Scouts by Nobilis Reed Page B

and smiled, inviting us down to the water’s edge in musical, gentle voices. There were four of them, paddling about in the clear water. When we finally reached the shore, I couldn’t help but stare. They seemed to be women, but there was something odd about their faces.
    “Hi, I’m Challers,” I said.
    They introduced themselves as Trey, Shar, Jo, and Hom. They climbed out of the water, and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Their bodies were slim and mostly hairless, and while each one had a modestly feminine pair of breasts, each also had a set of male genitalia.
    They noticed my amazement and laughed. As they picked up their towels and began drying off, Trey asked, “Have you never seen our kind before, then?”
    “We only arrived yesterday,” said Valka, recovering quicker than I did.
    “Where are you from?”
    “Stakroya Station,” I said.
    Shar nodded. “I’ve heard of it. It’s a trade hub, out in the Rimward Reach. They’re mostly puregens out that way.”
    “Puregens?” I hoped it wasn’t an insult. It didn’t seem that way, but one could never tell.
    “Yes, you’ve still got the same basic body shape from the Original Seed.” Shar finished drying off and wrapped up in the towel. “You’re puregens, and we’re newgens. Chevalier newgens, specifically. I’m sure you’ll learn all about it in the academy.”
    “I’ll be sure to ask about it if we don’t.” My tablet bipped. I checked it, and gave the foursome a bow. “We need to be getting back now. Class will be starting soon.”
    On the way back, after we were well out of earshot of the hermaphrodites, I leaned in close to Valka. “I’m glad it wasn’t those kind that picked us up.”
    She squeezed my arm and gave me a disapproving look. “Challers, don’t be like that. They’re just people.”
    “Okay, but where would I, you know, put it?”
    “You didn’t see Jo bending over? There’s a vulva there too.”
    I tried to imagine how that would work. That piece of information made things a little better, but the image still disturbed me more than it intrigued me.
    “I’m still glad it was Shirley and Masters that found us.”
    “She is beautiful,” said Valka.
    “Not as beautiful as you,” I said and kissed her cheek. I paused. It seemed the right time to ask a question that had been on my mind whenever I had an idle moment to think. “Have you, uh, done anything, with Masters yet?”
    She nodded. “Yeah. And you?”
    “Before bed last night. With her hand.”
    “Masters used his hand too.”
    I swallowed hard, trying not to let the queasy feeling in my stomach show. I was beginning to think that the Scouts were the lesser of three evils, but saying that to Valka would only create a rift between us. I just squeezed her tighter and kept my doubts to myself. She was far happier than she had ever been on Stakroya Station. I wouldn’t spoil it for her.
    Any pain was worth it, to make her happy.

Chapter Seven

    As we got closer to the academy, I remembered that our next class would be Astronavigation. I broke into a jog, and the two of us ran the rest of the way back. We sat down at our places in the lecture hall and I eagerly activated my tablet.
    To my horror, we wouldn’t be starting with any of the stuff I wanted to learn. Before we would get to the stars and engines and computers, there was a lot of basic, foundation information to go through that hadn’t been covered back on Stakroya Station. Galactic coordinate systems. Stellar coordinate systems. Time-shift vectors. Synchronization schema. The first forty days, at least, would be mathematics.
    Vacking math.
    My headache started just a few minutes in, bad enough to make me groan and rub my temples. We hadn’t gotten any further than skimming the syllabus. The holo paused mid-sentence.
    “Are you all right, Challers?” It was Shirley, above and behind me.
    “Headache,” I said. “It’ll pass.”
    Valka ran her hand over my shoulder. Her sympathy