by Ernest Filak
“We have to do something about it. I can’t sign you now because later the autograph will not be legible enough,” her brow creased with worry. “You haven’t had any problems with this so far.”
“I don’t have any problems with this,” he moved his buttocks restlessly on the plastic bench. “I’m just stressed that somebody will come.”
“All right,” she understood that talking would not get her anywhere. She slid the straps of her dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. She unfastened her bra and put it on the pebble-covered path.
“Oh my God,” Jim moaned looking at her naked breasts.
The woman pinched her nipples and shook them delicately.
“It this better? Will you rise… to the challenge?”
“Lora, this is not a movie set but a hotel. We are in a public place,” he protested weakly.
“Lean back and put your tip to the front,” she ordered.
He was unable to squabble with her any longer and did what she wanted.
“Better?”
“Yes, but still nothing is happening,” she didn’t seem content. “Let’s do it differently.”
He felt the warmth of her mouth.
“Lora,” he groaned.
“Just make sure you don’t come yet,” she warned, interrupting the very inspiring activity for a moment. “I don’t want to get my dress wet and I don’t feel like swallowing. I’ve forgotten my freshener.”
“All right.”
His equipment didn’t cause any more trouble and after a few seconds she was able to grab it with her left hand and draw the symbol with her right one.
“I’ll start with the left testicle and draw an arch up,” as she was moving the golden pen on his skin she unconsciously moved the tip of her tongue on her lips.
“Please hurry,” he asked.
“You don’t rush great artists,” she answered, giving him a sultry look. She continued drawing a wider line on his underbelly and having drawn the wings, slid back down moving to the right side.
“Are you finishing?”
“Well, we’ve got the dragon ready,” she pronounced happily. “Only the signature now. Do you think I should start from the head towards the belly or the other way round?”
He looked at her work appraisingly.
“From the belly down will be better.”
“You’re right,” to smoothen the skin she moved her hand up and down a few times. He fell down to the seat clenching his teeth and looked up at the ceiling. “Is it enough to put the initials or should I sign my full name? There’s enough room for my first and last name.”
“If you don’t hurry, the problem will take care of itself,” he warned.
“Men! Of course the woman has to make all the decisions by herself,” she complained, but carefully drew every letter. Lora Lock. She added an extra twirl to both letters L. Just in case the trend for intimate autographs was supposed to catch on. She was sure nobody else was signing this particular penis.
“Done?” he asked with new hope.
“Yes,” she said. “There is only one thing to do now.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve forgotten to order champagne,” she said, closing her eyes sensuously and beginning to move her wrist slowly. “As this is my first autograph, it calls for a celebration.”
“But your dress…”
Lora moved to the side. She chose her moment well because Jim got ready a moment earlier. A pearly-white stream shot out and three others followed, each less vigorous than the other.
“See, it’s not so bad,” she assessed showing him her rescued dress and slightly wetted hand. “Get dressed and I will rinse my hands in the stream.”
When she returned shaking water off her hands, he stood there admiring the effects of her work.
“What do you think?” she asked looking at the golden squiggles from a distance.
“Looks quite good,” he said. “What do I use to wash it off if I wanted to get rid of it one day?”
She didn’t answer. She put her bra back on and slid the straps of her dress back on.
“Zip me up, please,” she turned with her back to him.
Following her request he moved his fingers along the edges of the dress which came together under his touch. Lora Lock shook her head, making all her hair come back to its usual place. On the graveled path only a peacock feather remained. It lay there trodden among the white drops of semen.
“Isn’t that a romantic sight?” she asked.
“Lora,” the man expected a straightforward answer. He was holding the waist of his pants with one hand, still grabbing his member to expose the specific autograph. “What do you wash it off with?”
She knew him well, so she knew it was no use trying to change the subject.
“What a stubborn mule you are. Not even a bit romantic,” she looked at her fingernails but luckily the mother of pearl they were covered with didn’t chip off any one of them. “Of course the company has developed a washing agent.”
He resumed getting dressed but something in her answer didn’t ring quite right.
“Lora, what do you mean by developed? Isn’t any remover enough?”
“You know the company’s politics and how they fight their competition,” she said moving closer. She kissed both his cheeks. “I have to go. We’ll get dinner later, honey. Bye bye.”
She turned on her heel and started walking briskly down the alley.
“Lora!” She stopped in place. “Where can I buy it?”
“You want to get rid of it already?” she pretended offence. “Wear it a while. I like it very much. You’re so sexy I can’t help myself.”
“Lora!”
“You have to place an order with the producer. Happy?”
“Yes,” he said. “How much is it?”
She didn’t answer straightaway. They looked into each other’s eyes through the whole length of the atrium. None of them wanted to give up first.
“Twelve thousand credits,” the woman broke the silence first. “It’s so hard to part with some things,” she shrugged her shoulders and escaped.
Jim Peterson sat down on the bench and began banging his head rhythmically on the hard backrest.
Chapter XXI
Earth.
I felt like a bear waking to life before spring. I had retained my memory but it felt as if the world slowed down considerably. I was coming round slowly. We were still inside the ship that lifted us from the deck of the flight carrier. I had no idea what sort of chemical they had injected us with but I didn’t think it was somewhere freely available anywhere. Never in my life did I have a hangover like that! The first sensation was a very nasty smell. It was the stink of excrement and it was coming from the two of us. What can I say? – we shitted our pants.
Praetorians probably couldn’t feel a thing, given their advanced armors. All they had to do was turn on the filters. Those filthy bastards stood like robots in the same positions as before.
“How are you?” Theodore asked.
“Terrible,” I conceded. “What did you have to eat? It stinks like hell.”
“I wanted to ask you the same question.”
The guards didn’t pay any attention to our conversation. That meant we could talk.
“Where are we flying?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“The Admiral promised to help us out,” I was trying to console myself.
“I doubt it.” My buddy was not a big fan of illusions.
My hands had gone numb. I rubbed my wrists to improve the circulation. Theodore sat with his head down. As a new groom he was probably thinking about his beloved. He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her. And it was unclear when they would see each other again.
“I wonder how long we have been sitting here,” I wanted to break him out of his gloom. “I’m actually glued to my chair.”
“At least six days,” he said.
“You’re fucking kiddi
ng me.”
“Look outside,” he said.
I did and in a second forgot about the whole world. About three quarters of my field of vision was covered by a disc of a planet. The same one that was featured on the most prominent poster in every school classroom. How many nights did I not sleep burning the midnight oil trying to remember all the small geographical details? You couldn’t mistake its shorelines with anything else. In front of my very eyes I could see the panoramic view of the cradle of humanity.
“Earth,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Theodore agreed. “What a fuck up, right?”
I could see he had his own opinions. On my home planet KV 13 I didn’t know anyone who had ever been here. Of course some of the guys from rich families boasted they had visited when picking up chicks but I knew it was a scam. You visit recreational planets. Earth is an administrative centre and to come here you needed an official pass.
I cherish the sight and forget the position I’m in. I welcome the first turbulence with a smile on my face. We’re beginning our landing procedure. It gets worse as we go. We are shaken all over the place. I had once been through something like that so I don’t scream out loud. I notice the flames that follow all that friction and black out for a moment.
When I come round, the silence is broken by the sound of the air we’re cutting through. The pilot must have switched to antigravity drive because I can’t hear the engines.
We fly over a sea of skyscrapers and a network of magnetic trains. I turn my neck to see as much detail as possible. At the ends of our wings red and blue lights flash. We force right of way in the thick traffic. We’re being escorted on both sides by two police ships.
I can see gardens on tops of the buildings, people walking, even swimming pools and recreational areas, where the privileged ones can relax. Rows of skyscrapers stretch until the horizon. You can’t see the end of them.
We hover in place and then go down vertically. I wish we had flown longer. We’re surrounded by walls which cut out natural sunlight. On the walls of the shaft we can see information about the height we’re at. We don’t feel the moment of touchdown. The pilot must be a real genius. Under the eye of my Artificial Intelligence I had done a piloting course and I know what a long way I had to go before I could do it like him.
The guards unchain us from the seats and then jump outside. We look their way. They don’t allow us to get off. Suddenly, we get hit by a strong current of water from the other side. It literally rinses us out of the ship. Rough landing on the floor is not what I would call a warm welcome. Those mean boys, from what I can see, enjoy similar games like the Star Troopers. They would have a right laugh.
“Stand up!” We do as we’re told.
A man in a clerk’s uniform calls us to approach him. Pushed by the Praetorians we clumsily walk his way. The field Marine uniform that I wore proudly is dripping like a cloth that hasn’t been wrung. I adjust it automatically. Theodore turns his buttons in such a way that the symbol of Earth embossed in them takes the right position. The uniform, no matter what condition it’s in, deserves respect. I have absolutely no idea what Z-3 deal in but I know we’re made of different clay.
“Follow me,” the man says.
We walk where he leads us. My first impression is that we are in an office block with glass walls and dozens of busy staff. My eyes go to a water cooler where a sexy office chick is pouring herself a plastic cup.
“Excuse me,” I ask the host. “Could I help myself to water?”
The guy isn’t very happy about that but he doesn’t mind and lets me drink. The girl drops her cup seeing our scruffy figures and water spills all over the green carpet. Over the left pocket of her company shirt she wears a logo of the company. Of course I know it. Everybody knows it. It’s InCorporation. My hand starts shaking when I take out the plastic cup with spring water in it with two ice cubes whirling about.
I’m not a pig so I hand the wonder cup to Theodore. As the second one was filling up I eyed the chick still standing just a step away. Her attention was focused on the guards. It didn’t seem like they were frequent guests here. They were being observed by the office workers from behind their cubicles. The whole traffic we were part of now froze. Nobody risked excusing themselves around the black creatures and everybody chose to keep a safe distance.
“Hurry up,” our guide was beginning to lose his patience.
“Yes, Sir,” I answered in the local accent of my home planet.
The girl sniffed and must have felt my smell because she took a step back. I gladly drank up but kept the ice cubes in my mouth savoring the cool taste. I threw the plastic cup into the bin. Oops! I missed. Was it my rebellious nature sensing a spark of revolt? From the moment I finished school I didn’t have a chance to make an independent decision. Or rather I made decisions but always chose the lesser evil. This happened all the time starting with my work in the research project through fighting after the pirate attack to joining the Revolutionaries. The only thing I achieved is the snowball effect. Every time it gets worse. And I can’t see any way of getting out of the vicious circle. There is only one thing I want. To have a normal ordinary life far away from the noise and unrest. To make things even worse, the Aliens have fucking tagged along, as if the whole universe was not enough.
We moved on. In many places we passed by regular people, most likely the customers. On the one hand I felt like pulling a prank, but the other side of me, the one remembering all the unpleasant experiences, held me in check.
They led us into a section that was closed for regular customers. It looked like a VIP lounge. Even the door was made of wood, not just plastic. Beautiful.
I was ushered into an empty room. White, everything was fucking white. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. I remembered the classes from the course that could help me now. The foxes were trying to deprive me of all stimuli. Through a transparent wall on the right I could see Theodore in a room that looked the same. He was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear a word.
“Take care,” I said.
The Praetorian who assisted me took off my handcuffs and walked out. I was left alone in the milky whiteness. In the middle there was something that looked like a desk but reminded me more of an altar. Probably because it was made of natural stone.
“Hello.” I jump up hearing a voice I don’t recognize.
A man is standing against the opposite wall. I wonder if he was here when I was entering – is there another door? He is wearing, of all colors, a white suit, which blends in with the background. I’ve been here for a few minutes and I’m already feeling like Judgment Day. They are good at that, I must grant them that. The wall that was cutting me off from Theodore has now lost all its transparency and losing its special features looks like the other walls. I’ve been cut from any contact with my friend. What can I say?
The host sits down. But what on? I can’t see anything that he could sit his ass on.
“Nervous, aren’t you?” he asks.
According to all the rules I had ever been taught I should give him my personal data and number. Thing is I’m not prepared to remain silent, I know myself all too well. I have hardly passed a training on information eliciting. It wasn’t the right way to go.
“And if I fucking knock you off your feet, will you consider that as a sign of nervousness?”
He flinches. I got you, babe! You weren’t expecting that. He puts both his hands on the stone. A cube slowly emerges from the floor – I figure this is a form of invitation. I sit down.
“Please put your hands on the table.”
I have no other choice, given my situation. The top is cool but rather pleasant to the touch.
“Let me start with a few words of explanation. This a sensory diagnostics room.” This doesn’t explain anything to me. “You will go through a series of tests here.”
“How long?” I interrupt him.
“Until we decide it’s enough,” the man is clearly not used to being interrupt
ed.
“My commander is of a different opinion.”
“I wouldn’t bother myself with the Admiral.”
“Why me?” I ask the question which had been nagging me from the very beginning.
“It’s easy. You are in the possession of information that the company would like to obtain.”
“And what if I refuse to share this information?”
“Then you will not leave this room. Ever.”
I didn’t like his answer at all. I knew that InCorp was liaising with politicians, which meant that they could do a lot. But go this far? Maybe he was just bluffing? I didn’t really possess any information that would justify such drastic steps. The only explanation was Ingrid, but they shouldn’t know about her. On the other hand, her existence ceased to be a secret known only to myself. I was beginning to feel like a mouse under a broom.
When the first note of doubt appeared in my thoughts, stone bands appeared over my wrists.
“What is it?” I protested, unsuccessfully trying to free myself.
“We’re beginning the test,” the InCorp representative said.
The stone table that was holding me prisoner was full of other miracles. An arm with a strong light slid out of it and focused on my eyes. At the same time something stabbed me and I felt very sleepy. With every breath I took, I lost some will to fight.
I saw Ingrid behind the InCorp man. She didn’t look very happy.
“I’m scared for you,” I admitted.
The man leaned over the table top as if he saw something interesting in it.
“Calm down,” Ingrid was trying to make me feel better. “Remember the procedure of entering your meditation and do it.”
“But…”
“Do it,” she ordered.
So I lost interest in the room, the man in white, the light. I began to count my breaths and started a very quick calming down of my organism. The sensation of my woman’s presence next to me was more acute than ever before.
“We’re together now,” her warm whisper cuddled me. “We will always be. They want to get to us but we won’t let them. Do you trust me?”
