C.U.B.E.

≈ Ch. 41:HARD CHOICES ≈

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Who’s Who in this chapter

In this chapter, Kareem announces that he can’t stay at the Cube: the new world without UBA’s and sexual control calls for action inside and outside the Cube. Lance is invited by Perry Yukon to attend the new BDSM show at the infamous ‘Uranus Club’.

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~ The same old Kareem ~

Lance opened his eyes and looked at Kareem, stirring in bed next to him; behind Kareem, Aldritch was soundly sleeping, after the intense sex session of last night, when Kareem dominated him while Lance worshipped him.

“Look at him…” – Lance whispered to Kareem, pointing his chin to Aldritch – “When sleeping, he’s so cute, so handsome, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess he is…” – Kareem replied with a doubtful expression – “I trust your judgement in matters of men.”

“Oh, come on! By now, you’re into men as much as I am!”

“I’m not into men” – Kareem said seriously – “I’m into you. It’s different. I wish I could be like you, but I’m not, and it’s hard, sometimes…”

“Hard?” – Lance inquired, frowning – “Why?”

“I’m deeply monogamous, you know it; it’s a matter of love and respect to the person I share my life with. Outside, as a straight man, I never found that terrible being faithful to my woman and giving up on all the other women, and I guess the same applies to gay men. But I’m a straight guy who’s in love with a man and… uhm… giving up to womanly love altogether is a hard choice to make. Do you think I just forgot that part of me? I can’t, Lance, I’m still the same old Kareem, only with less moral restraints.”

“I… I’m sorry I can’t give you all you need…” – Lance murmured, suddenly sad, but Kareem brought again the smile on his face with a sweet kiss: “You’re all a man can dream of…”

“Oh, you’re talking about Lance…” – Aldritch blurred, waking up – “I hoped it was me the dream man making your eyes heart-shaped… You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“I have quite a precise idea!” – Kareem laughed, getting up – “Come, you two, let’s make some breakfast. We have to talk.”

They moved to the kitchenette, naked as they were, and without even discussing the tasks, Aldritch started peeling the fruit, Lance cooked some eggs and Kareem brewed some coffee and took cereals and milk.

They started eating in silence, and after a while Aldritch said: “Thank you for letting me stay here tonight. I couldn’t stay alone, knowing that in this very moment the A.I. is erasing one by one her precious memory banks. It’s heartbreaking…”

“But it’s also a new dawn on our society” – Kareem comforted him – “No more Uranian Behavior, no more UBA’s, we have re-appropriated the intimacy of our sexual life.”

“And no more Cube!” – Lance suddenly exclaimed, as the thought hit his mind – “We’re all here because the A.I. issued a Uranian Behavior Assessment against us, but now there’s nothing that supports our confinement here! We’ll soon be free! Aldritch, what do you think? When will the doors of the Cube open up?”

“It will take some time, possibly a very long time” – Aldritch replied, serious – “In this moment the engineers are panicking, desperately trying to stop the A.I. from erasing her memory banks; but without me they just grope in the dark, and they will curse who decided to ‘eradicate’ me. Then, for a couple days, they’ll keep the secret about the A.I. malfunction, until they realize that the damage is permanent and unrecoverable. Eventually, they’ll inform the Minister of Moral Wellness… who in all likely will keep the secret for an undefined amount of time, because he can’t tolerate the mere idea of having us coming out of the Cubes.”

“But ‘someone’ may spill the tea” – Kareem interjected, glancing intensely at Aldritch – “Someone like me, for instance…”

“Yes!” – Lance exclaimed, leaping on the chair – “You said many journalists want to interview you! You can tell-- Wait, but this means… that you’re going away, Kareem?”

“Lance, my sweet Lance…” – Kareem replied with infinite tenderness, taking Lance’s hand – “I must go. It’s too important. Aldritch has chosen the word’s happiness over his own, he made a big sacrifice, and we can’t be any less. I’ll soon have to go.”

“Then bring me with you!”

“It’s impossible. I can’t use the door in the basement, as it’s locked from inside. I’ll have to find another way to go out, and if I’m alone it will be easier, as I’m not anymore a guest of the Cube, unlike you. And besides, the Cube needs you here, Lance. This thing is too big, and the people of the Cube will need help and guidance.”

“What’s all this caution for?” – Lance exclaimed with passion – “You just tell the world what’s happening, the doors of the Cube will open up and we all will be free, at last! Easy as that!”

“Yeah, it’s wonderful, right? For the three of us, at least. But take Perry Yukon, for instance. He was brough here when he was nineteen, now he’s sixty-four: he’s been here for almost fifty years, his entire adult life. And he lives with Ol’ Pete, our plumber, who in few months will be so old that he’ll be moved to a senior residence on the 3rd floor. What life awaits them outside? And what about the guys of the 4th floor? Can you really think that just because the UBA’s are now wastepaper there’s a place for them in our society? It will take time, Lance, a long time. For the immediate future, all those people need a safe place where to live, a safe place like the Cube.”

“I… I never thought at the Cube as a safe place…” – Lance replied in a low voice, realizing how terribly true was the scenario depicted by Kareem.

“And your task is to guide the people of the Cube toward their new life. You’re well-known here, and everybody loves and trusts you. Talk to Perry: the two of you will be able to govern the ship through the storm. And while you work your ass off here, I’ll do the same outside: I’ll make them listen to me, I have my way with words and I’ll have a great visibility.”

Lance was appalled: “But… this means… that we’ll have to part. How can we possibly stay together if you go away and I stay here?”

“I’ll find a way” – Kareem reassured him – “I’ll make it happen. Trust me, Lance. Now, first thing you should inform Sean, he must know what is soon going to happen. Don’t worry, I’m not going away, I’ll be here when you come back.”

 

~ Mild itch ~

They all got dressed, and Lance headed to the Police Station, feeling his heart as heavy as a boulder. When alone, Kareem looked at Aldritch and asked: “Do you need to go home?”

“The last thing I want is to be alone” – Aldritch said, trying to soldier on – “It’s almost noon, the final act of this tragedy is about to happen, all our bio-chips will permanently deactivate the sex sensors. Bring me to a crowded place, Kareem, please. I need to see people, I need to remind to myself why I had to harm my beloved A.I…”

At that time of the day, the most crowded places of the Cube were the big Department Store between Iota and Lambda Avenue and the Virtual Beach on the 2nd Floor. It wasn’t a hard choice.

They took the elevator to the 2nd Floor and then hurried along Kappa Avenue, because there were only few minutes to noon. When they got to the Virtual Beach, they sat at a table at a beachside bar, with an ample view over the many guys leisurely lying on the sand or sitting on the sunbeds.

“Will it hurt?” – Kareem asked, a bit worried – “When the bio-chips will deactivate the sensors, I mean.”

“I really don’t know, I don’t think so. Probably we won’t feel anything at all, or at most a mild itch. But we’ll soon know, it’s noon” – Aldritch said, watching his phone – “The sex sensors will shut down in three… two… one…”

What happened next was hard to describe. All the men, of any age, including Kareem, Aldritch and the waiter coming toward them with their beverages, gasped loud and screamed, taken aback by the most intense orgasm of their life.

“AWW… FUUUUCK…!!” – people moaned loud all around, in an incredible chorus of manly voices, grabbing their crotches. Some fell to their knees, overwhelmed by the potency of the climax, other steadied themselves on a sunshade, a wall or a friend. Their swimwear got wet with sperm, and some shots were so powerful that the thin fabric couldn’t hold them.

The waiter bringing the beverages to Kareem and Aldritch let out a loud “GAWDDD!!” and let the tray fall to the floor; he quickly took his cock out of his tight uniform pants and sprayed his seed all over the floor, wearing an expression of orgasmic bliss; his hand barely moved along the shaft, because the pleasure was already almost devastating, and an additional friction would’ve been unbearable.

Downstairs, at the Police station, Lance was chatting with Sean and the Romano brothers, happily informing them that the UBA’s (and the stains on them) were a thing of the past, when the orgasmic hurricane landed on them out of the blue. Lance was swept away by the sheer unexpected pleasure exploding in his groin, but what blew off his mind was watching the three straight cops moaning loud, lost in their own private nirvana: their eyes rolled back, their mouth sagged open and their hands ran down to their crotches to clutch their throbbing cocks, trapped into the tight pants.

Rod’s shirt, under the pressure of the massive chest, popped open, revealing the cop’s thick body hair; Gary hurriedly opened his fly and fished out his thick cock, shooting his man-cream all over the place. Sean, always modest, leaned on a wall, desperately tried to gracefully cope with the sensory overload, but couldn’t stop a few chocked moans from escaping his lips.

From the open doors, they could hear similar moans and screams of pleasure coming from the street, and the monitors connected to the many security cameras showed men all around the Cube prey of the same wrecking climax they were living.

Lance lost track of time, as it seemed that his orgasm was endless. But thankfully, at long last, the contractions slowed down and trailed off, leaving his body drained and his mind numb.

At the Virtual Beach, under the shade of the beachfront bar, Kareem exhaled loudly and relaxed on his chair; he felt his head spinning, and clearly everybody around him was feeling the same. The young waiter, blushing beet red, tried to pick up the broken glasses murmuring unintelligible excuses, but oblivious of having his dripping dick still out of the pants.

Kareem turned to Aldritch with wide eyes: “And you call that a mild itch??”

Aldritch was panting, shaking his head and replied: “They can’t keep secret this...”

“What you mean?”

“Kareem… In the last couple minutes the entire world population experienced the most intense orgasm of their life! Men, women, girls and boys who never had an orgasm, old people who haven’t had one in ages, priest, politicians, anchormen reading the news, artists performing in front of an audience, every single human being felt the same powerful, almost devastating pleasure we just felt. It’s… huge, Kareem, too huge to keep it secret.”

“Are you implying that I don’t need anymore to go out and tell the truth to the world?”

“I’m implying that you must go out now, Kareem! Before the Ministry comes out with some bullshit! The Government doesn’t want people to freely enjoy sex without the A.I. checking and assessing them. But you have to tell them!”

Kareem leapt on his feet as fast as his drained body let him and looked at the wet mess his crotch had become. Aldritch urged him: “Everybody is in the same conditions, there’s no time to change clothes, go! Find an important TV station and let them interview you!”

“OK, but tell Lance what happened. Tell him, Aldritch!”

“I will, now go!”

But he didn’t. Lost in his painful elucubrations, he left his phone on the table and went home. And there, he crashed on the bed and fell in a soothing slumber for many long hours.

And when Sean McLaughlin, looking at the security monitors, believed he just saw Kareem in the Entrance Hall giving a kiss to Lionel and running away, he just thought his numbed mind got a hallucination.

 

~ Meeting at Uranus ~

Lance went home, and found it deserted. He sat on the couch and waited for Kareem to come back, but he had a bad feeling. He couldn’t call Kareem on the phone, because his phone had been confiscated when he was ‘unarrested’; so he tried to call Aldritch, but he got no answer. The time ticked, the daylight faded into a bluish dusk, and Lance decided to text Perry: not only because they had to talk, but mostly because Perry could be a rock for anyone in trouble or in pain: that was his special gift, and Lance badly needed it.

«Hi Perry, may I come and talk to you? It’s important.»

«Lance! You sexy thing!» – Perry promptly replied – «Meet me at the Uranus Club, there’s a new show that sounds intriguing!»

«The Uranus? It’s in the Barren! And I’m not really in the mood for a BDSM show…»

«You don’t want to miss this one, take my word. Come, son. And whatever your problem, Uncle Perry will find a solution!»

If there was something that Lance always found irresistible, was that sweet ‘son’ that Perry rarely bestowed on the guys he had a soft spot for. But the Barren… Lance didn’t like that desolated place; he’d been at the Uranus only once in his life, as it was the worst lowdown dive in the entire Cube. Their BDSM shows were notorious, and Lance believed that most ‘actors’ performing there didn’t do that of their own free will.

He changed into a totally anonymous and unflattering outfit and headed to the 2nd Floor; he turned around the corner of the Rowdy Hole and ventured into the bare space of the Barren, nervously looking around, but luckily the place was deserted. He quickly crossed the concrete expanse, went past the Seedy Sip and soon arrived in front of a shabby wooden building; over the door there was a flickering neon sign reading ‘Uranus’ and right under it, another neon sign read “wide open”.

«Very funny…» – Lance nervously thought, pushing the squeaking door. Inside, the only source of light were the many neon signs hung on the wall, each casting a trembling light in its own color. Lance scanned the dozen rickety tables of the club and spotted Perry sitting at what was probably considered the V.I.P. one, right in front of the wide raised stage.

“Hey Perry…” – Lance saluted, sitting at the table, and Perry smiled wide, pushing a glass toward him: “I’m so glad you could make it! I took the liberty to order a ‘Black Spire’ for you.”

“I… I don’t think I like the look of it… What is it made of?”

“Dunno and don’t care” – Perry laughed – “Drink it, and you’ll feel all your troubles vanish in the thin air, granted.”

“Perry, I have big news to relate, serious stuff” – Lance began, taking a sip of the purple liquid filling his glass – “‘Triple-A’ Archer has tampered the A.I. memory, and all the sexual data stored in the last… centuries, I think, went lost forever. And the bio-chips of the entire world population deactivated the sex sensors.”

“Wait, was that what happened at noon?” – Perry exclaimed under his breath, grabbing his crotch – “Fuck, I didn’t cum so hard since I was a teen! Too bad it was a one-time thing…”

“Perry, be serious! Kareem claims that…”

Lance’s passionate speech was roughly interrupted by a loud music coming from behind the dusted curtain hiding the stage and a coarse voice announcing: “Hello everyone! Daddies, boys, masters and slaves! Are you ready for the show? The management declines all responsibility for possible heart failures, you’ve been warned!”

 

~ An unwilling man-whore ~

The curtain slid sideways, but revealed only one half of the stage, the one right in front of Lance’s and Perry’s table. Lance opened wide his eyes, looking at former Officer Reeves naked, in a wide ‘X’ pose, with his feet tied to hooks on the floor and his arms hanging from long ropes coming down from the ceiling.

The cop was rock-hard, his cock throbbed wildly, as if he was on the verge of an explosive orgasm, and his entire skin was drenched with sweat. He couldn’t talk, because a big ball gag was fastened to his mouth, but the desperate glare in his eyes spoke volumes.

“Gentlemen and gentleboys…” – a tall bald man in leather gear announced, while slowly stroking Reeves’ cock, allow me to introduce Officer Reeves! He’s such a man-whore! He’s always horny, but he can only cum if a real man fucks him in the ass! Look at him, he’s desperate to cum, but he can’t… until his ass is properly drilled! It’s so easy to torment him! Look at this…”

The bald man moved to Reeves’ back, reached around to his nipples and began flicking his short nails over the cop’s nipples at a fast pace. Reeves reacted like he was getting an electric shock and stiffened, furiously shaking his head and uttering unintelligible screams that were muffled by the ball gag.

“Oh, poor boy…!” – the tormenter mocked, lowering one hand on the cop’s cock to stroke it in earnest – “Are you trying to say something? Can’t hear you…!”

Reeves, feeling both his cock and his sensitive nipples manhandled, tried to scream as loud as he could, making the veins of his neck bulge out; his eyes got wet and he seemed about to lose his mind. The bald man, with a condescending grin, said: “OK, boy, let’s hear what you’ve got to say…”, and removed the cop’s ball gag.

“Please Master let me CUUUUMMM!!!!” – Reeves screamed, desperate – “Please please please! I need to cum SO BAD!!”

“Why, I’ve been edging you only for four days” – the Master replied with fake disdain – “and you’re already begging me to let you cum? Tsk tsk! You’ve not been trained properly…”

Lance was appalled. He knew that the BDSM shows at the Uranus Club weren’t for the faint of heart, and he definitely hated Reeves for all the evil things he did as an officer of the Sex Police, but he wasn’t prepared to witness such a harsh treatment. He knew well that Reeves had his bio-chip permanently reprogrammed, and he couldn’t possibly cum if his prostate wasn’t heavily stimulated: the furious sexual assault he had to endure for four long days must’ve put him in a state of unbearable arousal, and sure enough every flick on his nipples and every caress on his cock felt to him like a real torture.

When Reeves, glancing around at the audience, recognized Lance, shot at him such a desperate look that Lance couldn’t stay put anymore. He leapt to his feet and addressed the muscular man in leather gear with restrained passion: “Master… I’m pleading you on behalf of this man… Let him cum, please…. If you go on tormenting him, you’re going to hurt him…”

The man was hit both by Lance’s youthful handsomeness and his very respectful tone… as is appropriate for a boy addressing a Master. He looked down at Lance and let a half smile appear on his face: “You’re a charmer, boy, and your ardent plea has not gone unnoticed. Gentlemen! Should I accept the boy’s plea and let this man cum?”

The audience started clapping and whistling: “Yeah!”, “Fuck the cum out of him!”, “Split his hole open wide, man!”

“As it is decided, so it shall be done!” – the Master solemnly announced, and moved to the backstage, to then come out shortly holding what looked like a hammer drill with a large dildo mounted on its head.

Lance gasped and tried to intercede again: “Master… I didn’t mean…”

“You’re pushing your luck, boy” – the man menacingly replied, pulling the trigger to make the drill briefly run at full speed. Lance quietly sat back at his table, unsure if he wanted to see. Perry glanced sideways and commented: “Do you want to know how many times he roughly shoved his fucking nightstick into my hole? Countless. He knew I never give my ass to anyone, and enjoyed punishing me that way. That dildo is made of silicon, his nightstick was made of fucking hard cold steel. I never let him see, but it hurt like hell, Lance. Don’t be in pain for him, he doesn’t deserve your sympathy.”

The Master crouched behind the bound cop and abruptly shoved the dildo all the way up his ass, making him scream in pain. Reeves wasn’t a virgin, but almost, as in his life he’d been fucked only once, by O’Rourke, when they were sharing the cell. The dildo wasn’t as thick as O’Rourke’s cock, but still it stretched Reeves’ unprepared ass causing a sharp pain.

“And now…” – the bald leather Master said aloud – “Let it RAIN!!”

He pulled the trigger of the drill and the dildo started pistoning into Reeve’s hole at a madly pace, cruelly crushing his prostate and making his entire ass bounce and shake under the massive vibrations. Reeves opened his mouth wide, but at first nothing came out, as the overwhelming sensation was choking his throat. The drill went on abusing Reeve’s hole for a short while until… “AAAHHIIEEEEEEE!!!” – the cop screamed out of his lungs, while his cock started shooting a barrage of white bullets that flew down to the audience, splatting on the front row tables, including Lance’s.

The massive ejaculation went on for a long while, as the pressure on the prostate was huge and the cop’s sexual tension had been kept at dangerously high levels for four long days. Reeves gasped for the lack of air and his cock went on shooting like a fire hose for many endless moments. Eventually, the contractions stopped and the ejaculation ended, leaving Reeves drained and numbed.

But the high noise of the hammer drill running at full speed didn’t stop. “GAAAWWDD!!!” – Reeves soon screamed, suffering for the cruel post-orgasm torment – “STOOOOPP!!!”

“Bad boy, already out of cum?” – the Master mocked – “Naahh… I bet there’s much more into those blue balls!”

The audience went wild and started chanting “Cum! Cum! Cum!”, while the Master laughed coarsely and pushed the vibrating dildo even deeper into Reeve’s ass.

The bound cop resigned to his fate and let the drill play havoc on his sensitive prostate, feeling another mindless, cruel orgasm being forced out of his loins. “Not this way…” – he whined, but his words got lost in the noise of the drill. And then, all at once, he felt another massive climax explode into his groin, and once again he stiffened and let his throbbing cock shoot another deluge of pent-up man juice.

When, at long last, the incredible ejaculation ended, Reeves felt his knees go weak and fainted, hanging from the ropes bolted on the ceiling. Only then the Master stopped his wicked tool and raised it in the air, like a trophy, amidst the loud cheers of the audience.

 

~ Specular torments ~

“Gentlemen and gentleboys” – the muscular Master announced – “don’t go away! The show is not over!”

The curtain moved sideways, hiding the motionless Reeves and revealing another restrained ‘slave’. Even before looking at his face, Lance recognized the hairy body, the Police hat and the tall Police boots he was wearing: he was Captain O’Rourke, tied to a padded bench tilted forward, to let the audience have a nice view of him and the torment he was undergoing.

Strong ropes immobilized him with his legs up and apart, and a mechanical fucking machine was rhythmically driving a very thick dildo in and out of the Captain’s ass, but very slowly, just to keep him ‘warm’.

“We could say tonight we showcase specular torments!” – the leather Master said aloud – “Just like his subordinate, Captain O’Rourke, too, is a complete man-whore who can cum only if his ass is properly manhandled. But while Officer Reeves had been denied an orgasm for four days, the Captain, here, just can’t stop cumming! He doesn’t get any sexual satisfaction from his orgasms, though, because no one ever touches his cock or his sensitive nipples, but… who cares? Ha ha ha!! What do you say, gentlemen? Should we make him cum over and over?”

“Fuck yeah!!”, “Give it hard to the damn Captain!”, the audience shouted, stomping their feet on the wooden floor. The Master flashed a wicked grin and pressed a button on a remote controller. The dildo moved almost entirely out of the Captain’s ass and stood still, while a thick silence fell on the audience.

Then, all at once, the machine forcefully shoved the thick dildo all the way into the Captain’s ass and held it there, making the man feeling stuffed like a turkey. After a moment, the dildo started rotating and vibrating wildly with a loud buzz. O’Rourke tilted his head back and yelled “OH-MY-FUCKIN-GAAAWD!!, overwhelmed by the maddening pressure on his prostate.

Again, the dildo came out of the cop’s ass, stood still for a moment and sprang forward, to then rotate and buzz again, and then again and again. Every time O’Rourke stiffened and groaned, unwilling to let the wicked heartless device force him to cum, but he knew that it was a lost battle.

The machine repeated the shove-rotate-buzz cycle one last time and O’Rourke couldn’t hold back his climax any longer; he uttered a choked scream and his cock started flooding his navel with long ropes of white cream. O’Rourke grunted for the deep dismay of ejaculating wildly without getting any particular satisfaction, and dearly hoped that someone could grant him some actual pleasure.

“Please… Please Master, stroke my cock…! Just once!” – he begged, and the bald man huffed: “Should I lower myself to give pleasure to a slave? How daring! I think you should be punished for that!”

He took again the remote control and turned a knob; the machine responded speeding up and crashing into O’Rourke’s ass mercilessly, while the buzzing vibration became continuous. “FUUUUCK!!” – O’Rourke screamed, while another wrecking and unsatisfying orgasm made his bound body convulse helplessly and more white streaks covered his lower body.

“Cum! Cum! Cum!” – the audience chanted again, stomping their feet, and O’Rourke couldn’t help but comply: every seven or eight thrusts of the buzzing dildo, his cock spurted more seed, until his balls were completely drained, but still his tortured prostate pumped mindlessly, in an almost endless orgasm.

“Someone stroke my cock… please…” – O’Rourke whined but all he got was a coarse laughter from the Master.

Lance couldn’t stand the show any longer and leapt to his feet: “I can’t watch this a minute more!” – he nervously said to Perry – “Sorry to disrupt your entertaining night out, but you have to come with me, we must talk! I’m serious, Perry. And besides, no matter how evil O’Rourke and Reeves are, I can’t stand them… raped this way!”

“They signed a contract, Lance” – Perry revealed, with a fatherly tone – “A two-week gig. And the Uranus pays big money to them, with a special bonus if they plead, cry and ‘faint’ in a believable way. Apparently, they totally earned their bonus! But you look deadly serious…”

“Let’s walk home” – Lance suggested – “And while walking I’ll tell you everything.

And while crossing the Barren, and then the more welcoming Avenues of the Cube, Lance did tell everything to Perry: about Aldritch tampering the A.I.’s memory banks, the subsequent destruction of all the Uranian Behavior Assessments, and Kareem’s unexpected visit.

“Kareem? Here at the Cube?” – Perry exclaimed, surprised, and Lance confirmed: “Yes, and he says that the doors of the Cube could soon open up for us to go away. We’ll soon be free, Perry! We’ll be able to go back to our lives!”

Perry wasn’t excited and happy as Lance expected, not in the least: “Free? To go back to our lives, you say? My life is here, Lance! I didn’t have the time to build a life, before they brought me here…”

“So, Kareem was right… You’d rather stay here in the Cube, if you’d be given a choice…”

“I can think at a hundred people who would likely do the same” – Perry said gravely – “and only within my personal acquaintances. For many of us, the Cube… is a shell, a nest. We didn’t choose to live here, but we live here nevertheless. You’re young, I understand that for you it’s different, you have all your life ahead of you. But someone in his silvery years like me… where is he supposed to go, out of here? What has the outer world to offer to people like me? If we’re sent away from the Cube I… I don’t really know how I’ll go on living.”

Lance stopped in the middle of the Avenue and looked intensely at Perry, deeply touched by his words. And then threw his arms around him, holding him tight: “I’ll take care of you, Perry… Whatever happens, I’ll take care of you, outside…”

“My boy… My sweet boy…” – Perry replied, surprised by the unusual sensation of his eyes getting wet – “We’ll find a way. Not just for you and me, we have to think at the people of the Cube.”

“Kareem was right again…” – Lance said, recoiling and looking at Perry with renewed energy – “He said that you and I could govern the ship through the storm.”

“Ha ha ha! Such a smart guy. Yeah, it’ll be a hell of a storm, but the two of us can make it, we’ll be able to govern the ship, right?”

“Aye aye, Captain!” – Lance joked, snapping at attention, making Perry laugh again.

-~~~≈≈≈ooOoo≈≈≈~~~-

In the next chapter: During a long night, when most of the Cube is asleep, Lance explains to Sean McLaughlin the recent events and reveals many secrets; the Concierge Lionel gets a harsh and mostly undeserved reprimand, and then meets Boubaker, the Head of Security, and something unexpected sparkles between them.