http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/srb/www/ Don't read if under 18 or illegal in your little corner of the world, like you'll listen. This should appear only on my site http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/srb/www/ F3, Futanari Palace, Pal's archive site, through Pal's yahoo group, on Pal's Forum... well, it basically should be wherever Pal's stuff is. Also at the Grey Archive, and some other places they might end up, they know who they are. This is copyright me, so don't call it yours. Feedback can be left here. I created all the characters, they are all fictional, and any relevance to anyone living or dead, is incidental A big thanks out for both Theromen and davidka1, who have beta tested this chapter. Their help has been integral to getting it out so quickly. THIS CHAPTER contains futa/mast Chapter 18 Boredom and Anguish Men in crimson robes stood round in a circle. Their hoods disguised their faces in the pale light. There was nothing to distinguish one from the next save for their size and height. They stood over an inverted pentagram, painted in the blood of a sacrificial animal, in this case a lamb. The dead body of the lamb, freshly killed, lay in the middle, it's neck sliced under the chin. Five large candles were mounted on sticks behind them, dimly illuminating the dark ritual. They began to chant a dead language, reading from memory a passage that had been their duty. They knew their parts all too well. They had practiced the orphic rite in this dark room all too much. Filled with simple brick and mortar, this room had been a chamber of an important senator once upon a time, now it was a room where another kind of sacrifice for power was to be made. As the four of them continued to chant, each on one point of the inverted pentagram, a new figure came forth. The four lowered the volume of their chant, never ceasing their chant nor interrupting it for even a moment. The new figure in robes produced a voluminous book. He took his time unclasping the metal on it, opening up the ancient black leathery tomb. He began to read the lines. Roughly translated into English it was a rhyming couplet. 'That is not dead which cannot lie; and with strange eons even death may die' It was the beginning couplet from the excerpt he was to read. He continued on, never taking a pause or break. His voice was deep, raspy, but even throughout. After fifteen minutes his reading was completed. He closed the book, looking at the word 'Necronomicon' written on black leather with golden lettering on the cover. The solemn atmosphere of the room was destroyed a moment later, as the door behind was opened, illuminating the room. The men in hoods turned around, their faces partly visible behind their hoods. They bowed their head in deferred respect towards the door. "What went wrong?" asked an annoyed and impatient voice. In walked a man, still in the early part of his life, wearing a pompous and unnecessarily garish suit, his hair slicked back with grease. A woman, wearing a black suit striped with crimson lines, adorned only by a military insignia, and followed him momentarily. Her blond hair was wrapped into a tight ponytail, and her eyes were an ice-cold shade of blue. "You said this would work." "Sir, I did ever thing as you asked, I performed the ritual just as inscribed, I created the pentagram in the blood of the virgin lamb, I read from the Necronomicon, and tried to evoke—" said the figure, looking at the face of Josiah Smith. He had thought before that he could fool the Prime Minister that he was the genuine article. He had gotten in over his head before he knew it. "You failed," Smith said simply, looking at him. "I don't tolerate failure." "Sir, I, I'll try it again, there must have been something wrong, I, I, I" The figure said, pleading for another chance to correct his earlier mistake. He wouldn't get the chance, as the woman produced a handgun. She was an expert markswoman, and had excelled at both small and large weapons fire. To shoot him in the head, or to hit a vital organ such as the heart, or lungs, would have been like asking someone to hit the correct keys on a keyboard. She shot him in the chest however. Her orders were clear, he was to suffer if he had failed, and he had failed. She never thought for a moment that he would succeed, of course, and so she had time to reflect on how to inflict the most pain on him. It was a part of her job, and something that she enjoyed. The force of the bullet sent his body flying back. He grabbed his chest, where the two bullets had penetrated, feeling them with his hands. The four men in robes watched the grotesque scene before them. None of them so much as made a word, or any kind of attempt, or perceived attempt to help him. He was to die, they knew, and to endure the pain of failure, and to attempt to help, or even for Smith to think that they wanted to help him, would mean their deaths as well. "Next time, try the evocation again. With his blood," Smith said coldly, turning his back to the four of them as he exited the room. The woman gave the four men an inhuman look before holstering her gun. She followed the Prime Minister of Mars from the room out into the hallway. It was well lit and adorned with various gaudy pieces of art, nothing like the gothic scene they had exited from. "Damn it," he said, trying to calm his anger. "That should have worked Eve!" "Sir, you should relax," Eve said, more than familiar with his temper, and trying to lull it to at least manageable. "You won't need the aid of the Elder Gods to win." "Don't you think I know that?" he snapped. "Of course you know that sir," Eve said, her tone unmoving. "I merely reminded you." "I could use some excitement, some pizzazz," he said, letting out a frustrated groan. "There hasn't been anything new in ages. Everyday, I get the same reports. 'Building the fleet, training the troops, researching the medicine'. Its all so boring and so…" he rambled shaking his head as he walked out into the courtyard. "Even the people are tedious. They don't cheer for me like they used to. Now they cry, they whine, they complain about food shortages and sicknesses and boo hoo hoo whiny baby stuff." He stopped, looking at a piece of trash. He picked it up, it was an empty plastic bottle. "I haven't had a good time since I disbanded the senate. Now that was a good time, all of those bitchy senators who thought themselves so goddamned high and mighty being struck down," He said, crumpling the trash before dropkicking it. "Everything is just so damned tedious." "Tough times don't last, sir, tough people do," Eve said, quoting an old and hypocritical phrase which had been the new slogan adopted into use by the government. Her head turned as she saw action in the corner of her eye. Her hand naturally snapped to her gun, relieved a moment later as a government page came into the doorway. She dared not move towards the Prime Minister, knowing that to do so in front of his bodyguard would likely mean her death. She even averted her eyes so as not to draw her ire. Eve walked over, checking on the PM once more before looking at the page, nodding slightly. "Sir, the ship has returned to communication range, should he choose to begin transmission," the page said humbly. Eve nodded for her to go, and she left as quickly as she could, thankful for the respite. Eve hoped that this new bit of information would at least keep the Prime Minister content for some time. 'He is so much easier to deal with when he has a new toy to keep him happy,' she thought as she returned to go tell him. * A death in space isn't something that is easy to reconcile for anyone. In space, where people oftentimes rely on one another more than on a planet, it becomes all the more difficult. When you see the same dozen or so people everyday for months with no deviation, their mere presence becomes more important to someone than seeing a co- worker at the office. It's not just being there, it's being part of the small social community that relies on each other. It's as though no longer seeing any policemen. It's not necessary to love them, or even like them, but their absence is so much more profound than if that co-worker at the office leaves, as was the case for Flynn. The feeling of loss was shared throughout the ship, the sole exceptions being the three futanaris who were more or less strangers on the ship. Nadia and Yoshi had both lost people, and were accustomed to such sorrow, but to Terra it was a permeating hole of negative emotions, an abyss that seemed to fuel Terra's own sadness. For she too had lost people important to her, and was struggling with dealing with the powerful negative emotions coursing through her psyche, and the pain on the ship only exacerbated her mourning. There wasn't much of a funeral service on a spaceship as this. They didn't have torpedo tubes to shoot someone out of, they had airlocks but Flynn's body was in a room full of coolant, which could only be slowly removed from the room. Any attempt to get his remains would be fruitless until the majority of that coolant was removed. It was painful to the crew, knowing that there wasn't much they could do as the frozen corpse of Flynn, perfectly preserved, hovered aimlessly in their reactor room. There was a service held on the observation deck. Much of Flynn's possessions had been brought there, and others had added pieces that reminded them of him here and there in memorandum. The service was brief, but it was oddly eloquent. Much of the crew stood up, and gave a speech, generally a hard throat story about good times that they had with Flynn, which seemed to be the theme. The only thing that kept the minds of everyone off of the passing of Flynn was the work at hand. The main engine of the ship was dead. They were moving fine, and they would approach Mars, that wasn't the concern. The concern was that they would hit the planet head on if they couldn't find some way of lessening their speed. Of course, the Martian government would likely blow them out of the sky before anything like that happened. It wasn't much of a comfort to anyone on ship. The more pressing matter was attempting to fix everything on the ship that was broken. * "I'm sorry David," Giselle said, as she finished scanning him. The medical scanners were designed to be a child's toy now, often times they were given to parents of sick children or hypochondriacs, to save the precious time of medical doctors. This wasn't a case of hypochondria however. David had been barraged with radiation with absolutely no protection for longer than he should have been, even with protection. The results were disastrous. "I understand," he said, swallowing hard, already feeling the pain. Ever since the death of Flynn he had managed to bury everything, keep it down in a pit in his stomach. This was just something new to keep that old information company. "It's in the very early stages of the disease David," Giselle said, trying to bolster his attitude, and at least give him some kind of positive reinforcement. "This isn't the turn of the millennium technology now, we can beat this Dave, it isn't the dark ages of radiation therapy. You aren't going to lose your hair and become pale and become emaciated." "Where?" David asked coldly. "You have throat and lung cancer, and leukemia, which is" Giselle said. "I know what it is," he said neutrally. "One of the women, Nadia, we picked up on Earth has medical experience. If you want we could ask her, she might be able to help," Giselle offered. This entire conversation had gone differently than she had expected. She had expected an already emotional and weakened David to hear what she expected the news to be, and break down further. She anticipated being a shoulder for him to cry onto, which she would have been willing to do. But he was taking the news well, too well in fact. He didn't respond to hearing the fact that he had a possibly terminal disease, if he didn't treat it soon enough. While hundreds of years ago cancer was a serious problem, by this point in time it had been largely cured in much less painful ways than in the past. "She can't do anything here, we don't have anything beyond band aids and casts for her to use. I'll have to see a doctor when we get there. If we get there," David said, lifting his eyes. "Thanks for telling me. I've gotta get back to work." "David, it's okay to cry," Giselle said, far quicker and too forward than she had meant. "It's okay to be sad." "Thanks," he said, reburying his emotions. "I'll keep that in mind. * Tom turned his head, surprised at the sound of the door opening when it was. Kyle, who had been exercising, crouched her body against the wall, ready to spring forward with her full fury if she felt the need arise. "You, Tom, Capistrano would like to have a word with you. You wait here," The guard said, pointing only the barrel of the gun into the room. Tom looked at Kyle, shaking his head. Kyle wondered why she was taking orders from him exactly, but complied nonetheless. He got up, following after the guard outside of the door. He turned his head back, noticing a second guard there, in case he tried to do something against his overseers. The trip was short and silent. Capistrano had kept them only one floor below his conference room, and not five minutes later Tom was there with Capistrano. "Leave us," Capistrano said, waving the guard away. "I've got to say Tom, you are one to adhere to principles generally, although I was surprised to see you romantically involved with one of your test subjects." "Oh," Tom said, remembering the false kisses that he and Kyle had to share in order to convey his information about her child. 'I guess she's kind of like my child too, in some ways' he thought to himself. "Well, what can I say, you lock the two of us in a small room together, I have to feed her, and then I wind up freeing her." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess it's somewhat natural," Capistrano said, reading the lies on Tom's face. There was something else going on, but much of him felt that Tom was lying to hide a relationship. 'You don't get to choose the one you love,' he thought to himself, remembering that she was trying to carry him to safety when they were captured. "The Prime Minister has decided now would be the time to talk. We were supposed to keep silent, but apparently that is no longer the case." "So what am I here for?" Tom asked. "He said that he wanted to speak specifically to you when it was possible, Tom. He's rather…eccentric," Capistrano said, choosing that word over half-insane. "Mind your tongue around him, and if you want to earn some brownie points, treat him like he's a Caesar." "If I have to," Tom said. Capistrano went to the computer terminal, typing furiously at it as he put in a rather complex code, memorized after a great amount of difficulty on his part. He was terrible at memorizing things, but he had to in this case. While the soldiers were technically under his command, he had no doubt that they would turn on him in a moment if he breached security, and writing down a means by communicating with the government of Mars was considered treason. 'So is looking at PM cock-eyed,' he thought. Tom looked onto the screen. He saw a relatively young man, much younger than he had anticipated. He had seen his father, and read some of his writings, and was less than impressed with his social and philosophical beliefs. He didn't know much about this man, as information about the current Martian situation was tough to come by. The man had auburn brown hair, slicked back with grease, and wore a flashy and tacky looking suit. He could see a landscape of the outside behind his head, and Tom assumed he was in his chambers. "So, I finally get to meet the infamous Thomas Pope," Josiah Smith said, grinning. "I must say I am rather unimpressed." "Get shot in the back and then spend a long time without a shower, and you might not look impressive yourself, Prime Minister Josiah Smith, I take it?" Tom replied coolly. "You make a good point," Josiah said, measuring up Tom in his mind. "I take it since you are still among the living, you have accepted to fix our little problem?" "I have agreed to do everything that I can, Prime Minister," Tom said neutrally. "Well, I'm sure it should be enough, you're quite the celebrity they tell me," Josiah said. 'He's either weak and humble or playing things close to the vest. But if he were humble, why not kowtow? He's not afraid of me. He's playing something close to the vest.' He thought. "Who tells you?" Tom asked, failing to keep the curiosity from his face. "Around a dozen or so scientists who were all supposed to be experts or what not," Smith said, waving his hand dismissively. "They're all working furtively on something or another, it's bores me," he yawned to show his contempt and weariness. 'Maybe that'll get it through his head that I'm not going to be amazed by boring speeches and techno babble' he thought. "They all say you're an expert on reducing radiation. I would hope you are half the genius they say you are. Although they were all purported to be experts themselves." "As I said, I'll do everything I can, having the other scientists around would be helpful," Tom said. "Oh you think so? Well, I suppose you'd need someone to do the long division for you. I tell you what, I was going to execute them next week, but I'll keep them above ground for a while yet," Smith said, so blasé about terminating human life. 'Let's remind him that he's captive, and not some invited guest,' he thought to himself, building up his own ego. "In any case I was hoping this would prove more interesting, but so far it's only slightly entertaining. I'll see you when you get here." "That will be in," Capistrano said, before the screen went dead, cut off at the source. 'God I hate that prick,' Capistrano thought, like anyone hating to be hung up on. * "Girls, a moment," Sergio said, his eyes dull and listless. Terra remembered having seen Tom like this before, when he had pushed himself too far. The girls had come to the service for Flynn, and paid their respect. Terra was surprised, she didn't know there were so many people on the ship, she had really only spoken to and seen a few. Sergio was just happy that the three of them were together. It would save him the time and effort of tracking them down one at a time. "Yes?" Nadia asked. "I'm afraid that during the, the untimely passing of Flynn," Sergio said, the words still difficult to get out. "When you two were outside of the engine room, you were bombarded with radiation." "I'm know that," Terra said quietly. "Nadia scanned us earlier, she said we were fine." "Yes, that's all well and good," Sergio said, dismissing her. "But we must be sure eh? No need for anymore loss." "I'm a fully licensed medical doctor!" Nadia said indignantly. "Isn't the old saying, a doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient?" Sergio asked. "That's a lawyer," Yoshi corrected. "Well, the adage is true. I hear doctors make for the worst patients," he said, opening up a door. "Giselle will scan you, just to make sure that everything is fine." "And if we refuse?" Nadia asked. Terra gave her a puzzled look, not understanding what entirely was the problem. "What's the sense? It's just a checkup, you of all people should know it's innocuous," he said annoyed, omitting the 'Just sit through the scan you annoying bitch'. He was used to having his orders followed, and in a particularly difficult time such as now he didn't want to deal with any more difficulties. "Fine," Nadia said, giving into the inevitability of the moment. "We'll go now." "You remember the conference room where we spoke earlier? She's there, take the elevator to," he said. "I remember," Terra said, her flowing red hair clouding her face as she followed Nadia and Yoshi out the door. "Nadia, what's wrong?" Terra asked. "You of all people should know, remember when you followed Yoshi with the hand scanner? If they use a full medical scanner, they might find out about the nanites," Nadia said, walking through the empty corridor. "If they find out about that, then it could all be over." "What do you think would happen?" Terra questioned. "I don't know exactly, but it couldn't be good. What if these resistance fighters want these nanos for the same reasons the government does? Who's to say who's right? This benevolent leader of theirs is captured, what's to stop the radical wing from creating super soldiers to combat this evil empire?" Nadia asked to no one in general. "And even then, what's to say what they would do if their intentions were pure?" "We don't know that the government wants the nanos, in fact they believe them to be a failure, and even if they did they wouldn't necessarily use them for bad means," Yoshi said, thinking. "Although the possibilities for negative applications are…great." "Couldn't they help people? The sick people, on Mars, I mean?" Terra asked. "Sure, they could, but the application of them would be problematic at best. Let me put it this way," Yoshi said, hitting the button for the elevator. "If they knew that their soldiers could take being shot in the chest, they would be more likely to send them into battle, knowing they could be healed. Then if the government found out they would step up their attacks. If bullets don't work, then why bother using guns? Why not missiles, or atomic weapons?" he said, shaking his head. "That kind of escalation could lead to even more innocent people dying." "How?" Terra asked, feeling guilty, and dirty talking like this. "More firefights mean more potential victims getting in the middle. And if you were likely to be attacked by a larger force, you would try to hide in a city, if you could find a hole to crawl into. What's to stop this Smith from bombing a city like his father?" Yoshi asked rhetorically. "Just because his father bombed Earth doesn't mean that he's going to bomb his own people," Terra said. "Humans are his own people," Nadia said. The three of them were silent for a minute, waiting for the elevator doors to open. Then elevator ride was silent save for the sound of the elevator, which seemed strained, as if it was battling against an unknown force. "But if we could, couldn't we help the people?" Terra asked. "We could help them a lot. But we could also make things worse. We're not here to fix their problems, we're here to fix ours, namely our kidnapped friends," Nadia said. "I'm not insensitive to their suffering, but if you try to save everyone you wind up losing everyone. I've seen death, I've seen people die, it's not a pretty, no matter who it is." "Well, let me know what happens," Yoshi said, as the doors opened up. "Until otherwise, no one finds out about the nanos," Nadia said. "Agreed," Yoshi said, exiting. "If it's that important, I promise," Terra said. "I'm sorry," Nadia said, wrapping an arm around Terra's shoulder. "I didn't mean to be rude, but if they find out about the nanos, it could put all of us at risk. I just don't want to see you hurt, okay?" "Alright," Terra said, putting her head on Nadia's shoulder. "Just, promise me we're doing what's right?" "I promise that we're doing what's best for us," Nadia said. "That's, that's not what I asked," Terra pointed out. "I know," Nadia sighed. "I just, I'm just scared about what could happen, okay?" Nadia said. "Right now I'm trying to keep us all safe, and keep us all alive, I think that's right." "You're probably right," Terra said, understanding Nadia, specifically her fear. It was an emotion that she was all too familiar with. She understood Nadia's trepidation, and her instinct towards self-preservation. She felt that this was another instance of her inaction dooming people to pain. Terra took Nadia's hand in her own, weaving their fingers in betwixt one another. The elevator doors opened, and the two of them made their way to the conference room. "Oh, hi David," Terra said, removing her hand from Nadia's. "I'm, I'm sorry about what happened." "Not your fault," David said emotionlessly. "I've got to get going, I'll see you girls around." "Oh, okay," Terra said, turning her head as she watched him leave. She could only imagine the kind of despair he was suffering. "He seems okay." "No, he's in a lot of pain," Nadia said, taking Terra's hand once more. "He's trying to do what a lot of men do when they deal with pain, they try to cover it up." "Why?" Terra asked. "If they don't feel the pain, then it's like it doesn't exist," Nadia said, looking over at Terra and her confused face. "Oh, it's there, it exists, it's just they try to ignore it instead of dealing with it." "I, I don't get it," Terra said. "Me either, but I've seen far too many men do it. Patients with Desyinatrinom disease, back before it was cured, terminal diseases, they try to ignore it, because dealing with it is too hard. Remember, I spent a lot of time as an MD," Nadia said, remembering a long time in her life where she had to deal with sick and injured people all the time. It wasn't a bad job, in fact there were a lot of times when it was very rewarding; until M-day. "Here we are," Nadia said, opening the door. Giselle was standing there, going over the information on the scanner. "Oh, uh, one at a time," Giselle said. "I, mean, I'm supposed to protect your medical information." "I'm her doctor," Nadia said, neutrally. "Spare me ethical questions." "Okay," Giselle said. "But you have your right to privacy as well." "I'll wave it," Nadia said, realizing she was still holding Terra's hand as Giselle looked down onto it. "I see, well if that's how you feel. One of you please sit on the chair, and we'll have this done in no time," Giselle said. Terra obliged her, sitting down as Giselle dragged the scanner over. Nadia recognized the old model, and was relieved. It's detection capabilities were lacking, and she doubted it could possibly detect the nanos, unless this girl was actively looking for it. "Just one moment," Giselle said, trying to get the machine to work. "Here's a pro tip, make sure it's plugged in," Nadia said condescendingly. "Thanks," Giselle said with a sardonic smile. The machine began to hum as it began its work. This scanner wasn't as passive as the old ones, and it made Terra's skin seem to creep, her body broke out in goose bumps. "Is this okay?" Terra asked, feeling sick to her stomach at the reaction her body was having to this scan. "It's fine, don't worry," Giselle said. "And it's done. Let's see," Giselle said, looking on it. "This is impossible!" "What?" Terra asked, her heart seemed to drop about a foot in her chest. "Your, your perfectly fine!" Giselle said. "Being near that much radiation it's impossible to be okay!" "I told you we were perfectly fine," Nadia said, walking over to the chair. Terra was just relieved to be able to get out of it. "Let's get this over with," Nadia said, sitting down in the chair. Giselle ran the same test, and came up with the same answer. "How in the world could the two of you both have absolutely no problems whatsoever after being exposed to near lethal doses of radiation?" she asked, incredulously. "Guess we must have a guardian angel," Nadia said. "Now, if you'll excuse us." "It doesn't make any sense. There should be some symptoms of residual radiation exposure, even if the two of you didn't become sick," Giselle said. "Oh I'm sorry, Dr Giselle?" Nadia asked, sarcastically. "My last name is Gabriel, and I'm not a doctor," Giselle said, trying to contain her anger. "Oh, well thanks for explaining things to me. It's nice," Nadia said. "Eight years of medical school and over a decade in practice is probably replaceable by a page of instructions." "I guess doctors are the worst patients," Giselle said, gritting her teeth. "Well, doctors make for the best doctors too," Nadia said, getting up. "How in the fuck are you a doctor anyways?" Giselle asked, bringing up a point she had been bothered about for a long time. "Your profile says you've had two kids, you're in your forties, and you've been a doctor in private practice for over a decade before doing government work. You look like you missed high school, what gives?" "Sorry, it's classified," Nadia said, grinning, the type of smile she reserved for people who were pissing her off. She hadn't smiled like that in some time. "No, it's not," Giselle, let slip something she knew a moment later she shouldn't have, and tried to hide how upset she was. "What?" Terra asked, having been quiet during the back and forth. "She's gone through the classified information on our personnel files," Nadia said coolly, surmising by her speech and her reaction. "She's done her homework and researched us, illegally of course, as those files weren't to be seen by anyone." "Yes, I did, it was part of my assignment," Giselle said in anger, saying things out loud she shouldn't even think too hard. "That's what makes everything about you two girls so crazy!" Giselle pointed at Terra, "She doesn't even have a personnel file, no diploma, no drivers license, no genetic identification on file, not even a picture on file!" "Well, it's so nice that you've gone through our personal history," Nadia said, trying to egg her on. "But that brings to bear the real question, what assignment was that? The resistance doesn't care about us that much, we're small bananas." "You're hardly small bananas, you're the, the daughter of an important military leader, who, who's sent his only child to help fight with us, and you, I mean Tom Pope, one of the foremost scientific minds of the last one hundred years has been kidnapped!" Giselle said, feeling stupid as she tried to cover her tracks. "I don't think so," Nadia said, stepping toward her. "I think that there's something you're hiding." "I think that there's something you're hiding," Giselle countered. "I think that there's something you're hiding," Nadia said in a singsong voice, mocking her, "Is that the best you come back with? We're going to our rooms." "No, actually, you're not," Giselle said. "Oh really?" Nadia asked, starting to get angry. "The engine room is still letting out radiation at a lethal level. Until we can remove the coolant and fix the problem, you're going to have to move your rooms. You're going to bunk together, on the sixth floor, room six-d" Giselle said. "I have to get my stuff," Terra said docilely. "Impossible, we're going to take the entire floor off of the power grid. Remember, we don't have much power left, and all of the lights, atmospheric recyclers, heating, every little bit of electricity needs to be conserved," Giselle said. "I have to get my bible, I promised my grandmother I would take care of it," Terra said, her voice more steady this time. "I'm sorry but we can't, it's just-" Giselle began saying. "She is getting her bible," Nadia said firmly. "It's a family heirloom passed down for hundreds of years, and if you don't want a holy war on your hands you will let her get it." "If it's so important to you we can get it when we get to Mars, if we can enact repairs there we can repressurize the entire area and get your precious book back," Giselle said. "Not good enough," Terra said. The two women next to her had been fighting vociferously, and even talking at a normal level made her feel meek. But she wasn't going to back down from this. "Okay, fine, I'll send someone in a space suit to go up and grab it for you. It'll take a few days until we have time to send someone up there, everyone's busy doing whatever they can to keep the ship full of oxygen and make sure we have food and water that isn't frozen," Giselle said. "Oh no," Nadia said, realizing she was reacting too quickly. "We're going to get it, right now. Let's go Terra." "You can't…" Giselle said, as the two of them went out the room, "Pain in the ass bitches!" she shouted at the slamming door, and pounded on the table. "What the heck was that about?" Terra asked as she followed Nadia in the hallway. "The cum Terra," Nadia said, realizing she didn't check for anyone. She was relieved the hallway was empty. "We cum like fire hoses, remember? She's too nosy." "I didn't think about that," Terra said. "And what if she sends a guy down in there to look, she's going to find a hundred loads of cum floating around in there," Nadia said, as the two got to the elevator. "You didn't have to be so rude," Terra pointed out, picking out the floor number. "She's hiding something, I want to know what it is," Nadia said. "So are we," Terra countered. "Maybe she has something to hide as well?" "Maybe, but if she's got something to hide then why is she digging through my personnel file? Why is she looking for one on you? And what happens if she checks out Yoshi's? There's only so many Mori Yoshi's, who have doctorates in biological sciences," Nadia remembered out loud. "I'm just, I'm starting to get afraid of who we're with. We jumped on this ship so quickly, but we didn't have a chance to investigate who these people are, what their motivations are, and I just, I don't know what I'd do if they tried to hurt me, or god forbid you," Nadia said. "I don't think she's trying to hurt us," Terra said plainly. "Maybe not, but she has some assignment she's working on, what is it? She's only supposed to be a liaison to the Martian resistance, why is she snooping around in classified files? How did she get them? The Planetary Parliament wouldn't send over classified information, and my father sure as hell wouldn't send my classified personnel file over, especially since I'm going there," Nadia said. "But, if we're here to help, wouldn't they want to know about us? I mean, about what good we would help them?" Terra asked. "Maybe," Nadia said, conceding a point. "I just get a vibe from her, like there's something going on that she's hiding, and I don't like what I don't know." "It seems like we all have secrets," Terra said, the hum of the elevator being the only response. * David's hands shook as he tried to keep order. He had done everything in his power to maintain control. Mentally he had forced himself to accept what had happened. 'Flynn is dead' he thought. 'I am in control of my emotions,' he kept telling himself. He had managed to suppress the tears, suppress the pain. Suppression was not the same as elimination. He had buried the pain deep down inside, but he could not remove it anymore than he could tear out the lingering pain in his heart for his father. He had buried himself in work, but unfortunately every corridor, every power junction, and every atmospheric vent seemed to remind him of Flynn. Sergio had already mentioned to him about his use of the stimulant packs. He knew he was overdoing them, but they helped, and he felt that he needed that crutch now. He didn't want to broadcast the fact that he was staving off sleep. So he sat in the room, looking down at the flower. He had finished it the day prior. Or at least what was the prior day, on a spaceship there was just time, not a passing of days. Their clock had been synchronized with the Earth time when they had landed, in an attempt to help their new passengers better acclimate to the travel of space. It didn't matter to him, the computer automatically changed all of the dates and times. He basically slept when he was tired, and oftentimes not even then. Even in sleep his fitful dreams would not allow him rest. He hadn't had much to keep him preoccupied, and so a chance to finish this little project was like a gift. He had completed the real work, now he had been applying a passive scanner, and a programmable display control, in order to affect how much light, and how much water should be input, and how often. His attention was interrupted as he listened outside of his door, hearing the sound of footsteps and talking. He anticipated someone trying to enter without knocking, as was the norm. The running joke with Paul was that he was going to walk in while David was masturbating, or 'cranking one out' as he referred to it. He was surprised when he heard the noise moving past. 'For the best,' he thought to himself. 'The last thing I need is for someone to come in and tell me how much they miss Flynn, or how hard this must be for me.' * Kyle sighed to herself as she took a break from exercising. She was working herself hard, and she knew it. She had worked herself harder, and now the time it took to ease her weary muscles was shorter. She was determined now to find a way to get off of Mars, to find a way to get back to her child. She smiled for a moment as she thought on about her child, her momentary daydream ripped apart an instant later at the realization of just how far she was away. No matter how much exercise she did, she could not seem to tire out the one muscle in her body that was constantly on the back of her mind. She didn't have the opportunity to relieve herself that often. Not relieve herself as in go to the bathroom, but relieve the pent up sexual frustration. She didn't know if it was the fact that she was locked up in a small place with nothing she would look at, or if it was the sheer size of her new appendage, but she felt a pent up frustration that was constantly reminding of her need for relief. She looked over at the door, Tom had left only a moment ago. 'If there were a time,' she thought to herself. She braced her feet against the wall, pushing her against it. Her body glided in air towards the toilet they provided. She looked down disappointingly at the facilities. It wasn't a matter of cleanliness, she and Tom had kept it in perfect working order. It was just the act of using it that was unpleasant to say the least. She assumed there was no camera, if there were they would have seen her extra appendage long ago. She sat down as best she could on the toilet. There was a place to strap herself onto, but she didn't feel comfortable using it. It wasn't a matter of Tom, but she had to wonder how often this ship had been used, and by whom. She pulled her sweatpants down, she could tell that she smelled badly, but there wasn't any way to shower. Working out tirelessly hadn't helped, but everyone smelled on this ship, and she had begun to just filter it out. As she looked down at her cock its existence still surprised her. She had to hide it ever since being captured, and she didn't have it for very long beforehand. She hadn't even had sex with it yet. Not that she was going to have the opportunity any time soon. She took the shaft of her cock, feeling it twitch in her hand. She reached down, feeling her ball sack, rubbing the twin testes, and relishing the feeling as she did. They felt heavier than usual, like they were full of cum. Kyle had finally understood what her male friends had been meant by the phrase 'blue balls'. She closed her eyes, trying to wish away where she was, wish away the pain, the absence she felt in her soul. She had tried all she could to bury her pain, focus her time and her energy on escaping. She knew that by now they were too far to have a chance. She didn't think that she could have stood a chance against everyone on the ship. It would be one thing if it was a suicide mission, take out as many as she could, maybe blow the damned thing up. But she couldn't take them all out and take control of the ship and steer it back. She closed her eyes, and began to fantasize. It was silly to her, but whenever she masturbated, she would always think back on her old grade school friend's sister. She was four years older than her, and was a blond bombshell. She used to wear mini skirts to tease all the boys, and when Kyle went over her friend's house she would wear skimpy towels barely covering her porcelain skin. It didn't take long for her to get a rise. She cupped her balls with one hand while her fingers flew across the shaft. She let out a content sigh, as she felt the blood engorge her member. It was harder and thicker than she remembered. The member itself pointed up to her chin. She smiled, her fingers reaching down below, her fingers hitting that magic spot over her snatch. She teased her clit for a moment, reveling in the feelings as her cock seem to thump with even more attention. She opened her leg up, feeling her body begin to move in the lack of gravity, she didn't care. She gave her hand better access to her dripping honey pot, and began rubbing her fingers across it, feeling the nectar of the long neglected orifice gather on her fingers. She brought them to her nose, smelling them perversely before bringing it to her cock, using her own juices as lubricant. It only took her hands a few more cycles to have enough to lube herself up. She felt her head slip back as she reveled in the feelings. It had been so long, and she had been so frustrated. It wasn't sexual tension from being together with Tom all day, he was like a doctor to her. It was a purely animal lust, a strictly primal desire to relieve the pent up pressure. Her hands began to work quicker, the lubrication greasing her shaft like a piston in a delicious sexual machine. She groaned, pushing a finger inside of her tight wetness as she continued to pinch and stroke the nub of her clit. Working the finger in and out, her mind seemed to subconsciously synchronize her masturbatory pleasures, groping her shaft at the same time frame as her finger filled her. She increased her pace, enjoying for the first time in too long pure delight. Her cock throbbed in tune with her heartbeat. Her mind was plastered with pleasure, and for now, if only a short time, she was happy. Her hips began to buck back and forth wildly as she felt herself getting close to orgasm. Her mind, through her horny haze, remembered the need to conceal her nanos. As she felt her oncoming orgasm approach, she recalled the incredible amounts of cum she had unloaded before. And that was after having a cock for only a short time, she hadn't cum in almost a week. She panicked, trying to come up with some place to hide her cum, which felt like it was positively churning in her balls. She knew she was close to cumming, but there wasn't any place for her to cum. Looking down at the short distance between her eyes and her cock, it suddenly came to her. Pushing her head down she opened her lips wide, her lips rubbing against the tip of her cock. It tasted salty and sweaty, she could already taste the pre cum dribbling out. She took both hands, rubbing her fingers against her to soak up lubrication before returning to the meat of her cock. Her tongue teased the tip as her fingers flew across her body like a blur. Kyle groaned into her cock as she came, she felt like a geyser as the built up cum blasted out. Kyle's body shook and trembled as she came hard, delight filling her brain as powerful rivets of cum blasted through her cock, filling her mouth. Kyle struggled to keep up with her cum, filling her mouth as quickly as she could drink it, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's. Her hands continued to work their way up and down, shooting the ropey strands of cum down her throat, emptying her full balls until they were empty. Kyle let her cock pop out of her mouth with a loud pop. Strands of her saliva and her semen soaked the head, and Kyle wiped it off with her hand, swallowing it along with the rest of the load. She looked down at herself, satisfied in a post masturbation happiness, but returned to her previous unhappiness. * "I swear, it felt like she started cutting the oxygen out," Nadia said as she took the elevator down. "I did get really sleepy," Terra admitted. "And my hands were shaky." "Just being a power bitch," Nadia said. Terra turned her head, giving a disapproving look. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, she just really got under my skin." "I understand Nadia," Terra said, moving the bible in her arm. "Just, you talked to me before about keeping it a secret." "And now I'm making it too easy to figure out," Nadia said. "I know, I know, I'm sorry, it's just she's been doing a lot of snooping, and she's going to have a lot of time to look into us." "But won't we have the same time?" Terra asked. "Yes," Nadia said, nodding her head. "But there isn't much that we can investigate. The time works against us, it gives us opportunity to slip up." "But what happens if we do, 'slip up'?" Terra asked. The door opened, and she followed Nadia through the door. "I don't know," Nadia said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Maybe I'm just chasing after ghosts in the dark. Maybe they wouldn't even know what to do if they figured it out. Maybe they would teach the world to sing in perfect harmony," Nadia said, looking at the confused look on Terra's face. She cracked a smile before saying "I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but I don't want to be unprepared." "I suppose," Terra said, passing by a door. She waited a moment, looking at it. "This is David's room, do you think we should, I don't know," she asked. "Pay our respects?" Nadia offered. "I don't know, he said he was going to go do some work before. He might be resting, or want to have some time alone," Nadia said, trying to mask the fact that she didn't want to talk to him. "We're going to be living next door to him now, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time." "That's true," Terra said, looking at the door. "I guess we'll talk the next time." * Josiah Smith turned the communication off. "That Capistrano is so boring, god I hate hearing him talk," he said, getting up. He reached into his pocket, grabbing a cigarette and lit it. "Bleh, even the smokes are getting lousy!" "It's an unfortunate side effect of the radiation, sir," Eve said, disappointed by the lack of interest generated by the communication. "I suppose so, is there ANYTHING for me to do that is in the least bit interesting?" he asked, not realizing how spoiled he sounded. "Your consort has awoken," Eve said, hoping to placate the PM. "Ah, now there's the first good news I've heard all day," Josiah said, as he went towards his chambers, smoke and ash following after him in a trail. Eve attended to him momentarily, shaking her head disapprovingly. * Amber laid on the bed, wearing a sexy set of lingerie, her long luxurious blond hair covering most of the pillow as she puffed hard on the hookah, feeling the effects of the opiate begin to draw the pain from her world. She wished that she could say that she had been forced into this life, but that would have been a lie. She had chosen this, she had been attracted to men in power in her life, and was naturally a submissive person. She had started as a high-class call girl with junior members of the senate, before working her way up the ladder. When the senate was disbanded, not only was her means of payment threatened, but her very life was as well. She was caught in the bed with a high-ranking senator, shortly after a rigorous bout of lovemaking. She remembered seeing Josiah Smith burst through the door, a malicious grin on his face as he described to John Dale the dissolution of the senate. 'With that ice cold bitch Eve right behind him' she thought. 'Poor John," she thought to herself, as she remembered that night. She didn't love him but he had been a kind lover, and generous with government money. He wasn't possessive, and she had her own life, free from worry. She had been scared then, but saw the way for her promotion. She got out of bed, naked, running towards the new emperor, pleading for a real man of power. 'Men are so easy, show some skin, stroke their ego, stroke their…' she thought to herself as she let out a long exhale. Josiah Smith was impressed with her quick loyalty to him. He grinned as though he had stolen John Dale's most prized possession. To him she was truly just a physical desire, and while he cared for her it was not love, yet he nevertheless didn't want to see that. She remembered as they made love in front of him, Eve holding the elder Dale back and forcing him to watch as Amber gave her best performance possible, moaning and groaning like a porn star at his every action as though he were some kind of sexual god. Crying out in false passion at every movement as though he was truly satisfying her, instead of the other way around. Ever since then she had been his consort. 'His main consort' she reminded herself, she knew that he had others. Many of them hadn't lasted much time in any case. She had seen young children, both boys and girls leave his chambers before. She had even seen former members of the senate, which didn't surprise her. He wasn't a compassionate lover by any means, he was in bed like he was outside, power hungry and self centered. She believed his perversion was rooted in his own sexual inadequacies. It wasn't his size, he was normal, maybe slightly larger than normal. But he suffered from erectile dysfunction and was a premature ejaculator. He had a strong disbelief of medication, stemmed from medication prescribed to him during his childhood. Amber remembered the beating she had gotten even mentioning about taking medication, which had been available for centuries. Amber's body had taken the brunt of his attacks, whenever he had the whim he would try out the latest sadistic action he had heard of. She had been beaten, whipped, chained up for hours, and endured more pain than she liked. She had to deal with perversions she had only heard joked about, and she had even been forced to make love with others, both men and women to please him. He had in countless three ways and orgies orchestrated, to satisfy his perverted desire. She had been no stranger to sex before she had met him, but now it was the root of her world. She knew that there would be no escape for her, so long as Josiah Smith lived. 'Even if that bastard died, the next one would probably want to either fuck me or kill me,' she thought, looking at the door. 'Okay, show time' she thought, putting the mouthpiece of the hookah back onto the base. Her face lightened into a warm smile, helped by the drugs, as he opened it wide. She could only imagine what was going to happen to her today, but she didn't believe she would like it. She hadn't liked what she was for so long she couldn't remember when she did like what she was. The drugs helped, a lot. * Terra sighed in frustration as she finished another book of the bible. Closing the book she looked down at it. It had been such a source of pleasure for her to read the book, reading about the creation of the Earth, of the first man and woman. Finishing the Book of Revelations was a less inspiring story, and had her wondering. She was coming to the theological questions that almost all Christians, in fact almost all people do. Why bad things happen to good people. Why evil is allowed to exist and succeed. Why good is inherently weaker. If there was a god and one was to prayer, what was the sense if the prayers weren't answered? It wasn't a lack of faith, but she was questioning her family's religion. Oftentimes the religion of the family is indoctrinated since birth, when the child accepts without question. Growing up through the ages, as the questions arise, the parent and clergy member are there to aid them in their spiritual search. Terra's mind was not that of a child, in fact her mind was far advanced, even for a woman of her body's perceived age. She was questioning everything she read, as one normally questions whatever information that they assimilate. Without the family indoctrination, without a spiritual leader, she was having troubles accepting everything. She still read, as it felt like she was connecting with her family. She could imagine her mother, and her grandmother, reading the bible, looking on their parent's lap at the words written on the page. It gave her a sense of connection, of togetherness even with family distances greater than she could imagine away. She was tired of reading though. She looked over at the sleeping body of Nadia, who had begun to snore lightly. Terra didn't want to wake her. Terra would not lie to herself, she did lust after Nadia's sleeping body, but she was torn. A part of her wanted nothing else than to make sweet passionate love to Nadia, but she worried about Nadia. It seemed as though ever since they had gotten into space, Nadia had become very worried, especially about their nanobots and their special carriage. She didn't want to give Nadia another thing to worry about, such as the huge quantities of physical evidence that was a byproduct of their lovemaking. And so she stayed her lust in hopes of staying Nadia's fear. She sat down, wondering what to do with herself. Even if she had television, movies, or some other kind of entertainment, the computer systems were down, in an attempt to conserve power as much as possible. She didn't know if she could have started something, as their computer seemed perfectly fine, but she didn't want to cause any problems. While searching her mind for some kind of momentary diversion, she recalled to herself the conversation that she and Nadia had earlier, regarding David. He was right next-door, and Terra had overheard that he kept odd hours. She had tried to speak to him earlier at the service but Sergio had sidetracked her. She stood herself up, walking out the door as quietly as the boots allowed. It sounded like rubber slamming against metal, but when Terra checked back as she closed the door, it had made no noticeable difference to Nadia's slumber. She walked next door, knocking slightly on the door twice. "It's open!" came David's voice from inside. Terra turned the handle, and found David's body at work on his desk. "Oh, hey, I didn't expect you," David said honestly, as he sat there. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," Terra said, stepping in. "I just wanted to talk to you." "About Flynn, right?" David asked, putting his work down. "Yeah, if, if that's alright," Terra said. "It seems to be everyone's favorite topic," David said. "Most people here don't really know much about loss anyways, so they don't give me a lot of advice." "I've lost my mother just a while ago. She wasn't killed, but I don't know if I'll ever see her again," Terra said, surprised at how easily she opened herself up. "I know a little bit about loss." "I'm sorry to hear that," David said, hearing it for the first time. "How's your dad taking it?" "I, I don't, have a father," Terra said. "Oh, I, I'm sorry, I should have, I mean with M-day," he blurted out, trying to make up for his own insensitivity. "You know what?" David said, as rubbed his neck. "I know everyone acts like me and Flynn were brothers, that we were the best of the best friends, or something. I'll be honest, he was my best friend on this ship, but I haven't known him for all that long." "But still, I, I mean you were crying," Terra said, trying her best to tip toe around the subject. "Yeah, I was, I admit it," David said, feeling the soreness in his throat. "He died, and I was sad. Hell I'm still sad. It's a terrible thing to have a friend die, hell it's a terrible thing for someone to die, okay!" "Oh, okay," Terra said. She could feel the sadness that he felt, and wanted to reach out to him, but felt powerless once more to help someone. She didn't want to force this out of him, Nadia had told her about how some people bottle it up inside. She didn't want him to let it out violently. "Look, I'm sorry, it's just everyone has come by and talked to me like I was his brother, like I deserve to be paid his respects. He has a mom, and a dad, and a sister, they deserve to have respects paid. I just knew him pretty well," David said, venting a little bit. He tried to pull it back inside, not wanting to unwind himself. "I know half of the people here expect me to be some pathetic blubbering mess of tears and snot, but that won't do me any good now." "I'm sorry," Terra said. "I guess I thought that a little bit too. I didn't think you were going to be pathetic, but I cried when my mom was taken from me, when my friends were close to being dead." "Yeah, well," David said, trying to come up with some kind of reply. "Is that…my flower?" Terra asked, stepping towards David and the flowerpot, hovering above the desk. "Oh uh, yeah, after I was rude in the dock there I wanted to make it up to you," he said, turning towards the flower. "I'm almost done, it's actually holding up really good." "I haven't thought about this in days, I just assumed it was sitting on the bottom of some trash pile," Terra said, her hands running alongside the flower. "Yeah, well I came up with a way to get it to work. I mean they have had these grow lights for over five centuries, even though those were primitive. It allows for the photons necessary for photosynthesis. The real issue was getting the dirt to stay together, in order for the plant to get the nutrients. The important thing is keeping a constant soil moisture correct, with the lack of gravity, the water will maintain it's cohesiveness, and that will keep the dirt together," he said, as Terra stepped over, standing just above him. She picked up the flower, looking at it. The reddish orange hue coming from the light gave off an odd glow, making the flower seem different. She raised the flower to her face, smelling it. Her face twisted in an odd contortion as her nose was assaulted by a powerfully pungent odor. "What's wrong?" David asked, concerned. 'The flower should be fine,' he thought to himself. "I, I smell bad," Terra said sheepishly. She wasn't the most vain of people, but when she lifted the flower to her nose, her open arms emitted a most foul stench. She had spent days on the ship, and the accumulation of a body's normal odor combined with her bouts of intense physical activity had begun to collect. "Yeah," David said, getting a dirty look. "No offense Terra, we all stink. I haven't taken a shower in so long I can't remember. There isn't a whole lot you can do about it. Inside all of the bathrooms there are moist towelettes, you can use them to take a French shower." "A what?" Terra asked, confused at the term. She had been told that nobody could take a shower here, and didn't understand what one's nationality would have to do about it. "It's a French shower, it's where you wipe yourself down and get rid of as much of the sweat and smell off of you as you can, without taking a shower," David explained. "It's named after the French, who have, well let's just say they don't keep themselves as clean as they should." "Oh, okay," Terra said, storing that in her mind. "Wait, I've got something," he said, opening a drawer. Inside floated a half dozen containers of cologne. "Here, I usually use this to keep off the funk." He said, handing it to Terra. She examined the plastic green bottle, before unscrewing the cap she lifted it to her nose, taking a big whiff and pulling her head away a moment later. "Heh, yeah it's a little strong," David said. "Just use a little bit. It's not as nice smelling as perfume, but I've always liked the smell of it. 'The Essence of Men' or so it's called. Just dab a little on your, well, wherever you want." "Thanks," Terra said. "I'm almost done working on the flower, it'll only take me another day or so. I just haven't been sleeping too much, and it's easier for me to have something to do than just lay around," David said, covering up his reason for staying awake. "Oh, well, I guess I'll let you get back to that. I should get to bed anyways," Terra said, lifting the bottle of cologne in her hand before saying "Thanks for this, and, and for fixing my flower." "It's been nice to have something to do, I haven't had much of a chance to use my brain," David said honestly. "Pleasant dreams." "Thanks, you too. I don't want to make you sound pathetic, but, um, if you need to talk, maybe, I don't know, maybe I could help you, or just be around to, to listen," Terra started, as she put the cologne in her pocket. "Thanks," David said, as he watched Terra go out the door, closing it behind her. He was surprised at the conversation. Giselle, Sergio, Paul, John, the list went on, of everyone who had come in. Everyone said the same stock responses. How sorry they were, how badly they felt, how much they were going to miss him. It was far beyond what he was used to dealing with, he was more withdrawn. Everyone had assumed this had broken him and that he was to be some shell of a man, worthy of their sympathy, their pity. 'She's different' he thought to himself as he stared at the door where she had been only a moment earlier. She didn't have any pretenses about how sad it was to lose Flynn, or how close the two had been. She didn't come here with some story about him. 'She came in to see how I felt. It wasn't pity,' David thought to himself. He grinned for the first time in a while, before burying it down with the rest of his emotions. He didn't want to lose control now. * Sergio struggled to keep his eyes open as his body lumbered to the door. He was beyond tired, beyond weary, he was to the point of utter exhaustion. He had been awake for longer than he could remember, and sober for longer than he could remember. 'Time to change both of those,' he thought to himself. He planned on having a bottle and a night's worth of sleep before doing any more work. By tomorrow the engine room should be drained of the coolant, enough for him to at least recover his body, and try to piece together what happened. It was his duty as captain to find Flynn's body, and he wanted to save up on his sleep now before he had that image to haunt it. He turned the corner, seeing Terra exit the room. He almost let it go before he looked on, realizing that it wasn't her room, it was David's. He was going to go right by her, and continued on. "Hello," he said, cock-eyed. "Oh, hello," Terra said, walking down the hall to the next door. "How's the ship?" "She's a strong girl, she just hurts in here," Sergio said, knocking his fist onto his chest twice. "Oh," Terra said, not really understanding. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help." "I'll keep that in mind. I'll talk to you later, I need to get some rest," Sergio said. "Me too, goodnight," Terra said, as she entered the door. As she closed it Sergio looked back at the door. He could swear he smelt the lingering scent of that cologne that David wore. He looked back at David's door, and grinned. 'Atta boy' he thought to himself. 'Atta boy!' (This file was created by SomeRandomBastard (at) yahoo (dot) com, so send all flames there. Don't use without permission, and don't claim it's yours. Spread freely as long as this and the disclaimer above as well as the story entirely are untouched, unedited, and worshipped for the holy script they are not.) A critique, comments, flames, any responses are welcome, if they are pro, and then I'll consider making more. Don't be a jerk; send me a simple 2-minute or less message saying, hey, this was good. Thanks. Wow, so hard. http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/srb/www/