“Angela,” Jason said softly, in a sweet tone, “haven’t you had enough of this man controlling you? Wouldn’t you like to be part of this?” he asked as his head turned toward the corner signaling where she should be. “Do what you want for once. Let him see who you really are.”
Angela rose and smiled. Suddenly something awoke within her, driving her forward, a burning begging for fulfillment. She felt the rush of freedom in her veins; the years of the oppression of her Catholic childhood began to evaporate. She walked slowly towards the sofa, and with each step found more strength. Silvia reached up to her, placing her arm around her back to find her zipper. Angela surrendered without hesitation. She allowed Silvia to unzip her dress and unclasp her bra as Rachel started pulling off the rest. She was a bit shy at first, but soon her timidity and inhibitions fell away with the silk.
Angela turned towards Lucasie, her eyes locked on his, as Silvia pulled off the rest of her undergarments. She could hear Jason’s words within her mind. They had a quiet power; she sensed his strength filling her, allowing for unwavering confidence to bloom, and she realized, I am free to do what I want.
Silvia kissed her breast. Jason spoke again, “Yes Angela, you are free now, free to be who you are…show him. He can no longer harm you. In fact, if you want, he will not even remember this. But I think you will want him to remember.”
Slowly, Silvia pulled Angela’s body down into her arms, while BoBo started to kiss her lips. Silvia moved her mouth towards Angela’s stomach; vibrations arose, her center quivered.
“Lascia che il diavolo prendi la mia anima,” Angela moaned in Italian. Let the devil take my soul. Slowly, Silvia moved down until her tongue found Angela’s heat. Angela, full of ecstasy, cried out, Don’t stop, please, please! She fell back onto the sofa as BoBo’s mouth found her breast. He felt her nipple grow hard in his mouth. Angela turned and found Silvia’s lips as BoBo drove deep into her. They descended into a dance, ravaging and consuming each other.
Lucasie’s face hardened; his eyes raged, his veins swelled, and Angela relished every throb.
“Oh, why I have waited so long for this?” she whispered as her mouth found Silvia’s lips. Angela looked into Lucasie’s eyes, and as her tongue found Silvia’s nipples again, she thought, oh how sweet this is.
Chapter 10: At the University
Mark emerged from the portal, and he wasn’t happy. Jason had passed speedily by him as he often would when he came in from an evening of abandoned activities at the club. He was becoming more and more public, and Mark feared his antics were creating too much attention. If they were discovered and their identities revealed, there could be dire consequences.
He sat on the corner of the bed. Why have I always felt it was my role to walk the narrow path and be the responsible one who considers the significance of everything? Yes, he was chosen to be the brazen one, but now I feel a need too.
He got up, realizing much time had passed and he had things to do. Figuring out a way to control Jason’s behavior would have to wait. People were expecting him. He was due at the physics department at Columbia, for there was going to be an important meeting.
He walked quickly to the subway, his mind on Jason, his thoughts haunted by Gabriela. He yearned for her presence, the sound of her voice, the smile in her eyes, her melodic cadence when she spoke. He craved the warmth and the elation he experienced when he was near her. He needed the intangible, indiscernible thing she gave him and would do almost anything to spend more time with her. This is strange… I feel both happy and sad at the same time. Is this what it means to be human? If I were able to sleep, perhaps I could dream of her.
When he arrived at the university, the campus was overrun with students chanting, “Hell no – we won’t go!” There was an anti-war demonstration in full swing. Joan Baez was on campus, and the student body turned out in full force to hear her.
He had to get to the physics department, but his path was blocked. He made his way around the back of the building, entered through the basement, and went up the stairs. But again, students blocked his path. He was able to see through the wall where Professor Bolinsky was meeting with the other assistants and the chairs of all the major universities on the East Coast. Quickly, when he saw that no one was observing him, he converted his physical form into energy and passed nonchalantly through the wall. The twins could manipulate matter in many ways; walls were but a human concept.
The professors and their assistants had gathered to discuss the birth of the universe. They were trying to reconcile new data with the conflicting theories of the day. Bolinsky and others had been frantically writing equations on the blackboard, but they were nowhere near a solution. Of course, this was all but child’s play to Mark, for his civilization was thousands of years beyond this primitive science.
As Mark took in the scene, he knew there was a young man in the room named Alan Guth who would one day apply quantum theory to their observations and find a start to the answer. Guth understood that temperature variations in regions of space were the clues needed to interpret the birth of the universe. The knowledge was within his grasp, but comprehension was still so far away. He was the only one who was even beginning to see, but he was a young graduate student, one of those visiting MIT boys who played no part in the Columbia University postgraduate residency. He was not really a member of The Club; he was also a quiet one, not a forceful personality. Mark liked him and recognized his brilliance, but around the department, he was mostly ignored.
But these discussions were of little concern to Mark at the moment; all he wanted was a way to spend more time with Gabriela. If I could only get the professor more consumed with his work, maybe it would leave her more available.
Mark was forbidden to alter the intellectual development of the earthlings, but since the young Guth was about to come to a new understanding of the cosmos on his own, he saw little harm in accelerating his fame. Quickly, he modified some of the equations on the blackboard, making it seem that these changes were there all along. It appeared to the classroom that Guth had been the one who had somehow messed with the equations, and it sent the discussion in the room in the right direction while still not really providing an answer. He had just prompted the proper ideas. The room was buzzing with excitement. Mark grinned; this will be enough to have them preoccupied for the next two months.
“Mark! There you are!” exclaimed Professor Bolinsky. “We have been waiting for you. What do you think of these latest observations?”
“I’d need more time to provide an opinion,” he responded. “Maybe Alan has some ideas.”
All eyes turned to Guth. “Well,” he said, “I do have some thoughts…” He started to write on the blackboard. Complicated equations arose from the chalk as he applied quantum theory to the problem, a novel approach that was radical for the group. The room watched and commented as he wrote, making observations and raising questions.
As the excitement in the room swelled, Bolinsky glanced at his watch. “Oh my God! I have lunch with Gabriela!” he exclaimed. “Mark, would you please call Gabriela and maybe make my apologies? Perhaps you could grab a quick bite with her if you have time? I would really appreciate it if you could.”
“Yes, of course,” responded Mark, inwardly smiling. “I’ll just go into your office and call her if you wish.”
“Great,” responded Bolinsky, distracted again by the fever of the room.
Mark never understood this thing that humans called guilt. He imagined, in a way, that what he had done was wrong, but Mark only saw a problem and a solution, nothing more. He walked into the quietude of the private office.
I must be careful now; I don’t want Gabriela to think I manipulated the situation. I know I could control her thoughts, steal her will, but that would be… well, unsatisfying to say the least. I need her free. I want to experience this as a human. I want to feel love.
The beings of Eldern had long ago lost their ability to have emotions and had melded into the
Singularity. Independent thinking faded like a morning mist. The inhabitants of Eldern had surrendered themselves blindly with eyes wide open to the efficiency of The Prime, marching together mindlessly, numbed by their own music.
First came universal judgments for the good of all, then rules of interaction and communication were established; the entire population was seduced by inertia, by convenience and expediency. Eventually all original thought slowly but methodically was replaced by algorithms. Within their self-imposed preserve of limitation, they surrendered their ability to see what existed beyond the dictates of this artificial world, they lost what defined themselves as themselves. Individualism faded, and the steady march towards the sameness began, all while corporate profits were never so strong.
The phone rang, and Mark heard Gabriela’s voice, a voice that he had awaited with eager anticipation.
“Hello, who is this?” she asked.
“It’s Mark,” he responded.
Gabriela paused and caught her breath, taken aback, for she had not been expecting to hear his voice. She had wanted him to call. She had struggled to purge Mark from her thoughts, but the more she tried, the more it became an exercise in futility. She dismissed these thoughts by thinking of them, with a self-indulgent smile, as “preoccupations.” And while Gabriela had only engaged in small talk with Mark a handful of times, she inexplicably felt as if she had already shared hours with him. She seemed to be aware of him on campus more often than chance would allow, almost as if the road of happenstance had taken a deliberate turn.
Gabriela spoke into the phone.
“Oh… Hello, Mark,” she said quietly, trying to camouflage her excitement. “What a surprise to hear from you! Do you want to talk to the professor? He’s not at home. He’s at the college. There is an important meeting, I think.”
“No,” replied Mark. “I want to talk to you.”
Gabriela took a breath. Her heart started to pound; she was afraid that Mark could hear it over the phone. Stay cool, she told herself. Casually, she responded, “Oh. What is it?”
Mark replied, “Your husband asked me to call you. He cannot make lunch today, and…” Mark hesitated. “He asked me if I could take you to the club in his place, if that would be okay with you.” Again, he paused. “I have been so looking forward to talking with you again.”
Gabriela, feeling the same, quickly responded, “Oh, lunch would be great! But let’s not go to the club. It’s so stuffy and morose in there. How about someplace downtown?” She knew she wanted to be away from the prying eyes and whispers of the other faculty. “Do you have a spot in mind?”
“Well…There’s the Paradox on East 4th Street, if you’re into seaweed and brown rice,” he replied, testing how much she wanted to see him.
Gabriela thought to herself, Really... I’m more into foie gras and sauterne… but she responded politely, “That sounds great! In an hour then.”
“Let’s make it an hour and a half. I’m all the way uptown.”
“Fine,” she said. “See you there!”
Chapter 11: A Day Together
Gabriela was rushing to find the right thing to wear downtown in the East Village. I want to look hip, but not like a hippie. I am 36, after all. I want to look young and irresistible, but not cheap, never that! Oh, the black dress! Simple, but elegant; it’s not too dressy and has just enough sex appeal. Sex appeal? She paused. I’ll wear my hair down, and that red lipstick! Latin power for sure. I’m off! Hmm, I will have to be a few minutes late, but just that… She caught herself off-guard in the mirror, arrested by the red lipstick. I’m 36. I’m married. What am I doing? She checked her watch. I’m going to be five minutes late to my date, that’s what I’m doing! Out the door, she went and waved a cab.
Nothing in her marriage seemed satisfying of late. Her relationship with George had grown as bland as supermarket pudding. Her fascination with the great star of the science world had faded away years ago. He had gotten older. He was no longer the dashing man in his mid-forties that he was when they had met. That was maybe 14 years ago. At that time, she had only been 22. My God! It’s been such a long time! A long time of tedious conversations in the salon about particle science and dark matter, conversations she had been forced to sit through. The only dark matter she yearned for during those long evenings with her living room full of astrophysicists and cosmologists was the time when the lights went out and all those long-winded scientists would leave.
Gabriela had just gotten off the phone with her mother in Barcelona. She loved talking to her mother; she was so full of life and always made her feel better. Oh, how I miss her. They had had a good laugh when she was describing one of those long evenings with the scientists sitting around pontificating in her living room.
“So, Mama,” she said, “there were eight of them here last night drinking and talking until 2 A.M. about some government project weaponizing quarks. They were all in a frenzy about it, and I was bored to death!”
“Quacks?” her mother had responded. “We have twelve of them at the country house! Why are they so excited about that?”
“No,” answered Gabriela, “not quacks! They were talking about quarks!” But her mother would not be interrupted.
“Why would those old men be obsessed about quacks? You know Aunt Marisa had a great recipe for duck with oranges and walnuts! I will send it to you! Maybe if they really ate one well-cooked, they would stop talking about them, and then maybe they would stop drinking and go to bed!”
“No, mother…I am not talking about ducks!”
But she was relentless. “I think she cooks it on low heat for at least two hours, however, so you must give yourself time!”
“No, Mama, it is not a quack, I mean… duck!”
But the more Gabriela implored, the more her mother continued; she would not take a breath, or let a word in, describing all the details of the recipe as best she could. “The seasoning is very important, though.”
“No, Mama,” she again interrupted. “A quark is a scientific term for subatomic particles or something.”
Finally, her mother paused. “Quarks, huh? That sounds even worse than I thought! Well, my sweet, cook them whatever you want! I have no answer for those crazy men. And about the other thing…” her mother changed the subject. “What about that lazy bird between his legs? Has it woken up lately? A woman cannot live without love! Especially not a woman like you, my darling.”
“No,” Gabriela responded. “That is still a problem.”
Gabriela did not want to talk about the sexual problems that had arisen over the last few years. She blamed herself for marrying a man so much older, but she was putting that out of her mind the best she could for now.
Well, she thought, as her cab sped downtown, maybe I have an exciting day to look forward to! Mark was different, not only from her husband but from the rest of his academic crowd. He loved science but was also getting his PhD in poetry. He loved sonnets as well as supernovas. He is very attractive, but he’s so young. Could he ever be interested in me?
Gabriela put a stick of gum in her mouth, and she wished she had not just quit smoking. Feeling the rush of entering forbidden territory, she was becoming more and more excited by the thought of him.
Meanwhile, Mark had been waiting for about ten minutes. He was happy to have arrived early enough to secure a private table. Most of the time he was forced to eat at a long communal table in the center of the room, but today he wanted to be alone with Gabriela. He wanted to look into her eyes and delve into her very being. To Mark, she was the human embodiment of a poem; her every gesture, every intonation in her voice sang to him.
Can I really experience what humans feel? Every day I seem to be becoming more and more like them. Is it because I want it to happen, or is it all part of a plan? Am I willing it to happen, or are they? These are agonizing questions, but I want to feel as they do, to experience as they do. I want to dream, and I want to love!
Gabriela walked in.
&
nbsp; There she is… Wow! Mark was not attracted to the younger women he found on campus. Although many were beautiful and smart, they seemed to lack something, a depth he craved.
Gabriela had something more. He watched her as her long sleek body walked towards him. She had a natural sway, a grace that whispered rather than boasted. Her long, dark hair swung back over her bare shoulders. Her skin, white as porcelain, her waist long, her firm body curved gently within her dress. A more eloquent form was not possible. Gabriela’s warm smile welcomed him; her eyes told him of her feelings. He quickly read her thoughts and knew instantly she was far more than just interested, but he stopped himself from exploring her mind. No, that’s an unfair advantage. I want her to come freely to me.
“Hello, Mark. So nice to see you again!” She sat down and turned her head smartly.
Gabriela looked into Mark’s eyes as she joined him at the table. My God, he is more like a fragrance than an individual; I feel almost like a warm wind is on my face. She was completely and unremorsefully swept away. Her expression revealed a shameless capitulation, and despite all the taboos that raced about her mind, she knew she was doomed.
Regaining a bit of decorum, Gabriela’s defenses went up, “So, this is an interesting place,” she said with a slightly sarcastic smile. “Lots of students and such!”
“Mostly students… and a lot of such.” He smiled. “You can get a meal here for $1.25, which definitely falls within the ‘hippie expense account.’ I thought it might be a change of pace for you… Rather different from the Columbia Club or the midtown restaurants you might go to with George – I mean – Professor Bolinsky.”
“Oh, you can call him George in front of me! I’ve heard students call him by his first name many times.”
Mark responded, “It depends on who is around. When we are alone, it is okay, but when we are working on something in the lab or in the library…” He smiled timidly. “That’s a beautiful dress,” he said. “It really becomes you. I feel a bit under-dressed. I didn’t expect you to look this elegant, but then again I always feel a little intimidated when I see you.” Gabriela smiled. Here he comes, she thought, his words where quietly satisfying to her being.
Soteria- The Crisis Forge Page 6
