69 Degrees

Contents

Chapter 1: Awakenings

Chapter 2: Tuning in

Chapter 3: Fear of monsters

Chapter 4: Natural functions

Chapter 5: Time and distance

Chapter 6: Demand and supply

Chapter 7: Nutrients

Chapter 8: The frail and the weak

Chapter 9: Feelings

Chapter 10: Day and night

Chapter 11: Who we are

Chapter 12: Darkness

Chapter 13: Memories

Chapter 14: Nightmare of reality

Chapter 15: Confinement

Chapter 16: A tight squeeze

Chapter 17: Recreating reality

Chapter 18: A shift in perception

Chapter 19: Reality to be sure

Chapter 20: Echoes

Chapter 21: Is this reality?

Chapter 22: Let's get real

Chapter 23: Taking life as it is

Chapter 24: Repressing memories

Chapter 25: Time's up

Chapter 26: Emotions

Chapter 27: Final report

Chapter 1: Awakenings

This whole saga began when I slowly awoke. I wasn't sure what had happened beforehand, to be awakening without ever remembering going to sleep.

The few times that I've over indulged with alcohol never left me with this feeling of drowsiness but full conscious.

My eyes wouldn't open, and the sound I could hear, were like the soft murmuring you'd expect within a hospital. A general noise of people talking quietly.

A hospital would explain the drowsiness, I thought. Maybe there had been some accident; I'd been run over by a car, or something. It wouldn't be the first time I'd come close to death, because I didn't understand something about the place I was in.

So I tried to remember back what had happened. I was touring through some of the European counties on foot, and a few other forms of local transport. Travelling through Finland and Denmark I had used a bicycle. Just me and my backpack, travelling through the green countryside. Through Sweden I'd hitchhiked with the locals, stopping every so often to help a hand to pay my way through the country.

Contrary to what people say, the Swedes are a very friendly people, but they hold strict to their form of living. Keeping in tune with nature, even in the built up areas of Stockholm itself.

From Denmark, I'd made my way though the northern part of Germany, going through Berlin, planning on cutting back through the southern areas, after Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Much of the old buildings still stood in Warsaw, a reminder of the last World War from last century. Much of the countryside through Poland bore similar reminders to all who stopped to at least look.

From my memory, I knew I had at least passed through Czechoslovakia, and back into Germany.

I was headed towards Munich, somewhere between Regensburg and Passau, taking lifts from some of the more friendly Germans, and getting to know some of them better.

Travelling along the highways in German, which they call the Autobahn, is a thrilling experience, especially in one of the modern convertible Porches, and next to the wonderful German woman who was driving.

Oh, she looked to be in her forties, but she was extremely friendly in giving me a lift. My German isn't all that good, but we were able to have a small conversation as we travelled along.

I mentioned some of my travels, and she talked about her family, and children. I had some feeling that she wanted me to meet them, but it was just her way of been friendly to a stranger.

It wasn't she that bothered me, but rather the speed they travel along the Autobahn. You see the speed limit on the Autobahn is 100 Kph. Minimum. If you're travelling slower than this, then you're liable to be pulled over and booked by the police, who always use supped up Turbo Porches that could easily match speeds with whatever they were chasing.

I had no problem with the physical speed, but I was travelling to see the country, not to have it whizzing by at more than 180 kilometres per hour. If I wanted to do this, I would have caught the train.

So at the next small town, I asked her to turn off, and thanked her as I bid her farewell.

This I could remember with some clarity now, as it was recent. I missed the name of the hamlet, only noticing the words hamlet and turn off on the sign before we passed it.

It wasn't a big place, as I could most likely walk the length of the town centre in under 10 minutes, but I wasn't there to just walk through. I stopped in one or two shops, basically looking about, and learning what I could of the small town.

I recollect now, stopped inside a third shop, a bakery, as I was feeling hungry. German breads are ok, but not as good as their meat. I was considering what would be best to get to mix with a selection of sliced meat, when I heard a scream outside, which stopped just as abruptly as it began.

I looked to the large shopkeeper who looked back at me with just as much confusion on his face.

Without a word to me, he took off his apron, and rounded the counter, draping it over some bread, as he headed through the front door.

I followed, in my half curious nature to find out what was happening. That and I couldn't order anything until the baker returned.

The light outside was strangely bright, so I hastily grabbed my sunglasses, the same one's I'd worn in the convertible, to keep the wind out of my eyes. They were one of the expensive Polaroid glasses, that I'd picked up a last year ago in a duty free store. They cut down the glare as I followed the baker outside, who had to shade his eye's with a hand, and feel his way along the path to a couple of people who appeared to have collapsed on the path outside.

It was strange, to see them just lying there. I suspected something disastrous as we approached, but saw nothing to indicate what had happened.

I was right behind the baker as he bent over the two people, and then suddenly fell over them. It frightened the hell out of me, causing me to step back, fearing a gas leak or something. Without stepping closer, I called out to the baker, asking if he was ok, trying to get a response, a call, a grunt, or even a shift of his foot.

There was nothing. I turned about now, seeking help from anybody else within the hamlet, and what I saw, disturbed me even more. In the doorways of shops, on either side of the street, and on the paths, were more collapsed people. Just lying there.

This was more than a gas leak. With some trepidation, I approached the collapsed baker, and the couple. I didn't smell anything, except the fresh bread smell coming from the clothes of the baker, as I lent over them. They each had a pulse as I checked them over, which made me, feel better. But it was still a mystery.

The whole town couldn't have collapsed, so in desperation I called out, hoping that there was someone else.

I was rewarded with the voice of a small child who appeared in the doorway across the street. His small face poked out from the shop, looking at the collapsed people on the paths without much concern. Then he turned to look at the light, and then fell to the ground.

Holding my breath, I wished for the small boy to jump up, exclaiming it was a big joke on the tourist.

For a short while, I stood there waiting expectantly, then turned towards the light. It was the last thing the boy did, looking up at the bright light.

The sun was off to my right a bit, but this light was something separate, and brighter. I could almost say it was pulsing. It seemed like the only feasible explanation, as I looked up at the glowing dot. But how could a light, knock out all these people, but leave me standing?

The answer was right on my face, as I felt over the frame of my glasses. The lenses must have been blocking whatever it was, that knocked these people out.

I felt sure of it now, but as I looked up at the bright light, it grew brighter all of a sudden. It was painful to look at, almost burning my eyes even through the glasses. I had to avert my gaze, as I pulled my glasses off to rub my eyes. I must have turned back to quickly as I slipped my glasses back on, because that was the last thing I remembered.

Chapter 2: Tuning in

So where was I now? Had the light disappeared, and the towns folk awaken? If so, why was I in hospital now? Unless a passing car had found us, and everyone had to be taken to a hospital.

I remembered the light had been far up in the sky, appearing almost like a second sun, so many more people could have knocked out just as I was, perhaps all over Germany. Maybe all over Europe, or the world.

It seemed ludicrous to think that the entire world population had been knocked out. But I couldn't drop the idea, as I lay in the half dark. Most of the population knocked out by a freak light in the sky, and now waking up. I must have been out longer than most other people, because I'd looked at the light when it was brighter.

Well, it explained a lot, except why I felt drowsy. Maybe it was an after effect of looking at the light.

I considered why there was a light in the sky, thinking about strange phenomena like quasars, and quantum irregularities. I'd studied physics for a couple of years, but I wasn't a physicist, and they weren't exactly working fields of science, so much of my thought lay with the few stray articles I'd read, outlining the possibilities of these events. It wasn't much to consider really.

But then I had this strange thought. U.F.O. 's. Not in the alien sense, as most people had come to consider it, whenever they say the letters U.F.O. But the strict sense, of an unidentified flying object. This was definitely an unidentified object. Whether it was flying, is an academic question. If the object was low enough in the Earth's atmosphere, it was most definitely flying, even if it appeared stationary. Which could explain how it could appear so much brighter than the sun. A bright beacon, hovering somewhere over Germany.

Well, then. Maybe not the whole planet hadn't been affected by its knock out affects, and only parts of Europe, those that had looked in its direction.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by a rhythmic mechanical sound, getting louder. As if it was approaching my bed in the hospital. I listened as it approached, hearing only part of the mechanical squeaking, before it stopped. There was a short silence, before I felt the familiar prick on my arm of a needle, or a pressurised injector.

Then after a moment, the mechanical noise resumed, a little louder now, but going away. Whatever I had been injected with was dissipating my drowsiness. The sounds around me were coming in clearer now. I could hear the mechanical squeaking, coupled with the hissing sound like a hydraulic lifts, except these shifted in beat with the rhythmic clapping of metal on metal.

The sound of voices was also clearer, as I recognised the whispering voices of people all around me. I could feel that I was also sitting up, not lying down.

That's when I heard her voice. Almost next to me was she, but I didn't recognise a single word she said, as it sounded like she was speaking French.

A French hospital? Was it that bad? I thought.

Finally I risked trying to open my eyes again. My sight was cloudy, and I feared that maybe I was blind. Working my eye lids, I could make out shapes, so I raised an arm, and rubbed both eyes with a thumb and finger, dispelling the stickiness you get from keeping your eye's closed for a long time.

Dropping my hand away, everything was bright for a moment, after pressing against my eyes, until they focused on my surroundings.

At seeing where I was, I drew in a sharp breath. That voice sounded again, off to my right, speaking French. I turned my head in the direction, hoping the vision I saw was just a vision, and would disappear as I focused on something from a sense other than my eyes. As I turned my head, the expanse of what I saw, astounded me further. I was aghast, and confused.

I turned my head, looking around the other way, seeing that my vision didn't disappear, but surrounded me entirely.

On all sides, I was encircled by cages. Small metallic cages, filled, with people. For I sat in one of these cages also. I still had this feeling, one I associated with been in a hospital bed. This was explained entirely when I looked down. As with the people I saw in the cages near by, I was completely naked. No clothes. No watch, not even the ring I usually wear. I'd been stripped of everything I had in the world.

That voice continued to speak to me in French, so finally I focused upon its source. A girl. Or I should say a woman from her attributes, was in the cage next to me, with her hands grasping on the angled bars joining our cages together as she spoke to me.

I was still confused by my surroundings, by my condition, and by the people around me, without the need to be further confused by a language I hadn't picked enough up in the course of my travels.

Slowly I shook my head, and she stopped.

"English? Can you speak English?" I asked, haltingly, as I got my voice working.

"Pas." She replied. It was one of the few words I could understand.

"Sprechen auf deutsch?" I asked of her in German.

"Aber ja!" she replied. Finally I could understand her.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"I think so." I replied, "But that all depends."

"Did you hit your head when you fell over? You were out for so long." Her German was better than mine, as I had only learnt enough of the language to travel through the country, and picked up anything else I needed to know as I passed though.

I worked out what she said after a moment, as I put a hand up to my head, and felt around my scalp, finding no bumps or soft spots that could indicate problems.

"No." I finally replied, returning my hand to the floor.

I'd been so intent on my surroundings and on why I was here, that I finally realised I was naked in front of a woman. A beautiful one at that.

It must have been a delayed reaction, from been unconscious or whatever it was, or possibly the drug, because I felt an erection come upon me.

I drew my hand up from the floor, sort of dropping it into my crotch, but this was quite obvious to the woman.

"Do no be embarrassed." She said, "It seems everyone is naked like you."

"It's not that." I replied.

I saw her eye's shift downwards, and then back to my face. She opened her mouth to say something, when her eye's shifted down again.

"It is quite natural under the conditions." She said after a moment, almost nonchalantly, before her eye's returned to my face. "Do not be concerned with people staring, we are all in the same predicament."

I took a glance down her body at the mention of staring. I had glimpsed it when I first took sight upon her, but diverted my eyes, thinking it was the right thing to do. But now I took a look, seeing the almost perfect circles of her breasts balanced with the curved figure of her body that I could see in her seated position. Down to her hips, and her gracious legs that were folded to one side so she could face me, providing me with a partial view of her light pubic hair.

I drew me eyes up again quickly, back to her face.

"It is fine to stare." She said, "We will have no choice to see each other, if we continue to be... cell mates." She said the final two words in English, giving more meaning to her words.

"I understand." I replied. It felt unnatural holding my hand there, so I shifted it back to the floor again, wishing for something to calm my nerves, and the rush of blood.

Chapter 3: Fear of monsters

"How long have we been here?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but nothing has changed since I awoke." She said. "And nobody has a watch, or anything to tell the time."

"So I gathered." Holding my bare arm up.

She gave a small laugh, looking at my arm. "Yes it is hard not to figure." She said, "But at best guess, I've been awake for four to five hours. Since then, you have been my only companion."

I didn't understand what she meant, so she simply pointed over her shoulder.

I shifted now, drawing my back off the metal cage as I leant over to look around her.

I sat in the end cage of a row of cages, which continued down past her. Looking at the next row over, I counted each distinct enclosure which made up eight cages within the row. Looking back again, I could see the next two cages were empty, and the following four each had an occupant.

I turned about, looking at all the cages, seeing a row on either side of us, more than a metre apart, with people in some of the cages, but not all. Another row of cages started on the opposite side. At a guess, it looked like I was in the middle of these two rows, which looked like they extended further each way by another row, making four rows, with eight separate cages each, making 32 cages along the entire length.

Along the side of the rows, I tried to count how many there were. I couldn't see too far beyond the row next to us, but at a guess, I found there must have been about seven in one direction, and twelve in the other. With our own row, that made 20 across.

A small sum in my head, of 32 by 20, and I concluded with 640 individual cages. Not all of them filled, surely. But a good quantity was filled, with somewhere between five and six hundred people.

It was staggering. I focused myself back upon my immediate surroundings. I understood what she had meant. The nearest other person, another woman, was in a row next to us, which looked to be at least a meter and a half away, maybe a bit more.

Finally I turned back to my companion, nodding my comprehension. I rearranged my seating, crossing my legs to face her directly. "Four to five hours?" I repeated. "Nothing else has happened since then?"

"No, nothing." She replied, "Except when that mechanical monster passes."

I raised an eyebrow at this. "A monster?"

"It is a..." She said, thinking for the correct word in German, "Robot."

I didn't quite believe her. "A robot?" I asked, angling my head down and giving one of my questioning looks I always gave when I heard something I distrusted.

I was facing towards her bare bosoms, and when I realised I was staring at them, I raised my face up again, keeping the same look.

"Yes, a robot. It makes that squeaking and hissing noise as it walks by on its metal feet." She explained. "You should be able to see it, just over there." She turned about and pointed a hand one row over.

I looked in that direction but saw nothing but more cages obscuring my view. I could hear a noise over the low murmur of voices, a rhythmic clunking. Like the sound I heard just before I came to. Getting up from my seated position, I moved to the side of the cage, touching its framework for the first time as I grasped the horizontal bars in the framework.

Drawing my head to the top, I could feel the cross work of metal bars on my head as I looked out over the cages in front. There, barely, I could see a moving form, as walked down amongst the rows of cages, of a tall metal robot.

I could not see the lower portion of it, but as I watched, it came closer. Passing two rows over, I could make out some of the lower workings though the cages. It had what looked like hydraulic pumps, that shifted the metal skeleton, giving it movement.

Finally when I could no longer make out the details, as it passed between more cages, I drew away from cage wall.

My companion was staring past me, towards the robot, before I saw her shiver a moment, causing her body to visibly ripple, before looking towards me.

"A robot." I confirmed. "I am sorry I doubted you." I told her, resuming my crossed leg position.

"Understandable." She said, "I did not believe it when it walked past me the first time."

"That, robot. I remember hearing it when I woke up." I told her.

"I was afraid when it stopped at your cage." She said, "You were still for so long, I had thought that you might be dead, and it had come to collect you."

She put a hand on the grid of metal bars separating us. She had this look of fear and loneliness on her face, that seemed to stare into the distance, that I could only empathise with.

I raised a hand of my own, touching hers. She looked at me, but didn't withdraw her hand, so I covered hers with mine. "It's ok now." I said. "You're not alone, and I'm not dead." Giving her a small smile. How could I no smile at a woman, unless I was dead?

"Thank you." She said, smiling back. "But that thing, when it stopped at you cage, I wasn't sure. It extended this arm inside, and pressed something against your arm which hissed."

I looked at my arm, the same one I was touching her with. It looked fine, with no marks on it. "A gas injector." I said, guessing at the sound, and what I could remember in my half daze. "It must have injected me with something, to bring me awake."

"I came to the same conclusion." She said, "As you came to, just after."

She sat there, just looking at me for a moment, "We have been talking much, but we have not yet traded names."

We'd been sitting here, talking for who know how long, and we'd seen each other's body in the most personal way, yet we still didn't know each other's names. She was right to want to trade names.

"My name is Celine." She said, "I would tell you my last name, except that is meaningless under the circumstance."

"Celine." I repeated, making sure I had the pronunciation right. "I am Joseph."

"It is good to meet you Joseph." She said.

"It is good to meet you Celine." I said.

Chapter 4: Natural functions

We would have shaken hands, except the cross work of metal bars made it difficult to do so, without intruding on one another's space. That and we might risk losing skin from the effort.

The cage, as I had see it, was not like cages from home, those used to keep animals, or anything like the cells of a prison. I've had the fortune to spend the night in a few cells in my youth, but this was nothing like them.

A prison cell had space in it, enough for a person to walk about it, and a few amenities, like a chair, or a fixed bed and a toilet.

This had none of those. It was too short to even stand in, let alone walk, and its dimensions were short enough, to not allow the average person to lie down in, except diagonally, and even then, it might be a squeeze for a tall person.

Looking around the cell, the cage appeared to be a perfect cube, about one and half metres in length. About the same distance between the rows it appeared.

But the cage itself was the fascinating part. Instead of round cylindrical steel bars, it was made up of triangular rods, that pointed outwards, and reflected somewhat like bare aluminium. And unlike a prison, that had just vertical bars, these were arranged both up and down, and cross wise, in a grid work of bars.

The most curious part of all, was how the bars were all joined. For I could not see it. The bars in the cross work, appeared to just pass through one another, without any join marks, like it was moulded in one piece.

And where a wall joined another wall, or ceiling, it was the same. No join marks, like it was moulded.

The bars that separated Celine and me, were joined in the same fashion, but were not triangular, but cubed, with the flat edges facing in, so all around the cage, the metal bars had flat faces facing inwards.

The floor was different, as it was also a grid of metal, except it was spaced further apart, and in between was a soft spongy material.

I had not taken much interest in the rest of my surroundings until we were both interrupted from our introduction by a new sound.

I turned to look at the row next to us, where our closest neighbour was, a woman.

I am not sure how best to describe this experience, but when I first looked, all I noticed was the woman, leaning back against the corner of her cage, in a seated position, facing away from us.

It was not her directly, but what she was doing rather, that made the sound that had intruded. Like a tap running water in a sink. Looking to the floor of her cage, I saw what was making the sound and felt somewhat disgusted.

A thin stream of urine poured forth form between her legs, to fall on the floor of her cage. It shifted occasionally, to rattle off the metal on the floor, or to hit the surface between the metal grid.

I averted my face from the sight, not really wanting to stare at anything like it, but the sound continued, ever aware in my mind, of what was creating the sound.

When it finally stopped, I felt a little relieved, for thinking about a urinating woman, had set off my erection again. I did my best to ignore its presence within my crossed legs, and looked back to Celine.

"It is something I had not thought about." She said, "We have no facilities within these cells for toilet. And what do we do when, we need to excrete?"

It was not a subject that I wished to participate in, under normal circumstances. But these were not normal.

"I don't know." I replied frankly. "But if more people start doing it, we might choke ourselves to death on the smell."

It was too much to ask, as the sound of another person urinating could be heard. I did not turn my head this time, but Celine did. My hand was still on hers, and I could feel the sudden griping she did of the bar.

I waited, feeling my ever strong curiosity to look, but disregarding it until Celine turned back. She seemed to know I hadn't looked this time, "It was a man this time." She said, loosening her grip on the bar, "The sound of the woman must have given him the need. Other people may soon follow."

She was right of course. Off in the distance, I could hear the same splashing sounds coming from more than on direction.

I was able to ignore the sounds that sounded further away, as they sounded reminiscently of rain upon a roof, and did my best not to look at the closer sounds.

I did not feel the need to urinate myself, as I hadn't eaten much that morning. If it was that morning. And I never got to the lunch I had been planning to keep my going though the day. The strange thing was that I didn't feel hungry.

If I missed a meal, I would usually get hungry pangs for a short time, before they disappeared. By the second meal time, I would usually feel a more intense need, and satisfy it.

But there was nothing. Celine had guessed at four to five hours, so by this time, I should be getting to be very hungry. But there was nothing. Not even the rumbling complaint from an empty stomach.

"Celine, when was the last time you ate?" I asked.

"I will not need to go soon." She replied, thinking that I was talking about her urinating.

"No, when was the last time you ingested a meal?" I asked, trying for a more direct question in my German.

"About..." She was silent a moment as she thought, "Eight hours ago!"

"And you don't feel hungry?"

"No." She replied. "Well, maybe a little."

It didn't make as much sense as I had wanted. I had surely eaten my last meal some time before Celine did, but she was the one feeling hungry.

No it didn't make sense. It wasn't something I could think about, as I could hear another person urinating nearby.

Celine's hand suddenly clenched under mine, "Oh."

"What is it?" I asked, worried.

"I..." She, looked at me in the face, all serious, "Need to urinate."

I released the breath I didn't know I was holding, then drew in another sharply. I lifted my hand from hers, and watched as she shifted from her seated position, looking about her cage.

There was not much of a selection of where to do it. Just four corners. Fortunately, she picked one of the two furthermost from me, and turned about again in the cage, backing in the corner.

I don't' know why, but I watched her as she backed into a half squatted position, with her legs separated. Maybe it was my overwhelming curiosity, or the fact she'd said it was ok to stare. So I watched as she squatted there, with the edge of her vagina open, as a thin stream of fluid squirted, and then flowed out.

She did not look my way, but concentrated on her task, trying not to splash over her feet, and not work it too far away from the corner of her cage. It took longer than what I expected, as she half sat there. I scrutinised the floor where she urinated, noticing the dark sponge floor under the cage, soaking up the urine.

When she finally finished, she looked up at my watching face, "It is strange, I could not hold it back."

"The floor seemed to soak it all up." I replied, a little strained from watching it.

"I noticed this too. Maybe it was designed to do this." She said.

"Is the floor wet?" I asked.

She leaned over, and prodded the sponge floor lightly with a finger. It deformed as she pressed a bit harder, until she drew it up and touched her cheek with the finger. "No, it is dry. Very curious."

It made some sense at least. We could urinate within the cell without feeling like we were defecating our space. But as Celine had asked before. What about when we need to relieve our intestines? Surely the sponge couldn't take in solid matter?

Chapter 5: Time and distance

Celine moved back towards me now, sitting against the cage wall next to the barrier that separated us, and stretching her legs out together.

Seeing how close she was, I shifted from my position, and sat back against the same wall, basically side by side, with only the single barrier between us.

"Joseph, what were you doing before, this." She waved a hand about, describing the cage and everything around us.

"I was backpacking around Europe." I explained, telling about my trip through several countries, the people I met and the strange things I saw.

"Not as strange as this, no?" She asked.

"No, this is the strangest of all places I've visited yet." I replied. "I hope it's only a visit."

"I do too." She said, "So where you last?"

I explained to her about coming back into Germany, and finally my last stop in the small hamlet, and what I saw up until I took my glasses off.

"I was not so clumsy, or fortunate." She said. "I was working in Strasbourg, near the German border."

I nodded, understanding where it was. I had been planning on passing through Strasbourg when I entered France.

"I work in a small office, when I took a break. I was standing in front of a nearby window." Celine explained, "It is the last thing I remember, staring outside the window at the trees. I had no warning of people collapsing as you did. I was just there one moment, and here the next."

No, she was not as fortunate as I. But I wondered if she saw the same thing as I did, but didn't realise it. That U.F.O.

"Which way does your window face?" I asked her, trying to determine something.

"North East. Into Germany." She replied, "On a clear day you can see the river Rhine for some distance."

North East. That was in the right general direction to where I saw it, over the middle of Germany. It also proved it wasn't in orbit, so it was most definitely a flying object, however unidentifiable it was.

"Do you think we're in Germany?" She asked.

"I don't know." I really had no idea. Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, United Kingdom. We really could be anywhere. It all depends on how long we've been out.

The fact that we had been a few hundred kilometres apart when we were knocked out by the light provides some estimate about the far reaching nature of whoever had caged us. That was the point really. How long had we actually been unconscious?

Celine had confirmed that I'd been four to five hours longer than her. But how long on top of that were we our, as we were transported?

One of the best indicators of time on the human body, are our finger nails. I looked over my finger nails, seeing how short they were, figuring we hadn't been here days for them to have grown. I needed a shorter method of finding out how long we'd actually been here.

A fresh scab from an injury came to mind. I looked at my fingers, the place where I get them most often when travelling. But I couldn't remember getting any recently, as I looked over my unscarred fingers. I did notice the lack of ring on my right index finger. Only a slight mark remained, where the skin remained lighter from lack of sun on my skin. Nothing to indicate passage of time further than that.

"Celine, do you have any scars, or skin marks?" I asked, looking at her through the cage. I guess my German was terrible, as she didn't quite understand.

"Uh, wounds!" I said. "Do you have any old wounds."

She spent a moment, looking at her hands, and then a knee, and drew up one foot to look at that. "No Joseph." She replied, shaking her head. "No old wounds."

I looked at her leg, as she lowed it to the floor again.

"Wait, there is something." She said, placing her hands to the sides of her face. "My ear's were pierced." She felt along her ear's, under the edge of her hair for a moment, "No I cannot find the piercing, without looking for it."

I was despondent for a sign of how long we'd been in here.

"One other thing." Celine said. I looked to her, wondering what she knew. "I had a pieced Bauchnabel."

I didn't understand that word, having never heard it before. I wasn't even sure what it meant. It was nothing like the German word for clitoris, so as far as I knew, it wasn't her vagina that she had pierced. "What?" I asked.

She pointed to stomach, to her bellybutton in fact. "Bauchnabel" I said understanding now, "Bellybutton."

She bent over, causing her breasts to push forward as she looked at her bellybutton. "Oh my, it has healed up." She exclaimed.

I couldn't quite see around her arm as she double checked the skin of her bellybutton. She sat back, with a look of surprise on her face. "It has healed completely."

"How long would that take?" I asked her.

"A day, at least." She answered, "But the tissue does not hold the mark of the piercing either, which would take more than a day. We could have been here that long, surely!"

"It may have taken that long to get us all together." I told Celine, "To pick us all up from wherever we had fallen, transport us here. And remove all our clothes."

I was silent a moment, thinking that didn't sound right.

She solved it for me. "They could not have removed my piercing last, it would not have healed by now."

Images revolved around my mind, of troops of people stripping the clothes off the collapsed people in the street, and bundling their naked bodies into trucks before transporting them here.

I turned my head about, looking at the figures in the cages around me, but did not recognise any of them from the small hamlet. No, it wasn't right, especially when I was caged next to Celine. Something more was happening, that I couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"They must have removed our clothes and jewellery where we fell." I said, "And it's taken that long to transport us all here."

It was the only explanation I could come up with. Whether we'd been transported in trucks, aircraft, or both did not matter, but it was a long way away.

"We cannot be in Germany or France." Celine said, coming to the same conclusion.

"Maybe China." I said, as the Chinese had not been too friendly lately to the European countries.

"Maybe further." She added.

I had to agree. We could well be anywhere in the world.

Chapter 6: Demand and supply

The sound of someone yelling caught our attention. A loud baritone voice, in Russian close by. It was something I didn't expect.

My Russian skills were at best, limited to half a dozen words. But most of what I heard did not comprise of those words. I looked to Celine, thinking she might understand.

She had as much idea as I did, when she asked, "Do you know what he is saying?"

"None." I said, listening to the voice continue to yell out.

All of a sudden, the robot whirred past my cage, its feet thumping loudly with the hiss of its hydraulics as it proceeded down between the cages towards the source of the voice.

Quite unexpectedly, in the middle of several words, the voice stopped and a quietness settled over everyone. There was some low murmuring coming from somewhere, but it was almost dead silent.

Slowly the voices started whispering around us, like frogs resuming their calls after been interrupted by something splashing into their pond.

Some of the voices were in French, and I asked Celine, "Do you know what they're whispering?"

"Some of them are asking what happened."

"Is anyone answering?" I asked.

"Do we want to know what happened?" she said. She had that look in her eye's again, a look of fear, but it was mixed with something else now.

"We need to know what they did to him, so we can avoid it ourselves." I replied, "And I'd like to know how a Russian got in here."

"I think I understand." She said. She listened to the voices for a minutes, "They are saying that the man shot with sparks of light, but they do not comprehend the one who was next to the Russian when he was shot. They are speaking English."

"English?" I asked, surprised.

She nodded.

Someone else here knew English. What was the chance that someone was picked up from one of the dozen English speaking countries, or possibly a tourist, like myself, who had been in Germany when they were taken?

I took a risk now, and called out in English, "Hello, did anyone see what happened to the Russian?"

"What are you doing?" Celine pleaded, pressing her face and hands against the barrier.

I had to change back to German to explain, and started to reply when a voice with and English accent called out. And it was female.

"Hello? You're English?" She called out.

I took a look at the face beside me, one of fear, and worry. "I'll try not to draw the robot's attention." I told Celine, before changing back to English.

"Not quiet, I'm Australian." I called.

"Don't tell me, they got you from all the way down there!" She called back.

"No, I was in Germany." I explained, cautioning my voice, "But I wanted to know what happened to the Russian, and what he was saying."

"Russian? No, he's from the Ukraine." She explained, "But he acts like one. He was demanding some food, and vodka."

"You understood what he was saying?" I asked.

"Absolutely, I've just come from there and was on my way home through Poland, when, well... I must say, that I feel a little embarrassed by my condition."

"Naked?" I asked.

"Well, yes, that and I've got no make up or compact. My hair must be a mess. And did you see what those people were doing before? I am aghast."

I guessed she was talking about the urinating. She didn't sound too appalled, but she'd soon have to do the same herself, as Celine had.

"Is the... Ukraine ok?" I asked, "What did the robot do to him."

"He appears to be ok." She said, "he's actually got his eye's open, and he's mumbling something, but it's too quiet to make out. The robot? Well, it shot some electricity or a bolt of light though these terrible bars at him. And it gave my ears a rest a least."

"He's alive." I repeated to Celine, "Just stunned by the robot. He was asking for food and vodka."

"Vodka?" Celine, repeated, "Pah, he should have been shot."

I wasn't too partial to it myself, unless it was blended with something. My tastes were more of the lighter kind. Some of the German beers had been a bit strong on my first trip through, but I had been looking forward to trying some of the French wine.

"By the way, my name is Beth." The English woman called out, "What's yours?"

"Joseph." I replied. "It's nice to meet you Beth."

"Oh, I do believe I can make out what Mikhail is saying now." Beth called out.

"What is he saying." I called back, after a moment.

"He is saying, 'All I wanted was a bottle of vodka and sandwich.' and he's saying a few nasty things about the robot, God, and that blasted English Woman... Oh, he's calling me a whore, and something else, I won't translate."

It was enough to know that the Ukraine, Mikhail was all right, and not hurt by the robot. If anything, he sounded almost normal.

Beth sounded nice enough for an English woman, even though I couldn't see her.

"Thank you Beth, maybe we'll meet some time." I called.

"That would be nice, someone to speak English with, rather than the convoluted language of this fool." Beth said.

That's where I stopped my conversation with Beth, and explained to Celine. "Mikhail is the name of the Ukraine man. The robot only caused him to quieten down, nothing more."

Most of the fear had left Celine's face, returning it to its former appearance of almost beauty. "What else did she say?" Celine asked.

"Beth, that was the English woman, just complained about her appearance. And she was in Poland when she was taken."

"France, Germany, Poland." Celine said, listing off the countries where people had been taken from, "Do you know where in the Ukraine, Mikhail was taken?"

"Beth didn't say." I replied, "It doesn't matter much, since it appears that what ever it was, was centred over Germany."

"It is, as you say, doesn't matter." Celine said, relaxing back on her side, "But it does matter that I am feeling hungry now. Maybe Mikhail was right in demanding food."

I didn't feel the need yet. And if we had been unconscious for more than a day, I should be feeling almost to the point of starving, having not taken any food or water for that long.

Food and water. This was what I was thinking, when an urge came upon me. It was sudden, not normal or natural.

Celine could see the ache on my face, "Is there something wrong?"

"My turn." I said, getting up quickly from my seated position, and kneeling in the opposite corner. With relief, I released the pressure that had suddenly built up in my bladder, allowing it to drain into the dark sponge material in the very corner of my cage.

It took longer than it usually did to empty my bladder, but I hadn't been to a toilet in something like two days now, so it was expected. I held my position, until eventually the flow stopped. With some jiggling, I rolled the last few drops out, expelling it, until I was sure it was dry.

If I had been wearing clothing, and I was sure of a shower or bath sometime soon, I wouldn't be worried. But as a prime source of possible infection, and of bad smells, I wanted to make sure I had no urine left in my penis.

So much so, to my disagreement I rolled the last few drops off on my finger, and wiped it on the sponge floor. To finish, I left the foreskin rolled down, to allow it to dry. It was unusual, to say the least. But it was usual to wear clothes some of the time, and to have access to water and cleaning agents. I had none of these.

Now that I was finished, I shuffled about, returning to my position next to the bars separating me from Celine.

"You have done it now." She said, looking to my crotch through the bars, my penis was the only object there worth looking at.

I was still self conscious of been naked in front of this woman, and the recent activities made me vulnerable to another erection, which pushed its way up.

I looked up from it back at Celine, who returned her sight to my face after another moment. "You will have to live with it, it is as natural as a woman's menstruation."

She actually said something else, but I was getting all the concepts of German now, that I understood what she was saying.

"Which will be more discomforting than a simple erection." Celine continued.

This I remembered with dread. It was not something I wanted to listen to, and Celine didn't go further with the subject. The fact that she may have to sit there for days, bleeding from between her legs, was enough to think about.

We sat there, quietly for a while, in our own thoughts. I was still pondering upon my sudden need to urinate, when something hit me.

I wasn't something, rather than a wet drop of something hit me. I looked to Celine, who was staring off at the cages opposite, and looked at her hands, suspecting play, but they were folded over her pelvis, equally idle.

Another drip hit me, on the leg, and then Celine called out, "What?" Looking form my leg to her, she was staring at me with uncertainty, when she flinched.

She took her eyes from me, and poked at one of her breasts. On it was a single drop of liquid. Slowly I turned my head up, looking past the roof of my cage, at the ceiling for the first time.

It wasn't a low ceiling; maybe three of four metres up, with what looked like panels that matched the placement of our cage, and panels of light in between.

As I stared at the ceiling, it unexpectedly opened up with a spray of water.

There was a mass of sudden calls around me; from the sudden wetting down we were getting. I turned to Celine, who was looking about the roof, and all the while, getting her hair and face wet.

She licked at a run of water from across her lips, then turned to me, finding I was already watching. "It is not water." She said simply.

Chapter 7: Nutrients

I caught some of the fluid on my hand, and without hesitation, drew my tongue across it, tasting the strange substance. It was not like anything I remember, but neither did it taste new. I could identify different distinct flavours, that seemed to flow and change across my tongue. I had to take another sample, and still I couldn't get a firm taste on it.

"I don't know, but its taste seems to change, but always remind me of one food or another." I told Celine, facing her.

"This is our food?" She asked, in the downpour that felt more like a shower now. Her hair was looking plastered, as it ran across her body. She sampled some more from her hand, "This is very wasteful for food."

"Try in the middle of your cage, it seems to be dripping there." I said, seeing a steady flow running past her.

I turned to my own, and saw the same thing, a steady flow of liquid falling to the sponge floor below, which seemed to soak it up as quickly as it fell.

I had to get up from my position, and drew my hand through the flow, to taste it, and still the taste changed and flowed. With some trepidation, I cupped my hands under the fall, drawing it to my face to drink. It seemed to flow down without any trouble, after a few more handfuls, I still couldn't feel any change with my stomach. It didn't react, and I didn't try to throw it up, so hopefully whatever it was, was meant to be taken internally.

I turned back to see Celine watching me expectantly from the centre of her cage, "It seems fine." I said, "Go ahead, and try it."

She took a double handful and drew it to her face, and letting it run down into her mouth. Half of it missed, running down her chin, and mixing with the rest that landed on her chest and ran down her body.

I took another handful, trying to draw it all into my mouth, failing just as much as Celine did. When I lowered my face, I found Celine with her face upturned, catching the gush of fluid directly into her mouth.

She swallowed now and then, as much of it overflowed, and ran down between her breasts. My eyes strayed no further; as I imitated her, and leaned forward to catch the liquid directly into my mouth, swallowing what I could, between each breath I drew in through my nose.

When I had enough, I drew back from the flow, settling on my backside, as the rain of whatever it was, continued around me.

Eventually, even Celine stopped, and dropped her face back down. She turned her head about, with the appearance of having a sore neck, then shifted back across to our old position.

I joined her, shifting across next to the bars, as close as we could get.

"It has satisfied my hunger." She said, "Like food, not water."

"It still continues to fall like rain." I said.

"Then maybe it is more than just food." She explained, "Maybe it is like rain, it satisfies us with nutrients, but washes us like water."

She had an interesting point. I looked at her body, looking for dirty patches, but turned to my own, figuring that any form of dirt would be easy to find on my own body. I gave up; realising it was almost impossible to find a dirt patch within this rain.

I turned back to Celine, who had a foot up over the other leg, checking between her toes. I admired her dexterity. I could bring my foot up, but not as far as she had hers, close enough to touch her face with.

"I cannot find anything within all this wetness." She complained, dropping her foot, and straightening her leg out.

This, nutrient shower, for lack of a better name had most likely washed away any dirt or residue that we sought to confirm that it was washing away.

She started playing with her dark red hair. When it had been dry, it was shorter than shoulder length, about half way down her neck and covering her ears, framing her face in a stylish bob cut. But now, it was flat and wet, sticking to her face whenever she moved her head. Her face still looked beautiful to me, even with the hair wet around her face. My heart felt heavy for some reason, that I knew not why.

"My hair is also a mess." She added to her complaints, "It will never be the same again."

She flicked another piece off her face, only to have it swing back again.

I had to admire her restraint, and stubbornness under the conditions, which didn't seem to let up for some time. I was beginning to think I was fond of her.

As abruptly as the rain of nutrients had begun, it just stopped. Only the light patter of it dripping out continued for a short time, until it too, stopped.

Chapter 8: The frail and the weak

Looking about my cage, it seemed almost dry, except for the rivulets which clung to the flat metal in the floor. Touching a finger to the metal, one pool took to my finger, using it as a bridge to flow into the sponge flooring.

Using both hands, I cleared away all the large wet patches, letting the nutrient get sucked up by the sponging which always appeared dry.

It wasn't as bad, as the nutrient didn't cling to skin very well, but ran straight off. My hair though, was wet as it held the fluid. Like Celine had said, it was a mess.

Unfortunately I couldn't do a thing about it, except run my hands across my scalp, squeezing the residue out, before it to ran down my body, and disappeared into the floor. There was a slightly discernible feeling of dampness across my skin, but it was only vague. I had nothing to dry myself off with, so resumed my seat next to Celine's cage.

She was sitting in the back corner of her cage facing my way, doing, I don't know what. She had legs wide apart, pointing along each side of the cage at a right angle, and she was leaning over, pressing her breasts and face to the floor.

It was erotic, seeing her laid flat in this position, until she flexed up, and stretched her body out in another direction. She was exercising.

I could have laughed, at my lack of intelligence, but Celine would have heard, and maybe thought I was laughing at her.

I went into one of those half states, of blankly staring at Celine, as thought about exercising in this environment. Most of what I did was walking, as I had done during my journey over most of Europe. Actual exercising that I did came in the form of an upper body work-out. The cage itself was somewhat limited to doing anything more than simple exercises.

Celine drew her body upright, stretching her arms up to the cage top. She paused there, seeing my unfocused stare. "Joseph?" She asked, bringing her arms down.

"Sorry." I said, "I was just thinking about your exercising."

"This cell is not well suited to the human body." She said, slapping one of her outstretched legs with a hand, "We will become weak if we just sit here. At home, I do callisthenics before I bathe. But since that has been done now, I have no choice but to do it after."

She was right. In the real world, an idle person would lose their muscle tone, and become weaker and less coordinated.

"Unfortunately I cannot do my more physical movements, so I am restricted to stretching." She explained as she leaned over, stretching herself out to the foot nearest me. Celine seemed to push herself to the limits, stretching her body out.

I felt kind of guilty, just siting there and watching. So I picked myself up, stretching my body diagonally across my cage floor, and proceeded to do push ups.

I counted them off as I went, lowering myself to the floor, but not quite touching it, before pushing back up. One.

My feet were right in the corner, touching the metal of the cell, and as I lowered myself again, the framework seemed to brush close by my face. Two.

It was close, just enough distance to lie down in, nothing more. Three.

I continued, up to twenty, watching the cage shift by my face, down and up. Under normal circumstances, I would have stopped as I only did short exercises to compliment my walking as I travelled.

But with no walking now, I continued. To see how far I could go. I could make out Celine though the cell wall on my right, as I lowered myself again. She had finished stretching her body out between her legs, and was placing herself length wise across her cage; back down as if she was trying to lie down, but with her arms stretched out behind her.

Down, up. She had her body arced up above her, her breasts flattened with her arms stretched far back, and her hair hanging clear of her ears.

Down, up. Each time I came up, she had shifted a hand or a foot, bringing them further under her, as she stretched her body in a tight arc, describing a rainbow, with her hands at one end, and her feet at another.

Her head was a small object hanging underneath the arc, only a slight imperfection of the beauty of that position.

I continued, almost reaching fifty, as I finally gave out, and lowered myself to the floor ungracefully. Like a domino effect, Celine fell over sideways, rolling her body towards me as she came to a stop still holding the arc in her body.

Slowly, she straightened up, relieving herself from the awkward position on the floor.

I picked myself up also, feeling the stress in my arms from over working them. They would settle down eventually, a little sore, but no worse off. Next time, I would limit myself to 40.

Celine had arranged herself sitting on the floor, next to the barrier between us, with her knees up to her chest. She poked her feet through, half into my cell, and lifting it up to touch the metal of the grid work as she leaned back a bit.

"Joseph, could you hold my feet for me?" She asked.

I had an idea what she wanted, to do some sit ups. I usually jammed my feet under a piece of furniture wherever I was spending the night, or made do with my pack over my feet.

"Yes, I would like to." I said, arranging myself on my knees, opposite her, and placing my hands over her feet, holding them down on the floor, so they wouldn't bash the metal above as she leaned back.

With her hands behind her head, she proceeded to lean back down to the floor, then raise herself again, bringing her face right up to her knees. Her legs were spread apart just a little, as her nose slipped between each time she came up.

I watched her, declining to speak as she exercised. I didn't bother to count instead just merely watching. She was right. It was hard not to stare. Her eye's met mine each time she came up, and I tracked her face down, just between her legs, and back up again.

Several times, I didn't meet her eyes, as my eyes drifted to other parts of her body, down between her legs to regions I hadn't usually focused upon in this way.

After a moment, considering my position, I returned my eyes to her face, feeling as guilty as sin, and most likely had a flushed face to show it.

Celine stopped soon after, "Thankyou for that." She said, as I withdrew my hands from her feet.

I hadn't finished my exercises, and realised she could well help me do some sit ups. "Celine, could you please hold my feet for a while?" I asked, with a smile.

She returned the smile, "I would be honoured to." She said, picking her self up, and kneeling down to hold my feet. I rearranged myself, placing my feet though the cage, where she placed her hand over them, holding my feet firmly to the floor.

I didn't much think, as I concentrated on the sit-ups, counting off each time I saw Celine's face though the metal cage. I did double what I would usually did, satisfying my need for exercise. I pulled myself up finally, grabbing my knees for support as I thanked Celine.

"Your welcome." She replied, releasing my feet.

We sat there, not saying a word, just staring at each other between the bars. I was wondering why we were in this place. Why in these cages, what was this metal that looked like it was cast, but looked machined. How was it joined, with us still inside?

Why were we without clothes, without the jewellery that we decorate ourselves with, watches, earrings, and body piercing? What else had been removed? Tooth fillings, metal plates and artificial limbs?

Why I had been paired next to this woman, who I had no knowledge of before this place? Someone I could not have dreamed of in a thousand years, yet here we were, forced to spend our time next to each other under these circumstances? Why her, and why me? Why was there nobody else next to us? Why did I have to suffer her beauty which I could not touch unless I reached through these holes? Why was I falling for her?

Who had done all this? The Chinese? Or a Middle East country? Maybe it was a religious faction that no one had heard of.

Who would have a robot like the one we saw before? Who could even create a device that could hover in the sky, and knock people out by just looking at it?

Why was this even happening? People kidnapped, and taken publicly from towns and cites across Europe, maybe further. To what purpose?

I was awash with whys, where's and hows. Where is this, and how that, and why I was looking at Celine, and why she was staring back?

I considered for a moment, what she might be thinking. Why I was even thinking about what she was thinking disturbed me. My mind sometimes gets so confused, that I lose all self control, forgetting where I am, and what I was doing for several minutes, sometimes longer.

When I was younger, I'd been known to wander about in a daze, not even responding to my parents when they called my name. I had to see a doctor and a phycologist at my parent's request. The doctor of course, said there wasn't anything wrong with me. The phycologist seemed to understand more, but couldn't recommend anything to alleviate it.

It got better as I grew older, as I learned things, answering many of my own questions. But it was like it had started again. More questions than answers. More unknowns, that were closer than any mystery of the universe.

Chapter 9: Feelings

I am not sure how long I was dazed this time. Minutes, maybe hours. Nobody had the time, so there was no way to tell.

What I remember was Celine calling my name, and her hand touching me.

"Joseph? Joseph, are you ok?" She said, with her face against the metal bars, an arm outstretched into my cage and her hand under my chin, shaking my face. "Joseph, can you hear me."

I released one of my hands, holding my knees, and lightly took her hand. "I'm ok." I said, as she stopped moving my face.

She pulled back a bit, releasing my face so she could stare through the bars directly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen." I told her, "Sometimes I just zone out."

"You were silent for a long while. You had me worried." She said, grasping my hand. "When I spoke to you, you didn't respond. I had first thought that you were thinking, but then as you didn't move, I was beginning to think that maybe what we drank was poison."

I didn't begrudge her feeling, as it had occurred to me as we drank. "No, I don't think it was poison." I explained, "I apologise if I frightened you. I used to do the same thing when I was younger. It had gotten better, but this place, this condition must have brought it back."

Her hand was still in mine, gripping it. She didn't seem to want to let go. "It is a strange condition." She said.

I thought she was speaking about the place, but she continued, "What do you do when you sit like that, staring out as if I was not here?"

"Many things. I ask all the questions of why, who, where, how, and what." I told her.

"Do you..." She paused a moment, considering her words, "ever get an answer?"

I slowly shook my head, drooping my eyes to our clasped hands for a moment, "No. They always remain unanswered until I find them out for myself."

"What questions were you asking?" She asked, interested in knowing what I had been thinking.

"Many." I started, "But I was wondering who could possibly create this place, the robot, and the light in the sky."

"That is..." She made a small laugh, like a quick exhale. "A good question. The technology is so impressive; I would have no idea. What else did you consider?"

"I was considering our cages, and how they were made." I told her, leaning forward a bit, to grasp the cage between us. "The metal looks refined, yet it has been crossed in this pattern without any joins. All the way around, the floor, ceiling, and walls, are joined the same. No joins. No hinges. How were we put in here?"

She looked at the caging on her side, scratching at the metal with a finger nail. There was a frown on her face, as she looked down and then up where the floor and ceiling would have joined, but did not. Only the seeming continuation of metal.

"This is most perplexing." She agreed, "I had not considered this, thinking we had been locked in. It is the perfect mouse trap."

She was right. The idea of building a better mouse trap had been around for decades, if not centuries. This was the perfect trap, as the mouse could not get out, and didn't know how he got in.

"Was there much else you were questioning?" She said.

"Yes, there was something else." I said, "We have had our clothes removed, and your ear rings, and your bellybutton piercing. What else was taken from us? Did you have anything else pierced?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing."

"What about tooth caps?" I asked her. The word dentist doesn't really exist in German, so talking about fillings in teeth was a difficult subject.

"I don't know." She answered, "Don't you have any?"

"No, I've looked after my teeth." I replied. "And I don't' get to see a dentist very often."

Her eye's watched me, but I could see the movement in her mouth, probably probing about her mouth with her tongue. She stopped after a moment, "I can't tell. I have one on the right, but I can not tell if it is there. Could you please check?" She asked, opening her mouth wide.

I had to relinquish her hand, as I leaned forward, and hold onto the bars to keep me steady as I looked through one of the openings into her mouth.

Her tongue was a little active, but stayed out of the way, but her lip over shadowed her teeth. With one hand, I stuck though the next hole, and gently pulled her lip to the side.

I looked over all her teeth in the right of her jaw, but could not see any filling. "Is it the top or bottom?"

Her answer was a little gurgled, but clear enough. I searched along the bottom teeth with my eyes. Sure enough I found the molar where the filling was supposed to be.

I leaned in closer; my face against the bars to make sure it was completely gone, pulling on her lip.

She made an "uh" sound, as her hand found my back. I couldn't see any more, so surrendered my hold on her lip, keeping my face close to the bars. "It is gone. There is a gap where the filling was."

She still had her hand on my back, as she worked her mouth back to normal.

"Completely gone?" She said, rhetorically. "They have more than robbed us of our clothes, but invaded our bodies."

It was a little extreme, but true. Who would bother stealing a filling? A simple metal filling in a tooth.

"Extracting a filling is a difficult task to do without hurting the individual." She said, "But my face feels fine."

"Then they must have expert medical facilities to do that to everyone here." I said, "I wonder what else they must have done."

"Is this all you were thinking about?" she asked.

Her hand on my back was a reminder of what else I had been thinking. I decided to be open and truthful about it. Under the circumstances, lying to her would be too obvious, "I was also questioning why we were put together, in adjacent cells. Why you are so beautiful. And why I have no choice, but to put up with these feelings I have for you, only ever getting as close to you as we are right now."

"You have feelings towards me?" She asked,

"Yes." I said, as it was the only reply I could give her.

"It may be this place, and the enforced nature of our imprisonment." She said, "Giving you these feelings for me."

"That is probably true." I admitted, "And if we had met under different circumstances, I think I would still have these feelings."

"Are you sure?" She asked, "And it is not just my body?"

I could say that any man could appreciate a body like hers. Of what I had seen of her body, it would still hold its secrets. But it was more than her body. Her face. Her personality. Her concern for me when I had not yet awoken. I felt her fears of been lonely in this place, and wanting to shield her from them.

I wanted to care for her, and help her. It was more than I could think about right now, without zoning out again. "I want to care for you, keep you company in this place, and always be by your side in whatever condition. Your body could be burned horribly, and I would still want you."

Just the mere though of hurting her didn't sit well in my stomach. And I felt a touch of something in my eyes. I blinked, to try and remove the feeling.

I continued, "I don't know what I would do if someone came and took you away this moment to be replaced by someone else, and I never saw you again. Even if that robot came to shut me up, I would yell and scream to know where they had taken you."

I finished my piece, but I sat there breathing a little harder, my heart racing faster than usual, as I stared into Celine's eyes.

"I do fear for you." Celine said. "And I would not like been taken away from you. I do have feelings for you, but it is hard to say. To put into words."

It was the language problem again. My German was probably terrible, but at one stage I had done a course in it at school, learning the intricacies, but it did not cover everything. Coming to Germany, and some of the other counties had dropped me into the deep end of speaking the language, and the other bits of languages I had picked up along the way. To be one of the natives of the country, gave the person unexpected skill at knowing what to say.

Celine was not a German native. That she worked near the German border did not mean that she knew German just as well. She could well have grown up in another part of France.

"I cannot say exactly, they are mixed, and confusing for me." She said at length. "I would like us to be friend's. Close friends, for I do not know what will happen to us, but we will be together, I believe, for whatever we find in the future."

Chapter 10: Day and night

Her words sounded portentous at that moment. Before she could speak another word, the lights went out.

There were calls around us, cursive exclamations, but the person I focused upon was the one right next to me.

"Joseph!?" Celine called.

Her hand was still upon my back, but it seemed to scrabble about, marking sure I was still here.

"It's ok Celine, I'm still here." I said, trying to reassure her. I had my hand still part way though the bars from holding back her lip. I slipped it further though, hoping she hadn't moved much. First I found her shoulder, and she gasped under the sudden touch. "Shh, it's ok. It's only the lights." I said, running my hand up to her chin.

"I'm so sorry." Celine said, "It frightened me. I... I can't see a thing."

It was completely dark. In any normal building, there would be still light of some type, filtering in from outside, from street lights, star light, or any number of electrical devices that had little blinking indicators on them.

But inside here, it was pitch black and nothing more.

"There aren't any windows, so this room must be sealed." I said. "If we were underground, it would be this dark."

"Why would they turn the lights off?" Celine asked. It was a good question. "Do they want us to sleep?" She added.

"We haven't been awake long." I said. It had been, what? An hour, or two at the most?

"It is strange." Celine told me, "But I am beginning to feel tired."

Even in the dark, I could feel my eye's drooping.

"I feel it too." I said, "The nutrient must have been drugged."

"I don't like this." Celine said. I could hear the edge in her voice, as she asked, "Please hold me."

"I will." Agreeing. My hand only shifted around a bit, past her hair, and slightly around her neck. I was able to thread my other hand through the bars, but it went lower, wrapping around the edge of her back.

"Please don't go." I heard Celine say, from a distance away, even though I could feel her.

"I'll be right here." I promised her, hearing the tiredness in my own voice.

I held on to my consciousness for as long as I could, just trying to keep the sense of Celine under my hands. Without my knowing, I slipped off.

I awoke with a start, not knowing where I was, or why the light was so bright in my eyes. It was blinding red behind my eyelids, and I wished it would go away.

Someone must have heard my wish, because it dimmed down, to what I would expect the morning sunlight to be through an open window.

The pain of sleeping on something hard intruded into my consciousness, and I broke upon an eye.

Whatever it was, it hadn't been a dream.

The reflected light off the bars was enough to force my other eye open, giving me twice the chance to focus on something other than what was digging into my face.

What I found was Celine. She was still there, appearing a little groggy as she woke up.

"Morning friend." I said, getting her attention.

She said something in French, which I thought to be "Oh my god." She switched back to German for my sake. "I had thought this was just a dream."

"I did too." I said, "But I am happy we are dreaming it together."

"Yes." she agreed, "Thankyou for staying with me.

My left arm was still across her shoulder, which I gently withdrew. My right arm had slipped off as I slept; cutting off some of the circulation as it hung across the bars. I pulled this back also; working it around to make sure it was okay.

Celine pulled her hand back into her cage also.

I rubbed my eyes, lacking water to wash my face with, and ran a hand across my face, as I would normally when I got up in the morning, stopping dead, as I ran a hand back across my chin.

It seemed so incredible, that I couldn't believe it. "Celine." I called, moving to the bars between us again. "Have a look at my chin."

She came over, to have a look through the bars. "It looks fine." She said.

"But where is the stubble, of new hair growth?" I asked her.

She reached a hand though, touching my chin, running her fingers over my cheeks. "Was it like this, before? Yesterday?"

Yesterday. If it was yesterday. "I didn't check. It didn't occur to me."

It had about half a day's growth on it. Not much really, but that it hadn't grown since, since I'd been taken. It didn't make any sense, unless somehow my facial hair growth had been suspended.

Celine withdrew her hand, staring at my face a moment longer. "It will not grow." She said, "Not while we are here."

Whatever they were feeding us, or whatever that light in the sky did when it knocked me out, I wasn't going to grow a beard or moustache. It saved me the trouble of worrying about shaving at least. But I still had half a day's worth of stubble I reminded myself, running a hand across my chin.

When I usually get up, after dressing, I would usually find myself at the toilet.

Just like yesterday. I still had trouble calling it yesterday, as I had no reference of time to actually tell me that. But just as yesterday, I had no clothes. My backside felt sore from sitting down as I slept, that I had to stand up, stooping within my cell, to relieve the sore muscles.

And just like yesterday, I didn't feel any need to relieve myself, which to me, felt unusual.

I stepped backwards and forwards, all the space in the cell would allow, making sure my body felt like it was normal enough, and that it wasn't going to take a moment more to tell me my bladder needed emptying.

The feeling didn't come. Neither did I expect any breakfast.

What would happen today? I turned to Celine, to find her spread out across the floor of her cage, doing stretching exercises.

I usually started out doing exercises before breakfast, not just before going to sleep as I had done yesterday. It felt like a good routine to get into.

It was that, or sit and watch Celine slowly stretch. I didn't want to sit down, and Celine didn't need watching right now.

I looked up at the bars in the ceiling of my cage, half wondering. Grasping two bars, evenly spaced apart at shoulder length, I was able to draw myself up, in a chin-up that only half worked. It still did the job, as I stretched my arm muscles, trying to lift my body weight up, lifting my legs up at an angle.

I didn't do too many, finding it difficult enough with the bars digging into my hands.

No, I needed to work on my legs, since I couldn't walk about. I thought about possible ways of doing this, but they all included the use of weights. The only way I could was to do sit-ups.

Before I could do those, I started into my push-ups, limiting myself to the 40 I had promised myself.

Finishing this as I picked myself up from the floor, I looked to Celine, hoping to ask her to hold my feet.

I was little bewildered, shaking my head to make sure I was seeing correctly. Which I was. She was face down on the floor, with both her legs up over behind her. Both her hands were holding her feet, just a little above her head.

I remember seeing gymnasts that could actually get their feet all the way to the floor, but this still impressed me.

She slowly flattened herself out, keeping her knees bent, as the wall of her cage was in the way, before pulling a leg forward, and kneeling up.

"How do you do that?" I asked her.

She turned about, settling herself down cross legged on the floor, as she ran a finger though a lock of her hair, shifting it from her face. "When I was little girl, a circus came to our town." Celine told me, "I must have been seven, maybe eight. This was one of the modern circuses, because it had no animals, only human performers. They put on this show, doing many strange feats. What caught my attention was this woman, who could fold herself up, as small as a child, and wore these clothes so she could wander about the audience, pretending she was a small girl. Somehow I took to her, thinking she was another girl, until she revealed herself. I was impressed that a woman like her could pretend to be a small girl like me, and asked her about it. So she told me, that you had to be thin and flexible. Every day, you had to exercise, stretching the muscles, so they didn't tighten and flexing limbs. So every day since then, I did exercises, keeping them in shape and flexible. I'm not as good as she was, because I never had the training she got."

"You are still quite good." I said, praising her. "Better then a lot of other people. Myself included."

"I was thinking of giving it up, as it is not doing anything for me any more." Celine said, only half stretching an arm across her chest. "It does not even help me at work."

"Don't." I said, a little too eagerly. "Please don't. If you do, you will end up sitting there and do nothing."

"If it pleases you." Celine said, stretching the other arm half hearted.

"It means something to me, because it means something to you." I explained.

She seemed to accept this.

"Could you, maybe hold my feet for some sit-ups?" I asked.

She seemed finished with her stretching at any rate, and moved forward on to her knees, nodding silently.

I arranged myself, letting her hold my feet down as I proceeded. Working hard and fast, I did my push ups, finally stopping when my breath was wheezing.

I felt sweaty, as I propped myself up with my arms behind me. "That is enough, thank you." I told her.

Chapter 11: Who we are

"Do you always do it like that?" She asked, lifting her hands.

"No." I replied, after catching my breath, "But under the conditions, there isn't any other way to get my circulation going, and keep my muscles from degenerating."

"Could you spot me then, please?" She asked.

Even if she had not said please, I would still have agreed. She needed me, as much as I needed her to survive in this place. Humans could not simply exist, they needed companionship and something to occupy the mind or else we'd slowly go crazy.

I shifted about onto my knees, to take her feet. As she proceeded to do sit-ups. I started counting this time, as a sort of comparison to myself, something to do with my mind.

At about the 36th time, as she dropped back she paused on the floor. Unsure what was wrong I asked her, "Are you okay?"

She drew herself up, grasping her knees. "We are going to get another shower."

I looked up at the ceiling; unsure what it meant this time. Facing her again I asked, "You are finished then?"

"Yes, thank you." She said, as I withdrew my hands.

Getting up from the floor, the flow burst out, raining all over. I took notice now, looking outside of my cell as I got drenched. The walkways between the cages stayed dry, as no rain dropped upon there. It splashed a bit, spraying out, but otherwise it was directed upon the cages.

Turning back to the centre of my cage, I sampled the flow of nutrient, but it tasted just as strange as what we had yesterday. Celine had already started drinking it down, using a more civilised method of catching in her hands, and letting it drain into her mouth.

Whether this was drugged or not, did not matter. The human body had to take in food to sustain itself. I readily took it in my mouth, cupping my hand around my chin, to catch more of it. Finally when I felt satisfied, drew my head away.

The shower of fluid reminded me to check if it really did clean. I had been sweaty after my sit-ups, so I slapped the fluid about my body, rubbing it across my skin, under my arms, and every where else I would normally wash.

If anything, it helped to wash off the sweat, as it ran across my body. It felt invigorating, that I stepped up, forgetting about the cage for a moment, and hit my head on the bars.

It was painful, as I slipped to the floor rubbing my head. I couldn't feel any damage to the skin, so no permanent injury was done, but I promised myself to be more careful.

Waiting out the rain of nutrient, I sat in my usual location, next to Celine's cell. She hadn't returned yet, as she was following my idea of washing in the rain. Already she must have washed her upper body, and was vigorously scrubbing down her legs with her hands.

She'd gone down the side of one leg, spreading her hands to encompass half the leg, then half rotate her leg, to run both hands down the inside.

She was thorough, in cleaning the other legs as well, and finishing off with her feet, between all her toes.

Turning about she saw me sitting there, and moved over to join me. "It is not as good as soap and water, but it will have to do." She said.

"How is your hair?" I asked, seeing it was still messed up.

"I cannot fix it, and I have nothing to brush it with. My fingers can only do so much." She said, sweeping her hair back with a hand.

The constant pelter of the nutrient ran down our bodies, as we sat there, waiting out the end.

"What do you do for work?" I asked Celine to pass the time, "If you don't mind me asking."

"It is fine." Celine said, "I work as an assistant in an estate brokerage. Processing all our records within the computers, keeping track of information on estates, and keeping the office running efficiently."

"More than a secretary then." I said.

"Much more. I usually run the office, looking after prospective buyers, by showing them our records of estates, and looking after details of estates that have been sold, and everything in between." Celine explained, "I was planning on applying for my brokerage license soon, so I could look after clients directly. I was been held back, because this would have entitled me to a salary increase."

"Is that legal?" I asked, wondering if they could get away with that sort of thing.

"Under most conditions, yes, but the brokerage had already cited its profit margins, and could not have me put up for the additional salary, and for a new assistant."

It sounded absurd, not been able to advance within a company.

"I was willing to find a placement with another brokerage, except they tend to limit themselves in size in Strasbourg, making it hard to start out."

The spray of nutrient came to a stop, giving us pause in our conversation as we looked around.

Nothing had changed; the cages were as they had all been yesterday. An undertone of conversation between people could be heard, but never a loud word. We all took our imprisonment seriously, until we knew more about it.

"Joseph, why do you travel about?" Celine asked, "Do you not like staying in one place?"

This provided me with a good opportunity to explain myself to Celine, which I used to my advantage to tell her more about me personally.

"I like travelling about, because I like to see knew things, to find out what's in the world. I'm curious about everything."

"Could you not find out this with computers?" She asked.

"Computers can only tell me so much. I've got this insatiable curiosity to know more about everything, to feel what it's like to be there, and experience it. When I was a kid, I regularly took apart my toys at least once; to find out how it worked. If I took it apart twice, it was usually because I didn't get it back together right the first time."

Celine laughed at this, "What did your parents do?"

"My father gave me a set of screwdrivers, and my mother gave me a paper bound encyclopedia. According to them, I was found sleeping with the encyclopedia the first night."

I closed my eyes, remembering the faces of my parents. It'd been a couple of years since seeing them last. I'd called them several times, telling them I was all right, and sent them postcards from every country I entered.

They'd probably be expecting one soon from me, after re-entering Germany. How was I to know I'd be detained?

"How long have you been travelling then?" Celine asked.

"Almost two years. Since I turned twenty one."

"I had thought you older. So you are 22?"

"Yes. I should be 23 in a month." I replied. Unsure about the date I added, "Or less now."

"22 is also my age, although my birthday was last month." Celine admitted.

"Happy belated birthday." I said.

"Thank you." She said. "How can you afford to travel at your age?"

"It isn't difficult, if you do it right." I explained. "Back packing helps, and knowing the best way to travel cheaply is very useful."

I started to explain to her, how I had travelled though the countries I had visited, when a familiar noise intruded.

It was the clanging and hissing of the walking robot. I stopped to gaze at the moving monstrosity, which seemed to moving directly up the central space.

I watched with great interest, as it came right past my cage. If I had seated myself on the opposite side of my cage, I would surely have been able to touch it had it continued past.

With sudden dread, it pivoted left, turning up the space beside my cage, and came to a dead halt.

I heard Celine call, as I kept my eyes on the robot, "Joseph? What is it doing?"

"I have no idea." I replied, feeling afraid myself.

The robot turned on its two feet, to face my cage. It stood there silently. I would have called it a mutual starting contest, except I could not see any normal means of visual perception upon it. Nothing even resembling lenses or eyes.

Something else caught my attention now, that surprised me even more than the actions of the robot, that actually had me excited, rather than afraid.

The metal cage in the roof and between the robot and I started to melt. Or more accurately, it seemed to flow. Like pools of mercury, the bars liquefied, and ran away.

"The bars!" Celine said, as she also saw it.

The process stopped, once the two walls of my prison were gone, having disappeared literally into the air. There was nothing now, between the robot and me, except a few feet of space.

One of its strangely jointed arms swung forward, and a recognisable hand spread its six fingers. Five of the fingers folded back up, leaving one finger which curled up, then straightened. It repeated this twice, until I recognised the gesture.

Chapter 12: Darkness

"You want me to stand up?" I asked it.

The globe on top, which I took to be the head, rocked back and forth in another human gesture, for yes.

I put both hands behind me, slowly pushing myself up, as I heard Celine, "Joseph, what are you doing?"

"At the moment." I said, straightening myself on my two feet, "I'm following the order's of this robot."

Now the finger straightened out, and its arm shifted, directing the finger first at me, and then off to the side, and back again.

I didn't know what it wanted, so I turned about, getting a brief look at many cages with upturned faces staring at me, before I saw what it was indicating to. A doorway was evident in the wall at the end of the room.

I turned back to the robot, confronting it; "You want me to go through there?"

Another nod of its head.

"Joseph?" Celine's voice again. She was frightened. If not for the driving curiosity to know more, I'm sure I would have been terrified.

But it wasn't just me now. It was also Celine. "Don't leave me here alone." She said.

I turned away from the robot, squatting down to face Celine, "I won't." I said, putting my hand to hers as she reached out. "I'll refuse to leave you."

I turned my head back to the robot. "You hear me? I won't leave her!"

The robot gestured again, point to me, then up to the doorway behind me.

I again repeated myself "I won't leave her."

I fully expected the robot to repeat itself. Instead it slowly lowered it arms, and stood still. I looked about my cage, expecting the bars to magically reappear around me, except the sound of the robot moving drew me back.

It turned right, and moved up to Celine's cage, turning again to face her now.

The bars on Celine's cages started to disappear. This time, I got a better sense of how the bars left as I watched it happen. To all appearances, it looked as it the bars melted, and were drawn in upon themselves, like a straw sucking itself in.

The robot did not reproduce its first gesture when the bars had completely disappeared. Instead it raised its arm, pointing at me, then to the doorway, and then to Celine, and again to the doorway.

It seemed that it still wanted me. Even if Celine had to go with me.

"You still want me to go through?" I asked the robot.

It nodded as it repeated the gesture again.

"And if I don't?" I asked, pushing the point to see how far it was willing to go.

The response was immediate, as it's other arm spring up, and a tube popped out of its arm, pointed directly at me.

"I think we have to do what it say's." I told Celine, turning back to her.

Her face looked ashen, as she drew away from the robot. She was frightened. And I was sure my voice was quivering. "Celine?" I called to her, but the rest of the question was unnecessary, as she answered a quiet "Yes."

Disengaging our hands, we slowly stood up. I took a step forward, towards the missing cage wall. The robot lowered its arm, seeing my movement, but Celine didn't move until it had backed off a step further down the row.

With much less hesitation, Celine now came forward, meeting me in the row.

It was a joy to be free of the confines of the cage, but as much a joy to have Celine free next to me.

We readily grabbed hands, holding each other for a moment, looking into each other's faces. She had a smile there, somewhat hidden by the signs of fear.

The clump of the robot's foot brought us back, and I half led Celine around the corner of my cage into the main row. The robot advanced behind us, forcing us to continue forward at its slow pace.

I retained Celine's left hand in my own, making sure she was there as we stepped past cages with people, towards the dark doorway. Their voices called out to us, asking us where we were going, what was happening, and demanding that they be let out also.

I could not reply to their requests, not knowing the answers, or unable to help them at all.

The doorway yawned before us now, a depth-less black beyond the entrance, signifying I knew not.

Celine and I paused at the threshold, looking into the darkness. We both turned to see the robot taking its last step up behind us; still determined to have us enter through. It now raised its other hand, now threatening us both with the weapon.

I did not know what I was getting Celine in to, by demanding her to come with me, but now it was too late. Together we cautiously stepped into the black room, taking another step, and another from the robot, until it lowered its arm.

If anything, I hoped it was satisfied. Looking back at the robot, the doorway seemed to melt, closing up like a circular portal sealing us off from the robot, and the other room.

"Where are we?" Celine asked.

The room, for all I could describe it as, was black, and dark. Where the doorway had been, it had closed off, becoming one with the dark edge of the room, for I could not make out the walls. The floor, which I could feel under my feet, bore the same look, of a blackness that could not be perceived at any distance.

It was as if we were in space, but no sparks of light drifted around us, but an obvious luminance existed, as I could still see Celine.

"I don't know." I answered her, "But I hope it is better than the cages."

The room, apart from been a black, it felt warmer, from a lack of air circulation. The feeling seemed to increase as we stood there. I thought I sensed something, and turned my head to look.

"What is it?" Celine asked, feeling the disturbance also.

All I could see was the reaching blackness, forever extending away. "Blackness, and more blackness."

The place had its own feeling now, of tightening spaces. What you would feel if two walls were closing in upon you. But only the ever present dark reached my eyes.

I turned back to Celine, to find her staring off into the darkness. "It's like the walls are closing on us." She said.

"I can feel it too." I said.

She looked back at me; "The air feels thick." She said now.

The room felt clammy, hot even, as if there was no ventilation in the ever reaching dark.

The two feelings seemed to collide, now giving us a sense of depth, as if we could now see the walls.

"It's closing in on us!" Celine said.

It was like impending doom, as the room closed in upon us from all directions at once. The space seemed to shrink in an ever increasing rate, encroaching upon us physically.

"Hold me Joseph." Celine said.

It was unexpected. It looked at her for moment, then back at the walls. I would have no choice now, as I willingly opened my arms around her, taking her close to me.

Our hearts seemed to pound together in a clamour, watching the walls close in upon us.

Slowly now, all I could see was the wall just beyond our bodies.

"It's close now." I whispered, hearing my voice loud in the enclosing space.

"I can see it." Celine returned, her face, almost next to mine.

There was a subtle pressure now, on my back, like a truck trying to force its way through slowly.

There was an increase in pressure between our two bodies. I could feel Celine bodily pressed against mine, with her legs entangled with mine. It was uncomfortable, until somehow the wall pushed past the physical barrier of my body, as it enveloped my back.

Celine gasped her voice harsh in my ears. "I can't feel my back." She said.

The pressure had lessened, but I could see the dark wall literally pass up Celine's back, taking her inside. I couldn't feel my back now either, or my legs.

It closed in upon us, taking us slowly.

"My arms!" Celine called, as it drew them in also.

All I could feel now, was the soft pressure of Celine's breasts on my chest, and even that faded, leaving me feel like a bodiless corse.

"Celine?" I called, unsure if she was still there.

"Joseph!" She called back, her voice still beside me, although I couldn't see her.

"I'm here." I said, "I'm here." And then the darkness enveloped me.

Chapter 13: Memories

I could feel, and hear nothing. Like I was asleep... or dead. Had I only imagined the walls passing through our bodies, as my body had been pulverised to a smear along with Celine's?

There was nothing, yet I could still think. Two plus two equals four. The square root of 36 is six. The capital of Australia is Canberra. The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong.

I could still think, and real off facts, if only in my mind. Why I could not feel my body, or anything else, was a mystery. Like that mystery when I was a kid. Without the influences of my body, it was like I could remember it clearly, as if it had happened only minutes ago.

It was my first year in boarding school, and I was eleven. It was like; I was walking down the corridors again, seeing all the faces of other boys both taller and older than myself.

An announcement came over the PA system, calling all the boys from my dormitory back. My small legs didn't carry me fast enough as I turned about, and rushed back, trying not to run.

When I entered, I was called across my by bed, to stand in front of it, until the remaining boys arrived.

The prefect was there; standing watch as two older boys from the higher classes directed us to stand quiet.

We got the lecture of a life time, as someone, from our dormitory had spread human excrement all over the bathroom floor. I could remember the exact inflections in his voice, as he almost yelled at us, "This is the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed in all my time. The boy or boys involved in this will own up. Because you will all remain standing here for the next two hours until someone does. You will all miss out on you next class. If no one has owned up by then, then all of you will be severely punished, so I suggest some one owns up soon, for all your sakes."

I felt myself swallow convulsively, feeling his steely gaze sweep over me, and the tone of his voice spelling doom for all who got punished.

The two older boys left with the prefect, leaving us all alone. No one spoke, but everyone looked about at each other, seeking the perpetrator of the crime.

No one owned up, but some of the more troublesome boys started saying it was one particular kid, one of the more quiet kids, who seemed to do well in classes.

Nobody was particularly kind to him, starting up this chant until he burst out crying. It was the meanest and cruelest thing I had ever witnessed since starting school. Nobody left the dormitory for those two hours and I missed my class in algebra.

It was no big deal in the scheme of things, but eventually the kid who had done it was found. It wasn't the kid who everyone had picked on, but rather a snotty stuck up brat.

It was still a wonder to me that he wasn't expelled for that incident. The mention of it later always sent him running.

It was one of those rare times, that I wish I knew everything beforehand, so I could have told the Prefect, and that poor kid hadn't been teased so callously.

At the end of that memory, the scene faded away into blackness again.

"What was that?" a voice came to me, as if I heard it in my mind.

I didn't hear it, more that I sensed it. "Who are you?" I tried to call, not feeling a mouth to speak with, but rather directed the thought.

"Joseph?" the voice called back. "Is that you?"

It was Celine. Through that memory, I had almost forgotten where I was. "Celine, where are you?"

"I don't know, one moment I was in this dormitory with all these boys, and then it was dark again." She explained, with her direction-less voice.

"That was one of my memories." I told her. "It just, seemed to come alive."

"Then how could I see it?" She asked.

"I don't know why, maybe because we're in here together. I was thinking about a mystery I think, and the memory just came back to me. Exactly as it happened, what I saw, what I heard. Only not my thoughts."

"Is that why I couldn't move?" She asked, "Because it was a memory?"

"What did you see?" I asked her.

"I was, I was walking between all these tall boys, when I heard an announcement. Without my control, I suddenly turned about, half running down the corridor, and around some corners, before I entered this dormitory with lots of beds. I wanted to leave there because it was filled with only boys, but I couldn't control it, and then this man started speaking." Celine said, "The strange thing is, he spoke English, but I could understand him."

"It must be something about us been in here together, joining our consciences." I said, trying to explain it to myself and to her, "So you understand it because I understand it."

"This is so strange. But where are we now?" She asked.

"In the dark again, it seems. Unless I try to evoke another memory."

"Please do. I don't like it here."

"Okay." I said, and tried to come up with something.

I hardly thought of anything, when the darkness gave way to light. I found myself sitting in a moving train, the lights bright inside, as darkness rushed by outside.

I was staring out the window, seeing lights flick by, when I felt the seat move beside me. My eyes seem to shift, as I caught sight of the reflection of a woman with a man behind her.

This was positively strange, as I had no recollection of this memory. The view was brief, as my head swung about, to see just the man.

I realised what I saw then. The woman in the reflection, who I barely recognised with all the clothing and longer hair, was Celine. Then the other part came to me; I was in one of Celine's memories.

"Hello there, what are you doing riding all by yourself?" The man asked in French, but I understood every word.

"I'm, I'm going home." I heard Celine's voice come out of my throat.

"Home is such a long way then?" He asked. I could feel the seat shift, as he moved closer. Something fell on my leg, and I looked down, and saw his hand resting on the skin of my bare knee.

"Oh, god! I remember this!" I heard Celine's thoughts now, separate from the memory.

The view turned back to the man, "Please leave me, I'm just going home." Her voice was light, with the familiar sound of fear I had heard from Celine already.

"Oh, I don't want to remember this." I heard Celine's thoughts again.

"Home will be waiting for you, just as soon as I'm finished." The man said. I could feel the hand slide up my leg, under the skirt.

With a hand, I battered at his, trying to stop him, and tried to push him away with the other. He seemed to pull at me, with greater strength with his other hand wrapping around me, trapping one of my arms, and grabbing the other.

"Please don't." I heard myself wail in desperation. I looked about the train, seeking anyone else, but the carriage was empty expect for the two of us.

The hand slid up further than what I wanted, as I could feel it shifting under the stretch of elastic around my leg.

"I will please. Please myself." The man said.

I was frantic now, with both arms trapped, I felt that I couldn't stop him. To stop from been raped.

It was only then, that the view changed as I looked at my left leg, then back at the man face. Then in an instant, my leg came up, avoiding the seats in front, straighten my leg as I swang it into his face.

He seemed to recoil from the blow, falling back off his seat, letting go as he fell.

Then quickly, I picked up my bag, jumping past him as he tried to grab at my legs. My chances looked slim now, as I ran from him, towards the other end of the carriage.

I looked back, seeing him running to catch up, then turned back, reaching for a handle on the door joining the carriages, willing to risk moving between them to get away.

I barely had the door open, as the cold night air rushed in, when I felt both his hands grab around me. I felt trapped again, just when I thought I would get away.

He held me close enough, that I could feel his breath on my hair, so close I couldn't use my legs now as I felt them swing about above the floor.

"Lively one aren't you?" He said, his voice in my ear.

I struggled in his grasp, but he held me, as he carried me back to the centre of the carriage. Turning towards a seat, he pushed me down face first, holding me down with his weight. I felt the fear myself, as his hand pulled up my skirt and groped between my legs. It wasn't something I liked one bit.

A scream was let loose, and I realised it was me. Or rather, it was Celine. The hand came away from my legs now, as it wrapped around my mouth.

"Don't make a noise, or I'll have to hurt you." The man said, "You don't want me to hurt you do you?"

I was sharking with the fear, but there was a barely perceptible nod. The hand seemed to come away slowly from my mouth, when I moved forward, biting hard on the hand, that I felt a wetness spread across my chin.

There was a loud yell from the man, and swearing. His other hand had let me go, as some of the pressure came off me, and I felt him hit me across the back.

It was a heavy blow, stunning me. Another one stuck me on the lower back now, hurting painfully.

I expected another one to fall any moment, as I lay there in pain, when other sound came to me. A scuffling and thumping, as more swearing was issued forth.

It felt like the end of the world, until I heard another voice near by. "You're ok now. You'll be just fine. Just be still."

I felt the dress dropped back across my legs, as something smeared my vision. I realised I was crying.

Then slowly the image faded and the pain fled. Returning me to the darkness.

"Oh god, I wanted to forget that." I heard Celine's thoughts. "I so wanted to forget that."

"It's ok Celine." I said, trying in my reduced state, to comfort her, "It's gone now. It's just a memory, it can't hurt you any more."

Those words sounded somehow fake even to myself, remembering then pain that man had dealt.

"It's only a memory. It can only hurt you if you keep thinking about it. Just put it out of your mind." I said, "Let it go, and set it free. Let the darkness swallow it up."

"Let the darkness swallow it up." She repeated. "Oh I can't. I can't forget."

"You were rescued." I said, picking up the last portion of the memory, "Someone came and stopped him permanently. He can't hurt you any more. Not ever. Just let it go."

"I'm trying." Celine said.

"That's all you have to do, is try. I'll be here." I told her.

Chapter 14: Nightmare of reality

We floated about in the darkness for a longer time, as I pulled up some memories of my own, trying to cheer her up and help her to forget.

Each memory seemed to have a dark side, always pointing out some bad aspect of my life, even when I brought up memories of my eighteenth birthday. It was the last year of high school, and exams weren't too far away, so everyone used it as a celebration of some type at boarding school.

We had fun; drinking beer someone had smuggled in, even some scotch and vodka poured into cans of cola.

What really surprised me during these celebrations, wasn't the phone call from my parents to congratulate me, but my girlfriend. We'd been seeing each other for a few months, when I could get time.

She knew about my birthday, but somehow, someone had helped her get inside, and into the dormitory.

A kid told me there was a message left on my bed for me, and I accepted his word for it, as strange things were happening today, and a message wasn't liable to get lost if it was left on my bed.

Inside, I wove around the bunks that made up the beds of dorm, not finding a message, but someone in my bed.

I expected a prank, like a blow up doll, or some boy dressed up in drag, but when I ripped the sheets up, I was definitely surprised.

It was my girlfriend, stripped down to her underclothes. I wasn't sure what I felt. Surprise. Elation. Happiness for seeing her. Bewilderment. Stunned too, because I just stood there staring at her in my bed.

I was half inebriated from the drinking; feeling like the vodka had burned out my insides.

Without so much as a word from me, she grabbed my hand, dragging me into my bed, on top of her. The sheets were a little light and skimpy as it was almost Summer, but they covered us, as she played around with my shorts.

I wasn't much of participant, not knowing what I was doing as I felt about her body, feeling her breasts under the white bra she had on, but helped in the actual act of penetrating her.

It had been my first time, and possibly hers too, but I never asked her, never having the chance to later, because the movements suddenly brought my stomach heaving up, and spewing the content all over the bed and her.

It was one of those things, wishing it had maybe happened, but differently. Wanting to erase the bad aspect, to keep the good.

I only ever heard form her once after, she pulled herself from my bed, stinking from the mix of my vomit. When she said she no longer wanted to see me, right before the exams.

It was a depressing time, because I remember having trouble. I had been fortunate enough to have studied well before my birthday, that I knew most of what I needed to know.

Then the darkness filled me again, reminding me once more where we were. Or where we weren't.

"What happened to that girl?" I head Celine ask.

"I'm not sure." I replied, "I heard from some friends later, that she found someone else, but I always count her as my first, even if we only got as far as penetration. Not much more than that."

"These memories, why are we been shown them?" She asked.

"Maybe we aren't been shown them, maybe someone else is pulling them from our minds." I said.

"That is more intrusive than rape!" Celine said.

She was right. Why would anyone want to rummage though our memories, things we hold personal, and dear. Those also that we don't want people to know about, and never want to remember.

To forget was the key. I tried to clear my mind, blanking out stray thoughts.

I had to get Celine to do the same. "Celine, you'll have to blank your mind, so we don't create any more images. We can't have our minds been read like a photo album of memories."

"Oh dear." Celine said, and a new image formed around me.

I found myself looking at a photo album, pictures of people. A hand reached over, flicking a page over.

"That was him a few weeks ago." A voice said, as a finger pointed out a picture of a man sitting on back of a horse.

I felt myself sniffing. Or rather, Celine sniffing, because I knew this was one of her memories.

There were other photos on the pages, of this man and a woman with him. My eyes seemed to glance at each and every picture, taking in all the details.

"I wish I had been here." I heard Celine's voice say.

"I know darling." The other voice said, "You were away at school, but it happened very quick."

"This was when my father died." I heard Celine's thoughts say, "I was away at a academy for two years to learn sales and marketing, when my mother called, to say that father had died. He'd been ill for a few years, a problem with his heart that couldn't be fixed by surgery."

"I'm sorry." I told Celine.

"It's fine. This is how I like to remember him." She said. I wasn't sure whether it was her, or her memory saying that.

Her face turn up now, to look at the source of the voice. It was the woman from the pictures. Celine's mother. We embraced each other, holding each other for what seemed like a long time.

"Your father would have understood you not been able to make it to the funeral." She said.

"Thanks Mother." Celine replied.

The darkness seemed to wrap itself back around me, and I could hear Celine call out, "Don't leave Mother!"

It was wrenching at my soul. I did not want to be in this darkness any more. This pseudo void that dragged up memories best left buried.

I felt angry, and imagined myself wrestling with the darkness, as if I was tearing down drapes from a poorly furnished room, climbing and tearing, pulling and ripping.

Until suddenly, I felt myself falling over. The floor came hard, as I felt myself bounce for a moment settling, with my limbs feeling like they were all over the place.

Everything still seemed dark, until I realised my eyes were closed, and lifted them open, finding the best sight I could wish for.

Celine was next to me, her form lying prone next to mine, with our arms and legs still around each other.

"We're out." She breathed.

"Finally." I said, relieved.

I felt drained, emotionally and mentally, as I rested my head against the dark floor, just looking at Celine's face.

"Your hair is much shorter now." I said.

"Yes, I used to have it longer, before... before that man."

I remembered the memory, feeling the intrusion of that man, even having my own fears of been trapped, and feeling the pain.

"I remember." I told her, feeling the emotions well up inside me, "You don't need to say it."

"You saw all that?" She asked, astounded.

"And I felt him on my body, and the pain." I said, trying not to show the pain that I could not stop recalling myself.

"Oh Joseph!" she said; her arms tighter around me then I could believe.

I wanted to close my eyes, but the darkness remained, and I feared it's lingering effects.

If we could have just remained there, isolated yet together, I would have been pleased, yet a light seemed to intrude upon us, and the sound of many voices.

I turned my head, with Celine's to see an open doorway just next to us, leading back out into the room of cages.

I did not feel ready to leave, but the robot was there, waiting with it weapon extended, and the other hand, curled up, indicating that we should follow.

Picking ourselves up form the floor, untangling limbs, I was reminded once again about out lack of clothes. Revisiting all those memories, I had almost thought this place a distant nightmare. Something that didn't exist.

Chapter 15: Confinement

Carefully, I helped Celine through the doorway and past the robot as it directed us ahead of it.

The cages around us seemed emptier now, with many of them open, and the people missing from them. Whether it was my imagination, or a problem with my memory, I couldn't dwell upon it, as the robot followed, urging us forward, to where our cages were.

I wanted to luxuriate in the freedom, before we were incarcerated again, but the walk was ever so short, and the arms of the robot were precise pointing out the two empty cages.

Celine still held onto me, as we finally standing in front of my cage. I didn't want to leave her, and be separated by this margin of metal. I didn't want to be trapped again either.

To be pushed about, like the man from Celine's memories. The robot menaced us again with its weapon, not directly threatening us, but I had no doubt it would use it if necessary.

"Please get in Celine." I asked her, keeping my eyes on the robot.

"Be careful Joseph." She said, her hand slipping from mine as she moved towards her cage. She didn't step quite into it, not wanting to be confined.

I moved slowly, backing into my cage, but the robot must have been impatient, as it swivelled its weapon towards me.

"No!" Celine called, seeing its intended threat towards me and taking a step forward to my dismay.

Its weapon swung back now, at her. I threw caution aside, fearing for her now rather than myself, and jumping between her and the robot.

The blast caught me in the abdomen. All I could feel was intense pain all over my body. I didn't get thrown halfway across the room as I would have expected, but somehow landed on the floor, as I could see a cage closing over me.

The pain was an intense burning across my whole body, surrounding me like a living flame. I wanted to curl up, and block everything. Just die if need be to stop the pain. It just wouldn't stop, as I lay there shaking. I felt something else through the pain, something around me. I looked down; seeing two sets of arms and legs, and realised it was Celine. I maintained the thought that somehow she'd gotten me into my cell.

It was a long while as the pain slowly ebbed, my skin regaining its feeling first. I had an idea of what Mikhail must have felt now, and admired his strength in been able to talk so soon after been hit by that thing.

Slowly, ever slow slowly, over much time, I felt barely able enough to speak. "How did you get me into my cage?"

"Shh, we're not in your cage." Celine said, "You fell into my cage, but it started closing up before I could do anything."

"It trapped us together?" I asked dismayed. The cage was small for one person, but two was going to be a squeeze in my thoughts.

"Be still, you fool. You wonderful fool for saving me." She said.

I took her advice, not feeling well enough to do much more. Not moving, not making a sound. Just sitting there, with Celine's arms around me.

I heard the robot passing several times as I lay there, and once I turned my head, regretting the pain it caused as I watched as it passed us, directing a man along further down. He turned to look at us, but moved on before he could say a word.

Sometimes I thought I heard Celine whispering softly, or even singing, but it was so quiet, that I wasn't sure. She could have been humming to herself, to pass the time. I didn't interrupt her, not wanting her to stop.

It seemed like eternity, before I was sure all the pain was gone. It still tingled in places, but that could have been from sitting there on the floor for such a long while. I wasn't sure if I should try to move, but another answer came.

"Joseph, are you okay to move?" Celine said.

"Um, I think so." I said, "You want me to get up?"

"I've got to pee." She said.

"Ok." I said, knowing I had better move. I started to shift across, feeling the twinges across the whole of my body sparking along my nerves and bringing me to a halt, and rolling across onto my side.

"Joseph, you aren't okay!" Celine said. I felt her hands pulling my shoulders, up to a sitting position.

"Oh, uh." I heard, and then the rush of fluid striking the sponge floor. I still felt both her hands on my shoulders, so I knew how close she was. I couldn't barely move anyhow without setting off a new pain, so waited patiently.

At any other time, I may have been curious enough to turn and look, but the pain was enough of a deterrent even to not move a hand.

Only when Celine had finished, did I feel her hands move, "You are going to have to lie still now." She told me, as she dragged me back into the corner, wrapping her arms around me.

I could just feed her breasts on my shoulders, with her head just above mine. Turning my eyes up, I could make out Celine's upside down face.

"You are comfortable?" She asked, feeling her thighs next to my buttocks.

"I think so." I said.

"Good, do not move, and you will get better." She said, almost mothering me.

I sat there, hearing her humming again, audible now, though I couldn't make out the tune. Until I felt the urge. "I need to urinate." I said, taking the first feeling that I got as a sign that is was the real thing.

"Can you move?" She asked.

I lifted one carefully, until I felt the twinge across my shoulder. "Uh."

"No, you can't." She said, seeing the effort wouldn't get me far. I felt her push out form the wall, half sliding me across the floor, but my out stretched legs stopped us form going any further.

"It's about to come." I said, feeling the sudden building pressure that I couldn't stop. I moved my other arm down, hoping to avoid splashing everywhere. The twinge caught me, in the elbow this time, shooting pain down to my hand, destroying all feeling there as I tried move my hand.

Then her hands came in, grasping my penis, somewhat inadequately, but directing it towards the sponge square between my legs.

"Pull the skin back." I told her.

She fumbled, but I couldn't much argue with pain in both arms now, as she pulled back my foreskin just as the flow shot out.

"It's like a hose." She said, holding it. I felt strange, weird, with someone else holding my dick to take a pee. Even a man holding it would have been really strange. It just wasn't usual for another person to hold a man's penis while he urinated. Unnatural was the word. But so was this entire situation, I kept telling myself.

As Celine maintained her hold, I tried moving my arms again, but the pain blocked me, not been able to help, or even draw them back.

I closed my eyes; half believing I was doing it myself, until the flow came to a halt. I pushed on my pelvic muscles, which fortunately didn't draw any pain, and made sure the bladder wouldn't submit any more. This was stupid I thought to myself, but I had to ask, "Can you squeeze it out?"

Her fingers worked along its shrunken length, like a toothpaste tube, emptying it. She was rough, but I couldn't blame her for it. Girls just didn't have to put up with the stress of trying to maintain a penis.

"I think its empty." She said, holding it delicately out in one hand.

"Then that's it." I said, "Can you get my arms down?"

She released her hold, and took my arms, so I could release my muscles, so finally they could rest.

"How are you doing?" I asked her.

"Better. But it seems you are going to be immobile for a while." Celine said, cradling my back.

She was right. I sat there, testing an arm every now and then, only getting more pain from it. I heard Celine humming again, and quite accidentally I found myself humming it too. I had no idea what it was, but Celine didn't seem to mind as I hummed along.

I didn't feel the spit of it starting this time, but the sudden downpour was enough to tell us both that it was feeding time.

"Is this lunch or dinner?" I asked, as the nutrient rained over us.

"Does it matter?" Celine asked. "How are you to move?"

I was feeling better, feeling some twinges now and then, painful it was, but it was dissipating into a minor discomfort. "I think I can make it." I said, shifting myself across to the fall of fluid.

Celine had me go first, leaning back, having it spill across my face before getting into my mouth.

Once finished, I pulled myself to the side, enough to not drown under the flow. Celine's form, half leaned over me, taking her share of the nutrient.

I just lay there for the moment, my eyes half lidded from the spray, listening to the gurgle of the fluid striking the floor before it was absorbed.

"Are you finished downing?" I heard Celine's voice said, as the spray stopped on my face.

I pushed open an eye, and found her face upside down, as she leaned over me. "For the moment." I replied.

Her hands grasped under my shoulders, and lifted me back up to a sitting position.

"You will have to sit in the corner for a while." She said, helping me turn about, and settling me back against the cage.

The rain of fluid continued for longer than I imagined or maybe it was my time sense, skewed under my tortured condition.

Either way, all I could do was sit there, until I felt better or something else happened.

Nothing happened at all. We sat there until the rain of fluid stopped.

"You do not mind if I do callisthenics, Joseph?" Celine asked.

"No at all. It's your cage." I replied, hoping I wasn't taking up too much space.

Not much at all actually, as she propped herself in the opposite corner, and then spread her legs. I drew in a deep breath. Of all the places I had to be stuck in. Some would say I was lucky. Some would say I was doomed.

I would say I was in pain, but my eyes saw much. More than I ever saw of my ex-girlfriend back during my 18 birthday.

Celine's skin was clean, from the nutrient, but not glistening wet. Just a perfect swath of bare skin up one leg and down the other, with only the light hair of her pubis and her slightly open vagina showing her clitoris.

I gave out a soft sigh, as the view was broken when she leaned over, stretching her arms out to her toes on one foot.

Seeing the curve of her back for the first time let me believe she had a body that was worth all the attention she gave it.

I wanted to exercise, but had to sit though all of Celine's stretching, watching her tense her torso a she stretched her arms around her back and brought up her legs.

Every now and then, I would shift a muscle, and feel the light pain brought forth, but it was decreasing each time. Not too long, and I wouldn't feel much besides light aches. I didn't want to be a burden on Celine.

Celine finished off, sitting in front of me with her knees up. "How are your arms?" Celine asked, "Could they hold my feet?"

"Let me try." I said. My legs were out to one side next to the cell wall; to put my hands down I stretched out my arms, and placed them down on the floor, with only a slight twinge.

It was good enough for her as I held down her feet, while she started into some sit-ups.

My hands covered her feet more effectively, and I was more aware now of her skin, and her warmth.

It was something that had bugged me, since we had been here. Whilst unclothed, we'd remained warm and conformable. There was no airflow anywhere, that I could feel, yet the air remained clean and warm for us.

The human body could chill itself easily, if it wasn't properly covered, or warm.

It was an insatiable thing, to need to know who could have set this up, and who was responsible.

I returned my attention to Celine, as she finished, drawing her feet from my hands. "You are feeling better?" She asked.

"Much thankyou." I said, "Almost complete."

Celine turned about and sitting next to me. The metal of the cage did not separate us this time, but she shifted close enough for her arm to rest beside mine. "We shall be stuck together it seems." she said.

"As long as we can be conformable in each other's company." I said.

"That would be satisfactory," she said, and I heard her yawn.

Turning I found her eyes half closed. "Your affection is most appreciated," she was saying and laying a hand across my chest.

Her head dropped onto my shoulder, as she slumped against me. She fell asleep right there. I wasn't too sure, if this was right, until the lights cut out. Obviously it was night time again but I hadn't fallen asleep.

It gave credit to the theory, that the nutrient was drugged. I hadn't yet succumbed, possibly because I hadn't exercised my body, causing it to work it way through my blood as quickly.

I shifted now, as I tried to move Celine's prone form from my own, to make her more comfortable, but I felt myself growing tired, as I pushed my body though its aches, to lie Celine down diagonally across the floor.

I had her down, but the drug had pushed its way through my own system with my efforts, and I collapsed wherever I was.

Chapter 16: A tight squeeze

A movement woke me up, but it wasn't bright as it has been yesterday. I could remember where I was this time, before opening my eyes.

"Wake up sleepy." I heard Celine's voice and a hand on my chest.

"I'm awake." I said, opening my eyes. I was on my back, with her sitting over to me.

"You must be better this morning, since the way I found you when I woke up."

"What way was that?" I asked he.

"With your face stuck in my breasts." She replied, smiling.

I was shocked, as I couldn't remember what had happened right after getting Celine off the cage wall. There was a burning sensation across my face, which I hid as I sat up.

"The rest of you was across the floor. Which I fixed when I woke up." She said.

I could see this as I woke up, sitting centrally in the cage.

"How much longer did I sleep?"

"Not long." She said, "Possibly a few minutes."

Not long at all. So the drugs seem set to provide rest for a set period. They, whoever they were, knew exactly how long we would sleep. It was very ordered, like a timetable.

I stretched my arms toward my feet, not feeling any of the pain form yesterday. I was a far sight better for it too, as I stretched my body outwards, like Celine had done before, although not quite as far, but still relieving my back from my sleep.

"You must be much better, if you are doing that." Celine said, "But you must give me some space."

After shifting across for Celine, I proceeded to do some push-ups. My space was limited, but not by much. Celine positioned herself in the corner, and I was diagonal, lengthwise, from one of her feet to the other.

I pressed my count of push-ups, then rolled out of the way of Celine, as she did some mind numbing stretches around her body.

Finally she finished, and lent a hand to me to do sit-ups. There wasn't as much space as I realised to do this sort of thing, but we made do. She had to sit back in the corner on her knees, with her legs apart, to hold my feet upon the floor.

I tried to not do too much, not knowing how much time we would have until we got our regular feeding. It was becoming regular, I noted. Once after we got up, and once before we were forced to sleep. Drug induced, or something similar.

This time, Celine finished her set of push-ups before the nutrient fell, raining upon us as we sat about on the floor.

"Ladies first." I offered her. It was an English term, but its meaning wasn't lost on her.

"Thank you." She replied, leaning forward into the stream. I had time now to look up at the ceiling, trying to make out how the nutrient was distributed, but it evaded me, as it poured across my face, obscuring my vision. It seemed pointless to determine how this place worked, as it all seemed above my head. More advanced then anything I knew.

I tipped my head back down, letting some of the fluid pour past my lips, catching what I could with my tongue. Celine evidently enjoyed the outpouring, washing herself at the same time.

I felt more evident as I watched her wipe her hands across her shoulders, then down and around her breasts, before finally cupping the fluid over them.

She pulled away from the steam of fluid appearing finished, seeming to notice my stare, but at least not deigning to comment on it directly. "It's your turn."

I took my place, kneeling under the stream, face upturned. I made use of the extra fluid also, to wash myself. Having drunk enough, I leaned forward into the stream, to wash myself all over.

I had finished washing my torso, when I felt her hands upon my back. Surprised I was too, for I almost jumped up into the ceiling of the cage.

"I thought you should have you back washed." She said, running her hands down my back in a circular motion. It felt good, her hands like that. I had finished with my chest, and knelt up, my head close to the cage, washing across into my crotch, and around my penis, then the tops of my thighs which I could reach without bending over.

Celine's hands ran down my back, then across my buttocks. I couldn't help but take pleasure in the close contact. Her touch lingered for a moment after she drew her hands away, making me feel somewhat energised.

I turned about, find her just sitting there. I wasn't sure if she expected the same thing, or if I should feel compelled to return the favour.

"Would you, like your back done too?" I asked.

Her smile this time seemed happier now, like she was pleased. "If you would, please." She answered.

She sat there for a moment more, until I arranged myself, then she turned about, sitting back under the fall of fluid. I'd seen a few massages done on my trip through Sweden, and had a general idea of the method.

It was slow, and gentle, almost smoothing the skin out in a circular motion, drawing my hands up on either side of her spine, and then out and down the edge of her ribs, pressing the fingers gently down the side.

The cascade and rain fluid cut out, but I continued, occasionally I'd work just my thumbs around, using only the softer edge of the palm, and barely touching her skin with my fingertips.

Although my hands worked in a circular motion, I worked down her back from her shoulders, finishing at her hips, not sure if I should proceed further, or even how.

Now I backed off, as she turned her head slowly about, "You have wonderful hands."

It was a meaningful compliment coming from her.

"It's just something I picked up in Sweden." I admitted to her. "Not as impressive as what they do."

"It felt very good." She said, shifting around and sitting back on her legs.

We didn't have time to contemplate our feelings, as the clunking and hissing of the robot intruded. It waked past our cage, down and across a few rows beyond.

We weren't first on the list this time, but I had to wonder who was. Her English voice was a dead give-away, "All right, you big brute, I'm moving."

"Beth?" I called, as her form slipped into view. A petite woman, with short curly blonde hair, somewhat flattened.

"Why isn't that the Australian?" She said, moving slowly, "What was your name again?"

"Joseph."

"Why so it is, and how come you are in that cage with that woman?" She asked, "Oh it doesn't matter, your sex life is your business I suppose."

I didn't have much of a chance to reply, as the robot ushered her along, its menacing weapon bearing upon Beth.

"I shall speak to you later!" Beth called.

"Okay!" I called back, as she disappeared from view behind all the cages.

"That was then English woman?" Celine asked.

"Yes." I replied, as I tracked the head of the robot as it reached the far wall, and started back again.

"What did she say?" Celine asked, certainly interested.

"Not much actually, she complained about the robot." I said, "But she obviously doesn't know how much pain it can cause."

"That is most evident." Celine said.

The robot thumped past again, gathering another individual from a cage. Not Mikhail, someone else I hadn't seen before.

"Will we be separated, or trapped together again?" Celine asked.

We didn't have to wait too long, only after six more individuals were taken past us, before the robot came to us.

It took us both together this time, not really individualising, but pointing the weapon towards whichever of us was lagging behind.

The room through the doorway looked the same as last time. A dark endless void, that was pitch black all around, including where the doorway sealed itself shut.

I was afraid we'd be subjected to living out more of our memories, but I wasn't too far wrong.

Chapter 17: Recreating reality

"What are we to do now?" Celine said, asking me and the void too.

The darkness remained darkness, without any feeling of change.

I looked about, hoping to see walls of some type in the darkness.

"Ouch!" Celine yelled out, and I whirled about, unsure what to expect.

But the sight a Celine leaning against wall holding her foot, wasn't what I expected.

"It was not there when I turned about, and when I turned back, it was there." She said simply, rubbing her foot.

It was looked familiar, but I couldn't place it at first. A red brick with growths of vine crawling across it. It reminded me of boarding school, of the large brick library we used to hang out back of sometimes.

"How is your foot?" I asked Celine.

"I have only just stubbed the toe." She said, placing her foot down on the unseen floor. "A warning would have been useful before it happens again. I would prefer a seat, instead of this constant need to stand."

It was as if it appeared out of the air. A beige leather armchair faded with lines of age, and long use.

"Oh my." Celine said, half hobbling over and running her hands across the arm of the chair. "It is really here." She mumbled something more in French which I couldn't quite understand.

She turned about, and flopped back into the chair, with her legs and arms sticking up into the air. She seemed very happy, sitting back in the chair, with her legs crossed in between the arms.

"This is marvellous, is it not?" Celine asked me.

I wasn't sure. It was just a chair, where a chair shouldn't be. The wall was still there, with its green vines.

"This used to be my father's armchair." Celine informed me, "It was the one he always sat in at home. The same one I remember him sitting in when growing up. It is something I always associate with him."

It was strange, but I hoped nothing else would appear. Nothing similar to the wall at least. The wall was missing something though. Always in my memories of the school library, there were cars parked around its wall. The cars belonged to teachers and visiting parents, and were always expensive, which was why we weren't allowed around there.

It was always the sports cars which took our interest, like the one I had ridden in when I re-entered Germany. I couldn't remember the model, but it was of the Porche 911 family, a turbo, with a metallic blue finish and red and white leather interior. Something to be appreciated.

And it just appeared there. It's sparkling blue custom finish. I thought Celine must have sworn, as I picked up a two half recognisable words.

I had just thought about it, focusing my memories, and it appeared. As real as, as, well as real as Celine and me.

Celine joined me, as I laid my hand down on the bonnet, feeling the smooth cold texture of the bodywork. She opened up the right door, and jumped in.

"This is marvellous." She said, as her head disappeared behind the windscreen before popping back up again, "But whoever chose this colour scheme needs their eyes tested. Red and white leather do not go together."

I couldn't disagree there, as I pulled open the driver's side door, seeing it laid out exactly as I remembered it.

I couldn't hold myself back, as I slipped into the driver's seat, pulling the door closed, and feeling the textures surrounding me. It felt real. The leather of the seat, the upholstery, and the steering wheel.

"Are you going to start it, or fondle it?" Celine asked.

It was incredulous of her, to suggest such a thing. I tried to ignore the remark, and reached around, feeling the keys hanging from the lock. Pumping in the clutch, I turned it over, and the throaty roar of the engine caught. I couldn't resist giving it some juice, to hear the engine purr.

"Would you like to go for a drive?" I asked Celine.

"Anywhere." She said, closing the door, "Anywhere but here."

I wasn't much of a car driver, especially of left and drive vehicles, so I carefully dropped it into first, and moved off, following the wall until it stopped, and I kept going. I didn't go much faster, as the blackness spread around us, and I couldn't see if we were going anywhere, except for the library wall dwindling in the mirrors.

"There is nothing out here!" Celine said, leaning forward in her seat. I would have told her to sit back, but there wasn't anything to hit, and I wasn't going very fast.

It was empty. More empty then a desert road, with its never changing horizon, bleak sky, and flat and dusty terrain with little or no vegetation. Because there was nothing. No horizon. No sky. No road. And no ground for vegetation.

"Celine." I turned to her, not bothering to look at the empty space in front of us since there wasn't anything to see, "Could you try an imagine where you live, with the roads and buildings in Strasbourg?"

"I'll try." She answered, and focused on the blackness ahead of us.

I wasn't sure what to expect. A few buildings. A paved road maybe. But I was surprised, as I jumped on the brakes, and I slid forward, bumping my head on the steering wheel. Not hard, but enough to remind me not to do it again.

"Idiot!" Celine called. Having slid forward, she'd hit her head on the windscreen.

"Are you ok?" I said, ignoring my own bruises to lean over to her.

"Yes, yes!" She called, rubbing her face with one hand, and batting me off. I wasn't sure of my stance with her now. Friend or foe.

There wasn't any blood, so it wasn't too bad, but you couldn't tell sometimes. A broken nose, crushed cheek bone, or a concussion.

The reason for my stopping quickly stood in front of the car. Or all around actually. An entire city had appeared, buildings, roads, paths, people, and the open market I stopped in, before running down hundreds of people.

"It is amazing!" Celine said holding one hand to her forehead, "This is where I purchase my lunch from every day, and over there." She pointed to the left through the windscreen, "Is where I work."

Her other hand must have been on the door, because I heard the click of the door handle, and she was already stepping out before I could caution her.

The market was milling with people, some were already staring at the Porche with obvious interest, but Celine's presence sent them into a kind of turmoil. I didn't catch the words, which were all in French, but the meaning was obvious. Beautiful naked girl in market place, all must come see.

It was enough for Celine, for she jumped back into the car, pulling the door closed. "Can we please go. Now!" She said.

I dropping the car into reverse, and backed it out, and around into the street proper. With better idea now, I pulled over the seat belt, clipping it in. Celine followed suit.

Someone should surely have called the police. Unless it was missing from Celine's imagination, like the sky, which was a vast sheet of black, but all the buildings, appeared as if they were lit by a sun which didn't exist in the black sky.

A crowd had gathered, and had followed our progress, massing quickly. Without another though, dropped the car into gear, and juiced it, hearing the tires squeal on the pavement before catching and sending us forward away from the market.

Headed down the road, Celine spoke out, "Take the next right." She said.

I took the turn, possibly a little fast; having felt the need to put on some speed, but the Porche performed well, following my direction. Whenever Celine pointed out a turn, I took it, not really know where we were going, until she got me to slow down, and turn into a small car park next to a building.

"Park over there." She said, and I ground the car to a quick stop. The seat belts stopped us this time. "You might as well follow me." Celine said, opening her door.

I killed the engine, but left the keys there, not having somewhere convenient to carry them. I stepped out of the car, feeling more naked now, knowing that there were people out there who took notice.

I followed Celine in through a door in the building, and up some stairs that looked like the back stairs of a building, until she stopped at the second floor long enough for me to catch up.

Once more, she plunged though a door, into a corridor, with many doors. It was a block of apartments.

She stopped in front of number 204, and reached for her shoulder. "I forgot." She said. "I usually carry my keys in my bag."

It was obvious enough. "Do you keep a spare?" I asked her.

Most people I knew always kept a spare key somewhere, in this day when crime was always an issue.

"No. I've never been without it." Celine said.

Well that was that. Unless, "Try to imagine holding the key in your hand." I said.

She looked at me for a moment, then concentrated on her hand. It was as if by magic, that it appeared in her hand. Several keys attached to a flat key ring.

Celine pushed a key into the lock, and it snicked, as she turned it. The door swung open with just a push, as she led me inside.

"This is your place?" I asked Celine as she wandered though several rooms.

"Yes." She answered, "It looks like everything's here." She was opening some draws, and pulling clothing out.

"Oh, finally some clothes." Celine was saying, as she pulled a t-shirt over her head.

It was a little chilly, as I felt goose bumps rise across my skin. The air in the building was cooler. I was hoping to find some warmth from the bedding by sitting down upon the bed. It helped a little, as I watched Celine pull on some underwear.

"You're getting cold!" Celine said, turning about, to find me shivering. The light in the room was getting dark, and she turned the light switch on. "Its dusk. I usually visit the market just after work, and get home when night falls."

She sat beside me on the bed, running her hands across my back. "I have a better way to get you warm." She said, "Follow me."

She stood up from the bed, stepping out from the room. I followed her as she led me into the bathroom. With some twists, she had the water running, as steam plumed from the hot water into a bath which she added some soap which foamed up quickly.

"Go on, get in." she said. "I'll find you something to wear."

I didn't' object. The bath was a welcome relief from the rain of strange fluids we'd had to put up with. The tap turned shut as I cut off the flow of when there was enough water, which was warm, blissfully warm. So much so I didn't want to get out when Celine finally came back.

"Are you going to come out?" She asked, standing above me with some clothes in one hand, and a towel. "Or do I have to drag you out?"

I didn't' feel finish like getting out yet. "I'm staying in here." I told her definitely, wallowing in the warmth.

"Your skin is going to wrinkle and become all soft." She said.

"I don't care." I replied, closing my eyes.

I didn't know what to expect, except her reaching hands to lean in and try pulling me out. Instead I heard the water splash, as it rose up my body. I opened my eye to find her stepping into the bath without her clothes, and sliding down opposite me.

"You are not the only one who want's this bath." She said, sliding her legs past on either side of me as she dipped deeper into the soapy water.

I tried to ignore her by closing my eyes to think upon our situation, but it was impossible. Both her legs ran along mine, her feet hooked just around my back, with her buttocks resting between my legs.

The sound of light splashing drew my eye's open again, and I found Celine washing herself down with a sponge.

I was incorrigible, as she ran it down over her breasts. The feelings of what I felt for her could only be kept hidden by the water as I watched.

I tried my best to relax, but as Celine shifted to wash her neck, raising both her arms, I felt one of her legs shift and move, and slide between mine. The sense of the skin sliding over mine was all that happened before her foot encountered my erect penis.

Like a game, her foot slid along the shaft, before her face turn to mine. A flush came over her, appearing across her breasts as it washed up to her face.

She was quiet, except for lowering her hands to the water.

I swallowed, unsure what was right. "Do you want you back washed?" I asked her, continuing on the notion to bathe.

She blinked once, like she was deciphering some message. "Yes, please." She replied. Slowly she drew her feet back, turning about in the water, and sliding back towards me.

Her bottom slid up between my thighs, coming to a stop when her back stoped up against my penis. She handed the sponge over her back, which I took and gently stroked, down her back.

My mind kept shifting, between her back that was silky from the water and soap, and the light pressure along the length of my penis.

She didn't shift forward as I continued down, but leaned over, allowing me to continue the soft motions with the sponge across her back. The shifting of her body gave me a sense of tightening pressure across my penis stimulating me as I met the waterline of the bath.

The sponge became lost, as I used both of my hands across her skin, running them down to her hips, then flowing up her the sides and along her ribs. She leaned back into my grip, and my hands wrapped around, flowing over her breasts.

Her nipples were stiff under my fingertips, as I gently ran them down her torso, and out to her thighs.

"Joseph?" I heard Celine call.

I was so intent, that I only mumbled in response.

Chapter 18: A shift in perception

"Joseph!" Celine called again.

It was louder this time, and I shifted towards the voice, jerking upright to find myself alone in the water, with Celine standing over me.

"You were asleep!" She said, sounding surprised.

I was as much surprised, staring about, first at the water, then up at Celine, standing in a t-shirt and tracksuit pants.

She wasn't half naked or even a little wet. "How long have I been out?" I asked, running a hand though my hair and letting the water wash over my face to make sure I was awake now.

"Since we got back from town. You went to the bath." She replied, and looked at a watch on her wrist, "But that was an hour ago."

I shook my head, unsure what she was talking about. She'd gotten a watch, obviously from her apartment, and gotten dressed as I fell asleep somehow, dreaming about almost having sex with her in the bath.

It seemed so real, like the black chamber we were in had brought to life my immediate memory of her, projecting it, as the real thing existed just next door, but it vanished, just like a dream. Almost as if my perception of what I saw wasn't the same as what she saw.

"Are you finished?" She asked.

As much as I had been enjoying the dream, I thought it was a good idea to leave that sort of thing alone at the moment. I needed to think about why we were here, and how all these projections could be created from our minds. The building around us seemed so real. The water in the bath, so very real.

"Where are my clothes?" I asked Celine, as I stood up from the bath, and letting myself drip before stepping carefully out.

She seemed to eye me quizzically, and I remembered the dream, I looked down, half grateful that the erection had passed, even if it was still somewhat enlarged.

"They are on the bed." She said, handing me a towel from a rail. "Join me in the kitchen when you are ready." She added, before turning about and leaving the bathroom.

It seemed odd somehow. Like she'd changed during my pseudo dream, becoming a different person. Maybe it was been back in her home, from having been cooped up in the small cells, wherever they were located from here.

I towelled off; making sure I was thoroughly dry, even my hair which had gotten wet somehow. I hung the towel back up where Celine had pulled it from, and traced back around to the bedroom, to find some clothes folded neatly on the bed.

I picked them up one at a time, finding they looked familiar. This shirt looked like one of mine, that I kept in my travel bag. Here the boxers also looked exactly like mine. I drew them on, thinking about how Celine must have somehow recreated them.

They fitted perfectly, just as if they were mine. It seemed incredible, as I made my way barefoot though the apartment, and entered the kitchen.

Celine's back was towards me, as she was leaning over the sink, staring out the dark window. I walked over, and looked thought the glass at whatever she was looking at.

"The stars are beautiful tonight." Celine said.

Past the reflection on the glass, the stars were crisp and clear. It was quite good. So thoroughly realistic it was that I stood entranced.

"So do you think you can like it here?" Celine asked.

It was a wonderful thought, then did a double take, wondering just what she was talking about.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, trying to understand.

"What do you think I mean?" She said, back, "Stay here in Strasbourg with me of course!"

I wasn't too sure. How long would these projections last? How long could we remain in this fake environment before we were drawn back to our small cages? There was one thing. It would be better to remain in here then to return. More comfortable, and a natural environment.

"Yes." I said, "I'll be better than returning."

It was her turn to stare at me, with questioning eyes. "Don't you ever want to go home?" She asked.

I wasn't sure how that subject came into it. "Of course I want to go home, sometime."

"Then why did you say its better to stay here then return?" Celine said.

"The cages." I told her, "Better then returning to those cages."

"What cages?" Celine asked. "Animal cages?"

Something wasn't right, and I had no idea what. We seemed to be going round and round. "You remember those cages, the ones we were locked in?" I asked her.

She shook here her, "No. I don't know of any cages, or been locked in one."

She was serious that she had no idea.

"Ok, then tell me where we met then." I asked Celine.

"You were crossing the street in the market place, where you were almost run over by someone in on of those German Porche's." Celine said, "I came over, but you said you were fine and got up and started walking away. Where you promptly tripped over the curb and hit your head. I had to take you to the hospital, but the doctor said it was only a mild concussion. 'A few days rest' she told me, and discharged you on the spot because you were a foreigner."

"A concussion?" I repeated, "When was this?"

"Almost two weeks. Twelve days ago." Celine said, "You did not have any place to stay, and I didn't want to leave you by yourself, so I took you home. Much to my credit you returned to normal, until now that is."

This was deep. I took a chair at the table and sat down, trying to think. My first memories of her were in the cage. They were real. I could remember everything, the feeling, what I saw, what I heard.

Was this real, and what I had experienced a total illusion? A dream?

Was there a way of testing which was which? Yes, if this was illusion, then I should be able to create something with my memory. I focused on the table, thinking about my sunglasses. The one thing I knew very well.

I concentrated heavily, but nothing. It just didn't appear.

It didn't prove anything, but it did give weight to her version of events. Okay, how could I prove that this was the actual reality, and not the other one?

"Celine, did you tell me about you father?" I asked her. It was a personal subject that I'd seen in her memories, one of the lesser of the two I thought would be ok to ask about.

She joined me at the able, sitting opposite.

"That he died?" she said, "Yes, when I brought you home. You asked if I lived alone, or with my parents. I told you that only my mother was alive, living elsewhere."

"That is right." I said, knowing it was true to my knowledge, up to a point.

This one was a difficult subject to address. How to work about it. "Your hair. Did you tell me why you cut you hair short?"

She was quiet as she picked a piece of hair at the edge of her face, and twisted it about in her fingers.

"When you were asleep." She said slowly, "After I brought you home from the hospital. I guess I was worried about you and what sort of person you were. I honesty thought you were asleep, and couldn't hear a word I said."

"You were on the train, going somewhere when a man sat next to you." I said, remembering the memory now, as if it was my own.

"Yes." Celine said, very quietly.

"I think I know the rest." I told her. "And it's not going to happen again. Ever."

She was looking at me now, with a new look in her eyes. It wasn't something I ever remember seeing in the cages. Something akin to hope.

"Nobody should ever touch a person like that. I hope he was punished severely for it." I said, letting some of my own anger though.

Celine let out a sob, as I saw tears flow from her eyes. Maybe I had said too much in trying to establish my reality. I didn't want her to be unhappy from bringing up those memories again. Pushing my chair out, I came around the table kneeling beside her.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up. For some reason I can't remember the last two weeks, but I can remember other things." I admitted. "I'm just trying to work out what is what."

"I'm fine." She said, sniffing as she tried to wipe the tears away. "I just didn't know you cared. You never said anything before."

"Maybe I didn't know who I was before." I said, taking one of her hands in mine.

She gave a small laugh, ending with sniffs. "And who are you now?"

"Just Joseph." I said. "An Australian."

Chapter 19: Reality to be sure

My situation was very unclear to me. What my relationship with Celine is, was beyond me, and also whatever else I was supposed to know.

I thought it prudent to avoid making any rash decisions at the moment, or making any changes from the normal operations around me. Another words, I was going to do my best not to interfere or stick my nose in anywhere. A bit difficult for me, considering my curiosity sometimes got the better of me, getting me into trouble a few times in my past. But not impossible.

I had Celine review my arrangement with her. She wasn't very clear at all, but saying I was staying with her indefinitely. Of personal arrangements, she did not say. But that I had been sleeping on the sofa by my own request.

It was the sort of thing I would do, even if she had offered me her own bed.

I mulled over my thoughts whilst I ate some food. Celine served it from some frozen meals heated in the microwave.

It wasn't home cooked like what I had eaten during my stops during my travelling, but it was better than the strange liquid I'd been drinking in the cages.

Many details still escaped me. Like the fact I spoke German much more fluently than before. Celine's German was excellent also, as if we'd been practising for years.

Things had changed, but what I remembered, had it been real, hallucination, or what?

"I am going to exercise now." Celine said, having cleaned away the dishes several minutes ago.

I sat there at the empty table thinking, as she moved into the open space of the lounge room. Beginning with some basic stretches, before she disappeared out the front door to jog around the block.

I sat there thinking about her similarity to what she used to be. She was different, but the same person. Seeming to be exactly the same.

No, I was fooling myself. I had no idea how similar she was. I hardly knew her before, and I hardly know her now.

The memories of the cages, and been trapped were fast becoming a just a faint memory. Like a nightmare best forgotten. The unusual loss of time still escaped me, as I must have taken more than a week to travel from that hamlet in Germany before arriving here. I only had a sense of loss for a few days, yet more then that many weeks had actually passed, and it must be November already.

I waited around until Celine came back, puffing hard from her exercises. "I'm going to take a bath now." She said.

"Ok, sure." I told her, watching her walk towards the bathroom. She pulled off her t-shirt halfway to the door, revealing the straps of a bra. She was working at the snaps on the back as she entered the doorway, elbowing the door closed as the bra came off.

As to how close we were together, I hadn't yet figured out either. If that display was any sort of indicator, I could guess we were close friends. Not lovers... maybe.

There was much to think about, as I settled for sleep. It wasn't late yet, but I usually went to sleep a bit earlier. A habit from the travelling, getting up early enough to move out quickly, and find new places to see.

Celine returned past me in her nightie. "Goodnight Joseph." She said, brushing me with a brief kiss on the cheek.

Pretty good friends, I thought arranging myself for sleep.

I put all thoughts out of my head, falling asleep relatively easily.

During the next day, I ventured outside, and all over town. It was the real thing all right, unlike the half city I remembered before arriving in the bath. People, a complete sky, and roads that went for kilometres.

When we went outside, there was no Porche to be seen. As if it didn't exist. But it could well have been stolen. Celine drove me about in her beat up old Saab turbo before going into work.

I hung around there long enough to find out what the place was like.

"You'll be all right?" Celine asked me.

"Yes thanks." I told her, "I know where the flat is from here. It's one thing I can remember without difficulty."

It was true enough. I had an eye for knowing where I was, and where I was trying to get to. It helped when travelling across Europe, else you'd get lost at every corner, and never get to you destination.

So I wandered about Strasbourg. A part of Strasbourg actually, as it was a huge living city. People moving about, speaking French, German, and even English.

English. Now there was a voice that sounded familiar. I turned about, spotting the person.

No, I thought, it couldn't be. I'd only ever seen her when I was in the cages. But she was real all right, not some figment of a dream. So was the person beside her. A large man, speaking perfect English without any accent.

I must have stood there a while, watching them both approaching me. Watching her mainly, as I hadn't actually seen him before. She was, well, looked the same. Even with her clothes on, she acted the same.

"Excuse me sir, but do you speak English?" She said.

"Yes, I do." I replied.

"I was curious about why you have been staring at Mikhail and myself all this way down this street." She said.

"Mikhail did you say?"

"Yes, this is Mikhail." She said, introducing the man beside her.

"And you would be Beth." I said.

"Have we met of something?" She asked.

She was direct; it was no wonder Mikhail never got a chance to say much.

"Something." I said, "Have either of you been to Poland lately?" I asked.

Mikhail opened his mouth the answer, but Beth cut across, "Why yes, did we meet you there? Because I can't remember your face."

I was getting myself into a difficult situation. She was the same Beth I knew of, but she had no knowledge of me whatsoever. I had to separate myself somehow.

I looked about furtively, as if looking for someone else. Beth took notice, and looked about also. Mikhail kept his attention on me. Very direct man. He knew what to focus on. So I pulled on my sunglasses.

"I'm sorry but I must go now." I said, and moved past them, in opposite from the direction I looked.

I looked back briefly, only taking in the street momentarily before dashing around the corner.

Beth's voice could be heard clearly, "That was very impolite, dashing off like that without explaining himself. I didn't even catch his name."

"He seemed occupied." Mikhail said.

She didn't even listen to him, "That accent does sound familiar though. If we ever bump into him again, I shall have to ask him his name, and find out what he wanted."

I didn't much care to listen to any more, figuring it was best to stay away from that area of town as I made my way around several back streets so as not to come near them again.

I took to wandering about the city, only really looking at everything, stopping in front of a fountain, doubly checking it was all real.

The day was long and mildly cold, giving me reason to return to the flat for lunch.

I didn't eat, but spent some of the time going though my belongings, to find out if there was anything I didn't recognise. Something I may have picked up, or lost during my journey that could shed light upon my memory problem.

There was nothing. I travelled pretty light, never collecting souvenirs. If I did as I travelled across Europe, I would end up with more than I could possibly carry. No, the only things that were different, was the amount of money I carried.

I had a bank account with a good sum of money in it, that I drew from regularly. I had a few thousand Euro dollars, a bit more than what I usually carried, but I did that whenever I entered a large city. Making sure I had enough for any emergencies.

Nothing could be explained. I couldn't even rationalise it to myself, except if I had amnesia, that had been replaced by a vivid dream about a non-existent place.

I sat there, until Celine arrived home for Lunch. "How long have you been home?" She asked.

"Not long." I replied, still deep in my thoughts.

I wanted to believe there was something wrong with myself, but I couldn't even begin to explain what it was.

"You had lunch yet?" She asked.

"No." I replied, not wiling to say more, in case I had to bring up my encounter with Beth.

Celine brought in a salad roll, part of a French stick cut into short lengths, and stuffed with all sorts of things from the fridge.

"Here, get this into you." She said, handing me one of the two rolls as she joined me on the sofa.

It was good, with a variety of chopped vegetables, cheese, and some meat.

"Maybe I should stay with you today, and help you revive a few memories."

I didn't have much of any idea of what she had in mind, but Celine had a way of improving my outlook.

She called in to work to say she wasn't returning, then took me to all over Strasbourg, showing me the sights. The beautiful cathedral also called Notre Dame, up around the observatory, and the Rhine river that flows around Strasbourg.

Whether it was all the places we visited, or Celine's mischievous ways of making me laugh, I felt much better for her attention. I felt better in her company, then without it.

Maybe this was why she had asked me about staying. Maybe I couldn't bear been away from her.

We sat by the river, staring across the flowing water that bordered Germany. "You appear almost like your old self." Celine said.

"I wish I was." I admitted, "But there is nothing from the previous weeks, since when I entered Germany. Except this vivid recollection of been kept in a cage. It's like a nightmare."

Chapter 20: Echoes

"Then try to forget it." Celine said, leaning against me, and running a hand across my chest.

It felt right. Been here, with Celine. If anything, this felt more right than what I knew, or remembered.

I returned her affection, kissing her face several times, before meeting her on her lips. My passion for her grew, feeling her tongue run around the edge of our pressed lips.

I already had a hand behind her, which I slipped up her back, running it deftly across her neck.

We would have been all over right there, until Celine was able to break her lips away, "We should resume this at home." She said.

Looking about, one would have to agree. The area near the river was open, with much traffic along the road behind us, surrounding the industrial estates. There was a point at which you had to find privacy, even in France.

Although our affections were cut short, we resumed them the instant we were out of the car again, taking the stairs together. I was nibbling on her ear as she opened the door, letting us both in where we discarded all inhibitions at the door.

I was kissing her as she tried to remove my shirt over my head. My fingers fumbled on her shirt buttons, as one of her hands played across my back and the other worked at my trousers.

Her shirt came off, dropping back off her shoulders as my mouth moved down her neck and across her collar bones.

Her hands were as restless as mine as I found the fastening on her bra, letting the straps fall loose. Feeling my trousers fall loose, I drew my shoes off on the toe of the other foot, and kicked them loose upon the floor.

My trousers fell off somewhere along the way along with Celine's shirt and bra, as we made our way to the sofa. Our efforts landed me on the bottom, as my hands drew long lines down her breasts, meeting with the untouched skirt.

It was less of an effort, as I drew my hands up Celine's legs, up under her skirt, sliding it up her body, until she lent a hand and unbuttoned the waist, allowing it to slid up over her head.

There was more to our growing passion now. As she spread her kisses across my chest, leaving moist marks around my nipples. Her hands were just as tender as one or the other slipped inside the band of my boxer shorts, before drawing it down as she lightly ran a finger around my penis.

The sensations that ran though my body called out for more, but I could not reach her expect with my hands, as I ran them up the side of her ribs, and over her breasts, feeling the stiffening of her nipples under my fingers.

She no longer ran a finger across my body, as she used both to lean over me again, her lips meeting mine only occasionally as we covered each other in kisses. Both my hands drew down the length of her body, feeling new warmth as I drew down her panties, feeling the soft cheeks of her bottom within my cupped hands.

These sensations I wanted to draw upon forever, as I drew first one finger, and then two into the wet lips of her vagina.

Her breath was short in my ears, as she nibbled upon one of my lobes, before the resounding "Oh." she made as her body shivered lightly, as she now lay against mine.

The feelings drew us closed together before she let herself slide upon my hardened penis. I could feel the tightness draw me in, physically and spiritually, as my whole body yearned for her.

I did not have to thrust, as she leaned back, having slipped her panties off, and slowly rocking, and then grinding in a circle.

I was filled with more pleasure then I could ever remember, as my hands wound around her breasts almost of their own accord.

My climax came only after I heard Celine scream once more in the throws of orgasm. I wanted it to continue forever, but my body let me down, as Celine also felt, and lowered herself down against me once more.

Her body was much a comfort as her presence was. "That was more than I ever imagined it to be." I told her.

"I love you. Here with me." Celine said, her face next to mine. "You will stay?"

"How could I not love you and stay?" I replied, feeling the edge of fatigue. "I could not wish otherwise."

Her body provided warmth and promises that could send me to places. I so felt it with her stretched out across me, feeling more tired every moment, that I was falling asleep.

"Please don't go." I heard Celine say, almost like an echo from some dream. I wasn't sure where from, as I tried to retain enough consciousness to figure out where. Even that faded.

I awoke, feeling happy and refreshed, for the first time in a long time. I was going to call out to Celine, as I didn't feel her against me, but then I looked around, feeling dismayed.

What sick and twisted person did this? I was no longer in Celine's apartment, that was for sure. Not even in her building, that was more than likely. But where was I? Was Celine even here?

"Celine!" I called, hoping she was here. I was confused enough with these memories of cages, to be now taken whilst sleeping, and placed somewhere else.

I got up from the large bed I was lying upon, letting the sheets fall to the floor. I wasn't wearing anything, but I wasn't much concerned about my appearance at this point, so much as my sanity.

The bedroom was large, with bay windows along one wall. A glass door opened in this, and I stepped outside, into bright sunlight.

I can't have been asleep that long, that the entire night had already passed. But as I stood upon a balcony, and looked out, I realised it could well have been an entire night. The sun stood above the ocean, not like it was setting, but like it was dawning. I stood looking out at an ocean, lapping up to a beach that ran up almost to the house I was standing in.

The house extended both left and right along the beach front, with a long wooden verandah running the length, and windows spaced along the entire wall that faced towards the ocean.

Is was an ocean, as I could not see any thing beyond, except the distinct swells of water, and a couple of container ships passing far out in the distance.

What had happened, and where was this place. And where was Celine?

I felt two hands upon my shoulders, thinking Celine was here. I wanted to cuddle her, and hold her.

But the voice was not hers.

"What are you doing out here Jo?" She said in English, "Anybody might come along and see us."

I turned my head, knowing what to expect. Beth stood there with her blonde shoulder length hair, that curled into a frizz. She had on a white silk gown that hung open down the front, revealing her bare skin. A breast that wasn't flat but neither was it large, with a long supple leg sticking out of the gown.

I was stuck for words now. She called me Jo. I didn't much use that name, as it sounded kind of feminine, preferring Joseph. But she knew me. But when I met her last in the street, she didn't know me. How could she know me now, and appear like that?

Her hands left me for a moment. "Here's some juice." She said, "Fresh, just how you like it." She said, coming back with two glasses, and handing one to me.

I accepted it in silence, sipping it as I examined her, the house, the beach, the ocean.

Where was I? A long beach facing east onto an Ocean. Only one thing came to me, and that was Australia. I could well be somewhere else, but a house on a beach, like this. It was either that or the United States. But my bets were on my home country.

I looked up along the beach. There weren't many like this. House's lining the water's edge, in a good warm sunlight. It was hard to maintain this sort of place in harsher conditions like storms and cyclones.

Last I knew it was November. Getting into summer it was. And it was warm enough. Australia it had to be. Somewhere along the coast. But I couldn't remember any areas like this, or even if they'd allowed them to be developed into housing.

Times must have changed since I was here several years ago.

"Are you okay Jo?" Beth asked.

I needed to play along for the moment, until I got my bearing on what was happening. "Uh, huh." I replied. It was simplistic, but understandable.

"You want to come back inside then?" She asked, "Or do you have something kinky in mind?" she added, licking a finger and running it down my chest, only disappearing as it reached my crotch.

I wanted neither actually. If anything, I wanted Celine back. But I had to act normal. "Let's go inside." I said, turning about.

Beth took my empty glass, setting both of them on a table inside as she passed, then took one of my hands, and lead me back to the bed.

She pushed me down backwards onto the bed, and let her gown slip to the floor, before dropping upon me.

She tried her charms, but I was too distracted to even react.

Chapter 21: Is this reality?

"You aren't all right. What's wrong?" She asked, her body against mine with her face just apart from mine.

How can I not tell her? How can I leave this place, and let her be as she was before. I had to tell her something. But I wasn't someone to come up with a story on the spur of the moment. And more than likely anything I told her would make things worse.

No, it was all or nothing. And keeping quiet would be worse than telling lies. It was everything.

"I don't belong here." I started.

"What do you mean you don't belong here?" She said, "Of course you belong here. With me. We're married remember?"

Married? This was worse. I didn't even consider that she was telling a lie, as I ran the fingers around on my left hand, feeling the metal band of a ring. To confirm it, I held out her left hand in front of my eyes, and saw two rings adoring it.

"Oh, Jeez." was all I could say, realising it may be worse than I expected. I was married and I was having fantasies about another woman. Very realistic fantasies, that I couldn't even remember my real life.

Then what of the cages, and touring Europe? How long had I been married?

"Don't tell me you are getting cold feet now. Three weeks, and now you realise it was the wrong thing?" Beth said, pushing herself off.

Married three weeks. Not very long. But how much longer before that did I meet her?

I sat up, seeing Beth pulling on the gown again. "Beth. Come sit down, I need to tell you something."

"Oh, no. You're not going to leave me now." She said.

"It's not that." I told her, "I don't know who I am."

She looked at me, kind of startled. "What did you do, hit your head or something?" she said, sitting down next to me, and running a hand across me scalp.

Maybe. The last episode with Celine, she told me I'd bumped my head. But that wasn't real, or was it?

"No bumps." Beth said, "You haven't snorted something have you? Some of those new things really can wipe a person's mind."

"No drugs." I told her. "Before I woke up, I was somewhere else. Living another life. As real as you are right now." I laid a hand on her leg, feeling the soft flesh of her thigh. "But I went to sleep, and now I'm here. And I have no idea where here is, or when."

"Then how do you know me?" Beth asked, no bothering to remove my hand.

"I have this memory from a previous... I don't know what to call it, a reality I suppose. But it was still, me. I met you briefly and found out your name, but that was all. I then met you again in another reality, but you didn't even know me then. And now here, you know me better than I do, and you are even married to me."

"How many realities have you been to?" Beth asked, seeming to accept it for the moment.

I started to try and count them, "I'm not sure. Three maybe four. I'm not sure if that light was part of the cages or not."

"Cages?" Beth asked. She shook her head, "Ok, but you know who you are though?"

"Yes." I said, "Joseph Blair. 22 years old, born 17th November 1990."

"That's you all right." Beth said. "But you're 23 now. Your birthday was last month. "

"The last time I knew the date, it was early November." I told her.

"Almost. It's Saturday, December 28th, this is supposed to be out extended honeymoon."

Honeymoon. A nice place for it, I thought. "So where are we?"

"This is our house, near Bondi, Australia." She explained. "We had our honeymoon in the Reef islands, and returned before Christmas, to have dinner with your parents. You can't even remember the thing we did on the island?"

"Nothing." I said, shaking my head. "Before waking up, I know nothing of what's happened."

This was really twisted. I'd had a real life here, and didn't even know it. What had happened to me?

"What... How..." I began, trying to get my thoughts in order. "How did we meet?"

"You do not remember?" Beth asked, surprised, "No of course not." She looked disheartened. A sign of acceptance from her. That I didn't remember at least.

"I'll tell you, but let's get some clothes on and we'll go for a walk along the beach." Beth said, standing up, "I'll tell you as we walk."

I stood up, looking about for something to put on.

"Over here." She said, indicating some clothes.

I pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt. She was just as sparse, replacing her gown with just a bikini top, and wrapping several folds of a sari around her waist, before we ventured outside.

The morning sun was deliciously warm as we stepped down into the sand. It squelched underfoot until we moved down to the tidal area which was hard packed and wet.

"We met three years ago, whilst we were studying at University." Beth explained as we walked. "I was also there, studying for my degree in Biology. You were studying for Applied Physics."

"When did we finish?" I asked. I'd started Applied Physics after leaving boarding school, but left after two years, deferring it to go around the world. The Degree was four years minimum, unless I had wanted to do honours.

"This year actually." Beth said. "But it was three years ago that we met. A chance meeting actually, as you bumped into me when you came rushing out of a laboratory. I never found out what you were doing, because you had to take me to the nurse's station after dropping several books on my foot. And you stayed. I guess we hit it off from there. We kept it up, even through the haphazard studies, and mid this year you popped the question to get married. We decided to finish our honours and just get married. I guess it surprised a lot of people, but we were really in love. So we went on honeymoon, and came back in time for Christmas."

"There are still more questions then answers." I said, muttering to myself.

"What else bothers you?" Beth asked, "Maybe I can help."

"My memory, of my reality doesn't have you in it." I told her, "I went through two years of Applied Physics, putting up with the crap from some of the lectures until I got bored. I didn't what to just give it all away, so I deferred it, planning to come back some time. And just went around the world."

"No memory of running out a laboratory in a hurry?" Beth asked me.

I thought long and hard, getting past all the things between now and then, but came up empty. "No, nothing. I can't remember it ever happening."

The waves lapped at my feet as we walked along the beach. The squawk of sea gulls as they dipped into the ocean, trawling for scraps of food in the bright sun lit waters.

"Have you heard of a French girl called Celine, or a Russian called Mikhail?" I asked Beth.

"Mikhail? Yes, there was a student who you used to work with called Mikhail, but I don't think he was Russian." Beth said.

"Ukraine." I said.

"Maybe, but he only ever spoke English." Beth admitted, "As far as I know, he was Australian as you and me."

"What about Celine?" I asked hopefully.

"I... don't think so." Beth shook her head. "No, it doesn't sound familiar."

It had been a long shot that Celine existed here. Maybe she was still back in France, living her life there.

We turned about on the sand, heading back now towards the house.

"Where did the house come from?" I asked.

"That is a wedding present." Beth told me, "Both our parents chipped in, as something for us to return to from our honeymoon. I guess it's a bit wasted now."

"I wouldn't say that." I told her.

"Why?" Beth asked me.

"So far I've jumped from at least two realities." I explained to her, "It may happen again here also. I'll end up somewhere else, and hopefully the original Joseph will return."

"You mean you'll up and disappear?"

"I don't know." I told her, "I don't even know how it happens. The first time. I think it was a U.F.O. that grabbed me. This strange light in the sky seemed to knock me out. Next thing I knew, I woke up inside these cages."

I laughed a little at my own inventiveness, "I thought I'd been captured either by aliens, or by Chinese. I sat in this strange cage with hundreds of other people around me in similar cages, all of us naked."

"Naked? All of you?" Beth asked.

"Completely bare. Even tooth fillings had been removed, so my neighbour pointed out. She was as naked as I was."

Beth only shook her head, but accepting what I told her. "This was Celine, the French woman I asked you about. There wasn't anyone else to talk to about our situation, except her."

I continued my story to Beth, telling her all the details from the German hamlet, right up until I met her. We'd walked down to the other end of the beach in that time and returned again to the house. We sat on the steps now, leading up to the house.

Chapter 22: Let's get real

"Ok, I think I can accept this, that you are... who you say you are." Beth said, "But, what do we do now? Try to live out your life?"

"I don't think that will happen." I told her, "What ever drew me here, will draw me on again. I think it's a matter of when I leave."

"But both those times, weren't you making love?" Beth asked.

"The first time, I had thought was a dream, I almost made love." I explained, "But the second time, I had actually done it, and fallen asleep. I think it has to do with time. So far it has always been less then 48 hours. And then I'm gone again."

"Are you sure it wasn't the sex?" Beth asked.

"Positive." I told her. I was married here, but I didn't want to indulge in what wasn't rightfully mine. It sounded stupid to think like that. I only knew that I didn't deserve Beth.

"Just making sure." Beth said. "Any idea when you might go?" She added.

"Sometime tomorrow." I replied. "Not long before I find out if my theory is right."

"That leaves a whole day." Beth said as she ran both hands down her body, "A whole day wasted."

It didn't leave me with many options; other than to sit around trying not to look tempted by Beth's charm.

"Let's go inside before we burn." Beth said, standing up from the stairs and taking one of may hands. I followed her up the stairs, back inside the house.

It was quite big, and very open. Something I could like to live in. Beth showed me around, showing all the rooms, from the kitchen, the two large bedrooms, a smaller guest bedroom, two bathrooms, and several others, finishing in the kitchen.

"Do you feel like having some breakfast?" She asked me as worked on the other side of the bench, opening up some cupboards.

"I think I'll have something." I asked. "Do you have any toast?"

"Toast is no problem." She said, opening a container on the bench, and drawing out some bread. She flipped these into a toaster, pressing it down.

The smell of fresh toast soon filled the kitchen, as I spread on some raspberry jam, enjoying the sweet fruity taste. I wasn't sure what to do with myself, as I sat there.

Before I had been trying to attune myself to my surroundings, thinking they were real and whatever I had done before was just a dream. But now I was sure it was just another form of reality. How and why were beyond me at the moment.

"Here you missed a spot." Beth leaned over the bench, running a finger over my cheek, showing me some red jam that I had missed as I licked my lips.

She delicately touched her finger to my lips, where I licked it off with a quick slip of my tongue.

"You are so like Jo, but you aren't." Beth said, leaning back. "You don't have that look in your eyes that he does."

"Beth, can you tell me about yourself?" I asked her.

"There's not much to say." She said, settling down on a stool next to me, with some toasted pop tarts.

"Let see." Beth started, "I was born Elisabeth Lorraine in England, soon after you, on March 8, 1991. But my parents decided on a change of scenery, and moved to Australia. I grew up in Brisbane, until they decided it was too hot, and we again moved, but to Sydney. I'm an only child, but I have a two cousins back in England."

She nibbled on her pop tart, spinning about on the chair. "Let see, my father was an investment banker in England, and he didn't find any problems finding a new job here, and mother made a fortune in working on the stock market. Together they are real money makers. Father wanted me to become and accountant or something, but I hated working with money. It was people that interested me. So when I finished high school, I wanted to do something like Psychology or something else. So I landed myself in biology, and worked really hard to keep my grades up."

She spun back to face me, eat more of the pop tart, "So during third year, I met you. You were the perfect person for one of my assignments, and for some reason you agreed to it, to make up for injuring me. I guess I fell in love with my subject. So I brought my assignment home one day, and showed you to my father. He seemed happy enough after you came out of some talk together, and the rest really became history."

"I'm really and truly in love with you." She added.

I was astounded by her disclosure of her affection for me. I felt somewhat of a jackass, as I had no such feelings towards her, except the normal attraction I would feel towards any beautiful and honest woman. She was desirable and accessible.

But I didn't want her. I wanted to stop this merry-go-round of memories, and find out what wad real.

"Is there anything we can do to pass the time?" I asked her, spinning my chair away from her and looking about the room.

"This was meant to be our week of planing for the future." Beth explained, "Discovering what we what to do for the rest of our lives. Whether we want to work, go round the world, or just sit about the beach all day."

"I can tell you from experience, touring around the world is a nice thing to do." I told her, "Just be sure to plan where you want to go, and allow time for any other diversions that get your attention."

"Diversions?"

"Places you didn't know about when planning, things that only the locals would tell you about." I told her, turning back around again. "And the ones you literally stumble over, adding that special kind of feeling to a place, because you think you are the only one to have seen it for years."

"Sounds almost like a fairytale."

The mention of that word made me feel strange all over. Fairytale. It made me laugh a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Just that, it all seems like a fairytale. I've dropped in three times with women would readily make love with me. But I'm just Joseph. Some nobody who left Uni to tour the world on foot."

"Your not some nobody to me." Beth said, her hand clasping my arm.

"That is a matter of opinion." I told her.

"It means a lot to me." Beth said, catching both my arms as she leaned forward towards me, her eyes looking directly into mine, "You're just as much the man I fell in love with, only you have three years of other experience on top. I don't see that. Only the man I love."

I was beginning to feel like an emotional wreck. Beth was in love, but her affections had shifted onto me, the image of her lover, in body, and mind. If there was a list of guys who wanted a gun to put themselves out of misery, I'd be on that list.

"Can I be alone for a while?" I asked Beth.

"Ah, sure." She said, drawing her hands away slowly.

She slipped off the stool, and through the passageway, leaving me by myself.

I thought for a while, considering my position here, and drifting off onto why I was here. And then why I was anywhere at all.

My thoughts churned around for a while, dwelling on this or that little piece of information, trying to understand it all. Only one thing kept coming back to me, and that was my perception of reality. Was I truly jumping around, or was this the real deal?

That would make me really married, and not some other version of myself. What if I don't jump tomorrow, and end up somewhere else?

I was stumped. Should I try to integrate myself into this life, or just wait around for something to happen, which may not?

I wasn't a gambler by nature. Numbers were a thing to be used in theory, not life. It's one of the reasons I skipped out on Uni, because I was sick of all the calculations, and formulas. Let a computer do it, and I'll have a real life.

That was the crux. I wanted a real life. This around me was a real life. Married by 22, with a beautiful woman. She seemed intelligent enough, and had her own money.

It was a life worth living, for just the sake of living. I left the kitchen bench, with the crumbs from the toast, and slipped into one of the leather sofas, sinking into the soft seat. It all of a sudden reminded me of Celine, and what I had been doing before awaking here.

I didn't know what was real any more or what was illusion. I felt like crying, for what I didn't have, or may have had. It was much too much, as I curled up, staring out one of the windows at the blue sky.

Chapter 23: Taking life as it is

I must have fallen asleep, because when I awoke, the light in the room had changed as the shadows were almost gone with a midday sun.

I sat up, clearing my eyes, and examining the room for changes, but it still looked the same.

"Jo?"

I turned to find Beth sitting across from me, with her legs folded up on a sofa.

"Sort of." I replied, looking askance.

"When I came in, you were asleep." Beth said, "It looked like you were..."

"I was." I interrupted her, "I've been thinking a lot. About my situation."

She was silent as she listened to me explain. "Wherever I go, if I even go anywhere. I'll never be absolutely sure of who I am. I only know for sure, that where ever I am, this is the reality. I can only believe that if I am here, that this is it. That anything else will be just a memory, and cannot be re-visited. So I have to live this, as the actual reality, as who I was supposed to be, before... well before I arrived here."

"So you're going to try and live this life?" Beth asked.

"As best as I can." I told her. "Unless something happens, but that's an if that won't be up to me. It'll always be the here and now. That means you Beth."

She slipped off the other sofa, and sat next to me. "That means a lot to me Jo."

"I know." I said taking her hands in mine, "It's why I thought about it for so long. I have to believe in the present, and you."

She wrapped her arms around me, and I felt her face bury in my shoulder. I needed to believe this was it, and that nothing else mattered.

I put any thoughts I had of Celine out of my head, only thinking of Beth. Anything of before had to go, as I cleared my mind to look anew at Beth as we pulled apart.

"What do you want to do?" I asked her.

"We... we can leave planning until later." Beth said. "I feel like taking a quick swim, and then we can have some lunch."

"That's a good idea." I agreed.

We got up from the sofa, and I followed Beth back into the bedroom.

"Do I have something to swim in?" I asked her.

"Actually, you're wearing it." Beth said, dropping her sari to the floor in a circular pile, revealing her femininity. She moved about the room before finding what she wanted, and drew upon the bottom half of the bikini.

I pulled off the t-shirt, leaving it upon the floor, and joined her outside, as we descended to the beach.

It was populated now, but not crowded like any public beach. There was plenty of space about, with couples and even children on the sand and in the water.

It was vastly different from this morning, as if a God had come along, and sprinkled people along the beach. I didn't take much notice of the people as I descended the beach, except that they didn't look like the usual beer swilling yobbo you might think that inhabits a beach on a day like this.

They were more of the high class crowd. The ones that wear designer tailored business clothing, and designer swimwear. That is if, they were wearing the swim wear. There were a few naked backs, belonging to sun baking women. I only hoped they were using a good sun cream, otherwise they were risking more then just exposure.

We weren't going to be long in the water. I followed Beth's lead, wading out into the deepening surf, and then plunging into the water before surfacing out further, cupping my hands in a fast swim to stay up with Beth.

We came to a stop some distance out, the house looking like a small beach sized hut as we turned about, and headed back in.

The water coursed off my body as I half staggered from the water, feeling the signs of unused muscles.

Beth had paced me on the way back, looking fitter than I felt. But she was definitely smiling, and happy. I was happy too. I felt more alive than I had since... since before I could rightly remember.

I was actually laughing as I chased Beth up the stairs, as she stayed in front. She quickly swiped the sand from her feet on a mat, stepping to the house, still wet.

I followed her, removing all the sand I could upon the mat, and dashed inside after Beth.

Around a corner I found Beth. "Here before we get the place too wet." She said, as she as threw me a towel.

I accepted it enthusiastically, drying myself off, but finding my shorts were dripping more onto the floor.

"Take them off." Beth said, seeing my uncertainty.

I looked up to find she'd removed her own bathers, as she dried herself and her hair.

I had no other choice as I dripped more water across the floor. I drew them down, dropping them to the floor, drying myself completely now, except for the soles of my feet, as I threw the towel over a shoulder and picked up my shorts with both hands, trying to minimise the dripping.

"In here." Beth said, leading me into the laundry to squeeze the sea water out from our bathers.

I felt a release of tension that I'd been holding back since this morning, accepting my position, as husband to Beth, and also lover. I didn't mind reacting now, as we stood there naked beside the open window.

Beth wrapped her towel about her body, coving her body appropriately before going out the side door with both our bathers, and hanging them on a small washing line on the side of the house.

I stood there in the door way, still not bothering to cover myself until she came back inside.

"Are you going to cover that up?" She asked, pointing downwards.

I understood what she meant, but as I didn't know where the clothes were, "With what?"

"Just tie you towel around you." She said, "It's just you and me here."

It was sensible enough, and helped to cover my virility which I was more aware of because it was uncovered.

We went back through to the house, where Beth stopped at the pool of water on the tile floor. "This'll have to be mopped up." She said.

She let her towel loose, and threw it to me, "Here, mop it up and I'll put something on."

Beth's bare form disappeared around the corner as I dropped the towel onto the water, and pushed it around with my foot, before finally bending over and mopping it up with my hands. The towel was sodden, but the floor seemed almost dry now, with just slightly damp.

Beth came back, with the sari craftily wrapped about her body, covering down around her waist and up around her breasts.

"I'll take it out." Beth said, taking the wet towel from my hands. She was back before could wonder what she had on underneath the sari, directing me to the kitchen.

"That's much better isn't it." She said, rippling her shoulders.

I did feel much refreshed after the swim. A little sore in some muscles. But a good sore.

"Ok." She said, pulling open the fridge, "We haven't got much to choose from. We can have turkey sandwiches, ham sandwiches, or ham and turkey sandwiches, with a bit of salad."

Leftovers from Christmas. How often I despised it as a kid at home. It was something I enjoyed now, relishing the taste of ham with a touch of cranberry jelly in a salad sandwich.

I really started to relax now, feeling at ease with myself. Beth and I settled upon the sofa and talked. About life in general, and what we wanted to do in the future. Just talked.

Occasionally she would poke me, as she made some point, or I would run a hand down her arm, but we were in harmony, in thought and in soul.

Most of the day seemed to pass without my notice, until I mentioned it was getting dark.

"How long have we been talking?" Beth asked.

"Hours." I said, not having a watch on me, "Well used hours."

"They were." She said, running a finger around my ear and neck as she kissed me.

Chapter 24: Repressing memories

She rested her head upon my shoulder. "You seem more like you old self." She said.

"I'm beginning to feel... at home." I told her, running a hand delicately across her upturned cheek. "My memories are history now. I'm making new ones to replace them all."

I ran my hand down around her face, tracing the lines down her chin and neck. She hummed at my touch. "Hmm...."

The sun was setting behind the trees and hills behind the house, making it dark inside with no lights on.

"How about we take another swim before dinner." I asked.

"Sounds good. Our bathers should be dry now." She said without moving.

"Do we even need them?" I asked.

She seemed to draw in a breath before replying, "Go skinny dipping?"

"I will if you will." I said.

"What if we're seen?" She asked.

"We'll be in the water, and it's getting dark."

"Only if you go first." She added, lifting her head up and kissing me on the nose.

She seemed willing to go along. "Okay". I said, getting up from the sofa, and moving over to the doorway leading outside to the steps down to the beach.

I looked outside, seeing the reaching traces of the sunset passing along the sky, touching the small puffy clouds that dotted the sky. It wasn't dark yet, but it wouldn't be too long. But by then it would be too dark to swim. It had to be now, whilst there was enough light.

There were some people on the beach, but further down, and another pair in the other direction. But they were walking away. It was the right time. I turned back to see Beth just behind me, watching me, not the beach.

I dropped the towel to the floor, raising my eyebrows once, before stepping out the door, and carefully down the steps.

My heart was racing in anticipation. It wouldn't do to miss a step and fall down to the beach, breaking a limb.

I turned back to see Beth standing at the top of the stairs, still with her sari on, but she had one hand on the edge of it as I took at step away from the stairs, through the sand.

I turned back as I took several more steps, then looked back, seeing Beth unwrapping the sari from her chest. I had to stop and watch, as she dropped the whole thing onto the deck, taking the first of the steps down to the beach.

She was following now, as I turned back and raced for the water now which had dropped lower since the tide went out, and splashed into the cool shallows as I turned about to see Beth's figure running towards me.

She splashed past me, diving into the water.

I moved to follow her, as she surfaced with the water deep enough to swim in, the water covering her neck down.

"You're nuts." She said with a big smile, sweeping her arms about to keep afloat.

"And you followed me." I told her," What does that make you?"

"Nuts for falling in love with you." She answered, as she floating in close to me.

"But do you regret it?" I asked her, face to face, close enough to kiss.

"Never." She replied, then dropped under the water.

I couldn't see her under the dark water, and wondered what she was doing; until I felt two hands under my feet, lifting me up to send me backwards in the water.

I came to a stop as she surfaced a few metres away, "Come catch me if you can!" She called.

"I will." I promised, kicking about and stoking my arms to catch her. She dived under the water, but didn't go far down, as I followed her out further.

I struggled to stay up, touching her feet several times with my hands as I stayed behind her, as we swam in on big arc, curving back into the shore. I caught her leg as I lunged inward after her. She seemed to kick once more, before settling upon the sand, lying down in the shallow water.

I fell beside her, one hand on her back as a small wave washed past us.

"Took your time." She said, keeping her face above the water.

"I had good competition." I replied.

The beach was very dark now, and the house was a black shadow upon the orange red sky, just the two of us lying in the shallows of the ocean water.

"I wish we could do this every year." Beth said.

"We can." I told her.

"Only if we keep the house." She said.

"Then we will. We'll rent it out the rest of the year, but return every year for our anniversary."

"It's our three week anniversary today." She said.

"Today?" I asked, surprised that it was exactly three weeks.

"Uh, huh."

"Then lets get back inside and celebrate it." I said, picking myself up, and running for the dark stairs.

"No fair!" She called behind me, as I found the rail, running madly up the stairs in the dark.

I rubbed my feet clean, stepping inside the dark house, searching for the towel I'd left.

Beth came in behind me, running back towards the bedroom, "You won't find it!" Her voice called back.

I chased after her, knowing she must have hidden it somewhere.

Through the bedroom, with it's light on now, finding her in the bathroom, standing in the clear glass shower, turning the knobs on as water sprayed over her.

I stepped in behind her, closing the door behind me as she adjusted the stream of water until it was pleasantly warm and covering both of us.

We washed each other and our hair until we couldn't smell the salt on our bodies any longer.

Finally, I turned the water off, allowing Beth to step out, handing me one of the bathroom towels, as we dried ourselves.

She was smiling as she planted a kiss on my lips, before stepping back into the bedroom.

I followed in a moment, with the towel wrapped around my waist.

We dressed more appropriately for dinner, putting on something more as a cool sea breeze ran though the house.

The smell of easy bake meals was lost in the house, as we sat down at the table to eat.

The night was more conformable, as we settled down in the bedroom after occupying ourselves with some TV after dinner.

Beth rolled over, running a hand down my body. We were both naked under the single sheet, as the night air hadn't cooled down enough.

"So are we going to celebrate?" She asked, with her body against mine.

"What do you think?" I asked back, my hands down her back, and cupping the cheeks of her bottom.

I felt her hand slid down my chest, lingering about my belly button for a moment, until her tender touch ran around my penis.

Her fingers felt electric, as they touched portions of my skin, bringing me to life.

She disappeared under the sheet, as I felt her body roll across mine, and the sheet lift up as I looked upon her backside, kneeling over me with a view of her spread vagina. I felt both her hands stimulating me, as she ran them along my now hardened shaft.

I worked my fingers around her clitoris, touching it, fingering it, and leaning up to lick with my tongue. Her ministrations were deeper as I felt her tongue tickle across the tip, before her lips embraced it under a fresh assault of her moving hands.

The throbbing pressure came quickly, as her mouth ran over my penis once more, as I ran my fingers deeper into her now wet vagina. The satisfaction I found with Beth lasted the rest of the night.

When I awoke, the light of day streamed in though the windows and skylight, as the sound of seagulls echoed in my ears.

A form shifted beside me, and I looked over, finding Beth snuggled beside my chest. That I was still here was all that mattered to me. Belonging. I stretched my arms above my head, and felt Beth shift.

"Morning." She said, with a wide smile on her face.

I leaned down and kissed firmly across both lips, "Looks like its gong to be hot today."

"Not as hot as last night." She said, pushing herself up.

No, it was definitely hot last night. She'd had kept me going several times, before finally relaxing.

I ran a hand over my face, finding a good growth of hair. Somehow I hadn't found the time to shave yesterday, as I eagerly got up to go to the toilet.

Beth was in the bathroom wearing the gown when I came out, washing her face.

"You look better in the light." She told me, looking across my body.

"Your not so bad yourself." I said, giving her a kiss after drying her face.

"You'd better loose that hair." She said, wiggling my chin.

"Right now, before I forget." I told here, as she stepped out.

I didn't move from the bathroom, as I lathered my face in cream from a can on the shelf. Carefully I started with the shaver, removing the hair one wipe at time, rinsing it under he hot water tap.

The toilet flushed as Beth came back in behind me.

"Looks good, but you missed a spot." She said, leaning against my back, and pointing to a spot on my jaw.

"How's that." I said, running the shaver across it.

She kissed the back of my neck, "Better, much better."

Chapter 25: Time's up

Her image in the mirror seemed shimmer, as the light seemed to brighten around me, engulfing me like an oncoming train.

It all came flooding back to me then. All the memories, of myself, of my reality. The real me. Not the marriage, not the living in France, not the cages, and not even touring Europe. It was all fake. An illusion of sorts, contrived by my own experiment. To actually create an artificial time stream parallel to the real one.

It was a complicated experiment that I took up in my forth year at University, to prove some of my teachers wrong, and to play a real game of 'what if?'

The idea had been simple. Create a bubble of time, separate to actual reality, but with everything that makes it real. Program in differences, and let it run. But someone had to be suspended just inside the bubble of time, to experience it.

Not a giant bubble around the whole body. Just large enough to surround the head of a person. The time bubble was artificial, and didn't affect physical matter, rather it affected on a different plane, creating an alternate reality within the mind of the person, leaving real memories of been in a alternate reality.

My mind flashed back now, remembering that I started this experiment with four other students at University. I only had enough funds to create a system capable of supporting four people in four separate time bubbles. It seemed like more than a week had gone by since I helped Max get the other three students into separate tanks, before she helped me into the last one.

I looked out the tank, seeing a blurred white figure making gestures. It was pointless trying to understand, so I punched the clip that was holding me down and kicked off the bottom of the tank, finding the top of the tank open.

I took several deep breaths, coughing as I expelled all the perfluorocarbons from my lungs, taking in normal oxygenated air

My hands worked off all the medical patches stuck across my body, pulling them all off, and removing the intravenous line before I put a hand up, grasping at the edge of the tank.

Max's hand met mine. Assisting to pull me out, and helping me down the metal stairs, as my muscles felt atrophied from lack of use.

Her voice was a little distorted as I tried to get the fluid out of my ears. "Wait here, and I'll get you a towel."

I sat down on the stairs shivering in the suddenly cold air, as Max came back, throwing a towel over my back, and running another over my legs.

The towel was a relief in the cold air, as I coughed once more, trying to use my diaphragm to speak, "What happened?"

"It's been a week. I've pulled you out first as you wanted." Max said, her hand rubbing the towel up my legs more vigorously than I wanted.

"So your not aware of any problems?"

"No, the system as worked perfectly. Not even a peep out of the computers, except for normal monitoring." She said.

I held the towel about me, only making a token effort to dry myself. "Isn't there any heat in this place?"

"It's almost 10 PM. So there isn't much running on campus." She told me.

"Did it work?" She asked me.

"Did it work?" I repeated, coughing again. Maybe the cold was getting to me. "It seemed to, but you better get the others out so we can get a full report. There were some strange changes to my programmed reality."

"Don't look at me, I put in exactly what you wanted." Max said, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

No, it couldn't have been Max. Something else had happened. I'd outlined the code specifically for my reality, to create an artificial time line, where I had pretended to leave University in the second year to tour across parts of Europe for a week. It was supposed to be an eye opening voyage of seeing places I couldn't afford to see, not been caged, and shifted to other places.

I kept my mouth closed for the moment, until I sorted it out with the others. Max helped me up from the stairs; over to a bench on the wall as she moved over to several computers lined up on a table.

There were more towels on the bench, so I grabbed another to dry myself with, leaving the other to keep me warm.

Max moved between the computers and the tanks several times, shutting down the time streams to each of the other tanks, and disengaging the lids, which had the experimental projectors, were attached to.

One at a time, Max led over a shivering figure to join me on the bench, until all four tanks now lay empty.

"Maxine tells me a week has gone by." Mikhail said, between drying himself and keeping warm.

"A week!" That was Celine's voice, almost a cry.

"Well there was something wrong." Beth said.

"What happened?" Max asked, standing idly by now that everything had been shut down.

"I think there was some sort of pollution between the four tanks." I explained, "I started off quite fine, until I got zapped right in the middle of a small German hamlet, and was dropped in a cage."

There was a small laugh from Beth, "You reckon?"

"Mikhail, was your alternate supposed to be, an alien abduction?" I asked him.

A grin spread across his face, "Ah, yeah."

"You are one sick puppy." Beth said, slapping him on the leg.

"Oh, shit." Max said.

I looked up to find her turning about. "The oxygen scrubbers for the perfluorocarbons." She said.

"What about them?" I asked.

"We only got the one, because we didn't have enough money." Max said, as she walked between the tanks, under the walkway. Her voice echoed back, "So it was a matter of hooking all four tanks into the scrubbers."

"Oh shit." I said, seeing the fault. "It would have mixed the perfluorocarbons from all the tanks."

"What does that mean?" Celine asked. She hadn't part of the developing the time spheres, but I invited her in, cause she wanted study the effects that alternate time might have, first hand.

"It means that the fluid that surrounded each of you in the tanks, got mixed with fluid from another tank." Max said, coming back. "And this caused a mixing in whatever alternate time line you were exploring."

"I think I've got it." Celine said, "That's why I started in France, then ended up married, and then trekking through parts unknown by myself."

"What about getting abducted by aliens?" Mikhail asked.

"I'd rather not talk about that part." Celine replied, grimacing with a sad expression.

I had an idea what she was talking about. But it had been so mixed up, that any part of it may only hold a morsel of what everyone else experienced.

"Are we going to continue talking about this, while we freeze?" Beth asked.

My legs were shaking against the bench now.

"I've got the key to the women's shower block in this wing." Max said. "That's all they'd allow me to have."

"There's only four of us, so it'll have to do." I said.

We all got up, expecting Max to lead us. "Leave the towels here." She said, "They're soaked with perfluorocarbons. I should be able to squeeze them out, and filter them back into the system."

Mikhail gave her a horrifying look.

"Its expensive stuff, okay?" She said.

"Sure." Beth said, dropping her towels to the floor.

We were all waring bathers anyhow, so we weren't exactly exposing ourselves to each other. It was only the cold that bothered me as we dropped our towels onto the floor.

"The shower block is already open." Max said, bending over and picking up a couple of the towels, "I've left only four dry towels in there. And some soap to get the perfluorocarbons off."

Beth already had taken the lead, hearing the word soap, and we followed with squishing sounds from out wet feet.

I felt a little weird following a girl into the women's showers, but I didn't want to stand outside all night, freezing until I caught pneumonia.

It was an open shower block, not exactly designed for normal shower use, but in emergencies, if a class of students were accidentally doused with something. The only rule was easy access, and large shower nozzles.

The hot water took a moment to come though the pipes, before I could stand in its warmth, letting to run over me, and then finding it too hot, and turning it down to turn on the cold water.

It was more of respect that Mikhail and I stood under the showers across from Beth and Celine.

The shampoo helped in removing the smell and stickiness from my hair. It wasn't the perfluorocarbons that smelled, but rather, the build up of secretions and fluids that would have come from my body during the last week, that couldn't filtered out without expensive equipment.

Also, there would have been an occasional discharge of the bladder. Some drugs had been fed into the IV tubes to slow down our metabolic rates to stop this, but there still may have been a discharge into the perfluorocarbons.

My hair and my body smelled like it hadn't been washed for more than a week, as I scrubbed it vigorously to get the smell out.

I found that I couldn't wash around my bathers without taking them off. I looked around, towards Beth and Celine, wondering if I should take them off. I was going to still stink unless I took them off, and washed.

I noticed Beth was desperately trying to scrub under her swim suit. She looked around, possibly trying to see if either Mikhail or I were watching, and caught my eyes.

I'd seen much of both Celine and Beth in the mixed flows of alternate time. It seemed little point to pretend I was self conscious knowing they'd probably seen me naked in their versions of alternate time also.

I had Beth's eyes on me as I pulled off my bathers. Holding them up to my nose, they stunk worse then my garbage. I felt like throwing them out and burning them, and buying a new pair later. But I tossed them to the back corner of the showers, where I couldn't slip on them.

I took another look around, finding Celine's eyes on me too now. I did my best to ignore them by turning my back as I washed myself again, not sure what stunk now.

It was only after scrubbing my hands another half a dozen times, that I smelled clean, and turned the water off.

Mikhail was between me and the entrance where the towels stood in a pile, and I had to step around him, passing by Celine and Beth.

I glanced Beth, who had been opposite me, with her top off, trying to wash it clean. She caught sight of me, turning about in her shower.

Celine hadn't even bothered to try washing, having dropped her bathers to the floor, as they lay in a scattered pile near her feet. Her back was towards me, so I didn't see any reaction from her as I walked past, into the dry area, and grabbing a towel.

The room was warmer from the spill of hot water, making it more comfortable to dry off.

A hand reached past me, and I turned to find Celine leaning over for a towel.

"Sorry." I said, stepping sideways as she snatched up a towel.

Chapter 26: Emotions

She looked just like I had seen her in my version of alternate time line. It was a good indication that the time streams had polluted one another, giving me real impressions of what Celine had in her alternate time line.

I tuned about giving her enough privacy to dry, until Mikhail intruded, "Wet man coming through."

I had to move further around so he could dry off without interrupting Celine. I finished off as the sound of running water shut off. I turned about, thinking Beth had kept her bathers on, but she hadn't and discreetly walked past, holding on arm over her breasts and another over her crotch.

I wrapped the towel about my waist, keeping my attention away from Beth and Celine. It wouldn't do to leave my bathers in the showers. Especially male bathers in women's showers, so I went over, carefully retrieving them with one finger.

"That stuff really stinks." Mikhail called out.

I turned back momentarily, finding he had moved up to where I'd been standing. Beth was in the corner, but I could see Celine running the towel down her uncovered chest.

"The perfluorocarbons?" I asked him, not realising I was staring at Celine and not him, until I averted my eyes.

"Yeah that stuff. Does it always stink so much?" He asked.

I came upon Beth's bathers, and decided it was best to pick them all up, rather then let them lie there.

"It wasn't the perfluorocarbons that smelled." I said, retrieving Celine's bathers, "It was our body secretions, and possibly some body waste."

"You mean urine?" Beth asked around Celine.

I stood up, having to look in their direction, but Beth had her towel in front of her, and Celine had her back to me, showing her well curved hips. My eye's drifted down to her bottom, before I looked up again, seeing Beth's eyes move from Celine to me. "All of us could well have pissed into the perfluorocarbons. I hope I can filter the stuff clean."

"I thought we'd taken drugs to stop that." Celine asked.

She turned about, but I didn't take any notice, except that both her feet were facing my way as I bent to retrieve Mikhail's bathers.

"The drugs were to slow the metabolic rate down." I said. "They'll stop you from shitting, but it'll only slow the bladder down. Beth's the biologist, she know more about it than I do."

"He's right." Beth said, "The bladder is the output for many toxins from the body. Once it's full, it has to get rid of it, else risk poisoning the body."

I stood up now, with a bather on one of each of my fingers on my right hand. Celine was facing my way, with her towel tightly wrapped around her, coving just enough of her.

Beth was in motion behind her, still drying herself.

"Hello?" Max's head popped through the doorway, "Oh, wow, nice butt Mikhail!"

"Max, can you take these?" I said, interrupting her from her from her admiration of Mikhail's uncovered behind and holding my hand out.

She stepped in, her white lab coat making her look out of place in the showers.

"Uh huh." Max said, as she took the bathers from my hand. She'd been sopping up the perfluorocarbons already, so probably didn't notice the smell. "I'll soak them along with all the other towels then?"

"Please."

"There's a couple of heaters on in the room next door. Go in there when you're finished." Max said, "Glad I'm not paying for all of this." She added, turning about, taking another look at Mikhail before she closed the door.

"You want to go next door?" I asked Celine, pointing towards the doorway.

"Uh." She looked back to Beth and then to Mikhail, "Well, okay." She said, moving towards the door.

I followed a step behind her. "You two follow when you're ready." I said, taking a last glimpse behind me at Mikhail's bare back, and Beth's profile.

This wing of the building seemed only partially open, as I followed Celine next door.

It wasn't a student lab, but actually a small lounge area, for students to sit around in. There were some low seats arranged about the space, with two heaters sitting in the middle of the floor, radiating heat outwards.

I dragged a seat closer to a heater, sitting down, finding I had to lean over to feel its effects. Celine sat across from me, in front of the opposite heater. I looked up to her, finding the low seats proffered a view underneath her towel.

Celine crossed her legs, trying to hide this lack of covering from the towel.

"Um, Celine." I started, meeting her eyes. "I know we all agreed to write up a report on what we experienced, that each of us could read over. But I have a couple of personal questions that may not be covered in your report."

She didn't say a word, so I continued, "My reality was well entangled with parts of yours. I don't know how true it may be, but there was a portion of it that... showed that someone tried to rape you in the past."

I shut my mouth, hoping for Celine to say something in return. A bite back, saying it was true, or just flat denning it.

Her eye's looked down for a moment, and my hopes of it not been true faded. "If you want to talk about it." I ventured. "Or not. Or if you just want some company..."

"It's fine." She said, looking back up, with a bland expression, "Thanks for the offer, but it was a few years ago now."

She went unusually quiet, staring back at the heaters. She seemed okay, until she let out a sob, covering her face with both her hands.

I got up from my chair, and sat next to her, wrapping my arms about her. She seemed to fight me for a moment, until I spoke "It's ok now. It's gone, its past."

"I thought I'd gotten over it." I heard past her sobs, under hands. "But I felt it again..."

"It was just the time bubbles, bringing back memories. That's all they are now, are memories." I told her. "Just memories, just let them free. They won't hurt you any more."

I turned at the sound of voices, as Mikhail and Beth came in with towels wrapped around them, and armfuls of clothes.

"Uh, Max found our clothes for us." Beth said, seeing us. "I'll just leave yours here." She added dropping them to the chair opposite.

I turned back to Celine, who'd lowered her hands to the towel. Patches of red surrounded her eyes from crying.

"You're all wet again." I said, touching her face gently, and wiping away the tears.

She was quiet for a while. "Thankyou." I barely heard her say.

"I'm here for you." I told her, and shifted to stand up.

Celine said something, almost a whisper. I turned back, "Please don't go." Celine repeated a little louder.

I nodded. "Okay." I said, leaning her against me.

We sat there for a long while, warming ourselves in front of the heaters. It was only when Celine felt ready, that we shifted from our seats, and pulled on our clothing.

I gave her enough space, facing away from her into the open hallway as I dressed. And then waited until her hand fell on my back, to say she was ready.

The night was dark as I left Max to close up whatever we had left running. It could all wait for my attention the day after tomorrow. I felt tired, sore and drained. Even hungry. A long sleep was what I really wanted, before having to get stuck in reports, meetings, and remaining classes.

The world didn't stop turning just because you decided to try an alternate reality.

There was a figure standing at the doors at the bottom of the stairs leading outside.

As I got down low enough so I could see with the light though the doors, I found Celine standing there.

"My car wouldn't start, and Beth's already left." She said, "And I was... wondering if you could give me a lift.

I'd forgotten about travel from the campus. Our cars had been sitting there for week, and it would be difficult to get other transport at this time of night.

"Sure." I said, agreeing. She couldn't stand around here until Max finished. "As long as mine starts." I added, fumbling for the keys as I pushed the door open.

Ours were parked together in a stretch of car park we'd had to reserve for the week.

I pressed the car alarm switch, unlocking the car remotely. Compared to Celine's, my car was almost new. It was my only possession that I really treasured, because it was almost new. Never in my life had I spent so much money for something like that. There was no way I could afford travelling around the world with my money.

Celine's was an old Toyota Corolla, which explained why it wouldn't start.

I was glad however, when the engine turned over and caught. It was nothing like the expensive European cars. Just a reliable Japanese import.

The heater was a welcome thing also, as I pulled though the security barriers, and out of the car park.

Chapter 27: Final report

Celine had to give me a few directions as I drove, but otherwise it was dead quiet in the car. I didn't want to turn the radio on. The silence was a thing to be cherished sometimes. Providing a sense of order in the chaotic universe.

I pulled to a stop outside a group of apartments, close to the curb side for Celine to step out.

As she stood outside the car, I wound the window down with the electric switch. "Thankyou." She said though the window after, closing the door.

She was quiet for a moment, as she looked up to the building, and back towards me. I wasn't sure what she wanted.

"I'll go now, then." I said.

"Yes... thanks." She said.

She gave a small smile, so I pulled out slowly down the street. I looked back in the mirror, but she still stood there at the curb as I let the window close automatically.

As I slowed to a stop at the intersession down the street, I looked once more at the mirror, and saw her figure still at the curb.

She couldn't stay there. There weren't any other cars about, so I popped the car back into reverse and backed up the street, edging back the curb side.

Celine still stood there as I wound the window down again, looking expectantly at me. I wasn't sure what the problem was. She wanted to go home. I wasn't sure what else it could be. "How about I come in with you?" I asked, quietly.

She gave a pained smile, with only one word in reply. "Please."

I nodded, and shifted the car into first again, pulling to tighter into the curb, and shutting down the engine.

The car locked with a press on the keypad, closing the windows as it went.

Celine stepped forward hesitantly now for her apartment as I followed. It was up two flights of stairs, and though two doors into an apartment that resembled almost exactly what I had seen in my alternate time stream.

I was I suppose, astounded at this, but not exactly surprised. I hadn't asked beforehand what the others were doing for their alternate time lines, as Max and Mikhail had taken care of programming that into the computers. I had wanted to focus objectively on my own. But it was obvious to me that Celine had made use of her surroundings for her own version of reality.

I knew what each room would look like, before even entering them. Celine sat down on a familiar sofa. I did my best to separate my memories of alternate time, knowing this wasn't some city in France, and we weren't even speaking German now. Not that I expected Celine to be able to speak it anyhow.

"Joseph." Celine said to me, "I think you'll understand, that I want you stay with me the night."

She seemed a little agitated, and afraid.

"I just want you stay with me." She said.

"I understand." I said, sitting beside her. Taking her hand. "I'll sleep here on the sofa if need be."

"Thank you." She said, dropping her hand against my shoulder.

We were all subject to forces of nature, and of our own experiences. After reviewing all the materials from the experiment, I deemed the main objective was a success. But overall, it was a failure.

Certain things happened after concluding the experiment, that could only be attributed to side effects.

Celine continued to suffer bouts of depression, except when in my company. After I read her report which she took longer to write up, I understood why. Her last experience had been within the confines of the UFO reality which Mikhail had programmed in for himself.

The she'd left the system at the last moment, whilst reliving her experience of attempted rape.

My own persona had bled into her reality sufficiently, so I had in fact been with her at time of reliving the memory, and have become sufficiently associated as someone who cares for her in her mind. Her experiences beforehand fortunately, were of a much gentler nature.

Her efforts at living a life in France started quite well, for three days. The bubbling nature of the perfluorocarbons was chaotic here, as parts of both Beth and my own realities mixed together into hers, creating a reality of trekking as a married couple though France. Celine wrote here that her married husband persona was actually myself.

I was happy at least that she didn't find herself married to a personal of Mikhail. I'll explain further.

Mikhail's report was much different. I didn't really interact with him much within my own reality, so I didn't get as much personal perspective as I would have liked.

His experience within the UFO, whilst originally intended to be of a sexual nature, was only part of his original reality. The other major parts, were the dark room, which I am very surprised at, in how it worked.

It was designed to bring to life, memories from a persons past. How Mikhail did this, is detailed further with his report, in amongst masses of computer code in the appendices.

But that it had worked was of good intentions, except in the memories that were chosen to be relived.

From there, his reality had bled into a version of France, taking in many sights of an unknown city. His own experiences did not match mine in any way, possibly because his transference came about whilst he was sitting in the cage, and it morphed into a jail cell.

When Beth's reality infused with his, he found himself in a similar situation as my own, been married to a form of Beth, although he separated himself from the set scene that Beth had created, instead chasing some of the characters along the beach in the alternate reality.

He doesn't rightly explain why he did this in his report, but I'll try to ask him when I see him later.

His final change was quite brief for some reason, as he found himself hitchhiking along a paved road. He was picked up by a passing car, and spent the rest of his time within the car, travelling though the countryside.

Beth's experience was different to say the least. She'd set up the original marriage scenario, but with a totally fictitious character as her husband. That fact that nobody else saw this character within their own forms of reality when it bled through is amazing. All I could assume was that some unknown effects of the mixing, that didn't allow it to filter through.

More research would be required to find this out, but it would involve purposely mixing the perfluorocarbons again, which I don't want to do.

Following on from that, she found herself out trekking though parts of Europe, which she enjoyed, except having to sleep on the ground for two nights.

Her experience with the UFO abduction was different. She found herself caged not next to any of us, but next to her fictitious husband.

She gave only very slim details of what she did whilst caged, but expressing that it was sexual, and not something she felt she could put into words, without making a whole lot of men horny for her.

I left it at that, only making sure she detailed the changes that happened when the reality shifted, which she did.

The change found her living in France, yet again with her fictitious husband. No more details could be supplied, except that where she stayed sounded much like Celine's apartment.

My own experiences I've already detailed with this report. Whilst I could say they were not real, I can't help but feel attached now, physically, emotionally and something else, to both Celine and Beth.

I've never looked the same way at Beth ever again. Wondering if we were married. But she never returns the looks, as I can understand from her report.

But for Celine however, my feelings run deeper. A connection that runs deep down through my heart for her. Some of which she also has for me, as she experienced a similar reality, even if it wasn't with the real me, but with an accurate representation of my persona. As I had with her.

I had to stay with Celine for several days after the experiment, until she felt that she could stay alone.

Some of the residual effects from the caging in Mikhail's reality. I tried my best to help her, but she was the one studying psychology, and eventually sought a councillor to help her.

Here I have to recommend that no further experiments be conducted, until further funding can be received to suitably fix the equipment, and install the necessary filters and scrubbers so no more mixing can occur.

It is also my recommendation that, any more subjects who are used, be put though a psychological test, to make sure they are of sound mind, and can accept the rigours of alternate realities, and the possible harmful repercussions.

Addendum.

I went and saw Celine after finishing this report, providing her with a copy of the reports from everyone, to read, before submission.

I waited around whilst she read my own report, and then we fell into conversation, talking in great detail about what we experienced. I voiced much of my feelings for her, which had been hard to describe during this report without putting undue prejudice on the experiment.

For some reason, we have actually become closer now, than merely friends or students. Not lovers either, though we did try this scenario for real. But a deeper lying feeling between us seemed to keep drawing us together for various reasons.

Whilst it may be ideal to research this further, I felt it best not to use the current people who were involved in the experiment, using instead, candidates who would know what they were getting into.

On a final note, overall, it has been a head turning experience. Showing aspects of myself that I knew I had, but hadn't used, or shown before. Providing much needed answers to the big 'What ifs' in the universe.

Signed

Joseph Blair

Thursday 2nd August 2012