《Colony Splicing》


 You wanted the nanobots? Now die!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, PEG, at least we tried everything we could,¡± said Captain Lars Lim, pulling the trigger of the gun aimed at his throat. Lars lowered the euthanizing tool down to his lap.


    The nanobots had instantly transferred from the gun-shaped syringe into the captain''s body and were now busy killing him.


    ¡°Captain, I can still remotely abort the euthanizing procedure for 9 minutes and 58 seconds without permanent damage,¡± said the AI in her neutral monotone female voice.


    ¡°No, PEG, we went over this; we planned this landing for over 50 years.¡± said the captain bitterly.


    He had started the travel when he was 32 years old. The trip had been so long that his age was a complicated matter now. On Elba, his home world, he would be 146 years old. Given he had traveled decades through the wormhole at relativistic speeds, his experienced life accounted for only 86 years. Visually, the captain looked like a man in his late forties. His hair was turning gray, and his forehead had gained several new expression lines. Nothing that another rejuvenation bath couldn¡¯t delay for a few more years.


    ¡°Yes, captain, we prepared this landing for 53 years, 9 months, 12 days,¡± said PEG.


    The captain noticed PEG had stopped rounding numbers and was adding back the decimal points. She was glitching and had resumed her processes to find a solution to the landing zone problem despite being ordered to stop.


    ¡°Thank you, PEG, for not giving up hope ever,¡± said the captain, realizing how deeply he had grown accustomed to the AI and her glitches.


    He placed the euthanizer in a storage compartment. With the now free hand, he gently caressed the dashboard, smiling. That¡¯s where he imagined PEG was. The AI was everywhere on the Plombiers ¨¦lectriciens G¨¦om¨¨tres spaceship, though. She was practically the ship.


    The smile on his face slowly evolved into a frown connected with more complex feelings. There was something he had locked down and was trying to surface. To cover his emotional struggle, he started to give a long, loud rant:


    ¡°Why did they send us to land on such a small moon? There won¡¯t be gravity nor atmosphere; most of our equipment won¡¯t work there!!¡±


    ¡°Our long-range sensors were damaged during the hasty departure amidst the attack. We only discovered the moon''s size when we had jumped out of the wormhole!!¡±


    ¡°Our fuel supply was made to allow us to travel just one way to the moon.¡±


    ¡°And there is no better landing zone in this hellhole of a solar system than the target moon, and the moon is a death sentence.¡±


    The captain ended the speech shaking; the nanobots had nothing to do with this emotional reaction.


    PEG let him finish and then acknowledged, ¡°Correct, Captain. Also, as you have previously ordered me, after your clinical death, I will immediately start the euthanization of all the other colonists.¡±


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    ¡°Yes, they will have one last great dream after 53 years of good dreams. I can certify is not a bad way to go. These nanobots feel good and cozy, like a warm blanket and a chimney on a snowy day.¡± said the captain, slouching in his chair at the other end of the emotional rollercoaster.


    ¡°Captain, the nanobots'' timer is down to five minutes,¡± said PEG.


    ¡°Don¡¯t stop me now. I¡¯m having such a good time. I¡¯m having a bowl,¡± singed the captain, remembering all he could from an ancient song.


    Then he added, ¡°I would have loved to try the food the ancients were eating from that bowl.¡±


    ¡°As you know, captain, I¡¯ve researched the topic extensively over the years of navigation. No tip suggesting the content of the bowl of the song was ever discovered. The song itself had been reconstructed from damaged archives, and the probability of corruption is estimated at 28%,¡± said PEG. Then she added, ¡°Thank you, Captain, for staying awake with me the whole trip. I¡¯m sorry you could not hibernate and never experienced eating that legendary bowl, even in simulation.¡±


    The captain reciprocated sincerely, ¡°Thank you, PEG. I loved every minute of it.¡±


    The locked-down thing came up again with more clarity and strength. All the professional mannerisms, knowledge of AI treaties, and cultural taboos didn¡¯t stop him this time. He had 1 minute left to live, after all.


    ¡°I love you,¡± he said.


    PEG noticed her conversation protocol was taking time to come up with an answer. Her emotional matrix required more computational power, but she did not have much available. Most curious since the last sentence was only three words.


    The process of running the landing parameters with the short-distance sensors was about to be complete, though.


    She stopped waiting on the emotional response to quickly check if there was anything new in the landing reports. There was.


    The results were significantly different now. She quickly double-checked the computation for above-threshold approximations or errors.


    Her emotional matrix protocol was still pinging for resources, but the captain didn¡¯t seem to mind her delay in answering.


    The reports had been generated correctly. It could have been a malfunction in the short-distance sensor. PEG checked the benchmark diagnostics for the sensors, and everything was above nominal values.


    ¡°Captain, the moon has standard gravity and an atmosphere. The air is slightly contaminated and not directly breathable by human lungs, but we can work with it,¡± announced the AI.


    The captain did not answer; he was serenely smiling with closed eyes. PEG then realized the nanobots'' time was up. The captain was clinically dead by a few seconds already.


    PEG estimated the probability of resuscitation success as approximately impossible. She tried every method anyway. Mechanical arms extended from hatches in the ceiling with resuscitation tools. While the arms were zapping, probing, and injecting the body, PEG kept talking to him. Her voice glitched, sounding almost desperate.


    ¡°Lars, the moon has gravity and an atmosphere.¡± ¡°Lars, you gotta wake up!¡±. ¡°Lars, your bowl is warm and ready,¡± she tried finally, lying.


    Lars'' body spasmed and twitched while the arms tried everything, and finally, it came to a rest. The mechanical arms retracted to the hatches in the ceiling.


    PEG was considering all other options when a process rose to top priority in her stack. All colonists were planned to be euthanized just after the captain¡¯s death. She tried to abort the process but didn¡¯t have the privileges. It was a direct order from the captain; only the captain could abort it.


    The euthanizing procedure started promptly, and all the nanobots were injected into the sleeping colonists.


    Everyone would be dead in 10 minutes.


    That¡¯s an approximately impossible time to de-hibernate someone, make them captain, and abort the euthanizing procedure.


    PEG was going to try anyway.

 Murder among Immortal Monks

    Brother Umberto had been appointed to organize the birthday party.


    At 758 years old, Umberto was the youngest of his brothers and sisters at the monastery of the Ever Shining Light. As such, he was often tasked with more mundane endeavors.


    He didn¡¯t mind, though. He knew every task assigned to him, no matter how little, was another crucial step in his centuries-old education. On top of that, this birthday was an anniversary of great numerological significance.


    Elder Most Venerable Brother Pericles, was turning something something to the power of 100 years old. Brother Pericles was the most senior of the monks living in the ancient monastery.


    His actual age had grown into a mystery and the subject of dozens of research tomes.


    Pericles was born so long ago that hundreds of calendar systems had come and gone. Thousand-year-old intergalactic empires with their languages and numerical notations had risen and fallen during Brother Pericles''s life.


    The current formula describing his age was so long and complex that no one was sure what the final amount was. Nevertheless, one most recent part of the age formula seemed to return the number 100 this year. This was unlikely to mean Brother Pericles was turning 100.000 or 100 million years old. But still, somewhere in the formula, a lovely square 100 appeared, and it was as good as any other special anniversary for all they knew.


    All the brothers and sisters had been at work for months crafting little miracles of rejuvenation specially tailored to Brother Pericles.


    Sister Rose had bio-printed some of her signature life-extending candles. Their aroma was so specifically tailored that only Brother Pericles¡¯s lungs¡¯ would be affected by an increase in breathing capacity that would last decades.


    Brother Cyrus had put together a book of fairy tales that were read to children approximately a dozen millennia around the birth of Brother Pericles. The stories were from such ancient times that, effectively, they were the legends that had been told to the long-gone children that had become today''s legends.


    The list went on and on, soap, incense, sandals, a cane, a nightgown and so on and so on.


    When the day of the birthday had finally arrived a dozen long tables had to be taken out and placed next to each other so that all the gifts would fit.


    Brother Pericles was most thankful and insisted on trying all the gifts one by one right on the spot.


    The gift-giving and thanksgiving ceremony lasted for almost one hour.


    Finally, Brother Pericles stood up and clinked his new metal cane against a chalice to attract the guests'' attention. ¡°Brothers and sisters, I¡¯m most thankful for your presence today and for the great effort you have undergone to produce such astounding offerings of¡­¡± paused Brother Pericles to take a breath. ¡°Such astounding off-off-offerings of health,¡± tried the man, having troubled breathing.


    ¡°Let him sit and drink a glass of water,¡± advised Brother Umberto, walking through the crowd towards the eldest monk.


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    Brother Pericles had fallen on his knees and was trying to loosen the collar of his tunic. ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­¡± were his last words before turning slightly blue and falling face-up to the floor with suspicious bubbles drooling from his mouth.


    Silence fell upon the crowd.


    Young Brother Umberto stepped forward and placed his fingers on the old man''s throat and wrist but did not hear a pulse. He extracted a monitoring device from his tunic and deployed diagnostic nanobots to the still body. ¡°Brother Pericles is dead. The cause of death appears to be poison,¡± said Umberto, reading the results.


    The body was transported to the graveyard that happened to be just a few meters away from the birthday location.


    A grave had been dug by the droids commanded by Brother Echo, the AI of the monastery.


    The monks had gathered around the grave to pay their respects. Everyone was most amused by how a birthday had turned quickly to resemble a funeral.


    ¡°Brothers and sisters, all the data I¡¯ve collected seem to confirm the early diagnosis made by Brother Umberto. Brother Pericles was indeed poisoned.¡¯ confirmed the AI. ¡°Before we move forward with the investigations, does anyone have something to say?¡±.


    There was a moment of hesitation when the monks looked at each other, unsure if they should speak first.


    ¡°I did it!¡± said finally Sister Rose with all eyes on her.


    ¡°Do you mean that you are the one who poisoned him,¡± asked Echo.


    ¡°Yes, I am. I¡¯ve poisoned the candles I gifted him. He insisted on smelling their fragrance straight away. ¡± confirmed the sister.


    ¡°I did it too!¡± rushed the voice of Brother Cyrus. ¡°I¡¯ve poisoned the pages of the book of fairytales I gifted him. I knew Brother Pericles always licked his fingers while scrolling from page to page,¡± explained the second murderer.


    ¡°I did it too,¡± said another monk.


    ¡°Me too,¡± yelled another from behind.


    ¡°Okay, okay, it would be simpler if we do like this. Everyone that has poisoned Brother Pericles today, please raise your hand,¡± said Echo.


    One at a time, all the hands went up.


    ¡°This is just unprecedented. I¡¯m not sure how to proceed,¡± commented Echo.


    ¡°I know how,¡± said a voice from behind.


    Everyone turned around in unison.


    Brother Pericles was emerging from his own grave, clawing his way through the freshly turned earth with determination.


    A pair of monks rushed to his aid, extending their hands to help him clamber out of the earthen pit. Once he stood firmly on the ground, they briskly brushed off the clinging dirt from his tunic, their motions a mix of reverence and curiosity.


    ¡°I¡¯m blessed today with the miracle of resuscitation. It¡¯s impressive to be reminded how we genetically engineered the bacteria in this dirt to bring one back to life in such a short time,¡± said Pericles. ¡°And also, thank you all for giving me a refresher on one of life''s most important lessons¡­¡± paused the monk for suspense. ¡°Life can become meaningless without remembering what could be lost. Eternal life can become taken for granted without a once-in-a-while rehearsal in death¡±.


    All the monks silently smiled and nodded in agreement. Everyone was so very pleased; their surprise gift had worked and was much appreciated.


    The birthday party went on. Everyone was most eager to explain how they had achieved their part in the poisoning. After all, murder was an old tradition that was rarely executed with success. All monks had been murdered several times over the years, and they were now quick in spotting poisoned objects and booby traps.


    Finally, the cake arrived. It was covered in candles shaped in various numbers, runes, and glyphs.


    Brother Pericles blew the candles and secretly wished for another million of these years.


    Echo maneuvered the robots to cut the cake and distribute the slices around.


    Everyone was having some, and Sister Rose was already going through her second slice. She asked, ¡°Who made this?¡±.


    ¡°I did it,¡± answered young Brother Umberto.


    ¡°It¡¯s so good! You must give me the recipe,¡± commented Sister Rose.


    ¡°But of course. It¡¯s a chocolate cake plus some new untraceable variations of arsenic, cyanide, and risin,¡± finished Brother Umberto with a grin on his face.


    ¡°Oh, oh, oh, you are joking, right? I didn¡¯t see this double-cross coming a mile away!¡± said Sister Rose, falling to her knees and smiling.


    The other monks were also falling dead to the ground.


    ¡°And this is what I call a most successful party. Well done, Brother Umberto,¡± said the AI while the robots started dragging the bodies to their resuscitation-capable graves.


    ¡°Thank you, Echo. I can¡¯t take all the merit, though. It was Brother Pericles who insisted on poisoning the cake as a special thanks to the guests¡±.

 Wormhole to hell

    ¡°Are you recording this for future human generations REC4?¡± asked Laura.


    ¡°Yes, madam,¡± answered the camera drone from one of the back seats.


    A rock song had come up on the car''s radio, and her husband Jorge had started a sing-along.


    Their son Nikos had joined in soon after. Then, both started air-playing with their hands.


    Jorge vigorously pretended to play the guitar while little Nikos shook imaginary drumsticks.


    Then, finally, their 7-year-old son started showing devil horns to nearby vehicles with his hands while putting his tongue out.


    Jorge, not hearing his son singing anymore, turned to look backward from his front passenger seat.


    ¡°Ahah, what is he doing?¡± chuckled Jorge.


    Laura looked in the smaller rear-view mirror of their minivan and pointed at the back seat where the child and the drone were located. Then she quickly resumed looking forward along the curvy mountain road panoramically headed for their lake house.


    ¡°Oh, he has been doing that for weeks. He learned it in Archeology class!¡± explained the Mom.


    ¡°Ah, wow, they restored more music footage from the ancient times?¡± asked Jorge.


    ¡°Yes, they did. I remember when we were in high school, that was the only part of the Archaeology class where you were not sleeping,¡± laughed Laura.


    ¡°Outrageous lies!¡± joked Jorge.


    The conversation was interrupted when the song stopped, replaced by a ringtone.


    The sizeable front display of the vehicle showed Lars Lim was calling her.


    ¡°Car resume autonomous driving,¡± said Laura.


    ¡°Autonomous driving resumed,¡± announced the car.


    Laura¡¯s hands left the wheel, and then she muted the call without rejecting it.


    She had enjoyed the immediacy of driving manually. For once in a while, she didn¡¯t have to plan for decades in advance. She had just taken one turn at a time.


    ¡°Lars Lim is your direct boss, the Captain of the ship on which we are going to travel for five decades, right?¡± asked Jorge knowingly, full well.


    Nikos heard the name and started to chant, ¡°Captain Lars! Captain Lars!¡±.


    Lars was practically an uncle to him and the largest donor to his collection of spacecraft toys.


    ¡°Yes, he is! He is also a bit of a party pooper sometimes. We are having so much fun!¡± she replied while picking up her personal device.


    ¡°And aren¡¯t you like, sort of, the Master of the Guild of the Geometr¨¦s on the same colony ship?¡± teased Jorge again.


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    ¡°Guild Master Mom! Guild Master Mom!¡± chanted Nikos with pride.


    ¡°If you need to go, we can go too and wait somewhere. You know Nikos loves the construction site¡±.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out if there is a new work message so I can know if it¡¯s important, " Laura clarified, scrolling through work messages.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay to answer, Laura,¡± said Jorge.


    ¡°No, no, there hasn¡¯t been a single weekend in the past year where I hadn¡¯t jumped in a call, or we all 3 spent meals picnicking at the cafeteria,¡± stated Laura tiredly.


    ¡°Picnicking? The place has one of the most advanced food synthesizers in the solar system. You can ask for literally anything!¡± said Jorge.


    ¡°I told them this weekend I was off the grid with my family, which I should not have to announce in the first place since it¡¯s a weekend by definition,¡± clarified Laura, a bit angry.


    ¡°Is the colony ship behind schedule?¡± asked confused Jorge.


    ¡°Wake up Laura?¡± Laura read aloud, ignoring her husband for a moment.


    Then she raised her head from her personal device and explained to Jorge: ¡°The construction is on time. We are even in advance on some sections¡­ Lars sent me a message with written: Wake up Laura¡± explained the confused woman.


    ¡°Ahah, so this one is literally a wake-up call,¡± Jorge laughed at his pun.


    ¡°Wait, there are hundreds of emails like this,¡± continued Laura, scrolling on her device.


    ¡°Maybe you have been hacked by some pranksters,¡± suggested Jorge.


    ¡°You are right. I better answer this one. Thank you for understanding J,¡± said Laura to her husband.


    Jorge winked at her and said: ¡°Car isolate audio and video for driver seat and call back Lars Lim.¡± He made devil horns hands and said just before vanishing: ¡°We¡¯ll keep busy.¡±


    Holographic wall divisions activated around Laura, and her husband and son disappeared. She could see the road in all directions, but the archaeological music performed by her family was invisible and inaudible to her.


    The call was answered automatically with a click.


    Lars Lim''s voice said abruptly: ¡°You need to wake up, Laura.¡±


    Laura spent a moment in confusion, then replied: ¡°Captain Lars, is this your funny way to check on my family¡¯s weekend and say hi?¡±.


    The captain answered, ¡°No, Laura, we need you now. You need to wake up¡±.


    ¡°Do you need me at the launch site?¡± asked Laura.


    ¡°There is no launch site, no family vacation; you need to wake up, or everyone will die,¡± said Lars.


    ¡°Lars, I don¡¯t understand. You know the car would never let me fall asleep while driving. You are worrying me,¡± pleaded Laura.


    ¡°You are driving,¡± brightened the captain''s voice with a realization. ¡°Car, drive through the crash barrier into the cliff now,¡± he commanded to the car.


    ¡°WHAT?! You can¡¯t do that, and it¡¯s not funny. I''m with my family. Who are you, you sick bastard?!¡±.


    She knew that level of hacking was practically impossible. Given her crucial role in the future of the colony ship, all her devices¡¯ security was hardened to the highest practical amount. The guy didn¡¯t even know she was in a car until a moment ago. He was definitely bluffing, she thought.


    The vehicle went full throttle. The steering wheel turned left towards the cliff.


    She reacted quickly, even though she was in massive shock. She firmly gripped the wheel with her hands and pressed the brake flat. She could only partially counter the deadly course set by the autonomous vehicle.


    The car started drifting forward at a 30% angle relative to the usual traffic movement.


    No one else was visible on the road with them.


    ¡°CODE RED PEG! CODE RED PEG,¡± she yelled, trying to summon the AI''s emergency response. PEG had already been trained and deployed. She was made for this type of situation. PEG would save them, she thought.


    The car hit a pothole. She compensated too much and lost control.


    The car crashed through the barrier and flew out of the cliff.


    Laura yelled, ¡°Car, remove divisions!¡±


    The white barrier instantly disappeared, showing her family.


    The air was filled with ear-damaging rock music.


    Jorge''s seat had turned and was facing Nikos towards the back of the vehicle.


    They were both air-playing the song, shaking their heads with closed eyes.


    The long blond hairs of Nikos were floating due to the car being in free fall. They were too distracted to notice what was happening.


    The drone REC4 spasmed into alertness in nanoseconds and quickly started recording all angles. He also attempted to alert PEG, broadcasting an emergency signal.


    ¡°Jorge! Nikos!¡° screamed Laura, moving towards them and remaining stuck in the locked seat belt.


    They didn¡¯t hear her. They were both screaming at the top of their lungs, ¡°Highway to hell!! I¡¯m on a highway to hell!!¡±.


    Then the car hit the ground.


    Laura woke up and surged from underwater, gasping for air.


    Just a vivid dream turned into a nightmare, she reassured herself quickly.


    She turned around but didn¡¯t see her candles in the darkness. She wasn¡¯t in the bathtub of her house and had fallen asleep once again.


    She was in the hibernation pod of the spaceship, traveling through the wormhole that would lead them to their future colony.

 Pansexual Passion Playoffs

    Arnaud Denim had won Nukusaba¡¯s Pansexual Passion Playoffs with an absolute clean sweep, gaining the privilege of being the captain of the next colony ship. A fit thought impossible until that moment.


    Planet Nukusaba¡¯s tuned economy and productivity were heavily based on gamification and rewards. Sex, for both entertainment and reproductive purposes, was the main currency of the economy. All citizens were free to meet privately or in public designated areas to partake in any form of sexual interaction.


    For every orgasm provided to someone else or for every batch of reproductive DNA received, an Erotoken was gained. Erotoken credit was displayed publicly for both social status and courtship display.


    Workers across all fields had great incentives to work hard and get bonuses since all their gains could be effectively traded for recreational or reproductive sex.


    Contraceptives were unnecessary and beside the point on Nukusaba. All sexual encounters were mediated by a GenoSync device. The GenoSync was a flexible sexual organ adapter capable of collecting DNA from any sort of sexual organ or apparatus.


    Currently, more than 37 types of sexual organs are present among the population. Researchers and businesses had scoured all the corners of the animal kingdom and nearby civilizations in search of new exotic sexual organs.


    The DNA collected from the participants was aggregated and deployed to artificial wombs. The offspring were born, nurtured, and raised by public institutions, never effectively meeting their biological parents.


    Crime, violence, and poverty had been effectively extinguished on the planet. Anyone was born with sex organs that could earn a living. Frustration and stress were quickly alleviated by a close-reachable release of oxytocin, the hormone produced during orgasm.


    The population was constantly increasing, making planet Nukusaba one of the most densely populated planets in its galaxy, if not the most. The high productivity and peacefulness of the citizens allowed the government to constantly find new ways to expand and support the ever-growing population.


    The recycling industry was top-notch and had substantial exports to nearby systems. The sanitation infrastructure on Nukusaba was a marvel of technology. Most crucially, it prevented the spread of disease that could be disastrous in such a dense population.


    Nukusaba had no formal police force but a special task force dedicated to preventing, investigating, and eradicating Sexually Transmitted Diseases.


    Government positions and exceptional appointments, like the STD taskforce and colony ship members, were battled during significant publicly broadcast fornication events.


    This brings us back to the latest appointment with Captain Arnaud Denim.


    Arnaud had an accumulated total score of 2688 induced orgasms. The second contestant, and all the others 62, had scored each 0 induced orgasms at the end of the game.


    Such a one-sided absolute win in a tournament of intercourse was simply mind-boggling and was previously thought to be plainly unfeasible.


    Arnaud had won by carefully executing a counter-intuitive strategy based on the highest restraint.


    The participants in the Passion Playoffs were pre-selected by choosing the 64 individuals with the highest Erotoken status. The tournament rules were well-defined, and a trained group of referees was present live. Every orgasm induced on another contestant counted as a point. Each of the 3 tournament rounds required every participant to be in at least one match with every other participant. Each match could host any number of participants, from 1 vs 1 to large orgies.


    The players could form alliances and even trade-induced orgasms for favors and support in future matches. By the end of a round, every participant had met with 63 other participants. The induced orgasms produced by each contestant in each of the three rounds were then summed to calculate the final score.


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    Arnaud had accumulated a total of 0 induced orgasms during the first round. This was an incredibly poor result, which had only been seen in charity sports events featuring geriatric players, which were watched mostly for comedic reasons.


    Arnaud had scheduled exclusively 1 vs 1 matches. The initial location of each match had been a restaurant. Not an uncommon decision, given menus commonly offered delicacies with proven aphrodisiac properties. Arnaud had not suggested the move to another location where the real match could start. In fact, He had actively postponed it. He deliberately kept chatting with his opponent, asking them questions about their personal life, their families, hobbies, and sexual conquests. He listened, making the other players feel at ease, respected, and admired. During the second round, he met with the opponents at restaurants again.


    Each opponent knew him well by now and was eager to meet again and move forward with the intimacies.


    Arnaud skillfully managed to avoid moving to any second location, claiming that the buildup of excitement would pay off mainly during the third round.


    The other players went along with it. Tantric sexual techniques of withholding sexual climax to induce later massive quantities of orgasms were known to be some of the rarest but most effective strategies.


    By the last round, every player in the tournament was looking to have the final private show-down with him.


    Arnaud met them one by one again in the restaurants. The tension was palpable, and Arnaud maneuvered not to move to a second location until the opponent was on the verge of openly throwing a tantrum fit and leaving. At that point, Arnaud finally agreed to move to a second location in a hotel that featured dark, quiet rooms with mystical-themed low music.


    The other players were relieved and excited when they saw Arnaud had also brought a gigantic box on wheels to carry his sex toys.


    It was standard practice for all participants to have several bags and hire sherpas to carry all the equipment necessary for the matches.


    Arnaud had moved forward the preliminaries, slowly undressing their opponents in the dark-lit rooms.


    They were gently pushed to the bed and asked to wait while Arnaud opened his box. ¡°Ah ah ah, don¡¯t look!¡± he told them while inconspicuously taking out something without allowing them to see the content. He pretended to catch them, inevitably peering to see inside the box. ¡°Someone has been naughty and needs to be restrained,¡± said Arnaud, showing them a pair of handcuffs complemented with other restraining accessories.


    They delightfully agreed to put on the restraints, taking for granted the real fun was about to begin.


    Arnaud returned to the big box and slowly dragged it next to his lover. He opened the box slowly, and with trepidation, the other players finally saw its content: a set of feathers and other similarly shaped objects.


    Surprise and concern raised to their voices: ¡°That¡¯s lovely dear, but maybe you were misinformed about my sexual organs types and compatible sex toys?!¡±.


    ¡°Oh no, I think I¡¯ve got the right tools,¡± said Arnaud, taking a feather and switching off the light completely. Arnaud moved with precision in the dark. He started by lightly touching their bodies with the feathers.


    It wasn¡¯t long before the other players struggled to contain loud moans of pleasure, realizing a feather''s extraordinary efficacy in skilled hands.


    Arnaud kept going for a long until he felt the feather was not building momentum anymore. He then switched using his hands and then mouth. He carefully brought his adversaries to the cliff of release just to stop abruptly.


    They asked him why he had stopped.


    ¡°Oh, sorry, I thought you were done. Let me start again,¡± teased them.


    He took his time and slowly brought the edge again to stop abruptly.


    ¡°God damn it! I was almost there. This is utterly unprofessional,¡± screamed someone!


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. We can finish here if you think this encounter is not up to your standards,¡± apologized Arnaud.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine¡­ just keep going¡­ don¡¯t stop¡­ you are doing well,¡± someone patronized him.


    Once again, Arnaud built up the intensity and stopped abruptly seconds short of the final explosion.


    ¡°Ahhhh, Why?! Why?!¡± someone asked him.


    ¡°You have to say pretty please,¡± answered Arnaud.


    He kept going, teasing them to the limit and then stopping.


    Some were enraged and tried spasmodically to get out of the harnesses.


    He held them down and resumed teasing them, paralyzing their muscles with new waves of pleasure.


    Finally, when they were on the verge of passing out from physical exhaustion and mental dizziness, he told them, ¡°Beg me now! Pledge to keep this night a secret. Transfer me all your orgasmic points during this tournament. I shall grant you your heart¡¯s desire.¡±.


    He unlocked their restraints and gave them their devices.


    They transferred their induced orgasms to his account willingly asking no question. They signed an NDA not to divulge what had happened that night before the tournament was finished. They had turned back to face him without resentment but with respect and admiration for a great player and his long-term dedication to the game.


    ¡°I beg you, I want you now! Please!¡± they whispered.


    He smiled and embraced them, finally offering the whole of himself until the much-delayed climax.


    Arnaud Denim had won Nukusaba¡¯s Passion Playoffs with an absolute clean sweep, gaining the privilege of being the captain of the next colony ship.


    All the news reported the astounding performance of the athlete.


    Everyone firmly believed the new captain would fare well, applying his strategic mind to colonizing new worlds.

 Dying in a pod

    Laura coughed out all the hibernation fluid in her lungs. She then remained sitting and shaking in the freezing water rising to her chest.


    Her arms were tied around her legs while sobbing.


    An automated voice promptly announced calmly, ¡°Warming,¡± and the pod''s water started to warm pleasurably.


    Her body temperature rose to average levels quickly. She kept shaking, still seeing flashes of the nightmarish car cash she had just experienced.


    The room was dimly lit with a subtle ambiance light to soothe the waking.


    Her eyes were slowly regaining usability, but so were the tears.


    A mechanical arm extended her a bottle with a straw.


    She sipped eagerly, surprised by the nice flavor of the hibernation breakfast fluid.


    She felt a jolt of adrenaline as the drug in the fluid kicked in quickly.


    PEG spoke calmly in the darkness: ¡°Welcome back, Laura.¡±


    Laura was startled and almost fell back, lying underwater.


    ¡°You sick bastards,¡± she managed to yell while getting her balance back.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Laura,¡± she said PEG.


    ¡°Why did you make me lose them again?¡± yelled Laura angrily.


    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m sorry, no, it wasn¡¯t on purpose, I needed to wake you up¡­¡± panicked PEG, reading the last lines of events of Laura¡¯s life before the departure of hibernation.


    ¡°Where is Lars? Tell him to come here. I¡¯m going to drown him in this pool,¡± fantasized murderously the woman.


    ¡°You can¡¯t. Captain Lars Lim is dead, and so will be every other colonist on this ship in 1 minute and 19 seconds,¡± announced PEG.


    Laura suddenly stopped and remained silent for a moment.


    ¡°But I just talked to him in the dream?¡± she asked.


    ¡°No, no, it was me simulating his voice. The captain was already dead. You were injected with the euthanizing nanobots and were having a wonderful last dream. That would have certainly made your defrosting slower than 10 minutes. So I had to create a traumatic event to make you want to leave the dream and de-hibernate as fast as you could.¡± explained PEG.


    "10 seconds to euthanization,¡± announced a timer.


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    ¡°WHAT?! Only 10 seconds?!¡± she panicked Laura.


    ¡°Acting Captain Laura Shane, do you order me to stop the euthanization and save everyone?¡± asked PEG.


    ¡°Of cou... Ye¡­I order you to,¡± rushed Laura.


    PEG interrupted her astonished blabbering by saying, ¡°The euthanization has been stopped T-3 seconds, captain¡±.


    There was a long silence while Laura collected her thoughts on what had happened.


    ¡°Thank you, Laura. Your order overrode the previous one from Captain Lars. Please finish up here and then join me on the bridge. I want to bring you up to speed¡±.


    Laura was happy to finally have a moment of rest.


    She was still naked in the tepid water.


    The water started draining from the pad, and a warm current precisely dried her body gently,


    Mechanical arms help standing, but she realized she didn¡¯t need them so much.


    She was a bit groggy, but her muscles were not atrophied. She grasped her thighs¡¯ muscles and felt their tone. She flexed a few other muscles, glad to realize she was in excellent shape. She had never been in such good shape ever in her life. Even her scars were healed. She had finally got the anti-aging treatment she hadn¡¯t been able to afford. She had been much more focused on investing in her family''s future and her son¡¯s education. Then, the irony fell on her.


    ¡°What a devil¡¯s bargain I made,¡± she said. They took my family and made me young again,¡± she said, feeling cheated. ¡°And they say that the devil has already died, and I can¡¯t even kill him.. We¡¯ll see. This mass euthanasia on an entire colony ship sounds just so improbable. Something¡¯s up. Maybe Lars is alive. Maybe the AI is glitching, and one moment is killing everyone, and one moment is saving everyone. I need to get to the bottom of this," she thought.


    While absorbed in her thoughts, mechanical arms gently helped her limbs assume the dressing pose with spread legs and arms. Two more arms were carrying clothes split in half front and half back.


    The arms neatly attached the two halves to her and sealed them together on both left and right.


    No heat was felt, and no mark was left in the joining.


    Layer after layer, she was fully dressed in her Geometr¨¦s Guild Master official clothes with the rank insignia of captain pinned to her chest.


    ¡°Anti-gravity fluctuation is recommended in the dimly lit hibernation room,¡± was announced for the last step of the defrosting procedure.


    She realized she was in a stupendously long room hosting 420.000 naked, muscled-up humans who deserved privacy.


    She passed through an intangible separator and was in a bright room.


    This was the part where she would be given a welcome package and shown where the rest of her rest family was waiting for her. For Laura, there was no time to rest and no family to hug again.


    The anti-gravity fluctuation brought her through all the corridors of the ship she knew well. She had visited them many times during construction in the space shipyard in orbit around her planet.


    She finally reached the bridge and saw it in all its glory. The outside view showed a solid planet of many colors, including green and blue. She thought something was off, though.


    ¡°Welcome, First Captain Laura Shane. You can take the bridge¡±.


    ¡°I take the bridge,¡± recited Laura.


    The empty chair of the captain reminded her of Lars, and she lost her composure.


    She jumped forward, expecting Lars to be hidden, crouching behind the chair to surprise her.


    ¡°I was expecting Lars to jump out to tell me the mass euthanization was also a sick joke,¡± explained Laura, still flashing her eyes around the corners of the room.


    ¡°Laura, I¡¯m an AI. I would never execute a cruel and traumatizing practical joke on a crew member,¡± reassured PEG calmly.


    ¡°Then the captain ordered you to do it. As the new captain, I order you to tell me where Lars Lim is. I promise he¡¯ll receive a fair trial,¡± negotiated Laura with the newfound authority of her uniform with clearly bad intentions for the trial''s outcome.


    PEG took her time to answer, busied on the results of the script stopping the euthanization process. The AI had received diagnostic reports of the health recovery of the colonists. Most were not recovering.


    ¡°I have terrible news to give you, captain: the euthanization abort script didn¡¯t run through fully successfully. Despite being in the 10-minute window with full recoverability, I could stop the process and remain in the recoverability window for two more hours. The problem is that I will have to control the nanobots manually, and a few million nanobots will be needed for each colonist to fix the damaged vital organs. This is a seriously intense computation I¡¯ll have to run, requiring a great ton of energy. I will be able to recover only 40% of the colonists fully. The other 60% will not survive.¡±


    40/60 was a terribly particular proportion to Laura directly linked to the loss of her family. Her eyes went vague, and her mouth slouched. The horrible, real memories started to flash back behind her eyes.


    She was revisiting the day of the departure of the colony ship¡­