One Big Step

Cherry settled her cosmic stretch-coupé softly down on a quiet little private asteroid somewhere deep in the galaxy’s most exclusive cluster.

“Here we are then,” said Flashthunder, weak with fright.

Outspread before them was what looked like palace grounds, all the constellations of the universe above. Overhanging trees hung with luminous amber globes shaded from the starlight an expansive parkland of shimmery silver grass, whose gentle rises and falls disclosed glimpses of hidden glades where fountains tinkled away in blackly glittering pools. After the bustle and exertions of Flashball, then the fitful hurry in his quarters to take a sonic shower and get set, there was something about being alone at last amid this expansive fairyland and all its tiny noises which was leaving Flashthunder rather short of breath.

Cherry took his hand and together they plunged into the swaying sea, which tickled Flashthunder’s bare knees above the rims of his boots. It seemed these night-blooming grasses awaited just the tiniest touch to give up their profuse pollen, and the two young bodies rustling through them now moved amid billows and cloudbanks. The scent was like dark chocolate mixed with ginger. From the soft glow of the peach-coloured fruits bobbing amongst the boughs Cherry’s silken stockings picked up a fleeting glimmer as her round thighs pushed on to part the whispering forest, and her petticoat-hem danced across its waving heads. Flashthunder gulped, and not just because he was having difficulty matching her pace. At length they reached the last ridge of this rolling country and looked down into the bower below, where a small doorway open in discreet walls stood ready for them.

It was Cherry’s cabin.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” said Flashthunder, ill with fright.

The interior was stylish and spacious, its many retractable panels thrown back to let in the balmy night. Cherry stroked a button on the wall to turn down the lamps and illuminate the low smoulder of the neutronic fireplace. A couch like a great chaise-longue spanned the breadth of this roominess. Slipping out of her high heels the girl daintily arranged herself upon the cushions, and the smile she bestowed on Flashthunder then meant heights of terror never before dreamed of.

It was no wonder she and Flashshadow were friends. Opposites attract. For the latter girl never stopped talking, hard as it was to hear her, whereas Cherry had the best voice in a dozen solar-systems but except when she was singing she scorned all manner of speech. Not that in the present situation, Flashthunder had to admit, a verbal invitation was exactly needed to supplement that smile. He made for the couch, feet knocking into each other on every step, fingers fidgeting restlessly about his tunic-skirt, and in front of the loveliness that was Cherry plonked the quivery mass that was him.

She was still smiling, graciously.

“Flashshadow said to me today that this was a big step,” were Flashthunder’s timid words while he gazed at Cherry as if she were the stellar phenomenon she somewhat resembled, too magnificent to turn his eyes away from and yet of too much potential apocalyptic power to dare to look at directly. “She was right about that. Stick with her, Cherry, she’s not only quite a skilled musician but can evidently offer valuable insights into this sort of thing.”

The smile stayed. Now however it was also asking Flashthunder whether he planned for this conversation to go on until the next lunar cycle.

He hauled in the deepest breath in a day of deep breaths. Some of the other Mini-Flashes seemed to have assumed he and Cherry tonight were going to do something he’d never done before, not even with Neetra. The unknown was always scary, and Flashthunder would have been the first to admit he was terrified of it. This however was scarier still. Because he and Cherry were in fact going to do exactly what he and Neetra had done, and Flashthunder’s first experience of all that it could bring would have worked something of this flurry and anticipation even on the most courageous Mini-Flash.

He had passed the point where deep breaths were any help. So instead of taking another Flashthunder looked to Cherry, and amid the limpid light beamed his bravest little smile into the event-horizon of her beauty. He shifted nearer, crumpling up his carefully-tucked hemline. There had to be something wrong with these new tunics, he’d not been able to keep his lucky red ones out of sight today. Although considering what was about to happen, Flashthunder supposed Cherry would have found out what colour they were anyway.

He held up both hands with the palms facing forward. Cherry took them in her own, and as one the couple slid into telepathic mindlink.