"Mysterious Fainting Sickness Halts Violent Protests–

Medical Experts have no answers for recent events where the millions who showed up to protest the ouster of World Republic Chairman Charlene Cheskey, were thwarted in their efforts due to a sudden onset of fainting.

’It was terrifying,’ says Sabrina, one of only seven protesters on the scene yesterday to remain conscious throughout the events. ’I thought they were dead.’ Three hours after the mass fainting, nearly every protester woke up and silently left the protest. Three people are confirmed dead and 1,694 were transported to local hospitals with injuries.

Cheskey, removed from office through a stunning no-confidence vote called by vice-chairman Peterson moments after taking office, has not been available for comment. Peterson is also unavailable."

"All caught up?" Shane interrupts my reading as he comes out of the bathroom toweling off.

"No," I reply, but I close the screen I was reading. "Thanks for this though." I gesture toward the screen.

I had asked Shane about the internet situation, but he couldn't let me have access to Earth's internet. Or allow Earth internet to have access to me or Rick. I understand, I wouldn't want Rick to end up remotely shut down again or undo the progress we've made with my memory.

Shane had me make him a list of all the media I wanted, and then he downloaded it for me. I have a whole lot of books, movies, and games to keep me occupied now. And I'm also catching up on current events.

"I was reading about the fainting sickness. I hope nobody at Harmony gets sick." I haven't spared a thought for the job I left or the residents I cared for since I came to be on this station. But I do worry because the elderly are always vulnerable to new contagions.

Shane scoffs. "Fainting sickness."

"Yeah, I was reading an article about it."

"There's no fainting sickness, Honey."

"But—"

He shakes his head at me and rushes to explain, "It's a cover up. What I think happened, and I'm not the only one who thinks this, is that the vote of no-confidence was a coup. The vice-chairman is a SynDeCorp puppet; most of the reps belong to SynDeCorp. And the ‘fainting sickness’ was SynDeCorp ending the protests before they could start."

"I know you hate SynDeCorp," I argue. "I hate them too, but you sound nuts. Totally conspiracy, crazy-town bonkers.

"You think so?"

I nod.

"Did you know that out of the millions of people who showed up to protest, seven of them didn't faint?"

I nod again.

"They all had something in common that made them immune to this ‘fainting sickness’ Can you guess what that is?"

"What?" I ask, not bothering to guess.

"None of them had an implant. Seven people out of millions. Everyone who had an implant at the protest lost consciousness at the exact same moment."

I ponder this information for a second. I know SynDeCorp is the worst, but I also know Shane hates them and he's going to believe the worst of them in any situation. Is it reasonable to think this biotech company has staged some kind of world-government coup? To what end?

"When you say the vice-chairman is a SynDeCorp puppet, what do you mean? That she works for them? Or something else?" I ask. Does he think she's a cyborg, controlled by the corporation? It's in the realm of possibility, isn't it?

"I'm not sure." He replies. "But it's obvious that this is a coup."

Just then Rick walks through the door. "You two look tense, what's going on?" He asks.

"Oh," I reply nonchalantly, "Just catching up on current events."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"You mean the coup? Crazy right?" he shakes his head. "Did you read the one about the refugees?"

"Not yet, but I saw the headline."

"Jonas Hill and the whole board of HillCo have left Earth, they're coming here," he tells me excitedly, "And their families and staff. Everybody who agreed to leave with them on short notice."

Holy shit. This place is about to get crowded.

"But why call them refugees? Are they calling themselves that?"

"No, that's another group. Apparently there is a barge just chock full of people, like five thousand, on its way to the Mars colony."

"Yeah," Shane pipes in, "and there is no way the Mars colony–which is falling apart by the way–can take them."

"So I guess they'll all end up here," I say in a hollow voice.

"If they're lucky," Shane answers. "That barge was made for ferrying people to Mars, and this is its first flight in more than five years. If they make it there, they’ll have to take three months to redirect to the fold. And then they'd have to travel through it which it was not meant to do."

"They may not have enough food either," Rick adds. "They left so quickly, I'd be surprised if they packed accordingly."

"This is crazy," I say. "So there's about to be thousands of people here?"

"Yes," Shane answers. Rick nods.

"And the whole board of HillCo."

They both nod.

"But they hate me! They all know I was a corporate spy." I say.

"Babe, it'll be fine," as Shane is reassuring me, Rick hugs me from behind. I don't know how he can be sure of that, but I try to believe him.

"But Rick and I aren't even supposed to be here. And what about what happened in bio-storage? Aren't we going to get in trouble for that?"

Shane shakes his head, "No; Jared is a jerk, and nobody likes him. Everyone will know he got exactly what he deserved. There's no cops or laws out here; so as long as the board values me, there won't be trouble."

I don't argue with him, but I don't exactly agree with him. Does anybody really deserve to be beaten pretty much to death and left on the floor?

"And you're a nurse," Rick reminds me. "I bet there isn't a single person with medical training on the way here. You're sure to be in high demand. They're going to be glad you're here."

Well, that might be true. At least it's a positive way to look at it. Really, there are a lot of positive aspects to our current situation. Who knows what might have happened to us if we were still on Earth? We are all three lucky to be here. Rick and Shane have settled into an easy camaraderie now that everything is out in the open. Shane isn’t bullying Rick anymore and Rick isn’t suspicious of Shane’s actions and motives. They are both totally devoted to me. So as long as I don’t favor one over the other, I think we’re good. If we would have been on Earth, who knows what would have happened to Rick and I? We’re officially recalled SynDeCorp property, so we’d be in a warehouse somewhere, surely? Or destroyed.

So I suppose, all things considered, we’ve actually got it pretty good.

“I’m going to shower. Try not to worry, alright?” Shane says with a kiss to my forehead.

***

Later, while Shane is taking that shower, Rick takes the opportunity to demonstrate what a lucky girl I am. He has me naked and splayed out on the bed, licking my clit and fucking me with his long fingers when he pauses and reaches into the drawer of bedside table, pulling out a vibrator.

“Wha—where did that come from?” I ask breathlessly as he turns it on, a hum filling the room.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, rubbing the wand through my folds to settle against my clit. Oooh, that’s intense.

He moves my hand down and tells me to hold it there, then he wraps his arms around my thighs and pulls me right to the edge of the bed where he kneels worshipfully, pushing my knees and splaying me open wider. He devours me, fucking me with his tongue. The vibrator is relentlessly pushing me toward orgasm, and Rick puts his hand over mine, pressing it more firmly and—I lose it. I come and my body tries to arch up off the bed, but Rick holds me down and continues fucking me through it, his tongue—

I can’t. Can’t take it. I yank the vibrator away from my sensitized flesh and toss it onto the blankets beside me.

As I catch my breath I feel Rick grab my thighs again, lifting me a few inches as he stands, aligning his cock with my entrance. I squeal as he fucks me, spearing my over-sensitive pussy. It’s exquisite. It’s torture.

“How’s your view?” he asks.

What? I open my eyes and see that he’s not speaking to me. Shane is standing in the bathroom doorway, naked. His hand is on his hard cock as he watches Rick fuck me.

“You like watching me fuck your wife? Want to see her come all over my cock?”

Shane doesn’t respond, but his gaze is intense as he watches.

“Look how fucking hot she is for it.”

I—I might come again. I move my hand down, fingers bracketing my clit as Rick fucks me so hard, so good at an inhuman, punishing pace.

“That’s it. Come for me, love. Such a good girl for us—”

“Ahh— Ahh—” I vocalize nonsense. Then Shane is there, kneeling on the bed beside me, wrapping my free hand around his hard cock, forcing me to squeeze down and then—

I’m coming again. My legs wrap around Rick’s waist as my pussy pulses on his cock, my whole body jerks with the force of it and Shane is coming too. On my hand, my tits and my neck.

“Fuck—I—” Rick loses coherence as he comes, I swear I can feel it when he does, the pulsing as his cum soaks my inner pussy.

Rick leans over me, not caring about the mess Shane left, and kisses my forehead.

“I love you so much Honey,” he says in between forehead kisses. I know he’s said it before, but this feels significant. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down to kiss.

I didn’t notice when he left, but Shane comes back with two wettened washcloths and gives one to Rick, then uses the other to gently clean me up.

When we snuggle into bed, I feel a warm contentedness. This is my life. No matter what happens, as long as I have Rick and Shane, everything is going to be perfect.