Page 4 of Atlas: Colony: Nyx #5(Intergalactic Dating Agency)

FOUR

Getting ready to go to this Intergalactic Dating Agency meet up was nothing like the ones in the past had been. For one, Donna wasn't buzzing around, ordering everyone about, and making sure every detail of everyone's outfit was exactly the way she wanted it. For another, Peri was the only Star Farm girl going.

Or maybe she was the only one dressing up for it in Donna's wardrobe of formal dresses. Some of the other girls had spent time out in the Colony, away from the farm, and now wore clothes they'd bought in Metropolis City, instead of the sack-like shift dresses that were the Star Farm uniform. Peri didn't usually care about clothes, as long as they were practical enough not to get in her way, but maybe she should have gone with Flora or one of the others on their shopping trips.

Well, too late now. It was Donna's dresses or her uniform, and Donna's dresses were far more flattering. If she wanted a favour or an orgasm from a man, she needed to look her best. Actually, if she played her cards right, she might even manage to get both tonight.

Gown after sexy gown slid along the rack, none of them what she wanted. Though Peri was hardly the youngest of the girls at the farm, Donna had made sure she looked like a fresh-faced farm girl. But those girlish dresses were nowhere to be seen. Unless...

Peri dug through the last wardrobe, and that's where she found them – all crushed into a vacuum bag and stuffed into a corner. She broke the seal and the whole thing pouffed out until she could barely wrap her arms around the bag any more. She manhandled the whole thing onto the table, where it continued to grow into a mountain of satin and lace.

Red and pink and black and...that's when she found it. Hidden between the French maid outfits was a floral confection in lavender, the bell-like skirt cut like flower petals to reveal the white lace petticoat beneath. This dress screamed Hesperis louder than that time she'd given her father's geeky intern his first orgasm...and first proper blow job.

Of course, she went by Peri now, as it was easier for these farm girls to pronounce without her having to spell it out, but then...ha, one blow job and that boy had been her personal slave for an entire summer. He'd shown her how to program every computer in the observatory, and gotten quite good at giving orgasms himself, by the time they'd both had to go back to school at the end of summer.

Now, she couldn't even remember his name. Not that it mattered. He was probably old and wrinkly now, if he was still alive, while she'd spent the fifty year trip to the Altan System in stasis. He wouldn't remember her, either.

But those kind of encounters weren't supposed to be that memorable. Two celestial bodies passing in the night, maybe sharing a spark of space dust as they orbited each other for a few hours, before the gravity of their own orbits dragged them apart, never to meet again. It wasn't like she was trying to fall in love, or hoping for forever.

If everything went according to plan, she'd be headed off this iceball planet to somewhere with atmosphere and skies and stars. Whoever she hooked up with tonight was a farewell fuck, nothing more.

Peri dressed in record time, only to realise she had no idea where Donna kept the fancy underwear...or the shoes that matched these dresses. And she didn't have time to search for either of them, if she wanted to be at the pub before the event started.

So she laced up her work boots, wishing she had a purple cowboy hat to complete the look, and reluctantly left her workday underwear with the rest of her clothes. It wasn't like she needed knickers with this dress – under the skirt and petticoats, no one would ever know.

Peri rode alone in the aircar to Metropolis City – it didn't look like anyone was headed to the pub from the Nyx Dome tonight. Well, it was a weeknight.

Maybe she'd meet a hot demon from the Arena Dome – one of the other girls said demons could go all night. She'd heard there were merpeople in the Aqua Dome, too, not that she'd met one. How would you have sex with a merman, anyway? Given their bottom half was all fishy. They probably only went to pubs with swim up bars in their own dome, which was why she'd never seen one. Or...

The slight bump as the aircar stopped at the station drew her out of her daydream. Peri didn't care what kind of alien she hooked up with tonight, as long as he had a dick and he knew what to do with it. More important was persuading Hercules to get her offplanet.

Peri smoothed down her skirts and set off for the pub.