by Gary Naiman
The Leader smiled. “Good ... our android chef, Claude, will be most pleased.”
Lucinda was startled when the gray-haired man seated beside her suddenly rose to his feet, his brown eyes focused on her.
The man extended his hand. “Zambeer Chernikoff, 0021. I am honored to share this moment with you.”
Stunned, Lucinda placed her napkin on the table and rose to clasp the man’s hand. “Thank you, sir. You’re?”
The room rustled with soft laughter, interrupted by the Leader’s voice.
“Zambeer is Neptune’s new Chief Executive Officer. He is most grateful for your bravery at the Mariana Challenger Deep Platform, as are all of us.”
Lucinda grasped Chernikoff’s hand amidst a round of applause. Embarrassed, she stared at the Consortium members who had risen from their chairs to applaud her. Her eyes locked on the Leader who was also standing, her clapping hands extended toward her.
Chernikoff patted Lucinda’s hand while breaking into a grin. “For the first time, I feel safe knowing a real warrior is at our backs.” He reached for his goblet and raised it in a toast.
“To our brave, intrepid, 0021, who will soon become our Western Hemisphere Overlord.” He waited for his eleven colleagues to raise their goblets. “Deity be with you, 0021.”
“Hear! Hear!”
Shaken, Lucinda managed a modest bow while praying she didn’t collapse.
The meal quickly lost its flavor when she was beset by questions from her hosts.
“Gretta Reinhart, 0021. I am most intrigued by your struggle with the dreg beneath the platform. Is it true you subdued her?”
Lucinda smiled at the attractive blond. “I played a minor role. The Meta subdued her with a lethal energy blast.”
Reinhart smiled. “You’re too modest, 0021.”
Lucinda shrugged while gulping of a piece of beef. “The Meta was most effective.”
Reinhart’s eyes widened. She looked at the Leader who was absorbing their dialogue from her seat at the head of the triangle. “Great One?”
“Gretta?”
“The Meta defied the Edict?”
“Apparently so.”
“Then you were right. The Edict can be overcome.”
The Leader smiled. “Our new Meta’s are very powerful and most loyal to their creators. They will do whatever necessary to protect the Consortium.”
The table broke into applause and shouts of, “Hear! Hear!” while the Leader soaked up their plaudits. She had been proven correct in dispatching Karpolov and the two incompetents.
Lucinda was being interrogated by Mediglobe’s Raymond Stevens and Discount’s Hanna Ripken when the Leader noticed her guest was wavering. It is nearly 22:00 hours and the poor girl had been at it since her arrival last evening.
Stevens eased his plasma chair closer while raising his hand for Ripken to be silent. He leaned toward Lucinda and took a healthy gulp of wine. “May I ask your opinion?”
“Sir?”
“At a recent meeting, your ex-superior, Anatole Karpolov, warned that our robots possess an irreversible command preventing them from attacking a human, yet the Meta killed your attacker.” He stared at her. “Can you explain this?”
Lucinda fumbled for words, but Ripken cut her off.
“Enough, Raymond. Can’t you see she’s tired?”
Steven’s face reddened. “You’re intruding, Hanna.”
Ripken shrugged. “Guess I am.” She leaned toward Lucinda and smiles. “So ... how do you like it?”
“Like?”
Ripken gave her a startled look. “Your new uniform, of course.” She eased her plasma chair backward while sweeping her hand at Lucinda’s garment.
Lucinda looked down at the obsidian uniform.
Ripken smiled. “Well?”
“It’s magnificent, the way it glows.”
Ripken rose to her inebriated feet and extended her hands to the Leader. “You see? I told you my new angelic aura would make the uniform stand out.” She swept her hand at Lucinda. “Look at her. She had them eating out of her hand when they saw the halo surround her.” She extended her hands in an imploring gesture. “Well?”
The Leader nodded in acknowledgement. “Your creation is stunning, Hanna. That is why you’re the best at what you do.” She waited for Hanna’s childish giggle before rising to her feet. “This has been a wonderful day. We have become stronger today.” She gestured to Lucinda. “We have a new friend.”
The table erupted with spontaneous applause as the members rose to their feet to embrace their budding Western Hemisphere Overlord.
The coach ride back to her quarters was most comforting. The clouded skies had parted to reveal a half moon. She breathed a sigh while reflecting on the full moon she had viewed above Lake Michigan. It seemed an eternity, yet she and the Guardian stood on that shore only seven nights ago.
She gazed at Central Command’s illuminated buildings. The great clock tower clanged midnight. It had been a magnificent day.
She smiled at the Paradisio vial in her hand, a belated gift from the Leader. She clutched the vial and rested her head against the cushioned seat. Tonight would be filled with grandiose dreams and bitter memories, but for the last time. She had vowed this would be her last psychedelic trip. An overlord must be alert at all times.
She stared at the coach’s tufted ceiling. Make the most of it, girl. Tomorrow, you begin the toughest training of your life. If you survive, you will be anointed the Consortium’s Western Hemisphere Overlord.
She stiffened. If? Blast, I’ll survive and prosper because I’m their best!
She closed her eyes and felt the coach’s rocking motion, and an alarming thought struck her.
Are you better than Tabulek? Perhaps with training, but then what? How long before they discard you like him? How long before these narcissists become disillusioned with you?
Her smile faded. She pushed up from her seat and stared at the night fog drifting across the half moon.
Who are these people? They’re not good enough to rule. There must be others. Her eyes widened. Who rules them? Who rules the Consortium? Who is really in charge?
CHAPTER 28
The Queen’s Chamber
The Leader rested her head against the translucent violet cushion, her eyes gazing at the hologram of this morning’s ceremony. She lifted her wine goblet to the naked woman standing at the wet bar. “Well done, my dear. The feedback from our global implants is extremely positive. Our popularity has risen to fifty-seven percent.”
Federica Alana lifted her wine goblet and nodded in gratitude. She sipped the fragrant red wine and stretched out on the plasma lounge beside her lover. As Knowledge Cloud’s recently elected CEO, Alana’s prime directive had been to elevate the Consortium’s worldwide popularity from its abysmal low of forty-one percent. Computer analyses had warned that ratings below fifty percent increased the risk of revolution logarithmically.
The two naked women sipped their wine in silence while eyeing the beautiful blond accepting the Leader’s accolades. The crowd’s stereophonic cheers echoed through the bedchamber once used by England’s queens.
The Leader leaned toward her propaganda minister. “You don’t think we overdid it with the blond?”
Alana shook her head. “We needed that sexual suggestion for the masses. By using a well-formed blond, we excited two-and-a-half-billion frustrated males across the planet.” She shrugged. “My findings show a near doubling of their support to sixty-nine percent.”
“And the females?”
Alana shrugged. “They dropped to forty-four percent, but our net gain pushed us over fifty percent.” She sipped her wine and eased back on the lounge.
The Leader leaned closer, her voice barely a whisper. “It sounds encouraging, but what of all those aroused men? If they start copulating with their women, it could set us back ten years.”
Alana nestled into the lounge. “Perhaps you should consult Raymond on that.”
“
Raymond?”
Alana nodded. “Last time I checked, Mediglobe is responsible for birth control.”
The Leader’s emerald eyes flickered. “Raymond Stevens is not my lover. I asked you a question and I expect a non-flippant answer.”
Alana snatched the remote and turned off the hologram. She sat up to face her lover. “You’re asking me to do Raymond’s job?”
The Leader’s emerald eyes locked on her. “We must never leave gaps, my dear. It is critical we overlap. You must remember we are threatened every moment of every day. We cannot play foolish territorial games.”
She grasped Alana’s wrist. “I love you, my darling, but I am the Consortium’s eyes, ears, voice, and mind. Never mistake that.”
Alana felt a rush of fear while recalling the fate of Karpolov, DuBois, and Velasquez. The Leader’s grip tightened.
“Am I clear?”
“Yes.”
“Then answer my question.”
Alana looked down at her whitening hand. She took a calming breath while struggling for words. “We will monitor the mass’s sexual activity for a possible upsurge. If detected, I will personally recommend a solution.”
“Which is?”
Alana stared at the Leader’s emerald eyes. “That Neptune triples the poison.”
The Leader’s hand relaxed. She leaned forward and kissed her lover on the lips. “I want you, my dear... I want to feel your mouth and tongue.”
They were writhing in ecstasy on the plasma lounge when the Leader climaxed with a deafening scream. Her lover followed, her convulsive scream driven by the Leader’s deft fingers.
They lay on the lounge, their naked bodies glistening. It had been a magnificent orgasmic experience. Neither had anything left to give.
The Leader gazed at the ivory and gold ceiling, her hand resting on her heaving stomach. “That was incredible. Perhaps our best.”
Alana kissed her lover’s moist hand. “I feared you were going to kill me.”
The Leader caressed her lover’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Such a waste.”
They embraced in the soft light, their bodies intertwined.
Alana broke the silence. “What of the new Overlord?”
The Leader cringed. “The spindly one?”
“What of her?”
“She buys us time.”
“But not enough.”
“No ... perhaps a year. She will most certainly fail and we will replace her.” The Leader sat up on her elbow, her eyes on her lover. “But never mind the dreg. Your words linger in my mind.”
“Increasing the poison?”
“Yes ... we must step things up.”
The two naked women stared at each other in the soft light.
CHAPTER 29
Unexpected Visitor
The electromagnetic waves surged across her naked flesh. She had heard of the “head to toe” bathing experience, but had never imagined its ecstasy. Besides vaporizing her body’s film of dirt and chemical waste, the cleansing waves titillated her nerve endings with soothing vibrations. She had never felt so aroused.
A soft female voice brushed her ears.
“Your cleanse is complete, 0021. Please exit the tube and enjoy the afterglow of your Ultra-Clean Model Three experience.”
Lucinda stepped from the translucent lavender tube while recalling Hannah Ripken’s reference to Discount Corporation’s newest line of electromagnetic cleansing units and their ecological contribution to the planet’s endangered water supply.
She cracked a cynical smile. Contribution? Blast, no one below the rank of iridescent-blue can access Discount’s cleansing units, and bathing in water is forbidden to the other seven billion. Besides, who has time to bother with a bath when you barely have enough food and water to survive?
She froze while peering at the naked woman in the full-length mirror beside the tube. Who the hell is that?
She edged toward the mirror, her eyes locked on the image. Me? That pathetic creature is me?
She cupped her small breasts. Blast, look at my tits. Flat like photon disks. And that skin ... pale as a corpse.
Her face contorted in a frown. And the rest of me. Ribs sticking out like a starved animal. Wiry legs without muscle. And that emaciated face with its protruding cheekbones and recessed eyes. Blast, I resemble those pathetic creatures in the Los Angeles food riot. She raised her hand in disgust. “Enough!”
She shuffled across the forty-foot circular room and snatched the obsidian uniform off the sleep bubble. It only took a few seconds to meld into it. A quick return to the mirror and she was staring at the woman in black.
There... much better. You look good in black, especially when it glows. She pushed up her concealed breasts. No ... not bad at all.
She gave her obsidian-covered buttock a reassuring pat and sashayed to the fully stocked bar. A chilled bottle of white wine protruded from a frosted ice bucket. She glanced at the holographic clock above the bar. It was zero-dark-thirty, but sleep must wait.
She snatched the bottle and waved its cork open. The popping sound was most inviting. She eyed the crystal wine glass on the bar. “Blast, you’ll just slow me down.”
She collapsed in a plasma chair and breathed a contented sigh. Her hand groped for the remote. It was time for egomania.
She clicked the remote and immersed herself in the materializing hologram. A swig of wine and she was staring at Knowledge Cloud’s aerial view of this morning’s ceremony.
She was enthralled by the Leader’s grand entrance as the Great One glided from the Palace’s interior arch to the main gate. The eleven Consortium members stood in the arch’s shadows, their eyes focused on their Leader and the cheering crowd of iridescent-blues and greens.
Lucinda savored the intoxicating wine. The magic moment had come. She leaned forward, her eyes on the hologram. Knowledge Cloud’s overhead camera had closed on the Leader who had reached the opened main gate.
Lucinda watched the twin Guardians peel away from the guest of honor — a blond bimbette with a perfect hourglass figure.
Her eyes flickered. She sat up, her hand gripping the bottle. “Why did they do that? That bitch isn’t me.”
The room filled with a soft voice. “Criticism of Consortium ceremonies is not permitted.”
“FUCK YOU!” Lucinda jumped off the chair and flung the half-empty bottle at the hologram, shattering it against the metallic wall.
“NOT PERMITTED!”
She glared at the ceiling. “Why did you morph me into that sex object? Isn’t the woman who saved your asses good enough?”
The only sound was the hologram’s cheering crowd.
Everything was spinning. The wine had gotten to her. She gripped her head and collapsed in the plasma chair, and listened to voice echoing in her brain.
Stop it, fool. You’re self-destructing. You’re the best they have. Don’t blow it with a stupid tirade.
She eyed the sleep bubble. You’re exhausted. You need rest. Lots of challenges ahead. A great promotion with awesome rewards.
She gazed at the fading hologram. Rewards? What rewards? Glory? Fame? Good food? Good wine? Then what? One mistake and you’ll end up like Tabulek.
She forced a pained smile. I need a hit. Nothing like a jolt to calm the restless soul. Might as well enjoy the ride.
She pushed up from the chair and staggered toward the inviting sleep bubble. “God, I’m tired.”
“INAPPROPRIATE REFERENCE!”
She glared at the voice. “Sorry, I’m fucking tired.”
“QUESTIONABLE TERM.”
Her face reddened. “Questionable? Make a decision you useless piece of shit.”
“SHIT IS UNACCEPTABLE!”
“Sorry, excrement.”
Silence.
She spotted the gold vial of Paradisio lying on the sleep bubble. “Blast, let’s take that little ride.”
She collapsed on the bubble, her eyes focused on the glowing vial in her fingers. “The Leader said yo
u’re the best. Let’s see if she’s right.”
She placed the vial against her nostril and stared at the artificial starlit sky.
“Are you well, 0021?”
“What the blasted hell!” She lunged off the sleep bubble, her limbs tensed in attack posture. Forget the spindly body, Lucinda Montavi was a trained killing machine.
“You are well?”
She peered at the amber eye floating in the darkness. Damn Paradisio. I barely took a whiff.
The eye flickered. “I am sorry for unsettling you.”
She backed away, her clenched fists poised to strike. The room was silent. The only light was the amber eye.
She waved her hand at the light activation sensor. If she could reach the blaster in her pack, the intruder would be vaporized in seconds.
“0021?’
She gasped at the specter. “Gog?”
The eight-foot Meta eased toward her. “I am sorry, 0021.”
The dizziness was overwhelming. She dropped on the sleep bubble, her hand gripping her forehead. “This isn’t happening. I’m hallucinating.”
The Meta extended its metallic hand. “I am real.”
She felt the metallic fingers brush her arm. Then the rush of Oxygenium. It only took a few seconds for her head to clear.
“Better?”
She took a calming breath and eyed the apparition. “You were assigned to remain on the platform. You can’t be here.”
“You are in great danger, 0021.”
“What?”
“From those who fear the truth.”
Lucinda waved her hand in disgust. “I’m losing my mind.”
The eye flickered. “I suppressed their surveillance system to enable our escape. Our only challenge will be the twin Guardians at the exit gate.”
Lucinda snatched the Paradisio vial off the floor. A quick check and she realized it had not been activated.
“We must hurry, 0021.”
Her face flushed. “If you’re real, do you know what you have done?”
“Yes.”
“You have abandoned your post. You were ordered to guard the platform. Failure to follow orders is punishable by extinction.”
The eye flickered.