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Article: 18887 of alt.sex.stories
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From: elf@halcyon.com (Elf Sternberg)
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Subject: Journal Entry 191 / 1022  [ Planetfall: Spinning Amanda ]  (new!)
Date: 21 Feb 1994 14:45:15 -0800
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     Journal Entry 191 / 1022

     "Ken?"

     I looked up from my terminal.  "Yes, Dave?"  Although I was 
currently at Alpha and would expect the voice speaking to me to be 
Halloran's, I could recognize David Major's voice anywhere in the 
starsytem.  "What's up?"

     "I have reviewed the list of individuals you personally requested 
we attempt to recruit for this mission.  Now that Etta Argent has 
accepted your invitation, there is only one person we've not contacted.  
I'm afraid that all records I have indicate she lives an isolated 
existence without benefit of AI."

     I stripped the control glove off my right hand and dropped it onto 
my desk.  "Could you put me in touch with the AI living nearest her?"

     "Surely."

     A short pause later, another voice spoke to me.  Masculine but 
high-pitched, it said "A pleasure to meet you, Kennet.  My name is 
Lancelot Masters, Lance to people who have to call me more than once.  
How can I help you?"

     "I am attempting to locate Amanda Ohadi.  I was told you are the 
nearest living AI?"

     "Probably, yes."

     "Probably?" I asked, surprised.

     "Yes.  I'm afraid nobody has heard from Miss Ohadi in eighty seven 
years."

     I blinked, surprised at this information.  "Can you tell me where 
she lives?"

     "She has an extensive compound some forty kilometers or so from the 
center of the small town I administer.  Would you like to come visit and 
perhaps we can sort out her whereabouts?"

     "Yes, indeed."  I walked down the hallway past several of the 
quieter labs; we'd shut down Alpha except for administrative functions, 
of which there are none, for the time I was away.  Alpha is my team, and 
without me they're a mostly quiet bunch with lives of their own.

     I stopped at my Pindam apartment and grabbed a spare set of 
clothes, putting on my new Rahn boots and a sunhat.  In the fitting room 
by the SDisk node I grabbed a Jialani Mark-IX.  "Lance, what is the name 
of your town?"

     "Ciranda."

     "Pretty.  Ciranda it is."  I stepped on the SDisk and it took me 
where I wanted to go.

     I appeared in a large, sunlit room constructed of unfinished wooden 
planking, which gave it all a very 'rustic' appearance, but for the off-
white disk I stood on.  A very mundane cork bulletin board dominated one 
wall, windows the other three.  A small stairway set into the wall 
behind the bulletin board led upwards to a now-empty balcony.  A doorway  
at the other end of the wall led to some administrative offices, sunlit 
but otherwise empty.  A pair of Ssphynxes regarded me with curiosity, 
then surprise.  "Vatare' Shardik."

     "Uh... yeah."  I never know what to do in this circumstance.  "And 
you are?"

     "My name's V'Ratta," said one, and the other said, "R'Sind."  Both 
bowed, and I returned the bow, trying carefully to drop just as low as 
they did.  "What can we do for you, sir?" V'Ratta said.

     "I actually came to speak with Lance."

     "Ah!  The mayor's office is over there," she said, pointing towards 
the door to the empty rooms.  Welcome to Ciranda, sir!"

     "Thank you."  I noticed that she seemed to be very pregnant.  "How 
many months have you got?"

     "Less than one, sir," she blushed.  "It's Sindy's doing." 

     The male seemed to puff up with ridiculous pride.  I patted him on 
the shoulder quietly.  "Good lad.  Hope you're up to the task of raising 
a kitten."

     "Yes, sir," he replied.  "We have both had kittens before.  I think 
we both are."

     I nodded, thanked them both and made my way into Lance's office.  
The door shut behind me with no visible mechanism.  "So," I said, 
sitting behind a rather dusty desk and putting my feet up.  "What can 
you tell me?"

     "I am concerned that Miss Ohadi is either in some sort of medical 
or biocybernetic distress.  Eighty-nine years ago she requisitioned a 
startling list of supplies which, given her enormous prestige, people 
readily granted her.  There are six Nightingale Sixes at her disposal, 
as well as a completely functional suspension autodoc.  She had four 
Magi working at her residence for some time and they gave me complete 
details on the inner layout of her home.

     "She has two Pendor M-17 fusion plants, which, I believe, are 
primarily of Terran design, working for her, presumably one as backup as 
I find it difficult to believe that anyone personally requires two M-
17s.  There are, after all, only four in this area, and one supplies 
this entire town."  I nodded, listening closely, but Lance seemed to be 
pausing as if for breath.  "You are one of the few people who could 
interrupt her privacy without risking possibly life-threatening 
censure."  He paused again, and for good reason.  Privacy was one of the 
most powerful forces on Pendor, one of the strictest of taboo subjects.  
The definitive line between someone's private and public space was one 
very carefully watched.  I was being asked to violate Amanda's privacy, 
not something I'd do casually.  "Now that you and I have brought the 
subject out into the open, I ask you to do so."

     I nodded.  "I get the picture.  The stakes are pretty high, Lance, 
when an AI asks Shardik to violate privacy."  I stood up.  "I assume you 
have some remote drones?"

     "Yes.  Should I bring one for electromechanical maintenance out to 
her residence?"

     "Please.  You'll have to direct the way."

     "I'm afraid I'm not equipped for gradio here.  We rely on the SDisk 
system for communications channels with the rest of the Ring.  It's fast 
and efficient; we are six light-seconds from the next residential 
establishment of more than fifty people."

     "Got it."  I walked out into the dusty street.  Hand-lathed posts 
held up sun-shading porches that lined both sides of the streets.  The 
buildings had a hand-turned, authentic look to them, as well as a sense 
of friendly use.  I rather liked the place; the population seemed to be 
mostly 'taurids, both Ssphynx and Centaurs, as there were only two other 
hominids in view, both Tindals.  Probably local doctors.  People nodded 
to me; several recognized me and bowed, and I replied in kind, trying to 
emphasize a sense of equality.

     When I reached the outskirts of town Lance told me that Amanda's 
home was thirty-seven kilometers down this road, on a dirt path that "by 
this time is probably so overgrown as to be invisible.  You'll have to 
watch for it carefully.  I'm sending a drone out now and it probably 
flies faster than you walk, so it'll be waiting for you.  Do you need 
food or other supplies?  I'm afraid that the time difference between 
here and Shardik Castle is almost six hours; it will be night in less 
than two."

     "No, that's okay," I said.  "I'm not walking."  I reached into the 
shoulderbag I carried and pulled out three cylinders, joining them 
lengthwise and popping off the outside coverings.  I hit 'power' and 
tossed the thing into the air.  As it fell an image of a covered two- 
wheeler came into being around it, righted itself, and landed on the 
ground.  I waited for a few second as the image seemed to waver and 
solidify, then hopped into it and drove off down the road.  "That's 
amazing," Lance opined as I tuned the radio on the handlebars.  "A 
Jialani Mark Nine, right?"

     "Yep," I smiled.  "Good forever on Pendor now that the micro-SDisk 
powercells are capable of the sustained output they need."  The 
perfected motorcycle; completely solar powered, fits in your handbag, 
indestructible and unlimited in power or scope.  They can even hover 
almost two meters off solid ground if necessary, a side-effect of their 
ability to drive over water.

     "'Good forever' sounds like famous last words.  Even with no moving 
parts, electronics fail sometimes."

     "Don't remind me," I laughed.  The drive took slightly less than 
half an hour, and I did indeed catch up with his orange-and-silver 
drone, a metallic ball slightly under a meter in diameter and sporting a 
myriad of sensor arrays and manipulator ports, although no appendages 
were extended.  "This way," the voice on my radio said, leading me down 
a path that had indeed overgrown with weeds and flowers and all manner 
of growing things.  Lance led me to a meadow, flat and overgrown to 
knee-high with grasses and flowering weeds.  It made me grateful I 
wasn't allergic to anything.  At one end a dome of grass appeared to 
erupt from meadow.  The dome was nearly twenty meters in diameter where 
it became visible and stood almost three high.  "That's where she 
lives?"

     "Yes."  I drove up and around it; on the far side from the path a 
stone slab now overgrowing with clinging vines indicated the opening.  I  
slid out of the bike and powered it down; the cylinder fell to the 
ground.  The doors were big enough to get a type 'KW' size cargo sled 
into, but I found the intercom and locking mechanism in a closed metal 
box, overgrown.  I dug out my knife and cut the weeds away.  "Amanda?" I 
asked, toggling the intercom switch.  No answer.  "Amanda, are you 
there?"  I hit the button a few more times for good measure, trying to 
ensure that the intercom buzzer in her home was ringing loudly.  "Well," 
I said, "She's not going to ignore a break-in.  Lance, crack this 
thing."

     "Is that an order, Ken?"

     I hate rituals.  "Yes, Lance, that is an order."

     "Thank you, sir."  His drone descended on the metal box and probes 
extended into it.  A few minutes later a grinding noise erupted from 
stone doors and they began opening.  After they were slightly parted, 
however, a hissing sound came from between them accompanied by a 
spectacular spray of some sort of white powder.  I backed away in a 
hurry.  "Analysis, Lance?"

     "Spores, Ken, apparently growing along the inside of the dome.  I 
detect the remains of vegetation lining the floor and walls of a large 
chamber."

     "Is it safe?  For me, I mean."

     "I believe so.  Although there might be some psychoactive materials 
down there, nothing currently airborne is inimical to you."

     I thanked him and peered down into the murky depths that were not 
uncovered.  "Lights, Lance?"

     The drone hovered overhead and four bright spotlights illuminated 
the large room.  It was about as wide as the entire dome, and at the 
bottom was indeed a large, slimy pit of deliquescing vegetation, now 
roused back into life by the apparent re-introduction of oxygen.  
Directly below the clamshell doors I could see a cargo platform.  "Can 
you get that up here?" I asked, pointing.

     He did, although like the doors the platform made horrible grinding 
sounds as it climbed up to me.  "Thanks," I said as I climbed on.  
"Joining me?"

     "Surely," Lance said.  "But this unit is independent of gravity.  
I'll lower you down and join you."

     "Thanks."  The platform dropped and me with it.  The smell was 
intense, making me pull out the small handtowel I carried and cover my 
nose and mouth.  I wished that along with my usual bag of tricks I'd 
brought a flashlight.  Lance joined me.  "Get this door open," I said.

     Lance performed as expected.  As the door opened he said "Curious.  
There appears to be no security at all in this entire facility."

     "You did say she had six Nightingales, right?  Those aren't AI- 
capable."

     "No," Lance agreed.  "They're the most advanced computational and 
relational machines available that aren't accrued the ability to claim 
sentience.  They fail modern Turing tests."  I nodded.  We walked down 
the darkened hallways, eerily silent of any signs of life or sentience.  
I began to wonder what had happened here.  "You fear the worst, don't 
you?"

     "Yeah," I sighed.  "I hope she's at least still alive."

     Following Lance's lead, we passed her bedroom, empty, her office, 
empty, and finally made our way down an isolated cement-lined hall to 
her laboratory.  This door was the first to seriously resist Lance's 
machinations, but eventually it opened.

     The other side confirmed my second-worst nightmare.  Amanda was 
indeed in her laboratory.  A large pool formed the centerpiece of her 
laboratory, and she was at the bottom of it, a mask to her face, drones 
attending to her body, her mind... somewhere else.  "In the next room 
are the Nightingales," Lance said.

     "Connect to one.  Find out her condition."

     As Lance made his way into the other room, I knelt by the side of 
the pool.  "Oh, Amanda," I sighed.  "You're never going to solve the 
Ohadi Disunity Paradox that way.  Lance!"

     "Ken?"

     "Call a biocybe detachment medical team from D'Tangent.  We need a 
full compliment here, with isolation-withdrawl specialists as well.  
Give them the full run-down."

     "They are already on their way."


     Ninety hours later I walked into her infirmary ward room.  "Hi," I 
said.  "They told me you were awake, so I decided to..."

     "It's okay," she whispered, smiling at me from her hospital bed.  
"Thanks."

     I grinned.  "You're welcome.  I was worried.  For a while there it 
was pretty touch-and-go.  I, uh, I brought these for you.  Aaden cut 
them."  I held out the bouquet of roses he had prepared for me, thirteen 
blood-red and one white, surrounded with a thin green cloth.  "Is there 
some place I can put these?"

     "I already have sixteen vases.  I suppose one more won't hurt, 
especially not from you."

     I nodded, summoning a vase on the supply SDisk and arranging the 
flowers in it.  I looked at the cards on the other flowers.  Most of 
them were from university math and science departments around the 
galaxy.  "Did anyone tell you what I came looking for you for?"

     "Nope."  Her voice wasn't going to be more than a whisper for a 
while.  I noticed that most of the intensive-care equipment was off of 
her body; a remote drug-deliver cuff was about her right foreleg, but 
other than that she was just lying on her side on the hospital bed.  The 
room was comfortably warm, allowing her to lie without covers.  She 
looked terrible compared to the plucky young Centauress I'd known 
centuries before.

     "You know how long you were in the spin, right?"

     "Spin cycle for nearly eighty years.  According to the reports, I 
missed a lot.  The llerkindi live here now, right?"

     "Yeah.  Look, in about three months Aaden, P'nyssa and I are 
putting to space for a long-duration mission.  Like, up to ten years.  
I've managed to convince Etta to go along, and I've been in contact with 
Kathy although I haven't yet gotten a yes or no answer.  That's what I 
came looking for you for.  Instead I find you trying to lock your brain 
cells away for eternity."

     "That's something I'll never do again."

     "Promise?"

     "Promise," she swore.  "I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to go 
with you.  I want to go."

     "Really?" I asked.

     "Yes.  I... It's strange, but I remember the spin.  I remember 
being there, locked forever.  I feel like I've been crying for eight 
decades without really having the power to cry.  Does that make any 
sense?"

     "I don't know," I admitted.

     "Never get stuck in a spin, Ken.  It's frightening.  It's the most 
frightening thing I've ever been in."

     "That's one reason why we have AIs, Amanda.  To keep direct-feed 
neural interfaces from becoming uncontrolled feedback loops.  I've been 
in garbage loops before, but they get cut fast.  I've never been in a 
spin the way you have.  I think it's a first.  Not a good one, either."  
I reached down and patted her arm softly.  "I'm glad your alive."

     She began crying, softly.  Most of her muscles had atrophied to the 
point where she was effectively paralyzed, but she could still sob.  I 
stroked her face.  "Thank you," she whispered.  "Thank you for saving 
me."

     "You're welcome," I smiled.  "I did what I had to.  Thank Lance for 
having the courage to ask me to break your privacy."

     "I will."  I stood there for a while, my hand against her cheek, 
watching both of her chests rise and fall in the cycle of breathing 
Centaurs did to get as much oxygen out of the air as they needed.  Tears 
dripped across the bridge of her nose and I wiped them away.  "Thanks," 
she whispered.  "Ken?"

     "Amanda?"

     "I...  I probably look terrible, don't I?"

     "You'll look a lot better when your hair and pelt have grown back 
in and you've had a chance to dye them your customary purple, yeah."

     "I wouldn't ask this of anyone else I know, except maybe Kathy.  
But you're one of the, well, most bent people I know, and I mean that 
nicely."  I snorted a brief laugh.  "The longer I'm awake the longer it 
feels since I've done a lot of things.  I had my first solid food this 
morning and it was just incredible.  It made me cry to taste something 
in my mouth."  Her eyes implored me.  "Could you... could you get a 
vibrator and give me an orgasm?"

     Frozen momentarily with surprise, I finally broke through with a 
loud laugh.  She blushed, embarrassed, but didn't say anything.  "Oh, 
Amanda.  I'd be glad to.  But I need to discuss it with your doctor 
first."

     "Okay," she replied.  

     "I'll go right now, if you like."

     "Please?"

     "Okay."  I slowly pulled my hand away from her face and made my way 
into the hallway.  "Lex, who is her doctor?"

     "Chief Medical Officer for Amanda is a Doctor M. Marcus Hitoshi." 

     I found Dr. Hitoshi making his rounds and cornered him.  A short, 
overweight Markal, he regarded me calmly.  "Dr. Hitoshi?"

     "Dr. Shardik," he replied, shaking my hand and extending to me a 
title used rarely, but one that made me feel immediately comfortable.  I  
found I liked this little skunk.  "What can I do for you?"

     "I'm intimately concerned about your patient Amanda Ohadi."

     "Ah, yes.  I heard you were the one who found her.  Very serious 
trouble, that one.  But she will recover."

     "Good.  I understand that she's being reintroduced to sensory 
stimuli, and that included solid, tactile food this morning."  He didn't 
contradict me, and I continued.  "She asked me for sexual stimuli this 
afternoon.  Unless I am forbidden to do so, I shall."

     He glanced down at his PADD briefly, tapping the glass cover a few 
times, then nodded.  "I see no reason to forbid it.  Please.  Have fun.  
I will see to it that unless noted on her chart you will not be 
disturbed."

     "Thank you, Dr. Hitoshi."

     "Marcus, please."

     "Kennet, then," I said, shaking his hand again.

     As I turned to leave, he spoke again.  "Kennet?"

     "Yes?"

     "Please do not think this too forward of me, but I am starship 
trained and would like permission to join the crew of the Nyano 
Handele."

     "Have you applied?"

     "Yes, but there are so many good applicants."  He looked distinctly 
embarrassed, and I was glad that he wasn't interested in bullheading his 
way into the crew roster.  

     "I don't think there's anything I can do, Marcus.  I would like to 
say 'yes,' but I'm afraid that I'm as bound by the rules as everyone 
else.  If you're qualifications put you at the top of the list, so be 
it."

     He nodded.  "That was as I surmised.  Thank you anyway."

     "Thanks, Marcus.  Most especially for not putting me in a difficult 
situation."

     "That was what I wished to avoid most."


     I returned to her room a few hours later, my handbag slung under 
one arm.  "Amanda?"

     "I'm awake," she replied.  "I had a short nap this afternoon."

     "You're not afraid of sleeping, are you?"

     She shook her head weakly.  "It's not like spinning.  I enjoy it.  
It feels good to sleep, rather than spin."  She smiled.  "What did you 
bring me?"

     "Remember this?" I asked, reaching into my bag and pulling out 
Mjolnir, the largest dildo I owned.

     "You brought it!  I remember that.  Do you still play with that?"

     "Not that often at home.  After all, here I have access to Aaden."

     She laughed.  "And I brought this.  It's the same thing P'nyssa 
uses.  As one of her lovers once said, 'That's not a vibrator, that's 
construction equipment!'"  I held out a small grey ball that barely fit 
in the palm of my hand.  A 'nipple' of soft, white rubber protruded from 
it, and when I moved my middle finger over the 'on' stud it vibrated 
strongly.  "It's very powerful."

     Her arm flopped out spastically, trying to grab mine.  I took her 
hand.  "Thank you," she whispered.

     "You're very welcome," I said, climbing into bed.  "Now, let's see 
what we can do with a mostly paralyzed but sensitive Centaur lying on 
her side."

     "I'd kick you if I could!" she gasped.

     I smiled and slid my fingers under her tail region, applying 
pressure until my hand slid between her equine cheeks to fondle her 
large and lovely cunt.  "If you kicked me I wouldn't want to do this, 
dear."

     She gasped again, differently, and I smiled.  I applied more 
pressure, sliding my fingers into her, feeling the warm walls of her 
cunny around my four fingers, pressing my hand into her, my thumb 
against the soft ridge of hypersensitive flesh that formed the 
femCentaur clitoris.  She shuddered weakly as my fingers wiggled inside 
her body.

     "Now, then," I said.  I sat down on the bed and with one hand 
lifted her left rearleg up, propping it against my knee so as to leave 
her cunt and belly exposed.  "You're still a beautiful fem, Amanda."

     She didn't answer.  I slid my hand out and covered it with 
lubricant from a new bottle, slathering it against her opening, making 
sure to get her clitoral ridge, too.  Then I slid my hand back into her, 
this time tucking my thumb under the palm and sliding the entire thing 
into her.  She moaned softly, her head lolled back and her eyes glazed 
over as she watched me.

     I picked up the vibrator in my left hand and turned it on.  As my 
wrist disappeared within her I brought the white nub against her clit, 
making sure the power was on 'low.'  Her body shook; I felt her cunt 
contract around my hand, the walls of her vagina fluttering.  "Don't 
press so hard," she whispered.

     Listening, I lightened the touch with the vibrator, but my right 
hand slid deeper into her, going halfway up my forearm until I felt 
something brush my knuckles.  Turning my hand slightly, my fingers 
touched the closed ridge of her cervix.  

     I fondled her cervix gently and she gasped.  "Too much."

     "Okay," I said.  I was being careful with her because of her 
weakened condition.  I didn't want to press to hard.

     I began stroking with my right arm slowly, pulling it out until 
just the hand was within her, then sliding it back in.  With the left I 
held the vibrator, slowly circling her clitoris without really rolling 
over it.  "Faster," she whispered.

     She knew what she wanted and I appreciated that.  I turned up the 
vibrator.  The one problem with the design is that it tends to put the 
holder's hand asleep.  That doesn't seem to bother P'nyssa, but I have 
to remember that when I wield it, it needs a shock-absorbing handle.  As  
I circled her clit, I began to pump her cunt with my fist a little 
harder.

     I put the vibrator down momentarily, liberally pouring more lube 
over my arm and her cunny, then went back to play.  I won't call it 
work.  I could feel the biggest smile I'd had in ages across my face, 
not to mention a healthy erection as well.  I was too busy to deal with 
either, really; I was having too much fun fucking Amanda.  She gasped 
and, inasmuch as she could, writhed on the bed.  Her arms trembled and 
her weak fist pounded the mattress.  "Yes, yes, yes," she gasped as she 
came, her body shuddering with the exertion.  My eyes flickered to the 
silent cardiac monitor over her head; both lines were fluctuating but 
were still well within safe ranges.

     I kept at her.  I wanted her to come again, and she obliged.  One 
spasm that rocked her body pulled her leg off of mine, falling down and 
trapping my hands between them.  My hand was all the way in her, so I 
left it there and stroked gently, looking for a soft, sensitive spot 
along the lower wall of her cunt, where the two walls came together in a 
slight angle.  I slid one finger down that length as with my left hand, 
also trapped, I pressed the buzzing ball against her clit.  She gasped 
and came again, moaning and actually managing to thrash a little.

     "Please, enough," she gasped, and I heard that, snapping the 
vibrator to 'off.'  There was enough lube on everything that I managed 
to slide both hands out from between her legs without needing to move 
her leg again.

     I crawled across the bed to lay aside her belly, propping my head 
up on one hand and watching her face.  She was crying again.  "Tears of 
joy?" I said softly.

     "Yes," she whispered, managing a little nod.  "Oh, yes.  Fah, Ken, 
thank you so much, thank you for everything."

     I patted her shoulder gently, stroking down across her body.  
"You're welcome, beloved Amanda."  I smiled at her, then leaned over and 
kissed her cheek.  "Now, get better.  Get stronger.  Because you are 
coming with us."

     "I am.  I promise."

     I dampened a towel in the bathroom and returned, wiping up as much 
of the water-based lubricant as I could, then dried her off with 
another.  I dropped all the toys into my bag; I could clean them later.  
As I stood by the bed and looked down at her, her eyes had closed and 
the heartbeat monitor above her head was steady.  She had fallen asleep 
in her exertion and exhaustion.  "Good night, Amanda.  Get well soon."  
I shouldered my bag and made my way out of her room.

--
"Planetfall: Spinning Amanda"
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales 
are copyright (c) 1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  May be freely distributed 
by electronic media; hardcopies are limited to single printings for 
personal use.