Lydia's Run

I stood leaning against the wall for a moment waiting for the feeling to pass. It didn't.

"Oh god."

I laid on the sleeping mat, pressing my thighs together tightly, rocking my hips to find the only way I could of exciting my button inside its secure housing.

"Uhh."

I cupped my small breasts, squeezing them before moving my attention to my nipples. I gripped them between my thumb and forefinger, pulling and pressing until they hurt. A pain that sent pleasurable sensations racing through my body.

"Uhmm."

I wanted to reach behind and do to myself what Amelie had done, but under the watchful eye of Protector, I could do nothing that wasn't within approved parameters.

In my mind's eye, I saw the magazine pictures My imagination brought the strangely alluring males to life. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Imaginary hands, callused and rough from manual work. Big and powerful hands massaging my flesh in place of my own. Caressing my breasts and rubbing sensitive nipples.

I imagined being taken forcibly. The aggression of the ancestors transferred into the taking of pleasure. My small frame dominated, turned, and held down. My being penetrated from behind.

"Oh god. Please let me receive pleasure." I muttered.

Then I forgot myself.

"Let me cum."

It was oblivious to the ever-monitoring Protector. An undesirable word that would be picked up. For the moment that was lost on me.

I lay on my back and brought my knees up towards my chin. Legs folded up against my body as I tried to increase the pressure on my button. I so wanted to feel the release of orgasm. To feel the rush I'd felt in the tunnels. But restricted by the garment I could only hope for that trickle of joy. The sensation of standing on the cliff edge before finding myself lowered safely when what I wanted to do was dive headfirst. Even that tiny pleasure was no certain thing. I lost all sense and pushed a finger into my anus, desperate to emulate the sensations of fucking in any way I could.

"Please. Fuck."

I squeezed a nipple harder and...

"Oh fuck yes."

The pressure in my groin popped with a ragged feeling of ecstasy that raced over my skin.

"Uhhh."

I relaxed and let my limbs fall back to the sleeping mat.

"Fuck."

I gasped air and finally, the fear of triggering the AI hit me. I was still breathing. I hadn't suffered the ultimate punishment and there was no indication from Protector that my credits had been restricted.

I sat up. Again, thoughts of what was true and what wasn't plagued me.

"Protector.

Show me outside the city."

A holographic image formed, hanging in the air at an ideal viewing distance from my eyes.

This wasn't unapproved information but I still felt a niggling discomfort at asking. Somewhere deep inside the city an AI, an Enforcer, or even the great Protector himself, if he existed, would know what I was viewing. They could hear and see me at all times. My body heat and breathing were measured. Even the dilation of my pupils could be seen when I faced the sensors.

It was all for my protection, but I knew any more mistakes, no matter how slight could also betray me as a Diss.

I saw the city in the image I'd requested. Several large domes of hexagonal frames holding opaque panels, protecting its inhabitants from the angry star our world circled. To the left three gigantic, rust-colored wind collectors turned slowly. Shaped like acorns they powered the city from the lowest wind speeds up to hurricanes that my schooling had taught could tear a person from their feet.

Colossal solar panels that pivoted with the movement of the sun supplemented the wind, collecting energy and storing it as compressed air to be released to drive huge turbines when needed. Machinery I would probably never see.

But it wasn't the city I was looking at. It was the landscape. Barren and rocky with the winds stirring up small dust clouds that swirled and fell back. The sky was as red as the ground. All of it, every last thing was burnt sterile from the radiation pouring from the orange ball setting slowly in the background.

"What are the temperatures?"

A voice, almost but not quite human joined the images.

"Temperatures range from thirty -five below zero to fifty above depending on planetary rotation period and solar orbital position. The current temperature is thirty-seven."

"Do people live out there?"

"No human or higher animal life exists outside the city."

Higher animal life?

"What life does exist outside?"

"Extremophile microbes are the only forms of life that can survive in the conditions now prevailing on Earth without the protection of the city."

Why did Amelie and the Dissidents not believe this? She wanted to go out there. She wanted me to go.

"Is the air breathable?"

"The air is toxic to higher life forms. Expected survival time not in excess of two periods."

"Tell me what happened to the world. Why is it like this?"

I was hearing nothing I hadn't heard as a child in schooling. But I needed to hear it again. To be sure of my thoughts.

"Around one thousand cycles ago human civilization triggered several tipping points from which the Earth could not recover. Depletion of the ozone allowed radiation at the surface to become dangerous. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuels instigated runaway temperature increases that resulted in melting icecaps. This raised sea levels and led to widespread encroachment inland of the saltwater oceans. With reduced farmland, migrating populations, and crop failures in extreme temperatures, the food chain collapsed.

A struggle for resources followed and the old nations went to war over the remaining arable land, freshwater, and even technologies that might have alleviated some of the climate issues confronting them. Several powers equipped with nuclear fission weapons resorted to their use to avoid defeat. Other nuclear powers responded and vast areas of the world became radioactive.

Over a period of just a hundred Solar cycles human life became extinct and all higher forms of life followed within the next hundred.

All except those who were selected to enter the City."

"Is what you're showing me real-time? Or library images."

"All external views are current."

"Thank you.

I've heard enough."

"The city was constructed to save the human species. The city is your protector."

I shivered at those words. Protector adding again, beyond what was asked. It was a warning to me. Protector was considering why I was asking. And it had watched me participate in pleasuring by unapproved means. I needed to be more careful.

"Thank you."I said again.

This time the image dissipated. I was left with only one question. Which was the truth? Protectors images? Or what the Dissidents had told Amelie? How could I know?

"Give thanks to the Great Protector.

Give thanks for the light and the dark.

Give thanks for the nourishment that feeds our body and soul."

I listened from the back. These people were to my mind as misguided as the Dissidents in their own way.

"Give thanks for the seed that grows new life inside us."

I glanced again at the preacher's rounded belly and swollen breasts laden with milk for the coming child. I felt anger at her arrogance. She was expecting me to thank her god for something it denied me.

I wasn't sure why I'd been drawn to this. The Church of the Protector. I'd never attended a church before. Perhaps I was looking for the answers to life these congregations promised to reveal. Some meaning I'd missed that would make my life worthwhile in the city without breeding or reaching the true potential of bodily pleasure.

"Join me in prayer."

I saw heads go down and I stepped further back, not wanting to participate or seem disrespectful.

"Our Lord Protector.

Embodiment of the City.

Watcher over of me in all that I do.

Protect me from the dissent.

Help me see my path.

And strengthen my contribution in all that I do."

It wasn't a prayer. It was a statement of obedience.

"You're a soul at risk of wandering."

I turned my head at the intruding voice expecting to find a disciple. I did, but an unexpected one. This one was also an Enforcer. The worst combination. I felt my heart-rate jump.

"No. I'm really not."

"Then what do you seek here?"

"Just... passing time."

"I see.

What are you called?"

I didn't feel comfortable being questioned but what could a name hurt? I didn't want to raise suspicions any more than I needed to.

"Lydia."

"Lydia." He repeated.

"That's a very fine name. To suit a fine person."

I wondered where this was going only to be shocked at his next words.

"Perhaps you would like to mutually pleasure?"

The XY brushed the back of a hand over my breast signaling interest. Exclusivity wasn't considered best practice by Protector even though we had all chosen our Second for mutual pleasuring. It was normal to experience others on occasion. Encouraged.

Protector didn't like small cliques that it couldn't control. Except in breeding where only the licensees were permitted to maintain the purity of the genes.

The Enforcer was still waiting for my reply and I wondered if perhaps I should, if only to avoid suspicion in him. I looked at his face. It wasn't unattractive, but it held no more masculine traits than mine or Amelie's. My eyes dropped to his chastity garment and to where his crown protruded from it. I found myself comparing it to the images I'd seen and it was disappointing.

"No, thank you. I'm not in need."

I gave a weak smile.

"Your capillary blood flow suggests otherwise. Either it is passion, or anxiety. One is..."

I pushed past.

"I'm fine thank you."

I hurried away before his AI connection could analyze me any further.

Four

I looked at the opaque words floating in the air with dread.

'Lydia eighty-six four'

My designation was there. No matter how many times I read it I couldn't make it someone else's. It was me.

'Your credit rating has been reduced to A minus'

I shivered with fear. It wasn't a massive step down. But it signaled a displeasure with me. Was it my use of unapproved words? Perhaps that foolish action I'd taken to experience orgasm? Or did the Enforcers have some suspicion I was at risk of becoming a Diss? Perhaps it'd been noticed that I'd left the monitored zones when I'd gone down into the old tunnels. Or asking Protector about the world outside?

So many things in my head. All of them bad. They came all at once. Tumbling questions and fears that left me unable to focus properly.

For a moment I regretted not pleasuring with the Enforcer at the church. He may have reported me for my suspicious body readings. My 'capillary blood flow' as he'd put it interpreted as the result of dissent.

I left the message hanging until Amelie finally came to my rooms.

"Oh."

She just stared for a moment. I wanted to say something. To curse her for trying to encourage me to do stupid things. But also I couldn't say it was her fault. It could just as easily have been something else. She hadn't made me ask Protector about outside. And she had only made me orgasm in the tunnels. All the rest has been my doing.

"I'm sorry." She said.

Neither of us could voice our true thoughts without risking another downgrade.

Amelie held her hand out.

"It's a nice night to take a walk in the arboretum." She said.

It was always a nice night. And a nice day. It was always the same. Weather was a concept that only existed to me as an abstract idea from school.

But I knew a walk through the decorative trees wasn't what she meant. Away from our rooms monitoring was harder. There every sound and sight was seen for our protection. Outside, the drones protected us. They could see and pick up a lot, identifying and focusing on individual voices in a noisy crowd. But they weren't infallible. They needed to be within a few meters. A distance where we could see them and remain quiet.

"Okay. That'll be nice."

If we were careful and kept a watch we'd be able to talk.

"How do you feel now?"

Amelie had her arm around my waist and I felt comforted by the warmth of her body against mine as we walked slowly amongst the pristine vegetation. This was the City's only touch of nature and even this was sanitised and controlled in every way. Each trunk was perfectly straight, the branches trained and the leaves ideally green.

"Maddened" I eventually replied.

"I'll have to avoid the Meeting Places to balance my credit. We won't be able to enjoy the plays or illusionists so much. At least I won't.

You can still go. I don't mind."

Amelie looked sad.

"Another pleasure the Protector has restricted."

I knew what she meant.

We walked on as I looked at the trees. A handful of rare examples of something that once covered the world in millions. Or perhaps they still did.

My eyes flitted dome-wards looking for the eyes and ears of the City.

"Do you really believe it's like this outside the city?"

"Yes.

Come and meet the Disses. They'll tell you."

Having my credit knocked back was making me think. The thought that Amelie would go without me. That she would leave me was too much. And it wasn't unknown for friends of Disses to be punished if Protector assessed them as having known. My figures went subconsciously to the Choker. My credits were far from the worst thing Protector could restrict. For the first time in my life, I felt fearful.

"I can't. I'm being monitored more closely. I know I am. If Protector can't find me on the system it'll know I've been somewhere I shouldn't and... my credits will drop even further."

In truth, it wasn't the credits I worried about now. It was that Protector might decide I was unworthy of my place in the City altogether and switch me off.

"There's no drones. You're not being watched. Chances are it was something you did or said in your rooms. Unapproved words when you're..."

"I did." I admitted.

"I pleasured myself yesterday. I said words I shouldn't have."

I didn't tell her the whole story. That was enough.

Amelie sighed.

"I should have been there. I'm sorry."

"You didn't make me say things."

"I could have stopped you."

Amelie looked around again.

"The Disses are meeting now. Come with me. Come now while there's no drones."

I sighed.

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

"No."

Amelie stopped walking and turned to stand in front of me. Her eyes darted around nervously and she put her hand to my groin.

"I can't live like this. Not when there's another way."

I felt my pussy dampen and the ache returned to my button. It was crying out to be touched by the hand that was forever kept away from skin-on-skin contact by the Chasity garment.

I moved my leg forward so that it sat between her highs and pressed myself against her.

"And I can't live without you."

She held my hand, looking down at her fingers as they entwined around mine.

"Just think about it. Come and hear the truth." She whispered.

I relented.

"Okay. I'll hear what they have to say. But I'm not promising anything."

Amelie smiled.

"Thank you. That's all I'm asking."

She kissed me.

The entrance to the tunnels was deep down in the city. Near to where the cleaner drones stored themselves away until Night-Period, or there was an emergency need.

They didn't monitor, allegedly. But I wasn't convinced. I still trod carefully near them.

The floor panel was awkward to find tucked away behind one of the great structural pillar cappings that supported over a square kilometer of City. It was a hiding place for children. Hidden from the passing people and the cold, watching eyes of the drones.

We'd found the weak seal when we'd been so much younger and foolish. Careful prizing had lifted it from the floor and opened up what to us then had been a magical adventure in another realm.

Older and supposably wiser we were watchful. Terrified that someone would see and report us to the Enforcers.

Once inside it took a little manoeuvring to pull the cover back in place. Then it was a matter of switching on the lighting sticks and climbing down the rust covered ladder into the bowels of whatever the city had been built over.

We made our way along the corridor just as last time, but when we reached the secret room of our childhood there was already light. My heart skipped a beat In the shadows I saw movement and an XY stepped into the light giving me a wary look. Amelie, he obviously knew and was comfortable with her presence. He waved us past.

Inside there were seven or eight Disses and Amelie introduced me. In the corner, a particularly cute XX was looking through one of the magazines. She held it up and spread out the center pages to admire whatever naked primitive was spread over them.

"She needs to hear the truth." Amelia said as though that were sufficient introduction.

The decrepit magazine collapsed in the girl's hands under its own weight and fell to the floor.

"Sorry."

One XY mumbled something in annoyance before looking toward me. He was much like any other in the city. Slight build, effeminate features, and wearing the choker and chastity garment of an entertainer. I'd never seen him before. I would have remembered. It was his eyes. Something different marked him out.

Those eyes looked me up and down with the searching efficiency of an Enforcer.

"I'm Jareth."

"Lydia." I answered nervously.

"What you've been told is a half-truth. The world was ravaged by pollution and warming. But everything didn't die.

Humans did go to war. And they did retreat into their enclosed cities when they made the world uncomfortable to live in. But outside nature adapted. It reconquered what we left behind and flourished. It's a paradise out there."

That seemed hard to believe. I remembered the scenes of a barren wasteland Protector had shown me. How could that be so untrue?

"So why aren't we living there?"

"Because the Protector doesn't want you to. The project to create a harmonious society of perfect people is still ongoing. We're all just termites. Identikit people, compliant to the AI. The Protector."

"The Protector protects us. Keeps us safe." I countered, unsure if I believed it or not.

"Who's the Protector? Do you know?"

I shrugged. No. I didn't know. We all understood the idea of an Artificial Intelligence. Some had an image of a kindly old man who watched over us alongside the computers, but no one I knew could say for certain exactly who or what Protector was. I had never seen him, or it. There was no name. No pictures. Just a pervasive idea that glossed over the ugliness of the watchful drones and the ever-monitoring rooms we lived in.

"No." I admitted.

"Of course not. The protector is fantasy. A new god to replace the old ones. The city is an AI. An artificial intelligence programmed to balance the population and ensure only the perfect breed.

Wrong color eyes, slightly too aggressive, no passing your genes on.

Your traits are bred out."

"And what's wrong with me? Or Amelie?"

His eyes flitted upwards.

"You must have noticed how almost everyone is blonde and blue-eyed. Why do you think that is?"

My mouth hung open. Only yesterday I'd made that very observation. Now Jareth was making the same insinuation.

"If you want to breed. If you just want to have sex. Real sex. Then you have to be outside. In the real world."

I thought about it. So much he was saying made sense. But what if he was wrong about the outside? And what if the Protector decided to stop us?

"Even if the air is breathable outside, the Enforcers can turn it off. We won't be breathing anything."

"Not if the chokers are removed."

Now he was in a fantasy.

"They can't be removed. Even trying will get your breathing switched off."