LYKIN AND BRADLY
An excerpt from 'The Ticket that Exploded' by William Burroughs

Lykin and Bradly had blacked out when they landed - How had they gotten out of the ship? – He stood up and tripped over the sleeping form of his companion naked except for the skin-tight transparent space suit that clung to his muscular body – He decided to have a quick look at the terrain before waking Bradly -………- He turned and started back down the gully toward the pool – He felt a click in his brain like a crystal flare and heard a silver voice: “Come stranger” – Lykin was accustomed to telepathic phenomena but this voice was unusually clear and immediate – He climbed over a large rock and saw the pool – His friend was still asleep – Beside him sat an amphibious green fish boy shimmering with water from the pool


The creature was covered with a membranous substance with a network of transparent veins – The body surface was in constant motion like slow water dripping down a statue – The face was almost flat but with lips and nose sharply and beautifully delineated and huge liquid eyes above the high ridged cheekbones the delicate structure of which shone through transparent skin – The being was sitting in a cross-legged position and from its thighs jutted small silver fins of fine gauze – The slender sinuous legs ended in webbed flippers – Between the legs Lykin could see the genitals half aroused in curiosity as the fish boy stroked the head of his sleeping companion and touched the space suit with tentative jabs of his long green fingers – Lykin moved cautiously so as not to frighten the creature back into the pool – The fish boy turned and looked at him with a shy dreamy smile – an electric shiver ran up his spine and burst in crystal fish syllables: “Approach stranger – Have no fear” – The creatures mouth had not moved – Lykin moved forward with excitement tingling through his body and knelt beside the water boy who extended a dripping hand and lightly clasped his shoulder – A thrill ran through him from the contact –

Under-water memory bubbles burst in his brain – He was in the alien medium, squirming in crystal rock pools and basking on edges of limestone fanned by giant ferns in the sound of dripping water – Swimming through ruined cities with the water creatures twisting in slow swirls of orgasm, shooting out explosions of colored bubbles to the surface, trailing blue streamers -