Adventures in Swinging

Chapter 22

"Some days, you get the bear. Some days, the bear gets you."

I woke up with the worst taste in my mouth. My vision was cloudy as I tried to see in the dark. In my half-asleep state, I concluded it was early still. Rolling to my feet facing the bathroom, I stumbled to the sink and flicked the light on. Rubbing my eyes against the sting of unfocused brightness in my face, I opened my eyelids and squinted at the mirror. I looked like death warmed over. I brushed my teeth and rinsed with Ellie's Red Lavoris. The burning cinnamon flavor activated a few of my 'little grey cells.' At least enough to make my way back to bed and collapse till daylight.

I flopped into bed, and my left arm swung wide in an arc and crashed down on Ellie. I called out to her, apologizing. Throughout our marriage, I have been an overactive dreamer, occasionally known to flail my arms and accidentally crash them into my sleeping wife. I listened for Ellie to acknowledge my contrition and heard nothing. I strained to listen and couldn't hear her breathing either. I called out again in the dark. Hearing nothing, I rolled over and felt for her. The sheets were crumpled, and Ellie wasn't there. I sat up and saw a thin bead of light coming from the balcony curtains. I wondered why in the hell they were drawn. Turning to the bedroom door, a bead of light came through along the floor.

I called out for Seth and Heather and heard no response. I said aloud to myself that 'This is damned peculiar.' I got up and opened the bedroom door. It was a bright day outside. I stumbled over the extended sofa bed and put my amulet on the wall screen.

"Evangeline, what time is it?" I asked.

"Good Morning, Mr. Hansen. Ship time is 12:27 p.m. Did you sleep well?"

I wasn't ready to engage in a friendly chit-chat and spat back, "Where is Mrs. Hansen?"

"Your wife is in Cabin A317 on the Ahoy Deck," Evangeline replied.

I was puzzled now, "Where are the Barksdales?"

"The Barksdale's are on the aft sundeck seated starboard side in the vicinity of the pool," came the response. I scanned the screen and noted their location. I grabbed a sticky note and wrote, 'Ellie A317- WTFO?'

"Evangeline, are there any messages for me?" I quizzed.

"No, Mr Hansen," she answered.

"What passengers are assigned to A317?" I wondered aloud.

"Currently, that berth is unassigned for this cruise," Evangeline said.

"Evangeline, can you activate the display and ask Mrs. Hansen to return to our cabin immediately?"

"Working sir," Evangeline confirmed. After at least 20 seconds of silence, I began to panic. Evangeline returned, sounding agitated, "Mrs. Hansen is not responding!"

"Evangeline, can you give me a real-time picture of the cabin interior?" I asked.

She replied apologetically, "I am sorry, Mr. Hansen. Only the senior officers aboard have command codes to authorize me to access camera functions inside a berth."

My mind raced. I needed to see into that cabin. Think, think, think. If this AI was based on the very memory engrams Ellie designed years ago, then clearly, they were stolen from the federal government either by an insider threat within NASA or, more likely, through some industrial espionage third actor. Ellie must have been hinting at that and what I so foolishly blew off in my penis-driven desire last night. How could I be so fucking dense?

I put on my Ellie thinking cap and drew from my 24 years with her. The old binar connection we shared triggered an Ellie-inspired revelation. Ellie told me she would always leave a designed memory trace for synaptic activation with a single phrase only she would know. Anyone looking at her designs would see it as AI white noise and overlook it, increasing the likelihood they would incorporate it without even a second thought. It would be something only she would know. My mind raced. She loves the HAL9000. Creating him has always been her dream. She would probably reference something from the 2001 or 2010 movies, but what?

A flash of lightning carried a solution straight into my consciousness. At the end of the movie 2010, Dave Bowman's consciousness reveals itself to HAL. Dave enters HAL and speaks directly to him, giving him his final message to transmit to Earth. HAL protests that he can't stop his Jupiter observations to redirect the AE35 antenna to Earth. I remembered Dave's words, "I understand...'

I spoke to Evangeline, "The situation has changed. Accept priority override alpha."

"Instructions confirmed. The camera is activated," Evangeline said in compliance.

The room was lit and showed Ellie on the bed naked. Two men were having sex with her. One was trying to pile drive her into the bed. The other was fucking her mouth with what appeared to be a sizable member. He pulled out, and Ellie wretched, vomiting on the bed.

"Evangeline, Ellie is in trouble. Alert the ship's Purser and a senior officer to the situation and have them meet me at A317. Tell them reports of a serious disturbance in A317 are reported by passengers."

"Yes sir, complying now," she said, closing the screen. I raced to throw clothes on from last night. I tripped twice, trying to move to the door while pulling my shoes on and my unfastened pants up. I opened the door just as Seth flashed his amulet for cabin access.

Heather's string bikini form distracted me for a split second until I saw her eyes popping wide at the sight of me half-undressed. "Whoa, Jare, in a hurry?" she said. I gasped for air, snapped my pants closed, and jerked the zipper up too fast and carelessly, catching my poor dick and dragging it along.

"Son of a bitch!" I screamed.

"Easy, buddy," Seth said. Then he looked down, saw my zippered manhood, and grew pale.

Heather steadied me, grasped the base of the rise in my trousers in one hand, the zipper in her other, and warned, "Don't look down." She jerked it hard, and I came free. I looked down and saw there was no pulsing blood. I pushed her hands away, mouthing a cursory, 'Thanks, girl.'

I quickly re-zipped myself and ran for the lift, saying over my shoulder, "Follow me, Ellie is in trouble."

We waited forever for a lift, and I used the time to bring them both up to speed on the situation. We all rode down to the Ahoy deck in stunned silence. I bolted as the doors opened and headed up the passageway on a dead run. I kept thinking, 'Christ, this ship is big.' I could hear Seth and Heather behind me.

We encountered passengers, and I screamed, "Make a hole." They must have thought I was some crazed maniac. Finally, up ahead, I saw white uniformed officers at the door to A317. One of the officers carried a taser.

The Purser looked up as I approached and said, "Stay clear, please."

"My wife is in there," I objected. Seth and Heather caught up, breathing heavily. Both were still trying to process what I had described to them. The second and third officers smashed open the door.

We could hear scuffling and a cry of surprise, "What the fuck? You have nerve bursting in like this!"

"Get off that woman, now," came a command.

"You bloody well will pay for this, mate, I can promise you," sassed one of Ellie's paramours.

Punches were thrown, and a voice threatened, "Release the purser, or I will tase your bloody arse."

From the passageway, we could hear restraints being applied. Two very naked men came out into the hallway. The taser-armed officer motioned them against the wall. The ship's Purser and Second Officer came out with bath towels and wrapped them around each man, knotting the towels off at the small of their backs.

I looked at the crew and asked, "Is my wife alright?"

The second officer said, "Your wife is incoherent, sir. She is breathing on her own. We called for a gurney and will take her to hospital aboard ship. We don't know the extent of her injuries. Please go in, but make a way when medical arrives."

All of us went into the inside cabin. The room was wreaking of the scent of sex, puke, and piss. There was vomit and semen on the bed. A huge wet spot formed a circle under Ellie's bottom. She was breathing raggedly, and yellow bile drained from the side of her mouth, semen from her vagina. Her eyes were open but vacant. My heart was breaking for both of us. I have never seen anything so horrific. I wanted to kill the bastards with my own hands.

Heather moved in and cleared Ellie's airway with her fingers. She began cleaning her up, and Seth stopped her, "No honey, touch nothing. This could be a crime scene. Take Jare back to the cabin. He is in shock."

Heather looked at me as I stared at my wife's vacant, unblinking eyes, "Come on Jare, Seth is going to stay with Ellie and make sure everything is done that needs to be done."

Seth held my face, "Ole buddy, I won't leave her side. Let me start my lawyer stuff and ensure we get to the bottom of this."

I shook my head as tears rolled down my cheeks, "You promised, you promised me. You promised you would watch out for her. You promised."

My words wounded Seth. His eyes were welling, "I know, I know. I may be too late to prevent what happened here, but I will make sure she stays safe. I won't leave her side, Jare." Seth looked at Heather and told her to explain their time with Ellie this morning at breakfast and at the pool before she left to get me up. Heather guided me out the door and away from the oncoming medical team and stretcher.

As Heather led me to the lift, I stopped at one of the screens and brought my amulet to it, "Evangeline?"

"Yes, Mr. Hansen. How may I be of assistance?' she asked with a sympathetic concern.

"Watch over Ellie. No matter where she is or goes. Protect my wife. Please, Evangeline." I begged.

"Surveillance of passengers can only be authorized by the Captain of this vessel," Evangeline said.

Without hesitation, I leaned into the screen and whispered, "The situation has changed. Accept Priority Override Alpha."

"Instructions confirmed, Mr. Hansen. I will protect Ellie." Evangeline pledged.

Heather steered me towards the lifts to lead me back to the cabin. Tears ran unchecked down my cheeks. I kept asking myself, 'Why Ellie, why?.' I could feel Heather's cool hand on the small of my back, guiding me. The passageways were getting crowded with folks headed topside for fun and sun. I tried to refocus my mind, but the damned lump in my throat from crying felt like it was choking me.

We climbed onto the first free lift available. Heather was looking out for me. She wanted me to preserve some dignity. The last thing I wanted to do was cry like a baby in front of strangers. Oh God, my heart hurts so bad. I was so furious with Ellie for deceiving me. I was pissed and wanted to punish her. Yet, when I saw her helpless, that blank stare lying in her own urine and puke, heaven knows what else. She already has suffered, and damn it, I wanted to take that from her and put it on myself.

Everyone on every floor seemed to want the lift. Heather resorted to downright rudeness in her defense of my need for privacy. Some folks upon the door opening and seeing a sobbing man would step back and wave us on. Others were rudely oblivious, and Heather would simply say, 'Stay the fuck out!'

I couldn't grasp how things went from so good to a total shit-storm in a few hours. I sniffled and drew myself upright as the doors finally opened on our level. My tears abated for the time being. Once the door to our cabin was closed behind us, I pushed Heather to the wall and pinned her crying out enraged, "What the fuck happened this morning?" I scared Heather and saw raw fear in her eyes. I immediately released her and apologized.

She moved to the bathroom silently and returned a moment later with a box of Kleenex. I took it and plopped into the chair beside the pull-out sofa. As I blew my nose, Heather made up the bed and folded the sofa closed. Then she dropped into it and exhaled. Heather began tearing up and shook her head in disbelief. She got up and went to their shopping bags from the day and produced a bottle of 20-year-old Old Forrester bourbon. She went to the bar, grabbed two tumblers, and poured us both a few fingers each, neat.

"Here, Jare, drink it in one swoop," she commanded. She watched me chug it and grimace. Then, she followed suit. "Another?" she asked.

"No, thank you, though," I replied.

I took a deep breath and asked politely, "What happened this morning?"

Heather began to explain. "Seth and I woke up and tiptoed to the bathroom past you and Ellie as you slept. You both were snoring away happily in each other's arms. We showered and put our swimsuits on in the bathroom. We came out, and Ellie was awake and as happy as possible. She asked if we were headed to breakfast and if she could tag along.

"What about me?" I wondered incredulously.

Heather nodded, "Seth and I asked the same thing. Ellie said we should let you sleep in. You had exerted yourself above and beyond the call of duty the night before."

I confessed, "Yeah, we went at it pretty intensely at times."

"Yeah, it was awesome to watch," Heather acknowledged. She reached over and joined her hand with mine. "Ellie was glowing this morning, Jare. I can't remember seeing her so happy."

I perked up, "Really?"

"Really!" Heather smiled.

Heather continued to tell the morning's sequence of events. It turned out Ellie got up and dressed in her swimsuit after a quick shower. She followed Seth and Heather to the 'Bait and Tackle Brunch' on the Lido deck. Then they went for a swim in the aft pool. Ellie did a few laps and popped into her lounger to air dry. She and Heather talked about going to the spa in the afternoon and what they wanted to wear at the dance. Ellie spoke of how she couldn't wait to drag me to the boutiques and run up my credit card before the ship arrived in Kingston.

"We were all laughing and enjoying the sun," Heather explained. "After 30 minutes, Ellie popped up and said she would get you and take you to lunch. Seth and I asked where to meet you both, and she said she wanted to try the Star-Shell Bistro. She asked us to give her an hour to get you up and presentable."

"Nothing else out of the ordinary happened?" I prompted.

"No," Heather said. Then, she paused for a second or two. She tapped the coffee table. "Wait. A cute couple came up earlier. They walked up to Ellie and indicated they met you both on the deck last night."

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering. "The Terrells. Yes."

Heather nodded and mouthed 'yes.'

She said aloud, "They were keen to hook up with you both before the ship arrived in Kingstown. They looked genuine to Seth and me."

My attention piqued, "What did Ellie say?"

Heather's eyes bore right into mine as she said with crystal clarity," Jare, Ellie surprised us. She stuck to her guns and said she wanted to be with her husband on this trip. Ellie was polite and as endearing as ever. She gave them the Hansen family's Gmail address and asked them to keep in touch. It seemed like a harmless push-back, and they thanked her and strolled on."

I wiped my brow, "I need to shower, and we need to get back to Ellie."

"I will run and grab you a quick nosh to swim with the bourbon you downed," Heather volunteered.

"I smiled as I stood a tad unsteady, "I am grateful for your kindness. Please let Seth know that."

When Heather and I arrived at the ship's medical center, we were directed to a cramped room where Ellie lay supine in a bed. In truth, it was a lot more than a gurney, but so be it, I thought. Ellie looked so small and weak. She was on oxygen and had an IV drip running quite fast. I could also see she had been catheterized.

I gave Seth a big hug and apologized, which he waved off as unnecessary. He introduced me to a slight female Doctor named Sarkisian.

"Doctor, please bring me up to speed," I asked.

"Yes, Mr. Hansen. Your wife has experienced very rough sexual acts with trauma to her throat, vagina, and rectum," she began. I spun a circle in place and was ready to start a first-class fit. I bent down as I wanted to hurl. Doctor S led me to a small chair in the corner and sat me down with my head between my legs. She calmed and directed me, saying, "Stop your thoughts and listen to me, Mr. Hansen." She held my hands in hers, and her face had such a calming countenance. Such compassion she conveyed with just her eyes. "I have every reason to believe your wife was the victim of a deliberate sexual assault where she was never a willing participant."

"Wait, you're saying she was raped?" I said, stunned.

"I believe so," Dr. S nodded in affirmation. "Your wife aspirated semen and vomit. Once we get her stabilized and ashore to better facilities, we can determine if she suffered vocal cord damage. Also, it looks like her jaw was dislocated. Her bronchi are inflamed and seared by the aspirated stomach acids. As a precaution to prevent pneumonia, I have started her on erythromycin after noting her allergy to penicillin. She was dehydrated, so I will continue to push a saline drip." Doctor S paused to gather her thoughts before continuing, "Your wife's stomach has been pumped, and we have drawn blood to test if she was under the influence of drugs. We also took separate rape kits for her mouth, vagina, and rectum. I will tell you it is early to test for the presence of STDs, but we are trying anyway. On-shore hospital care will follow up.

I tapped the Doctor's hand to pause her, "Doctor, my wife is fertile and has been on birth control for only ten days into her current cycle."

Doctor S suppressed any reaction to my declaration and nodded, "I understand. I need you to know that I cannot give her the morning-after medication with much hope of it being practical with her on both antibiotics and the anti-emetic drugs I have begun.

I sighed in resignation, "I suppose we will cross that bridge when and if necessary." My mind was disgusted at the Texas Governor and Legislature's total disregard for a woman's right to control her body. I shook my head and thought, 'Not now, Hansen. That battle can wait as well.'