Part 50
Ms. Danoob smiled for the assembled board members. It was forced, in the sense she had no inclination to smile, because aside of being tickled there were few things in the universe that could compel a smile from her. But the years of practice meant that every look or gesture or word from her seemed as natural as any other. That wasn’t to say they didn't lend themselves to suspicion, but rather, if even the truth feels like a lie, then there's no real way to tell one from the other.
"As expected," she said, indicating the chart projected behind her, "Crossroads required a great deal of input capital to begin, but it's already reaping the rewards. Even factoring in the expenses of the past year, we have turned a profit of four hundred million dollars."
"That's not exactly the great riches you promised," Mrs. Tandon pointed out. "In fact I believe that's one percent of our investment capital."
"Yes," Ms. Danoob admitted, "but the greatest expenditures are behind us now. We have our team in place, and even the little operations they've been able to do this past year have not only given us all the facilities we need for our operations, but turned a substantial profit. This year will be far greater, I assure you."
Mr. Bennet cleared his throat. "You have been handling things rather well," he said, his tone very subdued compared to normal. "But I heard reports of one of your operatives being under the influence of someone else... that we will be permanently losing her."
Ms. Danoob's insincere smile never flickered. "Ah, Seven? I suppose I should clarify-"
"My sources tell me that she is leaving permanently," Mrs. Tandon interrupted. "Is this true or not? Have we lost one of our very expensive operatives, and if so, what will be the impact on the rest of the team, and future operations?"
Ms. Danoob stared at her. There was no malice or threat, in fact, it was devoid of anything. That was perhaps far more unnerving than anything else could be. "Seven cannot be controlled. In the end, we cannot force any of our teammates to stay - they're too strong to risk strong-arming them. We can only hope that our conditioning convinces them they should stay."
"And has it worked in this case?" Mrs. Tandon asked. "Or have we lost Seven? Is your conditioning not what we were promised?"
Mrs. Danoob responded with the same stare. "My process is perfect," she said, and for a moment, there was just a hint of the person underneath the shell peering through, enough to cause even the staunchest board members to squirm in their chairs at the sight.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There was a knock; Mara looked up and saw Seven was letting herself in. "Hello, Mara," Seven said.
Mara straightened up and looked at her. "Hi, Seven." She swallowed. "To say I owe you an apology would be the biggest understatement in the universe." She wet her lips. "I have no excuse for how I reacted... it was unforgivable."
"It was many things," Seven said. "It was hurtful and evil and absolutely despicable in every way." She stood face to face with Mara. "But even that can be forgiven... if you love someone enough." She looked down. "You need to understand, Mara, that what I have with Ronald is something special... and it has opened me up to new experiences. As- as crass as it may sound, I have found a great deal of pleasure making love with someone inside me."
Mara swallowed again, and glanced away. "I'm sure... and that's, obviously, something I could never really do. Not like that."
"Not like that," Seven agreed. She gently took hold of Mara's chin and turned her back to face her. "But make no mistake; whenever we make love, you are inside me." She put Mara's hand over her own heart. "And that feels more wonderful than anything I can imagine."
Mara's jaw began trembling. "Seven... what are you saying."
Seven was fighting her emotions, but the tears were still finding their way out. "I said goodbye to Ronald, because ... because if I was told to choose between the most wonderful sex in the universe or a life of celibacy in your arms, I'd always choose you, Mara. Because you have always found ways that make me feel wonderful that are beyond anything that can be done in a bedroom. When I make love to you... it's the 'love' part that's important."
Mara couldn't contain herself any more. Sobbing, she clung to Seven so hard that even the Borg girl winced. "I- I- I- I thought I'd l-l-lost you!" she wept. "I d-d-didn't kn-know how I was going to live without you!"
Seven was weeping too now. "I don't know how I ever thought I could have," she replied.
What followed was not what any observer would have likely expected. This did not become a deep kiss that led into a frenzy of carnal acts, or yet another chance for the two to share their mutual love of tickling. Make no mistake, they would come in time - in fact, the days and nights ahead would be filled with them. But now, at this moment, there was something far more important than the needs of the flesh... it was the needs of the soul. Mara was able to tap into a power that went beyond the limitations of the physical. Seven was partly machine. Yet, in that part of themselves, they were still all too human. And so they held one another for a long time, letting the touch and the whispered words heal the wounds that struck in this most fragile of places. There was time now to indulge in the passing of moments, because they were each a moment they wanted to spend the rest of their lives in.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Starbuck and Samus walked up the corridors together in their off duty wear. In the wake of the attack and the arrival of goods from the Terran Empire, they had a much needed bit of time to relax, and Starbuck was filling her in on that.
"Everybody goes through something like this while they're here," Starbuck explained. "All five of us are kind of alpha females in our own way."
"So I've noticed," Samus aid. "Though some seem to try to become leader of the pack."
"Yeah," Starbuck said. "That's why we occasionally have to knock someone down a peg or two." The door to her quarter opened. "Am I right, lover?"
Lara glared at her from the bed; she'd been tied down in a spread-eagle position. "You are a dead woman," she said coldly.
"This is what I'm talking about," Starbuck explained to Samus. "Come on in and give me a hand." Samus followed her, sizing up the situation. "The thing to learn here," Starbuck said as she straddled Lara's tummy, "is that tickling is a lot like Christmas: it's usually a lot more fun to give than to receive."
"So dead," Lara growled.
"I'm just helping Samus feel like part of the team... sharing my toys with her."
Lara's look seemed ready to set Starbuck's hair on fire. "When I pay you... pay you back... heh heh heh ha-ha-haha..." Starbuck was digging her fingers into Lara's ribs.
"We all get paid back," Starbuck explained to Samus. "Sooner or later, you're going to get tickled again. You, me, even the boss herself. You've just got to learn," and she really started wriggling her fingers in, so that Lara was screaming with laughter, "to grin and bear it."
Samus smiled, took Lara's foot in her hand, and skittered her nails across the sole. "Oh yes," she said," as she felt the satisfying tugs and twitches to escape, "I see exactly what you mean, Kara." She ran her nails up
Lara roared with laughter and thrashed about on the bed. "Oh hahaha you two are so dead! WA-HAHAHA!"
"Let me let you in on another secret," Starbuck said to Samus as she began pinching and prodding Lara's flanks until the poor woman began hiccupping, "this never, ever, stops being fun."
Samus began scratching along the spot by her toes, as Lara had done to her previously. The shrieks of laughter took on a higher pitch and Lara tried so hard to get her feet away. Samus just smirked at it and went at it even harder. "I think I see exactly what you mean.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Danoob walked up the corridor with her unique walk; it said simultaneously that her destination was important, but only because she decided it was worthy of being important, and while it carried no threats, it also said no one should get in her way.
She rounded the corner, and Seven was standing there, arms folded, in her way. "Yes?" Ms. Danoob asked in a voice that said nothing she didn't want it to.
"Someone tampered with my alcove," Seven explained. "It was supposed to help regenerate me, but it uploaded data into my engrams."
"I see," Ms. Danoob said. "Well, that is what it's for, after all."
"I said that I would not tolerate any efforts to sneak information past my defenses," Seven said coldly.
"I see," Ms. Danoob said again. "Is that what you feel happened here?"
"Yes," Seven said. "All the recorded footage of Mara, alone... someone had to know that would get past my defenses."
Ms. Danoob met the remark with a measured silence. "Sometimes our defenses inhibit our vision. Sometimes something needs to be slipped past them so we can finally see it, without anything getting in the way."
"Yes," Seven said. "Why did you do it, really?"
Ms. Danoob's face smiled, though no one could know if it was real or not. "Seven, I could tell you many reasons, but over this past year you've gotten to know me well enough to know that I am just as likely as not telling you something you want to hear."
Seven cracked her knuckles loudly. "I could tickle it out of you," she observed with a lopsided grin.
"You could tickle a answer, but not necessarily the answer." Ms. Danoob offered her own lopsided grin back. "Much as I'd like to have you try."
"Was it for the sake of me and Mara?" Seven asked. "Or was it just so you wouldn’t lose an asset? Are you just this frigid woman who plays chess games with our lives, or is there something human in there after all?"
Ms. Danoob looked left, and then right; they were alone. She leaned over to Seven's ear, and whispered, "My armpits... I'm frightfully ticklish there. Be sure to focus on them." She patted Seven on a shoulder and began walking. "I have to give my annual report to the board," she said in a loud voice. "Perhaps another time I can fit you in." And Seven was left watching her leave, not sure what to make of it... which , of course, was exactly how Ms. Danoob liked to keep people.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Crossroads Facility has lost no one," Ms. Danoob said. "And I assure you that no one will be leaving unless I allow it. This has been a good year, and I can promise you all that the next will far surpass it." She offered a final smile. "In fact, I suspect the fun is only just starting."
The End
Ms. Danoob smiled for the assembled board members. It was forced, in the sense she had no inclination to smile, because aside of being tickled there were few things in the universe that could compel a smile from her. But the years of practice meant that every look or gesture or word from her seemed as natural as any other. That wasn’t to say they didn't lend themselves to suspicion, but rather, if even the truth feels like a lie, then there's no real way to tell one from the other.
"As expected," she said, indicating the chart projected behind her, "Crossroads required a great deal of input capital to begin, but it's already reaping the rewards. Even factoring in the expenses of the past year, we have turned a profit of four hundred million dollars."
"That's not exactly the great riches you promised," Mrs. Tandon pointed out. "In fact I believe that's one percent of our investment capital."
"Yes," Ms. Danoob admitted, "but the greatest expenditures are behind us now. We have our team in place, and even the little operations they've been able to do this past year have not only given us all the facilities we need for our operations, but turned a substantial profit. This year will be far greater, I assure you."
Mr. Bennet cleared his throat. "You have been handling things rather well," he said, his tone very subdued compared to normal. "But I heard reports of one of your operatives being under the influence of someone else... that we will be permanently losing her."
Ms. Danoob's insincere smile never flickered. "Ah, Seven? I suppose I should clarify-"
"My sources tell me that she is leaving permanently," Mrs. Tandon interrupted. "Is this true or not? Have we lost one of our very expensive operatives, and if so, what will be the impact on the rest of the team, and future operations?"
Ms. Danoob stared at her. There was no malice or threat, in fact, it was devoid of anything. That was perhaps far more unnerving than anything else could be. "Seven cannot be controlled. In the end, we cannot force any of our teammates to stay - they're too strong to risk strong-arming them. We can only hope that our conditioning convinces them they should stay."
"And has it worked in this case?" Mrs. Tandon asked. "Or have we lost Seven? Is your conditioning not what we were promised?"
Mrs. Danoob responded with the same stare. "My process is perfect," she said, and for a moment, there was just a hint of the person underneath the shell peering through, enough to cause even the staunchest board members to squirm in their chairs at the sight.
--------------------------------------------------------------
There was a knock; Mara looked up and saw Seven was letting herself in. "Hello, Mara," Seven said.
Mara straightened up and looked at her. "Hi, Seven." She swallowed. "To say I owe you an apology would be the biggest understatement in the universe." She wet her lips. "I have no excuse for how I reacted... it was unforgivable."
"It was many things," Seven said. "It was hurtful and evil and absolutely despicable in every way." She stood face to face with Mara. "But even that can be forgiven... if you love someone enough." She looked down. "You need to understand, Mara, that what I have with Ronald is something special... and it has opened me up to new experiences. As- as crass as it may sound, I have found a great deal of pleasure making love with someone inside me."
Mara swallowed again, and glanced away. "I'm sure... and that's, obviously, something I could never really do. Not like that."
"Not like that," Seven agreed. She gently took hold of Mara's chin and turned her back to face her. "But make no mistake; whenever we make love, you are inside me." She put Mara's hand over her own heart. "And that feels more wonderful than anything I can imagine."
Mara's jaw began trembling. "Seven... what are you saying."
Seven was fighting her emotions, but the tears were still finding their way out. "I said goodbye to Ronald, because ... because if I was told to choose between the most wonderful sex in the universe or a life of celibacy in your arms, I'd always choose you, Mara. Because you have always found ways that make me feel wonderful that are beyond anything that can be done in a bedroom. When I make love to you... it's the 'love' part that's important."
Mara couldn't contain herself any more. Sobbing, she clung to Seven so hard that even the Borg girl winced. "I- I- I- I thought I'd l-l-lost you!" she wept. "I d-d-didn't kn-know how I was going to live without you!"
Seven was weeping too now. "I don't know how I ever thought I could have," she replied.
What followed was not what any observer would have likely expected. This did not become a deep kiss that led into a frenzy of carnal acts, or yet another chance for the two to share their mutual love of tickling. Make no mistake, they would come in time - in fact, the days and nights ahead would be filled with them. But now, at this moment, there was something far more important than the needs of the flesh... it was the needs of the soul. Mara was able to tap into a power that went beyond the limitations of the physical. Seven was partly machine. Yet, in that part of themselves, they were still all too human. And so they held one another for a long time, letting the touch and the whispered words heal the wounds that struck in this most fragile of places. There was time now to indulge in the passing of moments, because they were each a moment they wanted to spend the rest of their lives in.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Starbuck and Samus walked up the corridors together in their off duty wear. In the wake of the attack and the arrival of goods from the Terran Empire, they had a much needed bit of time to relax, and Starbuck was filling her in on that.
"Everybody goes through something like this while they're here," Starbuck explained. "All five of us are kind of alpha females in our own way."
"So I've noticed," Samus aid. "Though some seem to try to become leader of the pack."
"Yeah," Starbuck said. "That's why we occasionally have to knock someone down a peg or two." The door to her quarter opened. "Am I right, lover?"
Lara glared at her from the bed; she'd been tied down in a spread-eagle position. "You are a dead woman," she said coldly.
"This is what I'm talking about," Starbuck explained to Samus. "Come on in and give me a hand." Samus followed her, sizing up the situation. "The thing to learn here," Starbuck said as she straddled Lara's tummy, "is that tickling is a lot like Christmas: it's usually a lot more fun to give than to receive."
"So dead," Lara growled.
"I'm just helping Samus feel like part of the team... sharing my toys with her."
Lara's look seemed ready to set Starbuck's hair on fire. "When I pay you... pay you back... heh heh heh ha-ha-haha..." Starbuck was digging her fingers into Lara's ribs.
"We all get paid back," Starbuck explained to Samus. "Sooner or later, you're going to get tickled again. You, me, even the boss herself. You've just got to learn," and she really started wriggling her fingers in, so that Lara was screaming with laughter, "to grin and bear it."
Samus smiled, took Lara's foot in her hand, and skittered her nails across the sole. "Oh yes," she said," as she felt the satisfying tugs and twitches to escape, "I see exactly what you mean, Kara." She ran her nails up
Lara roared with laughter and thrashed about on the bed. "Oh hahaha you two are so dead! WA-HAHAHA!"
"Let me let you in on another secret," Starbuck said to Samus as she began pinching and prodding Lara's flanks until the poor woman began hiccupping, "this never, ever, stops being fun."
Samus began scratching along the spot by her toes, as Lara had done to her previously. The shrieks of laughter took on a higher pitch and Lara tried so hard to get her feet away. Samus just smirked at it and went at it even harder. "I think I see exactly what you mean.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Danoob walked up the corridor with her unique walk; it said simultaneously that her destination was important, but only because she decided it was worthy of being important, and while it carried no threats, it also said no one should get in her way.
She rounded the corner, and Seven was standing there, arms folded, in her way. "Yes?" Ms. Danoob asked in a voice that said nothing she didn't want it to.
"Someone tampered with my alcove," Seven explained. "It was supposed to help regenerate me, but it uploaded data into my engrams."
"I see," Ms. Danoob said. "Well, that is what it's for, after all."
"I said that I would not tolerate any efforts to sneak information past my defenses," Seven said coldly.
"I see," Ms. Danoob said again. "Is that what you feel happened here?"
"Yes," Seven said. "All the recorded footage of Mara, alone... someone had to know that would get past my defenses."
Ms. Danoob met the remark with a measured silence. "Sometimes our defenses inhibit our vision. Sometimes something needs to be slipped past them so we can finally see it, without anything getting in the way."
"Yes," Seven said. "Why did you do it, really?"
Ms. Danoob's face smiled, though no one could know if it was real or not. "Seven, I could tell you many reasons, but over this past year you've gotten to know me well enough to know that I am just as likely as not telling you something you want to hear."
Seven cracked her knuckles loudly. "I could tickle it out of you," she observed with a lopsided grin.
"You could tickle a answer, but not necessarily the answer." Ms. Danoob offered her own lopsided grin back. "Much as I'd like to have you try."
"Was it for the sake of me and Mara?" Seven asked. "Or was it just so you wouldn’t lose an asset? Are you just this frigid woman who plays chess games with our lives, or is there something human in there after all?"
Ms. Danoob looked left, and then right; they were alone. She leaned over to Seven's ear, and whispered, "My armpits... I'm frightfully ticklish there. Be sure to focus on them." She patted Seven on a shoulder and began walking. "I have to give my annual report to the board," she said in a loud voice. "Perhaps another time I can fit you in." And Seven was left watching her leave, not sure what to make of it... which , of course, was exactly how Ms. Danoob liked to keep people.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Crossroads Facility has lost no one," Ms. Danoob said. "And I assure you that no one will be leaving unless I allow it. This has been a good year, and I can promise you all that the next will far surpass it." She offered a final smile. "In fact, I suspect the fun is only just starting."
The End
