C.U.B.E.

≈ Ch. 26: PANDORA’S BOX ≈

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Who’s Who in this chapter

Lance and ‘Triple-A’ Archer gain an ally in their quest to stop evil Captain O’Rourke and make him fall. Lance pays a ‘conjugal visit’ to Kareem, only to find out that his three friends are held captive in terrible and humiliating conditions.

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~ Caught in the act ~

“Whatever you’re doing, stop immediately!”

The stern order echoed on the walls of the small basement room, snapping Lance out of the blackness he was falling into and making him gasp. ‘Triple-A’ Archer, focused on the monitor of the old computer he was using to connect to the A.I., turned around with an annoyed expression to look at the man coming out of the elevator and made a grimace of disgust, spotting the horrible purple birthmark covering half of his face.

“Alastair…!” – Lance exclaimed with a tense tone, recognizing the ‘imperfect’ technician living on the 4th floor, in charge of the communication system of the Cube. Clearly, he’d noticed the unusual network activity originating from an unknown computer and guessed that something was going on in the basement. Lance painfully rose to his feet, feeling his head spin like crazy: “I… I can explain, don’t get mad at us…”

“I said stop immediately!” – Alastair yelled again, and with a quick move he pushed the ‘ESC’ key on the keyboard, to stop the scanning routine that Archer had set up to locate the local point of access to the A.I..

“What the fuck, freak?!” – Archer bellowed, shooting a warlike stare at Alastair, and Lance lost it: “Archer, for God’s sake! For once in your life, can you just shut the fuck up??”

“Alastair… I won’t tell lies to you” – Lance then said, looking intensely at the technician – “He’s Aldritch A. Archer, former CEO of Neural Wonders. We’re trying to connect to the A.I. database, to add some information that will hopefully make O’Rourke fall. But we didn’t know the… what was that, Archer?”

“We don’t know the IPv4 address of the local A.I. node” – Aldritch explained – “So, before you ruined everything, I was scanning the network in search of it.”

“Yeah, triggering an intrusion alert on each and every fucking device connected to the Cube’s network!” – Alastair commented, angrily – “A minute later, and all the computers of the Police Station would’ve rung a symphony of alarms!”

“Alastair, I should’ve told you beforehand” – Lance said contrite – “But there was no time! O’Rourke arrested Kareem, Perry Yukon and even Officer McLaughlin! Archer, here, knows all the secrets of the A.I. and he wants to… nudge it to expose O’Rourke’s misfits. Are you… Are you going to report us?”

There was a tense silence in the room, while Alastair shot grave glances at both Lance and Archer; last time Alastair helped Lance and Kareem, O’Rourke tortured him on the throne so viciously that he had to stay in hospital for two weeks. This time the risk was much higher.

“10.220.98.1” – Alastair then said, and Lance thought he was talking a foreign language, but Aldritch exclaimed excited “Thanks man!”, and started again typing furiously on the keyboard. “What was that… code?” – Lance asked, and Aldritch exclaimed, without averting his gaze from the monitor: “It’s the IPv4 address of the A.I.! Thanks a bunch, man. Oh, and sorry for calling you a freak.”

Alastair rolled his eyes and looked at Lance: “You do understand we’re both putting our lives in the hands of this douchebag, don’t you?”

Aldritch turned around to rebut, but Lance shushed him: “Not a single word, Archer! You had it coming!”. Then he hugged Alastair tight: “I can’t thank you enough, my friend. O’Rourke is out of control, we must stop him once and for all, before someone gets seriously hurt. He’s dangerous.”

“You don’t have to tell me” – Alastair replied – “But you don’t look good at all, Lance! I’m not allowed to come to the first floor, but if you want to take some rest at my place…”

“No, thank you, I’ll stay here to help Archer, if he needs me.”

Alastair nodded and silently went away using the elevator. Lance sat again on the floor with a groan, watching Aldritch furiously typing on the keyboard. The loud clicks of the old keys echoed on the walls, lulling Lance like a soothing lullaby. He ardently hoped that Archer could do his magic and make O’Rourke fall. Yes, Archer would make him fall… Kareem would soon back home, and they would make love… make love… sweet love…

Lance, sitting exhausted on the floor, closed his eyes, and a merciful blackness enveloped his mind, while the old keyboard clicked, and clicked, and clicked…

 

~ Filling Pandora’s Box ~

Lance opened his eyes and at first he thought he was dead and went to heaven. The heaven of the hookers, anyway, because he was lying on the largest and most comfortable bed he’d ever slept in.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty!” – Archer’s voice welcomed him – “In the end, you made me play the Red Cross nurse, uh? But I don’t complain. You’re such a handsome guy, and having you in my arms didn’t feel bad at all.”

Lance raised the bedsheets a bit and realized he was wearing an expensive silk pajama, instead of his torn and dirty clothes: “Have you… undressed me?”

“That was the best part” – Aldritch laughed – “But don’t worry, I’ve been a perfect gentleman. Besides, I’ve read in the A.I. database what happened to you last night, at the Rowdy Hole. Yesterday I thought you were drunk or ill, but now I understand how hard must’ve been for you coming to my place, bringing me to the basement room and then confront that frea… that man, Alastair.”

“Yesterday? How long have I slept?”

“Ten hours and a bunch of minutes. If you’re hungry, my servan… my helpers have cooked a nice breakfast.”

“First, tell me what you did yesterday. Could you add to the A.I. database, as planned, the incriminating information against O’Rourke?”

“Oh, Captain O’Rourke, according to the info now stored in the AI database, is a nasty, nasty boy!” – Aldritch giggled – “Let’s see… He had an affair with the wife of the Minister of Moral Wellness, while the Minister was on a mission. If I were O’Rourke, I wouldn’t count too much on the Ministry’s support, in the future. But the Captain’s sexual inclinations are not limited to ladies, no sir! Apparently, he enjoys very much the dominant role his uniform grants him. I searched for all the sexual ‘punishments’ your friend Kareem and other inmates got at the Police headquarter, and I added to the picture that O’Rourke not only was present, but he masturbated while watching them suffering. Nice, uh?”

“It actually makes me sick” – Lance commented sadly – “because I know that exerting a dominion over another person always has a sexual component, and I bet that O’Rourke, thought being straight, really found a sexual pleasure in watching Kareem in pain. You did well, exposing this wicked side of O’Rourke’s personality, and I thank you for this.”

“Bah, I’m not into psychological or moral stuff, I don’t give a fuck if O’Rourke gets hard watching a man having his ass split open by a fucking machine. But here’s a real gem: Kareem told me that O’Rourke killed Officer Dougal McLaughlin, here at the Cube; so I traced back the last time McLaughlin was registered alive and I simulated that O’Rourke tried in vain to sexually abuse his subordinate, moments before he died. This should clearly place O’Rourke on the crime scene, so we now have motive and opportunity for a murder; the proofs you’ve collected should do the rest.”

“Wow…” – Lance commented, grateful – “I’m… touched. Officer Dougal McLaughlin was a hero, and his murder will finally be avenged.”

“Yeah, whatever” – Aldritch went on, shrugging his shoulders, totally uninterested in the drama Lance was talking about – “And speaking of the McLaughlins, I also added the information that whenever young Officer McLaughlin engaged in homosexual activity with Kareem, he was forced to do so by O’Rourke himself.”

“…Which is the naked truth” – Lance commented, and Aldritch shot a knowing smile: “Yeah, but O’Rourke was smart enough to stay out of the picture and make it appear as McLaughlin did it on his free will; but now the picture has many more colorful details! In other cases, I had to play with creativity: for example, did you know that O’Rourke, every Friday night, has oral and anal sex with Officers Wilde and Reeves? Ha ha ha! Three birds with one stone! Am I or not a genius?”

“Yeah, Machiavelli can’t hold a candle to you…” – Lance replied, annoyed by Aldritch’s excessive self-confidence, but then he let himself relax and smile: “Sorry, I didn’t mean it. You did a great job. So, O’Rourke’s ‘secrets’ are now exposed?”

“Not yet. I couldn’t make it too blatant. I’ve enclosed this info in secret folders locked with O’Rourke’s personal seal. I’ve basically created a Pandora Box with O’Rourke’s name on it, and I’ve filled it with a whole load of shit. Tonight I’ll instruct my assistant to lift all the restrictions on the classified data stored in the A.I. database. All the restrictions, not only those related to O’Rourke: anything, from the innocent perversions of obscure people to the most guarded state secrets, will be exposed. They accused me of having hidden the A.I. behind a curtain of secrecy, after all, didn’t they? Well, for the sake of the maximum transparency, everything will be revealed and freely accessible by anyone. Including O’Rourke’s Pandora Box, of course.”

Lance was in awe for the astute way Aldritch had set up the trap for O’Rourke, while at the same time cleansing his own image to the world’s eyes: “Damn, Machiavelli can’t hold you a candle for real! This is pure genius. I’m only sorry for the Minister’s wife, who’ll pass for a cheater without having any guilt…”

“Collateral damage” – Aldritch commented, with a bored expression. His complete lack of sympathy for that woman pissed off Lance, but a sudden thought hit him: “Wait… If all the sealed documents will be revealed, then even your… intercourses with your male lover will be exposed…!”

Aldritch briefly cringed with shame, but immediately forced himself to a neutral expression: “Collateral damage.”

Lance looked at Aldritch intensely, understanding for the first time how complicated and deep a man he was; his selfishness and his arrogant attitude were only a small part of his multi-faceted being: he seemed to have such a wide perspective on things that every person, including himself, were just tiny pawns on an endless chessboard. Pawns that could be sacrificed for a higher purpose.

“You’re not doing this for yourself, aren’t you?” – Lance inquired, serious – “Or to punish O’Rourke, or to save Kareem… You don’t really care about that…”

Aldritch shook his head: “People are losing faith in the A.I., and I can’t let it happen. I didn’t invent the A.I., of course, but for me it’s like a child. I nurtured it and improved it in countless ways. I may sound a conceited braggart, but really, no one understands the A.I. as deeply as I do. Yes, I used it for my own benefit, occasionally, but in the end I did it only to take better care of the A.I.. If people started thinking that the A.I. can’t correctly take all the important decisions, the world would fall apart, literally. The Great Worldwide Union can only exist as long as the A.I. governs it. The veil of secrecy I lay on the A.I. was truly for security reasons; and now that Pandora is going to open her box, there will be serious consequences worldwide. But as long as people will trust the A.I., the Union will withstand the shock wave.”

Lance slowly got off the bed, without averting his gaze from Aldritch’s eyes, moved closer to him and gave him a kiss on his lips. Nothing more than that, just a sweet kiss on his lips, but when he recoiled, for a few moments he could enjoy the unusual sight of a speechless Triple-A shyly blushing.

“Did you say breakfast’s ready?” – Lance said seductively, walking out of the bedroom followed by Aldritch’s admired eyes.

 

~ Conjugal visit ~

It was early afternoon when Lance entered the Police Headquarters; he would’ve gone there earlier, but after the cruel treatment he had to endure at the Rowdy Hole he needed a thorough shower, including a deep cleansing douche, and new clothes.

O’Rourke was not surprised to see him; he actually seemed to be expecting Lance’s visit, and welcomed him with a mischievous grin: “Mr. Maynar, do come in! Let me guess, you want a… how should we call it… a ‘conjugal visit’ with Mr. Bashir, don’t you?”

“Will you let me see him?” – Lance replied cautiously, and O’Rourke’s grin widened: “Why not? Only, let me warn you: don’t expect much privacy, if you are planning to… err… fulfil your wifely duties. Ha ha ha!”

Lance shut his mouth, ignoring that mocking ‘wifely duties’, and patiently followed O’Rourke through a short dark corridor that ended in an ample room, the brig. There were three cells closed with bars, but Lance’s eyes immediately focused on the smallest one, where all his three friends were detained. Kareem, Perry and Sean were butt naked and they all had a tense, suffering expression.

They had to stay very close to each other, because the space was very limited, there was only one single bed and a dirty latrine. Perry was laying on the bed, Kareem was sitting on the floor and Sean was standing in the farthest corner, opposite to them.

Lance cringed, looking at the mortified expressions on their faces and the harsh conditions they were detained, but wore a comforting smile, while O’Rourke opened the cell and let him in. Kareem smiled wide and leapt on his feet, to hug Lance, but as soon as he stood up he couldn’t conceal anymore the stiff, throbbing erection he was sporting.

“You… You’re not just happy to see me, are you?” – Lance asked, tentatively, and Kareem nodded: “I can’t be happier to see you here, but it’s not that. Perry and Sean, too, are in the same state. O’Rourke must’ve added a stimulant to our food, even stronger than the one usually added to my daily medication, and we’re almost losing our minds for the horniness. He’s been keeping us like this since yesterday, it’s insane, Lance…”

Lance glanced at Perry, and sure enough he too was sporting a throbbing erection; as for Sean, he had turned to the wall to hide his miserable state, feeling moreover extremely uneasy at being locked in such a confined space with two other horny men.

“Damn O’Rourke…” – Lance murmured – “He knows well that both you and Perry are not inclined to give your ass to anyone, not to mention poor Sean, straight as he is. He probably hoped that someone would’ve been raped or molested…”

“But we are not like that” – Perry interjected – “We could never force a friend into sex. But we’ve been madly horny for so many hours, and here we must stay so close to each other that we can almost feel each other’s body heat, and it’s tough to resist…”

Lance didn’t think twice and took off his shirt: “Listen, Kareem, O’Rourke granted me a conjugal visit, and that’s what I’m going to have. If you don’t mind having… err… an audience, that is.”

“What? No, it’s out of question!” – Kareem replied resolutely – “Not after what they did to you at the Rowdy Hole! I can’t fuck you, Lance, you must still be so sore!”

Lance got naked, and when Perry got out of the bed, he lay on the thin mattress, on his back, raising his legs to offer his hole to Kareem in the most enticing way: “I’m not going away without you making love to me. And in case you are wondering, I already prepared myself, I’m thoroughly clean and fully lubed. Come on, I see from your eyes that you can’t wait to sink your beautiful cock into my moist and soft hole…”

Kareem put a herculean effort to resist, but what Lance was offering him was too tempting. He jumped on the bed and in a moment was over Lance, pointing his throbbing member against Lance’s hole. “Please… go easy, Kareem” – Lance pleaded – “I can take it, but… just go easy with me.”

It was clear as day that every fiber of Kareem was compelling him to shove his cock all the way into Lance’s tender ass, and then fuck him senselessly, but Kareem fiercely, almost painfully restrained himself. His thick, stiff member gently breached into Lance’s hole and then crawled inside, cautiously, tenderly; it could’ve seemed a sweet loving penetration, if it wasn’t for the deep, concentrated frown that hardened Kareem’s features.

“Thank you, buddy” – Lance murmured when he felt Kareem’s crotch pressing over his perineum – “I’m ready now, I can take it, let it go.”

Kareem didn’t need to be told twice, and his hips started pounding Lance’s ass with vigor, but still with great caution: Kareem knew well that Lance, after the abuse he suffered, had to be terribly sore, and loved him with all his heart for the sacrifice he was doing to let him find some relief.

They went on making love for a while, until Lance heard a low growl coming from behind; he turned his head and saw Perry, slowly stroking his massive cock with a suffering expression on his face: he already felt madly horny, and watching Kareem and Lance making love was a real torture for him.

Lance smiled at Perry with affection: “Come here, stud, there’s something for you, too”. He reclined his head over the edge of the mattress and opened wide his mouth, while Kareem went on fucking him in earnest. Perry got closer, uncertain, as he knew that for Lance was already a big deal letting Kareem fuck him, sore as he was. But Lance’s inviting mouth and his exposed, stretched throat were too a great temptation, and he slowly inserted his cock head between Lance’s lips.

“Oooohhh… Yeah….” – Perry moaned loud when Lance’s wet mouth closed around his engorged glans and an expert tongue started dancing on the sensitive skin. Perry hesitated, he didn’t want to go any further, but Lance was so submissive, and his lips felt so good around his cock, so he gently thrusted his hips, going deeper into Lance’s mouth. He could feel Lance’s throat muscles press against his glans, and tried to stop, but his horniness didn’t let him think straight: “Forgive me, boy…” – he murmured, and pushed his enflamed rod all the way into Lance’s throat.

Lance couldn’t talk, but extended his arms and grabbed Perry’s massive legs, to pull him closer and let him know that everything was fine. “You’re a wonder of nature, kid…” – Perry said with a tender tone, and started pumping his tool in and out Lance’s mouth, watching his stretched throat bulging out every time he shoved his thick meat all the way inside.

On the opposite end, Kareem was panting heavily, clearly getting closer to his climax, and threw caution to the wind; his hips paced up and smashed heavily on Lance’s buttocks at each thrust, making the small bed squeak under the pressure. Perry, too, was groaning loud, pumping his cock in earnest into Lance’s mouth, and uttered a choked grunt when he hit the roof and sent a torrent of hot man cream down Lance’s throat.

“Aww… FUUUCK!!” – Kareem screamed, and buried his cock deep inside Lance depths, flooding him with gallons of pent-up juice. Loud moans and heavy pants filled the small cell, and sure enough they were overheard by O’Rourke, but no one cared about it, lost as they were in their sexual Nirvana.

Kareem’s and Perry’s extasy didn’t last long, anyway, because soon they regained full control of their minds, and quickly withdrew their cocks from Lance, concerned: “Did I hurt you?” – Kareem asked, worried, and Perry echoed him, contrite: “I’m sorry, boy, I got carried away…”

“You’ve both been wonderful” – Lance reassured them, rising sitting on the bed – “And I’m so glad I could give you some relief.”

“But you didn’t get any…” – Kareem commented, with a sorry tone, pointing his chin to Lance’s flaccid cock. “It is not I the one locked in a cell” – Lance replied with a sincere smile – “I’m fine, Kareem. More than fine, now that I could see you; and you, too, Perry! And…”

Lance’s sentence ended in a choked gasp.

 

~ A helping… mouth ~

Glancing to the opposite corner of the small cell, Lance saw Sean desperately trying to hide his erection. His face was a mask of sexual tension and pain. “Sean, let me help you, too…” – he said warmly, but Sean almost screamed: “No! God, no, I can’t… I just can’t do this to my wife… and to myself.”

His voice broke for the unbearable tension, and Kareem interjected: “Sean, listen to me. Close your eyes and focus only on my voice. Come on, do it, buddy, trust me, aren’t we friends? Good, keep your eyes shut, it’s important. Put your hands behind you and lean back to the wall…”

Sean, though a bit puzzled and utterly embarrassed, followed Kareem’s instructions and stood still, standing against the wall, with his stiff cock throbbing like it was alive.

“Now, buddy” – Kareem went on – “You can’t see it, but there’s a beautiful girl here, a petite brunette with two delicious lips begging to kiss your cock. You’re such a stud, and she’s dying to suck your manly tool… Don’t worry, this is not cheating, she’s here just to let you get your rocks off, nothing more, no strings attached. Now stand still, with your eyes closed, she’s coming closer…”

Kareem made a step toward Sean, with the intention of impersonating the ‘brunette’, but Lance stopped him, smiling lovingly, and quickly moved closer to Sean and knelt in front of him.

“She won’t touch you, Sean, and you won’t touch her. She will only use her mouth to suck you off, are you OK with that?”

Sean was trembling, and briefly nodded, keeping his eyes firmly shut. “OK, here she comes. Don’t worry, we won’t look at you, take your time. And, Sean… you’re totally allowed to enjoy it, you owe it to yourself.”

“Thank you buddy, I-- OOOOHH…!”, Sean moaned loud as soon as Lance’s expert mouth closed around his rock-hard member. Following Kareem’s instructions, Lance didn’t use his hands, only his mouth, but he resorted to all the tricks in his book to give to Sean a stellar treatment. He bathed with his tongue the cock and the balls, gave quick tender bites to the hard shaft, sucked hard on the engorged glans, pushed his head down on the stiff member, making his throat muscles give an exquisite massage to the sensitive meat.

Sean leaned harder on the wall, feeling his legs almost giving way due to the incredible pleasure he was feeling. He held on tight to the fantasy of the sweet brunette and forced himself to visualize her beautiful body behind his closed eyes. Her lips were so soft, her tongue titillated so wickedly his most sensitive spots… He couldn’t see anything, but for sure her boobs were bouncing back and forth, while she bobbed her head up and down on his cock… And she was so experienced! She could take all his length down her throat! That was something that Anne, his wife, never learned to do…

In a flash, Sean suddenly remembered the night he linked his bio-chip with Kareem, to share his wife with him, and by mistake he allowed a two-way link. That night, too, he felt Anne going deep on him, taking his cock all the way down her throat, but Anne didn’t know how to do it! Kareem, the day after, said he just jacked off, that night, but Sean recognized those lips, that experienced throat: it couldn’t be any other than Lance! It was Lance’s the mouth he felt on his cock that night, and it was Lance’s the mouth that was masterfully sucking him now!

Sean gasped, feeling the fantasy conjured by Kareem suddenly vanish: there was no brunette, there was no woman at all, only Lance, who was sucking him hard, pursing his lips on his shaft in such a delightful way, massaging his glans with his expert throat muscles… It was Lance, a dude… And Sean was about… about to…

“God help me…!” – Sean cried out, with broken voice, while his cock exploded like a geyser into Lance mouth. It was too late, he couldn’t stop or go back: he’d let a dude suck him and was now cumming wildly into his mouth. And he was enjoying every single moment of it…

Lance recoiled, rose to his feet and silently moved back to the opposite side of the cell, next to Kareem and Perry, while Sean stood still, leaning on the wall, trembling. His frown clearly showed the inner turmoil he was feeling.

“You’re doing my own mistake, Sean” – Kareem said softly – “You’re putting labels on things. You advised me against doing it, and I now give you the same advice. Stop thinking at what just happened, buddy: your body and your mind needed some relief, and you got it. That’s all.”

“Yeah, simply as that” – Sean replied, opening his teary eyes – “So, it’s not blatantly, irrefutably gay what I’ve done, is it?”

“Sean, look at Lance. Yeah, I know he’s naked, but look at him nevertheless. Isn’t he handsome? Isn’t his physique pleasantly trimmed and toned? And what about his eyes, have you seen how beautiful they are?”

“Uhm… yeah… I guess so…” – Sean replied, puzzled, giving no more than a quick glance at Lance’s body and face.

“Do you feel attraction for Lance? Or for me? Or Perry? Mind you, we’re regarded as very sexy men, they tell me. Look at us, and be sincere: do you feel attracted by us?”

“Don’t take it wrong, Kareem, but fuck no! Not at all, none of you is… my type, so to speak.”

“Then you’re not gay. Simply as that. Stop overthinking, Sean. I know first-hand how dangerous and painful can be letting your mind reel without control. If ever comes a time for you to question your sexuality, believe me, you’ll know. And even in that case… the ground won’t crumble under your feet to swallow you.”

Sean couldn’t restrain a half-smile, listening at Kareem’s colorful expression, and Kareem took the chance to move closer to him and place a comforting hand on his clean-shaved cheek: “You once told me that there are a million things that ‘real men’ stupidly don’t do. You’re anything but stupid, buddy. You’re all a man is supposed to be, and more.”

Sean looked up into Kareem’s eyes and smiled timidly: “Thanks buddy. Thanks a million.”

And then he threw his arms around Kareem, holding him tight in a strong friendly hug. And he didn’t care that they were both naked, he wasn’t alarmed to feel his now flaccid cock press against Kareem’s, nor feeling Kareem’s hairy chest brushing against his own. Kareem was his friend, his best friend, now and forever. Simply as that.

-~~~≈≈≈ooOoo≈≈≈~~~-

In the next chapter: O’Rourke plays a dirty trick to Lance; but then he too gets a bad surprise that makes him feel that his unchallenged command over the Cube has become unexpectedly shaky. Upon release, Lance and Kareem enjoy some high-class sexual relief at the most exclusive venue of the Cube, the ‘Nebula Palace Hotel & Spa’.