Paradise Reclaimed

by Raymond Harris

  They all fell silent and looked at each other with varying degrees of surprise and concern. Constance broke the silence. “This ride gets ever more interesting. So just what has your little group been up to Li?”

  “Yeah man, what’s the deal?” asked Junji.

  Li Li took a deep breath and told them everything she had told Akash. She told them about Seoul and the initial plans to develop a genetic engineering division of Shunyata and the program to genetically enhance the colonists. After questions about safety and unintended consequences (assuaged by the fact that Li Li seemed perfectly normal – except for the teasing about certain personality deficiencies) they all agreed to the program. The fact that Archimedes readily agreed confirmed that he had been playing with them. Indeed, that his gambit had united them through arguing against his position - a tricky move that could have easily backfired.

  “Vous êtes un contrarian monsieur,” she said to him afterwards.

  He smiled and pulled her next to him in a friendly hug. “And you are plein du surprises mademoiselle. I expect you will have even more surprises for us.”

  47

  Biyu

  She was tired and bruised. She wanted, no, needed to rest, but she was still too high from her triumph. She thought it would be selfish to push everyone away. One word to Tower her coach or to Zoe and they would close the circle immediately and whisk her away to somewhere quiet. Instead they retired to the private rooms of the Paradise club where the management graciously permitted an open bar for the small circle of her closest friends.

  She did not ask for alcohol, instead opting for a fruit and herb cocktail known for its relaxing high. She was sitting in a booth surrounded by Zoe, her long-standing training partner Suresh and her date, the bird-eye Kat, when her guardian announced she had a call from her geneatrix, Zhang Mei-Xing. Someone handed her a screen and tears came to her eyes as her mother appeared smiling, rugged up in cold weather gear, the waves of the great northern ocean crashing behind her.

  “I’m so proud, and sorry I couldn’t be there.”

  “Looks like there’s a storm?” asked Biyu concerned by the obvious rocking motion of the ship deck behind her mother.

  “We’re mid-ocean, just a strong westerly. Here, Yin wants to say hello.”

  The tears came again as her little sister appeared. “We got to see the whole thing. I was so scared,” She gushed with obvious pride.

  After speaking to the other members of her parenting circle also on the research ship, Biyu asked to speak to her mother again. “Listen, I have some other news. I’ve been commissioned under a section two. I’m afraid it’s subject to a confidentiality clause but I have to tell you I’m going to be away, somewhere, for an indeterminate amount of time.”

  “Sounds serious?”

  “Yes, I think it is. It seems a few have been conscripted.”

  “She can’t even tell me,” protested Zoe leaning over to wave to Mei.

  “Oh, hi Zoe. Jeez, slow down everyone. Never mind the high seas. This constant passing of the screen is making me seasick… Look, I’m sure they have their reasons. Just stay safe.”

  “Yeah, okay, bye mum, bye Yin, everyone.” The screen filled with smiling faces and waving hands and then went blank.

  “My family could never stay still. We’re scattered all over Eden,” she sighed.

  “And maybe further,” said Kat before realising she had spoken out of turn.

  “Further?” asked Zoe.

  “Sorry, forget I said that,” she said pointing to the air, the universal signal her guardian would be listening.

  “You’ve been conscripted too haven’t you?” asked Biyu.

  Kat nodded. “For the last six months. I’m on leave. I think I can say that much.”

  “A mystery girl,” said Zoe seductively.

  “I go back in a few days.”

  The evening continued in this fashion for another hour or so. Relatives and friends contacted her to congratulate her (her genetic father from a mineralogy survey in the middle of the eastern continent – in the early morning because of the time difference). But she began to tire and indicated she needed to sleep. Kat considerately offered to take a rain check on their sexual liaison but Biyu knew that despite her polite denial Zoe had been looking forward to it. So they said their goodbyes and slowly extricated themselves from the group. She was especially relieved that a drone had been booked to take her home, a rare luxury and a gift as part of her prize. She simply did not have the energy to walk to the subway.

  The rain had stopped and everything smelled fresh. The clouds were beginning to part and the pinkish orb of Psyche peaked out just as the hover rose into the air. It was only a short journey but the view over the city dotted with lights was breathtaking.

  She collapsed into bed pretending to be more exhausted than she was so that she didn’t have to move. Zoe and Kat understood that she wanted to be pandered to, spoiled, and they willingly and playfully complied. They massaged her and kissed her and gently brought her to an orgasm, the cocktail of pleasure hormones helping to wash away the stress. Then she dozed, relieved of any responsibility to reciprocate. She fell asleep to the gentle sounds of Zoe and Kat making love. She was content.

  Fallaci was standing before her bleeding. He was weakened. She considered his body carefully. There were a number of ways she could kill him: a sharp blow to the heart to stop it; a punch to the throat to crush his windpipe so that he would suffocate; an upper cut to his septum to drive it into his skull; two fingers into an eye socket and through to the brain; several ways to break his neck. Compassion dictated that she go for the sudden kill, a snap of the neck, but she was angry and wanted to see him react to his demise, to know that he was being killed. It all happened in slow motion. She spun around with a full roundhouse kick. This time she did not aim for his jaw but for the mastoid process. If she timed it correctly the last flick would provide the force necessary to separate his skull from his neck. She heard the snap. Too late now. He was dead before he hit the floor, the look of horror on his face showing he had realised in the last second. She stood over him and took a deep breath. That was much easier than she thought. She bent down and picked up a limp arm. Meat and bone, just meat and bone.

  She woke with a start. The full, sickening ramifications of her final kick tore at her stomach. One false move and she could have killed Fallaci. What had possessed her? She untangled herself from Zoe and Kat’s limbs. She was sweating. She walked to her small kitchen and poured a glass of water. She gulped it down. Perhaps the nightmare had been caused by dehydration?

  She turned to the bed. The bright white-blue light of Eros was glowing through a sudden break in the clouds and throwing an eerie beam of light across Zoe and Kat’s naked torsos. She felt what she could only describe as a twinge of erotic sadness. She had become aroused but was overcome with the realisation of her impending departure. She would miss Zoe, deeply. She was a part of her: emotionally, physically, spiritually. She wanted to wake her and that was part of the sadness, because she couldn’t be selfish and disturb her. So she opened the veranda door and walked out to stare hopelessly at Eros. It was then she saw a small bright flash in the sky. Was that what she thought it was? A star jumper? She had heard that they created a sudden flash in the sky like a small supernova.

  “Star gazing?” whispered a voice behind her. She turned to see Kat tiptoeing stealthily through the door. “I saw it too. A jumper,” Kat said softly as she stood beside Biyu. “They say that anyone who is lucky to see one is destined to visit the stars.”

  “So that’s what you meant?”

  “When?”

  “Earlier… When you said further. You meant I’ll be star jumping?”

  Kat remained silent, waiting to get a warning response from her guardian. It didn’t arrive. “Huh, that’s interesting, the guardians aren’t being as vigilant.”

  “You’re under a confidentiality agreement too?”

  “Yes, I’ll be star jumping i
n a few months. It’s what I’ve been training for. There’s a mission to a new planet and I’m one of the defenders. I’ve been on furlough to tidy up a few loose ends.”

  “How many planets?”

  “They’ve found five now. They expect to find more soon.”

  “So this is what this about? Interstellar expeditions? They want me to be a defender?”

  Kat smiled. “Is there anyone better qualified?”

  “How many defenders are there?”

  “A small army. It’s being built slowly. It’s been kept a secret because it’s all very new and a bit uncertain, but now, with these new discoveries.”

  “It’ll change everything.”

  “Things were getting a bit stale anyway. Eden was falling into a rut. Humans need ambition and adventure. Our minds abhor a vacuum. We get decadent, lazy – bored.”

  Biyu became pensive. “My family has a history of exploration and wanderlust.”

  Kat nodded. “You’re a direct matrilineal descendent of one of the First aren’t you? You carry her name, Zhang?”

  “Yes, Zhang Li Li, my great grandmother, six times removed – I think. I always get a bit confused.”

  “It’s an illustrious pedigree. Her daughter Chu-Hua was the first native born wasn’t she? I have more humble origins. I was IVF, a concoction made of the genes of four people. No direct line.”

  “I don’t buy that heritage nonsense. We are all made of the genetic material of the Settlers. In fact my first child will be IVF…”

  “You and Zoe?”

  She nodded. “Suresh will provide the sperm - twins, her egg, my egg implanted, together. It doesn’t matter how we are conceived. It only matters what we make of the life we are given.”

  “True, maybe I’ll settle on another world, start a new breed of human, a new culture.”

  “New, how?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. There’s no reason we have to maintain the same form. I rather like the idea of a temperate zone forest world with tree houses. I grew up in the northern forest and as a child I desperately wanted a tail, prehensile, to help me climb trees. I also liked the idea of fur, soft like sprites.”

  Biyu laughed. “Exotic. I suppose you are right. Fur would make sense in cold climates. On old Earth they killed animals and wore their fur. That idea always creeped me out.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen pictures. Our barbaric descendants. If only they knew how to grow fur instead. You know there’s been a request to offer tails as an option, as an extra limb. Can you imagine how gymnastics would change, how martial arts would change?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. Genetics has advanced. We can now start borrowing sequences from other species, but it might be a while off – apparently tails are surprisingly complex and you have to change a few things – the spinal column is tricky, as are the biomechanics. Eyes are easier apparently, not that I’m an expert.”

  “I don’t know, I kind of like the human form as it is.”

  “But why not create the most efficient form possible? I wouldn’t trade these eyes or my enhancements. They define who I am. Not one bird-eye I know regrets it. Can you see that branch up there?” she asked pointing to the large boo tree around ten metres into the courtyard.

  Biyu peered into the darkness. “Not distinctly.”

  “I can. I can also leap to it. Can you?”

  “With a run, but not without seeing it first.”

  “Watch,” said Kat mounting the balcony handrail with agility and perfect balance.

  “A standing jump?”

  “Courtesy of enhanced leg muscles.” She squatted, took a deep breath, paused with absolute stillness and intense concentration and then leapt high into the shadows of the tree. Biyu heard the branch shake and saw Kat’s pale, moon lit form disappear into the canopy. She reappeared higher up and Biyu understood why she had wanted a tail. Her agility was amazing. She leapt from the tree and made a soft landing on all fours on the porch. “Sorry, I can be a bit of a showoff, but it’s fun. I mean I’m not as coordinated as you, or as quick. I can just see and leap further.”

  Biyu understood perfectly. There was a joy in expressing physical ability. But she also realised that with skills like that, her hold on the championship would only last a year or two. In fact she was beginning to realise that now might be the time to retire from competition.

  48

  Prax

  “Wake up Prax.”

  He stirred. He was unusually groggy. Torv stirred beside him. He realised he was erect.

  “Strategos Shimazu has called an early, urgent meeting,” his guardian announced.

  He rose on his elbows trying to bring his reluctant mind to attention. “When?”

  “Half an hour. You’ve slept in.”

  Torv sat up suddenly. “You too?” she asked him, the light of her guardian flashing.

  “Where…?” It was then he realised they were in the girls’ room and they were lying around them on a double mattress, also beginning to stir. It was then the night came into greater focus. They had played chess. The girls had improved greatly and had employed several sophisticated gambits. They had also tried to trick him by using decoy body language, until he pointed out that such tactics had to be backed up by real events. There was no point in pretending they were confident when he was only three moves from checkmate.

  Torv had said she wanted to play and had proved herself competent. He had said he was getting weary and started to leave, but the girls would not have it, suggesting he and Torv sleep with them. They had also insisted it was time he and Torv had sex because she was mid-cycle. He became unusually embarrassed and demurred but they insisted.

  Then things became hazy. The girls had become aroused and before he lost reason to passion, he detected a vague musty smell and realised the girls were emitting a powerful pheromone with aphrodisiac properties, after that Torv was insistent and he found himself unwilling to resist. This clearly excited the girls and their skin began oscillating with new patterns of colour. As he and Torv surrendered to each other the girls also had sex. And although it was difficult to observe what was going on he had the distinct impression sex was different for the girls, more hormonally complex, more about a deep, neurochemical bonding. He thought that they were indeed a different species and that sex with humans would always be insufficient. But what was absolutely clear was that just being in their presence when they were aroused stimulated him in an unfamiliar way. He found he was able to last longer and get lost in an endless orgasm. At some point the room’s lights faded and their lovemaking was illuminated by the bioluminescent glow of the girls deep in a sexual trance.

  He could only conclude he was hung over from the effects of the hormonal cocktail; dehydrated and drained. He though it would take days, weeks, for his body to produce more semen.

  “Wow, that was some night,” said Torv leaning forward to kiss him, her hand instinctively reaching for his erection.

  He pulled back slightly.

  “Sorry, sensitive? It certainly had a work out last night…” Torv purred.

  “Morning,” said one of the girls (Mae he thought).

  The others woke instantly. “Morning,” they said in unison.

  “That was fun…” said Riku chirpily (he knew it was Riku because she was also erect).

  “Yes, we’ve never had two people sleep over…”

  “We must do it again…”

  “Yes…”

  “Please…”

  “Well, I’m certainly glad I did,” said Torv standing and stretching her hands high above her head so that her already long body elongated even further.

  “Prax looks tired,” observed Riku standing, her erection full and glistening.

  “I think it’s your pheromones,” he said, still unable to stand.

  Sun crawled over to him on all fours and peered into his eyes. He was momentarily shocked at getting such a close look at her vivid orange eyes flecked with yellow, red and small streaks of b
lue. “He’s fatigued. He needs a shot of vitamin B.”

  May came over and squatted before him. “Yes, we are sorry…”

  “It is what we said about…”

  “Our sexual evolution…”

  “Our hormonal response is stronger…”

  “We had no idea it would effect you this much…”

  “Torv seems okay…”

  “Because she is female?”

  “No,” said Torv. “Actually I’m feeling a bit exhausted too. If it’s your hormones then you girls are one hell of a hit, better than anything I’ve taken.”

  The girls looked at each other perplexed.

  “Drugs,” offered Prax. “Stimulants, aphrodisiacs…”

  “We haven’t tried those yet,” Sun replied dismissively.

  Torv giggled still giddy from the night before. “Somehow I don’t think you’ll ever need them.”

  Mae and Sun stood and helped him stand. They seemed totally unconcerned by his erection.

  “We have a meeting with Shimazu soon,” said Torv. “We have to shower and go, grab a quick breakfast.”

  “We’ll join you?”

  “For breakfast?”

  “And shower,” said Sun taking his hand and leading them to their en-suite.

  It was the first time Torv had worn her purple magnus’s sarong and silver wristbands (left outside overnight by a drone). She had even tied her long hair back in a tight ponytail. Prax thought she looked suitably authoritative but she whispered that she felt awkward and undeserving. They were standing in Shimazu’s conference room with all the other magnuses.

  Tojo sidled up to Torv and nudged her, “well deserved Amy, I mean magnus Torv, congratulations.”

  “Thanks, I think. It was a bit sudden…”

  Their small talk was interrupted when the strategos strode into the room purposively. “Morning everyone,” she said as she sat in her seat. “Please,” she said gesturing to the other chairs.