Brave New World Ch. 06

"Roy, Tami, are you alright? Deela?"

Tami turned to look at him, then nodded. "Yes, Jorg. For the moment, at least. You?"

"Yeah."

Deela nodded. "I'm okay for now."

Roy got up and held out his hand to Tami. He looked at Jorg and Kio.

"Ehm..." he started.

Jorg cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah. I know. It's weird. Well. Now that we've all dealt with that..." He looked slightly embarrassed for a moment, then became all business again. "While we have the chance, I think we should be thinking about getting the hell out of here."

"No argument there," Roy said, as he helped Tami get up. She was slightly shaky, and he put his arm around her to support her. "So what's the plan?"

Jorg grunted. "We'll need to deal with that lunatic first, no matter what we do. Deela, do you know where to find him?"

Deela nodded. Her eyes were slightly unfocused and her breath came fast, but otherwise she seemed to be coping fairly well with the sexual tension she must be feeling again by now. "Probably. I know where he sleeps, where he eats, where he works. Most of the time, at least. Sometimes he's erratic. He could be sleeping right now, but there's no way to be sure. Sometimes he stays up all night."

"We'll have to risk it," Roy said. "Where's that stunner?"

Deela walked over to the corner of the room where the stunner lay on the floor. She picked it up and looked at it.

"When we find him, I'm going to rip his balls off," she said. "And don't think for a minute that I don't mind that literally. His balls, his dick, everything. And then I'll kill him."

Jorg shook his head. "No. You can have his balls, but the pleasure of killing him is mine."

Tami stepped between them. "I understand how you both feel, and I'm not denying that it's justified, but the reality is that we need him alive for now."

Kyo nodded. "Yes. We need to know what he's done. He said something about causing crop failures up in the habs, for starters. The last thing we need right now is a global famine. And who knows what else he's let loose. No, he needs to talk first."

Jorg grunted. "Alright," he said. "That is a good point." He thought for a moment. "Fine. We'll have to let him live, for now. I'd rather not, but Tami is right. We'll get him later, Deela. I promise."

Deela gave him a hard, angry look. "You don't know what it was like, all those months. I want that fucker."

Jorg nodded. "You're right. I don't know what it was like, everything that you've been through. I've barely had a few hours of this, and it's been very hard." He looked down. 'No pun intended. But believe me when I say that I have at least as much reason to hate him as you do. Maybe more. He killed almost everyone in my shelter. My family, my friends, everyone. So I promise you he's going to die. We'll get him. I promise. But not just yet."

Roy cleared his throat. "Good. Now that's settled..."

"Right." Jorg held out his hand. Deela gave him the stunner. "What's the layout of the building, Deela?"

"It's tall and narrow," Deela said. "Lots of floors, no windows. I think it's underground. We're on the sixth floor. I have never been down below this level. He'll probably be on the tenth. That's where he sleeps. I don't know how many other floors there are beyond that. He won't let me go there. I'm sleeping on the floor below him." She wiped her eyes. "When he lets me. He locks me up at night."

Tami walked over to her and put her arms around her. "No more. I promise you," she said. "This ends here."

"She's right," Kyo agreed. "We're going to finish this right now, Deela." She thought for a moment. "Are there elevators between the floors, or stairs?"

Deela shook her head. "Neither. There's ladders. Lots of ladders. The rungs hurt when you climb up and down on your bare feet. But him I can always hear coming, with those stupid uniform boots he's wearing."

Kyo nodded, a tight smile on her face. "And he just had to take away our suits and boots, didn't he? He'll never hear us coming."

Roy looked around the room they were in. "Hmm..." He slowly shook his head.

"What?" Kyo asked.

Roy slowly turned, his eyes scanning the bulkheads and floor, the metal girders overhead, the doors, the curvature of the wall. "I don't know... I mean, look at this place. And ladders between floors? No windows? Doesn't sound like a regular building to me."

"Whatever it is, we'll worry about it later." Jorg walked to the door and slowly pushed it open, as quietly as he could. He paused, listened, then carefully moved forward, his stunner at the ready. "Clear," he whispered over his shoulder.

The others carefully followed him, single file. They found themselves in a small hallway. The air was cold. There were three other doors, all closed, and what looked like a manhole cover in the floor. The walls, floor and ceiling were all made of some sort of metal, studded with rivets and in some places pitted with corrosion.

Deela pointed at the ladder. Her hand shook. Jorg took the stunner between his teeth and slowly climbed up the ladder, his bare feet making no sound at all. He paused when he reached the top, then slowly, inch by inch, he put his head through the round opening in the ceiling until he could see the floor above. He turned his head in all directions, then beckoned with one hand to the others to follow him up the ladder. He climbed through and moved aside so that Roy, who was right behind him, could come through.

This floor appeared to be some kind of storage area. Rectangular containers of all shapes and sizes, apparently made out of some sort of molded composite material, filled the floor. A single glow tube spread a harsh, unpleasant light across the room, in which the containers standing on the floor cast deep, black shadows. The room was large, the dark walls barely visible behind the containers.

Roy, who was standing next to Deela, noticed that the black woman's breathing had become very heavy. She was sweating and her eyes were unfocused.

"Deela?" he whispered. "Are you alright?"

She looked at him blankly, then reached out and touched his cock, which was still very much standing to attention. He gasped when her fingertips brushed across the head. It was slippery with his pre-cum. The pressure had been building inside him steadily, and because it had been quite a bit longer for her, by now she had to be really struggling to control herself.

"Deela, we can't," he whispered as softly as he could. "Not here. Not now. We'll have to hold out."

She stared at him, then slowly nodded. She pulled her gaze away from him with obvious effort. When she turned around, he saw the evidence of her pent-up arousal run down the inside of her legs. It filled his mind with all kind of unbidden images. It would be so easy to bend her down over one of the packing crates, pull those lovely buns apart to expose the puffy lips of her pussy, glistening with invitation, and slide his hot, rock-hard cock between those wet, slippery folds with one swift stroke... It was what she needed, it was what he needed...

No. Focus. He wrenched his attention back to the matter at hand. Jorg had begun to climb the ladder to the next level, turning his hips sideways with some difficulty to prevent his erect cock from touching the rungs of the ladder. He looked at Tami and Kyo. They must be starting to feel it again as well... Tami looked tense, and she was breathing deeply. Kyo's eyes met his and she smiled tightly, then turned to follow Jorg up the ladder. Her gorgeous bare ass still bore the glistening traces of Jorg's attentions.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, reaching out to put his hand on Tami's shoulder.

She nodded. "Yes... I..." She suddenly put her arms around him and pulled him close. "Oh, Roy..." Her breath in his ear was ragged and deep.

"Hang on, Tami," he whispered. "It shouldn't be much longer now."

Jorg had paused at the top of the ladder, then continued to climb up onto the next floor above them. The way he held the stunner between his teeth suddenly reminded Roy of the swashbuckler videos of his childhood, although no pirate he'd ever seen in those vids had been naked, nor had any of them sported a weapon like Jorg's, nodding up and down with his pulse as he gestured to the others to follow him.

Kyo and Deela were next to climb up the rungs, with Tami following them and Roy bringing up the rear. When he put his foot on ladder, the smell of Tami's pussy hit him full-on, going straight from his nostrils to his hindbrain. His erect cock twitched. With a tremendous effort he concentrated on climbing, on the feeling of the rough, pitted steel of the ladder as he gripped its sides, the uncomfortable way the rungs pressed into the soles of his bare feet.

The floor above them was entirely different from the one they had just left. It was brightly lit, and the walls, floor and ceiling were white and covered with some kind of composite material. It had the sterile character of a hospital. The room was large and circular. The center in which they were standing was ringed with a wide, gleaming steel railing. Behind the railing a row of coldsleep pods lined the curvature of the wall, their lids all closed.

Kyo looked around with a certain professional interest. She ducked and stepped between the upper and lower rail of the balustrade, then padded over to the first coldsleep pod in the row. She peered through the transparent cover, then passed on to the next pod. After checking all of them, she turned to the instrument panels that covered the walls. She studied them for a moment, then returned.

"They're all empty," she whispered very softly. "But the wall panels are weird. Not just cryo monitoring systems. Most of it is general life support. Environmental."

Roy nodded. The suspicions that had been dawning on him for some time began to mature into a certainty. This wasn't a building at all. But...

"It can wait," he whispered, his lips to her ear.

Kyo nodded.

Jorg had turned his gaze to the ladder that led to the floor above. He raised his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. Slowly, one step at a time, he got up the ladder, testing each rung before putting his weight onto it. The others took his queue and made as little noise as possible. Roy caught himself breathing shallowly. Kyo slowly tiptoed towards the base of the ladder in preparation of following Jorg up the rungs, as he inched up through the manhole at the top of the ladder where he paused for what seemed an eternity before gesturing to the others to follow.

Roy slowly and carefully climbed up the ladder, once more bringing up the rear. The portal that the manhole gave access to was small and utilitarian. The walls were coated in a creamy shade, but the covering showed signs of age and had begun to peel off here and there, revealing corrosion and black pitted metal. There were four doors, two of which stood open. Through one door he saw what looked like some sort of sleeping quarters, with a bunk bed standing against one wall and a washing basin and closet against another. Again one of the walls was curved, but this level seemed significantly smaller than the ones below them.

The room behind the other door had been completely stripped. The wall were bare metal, pitted with corrosion. The floor was covered in a decaying layer of what looked to be gray paint of some sort, and on the bare ceiling he saw the same heavy girders they'd seen in the room where they had been held captive. On the floor in the corner of the room was a pile of rags and a ratty old blanket. Deela's cell?

Faint sounds came from above: someone moving around, a piece of furniture shifting, a footstep. Jorg raised his finger to his lips in absolute quiet. He pointed at himself, then at Roy, and then pointed up at the manhole at the top of the ladder. Then he pointed at the three women, and at the floor. Roy nodded. The gestures were clear: Jorg and he would go up and deal with Gan, while the women were to stay behind. His hart pounded as a sudden wave of adrenalin rushed through him. But at least the tension of the moment helped to distract him from his throbbing erection and the pressure in his loins, which had been building steadily and had begun to demand more and more of his attention.

Slowly and without making any noise, Jorg began to climb up the ladder, the stunner between his teeth. Roy followed him, as quietly as he could. He breathed slowly and shallowly, and he put down his feet on the rungs of the ladder with great care. When Jorg reached the top of the ladder, he slowed down even further, and inch by inch he raised his head until he could see across the floor above him. Then he continued up and cleared the manhole so Roy could follow.

The floor above them was furnished like a comfortable lounge. Padded chairs and comfortably upholstered couches surrounded low coffee tables. A day bed stood in a corner, a neatly folded blanket on top. Roy recognized it as standard army issue. None of the furniture resembled the half-molten style that he had become used to in the hab. The curved walls were lined with viewing screens, most of which were dark. Only two screens showed an image. One was what appeared to be an electronically generated radar image. The other showed the Antarctic landscape outside, apparently through a surveillance camera. Gan was sitting at the corner of a table with his back to the manhole. He peered down into some half assembled piece of equipment, then made a note on what looked to be a stack of diagrams that sat on the table, next to a small collection of tools. Their black weapons case stood on the floor beside the table.

As Jorg took one slow, careful and absolutely quiet step forward and began to raise the stunner, there was a barely visible blue shimmering in the air in front of him. Immediately his body went completely slack and collapsed. As he fell forward, the stunner dropped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. In the silence of the room the sound was deafening.

"What the..." Gan had turned around. and looked at Roy, who stood there, frozen. Then Gan bent down. reached into the weapons case and took out one of the railgun rifles. In one smooth movement he lifted it, aimed it at Roy, flicked off the safety and put his finger on the firing stud.

There was a sudden sound and movement behind him, and then Tami ran past him. Again there was a bluish shimmering in the air, and this time Roy could clearly see form across a spherical outline that surrounded the space where Gan stood. Tami's body went slack, but she retained her momentum, and her speed carried her collapsing body all the way to where Gan stood. She slammed into his legs, knocking them out from under him. As he toppled sideways she fell to the floor, unmoving.

"Roy! Stay where you are!"

Kyo had come up the ladder. Behind her, Deela popped her head through the manhole. She climbed the rest of the ladder as fast as she could and hit the floor running. She went past Roy at breakneck speed and took a long dive across Jorg's fallen body. As she hit the floor and rolled, she grabbed the stunner and raised it. She aimed it at Gan, who had begun to get up, and pressed the firing stud.

The first blue bolt that jumped out from the stunner's front aperture hit Gan's leg, and his body thrashed as the energy of the stun bolt ran through him. Deela fired again, this time hitting him dead center in the chest. Gan's body convulsed violently. With an earsplitting *CRACK!* the railgun rifle went off, and a hole appeared in one of the chairs that stood off to the side. Then the rifle dropped to the floor as Gan's body, now slack, collapsed in a heap.

Deela sat on the floor, panting, still brandishing the stunner. For several seconds she sat there, then lowered the stunner when Gan didn't move. Her hands shook. She slowly stood up and looked back at Roy and Kyo.

"What the hell just happened?" Roy asked. He felt dazed and confused.

"The son of a bitch had a neural disruptor field," Kyo said. "It kicks your nervous system out of control. Instant paralysis. Didn't you see the field interface when Jorg stepped into it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Roy muttered. "So what about Deela?"

"Gan must have programmed her into the generator as an exception along with his own," Kyo said.

Deela nodded. "He liked to... take me, on there," she said, looking at the day bed in the corner. "I didn't even know there was a field until I saw them." She looked at Jorg and Tami who lay on the floor, motionless. "Are they alright?"

"For the moment. But if we wait much longer, they won't be," Kyo said. "Deela, that table seems to be the center of the field. Go there and look for a small electronic unit, probably with some sort of indicator light or display on it." She turned to Roy. "They can't breathe with their muscular system out of commission," she explained. "But we should have a minute or so."

"She'll suffocate!" Roy said.

"Not yet, Roy. Calm down. Deela?"

Deela, who had been looking around, lifted a small rectangular box from the corner of the table where Gan had sat. A tiny red light blinked on its front panel.

"That's it," Kyo said. "Switch it off."

Deela turned the unit around, looking for buttons. There weren't any.

"Alright," Kyo said. "Drop it on the floor and stand back, then shoot it with the stunner. That'll short it out."

Deela walked over to where Gan's unconscious body lay crumpled in a heap and put the unit next to it. She took two steps back, raised the stunner, and fired. The stun bolt hit both the unit and Gan's limp body at the same time.

"How do you like that, you filthy bastard?" she muttered.

Jorg gasped as he drew a much-needed breath of air into his starving lungs. Tami coughed once, then panted as if she'd ran a marathon. Roy ran forward and took her in his arms as she tried to sit up.

"Roy..." she rasped. " That was... fairly horrible."

"Why did you do that, you silly broad? You could have been killed!" With surprise he realized that his hands were shaking.

"Oh, please, Roy, don't tell me you're that stupid." Kyo stood behind him, looking angry. "Are you blind? She would have taken a railgun slug for you if it had come to that." She looked at Tami. "That was a very brave thing to do, you know."

"Tami?" He held her as she looked up to him, a faint smile on her face. She lifted her hand and put her finger on his lips.

"Sshh," she whispered. "Burt was right, Roy. I did come here to make sure I get you back in one piece. I love you, Roy. I want to share the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you. And I'll do whatever it takes to make that possible."

She smiled, and a tear ran down her face. He wiped it away with is fingertip and looked deeply into her eyes.

"I'd like that," he said softly. Then he bent down and kissed her.

Her lips parted and their tongues met in a gentle, playful dance, slowly at first but soon the dance became passionate, and suddenly his lust hit him again. The danger of the situation had served as a sufficient distraction, but now his arousal reasserted itself and swept through him like a tidal wave. Tami appeared to feel the same, because she reached out and grabbed his hot, rock-hard cock, wrapping her fingers around it and pulling him close.

"Before you two get carried away," Kyo said dryly, "I think we need to find that manipulator that Gan used on our nanotech."

Roy turned, looking sheepish. Tami just giggled. "Oh come on, Ki," she said. "Don't be a spoilsport." But he could see the raw need in her eyes, the same raw need he fought manfully to keep under control himself.

Kyo saw it too, and she smiled grimly. "Believe me, I know how you feel. But first things first. There's also the question of what we're going to do with that bastard."