Page 33 of Savage Union

Turk gave me a searching look, but at last he nodded.

“Well, being up all night with worm hole sickness will do that to a man. Hopefully that medicine will help you.” He held up the bottle and then put it back in his desk drawer.

“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir,” I said, nodding humbly.

“Remind me to give you some before every jump,” Turk told me. “For now, dismissed. You may go back to your station.”

I nodded again and left his ready room, feeling like I had dodged a bullet somehow.

I had no idea how much worse things were about to get for me…or that I would soon have cause to wish I had told him the truth about what was really going on below decks.

15

JESSINA

Things went well during the next worm hole jump—there was no time dilation, thank She of the Four Faces. Also, Gurflug never returned to the bridge, so none of us had to smell his stench, which was nice. By dinner time I was feeling positively optimistic.

As I had at lunch and breakfast, I managed to sit by either Snuffy or Yorrin. Both the cabin boy and the pilot were safe territory—I still didn’t trust any of the other crew members. Most of them were Brutes, almost the size of Turk himself. But while several of them gave me lascivious glances, and Jerx glared at me, they left me alone except for a few catcalls.

Ialmostfelt that the situation was under control…until it was time for the communal shower.

I waited until Gurflug had stripped and gone to the shower to undress myself. I had to take off everything—even the compression tank—which I didn’t like at all. But I couldn’t keep it on—the other crew members would ask why I was wearing clothes in the shower.

The Synth implant was still doing a good job—when I looked down at my naked body I saw a flat chest, tiny nipples, and a small but serviceable-looking penis curled against my thigh. Butwhen I touched myself, I could feel my breasts with their large, sensitive nipples and of course, my mound.

I felt incredibly nervous as I stepped out of my quarters with the towel wrapped around my waist. I wanted to wrap it much higher, of course, but if I did that, not even the Synth implant could disguise the shape of my breasts under the cloth. So I had to go basically topless with only the hologram illusion to shield me.

The shower room was much louder than it had been the last time I’d seen it. All ten showers were running at once and each of them had a single crew member with others waiting their turn. The sound of splashing water and deep male laughter echoed off the tiled walls and the astringent scent of harshbreelosoap filled the air.

I tried not to look—as much as possible, anyway. I had only seen a male naked in my life once and that was only briefly when a guy I’d met at a party got me drunk and tried to attack me. Luckily, my big brother Slade had been there—he had literally ripped the would-be attacker’s head right off. I wished I had him here with me now for protection.

I still had nightmares about that incident, but nothing could have prepared me for seeing male equipment swinging freely and naked men all around me.

I thought about gravitating to Yorrin or Snuffy like I did during meal times, but didn’t males like to be left alone when they showered? I didn’t want them to think I was interested in more than a friendly way—it might not work out well for me. It might even make the rumors that I was a “Catamite” worse.

So, reluctantly, I decided to just hang around the fringes of the group and take the closest shower head when it became available.

I kept an eye out for trouble, but Jerx and the other big Brutes who had given me problems were at the far end of thetiled room, using the shower heads furthest from me. None of them were paying me any attention. I could only hope it stayed that way.

I did notice—though I tried not too—that Jerx was even hairier naked than he had looked clothed. It almost seemed like he was wearing a fur coat that covered his chest, arms, neck and back. The fur even went down his thighs and as for the gnarly black tuft that poked out from between his legs—well, I tried extra hard not to look at that.

Tearing my horrified gaze from Jerx, I saw Gurflug—he was impossible to miss. He was taking up two whole shower heads himself…or he would have been, if he had been actually standing under them. Instead, he was right at the edges of the spray, barely letting it hit his legs, which looked like they had some kind of mold growing on them. No wonder he smelled so bad, I couldn’t help thinking—the male was a walking yeast infection!

Just as I was wondering if I would ever get a turn, the two crew members closest to me finished their showers and left. Which left me with two free shower heads to choose from.

I picked the one closest to the door, hoping that no one would come stand beside me. This seemed to be the nearest I was going to get to having any kind of privacy in the shower.

Feeling incredibly vulnerable and exposed, I hung my towel on the hook beside me and stepped naked under the spray. It wasn’t quite hot enough for my tastes, so I reached out to adjust it when a familiar voice said,

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, boy.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin and when I looked up, Turk was standing there—stark naked—in front of me.

“Here—were you trying to make it hotter? It’s really fucking touchy—it can scald you if you’re not careful,” he said to me.

Reaching out one long arm, he began to adjust the water temperature of my showerhead while I tried not to look at his big, wet, naked body.

It was a losing battle. I had never seen Turk undressed—though I confess I spied on him from time to time when he spent nights at my father’s house with Slade. He was a sight well worth looking at.

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