A simple favour

Eric Alain soared far above the habitat. Through the virtual reality goggles he had on, he guided the cargo drone from its hanger up and out into the night’s sky. The fact he was in a small room next to the science lab made almost no difference to him; he was soaring, and he loved it. Beside him, invisible beyond the view of his goggles, sat Raynor Schwartz.

“We are on the way,” Schwartz exclaimed in an excited tone. “I can’t believe it’s truly happening!” The drone carried a container with eight species of lichen, each growing on a rock, to distribute at the site. Alain, for his part, was more curious than he was excited. The drone crash had bothered him since it happened, and the cause was laying out there in the red dust.

“Fifteen minutes out,” Alain reported. The flight was only estimated to take 17 minutes. As he winged his way along the narrow canyons and among the craters, he caught a pang of guilt, wishing Li was with him. It didn’t seem fair to Alain that she didn’t get to fly as often as he, but for now, he contented himself with flying.

“This may be the most important day in the history of science Eric,” gushed Schwartz.

“How’s that Professor?”

“We’re seeding life, Eric. Life! Until this very day, Mars was a dead planet. Tomorrow it will never, ever be dead again,” the invisible doctor explained. Something about the operation wasn’t sitting right with Alain, and try as he might, he couldn’t shake the worries, so he gave voice to them instead.

“Hey Doc,” he hesitatingly began, “did you see that article that talked about how we don’t actually know Mars is dead so seeding means we’ll never know?”

“I did and let me tell you my friend, it is nonsense,” Schwartz declared passionately. “Is it possible there are microbes? Yes, but how long must we wait before to find a bacterium, before we move to the advanced colonization?”

“I’m just a pilot I,” began Alain.

“And if we do wait, indeed we would find something remarkable, a remarkable microbe. What is the cost of this discovery? The terraforming of Mars! If we want to get started on that in our lifetimes, we must do it now, here, while we have the chance,” he continued, barely taking a breath.

“I get you Doc I just, I just bring it up cus it was a thing that was being discussed ya know,” Alain explained.

“Indeed. There are also discussions about our favorite starlet’s ideal breast size. Is that worthy of scientific debate,” he asked pointedly.

“I mean, yeah,” chuckled Alain, “it’s a worthwhile field I love studying.”

“Well it is equally scientific,” Schwartz loudly proclaimed, blasting right through Alain’s joke. I must have hit a nerve he thought as the Professor continued to rant.

“This, Mister Alain my friend, is the biggest day in the history of science. We will never again be able to think there is not life beyond the planet Earth.”

“Couldn’t you say that about us anyways though,” began Alain who was again interrupted, something that was starting to very much annoy him.

“You indeed can,” agreed Schwartz. Alain hadn’t expected him to agree, and his brain took a second to shift gears. “But that is different,” Schwartz added. “It is different because we are not part of the ecosystem. If we leave, we are gone. But my lichen will live here, grow here. It will be part of Mars, my dear Alain.”

“Life on Mars… Permanently,” Alain said.

“Exactly my friend, exactly,” assured the Professor.

“Alright, landing site coming up on the left,” reported Alain, seeing the wreck come into view. There was a drone there alright. The drone was severely damaged, that was clear from above. The drone had crashed onto its left side, and the left rotor was bent, indicating it had been running when it crashed. The left stub-wing was broken off and the chassis was badly dented. “No wonder it wouldn’t take off after that,” murmured Alain.

“It is in ruins. Will you salvage it,” inquired Schwartz. Alain nodded.

“Yeah, it’s got important components still running. We’ll drop your rocks off and pick it up,” he outlined. "It'll be tough, it could even be too heavy."

“Why did it crash,” Schwartz asked.

“No idea. Wasn’t engine failure I don’t think,” Alain said as he circled the site. “Gonna need to examine and maybe install fixes in other drones if it was something hardware related.”

Alain set the nimble craft down next to the wreck and released the utility drone carried underneath the wrecked craft. As anticipated, it came to life and under Schwartz’s orders, began distributing the mossy rocks around the crash site.

“There we are, in a circle as planned. Now then Mister Alain, if you could activate the navigation system to mark this spot,” Schwartz asked. “Perfect thanks to you, now we can just hook up your drone and we’ll be on our way.”

Alain maneuvered his drone above the crashed one, and Schwartz’s utility drone hooked up the cargo strap to the fallen craft. Alain guided the drone into a hover, seeing the jolt through his view as he hit the extent of the cargo strap. The drone strained under the weight, then began to lift off.

“Shit it’s heavy, this is gonna be a long flight,” Alain muttered as he guided the small craft toward the habitat. The automatic controls were giving him error after error so he switched to manual flight mode.

“Ah ha, the beacon and sensor we left is transmitting,” beamed the Professor. Alain nodded, his attention focused entirely on the flight.

“I need to keep the drone low, looks like the rotors are struggling too hard in the thin atmo,” Alain reported, as much to himself as anyone. The former French Airforce pilot was quite used to narrating his flight activities. “Need… need more lift.”

Alain dropped the drone to near ground-level to try to find thick enough atmosphere to fly in. On Mars the atmosphere is very thin at every level, and like Earth, gets thinner with altitude. He was dimly aware of other people in the room with him; he heard footsteps but didn’t acknowledge them.

“Merde, OK we have a problem here,” he reported as the drone struggled for altitude. “Still dropping.” He increased to full throttle on the rotors and pulled back on the stick trying to get the nose up.

“50 meters,” reported Schwartz. “40… 30… still dropping, 20… shit we’re low 15…”

“Come on you bastard fly,” Alain muttered, trying to will the drone back into the air. “C’mon… c’mon…”

“Holding at 15,” Schwartz chimed in. “16… 17… were climbing!” A surge of relief flooded Alain. Losing one drone had been a setback, but two of their four drones down would have been a disaster. “Eric, I can see the hab ahead, you did it,” added Schwartz. Indeed, Alain could see the low metallic shape of the hab far ahead and the gleaming white SpaceY rocket on the landing pad.

“We need altitude to clear the dunes in front of the pad,” Schwartz reminded him unnecessarily. Alain nodded.

“I think he’s gonna do it,” came the low, hushed voice of Tara Dayton somewhere behind Alain, who ignored her and all the other distractions.

“Never doubted,” Min Li said to Dayton. Alain, still flying on a wing and a prayer, was now dimly aware he had an audience. Li’s comment breathed new confidence into Alain, who slowly started climbing his drone.

“18… 19… holding at 19,” Schwartz said, “we need 21 to clear the…”

“I know I know,” Alain snapped. In a lower tone, he added “fly you bitch fly.”

“19.5… 20, we are at 20.” Reported Schwartz, his voice nervous. “Holding at 20… oh, no ok 20.5 we’re close… 21… no back to 20.5 shit.”

Alain pulled the stick back hard and surged upward, then stalled. The little drone cleared the final dune, slapping and sliding along the sand momentarily before becoming airborne again. A cheer erupted behind him.

“Clear flying now Eric, well done,” whispered Li, who was evidently standing very close to Alain. She touched him ever so gently on the shoulder, a tiny moment of intimacy but not enough to distract him. He appreciated it, even if he was too focused to respond or even notice until after. Alain guided the little drone toward the secondary rocket landing pad, having decided he had too little control to risk the narrow entrance to the drone hanger.

“I can’t slow down, will be coming in hot,” Alain reported. The drone was barely flying at full throttle; he couldn’t risk slowing it down. If the drone was damaged in the landing, so be it, it would be fixable, but if he went in hard, both drones were ruined.

“Crew this is Tara,” came Dayton’s voice over the habitat public announcement system. “Drone coming in hot. All personnel around the hab shelter in place. I say again, shelter in place.”

“OK here I go,” said Alain. The pad was fast approaching in his vision.

“Altitude 15… 12… you are now at 10 meters Eric, bring it home,” Schwartz said confidently. At the last moment, Alain flared the landing, pulling up and back hard on the stick in an attempt to arrest forward momentum. It worked reasonably enough, he saw clear black sky in his vision, then through his own ears, heard the crunch of the drone hitting the landing pad 100 meters away and sliding. It slid for around ten meters then came to a stop in the sand next to the landing pad.

“Initiating emergency shut down,” Alain announced, slamming his finger on the big red button on the far side of his controller. The screen went blank. He relaxed back in his chair and put the controller down, realizing in that instant that his hands were cramping. Behind him, another cheer broke out. It had only been a one-hour mission, but he was exhausted.

“Well done babe,” Li whispered again. He looked in her direction, the powered-down headset still over his eyes, and she kissed him. Then he pulled the headset off. The room was full; not only Schwartz, Li and Dayton, but the entire science team, as well as Ramona Wagner were there, watching his landing. Behind them sat Hans Hermann, his right arm swaddled in bandages, his eyes unfocused by ****. Kellerman too was there, keeping an eye on her patient.

“We did it my darling,” Schwartz, who was standing, said to Wagner, giving her a big hug. Li smirked and gave Alain a significant look. They had both talked about how Schwartz and Wagner were sleeping together, but it had never exactly been confirmed.

“Hey hun, I need to get back to what I was doing, it’s almost lunch time,” Li said, a note of regret in her voice. “We’ll talk later, OK? You did amazing.”

“Thank you my dear,” Alain said, giving her a big kiss before she departed. The rest of the crew who were watching likewise departed after Dayton issued the-all clear over the PA.

“You did amazing work today, both of you,” she told them before departing. “This is a new day in the history of Mars, this project, in the very human species itself, so I commend you both.”

“It was all Mister Alain, Tara,” Schwartz magnanimously proclaimed, patting Alain on the back. Dayton gave them a respectful nod and departed content.

“I am quite serious about that you understand,” Schwartz said to Alain after the others departed. Truly.”

“I just flew the drone man, that was the easy part. You just populated an entirely new planet with life. Basically a God,” Alain said, chuckling at the last part.

“Don’t let Hans hear that,” winced Schwartz.

“We’d never hear the end of that ha! Gotta be careful,” smirked Alain. “What do we need to do now?”

“Well the utility drones will handle getting the crashed drones back into their hanger, then we can perform an analysis on them to see what went wrong, and then fix them, but for today, we can relax and let the drones do the work,” Schwartz said.

“Fuck I’m tired,” winced Alain, who was starting to feel his adrenaline leave his body. His hands were sore, his jaw tender from clenching his teeth, and his eyes were heavy.

“Come with me my friend, I have something you’ll want to see,” the Professor said, and stood to leave. Alain followed, his curiosity piqued. The two walked in silence to the botany hall, and past where Wagner and Carson were working, to the back corner. It was the smell that caught Alain’s attention before he saw them.

“See these my friend,” Schwartz said, indicating to a veritable forest of cannabis plants. “These are my pièce de la resistance, as you Frenchmen would say.”

“You’re not a professor, you’re a magician,” the incredulous Alain responded, fully in awe that all this had been growing right under his gaze.

“Come with me, I’ve got some dried out already,” Schwartz said, leading Alain to a cabinet near the plants. There he pulled out a lose bag of shredded weed and started packing a little metal pipe with the exactness and professionalism of a pothead.

“You are squared away doc,” breathed Alain, taking the offered pipe and an electric coil lighter in the style of a car-lighter. He lit the joint and breathed deeply, savouring the sweet smoke and the near instantaneous high that make his face flush. “That… is some good shit Doc.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Schwartz began while lighting his own. He watched with amusement as after a second haul, Alain began a messy cough fit. “It can take getting used to, this strain is harsh, and if I must say, rather strong.”

“Christ,” spluttered Alain, “no… no shit.”

“Yes, these are the strongest of my plants. I started them first, with the intention to make honey oil you see,” explained Schwartz.

“Great now everyone is smoking up nothings gunna get done,” Lyndon Carson murmured. He took the weed that Schwartz had just lit and took a haul.

“Well Lyndon,” began the already visibly stoned Schwartz, “I am growing some nice Sativa varieties that will not cause you the laziness to which you refer, but will give you life! And vitality!”

“Life and vitality,” chuckled Carson, “shit I thought it was weed.”

Alain sat with his back against the wall and watched the two men discussing the relative merits of the cannabis strains impassively. He mentally replayed the flight in his head, trying to optimize the flight plan if he had to try it again. Carson soon left and Schwartz sat heavily beside Alain.

“Can I ask of you a favour, Mister Alain,” the Professor asked, his voice and demeanor more formal than the weed pipe in his hand would suggest.

“On one condition,” Alain retorted, “that you call me Eric.”

“Fair enough Mist… Eric,” began Schwartz, who giggled then made himself formal again. “This favour I must ask of you is… Well I must confess it is a strange one, and you do not need to feel obligated if you choose not to…”

“Spill Professor,” the now very curious pilot responded while taking another haul on his pipe.

“Verywell,” Schwartz sighed, looking around to ensure they were alone before he spoke. “I think you know already that Miss Wagner and I are in a relationship yes?” Alain nodded. “Well, what you may or may not know,” Schwartz continued, “is that… how shall I put this in a delicate manner? We have a side buisness.”

“A side buisness? Been selling weed to the locals,” Alain asked with a rasping laugh.

“Haha, no,” the Professor said with a very fake laugh, “our side buisness, is… well… we make pornography, Eric.”

“Wait really,” gasped Alain, who was waiting for the good professor to say he was joking, but he didn’t.

“Yes, and in fact, we are, without wishing to sound arrogant, rather good at it. At least, our revenue says we are. Perhaps it is our choice of location that has made us so successful,” Schwartz speculated aloud.

“Well, that’s uh, that’s great man,” Alain, who was getting confused said. “I think that’s great, that you um, that you like making that part of your relationship.”

“Thank you for the support, Mist… Eric. It is always tricky, to discuss such things,” confided Schwartz.

“I bet,” nodded Alain. “So uh, what do you need from me?”

“Ah yes, well, this is a little delicate,” Schwartz said, blushing. Alain nodded along understandingly, hoping that the Professor would get to the point. “Well, you see, we’ve done well at our buisness, but we have encountered a problem: the camera itself. We can use a stationary camera on a tripod or we can film point-of-view but…”

“But you need a cameraman, right,” Alain asked, seeing where the conversation was going.

“Yes, we do,” Schwartz admitted heavily, seeming relieved to have got the problem off his chest.

“And you want me to film I take it,” Alain confirmed.

“Yes. Exactly. I hope this is not too strange that I ask but…” Schwartz said, then trailed off. Alain could see that Schwartz was nervous, and awkward, but he couldn’t help being curious. Watching people have sex couldn’t be a hardship after all he thought.

“It ain’t like we don’t see everyone on this station naked routinely,” laughed Alain, trying to break the nervous emotional wall that Schwartz still had up.

“Yes, this is very true isn’t it,” agreed Schwartz. “Still, I would um, this is also quite strange.”

“It’s OK Raynor,” Alain said, using his given name deliberately.

“Well, you see we have a particular style,” the nervous professor explained, “one that Ramona is very uh, is very protective of. So if I give you a free subscription to our page…”

“You want me to watch it so that I can film it as you’d like me to film,” Alain said, finishing Schwartz’s sentence.

“Exactly my friend, thank you,” Schwartz said, sighing with relief. Clearly, Alain thought, this had been weighing on him.

“I can do that. Question: how secret is this? Like, can I tell Li, does Tara know,” asked Alain. The last thing he wanted was to get on the wrong side of the boss, or his girlfriend.

“Yes, Tara and HQ do know, and I don’t mind if you tell Miss Li,” Schwartz told him, “but I would like it if you didn’t spread it farther than that. It’s not secret per se, but it is something we’d like as little attention on as possible.”

“Understood,” agreed Alain. “When?”

“When do we want you to film? My goodness, I don’t actually know,” he said, looking bewildered. “You know, I was so worried about asking that I hadn’t actually thought about it!”

“Message me on your intercom or just come tap on our door,” soothed the pilot. “No sweat, OK?”

“Thank you, Eric, I very much appreciate this,” Schwartz, visibly relieved, said. He began typing something on his intercom and the link appeared in Alain’s chat window.

“Got it. Thanks for the weed by the way, this shit is gold. I need to get some rest man, I’m baked and tired as fuck, but I’ll do my homework and you can shoot me a message when you need me,” Alain said as he stood to leave.

“Thank you again Eric,” the professor said, also standing. He shook Alain’s had forcefully and the two parted ways. Alain headed to his room, and upon arriving, opened his laptop, and clicked the link Schwartz had sent.

The page was well made, easy to navigate and tasteful Alain thought. The first page he clicked on was Wagner’s pre-mission collection. Seeing the redheaded German naked was nothing new, as he had said to the Professor, but seeing her on the screen, gorgeous, her legs splayed out to show her pussy, and her hands cupping her breasts made Alain feel aroused, yet awkward. His pulse quickened, but he felt like an uninvited voyeur.

The next page he clicked on was a couples photo shoot, and he recognized the walls of the Hermes. The first photo, Wagner was nude and, on her knees, in the second, taken from Schwartz’s point of view, she was licking his erection. The third showed her deep throating his cock and in the fourth, her face was covered in semen. Alain felt his cock twitch in his jumpsuit.

Outside his room, he heard the light taps of feet, followed by the sound of Li punching in the door code to the room they shared. Feeling awkward, Alain hastily shut his laptop.

“Well done today my love,” Li said, seeing him sitting at the desk. She was wearing her grey jumpsuit, tied up around the waist, and a cardigan that she wore over her tank top when she wasn’t working in the kitchen.

“Well done to you too baby, those hashbrowns were superb,” Alain said, feeling somewhat ridiculous as the words were still leaving his mouth.

“Hashbrowns, oooooh,” Li commented sarcastically. “Fuck”

“Yeah I’m sorry you’re stuck on kitchen duty, it’s some shit and it's not fair; You’re the best pilot on station,” Alain said, then added with a cheeky smile, “except me of course.”

“Douche,” Li responded, giving him a playful shove.

“Fair, that’s fair,” Alain conceded magnanimously.

“I’m soooo bored, but also tired. And I’m hella tired of making vegetarian food that’s for damn sure,” Li vented. “But anyways, today’s about how badass you are not how bored I am. You did so well!”

“Yeah yeah I flew a drone,” Alain said with a self depreciating tone.

“No but seriously though, it was amazing, and you saved us one of the most valuable pieces of equipment we have. We would be left with two with no way to replace them but instead we have four. You should be proud,” she said, giving Alain a hug as she did so.

“Thanks babe,” he said, and Li’s eyes suddenly narrowed.

“You smell like weed,” she said, and Alain giggled.

“Maybe the herr doctor has a supply in the botany hall he shared…”

“Sneaky bastard holding out on me! You carrying,” she exclaimed.

“No, sorry, I’d have shared if I could but he just offered me some that he had laying around, but seriously though, it’s like a forest over there,” he told her.

“Professor Schwartz, man of secrets,” giggled Li.

“Funny you should mention that, he asked me to do him a secret favour but he said I’m allowed to tell you about it,” Alain told Li, who sat down on the bed looking interested. He opened the laptop and as he did so, Li hugged him from behind. Alain opened the page and turned to watch Li’s eyes bug out when she saw what it was.

“Is that…” she began.

“Ramona? Yep, it is, and here’s Raynor too,” he said, panning through the lewd photos.

“Ho-Le-Fuck,” Li gasped. “They’re not only together but they’re making… porn?”

“They sure are and here’s the kicker: they want a cameraman,” explained Alain, who had handed the mouse to Li.

“Wow they did a zero-G shoot,” Li said with astonishment, “this is wild, man.”

“Yeah they’ve been at it a while, plus Ramona has an Onlyfans from before Greenland on here,” he said, pointing to the tab.

“So they… they want you to film them,” Li asked, her attention fixed on the screen.

“Yeah, they said POV and tripod wasn’t cutting it anymore and need someone with,” Alain paused for dramatic effect, “an artistic eye.”

“Schwartz said that,” asked Li, who clicked on a video of Ramona using a dildo on herself.

“Not in so many words but clearly they see the talent,” laughed Eric. The room filled with Wagner’s moans as she approached climax on the video. “They want me to watch some of their work to get an idea of the artistic direction. He actually did said that.”

“This is wild,” breathed Li, so distracted she was repeating herself while she switched to a set of couples pictures of them. She stopped at the last picture that showed Wagner bent over with cum leaking out of her ass.

“Are you OK with it? The filming I mean,” Alain asked, sensing Li was, but he wanted her confirmation.

“Yeah, yeah that’s uh, that’s fine,” she said, and Alain noticed her blush.

“Lets get more comfortable so I can uh, do my homework,” Alain said, and the two laid on the bed with the laptop between them. “You pick.”

“They’ve been busy,” Li breathed as she scrolled through the available videos. She clicked on one that read ‘0-G Adventures.’

“Oh hello astronaut girl,” came Schwartz’s voice on the video, making Li and Alain roll their eyes towards each other. Wagner was in the video, floating in the middle of the central compartment of the Hermes.

“Oh Professor, I’m sorry I missed your lecture,” pouted Wagner, “but as you can see, I’m stuck in the middle of the zero-G room, and I just can’t get out.

“It’s the clothes young lady,” Schwartz proclaimed while approaching her.

Wagner stripped off her jumpsuit and it floated alongside her. The tall, lithe redhead was wearing black stockings and lingerie. She started by licking her index and middle fingers and slid them under her panties.

“Ooo professor, floating here waiting for you has made me soooo wet,” she cooed.

“Yes, this is a normal experience. I can help you with it too,” Schwartz confidently predicted. The camera panned down to his crotch, showing him to be erect under his suit. The camera shook as the sound of unzipping was heard.

“He must be leaving the camera to float there,” Li observed. The couple watched as Schwartz reached out to Wagner and pulled her closer to him, then rotated her upside down so that she was floating with her head at his feet, then maneuvered her until her face was at the same angle as his cock. The camera stayed looking at Wagner’s crotch in her black thong before it panned lower to her face as she took Schwartz’s cock in her mouth.

“Mmm yes, in the confines of zero gravity,” he gasped, trying to maintain his studious tone, “one does tend to ahhhh, to become aroused. He panned up to show him pushing her panties aside and revealing her smooth, hairless pussy.

“Guess there’s no carpet to match the drapes,” Li commented in an amused tone. As Alain watched the film, he felt Li’s hand drift down to his crotch. “Someone is enjoying this,” she giggled, feeling his erection through the grey jumpsuit.

“How can I not,” Alain breathed. Li giggled and unzipped his jumpsuit, then slid her small hand under.

“Ah yes, as predicted you are very wet,” Schwartz said on the video, the camera switching occasionally between his digits sliding into Wagner’s pussy, and his cock in her mouth. Alain looked down as Li pulled his erection from his underwear and kissed it gently on the tip.

“Pay attention to your homework,” she snapped, and he did as he was instructed. The soft, moaning slurps Wagner was making on the video were soon accompanied by Li’s in real time. Alain groaned and ran his hands through Li’s hair as she bobbed and slurped on him. Li kept pace with Wagner in the film, sucking and licking to the same tempo and rhythm, and Alain soon found himself hoping the film ends like this, or that it changes position before it’s too late.

“Lets get you spun around,” grunted Schwartz on video, and he grabbed Wagner and spun her 180 degrees so that they were facing each other. Alain breathed a sigh of relief knowing that their sexy party would have ended with Li getting a mouthful of his cum in around 30 seconds had they not switched.

“To fully solve this problem, penetration is required. I will help you,” the ever-generous Schwartz said, pulling Wagner closer to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and guided him inside her. Li undressed and followed suit, but as they weren’t floating, she straddled him in the cowgirl position. She was soaking wet, and so tight Alain could barely fit when she slid down onto his cock.

“Mmmmm Professor you feel so good inside me,” moaned Wagner. The camera panned down to focus on Schwartz’s cock, shiny with Wagner’s wetness, pushing in and out of her. The dialog had almost entirely been replaced by her moans and heavy breathing from the Professor. Alain tried to pay attention, he tried to look at the camera angles, the positions, and the lighting, but all he could think about was Li’s tight pussy working over his cock as she rode him. She let out a long, loud moan, and he felt her grip his cock tight inside herself.

“Cum inside me Professor,” wailed Wagner, while her riding pace had approached a frenzy. "Give it to me! I want your hot cum Professor!" Thank God, thought Alain, who was struggling to hold onto the orgasm for another second. As Schwartz grunted with pleasure on the video, Alain let go with a guttural moan and thrust hard upward into Li as he blew his load deep inside her while she screamed with delight. She plunged down hard onto his spasming cock again and again. The laptop, still playing the zero-G fuck session, was pushed aside.

“Oh. My. God. That was so fucking good,” Li gasped, straddling Alain, his softening cock still deep inside her. She collapsed into the bed next to him, making him gasp when he slid out of her.

“You reaaaaaly liked that eh,” Alain asked, excited but also already sleepy.

“I’m jealous you get to film them, honestly,” she said, resting her head on Alain’s heaving chest. "I bet it's going to be super hot."

“I could probably ask them if you could join us,” he suggested.

“Mmm that'd be fun. Not yet though, don’t pressure them,” Li said, “give them a couple sessions first to get used to you being there. It might be weird at first.”

Alain closed the computer, which had started playing another scene, peeled off the last of his clothes that hadn’t already been discarded, and collapsed back into the bed. He snuggled up to Li and held her tightly against his body.

“A good day.”