by Shawn Keys
Megan approached, her hands coming out to settle on her lover’s shoulders. “Can we come in? Please, my dear? There is very much to explain.”
The uncertainty lingered, but Yvette found the shreds of a smile. “When have I ever said ‘no’ to you, hmm? How about we have a drink in the sitting room. You as well, Mr… Hutchings, isn’t it?” She turned on her heels, pacing back into her home with deliberate sensuality. The sway of her perfect rear threatened to stop Kyle’s heart. Without meaning to, he let out a soft groan of lust.
Megan shivered beside him. “I had the same reaction the first time I saw her walk away from me.” She wrenched her eyes away and toward Kyle. “Treat her well. I told you in the classroom: she’s a friend.”
Kyle gave his commitment instantly. “You gave me her name back at the school. I promised you then I would do right by her. Just because I never had the chance until now, that doesn’t change who I am.” He caught hold of Megan’s hand. “We still need her help, though. I don’t want to make this like I’m using her.”
Megan gave him a fond smile. “You have a good heart, Kyle. Come on. She’ll help, no matter what else happens.” The Valkyrie of a woman clasped his hands one last time, then followed the naked vision of her lover deeper into the house.
Oh, what the hell? Kyle followed, shutting the door behind him.
Naturally, that’s when his text alert went off.
He paused, seriously debating ignoring it. But this was the burner phone. The only ones who had the number were those who might have information that could mean life or death. He glanced at Megan, “Go on ahead. I’ll be right in.”
Megan nodded, slipping away without objecting. She knew what was at stake.
Kyle checked the text:
Danielle || Call me!
Never rains but it pours, hmm? Slinging his phone up to his ear, Kyle waited for the line to connect. “This is really not the best time, Danni.”
“I know, I know. Any leads on that language?”
Kyle glanced toward the sitting room, a touch out of sight around the bend in the corridor. He heard a soft exchange between the two teachers, followed by a pair of rich laughs. “We’re making progress.”
“Well, you need to know, we went by your parents’ place. Everything is dark, but the car is in the driveway. No-one is watching, so we went up and rang the bell. Then knocked. We did everything we could. Do they usually sleep like the dead?”
“Not the best choice of slang, Danni.”
“Sorry.”
“Tell you what; there’s a key inside the electrical box in back. We stash it there for emergencies. Go in. If they are there, well, you’ll probably scare them half to death. Talk them down and tell them what’s going on. But I need to know if they’re hurt.”
“Will do.”
“Mind doing the same thing again?” Kyle asked.
“With who?”
“Nathan. He hasn’t heard from me either since I left his place yesterday.” Damn, was it only yesterday this whole thing started?
“Sure.”
“Thanks, both of you. I owe you one.”
A smile came to Danielle’s voice. “Remember that. I like to call in favors.”
Kyle made a small kissing sound into the microphone pick-up, then ended the call. He exhaled deeply. His life was getting out of control. Part of it was terrifying. But damn, some of it was fun.
Steadying himself for what awaited, he veered into the next room.
As it turned out, he still wasn’t ready for what he saw.
Yvette was lounged onto one of her couches, still very much naked and showing no signs of acquiring any clothing. Her legs were crossed elegantly, perched for conversation. The only change to that was her neck, which was bent back to receive a kiss from Megan who was standing over her, one knee on the cushion beside her. Megan had one hand softly wrapped around Yvette’s throat, controlling her into their kiss.
Kyle’s arrival into the room didn’t stop the embrace right away. Letting it linger a second or two longer, Megan pulled back, looming over her lover a little longer. Seems like Laura isn’t the only one Ms. Clarke likes to boss around in the bed. He took a few more steps in, trying to decide to stand or sit.
Megan said to Yvette, “Want a drink? You may need one for this.”
Yvette gave a couple more pants of arousal, then managed to say, “Oui. Brandy. Red decanter, s’il vous plait.”
Megan smiled. “I remember.” She looked Kyle’s way. “You?”
Kyle chuckled. “Fracturing another law of the land, Ms. Clarke?” The intimacy of the moment had dragged the naughty side out, along with the formal ‘nickname’ he had used before with her.
Catching the hint, Megan strode over to the wet bar near to the flickering gas fireplace. “They don’t call these gateway crimes for nothing. But don’t tell me you haven’t found your way into a bottle before. We’ve had such a good track record for honesty until now.”
Kyle admitted, “Once or twice. Not enough to gain much of a taste for what I like.”
“Try the brandy, then. Yvette –”
Kyle played a bold hand, cutting in, “– Ms. Laurier?”
Megan’s mouth tugged into a wry smile, surprised at his insistence for a moment. They, she bent to his will. “…Ms. Laurier here has good taste.” She poured three snifters, then ported one over to Kyle. She deposited one with Yvette, but retreated against a nearby wall rather than resume any sort of intimate connection.
Yvette kept her prim posture. Her left elbow was propped on her knee while the other held the glass, blocking just enough of her breasts to be teasing. Her crossed legs were a summons to Kyle’s lust, while keeping the treasure between them tantalizingly out of sight. She was watching Kyle carefully now, realizing he was the true reason for her friend and lover’s strange actions.
Kyle started, “I wish I had time to comment on your lovely home, Ms. Laurier. I wish I had time to speak the right words to you as well. I’ve… well, you are beyond lovely.”
She returned a smile, though it was polite and careful, suspecting he had a lot more to say. “That’s a good start, Mr. Hutchings.”
“What I’m about to say will be admitting to a few crimes. I’m sorry to put you in that spot, especially when I know you probably expected something much different. I wouldn’t do this lightly. You only know me from the class. If I go too far, or say too much, and you don’t dare hear any more… ask me to leave. We’ll go.”
Concern and curiosity grew on Yvette’s face in equal measures. “Go on.”
Megan suggested, “Show her the sample. If I’m wrong, and she can’t help, then there’s no reason to involve her in any of this.”
She had a point. Kyle leaned forward and produced five different screen captures he had concealed in his pocket. He slid them across the coffee table between them. “Do you recognize the language written on these pages?”
With her intellectual side aroused even more than her desire, Yvette canted the papers slightly to put them in line for reading. “I’ve never seen these works before. This is incredibly strange. I’ve seen most of the examples of this language that have been unearthed or preserved over the years. This is all totally new. Fascinating.” She leaned in further, squinting in surprise. “Or it would be. But these have to be a hoax!”
Kyle had drifted a little, tracing the lines of Yvette’s naked form while she worked. Blushing a little as he realized he was staring, he fought back to the present. “Why do you say that?”
“The language is not quite right. Here, they call something ‘lightning bottles’. It took me a second, but they’re talking about emails! Of course, there wasn’t a word for that sort of thing when this language was in use, so these people are making new terms… these are modern people talking! This isn’t real. Someone is playing a game on you if they are passing these off as real samples.”
“Oh, it’s real, Ms. Laurier. These are excerpts from conversations on an email server we di
scovered online. You’re saying you can read it?”
“Yes. The Aeolic dialect is a specialty of mine.”
Kyle whistled in absolute relief. “That’s awesome!”
She shrugged. “Not so surprising, now that you know me a little better.”
Kyle had to ask, “What do you mean?”
Yvette switched her gaze to Megan, her expression softening. “One of the sub-dialects in that language family was the one used on the isle of Lesbos.”
Megan returned the tender expression. “Such a romantic.” Deflecting them back onto the right path, the history teacher said, “I’m sorry to say… this means you can help us after all. Which means we might be bringing a lot of trouble to your doorstep.”
Yvette was immediately enthusiastic. “But I’d love to see more! This looks like an entire group of people all fluent in a language I thought was known to only a handful of other scholars! Even my understanding isn’t nearly this fluent. There is a whole new level of syntax, modern expressions and more! They’ve resurrected a dead language!”
Kyle nodded. “I hate to say it, but their motives are not so good.” Where do I even start? He pursed his lips, then picked the part for which Yvette already had her own proof. “Ms. Clarke is right when she said I was tested negative for Persterim. You might have missed it on your app, but I showed up on the fertility index yesterday. I was only on it for a few hours.”
“Why?”
He tilted his shoulder to show her the pinpoint scar of the surgery Dazz had performed. “Because I deactivated the implant. I’m not broadcasting anymore.”
More surprise showed on the French woman’s face. “But why? I know it can be a hard gift to bear when so many people want what you have, but… did you not see it as a gift?” A note of regret crept into Yvette’s voice, seeing a dream slip away.
Kyle tried to be reassuring. “I did. I still do.” He weighed another admission in his heart, then decided to go ahead with it. The two teachers were already lovers anyway. “Ms. Clarke knows that better than anyone. She was the first one I was with after I found out.”
The note of surprise on Yvette’s face drifted a little into stunned admiration directed at her friend. “Pure greed.”
Megan gave a soft shrug. “I encouraged him to head your way. I wanted you to have your own chance to consider him. Eventually, I wanted to end up sharing him with you, but not until you wanted him for your own reasons.”
Kyle smirked. She goes after what she wants, that’s for sure. “The truth is, I was getting used to the idea of a life of being wanted. That’s when two FDPC agents showed up and starting making my life a living hell. At first, they were only irritating. I ducked them a little bit and made them work to find me. I admit, I was being a bit of a jerk. It had been a long day and they interrupted something pretty important.”
Megan guessed, “With Danielle?”
He sighed. Keep the truth coming. No other way. “With Danielle and Laura.”
Both of the other women didn’t look offended. Rather, they gave a soft laugh. Yvette said, “You weren’t wasting time.”
He shrugged. “Honestly, I wasn’t pushing for any of it. It just happened. Ms. Clarke was quite specific with what she wanted.”
Yvette let out a soft ‘ahem’. “She often is.”
Megan flashed a ‘be careful’ look at her lover, the same sort of look she had fired at Laura when the cheerleader had flirted with her. That had led to Laura being bent over the futon, so Kyle was positive it wasn’t an idle threat.
Needing to think straight, Kyle forced those images to the back of his mind. It took effort. He got back to the heart of the matter, “I didn’t mean to drive those agents insane. But they went from wanting a few harsh words with me to wanting to put a bullet in me. We’ve been trying to figure out why for the last two days. We pulled a bit of a prank –”
Megan sighed. “– by which he means breaking and entering…”
Kyle amended, “…to be fair, the office was still open. Though I guess we stopped that Erinson woman from leaving and bullied her into helping us crack their computer systems.”
Yvette placed a delicate hand to her forehead. “So not breaking and entering, but rather kidnapping and damaging FDPC property?”
“No damage.”
“Breach of security?”
“Well, yeah.”
Yvette shook her head. “Not sure that’s better.”
Kyle tapped the sheets in front of her. “This is what we pulled off those computers. It made us wonder what was going on. Why are two FDPC agents talking on a hidden email server in a dead language? But that isn’t enough. We need to know what they are saying. That’s why we need your help.” He shook his head. “This is all incredibly thin, but it’s the only lead we have. Nothing on the FDPC’s central email server said anything about wanting me dead for official reasons. They have to have a reason, and this is the only thing left that we can’t read.”
Yvette framed the papers with her hands again, lost in thought. She focused on Megan. “How are you caught up in this?”
Megan shrugged. “He came to my place yesterday for refuge. When I heard what they were going through, I couldn’t ignore it. At times, I’m not sure I believe it. Part of me is staying involved so they don’t run off half-cocked. I figure I can be their sober second thought.”
Yvette was focused on the papers again. “I don’t know if you are going to ruin my night or revive my interest in these languages. I haven’t felt like this since I was doing my PhD. This really is remarkable…” She drifted off as she read a little more. Then, she suddenly gasped, a hand covering her mouth. “No! This is… this has to be fake!”
Kyle leaned in. “What?”
The French teacher pointed at one line. “The wording is… urrrrgh, so complicated. All these newly-created modern terms are confusing. For them, they are used to it. For me, it’s like trying to decipher word poetry. But… I think this means… program? A sending of a program is complete. Does that make sense?”
Kyle nodded quickly. “There’s a piece of software my friend is doing her best to decode.”
“They call it the baseline test.” Yvette rolled around that choice of words in her brain and decide it worked well enough. “The minimum standard.” Again, she placed a hand over her mouth at the implications of what she was reading. “Anyone who doesn’t meet the baseline doesn’t deserve… oh mon Dieu!”
Kyle pressed. “Doesn’t deserve what?”
Yvette shook her head. “This can’t be real. There is no way so many people could be talking like this! Look at all the people copied on these reports! Dozens!”
“Doesn’t deserve what, Ms. Laurier?” The sexy note had fled from the name. Instead, he invested it with the respect due to one of his teachers.
“To live! Doesn’t deserve to live!”
Megan came over and crouched by the table. Her eyes were whipping back and forth in their sockets as she thought faster than she could talk. “Kyle, do you remember what I taught you about eugenics?”
The term teased at Kyle’s memory. “That has something to do with the Nazis in WWII, right?”
“Most famously, yes. A lot of recent superhero and science-fiction movies have included it as well. But those always focus on people trying to make super soldiers. Playing god like that is bad enough. But the whole field of thought has a far, far darker side. You hear about it when people start talking about the purity of the human race.”
It hit Kyle like a ton of bricks. “Holy shit! That’s why they’re linking into Claire Erinson’s tests? They’re comparing anyone who can pass on their genes against… well, against this ‘baseline’ of theirs to see if we’re worthy?”
Megan finished. “And killing anyone who isn’t.”
Yvette objected, “But how? How could they get away with that? Fertile males are watched! They are considered resources that can’t be harmed at any cost!”
Kyle mused, “Unless the agents themsel
ves figure out how to cover it up. Or maybe they don’t kill all of us outright. Maybe some of us they can scare into never having sex with a woman. Some egos are pretty fragile. Maybe some they… I don’t know, maybe chemically sterilize us without knowing? Or infect them with an STD and tell them they are infected and then guilt them into never having sex again. Hell, if an FDPC agent showed up and told me I had to get some random injection for my own good, I might have griped about it but I would have let them!” Kyle realized he was being silly. “Sorry, I got carried away. But there are ways to mess with people.”
“Death isn’t off the table, either. All those conspiracy theories.” Megan shook her head. “The ones about Persterim-immune males having a higher death rate. Having accidents. Drinking poison when they shouldn’t. Running their cars off roads.” She realized she was entertaining some incredibly bizarre stories. Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not sure that is actually possible. The FDPC would have to be totally corrupt.”
Kyle shook his head. “I looked into Claire’s eyes. I know she was unaware. She doesn’t know. And if she doesn’t know, then others don’t know.”
Yvette, still not totally believing, argued the other side, “But how could you ever tell the good from the bad?”
Kyle shook his head. “I have no idea.”
A long pause.
Yvette trembled, holding up the pages with shaking hands. “Please tell me this is a joke. It’s the worst, most horrible joke ever and it has gone too far! But… I’d rather you admit it! This is all insane. I don’t want this to be true.”
Kyle had never felt worse in his life. “I really didn’t know it was going to be this bad. I was so sure it was me. That they had mistaken me for some out-of-control ex-con or psycho killer and were coming to take me down. Mistaken identity.” He shook his head, closing his eyes in pain. “They’re trying to kill me because I’m not their kind of person.”
Megan reached out and closed a hand around his arm, helping ground him. “We’re not going to let them do that. I don’t know how, but we’re going to figure out a way to let people know. There has to be someone who will care about this.”
