by Simon Archer
“Go on,” I said, prompting him to continue.
“So,” he said, giving the room another sly grin. “I’ve been thinking. These people don’t really know anything about us. They think they do because they watch us on this TV thing all the time, but they really don’t. They’re so scared of us when there isn’t really all that much to be scared of. So if we show up with more than they were expecting, they aren’t likely to question it much.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “What does ‘more’ mean?”
“It means that we’re just seven people,” Malthe said. “And don’t get me wrong, the people in this room have accomplished a helluva lot all on our own. But we’re going up against an entire world here. And it’d be to our advantage to show up for it. Or at least seem to show up for it.” I thought I was beginning to understand what he was getting at, and I cracked a wide grin of my own, paired with more than my fair share of incredulity at the whole idea.
“You think that you can create a holographic army?” I asked, setting my food down on the glass coffee table, forgotten, and leaning forward in my seat in anticipation. “No way.”
“Way,” Malthe said, his grin growing wider. “I think I can make it work. Obviously, I won’t be able to test run it because that would mean making everyone on this ship think there’s an entire Termina army in the middle of the ocean, and that’s the main problem since we won’t know if it’ll work until we actually need it to work.”
“Sounds on-brand for us, actually,” Kinley mused with a shrug. We all laughed.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” Malthe said. “But hopefully it’ll work. I’m pretty sure it will, anyway.”
“I have every confidence in your abilities, man,” I told him, and I did, since he was the best there was. “So, the plan will be that Clem, the foxgirls, and I head into the TelCorp Enterprises building to find Achilles. Then Malthe does the hologram thing outside, with Lin for backup. And then when it comes time to negotiate with the mayor and everybody else in charge of the government, that’s when Lin and I step up and reveal all this evidence we’ve been collecting from the different shops.”
“Right,” Cindra said. “That’s another reason stopping in all the Tibor Enterprises outlets is important. The more evidence we have that these people are breaking the law and putting everyone at risk, the better.”
“And the best we can do other than this is hope that Semra has everything covered back home,” I said, finishing off my drink. “Sounds like a plan.”
One by one, the members of my team drifted off to bed until it was just Cindra and me sitting on the long, light gray couch, staring at the darker gray screen that still donned that error message.
“Do you think it’ll come back on at some point?” she asked me. “I mean, the people are gonna freak when they can’t get their Termina fix, aren’t they?” I laughed at this.
“They sure are,” I chuckled, thinking about some of the other passengers we’d met who were completely crazy for Termina. Or at least what they thought Termina was. This would be the talk of the whole ship in the morning. Hell, this would be the talk of the whole damn world. It already was.
“I just wish we could talk to them,” she murmured.
“I know,” I said, scooting closer to her and wrapping an arm around her. “Me too.”
“Do you really think that we can make this all work, Nic?” she asked quietly, burying her pretty little furry face in the crook of my neck. Her tail swished back and forth above us on the couch cushions.
“I hope so,” I said, burying my own face in her hair in turn and kissing the top of her head. “And I believe in us. If anyone can make this work, we can. And they’ll be okay back home. We’ve trained them well, after all.”
“Yeah, I guess we did,” she murmured with a small laugh, kissing the side of my neck.
“We’ll be back home before we know it,” I whispered, stroking her hair. “And all will be well, and we won’t have to worry about any of this anymore. We’ll just get to live our lives however we see fit.”
We sat in silence for a long time after that, just enjoying the presence of each other. We kept the windows closed so that no one could look in and see our real faces at night, but I could still hear the sounds of the waves all around the ocean liner. It was a peaceful sound, and I liked the way that it lulled me to sleep every night.
“It really is nice here, in a way,” Cindra said after some time, not moving from her place on my shoulder. “It’s not anything like I expected it to be. I mean, in some ways it’s worse, because of all the Termina stuff, but other than that, I wouldn’t mind living in the outside world.”
“Neither would I,” I admitted. “I don’t know that I’d ever leave Termina, mind you, but it would be nice to have the option. And to be able to come out on one of these things for vacation every once in a while.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said, nestling further into me and wrapping her arms around my chest. “I love our home. But my family would love it out here. As great as that new place is that you made them, I know they’d like to get some distance between themselves and where everything’s happened to them. But would they be welcomed out here? I just don’t know.”
“Well, we’ll just have to make it happen for them then,” I said, smiling down at her. She raised her head and met my eyes, pressed her forehead to mine. And then she kissed me.
I kissed her back, leaning into her. And then she slowly took off my clothes, and I took off hers. Then she sidled down my body, continuing to kiss me all the way until she knelt on the floor and took my dick in her hands.
She ran her fingers up and down my shaft slowly at first and then faster, and then she pressed her lips to my tip. I intertwined my fingers in her hair and helped her along the way. I got hard, fast, and right when I was about to blow my load, she eased up and moved back, still running her fingers along my member along the way, leaving me with a more than pleasant tingling sensation.
I lifted her back up onto my lap and began to suck on her perky little nipples as I kneaded my way between her legs, loosening her up for my cock. She moaned and arched her neck back, which just made me get harder again.
Finally, she convulsed and collapsed into my arms, resting her head against my chest again as I moved my fingers up and down the small of her back. I buried my face in her hair again, and we just sat there for a little while more, listening to the sounds of the ocean, seagulls flying overhead, enjoying the feel of each other in our bodies and in our souls. I could’ve stayed there forever if I had the option.
When her breathing slowed, she pushed herself back up in my lap and grinned across at me. I met her gaze and returned the expression. I coaxed her legs back open and pressed myself inside her, helping her move up and down on me with my hands on either side of her voluptuous hips.
I let out a long groan as I grew hard again inside her, and she knelt down to kiss me again. We moved as one, aided by our soulbond, and finally, I came inside her, filling her up. She came at the same time, her back arching and body writhing right alongside mine. We stayed there at the climax for a few moments, savoring the feeling, and then she collapsed back down into my arms.
We stayed there until we got up in the morning, our bodies entangled together just like our souls, listening to the water lap up against the side of the boat below. It was the best sleep I think I’d ever gotten, and then more than ever, I resolved to fix this rotten world we lived in for Cindra’s sake more than anyone else’s.
23
It was a couple more weeks before we arrived at the first port city in the Nether, and damn had Cindra been right about everybody going crazy.
When we’d gone down to the main deck for a buffet breakfast that morning after the mayor’s press conference, everyone down there was freaking the fuck out, talking about what had happened and wondering what was going to happen next. A couple of the passengers even worried that since the ocean liner had originally left from Firebend in the Barre
ns, the Termina outlaws could even be on this very ship.
I couldn’t help but smile to myself at that. What little they knew, compared to how much they thought they did.
And no matter how much the people on the boat were freaking out, that was nothing compared to the rest of the outside world.
The Termina feed remained blank, so we took to watching the Direfall news station instead. And man, did people have a lot to say. There were talking heads from every walk of life coming on the station at all hours complaining about how they had their entertainment taken away from them, or the world was ending, or there was going to be another Great Binder War, or foxgirls were going to start showing up and eating people alive, or some ridiculous combination thereof. It really was crazy.
We watched and waited with bated breath for any news from Termina, but none came, despite the fact that the first wave of troops from the outside world was supposedly set to arrive close to now.
“What do you think it is?” Malthe asked in our cabin over a hearty breakfast of waffles the day that the ocean liner was supposed to dock in the Nether. “I mean, they have to update us at some point, right? They’re going to war after all.” The news was on again, and the talking heads were all speculating about the lack of news about the first wave of troops for the umpteenth time.
“I mean, if they haven’t arrived already, they will before the end of the week, right?” Clem asked through a mouthful of waffle topped with a more than ample dose of whipped cream.
“They must’ve arrived already,” I said, shaking my head. “It wouldn’t make any sense if they hadn’t.”
“Which means there must be some reason they’re not reporting on it yet...” Lin said, her voice trailing off as she mulled over all the reasons that this could be.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Clem asked, some whipped cream dripping down his chin as he spoke. “It has to be either really really good or really really bad, right?”
“If it were really really bad, for us anyway, they would’ve reported on it already, right?” I argued. “That would be good news for them. It would put people’s minds at ease, get them to stop freaking out a bit. So it must be bad news for them, good news for us. It must be.”
“Well, I’m all for that, then,” Clem said cheerfully, finishing off his third waffle with one giant bite.
We arrived in the port later that morning and joined a long line of people preparing to disembark the ocean liner for a day’s shore leave. Most of the ports we’d been to were full of bustling cities and tall buildings, but this area was more spread out, with long stretches of farmland and grassy areas going on for miles.
“This is kind of nice,” Kira remarked as we were reaching the front of the line. “Different, but nice.”
She was right. We were so used to condensed city space in Termina, that it was hard for me to register that so much open space even existed on land. I had to blink at the view a few times before I registered exactly what I was seeing.
Eventually, we got to the front of the line and checked out with the ocean liner workers. Then we could slip away inside a nearby public restroom building and put on our new faces. Malthe always had new ones for us at every port stop, just in case anyone was on the lookout for us from the last time we’d swiped intel from a Tibor Enterprises outlet.
“My pamphlet says the building we’re looking for is right by the beach,” Lin said, studying a piece of paper one of the ocean liner workers had given her closely. “So we shouldn’t need to grab an air car—or whatever it is they call them here.”
“Good, that’s good,” I murmured, still studying the surrounding area. There was a mountain just off the beach. It really was nice. I imagined Cindra’s family would like a place like this a lot. They could move somewhere out here, while Malthe and Avil could stay in the home TelCorp had built for them on the south side. The possibilities were endless.
It turned out that the Tibor Enterprises outlet was actually on the mountain which was pretty cool. The building pressed against the mountainside, and we had to walk up some long stone steps to get there. At the top, we got breathtaking views of both the ocean and the farmlands, as well as the small but vibrant downtown area.
“Wow,” Cindra said, putting her hands on her hips and staring out at it. “Look at that.”
“No kidding,” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“You don’t get this in Termina,” Kira said simply.
“Well, you also don’t get all that bustling city, and great entertainment, and awesome everything out here,” Clem said defensively, rising as always to defend his home. He did not seem to like the idea of people from Termina spreading out to the other continents.
“Both are good, just in different ways,” I said measuredly to keep the peace. “The point is, there’s more to the world than we ever thought.”
“Variety is the spice of life, my friend,” Lin said, tapping Clem on the shoulder good naturally.
And with that, we headed into the outlet. Though its exterior was unique with all the mountainside around the front of the building, the interior was the same as all the others we’d been to. And to my shock, the place was just as packed, if not even more so, than all the other outlets we’d been to. I’d expected, given the mayor’s announcement and the fact that the outside world was virtually going to war with Termina, that people would steer clear of anything related to the island. But apparently, I had been wrong. The place was packed to the brim with people looking for dumb replicas of holo knives and exaggerated stuffed foxgirls, among other eccentricities.
Just as we had at our last stops, we made sure to grab some of the trinkets before making our way up to the clerks near the registers at the back. This time, I grabbed a fake binder’s tool belt, a decal with the TelCorp logo on it, and several small action figures of important people from Termina, including one of myself. I stared down at it, somehow despite everything still surprised to find something like this for sale.
“It’s not a bad likeness, actually,” Kinley remarked, looking over my shoulder. “The hair’s a little too light, but they’ve got that grin of yours down to a tee.”
“I guess so,” I said, not sure whether to be flattered or disgusted by the toy. I supposed a combination would have to do.
“You should actually keep that one,” Clem said, pointing over my shoulder at the action figure. “It’s pretty cool. Hey, is there one of me?” I dug around in the action figure rack and pulled one out for him.
“Here,” I said, handing it over to him. “I think this one’s supposed to be you.”
“Eh,” he said, squinting at it. “That can’t be right. My eye’s all funny.”
“Well, your actual eye was all funny for a while after those goons in the tunnels beat you up, so maybe that’s why,” I shrugged. “You don’t have to get it if you don’t want to. There’s all kind of other crap around here to buy.”
“Naw, I’ll take it,” Clem said, stuffing it in a pile of stuff that had already accumulated in the crook of his arm. “It is kind of cool, anyway.”
And like that, we made our way over to the clerks. As Lin paid, I began to chat one of them up.
“So, uh, I heard that you guys have a way of making things… a little more intimate,” I said, leaning on the counter nonchalantly. “You know, I’d like to really get the Termina experience. The front-row seat, if you will.”
The clerk narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. “Really? You don’t say?”
“Are you, uh, still doing that after, well, you know,” I mumbled, looking away from him. I figured if I acted guilty, that would be in line with my character. After all, I was asking for something very illegal, and, according to the common wisdom in these parts, very dangerous.
The clerk exchanged a look with the guy who had rung us up. It was a little bit different from the looks I’d seen on the other clerks at the other outlets. A little more… cautious? Concerned? Suspicious? I wasn’t quite sure. This holographic disgui
se I wore worked two ways. It made it a little harder for me to get a read on people than usual, though I was still pretty damn good if I do say so myself.
“Let me see what I can do,” the clerk said finally. “Wait here.” And then he disappeared into the elevator behind the counter.
I exchanged a look of my own with Malthe and Cindra. This wasn’t how things had gone down the other times we’d done this. We’d always been asked to wait in that replica of Elias Berg’s office upstairs. Clem leaned in and opened his mouth as if to say something to me, but then thought better of it and began examining his action figure closely again.
Finally, the clerk reemerged.
“Follow me,” he said, waving for us to come after him. I turned to Malthe, Lin, and the foxgirls.
“You guys wait outside,” I instructed them while we were still in earshot of both clerks. “We’re the ones in the market for this thing, after all. We’ll meet you back on the beach.” I motioned between myself and Clem. They looked surprised, given that we hadn’t split up like this at an outlet before, but nodded. I looked hard at Cindra and communicated through our soulbond that there was something fishy going on here, and they should go back to wait by the ocean liner with their ship faces on.
And with that, Clem and I followed the clerk into the elevator. Just like before, it was a shoddy replica of the elevator in TelCorp headquarters. And also just like before, the top floor was made up like the binder offices there.
The clerk crossed over to the CEO’s office in the back and wrapped his knuckles on the door. To my surprise, a man answered and waved us inside. Just like at the other outlets, the office looked just like Elias Berg’s. Except this time, the guy was actually there. That hadn’t happened before. Usually, we were asked to wait and sit tight, but now...
“Please, take a seat,” the man said, motioning for me to sit down in the low, slippery chair across from his desk. Clem sat in another chair right behind me, and the man sat in the desk chair. He was older and stern-looking, with white hair and thin, wrinkled features. He just stared at me for an uncomfortable moment.