Fantasy The People Makers

The next morning Dickie Weymouth sauntered over to their breakfast table in Oregon. "So?" Gavin asked. "How did it go?"

Dickie shook his head. "580."

"580 isn't terrible," said Gavin.

"Neither is it very good," said Dickie.

"Not going to try again with her?"

Dickie shook her head. "On the other hand, she was an incredible fuck."

"Was she?" said Ardis.

"Uh huh," said Dickie. "She moaned and shuddered and really got into it-"

"Wait," said Gavin. "Wait for Ira to get here. He'll want to hear all the details!"

But Ira didn't show up for breakfast. Not exactly, anyway. Several minutes later Hot Dog and Hamburger pulled a motorized stretcher through Oregon. It carried the dried, desiccated white powdery body of Ira Weatheral.

"How terrible!" said Abner Dune. "Ira lost the girl and got flash frozen. What are the odds of all these terrible things happening at nearly the same time?"

"Quite high," said Haggis O'Leary.

"How do you figure it?"

"This place is the epitome of survival of the fittest," said Haggis. "Those with the strongest drives to reproduce are kept alive. The others fall by the wayside." He looked at the other side of the room where Craig Cobin was feeding an ecstatic Susan Shinn from his breakfast plate between kisses as she sat on his lap and grinned like an idiot.

"You think... you think the Federationistas killed him on purpose?" Abner asked.

"He willingly gave up a potential mate to another man. That's not the kind of genetic instinct they want to pass down to succeeding generations, I'm sure," said Haggis. "Persistence, seduction, the urge to reproduce, that's what our hosts are looking for." He watched as Craig grinned delightedly as Susan openly kissed and hugged him.

The Story of Lilah Baumgartener

There were those who willingly participated in the Experiment, those who refused to participate in the Experiment, and then there were a few who fell into both categories, those who initially participated in the Experiment, but after a bad result refused to participate any further.

Lilah Baumgartner was one of those. When she first arrived she had been expertly seduced by Roderick Hale and after much love bombing and displays of affection and kissing and hugging agreed to partner with him. Their combined result had been 550, not astoundingly bad but still a very average score. Roderick wanted to try again, this time suppressing some of what he saw as Lilah's excessively empathetic gene patterns, but Lilah was totally shocked when she saw what happened to her first set of descendants.

The data from the probes was not merely statistical in nature; the probes also produced actual holofootage of their descendants over 1000 years, of Lilah's descendants over a 1000 years. She saw men and women going about their business on streets and walkways. She saw women feeding their children in homes, she saw children learning in schools, she saw people at places of businesses. She saw their faces and imagined she could see something of herself inside of them.

And then she was told they would all be erased. It would be like they never existed. The next pair to enter the Experiment would cause a message to be sent to the distant future, to the Federationistas running the breeding tanks, to discard Lilah's and Roderick's DNA and instead use the next pair in their experiment, to rewrite future history. Lilah went hysterical at the prospect of millions of her descendants being snuffed out of existence. Frog tried to explain that they wouldn't feel a thing but that didn't help. The last thing she remembered was Hot Dog telling her it would be all right while shoving a hypo in her arm.

After that, Lilah withdrew within herself and refused to participate in the Experiment. As a Resistor that made her a prime candidate to be removed from the Experiment and replaced with a more cooperative Test Subject. Frog resolved to see if she couldn't be saved. She explained it all to the guys over breakfast in Algeria.

"She's a wonderful girl, really she is. Barely used, she only had one partnering. Still full of possible potential, if only someone had the courage to try to bring her into the fold."

"I heard she's crazy," said Gavin Ansom.

"I heard she's fucked up," said Craig Cobin.

"Didn't I just say that?" said Gavin.

"I said it better," said Craig.

"Look, there she is now," said Abner Dune.

They turned their head and saw Assada having an argument with Lilah.

"Why do you never attend services, Lilah?"

"Because I don't want to." She struggled as Assada held onto her arm.

"Don't you want the blessing of Ajuba?"

"Ajuba isn't my god! It's the god of the Federationistas!"

Assada shook her head. "Our gods have let us down. We have destroyed our planet. We must embrace the god of our savior if we wish to survive. Come with me, Lilah. Come and pray for forgiveness! Spread your legs and allow the seeds of life to form within you! Be fruitful and multiply, it is the wish of Ajuba!"

"Fuck that! And let go of my arm!" She tried to pull away but Assada held on. "Let... go....!" She socked Assada in the face, freeing herself. Assada roared and attacked her. Suddenly the girls were rolling around on the floor, punching and screaming.

Hot Dog and Hamburger appeared out of nowhere and pulled them apart. Both girls, breathing heavily, had to be restrained by their arms.

"Now girls, I know you want to be friends," said Hot Dog.

"No I don't! I want to rip her fucking heart out!" Lilah roared.

"Die Infidel! I will delight in seeing Ajuba roast you in a pit of fire for all eternity!" said Assada.

"You both seem a little excited. Maybe some apart time is what's needed, don't you agree, Mr. Hamburger?"

"Definitely, Mr. Hot Dog."

They watched as Hot Dog led Lilah away.

All the men at the table turned to Frog, who paused and then said, "Obviously that was not the right approach. But the Federation would be most... appreciative if any of you could get her to change her ways."

Appreciative. The same thought went through all their heads. Maybe they would be kept alive longer.

"I'll do it," said Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor. "After all, that's the Survey Service Motto. We don't leave people behind."

Lilah's quarters were grim. When Taylor stepped into the small cubicle he was suddenly transported into a land of dark rolling green hills, all lined with tombstones. Thousands of them as far as the eye could see. A mist swirled throughout the massive dead zone. An eerie howling wind could be heard. Dark, menacing clouds filled the sky. And in the center of it all was a giant black fork, perhaps two hundred feet tall, pointing at the sky.

Taylor walked over to it as calmly as he could. The presence of all this death, even in simulation, unnerved him. Perhaps if he had been a real Survey Service Captain he would have been more inured to it.

He found Lilah, sobbing softly before a grave, planting flowers there.

"I never knew this one. I never knew any of them."

"You're not responsible for this."

"Aren't I?" She looked up at him and he saw the tears in her eyes. "I created them. I created the first generation which created the second generation and the next generation after that. And after I created them, they were all wiped out, all killed."

"They simply never existed."

"All killed!" said Lilah. "I killed more people than all the wars on Earth combined. I killed more people than all the natural disasters, all the plagues. I'm the biggest mass murderer there ever was. How can I atone for that?" She sobbed softly.

Taylor reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She shook him away. "You've come to convince me, haven't you? You want to try to persuade me to create another thousand years of millions of people who will be wiped out in an instant, don't you?"

"No," said Taylor.

She looked up at him with surprise.

"I'm here to warn you. Frog has put out a reward to the first man who gets you to partner with him. You should expect men to come here to try to seduce you."

"But... not you?"

"No, not me," said Taylor. "What you are doing is brave and noble. The human race doesn't deserve another chance. It destroyed one world and shouldn't be given the chance to destroy another. I'm here to tell you that your resistance is pure and good. I'm telling you to be strong and not to give in."

He put his hand on her again and this time she didn't shrug him away.

"Thanks," she sniffled. "But... you're a Survey Service Captain. Why...."

Michael Taylor put a finger to his lips.

"I tried." Taylor shrugged his shoulders. "She's crazy."

"I didn't realize the Survey Service gave up so easily," said Haggis O'Leary.

"We don't beat a dead drum," said Taylor.

"No, you don't seem very musically inclined," said Haggis. "Nor skilled at making mixed metaphors."

"Please, there must be one of you willing to try," said Frog, his talk crystal glowing. "Think of it as a challenge."

"I love a challenge," said Craig Cobin. "If it has a vagina, I'm in!"

Craig was actually whistling as he walked through the graveyard to the giant black fork jutting into the sky. Grim, he thought. He saw Lilah sitting by a tombstone. She's really crazy, he realized. And then he also thought, but crazy girls often make the most entertaining fucks.

"Hey babe," said Craig.

"Go away," said Lilah. "I'm not going to partner with you."

"Who said anything about partnering?"

"Then what do you want?"

"Just to fuck," said Craig casually, as he walked around her. "It can be quick, if you're pressed for time."

"Not interested."

'Though with a hot chick like you, I'd probably like to linger."

"Linger on what?"

"Your tits, for one thing," said Craig. "You have nice, big juicy tits. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"You're horrible."

"Why, because I complimented your tits? Does that make me a monster to tell you how sexy you are?"

"Gentlemen don't talk like that."

"Whoever claimed to be a gentleman?" Craig asked, still walking around her in circles. He liked the way she turned her head to follow him. "What about your cunt?"

"My what?"

"Your cunt. C-U-N-T. I'll bet its nice and tight. I'll bet you've never had a real man in there."

"You'd be wrong."

"Oh, maybe you had some namby-pamby beta male, some super sensitive type, rod you once or twice under your intense direction as you told him how to go in and out, in and out. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about being fucked by a real man."

"Presumably you."

"You got it, babe! I'd work you over so hard you'd have to spend an entire day just sleeping it of. I'd have you screaming my name as I fill you with my hot seed. I'd empty my massive balls into you so much that your vag lips would be bubbling with my potent brew. You would tell yourself you hated every minute of it but afterwards you couldn't wait until I favored you again... if I favored you again."

"You're mad."

"I'm mad for pussy," said Craig. "So, how about it?"

"How about what?"

"Let's fuck!"

"No, you're right, she's totally crazy," said Craig. "Doesn't respond to even mild flirtation."

"Why, did you try that too?" Haggis asked.

"My turn now. I'll give it a try," said Dickie Weymouth.

"Good luck," said Haggis.

"Do you mean that?" Dickie asked, sounding surprised.

"No, not really," said Haggis.

"I feel your pain," said Dickie.

"Do you really?" Lilah said.

"Uh huh." This girl is a wacko. A real wack job. That was the only conclusion Dickie Weymouth could form as he was surrounded by thousands of mock graves. What kind of deranged person would create such an environment?

A seriously deranged person.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...." Dickie never planned in advance what to say. He just said whatever came out of his mouth. He was a quick thinker and usually this strategy served him well. "I participated in the Experiment and saw my descendants wiped out, several times."

"How did you cope with that? How did you cope with the pain and agony of that?"

Quite well. Dickie didn't give a fuck about some distant descendants he had never known or met. Intellectually he knew that thousands of people he had helped create who existed over a thousand or more years had been wiped out in the blink of an eye but from Dickie's unique perspective they had only existed for a few minutes. He agreed to have them created from his own DNA and within five minutes of his subjective time they had the results and they were canceled from existence. That's all. They were merely a simulation to him.

But he knew he couldn't tell Lilah that. He looked at her anguished, tearful face and wondered what he could say to change her mind. Then an idea came to him. "You're right. When we participate in the Experiment and it fails, then deaths are caused, a lot of them. But think of the consequences of not participating in the Experiment."

"Consequences?"

"All the thousands, million and billions of people who never live. The people we don't create who could live, if we're successful. By refusing to participate, you doom the human race. You won't have rows and rows of graves on your conscience because millions upon billions of people will never be born, if we fail. Will that ease your conscience, to have the entire human race become extinct?"

Lilah stopped sniffling. She had never looked at it from that perspective before. She had thought about all the people who died from her actions, not all those who would never be born. She talked to Dickie about it for several minutes, but he could quickly see he was making headway. Finally after an hour of heated back and forth she nodded, and agreed. "All right," she sniffed. "I'll do it."

Dickie gave a gigantic grin. "That's great!" He took her by the hand. "Let's go back to my place."

"Your place?"

"For the sex. You remember that we have to have sex before we go before the Genetic Council, don't you?"

Lilah looked at Dickie's predatory smile. Suddenly she heard the words of Survey Service Captain Michael Taylor inside her head, warning her that men would try to trick her, try to confuse her. Her instincts made her pull away. "No."

"No?"

"Get out."

"What?"

"Just get out!"

"We should terminate this Test Subject," said X.

"You might be right," said C.

"I think it's premature," said F.

"You always think its premature," said M. "You have been in that body too long, how long has it been? A hundred years?"

"220 years," said F.

"It has had a deleterious effect on you. It is a good species which has served us well, but it has influenced, changed you. You have become sympathetic to them."

"Maybe I have," said F. "But my commitment to the Experiment is unshakable. And I still see potential in this Test Subject."

"How? It is obvious she will not partner with anyone."

"She just needs a different approach. Someone softer, more sensitive." An image of Abner Dune was transported to their minds.

"Him?" said X. "He's hopeless. We should Cancel him too."

"No, he could be just the right tool," said F. "Wait and see."

As Abner Dune slept in the early morning hours, a tiny ball of light entered his quarters and sank into his head. He shifted uncomfortably in his bed and then suddenly woke up. He felt odd, different somehow.

He washed and got dressed and went to breakfast in Bermuda. The usual guys and gals were there but not Frog. Frog was always there to greet them in Bermuda in the mornings. Abner vaguely wondered where Frog was but then stopped wondering at all.

After breakfast Abner felt an even odder sensation. He found himself walking down a corridor of the Space Station without knowing why or where he was going. It was as if someone else was in control of his body, or he was in a waking dream.

He found himself entering Lilah Baumgartner's quarters. He was immediately hit with a cold gust of wind and found himself inside an enormous, hilly graveyard. Abner gasped. The rows and rows of tombstones looked so depressing and frightening, accentuated by the giant black fork jutting hundreds of feet into the sky. He felt the overwhelming urge to run away but watched as his legs moved one step at a time towards the giant fork.

Surely this must be a dream. No, not just a dream. A nightmare.

He found Lilah tending a grave right at the base of the giant fork, which cast an enormous shadow over them.

"Go away," she said automatically. But then she turned and said, "Oh. It's you." Lilah was only vaguely aware of Abner Dune but even she knew that he wasn't like the others. More kind. More sensitive.

"I'm sorry to disturb you," said Abner apologetically.

That earned him a tiny smile, but then, "What do you want?"

I have no idea, Abner thought. But then words started to flow out of his mouth. "I just wanted to talk. You seemed lonely, I'm lonely, I just thought... we could talk."

Lilah looked at him. She knew, she knew what he was really there for. But he seemed so earnest, so sincere, so kind. And she really was lonely. "All right."

And so Abner talked. He talked about a lot of things. Growing up in Kansas. His favorite holofilms. Why he decided to become an agricultural technician. Then he started asking about Lilah's life on Earth. She found herself responding to him. It was nice to have someone to talk about the past with.

Thus started a pattern. Every day after breakfast Abner would find himself guided to Lilah's quarters. It was like having a similar waking dream day after day. After a while Abner no longer minded. It's true he was being guided. The words coming out of his mouth were not his own. But they were true words, real thoughts and feelings he had about life in Topeka, as if someone had access to all his memories and thoughts and used them selectively to start a dialogue with Lilah. Abner found himself starting to like Lilah's company, despite the nature of how he was being used, and he soon came to look forward to visiting her, no longer needing to be prodded to go to her quarters, though the thing inside him which guided him still selected the words he said.

Finally, after about a week of this, Abner talked about his own niece and nephew, Brandy and Kenny, who he would never see again. He talked about their smiles and cries for joy, and all the fun times they had together. How they went to the holozoo together, and the Museum of White Male Intolerance, and watched holofilms about strong, black female action heroes together. And then Lilah opened up about her own sister's daughters, and how she missed them too. Soon they were talking with arms wrapped around each other like old friends.

Finally Abner heard himself say, "You know, I don't want to die without inheritors."

"What?"

"My brother made such nice kids. I know I could too. I want to have kids. Or at least, the chance to have children," said Abner. "Think of kids like my Brandy and Kenny. Think of girls like your Susannah or Audra. Wouldn't it be tremendous to be able to make kids like those?"

"Yes, yes it would," said Lilah. And then she realized that her loneliness, a great part of her loneliness, was due to the absence of family.

"Then partner with me, Lilah. Partner with me and we'll get a chance to make those kids. I know we'd make wonderful kids together."

"Oh, I know it too!" said Lilah. But then she stared at the graveyard around her. "But... what if we failed? We'd only end up killing more."

"It's better to try, and fail, and never to try at all," said Abner, in a deep firm tone he had never heard before.

She looked into his eyes and saw something she liked. "Yes... yes... you're right!" And then she kissed him.

Abner tried to contain his surprise. And then he found himself kissing her back.

As they slowly removed each others' clothes, Abner thought, no, no, not here, not in a graveyard.

But that's exactly what they did. Abner and Lilah had sex in a graveyard under the shadow of a giant gloomy black fork.

Abner had had sex before, with Susan Shinn and then Bessie, but he wouldn't exactly describe himself as experienced. Thankfully he had something inside him to guide him, showing him how to rub a woman's body all over, how to caress her breasts, how to kiss her in a ring around her neck leading up to her lips, how to look her in the eyes as he murmured, "I love you," which startled even him.

But Lilah was the one who was startled when Abner started thrusting inside of her at an angle that also allowed him to stimulate her clitoris.

"Oh Abner!" she said, giving him a surprised, joyous smile. "Abbbnneeeerr!"

A cold, howling wind ripped at them as they made love but their bodies were supercharged and hot. There was a crackle of thunder and lightning and the gloomy graveyard mist swirled around them. Each flash of lightning illuminated different scenes: Abner's ass pumping in and out... Lilah's small breasts bobbing back and forth... Abner grabbing Lilah tight as he made love to her... Lilah's wide eyed look as she truly lived for the moment....

As Abner pounded into Lilah's tight pussy, her contented smile was framed by the endless vista of tombstones all around her. And finally when they reached their climax, together, Lilah cried out-

*

"-his name! She cried out his name," said F. "You should have been there! You should have felt it!"

"We have been inside humans having sex before," said C.

"Yes, but this was different," said F. "Their love was not jaded. It all felt so new, to both of them. Abner felt so manly, so proud as he made her climax. When he released inside of her he felt such joy, such a sense of supreme success I cannot put into thoughts."

"It sounds nice," said M dryly.

"Really nice," said R, in the same tone.

"You've lost sight of what this experiment is all about," said F. "You've conducted the trials so long that you've forgotten what it's like to be in a living, breathing human being who feels. You say that I'm biased. But I think you've become too unbiased. You've completely lost touch with what we're trying to create again."

"Your point is noted," said C. "Perhaps there is something to be gained by selectively inhabiting some of the Test Subjects, for observation only. As long as it does not tamper with the results of the Experiment, of course."

*

Lilah and Abner were still holding hands when they met with Bessie. She was all smiles with them. "Abner! So good to see you again! And Lilah! You're looking good."

"Thank you," said Lilah softly.

"So you want to partner with each other."

"Yes we do," said Abner firmly.

Normally Bessie would try to extract a price for that, but she had already had Abner when he first arrived. These two had nothing she wanted, and she knew that Graylor would be pleased to see Lilah participating in the Experiment once more.

"Very well, my lovelies. You have my blessing."

"No genetic modifications?" Graylor asked.

Abner and Lilah exchanged glances. "None. We want to be paired exactly as we are."

"Hm...." Graylor stared at their gene plates.

Abner and Lilah looked nervous. Frog, standing in the background, felt a wave of satisfaction. Just a week ago Lilah would never have considered participating in the Experiment. Now she was eager to and worried she might be denied the chance. Frog felt so proud of what she had done for them.

"Very well," said Graylor finally.

Lilah gave a sigh of relief and her breasts heaved.

And then the Experiment began.

The results poured in on the holoscreens as they always did. Numerical data, raw scores, but intermixed with that images, images of people walking on the streets of cities created by the children of Abner and Lilah. People at play, people at work, people living ordinary lives.

And then it was done. Their final score was returned by the automated probes, who ventured a thousand years into the future after the Experiment had begun.

This society earned an E5 for Emotionality and Self-Awareness. Lilah was so happy to hear that that she bounced up and down, clutching Abner's hand. E5 was the top rated score!

The society also earned an E5 for Community, also the top rated score. Lilah shouted for joy and hugged Abner tightly. This time they were going to do it, she could feel it!

The society earned an E4 rating for Art. This was a society which produce art which depicted true human nature. Another success!

And then they learned that the society earned only an E2 for technology. After a thousand years this society was still using fossil fuels, not even nuclear much less anti-matter. Lilah started to come down from her high.

Then they learned that the society earned an E2 for standard of living--full food and shelter for most, but little beyond that. Lilah's smile started to fade.

And then they learned that the society earned an E1 for population. After a thousand years there were only 140,000 inhabitants of the planet, a clear failure.

Their composite score was only 550. Above average, if barely that, but clearly not a success.

"Interesting result," Graylor commented, as the holoscreens went off one by one. "It's not common for the results to be so disparate, a mix of E5 and E2's."

"Yes," said Frog quickly. "I think there is merit in having them try again."

"Perhaps, but with different partners I think," said Graylor.

Suddenly two new people appeared at the entrance to the Council chambers. It was Shelly Rendler and Louis Ratner.

"Thank you for participating in this experiment and providing such an interesting result," said Graylor. "I look forward to seeing both of you again soon."

"What? What?" Lilah looked around wildly, from Graylor to Frog to Abner to Shelly and Louis.

"It's time to go, Lilah," said Shelly.

"What? Why? No!"

"It's Shelly and Louis's turn now," said Frog.

"No!" Lilah cried. "If you give them a chance, that means you're going to be erasing all my children! All our children! Abner, stop them!"

Abner bit his lip and looked very unhappy.

"I'm sorry, that's the way it has to be," said Frog.

Shelly said, "Lilah, I'm so sad for your loss. But you wouldn't want to deny Louis and I the chance to have children of our own, would you?"

"Not at the expense of my own!" Lilah roared. She jumped up and started screaming. "I WON'T LET YOU! I WON'T ALLOW IT! GET OUT! GET OUT, ALL OF YOU!"

Hot Dog and Hamburger suddenly appeared out of thin air. Each one grabbed an arm while she was still kicking and screaming. "Take it easy, Lilah!" said Hot Dog.

"Easy!" said Hamburger.

"What do you say we go to Bermuda for a nice lemon smoothie?" Hot Dog asked.

Lilah screamed something incomprehensible. Abner watched as Hot Dog slipped a hypo into Lilah's arm. That took all the fight out of her.

"No. No. Nooooo," she said, in a rapidly declining volume as her body went limp. As she was gently dragged out she looked at Abner. "Abner, help me, help me!"

Abner felt all eyes on him. He wet his lips nervously.

"You'd better go too Abner," said Frog. "I'm so sorry."

Abner nodded. As he turned and left he said to Louis, "Good luck."

When Hot Dog and Hamburger pulled the motorized stretcher through Algeria the following morning they were treated to a horrible sight. Lilah's body had been torn into pieces. Her head was in one piece, part of her torso in another, and her arms and legs were a jumble haphazardly piled on top of each other in a large, bloody mess.

Abner took one look and threw up. Haggis pounded him on the back and tried to console him.

"They say she walked off the catwalk and right into the gravity waves of the Entertainment Sphere," said Gavin Ansom. "What a terrible way to die."

"Why? Why did she do that?" said Abner.

"She couldn't live with the guilt of what she had done," said Haggis, his eyes narrowing.

"But we all do it," said Abner.

"We do," said Haggis. "But she couldn't intellectually rationalize it like we do. She felt."

"She was a nutjob, and she didn't know good cock when it was right in front of her," said Craig Cobin.

Haggis saw Abner stiffen and put a hand on his shoulder.

Abner turned to Haggis. "So why do we do it? Why do you do it?"

"For the most basic reason in the world," said Haggis. "To stay alive."