Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2016 23:34:30 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Survivors (Revised)  Chapter 50

CHAPTER 50
WHAT IS A HOME?

This story contains sex between minor boys.  If such things offend you, or
you are not at least 18 years of age, then please don't read on.  This
story is not true, but who knows, maybe someday it will be.

Welcome back. The decision has been made—the boys are leaving
Inferno. But not all of them are happy about it.

Please donate to the Nifty Archive. Keep the source of stories free and
flowing.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The "Starkeeper" boys were set to leave Inferno in two days. The shuttle
was being loaded and double checked. The boys quit going to school and
started preparing for the trip to Hakaan.

A lot of preliminary work had already taken place, much of it part of an
unpleasant trip to where the starship was in orbit. Alex, Stevie, Mike,
Jeremy, Brandon, and Travis made the trip whose purpose was to clean up the
"Jordan M. Paxton" and fumigate it. For the first and only time a Hakaanen
set foot on the "Paxton". Dr. Kallama accompanied the boys to supervise the
cleanup since removing the bodies through airlocks and the fumigation
process required medical knowledge.

Dr. Lokor, who was Enghar's father, wanted to be the one to take the trip
since his methods would be the ones used to clean up the ship. Dr. Kallama,
who was a close associate and friend of Dr. Lokor, volunteered for the
journey, as well. It was finally agreed that because of the risk involved
Dr. Kallama would go since he did not have a family. That trip took two
days. Upon its conclusion the "Paxton" was spotlessly clean and sanitized.

During the final days before departure, each boy had his own thoughts about
leaving Inferno, and how it would impact their lives.

Jeremy:

Jeremy lay looking at the ceiling, his lover, Warren, cuddled in next to
him. He hadn't seen his parents since he was eleven. He wondered if they
knew anything about what happened to him.  If the "Starkeeper" ever made it
to Alpha Orion IV, they would know he was missing with the rest of the
boys. But if it never made it back, then it would just be another starship
that mysteriously disappeared in the vastness of space.

He remembered being poor. He remembered the day his parents left Earth,
saying they would send for him as soon as they could. He remembered the day
they sent the money so he could join them. He knew they got paid for having
a kid on the planet, but they didn't want Jeremy to be there until they
could give him a comfortable and safe life.

He missed Brian. His little "brother" was his lover, too. But, he found
something even better on the trip: Warren. He hugged Warren tightly.  They
would be together, no matter where they went. He would have to tell his
parents about his being in love with a boy. He was certain it would be okay
with them.  He never wanted to be separated from his lover.

Warren:

Warren had fallen asleep snuggled up against Jeremy. His last thoughts
before drifting off were of his father and his brother and how much he
missed them both. He wasn't sure if his father ever reached safety, but he
knew he needed to find out. And if his family was safe, that was who he
wanted to be with. No matter what, he wanted Jeremy to be with him. But
right then, he wanted his father. He had forgotten how lonely it was
without him. Now they had a chance to go home and he was comforted by that
thought.

Warren was put in charge of the environmental system on the "Paxton". He
had to learn about water and air and wastes and how to keep the whole
system balanced. It was the hardest thing he'd ever attempted, but he knew
he could do it. As long as the system stayed balanced he would be fine. And
if anything broke down, Jeremy, Travis, Stevie, and Brandon had all become
proficient at fixing things. Warren smiled as he fell asleep next to
Jeremy.

Brandon:

Brandon spent all of his time learning what he could about engineering from
Chief Engineer Quan. He was shown how to take care of minor problems.
Jeremy and Travis learned much of the workings of the warp drive along with
him, but it was Brandon who was going to be the Chief Engineer going
back. They tried to talk the Chief Engineer into going back with them, but
like so many Hakaanen he was afraid of the plague.  So he spent hours with
the boys showing them what they needed to know to keep the starship
operating.

"The ship will pretty much run itself once you get everything started," he
told them, "and I will be on the radio with you to start things up."

"What if something major happens?" Brandon asked.

"Then you will need a trained Chief Engineer."

"But we won't have one," Travis protested.

"I know," Quan replied.

That made everything sound a bit more frightening. They listened and wrote
notes and hit the books harder to make sure nothing major happened. Because
if something did happen, they knew they would be stranded in space and
everything they had done would be for nothing. The problem was nobody knew
how the engines would react to a quarter century of idleness.

Brandon also helped Quan. He told him what he knew about his mother's
terraforming machines. Chief Engineer Quan was very interested, because he
saw that by using some of her ideas he could make parts of the warp drive
more efficient and more reliable.

Brandon missed his mother and her love. He missed learning about science
and machinery from her.  He knew that if he ever returned home that he
wanted to pursue a career in space.  He loved machines and science. Chief
Engineer Quan told Brandon once, while they were working on an engineering
lesson, that he had what it took to be a Chief Engineer, and if he wanted
to stay on Inferno he would train him to take charge of the terraforming
machinery in the future.

But Brandon wanted to explore space, and that meant returning home.  He
wanted that more than having a partner. Ambition was becoming his driving
force.

Travis:

Travis worked with Brandon on learning Engineering. He also learned more
about navigation and piloting from another retired spaceman, Roobine. And
he spent every minute he could with Ryan.

He didn't really miss his family.  They never really did much together. And
he had forgotten all about Kaylin, his old girlfriend. Ryan was now the
center of his life. He knew Ryan wasn't eager to leave Inferno.  No matter
what happened Travis didn't ever want to be separated from him.  If that
meant staying on Inferno, that was fine with him. He knew a lot of the boys
missed their families, and that all of them would have to pull together to
fly the starship. But as long as Ryan was around, it was all good.

Ryan:

Ryan got some lessons on piloting and navigating from Roobine, as
well. Someone had to be on the bridge at all times and Ryan was being
trained to be one of them.

He didn't want to leave Inferno. His parents meant nothing to him, and he
meant nothing to them. He was extra money to them, nothing else.  He hated
them in his adolescent way.

He liked his Hakaanen guardians and the kids he met in school. Boys like
Bandar, Hajo, Enghar, Laryar, Perryska, Mycroff, and Prekar were really
special. He would love to just stay here and help develop the planet with
his Hakaanen friends and with his lover, Travis.

He often daydreamed about he and Travis becoming the first all Earth boy
Meshannas.  But he knew that couldn't happen. Douglas had told them all how
much each of them was needed to get the "Paxton" back to Hakaan. He also
knew his friends wanted to go home in the worst way.

While staying on Inferno seemed nice in a lot of ways, they had all made it
together this far.  Douglas was right, this wasn't the time to split
up. They had one more thing left to do, and that was to get everyone back
to their families, even if they wanted to stay behind on Inferno.

After that, who knew what would happen? If only he could live with Travis
forever, he could take anything.

Logan and Ethan:

Logan and Ethan missed their home and families more than anybody. They were
just ten when they got separated from the "Starkeeper." Their family had
always been close and they missed their parents and their brother a great
deal.  They were constantly homesick even though the other boys did their
best to make them feel wanted and loved. Their older brother, Jason, was
already on Alpha Orion IV waiting for them. But at least they had each
other. They now made love to each other almost every night. They wondered
if that would continue when they returned home, but alone on a strange
planet it just seemed like it was the right thing to do.

Logan still hung around with his big "brother" Ryan. While they often
kissed and made out, sometimes masturbating together or masturbating each
other, they never got into the kind of serious sex Logan had with
Ethan. They liked to talk and play games. Sometimes they went unicorn or
bicycle riding. When Logan got really down and lonely, Ryan always had a
hug and a sweet thing to say to make him feel better, just like Jason did.

Ethan did more with his newly developed sexual feelings than Logan. He
loved getting blow jobs from some of the older boys and
reciprocating. Alex, Stevie, Mike, Travis, and even Douglas, were boys he
hooked up with regularly. He also enjoyed sex with Matthew and Enghar, as
well as with Hakaanen boys like Mycroff, Laryar, and Perryska.

Even the young twins had a job to train for. They would be Warren's
assistants. They learned how to read the environmental control panel, which
they would have to check a few times a day. Matthew was learning along with
them. If they saw something wrong, then they would call Warren, who was
learning how to make the necessary adjustments when things got out of
balance, which happened on any ship.  As long as there were no serious
malfunctions, they felt like they could all handle the system—they just
had to learn how to correct the little things.  The three young boys were
pleased to get some responsibility, and they took it seriously.

Nobody wanted to leave Inferno more than the twins did. They would do
anything anybody wanted to get to Jason and to their parents, if they were
still alive.

Alex and Stevie:

 Like the twins, the two brothers were close. The difference was, while the
twins enjoyed sex together, they didn't see themselves as lovers. Sex was
simply something they did. For Alex and Stevie it was totally
different. They had been having sex as far back as they could remember. It
was an important part of their relationship, and had been since they were
seven and nine.  That was when they learned that the fun they'd been having
was actually sex.  Now they couldn't imagine being without it.  They loved
each other as much as two brothers ever could.

Even though they had their own boyfriends, they never stopped making love
to each other.  Mike and Brandon, their boyfriends, were aware of their
relationship and understood. The brothers sometimes wondered if that
created a barrier between them and their boyfriends, but they also knew
they couldn't give each other up. The bond that they made during the two
years they lived with their abusive uncle was too strong to ever be broken,
even by their love for someone else.

Alex and Stevie really had nothing to go back home for. There was
excitement and challenge on Inferno. They had made good friends with the
Hakaanen around them.  But Alex realized that as little as he knew about
piloting a starship, he was the only person who could come close to
piloting the "Paxton" and getting them to Hakaan. He loved his friends more
than he loved Inferno and the Hakaanen. The boys he and Stevie had survived
with were their real family.

Alex was learning what he could about piloting a starship from Roobine and
the retired navigator.  Roobine said he didn't know much about starship
piloting, but had studied when he was in the Space Academy. He wanted to
live on a planet, however, and went into shuttle flying instead of starship
service.

Alex and Roobine had made amends after what had happened after their
falling out. Their relationship was as teacher and student, not as
friends. Roobine was a good teacher and Alex was a good student and their
relationship was serious and professional.  What Roobine didn't know he
could find on his computer data base.

Stevie was there for most of the lessons. He would be the copilot again. He
and Alex also had a couple of lessons in engineering, along with
navigation.  Brandon, Travis, Ryan, Mike, and Jeremy also had lessons in
piloting and navigation.

They spent time from early morning until close to bed learning what they
needed to know to fly the big starship. They all knew it wasn't even close
to being enough.  They hoped it would be enough to get them by, if
everything worked perfectly. If things went wrong, they were going to be in
big trouble.

Mike:

Mike was in charge of all the operations behind the scenes that it took to
keep a ship functioning. Food was his specialty, of course. Communications
was another area where he gained some expertise.  He also got into
navigating with Ryan and learned how to find things even in warp space. He
also was going to do some piloting, but he wasn't really excited about
that. He liked operations and the little things it took to make everyone
comfortable.

Mike loved Alex. He was his best friend and his lover. At times Mike got a
little jealous of Stevie, but he understood how important the brothers were
to each other.  But no matter what, with or without Stevie, he knew he
needed Alex to be a part of his life.

He knew Alex and Stevie really wanted to stay on Inferno, and they were
going back because it was the best way to get the boys home who wanted to
go home, and they were willing to sacrifice for the good of the group.

Mike knew how much everyone in the group loved each other. Their challenges
had made them a close-knit family.  Whether they left on the starship or
stayed on Inferno, he knew it was something they would do together as a
family.

Scooter:

 The decision between staying on Inferno and leaving was easy for
Scooter. He wanted to go back home. He knew that was where Douglas was
leading them and where Douglas led, he would follow.

He missed his father. He and his father were close. He had to find out if
he had survived whatever happened to the "Starkeeper", and that meant going
on the starship.

He also knew when they made it back home, his father would be back on Earth
if he survived.  Douglas's parents were going to live on Alpha Orion IV.
He knew he never wanted be separated from his lover.

Scooter understood that Douglas had to lead them back. It was why they
chose him as their leader. He would be going back with dread in his heart,
because he didn't see how he and Douglas could stay together if their
parents were still alive. And if their parents were dead, he had no idea
what would happen to them.

Kallama and Gorgio loved them and had made them a home. Scooter wondered if
he wanted to leave something that was comfortable to face the unknown
again.

Matthew:

Matthew went through the motions learning about checking the environmental
controls. He went through the motions of telling how excited he was to be
going back home. What did he have to go back to? His parents never paid
attention to him. They loved his sister best and hated him.

Here on Inferno he had somebody he loved more than anything he could think
of. Enghar was his Meshanna. Enghar was his world and his life. And
Enghar's parents treated him like he was their own son. He could almost
speak Hakaanen and fit in as a native. Nobody cared that his ears were
round and he didn't have a mane. Inferno was the best home he ever had.

But Douglas had preached to them about being family. He told them how they
would stick together and get everybody back to Earth or to Alpha Orion
IV. They had come this far as a family, and they would finish their journey
as a family.

Matthew thought about how different his trip to the Big Valley had been
from the rest of the Earth boys. He was close to dead when was brought to
the valley. He was taken by Enghar and his family where he was healed and
loved. They were his family now.  He loved the "Starkeeper" boys with all
his heart, but he had found his own family on Inferno.

Matthew was only eleven, however, and was afraid to be assertive and say he
didn't want to go with them. Douglas had a way of convincing people to do
what he thought was right, and he convinced Matthew that going on the
starship with the rest of them was the best thing to do.  Most of the other
boys worked to convince him of the same thing.

He would be sad about leaving, but he would do it because everybody said it
was the right thing to do. He remembered a talk he had with Mike a couple
of days ago that was a little different from the rest. He was at Mike's
house. Alex was on the couch in the corner taking a nap. Stevie and Brandon
were downstairs in the basement, ostensibly trying to figure out what a
Hakaanen vid was about, but had long ago stopped trying as they
passionately made out with each other.

"How's my little brother?" Mike asked.

"I dunno. Okay, I guess."

"Something you need to talk about?"

"Huh? No. I'm okay I said."

"Well, it sounds like there is something bothering you. And I think you
should tell your big brother donkey what it is."

Matthew sat on Mike's bed next to him. He snuggled up close and Mike put
his arm around him. Matthew had ridden his bicycle to the house where Mike
and Alex were staying.  Mike held Matthew tight. He had forgotten what a
little boy his little "brother" was. Matthew had been so strong it was easy
to forget he was a skinny little eleven-year-old boy. Mike rubbed Matthew's
shoulders and held the little boy close.

"Come on, Mattoo. Tell me what it is."

Matthew smiled when Mike used his Hakaanen name. Matthew leaned hard
against Mike, loving the feel of his big warm body and his strong arm
around him.

"I don't want to go." Matthew put his head against Mike's chest. Mike could
feel his chest getting wet from the little boy's tears.

"Don't want to go where?"

"On the starship. To wherever it is going. I want to stay here."

"I understand how you feel. But you belong with us. We're human, we're your
own kind. I know you love Enghar, but Douglas promised he would return us
all to our own families. That is what his responsibility is, and that is
where you belong, with your mom and dad."

"I hate them."

"No, you don't. You're just remembering the bad things. They're still your
family."

"My family is here. Enghar's family is my family now."

"Douglas has to get you back. Think of how it would look if they all get
back and he has to tell your mom and dad he left you behind on a strange
planet with a family of aliens."

"He can tell them I'm dead, because they're dead to me.  And it would
hardly be a lie, because I should've died in the desert, but I got lucky
and was found."

"You know that's not true, my sweet Mattoo.  They're your parents and your
family. Douglas is right. You have to go back with us."

This wasn't what Matthew wanted to hear. "But everybody says that the
'Starkeeper' might not have ever made it back. So it might all be for
nothing."

"But we have to try," Mike told him.

Suddenly the body on the couch across from them turned over. "Matthew, I'm
going to tell you what works for me more than doing what everybody says I
should do. Follow your heart.  Do what your heart tells you. You can't go
wrong. Look inside yourself and follow your heart. That will be the
decision that makes you happy."

Alex rolled back over and faced the wall.

"What do you think, Mike?"

"I listen to Alex a lot, but in this case I think you should go with us. I
think it's the right thing to do. But Alex has a point."

"It's all so confusing. I just wish I knew what to do."

"Well, I know you will do the right thing. And no matter what you decide I
will love you and be behind you and with you."

"Well, if I stay, you can't be with me can you?"

"No. I guess not little brother. And that's another thing to think
about. You will be the only Earthling on this planet.  Which might make you
very, very lonely."

He hugged Matthew. Matthew looked up at him. Mike saw his sweet face and
felt his own heart thumping in his chest. The two boys stared at each
other. Mike saw Matthew give a little nod yes, and he bent down and put his
lips to Matthew's. Mike loved how soft and sweet the boy's breath was, and
soon was on his back with Matthew on top of him, both of them hugging and
kissing.

They were incredibly hard. Matthew started rubbing his cocklet against
Mike, humping against Mike's much bigger cock. Mike loved feeling the
smooth, soft, warm, totally hairless skin of Matthew against him. He
massaged Matthew's hard, firm bubble butt as the boy humped up and down
against him. It didn't take long for Matthew to shiver and shake with a dry
cum and Mike shot his load over the smooth, damp skin of the little boy,
covering him with sticky white fluid. They fell asleep that way, Matthew on
top of Mike, glued together by the older boy's emission.

Alex listened to the love making with a smile. He couldn't help getting
hard, very hard. After they had fallen asleep, he closed his eyes, focused
his mind on Mike sucking his cock, and began to stroke his steel-like boy
tool. It took only a few seconds before he was humping his butt and
shooting white jazzy fluid over his chest and into his belly button.  Still
smiling from the feelings of pleasure and with his erection now rapidly
subsiding, he quickly fell asleep on the couch.

Enghar:

Enghar knew he was going to lose his Meshanna. He had been afraid of that
happening even before their joining, but now it was about to become
reality.

He had made a mistake. Mycroff should have been his Meshanna, not
Mattoo. Mattoo was going to leave with the round-ears and he would be left
behind alone and without a Meshanna.  He knew all the talk that Meshannas
were never separated, but it was all just talk. They never had light years
between them like he and Mattoo would. Two nights ago, Mattoo stayed at
Mike's all night without asking ahead of time. He knew they were having
sex, which was okay with him, but he also knew that Mike was special to
Mattoo and that Mike was talking him into going on the starship. Enghar had
cried himself to sleep that night, feeling utterly alone and lost.
Somebody with a Meshanna should never feel alone. That was why making
Mattoo his Meshanna had been a mistake. The priest was right.  Only
Hakaanen can be another Hakaanen's Meshanna.

When he woke up the bed was still empty. He went into the kitchen where his
father was just finishing breakfast.

"Mattoo never came home," Enghar said.

"He called after you went to bed. He stayed at Meekes. He should be home
soon."

"He's away with his friends."

"I'm sure he is, son."

Enghar started crying again.  Damn, he thought, why do I keep crying?

"I thought he loved me. He's my Meshanna."

Enghar's father put his arm around him and gave him a big hug.  "He does
love you, son. And he is your Meshanna."

"But he's leaving me."

"My Meshanna lives at the other end of the valley," his father reminded
him.

"But that's different. You see him sometimes. You even have....," He wanted
to say have sex with him, which was okay, but for some reason it seemed
strange to tell his dad that, since he was one of the few Hakaanen who
lived with his child's mother.

Enghar's father kept back a smile. He knew what Enghar was about to say. He
worked hard to keep his face serious, because he knew this was very serious
business for Enghar.

"Son, Mattoo is your Meshanna, no matter where you are and no matter where
he is. You went through the ceremony together."

"But I want one I can be with. I should have picked Mycroff!" Enghar cried.

The doctor hugged his son closer. "No, son, you picked the boy your heart
told you to pick. You picked well. Mattoo is a good person. He has become
your brother and my son, but he needs to be with his own kind. You knew
this could happen when you picked him. Don't blame him for doing what you
knew he probably would do."

Enghar sniffled. "I love him so much, dad. I can't lose him. I just can't!"

"He is getting the chance to see his real family again."

"We're his family!  He hates them!  He told me he did! Why should he go
back to them when he has us?"

"Because, they are his real family, son. Like them or not like them, they
are his real family. And Dooglass promised to bring them all back to their
real families.  Dooglass is right, he can't go leaving anybody behind."

Enghar went back to his room. He was disappointed in his father and angry
at him. He had hoped his father would be on his side and find some way to
make Mattoo stay. Now he knew there was no way. Tomorrow his Meshanna would
be gone for good.

Douglas:

Douglas hoped that everything was ready. He had worked hard keeping things
organized. As captain of the ship, Alex would be in charge of running the
ship when they left, but Douglas was still the leader of the group. Alex's
decisions on running the ship were final. Douglas would deal with the
people end. In a way Alex was the captain, and Douglas was the admiral.

He knew everybody was ready to leave Inferno. They had made friends and
family there, but the Earth boys, the round-ears, were a family, too. They
all loved each other. He had promised himself and the group he would return
them ALL home. Even though home was a long way away, it was a lot closer
now than when he had made the promise. He had no idea how he would fulfill
that promise, and it looked like they had no chance of even getting close
to home.  Now it looked different. They had a starship and they had a
chance to get back to their real families.

Matthew was the one who was a problem. He had found what he considered his
real family on the planet. They were a family that had brought him back to
health and loved him as their own son. Enghar was now his brother and his
Meshanna.

Still, Douglas felt responsible for getting Matthew back to his parents
even though he knew Matthew didn't care much for them. That didn't matter,
they were still his biological parents.  He was responsible for getting
their son Matthew back to them.  He'd promised to get everyone back and he
was going to do it. It wasn't up to him to judge who liked whom. It was his
job to get them all back safely. Nothing else was acceptable.

He'd already lost two boys. He could have saved Jordan if he'd paid more
attention to him.  Maybe the other one would be alive if Douglas hadn't
decided to run for leader. Robert Charles would be their leader now. But if
he had been their leader, they might never have left the "Moonduster". They
would probably all be dead in the desert now. No matter what Douglas
thought of Robert Charles as the leader of the group, he had been
responsible for keeping him alive.

He wasn't going to lose a third boy. He had almost lost Matthew once and
that wasn't going to happen again. He convinced Mike to help him talk
Matthew into making the right decision.  Mike was Matthew's big
"brother". He would come through. Maybe someday, when he grew up, Matthew
could come back and visit Enghar, his Meshanna.

Douglas watched as everybody learned the jobs they would have on the
"Paxton". It was not going to be an easy trip, but then not much of this
journey had been easy. Staying here, however, was death in almost the same
way as staying on the "Moonduster" would have been.

The Hakaanen on Inferno were dying—their way of life was slowly
ending. They were like a child cut off from its mother—they could
survive for a time, but at some point they would need the mother planet in
order to stay alive.  Douglas realized that the voyage was not only to find
a way back to their own families and home, but it was also the last hope
the Hakaanen on Inferno had to save their way of life.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The day before leaving was spent loading the "Survivor" with everything
each of them owned, which wasn't much. Mostly it was their packs and some
of the mementos they had collected on Inferno.

Matthew felt a couple of tears drop down his cheek when he packed away the
beautiful robe he wore for the Meshanna ceremony. He loved Enghar so much,
but Mike and Douglas, in fact everybody, said this was the right thing to
do. Alex said to follow his heart. His heart said to stay here with Enghar
and his family. The right thing was to go with his own friends and back to
his family, but that was not what he really wanted. He had been raised to
do the right thing, and that was what he would do. The right thing.

A wagon stopped by carrying the boys' belongings. Matthew threw his
in. Enghar was in school.  Matthew went into the house and lay naked on
Enghar's bed. He fell asleep until he was shaken awake by a hand.  He
looked up and saw his lover, his Meshanna, his Enghar.

Wordlessly, Enghar took off his necklace, his belt, and his shoes, which
was all he was wearing.  Matthew was already naked. The boys knew what they
wanted—something they thought they would have for the rest of their
lives, but were now going to experience for the last time.

Enghar got into bed next to Matthew and hugged him hard and long. They
kissed deep with open mouths and flicking tongues, their suddenly hard
cocklets rubbing against each other.  Matthew rubbed Enghar's beautiful
golden mane, making him shiver and moan. Soon, Matthew was entering his
lover, putting his rock hard boy cock into Enghar's smooth ass and working
a slow rhythm. Even though he wasn't very big he was able to rub his dick
across Enghar's sweet spot, giving his lover total pleasure.

They moaned and grunted and their sweaty bodies shook. The two young boys
were close to climax. Their high pitched yelps increased. Enghar's body
arched up against Matthew and his dick jerked and contracted, small drops
of clear cum shot to his nipples, then on his belly, into his belly button,
and one dripping down his dick to his hairless pubic area. The orgasm
squeezed his butt against Matthew's thrusting tool. Matthew came with a
squeal, filling Enghar with his own clear boy semen. Then he collapsed on
top of Enghar and they fell asleep in each other's arms. All of their love
making took place without a word between them, but they had communicated
perfectly.  Enghar kissed Matthew awake just before supper.

"I love you, Mattoo."

"I love you, Enghar."

"Then why do you have to go? Why can't you stay?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Matthew was saying what Douglas and
Mike had said to him. And yet, Alex had said the same thing about following
his heart.

"But how can leaving me be the right thing to do?" Enghar cried. "I love
you!"

"I love you," Matthew sobbed. He kissed Enghar, but couldn't think of
anything to say because he didn't know the answer to Enghar's question.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was early morning. The sun was just rising. Alex was in the cockpit of
the "Survivor" going through the checklist with Stevie, and on the radio
with Roobine.

Outside the boys were saying their good-byes. There were a lot of
tears. They didn't realize how emotional it was going to be leaving the
planet that had come close to killing them, and then had become their home.

At one time they hated the planet and its awful heat. Now they were leaving
what was starting to become a home for them. Douglas looked around him,
wondering if he made the right choice to persuade his charges to leave. He
never had any doubt about leaving the "Moonduster". Staying in the desert
would have meant death, but he had nagging doubts about leaving Inferno. He
wasn't sure it was a good decision, however the decision had been made.
They were going to go.

Bandar and Hajo hugged Scooter, Mike, and Douglas.  Everybody hugged their
friends and the families they stayed with. Dr. Lokor was hugging everybody,
and so was Governor Andorn.  Kallama was there to see them off. The whole
school they attended was there, students and teachers. Modar, their own
teacher, gave them all big hugs, with a special one for Matthew.

Matthew hugged the doctor and his wife, then clung to Enghar, both boys
sobbing uncontrollably. Enghar had seen Mycroff looking at him with a look
that said, you blew it. You could've had me for life, and instead you
picked a round-ear who doesn't love you or understand you.

Matthew couldn't let Enghar go. Douglas came over and gently took Matthew's
arm.

"Don't go, Mattoo," Enghar whispered. "Please don't go. I love you. I need
you. You're my Meshanna."

"And you are mine, my love. You need to understand. I have to do
this. You're my soul mate.  You know I have to go."

"No, I don't know!" Enghar screamed. "I don't understand it! It's not
right!"

Douglas led Matthew up the stairs into the shuttle. Bandar followed him
inside and went to the cockpit. He tapped Alex on the shoulder.  Alex got
up and let Bandar give him a big hug.

"Ost lesha drey," Bandar told him.

"I love you," Alex replied. Bandar left the cockpit, waved at the boys
seated in the shuttle, and walked down the stairs, trying to ignore the
sobs of little Mattoo.

The shuttle was going to remain docked to the "Paxton" once it was
boarded. The Hakaanen wouldn't need it except for parts, and if they were
that desperate to tear it apart the end was probably near anyway.

The stairs were pulled away. Matthew sat by a window looking at the crowd,
trying to pick out Enghar through his tears. He saw him, waving at the
shuttle. Alex released the brakes and started to taxi the shuttle north to
the end of the runway. Alex and Stevie went through the final checklist.
The cabin was quiet, except for Matthew's sobs. On the ground, Enghar
buried his face in his dad's chest. He couldn't watch the shuttle leave. He
couldn't watch his Mattoo leave him forever.

NEXT: Take Off

Comments are welcomed.  E-mail me, Douglas DD, at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com