OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 48 - What's Wrong With The Way I Eat?

It may have escaped some people's notice that the British royal family had another wedding today. Nothing wrong with that you might say. ARE YOU MENTAL MAD? These fuckers breed like rats. Princess Beatrice will be spitting out ankle biters before you can butter that slice of toast. These royal's don't come cheap either. There's the enormous expense of building all those princess castles and that's only the start. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I'm pretty sure they've got a breeding program going. With the falling birth rate among non royal people it's only a matter of time before they outnumber us. Then they'll form an alliance with those fucking squirrels I'm always warning you about. And if they start crossbreeding we are quite literally fucked. You have been warned.

(The copyright for this image is the property of NPA)

The elevator ride into the bowels of the city had ended. Jake had built up quite a sweat in that time. Doxy opening the vents had saved them from suffocation, but it had become uncomfortably warm in that little box. This was obvious before they even reached the half way point of their trip. Doxy thought they should strip off. An idea which Jake would never agree to given his inflationary problems. It would have made simply disrobing into heavy petting or perhaps even foreplay. He did allow her to remove the cloak. It was the least he could do. He'd wanted to do much less as in nothing but that was never an option where Doxy was concerned. He was surprised she hadn't abducted him yet. Aware that she could be bidding her time. He didn't have any idea how long the descent and then ascent had taken. It felt like hours and was now indelibly engraved into his long term memory. Years from now he'd wake up sweating after dreaming about this. When the door eventually opened he fell out. Doxy stepped forth took a long cleansing breath and donned her cloak again. Pulling up that hood.

"So Sparky have you managed to calm down yet. Your lack of self control is a bit worrying you know."
He brushed himself down silently.
"I managed not to strangle you while you intimately frisked me with your tits and ass. I think that showed very good self control on my part. Are you ready to admit I'm me now? Not some manufactured doppelganger."
A slight smile curved her lips.
"I'm still not sure. While it's hard to believe they'd construct anything as half assed as you are, it might be that they stuck too close to the original blueprint. You."
"The original me I'm now an exact copy of? I suppose I can sort of understand how this all creeps you out. It's like The Matrix, you can't trust anything in it."
"What's a matrix?"
"It was a movie from my reality set in a future where machines had taken over. They rose up against the humans, beat them and then used them as batteries while keeping them in a virtual reality."
"Batteries? That's dumb. There are far better energy sources. There are far better energy sources you can make out of the chemicals in a human even. Why even bother with the virtual reality? You could still use them as an energy source if they were brain dead. It makes no sense to me."
Jake had calmed his libido by this point. The swelling had gone down. Equilibrium returned.
"Neither does this place to me. For example not being able to bring Pip here. What's to prevent them from finding her at the settlement and taking her from there?"
"The outside is different. To the patrols that spot her she's just a short person. They make no distinction based on size. If she came in here they'd analyze her right down to the mitochondria in her cells. Alarm bells would ring and some of your new buddies would grab her off the street."
"Sounds reasonable. Doesn't mean I believe you."
"Great." Doxy responded sarcastically. "I risked my ass coming here to save you."
"From what? I'm doing fine."
She chortled derisively.
"No food or drink and you've only penetrated the outer edge of a vast city. The odds are I could come back in six months and you'd still be here."
"Fine. See you in six months then. I'm going back to my apartment. Before you bring more Time Agents down on us."
He turned and walked back out onto the boulevard. The kick in the rump Doxy gave him was ignored. She was acting out. That didn't stop her from following him.
"For your information it wasn't me... I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I've done nothing that would interfere with the timeline here. Might have been a random patrol, but that would be far too coincidental. They're gone now and that's all that matters."
They walked along in silence for a few minutes. Until Jake found that didn't work. Ignoring the Captain of the Scarlet Harlot was hard to do. Especially when she insisted on matching you stride for stride and side by side.
"So. How did Pip end up with you then?"
"We found her out in The Never along with a lot of dead bodies. Burned beyond recognition by something we'd never come across before. That's it really."
He stopped dead, giving her a searching look.
"What about the crystal?"
"Oh that was you was it. I thought it might be. Coming over all paternal and protective. That's a weakness Sparky. One that'll get you killed. You are way too soft for your own good you know. I thought she was going to cry when she found out her buyer had sold it on already."
"So she was happy to get it back then. I'm glad."
Jake set off walking again.
"Yeah she was so thankful. Happy as a pig in shit when she found it."
"You took the credit didn't you?"
"No. She thought I'd got it back for her. I didn't correct her. Oh dear. Has that ruffled your feathers?"
"I'm fine with it. As long as she got the crystal back, I don't care."
"Of course you do. Next time you see her you'll be letting her know it was you. You won't go into details. You'll tell her it was worth the sacrifice if only to see her smile."
"I promise you I won't."
"Bullshit." Doxy exploded. Before pulling herself up. "Holy crap. Bend me over and do me with a door knob, you actually mean that. Your sentimentality is a sure death sentence you know. Caring about anyone is an idiots game."
He bit his lips to stop the smile forming on them.
"Says the one who took on a baby and looked after her for over a decade."
"It was purely a business decision. I thought I could turn a nice profit."
"Of course you did. I expect they didn't offer you enough for the only baby on earth."
"She's a long term investment, that's all. Gaining in value as we speak."
"Oh right. In what way would that be."
"Oh there's several advantages. None of which I can reveal. I need to keep my cards close to my chest."
"You know something Doxy? You are full of bullshit."
"Damn right I am. Seriously though Sparky, folks in this world will mistake your kindness for weakness."

They hardly exchanged a word the rest of the way back to his base of operations. Jake knew she was scrutinizing him carefully though. Unsure what to make of him. Understandable. Doxy had grown up in this place and it certainly wasn't being run by the Salvation Army. As soon as they arrived they had another argument. This time over her remaining within the city overnight. That was anathema to her. She'd be headed out before dark. Jake decided to leave it for now. Pretending to accept her conditions. Keeping her sweet while she showed him all the things he'd missed in the apartment. Like the fact it had it's own vending machine. Not precisely. This was capable of doing recipes like a full roast meal. The meat wouldn't be sourced from any animal larger than a maggot. It would taste like the real thing nevertheless. Another similar device would manufacture any beverage you could imagine. From tea to coffee and everything in between. In some senses even more important was his new found ability to launder his clothes in a few minutes. There was even a system for making new clothing. One you needed to pay for though. For which he'd need to at least open up an account with the Central Consensus banking system.

There were bathrobes however. They enabled him to wash his clothing at last. The socks were the worst. They practically leaped into the washing system. Now that he'd found some new gadgets to play with Jake was happy. Making them both a meal stretched his limited abilities to their limit. Doxy ate with the same gusto as she lived her life. Polishing off the three courses while he was still eating his main. Then watching him eat. With an air of disapproval it would have been impossible to mistake.

"What's wrong with the way I eat?"
"Nothing."
He laughed mirthlessly.
"It's when you say things like that, that I doubt you're the real Captain of the Scarlet Harlot. You aren't one to guard their words except in exceptional circumstances. Why don't you like the way I eat and why are you trying your utmost to pacify me."
"Second one's easy. I want your help freeing my crew from captivity."
"I'm still not sure why you need me."
"I don't need you. I want you. There's a huge difference. Two days tops, then you can come back here and piss about for nothing, as long as you like."
He didn't have to think about that. Pretending he did was fun though. As she closely watched him he knew she was figuring him out like a poker player. After allowing sufficient time he proceeded.
"Okay. If I'm getting this right, your plan is for you and I to leave later today. get back to the settlement tonight and then break into the prison to release your crew. I'll lose two days though."
"Not necessarily. You've already wasted more than that dicking about. Two extra days won't matter to you. They will to me."
"How many of us are going in?"
"You and me of course. Then there's Pip. She'll be the one getting us inside once you've distracted the guard turrets and drones. Then there's the rest of them."
"And they are?"
"The ones that volunteered to join the mission."
"Name them."
Jake had some suspicions about this.
"Why. You won't know them."
"You can't even name one can you?"
"Yes I can."
"Well go on then."
"The Slayer, will be coming with us. He believes he owes you for not killing him in the cage. Lady Margaret is letting him come along for the ride because it will be good publicity."
"Good? Publicity? How the hell can a prison break bring anyone publicity? By its very nature it has to be secret
Doxy puffed her cheeks before leaning forward toward him.
"I've kind of sold the rights to it."
He actually slapped his own face. Yes he was awake and this was real.
"You've sold the rights to a prison break? How the fuck does that work?
Evading eye contact she twirled her fingers on the table. Drawing invisible designs.
"I told you I'm a celebrity well certain parties within the Consensus are willing to pay for their entertainments. These people have seen and done everything. At least in the virtual world. They crave novelty. New stories, new histories. To them the real world is entertainment. They've never lived in it."
Jake gaped at this revelation. Temporarily unable to speak as hundreds of responses fought one another to be first out of his open mouth.
"Wait a minute. If you're getting paid for this jail break why didn't you use that to pay your fines?"
"I always get my payment upfront. I spent that months ago. Now I'm contractually obliged to break into the correctional facility. If I don't do so in the next two days they will need their payment refunding, plus penalties, plus compensation."
"Shit you're the Captain of the Scarlet Harlot. Fuck'em. Get in your ship and blast off into The Never."
"Not happening. One, because I'd need my crew to do that and more importantly it would badly affect my reputation as a celebrity. And I'm not going to let anything or anyone adversely affect my image. It's all I've got."
"That makes this ship of yours and your crew look really shit."