"Countdown" (c) 2003 by Crystaliss.

This story is an adult story. If you are underage in your locality, please do not read further. If sexual situations offend you, please do not read further. If you object to borderline kinky fantasies, please do not read further.

******

Bethany was flying.

She could not remember ever flying a plane before, but it made sense to her that she had. The controls felt at home in her hands. She turned the yoke and felt the aircraft respond, turning in the direction she indicated. Bethany laughed and began a slow, level spiral in the sky. 

She looked out the cockpit window and noticed there were other aircraft flying around. A glance at the radar showed ten other planes nearby, but none near enough to concern her. She flicked her gaze to the altimeter. She was at 10,000 feet. "Ten...I should descend," she told herself and pushed the plane's nose down slightly. The spiral became a narrowing gyre.

A voice came over the radio. "You're doing very well, solo flight. You are now cleared to land on runway Nine-I. Please proceed to runway Nine-I. Relax and proceed downward."

"Nine...got it!" she said into the radio. It was easy to focus on the controls. The glide down was leisurely. She paid attention to her instruments, as she somehow knew she must, and broke through a light haze of clouds. The sun shone down, illuminating the landscape. Bethany thought she had never seen anything so beautiful.

Bethany guided the plane down toward a field. She skimmed lower. A skyscraper appeared out of nowhere. It sported a deep red "9-I" and an up arrow on the side. Bethany laughed again as she landed the plane on the roof of the 'scraper. "Very good, solo flight. Proceed downward," the radio repeated.

She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the Cessna. The number nine was emblazoned on both wings. She smiled and patted the plane. The wind gusted, ruffling her hair and rippling her t-shirt. Bethany turned and looked out over the field. The grass was greener than any she could ever remember seeing in her life. She laughed again with delight.

The moment of giggles passed quickly. There was something she needed to do, even if she couldn't quite remember what it was. Bethany turned and looked over the roof. There was a door leading into a small utility area. It was painted with the number nine in a deep shade of red.

"That's where I go!" she said cheerily. She padded over and tried the door. The knob turned easily, well-oiled and noiseless. She brushed off her jeans and started down the stairway inside. The stairs switched back on themselves once, leading to a landing. The landing had the number eight in orange. "This must be it." She opened the door. "Number eight..."

She stepped through and into a shopping mall. It was a relatively small area. She counted eight stores. They sold everything from clothing to coffee. The floor was closed, so she couldn't see what might be on the next level down. 

Bethany padded down the center of the mall. She glanced at her tennis shoes but decided she didn't need to go into the shoe store. A furniture outlet advertised a forty-four percent off sale. That didn't catch her eye nearly as much as a display of the top eight New York Times bestsellers. She wandered over and looked at them, but a moment later an 88-cent pretzel caught her eye. She bought it and nibbled on the hot food, smiling to herself. 

"I've always loved the taste of pretzels..." she told a passerby. He stood in the doorway of a sporting goods and clothing store, wearing a Lynn Swann jersey. "I can't remember when I've felt this relaxed."

He smiled back. "That's very good. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. It must feel good to be so happy."

"It does!" she told him. "Would you like a bite?"

He shook his head. "I have to be going down now. This time is for you to enjoy." With a final grin, he strode away. She took another bite and watched him go. For the first time, Bethany noticed an escalator in the middle of the floor. She wondered what was on the next level.

The escalator had a large, yellow number eight hanging right above it. She took hold of the rail and stepped on, letting the moving steps carry her down while she nibbled her pretzel. At the bottom, she could see an equally large green number... "Seven," she breathed.

Bethany stepped off the escalator and into the office building hallway. She tugged at her green blazer selfconsciously, making sure it would not ride up over the black skirt. Her heels were soundless in the deep pile carpet. Seven doors from the escalator, she stepped into an office and smiled at the male attendant. His desk was decorated with John Elway memorabilia. She hesitated, unable to remember what she wanted to tell him, then remembered.

"This must be my lucky day, I'm off early," she told him. "Going to go home to relax and sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open this last little bit."

He looked up and nodded. "I know how that is, when you just feel like your head is fuzzy and you can't really concentrate on more than one thing at a time. You're doing fine. Go on down."

She turned with a wave and headed into the elevator. The doors closed behind her. She tried to remember where she parked. She pushed the button she thought it was most likely to be. The button lit up blue. "Let's try six..."

Bethany patted her hair back into place as she got out of the elevator. She could hear the crowd in the theatre applauding as the curtain rose. "I timed that right. Six days into the run, and the crowds are just pouring in!" she murmured. She entered the backstage area, careful to remain as silent as possible. 

She checked to make sure she was wearing her black jeans and sweatshirt. "Good, I look fine. I was so tense about that, but I can relax now," she whispered to the props guy. 

He nodded, putting a hand on her back and guiding her attention to the very rear of the stage. "There's some things that need to be done in the orchestra pit. There's a tunnel under the stage," he whispered back. "I want you to go under, Bethany, and point the sixth blue light on the right at the stage. Can you go that deep?" He pointed to a ladder just visible upstage behind the flat.

Bethany nodded confidently. "I'll do that, sure," she agreed. "How many steps on that ladder?"

"Five," he told her.

She started down the ladder into the darkness. "Step... step... step... step... and off on five..."

Bethany tossed back her hair as she stepped off the ladder into the crow's nest of the ship. She looked out over the water with the little telescope. The ship on the horizon was still too far out for her to see its flag. The water was an incredible crystalline indigo. A small pod of five dolphins leaped up and vanished below the surface.

"That might be the messenger ship...we were supposed to meet it on the fifth, but it might have gone astray. It might be something else, though." She hesitated. "We haven't seen any signs of privateers in our twenty-five days out, though..."

A breeze bellied the sails. The ship rocked pleasantly. "I could go to sleep up here, it's so peaceful," Bethany told herself softly. "Just close my eyes and sleep..."

She shook herself and reminded herself of her duty. She peered through her heavy eyes at the other ship. The breeze caught its flag and extended it. She could see it clearly for the first time. It was the messenger ship they had been waiting for. There were five people in the rigging, looking over at her ship. One waved to her and pointed down to the deck.

She glanced at the rigging. It would take too long to climb down. She pulled her heavy gloves from the belt of her pants, put them on, and grabbed a rope. She slid down to where four of the crew waited. As she descended, the rope flicked back and forth on the deck. It looked like the end was making itself into a giant number four...

Bethany bent her knees and absorbed the impact as she bounced on the trampoline. Three people held it steady. She laughed and bounced up and down, then let her legs go out from under her and laid out flat on her back. She giggled as she rolled off the springy material. "I'm going to swim!" she told them, and took off toward the pool.

One of the guys was over sitting in the lifeguard's chair. He grinned down at her. "That was fast. You were only over there, what, four minutes?"

"I like swimming. It's fun, but it's so relaxing," she told him. 

"Yeah, I like that soft hum you get in the water, when it seems like everything goes away. I like how the water feels on my skin," he replied. "Are you going to just go down the ladder, or are you going to dive in?"

Bethany considered for a moment. "I think I'll dive, see how deep I can get," she answered.

He pointed over to the diving board. It was almost level with the concrete deck of the pool. She made sure her purple one-piece wasn't showing anything, then took four paces out onto its length. That brought her to the end. She curled her toes over it and looked down into the water. She could faintly see the number three painted at the bottom.

"How deep is it?"

He grinned at her. "Sixteen feet."

She nodded and began to jump on the end of the board. "I'm going to go down and touch it!" she told him. On the fourth bounce, she jackknifed her body and dove down into the water. She swam as deep as she could. The water felt wonderful, but she seemed to be going very slowly. Her fingertips finally touched the paint and she pumped her fist and held up three fingers for him to see...

Bethany let the swing carry her. She pumped half-heartedly and lazily, feeling the slow weariness of a hot afternoon take her energy. The other two swings were empty. They drifted back and forth, moved only by the resonance of her own motion.

He stood by the slide. "Going up is hard," he told her. "Going down is easier." 

She admired the intricate triangle print on his shirt and agreed. "Going down is always easier." 

He indicated the slide. "Meet you at the bottom?"

Bethany slowed the swing and stopped it. It took an effort to stand up and join him at the slide. "Can we go together?"

He nodded and massaged her shoulders for a moment. She sighed with relief as the last of the tension vanished. "We can go together," he reassured her. "Just sit down, and I'll go behind you. Just us."

She sat and slid her legs forward until she was just about to slip down the edge of the slide. He sat behind her and she leaned against him. As he pushed off, she called out "Just us two...?"

Bethany settled into the front of the sled. He sat down behind her. "Ready?" he breathed in her ear.

She nodded, grabbing the rope in both gloved hands. "Ready!" Her breath steamed in the icy air. 

He pushed off. The two-person sled slipped down the hill, gathering speed. The two of them pressed close together.

Bethany drew in deep breaths of the cold, invigorating air. Her body was wrapped snugly in a warm winter coat, keeping out the chill. His chest was right up against her back. She could feel his breath on her cheek. She let him control the sled, how fast and how far it went. It was easier.

They passed right between two trees. She felt the rush of wind on her cheeks. He pulled up on one of the sidebrakes. The sled spun and tipped, dumping them both out in the snow.

Bethany laughed. "Watch this!" She started to make snow angels. 

He joined her. "It's comfortable lying down in the snow...it's so quiet and peaceful out here, with the snow drifting down from the sky..."

She nodded dreamily, looking up at the blank grey expanse. "It is...it seems like the sky goes on forever... endless..."

He stood up and extended a hand to her. She took it and hopped up, still giggling. She paused and studied his angel more closely. "That doesn't look as much like an angel as it does like a one..."

Bethany climbed carefully down the steep hill. The rocks were hard under her hands, but she was able to pick out a path without too much difficulty. 

She was alone, and as she made her way deeper into the ravine she was grateful. Without a partner, the birds were clearly audible. The sun was high enough to illuminate the ravine, but not so high it shone directly on her to blind her. 

She smiled and ran her hand over the bright vein of quartz in the rock wall. Her hand tingled through her glove. 

"I'm almost there," Bethany said to herself. "Almost. I just wish I could remember where... it must be deep down the gully... so I need to go deeper..."

The rocks gave way to stony soil. She walked down the slope and stopped at the bottom. There was a door with a white number zero on the far side. 

"I'm so tired... so sleepy... I wish I could rest..." she whispered to herself. "I can rest when I reach the bottom..."

It took forever for her to reach the door. She could not see a doorknob. "How do I open this? There's just this zero..."

Bethany floated supine three feet above the floor of the featureless, white room. The diffuse light bathed her naked body. She stared straight up at the ceiling. Her expression was calm, the very edges of a smile curling the corners of her lips upwards.

She could not see him, but she knew he was there. 

"Are you happy, Bethany?"

Her lips moved, but her voice sounded so far away. "Yes..."

"And you found what you were looking for."

"Yes..."

"You have reached the Zero Room. You have reached the bottom. Now you are deep."

"Now I am deep..." she affirmed drowsily.

"Now you can sleep in trance. Now you are totally relaxed. There is nothing left but the Zero Room and your peace."

She didn't answer. Her eyes were heavy and beginning to slide shut.

"When you wake from this trance, you'll be back with me, in bed, fully rested and content. But right now, your mind is going to sleep deeply in the Zero Room. We have other things to do tonight, sweetie."

"Yes..." she breathed, her eyelids almost all the way closed.

"Sleep, love."

Bethany's mind slept. 