Danyel let his fingers run lightly over the other man’s face, trying to discover what he looked like. His skin felt smooth apart from where his beard was starting to appear on his jaw, his hair was soft and cut short, eyebrows set wide apart above his nose which had a slight bump in the middle as if it had been broken at one time, and a mouth with firm, curved lips, slightly parted in nervous anticipation. Danyel lowered his head and let his tongue play over Simon’s lips. Simon didn’t pull away, so he slipped his tongue gently inside his mouth, slowly tasting him, ready to back off immediately if the other man changed his mind.

For a long moment, Simon sat motionless and tense beneath him, then he relaxed with a sigh throughout his whole body and opened his mouth further, welcoming the kiss. His arms came up around Danyel, drawing his body down tightly against his own so that they were both lying on the ground. Simon began to return the kiss, thrusting his tongue into Danyel’s mouth with fast urgent movements.

It was as if they’d set a match to a bonfire. Simon’s hands were all over him as he took control, rolling them both over so that he was on top, moving to unfasten the other man’s uniform so he could touch him. In a few minutes he had Danyel naked to the waist.

Danyel couldn’t believe why this man had ever thought he was straight.

Reluctantly he wrenched his mouth away and gripped Simon by the shoulders. Both men were breathing hard. “Hey there, much as I would like to continue this, I’m going to call a halt. If I’m going to have sex with a man, I at least want to know who he is. Plus I don’t have any protection with me. Do you?”

Simon protested automatically, “I wasn’t going to...”

“Well it sure felt like you were!” Danyel said, keeping his voice light. “A kiss is one thing, but I think you need to take some time out before you go any further. We’ll be out of here soon enough, and I don’t want you hating me in the morning! Come and find me on the ship if you want to continue from here.”

“I can’t do that. I’m straight, really. This is... an aberration...” His voice trailed away.

“Is it? Mmm... well. It’s not up to me to say whether you are an om or not, but if I were you, I’d take some serious time out to reconsider!”

“No, really,” Simon was backpedalling as fast as he could. “This is just an experiment.”

“Is it?” Danyel repeated and gave Simon a hard shove away and stood up, refastening his uniform, which was down around his hips. “Whatever. In any case, this lab rat has had enough.”

Simon scrambled to his feet, apologising. “I’m sorry, King, I didn’t mean to disrespect you. I was just being selfish, taking advantage of you.”

“Yes, you were,” Danyel replied, evenly. He didn’t only feel used, he felt hurt. How could the other man just deny the fire that had leapt between them? As if it had meant nothing? No, less than nothing; it hadn’t even made Simon consider that maybe he wasn’t straight after all. He stepped away from him and took a few deep breaths. “I guess it was partly my fault for playing this silly game.” He took another breath and tried to lighten the atmosphere. “You know, right now would be a really good time for us to be rescued!”

Simon rested his forehead against the cold wall. What had just happened here? A minute ago he had had his tongue in another man’s mouth and his hands in his pants. He had thrown himself into utter turmoil and deeply offended King. It had to be the darkness. That was it, the constant darkness had knocked him off balance. There was probably a scientific word for it, some sort of phobia causing irrational behaviour and disorientation. He couldn’t possibly be homosexual—he was getting married in two months!