“Aha! For himself and his wife — the bedroom, one room for the daughter and one for the two sons. Seneca now has one son, and ten years ago or more Senece didn’t have any children. Nor was he married.”
“He didn’t have any children, he wasn’t even married. You weren’t married either! Where was I then?! What was I doing at the time?! Why didn’t I rush to Megapolis and steal you from your parents’ house?! Why?!!!”
Chapter 59
“The Balance in our society functions flawlessly,” said Mr. Kaella, without taking his eyes off the text which appeared on the teleprompter. “And that is no accident. This is in accordance with the essence of the human being. This is how Mother Nature created us. As Consumers. We live by consuming air, water, food, energy. When we stop consuming, we are dead… we are no more. Consumption, that is life itself. We were created in order to consume. This is the only purpose of existence of every single person and mankind as a whole.
“The consumer is the center, the foundation of the universe. We are born, study, we work, create, only in order to discover new objects of consumption. Scientists and engineers are constantly working on this. Artists of all kinds create works of art so that people would consume them. When I realized that, I immediately cut all funding for further space exploration.”
Babe’s bellybutton was covered by a crown made of real gold. From it descended a gold chain, which ended in a fluorescent green broken arrow, like a bolt of lightning. This arrow was the emblem of Kaella’s Company and represented a ray of cosmic energy traveling towards the Earth. The arrow pointed downward.
Prince could no longer control himself. “A crown! That’s me! That is why you say that it is only mine… you magnificent woman! No one understands who I am! Only you do! And my beam, my lightning, my deadly arrow!” he thought.
“Look, look at your crown and your lightning… look, Prince!” Babe told prince with her fiery stare. “And tonight you will look at my crown! I told you that I would have a backless dress, but what I didn’t tell you is what will be on my back. What is already tattooed on it. Something that is only mine. Something that is me! A huge gold crown with rubies. The crown of the Princess of the Planet Earth!”
Chapter 60
“Pascal, hey, Pascal, stop that already! You’re a detective. Have you forgotten?” Pascal shouted at himself.
“Yes. I’m a detective. Where were we?”
Pascal didn’t move from the mirror, as though his image was the counterpart forcing him to investigate.
“Think, Pascal. Who among the important individuals in the state, among the persons who could build themselves such a shelter, who has three children. Two boys and a girl?”
“Well, I understand what you’re trying to say, OK… President Xing has two children…”
“That’s right,” the counterpart from the mirror responded.
“Erivan is alone. He doesn’t have anyone. In the top of the Inspectorate…”
“Leave the top of the Inspectorate. Erivan is the top of the Inspectorate.”
“Yes… In the Company… by sectors…”
“Leave the sectors. Who is the Company, Pascal?”
“Kaella… he only has Prince… Well of course! Prince has two boys and a girl. But they are students. They don’t need pink covers… the bunk beds, that I understand, the rooms are small… but the light blue covers for adult men…”
Pascal turned around and once again took a look at the bathroom accessories… the tiles…
“But ten… fifteen… twenty years ago, Prince’s children were little. And it’s… it’s Prince Kaella’s shelter!”
“It can’t be… Raul and Seneca would not hand me over to Prince. Perhaps Seneca, if he was scared… but if he was in cahoots with Prince all this time, if it was all just a ploy, pretend… if they waited for the right moment before the elections… to instill fear.”
“No, no… Raul injected me in the arm. Raul would never be on their side. That’s for sure. Don’t even think about that…”
“Oh my God, Prince killed them! He killed both Raul and Seneca! And he abducted me from them! And now I’m in his shelter… beneath the palace… in Capital City. That’s got to be it. I slept through the flight to Capital City. And Prince is holding me. He has some plans for me… Raul! My Friend! My best and only friend! And your people… and our people… you’re all dead! All of you!”
Pascal covered his face with his hands and trembled. “And you Seneca. You are dead because of me too. Because of me you too lost your life.”
Pascal opened his eyes wide and screamed. He ran out of the bathroom, ran to the exit, the locked door, and pounded on it with his fists and feet, screaming
“Don’t you dare touch her, you scoundrels! Don’t you dare touch her! Or even look at her! Not even the children! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all! All of you!!!”
Chapter 61
“Why would I spend money on space exploration?” Mr. Kaella wondered in front of the viewers. “It could have paid off if we knew that in some remote corner we would find consumers similar to us. Because we could sell our products and service to them and make a hefty profit.
“But they don’t exist. It’s only us. What do I care if there is water on some planet out there? Like, life is possible. Let that life transform itself into a consumer, my buyer. Then we can talk.”
“You’re trembling, my Prince… you’d rush me… take off my jacket… raise my skirt… and I would tuck my hand into your pants…”
Babe was losing control of herself, which was uncharacteristic for her. Her case was the most striking evidence that the sense of power, as the strongest aphrodisiac, acts equally in both directions, on males and females alike.
“My arrow, my lightning… from my crown… from me… from my soul…” Prince’s eyes were pinned to Babe’s bellybutton. “You aimed the arrow downward… towards your… towards her… That’s what you meant! That she is only mine… your intimate thing… You… you are only mine, Princess!!!”
“I cannot stand it any longer either, Prince, I can’t… I need you immediately… now. Call a limousine for the two of us… call…. And do you know what I’ll do to you? I’ll wrap myself around you. I’ll squeeze you both with mu hands and legs. And I won’t let you go until you pour the last drop of your semen into me, Prince Kaella! And I’ll bear you a son! A true Kaella! Not only a Prince of Earth, but emperor of the entire Universe. And my blood will rule this world for a million years! Just watch, Prince… Watch!”
Babe suddenly spread her legs. Prince did not bend forward. An invisible force threw him back into the armchair. He saw what his fluorescent lightning was pointing at.
A gold chain was intertwined with the black threads of Babe’s lace thong. Hanging on it was a gold coin, which Babe had commissioned from a goldsmith, in the greatest secrecy. Engraved on the gold coin was a profile of Prince Kaella, crowned with a laurel.
The only state institution for which Prince Kaella did not limit the budget was the Organization for the Protection of the State and the Constitutional Order. The Organization had been formed and was personally commanded by Erivan. It was made up of squads labeled with letters.
The organization was popularly called Erivan’s squads, and its members — squires.
Charlie, the leader of C Squad, which Erivan had assigned to protect Mr. Kaella and his son Prince at this decisive, historic moment, put his finger on the Torpedo icon on the dashboard of his submarine. He then chose the Fire command.