The Strangeness Within Pt. 04

Carefully he typed in a short reply and sent it back. He wasn't quite sure where the message went on its way, but it took several minutes for Kat to smile. She got up and wandered over.

"So, you figured out e-mail, I see."

There was no one else in the lab tonight. That was usually the case this late on weeknights. Javier loved the quiet, and he came a few times a week now, on the nights when Kat ran the lab until closing. Samuel and his friends were great, but they could be distracting, and these days Samuel always wanted to talk programming. It was intimidating the way the boy assumed by default that Javier knew everything he was talking about.

Javier smiled at Kat, as always a little awed by her. She was so self-assured. Only a year older than him, as it turned out, but she knew what she was doing with her life, and she didn't take shit from anyone.

Kat sat down at the workstation next to him and logged in.

"What's your story anyway, Javier?" she asked. "You said you were a total beginner, and here you are spending hours a week stuffing your head with Unix commands. You running away from something the way I was?"

Javier sighed.

"I guess," he said. "You probably got part of the story from Samuel, right? Why I missed a bunch of school in the fall?"

"Yeah," she said. "A mysterious tryst that wasn't really that, or something. He was kind of vague. I think he had a massive crush on that girl."

"Esther?" Javier blinked. "Oh. I didn't realize."

Kat nodded. "I love that little kid, but I'm not surprised if he never opened his mouth about it. He thought she was the smartest person in the universe. Aside from me, of course."

"Of course," Javier smiled. "Yeah, Esther was special. Brilliant at math. But I didn't really understand her. Anyway, to make a long story short, I had just had a bad break-up, and then I took off with Esther on some kind of failed romantic fantasy, and then I came back and screwed up with my ex-girlfriend again. So yeah, I guess I'm avoiding the school social scene a bit."

Kat laughed. "I don't blame you. You know I went to the regional tech school, and it turned out to be ninety percent boys. Near a hundred percent in the things I was interested in. What a tiresome experience that was."

Javier nodded with sympathy. He sighed and stared at the message on his screen.

"So, this message went through some other computers in the school, and then somehow they knew to send it to your computer?"

"Not quite," Kat said. "It went to a central mail server and then I accessed it from there. See, I can get it from this computer just as well."

She typed a few commands, and there was his message.

"What if I sent mail to someone else, at a different university? How would it get there?"

Kat beamed and began to describe the series of hops and bounces it would go through.

"See, here's an example," she said, opening another message of hers. The information at the top said it had bounced through a surprisingly random list of other locations.

"It doesn't look very private," Javier said. "Could anyone read it as it went by?"

"Great question," said Kat. "And basically, the answer is yes, if someone in my position was interested in snooping along the way. E-mail isn't a great way to send things you want to keep private. But there are ways around that. Encryption methods."

Javier nodded enthusiastically. "Like when there's a public key you share, but you need the private key to decrypt it with some number theory."

She stared at him. "You have been doing your homework, haven't you."

Javier blushed. "I wound up with this cryptography textbook. It's really theoretical and way over my head, but there's all sorts of neat stuff packed in there. I've been trying to work through it."

"Good for you," said Kat, giving him an odd look. "You know, all that is going to be incredibly important when people figure out what the Internet is really capable of. Imagine trying to buy or sell something over the internet. Trading stocks, that kind of thing. People already do that, and the more popular it gets the more people will realize they have to encrypt everything if they don't want someone to change their stock buys, or steal their personal information. Sorry, I guess this is one of my canned rants."

"No, that's great," said Javier. "I'd love to learn more about it. A lot more interesting than another round of chemistry homework."

Kat smiled and began to talk. Javier couldn't help but feel a little guilty at using her this way, but in truth Kat didn't seem to mind having someone sharing her interests.

* * *

Esther wiped the damp towel along Mark's arms. He'd stopped bleeding, and the bruising was going down quickly. She was glad his natural healing was working, despite his near-unconsciousness for nearly a day.

She looked at his protruding leg and swallowed. Probably she should wash the rest of him as well. But he only had underwear on. Maybe she should have Nicola do this.

"Esther?"

His voice was confused and weak.

"Yes, Mark? Can I get you some water or food?"

His eyes focused on her.

"Oh God," he said. "What did I do? Is Nicola —"

"She's fine," Esther said. "You didn't hurt her or anyone except yourself."

Mark claimed to remember nothing except vague impressions from the previous night. He was glum and apologetic while Nicola and Esther fussed over him. When Nicola left again to bring him some food, he turned his eyes to Esther.

"I wanted to hurt Nicola," he said. "And I was angry at you. Please tell me what happened, Esther."

Esther swallowed, and she described everything, brushing quickly over what she and Nicola had been doing. Mark listened impassively.

"Mark," she said. "I don't know what you remember seeing. But Nicola wasn't seducing me. I have to get over my fear about my body, and I thought — I asked Nicola to help. I've never even let anyone look at me. She was being kind to me. Please don't be upset with her about that."

"I should never have lost my temper," Mark said. And then he closed his eyes and said no more.

* * *

"That's it," Samantha grunted, slowly circling her hips. "Just let go, Javier. Come inside me."

Javier shifted on the seat again, trying to empty his mind of anything except Samantha. Her sweet lips, her tight pussy gripping his dick. Her strong thighs clenching him. He buried his face between her breasts and kissed her, holding her so tightly she groaned happily and tried to pull him even closer. He wanted her to swallow him with her sexual appetite, subsuming everything about Javier, so that his orgasm was just another of her own pleasures. Out of Javier's control. Not his fault.

His dick twinged, but it was a false alarm. Samantha was sighing happily, but she'd already had two orgasms. Javier badly needed to come.

He could feel Samantha getting tired as she rocked on top of him. His traitorous dick was as hard as ever, but he couldn't make the final leap.

"Samantha," he mumbled, "could you finish me with you mouth?"

"God, I'd love to," she sighed, and pulled off him with a little sucking noise. They'd fucked so long that she was starting to dry out. Javier felt embarrassed.

She closed her mouth around his hard shaft, and immediately he groaned. She was really skilled.

He hadn't let her give him a blow job before. It was yet another memory of Esther that would start smelling like Samantha. He closed his eyes, giving her little directions, until he could almost imagine it was Esther. Her small hands, her warm mismatched eyes looking so seriously at him. His dick throbbed and suddenly he fell over the edge.

"I'm coming," he moaned, and Samantha immediately pulled off of him, stroking him quickly and expertly through his massive orgasm. He smelled pine and tent plastic and he couldn't catch his breath. He hadn't had one this good in months.

Finally he opened his eyes. Samantha had taken the whole load on her beautiful breasts, and she was massaging the cum into her skin with a smile. Javier sighed and stroked her face.

It was sexy. But it wasn't something Esther had ever thought to do.

"You want me to go down on you again?" he asked, and Samantha laughed.

"You flatter me, Javier. Not tonight, I think. That was a hell of a lot of fucking. Pretty sure my backseat has never had that kind of workout. The car, I mean, not mine."

They laughed. Samantha pulled him closer.

"I really love this," she said. "But I get the sense it's not working as well for you. And it's hard not to notice that you and Clara aren't talking."

Javier sighed. "No, I love the sex too," he said. "But maybe my body's telling me I need more."

"And you don't want that with me," she said.

It wasn't an argument, really. All along they'd communicated a lot better than he and Clara ever had. Or he and Esther had, for that matter.

"Could you drop me at the community college?" he said. "Might as well get something done while Mamá thinks I'm out."

"You've really turned into a serious computer geek, haven't you?" Samantha teased as she dressed. "It's cute. Do all the girl geeks in the lab know what a stud you are?"

He kissed her, and she sighed. This would probably be the last time they snuck off together.

But he'd thought that every time.

* * *

Esther breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the rumble of the truck coming up the hill. The tail end of the storm had been unexpectedly cold, and they'd gotten close to a foot of snow, the most Esther had ever seen. Nicola pulled up and hopped out, laughing as she sank into the snow.

"What a pleasant surprise," she said. "Thank God I got the last of the supplies. Another lukewarm sponge bath and I probably would have given up. Stripped naked to roll in the snow or something."

Esther walked over to help her unload the lumber and pipe. Nicola was much stronger than she looked, but then again Esther wasn't completely useless now.

When they returned, they found Mark waiting for them at the truck.

"Mark! Go get some rest. We can handle this," said Nicola.

"No, I think I need to help," he said stubbornly. "Anyway, I have to start getting active. It's better for my muscles. If I lie down any longer, it'll take that much more time to retrain them."

Nicola shook her head, but they were glad to have his help. The big metal tank took all three of them to maneuver out of the truck. Mark grunted and gritted his teeth with pain, but he still helped more than Esther did.

The snow hampered everything they did. Esther slipped twice, falling on her butt the second time and laughing so hard she couldn't get up. Finally Mark pulled her to her feet and Nicola whisked the snow from her pants, smiling despite herself.

Nicola obviously hadn't forgiven herself for what happened that night. But there was a lingering closeness despite it all. Embarrassed glances and uncomfortable little smiles. And today, all three of them working side by side, Esther felt as happy as she had since coming here.

.........*** Chapter 23 ***.........

Javier opened the fat envelope, heart racing.

"Mamá! I got into San Jose State!"

She came out of the kitchen, grabbing him in a hug.

"You deserved it," she said. "That's the last one, isn't it? So many choices!"

Javier had gotten in everywhere he applied, except Berkeley of course. And in the end, there was only one choice that mattered. San Jose, or the two campuses that were much closer.

"You've got to go to San Jose!" said Kat when he told her the news. "Great program, and right next to Silicon Valley. And then you'll already know someone!"

He blushed. It turned out Kat was transferring there in the fall, not that he'd even known her when he applied. He had to admit he liked the idea of being a student with her. She was easy company, incredibly smart, and slightly flirtatious without any burden of expectations between them. She was a mature college student, after all. Though she didn't treat him as a kid.

"It's a long way," he said. "Hard to come see Mamá even on a weekend."

Kat nodded. "I know what you mean. But I love the Bay area. I bet you would, too."

She looked around the empty lab.

"Hey, tell you what. I'll just close up early today. No one will care. Back at my apartment I've got some materials from when I visited their computer science department. If you feel like it we can stop by, and then I'll drop you off at home and save you that annoying bus ride."

Javier swallowed. Her apartment? She was smiling so warmly at him. He'd fantasized about her sometimes, during his lonely masturbation sessions. But she flirted a little with everyone.

"Yeah," he said. "That sounds great. I'm too distracted to get anything else done tonight anyway."

Her apartment was in a small complex not far away. Javier followed her up the stairs. She was wearing slightly stretchy pants. He'd never really appreciated what a nice butt she had. She wasn't really that much rounder than Clara.

She pushed open her door and Javier looked past, to exactly the kind of messy book-filled place he'd expected. There was more than one computer's worth of parts on the living room floor.

"Hey María, I'm home," she called.

A slim, gorgeous Latina woman walked in from the side. She wasn't wearing a shirt, just a flowery bra that was slightly see-through. Javier immediately froze his expression into an easy smile. Eyes on her face.

"Javier, this is my girlfriend María. María, this is the guy I keep nerding out with about Unix."

Javier shook hands with María. She had a half amused, half annoyed expression.

"You just sprang me on him, didn't you?" she asked Kat.

"Guilty," said Kat. María shook her head and went back into the bedroom. Their bedroom.

"OK, let me go look for those things," said Kat, gesturing vaguely at the table. Javier cleared a chair and sat down while she sorted through some stacks of paper. Eventually she found what she wanted and sat down.

"Sorry about that," she said softly. "María's right. I really shouldn't use her that way. So, you're OK?"

"Of course I am," said Javier. "And thanks for trusting me not to freak out. It just — wasn't quite what I expected to see when I came in."

"Yeah, she is pretty hot, isn't she?" Kat smiled. "I didn't mean for you to get the full treatment. God, I'm relieved. It's pathetic, really. I don't have anyone to talk to. Even Samuel doesn't know about María, because I'm too chicken to tell him. I'm sure he'd be all right. But our parents —"

Javier nodded in sympathy. "It's ridiculous. I knew this man whose parents found out, and — well, anyway. It's not fair."

Kat nodded vigorously and sighed. "OK. There's a book in that pile, too, something you'd probably find useful. I don't need it anymore, so don't try to return it. You can see I have too many."

Javier collected the things and followed Kat back to the door.

"Do you need a computer?" Kat asked as he directed her to his house. "I could put one together for you, like I did for Samuel. I get first dibs at all the crap that they're throwing out, and some of it is still just fine."

"That would be amazing," said Javier. Soon enough they stopped at his driveway.

He didn't think he'd be able to fantasize about her anymore. Anyway, it was more comfortable knowing Kat truly was just a friend.

She still had a nice butt.

* * *

Esther finished washing her hair and lay back in the tub. Nicola was right. The bath was even better now that they'd rebuilt it. The great renovation, as Nicola jokingly called it.

She'd left the fancy new sprayer on low, and it tickled when she played it over her chest. She sighed and let her fingers drift down between her legs, stroking her fur. The steam billowed in swirling patterns above her.

Whatever had happened with Nicola wasn't going to happen again. Esther wasn't even quite sure what it meant. She wasn't gay, certainly. She still wanted Javier to magically appear in the tub with her. And she still was more attracted to Mark than Nicola.

She knew there were people who were attracted to both sexes, but she wasn't even sure if that was what she was. Maybe it had just been a fluke.

But Nicola's tongue had given her more concentrated physical pleasure than she'd ever felt. And she was desperate to feel something like that again.

She focused on the memory, keeping away all that had come after. Her little finger was wet, and surely she could mimic what Nicola had done.

It was pleasurable, but it wasn't the same. She had to find a way to ask Nicola again.

She shifted around, picking up the sprayer, and a bit of water tickled her between the legs. Idly she directed the spray back, and sucked in her breath. That was a lot better than her finger.

It wasn't Nicola's tongue, but it was something different and almost as good. She adjusted the water again, and then she lifted her legs up to the sides of the tub, rocking her back gently against the bottom of the tub. The water gurgled against her, swirling inside her tiny space. Her vagina. She rubbed her chest slowly, feeling her nipples engorging. Imagining Javier taking them into his mouth.

There was something happening between her legs, though. The ring around her vagina was practically pulsing with pleasure. She brought her hand down, stroking around the ring. The water felt better on its own, but when she brought her finger towards her anus, her body shivered.

She hadn't done this in a long time. She moved her legs back further, and then with some effort she slipped the tip of a finger inside her puckering hole.

Immediately her sphincter squeezed so hard it immobilized her finger. A wave of pleasure washed back to her vagina. Esther gasped.

Her body was trembling the way it had when Nicola had licked her. Her chest and nipples were begging for attention, but she was out of hands. She rocked awkwardly, back and forth, massaging the sensitive spots on her back. The water splashed constantly against her tiny vagina, and the motion pressed her finger slightly against her sphincter muscles.

Something marvelous was happening, like a flower blossoming inside her. She couldn't get enough oxygen, and her skin was running hot and cold and tingly all at once.

Her body turned inside out and then her mind exploded.

* * *

There were glowing threads everywhere. A fractal tapestry of high dimension, twisting and turning. Particles and forces and vibrations — they were all just threads pulling other threads, a lattice far too detailed and enormous for any mind to encompass. There were rules, and rules within rules, organization more beautiful than the most intricate theories could describe. Every thread touched every other thread, but some connections were so much stronger than others, able to withstand the random buffeting from every direction. And one vast bundle of threads was almost comprehensible, if one projected a portion of it, like a shadow on a wall. Esther. That was its name. There were other bundles as well, closer and further, and some very far indeed. The bundle named Esther pulled frantically, desperately scrabbling to understand, holding tight to the most familiar threads, until suddenly there was nothing left but the shadow on the wall.

* * *

"Esther?! Esther!"

There was a cracking sound and the door burst open. Esther blinked at the sudden light. Something impossible had just happened. Her mind still didn't quite feel right. But her body was glowing with lingering pleasure.

A hand touched her face and she instinctively moved her own hand to grasp it.

"Oh, thank God," Nicola said, shuddering and collapsing next to the tub. "Christ, what am I doing here, Esther? I was meditating, and then I was convinced you needed me, and suddenly I was breaking in. Shit, our beautiful new door. What the fuck? Sorry, I'll go now."