THE NEW EARTH - 11
Copyright 2007 by Carl Mason
All rights reserved. Other than downloading one copy for strictly personal enjoyment, no part of this story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for reviews, without the written permission of the author. "The New Earth" is strictly fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. As in real life, however, sexual themes unfold gradually. Comments on the story are appreciated and may be addressed to the author at carl_mason@comcast.net
If you would like to read additional stories by this author, please turn to the "Authors/Prolific Authors" link at the beginning of the Nifty Archive or in the left margin of the Gay stories index.
This story contains descriptions of sexual contact between males, both adults and teenagers. As such, it is homoerotic fiction designed for the personal enjoyment of legal, hopefully mature, adults. If you are not of legal age to read such material, if those in power and/or those whom you trust treat it as illegal, or if it would create unresolvable moral dilemmas in your life, please leave. Finally, remember that maturity generally demands safe sex.
CHAPTER 11
(Revisiting Chapter 10)
As the great spaceship provisioned and replaced other supplies, rumors swept throughout the ship to the effect that the officers had received new intelligence about those who had fled Serium. As the ship slowly departed the Entertainment Planet's great port, every hand wondered about what lie ahead.
(Concluding Our Story: The Continuing Search)
The Cubs
Over long months, following every lead that intelligence could provide, the Venture continued to search for traces of the Serium dissidents. On board, of course, life went on. The feelings engendered by the desperate, but successful search for Danny and Eddie, for instance, continued to grow. The "cubs", as they became known, were in a sense "adopted" by the whole crew. Larry Henderson did a magnificent job guiding their physical development, first as they entered their fifteenth year and later, their sixteenth. His extensive knowledge of nutrition, exercise, weightlifting, and motivation proved invaluable. He even got the galley to provide a "snack bar" for the teens so that smaller quantities of the right food would be available to them during the day. Inasmuch as the golden ones were rarely seen in clothes, their outstanding physiques inspired the crew, filling the ship's gyms at all hours of the shipboard day and night. Indeed, Captain Hopper and the Field Marshal agreed that men on board the Venture...those who manned the great spaceship, as well as the infantry and marine contingents...had never enjoyed better physical health. In like measure, the Twins' lighthearted approach to sexuality made a major contribution to psychological health. They enjoyed each other at any point during the shipboard day or night and had not the slightest problem involving the young men around them. Old prejudices - even attitudes that homosexual activity on long space explorations was a "necessary evil" - gradually faded and were replaced with a attitude that the body was to be enjoyed, as long as the participants all agreed and the activity wasn't destructive. (For instance, the use of drugs, inducements such as advertising, and outside pressure were even more strongly resisted.) Conversely, a popular program for the ship's Holodeck was developed where one could spend an afternoon in the country or an evening "at home" or "on the town" with one's girl. Most men came to prefer actual (albeit homosexual) sex, but the "hetero" program was always being improved. The latest version, for instance, allowed the man to upload pictures of his girl (or wife and, when appropriate, his children) and to key in personal data. For the small minority for whom homosexual activity was near impossible psychologically, it was a lifesaver.)
Justin's Trial
Despite this picture of growing physical and psychological health on board the Venture, there was a major exception. Justin who had rarely had a sick day in his life began to feel increasing ill approximately a month after leaving the Entertainment Planet. At first, doctors were concerned that his experience in the bordello had resulted in picking up an STD, but extensive testing discouraged this possibility. True, there was always the possibility that having sex with a nonhumanoid had led to his contracting an STD unknown in the explored universe. Thus, they continued to monitor his condition. Doctors were even more mystified when a week or two later, he began to feel worse. For example, he reported constantly feeling fatigued, experiencing nausea at irregular times throughout the day and night, nausea that was increasingly accompanied by vomiting (especially on rising), and he was so irritable that even the Field Marshal began to complain. Far more extensive testing resulted in findings that electrified the command structure and excited all kinds of feelings among the men when they gradually leaked out. Put succinctly, Justin Lawrence, the ultimate male sex symbol and the Field Marshal's Terran Adjutant, was pregnant!
There was no doubt. Not only did the standard tests indicate pregnancy, but a sophisticated ultrasound clearly disclosed the embryo, now a tiny speck the size of a pencil point. Somehow...someway, an embryo and placenta had been implanted into Justin's abdominal cavity, just under the peritoneum, i.e., the surrounding lining. Suddenly, Justin remembered the words of the Prince of the Pastel Planet concerning the great gift given him (Chapter 7). "Great," he mumbled to himself...just a tad sarcastically. In his wildest dreams he had never envisioned this!
Throughout the months that followed, the most distinctive fact about Justin's pregnancy was that it progressed in such a "standard" pattern. Yes, it was an "ectopic" pregnancy, i.e., one occurring in an abnormal position and in an unusual manner, and the baby and the placenta would have to be delivered by C-section. That could prove dangerous. The placenta could have become so involved with other structures in the abdomen that life-threatening hemorrhaging might take place when it had to be removed. If rare, however, this problem was not unknown in female pregnancies and the surgeons on board the Venture were reasonably confident that potential complications could be handled. To be completely truthful, the rest of the story was pretty standard stuff!
In the beginning, he was always tired, frequently sick as a dog, running back and forth to the head to urinate, and moody and irritable with those closest to him, including Alexios, Tarshi, and the Cubs. Many were the evenings when Field Marshal Alexios was brusquely ordered to obtain some esoteric dish from the galley. At times, he so loudly complained about not needing this particular "gift" that his friends wondered about the ultimate outcome. Gradually, however, the situation began to improve. Larry Henderson, for instance, made a real contribution when he involved Justin in lightweight training and swimming and some other forms of light exercise such hiking on the Holodeck. Further, his nutritional ideas appealed to both the young man and his doctors! In truth, he began to feel a bit better, physically and psychologically, when he returned to interacting with his many friends. (A little sex didn't hurt either!)
Justin's progress was temporarily interrupted when his condition began to be physically visible. The strange looks that he encountered in the gym and swimming pool (where nudity was the rule), for instance, cut him to the quick. He even found the increased interest of his friends to be uncomfortable and, for a relatively short time, kept them at arms length. Fortunately, this reaction softened as he began to feel increasing activity of the life within him. Slowly, despite his increasing physical discomfort, his attitude became one of wonder and of excitement as the time for his delivery neared and he let his friends back into his heart.
Justin's delivery, which took place without incident, produced a healthy, howling seven- pound, infant boy who was named "Andrew" or "Andy" for reasons that remained private with his proud parent. The youngster promptly took to the bottle formula as if it were a gourmet specialty, attacking it ten or eleven times a day in longer feedings as well as shorter snacks. At first, Justin had so many "godfathers" clamoring to help with feeding and changing diapers that he actually got some sleep! True, this didn't last for nearly long enough as life on shipboard returned to its normal cadences.
The Unmovable Object
For over two more years, the Venture cruised distant space, mapping, coming in contact with strange lifeforms, always searching for traces of the Serium as they had been ordered. Following one lead, they finally approached a far distant world in a part of the Universe untraversed by anyone they had encountered. The first sign was a string of asteroids that stretched out before them like a gleaming necklace. Neither its beginning nor its end was visible. As they came closer, their viewing screens were suddenly commandeered by a dread figure dressed in black armor and helmet, speaking in a deep, breathy voice. The only human notes in the figure were the tufts of white hair that occasionally escaped the helmet, the glasses through which it glared, and a shimmering hunting rifle of ancient make carried as if it were a scepter. Promising rich rewards in oil and other natural resources, the Serium had been allowed to pass through their space to the planets of a distant star where they might reestablish their civilization...under the protection of the Empire, of course. If they remained where they were, the Venture would face a preemptive strike. According to the sinister figure, discussion was not possible. They would be wise to recognize the nature of the force assembled against them and to return from whence they came.
Captain Hopper wisely realized that the Evil Empire's day would come...but not today. He decided that the time had come to return to Terra. There plans could be made to destroy the threat that otherwise would inevitably descend on their galaxy to enslave its people and steal its resources.
(Return to Terra)
On the return flight in hyperdrive, the Venture made a short stop in Canmuton. Curiosity and a need for exercise led Justin, Tarshi, and the Cubs to hike the hills of that sad planet. Today, it was a archetypal backwater, too weak to attract the attention of the powerful, too poor to be able to compete for their attention. Little had improved for the many orphans over the last few years. You could have anything you wanted for a smile. Indeed, the suggestion that you might share a little food, let alone affection, resulted in an almost embarrassing competition for your attention. For a small coin they would kill at your direction...or, for only a bit more, fight each other to the death. Their physical condition, of course, made it unlikely that you would want most of them anywhere near you. Mornings always revealed a new crop of dead bodies on the roads and in the fields. True, a few Terran and Attian exiles on this desolate rock did maintain sizable harems that masqueraded as orphanages, but they were themselves regarded as beneath the attention of those in power.
The return to Terra at warp-speed led to shocks that were no less powerful. (The Field Marshal, Eddie, and the marine detachment were immediately transferred to an Attian vessel that was waiting in port to take them home. Alexios promised that he would expend every effort to ensure that Justin, Andy, and Danny joined him at the earliest possible moment. For the moment, Justin's back pay allowed a safe and comfortable existence.) As they walked the streets of Ottawa, the capital of Terra's North American province, Justin and Danny, now a powerful and handsome young seventeen year-old, were massively disturbed by what they saw. Frankly, they had hoped for so much more. Rather than develop their home planet that still showed scars of its two-hundred- year captivity on every side, the Terrans were doing little other than loudly beat the drums of war. The dark figure that had halted the Venture's search for the Serium dissidents was demonized at every turn as the personification of evil. He was the one who would lead the forces of the Evil Empire against Terra if not put down by all free men. The few Terrans who resisted that siren call were pilloried as unpatriotic sob sisters and weaklings. Unfortunately, the mud thrown at that them effectively obscured the possibility that the Terran leaders were more interested in power, oil, and deflecting attention from their shortcomings than in the defense of the planet.
Their premier argument for striking now was that their army had been powerfully strengthened by the thousands of "soldier robots" created in Attian laboratories. Thus, the actual loss of Terrans would be minimized by depending on the "subhuman" creatures to take the brunt of the attack. Needless to say, Danny was incensed! Justin, too, wondered if this were the legacy of man, i.e., never to rise above the tendency to aggression that they brought with them as they came down from the trees and gradually subjugated the Earth. Were they destined never to rise above their tendency to pride, anger, covetousness, sloth, envy, lust, and gluttony that had been detailed by human commentators over the millennia? Was this the inborn "nature" of humankind that could not be changed without assistance from outside, perhaps even supernatural, forces?
Given the rise of severe tensions between the two allied planets, it was surprising that Alexios was able to secure permission for Justin, Andy, and Danny to join him on Attia. (Perhaps the only explanation lay in the exclusive focus of Terrans on preparing for war and the Field Marshal's reputation as a warrior. Nothing else seemed capable of attracting and holding their attention for more than a few days.) In any case, they disembarked the shuttle from Terra to the open arms of Alexios, Eddie, and Tarshi. The surprise was Andy who was clearly not maturing like a typical Terran. Rather, perhaps like the Prince who begat him, his growth was at a completely alien rate. Now looking and acting like an intelligent and physically spectacular thirteen year old Terran, he bounded off the Earth shuttle and into the hearts of all those he met.
Over the next year, there were long discussions as to the path that they should follow. Alexios in particular held that it was far too easy to say that Terra's problems were due to the "nature" of its people. They had only to look at Justin and Danny to see that hate and a thirst for blood were not inborn in all Terrans. Rather, these were "bundles of behaviors" that had been reinforced in most humans, especially those who became leaders, over the millennia of their existence. In short, these behaviors were "learned" rather than "inborn" - but learned and practiced for so long that they APPEARED to be inborn. In the tradition of great Terran revolutionaries, religious and secular, they maintained that if learned, they could be unlearned...however difficult the process. Eddie suggested that the life now being created in Attian laboratories might be able to help lift this burden from Terra. He was taken aback, however, when the young Andy fixed him with a level stare and asked, "If the 'nature' or inborn theory were correct, how could creatures created by man be free of man's weaknesses? If, on the other hand, the 'learned' theory were correct, weren't the "soldier robots" on Terra learning the very behaviors that they (i.e., those taking part in the discussion) wanted to eradicate?" All present looked at Andy with surprise. Clearly, it was not only his body that was maturing at an accelerated rate!
The upshot of this discussion was that Eddie went back to Terra, using Danny's identification papers. He found that almost all of the humanoids, i.e., the "soldier robots," loathed the Terrans, deeply resented the plan to use them as 'cannon fodder', and begged Eddie to free them and take them home.
(Flight to a "New Earth")
Within a year, the movement to free the humanoids resulted in Attian-based forces hijacking three great troop transports and several Attian warships and collecting all those humanoids and humans who believed that a better life could be created. With the counsel of the Field Marshal and Justin, Andy and the Twins brought the packed ships back to the borders of the far distant Empire. There, they, too, were allowed to pass through the Empire's space to the planets of a distant star where they might establish their civilization...albeit under the protection of the Empire. When the Terran forces appeared, they fulfilled their obligation to the Empire by joining in a common front that made an attack impossible. When it became necessary, however, they rejected the shackles that the Empire wanted to impose on them...while stressing their willingness to continue their cooperation.
No one every maintained that throwing off the bonds imposed on them by their learning would be as easy. After all, the life forms with which they were dealing were considerably more complex than pigeons. Theirs was not a shallow behaviorism. Nevertheless, over the centuries, they did make slow progress. Gradually, they built a new being and a new culture where differences were seen as strengths rather than weaknesses. It was never easy, but they persevered. Long after Terra and planets to which they had spread their viruses had destroyed themselves, they lived and prospered.
THE END