Free Guys and Trolls by Barry Lowe Page B

dead?”
    The young man seemed content to snuggle against Einarr's body. “Did you want to be?”
    “Yes,” the young man said sadly, then twisting suddenly in his arms he planted a kiss on Einarr's startled lips before falling unconscious.
    There was a cry of “Man overboard” from the deck of the ship, searchlights began sweeping the choppy seas, and Einarr realized they may yet be saved. He waved while attempting to hold up the limp body, shouting out for help. “Over here,” a voice from the ship called. “There's two of them.” A searchlight beam struck him, blinding him momentarily, then he heard the thud of a lifebuoy landing close by. He dog paddled toward it, maneuvering it under the young man's arms, keeping him afloat. Now it was just a matter of waiting.
    Einarr panicked. It had been all right when he could sneak on board the vessel to hide amongst the lifeboats or in the bowels of the ship, but now... Now they would see him in all his hideousness. He would be embarrassed. Humiliated. He could slip away, the young man was safe enough in the lifebuoy, but that would mean certain death for him. His sense of survival was too strong for that.
    He was agonizing over his options when he heard the splash of oars and a light shone on his startled face. There was a gasp from someone in the boat before a flurry of activity took the decision out of his hands. He hung his head as he was hoisted on board the rescue boat after he'd helped push the young man up ahead of him. Someone shook his hand, congratulating him effusively, while another clapped him on the back and said “Well done,” their hand squeezing his shoulder in a most suggestive manner.
    Einarr sat shivering until someone wrapped his near naked body in a rough blanket but not before whistling appreciatively. He smiled. They must have seen his cock. He also knew that he was the object of the whistle when the person wrapping the blanket around him used it as a cover to run his fingers along the shaft to his balls and put his warm hand around it.
    As the rescue boat was hauled up the side of the ship Einarr had a chance to size up the rescue vessel. It was ablaze with light now and people were hanging over the rails watching the drama unfold. The ship was gigantic. He had never seen anything like it before. It was sleek, manufactured of some sort of metal, and was of such technological superiority he realized he must have slept for hundreds of years for humans to have developed this far.
    Once on board he was dazed by the crush of people, the applause, and backslapping. The ship's officer who had rescued him cleared a pathway through the crowd, and someone shouted, “Let them through please. Give them air. We're taking them to the infirmary for a checkup, then once they're given the okay, they'll be released back into the wild.”
    Einarr had no idea what an infirmary was or what the man meant by being released back into the wild. He certainly hoped it didn't mean he'd be thrown overboard again. The young man whose life he had just saved grabbed his hand and held on tightly. Einarr glanced at him sheepishly, keeping his head down lest he scare him with his hideous looks. But the youth didn't shrink from him, instead he squeezed his hand warmly, and smiled back, making him feel handsome.
    He couldn't help it. He got hard. It had been over a hundred years since he'd last had sex and that was a pretty solitary indulgence so the touch of another warm-blooded creature, albeit just a hand, was enough to send the blood racing to Einarr's groin. On any other occasion that would have been embarrassment enough, but at the moment he was wearing a pair of torn and damp, clinging underpants that did everything to accentuate his erection rather than hide it.
    A murmur went around the crowd of well-wishers, a few lips were licked in anticipation, and even the ship's officer escorting them smirked at the revelation. “My name's Chad,” the officer whispered. “Perhaps