After a quarter hour of intense massaging, Palenque detached herself from the group, unbeknownst to Richard, and silently made her way around the pool to the edge of the lawn. There she waved silently for others to join them.

Within minutes two men appeared and, suppressing their own laughter, they tiptoed over to the bed. Smoothly they took over massaging Richard from Karena, so that it was now Meeta and the two men who were providing the ministrations to Richard’s body. Palenque and Karena directed their attention to the bodies of the two men. The goal was an orgy on an ancient Roman scale.

“You know,” Richard mumbled, his voice muffled from the coverlet, “if it weren’t for you girls this place would drive me certifiably crazy. And to think, I’ve never even had a massage before. I never knew what I was missing!”

The men and women exchanged fervid glances. They were building each other up to a fever pitch.

“I just can’t help being an active person,” Richard continued, totally unaware of what was happening around him. “I need competition. It’s that simple.”

One of the men allowed his bulky, masculine hands to run down Richard’s forearms to massage the diver’s palms. Sensing a discrepancy in the sensation versus what he expected, Richard’s eyes blinked open. To his consternation the hands massaging his were as large as his own.

“What the hell?” Richard snapped. With a suddenness that took everyone by surprise, Richard flipped over and found himself looking up into five flushed faces instead of three, and worst of all, two of them were male.

“What the hell is this?” Richard bellowed. He leaped from the bed, inadvertently knocking Palenque to the floor. The others quickly stood up from their kneeling positions.

“It’s all right, Richard,” Meeta said urgently, seeing the sudden rage reflected in Richard’s face. “It is a surprise orgy for your pleasure.”

“Pleasure?” Richard shouted. “Who the hell are these men? How’d they get here?”

“They are our friends,” Meeta said. “Cuseh and Uruh. We invited them.”

“What the hell do you think I am?” Richard bellowed.

“We’ve come to make you happy,” the man closest to Richard said. He stepped forward and extended his palm.

Richard reacted with a vicious blow to the man’s jaw, sending him hurling back against the wall. Everyone gasped at the unexpected violence.

“Get out of here!” Richard shouted. To make his point he swept the night table clear of the golden goblets he’d been collecting. They clattered to the floor with a tremendous racket. As his guests fled out the open end of the room, he looked around the room in a frenzy for something to smash to smithereens.

Suzanne let out a whoop of joy as she and Garona ran hand in hand down a frond-canopied path through a fern forest. Reaching the edge of a crystal clear lake, they came to a sudden stop. Mesmerized by the sublime vista, and out of breath from their run, Suzanne gazed out at the scene.

“This is gorgeous!” she managed.

Garona, who was even more out of breath than Suzanne, had to rest before he could speak. “It’s my favorite spot,” he gasped. “I come here often. I’ve always thought it to be very romantic.”

“I should say,” Suzanne commented. Several other lakes could be seen in the middle distance, nestled among the luxuriant vegetation. In the far distance, jagged mountains rose and merged with the vaulted ceiling. “Which direction are we facing?”

“West,” Garona said between breaths. “Those mountains are the bases of what you people call the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.”

Suzanne shook her head in amazement. “It is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“It is my pleasure,” Garona said. “It is nice to see you more relaxed.”

“I suppose I am,” Suzanne said. “At least now I know why we were brought to Interterra.”

“You have been a great help to us.”

“I really didn’t do much.”

“But you did! You have relieved our anxieties about deep-sea drilling.”

“But there’s been drilling for many years,” Suzanne said. “Why the anxiety now?”

“That was drilling for oil,” Garona said. “We don’t mind that. In fact, it helps us because oil is a bother. It can seep into our deepest buildings and cause havoc. It was the random drilling that had us concerned.”

“Well, I am glad to have been of assistance.”

“It calls for a celebration,” Garona said. “How about coming to my home for a few hours? We are very close. We’ll absorb caldorphin for our mutual pleasure, and then we’ll dine.”

“In the middle of the day?” Suzanne questioned. As a motivated, hard worker, who as a student had had little time for personal pleasure, the idea of an afternoon tryst seemed unusually decadent. Yet enticingly erotic.

“Why not?” Garona questioned seductively. “Your essence will ring with ecstasy.”

“You make it sound so deliciously sensual,” Suzanne joked.

“And it will be,” Garona said. “Come.” He grabbed her hand and led her back the way they’d come.

Garona’s home was a mere five-minute air taxi ride away. As they disembarked Suzanne mentioned his home was similar to Arak and Sufa’s although the neighborhood seemed slightly less congested.

“The structure is exactly the same,” Garona said. “But we have more space since we are farther away from the town center.” He again took her hand, and the two ran up the causeway and into the cottage together.

Once inside, the pair acted like impatient adolescents in their haste to shed their satin robes and slip into the pool. Suzanne exuberantly struck out for the opposite end. She swam with strong strokes, excited to have Garona right behind her. They came face-to-face after Suzanne executed a racing turn against the pool’s far end. They embraced in the water. Garona touched his palm with hers and beamed with pleasure. Suzanne laughed with joy.

“This is paradise,” Suzanne proclaimed. She dipped her head beneath the water to smooth her short hair back. “It goes beyond my wildest imagination.”

“I have so much to show you,” Garona told her. “Millions of years of progress. I shall take you to the stars… to other galaxies.”

“You have already,” Suzanne said playfully.

“Come,” Garona said. “Let us share some caldorphin.”

They swam back across the pool. Garona helped her out of the water. She was again taken by how comfortable she felt in his presence despite her nakedness.

“Please!” Garona said, gesturing toward a satin divan.

“I’m soaked,” Suzanne said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Garona said. He bent down and picked up a small jar and removed the top.

“Are you sure?” Suzanne questioned. The upholstered couch was immaculate.

“Absolutely,” Garona said. He held the jar out for Suzanne to put some onto her palm. He did the same, and as they both reclined they pushed their hands together.

Suzanne swooned with pleasure to the very core of her being. Over the next half hour she and Garona made love in a sensitive, giving way that reached a crescendo of passion before melding into sublime, intimate relaxation.

Suzanne had never felt so close to another person. Never in her life had she acted with such abandon, and yet she did not feel guilty. In this utopian netherworld, the usual constraints just didn’t apply.

Time seemed to stand still as Suzanne luxuriated in the afterglow of an intimacy the likes of which she’d never experienced. But then, suddenly, it all changed. A soft feminine voice coming from close range shattered her mental and physical repose: “If you two have finished your beautifully tender lovemaking, which I have to say I’ve enjoyed vicariously, I’ve arranged a lovely lunch.”

Suzanne opened her eyes. To her shock, she found herself looking into the smiling face of an exquisitely attractive woman with stunning features, ice blue eyes, and flaxen hair. The woman’s expression was like a proud parent gazing down at her adorable children.