Priestess of the Heavens

Several hours later, Kari was in the shower when she heard Pax return. The bathroom was up against his room, so she could easily hear the moans and suggestive music filtering through the walls once she turned off the water.

She dried off and contemplated their situation. Wrapping a towel around her body, she picked up a tube of lotion - walked purposefully through the common area and straight into Pax's room. There he was, as she expected, naked and pleasuring himself.

"Fuck, Kari!" cried Pax. "Ever hear of knocking?"

"Oh please, Pax. It's time to stop keeping our doors closed. We're family now. We're everything to each other, in fact. Now lie down."

"But..."

"Just, lie down Pax. Don't make this complicated."

He laid back and Kari squeezed a big dab of lotion into her hand.

"You're about to learn one of my hidden talents, my dear," she said, grasping his half-rigid shaft in her hand.

"But Kari, you're..."

"I'm a woman, I know, Pax," she said, smiling. "And I have it on good authority that young men such as yourself happen to get great pleasure when receiving manual pleasure from members of my fair sex."

"I..."

"Just shut up, Pax," she admonished. "This is a big gift horse, don't look it in the mouth... 'cause all you're getting is the hand, anyway."

"Oh my god," groaned Pax as Kari had him quickly back to full firmness and began sliding her deft hand over his rod.

"That's good, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"This isn't the first time I've done this, you know?"

"It isn't?" he managed to gasp.

"Oh no. Back in high school when I was still figuring things out -- I became quite the expert at this. I think it was my subconscious way of avoiding having to go all the way but still not be labeled a tease. The guys didn't seem to complain too much."

She stopped talking and focused in on her work. It was sort of like riding a bicycle (though she wasn't riding ; ) She quickly remembered how to bring Pax so very, very close but slow just in time in order to keep him right at the edge.

"Oh Kari," he groaned after what was the third or fourth 'near miss'.

She felt his hand begin to caress the towel wrapped around her and fumble toward her breast. She reached down with her free hand to take his tenderly, but firmly.

"Not yet sweetie," she whispered. "Baby steps, okay?"

"Sure," he replied, removing the offending hand. "Sorry."

"Don't be, Pax," she murmured. "It's understandable... and it's me. It is really, really me. I'll make up for it though -- you get the two-handed special to finish things off."

With that, she squeezed out a bit more lotion and pulled one leg up on the bed to give herself a better angle. With both hands, she really began working him into a frenzy and began reading his rhythms, allowing him to thrust upward into her hands as she squeezed him in opposing circular twists. At last, she pushed him past where he could stop. She couldn't help but smile as the white stream erupted from his one-eyed monster and spilled over his belly and her hands.

"Oh god oh god oh god Kari!" cried Pax. "That's so... so good."

"I'm glad, Pax," she said.

She suddenly felt a drop of water on her breasts (which she realized were now free from the towel). She saw with some surprise that she was crying. She looked to Pax and was stunned to see that he was crying as well.

In all the vastness of space -- in the awareness of the horror occurring on their home planet -- in the loss and grief they both shared -- neither of them had realized how lonely they were.

"I've missed this," she managed to get out through her tears.

"Missed... being with a man?"

"No!" said Kari, laughing and crying at the same time. "I have not missed 'the cock', thank you very much -- it's kind of hard to miss what you've never had. I've missed being close -- being intimate."

"Me too," whispered Pax.

He sat up and pushed the hair away from Kari's face. He leaned in and her breasts pushed sensuously against his chest. They kissed. It was a soft, gentle kiss. In many ways it lacked passion, but it did not lack love.

"Thank you Kari," he murmured into her ear. "I'll never forget this."

"Neither will I," she agreed.

She picked up the towel and wiped off her hands, then tossed it to Pax as she stood.

"Well, goodnight Pax -- and for god's sake clean yourself up."

Kari crossed back into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. It was odd. For a while, she had been feeling ugly, somehow. Now, looking at her firm, trim body in the mirror, she felt pretty for the first time in months. Her cheeks had a glow that surprised her.

She asked herself: Did she still long for Tricia? Or any woman for that matter? Damned straight. However, with no one other than Pax for the next year at least, she felt a shift beginning in her consciousness. It was small, but it was a shift all the same. Not a shift toward being straight...but a shift toward a new reality.

The next morning, she awoke to the smell of frying breakfast and coffee.

"Good morning," she said, smiling.

"Good morning," replied Pax, an even bigger smile on his face.

He handed Kari a coffee and turned back to the frying up plantains and vegetables.

Kari sat quietly and sipped at her coffee, contemplating the events of the night before.

Pax soon finished cooking and delivered two delicious plates, sitting down at the table across from her. They ate in silence -- shyly meeting eyes now and again before glancing away.

"That was delicious. Thanks Pax," said Kari upon finishing.

"You're welcome, Kari."

Again -- silence.

"So..." said Pax, letting the thought hang there.

"So..." said Kari.

"Last night," started Pax.

"Yes. Last night. Listen, Pax -- I... Fuck, I don't know how to say this! Three months, it's a long time -- but it's livable -- even for a horndog 22-year old guy like you. No offense."

"None taken."

"But," continued Kari, "go beyond that. Quarantined, barred from seeing any other people, even on the wheels. Our planet plague-infested, our families and friends dead for the most part. There's the old dinner party question -- right? Would you? If such-and-such was the last person on earth, would you? I'm not going to bullshit you -- would I have preferred that you have different plumbing and some lovely breasts to press against mine? Absolutely. As it is -- I... I'm lonely too, and I know you are suffering a lot."

"Suffering?" chuckled Pax. "So, last night was a sympathy hand job?"

"Yeah," said Kari frankly. "And the truth is, I can be a very sympathetic person. So Pax, do you wanna be my boyfriend?"

"Well, when you put it that way."

"We'll have to take it slow, though. My pace, my rules. If you can work with me on it -- I'll do my best to take care of you."

"I'll take care of you, too," said Pax, enthusiastically.

"Oh Pax, that'll be harder than you think."

***

Kari's words had proven more prophetic than she would have thought.

The tongue was soft and the fingers were deft and tender. The hand caressing her left breast really knew what it was doing. Kari closed her eyes and did her best to imagine Tricia, or Graciela, or Lakshmi or any other lover in her past.

Five minute passed. Her body was responding, but her heart... or her mind, or whatever-the-fuck part she needed to respond -- wasn't.

Ten minutes.

Fifteen.

"Pax. Pax. Stop."

"Please," murmured Pax. "I can do this."

"I know you can, but I can't, sweetie. Stop."

"Fuck!" Pax cried, throwing himself back and leaning against the wall.

"Pax, baby. You know this isn't you. It's me. It is so much me, you can't believe it."

Things had gone well for a while. They had shared in some wonderful mutual masturbation sessions, which had been surprisingly intimate. Being in the presence of someone else who was pleasuring themselves was a quite thrilling experience.

They had gotten used to kissing and shared many vigorous make out and petting sessions. Kari had continued to milk his cock quite dry on a regular basis -- though she had yet to muster the courage to go all the way, but it seemed Pax was more than taken care of.

Yet, there was still this final barrier. She just couldn't get entirely aroused with Pax.

"Think of it this way," she said, taking his hand in hers. "Imagine watching a documentary, or a horror film, and trying to jerk off at the same time. The mind just doesn't want to go there."

"So, I'm a horror film?" asked Pax.

"I'm leaning toward documentary, babe," she said softy.

She leaned across to him and tried to give him a kiss -- which he returned coldly.

"Pax. You know who I am," she said, caressing his arm tenderly. "You know I'm giving you all I can."

"I know!" he said. "It's just -- I want to give back! I want to do something for you."

"Honey, you are. Kissing you, holding you, sleeping next to you. Just having you with me has changed the way I feel. I swear to god, there were times that I thought about killing myself. Everything looked so dark and lonely. Ever since you and I have been... doing whatever we've been doing -- ever since then I've cheered up. But Pax, I'm made this way. I can't change it. Let's just be patient and treasure each other and what we have. Whatever it is."

"Okay, okay, Kari," said Pax. "I understand, I do. I'll do my best to be patient."

They continued to monitor the news from Earth and it grew more bleak. From a peak population of more than twenty billion people, the world was now down to less than four-hundred million -- a number not seen since the year 1500 CE. The surviving population pools were mixtures of anarchy and order. The ordered were discrete populations isolated in small, well-protected garrisons -- often in underground military complexes.

The months progressed. Kari and Pax plateaued on their level of intimacy. Kari could not break through her innate and organic barrier toward full intimacy with Pax. Though they were both grateful for the other's companionship and had found a true love for each other -- it could only be a love of friendship. Each of them had a somewhat haunted look in their eyes -- contemplating what life might mean if it truly were just the two of them for the remainder of their days.

It seemed, however, that the pandemics had finally come to an end.

Winter (on Earth) arrived and there had been no reports of any new outbreaks. A few populations had been hit by lingering viruses, but there had been nothing new. The geneticists were pounding away at identifying the virus markers so they could screen all remaining people, including those on the wheels. The short-term goal was to ascertain whether any of the wheel staff were infected so they could be allowed to intermingle. Long-term, the hope was to develop vaccines for the highly complex viruses which had been engineered.

Winter solstice was approaching. Pax approached Kari about a week before the holidays and broached the subject.

"So, Christmas is coming up," he stammered, "but I wasn't sure if you wanted to do a Winter Solstice thing or something else."

"No, Christmas is fine -- in truth, the date was just the way of the early Christians rolling in the old solstice and Saturnalia celebrations into the new religion."

"Great," said Pax, "to tell the truth, we weren't too much of anything in my family, Christian or otherwise -- so however you want to celebrate is fine with me."

"That would be lovely, Pax," she said. "Do you have any black clothes?"

"Any... yeah. Yeah, I brought my dress blacks -- don't know why, but I did."

"Perfect. We'll meet in Section 2. Midnight."

"Sounds good," agreed Pax. "What about gifts?"

"Well, don't go shopping -- it's a long trip. Handmade, and meaningful."

Pax arrived at section two, as Kari asked, at the fallow Section 2. The internal lights were out and the glass was shielded so through either side beyond the visual line of the wheel, countless stars were in sight.

In the center of the great, bare field, Pax could just make out a white figure and a glowing light. As he drew closer, he was treated to a nearly mystical sight -- especially aboard a space station. There was Kari, dressed in a gorgeous white dress, standing beside a table laid out with well over twenty plates of different foods. The glow came from some sort of fire pit, which intrigued him the most. The flame was enclosed in a metal pit structure, attached to which was some sort of filter directly above the flames.

"How?" he asked simply when he reached her.

"Well, we had some old wood that I hadn't composted yet. I wasn't too worried about how much oxygen a little fire like this would take in all this space. I didn't want to set off any alarms or foul the glass, so I rigged up this chimney/filter thing to scrub any smoke before it hit our amazing glass up above."

"I'm impressed," said Pax.

"So, presents?" said Kari.

"Oh, yes," said Pax.

He held out the round, cylindrical object in his hand which was wrapped in simple cloth. She opened it with excitement and gasped upon looking inside.

"A scroll?" she said with excitement.

"Yep. Handmade. From papyrus, even. It's not easy, took me three tries -- but it turned out alright."

"This is a priceless gift," she said. "Just the material alone. I can't wait to see what's on it."

She unrolled the scroll from the top and read curiosity. At the top, in carefully drawn letters was simple text.

"The Prayers and Remembrances of Kari, Priestess of the Heavens."

Her eyes filled with tears as Pax explained.

"You see, I thought about writing down some ancient prayers to Inanna and Gaia, Ishtar or Ninhursag -- but I would have just been guessing at the important ones. I thought it was best left to you."

"Thank you Pax."

She kissed him tenderly and then crossed over to the table.

"Are you ready for your present?"

"Sure," he said.

She reached under the cloth covering the table and pulled out an item which truly made him gasp.

"A cricket bat!" he cried out.

She loved him more at that moment than ever before. In that moment, she saw exactly how he must have looked when he was ten years old when he'd gotten presents for holidays. His eyes were bright and excited, he could barely contain himself from jumping up and down.

"Not just a bat," she said slyly. "A ball, and wickets as well."

"Oh my god! Oh -- My -- God... or goddess, or whatever."

He scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around.

"I'm glad you like it," she said, kissing him fondly.

"I love it!" he cried.

"I could turn on the lights, we could play right now."

"No, plenty of time for that later. Tonight is about tonight, Midwinter's Eve."

"Okay, but let me show you one other surprise,"

She tapped a sequence on her wristcomm and lights came up on a huge area in another part of the section. Just starting to show were tiny tufts of green.

"No way!" cried Pax. "Grass?"

"Mm hmm, and I've had the droids rolling and smoothing it out. We're going to have the best park, pitch, field you ever imagined."

"Why stop there," said Pax. "Let's plant the whole thing. Let's build a park here. We can build up some hills, put in trees. The pitch, anything we want."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Kari. "Now, come here with me."

She took him by the hand to a spot on the edge of the field where there was a blanket and picnic basket waiting.

"Now, what's all this?" asked Pax.

"Surprisingly, we don't have a lot of records about Midwinter from the Akkadian and Sumerian records. The Druids and Nordic religious had their Yule logs -- but that isn't really where I live. What I do know is the winter solstice was a time of contemplation in Akkadia and Sumeria. Even today, rituals persist where people gather and have a feast of dried fruits and nuts and they stay up all night, contemplating the stars."

"We can certainly do that," agreed Pax. "Plenty of those here."

They stayed up through the night, feasting and drinking -- and sharing stories of their families and friends. It was the first time either of them had truly opened up since the catastrophe below. Both of them shed many tears, but they also laughed a great deal, too. As 'dawn' approached (meaning, the wheel was turning to expose their section sunward), they fell more quiet. Lying on the blanket, Kari pointed up to the sky.

"On Earth, we would have been watching in wonder as Venus transitioned from the evening to the morning star," explained Kari. "But here, we can simply look out at her brightness."

"Venus?" asked Pax.

"Inanna, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus -- the list goes on. Her name changed, but the bright star we now know is a planet has always been a woman -- has always been the goddess."

"Amazing," said Pax.

Kari's head was cradled on Pax's arm. She turned to nuzzle him playfully, kissing his neck and whispering in his ear.

"You know," she suggested, "it isn't documented all that well, but there are lots of hints that people would often bring in the new -- longer -- day in very special ways."

"Oh really?" asked Pax.

"Mm hmm."

"Well how about this?" asked Pax. "How about if we lay here and hold each other?"

"Are you sure you don't need more?" she asked.

"I'm sure, Kari. I'm well taken care of -- my dear friend. Let's spend today the way our souls were meant to -- like brother and sister."

"Okay, sweetie," she said with a smile. "That's... that's the sweetest thing I think you've ever said."

"Mmm..." muttered Pax.

He was already drifting off. Kari stayed awake for a few minutes longer, gazing down at his handsome face and giving a silent prayer of thanks to the Goddess for blessing her with such a kind companion on their difficult voyage."

***

It seemed they were in the clear. January and February rolled by with no new outbreaks. The genetic engineers planetside felt like they were making good progress on isolating the markers for the four viruses that had ravaged the planet. Once isolated, they could transmit tests to the wheels for the Corps crew to validate that none of them were carriers. After that, it could be several years before effective vaccines could be developed.

Kari and Pax had been watching the grass closely. With the careful attention of the tender bots, it had come along well and by March 1^st, their year anniversary of arriving at the station, they had their first Cricket match (if a two-person game could be called such a thing). They actually programmed four pruning droids to fetch the longer-hit balls and had a truly wonderful time.

It took Kari a while to get the hang of bowling with the straight-arm technique, but did have a good bat and was able to actually hit the first 'six'. After a couple of hours, they soon found themselves lying exhausted on the grass -- laughing contentedly.

"This is a good thing," Kari said to Pax. "It feels almost..."

She trailed off, unable to complete her thought.

"Almost normal?" offered Pax.

"Yes," she said, brushing away tears. "Is it wrong of me to feel guilty for having fun?"

"No," he said. "It's what we have to do -- it's what we owe them, to keep living -- it's the same they owe us."

Two days later, the next news hit. They had suspected something was happening planetside, mostly because the usual stream of encouraging news had slowed to a trickle. On the fifth of March they received notification of a special announcement which was mandatory viewing.

The screen lit up not to show the moon's commander or the acting planetary council, but a woman on earth with deeply pockmarked face which looked vaguely familiar. Once the name showed below, Kari recognized her from photos of Seepa Mehta, the top genetic engineer left alive. The pictures they'd seen of her had been a striking Asian woman of middle years. It was clear she had been hit by the third plague, a pox virus with only a ten percent survival rate.