"Our lessons continued and our sexless encounters persisted.

"I was still not used to the opulent life on Olympi. Most of my time was filled with shared luxury, but a lot of it was also haunted by thoughts of Earth that seemed to be drifting further and further away. I had no concept of time. I should have started calculating from the day I got there, but you know how disorienting time is in deep space. Night, day, years, these things don't exist here. I didn't understand that so I let them all slip by without notice. I had no need to calculate bilps, sondits and clyks either.

"We were sitting in her quarters feeding each other the most delicious jellies from the Volta empire when she noticed the dark circles and deep lines around my eyes. 'Let Juno help you,' she said, 'there's no reason to look so tired. You're with Juno, little Moon. You're with Juno and she will care for you when the universe is cold and cruel.'

"I caressed her cheek and she smiled down at me in her arms. We were naked. With the back of my fingers, I traced the contours of her breast. She continued touching the lines by my eyes.

"If it helped and if it made her happy, I would do anything.

"'Earthen are beautiful creatures,' she said after sitting up to stroke the gold bands on her arm, calling Grandel to her, 'they are incredible if you think about it.'

"I didn't understand. Compared to what I'd seen of the universe's diverse population so far, we seemed pathetic, weak and small in comparison.

"'Earthen are little, true, but there is a quality of them that is rare: their adaptability. Your body can accept a great many changes and evolutions over time. It is a slow process in Mother Planet's natural world, but you are not on the Mother Planet now, are you, Moon?'

"I agreed. I was not.

"'One day, little Moon, Juno will show you how man can become god. There exists a practice your Juno discovered while she explored the universe. One of immense sacrifice and pain that will make a man invincible.' She continued petting me as she talked into the room, 'and one day, Juno will find a champion to become invincible for her. He will become a god,' she chuckled as her hand roamed down my body.

"I was ready to make any promise she wanted as long as she kept touching me.

"'Maybe that god will be you one day, Moon. Would you like to be Juno's god?' her single finger ran the length of my thigh and circled back upward.

"I almost died with need. I would have done anything.

"'Ah, but that's not now. Now, we must make these lines around your eyes vanish. Grandel will help you. He helped your Juno and look, she is never tired nor is she ugly. Let her do this for you, Moon. A gift. You will never feel the shame of exhaustion again.'

"Grandel slid in with his bag of supplies clutched in one miry tentacle and in another, he presented me with a small vial of thick orange gel.

"She told me to take some and rub it over my scalp. It would put me to sleep and when I came-to again, I would be in Elysium.

"So I did it. When I woke, I felt amazing, I shit you not, Teeno. I woke up feeling the best I ever have in my life. I was pumped. I was full of new vigor and felt like I could sprint the entire circumference of the universe if it was possible. I still feel like that every once in awhile.

"Juno was lounging in the corner of the room when I walked over to her, full of an electric energy that was jolting my nerves into a wakefulness I'd never experienced. It was like there was a new dimension that I'd crossed into, one where the world was sharper and my senses were honed in on every detail I'd forgotten to pay attention to before. Every texture was a whole new experience: colors were brighter, sounds were clearer, smells were more pungent. It was like I was finally born. I went to Juno as a man who finally stepped into the world. I went to her and kissed her, wrapped her in my arms and jolted with every brush against her hair, skin, and gold. All of it was perceived by each little nerve ending on my fingertips. I was never more alive or turned on in my life. Literally turned on. I tried to move in closer to her, I held her head in my hands, tasted those lips and then moved down her body to try the other flavors she offered, but she pushed me away, smiling.

"'You look better, little Moon. This pleases your Juno. But now, you must continue the lessons. There is so much you still have to teach.' She brushed past me, leaving me gasping, hungering for all those sensations that had me roaring to life.

"All my receptors were raging, pushing against my skin, desperate to experience that again. I roamed the Olympi looking for something to touch, to taste, to smell.

"I had to do something to satisfy my body, so I took lovers. Lots of lovers. Lots and lots of lovers. The sensations of sex after this waking, I will never be able to put those feelings to words, Teeno. All senses are used simultaneously. The deep notes of moans and the songs of ecstasy are even more beautiful than the mountain choirs on Bakopiin. Oh, the feel of skin, wet skin raised from bliss, it's euphoria. The way a woman tastes mid-throes is the sweetest nectar I've yet to experience in the universe. Or the way a man smells, in deep, musky notes it's beyond infinite exaltation.

"Don't look at me like that, I know how you Westerners are about pleasure." Moon tipped the bottle into his empty cup and turned away when the putrid vapor rose up. Before it was able to congeal, he swiveled the cup around, breaking up the dregs and watching as the drink began to bubble again. "And you know, all I had to do was add a strip of blue skin to my back.

"It was weird at first, feeling the rough patch stitched there. It feels like fish scales. Dry fish scales. It's still my favorite addition, though — the most beautiful out of them all."

Moon watched as Teeno's eyes quickly darted around to try and catch that particular piece of skin.

With one black-gloved hand, Moon lifted the ends of his thick hair and showed Teeno the strip of bright blue skin that peeked out of the top of his brown coat collar.

Satisfied, Teeno sank back into his seat and took another sip of his drink.

Moon continued. "Time passed. Juno and I would still spend days together, naked, touching, experiencing new levels of sensation, but we never joined. I would go elsewhere for that. I wanted to fuck her brains out, but I couldn't go any further than squeezing handfuls of those big, gorgeous globes of her tight, voluptuous tits. For the time, I was at peace.

"As frustrating as this was sometimes, I was still happy and thought we'd live out our lives together like this, but as I began to age, she stayed the same. At this point, I'd taught her everything I knew and we'd sit in the navigation room and plan out courses based on the stars we charted.

"'Your hair, it is turning white,' she said to me one day, fingering the graying strand at my temple. I'd lived a long life on the Olympi now and was happy to reach a comfortable age. I'd gotten used to the energy and instead of spending hours in frantic pacing, I'd be able to sit and study quietly for many clyks. 'Let Juno help you, Moon,' she said sliding behind me, placing her hands on my back, stroking the length of exposed blue skin. 'Let Juno give you a piece of the universe to integrate and adapt with yours like this one did. You do love your energy. These procedures, they only improve you. Let Juno do this for you.'

"I agreed.

"She took me to Grandel's lair in the ship where a table was placed in the middle surrounded by white lights. It was the first place in a long time that was so sterile, I could feel nothing.

"Grandel strapped me to the table. He took the same vial with the orange gel and worked it through my scalp. When I woke up again, let's just say it wasn't as great as the first time.

"I felt like I'd been dropped from high in the air onto that cold, hard table. I was both numb and winded."

"What happened?" Teeno asked, cocking his head to the side.

"I think I died on that table, Teeno. I think I died there and this scrap of skin they stuck on my shoulder here, it brought me back. My blood still flows, my heart still beats, but it's different.

"I know, that doesn't sound like such a bad price to pay for immortality, but that's the big cosmic joke here.

"The most unfortunate side-effect of this yellow and green flesh they attached is the smell. Yeah, the stiffness was bad at first too. My left shoulder was useless for so long until I finally worked it through, breaking it in, but the smell... That hasn't gone away. Rotten fruit. Rancid decay with a hint of sugar. I've gotten used to it, but these heightened senses won't let me escape it.

"Juno came to get me. She smiled and said that for the first time in a very long while, the slavers were back at their game. She wanted me to join the Gilded Legion.

"I was so confused. When did she get the idea that I could fight?

"She sent me down with them in their training. She said they'd teach me.

"I'll give them credit, they did try.

"But I was a scholar, not a warrior. Good thing I became immortal because it's basically taken me the span of eternity to learn how to use those fucking sticks."