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INSUFFICIENT

Katze continued a few more floors up the tower to reach his room and as he entered the lights turned on to illuminate a luxurious flat that would serve as his home for the time being. He was most pleased with Raoul's generosity, but sad at heart, which made it difficult to enjoy his surroundings. He threw his shirt on the neatly made bed and poured himself a drink form the bar. He lifted his head towards the ceiling and enjoyed the sensation of the stingy brew as it ran effortlessly down is throat. He closed his eyes and just as he had expected, Riki smiled back from behind his eyelids. How fortunate for the young mongrel that his Master had loved him so deeply - a Master who had a friend like Raoul Am who had the power to offer them the best medical attention. It must have been a dream come true for Riki to die as a broken toy and awaken as a complete lover. Sadly, Katze had been an accessory to Iason during a time when the toy's feelings didn't matter to an Elite of Tanagura. What they took from the young man mattered not, for he was only to ornament a successful Blondie, but there were times when Katze had secretly wished for retrieving what was deprived of him. He remembered Riki saying to him just before the fire at Dana Burn; "I'm not a man...I'm just like you."

There was one big difference though. Katze had been castrated, whereas Riki was maimed by the removal of his member. Raoul Am knew Iason would never want to heal unless he had something to look forward to. Riki alive and reconstructed was a fuel to heal him back to his old self. Katze sighed. Yes, his old self. Iason would never see him as something other then an old Furniture.

He had always wondered what life would have been like if he had been able to feel desire. He finished his drink, took off his clothes and placed them on a divan at the foot end of the bed. He would take a quick bath and then go to bed. As he turned to walk to the bathroom a full size mirror on the door to the walking closet, caught his reflection and he remained standing there for a short while. Thoughts were taking over, seeping out of his sub-conscience.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully spread his legs. His slackened and slightly darker pigmented member hung like the branches of a sad willow, but other then that there was nothing to see, except for the scars that decorated the area where the testicles should have been. He knew that sterilization through castration was not practised because of lack of better options, but rather because it was a brutal and ultimate demonstration of power over the submissive party. It was something that lingered on from historical traditions. Furniture slaves, just like he had been, were merely modern eunuchs. It was a sad fate, no matter how highly regarded some were. They would always remain broken and unable to feel desire. Katze sighed. Well, it wasn't entirely true. In his dreams he could feel pleasure and his body remembered it as a distant memory from genetically imprinted impressions of instincts and emotions, and he sometimes woke up knowing that Iason had satisfied him fully; even if in the awakened world, the Master never laid a hand on him other then to punish Katze for his mistakes. Would it be possible to reconstruct him just as with Riki? No! He wasn't to think like that. Riki is a desired object whereas Katze is an employee - it could never be a question of something like that. Deep down, he envied Riki and each time they stood there face to face he was washed over by ambivalent feelings and wished he could have taken Riki's place. Katze chased away the thoughts; the payment would be significant and it dampened the pain of the past. The clock was already set for the time when it was to wake him up and thus he prepared for the next day.

Several hours passed by and Katze was still unable to sleep. Agonizing thoughts haunted him. He was confused and ill at ease. His feelings were tainting the peace in his heart and chased the dreams from his eyes. He wasn't able to focus on the next day although he only had a few more hours before he was to get up. Images of Iason had been replaced by Raoul. In the stillness of the night, emotional remnants from a past meeting between Katze and Raoul came alive and floated above the eunuch like daemons. Katze remembered the characteristic nonchalance of Raoul, his arrogance and his brutality in an attempt to rape the boy. Well, he was of course a Blondie and Katze's services were expected to be fulfilling on all levels. Raoul had not raped Katze, for he chose to listen to the pleading of the redhead and decided to be satisfied with merely pleasing himself over the shivering body. But Katze didn't shiver solely due to fear. Oh, no. He could still remember the electricity in that touch which was so warm, so seductive and so gratifying. Yes, gratifying even to a non-responsive body like his. It was almost as if the arousal exuding from Raoul was slithering into the skin of the poor eunuch and nourishing a starving soul. Katze opened his eyes with frustration and turned on his stomach. He tucked the pillows under his chest and watched the day slowly melting the night above the ground of Tanagura.


BELOW GROUND

They were planning for the first attack and it was to take place in Ceres. Sean was not among this group. He was to follow the troop that would show the people of the slums that there was a possibility of a better life. He was to be among those who would take on Tanagura; better yet the delegates. He knew that the chances of survival were minimal, for the conference centre would be well guarded, but his belief in a better future was carrying him with overwhelming faith that overshadowed the fear of Death.

Even though he had the rifle as his most trusted follower, the camera reminded him of a lasting passion. Sean picked up the camera and activated the flash. The sewer was a maze of blackness ahead of them - he caught its raw magnificence on film. The connecting corridors were like monumental constructions of metal that could easily fit a boat inside. The drainage pipes from the streets to collect rain and surface water were at least thirty meters in diameter and reinforced with a Statamon shell that gave them sturdy structures. The sewer of Tanagura and connecting suburbs was a like a city in itself and Sean imagined that the shear size could fit the above life inside the waste systems. It was marvelous, but frightening for in some strange way it was alive. It smelled of all the waste, hissed from the pipes and leaked vapor that dripped from the walls. Scratching and creaking noises of metal against metal, form the large grinding blades inside the pipes, were sending shivers down his spine. It sounded painful as if the insides of the metal pipes were being cut into pieces. The entire hostile environment and the impressions it gave rise to was a premonition of their future. If they failed this mission, Jupiter would crush them entirely. She would show no mercy a second time. They had to win. The Elite Blondies had to be destroyed. The trek to the core of Tanagura had taken hours and the troops would rest until the night had settled. All were armed to their teeth and when the positions of all those two thousand individuals were confirmed, the first command to begin the riot would be given.

They halted at a sluice. It was an impressive door, several feet thick and strong enough to halt floods if such should occur. One of the team members picked up a device from his rugsack and attached it to the control unit of the door. He started the device, which immediately began searching for the code that controlled the sluice. The leader of the team approached the young man working with the commands.

"What's the code?"

The young man revealed the numbers and letters in the order they appeared.

"Two, six, five, five, nine, 'R', 'E', 'E', seven, one."

The sluice opened and the team was advancing closer to the major capital. With the camera in his hands, he sometimes forgot about the terrible events he would partake in and though there were many images to scan through he kept on going back to that printed image of a stranger he so badly wanted to see again. Sean arranged his rugsack against the wall below a pipeline that gave off heat. It was a good place to rest and keep warm during the night. The large group of people, for they were almost two hundred, scattered around the monumental complex - the only source of higher organism beside the cockroaches that have visited this place in a long time. The insects peeked out from their nests. They most likely have never seen such a crowd, such hatred and such desperation among people.

Sean looked at the photo again. The faint light from the torches they had brought along was casting dancing shadows over the beautiful face. Sean started at it for a long time and couldn't escape the feeling that there was something familiar about it. It was almost as if he KNEW he had seen it someplace before; that the stranger was not really a stranger, but he was sure it wasn't anyone from Ceres. Perhaps the other side of Midas? The only thing he knew for sure was that he would be able to pick it out among billions of others. It was so perfect and beautiful. He had once felt the intense kisses and those were still burning his mouth.

As the leader approached him and sat down next to the young man, Sean put the photo away. To show reverence of course by focusing his attention on the man, but also because it was the only innocent and pure thing left in his heart. A cherished face of a beautiful man.

"Are you ready to make an attack?" the leader had asked and Sean nodded. The elderly man responded the same way as he sighed. "Good...good. You know you and three others have the most important task of all."

Sean nodded silently. He knew. He was one of the snipers and, if necessary, among those who would enter the conference centre to take out the leaders.

"I wont let you down, leader," he said and rested his back against the wall, but kept his eyes on the man beside him. He had short hair and deep furrows in his face and it was evident that he had lived a very troubled life. The darkness of life had formed his face and Sean was almost certain that this man had never laughed or even smiled.

"You know," the man began then paused for a short while before he continued. "There used to be a time when the Blondies were like regular people. They were a dying breed, since the blond traits are much weaker then the dark ones. If two people, one blond the other brunette, have a kid then it most likely becomes a brunette."

"Really?" Sean added, but he knew this already. His question was merely to encourage the leader to keep on telling his story, for it seemed though as if he had something to share - or at least get off his chest.

"Yep. But it's always like that. When something becomes rare enough, then it reaches a higher status since people want to preserve it. So was the case with the Blondies. When the world divided the blond traits were more valuable, but somewhere along this effort to save the trait and to make them more viable and better, things got out of hand and they became Elite. Mainly Jupiter's choice.," he sighed sadly. "It was then, that she created the Blondies as they are today. There was such a huge gap between them and us that they no longer seemed human. We tired to make our voices heard and fought back against injustice...but..."

The leader snorted a curse and added; "But the damn thing crushed the rebels completely. My great grandfather's name was David Savio, birth number eighty-nine, thirty-two, twelve, and identity tag 'F, three, 'B', zero, eighty-nine. He was a member of the opposition group and over night his name, his identity...all vanished...and years of hell began, tucked away in Ceres. Broken and nameless...and we still are."

"Jupiter won't be kinder to us now if we fail," Sean cut in. "She took their identity but I am sure she will take our lives."

The leader nodded.

"The most important thing is to kill the key-players - the Blondies of Tanagura. If we can manage that, then the rest will be easier. Now rest a little," the leader suggested and patted Sean's shoulder as he stood up. "You'll need it."