Our Layer, A Submachine Epilogue Erotic Fanfic

It had been almost an hour since they arrived outside the buried lighthouse. The signal had been given, some inscrutable tell only visible from Murtaugh's perspectives, and he had unceremoniously hurried them out the door. So here they were, sitting an entire hour early in the shadow of a fallen rook. Elizabeth sighed despite herself. She knew he would always be like this.

She toyed with an old video game as she waited. She held the toy deep under the folds of her cloak, so the harsh midday sands wouldn't scurry under the aging buttons. She glanced up at Murtaugh, who was staring at the sunken lamp with expectation. Their earlier conversation wandered through her mind.

"Do you think they will be cool?" She had asked him, as she hurriedly tried to pick garments off the clothesline.

He shrugged in that easily-mistaken false-wise way. "It doesn't matter."

Of course it wouldn't, to him. Nobody could penetrate that diamond ego of his. She grabbed the extra baggy cloak and the sports bra. "Are the camels ready?" A pair of hearty grunts answered her, and Murtaugh didn't have to. Elizabeth ambled her way through the bra, doubling back to squeeze everything in properly. "Should we bring our scarves? The evening breeze will probably pick up."

He held up the loops of green fabric, an affirmative yes. He smiled. Though his mouth was obscured by the collar of his robe, she recognized the curve of his cheeks from that clever grin. "Come on, we'll be late," he said with such confidence.

And here they were, an hour and a half later, and very clearly not late. Somewhere in the adjacent chambers of the subnet below the lighthouse, some explorer was probably getting caught up looking for baubles on the way out.

It had been a while since the last time they ventured into the subnet. Normally they let the other researchers and explorers do that, at this point. Besides, they had their hands full with the camels, the distillery, the chemistry, the apothecary, the pharmacy, and at least three kinds of electrical engineering. Their life was a lot better above the net than it ever was inside it.

Murtaugh nudged his camel. It grunted and trudged forward. Elizabeth looked up, shutting off the game mid-level with a knowing sigh. It was time.

Murtaugh had noticed her fiddling with her pills before bed. She did it nightly, peering in the jar as she jangled it. She stared into it as if her fortune could be read from tiny round bones.

He had mulled the thought for three days. They were in bed, the breeze of the desert night drifting through the windows and carrying the thin trails of the candles over them. Elizabeth was curled up on his chest, and he stroked her shoulder idly. It was time, and the proposition burst from his mouth like a broken dam. His karma flickered and he ran his hand through her hair. "We could get a few more camels."

She thought about it a little, unsure why they would need more camels. The warmth of his karma massaged her scalp. "Yeah?"

He squeezed her shoulder, holding her a little closer. "I have all that extra equipment from the karma studies lab. Lots of distillery equipment." He kissed her forehead. "We could swap you to injections."

She didn't know what to say. Her brain was still trying to connect the dots. "I know you've been on injections for years, but how does-" the thought connected "-you want to make estrogen out of camel piss?!" She remembered the textbooks she had poured over. The old methods of manufacturing. Hesitation crept through her.

He sensed it and held her, his firm confidence comforting her. "It's not particularly more complicated than any of our other chemical operations." He shrugged. "Plus this breed of camel shouldn't produce the same issues horses did."

She sighed, relenting. "Mur, do you have any idea what you're talking about?" She didn't need to hear a response. He wouldn't provide one. He always knew what he was talking about. Even if he was wrong, he would correct himself when the time came. It was that kind of brash confidence and quietness that made the other scientists dislike him.

But Elizabeth loved it. He always said as much as he needed, letting his presence do the rest of the talking. She propped herself up on his chest. She measured his gaze, his firm confidence twinkling in the dying candle light. The last candle in the room was almost out, but in the speckles of ember and drifting moonlight she saw what she needed. He was confident. He knew they could do this.

She kissed him. "Let's try it."

A week later, after a few rounds of experimentation and processing, it was time.

Murtaugh handled a needle like a scalpel. The karma arm never trembled, never shook, never placed itself anywhere other than exactly where he wanted it. In another life he could pluck goldfish from a river, and in another he could pull moles from a snowbank. In this he administered essence to his partner.

Murtaugh didn't always use the arm. It was tiring, though he wouldn't ever admit it. His flesh was part of a circuit, blood and nerves feeding back into his heart. The other scientists had inquired how it worked to an exhausting extent. Was it a psychokinetic force? Was it a phantom limb? Was it a quantum entanglement? Was it made of the same void as the subnet? But it wasn't any of that. The karma was a belief, rippling through all alternatives and arriving at his brain. Sometimes he simply didn't want to think.

He finished the injection. Elizabeth exhaled, surprised it hurt as little as it did. She looked at him, looking for confirmation that the operation was successful. She found it in the corners of his lips, though clearly his own reminiscing was getting the better of him. His eyes wandered as he began to clean up. He packed away the supplies, stood up, and stretched.

He flexed his karma, so his arm spun out in eightfold like a shimmering vitruvian. They weren't satisfied by his arguments. Enlightenment. Spirit. Faith. He scoffed.

Elizabeth looked up, pressing her lips to stop herself from inquiring. She knew he only got this way when reminiscing about his worsers. But she saw the confidence too. She saw it in him constantly. Murtaugh was never wrong, never any more. He had paid for his failures in the subnet. He had escaped the cycle of the tombs.

Love. He caught her staring and snapped his arm back together, grinning just enough to peek over his cowl. They were all one and the same. He disentangled the arm, letting it drift back into his scalp.

A month passed. The routine was becoming comfort. It was a regular evening where the candles were low again. Elizabeth was nestled against him. She felt softer lately, warmer, her cheeks more full of joy, her belly brimming with giggles. As he caressed her body with his heart and mind, she could see he was reaching fruition. The candles winked in his eyes.

"I've been experimenting with karma again." She tensed up, and he immediately continued. "Safely. Just me." He held her firmly and she started relaxing. "Nothing to do with the subnet."

He leaned over on her, nuzzling her chest and kissing her neck. "You've always wanted me inside you."

She snapped her eyes open, staring at him with surprise. "You... what does karma have to do with that?"

He met her gaze firmly. "I can do it now. I can expand my body in other ways."

She bit her lip nervously. "Are you sure? I know it takes-"

He cut her off with a sigh. "All life takes suffering. All action takes energy." He nibbled her ear. "I know what I am," he whispered more softly, "and I know what I want from you."

She softened. That crystalline confidence held her up. Drew the clothes from her body, the wears from her hips. He held her and kissed her collarbone as she gripped his shoulders.

Like a candle sputtering out, his karma fluttered away from his arm. She adjusted her grip, her arm slipping around his empty side for balance as they necked. Her blood began to rush, the warm fire of her love filling her. He reached down to touch her, handling her firmly and expertly as he nibbled her collarbone.

He closed his eyes and focused. On her, on them, on their bond and how close their spirits were. His desire and her desire to be so deeply entwined. In another life he had it. In another, he lost it. In another, surgery brought it. And in this, he was all of them. His desire grew into it, his confidence becoming truth, his focus becoming shape. His prick fluttered into life, pressing lightly against hers and releasing a small gasp from her.

She placed her hand on it, feeling it for the first time. Like a cloud, but all the sensation of knowing what she was holding. She gently squeezed it against her own. His eyes shot open, surprised. Surprise was a rare sensation for Murtaugh. She knew it, and giggled. "What is it, Mur?"

He licked his lips. "I didn't… my arm doesn't feel like this." He smiled. "It's good." He kissed her lips, gently pressing and prodding with his tongue until they met and mingled. She kept touching him, stroking him. The sensation wasn't quite like having his flesh touched. It was like having his brain touched, his soul caressed. Her hands enveloped his prick and his mind.

He pushed her down onto the bed, clambering somewhat clumsily between her legs. She tried her best to stifle a giggle. It was the only time his confident façade fell a little, in those awkward moments of making love, when the bodies aren't quite lined up. But it came back, and she felt his prick pressing against her perineum.

She blushed. They had played with toys and even a strap-on, but this was different. When she first held hands she had thought about how it felt so strange and pure. She knew with complete confidence in her spirit that she was holding his hand, even if her skin told her she was grasping dense ozone. It was a feeling even more electric now in the bedroom, her body and mind consumed with wanting to be with him. She barely could tell what it felt like beyond knowing for a fact that it was his penis, and the excitement that fluttered in her chest.

She caressed his cheek. "Please put it in me."

He lined himself up. He knew it didn't quite matter how exact he was. It would find her. He would enter her. It was his confidence, and-

He entered her and they both shuddered with surprise. He gasped, how warm she was, how entirely he felt himself inside her. Like he was reaching in and her spirit was kissing him back. Her entire body welcoming him and pleasure erupting up his entire spine. She felt his warm spirit inside her, full to the brim with his love and confidence, her head going cloudy with pleasure.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing it. "Is that good?" He tried to sound confident, but the hitch in his voice made it clear how good he felt.

She panted, needy. "Yes. Please fill me up, Mur" She wrapped her arms around his neck and tightened her legs around his buttocks. She kissed him deeply, moaning loudly as he pushed in deeper. She felt his pelvis land against her thighs with a dull thwack and her head swam with pleasure.

He grunted softly as he hit his hilt, the pleasure almost overwhelming his quiet resolve. The karma twitched and throbbed inside her, releasing another shudder of pleasure across them both.

"Elizabeth... I love you." He pressed his forehead to her.

"I love you too, Mur," she uttered breathlessly. "Please fuck me."

He pushed in and out of her, slowly reaching a rhythm he could maintain. It was a little hard at times, the waves of pleasure threatening to break apart the karma and his focus, his penis throbbing into multitude and back with his focus, releasing a wave of pleasure into Elizabeth as she felt him move inside her. She reached down to touch herself, as she felt him touch her too, from inside. The warmth and electric sparkle bulging inside her was reaching up through her prostate, into her own prick and throbbing with its own pleasure.

He leaned his elbow on her chest as he thrusted, holding himself up and gripping her shoulder. She held his waist and shoulder, pulling gently to push him deeper inside her.

She felt him growing, throbbing harder, and his breath began to shudder. She as already dribbling with come and only wanted more of him. She moaned and begged him to come inside her.

Like a wave crashing he came, the karma collapsing into a wave of tendrils, reaching into her and grasping her soul. She felt herself twitch and ejaculate as he collapsed on her, their spirits bleeding together as he held onto her inside. The warm fuzzy cloud of pleasure hung over them in a haze. She felt his karma leaking out of her, through a soft tendril wrapped around her soul, beating against his heart with her own.

They both panted, feeling the cool air from the desert night drifting through the window against the sweat of their bodies. The candles finally sputtered out one by one as they lay there.

"I love you, Elizabeth." His eyes were closed, but softly, like he had completely given up focusing. She still felt him inside her, dully and unspecific. His breathing was slowing like that of sleep.

"I love you too, Murtaugh." She smiled and felt his warm body, watched the silhouette of his messy handsome hair as he rustled and adjusted himself for sleep. She knew it would come for her too soon. But she waited patiently, so she could cherish the feeling of him being with her so silently.

In the barn, the camels were fast asleep. In the lab, the tools quietly hummed. In the subnet, the machine lay silent.

All was right in the world.