The survival suit kept itself dry, but I could still feel the droplets of rain hitting me. I’d added a hood, which helped. I felt bad for Holly and Billie, but there was nothing I could do to help them. Maybe, with more power crystals, Opal would be able to connect to their suits, but for now, we were simply lucky to have such nice clothes.


    “What’s going on?” I asked the professor.


    “This morning…” Holly’s voice caught in her throat. She tilted her head. “This is difficult to talk with you about. This whole situation is so very difficult. Yes, the chores of survival are interesting, and part of me finds the adventure exciting, but another part of me longs for a bed, a house, shelter, the conveniences of modern living.”


    “We’re going to work on a better home tomorrow. You’ll see. I have a plan.” I hoped that would be the end of the discussion, but no, that was just wishful thinking.


    “I know. And I trust you, Sid. About this morning…” again, she was having trouble getting the words out.


    “Just tell me. Like a band-aid. Rip it off. What about—”


    Then she blurted it out. “I was jealous.”


    I remembered that Billie seemed to get upset when I’d called the huntress beautiful. Was Holly upset as well? I wasn’t following her. “Why would you be jealous?”


    That was right when Billie came back, zipping up the front of her jumpsuit. “Nothing like stripping to pee. Okay, guys, thanks.”


    The professor turned to the CrossFit queen. “Billie, would it be possible for Sid and me to finish our conversation in private?”


    Billie’s eyes went from Holly to me. “Uh. Sure. I’ll go climb up to…you know…the bus seats. It will be okay. I guess. I have a plasma rifle. What more does a girl need?”


    The professor ignored her bratty attitude. “Thank you, Billie.”


    The blond girl started climbing but didn’t stop complaining. “Whatever. A monster will probably eat me, and I’ll be dead, but you’ll get your dumb private conversation, and I guess that’s all that matters.”


    The professor took in a breath. “You know this place has a certain energy that has excited all of our libidos. Alone, one can get some release, but you were with someone else, a new person, and you got true satisfaction. I was jealous, and so I lashed out, and I apologize.”


    “It’s fine,” I said. “Let’s get back up there. Billie isn’t wrong. There could be monsters up there.”


    Holly frowned. “It wasn’t fine. I need you to say you accept my apology. Can you do that for me?”


    “I accept your apology, Professor,” I said.


    But somehow, I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.


    Holly still had her frown and furrowed brow. “Do you have anything else to say?”


    The whole conversation was feeling like a trap.


    “What else do you want me to say, Professor? I didn’t plan for that to happen this morning, and it really might be a one-time thing. Are you saying you want me to stop it from happening a second time?”


    “You’re missing the point of this conversation,” the professor said calmly. “I would like you to say something about me and acknowledge my needs.”


    Don’t get me wrong, I love women—the way they look, the way they smell, how they move through the world—but sometimes, when emotions were involved, they seemed far too alien for me to handle.


    I felt like she was testing me. Maybe that wasn’t so weird, since she was my professor, but at the moment, it felt weird. Then—out of the fucking blue—I realized what she wanted. “Holly, you’re gorgeous. I would totally go for you, but you said you weren’t interested because I’m a student. I know what it’s like to want to be someone and have to settle for…”


    I didn’t finish the sentence. She knew what I was talking about.


    “I’m not gorgeous,” she said in a quiet voice.


    She totally needed me to tell her she was. “You are, Holly. I mean, you are definitely the hottest teacher in Grand Junction. I bet you’ve starred in the fantasies of thousands of students.”


    That made her blush. “Between you and me, Mr. Marshall, I’ve thought about all the boys…and the girls…fantasizing about me. It gets me hot. And I had an active dating life until recently. But I don’t want to talk about that. You’re about one thing, though. If the huntress does return, and if she’s interested, I think you should have sex with her again. And this time, with Opal being more responsive, you might get more information about her and K’Shaul. You will be able to scan her, won’t you?”


    “That was my plan,” I said.


    Suddenly, tears appeared in Holly’s eyes.


    “What’s wrong?” I asked, and I was very patient. I didn’t add the word “now” as in…what’s wrong now?A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    She blinked them away. “It’s nothing. I would like you to hug me and tell me everything is okay. That we’ll get through this and find a way home.”


    “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.


    “It’s what I need. And I trust you.” Her voice was quiet. She was showing me this vulnerable side to her, one that I didn’t even know existed. So far, she’d been capable, logical, and level-headed when she’d not been moody and quietly seething. I hadn’t forgotten how she’d changed the other night.


    Carefully, I approached her. I knew I wasn’t going to stop myself from getting hard, not with that energy in the air all the time. We were all impossibly horny. The huntress had felt it, I had, and so did Holly and Billie.


    I gently pulled the professor into my arms. She rested her head on my chest, and I felt her tits press into me. All of her perfume was gone, and I smelled her body. She had a muskier scent than Billie—Billie had a sweeter natural smell. At the same time, I didn’t mind Holly’s natural smell. In fact, she smelled fucking good.


    Like I thought, I was getting hard, holding her, feeling her soft body against me. She was warm, and I had a flash of us kissing. I bet she was a really good kisser. She’d admitted to having a very active dating life. Rumor had it, she was bisexual, and more than once, I’d heard rumors of her being seen kissing a woman. Not a student, not another professor, but maybe her girlfriend. Then again, people talked shit, all the time. However, the professor had lived an exciting life, going all over the world, doing her research. She deserved some respect, and yes, some love.


    I remembered my job. I found myself stroking her hair, which was softer than I would’ve expected.


    As I held her and stroked her head, I whispered, “We’re going to make it through this, Professor. I’m not saying what you want to hear. Logically, we have everything going for us. We have clean water and an ocean of fish. You saw how big those seagulls were. That’s a great sign. Not only do we have Opal now, helping us, but I have this new, optimized body.


    She laughed a little. “I can feel how optimized you are. It’s bigger, isn’t it?”


    “Yes,” I said. “But I’m going to honor what you said, Professor. I think you’re in a vulnerable state, and I’m not going to take advantage of you. So even if you begged me to fuck you, I wouldn’t.”


    “Because you have the huntress.” The bitterness in her voice was obvious.


    “No, because you don’t sleep with students.”


    She pulled back. “Not even in the Sectors of the Repository?”


    “Not even in the Repository,” I said. Every inch of my being wanted to strip her, smell her, taste her. I wanted to pound her from behind and watch her ass shake. My cock was telling me I was being an idiot. My head, though, needed the professor at her best. If I fucked her and she became a guilty mess, our lives would be on the line.


    Pulled back, she stared into my eyes, though, and I felt the pull to her kiss her.


    I couldn’t look away. I felt like I was under some kind of spell.


    “Sid. I know this is a bad idea. But I want you to kiss me.”


    There was no way I was going to refuse the offer. No fucking way. If Professor Holly Kroft wanted to kiss me, of course I would fucking kiss her.


    I really felt like a moron when I said, “No, Professor. I can’t do that. I know what it would lead to.”


    “Please.”


    I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart was pounding, and I was starting to sweat, even with the rain.


    Her eyes searched my face. It was like our souls were coming together.


    She needed me to kiss her, and that need was so naked, so brave. I leaned in and pressed my lips against hers.


    She inhaled, and grabbed me, hard, and straddled my leg.


    It was very clear what was going on. While I was rubbing myself against her, she was rubbing herself against me.


    I’d wanted to smell her and taste her, and I was getting my fill, feeling her lips, so plump, wet, and warm. We were both gasping, and I felt like I was thirteen again, kissing my seventh-grade crush. Tasting her lips was one thing. Tasting her tongue was another.


    And yes, she offered me her tongue, as we explored each other. Her hands went to my ass, and my hands went to hers. We were coming together, in the chill rain that filtered through the tree branches above.


    All faith in myself went out the window. We were going to have sex, in the dirt, while Billie waited above. Maybe she would wonder what had happened to us and climb down. Maybe she’d join us in the dirt.


    Holly found the strength to push me away.


    She gazed at me, breathing hard. Her big nipples were so swollen that they were pushing against the chest of her survival suit.


    Her mouth was open, and her lips were a little more swollen and wet than they had been.


    Her eyes were like diamonds in the moonlight. “That was amazing, Sid. Thank you. Somehow, it fed me in some strange way. I think I’ll be able to sleep now, despite my lack of release.”


    I couldn’t say the same, but that was okay, because I too felt oddly satisfied for a minute. I’d just French kissed my anthropology professor on another world. Also, I had a chainsaw tied to my mitochondria. Wasn’t that every kid’s dream?


    Life was good.


    “Sid,” the professor said carefully. “I so appreciate you not trying to take advantage of me. And that kiss…it was perfect. Thank you. I feel so much better.”


    “You’re welcome, Professor.” I held up a hand. “Holly. You’re welcome, Holly.”


    “You’ve been a good student and a kind friend. And if you do get a chance to enjoy the huntress, kiss her once for me, will you?”


    I smiled. “I’ll probably do a little more than kiss. But after what we did, I think I might be thinking of you the entire time.” It was a little white lie. When I’d been with the huntress before, all thought had gone out of my head. I figured the next time would be the same.


    Holly and I hugged one more time, and then we climbed up to our perch, but I wasn’t fooled. Billie was still a little out of breath from beating us there.


    Right then, from the look in her eyes, I knew she’d witnessed the kiss.


    We agreed that Holly would take the first watch, I would be second, and Billie last.


    Somehow, we all got to sleep despite the day’s events and the rain.


    On my watch, I talked a little Opal, but mostly, I sat quietly, enjoying the moonlight. The rain would come again, but all the moisture made all the trees gleam and glitter. It was relaxing, but I didn’t let myself fall asleep. I was thinking about all the work we would be doing the next day, all the cutting I would do, and lastly, the bus. I was going to use that bus for a very specific purpose.


    For some reason, I also thought about bamboo. Where could we find bamboo?


    Both Uncle Marty and Aunt Kathy loved the show Gilligan’s Island. It must’ve been a weird generation thing because to me, it was super dumb. Then again, a lot of those old 70s and 80s shows were dumb in a fun kind of way. But if we’ve learned one thing from Gilligan’s Island—and not just that the girl next door is sexier than a movie star—it’s that bamboo had any number of uses.


    Opal had an internal chronometer, and while the days varied between the Sectors, so far, the Sectors we had encountered were all twenty-four hours, plus or minus a few hours. Opal let me know when it was time to wake Billie, so she could take her shift keeping watching.


    Waking the cheerleader, she immediately glared at me. “I saw you and Professor Kroft kissing. What the fuck, Sid?”


    Unsurprisingly, the professor wasn’t the only female in K’Shaul with issues.