“Awh! Got myself a cutie!”

Jericho laughed, unsure of what else to do.

“Name’s Mōnu. Looks like you’ve been assigned to my crew as the new rookie.”

Mōnu looked barely half a decade older than Jericho. If he was a captain, Jericho didn’t know whether to be inspired or concerned. People move up the chain of command quickly.

“You ever fly one of them jellies?” asked Mōnu, jerking his head in the direction of one of the metaorganic ships wafting weightlessly outside.

“No,” replied Jericho, “but I’ve ridden in one a few times.”

“Yeah, riding’s fun,” said Mōnu, smiling, and making the kind of eye contact that looked like he was saving Jericho’s face for later.

“But flying’s funner. Come on, you’re flying one today.”

“You’re gonna show me how, right?”

“Nah! They already know how. I’m gonna show you how to connect.”

Mōnu stepped behind Jericho, stretched his muscular arm past his ear and pointed at the jellyship outside the hangar window.

“Focus on that,” said Mōnu, and put his other hand on Jericho’s shoulder, close to his neck.

“I’ll give you a little boost, and after that, you should be able to reach it on your own.”

Jericho stared at the ship, hovering peacefully. Then, in a flash, the two men’s Lapuhe’e connected, a sensation that felt startlingly and purely sexual—a bridge of mana colored by Mōnu’s personality and intentions. It felt like memories of body heat, of domination and penetration. But that mana was valid, and Jericho’s consciousness hurled itself into the form of the jellyship, which lurched into the air.

“Take control of it,” Mōnu whispered into his mental ear, “it’s all yours.”

The masculine eroticism of the mana bridge was out of character for Jericho, but he did his best to play the role. As if grabbing it by the hips, he used his spirit to lift the ship higher into the air, feeling its weight on his body, yet knowing his own was capable of lifting much more.

“Get inside her and bring her around,” Mōnu whispered, his inner voice echoing in the space between souls.

Jericho felt his mind stretching, and as if caught in a daydream, saw himself in the cockpit, looking through the ship’s forceshield at the beautiful Ku’ikapu’u mountain range surrounding it.

He turned his body and the ship followed, rotating his field of vision towards the hangar.

In the bridge of mana, he felt Mōnu’s solid arms around him, their bodies tightly pressed together.

From his jellyship daydream, he could see himself through the hangar window, Mōnu standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder, the ethereal tentacles of their Lapuhe’e exposed, his eyes bright violet with flooded mana.

And from his real body, he could see his spiritual reflection in the forceshield of the jellyship, naked, wrapped in a blanket of energy.

“Perfect.”

Mōnu lifted his hand from Jericho’s shoulder, and instantly the connection broke. Jericho was back in his body, sweating, suddenly feeling the weight of the ground beneath his feet. The jellyship outside the hangar window listed away gently, returning to its moor as if nothing happened.

“Nice job, boss.” said Mōnu, smiling a knowing smile.

Jericho looked him right in the eyes.

“So when do I start?”