“We were only having fun. You were gone. What did you expect from us? I am your daughter, but you do not rule over me as a child. Tell your wives and Immortals what to do; I am free to choose differently.”
“You sound like Torii.”
“She wasn’t entirely wrong.” Saldana was frozen in fear. Giving Darii more rope wasn’t meant to undo the rules and way of life that had been carefully constructed and agreed to.
“Saldana?”
“I was lax. I did not do my job as promised. I am beyond saying sorry. I take full responsibility for my permissive behaviors.”
Adam said, “You can speak for yourself, but not for Darii.”
He paused.
“Is there more?”
Zoia spoke up again. “We four debated the propriety of saying one last thing before we leave, Ryu excepted, if she stays.”
“Which is?”
“There were men on all the Islands in the residences and down in the garden islands. Perhaps your women can explain that, including your daughter whose taste for cock and pussy has grown exponentially in your absence. Misti and Hecate perhaps can try to lie their way out of this, but the revelry was audible here and the aftermath tangible on the Five Islands. It wasn’t just the nerds, Saldana and Darii; it was the Immortals, Hecate, and Misti too. We saw the men arrive in boats by day and leave in the morning at sunrise.”
Adam looked around, but even Darii knew better than to open her mouth.
Zoia touched Adam’s forehead with hers. Adam saw it all, as well as footage from the drones the Professionals sent out, originally because they feared an attack and breach of their defenses to the north. Immortals and Cyclical Immortals all engaged in sexual congress and depravity with men and each other. Women of no rank or affiliation were also present.
The women he trusted most had betrayed him yet again, this time without reason or excuse. There was no justification for this.
They betrayed him — all of them.
Except for the four Professionals.
Chapter 33
Adam said, “Well, I must admit, I didn’t see any of this coming. Far from it. However, for some reason, my Lord did discuss consequences with me, which I took simply to be guidance for future reference, just in case. I guess I was incorrect.”
Adam thought, then said, “Saldana and Darii, stand there. Hecate and the Immortals are to appear to me and stand over there. The nerds are to stand there, except Eene and Cia who are to stand behind me.”
Adam looked around, then said, “Niona, please appear and prepare to transport the Professionals back to the residence on Island One. Settle them in, but before they go, I wish to have a conversation with them.”
Adam turned to the women and said “To the four of you I cannot apologize enough for all that has taken place due to my inattention, my poor judgment, and lax behavior. I have apologized before but to no avail. I will not insult you with repeating platitudes. I understand your desire to leave and leave immediately, and I cannot think of a single good reason why you would wish to stay. But I am asking you, no I am begging you, to please stay for at least a little while longer. You have no idea how important you are to my project now that I have a better idea of circumstances here while I was gone. I say again that I am begging you, begging you on my knees to please reconsider and stay with me for a while longer. When I return from my meeting with my Lord, we can discuss all the details and offers I wish to make to have you remain. Give me a couple of hours to return, but please do not leave before I come back. But if you wish to leave right away, Niona will take you wherever you wish to go.”
Ryu said, “We will wait under two conditions. First, when you return, you will tell us everything you discussed with him, and we shall consider your offer. It had better be good. No, both had better be extraordinary.”
“The other?”
“I have my video camera with me. I wish Niona to videotape the begging. Can you operate this mechanism?”
Niona said, “Yes, but you will always have it in your minds. You don’t need such a primitive mechanism.”
“Incorrect, Immortal. This is physical proof, and I will show this film at parties if Adam and our team reconcile. Humiliation is the currency I desire; not money, perks or promises. Agreed Adam?”
“Agreed. Where shall I stand, kneel or sit?”
“Two of us on each side, me next to you and all five of us facing the camera. Make the begging sincere and lengthy, or we will keep reshooting until I am pleased with the outcome.”
Niona thought this odd and a human custom she had not yet learned about.
Adam saw her confusion. “I will explain later. It will amuse you.”
The begging fulsome and complete, Niona was sent to take the group back to Island One, then return.
Adam turned to everyone else. “Niona, please go with Hecate, the new Immortals, and these two, Eene and Cia, to our Lord and ask him to wait. I shall join you forthwith. Our Lord has allowed me to travel unaided and given me new powers.”
“Afterwards, Niona, please go to the Community and aid Hana. I will visit you soon.”
“That leaves the rest of you who I don’t understand. Your actions are beyond my comprehension, and there seems no reason for any of this other than you don’t feel bound by your oaths, you have come to despise me, or you do not wish to be a part of what we have begun here. It’s apparently not important to you, nor am I, any longer. Infidelity is one thing, the breach of security quite another. And the men.”
Darii started to say something, “I am not bound by your …”
It was as far as she got before Adam waved his hand and she was gone. A new power that did not go unnoticed.
“Saldana? Why?”
“We cannot change who we truly are. I am inconstant. I offer this not as an excuse, but solely as an explanation.”
With a wave of his hand, she was gone too.
He approached the nerds. “I don’t understand. How have I betrayed you? What have I done wrong?”
“We tire of you and your rules. Nothing more.”
They too were gone.
Then there was just Misti. “After all our lives and so few problems.”
“I was not faithful to you before.”
“We were not in a union then. You were free then to pursue what freedoms you wished. I never held any of it against you. But in one weekend, over twenty men and twenty women had congress with you freely in any manner they desired without asking permission. You allowed such debauchery to take place without care of consequence. You must have known I would find out.”
“When you left, it began, organized by Darii and me. It was continuous, and I had hundreds of men who used me as they saw fit while you were absent, as well as women whose cruelty and perversion almost equaled my own. I guess after so much freedom over so many lifetimes and such a one-sided bargain in your favor, I was no longer willing to accept your rules.”
“You could have just left, as you have before. This was unnecessary and deliberately demeaning, meant to humiliate to me. It was purposeful.”
“What will you do with me now, husband? Prison?”
“Trust has always been the only commodity that mattered to me with you, and we have broken those bonds. The penalty is death.”
Adam pointed at the shocked face of Misti Alarcon as she crumbled before his eyes. He walked away coldly and did not look back.
***
Adam went to his Lord. “I shall be brief. All the Immortals sent to me are to die, including Hecate, unless you decide on leniency. I am not constrained in that direction. If you spare Hecate keep her away from me, as I will only ask you to terminate her existence again. If she and I cross paths, you and I have agreed that a second request must be fulfilled by you. These other two, Cia and Eene, I ask that you make them Cyclical Immortals attached to me forever, and return them to me. Then I wish for Niona to take them to the residence on Island One. I will
visit Hana at the Community briefly, then return to Earth.”
Adam looked to his Lord.
“So be it. But I shall spare the existence of Hecate, who I much favor.”
“I do not approve and ask you to reconsider.”
“Who are you to question me, Adam?”
“I am your loyal and trusted servant, deceived by you and this woman formerly my wife. Terminate her now and put this episode at an end.”
“I shall not.”
“Then terminate me. I grow weary of this deceit in which you have played a part, both in planning and knowledge.”
“If that is your desire. I shall accommodate.”
“Then I await my immediate death.”
There was quiet and silence. The Lord wished for neither to end their existences at his hands.
The Lord said, “I shall consider the merits and give you my decision soon.”
“You have twenty-four hours. I shall not play this game.”
“You push too far, mortal. I am your Lord.”
“Then as a disobedient mortal, the penalty is death. Kill me now.”
“Then it shall be as you wish, but I shall determine when. Not you.”
“If she isn’t dead by the time I finish my work on Earth, I shall die by my own hand. You shall not deceive me again as you did before. She has been involved in these deceptions, and I was played the fool and now cuckold. I can bear it no longer. I promise you nothing.”
“Perhaps I shall kill you and all whom you love, and keep Hecate.”
“That, oh Lord, has always been your prerogative. Twenty-four hours.”
“She will die when I so command, and not before.”
“And you will tell me when within twenty-four hours.”
“I can resurrect you.”
“Not if I take my own life. I am ready to die. I hope she is worth the destruction of your realm.”
“Do as I have commanded; I promise nothing. Your new powers are withdrawn.”
“Then this is our farewell.”
“Do not test me, mortal.”
“Comply with our agreement; then we begin, Lord. I have everything I require, with your help, to find out what Liara wants and we shall soon uncover this mystery. Failure means the end of everything and my existence in your realm.”
“You are not in fear of your life?”
“No. It is the one thing that Liara needs the most along with special Immortals from you. It is why she is recruiting among your malcontent Immortals and why some of your younger Immortals are at grave risk. If I die, you will surely lose your realm.”
***
Adam returned to earth, much angered and disturbed. What else did he not know about the relationship between Hecate and the Lord? It was obvious to him that more than obedience had been extracted from Hecate over a very long number of lives, and license had been granted by him promising forgiveness and no retribution for the recent debacle on Earth. Adam doubted that any of the “powers” granted him were real and that all beings terminated by him and his Lord were for show; to deceive. Adam now believed that the mortals and Immortals were stowed away by his Lord somewhere out of sight. Nothing was as it appeared, and he suspected all of his fellow beings of complicity in one way or another.
Even Niona.
He would speak to her first; then he would call his remaining Immortal wives to the council. After that, he would speak to his fellow mortals as to their decision to stay or leave.
Then he would decide.
***
Adam returned to his Lord.
“What, mortal?”
“How long have you had sexual congress with any of my wives?”
“For as long as I desired it.”
“Which?”
“All, starting with Hecate. She was most receptive.”
“And the powers you gave me?”
“Non-existent.”
“I have just been moved around the board so you could gratify yourself with my wives?”
“Correct. I did not expect you to discover this so quickly. Your mortal family and friends were left out of my recreation. Niona refused to take part as did Hana.”
“I thank you for your honesty.”
“It’s nothing, and it matters not. You are but a mortal.”
Chapter 34
Adam returned to the residence on Island One, now needing Niona and Hana’s help to travel; both had unexpectedly decided to accompany Adam home. After Niona dropped off Cia and Eene, she was contacted by another Immortal who said he had been sent by their Lord to tell her to “understand which side of this controversy she was choosing to be on.”
Niona was unaware she had to choose any side as she had always been a faithful servant of her Lord and when given a chance to serve Adam and the Community, jumped at the opportunity. Niona was an outsider of sorts among Immortals as she seemed to have an affinity for mortals, particularly the human mortals who she studied diligently. When indentured to Adam, she willingly took the opportunity to stay close to Adam, faithfully serve him and study more closely human behavior. She found humans interesting and mercurial; kind and cruel yet loving and caring. Their unpredictable natures were like catnip to her; her kind were dull, cold and uncaring while humans were alive with emotions. Touch, feel, kissing, and human contact and warmth excited her in ways she didn’t think possible.
Serving Adam was no hardship, and she didn’t understand the complaints leveled against him by his women and wives. He was human, therefore as excitable and prone to as much stupidity, love or anger as any other; but he loved and demonstrated his love for them in small and large ways. She never detected disrespect or indifference and had never witnessed any physical violence, harm or even harsh words. There were exceptions, particularly around the betrayals, but she accepted that as usual among all beings, even Immortals. Her Lord would punish harshly behavior that contradicted his commands; not knowing any other way to live, she accepted that those in power could be cruel and mistreat subordinates if they chose.
Adam’s behavior was forgiving and compassionate. Working for him was a joy, and she was reluctant ever to stray far from his side if he permitted her to be with him.
They often, master and servant, took long walks when Adam needed time to decompress, going to the Garden Island not occupied by Saldana to walk, talk and sit in quiet conversation and reflection. Adam was a tender human when not stressed, so he would often ask permission to hold hands with her when they were on walks or simply sitting quietly. She would lean her head against his as they spoke, eventually putting her arms around him. Sometimes she would lay down, her head in his lap, close her eyes and just listen to his voice. She felt his inner warmth and calm, reassuring to her, her feeling of Immortal loneliness and isolation gone.
This warning came out of nowhere, and she didn’t understand which “sides” were being referred to, so she sought out Adam immediately.
He reassured her that all was well, she need not feel anxious. They were back on Earth, and he would explain the new regime to his few remaining people, including her. She was now a central figure in the new world he suddenly discovered, though he was the only one who now knew all the pieces.
“I will protect you, I promise. We shall always be together if this is what you want.”
“It is. Promise me you will never desert me.”
“I will always have you here with me for eternity. Your part in my life now is unexpected and a sudden turn I couldn’t have foreseen.”
“You are scaring me.”
“I’m scaring us both.”
***
They all gathered in Adam’s Study, seated around the big sofa and coffee table; Octavio, the Twins, Patsy Murray, Noki Lee, newly returned, and the Professionals plus Niona standing in holographic form.
Adam began, “I have twice today had counsel with our Lord and each time found new complexity and deceit in his words and deeds. He has thre
atened my life and all of you; however, don’t worry he cannot carry out any of his threats without losing his realm. His words are empty and based on what he believes is my ignorance of his intentions, Liara’s and of those Immortals growing in strength under his leadership.
“I now know that there are divisions rife within his realm, and Liara has chosen to challenge him, though not openly and not now. It may be centuries or millennia before she can do that, assuming he doesn’t find and eliminate her first.
“The issues center around the typical construct of an Immortal created by our Lord. They are constructed to obey, have little creativity and are not, unlike humans, able to fight, adjust and think. When the Lord created them, he didn’t think such a being was either necessary or desirable. For billions of years, he was correct. Then he created Liara and her race of Immortals who were not as powerful as our Lord’s Immortals, but who could do much more, even challenge him, if strengthened. As the Lord came to see these lower Immortals as a threat, he destroyed all of her race except her.
“There were aberrations in this scheme; not all Immortals were the same, they weren’t clones of one another. Fionna and Niona were examples of fighting Immortals, but there were so few. Other Immortals could follow in their path, but he paid little attention to them as they didn’t demonstrate the steel possessed by Niona and Fionna. They could mother a new race, but not themselves be the fighters he needed. Our Lord needed only enough warriors to fight Liara if she was successful in becoming a threat and felt that snuffing her out now would end the threat. But he couldn’t do this himself; they had a compact and, if it was violated, our Lord could be weakened or even cease to exist.”
Niona said, “That’s where you came in, right? He decided to outsource Liara’s destruction to you since she was no longer more powerful than you, and my Sarii was to be the instrument of her demise. He has no experience in finding Liara or any other being for that matter; he needed you and your teams.”
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