Dick Longg: Sexual Saviour of the Universe (16 page)

He demonstrated far more interest when Dick told them all about Project Gladstone, the secretive project Vera had entrusted him with. Project
Gladstone
was basically an exercise in entrapment. The Party had wanted to eliminate prostitution, both the ‘fallen women’
and
their clients, but the problem had been identifying any of them. Most of the prostitutes plied their trade in the City, a relatively small but bustling commercial area in
London
’s
East End
. It was here that they’d find wealthy clientele in the banking, legal and insurance businesses while the busy, labyrinthine streets made the area extremely difficult to police. Yes, the Party was aware of certain haunts frequented by the prostitutes but it took a disproportionate and unacceptable level of police manpower on surveillance missions to arrest anyone caught soliciting.

What was needed was a far more sophisticated method - which is how and why Project Gladstone came about. In Dick’s era this would have been known as a honey trap; using an attractive-looking woman posing as a prostitute as bait for unwary men whose minds were ruled not by their hearts, but by their groins. The Party had considered using some of its female members in this way but their time was deemed too precious to be used to round up a few sexual malcontents. Apart from the practical manpower issues Dick believed this plan had a fundamental flaw that had never been acknowledged; most female Party members were so unsexy and unglamorous it was doubtful whether they’d attract any men at all, no matter how sex-starved or desperate they were. So, given the shortage of women able or willing to pose as prostitutes, the Party approached the problem laterally. They made them.

‘Made what?’, asked Grace.

‘A number of super-realistic robots’, explained Dick.

‘What?’, enquired Humphrey, frowning. Dick guessed he’d never heard of ‘robots’ before. Of course, it could have been any of the words in his last sentence like ‘super-realistic’, ‘number’, or even ‘of’
 
- but Dick was almost certain it was the word ‘robots’.

‘You know, mechanical people’, explained Dick. ‘In this case, mechanical women that looked, walked, talked and for all I know, fucked like real women’. Dick looked around at a room of stunned faces. Even Alice who Dick had noticed was not the most expressive of people looked slightly shocked.

‘That’s incredible!’ exclaimed
Taylor
.

‘It’s hard to believe that they were so authentic that anyone would be fooled’, said Edward. ‘Nothing could ever be that realistic!’.

‘I’ve seen detailed pictures of the robots’, explained Dick. ‘And you’d really think they were actual fresh and blood. From all the information I’ve seen their skin was soft, their bodies were warm, their movements were fluid and they were all, how can I put it… anatomically correct’.

Cue another frown from Humphrey.

‘He means they had holes in the places they should have holes’, Susan explained to her naïve colleague.

‘Exactly. I’m not sure whether anyone actually had sex with one of them, or what it might have been like, but I believe that technically it
was
possible’.

‘So on the surface’, said
Taylor
, ‘There was absolutely nothing to indicate that these women were actually non-human?’

‘Well actually, on the surface’, replied Dick, ‘There
was
something. There was a small code embossed on the right inner thigh of each of the girls. It’s a sort of serial number’.

Taylor
raised his eyebrows.

‘I know’, Dick responded. ‘It could have been placed anywhere. I think the engineers were in a state of permanent arousal working on this project and printing the serial number here would have been far more exciting than inscribing it somewhere more discrete, like on the soles of the girls’ feet or behind their knee caps’.

Humphrey’s expression indicated that he doubted the whole story. ‘So there were mechanical harlots walking around trying to tempt sexually repressed men. That’s all well and good but how on earth did the Party catch any of them “in the act?”’

‘It was quite simple’, explained Dick. ‘The robots were programmed to send out a signal when they made contact with a customer. The security services would pick this up, trace their location - then pounce. The women would grasp and hold their clients until the police arrived. Despite their feminine looks they were very strong and could easily hold and subdue a man until he was arrested’.

With his audience listening intently, Dick continued. ‘Fifteen mechanical prostitutes were produced and introduced about two years ago and in that time, nearly seventy men were arrested’.

‘That doesn’t seem like a lot’, Grace commented.

‘It isn’t’, said
Taylor
. ‘But it’s seventy men who, by seeking the prostitutes, demonstrated that they challenged the Party’s edict about sex and rebelled against it. These men might have joined the Resistance. It’s seventy extra supporters that we don’t now have.’

‘What happened to them?’, Susan asked.

‘I know this’, Dick said smugly. ‘It was in my report. They were given much higher monthly doses of sexual repressants in their injections to make them what the Party termed, ‘normal’…

‘Or they were killed’, added
Taylor
.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

‘Killed? No way’, said Dick, shocked.

‘It won’t say that in your report, Dick, but it’s true. We know of a number of men that we’ve had under surveillance as potential members who’ve met with so-called “accidents”, or just disappeared’.

Alice
wasn’t as shocked as Dick was, but still looked perturbed on hearing this news.

Taylor
clenched his fists. ‘Remember that beneath its benign surface the Party is ruthless. Truly ruthless. That’s how it’s stayed in power so long and that’s how it intends to maintain this status quo’.

‘Which is why we have to crush and totally destroy this odious, evil regime’,
Alice
said.

These words seemed incongruous coming out the mouth of someone who looked so innocent. Dick thought her delicate lips were better suited wrapped around his manhood rather than spouting anti-Party rhetoric.
Alice
was a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a hot body with great breasts, yet she didn’t give off any hint of sexuality in a way that Susan or even Grace did. You could tell these were women who were absolutely gagging for it. And if Dick hadn’t seen
Alice
’s obvious affection towards
Taylor
he’d be convinced that she wasn’t interested in men. But Dick’s instinct had never been wrong. There was definitely a sexual volcano ready to erupt under her serene exterior. He wanted to feel the tectonic plates move when they made love and experience the burning lava of her love juice. Dick thought that was quite a good metaphor, but then he would.

With Humphrey still taking copious notes, Dick dropped his bombshell. A bombshell so unimaginably large that you could be in the deepest fallout shelter and still feel its impact. The fifteen robot prostitutes had recently gone ‘rogue’.

It wasn’t that they had turned against the Party; it was just that they couldn’t be traced any more. An unknown fault meant that they were no longer emitting any tracking signal – but more importantly, nor were they capable of restraining their clients. This happened to all of the robots more or less around the same time, which implied some sort of inherent component failure. Dick strongly believed that the engineers should have spent more time on quality control than on creating a realistic artificial vagina.

The Party therefore had a situation on their hands where fifteen robot prostitutes were giving sexual pleasure to countless men, but they had no idea where they were operating. Worse still, it meant the prostitutes would continue providing this service until they powered-down, which would not be for another three or four years when their energy cells needed renewing.

Dick’s task on the project was to try and find a way for these robots to be traced and decommissioned. The longer they were left to solicit customers, the more men would discover it was possible to be sexually fulfilled outside of marriage. The bigger implication of this was that these men would spread word of this to others who would then start questioning the Party and its policies. This, of course, could not be tolerated. Dick told his audience that the situation was so serious that the Leader himself was taking a very close personal interest in the project.

‘Would these robot things be the secret weapon we’ve heard the Party is developing?’, asked Edward.

‘It could be, but I doubt it’, said
Taylor
. ‘Even so, it gives an indication of their current technological abilities’. Turning to Dick he continued. ‘If you perform well on this project I’m sure you’ll be given greater responsibilities and possibly promotion. That means the chance to penetrate further within the Party’.

Susan leant forward and whispered something in
Taylor
’s ear. Dick was sure he saw him blush slightly.
Taylor
whispered something back to Susan and the two of them exchanged a few comments in this way. At the end of this brief conversation Susan looked crestfallen.

‘What’s wrong?’, asked Dick.

Taylor
sighed before explaining. ‘Apparently this talk about penetration reminded Susan of something I mentioned to the Resistance when you first arrived’.

‘
Taylor
said you’d be able to educate us all about sex’, Susan explained. ‘I just asked him if you’d be able to give me… I mean us… a lesson this evening but
Taylor
said it was too short notice and that you would need more time to prepare’.

Dick looked at Susan who smiley coyly and licked her lips. And that’s when he found his role change from one of informer to one of educator.

CHAPTER 13

Dick felt uncomfortable standing in front of his ‘class’. Here he was, with no warning, no notes and no visual aids about to give an impromptu Sex Ed lecture. He wondered if he was even qualified to teach sexual techniques, after all, he’d had no formal training. All his knowledge was gained solely on the job. Dick surveyed the room. His pupils, eleven members of the Resistance who were in the building that evening, looked attentive and eager to learn, which was encouraging. Despite this, he still felt nervous about addressing them. Then Dick remembered hearing about a technique to put public speakers’ minds at ease. A way of calming nerves and overcoming anxiety.

It was only a few seconds into imagining his audience in their underwear when Dick realised this might not be such a good technique. He felt his eyes locking on to those of
Alice
and in that instant she was wearing a provocative black lacy basque and suspenders. Also in that instant he felt his penis wake from its slumber and perform an involuntary impression of an Apollo moon rocket. Dick glanced down and saw a growing bulge that threatened to cause alarm and embarrassment.

‘
Houston
…’ he thought to himself. ‘We have a problem…’

To maintain the dignity expected of a teacher Dick had to terminate with extreme prejudice, any feelings of sexual arousal. By a process of trial and error Dick had long ago worked out what thoughts would achieve this altered state in the shortest possible time. In quick succession he rapidly conjured up images in his mind that would result in near-instant detumescence: getting his testicles caught in a rusty man-trap, being sodomised by Hulk Hogan, and having to de-lice the matted pubic hair of a swarthy and extremely sweaty, obese, leprous Turkish woman called Yagmur. In a supreme ordeal of mind over member his penis began to achieve, as Dick called it, a ‘soft on’. Inwardly he let out a sigh of relief. Outwardly, however, he let out the same sigh.