she whispered. She had never dreamed she'd find Jacob in this state. He lay naked on his bed, his grotesque organ all the more terrible contrasted with his skinny, teenage body. He had both hands wrapped on the wriggling thing, pumping it. His eyes were open, but glassy. He bit his bottom lip hard. Humility wondered why he had allowed her in. What was he thinking?