-- Chapter 3: You're a God --

Suki woke up the same way one would in the hotel room on their vacation, but it was made all the more liminal by the fact that he was on another planet. He went about his morning routine as normal. There was a holographic alert sign - an exclamation mark in a triangle - on a metal box by the door. The box was the same kind as a library drop box. Suki opened it. There was a set of car keys, one for the ignition and one for the trunk. There was a dealership-style tag on it. It belonged to the AA.

Suki left the palace, and the valet retrieved the car for him. He got in and drove to the opera house. A man with an ARL-branded polo guided Suki to a private suite in the hotel. It overlooked the marina and had a large, widescreen CRT at one end. A curvaceous fox woman wearing a dress with a plunging neckline, a halter top and a bottom that resembled a loincloth rather than a dress. She looked older, probably mid-40s. She had a glass of grape juice in her hand - definitely grape juice, Suki would have smelled it if it were wine. She wore glossy red lipstick and had dark blue eyeshadow, with eyelashes long enough to land a plane on. She was clearly someone used to using her sex to get what she wanted. That would not work on Suki. He bowed to her and sat down.

"So, you're that Earthling boy." The woman said with a predatory emphasis on "boy." This woman is the one Worl mentioned last night, Ketarca. She had a deep, raspy voice that would bring most men to their knees. She sounded like she was from America. Florida, maybe. Or whatever the Ergonian equivalent was. Not a thick drawl, but she clearly wasn't from the North or West. She was a good old girl washed clean by years of corporate life. Suki almost felt bad for her. "And you're a chick that grew up with her family racing stock cars but could never strike it big yourself and wound up in a managerial position." Suki said as if he were reading a grocery list to someone. Ketarca stiffened like water from a fountain in Antarctica. His assumptions weren't exactly right, but they were close enough to make Ketarca look like her soul had just left her body. Ketarca relaxed slightly. "Let me guess. You're a sci-fi and computer nerd with high-functioning autism who saw an opportunity to live out a sci-fi fantasy and hop on the first alien spaceship he could. You've had such a horrible experience with people on Earth because your autism prevented you from being a 'normal' person that you decided to take a huge risk." Ketarca stated just as plainly as Suki did when he assessed her. "I see you are also skilled in the art of reading people." Suki said as he took a sip of the soda that had been placed on the table for him before he came in. "When you have to look over a room of 20 new drivers and have to pick out who to promote based purely on vibes, you learn how to read people." Ketarca said with a smile.

"I came here because of what you said, and to make money. I'm sure Worl has told you about what I brought." Suki says. Ketarca nods with a predatory smirk. "I haven't ever had the president of the world come to me with an idea. We could go from a 12-week season to a full 36-week schedule as NASCAR does. One championship on Ergon, one on Earth, and one... in virtual reality. Considering we just sent our two wonderboys to Earth for a 12-week season, so we could still rake in viewers even without them." Suki wasn't a fan of the corpotalk. "I see you're not as enthused with it as I am. I'm guessing you haven't studied up on the ARL yet." Ketarca says as she grabs two remote controls - one to turn the TV on and another to turn the VCR on. When she turned toward the TV, her nipples slipped out of the side of her dress. Suki rolled his eyes. She hit play on the VCR remote. A promo for the Action Racing League - that's the "ARL" that was being talked about so much - played. The promo had loud metal music with crunchy downtuned guitars, a loose bass guitar downtuned to the floor, lots of turntablism, rapped vocals and snare drums that were tight enough to drive a car on. The race action looked like a mix of Full Auto, Carmageddon and Destruction Derby, presented in a full-on "attitude era" fashion.

Audrey would have jizzed in his pants, but it did nothing for Suki. Well, maybe it did: he smirked. He saw the potential. "I'll have to send a copy of that promo to my friend on Earth. He'd love the presentation." Suki said. "I do hope you get the simulator working. I only got it working with a proprietary chip my friend made for me." Suki was trying to avoid stating that the chip was literally magic. Ketarca slapped the table. "He always leaves important info like that out. Always a politician." Ketarca said. "Takes one to know one, I assume." Ketarca's ears twitched, and she looked at him with surprise. She smirked. "I guess. When you do this shit for as long as I have, you kind of forget..."

"You forget what fun is," Suki said as if it were a confession. "I'm a workaholic too, Miss..." "Thuioxca." Ketarca said her name, which was pronounced (th-OO-ee-oh-zha). "That." Suki said with a smile. Ketarca stood up to eject the VHS from the VCR, swinging her hips. "Ketarca, you know I'm gay, right?" Suki said. "Oh, shit!" Ketarca froze and turned to Suki. Her boob slipped out of her dress. She covered her chest with her arms. "Let me... umm... get dressed more appropriately." She said awkwardly. "Fine." Suki said with an amused smile. She left, saying something about not reading the room correctly. Suki sat down on the couch and turned the television on, switching the feed to network television. The news was on. He looked at the remote and found the button to switch from Ergonese to English.

Ketarca returned and sat back down next to him. She was dressed in an ARL polo and chinos. "Good. Now we can have a professional conversation." Suki smirked. "I'm not sure if you were told, but Ergon is so quad-coded that it's rare to see someone that's truly gay." Ketarca more casually. "Quad--? Oh, quadsexual. For sexes, being bisexual would mean only liking half of them. Yeah, I guess I really am Ergonian gay. Boobs don't do anything for me and..." Suki stopped talking and did a swirling point at Ketarca's crotch. "Fair, fair." Ketarca giggled. It was as if Ketarca was liberated by not having to use her sex to converse. "I don't think we've ever even had a gay ARL driver - and that's not me inviting you to drive for us, that's just a plain statement of fact. Though if I could find one, that might be a good plotline." Ketarca babbled on. "Who gives a fuck?" Suki asked severely.

Even Ketarca could sense that he rarely used foul language. That, or it was odd hearing such aggression from such a meek creature. Probably that. "Your promo said you were one of the biggest motorsports on the planet. Who cares if the drivers are queer?" Suki interrogated. "Look, kid. Ratings go up when boys kiss. I've seen the numbers. Last year had a big bump in viewership because of the 'will they or won't they?' dynamic that Tyau Tenniston and Jyx Xc'torr had." Ketarca tried to explain to Suki. He took his laptop out of its bag and loaded up ErgoWiki. He searched Tyau Tenniston. "Was it because of the boys kissing, or was it because Tyau was the son of two of the biggest drivers in Ergonian motorsports?" Suki asked. The accusation hung in the air like a paper aeroplane in zero gravity.

"Well, they loved it when I hooked up with Tyau's mom in 1980. I was her crew chief and--" Ketarca scrambled for an excuse, but Suki cut her off. "Did they love it because girls were kissing, or because you were playing a soap opera?" Suki said. He was reading the ErgoWiki page for all of this. "I'm sorry, Ketarca. Maybe in another life we could have been friends. But I don't hang out with fake people." Suki said as he packed his laptop away and stood up, before bowing to Ketarca and leaving. Ketarca had been called "fake" more times than a Chinese watch, but she clearly still didn't get it.

Suki's d-comm pinged as he rode the elevator. He ignored it - a rare moment for Suki. He went to his car and started it, putting the radio on. He had found an electronic music station on the drive across town. The song that was playing was a mid-tempo, spacious deep house track with reverb-doused drums and quiet synths rising and falling. A woman's voice softly sang over the instrumentation. From what Suki could make out, it was a song about change. He drove to the railway station down the road from the opera house, where the Fairmont Monte Carlo is on Earth. He parked up and got out, standing at the car's open door and looking over the marina, which he could clearly see as Le Portier was banned from ever being built on Ergon, with his long blonde hair and the drawstrings of his shorts blowing in the ocean breeze. He felt the distance from his home. As anti-social as he was, and as much as he hated Earth, it had something he was missing here: familiarity. His mood was not helped by feeling like a god due to his overworldly status.

A group of cars pulled into the car park. They were all painted a variation of cool grey. Suki watched them through the car's side mirror. He didn't recognise what any of the cars were. They all got out of their cars after parking them in a neat row. Suki tended to silently watch people from a distance and observe them like this. It was a defence mechanism. One of them was a severely obese bear, and one of them was a muscular dragon whose flame tattoos matched the ones on his pearlescent greyish-blue car. Clearly an Audrey type. One was a meek, androgynous rodent-looking creature with big glasses. They had a DSLR camera. Suki liked the look of that one. The other flame-emblazoned car was being driven by a huge wolf. 6'5", big muscles, big belly, big boobs, big... whoa. Suki liked the look of them, too.

The mouselike one put a fish-eye lens on their camera and walked toward the overlook. They were wearing a sleeveless hoodie that said "VICTIM" on it in red, chicken scratch Ergoense text. They wore short shorts that barely met the fishnets on their legs, which went down to their torn-up Chucks. Suki looked them over when they walked up, pretending as if he was watching a ship on the ocean. They had a package. It wasn't a big one, but it was noticeable from a side-on view. They took a panoramic photo of the city. "Hello, my name is Suki." Suki said in Ergonese that was good enough for him to sound like a native speaker (albeit one from Jaekip). He offered a handshake. "Tixi." The mouse responded and shook Suki's hand. It sounded like a feminine name. Dang. Suki continued to look her over, not realising the mouse was doing the same. Either Tixi had a super-baggy shirt on, or she had very small breasts. Worth pursuing. Tixi was reaching the same conclusion. The polar bear broke the tension.

The bear bellowed at Suki in a vaguely Eastern European accent as she walked over to him. It almost sounded like Svetlana. She said something about being surprised that a young man was driving a car that old. "Rental." Suki said in Ergonese. His mannerisms were awkward, but his delivery was solid enough. "Bullshit." The bear said in Ergonese. "No joke. This thing has a 2JZ, AC, and a CD player!" Suki told her. She was suspicious of him. The dragon spoke up. He sounded gayer than Suki expected. He commented that it might actually be a rental car, given it was left-hand drive, and that Suki sounded like he was from Jaekip (where right-hand drive cars were used).

"I am Zestava. You have met Tixi. This lunk is Drae, and big xcalthallpa here is Xeagan." The bear introduced her friends and herself. Suki looked at the dragon. Drae's crotch was flatter than his own. Dang. "Zestava... like the car?" Suki asked her. "Eh, one letter off... You can call me Zest." She shrugged. "Are you local? You don't sound local." Suki says. "No, no. We are here on road trip. We're a pretty international club, anyway. I'm from Ruskovana, Drae is Ameuian, Tix is Jaekipian and Xeagan?" Zestava said before looking to Xeagan. She said she was from a place called Wannadoo, but the rest of the dialogue was swear words. Suki hadn't heard any Ergonese swears before this conversation, but he was sure he had now. Some pretty severe ones, too. It had to have been Ergon's version of Australia. Suki introduced himself. He was blushing.

"So... where are you guys going?" Suki asked. Zestava said that they were going from the Ergonian version of Gibraltar to Istanbul. "Around the... uhh... I'm bad at places. Big boot country." He asked, being embarrassed by sounding like an idiot. He was great with geography, but not Ergonian geography, despite his studying of it on the trip over. "Around Intomaccia, yes. Grellis too." Zest confirmed. That was a 5,000-km drive. About 0.01% of the trip Suki just made, but still really long, especially driving and not flying through space at warp speed.

Suki and Tix thought they were playing it cool, but it was clear to the adults in the parking lot that they had a connection. Zest smiled. "Come with us, we are heading to Nice for a bite to eat." "He looks lonely." Tixi said in English. Suki's eyes darted toward her, but he pretended not to understand. He didn't want to be caught as an alien. These people were interested in him for a reason other than his technology or otherworldly status. "Lead the way." Suki said. "Let's see if that grandpa car can keep up." Drae said. Everyone rushed to their cars.

Suki hopped in his car and put his seatbelt on just as the radio DJ announced the next track. Blood is Pumpin' by VooDoo & Serano. A hard trance classic. If Suki had to pick a favourite subgenre, it was hard trance. But the DJ announced that the song was brand-new. That shook Suki a little bit. After all, he would be only a month and a half old today in Earth's 2001. He was still first out of the parking lot. For some reason, all of the drivers turned right out of the parking lot, despite that not being the fastest way out of the country. Formula 1 does things to a person. They raced to the coastal road and into the tunnel - not Tunnel Larvotto - the original, beautiful brick archway tunnel. Suki had raced this version of Monaco countless times on a modded copy of Grand Prix Legends, but experiencing it was something else. It was like driving into a forgotten Polaroid. They followed in line to Tabac, rounding the corner to see the lack of a pool chicane ahead. Into Gazométre. Now it's a sprint to the motorway. Suki was still more familiar with the area than the others, thanks to playing GTI Club as a kid. He cut through the city's tight, ancient streets and tunnels as the others followed - ensuring they didn't lose sight of the little black car. Sunlight blinded them as they merged onto the 6007. They were in Froeush again. Suki jammed the pedal to the floor - the stock-tuned 2JZ giving everything it had. The squad of cool grey cars passed him by with an array of unusual-sounding horns. Dang.

They didn't disappear into the distance - but they still made Suki work for it. Eventually, Nice - or Naese, as the road signs said - loomed ahead, and the blue crew slowed down. They led him to some hole-in-the-wall pub in the north end of town. Ample parking, though. They weren't going to let Suki know, but this place was a dive that they chose on a whim. Dive bars still served food on Ergon, at least. They went in. The Passenger by Iggy Pop was playing on the bar's sound system. Not Suki's type of music, but it grounded him a bit. There was a 6-seat table open. Zestava took up two chairs, and Drae and Xeagan sat across from her. Suki took the remaining chair from next to Zestava, and Tixi took the one between Drae and Xeagan. They both put them on the side of the table to let them see the front door. Suki always liked doing this. It was something he picked up from Keith. Tixi, however, was just crushing on Suki.

Drae and Xeagan both ordered beef taretare. Zest told the waitress to surprise her (and give her extra helpings). Suki didn't have time to think about what Tixi ordered. He just said that he'd have the same thing she was having. He didn't hear "dmais," the Ergonese word for snail, so he'd likely be fine. "What did you get?" Suki asked Tixi. She was surprised briefly, before snickering. "Froeush onion soup." It was the same recipe as on Earth, only the name had changed. The way she responded was the same way one would respond to a dog not being able to fit a tree branch through a gate. Appreciation, not condescension.

"Do your friends speak English?" Suki asked Tixi in English, and in a whisper. She nodded and jerked her chin toward Zestava. "I am acutely aware of your feelings for each other." Zest says in English, purposefully using verbosity to prevent any easy translations from the "muscle buddies." "It is of grandiose joy to see Tix having a special interest in someperson." Zest continued. "Do believe I, for I experience a similar lifestyle," Suki said, nailing the code. He loved language, anyway. And coding. Mm. Coding. "I simply must admit to my homosexuality... but this planet's phallused women make me feel mighty unusual sensations." Suki said, blushing and chuckling. He was serious, but the verbosity made him laugh. It made Zest and Tixi chuckle as well. "Well, antlered person, I am more than willing to attempt an intimate encounter with you." Tixi said softly. "Of course I would hook up with someone while speaking in code on a foreign planet. My life is just an episode of The Big Bang Theory." Suki quipped with a smile. Tixi and Zest looked at him strangely. The big bang theory was the basis for Ergon's secondary religion, Deithosity. Not a television show. "Oh, I guess you guys don't have that yet. Wait a few years. You'll be reminded of me when it premieres." Suki continued. His smile disappeared. Ohh, crap. "Huh?" Zest asked. "I said no-thing!" Suki said in the same manner as Sgt. Schultz would on Hogan's Heroes. It garnered a laugh from everyone at the table. Drae and Xeagan didn't know the context; all they knew was that Zest said "huh" followed by Suki quoting an old TV show.

They conversed about life, cars, and everything. Drae mentioned his car has an "R8" engine. Suki was confused briefly before remembering the Audi R8 LMP car. He became more confused when Drae mentioned upgrading "both cranks." A dual-crank V8 is impossible. Suki's confusion didn't go unnoticed. Tixi took his hand. "Feeling alright?" She mouthed. Suki frowned and shook his head. "We'll communicate after this luncheon." Tixi whispered. They finished their lunch and drove to the marina. Zest distracted Drae and Xeagan with some hacky-sack. Suki and Tixi walked toward the lighthouse. They sat on the wall and looked out at the ocean. Suki took her hand. He hung his head in his other hand. "You can tell me." Tixi said in a kind tone, putting both hands on his thigh. "I don't want you to change what you think of me if I tell you." Suki said. He was almost crying. Tixi put both of her hands on his shoulders. "I like you, Suki. Unless you're a terrorist or something, my opinion of you will be the same." She affirmed.

"I'm... from Earth." Suki admitted. A tear rolled down his face. Tixi's eyes widened, and she got a big, open-mouth smile. "Don't." Suki said bluntly. "Right." Tixi snapped out of it. "I said I wouldn't." She smiled and wiped the tear from Suki's face. He twitched - he wasn't used to being touched. Tixi hugged him. He hugged back. He broke the hug and took his glasses off. "I've been feeling like everyone has treated me like..." Suki explained, but words failed him. "Like an alien?" Tixi quipped. Both snickered. "Come on. I'll take you to our leader." Tixi teased. They got up and walked back toward the parking lot. "Are we still on for that... 'intimate encounter?" Suki asked. Tixi smiled and chuckled, then touched his butt. This made Suki jolt. He was into it, but didn't expect it. "We're staying in Sarquelle for the day, anyway. Zesty needs a king-size bed for herself, Drae and Xeagan took a queen suite, and I got a room with two separate beds and nobody to go in the second one. Not like I'd let you out of my bed." Tixi smirked. That made Suki melt. Who doesn't like an emo power bottom?

The crew drove to the hotel in Sarquelle. Suki still hadn't read his text messages. And he wasn't about to. The crew went to their rooms, which were all within a few doors of each other on the same level. Tixi put the do not disturb sign on the door handle. She wasn't wasting any time. She stood at the foot of one of the beds. Suki was about to ask her to remove her shirt in the kindest manner possible, but she was already there. She slid her hoodie off and tossed it aside. She waited to let Suki take her in. She wasn't quite as flat as a board... more so as flat as a dinner plate. Suki stared at her chest with hunger. His eyes traced her body downward. Her tummy wasn't tight, but she didn't have much of a belly, either. A trail of pubic hair led downward from her navel. She unzipped her shorts and entered a wide stance. Distressed denim hit the floor, clutching a neon pink thong inside. Her penis was small and flaccid, with a natural foreskin, with an opening that showed her cockhole and a little bit of her head. She took off her shoes.

"The fishnets and glasses stay on." Suki said plainly. Tixi snickered. Suki was still dressed but clearly fully hard under his shorts. Tixi approached him slowly. He remembered that he wasn't just there to watch and unzipped his shirt and took it off. Tixi got on her knees and pulled Suki's shorts and underwear off, resulting in a string of pre flicking onto Tixi's face. She licked it up and took Suki by the shoulders. She put him on the bed. He got up onto his knees. She crawled into bed and started kissing him. She was a good kisser. Not as good as Colin, but a lot better than Keith or Audrey, who just tended to put Suki's entire muzzle in their mouth instead of actually kissing him. In fact, this was Suki's first time with another prey animal. Suki's tounge straked over Tixi's buckteeth as their erect cocks poked at each other. They were a similar size, the size a more insecure man would desperately call "average" despite being completely wrong.

Suki broke the kiss. "Are you clean?" He asked. Tixi looked at him weirdly. Not guilt, but legitimate confusion. She smelled her armpit; her hair was already matted with sweat. "Bleugh!" She vocalised jokingly. "A little musk never hurt anyone." She said and tried to kiss him again. Suki pushed her away. "Do you have any condoms on you?" Suki asked. She laughed. "I know you're not from around here, but you can't get a deejer pregnant!" "Do you have an STI?! Yes, or no?!" "I don't own a Subaru, no." Suki grabbed his head in frustration and layed back on the bed. Tixi loomed over him with a smirk. "Sexual disease doesn't occur on Ergon." "Why didn't you tell me that, then?" Suki laughed in relief. "Because..." Tixi leaned in. "You're easy to get wound up." She kissed him and stroked his member.

Suki wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. They cuddled and felt each other up. Tixi worked Suki over, eventually bringing his butt up to her crotch. She slid her cock into his ass and humped him rhythmically. The sex wasn't great, but the intimacy really made Suki relax. He melted into her thrusts. She continued thrusting for a bit before pulling out. Suki turned around and made out with her. Both began to apologise for not being able to perform, talking over each other. They laughed. "Let me guess. You're used to being a bottom, too?" Tixi nodded. "This is my first hook-up... I guess I'm nervous." Suki admitted. Tixi kissed him. "Don't worry. This is my third."

"I wouldn't worry about it. We're just a couple of teens still." Tixi reassured him. "Wait, how old--" Suki said before Tixi interrupted him. "Don't worry, I'm 16!" Tixi said with a smile. Her eyes widened, and her smile disappeared as she felt Suki cum on her torso. "Uh... oh. That... I don't... like... kids. That's... weird." He muttered awkwardly. "Well, your dick seems to like them." Tixi said in a predatory manner. "How old are you?" She interrogated with a toothy grin. "Tw... t... 25." Suki spat it out. Tixi moaned and came on his torso, shuddering. She kissed him and hugged him, smearing cum between them. They had okay output, considering their sizes. "Just remember. Age of consent here is 15." Tixi smiled. "How come I feel like I just invented a sex tourism clause?" Suki said. Tixi laughed. "Let's get cleaned up."

They got into the shower and started cleaning off. Suki was looking for the right words about confronting his own pedophilia. He was in denial for many years, I mean, he liked three types. Musclebros, thicc femboys, and teen boys. "Look, Suki. If you like kids, you like kids. No sense in stopping yourself. Just as long as you keep it private - I know how authoritarian Earth's laws are - you'll be good. You strike me as the kind of guy who knows how to hide his online activity from the government anyway. And... I won't tell." Tixi said and gave him another kiss.

They woke up tomorrow morning in the same bed, nude and clean. Suki ran his hand down Tixi's body. That wasn't Colin's body. It was too compact. He opened his eyes. Tixi groaned and opened her eyes. "Hey, Earthling." Tixi said and smiled before giving him a peck on the lips. "Never thought I'd ever wind up with a girl." Suki replied. "Well, I'm not a girl. Not an Earth girl. I'm a dej, after all." Tixi said with a wink. They got out of bed and got dressed. Suki finally checked his phone. He had two unread messages from Haji. The first one said, "Big news!! Meet me at the palace." The second one, sent five hours later, read as follows: "No problem if you need some time. :) Space travel is stressful. Text me if you need anything."

"Hey, sorry to hit-and-run, but I have some... alien things to take care of." Suki said. Tixi snickered. "Don't feel bad about it. We don't have those hang-ups here. Casual sex is as common as taking a girl out for lunch." Tixi said. She led Suki to Zest's room. She knocked and called for Zest, but she wasn't there. Zest appeared out of Drae and Xeagan's room and called Tixi. Tixi and Suki went into the room. Drae was going over their route for the day with a map. Zest was packing up. Xeagan stood at the foot of the bed that Drae was sitting on-- whoa!

Suki's eyes darted to it. Xeagan's dick was hanging out of her undies. That thing was big. It fell to her knee and was as thick around as Suki's thigh. It looked exactly like a canine penis, but it had no knot, and it had a flaccid look to it, as if there was no baculum. "Morning, sunshine." Xeagan said in English. Suki was frozen, his fur bristling. Tixi elbowed him. "I just wanted to say..." Suki cleared his throat and began speaking in Ergonese. "I want to say, 'It was nice meeting you.' I have a meeting. Can we meet later?" He asked. "Of course!" Drae said in English. The musclebuddies were none the wiser; they just thought he was special needs. "And remember to add us on ErgoChat!" Tixi said. Suki nodded and left. "Was it good?" Xeagan asked Tixi. "The sex was mid, but man, is he a good cuddler." Tixi replied.