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  Once again Suki thought he was hilarious, but at least he didn’t tell everyone on the ship about it this time. Caleb hoped. He was getting a reputation as a comedian that he didn’t think he deserved.

  Talking about bodies and sex led, of course, to exploring bodies. In many respects Suki and Caleb were behaving like a couple of young teenagers, and with Oki busy on the bridge and apparently doing his best to keep out of Caleb’s way, the exploration began to take its natural course.

  Suki’s long and agile tongue was a marvel, and Caleb learned to love just that aspect of his new beloved alone. It could be soft and gentle, or rough like a cat’s tongue, and Suki quickly learned how to make Caleb writhe and cry out under him just by licking and sucking. Suki’s mouth could caress gently at Caleb’s nipple, or drive him to almost screaming with pleasure, and his long agile fingers were just as clever.

  Suki urged Caleb’s head down to his breast to reciprocate.

  ‘I am healed now, beloved.’

  Caleb latched on hesitantly at first, then with enthusiasm. Suki’s milk tasted mildly sweet and slightly like almonds, and Caleb could have spent all afternoon just nursing on him. The joy that filled him was more than just the milk, it was feeding his spirit as well as his stomach, and he could feel it resonating in Suki. Gods, there was something to this bonding after all, and a mere human could indeed feel it.

  The nursing led, inevitably, to having mutual erections, and Caleb was assured that he wasn’t some kind of pervert for having developed an erection when he’d first nursed Suki.

  ‘It is part of the bonding. In a full triad bonding, we nurse, suck, couple, each giving fully to each other, each receiving seed from the others. With seed from both of the other two any of three can become bearing, although not every triad is so blessed every time.’

  That startled Caleb. ‘Um, but not me, right?’

  Suki purred at him. ‘Oh yes, you. I would like to see this belly rounded with our child’, and he stroked Caleb’s flat stomach lovingly.

  ‘Seriously? I could become pregnant? Bearing? Even a human male can?’

  For some reason that didn’t strike him as being quite so strange as it would have a couple of weeks ago. His hand covered Suki’s, and he thought about having life growing inside of him, and what love might really mean.

  ‘Oh yes, and they have. We know of several. It is about loving, sharing seed and spirit with the beloveds. We also just play and give each other pleasure sometimes, of course. It is not always about becoming bearing.’

  Suki smiled at him. ‘We can play while Oki is busy. He will not mind.’

  Caleb doubted that, but then Suki’s clever cat tongue was working its way down his chest and his belly, and licking at the head of his cock, and he forgot to think for a while. Suki was an enthusiastic partner, and they tried with soft and harsher textures until Caleb was sobbing and spent, and Suki had sucked his cock dry, swallowing every last drop.

  Caleb was beginning to feel like he had to make up for only having the one texture to offer. He stroked that lovely blue cock and ran his tongue around the rim, poking into the slit so much like his own. He pulled the head into his mouth and hummed, and delighted at how Suki’s hips came up off the bed, and then he was able to taste the first sweet drops of nectar from his beloved. To his astonishment, it was nectar, and he almost lost himself in trying to get more, sucking and licking with enthusiasm.

  Then he stroked one hand down and caressed the dark purple sac at the base of Suki’s cock, and Suki made happy cries and thrust up into his hand. That sac hadn’t been there when he first held Suki; their little one was indeed growing up quickly. This was no child he held.

  It seemed like everything he did brought more and more delight to his beloved, and then he teased back behind the sac to find a leaking hole, and understood the lubrication that his sweetheart had been talking about. The hole did indeed seem to be lubricating itself in response to his touch, just for him. He probed it with one finger and tested that juice on his tongue, and it was every bit as sweet as his darling’s pre-cum.

  He sucked in as much of Suki’s cock as he could, and probed into that welcoming hole with first one finger, then two, and felt Suki coming apart under him with cries of joy. Suki shot his release off down his throat, gasping and gripping into his hair, and he swallowed desperately, not wanting to lose any of the sweet nectar of his Suki’s first orgasm.

  ‘Oh yes, beloved!’

  ‘Beloved!’

  Caleb thought that he heard an echo of ‘beloved!’ from Oki somewhere in the ship, but he must have been imagining that.

  They curled up together, naked and happy, and slept that way until Oki joined them later that night. Caleb waited for a reaction of anger or jealousy or something, because he must know what they had been doing, but Oki just shoved the two of them over on his big bed and wrapped himself around them both. He could have sworn that Oki kissed him as well as Suki before they fell asleep again, but he was tired and maybe he was dreaming it, and the murmur.

  ‘Silly beloved.’

  Chapter 5.

  Caleb started brooding about the lost children, and the years Suki had spent in slavery. He knew they were finding some of the children, but slowly, and there were too many still out there, and they had no way of knowing if they were safe or at risk. There had to be a pattern which, when seen, would lead to a way to find them faster. Oki agreed, and assigned the ever-present Kasu to assist Caleb in setting up a computer program to search. Anything that might offer help would be good.

  When he wasn’t rolling around naked with Suki, Caleb started spending his time with Kasu going over star maps and time lines, trying to develop an algorithm to tell them where the lost children might be. There was a pattern, he knew there was, even if he couldn’t see it yet. The lonely geek who had grown up to be a solitary engineer with his own ship loved the logic of patterns.

  At first he just worked at one terminal or another that was unused at the time, and then he was assigned his own terminal, with a chair more suited to his smaller frame. Kasu did something to protect the programming so he couldn’t accidentally blow the ship up, although he took that as an insult. He might not be the smartest human around, but he was an engineer and a pilot, and he knew what he was doing with computers.

  Kasu smiled kindly at him, and shrugged.

  ‘It’s all good. You can play now.’

  That offended him, but he didn’t say anything. Apparently Oki wasn’t the only one who thought he was a stupid human. He had a discussion with the computer when Kasu wasn’t around, and regained access to everything, and was astounded by the untapped power in the system.

  To build his pattern, his map, it was simply a matter of having enough power and enough information, and his new people had some of the most powerful computing equipment he had ever seen. If it had enough information, a pattern would emerge. He asked it questions and sometimes the computer answered right away, and sometimes it took days for the answers, or partial answers, or more questions, to come back to him.

  When had the children been stolen, where and when had the ones they had recovered been found? Where had they been in the interim? Exactly where had they been and what had they been doing when they disappeared?

  What ships had been where? What traders? What travellers, what explorers? What signals had been heard, what rumours, shifts in opinion? Dates, places, people, ideas? It was all data, and if they had enough of it, it would tell them a story, and then they could find the children.

  He expanded the information search, building a massive multi-dimensional web. Where had there been droughts or wars, planet scale events that had caused evacuations or emigration? Addictions, religions, prophets or dictators? Who had sent messages across space, translated or not? Warp anomalies, unexplained glitches in the time-space continuum, any ripples at all in anything?

  The artificial intelligence of the computing system caught on quickly, and began suggesting searches of its own, and th
en began initiating them. Caleb became obsessed with the search, and if computers could be said to obsess then this one did as well.

  His new people were highly intelligent and extremely logical, and no-one else could have built such a computing system, but they didn’t have the wild creative intuitiveness necessary to obsess in this way. The crew of the ship watched in awe as Caleb and the computer built their web to find the missing children.

  Kasu, who had been an enthusiastic coach at the beginning, became concerned.

  ‘This is foolish, human. You are looking for a pattern where there is only chaos. You are burning yourself up, and use up much computer time, for nothing. I am sorry, my friend, but there is nothing to find this way. You will just make yourself ill.’

  Caleb kept going anyway, because he no longer had any choice. He began to lose track of time, and was only vaguely aware of Suki trying to get him to eat and drink, and to sleep, but Caleb was indeed burning himself up. He didn’t care. When he did shut his eyes all he saw was his beloved Suki in that dirty alley where he had first seen him, and the big ugly creature that had been a second away from ending his little one’s life. How many other little ones were waiting somewhere, who maybe wouldn’t be found in time?

  Oki was the one who put a stop to it, when Caleb’s use of computer time threatened to interfere with ship operations, or at least so the Captain said. Oki reached over Caleb’s shoulder to turn off the screen that Caleb was working on, and then picked him up in strong arms.

  ‘Enough, little one. You need to rest and play, to recharge. Suki will be very unhappy if you get sick.’

  Caleb wondered when he had become ‘little one’ instead of ‘stupid human’, but he was all of a sudden very tired, and it felt good to be held in Oki’s arms. Safe and warm and protected, and just for once he could let someone else be in charge.

  ‘Computer …’ He still needed to be kept informed.

  Oki interrupted him. ‘Computer, continue search, let us know if relevant pattern emerges.’

  Caleb realized that there was an ‘us’, it wasn’t just him, and maybe the world wouldn’t end if he relaxed for a little while. He curled into Oki the way Suki curled into him, and felt the stirrings of desire rising through a haze of exhaustion. Oki nuzzled into the soft hair on his head and purred down at him.

  ‘I have been negligent, and it is time to do something about that. We must complete our bond.’

  Caleb woke up a little bit at that, and fear mingled with desire. Caleb had enjoyed playing with Suki, very much, but it had been just play. He wasn’t sure how this was going to work with two large alien penises, both barbed, and if he would even survive the experience.

  ‘Shush, little one.’ He was so tired that he had forgotten that Oki could hear his thoughts. Oki sounded offended as well as amused. ‘You are our third, our beloved. It will all be good. You will see. There are patterns to loving, too, patterns to being bonded.’

  ‘And then you will drop the stupid human off on the nearest habitable planet?’

  Oki sighed. ‘I am proud, and stubborn. I am sorry. You are beloved.’

  Caleb would have agreed with the first part of that, but then they were through the door of their quarters, and he had other things to think about.

  Chapter 6.

  Caleb thought that it was very reasonable for him to be nervous. He’d had a few male lovers, but human ones, and he hadn’t been with anyone for a long time. The play that he and Suki had engaged in had been just that, and hadn’t gone beyond kissing and touching, as wonderful as that touching was. He was pretty sure that whatever Oki had in mind was more than play.

  Oki placed him softly on the big bed and knelt beside him, and Caleb was reminded of how gentle his big blue lover had always been with their little one. Feelings of love and belonging washed over him, from both his lovers, and his growing desire began to surpass his concern. He could feel his darling Suki in his mind, laughing at him, calling him ‘beloved’, and then he couldn’t remember what he was worrying about.

  Suki dove onto the bed with them, laughing, and the three of them rolled around, pulling at each other’s clothing, all trying to get each other naked as fast as possible. Caleb delighted in the pleasure of bare skin rubbing against bare skin, both of his lovers hairless and so smooth to touch. His pale skin stood out against the blues and purples of his beloved ones, and their colors brightened even as he stroked and caressed them, and they touched him.

  ‘Beautiful, so beautiful.’

  Suki purred at him. ‘Beloved. So good, to begin the bonding.’

  Oki smiled and purred too. ‘Soon, beloved. Soon to be fully bonded.’ His erection throbbed against his belly, and his need was obvious.

  Caleb rolled Oki over onto his back and kissed his way across that smooth broad chest, seeking a nipple, and one of Oki’s big hands came to the back of his head, guiding and encouraging. He had expected Oki to taste the same as Suki, but Oki was distinctly different, every bit as good but stronger, and not quite as sweet. He would be able to tell them apart in the dark. Oki laughed into his hair.

  ‘Oh yes, little one. Different beings, different taste, everywhere.’

  He rubbed up hard against Oki’s strong body, and felt their erections next to each other between their bellies. He was having trouble keeping his thoughts straight, remembering the strange eroticism of Oki stroking himself to release when Suki had first nursed on them, of the possibility of Oki’s smooth belly or his becoming round with child …

  He moaned against Oki’s nipple, and sucked harder, and felt Oki arch up into him. Into both him and Suki, who had latched onto Oki’s other nipple and reached over with one hand to run his fingers through Caleb’s hair. Caleb ground his erection into Oki’s strong thigh, suddenly needing in a way he never had before, that he was having trouble even understanding. Desire beyond thought or logic washed over him.

  ‘It is the bonding. It is what we all feel, the need to be one’, Suki thought to him, gasping for breath. Caleb could only moan, and try and draw more of Oki’s essence out of that sweet breast. He rolled over on his side a bit so he could get one hand down to caress Oki’s throbbing erection, and now it was Oki who moaned. For all Oki’s maturity and dominance, this was as new to him as it was to his lovers, and he was obviously having trouble controlling his response.

  Caleb drew his thumb through the liquid bead that he knew would be at the tip of Oki’s cock, and was rewarded when those strong blue hips thrust up towards his touch, and Oki cried out.

  ‘Beloved …’ It was a plea, and Suki responded more quickly than Caleb could, sliding down Oki’s body to suck that dark blue length into his mouth.

  Caleb shifted up to find Oki’s mouth with his, and the two of them fought for dominance, in the best possible kind of fight. He nipped at Oki’s bottom lip and demanded entrance, and Oki sucked his tongue in, crying out in joy from having both his lovers with him, bringing him pleasure.

  ‘Beloved! Yes, so long …’

  Oki and Caleb kissed hungrily, and one of Oki’s big hands wrapped around Caleb’s buttocks, fingers sinking in as he pulled him closer into him, pale erection rubbing into blue hip. Caleb moaned and pushed into Oki, his own hands stroking that beautiful body and pulling him closer as Oki writhed under Suki’s mouth.

  A needy whimper from Suki distracted him, and their little one shifted around to allow Caleb access to Suki’s hard blue length as it rubbed between their bodies while Suki nursed enthusiastically on Oki’s huge blue cock. He took a gentle grasp of Suki’s hard length, full and needy against their darling’s rounded stomach.

  ‘Oh yes, please, harder …’

  That was Suki, in his mind, and he happily realized a benefit of telepathy. They could speak even with their mouths full. Suki laughed at him again, gasping even in his thoughts, and Oki cried out and thrust up into Suki’s eager mouth, and Caleb wondered about those barbs, and if Suki was finding joy that he would never be able to from drawing Oki in. Suki sent
him an image, as much as he could, of the pleasure that came from that sweet cock being pulled always deeper into his mouth, locked into him, belonging to him, and his own erection throbbed in response.

  Sweet gods, he could feel it all, and it was overwhelming. Caleb stroked Suki’s length harder and faster, and shifted his body down again until he could push his other hand under Oki’s hips and between his buttocks, to find his leaking hole. He probed with a finger and then two, twisting them in rhythm with Suki’s movements, and was no longer sure of who was touching who where. It was a tangle of arms and legs and mouths, and not very long before Oki screamed out in pleasure and shot his release down Suki’s throat, hips jerking wildly.

  Suki’s own length was hard and throbbing in Caleb’s hand by now, but even as Caleb moved to take it in his mouth Suki released, crying out softly and covering Caleb’s hand with sweet blue froth.

  Caleb moaned and stroked his own erection, covering it with Suki’s seed, using it to lubricate his own urgent hand movements. Close to finding climax himself, lost in desire, he was interrupted by Oki rolling him over onto his back and settling that sweet leaking hole down over his aching cock. There was no hesitation, no moment of pressure or pain, just Oki sinking onto him, his thick length being pulled into the warmth of love. He arched up and cried out, and then bucked up harder and harder into Oki as his big blue lover rocked on him and tried to take him even deeper, Oki’s channel gripping tightly around his throbbing erection.

  ‘Gods, yes, yes, the bond …’

  Suki leaned over him and kissed him, taking what was left of his breath away, but also sharing Oki’s seed from his mouth, and he sucked at it urgently, no longer caring that he couldn’t breathe.

  One of Oki’s big hands came up behind Suki and Caleb felt the little one gasp against his mouth and then begin to writhe back against Oki’s hand. The joint sensations from all three lovers washed over him, and he finally understood what Suki had meant, how lonely it had always been without his triad.