Zero Time

by M. P. Swinnerton

  It was at these Pleasure Domes that the Zelites were now also permitted to liaise sexually with one another without upsetting or hurting their own partners. Most people would pay a visit to a Pleasure Dome at least once a week and were generally quite satisfied, but, even so, the thrill of having sex with a different human mate soon wore off for many of the Zelites, who started to travel even further afield than the Pleasure Domes and sought exotic thrills with the inhabitants of other planets.

  There was some kind of bizarre satisfaction in mating with a hairy ape-like male or female from the Planet Quattro, or an even weirder pleasure was derived from the human-faced, but pig-like-bodied, inhabitants of Planet Nove. Most of the Zelites were reluctant to actually use this deviation, however, because they knew that Zon undoubtedly frowned on this activity, although he had not yet specifically come out and laid down a prohibition law. They realized that he had judiciously closed his eyes to it so as not to upset the balance of his popularity among a few of the participating Zelites.

  The major factor of the Pleasure Domes still remained in creating activities that could stimulate the body and mind and eliminate boredom, and Zon had instructed his staff to make greater inroads into entertaining the Zelites. He still allowed the continuation of visits to other planets for a limited period, but gave orders that if it was found that any particular Zelite was visiting other planets regularly for such motivation, then that person must be made to go into a clinic and have a cleansing session to tidy up his or her hormones.

  There were in fact very few cases in which such action had to be taken and so Zon left the situation at the status quo.

  CHAPTER 13

  The only time that Zon became really furious with a group of young GM men was when he found out that they had marauded the Dropouts in the mountainous Alp District of Italy, just for a bit of fun, and had frightened several of the young girls who had been outside their safe Living Compound on that particular day. These young GM men had been given instructions to visit the Dropout zone to check on the present state of the air pollution and were kitted out with protective clothing and breathing masks, but when they saw how healthy the young girls were in their environment, the GM men discarded their protective suiting and secretively crept up on the young girls.

  The girls had been sent to collect wood for the fires for cooking and heating, and though they were well able to be vigilant for wolves and bears, these girls were not prepared for the vicious taunting and sexual harassment that the GM men forced on them. One of these young girls was only about 15 years old (in the Dropout age system), and was completely traumatized by the action of the men.

  The leader of the Dropouts was a woman named Stef Brown Zelite. The Dropouts had stubbornly refused to drop their old Christian names and surnames, but grudgingly accepted the Zelite tag at the end. As the Zelites themselves still used the old family names to identify their individual families, this use was accepted.

  Stef knew that although officially the Dropouts were living outside the Zelite law, Zon was a fair leader and would not allow this kind of abuse against her girls to be tolerated. She was so enraged by this episode that she decided to risk sending a communication to Zon to demand a visit from him to explain the outlandish behavior of these men and to see what punishment he was going to exact on these brutal savages.

  Zon, as expected, refused to visit the Dropouts’ community, but sent a message to Stef that appropriate action would be taken against the men involved. The Dropout Leader was significantly annoyed at the snub and decided she had no alternative but to go and speak to Zon in person.

  However, Stef had never before ventured outside their safety zone and, although she was completely au fait with all the area immediately surrounding their zone, she was really feeling quite nervous about leaving her own region. She summoned her strongest guards and made her way down the mountain passes towards the gentler lands of northern Italy. A message had been sent to Zon advising him that she was making her way towards Milano and he commanded his Protection Robots to allow her to pass safely.

  As soon as her retinue came into sight, he ordered his Robots to accompany them to the nearest entrance for the Power Network to bring them to Washington, where his GM Commander would meet and talk with her.

  Stef was even more infuriated that Zon had insulted her again by sending his subordinates to meet with her and using all her power as a Dropout White Witch, she summoned him, through the power of her mind, in Italian, to come and meet her in Milan. “Vieni qua a Milano, Signor Zon. Io ho bisogna di vederti e di palare con te.” Stef concentrated on persuading Zon to come to her. She used the local Italian language, rather than the international English normally used, on purpose to get her own back on him for the snubs.

  Zon and the Zelites had almost lost the art of thought transmission around about the time they had found the more significant science of longevity, and it was a tremendous shock to Zon to receive this message through his mind from Stef, summoning him to meet her. He was so fascinated by this strange occurrence that he felt a compulsion to go and meet this mysterious female. Zon sent a message to his GM Commander that he was now going direct to Milano himself, and asked him to arrange some accommodation for himself and Stef so that they might converse in complete privacy.

  When Zon arrived at the pre-arranged Meeting Room, his immediate reaction was one of complete shock and utter surprise. He had anticipated meeting an old, or perhaps middle-aged, cantankerous female, knowing that the Dropouts still became aged and died, but to his total amazement the woman standing before him was neither old nor middle-aged. In fact, the very opposite, she appeared to be dramatically young to be a leader. She had fiery auburn hair and was short and slim. Her large hazel-colored eyes were flashing with annoyance and contempt as he stepped towards her extending his hand in friendship. He ascertained immediately that here was a very dynamic female, young but exceedingly astute, and definitely not someone to be messed with. As Stef did not appear to wish to shake hands with him, he dropped his arm and asked her if she would like something to eat or drink after her long and tedious journey. Stef sat down at the long table placed strategically along the end of the room normally used for Zelite Council Meetings.

  ‘I would not say no to a cup of strong coffee,’ she confirmed. Zon smiled; he had heard that coffee had been a great stimulant in days gone by and, although the Zelites no longer consumed this beverage, he pushed a button on the table and ordered his Robots to manufacture some for them. Of course, the Robots were programmed to find and provide anything that was installed in their massive knowledge and one of the Robots soon arrived with a neat tray carrying coffee, along with some delicious cookies.

  Zon had a vague recollection of his mother drinking this concoction when he had been a very small boy and decided it must be quite safe to drink. He asked Stef if she would mind pouring the drink, as he was not sure what was the correct way of doing this. Stef had calmed down slightly by now and laughed at this great man not knowing anything about coffee!

  Zon asked Stef how they managed to grow coffee in such a wild and desolate place as the Alpine refuge where she resided. Stef told him that they had managed to find a way of growing miniature coffee bushes inside the cave dwellings. They had found a secret combination of heat from the exposed sun being funneled down through their coffee caves, along with irrigation, which was abundant from the many months of snow and ice that prevailed in that region. In this way they had also been able to grow a few fresh vegetables and some fruit. She reminded him that their population was, at present, down into the hundreds and they were able to grow sufficient food to survive.

  “You know, Zon, that we may not lead the life of luxury that you and your Zelite people enjoy, but we are not exactly living in the dark ages either. We have adopted our solar heating systems to cultivate good crops inside the massive cave systems that we have taken over. We also have wind turbines that generate electricity and power for heating. So don't be so condescending when
you talk about the Dropouts in such a derogatory manner.”

  Zon smiled to himself. The Zelites had abandoned the use of turbine windmills over a century ago, and as for solar panel heating—this had gone out the door even before the windmills.

  “Oh hell, Signorina Stef, what the blazes do you want to get so fired up with me for? I'm only just curious to know how you survive, I'm not being damn condescending at all,” Zon retorted.

  Calming down, Stef replied that she was fed up with the attitude of the Zelite race towards other human beings, but smiled at him enticingly with a flutter of those long lashes and said she guessed they didn't know any better. She also jibed at him with the cutting remark, “Signor Zon, how come that you swear so much using our Christian words, if you no longer believe in any religion?”

  “Jeez, Stef, these are only empty words for me. I use them to fill in gaps in our language for which we don't have appropriate words to express our feelings, somehow it doesn't sound the same saying: ‘Go to London or New York’ as it does saying, ‘Go to hell!’ These are just slang, defunct words used to make a stronger point.”

  After the coffee break, Zon explained to Stef that he had been so busy with the complications arising from the African areas that he had presumed that his GM Commander could have quite adequately sorted out the matter of the young girls and the thoughtless behavior of the young GM men.

  This fact had actually been true. The remnant pieces of land remaining intact from the original African Continent had become quite wild again. There was a massive problem with the Ozone Layer and quite a few ultraviolet mutation phenomena had arisen—the latest being the sighting of gigantic cockroaches floating northwards across the Mediterranean Sea towards France. These beetles appeared to be standing, or sitting, on individual pieces of debris. From what the radar readings showed, the mighty cockroaches were huge, being on average two meters long.

  Zon had given orders for these horrific creatures to be destroyed, but, up until the present time, they had proved to be immune to everything that was thrown at them. They were scorched with lasers; they were immersed with lethal benzene and set on fire. Even explosive devices had been dropped on them, but still they insidiously floated closer and closer.

  The cockroaches had lost most of the rafts they were using as boats, as these had been destroyed by the attacks on them by the Robots when an endeavor was made to set them on fire. Now the roaches had formed a kind of swimming and floating bridge, joining themselves together and allowing the rest of the cockroaches in turn to walk over the living roach bridge.

  Zon had been monitoring the advance of the roaches and they looked like a huge black tidal wave approaching across the sea. He happened to mention to Stef that the cockroaches were causing them a tremendous headache and she cuttingly reminded him that due to the way her people had to live they were quite used to combating the roaches.

  Zon thought about this for a moment and then said, “Stef, how do your people actually destroy the cockroaches?”

  “Quite simply, we just mix some borax crystals with sugar, which roaches cannot resist, and they soon die after that lethal cocktail!”

  “Great, thanks Stef, you have given me an idea of how to get rid of our invaders now. I shall be eternally grateful if that works; it is such a simple solution that it never entered into our calculations. We have been using all kinds of sophisticated methods and never thought of anything so simple as borax.”

  Zon then promised Stef that the GM offenders would be dealt with very severely and he would ensure that the young men apologized to the Dropout girls immediately.

  He made his excuses to leave and persuaded Stef to stay in his own comfortable living quarters in Milano until he returned from France. He also promised that her men would be well looked after.

  He ordered his Robots to prepare a lethal mixture of borax and sugar and to place the concoction on to huge floating pontoons, which had been primed with super-glue. He knew that the cockroaches would be getting hungry by now and they would not be able to resist the temptation of the sugar.

  His plan was very successful and the sight of the mighty roaches struggling to their death on the pontoons was not a pretty sight, but was certainly a relief to the Zelites, as heaven knows what damage the cockroaches would have caused to Europe, which was still in a fundamental state of catastrophe after the meteorite bombardments and was still being cleaned up from the terrible flooding and earthquakes that had hit them.

  They were soon able to dispose of the carcasses by incinerating them and lazering their remnants to obliteration.

  CHAPTER 14

  When Zon returned to Milano, he immediately went to Stef and thanked her profusely for saving the Zelites from the anticipated damage the cockroaches would have caused. “Stef,” Zon said, facing this very desirable female leader of the Dropouts, “I have been discussing the predicament of your people with my other leaders, and we would like to talk with you and your other top brass concerning you coming to live alongside us, the Zelites. You know that I have been completely against anyone carrying on the old habits of fertilization and producing unrestricted amounts of children, but due to the fact that your group of folk is so small and not increasing in population in any great numbers that might cause concern amongst the Zelites, I and my leaders feel that it would be appropriate for your race of humans to come and live in harmony alongside the Zelites. You may rest assured that you and your people will be treated in exactly that same way as the Zelites. I can promise you that no harm will befall you and your people whilst you are under my jurisdiction. You will be allowed to carry on with your tradition of Christianity and all that goes with that belief as long as you promise not to try converting any of my Zelite followers into your crazy beliefs!”

  Stef could not believe her ears. “Was she dreaming? Was this Zelite leader actually offering them a life in the comfort of a dry safe home and good food? What was the catch?” She pondered.

  Stef had been quite shocked to find the Planet Leader offering her people the prospect of living once more as decent human beings, as the life they now led in he mountains was pretty treacherous and they found it extremely hard to even survive.

  “Thank you for your generous offer, Zon, and I will certainly discuss it with my people. Personally I think most of our folk will be more than happy to join you, but naturally I must discuss the situation with my other leaders before I can give you a final answer. Does it also mean that we will have the protection of yourself and your Zelite guards, or will we be thrown to the dogs once we have returned to living in your domain?” Stef asked, smiling at Zon in a beguiling way, and he found himself becoming more and more intrigued and bewitched by this fascinating woman.

  “I give you my word of honor,” Zon promised her, “And to prove my genuine sincerity in this matter, I will send one of our Zelite males to come and live amongst you and perhaps he may even marry one of your females.”

  “I truly appreciate your offer of having one of your males to cohabit with us, but I really do not think that it will be necessary.”

  “I must return now, Zon, if you will permit safe passage for myself and my guards. I will be in touch very shortly.” She spoke in a gentle voice, but Zon could detect the vibes of strength there that filled him with a very strange exciting sensation. He felt he was being curiously drawn to this intriguing woman every time they spoke or met.

  Zon immediately arranged for Stef and her group to be escorted back to their sparse mountain refuge. He gave his guards instructions to allow these people to fly in the rocket copters that were capable of maneuvering over difficult terrain and could easily land on the side of the mountains, and he instructed them to make sure the Dropouts were safe before leaving them.

  The episode of the roaches had unsettled Zon as he had always previously been of the opinion that the Zelites could handle any such problem with the elaborate technology that was available to them. Now he began to feel a niggling apprehension that they were still
in actual fact quite vulnerable and needed to tighten up on their basic knowledge and carry on with more detailed scientific research.

  He also had in the back of his mind that perhaps here was a solution to the still outstanding problem of building up a bank of embryos. Perhaps they could eventually come to some agreement with Stef Brown Zelite to allow the Zelite males to fertilize some of her females and use the embryos from them to build up a bank. He knew that his staff would be able to introduce the gene of longevity into these embryos once they were in his possession. If the Dropout females would not actually agree to using artificial insemination, then maybe they might agree to donating a few of their eggs to the bank.

  He was acutely aware that he also had an ulterior motive in befriending the Dropouts. The situation regarding the transfer of the inhabitants of Planet Zero to another conducive planet was still very much in the forefront of his mind and he covertly started to draw up plans to send the Dropouts ahead to any such planet and allow them to act as experimental guinea pigs for them.

  It had been a difficult period for Zon as he had been forced to make many decisions that were not popular with his top staff, and he knew that by allowing the Dropouts to actually come and live in the Zelite environment, he would arouse many objections from his own people.

  Zon had often previously sought guidance from the Universal Counselors, who were situated in Rome, whenever a mighty crisis hit him. So again he thought it was time for him to seek out the answer by going to the Counseling House to try and solve the problem.

  Once inside the mighty Consulting Rooms of the Counseling House, Zon looked for the Guidance Leader who appeared almost immediately after Zon entered. The Guidance Leader had a long white robe covering his entire body. A kind of iridescent light reflected from his apparel and as Zon approached, he extended his hands above Zon's head and uttered a few strange old-world Cheyenne Indian chants. Zon felt a shiver pass through his whole being as the Guidance Leader touched his forehead and he fell to his knees, bowing his head down on to the floor.