Welcome To Saturn Beta - Part 17 free porn video

Tyler stayed sober through the rest of the after-party in the saloon. Two shots had been enough to make him unsteady in his seat - this new, smaller, softer body was much less tolerant of alcohol than his previous, flabbier male form, and he knew he had to slam the brakes on the booze if he was going to stay mentally fit enough to run his game on Ben Rosenthal. It had been going well so far, and Tyler was able to extract some potentially useful information from his target. He now knew Ben's birthday (October 21st), the names of his pets (Turtle and Goldie, a pair of spaniels), and several other seemingly innocuous, private details that Tyler could use when it came time to attempt cracking any security measures that Ben had on his smartphone. Tyler filed all these tidbits away in his mind, hoping for a chance to use them soon. It was Lola's idea for all the Ringed Amusements girls to head back into the dressing room to get changed back into something more comfortable. Tyler readily agreed, as the corset was really starting to aggravate him after several hours of wear. Jackson, Renee, and the rest of the girls followed Lola and Tyler into the dressing room. Amber lagged behind for a bit to share a private moment with her fiance, the first they'd had together since the big announcement. A chorus of contented sighs went up in the dressing room as everyone stepped out of their dresses and stockings, loosened their corsets and undid the front busks, allowing their tummies and breasts some breathing room. Renee seemed unfazed by the sudden freedom... but then again, she had been excited of the prospect of wearing the corset earlier. She almost seemed bummed out about taking it off, as if her figure wasn't attractive enough without the waist reduction. Tyler didn't get it. Every girl in the company, himself included, had toned bodies that looked as though they'd been meticulously carved out of high-end marble. There was hardly any need to accentuate anything through the use of constricting shapewear. Oh well, Tyler thought, and the wise words of Connie echoed through his head - we like what we like. Most of the girls said their goodbyes to Amber after they were done getting undressed and redressed - they had booked some freelance work, naturally, and it was time to cash in. Jackson had to get back up to the 48th in order to do some managerial, administrative tasks following the successful execution of the saloon event. And now it was just Tyler and Amber in the dressing room, sitting at their vanities wearing the sundresses they'd walked in with many hours ago. Tyler had taken a minute to slide his navel piercing back into place, too, hiding the procedure from Amber and the rest of the girls by leaning far forward under his vanity, pretending he was messing around with his wedge heels. "Well now, Violet," Amber said, looking physically perky but emotionally exhausted. "I s'pose we oughta get back to our dates, huh?" Tyler looked at her crosswise as he sat up straight again and adjusted the bra strap beneath his dress. "Ben's not a date. He's just some guy I met at a thing yesterday morning. I promised I'd show him around." "Oh, I know, darlin'. I just like givin' you a hard time. He's cute, though. Why, were I not a claimed woman, I might try makin' a move on him myself." "Speaking of being a claimed woman," Tyler said, glad that Amber gave him a nice segue into another topic, "you owe me an explanation. Isaac's the reason you were so upset earlier today, isn't he?" Amber took a deep breath, sighed through her nose, and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, he was. Remember those times when I came home to the dorm, lookin' all starry-eyed and tellin' you about how great some men are? The ones who make you feel good about yourself, inside and out? I was talkin' about Isaac. He's a long-time client of mine. Years, Violet. It's been goin' on for years between him and me." "Okay," Tyler said, egging her to continue. "So, last night, we're in bed, and he just said the nicest things to me. Told me I was perfect. Said I was the prettiest, kindest girl he'd ever met in his whole life. Said he loved everything about me, body, mind, and soul. Well, I just about melted in his arms right then and there." Tyler smiled. He knew the feeling of being plied with compliments like that. Connie had done the same for him, both in person and through the flattering review she relayed to Jackson after their first date. "And then he said somethin' else," Amber continued. "He said he hated it every time he had to go back to Earth. He hated being separated from me. He can't take it anymore. And he's sayin' all this stuff, and I'm thinkin', holy shit, he's finally gonna propose to me. I know this might sound kinda weird, but he and I have talked about marriage before. Not seriously, of course. I never really believed in the fairy-tale ending. Y'know... hooker with a heart of gold meets dashing young man who sweeps her off her feet. But I thought maybe, maybe Isaac was different. I love him, I really do, and I knew he loved me too. And I'd hoped it would turn into more than just love, y'know, but I never expected it to. Girls like us usually have to put our hopes and dreams on the sidelines as long as we're in this kinda work. "Last night, though, I thought it'd be different. I thought for sure that he was gonna pull out a ring right then and there and get down on one knee. But he didn't. And then he was just gone this morning, poof, before I even woke up. I didn't know what to do. So I just dragged my hillbilly ass back up to my room in the dorms and started cryin'. And I started thinkin' the worst... that when he said 'I can't take it anymore', what he meant was he couldn't deal with our relationship anymore, so he was just gonna cut it off completely. He'd never just up and left after one of our dates before... and it scared me that he was gone before I woke up. It made me angry. And sad, of course, 'cuz otherwise I wouldn't have been cryin'... but mostly angry. So that's why I was such a train wreck when you came up to the room today." "Wow," Tyler said. "Wow, Amber. Well, I'm really glad that he came to his senses. I'm happy for you." Amber brightened. "I'm happy for me, too! 'Bout time he finally put a ring on my finger. Wanna get back out there?" "We probably should," Tyler said. He stood up from his vanity as Amber rose from hers. They slung their purses over their shoulders and checked to see if they had forgotten anything. Tyler rubbed a hand over his tummy, ensuring that the navel piercing had stayed put. He then wrapped a comforting arm around Amber's waist and pulled her in for a sideways hug as the two friends walked out of the dressing room and into the western-themed lounge, where Isaac and Ben were nursing their drinks and chatting loudly with each other. They seemed to be getting along well. Isaac turned to his fiancee as she walked toward him. "Aw, shoot," he said. "I was kind of hoping you'd still be wearing your saloon thing." "You wish," she said, pecking him on the cheek. "Okay. I can't be the only one who's starvin' to death. How 'bout we all go grab somethin' fancy to eat while we get to know this handsome young man that Violet's stringin' along?" As Tyler flushed with minor embarrassment, all eyes turned to Ben Rosenthal, who cracked a sideways smile. "I could eat." "You could and you will," Amber said. "And Isaac's payin' for it, after what he put me through this mornin'." "Don't go volunteering my wallet all around town, Amber. We're not married yet." The two lovebirds bickered cutely as everyone walked out of the lounge and into the foyer. Amber stayed in front of the pack, clearly having a plan in place for what to do next and not wanting to waste any time. Isaac walked alongside her; Tyler and Ben lagged behind. "Interesting couple," Ben said. He turned to face Tyler. "How long have you known them?" Tyler cocked his head. "I just met Isaac a couple hours ago. Never seen him before in my life." "Huh. How about Amber?" "Five days." Ben chuckled. "You've only known her for five days?" "Yeah. I only got here five days ago. We didn't know each other beforehand." "Five days. Wow," Ben said, turning away from Tyler to watch Amber press the up button on the elevator bank in the middle of the foyer. "Five days in and she's acting like you're her best friend in the whole world." "That's just Amber. She's best friends with you after five minutes. After five days, she's probably ready to adopt me." "Ah." "She's sweet, though. Like, the sweetest girl I've ever met in my life. Isaac's really lucky." Ben and Tyler arrived at the elevators just as one of the shafts opened for new passengers. The four of them piled on and Amber stared at the bank of numbered buttons on the right side of the sliding doors. "Now," she said, furrowing her brow. "Let's see if I can remember what floor it's on..." She tentatively held a finger toward the buttons and eventually mashed the one labeled 146. "Hope y'all are ready for a really long elevator ride." "Oh, god," Isaac said, leaning against the back wall of the elevator car. "The 146th floor. I can hear my bank account account screaming in agony." "Listen mister," Amber said, giving her fiance a playful glare, "you owe me this after scarin' the everlovin' sam-hell outta me this mornin'. Gettin' up and leavin' like that without sayin' goodbye." Isaac scowled back at her. "I was shopping for an engagement ring, ma'am." This continued on and on as the elevator rose through the station's interior. Tyler and Ben kept to one side of the elevator while Isaac and Amber bantered with each other. Tyler eventually broke the uncomfortable silence with his target. "So you know," Tyler said quietly, "the floors in the center of the station are generally less... desirable than the floors at the very top and very bottom. You'll find more expensive places as you get further away from the middle. And the 146th is only four floors away from the absolute top." "Ah ha," Ben said. "Hence why Isaac is making a big deal." "Yup. Amber has something extravagant in mind." He looked down at his relatively plain, floral white sundress, and smoothed the skirt. "I hope I'm not underdressed." "Definitely not. You look fantastic." Tyler gazed up at Ben and smiled at the compliment. He felt himself going a bit off-guard, a bit soft, a bit less on-task than he would usually be when working a mark. Realizing this, he straightened his posture and allowed his smile to droop, hoping that the minor change in physical appearance would help him get back into the game. He went over some details in his mind as the elevator climbed through the middle of the station. October 21st, Goldie, Turtle... ***** Amber's restaurant of choice was a strange Asian fusion place with retro-industrial d?cor, and Tyler definitely didn't feel underdressed when the hostess took the four of them to their booth. Plenty of other patrons were wearing faded denim and old t-shirts. Tattoos abounded. It was a hip place, swerving toward young people who had too much money and free time. And expensive as hell, once Tyler got a look at the contents of the menu. He wondered how Connie Giordano would handle being taken to a place like this. She'd probably sit with her hands tucked in her lap, politely waiting for the meal to end so she could get the hell out of there and escape to the nearest symphony. The thought of it made Tyler laugh under his breath. "What's so funny?" Ben said, leaning to his side. He and Tyler had been sat next to each other in the booth; Amber and Isaac were on the other side, holding hands under the table. "Huh?" Tyler said. "Oh. Uh, no, it's nothing. Just looking at the menu. They have some weird-looking dishes here." "Well, as long as they have something with shiitake mushrooms in it, I'm satisfied." Tyler turned. "Why's that?" "I just like saying it. Shiitake. It's just funny." "Not that funny." "Very funny. Poop jokes are always funny. They never go out of style. They've been with us since the dawn of time and they'll be here at the heat death of the universe." Tyler cocked his head to the side and couldn't help but smile again. "How old are you?" "Twenty-six. I'm very mature for my age." "Obviously." "How old are you?" Tyler's eyes returned to the menu. "Hmm. Don't you know you're never supposed to ask a lady her age?" "Twenty-two," said Amber, from across the table. She and Isaac had been eavesdropping, apparently. "I'm guessin' twenty-two. Am I right?" The real answer, of course, was thirty-five. Tyler sighed, thinking back to his past life on Earth, in Miami, with his pudgy body and goofy- looking ears. It had been less than a week since he'd traded in that old-and-busted model for the ravishing visage of young Violet Taylor, but already the lies of his current life had overtaken the truths of his old one. He kept rolling with it, like he always had. "Yup," he said. "Twenty-two. Earth years, not Mars years." "Violet's from Mars," Amber clarified, to her fiance and to Ben. "Don't know why she's measurin' things in Earth years when she's never been to Earth." "Everything's measured by Earth years," Ben said, shrugging. "Earth hours, Earth seconds, Earth months... it wouldn't make a ton of sense to have a different calendar for everything in the solar system." "I s'pose not. Well, okay, let's ask the expert." Amber turned to Tyler again. "Did you have anythin' different for tellin' time on Mars, Violet? Or like... any weird holidays that only Martians celebrate?" Tyler froze and tried to invent yet another story. "Um... we didn't really do holidays..." Thankfully, a waitress came by to take drink orders as Tyler was struggling with what to say next. Ben ordered a pitcher of cherryblossom mojitos for the table and promised to pay for it himself. Nobody objected. Especially not Tyler, who hoped Ben would get a good bit sloshed over the course of the night. If he got drunk enough, maybe Tyler would be able to convince him to get out his phone, enter his password, give Tyler free reign to swipe around and find some interesting information to sell. There was no need for a puller if the mark gave up the goods freely. "You didn't do holidays?" Amber said, leaning forward on the table and looking very concerned. "God Almighty, Violet... that colony you grew up in just gets more 'n' more awful every day." Shrugging, Tyler rested his hands on his bare knees. "You get used to it." "You get the hell outta there, is what you do. I'm so glad you made it here. Nobody deserves to go through all that nonsense." "Which colony?" Ben asked. Tyler froze. He didn't have an answer for that one. Connie had asked him something similar before... about the part of Mars he was from. He had given a simple response - the bad part - and Connie had been satisfied to leave it at that without prodding further. Ben, though... Ben probably knew more about Mars than Connie did. And he certainly knew more about the mining industry, if he'd been tasked by his family's company to keep his eyes on the investment streams related to the convention here on Saturn Beta. God dammit. Tyler needed another, better answer than the one he gave Connie a couple days ago. Or... or he could not answer at all. He could keep playing up the poor- little-Martian-girl act he'd been using successfully since arriving on the station. That was a much better response than anything he could invent on the fly. So he sat silently, folded his hands in his lap, cast his eyes to the side, and took a deep breath. "I'd... really rather not talk about it," he said. He looked piteously at Ben and Amber in turn. "I'd rather just talk about something else. We're here to celebrate, after all. I don't want to bum everyone out by talking about all the sad junk that I had to deal with growing up." Isaac frowned. "Fair enough." "Yeah," Amber agreed. "Sorry about that, darlin'. Didn't mean to bring up bad memories." "It's fine," Tyler said. He took a cleansing breath and looked around the restaurant. "It'll be better once that pitcher of mojitos gets here." "Amen to that," Ben said. He leaned in toward Tyler's ear and lowered his voice. "Sorry. I won't bring it up again." Tyler smiled back at him, glad to be out of the woods. "No problem." The mojitos came, the night went on. Ben did eventually get to order his all-important shiitake mushrooms, as an appetizer to share among the whole table. He got in a few other, more tasteful quips after her put in the order, displaying that his sense of humor did indeed extend beyond easy poop jokes. He remarked constantly about how huge and how amazing Saturn Beta was, dumbfounded at how something a billion miles away from Earth could be so advanced. He also got a chance to share more about himself, his job here during the convention (which he complained about, just as he had before to Tyler), and his life back in Miami. Tyler felt himself getting homesick again at the mention of his old stomping grounds, and he thought dreamily of warm beaches and impossibly attractive women wearing skimpy swim outfits. That's the first place he would go when he got back home and back into his old body: the beach. He missed it more than he cared to admit. Isaac talked some, too, once Amber had convinced him to drop his usual reserved demeanor and start being more personable. He was from Houston (in the United States, Amber clarified, for Tyler's benefit) and worked as an engineer at an experimental desalination plant on the gulf coast. Amber convinced him not to get too technical with the heavy scientific jargon, but she ensured everyone at the table that Isaac was up to some big, important research that would solve Earth's water shortage problems once and for all. Isaac rolled his eyes at the misplaced praise and stopped talking altogether... until Ben convinced him to pipe up some more. After another couple drinks, Isaac descended so deeply into the nuts-and-bolts of his job that Amber struck up an entirely separate conversation with Tyler. "He kinda makes me feel dumb when he talks like that," Amber explained, keeping her voice lower than her fiance's. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's so smart. I just can't understand what the hell he's talkin' about half the time." "Me neither," Tyler mumbled. "He and Ben seem to be getting along well, though." They both looked over at Ben, who sat in rapt attention, listening carefully to every word coming from Isaac's mouth as he spoke about sodium concentrations and God knows what else. Tyler imagined Isaac as the kind of guy who stared at computer screens all day, looking at graphs and numbers. He was glad he never had to resign himself to that kind of work. Info brokering, though dangerous and unreliably unsteady work, was a hell of a lot of fun most of the time. Current circumstances included. "Speakin' of gettin' along well," Amber said. The alcohol in the cherryblossom mojitos had gotten into her system, and she was slurring her words a bit. "You and Ben... I mean, obviously you're not doin' anything unmentionable with him..." "No," Tyler said. "I'm not." "I'm just sayin'. If you've got a single heterosexual bone in your body, you could do a lot worse..." "Amber," Tyler growled. He bobbed his head lightly, as commanded by the mojitos coursing through his veins. "Stop." "Yeah, yeah, Violet. You're no fun." Amber blew a kiss across the table to Tyler, who jokingly put a hand atop his breasts in a very Southern-belle manner. He then turned away from Amber, who seemed very proud of herself for riling Tyler up, and looked in on Ben and Isaac's conversation. Tyler tried paying attention to the details of the talk, hoping to find out more about Ben Rosenthal, his family's company, and anything else that might come in handy later on. And yes, Amber was right... Ben was a relatively interesting person. Good sense of humor, good conversationalist, not the stereotypical one- dimensional rich kid that Tyler encountered so often in his line of work. Fit, too, and well-dressed. Good broad shoulders and a striking jawline that nobody, not even Tyler, could ignore. Amber was right. A girl could do a lot worse... Tyler chuckled to himself and poured the remainder of the mojito pitcher into his empty glass. And he began reciting a mantra in his head: no way, no way, no way. No fucking way. ***** The evening blurred as it went on, with Isaac ordering a bottle of warm sake for everyone. More drinks, more appetizers, and more conversation followed. Tyler slipped into a state that made him feel like he was standing in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, being gently tossed backwards and forwards, as the alcohol took over. He didn't talk much as the thorough sloshing continued - he had trained himself, over the course of his career, to become tight-lipped whenever he got drunk. A lesser man would have begun spilling his guts after so many drinks, and this smaller, lighter body could get hammered much faster than his older, bulkier one. He congratulated himself for staying on-guard, at full attention, despite the inebriation. Eventually Amber decided to call it a night, saying she'd like to have some time alone with her beau. Everyone slid out of the booth. Uneasy on his wedge heels, Tyler had to be reminded to take his purse with him as the four left the restaurant and entered the 146th floor foyer. As Isaac and Amber went on ahead towards the elevators, Tyler felt a large arm circle around his slight frame, lightly gripping his waist. He turned and looked up at Ben. "I've got you," Ben said, looking at Tyler with minor concern in his eyes. "You're a bit wobbly, Violet." "Thanks," Tyler said... and yes, he was a bit wobbly. More than a bit. He shouldn't have split that bottle of wine after the sake and mojitos... he admonished himself for getting carried away with the alcohol. At least Ben was here to help keep him upright, fortunately. Tyler, in his drunken state, couldn't protest the helpful feeling of a strong arm holding him steady. He leaned his booze-weighted head against Ben's shoulder and smiled warmly up at him, barely able to keep his eyes open. Amber and Isaac beat Tyler and Ben to the elevators and were able to board the next one going down, which filled up quickly as the rest of the after-dinner crowd piled on. The car filled completely before Tyler and Ben could get on. Ben raised his hand to wave at the happy couple shoved into the rear of the car, and told them that he could wait for the next one. "Get 'er home safe!" Amber demanded, jokingly giving Ben a suspicious glare. She was plenty sloshed, as well, leaning on Isaac in much the same way that Tyler was leaning on Ben. The last thing Tyler saw as the doors closed around the mass of people in the elevator car was Amber getting up on her toes to plant a loving kiss on Isaac's lips. Another car opened up immediately, this one much less crowded, and Tyler and Ben got on without trouble. "So," Ben said, tightening the grip on Tyler's side. "Where's home?" Tyler focused as much as his drunken mind would let him, held out a shaky finger, and brought it to the panel of floor buttons. And then the alcohol in his system took full charge, and the world went black. ***** The next thing Tyler felt was a soft mass behind his head, neck, and spine. He groaned dramatically and opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room, atop a large bed. He shook his head several times as his auburn hair whipped around his face, reminding him of who he was and what he looked like. His hands lifted off the bed and checked his fabric-covered D-cup breasts... yup, still there, still big. Unfortunately, the last several days had not just been a drunken dream. Saturn Beta was not Miami. Tyler was still a young, attractive woman. Tyler looked side to side. There was a bedside table to his immediate right, which Tyler recognized somehow, and a little lamp mounted to the wall. Tyler pressed the nearest button and the lamp turned on. He winced at the sudden influx of light in the room, but at least now he could get a full picture of where he was. He saw a spacious room, with a small dining table near a massive window displaying the deep-black wonder of outer space. He saw a clothing rack on the far end of the room, loaded down with boxes... and at the front of the clothing rack was the glimmering blue evening gown he had worn to the symphony the other night. "Shit," Tyler said, at last realizing where he was. Connie's suite at Pyramid, the one she said Tyler could have for the duration of the stay she'd paid for. Somehow, in his drunken state last night, he'd wandered all the way down to the 20th floor and made it to Connie's suite. He supposed there were worse places to wake up after blacking out. He looked around more. Two bottles of water, one half empty, stood underneath the lamp on the bedside table. A trash can was on the floor next to the bed. As Tyler swung his shapely legs from under the covers and over the side of the bed, he felt a rumbling pressure in his bladder that couldn't be ignored. He stood up in his bare feet and made quickly for the bathroom... or he would have made quickly, if he hadn't been taken back by what he was wearing. It was a baby-blue satin nightgown, with thick straps resting on his shoulders and a hem that traveled all the way down to his knees. Tyler had never seen this item, let alone worn it. He was getting more confused by the minute. He stepped away from the bed and wandered to the bathroom, holding both hands over his belly. He opened the door to the bathroom and took two steps in before he finally saw Ben Rosenthal standing in front of the mirror, still wearing his sport coat and slacks from the night before. "Morning, Violet" Ben said, looking at Tyler's shocked face in the mirror. "You had a rough night." And that was when Tyler realized it wasn't his bladder rumbling - it was his stomach. He charged forward to the toilet and proceeded to puke his guts out. ***** Ben left the bathroom to give Tyler some privacy. Tyler was glad for it - he needed to vomit, of course, but he also needed to come to terms with whatever the hell was going on here. He and Ben were together in Connie's luxury suite. Somehow, over the course of the late evening, Tyler had changed his clothing. And now Tyler realized that he had the persistent throb of a headache. A hangover. Hopefully nothing worse than that... Eventually Tyler rose from the cold tile floor, pulled his head out of the toilet, and stood up straight. He looked in the mirror and saw a bedraggled wreck of a young woman, with yesterday's makeup mussed over her face and traces of vomit sticking to the ends of her auburn hair. God, what a disaster. Tyler went to the bathroom door and locked it, just in case Ben had any ideas, and turned on the shower. A shower was a good idea, Tyler thought, as he lifted the nightgown up over his head and hung it from a hook on the door. He could get the sick out of his hair, get the makeup off his face, reset himself, and do a lot of thinking... Though he didn't want to think. Not really. He didn't even want to imagine the things that might have happened last night after he blacked out in the elevator. He would have to come to terms with it eventually... just not right now. He stepped out of his panties - he was still wearing his panties, that had to be a good sign - and wandered into the shower while holding his head, trying to will the ache away and force the embarrassment of the current situation from his mind. As the warm water fell onto his feminine body, Tyler scolded himself. How could he have been so careless with the alcohol last night? Yes, it was a celebration and a good time; and yes, he had needed some booze to take the edge off of being in such close proximity to Ben Rosenthal for so many hours, especially when Amber had pointed out how attractive a person Ben was... and especially after Tyler had secretly, mentally agreed. "Shut up," Tyler said under his breath, as he vigorously shampooed his long wavy hair. He rinsed and lathered up again, scrubbed down his whole body twice, and eventually left the shower after the bathroom had filled with a heavy cloud of steam. He toweled off slowly, donned his panties and the baby-blue nightgown again, and wrapped himself in one of the long terry bathrobes that Pyramid provided to its guests. Grabbing the door handle, and taking a deep breath, he let himself back in to the main part of the suite. Across the room, at the little dining table next to the huge bay window, sat Ben. He held something laminated in his hands, which he read with deep concentration. Tyler padded over to the dining table on his bare feet and cleared his throat to get Ben's attention. Ben turned. "Hey, Violet" he said, lifting up the laminated sheet so Tyler could see it better. "Room service menu. Are you hungry at all?" After throwing up, food was the last thing on Tyler's mind. His stomach churned still. "No. Not really," he said. "I sure am. I wish I'd eaten more last night... man, that place has really amazing food. Your friend has good taste in restaurants." "Ben," said Tyler, trying to steer the conversation, "we need to talk." Ben placed the menu on the table and looked over at Tyler, concerned. "Okay." Sitting down at the table across from Ben, Tyler looked downward, embarrassed that he had to do this... to say this... but he had to. He had to know. "What happened last night?" Tyler said. Ben shrugged. "We went out with Amber and Isaac. You got plastered..." "After the restaurant. I remember getting into the elevator with you, and then... I don't remember anything after that." "Ah," Ben said. He leaned back a bit in his chair and looked out the window. "I asked you where home was. You were about to press one of the buttons in the elevator, but then you started falling forward. So I caught you. Then you said you had a suite on the 20th floor... a big suite with a big window." Tyler shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, god," he muttered, ashamed of himself for getting so drunk that he blacked out. He hadn't been that irresponsible in at least a decade. "So then," Ben continued. "we went down to the 20th floor. It was a pretty long ride, and people kept getting on and off of the elevator. You seemed kind of scared. You had your arm wrapped around my waist pretty tight... and you kept holding onto your dress with your other hand, like you were trying to pull it down and make the skirt longer or something. Which is weird, because that dress was already past your knees." Tyler pictured himself tugging at the dress. It was something he had done before when he had felt uncomfortable in a situation here on Beta, but that was when the skirts were much shorter... the black skirt he wore after his first shower as a woman, the French maid's dress during his first day on the job, or the outfit he wore at the AG&M booth yesterday. The white floral sundress he had on last night didn't need any encouragement to cover all his most intimate regions. Maybe tugging on his skirts had just become a nervous tic, something Tyler had become accustomed to doing any time he was intimidated. "Then what?" Tyler asked. "Then, let's see," Ben said, drumming his fingers on the table. "We got down here to the 20th floor. Then we went through the lobby and came to this room. You took a keycard out of your purse and held it up to the scanner on the door." Tyler quickly looked over to the far end of the room, near the door. His purse was there on a table next to the closet, and the Pyramid Suites stamped keycard sat next to it. The card Connie had given him when she surprised him with his own little room in the less glamorous part of the hotel... the card that now gave him access to this luxury suite. "You flopped onto the bed right away," Ben continued, turning away from the window and facing Tyler directly. "You just let go of me, walked right over there, and fell down. I told you that probably wasn't a good idea. You rolled over and said... I forget what you said exactly. It was something like, Amber would kill you if you fell asleep while wearing such a pretty dress. So then you held your hands out for me to lift you up off the bed. I picked you up and you started taking your dress off..." "What?" Tyler said, flabbergasted. "Yeah. You just reached back and unzipped it and stepped out of it. You were just standing there in your underwear." Ben turned around in his chair and looked back at the rest of the room. He pointed at the clothing rack, laden down with garment bags and boxes. "You walked over to the rack, there. And you started flipping through all the clothes. You said, there has to be something here for me to sleep in. Then you said something kind of weird... you said, look at how girly all this stuff is. You kept repeating that... it's so girly, it's so girly, it's so girly. Then you said you'd never worn anything so girly when you were growing up, back on Mars." Tyler gulped. Holy shit. Even in his blacked-out state, he had somehow had the presence of mind to remember the lies he had concocted about himself... about the person of Violet Taylor. And he had recited them, out loud, to perfect effect, in front of Ben Rosenthal. It was as if the fake story about the mining colony on Mars had become such an integral part of who Tyler was that he couldn't seperate himself from it... even when he was at his most drunk and most honest. What a feat that was. "Eventually," Ben continued, "you found that nightgown. The blue one. You took your bra off... you said you didn't want to sleep while wearing a bra, or something... and you just took your bra off right in front of me, while I was standing there. You had the decency to keep your back turned to me, though. Thanks for not trying anything funny." "Oh, god," Tyler said, burying his head in his hand. But then he caught on to what Ben was saying, and looked up at him hopefully. Ben was wearing that snide, joking smile of his. "So... um... we didn't..." "No, Violet, we didn't. You put on your nightgown and fell back into bed. I convinced you to let me help you out a bit... I stacked up all those pillows behind your back and head to keep you elevated so you wouldn't choke if you started vomiting. I convinced you to drink a bit of water before you crashed, too. And I put that trash can over there in case you woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't make it all the way to the bathroom." Tyler looked over at the water bottles on the side table, and the trash can next to the bed. Ben had really thought of everything. That was awfully nice of him. "I stayed up for a while," Ben said. "Messaging some people back home, getting a little work done. Not like I have a lot of work to do out here. But I stayed up long enough to make sure you would survive the night before I went to bed." Ben nodded in the direction of a sofa against the far wall. A pile of blankets rested atop it. Ben Rosenthal, ever the gentleman, had slept on the couch. A slight smile crept over Tyler's face. The amount of restraint Ben had shown last night was commendable, after being invited into this room, being treated to the sight of Tyler stripping down to his bra and panties, and having every chance to take advantage of a drunk girl who was, technically speaking, employed at a whorehouse. Ben could have done all manner of things with the stunning young Violet Taylor last night, and he decided instead to take the most mature route. Tyler couldn't believe his luck. Most of the other men he had run into since his nanosurgery wouldn't have thought twice about plowing his pussy into oblivion if they had been given the same opportunity as Ben had. Shaken at the thought, Tyler crossed his legs tightly under the nightgown and bathrobe. He looked across the table at Ben and tried to regain his voice after the night of heavy drinking. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For... helping me out last night." "You're welcome. Consider it my special way of apologizing." Tyler looked back at Ben, confused. "Apologizing?" "Yeah. For being... judgemental of you, last night at the saloon thing. For assuming you were just some sleazy prostitute." "Oh," Tyler said. "Um... that's okay. I mean, it makes sense that you would come to that conclusion after looking up the name of the company. It's not like it's a big secret around here." "Not just that," Ben continued. "Your friend. Amber. She seemed really nice, really settled. Not like the hookers you see sometimes back on Earth. Most of the girls last night... if you didn't know any better, you wouldn't guess that they're all..." Ben tripped over what to say next. Tyler smiled slightly and took over. "Whores," Tyler said. Ben nodded. "Yeah." "I know what you mean, Ben. Really. I was pretty disgusted at the whole thing when I first got here. But then you get to know them... Amber, Renee, Zoe... honestly, they're all just regular girls who get paid for sex sometimes. We're all just human." "Well said." Tyler pressed his hands against his lap. "Very human, sometimes. With virtues and vices." Tyler blinked his eyes dramatically and shook his head, as if trying to rustle the remainder of last night's alcohol out of his system. "I honestly never let myself get that drunk." "Glad to hear it," Ben said, smiling back at Tyler. "I gotta say, I'm not really into the party-hard lifestyle. But, well, last night seemed like a special occasion. And we were all having a pretty good time." "And you got to order your shiitake mushrooms," Tyler said. He leaned back coyly in his chair. "A pretty good night for you, all things considered." "Definitely." Ben held up the laminated room service menu again. "Are you sure you're not hungry?" Tyler checked with the rumbling of his stomach. "I could eat." ***** Room service came with the price of the suite, naturally, so Tyler and Ben ordered big. Tyler found himself drifting back into business mode as Ben spoke with the person on the other end of the phone as he placed the order. A big breakfast order would mean lots of time for the kitchen to prepare it, and lots of time spent eating it, which would give Tyler that much more time to prod him for information to use later. One of these days, Ben would have to cough up something useable. He just had to. "The food'll be here in twenty to twenty-five minutes," Ben said, hanging up the phone and checking the clock on the wall. "Which should afford me more than enough time to take a decent shower. Unless you threw up while you were in the stall." "Nope," Tyler said, giggling a bit. "All of mine made it into the toilet, thankfully. The shower's clean." "Good," Ben said. He shrugged out of his wrinkled sport coat and draped it over the back of the chair he'd been sitting in. He began loosening the buttons of his shirt as he walked toward the bathroom. "See you in a bit." The door opened, the door closed, and Tyler heard the undeniable click of the lock being engaged on the other side. Good. Tyler was now, officially, alone in the main part of the suite. He waited for the water to start running in the shower, then got to his feet and set to work. Predictably, Ben had left his phone in the inside breast pocket of his sport coat. Tyler pulled it out and gave it a lookover. It was a GammaNow QX7. Nice phone, sleek and expensive-looking. Probably with all manner of security measures to keep people like Tyler from gaining access. Tyler pressed on the side buttons and brought the phone to life. It immediately asked him for a passkey. Tyler tried everything he could remember from his previous conversations with Ben - dogs' names, street names, important dates in Ben's life, and then combinations therein. Nothing cracked through... then Tyler realized why. A tiny red dot had appeared at the top of Ben's phone, set inside the camera mounted there. It was attempting to take a retinal scan. "Shit," Tyler said, turning the phone away from himself, on the odd chance the camera was recording him. The last thing he needed was for Ben to know that the innocent little girl from Mars had been snooping around where she shouldn't be. He sighed, defeated, and started wiping his fingerprints off the phone with the belt of his terry bathrobe. Ben was a more clever, more careful person than Tyler had originally thought. Tyler nearly found himself respecting Ben for that... Once finished with the phone, Tyler replaced it in Ben's jacket pocket and began pacing around the suite, gathering his thoughts. There was no way into Ben's phone without a retinal scan, and there was no way to provide a successful retinal scan unless Ben's eyes were the ones in front of the phone. Tyler would have to find another way in. The problem was, Tyler knew exactly what needed to happen to do that... he thought about Ozzie, the kid in the sketchy electronics store on the 73rd floor. Ozzie had made it very, very clear what he wanted in exchange for a puller... "Dammit," Tyler said, folding his arms under his heavy breasts. "Dammit, dammit, dammit..." Maybe he could get some interesting, profitable information out of Ben without the need to access the phone at all. Maybe Tyler could somehow get Ben drunk enough that he'd start spilling all his family secrets without thinking twice. Maybe. But probably not... "Fucking dammit," Tyler said as he continued to wander around the suite. He needed a puller. He knew he needed one to finish this job. Maybe he could have Dennis ship one from Earth... but, no, that wouldn't work. There was no way Dennis could get a puller out to Tyler before the convention ended. Seven-hundred-and-fifty-million miles was a really long way, even with the advent of hyperspeed travel... even if Dennis acquired and shipped a puller today, it wouldn't reach Tyler in time. If he was going to get his dainty little hands on one, he'd have to acquire it nearby. A moment later, the shower turned off. Tyler gathered himself and sat at the foot of the bed with his feet dangling over the side. He considered changing out of his nightgown and robe and into something more appropriate for having breakfast with Ben, but decided against it. After a couple minutes, Ben emerged from the bathroom wearing an identical robe, albeit one in a men's size rather than a women's. Tyler tightened the belt on his own robe as Ben stretched and yawned. "Boy, I needed that," Ben said, placing his hands behind his damp head. "That shower is really nice. Better than the one I have back home, that's for sure." "Oh yeah," Tyler agreed. "Definitely very nice." He slyly looked back over at Ben's coat, hanging on the back of the chair, checking to make sure there wasn't any evidence of tampering. "So. What are you up to today?" Ben asked. He plopped down next to Tyler on the bed, smiling at him. "More booth-babe stuff? Another saloon night?" Tyler shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Sometimes I don't know what I have booked for the day until an hour before it happens. My boss likes to keep us on our toes." "That sounds stressful." "It can be." "Especially when your toes are as cute as yours." Tyler looked down at his pink-painted toenails and giggled. He couldn't help it... it was the first compliment he'd received from a man, since he had inhabited this female body, that hadn't been completely revolting. "My fingernails match," Tyler said, smiling back at Ben and flourishing his hands. It was a horribly girly thing to do, but Ben obviously enjoyed it whenever Tyler started acting this way. The longer Tyler could keep this up, the longer he'd have Ben on the hook, and the easier it would eventually be to get access to Ben's most valuable secrets. "I can see that," Ben said, taking Tyler's hand in his own. Tyler flinched slightly at the physical contact but let Ben continue. He wasn't being creepy about it, at least... he was just doing what any warm-blooded young man would do when a gorgeous young woman offered him the chance to inspect her fingernail polish. Tyler relaxed, feeling the warmth of Ben's large hand as it engulfed his tiny palm. Just then the suite's doorbell rang. Ben rose to bring in the room service cart... but not before leaning in and giving Tyler's hand a tiny kiss. Tyler's mouth curled slightly at the gesture. It was a weird thing for Ben to do, even considering how well-mannered he seemed and how high-society his family was. Kissing a woman's hand wasn't exactly done in Miami. Maybe they still did that kind of thing in Europe or South America or wherever... but not in Miami. Nevertheless, Tyler thought it was interesting, maybe even a little bit funny, and he allowed his hand to linger in Ben's for as long as Ben would have it. It was only another second or two before Ben let go and went to the door to haul in their breakfast. They ate and talked with natural ease, and Tyler, for just a brief time, forgot who he was. He completely embodied the person of Violet Taylor, sitting across the small dining table from Ben Rosenthal, conversing flirtatiously with the young man just enough to hold his interest. Tyler no longer felt the need to extract specific information from Ben in order to get ideas for passwords to try... that ship had sailed, and unsuccessfully. Now the two of them could just talk without Tyler having an ulterior motive for directing the conversation. Not to say Tyler didn't still want access to Ben's phone and the potential wealth contained within. He was still very much interested in that. He just knew he'd have to employ another means of getting what he wanted. Thirty minutes passed, and Ben checked his phone to find that he was expected somewhere in a couple of hours. He grudgingly rose from the dining table and gathered up his clothing, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. A few minutes later he emerged clothed in yesterday's sport coat and slacks. His outfit was a bit wrinkled. "Hmm," Ben said, patting down his coat and slacks. "I need to go back to my room and change, I guess. Can't wander around the space station looking like this." Tyler stood up from the table, leaving his coffee mug behind. "Oh, you look fine," he said, padding along the floor in his bare feet, approaching Ben. Tyler reached him and looked up into his face, then brought his hands up to smooth out the wrinkles in Ben's suit. Tyler could feel Ben's broad chest under the coat and shirt. A slight shudder went through Tyler's body as he realized what he was doing, and he pulled his hands away quickly. "Fine isn't good enough," Ben said. "I prefer to look as put-together as possible." Rocking back on his ankles, Tyler said, "I know the feeling." "Of course you do. You always look put-together. Even when you're kneeled over and throwing up into a toilet." "Uh-huh. I bet you say that to all the girls." "Nope," Ben said, shaking his head slightly. "Just to you, Violet." Tyler followed Ben to the front door and opened it for him, letting him out into the hallway of Pyramid Suites. They stood there for a moment, looking at each other, with Ben giving off every signal of romantic interest in the woman he saw before him. Ben's eyes showed more than just the carnal lust Tyler had grown used to seeing in his current line of work. Tyler found it fascinating, flattering... and more than a little sad. Tyler still had full intent of stealing every bit of information he could from this naive young rich boy. Leading him on so much made Tyler feel guilty. More guilty than he ever had before over his long career as an info broker. "Well, hey," Ben said, snapping Tyler out of his plotting and scheming, "I'm not sure we'll run into each other again like we have been lately. AG&M is all done with their events for the convention. You'll probably get picked up by some other company and start doing stuff for them instead. And I'll be off with the people I'm babysitting... I'm not sure if our paths will cross by accident again." "Oh," Tyler said, leaning against the door frame and fluttering his eyelashes up at Ben. "That's a shame." "Yeah. So, look... next time you want to... um... get together. Just give me a call." Ben produced a hard plastic business card from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Tyler. It had all of Ben's contact info on it, along with the title he held at his family's company - Vice President. "Ooh. VP," Tyler said, strumming the card through his long, pink fingernails. "Look at you, mister corporate big shot." "I wish," Ben said. "They hand out VP positions to anyone with a pulse. It's not that impressive. Trust me." Tyler slid the card into his bathrobe pocket for safekeeping. "I trust you. After what you did last night, I definitely trust you." Tyler's hard soul melted for a moment, and he gazed up at Ben with a genuinely thankful, impressed look. "A lot of guys would have... tried something with me last night. After I blacked out. Thanks for not being a total sleazebag." "We're a dying breed," Ben said, smiling down at Tyler. "You sure are. And I'll definitely be in touch. I'd like to see you again." "I'd like to see you, too, Violet. I'd be very lucky." Ben made a move then - a slight one, just a tilt of his neck, so his head leaned forward and down a couple of inches. Then he paused there briefly and leaned down another inch... Tyler knew what was going on here. Ben was hoping for a goodbye kiss. Tyler's heart pounded. Oh, god... kissing Ben, in this moment, would probably be a really good idea for all the future business prospects Tyler had lined up. After all the flirting Tyler had done with Ben over the past couple of days, and especially after all the conversation the two of them had had last night and this morning, and after Ben had saved Tyler from himself and been an attentive, kind gentleman when Tyler had allowed his drinking to get out of control... well, a goodbye kiss was a perfectly natural thing to happen next. Rejecting Ben of that would seem selfish and cold. For that reason - and for that reason only, Tyler convinced himself - Tyler took a tiny step forward into the hallway and tilted his head backward, preparing his lips for what was to come. He closed his eyes and waited... and then his lips met Ben's, warm and soft. There was something different about this kiss, different from the many kisses Tyler had shared with Connie. There was a kindness to it that went beyond the raw animal lust that Connie always armed herself with when in Tyler's presence. There was a slight ruggedness to it, as well, since Ben had yet to shave his face this morning and the stubble below his nose felt scratchy... but not unpleasant. Tyler enjoyed the moment much more than he thought he would, and he was just a tiny bit disappointed when Ben broke away a few seconds later. "Bye," Ben said, grinning and walking away at a leisurely pace, trying to show himself off as a smooth operator. Tyler leaned against the door frame and watched Ben go, genuinely looking forward to the next time they saw each other... for more reasons that one. Obviously the most important part of getting together with Ben again was to keep trying to extract profitable information, but Tyler had to admit that Ben made for good company and an interesting conversation partner. And Ben also wasn't going to try anything lewd, which couldn't have been said for most of the other moneyed men coming through Saturn Beta for the convention. Ben was basically a perfect target. Ben turned a corner at the end of the hall and disappeared at last. Tyler looked over his shoulder, at the small dining table next to the big bay window, and took count of all the food that had gone uneaten. He considered going back for seconds and thirds, as all the food had been delicious, keeping with Pyramid Suites' high standards of quality. He didn't want to eat too much, though. Not considering what he knew he had to do today, up on the 73rd floor. The thought of it nearly made him want to throw up again. ***** Tyler stepped through the 20th floor foyer wearing no makeup, having done nothing interesting with his hair apart from wrangling it into a ponytail, wearing a pair of slip-on flats, and clad in the least attractive thing he could find on the rack that had been delivered from Incantevole. A simple, boring, knee-length brown dress that Connie had insisted was the height of the latest understated fashion trends back in New York. The sleeves covered his shoulders and upper arms, the bodice covered everything up to his neck. Tyler felt like he was wearing a burlap sack... which was perfect. He didn't want to feel sexy. He didn't want others to perceive him as sexy. He just wanted to get this next piece of business out of the way as quickly as possible, return to his room at Pyramid Suites, and pretend it all never happened. Eventually an elevator arrived, and Tyler walked on and mashed the button for the 73rd floor. As always, many people boarded and departed the elevator during the long trip up the spine of Saturn Beta, although this time most of the men just ignored Tyler as he stood in the rear corner of the car. He was so used to getting ogled by everything with a Y chromosome... this was almost a welcome respite. The ride gave Tyler time to mentally psyche himself up for what would happen once he arrived at his destination. He tried not to think about it too much while simultaneously going over the possible sequence of events that awaited him. The elevator arrived at the 73rd floor a few minutes later. Tyler stepped off and looked around, searching for the third spindle. Finding it, he walked nervously, slowly, apprehensively toward the spindle, then into its interior, where his steps at last took him to the shady-looking electronics store he had visited yesterday. Inside was Ozzie, still standing behind his counter. He noticed Tyler immediately, despite Tyler's current unattractive appearance. "Well, well," Ozzie said, leaning forward on his counter. "Look who's back." Tyler gulped and entered the storefront. He tried his hardest not to look like he was scared or ashamed, putting on the most confident attitude he could muster at a moment like this. He was here to negotiate, after all. "Can I help you with something?" Ozzie said, with a devious smile on his face. Tyler cleared his throat. "Let's talk," he said. Ozzie backed away from the counter, never taking his eyes off Tyler's naked face. "Sure," he said. He took a magnetic key out of his pocket and pressed it against a scanner behind the counter. Tyler heard a mechanical whirring as the shop's security paneling slid downward, closing off the space between the spindle and the interior where Tyler now stood. Tyler began to feel extremely claustrophobic. "Just so nobody sneaks up on us," Ozzie said. He gripped the magnetic key and came around to the front of the counter, then ushered Tyler further into the store. Tyler followed obediently as his stomach churned, hoping that this would all be over very quickly.