Specimen(5)

Riley takes the tablet over to the computer table and sets it down. I tilt my head up to get a better look at her, but end up looking down my own body instead. My erection is clearly visible under the sheets, but I don’t feel any embarrassment by this. On the contrary, I wish she’d take a better look, maybe pull back the sheet, take my dick in her hand, and stroke it for a while.

The mirror wall. Someone may be watching.

I’m not sure I care.

The images in my head are doing nothing to help the condition of my cock. I close my eyes and try to empty my mind, but the thoughts persist. I should try to think about sports or kittens or maybe farming.

Farming?

“Do you have any specific questions for me?” Riley is next to me on the rolling chair.

“Where am I?” I ask as I try to direct my mind toward her words.

“You are in one of the Mills Conglomerate medical facilities,” she says.

“Mills Conglomerate?”

“The preeminent corporation in this hemisphere. The Mills Conglomerate is dedicated to the health of its people and is responsible for the safety of all the families in its occupied territories. The corporation protects its citizens and maintains the peace.”

“Protects them from what?”

Riley rubs her lower lip with her teeth and takes in a large breath. She leans back against the chair, crosses her legs, and locks her fingers together around her knee. I imagine my own fingers taking a hold of that same knee and pulling her leg back over my shoulder. I wonder if she tastes as sweet as she smells.

“Let me back up a little. Do you have any memories of the war?”

I blink and glance back to her face, concentrating on her question. I try to search my head for any information about a war, but I remember nothing.

“None.”

“We’ll start with a history lesson, then.” Her eyes lock with mine, and though my erection has subsided, my skin still feels like it’s vibrating when she looks at me. I can’t take my eyes off of her. “Thirty years ago, the four major corporations of the world were divided by specific tasks—health and safety, advancement of technology, education and job assignment, and agriculture and food production. Everything was balanced, resources were plentiful, and there was little need for disputes because everyone had what they needed. Trade flourished. People were happy and prosperous, but that all changed.”

A chill runs through me as she continues.

“Twenty-seven years ago, a giant comet passed through our solar system. The technology division, a corporation called Danuk, discovered what was coming three years before, but there was little they could do. They launched robotic probes to try to nudge if off course. The probes worked to a degree, altering the course enough to keep it from hitting the planet, but it wouldn’t be enough. We didn’t know exactly what kind of impact it would have, only that it would pass close enough to Earth to have devastating effects.

“When the comet passed by, chunks of it broke off and fell to the planet, some as large as a kilometer across. Massive impacts devastated equatorial landmasses and sent enough debris into the atmosphere to cool the entire planet. Crops died. Rainfall nearly ceased around the globe, and supplies of fresh water surpassed grain on the value market, which shifted the economy overnight. We had to rely on stored food for a decade as we tried to counter the devastation.

“Allied Agriculture had been the second highest corporation on the value market with Mills being first. People began to divide into two factions—those that sought to repair the ecosystems and those who believed the population wouldn’t survive long enough to achieve that goal. We believed that technology would better serve the future.”

She stops for a moment and smiles.

“My family was in the medical division, and my father, Robert Grace, worked directly for Mills. He had already been working on alternate food sources when the comet was discovered. He knew it was our only chance, but he had colleagues that disagreed. Some of them defected and went to the Carson Administration—the education sector. As more and more people began to switch sides, ideologies became further divided. Education sided with agriculture, and technology sided with health.

“In the end, Mills absorbed Danuk, and Carson joined with Allied Agriculture, forming the Carson Alliance. Graham Mills, the president of the Mills Conglomerate, had the foresight to understand my father’s position and the need for synthetic nourishment. He focused the technology division on that goal. The Carson Alliance perceived this as a direct threat to their profitability, believing the technical resources should be devoted to improving agriculture and replenishing resources.”