I’d like to again thank my readership of one for keeping this bologna rollin’.  Apologies to everyone else, heh.

Content Warnings:  Classism, Strong Sexual Content, Dubious Prostitution, Threat of Rape, Slut-Shaming, Wealth Inequality, Chemical Abuse, Ableism, Menacing Vibes, Violence, Unpleasant Depiction of an Unhoused Person and Drug Addicts, a Disabled Child in Danger – In Great Distress, Loss of Physical Autonomy.

This one is as bad as the sexual content gets, so take heart, if that’s a bad one for you.  Of course, there are other ways for things to be horrible.

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CENTENNIAL HILLS CONTINUES

by Bébé Mélange

When they came out of the bathroom, Snar was teetering on high heels.  Lita was shaking and quietly crying.  Rennie was smoking a cigarette that pointed straight down in disappointment.  Nate was usually too hard to feel guilty, or at least able to work through it quick, but for just a moment he was also completely disgusted.

Rennie said, “Yeah, that’s about what I expected,” and frowned.

Caspar rolled his eyes at the emotional display.  He turned to Nate.  “Can you get Casuelita OK with this, or sit her in the corner and keep her quiet?”

Snar struggled to read the room, their skin still crawling from the cocaine.  But they realized nobody dresses like that unless they’re entertaining, like the acrobats down in the club.  They couldn’t do flips, but they were starting to figure out that nobody would be that emotionally upset about flips.

Snar put an arm around Lita one time and wiped a tear, then strolled to one of the chairs opposite Caspar and sat down.  They crossed their legs and reached out a hand to Rennie.

Rennie handed them the lit cigarette, and they put it on their lip.

Lita started whimpering “no” and Nate got up to comply with their terrible new employer.  He strongarmed her toward the bathroom.

“Come on girl.  You don’t know it’s gonna be so bad, chill.  Chill.”

Rennie felt his body turn to lead.  He looked from Smar to Caspar and back, but couldn’t move.  The bodyguard narrowed his eyes until he could no longer see, felt blood rush in his ears.  You’re dreaming.

Snar deeply inhaled the death smoke then blew it out.  It seemed to offset the effect of the cocaine somewhat, at least.  Their vision went black and then returned.  “Gashper.  Eard iss weecked, emb dat ish a glohm.”

“Ah,” he said, “Something to do with the Earth?  I know your time here has not been pleasant, but I am all about pleasure, madam.  Why don’t you come over here, and make yourself a bit more comfortable?”  He patted the couch next to him.

Snar flicked their eyes this way and that, weighing their options.  Out in the street catching looks, dodging guns.  Walking with creeps to creepy places where there weren’t quite as many guns.  But what else might happen?

“Come on, my dear.  Forgive my Captain Kirk-like ways, but I simply must find out what this is like.  If not, I’ll regret it forever.  Come.”  He beckoned, unsmiling.

This is the price of admission to the clean place.  If we meet clean gun guys here, will they want to spawn with me too?  They took one more drag of the cigarette and passed it back to Rennie.  Not so different from what you did with Lita, and surely more hygienic.  Remember that.

They walked to stand in front of Caspar and undid the clasps holding up their stockings.

Caspar said, “Easy now.  Take your time.”  He slouched and unbuttoned his blazer, loosened his tie.

The bodyguard stood up and walked toward the door to the hall.

Caspar glared and lamented, “How is this any worse than last night, Sam?  SAM?”

Rennie said, “I’ll be your bodyguard for this.”  He mumbled, “god knows i deserve this,” and rolled burning ashes in his palm.

Snar didn’t know what the guy even wanted, how they were supposed to access their genitals in the layers of cloth.  They put one leg up on the couch and grabbed Caspar’s tie, pulling it off for him.

“Oh Smar,” he said.  “Are you like this with all the boys?”

“That she is not,” Rennie said to himself.  Thank God.  Where did she get the idea this is what she had to do?  We’re bad ET dads.

Finally, Caspar slouched enough to make his pelvis more accessible.  Snar couldn’t figure out the button and ended up popping it off his pants, so he unzipped himself and pushed them down.

Snar leaned one knee on Caspar’s chest, one arm on his shoulder, and looked down at the thing.  There’s the pene.  Earthlings were sexually dimorphic after all.  They touched the tip with a loose grip, and felt some moisture come through the glove.

Caspar grasped the outside of Snar’s pelvis garment, rubbing their erogenous patch, but spending more time feeling out the area of the cloaca.  A sense of alarm began to build in Snar’s head.

They mean to penetrate me!

By way of confirmation, a finger started to push into their cloaca.

Snar stepped back and nearly tripped on the heels, waving their palms.  “Gashper!  Gashper!  Gashper!”

“Come onnnn, slut!”

Rennie said, “Hey, hol’ up a second, hot stuff.  What’s up, Smar?”

Smar frantically tried to sign something.  Caspar’s lips disappeared into a thin line and he looked ready to get violent.

Rennie said, “Slow down, Smar!  Sloooow.”

Snar nodded, pointed at Caspar, and then mimed again.  A finger going through a loop in the fingers of the other hand.

“Yes?,” Caspar snapped.  “Your point?”

They repeated the motion, but this time the poking finger stopped short and bent.

“Ohhh, shit dude.  She’s saying she gots no room inside for dick.”

“You think I care?  I’ll be slow, but I’m going to do this.”

“No, bro!  Come on!”

“I’m a motherfucking Getty.  If I want to fuck a pussy, I’m going to fuck it.  Hold her still.”

By then everybody was standing.  Rennie yelled, “NATE!”

Nate opened the bathroom door, stepped out, and closed it behind him.  “WHAT?”

“We can’t do this, man.  I need your help.”

Caspar pointed at Nate, finger shaking.  “No, I need your help.  HE can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

Snar was shaking their head to say, “No no no.”

“Come on, Smar!  Baby, please!  We neeed this!  Don’t you care about Lita?”

Caspar said, “Come over here and hold her down!”

“Smar said she ain’t got no room inside, and Cash Money wants to put it in anyway.  Can’t you settle for a blow job, bro?”

“Gettys don’t settle!”

“He’s a fucking Getty?  Jesus Christ!”

“An’ Smar’s from Eyeknob.  Who cares?  Let’s get the fuck OUT, bro!”

Caspar laid out Rennie with a single roundhouse punch and grabbed for Snar.  They wobbled out of reach like one of those used car place wind puppets.

Nate rushed across the room and leaped out, shoving Caspar back with two palms – trying to get him away without hurting him.  Caspar fell over a chair and hit the carpet, then scrambled back to his feet.  Rennie was still knocked out.

“No offense, Mr. Getty!,” Nate said, “No disrespect!  Please don’t kill us!  LITA!”  He still had his palms up.

Caspar said, “Fuck you, pleb!,” and came at Nate again.

Nate shoved him back again, knocking him over the same chair.  “No disrespect!”

Lita came out, rushed to help Rennie up as he started to stir.  Snar tried to help as well, but was too weak to be anything but a hindrance.  Lita gently pushed them aside, and they decided to use that moment to ditch the hobbling shoes.

Caspar was coming at Nate again, and Nate caught his body by the shoulder and crotch, throwing him over the chair more brutally.  He was slower to get up this time.

“No disrespect, Mr. Getty!  Really!  Really, sir!  Please don’t have us killed!”

Lita said “Naaaate!”

He glanced back to see they were all ready to run, snatched up his coke dinosaur, and was the last one through the door, pleading with the rich man all the way.

 

Tmai and Olivia crept far enough from the park to get away with walking more openly, though they hid whenever they heard the sound of an engine.  It was slow going, and there weren’t many good hiding spots.  The houses were mostly laid out the same – very short driveway to the garage, the rest of the street side having no lawn, just decorative red sand or quartz gravel with short desert-tolerant shrubs.

The easiest places to hide were those without enough room in the garage for all their cars or boats, leaving some chunk in the driveway or on the curb to creep around, but most people were just beginning to come home from work.  That meant more cars to hide from and fewer to hide behind – the worst of both worlds.  On a bad enough street, they had to settle for not hiding at all, just stand around and try to act cool.  Sometimes one would get caught out and not the other.

They were moving on the cusp of a very different looking area – huge expanses of concrete, businesses rather than residences, no hiding spots in sight – when they heard another car approaching fast.  Tmai leapt behind an electric utility box, but Olivia was too slow this time, and got caught out.

The SUV rolled to a stop beside her and the driver got out.  It was Kirsten.

“Where have you been, Olivia?  Where?!,” she signed and spoke emphatically.

Olivia shook her head and backed up.

Kirsten lunged and grabbed her, going to her knees and forcefully holding her close.  Olivia kicked and screamed.

Tmai watched helplessly, and was lucky to see the reflection of somebody coming out of the house in the window of the SUV.  They moved further around the box to hopefully stay out of sight of both parties.

The man from inside the house spoke loudly, partly to be heard above the squall and partly to assert his authority.  Olivia was exploding again and Tmai hated it.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

“SHE’S MY DAUGHTER.  SHE’S DEAF AND TRYING TO RUN AWAY.  I DON’t know why!  I don’t know why!”  Kirsten was choking and crying herself.

At least by then Olivia had momentarily lost the strength to fight and was just screaming at the top of her lungs, peaking out Tmai’s receivers.  They put hands over their ears.

The man softened.  “YOU NEED HELP GETTING HER IN THE CAR?”

“NO, no thank you!  But thank you!”  She picked up her big baby and walked her to the passenger side door.  She had trouble there, with the door being locked.

The man came up and asked, “Where are your keys?”

“On my wallet!”

He found it protruding from the side pocket in her jacket, unlocked the car, and put it back inside.

“Good luck, hon!”  He headed back up to his house, looking back sadly until they were both in the car.

As soon as his back was turned, Tmai rushed out and hopped on the rear bumper, clinging to Kirsten’s spare tire.

They were heading the opposite direction of Snar yet again, and they tried to justify that in their head.  They could steal this vehicle next time and move faster, cover more ground, be harder to recognize.  But there was only one reason for this foolish maneuver.  We can’t keep parting ways like this.

 

At Nellis AFB, the hangar was aglow with torches and sparks and glaring industrial lights.  Scuzz had fallen asleep somehow, resting her head on Pep’s lap as he watched the work.  It was easy to forget the sun had not yet set outside.

General Tweed asked, “Why are you making so many changes to the hull?  Why add parts?  I wasn’t expecting this.”  And I don’t like it.

“We’re trying to get it flying again, and can’t replicate the original tech that went bad completely.  We don’t have the same miniaturization on Earth, have to add bulk to achieve the same effects.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast either.  I was going to go home two hours ago.  How could you possibly have planned this so well?”

“You tell me, general.”

“You have another UFO that you studied on – one less able to be repaired.”

Pep smiled.  “That’s a trade secret.”

“National security trumps that, Mr. Ambergris.”

“Understood.  All will be revealed in time.”

“That is insufficient, sir.”

He shook his head.  “I’m sorry.  I’m just not used to dealing directly with the military.  The president, yes, the military, no.  Now is fine.”

“Go on.”

“You were exactly right.  We wouldn’t be able to do this work so fast if Shammy hadn’t previously worked on a similar craft at a B site near the southern border of Nepal.”

“Thank you.”  He glanced to Colonel Saunders.  “Follow up on that now, if you please.”

“Yes sir.”  He abruptly stood and walked away.

“You’re not going to take over my facility, are you sir?”

“How involved is the government of India, Mr. Ambergris?”

“Not at all.”

“We need to know to our own satisfaction, thank you.”

“As you please.”  He saw Eliza approaching on the catwalk.  “Would you mind being a pillow for my princess, general?”

“Yes I would.”

“OK…  Hey Scuzz, baby.  You have to get up for a minute, honey.”  He easily lifted her tiny frame to a sitting position.  “Wake up baby.  Just for a minute.”

Tweed said, “Alright, she can lean on me for a minute.  Just cut the baby talk and get out of here.”

Pep leaned his girlfriend on the man, her hair immediately getting entangled in the stars on his epaulet.  She was too tired to notice.   The general gestured for Frankreich to follow him and the man hopped to attention.

Pep was already halfway to Eliza.  He reached her, with his back to Frankreich on a single-file walkway, and spoke quietly.  Frankreich had been stiffed again.

“What’s the report, Ms. Banerjee?”

She smiled at the little act of politesse.  “Shamar told me he had previous work with this technology, which is great.  But I have not.  How am I to finish this in time?  My team can barely interface, let alone translate their systems.”

“Remember the Mayans?”

“Yes.”

“That code wasn’t actually from Central America.  It was Dr. Kamen’s read of a 3D computer on the site B UFO.  You’ve already cracked their machine language!  I’m sorry, I should have told you earlier.”

“Sir,” she was shocked and dismayed.  “Sir, I made a fool of myself speaking with experts from Mexico to Costa Rica.  They all looked at me like I was insane, trying to compare that code to their studies.  Why did you let me do that?”

“Sometimes you have to chase an illusion to find the truth.”

“Mr. Ambergris.  I am going to leave you standing here.  I do not know if I will return.”

“I’ll see you soon, Eliza.”

As she walked back toward the ship, she could see Pep’s design taking shape, and spat with disgust.  “You selfish, twisted boy.”

 

The criminals and lingerie-clad Snar tromped across the parking lot.  They were arguing and Snar couldn’t tell why.  It wasn’t like they could on the fly rearrange their innards to accommodate something that wasn’t evolved to be there.  As usual, Nate seemed the maddest.

“…any minute now!  He could literally have a sniper in a helicopter fill us full of lead, scoop up her corpse and fuck that, if he wanted!  The pigs would thank him for it!”

“Bro!  You did too much coke, bro!”

“NO!  Just because I’m the one who knows, the one with the plan.  You don’t think I know what I’m talking about?  OF COURSE I know.  I don’t deserve this!  You guys fucked this up!  You guys!”

Lita cried, “I knooow, I knooow!  Please!  Stop walking so fast!  Come back!”

The clown glowed above them.  A security guard eyed them from eighty feet away but didn’t bother to come closer.

“NO!  No!”

“Bro!”

“Smar, you fucking stupid slut.  You couldn’t just give him a little something?  We’re gonna die out here, bitch!  Fuck!”

Lita cried, “Don’t talk like that baby, please!  I know we did bad, but don’t, please!  This isn’t your heart!”

Just at the edge of the parking lot, they all leapt in surprise when a pickup truck jumped the curb and braked next to them.  In the passenger side, a lady with dead eyes and a predatory smile leaned out.  “Nate dogg.  I hear’t you had a real alien.  Nice job, playa.”

“Barbie?  Is Mike in there?”

“It’s Mike’s ride, ain’t it?”

Lita pouted miserably.  “Hi, Barbie.”

“Hi, Bag Lady.  Ren.  So Nate.  Grab the alien and get in.  We’ll get you ten large tonight.”

“For rill?”

“Get in.”

Time stood still at that moment, in the way typical of such situations.  This would allow everyone – when feeling bad about it later – to know exactly why.

Nate grabbed Snar by the wrist and jumped up on the side of the truck.  He had one leg inside before Lita tried to do something about it, grabbing Snar from the other side.

“NOOO baby!  NOOO!”

“Let it go, Bag Lady!”

She wouldn’t.  Rennie was paralyzed, still somewhat dazed from the rich man’s fist.

“FUCK OFF, BAG LADY!,” Nate said.  He brutally pulled Snar into the truck bed, and the unseen driver floored it.

The shock of hearing beautiful Nate use her ugly nickname had weakened her grip.  Lita wailed and fell down.  The sun began to set.

 

Olivia cried inconsolably for ages.  Kirsten kept her in the living room so she could easily go for water and keep her hydrated, while she spun in circles imagining scenarios that could explain this, all terrible, and while she vacillated constantly about whether or not to take her to a hospital.

At least she wasn’t trying to run anymore.

Tmai lay in the dark garage, no idea how to get to Olivia, to help them.  No idea how to deal with their caregiver.  By then the name Olivia had replaced Bumbo in their head, hearing the caregiver say it so many times, in frustration, in sorrow, in shocking levels of patience.

At last Olivia seemed to fall asleep.  Kirsten went to the kitchen for the dozenth time that Tmai could hear – line of sight to the garage door and the reason they hadn’t dared come inside.  She leaned on the counter, put her head down on it, and stifled a few shuddering sobs.  Then she pulled herself up and poured a glass of water.

Tmai guessed with Olivia asleep, this might be the last time the caregiver came to the kitchen.  They waited, thirsty again, but their body starting to wake up just the same.  When Kirsten left the kitchen, they eased the garage door open, held up their skirt with the other hand, and crept into the hall.  They let the skirt down and braced theirself to ensure the door could be closed without a peep.  Then they came to the end of the hall and dared a quick peek into the living room.

Kirsten wasn’t carrying Olivia to her bed yet.  More waiting?  She stood there transfixed by the child, sniffling a little, sipping the water.  Tmai made sure to move very slowly when withdrawing into the hall, to avoid her noticing a sudden movement.  They were shocked the caregiver didn’t notice when they first dared to peek.

They waited longer, weak with thirst, Ainavian metal vibrating in their pocket, reminders of every failure they’d experienced in the past solar cycle.  The sky through the back door window turned deep periwinkle and then black.

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Next installment, the edgiest the story will ever get.  Enjoy!

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