Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 13: trust

“I’m technically the Founder granddaughter. More like a clone to be correct. It’s a long story but in short I didn’t want to scare you. With such name there are a lot of problems that follows so I…”

“what problems!? Why didn’t you tell me!”

“how could I! Now destroys the books!”

“don’t… let her… she won’t… tell you… you...are...replaceable”

“you told me nothing!, you keep on lying to me”

“wake the FUCK! Up Scilla! You can’t trust those books. We thought they could control minds. YOU! Have to break free!”

“I’m not controlled for fuck sake! But they have a point. If a stop them you won’t tell me anything! You always trick me!”

“You are giving me no choice scilla. Why can’t you be like everybody else. Don’t ask questions and wait. Have I ever betrayed you?”

“no you haven’t! But that is not the fucking point…”

Idra needed a solution. If the books stay in then Scilla could reach the truth, if they are gone from the equation she could have some margin to work with. So Idra dropped her SMG to pull out the pistol on her side. As the pistol was leaving the holster it opened. The frontal part divided in 4 revealing an almost empty space with just a small bluish cylinder in the middle. The bluish rod started emitting some strange glowing particles. Those particles where shaped like cubes and disappeared after toughing the ground.

Holy fuck and energy weapon!

Scilla dodged jumping on the ground trying to go the farther she could. Then the high pitch sound and the room filling with blue light. She had no time to stood up that Idra was on her back pressing the gun to her head. She could see the particles dropping down but not the weapons pressed on the back of her skull. She heard the helmet opening. The books were silent.

Idra’s voice was furious.

“look! This is you fault! We could have lived peacefully but you had to know. You had to ask questions. Why can’t you trust me for who I am?”

“Idra we can talk about this…”

Idra then punched Scilla’s head a bit. Her voice now sound like a maniac.

“but we are talking about it aren’t we?”

Scilla tried to speak but her action was meat with another light punch.

“it was a rhetoric question. Now tell me what did you achieve knowing my name?”

“I fuck up Idra...”

yet another punch

“I know you fuck up sweetie but that was not my question. What did I ask you?”

“Idra I know you are angry but...”

another punch, this time there is also a quick sting. Idra injected Scilla with something to make her lose consciousness and it worked really fast.

After some time Scilla woke up and she soon realised that she was in Idra’s rooms tied to the bed with some improvised ropes. Her arms tied together and behind her back. Legs tied up as well. She was able to see that she was no longer wearing socks and her feet were exposed. Then under her armpit more rope to keep her fixed in position and even more locked her to the bed. There was no way out. The ropes were weak but they were far too many to break free with only her strength.

“wakey wakey sweetie, did you sleep well while I tied you like a pig ready to be roasted?”

Idra was at the end of the bed looking down on Scilla. Her smile was terrifying. The machines on her left glove were ready to do some torturing.

“Idra, please we can talk about this, you don’t have to…”

Idra jumped on her and slapped her face.

“wrong, I have to. I will make you feel the same, you will feel that it means to never be trusted”

“but I trust you I…”

another slap.

“if you have trusted me we won’t be in this situation. But fear not I have found a way to use even this moment”

Then she touched near her right elbow, from her forearm onward the suit detached revealing her hand. Smooth skin, slander body hair and no visible imperfection. Her nails were short and on the middle finger a flat dark blue ring with a small green gem in the middle.

“In order to keep you alive I will slap you every time you lie to me and I know it will be a lot. You should be honoured to be touched by my bare hand. Now why did you hesitated with the books?”

“Idra I didn’t hesitate, I was”

--lie detected--

1°slap.

“try again, why did you hesitated?”

“Idra please, this is not necessary I was…”

2°slap.

“try again before I carve your eyes out. This time tell me the truth”

“I freaked out. You are unpredictable and I wanted easy answers”

“see, this time no slap. Good girl. Now do you remember that we thought that the books may be artefacts capable of mind reading?”

“yes I remember”

“then why did you trusted and object that could have been made to kill you?”

“I thought it may have a point you know I”

--lie detected--

3°slap.

“tell me the truth. I know you are lying. Again.”

“I never believed them I wanted to use them”

saying so Scilla prepared to receive a new slap but nothing. Idra’s slap were not that painful. Her skin was soft and she wasn’t protected by her suit so she couldn’t go full power. She was damaging herself too but by looking at how fast Idra’s hand returned from red to white it was clear that she took something to self-heal.

“then why did you want to use them”

“to discover more about you kind”

--lie detected--

4°slap. Scilla’s face was starting to become even more red that usual and the metal ring plus idra’s nails where leaving a lot of scratches.

“nope, wrong answer. What are you trying to hide?”

“I wanted to have more knowledge about your weapons so I was…”

--lie detected--

5°slap.

“you give me no choice. You keep on lying so I will beat you a bit”

then Idra started slapping Scilla’s face without stopping. By looking at the perfect state of Idra’s hand Scilla hypnotized that she took an omni-cure before starting. She knew that she would have to use some force to make Scilla speak. The slapping was going on non stop and Scilla was finally starting to feel pain. Her face was full of cuts and bleeding. Idra was going easy on her on purpose, she didn’t want to break her teeth or anything like that. She just wanted to make her feel some pain. Then after around 300 slaps she stopped. She extracted a small bottle from her suit’s backpack. A transparent liquid was inside of it. She poured a bit on a piece of cloth and the press it on Scillas fresh cuts. An excruciating pain filled Scilla’s body. It was definitely not alcohol to clean her wounds. It was so painful that she even shed a tear. In that moment Idra twitched forward, her helmet opened and she licked the tear.

“Can’t waste such tasteful droplet. I can make you shed more if you don’t stop lying. But maybe instead of you I could make your sister feel the same pain…”

“NO! LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!”

“the moment your family is taken in the equation you are like everybody else. Protective and finally ready for answering. So as I said before, what did you wanted to use the book for?”

Scilla was conflicted and in intense pain. She could no longer force herself to lie to keep her face, it was time to tell everything and let the shame come forward. But she had to, if not her sister would probably be tortured and killed.

“Fuck. I wanted to use them to learn more about you...”

“oh, things are getting spicy. Go on.”

“I never trusted them, how could I. But with you unable to touch them and conflicted I thought I could get some information. I learned your name after all, so I…”

“why did you want to learn more about me? Can’t you be like all the others and don’t ask shit?”

there it was, the question she didn’t wanted to answer.

“I..i.. need to know, for my curiosity and not only for that. Yesterday when we spoke in my room, I realised that maybe we… we could have more….”

“define that more, specify what that we means”

“I’m saying that maybe… maybe I don’t see you only as a friend or I don’t want to only be friend…”

She interrupted but Idra didn’t do anything.

“I.. I never felt so connected to somebody in all my life. So I became greedy overnight, I wanted to know more and more to see if I could have a chance…”

Idra was staring at her, probably. Then as if she knew.

“there is more to it isn’t it?”

“I thought I could lose you. If you follow the books story then you would become crazy like the protagonist so I was scared and needed a way to stop it. I… I already think of you as mine… I know… I’m despicable. Considering so I was just afraid that you could follow the books story and leave me…”

Scilla was sobbing, she confessed all. In her mind it was over, not only the possibility of having more but also their friendship and eventually even the contract. She fuck up completely, or so she thought. Idra moved from on top of her to her side where she lie down.

“how does it feel? Being forced to tell all your secrets, all your plans?”

“it suck.”

“I know, now you had a taste of your own medicine”

“so… what is going to happen now?”

“about what? You being trapped, your face or your secret being exposed?”

“can’t we forget about what I said?”

“nah, that is the fun part. You see we had the same secret or as I prefer to call it, the same objective. I don’t need you ship, nor your crew. Objectively speaking working with you is only a pain in the ass. I did all of this just to gain your trust. Then after some time I was going to bring you to my planet and never let you escape. The moment you talked to me, the irreverence, the confidence and the bluntness that you had shown me made me wanted to seize you. I wanted to have you only for me, to keep having somebody to talk to…”

“you really did all of this just to have me?”

“yeah. I’m the same girl that set a city on fire because she was seen. You are the 12th person, expect my family, that had talked to me without being afraid. You are also the only interesting one. I just thought that if we are together we could keep having fun forever.”

“oohh that sweet..”

“shut up! I can still gag you with one of your dirty socks”

“sorry, I didn’t thought you wanted to say more.”

“I wanted to tell you the truth, that’s all.”

“so what now? Are we dating? Do you have a new objective?”

Idra stood up and as per usual she moved her arm to her backpack. The vial containing the omni-cure popped out and she putted one capsule inside Scilla’s mouth.

“shallow it, it will fix your face.”

“bleah, it taste horrible what the fuck!”

“never said it was a good, it has to work nothing more. Now about that dating thing you need to give me some time”

“I’m not following, didn’t you said you wanted me. I love you Iris Fermi. Don’t you love me back? Isn’t wanting someone forever love?”

“I don’t know. But the time I need is to research the meaning of the word. I don’t know that it imply, after that I can give you and answer.”

“what you mean what it imply? Dating is dating what is so hard to understand?”

“the hard part is that I don’t know what that means. What do you do when you are dating? What is a date? I don’t know”

“how could you not. You always say really inappropriate stuff how could you not know?”

“I just know that they are insults, that all. All knowledge regarding sexual matters were forbidden. I just know that if I wanted to know more I should have asked my spouse about it. That’s it. Don’t know what a date is, don’t know what a kiss is, don’t know how kid are made, don’t know how a dick is shaped, I was not even allowed to study how my own organs are. I just saw a picture of the internal structure and that’s all.”

“what the fuck. How can you be so knowledge about spaceships and genetics but not reproduction and how the fuck were you suppose to find a spouse if you don’t even know that a date is? Furthermore you always say torture related stuff how is it possible that you haven’t seen a naked body while dismembering it?”

“I told you I couldn't read such stuff. All the other knowledge I just read about it in books. I don’t really know how I was suppose to get married without knowing how to reach marriage. For the torture part I like to rip their eyes out, cut their skin and wear it. I don’t look at the rest of the body before I set it on fire.”

“you are a fucking weirdo, a really smart one, but still a weirdo”

“it’s not like you are much different”

“touché. It’s kinda strange but also comforting how fast we fight, how hard we fight but also how peace soon follow. Kinda like a married couple”

“maybe, I don’t know how a married couple behave but I like our relationship. We have a beautiful harmony I suppose it’s such harmony that keeps us close and comfortable. I guess we are elevating each other to another level of consciousness.”

“so are we dating sharp tongue smart ass?”

“I suppose so tits giant muscle brain”

then they both laughed and Scilla noticed that her face was no longer in pain.

“your medicine worked. Can I ask you something Idra?”

“it depends, what is it?”

“the ring that you are wearing on your middle finger, what does it mean to you?”

“why did you suppose it has a meaning?”

“Because everything you do is calculated. You admitted it just before”

“you are right it’s calculated. It was a gift, from my sister 484. she wanted to be a jeweller. She made it herself. She was my favourite sister and the one that lived the longer.”

“if I can, what happened to her and also to all your sisters?”

“they died. Most were already dead before I was born, I only met around 50 of them. Prototype don’t really last long and my sister were the proof of such saying. No Idra has ever surpassed 25 years. They all started to decay really fast to the point where I was given a choice. Help them executing their will and putting them out of their misery or wait for their natural painful death. I have killed 28 of them with my hands.”

Idra paused, she was thinking, probably nothing good so Scilla interrupted her monologue.

“you did the right thing. Nobody want to die in pain, al least they were able to die with a smile”

a really sad voice replied.

“yeah… at least there was no pain.”

“if all of you usually are dead before 25 years old, how come that you are 26?”

“it the reason I’m a scavenger. An artefact was implanted in my body and works as a core for may own being. I’m looking for a new one to use and make a new sister. Back home I have all the ingredients to make new sisters but what is the point in making them if the die at 25? so I’m looking for the same solution that is keeping me alive”

“I will help you, the contract we could use it to…”

“The contract is there exactly for helping me. You will follow my lead anyway so I will guide us to possible location of a new artefact. We will found a lot of other alien tech so the contract won’t be broken. We all gain from it”

“well in any case don’t hold back just ask me if I can do something for you”

“will you stop being a dickhead and finally trust me?”

“well how could I not trust my new acquired girlfriend?”

“don’t call me that in public, also don’t ever call me Iris nor Fermi.”

“why? no wait don’t tell me. I just said that I will trust you and so I will. If you want to tell me something fell free to do so but I will try to respect you decisions from now on.”

“thanks, that means a lot. I hope you will keep you words, also because I placed a bomb on you neck”

“WHAT!?”

“yep, you heard correctly. I placed a small bomb on you neck. It won’t come off easily but don’t try it. If you detach it you will die.”

“what the fuck, how can…”

“how can I what?”

“never mind looking at my previous action I can see why you did this”

“good girl. Fear not it will only kill you if you try to reveal unnecessary information such as our newly acquired relationship.”

“I get it, I get it.”

They said still, resting on the bed for a half an hour. Scilla then asked to be freed from the ropes.

“Idra when will you free me?”

“mmh, I don’t know. You are so beautiful while trapped why should I release you?.”

“can you at least remove the ropes that are keeping me from rolling around. I would like to lie on my side”

a big smile appeared on Idra’s face.

“what’s that smile… Idra answer me, shy are you smiling?… what are you planning you little…”

Idra released Scilla by cutting the ropes that were locking her to the bed frame but then she pushed her to make her roll and lie down on her belly. She then moved on top of her.

“Idra, get off! What do…”

She had no time to finish her sentence that Idra was tickling her feet. Scilla started struggling while laughing and trying to speak.

“IDRA!… Stop…. Stop it!...I surrender… please”

She played with her feet for a bit then she moved closer to her head. She lied down on Scilla’s back and then the unexpected. A bit of mechanical sounds, it was Idra’s helmet remodelling and opening. Soon Scilla was feeling hot air flowing on her neck. Idra was breathing closer and closer to her skin. Then she sniffed her neck. It was strange but also arousing for Scilla. She didn’t knew what was happening and confused Idra’s action for a flirt of some kind.

“Idra, what are you doing. We just started our relationship how can you be doing something like this, especially when you told me you know nothing related to intimacy between partners.”

At such words Idra pulled herself immediately back. She was confused and a lot.

“what do you mean? I’m sniffing you”

“exactly you are sniffing and breathing on my neck”

“where else where I suppose to smell you scent from? I can’t show you my face and I need a hormone dense location.”

wait, what the fuck is she talking about

“sorry, I think I misunderstood your action. What were you doing?”

“I was inhaling your hormones and chemical biomarker to determine your health status. Nowadays most humans have lost such ability but almost all esterians have it. So we sniff each other to prevent health problems. That also one of the reasons why we are so good in medical fields. We literally sniff problems, and if we are competent enough we can even understand the problem. Like we could know if it’s a bacterial infection, a virus, a tumour and so on thanks to the chemical markers we inhale. This way we can also find a cure faster than normal. What did you think I was doing?”

“nothing, I was just surprised that’s all…. Eh eh I was just trying to find a way to make you stop, yep definitely that. I for sure didn’t misunderstood you action for some flirt or similar.”

Scilla was redder then her usual, she was extremely embarrassed. She was now remembering reading something about the hormone detection ability of humans when she was younger. Idra was basically conducting a medical check on her and she thought of something completely different.

How fucking embarrassing. Saying something so stupid. She was obviously not going for anything sexual. First of all she doesn’t know how to flirt, second of all she comes from the most conservative people of all. Probably an esterian flirt is showing you their neck or their face as far as I know.

Then while dying inside Idra started laughing.

“you are really funny. I appreciate that you didn’t try to lie to me. You already know that you can’t do that.”

“your appreciation won’t remove my embarrassment. How could I be so stupid”

Then Idra started cutting Scillas ropes. It was time to free her.

“everybody makes errors. The good news is that you are perfectly healthy.”

“at least that. By the way, are you still going to let me see your ship?”

“yep, I also thought of a solution. If you clear your 4 VTOL landing platform I should be able to make Natrix land on them.”

“I will do it as soon as possible. Will you also let me take a peek at your energy pistol? It’ so fascinating. Did you made it? Do all esterians have one? Do…”

“Scilla stop. To much questions. We will take our time, with our relationship and our conversations. As I told…”

“sorry, sorry. Not ready. I know. I just got to exited. If it happens again just tell me no again. When I talk about…”

“when you talk about what you like you can’t resist. I know and I like it.”