The Garden of Rama by Clarke Arthur C. & Lee Gentry
Author:Clarke, Arthur C. & Lee, Gentry [Clarke, Arthur C. & Lee, Gentry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Classics
ISBN: 9781857230215
Amazon: 1857230213
Goodreads: 112518
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 1991-09-01T07:00:00+00:00
8.
Eponine located Kimberly in the corner of the smoky room and sat down beside her. She accepted the cigarette her friend offered, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
âAh, what pleasure,â Eponine said softly as she expelled the smoke in small circles and watched it rise slowly toward the ventilators.
âAs much as you love tobacco and nicotine,â Kimberly said in a whisper from beside her, âI know that you would absolutely adore kokomo.â The American girl took a drag from her cigarette. âI know that you donât believe me, Eponine, but itâs actually better than sex.â
âNot for me, mon cameâ Eponine replied in a warm, friendly tone. âI have enough vices. And I could never, never control something that was truly better than sex.â
Kimberiy Henderson laughed heartily, her long blond locks bouncing on her shoulders. She was twenty-four, a year younger than her French colleague. The two of them were sitting in the smoking lounge attached to the womenâs shower. It was a tiny square room, no more than four meters on a side, in which a dozen women were currently standing or sitting, all smoking cigarettes.
âThis room reminds me of the back room at Willieâs in Evergreen, just outside of Denver,â Kimberly said. âWhile a hundred or more cowboys and rednecks would be dancing and drinking in the main bar, eight or ten of us would retreat into Willieâs sacred âoffice,â as he called it, and fuck ourselves completely up with kokomo.â
Eponine stared through the haze at Kimberly. âAt least in this lounge we arenât harassed by the men. They are absolutely impossible, even worse than the guys in the detention village at Bourges. These characters must think about nothing but sex all day long.â
âThatâs understandable,â Kimberly replied with another laugh. âTheyâre not being closely watched for the first time in years. When Toshioâs men sabotaged all the hidden monitors, everybody was suddenly free.â She glanced over at Eponine. âBut thereâs a grim side as well. There were two more rapes today, one right in the coed recreation area.â
Kimberly finished one cigarette and immediately lit another. âYou need someone to protect you,â she continued, âand I know Walter would love the job. Because of Toshio, the cons have mostly stopped trying to hit on me. My main concern now is the ISA guards-they think theyâre hot shit. Only that gorgeous Italian hunk, Marcello something or other, interests me at all. He told me yesterday that he would make me âmoan with pleasureâ if I would just join him in his room. I was sorely tempted until I saw one of Toshioâs thugs watching the conversation.â
Eponine also lit another cigarette. She knew it was ridiculous to smoke them one after another, but the passengers on the Santa Maria were only allowed three half-hour âbreaksâ each day and smoking was not permitted in the cramped living quarters. While Kimberly was momentarily sidetracked by a question from a burly woman in her early forties, Eponine thought about the first few days after they had left die Earth.
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