CHAPTER 3
Why are spank games, games of entertainment, required by divine law to include physical activity? Why can’t we play spank games lying still in our beds as past generations?
Sloth is a sin for a reason. Inactivity has a price. Although modern medicine is capable of keeping anyone fit regardless of their activity level, it costs more to keep the slothful healthy than it does to keep the active man so. Thus, the sideliner can opt for lazy virtual reality spank games, but those of us in the Game, we have to play by the rules.
“Rule Seven is beastly, don’t you think?” asked Fael. “I mean, I have heard the reasons-that it provides an outlet for aggression, that is helps bring in new blood, provides incentive for players to be more civil to one another, but…I don’t know.”
“Yeah, on that last point, SirRuthless-I don’t know if you knew him-got fragged about a year ago?” D_Light asked.
Fael looked at him blankly, so D_Light continued. “Anyway, he was a real bastard to everyone, and so when the opportunity came, he got fragged. You think twice before you disrespect a player in this house ’cause you could find yourself on the wrong side of a knife after the bell rings.”
Fael’s eyes flipped up momentarily, often a sign of communing with one’s familiar. “Oh yes, I did know SirRuthless. You know, he wasn’t so bad. I saw the archive of his fragging. They ganged up on him. It was terrible!”
D_Light scoffed, “Sure, I bet he was a real pussycat to you. No handmaiden of Mother Lyra is going to get disrespect.”
Another from the congregation, possibly C, shouted, “NOOb, get on with it!” The exclamation was followed by laughter throughout the congregation.
Fael’s voice was sober. “Ha, you’d be surprised. Anyway, I don’t buy any of those reasons for Number Seven.”
“Just entertainment, eh?” D_Light smirked.
Fael nodded. “Something like that.”
Her eyebrows furrowed momentarily as though she had just remembered a troubling thought. Then, without warning, she all but flung herself out of the deep-cushioned seat and turned her attention to the chamber again. Ivory flames licked out from torches in each corner. Flickering light and shadows battled for supremacy on the rough-hewn walls. There was a single window nearby, and she walked over to it. “My, you have a view-of the ocean, no less! You must be a pretty good boy around here.” Her voice sounded like it was meant to be a purr, but there was stickiness beneath it.
D_Light thought about asking her to stay away from the window for her safety, having heard hunters going out on the roofs during Seven. On the other hand, the window was locked, and it was made of high-quality plexi. Even a modern weapon would be hard-pressed to penetrate it, and fortunately modern weapons were against divine law, a full-fledged sin, in fact. Even royalty could only carry “classic” weapons.
“I do okay,” D_Light stated evenly.
“Indeed,” replied Fael, turning away from the window to face him. With the moon shining through the window behind her, she was little more than a silhouette. Although the pigtails curved downward-not up-they reminded him of horns. The light of a nearby torch caressed her face just enough to see her glimmering eyes and moist, voluptuous lips. “I imagine you have a few spare points lying around,” said the horned temptress.
D_Light knew exactly what she was suggesting, or at least he hoped he did. It was a transgression for humans to be physically intimate without first buying the proper permit, and although acquiring a permit was not a big deal-a simple electronic transfer of points to the OverSoul via one’s familiar-it was expensive. In the Game, sex was not to be taken lightly.
Although Fael was legally his sister, she was not genetically related. Indeed, numerous mothers, fathers, and siblings who shared this house had chosen to be a part of the Tesla family, and most were not related by blood; rather, such familial titles merely conveyed relative status in the Game. For example, D_Light, who was an accomplished player for his age, was already the “father” of several of his biological brothers and sisters and seemed likely to soon become the legal father of his own biological father.
Indeed, genetic relation had little bearing on one’s sex life anymore. After all, the taboos against incest were, from a pragmatic viewpoint, built upon the drawbacks of inbreeding. However, no female player in her right mind would allow herself to become pregnant. It was much more convenient and safe to have the fetus grown by professionals, a fetus whose parentage had been approved with a repro permit. In this way, sex and reproduction had long ago been separated from one another, and along with it, the messy ethical considerations.
D_Light himself had perved four of his own bio-sisters. Although he initially found these experiences to be an engaging experiment, akin to self-exploration, he now did his best to avoid such encounters. For whatever reason, it felt a bit creepy to him. Perhaps he was old-fashioned, but nowadays he only perved bio-relatives to be polite or when it was absolutely necessary to exert his familial dominance.
Fael took a few steps forward, her hand sweeping along the top of his unassuming chamber bed. She was smiling at him ever so sweetly. She stared through him, full of purpose. D_Light couldn’t help but liken her to a lioness-irresistible, powerful, and perhaps even dangerous. No, not dangerous, for the girl was clearly unarmed. He set his eyes upon her. It would be rude to look away, and indeed, he didn’t want to. In fact, it was all he could do to divert the slightest amount of his attention to his familiar.
Yes, master, Smorgeous echoed in his mind in response to the unspoken summons.
Still moving ever so slowly, Fael ran her tongue across her upper lip and said, “I checked up on you. You’re of the Anadar line. They say your people are animals.”
D_Light smiled wolfishly while issuing a mental command to his familiar. Smorgeous, does Fael Rami own a license for poisons?
Yes, master, the familiar replied. It was issued 6.3 months ago.
Sweep the air for poisons, D_Light commanded.
I do not have a license for that version of airborne chemi detection software.
Buy it, ordered D_Light.
Yes, master. That will cost-
Buy it! D_Light interrupted.
D_Light tried to hold his smile, but it was weak due to a distracting suspicion of the girl. No need for this, he thought. Fael’s not a killer. Her profile said zero frags.
“Yeah, I might have a few points,” D_Light said in response to Fael’s intimacy permit invitation. “There are some things that are worth any cost, right? But, um, I think I’d feel more committed if you had some skin in the game, so to speak.” He did his best to sound seductive as he negotiated the transaction.
“Ooooh, not very romantic,” she said with mock scorn.
“But I s’pose I could meet you partway-say, fifty-fifty split?” She did two little kisses in the air and waited for his reply.
“You’re too good to me. And with the way you look right now, I’ll go ahead and put up sixty percent-you know, to be a gentleman.”
She laughed. The laugh, D_Light thought, was a bit too sharp for the girl.
Fael was now within a foot of him. She looked him up and down like a piece of meat. “I’m not going to argue with a gentleman,” she replied. “You know, since we’re still just getting to know each other, what do you say we start with just a twenty-four-hour permit?”
Master, I have detected traces of three different poison-classified compounds in the air, said Smorgeous.
“Bless you!” D_Light shouted aloud, waving his hands in no particular pattern. He knew he must look like a fool, but he didn’t know what else to do to cover up his shock and dismay. Poisons!
