they were not taught almost anywhere in the solar system, and the competition for every place in the xenoarheology department was great. It turned out that Nick really was interested in xenoarheology for a long time (although he applied for two other faculties - in case he was “cut off” at the entrance exam) and heard about ancient Martian ruins even things that Josh himself, who lived on Mars did not know two years already.

Then Josh told Nick about the satellites of Jupiter - in his presentation it sounded like this: “on satellites, there are regular demonstrations for giving Jupiter greater autonomy, but residents of different satellites themselves dislike each other, the military does not like scientists, civilians do not like the military, and we also have several high security colonies, and many former prisoners live on satellites. ” In general, the satellites of Jupiter were indeed considered not the most prosperous place, and Josh filed documents with MarPolun, among other things, in order to be away from Jupiter. Nick also spoke about the planet Centauri: Alchibians, besides earthlings, lived on them, known for changing their gender from time to time (for some reason, Nick was confused and turned the conversation to another topic) and the Sirians, whose sex was permanent, but only one — the Sirians were, as you know, hermaphroditic. Josh voiced the idea that in his homeland and Nick's homeland very different people lived next to each other, but it turned out that it was easier for the Centauri colonists to find a common language between them, even though they belonged to different races ...

Then Josh, along with Nick returned to the room that has now become their common, helped his new neighbor to settle down - Nick had several bulky bags with things: several changes of clothes (Josh, it seems, never had as much clothes as Nick brought) for food and a small supply of this very food, a portacomp with a bunch of infochips with a variety of contents ... And a few more knick-knacks, like the sculpture of the Martian Sphinx who had no practical t but reviving the room, which was previously “decorated” at best, empty beer cans. Speaking of ...

- What about beer? Josh suggested when Nick finished arranging his things. And he took two cans of beer out of the fridge and handed one to Nick.

“I probably would have prepared myself something to eat,” Nick replied after thinking, but he did not refuse the beer and, taking a jar, took a sip from it.

“If you want, I can, as you have lunch, show you where we are in“ Academgorodok ”, where to go, where to buy, where to rest, and so on,” Josh suggested, also drinking from his can.

- Oh, that would be great! - Nick was delighted. - Will you eat yourself? I can cook something on you too, but then, I noticed, you have mostly pasta and beer from food, ”he smiled.

“It would be great,” Josh smiled back. But then a thought flashed through his mind, and he ruffled his hair. - Listen, Nick ... can I ask you about one thing?

- Can, oh what?

- After all, my friends will come to me ... can you not especially mention with them that you are an Alchibian?

- Why? - surprised Nick. - Then what, do not like aliens? - he frowned.

“No, that's not the point ...” Josh tried to explain. In fact, he could not clearly answer why he does not want this. - Just, well, if they find out that you are turning into a girl, they will ...well, not to laugh at us, but they will definitely joke that I live in the same room with almost that girl, is there something between us, and if not, do we want it ... well, in this spirit ... - Josh stopped and looked at Nick.

“Okay,” he said in surprise. “In the end, I also do not want to be asked if I have sex with you,” and he found the strength to smile a little.

***

Josh and Nick lived in the same room for less than a month - Nick had to be moved to a separate room a few days later than the time promised by university officials. At first it was unusual for a young Alchibian to live in the same room with someone else: at first, he hardly fell asleep in their common room, demanded that Josh knock on the door before entering, and generally felt a bit constrained next to his neighbor - but Josh eventually got used to the “fads” of his new neighbor, and Nick himself gradually got used to living together. Josh didn’t even joke, didn’t seriously ask Nick if he wanted to stay in their common room, but Nick, for some reason embarrassed, answered in the negative. However, over the past weeks, the young men became friends - as Josh remembered himself, it was always easy for him to find a common language with people, and the Alchibian turned out to be quite a good guy. Josh helped Nick settle into a new place, and Nick helped him keep their common room in order. Usually Nick cooked food - unlike his neighbor, the Alchibian was able to cook (which was quite understandable - he was “not exactly” a guy), and Josh, in order not to suffer remorse due to the fact that he exploits his neighbor, on cleaning the room. However, it turned out that his new neighbor was too clean, according to Josh, and demanded the same from Josh: he even asked him to wash his clothes twice as often as Josh used to - the Alchibian had an unusually sensitive nose, smelled dirt and sweat where Josh would not have noticed.

Josh's friends had already met Nick (Nick’s friends, of course, remained at Centauri), and the young Alchibian as a whole joined the general company. Neither he nor Josh, however, did not say, as they had agreed, that Nick was an Alchibian: Josh's friends knew only that his new neighbor was Centauri, and they thought that he was a descendant of earth colonists (which was partly true, but only partly). At first, Josh was a little nervous: suddenly friends would find out the secret of the Alchibian - but then he calmed down: nothing like this happened. Josh initially feared that Nick could suddenly change sex, and he, Josh, would have to do something about it (he asked his neighbor a couple of times how it was done by Alchibians, but Nick every time declined to answer), but nothing this did not happen, and Josh gradually forgot about these fears.

Yet one day, exactly what Josh was afraid of happened, though not at all in the way he thought it would happen. That evening, Nick, tired of learning materials, went to bed early and quickly fell asleep, and Josh decided to do what he usually hesitated to do with his neighbor, because he was an Alchibian, which means he wasn’t quite a guy. Josh decided to look through porn sites - while Nick lived in his room, Josh tried to do it only when his neighbor was not at home. Now he decided to take advantage of the fact that Nick was asleep: after all, the long abstinence made itself felt, the girl had not been with Josh for some time, and the guy needed a discharge.

Wearing headphones (so that Nick did not hear and did not wake up), Josh turned on one of the commercials. But very soon it began to seem to him that he hears the quiet moans of someone other than the characters on the screen. Surprised, the guy took off his headphones and looked around - no, he did not think: Nick tossed and turned in his sleep on his bed and moaned, as if he had a certain erotic dream. "What the hell ?!" - flashed through the guy's head.“Couldn't it be that he felt in a dream what I was doing here ?!” Josh, even in case, quickly turned off the video, but Nick didn’t stop moaning from it - now it seemed to Josh that the Alchibian’s voice was thinner became like a female. The guy looked at the Alchibian, not knowing what to do (thoughts about porn sites completely swept out of his head), and Nick suddenly opened his eyes and first sat on the bed, and then, stretching, got up. Alchibian only wore a T-shirt and underpants, and under the stretched fabric of the T-shirt, Josh clearly saw the outlines of the female breast - disbelieving his eyes ... Read more →