... As the enormous octopus emerged from the depths of the sea it's tentacle lunged toward her, in a flash wrapped itself around her throat like an endless spinning spool of slimy thread... "AAAGHH!" Zara bolted up in bed, heart pounding, awakened so violently by the nightmare, only to feel the sheets that were stuck to the wounds
on her back ripped off in gut wrenching agony. "AAAAAAA-A-A-A-GHHHH!" she screamed, screams turned to sobs as the memories flashed back, reality was worse than her
nightmare! Twelve lashes...
Head
in her hands she sobbed quietly as the pieces of the last 24 hours reassembled
in her mind, she couldn’t even remember coming home, she couldn’t remember
anything other than the beginning of the twelve lashes...
Dena was up already, curling her hair when she noticed Zara was awake.
"Good
morning Sugar Cheeks" she smiled, her voice as cheery as the morning sun.
"A bunch of us are going to breakfast at The Circuit before Service. Why
don’t you come?"
Zara
composed herself as best she could but it wasn't so easy to do, she felt
confused, didn’t Dena see the condition she was in?
"Um...
It's okay..." she declined. "Maybe next time... Thanks for
asking."
"OK,
if you say so..." Dena got up, gathered her things and headed for the door.
"Just remember Sugar Cheeks, you won’t make friends if you aren’t
friendly!"
The
door closed with a thud leaving Zara alone in the room, the fresh waft of
vanilla still lingered in the air, reminding her that better lives than hers
existed. She walked into the bathroom, stood before the mirror and had a look
at her back. Tears welled up in her eyes once again as she viewed the fresh
damage, it was unbelievable damage, she would be scarred
for life!
Holding
back the tears as best she could, she turned on the hot water to run a bath,
but the water was cold.
Fighting
tortured emotions she made her way to the kitchenette, placed a pot of water on the stove and pondered the
sequence of events as the water boiled, thinking to herself; this all, it couldn't have been scripted better.
Why did she have to have such unbelievably bad luck?
Once the sink was filled with warm water, she sponged the blood from her back as best she could, wiped her eyes, took a deep breath and braved the trip to her closet. To her huge relief, the golden clothes were all replaced, as if it had all been nothing more than a nightmare. Then, she wondered what had become of the red clothes?
Unable
to resist curiosity, she walked across the room to look inside Dena’s closet,
but as she pulled open the curtain, the painful truth was revealed. Not only
had all of Dena's blue clothes been returned, she still had all the red
clothes too! Mystified
and upset by the whole injustice, Zara dressed for school in her golden suit,
pondering the difficult questions this new discovery presented. Did Hedena
even know that Dena had those red clothes?
The
Engine Chamber was Nolan’s favorite retreat. Having an unlimited array of
resources like cutting edge equipment and hi-tech machinery at his fingertips
was like a wet dream. Educated with exclusive knowledge of the earths natural
resources, coupled with creative talents, Nolan had been selected for the
Weapons Program for these reasons. He understood his fortune and wasn't about
to waste it, he had big dreams, like working on the Vimana Projects, by shadowing
real heroes, famous gods like Orius.
There
was a dedicated library for Engine Chamber students to browse but Nolan wasn't
so much interested in reading about experiments, a hands on student he was an inventor, a scientist, he wanted
to accomplish the achievements worth writing about. He had studied
Orius's work with avid interest since childhood, a chance to work for the god
of Technology was his ultimate goal.
And the Firmary approved. Nolan's creative ideas were
desirable for the Weapons Program, a program unsuitable for wimps and sissies, a common ailment amongst the gen population, unfortunate yet a necessary component of their design. The experiments necessary for the program were always scaled but even still, not all the students survived,
sometimes injuries took lives. Working on weaponry was serious and dangerous,
but serious and dangerous was Nolan’s style.
In the evenings, the students were required to socialize in Fina as part of their Social Studies education. It was by participating in the nightlife that they could learn the finer arts of the Atlan Empire, like etiquette, how to behave and relate to others, how to fit in, blend in and grow with the ever evolving culture, how to harvest the economic energy of the Vine Club and play The Game.
For
the merchants, claiming the virginity of a female student was Initiation Rites,
there was no membership with any sort of Merchant Brotherhood, without this
level of maturity. It was easier for some than others. The
Vine Club was a well established society in the Atlan Empire that catered to
these initiation rites. All students were advised to join the Vine
Club no matter which program they were in, it was frowned upon not to
participate. And there was much incentive to participate. Participation in the
club gave the students unlimited access to the finest restaurants, dance halls
and hotels of Fina, where libations were always free.
Uninterested, Nolan
had tried to shrug it off, the scene really didn't appeal to him but the
pressure from his friends and the potential roadblocks were pressuring him more
and more each day. He stared at the tunnel walls whizzing by as he rode the
train toward the nightlife he was supposed to enjoy so much. He enjoyed Fina,
but he didn't like the experience last time he tried and expected the
same, if not worse. He wasn't attracted to the typical goddesses like the
other merchants were, he was attracted to the Engine Chamber not the dance
floor. The scent of gunpowder turned him on, not vanilla. He had tried and failed enough to know it wasn’t his thing, he hated
wasting time, he resented leaving projects unfinished, but tonight Josh
wouldn't let him make any more excuses, it was time to get it over with.
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