Justin was jarred awake by the unfamiliar sound of a chorus of morning birds twittering outside his window. It took several minutes for him to realize that there was no window leading outdoors and the twittering was actually coming from his 3-D wall. He gave himself a mental note to find out how soon he could have the wall hologram changed to something more to his taste than a woodsy outdoor scene. Something more along the lines of an art museum would do just fine.
Justin hopped out of his suspended bed and headed for the bathroom. A nice hot shower would be sure to refresh him and give him a good start to the new day. He had already had a wonderful night and slept like a baby, thanks to the bed that he had heard about but never seen before. It was actually a creation of a member of the Lunar community and hadn't gotten into wide distribution on Earth yet, or the only other colonized planet, Mars. The cushiony mattress hovered a couple of feet off the floor and swayed gently all night, giving the feeling of floating on a cloud. The barely perceptive rocking lulled Justin to sleep in seconds and seemed to relax every muscle in his body. This was definitely a perk of his new job.
Justin entered the bathroom and stepped into his shower stall after shedding his nocturnal clothing. He was really looking forward to a good scrubbing down and massage. He stretched out face down on the imported marble slab waiting for him. He reached out to the instruction pad, embedded in the nearby wall, and entered the key marked 'Overall Cleansing'. He then settled into place and welcomed the sound of water as it began to fall over the back of his body. A few seconds later a whirring noise alerted him to the lowering of the dozens of small, soft massaging pads that seemed to align to his body as if made for him. He could feel each massagers as they twisted, turned, rolled, and patted his small frame from the back of his neck to the soles of his feet. He could smell the vanilla fragrance from the lather that began to show up as the massagers continued their ministrations. He lifted his arms above his head to give access to his sides and underarms. After fifteen minutes, Justin said out loud, "Over."
The device holding the massage pads rose just enough for Justin to turn over. He settled down comfortably again, face up. Closing his eyes, he again felt and heard the pads as they began lowering to meet his skin. He felt the water pour over his body and mist his face. Again he felt the little massagers doing their job. He tried his best not to get too excited at the feel of the little pad that was cleansing his nether regions between his thighs, but he lost the battle, as he did every time he chose this more modern way to get clean. Well hell, he had a busy day ahead of him. He deserved a moment's pleasure.
Justin had dressed quickly after showering and stood at the mirror hanging from the only inside wall in his quarters. That was the only thing that separated his private area from the living and cooking area. Room, air, and water were at a premium for the Lunar Colony and no space or item was wasted under the vast dome that protected the living inhabitants from the outside surface of the Moon. Without that protection, no one would have been able to walk around as if they still inhabited the Planet Earth.
He decided that he looked just fine in his solid black high neck caftan that had become all the rage again as a fashion statement. The loose fitting garment hid a multitude of sins under certain circumstances which, for some odd reason, brought his new boss back to Justin's mind. He spent a minute pondering why that should be. The sound of knocking at his door shattered his reverie. He gave his reflection one last appreciative smile and headed for the door.
His new friend and co-worker, Daphne, stood at the door holding a bag in her hand. She gave Justin a big grin and breezed into the room like she owned it.
"Hey, kiddo! Rise and shine! Time to tackle the world!" She stopped abruptly when she realized that Justin was standing there fully dressed and ready to go. "Whoa, boy! You ARE eager! I expected to find you dragging your butt and barely coherent. You must really want to impress the boss. I took two days to recover from the last trip from Mother Earth back here."
Justin jumped in the second the girl took a deep breath. "Hey Daph! What ya got in the bag?" Justin asked, hoping to sidetrack his new friend.
"Oh yeah! I brought you some of my morning muffins. I had a feeling you hadn't eaten breakfast yet and, if yesterday was any indication, you are still a growing boy...Whew, I've never seen someone put away so much in such a short time as you did at dinner last night!"
Justin blushed from ear to ear. "I'm sorry. I hated the crap they served on the ship over here. I was starving. I'm usually a lot less greedy when I share a meal... honest!" he stammered out loud.
Daphne playfully punched Justin in the shoulder and thrust the bag into his hand. He gave her a grateful grin and checked the contents. There were three very large muffins of various flavors laying at the bottom of the bag and Justin could feel the warmth that they still held.
"You are my new best friend, Miss Chambers," Justin laughed.
"Yeah, yeah! You're a pushover kid!"
Justin found Daphne's attitude amusing since she was obviously no older than he was, but she had a bossy nature that wasn't unpleasant in the least. He had already decided last night that they were going to be fast friends. They had a lot of interests in common and identical temperaments. Justin had missed having a special friend. His boyfriend of nearly four years, Ian Gold, had been a possessive lover and eventually Justin had found it a lot easier to give all his attention to Ian, thus making all of Justin's old friends fade away one by one. It was a mistake Justin had no intention of ever repeating in the future. He vowed to avoid any romantic entanglements ever again. Hanging out with a few good friends would be good enough for him, and he could already tell that Daphne would be at the head of the list.
Justin wolfed down the warm tasty muffins while Daphne sat in the dining nook. He tossed the bag in the paper vaporizer, which turned it into ashes in seconds, and then joined Daphne at his door. A quick check of his deep pocket revealed the precious keypad that Mr. Kinney had warned him to keep securely in reach. He pulled it out so that he could lock the entrance to his living quarters. The two friends stepped out and Justin placed his thumb on the pad and entered the necessary instructions. The door slid shut firmly.
Shortly after, the pair pulled up to the entrance of their office compound. They stepped up to the lobby desk and took turns with the hand pad. When all signals were green, they gave the scowling Hank their brightest smiles and headed for the lift. The rest of the day was a blur of activities.
Justin liked the small office space he had been assigned to. He could see Daphne and several other fairly young folks working away in their designated spots. The entire section that housed all the artists and designers of packaging for Lunar Industries was completely glass enclosed. Each office space was like a rounded pod connected to another pod that encircled a central gathering space. Justin had discovered that this was where each group bounced off ideas and creations for the approval or rejection of their efforts by the top man. Once a final decision was made, Daphne or Marika, the heads of advertising and packaging, would take their best ideas to Mr. Kinney.
Justin felt a little excited when Daphne told him that Kinney sometimes would come to the artistic meetings to check on progress and give his personal opinion on how things were going. He warned himself not to feel too bad when a Kinney sighting never happened the entire day. He felt uncomfortable with the idea that he was a bit pissed that Kinney had never shown his face. Other than that, the entire day had been full of excitement. The other employees were stimulating and Justin had fit right in.
When a melodic electronic voice announced quitting time, everyone began straightening their work areas and gathering their personal items. Justin marvelled at how orderly and efficiently everyone was in getting out of the work compound. Daphne suggested that a group of the artists head out for the entertainment complex where they could get a good dinner and maybe have a little fun. Justin hesitated for a moment, but Daphne's enthusiasm was infectious. Justin reminded himself that this was a new era for him and he was allowed to have a good time, so he willingly allowed the young lady to grab his arm and make short work of getting to the taxi dock. The taxi glided down the pre-determined pathway to the destination Daphne had given it. In no time, the transport had veered off to stop in front of a multi-colored door that was guarded by a hulking dark-skinned man with a foreboding look. The two friends exited the taxi and moved in front of the big man, who seemed to look down at them as if they were bugs to be squashed. Justin hoped that Daphne knew what she was doing!
A second later, the girl threw her arms around the big man and giggled, "Hey Pop! I'd like you to meet my new friend." She turned sideways to grin broadly at Justin.
The poor lad gulped, stuck out his hand, and said, "Ah, hello, Mr. Chambers. Nice to meet you."
"Uh huh!" he answered. He then gave his daughter a peck on the nose and a familiar warning, "watch out for the animals tonight, baby girl! Some of them can bite!"
Daphne laughed out loud and returned with, "I always do Daddy... plus I know you'll always have my back." She pointed to Justin. "And do me a favor. He's fresh meat. We don't want them to gobble him up in one bite, so will you keep an eye out for his back too?"
"Anything for my baby doll," the big man answered.
Justin timidly followed Daphne through the sliding door, keeping a close watch on her father, and was greeted by the primitive sounds of music blasting and the sight of dozens of bodies swaying and jerking to those same beats. It was like controlled chaos, but electrifying at the same time. Unconsciously, Justin began swaying and tapping his foot to the beat. The two started moving through the crowd until Daphne spotted an empty table to the side of the hovering stage, where a group of five musicians were belting out their sounds. The noise was deafening until Daphne reached across the table and handed Justin two small pieces of pink rubber that he placed gratefully in his ears. Now he could enjoy the music without suffering permanent hearing loss.
When the song stopped, most of the dancers drifted back to their tables. Daphne took this chance to tell Justin that this was her favorite eating and partying place for unwinding after a hard day at work. Of course it didn't hurt that her grandfather owned the place and most of the family worked there. Justin soon relaxed and got totally into the spirit of the restaurant/club. There were couples and groups all over the place... men with women, women with women, and men with men. There were also scattered singles here and there, but even they looked as if they were hunting for a partner. It was definitely a couples night.
Justin and Daphne placed an order for some tasty snacks and drinks from the handsome waiter, who turned out to be her favorite cousin, and then pressed their heads together in order to hear each other since the music had started up again. Neither one of them noticed the tall nattily dressed brunet with the smouldering eyes who had just spotted the couple from the sidelines of the dance floor.
Brian was truly surprised at himself by the way he felt when he saw Daphne and the new intern with their heads close together in an intimate conversation. He had the feeling they were right for each other, which was why he paired them for the sake of the work, but he hadn't expected them to become so involved so quickly (or at all, for that matter). His famous gaydar must be malfunctioning because he had felt sure that Justin was a member of what was now referred to as the second sex group, homosexuals... heterosexuals being the first and bisexuals being the third. There had been something about the way Justin had looked at him when they first met that Brian had obviously misread.
It was a shame, Brian mused. He would have considered giving the young man a quick tumble if he hadn't been an employee, but he guessed it was good that he hadn't made any moves because the young man obviously wouldn't have appreciated it. Brian spotted a gangly black haired dude on the dance floor that he had marked for a future conquest the week before, so he moved to join the man since he seemed to be dancing alone. A few minutes later, the two men were moving in time together in a centuries old mating dance.
Brian was so involved in thoughts of the night's pleasures that he didn't notice the sad blue eyes of the nearby blond who had just witnessed Brian's seduction technique. If he had he would have realized the mistake he had made in categorizing the blond youth the way he had. But neither man's eyes met the other, and the secret thoughts they carried lay buried for the time being.
To be continued..........