'Scotty.' Ahmi held up her hand to stop the former chief justice. Scotty paused midsentence. 'Listen, Copernicus and I have hashed through the dynamic models of the general elections and economics and behavior of the Sol System over and over, and every simulation we have run curve-fits to those values. Granted, Luna City could prove to be a problem in this election, but we'll just have to overcome that with the press. You've been in on the sims from the beginning. You know good and damned well that we've even used the weather- control data, sunspot activity, and literally more than a million other factors in this model. It is probably the most complicated scientific model of human culture ever generated. If we weren't using it to overthrow a government or two, we'd probably get a Nobel Prize for it. Granted, there are a lot of moving parts, but the model is good. So don't go getting cold feet on me now.'
'I realize all the work we've put into the model, Elle, but it still almost seems like magic rather than mathematics.' Scotty rubbed the one o'clock shadow growing on his chin and then threw his hands up. 'I'm not going to get you to change your mind on this, am I? Something could happen at the last minute on Tuesday morning that could shift the election. Whether we want that damned bullheaded Mississippi redneck marine in office or the Ivy League brat, we might not be able to alter the outcome of the election if we impact events too early or too late.'
'Sorry, the plan is already in place, and it is too late to stop it. And we sure as hell don't need to go monkeying around with things at the last minute without having simmed the outcome. Now, is that all you had on your mind?' Elle leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on her desk. Her skirt slid to knee level, revealing her athletic legs and the fact that she wasn't wearing hose—they were curled up on the floor next to her boots and had been there for hours. Elle stretched her arms wide over her long black ponytail with a yawn. 'It's getting late.'
'I'm not certain what else to say about it then. I guess you
'I've been tired for about forty years, Scotty. Knowing that I'm gonna burn in Hell for all eternity will do that to a person.' She added the last comment as an old joke the two of them had shared for years. When they first had the plan of developing a Separatist organization, Scotty had warned her of the potential carnage that could result. Ahmi—President Madira at the time—had assured her chief justice that burning in Hell to create a truly functional world for all people was worth it. Scotty had commented to her that she almost sounded nuts. President Madira laughed and again explained that that would be another good reason for burning.
Elle raised her left eyebrow to her old friend in an invitingly flirtatious way. 'But we're all gonna burn for something. Besides, I'm thinking about taking a break, though I could think of better things to do than sleep.'
'Why, Madam President, whatever would you have in mind?' Scotty closed the distance to her slowly, yet deliberately, and took Elle's hand, helping her to her feet. Elle stepped towrd him as Scotty wrapped his arms around her. Lost in the moment, a flurry of action between them and toward the bedroom side of the penthouse ensued. Scotty slid his hand down the small of Elle's back to her firm buttocks and then grasped them solidly as he kissed her. In return, Elle tightened the muscles there with a slight quiver of her thighs and pulled Scotty tightly into her lips. After exploring his mouth vigorously with her tongue, she pushed him back with both hands, planting them on his chest—her fingertips massaging into his pectoral muscles. She then slid them down his stomach to his waist, fingering at his waistband. Elle continued to push him backward until they both nearly tripped as they stepped on the AIK's tail.
'Meeoow!' Socks wailed as he made like a rocket across the room to hide underneath the desk.
'Oh, shit, sorry kitty,' Elle managed to say, muffled between kisses and fumbling with Scotty's belt buckle. She backed him up against the Martian oak bed and pushed him backward onto it while at the same time untying her ponytail. Scotty rose up and pulled the fasteners loose on her blouse and then slid it over her milky white Martian shoulders to the floor. The leader of the Separatist Army and Nation stood topless in front of her most trusted male companion and eyed him like a tiger about to devour its prey. The two of them had decided years before that they were going to get lonely at the top unless they added some extracurricular activities to their friendship. Sex had turned out to be the best one they could think of.
With a swish of her head, left-to-right, her long black hair fell softly over her naked shoulders, hanging just over her firm breasts, her erect nipples peeking out between strands of her glistening hair. Scotty grasped both breastly gently but firmly in his hands and eyed her hungrily.
Elle grabbed Scotty's dress shirt and ripped it apart and then pushed him backward again. He lost his balance and plunged down onto the bed. This time she crawled on top of him, fondling his chest and biting at his neck and torso. She paused and looked into his eyes and then bit his lower lip, tugging it just hard enough to stimulate and not leave a mark. Her tongue again searched into his mouth eagerly, as eagerly as a teenager kissing for the first time. Scotty's tongue returned the exploration genuinely. Their most recent rejuves had left both of them with very early twenty-something bodies, and they definitely reacted that way sexually—a well documented side effect of the rejuve process.
Elle shivered with chill bumps and writhed ecstatically to the feel of Scotty's hand squeezing her left breast. She leaned her head back, shaking the hair out of his way, and again he grasped her firmly with both hands, a hand to each breast. Her enthusiasm only increased, like pouring pure rum on a red hot flame, as Scotty tugged eagerly at her aroused nipples. She raised and jostled her hair over her face again before she slithered off the bed and back to his belt. The zipper and snaps went easily aside and she knelt to the floor in order to slide his trousers and underwear off, dragging her long, free hair across his naked crotch and legs, teasing him with the tickling sensation.
Somehow in the passionate throes, Scotty had already managed to kick off his shoes and was toeing at his socks frantically. Elle helped him finish removing them with a gentle caress of his toes and then a slight nibble at his left foot. She eased upward, kissing and nibbling at his legs, with her hands exploring his body as she rose. She kneaded his thigh muscles as she kissed his calf, and then she kissed his thighs.
Elle grasped Scotty's penis gently at first between her right thumb and forefinger and fondled it carefully before her. Then she firmly and more aggressively gripped it with her entire hand, while unzipping her skirt the rest of the way with her left hand. All gentleness finally thrown aside, she took him into her mouth with the same unwavering concentration that she would any task or battle plan. Goose bumps rushed in a wave over her skin as her skirt hit the floor. With a rhythmic motion, Elle worked over Scotty for a few moments longer. The motion of each of her down strokes was emphasized with his blissful moans. The pale violet hues of the gas planet filled the room, casting strange flickering shadows of their undulating motion across the hardwood floor. The strangeness of the lighting and shadows added a sharp edge to the mood and titillated their visual sense.
The taste of him in her mouth and the feel of his strong hands running through her hair and down her back fueled her desire for Scotty to the boiling point. Elle looked up and caught his eye and kissed her way up his stomach, stopping to bite his right nipple. Scotty flinched slightly at the bite but didn't protest. His flinch triggered
