by Cameron Hale
Nona shook her head in disgust and stalked off to the toilet. Nadya paused long enough to quickly dress and followed her sister.
“What the hell do you want, an encore?” Nona spat, angrily slipping into her rumpled clothes. “Just leave me the fuck alone. When this is over, I never want to set eyes on you again. Find someone else to be your whore.”
Nadya sighed wearily, her earlier bravado evaporated. “Will you listen to what I have to say before you erupt into one of your tirades? It was either this or nothing. I didn’t want to mention anything earlier because I knew how you’d react. We didn’t have enough to pay him. If I didn’t agree to what he wanted, we’d be at Lascombe’s again for another evening of fun and games. This is it, Nona. We leave tonight. After this, if you really never want to see me again, that’s fine. I figure a chance at a new life is worth it.”
Swallowing a wave of rage, Nona stared at her sister. In her eyes she glimpsed a finely veiled desperation that she had never seen before.
“Dammit, Nona, I did it for you!”
Nona opened the toilet door and motioned Nadya out. “This will be the last time, Nadya. One way or another, this will never happen again. Now just get the hell out my sight.”
* * *
Locked inside the toilet, Nona tried unsuccessfully to curl up on the spotless floor and sleep. Though exhausted from her ordeal, her racing mind would not allow even a moment’s respite. Details of the plan rotated endlessly in her thoughts, ushering a sense of inevitability. Nor could she reconcile her feelings for Nadya, her anger at her vulnerability to her sister augmented by a growing dislike for her. Ready or not, her life was about to dramatically change. There could be no turning back now, only moving forward.
A sharp knock at the toilet door startled her. “Nona,” Nadya whispered, “it's time to move. Quickly!”
Nona hurriedly splashed some cold water onto her face. She stepped from the toilet and slipped into a seat barely ahead of the early morning commuter gaggle approaching from the concourse. To her relief, Nadya and Brenner seated themselves several rows ahead. A computerized recording repeated details of departure times to cover the various shifts. Nona carefully avoided eye contact and stared blankly out the tinted window.
Commuters swarmed through the carriage with the single-mindedness of army ants. Blank faces displayed a uniformity of hopelessness; their stony silence the most unnerving aspect of the crush. Within minutes, the train was filled. A double chime announced departure. Gently, the train rose above the track and emerged from the tunnel into harsh daylight.
The quiet was almost unnatural. No talk, no movement, the motion of the train almost undetectable. Faces stared anywhere but at each other. Used to the attention her striking looks elicited, Nona could not get accustomed to the total indifference, though it was easily possible that many could have been former marks bereft of their disguises. She glanced fleetingly at those she thought familiar. Though her scrutiny was ignored, she could not quite stem a flush of humiliation at how many in this carriage alone might have used her in ways that shamed her to recall.
She swallowed to ease the dryness in her throat. The tedium was unrelieved by the bleak wasteland outside. Each passing minute increased her sense of claustrophobia. She desperately craved air.
A creeping shadow blotted the landscape. From the window, she watched the refinery advance like a great prehistoric beast until it swallowed the horizon. Swirling plumes of steam billowed from countless chrome stacks. Transport-copters darted to various destinations, the relentless pulse of movement fatiguing her eyes.
Once more, the double chime sounded to announce the end of the journey. The train glided into a cavernous portal housing a trio of platforms. A massive sliding door shut out the world behind while the train juddered to a stop. Internal barriers slid open and the commuters mechanically disembarked and hustled toward their respective exits. Nona rose and joined the human tide—her rushed pace unconsciously matching the others. Unnerved by the suffocating silence, she was seized by an uncontrollable urge to yell, shout, to do anything to get a response.
The crowds on the concourse gradually dispersed. Brenner appeared at her side and silently directed her to an exit. Though his proximity revolted her, he displayed only his customary detached demeanor. She searched vainly for Nadya among the impassive faces. The pulse of distant machinery vibrated under her feet as she and Brenner lined up at exit five to await the emissions sector shuttle. After a brief journey, they arrived at Brenner's office. Little more than a cramped cubbyhole situated in a central supervisory annex, it served as a hub from which corridors lined with occupied workstations radiated into infinity.
Ignoring Nona, Brenner introduced her to his anemic assistant as a new sector G employee. The pasty-faced man noted her details, allotted her a workstation and identity-imprinted her hand without acknowledgment. Only out of earshot did Brenner finally speak.
“If you have anything to say, better make it now while I'm indoctrinating you. Otherwise, unauthorized conversation is strictly forbidden.”
Nona surveyed the grim scene. “Guess there's no point in trying to communicate with robots.”
Brenner stared unsympathetically at her. “Don't be so judgmental, Nona. They're surviving in their own ways. And don't forget, most of them are alone. At least you've been spared that. I know you despise Nadya for what you think she’s done to you, but maybe you should think of what she’s doing for you. Okay, so maybe you had to spread your ass once again. Don’t tell me it’s nothing you haven’t done more times than you can count. Believe me, for the chance to get off Earth and start a new life, most anyone would have done far more than you.”
He turned away and led Nona down one of the corridors to a vacant workstation. When he next spoke, it was without inflection. “This is your station, worker. Your training will begin with an introductory overview of emission control and your specific duties.” The timbre of his voice imperceptibly altered. “Make sure you follow all instructions on the screen.”
Nona held her breath. This is it, she thought. After all this time, I'm really going through with it.
Brenner nodded curtly and walked off. Nona stared incomprehensibly at the console. Intimidated by the technology and the impersonal surroundings, her entreating glances to her neighbor were ignored.
The hours dragged by. Despite her attempts to keep her attention on the monotonous programs scrolling the console, the words gradually ceased to register. To relieve her fatigue, she occasionally cast furtive glances at the bleak faces of her colleagues. Their rigid postures never varied, their concentration rigidly focused on their dreary tasks. Grudgingly, she forced her eyes back to the console.
Suddenly, a bizarre pattern of alphanumeric sequences appeared on the screen. With shaking hands, she punched out a set of memorized commands in response to the cue. Only when the console blanked did she realize her task was complete.
Minutes later the booming resonance of an alarm shattered the air. She cried out and jumped from her seat, the cavernous operations area immersed in a fog of infrared light and flashing blue strobes. Panic wiped the lethargy from the workers. Screams echoed from cylindrical metal walls, muffling a recorded announcement.
“Warning,” the synthetic voice droned. “An emergency condition exists in emission control and power core sectors. Proceed to the nearest exit immediately. Warning. An emergency condition exists in emission control and…”
Nona wandered aimlessly. Steam jetted into the sector, obscuring her view. Disoriented, she fled down one of the murky corridors. Hands shoved, bodies jostled as workers stampeded in every direction. “Out of my way!” Nona shouted, unaccustomed to the glut of physical contact. “Let me by!”
The walls dissolved in a blinding explosion of fireworks. Screams buffeted the air. The shockwave somersaulted Nona along the corridor and roughly deposited her in a winded heap some distance away. Bruised, deafened and hacking from the acrid smoke, she crawled away from the chaos
toward the pulsing emergency lights of a nearby exit.
Nadya staggered from the exit, blood staining her torn black tunic. Bruised and battered, she stared at Nona with wild eyes. “Nona, thank God!” she cried, stumbling toward her. She gasped and doubled over as a spasm of pain wracked her body.
“Nadya,” Nona cried, reaching for her. “You're hurt! What the hell happened? Where's Brenner?”
Nona watched in horror as Nadya collapsed to her knees. She reached over to support Nadya while she struggled to extract a tiny, softly glowing octagonal object from her tunic pocket. “Brenner's dead,” she panted. “There was an uncontrolled power surge in the processor room. No time for explanations now. I was lucky to get out alive.” She thrust the object into Nona’s hand. “Take the fuel processor and get to docking bay seven. Go now! The pilot won't wait. You're our only chance!”
“For God's sake Nadya, what about you? I can't just leave you here to bleed to death!”
Nadya gestured impatiently and struggled to push Nona to her feet. “Shut up, damn you, and listen!” she cried above the shrieking alarms. “The security forces will be here any moment. Get away while you can. We have what we came for. Negotiate with the processor unit. Without it, the refinery is powerless and the government is hostage. Now go!”
Nona staggered reluctantly to her feet and stuffed the precious cargo down her tunic. She hesitated. Nadya furiously waved her on, her hand clutching her blood-drenched chest. Casting a final glimpse at Nadya’s pain contorted face, Nona bolted through the exit toward bay seven. Inside, a transport hovered in flight readiness; its loading doors wide open. Shouts and footsteps echoed in the hallway behind her. An anxious voice shouted above the din, prompting her toward the arms urgently beckoning from the ramp.
The transport had barely ascended a mile when a series of tremendous explosions decimated the refinery. Fiery clouds belched into the air and smothered the doughnut with a noxious blanket of poisons. Inside her tiny, spartan cabin, Nona felt the brutal acceleration as the ship burst through the outer stratosphere. Soon afterward, the twinkling gemstone colonies of the moon filled the porthole. She stared longingly at the distant constellations beyond and for a moment, thought she glimpsed Nadya’s eyes among them.
Behind her, the communications screen bleeped to life. An urgent message from Earth was being transmitted. She retrieved the fuel processor from her tunic as three figures materialized on screen.
Dressed in the severe black uniform of the National Security Force, Brenner stood impassively alongside two scowling High Earth officials. The voice emulator grafted to his throat was noticeably absent, as were the scars marring his face. In his unforgettably barren eyes, Nona glimpsed the true nature of the enemy. She nodded grimly as a vision of Nadya flashed through her mind. Defiantly, she raised the processor to the screen and casually tossed it from hand to hand, pleased by the subtle tensing of Brenner’s jaw. The officials at his side glared at her with undisguised hostility.
Nona chuckled at their efforts at self-control. Feeling a sense of power and control for the first time in her life, a curiously arousing, almost sexual thrill coursed through her body. “Congratulations, Brenner. Seems like the plan worked after all. Quite an achievement, really. After all, who would have credited the average refinery worker with the intelligence to formulate such a plan?”
Smiling tightly, she suggestively fingered the processor. “But let’s get on with the business at hand. Brenner, or Officer Brenner, should I say, there’s a certain scenario I thought we could re-enact. Since I bent over for you, I thought maybe this time you could bend over for me…”
FLY BY, NITE
The sand and the sea. Together they shimmered like a quicksilver mirage under a bloated, glowing moon hovering low on the starlit horizon. I often walked the beach alone at night when the moon was full. High on the potent, salt-stung breeze, I energetically scaled the windswept sand dunes and let my imagination soar unfettered as I pictured the bleached landscape to be the stark, lonely face of a distant planet.
Since the divorce, I spent all my time by the sea, an affordable luxury in the casual, if solitary, life of a successful artist. It was a least one environment that was compatible with my headstrong temperament, though even the wild beauty of the coast could not always dull the occasional barb of loneliness.
Tonight was somehow different in a way that I could not identify. A gnawing restlessness plagued me from the onset of twilight and I found myself abandoning my easel and settling down by the cheerfully crackling fire with a glass of Chardonnay. Scornful of my attention, the cats restlessly paced the house, stopping periodically to stare out the windows. I noticed their expectant expressions and strolled to the glass wall fronting the living room. Opening the sliding door, I heard the ocean’s music whisper alluringly like Circe’s call. Dinner was left to congeal in the oven, my wine forgotten on the table. I slipped on my shoes and wandered outside.
The evening breeze whistled teasingly as I zigzagged through the powdery dunes. At times it so resembled a human voice that I felt compelled to stop and listen. At one stage, I thought I sensed a presence. I turned, my dark hair a flapping banner in the wind. My senses piqued, I struggled to locate my imaginary shadow above the muted roar of the surf. The sand embraced my feet, supporting me as I cupped my ear. Unable to discern anything, I shook my head, irritated by my delusion.
In the distance glimmered lights from beachfront homes aesthetically arranged beyond the dunes. My place was tucked among those reassuring beacons, but enjoyed an exclusive view unencumbered by manmade clutter. I shivered and retreated under my bulky sweatshirt. The chill was noticeable tonight, if unusual for late August.
A fleeting wisp of noise caught my attention. This time it was no fantasy, though I was not alarmed. The darker rites of metropolis had not yet tainted the secluded island boasting only a few hundred occupants. Gazing toward the dunes, a slender, alabaster pale figure trailing a shock of inky blue hair suddenly streaked past me toward the thundering surf and gracefully dove into a cresting, silver-tipped wave. Her passage elapsed in barely a moment, her feet gliding above the sand with an unnatural swiftness that left no prints. Dumbfounded, I could only stare at the spectacle of a nude young woman frolicking in the sea in the middle of the night.
Oblivious to my scrutiny, she cavorted like a mischievous water sprite, her nubile body arcing with contortionist skill. Her glistening hair shielded her face and formed a dark stain down her back allowing only glimpses of supple limbs that shamed my large-boned frame. Firm, pointed breasts gently bounced, the rosy nipples stiff from the chill water. An impossibly narrow waist tapered into perfect, pear-shaped ass, the indigo triangle between her legs rising like a mysterious island. Snared by her playful antics, intrigued by her ethereal presence and strange, barking cries, I shuffled toward the water.
Though I had never felt attracted to a woman before, I could not take my eyes off her. Never before had I seen anyone swim with the agility of a dolphin, her undulating body a shimmering flash below the surface. Icy water lapped at my ankles before I even realized I had waded in. The magnetic pull of her presence was irresistible, as was the sight of the surging ocean weaving through her translucent flesh. I gasped at the surreal merging. Bursting from the water like a geyser, she rose directly in front of me, her body impervious to the sucking tidal grip. Her head swiveled owlishly, her torso facing seaward.
At that moment I saw only the tiny slash of a mouth and two slanted ebony eyes gleaming from a beautifully sculpted face the texture of the finest white porcelain.
More than the tide held me now. Repelled yet fascinated, I swallowed my fear and looked into her fathomless eyes. The water whipped my knees and sucked at the sand beneath my feet, but I stood my wobbly ground. Completing her bizarre rotation, the creature turned and regarded me at first with surprise and then curiosity, her flawless body waxing and waning against the sea. Voices whispered around me, or perhaps it was merely the sound of rushing wate
r…
The seascape shifted as we contemplated each other. Above, the velvety dome of night metamorphosed into an unfamiliar mist of blazing stars and nebulae, the horizon dominated by a ringed, storm-streaked planet. Pearly motes of light flitted eastward across the sky toward a scattering of yellow, crescent moons.
Even as I felt pulled into the remarkable vista, the beach and dunes still surrounded me. Familiar lights flickered in the background. I began to doubt my eyes until I noticed the creature also intently scanning the horizon. She stopped suddenly, her expressive eyes glowing with subtle sparks of light. Something about them made me think she was smiling.
She slowly nodded. A melodious voice whispered in my head.
“It is very beautiful tonight. Do you come here often?”
“As often as there are moonlit nights,” I said.
“As do I, though I have never seen you before.”
I was close enough to touch her. My hand reached into thin air. I recoiled. She was no more than a specter, yet I felt compelled to reach for her.
The creature extended her slender hand. It, too, disappeared through me. Puzzlement flickered in her eyes as she withdrew it.
“Through you I can see the shore and lights beyond,” she said.
“And I can see the moonlit ocean and fiery sky through you.”
We watched each other silently. I felt the warmth of her smile. Simultaneously extending our arms, we locked in a phantom embrace. For a moment I felt the wet smoothness of her naked skin and the steady pulse of multiple hearts, then the contact vanished. We waltzed between the dimensional slipstream, snatching moments of touch and taste. Slipping from my clothes, we sought the shallow waterline and lay entwined, our bodies merging and fusing in a heady rollercoaster ride of sensation.
Yielding myself to her, she dove into the ocean between my legs. Her body wavered, shifted and transformed into a radiant stream of light that penetrated me with an intensity unmatched by no creature on this world. Solidifying within me, I felt its rhythmic heat merge with my flesh. I writhed on the squelching sand, my legs held wide apart by phantom hands, my ass parted as yet another lance of shimmering light filled my anus with the sensation of warm honey.
