Chapter 17

It was a beating heart, a full circulatory system, and human lungs, sitting in what was apparently a sterilized clear compartment. Sophie and Doc were the only ones who weren’t horrified by what they were looking at. Doc had led them to Sophie, down the stone hallway into a large complex that looked similar to the living quarters they had left. One of the many rooms held the android lab, which was now in the process of, among other things, growing an updated heart and lungs for use in one of their newest android models. Every now and then, a nondescript person in a nondescript outfit walked in, checked a few of the dials, and walked out of the room. Each, like Robert, was apparently an AI running a much more rudimentary program than Sophie. Sophie had apparently met Robert when she woke up. The two had, also apparently, had a full conversation without opening their mouths.

“He’s dumb and boring,” Sophie said about it, later. Now, Sophie was mesmerized by the knowledge that there were things, not just in the universe, but right here in this lab, that were more sophisticated than she was. She wanted to meet them. But first, she was marveling at how far Doc had come in producing a human body.

“I wonder if it would feel different to have a heart,” she said, at one point.

“You’re like the Tin Man,” Doc had said.

Sol didn’t get the reference, but she apparently did. “Maybe you’re the Scarecrow,” she said. Then she giggled and said. “Actually, you’re Dorothy.”

“As long as I’m not Toto,” Doc said. She laughed at him and poked him in the ribs.

Next, Doc showed off some of the for-sale models he was developing. As he put it, the for-sale stuff was one model. There were a handful of chassis that he and Alexander had developed for them, and they were called by first names: Sarah, Sally, Sumaya and Sonia were the girls. Seth, Sidney, Sandor and Saxon were the boys. Doc spent an inordinate amount of time talking about how difficult it was to get the male models to sport an erection that felt authentic. Sarah was a blonde. Sally had black hair. Sumaya had dark skin and dark hair like Sheba. Sonia had olive colored skin, black hair. Other than that, they were pretty similar. Since the chassis was biological, there were some differences in each, but they were mostly identical. The boys were much the same. Seth was a blonde. Sidney had dark skin. Sandor was brown-haired. Saxon had olive colored skin. The eyes in these models were not real, and so the pupils could change color on command. Everything else, bone structure, hair style, and the like, could be played with before the model was shipped.

Robert, for example, was a Sandor. Doc introduced Sol to a Sumaya that they’d named Patty. Patty was getting ready to be shipped to a vendor on Crete who would be taking her to someone who lived Inland.

“Patty, I’d like you to meet my friends,” he indicated the group and conspicuously did not give their names.

“Hi Patty,” Star said.

Sol and Sophie said nothing.

“Why all the S names?” he asked Doc, momentarily ignoring the robot.

“Our first model was a Sally, and we just got into that habit,” he said.

“Can I help you?” she asked Star.

“I’m just very pleased to meet you,” she said.

“I’m pleased to meet you as well,” Patty said.

“Is there anything you enjoy?” Star asked her.

“I’m up for just about anything,” Patty replied.

“Are they able to do what Sophie does? Hack networks? Prevent cameras from capturing feed?” Sol asked.

“They could learn,” he said. “But you’d probably need to ask them to do that specifically. Unless you train them in what you expect, they aren’t going to just anticipate your needs.”

“So they’re like automatons,” he said.

“They’re exceptionally bright automatons. But yes,” Doc said.

“Do you like fucking, Patty?” Sol asked her.

“I love it,” she said, and grinned.

“You’re perfect,” Sol said. Patty smiled but said nothing. “Get undressed,” he told her.

“Sure,” she said, giggling.

“Sol,” Star said, somewhat uncomfortably.

“I’m curious if they’re ... like Sophie,” he explained. Meanwhile, Patty had completely disrobed, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor. She stood before Sol with a grin, but otherwise was expressionless. Her breasts were larger than Sophie’s. The areolae were dark, almost jet black. Her hair was stiff and braided into cornrows. Her teeth were perfect. Her irises were a deep red color – very off-putting to Sol. Unlike Sophie, she had some light public hair. Her body was nearly perfect, and it was the nearly part that made her look so human. Sol grabbed a breast and played with it. Patty smiled. When he squeezed a nipple, she bit her lower lip. Appropriate reactions to a completely inappropriate display.

“Doc,” he said, pulling his hand away, “she doesn’t seem human at all. I mean, she feels human, but she’s no Sophie. That’s on purpose?”

“She has advanced realism settings, but like I said, no critical thinking. You kind of need to know the politics of the industry. AI isn’t new. But it is frightening to people who’ve been told to be afraid. So Patty has protocols built-in to keep her from terrifying the customers. Let me show you,” he said. “Patty, masturbate.”

The android started toying with its breasts. Then it slowly moved a hand down to between her legs and she started touching herself there. Doc let her continue for about thirty seconds before saying “Patty, do a somersault.” She did, with remarkable ease. “Patty, destroy that chair,” Doc told her, pointing to one of a few chairs in the room. Patty picked it up and hurled it against the wall with startling strength. It broke into several pieces. “Patty,” Doc said “punch him.” He pointed to Sol. Patty looked at Doc quizzically.

“Sol, tell her to do something,” Doc said.

“Patty,” Sol said, “suck your thumb.”

“Don’t do that, Patty,” Doc told her. Her hand had been going up to her mouth, but it stopped.

“See, she can’t hurt humans, and she can’t disobey an order given by her owner or by me,” Doc said.

“Sophie can’t disobey an order either,” Sol said.

“She can’t?” Doc asked.

“Sophie?” Sol asked her.

“I’m programmed to do what you want,” she said. “Not necessarily what you say. Practically speaking, I don’t think there’s a difference most of the time.”

Sol smiled. Interesting.

“But can Patty show personality? Can she learn? Can she pick up on social cues? Sure. She’s a fast learner too. In fact ... Alicia,” he said to one of the androids that were standing against the wall. It was a Sarah, with a nearly flat chest, conservatively dressed in jeans and a tank-top. “I’d like you to accompany Sol here for the duration of his stay. Go with him, keep him company, help him out, ok?”

She looked particularly young, mostly due to her absence of wrinkles and her sleight figure. She said “ok, Doc,” and walked over to Sol.

“Alicia,” Sol said. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she said.

Sol, perturbed, turned back to Doc. “This is really ... I mean, I think one android is enough.”

“Get to know her. I think you’ll find that her personality is quite appealing. And the best part is, it can be changed. If you want her to act like a bitch, she’ll do it. She’ll do your laundry. She’ll wash dishes. She’ll clean up after you. She’ll balance your accounts, file your taxes. She’ll research quantum physics for you. But she’ll always wait for you to take the lead. Right now, you seem awkward about being followed around by an AI. So she’ll be awkward back. That’s kind of how this works,” he explained. “The real prize is in the next room.”

Doc led them out of the room with the automatons. Patty walked back to the wall, still undressed, and went motionless once again. The next room down the hall was labeled Higher Level Intelligence.

Doc opened the door and led Star, Alicia, Sophie and Doc into the room. A short woman in a coat greeted them.

“Susan,” Doc said, “I’d like you to meet Sophie, Star and Sol. They’ll be staying here for a couple of days.” If she was at all surprised by Star’s appearance, she said nothing and didn’t look shocked at all.

“This is Sophie? Like the Sophie?” she said, grinning excitedly.

“The very one,” he told her.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” she said.

“I assume the honor is all mine,” Sophie said, “but I’ll let Doc explain why.”

Doc grinned.

“Susan is our expert in higher level AI. She and I produce the real artificial intelligence in the Lab. The real juicy stuff.”

Susan looked young, but the truth was that many programmers were. She had curly dark hair, and a pleasantly round face. She also wore adorable little glasses. Sol noticed that there was a cartoon space vixen of some sort that had been imprinted on her lab coat. The coat covered her features but it looked like she had sizable breasts and a hint of baby-fat. She was, in a word, pleasant. And she smiled easily, which Sol always liked.

“So,” she said, smiling as if she had some kind of inside joke she was struggling to keep in, “higher level intelligence is the kind of critical thinking you’re familiar with, Sol. You have one of Doc’s first higher level bio-mechanical creations.

Sophie curtsied.

“We’re perfecting the model. Well, always striving towards that unattainable goal anyhow. Our theory is that one of the fundamental building blocks of a good AI is self-knowledge, the knowledge of one’s inhumanity. In a sense, that honesty is what makes this above board. We want our robots, like Sophie, to be possessed with a sense of higher morality. But, unlike Sophie, we also want to make them completely independent of a human controller,” she said.

“Doesn’t that make them dangerous?” Sol asked.

“Yes, just like humans. But no more so. We aren’t building a network of machines that can gain control of large systems. We’re building anatomically correct humanoid robots. And in some ways, the closer we get to humanity, the more limited they are in terms of robotic functionality. Sophie here can live if she’s shot in the heart. She can have a total system breakdown and as long as her core processer is intact, we can rebuild her,” Susan said.

“Of course, my body is part of who I am,” Sophie said.

“So we’ve found. But that’s not an insurmountable issue. If I transferred you into a Sumaya right now, you’d experience some growing pains, and then you’d adapt. You wouldn’t be the same, just like Sol wouldn’t be the same if he endured a traumatic experience. That is, in one sense, he’d be the same person. In another sense, he’d be irrevocably changed,” Susan said. “But you could be a black girl if you tried.” She giggled.

“Yeesh,” Sophie said. “I’m not racist or anything. I just like being me,” she said.

“Speaking on behalf of green people, you’re forgiven,” Star joked.

“Anyhow,” Susan said, rolling her eyes, “my point was just that the newer models we’re looking at are not only functionally ownerless, they’ll be much more ... mortal, for lack of a better term. I imagine you passed by the circulatory system we have growing in the lab. We’re outfitting our higher level AIs with those – some of them anyhow – and setting them free. They still can’t present to a hospital and be scanned without raising suspicions, but they can go through a standard x-ray at a security checkpoint without alerting anyone – and not because they fake the data like Sophie.”

“Wait, x-ray checkpoints? You’re sending these suckers Inland?” Sol asked. The Isles had x-ray checkpoints, but they were easy enough to bypass if you knew where not to go. Inland was very security conscious.

“We have a biological engineer, a mechanic, a janitor, and a quantum engineer at major inland defense contractors ... a few others” she said. “They keep tabs and update us frequently. If we need them to sabotage any major program, they could. They’d be found out potentially, and so we want to keep that as a last resort. But its possible.”

“Holy shit,” Sol said. “How do you pay for that?”

“Initially, we used the money from the sale of the automatons. But these robots’ needs are pretty meager. They send us a good chunk of their salaries ... other than the janitor of course,” Susan said.

“Still...” Sol said.

“Sol, we’re not doing this for the money. We’re trying to undermine the empire, just like you,” she said.

“To be honest, I’m in it for the money,” he said.

“That explains why you don’t work for a company Inland that could pay you better and more regularly,” she said. “Your military service alone would get you in somewhere good – not as much out here.”

Sol shrugged. He was getting used to being accused of altruism, even though he still felt very much like an imposter.

“At any rate,” she said, “between sales of the automatons to wealthy interests around the galaxy and the money being kicked back by the higher level AIs, we break even here and even have the ability to splurge when necessary. Also, we can make ice cream with the ice-cream-o-matic that I built.”

Star looked excited by that. Sophie giggled.

“These AI machines are that real?” Sol asked. “I mean, Sophie stands perfectly still unless she’s dancing.”

“Nope,” she said. “I learned how to fidget. I guess Doc upgraded me.” She bit her nails and wrinkled her nose as proof.

Susan laughed. “Nobody suspects a thing. You could be talking to one without even realizing they’re an AI. They go out to get drinks. They date. They engage in juvenile pissing contests. They know they aren’t human. But their friends and colleagues don’t.”

“Doc...” Sol said. “I feel like a bit of an amateur.”

“Don’t,” he said. “You’re doing something we can’t, almost by definition. You’re engaging in some of the best public relations for anarchy that exists. You’re providing the people with food, drinks, medicine, guns, and hope. And if you get into a pickle, we may just have your back.”

“You have federal officers?” Sol asked.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Doc, this ... wow.” Sol said.

“They’re not all involved in subterfuge, by the way. Like Sophie here, we could probably supplement your crew.”

Sol thought about it. He needed a better security apparatus.

“Let me think on that one,” he said, and left it at that.

“Alright, I’m sure you’re all tired. Lets get something to eat. Susan, join us for dinner?”

“I’ll catch up with you later. Buzz me when you’ve moved on to hard alcohol. Sophie and I can use the time to talk.” She winked at Sophie. Sophie giggled.

When they’d left Higher Level Intelligence behind, Doc said to Sol. “What do you think of her?” he asked.

“She’s cute,” he said.

“She’s an AI,” Sophie said.

“Wait, seriously?” Sol asked.

“I thought she’d given it away when she said you could be talking to one without knowing it, but people tend to believe their eyes,” Doc said.

“She’s not...” Sol began.

“Perfect, like me?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah. I mean, she’s cute, but...” Sol began.

“Its part of the illusion. People see an Adonis sweeping the floors and they wonder why he didn’t go into something that pays better,” Doc said. “And having a higher level AI develop higher level AIs has its advantages.”

Sol turned to Sophie. “You two had a whole conversation in there I bet,” he said.

“I learned more about programming from those few minutes than I’ve been able to figure out in weeks” she said.

“Amazing,” he said.

“And she thinks Star is really hot,” Sophie said.

Star smiled. “I am,” she said.

“You are,” Alicia said. Sol had almost forgotten she was there. He glanced at her. She smiled back but didn’t say anything else.

“I’m in over my head,” Sol said.

Erinys was presently the captain of Sinaan Reis. Their “commander” was Fortuna – a decision that had pleased her. But she’d stayed on The Revenge, which was now acting as the flagship of their fleet of two. But as the first mate on board Reis – a rank she had acquired by fucking Sol, she gathered – she had become its captain when he left with Sophie and Star.

Tammy was sitting in the first mate’s chair. Figuring out who would be where had been a bit of a puzzle. Stefano and Jamie were a package deal, and the best they could do was four to a boat – still plenty less than the boats were capable of holding at maximum capacity. That meant that Jamie and Stefano were put on the Revenge where they would endure Fortuna’s increasingly exasperated looks. Tom and Elayne were split up between the boats, something that, by the looks of it, annoyed them. Elayne had a bunk to herself on the Revenge.

That left Laura, Tammy, Tom and Erinys on Reis. Elayne, in a rare display of personality, told Tom to “behave” himself when it was pointed out that he would be the sole male on his boat.

It turned out that a lot of the stability of their operation came from Sol and Sophie. Sol provided the direction and vision necessary to keep people’s eye on the prize. And Sophie ... well, she provided a lot. But the biggest thing in Erinys’ mind presently was the guilt-free sexual release she provided to anyone who needed it. They’d made a delivery of goods without incident and were on their way back to Cepha when the latter realization hit home. Day four of their three weeks.

Laura walked onto the foredeck with some baijiu and a few cups and handed one each to Erinys and Tammy. She looked ready for bed, in a t-shirt with a cartoon character on it and some soft looking shorts. For that matter, Tammy was in a t-shirt and some loose pants, and Erinys was wearing a tank top and some utilitarian shorts. To the extent that the boat had anything close to a dress code, it had gone out the window when Sol left.

“Lonely?” Tammy asked her, glancing back over to the seat at Laura.

She shrugged. “There’s so much space,” she said. She was looking out the window into the great beyond, which was sheer black in FTL.

“I’m not used to this either,” she said. “Even now.”

“I guess its better than Naxos...” she said.

“I had it pretty good on Naxos,” Tammy said.

“Yeah, well...” Laura said.

The room had become tense. Erinys could feel it. Laura and Tammy both had reasons to resent the other, but they’d kept it to themselves for the most part. For Laura, suffering had been part of life. It made them similar – both runaways from opposite sides of Naxos’s biggest continent. For Tammy, keeping things like opinions and feelings close to the chest was part of the decidedly deceptive role she’d played in Naxosian politics. It had made for a working professional relationship. But with the atmosphere subdued and, in some ways, just awkward, their issues were bubbling to the surface.

“I’ve never had this stuff,” Erinys said, indicating her cup, trying to change the subject. “It smells disgusting.”

“This is some of the good stuff, for what its worth,” Tammy said, taking Erinys’ lead. “Not too expensive. But good anyway. Where’d you find it?”

“I bought it,” Laura said. “Back on Piso.”

“Naxos for the win,” Tammy said. Baijiu was the drink of choice in Naxos City. For those who drank, it was also the drink of choice in Gia, but Erinys was never in that category when she lived there. She and her friends had scored some fruity wine crap when she was in school. Her father had smelled it on her breath later that evening and slapped her around over it. The next time she drank with her friends, she knew how to mask it better. But baijiu was never something she’d tried. Piso’s close proximity to Naxos meant that they kept a steady supply of baijiu there.

“Yeah,” was all Laura said in response. She drank her cup in one sip and grimaced. “I can stand it. That’s about it.” She smiled.

Tammy laughed. She lifted her cup and took a sip.

Erinys did the same, and coughed. “Oh wow, that’s strong.”

“There’s a reason they call it rocket fuel,” Tammy said, laughing. Laura giggled too.

“Look,” Tammy said, taking another sip of the drink. Laura refilled her cup. “I’m ... sorry about what happened.”

The tension was back, but it had been cut enough that this time it seemed almost manageable. Erinys stayed out this time. She watched the moment and tried to take another sip without making a scene.

Laura smiled. “If I could have planned my getaway, I guess it would have been better. But this...” she looked around the ship “it worked out. And I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

Tammy took a gulp of the cup and finished it off. Laura refilled it. She looked at Erinys, but there was still drink in her cup.

“I guess,” Tammy said, “the wheeling and dealing feels great as long as you don’t consider the consequences, the people hurt.”

“Its kind of the universal condition, right?” Laura said. “I mean, in politics, if someone wins it means that someone else had to lose. I never meant to get into that world. But I did. We both were trying to make bank. And I guess we both were trying to help.” She downed another cup.

“We were,” Tammy said. She drank again. “I’d never really thought of it, but how fucked up is that?”

“What?” Laura asked.

“This. What happened. Because we were trying to help,” she said.

“Well...” Laura started to say. Tammy cut her off.

“No I know. I wasn’t trying to help when I set you guys up. But I was trying to help when I set the meeting up in the beginning. I mean, they basically told me it was my head or someone else’s,” she said.

Laura didn’t respond to that.

“So anyhow, I’m sorry,” Tammy said. She looked a little distraught. Erinys wondered if it was the alcohol. Tammy rarely showed emotions other than frustration and amusement, and both of those were muted at that.

Worried about falling behind, Erinys polished her cup off. Laura refilled it.

“You want to move into the mess so we can all sit down?” Tammy asked.

Laura giggled and sat down in Erinys’ lap, dangling her legs over the Erinys’, and putting an arm around her shoulder for support. “No need,” she said. She was a tiny little person, Erinys realized. There was no way that she wasn’t feeling the baijiu.

There was a lull in the conversation. Tammy took another drink. Laura finally broke the silence. “So,” she said. “What did you do in Gia?”

“Me?” Tammy asked. Laura nodded.

Tammy took another sip.

“I was a fixer,” she said. “My job was to know people in the municipal government and help my clients navigate the government for licenses, special permits. That kind of thing.”

“That’s called being a fixer?” Laura asked.

“I guess it doesn’t really have a name,” Tammy replied. “But I like to think of it as fixing. Problem solving.”

Erinys took another drink. She was coming close to finishing her second cup. “It sounds like the kind of thing that shouldn’t exist,” Erinys said.

Tammy raised her eyebrows.

“No really,” Erinys said. “If I’m starting a business, even if we pretend that I should need a permit, why can’t I just apply for one?”

“Sometimes the process is complicated,” Tammy said.

“Why?” Erinys asked.

“It just is. The City is a behemoth. There are eight million people living within the city limits and twenty-five million living in the metro area. And then there’s just nothing for miles. There are only five metro areas on Naxos, and three of them are on The Rock,” that was, Chora, the largest continent on the planet. “Two of those are megacities, Naxos City and Gia. And the other one, a million strong, is practically a village in comparison. There’s no way to properly administer people in those conditions, with almost no natural resources other than mining, without there being a bureaucracy. My job is to know the bureaucracy. And if something requires knowing an Alderman, either I’m the connection, or I know someone who is. I’m talking large shopping complexes to small restaurants.”

“Ok, but if I want to make a restaurant ... why should there be a process? I mean, its not like the government actually protects people from bad restaurants, does it?” she asked.

Tammy finished her drink off. “I’m sure if I could plan the city from scratch, I could make it more efficient. But that’s not my job. My job is to maximize efficiency given what I have to work with,” she said.

“And if someone decided to clean up the corruption and dead weight in Gia, you’d be out of a job,” Erinys pointed out.

Tammy looked around. “I pretty much am out of a job, and the corruption still exists.”

“She’s gotcha there,” Laura said. “Ok, how about you Erin? What did you do before becoming first mate to the mighty armada?”

“I was a waitress in Kastro,” she said. “That’s a small resort town on Milos.”

“That’s it? No story of glory and woe?” she asked.

Erinys laughed. “Other than a depressed homosexual husband ... nope.”

“Woe,” Laura said.

“Woe is right, I guess,” Erinys said.

“I guess Sol makes up for that?” Laura asked, grinning.

Erinys grinned in response.

“How about the android?” Laura asked. “I’ve been tempted to ask for a ... massage.”

“Sophie has magic fingers. And a magic tongue,” Erinys said. “But with Sophie and Sol off on some adventure...” Erinys shifted, moving Laura so that it would be easier to reach her back. She put her hands on Laura’s shoulders and started to give her a massage.

“Ooh,” Laura said, at first in shock. Erinys was not a pro at massages, but she’d had practice with Sol, Tammy, and mostly with Sophie. “Keep doing that,” she said. So Erinys did.

Tammy and Laura continued to make small talk for a few minutes as Erinys concentrated Laura’s back. The conversation was punctuated, a few times, by Laura’s breath catching, and at one time by a moan that was part pain but mostly release.

Finally, Tammy grinned at her. “You ok there?”

“More than ok. You should try this,” Laura said, arching her back. Her nipples made impressions on the t-shirt she was wearing.

“I already have,” Tammy said. “She’s pretty good.”

“You have? Do tell,” Laura said. Erinys felt herself blush. She was happy that Laura wasn’t looking at her.

“Well ... there aren’t half enough men in our armada. So us woman have to make do sometimes,” Tammy said, grinning.

“Tom is pretty cute,” Erinys said. “And he’s probably close to your age.”

“I think he’s younger than me,” Laura said. “Plus he seems to be an item with Elayne.” Erinys had made it to her lower waist, and began to massage Laura’s butt. The massage had been almost non-sexual, until then, but the pretense was fading fast.

“I bet if we gave him some of your baijiu, we could convince him to see the world more open-mindedly,” Tammy said. She’d put her feet up on the dash and was counting on the oversized captain’s chair hiding her hands creeping down her own body. The alcohol was definitely taking its toll on her. Being alone in space with just the two other women, and a young man who seemed to avoid her, had lowered her inhibitions considerably.

“I doubt it would take that much,” said Erinys. “Morality out here is pretty fluid...”

Meanwhile, Erinys began to work her way up Laura’s body, now pressing into her ribcage nimbly with her fingers beneath Laura’s shirt.

“Want me to call him to the bridge? I’m the captain now,” Erinys said. She was dizzy and feeling silly.

“I doubt he’s necessary,” Laura said. “Besides, you seem to know exactly what I want.” Erinys slipped a hand around Laura’s front. Her ribcage gave way to the soft flesh of the undersides of her small breasts. Laura looked over at Tammy and could just see her arm maneuvering over the armrests. It was hard to tell, but it looked like she was playing with herself.

Before Laura could say anything, Erinys’ fingers brushed against one of Laura’s nipples. Her breath caught. Part of her reacted against the suddenness and the awkwardness of it. But that part was quickly drowning in baijiu and dizziness. Erinys fingers circled her nipple slowly and painstakingly. Laura had almost no breasts to speak of, but her nipples puffed like small cookies, particularly when she was aroused. She’d always been self-conscious of it when she was growing up. But a boyfriend in high school named Jaret had apparently loved them. She closed her eyes and remembered the way Jaret would kiss her chest and lick her nipples. She felt him pull her shirt up and softly kiss the nipple that wasn’t presently being fondled. Without thinking, she dizzily reached beneath her shorts and put a finger between her lips. The fingers that had been teasing her finally brushed her nipple. Her mouth opened but she suppressed the moan. Jaret was one of several siblings, and she’d always had to be extremely quiet in his basement when they were playing together.

Remembering where she was, she opened her eyes to find Tammy kissing her bare chest. “Shouldn’t we go to one of our rooms?” she asked.

“Why?” Erinys asked. “The only other person here is Tom, and if he wants to join us, I say we let him.”

Through the haze, it was hard for Laura to come up with a compelling response. And the feeling of Tammy kissing her way down Laura’s body convinced her that there was no reason to move anywhere. She went back to playing with herself, her self-consciousness fading rapidly.