Published as a part of A Companion In Zeor #13 , 14 & 15
PROLOGUE
The small female had had her morning shower followed by a simple breakfast, and now sat on the plain wooden seat. Her body was bathed in warm golden sunlight through the small window in the roof, yet she neither saw, nor felt the warmth, as she stared listlessly into space.
She was as unaware of her surroundings, as she was of the man who stood in the doorway, studying her. Neither did she know that it was he, who held the final decision relating to the destiny of all the Gens in the facility, for it was his signature on the Order, that finally set the seal on their fate and hers.
The Sime who had brought her here, and was now standing behind her, glanced across at the Channel. He was waiting for his signal to administer the powerful drug that would bring her out of the trance like state, in which she had lived all of her short existence, even during the birth of her two children. For a few brief moments before that life was finally snuffed out, she would for once be aware of herself as a living, breathing individual.
What she would make of that knowledge, was a controversial question, to which no one would ever know the answer. Since no Gen, either male or female had ever lived long enough afterwards to say. Assuming of course that they had been capable of speech, which they were not.
Another door at the far side of the small room opened and a renSime entered. His stance made it clear to anyone who understood, that this man was in urgent need. To the other two Simes watching, he was already hyperconscious, to an ordinary Gen, he was simply in hunting mode.
His attention and indeed every part of his being, to the exclusion of all else, was now centred on the lone female sitting on the bench.
The Channel signalled briefly with one tentacle and the waiting Sime pressured the injection into the side of the Gen’s neck, retreating at once across the room to where the Channel stood, then brushing passed him, to disappear quickly. The heavy insulating door outside closing behind him, sounding to all who heard it, like a death knell.
The effect on the Gen of one of the strongest drugs known to mankind was almost instantaneous. The eyes cleared and became aware, as the young woman sat up slowly, and looked around her, her movements furtive like the trapped animal that she undeniably was.
A scream escaped her lips, as wild and feral as any creature might make when confronted by a predator intent on taking its life. A series of grunts and spits of sound erupted from her mouth, for she had no language with which to articulate her fear. Although like any animal she obviously knew danger, instinctively, when it faced her - as at this moment, it did.
To the casual observer the Channel might look uncaring, as though he was doing nothing more interesting than studying a bee, collecting nectar from a wild flower. In actual fact he was observing what was the most skilful predator alive, about to kill it’s prey, with an efficiency and brutality that Mother Nature, since she had created the Sime, had not yet managed to excel.
To an educated and intelligent man, as the Channel undoubtedly was, this was a ritual that he knew should have been abolished and outlawed decades, if not centuries ago. Yet it was still being performed here today, in all its barbarous and savage glory.
He watched almost dispassionately as the RenSime advanced silently towards his prey. For a brief moment time seemed to stand still as the Sime, at least to the onlooker, hesitated. Then suddenly, in a move so quick that it defied human eyes to follow, the RenSime grasped the thin arms of his victim with both hands and tentacles. His laterals were already writhing out of their sheaths and dripping with the hormone Ronaplin, a conductor of selyn, as they sought and finally found Gen skin, and settled unerringly in position.
The Gen screamed as the twisted distorted face rushed towards hers with gruesome intent. She was not to know that her body now pulsed with selyn, the very essence of life itself to a Sime, and that her nager flared fear like a flame, enticing him ever closer. Finally the renSime's hot lips met the Gen’s cool ones in the grotesque pretence of a lover's kiss, and her screams were abruptly cut off. Briefly a strange silence fell on the unholy tableau, as though the clock had ceased to tick, and the two figures were momentarily frozen in both time and space.
Seconds later, the now drained and lifeless body slid quietly and without ceremony to the tiled floor, as the RenSime removed his lips from her mouth, and dismantled his tentacles. Her eyes stared up and him, accusing in death as they had been in life, although he was unaware of the accusation, for his own eyes were closed. A look of deep satisfaction and satiety was spread across his now placid face, his body still reverberating with ecstasy, as he experienced the ultimate for one of his kind - killbliss!
Silently the Channel walked slowly across the room motioning with one tentacle for the now replete renSime to withdraw. As the door closed behind him the Channel bent, and almost reverently picked up the lifeless body, looking suddenly even smaller in death than she had in life, and placed it in the empty casket standing ready against the wall.
Carefully he closed her eyes, and then raised his own to stare up at the patch of clear blue cloudless sky, visible through the skylight in the roof. It provided the only natural daylight in the small room, and somehow its clear untarnished purity made a mockery of what had happened here, just a few short minutes ago.
Slowly his lips moved to question what had transpired, and why it was still necessary, and how much longer it could go on? For he could not deny the inescapable fact, that this was not taking place hundreds of years in the past in some Pen or private killroom. No, this was the modern Tecton - here - today! A sigh escaped his sensitive lips, for these were questions he asked himself every time he sanctioned such a kill, yet as always, his words received no comforting answer.
After a few seconds of meditation the Channel sighed softly and ran one long fingered hand through his unruly black hair, before gently closing the lid of the box. Then turning, he left the small room, as quietly and as troubled, as he had entered it.
NOT THE END --Comment to the Author and then READ chapter 1 NOW.
Companion in Zeor is Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by Sime~Gen Inc.
A New Beginning is copyright © 2000, 2001 by Sime~Gen Inc.The Sime~Gen universe was created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and is owned by Sime~Gen Inc. This story and its setting may not be reused without explicit permission of the Corporation. Email: simegen@simegen.com
| This page was last updated 01/19/2001 |
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