textfiles/sex/EROTICA/C/convales.txt

                           Convalescence
                           -------------

     Dawn
     ----
     Dawn could be your harsh mistress, your long lost lover, or your
naughty teenaged babysitter.  She also could have been dead.  She was
arguably the best whore on the planet, what with a college degree in
drama and a fully developed empathic sense.  Her lack of higher           
telepathic awareness left her able to concentrate on emotions and hone
her skill to a fine art.  Ignoring what her clients said or even thought
they wanted, she could unerringly feel when buttons were really being 
pushed and act the parts which triggered their need and their release.

     All this didn't help that Sunday when the maniac nearly choked her
to death.  The marks on her throat were fading more quickly than the
memory of the black cloud of hatred and self loathing that boiled out
of the asshole as his grip on her throat caused her own world to move
toward black.  Now she was in a mountain resort which would have been
full of skiers during the season, but this time of year was nearly 
empty.  There was one other guest.  The serving staff, being robots, 
didn't count.

     Dawn spent her days hiking along the mountain trails, discovering
wild flowers and creeks and tremendous vistas.  She spent her nights
before bed looking at the clear sky full of bright stars.  It often
looked just like it must have centuries before, but sometimes there was
the telltale expanding ring of fire that meant space was healing itself
after a star drive had ripped a hole into subspace and pulled a ship in 
after it.

     After a life overly full of human bodies, Dawn needed the seclusion.
But as a single concession to civility, she agreed to sit with the lone
other guest over dinner and share his bottle of wine.

     Bill
     ---- 
     At first she might have done it for the wine alone, which was 
always superb.  He introduced himself as Bill Fokkakis, and appeared
about twenty years older than Dawn's thirty two.  After only a short
while she would have sat with him even without the wine.  He was a
delightful conversationalist with wide ranging interests.  He had an
unusual form of personal integrity, at once polite but unyieldingly
rigorous on intellectual issues, while at the same time enormously
patient and forgiving about the failures of human beings and human
institutions.  Dawn used her empathic sense to try to learn more.     
She sensed that he enjoyed her company, and further was sexually 
attracted to her, though with no hint of the overwhelming compulsive
need which often emanated from her clients.

     Bill told her that he was taking time out from a very stressful
job, but she could sense no stress at all.  Under the enjoyment of her
company was a Zen-like peace and willingness to let things unfold while 
interfering only occasionally and subtlety.  While she wandered the
mountain paths during the day, he entertained himself by studying 
twentieth and twenty-first century Terran history.  At dinner he told
her stories of the early days of space travel, and of other scientific
advances.  She was particularly interested in his recounting of the
breakthrough anti-viral discovery of the RNA expert Niedziela back in
2011, without which her own occupation would have other dangers than
homicidal maniacs.

     Dawn explained her own presence with the near truth that she was
a therapist social worker who had been attacked by one of her cases,
and needed time to get herself back together.  Bill was interested, but
didn't press for details.

     Tease
     -----
     As Dawn's soul began to heal, she found herself very at ease with
Bill.  She was flattered by his sexual interest, and began flirting and
teasing, without any intention of it ever leading anywhere.  To her,
it was just fun.  As she kept it up, Bill one day asked if she were
interested in having sex with him.  She said "no", and was not expecting
his response.

     "Look", said Bill, "if you're not going to follow through, please
stop teasing.  If you want to go to bed with me, fine.  If you want to
stop flirting, that's fine too.  If you can't choose between plan A and
plan B, then I'm going to choose plan C and spank your little ass.  I
don't like to be prick teased".

     Dawn turned down the heat, and everything was fine for several 
days.  She had never meant to frustrate Bill, just hadn't been thinking.
It was refreshing not to have to read a man's emotions and adjust 
herself accordingly.  She got enough of that at work.  But she realized
Bill should not pay an emotional price just because she was taking a
vacation from sensitivity.

     Everything would have continued just that way, if it hadn't been
for what Dawn thought of as her naughty streak.  It was the part of
her personality which liked to take risks, and it was a measure of her
healing and her comfort with Bill that it would even come out and play
at this point.  Her naughty streak convinced Dawn to call his bluff.

     Dawn dressed for dinner in a skimpy little red thing made of
cling-y material.  It clung to her breasts in ways that guaranteed no
bra was beneath.  The bottom part of the dress was short and tight.  If
she wore that dress on the street, it would cause motorists to have
accidents.  Since there were no panties beneath, if she bent over,
some pilgrim might catch a glimpse of Paradise.  She really didn't have
a plan.  She didn't know if she expected to wind up fucked or spanked,
or if she could charm her way out of one or both.  She was just looking
for trouble.  And she got it.

     Consequence
     -----------
     Bill eyed the little red dress and reminded himself just what a
pretty woman Dawn was.  Her long hair was unbound, her face fresh and
wearing almost no makeup.  Bill couldn't lose tonight, because whatever
happened next, Dawn had obviously abandoned plan B.  Dinner was just
a backdrop for her teasing, and she drank more than her share of the
wine.  Through dinner, Dawn had been deciding that she was going to
sleep with Bill, so it was quite a surprise when he asked the inevitable
question, and she heard herself say "no".

     She was even more surprised a minute later, laying across his lap,
her long hair brushing the floor.  The little red dress was bunched up
around her waist, and her decision not to wear panties wasn't looking 
too smart at the moment.  His big right hand was smacking down or her 
right bun.  It was making quite a noise, and quite an impression.  For 
one thing, it hurt.  Dawn had been spanked by some of her clients, but
could always keep a clinical detachment from what was going on.  This
time, whether because she really liked Bill, or because she had caused
the situation herself, she was not at all detached.  Dawn felt naughty,
helpless, and sexy all at the same time.  She was much too distracted
and into the experience to read what Bill was feeling, but the fact that
his left hand had found one of her tits and was playing with it as his
right hand did its job on her ass left little doubt that there was a        
sexual component in there for him too.

     After about five minutes, sex wasn't just a component.  Her hips
were moving rhythmically, and small groans came out of her, even after
the spanks stopped.  She lay there, as compelled and needy as one of her
own clients.  "Please fuck me", Dawn's voice was soft and hoarse, "Hard".
The robots waited patiently for them to leave the dining room before
they cleared away the remains of the half-eaten dinner.

     Music
     -----
     Bill let her stand up, but slapped her hand away when she tried to
pull her little dress back down.  No, it would stay where it was for the
walk to his suite.  Then it came off.

     They played the Sexual Sonata in three movements.  The first, short
and harsh according to her need.  The second, slow, loving, kind, with
lots of cuddling and petting.  The third again up-tempo, but with a
longer crescendo and a finale which left both players exhausted.  Dawn
had never had anything quite like it.  She was used to being somewhat
detached, and reading her partner to find out what he needed.  This time
she was at first too completely involved to read, then tried it later
to find that it was not necessary.  Bill, she found, enjoyed fucking her
and enjoyed making sure she liked it.  Period.  Dawn could stay inside
her own head for once and enjoy the ride, instead of having to drive.
She fell asleep on his arm, and it was a while before he gave up and
half roused her so he could move it.

     Change
     ------
     Dawn slept with Bill now several times a week, happy to be able to
play at sex rather than work at it.  From time to time she would show 
up at dinner wearing that naughty little red thing, and was always
enthusiastically treated to a repeat of what happened the first time.
Tonight she dressed more conservatively, because she wanted no 
distractions.  It was confession time.  She told Bill about her job as
a whore, and her talent as an empath.  Turns out, he had more to
confess than she did.

     "I've known that all along", Bill said, "I'm with the Psi Corps,
and we have been aware of you for about six years".

     "Psi Corps scares me",  said Dawn. "Whenever they talk to people
I know, the people seem to disappear".

     "Well sometimes we have to intervene if someone is misusing a
talent, but almost always if people disappear, it's just because   
we've recruited them.  You, by the way, have always used your talent
ethically.  You use it to do a better job of giving your customer what
he came for.  You thought it was a euphemism when you called yourself
a therapist, but I suggest that's exactly what you are.  Giving those
guys an outlet for their fantasies hurt no one, and in many cases helped
them remain stable and productive.  Now, though, especially with what
you have gone through, I suggest you think about changing jobs".

     "I've always realized I couldn't keep doing it", said Dawn, "the
career is short, like an athlete, which is why I save so much money,
and pay attention to investing".

     Bill startled her.  "How would you like to work for Psi Corps? 
You could be part of a therapy team, telling the doctor what the patient
was feeling.  Or if you are more adventuresome, you could be part of a
spy team, telling us which diplomats were lying and which ones hate
each other.  The pay is at least as good as your current job, and while
there are some risks, you will have teammates watching out that you
don't get your neck wrung.  Not only that, but you seem to be developing
a nice appreciation of sex, which probably won't last if you go back to
being a pro.  Too much like a bussman's holiday".

     "Why do I feel that our meeting here was not by accident?", Dawn
asked.

     "It wasn't", said Bill.  "Your ordeal was not our doing.  But after
it happened, we let your travel agent in on a good deal here.  I,
meanwhile, needed to take some time off work, so I made a virtue of
necessity and volunteered to be the one to be here and watch you heal.
It worked out better than I expected.  You are resilient, and didn't     
need anything but time to heal you.  I never expected to get to sleep
with you.  That was an unexpected bonus".

     "What will your superiors think about your having sex with me?",
asked Dawn playfully.

     "They will be ecstatic.  They think I'm easier to cope with when I
have a lover",   Bill answered in complete honesty.

     "And how do I know that any job offer you make me will be honored?",
Dawn asked next.

     "I have considerable influence", said Bill.  "My recommendations
are not taken lightly".

     Through the rest of dinner, Dawn kept up the bantering, semi-
serious job interview with Bill, but secretly she had already made up
her mind.  She was tired of being a whore.

     General William Fokkakis, Commander of Psi Corps, had his mind made
up too.  Dawn was going to make one hell of a good spy.