He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Fifty Nine - All Shall Be Revealed

The Captain and the General looked at each other and then looked at the pitiful looking man in front of them.  This was the rat?  He looked like a fresh breeze could blow him over and yet he was supposed to be the man sent by the bosses in the mining industry to  uncover proof that there were more prosperous veins out there? 

The team had returned not long after noon with their capture target and had taken him to the interrogation room/war room/general meeting room (most places tended to be multi-purpose when facilities were lacking).  As the man's adam's apple bobbed up and down in his throat, they both turned to Han Huan and Xu Lin questioningly.  The former shrugged. "His name is Chu Ning," Xu Lin mentioned. "The papers were not forged, but the I.D. was."

"I can explain!" said the man, his nervous disposition echoing in his voice. "I got a little drunk and gambled a little too much and before I knew debt collectors were hounding me! I didn't know what to do! They threatened me at work and I lost my job. They came after me at home and my wife left me! I went to the authorities, but they refused to help me! Then I heard that a cousin had found work here, he's an ex-con, needed to take what he could, so I stole his papers and managed to purchase I.D. online. But I freaked out when I got here, ran into the woods only to fall down this hole and couldn't find my way out!"

"What was your job on the Home world?" The general asked.

"Ah I was a Nose," he said, almost proudly, but the men and women about him just seemed confused.  "You know, a perfumer?  I created scents, though most were for household use."

The Captain looked mildly amused, his face twitching.  "That's actually an occupation?" Xu Lin asked, cluelessly.  All eyes fell upon her.  "What?  I just thought they took scents from flowers and mimicked them."

The man's eye's sparkled.  "Actually, it's a little more complicated than that," he said and began to give the girl a more detailed explanation.  As the trapped girl looked for an excuse to flee, the General called over Song Jian.

"I say we give this one to your mother," she proposed.  "He sounds like he'd be happier in a lab anyway and it might free your brother up should he wish to join the army."  Song Jian nodded in agreement.  The woman's eyes slid over to her unusually quiet son.  "By the way, what happened to him?"

"Ah, he had an epiphany when underground," Song Jian replied.  He caught Zhang Min's eye, who turned his fiery red face away sharply.

"Really?" Cheng Ju questioned, thoughtfully.  "Perhaps I ought to send him underground more often."

"That won't be necessary," Song Jian said, coldly.  The woman looked at him for a long moment then simply shrugged.

****

In the rapidly cooling waters of the lake as it reflected the colours of dusk, two youths were enjoying the taste of the others lips as they moved against each other.  Their tongues danced and their hands roamed, the contrast of cold water against heated skin clear beneath their fingers. 

"We should get out," Slate suggested between breaths.

"In a moment," groaned Willow, not willing to be apart from his lover for even the moment it would take them to get to the lake's edge.  Slate lifted him and felt the boy's long legs wrap about his waist as he carried him slowly out of the water.  Their lips continued to press against each other's, nipping, suckling, savouring.

"What did you tell your parents?" Slate asked.

"Everything," Willow said. 

"Everything?" Slate questioned, one brow slightly raised.