The Misbegotten
Angel Free Town - Earth Summer 2385

Flavia awoke sometime in the early afternoon, jumpingout of the bed in a flash. She scurriedupon the tips of her long toes, a frantic ghost.

Estefan knew in an instant, his long-time companionand protector, had to pee – bad. Hesmiled to himself. His Neuro-Nanoswarmcontinued to predict the next grouping of words he would write. He flicked the correct ones in mid-air, heand the million tiny processing units worked as a single unit after so manyhours. A good portion of the nanitessettled upon his temples. This wasnecessary to make the “solid” contact that enabled the Direct Delve software towork as it should.

“…from thecorner of her mouth, I heard Katie say, “You don’t have to be such an assholeabout it” were the last words toflash in the air before him.

The long-legged hellcat returned from the toilet, nomore than a closet with four sides.

His ‘Swarm began to disengage itself from him,hundreds of motes fluttered about his head for a few moments. Then, they scattered. Some of them joined others, some flew tovarious corners of the upper reaches of the Null-unit’s inner walls. Another group merged with his sim-screen,returning it to its’ typical state.

She still wore only the Stym-sheath about her hips,butt and pelvis. Her firm breasts bouncedas she came toward him in the low-level light. The luminance was enough to afford him comfort so he could write, nosquinting needed. Of course, the programassisted, and did so without disturbing Flavia as she slept.

He spoke: “Save, full shield encryption. Have password set at level designate -Alpha-Omega 1, Priority Delta, Serial Number 01.” He tapped a knuckle on his left hand and madea swiping motion. Before him, the ‘Swarmand its’ accompanying screen dissolved into nothing.

“What’cha doin’ there, my dear?” she asked. She began to unfasten the high-yield healingcocoon from her mid-section, standing off to one side from where he sat.

He shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “Nothing.”

The word made her stop cold and frown at theground. The Keeper never did anythingwithout a reason. His time was toovaluable. She turned her head to look athim with both eyes.

He crossed his arms over his chest, deliberatelypeering in the opposite direction. Itwas mighty effort to keep his face impassive.

She finished taking off the Stym-sheath, inspectingherself in a cursory fashion. She wasglad to see most of the bruising on her body had diminished to faint,yellow-brown blemishes. The fact theyextended along her thighs from her knees to her crotch surprised herthough. There even some on her roundbuttocks as well. Yeah, Flavia, henailed you hard, she concluded with an inner smile. Then, she remembered his evasiveness andstood straight, her hands on her hips.

“What do you want me to say? Nothing means nothing,” he said, stillflippant, gesturing with a hand. It was,after all, a simple word. Was it not?

She walked to stand before him, placing her feminine“v” in front of his face on purpose. Hands still on her hips, elbows splayed wide. “You do know I could hack your password inminutes, right?”

He chuckled, reaching around her to smack her hard onthe butt. “You do that and I’ll do a lotmore than just slap you on the ass.” Hisvoice was light, but the mild threat made a mischievous leer spread across herlips.

“Yeah, like what?”

“Just try something and replace out,” he challenged hishand still on her rock-hard buttock.

She clicked her tongue.

He pulled her closer to him and kissed her with loudsmacking sounds on her soft tuft of pubic hair.

In spite of herself, she giggled like a schoolgirl.

He smiled back.

An expectant hush fell between them within a fewheartbeats.

After a while, she reached down and pulled his headupward toward her mid-section.

On instinct, he turned his head and placed it on herabdomen.

She ran her fingers over his scalp with her nails.

He reached around and hugged her across the twinmounds of her rear end.

They stayed that way for a long time, rocking fromside to side. They swayed counterpointto their breathing, but in concert with the beating of their hearts.

He closed his eyes and listened to her insides grumbleand pop, churn and crackle, loving the sound of life within her. He luxuriated in the smell of her, the feelof her skin, the hidden strength in her body. Even though, they had been together like this for many years, he nevertired of her. He never got used to theexcitement she made him feel. He loved theway she made his blood boil with the slightest look or most delicatetouch. Maybe it was because they’d grownup together. He had known her sinceshe’d been nine years old, the only other of his girls he had known longer was Katie. But Katie was a whole different matter, awhole different history. Maybe he justliked the fact she was in his arms and he was in hers. Maybe that was all that was important – the“newness” of their embrace.

Above him, she stroked the skin upon his head like shewas painting him – long, lazy up and down swipes of her hands.

He exhaled through his lips. “I decided to take your advice, Flavy,” he revealedfinally.

She stiffened a little in his grasp. “Oh? Andwhat advice are you talking about?”

“I’ve started a journal,” he said. There was no need to complicate withextraneous verbiage.

She wiggled out of his arms and squatted before him,her eyes only a few inches lower than his. “About our past?” she asked. Shewas enthusiastic now.

He nodded; distracted by the sight of her pretty pinkfolds stretched taut. The way she hadpositioned herself, her knees were set wide apart. He cleared his throat, feeling himself stir. My god,she is gorgeous.

“Will you let me read it?” she inquired, her voicetentative, but hopeful.

He pulled his eyes from the promising delights of hervagina. “Oh, I don’t know about that,Flavia. It’s sort of personal. I mean, I’m writing it exactly as I rememberit, from my perspective. That’s the waythe Delving works. To you, it would mostlikely read like a trashy, hump-hump novel. I don’t want to see the disappointment in your eyes.”

She reached out to stroke his cheek. It was as hard as granite under herfingertips. “I know how you are,Effy. We were kids together, remember? I saw you do some pretty nasty stuff backthen. Why would that affect me now?

“Besides, I would like to hear what you have to sayabout the past, about us all, about… other things that happened. I would love to be able to read somethingfrom your mind. I never have, you know. None of us have, Estefan. You’re always so closed off about the past.”

“Can I think about it?” he queried. It was his turn to sound uncertain andencouraged at the same time.

“Sure you can, mi Amor. You know I’d never push you into anything youdidn’t want to do. You know that’s notmy way.” She kept her voice low.

He rumbled with subdued laughter. “Unless someone’s near me you don’t like…”

“I just move them out of the way, my dear,. If they don’t want to move - they die. It has nothing to do with you, Eff. It’s their choice if they wish to live ornot,” she clarified with a shrug. Then,she came forward and kissed him lovingly on the lips. “I just want you to know, if you can stomachit, I’d like to read what you are writing, ok?”

“Ok.”

She stood and stretched, twisting half way to theside, her hands in the air, balled into fists. “We should clean up and see where this room has taken us,” she advisedafter she stopped screeching.

“Sounds like a solid plan, but we should eat first.”

It was a fabricated fruit salad they’d consumed tofill their stomachs. Then, it was aquick round in the Dermal-Cleanser, alone. Neither one of them wanted to lose time with yet another round of heatedmonkey sex.

About an hour later, Estefan walked to the rear of theNull-unit, approaching the unit’s input console. From a pocket inside his Grav-blazer, hepulled out the same Ident-card the unit itself had given him upon theirarrival. He placed it in the correctslot at the top of the console. The cardslipped into the machine and the console blossomed like a flower. Panel after panel opened, displaying a myriadof flashing sensors and projected LCD screens.

He flicked his fingers over what looked like a set ofrandom lights, but they weren’t. Then,the console spoke: “Where is the plain?”

“In Spain,” he replied.

“Where does it mainly rain?” asked the console asecond time.

“On the plain,” he answered.

“Please approach the holo-scanner,” demanded themachine.

He followed suit, but to the naked eye, it appeared asthough nothing happened. In reality, themechanism had scanned him, from head to toe – his fingertips, his scent, hisDNA – all evaluated and measured.

After a short time, “Your command?” inquired theNull-unit’s central processing ‘Swarm.

“Initiate the deactivation sequence and open bothinner and outer doors.”

“As you command, Keeper.”

They stepped back and waited. Ten seconds later, they felt a shudderingunderneath their feet. A small part ofthe wall before them hissed open followed by another that swung outward. A passage formed through the three-foot-thickwall of the unit. Pale sunlight shonefrom the outside world.

Flavia was out first, having to turn sideways tonegotiate the narrowness of the portal. He watched her with the eyes of a hawk. She glanced around, up, then around once more before her fingersflashed.

The way isclear, come.

He slithered through the tight fit of the doorway andstepped out into the open. It was stilllight out, but the reflected sunlight was waning. Its’ rays were more oblique than direct now,but Estefan had figured as much. He knewit was closer to late afternoon than mid-. From where he stood, he couldn’t see much. The giant vehicle they’d just stepped fromblocked most of his view on one side. There was a sharp tree-covered incline blocking the other.

Before he did anything else, he stepped to the outerconsole of the beastly transport. “ResumeSentry Mode,” he said.

Almost at once the doors sealed shut, the hugeGrav-lifts engaged. The ambling vehiclesped off in the same direction it had been going. Anyone tracking it would think it hadn’tstopped at all. It was continuing as ithad before. It was just anotherGlide-hauler trucking on down the road. There were millions in Angel Free Town.

It was then Estefan saw the vista before him and hegroaned aloud. It was the last place he figuredthey’d end up, an inconvenient place at that. He shook his head, irritated, as he continued to stare out at themonumentous superstructure of Angel Free Town. It spread out in all directions before him as far and as high as theeyes could see.

In his youth, this place people called MountWilson. Now, its’ name was lessimposing. It the Wilson VistaPoint. In this day and age, one didn’tconsider any of the mountains of earth much more than small hillocks dottingthe countryside. With every metropolitanarea stretching high into the atmosphere, higher than Mount Everest, why wouldthey think otherwise?

Still though, Estefan and Flavia found themselvesstanding four thousand feet above the basin of Angel Free Town. They gazed down at the sprawling second levelof the city. This one was as much areplica of old Los Angeles as there could be with the passage of so much time.

“Wow,” began his wife, “I didn’t expect for the damnedNull’ to drop us off way out in the boondocks.”

Estefan continued to stare at the multitude ofbuildings, vehicles and flying machinery before them, sucking on pursedlips. “Well, this puts a bit of a damperon our travel plans…,” he added rocking back on his heels. He stuffed his hands in the large pockets ofhis blazer.

Flavia watched him out of the corner of her eye, abrief stab of pain wrenching in her heart. It was the same motion her father employed when he was in deepthought. Though he wasn’t blood-related,somehow Estefan had inherited it from him. The most eerie thing about it was he did it exactly the same. Every timehe did it, it was like watching a ghost. It was get-wrenching for her.

“In the old days, I would’ve just hailed a city bus orhover-train to come and pick us up. We’dbe out of here as quick as a runny shit out of a drunkard’s ass,” he commentedto no one in particular.

It made her grimace nonetheless. “Gawd, Eff, do you have to be so graphic?”she huffed, shaking her head in disgust.

He peered at her from the edge of his eye socket. “I get graphic when I need to make a point,so deal with it.”

“Well, you don’t have to make the point sounequivocally vulgar!” She walked a fewsteps away, calling her Neuro-Nanoswarm from Sleep to Active Mode. She didn’t call up a Holo-screen though. She motioned for the ‘Swarm to develop abouther wrist. It was a more mobileconfiguration allowing her more freedom of movement.

He didn’t seem to have heard her. “I’m still amazed we made it through thosefirst few years, scraped and scrounging just to stay alive. At times, we were only a step or two ahead ofour enemies.” He paused to laugh tohimself. “We sure showed them, huh,Flavy? No one ever would’ve expected agroup of puissant Mutos could steal over a billion dollars and not getcaught!” He laughed again. “We had those motherfuckers on their asses,especially after making the deal of the freakin’ millennium. That fucking deal put us on the map, made ourbones – whatever the fuck you wanna call it. Things were never the same after that.” He rubbed at his scalp, his thick fingers massaging his head more out ofreflex than anything else. “It was onlya matter of time and a matter of gathering Mutos to our cause. Within a few years, we were untouchable. A decade later we were bigger than Microsoft,Wal-Mart and Apple combined.

“You remember, right, Flavia?”

She waved at him, distracted. She was still flicking various floating iconsand applications at a terrifying rate. Her fingers were a blur.

He seemed not to care, and went on. “Now look at us, my dear. We own more land than old Russia and Chinatogether, the gross GDP of the Synod exceeds the entire GDP of Earth at thetime of our births. We have morefirepower, better technology than any one government entity in the SixteenWorlds. And still, we're stranded here,above the very fucking city we once ruled, stranded like a pair of vagabonds!”

Flavia stopped what she was doing and looked at himlike he had just sprouted a second head. “God damn, Estefan, do you have to act like a diva every time somethingdoesn’t go your way?!?”

He rounded on her as if she'd prodded with a red hotpoker. “What the fuck did you just sayto me?”

She deflected the question with one of her own. “Why the melodrama? You act like we don’t have means at our disposal.”

“What ‘means’, Flavia? We’re fucking stuck on a god damned mountain.” He tempered his tone, more out of curiositythan fear of bad tact.

She sniffed at him. “You said it yourself; we’re bigger than this place, so why wouldoperate as if we weren’t?”

He frowned, deep creases on his face, but stayedquiet. Then it hit him and his faceflushed pink. “The orbital storagefacilities, right?”

“Yeah, you mule-headed ass, the orbital storagefacilities,” she concurred, harsh. Shewas talking down to him on purpose, admonishing him for his childishbehavior. He should know better than toact like that.

He sighed. “I’msorry, Flavy.” He gazed up at theheavens. “What’s coming?”

“I accessed the nearest Synod-owned orbiter. Our Skycar will be here in fifteen minutes,”she supplied her tone normal. Itsatisfied her to know he understood her message.

“I am sorry,” he offered.

“I know,” she mumbled, waving her ‘Swarm away, makingher way back to his side. She took hishand within hers and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “All this shit has got you wired tighter thana preacher’s asshole.”

He laughed out loud. “Now who’s being vulgar,” he managed, but his heart wasn’t in it. He reached out and placed his arms about hershoulders, bringing her close and kissed her on the temple. “I love you, Flavia.

“I love you too.”

Together, they looked heavenward. The first stars were beginning to reflectthrough the massive construct of Angel Free Town.

Flavia leaned her head on his shoulder, her four inchheels making her only a couple of inches shorter than him. She watched in silence as the night deepened,content to wait, happy to stay quiet and enjoy the growing dark.

It was warm out, being summer, but it wasn'toppressive. The gigantic air circulatorswithin the struts of the vaulted megalopolis made certain of it. They brought air from the upper atmosphere,moving it, without fail, throughout the entire urban sprawl. They heated when necessary and cooled whenthe temperature required it to be so. But, it was always on the move.

This is agood thing, she figured, because sixhundred million people could raise quite a stink.

Then a strange thought occurred to her and she lookedup at Estefan, unadulterated curiosity written on her face. “Hey, Hon?” she prodded to get his attention.

“Yes, babe,” he replied, though he didn’t turn to lookat her.

“How come you always use lines from My Fair Lady foraccess codes with the Null-units?” Shetitled her head, the pretty way women do, her eyes squinting.

Estefan chortled as much as choked, her question beingthe furthest thing from his mind. Heturned to stare down into her eyes. Theyhad turned the color of black beans as the sunlight faded. He bent down and kissed her, a gingertouch. “How many people out there remember– word for word – any line from that old movie about Eliza Doolittle? How many do you think?”

Her smile was broad underneath the touch of his hardlips. “Excluding archivists and theirilk, no more than a handful I’d say. Most of that handful belongs to the Synod.”

“Exactly,” he said as he nuzzled her cheek, then wentlower to her neck and began to kiss to delicate flesh there.

“How come My Fair Lady though?” she wondered, throughhooded eyes. She was enjoying thefluttering kisses he was applying to her skin. His extra warm touch was leaving an erotic trail in its’ wake. She felt her gut clench. Oh my.

“It’s one of my favorites,” he mumbled against her.

She sighed and put more of her weight onto him.

“It was one of your mother’s favorites as well, wasn’tit?” she added. The memory of her longdead step-mother’s singing came to mind. She used to love braying, “I’m getting marriedin the morning”, as she made breakfast on the weekends. All Flavia had to do was close her eyes andopen them again and she could see her with vivid detail. She could almost smell her famous dropbiscuits and hear the sizzle of bacon.

For the first time in a long time, Estefan didn’tstiffen at the recollection of their mutual past. He exhaled onto Flavia’s shoulder, sendingshivers up and down her spine.

“Yes, it was,” was all he said.

It made her wonder if he was thinking about the samething she had been a moment before. Shedidn’t ask though, leaving it unsaid as she hugged her ward, holding onto him likehis life depended upon it.

Ten minutes later, the calm of the nightsplintered. The resounding thrum of theSkycar’s Grav-propulsion system made their eardrums thrum. Its’ sleek form settled upon the road behindthem.

“You summoned an Aegis IV?” he asked. His eyes danced over the arrowhead shape ofthe vehicle. He grinned at the vehiclethat could take them from the surface of the planet into orbit in minutes.

It was one of their newest and fastest models to date,Synod-built. It had come from the gutsof their sprawling factory in stationary orbit, on the dark side of theMoon. He hadn’t known of any of theAegis IV’s passing certification yet. They were that new.

She grinned and broke their embrace. “I thought you could use a thrill after beingcooped-up in a Null-unit for the last thirty hours with me.” Her eyes twinkled.

“If you’d’ve told me you and I were gonna go at itlike we did last night, I’d been willing to stay thirty hours more for a chanceto do it again.” His expression matchedhers.

She actually giggled and twisted at the waist like aneight-year-old girl. “Really?”

“Absolutely!”

She opened the hatches at either side of the Skycarwith a wave of her hand over the main sensory unit. They climbed in. Both took a few minutes to gawk at thestate-of-the-art technology surrounding them. It was ultra-modern, but it was posh at the same time. He’d have to congratulate the engineeringteam at Chaz Motors in person on this latest feat of genius. The Aegis IV was a work of art!

“Where to, my love?” asked Flavia from the pilot’snext to him.

“Home, baby-girl, I want to go home,” he said. He immediately activated his Neuro-Nanoswarm,making a system-wide inquiry searching for intrusions. It was something he did at least once a day.

There were none.

At his side, Flavia cycled through the start-upsequence, punched in their destination coordinates. She let the Skycar’s ‘Swarm choose the bestGrav-skyway to use, then glanced over at the man she loved.

“Very well, Keeper, Luna it is.”

He smiled, waving away his ‘Swarm, eager to see whatthe Aegis IV could do.

She hit the execute sequence and they ascended fromthe mountains surrounding old Los Angeles on their way to the Moon.