Posted by Ripper on December 16, 2003 at 20:48:19:
After the second entry, the holographic book from the future has a gap. This gap is like many other gaps in this tangled record. The gap covers a period that could be anywhere from a few days to several decades. The book does not track characters across the gaps. For example, the character named "Dan" could be a different person in each fragment.
This fragment starts with an interview of "Grey", a factory manager in Osawatomie, Kansas.
Yours,
XZZY
"We have done wonders since the liberation," Grey boasted, "Let me show you the works."
"That is what I am here for," I replied. As soon as the all clear sounded, we unbolted the shelter door.
At the door's threshold Grey held me back. "To survive here you must learn the rules," Grey warned, "Never trust the all clear siren with your life. Always use your own ears and eyes. First, listen for lawyer words. Then look in the air for lawyer bombers. Only then can you safely go outside."
We crawled outside the door. The daylight was blinding. Grey noticed my pronounced squint.
"Darkness is another one of the rules, too," Grey said, "That is why we make sunglasses." He handed me a pair and I put them on.
"That must be hard on people. It must be especially hard on children," I pondered.
Grey replied, "Yes, the kids get only a few minutes of sunlight a day except during winter storms, the damn lawyers can't fly in the snow. We have to watch our children very carefully then. Even adults prefer the pain of frostbite over the cramped isolation of the shelters."
Grey paused. He was obviously very weary. "Our research boys are working on sun lamps," Grey said meekly.
Together, we followed a twisting trench until we came to a fork. On the right side there was a sign with 10 CM high day-glow orange letters on a black background.
The sign simply said, ‘STAY OUT'.
We came to another shelter door. Someone was just opening it from the inside as we arrived.
"Nice day," the voice behind the door said.
"There is nothing like Kansas in late winter," I said.
"Many of us have lost track of the seasons," the voice said.
The voice belonged to a rather shapely teenage girl. Except for a welder's face-mask, an apron, and work boots, she was naked. The apron could not hide her shapely ass and generous thighs. Her young breasts forced a fold even in the thick apron.
She pulled off the mask. Her face had the best of both European and Asian features. Her face, like her skin, was untanned.
"The name is Rose," She offered.
"What do you do here?" I asked.
She answered, "For the next couple of days, I am an apprentice welder."
"So you've got a promotion," I concluded.
"Well, I guess you might call it that. Friday morning I finally become meat!" Rose chuckled.
You could sense her joyous anticipation. Her hardening breasts more sharply defined the fold in her apron.
Rose noticed my stare. "Do you like what you see?" she wanted to know.
I answered immediately, "Yes."
"You and Rose can get to know each other later," Grey said. "We have a tour to complete," he continued.
A loud blast from a siren punctuated Grey's statement.
"Air raid! Take cover," Grey commanded.
As the three of us dove for the door, I grabbed Rose's ass. I gave it a pinch.
"Ouch!" Rose screamed. "Don't you get fresh with me big boy," she teased, "My shift ends at 16:00."
"I live in cell 3, K block, number 2," she said in an inviting whisper.
"I see that I will not have to find lodging for you," Grey said, "I like problems that take care of themselves."
He went on to explain that quarters were cramped. A steady flow of refuges came down Freedom Road. No matter how many people dug, shelter space was always short.
Rose ran back into the shelter. "Break is over," she said for Grey's benefit, "Got to get back to work,"
Grey bolted the shelter door shut.
Electric lighting and rag torches barely lit the insides of the shelter. When my eyes adapted to the dark, I took off my new sunglasses. I gasped at what I saw. Before me was a cave large enough to hold a football field. Busy workers and machines covered every square centimeter of the cave's floor.
"What looks like a complete tangle is actually quite organized," Grey explained, "If you look very closely you will see the same unit repeated many times."
I looked at the floor. Yellow lines divided it. Seven workers and 5 machines toiled in each division.
"We call it flexible manufacturing. Each cell can manufacture any part of any product," Grey continued, "Another rule we must live by: Everything must be duplicated. We have 6 caves exactly like this. We are building 4 more just like it." After a pause, he said, "There is only one singular irreplaceable thing here, the city of free Osawatomie itself."
"Besides sunglasses, what do you make here?" I asked.
"Whatever the cannibal revolution needs," Grey responded. "We make weapons like the famous 06 and the common sense grenade, ammunition, food and food processing machines, motorized skateboards, and a thousand other things," Grey listed. "We even make our own capital goods, the tools and machines that make everything. We make them here too!" he bragged.
We climbed down to the main floor of the cave.
"Let me show how a single manufacturing cell works," Grey began a well-rehearsed lecture.
"Wait a minute!" I interrupted, "That cell has 8 workers, not the usual 7."
"Very sharp. Yes, you are right," he replied, "Your friend Rose is training a replacement." Grey went on, "In Osawatomie, female workers are hard to keep. They make the trip down Freedom Road for a date with our erotic butchers. Once they see one of our food preparation machines in action, their mind is on nothing else. Every woman in Osawatomie wants a trip to the carving table. More women come every day. There is a long waiting list."
"Rumor has it that your new girlfriend slept herself to the top of that list. Even by Osawatomie's high standards, Rose is a gold medal sexual athlete," Grey whispered. "She got in early by getting 'assigned' to do a 'product test' on the food processor her group is assembling," Grey winked.
As we passed by Rose's cell, I looked for her. Suddenly, I felt something attack my groin.
"Ow!" I yelled.
I turned around. Rose had pinched my cock.
"Now we're even," she said.
My erection was visible through my pants. I tried to hide it.
"Please, follow me through this tunnel. I have something to show you," Grey said as he ignored Rose.
We arrived at an elevator. Grey closed the door and pressed a button. The elevator went down through solid rock for several minutes.
At the bottom, Grey said, "Let me show you cannibalism's most important military secret."
We walked 40 meters through a small tunnel. We opened and closed three bolted doors as we traversed the tunnel. Each door looked like the shelter's outside doors, but they were built with thicker steel. A large metal chain connected the doors. It somehow restrained the three doors so that only one door could open at once. Closing the preceding door unlocked the next door.
After we bolted the last door, we walked through another tunnel. This tunnel was half as long as the first. A peculiar green glow lit the end of the tunnel.
The tunnel stopped at a cavern that was about a quarter of the size of the workshop above. A large metal sphere stood in the center of the cave. The sphere produced a ghostly green glow that filled the room.
"This is where we keep truth," Grey pointed.
"You mean the stuff that blows-up lawyer's heads?" I asked.
"Yes," Grey answered. "Highly Refined Truth is very powerful stuff. This entire complex stores only a small fraction of a gram. Truth is extremely reactive. The nearest lawyer may be many miles away. Yet 2000 meters of rock and a meter of lead barely form a shield. The green light you see comes from the interaction of the HRT and lawyer lies that leak through all the rock and shielding," Grey explained.
I noticed some smaller doors surrounding the main cavern. Each door had a thick pipe that went from the HRT containment to the wall just above the door.
A noise from the direction of our entrance distracted me. The third door opened. Rose and another girl were pushing a cart full of shiny machine parts. While the other girl closed the door, I smiled at Rose. Rose and her coworker both giggled back. The two girls pushed their cart through one of the smaller doors. They left that door open.
Grey asked, "Do you want to see where we get the HRT?"
"Yes, please," I replied.
We started walking toward the open door.
Grey's rehearsed lecture continued, "The pipes over your head move the HRT from the processing room into the containment. They have a two meter outside diameter, and a 1 millimeter inside diameter. The thick walls of the pipe contain lead. We have to be very careful with HRT."
We walked through the door. In the center of the room was a partially assembled food processor. Rose and her companion were installing the parts on the cart.
"Do you think that you will have that thing together in time for Friday's demonstration, Rose?" Grey asked.
"I wouldn't miss Friday's test for my life," Rose clucked.
Rose returned to her work with renewed passion. I watched for a minute. Then Grey motioned me to leave.
We retraced our steps through the three doors. As the elevator took us upstairs, Grey asked another rhetorical question.
"Do you want to see what you are here for?" he asked.
"You didn't need to ask," I responded.
We made our way back through the underground plant to the entrance. I could hear the bombs from the air raid. I could make out some of the lawyer words.
"Deposition, Compel, Duplicity," the bombs said.
"Air raids last about an hour. We will have to wait," Grey said.
Grey nervously checked the bolts on the door. When he saw that the door was tightly closed, he relaxed.
We waited. Grey and I had a staring contest as we listened to the bombs fall.
Grey broke the silence, "I should use this time to prepare you for what you are about to see." In a whisper he continued, "We try not to let the general population know about this. It could destroy morale."
I had to strain to listen while Grey gave his lecture.
"When one of those bombs hits someone, the lawyer word inside it attacks their intellect. They lose their soul. After all, the lawyers invented those words to paralyze their victims," he said.
"I have seen the results. It is pretty ugly," I said.
Without hearing my statement, he kept on, "While we are safe in underground Osawatomie, our comrades suffer. The bombers maul our supply caravans frequently. Many of the injured manage to reach us.
We have to care for these bomb victims. They eat food, and we must feed them. They live in caves, and we must dig a home for them. They cannot freeze, and we must keep them warm. We need every worker we have, including the women, to provide for the wounded."
My attention drifted. Would Grey ever stop lecturing? I noticed that the interval between the bombs had grown longer.
"It sounds like the raid is ending," I offered.
"Remember what I told you. You have simply GOT to be SURE that it is all clear! Your life depends on it. All our lives depend on it. Hell yes, even the whole damn revolution depends on it! You are here to cure our bomb victims. So try not to become one yourself!" Grey scolded, "You are the only one we have with a background in Psychology!"
It was the first time I had ever seen Grey lose his temper. When I joined the revolution, I thought I had left grad-school behind me. What a resume I had! Starting as a Psychology student, I became a sniper. Now, the sniper must return as a clinical psychologist. I had forgotten nearly everything about Psychology during my years in the field. However, I was the best Psychologist the movement could find.
Grey continued his rant, "Do you remember the HRT room? Did you notice that all the processing rooms were empty? We haven't snuffed a woman in weeks, AND WE ARE FIGHTING A WAR FOR CANNIBALISM. We simply can't afford the manpower, or the woman-power. We have to take care of our wounded."
The all clear sounded. Grey put his ear to the door.
"SSSHH!" he said, "Let's be sure!"
"What do you hear?" I asked.
"No more bombs, We are safe," Grey said, "Let's go see the injured. We are going out of the trenches, so you will need this too."
Grey reached into a box near the door and handed me a 06. I returned to old habits. I quickly checked the action. It was loaded. After setting the safety, I put the loaded weapon on my back and adjusted the sling. I had forgotten my Psychology, but I still retained the habits of war.
Grey unbolted the door. He pushed the door. It only opened a crack. He put his weight against it.
"I have a problem here!" Grey said, "We will have to go to another exit."
It took both of us to close the door again. Grey carefully checked the seals on the door. He pulled a pen and paper from his pocket and made a sign. The sign said, ‘ENTRANCE BLOCKED - STAY OUT'. We walked back down to the factory. Grey posted his sign. The two of us then went up into another tunnel. This door opened.
Grey said, "We should see what is blocking that door. That will mean a detour. We will get to the clinic later.
We climbed the walls of the trench beyond the door. The scene around us looked surprisingly natural. If one could remove the trenches and Freedom Road, only the Kansas prairie would remain.
Something else intruded on the prairie scene. The children and workers from below had come out into the sun.
"The stuck door should be that way," Grey pointed.
We walked to the edge of a trench. Grey looked down below.
"FREEZE!" he yelled, "Get down!"
I did exactly what Grey ordered. I waited a few tense seconds. My brain was struck dumb, but my body remembered what I learned in the war. There was never time to think on the battlefield. All my lessons from the war were physical, not intellectual.
I crawled over to Grey and looked down into the trench. A large brown object was wedged against the door.
"We have an unexploded bomb," Grey stated.
He pulled a whistle from his pocket. He repeatedly blew two long blasts. The sunbathers ran back into the underground. Soon, the air raid siren sang the same simple tune.
We carefully went down into the trench.
Grey warned, "This is as close as we should get."
We walked more than 100 meters down the trench. The trench turned. We both knew what I had to do. Grey followed the turn in the trench for a few more meters. He stopped and covered his ears tightly.
I had my job too. A crack in the wall of the trench made good shelter. I crouched down behind it. I tried to expose as little of my flesh to that damned bomb as I could. I un-slung the 06. I removed the safety, sighted, and squeezed the trigger.
"JUDICIAL REVIEW," the bomb exploded.
It felt like a 5pound sledgehammer striking me in the head. My brain was on fire. Time slowed. All reality moved in slow motion. I fell down. I don't remember hitting the floor of the trench.
"Wake-up! Wake-up, Dan!" Grey insisted. When the world stopped spinning, I got to my feet. Grey was looking down at the ground. He was lost in thought.
"That bomb had a delayed fuse," he said. After a moment he continued, "Lawyers have rules for everything, even war. Delayed fuses are prohibited by those rules. Why would they drop bombs like this now?"
I was still dazed. "Why is Grey playing ‘20 questions' with me?" I thought to myself.
"Lawyers have a way around their rules," I answered out loud, "Yesterday's rules don't bind them."
Grey winced. He didn't say anything, but his body language shouted. He could not accept my answer.
We continued down the trench. I had a terrific headache. The KEEP OUT sign was behind the next switch back. Several switchbacks beyond that sign the trench ended in another steel door. Grey opened it. We crossed the threshold. While Grey sealed the door, I took off the 06 and put it in a nearby stand.
The layout was identical to the factory. There was a large cavern at the end of the entrance tunnel. I took off my sunglasses. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see the floor below. This was not a factory. There were no machines with workers tending them. Cots covered the entire floor, and the floor was the size of a football field. Every cot held an invalid. The cave was quiet. Only a few nurses scuttled between the cots.
I ruined the silence, "Wow! So many people hurt."
"There are too many. Too many to care for, and we get more every day," Grey complained.
"Were they all hit by lawyer shells?" I asked.
"Every one of them," Grey answered, "After they are struck, they do not heal. Let me show you one of our first patients."
We waded across the sea of cots. None of the patients noticed us. The victims looked awake, but they were not aware. They starred intensely, but they could not see a thing.
At the other end of the cave, a nurse met us. The nurse was a delicious black beauty in her mid-twenties. She was large in both dimensions. Her ass and thighs were sumptuous, round, and firm.
I thought silently, "What a tasty banquet she would make!"
Grey introduced us, "Monica, this is Dan, our Psychologist. Dan this is Monica one of our volunteer nurses." Can you show him our first patient?" he politely asked.
Monica went over to a nearby cot. She gently lifted a young woman from her cot. The patient took two tiny steps and fell back into her cot. She was too sick to walk. I went over to make a bedside examination. My headache limited my thinking. Still, there are some memories that nothing can kill.
"TERRY!" I cried.
"You remember the day you broke the blockade, Dan?" Grey questioned.
"I will remember that day AND TERRY forever," I came back.
I masked my excitement with a clinical detachment. I examined my former lover. Her underlying condition had not changed. The old problem had a total lock on her brain. She had new problems, too. Years of bed rest had weakened her. Her skin was white. Her body had lost the golden tan that she once had.
"I assume you have her on an exercise program?" I asked Nurse Monica.
"Yes," she answered.
I continued my interrogation, "Have any tests for physical injury been positive?"
"No, all attempts to find a physical injury have failed. We now believe that the condition is not physical. Exposure to lawyer words destroys behavior only," the nurse recited.
"Have differing stimuli been provided?" I pondered.
Monica was expecting my questions.
"Yes, we've tried everything. We even injected HRT. The subjects remain catatonic," Monica spoke in monotone.
I looked at Terry and clapped my hands in front of her face. Terry did not move. The simple stimulus-response test was negative.
I thought a minute. My time in graduate school was behind me. I didn't finish school. I joined the revolution and became a sniper. It was hard to pretend that I knew something about Terry's illness.
Expecting another one word answer, I asked, "Have you tried taking the victims away from the hospital environment?"
I did not expect the answer nurse Monica returned.
She replied, "No, these patients need constant attention. We can only provide care in a clinical setting."
I continued the show. The scam was going well. It was fun to act like I knew what I was doing.
"Hmm," I said.
Grey began to see through my act.
"Why don't you take Terry with you, Dan? Then, you can keep her under your personal observation," Grey interjected.
Grey had put an end to my act.
"Sounds like a good idea. If that is okay with the staff, I would like to do that," I returned.
Monica took a deep breath. The questioning was over. She looked relieved.
"You can take Terry now, Dan. I will process the necessary paperwork later," she said.
With Grey and I under each shoulder, Terry walked to the tunnel entrance. Halfway across the floor I turned my head to get one last look at Monica's ass.
I remembered a line from a cookbook, "Season to taste, garnish, and bake 5 hours in a slow oven."
"What a sweet treat!" I thought to myself.
We had to carry Terry to the surface.
When we got to the door, Grey listened for danger.
"The lawyer bombers have not returned," Grey stated, "The pauses between raids are not usually this long."
"They didn't usually drop bombs with delayed fuses either," I added.
We stood in silence for a while.
"That's it!" Grey snapped. "The lawyer bombers didn't expect to come back. They knew that this was their last raid. So they left unexploded bombs to do their dirty work for them," Grey concluded.
"Are the lawyers out of words now?" I questioned.
Everyone within earshot of me started laughing. Grey laughed so hard he had hiccups. Terry's face did not change. It still held the same blank expression.
"You can't run a lawyer out of words, Dan," Grey scolded. He explained, "Our intelligence warned us that this would happen. Lawyers attack anything that runs free, just like sharks come to blood. There are few things freer than an airplane. Well, those god damn lawyers have sued their own air force out of the skies!"
"Just like they did to the cars?" I wondered.
"Yes, just like the cars," Grey concluded, "They stopped all the cars first."
Grey reached for a field telephone near the door.
"Hello?" he questioned. "Get me command," he demanded. "Does anyone see any more airplanes?" he queried. "Well those lawyers have done it this time. Imagine that, suing their own air force," he replied to the distant voice on the telephone.
Grey smiled and said, "Well, let's make hay while the sun shines. Have the sappers check for more bombs. Blow the all-clear when you're ready. Give the workers the rest of the day off. Invite everyone to come outside!"
"Oh! Tell research that we don't need those sun lamps anymore. Better get them started on sun tan oil instead," he chuckled.
Grey stole a glance in my direction.
"I haven't time to show you around now. I'll see you at Rose's sexecution tomorrow at nine in the HRT room," he said quickly.
Grey got back into the telephone conversation. I don't think he even heard me reply, "OK."
I helped Terry into the sunlight and stripped off her hospital gown. Her backside, from her thighs to her neck, was covered with bedsores. She didn't respond to the sunlight or to her nakedness.
It was a major struggle to lift Terry over the top of the trench wall. We stood naked and sunned ourselves till sundown. Then, I remembered my date with Rose, 16:00 cell 3, K block, number 2. How was I going to explain why I was late? Better yet, how could I explain Terry?
After asking for directions, Terry and I arrived at Rose's apartment. I was two hours late. Terry had shown some progress. She was learning to walk for herself. I knocked. Rose opened the door.
She immediately spotted Terry and said, "Who is that?"
I tried to explain, "This is Terry. She is my patient. She was hit by a shell during the opening of Freedom Road."
"I see. You want to try a Manage trois?" Rose interrupted. "Sounds like fun!", she grinned.
She led us through the door into her small one room abode. It was 3 by 5 meters. A large bed (too large a bed for just one girl) dominated the left side. The other side contained a sink, a desk, and a bookcase. There were no books in the bookcase. A few random dishes rested on one shelf of the bookcase.
"Glad you finally made it," she nagged. "You wouldn't leave a girl's alone on her last night, would you?" she asked without expecting an answer.
"If you're hungry, there's some granola on the shelf," she offered. She continued, "They turn the heat off in a few minutes. It is going to get cold in this rabbit hutch. Let's get to bed. You can put your clothes over there."
We all stripped together. I munched a Granola bar and forced another bar past Terry's lips.
"What is wrong with your friend?" Rose questioned.
I made a second try to explain Terry; "My PATIENT Terry is a bomb victim. She has been catatonic for years. Look at the bedsores on her back."
Rose ignored my rationalization and jumped on the right side of the bed. I helped Terry to the left side of the bed and jumped into the center. While I pulled the covers up, Rose grabbed my balls.
"Ouch!" I said.
She gently began stroking my member. I reached for her cunt and rubbed it.
"Hey!" Rose said, "So it is an eye for an eye."
In less than a minute we had turned each other on. I mounted Rose's small frame. With each forward thrust, I felt my dick penetrating her. Half of me wanted to continue fucking her forever. But my other half, the animal half, had a load to deliver. Rose and I shoved our bodies together. We wanted every millimeter of penetration. We both climaxed.
"Wow!" Rose said, "Can you and your gal Terry top that one?"
"Terry is my patient. She can't make love. She has no soul. She ran into a lawyer shell when we broke the blockade on Freedom Road. I hope that a change of environment from the infirmary will improve her condition. There is nothing wrong with her physically. The right combination of stimuli could help her regain her personality," I explained to Rose for the third time.
Rose shrugged. I think she finally understood. She didn't seem like a slow learner. I guess her mind was on the upcoming 'test' of the food processor. Tomorrow was a big day for Rose.
I glanced over at Terry. She had not moved since I put her to bed.
I shut my eyes and thought about what I had seen today.
"A-Humm! A-Humm!" went the alarm clock.
"Time to get up," Rose sung.
I rolled over to my left. I could not find Terry. I jumped out of bed.
"Where is Terry?" I worried.
Rose pointed to the heap of clothes across the room. Terry had tried to dress herself. This was the first constructive behavior I had seen from Terry since her injury.
"My patient is doing better today," I concluded.
Rose was still naked.
"I have got to take a shower. I've got to get clean. I wouldn't want to spoil your dinner," Rose teased.
I removed Terry's clothes. The three of us went naked to the community shower. Overnight, Terry had changed. She was more aware. Instead of staring into empty space, she was focusing on objects around her. She didn't need my help to walk either.
We started the showers. Terry reacted to the cold water. I adjusted the temperature for her.
"Do you think I will taste good?" Rose wanted to know.
"You tasted good in bed last night," I willingly answered.
I grabbed both of her breasts and squeezed.
"OOOHH!" Rose moaned.
At that moment, I had a monster hard-on. I pushed Rose back against the shower wall and hugged her tightly. My penis jabbed into her cunt.
"OOOHH! OOOHH!" Rose continued to moan.
I rammed Rose into the wall repeatedly. Each time we joined a bit closer. We had to. We had to. Suddenly, we both climaxed. We were.
"OOOHH! WOW!" Rose gasped.
I dragged Rose by the breasts back under the shower. We sat there for a couple of minutes.
"Thank you for sending me out with a bang," she smiled.
"You tasted good this time too. You will always be A-prime with me," I assured her.
Our eyes connected.
Rose whispered seductively, "Thanks Dan."
Together, we savored the moment. Rose alone knew when that moment ended.
"I got an important date. Let's go," she said.
I motioned to Terry and the three of us left the showers. When we arrived at Rose's apartment, Terry tried to dress herself. I had to help her. Rose and I had one last kiss. Rose did some final housekeeping. Somehow all this chaos produced three clothed human beings.
"Here are the keys to the apartment. I won't need them anymore," Rose offered.
I took the keys. Rose's statement ended further conversation. She knew her fate. She wanted it. She traveled Freedom Road for it. She worked for it. She schemed for it. Nothing more needed to be said.
We started for the cave. It was an uneventful trip. Terry managed to climb the trenches without any help.
When we arrived at the HRT room, it was crowded. It looked like the entire population of Osawatomie was there. Even a few representatives from the injured were there. They were there physically, but not mentally.
Rose climbed on top of a control panel.
"Hello everybody! Let's do it," she said cheerfully.
Everyone focused his or her attention on Rose as she stripped. Some of the bomb victims were also looking her way. Rose threw her clothes into her large audience. When she finished her striptease, her spectators clapped and cheered.
The cheers of the crowd changed Rose. With each cheer she quickened the pace of her performance. She gave to her audience. They returned her gifts. Her naked body looked strange in the green light.
Following her lead, the crowd stripped too. Rose danced while the masses removed their clothes. Then she headed for the processing room where she had installed the new machine.
She couldn't get close to her destination. The little processing room was already full with people. If you just added some olive oil, the room would have turned into a giant can of people sardines.
"People! People! People!" A loud voice spoke, "The processing room is too small for all of us. Remember, you can get a front row seat on our live closed circuit TV."
I looked for the source of the voice. I glanced around the mammoth HRT storage chamber. Like a working sheep dog, Grey was trying to herd the crowd.
"Men and meat in the processing room only," Grey commanded.
A familiar female voice responded, "I have been waiting to be processed for 5 years now! Why don't I get in?"
I tried to see who was talking.
The voice continued, "I came down Freedom Road for the final love. I couldn't stand those sterile lawyers, but this is just as bad. How come that trollop can get carved and I can't even sit in the same room? How did she get to the head of the list in a few months?"
I found the voice. It was Nurse Monica. Her naked rump looked so appetizing. Oh how I wanted to take a bite!
Many other women in the crowd echoed Monica's sentiments.
"Why do I have to wait? Can't I get eaten today too?" Another woman said.
Grey tried to prevent the women from rioting.
"We have a war to win. We have got to put our lives on hold until victory day," he reminded the women. He included one final plea, "Now let Rose finish her demonstration, please."
The angry women in the crowd quit the scene first. Others followed. I could hear the 3 chained doors in the background. The crowd was leaving.
I still had Terry with me. I sneaked her into the processing room just as the door was sealed. Rose was the only one that seemed to notice us. Rose walked over to us.
"What part of me do you want, Dan?" she offered.
A powerful impulse took control of me.
"I would like your ass," I demanded.
I grabbed Rose's ass with both my hands. With more strength than I knew I had, I picked her off her feet and set her on my knee.
"That hurts," Rose complained.
From a nearby carving table I picked up a knife. I forced the tip of the blade about a centimeter into Rose's flesh. I carved "DAN" in large letters on her ass.
"SSEEE!!" Rose screamed.
"I would like your right rump," I said.
When I let go of her Rose she stood up. The men in the room were cheering and laughing. Rose was crying. She hugged and kissed me.
Rose stood up on the scaffold next to her machine. The men gave her a rousing ovation. Several men jumped on the platform and tried to eat Rose raw. She pushed them off. Then, Rose found a rag behind the machine and wiped the blood off her butt. Her rump continued bleeding. She continued anyway.
Some men from her work unit jumped up on the platform with her. First, they checked the machine. Next, the men helped Rose. Rose put her hands behind her back and a helper tied them together at the wrists and the elbows. Rose kneeled face down over the machine. Some other helpers strapped her down. They tightened Rose down until she was completely immobilized. Then they fitted many mechanical fingers on her body. Finally, her coworkers left the platform. The lights in the processing room dimmed. A single spotlight was trained on Rose. Rose and the machine were at center stage.
"Rose-e! Rose-e! Rose-e!!" the crowd cheered.
Suddenly, the crowd's noise died. The crowd waited in silent anticipation.
Someone threw a switch and the mechanical fingers came to life. They kneaded Rose's body. You could see her flesh move underneath her skin. Rose struggled against her bindings. Her spine undulated up and down.
"OOOHH!" Rose muttered, "It feels ssooo ggooodd."
In less than a minute her body was shaking. Even in the single spotlight, you could see goose bumps all over her skin.
"Oh! Oh wow!" she shouted.
Sweat on Rose's body made her skin shine in the spotlight.
"AAHHH!" Rose climaxed. Her body fell limp. The mechanical fingers kept massaging her.
Another switch was thrown. The audience was still silent. You could hear a small motor running. It pushed a large steel spike toward Rose.
"Rose-e! Rose-e! Rose-e!!" the crowd cheered again.
The instant the skewer touched Rose's vagina. The cheering stopped. Another switch clicked. The spit started thrusting back and fourth. It would enter Rose and withdraw from her, then enter and withdraw again.
Rose yelled out, "OOHHH! More PLEEESSEE! Mooorrre!"
With each cycle, the spit moved a tiny step forward into Rose. Now, even when it retracted, the shaft still remained inside Rose. Her blood leaked around the pole. The blood mixed with sweat as they both dripped off her body. With each forward thrust every muscle in her body would tense. With each return she would relax.
Rose marked time to the spit, "OOOHHHH! WWoowww! OOOHHHH! WWoowww!"
I felt someone put her arms around me. I looked. It was Terry!
Just then the spotlight faded. Yet, the room did not grow dark. The singular green glow of HRT penetrated the room. Rose's whole body glowed green. The light seemed to come from other places too. A green light was right in front of me. I looked down at my erect penis. It glowed green! Terry hugged me tighter.
"Now you see where we get your ammunition, Dan," Grey whispered.
His penis glowed green also.
Rose's whole body shuddered with each forward thrust of the steel shaft. With each forward thrust a brighter green glow painted the room. As the machine retreated, the room dimmed.
Another noise invaded the room. It was rushing water! The room was flooding! I had to escape. Terry sensed the danger too. She wrapped herself around me like a boa constrictor.
"Take it easy, Dan," Grey assured me, "The water will collect the HRT."
The room was waist-high in water. The water glowed green, like a strange pea soup broth.
Rose was getting weaker. She no longer had the energy to speak. Tears of pain ran from both eyes. The tears blended with her sweat and the HRT. The mixture rained from her body in drops of green light.
Another switch clicked. The machine was giving Rose a shower. Rose stiffened her body and took a deep breath. She was on her second wind. I would be her last.
Rose continued marking time to the spit, "OOOHHHH! WWoowww! OOOHHHH! WWoowww!"
After a few beats, she lagged behind the rhythm of the machine.
Another switch clicked. Blades slit through Rose's neck and abdomen. Her blood streamed from her neck. Her guts spilled out onto the machine.
"AAAAHHHhhh," Rose gargled.
Rose's chest contracted. She was dead.
"Rose-e! Rose-e! Rose-e!!" the crowd cheered again.
Even through the din, I could hear a pump start. The water quickly drained from the room. Someone opened the door to let in fresh air. The place was like a steam bath. It smelled of blood and semen.
Rose's workmates stepped up to the platform and started preparing her body.
"Dinner is at 16:00 sharp gentlemen," Grey announced.
"I will be there," Terry said.
"Terry!" I bellowed.
"Terry?" Grey questioned.
"Dan, is that you?" Terry asked.
"I think you have broken the spell. But how?" Grey wondered, "She was in on the HRT collection. HRT was the first antidote we tried on bomb victims. It didn't work. It takes more than truth to recover from a lawyer word."
I thought for a while. I still didn't know what I was doing. In grad school I was a mediocre psychology student. I am a far better solder, now. But, I had stumbled on something. Somehow Terry had recovered. I thought about what Grey had just said, "It takes more than truth to recover from a lawyer word."
I told Grey the story, "Terry met Rose last night. She was in bed with us. She saw us make love." I gave Grey my conclusion, "Truth is important, but it takes LOVE also."
The words took 10 seconds to penetrate Grey.
"I KNEW YOU WOULD SOLVE IT!" he yelled.
His whole body proclaimed his joy. He was unaccustomed to showing emotion. However, today he was a kid with a new toy.
Grey spoke swiftly, "This means the processing rooms can open again. We will have fresh meat. It will be a cannibal revolution again!"
"What a day! What a day! March 14! Freedom for both our skies and our injured! March 14, the First Feast day," he chanted.
"This means a total change in our lifestyle. We will cure the bomb victims. This will double our work force. We will live on the surface, not hide underground. This means we can be humans, not rats."
"Can we do Terry next?" I asked.
Terry hugged me. I put my arms completely around her. Her body responded. Her hips writhed between my legs. This was my lover!
"Your patient could use some post recovery rest. She needs fattening too," Grey said, "Terry will get her turn later. There are plenty other women available for dinner now."
Terry didn't seem to mind Grey's plan for her.
She whispered in my ear, "I want to make love now."
I gave her the keys.
"Cell 3, K block, number 2," I explained, "I will see you at dinner tonight. I have to get some food to fatten you with."
Terry and I squeezed each other. I gave her directions. Terry didn't need them. She seemed to know the way somehow. She left in a hurry.
Grey's face was still aglow.
I repeated Grey's mantra, "Today will change our life style. Some occupations will see reductions," I added.
"What do you mean?" Grey quizzed.
"For example, we won't need as many nurses anymore," I lectured.
"Well, we do have a lot fewer sick people. We will need fewer nurses, then," Grey agreed.
I went over to the carving table and retrieved the knife I had used on Rose.
"I am going nurse hunting," I stated.
"Monica went up on the elevator. She lives in the nurse's quarters, just East of the infirmary," Grey provided.
"I will have a processing room and a large broiling pan ready for you here tomorrow," Grey promised. Grey added a reminder, "Please don't miss dinner tonight."