Zero Time

by M. P. Swinnerton

  He called Zarn to him and explained to the young man that, although Zarn himself probably thought he was old enough now to ‘Permanere’, his father, as Planet Leader, would not give him permission to do this until he was at least thirty calendar years of age. The young man had been rather spoilt and petulantly banged his fist on the table, accusing Zon of acting like ‘God’. Zon knew by his son's behavior that it was time for him to take more interest in the young man's upbringing, and ordered him to be brought to his living quarters in Santa Barbara to live with him. Uvella agreed to this arrangement and was quite happy for the boy to go and live with his father, as she was beginning to find the children, particularly Zarn, quite difficult to handle.

  The young man was delighted to think that his father was beginning to realize that it was time for him to be accepted as an adult, even though he was not allowed to ‘Permanere’ yet, and asked his father if he could be given the responsibility of reorganizing the Zelites’ Relaxation Program, including the Pleasure Domes, which Zarn advised his father were becoming old-fashioned and needed a definite boost to keep the entertainment value at a higher level. Zon could see no harm in allowing his son to travel around the Planet to carry out these improvements and thought such an interest would at least keep him out of trouble.

  Zarn was not quite as big and strong as his father, but was indeed growing into a very handsome man and he knew that his ebony skin and flowing long blonde hair fascinated most females. He trained regularly at a gymnasium and was an expert swimmer and a good all-round athlete, but he was also arrogant and lacking in basic good manners. The young buck would think nothing of flaunting his father's position to gain him whatever he wanted. In fact, very often after a training session at a gym, he would think nothing of forcing a GM female to strip for him in front of the other men and then ordering her to make love to him.

  When his father came to hear of his antics, Zon called his son to his private living quarters and told him that he was disgusted by Zarn's behavior, so from then on, Zarn was to go and report to his father's GM gym instructor in Rome, and was to do exactly what the trainer told him and nothing else. For a short while, Zarn behaved himself and then one day, when he was in the swimming area, he managed to slip out of the pool without the instructor's knowledge and he crept into the female changing rooms. Zarn had noticed a young woman, about his own age, who had been swimming in the pool at the same time as him, and he decided he was going to have her. The young man had been watching the female changing rooms for some time. As soon as he saw the other two women leave, these women having entered just before the girl, he deduced that she must now be alone in the changing facilities and he sidled swiftly in to find her.

  The young woman was standing naked in front of the body-cum-hair dryer and had her back towards him. Her long brown hair was hanging down in front of her face as she gently bent in front of the drying machine to allow the long locks to dry quickly, and therefore she was completely unaware of the danger approaching her.

  Zarn felt the lust in him overcoming all sense of decency, and without further ado, grabbed the girl and raped her, holding his strong hands over her mouth to prevent her from crying out.

  After satisfying his lust, he grabbed the woman by her hair and, holding his hand across her mouth, he warned her that if she complained to anyone, his father, who was the Planet Leader, would have her exterminated. He ordered her to remain quiet when he let go of her and then everything would be all right. As he left the young woman, she slid to the floor and started to weep quietly.

  Fate works in many mysterious ways, and this time Zarn was not to get away with his rotten behavior. It was time for him to be punished. It turned out that the girl happened to be an Outlander and reported the matter to her mother and father, who, in turn, sought out Stef Brown who was still the Outlanders’ leader.

  Stef was outraged by the behavior of Zon's son and sent a message demanding that Zon did something about the situation. The girl had suffered a terrible, humiliating experience and, apart from the actual fright of the act, she now stood the risk of being pregnant, as the Outlanders still carried on having children and took no precautions, as they believed that it was the will of ‘God’ to create and not the will of the people.

  Zon was devastated by the loathsome behavior of his son and contacted Stef by cell phone to say how sorry he was and that, if it came to it that the girl did fall pregnant, he would offer to adopt the child and bring it up as a Zelite citizen. Stef agreed that this would be the best outcome if the problem arose. He promised Stef that his son would receive the maximum punishment for his repugnant act and he would be made to apologize to the girl and her parents.

  He summoned his son to the High Court where his brothers and sisters and the GM law experts were to sit in judgment of the young man. He instructed them to give the maximum sentence to Zarn and not to take into account that he was the son of the Planet Leader. Zon himself was not going to attend the hearing and asked Zerek to let him know what punishment was finally decreed for Zarn. When the sentence was passed on Zarn, the young man shouted for the court to speak to his father first, as he was the only one who could commute the sentence. The judges agreed to allow a message to be relayed to Zon that his son had requested for his father to be present to commute or dismiss the sentence, but Zon returned instructions that whatever sentence had been passed by the judges, then that was the punishment that Zarn would have to endure. There had been two choices for the judges: either Zarn would have to undergo a cloning process whereby he would be cloned and the evil cells removed from his brain so that his clone would be a kind and perfect man and then the original Zarn would be ‘eliminated’ and the substitute clone would take his place. Or the other option would be that he would have to serve a sentence of working with the Outlanders as a menial laborer, helping them with whatever tasks they set him for the next two years. The judges knew that the cloning sentence was irreversible and even though the young man would in future act as a decent and respectable Zelite, the result would be a clone and not the real thing. They did not want to put the Planet Leader in the embarrassing situation of having a ‘clone’ for a son, so it was unanimously voted that Zarn should be sentenced to a stay with the Outlanders for suitable laboring punishment.

  When his brother Zerek contacted him regarding the outcome of the trial, Zon breathed a sigh of relief. He had known all along that the outcome could have been the prospect of him having a characterless ‘clone’ for a son and he was grateful to his siblings and the others for their loyalty to him as their Leader.

  Zarn pleaded with the judges to allow him to speak with his father before he was transported to the Outlander's jail, but Zon refused all his pleas and requests and would not have any contact with the boy. Instead he sent a message, via his friend Zenith, to Zarn, warning him that if he strayed, even just one iota, from carrying out his punishment, then Zon would have no hesitation in reverting to the harsher sentence of cloning. Zenith told the boy that Zon would meet him again only after he had completely fulfilled his sentence. And so Zarn was sent to the Outlanders to spend the next two years learning humility and compassion.

  As fate would have it, the Outlander girl did fall pregnant and, because Stef had agreed to allow Zon to adopt the child, the girl was given the opportunity to decide whether to bring up the baby on her own with her family until it was old enough to leave its mother, or allow the baby to be sent immediately to its grandfather, Zon, as a favored Zelite.

  After lots of tears and discussions between the girl, her family and Stef, and with the full agreement of Zon, it was decided that the child would remain for now with the Outlanders. However, if it turned out that the child had inherited the full Zelite genes that would allow it to ‘Permanere’, then, when the child grew old enough, it should be given the chance to decide for itself whether it wished to become a fully-fledged Zelite.

  CHAPTER 40

  Before he had got into such trouble and had been convicted, Zarn
had started on the job of upgrading the Pleasure Domes. He had ordered the ordinary pleasure cubicles to be dismantled and had installed a large open-plan space where the Zelites seeking pleasure could sit or lie on the massive communal air cushion and enjoy the new pleasurable and intoxicating drug that enabled people to imagine they were having multiple pleasures in whatever shape or form they craved. The drug was not injected or swallowed; it was drifted into the air space, once the room was closed, and best of all, it appeared that nobody suffered any after-effects.

  Sometimes people just lay there as individuals drifting into a dream world of delight, and on other occasions they would become involved in a huge mass of intertwined bodies seeking thrills from whatever body was near them. This drug allowed people to have absolutely no inhibitions, and after the session no one could remember what had happened to them except they were left with a wonderful sense of euphoria and well-being. The sessions would have to be booked for certain times so as to ensure that the drug was extracted from the room as soon as one session of people left. It had become so popular and overbooked with waiting lists that Zarn was in the process of having another huge space erected in another part of a Pleasure Dome to cope with the demand, when he became embroiled with the rape attack.

  One night, when Zon was feeling a bit low, he decided he would take a look at his son's handiwork and asked Zenith to accompany him to the Pleasure Dome so they could see for themselves what the fuss was all about. Zon had been missing the excitement of Stef Brown's fire and although he still had Uvella and Zenith to satisfy his needs whenever he felt the urge, he knew something was missing in his life. He craved real, imaginative lovemaking, and the excitement that he had felt with both Uvarna and Stef Brown was lacking at the moment. He had heard of the magic created by the innocuous drug and thought to himself that it might cure him of his own emptiness.

  As the two leaders entered the Dome, they were swiftly and skillfully shown to a comfortable position on the soft air-cushioned mattress floor and asked to close their eyes and relax. They were the first two people to arrive at the Dome, which swiftly started filling up. The ushers adeptly ensured that it did not overfill, as they did not want the leaders to become uncomfortable with the crowds. When the room was adequately full of people, the lights began to dim and soft music filled the air; then a gentle but persuasive, almost hypnotic, voice asked everyone to lie or sit comfortably; to close their eyes and to begin to imagine whatever it was that would bring them the greatest thrill or delight, and then to let their minds take them into their own particular cloud nine or seventh heaven.

  After the session, Zon and Zenith both admitted that the feelings they had both experienced had been sensational, but neither of them could explain to the other what they had actually done. As they emerged from the Pleasure Dome, both the men started laughing and feeling completely relaxed. They said goodnight and parted happily.

  At least this seemed to be one good thing that Zarn had instigated, Zon thought to himself.

  Traveling back through the tunnels to his Living Quarters, Zon was pensive and his thoughts became weird. He began imagining what his life would be like now if Uvarna had indeed survived. “Would they still have the same magic love for one another? How many children would they have had by now? Would they have traveled together to the Outer Space of the Universe as Uvarna had often mentioned that she really hoped to do one day?” The longing for Uvarna still often invaded his memories and he always had to force himself out of this line of thought before he became too depressed and morose. This was not like Zon. He was not normally of a depressive nature and this sudden gloominess was utterly out of character. On his return to his quarters, he contacted Zenith and described his despondency to his friend.

  Zenith was not surprised at his friend's experience. He had heard from various other people that the effect of the euphoria gained at the Pleasure Dome was counteracted by an immense depression a few hours after the effects of the Pleasure Drug wore off. He explained to Zon that this was the chemical imbalance created in the brain by the drug, and also went on to explain that although the drug itself was not dangerous, the after-effects of the brain trying to adjust itself and free itself from the drug could probably create huge problems to quite a few people with slightly weaker willpower than theirs. The drug was not as innocuous as at first believed.

  Zon was greatly alarmed by the significance of this information and had visions of mass suicides happening if he allowed the continuance of this drug. He immediately asked Zenith to ensure that the Pleasure Domes were closed down until they were able to come to a decision regarding the benefits or harm from this entertainment.

  The following day, Zon called a meeting of his siblings, together with top scientists, doctors and psychologists, and they discussed the pros and cons of the drug for quite a few hours. There was no specific pro or con regarding the use of this drug and, after a vote had been taken between the specialists, it was decided that the scheme should be allowed to continue unless it was definitely found that damage, such as suicide, was beginning to take place amongst the people using the Pleasure Domes. Zon and Zenith both had grave doubts about the continued usage of the hallucinogenic drug, but Zon's siblings thought the benefits outnumbered the problems. So, for once, Zon allowed his better judgment to be overruled by others and gave his permission for the Pleasure Domes to be re-opened.

  Many times after that night at the Pleasure Dome, Zon was sorely tempted to go there and relax again. It had been such a stupendously high feeling: like nothing else he had ever experienced, but Zon was not the superior Planet Leader for nothing. He knew, deep inside that only harm could develop from this drug eventually. He guessed that it would become a high-dependency drug for some.

  “No,” Zon thought, “there must be some other way to help me relax and get back that old desire and zest for life that I had experienced with both Uvarna and Stef Brown. I will have to try and devote more time to my liaison with Uvella and endeavor to kindle some kind of magic with her.”

  For the next few months, Zon spent most of his time with Uvella and with his triplets in Paris. They were now growing fast and he took great delight in watching them at play whilst he and Uvella would contentedly sit back and observe them. Zon knew that Uvella would dearly love to have her own child to cherish, and one day he held her hand and with a tender squeeze on her arm, whispered that it was time for them to ‘create’.

  He lifted her up in his strong arms, carried her to their bedroom and made love to her.

  Although Uvella was a beautiful woman with a perfect body and a kind and happy nature, Zon, try as much as he did, he still could never muster the same enthusiasm when having sex with her that he had with Uvarna and Stef Brown. Even now that he had agreed to allow her to stop taking the anti-pregnancy pill, he just could not feel that passion that should have been there. It was purely animal instinct for him when they were together; there was no spark or fire in his lovemaking.

  Zon was quite surprised when he found that Uvella had not become pregnant with him, even though they had been sleeping together and having sex at least two or three times a day and night, and poor Uvella was becoming quite unhappy and devastated not to be with child.

  She wept and appeared so distraught that Zon held her close and tried to assure her that it was still early days yet and they would try again as soon as she felt like it and not to get upset as he was sure it would happen very shortly. He did not want Uvella to go through the embarrassment of being examined by a Zelite medic to try and find out why she was not yet pregnant. Deep inside, he was actually not all that keen on becoming a father again at the moment. Whilst Uvella was feeling a bit under the weather, Zon decided to leave her to rest and returned to Washington to find out what was happening with the clear–up of the South American Continent.

  CHAPTER 41

  Before traveling to Washington, Zon first went to his condominium in Santa Barbara to check on his own personal items and to leave his traveling b
ag with his maid to sort out and also to generally refresh himself. When he was settled in, Zon checked by thought-beams with Stef Brown about his son, Zarn. “Was he behaving himself?”

  Stef was pleased to hear from Zon and let him know that Zarn had been a model of good behavior since his arrival there. It would appear that he was very contrite and he often asked about the girl that he had raped, continually saying how sorry he was and asserting that if there was anything he could do to get the girl to forgive him, he would do it. This was a subject that had been building up in Stef's mind for some time now. She thought-beamed to Zon that she had an idea that she wanted to run past Zon and would like to discuss with him in person. “That was, of course, if Zon could bring himself to visit her in Outland,” Stef added, jokingly sarcastic.

  The Planet Leader knew that it was not expected of him, in his high ranking position, to be seen visiting Outland, but his respect and love for Stef overcame this protocol and he agreed immediately to come and see her. The excitement of visiting Stef started a turmoil in Zon's loins, and although he knew she would probably be showing signs of aging, he still felt a tremendous thrill at the thought of being with her again, and he made plans to go and see her straight away on the following day. He readily decided that his routine visit to Washington could wait for a while. When he arrived in Outland, Zon was pleasantly surprised to see how modern and clean the area was. He headed his Carrier towards Stef's place and noticed that, even though they were built underground, the roads and houses all had trees and plants growing alongside them. This had taken quite a lot of ingenuity on the part of the planners and gardeners, as they would have had to artificially oxygenate and water the plants continually to keep them alive.