Double Helix Ch 16

Norm

Underground. That was the only way to do it.

"What was that?" Tilly said as she yawned. I turned my head on the pillow to look at her. She was lying on her side, her face lit by a thin shaft a sunlight slipping between the curtains. Her eyes opened and she regarded me quizzically.

I was certain that I had not spoken aloud, and it wasn't the first time this had happened. She could sense when I was deep in thought, and if she were distracted or caught between sleep and wakefulness, like now, it was much the same sensation as mishearing something I had said aloud.

"You're hearing me think again," I said with a grin. "I've been weighing our options, and we have to build this lab underground. It will drive up the cost, but it's the only way to keep it hidden."

"You mentioned converting the house on the property across the creek. What happened to that?"

"I don't want us to spread out so much. It's a ten minute walk between here and there. I can also think of several advantages to having an underground structure, such as secondary use as a shelter if we need it. For a third, we need power, and grid power really is best for supplying such an operation."

She nodded. "Any idea what that's going to add to the total?"

I sat up and retrieved my pad and paper from the nightstand. Though we still had some questions regarding the lab equipment, I had gotten a good handle on the building materials and heavy equipment we needed. I jotted down an estimate for the excavation and waterproofing, figured a fudge factor, and added it to what we had so far. "We're edging towards 400k just for the building," I said, frowning.

"So about 800 thousand with the basic equipment," she said.

I sighed. "Do you think this is even remotely viable? How are we ever going to raise that?"

Tilly shrugged one shoulder. "Nock would be the one to answer that. Did you see he's got a chart up?"

"A what?"

She laughed. "A funding chart. You should go down there and have a look, talk to him. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to learn that our budget estimate just jumped again."

"Maybe you should break the news to him. He likes you more than me."

"I don't know about that. I mean, he likes to look at my butt when he thinks I won't notice, but I think he respects you more as a friend."

I narrowed my eyes at her in mock indignation. "Are you saying my butt is unattractive?"

"I don't know," she said. "I haven't seen it in, oh, probably seven or eight hours. A lot can change in that time. I'd better have another look."

I slipped out of bed and turned away from her, casting a look back over my shoulder. I was actually quite proud of my physique. In the last two months, with better, more plentiful food and daily labor on the house, the greenhouse and the barn, I had put on a good twenty pounds, all of it muscle. I felt like I was in the best shape of my life.

Tilly crawled across the bed, brow furrowed as though carefully evaluating my backside. She sat at the edge of the bed and reached out a hand. Slender fingers caressed my skin, and then she gave me a pinch.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Yes, just as hard and sexy as ever," she said. "But I'd better check the front, just to be sure."

I turned in place, slowly, revealing that I was already at half-mast. Tilly stared at my growing erection, her lips twitching into a smile. "Looks like no problems here either, but we'd better make sure." Her gaze lifted, locking with my own, as she slowly slid to the floor on her knees and leaned into me. She stopped, mouth slightly agape, and we both shivered in turn as her warm breath washed over the tip of my cock. Her lips touched the tip of it briefly in what would otherwise have been a chaste kiss. She pulled back slightly, still peering up at me, teasing me, teasing us both.

She leaned forward once more. Her lips parted, and her tongue swirled once around the very tip. She did not draw back this time, though, and began to give me little kisses down the side of my cock, punctuated by the occasional teasing lick along the more sensitive underside. When she reached the base of it, she gave it one last kiss before lifting it carefully. Never taking her eyes off of mine, she licked the delicate and ultra-sensitive skin of my scrotum.

I grunted and jerked slightly as my knees went weak. Tilly's answering moan sent buzzing vibrations of pleasure through me, in turn heightening her own pleasure. After a moment, she pulled back, laughing. "We could get stuck like that if we aren't careful."

She closed her fingers lightly around my shaft and began to stroke her hand slowly up and down. Still watching me with that mischievous smile, she lifted her other hand to caress and pinch her nipple, her breath hitching and her eyes going glassy for a moment. Still she stroked me slowly, barely touching my cock. The teasing was beginning to drive me a little crazy, but I let her take the lead, knowing that I would almost definitely enjoy where she decided to take me.

After a few moment stimulating first one, then the other breast, she let her hand roam lower down her body, finally alighting on the cleft between her legs. She leaned back so that she was halfway lying against the bed, giving me a better view of her fingers rubbing slow circles on her clit as she shuddered and moaned. My cock was at full attention, risen to a hardness that was almost painful.

"I want you to watch me come," she said.

"Oh, yes." My voice came out as a rasp.

Her motions changed, and she drove two finger deep into her pussy. Her breath left her in a sudden rush and she pulled in a shaking breath only to let it out again in a sensual whine. Though she fucked herself savagely with her fingers, somehow she managed to continue the achingly slow and soft stroking of my cock. Her voice rose in pitch as she climbed quickly toward orgasm, and when it came, she broke the spell of our mutual gazes, closing her eyes and letting her head loll as pleasure wracked her body.

I was past the breaking point. I lurched forward and grabbed hold of Tilly's hair. I pulled her head back and my cock touched her lips, then slipped between them. The sudden heat and wetness after the long tease tore a growl from my throat. I held her tight by her hair, rocking my hips, driving my cock deeper with each stroke, until I bottomed out in her throat, muffling her cries. I held her there for several seconds, my body pressed hard to her face, before I came back to myself and remembered who it was that I had at my feet.

Instantly, I released her and withdrew my cock from her mouth. "Oh, God, Tilly, I'm sorry," I said. "I forgot..." but the words stuck in my throat.

I forgot you weren't Nissi,

was what I had been about to say.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I wanted that, even before I felt how much you wanted it too." She shrugged, looking contrite, "I guess I got lost in the moment."

I knelt and gathered her in my arms. "I think I might like to explore this with you," I said. "Just not yet. Not until I've had time for my feelings for her to settle."

"I know," she said. "I guess I was being a little selfish."

I had to laugh at that. "That's not how most men would see it."

She nuzzled my neck. "It felt wonderful, though. Being taken like that, being under your control. If you'd kept me there a few more seconds, I think I would have come again."

"Really?" I asked, pulling back to study her.

She nodded. "I think you were pretty close, too."

I stood up and drew her to her feet. My arousal had waned, but it was quickly returning.

"Can we do some more?" Tilly asked, as if picking up my thought. "No dom-sub stuff, just-"

I cut her off with my answer, pushing her backward against the bed, but then lowering her gently to her back. I positioned myself at her entrance and pressed forward. We both sighed as I entered her depths and remained still to enjoy the moment.

"I'll never get tired of this feeling," Tilly said, "of having you inside me. I love you, Norm. I love everything about you."

"I love you, too, Tilly," I said, and meant it. Right to the depths of my soul.

I began to move in her, then, losing myself in the wonder of being in love and sharing something so profound with another human being. Tilly held me, her arms going around my neck, then wrapping her legs around me as well, as though desperate to have as much of me as possible. I made love to her slowly at first, alternating long in-and-out strokes with shorter, shallower ones, calling back to the teasing she had given me earlier. Even so, her body rose quickly towards climax. When it hit her, she buried her face against my neck and clung to me, pulling me hard against her as she cried out. We stayed that way for a time, lying still as she clutched at me, holding me tight against her.

"More?" I asked, when she began to relax her grip.

Panting for breath, she nodded vigorously. I began to move, faster than before, pumping my hips to plunge my cock inside her to the hilt, then out to the tip. "Oh, God, Norm," she groaned. "So good, so..." Her voice trailed off into a keening cry as another orgasm blossomed deep within her. As always with her, each one seemed to be more intense than the one before it.

"Fuck, Tilly," I gasped, as her pussy fluttered and squeezed at my cock. I came suddenly, forcefully, and she must have peaked again, taking her breath away for several seconds. Finally, she let out a cry, her whole body trembling as the pleasurable sensations shooting through my cock began to fade. I stayed there, laying on top of and inside her as the aftershocks rumbled through her body.

"I'll never get tired of that," I said, when they began to calm.

"Hmm?" she said drowsily.

"Simultaneous orgasms. Most couples don't have it so easy."

She smiled at that, still breathing hard. "You still don't...get out of...talking to Nock."

I sighed and began to extract myself from her. "And you'll be a puddle of post-orgasmic bliss for a good while yet anyway, I suppose."

Eyes closed, she held up a thumb for a moment before letting it drop. Loving her felt so natural. But how much of that was just who she was, a being designed from birth to sense and adapt to the desires of those around her? Wouldn't she be just as compatible with any lover she took? That thought bothered me for reasons I couldn't quite place. Love was more than proximity and chemical reactions, or at least that's what the poets and songwriters always said. What if Tilly could love anyone, and be loved by anyone in return?

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine," I said. I began to get dressed and she didn't question me further.

I found Nock where he always was these days, seated at the MC. He had a headset on, a recent purchase that I had made for him. "Hey, Nock," I started as I entered the room, but he held up a finger to forestall me. When he spoke, it was in a foreign language, and his tone sounded like he was arguing. He shook his head at me, rolling his eyes. I spotted the chart that Tilly had mentioned, made from several sheets of paper tacked to the wall. It listed our funding goal as $600,000, with ticks at every 25k. That first 25 had been colored in black, I suppose to indicate that it was our own money. Three more ticks above that had been filled in with red marker.

"Japanese donors," Nock said, setting aside his headset. He stood and walked over to where I was standing. "Well, potential donors. I'm still working on it. You can see we've got 100k pledged so far. I've got another 50 in the works, so we're going to hit a quarter of our funding soon."

"Not anymore," I said, giving an apologetic shrug. "There's been a change of plans. We need to build it underground."

Nock eyed me critically, then frowned at his chart. "Well, crap. That sets us back. Should I just assume we're going to eventually hit a million?"

"Well, we still need that PCR workstation," I admitted. "I don't know yet where or how we're going to come up with that."

"One million it is," he said with a flourish, and pulled down the chart from the wall.

"The way you say that," I said, shaking my head in wonder, "it sounds like you think that's actually possible."

"That might seem like a lot of money, but it's doable. Our biggest obstacle is convincing people we aren't frauds who will just take the money and vanish. But with all of the old medical research info that's been pouring into the darknet, we're attracting a lot of interest in this project. If Nissi hadn't proposed this project when she did, someone else likely would have."

Nock picked up a marker and went to work extending the chart upward, denoting twenty-five-thousand-dollar increments with tick marks. When he was done, he re-hung the chart. "This is a setback, not a serious blow. Realistically, we should expect a lot of small, anonymous donations. Almost no one on the outside is going to want to risk being connected to this project, and you can't use crypto everywhere. Sure, there are some spots in the world where the Berlin Accords don't mean jack, but those places also tend to be backwaters or political basket cases. Probably the biggest help you could provide right now is to find a way to get money out of countries where crypto is outlawed or regulated."

"I'll look into it," I promised. That was outside my area of expertise. I would want to bring Tilly and Stan in for those conversations.

I spent the next half-hour on the phone with Andy in Portland, arranging our bi-weekly food delivery. It was only after we had completed a little good-natured haggling on the price that I asked, "Any word on those guns we want?"

"Good news," he said. "I found you a pair of Glocks in good condition, no serial numbers. I tried to get you another one of the .22 rifles you like so much, but my usual supplier is out. He did offer me something else, though, an M40A3."

"Okay, what's that?" I asked, when it seemed that Andy expected me to already know what it was.

"It's a .308 bolt-action rifle, military grade," Andy said, his tone shifting subtly into salesman mode. "The US marines were arming their snipers with them right up into Costa Rica. It's a replica, built up from an original Remington 700, but a damn good one, I'm told. Tremendous stopping power, and range out to about a thousand meters. With a scope and a hundred rounds, it'll run you four and a half K."

I sucked in a breath through my teeth. "That's pretty steep, Andy. Maybe I better just wait until you can get your hands on a couple more ARs. I'm not even sure what we would do with a sniper rifle."

Andy was quiet for a moment. "Alright, listen. I know I can make a nice profit off of this piece. There're plenty of buyers right here in Portland, but I've taken a liking to your little crew, damned old fool that I am. I'll bring it next Friday. If you like the merchandise, I'll sell it to you at my cost plus just a small fee for my time spent in procuring it. I think you need this gun, and after you see what it can do, I think you'll agree with me."

Andy couldn't see my shrug as I answered. "Sure, I'll have a look, anyway." We still had some leeway in our budget, but that was a lot of money to put into a single gun.

I had greenhouse duty that day, but with our first major crop still weeks away, that consisted of checking equipment, dusting off panels in the solar farm, and a thorough inspection for rot on all the plants in number five of the greenhouse's sixteen chambers. The morning was nearly over by the time I had finished, scrawling a quick summary of my completed tasks at the bottom of the daily checklist.

I broke into a jog as I left the greenhouse complex. Almost immediately, a gust of wind kicked up and I had to shut my eyes against flying dust. The December cold cut right through my t-shirt and sweatpants. Central Oregon had rather mild winters compared to most parts of the country, but the inside of the greenhouse had been warm and damp, so the brief blow left me shivering.

I made my way around the back of the barn and pushed through the door that led into the stables. I stood there, alternately rubbing my arms and brushing sand and dust from my clothes, not realizing for several seconds that I was not alone.

"I've been wondering what you do out here every day."

The voice sent a shiver up my spine that had nothing to do with the chill. I turned to my right to see Nissi seated at the piano bench, her back to the instrument. It was the first time in weeks that I had seen her look at me with an expression other than dismissal or disgust. In fact, it was the first time I could remember her saying two words to me since her birthday, nearly two months ago.

"I hate to leave a job unfinished," I said, eyeing her warily.

I had completed the dry walling and painting three days ago, and covered the floor with carpet tiles the following two days. Next up was the sound treatment for the walls. I had been putting in an hour or two at a time every day on the project, with the occasional help from another member of the household, and most of the heavy work was already done.

"I saw you and Stan move the Steinway in here last night. I would have thought you would have just gotten rid of it. Sold it, whatever." In contrast to her words, she passed her fingers lovingly over the shiny black fallboard that covered the keys. "Why are you doing this, Norm?"

"I-" I stopped, shaking my head slightly. "Look, I know how this looks. I'm not trying to change your mind or anything. Even if, well, if things are different now, I still wanted to do this thing for you. I don't expect you to..." I sounded like a blithering idiot, so I just stopped talking and shrugged.

Something in her features softened, and just for a moment, it felt like I was looking at the Nissi I used to know. It passed in a flicker. "Norm, you really shouldn't have bothered. All my time is taken up in reading and researching on the darknet now. I haven't composed anything in weeks."

"But don't you miss it?" I blurted out.

Her eyes narrowed, and I realized the double meaning that my words carried. "If you mean the music, yes I do. Sometimes. But I've got more important things to worry about. As for us..." She sighed and dropped her gaze, continuing in a softer voice, "I thought I knew who you are, Norm. I thought I understood you. I was deeply, desperately in love. The problem is, that person I loved? He never existed."

Her words, delivered in sullen tones, hurt worse than if she had shouted them at me. I stood there, eyes downcast, as she stood up and swept past me.

"Nissi?" I said, and she turned at the door. "I'm going to finish this place, regardless. So it will be here, if you ever want to use it." I waved at a stack of boxes in the corner. "We bought recording and mixing equipment, too. This is your space to use as you wish. I'll stay away from it once I'm done."

Again, her expression softened and she nodded, leaving without another word. I let out my breath and felt my whole body sag with released tension. The brief encounter had drained me emotionally, and it took me several minutes to get back into the mindset to work.

Things between us were different from that moment on. I wouldn't go so far as to say that we became friends, but she didn't look at me like a bug she might want to squash. It was a relief not to feel that I needed to stay out of her way to keep the peace.

I brought Tilly and Nock along for our meeting with Andy the following week. Nock was our best shot, so I let him be the one to test it. Andy showed him how to adjust the scope while his daughter counted off paces on her way downrange to set up the target. That consisted of a cut wooden silhouette hanging from a frame.

Once the target was set up and Casey was clear of it, Nock worked the bolt back and loaded five rounds into the magazine at Andy's direction. He settled the gun into his shoulder, pointed it downrange, put his eye to the scope, and flipped the safety off.