Expedition Westward
***
A metal sign, festooned with the customary bullet holes, explained the history of the Adventure Spa. Winston and Star paused outside the main gate to read it:
Visitors have been enjoying these hot springs since the late 19th century. In more recent years, the addition of the theme park with its Amazing Mermaid Performers has added to the popularity of this noteworthy tourist destination ....
And so on. The lower portion was largely obliterated from a heavy burst of gun fire.
“Why are so many signs shot up like that?” Star asked.
“It seems that a certain class of humans enjoyed ruining their environment with acts of vandalism,” Winston said. “My former master would have termed them buta parast.”
“What’s that?” Star asked.
“A Hungarian term which translates as ‘dumb peasant,’” Winston said. “Individuals who are aspire to nothing more than their personal baseness.”
“If I’m around for another thousand years, I’ll never understand it,” Star said.
“Perhaps we will be around that long,” Winston observed. “With proper maintenance procedures and replacement of worn components, who can say?”
“Well, I just want my hot bath for right now,” Star said.
They moved into the Adventure Spa theme park. The place was much the worse for wear. The amusement rides were all rusted derelicts, fires had raged through the arcade section, destroying the various games and food concessions. Worst of all was the Amazing Mermaid Performers area.
The plasti glass observation walls of the large pool had been shattered, spilling what must have been millions of liters of water. The remaining water was fetid and green with pond scum type plant life.
“I wonder what the amazing mermaid performers were like,” Star said.
“No doubt they were a group of acrobatic porpoises,” Winston said. “The designation ‘mermaid’ was part of the showmanship.”
“You know everything, Winston!”
“I once attended a porpoise / killer whale show with Dr. Horvath in an arena similar to this one,” Winston said. “Back when there still were porpoises and killer whales.”
“I wish I could have seen that,” Star said.
“Yes, they were quite remarkable,” Winston said. “The creatures performed the most strenuous maneuvers for nothing more that small bits of fish. I believe they were called The Flying Friends.”
“Right now, I need to fly into a bath,” Star said.
She pointed to an archway with an Historic Hot Springs sign over it. She took Winston’s hand.
“Come on, Winston!”
They entered a partially enclosed area with a plasti-glass dome soaring overhead. The middle of the dome was open to the sky, and below it sprawled a pond of approximately 40 meters diameter. This pond bubbled and frothed amid a faint odor of sulfur. Its edge was a rocky drop off plunging to an unknown bottom. A shelf was fixed into the rock where patrons could experience the water at a safe depth.
Star removed her shoes and stuck her foot into the water.
“It’s perfect, Winston!”
“Excellent,” Winston said. “These hot springs have been known to reach untenable temperatures – at least for biological life forms.”
In a flash, Star stripped off her clothes and stood in her full, nude magnificence before Winston’s gaping optical sensors.
“How do you like the scenery in here, Winston?”
“It’s ... uh ... very stimulating,” Winston said.
Star laughed joyously and dove head first into the water. She rolled on her back and swam a loop close to shore. Her naked body shimmered in the bubbles like a vision of paradise.
“You can swim!” Winston cried in amazement.
“Sure, it’s easy,” Star said, “come try it.”
“I-I don’t think so,” Winston said, “but thanks for asking.”
He began to pick up the discarded clothing.
“I’ll go wash these for you.”
“Don’t worry about that, Big Boy,” Star said. “I’ll take care of it later.”
“Very well.” Winston dropped the clothes.
Star stretched herself out luxuriously on the bathing ledge. Weeks of grime and tension bubbled away in the hot mineral water.
“Come on in, Winston. This is fantastic!”
Winston looked dubiously into the hot spring. He couldn’t tell how deep it might be, only that the bathing ledge set into the bank was suspended above a gurgling, roiling pool of water that might be emerging from the very middle of the earth.
“I don’t know,” he said. “That ledge looks kind of skimpy.”
“It’s plenty big enough,” Star raised her arms out of the water. “Come on in, let’s have some fun.”
“Well ... okay,” Winston said. “I’ll try.”
Under no other circumstance would he have dared to enter this mysterious pond. But right there, languidly spread along the bathing shelf, was a manifestation of absolute beauty. She drew him to her the way a magnet pulled at iron shavings, although he contained to oxidation-prone components. He was all plastics and advanced metal alloys, well sealed against contaminants and moisture.
He was certain that the water could not harm him. And even if it could, he would not be able to resist Star’s beckon.
He dipped one foot dubiously beneath the surface. His temperature sensors registered a abrupt increase in thermal output, but nothing that could be hazardous to him. He gripped the handrail running along the shore edge and lowered himself onto the platform to stand in meter deep water. The sensation was not altogether unpleasant.
“See?” Star said. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“It is rather agreeable,” Winston said.
“It’s a lot more than that,” Star said. “Come closer, Big Boy.”
He began walking cautiously toward Star’s location, keeping a firm grip on the handrail. Then a splash nearby startled him badly.
“Yow!”
He grabbed the handrail with both arms and held on for dear life. Star laughed.
“It’s only Rippie,” she said. “Look!”
Winston swiveled his head to observe Ripper swimming toward the middle of the pond. Joyful little yips issued from his speaker unit.
“I never imagined that mech wolves could swim,” Winston said.
“Perhaps Rippie is evolving, too,” Star said. “Out here, away from the rest of the pack and nobody giving him orders through that communicator device.”
“That is an interesting observation,” Winston said. “A mech wolf’s extremely limited brain size would seem to preclude the possibility of evolution, but, as Dr. Rackenfauz has observed, established robotic theory has been turned on its head. Why – ”
“Forget all that.” Star pulled Winston down into the water with her. “It’s time you started evolving some more yourself.”
She placed her left hand around Winston’s head and pulled him close, kissing him full on the lips. With her right, she guided Winston’s hand up along her inner thigh toward her female genitalia shimmering in the water, awaiting his touch, like a magnificent flower.
Her eyes were closed now, and her simulated respiration increased. The erect nipples of her perfect breasts protruded from the water. Winston felt his mind being swept away ...
From the middle of the pond, Ripper gave a sharp howl and disappeared beneath the surface. The erotic mood shattered.
“What happened!” Star cried.
Winston moved to the edge of the platform. “Ripper, where are you?”
Two creatures thrust themselves out of the water near him – female looking things with long hair, bare breasts, and wide staring eyes. They grabbed Winston and pulled him into the water.
35. The Squish Girls
Star remained lying on the bathing platform, too stunned to react. In moments her world had transformed from exquisite pleasure to incomprehensible nightmare. The great open eye of
the dome stared down at her with total indifference.
Then her inertia abruptly shattered.
“Winston!”
She catapulted off the platform in a perfect dive, as if she’d been programmed as a swimming athlete. Visibility underwater was good, despite the bubbles, and she could see the two creatures swimming toward a cave ten meters below the surface. Their upper bodies were that of human females, while their lower quarters resembled fish tails. Between them, gripped in their hands, was the struggling figure of Winston.
The ‘mermaids’ were real! Or, at least damned realistic robotic versions.
A melody of almost unbearable sweetness pulsed through the water, coming from the speaker units of the mermaids. It spoke of wondrous delight and pleasure – a powerful siren song aimed directly at male vulnerabilities.
Even so, Star felt herself succumbing to its allure. Her hands ached to reach out and stroke the long hair flowing in the current. One of the mermaids glanced back at her and smiled seductively, revealing perfect teeth behind rich, full lips.
What would it be like to kiss her? Star wondered.
She could almost feel the warm lips pressed against her own, the sinuous body wrapping itself around her. One pearly white hand running through her hair while the other one stroked along her belly reaching for ...
I must save Winston!
Star slammed her mind tight against all temptations and plunged on grimly until she was almost upon them.
Then she halted abruptly. Winston was looking toward her, but not seeing her at all. He no longer struggled, and his face wore a rapturous expression the likes of which she’d never seen before – not even when she had guided his hand toward the gateway to paradise.
Star ceased all movement then and merely gaped with fascinated horror as the mermaids drew Winston into the cave. She was unable to move, in virtual inactive mode. Her natural buoyancy began drawing her upwards. On the way back to the surface, she dimly noted a third mermaid. The thing had abandoned Rippie and was swimming down to join her two sisters in the cave.