The G. M. Os. - 27. Chapter 27 - Staying Home

Chapter 27
Ship Clock 263196
Thomas 01-997s1
Staying Home

 

Tom stood beside the Golden Delicious tree picking the apples and carefully placing them in his bag. The delicate flesh bruised easily, so only the most experienced pickers were allowed to pick them. As the orchardist’s son, he had years of experience. Across a small lane, separating the orchard from the farm residences, Tom’s neighbor, Don, was outside with his shirt off and tending his small vegetable patch. Tom watched the young man kneeling on the lawn as he picked out little weeds from around a row of carrot seedlings. The sight of the smooth, muscular back gave Tom an excitement he didn’t want to admit.

In six months, Tom would be eighteen and eligible for certification as an adult; that meant being able to leave home and go out looking for work wherever he could find it. Only, Tom didn’t want to leave home, he wanted to stay here at Eden Commune and keep working on the farms close to his home. There was the option of moving over to the dormitories, but that meant being assigned to work on all the farms at the commune and there were a hundred and fourteen, which meant he’d hardly ever be over here. But his dads wanted to adopt again within three years and that meant Tom had to leave.

He had a plan, though, and it involved the neighbor who was single. Tom figured there had to be an extra room in the rez where Don lived, but that meant convincing Don to let him rent the room. There was another option, but Tom wasn’t certain he would want to share Don’s bed. It was no secret at the commune that Don was gay. Tom didn’t have any problem with that. He just had a problem with admitting he was gay. So, the boy continued to pick apples and glancing over to watch the man tend his garden.

“Are you going to get done with this tree today or not?” Tom heard one of his dads ask.

“Huh, oh, sure, I was just thinking,” Tom said.

“He’s too old for you Tom.”

“Why did you say that?”

“When are you just going to come out and say it, you only need two words?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tom said, as turned back to the tree.

“Okay, have it your way, just stop looking at Don and pay more attention to the apples.”

Tom watched his dad walk away and wondered what that was all about. He couldn’t believe that his dad would simply assume he was gay, but maybe he’d dropped his guard once and one of the adults noticed something. But what could that be? Other than that one time when he was two months from reaching fifteen when he and his twin Tommy were talking about the future and he had said that he was gay, he was positive he hadn’t done anything that would make either of his dads or any of the neighbors think he was gay. He was also certain he hadn’t said anything that might imply he was gay. Now, all he wanted to do was stop picking and go have a nap, but he had to finish this tree and the other three in the row.

That night at supper Tom picked at his Caesar salad trying to ignore his dads. Sometimes he wished he would have gone to a university like his brother and be gone now, but he wanted to be a farmer, not an accountant or a prosecutor. He just had to figure out a way to get over to Don’s and talk to him about renting a room, but how that might happen Tom had no idea.

“What ya pondering, Tom?” Ben asked.

“He’s thinking about Don,” Peter said.

“Am not,” Tom said.

“Caught him staring at Don this afternoon, he had his shirt off and Tom was ogling him,” Peter said.

“Why can’t ya just say it, Tom?” Ben asked. “It’s easy; just say ‘I’m gay.’ Come on, son, just do it. It’s not like a security bot is going to knock on the front door and demand you get tagged.”

“Okay! I’m gay! Are you guys happy, now?”

“Yes; now, what’s with all the staring at Don about?” Peter asked. “He’s too old for you Tom. You’re still only seventeen.”

“I’ll be eighteen in six months,” Tom said. He would be a full adult, eligible for all the rights and privileges that went along with it, like finding a like-minded man he could love.

“And you think he’ll be interested in you?” Ben asked. “You’re just an inexperienced kid. I bet you don’t even know any other gays at the commune. Do you?”

“No, but I know Don is.”

“And, how do you know that?” Peter asked.

“Because he had Pablo in his rez, that’s how. Why else would he have a man in his rez?”

“Very perceptive, but why do you think he’d be interested in having you living with him?” Peter asked.

“I just want to ask him if I can rent a room from him. He’s single, surely there’s a room that he isn’t using.”

“And, why do you want to rent a room?” Ben asked. “Aren’t you happy living here? Have we done something you don’t like?”

“Look, when I’m eighteen you’ll want me to move out. You’ve told me that you want to adopt, again. I don’t want to leave here. I want to stay and work on the farms here, but I don’t want to live in the dorms and have to work all over the commune. I want to work in the orchard, the flower farm, and the shrub and tree farm. I’m willing to pay rent. I just need a place to live. That’s all. It’s not like I want to sleep with him.”

“But I bet you would if he asked,” Peter said. “You got the hots for him, Tom. I see it in the way you keep looking at him.”

“Do you want us to talk to him about you moving over there?” Ben asked. “It might sound better if we asked. Then you wouldn’t look so sad and embarrassed when he said no.”

“Well, do you want us to do it or are you going to go over there right now and talk to him?” Peter asked. “Come on, Tom, don’t get stressed over this and drop off.”

“Would you do that, but please don’t tell him I’m gay; I don’t want him to think I’m expecting him to invite me into his bed.”

“Finish your salad and get the dishes cleaned up,” Peter said. “We’ll be back later. Come on, Ben, let’s go see if we can get rid of our son.”

********

The men left their rez and walked across the lane to Don’s place. Neither knew what the younger man would think about Tom’s request, but there was only one thing they could do. They just had to put Tom’s case before Don and see what happened. Peter knocked on the door. After a moment it opened and Don stood there with a questioning look.

“May we come in?” Ben asked.

“Sure, what’s up?” Don asked.

“It’s Tom, he has a question for you and we came instead,” Ben said.

“Come in, I’m finishing supper, can I get either of you something to drink?”

“This shouldn’t take that long,” Peter said. “Go on and finish eating and we’ll lay out Tom’s request.”

“Okay, so what’s up?” Don asked after he got back to the dining table and sat down. Peter and Ben sat in the chairs on either side of him.

“Well, it’s like this, he wants to stay here at the commune when he hits eighteen this coming Janus and, since we want to adopt again and he doesn’t want to live in the dormitories, he was thinking of asking you if you would consider renting out one of your rooms to him,” Ben said. “He thought since you’re single and this is a three bedroom rez, you’d have an extra room you aren’t using.”

“Oh, I thought this was something serious,” Don said. “Sure, I suppose I could rearrange my stuff and give him one of the rooms; might be nice having someone around here, even if he is just a kid. So, why didn’t he come over here?”

“He was afraid you’d think he was just trying to get into your bed,” Peter said.

“Oh, that, yeah, I’ve noticed him giving me the eye. But he is still just a kid. I don’t think I’ll be interested in having him sleeping on the other side of the bed. Virgins are so unpredictable.”

“Yeah, they are,” Ben said. “So, do you want us to tell him you’ll rent him a room?”

“No, I want you to tell him to come over here so we can talk about this. If he’s going to be living here, we have to set down some ground rules. Sure, he’ll be paying rent, but I’ll expect him to help out around here, too. What do you think would be a reasonable amount of rent? I don’t want to charge him too much. How about fifteen percent of his monthly income?”

“That sounds reasonable, but he usually gets a different amount every month, so you’ll have to work out something based on his average earnings,” Ben said.

“Yes, tell him to bring over last year’s tax report and we’ll base his rent on that. I’m sure it gives his earnings for each month. When will he want to move over here?”

“Oh, whenever is convenient with you,” Ben said. “He is a semi-legal adult right now and we’ll put in for his adult certification in a couple of months, but I think he’s mature enough to come over now.”

“Okay, send him over and we’ll talk.”

Ben and Peter left and while they were walking back to their rez, Peter asked, “What do you think?”

“I don’t really know. I can’t put it out of my mind that Don is really looking forward to having Tom over there. Do you think that Don would put any moves on Tom?”

“Maybe in time, but, like he said, virgins are unpredictable. I think he knows that he would have to be very careful in how he approached Tom, if he was interested in having Tom sleeping with him. He knows what happened with Pablo, so I don’t think he’ll rush into anything.”

“I hope so,” Ben said as he opened the door. He went into the kitchen and saw Tom washing the dishes. He went up to his son and whispered in his ear, “Don wants to talk to you. Go get your tax report from last year, so you and he can figure out how much you’re going to pay in rent. He also wants to talk about what the rules will be. Go on, I’ll finish the dishes.”

“Thank you,” Tom said. He rinsed his hands, dried them, and walked out of the kitchen. He went back to his room and went through his papers looking for the tax report. He couldn’t believe this was actually going to work. He found the envelope and left.

Over at Don’s rez, Tom knocked on the door. In less than a minute, the door opened and Don welcomed him inside. Tom followed the older man over to the dining table and took the offered seat. Don sat next to him.

“So, you want to live with me, huh?” Don asked.

“Yeah, I want to keep working out here,” Tom said.

“You sure it’s not that you want to get naked with me?”

“What do you mean?” Tom asked, suddenly scared at what he had gotten himself into.

“Well, Tom, you’ve been giving me the eye like you’d like to get to know me better, maybe in a sexual way. Isn’t that right?”

“I don’t know what to say,” Tom said, more afraid this wasn’t going to work out the way he wanted.

“Of course you don’t, you’re just a kid who finds your neighbor attractive in a way that might involve getting to know me better. Well, I think that might happen if you move in here, but first we need to work out how this relationship is going to start out. First of all, yes I will let you rent one of the bedrooms, but we will share kitchen duties. If you get home first, I will want you to start fixing supper. I don’t care what you fix, but it shouldn’t be the same thing every day. If I get home first, I’ll start fixing supper. On Diosday mornings, you will vacuum the carpets, dust the furniture, and once a month you will wash a third of the windows. We will observe a basic rule of living situations such as this. When my or your bedroom door is closed neither of us will go in if the other is not there and if we are home we will knock and wait to receive permission to enter. Is that understood?”

“Sure, I can do that. I’m willing to do all of that.”

“Let me see your tax report. Oh, this is interesting, you earn quite a lot in interest, and let’s see what month you earn the least in wages. What happens in Lagrangeth?”

“That’s when everything seems to die down and for about two and a half weeks there’s no work at any of the farms.”

“Well, I tell you what we’re going to do about your rent. Add up all those monthly earnings and then find the average amount. Then take fifteen percent of that amount. That will be your monthly rent, so you’ll have to save in case you have a slow month like Lagrangeth. How does that sound?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“No ‘I guess’, that’s the way it to be. This is my home and you will pay a monthly rent. I will buy the food and pay the utilities, but you will pay that amount of rent. We will review the amount at the end of each year and adjust the amount up or down based on your average monthly income, the needs of the residence, and your personal requirements such as clothing, toiletries, and whatever entertainment you desire. How does that sound?”

“Okay.”

“Good, now come on over to the sofa and let’s talk about you. Come on, no need to be afraid, I’m not going to fuck you tonight.”

“Oh, okay,” Tom said. He felt uncomfortable when Don seemed to imply that at some time in the future he was going to be fucked. The memories of being abused by Pablo suddenly came to mind and he blacked out. He was not aware that his knees buckled causing him to fall to the floor.

Don looked at Tom lying in a crumpled pile and knelt beside him. He jostled the boy’s shoulder and Tom slowly roused out of his stupor.

“Oh, hi, didn’t mean to go to sleep,” Tom said as he moved to get up, but felt himself being held down by Don.

“When was the last time that happened?” Don asked.

“Not for months, I think it was remembering what Pablo did to me,” Tom said. “When you said you weren’t going to fuck me tonight, I guess I thought you might do that sometime in the future. Will you do that to me?”

“If you want, yes; if you don’t, no. It depends on how you view having sex or if we’re going to have sex. You’re young, inexperienced, and probably don’t know what gay sex involves.”

“Will you be nice?”

“At first yes, but I want you to know I like to be a little rough with the men I fuck. I will dominate you and you’ll experience pain in the process.”

“Will you hit me?”

“Yes, I like to hit, but it won’t be anything that anyone will see.”

“Will you perform oral sex on me?”

“No, but I will expect you to do it to me.”

“Oh, when will we start doing this?”

“Not until you’re eighteen and a legal adult.”

“If I move in in the next month or so, can we kiss a little?”

“If you want, we can work you up, but I will not give you an orgasm. That will be your responsibility. It will always be your responsibility, even when, and if, I start fucking you. And I want to make this very clear, I will fuck you, you will never fuck me. I don’t like that and I won’t allow you to do it.”

“If I start sleeping with you, will I have to pay rent?”

“If you start sleeping with me, you will not have to pay rent, but you will still have your duties around the home and I will expect that you will let me start fucking you the way I prefer doing it.”

“So, if I don’t sleep with you and stay in my room and pay rent, then you won’t fuck me?”

“Not unless you want me to.”

“And if I do, then will you start making me hurt?”

“Yes, that’s the way I have sex.”

“Oh, maybe I’ll try to do that, but I want you to know that a lot of what Pablo did to me involved pain, so I might not like it at first. I don’t know what to do, so you’ll have to teach me or I might make mistakes.”

“Tom, we’ll start out slow, but when I feel you’re ready, I will escalate the sex acts we have. Okay?”

“Sure, I think I will like that better.”

“Good, now lie down on your back and let’s start with lesson one.”

“What’s lesson one?”

“How to kiss.”

********

THIS SECTION CONTAIN S&M SEX.

Nine months later, Tom walked into the rez and saw Don cooking some pasta. He went over and looked in the sauce pot and saw Don’s favorite garlic mushroom marinara sauce happily bubbling away. He picked up the spoon, dipped it in the sauce, and took a quick sip of the hot, viscous liquid. He reached over and picked up the pepper grinder.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Don asked.

“Needs a bit of pepper,” Tom said. He twisted the grinder for a second, stirred the sauce, and took another sip. “There, now it’s really good.”

“I want you know I’ve been making that for a long time,” Don said. “I should know what I’m doing by now.”

“You never use enough pepper,” Tom said. He went over to where Don was watching the pasta and whispered in his ear, “I think I’m ready to be fucked, if you want to do it tonight.”

“Damn, I was getting used to having those rent deposits come in,” Don said.

Tom kissed Don’s ear and walked away, “I’ll take a quick shower and get comfortable.”

“Hurry, this is almost ready,” Don said.

Five minutes later Tom came back into the kitchen barefoot and wearing some sweatpants. He went over to the sauce pot and gave the marinara a quick taste. “Did you forget the wine, again?”

“The wine! First it’s not enough pepper and now it’s not enough wine. Anymore complaints?”

“No, I’m just in the mood for lesson twelve.”

“Lesson twelve?”

“Yes, a bit of rough sex.”

“Oh, that, are you sure?”

“Yes, lesson eleven was fun, but we’ve been doing that for two weeks now and I want something more exciting. Is that okay? I don’t want you to feel that I’m too young to experience something that’s only for adults.”

“The first time I did it, it was with a seventeen-year-old and I was only eighteen. No, I think you’ll find it very exciting. Just remember, if you want to come, you’ll need to take care of yourself. I won’t help.”

“You never help, but I think I’m getting used to the way you like sex. When do you think we should commit, or do you just want to get married?”

“Marriage sounds nice, gives me a warm feeling, but you tell me if you want it tomorrow morning. Do you want to sleep with me tonight?”

“I thought you would never ask.”

After cleaning up the plates and kitchen, Tom went out to the living room and sat down on the sofa next to Don. He snuggled up a little closer and then turned his body slightly so that he could look into the older man’s eyes, but Don seemed to be lost in thought.

“Trouble at work today?” Tom asked.

“Yes, a young boy came in, he showed obvious signs of physical abuse and I called Bot Security,” Don said. “I hate seeing that, but there’s always something like that happening. The bad thing about it he was small and skinny the way you were when you were twelve and looked nine. Only this boy was eight and looked not quite six, maybe twenty-eight-years-old.”

“Do you want to work out your frustration on me? I’ll let you do that, if you want.”

“Tom, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Don, dear Don, I’m falling in love with you and I can’t help it. I want to be here for you. I want to give you what you want. I want to satisfy your deepest desires. Do you want to go now or wait?”

“Tom, you’re so young, so inexperienced, and I need you tonight, but I’m afraid of hurting you too much.”

“Do you mean giving me more pain than you already have?”

“Yes, a lot more pain. I will be merciless and you’re still so much smaller than average. I’m afraid you’ll pass out, again.”

“Don’t talk like that. I’ll never know until I experience what you want to give me. Come on, let’s do it now and then later we can watch a vid.”

In the bedroom, Don undressed Tom, which was easy because he was only wearing the sweatpants. Then Tom watched Don undress. The man began to kiss him in the way Tom now liked to be kissed with a lot of tongue work and hands moving over his slender body. He moved to touch Don, who immediately slapped his hands away. So, Tom just stood there allowing Don to do to him what he wanted. Whatever the man was doing to him was making him hard and he didn’t want it to stop.

The Don moved around behind Tom who felt his neck being vigorously kissed, licked, and softly bit while the hands moved all over his front and side. His hardness responded to his excitement and, then, he felt Don’s finger go up under his arms. His eyes widened and he gasped from an excruciating pain radiating through his chest. He looked down and saw his erection soften. So, this was the pain, it was almost unbearable, but Tom drew in a deep breath and hissed as the pain continued. Then he felt Don’s fingers move down his chest and, again, there was pain when those fingers pinched his nipples. He asked for this and concentrated on not passing out; focusing his mind on acquiescing to his older lover’s desires.

After an indeterminable time, he felt Don’s lips and tongue move down his back. They kept going until sinking into the cleft in the middle of his muscular ass. He didn’t know what was happening as Don had already fucked him using that lubricant stuff, but he never had done this to him. In a way it felt kind of erotic and he moved his hands onto his soft cock, quickly giving it an awareness, but that was short-lived when he felt one of Don’s hands grab his balls and squeeze them hard. The pain was nearly unbearable and hardness quickly went away, again. Tom had been told there would be pain, but he couldn’t imagine it would be like this. He felt tears in his eyes, but the sensation around his ass mollified the agony he was experiencing.

Then the ultimate in pain began when he felt Don’s erection push into him. The pain screamed in his head. He would’ve sworn he could feel it in his teeth. He took short breaths as Don pushed all the way in, pulled almost out, and pushed back in. The pain swept through his young body and then the fingers found those spots under his arms. The torture made him feel weak and helpless against the onslaught. And, then, Don pushed him forward until he was bent at the hips. The thrusts quickened, but the pain did not stop. He felt Don’s hand grab his hair and pull his head back. He gasped at the pain in his neck.

Then it was over. He felt Don withdraw and turned to see him fall to the floor. Tom sank to his knees and lay full out on the length of the man’s body, feeling the heavy breaths. He lay there holding onto Don and realized he had survived what Don had called rough sex. Tom got to his feet and went into the bathroom. He took a quick shower where he took care of his own need. Once he got out, he dried his body, soaked a washcloth in warm water, grabbed a hand towel, and went back into the bedroom. Don still lay on the floor, appearing to sleep. Tom knelt down and cleaned his lover’s member, drying it with the towel. He lay down and took Don’s left hand in his. The pulse was firm and steady. He leaned over and kissed Don’s cheek.

“Do you feel better, now?” Tom asked.

“Yes,” Don whispered. “You were very good to me, thank you.”

“You said it would be rough. I didn’t believe you would give me so much pain. Will it be like this every time we do it this way?”

“Yes, every time and from now on this will be the way I will prefer having sex with you. You can suck my cock on occasion, but not often.”

“Thank you for showing me. I still love you very much. I only want to make you feel better, so we can do this whenever you want. Don, I want you to use me as you see fit. I will be with you as long as you will have me.”

“You know, you’re an incredible kid. I love you, too.”

********

Two years later, Tom was sitting in their home office when the alarm bell gave four short rings indicating a routine message coming in. He bookmarked the document he was reading and pressed RECEIVE:

RBTC SRVCS HQ RING 5; RSHQR5-04A-0032C-6

ECOM 99X-6445C-4; DONALDUS 00-893M; THOMAS 01-997S

REQUEST FOR MARRIAGE LICENSE APPROVED; DOCUMENT FOLLOWS.

RBTC SRVCS HQ ADMIN RING 5

. . . . .

CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE

DONALDUS 00-893M; AGE 22/855 YRS; SENIOR PARTNER

THOMAS 01-997S; AGE 18/432 YRS; JUNIOR PARTNER

MARRIAGE IS GRANTED PER BOT ADMIN REG 03C4A13JD1E98

EFFECTIVE THIRD ANCROSDAY HARVESTER 263199

GRANTOR RBTC SRVCS ADMIN ID 5-33-D4981-QX44823

CONGRATULATIONS!

RBTC SRVCS HQ ADMIN RING 5

Tom printed the message and certificate and took them out to the living room where Don was watching a medical certification vid. He sat down in the chair beside Don’s and asked, “Can you pause that?”

“Sure, why?”

“Here look at these papers. They just came in.”

Don took the messages and started to read them. After reading the second one, he said, “Oh, Tom, this is great. When do you want to do it?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I suppose we should set up a barbecue and invite the neighbors.”

“Anyone else?”

“You mean Freddy and Marcy?”

“And Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, Barnabas, and all their children.”

“What if I said I only wanted the neighbors?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t want to make a big deal about it. If I had my way, we’d just invite our neighbors. Other than Jack and Bill, they’re the people I work for. I know those other men are important to Ben, Peter, and Charity, but this is supposed to be about us, not a whole bunch of people.”

“What about your brother Tommy?”

“Well, I suppose him, too, just to keep it in the family, but I’m uncomfortable with Tommy because of the way he talks down to me. It’s like he doesn’t care that we’re brothers. Sometimes, the way he talks makes me think he’s a macho. I’d be afraid if he came here. He might try to kill us.”

“Tom, you’re paranoid. How can he be macho?”

“I don’t know it’s just how I feel. If he does come here, I’d rather he didn’t stay here.”

“Where else would he stay? We have an extra room for him. Abe and Gene have room, but they’re not really his family. He can’t stay with Ben and Peter because of their kids.”

“Can we talk about it later? You go ahead and finish your class. Then I want you to fuck me the way you like it. Maybe, that will make me feel better.”

“Tom, you’re a crazy kid.”

“Well, Don, I’m your crazy kid and I like it when you fuck me hard and rough.”

Tom went over to the sofa, laid down, and fell asleep in an instant. Don finished his vid and then put up another one. After he finished that, Tom was still asleep. He knew the younger man needed his nap so he went over and picked Tom up. He was always amazed how light Tom was, even with hormone treatments he hadn’t grown up to be close to a minimum of an average height and weight. He carried him into the bedroom, laid him down on the bed, put the pillow under his head, and laid a quilt over him. He went back out to the living room, found the book he was reading, and settled down into his favorite chair.

In three hours, Tom came back and sat in his chair. He looked over at Don, and then laid his head on the back of the chair. He went to sleep. Don went back to the bedroom and brought out the quilt. He laid it over Tom and went back to his book.

If this was upsetting Tom so much that he couldn’t stop sleeping, maybe, Tommy was a macho. In the morning he would send a message to Bot Security to have them investigate. You just couldn’t be certain about a thing such as that. Even though Tommy was cleared in his macho interrogation when he was twelve, maybe the mutation manifested itself later.

Don finished the chapter and Tom was still asleep. He got up, went over, and felt Tom’s wrist. The pulse was barely perceptible. Something was going on and Don went into the office. He pressed the WAKE button on the module. When the home screen came up, Don selected emergency services and sent a request for an ambulance.

Outside the rez, Don waited for the ambulance wondering what was wrong. This wasn’t anything he recognized and knew Tom probably needed intervention from a provider more experienced than he was. General medicine only went so far. Sniffles were one thing, an inability to wake up and having a weak pulse wasn’t good.

When the local ambulance arrived, Don led the two paramedics inside and let them check out Tom. In a way he wasn’t too worried, but in another he was very worried. The young man didn’t have much of a body and there was the problem with narcolepsy that sometimes interfered with his life. One of the paramedics put some leads on Tom’s chest and started the portable electrocardiograph. Don watched the strip exit the machine and knew Tom was in serious trouble.

“We’re going to have to transfer him to the town ambulance and have them take him into Central City,” the medic said.

“Doesn’t look good, huh?”

“No, his pulse is erratic. How old is he?”

“He’s eighteen, but he’s narcoleptic.”

“That shouldn’t have anything to do with this, unless he took too much of his meds. Don, do you want to go with him?”

“Definitely.”

“Come on, Harry, let’s get this boy on the ambulance. Doc, can you help?”

“Sure.”

The ambulance flew down and landed at the clinic at Commune Center. In a few moments, the town ambulance landed and the medics swapped stretchers. Don got onto the bigger, faster vehicle and took his seat out of the way of the medic who was watching Tom.

“Aren’t you Dr. Donaldus?” the medic asked. “Is this one of your patients?”

“Yes, he lives with me. He has an extensive medical history, if you want to append it to this incident.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Any idea what’s going on?”

“No, this is beyond me.”

Don sat quietly for the rest of the trip getting more worried the closer they got to the med center in Central City. In a normal family speeder, the trip would take a little over thirty minutes, but in an ambulance, well, they should be there in fifteen. He looked at the countryside below as they passed over the large farms between the commune and the city. Finally, the farms became smaller until they stopped completely as residential developments stretching out from the city began. There were large ones and smaller, exclusive communities with high walls and bot controlled gates where government officials and major executives lived with their families. Finally, small businesses could be seen in clumps between the developments and the generalized housing of the city’s close-in suburbs.

Don felt the engine’s revs drop and then the ambulance dropped out of the long distance emergency lane and into the city approach lane. There was a shudder when the med center’s tracking system took hold of the ambulance to guide it down onto one of the emergency room landing pads. Don was amazed at the sight of the buildings that now made up the center; well, it had been nearly four hundred twenty years since he’d been here so you would expect some changes.

The ambulance was brought down onto a landing pad Don didn’t recognize. There were two med-tech bots waiting to take the stretcher into the building. Don followed them in and when they entered the emergency room area, he was directed to the admissions counter where there wasn’t a human, just a bot.

“May I help you?” it asked.

“Yes, I’m with Thomas 01-997s,” Don said.

“Yes, the emergency patient from Eden Commune. Are you family?”

“I’m his doctor and landlord.”

The bot powered down, obviously gathering data, and came back. “Yes, you are Dr. Donaldus 00-893m. You and Thomas have been granted a marriage certificate. Please have a seat in the waiting area and I will notify the trauma staff you are here.”

“May I ask why you are here and not a human?”

“Yes, we have very few humans in this part of the medical center. There have been too many macho actions on incoming patients to permit human medical staff to have access to this portion of the facility. We apologize if this is inconvenient.”

“No, I was just wondering. I haven’t been here in a long time.”

“Yes, you were formally on staff as an emergency room physician. Your departure caused some anguish with the physician staff, but that is past, now. Please have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Don said. He went over and sat in the empty waiting area. He thought about what the bot had just told him. So, finally Bot Security had had enough trouble with machos here in the med center to keep all humans away. He wondered where those displaced physicians were working.

“Sir?”

“Yes?” Don looked up and saw an escort bot.

“Thomas 01-997s wishes to speak with you before he is transferred up to surgery.”

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?”

“I do not have that data.”

“Oh, okay,” Don said. He followed the bot into the trauma area. He saw Tom lying on a bed. He didn’t look good. “Hi, how’s it going?”

“They said I had a stroke,” Tom whispered. “I’m too young to have a stroke.”

“Hush, don’t get troubled over this. They’ll help you get better now. I’ll be here, don’t worry.”

“Will we still be able to get married, now?”

“Yes, when you’re better. Be quiet and let the bots take care of you.”

“Why aren’t there any people here?”

“Hush, be quiet, get well,” Don said. He bent down and kissed Tom’s forehead. Four med-tech bots came in and got the bed ready to transport Tom up to surgery. He went out into the hall where there was a bot he didn’t recognize.

“Thomas 01-997s is not well,” the bot said. “I am a trauma technician, a new model of robotic medical service units.”

“What’s wrong with Thomas?”

“He will need surgical intervention. He has suffered a brain injury. It may or may not be related to the narcolepsy. That will be determined by the surgical staff. An escort will be provided for you up to the surgical waiting room. Thank you for accompanying Thomas 01.”

********

Don sat in the surgical waiting room. There was a man and a woman about his age, but they stayed on the other side of the room. He knew he should try to be civil, but he worried about Tom, as he was certain the couple was worried about whoever they were with. A bot came over and stood in front of Don. He looked up and asked, “Yes?”

“Thomas 01 is out of surgery and is in recovery. In one hour he will be taken to the ICU. The surgical report states that the defective components that affect his narcolepsy have been further damaged by this episode. He will require continued medicinal intervention, a lifestyle that does not involve strenuous work or stressful thought processes, and he must remain calm, any undo excitement may cause another hemorrhagic episode. Sexual activity must also be reduced. An escort will be here when Thomas is transferred up to the ICU. Thank you for your patience in this matter.”

Don wondered how Tom was going to accept his new life and what changes was he going to have to do in their relationship. It was obvious that he could no longer have sex with him in the manner he preferred, no more rough sex. Pain was definitely out of the equation. There were things he personally didn’t like doing with lovers, but those were the things that he and Tom probably were going to do in the future. Surprisingly, he was glad that he loved Tom so much that he was not going to drop him as he might have done with a lover in his former life. Yes, he was going to have to change and accept the fact that Tom was a new person now, a man who enjoyed an exciting sex life and was now going to have to come up with ways to reach orgasm without pain or excitement.

Up in the ICU waiting area Don sat thinking about nothing when that other couple came up and sat a few chairs away from him. He looked over their way and smiled, but they looked worried.

“It’s our son,” the woman said. “He tried to kill a faggot at his school, but the kid got the knife away from Pat and stabbed him. Is Thomas your son?”

“No, he’s my roommate,” Don said. He didn’t have to wait for the comment.

“Don’t tell me you’re a dirty faggot, too,” the man said. “I ought to come over there and beat the crap out of you.”

“I’m also Thomas’s doctor. I’m a doctor at Eden Commune.”

“We wanted to move there but the woman who interviewed us was a homo. Could you believe that? A woman homo. I never imagined such a thing was possible. I suppose you have a lot of problems with homos there.”

“No, uh, we don’t have any machos there, so there’s never a problem. There used to be. In fact when I first went there as a first iteration five-year-old, I was nearly killed by two macho boys at daycare just because I had a speech impediment. I have very little tolerance for machos. I’m surprised you got to the point where you were interviewed by Freddy. The bots usually do a pretty good job of screening out machos, but maybe you just slipped through their screen.”

The man and woman got up and moved further away, but Don knew they were still dangerous. Being in the same room with them put him in grave danger from anything they might try. Now, he worried about Tom being here on the same floor with them.

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“You may visit Thomas 01, now.”

“Thank you,” Don said as he got to his feet. He followed the bot back into Tom’s room and was shocked at what he saw, but, first, there was something that had to be done. “Excuse me, but those two adults are probably machos. They said their son tried to kill a person at his school he thought was homosexual, but the boy got the knife and stabbed their son. Could we get some security up here? I’m worried about Tom being here.”

“Don’t worry, sir, they have already been identified,” the bot said. “Security is on its way up to remove them. Their offspring will be stabilized and then be given a brain erasure here before being moved to the mental rehabilitation facility. But thank you for your concern. We are aware of your involvement with machos as a child.”

“Thank you, for your concern.”

“It is our pleasure to serve. Thomas should become aware of his surroundings within the hour. There is a chair on the other side of the bed.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Stop this! You can’t do this. Our son. Get away from me! What’s that?”

“The human male resisted. The female is in custody. We apologize if this has disturbed you.”

“No, I don’t like machos. Never have from what they did to me and my sister. No, they don’t deserve to live.”

“Would you care for some refreshment?”

“Some water would be fine.”

“I will bring it. Sit.”

Don sat down, took Tom’s hand in his, and waited. There was nothing to do except to think about his future with Tom. Their life together was definitely going to change. Tom’s life was going to change dramatically. Sleep was probably going to be more of a problem. He certainly wouldn’t be able to work as much as he wanted, though he probably could do some simple things. They would have to discuss his new abilities with Peter, Abe, and Willy. And, in bed, both he and Tom would have to come up with different things to do, softer things, and definitely ways that would ease Tom into an orgasm rather than force him.