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THE ADULTERER (A WALTER FOX STORY)

by Little Bill

(WARNING: The following story contains references to sexual activity between humans and sentient alien animals. Please do not read this if you are a minor or are offended by such material. But if neither is the case, enjoy.)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story follows the stories "The Furry Sex Scandal", "The Furry Sex Scandal: The Aftermath", and “Jack".)

If you have read my previous accounts, then you know all about the unfortunate business which nearly ruined my career at the Planet Earth Research Center and caused a colleague of mine not merely to leave his employer but also his whole world and people to be with a Earthian he had bonded to. I have since interviewed and informally visited both Sammy Skunk (the colleague who was formerly head of PERC's mathematics department) and his partner Jim, whose family name I of course will not divulge.

As you might expect, dear reader, Sammy Skunk is Jim's partner in that sense of the word. Sammy is a space alien animal-person and Jim is an Earthian human, so of course they cannot broadcast to the rest of the world the true nature of their relationship. Of course a number of Earthians do know of this anyway, including a group of Jim's human furry friends that he and Sammy occasionally share sexual activity with. If you dislike that idea, dear reader, so do I, but I have no say in these people's life choices. Sammy and Jim have told me that they have sexual parties with these people only about once a month, and they assure me they are happy with one another. But Jim has had these friends since long before he met Sammy, and Sammy has been willing to share sex with them along with Jim.

Not that the group has stayed entirely intact. Several have left, including Jack, a man who also had fallen in love with Sammy Skunk and was not content to be merely another sexual partner in the group. As might be expected, this caused an untenable situation which resulted in Jack having to leave the group. I have already interviewed him separately, and I could not avoid feeling sympathy for him, and though I did him a favor by passing a couple of messages between him and Jim and Sammy, it was clear that Jack could not rejoin the group.

But there was another who was expelled from the group, for whom nobody had any sympathy, including me. Unfortunately I had to interview him as well; we at PERC had to make an agreement with the Earth authorities who oversaw us that one of our number was compelled to interview each current and former member of the group, and they were compelled to talk to me. So after making the usual arrangements, this man and I set up the interview.

While I met with the other people at their respective residences, this man and I met one morning at a location provided by the Earth authorities. We animal-people cannot mask our emotions as well as you humans can, so when I met the man at the room where we interviewed, I met him politely and shook his hand (not a custom of us animal-people, but while we are among humans we do adopt their customs), and I had him sit while I set up my recording equipment. The Earth authorities did provide a small refrigerator with some water and other nonalcoholic drinks, and I was grateful, for the man had a habit of drinking water and juice while he talked, as if he was unaccustomed to talking for any length of time.

I went through the usual preparations and questions before making the interview, and the man gave his formal consent. We went through a standard recorded interview, and eventually it concluded. It was some time past noon, and we were both hungry. Fortunately the refrigerator also contained some plastic-wrapped sandwiches, and we each found ones we could eat and consumed those in a silent meal. Afterward, I dismantled and packed up my recording equipment in the transit cases.

"So what happens now?" the man finally asked. “Are we supposed to leave?"

“We can stay until nightfall if we wish," I replied. “But I have heard enough from you as far as the interview is concerned."

“You want to leave? Or do you want me to leave?"

“We can talk off the record if you wish," I replied. “I give you my word that I am recording nothing."

“What about the Earth authorities?"

“Supposedly they aren't, but who can be sure?"

The man paused to consider. “Well, if it's okay with you, I'll be happy to talk to you."

You might have guessed, dear reader, that I disliked this person, and you would be right. So why would I want to spend any more time with him than I needed to? Read on and learn the answer.

“You did get a copy of my original account of my going to the furry convention with Sammy Skunk, and what happened afterward? The censored version, of course."

Already the man was looking uncomfortable. “Yes."

“I was certain at the time my career would be ruined, but of course the fact that I am here talking to you proves that I got off far more easily than I dared to expect. I only received a reduction in seniority and a pay cut as a penalty. I'm still the supervisor of my department."

The man just looked back at me silently, uncertain how to react, so I continued, “I am certain it was not a pleasant time for you at the hands of the Earth authorities. It certainly was not for me. But as for the blame for what I went through, you share no more of it than anyone else in your former group. I will not be your friend, but I do not hate you for it, either."

“Thank you," said the man with relief which I am sure was not feigned.

I smiled slightly. “I was chosen for my position at PERC due to certain abilities and personality characteristics of mine. Not only am I very physically fit and adept at being able to escape from dangerous situations, but I have an extraordinary capability of learning foreign languages and mannerisms. Also I am bolder in going out among humans and dealing with them than any of my colleagues, and have an ability to not hold grudges strongly-to a point. That is why our Director decided to keep me on despite everything, though he probably did not really want to. But nobody at PERC, not even me, is irreplaceable. One more big blunder on my part and I can assure you I'd be sent right back home in disgrace."

“I swear I never imagined that it would have come to this," the man quickly replied.

“Of course not. But I think it best if I remind you of some things my original account mentioned. First, we are a research team from another planet. We are allowed here on the sufferance of you humans, and it is the Earth authorities who let us go to certain places and do certain things. It is my job to go out among you humans and talk to whoever I can-subject to permission from the Earth authorities, of course. As it happens, I am also the head of the sociology department, and have three assistants who have the same task I do, though I go out more and interact more with Earthians while they do more in the way of office work. What we have in common is that we are trained to go out among humans-and at the beginning we knew relatively little about humans and human society so the task was more difficult, since we had to learn as we went along.

“Sammy Skunk, however, was head of the mathematics department. His job did not involve going out among humans, so though he learned the language, he was not trained the way I had been to deal with different types of people. The problem was, as my account mentioned, Sammy did not want to come to an alien world to stay at our base all the time, and he was unhappy about not being allowed to go out and see you humans. As it happens, it was originally the policy of PERC to have only certain members of our staff trained to deal with humans, with the rest to remain permanently on base and have contact only with Earth authorities who were trained to deal with us space aliens. As might be expected, we would learn what a foolish policy that was, and now everyone who comes to PERC is trained to go out and interact with humans, whether it is a normal part of their job or not."

“Well, I should think that would be common sense," said the man.

I smiled, this time ruefully. “Yes, as you now know, we animal-people are just as capable of stupidity as you humans. The Earth authorities had trouble believing it themselves.

“But to get back to the matter of Sammy Skunk. I decided to bring him to a furry convention I was visiting-which turned out to the the worst possible place I could have taken him, considering how some human furries can be."

The man cringed in response.

“I realize you human furries view us not as visiting space aliens, but as manifestations of your cartoons and furry fantasies in the flesh. I warned Sammy Skunk about how you furries were, but his sudden status as a superstar went to his head, and he became drunk with it. I failed to realize this in time, and I should have taken him immediately back to PERC base when I had the chance. Instead I was exhausted from the dancing we did and went to our alcove and slept, and I assumed Sammy had done the same. It wasn't until I happened to find Frank, Jim's former friend that I found out where Sammy Skunk had gone. Of course by then the damage was done."

“But I swear Sammy Skunk really wanted to have sex with us," the man replied defensively. “I assumed he was simply gay like we were! He couldn't have been doing it just to please us!"

“Oh, no? Sammy Skunk was taken into completely unfamiliar surroundings by people who were saying how wonderful and special he was. He probably thought he was in some dream fantasy world, and the real one was a million miles away. He specifically said that he was so happy he didn't care that it was human males who wanted to have sex with him. Even if he were definitely homosexual, would he really have been tempted to have sex with space aliens very different from him if he were in his right mind? I'm not gay, and yet I don't even find human females sexually arousing. They're just a bit too different for me to lust after them!"

I let that sink in before I went on. “Which does not mean I cannot be friends with humans. Or even emotionally bond with them. I have done that with a couple of humans myself, though not to the point of wanting to leave my world forever to be with them. That is, as you may be aware, what happened to Sammy Skunk. He emotionally bonded with Jim, even if Jim was guilty of having taken total advantage of him and Sammy was aware of this fact. And Sammy probably feels that he cannot really go back home again anyway. At least Jim has given Sammy a home, and would not let go of Sammy even after he was brutally attacked and nearly killed."

The man cringed again. “I remember that well. I even tried to go and give support to Sammy Skunk at the hospital, but even then he made me feel he didn't really want me around, so I left. I never heard from him since."

“Should that be a shock to you?" I replied. “You had a wife and kids, and you kept that secret from Jim and his group. And you're surprised that when they found out about this, they got angry with you and kicked you out of the group?"

“What was it to them?" the man replied defensively. “It was a club where people who knew little about each other had sex every once in a while. I didn't poke into their private lives!"

“You didn't have to," I retorted. “Jim did it for you. Jim has told me that he is the sort of person who tries to get to know someone before he has sex with them-Sammy Skunk being one exception, of course. If I recall correctly, Jim must have asked you about your having relationships with anyone else, and you told him no."

“Why was it any of his business? I only saw them about once a month and didn't do anything with them otherwise."

I gave a derisive laugh. “Not his business? I say that if you stick your dick into anyone, the other person has the right to know who else you stick your dick into, whether it's your wife or anyone else! You think Jim shouldn't care if you have a wife you were cheating on behind her back? Well, he did, and he made that rule clear to you, and you violated it. Jim trusted you to be honest with him and you weren't. Jim may not be my friend, but that doesn't mean he has no right to be angry if anyone deceives him.

“You seem to have the mentality that you can be 'Person A' to your wife and children and 'Person B' to Jim and his friends, and they are two separate existences. But it doesn't work that way. You aren't two different people. The penis you put into your wife is the same penis you put into Jim and his friends, and the mouth you kissed your wife with is the same mouth that sucked the penises of Jim and his friends, and any venereal diseases you might have gotten from Jim and his friends would have gone into your wife." I smiled sardonically. “Have you ever read the book Doctor Jekyll And Mr. Hyde? The original version, that is? I have."

My companion looked surprised. “Boy, you must be a voracious reader!"

“You're right. I did tell you that I have an unusually high capacity for language learning. And as you might imagine, it is our job at PERC to view and read every form of Earthian popular entertainment we can. Not for fun, but to learn about your culture. And of course I've been reading the classics."

“I didn't read that book, but I thought the story was about a doctor who invented a drug to substantially change his appearance so he could go out and do bad things, and then change it back so he could be the good person everybody knows?"

“You're right about that too. Only in the original story, we didn't find that part out until the end. But the story was based on a real-life supposed model citizen who secretly committed crimes and was eventually caught."

“Okay, I committed the crime of adultery. But it's not as if I'm in the rackets or anything."

“Nobody has accused you of that. But I do have my own personal experience with adultery. Would you like me to tell you about that?"

“Yes, I suppose you should."

“All right," I began, “I had several girlfriends when I was young-not at the same time, thank you very much. I am in fact a former army soldier who fought an actual war in an artillery regiment. It was not a pleasant time for me, so please do not ask me about it."

“I won't."

“Thank you. I believe you never served in the military, from what the Earth authorities told me?"

“Not at all."

“I understand. But like everyone else who came out, I felt older and wiser than most civilians around me were. That turned out not to be entirely true, as I would find out.

“For I did find and marry a lovely fox-person woman, and it seemed she loved me. I had become a translator rather than a sociologist at the time, because I do have an unusually good capacity in learning foreign languages, even those different from my primary one. I suspect she did not marry me entirely out of love as I think back about it, but I was too naive about relationships at the time.

“Our relationship slowly deteriorated from romance to tolerance, and I was losing my desire to see her, and she didn't seem to care about me, either. We argued about things, but overall it simply felt like we didn't want to be with each other anymore. And then we started actually disliking each other, until one day I caught her in bed with another male when I came home unexpectedly. I took out my portable phone and took a video. I thought I'd be upset or humiliated, but I was actually happy!"

The man looked genuinely shocked, so I continued, “I realize that that was how much I came to despise my wife without consciously being aware of it. Under the law in my area, it meant I could divorce her without giving her anything, and that was what happened. She didn't even try to fight it; in fact she seemed to be relieved to be separated from me. I didn't have much in the way of money or property at the time, and once we divorced I had no contract with her. But I was amused to find out the man she was having sex with was cheating on his wife!

“I basically lost interest in pursuing romance after that. I wanted to change everything anyway, and I found the career of a translator tedious. I had enough money to go to college, and I decided on sociology. I did find myself with a penchant for talking to people and meeting new ones all the time, even if some of them are awful, and to make a long story short, when I found out about our expedition to another world, I was able to join the National Space Agency in my country and to eventually be sent here to meet different humans. So here I am, talking with you!"

The man leaned forward. “I'm truly sorry I nearly ruined your career!"

The man seemed at least sincere about that. “I forgive you," I replied. “It is Jim who I truly blame for the whole mess, as he could have not taken Sammy Skunk to his apartment in the first place, and he certainly could have stopped the sexual activity from happening. And I know you suffered the consequences like everybody else.

“But even so, you got off lightly. You didn't wind up getting beaten nearly to death the way Jim did. And Jim will never be the same way he had been before it happened. He may have Sammy Skunk for himself and whoever he chooses to share him with, but he paid the price. I believe you didn't get beaten up, and I thought you changed jobs on your own accord."

“I admit I was ready to anyway, and as far as I know, nobody at my workplace ever found out anything. Fortunately I had the time off anyway."

“And you're moving to another suburb. Presumably starting a new life, in a way."

“Yes, even to the point where I'm thinking of getting out of the furry community. I'm one of the very few furries fortunate enough to have intimate contact with Sammy Skunk, yet he doesn't want anything to do with me."

“A taste of honey is worse than none at all," I sang back, quoting the old Motown song.

“My wife and children are lost to me forever, so why can't Jim give me a second chance? I'm not cheating on anybody now!"

“Why did you even have a wife and kids in the first place?" I shot back.

“When I said I was bisexual during the official interview, I wasn't kidding. I really am sexually attracted to both males and females equally. I had a wife and kids and a normal home. Absolutely no outside affairs except for Jim and his friends, and that was all for fun. It was not even once a month, so that it wasn't as if I were seeing and supporting a mistress."

“But you kept your trysts with Jim and his friends a secret from your wife and kids, assuming they would not approve of your doing so, am I right?"

The man fell into a long silence, so I finally said, “You say it's not like having a mistress, but you are wrong. You still were cheating on your wife behind her back, and even if it were just sex for fun, it is still cheating. You made your wife and children think you were a normal husband with a normal life, and you held from them a very big secret. There are plenty of marriages where one spouse had an affair with someone else, and the couple reconciles afterward. But I have heard of no marriage surviving when the husband is found to be having sex with other men, and certainly you didn't your wife to expect to want to stay with you once she found out that you had had sexual contact with a space alien who resembled an Earthian lower animal? What spouse could possibly forgive that?

“I dread the thought of having to meet your ex-wife. What am I to say to her? What am I supposed to tell her children? Maybe I'm mistaken, but I get the impression you're more upset about your family leaving you than about the fact that you traumatized them so badly in the first place! And you never answered my earlier question: why did you marry a woman and have children if you never intended to be faithful to them?"

The man paused before answering. “I admit that before I decided to get married, I was in fact a bed hopper, having sex with anyone I could find. But I came to hate it, and decided I would have a normal life. I married a beautiful woman and had a regular home and family.

“But I found I still had the desire for other partners. I never mentioned this to my wife, and I thought the desire would go away. It didn't. I didn't know Jim, but I knew (one of the other members of the group), and through him learned of Jim and his friends."

“Did this person happen to know about your wife and children?"

“No, it never came up. He knew about my bisexuality, though, and eventually I joined Jim's group. I wasn't even a furry as such, but the group and I all got along."

“On the basis of your hiding certain facts about yourself from them, just as you hid certain facts about yourself from your wife."

“I thought that if worse came to worst I could always leave Jim's group. Several others had already done so over time."

“You should have left it sooner while you had the chance."

“Yes, I suppose you're right."

“And yet, you say you're not a furry, but even so you had sexual contact with Sammy Skunk?"

“Was I supposed to refuse? He definitely wanted to have sex with all of us! And if he is still living with Jim and having sex with other males, he cannot possibly not be homosexual, or at least bisexual!"

“Perhaps you do not understand the concept, since you are human, but we animal-people can form very strong emotional bonds, and not necessarily with people who do them well. It is not quite love as in romantic love; we animal-people have that too, but emotional bonding like I am referring to is definitely different.

“How do I mean? Sammy Skunk has formed his emotional bond to Jim-so strongly that he was willing to leave his own world and people for him. Why? Sammy has told me of his emotionally empty past back on his own world, and for whatever reason, happened to bond with Jim. I myself have formed emotional bonds with several humans, but not to the point that I am willing to leave my own world forever to be with them. And in my case, these people all did me well in times of personal crisis.

“Sammy Skunk did assure me he was homosexual and did not know it until he met Jim. It is not out of the question, but I admit I cannot be absolutely certain. He could well be saying it because he knows how ashamed I was for not keeping an eye on him when he was vulnerable and failed to rescue him from trouble until it was too late. Sammy Skunk was not my friend, but I was entrusted to watch over his safety, and I failed. He was not trained to deal with you humans, and of course now, as I mentioned earlier, we do train all PERC members to deal with humans to avoid such an incident again."

The man looked at me uncertainly, wondering what I was going to say or do next. “Let me lay my cards on the table," I told him. “You wanted to talk to me after the official interview, and I agreed because you maybe wanted to tell me something that you did not want to say during the interview, or maybe you wanted me to tell you something. Very probably you just wanted to have a conversation. Well, we can do that.

“You tried to have both your wife and children and your fun with Jim and his friends, and now you have neither. Now you've learned that hiding things from people doesn't always work. What you do with your life from now on is up to you; I am not a counselor. If you feel the need to talk to someone about your personal problems you need to speak to someone with the proper qualifications.

“I myself am a sociologist. Technically I am an anthropologist studying Earth culture, but that term tends to imply that I'm studying a bunch of primitives, and your human society has a similar level of cultural and technological development with that of my world. I have learned enough of Earthian society to conclude that we animal-people are not better or worse than you, just different.

“We are not like your Earthian funny animals who typically are half-dressed, or wear other clothes and go barefoot." I indicated my own clothing and added, “This what we animal-people wear on a daily basis, apart from dirty work or other specialty clothes. We have so many different types and sizes of bodies that we don't even have ready-made clothing in most cases; we need to tailor our outfits to allow for different body lengths and thicknesses, different types of fur or other hides, arm and leg lengths, neck thicknesses and such, We don't even have such things as dress and everyday clothes like you humans do. And since our mouths vary, note I simply cannot sound exactly like a human no matter how well I know the language. I don't sound like Mel Blanc or Kenny Delmar. In fact, here is speech in my native language..."

And I spoke some words, normal for me, but it made the other man rather uncomfortable. “That was 'Greetings, welcome to my home' in my native language. And yes, on our world we have many different languages that are very different from each other as well."

So I spent some time telling him about my world and how we animal-people were really like. I was not sure if he were truly interested or was just desperate to have someone talk to him, but it did not matter to me. Eventually I started to get hungry, and I saw on my watch that it was near dinnertime. I thanked him for his agreeing to be interviewed and told him I have to leave.

“It was nice to learn about your world," he replied. “I wish I could visit it."

“The trip from one world to another, I'm afraid, was quite unpleasant," I laughed. “And quite expensive as well. There's not likely to be tourist transportation between our world, not even for the super-rich."

I paused and added, “And I don't think my people would care to see you. All of my colleagues at PERC consider you, along with Jim and his friends, people who exploited one of their own in a moment of emotional weakness. Sammy Skunk may have been gay all along, but the truth is that he had been drunk with being a celebrity and you took total advantage of him. Sammy Skunk may be very bonded to Jim and they love each other very much, but no other animal-person will ever like Jim either.

“I probably shouldn't talk to you about other people in your former group, but the only one I feel any sympathy for is Jack. He's the one who also fell in love with Sammy Skunk, and he wasn't content with just being his sex partner. Of course he had to leave Jim's group because of this."

I stood and picked up my transit cases. “My apologies, but I really do have to get back to base now. Whoever provided this space probably wants us to go anyway so they can clean the place up."

The man stood and walked up to me, so I put my cases back on the floor. He looked uncertain, so I extended my hand, he took it, and we shook. “Thank you for taking the time to see me," I told him.

“Well, thank you for telling me about your world," he replied awkwardly.

“I figured I should, since you don't get to meet with a space alien animal-person every day. And now you know the difference between us real animal-people and human furry fantasies."

Well, I left the place and went back to PERC base, reported to the Director, turned in my recordings, had supper, and went to see my underlings afterward-and they were surprised to see me come in as late as I did.

“Was it an extra long interview?" Timothy Squirrel asked.

“Normal length, but we talked afterward," I replied. They looked surprised, so I added, “I decided to tell him a bit about our world, since he seemed to want me to talk to him. I wasn't sure if he really was interested in our world, or if he just wanted someone to talk to, but why not oblige him since he had to take the trouble to see me so I could interview him, whether he wanted me to do it or not."

“Wasn't he the guy who had the wife and kids?" Billy Otter asked.

I said yes and gave them the overview of my interview with him and my impressions if him. At the end, it was Freddy Lynx who spoke. “I would have left right after the interview was concluded and not have spent any extra time with that creep!"

“Well, that explains why the Director decided not only not to fire me but to keep me on in my current position despite everything!" I scoffed. When my assistants failed to respond, I added, “Well, he did have me lick the sole of his sandal, but I did owe him that much at least after having insulted him in writing, which not only he but the Earth authorities read. And he was not so much doing me a favor as realizing he still needed me, certainly at the time. I'm still the one who goes out among humans most of all, and it was I who did so when humans were far less amenable to us than they are today. More than any of you."

Nobody gave any sign of disagreement, so I did not to press the point further. But I did address what Freddy asked earlier. “And why did I spend time with this person when technically I did not have to? Because humans as well as us animal-people tend to say things they would not say when being recorded. I wanted to find out how he actually felt about cheating on his family, and hiding them from Jim and his friends. He actually thought he could have kept his two lives apart, which he found out later wasn't the case. Unfortunately he also gave the impression that he was the kind of person who was unable to understand how other people might view his behavior, and seemed genuinely surprised the Jim and Sammy Skunk wanted nothing to do with him anymore."

My colleagues snorted contemptuously. “At least he apologized to me for nearly ruining my career, so I give him that."

“How nice," replied Billy Otter.

“Since you evidently are unaware of the torment I went through because of him, I'll overlook that one!" Billy put his hand over his mouth. “I do give people credit where credit is due. Jim at least kept Sammy Skunk by him despite everything that happened to him, and I did what I did for Jack because he genuinely was in love with Sammy Skunk and was not satisfied with merely being his casual sex partner. I at least felt sorry enough for him to take the time and trouble to pass messages between him and Jim and Sammy. I even let Jack hug me to see if he would stick his hand in my pants or otherwise hit up on me. He didn't. And the man I talked to made no attempt to hit up on me either."

“And yet you visit Jim and Sammy Skunk's apartment, and Jim keeps trying to hit up on you," Timothy Squirrel replied.

“It's Sammy Skunk who I want to see, not Jim," I retorted. “I figured he want to be visited by another one of his fellow animal-people who doesn't look down at him."

“I don't!" broke in Billy. "I know he was taken advantage of and cannot really go back home again!"

“Good for you." I replied without irony. “Why do you think I want to see him so often? Don't you realize how I feel about my responsibility of putting him where he is? Don't you realize how I want him not to feel like a pariah? Don't you realize that I want to be sure that Jim is not misusing him?"

My assistants responded with dead, sullen silence. “At least Jim isn't keeping me from seeing Sammy Skunk. And yes, Sammy is always happy to see me, knowing how I feel about him. Perhaps we should not feel too scornful of him."

“But you didn't visit Sammy Skunk today," said Freddy.

“I'm sure he doesn't expect me to visit him all the time," I replied. “He has a life, too, and he'd probably be annoyed if I saw him too often. Even the humans I have bonded to, I talk to only so many times, so they welcome hearing from me rather than get annoyed by it. I enjoy eating grapes, but if I ate them every meal I'd get sick of eating them too.

“In any case, we have work to do, so let's see how much you've goofed off while I was away."

For the record, dear reader, despite my comments about how my assistants not working while I am not around, they do not necessarily goof off, but they tend to work more quickly while I am around. Also there are still the other members of Jim's group I have yet to talk to, whom as far as I know are still with the group. Well, life goes on.