Chapter 3
For the thousandth time tonight, Dawn was regretting her decision to explore outside her comfort zone. There was nothing comfortable about being at the Double V, she was quickly realizing.
The ride into Venus had seen her arguing with herself, one side reassuring, the other side mocking.
What am I even doing? I’m not the casual-sex type. Not that I’m judging others. It just hasn’t been for me.
Well, with this outfit, I’m definitely putting out the available vibe, she’d countered. The gold dress left little to the imagination. It hugged her body like a lover would, lingering over her hips and her high breasts. It fell just past mid-thigh, leaving an expanse of pale flesh exposed. The halter neck flattered her shoulders and the length of her neck. Her hair was piled in devil-may-care curls on the top of her head, and those six-inch pumps she’d managed to squeeze into lent artificial height to her petite frame. She practically oozed sex.
Just because I’m dressed a certain way doesn’t mean I have to commit to anything,she reminded herself. Sure, I can let loose, have a few drinks, take in the sights, and maybe flirt with some lifeforms of the opposite sex, but flirting is all it has to be.
Still, she was a bundle of nerves, and by the time she was on the street headed toward the club, Dawn’s stomach was clenching. She wasn’t the most well-known figure in the galaxy by any means, but her scientific reputation would take a hit if anyone recognized her at the Double V.
Well, it would take another hit. Her reputation wasn’t sterling to begin with.And that’s why I can’t afford to be recognized.
She’d dived into one of the souvenir shops on the way, trying to catch her breath and debating on returning to the ship and to her lab, curiosity unappeased. But then her gaze had landed on a display against one of the shop walls. Row after row of masks, from basic to painstakingly intricate.
A mask. The solution to all my problems. Part of her, the part that knew she needed to blow off some steam or risk exploding, had cheered.
The other part, the anxious part who felt too out of her depth, too out of her carefully regimented and controlled routine, still wanted to protest.It would be safer if I went home, if I—
Suddenly, she’d had a vision of Ladee sitting in her ship, a disapproving frown on his little fox face as she slunk back to her ship, too much of a coward to even make it through the club’s front door.
Bullshit.
Without giving it too much thought, Dawn grabbed a mask that resembled black lace but was made in a light and flexible metallic compound. It molded to her face, even settled easily over the eyeglasses she was cursed to wear, making them virtually invisible. She took it as a sign that she’d made the right decision.
And now here she was, staring up at the scene swirling above her head. The club was called the Venus Vacuum for a reason, and not just the whole “getting sucked into pleasure” theme. It was built inside of an old storage tank that would have held enough water for the farmland that the first colonists had envisioned being reclaimed around the city as they expanded their domes. The current owners had revamped the space, building in several levels that curved upward on a spiral, the center left open.
In that open space, they’d managed to create an anti-gravity region where patrons floated, swooped, and swam through the air, weightless. This was the vacuum the club advertised, and it seemed to have attracted plenty of patrons eager to test their love-making abilities in zero gravity.
It’s not even a real vacuum,she thought.In a real vacuum, there wouldn’t be air to breathe, light to see by, anything. By definition, a vacuum is—
Stop it, Dawn, she scolded herself.Instead of looking at the twisting shapes and bodies coming together in all manner of ways, I’m thinking about scientific definitions. She was anxious, unsure of herself, and it made her brain long to retreat into the safety of her day job.
But it’s nighttime, and I sure am curious as to how what I assume is a female is able to so readily accommodate that many partners. Dawn blushed but didn’t look away, knowing the patrons of the club wanted to be watched. The ones that didn’t, she assumed, would find themselves a quiet space in one of the rooms on the spiral.
So feel free to stare, she told herself with a half-smile.
A voice from behind her drew her attention. “You’re from Proxima Centauri, aren’t you?” The voice sounded slippery to her, the sibilant on “Centauri” drawn out.
“No,” she said, turning around to greet the creature standing behind her. “Actually, I’m a human. From Territh.”
“Ah, I see that now.” He was taller than her, wider as well, his body a blue so light it was almost translucent. Although he walked on two limbs, those limbs could more accurately be called tentacles, as could the seven limbs waving around his torso. “No gills.”
One of the tentacles moved closer and Dawn clasped it, giving it a shake. “You’re from Tako-B, aren’t you?”
A nod of its bulbous head confirmed it. “Indeed. We are fairly recognizable, I suppose. What brings you to the Venus Vacuum this evening?”
Dawn tried hard to keep her focus on the conversation, but it was difficult with the distraction posed by his swaying tentacles. They seemed to be in constant motion.A partner from Tako-B would definitely be novel, she thought.I wonder how he’d use those tentacles in bed.
Pushing away such thoughts, Dawn gave a brittle laugh. “Merely observation this evening.”
The tentacles paused for a moment, a strangely ominous gesture. After a beat, they were waving serenely again. “Observation? So you’re a tourist come to see how the other half of the galaxy gets its kicks?”
She realized that she could be viewed that way, and it could be considered insulting. Like the anthropologists of old, she could be seen as an outsider by those who’d come to the Double V not merely to watch.
Her laugh was just as forced, but more expansive. “A tourist, no. I haven’t been called that in ages. I’m new to this club, not the lifestyle.”
