Terran Oblivion

Chapter 27

Courtney Bernard

June 4, 2203

Panama City, Panama

9:35 AM

While not at all fashionable today, in ancient times certain religious cults participated in rituals of a sexual nature to try and get close to the divine. Some of these were meant to reenact certain events from mythology.  Others were trying to reach the divine, claiming that intercourse was the closest that a human could ever hope to get to divine power.

There are even rumors that certain esoteric cults continue such practices today, but this is mostly relegated to conspiracy theories and the realms of novels.....

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Courtney didn't remember much of the Flyer Ride over to the safehouse they established in the Gamboa Rainforest reserve. She vomited for some of it, sweated through a lot of it, and slept through a few other moments of it. Then someone picked her up on a stretcher and took her into some hotel, that much she knew. The next thing she knew, she was on a bed with a whole number of people around her writing things down and taking scans of every inch of her body.

That and Jean, he was there, watching it all with bated breath.

At some point he must have made an order for everyone to leave because they did so, leaving him and her alone there in the hotel room. Courtney never felt so utterly alone than she did here, so slimy, so sick. This man gave her all the creeps. All of them. A serious level of ick.

"Mon ami, how are you doing?"

Somehow, the man looked even greasier than before. His perfectly styled hair was gelled so perfectly that it didn't look quite human, and his thick beard didn't have a single imperfection anywhere to be found. He wore a somewhat fashionable reddish suit that probably would have looked better on a younger man but it still looked decent, at least in theory. His vibes were totally off, the way he looked at her with worry, the concern etched on his face, the way his eyes scanned her up and down as if trying to find something just out of reach or get into her skin. Courtney well and truly hoped that he didn't like her in a romantic way because then that would be well and truly awkward.

"Good," she said, used to having to deal with creeps before.

"Good in that you feel better, or good in that you are lying but are hurt? Tell me the truth, Mon Ami."

"I feel like shit," said Courtney after a short pause. "Very much like shit."

"Ah, so you are in pain."

"I am always in pain. It comes with the territory of being a woman."

He chuckled a little bit, smiling a very French smile. "Ah yes, of course. But that is not what I was referring to."

You sick fuck, she thought, licking her lips a little. "What do you want?"

"You had a dream."

"Yes. I have a dream of getting out..."

He interrupted her, glaring. "Look, don't play with me."

"Why not?"

Jean took a seat on the bed, patting the blanket down smooth and free of any wrinkles. "Mon ami, we are beyond the point of playing."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Who are you anyways?"

"I am Jean-Pil..."

This time she interrupted him. "What are you doing here? People respect you for some reason and yet I am in the dark. Tell me who you are and what you are doing here and then I'll tell you what I saw and what I experienced. Understood? I think I'm owed that much at the very least, no?"