Two Tickets To Paradise

She could hear it now, not as a voice but as a gentle, warm throbbing inside her head. It was so much better than the simulation had been on the plane, so much more powerful. It didn't just make her docile, it made her eager to obey. Colors flashed behind her eyes, and even without words, she knew what they were directing her to do. She replaced her clothes, knowing that the others were doing the same. They were Group Two. They needed to return to the plane. Only Group One would stay here, preparing the way for the next flight of passengers.

Shelley walked back to the plane, with Clara and Bill and Jenny and all the others. She pitied the Group Threes, the ones who could not yet know the bliss of hosting one of their own. They would return, though. They would come back to this wonderful spot, buying tickets for themselves and their loved ones. The destination would say 'Hawaii' or 'Los Angeles', but the tickets would really bring them here, to the place where their lives would change, to the place where they would know paradise on Earth. She knew that. Eventually, they would return and bring others, just like she would, just like Clara would. Everyone would have one of their own, eventually. That would feel so good, be so perfect. Like a lover who never left them, like a caress that never stopped. Like Heaven, pressed tightly to her willing flesh.

"She will always be with me," Shelley whispered, and knew it to be true.

THE END