She stood slowly and gracefully with her hands slowly caressing me as she met my gaze. I stared deeply into her hazel eyes and then I realized that I wasn't going to make it much longer at this pace. It hit me that two could play at this alien nanomachine game.
Mikhail, can you give me full control of when my sexual climax occurs?
Yes.
Do it!
Okay.
Uh, how do I make myself climax?
Just desire to, otherwise you will not.
Wow!
Please refine the question.
I stopped myself just in time as I was about to—well, you get the idea. I put my arms around Tatiana, picked her up, and she wrapped herself on and around me. I gently set us down into the whirlpool. The task was easy with my newfound strength. We sloshed around until we were comfortable and I had Mikhail make the tub slightly larger and heart-shaped. I also had him—I had decided when bestowing the name that "it" was a "he"—increase the water temperature slightly and increase the bubble content of the water. The air needed scenting—it was stale—so I had him add a hint of flowers and honeysuckle. Tatiana had him add a better mix of potpourri. And then we made love in the big heart-shaped bubble bath beside the rings of Saturn three times before we decided we were going to turn into prunes and should get out of the water.
No longer embarrassed by my body, I stood up in the tub in front of Tatiana and she gazed at me with a voracious and lustful smile.
"Very hot!" she said in Russian. And then she rose from the tub as well. I whistled my sentiments right back at her.
I was learning the nanomachine game now and so I didn't bother with towels. I had the nanomachines dry us off and dust us with cologne and perfume. On the way to the king-sized bed I had a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes appear in my hands. I winked at Tatiana and when I did I had the cork on the bottle pop. We giggled at how cheesy that was, but we drank the champagne anyway and then crawled into bed. We were drunk and giddy and happier than either of us had been in at least . . . Three years seven months two weeks four days thirteen hours and twenty-seven seconds. Who was I kidding? It was the happiest I had ever been in my life.
I gently laid Tatiana across the bed and kissed her from head to toe without missing a single spot. I squeezed her to me gently and met her gaze several times, noticing that she would occasionally chew on her bottom lip and roll her eyes back. She pulled me to her . . .
Yes, Steven! That's it, ahh. . . .
I continued to nibble at her ear.
Don't stop. Right there, she said . . . She hadn't said that at all!
I realized that Tatiana was speaking directly into my mind in the same way that Mikhail or Mike would. Of course, why couldn't she?
Mikhail.
Yes.
Open a channel between Tatiana and me and always keep it open unless otherwise programmed.
Okay.
Tatiana?
Steven! What kept you, honey?
I guess I'm not as quick-witted as you, gorgeous.
We'll worry about that later. For now, yes, right there, RIGHT THERE!
You mean, that?
YES!
We made love six times more before exhaustion took over and we fell asleep in each other's arms with Titan overhead now and Saturn below us.
CHAPTER 13
Tatiana was still asleep and I didn't want to wake her. I slipped out of bed quietly and stretched and stood up. As I did I had a pair of cotton athletic shorts materialize on me. I looked in the mirror at my new appearance and was startled at how handsome and dashing I was. I had never been this person in my life and it was quite overwhelming. Just for fun I played around with the color of my shorts for a few minutes until I finally had the nanomachines settle for red.
Again for fun, I sat down into a materializing chair and had a small table appear as well. I took a drink from the soft drink can that solidified in front of me and then leaned back and relaxed a bit.
Mike?
Yes.
Call me Steven.
Okay, Steven.
Good. Any luck figuring out why Tatiana could not access you?
None, Steven.
Maybe we are thinking about this in the wrong way. Have there ever been other abductees that would not have been allowed access to you?
None have ever tried.
I see. But, would there have been any not allowed to access you if they had tried?
No way to know. Not enough data.
Hold on a minute. I don't believe that.
Please refine the question, Steven.
Take all the data that you have stored about every human abductee and assume that they are here and trying to gain access to you. Which ones of those would be given access to you assuming of course that they have my permission?
Yes, Steven, that data is available. I am checking it now.
Okay, good.
I have the list and it is long. Do you want the knowledge downloaded to you?
Not yet. First tell me, were there any that would have been denied access and what type of percentage of all abductees that would be?
Yes, Steven. Out of two million three hundred one thousand nine hundred eighty-one abductees, two hundred eleven thousand and one would not have been allowed access. That is approximately nine point two percent of all abductees.
Wow, that is a lot of abductees. Over what period of time were these abductees taken?
Please refine the question, Steven.
Oh, uh, when was the first abductee taken and when was the last one taken and what is the time distribution of the abductions?
Yes, Steven. The first human abductee was taken five thousand two hundred and seven years ago and the last one was taken about four minutes ago. More precise times are available if you desire them. Also the distribution is basically a uniform random function across the timespan with peaks—by your calendar—at three thousand B.C., twenty-five A.D., ten ninety-nine A.D., thirteen ninety-six A.D., fifteen seventy-eight A.D., sixteen eighteen A.D., seventeen seventy-six A.D., eighteen sixty-two A.D., nineteen seventeen A.D., nineteen forty-four A.D., nineteen fifty A.D., nineteen sixty-six A.D., nineteen eighty A.D., nineteen ninety-one A.D., two thousand three A.D., and the largest peak starting in two thousand eleven A.D. and continuing to present day with the peak's maximum at two thousand eighteen A.D.
Interesting. Show me the plot.
Okay.
Then a plot appeared in my head and I understood it almost as soon as it appeared there.
The plot consisted of the number of abductees on the vertical axis and the year along the horizontal axis. There were two curves traced on the plot. One was a bold black line, which represented the total number of abductees as a function of time. The second trace was a thinner gray line that represented the percentage that would not have been allowed access to Mike. The majority of the "isolated abductees" appeared at two peaks. One was near 1944 and the other was centered at 2018.