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Ruby631 — Level 2: Lust
Published: 2008-10-07 02:13:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 141; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 3
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Dr. Silvia Vention peeled her eyes open to see that the Eiffel Tower was on fire. She tucked her arms under her and pushed herself up a few inches from where she lay on the floor. She stared out of the floor-length window, taking in the breathtaking, utterly terrifying view of a city aflame.It was a pity, she thought. She had always wanted to go to Paris.
She pressed a hand against the window glass.
“Dr. Vention?”
The heat emitted from the glass made the nerves in her hand tighten up and tingle. The fire beneath her grew, leaping higher and higher, overwhelming every door and alleyway. The heat pressed against her face like an old, wool blanket.
“Dr. Vention?”
She knew it was only a matter of time before she was engulfed in the inferno herself. She didn’t mind.
“Dr. Vention!”
It was rather fitting, when you thought about it.
“Sivlia!”
Her head snapped back to look behind her. She was in her high-rise, air-conditioned office. It was the 3:30 in the afternoon in New York City and nothing burning could be seen from her window. Julian Starling stood in the doorway, frowning.
He stared down at her for moment before he asked “What are doing?”
She blinked, swallowed, and then turned to look back out at the slate-gray cityscape of New York. Her hand was still on the glass, her own body heat making a foggy outline.
“I was, um, I was just…” she tried to explain herself, justify why she was on the floor, but the words couldn’t come out.
Starling narrowed his eyes, the turned around to close the door.
“Did you faint again?” he sneered as he knelt down to help her up.
She took his hand and let herself be pulled up from the floor, the carpet burning as it brushed her knees.
“No,” she snapped, “I just…”
Back on her feet, she straightened out her skirt and adjusted her sweater vest.
Running a hand through her hair, she sighed and said,“I don’t know, maybe I did. It doesn’t matter.”
He arched a dark eyebrow. Even though she was wearing heels, he still seemed so much taller than her. She didn’t quite find him so intimidating anymore, but there were times where she felt transparent around him, as if he knew all of her thoughts and fears.
His face relaxed, and he said, “I have something to show you. Please, come with me.”
He smiled, and gestured towards the door.
She eyed his outreaching hand suspiciously.
“What is it?” she asked.
His smiled widened and she could see his glistening white teeth.
“It’s a surprise,” he said, “Something I previously thought we should have done a long time ago, but now realize that this is the opportune moment.”
He held his other hand up, and she let him take her arm, but it left a cold feeling in her stomach.
“I assure you,” he said as they existed the office, “You don’t want to miss it.”
Seth sat in a booth against the wall of the Center cafeteria, where he was pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to be. There were a number of places in the elaborate building where he wasn’t allowed to be, but, depending on the place, most of the Center employees either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
In his hand he held a post-it note. His sister liked to stick post-it notes on the sides of her computer screen that had quotes written on them. She said that they were to reminder of things. Seth didn’t know what ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair’ was supposed to mean, but his sister said it didn’t matter what they were supposed to mean, only what they meant to her.
She had put up a new one recently, and Seth supposed he took it. He didn’t really remember taking it, but he didn’t really remember things he did sometimes. When that happened, his sister would tell him it wasn’t important, so he assumed not remembering taking the note wasn’t important either.
On the note was written in his sister’s small, precise handwriting, the phrase “I do it so it feels like Hell.”
The note was crinkled. Seth assumed that was because it was in his pocket for a while. He vaguely remembered Eric saying not to assume so much, that assuming ‘made an ass out of you and me.’ Seth was pretty sure that was supposed to be funny, but he just didn’t know how.
Eric is warm. he thought.
He frowned, and clenched the yellowish paper in his fist. He didn’t know why that thought occurred to him. He didn’t know what temperature Eric. Well, he assumed he was warm, because people are warm-blooded and have the average temperature of 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius) and that was…
Assume. He needed to stop doing that.
Starling lead Silvia down the long, white hallway that lead to the labs, all the while maintaining a pretentious smirk that made her feel ill.
“You really did think of everything,” he said, “in the beginning that is, biologically.”
She stared at his hand that gripped arm and felt her lip start to curl. She was nearly 30; she didn’t need to be pulled along.
“We’ve tested just about everything,” he continued, “He functions flawlessly, exactly like an actual human being.”
They stopped in front of door she found unexpected. It was the small lecture theatre where they played orientation films for the interns.
She glowered at him.
“What in the world are we doing here?” she asked, dreading the answer.
He put his hand on the door handle.
“We are a going to conduct an experiment that you have been avoiding these past seven years,” he said, opening the door to reveal a number of her colleagues sitting inside.
“We are going to test his sexuality.”
There was a thump.
Seth looked up to see a platinum blonde with a brilliant smile.
“Eleven?!”
Silvia held her mouth open in a mix of shock and disgust. She stared, wide-eyed at the screen, feeling the eyes of her colleagues on the back of her head.
It was a small room, with three tiered rows of seats. Doctors Naveen Malhotra, Frank Olsen and Bethany White. She referred to them as her colleagues, but Malhotra was the only one she respected.
Starling rocked on his feet and put his hands in his pockets.
“We hadn’t used her for anything in a while,” he grinned, “When we restarted her, she seemed rather enthusiastic about the idea.”
A doctor behind them sat up a little straighter. “Well, she is programmed for that sort of thing – “
“Shut up, Olsen!” she snapped, turning on her heels to face him, “You do not belong here, you are not a member of this department and you - “
Starling gripped her shoulders. She could feel his breath on her ear.
“Let’s be civil,” he said, “shall we?”
He ushered her up the small set of stairs to the last row of seat and sat her down. She glared furiously at the screen. Displayed on it was the hidden camera view of Seth at a booth in the downstairs cafeteria, sitting with the once defunct android, Eleven.
“Hi,” she said, “You’re Seth, right?”
Seth blinked. “Um, yes?”
She tucked a lock of hair behind her head and her smile widened as she held out her hand.
“I’m Eleven,” she said.
He gulped, and then slowly shook her hand.
“You look older,” he muttered.
Back in the orientation theatre, her colleagues down in the front row chuckled, and Dr. Vention’s nausea intensified.
“This is ridiculous!” she grumbled to Starling, who sat next to her with a constant “You’re going to traumatize him!”
“Me?” Starling cooed, “Oh, no, I wouldn’t ever hurt your perfect little doll. Heaven forbid he face something difficult.”
The woman sitting across from Seth through her head back, and laughed.
“No, no, no, no,” she purred, “I’m not eleven years old. My name is Eleven.”
“Ah.”
Seth looked down and fiddled with the paper in his hand.
I do it so it feels like…
He didn’t like talking to strangers. In fact, he didn’t like talking to people much at all, because it always felt like he was expected to do or say something that no one had told him about.
“This is a little awkward, isn’t it?” she remarked.
Seth shifted in his seat.
“A little,” he admitted.
Her smile fell. She turned to the side and bit her lip.
“I’ve just wanted to meet you for a long time,” she said, “but now that I have, I don’t really know what to say.”
“You did?” he asked, looking up from the note “Why?”
“Because,” she explained eagerly, “We’re the same.”
Silvia’s stomach lurched. Of course, of course that discontinued tourist attraction would spill everything.
She pointed furiously at the screen and hissed to the man next to her “See?! I knew this was a terrible idea!”
Starling dismissed her concerns with a wave of his hand.
“Relax,” he insisted, “If she reveals anything important we can just erase it later.”
Silvia scowled. “You know how I feel about erasing things!”
“Yes,” he replied, “I do, and I don’t care.”
“…how?”
Eleven sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold.
“You know,” she persisted, “You and I, we’re…different.”
Now he was confused. “But, you just said we were the same.”
She leaned forward, placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand.
“I meant,” she explained, “that we’re different from everybody else in the same way.
Seth’s chest immediately tightened. He didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want to even think about it, because…
…it feels like Hell.
“I, um,” he stuttered, stuffing the note into his pocket, “I really shouldn’t be here.”
He stood up, preparing to leave but Eleven caught his arm.
“Don’t you ever feel like everyone’s hiding something from you?” she pleaded, “That everyone’s all in on some elaborate lie that only you don’t know about? Doesn’t it ever feel like the world presented to you isn’t anything like the world is supposed to be?”
Silvia heard Dr. Malhotra whisper to Dr White “She’s good.”
“She’s abominable!” Silvia barked, pulling herself forward on the seat in front of her.
Malhotra shot her an apologetic look, but she turned away in disgust.
“I, um, I really can’t talk about this,” Seth breathed, hoping the woman would just let him go so he could leave and forget about the incident all together.
Her grip slipped down his arm until her hand rested on his.
“You can talk about it because you don’t want to?” she asked, “Or because they won’t let you?”
Seth knew that if he just took his hand away, he could leave. He could leave, find his sister and maybe convince her to come home early, and he could forget…
Look upon my works.
“I don’t know,” he muttered.
Part of him wanted to sit back down.
Eleven smiled and said, “They don’t let you do a lot of things, do they?”
He really wanted to sit back down.
“They don’t let me do a lot of things, either,” she continued, “I’m not allowed to read anything of my choosing, only what they tell to read.”
His knees were begging him to sit back down, which was silly because knees don’t beg, because knees are joints and don’t have wills or emotions and…
“There are so many things we aren’t allowed talk about, so many things we aren’t allowed to know about,” Eleven bit her lip again, “I just thought that maybe, maybe you and I could talk about them with each other.”
One begs on their knees.
“Please?” she asked.
Seth gulped, and then sat down, her hand still resting on top of his.
“Ok,“ he said.
“What exactly will this achieve?” Silvia hissed to Starling.
“Well, depending on the results, the experiment will prove a number of things,” he replied, “if Eleven succeeds in seducing him, then that means we have succeeded in creating a functional human being who is his own person-“
“Hardly.”
“-and is not the blissfully ignorant, gullible doll do love to smother. However, if she fails, Seth in no better than her, or any other android built in some geeks basement.”
“That doesn’t make any sense at all,” she snapped.
“It doesn’t have to make sense,” said Starling, “but I can see it has put doubt in your mind, and that’s all that matters.”
Silvia scowled and slouched into her seat.
“So,” said Eleven, “do you live here? At the Center?”
“No,” Seth answered, “I live with my sister, but I do have a room I stay in if I have to spend the night.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Your sister?”
“Dr. Vention,” he explained, “She, um, takes care of me.”
Eleven nodded. “That must be nice,” she said, “to have someone take care of you.”
Seth cracked a small smile.
“Yes,” he paused, then said “She’s getting married.”
“Uh-huh?”
“At first I thought that meant she was going to leave me, but I know now that-“
SCREECH
Seth snatched his hands away and pressed them against his ears.
Eleven gazed at him, smiling warmly.
“What was that?” Silvia barked, sitting up in her chair and pointing at the screen, “What just happened?”
The three doctors and Starling turned to stare at her.
“Nothing happened, Dr. Vention,” said Dr. Malhotra.
Starling put a hand on her shoulder. “They’re just talking,” he hummed, “for now. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
“Feeling alright?” she growled, “Of course I’m not feeling alright when this atrocity is happening right under my nose!”
Seth let his hands fall slowly back to the table. His heart pounded. He knew that sound. He knew it, but he just couldn’t place it.
Eleven looked down at her hands and exhaled.
“Marriage seems so lovely,” she said wistfully, “two people vowing to take care of each other.”
She hadn’t noticed, he realized. She hadn’t noticed the sound or him reacting to it.
…ye mighty…
“There are so many things that people do,” she continued, “that seem so wonderful.”
She leaned forward on the table and took his hands in hers.
“Falling in love,” she purred, “making love.”
Her hands were warm.
“I’ve always wanted to try it,” she said, “to feel what it’s like to be completely connected to another person, to have someone, even if only for a moment, completely and utterly devoted to another person. “
Her hand reached up and stroked the side of his cheek. He felt is face beginning to warm up.
“To feel like you’re part of something,”
Her face was so close to his; he could see all of her eyelashes. He could feel her warm breath on his chin. He felt sleepy and awake all at the same time.
“Something beautiful…”
Her lips touched his, and Seth lurched backwards, pressing against the back on his seat.
“I can’t,” he panted, “I’m sorry.”
Eleven held is hand tightly. “It’s alright,” she assured, “I know it’s scary at first but if you just give it a chance…”
“No, no,” he gulped, “it’s not that-“
“It’s ok,” she insisted, “no one has to know, I swear, it’ll be our little secret-“
“NO”
Seth stood up, his hands firmly planted on the table.
“Somebody always knows,” he whispered.
He turned his head to look at a corner on the ceiling.
On the screen, her colleagues, Starling and Dr Vention could see that Seth was looking directly into the camera.
“Since when does he know about the cameras?!” exclaimed Dr. Olsen.
“It doesn’t matter,” Silvia murmured, “He’s figured it out. He’s figured it all out.”
She pushed herself out of her seat, and stood to face Starling with a grin.
“You can’t erase something he’s figured out on his own,” she crowed, “I can just imagine what he’s figured out about you.”
Starling’s lip curled. “Or you.”
…and despair.
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Comments: 7
You keep on growing as a writer... alarmingly quickly.
This is good, it's cinematic and you tackled a very believeable(in context) situation. The one thing I am not sure about is Dr. Starling. He doesn't seem nearly as real as the other characters. Oh, and I love Seths budding socio-pseudoreligious grasp of his world. A child with an adults philosohpical education.
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Thank you!
Starling and I have a problem with each other. I want him to stop being a clone of Sebastian Shaw, but he refuses unless I make him sympathetic, but it doesn't work the way he wants it to.
I'm glad you like the socio-pseudoreligiousness. I'm afraid it'll become too symbolic and therefor pretentious.
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Be as symbolic as you want, as long as the rest is natural and honest. Good behavioral/observational action justifies pretentious abstraction. (I hope)
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I think it does. I've encountered a number of things lately whose pretentiousness wouldn't have matter as much if they had been more realistic. This happens a lot in plays, I think.
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