Havøysund was cold, and I mean bloody cold; even for Norway, it was on the bitter side. There were around three hundred and fifty inhabitants, mostly fishermen; you could even hire a boat for about six hundred krone a day, including crew. Most residents in Havōysund were married, with only a few singles, which meant that when I went to the pub, I wasn't constantly approached by men seeking a good time. Yes, there was a pub, Det Nordlige Vertshuset, or Northern Inn. The only one in the village, it was next to the small supermarket, and it was pretty much the centre of village activity. All news started there and ended there. It was warm and almost always open.

A new oil field had been found in the Barents Sea, and the oil was the oldest that had ever been discovered, believed to be from after the time of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, possibly the Carboniferous Era. Very, very old. Since this is the nearest port, a laboratory was established in the village to test oil samples, and the company sent me here to conduct that testing. The laboratory was well equipped with basic equipment, some medicines, antibiotics, and all the standard lab gear and chemicals. I was suitably educated and medically trained and had been offered the post of running the lab. The company had also hired a local fishing boat to go to the field and collect the samples. It was interesting that virtually everyone here seemed to speak English. This was good because I didn't know any Norwegian.

So far pipelines had not been laid to bring the oil to a terminal, although that was only a matter of time. The company had simply set up and equipped a laboratory for me to use and rented a house for me to live in. What they didn't tell me about was the polar bears. This area was polar bear territory, and by that, I mean it really was theirs; they were the apex predator. No one here went anywhere without a gun—actually, two guns, a rifle, and a handgun. Also, no one walked anywhere, always by pickup truck or four-wheeler SUV. You always reverse parked so that if you had to make a run to the vehicle, the door opened away from you, and you could get in quickly and shut the door.

They said that when you encounter a bear, if it's brown, you can try and fight; if it's white, you say goodnight. The trick was not to encounter a bear. Before you opened a door, house or car, you looked very carefully. Winter was better; you could see their tracks in the snow sometimes, but the nights could be twenty-four hours long. We don't tend to get polar bears in Yorkshire, so I was a bit unfamiliar with them, apart from seeing them once at a zoo. You don't get complacent; you get careful.

Eric, who skippered a supply boat and managed the pub, told me that he had a new sample for me to test and apologised, as the container was a bit messy; some of the oil had spilt when they filled it up, and no one had bothered to wipe or clean it. I had no intention of touching raw crude, and so I asked him to hold on a while whilst I got some gloves. With medical-quality gloves on and a sterile container in hand, I took the sample and secured it inside the container, along with the gloves, which I would dispose of later. I drove to the lab and put the container in the 'dirty area' and opened it up, lights on, kettle on. I put the gloves in the contaminated disposal bin, thoroughly cleaned the sample in the cleaning sink, and the cleaning liquids were in a closed loop for later disposal.

Satisfied that the sample bottle was sterile, I went to the clean zone and opened it under the extraction hood. I dipped a pipette in and took a 0.5 ml sample and put it on a microscope slide. Analysis of the oil earlier had it as a light crude, low in sulphur, and therefore highly desirable for the low-emission fuels so demanded these days. Through the microscope I could see all the usual suspects, but also something I did not expect. I observed cellonites, which are small microscopic single-celled animals, and they were moving, indicating that they were alive. I was right to take precautions; it is unfortunate that the team at the drill site did not take similar measures.

I destroyed the slide after I had taken several images and saved them to the hard drive, which uploaded to the cloud hourly. Cleaned down the lab, put the sample container in the hazard safe, turned everything off and left, locking up as I went. I headed back to the bar; I would grab a few drinks before I headed back to my rental. As I was driving to the bar, I couldn't help but notice several large polar bears wandering around town; I would have to be extra careful tonight.

I couldn't find a spot right outside the bar entrance; I was two or three slots down. I sat in the car and checked all around before making a run for the bar. I left the car unlocked for a speedier getaway if required and hurried to the bar.

"Bears are active," I said to Eric. "Beer, please."

"Yes, folk have been reporting it all day. Sample okay?"

I don't comment on my work, so I was careful in my response. "It took some cleaning. Make sure that you tell them that I won't take any more sloppy work like that, and the company won't pay for the boat to carry any more samples like that. Anyone who touched that needs to be self-aware for any symptoms of unexpected illness."

"Gosh, gee, it was only a bit of oil."

"No, Eric, it wasn't. The container was contaminated with crude that has unknown properties, any one of which could be a lethal contaminant."

"Pah, they've been dealing with that stuff for years."

"Eric, I am not joking; if I get another sample like that, then the company will cease to deal with you, and likely this town too. You can't fuck around with this stuff. It is millions of years old; God knows what's in it, and we would have no natural defences against it. Stop being so fucking cavalier."

He put his hands up as if in surrender. I drank my beer; amusingly, the bottle had a picture of a polar bear on the glass. I wasn't amused; the bloody things half scare me to death. I had another bottle.

Anders, the police guy, came in for a beer and sat next to me. "Mica," he said.

"Anders," I replied, "how are things?"

"Fucking bears everywhere; people don't secure their garbage bins, and the bears get into them. There are loads more bears at the moment, and luckily, no one has been attacked.

"Yet," I answered, "they scare me."

"Good, they should scare everyone; then they might be a bit more careful. Idiots."

Anders was the police force in Havøysund; it was a pretty easy job. As far as I knew, there had never been a robbery or violent crime in Havøysund; the rules simply stated that every settlement with over two hundred inhabitants had to have a police station and an officer. Anders was that man; he was young, and the position could have been his first posting. His main concern seemed to be an increase in the number of polar bears; I doubt he would know what to do if a real crime occurred. But he was okay with that; he streamed all the world's police TV shows in his office whilst nothing was happening, he would be prepared. 'Training' he called it.

I stayed drinking for a few hours, with nothing really to go back to. People came and went; some chatted, some didn't. Eventually I was alone, apart from Eric. I went to the door, opened it and then shut it again very quickly.

"Eric, there are three bears out there. " How was I supposed to get to my car? No way.

Eric rummaged behind the bar and threw me a key.

I grabbed it and headed upstairs. He had a number of rooms upstairs that could be hired out or, at times like this, could be a refuge. The fob said 'TWO' on it, so I was in room two. Up in the room I stripped to my underwear, no easy feat with all the cold-weather outer gear I had on, and got into the bed, covered by a pile of quilts and reindeer pelts. I had a fair few beers, and it wasn't long before I was nodding and then asleep, oblivious.

I was lying on my side, and I felt the bed move, and I sleepily opened my eyes; it was dark, with just a little light from the streetlights seeping in around the blinds and shutters. A hand was placed on my side and then on my breast. Was it Eric? was happening? I felt my legs being parted and my knickers being pushed down and then a dick between my legs.

"Oh," I said, thinking it was Eric. The man moved, and the dick was pressing at my entrance. I tried speaking Eric's name, but it was just a muffled sound, and then I gasped. There was a bustle in my hedgerow, and it wasn't a May queen; I was penetrated.

The dick, fairly large, was pushing into my fanny, my unprepared but welcoming fanny, pushing deeper, widening my fanny with his girth, pressing deep with his length. I don't mind sex—who does? Nothing was said; I was grunting, his dick shagging me harder and deeper, faster and faster, my body responding, lubricating, relaxing, taking the intrusion, my pressures growing, and my electrics building.

The harder and faster he shagged, the wetter and wetter I got; my breath held, my grunts and gasps, and the sound of his body slapping against mine were the only sounds in the room. His dick was stretching my fanny and pressing my depth. I don't have an especially large fanny, and his dick was large enough to test me.

Harder and harder he pressed, deeper and deeper he went, pushing deeper into my body than I thought possible. My body was accepting. Then he started going deeper and harder, and then he pressed in and held, and I felt his ejaculations within me. As I realised what was happening, my body betrayed me completely; my orgasm exploded through me, waves of pleasure coursing throughout my body, my legs spasming as the sensations intensified, and my voice cried out 'oh' into the muffling hand.

And then he was gone; quickly and silently he went out of the door, and I was left lying, recovering, dripping. I got up and padded to the bathroom and cleaned myself up as best I could. I had nothing suitable to save his leavings in. "What the fuck?" I asked; no one answered. I flushed and left, opening the room door, but there was no one else around. I had no idea if any of the other rooms were occupied; everywhere was quiet. I had flushed any evidence. I should have kept some, but there was no way to do so. Really, what the fuck?

I locked the room door, leaving the key in the lock, and I went back to bed and collapsed. I thought should just smile, but I simply lay down and closed my eyes. "Bastard, ruining my sleep,' I thought as I dozed back off.

In the morning I showered and dressed, knowing I had been shagged, knowing that it was pointless to think about it, and went down to breakfast of poached eggs and salmon with gravadlax. Eric was fussing about the bears; they had stayed around almost all night.

"Did you have many guests?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"No," he replied, "not many." So it probably was Eric then.

Anders came in.

"You all right?" He asked brusquely.

"Yeah, why?"

"Several women have reported being attacked."

"What, by the bears?"

"No, they were sexually assaulted by a man or possibly different men; the details are currently unclear."

"Oh, no, my God, are the women alright? I slept here upstairs all night. I was here. I couldn't leave because the polar bears were outside and wouldn't leave." I was not going to add myself to his list of victims. I kept mentally repeating, 'It was only sex; no harm done. 'I didn't want to say too much in case I gave suspicion, and I still thought it was Eric.

"We have no way of processing the evidence; there is nothing I can do to track down the attacker."

"Well, I have a lab; if there is anything I can do, just let me know."

"Oh, yes, you do. Okay, well, I do have several samples; could you look at them and see if you could tell me anything? The government could pay you a fee."

"I will, yes, and I am not worried about the fee; I will do it to see if there is anything I can see. Send the samples to my lab."

Anders left, and I finished my breakfast in peace.

"What the fuck is going on in this town?" Eric asked.

"I have no idea what is happening in this town, Eric; I really don't." All I know is that I have crude oil to test, the bears are a nuisance, and now it seems there is a sex maniac on the loose. I shall keep my gun to hand. "Anyone who tries to attack me, I shall shoot them in the balls."

"For fuck's sake, woman."

Well, what did he expect a woman to say? She would simply lie there and accept it. Like I did? I was conflicted, but now I am not. I now could not be certain that Eric wasn't my nighttime attacker, although I didn't think he was.

In the lab I took my outerwear off and put on my lab coat and made a coffee and sat and waited for Ander's samples to arrive. It didn't take long; the door opened, and Anders walked in with a cool box and put it on the bench beside me. I couldn't help but look at his crotch, a lovely bulge; I found myself almost salivating. Anders turned to face me, and I stood nose to nose with him, undoing my lab coat. To be fair, he looked a little startled when my hand pressed his bulge. It firmed in my hands, and I was panting in anticipation. I also knew that my behaviour was not typical of me; I just am not anything like this sexual, but the shag in the night had left me, well, sort of unnecessary.

I pushed his outerwear jacket back, letting it fall down to the floor, and tugged at the toggles that tightened his trousers, loosening them and pulling them down to his knees; his dick was bulging nicely. I sank to my knees, pulled his underwear down and surrounded his dick with my mouth. Anders gasped loudly, and his knees buckled a little, and then he started shagging my mouth, his dick forcing its way in and out of my throat, my tongue rasping along his shaft as he moved.

My hand pulled my trousers and knickers down, forcing them below my knees, my fanny free and ready. I pulled back and stood up, Anders' dick jutting nicely from his groin. I used my feet to step out of my clothes and leaned over the lab bench, my feet far apart.

"Fuck me, Anders," I commanded and felt him stand behind me, his dick prodding at the flesh of my buttocks before aiming more correctly between my thighs. I felt him slide along my valley and then aim at my entrance. He pushed forward, my entrance opened, and his dick pushed inside me, penetrating me, filling me, and expanding my fanny. From how he filled me, I knew straight away the man wasn't my midnight caller.

The sharp edge of the lab bench was painful, but I didn't care; I was being shagged, his movement fast and determined, filling me, pressing at my depth, his grunts as he thrust were in time with my gasps as he filled me. I wanted him to go harder; I needed to feel possessed. I was pushing back as he was pushing in, my fanny pulsing and squeezing him as he moved. My pressures were building, my electrics fizzing and my moment approaching. Anders was really pushing and moving, and as I felt I could not hold any longer, he pushed in deep and held, just trying to bury himself more and more inside me, and I felt his fountain deep within me, spurt after spurt splashing within, filling my womb, flooding my fanny.

I could hold back no longer; my breath exploded from me in a piercing scream, my fanny spasmed and clamped down hard on his dick, and my orgasm erupted, sending waves of pleasure through my body, leaving me breathless and gasping while bent over the lab bench. I felt Anders pull back, and his dick slid from me with a gurgle, leaving me open and gaping. As Anders turned to adjust his clothing, I grabbed a slide and caught some of his emissions for later analysis before wiping myself with tissues and redressing myself.

"I'll let you know what I find; I'll get on with the investigation now," I said.

He turned to me, his face flushed. "Thank you, Mica. It's probably best to look for me in the pub; there are bears all round the station."

"They just seem to be everywhere at the moment. Okay, I'll catch you later." I made no reference to the fornication; we both knew it had happened, and I had achieved two things: one, I knew he wasn't my middle-of-the-night caller, and two, I had a sample from him to compare.

It took a while to test and compare each of the samples. All had active sperm, and all, except Anders, had cellonites. So, sexually transmissible. I had them, the attacker had them, so probably Anders and all the attacked women had them. Were they driving this promiscuity? What would be the end result? I suspected it would not be generally beneficial to women. Was it anything to do with the contaminated sample? I wonder if the attacker had been on the boat or the rig.

I set up some culture jars with samples of cellonite-contaminated fluids and put them in the incubator. I had to try several antibiotics to see if I could combat and defeat them. I locked down the lab, secured the samples in the fridge, locked them up, and headed over to the bar.

"Beer, Eric, please," I said as I took a bar stool, wishing I had showered at the lab. My crotch was squishy, and I realised my clothes hadn't been changed since yesterday. I should have gone home before the bar; I wasn't thinking straight. As I sat musing over my beer, it occurred to me that I shouldn't engage in fluid exchanges with anyone; I was now a carrier. I found it strange that I could think logically and correctly, yet I still wanted sex, needed sex, and felt driven to couple. This was unusual behaviour for me, yet it didn't feel abnormal. I drank my beer.

Anders came in. "Any news?" He asked.

I gave him a brief overview. "One man. An unknown contaminant is being transmitted through intercourse. I am still investigating." He shrugged and grabbed a beer. He didn't make any reference to our tryst earlier. Was he as accepting now as I was? Was that a sign of being contaminated?

Before the bears grew in number, I headed to my car and drove home. No bears near my home, thankfully. Inside I stripped and put my clothes in the laundry and then took them out and put them in the machine. There was no point in waiting; let them wash, and then I showered and douched. I lay naked on my bed for a while, mulling everything over. I lacked the knowledge to understand the implications of the cellonites, and I also had no idea how they had survived for millions of years in a sea of crude oil under what must have been incredible pressure. Just not my area of expertise. There was little point in speculating. Nor was I gaining anything by lying in bed.

I dressed and headed back to the lab. The cultures were ready. I applied a differing antibiotic to all but one, which I would leave as my control. Locking up again, I headed back to the bar. I was surprised to see it empty, apart from Eric.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Bear bound."

"Oh."

I walked around the bar, stood in front of Eric and kissed him, hard, my lips mashing his. His hands immediately went to my breast and my buttocks, his groin pushing at me, his cock hardening as he pressed against me. He pulled me through to the back room and roughly pulled my clothes down and pushed me onto a couch, undoing his trousers and covering me.

"Ooof," I gasped as his dick buried itself in me, my fingers digging into his back as he moved, his shagging rough and fast. He was not my midnight assailant. I felt his foreskin as it rolled along his shaft; a small pulse in his dick ticked inside my fanny. I was uncomfortably pressed onto his couch, with one leg of my clothes off but the other still on, as his hand pushed my blouse and bra up, exposing my breasts while my clothes dug into my skin. He had a steady rhythm; he was in no hurry.

I suspected he was just enjoying shagging me, and to be fair, I was enjoying him doing so, and now I knew he wasn't my midnight caller. His foreskin was rolling back and forth inside me, a lovely sensation, often lost in the blur of a frenzied shag. His stomach slapped against mine, my grunts as he filled me adding to the unmistakable sound of sex. My fingers undoubtedly scratched his back; he had no wife to notice, and I dug deeper.

My electrics were building, my pressures growing, and my pleasures increasing. Eric began to go a little faster, and soon his foreskin movement was a blur; deeper he pressed, and faster he moved. The slaps became louder, my gasps higher pitched. I couldn't wait for him; I was at the end, and I screamed loudly into his face as my orgasm exploded, the pleasures and pains erupting through my body, my fanny squeezing him, draining him of every drop of his man stuff. Vaguely, I felt him spurting as my moment consumed me. So much for me not having sexual relations.

I slumped back to the couch; he pulled back, his dick leaving me with a gurgle. He stood and redressed himself.

"I'll get you a beer for when you're ready," he said as he walked out of the back room back to the bar.

I looked around for some tissues; there were some on his desk. I grabbed a couple; I used one to wipe myself, and the other I rolled as a plug and pushed it inside. Hopefully that would stop the leakage until I could shower. I redressed and headed to the bar. Since the bar was still empty of other customers, I would not have to deal with knowing looks and sneers.

The beer was cold and suited my mood. I had no idea what was going on. Was sexual promiscuity the new me, or was it the new everyone? No one seemed to question it; they just shagged. I intuitively knew it was to do with the cellonites, but I could not scientifically prove it. Anders came in.

"We have had a fatality."

"Oh shit, where, how?"

"Mikel Mikelsōn. It seems he was our rapist. He was attacking a woman on the north edge of town when her husband came home. The husband chased the man out of the house, and Mikelsōn ran straight into the path of a polar bear. The husband managed to shoot the bear, but Mikelsōn was already dead from the wounds. The bear is injured but got away."

"So now we have an angry wounded bear on the loose?" Eric asked.

"Yes, Jacob Jacobson has a small party of hunters; they are tracking it. We need to destroy it."

"Bloody hell." I wondered if I would be asked to examine the body. I assume that Mikelsōn was the one that attacked me.

"He was a frequent visitor here," Eric said. "He would often stay over when he had a lot to drink or the bears were busy. He works the rig where your samples come from."

"When was the last time he was here?" I asked.

"Last night and the night before last," Eric said. It fitted. Oh well, I didn't actually wish that ending on anyone. Shame.

I drove back home, showered, douched and hit my bed, naked, door locked and feeling a lot more secure now that it seemed the attacker had been caught. DNA testing of the semen samples would confirm it, but they would have to be sent off by Anders.

In the morning I went first to the bar for breakfast. I ordered salmon and poached eggs again, along with a coffee. After my stomach was sated, I got in the car and headed to the lab. Looking at the samples, it was clear that all the antibiotics had worked to a varying degree. It seemed that the most effective was fluoroquinolone, of which I had a few hundred doses, the problem being it had been temporarily suspended due to the side effects. The next most effective was metronidazole, of which I had enough to treat the whole town.

Anders came in. "They killed the bear overnight," he said. "That's one less worry," he said as his hand found my right breast. I gulped, and my lips found his, and my hand found his hardening dick. I stepped back.

"Into the office," I said, locking the door behind us.

I stripped; standing naked, I watched him step out of his trousers and underpants, his cock ready. He was hard, with a bead of white fluid at the tip. I lay on the couch, and he covered me. There was no foreplay; he simply held his dick and aimed at my entrance, my readiness allowing him to enter and fill me easily.

His balls dangled onto my thighs, his foreskin moved within me, and my nipples were hard as if ready to pierce his chest. His movements were determined and yet steady; he fucked with a set face, eyes boring into mine as if to find my inner soul. I didn't have a soul right now; I just stared right back, my hips moving up to meet his moving down.

My fanny had been much used of late, and I had a bruised feeling at my depth. Anders added to the bruising, filling me and stretching me with each thrust. His stomach slapped against mine, my hands on his back, fingers digging in, fingernails causing harm; he flinched as I dug. I moved my hands down, holding his buttocks, separating them as he fucked. My grunts echoed around the office, my breaths short and only inwards. I felt like a balloon being blown up; my chest was tightening and my back was beginning to lift. Pressures within were growing. Electrics were building; I was close.

Anders began moving faster, harder, my hips sore where they were being pounded, my valley sore where it was being squashed; deeper he pushed, penetrating me to the core of my being, his dick feeling bigger as my fanny squeezed him. His eyes seemed to bulge, and he shouted and pushed harder and held. His dick spurted his ejaculations inside me, flooding my fanny, his lungs emptying as quickly as his balls, his spunk feeling cool inside me.

I spasmed, hard, my fanny squeezing his dick, trying to hold on to it, my pressures blew, and my orgasm erupted, my body jerking beneath Anders as the pleasures exploded within me. My fingers and toes tingled, my nipples felt like ray guns, and my fanny hummed as my back planked.

I couldn't speak; I just stared at Anders, my head sort of rocking from side to side, my face saying no as I began to come down. My fanny relaxed, and Anders' dick slipped out, followed by dollops of his white juices. He stood and put a hand down to help me, and I rose to a sitting position. Nothing was said as we dressed, my fanny plugged once again with rolled-up tissues.

"I have a cure for the infections," I said when we were sat waiting for the kettle to boil for our coffees. No mugs; I usually used 500 ml flasks.

"And?"

"I have enough metronidazole for everyone in town, but all residents will need to take it."

"I can deal with that. I can tell them it's a fatal infection that kills after a few days, and the antibiotics will stop the infection from getting a foothold."

"Good. How do you want to distribute it?"

"Just give me the drugs; I will sort it."

"Okay, that is it then. Sorted."

"Yes. I guess that means we will stop too."

"Probably, I am old enough to be your mum; you are better with a girl your own age."

"Nah, I like my mum, and you remind me of her. My mother and I have a close relationship, you know.

Oh.