The Rainbow Snippets meme is a fun project for sharing excerpts from your own or others’ stories about queer/LGBTQIA characters. The goal is to share six sentences or lines—one for each stripe on the rainbow flag—and I’ve actually managed to stick to that number for the second week in a row!
My contribution this week is from Far From Home, my erotic science-fiction short about husbands on different planets. Rajiv and Mateo met while working as part of a scientific team adapting Mars for human habitation. But now work has brought Rajiv back to Earth, where he’s restoring the wastelands of the formerly fertile U.S. Midwest. and they rely on technology and the help of their imaginations to stay emotionally and sexually close during the separation. I hope you enjoy this snippet!
Back when he got his relocation notice, it had been Mateo’s ingenious idea to adapt the common piece of lab equipment for use as a sex toy. The TTASS—or temperature, texture and shape simulator—used a combination of probes and ultra–high-frequency sonar to map three-dimensional images, then convert them into coded impulses similar to the nerve signals that dart from skin to brain when a person touches something. The impulses traveled to an individual’s rig and then to their brain port, where it was converted back into nerve signals.
And hence, the illusion of touch.
The TTASS monitors around Rajiv’s bed had warp generators and receivers, meaning they could relay Rajiv’s shape and texture to and from Mateo’s TTASS set-up almost instantly. Lips, cocks, hands, hair: thanks to the wonders of technology, all could be felt across the vast space between them.
Curious to learn more about the science behind the toy? You can purchase an ebook of Far From Home (author’s proceeds go to bring persecuted LGBT Chechens to safety) or download an audio version narrated by the velvet-voiced Nobilis Reed.
Find more Rainbow Snippets on the Rainbow Snippets Facebook page or by looking for #rainbowsnippets and #rainbowsnippet on twitter. It’s a great way to discover new authors.
And feel to free to browse other story snippets I’ve posted on my blog.
This is interesting–I normally don’t read sci fi but this might be worth a try. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Well if you can listen to audio stories, the price can’t be beat. Though I do admit to getting a little flustered listening to audio erotica.
I adore this story. And I don’t even read sci-fi stories (or fantasy) because it’s too much world building for my poor brain. But this story is so ingenious. The idea is so original. And it’s sexy. I love it!! <3
Awww, thank you! I like fantasy and sci-fi when the world-building happens in little bits and pieces throughout the narrative, so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. That’s what I tried to do here. I’m glad it worked for you!
That concept is super sexy and also sigh-worthy romantic. I did giggle at TTASS (used to be a nurse, and it’s pretty close to a slang term we used in school to refer to bed baths).
Thank you! And now I’m super curious about the nurses’ name for sponge baths. Honestly, I probably liked TTASS because it rhymes with ass, no I don’t remember if that was a conscious decision at the time …
Trust me, you don’t want to know nursing slang for bed baths. We can be a crude lot!
I have the sense of humor of a 13-year-old. I’d probably love it.
What a cool “sex toy” — and probably not too far out from current technology.
Yes! We’ve got all sorts of technology bringing us closer and closer to the day. I was inspired in part by this kissing machine: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/12/28/14105688/kissenger-message-kiss-app-device-abroad
Oh, that’s so much better than Skype! Great snippet, Dale. 🙂
Hee! Thank you! 🙂
Now that’s a sex toy. I love SF, this sounds fun.
Doesn’t it though? Well, except for the brain port. I mean, we’ll probably all have them one day, but implanting things in one’s brain just seems so unsanitary and a vector for infections as far as I’m concerned. The trade-off better be really good.
Wow. Certainly sounds as if this story is NSFW or for reading/listening to on the train. I’ve had issues with that before 😀 I also have to comment on how impressed I am with your work for the Chechens.
Definitely NSFW 😉 And honestly I blush listening to it — but that could be because I always feel weird hearing someone else read my stuff thanks to my sister scarring me for life when we were kids by snatching my stories and doing dramatic readings of them from the top of the stairs. (The landing made a nice miniature stage. And okay, actually, it was kind of funny when she did that, but don’t tell her I said so!)
Thanks! It felt like one thing I could actually do something about, so it just took a hold of me.
What a fun story idea! Ah the wonders of (future) technology. 🙂
Thank you! What good is science if you can’t use it to make a fun sex toy? 😉
I want one!!! 😀
Thank you! If only I had studied computer science, maybe I could oblige. 😉
That sounds like an amazing piece of equipment!
Thanks! If only I had one myself …
Liking the detailing that’s gone into the design… ?
They thought about it very carefully … I mean, they *are* scientists. 🙂