From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.furry
Subject: Journal Entry 192 / 0916  [ Travellogue, Day 10 ]
Date: 30 Apr 1996 14:11:37 GMT
Organization: Pendor, UnLtd.
Lines: 1146
Message-ID: <4m572p$926@news.halcyon.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: coho.halcyon.com

Noren, Urim 21, 0916

    Nickolai awoke the next morning to find that he and Furry had 
switched places, and this time he was the one wrapped around her.  
He found it impossible to not want to touch her, and his free hand 
roamed delicately over her collarbone, between her breasts and 
along her belly.  The feel of her fine, short fur under his fingers 
fascinated him, and he closed his eyes, actually concentrating on 
memorizing every curve and angle of her body by touch.  His cock 
surged to erection as his action and imagination fed each other.  
He shifted a little; at it's present angle his erection was 
pointing downwards at an uncomfortable angle.

    "Nickolai?" he heard her murmur softly.  He wasn't as startled 
as he had been that first night on Parma.

    "Hmm?" he asked, smiling.  Being "caught" by her was nothing to 
feel guilty about, not anymore.

    "Put it in."

    "Like this?"

    "Uh-huh," she replied.  With his free hand he grabbed his cock 
and guided it, pushing gently against her from behind.  "That's 
it," she sighed.  "I was having this wonderful dream about making 
love to you, and when I woke up, here you were."

    He smiled and pushed against her; her dream, he noticed, had 
made her wet, and he slid into her cunt without a pause.  In the 
close proximity with her and under the sheets, this side-by-side 
position took a lot of effort to make even a simple thrust, and he 
found he was supporting himself up on one elbow to make the angle 
easier.  She rolled 
with the suggestion, until he found himself entirely on top of her.  
The position was wonderfully different, as were the sensations.  
Her tail lay to one side, and when he pushed himself up on his arms 
he had what he thought was an incredibly sexy view of his cock 
sliding down along the cleft of her furry butt.  The sight turned 
him on, and he thrust into her.

    She yowled.  "Did I hurt you?"

    "No, Kolya, oh no.  Fuck me, Kolya, fuck me hard."

    Not one to argue, Nickolai eased himself into a position where 
he could get more thrust and angle and began stroking himself in 
and out of her.  "Yes!" she breathed.  "Oh fa yes," she whimpered, 
"That's so good!"  He had no idea what he was doing, but he wasn't 
going to stop doing it, slamming into her on every downstroke.  His 
breathing was getting labored, but he wasn't noticing, instead 
increasing the force of every stroke.  "I'm coming!" she whimpered, 
clawing at the bedsheets and crying out in one peal.  "Don't stop," 
she begged.  "Again, please."

    He didn't stop, his own orgasm rising.  She was pushing back 
against his hips with every thrust, and when they met the clash was 
so strong it was almost painful.  Her tail began whipping back and 
forth between them, and her cunt gripped him so tightly when she 
finally came he nearly couldn't move, but it didn't matter because 
he exploded inside her as she cried her pleasure a second time.

    They collapsed; he rolled to the side, and she rolled with him, 
holding his cock within her.  "Oh, Kolya," she sighed.  "I don't 
believe 
how good that felt."

    "What did I do?" he asked, still gasping for air.

    "I don't know.  And I don't know what you were hitting, but it 
felt so good."  She took a deep breath and said, "Remember that you 
owe me a second one?  I want it right now."

    He giggled.  "You've got to be kidding!"

    She reached behind herself and patted him on his hip.  "I am, 
but I want to do that again, as soon as we can."

    "Fine by me."

    After a short recovery, they dressed and headed up to the 
rooftop and breakfast again.  "Well, you two look good this 
morning," Shardik observed as they walked up.  "Sleep well?"

    "Uh-huh," Furry said with a tone that indicated clearly that 
sleep wasn't what had put the smile on her face that morning.

    "I see," Shardik said.  "Well, breakfast for me is melon and 
grapefruit juice.  This is something Aaden cooked up," he 
announced, slicing open a large, pale orange fruit and putting each 
half in a bowl.  "Tell me what you think.  It's been a family 
favorite for decades now."

    "What is it?"

    "I've never really been sure.  We just call it 'Aaden's 
Orange', and leave it at that.  I know it's something they found on 
a llerkendi colony about a century back, but what it's really 
called or how difficult it should be to grow in our atmosphere, 
I've no idea."  He smiled wide.  "So tell me, what do you guys plan 
on doing today?"

    "Like yesterday, no plans," Furry replied.

    Nickolai had taken a taste of the fruit, and found it actually 
much to his liking.  He dug into his breakfast enthusiastically.  
If Furry was going to make demands of him like she had this 
morning, he was going 
to need his strength.

    "Well," Shardik said, "you could always trek out to Monastery 
Island and see what it's all about."

    "How far is it?" Nickolai asked.

    "About three hundred meters, give or take a dozen depending on 
the tide," Shardik answered.  "Why, were you thinking of swimming 
there?  There is a SDisk, you know."

    "Is there?" Furry asked.  "Where?"

    "Well, the SDisk from here will take you to the tide level 
there.  So I'd recommend taking your shoes off before you go.  And 
watch out for crabs when you land."  Shardik's smile was wide and 
mischievous.

    "What do you think?" Nickolai asked.

    "I could bring my sketchbook," Furry replied.

    "You can draw?"

    "A little.  Not people, but if you put a building or something 
like that in front of me, I can get a really realistic rendition in 
about an hour."

    "I'd like to see it if you do," Shardik replied.

    Dave interrupted, saying, "Miss Shigokai, I have taken the 
liberty of having your sketchbook deposited in your bedroom."

    "Thank you, Dave," Furry said.  "Looks like I'm not going to 
get a choice in the matter."

    "You always have a choice," Shardik replied.  "It's just that 
my friend has a habit of making assumptions sometimes."

    "If I have violated protocol, I apologize."

    "Only a little, Dave," Shardik replied.

    Furry and Nickolai thanked Shardik for breakfast and stopped 
off at the bedroom to recover her sketchbook and pencils before 
heading for the SDisk.  "Ready?" she asked.

    "Let me try.  Dave, take us to Monastery Island."  There was a 
momentary blink, and his feet were wet.  He looked down, found 
himself ankle-deep in the surf with a wave oncoming, and headed 
further up the beach for drier land, Furry right behind him.  
"Well, here we are."

    "One of the most mysterious places on all of Pendor," Furry 
said, looking around.  "I wonder why?"

    "They say that only Shardiks and their guests ever come here.  
I think I'm the first Terran to set foot here since Katherine 
Moran."

    "I don't think she qualified as a Terran when she was able to 
visit the island, if she's ever been here," Furry pointed out.  
"Come on, let's go take a look around."

    The island was essentially a hill sticking out of the ocean, 
made of a hard rock surface that surged and plunged across the 
terrain.  Evergreen trees dotted the island, much out of keeping 
with the tropical palms that grew inside the bowl the Castle 
hovered over.  The one landmark on the entire island was the 
Monastery, a low, circular building made of rough-hewn stone with a 
low, coppery-green dome on top.  There were two doors, one each on 
opposite sides of the building, and six windows, evenly spaced with 
the doors.  "Do you think it's locked?" Nickolai asked.
    "One way to find out," Furry said, walking up and tugging one 
of the  door-handles.  The heavy, oaken door creaked open, and 
inside they found a single room, light filtering in from the six 
windows.  There were benches set against the walls, one on each 
side of the doors, and another pair on the walls away from the 
doors, for a total of six.  To the right of each door, above one 
set of benches, was a set of hooks, as if to hang coats.

    "Weird," Nickolai said quietly as they walked in.  "What do you 
suppose it's all for?"

    "I don't know."  She shivered gently.  "Maybe it's for a ritual 
or something."

    "That's not funny."  On Terra, rumors about Shardik sometimes 
became extreme in their detail.

    Furry walked to the middle of the room.  The floor was of the 
same rough-hewn stone as the walls, and was set with angular stones 
in a radiating pattern away from the center, which was laid with a 
single circular stone.  Furry walked further, towards the other 
door, and opened it.  Outside, the day was as bright and sunny as 
it had been when they'd arrived at the island.  She stepped out of 
the room.

    And came running right back in again, soaking wet.  "Ack!" she 
proclaimed loudly.

    Nickolai ran over to her.  "What happened?"

    "I... I stepped through that door, and it was... it is raining 
out."

    "What are you talking about?" Nickolai asked.  He put a hand on 
her shoulder... she was dripping all over the floor.  "It's bright 
daylight out there."

    "It's raining."

    "Not that I see."

    "Wait a second," Furry said.  "Look out that door."  She 
pointed to the door they had first come through.  "What do you 
see?"

    "Sun."

    "Not rain?"

    "No."

    "I see pouring rain.  And through that door?"  She pointed 
through the door she had just stepped through.

    "Sun."

    "I still see rain.  And you have to admit, I am soaking wet.  
Did you hear that?"

    "Hear what?"

    "Thunder, Nickolai.  I hear thunder."

    "Furry, I don't hear a thing except and the ocean."

    "That's not what I'm hearing.  I'm hearing thunder.  Tell you 
what... you walk through that door."

    "Okay."  Nickolai walked out into what he saw was a sunny day.  
As he stepped passed the barrier of the doorframe he found himself 
in a pouring rain.  Cursing, he ran back inside.  Wiping water from 
his eyes, he found Furry laughing.  "It's not funny!"

    "I think it is," Furry said.  "Gotcha!"

    "What do you think is going on here?"

    "I think this is a very good VR room."

    "Virtual reality?  Why?"

    "I think there are two Monasteries.  One is on Pendor, and the 
other is... someplace else.  Pandora, I guess.  Whoever's inside a 
Monastery is inside 'the' Monastery.  After I walked through that 
door, but before you did, I was in the Pandora one and you were in 
the Pendor one.  VR made us think we were in the same building.  
That wasn't me you were touching, but... how does that phrase 
go..."

    "'An amazingly life-like simulation!'" Nickolai chimed in, 
laughing.

    "Yeah!  That's it.  Fa, can you imagine if we made love 
before..."

    "I don't want to think about it," Nickolai grinned.  "Okay, so 
we're both on the... alternate Monastery.  How do we get home?"

    "I guess we go through the original door we came in."

    "Let's try it."  They walked over to the other door, and, 
taking a pause, stepped into the apparent pouring rain...

    To find themselves again in bright sunlight and an 
upwardly-curving horizon.  "Wow, that's fascinating," Furry said.

    "I'm glad you like it," Shardik's voice said.  "Sorry, didn't 
mean to startle you, but I was curious to see how you were doing."

    "We're fine," Nickolai said, waving.

    "Did you get any drawing done?"

    "Not yet," Furry admitted.

    "Oh, well.  Come here," Shardik said, stepping into the 
circular building.  "I want to show you something."

    They followed him in.  "This room is also access for a few 
other things, and that's one of the reasons it's sort of a mystery.  
I'm telling you all this because I believe in you, Nickolai, and 
that's a lot to believe in.  Hal, are you listening?"

    "I am here, Kennet."

    "Hal, access Alpha, please."  There was a familiar >blip< and 
the three of them found themselves in a large, circular room made 
of cold plastic.  A door opened behind Shardik, and he said, 
"Follow me, please."

    The gravity, Nickolai noted, was a lot less.  He had trouble 
maneuvering for a few moments, and he noticed Furry having a 
similar problem.  Shardik seemed acclimated to the reduced gravity, 
but was patient and waited for them to catch up.  "Here," he said, 
"Put these on."

    "Pressure suits?" Nickolai asked.

    "Yeah.  I want to show you something."  He helped them both 
into the suits he had held out for them.  The suits fit them each 
perfectly, a fact which no longer surprised Nickolai.  After 
pressurization tests and confirmations from Halloran, he led them 
into an elevator.  "Ready for a hike?"

    "Where are we going?"

    "I hope you don't mind, but it's someplace depressing."

    Nickolai looked at Furry, who merely shook her head in 
response.  The elevator drove horizontally for a distance before 
rising.  There was a stop.  "Depressurize, Hal."

    The hiss of depressurization was joined by a stiffness in the 
joints of the suits.  The doors opened.  "It's over here," Shardik 
said.   "Just behind this hill."

    As they stepped out from behind the hill, Nickolai gasped.  
Although there were few places like the one he was seeing here left 
on Earth anymore, he knew what a cemetery looked like.  Rigid, 
upright blocks of stone marked grave after grave in unending 
precision under the hot light of a sun undimmed by atmosphere.  
"What... what is this?" Nickolai asked.

    "Reality," Shardik replied.  "A testament to failure, 
Nickolai."  Shardik sat down on a rock and said, "Every time I 
think about a new species I want the universe to see, I come out 
here.  See those twenty-eight over there?  Centaurs, almost perfect 
but for minimal flaws.  See that pack over there?  A hundred 
Felinzi, all wrong.  It's a   good thing I caught the error before 
I started the larger tanks, or all ten thousand would have ended up 
here.  Over there, a few dozen Tindals with dominant non-psi genes.  
There, an entire species I gave up on as untenable.  Ten individual 
tests.  And see that one over there?"  He pointed an open grave 
just to the right of the twenty-eight Centaur stones.

    "It's empty," Furry said.

    "It shouldn't be.  Go read the stone."

    Furry and Nickolai walked over to the open hole.  "Carroll Ann 
Lewis," Furry read aloud.

    "I should never have allowed her to be born.  She was almost 
perfect, and I had suspicions, but no proof then that something was 
wrong.  The genetics weren't as exacting as they are now.  And 
Paul, Paul was just so perfect that I couldn't terminate them as a 
pair.  And I had to keep it to pairs.  Gods, I was so blind back 
then!
    "Nickolai, when you return to Earth, everybody will be all over 
you for you to tell what you saw.  People will probably invoke the 
Freedom Of Information Act to get you to talk, but the Personal 
Privacy Act supersedes it, and I want you to remember that.  But I 
want you to tell people what you saw here."

    "I understand, sir."

    "I know you do, Nickolai," Shardik sighed.  "It's one of the 
reasons I treasured you two coming out to the Castle as you did.  I 
hope you don't object to my abusing you two like this, stuffing you 
full of information, making you conduits for my propaganda."

    Nickolai shook his head.  "I'll just tell the truth."

    "Good lad!" Shardik said over his radio.  "Come on, these suits 
aren't great past a couple of hours."  They walked back to the 
elevator.  As the elevator descended, Shardik said, "You know, even 
with that out there, I don't feel at all hesitant when I've got a 
_good_ idea, a new species or whatever that I think should work.  I 
think it's important that, no matter what your working material, be 
it wood, stone, electrons, or flesh, you should always strive to 
create the best there is, and accept the failures.  It's hard, 
sometimes, though... I'm still a product of Terra, sometimes, 
Nickolai, and sometimes, when I'm lying in P'nyssa's or Aaden's 
arms, I remember that what they're made of is exactly what I'm made 
of, and what those failures buried out there are made of.  And I 
have to reconcile my attraction to the flesh I lie with with the 
idea that that's the same flesh I work with."  The elevator 
repressurized and they removed the suits, hanging them on the hooks 
where they had found them.

    "It's only seven, and I've already mananged to depress myself 
pretty effectively."  Shardik sighed as he led them back to the 
SDisk, and Monastery Island.

    "I don't think so," Nickolai said as they wandered out into the 
sunlight.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean, before the genetic tests of the twenty-first century 
were implemented, how many damaged or deformed children were born 
on Earth?  Aren't those really examples of evolution's failed 
experiments?"

    "I guess," Shardik smiled.  "But sometimes I feel like this 
plain, old Terran isn't really prepared to be evolution's agent.  
But I volunteered for the job, and I apparently am pretty good at 
it."

    "I think so," Furry said.

    "I think so, too," Nickolai said, wrapping an arm around her.

    "Me too," Shardik said.  "Some people think I'm a god.  Well, 
if that's the case then it's worth my while to go out to Mare 
Silencum and look at my mistakes, and resolve to never make them 
again.  Even if it takes me forever to realize that the flesh, and 
the heart, are not the same."  He took a deep breath and said, 
"Would you like to stay and draw for a while?"

    "I think I will," Furry replied.

    "I'll stay with her," Nickolai replied.

    "I expected that," Shardik said.  He took a few steps down the 
side of the hill, then turned around and said, "Look, if... if what 
I just showed you disturbed you at all, I'm sorry.  But I felt it 
important to actually show it to someone, someone who could go home 
and tell people about it."

    Nickolai smiled and said, "It was a scary thing to see.  But I 
think I understand why you showed it to us.  Thank you, sir."

    "Thank you, Nickolai."  He walked down the hill and out of 
sight.

    "Wow," Nickolai said when he felt Shardik was out of earshot.

    "Wow is right," Furry said, propping her book up on her knees 
and pulling a pencil out of her pocket.  "Every day I've been here, 
something new has come up."

    "It is a little scary."

    "A little?" she asked, surprised.  Nickolai watched with 
amazement as the building she was staring at took shape on the 
paper with an ease he found frustrating.  "More than a little.  I 
mean, all of this... It means something, Nickolai, but I don't know 
what.  One second he's the most normal person I've ever met, the 
next second he's showing us his graveyard."  She shuddered gently.  
"Somewhere in there were Markals, too, that didn't make it."  She 
switched pencils.  "The texture of this stones is heavier than it 
looked at first."

    "I bet there were a few humans in there, too."

    "I bet there were," she replied.  "After all, even his early 
humans were radically different from Sap Terra.  Like himself, for 
instance."

    Nickolai nodded.  "I'm going to wander."

    "Okay," she said, trying to be cheerful.  "I'll be done in 
about half an hour."

    "'Kay," he said.  He spent the half hour lost in thought, 
wandering down to the beach and circumnavigating the island at 
least once before walking back towards the building.  "Whaddya 
think?" Furry asked as he came up the path.

    "That's really good," he said.  "If you can draw that, why 
can't you draw people?"

    "I don't know.  I can't even draw animals... I tried to draw 
cats for a while, but they always came out funny."  She flipped the 
sketchbook closed and inserted the pencil back into the pocket over 
the thighs of her pants.  She hugged him close and said, "I don't 
care what the rest of this is for.  All I know is that I love you."

    "God, I love you too," he replied, returning the hug.  There 
was something about her that grounded him, that made every tension 
and discomfort in him seem to flow away; he almost wanted to 
collapse against her, the confusion of Shardik's visit vanishing in 
her reassurance.

    "C'mon," he said gently, "Let's head back."

    She looked around.  "It's so pretty out here.  Come on, walk 
with me once more around the island?"

    "Okay," he said, smiling.  They walked in silence, with nothing 
but the gentle surf of the ocean to disturb them.  They took the 
SDisk back to Shardik Castle without a word between them.

              -               -              -

    "Welcome back," Shardik said quietly, looking up from the book 
he was reading.  Nickolai's command had been "Take us to Shardik 
Castle," and he had momentarily forgotten that there were several 
SDisks in the complex.  This one had deposited them on the sands 
surrounding the lagoon.  Shardik was lying on a beach towel 
directly adjacent to it.  "You two seem happy."

    "Very," Furry said.

    "Good.  Just a second."  He raised his voice and shouted "Skii!  
Where are you?"

    "Up here!" a voice came from the roof of the Castle.  Nickolai 
looked up and wondered how the sound had traveled that far, then 
realized that when Dave was a major member of the family, trivial 
details like space and time didn't matter very much.

    "Well, come down here.  I have something for you to do."

    The Felinzi shrugged and leapt over the railing.  That was 
another thing Pendorians didn't seem to have much concern for... 
gravity.  Nickolai suddenly realized he'd been labeling 
acceleration with the word "gravity," when of course it wasn't 
gravity at all, but incidental centripetal acceleration, that kept 
his feet planted firmly on the ground.

    "What's up?" Skii asked, dusting sand from the tip of his tail.  
He hadn't landed very gracefully.

    "You have an errand to run."

    "I do?"

    "Yes.  As I recall, you left three of the family Jialani's out 
at Carraraug.  I expect them back in the vehicle bay by one 
tomorrow."

    "You mean, I have to go get them?"

    "Well, you can enlist help, if you like.  These two look like 
safe, trustworthy-" he put particular emphasis on that word- 
"Jialani riders."

    "Well," Skii said, seeming pleased if a little unbalanced by 
the offer, "We did leave 'em there.  Want to go and recover them?"

    "Sure," Nickolai said, smiling.  "I don't see why not."

    "Let's get going."

    "Aren't you all going to change first?  I did say 'by one,' and 
none of you look prepared for anything other than a trip to the 
beach."

    "Oh," Furry said, smiling.  "Yeah, I think we should get 
dressed.  What about you two?"

    "Sounds like a good idea to me," Skii replied, smiling.  
Nickolai, at first a little confused, quickly understood and joined 
the other in diving into the water of the lagoon, appearing inside 
the residential hall as dry as he had been before diving in.

    "See you two back here in, ten minutes?"

    "Make it twenty?" Furry asked.

    "You want a whole half hour?" Skii asked.  "Sure, why not."

    "See you in a half hour."

    "Go," Skii said, racing down the hallway.  Nickolai laughed and 
said, "He is enthusiastic."

    "So are you," she chided him gently.

    "Yeah," he said, stroking her head and down the back of her 
neck.  She shivered gently and said, "I love when you touch me like 
that."

    "Come on, we did agree to be back soon.  Dave, are you keeping 
track of the time for us?"

    "I am.  Thank you, Nickolai."

    Nickolai looked around and said, "For what?"

    "That's the first time you've addressed me and used me in the 
capacity for which I am intended."

    Nickolai blushed.  "As a clock?"

    "As a housemate, a utility and a friend you can always depend 
on."

    As they walked back to their room, Nickolai said "There must be 
more to life than that."

    "As Sean pointed out, AIs are a unique form of life; what I 
choose to be is my affair, without hindrance from hormones or 
unwanted memories."

    Nickolai felt a little uncomfortable with the knowledge that 
Dave was aware of his conversation with Sean; what was it about him 
that gained the attention and conversation of the Pendor AInet?  
Other than the fact that he was guest at Shardik Castle.

    "Kolya?" he heard from the bedroom.  Shaking his head, he dove 
down the hole and joined Furry.

    "Do you need me?"

    "Always," she smiled.  "But I want you to do me a favor."  She 
held out a brush and said, "Brush my fur."

    He took the offered implement and started at the small of her 
back, working his way down her body under her directions.  The 
pleasure of being allowed to touch her, to run the brush over ever 
inch of her precious fur, gave him a raging erection, and as he 
turned around she reached out and stroked it gently through the 
cloth of his kilt, smiling.  As he slowly stroked along her belly 
and then down her thighs, she chuckled.  "You get excited easily," 
she said.

    "Not really," he said.  "It's just you."

    "Get my ears?" she asked sweetly.  He accepted the task 
eagerly, slowly running the denser side of the brush over her ears 
and then down the back of her head.  "Perfect," she said, turning 
around again to face him and standing up on her toes to kiss him.  
"Thank you."

    "Thank you," he replied, smiling.  "Come on, get dressed and 
ready to go."  She smiled and pulled on the clothes she had laid 
out for the evening, a black over-the-shoulder dress with 
cross-straps across the back, showing a lot of skin... fur, 
Nickolai corrected himself.  By her left shoulder she placed a pair 
of roses made of worked silver, and on head a flat, gray hat with a 
wide brim.

    "What do you think?" she asked.

    "Not bad.  I like it."

    "Even the hat?"

    Nickolai thought for a second.  At first he had thought the hat 
would be pretty silly, but now that she was wearing it he thought 
it looked pretty neat.  "Even the hat."

    "You look pretty hot yourself," she said, glancing him over.  
The tight-fitting one-piece with accompanying dinner jacket had 
seemed a trifle uncomfortable at first, but now that he had it on 
and all the buckles and snaps in place (he hoped), it practically 
melded itself to his body and felt pretty comfortable.

    "Thanks," he blushed.

    "Two minutes," Dave warned.

    "Let's get going," Furry suggested.  Nickolai nodded and the 
two of them headed up and out.

    Skii was waiting for them.  "Waow," he admitted upon seeing 
them.  "You two look good enough to eat."

    "Thanks," Nickolai said.  "Let's hope I don't get stabbed this 
time."

    "Fah I hope not," Skii replied.

    Furry smiled and said, "Actually, I was hoping to go early, so 
we could go to... what was the name of that place?"

    "What place?" Nickolai asked.

    "The one with the great dinner Ken recommended."

    "That would be the Lundenumen Inn at Tuilpalya," Dave answered.

    "That place?" Skii asked.  "Yeah, I even know where it is.  I 
can show you if you'd like... it's less than twenty minutes from 
Rocchodain by Jialani, and you can't get there by SDisk.  Want me 
to?"

    "If you don't mind?"

    "Nah," Skii replied, smiling.  "You guys got me a reprieve on 
driving, I guess I can do this for ya."

    "Then let's go."  The SDisk took them to the Carraraug hotel, 
where  they dove into the chaos of the noisy nightclub.  This time 
Nickolai took the time to watch Furry, lusting after her with every 
step.  He had to admit it, maybe his heart was lost to her forever, 
but so were his balls, and that was fair.  And despite her original 
insistence that she hated to dance and was no good at it, he really 
enjoyed watching her move.

    Two hours later, they were both stepping off the floor in 
exhaustion.  "Hey, guys," Skii said, coming up behind them as they 
found seats for themselves.

    "Hi, Skii."

    "Furry, Kolya, this is Fadi, from Karkrov, in the Ukraine.  Did 
I get that right?"

    "You did," the handsome young melHuman to his right said, if a 
little nervously.  Nickolai debated whether to smile at Fadi's 
discomfort or at his own ease; a week ago, he had felt the same 
way, and for almost the same reasons.

    "Have you eaten yet, Fadi?" Skii asked.

    "Why, no," Fadi replied.

    "Well, I promised these two I'd show them where a small 
restaurant is about a half hour from here, and there's an inn there 
we can stay at if you'd like."  The lechery in Skii's feline smile 
was unmistakable.

    "Is that... is that all right?"

    "As long as I get you back here by one, everything will be 
fine," Skii said.

    "I... uh, I suppose.  Yes."

    "Come on, guys, let's go."  Nickolai and Furry followed them 
out.  Outside, the three Jialani's sat patiently.  "How am I 
supposed to travel with you?" Fadi asked.

    "Like this," Skii said, opening the hatch of his Jialani with 
his palmprint and sliding it all the way to the back.  "There.  Now 
just get behind me and hold on."

    Fadi looked at him dubiously, then sat down behind Skii, 
carefully wrapping his arms around Felinzi.  "That's it," Skii 
said.  "Hold on.  You guys ready?"

    Nickolai and Furry had already started their bikes, and 
signaled that they were.  Skii nodded and started out, surprisingly 
slowly considering how he had torn away from them the last two 
times he had gone driving with them.  He keyed his intercom to one 
channel with Furry only and said, "Must not want to scare his 
'guest.'"

    Furry chuckled and said, "Well, would you?  Consider how he 
would feel if he knew Skii's real last name."

    "Yeah," Nickolai said, smiling.  They reached Rocchodain and 
eased through it slowly, Skii taking care not to drive over any 
pedestrians.  Once past Rocchodain Skii accelerated back up to 
nearly a hundred kph and took off down the road.  A few minutes 
later the town of Tuilpalya came into view.  It was a small town, 
as Shardik had implied, not as "trad" as Rocchodain; the lights 
were clearly electrical, but it still had a sense of age to it that 
Nickolai was finding more and more comforting.  Skii stopped in 
front of a small, three-floor building with an angular, wooden 
roof, and said "This is the place Ken mentioned."

    "Ken?" Fadi asked with a tone of concern.  "As in Shardik?"

    "Yeah," Skii said.  "He's a friend of ours."

    "You know Shardik?" he asked.

    "Well, yeah," Skii replied.  "It's not a big deal.  C'mon.  
Let's go in and see what ol' Gordro has for a special."  He opened 
the door to the Inn and was immediately assaulted by a voice that 
was barely a meter off the floor.  "Skii!"

    "Hiya, E'Lyn," Skii said with an air of obvious embarrassment, 
looking down at a Mustel with red fur, big ears, and a furry tail 
that was almost as long as she was.  Her most distinguishing 
feature was a brilliant splash of white fur that descended in an 
uneven triangle from under her chin.

    "Hiya, kiddo.  How's it going?  Who're these people?"

    "E'Lyn, meet Jofuran Shigokai, Nicholai Dittrich, and Fadi 
Seirt."

    "Please to meetcha.  What do you need?"

    "I need," Skii paused for a second.  "I need a large booth for 
four, parking for three Jialanis, two rooms with double beds, and a 
fourteen thirty-five wake-up call."

    E'Lyn hopped over to a small desk, examined a document that lay 
there and said, "Can do."

    Skii walked over to her and whispered something in her ear.  "I 
can do that to," she replied after another moment's reflection.  
"Okay, folks, come this way.  I'm going to be your waitress, you're 
the only four here.  Gordro's got spitted lamb tonight."

    She led them to a large, circular booth that easily allowed 
Nickolai and Furry to sit on one side, Skii and Fadi on the other.  
Fadi was a dark-skinned human with light-brown hair and brown eyes.  
He looked very athletic, which apparently was Skii's reason for 
choosing him.

    "So what do you do?" Furry asked Fadi.

    "Me?  I'm an agrochemist."

    "This your first trip to Pendor?"

    "Uhm... Yes," Fadi said, giving Skii a sideways glance.  
Nickolai was impressed with the skill with which Skii manipulated 
Fadi; every time the young man looked about ready to panic and bolt 
(and where would  he go? Nickolai wondered) Skii's paws were under 
the table or his lips on Fadi's ears, reassuring him of a long and 
tireless night of... whatever it was Skii had to offer.

    "And what do you do?" Fadi asked Nickolai.

    "I'm a student," Nickolai answered perfunctorly.

    "Really?  Where do you study?"

    "At the moment, at the Gerhardt School in Redbridge, England."

    Fadi looked stunned for a moment.  "You're a Terran?"  Nickolai 
nodded.  "I'm sorry, I thought you were, well, a Pendorian.  You 
seem so comfortable with these two."

    "I've been here for more than a week," Nickolai said.  He felt 
a touch of arrogance, a sense that he controlled his half of the 
conversation.  He was also reassured to note that the presence of 
another Terran in the room seemed to calm Fadi considerably.

    "What about your tour?"

    "I... sort of got hijacked," Nickolai replied, smiling at 
Furry, who leaned up to kiss him.  "When my tour's ready to leave, 
I'll take a SDisk to Parma."

    "I thought... Terrans couldn't use SDisks."

    "You've used them on your tour, haven't you?"

    "Well, yes... but always with a Pendorian guide."

    "Do you know why you can't use a SDisk?" Furry asked.

    "No... I was just told that tourists generally can't use 
SDisks."

    "There's no rule saying 'you may not use a SDisk.'  You just 
can't use one because nobody's taught you how.  If you learned, you 
could use one easily."

    "Really?" Fadi asked, surprised.  "I could never do that.  
Where would I go?  I should really stick with my tour group.  In 
fact, I really should have stuck with them."

    "Nonsense," Skii purred with a voice so feline and sensual that 
even Nickolai had to admit to himself that he found it seductive.  
Fadi's body seemed to go rigid for a moment, then relaxed back into 
the cushioned bench.  "You'll have a great time, and I'll get you 
back to your tour before breakfast."

    "It's an offer I can't refuse," Fadi gulped, the motion of his 
arm indicating clearly to Nickolai that he was returning the 
favorable fondling under the table.

    After dinner, E'Lyn led the four of them upstairs, indicating 
two doorways on the right side of the hallway.  "They're both 
ready.  Take one.  G'night!"  She bounded down the stairs in a 
rapid, hopping gait.  Nickolai and Furry took the one that was 
further down from the stairwell, while Skii and Fadi disappeared 
into the other.  
    Nickolai was still lost in thought as the door closed behind 
him.  "What are you thinking about?" Furry asked as she looked 
around.  Nickolai glanced up to take in the surrounding as well; 
Four-poster bed with real netting, which was good because the 
window apparently had no glass or netting of it's own.  Wood 
furniture all around, and the only light was a single candle with a 
brass reflective hood by the bedstand.

    "Huh?" he replied finally, having forgotten the question.

    "I said, what are you thinking about?"

    "Oh, I just... you know, Skii can be damned seductive.  I still 
can't believe how much command he had over that guy."

    "Well, for someone who enjoys one nighters, he's good at 
getting them into bed with him."  Her comment was emphasized by a 
loud *thump* against the wall, followed by a very human giggle and 
an equally feline moan of pleasure.

    Nickolai sighed.  "Are we going to be hearing that all night?"

    "Probably," Furry said, walking up to him and putting her arms 
around his waist.  "Or we could fight back," she said seductively.

    "How so?" Nickolai replied, smiling.

    "We could fight fire with fire.  Y'know, make a little noise of 
our own."

    "What did you have in mind?" he asked, knowing the answer 
already.

    "Oh, I don't know," she replied as her paws reached inside his 
tailed dinner jacket and slid down the length of his body.  "I'm 
sure we 
could think of something."  He could feel her paws touching the 
insides of his thighs as her paws rose and roamed over his cock, 
which was already straining the tight material of his suit.

    He picked her hat off of her head and threw it aside.  With a 
growing awareness of discomfort at his own clothing's tight fit, he 
reached down and tugged gently on the straps at her shoulders.  She 
smiled and raised her arms above her head, allowing him to pull her 
dress off with one easy tug.  Naked now, she reached up and began 
progressively opening each clasp as she worked her way down.  She 
stopped at the clasp above his groin and reached in, her paws 
sliding gently over his chest, touching his nipples and scratching 
his skin.  He closed his eyes and placed his hands back on her 
shoulders for support; he wanted to concentrate on her touch, and 
that seemed to contradict his sense of balance.

    She laughed softly and leaned in to kiss his chest, parting the 
jumpsuit with one paw, the other reaching down to open the clasps 
over his crotch.  Once free, she pushed both paws over his 
shoulders, pushing his jacket off, then back across and down his 
arms, pulling the one- piece down his arms and off his waist.  She 
smiled and pulled the suit all the way down, coming to a full kneel 
at his feet, unbuckling the clasps on his shoes and helping them 
off as he stepped out of them.

    She stood, looking him over as he stood there, naked.  With a 
mischievous grin, she placed both hands on his hips and with a 
sudden shove he found himself thrown onto the bed.

    "Wow," he said.

    She smiled and jumped on the bed, straddling his body.  "Lie 
down," she instructed in a voice that would brook no argument.  He 
watched as she reached up and undid the ties holding up the 
netting; it fell down around them, and Nickolai found the effect 
fascinating.  It was as if the outside world became indistinct and 
hazy, the only light coming from  a single bright, yellow spot to 
his right, and the only real, solid thing he could see was Jofuran.

    She smiled and said, "Lie still," sliding down between his open 
legs.  Still grinning, she leaned over and took the toes of his 
foot into her mouth.  He could feel her teeth sliding over his 
toes, and despite his claims to be unticklish, he felt wonderful 
under her talented tongue.  She gently bit his ankle then moved up 
to nibble on his calf.  The sensations of her whiskers and fur 
against his legs belied his claim, and he squirmed slightly as she 
worked her way up to his thigh.  She was bending over, her butt 
clearly in the air behind her, and he reached up with the foot she 
had been licking to slide it along her thigh.  She looked up into 
his eyes momentarily, then leaned over to kiss the tops of his 
thighs, ignoring his groin and proceeding on to his belly, then 
further up to his nipples.  As she slid, the most erotic sensation 
he was of her nipples trailing along his thighs and up the sides of 
his stomach.  She reached his lips and they kissed, once, lightly- 
then he threw his arms around her and kissed her hard.

    "I love you," he sighed.

    "I love you too," she said.  She stepped over his thighs, so 
that rather than sitting between his legs she was straddling his 
torso.  She crawled up until her cunny was centimeters from his 
face.  "Lick me," she said, "please?"

    He eased his arms under her and spread the lips of her cunny 
with his fingers, looking at it.  Staring at every soft detail, he 
tried to memorize every nook and fold with his eyes.  He raised his 
head slightly and pressed his tongue to her, licking the warm 
flesh.  She lowered herself slightly, so he could rest his head 
against the pillow.  He made love to her cunt with his tongue, 
parting it open with his lips and diving deep between the folds of 
her labia, drinking what lay there.  She leaned over and grabbed 
the headboard.  "My clit, lick me there."

    Nickolai smiled and bent his neck back, reaching the little 
white nubbin she had begged him to pay attention to, and with 
careful licks explored the tiny hood she had, slowly encouraging 
her clitoris out further, running his tongue around it before 
concentrating directly on it.  She shuddered gently.  "Oh, 
Nickolai..."

    He licked her a little harder, spurred on her soft sigh and her 
body's equally soft trembles.  His arms lay under her legs and he 
placed his hands on her furry buttocks, gently caressing them as he 
licked her cunny.  He could feel the muscles in them tensing as she 
prepared for release, and he could feel the fur running between his 
fingers as he caressed her.  He concentrated directly on her spot, 
licking up and down with force.  She sighed his name once more, 
"Nickolai," and then her whole body seemed to shatter in orgasmic 
release; the headboard creaked as she held on, moaning in one, long 
song.

    "Oh, Nickolai," she sighed.  "That was... that was so good."

    "Thank you," he smiled up at her.  "It's great watching you 
climax."

    "Really?" she asked.  "I feel the same way... it's great 
watching you."

    Nickolai's thoughts for a reply were interrupted by a regular, 
rhythmic banging sound from the next room, high up near the 
ceiling.  He looked at Furry, who smiled.  "The bedposts."

    "Uh-huh," she said, trying to control a laugh.  "They're being 
pretty... vigorous."

    "Would you like to be vigorous back?" he suggested.

    "No," she said, "I have a better idea."  She crawled back down 
his body, until she was kneeling directly above his crotch.  "I 
like this position," she smiled, reaching down to stroke his soft 
penis.  Under her influence, it didn't stay that way for long, and 
in moments he had as intense an erection as he felt he'd attained 
in his entire life.  She held it in her left hand, holding it up 
and aiming it towards her cunt.  "You want me to put it in?" she 
smiled, rubbing the head against her lips. 

    "I do," he replied, smiling.

    "So do I," she said, easing down onto.  Nickolai could feel 
every millimeter of motion, as her cunny parted open for him and 
his head made its way into her body.  He could feel the soft walls 
of her cunt surround him, hold him, grip him, and when she came all 
the way down and pressed down, further, he could feel his cock 
nestling up against her cervix.  She smiled down at him through 
half-closed eyes, then began sliding up and down in an agonizingly 
slow motion.  "Oh, Kolya," she sighed.  "I love you."

    He reached up and touched her soft stomach, feeling her fur, 
feeling each individual hair slide under his palms as they made 
love together.  "I love you too, Jofuran," he sighed.  He looked 
down to watch his shaft disappear between the full lips of her sex, 
and then reappear.  The sensation of her tight cunny sliding along 
the length, especially when she neared the top and just the head of 
his cock was held by the ring of her opening, drove him closer to 
orgasm.

    She smiled and rode him, leaning back slightly.  "Hold my 
paws," she said.  Curious, he did as she asked, grabbing hold of 
her paws.  She leaned back further, using his grip to keep herself 
from falling all the way over.  "Like this, it feels so neat," she 
sighed, applying all her energy with her legs to their lovemaking.  
The view Nickolai had was more wonderfully explicit than any video 
or biocybe-- he was so aware that she was here, and she was his, 
and watching his cock bend and slide into her cunt like that was 
mindboggling.  But to see it he was holding   his head up, and 
eventually his neck tired and his head dropped back to the pillow.

    Furry pulled on his arms, hauling herself back into a sitting 
position and his range of view.  "Ready?" she asked.

    "For what?" he asked.

    She smiled and leaned over, placing her hands on his chest.  
She began to stroke him faster, her legs working hard.  "Thrust 
back," she whispered.

    He smiled, taking the suggestion and pushing upwards as she 
came down for each stroke.  Their hips met in the air, striking 
with sound. The bed began to creak under them as they pushed 
onwards.  "That's it, Nickolai," she sighed.  "That's it.  I'm 
going to come if you do that."

    "Really?"

    "Uh-huh," she gasped, her nose wrinkled into an aggressive 
snarl as she pushed downwards yet again.  "Fah, that's so good."  
Nickolai could feel his orgasm calling, that painful tightness in 
the head of his cock that told him that, this time, his orgasm was 
really on its way.  He smiled and began pushing up harder, their 
rhythm breaking for a second before synching up again.  He laughed, 
and she smiled wide in return.  "Yes, Nickolai," she moaned.  
"Yes... Yes!"  Her body shuddered; she seemed about to fall on him, 
but instead she dropped her head in supplication to her climax, 
breathing hard.  When she looked up, the look on her face was 
unmistakable determination.  She resumed her stroking, and the 
sensations in his groin were growing, growing.

    "Furry," he gasped.  "Slow down, I'm right there."

    "Good!"

    "No, I want... I want the final moments to last," he begged 
her.

    She stopped, and slowly lowered herself completely, burying his 
cock inside her.  Then, with almost painful slowness she pulled off 
of him, then back down.  The pleasure, the pressure, grew, but 
slowly, as he had asked.  "Furr...ah!" he gasped as he thrust up 
into her, hard, feeling his cock pulse as he came, shooting into 
her.

    "How was that?" she asked.

    His brain dizzied by the force of his orgasm, he couldn't 
answer her for a second.  When he finally found his voice, he said, 
"What do you think?"

    She leaned over and kissed his forehead.  "I think, my love, 
that's it time to go to sleep."

    "I think so, too."

    "Cuddle?" she asked, pulling the covers aside and getting under 
the bedsheet.  The night was warm and the blankets weren't 
necessary.  And from the sounds outside, the netting was.  Furry 
poked her head out of the folds by her corner and blew out the 
candle.

    Nickolai eased himself under the sheet and joined her, cuddling 
close as she'd asked.  Although he was tired, their proximity and 
body heat kept him awake, and after a few minutes he pulled away 
from her, lying down on his back, thinking about how wonderful she 
was, about how wonderful they whole trip had really been.  Even 
getting stabbed hadn't been that bad... he'd been unconscious for 
most of it, and it had reconciled Furry and his mother.  He fell 
asleep with these thoughts.

--
"Journal Entry 192 / 0916  [ Travellogue, Day 10 ]"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are copyright (C) 1989-1995 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  Redistribution of
this work for profit is reserved to the author.  Redistribution by
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Any redistribution must include this copyright notice intact.
--
Elf Sternberg            FUCK THE CDA!       (Cohen vs. California, 1971)
elf@halcyon.com          Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
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