"Christopher Priest - The Discharge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Priest Christopher)

leaving.

I passed through into a second narrow corridor, unlit at my end but with a low-power light bulb
glimmering at the other. The encounter had produced a familiar physical effect on meтАФin spite of my
apprehension I was tingling with sexual intrigue. Lustfulness was rising. I walked towards the light, the
door of the room I had just left swinging closed behind me. At the far end, just beyond the light bulb, a
kind of archway had been formed, with a small alcove behind it.

I came across no doors anywhere along the corridor so I assumed I would find some kind of exit in the
alcove. As I lowered my head to pass through the archway I stumbled, tripping over the entangled legs of
a man and woman apparently making love on the floor. In the gloom I had not seen them there. I
staggered as I tried to keep my balance, uttering an apology, steadying myself by pressing a hand against
the wall.

I moved on, away from the couple, but the alcove was a dead end. I felt around in the dim light, trying to
find some sign of a door, but the only way in or out was through the archway.

The couple on the floor continued what they were doing, their naked bodies pumping rhythmically and
energetically against each other.

I tried to step over them but I was unbalanced by the lack of room in which to stand and I kicked against
them again. I murmured another embarrassed apology, but to my surprise the woman extricated herself
quickly from beneath the man and stood up in an agile, untroubled movement. Her long hair was falling
across her face and she tossed her head to sweep it back from her eyes. Perspiration rolled from her
face, dripping down on her chest. The man rolled briefly over. Because of his nakedness I was able to
see, with surprise, that he was not at all sexually aroused. Their act of physical love had been a
simulation.

The woman said to me, "Wait! I'll come with you instead."
She laid a warm hand on mine and smiled invitingly. She was breathing excitedly. A sheen of sweat lay
over her breasts; her nipples pointed erectly. I felt a new erotic charge from the light touch of her fingers,
but also a surge of guilt. The man lay there passively at my feet, staring up at me. I was confused by
everything I was seeing.

I backed away from them, through the archway, back to the long, unlit corridor. The naked whore
followed quickly behind me, seizing hold of my upper arm as I blundered along. At the far end of this
corridor, past the door which I knew led back into Ste-Augustinia's boudoir, I had noticed yet another
door, leading somewhere. I reached it, put my weight against it and forced it open. It moved stiffly. Inside
the room that was beyond, the endless throbbing beat of the synthesized music was louder but it
appeared to be empty of all people. The musky perfume was intense. I felt sensual, aroused, eager to do
the bidding of the young woman who had attached herself to meтАФbut even so I was frightened,
disorientated, overcome by the rush of sensations and thoughts coursing through me.

The young woman had followed me in, still holding my arm. The door closed firmly behind us, causing a
decompression sensation in one of my ears. I swallowed to clear it. I turned to speak to this whore but as
I did so two other young women appeared as if from nowhere, stepping out of the deeper shadows on
the side of the room away from the door.

I was alone with them. All three were naked. They were looking at me with what I took to be great
eagerness. I was in a state of acute sexual readiness.