The wind had died down and it had became stuffy. The air had thickened like jelly after a day of humidity. I walked over to the railing and leaned against it, looking down, to where the treetops stretched like clouds of green smoke in a multi-tiered terrace. Birds, roosting for the night, chirped in the foliage. The setting sun hung in a pink haze over the sea. Below, a ship crawled lazily along a snail’s pace.

I imagined what Samchang would be like if Gee had never come here. Perhaps it would have remained forgotten in the middle of the ocean, without roads or hotels, an amazing jungle island where fishing boats go out to sea at dawn, coconuts ripen on palm trees, the sun shines by day and the moon rises at night, year after year, century after century.

“If it wasn’t Gee, someone else would have done it,” Irene interjected. “Sooner or later tourists would have found out about Samchang. It was inevitable, just like the Human Energy Factory. With or without a partner Kuhn had opened it.”

“Where is it?” I turned to her. “How far is it from here?”

“Not very far. At the southern tip of the Island.

“And how long ago?”

“Right after the he broke up with Gee. The factory has only expanded since then. As far as I know, all the ‘cream’ is usually shipped there along with the latex. Remember those guys in black? They work for Kuhn, drive around the Island, download the loot into a battery case and bring it to the factory.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “how did they do it in the sixties? “They” didn’t have computers back then, and I’m guessing “they” didn’t have mediators either.”

“There were computers, but only in the military. Kuhn had hoped that Gee with his intelligence connections would solve this problem, but it didn’t work out. So “they” used katoeys and girls like me as live storage devices that stored other people’s energy the old-fashioned way. The “batteries,” as “they” called them, worked in brothels, pumped themselves full, and then they were taken to the factory and… burned.

“Are you serious?” I went cold with horror. “Like garbage?”

“Look, Vik, I don’t even want to think about how it used to happen,” she shuddered. “All I know is that ritual killing were common in those years. The Dark Ones disguised the release of accumulated energy as sacrifice, and I’m glad I didn’t come to this Island before progress got here.”

“What’s going on in the factory now? Have you been there?”

“Yeas, I have,” she sighed. “There’s a lab where Chinese scientists work. They are distilling the ‘cream’ into something, but no one has told me the details...” “Wait, what did you do there?” I didn’t understand.

Irene looked at me pitifully, as if begging me to stop torturing her with questions, but something in my face made her realize that it would be better to come clean.

“The Dark Ones feared that the Chinese might misappropriate some of the energy during the transformation and become uncontrollable. So “they” always kept them entertained…”

“Was that you?” I looked intently into her eyes.

She nodded silently.

As it turned out, Irene, posing as a lab assistant, got into the minds of scientists and fished out their hidden erotic fantasies. At the end of the work week, a pleasant “bonus” awaited them. The men were invited to a relaxation room and put into a trance, where they were shown pornographic films according to “individual” scenarios, so that there was no energy left for irrelevant research.

Scientists’ fantasies were usually not original. Irene thought Asians dreamed of orgies with Pokemon, aliens with dragonfly eyes in latex bodysuits. But it turned out that they were more attracted to shy schoolgirls, although some of them liked to crawl at the feet of arrogant busty blondes in leather with whips in their hands.

One day she saw herself in the group leader’s fantasies – in a white robe on a table, her hands tied and her knees spread. It amused and even aroused her. She wanted to know him better...

The Chinese man was handsome, smart, and rumored to be on the verge of some important discovery. But at the average energy level he could not manage a breakthrough, and Irene decided to help him.

Secretly from everyone, she began to disconnect him from the general “sessions”, and then even arranged a private session, “dreaming” to him in a cherished robe. The virtual “therapy” was a success, the erotomaniac from the Celestial Empire became stronger and soon realized that he had to go to the mainland to continue his experiments.

I asked Irene why the Dark Ones wouldn’t let him go in that case. Because, she replied, “they” didn’t want the factory to be known outside the Island, so “they” offered to bring everything he needed for his work here. But the scientist insisted on doing his own thing, and since he couldn’t break the contract, the only option was to flee. It was a risk, but he managed to convince his favorite “lab assistant” that he was acting in the interest of humanity. She had connections among the rubber pickers, and they helped organize a soon-to-be genius to escape.

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By the time the Dark Ones found out, the scientist was already out of “their” reach. Irene had managed to cover her tracks, her guilt unproven. She had been assigned a matter of special importance, so she was not easily disposed of.

It was then that she met the monk for the first time.

The thing is, having lost hope of reconciling with Gee, Kuhn, with Irene’s help, planned to get into “inner sanctum” – his mind – to destroy the memories of the conflict between them, and to find out if his ex-lover still had affectionate feelings for him.

Most importantly, he wanted to prevent the monk from “converting” the dead, as had happened to Austin – the Dark Ones could not allow such liberties on “their” Island.

Irene eagerly set to work, believing she could break the stubborn old man in an instant. But no matter how hard the red-haired hacker tried, no matter what tricks she used, nothing worked. Gee controlled himself perfectly even in his sleep, not letting anyone into his subconscious.

There was one last resort: live intimacy.

Kuhn knew that women’s charms were unlikely to work, but he didn’t want to involve outsiders, and there was no guarantee that it would help, since Gee wasn’t what he used to be.

So during the Council, the monk was given a lethal dose of stimulants in his tea, to which his body was powerless, and Irene was summoned. Alone with him, she was supposed to incapacitate the ideological opponent by rummaging through his memory and deleting dangerous files about the past.

But instead, Gee began to whisper to his seductress that there was a power hidden in her that could inspire people, make them stronger, more confident, and richer...

She thought the monk was referring to himself, but he shook his head, signaling that he could take care of himself. They talked for half an hour before Irene was called “up” and told that her services were no longer needed.

“Did you get away with it again?” I asked doubtfully.

“Women get away with a lot,” she grinned, “especially pretty ones. Didn’t you know that? There’s always someone willing to take care of them.”

“Are you saying that in addition to virtual ‘donors’ you also have men, um,” I coughed delicately, ‘sponsors’?”

“Where do you think all that comes from?” She nodded towards the house. “Many people are willing to pay for a woman’s beauty, and especially for the fulfillment of intimate fantasies.”

“Irene, they pay you to sleep with them!” I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Yes, for that too,” she looked at me defiantly, “but not only that. I don’t stay in debt either.”

“Oh, yes, you save them; you sacrifice yourself like Mother Teresa.”

“Why do you say that?” She lowered her eyes.

“Am I wrong?”

“But that’s what the monk urged me to do, right?”

“I think you took the old man’s words too literally.”

“He’s not that old!” she interrupted me sharply. “He has a young, muscular body and the strength of an aged Scotch whiskey. I didn’t fail the assignment because he disgusted me, but you probably don’t understand.”

“Irene, listen to me,” I grabbed her shoulders with both hands. “Maybe you really are able to help others, to share your power, whether it’s borrowed or your own, who knows? Maybe you can even bring happiness to people. Okay! But what do you get from them in return? Love? Faith in yourself? I doubt it. So is money and comfort all you need, all you’ve ever dreamed of, and at this price?”

Her lips turned white, and a shadow crossed her face. I thought she was going to hit me, but Irene suddenly broke into a nervous half-sob, half-laugh:

“It’s amazing how much everyone here loves to lecture each other. The worse things are for someone, the more they insist on prying into other people’s lives.”

“But I care about you, and you called me here, where others, as you said, have no access!”

She shot me a look full of bitterness:

“What do you want, Vik? Do you want me to leave everything and stay with you? But you despise me; you think I’m a slutty and frivolous.”

“What nonsense! You’re my friend.”

“Don’t lie to me!” she winced. “Ever since the night you caught me with Bob, you’ve been wondering why I went with him, why I needed that prick. I’ll tell you: women respect power! Bob didn’t ask if I wanted to be with him or not, he didn’t try to buy me or impress me. This asshole is so confident that he just took me and led me with him.”

She said it with such pathos that I couldn’t help but jump up from sunbed and scream:

“Where? Where did he take you?! Irene, do you know what you’re saying?!”

“Every woman wants a strong man to guide her through life and make decision for her,” she repeated stubbornly.

“Really?” I started put on my T-shirt. “Don’t you have a mind of your own? If you thought that I was a leader who would save you, that you’d be like a stone wall with me, you were wrong. I thought you wanted to be a human being, not an appendage of a man, but you’re thinking like a common bitch. Sorry, I have to go.”

I hurried to the gate, white in the darkness. Irene ran after me, blocking my way.

“I dreamed of writing screenplays,” her voice trembled, “and making movies, you hear? I took a directing class at the university and even made a short movie. Vik! Please don’t go, don’t leave me here alone. I love you, Vik! Stay with me…”

I pushed her away, without looking and walked away. She sobbed, covered her face with her hands and sank helplessly into the grass. I ran out of the garden, closing the gate – just in time, as tears were already clouding my eyes. I don’t know what frightened me more – the responsibility for her or how easily she relied on man, believing that nothing depended on her, that there must be someone who would make her happy and she would thank him. But wasn’t I expecting some guidance and a magic kick from the monk today? So why am I so angry?

To be continued