Communism Without Coffee
Copyright© 2026 by A duck named TEF
Chapter 6
Chains rattled and the sounds of the mindless slaves securing something echoed within the dungeon. No words exchanged, just unquestioning obedience. One could almost pity these creatures, if this particular one wasn’t more concerned with finding a way out.
It had been years since there was any interaction with another living, breathing, entity in this dismal place. Now, the drones had brought in a new prisoner, more than one by the sounds of it. There was something strangely familiar about the new presence.
The sounds of the groaning made clear that these new beings were still unconscious. The current prisoner wondered what they had done to get thrown into a place like this, a place set up for those guilty of the greatest of offenses.
If it was possible to speak, then they would have asked. This prisoner though had their mouth sewn shut, eyes hidden behind an iron band that wrapped around their head and covered the ears as well, but not well enough to block out all hearing. This prisoner was guilty of the sin of betrayal.
The slaves had left, and by the rustling, the newcomers were regaining consciousness. Groaning hinges and the scraping of chains holding something as heavy as a body echoed softly within the prison chamber. A cold breeze came from somewhere, biting at exposed flesh.
“Fffuaaahhhhk” It was the voice of a male, fully coming to within the dismal place.
“I told you it was a bad idea.” A woman’s voice now.
The chains rattled some, “You also said you’d be there the whole time. Where the hell have you been?”
The tension these two brought was filling the entirety of the cell.
“I made a terrible miscalculation.”
The first prisoner could feel the chill of a cold stare, or was it that cold breeze from earlier?
Suddenly, the female began to giggle. Such a foreign sound in this place, was she being tortured? That couldn’t be the case, there was no one here to torture anyone.
It felt like a rush of cold water filled the chest of the first prisoner, they knew these two intimately.
“Exceptionally cold of you to place them in the cell like that.” Lilith walked up next to Mephistopheles.
He only breathed deeper, nostrils flaring. His eyes were trained on the monitor, and it would appear that he hadn’t noticed Lilith’s appearance.
Lilith followed the path of his vision, he was staring directly at the first prisoner sharing the cell with the siblings.
“You really think those three are the key to getting Kal back? You know what happened the last time you tried-”
Mephistopheles cast a sideways glance to Lilith, “Yes, I am well aware my actions created an anomaly among the bloodlines. I am aware that what I did managed to ruin a future where we were the undisputed gods.” He stood straighter and walked over to Lilith.
She shrunk back at his approach. This wasn’t the effect she was hoping to make.
“I am oh, so painfully aware, my dear sister, that I am responsible for causing the loss of our strongest brother as well as effectively giving the human race the upper hand in destroying us.” He looked back at the monitor, a reprieve Lilith took advantage of to move to the side and out of his direct reach.
“Lucky for us, we’ve been given a chance to correct all that.”
“Oh shit ... I think I know where I fucked up...” Denver had the look of a school boy caught spying on the cheer-squade.
Georgia craned her neck in order to better see him from where the two were chained. “Oh yeah? Now? Well we’ve got nothing better to chat about I guess.” Her tone came out sharp and short.
The two had a good idea of the room they were trapped within. It was like a medieval torture cell, or perhaps an adult dungeon.
Denver cleared his throat and looked up to the ceiling, “Well, the goat-herder I met had a rather lovely wife with such incredibly dark skin ... You know I have a weakness for those blessed with an abundance of melanin. Oh and her hair, it was long but kept braided close to her scalp, and her legs ... legs for days, I couldn’t resist...”
“Okay that’s enough I do not need to hear about my brother’s sexcapades!” In her growing anger and distress Georgia accidently released a burst of psychic energy that caused Denver to yelp in pain and squirm in his binds.
“Fucking hell save it for you’re dirty old boyfriend!” He yelled at her.
The silence returned for some time. Chains rattled again, coupled with grunting. Georgia twisted to face Denver. She noted that he was missing a shirt, and had a few burn scars on his back. She knew exactly how and where he got those scars, she had similar ones on her arms and shoulders. Something she hid constantly under long sleeves after they manifested when she turned seventeen in this timeline.
She was just a child then, her mother had just given birth to her brother and was ripped away from them by a monster of a man. That’s how Georgia remembered it. Running away from a shadowy monster, clutching her newborn brother tightly against her chest.
The infant was crying in that soft way only newborns do. The girl, only nine at the time yet already more advanced than any psychic of her peers, was doing her best to split her concentration between escape and evade, and keeping her brother calm.
All her life Georgia had traveled with her mother. With an adult adept at traveling through time it was easy, it was safe, their mother knew how to manipulate the radiations that accumulated during a jump.
Georgia wasn’t trained in any of that, why would she have been? Her gift from the bloodlines was of a psychic nature. Yet she had to do something to save her brother.
“Denver, I won’t let that monster take you from me.” She promised, and reached into his mind to use his time traveling ability. She gave from her own life to preserve him from the sheer effort it took. Her plan was to force him to be tethered to the same time her mother had tethered her to when they had escaped the shining future together.