by Kin Asdi
He didn’t need to know that she was as nervous as hell. His response became distorted by the electromagnetic field, “Good. Now make sure you’re not too close.”
Andena wouldn’t dream of going any closer than necessary and snorted, “Don’t worry about that.”
She took the measuring device from her belt and walked until she was eighteen feet away from the field. She was pleased that she could finally remove the heavy anchor pins from her belt. Lunn had shown her how to drive them swiftly and without any effort into the soil. They felt sturdy and the specific angle, in which they were placed in the soil, gave them the extra support that they needed. She had double checked the knots of the ropes and the anchor points before she sat down in the middle of the road.
As she was connecting the ropes to her belt an extremely loud hissing noise behind the gorse made her jump. Andena shrieked and grabbed the emergency cord that would release the hooks of her belt in an instant. Fortunately, the hissing died down quickly and it sounded like something in the field had released a built-up pressure.
Lunn asked, “Are you okay Andena?”
She slowly exhaled before replying in a trembling voice, “Yes, I guess so. What was that sound?”
“I don’t know, but we need to press on. It will get dark soon.”
She knew that she couldn’t dither any longer and took the telescope rod from her belt. Within a minute, the rod was fully extended, and she carefully mounted the razor sharp knife at the end of it. She got up and made sure that the emergency cord was hanging free. Moving the rod, as a fisherman would, she inched it towards the gorse, before saying in a strained voice, “I’m about to cut a hole in the gorse.”
Lunn asked, “Did you prepare the camera? I don’t see any video feed.”
She was just a few inches away from the gorse, and she exclaimed, “Shit!”
“What?”
“I forgot the camera!”
Lunn shouted in disbelief, “What? You left the camera here?”
She carefully placed the rod on the road and said calmly, “No silly, I just didn’t prepare the camera rod.”
He growled, “There’s only one silly person, and that is the one who forgot to extend the camera rod.”
Andena knew that Lunn was as nervous as she was and couldn’t help giggling when she pushed the button at the base of the camera rod. She was pleased she had tried the equipment before and directed the camera just before the gorse. The camera rod had a self-extending mechanism which became fully operational within a matter of seconds. She activated the camera and heard Lunn grunt approvingly. “Camera feed looks good. Now remember Andena, try to keep the hole you cut as small as possible.”
With sweaty palms, she picked up the rod with the knife again and moved a step closer to the gorse. She knew that making a cut which she had no way of controlling was the hardest part of her mission. She pushed the knife slowly into the fabric and was reassured by the lack of resistance. She slowly moved the knife down until there was an opening of three inches before quickly retracting the knife and pushing the camera through the cut. She could feel herself becoming increasingly tense as Lunn gasped. “Do you have a clear picture?” she asked.
His voice sounded tortured, “Crystal clear, can you turn the camera clockwise?”
She obeyed his request by slowly turning the rod until she heard him exclaim, “Oh my God! Andena, get the fuck out of there!”
Just at that moment, she felt that the camera being pulled from her hands almost causing her to lose her balance. Before she realised what was happening, two tentacles had shot through the hole. Luckily she had the sense to reach for her machete the moment she lost the camera because she was pulled down by the sheer force of the two, thick tentacles which snaked around her legs, pulling them together and preventing her from getting up. She felt the sharp thorns trying to push into her legs, but the fine carbon mesh was strong enough to withhold the pressure.
The fact that the tentacles were trying to penetrate her skin was her saviour and with a guttural grunt, using the machete, she managed to slice through both of the vines at one attempt. It was with an enormous sense of relief that she was able to free her legs. She watched as the damaged tentacles slowly began to retreat and knew that it was time to run away as fast as possible because something else was attempting to squirm through the small hole. She pulled at the emergency cord, but to her dismay, nothing happened!
She tried once more, but the belt was still locked! She knew she didn’t have time to fiddle with the belt, and she started to run away hoping that the anchors would pop out if they were pulled out the right way.
With all her strength she began running from the tentacles and at the moment, the ropes were pulling at the anchors she heard a loud popping sound. Andena cheered when both anchors shot out of their holes, but forced herself to keep on running. She winced as one of the anchors banged against her back, but in fact, it wasn’t too painful. She saw the humour in the situation when she heard the metal anchors, bouncing with loud clanging sounds against the tarmac as she raced to safety. She would have preferred a silent retreat, but she would be happy so long as she was safe. She only stopped running when she turned into the road away from the field, and it was only at that point, that she heard Lunn frantically calling her name. Breathing heavily, she managed to whisper, “Lunn.... I’m.... Fine.”
She thought she heard him whimpering as he breathed, “Thank God! I was afraid I had lost you too, on that bloody field! Just take it easy now and come to my office at your leisure.”
She was still resting her hands on her thighs waiting to get her breath back to normal. Sighing with relief, she said, “Okay, I’ll see you later.”
As she pulled herself upright, she tugged absent-mindedly at the emergency cord and to her utter surprise, her belt dropped down on the street. Feeling confused, she shook her head and wondered why the bloody thing hadn’t dislodged when it was needed. However, she was more than pleased to be able to dump the heavy weighted belt into the nearest bin. She was surprised by how quickly she regained her breath which was great because she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. She felt well enough to make the journey and started to jog in the direction of Lunn’s quarters. To her amazement, she noticed that her whole body was tingling, presumably from the realisation that she had survived this treacherous mission. Andena was astonished by how quickly she got into her jogging stride. It was as if her body craved a fast-paced run. The closer she got to Lunn quarters the more she realised that she was looking forward to seeing him. There was a burning ache inside of her, and she longed to wrap her legs tightly around his waist. She was puzzled by the fact that she seemed to be getting hornier by the second. It wasn’t uncommon for her to become aroused by exciting thoughts. However, nothing had made her this randy before! In the end, she was so fired up that she no longer cared – So long as she got to have Lunn. The thought of him crawling all over her body made her moan out loud with desire.
Lunn slammed back into his chair after he was sure that Andena had managed to escape. He had closed his eyes because they felt gritty after he had been looking so intensely at the monitors for such a long time.
He shivered involuntarily as the images Andena had taken in the field, flooded back into his mind. He had never seen such a ghastly scene before. He had counted sixteen strange looking plants. The plant was around eight feet in height, and at the top sat an enormous, purple ball. He thought that the plants looked like huge lollipops, only with thicker sticks. The most disturbing fact was that each trunk had, at least, three human bodies intertwined in its vines. Their faces were flawless, and they all wore euphoric smiles. To all intents and purposes, they seemed the embodiment of happiness and contentment. Their eyes were closed: suggesting that they were sleeping peacefully, and their bodies looked as if they frequently worked out. It disturbed him that the ghoulish sight should also seem not just sensual but exceptionally beautiful.
The last clear picture L
unn saw before a vine had pulled the camera away was Hunta’s body. Her naked body was intertwined with vines which held her tightly against the trunk. It was as if she was a part of the plant and her curves fitted perfectly into the wavy forms. Her arms were positioned above her head which made her body align with the vines. Next to her was a man who was positioned in the same way. He too looked blissful. Lunn had managed to create a sharp still of Hunta and to his amazement, she seemed to look much younger. Hunta had been in her early forties when she disappeared: now she didn’t look a day older than thirty.
Then it dawned on Lunn, that far from being from Earth, these plants must be alien! He stood up and started to pace nervously around the room realising that it all made sense. It explained why nobody had ever seen the fields built. The aliens must have superior techniques to enable them to hide and build the fields. But still it didn’t answer his burning questions: why were those fields here and were those plants alien? If those plants were truly alien, then something must have happened between the aliens and the Archon, which he, and many others, had missed. Either they have an agreement with the aliens and kept it silent, or the aliens had taken over and were oppressing the Archon.
He quickly thought back to when the first of those fields had appeared, which was roughly four months ago. He needed to find Arnost, the leader of the Archon, hoping he would give him some answers. He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice calling his name.
“Lunn! Where are you?”
Andena rushed into his office with a huge grin on her face, and she ran straight into his arms. She kissed him while she put her arms around his torso.
Lunn was completely taken aback by her sudden affection for him, but he let it be for now. It had been a mind blowing event for both of them. After she broke the kiss to gain some air, she exclaimed, “Oh Lunn, I’m so pleased I’m safe here with you.”
She went for his lips once more, and he truly started to enjoy her soft lips and her wonderful fresh smell. Her excitement and feeling the warmth of her body made him want more as well. He moved his hand up from her bottom to caress her back and was shocked when he felt something wet and cold attached to her back.
He roughly broke the kiss and commanded, “Andena, stand as still as possible. There’s something attached to your back.”
She frowned and said with a pouting expression on her face, “But I don’t feel anything.”
Lunn carefully moved sideways and saw a glistening miniature lollipop plant stuck to her back. It looked like it was about to fall off her back and Lunn rushed into the adjacent room looking for a plastic container which was big enough to hold it. He found one, but it was fully stocked with ammunition. With no other option, he removed the lid and dropped the packages with the bullets on the table before rushing back to Andena, who was still standing there with a funny smile on her face as if nothing serious had happened. He placed the container on her back and tried to prise the lollipop from her back with the lid. The plant slowly peeled away from her sweater and finally fell into the container.
Lunn placed the lid firmly on the container and made sure it was sealed properly. Meanwhile, Andena had turned around to see what was on her back, and she said cheerfully, “Oh what a pretty thing. I thought I felt one of the anchors hitting my back.”
Lunn felt strange; it was as if the lollipop which looked like a beautiful, crafted rose on a stick had mesmerised him. Andena purred as she pulled her sweater off, “Maybe you should check my back to see if I’m hurt or not.”
Andena’s tight fitting top revealed her beautiful body. However, Lunn was still surprised by how his desire to take Andena here and now was so intense. With a smouldering smile, he agreed with a dark voice, “It would be my pleasure to fulfil my duty.”
She snorted and kicked her boots off. Her eyes twinkled as she teased, “Well soldier, perform as requested. On all fronts.”
Lunn couldn’t wait to pull her top over her arms and raised his eyebrows playfully as he asked, “You want to test all my skills?”
Andena nearly moaned when she said, “Yes.”
Her moan made his desire rocket to an unbearable level, and even though he knew, in the back of his mind that he shouldn’t comply with her demand. He wanted her gorgeous body next to him in his bed.
Completely naked.
Andena woke up slowly, and she felt that her nose was ticklish. She lazily moved her hand to her nose, and she realised that she was lying with her head on a warm hairy chest. It slowly dawned on her that this wonderfully sculptured chest belonged to Lunn and the memories of an incredibly long and hot night flooded back into her mind.
Her face broke into a satisfied smile as she remembered the unbelievable skills Lunn possessed: how he was able to satisfy a woman fully. Andena was so pleased that she had bought a new birth-control scheme when she decided to join the rebels. She didn’t want anything holding her back or tying her down. She was surprised at how fast Lunn had fallen for her flirtatious behaviour and his desperate need to devour her.
She winced a little when she moved away from his gorgeous body. The sex with him was mind-blowing and had an animalistic feel about it. The first two times they hadn’t exchanged any words. She had never felt so satisfied and exhausted when they had finally fallen asleep.
The only thing she found scary was the feeling of being out of control which had happened when she entered the office last night. She would normally never kiss a man full on his lips to express her joy unless it was her lover. She had kissed Lunn and practically forced her tongue into his mouth. It was as if she had no inhibitions which made her feel uneasy. She had thought that he was a little reserved at first, but he somehow allowed her to be so frivolous. It was only after they had stored this amazing flower away that he made the incredible sexual advances to her. She had swooned when he had kissed her so passionately and gave her body fully over to his magical hands. She turned her head to glance at the ancient clock which was ticking the time softly away.
With a start, she remembered what day it was and sighed glumly. She didn’t want to leave his wonderful body, but she had to get up because she couldn’t afford to be late for her Martial Art class.
She looked for her flimsy thong, but she couldn’t find the little piece of fabric and decided that Lunn could have it as a souvenir of their incredible night. She had to hurry home to take a quick shower and change into her training gear. Her master was a man in his eighties, but he wanted his students to be immaculate: everything had to be as he had told them. Even though she was his favourite student she had to comply with the same strict rules.
As she silently stepped out Lunn’s bedroom, she saw her carbon suit lying in the doorway of the office. As she carefully folded it, she could barely remember taking the suit off. As she passed the container with the small lollipop flower she had the urge to open it and smell the wonderful smell again but she knew there was no time to waste anymore. In fact, she was probably going to work up another sweat because she was going to need to run, in order to be on time for her class.
CHAPTER FOUR
Danette was in an extremely bad mood. Her plans had gone completely wrong. She had hoped to have all ten androids up and running by now but of the three from the last batch, only two were good enough to endure the heavy stress test. On top of this, she had to deal with an impatient CEO of Bionex, which had annoyed her considerably and then Lunn had crushed her last bit of dignity to pieces by insisting that his little bitch, Andena, should stay on the team. It wouldn’t have happened if she had been running the show, but Lunn had refused to let the girl go. His obvious physical attraction to the other woman made Danette feel extremely uneasy, and she readily admitted to being jealous of the girls’ beautiful vibrant red hair and flawless pale skin.
She was furious when he not only overruled her say on this matter but as a result also deprived her of a bit of fun with him. The way in which he had lifted her out of his lap had been embarrassing, and she had been s
tunned by the fact that he made no attempt to hide his arousal from the redhead. It had caught her totally off guard. Danette wanted his attention but not this way! She wasn’t in the mood for sex any more after he had pulled that ridiculous trick. She hoped that his balls had been heavy and aching for the last two nights and that hopefully he would give in to her demands.
The problem was that by withholding sex, Danette now felt sexually frustrated. She reluctantly had to admit that Lunn was the only man she wanted. No other man could live up to the incredibly high standards that he set. They didn’t even come close to satisfying her, and it was this that was weighing heavily on her mind as she walked to his quarters. Danette hated the fact that she was so dependent on Lunn. It scared her to think about how badly she wanted him; craved him. There was no denying the fact that having sex with Lunn was always mind-blowing, but was it healthy that he made her feel like this?
She sighed and inhaled deeply for a few times before entering Lunn’s quarters. When she arrived in his office, she was surprised that he wasn’t behind his desk. He was always such an early bird and lying in was just not his thing. Her eyes fell on the container with the lollipop and was instantly mesmerised by its colours. She examined the flower from all sides and was intrigued by the smooth and shiny texture. Danette wanted to know whether the flower was wet or whether the surfaces had been polished into an incredible shiny sheen. Lifting the lid carefully from the container, she was startled by the little puff of air that escaped. The smell of the perfumed air reached Danette’s nose, and she greedily inhaled the lovely scent. The scented air made her head a little dizzy, and it was as if the flower’s scent had narcotic qualities.
She lifted the container to have a better look, and she was fascinated how the little petals shimmered in the rays of the upcoming sun. She wanted to study it more closely but in the back of her mind, she was aware that it might be dangerous. However, the need to take a peek was so compelling that Danette ignored all of the warning signs and removed the lid completely. Carefully taking the flower in her hand, she realised that it was covered with a slippery substance. She knew that she should have worn gloves. However, the slippery substance was irresistible. Her reverie was broken by the sound of Lunn coughing, and she knew he was still in his bed. Her heart started beating a little faster as she decided to sneak up on him.