Kiini Salaam - Ancient, Ancient

“Please,” said Benko. “The news will spread like wildfire.”

Benko gripped Laki around the waist, and they swayed together. Laki grabbed Zaha’s hand and pulled her close. As the three of them moved against each other, more pods joined the party. Before long, Laki, Zaha, and Benko were sweaty and buzzing with the joy of movement. They were surrounded by many others who had joined them on the dance floor.

Once the sweet vibe of languid ecstasy had engulfed all who were present, Laki decided it was time. She lifted her arm and aimed her finger at a pouch that was hanging from the top of her pod. She plucked, and the bag popped, releasing a wet blue fog into the air. Laki inhaled; an intense sweetness burst across her tongue. When she exhaled, her smile was a little wider and her limbs were a little looser.

“She always has the best smoke at her parties,” Benko said into Zaha’s ear.

Laki threw her head back and let out a long wordless moan. For the next hour, she didn’t speak a word to anyone. She was too busy flinging off her troubles and releasing her body in total surrender.

While Laki was slipping into a delicious stupor, Se-se was entering the Velvet Stretch for the first time. Her last three messages to Laki had returned undelivered. The only place Laki could be where Se-se’s message globes couldn’t reach was the Velvet Stretch.

“No registration on record,” the concierge stated.

“First time,” Se-se said with what she hoped was a charming smile.

“No rendezvous?” the concierge asked, without even bothering to acknowledge Se-se’s friendliness.

Se-se shook her head.

“You only have clearance for the rendezvous-less zone; that’s right past the entrance here. There are some basic rules and regulations.” The concierge stopped speaking long enough to pluck a message globe at Se-se. The globe floated through the walls of her pod and hovered near her shoulder while the concierge finished his speech. “People who violate these guidelines may be barred from the Velvet Stretch. Any questions?”

Se-se did have a question—where is my sister?—but she knew better than to draw attention to Laki. She opened her hand to receive the message globe.

“You have been cleared.”

As Se-se floated into the Velvet Stretch, she learned that it was bad etiquette to spy on people. Pod walls were transparent for regulatory purposes and were intended to support mutual consent, not to invite voyeurism. She was instructed on the preferred protocol when approaching a potential rendezvous: hover at a distance until the person you are interested in sees you. Once seen, you may approach slowly, so that the person has the opportunity to accept or reject your advances.

Se-se tried following the protocols as she searched the rendezvous-less zone, but the process was too slow. She wasn’t looking for a rendezvous; she was looking for her sister. Stopping a respectful distance away from pods made it difficult to be certain Laki was not inside. In a burst of frustration, Se-se put politeness aside. She swooped in close and peered inside the pods she encountered. She forgave her behavior by telling herself that people would excuse her sudden and aggressive appearance outside their pods if they understood the urgent nature of her search.

After Se-se had peeked into all the solitary and conjoined pods in the rendezvous-less zone, she came to a halt. She looked around and considered her options. Leaving without Laki was out of the question. If Laki was not in the rendezvous-less zone, Se-se would be stuck. The righteousness of her mission had given her the courage to enter the Velvet Stretch, but she wasn’t so emboldened that she’d sneak into other levels without permission.

While she was mulling over her next steps, a few pods whizzed past her. She snapped into action, jerking forward to follow them, but before she could catch up with them, they disappeared. She bobbed in place, bewildered. She was looking around for the pods that had disappeared when a few more pods rushed past her. Watching them closely, she saw that, after traveling a short distance, the pods dipped down, then disappeared. She sped after them, determined not to lose them, but her pod rammed into something solid, and she was knocked to the floor.

She regained her footing and nudged her pod forward, but it would not move. What had looked like open space was clearly a wall of some sort. She backed up and pushed at the wall again, but it was rigid and wouldn’t give way.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the bouncing lights of two pods. They drifted right up to the wall, stopped suddenly, then plunged downward and disappeared. Plunging down through the rendezvous-less zone was not an appealing thought, but she reminded herself of her promise to not be deterred. She took a deep breath and directed her pod to drop downward. Every few seconds, she pitched forward, searching for the end of the wall.

When Se-se finally got to the bottom of the screen, her pod shot forward and she found herself underneath a gathering of pods that created a room bigger than her and Laki’s rooms combined. Above her the party pulsed with music that she couldn’t hear. She could see the bottoms of people’s feet and the backs of bodies pressed against the floor of the pods.

She navigated her pod up around the side of the conjoined pods. Through the transparent walls she could see bodies everywhere—arms thrashing, hips rotating, heads flung back with abandon. She edged around the perimeter of the party, trying to drown out the voice that was warning her that it was dangerous to fuse with so many pods at once. After looking for Laki from the safety of her pod, Se-se accused herself of stalling. She closed her eyes and guided her pod forward to join with the party.

When she stepped into the party, she felt as if it had consumed her. The air was thick and hazy with an overwhelming wet heat. There was no personal space—everyone was skin to skin. She moved forward slowly, pausing periodically to step over arms and legs and dodge people who were splayed across the floor. She had thought searching people’s pods was embarrassing, now here she was, sticking her face close to people who were kissing and caressing, interrupting intimacies, in search of Laki.

Having determined that she would not find Laki underfoot, Se-se turned her attention to the dance floor. Finding Laki among the dancers would not be easy. As she was scanning the dance floor, trying to formulate a method to locate Laki, a pair of long dark arms rose up in the air and extended above the crowd.

Without hesitation, Se-se plunged into the throng of dancers. It was hard going at first. The dance floor was densely packed, and every space was jealously guarded. After being jabbed by knees and elbows, she reached the middle of the dance floor. There, at the center of the party, whirling around a clearing, was Laki. She was bare-breasted and disrobed, enrapturing her guests with the undulating contortions of her body. Even as she wondered how Laki could be comfortable without her clothes, Se-se found herself mildly spellbound. This was not the bitter, tortured Laki who Se-se had spent so much time pacifying and cajoling in the past year. This was the Laki of legend, the Laki who had conjured up a social life that was a work of art and called the Velvet Stretch her second home.

As Laki’s limbs writhed with furious motion, the marriage belt—radiant and gleaming—added to her otherworldly appearance. On her naked sweaty torso, it looked like a mark of divinity. Se-se was mesmerized by the fascinating contrast Laki’s smooth dark skin brought to the belt, yet she knew that the belt’s opulence was awe-inspiring all on its own.

The first time Se-se had seen the belt, it had rendered her speechless. Laki had been out all night, and Se-se had spent most of the day popping into the launching room hoping to see Laki return. Meals passed, and Laki did not come home. Se-se blew off invitations from friends, helped the mothers, and practiced her debates while waiting for Laki to return. She had watched her brothers and sisters leave home one by one, but Laki’s maturation was different.