Book: The First - Part: One - Chapter: 13 - Installment: i

“How do I know?”

“Everything else slows down. It is that apparent.”

“What if I’m alone?”

“Everything. Slows down. The air around you, the currents. You feel them do you not?”

“Yes, a little.”

“You will get better. You have to think of yourself as being like a newborn. You are still learning how to interpret the sensory information you are getting. After that you learn to crawl before you walk and then run.” Sylvette reached out and touched him – ran her fingers down his cheek. It helped make her point.

Simon felt the hand on his face. It would have aroused him as he had been mere days before. Now it was beyond his understanding. Exhilarating by any standard, yet more than any mere touch he’d known before his transformation. Comparing it to sex would be too base. It was sexual, but not ‘better than sex,’ though it was so different that ‘better’ was the inappropriate part… and this was merely a touch on the cheek.

Sylvette could see that her point was made. It amused her. Her own transformation had been so long ago that all of this seemed normal to her. It was totally assimilated into her being. His pleasure was quaint. Sylvette recognized the feeling. She continued to find ecstasy in another persons’ touch – these last days in Simon’s touch – but, the wonder that she saw in his eyes was long become a pale memory to her.

“Someday you will know the geography of a room by the way the air moves through it.”

“How long?”

“Soon. It doesn’t take long with someone to guide you. Soon you will be on the front lines. And there is nothing like the hunt.”

“I thought I was trained.”

“You don’t even know how to interpret these new sensations. How could we possibly teach you how to use them when you didn’t even know there was such a thing?”

“I don’t know that I could have imagined. Everything is so different. The sex – it’s amazing. You are amazing… or is it just the new feelings?”

Sylvette cocked an eyebrow.

“I… uh, my basis for comparison has been destroyed.”

“I know. I am amazing.”

Simon smiled.

“But you shouldn’t take my word for it. You should see for yourself. Take a test drive.”

“Uh-mmm…”

“Get yourself dressed up and head out into the world. You aren’t under escort anymore. You can come and go as you please. You have clearance at any of our facilities – any that you already know of. And everywhere in between is fair game.”

“No one ever said…”

“Go out, experience life with your new eyes. Eat. Drink. Be. Find a woman. Make love to her. Fuck her. See for yourself how good I am.”

“I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t mean to and you did not. Bubble bursting time… You are an attractive man.”

“But you aren’t exclusive.”

“That is a juvenile viewpoint. But yes, that is the essence. You cannot think of your life in your old terms. The scope has changed too much. You will experience everything at their extremes, and you do not know how long it will last. It would be a shame to reach the end and feel you never took advantage of it. I take advantage of it every chance I can.”

“You aren’t just seeing if I will?”

“I will. I suggest you do, so you don’t feel cheated when I do. You will get used to the idea, if you live long enough.”

Simon recognized the frankness of the words, but the callousness did not make a dent in his feelings. The pragmatism of it all made utter sense to him.
Previously he had thought himself a sensitive man, but he felt more empathy for the harsh truth in Sylvette’s words than compassion for anyone who should be in his path if he were to live by those words.

Installment ii