"Sounds ambitious," I admit.
"Quiet." The Overseer sits back and speaks softly, as if sharing a confidence. "This particular Vault was to be just an interim warehouse for certain new drugs being developed, and we still have some of them on hand. Now ... I can't really drug over nine hundred women. We have a new civilization to get on with, and burdening them with any drugs would be frankly risky. But there is one highly proven drug which we can use on you. There's nothing really to be done about basic natural female interest in you, but I can do three things. I can drug you, making you a functional eunuch. I can control your movements and strip you of any privacy. And I can pass and enforce a law against unauthorized socializing with you."
"Wait -- what was that first one?" It sounds really severe.
"Not an actual eunuch, just one in ... spirit, shall we say. The drug is called detestin. It deadens all male physical sexual response."
"You mean ... I can't ever ... "
"Exactly. Women can stare at your ass, but I'll rebuke them if they get too silly about it -- and so far as their interest goes, you will never be able to ... close the deal, so to speak."
I get to wondering if this rather repressed-sounding woman has ever heard of cunnilingus, but I decide to sort that out for myself. "Yes, ma'am."
"I'll start routine manufacture of the formula and have Dr. Jiang dispense it to you. In the meantime, we will work out your technical maintenance duties. But for now, I may as well show you my housing unit."
Her place, like the rest of the Vault, is quite humble. "Girls!" she calls.
Two identical blondes, I'm guessing in their early twenties, happily appear. "Hi, Mom, what is it?" one asks.
"Girls, Mr. Doe here will be staying with us indefinitely, until we can find less awkward accommodations."
"Sure thing!" says the other.
"And, Mr. Doe," the Overseer adds, leaning in close to my ear, "I trust my daughters implicitly."
I'm not sure how to feel. The Overseer leaves, and one of the girls smiles brightly.
"Hi! I'm Kimba, and this is Kendra!"
"I'm ," I reply, and already I'm dreading having to live with two such lively, lovely, shapely young women while this detestin drugs kicks me right in the nuts. At least, I remember, there is the mind. I recall how, for George Orwell's Winston Smith, the freedom of the mind was everything. |