Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:59:01 +0900
From: Caleb <graemefj@iinet.net.au>
Subject: Prometheus 1

This work is a product of the author's imagination. Places, events and
people are either fictitious or used fictitiously and any resemblance to
real events, places, or people, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

The author retains full copyright to the material, and sincerely hopes you
like it!

If you have something to say about it that isn't flaming me then email me
at: Caleb <graemefj@iinet.net.au>

PROMETHEUS 1

The day had turned out fine and warm so I decided to set up my loom on the
porch, and apply myself to the backlog of weaving that was threatening to
overwhelm me.  The midday sun was warm and I soon got lost in the rhythm of
the weaving and the click click of the shuttle.  My drowsy contentment
didn't last long.  The guys came thundering through the house and running,
stark naked, to the lawn outside, shouting and kicking a football.  I
smiled as I could see what would happen - and it did.  The ball was kicked
(probably deliberately) into the lagoon at the bottom of the garden, and
with screams of laughter, four naked tanned bodies followed it into the
water with loud splashes.

Whenever I looked on these four magnificent young men, I always got a catch
in my throat.  My sons - my archangels: Gabe (Gabriel) - blond haired and
blue eyed; Mike (Michael) - fiery red hair and green eyes; Rafe (Raphael) -
brown haired and hazel eyed; and Rel (Uriel) - black haired with deep
purple eyes.  I was their proud and doting father.  Four boys, all born
within minutes of each other: half-brothers (or "sibs" as the modern slang
is), each with a different sire.

I saw with a jolt that a couple of soldiers, obviously from the garrison at
the head of the valley had parked their speeders by the side of the road
that ran along the ridge opposite the house, along the perimeter of the
property, beside the railed fence.  The soldiers were leaning on the top
rail of the fence, avidly watching the young men splashing about in the
water as they played the rough and tumble game of grab-ass.  One of the
soldiers had dropped his trousers and was openly jerking his enormous cock
as he watched.  The boys soon caught sight of him and began clapping and
hooting encouragement to the man.  I was pleased to see that the soldiers
were not so foolish as to set foot on my property - that embargo had been
made perfectly clear to the commander of the garrison a long time ago.

But both men were calling out to the boys, and soon the boys left the
lagoon and crowded round the men, keeping on this side of the fence, I was
happy to observe.  From where I was, I couldn't see what was happening, but
I could guess as an ironic cheer went up from my naked sons.  There was
much laughter from all six of them.

I called out.  "Hey kids!"  Rafe heard me and turned around. I waved to
him, indicating that they come to me.  He nudged the others and they left
the soldiers to return to me - all except one.  Mike, of course.  He was
the most sexually forward of the four.  I could see he was fondling the
soldier's enormous cock, while the soldier had reached over the fence and
was ruffling Mike's hair.

Oh, no you don't, I thought.  Mike was randy enough to climb the fence and
impale himself on that cock.

I called out again, "Mike!" putting the snap of command into my voice.  He
couldn't ignore that. He flashed me a look and reluctantly left the men,
waving at them as he did.  The men seemed to notice me for the first time
and hurriedly (and guiltily) straightened their uniforms and roared off on
their speeders.

I resumed my weaving as the young men mounted the steps to the porch, Mike
bringing up the rear.  Rel disappeared inside while the others flopped on
the furniture on the porch.

"Who was he, Mike?" I asked as I passed the shuttle through the warp
threads.

"Said his name was Trip, dad."

I pondered the name.  "Can't say I know him.  Is he new at the garrison?"

Mike just shrugged.  Rel reappeared, tossing his sibs bottles of fruit
juice.

"You should have seen how much he came, dad," Rel said.  He took a long
suck at the bottle and then held it up.  "He could have filled this."  And
he snickered.

"Nah," said Rafe, " more than that.  Easily a liter."  They all laughed.

"Mega liters," Gabe giggled and they all laughed again.

Mike leered.  "Get that cock up your arse.  That'd make your eyes cross."
They all hooted at the suggestion.

I looked at Mike steadily.  "You know the rules, Mike."

Mike pulled a face.  "Yeah. I know dad. "  They all joined in and quoted
the rule back to me: "Anyone who wants to fuck us, has to talk to you
first."

I said, "And don't forget it."

Mike said, "Think how that cock would stretch your arse-hole.  Whoa!"  They
all laughed and winced.

I put the shuttle aside.  "Which brings us, very neatly, to what I want to
talk to you about."  I reached down beside me and revealed the package that
Dek had left that morning.

I said, "Dek the tech was here this morning while you guys were pounding
the parade ground, and left a little something for each of you."

Rafe was indignant.  "Hey. He's my sire.  Why should these losers get
anything from him?"

As I unwrapped the box, I said, "It's not precisely a gift.  More like
essential medical apparatus."  I opened the box and displayed the contents
to them.  Four naked bodies crowed round the table.

"They're butt plugs," said Gabe in surprised recognition.  "Why are these
essential?  If these guys want their butts plugged, I'll be glad to do it."

Derisive laughter from the others.

"These are special," I said. "Watch." And I carefully turned the thick end
of one of the plugs.  The plug grew in length and thickness.

"Oh wow," said Rel. "That is so cool."  They all grabbed a plug, and
started twisting them to make them expand.

"Aw fuck," said Mike in amazement, "look how big they grow.  No guy's got a
cock that big."

"You'd be surprised," I muttered cynically. I watched them as they played
with the plugs, making then expand and contract.

Rel said suddenly, "Why are these necessary?"  Rel the thinker - who saw
immediately all the ramifications of any situation.  They all looked at me.

I gently pointed to the mountains in the distance.  "Look at the mountains,
guys."

"Fuuuck," said Gabe in awed wonder, "The mountains have turned red."

The four of them gaped at the sight and Rel whispered, "The notus is
blooming."

I felt the frisson of excitement that passed over them.

Mike turned to me and croaked, "How long?"  I saw in his eyes excitement
tinged with a little fear.  I quietly stood up and moved to them, putting
my arms over the shoulders of two of them as we all looked at the
mountains, bright scarlet in the afternoon sunlight.

"Bright red for a week," I said, "then two more weeks to turn from red to
dark purple.  Then the flowers will appear and the purple will flush
gold. Say four weeks - then the Honey Wind will blow - and then..."

We stood in silence gazing at the mountains.  I gave a big sigh and then
got down to business.  "So..." I said, "these plugs are for you. Start off
with the smallest setting," and I handed one to each of them.  "From today,
you'll wear the plugs morning and night.  Each morning when you wake up,
you'll crank them up one notch, so that by the time the Honey Wind blows,
your arse-holes will be fully stretched.  Until then, you'll remove them
only when you shit..."

"Or get fucked." Rafe added wickedly.

I grunted.  "That too."

Gabe said, "Couldn't we just fuck each other big time?  That'll keep us
stretched."

I shook my head.  "Not enough.  It's been tried before.  No.  Sorry, but
these plugs are the only thing.  Shove 'em in."

I watched as the young men, with much ribaldry and laughter, slid the plugs
up each other's butts.  When they were finished, they were giggling and
were half-erect.  Clear liquid was dribbling from Mikes cock.

"Fuck, dad," he said.  "If we wear these while we're exercising, we'll be
creaming all the time."

I shrugged.  "You'll get used to it."  I saw the covert looks that passed
between them.

"You shall not remove them.  Is that clear? Your drill sergeants will check
each day.  Guys, I've seen too many arses ripped and bleeding, and too many
people dying of internal rupture - literally fucked to death.  That will
never happen again, and especially not to you.  Understood?"  I held their
gazes and they all mumbled assent.

"Good," I said, and started to pack up the loom.  "Now, go wash up and get
dressed.  We'll be having something to eat soon."

Rel looked at me steadily.  "Dad?"

"What is it?"

"Are you wearing one?"  Only Rel would ask that question.  I was aware of
four pairs of eyes gazing at me.

I smiled. "No.  I don't need one."  They were still staring at me so I
added, "To those of us who have breathed the notus spore, those of us who
have been fanned by the Honey Wind, there have been changes to our bodies.
You might say that the notus has insured that we truly belong to this
world.  Our cocks achieve greater dimensions when erect and lubrication
glands have been activated in our rectums. Also our arse muscles are a lot
more flexible. You don't have this.  Hence the butt plugs."

I could see that the boys were impressed.  Rel was still looking steadily
at me.

"Dad," he asked softly, "you have never fucked us.  Why?  Don't you love
us?"

I could see that it was the question they all wanted to ask.  They were all
looking at me with anxiety and dread.

I said gently and carefully, "Never doubt my love for you.  You are more
than life to me.  There was a time when I thought I would never have any
sons.  And now, here you are.  But I have never fucked you for a lot of
reasons.  You are my sons but you're only eight months old.  My birth and
upbringing was radically different from yours, and I still carry an
instinctive horror of incest - though that is now meaningless in this time
and place.  When the Honey Wind blows - well, who can tell what will happen
in that time of mindless rut, but I love you dearly and forever, and would
gladly lay down my life for each of you."

**********

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.  With the gift of hindsight, even the most
foolish of us become wise.  Looking back, I had long come to the conclusion
that it must have been the nuclear reactor.  Something happened.  It
exploded or something.  It was the only possible explanation for my strange
journey.

I remember that the morning was crisp and clear - a perfect autumn morning.
It was the first time that I had been out of the house for a long time.  I
had decided to take Barquentine for a long walk.  Barquentine -Tom's dog,
but Tom was now at peace after his long painful decline, and Barquentine
fretted at his enforced inactivity while I shut myself away with my grief.
So I took him for an extended excursion around the tract of land where the
reactor was located.  At the time it was built, the reactor had been
remote, but the suburbs had since moved out and threatened to engulf
it. Now there were calls for it to be shut down.  It was too old, they
said.  Its age made it dangerous, they said.  Remember Chernobyl, they
said.  Besides, its removal would open up more valuable land for the
suburban sprawl.

It was a strange morning, I remember.  Somehow hushed.  Birds seemed
reluctant to call and even the insects were muted. There were very few
people around that morning.  I let Barquentine off his leash and he bounded
off pausing every now and then to snuffle in the long grass and do those
things you'd have to be a dog to appreciate.  I continued walking around
the perimeter chain-wire fence of the reactor, slashing at the long grass
with the leather leash.  Barquentine was out of sight.  I stopped and
looked around in wonder.  It was chillingly silent.  I stood and looked
around as though seeing everything for the first time.

And then I woke up in hospital.

It was a place unlike any I had seen before, and yet at the same time,
familiar.  I knew it was a hospital because the ambient light and the color
scheme of the painted walls, all said "institution".  I was lying in a boat
shaped bed.  Straddling my stomach, but not touching me was a sort of
molded bridge that obviously held monitoring equipment.  I could hear the
slow rhythmic thrump... thrump... thrump of a monitor.

I felt very much alert.  There was no pain, although I hadn't moved.  I
licked my lips.  My mouth was very dry.  I looked around, carefully turning
my head and I saw a young man seated by the door.  Some sort of attendant,
I guessed.

"Could I... could I have some water, please?" I croaked.  The words felt
strange in my mouth, as though I were speaking a foreign language.

He looked at me when I spoke, and then stood up and disappeared from my
sight and came back with a glass container full of water with a bent glass
straw.  He leant over my bed and held it for me.  I could do nothing but
gape at him.  He was extraordinarily beautiful.  His blond hair was buzzed
short and his eyes were bright blue.  His brawny arms were bare. He wore a
snugly fitting vest-like garment of grey-blue.  He had no expression on his
face as I carefully sucked at the glass straw, with my eyes on his
beautifully sculptured features.  I paused for breath and said, "Thank
you."

He just nodded, so I said, "What's your name?"

The look he gave me was a strange one that I couldn't interpret.  By way of
answer, he looked pointedly to a tattoo on one of his dome-like shoulder
muscles.  It was some sort of writing, I guessed, though I couldn't read
it.  To me it looked like a cross between Arabic and Pitman's shorthand.

I took another long draught of the water he offered me.

"I can't read that.  Sorry." I said.  There was a long pause and he said,
in a voice that sounded rusty from disuse, "That is my number."

His number?  I was suddenly uncomfortably reminded of the numbers tattooed
on the arms of the concentration camp victims.  I could not - would not -
call him by a number!

I said, "Perhaps I can give you a name while I'm here?"  I looked for some
sign from him.  He stared at me for a long moment then lowered his eyes and
gave a slight nod.

Feeling pleased, I made a quick decision.  "Tom.  I shall call you
Tom... if that is alright with you?"  It seemed fitting that my Tom should
be remembered in this way.

Again he gave me that burning look and suddenly gave a small smile.  I
smiled back.  "I'd like some more water, thank you Tom."

He leant over me again while I sucked the glass tube again still looking at
him.

"Unit!!!"  The shrill voice was like a whiplash.  "What are you doing,
Unit?"

Tom stepped away from me and stood rigid, his head bowed.

I spoke.  "He was giving me some water."

The nurse, and I assumed she was a nurse, stared at me.

"Why was I not informed the patient was conscious?  Can you not understand
the simplest order?"  She bustled officiously to the monitors over the bed.
I stared at her.  She was dressed in some sort of uniform, though as I
examined her, I was aware that the uniform was... peculiar.  It seemed to
be molded, not woven and sewn.  I could see no seams in it.  I thought
nurses no longer wore uniforms.  Perhaps she was in the military.  It would
explain the Nazi like attitude.  Her grey uniform had some strange insignia
on it, around the neck and on the shoulders.  I didn't recognize anything
even though I knew I was no slouch in the field of militaria, especially
Australian militaria.

She held out her hand imperiously to Tom.  "Give me that water."
Wordlessly Tom gave it to her.  She bent over me, offering the glass tube.

"Drink!" She commanded.  I smiled and shook my head.

"I have had enough," I said as sweetly as I could.  I did not like this
woman, so i added, "Thank you ... Frau Braun."

She just snorted, obviously not understanding the allusion.  She moved away
and got rid of the water bottle.  She came back and fiddled with the
monitor, all the time muttering to herself.  I couldn't quite understand
what she said.  She ignored me and kept casting dirty looks at Tom.  So
much for the spirit of Florence Nightingale! She stomped officiously out of
the room.  I looked at Tom.  He was still standing by the wall with his
eyes down.

I wanted to sit up.  I struggled trying to adjust myself.

"Tom," I said, "Could you help me please?  I want to sit up."  Tom was by
the side of the bed in an instant and effortlessly lifted me into a sitting
position, and adjusted and smoothed the pillows behind me.

I felt a guilty thrill as his smooth massive arms encircled me and I
breathed in the odour of his magnificent body as he leaned over me.  What a
hunk, I thought, and was immediately ashamed of myself for that thought.
He was obviously only doing his job.  He had barely stepped away from the
bed when the door hissed open and Eva Braun returned, this time with an
older middle aged man who was obviously her superior officer by the
cringing way she deferred to him and by the fact that there was a lot more
(incomprehensible) insignia on his uniform.

He waved Tom aside without so much as a glance at him, and then he and Eva
consulted the monitor panel and mumbled together.  They seemed to come to
some agreement, when they stepped away from the monitor and turned their
attention to me.

The older man said, "Well, you seem to have recovered satisfactorily.  How
are you feeling?"

I instantly distrusted his manner. It forcibly reminded of the false
jolliness of the Christian Brothers who taught me, so many years ago - that
ghastly show-me-a-boy-and-I'll-give-you-a-man air of a "man among boys, and
a boy among men".

I said, "Where is Barquentine?"

The man smiled soothingly, though it was obvious he hadn't the faintest
idea what I was talking about.

I tried again.  "Barquentine - my dog?"  Blank looks from the both of them.

I began to get irritated. "My dog - Newfoundland - black?"  They looked at
each other.

I tried not to shout. "My dog ... Woof! Woof!"  I barked at them.  They
stared at me as though I had suddenly grown two heads.  I took a breath and
tried another tack, remembering that hideous Politically Correct phrase.

"My... um... Animal Companion?"

Victory!  Recognition!  Eva Braun said with amazement, "A... animal?" and,
surprisingly, she looked a little frightened.

Boss man gave me a wide smile.  "There was no animal with you."  His
unspoken implication was "...and a good thing too."

I sighed and settled back.  He's probably a long way from here, I thought.
Where was Here?

"Where am I?" I asked.

Again that professional niceness from Boss man. "Now don't you worry about
that.  You're in safe hands."

I snapped at him.  "For God's sake, I'm not a child.  Answer the bloody
question."

The fatuous smile was wiped from his face.  Obviously no one spoke to him
like that.

"You are in Autodoc 459." He pressed his lips together showing petulant
displeasure.

Auto dock?  I was in a garage?

I sniggered, "What did you do?  Give me a grease and oil change?"

Boss man and Eva shot nervous looks at each other.

"No," said Boss man shortly, "You were reconstructed."  I gaped at him and
before I could ask anything else, he and Eva left the room - almost fled -
with the door hissing closed behind them.

I was in mild shock. I lifted my hands in front of my face.  Well, my hands
were normal.  No!  They had changed!  The age spots had disappeared.  The
lumps of arthritis on the joints of my fingers were gone and my fingers
were smooth and normal... young looking.  I turned my hands over.  Dear
God!  That chip of pencil lead that had lodged under the skin at the base
of my thumb, which I had carried with me since I was fourteen - it was
gone!  And there was no scar.

I started sweating and shaking and forced myself to calm down.

"Tom," I croaked, "is there a mirror here?"

Tom appeared at the side of the bed.  "In the fresher," he said.

Fresher? I presumed he meant the bathroom.

"Would... would you bring it to me, please?"

He looked a little sad that he could not oblige.  "It's attached to the
wall," he said.

I took a deep breath.  "Help me out of bed please.  I must look at myself."

Tom didn't hesitate.  He pushed the monitor bridge aside, and threw back
the bedclothes.  I was startled to discover I was completely naked.  Then
Tom leant over, slipped one muscled arm under my shoulders and the other
under my knees and lifted me effortlessly from the bed.  It was as though I
weighed nothing - which I knew I certainly did not.  He then carried me
gently and almost lovingly into the bathroom - the fresher, which was
around a corner in the wall, which I hadn't noticed before.

He set me on my feet in front of what was obviously a washbasin with a
large mirror on the wall above it.  I was a little unsteady on my feet and
he kept hold of me while I gazed at myself.

I couldn't believe it.  I had celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday just after
Tom had died.  The image staring back at me was a man of thirty... maybe
younger.  But it was me, definitely me.  I was completely bald.  There was
not a hair on my body.  I looked down at my cock.  Completely bald, like a
gay porn star's.  I looked closely at my face.  Yes, it was my face, but
younger and much healthier.  My skin cancer scars were gone.  My haggard
jowls were gone.  Even the wrinkles and lines on my forehead and face were
gone. All signs of age - all gone.  Was the skin real? I pinched my cheek.
It hurt and definitely felt real.  I opened my mouth.  All my teeth were
perfect, perfectly aligned and perfectly white.  As an experiment I
breathed in slowly through my nose.  My sinuses were not constricted
anymore.  And it was a certain bet that my blood pressure had been
corrected and my diabetes had disappeared.

I looked at Tom. My mouth was dry. "How... how is this possible?"

Tom was looking at me with such sympathy, and with a large hand he began to
rub my back gently.

He answered simply, "The autodoc."

Autodoc.  Automatic doctor.  What a wonder of technology!  They had put me
into this miraculous sausage machine and this is how I came out.

I knew then I wasn't in Kansas anymore, Toto.

I felt a bit shaken and I held on to Tom's brawny arm for support.  I
realized I was sweating.

"I would like to wash, if that's possible," I muttered.  Tom nodded, and
still holding on to me he leant over and twiddled a knob on the wall and an
alcove was suddenly filled with misting water.  The subtle perfume wafted
over me, redolent of new mown grass, of herbs and of spring.

I said to Tom, "I'm a little wobbly on my feet.  Could you help me into the
shower, please?"

Tom nodded and stepped back from me while I leant against a wall.  He
quickly stripped in front of me, so quickly in fact I couldn't follow what
he did. He stepped out of his one-piece and was naked except for a very
brief pair of... briefs.

Sweet Jesus!  He was a gay wanker's wet dream.  From his broad muscled
shoulders to his narrow waist and large thighs.  His skin was flawless and
creamy, and his stomach was a rocky six-pack - no, eight-pack.  I stared at
his stomach.  Something was wrong.  My mind was numb until I realized.

He had no navel.  NO NAVEL!!!

I think it was that realization that pushed me over the edge.  I stumbled
forward and the last thing I remember was his arms coming around me as I
blacked out.

When I awoke, I was back in bed.  Eva Braun was with me again, adjusting
knobs on the monitor.  I looked around.  We were the only two in the room.
I looked at her.  She was pointedly ignoring me.

"Where's Tom?"

She looked at me, annoyed I had spoken to her.  "Who?"

I looked at Tom's position by the door.  No Tom.

She pursed her lips as though tasting something nasty.  "That unit," she
said, "has proved to be unsatisfactory.  It has been removed."

I was suddenly furious.  "That unit." I ground out, "saved me from cracking
my head open on the tiles."

Her boiled gooseberry eyes flashed.  "It had no business taking you off
this bed."

"HE" and I emphasized the word, "helped me into the fresher as I asked him
to."

She tossed her head and went back to the monitor.  "Whatever it did," she
said, "it has to learn to know its place."

You bitch, I thought.  You petty bitch.

"Get him back," I said quietly.

He smiled, a tight smile of triumph.  "It is too late.  It has been
remanded to the correction centre."

Oh, shit.  I didn't like the sound of that.  I decided to take a gamble.

"It would distress me very much," I said gently, "if I had to report to
your superior officer that you have impeded my recovery, by causing me
undue anguish as I contemplated the unwarranted punishment of a unit who
was doing its utmost to assist me."  I looked at her and was pleased to see
I had her undivided attention.

I continued. "I would feel compelled to insist that you be transferred to
another post as I could not feel comfortable with a nurse who displayed
such unfeeling treatment of a conscientious unit.  I might even, perhaps
insist on your demotion."

She went deathly pale and opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish.

I smiled sweetly. "Now if you will excuse me," I said, "I am exhausted by
this distasteful conversation, and I must get some sleep."

I ostentatiously closed my eyes.  I heard her rapid exit and the door
hissing open and closed.  Yes!! It seems I am a very important person, I
thought, as I drifted off.

I awoke suddenly.  Tom was sitting by my bed looking down on me.  I smiled
sleepily at him.  "Welcome back," I murmured.

He looked me in the eyes for a moment, and then gave me a slow, beautiful
smile that went straight to my heart.