But I Saved a Few Credits

Tom had always wanted to take a virtual reality vacation but considered them too expensive. Some cost more than a real time trip off the space station so when he saw the ad for sand and sun vacations at half off he decided to buy one. The travel agency had modern equipment and a professional staff. He assumed that his vacation would just have a few options turned off.

He was wrong.

Tom materialized on the beach in the same scruffy overalls he wore all the time. Had the travel agent scanned him to replicate his real time look? It would have been easier to just give him a new appearance.

Determined not to let anything ruin the experience he stripped down to the threadbare boxers his mother gave him a decade ago. He carried his overalls and boots as he strolled along the water line. Then he remembered they were virtual and dropped them on the ground.

Luscious females flocked around him to drool over his pale, slightly flabby figure. At least that feature is working, he thought. Except I should be in a better body. Oh, well, I can still have anything I want.

He did his best to not notice the patches of sand that were occasionally pixilated.

After surveying his options he decided on a brunette in a tiny green bikini and took her to a comfortable, private bungalow. Everything was going quite well until her left breast disappeared. He was worried for a second, then it came back.

Minor glitch, he thought and tried to forget about it.

Just when he started enjoying the moment again her right breast slid down until it clamped onto her ankle. It returned to it’s former position with an audible pop.

“Hey, baby, why don’t you turn around? Yeah, on your knees, yeah, just like that.”

It’s going to be ok, it’s going to be ok, it’s going to be ok……

Tom’s new mantra was interrupted when her right leg suddenly moved to the wall all by itself.

And the leg bone was almost connected to the…

Tom was out the door before he knew what he was doing. Maybe I can find one without bugs, he thought as he tried to stop hyperventilating.

Then he saw the shark. No one had told it sharks don’t surf. It didn’t know it couldn’t ride a wave all the way up to the shallows. It didn’t care that swimming over sand was bad for it’s skin.

For a few long seconds Tom couldn’t remember the safe word.

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!”

Back in real time his body was covered in sweat and trembling.

The next day at work Tom didn’t really want to talk to anyone but he couldn’t avoid Chad.

“So, how was your vay-cay? All you could possibly hope for? I’ve heard that those cut rate places can be rather wonky sometimes.”

“Um, it wasn’t perfect but I saved some credits.”

Pug-Monkey Earns a Cookie

Janice Curain stretched her abused back muscles and surveyed her work. Weld seams ran in a crazy pattern over the metal skin but the air pressure readings were green. It would hold air. The entire hull was now space worthy and she could turn her attention to putting the internal systems in order.

After the internals were up she could get rid of the junk the last owner left in the cargo hold. No use hanging on to disgusting food stuffs she couldn’t imagine eating. What kind of being could possibly have any interest in fruit and meat flavored cookies?

There was still a lot of hard work to be done before she could start making a living hauling cargo and she needed to find a crew. She had never dreamed that winning an access chip in a card game would give her a new home, much less a quick promotion from Ensign in the Space Legions to Captain of her own ship. It might have been easier to sell the short haul space ship for scrap, she thought as she waited for the air lock to cycle, but not as exciting.

The strangest little creature floated through the open air lock. From flat snout to tip of prehensile tail it was almost as long as she was, but it’s mass was perhaps a tenth of hers. It was covered in pale, dense fur except for the ventral surfaces of it’s pawgers and it’s black nose. Liquid brown eyes met hers and it gave a quick snort/nod she took as a greeting.

“Specialist Turmick?” she addressed it.

A wheezing laugh came out of the air lock followed by one of the slickest humans she had ever laid eyes on. Slick as in sleazy.

“Been out here by yourself too long darlin’ if you’re talkin’ to that little freak as if it were a specialist.”

Janice got along with most beings. After Allied Interests had pulled out of the system and left an odd assortment of colonists, small entrepreneurs, companion beings and decommissioned Space Legion corps, getting along with others was vital to individual survival. She might not be able to get along with Victor Turmick.

“What do you have to show me?”

“Right to business aren’t you doll? I have a collection of the finest air control sensors you will find anywhere in the system. I’m sure you want a demonstration. Cream, deploy them.”
The little being swiveled gracefully and caught all seven poorly made sensors tossed at him, then swam off to attach them in a grid along one wall.

Fully adapted to zero g she thought. “What type of being is that?”

“Oh, its just a little canine primate chimera I picked up on Jy. Bunch of them got dropped there after the Alliance left. Now if you watch this display, yeah come a little closer, it shows the relative coordinates of each sensor.”

Janice watched Cream float near the vents and maintenance panels. Sniff, move, sniff, move. Very methodical she noticed as Turmick droned on about his sensors.

“What’s his intelligence level?”

Turmick snorted in annoyance. “Five or six I suppose. Good enough to fetch. Now these are really top of the line sensors, nothing else is going to have all these advanced features.”

“What was his type created for?”

“I don’t know. Do you want to make sure your air is clean or not?” He named an incredible price, three times her annual salary in the Space Legion, and said “This is the only way to ensure you will stay alive in this piece of junk.”

“I’m optimized to sniff out hot wiring and gas leaks.” Cream’s voice was an odd mix of growls and yips, but it was not unpleasant. “I also fit into most maintenance shafts and can use all standard repair tools.”

“Damn pain in the sphincter.” Turmick snarled. “Fetch those sensors. If the little lady doesn’t have the sense to protect her life we might as well leave.”
Two of the sensors came apart in his pawgers, exposing rusty components.

“How much does he pay you, Cream?”

“That is completely out of line! I came here for a business deal not to be stolen from!”

“If he’s a class five sentient you can only hire him, not own him.” She looked at the clever little pug monkey. “Do you have any experience with a ship like this?”

Cream let out a barky laugh and said “I’m trained on everything from hop shuttles to luxury liners.”

“Do you like banana liver cookies and jerky bird bits?”

Cream’s eyes lit up and he started slobbering and licking his lips with a delicate pink tongue.

Turmick’s face turned purple and he started to reach for her. The Space Legion had considered most of their equipment just as disposable as the people it had abandoned, something she was grateful for. Janice holstered her standard issue stun gun two seconds after Turmick went limp.

“That third sensor sent an eavesdropper into the comm system. We need to clean it out.” said Cream.

“You just earned your first cookie, crew member Cream.” Janice extended two fingers to shake on it, but Cream wrapped his tail around her wrist and let her scratch him behind his little floppy ears instead.

Choice

Blessed is the Creator who created me as half of a pair. My partner and I were conceived and shaped to be a mated couple. We have never known a time of being apart. We have never known attraction to other beings. Because our union is perfect, we are content.

But my curiosity has been stirred and is distracting me from my partner. Our Creator has extended friendship to another Creator who lives on the other side of the void between the stars. They have exchanged gifts. Our worlds, our lives have changed.

One of these gifts is dark and brooding and alone. He remains aloof as if he knows how strange we find a being without attachments. We wondered if his isolation would cause instability. When I approached him to assess his needs he gave me a brief smile and acted as if he were tolerating my bad behavior.

We do not understand him and my partner is inclined to ignore him. The Creator has given us a delightful prearranged life. My partner is only interested in enjoying the experiences laid out for us. Why waste time and attention on that which was not part of the original plan?

I am fascinated by this glimpse of the alien, the other. This being was fashioned by another Creator, has lived in a society vastly different than ours. He pursues pleasures that are not ours. His mind makes connections that we would never consider. I want to know him better.

He rewards my interest with occasional moments of intimacy and gentle humor. Even in these quiet times, I am aware of how jarringly incompatible he is with me. Compared to my partner he is unsuitable in every way possible. We do not have a shared history or shared assumptions or shared preferences.

It wasn’t until I saw him unclothed for the first time, that I began having fantasies about joining with him. At first I thought only about a physical exchange. How different he would be, the sensual explorations we could pursue. Then I realized what it would mean to open myself to a whole range of experiences outside of what was available in my native Creation. A relationship with him would be endlessly challenging, endlessly enlightening.

I felt almost certain that he would accept what I could offer. How could he not? He was alone and far from his own kind. But, I could not imagine leaving my partner and all I had ever known.

Although my life is preordained, I am a free willed sentient. It would be possible to walk away from my partner, but I don’t want to. It would be possible to stop interacting with this alien male and his mysterious potential, but that would not satisfy my curiosity.

So I entered the replication chamber and created a second myself. She is me, in all ways that matter. She has all my memories, all my traits, all my desires. I have sent her to be with the stranger. I have stayed with my partner. I hope that one day she returns to me and shares the experiences of her unplanned life.