The Geodomes: Gamma

There was agreement all around.

I looked at Kenan who was glaring at me. "Work for you?" I asked pleasantly.

"Yeah," he answered. "There's also the deal about pairing up..."

"Gamma, is 10 AM also the time we need to find partners by?"

"Yes."

"Gamma, if we do not choose a partner, what will happen?"

"One will be chosen for you amongst those left unpartnered."

I looked at Kenan again. "Seems like we have time," I said with a shrug.

"What the hell!" Tanisha yelled, standing. "Gamma, what the hell? What if we don't want a partner?"

"One will be chosen for you."

"And if I say fuck that? Do my own thing?"

"If you do not abide by the rules laid out for you, you will be punished."

"Punished how?" she demanded.

A panel moved and a rod slid out from the wall, then shot an arc of electricity, hitting Tanisha in the back and dropping her to the floor. The rod withdrew and the panel closed as we all gaped. Ali rushed to Tanisha and rolled her, looking at her back.

"That was messed up!" Maggie said angrily.

"So I guess we don't fuck up," Katie said with a defeated sigh.

I looked at Kenan. "Can you shut that down?"

"I don't know! I would have to try and... I don't know. I will find out," he said wide eyed, forgetting to be angry at me as he stared at Tanisha.

I looked around. "All of you, go ahead and get your PED's. Lets clear out of here and give Ali some room to work. Gamma, is there anything in the medbay that he can put on her for that burn?" I asked, herding people out.

"Yes, there are several small ointments in the supply closet."

"Ella, do you remember where the medbay is? Go find what she is talking about and get it to Ali. The rest of you, get your PED's and we will group up and learn to use them. Then we can tour the facility once Ali and Tanisha join us. Hurry up, let's meet back in the day room!"

I sat nervously on the end of the chair near me. I had assumed we were going to be able to fake the coupling up thing, but how close were we being watched, and by whom? I didn't want to ask too many questions in front of the others and scare them though.

Jaydan came back out, looking down at me. "You are an only child?" he asked.

"No, I have a little brother. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Not your real brother. Step? How old when he moved in?"

I stared up at him, wide eyed. "You sure you're a blacksmith?" I asked uncertainly.

He shrugged again. "I dabbled, it was my dad's thing really. I know how. Not what I wanted to do with my life but here we are. How old?"

"Fifteen? But he is my real brother. Half brother. My dad is a trucker and he had... another girlfriend. When she went to jail, Drew moved in with us."

"So basically an only child, for all intents and purposes." He went quiet then as the others began coming in with the PED's. Most had them on, but Ella and David were both holding theirs with identical looks of worry on their faces.

I smiled at them. "You two sure you aren't related?" I asked teasingly.

"Girl, I was thinking the same thing!" Maggie said to me, her eyes huge.

I got up and helped Ella put hers on while David took a deep breath and snapped his on. We were just sitting down when Ali was coming in with Tanisha, helping her walk. She had tears in her big brown eyes and her lip gloss was gone. I felt horrible as I sat there and opened the display.

We fumbled through it, telling each other things we found, assigning ourselves names for our devices. When I looked at Thee, I noticed he didn't have his display open. When I looked harder, I noticed he didn't have his PED latched shut. I met his eyes and he was giving me a challenging look. I said nothing as we went back to what we were doing.

Once we had the basics figured out, I suggested we split into groups of four and five and explore the east wing. In the giant, olympic sized pool area, I wandered away from the others and Thee followed me like I knew he would.

"Deciding to opt out of the PED?" I asked with a small smile.

"Are you one of them?" he demanded.

"What?" I asked, laughing. I couldn't help myself.

"You an agent, sent to watch us, keep us on the right path?"

"No, Thee, is that why you have been following me around?"

"No," he snapped, looking me over again. "Gamma, if she lies, will you zap her?"

"I will not punish a guest on the word of anyone but the leader."

His eyes lit up then as he looked around. He looked back at me. "That why you are angling for leading?"

"I'm not. I just don't want it to be Kenan. He thinks he can, but he can't."

"They'll pick you."

"I'll say no thanks."

"Because you're an agent and you're a plant, here to watch, not lead. Right?"

"No, Thee. I came from a small farm town. I am just not someone who suffers fools. I see a problem and I tackle it. You know? I lost my family out there just like everyone else. My mom, my brother. My dad, I guess. Everyone. My friends... I... I don't want to dwell on that right now, it won't help. Later, when I am alone."

"Hey, did you see the sauna? And the hot tub?" Marcus asked excitedly, coming up to us.

"No!" I said smiling back. "Show me?"

I let him lead me away, leaving Thee behind me.

A little over an hour later, we were back in the living area. I was curled up alone in a chair while everyone was talking about the amenities. A hand on my shoulder made me jerk and flinch.

"Sorry," Ali whispered. "May we speak alone?"

"Sure," I said, standing and following him to his room, the very first one. It was a lot like mine, at least in shape. There was no plot map, but there was a TV. It was also in a darker wood with white accents instead of white wood with green accents. Mine was much brighter.

"I know it is forward of me to ask," he said, turning to me and blushing. "But I wanted to ask if you might stay here tonight. Not... for why you may think! I mean... " he swallowed hard. "Let's be honest, me and you? I liked you right off, you are smart and cute and you are capable. That is not all though. The one, the engineer, I do not think... I do not think he should be here. He isn't... like the rest of us. He is smart, yes, but... his head is unsound. The way he watches you... the things he is saying about you... You need to be with someone else and not alone. You understand?"

"I get it. I don't know if he is a sociopath though he does lean that way, but I do know he is smart. Smart enough that he saw through this from the beginning."

"Yet he came?"

"And he wouldn't be alive if he didn't. I get the same vibe from him. I don't trust him, he is super possessive, but I also feel like it is a little sister possessive and not girlfriend possessive."

He laughed. "No, no way. I have seen him look at you. He sees a girl and he likes what he sees. I think you..."

There was a knock on his door. He looked down at me, eyebrows raised and I gave him a tight lipped smile.

"Wanna wager?" he asked softly.

I opened my PED and looked, then shook my head. It showed no one outside of his door, which could only be one person. "No, no wager."

He sighed and opened his door. Thee was there, looking in at me with a scowl. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Yeah, as soon as I am done talking to Ali."

"Now," he insisted.

Ali looked down at me in concern. "I can...?"

"No, it's fine. I will talk to you later? Umm... you might find me in Ella's room later. She is upset."

I followed Thee out into the hall and he stopped in front of my door as if he were waiting for me to let him in.

"What's up?" I asked with a blank smile, crossing my arms.

"I want to talk to you," he said again. "Alone?"

"Ok, no one is here. What do you need?"

"In your room, Little Love."

"I'm not letting you in my room, Thee."

"Hiding something?" he demanded, moving closer.

I backed up, then started sliding down the wall. He put his hand on the wall to block me. I reached up and snapped his bracelet shut and he hissed in anger and surprise.

"What the hell?" he demanded, trying to pull it off. "Why did you do that?"

"Serves you right! Now back up and stop being so creepy!"

He grabbed me and my wrist, then pressed my hand to the handle and pushed into my room, shutting the door behind him.

I jerked away and he let me as he looked around. The plot map was still open and up and he went to it, looking at it. "What is this? How you control everything? Keep track of us?"

"You are out of your mind! It's a plot map! For crops! Gardens! Look, see, it shows fields and gardens and a list of seeds available. Idiot!"

"Fine, what else does it do?"

"I don't know, I haven't looked at it yet. Get out,Thee."

"No! If it's not you then it's someone. Someone has to be an agent, spying on us! Maneuvering us."

"Thee! Look at me. Look around you. Look at this," I said holding up my wrist. "This is not human tech. None of this is. Look! We are being watched and led, yes, but not by each other. We are being watched by the tech around us, by Gamma or whatever the AI is called. We are being watched from space, you saw the camera."

"You seriously think it's aliens?" he demanded angrily.

"Yes! I do! This tech, all of this springing up overnight! Wiping mankind out to restart the earth. Because man was destroying it. Undoing everything man had done and making us start over? You really don't think that was another race of beings, interfering?"

"You think all of that is real?"

"I do! Further... I think they mean to make us pair up and... repopulate the earth."

"Like a human farm?" he asked, smirking.

"Yes! They are making us pair up and there is someone whose only job is to be a midwife. Ali could handle it unless it was constant and every girl all the time."

"Ok, say I believe you. I want you."

I blinked up at him. "Thee... I don't think..."

"What? I'm not good enough? Not cute enough? Not as charming as your stupid medic asshole?"

"Thee, I am done talking about this right now. You need to back off. Just let things be normal the next couple days, ok?"

"No. I don't want to be stuck with one of the others. I want you."

"Thee! You need to go!"

"Little Love, listen to me, please?"

"I don't want you to call me that!" I yelled, then stormed out, hurrying down the hall before he could catch up.

Ali was waiting by his door, looking at me warily. He looked past me and I knew he was looking at Thee who was close behind. When I went out to the living room, the others had pulled up the couches to a tight circle. I squeezed in next to Ella and Ali sat the next couch over.

Thee stopped directly behind me, standing to hover over me.

"If you are playing, you have to sit down man!" Geo said.

"What's the game?" I asked with a smile as if I wasn't flustered and upset.

"Truth or dare!" Marcus said, grinning.

Marta leaned around Ali. "Can you think of a better way to get to know each other?" she asked, smiling.

I laughed. "No, I guess not. Thee, there is room over on that couch between Nettie and Eric," I said, shrugging his hand off when he put it on my shoulder.

"You don't need to play this," he said angrily.

"Dude, what is your deal?" Geo asked, turning to look at Thee. "She your ex or something? Why are you freaking out about her?"

"I never met him before today," I said quickly. "Thee, go sit over there or stand, whatever. Quit acting like you own me!"

"Lovie!" he said angrily.

"He was a psycho in school," Ivy said, curling her feet under her. "Most likely to stalk a girl, most likely to shoot the school up, most likely to..."

"Shut up you complete bitch! Gamma! Who should Lovie pair with?" Thee demanded angrily.

"Lovie Mason would be best suited for Jaydan Wyatt, Alessandro Legge, or Marcus Chester, in that order," Gamma answered.

Everyone went still, then the questions poured in, one on top of the other as everyone tried to ask who they were best suited for.

"Everyone stop!" I yelled, standing, turning to face a red faced Thee. "Gamma, who should Timothy Barker pair with?"

"Timothy Barker is best suited for Ella Jenkins or Katie Patton."

I looked up at him sadly as he smouldered. "I don't care what it says on paper," he said angrily.

"Gamma, who should I pair up with?" Geo asked, grinning.

"Gamma, belay that!" I said quickly. I looked at Geo. "Do you really want to know who fits you on paper, or do you want to know who you actually like?"

He shrugged. "I thought it would be fun."

"Sure, it seems fun, but what if it says Aysha, and then you really like Aysha, but then you start to second guess yourself thinking you only picked her because Gamma said to? Do you really want that doubt there? Make a real choice."

"She's right," Jaydan said. "As banal as it is, this game we were about to play is a good way to get to know each other fast. Only thing that would help more is alcohol. So we doin this or what? Dude, if you don't want to play, you can go to the other room?" he said to Thee, who was still hovering.

I looked over at him. "Sit and play," I said calmly. "Maybe you will learn something. Jaydan, why don't you start?"

Thee sat and we started playing. Shockingly, no one picked Thee for several long rounds as he just sat and stared across at me.

"Lovely!" Marcus cheered happily, truth or DARE!"

"Truth!" I laughed. I decided I liked Marcus quite a bit, he may not be model gorgeous but he was a lot of fun.

"Awwwe! Fiiiine. Ok, Where is the weirdest place you have ever masterbated?"

I laughed and shook my head. All the questions had been this direct and the dares were getting worse. "Ummm. I know! ISS. The ISS room at school!"

"Holy shit, you had an ISS? You seem too... goody two shoes?" Maggie said, leaning in.

"Dude, she said she got off in the ISS room and that's what you take out of it?!?" Marcus laughed.

I was smiling. "I just had a day of make-up testing from being home sick and they had nowhere else to put me."

"I KNEW it!" Maggie laughed.

I looked around and my eyes stopped on Thee. "Thee, truth or dare?" I asked, smirking.

"Dare," he answered before I got the question out of my mouth.

"Ok. Kiss Nettie, open mouthed for at least twenty seconds."

He showed me his teeth in a grimace, then turned and grabbed Nettie's face and kissed her roughly. She flipped me off while he was doing it and I giggled.

Thee turned back to me, his lips red. "Lovie..."

"No! Can't pick her, she picked you! You have to pick someone else!" Marcus said loudly, interrupting. "Rules!"

Thee glared, but looked at Ali. "Ponytail, truth or dare?"

Ali turned to me with a smirk. "Truth, I guess, since I don't want to drink my own piss or something equally as horrifying that you would come up with for me."

"How old were you when you stopped peeing the bed?"

Everyone kind of half chuckled in confusion.

"Ummm, to my knowledge, I never wet the bed?" Ali said, confused. "Why, was that a thing for you?"

More confused and wary chuckles.

Ali turned away as if nothing had happened. "Eric! Truth or dare!"

I looked at Thee sadly. I had given him a chance to be normal, but he had just tried to embarrass Ali.

Half an hour later, David surprised everyone by picking Thee. Thee was shocked as well. His face went from confused to half hopeful as he looked over at me.

"Dare," he said.

"I dare you to kiss Aysha... on her nipples. No shirt."

The game had been getting risque, but this was a new level. Nudity. Aysha didn't hesitate as she pulled her shirt off. Thee stood up and went to her, then pushed her back like a predator with prey and jerked her bra open as she gasped. He sucked on her breasts in front of everyone, licking, kissing, sucking. Everyone was watching, frozen and shocked as she lay under him squirming and holding handfuls of his hair.

He finally stood and turned to me. His lips were swollen and red and his eyes were hooded. Was that just a twinge of jealousy I felt?

"Lovie," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Dare," I said confidently.

"Come suck my cock."

"Nope! No dare for self gratification. You can however, transfer that dare to another dude?" Marcus said hopefully.

Thee glowered down at me. "Fine. I dare you to go down on Ella."

I was fairly sure he thought I was going to bow out as everyone cheered and yelled and laughed, knowing it was too much. I stood and went to Ella who looked horrified. "You good?" I asked her.

"I... I... Don't show anything?"

I nodded, kneeling in front of her and sliding my hands up her skirt to pull her panties off. There were hoots and hollers as I handed them to her, then spread her legs slightly.

"No!" Thee said, pulling me back. "No! I wasn't serious!"

"Come on man!" Geo said pleadingly.

"Dare is a dare, she has to do it!" Marcus said.

"She gets one switch!" Thee snarled. "Pick truth Lovie!"

I smiled up at him. "No way." I turned and pushed Ella's legs apart, put my head under her skirt, then wrapped my lips around her clit and sucked. She moaned, her hands going to my head as I got her wet and licked and sucked. I flicked her clit and slid a finger into her and she moaned louder, pushing her hips up to my face.

"Holy shit is she really doing it?"

"Fuck, this is hot!"

"Oh my god!"

"Lovie stop! That's enough!" Thee yelled angrily.

I didn't stop, I kept going until Ella came with a cry of surprise and elation. I came up and took her panties, sliding them back on her, then I went to Thee. I pulled him down and kissed his lips, "She tastes good, doesn't she?" I asked, then let him go and sat back down.

Not surprisingly, the game devolved rapidly. Once two people were dared together, they had to be skipped.

I opened my PED, rather than watch what was happening around me and looked at the map. My eyes snagged on something.

"Lovie! Truth or dare?" Jaydan asked.

I sat up, ignoring him. "Gamma, you said we could step outside to the barn and stuff after we were assigned our jobs, right?" I asked.

"Correct."

I looked over at Nettie who was kissing Marcus. "Nettie?"

"Yeah?" she asked distractedly.

"I think there are animals out there in the barn?" I said, showing her my PED and the labels in the barn.

"Oh shit!" she said, jumping up. "DUH! Oh my god. Everyone, come with me please? How many Lovie?" she asked, hurrying out the back door through the kitchen as we all followed. It was dark out now and it felt eerie. If you didn't know you were in a dome, you would think you were outside. We followed her to the huge dome that was labeled 'barn' and went in. It was a giant structure and the lights came on when we entered. There were several bays, all of which had animals. Nettie ran to the first one and the others followed as I moved to the large display board.

Cows, chickens, pigs, rabbits, horses, ducks, goats. I looked through the screen, moving things, zooming in, reading.

"Nettie?" I called.

"Just a minute! Trying to find where the feed is kept!"

"Here!" I called. She hurried over to me. "Look, you can feed them on here, it's set on a timer to feed them. It looks like your main job will be putting them out to pastures, switching pastures, seeing them bred, deciding what to butcher. Basically keeping us in meat, eggs, milk and stuff for however long we are here. It even shows on here who is in heat and how old they all are, everything. You'll have to let me know how much you think you need, grainwise, for everything. I will start in the morning looking over the plots and seeing what I can plant where."

"Well this is handy," she said, taking over. "Yeah, looks like I missed a milking schedule for the cows and goats and I probably need to gather eggs too. No big, who wants to help?"

"Tell us what to do," Jaydan said, stepping up. "We'll all help. Well, except Ali and Lovie I guess."