Prometheus

This work is a product of the author's imagination. Places, events and people are either fictitious or used fictitiously and any resemblance to real events, places, or people, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

The author retains full copyright to the material, and sincerely hopes you like it!

If you have something to say about it that isn't flaming me then email me at: Caleb graemefj@iinet.net.au

PROMETHEUS 1

The day had turned out fine and warm so I decided to set up my loom on the porch, and apply myself to the backlog of weaving that was threatening to overwhelm me. The midday sun was warm and I soon got lost in the rhythm of the weaving and the click click of the shuttle. My drowsy contentment didn't last long. The guys came thundering through the house and running, stark naked, to the lawn outside, shouting and kicking a football. I smiled as I could see what would happen - and it did. The ball was kicked (probably deliberately) into the lagoon at the bottom of the garden, and with screams of laughter, four naked tanned bodies followed it into the water with loud splashes.

Whenever I looked on these four magnificent young men, I always got a catch in my throat. My sons - my archangels: Gabe (Gabriel) - blond haired and blue eyed; Mike (Michael) - fiery red hair and green eyes; Rafe (Raphael) - brown haired and hazel eyed; and Rel (Uriel) - black haired with deep purple eyes. I was their proud and doting father. Four boys, all born within minutes of each other: half-brothers (or "sibs" as the modern slang is), each with a different sire.

I saw with a jolt that a couple of soldiers, obviously from the garrison at the head of the valley had parked their speeders by the side of the road that ran along the ridge opposite the house, along the perimeter of the property, beside the railed fence. The soldiers were leaning on the top rail of the fence, avidly watching the young men splashing about in the water as they played the rough and tumble game of grab-ass. One of the soldiers had dropped his trousers and was openly jerking his enormous cock as he watched. The boys soon caught sight of him and began clapping and hooting encouragement to the man. I was pleased to see that the soldiers were not so foolish as to set foot on my property - that embargo had been made perfectly clear to the commander of the garrison a long time ago.

But both men were calling out to the boys, and soon the boys left the lagoon and crowded round the men, keeping on this side of the fence, I was happy to observe. From where I was, I couldn't see what was happening, but I could guess as an ironic cheer went up from my naked sons. There was much laughter from all six of them.

I called out. "Hey kids!" Rafe heard me and turned around. I waved to him, indicating that they come to me. He nudged the others and they left the soldiers to return to me - all except one. Mike, of course. He was the most sexually forward of the four. I could see he was fondling the soldier's enormous cock, while the soldier had reached over the fence and was ruffling Mike's hair.

Oh, no you don't, I thought. Mike was randy enough to climb the fence and impale himself on that cock.

I called out again, "Mike!" putting the snap of command into my voice. He couldn't ignore that. He flashed me a look and reluctantly left the men, waving at them as he did. The men seemed to notice me for the first time and hurriedly (and guiltily) straightened their uniforms and roared off on their speeders.

I resumed my weaving as the young men mounted the steps to the porch, Mike bringing up the rear. Rel disappeared inside while the others flopped on the furniture on the porch.

"Who was he, Mike?" I asked as I passed the shuttle through the warp threads.

"Said his name was Trip, dad."

I pondered the name. "Can't say I know him. Is he new at the garrison?"

Mike just shrugged. Rel reappeared, tossing his sibs bottles of fruit juice.

"You should have seen how much he came, dad," Rel said. He took a long suck at the bottle and then held it up. "He could have filled this." And he snickered.

"Nah," said Rafe, " more than that. Easily a liter." They all laughed.

"Mega liters," Gabe giggled and they all laughed again.

Mike leered. "Get that cock up your arse. That'd make your eyes cross." They all hooted at the suggestion.

I looked at Mike steadily. "You know the rules, Mike."

Mike pulled a face. "Yeah. I know dad. " They all joined in and quoted the rule back to me: "Anyone who wants to fuck us, has to talk to you first."

I said, "And don't forget it."

Mike said, "Think how that cock would stretch your arse-hole. Whoa!" They all laughed and winced.

I put the shuttle aside. "Which brings us, very neatly, to what I want to talk to you about." I reached down beside me and revealed the package that Dek had left that morning.

I said, "Dek the tech was here this morning while you guys were pounding the parade ground, and left a little something for each of you."

Rafe was indignant. "Hey. He's my sire. Why should these losers get anything from him?"

As I unwrapped the box, I said, "It's not precisely a gift. More like essential medical apparatus." I opened the box and displayed the contents to them. Four naked bodies crowed round the table.

"They're butt plugs," said Gabe in surprised recognition. "Why are these essential? If these guys want their butts plugged, I'll be glad to do it."

Derisive laughter from the others.

"These are special," I said. "Watch." And I carefully turned the thick end of one of the plugs. The plug grew in length and thickness.

"Oh wow," said Rel. "That is so cool." They all grabbed a plug, and started twisting them to make them expand.

"Aw fuck," said Mike in amazement, "look how big they grow. No guy's got a cock that big."

"You'd be surprised," I muttered cynically. I watched them as they played with the plugs, making then expand and contract.

Rel said suddenly, "Why are these necessary?" Rel the thinker - who saw immediately all the ramifications of any situation. They all looked at me.

I gently pointed to the mountains in the distance. "Look at the mountains, guys."

"Fuuuck," said Gabe in awed wonder, "The mountains have turned red."

The four of them gaped at the sight and Rel whispered, "The notus is blooming."

I felt the frisson of excitement that passed over them.

Mike turned to me and croaked, "How long?" I saw in his eyes excitement tinged with a little fear. I quietly stood up and moved to them, putting my arms over the shoulders of two of them as we all looked at the mountains, bright scarlet in the afternoon sunlight.

"Bright red for a week," I said, "then two more weeks to turn from red to dark purple. Then the flowers will appear and the purple will flush gold. Say four weeks - then the Honey Wind will blow - and then..."

We stood in silence gazing at the mountains. I gave a big sigh and then got down to business. "So..." I said, "these plugs are for you. Start off with the smallest setting," and I handed one to each of them. "From today, you'll wear the plugs morning and night. Each morning when you wake up, you'll crank them up one notch, so that by the time the Honey Wind blows, your arse-holes will be fully stretched. Until then, you'll remove them only when you shit..."

"Or get fucked." Rafe added wickedly.

I grunted. "That too."

Gabe said, "Couldn't we just fuck each other big time? That'll keep us stretched."

I shook my head. "Not enough. It's been tried before. No. Sorry, but these plugs are the only thing. Shove 'em in."

I watched as the young men, with much ribaldry and laughter, slid the plugs up each other's butts. When they were finished, they were giggling and were half-erect. Clear liquid was dribbling from Mikes cock.

"Fuck, dad," he said. "If we wear these while we're exercising, we'll be creaming all the time."

I shrugged. "You'll get used to it." I saw the covert looks that passed between them.

"You shall not remove them. Is that clear? Your drill sergeants will check each day. Guys, I've seen too many arses ripped and bleeding, and too many people dying of internal rupture - literally fucked to death. That will never happen again, and especially not to you. Understood?" I held their gazes and they all mumbled assent.

"Good," I said, and started to pack up the loom. "Now, go wash up and get dressed. We'll be having something to eat soon."

Rel looked at me steadily. "Dad?"

"What is it?"

"Are you wearing one?" Only Rel would ask that question. I was aware of four pairs of eyes gazing at me.

I smiled. "No. I don't need one." They were still staring at me so I added, "To those of us who have breathed the notus spore, those of us who have been fanned by the Honey Wind, there have been changes to our bodies. You might say that the notus has insured that we truly belong to this world. Our cocks achieve greater dimensions when erect and lubrication glands have been activated in our rectums. Also our arse muscles are a lot more flexible. You don't have this. Hence the butt plugs."

I could see that the boys were impressed. Rel was still looking steadily at me.

"Dad," he asked softly, "you have never fucked us. Why? Don't you love us?"

I could see that it was the question they all wanted to ask. They were all looking at me with anxiety and dread.

I said gently and carefully, "Never doubt my love for you. You are more than life to me. There was a time when I thought I would never have any sons. And now, here you are. But I have never fucked you for a lot of reasons. You are my sons but you're only eight months old. My birth and upbringing was radically different from yours, and I still carry an instinctive horror of incest - though that is now meaningless in this time and place. When the Honey Wind blows - well, who can tell what will happen in that time of mindless rut, but I love you dearly and forever, and would gladly lay down my life for each of you."

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. With the gift of hindsight, even the most foolish of us become wise. Looking back, I had long come to the conclusion that it must have been the nuclear reactor. Something happened. It exploded or something. It was the only possible explanation for my strange journey.

I remember that the morning was crisp and clear - a perfect autumn morning. It was the first time that I had been out of the house for a long time. I had decided to take Barquentine for a long walk. Barquentine -Tom's dog, but Tom was now at peace after his long painful decline, and Barquentine fretted at his enforced inactivity while I shut myself away with my grief. So I took him for an extended excursion around the tract of land where the reactor was located. At the time it was built, the reactor had been remote, but the suburbs had since moved out and threatened to engulf it. Now there were calls for it to be shut down. It was too old, they said. Its age made it dangerous, they said. Remember Chernobyl, they said. Besides, its removal would open up more valuable land for the suburban sprawl.

It was a strange morning, I remember. Somehow hushed. Birds seemed reluctant to call and even the insects were muted. There were very few people around that morning. I let Barquentine off his leash and he bounded off pausing every now and then to snuffle in the long grass and do those things you'd have to be a dog to appreciate. I continued walking around the perimeter chain-wire fence of the reactor, slashing at the long grass with the leather leash. Barquentine was out of sight. I stopped and looked around in wonder. It was chillingly silent. I stood and looked around as though seeing everything for the first time.

And then I woke up in hospital.

It was a place unlike any I had seen before, and yet at the same time, familiar. I knew it was a hospital because the ambient light and the color scheme of the painted walls, all said "institution". I was lying in a boat shaped bed. Straddling my stomach, but not touching me was a sort of molded bridge that obviously held monitoring equipment. I could hear the slow rhythmic thrump... thrump... thrump of a monitor.

I felt very much alert. There was no pain, although I hadn't moved. I licked my lips. My mouth was very dry. I looked around, carefully turning my head and I saw a young man seated by the door. Some sort of attendant, I guessed.

"Could I... could I have some water, please?" I croaked. The words felt strange in my mouth, as though I were speaking a foreign language.

He looked at me when I spoke, and then stood up and disappeared from my sight and came back with a glass container full of water with a bent glass straw. He leant over my bed and held it for me. I could do nothing but gape at him. He was extraordinarily beautiful. His blond hair was buzzed short and his eyes were bright blue. His brawny arms were bare. He wore a snugly fitting vest-like garment of grey-blue. He had no expression on his face as I carefully sucked at the glass straw, with my eyes on his beautifully sculptured features. I paused for breath and said, "Thank you."

He just nodded, so I said, "What's your name?"

The look he gave me was a strange one that I couldn't interpret. By way of answer, he looked pointedly to a tattoo on one of his dome-like shoulder muscles. It was some sort of writing, I guessed, though I couldn't read it. To me it looked like a cross between Arabic and Pitman's shorthand.

I took another long draught of the water he offered me.

"I can't read that. Sorry." I said. There was a long pause and he said, in a voice that sounded rusty from disuse, "That is my number."

His number? I was suddenly uncomfortably reminded of the numbers tattooed on the arms of the concentration camp victims. I could not - would not - call him by a number!

I said, "Perhaps I can give you a name while I'm here?" I looked for some sign from him. He stared at me for a long moment then lowered his eyes and gave a slight nod.

Feeling pleased, I made a quick decision. "Tom. I shall call you Tom... if that is alright with you?" It seemed fitting that my Tom should be remembered in this way.

Again he gave me that burning look and suddenly gave a small smile. I smiled back. "I'd like some more water, thank you Tom."

He leant over me again while I sucked the glass tube again still looking at him.

"Unit!!!" The shrill voice was like a whiplash. "What are you doing, Unit?"

Tom stepped away from me and stood rigid, his head bowed.

I spoke. "He was giving me some water."

The nurse, and I assumed she was a nurse, stared at me.

"Why was I not informed the patient was conscious? Can you not understand the simplest order?" She bustled officiously to the monitors over the bed. I stared at her. She was dressed in some sort of uniform, though as I examined her, I was aware that the uniform was... peculiar. It seemed to be molded, not woven and sewn. I could see no seams in it. I thought nurses no longer wore uniforms. Perhaps she was in the military. It would explain the Nazi like attitude. Her grey uniform had some strange insignia on it, around the neck and on the shoulders. I didn't recognize anything even though I knew I was no slouch in the field of militaria, especially Australian militaria.

She held out her hand imperiously to Tom. "Give me that water." Wordlessly Tom gave it to her. She bent over me, offering the glass tube.

"Drink!" She commanded. I smiled and shook my head.

"I have had enough," I said as sweetly as I could. I did not like this woman, so i added, "Thank you ... Frau Braun."

She just snorted, obviously not understanding the allusion. She moved away and got rid of the water bottle. She came back and fiddled with the monitor, all the time muttering to herself. I couldn't quite understand what she said. She ignored me and kept casting dirty looks at Tom. So much for the spirit of Florence Nightingale! She stomped officiously out of the room. I looked at Tom. He was still standing by the wall with his eyes down.

I wanted to sit up. I struggled trying to adjust myself.

"Tom," I said, "Could you help me please? I want to sit up." Tom was by the side of the bed in an instant and effortlessly lifted me into a sitting position, and adjusted and smoothed the pillows behind me.

I felt a guilty thrill as his smooth massive arms encircled me and I breathed in the odour of his magnificent body as he leaned over me. What a hunk, I thought, and was immediately ashamed of myself for that thought. He was obviously only doing his job. He had barely stepped away from the bed when the door hissed open and Eva Braun returned, this time with an older middle aged man who was obviously her superior officer by the cringing way she deferred to him and by the fact that there was a lot more (incomprehensible) insignia on his uniform.

He waved Tom aside without so much as a glance at him, and then he and Eva consulted the monitor panel and mumbled together. They seemed to come to some agreement, when they stepped away from the monitor and turned their attention to me.

The older man said, "Well, you seem to have recovered satisfactorily. How are you feeling?"

I instantly distrusted his manner. It forcibly reminded of the false jolliness of the Christian Brothers who taught me, so many years ago - that ghastly show-me-a-boy-and-I'll-give-you-a-man air of a "man among boys, and a boy among men".

I said, "Where is Barquentine?"

The man smiled soothingly, though it was obvious he hadn't the faintest idea what I was talking about.

I tried again. "Barquentine - my dog?" Blank looks from the both of them.

I began to get irritated. "My dog - Newfoundland - black?" They looked at each other.

I tried not to shout. "My dog ... Woof! Woof!" I barked at them. They stared at me as though I had suddenly grown two heads. I took a breath and tried another tack, remembering that hideous Politically Correct phrase.

"My... um... Animal Companion?"

Victory! Recognition! Eva Braun said with amazement, "A... animal?" and, surprisingly, she looked a little frightened.

Boss man gave me a wide smile. "There was no animal with you." His unspoken implication was "...and a good thing too."

I sighed and settled back. He's probably a long way from here, I thought. Where was Here?

"Where am I?" I asked.

Again that professional niceness from Boss man. "Now don't you worry about that. You're in safe hands."

I snapped at him. "For God's sake, I'm not a child. Answer the bloody question."

The fatuous smile was wiped from his face. Obviously no one spoke to him like that.

"You are in Autodoc 459." He pressed his lips together showing petulant displeasure.

Auto dock? I was in a garage?

I sniggered, "What did you do? Give me a grease and oil change?"

Boss man and Eva shot nervous looks at each other.

"No," said Boss man shortly, "You were reconstructed." I gaped at him and before I could ask anything else, he and Eva left the room - almost fled - with the door hissing closed behind them.

I was in mild shock. I lifted my hands in front of my face. Well, my hands were normal. No! They had changed! The age spots had disappeared. The lumps of arthritis on the joints of my fingers were gone and my fingers were smooth and normal... young looking. I turned my hands over. Dear God! That chip of pencil lead that had lodged under the skin at the base of my thumb, which I had carried with me since I was fourteen - it was gone! And there was no scar.

I started sweating and shaking and forced myself to calm down.

"Tom," I croaked, "is there a mirror here?"

Tom appeared at the side of the bed. "In the fresher," he said.

Fresher? I presumed he meant the bathroom.

"Would... would you bring it to me, please?"

He looked a little sad that he could not oblige. "It's attached to the wall," he said.

I took a deep breath. "Help me out of bed please. I must look at myself."

Tom didn't hesitate. He pushed the monitor bridge aside, and threw back the bedclothes. I was startled to discover I was completely naked. Then Tom leant over, slipped one muscled arm under my shoulders and the other under my knees and lifted me effortlessly from the bed. It was as though I weighed nothing - which I knew I certainly did not. He then carried me gently and almost lovingly into the bathroom - the fresher, which was around a corner in the wall, which I hadn't noticed before.

He set me on my feet in front of what was obviously a washbasin with a large mirror on the wall above it. I was a little unsteady on my feet and he kept hold of me while I gazed at myself.

I couldn't believe it. I had celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday just after Tom had died. The image staring back at me was a man of thirty... maybe younger. But it was me, definitely me. I was completely bald. There was not a hair on my body. I looked down at my cock. Completely bald, like a gay porn star's. I looked closely at my face. Yes, it was my face, but younger and much healthier. My skin cancer scars were gone. My haggard jowls were gone. Even the wrinkles and lines on my forehead and face were gone. All signs of age - all gone. Was the skin real? I pinched my cheek. It hurt and definitely felt real. I opened my mouth. All my teeth were perfect, perfectly aligned and perfectly white. As an experiment I breathed in slowly through my nose. My sinuses were not constricted anymore. And it was a certain bet that my blood pressure had been corrected and my diabetes had disappeared.

I looked at Tom. My mouth was dry. "How... how is this possible?"

Tom was looking at me with such sympathy, and with a large hand he began to rub my back gently.

He answered simply, "The autodoc."

Autodoc. Automatic doctor. What a wonder of technology! They had put me into this miraculous sausage machine and this is how I came out.

I knew then I wasn't in Kansas anymore, Toto.

I felt a bit shaken and I held on to Tom's brawny arm for support. I realized I was sweating.

"I would like to wash, if that's possible," I muttered. Tom nodded, and still holding on to me he leant over and twiddled a knob on the wall and an alcove was suddenly filled with misting water. The subtle perfume wafted over me, redolent of new mown grass, of herbs and of spring.

I said to Tom, "I'm a little wobbly on my feet. Could you help me into the shower, please?"

Tom nodded and stepped back from me while I leant against a wall. He quickly stripped in front of me, so quickly in fact I couldn't follow what he did. He stepped out of his one-piece and was naked except for a very brief pair of... briefs.

Sweet Jesus! He was a gay wanker's wet dream. From his broad muscled shoulders to his narrow waist and large thighs. His skin was flawless and creamy, and his stomach was a rocky six-pack - no, eight-pack. I stared at his stomach. Something was wrong. My mind was numb until I realized.

He had no navel. NO NAVEL!!!

I think it was that realization that pushed me over the edge. I stumbled forward and the last thing I remember was his arms coming around me as I blacked out.

When I awoke, I was back in bed. Eva Braun was with me again, adjusting knobs on the monitor. I looked around. We were the only two in the room. I looked at her. She was pointedly ignoring me.

"Where's Tom?"

She looked at me, annoyed I had spoken to her. "Who?"

I looked at Tom's position by the door. No Tom.

She pursed her lips as though tasting something nasty. "That unit," she said, "has proved to be unsatisfactory. It has been removed."

I was suddenly furious. "That unit." I ground out, "saved me from cracking my head open on the tiles."

Her boiled gooseberry eyes flashed. "It had no business taking you off this bed."

"HE" and I emphasized the word, "helped me into the fresher as I asked him to."

She tossed her head and went back to the monitor. "Whatever it did," she said, "it has to learn to know its place."

You bitch, I thought. You petty bitch.

"Get him back," I said quietly.

He smiled, a tight smile of triumph. "It is too late. It has been remanded to the correction centre."

Oh, shit. I didn't like the sound of that. I decided to take a gamble.

"It would distress me very much," I said gently, "if I had to report to your superior officer that you have impeded my recovery, by causing me undue anguish as I contemplated the unwarranted punishment of a unit who was doing its utmost to assist me." I looked at her and was pleased to see I had her undivided attention.

I continued. "I would feel compelled to insist that you be transferred to another post as I could not feel comfortable with a nurse who displayed such unfeeling treatment of a conscientious unit. I might even, perhaps insist on your demotion."

She went deathly pale and opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish.

I smiled sweetly. "Now if you will excuse me," I said, "I am exhausted by this distasteful conversation, and I must get some sleep."

I ostentatiously closed my eyes. I heard her rapid exit and the door hissing open and closed. Yes!! It seems I am a very important person, I thought, as I drifted off.

I awoke suddenly. Tom was sitting by my bed looking down on me. I smiled sleepily at him. "Welcome back," I murmured.

He looked me in the eyes for a moment, and then gave me a slow, beautiful smile that went straight to my heart.