Stable Employment Pt. 02 - Final - Sex Stories

Stable Employment Pt. 02 - Final

... He's one step away from talking about Jack. That would be nuclear retaliation. I set my drink back down, slowly, without having taken a swig.

He gets the message. He holds up both hands and leans back in his chair. "Sorry. Better to confront it head-on though: I know basically everything about you. I know your story. Nobody gets in here without us doing due diligence. You're here because I like you, and I feel for you -- and because you did very well at your first interview. I think we can help each other."

The words"You don't fucking know me!" are more than a bullet. They're a teched-up self-propelled explosive, and my throat would just be a dumb tube. I grit my teeth and take a breath. I think of Jack, then think better of it. I think of the promise I madeto Jack. That still works. I do the work to disarm the rocket. It's a lot harder than just biting a tongue or swallowing a lump.

The man sighs. "We live in different worlds. The simple fact, however, is that mine is above yours. I have a god's eye view. Some things you can never know unless you're in it, down there, but then again, some things you can't see from the ground."

"Took you long enough to call yourself a god. Three whole minutes."

He smiles. "Technically I did not. You'll find that that's not one of my buttons, either. Good try, but no score. Corin, life down there is what you know, but it's not working for you. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough." It would've been weaker not to say anything, but ...

... fuck him anyway.

"Life up here is different -- would be different. There'd be tradeoffs, but the hope is that it'd be a net improvement."

"Okay. Tell me about the tradeoffs."

He nods, and then he just dives right into it. "If you're searching for meaning, run away from this place. Nothing means anything."

... the fuck?

"That's what you can see so much more clearly from Olympus. You will be surrounded by love all the time, and you won't be able to handle it. That which is temporary will become permanent by sheer brute force, and against that backdrop, the search for 'real love' or someone who 'really likes you' will drive you crazy. Paradise will drive you crazy, because you'll always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. The lack of conflict will feel fake, even though it's not. The finest food will whisper to you of the slaughterhouse; the comfiest chairs and beds will feel like prisons. Sex will feel like psyops. You will be gripped by the panicky need to escape, and you will, because no one will stop you. That's not what we do in paradise.

"Reality down there is already pretty soft, Corin," he says. "None of us would do well back before the gap, let alone during it. Still, wherever there's the least bit of conflict, strife, striving, disappointment, deprivation, or failure, there will be the insidious booby prize of 'meaning,' denying you even the opiate's vampire kiss.

"Adam, Eve, and Lilithfled the garden. They weren't chased out. Thus was God ...