Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 23

When the robot cooker pinged to say dinner was ready, the girls did their chore of setting the table and serving the food. With everyone seated and starting on their plates, Danielle began.

"After I won an industry award for designing the Beltway hyperspace junctions, the master of Trinity College, Cambridge invited me to teach an undergraduate course on hyperspace navigation."

"I loved my weekly lessons. I enjoyed the eager enthusiasm of intelligent young minds. It gave me such confidence that, one day, when I went to the pub with some colleagues, I boasted that I could explain any concept in physics at a high-school level. My friends accepted the challenge and, that night, asked me a dozen questions."

"Some of the answers I gave were the standard textbook ones but other questions required me to invent new analogies to explain the underlying concepts. I really enjoyed doing that."

"Other people in the pub joined in, including one man in particular."

"Was that Roger?" Yael interrupted to ask.

"No it wasn't Roger, it was someone called Simon. Anyway, I had fun and impressed them all, so we agreed to do it again. Next week, Simon brought someone ..."

"Was that Roger?" Yael interrupted again.

"Yes, Yael, that was Roger. Simon and Roger were flatmates. Simon was the best man at our wedding."

"Well, Roger had a question for me. He wanted me to explain electromagnetism. Now that can't really be done at high-school level, not properly, so I thought he meant to show me up, asking his question in a supercilious manner, as a challenge."

"You disliked Roger when you first met him?" Yael asked, astounded.

"Oh, yes!"

"But Roger's lovely," Yael exclaimed. "We all adore him, especially Madam Gloria."

"Well, he grows on you," Danielle said, smiling at Roger's embarrassment. "Anyway, as I say, though I love a challenge, I was a little offhand in my response. I projected Maxwell's equations onto a wall and started to explain how the equations work."

"It was a genuine question," Roger insisted.

"I know, darling. ... So poor old Roger let me go on for a bit, then he said: 'I don't understand math' (he says 'math' instead of 'maths', you know, because he's an American). 'Can't you just explain it to me in words?' and I said: 'No, I can't. Electromagnetism is a mathematical phenomenon.'"

"'What do you mean?' Roger asked. 'Surely there are physical forces involved. I know that the north pole of a magnet attracts a south pole and repels another north pole. Can't you use an analogy to explain it?'"

"'You mean that electromagnetic forces are like little springs?' I said; 'so opposite poles or charges are like a stretched spring which wants to compress back again and same poles or charges are like a compressed spring that wants to stretch out?'"

"'Yes, something like that,' he admitted, 'but with elastic bands.'"

"'But what makes a spring work?' I asked, and Roger confessed he didn't know."

"'Electromagnetism,' I said. 'Springs are metal crystals whose lattices prefer to remain lined up. They resist being stretched or compressed, which moves atoms out of line, increasing the electromagnetic force, which tries to push or pull them back into shape.'"

"And as for the individual atoms, I said before Roger could ask ..."

"They're tiny magnets themselves," Yael said triumphantly.

"Exactly!" Danielle agreed. "We can explain electromagnetism by analogy to other electromagnetic effects, or we can use maths."

"And Roger still asked Danielle out after she humiliated him," Ezra added. "Roger's a saint."

"He is," Danielle admitted, "but actually I asked Roger out. When I realised he was not trying to show me up, I asked Roger to lunch so I could apologise. And the rest is history."

******

Hazel's switch to jolly-jee barely affected the daily lives of the girls. They had a few hours of lessons apart every day but the rest of the time they were as close as ever, especially Hazel and Yael, who were joined at the hip most of the time.

Wildchild didn't mind. She was not a tactile girl, except during sex, or when she and her bedmate danced together, but Hazel was a normal girl of Samothea, who liked to touch, kiss and hug all her friends.

Yael was the most tactile of them all, especially at the moment when she was missing her girlfriend, Carlin, and her boyfriend, Ryan. Carlin was still on Samothea, where she was a Junior in the Cloner City. And although Ryan was only a hundred miles away (as the jetcar flies) at the Ocean City medical school, yet Joan Mayfield told Yael not to visit her son while he revised for his summer exams. Being a girl from Samothea, she always obeyed her elders and never thought of sneaking over to Ocean City to relieve her frustrations.

It was good advice. By sublimating his sex-drive into his school-work, Ryan revised harder. He promised Yael that they would fuck each other senseless when his exams were over. This expectation buoyed her up but made her crave all kinds of intimacy as a substitute.

Yael was always in contact with someone. She sat on Ezra's lap if Freya or Annela hadn't gotten there first. She slept naked with Freya, cuddling and sharing their warmth. She hugged all her friends, every morning and night, or even if she hadn't seen them for only an hour. No one could resist the friendly girl.

It amused Danielle to watch Yael in her need for close contact. When Hazel and Wildchild were reading textbooks on the couch after dinner, they often left a gap between them. However slender Yael was, she couldn't get into the gap without forcing the girls to give way; which was what they always did, letting Yael wriggle her way in between. Then they would pin her in place with a tight squeeze and Yael would sigh happily.

******

Most mornings, the three girls joined Danielle, Cassie Leighton and Annela for a morning run around Fanshaw Park, finishing at the Medical Institute for a shower, where Annela and Cassie would stay for Annela's medical treatment. One time, as they finished their five-mile circuit, Yael was in front and still full of energy, jogging on the spot.

"Race you to those trees," she challenged and shot off.

For such a slender girl, Yael ran amazingly fast, though she was all knees and elbows. The others started after her.

Danielle was fast and reasonably fit. She chased after Yael but couldn't catch her. Cassie was a very fit athlete but a long-distance runner. She was also left behind. Annela was healthy, strong and buzzing with energy from her medical treatment, but she had a middle-distance runner's build and couldn't gain on Yael.

Everyone knew Wildchild was a good sprinter, so it was expected that she would soon catch up. She ran hard, leaning forward, her arms pumping. But Hazel was the fastest, with her sleek body and long legs. From behind the others, Hazel caught Yael at the same time that Wildchild did; then she began to move away from them both.

Wildchild and Yael put on an extra sprint to meet Hazel's challenge but Hazel streaked away, her blonde hair billowing, her perky buttocks bouncing in her pink shorts a yard ahead, then two yards ahead.

"Go around the pitch!" Danielle called breathlessly from behind the girls but they were too intent on the race to hear her.

They sprinted across a football match, right in front of one of the goals. The goalkeeper, a gangly youth with spots, stared as three of the most gorgeous girls he'd ever seen raced between him and a striker, who made a speculative long-range goal-attempt.

The ball sailed past the distracted goalie and into the net.

"You idiot!" someone shouted at him.

Meanwhile the oblivious girls reached the trees. Hazel was first. She'd dug in deep and maintained her lead to the end, putting everything she had into the sprint. Hazel collapsed on the ground, lying on her back, her chest heaving. Seconds later, Wildchild arrived with Yael, who collapsed next to Hazel, panting hard; but Wildchild remained standing, hands on hips, slightly bent over, regaining her breath.

The mature sensible women ran around the edge of the football pitch and now arrived at the trees. Behind them, the disgruntled goalie, mocked by his team-mates and unhappy at letting in a soft goal, tried to hoof the ball upfield but sliced it.

"Hey, watch out!" a male voice called out.

Wildchild looked up. As Danielle, Cassie and Annela arrived in a line, a football flew over their heads, heading straight for Yael's face. Wildchild reacted instinctively. With a step and a leap into the air, she executed a perfect bicycle kick to help the ball on its way into the woods before it made painful contact with Yael.

Three of the footballers ran over, including the spotty goalkeeper, who complained to Wildchild:

"You didn't need to do that!"

"Of course she did, you muppet," said one of the boys.

"Go and fetch it," said the other.

"Why me? She kicked it into the wood," the lad complained.

"And you booted it at her friend's head," a lad answered him.

Moaning to the indifferent universe, the goalkeeper moped off to find the ball among the trees. The other two lads came to check that the girls were all right.

"We're sorry about him," said one of the boys.

"That was a great kick," the other lad said to Wildchild. "Who do you play for?"

"Play what?" she asked.

"Football, of course," he said.

"What's 'football'?" Wildchild asked.

"Oh, do you call it 'soccer'?" the other lad suggested.

"I don't call it anything. I don't know what it is," Wildchild admitted.

The momentary confusion of the boys amused Danielle but, as she prepared to explain, she was happy to see them cotton on.

"You're the girls from Samothea," one of them said with an engaging smile. "Welcome to Celetaris. I'm Rod, this is Ed. The donkey who tried to brain your friend is Al."

"Why do you all have single-syllable names?" Yael asked.

"Laziness," said Rod.

"Embarrassment," said Ed. "He's really 'Roderick'."

"Yes, thank you, 'Edmundo'."

As the girls happily introduced themselves, Danielle had a good look at the lads.

They were handsome boys, about twenty years old. Tall, athletic and clean-shaven, with the beginning of summer tans. Rod was leaner than Ed. He had a straight nose, strong jaw, pale blue eyes and light brown hair. His smile was slightly arrogant. Danielle whispered to Cassie: "Rod's very good-looking, isn't he?"

As the wife of the handsomest man on Celetaris, Cassie was entitled to be critical.

"Yes, but he knows it," she said.

Ed was more muscular. He had dark-brown hair, intelligent brown eyes and a pleasant open expression. Although they were only a few minutes into the acquaintanceship, Danielle was already planning which of the lads better suited which of the girls.

Al returned with the football and was immediately summoned back to the pitch by the other footballers, impatient to get started. Meanwhile, the boys were explaining the rules and tactics of football.

"We put the donkeys in goal and the slow moving cattle, like Ed here, at the back," Rod said, "where they can do least harm. Meanwhile those of us with flair and poise are the strikers. We score all the goals."

"Ha!" replied Ed. "Strikers are lazy narcissists who hang on the goal-line and wait for the real players to pass them the ball so they can tap it in and earn the glory. You girls are fast. If you're well-balanced and can think, then you should be mid-fielders."

Danielle looked at the interaction going on between the youngsters and instantly made her plan. Saying it was time they went for a shower and to start their day's work, she shuffled the girls and Annela off toward the medical centre. As the lads reluctantly returned to their game, Danielle called after them.

"Just a moment," she said. "Are you boys at the scientific institute here?"

"We're at the business school, Doctor Goldrick," Rod said.

"Oh, you know me?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I see. Well, tell me something. Do you have girlfriends?"

"Danielle!" Cassie exclaimed. She had hung back to see what Danielle's bad intentions were. Now she knew. "That's wildly inappropriate."

"How can it be?" Danielle asked, pretending innocence. "We're supposed to be in loco parentis and any parent - any mother - would want to know about her son's social education."

"Really, Danielle!"

"You lads don't think it's an inappropriate question, do you?" Danielle asked the boys.

"What happens if we say Yes?" Ed asked.

"Then I speak to Vice-Chancellor Mayfield and get you expelled."

"In that case, no. We don't think it's inappropriate," Rod said with a knowing smile.

"See," Danielle said to Cassie, who rolled her eyes.

"Well, are you both single?" Danielle repeated.

"Yes, we are," said Rod.

"Good-looking lads like you? How come?"

"I've always been single," Rod said, "and Ed's just been dumped."

"Dumped, why?"

"We've been going to my parents' cabin to revise for our exams," Rod explained. "Just Ed and me; but his ex-girlfriend won't believe that we don't take any girls with us."

"Is it true, Ed?" Danielle asked.

"Yes," Ed said, looking at Rod. "I never bring a girl - nor accidentally meet one there completely by chance."

"It's no great loss," Rod blithely continued. "The exams start soon and Angie was only dating Ed so she could copy his work. Ed's a brain."

Danielle understood.

"And you, Rod (really, 'Rod'?)," she asked. He smiled his tantalising smile. "How come you've always been single?"

"I don't like entanglements," Rod admitted.

Danielle could almost hear Cassie's eyes rolling again.

"All right. I have a task for you lads. Would you like to meet Hazel and Samothea again?"

"Yes, definitely," they both said.

"Then I want you to pick them up tomorrow evening and take them to dinner, a movie, dancing or whatever completely innocent and respectable entertainments swains nowadays treat young ladies to. Will you do that?"

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ed.

"Willingly," said Rod.

"Good. You're to pick them up at 7pm and show them a good time, acting as gentlemen the whole time. And you're to bring them home before midnight, happy, charmed and completely unharmed. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"I don't mind if your well-mannered attentions make them fall for you a little but nothing more. Your careers depend on it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Do you need any money?"

"No, Ma'am," Rod answered. "We're both well off."

"That's sorted, then." She gave them her address. "See you tomorrow night."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you Ma'am."

The boys ran back to their game and Cassie and Danielle jogged to catch up with the others on the way to the medical centre.

"Really, Danielle," Cassie said again. "You trust those boys?"

"I trust the girls. ... No, I trust Ed as well. I like Rod but I don't trust him."

"You're right not to. What did he say: 'I don't like entanglements'? Rod's a cad!"

"Yes, I think he is," Danielle admitted, almost wistfully.

"You don't sound as disapproving as you ought to."

"I'll give the girls 'the talk', of course, Cassie, but I'm not sure I do disapprove. Tell me: how many boyfriends did you have before you met Paul?"

"Serious boyfriends, do you mean: as in sex?"

"Yes."

"None. I've known Paul since university. You?"

"I had a boyfriend at university but we broke up before I left; then I had only barren years until I met Roger. I think I would have liked to have known a cad or two."

"You don't mean that, Danielle."

"No, probably not, but it's a burden being a good girl all the time."

"As if you've ever tried," Cassie said dismissively, but Danielle laughed.

"I have my fun, I admit. Race you to the showers!"

The women put on a spurt and caught up the others at the medical centre heading for the showers.

Although there were showers enough for each to have her own, bathing was a communal activity on Samothea, so Annela shared a shower with Yael while Hazel shared one with Wildchild. They washed each other with bars of soft clay that Danielle had procured for them.

There was no soap on Samothea, so whether the benefits of using clay instead of soap were real or mere marketing, it was certainly true that the women of Samothea had lovely complexions, with glowing skins and healthy shining hair.

As the girls took turns to spread lather on each other, Danielle and Cassie shared a moment of unspoken understanding. They remembered what Annela had said at the restaurant during Mayor Esther Grandley's visit about how the women of Samothea seemed more friendly than the people of Celetaris because they washed and groomed each other every day and slept naked together on the cold nights.

With a shared smile, Danielle and Cassie agreed to copy their friends. They stepped under a shower together and started a stream of hot water. Danielle rubbed a cake of clay on a sponge to make a good strong lather. She began to wash Cassie's back, from neck and shoulders down to her bottom.

Cassie did the same for Danielle. Then came the legs. They were working up to washing each other's fronts. Danielle went first. Cassie was an athletic woman with a flat chest, so washing her front didn't take long; but Cassie had more work to do cleaning Danielle's much fuller tits, rinsing them thoroughly. During this procedure, the women avoided eye-contact.

The others smiled to see how hesitant and cautious Cassie and Danielle were.

For Hazel and Wildchild, cleaning each other was a beautiful daily ritual with a erotic charge, even in public. For Yael and Annela, it was a sensuous pleasure with no deliberate sexual content at all (although, in her heightened sexual state due to the medical treatment, Annela, like many women, was quite capable of having an orgasm from a massage or a visit to the hairdresser).

Annela washed Yael front and back while the ticklish girl squirmed and giggled. When Yael had washed Annela's top half, the girl bent over to hold her ankles with her legs apart so that Annela could clean between her perky buttocks and thin thighs. Yael arched her back to give Annela better access.

Watching them, Cassie and Danielle blamed themselves for feeling embarrassed. With a silent look, they agreed there was no reason for shyness; that it was only social convention they had to overcome.

As Danielle bent over, Cassie soaped up the sponge, poised to work it between her legs.

There was a moment's hesitation - one second of apprehension - then Cassie applied the sponge to Danielle's sensitive parts.

Danielle stood up immediately, laughing nervously, unable to contravene a lifetime of habit.

Hazel was kneeling in front of Wildchild, washing her pussy. She and the other girls exchanged a smile at Danielle and Cassie's discomfort, without fully comprehending the reasons for it.

******

On the way to their lessons that morning, Danielle told the girls what she'd arranged for Hazel and Wildchild. Yael piped up immediately: "What about me?"

"You've already got a boyfriend," Danielle explained.

"Oh!" Yael said. "Is that what this is about? But Hazel and Wildchild are ..."

A hand-signal from Wildchild in their secret language stopped the girl in mid-speech.

Danielle did not press Yael on what she was going to say but after dinner in her apartment that night, Danielle spoke privately to Ezra, wondering if her suspicions were true.

"I love Hazel, Samothea and Yael," she said.

"So do I," Ezra agreed.

"They are such vibrant and intelligent girls, so full of life, so eager to learn and try new things. I've never met anyone quite like them."

"I have."

She looked at him and realised whom he meant.

"Flatterer."

She paused for a moment.

"Ezra," she said, cautiously. "I've done something you won't like."

"I doubt that, but tell me anyway."

"I've arranged dates for Hazel and Samothea."