Flight 12

Flight 12 – a serial novel by Travis Creel

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: SOWING SEEDS

Previously, at the Phallic Tower:

• Sean, intent on winning Seth back, clears the air with him about the kidnapping incident five years ago that resulted in Megan's suicide. Afterwards, he successfully seduces Seth, Seth's first passive role since their break-up five years ago.

• Sean conveys to Seth some of the new parameters necessary to launch The Project, which he says will be necessary to save Abe. These include Seth humiliating Augie with shit and fucking one of the other Twelves daily. Sean, however, secretly hopes to sabotage The Project – and make Ian the fall-guy.

• Sean informs Ian that he must arrange the deaths of the three left-sider escapees, including Stan, whom Ian loves. He reassures him that only their Beta-lives will be affected, and that once The Project is launched Ian can live happily with Alpha-Stan. Which may or may not be true.

• Harry's birthday, when he will be vulnerable to a dodecagon, is December 17.

Underground:

• Miles described sessions where he and a `little white dude' (Al Casey) fucked each other – until the day when he noticed that Al had been castrated.

• After being allowed to play with him, Barry fantasizes about Jordan being his bdsm sub.

• • • • • • • • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16 * * * * * * * *

THE PHALLIC TOWER – HARRY

I'm not sure I slept a wink all night. Initially, what kept me up was my rapidly approaching birthday. How could I outwit `my' dodecagon (the chartreuse one) when no one else had managed to do so?

Until yesterday, I had given serious thought to surrendering. You can't beat the dodecagons, why not join them? I was despondent, despite Jasper's (and Gary's) attempts to cheer me up. When Seth reappeared, I realized just how much of my self-confidence relied on his presence – and how drawn to him I was.

I hated myself for that. It was the story of my life – attracted to men who would never be attracted to me. At least Seth wouldn't humiliate me, as others had; he was always kind and considerate – and he respected me – which only made the attraction more powerful.

Dammit, Harry. Why do you do this to yourself? Wishing for things you can never have.

I was still awake in the pitch black of the pre-dawn hours when I heard whispering. One voice belonged to Seth. The other belonged to Sean, the Stimulever representative – whom I did not trust.

I heard them quietly rise and go to the door. There was a handle on it tonight, and when they opened it I could see them pass through the door, the moon providing just enough light outside to present a contrast to their silhouettes. And they slipped outdoors, which made me curious.

I rose, careful not to wake anyone. I opened the door a tiny crack – enough to hear them talking. And what I heard was shocking – Seth and Sean not only knew each other, but had been lovers in the past. There were some confusing references to Abe, a kidnapping and Seth's wife (he was married?!), but what cut to the core was Sean's insistence that he had loved Seth and still did.

Then came the most painful sounds of all – sounds of seduction – and of two men making love. Sounds I longed to make myself, but never would.

There was enough moonlight to see Sean's heaving buttocks as he penetrated Seth – shocking to me, since I would have assumed Seth would take the active role. I closed the door and went back to my wedge, trying to shut the image out of my mind – unsuccessfully.

And tried to sleep – unsuccessfully.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

It was not the first time when the inexplicable had occurred while we slept. Betaworld had a way of making things come and go. Clothes and door handles could vanish, items could materialize out of thin air (the manifest, notes to me, Paul's jockstrap). Dodecagons and even the tower could relocate.

So I shouldn't have been that shocked when I woke up holding something that had no place being in my hand, or even on the island: a knife.

A knife! What the hell was a knife doing in my hand? What kind of message were they sending?

I woke Sean and pulled him outside, returning to the scene of our sexual encounter hours before.

• What the fuck is this, Sean?

• In my esteemed judgment, I'd say it was a knife.

• Why? What am I supposed to do with it?

• Beats me. I think it would be useful for cutting fruit. There are coconuts a couple of miles from here. You wouldn't have to dash them against rocks.

• That's it? Fruit?

• (shrugging) Is there anything else you need to cut? It's not big enough for wood, it's not useful for digging latrines, I really don't know. I'd just use it to cut fruit. Think of it as a gift.

Beware of Swiss bearing gifts.

I wanted Sean to explain my new obligations – but he insisted that the others would trust me more than him, and he was probably right. I considered speaking only to The Twelve, but the more the left-siders knew about the sick rules this place operated under, the better-armed they would be. So I gathered everyone.

• By now you all know we're in an alternate reality, a parallel universe. In which odd things occur.

A quick check around the group confirmed that even the left-siders had been informed of this.

• Another odd thing occurred overnight. I woke up today holding this.

• (Vic) A knife?

• A knife. It just materialized in my hand. I don't know why. It appears useful for cutting fruit, and maybe we can find other uses. But let's keep a tight lid on it. I'm going to stick it in the ground here, with the provision that it only be used for cutting fruit, and not for any other purpose unless I approve it. Is that agreed?

Murmurs of bewildered consent percolated around the group. But now came the hard part of this conversation.

• Sean arrived with new instructions, things that need to happen for us to get out of here.

• (Tim, to Sean) Why should we trust you? You're from Stimulever – why would you want to help us?

• (Sean) This alternate universe – we call it Betaworld – is key to what Stimulever calls The Project. The Project is due to launch at midnight on New Year's Eve. If it does, Betaworld will end and you'll all go back to your Alphaworld lives.

• (Jasper) So what was the point? Creating a temporary world and then we go back to where we were before?

• (Sean) Not exactly. Alphaworld will be improved. I didn't want to say this, but one reason you were chosen was because your future is not good. Next year will not be a happy one for you. If The Project succeeds, we can spare you future misery. We can fix the future.

• (Gary, in Cody mode) You're telling us you can see the future? Horse manure.

• (Sean) We're not clairvoyant, but we have the world's most sophisticated computer systems. We can run simulations based on the past and project into the future. A year ago, our simulations accurately predicted your lives this past year: Vic's job offer in Aruba, Jasper's decision to consult a therapist, Tim's commission from the Audubon Society. . . . And believe me, your next year is not something you'd want to live through, unless we change it.

I wasn't sure how much of this I was buying, but he seemed to be convincing the others. Or most of them. Harry looked extremely skeptical.

• (Sean) But we had a problem. Jordan and Miles discovered the existence of Betaworld –

• (Harry) Didn't you tell them about it?

• (Sean) No. They discovered Flight 12 on their own – and Flight 12 never happened in Alphaworld. Their knowledge put them in danger, and I brought them here to protect them. But that threw everything out of whack, and now the only way to launch The Project is for certain other things to occur. Seth will tell you what they are.

Thanks for passing the ball back to me (yeah, that was sarcasm).

• I have to return underground on the 31st. In the meantime – well, you know the energy of this island is centered on sexuality. We've all felt it.

• (Harry) Some of us more than others.

• (Jasper) I assume you mean me. But yes, it's been unbearable.

• (Harry, cryptically) I wasn't talking about you.

• (Cody) Well, he certainly didn't mean me.

• Anyway, the new requirements involve sex. Actual sex, not just desire.

There was a stunned silence.

• (Al) What are you saying? I came up here to escape sex.

• Not you, Al. Those from the right side of the plane. What down below they call The Twelve. I have to fuck one of you every day.

• (Harry) Fuck? Or maybe get fucked?

What had gotten into Harry? He seemed antagonistic toward me this morning. Had I said something to upset him? Why would he make a comment like that? Sean was the only man I had ever let top me, and Harry had no reason to know about that. I'd have to talk with him later.

• (Sean) Seth has to do the fucking.

• I know everyone here is gay, except for Cody, of course. But I think you're mostly all tops, not bottoms. But I have to fuck somebody today – are there any volunteers?

THE PHALLIC TOWER – HARRY

It was my opportunity. The first time in my life when I'd actually been offered sex. Seth's phrasing had been careful. I think you're mostly all tops, not bottoms'. I must be the reason for the mostly'. I longed to be a bottom – and the person I most fantasized about plunging his dagger into me had just asked for a volunteer. `His dagger' – perhaps that was the reason for the knife – the perfect metaphor.

But – did I have the nerve? I'd waited my whole life for this, and now I was terrified. All I needed to do to lose my virginity – to one of the most gorgeous hunks I'd ever met – was to speak up. Raise my hand.

It was now or never.

• I'll volunteer. You can do me.

Um, that was not me.

• (Seth) Thank you, Tim. . . . On another topic, is there water nearby?

• (Jasper) Yeah, I can show you.

• (Seth) Just tell me where it is. Augie, I need to talk to you privately. Near water. We'll be gone an hour or so.

I don't know what that's all about, unless he's going to fuck Augie as well.

FUCK ROOM D – JORDAN

They'd taken me to a Fuck Room. Nothing unusual about that – it happened several times a day. I'd had a respite from the fuck rooms when they were hiding Abe, and I was Percy's temporary pussycat. While I was there, they'd let Barry have his way with me.

Ooh, la la. Barry.

I am twenty-two years old, and I've been sexually active since I was sixteen. In the intervening years, my ass has hosted any number of cocks. But Barry – ooh la la, Barry. (Oh, I said that already.) Not only was his dick the thickest I'd ever felt, but he was so talented in his technique. He knew how to adjust his tempo, luring me into periods of complacency and then savagely thrusting with a fortitude that made me gasp in surprise, pain – and joy. He pummeled my prostate so thoroughly that I regretted that I had ever, even for a moment, considered surrendering my male genitals to the surgeon's scalpel.

To rewrite Rodgers and Hammerstein, I Enjoy Being a Boy.

So imagine my surprise – and my pleasure – when the fucker that greeted me in the fuck room was not Orson or Atticus or the extremely well-hung Stefan, but Barry.

• Yeah, bitch, it's me. Hamish is rewarding me with fucking opportunities more often. I requested access to you. There's something special about you.

Whoa. Yes? He was almost talking romantically, not just as a lusty goat.

• I don't know what it is, but you're more than just an ass to fuck.

• Thank you. I've always thought so.

• You have spunk.

• You have spunk, too. Isn't that what the British call semen?

• I wouldn't know about that. But I do have plenty of it. Something I'd like to ask you.

• Something I'd like to ask you, too. Do you know anything about Augie?

• Forget Augie. He's not right for you.

• He . . . I'm beginning to think that. But I still want him to be safe.

• All I know is that he's on the surface. They don't tell me a lot.

• What is it you want to ask me?

• Do you like pain?

• Pain?

• Like a cane on your ass? Or a whip on your back? Or clothespins on your balls?

My cock answered for me. It started to rise, surprising me. I had never been in a bdsm scene, but the thought of surrendering to Barry's majestic masculinity was so overwhelming that I was hard in ten seconds.

• I see that you do.

• Actually, Barry, I don't know. But the thought –

• Excites you.

• . . . It does.

• Well, let's try you out. I'm going to plant fifty hard ones on your sweet ass before fucking the daylights out of you. Now bend over and grab your knees.

He picked up a long paddle and swung it viciously in the air. The grin on his face was both vicious and playful. He was going to enjoy making me hurt. And I was pretty damn sure I was going to enjoy it, too.

Whack!

Or maybe not. Jeez, that was hard.

• Count them.

• One.

• `One, Sir.'

• One, Sir.

• That's the way, bitch.

Whack!

• Two, Sir.

Whack!

• Three, Sir.

Whack! Whack! Whack! My ass was on fire.

Whack!

• Seven, Sir.

• You're loving this, aren't you, bitch?

I wasn't. And yet I was. And I couldn't wait for him to fuck me.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – IAN

The question was – could I trust Sean? In the year I had spent as Hamish's henchman, no one had ever explained the nature or purpose of The Project. Sean had told the Twelve that their lives would be improved in a new Alphaworld. I wondered if my life would be improved, too.

I also wondered if he was telling the truth.

After Seth and Augie had departed (for some undisclosed reason), some of the others were pumping Sean for more information. The most relevant question came from Harry:

• (Harry) You say the sex Seth is having is necessary to launch this so-called Project, which will spare us some unforetold future misery.

• (Sean) That's right.

• (Harry) What about the dodecagons? Do we have to keep our date with them for The Project to be launched? And what about Augie – he's met his dodecagon, he's here now, can he stay?

There was a long pause.

• (Sean) I can't answer that.

• (Harry) Can't – or won't?

• (Sean) Can't. I don't know everything, Harry. I'm only a messenger, don't blame me for this. I know your birthday is tomorrow, I can't tell you what's going to happen then.

• (Harry, angrily) Well, tell your fucking computer to run some simulations and let me know.

He said he didn't know the answer to Harry's question. And yet he had told me quite bluntly that I had to make sure Harry went underground as scheduled. Which of us was he lying to? My bet was Harry.

More worrisome – I was supposed to engineer the deaths of Al, Theo – and Stan. I had to trust Sean, but could I? If he was telling the truth, there wouldn't ultimately be any negative consequences for the left-siders – only their Beta-lives would end, they'd be fine back in the real world. If he was lying, I'd be committing murder. Permanent, irreversible murder.

He wants me to kill Stan. Stan! But that, dear Sean, is not a risk I can take. Even if there's a 98% chance that you're telling me the truth and Stan and I could be together in Alphaworld – that 2% chance was still there, and I could lose him forever. And be the agent of his death.

I have to find a way out of this.

THE WOODS – SETH

• (Augie) Why did you bring me here, Seth? Are you going to fuck me, too?

• No. But there's a reason we had to be by water. You'll need to bathe.

• Do I stink?

• No. Not yet. But, Augie – I'm sorry. It's one of the requirements. Your punishment downstairs –

• I don't want to talk about that.

• We're going to have to. I have to shit on you, Augie. And you have to smear it all over your junk.

• WHAT? I thought when I escaped –

• I'm sorry. After an hour, you can clean off in the stream.

• After an HOUR?

• That's what they said. Sean said it could be quicker, but you won't like how.

• Tell me.

• If you jack off while your cock is in shit.

• That's sick.

• Well, the shit could act as a kind of lubricant.

• God, Seth, what kind of pervert do you think I am?

• No kind, Augie. But if you don't want to jack off in front of me, you can just wait out the hour. But you're going to have to take off your pants anyway.

• Pants have a way of disappearing while we're bathing.

• I'll sit on them, make sure they don't go away.

As Augie lay supine, I pissed all over him, as Sean had directed me, coating his body with my yellow discharge. And then I squatted over him and did my business, the result of which he reluctantly smeared over his cock and balls. I kept an eye on him, but at a distance, both to give him a semblance of privacy and to get away from the smell.

After about three minutes, I heard:

• (Augie) Oh, hell. I can't stand this any longer. Seth, turn around. I don't want you watching this.

Did that mean what I thought it meant?

It did. I didn't think he had it in him. But before I let him bathe I had to check the evidence, which had spurted all over his chest.

I wondered what – or who – he was fantasizing about while he was beating the meat.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – VIC

Seth and Augie's reappearance had given me hope – though I wasn't sure how to regard the two Stimulever guys. Ian seemed glad to have escaped their clutches, but this Sean dude? Not sure I can trust him, but I can't see why he'd lie to us. I liked that when Harry asked him about the dodecagons, he didn't say, "Yes, you have to be captured by the dodecagons". That's probably what Stimulever wanted, but he wasn't encouraging it, which he could have. And Seth seemed connected to him somehow – I guess that made me trust him more.

But I was still depressed. Six men had escaped from underground – but not Miles. Miles was still down there getting fucked daily. Miles was mostly a bottom, but he always came when I fucked him, either directly or by my bringing him off. He needed that release – I wondered if they allowed their captives orgasms.

I decided to ask Stan. He said he was in a relationship with Ian, so he wasn't typical. I should ask Al.

• Al? The man has no . . .

• (Stan) Balls?

• Well, yeah.

• They let him use them before they cut him. I know he had sex a couple of times with a Black guy.

My heart jump-started.

• A Black guy? Was he named Miles?

• I don't know. Ask Al.

• Stan, I don't know that I should ask him. I mean, seems a little insensitive to ask a man who no longer has his . . . his . . .

• The word you're searching for is `balls'. Al won't mind. He's talked about it. I think it's kind of nostalgic for him, a good memory.

I found Al, who was talking with Ian.

• Al, I hope you won't mind, but Stan said I could ask you. Ian, it's kinda sensitive, if you don't mind.

• (Al) Oh, hell, I have no secrets. Anything you say, you can say in front of him. You want to ask about my castration, right?

• . . . Uh, no, actually. I wanted to ask about before then. I was wondering if guys downstairs were allowed to have orgasms. I know someone who –

• I was. Though I'm not sure about everybody. Some guys, I think, were just fucked and that was it. But they let me fuck three times. The last time was just before they cut me – they fixed me up with Hamish's dog. But before that, they paired me with this Black guy and made us fuck each other.

• About this Black guy –

• Don't get the wrong idea – I swear I'm straight – but you know how this island is, everything centers on sex, and it's like they want everyone to be gay, right? I'd never done it with a dude in my life. But this guy – I don't know, I guess it's the atmosphere, but I really enjoyed putting it to him. I thought, man, I don't like taking it up the ass, but I sure as hell could give it. If we ever go back to the real world and I get my balls back – I could see doing a lady up her back door, you know? Hell, I could even see doing a dude up HIS back door. But maybe in the real world I wouldn't have those urges, you know?

• About this Black guy –

• He liked it, too. He liked taking it up the ass, I could tell. He was used to it.

• Was his name Miles?

• They didn't use first names. They called me Casey, they called him – what did they call him? King, I think. He did say he had some kind of boyfriend he was stringing along, this dude thought he was in love with him back in Minnesota, but he was actually in love with somebody else. Boy, I'd hate to be the boyfriend when they get back together.

• . . . Yeah, so would I.

I couldn't believe what he was saying. Miles was claiming he was stringing me along, that he was in love with someone else? Did that account for his coolness when he appeared on the island? I knew something was off, he wasn't the same. But maybe it wasn't him. I mean, the island had changed Al into someone who was at least open to having sex with men. Maybe the island had changed Miles. Maybe this was just Beta-Miles, and Alpha-Miles still loves me.

And maybe he'd been playing me for a fool.

Ian had been observing all this quietly. I wondered if he knew about my connection with Miles.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – IAN

This little exchange had given me an idea. It would take some time to develop, but I had time. I needed to work out how to exploit it, how to sow the proper seed.

In the meantime, I had another seed to sow. Seth had told me he would go with Tim to try to find some coconuts or bananas – papayas being the only food source they had discovered so far in this new location. I told him I would let tell the others that they were on a `food run' (wink-wink), knowing that they would intuit the true purpose of the expedition.

Instead, I told them that Seth had taken Tim for his obligatory sex – and didn't mention a food run. And then it was time for a chat with Harry.

THE WOODS – HARRY

Jasper and Tim had gone on a food run yesterday, but with eleven mouths to feed instead of only five, we quickly ran short of papayas. Ian said he knew where there were some coconuts (no idea how he would know this) and would go with me.

Fifteen minutes into the journey, he sprang this on me:

• (Ian) You know, I thought he would choose you.

• Choose me? What do you mean?

• To have sex with. I mean, you're crazy about him, right?

My God, was it that obvious? Ian had been here barely a day, and he picked up on that? Unless someone like Jasper had put a bug in his ear. Jasper knew, I'm sure of it.

• No, Ian. I don't know what gave you that idea. I'm glad he chose Tim. Relieved. Besides, I'm hardly his type.

• Tim is? Al is, probably, but he's straight. Though on this island, maybe nobody's straight, I don't know. Al sure had a good time partying with Miles downstairs.

• With Miles? Vic's Miles?

• I don't think he's Vic's anymore. Al was putting it to him pretty good, and he liked it. But Seth – I mean, you've been his right-hand man, I'd have thought he'd reward you by giving you what you always wanted.

• Ian, I don't want that. It would be humiliating if he chose me.

Yeah. Humiliating for Seth. When your defense mechanism isn't quick enough for deflective humor, try outright denial. Shit, Harry. Ian hit the nail on the head and it was so scary all you could do is deny it. Why did you do that?

Because if you allowed yourself to say that you dreamed of Seth fucking you, and it didn't happen, it would be humiliating. I was responding like the fox in the fable who couldn't reach the grapes – oh, well, they were probably sour, anyway. No, I wouldn't want Seth to fuck me.

My thoughts were disrupted by the sound of grunting.

Grunting?

Yeah, grunting. I knew what kind of grunting that was. And before I knew it they were in sight. Tim was on his back, legs bent over his head, while Seth drove into him like a jackhammer. A sickening feeling hit me in the stomach. I wanted to retch.

I had been on this sex-infused island for over two weeks. All around me hormones were ablaze, cocks were springing to life, and not once – not once – had I witnessed a human being having sex with another human being. Even Jasper, who suffered from sex addiction, had abstained.

Until last night when Seth had lain on the ground for Sean.

And now here it was again: The most beautiful body I had ever seen, belonging to the noblest man with the handsomest face, was plowing the shit out of Tim Fallon.

Out of Tim Fallon. And not me.

THE WOODS – IAN

Seed sown. Now I just had to tell Seth what Harry had said.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

There was an awkward moment when we heard a noise in the woods. Tim looked to the side and said he thought he saw something, but I was too busy drilling him to pay attention. Probably just a squirrel, I thought, until later I realized that there was nothing like a squirrel in these woods – we had not seen a single life form on the island other than people and plants.

I wanted to wash off afterwards, but there was no source of water. Tim cleaned my cock willingly, but it was still a bit sticky. We remembered our mission to find fruit, and eventually did find some coconuts, only to have Ian inform me, after we returned, that he and Harry had gone on a food mission as well.

• Didn't you tell him that's what Tim and I were doing?

• (Ian) Seth, he knew what you and Tim were doing. Everybody did. He didn't expect you to actually come back with coconuts, figured you'd just say you didn't find any. I went with him, because Sean had told me where to find coconuts. He knows this island well.

• Maybe he had a role in designing it.

• I don't think he had that kind of role. But anyway, besides the coconuts, we found something else.

• Yes?

• You. Or to be more precise, you and Tim.

• Omigod, Tim said he heard something. I thought he was imagining it. Well, did Harry get his jollies from watching us fuck?

• Not exactly. Harry may be gay, but he's not really into sex.

• He's not?

• Whatever you do, don't include him on your list of fuck buddies. I asked him, and he said `I don't want that. It would be humiliating if he chose me'. A direct quote.

• Wow, Ian. Thanks for letting me know. I know he was wishing he had somebody, and I told him if we got out of here, I'd help him find a bear-lover. I was going to pick him today, because I thought maybe he'd want that, but then Tim volunteered, and it would have looked weird if I chose Harry, who didn't.

• Exactly. He didn't. He said he was relieved.

• I'll be sure not to make that mistake in the future.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – IAN

Well, that worked. Another seed sown. Now I had to fertilize and water them, so that they would grow. There was more work to do.

[COMING UP NEXT: CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO – HARRY'S DILEMMA]