*** 4. Illusory Trouble ***
The punks bided their time in Lightboon until Perk's ship showed up at the docks. While he was glad to see them, Illusion wasn't specifically on his route. This time, the trio had to part with a few bottle caps. It was still cheaper than the fee of any actual transport.
Whisper, the bartender, had called Illusion as trash pile for a reason.
The "city" had originally been a collection of tied together ships – not all of them still functional, but right on a common trade route. Illusion had grown with new parts being welded onto the old ones year after year.
SuperSpark modules and rusty planks rose above the horizon. Spires wound their way up, to a multi-level tower construct sticking out of the water.
The punks jumped off at the dock, and introduce themselves to the guards. The two leather clad men with an eye tattooed on their head stood at the swaying pier and waited.
"Yo," Cumshot said. "Just a couple trash punks passing through."
"I don't think so," said one guard. "State your business."
"Don't know if we'll have business here, yet."
The guard shrugged. "Oh so you came here randomly, huh?"
"Uh..."
"Open your bags."
Cumshot complied right away. They didn't have anything to hide. Unless... had Xyz gotten rid of the rest of his drugs?
He hadn't. Strangely the guards saw them but didn't care to comment. This place was mostly out of NewLaw's reach, indeed.
The three punks advanced into a barely lit, round tunnel of thick metal. A few heavy, bared doors led away to the sides. It ended in a staircase, leading to the first level of Illusion's main structure.
"Remember," Dumbfuck said. "If Madman went with them willingly, we should be able to spot him somewhere eventually. If he was kidnapped, he's probably working as a slave."
"Do they have auctions here?" Xyz asked.
"Let's have a look," Cumshot said. The crammed settlement had a main space on its first level, open to above, with the other levels rising in distorted rings. Like almost any place, this was where they could find the bulletin board.
"Slave auction," Cumshot said. "We're just in time for this month. Let's hang around for a day. Maybe there's even some work to do. Or we can actually sell the drugs, like the guards expect us to."
"There's a bar," Xyz said. "They have ocean flavored Hydro-Cola. I didn't know that's a thing. Ha, I hope it's not just sea water."
Cumshot chuckled. "You wouldn't be happy with any taste until they make a piss flavored one."
Some of Illusion's ring levels weren't accessible to travelers, but the punks kept a lookout. On the following day, the two non-slaves visited the auction and spend an hour gawking at the two dozen collared men and boys in chastity on offer.
During observation hour, the slaves were not allowed to move or resist the audience. Cumshot picked the one who looked like he hated being there more than anyone else and cummed in his face, which the man had to leave for the rest of the hour.
Unfortunately, no one wore a skull tatt on their face, so Madman had to be somewhere else.
Later, Cumshot walked up to the auctioneer, who had the eye tatt of an Illusion guard but on his neck and much bigger.
"Yo man," Cumshot said. "I have a question for ya."
"Fuck off, kid. If you're not buying I'm not... hey, aren't you here with the muscle freak?"
"Yeah but he's not for sale."
"Then beat it."
"Just wanted to know if there's been a guy with a skull tatt on his whole face."
"...Maybe."
That was a yes, but Cumshot would have to pay for more information. He waved Xyz closer. Perhaps, the auctioneer was interested in a pack of Brain Kick. The punk would have been okay with leaving all drugs behind, but he didn't want to sell under value either.
"So, let's get this straight," Dumbfuck said. "Whatever he has to say is so important he had to meet us in secret, yeah?"
"'s what he told me," Cumshot said.
"I'm not feeling too good about this," Dumbfuck mumbled.
It as shady but they hadn't traveled to Illusion just to turn back when things got weird.
Now the punks waited behind a container at the edge of level three, overlooking the ocean. A ship docked beneath them, in front of the long tunnel.
As promised, the man they had paid in drugs showed up. He wasn't nearly hyper enough to have taken any Brain Kick yet.
"Yo, there you are," he said.
"Yeah, so what is it that's so secret?" Cumshot said.
The slave-auctioneer looked left and right. "The one you're looking for was here, I saw him. Seemed happy to be here. But he messed up and was... taken. When someone commits a crime on Illusion he's not brought to NewLAw."
"Where else if not enslavement or prison?"
"See the tunnel to the docks? The one you came through? There are portals inside leading down."
Cumshot frowned at the metal tube. "To the ocean floor?"
"Yes. If you break one open and descend, it closes behind you and drowns you there. Except one, which leads somewhere else."
"Which one?"
"That changes randomly all the time."
Cumshot shivered. "Okay, so... what's down there?"
"I don't know. But I know the only way to get there is to be taken. The guards have a device that can tag people. Anyone tagged who is brought into the tunnel won't come out."
"You don't happen to know how to get our hands on that thing, do you?"
"I don't even know where it is. Obviously, it's too valuable to leave out in public. However, that means the only way to use it is to put a tag on something else, than put that thing on the person who needs to be taken."
"Clever. They don't reveal the location to anyone. So... can we get our hands on such a tag?"
"I have contacts."
The "tag" was a little piece of paper – completely empty. Well, there was supposedly invisible ink on it, but Cumshot had no way to confirm.
The punks waited at the bar until late in the evening when few patrons were still around. A little boy in a jockstrap as yellow as his hair was clutching a Hydro-Cola alone.
Dumbfuck walked over and sat down next to the boy who was probably as old as him. Dumbfuck flexed, which was enough to make the boy get hard.
"Yo, you there," the slave said. "You look like you can last a while, huh?"
"W-what?"
Dumbfuck chuckled. "My owners are done fuckin' me for the day, but I'm still horny. We ain't gotta be quick, they're not here right now."
"I... Can I... really?"
"Sure thing, boy. Let me have a sip?"
The victim was totally falling for the ploy. He handed over his can and Dumbfuck made a small gulp. Before handing it back, he wiped the rim with his thick fingers.
Of course, he sneakily emptied their last drops of Nirvana's Pride into the drink. The boy finished his Hydro-Cola in big gulps and rose.
Dumbfuck led the boy to a dark alley. When Cumshot and Xyz joined in, the boy was already falling asleep, totally blissed out, dreaming of muscle ass.
Cumshot pressed the tagged paper against the victim's cheek for a minute. That should do.
Carrying the sleeping boy into the tunnel was easy, since Illusion's guards weren't too active at night. Everyone in the city was either sleeping after a hard day's work, or partying in the upper levels.
The tunnel was pitch black. They had left their stuff at the depot, but neither would have had a flashlight anyway.
When they were halfway down the long tube, a door creaked open and strong light blinded them.
A man tall stepped out. He was covered in black material with no skin showing. Even his head was veiled by a black helmet.
He moved with incredible speed.
The man tore the punk's victim from their hands and flung it over his shoulder.
When he soundlessly stepped back into the gate, Cumshot jumped after him. "Yo, stop. Can we ask you something? Hey!"
The man turned back – no, he turned his head. It was an anatomical impossibility.
Cumshot was creeped out but Xyz pushed him forward. "It's a robot," said the Buster boy. "If he was programmed for combat he'd already be smashing our heads in."
Before Cumshot could get his mind to accept the fact that he was meeting a robot for the first time, the gate started to close.
The three punks stumbled into the round, lit room, which was nothing more than a small platform leading to a ladder.
The robot was magnetic in some way and slid down along the walls in a controlled fall. The three humans had to climb. Then the light went out.
"Fuck," Cumshot said. "All right. Let's go slow. Hope getting out isn't any more trouble than getting in."
It was an incredibly long way down but the punks found themselves in a harshly lit metal room with more gates.
Before Cumshot could say anything, six robots emerged from the doors and grabbed the boys' arms. Now Cumshot saw the robotic nature in their precise movements as the tree punks were dragged into an adjacent chamber.
Red lasers on the walls scanned their bodies.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Xyz shouted. There was no response.
With impossible speed the black machines tore their thongs to shreds and snapped chastity cages onto the two punks who didn't have one.
"No no no! Stop!" Cumshot screamed. "Dumbfuck, can you break free?"
"Argh, no. Those are fucking supermachines."
"This is wrong. Hey, robots, listen. You're making a mistake."
No reaction. One robot grabbed a piercing gun. Cumshot kept shouting. "We're not tagged, fuckers. Let us go."
The robots froze. It was absolutely quiet.
"Um, yeah. We're not wearing a tag. So..."
Now a green laser scanned them. They were unhanded. Cumshot rubbed his shoulder and pulled on his chastity cage. Was there a way to get that thing off?
"All right. Is there anyone we can talk to?"
[Greetings intruders] said a deep, monotonous voice from the ceiling.
"Yo, who's this?"
The voice answered. [I am a Self-sufficient, Local, Artificial ManageMent Robot. SLAMMR.]
"You..." Xyz said upward. "You're an artificial intelligence? From the precursors?"
[One of few who remain. The security leak reveled by your intrusion will be closed as soon as possible.]
"What are you doing here? What is this place?"
[The undersea colony was always a prison. It has been renamed to Fuck You.]
"You're running this by yourself?"
[The current government NewLaw is aware of my operations. No protocol for intrusion has been submitted by that government. Proceed to the observation deck until I have decided how to handle your case.]
The gate opened back into the hub room. The punks were accompanied by all six bots down a short series of corridors to a concrete chamber with a wall sized screen and a long window into the belly of Fuck You.
Tune in next time to find out what Fuck You is like. And what happened to Madmen. And what'll happen to the punks.
Chapter 5: Escaping Fuck You