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Cellulose & Steel	By : Not-Taylor Category: Misc Books > FemmeSlash Views: 1028 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own HDG or its characters and I don't make money from this work.

Chapter List
- 17
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- 19
As soon as her ward crosses the threshold, Verda locks the door in a very obvious way while holding direct eye contact with her. She’s making completely sure that nobody enters or leaves. The vine returns from the door to Olivia, gently escorting her to the couch and ensuring that she sits quietly. The other 99% of Verda goes to the kitchen. After some beeping she comes back to Olivia carrying a tray with a plate of spaghetti and a peeled orange. She sets the tray in her human’s lap and showcases the fork in her right hand while crouching in front of her. She waits until she has Olivia’s full attention.
“I noticed that your ‘rapchik’ didn’t mention feeding you. Were you able to use cutlery properly by yourself, Olivia?”
“Of course.”
“Good! I’m happy you’ve made progress with that. Can I trust you not to stab me this time if I give you a fork?”
“You can.”
“But would that trust be well placed, pet?”
“I’m not your pet.”
“As you wish.” Verda rises and moves toward an affini sized plush chair oriented toward the couch, taking her wooden fork with her. Olivia quickly understands the game being played.
“I promise not to stab you with the fork today.”
“Just today?”
“Tomorrow is another day.”
“How astute.”
“I am, you’re right.”
“Well, I suppose if you won’t be using your food as a weapon today, you can attempt to feed yourself… for today. I also suppose that we should prepare to have this conversation again tomorrow, as well as every day until I’m certain that you will continue to behave civilly.”
A tendril sedately travels across the room, delivering the fork to Olivia. It’s the same one as before, or identical to it. It has a strange texture, but it’s still a normal fork. She starts eating at a healthy pace, since she isn’t famished for a change. It’s good. The light tomato sauce doesn’t overpower the pasta, and something like this is just what she needed. She could get used to eating this well all the time. The orange is even better than the orange juice from earlier. She savors it. It’s juicy but not soggy. She’s never had one that was this fresh either.
When Olivia appears to be done with her meal, Verda clears her throat. Obviously she doesn’t have terran physiology so it’s clear she wants Olivia’s attention. They make eye contact. Verda doesn’t look angry. Olivia’s a little surprised, given how the day has gone. She expected more anger.
“Welcome home, darling.”
“I’m glad not to be with that other one any more.”
“Artemis? Of course. She’s young, perhaps too young to care for a difficult floret, though her other seems happy. Did your friend Ginger seem to be doing well?” Questioning for a writeup. Typical authoritarians, snitching on one another for government accolades. What will they give her in return for reporting a protocol violation? Probably not much.
“She did. She’s very happy. I think that’s just because of all the xenodrugs.” That’s the only reason a Terran could appear “happy” in weed slavery. Xenodrugs and… those horrid noises.
Verda nods. “That may be what keeps her happiest, little one. Some florets are better off with high doses, for a variety of reasons. That seems not to be your case.”
“Why?”
“Hm. Instinct tells me so. That’s not for you to worry about. Would you like to tell your Mistress about your day?”
That was a “you’re going to tell your Mistress about your day now, and your Mistress is me.”
“You aren’t my mistress.”
“I can take you back to Artemis Pallas if you would prefer her.”
“Couldn’t I have somebody else?”
“No.”
“But-”
“Feel free to try. The investigation as to potential wrongdoing on my part will get you nowhere, pet. I’d like to hear about your travels, if you don’t mind.”
Olivia sighs. “I was broken out of here and taken to lunch which was really good. Then I was taken to Artemis’s apartment and left there while she was somewhere. I talked to Ginger and she proved she didn’t feel anything toward me. I didn’t want to have sex until Artemis made me want to, and after the xenodrugs wore off I hated it. She took me to get implanted because I didn’t want to play her games any more. It was overwhelming.” Hopefully that touch makes her captor more sympathetic. It’s not fun being here again.
“And that’s all you did?”
“Maybe. I don’t know how much time I’m missing.”
“Missing?”
“It was early afternoon and then it was almost lunchtime and I’m not entirely sure what happened in between.” Mostly accurate. Verda frowns and types something on her tablet.
“Was Artemis there the whole time?”
“I think so. I sort of woke up at one point and she was touching me.” Olivia shivers. She hates how it felt, but it also felt nice and she hates that she thinks it did. These plants are evil, she remembers grimly.
“I see. I don’t think I need to ask anything more on that subject, Olivia. You’ve had a very difficult day. I found some very old movies from Earth’s Hays era. I propose we watch one of those and go to the park once evening is here.”
“All right.” There are many worse ways to spend an evening. Will this movie be about submission to the glorious authority of the state, and loyalty to something greater than you, or will it be about rebellion and mindless hedonism?
One of Verda’s vines extends to the kitchen as the rest of her situates itself next to Olivia on the couch. Olivia isn’t happy about that, but she can’t really object. There’s not much space that isn’t right next to her, given just how large Verda is. A few button presses later, a viewscreen emerges from the ceiling and the room darkens. A selection screen written in Affini comes up and Verda flicks through the options quickly. She clearly already knows what she wants to watch.
Soon enough, the cursor pulses to indicate a selection has been made. Verda smiles at Olivia, showing she’s excited for what’s coming. Olivia just sits there and pretends to be enthusiastic when she just wants to go back to Terran space and cuddle in front of a movie with Ginger. Well, not so much with Ginger any more. Stars, those old style credits look primitive. Is that analog? Are those credits actually printed onto paper and recorded on film?
Something in the kitchen beeps and a minute later Verda’s vine returns, carrying a bowl of popcorn. Olivia can’t refuse a few handfuls. It’s a movie, after all. The kernels are crunchy and buttery and salty. They’re delicious, but she’s already full enough not to want more than that. Wait, do these plants eat people? She had thought that was just a stupid story passed around, since normal plants don’t eat people. No matter. Olivia takes a more comfortable seat and sees what the movie’s about.
It’s actually not bad. It’s simultaneously about tapdancing and some other random plot point. The characters all keep pausing to dance and occasionally one of them sings. It’s oddly satisfying. Most of the jokes are “what do you get when you cross a dove and a turtle” levels of stale, but she sort of remembers that they probably wouldn’t have been stale back then, hundreds of years ago. As the movie progresses, her eyes get used to the black and white imagery, but it’s still surreal. It sort of reminds her of how her computers process LIDAR signals.
Ow! Something scratched her neck. Song looks around but nothing’s in sight. She’s wary, but Verda seems to be watching the screen while her vines aren’t moving. Do they have mosquitos here?
The plot seems to be a romantic comedy. It’s not bad, kind of tame though. The couple isn’t sexually involved at any point. How prudish. Those must have been horrible times. Wasn’t that when they were burning gays at the stake, or was that later? Olivia shifts in her seat since she’s been in the same position for the last hour. The pillow moves by itself under her. That’s weird, but nothing seems to be moving when she checks more carefully. She shrugs. She hadn’t noticed the pillow that’s behind her when she had sat down either.
The clothes in the film are so strange. Olivia wonders why anyone would wear those dresses. They look really uncomfortable. The suits do too, actually. She’s reminded of the flower tuxedo thing she wore at that ceremony. Yuck. The arm of the couch seems a little higher than she remembers. That’s odd. It feels oddly comfy too. She leans into it to get further from the neighboring affini. It feels really weird…
The plot was really that the protagonists didn’t want to be direct about their feelings even though they both knew they were mutual for 90% of the run time? That’s stupid. Olivia feels cheated out of her ninety minutes. It would’ve been a good movie other than that. The old writing in these things is so bad!
Verda turns on the lights and removes the mostly full bowl of popcorn with a tendril. Why’s she on the other side? Why is Olivia leaning into her? Why is she under a bunch of vines? Why didn’t she notice that? What’s going on? Olivia panics and jumps up, only to moan lewdly as the vines trace across her skin. It doesn’t matter, she’s still mentally present, even if her voice is temporarily out of her control. She checks herself. Everything else seems to be in order, other than wanting to sit down again.
Verda looks puzzled. “What’s the matter, pet?”
“You were touching me!”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to cuddle with your mistress. I quite enjoy that too.”
“ I didn’t want to!”
“I never forced you to do that. In fact, I moved to the other part of the couch to give you more room to spread out if that’s what you preferred. But you chose to cuddle with me instead. I’m pleased that you found me comfortable, darling.”
Olivia is furious but doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t say anything and stands there, hoping to wake up from this nightmare with Verda shaking her out of it… and dying, because that’s what these xeno weeds ALL need to do. They need to die. This universe is too good to tolerate those things. Evil slaving communists.
“Are you ready to go to the park, Olivia? We still have half an hour of daylight.”
“Fine.” Olivia is angry, but she still wants to get outside. Maybe this time she can get away for real. There’s always the chance. Maybe there’s an escape pod nearby. After all, she didn’t promise not to try to escape. All she said is she wouldn’t use that specific fork to stab anyone with, which she won’t.
Verda gestures to Olivia to stay on the couch, and brings a pair of crimson slippers and five silk rings. Olivia grimaces. She really doesn’t like those. Verda smiles at her and puts the slippers on her feet, as though Olivia can’t do it herself. Olivia tries to avoid the cuffs, but Verda gives her an exhausted look and she gives up. They’re both getting sick of these games. Now it’s a question of whose will is stronger, Olivia thinks, and for that she needs to conserve her energy for when it’s useful to resist.
Verda stands up again and moves to the door, beckoning Olivia after her. She doesn’t open it until Olivia is next to her and she’s firmly grasping her hand. She gives her captive an affectionate squeeze and leads the way through and out.
No leash this time, the Terran notes. She wonders if this means there’s a chance to leave, but she doesn’t feel especially motivated to go anywhere for now. It’s getting dark anyway, and she doesn’t want to have to face Ginger after everything that happened today. She tries to pull away from Verda, but of course it has no effect. They fall into a rhythm, walking hand in hand to the park. Verda doesn’t seem to have discrete steps, so she moves very smoothly.
It’s not a long walk. As Verda had said on the shuttle, it’s right across from her house. There are a few terran trees and flowers as well as a few strange plants from other worlds. One resembles a cherry tree, but has blue flowers. Olivia is allowed to pull her chaperone toward it to take a closer look. She’s not a botanist, so it basically just looks like a weird tree to her. The branches start somewhere over her head and the bark is whitish. It’s a nice tree. The flowers smell a little like bubblegum.
There’s one bird singing right now. It sounds really generic and uninteresting, but still, it’s a random bird on a spaceship, that’s allowed to go wherever it wants and eat all the plants it can find. Olivia wonders if the little bird ever asks people for snacks, and if they give it bugs. It can’t be the only one here. The others probably come out in the morning, she decides. Verda directs her to a bench, where they sit down together. There are other benches nearby, as well as a table with two chairs at it, but nobody else is around.
“Do you like it here?”
“It’s pretty. I never saw a park like this on Terra, from the inside I mean. It…”
“It helps keep the passengers happy.”
After seeing all the weird alien architecture of the ship, how differently all of the buildings are constructed, it’s somewhat jarring. There’s nothing special about this area. It’s just… green. A few blocks of grass and trees hidden away among millions of affini and their companions. Olivia is more than used to urban landscapes and the cramped conditions of Cosmic Navy designs. This is… different. Something inside her she didn’t know about before feels less squished.
“Are there others?”
“Some. This is the nicest, in my opinion. They tend to be smaller, on the inner decks. You should be able to exercise properly here. During the day it’s more populated, if you’d like to meet other people.”
The light is getting dimmer and redder. There’s no sun, so it might be because of lights hidden somewhere in the ceiling. It’s eerie to watch, even though Olivia realizes it’s entirely natural and would probably be the same on Terra for somebody who couldn’t look west. She’s slightly saddened she doesn’t get to watch a sunset. The weeds should have finished the job if they were doing an artificial solar cycle. Still, it’s peaceful.
An affini and floret walk together nearby, talking excitedly. They look so happy. Olivia looks at Verda, who seems lost in thought. She catches Olivia’s glance and smiles at her. Her body has shrunk back to its normal size and all of the earlier tension is gone. She’s her old self, the one that had intimidated Olivia when they first met. Her leaves blow in the gentle artificial breeze. She looks… content, in a normal and understandable way.
“Thank you for coming home, Olivia. I was searching for you from the moment I saw you were gone.” She sounds relieved, not angry. “I know it took strength to speak up for what you wanted earlier.”
“I just didn’t want to become a plantborg.” That sounded better in her head.
“Still. I’m glad you made it back to me. I missed you.”
This is the part where Olivia is supposed to say it back. She refuses to debase herself that way.
“Why was Artemis that way?”
“Inept? Perhaps she was overexcited at the prospect of another floret, or she reacts poorly to sudden responsibilities. Or she thought you would improve her social standing. It’s hard to say. I doubt she meant you harm, pet. Otherwise her floret would have shown signs of discomfort.”
“I’m showing signs of discomfort.”
“And yet, you came back freely.”
“I had two options to pick from. She said she was going to claim me.”
“And you chose wisely, little one.” Verda smirks and turns forward, watching the branches of a tree gently swaying before her.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Cellulose & Steel