by Linda Mooney
What I was going to say before you overrode me was that I don’t care how you smell. You have a scent that is unique to 155
yourself. And, personally, I find your smell to be intoxicating.
I love the way you smell.”
The hand was joined by another. A third gently tilted her forward before trailing down her spine to her tail bone. As it insinuated itself between her buttocks, the other hands helped by spreading her.
Pressing her palms against the shower wall, Lawn resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder. “You know what I want to do?” she asked him.
“I could ask you the same question,” Deep murmured.
“I want to look back and see you standing there, between my legs.”
She was answered with silence. Lawn opened her eyes.
“Deep?”
She chanced a peek under her arm. What she saw made her gasp in surprise.
He was nude, or his holo was nude. She could see every inch of him, all the way down to his bare feet. It was also evident he sported a very strong erection, which, from her angle, appeared to be buried inside her.
What really caught her attention was the substantial amount of chest hair across his pecs, and the trail of dark curls going down to the root of the long pole of flesh pseudo-copulating with her.
“Damn!”
He raised one eyebrow at her. “What?”
“Your attention to detail is…”
“Is what?”
“Is…damn!”
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laughed. It was a wonderful sounding laugh, full of honest joy. “I take it you like?”
“Uh-huh.” She grinned. “It’ll definitely give my naughty imagination a lot more to chew on when the lights go out.”
growled softly, and Lawn felt the head of her vibrator press against the entrance to her channel. It whirred, making her body tense in expectation. Deep moved the device around her inner lips, teasing her swollen nub, until the flesh-colored head was smeared with her cream.
“The sight of me in the nude isn’t the only thing I’m going to leave you with,” he promised. Before she could respond, he splayed her buttocks farther apart, and began pressing the toy firmly and deeply into her.
Lawn’s eyes flew open. She was awake and completely alert, every muscle humming as if she was on the verge of running a marathon. Sitting up in bed, she glanced out the window at the pale light of dawn approaching the city.
“Computer! Time!”
“Six-twelve a.m.”
“Cancel alarm.” Throwing off the sweaty covers, she rushed for the bathroom to get showered and dressed.
She had spent most of the night listening to every message Deep had sent to the bureau at least three times.
More than that, she had played and replayed the hidden tagged communique more than a dozen times.
I promised you six years of my life. There was nothing in the contract about my fucking heart. Transmission ended.
Mehra out.
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The sight of me in the nude isn’t the only thing I’m going to leave you with.
Do you think I planned to fall in love?
I promised you six years of my life.
I know more about loneliness than you realize.
Dear God, it’s not fucking fair.
There was nothing in the contract about my fucking heart.
Transmission ended. Mehra out.
Mehra out.
Mehra out.
Mehra out.
“Not Deep out. Mehra out. Why?” she asked herself in the mirror. “Why did you call yourself Mehra and not Deep?
Why?”
He had told her his name was Deep. All computers, if they were given a name to make them appear more human, were only given single monikers. Not two. Two names were a human affectation, given to them to designate their family heritage and their individuality.
Mehra out.
Men often referred to themselves by their last names.
Lawn paused with water dripping off her face.
Deep Mehra? My God, is your name really Deep Mehra?
And if it was, what did it mean?
She was due in Millner’s office for her debriefing at oh-seven-hundred hours. Lawn swore to herself she wouldn’t leave there until she got some answers.
The air smelled unusually crisp. The sky was a cloudless blue. She’d forgotten about the change in the seasons as she 158
strode over to the tall, almost cylindrical building located at the far end of the complex. Its outer walls were made up of the same pale gold honeycomb pattern as the inside walls of the Vogt ship. When she’d finally noticed it, Lawn wondered if anyone else had made the connection.
Inside the lobby, she underwent another DNA scan before the computer gave her directions up to Coordinator Millner’s office. When she arrived, Captain Brune was standing in the hallway outside the coordinator’s door.
“Hello, Officer Bascomb. You’re looking very well.” His eyes focused on her scarred cheek. Lawn felt her determination strengthen.
“Will this take long?”
The captain gave her a noncommittal smile and opened the door, holding it open to allow her to go through first. Lawn made it a point not to thank him.
Inside she recognized Coordinator Millner, as well as Dr.
Plegg. Plegg headed the teams of doctors who prepared and trained the officers and astronauts working for the Galactic Enforcement Bureau. Millner nodded when she entered the room. “Good morning, Officer Bascomb. Thank you for being prompt.”
Lawn kept her cards concealed. The truth about the Vogt program was slowly coming into focus for her. Unfortunately, there were too many questions and not enough answers. At least, the answers she was getting didn’t make sense. Not unless she had made assumptions.
God, give me strength!
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She sat in the chair and waited to see what they would do.
See if they would make a mistake and reveal something that would unlock another door holding back more secrets.
Because that’s what the Vogt program wasâ��full of secrets.
She had come to the conclusion that the whole program was one giant question mark, filled with half-truths, false truths, and misleading truths.
Well, this officer has done her homework. My final report is about ready to be published. All I need from you guys is the impetus to yank that bandage off the sore, and let it start bleeding again all over your clean, sterile facades.
“This meeting is merely a formality,” Millner said. “Your general debriefing was held onboard the Von deBont.”
Lawn nodded. She’d suspected as much.
Dr. Plegg walked around her seat and stopped in front of her, his hands tucked into the pockets of his lab coat. He had a sincere smile on his face. “Your arm should be completely healed within another few weeks. Once those nerves restore themselves, you’ll be as good as new.”
“Officer Bascomb.” Brune came up from behind the coordinator. “You’re about to enter stage three of your contract with the GEB. As per your request, you are being reassigned to the training facility where your request to becoming a training facilitator has been granted.” He smiled at her, but his was not as sincere as the doctor’s. “You have eight more days of paid leave, Lawn, before you have to report to Officer Ginn Tyler. Before we let you go, do you have any questions for us?”
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She glanced at all of them. “That’s it? I get congratulations on a job well done, a side helping of thank yous for saving the planet, and a free pass to the next level of my career?”
Brune frowned. “I don’t understand. You don’t sound particularly happy about it.”
Lifting her chin, she stared her supervisor in the eyes.
“What about Deep? What about him? I want to know where you’re keeping him, and I want to know how I can go be with him.”
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Chapter 22
Filed Under “Mehra”
All three men exchanged silent glances. Lawn watched them as she forced herself to remain still and quiet. She wanted to smile, knowing she had hit a nerve they thought they’d kept hidden. It was Brune who spoke first, but his nervousness was too evident.
“I’m afraid you’re speaking nonsense, Officer Bascomb.
was destroyed.”
“You’re full of shit, and you know it,” Lawn interrupted.
“Yes, the ship was destroyed, but not Deep.” She stared directly into the captain’s eyes, needing his reaction to her next words. “Not the man, Deep Mehra.”
Yes! Lawn nearly whooped for joy to see Brune’s face flush and his eyes dilate like crazy.
Dr. Plegg stepped up to the plate. “Lawn, I’m afraid the psychological impact of the bonded connection you had with Deep, and his subsequent loss, has affected you more deeply than we originally believed.” He looked at Millner. “Maybe we need to do more studies.”
“Quit fucking with me!” Lawn snapped. She kept her hands clasped in her lap. It was either that or start swinging at all three men in anger.
“Did the ship tell you he was a real man?” Millner asked.
His face was also flushed, but Lawn got the impression his anger wasn’t directed specifically at her.
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She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. I just pulled all the clues together until they started fitting.”
“We’re sorry to have to tell you this, but Deep is not and never has been a real person.” Brune had regathered his wits enough to rejoin the argument. Or he thought he had.
“And you’re a moron if you think I’m going to fall for your lies again.”
“Officer Bascomb.”
The coordinator crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his best stern father look. Lawn almost laughed.
“Officer Bascomb, what on earth makes you believe the ship was a real human being?”
“I didn’t at first. But too many things didn’t add up. Too many little things.”
“Like what?” Millner insisted.
“Like the fact that he was too humanistic.”
“The ship was sentient,” Brune reiterated, as if constant repetition would sooner or later be accepted as the explanation for everything.
Lawn wasn’t buying it. Never had, and never would.
“Sentience means the ship can think for itself,” she said.
“Sentience doesn’t mean emotional. Deep had…has…emotions. He can laugh, he can tease, he can joke, he can… He loved me. Don’t you get it? He loved me!”
“The ship was created and ordered to bond with you,” Dr.
Plegg reminded her.
Lawn nodded. “You’re right. He did. He bonded to my DNA so he could read me medically, but not emotionally. You can never read someone emotionally. Not unless you’reâ��”
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Oh, God. Not unless you’re psychic. Not unless you’re psychic!
Her eyes widened as another door opened to reveal more of the truth. Lawn stared at the three men, who could already read on her face what she was thinking.
“The rumors were true then?”
“What rumors?” asked Brune.
“We just…we just thought the stories that the Vogt ships were actually being run by people who were immensely gifted with psi abilities, we thought they were stories. You know, fabricated fantasies.” She gave a little laugh. “But I argued that was a bit too absurd. I mean, how many people would you be able to find and train with that kind of power?”
Four. A little voice in the back of her head supplied the answer.
They’d found four. That’s why there were only four Vogt ships created. That was why there was no talk of more Vogt ships. Only the announcement that each Vogt would be refitted with a new crew member once the previous missions were deemed successful.
A warmth on her face told her she was crying, but Lawn ignored it. She stared up at the three men.
“The first two missions were successful. But when Deep blew up the ship, something happened to him, didn’t it?
Something also blew up in his mind that you weren’t expecting, that he wasn’t expecting, and that’s why you’re trying to focus everything on me. You’re making this thing out to be a big success story when the truth isthe truth is you’re down to three ships now, aren’t you? You’re down to just 164
three people. Even if you build another ship to replace the Vogt ACE, you don’t have anyone to run it, do you?”
Millner looked over at the doctor. “Maybe you need to extend Officer Bascomb’s time off another week. Officer Bascomb, perhaps you need to check into the psychiatric ward over at the Bureau’s clinic for further study. Apparently there have been some deeper psychological issues raised that we weren’t aware of.”
“Why? Are you afraid I’ll go off ranting in public about the truth behind the Vogt ships?” She narrowed her eyes at all three men. “You don’t have to worry, gentlemen. You have my word that will never happen. I will honor my contract, including the nondisclosure agreement, as long as you take me to him.”
“As long as what?” Brune asked.
“Take me to him. Take me to Deep.”
“Officer Bascomb.”
“Are you trying to blackmail us?” Millner demanded harshly.
“No! You don’t understand. You never will. I fell in love with Deep, and he loves me. Don’t you get it?
He…loves…me.”
She stood up suddenly, taking the three men aback.
“I have to see him. I have to touch him. I never had that chance onboard the Vogt. We were restricted not just by physical space, but in ways you could never understand or accept. I’m not crazy, and I’m definitely not schizoid. But I am more intelligent than you give me credit for because I found that one little hole in your otherwise perfect plan. I’m 165
right, aren’t I? Deep is real. He’s real, he’s human, and he’s somewhere here in the quad, isn’t he?”
Dr. Plegg snorted. “Computer.”
“No!” Millner swung on him. “I order youâ��”
“My rights as a physician can countermand any order you give me,” the doctor snapped. “I have a patient in severe psychosis, and no way of bringing him out of it. If there’s the least little hope her presence can make a difference, I’m willing to try. Computer, play introductory log Vogt ACE Dee Cee.”
“Audio only, or with video?”
“Include video.”
A viewscreen dropped down from the ceiling behind the desk. The room’s lights dimmed automatically as the screen brightened. Lawn saw they were still in the coordinator’s office, looking across the room from the angle of the desk.
Presently the door opened and a man walked in.
“Please. Sit.” It was Millner’s voice, directing the man to sit in the same chair Lawn was presently sitting in. Already her mind was whirling, threatening to black out on her. She fought to remain conscious, and to focus on the man and his voice.
“For the records, this is the introductory log for Vogt ACE
Dee Cee. Computer, note and tag.”
“Confirmed. Noted and tagged.”
“Please state name, statistics, employment, and current ranking,” Millner instructed the man.
“My name is Deep Mehra. I am twenty-six years old, currently employed by the Galactic Enforcement Bureau as a 166
doctor of bioengineering, and newly assigned to the Vogt Project as a Level Six ranked Psi, enhanced.”
From the moment the man entered the door, Lawn heard a soft whine in the room. The kind of whine a young puppy utters when he’s alone and scared, and seeking his mother for solace. A heart-rending whine rising the depth of a lost soul.
The whine was coming from her. The instant the man introduced himself, and the sound of his beloved voice washed over her, tears flooded her eyes. They rolled unheeded down her cheeks and dripped unnoticed onto her uniform shirt as she reached out toward the screen.
“My name is Deep Mehra. I am twenty-six years old, currently employed by the Galactic Enforcement Bureau as a doctor of bioengineering, and newly assigned to the Vogt Project as a Level Six ranked Psi, enhanced.”
Dearest God in heaven, thank you. Now help me. Please help me!
It was man by the fountain. The man whose image she had made into the ship.
The image of Deep Mehra, and Deep the Vogt ship were all one and the same.
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Chapter 23
Filed Under “Stasis”
“Come with me.”
Dr. Plegg headed for the door, glancing back at her once to see if she was following. Lawn looked at the other two men, but Brune shook his head, letting her know they weren’t going with them.
They entered the elevator, but this time they went up and exited out through the rear of the building. There was a walkway running from the honeycomb cylinder to the black basalt block. Lawn raised her eyebrows at the physician as they took another elevator, this time downward. Several floors. At one point she started to say something but Plegg signaled for silence. Lawn obeyed, afraid that any sign of disobedience on her part would kill any chance she had of seeing Deep.
By her estimate, the elevator descended at least a dozen or more floors although there were no numbers or markings on the panel inside the elevator car. Dr. Plegg merely plugged his finger into the DNA slot, gave a code number, and doors were closed.
The elevator opened up to a long, brightly lit hallway. On both sides of the corridor, doors were staggered far apart. As Lawn and the doctor walked down the slate floors, she got the feeling that they were the only people in the whole building.
“Where are we going?” she whispered.
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Plegg put a finger to his lips as they stopped before one of the unidentifiable doors. He inserted his finger into the DNA slot, and the lock clicked loudly.
It was another walkway, or rather, a catwalk, except the wall on one side appeared to be erected several feet away from a railing. The light inside was too dim to tell anything more.
“What I’m about to show you is known to less than a dozen people,” Plegg whispered.
