Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaDemoCD2.iso/ASCII/TEXTE/SEX/ADULTSHARE/J/J0170623.1

Text File | 1994-03-26 | 14.7 KB | 400 lines

@BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ
Journal Entry 017 / 0623@END_FILE_ID.DIZ


     "Commander?  Can you hear me?"

     I heard the words dimly, through an awful haze of drugs and pain.
I tried to talk, and a croak came out.  "Yea.  I c'n hear ya."

     "My name is A'l'emad.  I'm your nurse.  You've been in an
accident."  The thought made me smile.  I wouldn't exactly call what
happened just an 'accident.'

     "A'l'emad?  You're a Mustel, huh?"  I asked.

     "Yes, sir."  Was that disdain in his voice?

     "How're you handling your assignment?"

     "Sir," he said, and I heard the amusement in his voice, "I was
advised by your coimelin that you would begin asking me questions about
myself.  I am your nurse, sir.  Please take my advice, and, to quote
Doctor Traken, shut up and rest."

     "Oh, Hell," I breathed.  He was right, though.  My throat hurt like
hell.


     "Ken?"  It was P'nyssa's voice, and it was sweet to hear.

     "Hi, sweetheart.  How are we doing?"

     "I am doing better, now that we're sure the two of you are going to
live.  How do your eyes feel?"

     "Hard to say, with the painkillers.  How long am I expected to be
blind?"

     "A few weeks.  We need to get your renal system working to a level
that can handle the kind of glucose we need to fix your eyes.  Nanotech
doesn't work without fuel."  I nodded.  "Oh," she continued, "I took the
liberty of reactivating Voll.  He's at the foot of your bed.  You should
be able to walk in a few days."

     "How's Amanda?" I asked.

     "Better.  Tell me, what do you remember happening?"

     "Is this a debriefing?"

     "No.  Etta wants to handle that personally."

     "Does that mean Amanda is in trouble?"

     "Kathy came out of it unscathed, so I'd say no.  It was an
accident, and that's how it's going on the books.  There's a slight
indication of operator error, but it's not enough to strip either Kathy
or Amanda of rank."

     I relaxed.  "Good.  Well, I heard the first... it wasn't an
explosion, really.  It sounded more like a lot of metal being sheared
violently.  I ran down to the lab to see what was happening, and I saw
that the Benetti field was running, and about to shatter the ceramic
platform.  I grabbed Kathy and I almost threw her out of there, but when
I went back to Amanda she was just to heavy, so I tried to shield her
from the explosion.  I figured I was in better shape than she was.  The
explosion was a little more powerful than I figured, because I remember
hearing the breach alarm, and the sound of air rushing.  I don't
remember much after that."

     "Well, I'll finish it for you.  You and Amanda got swept out.  The
breach was pretty big.  We launched SDisk Coordinate Trackers that
grabbed you and teleported you to the SDisk in the exosickbay.  We
treated you both there."

     "How's Amanda?"

     "Well, you kept her from going blind, holding her face against your
stomach.  And your training kept you pretty healthy.  You were only in
vacuum for eight seconds.  You've lost one eardrum, both eyes, and a
little of your toes from vacuum frostbite.  Amanda's a little worse in
that respect.  She's not blind, but she is deaf.  And I'm afraid that
her GI tract was not treated kindly.  But we've already got that fixed,
and her urinal tract survived pretty well.  Yours, on the other hand,
tried to turn itself inside out."

     "Joy."  I paused.  "So, what's next?"

     "You go in for surgery.  A little cyborging to support the repair
mechanisms, and you'll be ready to get out of bed."

     "Queen bee module?"

     "You got it.  Ready?"

     "Yes."


     Ah, out of bed at last.  I'm being led around by my seeing eye
robot, Voll.  I feel kind of queasy, and my high-sugar diet is making me
regularly light-headed.  But I've got a QBM inside me now to fix my
eyes, and it runs on raw glucose.

     The Queen Bee module is a supercomputer and nanotech assembler
system.  Normal cells repair themselves, so small wounds are healed by
mechanisms local to the wound.  The Queen Bee system is different; it's
the housing for a healing mechanism that travels through the body to
repair sites, then returns to the housing.  It's called the Queen Bee by
analogy; a beehive suffers when its drones die, but those drones are
replaced, and the hive is 'healed' as a whole, by the queen bee.

     I walked through the a very different 'Elen from the one I was used
to visiting.  I was blind, and I now relied upon Voll and Liffip.
Smells and Sounds reached me.  I was only fifteen days away from having
the bandages taken off, but in the meantime, I was blind, and darkness
was again my friend.  I stress friend, because I'd been blind before,
and for a longer time.  I'd recovered, and although that blindness was
hundreds of years in the past, I hadn't forgotten how to deal with it.
I could still read braille, and P'nyssa had gotten me a braille PADD.

     It isn't true that smell and hearing get more acute when one goes
blind.  No, it's more that I'm paying more attention to those senses.
People close their eyes to enjoy the smell of food, after all.

     My nurse, A'l', was annoyingly insistent about helping me.  He's a
good sort, and a Mustel, the newest race born to Pendor, but he can be
annoying.  Even though it's an android, he was still annoyed by Voll's
presence next to my bed.  "We can't have a dog in here, sir," he said.

     But I got him to leave me alone.  After all, I think I surprised
him by my ability to read, and to navigate by Voll.

     I palmed the door alert.  At least, I hoped that's where it was.  I
heard the chime, and from it I heard Amanda's voice from inside.  "Who
is it?"

     "It's me, Ken."

     There was a squeal, and I heard the door swish open.  "Kennet!" I
heard, and arms swung around my head.  "I'm so glad you're okay!"

     I responded by putting my arms around her torso, and sliding them
down until I came to her juncture.  "I'm glad you're okay," I replied.
"Can I come in?"

     "Yes, yes, come in, come in!"  She pulled me in.  "Sit down, make
yourself comfortable."

     "Amanda?"

     "Huh?"

     "Uhm... where?"

     "Ohmifa, I forgot.  I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  Over... to your right.
There's a table in front of you.  Go around it and there's a couch for
people."

     I laughed, and tugged on Voll's harness.  It led me easily around
the table and I found the couch.  It felt slightly overstuffed when I
sat down.  "So, how are you?"

     "I'm fine, really.  I've got my hearing back, and Dr. Merta said
I'm in... in... top-tip shape?"

     "Tip-top.  That's an old expression."

     "Yeah.  Well he said everything healed perfectly, and I'm in better
health than I was the day before the accident.  How are you?"

     "I'm better.  All that's left is my eyes.  Everything else is just
as healed as yours."

     "I'm sorry about your eyes."  She was moving about.  I heard the
common 'suck' sound of a refrigerator door, and she asked, "Is there
anything you want to drink?"

     "How about a carmel soda?"

     "Yuck.  I can get it."

     "No, that's okay.  Apple juice?"

     "I've got that."

     "I'll have that.  And I won't be hurt if you don't give me glass."

     "I trust you."  I heard the sound of her hooves as she walked over
and handed it to me.  "It's in front of you.  Here."  She took hold of
my hand and let it to the glass.  I heard her settle down to the carpet,
and her voice now came from a lower angle.  "Father..."

     "Amanda," I said, interrupting her, "please don't call me that.  I
hope you won't be angry with me, but I checked your lineage, and the
earliest point is four away.  At best, I'm you're great-great-great-
grandfather."

     "Okay, Kennet," she said in a very small and girlish voice.  "The
crew in sickbay told me that, if you hadn't come, I'd be blind just like
you are now.  I would also have been in a lot more pain when I woke up.
Because you wear your uniform all the time, you took a lot of the
laceration from the ceramics without getting hurt, but I would have been
a lot worse, and I could have died."

     "Died?" I asked.  "How?"

     There was a long pause.  "I never had a sc gorget done."

     I realized what that meant.  The only major 'weak' spot on a
centaur, or most Pendorians, is the throat.  After Donna Lewis was
killed, the sc gorget procedure was invented to reinforce the skin
beneath the neck.  "Okay, I can understand.  Some people don't think
it's very sexy."

     "That's not why," she said.  "I just never thought about it.  I
never expected to be in combat, I guess.  But, what I mean is, you saved
my eyes by shielding me from the vacuum, too."

     "Amanda, I was trying to shield your face from the shrapnel,
because I knew my uniform would handle most of it.  I had no idea the
lab going to get vacuated by the explosion."

     "Whatever your reasons, Kennet, I can't thank you enough.  You
saved my eyes and my life."

     "You make it sound so dramatic."

     She took my hands in hers.  "It was dramatic.  It's the most
dramatic thing that ever happened to me.  When I get home, I'll be able
to tell my friends that I was in vacuum without a space suit, and that
Shardik himself saved my life."

     I laughed.  "Yeah, I guess you will be able to tell your friends
that."  Is it just me, or is there a hint of stress in this room?  I let
loose her hands and sought my glass, taking a long drink after I found
it.

     I put it down, and said, "Well."

     "Yes?" she said.

     "I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing, Amanda.  I
guess I'll get back to work."  I rose and grabbed Voll's harness.

     "Wait," Amanda said.

     "What?"

     "Kennet, I.. Uhm... I can't think of how I'd want to say this,
but... I want to thank you for what you did, and I wonder if you would
like to... rhysh... with me."

     I smiled.  And I couldn't help it, but I felt laughter, and I
couldn't hold it back.  I began to laugh, trying to hide it with my hand
over my mouth.

     "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to be so..." I heard her voice.  "I'm
sorry, Kennet.  Please, forget I-"

     "No, no, no.  Please, Amanda.  I'm sorry.  Really."  I felt so
unfairly awkward.  "Amanda, really.  It's just been centuries since I've
heard it called that.  Oh, gods, it's been so long.  I guess it is true
what I said a long time ago."

     "What was that?" she asked.  There was hurt in her voice.

     "I once said that rhysh was for young people."

     "But you sleep with Doctor Traken!"

     "I know, I know.  But we don't call it that, Amanda.  I mean, let's
face it, it's making love, and that's about it."

     "But... why is it 'for young people?'"

     "Amanda," I said, still chuckling, "when kids are growing, the
first thing they discover about sex is what they're interested in.
Basically, you know, whether they're gay or straight, or what.  And
then, going outside their species, that's another step, I guess.  And,
that step needs a name.  But, after a while, we stop calling it that,
and start calling it- lovemaking.  'Cause, that's what it is.  You're
not having straight sex, or gay sex, or rhysh sex, or gay rhysh, or
whatever; you're just having sex.  Or making love.  With someone, that's
the whole point."

     "Oh."  She said it with a very small voice.

     I smiled.  "Amanda, can I tell you something?"  There was a pause,
but she didn't say anything.  "It's a deep secret, Amanda.  Only Kathy
knows about it.  And I want to tell you."

     "What?" she said.

     "Ever since I boarded the 'Elen and met you, I have wanted to get
to know you."

     "You have?"  Her voice brightened.

     "Yeah.  I have.  On a physical point, I've never made love to a
Centaur.  But, you have, although I can't see them right now, the
prettiest eyes, and the sweetest voice I've been near in a long time, my
coimelin not included, for obvious reasons."  She chuckled at that.
"But, even past that, I want to know you.  You're like Kathy is, and she
means a lot to me, and you seem to mean a lot to her, so I want to know
why."

     "Do you want to... now?"

     I thought about it.  "No, I don't think so.  Can you wait a few
weeks, until I can see what I'm doing?"

     "O-kay," she said, with a little grumble.  "Can I ask you a
question?"

     "Sure."

     "What is that think on Kathy's leg?"

     "What thing?"

     "The black mark... the 'eldar,' four stars."

     "You mean my symbol.  That's a brand."

     "A what?"

     "A brand.  Uh... a scar, made by a burn."

     There was a long quiet.  "You made that?"

     "Yes.  She asked me to.  As a reminder of our relationship
together, back in '512."

     "Did it hurt?"

     "You'd have to ask her, but I imagine it hurt like hell."

     "Then why did you do it?"

     "Why don't you ask her?  She actually wants you to ask her."

     "She does?"

     "I think so."  There a small buzzing sensation on my wrist.  My
watch was telling me it was time attend to some duties.  "Amanda, I've
got things to do.  Just do me a favor, and talk to Kathy.  And I'll see
you sometime soon."

     "I'll do that."  I heard her lean a little closer, and I moved
forward as well.  Her hands found my face and we kissed, softly,
briefly.  Then we kissed again, for a little longer.

     "'Bye."

     "Goodbye, Kennet."  I grabbed Voll, and we left her to think about
our conversation.


     In the following weeks, I found a lot of time to myself.  I was
relieved of my lab duties but I continued to teach, much with Liffip's
visual aid.  I saw a lot of Kathy and Amanda, and apparently they had
had their discussion, because Kathy kissed me and hugged me and thanked
me for it.


     "So?" P'nyssa asked.

     "So, what?  I can see again.  Thanks."

     "Don't thank me, thank Liffip.  He's done all the internal surgery.
And, by the way, here."  She handed me a bottle of pills.

     "What're these?"

     "Take one every six hours, sleep or not.  They're chemical
balancers while the QBM disassembles itself and you basically piss it
away."

     "Nyss?  Does this mean I'm dangerous to someone else?"

     "Not at all.  I just don't like the idea of my coimelin getting
chromium poisoning."

     "Fair enough.  Is it just me, or is it very red in here?"

     "We've got low red lights on.  Red's the easiest color for the eye
to adjust to.  Whenever you're ready."

     "I'm ready now."  I stood up and walked to the door.  When it
opened, I was blasted.  "Yeow!"

     "Told you," she said.

     I waited, and my eyes adjusted.  It resolved into sickbay.  "I can
see again," I repeated.


     "BOO!"