"You're crazy as a goose!" Sterl said, laughing. "Only you could come up with something like this!"

"I think 'goose' is the operative word here, eh?" Tyler shot back, grinning.

"I don't see how in the hell the thing could work though."

"Oh, it'll work, believe me."

"Well . . . actually, I do believe you . . . I know you too well! . . . hehe!" Sterl gave Tyler an affectionate pat on the shoulder, and watched him appraisingly as he interpreted the words and figures on the screen (which looked like mere gibberish to Sterl) and punched in some commands which did . . . heaven knows what. Tyler . . . now there was a man with too much time on his hands and who didn't care who else knew it. Add to that the guy had money to burn, and scientific knowledge and talent enough to create virtually anything he wanted. At this time his greatest fame was the invention of a propulsion system for spacecraft which could accelerate them to one-half light-speed, far faster than anything had ever gone before, resulting in the first voyage to the closest star, Alpha Centauri, projected to take about 8 years each way, currently underway, which had left Earth a year ago. But mostly he invented things on his own schedule, according to his own whims. Sterl had no doubts by now that if Tyler had invented something, perfected it, and said it would work, then by golly, the damned thing would definitely work. It didn't hurt that he was also a drop-dead-gorgeous thirty-year-old blue-eyed hunk with dark brown hair, his chest hairs now peeking out from his partly open shirt. Sterl sighed inwardly. "So how does the contraption work, anyway?"

Tyler settled back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. (Oh, Sterl ached to do "something" with those armpits! But he shut that thought off.) "Now I'll thank you not to call my baby a 'contraption,' he said to Sterl with a wink. "If you like, you can step over to the table there and I could demonstrate it . . . on YOU!"

"Um . . . lemme think about it . . . OK, I've thought about it . . . no."

"Haha! I understand. I'm not sure I'd want to be on that table either. But seriously, see all the little holes below the table? Well, when it's running, out of those holes come little . . . um, 'tentacles,' I think would be the best way to describe it. Very flexible material, sort of like plastic, but much more bendable, yet durable - you'd have trouble breaking one, although it could be done. Each tentacle is filled with a polarized fluid which is guided here at the console." He patted the top of the screen which seemed to be part of a very ordinary computer; only one cable led from it to the large rectangular object under the table about three meters away. Sterl had to remind himself that even the smallest computers could do amazing things these days. "The tips of the tentacles send back information on the body here, and signals are returned basically telling them where to go. Essentially it analyzes nerve impulses for sensitivity. And you know what kind of sensitivity I'm talking about!" Tyler flashed an impish grin at Sterl.

"Um, yeah, I do," Sterl grinned back. "Just would hate to be the guy under those tentacles!"

"Oh yeah you would, and so would I. The thing about the tentacles is that they create a touch which no human fingers could imitate, and not even anything held and manipulated by a human could imitate. The material feels so soft and smooth, and even yielding, due to being filled with fluid, yet at the same time it can apply an amazing amount of pressure; were you just to hold one in your hands or feel it trace across your palm you wouldn't think it could do that. And the pressure can be adjusted by the most minute amounts imaginable, according to the sensitivity of the person."

"Ooo . . . I shudder in your general direction!"

"Hahaha! Well you might just not want to get sloshed and pass out on me anytime soon," Tyler said with another of those wink/grin combinations that always nearly melted Sterl. "Now here's the good part: it's gonna be put through its paces on Saturday." He paused for dramatic effect.

Said dramatic effect was not lost on Sterl, who felt the size of his eyes increase exponentially. After a moment he realized that his mouth was also wide open, his tongue protruding. He hastily closed it as Tyler burst into laughter at him. Sterl eventually managed to speak. "So . . . that means . . . you've got someone?"

"Oh yes!" Pause.

"Well, who, dammit?" Sterl almost bellowed. "You're killing me here!"

"Hehe . . . OK, OK. Guy named Jax. Met him through The Rack also, about three months ago . . ."

"Well you never told me about him!" Sterl interrupted, affecting a sulk, trying to hide the fact that he was immensely intrigued.

"Well, I don't tell you EVERYTHING now. Haha! Don't be mad, bud, I was leading up to this for you. He's twenty-seven, nice shape, and . . . well, quite . . . er, sensitive. Not absolutely the most sensitive I've ever seen, but hey! I couldn't pick anyone too ticklish or this thing would probably kill them! I've told him a little bit about what he's in for, but I've. . . um . . . 'withheld' just a little bit from him. Ain't I bad?" Wink/grin. "Of course you're invited to attend."

Well that more than makes up for the secrecy, Sterl though with big smile. "Wow! Thanks man! This is going to be . . . well, incredible!"

"Sure thing bud! Anything for a fellow tickle-fan." Yet another wink/grin combo. Sterl melted again, right on schedule.

On the transport home, Sterl mused on how he had come to know Tyler about a year ago. They had of course come in contact through the Ropejock messageboard, part of a huge site which had been on the Internet for about a century, one of the few such fetish sites which had been in continuous existence for such a long time, and still the best male/male tickling site around, Sterl thought - even though hundreds of others vied with it for supremacy - with its archive of thousands of stories, some written before the turn of the century, chat rooms, multimedia files, etc. It was still nicknamed "Jack's Rack," though the original Jack who ran it was now long gone; the webmaster was now someone who went by the nickname "Ratty II," though Sterl had no idea who that was. Sterl had been just coming to be open to his passion for tickling and being tickled by men at that time, and Tyler had been one of his first contacts. And what an incredible first time that had been! Sterl felt lucky: his first time could just as well have been with some loser, which might have left a bad taste in his mouth and delayed him from making further contacts. But no, instead he had walked into the (very nice) home of a handsome, charming, witty, articulate, and incredibly brilliant (not to mention, wealthy) man whose passion for tickling was as genuine as his own. Sterl had gotten into a few rolling-around-and-tickling bits when he was younger, but never an all-out tickle-romp as on that occasion. And it flattered him that, although Tyler was definitely a "winner" in every sense of the word and quite literally could have any man he wanted, that he had repeatedly called Sterl (who thought of himself as very average in looks and personality) to come over again for some "play."

Tyler was a magnificent and sadistic tickler; he could almost effortlessly have Sterl rolling around on the floor in helpless laughter within seconds, and Sterl could do nothing about it. Tyler was just too strong and too fast. Sometimes Tyler would tie Sterl up, which Sterl would find both immensely exciting and utterly unbearable, as Tyler would tickle him to within an inch of his life, it seemed, often concentrating on his most ticklish spots: his feet, his stomach, and his bellybutton. In fact, Tyler would occasionally tie Sterl in a position with his knees bent, so that Tyler could stick his tongue in Sterl's navel while at the same time reaching back and tickling his feet, which would drive Sterl absolutely screaming hysterical, until he thought he would never have a voice again. Tyler was much more reluctant to be restrained, for he was horrendously ticklish, and would never consent to letting his arms be tied, but he did like for his feet to be put in stocks. Tyler's speaking voice was fairly deep and masculine (which Sterl found to be one of the sexiest things about him) and Sterl loved it when he would tickle Tyler's feet and hear that same voice immediately erupt in uncontrolled laughter. And Sterl would note with private satisfaction the obvious arousal inside Tyler's shorts.

But the upper body - no - Tyler would hardly let Sterl touch it; and Sterl found out why one night when they were both fairly drunk and Tyler had felt like being in the stocks (which was hardly often enough to suit Sterl) and somewhat atypically had taken his shirt off ("'Cause I'm drunk and hot," he had said). Sterl had moved up and attacked Tyler's bare ribs and stomach, not an easy task with Tyler's strong arms fighting him off even while he was laughing like a maniac, but he had succeeded just for a few seconds in pinning one of Tyler's arms behind him. He had barely brushed his fingertips into Tyler's armpit and was startled by the resulting deafening yell from Tyler, which he would have sworn should have broken all the glass in the place; surprised and caught off-guard, Tyler had suddenly pushed him away. "No . . . not the armpits!" Tyler had gasped, "Never . . . never the armpits!" Hmmm. I WILL get those armpits some day, Sterl thought. I just hope I can do it somehow that he won't get mad at me and not want to see me anymore.

And as far as seeing him anymore, Sterl couldn't get enough of seeing Tyler, and didn't get the chance to see him often enough as it was. Tyler was a man obsessed and driven; his scientific work occupied a great deal of time, and as a result he and Sterl had only gotten together eleven times over the past year, less often that once a month. Not enough to nurture the relationship for which Sterl hoped; to put it mildly, Sterl was head over heels for Tyler. But the busy (and rather famous) Tyler, although he certainly seemed to enjoy Sterl's company well enough, also seemed reluctant to make such a commitment. Sterl had sometimes met with other guys for tickling sessions, but Tyler was by far his favorite. Oh well, Sterl thought, at least I get to go back over there Saturday to see the gadget do its thing; Tyler's house twice in one week - must be some kind of record!

Three p.m. Saturday afternoon couldn't come soon enough for Sterl; at the front door of Tyler's house he was ushered in quickly. "He's already here!" Tyler whispered breathlessly. They made their way back through the house to the room Tyler had set up for his private lab (must be nice, Sterl thought), and there was Jax, who was already shirtless and barefoot (in fact Sterl couldn't see a shirt anywhere, though the shoes and socks were clearly visible on the floor), having on only a pair of faded jeans, and looking idly at the computer equipment. He was slim, trim, defined enough, and with a little "happy trail" of hair - oh how Sterl loved those - leading down from his navel into his jeans.

"Hi," he said, looking up and extending his hand to Sterl. "Jax."

"Sterl. Pleased to meetcha." More pleased than you know.

"Well, let's get this ball rolling," Jax said with a lopsided grin to Tyler. "How do you want me?"

"Nekkid, and on that table, boy," Tyler grinned back.

"Sure thing boss!" Jax laughed. Sterl noted the totally unselfconscious way in which Jax stripped to his briefs and then tossed those aside also, revealing nicely muscled legs and a somewhat impressive endowment. Jax hopped up on the foam-rubber and cloth-covered table and lay down, stretching his limbs in an X, and Tyler then buckled him into the leather wrist and ankle cuffs which were firmly secured to the corners.

"Ah, just the right fit there . . . can't move much, can ya, Jax my man?"

Jax tried pulling on the restraints, which gave him very little slack at all. "Nope . . . I'm all yours. Man, this is gonna be awesome!" A certain part of Jax's anatomy had "grown" perceptibly during the last minute or so.

"What can I say?" Tyler grinned at Sterl. "The boy likes being tied-up."

"My kinda guy," Sterl murmured, transfixed by the sight of the now totally helpless Jax on the table.

"Well, let's start up this baby, shall we?" Tyler said as he sat down at the nearby console.

"Now the nice thing about it is that he can virtually run himself, although I can guide him a bit if I want to."

"Oh, so you're calling it a 'he' now, are you?" Sterl said, eyes still glued on Jax.

"Well, I suppose that the technical name for it would be something like a 'sensitivity analyzer,' but I call him 'Tony the Tickle Pirate.'"

"Hehe . . . nice," Sterl chuckled. "The Spanish Main lives. Ya gonna paint a buccaneer face on it or something?"

"Hey, I might just do that!" Tyler laughed. "OK, Jax, you ready for some new-fangled tickle-torture?"

"Ready here man!" Jax said, closing his eyes. "I think . . . haha!"

"This boy thinks he can take anything I can dish out," Tyler said in an aside to Sterl. "But we'll soon see." Sterl paid no attention as Tyler turned to the computer and clicked on the commands to start the process. A faint humming sound began, coming from the box below the table; and to Sterl's amazement, four long clear thin shapes began to emerge from one end and snake upward toward Jax's feet. He could see that the tips of the clear tentacles were rounded and glistening, and that the tentacles as a whole were only about a fifth of an inch in diameter. The tips reached the level of the tabletop and began slowly gliding in what seemed to be an effortless and smooth motion, two toward each foot. Then the tip of one of the tentacles made contact with the heel of Jax's left foot, and began slowly to trace a pattern up the sole, zigzagging quickly from side to side. Jax immediately burst into giggles, the sound of which Sterl found absolutely delicious. The tentacle continued up, then paused at the ball of the foot and made circles which grew constantly wider and narrower alternately. The pitch of Jax's laughter went up a bit. Then the tip went to the big toe, traced a pattern on it, then suddenly dived between the toes, and in motions almost too fast to be seen, wriggled in and out between every toe, and also skimming along the bottoms of the toes, while Jax laughed even louder and began thrashing about, the little bit that his bonds would allow. A second tentacle joined the first on this foot, tickling along the sole while the other tickled the toes, while the two others moved toward Jax's right foot and began going through the same procedure. And Sterl found it interesting that, no matter how much Jax wiggled his feet around, the tentacles seemed to be able to anticipate the motion, and remain relatively stationary on the same areas of his feet.

"Maa-haahaahaahaahaahaa-haan that tickleszz-zz-zza-zzah-hahahahahahahaha!" Jax managed to get out through his laughter. After a minute or two the tentacles began exploring the tops of Jax's feet and his ankles, accompanied by only slightly less laughing than before. The tips then skimmed up Jax's shins and spent some time scurrying around on Jax's kneecaps and the undersides of his knees; Sterl could tell when they hit a particularly ticklish spot because Jax's laughter would take on a slightly more frantic edge in those moments. This continued for a bit; then the tentacles moved up Jax's thighs, both inner and outer, making much wider and very quick zigzags, while Jax writhed with helpless giggles.

"It's determining the spots," Tyler said to Sterl; "it's in the exploratory mode now, recording feedback from the nerve impulses. Those things are soon gonna know every ticklish spot on his body that they can get to (and even a few they can't) before they're through, and which spots are the most ticklish; in fact, all the levels of ticklishness."

"Mmm hmmm," Sterl mumbled, not daring to take his eyes off this wonderful spectacle, and feeling a very intense hard-on struggling for freedom in his pants. Suddenly he saw the tentacles stop and withdraw back into the holes from which they came.

"Oh God-aahahahaha!" Jax said, unable to stop laughing. "That was intense . . . hehehehehe!"

"More to come, buddy boy," Tyler said with an evil grin; and even as he spoke four more tentacles were already emerging from the center of the sides of the box, two from the left and two from the right, and floated toward Jax's midsection. One of them dived in between Jax's legs and meandered about, causing Jax to yell with laughter and try vainly to raise his hips away from the tickling. This stopped eventually, and another tentacle slid its tip along the top of his now rock-hard organ, then with a lightning quick motion wrapped itself in several circles around it and pulsed up and down the shaft while Jax moaned with pleasure. But this didn't last long; the tentacle soon unwrapped itself and joined the other three in exploring all over his groin area, to a mixture of gasps and giggles from Jax.

"I suspect we're about to see and hear something rather interesting," Tyler commented with a smirk. And indeed it turned out to be so to Sterl as the tentacles went to Jax's hips and began zigzagging along his waistline where the tan of his upper body ended towards the center of his stomach. Suddenly one of the tentacles drove madly into Jax's bellybutton, wriggling frantically. Jax squealed with laughter and trashed madly about, whipping his head from side to side; and the other tentacles traced patterns all over his stomach.

"Stawhawhawhawhawhawhawpohahahahahahhahahagaaghahahahahahahahahahhaha!" he said.

"Hmmm . . . methinks he's trying to tell us something," Tyler said calmly. "Whassamatter Jax, you ticklish or something?"

"Yeheheheheheheheaaaahahahahahahaohgawhawhawhahahahahamakeitstaahahahaha!"

"Well when you decide what it is you want to tell us," Tyler responded in dulcet tones, "just let us know."

After a few minutes of this (which probably seemed much longer to Jax) the tentacles left his stomach area and began determining exactly how many ribs he had. Evidently he found this somewhat less torturous than his bellybutton had been (but only by degree) as his laughter was slightly less hysterical than before. A few more minutes of this and the tentacles withdrew again into the box. This time it took longer for Jax to calm down and stop laughing, but already four more tentacles were emerging from the other end and approaching his armpits and chest. Two of them immediately began exploring his pits, while he brayed with laughter and bucked against the restraints, and the other two crisscrossed his chest. As they brushed across his nipples Jax let out a scream; what the other two guys hadn't known was that Jax's nipples were unbearably sensitive. Sometimes the fabric of certain shirts would rub against them in a way that would drive him crazy, resulting in his unbuttoning the shirt or even going shirtless, which he liked to do a lot anyway (no problem since it was fairly socially acceptable for guys to be bare to the waist in this day and age), and in fact this was why Sterl had not seen a shirt lying around near Jax's socks and shoes: he hadn't brought one with him. Anything brushing his nipples could be almost unbearable, though it was conversely also very arousing; and now with him already laughing so much from being tickled elsewhere they were unbearably ticklish. The two tentacles now returned to Jax's nipples and began dancing around on the tips, which caused Jax to positively shriek with hysteria; words were totally impossible for him.

"Oh my," said Tyler, fascinated. "I never found that spot before in our sessions. You're in trouble now, boy!"

Finally the tentacles relented and began meandering up to Jax's neck. His relief was obvious, although he still laughed uncontrollably as he tried vainly to turn his head this way and that in a vain attempt to keep the tips from tickling all over his neck and chin. When an agonizing (for him) few minutes of this had passed the tentacles once again withdrew into their receptacles.

It took Jax a couple of minutes to stop giggling this time; and he lay there panting and perspiring profusely; Sterl could see that parts of the cloth near his back were wet. "Oh man!" Jax gasped. "Oh man! . . . Oh God! . . . That was . . . whew! . . . that was intense man! . . . The tits and the bellybutton . . . that was the worst! . . . I don't think . . . I could ever take that . . . again! Whew!" But Tyler made no move to get out of his chair and release Jax from the restraints.

"Oh, that was just the first part," Tyler said evenly.

Jax turned his head toward Tyler, wide-eyed. "What?! It's not OVER?!"

"Oh no - that was just the preliminaries. Now the real tickling begins."

Jax began frantically thrashing about on the table. "Oh noooooooooo!

Man . . . I can't take any more! Please don't let it tickle me again!"

Sterl heard a click of the mouse behind him.

"Too late buddy-boy," Tyler said as now dozens of tentacles emerged from every hole on the sides of the box, rose up, and hovered over Jax's body. "There's thirty-two of 'em, to be exact," Tyler said to Sterl. "Think that's enough?" he grinned as he nudged Sterl with his elbow.

Jax took one look at the tentacles poised over him and went into a panic, thrashing around, pleading, and even laughing in anticipation though he was not being tickled yet.

"Noooooooooo-hohohohohohahahaha-not-all-of-them-hahahahahahahahahaha-pleeeeeeeeeze!!!"

But Tony the Tickle Pirate, with its computer brain, had no concept of human compassion or mercy, and according to its programming script, began lowering its myriad tentacles towards every ticklish spot on Jax's body. The first several tips reached his feet and began scurrying all over his soles, the balls of his feet, and on and between his toes, as Jax burst into healthy unrestrained laughter. More then descended on his knees and thighs, and soon after several more began tickling his groin, stomach, and ribs. Jax was already laughing louder than they had yet heard him when more tentacles joined in, poking and prodding his armpits and tickling his neck. Another tentacle then dived into his navel, scribbling about wildly, and two more descended on his nipples. At this point Jax emitted almost deafening screams of laughter the like of which Sterl had never heard in his life; and Sterl found his hard-on almost painful now, a wet spot forming on his crotch, as he stood absolutely mesmerized by the astounding spectacle of the most intense tickling he had ever seen, unable to move a single muscle. At last one lone tentacle which had so far not joined in with the rest began alternately tickling the shaft of Jax's organ, and wrapping itself around it and pumping. It only took a couple of minutes of this to cause Jax to suddenly explode into orgasm with a combination of moans and hysterical screaming laughter; fountains of the pearly white stuff spewed onto his chest and stomach.

"You more ticklish after you cum Jax?" Tyler almost shouted over Jax's hysteria. Jax wildly shook his head in a vain attempt to say something to the effect of, "No, I beg you not to do this," but the tentacles of course paid no attention. The effect of the tickling on his now even more sensitive body caused him to raise his whole midsection suddenly, as if he meant to take off like a rocket; and he let out an amazingly full-throated howl, and then commenced such screaming and shrieking with laughter and violent thrashing that Sterl thought the poor guy would have to be committed after it was all over.

And it was indeed all over.

Eventually.

Sterl had no sense of time, of how many minutes could have passed, but suddenly he was aware that the tentacles were retracting into the box, and that poor Jax was still giggling maniacally and gasping for breath as if he would never be able to get enough air to fill his lungs again. "Well, that was quite lovely," Tyler said, grinning with approval. "Hehe . . . you still alive Jax?"

"('Gasp-giggle')," Jax answered.

"Haha! Good man! Better you than me! Hahahahaha! Well guys, I need to go to the little boys' room for a few minutes. Sterl, why don't you do the honors?" Tyler arose from his chair and strolled out of the room.

Sterl would have liked to go to the little boys' room himself about now, and take care of a certain "something," but he walked almost in a daze over to the table where Jax's sweat-drenched body lay, his chest still heaving with gasps for air, and released Jax's wrists and ankles from the restraints. "Man, Jax, are you OK?"

Jax simply lay there, still spread-eagle, without moving his arms or legs. At last his breathing began to slow. "Man . . . that was . . . that was awful! I'm never gonna get on this table again . . . I don't think." Suddenly he laughed. "Man . . . that was the most . . . intense thing I've ever been through . . . it was . . . unbearable . . . but . . . it was kinda cool . . . hahaha! . . . but I don't think I'll ever do it again . . . hehehe!" He looked Sterl in the eyes and lowered his voice almost to a whisper. "You know . . . I wanna see HIM up here!"

Sterl nodded. "Me too."

Afterwards, when Jax had taken a while to recover and be able to get off the table, and had taken a shower, Tyler whipped up a dinner for all of them, which Jax ate ravenously (can't imagine what worked up his appetite, Sterl thought with a mental snicker), after which they sat around in the living room and had drinks. "Let's celebrate the debut of Tony the Tickle Pirate!" Tyler said as he poured.

"Hear, hear!" said Sterl.

"I'll drink to that," said Jax. "So duuude, are you gonna get more victims for that thing? Not me again though!" he added hastily as the other two looked at him.

"But of course!" Tyler said, laughing. "Naw Jax, you've done your time. You get to be the guest of honor and come over and watch."

"Hot damn!" Jax said. "I'll really drink to that!"

"Hey Jax, I wanna show you how ticklish HE is!" Tyler said with an evil grin directed at Sterl.

"Noooooooooo!" Sterl yelled to no avail as on cue Tyler and Jax quickly pounced on him and pinned him to the floor, Jax sitting on his arms, and Tyler on his legs facing his feet.

Tyler lifted Sterl's shirt and exposed his stomach. "His bellybutton's real ticklish like yours Jax. Here, use a feather . . . he ESPECIALLY loves one of those in his bellybutton!" He grabbed a stiff feather from the coffee table (Tyler seemed to have a few of these in every room in the house) and handed it to Jax, who immediately started twirling it in Sterl's navel. The most agonizing ticklish sensations coursed through Sterl's midsection, and he burst into helpless laughter immediately in the midst of a "No, please, not THAT!"

"Ain't that cool?" Tyler said gleefully over his shoulder to Jax as Sterl continued to be totally convulsed with giggles. "And his feet are soooooooooo ticklish! Let's add them too!" Tyler bent back Sterl's toes with the palms of his hands and scraped his fingernails along the balls of his feet while Sterl howled with laughter. After what seemed like an eternity to Sterl they let him up and resumed drinking. For the next couple of hours Tyler made toast after toast to his new invention and generally stayed rather ahead of the other two in terms of consumption, and finally took off his shirt (because he was "drunk and hot" again), revealing his muscular torso, to Sterl's immense private satisfaction. Eventually they all ended up shirtless and barefoot, and began a wild tickle-romp on the carpet, which Sterl absolutely loved. At one point he and Jax had Tyler pinned, but they still couldn't get to those armpits, even with both of them trying to pull his arms away - he was just too strong for them, and kept his arms hugged tightly to his torso, even while he laughed uproariously as they tickled his ribs and stomach in an attempt to make him to move his arms there to protect those areas. They settled on tickling his feet for a while (which he didn't try very hard to stop) and his knees and thighs. But during the whole romp it seemed that Sterl and Jax got tickled more than Tyler.

Finally, exhausted and perspiring, they got back to their drinks, and Tyler popped in a disc of a homemade tickling video featuring three of his victims.

"I hope I'm not on this!" Sterl said with mock horror; he knew that Tyler had had a video camera on him more than once during their sessions.

"No, you have one all to yourself," Tyler laughed. "We'll watch that one later."

"Oh God, no!" Sterl said with some real embarrassment (and a little excitement too; he had yet to see a video of himself being tickled).

For a while they laughed and talked and watched the video (and drank more, especially Tyler); and after a while Tyler started nodding off. Soon he was laying with his head back on the armrest of the couch snoring softly. Sterl got up to turn the video off. "Well, wouldya look at that," Sterl commented quietly to Jax. "Dead to the world, I'd say." He went over and picked up one of Tyler's arms, which fell back limply to his side when he let it go. "Hmmm, let's see here." Somewhat more carefully Sterl lifted the arm again and gave Tyler a quick tickle under it. No reaction. "Yeah, he's definitely out cold. He would've screamed bloody murder at that."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jax said, looking meaningfully at Sterl.

"Hell yeah, I am!" Sterl said in an excited undertone. "He made a joke a few days ago that I should never get drunk and pass out on him. He should have taken the same advice!" They worked at removing Tyler's shorts and underwear, and then heaved and struggled with his body, not fat or stocky but heavy with muscle, and carried him to the lab and hoisted him as gently as they could up onto the table. They got him centered (all the while Tyler never stirred - he was certainly dead drunk), spread out his arms and legs, and cuffed him. "Man, what a sight!" Sterl mumbled as he gazed at Tyler's sexy nude body, with its thick (but not too excessive for Sterl) chest and stomach hair, spread-eagled on the table. "Yumm!"

"You said it, bro!" Jax whispered in awe.

"You know, he's no good to us now," Sterl said. "Better let him sleep it off and wake up naturally. Sheesh, it's after midnight. We should get a little sleep too. Tell ya what . . . there's a bedroom right down the hall; I can take that one. We can leave the doors open so I can hear him when he wakes up yellin' and cussin' for us to turn him loose . . . hehe. You can take one of the two bedrooms upstairs, or the couch, or wherever you want. Or," he added in a purposefully casual tone, "you could . . . um . . . take the same bed as me . . . it's big."

"Don't matter to me," said Jax in an almost too nonchalant voice. Mmm, Sterl thought. Eventually they both ended up in the bed together stripped to their underwear and talked for a bit, and later tickled each other for a while, to Sterl's great delight. Finally they both fell asleep.

Daylight was already visible outside the windows when Sterl was awakened by a sound, which at first he couldn't identify. He raised up and listened, and it came again: a groggy voice from the other room, the words indistinct. He shook Jax awake. "Hey man, I think he's waking up!" They both got up and went to the lab, still dressed only in their skivvies. Sure enough, there was Tyler, eyes still closed, voice slurred with sleep and last night's drink, mumbling and pulling on the cuffs, still not wide awake and having not yet figured out why he couldn't move his arms and legs. "Hehe . . . he sleeps like a log," Sterl told Jax, "even when he's not drunk. Always takes him a while to wake up."

"We've got something to wake ya up, Tyler old boy," Jax said grinning.

At the sound of voices in the room Tyler's eyes opened. "What the hell . . . ?" he said sleepily as he saw the other two standing over him. He tried to move his arms, couldn't, and suddenly came wide awake as he looked around and realized exactly where he was, and the predicament he was now in. "No! Now you're not gonna do this to me!" he yelled, thrashing at the bonds. "Lemme up from here!"

"Issuing demands is not in your best interest right now," Sterl said calmly as Jax started up the computer behind him.

"YOU __________!!!" Tyler let out a string of words that would have served as a wonderful vocabulary lesson for the saltiest sailor on earth.

"My, what language!" Sterl said with a grin.

"Hey, where's the program on here and how do you start it?" Jax said from the computer.

"Don't ask me," Sterl said. "All I know how to do is email and surf the Net." He turned to Tyler. "C'mon man, be a good sport . . . tell us how to start it." Tyler's response was to inform Sterl loudly what he could do with a certain part of his anatomy. "Well! What rudeness!" Sterl replied with mock indignation. "I don't think he's gonna be very cooperative. Jax, see if you can figure it out while I go to the restroom. I gotta pee like a racehorse . . . too much to drink last night . . . hehe!"

Sterl came out of the bathroom hearing the sound of Tyler's rich baritonal voice raised in helpless laughter. He returned to the lab to see Jax tickling Tyler's bound feet and taunting him: "I'll stop tickling ya Tyler, yes I will, if you'll just tell me how to start it!"

Sterl shook his head. "No, that won't work. He loves having his feet tickled. You can do that for hours and he won't break. Let's try this." Sterl came up behind Tyler's head, while Tyler tried to twist his neck in such a way as to see what Sterl was up to. Sterl began wiggling his fingers closer and closer to Tyler's armpits. "Mebbe you'll talk after a little of this!"

Tyler immediately went berserk, yelling, "NO, !+ &! NOT THE ARMPITS, YOU !@#$%^*&!"

"Ooo, I haven't been called one of those since junior high. I'll have to teach you a lesson for that," and Sterl's wiggling fingertips quickly dived into Tyler's armpits, stroking and poking. Tyler instantly exploded into hysteria and thrashed about like a madman. "Aw, wassamatter Tyler, you TICKLISH right here or sumpthin'?"

"HAWHAWHAWHAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAYOUFUHUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!"

"Hey, you ARE ticklish . . . Tyler's a ticklish little boy, ain'tcha? Cootchie-cootchie-coo!" Sterl remembered how Tyler had told him that he hated for someone to be tickling him and say all those "gitchy-words," as he put it; seemed to make the tickling more unbearable. For that matter it did for Sterl too. Which is why Tyler did it to him rather often.

"DON'T-SAY-CAAAAAGHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHASTOAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Aw, too ticklish under the arms, are ya boy? Ya know, we can keep this up all day until you tell us what we wanna know. Jax and I can take turns. Gitchy-gitchy-goooooooooo!!" With that, Sterl began also squeezing Tyler's upper ribs while still tickling his armpits, which drove Tyler to new heights of hysteria.

"EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAPLEEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Remember how many times I've BEGGED you to stop tickling my feet and my tummy," Sterl shouted over Tyler's laughter, "and you never would? Well, this is PAYBACK!!"

"Hey, I think I found it!" Jax interrupted from the computer. Sterl left Tyler gasping on the table and went over to look. In a list of items inside one of the computer's directories there was one named simply, "Tony." "That's got to be it!" said Jax. He clicked on it. A screen came up with a drawing of a nude spread-eagled man who was laughing hysterically as dozens of feathers attacked his defenseless body, and the title "Tony the Tickle Pirate" above it. "Bingo!" Jax said triumphantly. "Now lessee . . . hmmm . . ." He clicked "File" at the top of the screen and was greeted with only three choices: "Search," "Destroy," and "Quit."

"Hmmm, 'Search' might be how to start," Sterl speculated, "like when it was searching you yesterday for your ticklish spots."

"Yeah, let's try that," Jax said, ignoring Tyler's curse-laden yells from the table. He clicked "Search" and immediately another screen came up with three more choices: "Default," "Grid," and "Pause." "Huh. 'Default,' I guess. Let's see what it does on autopilot." He clicked it, and immediately they saw the four tentacles rise from the end of the box and approach Tyler's feet. "Well that's the way he did it with me, then. Doesn't take much talent to run this thing, does it Tyler?"

"Or should we say, 'tickle-slave'?" Sterl added, grinning. Another volley of colorful language from Tyler was cut off by the tentacles making contact with his feet. He laughed and giggled almost delightedly, it seemed, and his organ quickly grew to its full size.

"He sure DOES like that!" Jax said, laughing. The tentacles went through the same process they had with Jax the day before in exploring every part of Tyler's feet while he laughed and writhed in ecstasy. They then continued their trek up Tyler's calves, knees, and thighs, exploring spots of varying degrees of ticklishness, but keeping Tyler laughing pretty much constantly. They then withdrew to make way for the second group of tentacles which attacked Tyler's midsection; he let out a loud "Eeep!" when one of them tickled its way underneath his balls.

"Ooo, gotta remember that," Sterl said to Jax.

The tickling along his waistline and accross his stomach really got Tyler going, although a tentacle in his bellybutton did not provide the same intense reaction that it had with Jax. The rib-tickling was even better; Tyler thrashed and laughed at the top of his lungs, and occasionally got out a "Noooooooooo!!!" as the tentacles came closer and closer to the dreaded armpits.

"Now here comes the good part!" Sterl said with gleeful anticipation as the tentacles withdrew and the third group emerged from their holes. Tyler's scream of "NOOO! CLICK 'PAUSE'!! CLICK 'PAUSE'!!" was ignored by Jax, and each of Tyler's armpits was then invaded by a tentacle, as his chest heaved suddenly with the intake of a huge breath, and he then burst out into loud helpless guffaws. This was over far too soon for Sterl and Jax; the tentacles on Tyler's nipples got nothing out of him except a few moans of pleasure, although the neck-tickling was rewarded with some nice giggling. The search mode then ended and the tentacles returned to the box.

Jax clicked back to the previous screen. "So I guess after 'Search' comes 'Destroy'?" he speculated. "I guess that's when it tickles him all over." He clicked it and was again greeted with "Default," "Grid," and "Pause." "Hmmm . . . he prolly used 'Default' on me here too. Let's look at 'Grid.'" He clicked it and the computer displayed another screen in which there was a grid representation of a male body spread-eagled. "Huh . . . guess you can set it to only tickle certain areas here . . ."

"Oh, I'm having wicked thoughts here!" said Sterl. "He said there were thirty-two of them. What if sixteen of them tickled one armpit and the ribs just below it and the other sixteen did the same thing on the other side. He'd go crazy . . . which is exactly what I wanna see!"

"No Sterl! Jax! Please!" Tyler begged, his former arrogance now completely gone. "Please! Anything but that!"

"OK, we won't do anything but that!" Sterl said with a smirk, ignoring Tyler's further pleas for mercy.

"OK . . . now how to do this . . ." Jax said as he moved the pointer around the screen. "Maybe this . . ." He clicked, held, and dragged the pointer down from the bottom of one arm of the figure on the screen partway down its side highlighting the area. "I'll bet that's it." He began highlighting the armpit area on the other side, which made the previous highlighting disappear. "Hummm, how do you make it do both sides at once?"

Sterl turned to Tyler. "OK man, here's the deal. I'm guessing we can run the 'Default Destroy' mode on you for as long as we want, or run it over and over. So we could have it tickle you all over for, say, one hour, or two hours, three hours or whatever." Tyler shuddered visibly on the table. "But if you'll tell us how to highlight both armpits at the same time, we'll have it tickle your armpits for only ten minutes. Whadda ya say?"

Tyler appeared to consider this for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. "Alright," he said nervously. "Y-you h-highlight one area and then you hold down 'shift' and highlight another area. Then enter '10' where it says 'Time' and click 'Start.' Oh man, I can't believe this is happening!" he moaned.

Jax highlighted from the armpit to about halfway down the torso on one side of the figure, then held down "shift" and highlighted the same area on the other side. "Perfect!" Sterl said. "Say . . . put just a few on his stomach and on his feet. I want him laughing like a lunatic and getting turned on at the same time. Then I might take care of the blow-job myself instead of letting one of those things do it!" He licked his lips.

"Go for it, man!" Jax said approvingly. Tyler only moaned in response."Hey," Sterl whispered very softly in Jax's ear, "set it for fifteen minutes." Jax winked and nodded, entered the number, and clicked "Start."

Tentacles rose up out of the box and headed for Tyler's feet, stomach, ribs, and armpits, as he closed his eyes tightly and shouted, "Oh Gaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwd!!!" as if he was about to plunge down a steep incline on a roller coaster. As they made contact he once again drew in a deep breath, and then threw his head back and let out the most amazing long drawn-out bellows of laughter Sterl had ever heard from him; Tyler had never laughed so helplessly any time Sterl had tickled him, and his powerful voice rang and echoed throughout the room. Tyler himself felt that his sides were ripping apart, and that he would laugh so loud and so long that he would surely die any moment. The laughter was totally beyond his control, and every thought in his brain was pushed violently aside except for the unbearable ticklish sensations coursing through him. Sterl stood rooted to the spot for a moment, listening to and watching his favorite tickle-bud receive the tickle-torture of his life; then he slowly approached the table. He bent over to put his mouth on Tyler's cock when suddenly several of the tentacles departed from Tyler's body and started tickling Sterl's own bare stomach. He doubled over with laughter and staggered away from the table.

"Whoa-hohoaaahahahahahahahahahaha! Yikes!" he gasped. "I guess it'll go for any one that's close enough! Better let Tony take care of that. Highlight his dick."

Jax did so, and one tentacle immediately began the tickling, wrapping, and pumping action on Tyler as it had with Jax. It seemed no time at all before spurt after spurt shot out and fell on Tyler's torso while his hysterical braying laughter continued; and before the orgasm had even completely subsided the pitch of his laughter went up about an octave and became mixed with the most fantastic array of screams, yells, giggles, and helpless bawling laughter Sterl had ever heard come from a man. After what seemed to be a very long time it was over, the tentacles withdrawing and Tyler laying there, gasping frantically for breath, tears streaming down the sides of his face. Sterl walked over to him and couldn't resist taunting him a little. "Well, tickle-boy, how was it?"

Tyler cocked an eye at him as his chest continued to heave up and down. "Remind me . . ." he gasped, ". . . to kill you . . . later." Sterl laughed, but was a bit nervous - what if Tyler got really angry and broke off their friendship? The thought scared him. But he released Tyler from the cuffs and massaged Tyler's strained muscles while he lay there breathing heavily.

"Well, now I know it was definitely successful," Tyler said later as they were sitting around, all recuperating in one way or another from the ordeal. "Man, Sterl, you can't imagine how much that thing tickles! Fingers, feathers, brushes - they're nothing in comparison! It feels so soft and glides so smoothly, yet presses into you in a way that . . . well, I just can't describe it . . . it tickles soooooooooo bad! Right Jax?"

"Man it sure does!"

"So . . . you're not mad?" Sterl said hopefully.

Tyler turned a stern look on him. Then he burst out laughing. "Naw, bud, I had it coming, as many times as I've tickled you. And I may just have to let you tickle me more often." Wink/grin.

"Wow! Um . . . even under the arms?"

Tyler gave a theatrical shudder and then chuckled. "Yeah . . . I'll even let ya tie my arms up. Just don't put me on that table again! Hahaha! Yeah," he continued, putting his arm around Sterl's shoulder and keeping it there far longer than Sterl had ever known him to do before, "I definitely need to start having you over more often, buddy." Sterl was in heaven. "But ya know," he said, now grinning at Sterl maliciously, "you're the only one who hasn't been tickled by Tony yet. I think it's your turn. What do you say? I could set it to start exploring at the opposite end, up at your neck and armpits, and get to your feet last. We all know how ticklish your feet are. That and your tummy and bellybutton. I'll make it pay special attention to all those spots."

Sterl almost made it to the front door before four strong hands grabbed him from behind.