Free Digital Venous by Richard Gohl Page B

Madi again. Bes turned, giving her a wide-eyed glance as if to say, “You’re over-acting!” The Napeans had almost completely lost the ability to read faces and body language. Their use of ETP had over-ridden this skill. Glances shared between Madi and Bes went wholly unnoticed.
    The guards spoke to each other in silence, looking intently at one another as they walked. Their heads moved slowly from side to side as each responded to the other. Several times they shared a look at the women and then back to each other.
    The streets were deserted except for a few people striding home late for dinner. In the real world people tended to share accommodation, so dug-out houses were large and could be extended where necessary. Communal living was safer and more economical. There was no “Service” to help the unfortunate; people subsisted and banded together to share the burden of living.
    It was already dark. Some of the streetlights were flickering on. “This is a bonus for us!” said Madi. “We lose two morons and gain Napean gods!”
    “Hey, we’ll do our best,” said the guards. They both laughed slow, dry chuckles. “Let me go in first. Give me two minutes; I’ll pacify them,” said Bes.
    She went in, shut the door, and made sure the two guns were stashed—one on each side of the mattress. A minute later she emerged onto the street and said, breathless, “I can’t believe it! They’re not here.”
    “Probably gone out to get more alcohol,” said Madi. “They’ve left all their things there, so…”
    “They’ll be back,” said Madi. “You’ll still help us?”
    “We can wait a while,” said one guard.
    “We can,” said the other, nodding.
    They entered the house and walked down to a large common room. There was evidence of prolonged revelry. Empty bottles, food scraps, over-flowing ashtrays.
    “These guys are killing us! We can’t go on living like this!” whined Madi. The guards were completely entranced.
    “What do we do?” Bes, a distressed damsel, never used this tone of voice, but she was quite enjoying it.
    “Have they been abusing you… in any way?” said a guard to Bes. His eyes didn’t seem to connect. He looked at her but it was if she were talking to a reptile or a bird—the small black eye observed her objectively like one species studying another through a pane of glass.
    “We’ve had some of that, yes.” Bes turned on the tears.
    Madi put her arm round her friend, wincing at the guards. They remained impassive. She tried the direct approach: “Why don’t we grab a drink and retire to the secure room? That way, when they come back, you guys get the surprise element.”
    “Let’s do that.” The guards almost talked in unison.
    As Bes closed the door to the bedroom, one of the guards said, “Blow us first, hey girls?” The two women exchanged a glance.
    “That old famous Napean charm.” Madi was in her element. She liked to play rough. “Sure,” she said. “Lie down…”
    “You kneel here,” he said, gesturing with both hands down in front of him.
    “I don’t kneel for anyone—on the bed, He-Man!” Madi gave him a gentle shove and the Napean did as he was told—boots, jacket, gun, and all. Then she knelt down, unfastening his belt with one hand and squeezing her other between the mattress and the base, wrapping it around the gun.
    Bes had moved her guard next to the mattress where the gun was hidden. It was all a bit shaky for her . As she knelt down in front of him and began unclipping and removing involved layers of uniform, his trousers loosened and the bolt pistol came loose.
    “I’ll take that,” he said, his eyes widening.
    But then, the two Napean guards didn’t know what had hit them. With shirts off, pants around their ankles, and in a dream world, the girls used the handguns at close range.
    Madi’s gun went off first. One shot in the heart and her lover was no more. As Bes’s guard span around in horror, she slammed him down onto the bed.