“Well, what do you think? Am I crazy?”
That seemed to break the spell and just like that she was back in the moment again. Her eyes met his.
“I think you are a smart man. I think I was correct in bringing our issues to you to unravel. And I think we need to finish this conversation in your room.”
Hamlin smiled. “Two out of three ain’t bad. At least I somewhat captured your attention.”
“Oh, you have my attention. Now let’s go so you can have the rest of me.”
Hamlin stood. “How can I say no to that?”
This one took some time. Lena was determined not to let him have a quick end to it. Every time things were going well enough to bring him to the brink, she would disengage and try a different approach. He was learning something new every time they made out. Finally his body started sending him the message that it was time and by the way, you cannot take no for an answer. Get it done, and done now.
Finally, once his exertions were spent, he couldn’t hold himself up any longer and collapsed on top of her, panting and sweaty.
“So now you take control,” she purred. “You have never been so forceful before. This is a side of you that I like.”
“My God. You’re turning me into a full blown, unadulterated pervert. Is there any possible way left to screw you that you haven’t had me try?”
“Hmm. Maybe one or two minor variations. I think you have all the basics covered now.”
“Do I get a certificate of some sort?”
She giggled.
“Do you want me to get off?”
“No. I like the feel of your weight pushing on me. And I like to let your little soldier retreat slowly, waiting for orders from command central, if you know what I mean.”
“If he stays in there long enough, I’m not sure if he’ll even do a complete retreat.”
She nuzzled the side of his face and kissed his cheek. “If he snaps back to attention, that would be fine too.”
“Stop talking dirty long enough to tell me what you think about my theory.”
She grunted and not in a good way.
“All right.” She sighed. “I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t be quick to completely dismiss your ideas. It would definitely help to explain the presence of the weapons. But really? Is it possible that your government could sanction something like this?”
He lifted himself a little and kissed her on the forehead.
“I don’t know. That’s the question I keep asking myself over and over. I want to say no. But in truth, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a small faction that the president doesn’t even know about. Maybe it’s a rogue group that wants to sell it to the highest bidder. But you know what’s really funny about this, don’t you?”
“What could possibly be funny about this?”
“The samples are gone! We burned down the lab and everything in it. Until a full drilling crew is here and all the equipment brought back to running order, there won’t be any virus for anybody. Sorry, better luck next year. The apocalypse starter kit you ordered is out of stock. Too bad that you’ll have to wait to destroy the world. And oh, incidentally, I guess you don’t have to machine gun all of us now, right?”
“It is a most unpleasant hypothesis, Francis.”
“Yes. And the question is—what do we do? Anything? Nothing? Arm ourselves? Start posting a guard again? Tell the others? Hide it from the others?”
“Sokolov probably has your research results on his hard drive.”
“True. But that won’t give anybody the virus.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
“What I would really like; what I was hoping you were going to provide, is a synopsis that excludes any conspiracy and evil intentions, especially to the extent that my own government is involved. You know, the worst thoughts I have ever had about my elected officials thus far have been about tax rates and road repairs. This opens a whole new and very disturbing list of possibilities. And it means I qualify to apply to be a card carrying member of the conspiracy theory association. I never thought that day would ever arrive.”
Lena leaned up and kissed the side of his neck.
“It takes us to a very dark place, does it not?”
He lost his emotional grip for but an instant and his feelings boiled over.
“This whole experience has been dark! And I volunteered to come here! Everything here is dark, nasty, and unpleasant. It’s been a truly evil place.”
He paused to collect his thoughts and looked down at the nude form of his willing partner still pinned under his weight. She perceived his thoughts and smiled. At that, he twitched briefly.
“Everything is unpleasant? There is nothing good at all?”
“Well, maybe one thing.”
“Hmm. Well, if I’m going to lay here naked with my legs spread apart, and you’re going to straddle me, I think we might as well make the best of it. When you have finished your task, then we can think about this doomsday hypothesis and figure out what to do next.”
“I do believe that you’re disconcertingly addictive.”
She grasped her breasts while she knew he was watching and started to play with them.
“You don’t say?”
“Imagine if cocaine had a vagina. That’s you.”
She laughed. “Do your work before somebody starts to worry about why we’ve been in here so long.”
He discovered that he could still follow orders nicely.
The next day arrived with the storm winds still howling. Once again, Hamlin chose to go out anyway. He could mark more locations and cover more of the grid. It was all good.
Things went well. He marked three more spots to add to those he had discovered the previous day. Once again, as he drove along and let his mind wander unstructured, a thought formed of its own accord and jumped out at him. This one got his heart racing. He wasn’t certain of its validity, but the implication seemed to be profound. He turned around and headed back to the barracks early.
Nobody was there to see him come in, which was great as far as he was concerned. He slipped into the geology lab and shut the door behind himself.
Lena and Zoya both looked up in mild surprise. Suddenly he was no longer convinced that this couldn’t have waited.
“Hi ladies. How are things going?” It came out artificially benign and awkward.
“Dr. Hamlin,” Lena said formally. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company? No problems with your search I hope.”
He shook his head as he responded. “No. I found a few more sample sites. Hopefully I can reach them tomorrow and start collecting all this swag.”
“Excellent.” She stared at him expectantly.
“I, uh, was wondering if maybe I could have a word. Alone I guess. If you’re not too busy.”
She seemed hesitant on how she was going to respond.
“Francis, forgive me, but I made a unilateral executive decision earlier this morning.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told Zoya about the weapons. And our theories.”
“Oh.” His response was subdued.
Zoya held up a hand as if trying to stop traffic before crossing a busy street.
“It’s all right. We can trust each other. We all have the same goals, no?”
Lena smirked. “We three form a very exclusive club. I’ll call it The Loyal Order of Hamlin’s Penis. You either have to be wearing it or have had it in you. Let’s hope nobody else at the station qualifies to be a member besides us.”
Hamlin sneered. “Oh, very funny. I think that’s safe to say.”
“Even Vitsin?”
Zoya giggled.