text: [Themes: sci-fi, female protagonist, fantasy]
  
  You feel sick to your stomach. At first yo think it's just a reaction to all that Kendall has laid out before you, but then you begin to notice the queasiness is accompanied by a dull pain. You're also starting to feel dizzy.
  
  "Kendall," you say between gasps, "What was in that drink you gave me?"
  
  "Only the finest grapes in the South of France, my dear, my darling. Do you like stage magic?"
  
  Placing your hand on your stomach, you manage to stumble to an armchair and seat yourself. "I don't care about magic."
  
  "Well, you should, Sandra." Kendall stands up and slowly circles the room. "When I was a boy, I always loved prestidigitation . Oh, not the stupid card tricks or anything, but certainly the fine art of slight of hand. I'm pretty sure I showed you a few tricks back when we were kids. You don't remember?"
  
  You wince as the dull pain in your stomach increases. "I don't care. What did you put in my drink?"
  
  Kendall stops his circuit of the room and stares across at you. "Well, you should. But as to what happened to your parents...I'm sorry about that, by I couldn't have foreseen all the possibilities. John Szymanski had been telling people for years about a leviathan swallowing him up in the early 80's and putting him in a dream world till he was able to convince it to let him go. And he hadn't aged for decades once he got out. I'd always known that there had to be something to his story."
  
  You rest your head on the inner upholstery of the the chair. "Slight of hand. That's...that's how you slipped poison into my drink without my noticing? Why? I thought you loved me."
  
  Kendall stops before you and rests his hands on your shoulders. "Oh, but I do, Sandra. There's no one else in the whole universe I'd rather be with than you. Do you want the antidote?"
  
  You squint your eyes shut. "Yes..."
  
  "Than marry me. I'll let you and your friends live in exchange for a lifetime of joy and bliss."
  
  "I don't love you. I like girls, not boys." You open your eyes and stare into Kendall's smiling face.
  
  "And I don't believe that, Miss Acosta. Yes, I admit that I've given you plenty of reason to hate me, but it's not impossible for you to bring yourself to feel romantic feelings for me. Sigmund Freud said humans are inherently bisexual. You could love me, Sandra; you just need to apply yourself."
  
  Your whole body feels like slumping down further into the armchair.
  
  "Okay," you finally manage to utter. "I accept your proposal. I'll marry you. Just give me..."
  
  Kendall beams. He leans forward and plants a wet kiss on your mouth. He then places his hand inside his jacket and retrieves a small glass vial with a rubber stopper on top and a milky liquid inside.
  
  "Here," he says, unstopping the vial and gently pouring its contents between your lips.
  
  The antidote tastes like chalk water and sulfur, but you quickly guzzle it down.
  
  "That should do the trick," Kendall continues. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes! I'd followed all the stories of John Szymanski and was able to verify that he did indeed resemble the veteran of the Martian Wars he claimed to be. So I immediately started Project Gilgamesh, named after the legendary Sumerian king who, aided by his beast-man friend, Enkidu, sought out the fabled Root of Immortality."
  
  You notice the pain your stomach subsiding. Your queasiness and dizziness are also waning. When you've regained enough of your strength, you ask: "What are yo trying to do, exactly?"
  
  Apparently pleased in your interest, Kendall begins pacing the room again. "I propose that we place wealthy clients with leviathans kept alive in a controlled laboratory environment. Not only are the leviathans long-lived, but they are telepathically linked to each other-- or so our research seems to indicate. Even if the host leviathan dies, the client will live on in the collective dream world."
  
  "And you tricked a bunch of desperate people so that they'd murder the innocent just so you could discredit them?"
  
  "Yes. No one will believe John Szymanski's claims now. We'll can to stay underground with our research until we're ready for this business venture to go public. And you, my dear"-- he approaches you and takes your hand into his own--"will be able to share with me in this adventure of discovery. We'll never die, and we shall live out our wildest dreams."
  
  Your realize your ray pistol is in your blazer pocket. You can kill Kendall the moment he has his back to you and then pilot the Caduceus One back to Vulcan Minerals HQ. All you have to do is say there was an accident.
  
  Or is it that easy?
  
  > let Caution Stay Your Hand For Now
  A feeling of numbness overwhelms your whole body as you sit beside Kendall in the Caduceus One. All during the trek back to the ship, you've felt dead on the inside. You keep wondering what you can do now. You agreed to marry this horrible man just so you could get an antidote for the poison he'd given you. There is absolutely no love between the two of you; only an unhealthy infatuation on the part of this young man who's used to getting everything he wants. You keep thinking how much you want to kill him, to make him suffer if possible. But there are Esmeralda and Dumont to think of. Even the thought of suicide is staid by thought of their well being.
  
  "What kind of wedding would you like, Sandra?" asks Kendall from the controls.
  
  "Um..." you mutter, pulled out of your dark ruminations by his question. "I...I, uh, haven't really thought about it. I don't care. Whatever you want."
  
  "I'd like you to have some say in the matter, Miss Acosta. After all, you're going to be my partner in life."
  
  You exhale in exasperation. "It's up to you, Kendall. I'm no good at this sort of thing."
  
  "This is amazing!" says Kendall, adjusting the controls. "Look up ahead, Sandra, on the front screens. This lava river is merging with two more rivers and they're all draining into some kind of giant maelstrom."
  
  You stare blankly at the screens and see a huge whirlpool of magma looming closer and closer. "Shouldn't we try to steer away from it, Kendall? You don't think it's safe to go down that thing, do you?"
  
  "Don't worry, Sandra, I'm on it." He pulls back on the steering lever.
  
  There's a strained sound of the craft's engines trying to work against the lava flow. You notice that the ship still seems to be heading in the direction of the whirlpool.
  
  You take a deep breath. "Kendall, are we going to be killed?"
  
  Kendall glances at you. "Not if I can help it."
  
  "If we do die, nothing bad will befall Esmeralda and Dumont?"
  
  "Why would it? You agreed to my terms, Sandra. You have my word that they will be safe, whatever befalls the two of us."
  
  "Good," you say, pulling the ray pistol out of your blazer pocket and ramming it's butt into the back of Kendall's skull.
  
  He screams as his hands slip from the control lever and he slumps to the metal floor. He stares up at you, dazed. "Sandra, why?"
  
  You laugh mirthlessly. "You'd ask me that question now?"
  
  You slam the butt of the gun into his face.
  
  You hear the crunch of bone as his cheek collapses and blood sprays from his shocked face.
  
  "We..." he gasps..."will die...I could...have saved us..."
  
  "No, you couldn't, Kendall. Your hubris only made you think you could. You're a monster. It's my pleasure to kill you before that maelstrom can even reach us. I may be going to Hell, but at least I'll have you there to torment."
  
  You point the barrel at his bloody face and pull the trigger.
  
  The End