Complete Atopia Chronicles

Patricia had taken Jimmy under her wing like her own child when his parents had abruptly left Atopia, so beyond his doubtless qualifications there were other factors involved. There were rumors of marriage problems and abuse involving Jimmy which struck a very personal chord. I’d had it rough growing up too.

“He’s a kid that knows more about conscious boundary security systems than you and the whole rest of your team,” she argued, and then added, “and pretty much more than anyone else for that matter. We have to stay on top of the threat posed by Terra Nova.”

Her eyes narrowed.

Personally I didn’t go for all this stuff about Terra Nova. They didn’t pose any tactical threat to Atopia, but they sure were worked up about it. On the outside, Atopia and Terra Nova were more or less viewed as two sides to the same coin, but the rivalry between these competing colonies was whipping up into a fervor. I wasn’t sure it was for the best.

“Yeah, you’re right,” was all I could think to say at that point. “Hey, this tub is your party. If you want some kid with peach fuzz for whiskers on the Security Council, it’s all good with me.”

“Jimmy is a special kid, Rick,” she mused. “Anyway, he’s our pick.”

She said this with some finality. I let it settle.

“Good enough for me, then.” I grinned.

“Good.”

She smiled winningly at me and faded away.

§

It’d been a long day, and I’d been mulling over my idea for Cindy the whole time. Standing alone in the featureless tubular corridor outside our apartment, I hesitated. Was it really what I wanted?

Our door slid open as I strode in.

“Hey honey, I’m home!” I yelled out as enthusiastically as I could muster, and then stopped and tried to make sense of what appeared in front of me.

Our apartment was gone. Well, not exactly gone, but replaced by a pssi projection.

Marbled columns rose around a sunken living area in the middle of the room, surrounded by a raised terrace, and there was a feast waiting on a low table with red and gold pillows littered around it. Incense filled the room and two hand servants quietly and quickly moved in towards me and bowed. A gentle wind blew in through billowing silk curtains, revealing the jumbled and exotic skyline of Mumbai framed in the distance.

Cindy swept in through one of the doorways to the side.

“Isn’t it just dreamy?” she exclaimed, running to jump at me. She was wearing a tight wrap around skirt with an almost transparent sheer red kurta on top. Draping her arms around me she kissed me wetly. “Thanks for those flowers yesterday—that was really sweet of you.”

“Looks fantastic,” I said encouragingly from beneath her kiss, bemused at the scene and her enthusiasm.

She took my hand and squealed, “Come on, let’s eat!” as she pulled me around the side of the room and down to the stairs to the table.

It was a very low table, the kind you had to sit at on the floor and squeeze your legs underneath, and she pulled me down onto the pillows and blankets at its side, kissing me again. Reaching over she pulled a bunch of grapes off the table and began feeding them to me one at a time.

“So how was work today?” she asked, popping a grape into my mouth.

I laughed and ate the offering.

“Long,” I replied, “but we’ve decided to nominate Jimmy to the Security Council as a specialist in conscious boundary systems. He’ll be a big help.”

“Jimmy—Bob’s brother Jimmy?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s right, well sort-of brother anyway.”

I frowned. For brothers, adopted or not, Jimmy and Bob sure didn’t seem to talk much. Of course, I hardly spoke to my own brothers much either.

We pulled some pillows up around us, and the sun began to set as we chatted. This was the first time I could remember feeling totally at ease with Cindy in a long time. It was nice. Finally, perhaps things were turning around.

When I was about stuffed, she surprised me again.

“So Mr. Rick Strong, who would you like me to be tonight?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” she said, casting her eyes down, and then looking back up at me as she bit her tongue between her teeth and smiled.

Yes, I knew what she meant.

“Would you like me to skin up too?”

I smiled playfully at her.

“Sure…” she giggled like a schoolgirl, “you go first.”

She had unbuttoned my shirt and was rubbing my chest, playing with one of my nipples. We hadn’t made love in months. She nudged me with a phantom for a stimshare and I quickly accepted, watching her shiver as my sensory input filled her. I hadn’t expected this when I walked in the door.

“No, you first, who would you like me to be?” I asked.

This wasn’t the kind of stuff I really went for, but I was happy to experiment a little. She looked at me shyly, and then looked away, embarrassed.

“Well, that Spanish guy in the crime dramas, you know, Julio…”

“Sure, sure…I know him,” I said, laughing. “Are you sure?”

She nodded.