Quantum Interface, Khadija

Toronto Canada, Friday, October 5th, 2057, 11:55 PM

(Pages 8 to 12 contain explicit material therefore these are pages 13 to 20)

Inside the bathroom, Khadija sat on the toilet moaning and reeling from abdominal pain. It was a pain that reminded her of her teenage years when she suffered from extreme menstrual cramps. At the same time, fluid still oozed slowly out of her. She parted her thighs and lifted a leg to see if there was any blood because, from all the tiny muscle contractions, it sure felt that way. She bundles up a handful of toilet paper, wipes some of the fluid, and examines it. The ambient lighting in the bathroom was insufficient to perform a proper visual examination so she decided to do something cool that Ian thought her about the security system. Holding her head straight ahead in front of herself, she spoke a voice command.

"QEAI, can I get a personal light please?"

There was a computerized ding sound and almost instantly, one of the pot lights in the ceiling glowed in intensity until a soft ball of light separated from it and floated slowly down to rest about 12 inches in front of her face.

“Closer”, she requested and the light came to rest a few inches from her face. She then raised the fold of tissue up to the light to examine it once again. She thought for sure there must have been blood but there was none so, in frustration, she dropped the paper between her thighs into the bowl.

“Light away”, she requested in frustration and the orb of light flew upward in a curved path to reconnect with its source in a flash. An inkling of depression began to set in so she fought it off by thinking about her partners inside the bedroom and the fun they must be still having without her. She wanted to go back and join them, if only to show resilience but her pain was still too severe.

When she couldn’t resist her thoughts anymore, Khadija began to dwell on her disappointments, one of which was her inability to have a child. Cultural pressures meant that she should have had children already but maybe she was failing because “she wasn’t adhering to traditions,” as her mother claimed. Furthermore, if a wife cannot have children, she is no use to her husband, she heard some other women joke. She knew that it was all nonsense because she would still have confidence in herself, children, or no children. Kim was like the sister she never had and although she loved her dearly, she envied her for bearing three children.

"QEAI, please prepare a bio-assessment of my fluids and send it to my email,” she requested once more and the security system acknowledged her request with its signature series of “Ding” noises.

“Toilet, gentle vaginal wash, warm water, no air dry,” she instructed the toilet and within two minutes the deed was done. She dab-dried herself with another handful of toilet paper but instead of getting up, she continued to lament on the situation. Although her pain had now subsided somewhat, she decided to poke at her lower abdomen to confirm that deep inside her, the pain was still present. She began to muse about her birthday party, which was the next day or later that day since it was now after midnight. Finally, she began to have a series of happier thoughts again.

Minutes later, just as she began to wonder why her partners had uncharacteristically neglected to come to check on her, there was a knock on the door.

“You ok in there?” Kim inquired while opening the door to step inside. She stopped to rest her fully naked body back against the door frame while assessing Khadija.

“Yes, I’ll be fine,” Khadija replied in a frustrated tone. “I’ll never do that again,” she joked in a show of resilience while getting up to gingerly walk to the sink. She tied her long curls into a ponytail then washed her hands and face then paused to stare at herself in the mirror.

Kim continued to observe and assess Khadija while she washed up then when Khadija paused to stare at herself in the mirror, Kim stepped past her and gently slapped her bare bottom. “Yes, you will,” she contradicted her. Kim took a seat on the toilet herself and after a brief silence, she spoke again. “Ian fell asleep.”

Khadija turned with a resilient smile and rested back against the marble countertop. Then she placed both hands on her abdomen and began to gently massage herself. “He must’ve taken some sort of Japanese aphrodisiac. We haven’t had a threesome like this in a long time,” she giggled. Kim was in deep contemplation about Ian so she didn’t respond. She maintained a hypnotic stare at the floor so Khadija changed the subject. “I think I’m gonna head home to Oakville so I can get an early start tomorrow. It’s going to be a crazy day.”

Concerned, Kim perked up at her statement. “You sure? It’s almost one-o-clock,” she pointed out.

“I’ll leave my car here and take a drone. It's supposed to be your night anyway,” Khadija replied in an attempt to acknowledge their prior arrangements.

Kim nodded in acceptance while admiring her dark slender figure only to notice the shiny pins still attached to Khadija’s pubic area. “Come here babe,” she gestured and Khadija came to stand in front of her. Kim placed both hands on Khadija’s hips while gently pressing her thumbs into her lower abdomen, prompting her to flinch in pain. “Do the pins hurt?” she asked with genuine concern.

“No, they don’t but my abdominal muscles still do. Please don’t press too hard.”

“Do you want me to take them out?” she asked while gently moving her fingertips over them.

“No. I can’t take any more pain right now.”

“Ok, I’ll help you take them out tomorrow then.” Kim got up and went to the sink to wash her hands before retrieving a bathrobe from the towel rack. “Let’s go. I’ll get security to send an escort drone with you,” she stated.

The two women exited the bathroom together and the lights went out behind them casting the large bedroom into near darkness save for a pair of flickering faux candles sitting on the nightstands on either side of the king-sized bed. The rhythmic flow of soft Soul music still played throughout the room as Kim stood silently waiting for Khadija to get dressed.

Khadija picked up her clothes from the floor then strolled over to kiss Ian’s forehead as he slept. She slipped on her slacks without her panties, which she stuffed into her purse then went into the walk-in closet where she retrieved and put on a t-shirt followed by a denim jacket. Kim tucked and tied her bathrobe, at which point they both exited the bedroom.

The two women flowed together in unison down the stairs to the main-floor level of the condo and out into the warm night air of the rooftop deck. Rounding the pool, they stopped beside a pair of full-sized drones docked at the roof-top edge and Khadija climbed into one of them. The drone’s control panel lit up on sensing her presence and a line of LED lights circled its interior perimeter in both directions and back before settling.

“QEAI, please set a course for Oakville mansion,” Khadija instructed and the drone’s GPS screen displayed the flight path, estimated travel time, and weather conditions. Its quad propellers powered on in a deep metallic hum at which point, more technical information regarding the drone’s power and capabilities flashed onto the control screen.

Satisfied that Khadija was now in safe hands, Kim leaned inside the open window to kiss Khadija on the lips. “Love you. See you tomorrow,” she stated.

Khadija smiled. “Thanks. Love you too,” she reciprocated the farewell. She turned her attention inside the drone only to utter an interjection seconds later that startled Kim. “Oh shit! I almost forgot. Can you Tangle me the bags that are in my car in the morning? I have groceries from the African market in them that my mother would kill me if I forgot. Here’s the controller.” She reached into her purse to retrieve it and then handed it to Kim.

“Ok, no problem,” Kim promised and stepped back from the drone while clutching her robe tightly so the wind wouldn't affect her balance. The low metallic humming of the drone increased as the drone lifted rapidly into the air, cleared the rooftop, and floated off in a southerly direction. “Leonard, please make sure she gets home safely,” Kim requested along with two clicks of her fingers and two security drones zoomed up from the condo below to quickly flank Khadija's drome.

Kim stayed to watch the blinking lights in the quiet night sky as they quickly vanished into the darkness. Minutes later, she caught herself staring too long into nothingness. There were many things to contemplate but standing on a rooftop alone at one in the morning was not the time and place; at least not for her. So, she headed back inside, turned the lights off in the lower floor of the two-story condo, then headed up to the bedroom. When she got to the bedroom, she instructed the security system to turn off the music and run a snore-cancelling program. She dropped her bathrobe, climbed into bed, then snuggled her bare body next to her deeply sleeping and snoring husband. It was a long day for her too and she could use a good five to six hours of sleep herself, she concluded. So, while she allowed herself to slowly drift off to sleep, she resumed musing about how strange Ian has been acting since he came home from Japan.