72
Sandy, experiencing tingles of her own, picked up his keys and turned to unlock his door as Dayshia moved to help Henry straighten up to get him through the door. Tish didn’t trust herself to touch him again.
Henry felt Dayshia’s soft body pressing against his and is lust flared once more. He turned in her arms and found her mouth with his. Her tongue thrust into his mouth as her hands slipped down to squeeze his ass. She moaned softly when she felt something large and hard pressing against her intimate parts as he sensually sucked on her tongue.
“DAYSHIA!”
Her mind snapped back to reality, and she moved her hands to his chest to push back. She felt his gentle resistance, but finally, he leaned back from her and swayed on his feet. She looked down and saw he was showing against his pants and her eyes widened.
“Henry, you need to drink some water then go to bed,” Sandy said softly as she bit her lip.
He nodded and tried to clear his mind which felt like a forest fire was raging within it.
Sandy ducked in to give him a peck on the cheek only to find her hands in his hair as his gripped handfuls of hers. Their mouths were locked together, and the sensation from a massive build-up of sexual tension made their skin prickle.
Dayshia looked at Tish as they felt it too. “I’m not touching that!” she insisted angrily.
Tish realized it wasn’t safe either. “GOOD NIGHT, HENRY!” she yelled.
The noise startled the two kissing, and they pulled back.
“Go inside and go to bed!” Tish commanded, and he nodded absentmindedly as he stumbled inside and closed the door behind him. They heard the lock snap closed.
Sandy was breathing hard as she looked at her friends. Her hair flowed behind her back like a serpent preparing to strike. In a daze, she moved to hug them, but they both jerked back a step.
“Uh uh! I am not touching you when you are all charged up! I learned my lesson!” Dayshia said shaking a finger at Sandy. “Good night! We’ll be taking the stairs. Come on Tish.”
“Night, Sandy!” Tish said as she ducked into the stairwell to follow her friend, leaving the dazed blonde to make her way to the elevator.
As they climbed down the stairs, the two women were deep in thought regarding their first meeting with Henry. Once they stepped outside of the building, they looked upward and took a deep breath to clear their minds.
Tish smiled at Dayshia as she recognized they were still in sync. She decided not to bring up that fact to the woman. “Quite a kisser isn’t he!”
Dayshia looked over in surprise then smiled. “Yes, he is. He’s also packing some serious meat.”
Surprised laughter burst from Tish as she stared at her friend in shock.
“What? He is! Don’t tell me you didn’t feel that!” Dayshia purred hungrily. “He’s got an anaconda down there!”
Tish was still laughing at the exaggeration as he hadn’t felt that big, but she also recalled how good Henry’s body had felt against hers; including the firm ridge pressing against her tender bits. Her laughter petered out as she took a deep breath and sighed in frustration with a frown. “Fuck, I’m horny.”
Now it was Dayshia’s turn to laugh, but it didn’t last long as she had to agree. She was hungering for some action too. “Shit.”
“Wanna hit a club?” Tish asked quietly.
With a final, frustrated look back at the building, Dayshia shook her head. “We have work tomorrow.”
Tish scowled as they made their way towards the Path Station to go home. “Shit.”
“Good morning, losers!”
This greeting met with good-natured curses from the crew sitting in the control room of the nuclear power plant in Brokdorf, Germany.
“Pay up! Papa needs new shoes!” Edmund teased his coworkers. “Come on! Hoffenheim won last night like I said they would so pay up.”
There were some light grumblings and assertions that Borussia Dortmund had just had an off night, but they reached into their wallets to give the man his reward for betting on the winning football team.
After paying, the floor supervisor pointed Edmund to the two men on the far side of the room. They appeared oblivious to the others as they leaned over a bank of meters and controls. “Stop your gloating and go give Heller and Karl a hand. They’ve been looking at those readings all night.”
Edmund grinned at his boss and headed over to collect from the two men. As he got closer, he saw they were concentrating on the screens. They looked concerned and tired.
“Good morning, losers!” Edmund said quietly so as not to startle them.
Karl turned to look at Edmund with relief. “Ah so good you are here. I need you to do a physical inspection of one of our cooling pools.”
Edmund smiled and ruffled the wad of cash in his hand until Karl rolled his eyes and reached for his wallet. After he paid Edmund and nudged Heller to do the same, he got Edmund’s attention again.
“The sensors in cooling pool two are acting up. They are flickering off and on with their readings.” Karl explained.
Edmund’s eyebrows went up. “Any temperature change?”
“No, that’s just it. Everything is stable and good, but the detectors are showing odd drop-offs of radiation like they are being shut off and on,” Heller insisted.
“How many sensors? Which grid?”
“All of them in pool two,” Karl said.
“Electrical?” Edmund asked, and Heller shook his head in frustration. Karl just patted the man’s shoulder to calm him.
“We need a physical inspection,” Karl said, looking back at Edmund.
Edmund nodded and headed downstairs to get suited up.
Once he was in his protective gear and made his way to the entrance to the cooling chamber, he tapped the mic on his helmet. “Are you reading me?”
“Loud and clear,” Karl’s voice came through.
“Right. Going in,” Edmund said and flipped the camera on. The light mounted on the other side of his helmet came on as well.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
“Signal is good,” Karl confirmed.
Edmund went through the heavy door and walked around pool one, looking down into the blue depths. “Any issues with pool one?”
“None. All sensors optimal.”
Edmund grunted and continued to pool two. He glanced inside and caught movement. Instinctively, he threw himself back and landed on his ass.
“EDMUND! WHAT HAPPENED! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!” Karl yelled.
“Sorry! I- I thought I saw something in the pool! Scared me,” Edmund said with a voice made shaky by adrenaline. “Hold on.”
He climbed back to his feet and inched closer to the edge of the pool. He peered over the edge and caught the motion again and ducked back.
“What was that?” Karl barked.
“You saw it too? Thank goodness because I thought I might be losing my mind.” He steeled his nerves and leaned forward again. His eyes widened as he saw something swimming in the pool. “Are you seeing this?”
“What the hell is that? A manta ray?” Karl asked, wonder in his voice as he watched the graceful ‘wings’ flap as it circled the cooling pool.
“Not like any I’ve ever seen,” Edmund said quietly. “It’s big! It’s translucent in sections, and it might be bioluminescent as well.
“The pattern, Karl!” Heller’s voice came through. “It’s passing over the sensors, and they stop registering while it’s there and start again when it moves on!”
“I’m going to get a better look,” Edmund said quietly.
“Be careful!” Karl said.
Edmund slid his foot up to the small wall circling the pool then transferred his weight to it to lean forward until he was able to see the entire pool. The creature in the water was peacefully swimming over the spent fuel cells, pausing now and then for whatever reason it might have before moving on. The lights moving through its body were mesmerizing, and Edmund found himself leaning closer and closer to the water.
“Edmund! Not so close!” Karl snapped, and Edmund came back to himself in time to pull back before he toppled into the pool.
“Sorry! The lights! They’re beaut-”
“Watch out!” Karl said a split second before a jet of water shot from the pool to rip through the camera light mounted to his helmet.
Edmund crashed to the floor with his helmet partially twisted. In a panic, he straightened it and realized the left side of his helmet was gone! He scrambled on hands and knees towards pool one.
“EDMUND! Get on your feet and run!” Karl bellowed.
He pushed himself up and began to run when he heard an odd keening sound. He spun to look back and saw a tentacle-like limb stretching out of the water towards him. The bioluminescence was rippling up and down its length, but its surface was beginning to smoke like it was cooking. The bizarre sight froze him. Those watching the feed from his camera went silent as well.
The limb began retracting towards the pool, but the tip was heating up fast. Edmund realized the keening was the sound of it burning.
“Edmund- you- Edmund, leave now,” Karl’s voice said faintly in his helmet.
He turned to obey as the now flaming tip exploded, spraying hot liquids in an arc.
Edmund screamed as the left side of his face took a direct hit. He turned and ran for the exit. Stumbling through, he slammed the door before collapsing. Consciousness fled from the terrible pain coursing through his face and sinking into his body.