Tanit was waiting for Koven at the portal. When his bubble popped, she stepped forward to greet him. In public she gave him a polite hug and kiss on the cheek.
“How was my lover today?” she asked him.
“It was good. I learned how to bounce someone in a PPS bubble,” he replied.
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it as he walked alongside her towards the stairs to exit the station.
Bubble stations were only a recent development. Before them, it was complete and utter chaos. Traffic fatalities were over three in every billion journeys. Bubble stations eliminated traffic fatalities, sort of. Once you leave the bubble station, any fatality is your own damned fault and can’t be blamed on anyone else or a generic condition like traffic. Blame it on traffic? Really? That would be silly, like declaring war on a noun.
“I’m going to cook dinner,” she said to him as she looked at her slightly handsome but mostly average man with the most incredible job in the galaxy. Did I mention the benefits? One is a huge payout on the death of an agent. It’s basically an agent’s pay for the next 150 years, payable to spouse or any beneficiary named.
“I wish you wouldn’t,” he replied to her.
“Why? Because you want to ravage me and make me do dirty things for you?” she asked.
“No. Because cooking is not one of your strongest skills,” he replied.
Oh my, remember I warned you about this. Asking a historian a question is often a bad idea. For this reason, Tanit has never asked Koven if he loves her. Sometimes the question is more dangerous than the answer.
“A question never asked is never answered”
—The Final McGee.
They walked along in silence for a while.
Despite dating for 716 revs and despite spending one entire day with each other every ten days, and seeing each other several other times during that time, if at all possible, as long as he wasn’t out on a mission, and despite still seeing him that one day every ten, even when he was out on a mission, despite all of that, Tanit and Koven had never had sex. Not R Sex, the real kind.
VR Sex doesn’t really count. Yes, sure, there is touching and sensation from the plasmatrons that reflect your partner’s motions in the virtual world. There are even orgasms, as many as you are capable. But it is still just VR Sex, not R Sex. Tab A in Slot B does not happen. Tab A is wrapped in plasmatron material as Slot B is filled with it. And it is all done remotely. And in the 716 revs they have been dating, Koven and Tanit have had VR Sex 826 times. The average among the rest of the population is 17 times of VR Sex before R Sex.
But despite the means and the median, Tanit and Koven have never once been to IKEA.
Finally Tanit spoke again as they rounded the last corner to her apartment. She had an apartment above a store off the far edges of the campus. It wasn’t palatial, but it was adequate and clean. She worked to make it seem warm and friendly. Not like Koven’s place. All steel and glass and cold and formal.
“I want you,” she said.
“I want you,” he replied.
They rushed up the stairs to her apartment door. Three flights went by quickly. For an agent it is nothing. For Tanit it was a bit more, and she was out of breath when they got to her floor. She had been getting in shape lately, having spent eleven revs determined not to succumb to the health regime of an agent or an agent’s wife. But then she split a pair of pants at work one day. She had to keep her lab coat on all the way home.
When they got inside, the first thing Tanit did was to fling her shoes off her feet like prisoners breaking free. The shoes flew at a low trajectory until hitting the sofa across the room. Koven walked behind her and picked them up. He carried them into the bedroom and put them in the shoe sling.
“You don’t like for me to do that, do you?” she asked.
“No,” he replied.
“Then why don’t you make me stop?” she said with a husky voice and a dirty smile.
You probably have figured this out already, but Tanit hadn’t yet. Historians are incapable of role-playing. It is by definition a lie and therefore illegal. So while Tanit wanted Koven to throw her down on the bed or even better tie her up and ravage her, pretending to be a strong and threatening stranger, Koven was capable of none of it, except maybe the ravaging part. And he was scared of that part more than any other.
“Please stop,” Koven finally said to her.
Tanit inhaled deeply and got her anger and disappointment under control. She was not going to screw this up. She had invested a lot of effort in Koven.
“It’s OK,” she said sweetly. “I won’t hurt you.”
“That’s not what I am scared of,” he replied.
“Then what?”
“Hurting you,” he said. “Not being enough for you. Not being what you deserve.”
“Oh, honey,” she said with the soft smile of a lover, “you are more than enough for me.”
Tanit leaned forward and kissed Koven, who responded positively, opening his mouth to accommodate her curious tongue.
Some things seem to transcend cultures and planets. So yes, there is marriage. But it is not a matter of “Honey, I love you so much I think the only way to prove it is to go down to the university and perform ceremonies and rituals as prescribed by them and according to social norms and customs.” Nope, nothing like that. Marriage is a statement, a very public statement. It involves telling everyone that you have made a decision to spend your life with someone. And it involved everyone else saying, “OK, that sounds lovely.” There is only one certificate, and this is one of the most important documents you will ever have because it provides significant escape from taxation.
Tanit led Koven over to the bed. They took off their clothes. Then Tanit handed Koven his plasmatronics with a long sigh. As soon as he pushed it to his skin it spread out like a PPS, covering his entire body, this time including his face but leaving holes for his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
“Is that better?” she asked him as she stood in front of him naked. Her large breasts and everything else disappeared quickly under her own plasmatronics. They looked like two people in strange-colored wetsuits, wetsuits that were alive and capable of movement, and most importantly capable of giving pleasure.
Tanit lay down on the bed. She pulled Koven down beside her. They put on their VR lenses, and the wow moment everyone experiences happened.
“Look at you,” she said with a smile as she saw the VR replica of his body.
In VR, he moved over her, she spread her legs, and they began intercourse. And to them it felt so good.
In R, he was just humping the bed beside her. But they each climaxed.
Then he had a nice nap while she cooked dinner angrily.