Reverse Harem (Sci-Fi)

Chapter 2

Zapra had forwarded the following information: “bring the girl’s back to the interrogation rooms via your compound. I’ll have a few of our personal psychiatrists and scientists give them an absolute check down before making the next amendments via your lab.”

And Charles did that. With Joey accommodating him before the boys who loomed in the lounge worn-down by the time difference between earth and Lerus: which was every three-days on earth being only one on their planet. Even the shortest time in the displacement field would equal an excruciating thirty-six hours of sleep lost. And it hit them each time, although they had gotten used to it.

When they reached Zapra’s she stood on her doorstep with a militant smile both staunch and frozen. Behind her was the two-story home boxed and formed no better than plain-white milk cartons topped upon each other: plain and unglamorous.  

Her home was funded by the Grim councilmen, and most operations started from her very floors. When they entered, they saw activity: men and women: engineers, biogenetic geniuses, scientists, and those who sampled in DNA splicing and mixing. “Dinner is ready. Wait for me in the dining room.”

The boys walked through to the dining room: the table was already set and they each took their seat. Two waiters with trays in their hands stood in the far corner depleted from any vigor.

Not knowing what to expect. The five only glared at the other: not saying a word, but all intensely spooked on what could be next. A single clearing of the throat, or tapping on the table due to boredom had their heads flying to the source until Zapra came into the dining room with a female -

And the boys arose from their seats as if chivalry returned to their bones and spirits. Charles walked over to the girl with his eyes stalling upon her wrists. “Did you have to?”

He directed this at Zapra. Because on the girl's wrists were two silver bracelets that could only be heard buzzing when one was a few inches from it. The girl only gazed ahead when he stepped in front of her - and swiped his hand not too far from her face. Then he clicked his thumb and index finger which adhered to nothing - and reached out for a handshake – and found her arms stood sternly by her side. There was no reaction. She only stared blankly ahead.

“Take a seat Charles.” Zapra’s hands stayed locked behind her lower back. Joey detected the animosity and lowered his lids to ready any rebuttal that could be directed at Charles.

Charles sealed both lips and spoke lowly; “must you always use an inhibitor? For each and every woman?”

“What makes her so special? It’s customary and standard to the Grim delivery of human women when harvested” –

“They aren’t vegetables or silicone dolls. This girl has living tissue. Organs. A reproductive system” –

“Yes. Yes. I know all about the human anatomy”-

“I think we need changes”-

“And I think you boys should all be able to meet Gayle. Once Charles takes a seat and allows me to do my job. And also, may I remind you, Charles, that every other young man in this room has a part to play. And if it isn’t played to the standards of an Oscar winner, then there’s no point in me appointing your services, and the rift will gladly take you back for purposes that you can figure out.”

“I only ask that we get women that come with a personality. It can’t hurt to deal with a woman who has the ability to think for herself.”

“Empathy will only get you so far Charles. For one, if I felt empathetic to the cause of the Grim, I’d be keeling over and vomiting out the years of injustice that the Om have planted upon the status of our planet and history for years and years. The things I’ve had to sacrifice. Leave behind. And adjust to … you haven’t seen half of the things I have, young man. So, questioning how I do things leaves me rather vexed. And you do not want to vex me right now. Not for a single girl” –

But the room agreed with Charles to a point. But Zapra had a way that could curdle milk in lukewarm water. And stop an erupting volcano matching the hot temperament of the thickest lava. There was no challenging such defiance. And Charles sitting down defeated more than just his ego. A casket’s lid was blown right through the roof! He spoke on behalf of them all, and that was another case of not sticking up for what little he said.

And his refusal to meet any of their eyes gave them the idea of his unmoving annoyance with Zapra. “You’ll come to see that mind swiping keeps us safe. The project I sent you on was a reminder why we never leave to chance an abductee let loose, coz she displays a very simple cognitive system.” Zapra allowed her eyes to run down the length of Gayle’s brunette hair that reached the midsection of her back. 

“So;” Kirk wanted to get things moving; “what do we have here?” A common question he asked Zapra when presented with a new project as he rightly saw it. He differed from the other’s opinions: she was nothing more to the Grim’s then a breeding machine that they had to meddle with.  And their reproductive organs were disposable to. No better than the garbage left out and soon attracting flies.

Zapra took her seat at the head of the table. And Gayle stood vacantly with the boys more interested in viewing her face than Zapra’s. “I see she has your full attention. Not like some of the others.” Zapra said this with pride as they bashfully faced her once more. “I like it when young men display genuine interest.”

“It’s not that.” Kirk examined the girl’s eyes that were hazel and cloudy. A fogginess hoovered around her …. even in the vastness of emptiness that they had deleted. “I just get the feeling that these women are becoming smarter down upon Earth. The more women we receive”-

Charles finished it; “is the more we learn about the damage we’re causing.”

“If Earth knew about what we did … I understand your concerns. But the brain is the most misunderstood tool known to man and woman. It has the power to be programmed, regenerated, reinstalled. Much like technology boys. We’re only defiling from the cages that they allowed us to peek through. And it’s dirty. I know. But this is Gayle. Project Malfa. And your next harem visitor. This is a new one for you boys. A chance for me to see if you’re dedicated to Lerus and what we are newly doing here. This is the real deal now. A chance for you to show me what you can do. The only question is … will you accept my proposal?”

“What is your proposal, Zapra?”

“A question more serious than your face, Charles. The proposal is to accept this woman into your harem, of course. The time as always is linked to a one-month time frame. You must do what you do. And at the end of this … we will see if this will be a success. But the clock is ticking. You understand what I’m trying to say?”

“That we cannot fail any longer?”

“Not only you five, Joey. But other harems to, cannot afford mishaps. I’ll be monitoring all of your behavior. Keep a record of her. Watch. Observe. Learn. And come back to me with ways that work in the act of creation.”

Joey gave Marcus a quick-nod and got up from his seat. Marcus dawdled incoherently with some remorse for Gayle. When he got up from his seat, Marcus was sure that a fraction of her head turned, and an inch of her brow buried itself into the forehead. Much like what he’d do in the strangest of jumbles.

“We’ll bring her back, Charles.” Joey gripped one side of her arm. And Marcus grudgingly held the left. Finding her smell had the lightest of touches. Perfume of the bodily scent – and unsure if it met his approval.

“Take her back and make the necessary alterations.” A cold finish, that Charles shoulders rotated to in discomfort. “Charles, stay behind. I’d like to have a word with you.”

The others stiffly shoved back their chairs hastily. They left the room with Gayle in tow and only gave a glance to Zapra resembling a calm reticence.

Charles did not allow his mouth to open before Zapra’s did. “I admire your morality. It’s a field worker mentality that you have. Ready to stand for what you believe in. But this project marks a change in what we’ve come to understand from our studies of human women. This girl was … she was different than the others. I don’t know what it is. But even you boys were sort of drawn to her. As if she held a warrant of the highest price. My advice is to adapt to the changes we’re facing around us. And harden to ways that won’t work for what we are trying to attain.”

“She is different. And we know where different has gotten us in the past.”

“A little risk keeps the blood pumping.” Charles sighed at this and bit his tongue until he forgot too much of something can be a numbing sensation. “What is troubling your mind, Charles?”

“We’re new to all this. And it … it comes across like we’re no better than human traffickers. Desperate and stealing what little they have. When we chased after those girls. Apart of me saw the very same chains the OM would have us in. Are we any better than them Zapra? Are we really doing all we can to harness the genes and specifications of what is needed to continue our existence? Is there no other way?”

“No. A leader makes the decision that the majority cannot make. Them boys look up to you. Respect you. And if you show them this lack of encouragement for what I do … then they lose faith in Lerus. In me. And in you. Find yourself Charles. Maybe this girl will teach you something new?”

…

Something new … Charles asked himself that as they walked Gayle back to their compound - with Kirk keen to break the animosity between Charles and the five. He fell back to stride along with the reticent Charles who kept his sight on the back of Gayle’s head; “sorry I didn’t back you up with Zapra. You know how she can be?”

“No. Remind me how she can be Kirk?”

“A little lacklustre would be the nicest way of putting it.”

“Zapra has lost plenty. We all have.”

“Yeah. But … receiving girls in this state doesn’t do much for the libido.”

“We’ll soon put that right when Joey and Marcus start the override.” –

“You sound fed up of it”-

“I don’t know. Guess I’m already questioning my morality scales here.”

 Joey and Marcus guided Gayle through the front door – and Charles and Kirk stopped. Waited. And telepathically conferred that it would be best to wait this one out until they heard Marcus call; “Charles, we need your assistance.”

Charles sighed … and went inside to help in any way he could … as usual.

They didn’t strip Gayle of her clothes – but Joey did a body scan from head-to-toe to consider any irregularities within her system. Her arms laid flat against her body, and they placed on a mechanical ventilator via intubation – as Derek raised the adjustable bed to a slant –

With the image of Gayle upon the bed in 3d, that spread across the two-fifty-inch screens in a fluorescent-light-green screen with a pure black background - before Charles injected an organ and brain tracer via a syringe through her veins. It released a clotty white-colored dye into her bloodstream.

Moments later Joey could see the white liquid traveling through Gayle’s entire bloodstream and inner anatomy. “Get ready to inject the second dosage Charles.” It neared the brain and highlighted the location of the personality inhibitor chip closest to the middle of the left and right hemispheres. 

Charles had the needle above Gayle’s right eyelid … “say when?”

Joey counted down in his head; “three … two … one … now” –

And Charles pressed the plunger and allowed the black-liquid inside the cannula to drip twice into the left-and-right eye and stepped back – with the rest of the boys who knew the next episode would be-

“Ooooooooooargh!” Gayle sprung-up wide-eyed and foaming at the mouth. Then she collapsed back onto the bed moments later; her chest rising and her shoulders jittering wildly before she started to choke on her own saliva spitting out the white liquid as a geyser erupted.

“Do you think the mind wipe is receding?” Charles rushed to Gayle and held her head up; “get the stability helmet! Fast!”

Dereck removed it from the charge and lunged the cable out the socket as he dragged it across to the bedside: a slippery snake stalking - and placed it upon her head as it powered on close to the sounds of a defibrillator. Gayle fell onto the bed with the helmet on a full charge. Then the boom of Gayle’s restarting heart lunged her upright from her temporary coma.

Joey worked at decoding information from her personality-chip to refresh the feed and get her back to a working state. His fingers gathered smoke from the unsteadiness of Gayle’s heartbeat. “It’s like she’s refusing to be brought to life.”

“What do you mean?” Kirk and Marcus rushed to the side of her bed when Gayle popped up with maniacal eyes that blinked like the opening and closing of a camera shutter that lunged them back to the safety net of being far from her border.

 “It’s like reconstructing a working s*x doll.” Derek kept her head steady when her body wanted to be relieved from its outer wrapping paper. Keeping the helmet on required a two-man job, so Charles rushed to pin-down her arms - so she wouldn’t move an inch.  “She’ll not remember a thing when she gets back to her normal life?” –

“How can you be so sure Charles?” Marcus seemed concerned.

He batted his eyes once, then stared down at her with a distant state of interest. “Don’t they all come across that way when it’s done?” Gayle started to withhold from the upward lunges of her chest that transferred to the muteness of her arms.

Then Charles let go … along with Derek who adjusted the helmet and gently lowered the back of Gayle’s head onto the bed. “Sleeping beauty is out.” He gave a glance at the heart monitor that Joey stood by with his arms locked. “I’m no doctor, but that’s a good sign, right? No flatline.”

Joey nodded faintly at Marcus, whose eyes scanned more than just her bosoms that were being covered by Charles placing a sheet over her. “Let her rest now. How long will you need Joey?”

“A few more hacks and she’ll be free to roam.”

“Ok. So, for now, we make the place spotless. Clean. And fit for a lady. Right guys?”

All the boys nodded. And Kirk finished with; “it’s going to take us all night.

Charles had to sneak a quick grin at that. “Let’s hope Gayle will be grateful for our leniency in her personality override.”

“Well, one thing is for sure. Gayle isn’t going to be a boring specimen.”

Kirk rubbed his palms “You already smitten Joey?”

“Curious. Just curious” –

“Where the hell am I?” The boys froze! Joey let the monitors beep louder than a world war siren - and Gayle kept her lungs close to exploding!

“It’s ok Gayle … Breathe.” Marcus held his hands out to surrender.  “Just breathe.”