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Chapter 1: Sapphire Suit

“You sure you’ve ridden a horse before? You looked like you were about to fall off.” A weathered man under a weathered hat led his horse along a scree slope. The mare’s black coat matched her owner’s dark skin.

“Yes. Just… not very often.” Following the weathered man Officer Tameril carefully picked his way, stumbling on the loose shale. His horse was a skewbald gelding – chestnut brown with large white patches, patient and uncomplaining.

“So you know which end of a horse to kiss?” asked the lead man.

Officer Tameril cursed as he slipped and bruised a knee on the stones. “The end with the nose, Tucker”

“Ha! Trick question. You kiss both ends,” the weathered man laughed. “Why did you come on this outing? It’s not a two man job.”

“I’m here to make sure you complete the mission,” answered the officer, “and to make sure you don’t run off with a priceless artefact.”

“Bah. You think all Dharawal men are thieves?” spat the lead man.

“Of course,” replied the officer. “I think everybody is a thief. Especially when they’re carrying a sapphire as big as their head in their backpack.”

They picked their careful way to the end of the tumbled stones then mounted their respective horses. Officer Tameril seemed to balance awkwardly where the dark-skinned man mounted with the grace of an experienced horseman.

“What good is a shiny rock? Can’t eat it.”

“Don’t play the idiot. I know you’ve read the brief,” answered the officer. “It’s a damned useful shiny rock. It’s going to keep you alive in the mine.”

Twisted tramlines crumbling with rust emerged from where the stones had cascaded. Progress was easier for the horses along the flattened subgrade despite gnarled and stunted trees which had grown between the sleepers. Taller eucalyptus trees shedding bark in rolled sheets dappled the mountainside. “Just ahead around the next turn, boss,” said the weathered man over his shoulder.

“I’m not your boss.” He noted the longer shadows of the trees and checked his watch. “Do you know if there’s a place to camp ahead?” he asked Tucker.

“Dunno, but it’s going to be a warm night,” observed the outdoorsman. “String a hammock between the gum trees and you’ll be set. It’ll stop the snakes biting your bum in the night. Don’t light a fire unless you want to burn everything back to Alice Springs. We should stop here though – don’t want to camp near the mine.” He slipped gracefully from his horse. With practiced motions he shrugged off his pack, then unsaddled his mare. In moments he’d removed her harness, hanging the saddle and bridle over a tree-branch.

“Hey, wont your horse wander off?” asked the officer, practically falling from his saddle before catching himself as he dismounted.

“Nah. Kalina knows to stick around. She knows where the loving is.” He fondly kissed the side of the horse’s nose and caressed over the ridge of her head. “And your idiot gelding will hang out wherever Kalina is. Boori doesn’t have a brain of his own.” He hefted his pack to rest against the petrified stump of an ancient eucalyptus. A century earlier the tree had been felled to make sleepers for the tramline when the tin mine had been active. Younger trees encroached where their ancestors had towered.

The uneven canopy was the reason two men made the trek to the mine on horseback rather than by helicopter. Without a place to set down reasonably near the uncertain location of the mine it was more economical to trek in by horse, relying on the local knowledge of Tucker.

“We still have a few hours of daylight,” said Officer Tameril. “You think that’s enough time for you to walk to the mine, perform the examination, and get back? If we finish the survey this afternoon we can head back first light tomorrow.”

“Yeah, should be, boss.” Tucker glanced at the shadows, “…if I jog it. Might be getting dark when I get back though.” The weathered man began to remove his weathered clothing. “Can I keep my hat on?”

“Sure thing, if you don’t mind it turning into a pile of confetti,” answered the officer as he tended his own horse. From his pack he extracted a plastic case containing a large blue crystal.

“Bah.” Tucker slung the beaten Akubra which settled perfectly to hang on a low branch. He stood naked like an ebony sculpture in the early afternoon light.

Officer Tameril handed the sapphire orb and a satchel to Tucker. “When you get to the mine take the sensor unit from the satchel. It has a camera and light. Photograph any barrels, crates or containers you find. Try to get clear pictures of labels or warnings – we need to know what’s stored down there. In the satchel are four ceramic beakers. Get an air sample in one, and use the other three to get soil samples around the storage area. If you see glowing green ooze make sure you get samples.”

Tucker looked suspicious and asked, “What’s the glowing green?”

The officer sighed. “There won’t be anything green and glowing. I just mean get samples of anything that might be leaking, or damp soil, or anything odd close to the containers. It could be chemical or biological or radioactive for all we know. Records of these old dumping sites was lost in the ‘40s.”

“And I gotta do it naked?”

“No, you’ll be wearing the Sapphire Suit. You did read the brief, right?” The officer sighed. “You’ll be the safest thing on the planet. Now put the satchel down while you don the suit. Hold the orb in your right hand, palm upward. Right. Now place your left hand on the top. Push downward while pulling back slightly. Perfect.”

The sapphire orb deformed then flowed like putty between Tucker’s fingers. Blue facets surged along the man’s arm then across his shoulders. A wave of glittering sapphire spread down his torso, around his groin, then down Tucker’s legs. The facets converged over the man’s head, raining black locks to the dust. “Eep!” Tucker squeaked when the blue wave covered his face.

“You can open your eyes now,” said the officer. “But give it a few moments to settle before you head off.”

“You didn’t tell me it’d shave my curls.” Tucker complained. “Geeze! It’s in my butt, and ugh it’s in my dick. That’s so weird.” Then he gasped, standing bow-legged for a moment. “Holy moly! It’s humming.”

“The brief. It was all in the brief. Which you read, yes?”

“I mighta skipped coupla pages,” admitted the glittering man.

Officer Tameril sighed, exasperated. “Readers Digest edition: Crystal artefact was found in the desert. It’s a super hard material the scientists can’t even scratch. Don’t know what it’s made of but the egg-heads think it’s a three-dimensional slice of a four-dimensional something. It bonds to humans and gives them super-human strength and invulnerability. Before you ask, it can’t be used by the military – suit would deactivate. Side effect of wearing the suit makes you horny. Only way to remove the suit is to have a wank – easy enough because the suit makes you horny.”

“Yeesh, how do I work with a hardon?” The man’s erect penis stood proudly from his groin.

“Complete the mission then you can jerk off. Just try to ignore it.” Officer Tameril retrieved the dropped satchel and held it toward the naked ebony horseman. Blue shimmering facets had faded to a pearlescent glitter bonded so tightly to the man’s skin you could barely tell he was covered in its protective coating. “Your suit is fully integrated now – it’s gone transparent. Grab your satchel and get moving. Time’s wasting!”

But Tucker didn’t take the satchel. He had a puzzled expression on his face and was looking around. “You smell that, boss? It’s like… honey on the wind.”

“What? I don’t smell anything and neither do you. It’s impossible to smell anything through the suit. Quit messing about!” the officer was getting irked.

Tucker stalked around their camp seeking the source of the aroma. “You must smell it, hot like mulled wine. Crikey it’s so strong…” Kalina whickered nodding her head up and down near the tree where the saddles hung. As Tucker approached the mare squealed, spreading her back legs before unleashing a yellow stream of urine. “It’s you, my sweet girl! You in season already?” His words began to slur as he circled the mare.

“Tucker! What the fuck! There’s no time to mess around with the horses.” The officer chided. “Get your shiny black arse to the mine!”

The pair ignored the complaining officer. Kalina turned away, lifting her tail to the side. Her vulva clenched making the base wink open and closed. Tucker leaned indecently close, breathing in her vapours, practically burying his face in the long soft cleft of her rump. He staggered back, woozy from the roiling miasma.

The horseman clicked his tongue and tapped his fingers against the mare’s rump twice. Then he stood on the old stump, erection pointed toward his mare. The horse backed up until her rear hooves touched the stump then stood, needy and waiting.

“Oh no, you’re not going to fuck your horse! You filthy pervert – geeze I can’t watch that. Fucking hell.” The other man turned away in disgust, not wanting to have an image burned into his brain that he’d never un-see.

Standing on the tree stump the glittering man’s penis was the exact height to align with his mare’s winking vulva. Her pink crevasse dribbled with arousal and the vestiges of her urine. Tucker smoothed his hands over the mare’s flanks. Afternoon sun had warmed her dark coat. “That’s my darling. My sweet Kalina…” he murmured quietly. Thrumming vibrations from the Sapphire Suit hummed around him, inside him, edging Tucker to the brink of ejaculation. He moved one hand to guide his penis, peeling back his ample foreskin to reveal the sensitive glans beneath. By rubbing his exposed cock-head up and down along the cleft of the mare’s vulva he liberally coated himself with her mucous. Periodically she ‘winked’ the lower part of her vulva by clenching her muscles. Tucker’s penis brushed lightly over the Kalina’s exposed clitoris before pushing slightly deeper with each stroke. Man and mare shared the same dark hue of their conjoined genitals – mostly ebony with a rich pink where their flesh was most sensitive. Moisture glistened along his penis, indistinguishable from the gem suit. Tucker moved his arms to embrace the mare’s rump as his penis sank into her silky smooth vagina. “Oh my sweet girl, mmm, you feel so good.”

Tucker was lost in a haze of pheromones; rich, spicy apple and honey vapours fogged his mind. They urged him onward as though consummating his love for his mare was the single most important thing in his world. There was only his love for Kalina and her heavenly grasping velvet around his penis. He moved his hips slowly back then forward savouring the silken flesh dragging along his manhood. Kalina whickered and pawed the ground with her front hoof, urging him onward faster and harder. “I hear ya, my darling…” he said in a low voice thick with lust, slurred with intoxication.

With increasing speed the glittering man pulled back then slammed his hips forward to impact against the rump of his mare. His cock pistoned into her crevasse as his scrotum slapped against the winking labia. Tucker grunted and humped like an animal as his orgasm encroached. Juices and mucous dribbled down his scrotum, wetting his legs. He cried out his lover’s name, “Kalina! Oh my Kalina!” as his scrotum pulled up, his cock throbbed and he shot a rope of semen into her depths. Her answering clenches along his shaft milked his cream deeper. His body juddered and spasmed as he spilled his seed into his lover. Nothing existed for Tucker outside of the bliss of emptying himself into her slippery grasp.

With a tinkling sound of tiny wind-chimes the Sapphire Suit retreated from his flesh. The colour deepened to rich blue as facets reformed and streamed into an elongated sphere shape. With a ceramic clunk a pineapple-sized crystal orb fell to the dust. But Tucker was completely unaware, consumed by a wash of ecstasy as he conjoined to his horse. He slumped forward over the mare’s rump, hugging his chest against her warm coat and sighing her name.

Eventually the waves of pleasure receded in diminishing aftershocks. With a gasp he pulled his hips back so his penis slid free of the mare’s embrace. A runnel of mucous mixed with semen dribbled along the winking vulva. Then the mare trotted forward a few steps before squatting slightly to unleash another stream of urine. A moment later and she was throwing her head and prancing around the eucalyptus trees, whinnying in glee.

Some distance away Officer Tameril was disgusted. “Fucking hell… fucking hell…” he repeated. “You filthy bastard – fucking your horse!” He stomped toward the naked man who stood on a calcified stump. His foot clunked against the blue crystal globe and it rolled through the dirt. “Oh shit, and you’ve used up the Sapphire Suit.” He stooped and picked up the crystal, waving it accusingly at Tucker. “You know it’s inert for five days now, right? Shit… what’re we going to do now…”

“Couldn’t help it, boss.” Tucker was unfazed by the officer’s rant. “Kalina’s in season. Who can resist a sexy mare like that in season?” He nimbly hopped from the stump to don his clothing. Kalina returned to nuzzle her head against the man’s chest. Tucker’s battered Akubra hid his newly bald pate. “Guess we camp here for the night and head back in the morning. We don’t have supplies for a five-day wait.” He unpacked lanterns and protein bars for their stay. “I don’t mind coming back in a week to have another look at the mine.”

“I mind!” growled the officer. “I mind. I hate riding and I was hoping this would be done in less than a day. Fuck it.” He carefully put the sapphire crystal into its box and stowed the container. “What do we do until tomorrow, sing camp fire songs. No, can’t light a fire… Camp lantern songs?”

“Well, you can’t have sex with Kalina – she’s my special girl,” said Tucker. He gestured toward the gelding, “but Boorie doesn’t mind taking it up the butt, if you want.”

“What? Fucking hell…” the man’s face paled even lighter and wrinkled in disgust. “If you don’t mind I’m going to sit way over there away from you and your horses and start writing an apologetic report.” He stomped off with a folded laptop.

Tucker shrugged and said, “Suit yourself, boss. Geldings need love too though.” He finished draping a mosquito net over his hammock. Then spent his afternoon curry-combing his horses and checking for stone-bruises. Kalina’s lips trembled in pleasure at his ministrations. As twilight deepened to dark Tucker retired to his hammock.

* * *

Officer Tameril woke to the sound of Tucker busying around the camp, saddling the horses and preparing for their departure. He heard the horseman shout out. “Hey boss, you almost forgot your priceless rock!”

The officer lifted the mesh covering from his hammock and peered into the wan morning light. The weathered man was holding a sapphire orb in one hand. “Don’t be an idiot. Put that back in my pack. I remember packing it yesterday so you’re not fooling me.”

“It was in the dust so you must have dropped it last night.” Tucker held the blue faceted orb toward the officer’s hammock. In his open palm the globe wobbled, threatening to fall. The horseman quickly brought his other hand to arrest the crystal’s topple, pulling it back upright. With the pressure between his palms the globe flattened, then oozed around his lower hand. “What the…? I thought it was dead for a week!” A rapid tide of blue facets swarmed up Tucker’s arm. His cotton shirtsleeve tore into a hail of tattered triangles. Blue glitter surged across his chest shredding his shirt away. Leather chunks of the man’s trouser-belt pattered down with scraps of denim around his feet. “Oh shit, not my hat!” Tucker tore the battered felt covering from his head and tossed it toward the packs moments before glittering facets swarmed over his face.

“Oh shit… oh shit…” the officer flopped out of his hammock, caught himself and staggered toward the now naked, blue-hued horseman. “Well… shit. That shouldn’t have happened. How’d you reactivate the suit? It should have been inert for another four days.”

“Dunno. Just picked it up and blam! Oh… crikey…” the glistening man gasped, staggering as the blue hue shifted to clear. “Bugger me… that feels good.”

“Well…” Officer Tameril considered for a moment. “Maybe this is a good thing. You think you can jog to the mine, do the samples and jog back again?” asked the officer. “And not get distracted by your goddamned horses?” he growled.

Tucker sniffed the air, clicking his tongue to call Kalina over. “Nah, I think she’s come out of season. Just her usual sexy self. Although,” he waggled his stiff cock at Officer Tameril, “I’m sure if you wanna watch…”

“Fuck off!” he growled, handing the satchel containing sample bottles, camera and sensors to the shimmering man. “Get the job done and you can fuck your horse after, preferably when I’m out of ear-shot.”

“Got it.” Tucker slung the leather strap of the harness over his shoulder. It shredded in a rain of tiny leather scraps and the satchel dropped to the dust. “Ah… right… gotta carry it. Don’t tell me – that was in the brief, right?” He turned and jogged down the broken tramlines with the satchel in his hand. Officer Tameril watched the sparkling shadow vanish around a curve in the hillock. He settled to dismantle his hammock and pack the last of the camp gear ready to depart as soon as Tucker returned.

To store the folded hammock the officer first removed the plastic carton which was necessary to contain the Sapphire Suit. With a start he realized it was heavy, and unlatching the top revealed the Sapphire Suit nestled into the packing just as he’d left it the night before. “What the fuck…?” Confused he examined the crystal. It was definitely the priceless artefact he’d packed – tiny sparks of gold and white flared minutely in the refracted blue depths. So where did that horse-fucker get another Suit from? Somehow, unbelievably, they’d randomly found a second priceless artefact right where they’d stopped to camp. It seemed insane, but he’d watched Tucker don one suit and here was another identical orb packed away. “Well… shit.”

A few hours later the patter of bare feet running across dirt heralded the horseman’s return. As he jogged his erect penis bobbed and slapped against this thighs. “Here are your samples, boss.” He tossed the leather satchel to Officer Tameril as he passed. “Blimey, I’m dying from horniness. Kalina! Come over here before my balls explode!” He clicked his tongue encouraging the mare. She approached then lowered and shook her head. As though startled she abruptly shied back, then turned and loped away. “Kalina! C’mon sweetheart…” But the horse circled warily.

Officer Tameril was bemused. “Guess she doesn’t fancy you anymore. Look, just have a wank over there behind the bushes and we can head back.”

“I don’t get it,” the naked man grumbled. “She’s always horny. Something’s spooked her. Ah well…” he sighed, “who understands sheilas anyway.” He stomped off toward the shrubs. A few moments later there was a sound of gasping then a heavy thump like a rock falling to the dirt. Tucker stomped back to the camp, no longer glittering in the morning sun. He wiped his hand on his naked thigh. “Your precious rock is behind that bush. I’m not touching it again. You might want to wipe it off, though.” He stomped toward the packs and began rummaging. “Ah, don’t suppose you have spare pants?”

“Sorry, guy. Best I can suggest is make a poncho out of one of the blankets,” called back the officer as he retrieved the second priceless artefact from the dirt. There it was… a blue crystal in the dirt identical to the orb in his backpack. He secreted the new crystal away in the bottom of his pack. The horseman didn’t need to know there were now two alien gems. “At least you still have your hat!”

“Ah, true, bro. Don’t mind a bare bum as long as I’ve got my hat.” He plopped the worn wide-brimmed hat on his bald head. Perversely, now he was no longer horny, Kalian trotted up to the bushman and whickered a greeting. She pressed her head against his chest. Tucker rubbed the side of her face and along her neck. “Oh, now you love me again?” He kissed he long muzzle. “I still love you, darling. Even if you are a fickle cow.”

The two men shouldered their packs and stowed the last of their equipment in saddle bags. The dark, weather-worn man gracefully threw his leg over the saddle of his mare and waited patiently while the light-skinned man clambered awkwardly atop his gelding. They rode, swapping gibes, down the twisted, rusting tramlines.