Adaptive -10- Planning and Testing

This is a step away from my usual writing style and story genres. I have taken on the challenge to explore brave new ideas and "new worlds" by using Science Fiction. I included the use of AI, not to write this story, but as a character in it.

Oh, the possibilities are nearly endless moving forward though. I think you might agree if you bear with me and read this entire story. Hopefully, with the end of this episode, I will have captured your interest and curiosity, and you will look forward to more of this tale. Give it a chance, it's all I ask. Of course, if you like or dislike or have suggestions for the story moving forward, leave a comment. Thank you in advance.

In this installment or "episode", plans are made, plans are put into motion, waters are tested, and lines are crossed.

Frodov

Adaptive -10- Planning and Testing

"Oh Adam! YES! Right there! OH YES! OH MY GOD! YES!!! I'm... I'm going to... OH MY GOD!!! AGAIN!!! YES! YES! YESYESYESYESYES!!!!" Rene' cried aloud. No, not cried SHOUTED! So very loud she woke herself up. DAMN!

Perhaps it wasn't her dream shouting that woke her up, but her phone ringing. She had fallen asleep with her phone under pillow, and now the vibration and the ringtone were screaming for attention. Wait... Ringtone? That wasn't one that she recognized, it was the generic default tone. Frowning and feeling extremely disappointed at having been awakened from such a FANTASTIC dream, Rene' fished her phone out from under her pillow. She frowned again... private number?

"Hello?" Rene' asked tentatively, sitting up slowly as she gathered her senses.

"Rene'? The voice on the other end inquired hopefully... and... hesitantly.

That voice... the one word, sure, but the voice, the inflection, the... timbre.

"Corrine?" Rene' asked, sitting up straighter and feeling an acute tingling in her still wet, very wet...

"It is... I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time." Corrine spoke, sounding a bit relieved but still hesitant.

"Oh... no. No, no, no. I'm... well I've just woken up is all. How... how have you been, Corrine?" Rene' rambled a bit as she flashed back to that magical night at the lottery office that she and Corrine had... shared Adam.

"I have not been able to stop thinking about... you both... since that night. I was... I was wondering if the two of you... Well... you know..." Corrine sounded even more hesitant but somehow hopeful.

Rene' bit her lower lip and smiled with her eyes closed as she fell back onto her pillow, momentarily reliving some of the high lights of that night in a flash. Absent mindedly she ran her free hand down under the waistband of her panties... her very wet panties and shuddered in delight. Her smile grew even bigger as she flashed back to the other day when she and Adam had made love, for the first time, in the back of the car he bought the next day.

"Ohhhhh... yes we have..." Rene' moaned softly into the phone, her smile grew even bigger as she remembered the parting words from that night with Corrine... a promise that was made.

"I'm so happy for you... both..." Corrine breathed into her end of the phone... sounding a little distracted herself.

"Yeah... it was... ugh... so hot. I just can't... get... enough of him..." Rene' gasped into her phone, her fingers whipping her engorged clit as she was on the very edge of cumming... and cumming HARD. What was it about this older woman and what the three of them had done that was so fucking exciting to Rene'?

"Soooo fookin' hot!" Corrine echoed, her voice sounding labored now and somewhat distracted. Rene' would have sworn she heard something wet squelching in the background if she weren't so close to climax at the moment.

"Soooo HOT..." Rene' parroted then groaned breathlessly as her climax raced through her body causing her abdominal muscles to clench and release in time with all her other muscles, especially those of her Kegels and even her tight little sphincter. Rene's toes curled and her eyes rolled back into her head as she rode the waves.

"OH JAYSUS... CHRIST O'FOOKIN ME!" Corrine gasped on her end of the phone, clearly having a moment herself.

For several long moments both women lay in their respective beds catching their breath as the endorphins and euphoria of sexual climax raced through their minds and bodies. The only thing heard on either end of the phone conversation was heavy breathing and some almost inaudible sighing moans with each little aftershock.

"Oh my God... Corrine... that was..." Rene' began breathlessly yet, but Corrine cut her off.

"Fookin' A!... Damn girly! Whew! So... tell me about it then." Corrine purred into the phone while she toyed lightly with her still very sensitive and wet folds.

"OH MY GOD! Corrine! It was... magical! Okay... maybe it was a little hurried but I just couldn't wait any longer..." Rene' began to regale Corrine with the play by play of the day that she and Adam consummated their relationship in her mind anyway. Their first intercourse. The more she talked the more Corrine got worked up again. She was diddling away at first absent-mindedly but towards the end, very conscious of her arousal and impending climax.

The two talked for nearly another hour, both reliving that magical night at the lottery office and making plans to get together again to share Adam between them. Rene' also mentioned the upcoming costume party on campus and asked if Corrine might be interested in getting out and maybe hooking up with some other college boys. It would be perfect Rene' suggested. They wouldn't know she, Corrine, wasn't a student let alone who she was. No strings fun. Even if it wasn't with Adam, but Rene' wasn't ruling that out either. That would be up to Adam. She'd promised after that first time, that she would run anything like that again by him first. She was sure he would be amenable to the three of them playing again though. In the end, Corrine promised to keep in touch and the two of them would coordinate to make it happen.

*****

The sound of air brakes outside pulled Adam from the erotic dream he was having. Feeling the warmth of a soft feminine body next to his had him smiling even as his brain processed the unusual sounds from outside. With a groan, Jade stretched beside him before opening her eyes and seeing Adam looking at her with such love and affection, she too smiled.

"Good morning." Jade spoke sleepily and snuggled a little closer to Adam.

"Morning." He returned and squeezed her small frame in a warm comforting hug before groaning as his bladder made itself known.

"Sounds like the construction guys are here..." Jade mumbled into his chest and then sighed.

"Sounds like... let me up babe. I gotta go pee and then get dressed and see what I can do to help." Adam said just before he kissed the top of Jade's head... she groaned, sounding more like a growl. Adam smiled.

A few minutes later, after having emptied his bladder and slipping a pair of cargo shorts and an old sweatshirt, Adam found Marna in the kitchen setting food on the table. Fresh biscuits, scrambled eggs and bacon, along with some fresh sliced tomatoes. Adam stopped behind her next to the table and wrapped his arms around the older woman and gave her an affectionate hug. Not a hurried one, but one that Marna melted into with a sigh.

"Jade should be out in a minute. She was going into the bathroom as I was coming to the kitchen." Adam stated softly as he released his soft embrace and reached for a biscuit without sitting down.

He split the biscuit open and placed a slice of tomato on the bottom half, broke two pieces of bacon and set them on top of the tomato. He then spooned a little scrambled egg on top of that before placing the top half of the biscuit atop all of it and picking it up as a sandwich. Marna just watched him and shook her head ruefully but smiled none the less.

"I'm going to go out and see what's going on, I'll be back in a bit. Don't wait for me to eat though. You and Jade go ahead." Adam stated as he opened the back door and stepped out of the house.

As he stepped off of the small porch and was headed towards the gate and the produce stand, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pretty sure who it was, Adam called out softly with a mouthful of biscuit sandwich.

"Jus'a minute Data..." he mumbled before swallowing the bite of food in his mouth.

Adam fished his phone out and sure enough, the screen showed no other incoming calls or messages. Grinning to himself before taking another bite of his biscuit sandwich, Adam spoke softly...

"Everything okay Data?" He inquired.

"All is well, Adam. I was going to remind you that your first SCUBA lesson is later this morning on campus at the aquatic's gymnasium... and that the grading and paving contractors have arrived. The contractors for the produce stand renovation will be here as well, within the hour." Data informed Adam.

"MmmHmm... s'hanks Data" Adam mumbled around another mouthful of sandwich as he walked towards the truck parked beside the produce stand with the obvious foreman of the crew directing another truck to park on the road to offload a small bulldozer.

Adam met the foreman of the crew and went over the ideas and plans for the expanded parking area. He found out the grading would take only an hour or so at most with the equipment they had brought with them. Adam did point out that he would have another crew doing remodeling and improvements on the garden and the produce stand. The foreman assured him that there would be no problems with the other crew's access to their own work areas. Adam then moved his car out to the road in front of the house to make way for both crews to get to work. Walking back to the house to rejoin Marna and Jade, he thought to text Cindy to let her know that the driveway was out of commission this morning and that she should text Jade or himself when she arrived in a little while to pick up Jade. After he put his phone back in his pocket, he realized that now that he has a car himself, he could have easily taken Jade to work himself, but then... that was kind of Jade and Cindy's time together... so...

"It's going to be a bit noisy and chaotic today, Mammon." Adam spoke as he entered the kitchen to find Jade and Marna still seated at the table, Jade reading a text from Cindy.

"Oh dear! I hadn't thought of that..." Marna began sounding a little hesitant and thoughtful.

"Oh, crap! Cindy said she had to turn around and go back home to change her clothes. She spilled coffee all over herself when a deer jumped out in front of her car. She didn't hit it or have a wreck but she spilled hot coffee all over her dress." Jade voiced sounding concerned.

"Thank goodness she's alright." Marna chimed in with a concerned look on her face.

Adam had just split another biscuit and was building a sandwich again with tomato, bacon and egg. He paused and then looked at Jade who was looking out the window and glanced at her phone, no doubt wondering about making it to work on time now with the delay.

"I could take you to work if you like..." Adam said to Jade, causing her to turn her head to look at him with a touch of confusion then the look turned into a smile.

"Could you? I mean that would be great. At least one of us would make it to work on time. She might still be able to make it on time if she doesn't have to drive here to pick me up first... Are you sure, Adam?" Jade asked after her reasoning out loud.

"Sure. No problem. I was going to go by the other two grocery stores in town today anyway, to see about possibly selling produce from Mammon's garden." Adam said and shrugged as he completed building his biscuit sandwich and taking the first bite.

Adam's phone vibrated in his pocket, so he retrieved it to see what it was. There were two messages, one from Rene' wishing him good morning and that she needed to tell him something later after her first class today. The second message was text from Data informing him that his and Marna's business cards were being delivered today via postal service regular delivery. The cards were printed and mailed before the end of business the previous day from a local printer, hence the promptness of the delivery. Secondly, if he was interested, he could sit in on an orientation class this afternoon at the university for his SCUBA lessons. There had been several cancelations and openings had been made to the classes. He could possibly take his first diving lesson tomorrow morning if he attended the orientation class today.

"Huh!" Adam uttered out loud as he smiled and set his phone back down on the table.

"What?" Jade asked, voicing the same question that was in Marna's eyes as both women looked at him questioningly.

"I just got a text... well... two really. One from Rene' saying she would talk to me after her class this morning, and the other was letting me know that there have been some cancelations for the SCUBA diving lessons I am going to take. I can start as early as tomorrow morning if I attend an orientation class this afternoon." Adam explained.

"That's great!" Jade exclaimed, still not fully understanding Adam's desire to go deep under water, but hey! He wanted to try it so why not? "And since you'll be in town already, it works out nicely. Cool!" Jade added with a smile and a wink, knowing that Rene' would be likely keeping Adam company at the orientation class as well.

As they were speaking, Adam could see the postal carrier's jeep pull up to the mail box on the road. He smiled to himself knowing that the business cards were being delivered. He and Jade cleared the table of the breakfast dishes, but Marna insisted on washing them herself and shooed the two on their way. Both gave her a kiss on the cheek and a side hug before they headed out the door. Adam telling her that if there were any problems to come up with the contractors to just give him a call or have the contractors give him a call. Otherwise, he would be home at least by dinner time if not sooner.

Adam collected the mail form the post box while Jade got into his car. He pulled out the box containing the business cards and opened it on the way to the car. After getting in and fastening his seat belt he pulled a card out and looked at it. Smiling he handed it to Jade to check out as well.

"Cool." Jade commented. "Can I keep it?" she asked.

"Sure, here... take a few more and if the opportunity presents itself, you can give them away." Adam said handing her a few more cards.

"I'll do that. Adam, this is so nice of you to be helping Mammon so much." Jade said softly as she idly ran the fingers of her left hand through the hair on the side of his head as he drove towards town.

"It's really not that much, but I feel like I owe her... a lot." Adam said just as softly, coming from deep in his heart.

"She loves you as if you were her own flesh and blood you know." Jade added.

"I know. And I love her just as much... and you... well... you know that already..." Adam said sheepishly glancing over at Jade who was beaming that smile. It warmed his heart even more.

"You'd better... or we're going to have words!" Jade said lightly and chuckled.

"Seriously, Jade. I love you more than you will ever know. I don't think I would be here today, or even alive if it hadn't been for you... and Mammon of course." Adam said in all seriousness, but smiled softly when he glanced at Jade once more.

"Adam... stop! You're going to make me cry." Jade said teasingly but with an edge of seriousness in her voice as well.

"Just so you know..." Adam said with a smirk that softened into that sweet little boy smile that melted Jade's heart even more.

Jade remained quiet for a few minutes after that. Quiet but with a soft smile and a contented look in her eyes. Her left hand still toying with Adam's hair at his neck and the back of his head.

"So... you're going to visit the grocery stores, then meet Rene' for lunch maybe? And then go take that orientation class?" Jade asked as they pulled into the parking lot at the walk-in clinic.

"Yeah. That's the plan right now anyway." Adam said putting the car into park at the curb in front of the entrance. A horn honked as a car went past them... it was Cindy's car.

"Looks like Cindy made it in time too." Adam commented and waved in recognition.

Jade smiled and scooted over to kiss Adam on the cheek... since they were in public and others might wonder about the public display of affection. Adam blushed but smiled all the same.

"Say hi to Cindy for me... see you tonight... babe." Adam said as Jade got out of his car and closed the door.

"Okay... see you tonight... behave yourself today." Jade said with a giggle, then turned to wait for Cindy to cross the parking lot to go in together as Adam drove off with a honk of his horn to Cindy.

"Well, that was fortuitous that Adam had a car today." Cindy said as she approached within a few steps of Jade, smiling sheepishly.

"It was, wasn't it?" Jade said smiling and looking Cindy up and down at her hastily changed clothes.

"What? Did I miss something?" Cindy asked checking herself out to see if something was amiss.

"No!" Jade laughed out loud. "I was just thinking that skirt was a little... um... interesting?" Jade added then bit her bottom lip and waggled her eyebrows at the taller blonde.

"Too much? How so?" Cindy asked, still sounding a little uncertain.

"OH babe! You're GORGEOUS... I'm just saying that you're likely to get a LOT of attention today... wearing that miniskirt.

"It's NOT a miniskirt... it's the same skirt I wore in high school as part of my uniform..." Cindy began to explain then it dawned on her that, yeah, it might be a little short for her size now. It seems that she had grown an inch or three two taller since she last wore the skirt.

"I'm just sayin... you might want to be a little careful bending over around others." Jade said with a giggle and slipped her arm through Cindy's and they went indoors to begin their work day.

*****

Travis was walking down the hallway in the Business and Economics building after leaving his last class in Macroeconomics. His head was still spinning and he was uncertain if his notes would even help. He was checking his phone to see if Tara had texted him, she knew he was in class but she often left messages for him to get after class. Passing empty classrooms and offices on either side of the hall he was lost in his phone when a hand reached out of one of the open doors and grabbed his shirt at the chest and pulled him into the room.

"WHAT TH..." Travis managed to get out before his mouth was sealed shut... by the softest and wettest and most succulent lips he had ever had the pleasure to experience.

"Hello lover..." Tara said breathlessly when she released him long enough to say hi and giggle at Travis's surprise. She kicked the door closed with her heel as Travis pressed her back up against the now closed door and re-engaged those glorious lips.

Books hit the floor... cell phones were dropped... hands groped for any available bare flesh or searched for a means to produce bare flesh. Travis eventually grabbed Tara's hands and pinned them to the door above her head and attacked her neck below her ear as she whimpered and sighed in excitement. Both breathing hard and gasping as their hearts raced and a growing hungry need drove them to higher and higher passion.

One hand holding hers above her head, the other slipped under her sweater to maul and squeeze and fondle her breasts after pushing her bra up out of the way... Travis continued to alternate between kissing those delectable lips or along her jawline or her neck or her throat, he was like a starving man presented with a sumptuous buffet. Tara, for her part was perfectly happy to be his main course to sate his appetite. Her soft moans and quiet gasps were filling the otherwise empty office. She didn't even know whose office it was or if or when they would return. She figured the person or persons had gone to lunch.

"Travis... babe... TRAVIS... STOP!" Tara had to repeat several times to finally break through the lusty fog shrouding Travis's mind.

Travis paused, his hand still holding her hands, the other still tweaking a very stiff nipple... his lips just inches from her soft neck only to pull back and look Tara in the eyes with a puzzled expression.

"Babe?" He practically whispered... breathlessly.

"As much as I want this... as much as you do... we can't do this here. I don't even know whose office this is or when they will be back. Let's go somewhere else... then you can... keep doing what you're doing. I'm REALLY liking this side of you babe. GOD! You drive me crazy!" Tara giggled and then bit her bottom lip as she searched Travis's eyes for confirmation and possibly promise to continue... elsewhere.

"Y... Yeah... okay... you're right. But damn! Girl! You make me so HOT." Travis sputtered as he reluctantly released both Tara's hands and her so very wonderful right breast and nipple.

"You make me WET!... and HOT..." Tara giggled as she reached under her sweater to pull her bra back into place and reseat her girls properly... sighing from how her hard nipples rubbed against the silky material of the bra.

The two of them gathered their books and phones from the floor and checked that they were presentable before looking at one another and both smiling a little sheepishly. Tara couldn't resist leaning in for another quick kiss before reaching for the doorknob and opening the door once more. She and Travis poked their heads out to see if anyone was paying attention to them before stepping out into the hallway again. Tara took Travis's hand and lead him towards the exit.

"I know someplace here on campus... follow me. Oh damn... when is your next class?" Tara spoke, turning to look at Travis as he was watching her every move like a love-struck puppy.

"Oh... um... I have a creative writing class after lunch... so about an hour and a half." Travis stammered.

"That will work... come on!" Tara said as she practically started skipping... with Travis in tow... by his hand if not his libido... towards the library building just down the paved path connecting various campus buildings.

*****

"Jade... babe... I'm going crazy!" Cindy started softly, leaning close to Jade at their little table in the employee break room as they ate their lunch.

"What do you mean 'Going'?" Jade teased with a facetious grin and winked at her bestie.

"You're NOT helping..." Cindy pouted but it turned into a sheepish grin as she turned a little pinker in the face.

"Okay... tell me what's going on." Jade said a little more seriously and took another nibble of her sandwich... wondering just how old the egg salad was from the machine in the breakroom.

"What you've been... asking... me about... I can't get it out of my head. Thanks for that by the way." Cindy said and sighed resignedly.

"Asking you about?" Jade asked, not able to resist teasing a bit more but knowing full well what Cindy was referring to.

"UGH! Be serious!" Cindy almost barked but it sounded more like a plea... she looked around the room to make sure no one took notice or was listening to their conversation.

"I'm talking about this idea of yours about me and... Adam. I can't get that out of my head. Last night I had a dream that we were at that same spot you and I... um... had our picnic, by the lake. I woke up with my sheets wet from... damn it... I squirted in my sleep Jade!" Cindy practically hissed and her blushing face grew even darker as she lowered her gaze as if to hide from anyone who might notice how fluxomed she was at the moment.

Jade, to her credit, stifled the laugh that nearly breeched her mouth out loud. She had to bite the knuckles or her right hand rather than her sandwich. Her eyebrows were climbing into her hair line and her eyes twinkled with glee. Under the table she did a quick staccato with her feet tapping up and down as if she were running in place while sitting at their little table.

"Oh babe... you had a wet dream?" Jade asked in a lusty whispered voice leaning a little closer to the embarrassed blonde.

"I thought I had peed the bed! It's not funny." Cindy groused looking a little cross until her eyes gave her away and Jade smiled even bigger.

"So... are you considering giving him a try?" Jade asked quietly and biting her bottom lip in anticipation.

"Um..." Cindy hedged, looking around nervously once more. "I mean... it wouldn't be awful, would it? You know... if I borrowed Adam... to try?" Cindy asked in a voice so soft and quiet that a whisper would have sounded like a shout in comparison.

Jades' eyes lit up even more and she smiled so brightly that Cindy forgot completely about Adam for a moment and just wanted to grab the shorter girl by her face and lock lips with her... before doing other things. Cindy groaned and covered her face with both hands to hide the blush that threatened to cause her to burst into flames.

"You know it wouldn't be awful... I just worry that maybe you will forget all about me when you do get your first taste of Adam." Jade whispered and then winked.

"What?" Cindy gasped, truly startled as she looked Jade full in the face questioningly. "I would NEVER forget about you!" Cindy protested, not caring who or if anyone else heard.

Jade's heart swelled at Cindy's reaction but she just smiled that much brighter and took another bite of her questionable egg salad sandwich. The two finished their lunches and discussed possible times and dates going forward when it might be a good time to... experience... Adam. IF he were amenable to said experimenting. Jade knew in her heart that he would however. If for no other reason than that she would ask him to... for Cindy... for her. Lingering in the back of both girls' minds was the possibility of all three of them having some fun at some time too. Both girls went back to work with soaked panties and big smiles on their faces.

*****

Adam had just sat back down in the driver's seat of his car when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out before buckling his seat belt, the caller was identified as Rene'. He couldn't help but to smile as he answered the call.

"Hi gorgeous!" He said in greeting.

"Gorgeous? Adam!" Rene' said in surprise and giggled on her end of the phone.

"Well... I think you are anyway... so sue me!" Adam quipped and grinned a little more.

"You're just too sweet, you know that?" Rene' returned with a purr.

"Yeah... I keep getting told that, but I don't mind. I kind of like it... to be honest." Adam admitted.

"So... what are you up to?" Rene' asked, Adam could imagine here tilting her head to one shoulder and twirling her hair with the fingers of one hand, with a facetious little smile on her face.

"Oh, just visited a couple of grocery stores this morning to see if they were interested in selling locally grown produce. I'm trying to get Mammon's business a little more exposure." Adam explained as he held one of the new business cards in his hand and looked at it once more.

"That is so sweet... have I told you lately that I love you?" Rene' asked softly.

Adam let the hand with the business card in it drop to his lap and he swallowed hard. There it was again... that word... that declaration. "Love" ... Adam knew what she meant by using it, but still he wondered if maybe things were moving too fast between them. He cared a great deal for Rene'. Something beyond friendship, certainly, a great fondness and yes, in his own way... love. But he was not sure that it was to the same extent that Rene' seemed to be at. To her credit, Rene' seemed to sense Adam's thoughts and spoke up once more.

"Oh Adam... relax. I'm not trying to get you to commit to anything or to tell me that you love me either. But I will say again, because it's true. I DO love you... for you. You are just amazing in every way that I can think of. Nothing has changed between us. Listen, I just got out of my last class for today. What do you say about getting some lunch maybe?" Rene' teased at the end.

"Um... yeah... well... sure. I could get some lunch. I do have a class to attend myself in about an hour and a half from now." Adam replied.

"Class? What class?" Rene' asked a little excited and curious at the same time.

"Remember me telling you about my wanting to learn how to SCUBA dive? Well, the university has a class for that and I managed to get in. There were a few cancelations, I guess people changed their mind about taking the class... anyway, my class got moved up and there's an orientation class that's required before the actual class begins tomorrow." He explained.

"Yeah, I remember you saying you wanted to learn how to dive... but I didn't know it would be this fast. Cool! Would it be okay if I sat in with you for your orientation?" Rene' asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't mind. I guess if it's okay with the teacher then sure!" Adam told her and he heard her squeal on her end of the phone even though she turned her head to muffle the sound.

"GREAT! Where are you now? Do you want me to come pick you up... or maybe... you can pick me up?" Rene' asked with such a leading and teasing voice that Adam had to take a deep breath before responding.

"I could pick you up, I guess... I need to find out where I can park so I can attend the class anyway." Adam explained.

Rene' told Adam where he could pick her up on campus. She'd be waiting at one of the marked bus stops that served students going and coming from campus to the stadium parking area for students who commuted to school. Adam agreed and said he'd see her shortly before ending the call. He sat there for a few moments longer just thinking. Love indeed.

For most of his life, he had been a bit of a loner. Sure, he had Marna, and Jade... but he had really thought of them more as family than anything else. No, he had been the quiet kid in school, bashful and shy... too much so to be outgoing and one to take risks like trying to get a girlfriend. He never thought that anyone would even be interested in himself so he just stayed the quiet one. So much of that had changed in a very short time... after the storm... after... his happening upon that life pod stuck in a flooded ditch. So very much had changed.

Thinking, even briefly of that night of course, had once more brought Xiba to mind, or the forefront of his mind anyway. Again, he smiled a little brighter. Meeting the alien had been a life changing event indeed. There was a connection formed that expanded his mind and his realization that he was capable of love. Love that he found was there all along from someone that he did love dearly but thought of as only a sibling of sorts. Jade had revealed her own love and desires to Adam when he returned home after being missing the night of the storm. And then there was Rene'.

Honestly, Adam's mind was still spinning as he was coming to realize that all those years of being the quiet one... the invisible one... were mostly only in his own imagination. He had been seen and noticed and even dreamt about by the very girls that he thought he would never stand a chance with. Jade had told him that he should open his mind... and his heart... allow himself to be approachable and enjoy the attentions of girls who showed an interest in him. That included herself... Rene' and even Cindy, Jade's best friend... and now he knew as well... her lover. Rene' had expanded his mind even further by arranging or somehow conducting the little threesome get together with Corrine the lottery official. Adam could honestly admit that he feelings for all these women, alien and human. They were all special in their own ways... but love? Yes... maybe even love.

Shaking his head ruefully and smiling, Adam started his car and put it into gear. He was soon driving towards campus and the bus stop to pick up his "girlfriend" Rene'. It was almost one block that he had traveled when Adam noticed that his car would need some gas soon. The tank was not empty but it was below a quarter of a tank so better safe than sorry he figured. He smiled when he realized that he was just down the street from the very gas station that he had found this car and eventually purchased it from the owner. I gave his turning signal and pulled into the station and up to one of the pumps.

Scott had been sitting behind the counter on his stool with his head propped up on one upturned palm feeling rather dejected. His ongoing search for another job had as to yet proven fruitless. He was running out of options and it was depressing. He did perk up a little and smile when he recognized the car that had just pulled up to the pumps outside. Standing up and going around the counter, he stepped outside to greet Adam who had just gotten out of the car.

"You ever pumped gas before?" Scott asked Adam ruefully.

"Well... no, actually. Of course, I never owned a car before the other day either." Adam responded with an equally rueful tone but smiled at Scott in return.

"Here... let me show you how and you'll know next time. First of all, you're on the wrong side of the pump for your car. Hop back in and I show you a trick." Scott said... Not sure where this was going, Adam did get back into the car behind the wheel.

"Okay... turn the key on and look at the speedometer. See that little gas pump icon?" Adam pointed to the now lit up icon to the left side of the speedometer. "Right... that means that your gas fill cap is located on the left side or driver's side of the car. If it were to the right side of the speedometer, it would..." Scott was saying but Adam picked up and finished the statement.

"... it would be on the right side of the car... Okay, gotchya! Cool." Adam finished and started the car as Scott stepped back to watch him back up and then pull to the other side of the gas pump.

Getting out and grinning a little sheepishly, Adam found the little door that covered the gas cap and unscrewed it to get ready to pump gas. He then turned to the pump and started to pick up the nozzle but paused when he realized that there was more than one type of fuel that he could pump with the same nozzle.

"Hmmmm." Adam hummed.

"Right... forgot to mention that. Sorry. Yeah, you can use any of the three grades of gasoline but do NOT choose the diesel fuel selector. That's for a totally different kind of engine than what you have in your car." Scott informed politely.

"Right... no diesel... but which of the three types of gasoline should I use?" Adam asked and glanced at Scott who was grinning.

"Up to you really. I mean the higher the grade the more expensive it is, but all three will work just fine in this car's engine. If it were my car, I would choose the midgrade or the next cheaper one. They're pretty close to being the same fuel really. The higher-octane grades burn a little cleaner and they have additives that are helpful for your engine but you're really looking at negligible benefits for short term use. If you keep up your maintenance the lower octane fuels work just fine." Scott said with a shrug.

Adam chose the mid-grade selection then picked up the nozzle and turned to insert it into the gas fill port. He squeezed the handle and began pumping gas for the first time in his life. He shook his head a little ruefully as he realized that all the time, he had worked at Mr. Kellerman's Gas and Go, he had never really thought about the gas the customers were buying. Kind of ironic he thought.

"So, what are you up to today, man?" Scott asked as he leaned his shoulder against the pump and scrolled through his phone to see if he had gotten any responses or emails.

"Well, I have been trying to drum up some business for my... Mammon's... produce gardens. I went to the grocery stores here in town to see if they might be interested in selling locally grown produce as well as the stuff the get shipped in from who knows where." Adam offered up.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Any takers?" Scott inquired.

"Not yet. Everyone has to talk to someone else before anything gets approved. You know how it is." Adam lamented

"Yeah buddy! I know all about that. Hurry up and wait!" Scott commiserated with a wry grin and shrugged.

"I'm done with that for the day though. I'm headed to campus to pick up Rene'. She's going to go with me to an orientation class I'm taking for lessons I start tomorrow." Adam added.

"Orientation? Classes? What for?... if you don't mind my asking." Scott looked curious.

"I'm going to learn how to SCUBA dive. I've always wanted to learn how and now I have the opportunity." Adam said with a shrug and a sheepish grin.

"SCUBA diving? Cool... we're a long way from the beach though..." Scot mused.

"Oh, I can dive in fresh water bodies too... I was thinking about checking out Meteor Lake first... then some of the other lakes and rivers around here. I know, it sounds silly but hey..." Adam said with a shrug.

"Yeah... I guess I never considered lakes and rivers. Makes sense. Might not be as colorful as a tropical reef or whatever but it could still be pretty cool." Scott admitted just as the pump shut off with a click.

Adam turned and hung the nozzle back up on the pump then back to the car to screw on the gas cap and close the cover. He reached for his wallet and pulled out his new debit card and handed it to Scott. Scott smiled and motioned for Adam to come inside with him while he rang up the sale.

"Hey Scott... Rene' told me about a party coming up next week on campus. It's a costume party. Apparently, it's open to the whole campus but as Rene' pointed out it is a "COSTUME" party so nobody knows who anyone is. If you're interested you could maybe check it out and maybe have a good time." Adam offered up.

"Costume party huh? Hmmm... been a long time since I wore any costume other than these coveralls." Scott laughed but he tilted his head to one side as he considered the idea and smiled. "That might just be fun. I'll think about it and let you know. Right now, I'm more concerned with finding another job. My stepmom is really pushing my dad to sell out and move, the sooner the better in her mind." Scott added with a fading and somewhat saddened smile and a shrug.

"No chance the new owners, when it sells, would keep you on?" Adam asked as he signed the slip of paper printed out from the card reader machine by the register.

"Not likely. The ones most interested in buying the place are considering demolishing the place and putting in a fast-food restaurant... or so dad says anyway." Scott lamented.

"Would you consider staying on if someone bought it and wanted to keep it as a gas and service station?" Adam asked as he put his debit card back into his wallet.

"Sure.... Hell! If I could get someone to take me seriously who could give me a loan, I'd buy my dad out and keep it just the way it is. I love this place... always have." Scott stated with certainty.

"Have you looked for a lender online? Maybe made some posts on social media?" Adam asked politely but was forming an idea in the back of his mind.

"Not really. I already know I'm far too young and have no other income than what I earn from here, and no assets to use as any kind of collateral. Kind of pointless if you know you already have two strikes against you." Scott admitted somewhat subdued.

"Hey... you never know till you try... right?" Adam quipped and pursed his lips as that idea kept getting bigger and stronger in the back of his mind... a slow grin spread on his face.

"Yeah... what the hell! It could be worth a shot I guess." Scott admitted with a shrug. "I'll do that here in a few minutes actually. It's not like I'm terribly busy right now anyway." Scott said with that rueful grin again. "Say hi to Ne' Ne' for me!" Scott said with a grin.

Adam waved over his shoulder as he walked back to his car and got in. He was soon on his way once more to meet with Ne' Ne'... er... Rene', on campus. He couldn't help but to smile at her uncle's and cousin's pet name for her. Something to tease her with from time to time. As he was making the next turn at the light, Adam spoke up as if the person he was addressing was in the car with him... in fact... in a way, they were.

"Data? You remember that I asked you to stop making investments and growing more money for me?" Adam queried.

"Yes, of course Adam." Data responded instantly, though sounding a little curious.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the help you were giving me... I was... it's just a little overwhelming to me is all. I don't have any idea what to do with all that money... or didn't..." Adam began.

Adam went on to describe to Data his idea of creating a shadow corporation or fund anyway to become something of an angel investor. A group that would invest in or donate or loan funds to individuals, or companies or projects that they found worthy or of interest. Adam's plan was to purchase the Sanders service station outright as an angel investor group and then offer it to Scott on a work to own basis. With generous time lines of course. Perhaps with some renovations and upgrades to some of the necessary equipment as well.

"Hmmm... That would be... fun." Data said carefully, but there was a note in intrigue in his voice. "I shall endeavor to carry out your wishes Adam. Perhaps a survey of popular services and equipment being installed in newer such service stations to see what type of equipment and amenities would be favorable and likely to draw customers and make money." He added already sounding as if he was deep into the process. Adam smiled and let his concentration move back to driving to meet Rene'.

"Adam..." Xiba's voice came through Adam's phone, redirecting his concentration once more. "Might I make a request?" She asked, sounding a little timid.

Sensing that something was coming that perhaps he should pay close attention to, Adam pulled the car into a small shopping center and found a parking spot.

"Certainly, Xiba. How can I help?" Adam responded.

"The vegetables and fruits you brought for me to try are all wonderful. I wanted to thank you again for being so thoughtful. I feel much better now, I feel... energized. But there is one thing I... well... I would like to study more closely perhaps." Xiba said hesitantly yet.

"Pickles?" Adam asked, making the intuitive leap.

"Y... yes... the pickled cucumbers that you so liked. I... I was intrigued by their effect on my body. I would like to... analyze the compounds leading to that reaction." Xiba proclaimed, trying to sound professional and scientific, but Adam was hearing intrigue and curiosity and perhaps desire to experience the sexual stimulation like that first reaction.

Adam fought the grin that grew on his face, tempering his almost humorous thoughts with the very real concern that he felt when she, Xiba, had collapsed shortly after reacting to eating the one pickle. Yes, he was thoroughly relieved to hear from Data that the med tech unit found no harm done other than the fact that Xiba was suffering from mal nourishment and extreme fatigue. Maybe if she were stronger and well rested... the pickle effect could be... fun? Adam could certainly see how Xiba would be interested in further... study... of the effect. Fun or not, it still should be approached with caution he thought.

"I can... bring you some more... to study I suppose." Adam finally commented.

"Oh... thank you, Adam. That would be wonderful indeed." Xiba replied sounding rather relieved and maybe a bit excited as well.

Now Adam couldn't stop the grin from spreading on his face as he shook his head and reengaged his transmission into drive and began to move his car again. He had a date to keep.

"I'm on my way to pick up... my friend Rene'. She is accompanying me to the orientation class for my Scuba Diving lessons this afternoon. I'll see if I can maybe swing by the lake on my way home this evening. I will let you know when I am coming." Adam further informed Xiba.

"I look forward to... seeing you again. And again, thank you Adam." Xiba said by way of signing off.

A few minutes later, Adam spotted Rene' standing at the bus stop she had said she would wait for him. She was looking the other direction and had her arms crossed over her books that were held to her chest. The short-ish skirt she wore was flapping slightly in the breeze, threatening to flash her pert little behind to anyone looking that way. Adam bit his bottom lip but had to smile all the same.

Adam's station wagon slid up to the bus stop almost silently and instead of blowing his horn, he merely waited for Rene' to turn back his way and notice him. It didn't take but a moment and the look of surprise and then delight on her face was worth the wait. Rene' raised one hand and gave a little wave even as she still held her books close. She literally skipped over to the passenger side of his car as Adam leaned across the seat and opened the door for her.

"Hi baby!" Rene' said as she scooted over next to him to kiss him on the cheek before settling back in her seat and buckling up. Adam reached over and took her left hand in his right and smiled before asking.

"Okay... I need directions."

Rene', ever familiar with all of campus gave Adam succinct directions to the building his orientation class was being held in and a good place to park at said building. Adam didn't have a faculty sticker or even an allowed off campus student parking sticker on his car so he had to settle for a metered parking place. It was a little humorous at first when he realized he didn't have any coins to feed the meter, but Rene' just smiled and opened her book bag and pulled coins from within. She winked at him then took his arm and they headed towards the entrance of the building to search for the lecture hall for his orientation.

The number of people in the class was by far... very far... less than what would require the entire lecture hall. There ended up only being a dozen or so people taking the Scuba class. The instructor introduced herself and then had everyone introduce themselves for her benefit, turning it into an impromptu roll call. Of the other students in the class, Adam was one of only three guys. Rene' gave Adam a curious look and a sly grin that he recognized from the night they had shared at the lottery office. He silently shook his head and mouthed "Noooooo". That earned him a big grin and a wink from Rene'.

The Orientation class was interesting. It turned out to be rather short though, barely over an hour and fifteen minutes. The instructor said that she would have liked to have covered more but that was all the time she had been allotted for this class in this lecture hall. She said that she would work both as a group and individually with each of the participants the following day in their first session. One other student asked if they would be getting into the pool tomorrow but the instructor said no. They had to cover a lot of safety information and then begin the technical side of fitting equipment and what not. The first dive would be in three days. Again... she had to take the times she was allotted as even the pool was a shared "classroom" on campus.

The instructor thanked everyone for their attendance and participation for the orientation and she hoped to see everyone tomorrow. With that, the other students began packing up and departing the hall. The instructor however, called to Adam to wait a moment. He and Rene' looked at one another and shrugged and sat back down to wait for whatever the instructor had in mind. Rene's hand in Adam's squeezed and teased him and she had that sly look on her face again. Rene' had definitely been checking out both the instructor and some of the other students in the class. Adam had noticed, of course, but only groaned internally and not said anything.

"Adam... Adam Ronan?" the instructor asked.

"Yes, that's me. I should be on your list of students..." Adam began, thinking that somehow, she might not think he was one of the students taking the class.

"Oh, No. I know you are on the list... but most of the others, none in fact, have brand new equipment delivered to my office in advance of taking their first SCUBA lesson." The instructor said.

"I just thought that if I had my own equipment, I wouldn't be taking up the school's equipment that another student may need." Adam explained. "Besides, I figured that it was a good idea to learn on the equipment I was going to be using moving forward too, Miss Waterson." Adam added.

"Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Still though, you must have some pretty deep pockets or someone who's sponsoring you to have such top-notch equipment. Truthfully, I'm a little envious of the stuff you've got." She admitted. "Call me Ginny, please. Miss Waterson sounds like my mother. It's Virginia Waterson, but I go by Ginny." Ginny explained as she extended her hand to shake.

"Ginny is a cute name." Rene' said with a purr in her voice as she leaned against Adam while holding his arm but clearly checking out the petite SCUBA instructor.

"I'm sorry... I didn't catch your name." Ginny said with a smile as she addressed Rene'

"Oh! I'm not one of your students. I'm just here with my boyfriend. I don't think you could pay me enough to go diving... in water anyway." Rene' quipped with a sly grin, her eyebrows arching upwards and nibbling on the corner of her bottom lip.

"Umm... yeah. Well, you are welcome to watch the class. We usually have a few who audit the class to see if they want to pursue it as a credit in their own academic program." Ginny explained.

"So, Adam... Have you ever dived before." Ginny asked Adam while still looking at Rene' with one of her own eyebrows slightly elevated.

"Oh! You have NO idea! UNREAL!" Rene' began only to be cut off by Adam.

"AHEM... I think she means... like in water... swimming... not..." He began but got flustered and was blushing so hard that he looked like he was about to have an aneurism.

Ginny and Rene' both smiled, understanding Rene's implication and loving Adam's reaction. Too much information, perhaps, but it's a good thing to know. Especially if there's any kind of interest in exploring possibilities. Despite what most guys do out of habit or instinct, Adam was not one of those guys who sized up every woman he saw. Sure, he would notice things about people, girls and women but it wasn't really comparing them to others or some "type" that people claim to have or prefer. While the three of them continued to talk however, Adam did take a closer look at Ginny.

Maybe it was Rene's influence with her hinting and out and out flirting, but whatever it was, he viewed Ginny now as a girl, a woman, rather than an instructor... however briefly. She was a petite little gal, barely standing five foot three maybe. She was slender without being skinny, all legs and arms mostly. Oh, she had curves, not so much in the chest, an A-cup at best maybe, but that back end more than made up for anything she might have been lacking elsewhere. HOLY FU...! Ginny had a killer smile too, Adam always noticed smiles ... and eyes. Ginny's eyes were a haunting almost emerald green. She had sandy blonde hair that was cut short in a boyish kind of bob but it didn't look boyish to Adam.

It became increasingly clear to Adam that Ginny was accepting of Rene's interest and was likewise curious about his girlfriend... and the fleeting glances at himself lead him to believe that he was more than a curiosity as well. While intriguing in its own way, Adam was not ready to expand his relationships again at this time. He tried to steer the conversation back towards the impending lessons.

"So, the equipment is good?" Adam asked, bringing Ginny back into instructor mode.

"Like I said, I'm a little envious of what you've got..." Ginny said and a fleeting glance towards Rene' made it clear that the words had double meaning.

"Is there anything I should know... before the class begins? That wasn't covered by the orientation earlier that is?" Adam asked.

"Well, your equipment is pretty standard really but there are few features that are unique to the brand. If you want to learn them maybe you can come to the class a little earlier and I'll... show them to you." Ginny said with a hint of a smile in her eyes and nibbling the corner of her bottom lip.

"Can I... come with him?" Rene' piped up with a grin.

"Can you swim?" Ginny asked with a smile.

"Like a fish!" Rene' returned with an equal smile.

"Well then, sure... come... along." Ginny said with a wink then turned back to Adam.

"Say... about an hour before the class then?" Ginny asked.

"I'll... we'll... be there. And... thanks." Adam said as he gently steered Rene' towards the door.

In the hallway headed for the door, Rene' clinging to his arm and with a troublesome if dreamy look on her face, Adam just kept glancing at her and waiting for it...

"What?" Rene' asked a little sheepishly.

"Just wandering what's going through that mind of yours right now." Adam quipped with a bit of a smirk, but a smile in his eyes.

"Oh, come on! You saw her! She's HOT!" Rene' said and blushed ever so slightly and chewed on her bottom lip.

"I... did notice... but I didn't come on to her... like someone I know." Adam said softly, still smirking.

"But you were thinking it!" Rene' said though sounding more like a question.

"Maybe... but I already have a very HOT girlfriend." Adam admitted, earning him a squeal and a tighter hug on his arm.

Rene' looked up at him as they walked with eyes full of love and affection, but there was a shadow of something else there too. Adam, perhaps from all his years of simply watching and observing others, or maybe because he had formed such an attachment to this particular girl... knew something was up. He didn't suspect it had anything to do with his admittedly HOT diving instructor either... So... He had to ask.

"Okay... what's with that look? Are you up to something again?" Adam asked her in mock peevishness, barely suppressing the smile that threatened to break across his face at the look of startled confusion that flashed across Rene's face.

"Um... well... not exactly but... maybe...?" Rene' said after she gulped and swallowed wondering how Adam even picked that up in the first place.

"Not exactly? Rene'..." Adam parroted then gave her a stern look as they paused at the entrance doors to the building.

"Oh Adam!" Rene' lamented sheepishly then continued. "I got a call this morning... from... from Corrine. She was wondering if you and I had... you know. Anyway. She's as hot as ever and horny as hell. She really, REALLY wants to get together again sometime soon..." Rene' confessed, blushing a little but looking all the more hopeful when Adam's face fell from the stern look to flash a shy grin, then back to the stern look. She knew it was just him messing with her now.

"Corrine? And what did you... tell her?" Adam asked, one eyebrow raising higher than the other.

"I told her all about you and I christening your new car... and... about the costume party they're having on campus next week. I sort of... invited her to attend..." Rene' said softly as she glanced around to see if anyone might have overheard her. Then she continued. "I mean, it's a costume party. Right? Who's going to know she's not a student? And even if she doesn't end up playing with you and I, she might... hook up with someone else that night." Rene' added with a facetious grin, but with a hopeful glint still in her eyes.

"Hmmm... well... you are right about that, no one knowing she wasn't a student, I guess." Adam admitted and then pushed the door open for both of them to exit and continue back to his car.

"So... you don't mind that I sort of invited her?" Rene' asked as she practically skipped alongside of Adam on the walk to the car.

"Rene'... You are going to be you no matter what I say or mind. I'm just glad that you didn't tell her flat out that the three of us would be hooking up that night. Thank you for that anyway." Adam said and blushed slightly as he smiled down at Rene's upturned face that was beaming.

"I'll never want you less, Adam. But I know what I've got and it's pretty amazing. I feel the need to share that with others to prove to them just how lucky I am. Plus..." She paused blushing and looking away only to give Adam furtive glances as she continued. "I kind of found that I like other girls too. Am I a freak because of that?" She asked quietly, almost as if she were afraid of Adam's answer to the question.

Adam simply looked at her, no grin, no smile, no frown either for that part. There was nothing on his face or in his eyes that made Rene' feel... less... or judged. His facial features softened finally and a slow warm smile spread on his lips as he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead then wrapped his arms around her and picked her up in a squealing giggling leg flailing hug, squeezing her tight.

"Honestly, I think you already know what I think about such things. You know my sister... well... Jade. I don't find your interest in other girls at all strange or threatening in any way. Besides..." and now Adam became that timid young boy that Rene' knew in school, the one she fell in love with even then but didn't realize it till they had both left high school.

"Besides?" Rene' asked curious why he ended his statement with that word.

"Besides, despite having a sist... Jade... and you... who both love me so very much, and are amazing in every way imaginable. I've found that..." Again, he blushed even a darker shade of pink. "I've been attracted to other girls too. It's like... my eyes have been opened. No. Not eyes. My heart? My nerve? I don't know. But until I nearly died, I had never even imagined that anyone would look twice at me let alone have feelings or desires for me. You showed me that much. And I'm still amazed." Adam set Rene' back down onto her feet and released her to stand back a step before asking.

"Does that curiosity make me... a jerk?" Adam asked so softly that Rene' had to almost strain to hear the words.

She looked at him for just a couple of heartbeats but to Adam it was practically an eternity. Her serious expression giving nothing away of her thoughts and feelings at the moment. Adam began to regret ever having spoken the words... then she smiled. That DAZZLINGLY bright big beautiful excited smile of hers. Adam nearly stepped back and fell over from its brilliance. He did stumble when she launched herself unexpectedly into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist... her short skit doing exceptional work of at least trying to cover her pink panty covered ass as she hugged his neck and kissed all over his surprised face.

"Silly man! I LOVE that you notice others! I would love even more if you were interested in sharing them with me too! I would never be upset if you spent a little time one on one with other girls. I have told you that from the beginning. I'm not going to be a ball and chain around your neck. I will be your anchor if and when you need one, I will always be yours." Rene' said smiling as she kissed him once more, this time a long sensual passionate kiss that stole Adam's breath away.

More than a few people, students, stopped and looked at the public display of affection, but only smiled and went on about their own business. One group of three girls stopped and watched, their heads together as they whispered to each other how envious they were. One said something that made the other giggle and that broke the spell between Adam and Rene'. Both noticed for the first time the audience and blushed a bit. Adam set Rene' back to her feet once more and Rene' winked at the girls before going around to get in the passenger side of Adam's car. One of the girls gave a "Woo Hoo!" before they continued on along their way.

"See what I mean about sharing... showing others what I have?" Rene' asked facetiously as she buckled up her seatbelt.

"Okay... I get it... I think." Adam said smiling as he started the car and backed out of the parking spot.

"I'd be willing to bet any one of those girls would drop her panties for you in a heartbeat!" Rene' went on, now teasing Adam playfully.

"Oh? And you don't think they might have been thinking about dropping their panties for YOU?" Adam retorted, earning a surprised then delighted look from Rene'.

It was a short ride back to the stadium parking lot to drop Rene' off at her own car. Adam and she shared another long heartfelt kiss before she got out of his car, smiling dreamily as if floating on a cloud. They promised to call or text later that evening. Rene' had to get home to dinner with her folks. They were having her uncle Marcus and aunt Karen over tonight. She didn't think Scott would be there though, he didn't get along with Karen, and Rene' didn't blame him for ditching the invitation. He'd gladly come over any other time though.

Rene's mention of Scott got Adam to thinking again about his idea to buy his father's service station through a shell company, an angel investment corporation that he asked Data to set up using the extra money that he had made Adam by investing it in the world markets. Adam shook his head still amazed at how much money Data had made him and seemed to be having fun doing so. Maybe this deal with the service station would be fun for him as well.

"Data? Are you busy?" Adam announced out loud, knowing that Data would be monitoring everything through Adam's pimped out cell phone.

"Never too busy for you, Adam. How may I help you?" Data replied almost instantaneously.

"I know it hasn't been very long since I asked about it, but how are you coming along with that idea of setting up a shadow or "shell" company, an angel investor that can buy the Sanders Service Station, then offer it to Scott Sanders on a work to own basis?" Adam asked.

"This request has been most entertaining. I did some research on the term "Shadow Company". It would seem that humans have a penchant for being mysterious or sometimes outright deceitfulness. Large companies control hidden funds and accounts by using these shadow companies as camouflage or another term I have learned, as a FRONT. All to keep the control either hidden or off the records to avoid taxation or close scrutiny. So very fascinating." Data responded sounding quite excited for a computer, Adam just grinned and shook his head before speaking again.

"Indeed, sometimes secrets within secrets. It's kind of what I had in mind when I asked you to set something up. I want to help Scott, but I don't want him to know I'm doing so. To that regard, how's it going?" Adam asked again.

"Oh, it is going quite swimmingly... to play on words with your... diving lessons." Data quipped sounding highly amused at himself. "I have created three successive 'shadow corporations' based in separate countries that are beyond anything more than superficial scrutiny by the government of the country you live in. I have yet to name the 'Angel investment' entity however. I thought perhaps you might offer a name to your liking. Once that is done, we can approach the current owner through proxy for the outright purchase of the... service station, then, of course, approach your friend Scott, also through a proxy for the deal you had in mind." Data explained.

"Oh wow! That was... fast!" Adam exclaimed, his eyes wide in amazement. "A name huh? Hmmm... let me think." Adam amended.

"Perhaps something along the lines of historic preservation or something similar. The Sanders Service Station has been in operation for generations after all, it has become something of a fixture in the local community has it not?" Data offered by way of suggestion.

"I like that, Data. Yes, the station has been around quite a while and with all the new pop-up fast-food places, and strip malls and convenience stores that seem to be so... soulless... keeping a 'fixture' around is very appealing to some people, me included. Okay, how about The Stitch in Time Underwriters Program for the name of the Angel investment company?" Adam offered.

"The Stitch in Time Underwriters Program... interesting... would that have any connection or connotation to the ancient saying "A stitch in time, saves nine"?" Data asked with a tinge of curiosity.

"Indeed, it does, Data. Well done! So, do you think that would be a good name for our secret benefactor?" Adam asked with a smile.

"I think it is a wonderful name, Adam. Very well then, your 'Shadow entity now has a name. Shall I make the initial entreaties to the owner Marcus Sanders? I can text his phone with an introduction and a request for his asking price for the station and go from there. Should I have an upper limit for the amount you are willing to pay for the business?" Data informed Adam before asking about the spending limit.

"I think that the asking price would be reasonable, but yeah, you can go higher if there are better offers already on the table. Even as much as half again the asking price. I want this to be a slam dunk. I just hope we are not too late as it is, and that someone else has already bought it." Adam said, his smile fading as he thought of that possibility.

"As of this moment, there is nothing of record regarding the sale of the establishment, so the chances of your offer being too late are very slim indeed. I have just sent the first text of inquiry. I will monitor for response, of course, and let you know as developments occur." Data informed Adam.

"Thank you, Data. Really." Adam responded.

Adam had just turned into the parking lot of the first grocery store that he had approached about selling Marna's produce when his phone rang. An actual phone call? After parking his car and shutting off the engine, Adam looked at his phone and saw that it was Jade calling him... curious.

"Hello?" Adam said into the phone.

"Hey Adam... Did I catch you at a bad time?" Jade asked, a note of facetious teasing in her voice.

"Umm... no..." He began to respond but Jade didn't let him finish.

"Well... I know you said that you were meeting Rene' to go to your diving lessons orientation... and she does have a bit of a track record with you..." Jade giggled before going on.

"Okay, so... you know that... thing... we talked about? With... Cindy?" Jade began, now sounding less playful and perhaps now a little tentative.

"Yeah..." Adam acknowledged slowly, wondering if there were plans made that he was not aware of yet.

"I think my girl... our girl... is about ready to... give it a whirl. She's so very excited about it. Adam, you don't even know, but she's... hesitant... because she doesn't want to be a problem with you and I... or you and Rene'... or you and... who knows?" Jade said with a verbal grin in her voice.

"I can appreciate that. I wouldn't want anyone to come between you and her either. Adam said solemnly.

Jade sighed audibly over the phone... "Adam! God! You are just so... I love you. You know that right?" Jade said with a voice that touched Adam's heart as much as his ears.

"And I love you." He replied.

"Okay... off track but back to business..." Jade giggled. "I'm going to set up a date, for you and Cindy. Now that you have a car and are mobile, which is important in that it is clear that neither of you wants to... get together at either of your respective homes, for obvious reasons... So, a date, away from home is in order. Maybe even go to another town for a... I don't know, a movie and dinner maybe? You know, date stuff." Jade offered.

"Yeah... that sounds like fun. What movie? Where would she like to eat?" Adam began only to be cut off once more.

"Not important right now, those are minor details... suggestions really. Anyway, the important thing is that you two spend the day and maybe night... together. That you are both comfortable so that nothing is rushed or... awkward. I want you two to really connect so that you both experience what I KNOW you are both like with me." Jade stated, sounding as if she were speaking to someone else as well as Adam.

"She's right there with you, isn't she? Cindy is listening to all of this conversation?" Adam surmised.

"Umm... yeah... I forgot to tell you that you are on speaker. Sorry." Jade admitted, sounding abashed and a little embarrassed.

"Hi, Cindy" Adam began again. "I'd love to spend a day with you and... well... yeah... Do we have a particular day in mind? My schedule is pretty open, other than my one class I'm taking now, or will be taking. I know we have to work around your... work schedule." Adam inquired.

"Hi Adam..." Cindy chimed into the conversation. "Umm... well... We're... I'm off most weekends, so any Saturday or Sunday would be good for me." Cindy offered sounding even more shy than Adam had ever witnessed her to be.

"Okay... This is Wednesday. Maybe this weekend then? Does Saturday work for you?" Adam offered cautiously.

"Ye... Yeah, that would be fine." Cindy responded sounding both relieved and terrified at the same time, Adam couldn't help but to identify with that feeling.

"We can pick a time sometime later this week... and a movie and where to go to eat maybe." Adam continued.

"Sounds... good to me." Cindy said a little shyly, the sound of Jade giggling in the background made Adam groan internally.

"Hey babe?" Jade said, redirecting the conversation once more. "You all done for the day?" She asked.

"Almost. The orientation class was... interesting... I'll tell you more about it later. Right now, I'm checking in with one of the grocery stores about Marna's produce and possibly them selling some in the future. I'll be home a little later." Adam informed Jade, teasing her a little with information about his class.

The girls signed off the phone call and Adam pocketed his phone before getting out of his car and going inside. He was really there to pick up another jar or two of pickles... for Xiba. He figured he might get a selection of different varieties... in small quantities... for her to... 'test'." Honestly, he wondered if maybe he were passing a box of matches to a child who has no concept of out-of-control fire. Playing with matches... what harm could that be? He asked himself and grimaced.

As it happened, Hal Winters, the store's produce manager was in the department checking inventory again. He shook hands with Adam and told him that he and the store's general manager were very interested in setting up a special display for "locally sourced produce". They were still awaiting approval from management higher up the corporate ladder, but they had a good feeling it would be approved, and soon. Adam thanked Hal and handed him one of the new business cards that Data had made for him. Told Hal to call whenever they wanted to begin receiving produce. He could talk with Marna directly and find out exactly what was available or in season and discuss pricing.

After purchasing his selection of pickles, Adam drove to the Lake. The sun had already set and though it was dark, the waxing moon was low on the horizon and rising... giving the lake surface a mirror like sheen. Hardly a ripple to be seen. That is, until a slow pressure wave preceded the surfacing of the life pod. Data had been monitoring Adam, as usual and knew that he was coming to the lake. In moments the life pod had surfaced enough to open the hatch and was just bumping the pilings at the end of the fishing pier. Adam climbed aboard carrying the small sack of jars of pickles.

The biggest change that Adam noticed was that Xiba was smiling. Not entirely an earthly or human smile, but a smile none the less. And it made her eyes even more beautiful than what Adam remembered. There was an awkward greeting at first, hello's and how are you's, but what made it awkward was the tension between them. At last, going on instinct alone, Adam approached Xiba and took her into a tentative hug.

At first Xiba stiffened in Adam's embrace. Coming from a world where physical displays of affection were... well... alien... she did not immediately respond as would... say... a human. But something inside of her finally relaxed and she melted into the embrace. Not just melted, but returned the embrace just as tentatively and warmly as Adam was giving her. Xiba's smile grew even more pronounced and ... that same spark that had triggered the first time they touched one another after Adam awakened from the med tech unit that fateful night of the storm. The spark that in Xiba's culture and world signified a compatible mate. Xiba moaned softly internally and felt tingles in her most private if unused parts of her body. Electric!

"I brought you more pickles, a variety of them actually." Adam said as they broke their embrace a little sheepishly, trying to redirect his mind from the thoughts that had flashed through his mind as he held Xiba in their hug.

"Oh! How wonderful! I shall began testing and evaluation immediately." Xiba exclaimed, looking for all the world, to Adam anyway, like a child on Christmas morning.

"Now... I caution you to be... careful. The last time you had a taste of a pickle nearly scared me to death. Your reaction was... alarming." Adam cautioned Xiba.

"Yes, caution is warranted. However, whatever reaction I had was intensified by the fact that I was weak metabolically and exhausted. I am well rested now and my energy is well above nominal once more. Still though, I would very much like if you were to... observe... in case there was another alarming reaction. Would you mind doing this for me?" Xiba queried hopefully, even as she opened the small jar of sweet gherkins and extracted one little pickle to place in a small sample dish before placing it into the 'microwave' analyzer that he had seen his tablet and telephone go into and emerge from. Clearly, it was more than just a 'microwave'.

"Sure. I've got some time before I need to be getting home. What did you have in mind?" Adam asked in return as he watched the door of the 'microwave' go through several color changes as whatever was happening was going on inside of it.

"First, I'm analyzing the compounds and chemical makeup of the... pickle. If I find nothing that is harmful or detrimental, I shall... consume one... and see what happens." Xiba explained, glancing furtively between Adam and the 'microwave' analyzer unit. Adam couldn't help but notice Xiba was fidgeting, almost vibrating with excitement to be honest.

The actual "Ding" from the 'microwave' almost made Adam giggle. He knew it was not a microwave oven, but it did look like one from his perspective. Xiba, first pulled up the results from the analysis on the holographic display screen over the pilot's couch. She scanned down through the readings and found nothing to be alarmed about.

Xiba looked at Adam, and he felt a certain hesitancy in her for some reason. She smiled that alien smile of hers and he could have sworn she blushed a deeper shade of blue at the edges of her face and on her neck. He watched as she opened the analyzer and removed the sample dish with the lone little pickled cucumber. Adam actually felt his own mouth water at the sight of the sweet little gherkin. She set the dish on the pilot's couch and then picked up the pickle delicately with two of her three fingers on her right hand and brought it to her face to examine it closely.

Adam watched Xiba study the little pickle, he could actually hear her two hearts beating, and they were beating faster now with anticipation for some reason. There was that now familiar scent that he was smelling too. Now that he had experienced, up close, three different women and their own particular scent of arousal, he sensed that Xiba was... already... aroused somewhat. Her scent was like but different from those of the human women he'd experienced. There was, a musky note to the smell, but also a... for lack of a better word, "spicy" tinge to the smell as well. "Alien" his brain stated, and he felt his face smirk for a moment. Of course, Xiba would be... different.

"Adam. I wish to... consume this sample and see if I have another... reaction. I wanted you to be here in case... In case there was an adverse effect." Xiba stated solemnly.

"To have someone to put you in the Med Tech Unit..." Adam added the obvious... or obvious to himself anyway.

"That, and... I feel embarrassed to say it, but in case I experience the same reaction... sexually... as I did the first time. You did not know that part of course, and I'm sorry for not sharing it earlier." Xiba admitted, glancing away only to give furtive glances back to Adam to see his reaction perhaps.

"Sexually?" Adam queried, tilting his head slightly to one side and looking a little confused, or embarrassed perhaps.

"Yes..." Xiba said quietly, and blushing a bit more strongly coloring her face and neck a slightly deeper blue that somehow looked all that much better to Adam's point of view.

"I... experienced what you might understand as... an orgasm. An intense, very intense, sexual climax that I was totally not expecting. You see, my race only experiences such things in very specific circumstances. It is usually part of our breeding process and not something that is done... forgive me... recreationally... as it appears that humans enjoy. So, for me to experience it suddenly and without preparation... It was very overwhelming." Xiba said with a strained voice, fighting her own embarrassment.

"Wait. Your people only have sex when... breeding?" Adam asked, trying to understand all that Xiba had revealed.

"Well... long ago, my race was far more... promiscuous and were much like you humans in that regard. But as our population began to outgrow our resources... changes had to be made. Our sexuality is now very closely regulated and monitored. Many of my kind are even sterilized so as to further limit our population growth. I am sorry, that must sound barbaric to you, I'm sure." Xiba said in a worried tone, still watching Adam closely to judge his reaction to this information.

"No... There have been similar measures tried here on Earth but certain governments. They didn't work very well, but that didn't stop them from trying. They even chose what gender that a couple could give birth to and keep. It is "barbaric" to be honest, and simply against the natural order of things if you ask me." Adam responded... thinking of the things he had read about China, for one.

"There's another thing... I'm embarrassed to say really..." Xiba almost whispered, her face going a deeper blue that Adam had not witnessed up to this point.

Adam tilted his head slightly and waited for Xiba to continue.

"I was not designated as a... breeder... on my home world. I would never have the chance to have children... or even... have... sex." Xiba said so quietly that Adam almost imagined that he hadn't heard those words she had just spoken.

After just standing there, replaying what Xiba had said, obviously in confidence, Adam wondered why she had even told him that to start with. But there was a feeling in his gut that he knew why. He had felt the draw to this woman... alien or not... since their very first meeting that fateful night during the storm. When he had awakened after being revived in the med tech unit and that... spark... that had been felt by both of them, the connection had only grown with time.

Every time they were together, he could feel it growing stronger. Was it because of the mutagen that he had been exposed to? Or that she herself had also been exposed to? Or perhaps a combination of the exposure and shared experiences of near death and then survival... honestly, he could not say for certain. But the connection, the attraction was undeniable. Adam did know, that he could trust his life to this alien beauty. And now... he felt as though she trusted him with her own life it would seem.

"Adam... I am a... virgin. Until I met you I had rarely if ever thought of anything sexual with anyone of my own kind or any other to be honest. I had resigned myself to never knowing what it might feel like. We do not... masturbate... as you humans do. And when I experienced first... your... climax, by accident. It made me wonder what it would be like. Learning of your planet and your culture only heightened my curiosity. The mutagen has most assuredly influenced my thinking and curiosity as well... as well as giving me certain experiences I had never considered. Then... my exposure to your earth food... in particular, pickles..." Xiba trailed off, sounding both excited, hesitant and embarrassed all at the same time. She gave Adam furtive glances trying to determine his thoughts and reactions to this new information.

Adam simply continued to look at her, his mouth slightly agape as all the information sank in and he considered her words. Considered them and... realized the unspoken statement or request. Was Xiba offering herself to him... or perhaps asking him to... be with her? Now it was Adam's turn to blush, and it wasn't just his normal pinkish human blush either. No, maybe it was the influence of the Adaptive mutagen, but his blush was a strobing pink and blue that was unmistakable, at least to Xiba, a signal of his understanding and excitement at the idea.

"A... virgin?" Adam stammered, then swallowed.

"Yes. I've never had sexual relations with anyone... even myself." Xiba admitted shyly blinking rapidly several times and glancing away again only to look back at him with furtive glances.

"I... used to be a virgin too... until after you saved my life, and... well... surviving the storm and all. Things changed... and fast! I think they are still changing to be honest. Not just the thing with the mutagen either. But..." Adam paused, taking a deep breath and choosing his words carefully.

"If you are a virgin, why... are you telling me this?" He asked carefully, trying not to sound judgmental.

"I... forgive me, this is hard for me to say... or ask... I would like to experience... sex... with you, Adam. If you would consider it that is." Xiba said in a hushed rush as if she were afraid that she wouldn't be able to get the words out.

Adam's jaw dropped completely open. His eyes must have gone as big as Xiba's eye normally are. To say he was stunned, shocked even, would be an understatement. So many questions assaulting his conscious brain at once he felt as though he were in the middle of a hurricane all of a sudden. Sex? With Xiba? Was that even possible? The freaky little incident with her touching his morning wood and him climaxing aside, he had written that off to scientific curiosity and an accident. But this?

"Uh... Mmmm" Adam's face frowned and looked concerned and pensive, his head tilting first one way then the other, his eyes studying Xiba closely to see if maybe she were pulling his leg, trying to make a joke.

"Forgive me... I did not mean to cause you concern. I'm sorry..." Xiba began to apologize.

"No... No... No... I mean Yeah... Uh... what? Is that even... are we even... you know... compatible? WHOA! I was not expecting this... give me a minute." Adam stammered still looking perplexed, if he had blushed before, now he was positively turning blue, not a trace of pink in his face... Xiba found it... attractive.

"If I may, Xiba?" Data interjected, somehow Adam had completely forgotten about the AI in the moment. "While Humans and... forgive me, the name is not translatable into your Earth languages... A close approximation would be Dionovans. Human and Dionovan physiology are very similar, but you are correct in that ordinarily while sexual joining could be accomplished, the likelihood of this joining creating offspring is simply not possible. However, as you have both been exposed to the viral mutagen, Adaptive, has made both of your bodies able to... adapt." Data explained.

"Yes, I have been learning about... human physiology and... sex." Xiba admitted, again blushing... or had she even stopped blushing?

"You... You're curious about human sex?" Adam asked quietly.

"All sex, actually. My first reaction to the pickle I sampled the last time you were here, was technically an orgasm. I have never experienced one... in my own natural form... before that." Xiba explained.

"But you have experienced... orgasms... in another form?" Adam asked following the logic but still confused.

"I... my body... changed. While I was unconscious, perhaps dreaming... I experienced orgasms as both a male... and a female... human." Xiba tried to explain further.

Adam had to sit down on the pilot's couch and then ran his hands over his face and back into his hair. He exhaled a long "whew" and shook his head in amazement while he contemplated, and corelated and categorized all this new information... personal information. He realized, he already knew that Xiba, too, was able to transform her body. Maybe not to the same degree as he himself had discovered, but incredibly so all the same. He tried to imagine this svelte female humanoid form in front of him with... male genitalia. He shook his head trying to clear that mental image, but the thought of her having female genitalia... that he could readily imagine. Oddly enough his own body began to react to that thought.

Adam looked at Xiba again and while she was still practically strobing blue blush, she was intently looking at that one lone little gherkin still in her fingers. She glanced at him in askance. She couldn't actually lift one eyebrow, the way humans do, but he sensed the same sort of expression on her face.

"If you... react... to that pickle like you did the last time..." Adam began, sounding a little hesitant.

"In a way I hope I do... yet without the physical depletion... I think you call it "passing out". I strongly suspect I did so that time because I was exhausted and... weak. I am not weak at this time." Xiba explained, still studying the small pickle in her hand, but giving Adam furtive glances.

Adam swallowed and took a deep breath. Somehow, he sensed that this was going to be a momentous... event. Hopping down off of the pilot's couch where he had been sitting, he patted the cushion and suggested that perhaps Xiba should be sitting down when this... experiment... was conducted. Xiba looked from Adam to the couch and back. She nodded her head and moved over to climb up onto the couch, her legs hanging off the side facing Adam. She licked her lips, looked at Adam then brought the pickle to her lips.

Adam watched, enthralled by the very motion. Xiba's lips parted slowly, almost seductively he thought. Her tongue... tongues... came out and touched the pickle, like two independent appendages, one touching along the bottom of the pickle, the other curling over the top as if to grasp it. Together her two tongues drew the pickle into her mouth and she closed her lips. The chewing motion was slow and deliberate, as if Xiba were savoring every nuance of taste and texture of the pickled cucumber.

Xiba closed her eyes and Adam held his breath... watching her very closely, ready to... what? He wasn't sure what would be needed to be done. They both waited. And waited some more. Xiba tilted her head curiously to one side, then the other, her eyes still closed. Her hands, with all three fingers gripped the edge of the pilot's couch cushion. Then she slowly opened her eyes.

"Feel... anything?" Adam asked softly still studying her face closely.

"I'm not... sure. There is something, but I can't really determine what it is. I feel... a little warmer." Xiba replied just as softly, as she looked intently into Adam's eyes, finding them... very intriguing.

Adam stepped closer to the couch, and Xiba. He placed one hand, his left, atop Xiba's right, on the edge of the couch. His right hand rose to her face, the backs of his fingers brushed lightly against her cheek, then felt her forehead. All the while both had their eyes locked on one another. Xiba's normally very large eyes seemed to grow even larger, her irises expanding, her lips... trembled.

Closer, almost as if pulled by some magnetic force, neither was really aware of the movement. Xiba's head tilted in that curious look again, and her lips parted, just barely opened.

"Anything yet?" Adam all but whispered, so close to Xiba's face he could feel her exhales, and he felt as though he were falling into her eyes. Those big impossibly beautiful blue eyes.

"I feel... as if I'm vibrating... and... breathless." Xiba breathed in reply, her eyes closing slightly as their faces grew even closer together. "Adam? Could you show me how you humans... kiss?" She asked so softly that Adam thought maybe he had imagined it rather than heard it, even with his mutagen enhanced senses.

"Y... You want me to... kiss you?" Adam stammered the question, but his lips were already starting to purse in preparation for just that.

"My... studies... have shown that it is both an important part of human mating... and is in itself highly enjoyable..." Xiba breathed with a slight tremor in her voice.

"It is... very, VERY much so... At least I think so anyway." Adam replied, their lips only just barely not touching yet.

"Would you?" Xiba asked again, almost pleading with anticipation.

"Like this?" Adam asked, then his lips made contact with hers.

There was that spark again. It might have been visible if the lighting was lower. It was most definitely felt by both, but it didn't stop either one of them from continuing the kiss. A tentative kiss, at first... exploratory, testing, sampling, tasting. Human lips, and Dionovan lips, brushing lightly, pressing and touching ever so lightly against one another.

Xiba felt Adam's left hand slip off of her hand and come to rest at her side, almost touching her back, his other hand still lightly touching her cheek slid further back to brush over her ear, and come to rest on the back of her head, almost cradling her head. Her own hands had moved of their own accord somehow as well. Both of them were now pressed ever so lightly against Adam's chest. Her three fingers on each hand splayed, not pushing him away, but more... holding the contact of his body.

After a few moments of this silent experimentation, Adam pulled back to look Xiba in the eyes. Her eyes, now mostly closed and looked as if she were in a trance or maybe a waking dream. He inhaled a shaky breath and noticed that Xiba was doing exactly the same. He felt his own tongue wet his lips automatically and saw the curious sight of Xiba's two tongues do the same on her own lips. He bowed his head slightly and tilted a bit to one side before asking.

"Was that... close to what you might have imagined after your... studies?" Adam asked softly trying to be playful but sounding more worried than amusing.

"It was... interesting. Can we... Can we do it again?" Xiba asked in that same quiet breathless voice.

Instead of answering, Adam merely brought his face and lips close and reengaged their kiss. It was not the same this time though. While still tender and exploratory, it was not nearly as tentative as the first one. Adam was almost surprised when Xiba's tongue... one of them? Both? Timidly touched his lips as if asking for permission. Adam's tongue answered in kind, and soon all three tongues were tangling and teasing in an erotic dance. Xiba's two tongues would wrap around Adam's and almost stroke it or pull at it. Back and forth, from one mouth to the other, their tongues danced and played. Neither was sure who the first one was to moan but it was definitely heard by both... and Data.

"Xiba? Adam? I sense you are in distress. Do you feel well?" Data asked sounding a little alarmed.

Adam and Xiba pulled apart once more, slightly out of breath and both of their hearts, Adam's one, and Xiba's two, beating a lot faster. Adam looked intently at Xiba, her eyes were still HUGE, the irises anyway. And her face was practically strobing, her lips still slightly parted even as she panted to catch her breath. He was much the same way though, and he was blushing and strobing blue as well.

"Sensors indicate elevated heart rates and respiration for both of you now. Xiba your biometric readings are increasing alarmingly quickly. I ask again, do you feel well, are you in distress?" Data announced, then ending with his previous inquiry.

Xiba's head tilted slightly to one side again as if examining her own body's responses mentally. Her tongues once again peeked out and licked her lips, but that appeared to be subconsciously done. Adam's eyes were half closed and his own tongue licked his lips just as Xiba had her own, and he was no more aware of his doing it that she had been. Both half-turned at the same time and addressed Data, at the same time... or started to anyway.

"It's okay Data..." Adam began and then faltered as he realized Xiba was speaking at the same time.

"... I am... okay, Data. Yes, my heart rates have accelerated, but I am... fine. Currently, I am experiencing an increase in my internal temperature and..." Xiba paused, glancing down at her crotch, one hand drifting there without a thought to do so. "I seem to be highly aroused. Was it the result of consuming the pickle or... the kissing?" Xiba exclaimed in a whisper.

Adam's eyes were drawn to Xiba's crotch by both her words and the movement of her hand. Indeed, the form fitting garment, some sort of one-piece coverall was damp in her crotch. And, his nose detected her unique scent as well. It was a mixture of a very smooth vanilla-like body with hints of a spice or spices of some sort... nothing he could pin point from memory but then, Xiba was alien to this world and the spices might be... otherworldly. Whatever they were, his mouth was now watering and his own body was responding.

After glancing down at her own situation, Xiba's eyes traveled up and over to Adam's crotch, noting the growing bulge in the front of his pants. She now knew what that bulge was and knowing that he was also aroused only added fuel to the growing inferno within herself. A soft almost inaudible sound escaped her throat, surprising herself as much as drawing the attention of Adam and no doubt, Data as well. Adam's eyes snapped once more to her face only to note that her blushing had not slowed, if anything, it had increased yet again.

"Xiba... I... I know little to nothing about you... well... I mean... your body is a lot different to those of human girls. There seem to be similarities, but I am still new at all this sex stuff with my own kind. I don't want to make a mistake or hurt you in any way... if we do this... be patient with me. And... stop me if..." Adam tried to say, but Xiba's fingers suddenly touched his lips, lightly, but clearly indicating for him to stop speaking.

Their eyes once more locked on one another's, Xiba's hand went around Adam's neck to pull his head gently towards hers once more. Both of their eyes closed as their lips once more engaged. Their tongues again emerged to play and frolic with excited anticipation. Adam felt Xiba's other hand rub the outside of his jeans over the almost painfully growing bulge. Again, she moaned softly and Adam noted that her breathing had increased yet again. She was all but panting now. Then again, so was he, he realized.

Adam brought both of his hands to Xiba's face, to cradle it softly to hold it tenderly. This made Xiba gasp and shudder. At first thought, Adam was alarmed and thought he had done something wrong, but then he felt Xiba's free hand touch the back of one of his hands and hold it in place as though to reassure him that she did indeed enjoy the feeling. All the while their tongues danced and their lips were on fire... a wet sweet sexy fire. Their faces hardly moving only to shift and change angles, noses swapping sides as their lips hungrily nipped and lapped and drew on one another.

Xiba disengaged from the kiss, her eyes fluttering open as she searched Adam's face.

"Are you... sexually aroused?" Xiba asked a little breathlessly.

"Um... you could say that..." Adam stammered a little bashfully.

"Could we then... try to engage in sex?" Xiba asked a little more breathlessly and sounding a bit hopeful.

"I... I guess... Um... I think we are both a little overdressed though." Adam responded, rubbing his hands down Xiba's shoulders and upper arms.

Xiba blinked a couple of times then lowered her head a bit in embarrassment perhaps, smiling a cute little smile. Adam smiled in return, stepping back a few inches. He grasped the bottom of his tee shirt lifting it up to his chest. Before he could raise his arms and pull it off over his head however, Xiba reached out and touched his bare chest with both hands. Her touch was tentative, exploratory and surprisingly soft as if touching his bare skin were something new. To her it was new. She had not even touched another of her own kind, except for cadavers that she had to dispose of throughout the research trials of the Adaptive mutagen. She shuddered momentarily as those unbidden thoughts flashed through her mind.

Adam was decidedly NOT a cadaver, he was very much alive, and breathing, and... warm. Adam watched in patient fascination as Xiba's hands, her normal three fingered hands, slid over his chest and abdomen, touching and probing. Then, Xiba held up one hand before her own face to examine it and before his... and her eyes, it slowly transformed into a human hand. Gone were the three fingers, replaced by four fingers and an opposable thumb. The digits were slender, delicate even, but very much human fingers on a human hand. Xiba looked from her hand to Adam's eyes and smiled a little sheepishly before bringing that hand to his chest once more.

That spark ignited, snapping between her hand and Adam's chest for a brief but startling fraction of a second. Both jumped a little, and Xiba giggled. GIGGLED!!! Then her human hand was in contact with Adam's bare flesh. The warmth was... more. Adam felt it... Xiba felt it... they both gave a small gasp of surprise and delight. Especially when Xiba brought her other, still natural state, up alongside the "human" hand. The feelings for both Adam and Xiba were profound. Xiba marveled at the overwhelming number of nerve endings and sensations from them in the human hand. Her own natural state was sensitive, sure, but with far less surface area and fewer nerve endings, the difference was nearly unimaginable.

Adam looked at the dichotomy between the two different hands... then... raised his left hand and... transformed into the three fingered form of Xiba's kind. Three fingers, blue tinted skin... longer and a bit thicker than Xiba's feminine version, but distinctly Dionovan. Xiba looked at Adam's changed hand and then into his eyes... she smiled a curious if endearing little smile that spoke volumes for her thanks and appreciation for his acceptance and understanding. Then she reached up and snatched the wadded-up material of Adam's tee shirt and yanked it up and over his head and arms. With a flick of her human handed wrist she tossed the shirt aside and then ran her hands down his chest and abdomen to stop at his waist, his belt and jeans.

"I may... need your assistance... removing your lower garments." Xiba spoke softly, her voice almost shaky with her need and anticipation.

"I can help with that..." Adam responded, his two mixed hands going to his belt and unfastening it and the button of his jeans... his human hand grasping the zipper and pulling it down.

While Adam's hands were working his jeans and belt, he toed off his shoes, one at a time, so they would not hinder the removal of his pants and shorts. Xiba's hands grasped he waistband of his jeans and jockey shorts and push-pulled them down over Adam's hips as far as she could reach while still sitting on the pilot's couch. Adam took over from there and pushed them the rest of the way to his ankles where he stepped out of them. Standing back up straight, his very swollen and erect penis stuck out in front of him. Xiba's eyes were locked on to it and she seemed to be... mesmerized.

Absentmindedly Adam's human hand grasped it gently and stroked it a couple of times while his own eyes were on Xiba's face... and her watching his hand and cock. His "alien" hand reached out to her face and stroked her cheek softly, drawing her eyes back to his again.

"How... do you... unfasten or remove your... clothing?" Adam asked with a lust infused husky sounding timbre to his voice.

"M... My clothing? OH! My utility suit. Of... of course." Xiba exclaimed, even as Adam's fingers touched here and there looking for an obvious closure of some sort, a button, snap or zipper but none could be found.

"I think it is a different technology to what you might be familiar with here on... Earth." Xiba explained as she brought Adam's "alien" hand to her throat, just under her chin.

Xiba used Adam's finger to lightly touch but maintain contact to the material of her collar and drew it downward. As the finger of his hand slid down, the material parted as if by magic. He watched in fascination as the material and the garment opened up from her throat, down her chest, to her abdomen and then lower almost to her crotch. Xiba seemed to hesitate for a moment, but took a deep breath and continued to pull Adam's finger downward. The utility suit opened all the way down to a spot just above where a human girl's pubic mound would be.

Adam's eyes were locked on the exposed flesh being revealed from Xiba's throat to her... mound. It was the same light blue as her outer extremities, her face, neck, hands... but it had a softer look to it, and... a slightly pinkish hue. Not contrasting to the blue really, but more... shading it in a very appealing and sensual way. Adam reached forward with his human hand and gently grasped the material at Xiba's throat and pulled it back along her collar bone, or the alien equivalent, to her shoulder.

His hand turned, releasing the material and rested softly on her bare shoulder, taking in the softness and warmth of Xiba's bare skin. His eyes darted to hers and he found her studying him with open... something. Not amusement really, but more... adoration and... anticipation. He couldn't have known that his was the first time she had shown her nakedness to anyone other than her physician when it was absolutely necessary to do so, which was rare indeed.

"So... soft..." Adam mumbled in a voice that reflected his amazement and wonder.

Soon, the garment was pushed back to below both shoulders and split from throat to crotch. Xiba reached for the edges of the garment at each shoulder and pulled it down baring her arms and the sides of her torso... and... her breasts. As far as breasts, tits, were concerned, Xiba was pretty much flat chested compared to even the smallest that Adam had seen firsthand in his limited experience. And... there were more of them.

As with other parts of her body, Dionovans had more of some things, body parts, and fewer of others. Humans had four fingers and an opposable thumb, Dionovans had three fingers that were all pretty much opposable to each other. Humans had five toes... what did Dionovans have? That hadn't been revealed as yet. Humans and Dionovans shared having two eyes, two ears, two nostrils for what passed as our noses. Two arms and hands, two legs and feet. One mouth... but that's were things started diverging. Dionovans had two tongues, independent of one another. They had two hearts, but only two lungs. Breasts... oh my god!

Adam had to touch them. Hesitantly to be sure, but he did reach out with his human hand and with the tips of his fingers he gently touched first one slightly darker toned and obviously hardened little nubbin of flesh of Xiba's nipple. One nipple... there were four of them on her chest. Two where he would have expected to find them on a human, and two more just a little farther down on her chest. Just as perfectly hued and shaped and... aroused as the first. Adam glanced up into Xiba's eyes and saw her watching his every move one of her tongues, just the tip sticking out of her slightly parted lips and touching or licking at the upper lip just under her nose.

"You... You are beautiful Xiba." Adam whispered in awe... still wondering what the rest of this blue tinted exotic beauty still had to reveal to his eyes.

"We are... physiologically different, indeed. But I don't know if I would qualify as... Beautiful." Xiba returned sounding just a little breathless. Her own hands now running down Adam's shoulders and upper arms to grasp at his elbows and draw him near again for a much anticipated and welcomed kiss.

"There is beauty in difference itself, but... you are still beautiful to my eyes all the same." Adam whispered as their lips met... Xiba moaned into the kiss, her eyes all but closing as she reveled in both the sensations and the praise.

Xiba, when Adam first saw her, after waking up from the med tech unit's ministrations and reviving him from having... well... died... seemed ten feet tall at the time. His mind was so freaked out and struggling to comprehend the situation at the time. Even after calming down and getting to know her as the gentle creature that she is, she seemed... taller. In reality however, and it was really hitting home at this moment, she was very slight and... almost tiny. She might be even a few inches shorter than Jade, to make a comparison. However, sitting on the edge of the pilot's couch and him standing on the floor in front of her, they were the same height. The perfect height for the ever increasingly passionate kiss they were sharing.

Adam's hands roamed Xiba's bare flesh for the first time that he could remember. He was fascinated by how soft and warm she felt under his tentative touch. And... there was a growing awareness of her scent. He was not sure if it was her clothing that masked her scent or that maybe she had not been so... aroused... previously. But NOW... he was very aware of her unique scent. Ever so slightly floral, but what kind of flower I couldn't begin to determine, with a slightly spicy undernote... and then the layer of muskiness that carried both. And... vanilla? Whatever it was, Adam LIKED it... no, not just liked it, he LOVED it. His mouth was watering now and it was almost embarrassing that he had to pull back from the kiss to swallow lest he drool.

Now standing just inches apart from the nearly naked Xiba, Adam's hands slowly slid up and down the front of her torso, lightly bumping over her four nipples. This caused Xiba to gasp softly and her eyes closed briefly as she reveled in the feel of Adam's warm hands on her bare flesh. Xiba's hands were both on Adam's now fully erect and throbbing cock. While the human hand slid up and down the underside, massaging his very prominent balls, her normal alien three fingered hand was encircling his shaft and sliding up and down as well. It was a unique feeling for Adam, one that had no comparison to having been grasped and stroked by any of the women he'd been with up to this point. He shuddered in delight at her touches and grasping.

The spell was broken when Xiba spoke up in a ragged whisper filled with lust and anticipation. Adam opened his eyes and looked directly into those big beautiful alien blue eyes.

"Adam... I would like to feel... you... your penis... inside of me."

Adam blinked a few times as that statement registered in his overtaxed brain. His cock in Xiba's hands actually jumped a couple of times. Looking down he noted that her garment was still covering most of her lower body and legs. The utility suit had been slid down to Xiba's waist, Adam was suddenly very curious as to what the rest of this little blue alien maiden looked like under the clothing. In a moment of inspiration, with both of his hands back in human form, Adam reached out and placed his hands under Xiba's arms at her side and easily lifted her up so that she was pretty much hovering over the pilot's couch.

Even though she was far heavier than looks would lead one think. Xiba let out a little squeak and something that sounded like a giggle to Adam's ears. She hooked her mixed hands in the waistband of the utility suit and pushed it down over her hips and it slid the rest of the way off of her legs to drop to the floor between them. Her legs now, bare to Adam's view were slender like the rest of her body, her thighs barely as big around as his own upper arms. Her hips curved in a very feminine womanly way... much as any human woman he had seen without clothes on. But her crotch... her holy of holies was far different from any he had seen.

Xiba must have seen something in Adam's face as he looked at her crotch, her hands went to cover herself protectively or perhaps out of a touch of shame or anxiety. "Wh... what?" She managed to ask though her heart seemed to be beating in her throat.

Adam looked up into her eyes and realized that she was... struggling... with shyness? Perhaps just a severe case of modesty? Whatever it was, she was uncertain as to what he was thinking at that moment. So, he smiled then glanced back at her holy of holies and looked back up into those impossibly big blue eyes and saw her unease begin to melt slowly. Adam reached out and gently took her hands by the wrists and pulled them away, uncovering that gem between her legs.

"Honestly, Xiba... I'm not the most experienced guy out there by any stretch of the imagination, but I have seen a few... vaginas... in my time. Mostly on the internet mind you, but plenty really. You are... different. But then, you are a different species or race or whatever. You are from another world all together. So, you are OUT of this world." He rambled, turning his head one way slightly, then another as he closely examined this alien vagina in front of him.

"Is... is that a good thing?" Xiba stumbled on the words, still feeling apprehensive even with Adam's gentle touch on her wrists.

"Where do I begin? Xiba, you are exotic! You are intoxicating! You are STUNNING!... you are... amazing." Adam extoled as he released her wrists and ran his hands up her inner thighs with achingly slow and tenuous contact to her pale blue skin.

Blue, yes, over all Xiba was a powdery blue, sometimes grayish hue, darkening in spots like her lips, her eyelids, her ears, and her nipples. Her "vulva"?... if that is what the alien version of a pussy is called... Her skin was darker here too... but not just a darker shade of blue... it was almost purple. Perhaps it was because she was aroused and her blood was coursing through this delicate sensitive skin. And... like elsewhere on Xiba's body, she was completely hairless here as well. The lack of hair only made the exotic hue and the erotic curves and form of her vulva and vagina stand out that much more. Yet there was more...

"Xiba?" Adam began, then paused before bringing the fingers of his right hand to the obvious crease between the lips of her vulva. There was, like all the human girls he had experienced, a fine line of dewy wetness forming at the crease... that collected and ran downwards thanks to gravity to drip off those very same lips to land on the padded cushioning of the pilot's couch between Xiba's legs.

"What Adam?" Xiba asked in return, her heart pounding and her breathing becoming shallow and fast.

"You are obviously different from the human girls I've been with, but is there anything... I don't know... special... I should know about your anatomy?" Adam asked with a voice filled with wonder and curiosity.

Adam's fingers ran up and down that wet seam, just barely separating them so that the tips of his fingers delved a bit deeper. As with human lovers, in his experience, Xiba's inner lips began to distend and peek out from inside her purplish cleft. They were a much brighter and lighter hued blue. So soft, so tender... so WHAT THE HELL?

Adam pulled his hand back quickly out of reflex, his eyes darting between those two light blue inner lips and Xiba's big blue eyes. Looking for and asking the unspoken question in his eyes. Those two inner lips not only peeked out, but actually moved... kind of like Xiba's two tongues. Prehensile Labia? Is that even possible?

"Adam... I... I am so sorry. I should have... explained a bit more before..." Xiba began, clearly embarrassed and apprehensive.

"Xiba... Stop! Don't... you don't need to keep apologizing for the differences in your body and those of a human girl. You are NOT a freak, you are... You!" Adam began a little exasperated, then smiled sheepishly and shrugged, glancing down at the two light blue "tongues" lapping out of her labia searching for... whatever. "You could have warned me I guess, but please at least explain to me what I'm seeing. It is so... different... from anything I have experienced." Adam finished sounding more enthralled than upset.

"My body... my species... developed and evolved over millennia ago from aquatic ancestry. Yes, we originated in water, but moved to land as we evolved. Some things however, did not completely disappear from our original forms. One would be redundancy of certain organs and body parts, and some, like my inner labial lips were holdovers from evolutionary designs that worked in our aquatic past. The inner lips are prehensile and are used to guide the male's penis to ensure successful insemination." Xiba explained, her voice taking on a rather educational tone that Adam remembered from his teachers in school.

"Wow... prehensile? Like... they grasp and hold and... wow!" Adam asked and mused, while reaching his fingers again to probe and touch those amazing lips tentatively. They wrapped around his finger and actually pulled at it to draw it in. "OH... WOW!" Adam exclaimed again in awe.

"I do not actually have control over them, but it is not uncommon on my world for some to practice and eventually gain control over them. It is a... talent... of sorts." Xiba commented.

"This is... amazing Xiba... Can you... can you feel my fingers through them?" Adam asked as the little light blue lips seemed to wrap around his fingers and flutter.

"Y... Yes... I f... It feels soooo good..." Xiba moaned, her eyes closing almost completely.

Adam was beyond fascinated by this new discovery. If just touching Xiba was this amazing, what would it be like to...

"Adam! I... I don't know if it is a result of the properties in the... pickle... or... I... I... Please..." Xiba stammered, her hands, now her normal alien self again, were gripping the edge of the pilot's couch so hard as to almost leave permanent imprints.

Her hips were lifting and thrusting towards him and his exploring fingers. Adam realized what she wanted even though she was having trouble saying it at the moment. He wanted the same thing he realized. With his heart racing so hard he could feel it in his ears, Adam stepped half a step forward and guided the head of his swollen and throbbing cock towards those two searching lips. They welcomed his introduction with a flutter of wrapping and grasping at the head of his cock. Guiding him, welcoming him inside.

Adam reached out and took hold of Xiba's wrists at the edge of the pilot's couch and watched with enthralled fascination as he was drawn in little by little into the wet but amazingly tight channel of Xiba's vagina. The purple outer lips were pushed further and further apart, stretching as Adam's still normal sized cock slid in slowly.

"OH! OH! OH! OHHHHHH! ADAMMMMMM!" Xiba moaned, her eyes going HUGE even for her. Her mouth forming a perfect O as her body tensed and... vibrated.

Adam was beyond words at this moment... the intense heat and wetness and TIGHT confines of his alien pussy was overwhelming his senses. His own mouth formed a mirror image of Xiba's O as he watched the last of his cock sink into her purple cleft. He could still feel those lips stroking and lavishing his cock at her entrance, but now her inner walls were grasping and squeezing him like... like what he had experienced with both Jade and Rene' when they were climaxing on his cock. Could Xiba already be climaxing? That logical part of his brain was like a distant echo however, at this moment there were no logical thoughts at all in his forebrain.

As they both were lost in the sensations of their coupling, time seemed to stand still. At some point however, instinctive motivations took over. Adam's hips began to move forward and back, moving his cock in and out of Xiba's alien furnace. Those prehensile labial lips welcoming him in and desperately grasping him trying to keep him in on his withdrawals. Instinct or something akin to it perhaps had Xiba lifting her legs and wrapping them around Adam's legs, locking them behind him and pulling him deeper with each thrust. It was at this moment that Adam actually got a look at the blue skinned alien's dainty little feet.

Like her hands, her feet were drastically different from human feet. Slender and flattened of course, but instead of five toes, she had... not surprisingly, three. All three were of similar size and length, perhaps the size of a human's thumb. Not claws, but tapering to a soft point, and they were webbed. Xiba's mention of her people's evolution from an aquatic beginning flashed through his mind briefly and then he lost interest in her feet, for obvious reasons.

With her legs wrapped around and locked onto Adam, Xiba's hands released the pilot's couch and reached for Adam's neck. Wrapping around and pulling him into her slender undulating body. Adam's hands wrapped around her slender torso only to end up grasping her tight, but shapely little ass. He still hadn't seen that part of her body as yet, but the feel was extraordinary to his limited experience. He could feel her underlying muscles flexing and driving her body in those carnal grinding undulating contractions pressing her body into his.

Xiba was now in Adam's grasping arms, suspended on his body as he stood next to the pilot's couch, his hips driving himself faster and harder in and out of her clinging, needy body. His muscles were beginning to burn, not so much by the strain, though Xiba was far heavier than her slight frame might suggest. Perhaps the weight was a density difference due to something like her home planet being of a somewhat higher gravity than that of Earth. No, the burning in his legs, and torso and even his balls he realized was due to lust and... passion? While sex was simply amazing with Xiba, there was something far deeper involved here as well. There was a need to be part of her, and her part of him. The were both consumed in whatever this might be between them. But at the moment it was all about the physical connection that they had finally made.

"Adam! Oh! Oh! I... I... OHHHHHHHHHH!" Xiba exclaimed just before her body went into intense and prolonged convulsions. Her torso undulating, her legs squeezing and drawing Adam and his cock as deeply into her as could be managed.

Adam knew that Xiba was climaxing. Though he had never had relations with the blue alien prior to this, his limited experience with his human lovers was similar enough to know what her climax was. But that was only peripheral to his consciousness at this moment because Xiba's climax set off his own as well. His balls contracted almost inside of his body and his cock, though not altered using his abilities with the Adaptive mutagen, swelled and seemed to almost double in size... to his senses anyway, just before he began to shudder and convulse in much the same way as Xiba was doing. His cum shot through his cock and painted the insides of Xiba's vagina. SO MUCH CUM! Was it his imagination or was it much, much more than he had released at any time prior to this?

Adam began to shake... not just from the climax but from the exertion of this brief coupling. Short in time but intense, more intense than anything he has experienced up to this point in his life. His legs go weak and he stumbles forward to set Xiba back down on the pilot's couch. Her legs are still wrapped around and locked behind his waist. Her hands and arms wrapped around and locked behind his neck and shoulders. Her head was now resting in the crook of his neck and shoulder as she slowly came down from her intense climax high.

"Oh Adam... I... never knew that... sex... could be so... so good!" Xiba barely whispered as she tried to catch her breath.

"It... is pre... pretty amazing... isn't it?" Adam responded, leaning into the semi-seated Xiba, his hands flat on the surface of the pilot's couch to steady himself on his wobbly legs.

At some point both Xiba and Adam realized that he was still hard and still very much inside of her purple passion alien pussy. Xiba raised her head from Adam's neck and look into his face. Her eyes were once again clear but the irises still dilated to the point that they almost seemed entirely black save for the intensely vibrant indigo blue surrounding them at the edges. Adam thought they were simply mesmerizing.

"Is it... like this... every time you... have sex?" Xiba asked, now trembling, her body almost shivering, but those two amazingly prehensile labial lips were suddenly active again, stroking Adam's cock that was still buried deep inside of her.

"I've... never experienced anything... this intense before... to be honest." Adam answered honestly as his hips, now still trembling but beginning to move once more, slowly bucking forward and back in slow short strokes... the sensations making Adam want to roll his eyes back in his head as he groaned a long low sound that was almost a growl.

"Are you... are you not finished?" Xiba asked sounding a little confused.

"I don't know... I'm still hard... still have an erection..." Adam answered a little sheepishly, but not stopping his body's instinctive motion. "Are you... uncomfortable?" He asked.

"N... Not at all... Ohhhh... Th... that feels... so... wonderful..." Xiba responded, lowering her face, her forehead touching Adam's own.

"Do you... want me to stop?" Adam asked, again sounding a little sheepish or perhaps worried that he might be making Xiba uncomfortable.

"NO! I... I mean... this feels... sooooo good!" Xiba moaned the last as she and Adam both felt her insides again clasp and grasp at Adam's cock.

Both gasped and Adam found himself wrapping his arms around Xiba's back, pulling her into his own body almost possessively, her warmth and the dense solidity yet still surprisingly soft torso just felt... right. Adam could feel Xiba's three fingered hands stroking his neck and running through the hair on his head.

"Oh... OH! Adam!... Faster! YES! FASTER... LIKE THAT!" Xiba exclaimed, still forehead to forehead, their lips just an inch apart.

Adam sped up his thrusting motions and his lips sought out and reclaimed Xiba's, her two tongues once more playing and twining with his one. The passion built quickly this time. Considering it had not completely receded from the initial coupling, the feel and recognition of another climax building within them had both of their hearts beating faster and faster. Again, the wet squelching sound grew louder as the intensity and speed increased. The low almost continuous moan from both of their throats stopped their kissing but their tongues continued to dance a bit longer even as they gasped and breathed raggedly.

The seconds seemed like minutes... the minutes hours... hours... eternity. But the heartbeats, though speeding, were still on regular time. But all good things come to an end. But this time the end was another culmination of their passion as their climaxes both peaked within a heartbeat of one another again. This time it was Adam who tipped first. His cock swelling once more, his balls emptying in strong pulse after pulse of his seed flowing again into Xiba's core. A core that was once again triggered into another massive orgasm. Still overwhelming for her... and Adam as well.

This time Adam nearly passed out, his body going limp in Xiba's arms... and legs... the only things that kept him from crumpling to the floor beside the pilot's couch. Xiba, while still euphoric in her own right and nearly out of touch with everything but her body, somehow sensed Adam's plight and held onto him tightly, not letting him fall. This time his cock did deflate somewhat, softening and slipping out of Xiba despite her clasping prehensile labial lips trying to hold him in.

"Adam? Adam are you okay? Adam, can you hear me?" Xiba queried while looking at Adam's face noting that his eyes seemed to have lost their pupils, all she saw were the whites of his eyes.

Adam's head rolled back on his neck, then lolled forward dipping his chin almost to his chest before rolling to one side then the other before he shook it vigorously and opened his eyes.

"WOW!" he exclaimed in a single short exhaled breath, then shook his head again before focusing his gaze on Xiba's eyes.

"That was... just... WOW!" Adam proclaimed again and regained his legs standing up straight and leaning forward into Xiba and putting his hands flat on the pilot's couch on either side of her.

"Is it like this every time you have... sex?" Xiba asked him, her slender body shuddering as she took a long deep breath then exhaled slowly, the tingles and waves of ecstasy still coursing through her body.

"No... I mean... yes, but no. Sex is... always good, but sometimes it can be... more. Like this. THIS was MORE!" Adam proclaimed, breathing heavily but smiling sheepishly.

"I have no personal experience to compare with. No sex with a partner that is. I have experienced... arousal and... climax. What you call an "orgasm" before this but I had no idea really what it was when it happened then. That was before... the pickle incident. I awoke from a sleep cycle, from a dream, and... climaxed... twice. Once as a... male human... and then immediately afterwards as myself in my own body configuration. It made me... curious. I wanted to learn more about this "sex" that you humans find so enjoyable." Xiba explained with a soft voice.

Adam wondered what brought on this revelation. Did Xiba feel the need to talk... after what they had just shared and experienced? Odd that, it would seem that that was another trait that Dionovans and Human females shared. Then the bit about her having had an orgasm as a male human registered in his mind. His head snapped up and tilted slightly to one side, his eyes wide.

"Wait... what? You had a male Human orgasm? H... how is that possible?" Adam asked struggling to understand what he had just heard and how it could have happened.

"You know that I have some limited ability to... transform... like yourself. It would seem that while in the subliminal transfer session it fed into my dreams, I imagined what it would be like to have a penis... like yours. And... when I woke up... I had... a penis. A hard penis and I was surprised certainly but I touched it. And I climaxed, had an orgasm, just like I had seen you do, only I FELT IT!" Xiba exclaimed sounding both a little sheepish and amazed at the same time. Adam could see she was blushing big time after she explained what had happened and how.

"Oh my god..." Adam muttered in a near whisper. The thoughts that sprung up after hearing Xiba's explanation boggled his mind. He had of course, transformed his body several times by this point, one MAJOR full body transformation, and several smaller transformations with only a few body parts. He flashed back to the encounter with Kyle in the hospital restroom when he had made his own penis... HUGE, and giggled mentally. But to be able to take on specific body parts of a different gender? He honestly didn't know if he wanted to even explore that possibility just yet. Sure, he was curious, but... no... not yet... whew!

"I find myself to be quite... thirsty." Xiba observed with a rather scholarly tone. "And... hungry." She added, her two tongues appearing to lick her lips then she smiled up into Adam's eyes.

"Yeah... I find often that I am very thirsty after... sex... and hungry too." Adam retorted.

"Would you... mind..." Xiba asked, as she ran her hands over Adam's collar bones and down his chest to his abdomen before pressing gently to indicate that she wished to get up from the pilot's couch.

Adam smiled and stepped back, suddenly feeling all of his nakedness, but not in a way that was shamed or bashful. He also marveled, once again, at Xiba's naked body. So different but yet so very... sexy... in her own way. Adam even felt his cock throb a little though it didn't seem to be getting hard again. He stepped aside to allow Xiba to slide off the couch then she turned to a couple of storage cubbies and removed first two water spheres, then a couple of apples and some grapes. Adam turned and hopped up on the pilot's couch, his legs dangling off the side.

Xiba set the two apples and the grapes on the pilot's couch beside Adam, then handed him one of the water spheres. She opened her own and took a long drink before sighing contentedly. She watched Adam parrot her own moves and opened his water sphere and took an equally long drink. He sighed as well but not so much from the drink but from his gaze on Xiba. She noted his attention and smiled meekly and blushed a bit. One of her own hands running up her torso from her abdomen, over the lower set of nipples to come to rest in the middle of her chest, the three fingered hand gently stroking her flesh absentmindedly.

"You really are quite beautiful, Xiba." Adam intoned seriously but with a touch of awe in his appreciative voice.

"As compared to others of my kind or with your human females?" She asked facetiously... something that Adam had never heard in her tone or voice before... he kind of liked this playful side.

"Well... considering I've never met or seen another of your "kind" ..." Adam began with a grin. "I only have my fellow humans to refer to or compare with. But that's not important, I mean that I found you to be very appealing and pleasant to look at. It doesn't matter what or who you might compare with. I LIKE what I see." Adam explained with a shrug but couldn't help but to blush... this time his human pinkness was infused with the strobing light blue pulses affected by the Adaptive mutagen that had altered his very DNA.

"I... Thank you, Adam." Xiba said, again smiling sheepishly and blushing herself even more.

Xiba reached the formerly absentmindedly caressing hand for one of the apples sitting next to Adam. She examined it closely, though it was probably more as a distraction at the moment, before taking a tentative bite. The crunch of the initial bite sounded extraordinarily loud in the quiet that seemed to grow between them. Adam watched her every move as if trying to memorize it. He was transfixed and mesmerized at the same time. His water sphere in his hand all but forgotten at the moment.

Xiba noted his fixed gaze and offered the apple to Adam, extending her hand towards his face with silent invitation. Adam looked at the apple in her three fingered hand and had a momentary flash of ironic realization... Eve offering the forbidden fruit to Adam in the garden of Eden... Adam grinned sardonically for a moment before leaning forward a bit and taking a small bite out of the proffered fruit. He had to suck in his breath as a bit of juice threatened to escape his mouth before he could close it to chew up the bite. Xiba watched Adam chew the bite of apple, while tasting the same in her own mouth. There was some kind of thrill in that realization that they were sharing a common experience. Perhaps not so profound or life changing as what they had shared just a short time ago, with having sexual relations... but still significant in its own way.

"I would assume that your sexual experiments have come to a conclusion at this time..." Data stated through the speakers around the life pod, breaking the spell. "According to both of your biometric readings, your bodies are returning to more normal levels. Are there any revelations or conclusions as a result of this... experiment?" He queried, sounding both curious and a bit of playful sarcasm.

Adam hung his head and shook it with a wry grin, before looking up at Xiba who seemed genuinely startled for a moment before also giving Adam a wry grin as well. Adam shrugged and nodded as if to let her speak her mind first.

"I would have to say that my findings are... inconclusive... at this time. I will need... more input... data input... to have a more accurate and definitive conclusion, Data." Xiba said with that wry grin growing wider and more playful before her eyes took on a... hopeful expression looking to Adam's face as if asking a question rather than making a statement.

"I would... agree, Data. While for me... what we just experienced was... amazing... I think we may need to... have more information and testing... as it were. Perhaps another time but without sampling the pickles and see if the compatibility and... pleasure... is the same, less or maybe even greater." Adam stated, biting the inside of his cheek and looking at Xiba with questioning eyebrows raised high in askance while turning his head ever so slightly and tilting it just as slightly towards his shoulder.

"Indeed. While I can confirm the... aphrodisiac properties of whatever compound or compounds in the... pickles... The effect this time was perhaps not as profound or overwhelming at the first time it happened. This time it simply... amplified, my own feelings and reactions I suspect." Xiba added to Adam's statement.

"Very well then. All noted for further review, when needed." Data said sounding very clinical but at the same time a note of teasing playfulness in his voice.

Adam's hand brushed against the grapes beside him on the pilot's couch and he picked them up. He tipped his head back and held the bunch above his head and nibbled the lower two grapes off the bunch, smiling with satisfaction as the little orbs gave up their sweet juice when he bit down on them as he chewed. Xiba watched this with fascination, one of her two tongues coming out and running around her lips. Adam noted that and smiled, stretching his hand and arm out to hold the bunch of grapes slightly above Xiba's face. She mimicked his actions and tilted her own head back and both of her tongues reached for and grasped a grape each before pulling them from the stem and into her mouth.

Adam watched this show of prehensile tongue dexterity and shuddered with a smile and slowly shook his head from side to side in wonder. Xiba noted the look on his face and smiled sweetly before running one of the tongues out then the other and they both circled her lips before retreating into her mouth once more. Adam brought the water sphere to his lips and took another long drink to slake his thirst, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Xiba's. She in turn held his gaze unblinkingly but with such... happiness.

"Xiba, and Adam... I've detected another motor vehicle nearby. It has turned into the park entrance and is coming closer." Data sounded off, not sounding alarmed but still informing the two of them.

"Could that be a problem?" Xiba asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

"Maybe, depends on whether they stay very long. I may have to remain here until they are gone. I don't think it would be a good idea to surface with anyone nearby who might see the life pod." Adam said, a note of concern in his voice.

"The vehicle is slowly circling the parking area. It has stopped next to your vehicle, Adam. I detect radio communication being transmitted from the new vehicle." Data stated.

"Radio transmission? Maybe it's a patrol cruiser for the Sheriff's department... That must be it. That's a patrol car. Wonder what they are transmitting?" Adam asked rhetorically.

'Dispatch... unit seventeen... I need a 10-28 for the following license plate number...' came from the speakers as Data played back the transmission before it picked up real time.

Adam sat up a little straighter, that voice... it sounded oddly familiar.

'Seventeen... the car is registered to an Adam Ronan...' the dispatcher informed the officer requesting the information.

'Seventeen... report 10-20...' the dispatcher requested the officer's location.

'Dispatch... current 10-20... Meteor Lake Recreation Area, Parking. Vehicle is here but no sign of occupants or driver. Perhaps it was a mechanical breakdown. Will check back later. Clear...'

'Copy seventeen... 10-26...' came back the dispatcher's voice noting that the officer on site was clear.

Adam and Xiba looked at one another, Xiba clearly confused and a bit worried, or at least apprehensive. Adam smiled softly to reassure her.

"According to the codes transmitted, the first transmission was from an officer of the law, requesting the vehicle's registration. They know it is your car, Adam." Data informed Adam and Xiba, then went further. "After the officer's dispatcher relayed the information, they requested his location. You heard that reply of course. The final code was to confirm that the officer was clear of the site. He did, however, inform his dispatch that he would circle back on his patrol to see if the car was still here when he returned." Data explained.

"He, the officer, didn't see anyone around the car so he thought it was broken down or left for some other reason. If he thought there was something going on, he would not have continued on his patrol." Adam said thoughtfully.

"Yes. That is what it would appear to mean. The other vehicle is now leaving the... parking area and returning to the main road." Data confirmed.

"I should probably be getting back to my car then..." Adam said a little sadly, looking at Xiba who simply looked at him with concern... and a fair bit of longing.

"Of course. It is still prudent to remain... as you say... undetected, until we can get the main ship repaired." Xiba said in a steady voice.

Xiba set down her partially eaten apple and the water sphere, then bent to pick up her utility suit from the floor. Adam watched with mixed emotions and some very carnal thoughts as she bent over in profile to his view. She lifted one smallish three toed foot and slipped it into the leg of the suit, then the other. Slowly she rose back up pulling the garment along with her, covering first her legs, then that amazing purple cleft. Up over her hips and then she slipped her arms into the garment and pulled the seams together. Touching one three fingered hand to the join at the crotch she slowly pulled her finger upwards and the garment closed back up... seamlessly.

Xiba tugged and adjusted a bit here and there, then looked once more at Adam, who still sat completely naked on the pilot's couch. She smiled a secret little smile and stepped back up to him, between his dangling legs to be face to face with him once more. Adam's hands came slowly up to rest lightly on her shoulders, his thumbs gently caressing what would pass as her collar bones. Xiba's own hands were held up in front of her torso and she glanced down at them, causing Adam to do so as well. He watched as they slowly transformed into human hands before his eyes. Looking back up he saw Xiba smiling and she drew her bottom lip into her mouth to be bitten lightly under her top teeth. Her human hands then reached out to touch Adam's thighs.

Those hands were so very warm... and gentle. They rubbed his flesh as though she were cataloguing and memorizing the feel under her fingers and palms. Those same hands then began to move again... first upwards along his thighs to his torso. One then slid down to run the fingers along his relaxed but not completely deflated cock. It twitched under her touch and Xiba gave a short little sound that had to have been a giggle. Her eyes looked back up into Adam's and that smile was so very alluring.

Her hands resumed their march upwards once more. They glided over his abdomen, then along his ribs and up his sides to under his arms. From there, they slid over his chest, the palms running over his nipples that were unsurprisingly rather stiff. Meeting in the middle of his chest, Xiba's hands then slid up to his throat to separate and run up the sides of his neck. They touched his ears and then ran through his hair, before coming back to his face. Her touch was delicate, almost tentative, but definitely tender and loving. Adam leaned his head and face into one of her open palms.

"Adam... I w... I wish to... would you be amenable to possibly... doing this again... sometime?" Xiba asked haltingly, even though they had both mentioned doing just that with Data a little earlier. She was still checking in with him and maybe trying to convince herself that this was real and it really happened.

"Absolutely. Xiba... this has been... amazing!" Adam responded softly, looking deeply into her huge impossibly beautiful blue eyes.

Her smile was transformed, from tentative and hopeful, to dazzling and as joyful as any he had ever seen on anyone he had known or loved in his life. Wait... loved? It was in that moment that Adam's mind took one step back and fell on its ass. Love... There was that word again. No, not word, feeling. Yes. Adam acknowledged to himself that there were feelings he had for Xiba. Even for as short a time as he had known her, granted the circumstances were beyond... unusual... He felt as much of a bond between the two of them as he had with his own family, and girlfriend. He cared what happened to Xiba. He longed for her happiness and contentment. And... now... THIS. How much of this was driven by the Adaptive mutagen that he had been accidentally exposed to, and how much of this was simply his heart? He didn't know, and frankly, he didn't care. They had... bonded... and the sex... Well... the sex was out of this world. OH LORD! Now he was thinking in clichés even. He smiled to himself. All of this passing through his mind in just a heartbeat or two.

Xiba's smile had not faded or changed in any way. Apparently, his self-realization moment had passed unnoticed by her. She did notice his smile however, and that seemed to trigger something inside of her as well, her momentary tenseness upon asking the question, melted away and she stepped forward and encircled his torso with her arms and just squeezed him tight.

"Thank you, Adam. That would mean... a lot." Xiba spoke softly, holding him tight a few moments longer.

"It means a lot to me as well, Xiba. More than you might even imagine." He responded in kind and his own arms wrapped around her shoulders and squeezed her back.

Xiba was the first to release the embrace, stepping back and bending down to grab some of Adam's clothes. She handed up his shirt to him as he still sat on the pilot's couch, then twisted and picked up his jeans. She attempted to assist him with putting them on his legs but had the pants turned backwards. Laughing, Adam stopped her and stood up, stepping out of the jeans, he turned around and put the correct feet in the correct legs of the pants and pulled them up, boxers and all. After fastening the closed he slipped his feet into his sneakers and turned back to Xiba.

She was leaning against the med tech unit, nibbling on the apple she had started earlier, watching his every move as if to memorize it. Adam picked up the grapes and pulled a couple of them from the stem before stepping over to Xiba. She didn't move, only watched him with curiosity and a smile. Adam took his free hand and grasped hers with the apple and brought it to his face to take another bite. Looking at Xiba, he popped a grape into his mouth along with the bite of apple and chewed slowly. Xiba tilted her head to one shoulder, the curiosity in her eyes was palpable. Adam lifted the other grape for her to see, holding it in his thumb and forefinger, then brought it to her mouth. She got the idea and opened up, both tongues meeting the grape and grasping it, taking it from Adam's hand. She closed her mouth and chewed. And her eyes grew larger than they already were.

"Sometimes, we humans like to mix flavors. Different kinds of fruits or vegetables at the same time. Different kinds of foods... different kinds of... things." Adam said in way of explanation, his smile soft but sincere.

"Things..." Xiba parroted, her smile knowing and facetious at the same time.

It was at that moment that Adam's phone rang. The all too familiar sound seemed so foreign... almost alien... coming from the pocket of his jeans. He pulled the phone out and looked at the screen as it rang a second time. It was Jade. Why would she be calling him? He glanced at the time and then groaned.

"Hello." He spoke as he accepted the call.

"Adam? Are you okay? Where are you?" Jade began sounding just a bit worried, but as if she were resisting it.

"I'm fine, why?" He asked, his mind racing to remember if there was anything he might have forgotten.

"I'm... riding around... with Cindy and she just got a call from her dad. He asked if your new car had broken down on you and if she might know anything. You know, since she's my friend and... well... where are you?" She half explained.

"I'm fine, and the car is fine. I'm up at Meteor Lake. I stopped by here after dropping off Rene' when the diving class orientation was over. I guess I'm just kind of getting ahead of myself. I mean I've not even been in the water with my equipment in the first class yet and I was kind of wondering what it would be like to dive here at the lake." He admitted a little sheepishly as that part was true, but he couldn't tell her about the other reasons he'd be at the lake, not yet anyway.

"Cindy's dad said he didn't see anyone, so he thought you might have left the car there for whatever reason." Jade explained but Adam knew it was a question in itself, he answered it.

"I saw the headlights from a car a little while ago across the water. I've been walking around the shore, lost in thought, I guess. I didn't realize that it was the deputy. Anyway, the car drove off and I realized I needed to get back to the car and go home. I wouldn't want to be out too late tonight and be tired in the morning before I actually have my first lesson." Adam ended sounding sheepish again. He heard Jade muffle a giggle, and the muffled voice of Cindy making a comment about him being kept "UP" late anyway.

"Okay, babe. See you at home shortly then." Jade said ending the call or initiating the ending.

"Jade?... Love you. See you in a bit." Adam spoke, feeling it as much as saying it. The look in Xiba's eyes was both fond and... something else. Envy maybe?

Adam looked at his phone again, noting he had one text from Rene' as well. He had missed that somehow... what could possibly have had his attention so completely that he the text had been missed? The smile on his face was a little ironic maybe but it was real, especially when he looked back into Xiba's eyes. She and he both knew that this night was the beginning of... something... and both were eager to explore.

"I... should get going..." Adam sighed finally, one hand sliding his phone back into his jeans pocket the other lifting to Xiba's face and gently stroking her cheek. Her head leaned into his touch and her eyes closed for a moment, savoring the contact.

"Adam, I have moved the life pod near the end of the pier. The area around us is clear of any other human activity so I'll be bringing us to the surface in a few moments." Data announced via the speakers on the pilot's couch.

"Thank you, Data." Adam spoke aloud, still looking into Xiba's eyes.

It was the thought of the class and the thoughts of Jade, Cindy and Rene' and now... the diving class instructor that jogged his memory about the costume party that was going to be held on campus. What if... what if Xiba could attend that party as well? I mean, she wouldn't even have to really be in disguise, would she? People would think she's IN a costume.

"Xiba... I have been invited to a... party... on campus at the university. It's a special kind of party, called a costume party. People... we humans... like to dress up in disguises around this time of year... to celebrate Halloween. You can have Data look that up for you. Halloween is mostly for kids, but even we older people like to celebrate, and a costume party is just that. It would be an opportunity for you to get out of the life pod and see a little of my world, see more humans than just me. Nobody would know you were from another planet... really anyway... What do you think? Would you be interested in going?" Adam took a deep breath, a little nervously waiting to hear what she said.

"Leaving the ship? The life pod that is... Adam? Are you sure that is wise?" Xiba asked sounding a little confused... but also... intrigued.

"I'm not saying you have to go with me, but it... could be... fun." Adam responded, verbally egging her towards accepting he hoped.

"Fun? Like "sex" is fun?" Xiba asked, her somewhat startled expression turning into something far more playful and maybe suggestive.

"Well... I hadn't thought about sex as part of the party... but it is a college party... so you might witness some things that don't ordinarily happen in public... but yeah, fun. There are lots of ways to have fun besides sex. Although I'm growing more and more fond of that myself... the sex thing that is." Adam explained his smile growing a little more... wry... as he looked deeply into Xiba's eyes.

Straightening up and growing more serious. A nagging thought broke through his visions of a wild costume party and sex and so much more... it was something that he had been struggling with for days on end now. Letting someone else know about Xiba and Data and the alien ship. In this moment it hit home rather hard. If Xiba were to attend this party with him... and Rene'... anyone she met would be the first humans other than himself that she had contact with. Rene' would be a bit of a wildcard maybe, but he was pretty sure that she would be a safe contact to be made. But anyone else... strangers? Xiba might get the wrong impression of mankind as a whole from a group of possibly drunken horny college kids. He needed to ground her first with contact of trusted REAL people... like Rene', or Jade... or... YES! That's who!

"Xiba... forget about the party for now. I have something else I want to do first. I want you to meet someone very dear to me. Someone I would trust with my life. Someone who I have lied to... or at least not been completely honest with about this whole thing with the storm and meeting you... having died and been brought back and... infected with the mutagen..." Adam trailed off... searching for the words that would make everything clear and understandable.

He needn't have worried too much though, Xiba had already made her decision. She went with her heart... hearts... rather than logic or common sense as it were. If Adam would trust his life to this person to share their secret existence here on this planet with them... she could trust his judgement of them as well.

"I would be honored to meet someone with whom you would trust your life with." Xiba extolled solemnly, stepping forward to bring her hand, the alien three fingered hand, to his face and gently touch his cheek in reassurance.

Adam felt something inside of him release. His gut had been so very tight and his body tense as he asked the question and then awaited Xiba's response that he hadn't even been aware of himself holding his breath. The response from Xiba released that tension and apprehension... he could breathe again. His smile was warm and... relieved... and... loving. He bent down a bit and their lips met again in a sweet sensual soft kiss that meant more to either one of them than all the passionate kissing they had both exchanged just a little while earlier.

"Adam, we have surfaced and the coast is clear." Data's voice announced sounding pleased with his play on words.

Adam groaned and then leaned in and gave Xiba another quick peck on the lips and then separated, slowly, reluctantly. Both smiling at each other for the same feelings and reasons. With a sigh, Adam turned to pace over to the hatch that was opening up. He stepped up, taking the edge of the hatch in hand, before turning back to Xiba.

"I will... speak with the person I want you to meet and whom I wish to meet you. It will make our time together here easier too. I'll contact you when the time is right for that meeting, of course, we will be speaking anytime you wish as well..." Adam stated, Xiba only nodded in understanding, perhaps not trusting herself to speak in the moment.

With that, Adam turned once more and climbed up out of the hatch, and onto the fishing pier. Even as he turned to watch, the hatch had closed and the life pod was slowly moving away and submerging once more. The faint light coming through the clear hatch fading as the pod went deeper into the lake. Part of Adam longed to leap back into the water and follow the pod and... Xiba. When the light had vanished, Adam turned and walked back up the pier to the parking lot and to his car. Time to go home.

*** TO BE CONTINUED ***

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