literature

Mercury - Part 9

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Part 9 – Deception


INTERVIEW 001 – 13/07/2028 (PART 2)

(Two figures sit across from each other at a table. The first is a man in about his thirties wearing a business suit, the other is a mouse recom of about nine years of age.)
JUPITER: "God, you people make me sick. I never saw that video before. I just got the general idea of what happened. I didn't realize you lied to her like that... Look how scared she was!"
BIO-TECH INTERVIEWER: "I've never understood this video."
J: "I do. Mr. Marcus was a disgusting man. He enjoyed that last experiment, I'm sure. All of you people are filth. Your whole organization is dirt built upon dust upon a solid foundation of feces."
BI: "Jupiter, we don't have time for your outbursts, as entertaining as they may be. Explain to me how this video is relevant, please."
J: "Mercury had to be there, in that room for Saturn's game to play out properly."
BI: "Saturn's game?"
J: "Neptune thought it up. He abstracted the whole facility, drew up a game board and gave Saturn six units to use."
BI: "Six? There were seven of you."
J: "There was a marker for myself, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Venus and Mercury."
BI: "Mercury was restrained, though. A marker was unnecessary. Why not include Mars?"
J: "That's a stupid question. He loved you people, and you loved him back. He was your perfect soldier. We could have probably used him if he wasn't. If he was flawed like Mercury. A pity that he wasn't. Her flaw is what makes her better than the rest of us."
BI: (Ignores the comment) "What was the objective of the game?"
J: "To get the six markers out of the facility."
BI: "See, that's what I don't understand about the last video. What happened there?"
J: "Play EXPERIMENT 208. I'll explain everything that happens in between those once I see it. I've always wanted to see this one, though."

***

I woke up the next morning and looked to see Samara, on the other side of the bed, back still facing me. I stretched and stumbled out of the bed, careful not to do anything work related, since that damned camera would still be watching me. Before we left, we would have to take down Sam's PDA, since there would probably be people shuffling through our room later to shuffle through our things. I made a mental note to take anything work related as we left. This wasn't very hard, since I just used my mobile computer for notes, and Sam used those PDAs.

I looked down at her as she slept. It seemed almost a shame to wake her up, since she always seemed so agitated when she was awake. But we had to get our job done, and most importantly, we had to get away from being watched. I nudged Sam gently and said, "C'mon, wakeup, hon. We've got a long day ahead of ourselves."

"Okay, okay," she mumbled, eyes halfway opened, "just let me get dressed."

I nodded and started changing, pulling out a white and brown vertically striped button-up shirt and some tan shorts. The kind of get-up a tourist coming from Annyrion planet would wear. Admittedly, it was a little bit uncomfortable changing in front of Sam, but couples can do that, right? Neither of us had any experience in a romantic relationship of any kind (or at least I assumed someone as young and strange as her would have had no such experience. Also, I didn't find any kind of information about that when I was doing my research).

Once all my clothes were on, I turned back to the still sleeping recom. "We've gotta go soon. There won't be any time to make the bed if you don't get up."

This was enough to get Sam to actually get up out of the bed. She rubbed her eyes and immediately started making the bed, careful to get everything arranged properly once again. She seemed like she was on autopilot, just making sure everything was neat and tidy before she walked to the washroom and closed the door behind her. I just started wandering around and grabbing all the items we'd need to get out of the room. After picking up my laptop, I couldn't really think of anything else that would be essential for me today.

I waited outside of the door to the washroom for awhile until Samara emerged. "Alright, grab everything you want today. Don't forget your camera," I said, gesturing off camera. The 'camera' in question was Sam's PDA. It gave her a reason to head out of the Martian camera's range and take down her setup there discretely, which she did in rather impressive time, and since the device actually did function as a camera, even if they caught a glimpse of it, it wouldn't arouse suspicions before we headed out.

As she came back into the Martian camera's view, I put an arm around her shoulder, careful to keep a layer of fabric between myself and her and guided her out of the room. The interaction was awkward, for sure, but given the love life of the couple that we were playing, not exactly unexpected either. "So, where are we going to be taking a walk, today? Lewis isn't going to be done with getting the blueprints, not yet."

"To the undercity: we're going to go see 'Madame Beta'," said Sam, who moments later picked up the pace a bit to get my arm off of her shoulder. "It should be a good treat for you," she said, "after your wife turned you down last night. Maybe you'll find a girl there that's your type. And I'm sure, for the right price, you'll be her type, too."

I scoffed at the idea. "An upstanding citizen such as myself, do something so vulgar? No chance. I'm a gentleman, you know. Besides, I think that I'm good with the number of sex diseases that I have already, thanks."

At this, Sam only laughed (it was a pleasant kind of sound, unexpected coming from her) and glanced around to see if anyone was watching us. We had walked into an alley, a tunnel that nobody would go down, except to get to the same destination. Once discovered, Martian authorities would likely put a bug in this location to detect anyone who went down this way, and put a flag on their identities. Sam quickly put a pair of gloves on and opened the lid to what seemed to be a manhole cover, and crawled down into the darkness below, leaving the lid open for me to crawl in after her. The sight of Sam disappearing into what seemed to be a sewer seemed a little bit unsettling: the fastidious thing that she is, I figure it would be very difficult to get her into such a place.

As I crawled down, I saw what it really was: a series of caves, turning and twisting, difficult to figure out. This was the original Amundsen, a city long abandoned for its successor, which had a superior design. The old Amundsen dated back to before the Apocalypse war, when the colonization efforts here were just beginning. Many recoms lost their lives to build these tunnels. There was a lot of history here. Not that it mattered to the people who dwelled down here: they only cared about making a quick buck. I supposed that I was pretty much the same, but at least I was able to appreciate history.

As we curved down the tunnel, we were occasionally stopped and asked whether we want to buy some scratch, or poppy milk or whatever else they happened to be selling. Even here, though, I noticed that people tended to avoid selling inhalants. Even in this disordered mess, the rules of the Martian colony still applied: don't screw with the air supply. Probably with good reason, too: Martian authorities likely didn't care what was going on down here, so long as it didn't affect industry, but as soon as they crossed any important legal lines, we would have the Martian cops crawling all over the place, here.

Sam simply brushed the vendors off, telling them that she wasn't interested (and given the disinterested tone in her voice, they tended to believe her and let her go). Eventually, we made it to the brothel in question. Given the location, it was actually a nice little establishment. I suppose it had to be to attract lots of business. As we entered, I immediately felt uncomfortable, though Samara seemed to deal with the change in lighting and decor just fine, heading in a beeline for one of the ladies in the front. It was dim, elegant, and romantic in its feel. Sam, obviously detecting my discomfort, sagely advised me: "Chin up, champ."

I raised my eyebrow at the words but did just that, composing myself to at least project the air of a cool, calm mercenary, instead of a mercenary with far less romantic experience than most teenage boys. We stopped at a counter where a recom woman was working.

She was gorgeous. With big blue eyes, pure white fur, and a body that could kill a man from excitement, the arctic fox recom was among the most beautiful that I had ever seen. And given how obsessed many recoms are with having beautiful offspring, and the ease of access to genetic engineering, that's saying something. I said smoothly, "Aheh... umm... er." This at least served to get her attention, and she smiled at me with a smile that could knock a man right out of his boots.

"Oh! Tammy, welcome back. Who is your friend?" she said, her voice angelic and soft. She had some of the same musical tones in her voice as Samara had, but more pronounced. More beautiful.

"This guy is going by Larry Dercar right now. You know how it is," said Sam casually. "Larry, meet Nova Seven, the Madam of this fine establishment."
Comment! Part 9 of Mercury!
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