Anotherwhere Chapter 8: Healing

“To paraphrase; the reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,” the disembodied voice of the AI known as Forest said with a twinkle of humor. “And, at least physically, I’m happy to say that you’re hale and healthy as well.”

“Thank you Forest,” Rory said, getting off the med table in sickbay. Lying on it did conjure memories she’d rather not have. “You qualified your diagnosis, I note.”

“You’re suffering from post-trauma stress reaction,” the AI said to her. “There would be something wrong with you if you were not. I’m not human and I’m suffering very unpleasant memories of the death of my human body, and for me it was merely an inconvenience. My new body will be decanted by this evening.”

Rory sighed. She was alone in Sickbay with the AI as her doctor. She was glad the AI was OK, he had become a close friend and partner and as close to a crew-member as one of the AIs who ran the Senate could be, given their much larger role of running the Federacion.

“I flinched when Colin hugged me,” she confessed. “He pretended not to notice but I know he did. It broke my heart even more.”

“If it helps, he’s been talking to Rock about it. They’re quite close, its really rather amusing how similar they are in personality. Rock may be new to full AI status but he’s quite adept at counseling humans, and he genuinely cares. Honestly, with his short amount of life-experience to date, he's got more in common with you than with me. I won’t share what Colin has said in confidence but I will assure you that Colin is more worried about you than anything else and was not offended by your reaction.”

Rory tried to hold them back but she found herself crying, mostly in relief but also with anger and a sense of loss.

“Your reactions are quite normal for anyone who has been in a similar situation. We are commencing sleep therapy immediately and we fully expect you to be feeling much better within a few days. As your doctor, I prescribe an overnight on the planet. Get some sun and fresh air. Sheila has reserved a beach bungalow for you both and I insist you go. Take some time off and get your head straight. At the end of a week we’ll re-evaluate you and, assuming all goes as expected, you can return to duty.”

“Make it five days. I’ll go insane if I have to sit around for a week,” Rory said.

“A week,” Forest insisted. “You won’t be sitting around. Sheila wants to know everything you can tell her about what happened, specifically how you killed the Other - who, by the way, we now know is called a Calcheridon.”

“How do we know that?”

“You did manage to get us a prisoner, just not the species we expected,” Forest said. “We’ve been working on the human captive and she’s able to tell us much more about the Calchereidon’s than we would have expected.”

“Yeah, I’m never gonna remember that name. They’re Rexes and fuck them if it’s insulting.”

“Indeed,” Forest agreed.

“So,” she said, changing the subject as she got dressed, “you tell Astra yet that your new body is almost ready?”

“Do you think she cares?” He asked.

“For an omniscient super-being, you’re kinda dense sometimes, aren’t you?” Rory said, amused.

“I don’t think I’m dense at all,” he grumbled, “but you humans, especially females are so confusing sometimes.”

“Only to males,” she said. “Yes. I’m sure she cares.”

“Good,” Forest said. “Um, I’ve made a few changes to my human body. I hope she’ll like them.”

“Oh?” Rory asked, piqued, “Not to your facial structure I hope, It’s ‘you’ she cares about, not the package.”

“No, not really,” Forest said, embarrassed, “I uh, went with a more realistic look. Hair and all.”

Rory suppressed a smile, “I’m sure she’ll love it. Now, back to what we were talking about before. How did I kill the Rex?”

“Life-energy.”

“What, you mean the sex magic they use in that other dimension? That’s real?” Rory said, astonished.

“What were you focused on as you orgasmed?” Forest asked.

“Killing that scaly fucker in many unpleasant ways. He was telling me what he was going to do to all of you.”

“There you have it. Your pre-concious mind used the life energy you were giving off to kill the Rex.”

“But how?”

“That’s what Shiela wants to talk to you about. We think you accessed Rory B’s memories on how to channel it and just did it instinctively. The difference is that they’re able to store it for later use. The fact that you were giving it off at the time you needed it allowed you to use it.”

“So basically that fucker gave me the tools to kill him with due to his sadism and arrogance. By trying to humiliate me, he allowed me to kill him.”

“Yes,” Forest agreed.

Rory smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant expression.

Astra sat on the couch watching her screen. Dee was off with Rock so she sat in her underwear eating pizza and half watching a drama. Her com unit chimed and she responded.

“Yes?”

“Astra, it’s Forest.”

She brightened immediately. “Hey! How are you doing?”

“Uh, good,” he said. “I’ve, uh, got my new body and I was hoping we could, um, see each other or something.”

“Absolutely! Give me twenty minutes to get ready and I’ll meet you wherever you want.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he responded with obvious disappointment.

“Why isn’t that good?” She asked.

“Well, erm, you see, ah, I’m outside your door right now.”

Astra shrieked and jumped up from the couch running to the door and throwing it open. She blinked as it was Forest but not quite. This Forest looked entirely human down to having gray hair in a short buzz cut.

She shrieked again and threw her arms around him, dragging him into her apartment and kissing him firmly. He hesitated a moment then crushed her to himself, returning her kiss.

When they came up for air she hit him on the chest, “Don’t you EVER do that again! I thought you were dead!”

He held her and just smiled. “I’m an AI. I take a lot of killing.”

“It isn’t funny!” She insisted, irrationally getting angry. She knew she was being irrational and that just made her angrier.

“You’re right.” He agreed. “But had I not acted, YOU would have died and that’s an outcome that I do not wish to live with. Rationally I know I’ll outlive you and that thought already causes me pain. I will not let it happen prematurely so I can categorically say that if you’re ever in that situation again, I shall act exactly as I did.”

She looked him in the eye and slammed the door behind them. “Come with me mister.”

They only made it as far as the couch as Astra began tearing off his clothing. She made a mental note to pick out some other outfits for him as, while he looked good in gray pants and a black top, it would be nice to vary things up once in a while. The thought disappeared when she found that yes, he was entirely human and rather spectacularly so. She gave a little squeal and pushed him down on the couch, mounting him and taking him inside of her.

“Oh you’re stuck with me for quite a while,” she whispered in his ear as she started to bounce up and down on him.

“Good,” he said, giving over to the simple joy of being human and in love.

Sheila and Rory spent the day on the private beach she had reserved for them. Both applied sunscreen liberally, being fair complected and it allowed just enough UVB through to give them the wonderful feeling brought on by mild exposure without burning. Besides, the application was fun itself. Rory’s sleep therapy had been helping and there was something about being with a woman that was less triggering than with a man. So much so that she felt it excised some of her demons and was looking forward to sharing that with Colin.

Later, in the shade of a stone cabana, she let Sheila hold her and allowed herself to cry. Sheila said nothing, just held her and stroked her hair. It was good to have a friend outside of her crew. As much as she loved Colin, she felt the need to protect him from her own weakness. She knew that was a pathology that she needed to get past but piano, piano as the saying went.

“One thing,” Rory said to Sheila later, when emotions had been banked, “So I basically killed the Rex by through cumming.”

“Well there was a little more to it than that love, but yes, your orgasm was the, let’s call it ‘engine’ of his demise.”

“So what if I inadvertently kill someone while I’m fucking them?” She asked. “It’s kind of been on my mind.”

“Ah. Well, I’d suggest not fucking someone whilst your angry enough to kill them first,” Sheila said with a twinkle.

Rory laughed.

“But, have you noticed the bracelets I wear?” Sheila asked. “Do they look familiar?”

“I…OH!” Rory said, accessing B’s memories. “I thought they looked familiar! I just assumed I had seen them in a store or something.”

“No, these aren’t available from any merchant yet,” Sheila said wryly. “The other dimension folk use them to channel life-energy. Whist we can’t do that here, we do have some very limited access, probably because of our shared consciousness with our counterparts across the barrier. Without them, it requires an almost life-and-death focus situation as you found yourself in for us to be able to reach it. With it, it’s a bit easier.”

“So you’ve experimented with it as well?” Rory asked.

“A bit. It’s rather limiting that we can’t store the energy, so you need to be orgasming when you access it and concentration is, er, difficult at that moment in time absent extreme circumstance. So the short answer to your question is that you’re safe to have all the orgasms you want with no worry. Which actually brings us to something I was hoping you might help me with…”

“Oh?” Rory asked.

“Since you’ve shown you can channel life-energy, I’d like you to work with me. I’ve practiced trying to control and channel it, I’d like you to generate it and I’ll try and channel it.”

“So you want me to be your orgasm battery?” Rory giggled.

“I’ve seen your orgasms,” Sheila said wryly. “More like orgasm fusion reactor.”

“Flatterer. So what, I masturbate and you do some woo-woo stuff or do you do it while Colin is fucking me?”

“It works best if you’re having your orgasm with another and I’m afraid Colin isn’t cleared for this. I was thinking you and Forest copulate and I channel.”

Rory blinked.

“I’m not opposed to having sex with Forest. I just wonder if it will ‘complicate’ things.”

“How so?” Sheila asked.

“Well I assumed he’s in a relationship with you…” Rory went on.

“Yes, we’re old and dear friends who have sex. So?”

“OK, that’s fine with me then but what about Astra?”

“Ah,” Sheila said, sitting back. “I know he’s interested in her. Have they consummated their flirtation yet?”

“I think it’s a little more than a flirtation,” Rory said, a little irritated.

“Quite. Sorry. Maybe I am a tad jealous after all. I’ll need to reflect on that,” Sheila said, examining her own conscious. “Sorry love, that was a bit bitchy. I need to get to know Astra more. Would you like me to talk to her?”

“About that? No. I’d love you to get to know her, but I’ll talk to her about this. We’re spacers. I don’t think it will be an issue. We know sex is just a fun activity, I just won’t do it behind her back.”

“She’s not cleared to know they why of what we’re doing,” Sheila warned.

“I understand. I’ll handle it.”