Stefan awoke to find that he was having sex with an enormous fish. He had expected something like this.
The fish was manifestly unpleasant. It was cold and its skin had the texture of a corpse. Stefan’s first impulse was to shove it away but a lifetime of conditioning made him cautious.
Sure enough, they were being watched. Bored, white-coated operatives were looking on, adjusting dials and taking notes. Stefan recognised Dr Malek.
“Keep going, boy. Almost finished,” Dr Malek encouraged. “Welcome back. Hope you had a good course. Just doing a few tests to find out how the human body responds to… whatever it is.”
Stefan started to choke out a protest.
“Don’t talk. Keep going to ejaculation. Make sure you get there or we’ll have to do it all over again.”
Stefan looked at the fish. There was a look of outrage in its unblinking eyes. It was not enjoying this. Perhaps it did not know why it was doing this either. It might be better for both of them if he stopped.
But Stefan was back in the System. He had a job to do. Manfully, he worked at increasing his stroke rate. He wondered why the System had decided that it would be a good idea to make him have sex with a big fish. Dr Malek might tell him afterwards.
He was nearly there now. He closed his eyes and tried to visualise Anya. It occurred to him that the fish couldn’t close its eyes. Did he feel unpleasantly hot and dry to it? Could a fish ever be attracted to him, Stefan Griska?
Ah! Stefan felt the muscular contractions beginning. Nearly finished. He could feel the fish squeezing him rhythmically. He opened his eyes. The fish looked aghast but its mouth was opening and closing rapidly. Its gill covers were flapping. He poured warm fluid deep into the fish’s body and the fish itself undulated energetically, eyes bulging from its scaly head.
“Right, You can stop doing that now.” Dr Malek’s authority relieved him of duty. “Go and have a shower. You and you,” he gestured at some men in white coats, “get that fish back into the tank. Don’t forget to take the samples. And you,” he pointed at a stooping old man, “Clean up the mess. This man has to sleep in that bed.”
“What’s going on?” Stefan ventured.
“Welcome back.” Dr Malek disregarded the question. “You’ve got time for a short rest. You’re due in the office at seven o’clock.”
“Yes. Of course.” Stefan snapped into routine. He took his toothbrush from the metal rack and squeezed an economical amount of toothpaste onto it. He headed out to the bathroom at the end of the corridor.
[1]