The Descent

I laughed uneasily. At least it sounded like the girls were all consenting, if not a bit coerced.

"So," Herb continued, "we host our little gatherings. Each time, all the guys and girls are invited. We've got a nice, big house near campus where people show up, give the password, and then everybody's welcome to... mingle... as they please."

"And if a guy asks, they have to...?"

"Well, the girls have a right to say no. That's in the charter and whatnot, but the girls we pick never seem to. So, pretty much." He nudged me with an elbow, grinning.

After letting everything sink in, I piped up again, still a little uneasy, "so basically, people pay you to round up young, consenting coeds?"

Herb laughed out loud. "Well, you do certainly have a way with words. Really, any guy can do that for himself, if he tries. What they're paying for with us is the safety we provide."

Herb handed me a white card, about the size of a driver's license. It was made from a stiff and slightly textured plastic. It was completely blank except for a small "ON" written in black on the center. On the back, there was a series of dates ringing the outside. One date, the coming Friday, had a strangely shaped hole punched in next to it.

"What's this?", I asked, turning the card over in my hands.

"It's your membership card. That's what gets you into our parties."

"and the little punches?"

Herb leaned back against the shelf. "Like I said, we provide safety for our members. Everybody in O-Nu is required to go in for a consult any time they have unprotected sex with a non-member, or whenever we randomly call them in to do so. Guys get STD and other major illness tests. The girls get those same tests, and we check and administer their birth control. Hell," Herb chuckled, "they even started offering waxing."

I nodded, impressed with comprehensiveness of their system.

"When you walk in to an O-Nu party, you know that everybody in there is clean. We'll even do random tests at the door, just to keep people honest. You can do whatever you want to whoever you want, and you're not going to get the clap, or even worse," Herb laughed, "get a kid."

"Your little consult with Michelle yesterday was both your admissions test and your first screening. You passed your screening, so your card is punched."

"Do I just go back there when I need to get tested again?"

"Exactly. The girls there will run the tests and have you on your way within around ten minutes." He turned around with a grin on his face, his gold tooth glinting in the dusty fluorescent light, and he leaned in towards me. "Oh, and by the way, they don't really need a semen sample, but they'll suck you off anyways, if you ask nicely. It's one of the perks of membership. You know, gets people to get tested."

I laughed and smiled a little, but after a moment's reverie, the more practical side of me burst in. "So, Herb, where exactly do I come in?"

Herb smiled. "As you probably figured out, we want you to get pictures of the action. You see, our members can come to our actual parties until the age of twenty-eight. But, even once you're kicked out due to age, you can still buy access to our intraweb. It's a small, dedicated network people can access from home to keep in touch with members and view the other pictures. Basically, we photograph all the goings on, and then put them on the web. For a fee, our alumni can enjoy the scenery, even though they can't come to the parties themselves."

I got back a little confidence. This won't be so tough, I thought to myself. "So, you want me to shoot digital and upload them?"

"That's the plan. You show up to each party, shoot a couple hundred shots, upload them, and we give you $150. Not to mention membership."

I nodded.

Herb leaned back in. "Membership AND all that that entails. You're welcome to hand the camera off to somebody and get in the action for a little while. All the hot young co-ed pussy you could ever want." He elbowed me in the side, grinning, and despite the somewhat sleazy tone, I smiled unconsciously, imagining the fun I could have if the girls there were even a tenth as good as Michelle.

Herb snapped me out of my reverie. "You there, Rick?"

"Huh? Yeah. Sorry, just thinking."

Herb laughed. "Yeah, I'll bet you are. It's a damned nice arrangement, ain't it?"

I nodded.

"So, one last time. You in, or do I not know you?"

I took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Great. I'll give you a call to let you know the location tomorrow. Any questions?"

I stared at the dusty ledger of Iowa's rainfall in 1962 on the shelf, trying to wrap my head around everything Herb had just explained. Finally, I just shrugged. "I guess I'll ask Friday if anything comes up."

Herb laughed. "This is usually a evening-long orientation, and you just got it in thirty minutes. It's a lot to wrap your head around. Don't worry, it'll work out. I'll get you the details tomorrow."

With that, Herb set off between the shelves, and disappeared. I sat down on one of the many small staircases in the stacks and turned the small white card over between my fingers. I couldn't quite decide how I felt about the whole situation. I had a job, and I'd be doing something I enjoyed, and getting paid well for it. Besides, I thought, I had been in a bit of a drought lately, and it sounds like this would certainly take the edge off and let me concentrate more on the rest of my life. And who could turn down a constant source of sex. At the same time, there was something a little strange about the whole idea, that guys would just pay to use these girls as sex toys... and that the girls would consent.

I sighed, stood up, and pocketed the card, walking out of the dusty stacks. I stared out the library's window into the dark and stepped onto the staircase in the atrium. Slowly and calmly, I began my descent.

7

"Alright," I said, standing at the front of the classroom. "Everybody needs to finish the Kant reading by Wednesday the fifth."

"Uhh.. Professor Brown?"

I looked up. The girl with short, black hair in the front row had her hand up. I grasped for her name. Alex, Alexis, something. She was incredibly cute, and unlike most of the arrogant, aloof girls on the campus, she was usually smiling. Especially at me, it seemed.

Frankly, though, even if she hadn't been pretty, she'd still have been a welcome addition to the class. She'd proven to be pretty smart throughout the semester, and although she faltered with memorizing dates and the more obscure names, her grasp of the greater significance of the theories was almost unrivaled in the class.

Suddenly, I became aware of the silence in the room, and came crashing back to reality.

"Oh, uh. Yes?" Realizing my tone sounded overly harsh, I quickly amended my reply. "Oh, and you can call me Caleb, I'm no professor yet. But yeah, what's up?"

"It's... um... Thursday the sixth. The reading is due... yesterday?"

I laughed quietly at my absent-mindedness, looking down at my watch. "Point taken. Alright, finish the Kant reading for tomorrow afternoon, not yesterday, and given that class is pretty much over, I guess I'll see you all then."

I stared back down into the pile of books on the podium. The previous night's events, my apparent membership in Omicron Nu, it was all weighing on me, and this was the third absent-minded mistake I'd made today. I knew I'd be getting a call with the final information tonight, so I wanted to run home and get my gear ready, and pick out something to wear, and...

"Uhh, Caleb?"

I looked up. The dark-haired girl was standing in front of me, smiling, her purse in one hand and a hoodie with a set of greek letters on the front in the other. Seeing her up close, I realized just how pretty she really ways. She had a wonderful smile, and was full-figured, unlike many of the other near-anorexic girls in the class, and although her breasts weren't huge, they were certainly enough to draw the eye. Aware that she was watching me, I quickly went back into professor mode.

"Oh, Hi..." I paused, trying once again to remember her name. "Err... Alex?"

"Alexa. Close, though."

"That's right! Alexa." I laughed, trying to hide my frayed nerves with a joke. "Nice to meet you, I'm Caleb. I'll be teaching your class this semester."

She laughed. "Yeah, I thought I saw something on my schedule about you."

I smiled. She returned my stupid jokes gracefully, I thought, so that was something right there. Not to mention that she seemed like a genuinely nice person, even in the few short weeks I'd had her in my introductory Ethics seminar.

"So, what can I do for you?" I said as I began gathering my books to leave.

"Well, it's about the readings."

"What's the problem?"

She frowned, setting her purse down on the table. "Well, I don't really get this stuff. They all sound like they're saying pretty much the same thing."

"I think you understand it better than you think, because, in a very real sense, they all are saying the same things. They're all different ways of explaining the sorts of things we all feel about how we should act. Nobody's going to argue with most of the right and wrong judgements we all agree on, but they all have different ways of explaining these ethical intuitions. It's those little theoretical differences where there's a debate."

She nodded. "Well, I guess that makes sense. But then, why do some people still propose ethical theories that go against our basic instincts about what's right and wrong?"

Smiling at her quick riposte, I opened my mouth to reply, but then noticed the bitter looking professor for the next class standing in the door.

"Tell you what, why don't you come into my office hours next week to chat?"

She smiled at me. "When do you want me there?"

"How about Monday at three?"

She reached into her purse for a pen, unintentionally dragging the heavy bag off the table's edge. The contents spilled out onto the floor. I kneeled down to help her pick them up. As I handed her back her expensive wallet, a small white card fell out of the top. She quickly picked it up off the floor and clutched it tightly in her hand, almost defensively.

She laughed awkwardly. "Thanks. I'm such a klutz, sometimes."

I smiled. "No problem. Three on Monday?"

She smiled back. "I'll be there."

I gathered my books as she walked out of the room, and then, nodding at the impatient professor in the door, set off for home.

8

I had just finished packing up my camera gear when I got the call. Herb's familiar three-tone ring jolted me to attention. I dashed across the room to my dresser, digging out the non-descript phone from under the pile of clothing on top of it.

"Busy night?" came Herb's now familiar voice as I hit talk.

"Huh? No, I was just trying to get some stuff ready."

"Good to hear. Don't worry too much about equipment. Tomorrow's your first time, we'll forgive you if you forget something."

I sighed, relieved. "Thanks."

"Any time. Speaking of tomorrow, got a pen?" I grabbed the closest piece of paper out on my desk and a pen.

"Ready."

"Alright. The meeting is at 11th and Pine, 7:30 tomorrow. It's in the old grey house on the large lot, behind Sigma Pi."

I visualized the area in my head, and quickly realized which house he was talking about. It always seemed a bit out of place being right off frat row, an island of antique stone architecture in a trashy neighborhood. "The one that looks like it belongs in the 1890's?"

Herb laughed. "Yep, that's it. Now, this is important, write this down. There will be a man sitting on the porch swing. He'll ask you who you're looking for. Say "Varinia" and he'll let you in. Bring whatever equipment you need, and bring your card."

I jotted the name down on the page in front of me. "Alright, anything else I need to know?"

"Dress casually, like you normally do." Herb said. He paused for a second, shifting his tone. "Besides, it's not like it'll be staying on long, anyways." Herb laughed, and I forced a chuckle to subdue my nerves.

I nodded to myself. "Alright, sounds good."

"Good luck."

With a click, Herb hung up.

I looked down at the name, scribbled hastily on a sheet of scrap paper on my desk. I smiled uneasily, imagining the next night's events, but just as I started to slip into fantasy, my eye fell upon the yet-ungraded pile of papers I had to give back the next day, glaring at me from my desk. I sighed, pushing aside the page with "varinia" scrawled in deep blue ink across the top, and started revising.

9

"Umm... Caleb?"

I jolted to a stop halfway through the door of the classroom, surprised to see the Alexa, the dark-haired girl, waiting for me. I unconsciously looked down at my watch, wanting to get home as soon as possible to prepare for the night's party, then looked up at her and smiled.

"Hey Alexa. Uh... what's up?"

Suddenly, a look of concern crossed her face. "Oh, sorry, you look busy. I'll ask another time."

"No no no," I interjected, not wanting to seem unapproachable. "I'm just headed back home. I can stick around, if you'd like?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, cool, I'm heading home too. Where do you live?" I hesitated, not quite sure how much detail I was supposed to give to a student. "Uhh.. well, 8th and Marine, roughly..."

"Oh, I'm right near there. Do you mind if I walk with you?"

I looked to both sides cautiously, afraid that my classroom sexual harassment trainer would somehow pop out of the old building's ugly yellow walls and explain why this was somehow illegal, but I quickly dismissed walking with a student as innocuous.

"I suppose we can walk up that way together," I said, swallowing deeply, then starting for the building's exit.

She smiled and jubilantly fell into step next to me. We walked together down the hall and through the building's exit, the conspicuous silence slowly wearing on me while she just seemed to smile more broadly as time went on.

"So, uh, Alexa. What was it you wanted to ask me?"

She looked up at me, confused for a second, and then, with a flash of comprehension, spoke up. "Oh, well, uhh.. what was the reading for last monday? I missed it."

I laughed quietly. "Wow, complex question. Check the syllabus, but I think it's the essay on the ethics of pornography. I think it was one of the essays against it."

"Ewww!" She exclaimed. "I don't get that whole thing. A girl should be able to do whatever she wants with her body."

I nodded. "Off the record, I'm tempted to agree with you. However, it's worth reading the essay, they make some decent arguments against the objectification of women."

"...but we have the right to let ourselves become objects," she replied quickly, "you know, if we enjoy it."

I stifled a cough, more than a little shocked by her unwitting admission. As if suddenly realizing what she'd just said, she went silent, her face turning red.

Diplomatically, I tried to redirect the conversation. "Well, that's actually an argument against paternalism more than anything. We'll probably get to that later in the semester."

The conversation lapsed back into silence, and I decided to fish for some conversation to ease her embarrassment a bit. "So, where do you live up here?"

Slowly, she regained her former tone and composure. "I live in house up at Alpha Phi."

"Oh," I replied, "Is that the big house with the ship-style lamps out front?"

"Yeah", she replied. "Have you been to one of our parties, or what?"

"No, when I came here, I was already a bit too old for that scene. I didn't want to be the creepy old guy at the sorority house."

She playfully pushed me away. "You're not old. What are you, like, 21 or 22?"

I smiled. "24, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Oh, you're not old. Besides, I'm sure a lot of girls up at the house would love to meet you. You're such a nice guy..."

We stopped at the intersection at the edge of campus. I looked down at the dark-haired girl, excitedly shifting her weight back and forth. I knew I should probably put a stop to her flirting, but then again, it had been a long while since I'd gotten this sort of attention from an attractive girl like her, and she sure was pretty...

"...but yeah," she continued as the light changed, "you should come by the house some time. We have the best socials, oh my god."

I laughed quietly, then finally shifted my weight a bit, making my tone more serious. "Well, I don't think it's looked nicely upon for an instructor to go and visit his students' houses. I do appreciate the offer, though."

Alexa's face fell. "Oh, I guess you're probably right," she said, obviously crestfallen. The conversation lapsed into silence again.

I sighed. "Look, Alexa. It's nothing personal or anything. I'm just... I just like my job, and getting too friendly with my students could cost me a lot."

Still obviously saddened, she kept on walking beside me. After a while, she finally piped up. "Well, I don't think anybody in my sorority would say anything if you just came by for one little party."

I smiled at her. If she hadn't been my student, I would have been all over her offer. Although she was a few years younger than me, she was a beautiful girl, with a great body, a good mind, and a truly wonderful smile. She seemed pretty open, based on her comments, and I had no trouble imagining asking her out. Then, just as the image of bringing her back home to my apartment began in my head, my inner worrier caught back up with me. "Students are off-limits", I reminded myself.

I sighed, not wanting to shoot her down, but still obligated to decline. "We'll see. Maybe when you're out of my class, that way nobody would worry about it."

She perked back up. "Really? I'm sure all the girls there would love you."

I smiled at her compliment, then, snapping back to reality, I looked down the hill from the top the intersection. "Uhh, Alexa, isn't this your street?"

She looked around, and, going red again, started laughing, her laugh carrying an unusually self-conscious tone. "Oh, yeah. I guess it is. Well, I'll see you Monday in Office Hours."

Chuckling to myself, I waved goodbye and proceeded down the street towards my apartment complex. I smiled. Even if it can't go anywhere, I thought, it's still nice to know that a pretty girl like Alexa is interested in me. If only she'd taken some other class...

10

"Uh, Hi."

The blonde, college-aged guy on the porch of the stone house looked up from his book at me. "Looking for somebody?"

"Uhh.. yeah. Is Varinia inside?"

He set the book down on the porch swing and stood to meet me. "She's feeling kinda down. Did you bring her a card?"

I stared at him for a moment, then, suddenly understanding, pulled the white card out from my pocket and handed it to him.

"Oh," he said, smiling while he examined it. "This is a nice card. Recent too. I'm sure she'll love it."

With a wink, he took a small key from his pocket and turned it in the latch of the old wooden door, letting me in.

I walked through into a small wood paneled foyer, as the doorman closed the entrance behind me. Taking a cue from the neat rows of shoes along the wall, I took my shoes off and set them down at the end of the row, underneath the line of coat hooks. I adjusted my camera bag and walked into the next room, a wood paneled atrium, with a large staircase off of one side.

Suddenly, a familiar voice boomed from an office, through a door across the small atrium.

"Rick, my boy! Good to see you!"

Herb came into the room, this time in khakis and a sport coat, and clapped me on the back.

"Alright Rick," Herb continued, "it's showtime. Let me tell you a little bit about the procedures here. Anybody's fair game for pictures, no need for consent forms or anything. The party's downstairs." He waved towards the staircase off to the right. I started off towards the stairs, but he grabbed my shoulder. "A few last things, you know, notes of etiquette. We've got a few girls down there who are paying members. They'll be wearing blue. If they want to fuck, then great, but they're there for their own fun, not yours. Any girl in red is all yours, though."