Fortnight in Utopia: Day 10

I guess it took about 15 tries, but just after I'd hit a big loser and promised myself I'd only try three more times...Christie, Christie, Christie! The major jackpot was mine! My breath caught and I watched 3 million credits flow into my account.

And Christie herself appeared! Not really her, but a state-of-the-art holographic video of Christie. She was dancing seductively. I remembered hearing that "pole dances" were popular in Europe and America, but I'd never seen one before. The image of Christie sashayed and shimmied-but suddenly the video was over.

It was too abrupt. Christie had hinted that there was more. I kept playing the machine.

Luck was with me. After another five or six pulls, I got another jackpot.

The video started the same way it had earlier. I was confused but curious, so I kept watching. Where the holographic recording had cut off last time, it kept going. I saw about 15 more seconds of the sexy dance; then came another abrupt end to the scene.

Obviously, I was supposed to keep winning until I saw the entire dance. It was early in the evening, so I could keep trying for a while. Hitomi knew where to find me.

I settled back, resolved to win more.

There's no point giving a full account of my play. I took almost an hour. When I got done, I had over 14 million credits. I was also convinced I'd seen all nine parts of Christie's dance. It was pretty fun and now I was set for credits-but I still felt a little disappointed. I can't say why; I guess I expected some final event.

To my mild surprise, I looked around for Hitomi and found her still playing blackjack. She looked kind of frustrated. "I'm done," I told her softly and I gave her ear a small kiss.

"Thanks, beautiful." She patted my shoulder. She said, "Rejoin the game, okay?"

Amused, I did as she asked.

40 minutes later, Hitomi was in a better mood and she suggested we leave. We went to the dance floor and did some gyrating, bumping, and rubbing. There were plenty of envious eyes on us.

"Oh, there's Lisa!" my partner yelled above the music. "Go ahead and talk to her."

That meant cutting in on Kasumi, but I did it gracefully and she accepted gracefully. (Having Hitomi to dance with probably helped.)

I steered my sexy dance partner toward a corner. No time to be delicate, I charged directly to the point. "I want to talk about your genetic research," I said into her ear, just loudly enough to be heard.

She looked at me askance for just a moment, then smiled widely. She leaned into me and said, "You and your lover be at the base of the waterslide at 0700 tomorrow. Now let's dance!"

Eventually, Kasumi reclaimed Lisa and I went back to Hitomi and got in one more dance with her.

I helped Hitomi carry her belongings to my suite, as I'd promised. Then we undressed and began to massage each other. I told her what Lisa had said.

"Damn, that's early," the comely German complained. "But if she specifically asked for both of us, I'll go."

"I can count on you," I told her. "Thanks! I think we'll be happy once we've done this; it'll be a successful end to our efforts."

"We'll have to got to bed really soon, of course," she remarked.

"That's true. I'll sleep on the right, okay?"

"Fine with me."

Once we were relaxed, our muscles soothed, we laid on the huge bed and kissed each other goodnight. I snuggled closer to Hitomi and she welcomed me with a sleepy giggle. I never wanted to sleep alone again. I felt her warmth and softness. I yawned...I was out.

-End of Day Ten-

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