Sex in Sci-Fi

CHAPTER 2: THE LOVE MACHINE

I had the dubious honour of testing the prototype of the machine, in its true environment that is, in space.

There had of course already been hundreds of official tests – and maybe a similar number of unofficial ones too – done before mine, so I knew the thing was safe, at least technically. The experts assured me that it wasn’t going to grind important bits of me into smaller parts or anything like that, which was comforting of course.

The concept of the thing had been around for years and the need for it for thousands. From the moment man or woman left the comfort of their partner, to head off into far places, there had been a need. In historical times that need had been satisfied by a bit of raping and pillaging here and there as they went – that’s bit hard to do when you are several light years from home in the totally empty reaches between stars. So these days we have people, many of them travelling solo, starved of human contact, love and affection – and sex – for weeks, months, sometimes years.

It’s a problem even on the larger ships and has been since day one, they’ve tried every combination they could think of. When the problem was first officially recognised – and that took a hell of a while I can tell you – they started crewing the long distance trips with married couples. The ensuing divorce rate soon brought that to a halt. Then mixed singles, that always resulted in either physical brawling or poisonous relationships as several crew members decided they wanted the same person. They even tried both homosexual and lesbian crews – same results, only even more dramatic.

So what did they do about it? Typically, nothing – for quite some time. They had already tried stocking the ships’ libraries with porno holo-pix tapes but most people already had their own and the government issue was, as you’d expect, mainly cheap rubbish. So we just got used to it, nerves were stretched, tempers flared, efficiency went down – and the officials wrung their hands and blamed the poor quality of the crews.

Then someone had the bright idea of the machine, I can’t imagine how long it took to persuade officialdom to come up with research money for a project like that – but once under way, as things do in government, it sort of took on a life of its own. But all very hush-hush of course, top secret, couldn’t have the voters thinking that their taxes were being spent on mechanising sexual pleasure.

Once I was picked for the trial run I got to see some of the early concepts, they were laughable really, someone should put them in a museum somewhere. There were a whole range of what were essentially inflatables, some sophisticated gadgetry inside them of course and some of them were really life-like to look at, especially from a distance. Then there were a range of mechanical devices, some that didn’t need the user to make any effort, others that looked as though you’d need to be a mechanical engineer to get them working. All in all a pretty sorry looking range of things.

Finally some electronics whiz-kid came up with a concept that sent them off in a completely different direction, the basic idea was quite simple, getting the various components to function and then pull them all together was what took the time – and money.

Essentially the idea was to use a combination of chemistry and electronics to create an illusion and at the same time to stimulate brain waves and muscle responses to achieve the physical result. In the kid’s mind he saw the user simply having to choose various options from a computer menu then lying back and enjoying the result. A sort of ‘Dial a Dream’ machine, a simple idea – but complex to develop.

Anyway they kept working at it and advances in technology and physiology came up with new bits of information every now and then and, little by little, after some early, fairly disastrous failures, they began to get there.

I’ve no idea how they selected me for the first, non-technical trial. I’m well known as a loner, have a pretty impressive flight record I suppose and have certainly been in more than my fair share of scrapes – and kept both my ship and myself in one piece. Maybe that was why my name popped out of the list search.

At first I wasn’t having any of it, when they asked if I’d be willing to participate in an in-flight experiment I just shook my head. ‘There are more than enough problems out there without taking someone else’s with you.’ I said. But then they invited me down to where they had been developing and building the thing, told me more about it, let me see the records of the tests they had been running – and of course gave me the line about ‘my place in history, playing my part in relieving the stresses of inter-stellar travel, industry and peer group appreciation, etc., etc.’.

After all that it seemed easier to go along with them than to try to argue. They took charge of my ship for a couple of days while they fitted out the space for the equipment – and did a whole lot of re-wiring and software upgrading for me at the same time, so I figured that if nothing else I was at least already in front financially.

While they were doing that I was given a short course on the operation of the thing and, as future users would be working from just what information their screens gave them, they wanted me to check-out that their program was user-friendly. It was certainly that!

As I was never alone with the thing there was no way I was going to actually use it – I mean physically, I’ve never really liked group-sex that much and I certainly wasn’t going to put on a show for them. But if the real thing was even half as good as the menu choices made it seem I reckoned they had a winner.

Then of course we had to thoroughly test the ship-board installation, make sure everything was right and that their work hadn’t interfered with the ship’s other functions, that took another day or so but finally everything checked out just fine.

As luck would have it the next trip was a real lulu, a straight run out, four weeks for that, a fast turn-around and then straight home again. You don’t get them as clean as that too often! The first week is always fine, there’s so much work to do that you really don’t notice the time, especially flying single-handed as I do. Just getting out through the permanent, solar system traffic jams takes most of it, taking care of all the reports and records that have to be filed – that we still call ‘paper-work’ for some reason – takes another chunk and then getting everything set for the hyper-jump takes a bit too.

Once all that’s done and you are actually under way there’s really not a great deal that has to be done. We all have our interests of course, you’d go stark raving mad if you didn’t have something to occupy the time – mine’s history, so I do a lot of reading and library searching much of the time. But in spite of that, sometime during the second week, no matter how busy you try and keep yourself you find that the hormones have started to play up, letting you know you are still a human being.

I looked at the equipment a few times of course and was tempted to give it a go. ‘Just to make sure it was working all right. I’ve agreed to do it, so I should.’ I told myself. But it was in fact early in week three before I finally did and at first it was more out of sheer curiosity than because of any mad, physical need. But I admit that once I’d called up the menu screen and began to read the options, I was hooked – and found myself starting to get an erection from just thinking about the various choices I was being given.

The menus were sub-divided; so as you decided things such as, the sex of your partner, their race, build and appearance, each had a sub-list of more detailed options to choose from – even down to things such as hairstyle, clothes and underclothes, or lack of. I chose a cute little red-head, with big green eyes, a turned up nose and a full-lipped, smiling mouth – and spent quite some time considering and selecting the other parts of her body.

I could also select just what I wanted to happen – or more accurately of course – that would appear to be happening, between us. Again the choices were extensive and if I had a twinge of doubt, about pre-planning in such detail what would, under normal circumstances happen according to the whim of the partners, when I thought a bit more about it I realised that most of us in fact fantasise about what we would like – and in real life very rarely get it. So I put together a sequence that I had often found myself thinking about, then stripped off, slipped on the connectors, settled down on my bunk and pressed the start button.

First there was music, music and perfume. I knew from the briefings I’d had that the scent included pheromones, chemicals that, once inhaled began to work in very subtle ways on my body’s physiology. The main lights dimmed and softer, tinted lights came into play just as she appeared at the foot of my bunk. I use holo-pix all day and during my introduction to the system I’d seen a wide range of women on the screens – but this was totally different.

For starters it was of course a projection, not screen-based, it was life-size and it was several leaps ahead of projected holos I’d ever seen before. So far as anything my eyes could tell me, she was solid, she was real – and she was there, for me!

For a time she just stood there, swaying slowly in time with the music as she looked into my eyes and then a shy smile formed as they shifted and she looked over the rest of me.

Shining, reddish hair fell down to her shoulders, making her white skin appear even whiter. I had selected breasts for her that were just slightly larger than average but firm and uptilted and although I had dressed her in a short, tunic-like garment, as her eyes continued to roam over my body I could see where the nipples poked the fabric as their tips stiffened. For her height, which was on the shortish side, her legs were long and slender, with nicely rounded thighs, which I could appreciate because I had chosen an outfit that stopped a short way below the level of her sex.

She moved out from where she stood and came up beside me, her eyes flicked back up to look deep into mine again, then she spoke, her voice low and with a faint huskiness.

‘Bart – it is Bart isn’t it?’ I smiled back at her and nodded. ‘I’m Paula – but then you know that of course. What’s a great looking guy like you doing out here, all alone? Or is there another lady hiding somewhere nearby?’ I shook my head. ‘I don’t know how you do it, alone like this, so far out here – I don’t mind telling you the thought of what’s outside the ship really scares me. But you’re not scared, I can see that and I like men like that, men with that kind of strength of mind, men who are used to controlling any kind of situation – and people too probably. I like a man who can control me, be firm with me. In fact.’ she paused for a moment then, as I felt her rest one hand on my thigh, she added with a grin. ‘I like men who are not just firm – but really hard – as I’m sure you’ll soon be.

You’ll make me forget all about the scary space outside, won’t you?’

To be honest, as I began to react to the combination of the chemicals, her nearness and the gentle pressure of her hand on my thigh I was forgetting all about it myself. That was the strangest time – later, when fully aroused my brain followed my body and the way it reacted to what she did to it, accepting her as real. But right then one part of it, the intellect I guess, knew she was just the result of some extraordinarily complex chemistry and electronics, while the other part, in the lower levels, simply reacted to the deep-seated responses being aroused.

I knew that if I just lay still she would, by following a series of program sub-routines, do everything herself and I remember that at that stage I still had enough control to wonder just what series of commands those programs contained.

But I was never to find out!

Her eyes continued to stare down into mine as her hand progressed slowly up along my thigh, curling her fingers over it and letting them trail up along the inside, heading straight for my balls and quickly stiffening cock. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue as her eyes dropped to look at the effect she was having on me, then took a couple of steps backwards and said.

‘I think it’s about time I got out of some of these things, don’t you Bart?’ I could feel my level of arousal and need rising rapidly and the prickle of perspiration breaking out on my face and again I just nodded. I had also chosen a flimsy, pale green bra and pantie set for her to wear and as she lifted the tunic straight up over her head I was treated to my first look at it and her body – and felt my cock jerk several notches higher as a result – and spoke to her for the first time.

‘You’re beautiful Paula. Even more beautiful than I expected.’

She grinned back at me. ‘Thank you. I’m glad you like me. Should I take these pretty things off too?’ She asked as her fingers played with the tiny straps of her bra.’

‘I think so.’

‘Good!’ And with a few deft movements she was as naked as I was.

Her breasts were even more luscious than I had expected them to be, their upswept curves tipped with dusky pink nipples that I could then see were already stiffly swollen. Below, at the apex of her thighs, a light bush of hair, precisely matching the tone and shade of that on her head and trimmed to a neat triangle, that seemed to point the way to her sex.

As my eyes roamed over her I felt my cock responding, pulsing strongly and when I glanced down I saw it rearing up, fully engorged, quivering, its bloated head a dark glossy red. I looked back up at Paula and saw that she was also staring at it, wide-eyed, her tongue again moistening her lips. She dragged her eyes away from it and looked back up into mine.

‘That’s superb Bart!’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘I can hardly wait to feel it way up inside me – but, before that, I want to do something – something for you. I want to make you feel, good – no, not just good but much better than you’ve felt for a long, long time.’

She turned and went to the bottom of the bunk and as she did that I got my first look at her bottom, tight, nicely rounded cheeks that waggled temptingly as she moved. Her hands moved my legs wider apart and then she got up with me and crawled up between them to kneel between my thighs, her soft, warm skin sending tingles through me as our bodies touched, the smell of her perfume getting stronger as she settled herself. Her eyes flicked from mine, down to my cock and back up again and a mischievous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she slid one hand beneath, to cup and gently fondle my balls and she curled the fingers of the other around the hard mass of the shaft.

Then, after a final lick of her lips, she lowered her head and as I felt strands of her hair tickling my belly, her lips slipped down over the tightly swollen head of my cock and her tongue lapped over it and around the deep groove behind it. The sensations were incredible!

She pushed the loose folds of skin down, then gripped her fingers tightly around the base of my shaft and began to bob her head up and down, at first just short little movements, so her lips only skimmed over the head. As my moans of pleasure grew stronger and I began to try to thrust up into her mouth she gradually allowed more and more of it inside – until, after a while she was taking the entire length of me and I could feel my cock-head nudging against the back of her throat.

What with that and the way her other hand was more firmly squeezing my tightly swollen balls, it was no time at all before I felt the rising surge building inside me and I began to thrust more powerfully up into her mouth, my groans of quickly rising pleasure getting even louder.

She took it, took it all – the first jets searing her throat, her mouth sucking the rest from me in less explosive but equally frenzied spasms. Only lifting her head from me when she quite sure that I had no more to give her. She grinned happily up at me, traces of my creamy semen caught in the corners of her mouth. ‘That was good wasn’t it?’

‘Fantastic Paula, simply fantastic!’

‘I could tell that. You came so strongly – and there was so much of it. You must have been feeling really frustrated before – saving it up for days. For me?’

‘For you Paula, just for you.’

‘I like that, it makes me feel good – even better than I felt as I did it for you – and I loved the feelings I got from that. It made me really hot for you too, really sexy, my pussy’s terribly swollen and very wet, it’s going to need something very big and strong inside it – soon I hope!’

While she was speaking her fingers continued to play with me and whether it was that, the memory of the intensity of the thrills she had just given me, or simply my body’s chemistry reacting to her perfume I neither knew nor cared – all I knew was that my cock, which had only just erupted so powerfully, was already getting hard again!

‘Aaah!’ she sighed as she felt it rising between her slender fingers. ‘I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me Bart. That feels lovely. So strong, getting so big, so hard. Just what I need!’

With that she got up and moved forward, her feet straddling my hips and while she held herself open with one hand she used the other to guide my semi-erect cock inside her pussy, lowering herself down on to it until her arse-cheeks were resting lightly on my thighs, her darkly tipped breasts swaying tantalisingly above me.

‘Aaah yes! That’s starting to feel better already.’ she said and I saw that as she felt her own need rising her eyes had grown darker, slightly clouded. Having got me inside she began to move up and down, slowly at first, quite serenely – but while her moist, outer lips slipped easily over the stiffening length of me, at the same time I felt her inner lips contracting around it, lightly squeezing me, arousing me more strongly. As she felt my reaction I saw her smile tighten, her eyes darken even more and her movements began to gradually get more urgent, more demanding.

But, even though I could tell from the increased speed and energy of her bouncing that she was close to her own climax she somehow managed to hold it back, waiting for me to catch up with her. And although I thought she had only just totally drained me, after a few minutes of that mind-blowing ride I felt another load building inside me and then, all too soon, it fountained up through my cock and blasted deep into the heart of her sex.

She finally let go when she felt the first of it spouting into her, crying out with pleasure as she rammed herself down harder, faster – pumping more and still more semen up from some reservoir deep inside me, utterly draining me.

I’ve no idea how long she lay on top of me, her gorgeous body hot and sweaty from what we had done together – or when she actually disappeared and I fell into a deep, totally exhausted sleep.

When I woke I needed food, food and drink, to replenish the energy I had used up – and to give me enough to call her up and start all over again with her!

During the next few days I had more sex than I would normally have in a couple of months at a leisure resort. Sex with Paula again, several times – sex with a variety of other girls – black, green, yellow, pink girls – tall, short girls – busty, slim girls – anally, orally and in one or two places I’d never even thought of before. Every time was different, yet every time was just as fantastic and just as draining.

Even though the purifying system worked flat-out the ship began to smell like a brothel and the chores began to pile up – whatever wasn’t absolutely essential to the running of the ship was left for another time – and each time I thought of tackling something, the lure of the Love Machine called more strongly.