Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 20

Author's Note:

Chapter 19 ended with Brad Formast arriving on Samothea, nearly five years after Ezra crash-landed there.

Brad landed at the Cloner City, which is ruled by Gloria, Chief of the Cloners, and her Council, including Madam Lawspeaker and Madam Medic.

Carlin, a Woodlander, girlfriend and future bedmate of Yael (once called Tamar) lives in the Cloner City as a Junior, a kind of temporary servant to the Cloner Council.

Wildchild (also known as Samothea) and her bedmate, Hazel, are presently staying with the Farmers, the tribe of Hazel's birth.

Solange, ex-chief of the Herder Tribe, lives in the Cloner City with her daughter, Tahney, and her bedmate, Ash. She serves on the Currency Committee.

It happened to be the weekly market day when Brad arrived, so the City was full of Herders and Farmers as well as Cloners.

On Celetaris, Danielle Goldrick leads the Samothea Project, dedicated to establishing permanent contact with Samothea, rescuing her brother, Ezra, and discovering what happened to Yumi Takahashi. A principal actor in the Samothea Project is Rosa Silverstein, once Danielle's pupil, now the Project's chief engineer.

1 Brad in the Cloner City

Madam Lawspeaker led Brad into the Council Chamber, where she took her seat with the other Councillors on the throne-like chairs.

Every woman in the City tried to crowd into the hall. Some had to stay on the steps by the door. Others climbed the stairs to peek over the balcony.

Flanked by her Councillors, Gloria was at her most dignified as she graciously received the visitor from space.

"I'm Gloria, Chief of the Cloner Tribe," she said. "Welcome to Samothea."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I'm Brad Formast, from Earth, and I bring you greetings from Doctor Danielle Goldrick and the Samothea Project Team on Celetaris."

"My mission is to discover the fate of Ezra Goldrick, Yumi Takahashi and the colony of Samothea. I'm glad to find the colony surviving so well. Are Yumi and Ezra here? I have messages for them both."

"I'm Yumi," the woman herself said, weaving her way through the throng.

"These letters are for you, Ma'am."

Brad took three thin pieces of paper from inside his grey airsuit. There was a short note from Danielle, introducing herself, a page from Michio Nakatani making an awkward but humble apology, and a long letter from Itsuki, her brother, telling her everything that had happened since she left.

Yumi sank to the back of the crowd to sit and read her letters, tears forming in her eyes.

"Is Ezra here, Ma'am? May I see him?" Brad asked.

"Ezra is presently visiting the Herder Tribe," Gloria explained. "I will send for him."

She addressed the whole assembly:

"Ladies, everyone will want to come and meet Mr. Formast, so will you set up the tents and marquees we use for the Cloner Fair? Galatea, will you please send out riders to fetch back the Tribal Chiefs and Ezra?"

This occasioned an argument between the feisty Herder braves, none of whom wanted to be away from the Cloner City, where so many interesting things might happen. The argument ended only when Galatea ordered three unlucky women to ride out. Reluctantly, they left to fetch their horses and set off for the Herders' Northern Camp.

"Mr. Formast," Gloria continued when it was quiet enough for her to be heard. "It will take a couple of days for the chiefs and Ezra to get here, so I hope you will enjoy the hospitality of the Cloner City while we wait."

"Thank you, Ma'am. ... Can you tell me something? Where are all the men?"

"There are none, except for Ezra and Yumi's son, Hayate. Come and have some refreshments and I'll explain."

While Brad joined the Councillors at the high table, Madam Lawspeaker tried to shoo away the inquisitive women who crowded the hall but Gloria overruled her. Another visitor from outer space was such an amazing event that it would be cruel to exclude anyone from the excitement.

The women settled down to observe the meeting, so the Juniors had to push through them to bring in glasses of fruit-juice and rough oat-cakes. Carlin was one of the Juniors who naturally caught Brad's roving eye as the girls curtseyed prettily and took orders for tea.

After Gloria told Brad the story of Samothea, she had a question for him:

"Do you have a schedule for your visit to Samothea?" she asked. "When do you plan to return to Celetaris?"

"My schedule is flexible, Ma'am. I've enough fuel and food to last a month but, now I see the population of Samothea is thriving, I can stay as long as I like."

Brad said this with a certain relish, seeing the way the women were looking at him; yet he felt the honest requirement to add:

"However, because I have such good news to report, I know the Project Team would want me back as soon as possible, so they can make plans to send more ships here."

"More ships?" Madam Lawspeaker asked. "For what purpose?"

"I suppose, to bring more people here ... er, engineers and people like that. Settlers, ultimately."

If Brad sounded unsure, it was because he didn't know the political situation on Samothea. He naively assumed that everyone would want more people to come, especially men, to re-start the colonisation of their planet and to bring modern technology, machinery and medicine.

It seemed, however, that this was something the women needed to discuss. Not everyone wanted more men to come, though Brad was sure they all were pleased to welcome him.

Brad could see he was being sized-up and admired. He was used to female attention and rarely turned anyone away. He certainly wouldn't want to leave a planet of women on which he was only one of two adult men.

Brad leant back on his chair and tried not to feel too satisfied. He resisted the urge to put his feet on the table.

******

Two days later, despite being charmed by the women of Samothea, Brad was sexually frustrated.

However warmly he was welcomed by the Cloner Tribe - forty women competed to bring him treats or to try to engage his interest - it was all innocent and went nowhere. The women were incapable of lascivious behaviour. They were too open and honest. They were also restrained by a decision the Cloner Council took not to let anyone be bedmates with Brad until all the chiefs had been consulted.

Brad felt the delay keenly, having been alone in strict quarantine during his month of training for the mission.

A few things distracted him from the problem of lusting so ineffectually after so many available (and apparently willing) women.

He chose some light trousers and a shirt from the Cloners' store of unused men's clothes.

He was fed well but also subjected to as much questioning as he could stand, testing his innate politeness.

He tried to be useful, applying his handyman skills to help Yumi and Madam Scientist with the store of old-Earth technology, making repairs where he could. His own computer tab (a small pocket device, thin and light, covered with a dull metallic foil to shield it from the x-rays) packed up after a day, which worried him concerning his ship and the beacon for the return journey.

At last, the riders returned, bringing Calliope, Mirselene and Ezra, almost the whole Herder Tribe and an assortment of lucky women from the other tribes. Everyone else who could be spared was on her way by foot.

The chiefs and Ezra met Brad under a tent roof in the field outside the City. With open sides, the entire population of the Cloner City could witness the meeting, according to Gloria's rule that everything should happen in public.

Brad bowed politely when he was introduced to Mirselene and Calliope. He repeated his greeting from the Project Team. Calliope was charmed, pleased to meet another good-natured and agreeable man, but Mirselene resisted liking Brad, jealous on behalf of 'her' man when confronted by a younger, taller and better-looking specimen.

Ezra himself wasn't the slightest bit jealous. He shook hands enthusiastically with Brad, keen to make friends. As Brad spoke engagingly about Danielle, Roger and the Project Team, Ezra warmed strongly to him.

It was a peculiar feeling. Although he was satisfied with his thirty bedmates, whom he passionately loved, yet Ezra suddenly felt something he'd never felt in all the lonely weeks and months he spent aboard his space-ship, longing for female companionship.

Ezra realised, as a sort of revelation, how pleasant it was to spend time with another man.

They sat in a circle, waited on by the Juniors, surrounded at a distance by the irrepressible women of Samothea, who flatly refused to be left out of any conversation.

When the chiefs finally ran out of questions for Brad, Solange (who noticed everything) suggested that the men might like to be left alone to talk about 'man stuff', unencumbered by so many nosy women. No one else thought that was a good idea except Gloria, whose judgment held sway; yet it took some effort to shepherd all the women out of the tent.

Finally, Ezra and Brad were alone.

"Fuck me, Ezra!" Brad said. "I know your nickname is 'Lucky Ezra', but, fuck me! You're the luckiest son-of-a-bitch in the galaxy!"

"I am lucky," Ezra agreed. "I hope I'm wise enough to appreciate my luck and not take it for granted."

Brad stared at him for a second and then laughed, punching Ezra playfully on the arm.

"No shit! Are you for real? I don't believe any man is that pious. Or are you trying to keep all the trim to yourself?"

"Trim?"

"You know: skirt, pussy, tail ..."

"I know what the word means. I just don't think anyone should refer to women that way, especially not the women here."

Brad stared at him again, this time in a moment of self-realisation.

"Oh, God! Ezra, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. Sometimes my mouth works on its own. Look, I respect women, I really do; it's just that I haven't been with a woman for a month."

Ezra was unimpressed, though he was prepared to give Brad a second chance.

"That reminds me," Brad said. "Hestia sends her best wishes."

"You know Hestia? What reminded you of her?"

"She was the last woman I had sex with."

"Oh!" Ezra smiled. "How was she, I mean how is she?"

Brad smiled as well.

"She was - I mean she is - fantastic. She's friends with your sister, you know. Hestia told me the story of how they met but I didn't pay that much attention, being distracted by other stuff, you understand."

Ezra understood. He'd been distracted by the gorgeous Entertainer plenty of times himself.

As Brad tried to recall the story, Ezra began warming to him again, thinking it was a peculiar kind of camaraderie, bonding over a woman they'd both slept with. Soon they were telling each other tall tales, as all planetary prospectors did, talking of missions gone wrong, of disasters narrowly avoided, of being sent out with the wrong equipment or inadequate supplies.

Brad was about twenty years younger than Ezra, but his stories were exactly the same, expressed in more recent slang.

The chiefs and Councillors who followed Gloria from the tent to discuss Brad's status during his visit to Samothea finally reached an agreement. Carlin was sent to invite the men to the market square to hear the judgment.

"Thanks, Carlin," Ezra said. "We'll follow you in a minute."

When the pretty girl curtsied and left, Ezra said to Brad:

"I can guess what the announcement concerns, so will you do me a favour?"

"Anything."

"There are some women whom I'd like you to avoid. One of them is Carlin."

"You're talking about sex, right? Man! I'm happy to do whatever you say. ... Shame about that cute blonde girl, though. Are you saving her for yourself?"

"She's a good friend," Ezra said, meaningfully, "and a sort of daughter."

"Sorry, man, it's my mouth going off on its own again."

In the market square, Madam Lawspeaker stood on a podium to address the crowd.

"Ladies," the Lawspeaker said in her rasping voice, "the Council has made a ruling about Brad Formast, our visitor from Celetaris. Because Ezra is sexually forbidden to the women of the Cloner, Farmer and Miner tribes, our rule is that Brad is available to anyone from those tribes who wants to become pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Brad asked. "What do you mean, pregnant?"

"I assume you know the word, young man," Madam Lawspeaker said, "so I can only guess that you're opposed to impregnating the women of Samothea. Don't worry, we won't insist that you remain here to help raise the children, unless you want to (as Ezra does)."

"No, I don't mean that, Ma'am. I mean, I can't make anyone pregnant."

"You can't? Are you impotent?"

"Certainly not! I mean that I had a contraceptive shot four months ago. The shot lasts a year."

"I understand what you mean by a 'contraceptive shot'. Why would you take such a thing?"

"You know, to avoid complications. I'd just earned a good bounty for a prospecting job and went partying for three months. I didn't want to think about contraception. ... er, does it make any difference, you know, to, er ..."

Brad tailed off (ironically, just as his prospect of getting any tail also seemed to tail off).

There was a hush in the crowd as Madam Lawspeaker addressed the Councillors.

"As Mr. Formast is temporarily sterile, is there any point in any woman taking him as a bedmate?" she asked.

"Man-sex is just as much for love and fun as for procreation," Solange replied.

There were other opinions but Gloria cut the discussion short, asking Madam Lawspeaker what the law said on the matter.

"There is only the law against adultery, Madam," she said, "which we have agreed to ignore in Ezra's case."

"Very well, then that should be our ruling in Brad's case."

Madam Lawspeaker clearly disliked the conclusion but she announced it anyway.

"Ladies, the council rules that Brad Formast is permitted to any woman who wants him."

There was a loud cheer from the crowd. When it was quiet, Ezra asked the Lawspeaker a question.

"Madam, did you say 'any woman'?"

"I did."

"But what of the Outer Tribes?"

"You mean your current bedmates? Of course, each tribe can make its own rules but if there is no chance of a woman getting pregnant from Brad, why should they be different? ... Or are you saying that it's proper for women to share a man but not for men to share a woman?"

"I'm not saying it's improper, Madam, but that men and women feel differently about it."

"Really?"

"It's true," Brad confirmed.

The Council talked among themselves once more.

"Very well," Madam Lawspeaker announced. "In recognition of a peculiar male sensitivity in this matter, Brad is permitted only to the permanent members of the Home Tribes ..."

"Except for Hazel and Yumi ..." Ezra added.

"... except that Hazel, Yumi, Samothea, Solange and Carlin are off-limits to him, though they currently reside in the Cloner City or on the Farms," the Lawspeaker concluded.

******

While Ezra stayed in the Cloner City he was technically still visiting the Herders, so he slept in one of their tents and took part in their nightly orgies. Solange sent her bedmate, Ash, to have sex with him. Still not pregnant, it was the best time of the month for her.

The other women in the tent sympathised with Ash but they all wanted a turn with Ezra, so they enticed him with eager kisses and warm mouths on his cock, hands everywhere. It was dark and there was a lot of jostling and sharing. Ezra mostly lay on his back and let his bedmates do the work. He barely knew whom he was fucking; but after he'd cum in one of his bedmates and then recovered, the other girls paired off and left him with Ash.

She crawled over and lay on him, pushing her mouth onto his. After a few minutes, he had her flip around and sank his tongue into her sweet wet pussy.

When she was properly worked up, Ash rode him, swivelling her pelvis to a sensual rhythm, his mouth warming her tits, until she leaned back and pumped with her pelvis, thrusting frenetically toward a hot and satisfying climax. Small nervous judders shook her thighs as the orgasm broke. Then he came and they gripped each other tightly as the tension fizzled away.

She collapsed onto him. Her long black hair draped over them. She was hot. There was a thin line of sweat on her back, which Ezra brushed away as he lovingly ran his hand along her curving spine. Always in such moments, he whispered his hopes that this time they'd been successful, but now he could add:

"Things are different, Ash. There's contact with Celetaris, where there are surely doctors and clinicians who specialise in pregnancy. They will help us."

Ash was content. She liked that he thought it was his problem as much as hers. She kissed him and rested her head on his chest. The other Herders reached their noisy climaxes and came to share their heat with Ash and Ezra, wanting to be held. They snuggled up like seals on a beach, until he was happily trapped under a pile of hot women.

******

As Ezra and Ash were fucking, Solange and her daughter, Tahney, were in bed in a room in the Council Hall. Neither of them was asleep.

Tahney fidgeted so much that Solange could doze for only half-an-hour at a time.

"What is it, Baby?" Solange asked, shaken awake again.

"I miss Aunt Ash," the little girl complained.

"I do, too," Solange answered. "Stay here."

She wrapped Tahney up in the blanket and, despite the cold night, crossed naked to the bedroom door, which she silently opened. She looked both ways along the corridor. Only one light was visible: a small flickering yellow line showed under the door of Gloria's apartment.

Solange walked up to the door and knocked.

"Come in," Gloria said.

She was sitting on her settee, working by candle-light. Three large tomes lay open on the coffee table. She was making notes on sheets of paper strewn around the settee. Gloria frowned as she looked up. Her eyes were tired but she took a good look at the naked woman in front of her.

Solange was a lithe athletic Zulu woman, deceptively slight, with a long pink scar on one side of her thin waist. Much of her skin, from ankles to neck, was covered in purple tattoos.

"Hello, Solange. What is it?"

"Tahney and me. We can't sleep alone."

It took Gloria a moment to process the oxymoron; then she smiled.

"Alright. I'll join you. I'm not getting anywhere and reading by candlelight is giving me a headache."

After a quick wash, Gloria followed Solange to her room, where she undressed and joined Solange and Tahney in bed.

The women snuggled Tahney between them, who wriggled around, trying to find the best position. Her mother was flat-chested but Gloria was a full-bodied woman and well-endowed. Tahney nuzzled her face against Gloria's breasts. Warm again and pressed by naked flesh on all sides, the girl was comforted.

The women of Samothea usually slept naked together, sharing their heat during the freezing-cold nights. The custom had taken on a life of its own, so that most Samotheans now found it hard to sleep unless they had a naked body to cuddle.

Although she'd slept alone for some years in her apartment in the Council Hall, Gloria none the less took part in the custom of sharing a bed whenever she was invited. In truth, she enjoyed the intimacy, living as she did without a regular bedmate.

Neither woman was sleepy now. They let Tahney nod off and then talked in whispers.

"So, what about Brad?" Solange asked.

"What about him?"

"When are you going to fuck him?"

"Solange! What makes you think I want Brad sexually?"

"Because he's beautiful, Gloria, and you're a lusty woman in the prime of your life. Why wouldn't you want him?"

"I admit his virtues but a chief has to maintain her dignity."