"Just say it," you silently reminded yourself. You knew you'd regret it if you didn't. He turned to walk away. You could feel the energy deplete from your body slowly as his hand slipped away. You had never met him before as far as you knew, but his touch was so magical and electrifying, and yet it was as if you had felt it before this moment. He was tall, dark and mysterious and gave you an immense feeling of danger and excitement all balled up into one.

The moment was so perfect like you had once experienced it in a far away dream. From one touch, energy was pulsing through your veins uncontrollably. Flashes of passionate touching and kissing filled your head with delights of ecstasy. As you could feel the intense emotion, goosebumps rose on your bare skin as you tingled from inside out with a pleasure you had never felt or imagined possible.

All you could see was that adorable smile of his. All you could feel was the pounding of your heartbeat. Suddenly, you could feel his breath on your neck as he was shoved closer by a muscular brute man running through the crowded streets of the marketplace.

You reached up rubbing your hand gently on his check and said sofly, “I want to see you again. I can’t explain how I feel, but it’s amazing. Who are…?” About then, a group of droid police officers shoved through the two of you. And suddenly he was gone in the sea of people.

This was the new life since Earth had been destroyed in a nuclear war over a hundred years ago leaving little to no sustainable life. There, on the spaceship, people lived in quaint little villages in the outer reaches of the spaceship. Each village had their own schools and clinics. The spaceship had only two common areas: the marketplace and the holodec. Sometimes you would go to the holodec and sit under the stars dreaming of how life must have been like on Earth. No one in your generation knew the real night sky. Only the darkness outside of those teeny tiny windows. 

You wandered home that day after meeting the mysterious new face in the marketplace. You had been there just to get a few items for a dinner among friends. Dinner and the evening seemed to just drag on. Everything that was said was just distant ramblings far off in a distant space among all to the jumbled thoughts entangled in the depths of your mind. 

“Are you okay, Allison?” You look up slowly from your plate. “Alli… Alli? Are you okay?”  You looked at her and asked, “Do you believe in love at first sight?” The room suddenly became silent as if you had shouted it, though you had only spoken the words ever so softly not to be heard by anyone but Juniper. Your eyes lit up like embers in the light and your light brown hair fell forward gently over your shoulders as you glanced at her and then at your plate again.

Jack cleared his throat. He whispered in a soft voice glancing over the table. “You know love is forbidden. We are to marry who we are chosen to marry. We are not to enjoy the fruits of the ancestors that brought war and pestilence. All behaviors that lead to emotions such as  jealousy, anger, and greed were banned. We all have brothers…”

Juniper said, “Or sisters…” Jack continued “...love for one another, but romantic love is forbidden just as money has been replaced by credits. No man shall obtain anything that can be lusted over or can be an object of envy in any way.”

Sarah chuckled, “Blah… blah… We are the new generation. The future… This is not living. I wanna feel what it is like to be loved and feel love. Real Love… Real Passion… Like in those old banned movies we would sneak away and watch when we were kids. Do you all remember?”

Martin smirked as he said, “Yeah. I remember, you would always blush bright pink and cover your eyes.” 

“Ow” he yowled out as Sarah kicked him under the table. He played it off well. No one ever knew when their little surveillance cameras would be clicked on to record their every move. Violence of any kind, even playful, was also forbidden, but Sarah had a most satisfying look on her face. They all knew what she had done though no one would dare speak of it outloud.

You said quietly, “That’s it. I felt it for him. I felt immense fire and passion… I think it was love, but it was out of my control. I felt a feeling of danger and of the forbidden. And all I wanted to do was be there with him in that feeling forever. And it was like it was not the first time I had felt it for him.” They all were stunned in silence. No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity.

Then as she and Juniper were cleaning off the table, Juniper whispered, “You know you must forget about him and that feeling. You are going to get yourself banned to the area of Unmentionables. YOU know no one comes back once they go there.”

You looked up at her with your arms full of dirty dishes and said, “That’s the thing. I can’t… I can’t get him off of my head. Ever since I saw him today, he is all I think about.”

Later that night, you dreamt about him. You giggled as you ran along behind him holding on to his hand. The feeling of exhilaration was so real that you could feel your heart pounding deep within your chest. He pulled you under a cascading waterfall. The cold water was beading down on your already wet bikini top. You could feel his hands gently across the bare skin on the back of your neck as he untied the strings holding up your bikini top. Your hard nipples became exposed in the radiant sunlight. He kissed your lips tightly and pulled you close. His fingertips began caressing your hard cold nipples and you shivered as goosebumps covered your entire body. 

You would go to the holodec any chance you would get so you could imagine him there with you, holding you tight in his strong arms. You got home late one night from one of these adventures at the holodec. Your mom was standing in the door of your little quaint living quarters. “I have heard on good authority that you have been spending a lot of time in the holodec. Is something on your mind? I also heard of your little fantasy moment in the marketplace a few weeks ago…” You cut her off, “Mom, it is nothing of your concern.” 

Your mom looked at you with an intense glare. “You may be 23, but you are a responsible member of this family and community.” I gave her a stare back and snapped, “Yeah… I know. And I live by it, right mom? What if I want something more? Have you ever thought if something more exists out there?”

Your mom stopped in her tracks and looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her lines intensified in her aging face as she stated, “ You know that kind of talk is forbidden. You better get such ideas out of your head. You are set to be arranged for marriage next Selecting. Honestly, you sound like one of them!” You looked over at her. You said, “One of them, mom?”

Your mom lowered her voice and whispered, “The Unmentionables! That’s who!” Though she was whispering, you could hear the sharp tone of her voice. You replied, “I do not want to be arranged to marry any man I do not love or have any feelings for at all!” Your mom looked nervous, but angry as she snapped, “How do you know you love that mysterious man? You just met him once. I heard…” You cut her off  again and pushed past her entering your living quarters. “It was long enough, mom. I felt something. And it felt REAL!!!” 

The next day, you returned to the holodec. As you were standing on the sand, you could feel the sand between your toes and the water rushing up over your feet. It felt so real. Suddenly, you could feel his warm hands on your arms. His breath was warm on the back of your neck. Goosebumps arose on your course white skin. You could feel your heart pounding in your chest. 

“It’s you. I know it is crazy, but I feel like I could be in your arms forever. You do something to me. I have never felt this way before…” He suddenly kissed you. His tongue slipping in with your tongue. His lips pursed tightly on yours. He softly and sensually whispered, “I feel it too.” You felt yourself falling into his embrace. Your hands searching and feeling one another’s bodies. With each breath upon your bare skin down your neck sent you into chivers of pure delight. 

Everything felt so dangerous, but yet safe while you were with him. Feelings of the forbidden erotica and passion boiled up inside you. You could feel his hands under your flowing cotton dress blowing in the artificial wind. You knew this was crazy. You should not be doing this, but ALL you wanted was to do it…

After brief goodbyes, you scrambled home to make it there before village curfew. You stepped into your front door, closing the door behind you. “Light on” The room illuminated. “Dim 25” The lights dimmed to 25 brightness. You had a small strawberry daiquiri and a hot bath. Then you headed to bed. You fell asleep dreaming of him again. 

Suddenly, you were startled awake by a tap at the door. You hear a faint voice. “It’s me, Rhodan.” You opened the door. He told you that the police are coming for you because you violated a 646.” You look at him in question. “What’s a 646? And what do you mean they are coming for me?” He looked at you and exclaimed with intense fear in his eyes. “I am an Unmentionable. MIngling with me is against the law.”

He explained that the dreams were real. He described the waterfall I had dreamt about. We had met before in a previous life. He described an Earth where most all inhabitants were killed off by the 3rd World War. Clones were made of the few survivors. The cloned babies were brought on board in little pressurized capsules. With only the 5 Elders being the real people who came on board as teens. Before the last Elder died, she named her daughter as a “new” Elder. The rest of the humans on the spaceship were all clones. The ancestors built robotic officers to enforce the rules. He said that the Elders  had seen the destruction of man through his selfish ways, and they wanted to prevent such a war from ever being able to happen again. They assumed the best way to do this was to rid people of all emotion and or feeling that could evoke such actions or behaviors. 

You thought to yourself, This is how mankind loses its humanity. You said, “To be human is to feel… to be empathetic, to have compassion, to love...” He stated, “And to hate, to envy… They meant well, but to save mankind, they destroyed humanity. The Unmentionables are the clones that hold the memories of the original people; thus, we can feel the emotions. They want to kill us all so we do not infect the others with our knowledge of feelings and emotions. We remember the unmentionable things in life- feelings, thoughts, emotions. We all hide to stay alive. They have discovered you. You are only safe with us now.”

Suddenly, the door burst open and two police droids grabbed you by the arms. “You are in violation of Law 646 Mingling with an Unmentionable.” You tried to squirm free, but you could not. Their robotic hands tightening around your arms to restrict your slightest movement. 

Rhodan looked at you from a shadow behind the couch. He put a finger over his pursed lips and whispered, “I will come for you…” 

The robotic officers drug you down your village corridor and into dimly lit corridors. These were the restricted passage corridors you had never seen before. They dumped you on a cold glossy white floor of a big open room. The walls to the room were pure glass. Robotic arms picked you up and started undressing you. You stood there holding yourself flushed with embarrassment.

The robot arms released you. Weak and mangled, you fell to the cold white sterile floor. Two droids entered the room along with a stout stern looking woman who was probably as cold and sterile as the room itself. “We have worked to save man’s society and recreate sustainable safe life without the evils of our forefathers which led to awful things such as war, sin, and death. We will not have Unmentionables ruin humanity!” She spoke in a stern articulate tone with such bland course as if she were a robot herself. 

“Take her to cell 346. They are to be released in the order in which they are processed.” She then turned to you and sarcastically stated, “ I hope you will enjoy your stay here…” She let out a loud evil cackle.

The droids once again grabbed your upper arms and began dragging you down another drab dimly lit corridor. Around a corner, you saw four hooded men. Two continuously hit the droids with what appeared to be old-fashioned metal baseball bats. You could hear the clashing and clanking of metal on metal. You could see robotic pieces of the two droids smashing to the glossy white dull colored floor. The other two men grabbed you. Sirens started blaring and red lights were flashing from above on the tops of the plain white walls.

One of them spoke. It was Rhodan. “There are four old escape pods well past their time. They put them in the compactor to be crushed and ejected into space. We found and fixed them up. There is a habitable planet not far. We believe we can make it to the planet surface. I would like you to come with me.” 

The other two guys caught up with you two. You all ran through the dimly lit corridors dodging lasers and bullets. Someone actually had bullets… It was the old stern woman who had stood over her. You were certain she was the daughter of the last Elder. “Catch them!”, she shouted at both human and droid officers. 

You all slipped down a narrow shaft with one teeny tiny ladder, which led to a big open area with dozens of shutes. A group of people were waiting there. Rhodan pressed a button and a steel door opened to one of the shutes. You, Rhodan, and two other people could get in that one pod. Twelve other people would be joining you on the planet from within the three other escape pods. 

Rhodan pushed the ignition, and you all were shooting through the tube out into dark empty space. Within minutes, you could see the planet below. The outside of the capsule was burning as you all fell through the atmosphere at phenomenal speed. A huge parachute released from the pod. Seconds later, you could feel the brash impact as the pod crashed into sand. As you all climbed out of the pod, you could see one of the other pods burst into flames up in the atmosphere. You all could see the other two escape pods as they successfully crashed into the surface of the planet. 

You looked at Rhodan and asked, “Who says that they will not come down here looking for us? Who says they will not just come here and kill us?” You both looked out onto the bright horizon and beautiful landscape. There were animals and nature. And best of all, it was REAL. Every last bit of it was REAL!

Rhodan looked confident in his answer. His eyes gleamed perfect in the real sunlight of the Earth-like skies. There was a glow in his face as he smiled from ear to ear. “They will NOT come here. They are afraid to let the people free off that spaceship. Mankind has spent close to 100 years in search of a habitable planet. They spent so long looking for a suitable planet to sustain human life that they have lost all humanity. They will NOT venture any further than they have already from their safe sterile world they have created in that bubble in the sky. But we are freeee!!” 

From behind you, he placed his hands around your hips and as you felt his breath once again on the nape of your soft white neck. You both looked off into the horizon as human number one and human number two of only twelve humans in a new civilization.

Suddenly, you felt Rhodan’s fingertips grab your butt playfully. He grinned and stated in kind of a cocky tone, “Well, I guess it is up to us to populate this new world with humans. Wanna go get started?” You playfully giggled and ran with the sand turning into bright green blades of grass between your toes. 

“I gotcha!” he shouted. You felt him as he grabbed you and picked you up. And then you both were rolling around entangled together as one on the soft blades of grass. He kissed you. With a smile, he said, “Welcome home, baby. I love you.” You whispered a soft, “I love you” as you both continue to kiss and playfully roll around on the soft bright green pillow of grass below.