Humanity 2.0, Year 028, Day 281

She giggled. "You're right... that was so amazing... nobody ever did that to me before." She shimmied up my side, coming up near my head and kissing me again. "I'm glad I came here."

Thanks for providing the segue, I guess. "Tell me about here. Where are we?"

"Hmmm...? Oh." She let her head rest on my chest, eyes closed and listening to my rising and falling breath. She mumbled out a half-thought response. "It's the Indian Ocean somewhere. I saw out the helicopter window before we landed. We're on an oil rig."

What the hell? I thought about it briefly. There were thousands of them, many – if not most – abandoned. It would make for a fairly secure location – after all, even if I escaped, I'd have nowhere to go unless I also managed to steal a boat or aircraft. I was briefly reminded of my yacht, which apparently had been stolen a few years back. Who steals a yacht? Was there a black market for yachts?

I let a hand rise up behind her head, and played with her shiny brunette hair briefly. "Oh... where did you come here from?"

She mumbled again, briefly, while tracing meandering patterns on my chest with a fingernail. "I was stationed at our Singapore facility, coordinating a few teams for the regional director."

"Director... sounds important. Tell me about the committee you mentioned." I knew the term, but all the women I'd slept with years ago to mine intel hadn't been highly placed; they knew little to nothing about our true enemies.

"Hal isn't on the committee, but he does report directly to them... the committee is, um..." She looked up at me, a little worried. "Officially I don't know, okay?"

"Okay. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious."

"The committee is the chairs of a few big multinational companies. They still mostly compete and fight, but they do work together for a few things, like, uhh, capturing you."

"What did they say I did?"

"They said you set off a bomb and caused that riot at the St. Petersburg football game. I'm sure you had a good reason, though." She gave me a dim smile.

I didn't bother to correct her. "Thank you for believing in me... you must be pretty important, though, to know all this. Officially or not."

"Oh... I'm the assistant to the regional director, Hal. I just handle his paperwork and appointments."

"Assistant to the director...?" I trailed off. That was odd. They sent some mid-level secretary to question me after chasing me around the world for more than twenty years? They had to know I was a genetic anomaly, at least. I'd expected to be treated like a lab rat if I was ever captured – not sequestered in a nice hotel suite with a pretty brunette to give me a half-assed interrogation before crumpling under my-

"Oh... ohhhh, fuck." I sat up, moving her aside as I leapt off the bed.

"Hmm?" She looked up at me from the bed, her eyes still heavy-lidded and wearing an expression of sleepy happiness, handful-sized breasts hanging below her as she came up on all fours. "Come back..."

I was through the suite door and halfway to the exit door – the one she'd come in through – when I heard the hissing sound. Some little white cylinders were poking down through the ceiling, spraying a mist. I roared, recklessly smashing a fist against the door. It was steel, and made only a muffled clunk as I struck it. I felt my awareness evaporating, and I slumped down to the floor as I went unconscious.