Kinetic

"What?!" muttered Melanie. "Another incredibly lucky break?" She looked at me with a very confused expression. "Eric? Did you cause that?"

"Uh..." I had promised myself I would never, ever lie to Melanie, no matter what. "Sort of. Don't ask me how, okay?"

She stared at me in pure admiration. "Okay. Wow! Very professional Eric! I feel as if I'm in the middle of a Mission Impossible movie!" We got on I-88 a moment later and started heading East.

We drove 400 miles that day, stopping only for short restroom breaks. I had box lunches for us already in the car. We finally stopped in Sandusky, Ohio, at a small hotel along the banks of Lake Erie. It was very pretty, and a bit off the beaten track. I thought it would be a good place for Melanie to unwind.

My first thought was to rent two rooms for the night, but Melanie didn't want to be alone and we wound up renting one room with two queen-sized beds. Melanie was delighted that I had pajamas for her and two extra day outfits. I thought about basking in more of her adoration for a moment, and then confessed the clothes were my father's idea.

We both took showers after checking in. Melanie spent a long time under the steaming hot water, and commented after she got out she hadn't felt this clean in a year. She looked so pretty in her new clothes, and we strolled along the promenade for a while, holding hands after sunset and watching the water as the evening twilight turned to night. We found a nice restaurant and had a light dinner. Afterwards we walked back to our hotel room and sacked out.

Our conversations for the whole day had been caring and affectionate but also a bit light. I was sure Melanie was under a terrific strain, trying to adjust from all the horrors she went through, and wasn't ready to talk about them yet. For my part, I was hiding the fact that I had abilities that made me effectively non-human. I think we both sensed we were hiding major things from each other. It made things just a bit awkward.

We changed for bed. I tried not to stare at her as she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas, but... Damn! She is so incredibly, incredibly beautiful. She still had a very fit body, even being off track she somehow managed to get in lots of exercise. She looked like an angel without a bra, her pajama top falling loosely around her taut breasts.

I was already in my bed. She climbed into hers and turned off the lights, lying on her back, her head face up on the pillow. "Good night Melanie," I whispered. "I love you."

"Goodnight, my love," she whispered in reply. She hadn't pulled the sheet up past her hips, and I lay there silently for a while, watching the rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed, overcome with emotions of wanting to care for her. After a while I turned over to give her some privacy.

An hour passed, the room silent except for the soothing rush of coolness from the air conditioner. I thought I heard the softest of a whisper. "Asleep?"

Did I just imagine it? "No..." I whispered back. I heard a rustle of Melanie leaving her bed, and then I shivered as she climbed into mine, curling up around my back. She petted the side of my hip for a while, loving caresses. Then she kissed the back of my neck and pulled me to turn to her.

We were soon locked in a fierce embrace, more loving than passionate at first, but the sexual desire certainly was there on both sides and it was building. Melanie started to pant and I could feel her body shiver from her arousal. We stroked each other's bodies through our pajamas. Melanie was on her back, an arm under me holding me to her, and I was lying on my side against her. I could feel my stiff penis pressing into the side of her hip, and I was delighted she didn't mind. My throat caught as I realized Melanie was welcoming my arousal.

We were kissing, sweet and playful kisses drifting in and out of passion, rubbing noses and exploring each other's lips with our tongues. My hand was caressing her ribs and stomach, and in one deep kiss I was overwhelmed with desire for her and my hand came up and cupped her breast.

Melanie shivered and then nodded her head fiercely. I broke our kiss with a gasp, so many emotions swirling in my mind, all the desires, so strong and so beautiful. I began stroking the softness within my hand. It was the first time I had ever felt a girl's breasts. So soft, so beautiful, so mysterious, all softness and warmth and the swollen points of her aroused nipples rubbing against the palm of my caress.

"Eric?" Melanie whispered.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to take me? Tonight?"

"... I love you..."

Melanie snuggled against me. "And I love you... What would you like?"

I cried. I actually gave out a cry, not loud but primal, a direct protest from the core of my soul, protesting the conflict between my overwhelming sexual desire to mount and enter Melanie and my overwhelming desire to be gentle and care for her. In a gasping breath, I replied, "We should wait... I love you... so dearly... I don't want to hurt you..."

Melanie cried back and nodded, kissing me and whispering, "Thank you! I couldn't bear to deny you my body, but... Thank you for waiting..."

Her body started shaking. We cuddled for a while, feeling each other shiver through our pajamas.

Melanie smiled at me with tears in her eyes. "And thank you for loving me... There's so much I have to tell you... So much horror I have to tell you..." She curled against me and cooed, trying to unwind from her arousal. I suddenly realized I could smell her, smell her wet desire for me between her legs. This beautiful, most precious creature in my arms... My hand drifted down from her breasts. She is so perfect! I started to caress her stomach again while we kissed, dropping the caress to stroke the lean and fit abdominal muscles below her stomach.

Melanie giggled. "Yes, right there!" she whispered. "Without you, I'd be in a lot of trouble, right there, probably right about now..."

"Huh?"

"Here, let me show you..." she whispered. She took my hand in hers. "Stretch out a couple of fingers..." She took my outstretched hand and slipped it underneath her pajama bottoms. I could feel the rich brush of her coarse pubic hairs sliding along the side of hand. My fingers were pressing down into her body on one side of the front of her pelvis, near her hip bone.

"That's right, right there..." Melanie whispered. "Push down. Feel that? That's my left ovary. I felt it twitch yesterday. I think I'm rolling an egg, right now, along here... Feel that? Feel the Fallopian tube? Feel how it joins with the top of my uterus?"

I was both aroused and fascinated. Without thinking I probed with my sense, clearly seeing in my mind and tracing with my fingers the intimate core of Melanie's reproductive system. I felt overwhelmed that she was sharing such intimacy with me. "Yes, I feel it," I whispered back.

Melanie shuddered. "Eric, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be getting raped and impregnated right now."

"Huh?... WHAT?!"

"My parents... It was your call and my eighteenth birthday party that finally opened my eyes to the true horror of my parents..." Melanie sighed and stretched out and began caressing the back of my neck. She began opening up to me.

"My birthday party was surreal. Mom and dad invited a some stuck-up couples and a whole bunch of unattached boys, none of whom I liked. The boys were shockingly rude, demanding to kiss the birthday girl and pinching my ass when they did. And then C.J., C.J. no less!, would come to my rescue and break it up."

I grunted. "C.J. to the rescue, huh?"

Melanie giggled. "Yes. It was no less ridiculous in real life either. And my mom and dad fawned on C.J. at the end of the party too, thanking him for taking such good care of me. I had known for months he was head coordinator of the boys who were keeping track of me at school. Everything was so fake, so pathetic. Oh, Eric! I'm so sorry I didn't write you more often last year. It's just that I was almost never free from observation."

"Hey! I understand completely. Melanie, what you went through is beyond my imagination. You don't know how much respect I have for you, even to survive..."

Melanie leaned up and kissed me, and then settled back in my arms and continued. "These last two months, my parents were dropping so many stupid hints, about what a fine young man Jason was, and how lucky I would be if I could somehow get him to take me as his girlfriend. At first the suggestions sounded so ridiculous I thought my parents were joking, even though that would have been way out of character. But they were serious..."

Melanie sighed and was silent for a moment, reliving the memories. "Ever since my party, my mom has been keeping an inventory on my bedroom, looking through my trashcan and keeping track of my supply of maxi-pads in my desk. I finally realized what was going on. She was timing my ovulation cycle, trying to calculate when I would be fertile..."

The horror of what Melanie went through finally dawned on me. I nuzzled the side of her head and gently kissed her. "My God Melanie..."

"Yeah... A steady drumbeat over the last two months, how lucky I would be if I captured Jason, how happy my parents would be for me, and did I want to invite him over in the evenings to watch some movies? Such a fine young man, and I should feel so fortunate he was interested in me. My parents said they would help me if I wanted to date him. Have him come over for dinner and maybe a movie, they kept saying. I knew my parents would then find some excuse to slip out of the house for a while...."

Melanie started to shiver. I held her close and kissed her. "My God Melanie... How did you survive?"

"I kept saying I was very unsure about dating, how inexperienced I was with boys, how much I wanted to talk to my school counselor about the idea. That put mom off for a while, but just barely."

Melanie shivered. "I finally had to negotiate. I agreed to evenings with Jason as long they started after my graduation. I think mom calculated I would be isolated from my High School friends and it also would be perfect timing with my fertility cycle. She accepted my condition..."

"It was a perfect setup for my parents Eric! I suspect they were going to pay Jason to fuck me silly over the summer. He must have thought it was the perfect job! And if I had got pregnant through consensual sex, C.J. would just take off and I would stay home with my parents to have the baby. And if I resisted his advances, Jason would rape me and, well, it would have been my word against his and both my parents. And the scandal would also keep me home."

"The only remaining possibility would be Jason fucking me the whole summer and not getting me pregnant. Who knows what would have happened then? Maybe my parents would have accused me of being a slut and canceled Harvard for that reason. Anyway you look at it, I would be at home next year, and it would be all my fault."

"Melanie," I whispered, kissing her and stroking her abdomen. "I'm so glad we waited. It's not just not having children. Sharing our bodies without commitment... real committment..."

"I know... I'm glad we're waiting too. I just didn't want to refuse you of anything. I can't tell you how happy I am, that you rescued me, and that you love me..."

Melanie cooed and sighed and then was very still, falling asleep in my arms. I stared at her for a long while, an angel so infinitely precious, sleeping peacefully in my arms.

Chapter 9.

Time: Thursday, July 4, 2002 10:43 PM

I kissed Melanie goodnight and walked back to my own house. We were coming back from a fireworks display and my dad had dropped us off at her apartment. I couldn't be happier. I have a girl who loved me, an exciting future at M.I.T. starting in two months, and unbelievable kinetic powers. The world is my oyster!

Melanie got a summer job at Reading Eagle, the local newspaper. She started as a part- time proof-reader, and the editorial staff was so impressed with her they also hired her as a junior reporter. She's now working 40+ hours a week and loving it.

She now has her own room that's she's renting, her own bank account, and a decent set of IDs, including originals of her birth certificate and a PA driver's permit. It's been a wonderful experience for both of us, living near each other now and preparing for college together.

And my kinetic abilities are growing right on schedule. My sphere of influence now has a radius of over 19 meters. I can generate a 22 Newton force and 229 Watts of power. And I just used my power tonight to commit a crime. After I got back home, I said goodnight to dad and closed the door of my room.

I pulled out the dark-brown envelope and stared at it. My great accomplishment! At least, that's the way I was thinking about it when I pulled my heist. But now? My conscience was starting to bother me, and I couldn't figure out why...

It was just before the finale at the fireworks display. There were a couple of tough looking guys standing against a wall sixty feet away, just inside my sphere of influence. I thought they looked like drug dealers, and I probed the duffle bag on the ground between the legs of one of them. I was right. It was filled with tiny quantities of powder wrapped in clear plastic. I was disgusted.

I probed further. There was an envelope filled with cash. I didn't probe for how much exactly, but it looked like a lot. And then the fireworks finale started, and the ground was shaking from the explosions overhead.

On the spur of the moment, I saw my chance. It was so simple to unzip the bag with a few Newtons of force, float the envelope up, re-zip the bag, and then float the envelope along the ground to my feet. And then, on a particularly big boom, I floated the envelope up my pants leg.

So now here I was, alone in my bedroom with the fruits of my victory. I shrugged off my nagging conscience and began to count. After a few minutes I had two piles of money before me.

One pile consisted of the loose bills in the envelope, two $100 bills, three $50's, eight $20's, two $10's, one $5, and two $1 bills, for a subtotal of $537.

My second pile came from a stack of $20's neatly bound with rubber bands. I counted them twice. They had random serial numbers, but were all neatly stacked and sorted face up, exactly 100 bills, $2000.

So, a total of $2,537, a nice pile of money, and the fact that most of it was in common twenties was also nice. I felt very confident I could spend it off gradually during the summer and dad and Melanie would never notice. And I was hurting a business that was killing people. I should feel great! And Melanie and I were going shopping in Philadelphia center city on Sunday afternoon. I could buy her a nice present! And yet... somehow...

I decided to ignore my uncertainty. I got up and stood on the scale in my room, 169 lb. And then I PUSHED myself, and I weighed 164 lb, and then I changed directions and weighed 174 lb. Cool...

Over the last few days, I've been doing this when I walk, lifting myself up. I like the way it feels, having a touch lighter step. If my power grows much stronger though, I'll have to be careful. I certainly don't want to have anybody see me violating gravity with my gait.

I hid the money in my closet and went to bed, just lying there and thinking for a while. It was a hot night outside and I started to boost the power flowing into the central air conditioner, taking 229 Watts of load off the house's electric meter. It was so easy to do, I could do it in my sleep. And last night, I did.

I had been experimenting in the end of June, trying to teach myself how to generate AC power and not just DC. I could regulate the voltage amplitude fine, but the frequency! I was all over the map at first, sliding between 40 and 90 Hertz.

I finally had the brilliant idea of letting the power grid teach me how to do this. I worked on just boosting the existing power grid in the house. Within an hour, I had the Hertz problem licked. When I'm on my own, I can now stay between 59 and 61 Hertz easily, and with an external grid, it's a piece of cake to just synch to the existing sloshing rhythm of the electrons.

I lay in bed tossing and turning. Sleep would not come. I glanced at the clock, forty minutes past midnight. I idly checked my power output to the house, 230 Watts. I sighed and admitted defeat. I would think about my theft of the $2,537. Why was it bothering me?

Did the drug dealers deserve to keep the money? No. Did I deserve to keep the money? If not, who does? These last two questions didn't seem to have a clear moral answer, and that bothered me. I had struck a blow against drug dealers! But I was also profiting from the drug trade... Was my theft an act of justice, or just cheap advantage? Should I donate the money to charity? Would that really absolve me of what I had done?

I tossed and turned and remembered another moral dilemma I struggled with a month ago. It was a couple of days after Melanie and I got to Pennsylvania, and I was wondering about my pledge not to attack anyone with my kinetic powers. In my fight with C.J., I'm sure I caused at least a minor burn on his thigh. What about my pledge? Somehow I was at peace with breaking my pledge, but why? After a long time thinking, I finally decided that clarity of moral purpose can be a surprisingly elusive concept. It's not really the acts themselves. It's the attitudes behind the facts...

I looked again at the clock, 1:40 AM. Hell... Power check, 231 Watts... I sighed and thought to myself, "Eric, stop this! You have work tomorrow! Get some sleep! You need a decision about the money? Fine! Keep the money! Buy Melanie a nice present! Buy dad a nice present too! Get some gas for your car! Now go to sleep!"

And that's what I did. I thought I would do a lot more thinking though, before I stole from drug dealers again.

Chapter 10.

Time: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 7:07 AM

I stayed in bed a few minutes after my alarm went off, just stretching and thinking. Today's the day! I went over and hopped on the scale before I got dressed, 167 lb. Okay... I *pushed* up as hard as I could. The scale looked like it went to zero. Yes! I'm still on track! According to my calculations, I should be able to *push* with 738 Newtons now. Just another hour to go, and I will have crossed the Rubicon. I *pushed* again and walked around the room playfully, enjoying the soft feel of my feet brushing lightly against the carpet with 1 lb of weight. This was so cool!

This close to my "ground zero", I could already tell what being able to fly would feel like. It would not be like being a weightless balloon. I still have my full mass and inertia. Instead, I imagined my body as a 3-D car, and I would soon be able to "drive" it wherever I wanted my body to go, even straight up. So incredibly cool!

I wanted this so badly, I started to fret a bit over the last few days, thinking that if fate dealt me a joker and stopped the growth of my power just below flying abilities... well, how much could I diet? But now it seemed all those worries were just idle thoughts. I was so close!

Everything else is also progressing on schedule. My sphere of influence is over 46 meters, and my power output is 8.91 kW. I had just tested it before getting up. I had *pushed* the thermostat on our 200-liter water heater to off last night, and then spent twenty minutes heating it by 13C this morning before switching the dial back on. Hot morning showers for everybody, on the house! Courtesy of...

Courtesy of what? Not of whom, of what? It was a deep problem, and one I had no idea how to explore. All this energy! Where was it coming from?! Did energy have to come _from_ anywhere? I used to think so. All the people who write physics books think so, that energy can be transformed, but total energy can be neither created nor destroyed.