people as you call them, have not forgotten that."
"There isn't going to be a -
"There you go again. Understand this, Ethan. I may not be in control, or have any intentions of being in control. Hell, for all you and everyone else knows, I might just be happy to be fucking alive. But don't let that fact cloud your judgement. Just because I am not in control does not mean you are. Control and power are complex concepts son, and they aren't acquired just by saying you have them."
"I don't need a speech from you about power or control. Especially not now. I know what I'm doing here, I'm actually helping these people, something you never gave much of a damn about."
"Oh, I'm sure you're helping them plenty. Look, if you're so confident in your position as President of the Society, why not just allow the press conference? Something so miniscule couldn't possibly endanger your position."
"Fine, I'll let you have your little conference. Now that you're back, you and I both know that people are going to have questions and they won't subside until somebody gives them some answers. I've seen it first hand, since you've been away taking a nap while I did all the work."
"Grrr..." Marshall only let out a low growl. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked when was able to stop his father with his smart comments. Marshall was also known for having a steady disposition, and although more aggressive than Ethan, it was difficult to get him off balance as well.
"But if you try anything sneaky or I suspect foul play, I'll shut the entire thing down and have the enforcement agents contain you. Two days from now."
"Fine by me."
"Good. Now, get out of my office, I have work to do. I would tell you get some rest, but you've already done plenty of that." Ethan said as he scrolled through his computer and prepared for the rest of the day, with Marshall still sitting there.
"I'll be just fine, Ethan. I'll see you tomorrow evening." Marshall said as he slowly got up and walked out of Ethan's office.
While Ethan continued with his work, he thought more about Marshall. He didn't care that he just seemed happy to be alive, or made comments about not wanting to be in control. He knew his father, probably better than anyone here, and he knew he was plotting something. Ethan's job was to find out what, before it was too late.
***
Ugh, what time is it? Oh wait, I almost forgot...
Kodi awoke suddenly, as one of her notepads and a few pens fell to the floor. She was unsure about what time it was, or even what time of day it was. The only way she was able to tell before was from his arrival after working at his 'job'. That would tell her that it was probably the end of the day, but even then, time just felt strange in space. At least on Earth, there was daylight and nighttime to regulate things from a time perspective. Out here, on the space station, it was more complex, but she was sure the Society had some type of artificial lighting system to give its people the appearance of morning, noon, and night.
As she stretched her arms out and shook her afro, she still felt tired and realized that her sleep cycle was out of whack too. Besides the amount of work she'd been doing to get the schematics on the Phantom Link right before working on hardware and a prototype, her first nights here were also a partial culprit of her fatigue. The long metal table, being exposed to those weird devices as punishments, combined with the general fear of him in the beginning, made peaceful sleep impossible. She had to admit, in her first days here, there were probably better nights down on Earth.
But although it was adding to the fatigue, she was determined to finish this work on this new device. As she scanned the room, she saw a familiar sight lately: the crumbled-up pieces of paper and notes everywhere. On the floor, on the small desk where she sat and took notes, and even on the bed. It was a natural byproduct of her ambition. She was so entrenched in the coding and schematics that she rarely stopped to clean up during the process. It was only towards the end of the "day", when she felt that he might be coming back soon that she decided to halt her fiery path of labor and tidy things up a bit.
I swear, this paper seems to come out of nowhere!
Kodi thought to herself, surveying the mess she'd made.
She got up and started picking up papers, skimming through them to see if there were any notes or leftover blueprints that might be useful. She found a few interesting ideas that she'd mistakenly tossed and set them inside the neat notebook, which would be the final draft of calculations and ideas that she'd give to him.
She proceeded and picked up something off the bed. That bed. The bed where he'd been inside her for the first time. Where it felt so good, so titillating that she started getting a little moist from thinking back on it. She stopped and started playing with herself, sitting on the bed and remembering those sensations. As odd as it felt to think it, she actually kind of missed him, the mysterious man, her captor. She missed his firm, strong grip on her voluptuous body, and the feeling of him inside her. Just as she lay back and began to rub her moist pussy lips and let her breasts free, she suddenly her noises coming from outside the room.
He was back. Maybe he would be in the mood and want her again, as he had three other times. Maybe she wouldn't have to rub herself until she came, and he would do it himself, in his strong, almost forceful way. Kodi wasn't able to see anything beyond the force field he put up, nor was she able to control it or take it down. She was at his mercy, and had to wait for him before leaving the room or doing anything outside of it. The collar around her neck reminded her of that. Kodi heard him looking through some of his storage, probably to grab some devices. She also heard clanging on the metal table, which was probably him sitting his stuff down.
But as time passed, she realized that it was taking longer than usual for him to release the force field and ask her about her day and everything. Was something wrong?
"Umm sir? Are you there?"
No answer.
"Hello? Can you release the force field? I wanted to show you something!"
Still nothing.
Kodi also noticed that she didn't hear him walking around anymore, nor as much clanging. He must've been sitting down, probably to work on something. And he was ignoring her. Things felt pretty good between them after the other night when she took him inside her for the first time, and she wanted to show him the progress she'd made. But it was becoming increasingly clear that he didn't want to be bothered tonight, and wasn't even going to interact with Kodi. Something must have happened, or been troubling him for him to change moods this drastically.
Even on difficult, long work days, he'd come down and talk to her for a second before telling her to get in the sedation pod. But tonight was different, which was made even more evident by the sounds of the sedation pod opening while Kodi remained behind the force field later on, about an hour later. During the first part of the day, Kodi would occasionally fall asleep behind the force field in his room, to take breaks like he said. But at the end of the day, however, she
always
went to sleep in the sedation pod, besides maybe one night. He always slept in the room, on his bed. She never saw him get in the sedation pod before, but clearly their sleeping arrangements were going to be different tonight. She picked up a few more notes off the bed before lying down in it and falling asleep, clouded by her worries and more questions about him.
***
The next morning, Ethan woke up with a lot on his mind. The abilities of the sedation pod, his own invention, helped to calm him a little and get some sleep, but it couldn't solve all his problems. He groaned and grunted as he exited the pod, feeling pretty good physically but still feeling mentally heavy from the myriad of thoughts swirling through his mind. He got dressed and headed up to his office to participate in his morning ritual of looking out the window, after making sure Kodi was taken care of. He was always up a little earlier than most people in the Society, but he made it to his office even earlier than usual to ponder while looking out at space.
Besides his father's generally annoying personality, something else was bothering him. Something potentially serious. From their conversation, it appeared that he knew something about the Society and what's changed since he was away. He knew things, possibly things that couldn't be observed just by looking at new technologies or a fresh common room design. And if Ethan was right and he did know about the happenings around the Society in his absence, that could only mean one thing: he had someone helping him. He figured this anyway, based on whatever method he used to come back, or heal himself or whatever it was.
But there was something else that bothered Ethan as well, something that amazingly troubled him even more than the possibility of losing his position as President, and the impending danger that would ensue if such a thing came to task. Something he couldn't stop thinking about...
Kodi.
So far, Kodi's presence on the Society's space station, along with the fact that she was alive, had remained a complete secret. There hadn't been close to any questions raised about her, besides an outburst from the General, which was easy for Ethan to manage, and Alyssa's sudden curiosity about it the other night. In both instances, he was able to convince them that Kodi was nothing to worry about and that she was dead. Coupled with the fact that the rest of the citizens in the Society seemed to be feeling safer with the new security measures, he was actually feeling reasonably confident that he could keep Kodi's presence a secret.
But now that Marshall was back in the fold, an entirely different and more dangerous threat to he and Kodi had arrived. Not only was he more familiar with both the Society and Ethan than almost everyone, his personality would prove to be a unique challenge. Marshall was the type of person who could smell danger, sniff a rat out from a mile away. His combination of military experience, cunning as a strategist, and extreme skepticism made him almost impossible to fool.
