Welcome To Saturn Beta - Part 18 free porn video

Ozzie used his key to access a tiny office in the rear, one stocked floor to ceiling with shelves containing all kinds of gear - tablets, phones, security cameras, whatnot. There was a dingy-looking desk tucked into a corner with one chair behind it and one in front. Ozzie took his spot at the other side of the desk and Tyler took the remaining chair for himself, smoothing the skirt of his boring brown dress as he sat down. He placed his purse in his lap. "So," Ozzie said, folding his hands atop his desk. "Let's talk." Tyler looked Ozzie dead in the eyes, trying to look every bit a serious woman who wasn't going to let some dumb kid take advantage of her. "Do you have a puller for me, or not?" "I have plenty of pullers. They seem to find their way to my shop constantly. Do you want to see them?" "Please." Ozzie scooted his chair away from his desk and opened up a drawer at his knee. He brought out a small cardboard box, placing it on the desk and offering it to Tyler for him to examine. Tyler moved forward in his chair and looked inside. There they were - the tools of his trade that he had used so many times over the course of his info-brokering career. Little plastic ovals on one end, cords meant for plugging into phones on the other... the devices almost looked like antique 20th-century computer mice with half their tails missing. Some were uniquely-shaped and colored, others looked as though they had been mass-produced. A few had some of the critical electronic components hanging out in open air. Tyler fingered through the box, looking for something that caught his fancy. It was time to negotiate, just as Tyler had planned. Tyler stood up and shouldered his purse again. He gave Ozzie a blank, uninterested look. "Well, thanks anyway. Can you open the security door so I can leave?" "Leave?" Ozzie said, seeming surprised. "What the fuck do you mean 'leave?' We're not done doing business yet." "Yes, we are, Ozzie. Those are all garbage. Some of that shit is more than a year old. I can tell just by looking at the casing. Hell, some of those have casings on them that are at least two years old. I can't imagine how ancient the guts are. Just give me your key, if you want. I can let myself out." "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ozzie said. He stood up from his desk and approached Tyler from the side. Tyler stood his ground. "Look, sister... okay, yeah. Some of those pullers in there are shit. Okay. I'll admit it. I didn't realize you were savvy like that." "I don't appreciate the attempt at scamming me. We're done." Tyler reached for the doorknob, knowing full well that Ozzie wasn't about to let him leave. Sure enough, Ozzie skipped in front of the door and placed himself between it and Tyler, prohibiting Tyler's exit. "Wanna see something cool?" Ozzie said, regaining his upbeat but sleazy demeanor. "Back at my desk. I keep it in a locked cabinet back here. C'mon." "I don't want to see something cool. I want the best gear you have, and I want whatever adapters you have along with it. I want a localized way to dump the data afterward, something that doesn't even have the capability to connect to a network." Ozzie took a deep breath. "Easy enough." "And I want a phone," Tyler added, realizing that he needed a new one. He still had his old smartphone, the one he was using to communicate back and forth with Dennis... but no matter how secure that line was, it would still be far too risky to contact Ben Rosenthal using the same device that he used to navigate the contacts and circumstances of his old life. And Tyler had every intention of contacting Ben Rosenthal, and soon. "I got plenty of phones," Ozzie replied. "You shoulda just asked for a phone last time you were in here. I woulda given you one without any hassle. That's the kind of thing I don't mind having on my books." Tyler crossed his arms under his large breasts, confident that he had won the negotiation. He watched as Ozzie returned to the other side of the desk, where he fiddled around with a metal cabinet tucked deep into the corner of the tiny office. After a minute, Ozzie produced another puller for Tyler to examine. This one looked much newer and more effective than anything in the cardboard box. "Military-grade parts, straight from the shadiest black markets of southeast Asia, hand-assembled by yours truly," Ozzie explained. "No buttons, no remote interface, no bullshit. And no waiting. Plug it in, wait thirty seconds, pull it out. And if the phone's security is already unlocked, we're talking about a five second wait, tops. Three-point-five terabytes per second transfer speed. It cracks through every instance of security I've ever seen come through this store... and a lot of stuff comes through this store. And your adapter," Ozzie said, laying a three- pronged object next to the puller. Tyler put his hands behind his skirt and sat down across from Ozzie again. He lifted each object and inspected them, looking for flaws. Nothing stood out to him, even after sliding open the casing on the puller and eyeballing every chip and transistor contained inside. Tyler wasn't a technically-minded guy, but he could still spot a shitty soldering job or a burnt-out piece of hardware. Every part in Ozzie's creation looked solid, though. Tyler slid the casing back together and prepared for the next phase of the transaction... the thing he'd been dreading since long before Ben Rosenthal left his suite. "I'll take it," Tyler said, pressing his knees together tightly, as if that would prevent what Ozzie was about to ask for. "Damn right, you will," Ozzie said. "Now let's see you stand up and take off that dress you're wearing." Tyler rose from his chair, disgusted with himself, but knowing this is what had to happen if he was to get what he wanted. Whatever. He would let Ozzie have his way with the body of Violet Taylor for a few minutes, then Tyler would walk out of here with the tools he needed to keep doing his job. His real job. Not this temporary, demeaning business of being a booth babe and glorified waitress. If letting Ozzie pound his pussy allowed him to gain access to the valuable data on Ben's phone, it was a worthwhile trade. Tyler bent his knees and grabbed the hem of his dress, lifting it over his head like a large t-shirt and placing it on the chair. He stood in front of Ozzie in his unflattering cream-colored bra and panty ensemble, navel piercing glinting in the fluorescent lights, suddenly feeling very exposed and cold. Ozzie stood and walked around his desk, over to Tyler, where he brushed his large fingers along Tyler's smooth waist and flicked at the spinels dangling under his belly button. Tyler flinched reflexively, feeling as violated as the time the sleazeball in the lounge tried to feel him up under the French maid outfit. Tyler stood as firm as he could while wearing nothing but his underwear, eyes downcast and desperately wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. He moved toward the desk and bent forward atop it, presenting his backside to Ozzie's eyes and hands. His pussy tingled in reluctant anticipation. "Very nice," Ozzie said, bringing his palms forward and resting them on Tyler's womanly buttcheeks. "I love a good ass." Ozzie's left hand slipped under the fabric of Tyler's panties and traced slowly over his skin... to the folds of his labia... to his clitoris, which Ozzie played with for ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty seconds as Tyler shuddered from the unwanted attention. But then Ozzie withdrew his hand from Tyler's most private region. Tyler heard the young man take a step back. "That's not what I'm in the mood for, though," Ozzie said. "I'm much more interested in those titties of yours." Tyler turned around as Ozzie began unzipping his pants. They fell to the floor along with his boxer shorts, leaving Tyler with a front-row view of Ozzie's prick. It stood at full attention, completely engorged in anticipation. Ozzie stepped out of his clothing, picked Tyler's dress up off the chair, and sat down on the edge of the seat. He widened his legs apart and looked up at Tyler's face with a smirk. "Lose the bra," Ozzie commanded, "and come take a seat." Tyler hadn't expected this at all. He thought he would just bend over, give Ozzie a couple minutes of time with his nether regions, and walk out as a proud new owner of a state-of-the-art puller. He didn't think Ozzie would want him to be more... involved. Tyler wondered how to proceed as Ozzie sat on the chair impatiently. "Let's go, sister!" Ozzie said, throwing his hands in the air as if wondering what was taking Tyler so long to commit. "Come over here and sit on Santa's lap." Tyler hesitated, then took a step forward toward Ozzie and his chair. He sat his slight frame down upon Ozzie's knee, then reached behind his back and undid the clasp holding his bra together. He hooked his thumbs under the shoulder straps, looked up at the ceiling in order to avoid Ozzie's eyes, and freed his D-cup breasts to open air. They hung heavily off his chest, and Ozzie looked at them hungrily as Tyler tried to ignore the entire scene. He distracted himself by thinking about the puller he now possessed... thinking about all the money he was about to make... The distraction was brief, though, as Tyler couldn't ignore what happened next. Ozzie moved in on Tyler's breasts and stuck his tongue out, then brushed it lightly over one of Tyler's nipples. Tyler flinched at the attention to one of his most sensitive new parts, his whole body tingling with a fresh wave of revulsion. Seconds later, Ozzie completely engulfed Tyler's nipple between his lips... and began sucking on it. He would take the whole nipple into his mouth, flicker his tongue across it once or twice, then release it. It happened again and again, as Ozzie repeated the process for a few minutes which felt like an eternity to Tyler. While Ozzie's mouth focused on one of Tyler's breasts, his warm hand reached up to attend the other, massaging the fleshy globe as Tyler sat there and endured. After several minutes of this, Ozzie switched his mouth to the other breast. Tyler stared straight ahead, to the other wall of the tiny office. His body was being thoroughly violated, yes, but his mind could be occupied elsewhere. He tried, oh so hard, to take his thoughts and feelings out of the equation and to somewhere more pleasant as Ozzie continued suckling and kneading Tyler's impressive mammaries. Tyler thought about Amber, and how happy he was for her to finally be getting married to Isaac after so many years of waiting... he thought about Miami, with its warm beaches and incredible women. He thought about Ben Rosenthal, too, about the secrets contained on his phone, and about the kind, gentlemanly way he had attended to Tyler last night after the drunken stumble into the elevator. Tyler thought deeply of Ben. Maybe his first sexual experience with a man wouldn't have been so miserable if it had been with Ben instead... Tyler snapped to attention again, embarrassed at the thoughts he was having. Why the hell was he entertaining the idea of Ben Rosenthal as a sexual partner? Just because it was a decent alternative to what was happening right now? Tyler looked down at Ozzie, finally, and sighed as quietly as he could. Ozzie continued his sucking and slurping as his exposed erection rubbed against Tyler's smooth left thigh. God, this was awful. Tyler could hardly imagine a more humiliating scene to be a part of. Despite the warm and sensuous feelings of having his breasts attended to, and no matter how many physical and hormonal modifications Jackson's nanobots had done to him, he felt absolutely no pleasure at all. Ozzie's lips and face finally backed away from Tyler's tits. The two of them shared a brief glance as Tyler felt the salivated moisture on his nipples and areolae. The spit would dry, soon. And then Tyler would take the longest shower of his life. Figuring Ozzie had had his fill, Tyler began to rise from Ozzie's lap... but Ozzie quickly gripped Tyler's legs and pulled him downward again. "On your knees," Ozzie ordered. "Finish the job." Tyler closed his eyes. Of course Ozzie wasn't going to make it that easy. Tyler wanted to resist... and Ozzie must have sensed it, because Tyler immediately felt his shoulders gripped by Ozzie's hands. Tyler's weakened body was brought low by Ozzie's powerful arms until his bare knees hit the floor and his face was brought within striking distance of Ozzie's raging hardon. Ozzie scooted forward an inch on his chair, so that his dick tapped lightly against Tyler's nose. "Let's go," Ozzie said. Logic took over in Tyler's mind. There was one way out of this office, one way to get that puller and get the hell out of here. And Tyler had possessed a penis for most of his life, and he knew Ozzie's rigid, straining member wouldn't last much longer before blowing its load. This would all be over relatively quickly if Tyler could just swallow his pride and finish the job. He looked straight forward at the rod of veined meat before his face and the nest of pubic hair behind it. And then he slowly but surely opened his mouth and got to work. His tongue slid across Ozzie's dick, and the taste of sweat and pre-cum invaded Tyler's mouth as he lowered his lips over the glans, trying not to gag. He tried to remember the blowjobs he'd received over the course of his life, what felt good, what made him blow his load quickest. Tyler eventually decided to grasp the base of Ozzie's shaft with one hand, massage the heavy balls with the other, while attending to the upper part of the cock with his mouth. He pumped and sucked, licked and kissed, gently kneaded the testicles in his left hand, tried everything he could to get Ozzie off while only allowing a small portion of Ozzie's dick to pass his lips. Tyler psyched himself up to just hurry up and get it over with. With his mouth half-full of cock, he took panicky breaths through his nose as Ozzie edged closer to climax. Ozzie's hands, now deprived of the breasts they had been massaging, found their way to the side of Tyler's head. Tyler winced again as he felt Ozzie running his fingers through the long auburn hair. As Tyler continued sucking and licking the cock in his face, one of Ozzie's hands eased to the back of Tyler's head, where it gripped the ponytail tightly. Ozzie began breathing harder and faster, seconds away from spraying his load. Tyler swirled his tongue around Ozzie's prick one last time, glad that this nightmare was finally ending. He removed the hot, sweaty meat from his mouth, pointed it away from his face, and looked sideways, refusing to meet Ozzie eye-to-eye. "Oh, no you FUCKING don't!" Ozzie yelled. He used one hand to pry Tyler's mouth back open, used the other hand to yank Tyler's head forward, and shoved the entirety of his length past Tyler's teeth. Tyler's eyes flared open as the stiff invader forced its way down his throat. He gagged impotently as Ozzie pumped his seed. Tyler felt it splashing against the roof of his mouth, the back of his throat, and the stalk of his tongue. His eyes watered with pain and embarrassment as half of Ozzie's jizz went down Tyler's throat, and the other half lingered over his tongue and teeth. Ozzie was satisfied after about ten seconds, and he finally allowed Tyler to reel away from his softening crotch. Tyler began coughing with full-body spasms, drooling onto the office floor with a combination of spit and globs of salty semen. A single streak of tears dripped onto the floor as well. Ozzie, uninterested in the pretty young girl suffering in front of him, stood up and grabbed a roll of paper towels from a nearby shelf. He used one towel to clean up the mess on his now-flaccid cock and threw the rest of the roll in the general direction of Tyler. Tyler looked at the towels for a moment before tearing a few off for his own purposes. "Jesus, sister," Ozzie said, shaking his head. "Quit acting like you've never sucked a dick before. And don't pretend like it was so bad, all right? I took a shower this morning. I'm wearing clean underwear. Fuckin' drama queen, I swear..." Tyler didn't respond. He just wiped his mouth and eyes with a paper towel as his breasts hung loose in the open air, trying to forget what had just happened... the sickening act he had just performed. One thought rang through his mind more than any other - that he had just committed a sex act with someone in exchange for personal profit. He didn't do it out of mutual interest and shared attraction, like his encounters with Connie Giordano. The titty-exposing, dick-sucking fiasco he just willingly went through was nothing but genuine, passionless prostitution. And for the first time since his transformation and employment with Ringed Amusements, Tyler felt like a cheap whore. ***** Ozzie was generous enough to provide Tyler with one of the fancier phone models he kept in stock - a GammaNow QX7, identical to the phone Ben Rosenthal had... although Tyler's new acquisition was pink in color rather than black. Ozzie insisted that a pretty little thing like him needed a pretty pink phone. Tyler didn't argue. He just wanted to get the fuck out of that store, out of that spindle, and off the 73rd floor forever. He placed all his new acquisitions in his ever-expanding purse and left Ozzie's presence without saying a word. The ride down to the 48th floor was a long one, but Tyler managed to keep himself together as people boarded and disembarked. God, how he wanted to be alone for a few minutes, just for a few minutes, so he could roll up into a ball and not think about anything or be around anyone. If he'd had his wits about him, he would have taken the elevator all the way down to the 20th floor and his massive private room at Pyramid Suites... but he couldn't stomach the thought of such a long elevator ride. He couldn't stomach much of anything right now. He tried not to think of the word "stomach" - he shuddered at the idea of what he currently had swimming around in his own tummy. And he could still taste some of Ozzie's salty residuals lingering in his mouth, too... The 48th floor finally arrived and Tyler stormed out into the foyer in his brown dress and flat shoes. He got plenty of attention from male onlookers, as always, though this time it felt as though they were judging him rather than admiring him. Tyler kept his eyes on the ground as he walked into spindle #7 and the back entrance to the Ringed Amusements dormitory. He encountered none of the other girls on his way to room 2-D. Upon opening the door, Tyler saw Amber laying on her bed with a look of utmost contentment plastered on her face. Her arms were folded over her stomach as if she were hugging herself. She lifted her neck slightly when she heard Tyler come in. "Hey, you," she said, smiling her usual smile. "Late night?" "Yeah," Tyler said blearily, not wanting to go into further details of what had happened since leaving the Asian-fusion restaurant the night before. "Ben didn't bring you home, darlin'. I was worried about you." "Oh," Tyler said. He began to flush with embarrassment and tried to think of a good half-truth. "Yeah. Connie still had a room rented out down on the 20th floor. Somehow I ended up there instead of back here." "You need to watch it with the alcohol, missy. You obviously didn't build up much of a tolerance when you were livin' on Mars." "Apparently not. I'm fine, though. Ben took me back to Connie's room and that was it. I was just... laying around all morning. Jackson didn't bug me with any new jobs, so I got some time to myself. I got room service. I've basically been doing nothing all day." God, he was so sick of lying to everyone about everything. But he couldn't tell Amber about how Ben had stayed the night and slept on the couch in Connie's suite... that would introduce a brand-new, much longer topic of conversation relating to why sheepish Violet Taylor, the adamant lesbian, was having strange men stay the night in overpriced hotel rooms. And Tyler sure as hell wasn't going to tell Amber about what he had just done with Ozzie in the back room of the electronics store. The puller, adapter, and new phone in Tyler's purse suddenly felt fifty pounds heavier. "Hmm," Amber said. "Room service. Isaac gets that for us sometimes." She sat up excitedly. "Maybe he'll start bringin' me breakfast in bed once we're married. Whaddya think about that?" Tyler laughed. "Sounds good to me. Ask him if he'll bring some my way, too." "Oh, hey, speakin' of gettin' married, I wanted to ask you..." Amber began, but then they both heard a buzzing noise coming from the headboard of Amber's bed. She reached back and grabbed her tablet, then thumbed through it. "Oh, uh... well, Jackson's ready to see me now. So I'll talk to you about that other thing later." Tyler shrugged. "Okay. Yeah. Come grab me whenever." Amber stared into blank space for a moment as Tyler dropped his purse on a table near the door. He went into the kitchenette and started searching around for a soft drink or some booze... anything to get this taste and feeling out of his mouth. "Actually, no," Amber said. Tyler grabbed a can of soda out of the fridge and popped the top open. "No, what?" "Come with me. To see Jackson. It's all kinda related. The thing I need to talk to you about, and the thing I need to talk to her about. We can kill two birds with one stone." "Um," Tyler said, sipping some soda. "Can it wait? I really, really want to go take a shower." He could still feel the slimy residue from Ozzie's mouth lingering on his breasts, and it made him queazy. Tyler wanted to cleanse himself as quickly as possible. "Five minutes," Amber pleaded. "Five minutes with me 'n' Jackson and then you can take the longest shower in human history. C'mon. Do me a favor. Besides, if you spent all mornin' just sittin' around and eatin' room service, there's no reason for you to need a shower. It's not like you've been out workin' the rice fields for the last eight hours." Tyler closed his eyes. Maybe he should have told Amber a different lie, one that would have allowed him an easier escape to the shower room... but he was certainly curious as to what this was all about. "Okay," he acquiesced. "Five minutes." "Aw, you're a good sport. Okay. C'mon." Amber took Tyler through the hallway and to the door leading to Jackson's office. She knocked a couple times before easing the door open. "Hey, boss," Amber said as she entered the office. "I brought Violet with me. Hope that's allright." Jackson looked up from the tablet laying on the desk, peering at Tyler over the rims of her glasses. "That's fine. Assuming the subject isn't too private in nature." "It ain't. I kinda wanted to talk to both of you at once, anyway." Amber and Tyler both lowered themselves into chairs across from Jackson's desk, smoothing their skirts and crossing their legs as they sat. Jackson straightened her posture and folded her hands. "Okay, Amber," Jackson said. "The floor is yours." As Tyler and Jackson stared at her, Amber cleared her throat. "Okay. Well, y'all know I'm gettin' married." "Of course," Jackson said. "And congratulations again." "Yeah, thanks. Well, so, obviously I have to quit my job. I'm movin' back to Houston with Isaac. Plus, y'know, I don't think he'd much appreciate me continuin' to freelance." "I don't imagine he would." "Right. So, I figure, I'll stick on with the company until the big convention stuff is over. Far as I can tell, it's only gonna last for another week or so." "Three days," Jackson corrected. "Based on the various schedules of events I've come across. Everyone involved with the convention should be packed up and off the station in three days." "Perfect. Okay. Does that work for you?" Jackson leaned back in her chair. "It doesn't really matter if it works for me, Amber. You're getting off of Saturn Beta. You're leaving the company. I don't ever want to hold you back from doing what you want to do with your life." "Aww," Amber said, tilting her head. "You're so sweet. You're the best boss ever." "So I've heard." Tyler, silent until now, couldn't help but laugh at this. Both Jackson and Amber gave him a sideways glance. He shut up. "Okay, well anyway," Amber continued, "so, once I get back to Earth, I got a lot of stuff I need to do. Thing is, Isaac's gonna be workin' a lot. The desalination plant is makin' some big progress and they need all hands on deck, all the time. He's puttin' in sixty-hour weeks right now. He used the last of his vacation time to come out and see me, so he doesn't have any more time to take off. But we need to start gettin' ready for the wedding, findin' a new place for me 'n' Isaac to live, all that kinda thing. And doin' everything that needs gettin' done is gonna take more than one person." Jackson looked at Amber strangely. "Okay... and?" "And, well, I need help. And you know I cut off all ties with my family 'n' friends back in Loozyana when I left home. I got nobody on Earth except Isaac. And he's gonna be occupied. So I was wonderin' if I could take someone with me." All eyes turned to Tyler. He blinked rapidly. "What?" he said. "If it's okay with Jackson, of course," Amber said, staring intently at Tyler. "And, obviously, if it's okay with you, Violet." Tyler and Jackson gave each other a conspiratorial look, the kind of look people give each other when they know something that the other people in the room don't. Gobsmacked, Tyler turned back to Amber and tried to form some words to say. "Uh," he stammered. "So... you want me to come with you to Earth and help you plan your wedding?" "Yeah!" Amber sang. "It'll be fun! We can figure out all the..." "Amber," Tyler interrupted. "I... you... I mean, I have no idea how to plan a wedding. And, besides, you know that I owe Jackson for helping me get away from the..." "Well, see, that's the thing," Amber said. She rose up a bit in her chair, as if about to deliver a speech she'd prepared the night before. "The convention stuff is all endin' soon. And you aren't doin' any freelancin' work, right? Not unless another Connie Giordano comes along. And, let's face it, clients like her are a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Am I right, boss?" Jackson folded her arms under her breasts and leaned forward on her desk. "I suppose you are. Connie's requests were... not typical for our clients." Tyler and Jackson shared another awkward, knowing look with each other. Memories of the salon appointment, high tea, the symphony, and Connie's nano-designed cock flashed through Tyler's head... "Right," Amber said. "So, look, if Violet's not gonna be doin' any freelancin', and if there's no other events for her to work at once the convention is over, then there's no real reason for her to stick around on the station, right?" Jackson looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, I can put her to work, Amber. There's always something that needs to be done around here. Even if it's just drumming up business for the other girls. I'm partial to the idea of having Violet stand out in the foyer of the 32nd floor, handing out business cards for Renee and Zoe and Tanya..." Tyler squirmed in his seat. Jackson couldn't be serious about that, could she? Then again, Tyler had promised that he would do any jobs Jackson asked him to do, so long as she never booked him with male clients who just wanted to get their rocks off. Maybe she would put him out there to hand out business cards. Or maybe she'd rescind the work the nanobots did on him, give him his old body back, and have him slave away in the printing press on the 5th floor. Or maybe something even less desirable than any of those... "Ah, c'mon," Amber said. "Violet's too good for doin' dumb work like that. She'd get bored out of her mind in ten minutes. Plus, well..." Amber turned on a pitiable face, which she displayed fully to both Tyler and Jackson. "Well, y'know, Violet's never been to Earth. She deserves to spend some time there. After all the nonsense she went through growin' up on Mars." Tyler tried to keep a straight face as Jackson gave him a subtle, accusatory look through her glasses. "Right," Jackson said. "Mars." "C'mon! Please?" Amber begged. "It'll just be a couple months. Isaac 'n' me wanna get married real quick. We're not gonna be one of those couples who stays engaged for years 'n' years. It's happenin' as soon as we can make it happen. Tell you the truth, I think Isaac wants to tie the knot sooner rather than later 'cuz he thinks I'll be tempted to go back to freelancin' if he doesn't seal the deal. But I'd love to have Violet's help with everything until then. She'll be back on Beta in time for the next big convention. Honest." Jackson leaned back in her chair as Tyler moved to the edge of his. Amber looked expectantly at her boss. Tyler had no idea what Jackson was about to say, or about how he would react. All he could do was wait and wonder... A few seconds passed, and to Tyler they felt like an eternity. "Amber," Jackson said, finally, "give Violet and me a minute. We need to go over a few things." "Yeah, sure," Amber said. She stood and walked briskly to the door leading into the dormitory and shut it quietly behind her. Tyler was left alone in the office with Jackson. The two of them sized eachother up across the desk between them. "Well," Tyler said, taking a deep breath. "Okay, then." "Mars?" Jackson said. "You're from Mars, now? And you've never been to Earth? That's a new one to me." "Well I wasn't about to tell her the truth, Jackson. Not sure if you've noticed this, but Amber's a bit of a blabbermouth. Everyone in the company doesn't need to know that I'm actually a thirty-five-year-old man from Miami." Jackson shrugged. "I don't think most of the girls would care, honestly. They didn't care when Paul..." "Paul's not me. Just because you did to him what you did to me doesn't mean we're identical twins. He and I are completely..." "Oh!" Jackson said, widening her eyes. "So, he already filled you in. About his little adventure as May Young. I was hoping to be the first one to tell you that story." "Yeah, he told me about it. That doesn't mean... look, we're getting off topic, here." "Indeed. What do you think of Amber's proposition?" Tyler put his head in his hands. "I think it's insane, honestly. I've never planned a wedding. I've never even planned a birthday party." "Well. It could be a good experience for you, then. Something to put on your resume." "You're seriously considering having me go with Amber?" Jackson folded her hands on her desk. "She's right. If you're not going to do any freelancing - and I'm still sticking to the promise we made right before your first job, along with rule #1, by the way - then you won't be much use to me or the company until the next convention comes through. You'll remember, I did what I did with my nanobots because I needed extra girls to work the convention floor and all the after-hours events that came later. When this week is over, though... that need goes away. Your services in that area won't be necessary anymore. I have more than enough girls to handle the small number of events we do between conventions." "I can still..." "And," Jackson interrupted, "we've already determined through previous conversations that you'd much rather remain an attractive female, getting her nails done and wearing pretty dresses, than being reverted to your former body and being forced to work in my printing press." Tyler sneered at her. "You're twisting my words, Jackson. You have a real knack for that, you know?" "It's my specialty. Go to Houston, Mr. Hillman. Consider it a gift from me to you, for being such a good sport and reliable employee for the past week. I try to reward my employees appropriately for their efforts... even if they're just temporary contractors trying to pay off a debt." Tyler looked off to the side and thought about the proposition. Him, planning a wedding for a girl he met less than a week ago. Returning to Earth, much sooner than he originally expected... but still wearing the body of Violet Taylor instead of being reverted to his usual self. There was one other thing he wanted to know before he made a decision... and he wanted to try to put something over on Jackson, too. It was worth a try. "If I go," he said, uncrossing his legs under the unattractive brown dress he wore, "does it count as a job?" Jackson looked at him sideways. "A job?" "Meaning, do I get paid for it? Will me helping Amber out count anything towards what I owe you?" "Why would it? You won't be working for the benefit of Ringed Amusements. You'll be working for Amber only. And she'll soon no longer be under my employ." "It's still a job, though. It's something you want me to do. And it's not like Amber's going to be paying me while I'm doing... whatever it is I'll be doing. Picking out flowers or whatever. Christ, this is insane... this is the stupidest..." "Mr. Hillman," Jackson said, "if you head back to Earth with Amber, whatever you engage in while there will be on your time, not mine. Amber moving and getting married has nothing to do with this company or this job. If you go with her, you will be doing it out of the goodness of your heart." She lowered her glasses and peered over the rims at Tyler. "Assuming there's any goodness in there to begin with." "Gee. Thanks, boss." "Now, that said," Jackson continued, "it's possible that some Earth-side business comes up while you're there." Tyler recrossed his legs. "What kind of business?" "Nothing comes to mind at the moment. But if something does pop up that needs doing, I'll let you know. And you'll be appropriately compensated, of course. Deal?" Tyler sulked a bit. He had hoped to bilk Jackson out of some easy money, should he choose to follow Amber to Earth and help her out with her transition from high-end prostitute to stereotypical Southern housewife. He still wasn't sold on the idea. Jackson picked up on it. "Think about it," she said. "I plan to." "And while you're thinking about it," Jackson said, bringing her glasses up again and scanning through the text on her tablet, "get yourself and Amber down to the 5th floor to get changed. There's a big football game happening tonight. I'm in the mood to take advantage of it." ***** Tyler didn't have to wonder long about what Jackson meant when she mentioned a big football game. When he and Amber got down to the 5th floor and entered the changing room beyond the printing press and wardrobe, he figured it out. There, on the clothing rack in the middle of the room, hung several sexy cheerleader outfits. "Of course," Tyler sighed, leaning against the door frame. Amber saw the disdain in Tyler's expression. "Aw, c'mon, darlin'. You still don't think playin' dressup is fun? Haven't I rubbed off on you at all?" Tyler ignored the question and grumbled his way into the changing room, where he sat down at a vanity and began working on his hair. Dressing up in gimmicky costumes and booth-babe apparel wasn't a problem in and of itself, Tyler admitted. He certainly didn't mind wearing women's clothing anymore, and actually looked forward to it more often than not, as he'd grown fond of the fancy fabrics, interesting styles, myriad color choices, and the way it all made his goddess-quality body look even more attractive than it already was. He just wasn't thrilled at the idea of wearing these kinds of things while serving drinks to crowds of men who wanted nothing more than to flip up his tiny little skirt and jam their cocks into his tight cunt. But he had to do it, if he ever wanted to pay off his debt to Jackson... Tyler looked around at the other girls assigned to tonight's event. Amber was here, plus a few other girls Tyler had never been introduced to... plus Tanya, who Tyler hadn't seen since the time he was dressed up as a French maid and she was dressed as a bunnygirl. Her hair had been blonde then; it was a rich brown now. Tanya was already fully clothed - if you could call it that - in a tight, midriff-revealing shell top and short pleated skirt. Tyler eventually got up from his vanity, stripped out of his clothes, retrieved his own cheerleader uniform from the rack in the middle of the room, and put it on. The shell top compressed his breasts in much the same way as yesterday's corset, and the tiny skirt left little to the imagination. The white outfit was trimmed in black and pink, with the word "RINGED" displayed prominently in big block letters across Tyler's breasts, and the word "AMUSEMENTS" in a smaller font immediately underneath. Good advertising for Jackson's company, Tyler admitted to himself, as he returned to his mirror and got going on his makeup. By the time Tyler and the other cheerleaders-slash-waitresses entered the lounge proper, the place was jam-packed with patrons, watching the pre-game show on the televisions mounted on the walls, thirsty for a drink... and thirsty for something else, surely. All the girls except for Tyler and Amber came into the lounge armed with a handful of personalized business cards, eager to hand them out to any and all potential freelancing clients. Amber, of course, was past that part of her career. She sidled up to Tyler and leaned into his ear as the wolf- whistles started from the gathered crowd in the lounge. "Cute piercin' you got there, Violet," she said. Tyler looked down past his breasts, at his navel, and admonished himself mentally for forgetting to take it out before he left the dressing room. "Oh," he said, fingering the pink spinels that dangled from the top of his belly button. "Yeah, thanks." "Did Connie get that for ya?" "Uh... no. I got it for her, actually." "Good call. It looks great on you. Zoe has a piercin' like that, too." Tyler just nodded silently. It was Zoe's piercing that ultimately inspired him to get his own. Tyler wasn't ready to admit that out loud, though. "It's funny," Amber said, as the rest of the girls sauntered into the crowd to get the first batch of drink orders. "It feels funny, I mean. Not goin' out there with my business cards, tryin' to get guys interested in me. Now I'll just be servin' drinks like a regular old waitress." "It's not so bad," Tyler said, smiling down at his engaged friend. "Hookin' ain't so bad either." She folded her arms. "I dunno. I mean, I'm not gonna miss it. Maybe I am. I've been doin' it for so long that I don't remember not doin' it. I'm gonna be one confused little lady when I get to Houston. Don't know what I'm gonna do with myself." "Plan your wedding. Shop for a house. Remember?" "After that. Gotta keep busy after that, Violet. Got my whole life to think about, now. Before Isaac proposed, all I ever had to think about was the next job. Things are gettin' more complicated now." Tyler thought on Amber's words for a moment. Suddenly, Tanya came streaking through the crowd and toward the bar. She gave a death glare to Tyler and Amber. "Perhaps you two would like to do some work, yes?" she said, in her breathy Russian accent. "Talk later. Work now." Tyler and Amber gave each other one last look, then headed into the appreciative crowd. Tyler tried to forget about what he was wearing and how much of his skin was exposed - this was the least he'd been clothed since starting his job at the company. Even the French maid outfit and the booth-babe microdress had covered up more of his fantastic body than the cheerleader costume did. He felt genuinely uncomfortable in this getup... though that feeling passed after a while, once the crowd had settled down a bit. Tyler let them stare at his chest and legs as he took their drink orders, and listened to their lewd comments, brushing them off with an eye roll as he brought tray after tray of drinks to the various tables around the lounge. Over the course of the first quarter of the football game, Tyler noticed the lounge becoming somehow even more crowded. The walkways between tables shrunk in size as more men filled in the diminishing amount of walkable space, eager to take in the game while being serviced by the hottest women this side of the asteroid belt. Tyler often had to walk sideways through the crowd in order to get where he was going - not an easy task while carrying a tray full of heavy glassware. Some of the men in the lounge caught on to the difficulties Tyler was having and decided to take advantage of it by "accidentally" brushing their fingers across his exposed thighs, bumping into him and getting a nice breast-grope in before he could react, or even blatantly holding onto his midriff from both sides while trying to make their way to the restroom, then saying "excuse me" as they let go, as if that somehow made it acceptable. One man even surreptitiously grazed his fingers across Tyler's navel piercing, which was a shocking sensation for Tyler that left him feeling cold from head to toe. By the end of the second quarter, Tyler felt slimy with sweat and the residue of fingerprints covering his midriff and upper thighs. He realized with minor horror that he still hadn't taken a shower since his escapade in the back room of the electronics store, where he'd had his tits sucked on and been forced to take a penis into his mouth. He could still taste Ozzie's emission lingering atop his tongue, still remember the hardness of the cock and the way it pulsed as it shot its load down Tyler's throat... he became queasy at the thought. "Violet," someone said from out of Tyler's view. He turned. There was Tanya, wearing the Ringed Amusements standard-issue cheerleader outfit, holding a tray laden with empty glasses and looking at Tyler sternly. "Work." "Oh," Tyler said, snapping to attention. "Sorry. I guess I zoned out there for a minute." "Halftime is not a good time to 'zone out,' Violet. Go to tables. Get drinks. Just because Jackson is not here does not mean you do not have to work." "I know, I know," Tyler moaned. "Jesus. Sorry." "Yes. Sorry." She looked down, below Tyler's shell top, at his midriff. "Nice jewels." Tanya returned to the bar with her tray, obviously annoyed. That accent of hers had a way of getting under Tyler's skin. He touched his navel piercing lightly and tried his damnedest to focus on the task at hand, trying to forget what happened with Ozzie while also trying to ignore all the indignities that were being visited on him now. The men in the lounge kept on with their staring, their pathetically obvious attempts at subtle groping, and their inappropriate comments... Tyler just kept chugging away at his waitressing duties. Mercifully, the score of the football game became lopsided midway through the third quarter, and a sizeable amount of the lounge patrons departed with their wallets full of Ringed Amusements business cards. The volume of new drink orders dropped dramatically as the remaining patrons decided they'd had enough. Tyler's arms were sore as hell from all the carrying he'd done, and he rested his elbows on the bartop, arching his back so he could lean against the railing. This position caused him to jut out his breasts and increase the amount of exposed midriff by at least an inch, but he was too burnt-out to care... so long as he didn't show off what he had under his tiny pleated skirt. He took a deep breath, relaxed, and let his mind wander. He realized he hadn't seen Paul at today's lounge event, either behind the bar or out on the floor. Come to think of it, Tyler hadn't seen any workmen from the printing press here, apart from the three guys tending bar. Maybe if Paul and his band of part-time enforcers had been around, there wouldn't have been so many patrons getting creative with their hands. Tyler's eyes widened as he realized something else - Ben Rosenthal hadn't been here, either. Tyler felt a twinge of disappointment at this. He wondered if Ben had needed to work, babysitting the family's investments out here on the station. Tyler idly imagined what Ben had been up to since leaving the Pyramid Suites room this morning, when the two of them had shared a brief kiss... Why couldn't Ben have been down at the event tonight? He would have noticed Tyler's unease, and he would have tried to comfort him. Tyler really could have used some encouraging words after the day he'd had. Ben could have... would have supplied them freely. He was one of the few men currently on Saturn Beta that wasn't a complete scuzzball. Tyler wished Ben would just appear, at the lounge doors, and come in and order a drink from his favorite waitress and booth babe. That would have made life a bit more bearable. Amber waved a hand in front of Tyler's face. Tyler blinked. "Yoo-hoo," Amber said, smiling at him. "Earth to Violet. Not that you've ever been to Earth... Mars to Violet!" "Hey," Tyler said, looking back at Amber wearily. "Sorry. I keep zoning out." "Game's over. C'mon. Help me 'n' Tanya 'n' the rest of 'em kick everyone out. Then you can get that shower you've been hankerin' for all day." Tyler complied, and soon the lounge was empty, save the Ringed Amusements girls and the bartenders. Tyler and the other girls retreated into the dressing room, stripped out of their cheerleader outfits, and put on their previous sets of clothing. Tanya regaled her coworkers with stories of how many business cards she had handed out over the course of the football game, proudly boasting about how many freelancing clients she'd be servicing later tonight and all day tomorrow. Some of the other girls retorted with their own accomplishments and expectations of how much money they'd be making later. Tyler and Amber traded many glances with each other as they got ready to leave. Once on the service elevator, Tyler finally relaxed, closing his eyes and trying to move past everything that had happened today. Amber, to her credit, could sense that Tyler wasn't in the mood for talking right now. She left him alone, apart from wrapping an arm around his waist and hugging him from the side. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and then Tyler rested his own head atop Amber's, and the two friends stayed like this all the way from the 5th floor to the 48th. They disembarked and walked through the foyer to spindle #7, staying so close to each other that their elbows bumped several times. As they entered the dormitory through the rear door, Amber turned to Tyler and grabbed his hand. "Listen," she said. "I don't wanna put any pressure on you to come to Houston with me. I know it's a big decision. You do what you have to do to take care of yourself, okay?" Tyler nodded. "Okay." "I really do want you to come, though. I think you'll like Earth. You'll like it a hell of a lot more than Mars, that's for damn sure. You might even like it more than Saturn Beta. There's lots to do out here, sure, but there's stuff on Earth that you can't imagine." "Like what?" Amber smiled at Tyler coyly. "Come with me, and I'll show you." She let go of Tyler's hand and skipped away, proud of herself for planting the seed of curiosity in Tyler's head. If only she knew... whatever it was on Earth that Amber wanted to show Tyler, there was a very high chance that he'd already seen it a thousand times. He wandered through the hallway of the Ringed Amusements dorm, passing by Zoe, who gave him a quick hello as she rushed along in a loose white blouse and impossibly tight leather pants. Probably off to another job, Tyler thought. She always looked like she was in a hurry. And Tyler was in a hurry, too, though he was too weak and exhausted from the last few hours in the lounge to rush around like Zoe did. He practically stumbled into the shower room, sloppily discarded all his clothing, and proceeded to take the longest shower of his life. ***** The next day started with a notification from Tyler's tablet that he was expected up on the 122nd floor again, at the convention center, working the booth for AG&M alongside Renee. He hadn't been needed up there the day before, as Noah and the other AG&M salesmen were booked solid with private appointments with many of the investors who had come to the saloon event, the night Amber had gotten engaged. What an interesting night that had been... Tyler and Amber ate breakfast in the dorm room kitchenette in near silence. Amber only piped up to mention that she was probably going to be packing this morning, getting all of her stuff ready to ship out to Earth in preparation for her big move. Then she had some other thing going on tonight, helping some hazardous material transport company with some presentation they were giving in a private hotel ballroom. Tyler didn't catch many of the details, and Amber didn't seem too enthusiastic about providing them. Her mind was a billion miles away, fantasizing about the new life waiting for her in Houston. After everything that happened yesterday, Tyler felt like wearing the most conservative ensemble he could put together. He looked through the things Amber had picked out for him several days ago, but none of it jumped out at him as something he felt like wearing. It all looked too short, or too tight... or he'd already worn it before, and he didn't want to incur Amber's disdain by wearing something twice in the same week. He folded his arms and looked around the room dumbly, and his eyes eventually settled on the closet on Amber's side of the room. Its doors were open, and Tyler could see several appealing outfits within. Amber noticed what he was looking at. "Hey, Violet," she said. "Y'see somethin' in there you wanna try on?" Tyler tilted his head. "Maybe." "Well, go on ahead, then. You can borrow anything of mine anytime you want. We're just about the same size." She paused and sipped her coffee. "Well, 'cept your boobs are bigger." Tyler reached into the closet and flipped through the various articles of clothing inside. Most of Amber's stuff consisted of dresses with hems that didn't quite reach the knee, but there was one blouse-and-skirt combination that looked like it would cover Tyler halfway down his calves. He took this outfit out of the closet and hung it on the rack near his bed. The blouse was white and the skirt was pale yellow, and both were made of flowy fabrics that didn't call any attention to the wearer's figure. "God," Amber said when she looked at what Tyler had selected. "Well, okay, grandma. If that's what you really want to wear..." "You don't like it?" Tyler said, pinching the skirt's hem between his fingers and pulling it toward himself. Now that he got a closer look at it, he realized how voluminous it was. "I mean, I like it, I guess," Amber explained. "If I was... y'know... goin' to church or somethin'." "I just feel like covering up a bit more than usual." Amber shrugged. "Fair enough. It's all yours." Tyler set about to getting dressed and doing his hair. After about 20 minutes, he looked ready to go... although, he had to admit, Amber's church-granny outfit did seem to age his young female body by a few years. He looked good in it, but just a bit more... severe and serious than usual. Which, he supposed, was exactly what he was shooting for after the undignified things he'd experienced in the electronics store and the lounge yesterday. After one last gulp of coffee, Tyler slipped into a pair of white pumps with three-inch heels, shouldered his burgundy leather purse, and went off to face the day. Amber watched him leave and didn't shut the door to the dorm room until after Tyler had disappeared down the hallway. Those motherly instincts kicking in again, Tyler thought. It was early yet, and the foyer of the 48th floor was devoid of the hustle and bustle Tyler was used to seeing. The only other person waiting for the elevators was a tall, bronze-skinned man with one hand in his pocket and the other hand holding a faded canvas duffel bag. He kept his eyes on the floor and yawned into the back of his hand. Tyler stood several feet away from him and waited for the elevator doors to open. He snuck a quick glance at the man, just out of curiosity, and immediately recognized him as someone from a couple days earlier. He was the only man on the elevator who had ignored Tyler completely when everyone else on the elevator had been checking him out... the man with a smattering of Indian or Pakistani in his heritage, if his skin color and facial features were anything to go on. One of the few non-lecherous men hanging around Saturn Beta lately. Tyler was more than comfortable to share an elevator car with him. Eventually the doors opened and let Tyler and the other man on. The other man gave a gentlemanly gesture indicating that Tyler should get on first. Tyler took him up on the offer and leaned against the back of the elevator car. "Which floor?" the man said in a slightly diluted British accent. Tyler hadn't expected that. "Uh," Tyler said, "The 122nd. Thanks." The man pushed 122 for Tyler and 64 for himself. The elevator ride proceeded silently as the tall man stood in the front of the car, waiting for his floor to come up. When it did, he disembarked without a word and left Tyler by himself. Nobody else boarded during Tyler's trip up the shaft, and he soon arrived at the 122nd floor... and went back into the tumult of another day at the convention. It was loud and boisterous as it had been two days ago, and Tyler had to duck and dodge his way to the AG&M booth, where he found Noah, the two junior salesmen, and Renee. "Morning," he said, smiling at the lot of them. "How'd your meetings go yesterday, Noah?" "Better than I'd have dreamed," Noah said, as the junior salesmen behind him checked over the booth to make sure it was set up properly. "Be sure to thank your friend for getting engaged the other night, Violet. It really warmed the crowd up. Emotional response is a very real thing." "Got that right," Renee piped in. "Okay, Violet. You, me, bathroom, now. Time to suit up." She held up a cardboard box, then ushered Tyler away from the AG&M guys and toward the outer rim of the convention center, where they found a ladies room and entered two adjacent toilet stalls. Renee plopped the cardboard box under the divider between the stalls and opened the flaps. Inside was what Tyler expected, but dreaded - the AG&M branded microdresses and knee-high white boots that went with them. Tyler sighed... after all the grief he'd gotten from Amber about wearing the super-conservative blouse and skirt he had on, now he had to take it all off again and get into something slutty. "I need to thank Amber, too," Renee said, as her tight jeans were brought down to the floor. "God damn. I had a busy-as-hell night after the saloon, and a busy-as-hell day after that. Made me some serious loot." "Nice," Tyler said, trying to sound enthusiastic while knowing full-well what Renee meant about being "busy as hell." He shucked off his long skirt and began unbuttoning his blouse. Soon he was out of Amber's clothes and into his booth babe attire. He felt a chill in his nether regions as he remembered the feeling of just how short the skirt on this dress was. He clicked out into the main part of the bathroom in his heeled boots, got his makeup kit out of his purse, and finished up his look as Renee did likewise next to him. "There you go," Renee said, looking at Tyler through the reflection in the mirror. "See? You're getting pretty good with your makeup. It looks much better today than it did a couple days ago." "Oh. Thanks," said Tyler, as he dragged the deep-red lipstick across his mouth. Renee was right - his application of the miracle-drug foundation, eyeshadow, and everything else looked much more even and crisp than it ever had before. He was getting good at this... and it made him feel just the slightest bit proud. They left the bathroom a few minutes later and returned to the booth as the convention center filled with more people and more noise. And then it was back to work again - passing out information packets, directing interested parties to the main part of the AG&M booth for more details. Tyler and Renee kept their backs straight and their breasts pointed out, doing anything they could to attract more attention from the businessmen who walked near the booth. Renee was more enthusiastic about the proceedings than Tyler was, but Tyler still managed to keep a relatively good attitude about him. He did hate it, though. At least today, he hated it. He wanted nothing more than to deck himself out in Amber's church-granny ensemble and bury himself in a pile of blankets. Yesterday, with its unexpected titty- sucking and blowjob in the electronics store, and its touchy-feely lounge patrons, had really done a number on Tyler's psyche. He needed some time to recover from everything that had happened yesterday, but he'd barely had a spare second to breathe. The pace of working at Ringed Amusements during convention season was a lot to handle for anyone, let alone for a man who had unwillingly been turned into an absolute bombshell and was now the target of all varieties of male attention. The day dragged. Fortunately for Tyler, though, one nice thing happened - the appearance of Ben Rosenthal. When Tyler saw him coming, he felt energized and on-task. Yesterday's trauma disappeared as Tyler waved toward his target, ushering him over. "Well, look who's back," Ben said, approaching the front of the AG&M booth in his usual business-semiformal attire. Tyler smiled widely back at him. Renee gave Tyler a sideways glare. Rocking back and forth on his three-inch boot heels, Tyler lowered the information packets in his arms. He curved his back in order to stick his breasts out and up, better for Ben to see them. "Hey," Tyler said with a flirty expression on his face. "What do you mean, look who's back? I've been here the whole time." "You weren't here yesterday. Nobody was at the AG&M booth at all. I came by three different times, and it was always a ghost town. I thought you'd packed up and shipped out." The expression on his face saddened a bit. "I thought I'd never see you again." "Oh no, no, no, nothing like that," Tyler said, trying to cheer Ben up again. He pointed back at the booth behind him. "Noah and the boys had a bunch of private meetings lined up yesterday. They didn't have the bandwidth to have anyone at the booth." Ben frowned and nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. Does that mean you had the whole day off?" "Ha. I wish." His heart sank as the memories of yesterday flooded back. "I kept busy." "Busy tonight, too?" Shaking his head, Tyler looked Ben in the eyes. "Not as far as I know." "Good. Let's you and me actually go do something. You still have to show me around the station. You promised." Ben flourished his eyebrows expectantly. Renee, still handing out packets to the convention crowd while her coworker flirted, rolled her eyes. "You got it," Tyler said. "I have your card. I'll let you know when I'm done up here." "Don't disappear again." Ben smiled, and Tyler smiled back. "I won't. Promise." Ben left with his hands buried in his trouser pockets, off to find the investors he was supposed to be babysitting. Tyler watched him go until he was entirely swallowed by the crowd. "Christ," Renee said, shaking her head. "You're a total tease." Tyler looked back at her. "What do you mean?" "Stringing him along like that." She lowered her voice. "I don't suppose you've told him you're a lesbian." "I'm... so what? He and I are just friends," Tyler lied. He repeated mentally that Ben was just a target for info-brokering. Nothing more than that... "There are no 'just friends' for girls like us in a place like Beta, Violet," Renee said gruffly. "He wants to get under that itty-bitty skirt of yours. I'm surprised he hasn't called up Jackson and asked to book your services for the evening." "He knows I'm not a..." Tyler began, but he caught himself before he got too loud. He stepped closer to Renee and switched to a whisper. "He knows I don't do freelance work. He actually got really pissed off at me the other night, when he found out what Ringed Amusements was all about. I had to explain that I... don't offer those kinds of services." Renee looked at Tyler, unimpressed. "Hmm. Still doesn't change the fact that he wants to fuck you. And it doesn't change the fact that you're stringing him along." She put on a stern look. "You'd better knock it off before you put yourself in a situation that you can't get out of." "Don't worry about me," Tyler said. "I'll be careful. I know what I'm doing." "Uh huh. You don't have the first clue what you're doing, Violet." "I do," Tyler insisted. "Believe me." ***** In the bathroom, after changing back into Amber's church-granny outfit, Tyler sat on the toilet and fiddled around with his new, pink phone, which occupied his right hand. In his left hand, he held Ben Rosenthal's hard plastic business card. He looked back and forth between the two before mustering up the courage to dial the number on the card. Tyler lifted his long auburn hair, put the phone to his ear, and listened to the ringing. Ben's voicemail greeting activated after the second ring. Tyler sighed and listened to Ben's recorded voice: "Hello, you've reached Ben Rosenthal in investment consulting and management. Sorry I missed you, please leave a message and I'll call you back soon." The greeting had a small calming effect on Tyler, and he felt perfectly at ease with himself as he left a message: "Ben. Hi. It's me... Violet. From the, uh, convention booth and the lounge and everything. Hey, so, well, like you said, I definitely owe you a tour of the station. I honestly haven't been here for too long, myself, so I'm not sure how much of a tour I can give you. But I know a couple fun places we could visit, if that works for you. So, give me a call back at this number." He paused and swallowed. "Hope to hear from you soon. Bye." Tyler mashed the End Call button on the phone and opened the folds of his purse. He dropped the phone in, next to his Ringed Amusements tablet, his makeup kit, his phone that he had brought with him from Miami... and the puller he'd gotten from Ozzie. He stared at the sleek casing on the puller, grateful that he'd finally be able to put it to use. Hopefully soon. Whenever Ben called him back. Tyler hoped that the message he left on Ben's voicemail was tantalizing enough, and flirty enough, to get him to call back as soon as possible. For now, though, he needed a break. It had been a long day on the convention floor, with countless pervy glances from what felt like hundreds of men, all of whom seemed only vaguely interested in what AG&M had to offer while seeming much more interested in whatever Tyler and Renee were offering. The waning, final days of the convention apparently brought out the less subtle members of the business community. Tyler could still feel their muggy, lunch-tinged breath on his cheeks. Yes, indeed, he needed a break from that. And from Ringed Amusements, too. Even from Amber, in case she wanted to urge him further toward the idea of going to Earth with her to help her transition into the next stage of her life. Tyler zipped up his purse and left the bathroom, then got on the elevator and pushed the button for the 20th floor. A few minutes later he got out and wandered through the foyer, into the Pyramid Suites lobby, and through the halls until he arrived at Connie's suite. He let himself inside, disrobed, undid his bra, and fell onto the bed. He spent the next hour staring up at the ceiling, wondering what, exactly, constituted the successful planning of a wedding. His eyelids grew heavy eventually, and he drifted off to sleep. A shrill, unfamiliar sound raised him out of bed. The source of the noise was his purse, and once he opened it he saw his new pink phone rumbling within. "Hello?" he said, after picking the call. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Violet," said the voice from the other end. "It's Be