Going Home, part 16

Disclaimer: If you're under age to read stuff about guys having sex or if you find it offensive, your society finds it offensive or illegal then stop reading now! This story is completelly fictional, as are all the characters.

By the same author: Previously I've written the multipart story "A Different World" which can be found under gay/sciencefiction at nifty. I've recently also started a spin off/sequel to that story, which is published in the same subdirectory, i.e. the directory for "A Different World". The spin off/sequel is called "What Dreams May Come".

This part contains some graphic voilence but only what's necessary for the story.

Going Home, part 16

Written by Adam

Tim, Stan, Brian, Paul, Kim, Kenny and I stepped out on the platform in the tram station. All except Kenny, Kim and me walked around the steps to the sidewalk to where the steps down to the platform for the westbound trams was. Brian turned around on the top step.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do" Brian said and winked.

"And what wouldn't you do? Think before you speak?" Kenny said and this made Brian think for a while.

"Didn't think of that one... hint taken" Brian said and laughed.

"So, what were you going to say?" I said.

"Well appart from what Kenny suggested I wouldn't get killed... unless it's absolutly unavoidable... ah, and most importantly;..." Brian said and went silent waiting for us to give him his que.

"Yes, what's most important?" I said with a smile.

"I wouldn't say no to a threesome" Brian said with a wink and then hurried down the steps.

"Neither would I... especially not a threesome with the two of you... and especially since you didn't get to finish with us last night" Kenny said, turning to Kim.

"I'd love to, but what about Mark?" Kim said.

"Well, you're not really boyfriends yet. You've only just met... I'm sure he won't mind... and with any luck he likes open relationships too, and also Kenny allowed me to kiss him the other day so he can't really object to you having sex with us" I said.

"Isn't it quite a big step between a kiss and having sex?" Kim said.

"Yes, but let's not think too much about that right now, it'll all work out in the end. Here's the tram now" Kenny said.

"Oh my God! That's Tim hanging dead on the side of the tram... but how's this possible, we saw him and talked to him just a few moments ago, watched him walk down those steps!" Kim said as he saw Tim's body that had been bolted to the side of the tram three nights ago.

"Hey Tim! Come up here!" I shouted down the steps and Tim came rushing up the steps with Stan following.

"What's the matter?" Tim said.

"Kim got a bit upset about seeing you on the side of that tram so I thought it might help if I proved to him that you're still alive and well and that's a previous clone hanging there" I said.

"Oh, yeah that was three nights ago Kim, the clone I'm in now is still alive" Tim said.

"Sorry, I followed Brian's suggestion and spoke before I thought... I haven't quite gotten used to seeing people I know as corpses and that they can still be alive... it's a bit different from how it is when you're a Master... don't get attached to any more trams like that" Kim said and hugged Tim.

"I'll try to avoid it... Hey, my tram's arriving down there, and you should hurry too so you'll have time for some fun before you have to join us in the city cleaning detail" Tim said and then hurried down the steps.

Kim waved after him and then turned and walked over to the first tram car, in front of the one with Tim attached to it and was about to step through the door when an armed Master in a conductor's uniform stepped into and blocked the doorway while pointing his boltgun at Kim's chest.

"Hey Terran, can't you read?" the Master said pointing to a sign beside the door which read in both Terran and Master languages 'Masters Only'.

"But I am a Master!" Kim said.

"What?! How dare you?! I'll teach you a lesson you're next clone won't forget in a hurry!" the Master said and took the safety off and fired the gun.

Fortunatly I saw this coming when Kim claimed to be a Master so I pulled him out of the way and the bolt missed him and hit the obnoxious kid from two days ago instead who'd just came out onto the platform from the cafeteria. The kid was pushed across the platform and got nailed to the wall by the bolt and the ballon began filling with his blood. Kim looked at the kid in shock. I turned to the Master who now was raising his remote towards us with his thumb on the decapitation button that K'ch'kt-aa demonstrated on Paul last night and I was pretty sure that he'd locked both Kim's and my numbers into the remote.

"I'm terribly sorry, but my friend here is a bit confused since he died a very unpleasant death this morning and is suffering from the delusion that he's a Master but you don't need to kill him... I'll straighten him out! Sorry to inconvenience you! We'll be traveling in the right car and not cause any more trouble" I said pulling Kim with me into the 'Terrans Only' car with Tim attached to the side.

"Yes, we're very sorry... we'll take care of our friend now, so you can take your finger off that button now" Kenny said as he helped me dragging Kim who was still staring at the kid, hanging dead on the wall.

The Master followed us pointing the remote at us the whole time until we were inside the right car and the doors closed and then he walked over to and stepped inside the 'Masters Only' car and signalled the driver that all was clear.

"Oh my God, he tried to kill me! It was supposed to be me on that wall!" Kim said.

"Yes, try not to way to Masters that you're a Master, it tends to piss them off quite a lot when Terrans do that" I said.

"And I don't think your chances to get that kid to like you have increased very much now, Jack" Kenny said with a laugh.

"Fuck him!" I said and then both Kenny and I laughed out loud while Kim looked at us without understanding.

"He died, and you laugh?!" Kim said.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later" I said.

"Kim, Jack is right! Try to remember that you're no longer a Master or you'll die quite often!" Kenny said, placing a hand on Kim's shoulder.

"Like I said earlier, it doesn't feel very much different being a Terran and those few differenses that there are, I'm used to them already. I've even gotten used to this and doesn't realise I'm wearing it and always will be wearing one no matter how many times I die" Kim said holding on to his collar.

"I've tried to imagine what it would feel like not to wear a collar... but I can't" Kenny said.

"I can, sort of... I can remember the feeling in a way" I said.

"How? You've never been without a collar have you?" Kim said.

"I'm not wearing any collar in that dream and neither is Kenny. And when I saw Brian on the screen in my dreams he didn't wear one either... actually no Terran was wearing any collar" I said.

"As I understood there were only Terrans in your dream, right? No other species from other planets, right? And these are supposed to be memories from the original Terran that you were cloned from, you said, so presumably it's from a time when Terra... or was it called Earth? ... when your planet hadn't made interstellar contact yet... which is kinda odd in a way... Arrghhh!" Kim said while the last noice was a terrified shout.

"What?" I said.

"Look there on that police car!" Kim said and pointed out through the transparency.

Kenny and I turned to look and saw that flying alongside the tram was a police car with my body bolted to the hood in front of the driver's window. The cop riding shotgun had apparently been looking at me for a while and when he saw that I finally noticed this he waved happily at me and the pointed to my corpse on the hood.

"Oh, so that's where you ended up two nights ago. I've only heard about it, I hadn't seen it so far" Kenny said.

"Yes, that was the first and so far only time I got a bolt through me... fortunatly and it's not a very nice experience so be glad I saved you from that just now... but I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later anyway" I said.

"But the corpse looks like you've just died, the same with Tim there... why doesn't the bodies start to decompose?" Kim said.

"They preserve them... for several reasons... the bolts are terribly difficult to get unstuck so it's easier to just leave them there in the Masters' oppinion and then they also do it to rub it in, sort of... they like to remind us that they can kill us whenever they like and that our lives mean nothing and that they can kill us again anytime... oh yes, and they also like to treat our corpses with disrespect by flaunting them as hood ornaments and so on... I've heard of extreme cases where they've made clothes and furniture with Terran skin" Kenny said as we watched the cop car make a turn and disappear down another street.

"Yeah, my dad had a group of two couches in the living room that were dressed with Terran skin... and he said he would get me a similar one for my own appartment that he was about to buy for me... even though he knew I wouldn't sit on those... he got me a lamp with a lampshade of Terran skin for my birthday, a couple of days ago... I threw it in the garbage... well, I kept the lampshade, or rather the skin and tried to treat it as respectfully as I could" Kim said.

"I hope you're not a jacket or a couch somewhere" I said to Kenny.

"If I am, I don't want to know about it" Kenny said.

"If you've worked in the far end of the main corridor in the brothel, like you did the day before yesterday, you're probably several pieces of clothing or furniture, I'm affraid. My father told me on my birthday that the factory and the brothel are in the same building and that you drop your own corpses into a chute and from there they end up in the factory and gets turned into leather jackets and couches and so on... sorry! ... Though I don't think the clone I had got turned into anything like that thanks to your way of killing yourself, I think you might be glad to know" Kim said.

"Yes, I saw what I looked like when I returned, I suppose my skin was too damaged" I said.

"We're at the Honeycombs now... let's take the opportunity to talk about something else and try to forget what Kim just told us about the brothel or I won't be able to bring myself to work there anymore!" Kenny said.

"Forget what about the brothel?" Kim said as we stepped out onto the platform and then remained standing there.

"What you just told us about what's in the same building" Kenny said.

"Have I told you something about the brothel?" Kim said.

"I can't remember" Kenny said.

"Neither can I... are we going to work there tomorrow?" Kim said.

"You want to work there? You know you may have to be killed by every customer, don't you?" I said.

"Having seen your corpses and how you react to them I'm beginning to think that I can handle being killed and see my corpse without too much problem... it's killing others that I can't bring myself to" Kim said.

"Are you sure? I mean, you may end up with a customer who refuses to use a condom and then you'll die the same horrible way as Jack... and then there's that sick souvenir guy with his collection of dicks" Kenny said.

"Oh... well my dad took me to his place the night before my birthday in one of his desperate attempts to make me a 'real Master'... it was pretty gross, but I decided then that if I found a way I'd become a Terran and then make sure that my dick was included in that collection and see how my dad liked that... but my dad will never see it now though... Doesn't he kill you first and then cuts your dick off?" Kim said.

"Only if you refuse to let him cut it off while you're still alive, which he prefers... I think he likes to see the expressions on our faces as he cuts it off..." Kenny said.

"Oh... I'll have to think before I decide which I'd prefer..." Kim said.

"Come on, let's get you to your very own home... so you did move away from your parents appartment after all" I said and put my arm around Kim's shoulders as we walked into the tunnel.

"So how do I find my... home? I understand that these... living areas are very small? And I can see now that they're tightly packed!" Kim said as we came out onto the first bridge and he saw how the ladders, bridges and doors stretched on as far as the eye could see both to the left and up and down both in front of and behind us.

"Yes they are, and your own little area to sleep in, when you don't killed after curfew, is quite easy to find if you just remember what the first 5 numbers are in your serial number" I said.

"Er... 47588" Kim said.

"Yes. And do you see the numbers on each door?" Kenny said.

"There are five of them... on that side, toward the street they begin with '1' and on the opposite side they begin with '2'..." Kim said.

"Which means?" I said.

"My 'flat' is further in?" Kim said.

"Yes, but that's not all there is to it... your second number is quite high wich means that your flat is far down, and that's why we're taking the elevator in the next tunnel" I said and led the way forward into the next tunnel where we incredibly managed to squeeze all three of us into the elevator that more or less was large enough for one person but the machinery was strong enough to lift ten persons. But then, we don't mind being close to each other.

Further down we stepped out of the elevator and walked further into the honeycombs onto the next bridge where we climbed the steep ladder up to the right and walked across the bridge there and walked up the next ladder until we reached the next landing right over the bridge between tunnels.

"Okay, I've come to understand that the doors are numbered in a vertical fasion rather than horizontal, since this must in a way be the easiest way... but... I still haven't figured out how you seem to know where my flat is?" Kim said to me.

"Take a look on each side of this landing... what are the numbers, on the doors?" I said.

"Er... on that side it's 37589 and on this side it's 47589" Kim said.

"And I believe you've memorised my number in order to hire me and Kenny to come to your home last night" I said.

"Er, your present clone should be... 47589620... hey! You live underneath me! But this is really weird, how could we possibly get numbers next to each other? Surely they couldn't know that we know each other?" Kim said.

"Nope... but that living area above me has been vacant for a very long time... much longer than normal, when a clone is sent of to war. I think they must have discontinued that clone for some reason... actually it's been vacated since before I was first hatched" I said.

"Probably. It is the usual thing to fill in the vacant numbers whenever a new clone is put into service and there are always a couple of hundred wacant numbers... but some clones are in the war for a very long time, often much longer than two years, the normal time it takes before they send the clones on this planet there so then they put in other clones in that number in the meantime so Jack isn't really the only clone that's 47589, but there are a number of other clones that takes his place and number when he's sent to war" Kenny said.

"Oh... I'd like to meet them" I said.

"That's highly unlikely, you'll be in the war when they're here" Kenny said.

"Oh... Ofcourse. Well Kim, I think you'll be able to find your living space now... you lead and we follow" I said.

Kim smiled and then climbed the next ladder, walked over to the side where the numbers start with '3' and climbed the next ladder there while we followed him. So no we were on the landing right over my landing and Kim walked up to the door marked '47588' and then just stood there. He looked and felt at both sides of the doorframe as well as above the door and then he turned to us.

"How do I get in?" Kim said.

"See this button here on my collar, and there's one on Jack's collar too? Feel the same spot on your own collar!" Kenny said.

"There's a button here" Kim said as he felt the button.

"Press it" I said.

Kim pressed the button and the door to his living space opened so suddenly that Kim jumped several feet in the air out of surprise. Then he calmed down and as the lights went on he turned to us and motioned us to go inside.

"May I invite you two fine gentlemen into my humble abode?" Kim said.

"Please, allow us simple Terrans to step into your magnificent palace!" I said and stepped inside and then I came out again.

"I'm affraid something's died in there... actually it's somebody... two of them and one looks like an older version of me, they've been preserved and left there for some reason" I said and pointed inside.

"Yes, that happens sometimes. When they round us up for the brothels and find two of us together and make us self trigger they sometimes forget to get rid of the bodies... we should check your room too before we leave" Kenny said.

"Well, I don't know if this was the case here... only one of them has a hole where the heart should be while my corpse is bolted to the far wall... and... I don't know what to believe!" I said and pointed inside.

"Why? You know, we can't see when you stand in the door like that!" Kim said.

"The one with the hole in the chest is a Terran female! Why would my previous clone be in her room??... and she's fat too!" I said walking over to the opposite door.

Kim walked inside and then came out again.

"No, she wasn't fat, she was pregnant and apparently it couldn't have been more than a few days before she was due to give birth" Kim said.

I will try to keep this story running parallel with What Dreams May Come (the spin off/sequel to A Different World) and write chapters for both. I'm interested in your feedback and suggestions. Is there some story thread that you would like me to explore further or turn into a spin off? ... Write me at my_evil_twin47@yahoo.com and tell me what you think of this story!