Dry Essence

by Badger Therese

(This book depicts occasional sex, sexual acts, sexual thoughts, and sexual awkwardness, none of which juveniles should be reading. As such, this book is meant for readers at least 18 years old) Officer Perry’s face vanished and a graph appeared, with two lines on it, one red, one blue. Both lines started at zero. The blue line ramped up first, a gentle slope, a rounded peak, a steady decline back to zero. The red line sloped up more sharply, hit a point and dropped, sloped up again more sharply, peaked again, higher, sloped up for a third time, dropped and declined back to zero. “I don’t know what this means,” Arthur protested. “That’s the female,” Officer Perry said. “Don . . . Donna.” “Dawn.” “Dawn. That’s her.” “Yeah, but what’s going on?” “The blue line is numbing, the red line is sexual provocation. They overlap, establishing both were done at roughly the same time. That’s unauthorized.” Arthur peered at the tetatet, curiosity briefly overtaking alarm. “Sexual . . . the sexual chip . . . kind of wasn’t consistent,” Arthur ventured, wondering if it had malfunctioned, and if that might offer a loophole. “It’s dynamic,” Officer Perry said, shutting her mouth, clearly preferring not to say more. “Dynamic?” Arthur persisted. “It’s a standard sex chip,” she said, no longer speaking in officialese. “When there’s a . . . release event . . . it responds by reducing input temporarily.” “Oh, right, right,” Arthur said. Release event. Orgasm. Of course. He’d just never seen it depicted graphically. “Male,” officer Perry announced. Another graph appeared, another gentle blue bell curve, but this one accompanied by a red line that climbed stratospherically to a brief plateau, followed by a sharp, sudden drop. Jacques, Arthur thought, building up to one profound climax. “Second female,” said the officer. The third incriminating graph appeared, another smooth blue line, but now with a jagged red one, climbing halfway up, dropping, climbing again, peaking quickly, then again and again until it went flat, suggesting to Arthur a series of small, quick orgasms, ineffectual and frustrating. Arthur imagined Tabby, trying desperately to win something memorable from this little crime, masturbating furiously, clumsily, or begging her lover to time his or her ministrations to some maximizing effect, a jagged line the evidence of inexperience, an incompatible chip, some other failure. He looked away, embarrassed for the girl. “Can I give them a warning this time?” he asked. “And then, if they do it again, I’ll do the . . . that box?” “No.” “What if I didn’t, though?” Arthur inquired with a vague, uneasy sense the question carried risks. “What if I don’t, um, punish them?” “We’ll take them back.” “All of them?” “The three chipcheats.” “And then they’ll—” Arthur began, pausing. “And we’ll motivate them in a standard facility.” “Okay,” Arthur said, considering the question settled now. There wasn’t going to be any way out for them.

321 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 2, 2020

Reviews

[Tom Evanoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected

I am a fan of Badger Therese and have read most of the books available on Kindle. This book was very different than most of the others. The relationship elements that feature in the other books is here as well and you won't be disappointed. What I was not expecting was the philosophical ideas on what it truly means to be human. With the AI explosion happening right now, this was a fantastic read to help put it all in perspective.

[william w. millan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another stunningly brilliant novel.

These novels by Badger are SO much more than erotica (although they are that) now please another Hannah story and a sequel to the Debt Proxy.

[zoagli · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF is this!? Amateur sci-fi with erotic elements? Not my thing.