Inspector of
Wrecks
That's a good girl. And I'll do some work on the suit and its reality parameters. I promise you nothing like that will happen again. I'll make sure it doesn't.
5
Forest
Synapse Log 1 Feb 2210, 08:45
Inspector of
Wrecks
I think the key to this is going to be identifying the Mastermind. I have a feeling it's Gwydion. He's the best storyteller in the world, a poet and wizard.
What could be a clearer image for an early
VR
programmer? And if it
is
him I'm in a good position
to delve further into the field's hinterland and
perhaps find out what happened between the
members of the ship's crew. After all, if they used
VR a lot, then events are bound to have shaped the stories inside.
I hope Nona's all right. She's been very quiet.
Apprentice
If anything like that happens again and he tells me it was just VR, I'll kill him. And I don't mind telling him to his face if I have to.
He
I don't like to say anything, but she hasn't talked to me since the day before yesterday.
She
You can't just shove people into a VR field at the mercy of God knows what kind of Mastermind and expect them to bear it. If it were he who'd been abused, then he'd take it seriously.
He
Mind you, I think she started to come round when I said that she should take the part of Gwydion for the next visit. Then she can be sure that nothing will happen against her will.
She
If it were up to me, I'd go nowhere near that VR again. But he's fixated on it, and he's the boss.
He
That long chat last night helped a lot, when I took her through the work I'd done on the body suits. I like to think that some old-fashioned patience and reassurance made all the difference.
She
I'm beginning to see why they're phasing out these individual Inspectors. They spend much too much time on their own, making up stuff about what they find. They're bonkers. He's the most eccentric man I've ever met. He doesn't even use his channeller to help get him off to sleep. I've seen him
reading
. The man's not in the real world.
He
The human touch. It's what these youngsters are
lacking. Once she saw the logic of going back in,
she was with me.
She
Bloody fascist. He made a show of consulting me, but he knows damn well that if I want to pass this section of my certificate, I have to do what he says. Well, I'm damned if I'm going to let an old fool stand between me and my diploma. So, it's game on.
Joint Thought Channel 1 Feb 2210, 09:00
Inspector of
Wrecks
Remember that I've rigged up that special bailout route via the eye-movement sensor, so that it's faster than before.
Apprentice
Got it.
Inspector of
Wrecks
When we go in, you grab Gwydion and I'll stick to
Gilfaethwy. I'm sure that this visit we'll find the Mastermind
entrance, so that we can see who's controlling the whole story.
All right?
Apprentice
Let's get on with it.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Oh, she's gone. Wait for me!
Apprentice
Hurry up! This looks quite straightforward. Gwydion and Gilfaethwy standing in front of King Math. No sign of any women. I'm taking the Gwydion part⦠now!
Inspector of
Wrecks
Yes, looks like payback time for the rape. Odd, Math's standing on the ground this time. He must be at war.
Apprentice
If you'd taken your character faster, you'd know that
Gwydion and Gilfaethwy started a war in order to separate
Math from his footholder. People have been killed so that Gilfaethwy could have his way with Goewin. He's not a bit sorry, though. Just like a Mastermind. I bet it's him.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Right, I'm there. As Gilfaethwy. He's feeling pretty smug and is just interested to see what's going to happen next.
Apprentice
What about Goewin? I bet she's just been tossed aside like an old sock. Typical sexist space games.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Now, now. Let me see. Math's decided to marry her to make good the dishonour she's experienced at the hands of â at our hands, I should say. We're his nephews, so he's
responsible for our behaviour. What I didn't realise about Math before is that he's a wizard as well.
Apprentice
I didn't quite catch what he just said, did you? But I don't like the way he's raising that stick.
Inspector of
Wrecks
That's not a stick, it's his magic wand. I think that's bad news for us. Duck!
Apprentice
What happened?
Inspector of
Wrecks
He's gone. Where are we now? The programme's still
creasing I think. This doesn't make sense.
Apprentice
It's so quiet. We're in an oak forest. I feel quite different.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Oh my God, this is beyond weird.
Apprentice
I can smell fear on you, adrenalin â it's sour.
Inspector of
Wrecks
The smells are very strong here. They're about a hundred times more vivid than usual.
Apprentice
Yes, it's almost like seeing the path of a spoor. I can sense where a rabbit's paws have left damp marks on that rock over there. His scent's a delicious cloud.
You smell quite musky. This is like being a child again, and being able to pick up salt on the skin of adults.
Inspector of
Wrecks
I feel jumpy though. I'm sure there's a threat here, even though it looks peaceful. I'm on a hair-trigger. Get ready to run. Do you feel it?
Apprentice
No, no, I'm sure everything's fine. I'm keeping a watch. That water has cinquefoil and liquorish in it. Let's get a drink.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Are you sure it's safe?
Apprentice
Come on, you sissy. Call yourself a man? Look, I'll show you. See? It's perfectly secure. The water's⦠oh shit!
Inspector of
Wrecks
See, I told you, I told you. Get ready to run!
Apprentice
What's this on my head? I hit it on the stones. Campion! I can't find my hands to feel what I am. I seem to have hooves. Campion, come here!
Inspector of
Wrecks
You're secreting so much adrenalin that you're making me panic. There's danger, danger all around. Don't know where to look, where to flee.
Apprentice
Look in the water⦠I can't touch my head because I'm a stag. I've got a branch of horns on my head, like a
candelabra. Head up, scent the air and that tells me everything I need to know.
Yes, Gilfaethwy beside me smelling of musk and hormones, my hind.
Inspector of
Wrecks
This is confusing. Nona's playing a man who's been turned into a stag. That must be what Math was doing with his staff, he's turned the two brothers into deer as punishment for the rape.
Apprentice
He's done more than that.
Inspector of
Wrecks
What kind of punishment is this? Two brothers get to hang out in the woods for a year, enjoying each other's company.
Apprentice
You don't get it, do you?
Deep breath, satisfaction. Pine needles, sour-sweet smell of doe.
Inspector of
Wrecks
The forest looks fertile and how hard can it be to spend a year grazing? As penances go, this isn't so bad.
Apprentice
Long months since I shed my velvetâ¦
He's turned us into animals because we behaved like beasts. But the point is that he's transformed Gwydion into a stag and Gilfaethwy into a hind.
Inspector of
Wrecks
So I'm the female?
Apprentice
Flex my strong neck. Bow down, look upwards and I can see the tines of my horns: bay, trey, sur-royal and crown. Tilt forward and stretch my powerful back legs.
Come here. Let me sniff the piss spilt down the fur of your hock. Hmm. Aromatic, sweet with an abrasive edge. It's exciting.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Your scent's disturbing. Testosterone, crushed acorns. Don't stand so close.
Apprentice
I need to smellâ¦
Inspector of
Wrecks
Geddoff me! You're acting like a stag in rut.
Apprentice
That's what I am! You're a doe in oestrus. Math clearly
intends us to mate!
Inspector of
Wrecks
You're making me nervous. Back off!
Apprentice
Close her on the oak tree, stop her from turning her haunches away⦠rub-urine⦠her tarsal gland tells me she's readyâ¦
Inspector of
Wrecks
Shit, you're my brother. Don't you dare.
Apprentice
No, I'm a dominant buck. Can't you see how my neck is swollen? That's better, you're getting into your part.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Why am I squatting? My rear has a will of its own and I'm half sitting down. My body's insisting.
Never imagined that I could be two. Gilfaethwy and doe. No, three, I'm Campion, rapist and submissive doe all at the same time. How the body responds with joy to the
rutting, spirit extendsâ¦
To have sex with my brother! With my assistant! To know the sound of her grunting behind me. That bastard Math.
Apprentice
Forget about weirdness. This feels so right. I'm swimming a stream which goes through her back, into her body and I feel insideâ¦
Inspector of
Wrecks
Mind of a man in a stinking animalâ¦
Apprentice
Mind of the body, as the lichen lays in the moss and the tree sucks sweet water up, like a tideâ¦
Inspector of
Wrecks
Passive, like soil, no will of my ownâ¦
Apprentice
Till it explodes. And I'm falling, light-liquid, falling back down from a red doe's haunches.
Inspector of
Wrecks
Oh, the shame.
Apprentice
To be complete as an animal, nothing is better.
To smell of come.
Inspector of
Wrecks
With my brother!
Apprentice
What have I done?
*
Synapse Log 2 Feb 2210, 11:00
Apprentice
Campion hasn't met my eye since our last turn in the VR. It's not as if I raped him. It was all perfectly natural. That'll teach him to take what I experienced lightly. I feel like telling him that it's only VR, but I don't quite dare.
For me, it was a really interesting experience, a chance to see what it's like to be a wild animal. I'm quite looking forward to the next visit. He's given us a day off, shut himself up in the lab, pretending to do dust analysis. But I bet he's just recovering from the shock of being a doe and being fucked by me. No, by a buck. Or should I say his brother Gwydion?
I want to say sorry, but how do you apologise for being a stag in rut?
Inspector of
Wrecks
There's far more vegetable matter here than you'd expect in the atmospherics of a ship, even an Earth
one. Of course, they had the usual hydroponics
system to keep the atmosphere sweet and to give the crew fresh food. But those early systems were highly risky. Like keeping a fire alive by making sure it never went out. If for any reason you had a disease which killed all your plants at the same time and you weren't able to save a seed, then you were in big trouble.
She
I liked being a stag. OK, there was the hunger and the constant nerves but I felt fit as a flea and I loved the forest. All those smells!