Free Inherited War 1: Retribution by Eric McMeins

his touch, not like the probe had, but it did turn on.  “Hey what’s this?”  He wondered aloud. 
    “What’s what?” Asked Sky. 
    “There is a panel over here but I can’t read the writing.”   Said Cole.
    “Oh that’s probably the refresher station controls.” She replied. 
    “Like in a shower or bath refresher station?” Cole said as he hit the first button.  A section of the wall slid down, revealing a four by four shower hidden in the wall.  Cole was funky, he had to be with as much as he had sweated during his work outs, and the fact he’d had the same skin suit on for a long time.  “Finally a shower and I can’t get my goddamn clothes off.”  He cursed as he looked longingly into the shower.
    “Here ,” said Sky “use my bonding tab to get yours off.  I agree that you could use a shower.”   She said with a smile.  “Just place it anywhere on the skin and hit the front of it, it will break the bond of the second skin from your actual skin.”  She plucked the little metal tab off the shoulder of her suit and tossed it to Cole.  He caught it and slapped it onto his chest.  He smacked the tab and felt the second skin pull away from him slightly.  He grabbed it around the neckline and pealed it off himself.  God the stuff felt like some kind of semi solid gel now and kind of pooled at his feet.
    “Wow , check me out.”  Cole said as he flexed his newly revealed muscles.  “I’m freaking ripped.”  He turned back toward Sky and said, “Hey you’re not looking, why you looking away?”
    At that point Sky reminded him of what she had explained to him earlier.  “Remember your inhibitions are gone and your decision making ability is impaired.  You are naked and don’t care .  It’s best if you just take a quick shower and get re-dressed so as not to embarrass yourself.  When you are in total control again, you might find this moment in time uncomfortable to remember.”  She kept herself turned away from him.  “Place your second skin on the floor of the shower and it will clean itself as you wash.”
    Cole realized there must be something to what she was saying because he had no embarrassment at all and normally he would never have taken his clothes off in front of a woman like this.  “Umm, yea, I’ll do just that.” So he turned, stepped into the shower, and spent the next few minutes scrubbing the last few weeks of sweat and stink off his body.  When he was done he stepped out and looked around.  Sky then said.  “Put the second skin back on, then hit the tab again.”
    “But it and I are still soaked.”
    “Just do it Cole.  We don’t know how long till they remember we’re in here together and come in here to move us again. And I’m sure you are not supposed to be out of your clothes for fear of you touching anything you could control.”  He did as she had asked.  He pulled the gooey feeling sopping wet suit on over his wet skin and hit the metal tab.  Surprisingly, it heated up and within moments was bone dry along with Cole.  Neat, he thought to himself, at least he had accomplished one of his short term goals by getting clean.  He felt much better for it too.  He pulled Sky’s tab off his chest and tossed it to her.  “Here you go Doc, thanks,” he said.  “I can turn away if you want a shower.” But she was already asleep on the bed.  Cole hit the button on the panel to close the door to the shower then moved over and sat on the bench.  He watched Sky sleep for a while before leaning back and closing his own eyes.  Sleep didn’t come fast and it didn’t last long.
    A quarter of an hour after Cole fell asleep, the door whirred open waking him up.  A pair of guards waited on the outside.  “Get up and hands behind your backs,” they grunted.  Cole shook Sky awake.  They both stood and turned around with their hands, again, placed in the middle of their backs.  Soon they were marching down the corridor again, but went