Chapter 48

“Not much to tell, really. Born in New Zealand, moved to Australia when I was five,” Charlie began. “I grew up around the water, so when the chance came to make a living doing what I’d done my whole life, I took it. But I didn’t realize how cruel some people could be. In one night, I lost everything—my home, my business, my reputation.”

“Was it because of your sexual orientation?” I asked.

“Yes, but not in the way you might think,” he replied. “I had a charter with two couples for a week. The wife of one kept coming onto me, thinking I was straight. I finally told her I was gay, and she thought I was joking. One night, she came into my cabin, and things got messy. I told her to leave, but she refused. Her husband came in, found us in a compromising position, and she acted like I was forcing myself on her. To save her marriage, she spun a story he believed. I avoided jail, but I lost my boat and everything else. Your offer came at my lowest—about a year later—I was considering ending it. You saved me.” Charlie’s voice was thick with emotion.

I noted Charlie had changed little since joining the Oasis. Maybe he’d gained a bit more muscle, but he still had a swimmer’s build. That reminded me of something. Cobra, make sure Jasper doesn’t look too different from when he left his brother. We don’t want to explain a drastic change, I said.

Already thought of that, Cobra replied. You should see him—Jasper’s short and stocky.

Another question came to mind. “Cetus, the Omegas told us that the men from the Oasis aren’t always protected. When they’re alone, can they still change, or does a spirit need to be nearby?”

“It depends,” Cetus explained. “Changing forms and creating things like clothes comes’ from the spirit realm. There are almost as many spirits there as there are humans on Earth. Becoming who you are has brought the Oasis and its men into the minds of many spirits. Each one could fulfill those requests, and most will, as they don’t want these connections to fade.”

“Can’t they guard over the men, too?” I asked.

“It would take more than one spirit from our world to achieve that. We’ve ascended many times now, but the spirits in our realm haven’t, and they lack the power to heal a human that’s badly hurt.” As Cetus spoke, my thoughts drifted to a place I didn’t want to explore. I knew what the answer would be if I asked, bringing more spirits to Earth.

“So, Charlie, do you find not living near water a drawback?” I inquired.

“To be honest, yes. Given my state of mind back then but now, being part of the Oasis makes up for not being close to water. I heard a rumor that we might be allowed to leave the Oasis for short periods soon. If that’s true, I’d definitely go to the beach.”

“I’ll tell you now that they’re just rumors—wishful thinking. But if they were true, how would you ensure the men going out would be safe? We could check each member so they looked normal—no tails, no fur, no muscles that a man couldn’t develop. They wouldn’t have spirits with them, so how would the men stay safe?” I pressed.

“You could send them out in groups—men who share the same feelings for certain locations or events. They could watch out for each other, check in at certain times or something,” Charlie suggested.

Grey added, “We could issue each man a monitor. It would keep them within a certain range of each other and show the status of the others. Nothing will be foolproof, no matter how much we prepare. The men would have to accept that going out might mean they might not come back. Living as we did before coming to the Oasis, no man could guarantee he’d survive until tomorrow. Most of the time, sure, but accidents happen—murders, fires, earthquakes, lightning; you name it. Whether nature or man-made, things can go wrong. You can’t protect everyone all the time, not even in the Oasis, from what Cetus told us.”

‘Cetus, if one member were to die, and they had an autopsy, would they find anything out of the ordinary?’ I asked.

‘If they were in a normal human form, no. They wouldn’t discover anything. However, if they took fingerprints and found old records for broken bones or fillings, then yes, they would see discrepancies since they wouldn’t have either,’ Cetus replied.

“There are other problems if a member were to die outside, but not for every member,” I said.

“Oh? Like what?” Charlie asked.

“If the death were a murder or an accident, the police would pull fingerprints and find that the member had certain dental work done. The body wouldn’t match, as he wouldn’t have that work. Perhaps he broke bones before. There would be records of that, yet no signs of any previous injuries on the body. Take Grey as an example: if an autopsy was performed on his body, how would the coroner explain an old man with the body of a younger man—no plaque, perfect natural teeth, and lungs and heart like those of a twenty-year-old?” I explained. “We’d have to do what we did for Karl with every man leaving the Oasis.”

“Listen to me before you say it’s impossible. If we created fake identities for, say, thirty men of different sizes and shapes, each with unique fingerprints, driver’s licenses, job histories—the works. Members could become those men for a time, go out, and do whatever they wanted. If they died, the records would show they were who they claimed to be. Sure, they couldn’t go back home since their families wouldn’t know them, but going out for, let’s call it a vacation, would do wonders for them,” Charlie proposed.

“Creating all those virtual identities would be a massive undertaking. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s not just a ‘poof’ and here you go situation,” Grey countered.

We were entering the town. “How far are we now?” I asked.

“About ten more minutes. It’s near the beach.”

We stopped at a sports equipment dealer that specialized in all things water-related, according to the sign. I gently woke Jesse. “Have a good long nap? We’re here.”

****

As we looked around, I saw things I didn’t think existed outside of movies. We could go diving in bubble helmets—no breathers stuck to our mouths, no goggles either. There were propulsion devices like something out of a James Bond film, and suits that repelled sharks. Cetus called me over to where Charlie had assembled two sets of equipment, bringing me back to the present.

“We can go two ways: the first is upper-end stuff, but conventional. The second is next-level and more costly, though the instructors might not like the idea.” Charlie pointed to the two full setups. I would have to take his word for the first set; it looked normal—face mask, mouthpiece, suit, fins. The metal mesh was something different. The second set had similar components, but it included bubble helmets and different lines and connections. The suit was different as well.

‘Cetus, can you create all this equipment? If not, what can you make?’ I asked.

‘We cannot create either regulator, but we can make everything else if we have one to examine.’

‘What about the spear guns and that propulsion device I was looking at?’ I inquired.

‘We can create the guns, but not the motor thing,’ Cetus replied.

“Let’s get one set of each—fifteen of each regulator, one spear gun, and a couple of those towing devices over there,” I said, pointing to the item I had been examining. “Add whatever safety items we need, like knives and such.”

We walked out with both sets of gear. The regulators posed a bit of an issue since the store didn’t have fifteen spare sets available. However, we got five of the bubble helmet types and eight of the regular ones. With the two from each setup, that brought us to fifteen. For the two underwater scooters—what Charlie told me they were called—we had to pull in back to pick them up. The bill was substantial but not exorbitant. The salesman kept asking for my size, but I insisted that what was in the two setups would be fine.

Late that night, as we returned from our trip, Cobra appeared. “The boat is as big as Jasper described. The issues are all cosmetic and can be resolved sooner than expected. We’re gutting things so we can send them to our world.”

Stone materialized beside him. “I have the design if you want to approve it. It’s based on some of the higher-end yachts I found online. If the colors aren’t to your liking, we can change them.” He handed me the drawings, which looked like Kenzo’s work.

“Did you get Kenzo to do this?” I asked.

“He volunteered after hearing that we were helping a family member of one of our own,” Stone replied.

“I’d leave it as is if I were you,” Jesse suggested.

“What about the wood? Isn’t that a problem?” I inquired.

“We can create any wood from materials in our world. Kenzo, call out mostly teak and oak,” Gor said as he appeared.

“Well, I’ll leave it to you all then,” I decided.

Gor and Stone departed with most of the gear, leaving us with the regulators and the two underwater scooters.

“How about we go to bed?” Jesse suggested.

“You’ve been asleep for most of the day. I thought you’d want to do something fun, not go to bed,” I replied.

“Who’s talking about sleeping? The bed is for fun too, you know!” Jesse was lifting me up as he made his statement.

The two shepherds appeared. ‘Master, can we join in the fun?’ the male shepherd asked.

‘It’s not that kind of fun. When you two join to make pups, do you call doing that fun? Or is it your job because I told you to do it?’ I asked them both.

‘We find it enjoyable, so it must be fun, correct?’ The female said.

‘That is the fun Jesse is talking about. You both have been here long enough to know that all the humans in the Oasis are only males. Everyone here is Gay, or at least Bi. Of the sentient beings here, you two are the only normal male/female bonded pair. Do you understand what I’m telling you?’ I explained what Jesse and I were going to do.

‘Oh yes, Master, we understand. We are still asking if we can join in the fun. We know you like men, not just any men, but muscular men. We’ve sensed you reaction many times when someone come near you that you like.’ Rin said.

‘While we can only change into other animals, each of us can become female or male, changing our proportions into what we know you would like to look at.’ Lassie said, as she changed into a huge bear. She then lost all her fur and changed into a male, finally her form changed so she/he was nothing but muscles. Rin changed into a lion, also losing all his fur except on his head and moved around, showing off his body. They then changed back. I was getting aroused watching them.

‘See, you do like looking. We like that you like to look at us. If you will allow us to join, we can change into something even better. It will be a surprise, though.’ Rin said.

All this time I was talking to my two bound Jesse was frozen like a rock. Looking around, I saw everyone else also frozen in place, then I remembered what they said when they first bonded with the shepherds. 'Jesse' I thought to myself, which broke me out my thoughts with the two bonded.