Chapter 1 of the "Eons 2" beta

As I'm working on my sequel for Nano, I've decided to post the first chapter here on my blog as a teaser.

Home Sweet Home
A frazzled young succubus sits cross legged on the floor, wondering loudly to herself how she managed to get into her current predicament. At first, it had all seemed like an appealing prospect. Let Dr. Stein and her associates do a few tests on her, and in exchange, they take care of her. Free medical care and protection from the ongoing war on the surface were great, but the accommodations were much less than she’d hoped for. She remembered distinctly being promised a chalet on the moon by the human scientists. Never during that conversation did they mention being tucked away in the barracks just above the laundry room.
Every minute of the day and night the machines whirred away full blast. Not that she could keep track of when day ended and night began. The Core was miles underneath the city of Seattle. Despite the number of times she’d asked, her so called benefactors hadn’t let her out to see the sky once in more than two weeks. Between the noise and the isolation, sleep had become next to impossible.
Her roommates weren’t helping her mental state in the least bit either. The battalion of drones housed with her were an insufferable drag. Drones just weren’t the same as regular people. She could control them with her spores like any other human, but their inability to speak meant they couldn’t pay her the compliments her thralls usually did. Yvette was withdrawing just as much from constant adulation as she was from her numerous chemical addictions.
The monotony of it all was beginning to take its toll on her. Pushed so far out of her comfort zone, all she could think to do was act out like a spoiled child. Security cameras had been sabotaged, fires had been set and anything around that wasn’t bolted to the floor had been trashed by her mute but obedient followers. Today, she had settled on a new tactic, copious amounts of water.
The level was dry and cold, two states of existence that Yvette hated with a passion. Her solution was simple. Turn on the hot water in her bathtub, and leave it on until the whole floor was transformed into a tropical paradise. To her substantial delight, The Core’s hot water supply was nearly endless. In just a few short hours, she was splashing around in a warm, cozy pool of H20. Her momentary respite is quite rudely interrupted by a familiar condescending voice booming over the intercom:
“What the hell do you think you're doing? You do realize that your tub has been overflowing for hours, right?” Of all the people she’d met in recent memory, Theo was by far her least favorite. He was always snide and disrespectful to her. As a matter of course, she had decided to be as snide and disrespectful as she possibly could right back at him:
“Yup. I did notice. What of it?”
“You've flooded that entire level and wasted hundreds of gallons of water.” With a shrug she fires back:
“And?” Whenever Yvette acted out, Theo was the one who got chosen to deal with her. This did not suit Theo in the least. He had no clue how to speak to a succubus, or any woman for that matter. When you spend your entire life building cybernetic weaponry and programming computers, you tend to be a little less than charming with the ladies.
Dr. Stein would have been a better choice. Bringing Yvette on board was her idea, and Jakoba was a much softer touch than he was. Unfortunately for him, Stein was busy working with their employer, Mr. Angelista, on some kind of secret project Theo wasn’t privy to. For the foreseeable future, he was stuck playing babysitter to the stir crazy tractatori.
“Turn the water off you bimbo.” After taking a moment to pinpoint which security camera Theo is watching her through, Yvette makes an emphatic series of vulgar gestures in his general direction:
“Come down here and make me, you pussy. Unless of course, you're still so scared of me that you can't come out of your lab.” There was a kernel of truth to her accusations. He had sealed himself in his workshop from the moment Yvette had arrived. It wasn’t out of fear, but necessity. The work he was doing was important and he couldn’t risk her enthralling him into giving away any company secrets.
“For your information, I don't leave my lab because I have work to do. I have a job. Ever heard of those? Some of us actually serve a purpose around here.”
“Whatever. Go fuck yourself Theo.” They went round and round like this often. He would question her intelligence, she would conjecture that his mother sucks dicks in hell. Neither side would give an inch, neither side would achieve their goals. A few days prior, Dr. Stein had explained a phenomenon to Theo that she called ‘catching flies with honey’. Fully aware his present tactics were yielding zero results, he relaxed his tone and gave it a shot:
“Please turn off the water Yvette.”
“No.”
“What possible reason could there be to flood the place like that?” Toes swooshing around in the makeshift kiddie pool at her feet, she chirped back:
“I like it this way. I've always been a big fan of Turkish baths.” The monitors built into the barracks walls light up with a diagram of that section of The Core’s facilities. A highlighted route flickers intermittently, tracing a path from exactly where Yvette is standing to a glowing blue dot at the top of the map:
“There's a sauna you can use two floors up from where you're at. You don't need to make your own.” A swift right cross shatters the monitor nearest Yvette. She begins yelling back at the abrasive scientist in the most aggressive tone she can muster:
“When I agreed to stick around here and let Dr. Stein do all her research, promises got made.” She paced up and down the flooded corridor kicking up waves in the water “This is my level. I can do whatever I feel like here. If I want to flood it, I can. If you don't like it, you can take it up with Jackie.”
“I suppose I'll have to do that then. There's also the rather unsettling things you've been doing with the drones.” This was the real reason for Theo’s call. Mr. Angelista had told him to be very firm with Yvette. The drones were not to be used as her personal playthings. They were a military asset, not toy soldiers.
“What unsettling things?”
“How about everything? The movie reenactments, the human chessboard, not to mention the ways you keep dressing them up. I mean, just look at the big one you've got carrying around the tea service. Is there any particular reason he needs to be in a French maid's outfit?” Yvette turns to look over the drone in question. It was a large scruffy man of at least six feet tall and two hundred fifty pounds. To an ordinary observer, he would look quite out of place in his doily hat and matching short black skirt. Yvette had several reasons he should be dressed as such. The most important one was that it made her smile. If she couldn’t drink, smoke or snort, at least she could play dress up with her thralls.
“You don't like it? I think he looks hot.” Theo’s monotone response made Yvettte's jaw hit the floor:
“I'd also like you to stop raping them.” The accusation stopped her dead in her tracks. This went far beyond his standard lack of courtesy. Who did he think he was suggesting something like that? Seething with rage she screamed back:
“Excuse me asshole? I've never raped anyone. It's not my fault I'm irresistible.” Without missing a beat, he replied glibly:
“You hose them down with pheromones, then force yourself on them. That is rape. Just because it seems like they want it, doesn't change the fact that they're doing it against their will.”
“So you've been watching me, have you? Been getting your sick jollies creeping on me through the surveillance system? Shit Theo! Why couldn't you just be an ordinary perv and use the internet like everybody else?”
“For one, internet porn is unavailable, as the people who ran those websites are deceased. This apocalyptic war we happen to be in the middle of is sort of thinning the herd amongst the world's smut peddlers. Furthermore, Jackie told me to keep an eye on you, so don't flatter yourself.” Had Jackie not told him to, he would still have been watching. Though Theo had a palpable contempt for most people on the planet, something about this succubus fascinated him. Whether it was sexual attraction, or simply an academic interest, was unclear even to him at the time. Yvette crossed her arms and rolled her eyes:
“Yeeeah, riiight. Of course. I can hear it when the camera lenses zoom in Theo. We both know you like what you see. Just so you know; you're never going to get to touch.”
“How positively heartbreaking. I was really looking forward to contracting a couple of supernatural STDs.” Summoning his most authoritative tone of voice, Theo tried to explain , “You need to stop messing with the drones. All that time saturated with your spores is damaging their firmware. Several of them have become resistant to commands from the primary control hub.” Constant bombardment with succubus spores had eroded much of what precious little cognitive function they had left. Given the violent nature of the drone’s base programming, it was not a good sign that they could ignore commands. If they continued to degrade as they had since Yvette arrived, bad things were bound to happen.
“I don't care. As if anything I've done with them is anywhere near as bad as what you have. I'm not the one who cut out half of their brains and made them slaves.” Numerous people had been on Theo’s case regarding his involvement with the drone initiative. The fact of the matter was, Theo had nothing to do with them. He was quite sick of being blamed for another person's half assed attempt at science:
“How many times do I have to say this? I am not responsible for the drone program. I did not design them. I do not perform their lobotomies. If it were up to me, we wouldn't even use them, but it's not up to me. I am just trying to do my job.” The drones were Archibald Angelista’s pet project. Theo had tried more than once to convince his employer to cancel their manufacture, but with no success. As it happened, a new, more powerful and efficient series of drone was going into production. By the end of the month, there would be hundreds of mark two units all over greater Seattle. It was just a matter of rounding up enough viable candidates for the program.
“Excuses, excuses. At least they get to actually do something when I'm around. If I didn't play with them, they'd just be standing around like statues in the hallway, staring at the walls.” Deep down, Yvette was quite sympathetic to the drones. She was so used to being surrounded by people who were living lives of unabashed passion. The drones' empty, expressionless faces broke her heart.
“They're supposed to be security for the base. What are we supposed to do if we get infiltrated, and all of the available drones are too busy painting your toenails and rubbing your neck?”
“There's other security available besides these guys isn't there? I've seen vampire and animi units around. Why not have some of them watch me instead of the dummy brigade here? I could at least have some kind of conversation with some living soldiers.” In recent days there had been a rapid influx of troops, but those troops all had more important things to do than look after Yvette. Preparations had to be made for the offensive they were planning in South America, and the city proper had to be fortified and patrolled to protect against attack. The near disastrous events at Two Union Square were still fresh in everyone’s memories. If Ra and his fanatical followers attempted another bombing, they would need to be ready. Theo continued dismissing her argument:
“None of your excuses or whining address my original point. Stop messi...” Stomping her foot down as hard as she can, Yvette interrupted:
“Fine! Fine! If it'll get you off my back, I'll ease up on the drones for a while.”
“Good. Thank you.” The frustrated girl laid down on the soaking wet ground and began frantically pounding her fists.
“Can you really blame me? What else am I supposed to do in between all of Jackie's poking and prodding? I'm sooooooooooo bored! Plus, you people still won't let me walk around the base without the big bad wolf breathing down my neck.” She was told initially that she had free run of the non-classified areas of the base. They had neglected to tell her that an approved chaperone was required. Much to her substantial dismay, only one man on the base was approved for such a duty, and it happened to be Jean. Stress takes on a whole new meaning when you’re being shadowed by a disgruntled werewolf who introduced himself by nearly ripping you in half.
“I can certainly see how having the Colonel next to you on a regular basis would suck.”
“You have no idea just how much. I'm supposed to be a member of the team now, not a prisoner.” She had expected fanfare and throngs of clapping admirers after her triumphant return on that fateful night two weeks prior. What she actually got, was a handshake, and a friendly ‘thank you’ from Dr. Stein.
“You're a probationary member for the time being.” Many senior staff in The Core had voiced concerns over a twenty year old succubus fraternizing with their commanders. The vampires from Japan seemed particularly opposed to their leader Natsuko going anywhere near Yvette. Angry whispers erupted any time Yvette so much as waved at Mrs. Masamura. It was extremely unlikely that there would be any spandex super suits and secret decoder rings in Yvette’s near future. Just more tissue sampling and the occasional check up with Dr. Stein.
“Probationary? Have you forgotten that I was the hero two weeks ago?” When Ra had sent one of his zealots to suicide himself and lay waste to Seattle, Yvette had been right in the thick of it. Had she not been there, she was convinced Micheal would surely have detonated, slaughtering millions. Sadly, nobody else saw it that way, least of all Theo:
“You were not the hero, Mo was. You were... just sort of there.” While her spores had weakened the resolve of the crazed channel, it was Mo’s confident words and growing mastery of his new powers that had won the day. “Nobody is convinced we can trust you yet.” Righteous indignation overtook Yvette’s consciousness. There was at least one person who she knew had her back:
“Jackie trusts me.” Jakoba Stein had become a steadfast reliable friend to Yvette. Or perhaps more accurately, she was the only person Yvette had ever known to whom she would affix the word ‘friend’. All of the tests and experiments aside, Jackie had been sweet and caring every step of the way. There was a warmth in her ways that Yvette had never encountered before.
“Does she trust you? Is that why she wears a hazmat suit every time she's in the same room with you?” The suit did trouble her a little bit. It was hard to nurture a friendship with someone who is speaking to you through an inch thick plastic helmet.
“That's just medical protocol. She told me so.” She always did her best to ignore his abusive musings, but he was relentless:
“If you want to keep lying to yourself, go ahead. Whatever makes you happy.” Fed up with the argument, she made her way to her bed to lie down. With a wet blanket wrapped around her like a makeshift caccoon she said:
“You know what would make me really happy Theo? If you got hit by a car.”
“It's obvious that you're unsettled. Most people get that way in The Core. It's just part of living down here.” Living miles below the Earth’s surface completely cut off from the world made even the strongest willed people crack. Theo was surprised she had managed to maintain her composure as well as she had. Isolation had never bothered him much. The Core was the perfect place to quietly go about his work, without outside interference from ethical review boards, or pesky government regulations.
“I just wish I had something to do. Before I came here I spent all my time partying, but I'm not even allowed to have booze down here.”
“If you're that desperate, I suppose we could try to find something productive for you to do.” There were many things around the base that needed doing. It would be no small matter finding something that she was capable of, as well as willing to do, however:
“Like what? I'm not scrubbing toilets or anything like that.” Assigning jobs was not Theo’s responsibility. He had already wasted enough of his precious time yattering at the impudent girl. The ornery succubus was Stein's guilty burden, not his.
“I don't know what to do with you, nor do I care. Talk to Jackie. Maybe she could find a use for you somewhere.”
“I'll ask her about it next time I see her.”
“In the meantime, keep your spores to yourself.” She rolled over and covered her face with her sopping wet comforter. Fingers stuffed in her ears, she said:
“Anything to shut you up.” The intermittent hum of the washing machines below her mercifully replaced the sound of Theo’s voice, and she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Hope y'all liked it.

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