I'm in love with your brother
what's his name?
I thought I'd come by
to see him again
- The Knife, "Pass It On"
Pass It On
They watched, at first, unbeknownst to the couples in their cages. Memorised. Calculated.
Then they practiced, priming themselves for mission readiness. (Skin against hyper-aware skin, every response and counter-response in linear time.) Awkwardly, with one another, before graduating to blind tests with human participants.
Cameron screamed, a little too loudly, too regularly, with one. With another, she forgot and almost snapped his collarbone with her leg. As she disposed of the remains of each experiment, she re-ran the encounters, learning from them. She never made the same mistake twice.
Nine trials later, her success rate was finally within the acceptable margin; it took Cromartie just five.
Cameron was not at all competitive. She moaned (not quite a sob) as Cromartie drove himself into her, and did not admire the lifelikeness of the sweat-sheen on his arm.
10 September 2008