Later that night, after everyone else had picked a cabin and settled in, Byron sat on his bunk in his own cabin, staring into the mirror. He couldn't stop looking at his strong and handsome avatar in the game. It wasn't his real body, but as long as he was trapped in Venus Online, it might as well be. He had to get used to it.

But he couldn't stop thinking about what the old guy in the bar had said, how he had been trapped in the game for over a year. Thirty years in the game's accelerated time. Byron tried to imagine living the next thirty years in Venus Online, and it made him queasy. While he loved the ship and the women and the adventure, he wanted to go home. He didn't want to watch his virtual body grow old while his real body slept away. Also, if he kept getting into trouble, he'd wind up dead for sure.

There was a knock on the door.

He got up from his bed and touched the keypad. The door opened.

Xana looked up at him from the doorway. "Oh, um, I hope I'm not bothering you. I-I just wanted to thank you. For taking me on board, I mean."

He smiled. While she had been a fierce fighter on Aegis, the green girl seemed shy and soft-spoken everywhere else. He thought it was cute. "Not at all, Xana. I thank you for saving our lives. Which I've been meaning to ask about. Why did you turn visible and risk your life to save us?"

She lowered her eyes to the ground and shrugged. "I-I'm not sure. I saw you and I just - just didn't want you to die."

"Well, I appreciate it." He paused as she still stood there, seeming to hesitate. "Are you okay?"

Xana walked past him into his cabin. She sat down on the bunk and stared at her feet.

Byron closed the door and sat next to her. He just waited, knowing sometimes silence was what people really needed.

She spoke in a softer voice. "I was abandoned as a baby on a distant planet. I don't know how but I can guess why. I was the only Chamella on Lorama, and they didn't know what to do with me, so I was placed in an orphanage where they were very cruel. I had no friends. After getting beaten for the hundredth time, I ran away and lived on the streets, fending for myself. I learned to work with machines, stole what I needed. When I was thirteen, I met the first Chamella I had ever seen in person. I felt so much joy at meeting someone like myself, of not being alone. B-But he was d-disgusted by me."

She reached up to run her fingers through her long green hair. "Um, most Chamella don't have hair. It's considered abnormal, a hideous mutation, and those with hair are called the Cursed. I kept meeting Chamella as I traveled the Galaxy, and found them all the same. No Chamella will talk to me, even look at me, let alone tell me where I can find my homeworld or my family or anything else. I think I was abandoned because of my hair so my family probably won't want to see me either. I'm all alone."

Byron reached out and put his arm around her. He felt her shiver against him. "No, you're not, Xana. You've got us now. Back on my planet, I was alone, too. I had a scar on my face that people thought was abnormal. So I'm not gonna say I know how you feel, but I know how I'd want to feel."

He looked up at the ceiling, letting the hum from the ship's engines fill the silence for a moment. "I'm a long way from my mother and my sister and my planet. I can't go back, so this place has become my home. Scarlett and Chetaara, they've become my family. And if you want, we'll be your family, too."

She looked up at him and he gazed into her shimmering purple eyes.

She reached up, placed her hands on his cheeks, and pulled him to her.

They kissed, and he felt something pass between them. All the loneliness and fear she had felt seemed to melt away. She didn't push her tongue into his mouth, and he kept his inside. They just pressed their lips against each other, savoring the connection. She pressed against him, and he inhaled her scent like cinnamon. He reached up to run his hands through her ponytail, and it felt as soft and light as silk.

When she finally leaned back, he smiled down at her.

She looked worried. "I-I don't have, um, much experience. At this."

He shrugged. "Neither do I. At least, not until recently."

A smile pricked up her lips.

She stood up and touched her necklace. Her clothes flowed up into the collar, leaving her nude body exposed. She was so short that, even sitting down, they almost looked each other in the eye. He looked down at her breasts, tipped with swollen nipples, and reached out to tease them.

She closed her eyes and breathed more heavily as he ran his hands over her soft boobs. He traced the nipples in circles and the sides while leaning in to gently kiss her neck. She moaned as he sucked her neck with gentle teasing.

"That feels so good," she whispered.

Her fingers came up to unzip his jumpsuit and they slipped off onto the bed. She paused to look down at his muscular body and smiled before leaning back into him. She seemed to like what she saw.

He went back to kissing his way up her neck to her lips. Her hands glided down the muscles of his chest and stomach to free his throbbing cock. He sat up a little for her to pull off his boxers, and her hands returned to his shaft and tugged on it with firm but slow strokes.

"Take me," she whispered.

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up onto the bed. Lying her down, he slid onto her, between her open legs.

Her eyes widened and he could see fear in them.

Byron touched her cheek. "We'll take it slow."

She nodded.

He positioned himself and rested the head of his cock up against her glistening pussy. He waited. She closed her eyes and moved her hips, sliding him inside. As he entered her, her eyes flew open wide and she gasped.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, just - you're so big."

"I'm sorry--"

She reached up to slide her hands around his waist and pull him closer. "No. I like it. Just need to adjust."

Never had that problem before, he thought.

He wondered if every male in the game was well-endowed or just him.

She wrapped her legs around him and moved in a steady rhythm. He pressed his hips to meet hers, and she closed her eyes. The two began to move together, rising and falling, and he felt her wetness embrace him. He sank deeper and deeper, and his pleasure grew.

Her hands came up to rest on his face and drew him in. They planted small kisses on each other's lips as they met each other's bodies. Having sex with Scarlett had been aggressive. Making love to Chetaara had been almost mystical. This felt more tender and gentle.

She moaned. "Oh god, it's been so long."

He smiled. "No way. You're beautiful."

She turned her eyes away. "I-I don't trust...very many. To do this."

He saw and heard in her the fear and hesitation, and imagined what her life was like, always hiding and running and never feeling safe or loved. "Thank you. I feel honored--"

She pressed her fingers over his lips. "Shh, don't talk. Just let me feel."

He obeyed, continued to move on her, guiding himself in and out of her depths, feeling her body respond. Her face glistened, and he felt her stomach growing slick with sweat as they worked to bring each other pleasure.

Her back arched suddenly and she cried out. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she jerked in spasms against him. It didn't take much more before he grunted and came inside her. They shared their pleasure, groaning and gasping into each other.

When their climax eased, he rolled over and lay back on the bed, exhausted. It had been a long day, and he realized how much stamina he had gained to have sex so many times in one day. The strength stat seemed to be paying off.

She surprised him by cuddling up under his arm. He thought she would have left quickly afterwards, but she lay her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

He kissed the top of her head. There didn't seem to be a need to speak.

His door hissed open, and he looked up to see the outline of Chetaara from the bedroom doorway. She looked at them for a moment before walking in, and her tail flicked behind her. He worried that maybe this would be the one time he went too far.

Instead, she crawled onto the other side of him and snuggled against his other arm. She kissed him, then closed her eyes as she rested her head on his chest as well.

Looking down at the two naked women lying against him, Byron sighed. "Yeah, I like this game."