The iridescent gravmobile glided up to my porch.
I jumped in. “Okay, Cindy, I’m ready. Let’s go!”
While Cindy elevated the vehicle into the main traffic stream, I tried not to stare. Finally I couldn’t help myself. “Sis, what is it you aren’t wearing?”
“What?” She looked herself over. She wore several pieces of delicate gold jewelry—anklets, a belt, bracelets, a necklace, and earrings. And nothing else. “You don’t approve?”
“Girl, I know some people are cavalier about wearing clothes on holocalls, but in-person dress is different.”
She shrugged. “Don’t be a prude, Ginny. We’re going to a club, and it’s Fabric-Free Friday. Lots of girls do it. Besides, you aren’t wearing much, either.”
“At least my important parts are covered. What if someone…touches you?”
“Pfft! Just let them try.” She grinned. “I had subcutaneous tasers implanted in strategic locations. If you see some pervert twitching on the ground near me, you’ll know why.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I hope you can turn those off.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course I can. Otherwise Borx and I couldn’t…you know.”
“Yeah. That reminds me. You and Borx. I don’t know, Cindy. It’s just wrong.”
She adopted a hurt look. “What’s wrong with Borx?”
“Well—he’s Blue, for one thing.”
“Haven’t you heard, Gin? ‘Once you go Blue, you’ll always be true.’ Besides, you went out with that Gary guy, and he was Black.”
“That was different.”
“How was that different?”
“Well, Gary was human, like us, and Borx is a…a…”
“Spit it out, Ginny.”
“Well, you’re an Earthling, and he’s not!”
“So what? Just because he’s a different race—”
“Cindy! He’s a different species!”
“—I don’t see how that affects our relationship.”
“But how can you possibly…couple? Your bodies are so different.”
“Look, Gin. Sex is all about skin—the tactile response of one person’s skin to another. Texture, temperature, color, sheen, smoothness, suppleness, aroma—they all add to the sensual experience.”
“Exactly my point! Borx doesn’t have any skin.”
“Skin, scales—what’s the difference?” she said. “Once you get over the blue color, the rest are just details.”
“Tentacles are details?”
“Don’t knock them until you’ve tried them.”
“How many tentacles do they have, anyway?”
“Fourteen,” Cindy said. “That’s why they’re called Tetradecadonians, but that’s too many syllables, so we just call them Tetras.
“But aren’t the scales prickly?”
“Not so much, as long as you go with the grain. Besides, I found a fabulous new product—a whole-body lubricant called Scale Away. It comes in different flavors. Peppermint’s my favorite. I just slather it all over him.”
“A whole body…doesn’t that mess up your bedclothes?”
“I upgraded to Teflon sheets. Nothing penetrates them.” Her eyes took on a dreamy look. “It’s a little bit like an all-night Slip-and-Slide, but we put the mattress on the floor so when we slither off, we don’t hurt ourselves.”
“I don’t know…”
“Hey! Why don’t you try a Tetra? There’s that new VR place off the plaza called Fantasy Worlds. They have all sorts of experiences. It’s not real, so there’s no risk”
I shuddered. “I’m leery of that virtual reality stuff.”
“Nonsense it’s perfectly safe. You have a medulla receptacle, right?” she reached under my hair and felt the back of my neck.
I pulled away. “You know I have one. My company put it in for work training, remember?”
“Then you’re all set. This place is fabulous! It’s a plug-and-play deal.” She leered. “Or plug-and-lay if you’re up for that. You can either plan out your adventure, or let your subconscious take control. You’ll experience a full sensory ride—sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.”
It sounded creepy. “What if I don’t like it?”
“They give you a silver bracelet with a red escape button. If at any time on the ride you want out, you just press the button, and the ride ends.”
“I’m dubious, Cin. Hey—where are you going?”
“I know a shortcut.”
“You’ll get a ticket for leaving the gravstream…”
“No I won’t. I do it all the time. It’ll be smooth sailing. Trust me.”
“Okay, but I see storm clouds ahead, and they look a lot like police strobe lights.”
Just then an official-sounding voice spoke to us from the gravmobile’s speakers.
You are flying in an undesignated zone. Please prepare to land.
“I told you…” I couldn’t help but say it.
An invisible tractor beam grasped our vehicle and dragged it to a halt in mid-air. The beam pushed us downward until we landed on an open patch of turf, closely followed by a police cruiser. A uniformed policeman emerged and approached us.
Cindy opened the window and the cop leaned over to speak.
“Good evening, ladies.” He did a double-take. “Well, hello, Cindy!”
“Hey, Florn.”
“You two know one another?” I asked.
“Florn is Borx’s friend.” She made the introductions.
I nodded hello. Florn was obviously Tetra. Blue, bi-pedal, and humanoid, with a distinctive array of tentacles. One sprouted from each shoulder, and one from each hip. The remaining ten fanned out from his back like male peacock feathers. They had a disquieting tendency to move in random directions like a giant Medusa.
“Sorry, ladies,” Florn said. “You must exit the vehicle and assume the position.”
Cindy fluttered her lashes at him. “Oh, come on, Officer, surely that’s not necessary. You know me.”
“Sorry, Cindy. Standard procedures. I have to search for contraband.”
We exited the gravmobile, faced the vehicle, and placed our hands on its roof.
“As you can see, Officer,” Cindy said. “There aren’t many places I could hide contraband.”
Florn seemed unsure of how to search a naked woman. He settled for gently lifting the jewelry pieces with his tentacles and examining them closely. I wondered what effect her implanted tasers would have had on him had he probed her erogenous zones.
Next was my turn. I wasn’t wearing much more than Cindy, basically a G-string, pasties, and some jewelry. Florn seemed encouraged by the challenge. He sidled up to my backside and began lightly exploring my skin with his tentacles, like the game of how close two naked teenagers could get without touching, with the first one who touched the other being the loser. Florn lost our game immediately.
His scent was warm and earthy, with the aroma of a fragrant meal cooked over a smoky campfire. Florn slowly caressed each curve and crevice, examining every square millimeter with his surprisingly tender appendages. He explored from back to front. I quivered as his cold feelers leisurely traced patterns closer and closer to my sensitive areas. I found the simultaneous touching at multiple points to be amazingly stimulating. A torrid wave of heat burst from my core and flooded my entire body with a feverish arousal I had never before experienced. I finally recognized the mewling and moaning noises to be my own.
I knew I couldn’t take much more before I spun around and jumped Florn’s bones, or carapace, or whatever skeletal structure he possessed. I reached over to my silver bracelet and pressed the red button.
The return to reality was gradual, like waking up from a dream that you didn’t want to leave, desperately holding on to tendrils of a fading fantasy. I awoke with my skin burning and my heart pounding. Cindy and I lay side-by-side on a large bed, slender cables extending from the base of our skulls. We were dressed, or not dressed, as in the dream. She was smiling and all-a twitter.
“So?” she said, “Wasn’t that simply marv?” Didn’t you love it?”
“Marv? Where’d you get a retro expression like that? This isn’t the second millennium, you know.”
“I read a lot of old books.”
“Whatever. So. Were you there with me the whole time? Did you experience what I did?”
“No, silly. I was there, but I experienced my side of the story, and you yours.”
“And Florn? Was he real? Was he there? Will he remember what happened?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It was all from my imagination. Oh, Florn is a real friend of Borx’s all right. But he wasn’t there. What you saw was an image of him I conjured up from my memories.”
“Well, I do love a man—or whatever—in uniform.” I wagged a finger at her. “You scheming minx! You planned that whole encounter with Florn. You wanted him to feel me up.”
“Sure I did. I wanted you to get a taste of Tetra. You did agree to let me drive, remember? That means I had control of the storyline. So, did you like him? Do you think you could go out with him?”
“Maybe. I’d have to think about it.”
“Well, don’t think too long. We have a double-date with Borx and Florn tonight. Dinner, dancing, and whatever. Trust me—it’ll be fabulous!”
If my Fantasy World experience was any indication of what I could expect from an evening with Florn, the “whatever” would involve a large tube of Peppermint Scale Away and Teflon sheets. I would need to place my mattress on the floor.
I was hoping for fabulous.
Note: This story won 2nd place in the Granbury Writers Blocbuster Challenge 22 July 2022