"Come on, pussy, show me what you got!" yelled XX04.
XX02 was keeping his distance, holding his sword in a low stance. He slowly circled XX04 like a Vorax, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. XX04 stepped forward, answered by a step back from XX02.
"Fucking pussy!" complained XX04 again. "Fight! Or give up if you're that scared!"
"Take it slow, Two!" yelled XX13. XX02 remained silent and focused. It was remarkable for how loud the rest of the spectating squad was.
XX04 leaned back, then charged at XX02. The latter side-stepped gracefully and hit the former's knee with the tip of his sword, ending his move with a stylish bow.
"Fuck!" yelled XX04. "Don't be so fucking proud of yourself. That was only a scratch from a carer's move!"
XX04 charged once more, followed by another fancy dodge by XX02. Except for that time, it failed. XX04's sword entered XX02's digital body on the right side of the hip and exited through his left shoulder. His body turned bloody red, validating XX04's victory.
"For the colony! Did you see that, guys? I fucked him real good!"
"Well done," said XX02, walking to XX04 to shake his hand. "But seriously, you're way overdoing the slang thing, bro. I understand you like the General, but that's too much."
"You're fucking jealous, that's all! Come on, who's next?" he yelled.
"I'm up," I intervened. My brothers stepped aside as I walked to the fighting ring.
"Ha!" said XX04. "Pass! I don't want to ruin my winning streak!"
"Who's the pussy now?" I chuckled. "Two is right, by the way. You're overdoing it."
"Oh, sorry then, chief," he said, respectfully nodding at me.
I put my hands on their shoulders and looked at them proudly. "Nice fight, boys."
"I would have gotten him," confidently said XX02, "in a real fight. That knee injury wasn't just a scratch."
"In the real world," retorted XX04, "you'd be too skinny to hold a sword! How could you win against me, then?"
"And you'd be too fat to fight for longer than a minute!" said XX02.
"Guys!" I interrupted their bickering. "We'll never know, for the better. I'd rather leave the injuries to the Voraces. Come on, let's take a break. Unless someone else is up for a duel with XX04 or me?"
Given everyone's silence, we took our headscreens off to spend time in the real world.
"Where are you going?" asked XX30.
"Somewhere fun!" I said. "Come, join us!"
I led XX02, XX04, and XX30 across the training wing to a larger door than usual.
"What is this?" asked XX30, not reassured. "I'm not sure we're allowed to be here..."
"Don't worry," I said, pushing a button on the wall. The door opened, revealing a busy open space brighter than any other place. "Welcome to the central hub!" I extended my hand, inviting XX30 to step in with me.
"This is wrong," said XX30, hesitating.
XX02 and XX04 walked past us and headed in. "You're not in the nursery anymore," exclaimed XX04. "Come!"
XX30 finally took my hand and followed us.
"Let me explain," XX02 reassured him. "The outpost is built around a dome-shaped octagonal design. At the ground level where we are, each of the eight building's sides corresponds to one sector or wing. Behind us is the training wing, and here," he pointed, "is the nursery where we grew up. The other ones are the armory, machining, logistics/storage, food processing, and energy/maintenance," he said, pointing at each door around the hub.
"That's only seven. You said eight sides," noted XX30.
"FR05 said the nursery occupies two sectors because more than half of the outpost's population are kids."
"And the central hub?" asked XX30.
"Well, it connects it all, of course!" I said.
"We still shouldn't be here," stated XX30.
"Bullshit! Look," said XX04, pointing at the armory. "To go through these doors, you need an assignment mark. Since we don't have any, they're off-limits, alright? But the training wing's door isn't mark-locked, so we're fine!"
"Trust us," I said, taking XX30 by the hand. "We've been here before many times. Check this out!"
The central hub had a higher ceiling than we had been used to, giving a sense of latitude and freedom. Its walls were sparsely decorated by sculptures and portraits of men, contrasting to the rather bland corridors we were used to.
Walking among the working men and women, we made our way toward the center of the central hub to a bench we spotted on our first visit. From there, we had a 360-view of the whole place. XX04 sat first, quickly joined by everyone else.
"And what are you doing here, exactly?" asked XX30.
"Watching!" said XX04. "Two days ago, we saw fighters with real tactical suits, swords, and guns! It was fucking amazing!"
Muffled shouts coming from behind the armory door caught our attention. Four men rushed out, carrying a fifth one on a medical stretcher. They ran through the hub and climbed one of its stairs.
"They're getting him to the hospital wing, up there," I explained XX30. I imagined what that wounded fighter might have gone through. I shivered at the thought.
"You can't go straight from one wing to another," said XX02. "Anything happening in the outpost goes through here. So, there's always something interesting to watch!"
"How many people did you say lived in the outpost?" asked XX30.
"About 2,000?" estimated XX02.
"Guys!" yelled XX04. "Look! There's an 8/10!"
We all turned around. "A what?" asked XX30, clueless.
A beautiful woman was walking towards us. She was young, probably a carer. Her gracious curves and long legs were a delight to the eyes. She was ignoring us, her head fixed on a tablet.
"Come on!" I complained. "She's at least a nine!"
"We should ask her to undress!" said XX04. "We're allowed to, and she can't refuse!"
"No, we shouldn't!" I commanded. "Bro, that's... disrespectful!" XX02 and XX30 agreed, and XX04 complied.
"Fuck! Look at that ass!" whispered XX04 as she walked past us like we were invisible. He was right. She looked as attractive from behind as from the front.
A group of men were also sitting on a bench further down her path. She didn't notice them either, but they saw her. One of them whistled, attracting her attention. She got agitated as they exchanged a few words we couldn't hear and dropped her tablet next to her feet. She let her skirt and panties fall to her ankles, then flashed her boobs.
"Fuck! Told you we should have asked!" said XX04. "She doesn't mind!"
Maybe XX04 didn't notice, but she was clearly pissed. I disapproved of it with all my heart but couldn't stop watching, taking advantage of the view. Glorious!
"Did you notice," said XX02, "but since the new rule, men stopped bothering us?"
"Yep, now they're bothering women," I said as that poor girl dressed again and walked away. "Come boys, let's head back to the training wing. We'll come back after dinner."
Later that day, in class, KS12 started: "Generations ago, our ancestors on Earth were not that different from us. Back then women’s reproductive system used to be complex, involving several female hormones. Women had 'menstrual cycles' lasting about 28 days, within which the fertile window was roughly six days. When trying to maximize women's fertility, Astrilles' geneticists got rid of menstrual cycles, thus making us fertile all the time. It all started with a new hormone..."
Absorbed by my tablet, I wasn't paying attention to her anymore. During her talk, I navigated back to last week's sex anatomy lesson. The archives held a series of detailed videos I had watched at least twenty times each. But I needed to watch it once more. I scrolled through the explicit scenes. Penises getting erect, vulvas getting spread open, sagittal plane reconstitutions. My curiosity had no limits. I scrolled forward to yesterday's intercourse lesson and lingered on those videos, fascinated.
Thanks to all this, my constant fantasies and daydreams became more vivid, even without the tablet. I didn't just picture "fucking" as vaguely thrusting hips anymore. I could see it now. And I couldn't wait for what was coming for us. I played over and over again that orgasm part, during which the dick gets out, followed by thick sperm spilling out of the vagina. Glorious! I unconsciously put a hand down on my crotch.
"XX01?" asked KS12. "Can you tell me why babies are taken and sent to the nursery at birth?"
"Hum... To..." I hesitated. XX02 whispered to me the answer. "To break the mother's hormonal bond?" I repeated.
KS12 put her hands on her wide hips and frowned. "Yes," she sighed. "To reduce future separation anxiety, but also to check for genetic anomalies, and to prepare the baby to be moved early to another outpost to maximize genetic diversity."
KS12 continued her lesson, but I stopped listening and watched those videos again.
Sex was amazing until it wasn't.
