S-ENF-019 - LOST BET

Item #: S-ENF-019
Object Designation: Lost Bet

"Four aces," said Dr. Angela Sharpe, smiling like a tiger.

"Yes!" Emilia Lucent was bouncing up and down, barely able to contain herself. "Finally! I knew it would happen! He can't win every time!"

"I haven't shown my cards yet," pointed out Dr. Blithe.

"Come on, there's no way you can beat four aces! I win! I win I win I win! You lose and you have to leave forever!"

"Do I?" said Dr. Blithe. "Interesting. Let me see what I've got here. Ah, yes. Fascinating. Perhaps you'd care to up the stakes, Emilia?"

"Hah! You're bluffing!"

"Perhaps. You have no way of knowing. If I win, you'll join Angela in the little forfeit I have planned for her. But if I lose..."

Dr. Blithe paused for effect, letting the tension building. They were playing in the Foundation cafeteria, and half the staff in the building had crowded around the table to watch. Miguel from Theoretical Malevolence, Dr. Cuteboobs from the Ethics Department, Dominique and Mariko from the Artemis Containment Team. Everyone was there.

"Not only will I leave the Foundation forever," he said, "and never come back, but first, I will walk across Rome with no clothes on."

There was a sharp intake of breath. Emilia, whose mind was suddenly overwhelmed by beautiful visions of Dr. Blithe's Adonis-like figure and a very large number of gorgeous sharp-tongued Italian women, exhaled and said "Done."

"You're quite sure."

"Oh, absolutely. I am going to enjoy this."

"Me too," said Dr. Blithe, and laid down his cards. "Five aces."

In the silence, Emilia blinked. "You cheated," she said.

"Prove it."

"You can't have five aces! Nobody can have five aces!"

"Unless you can prove it," said Dr. Blithe, "I'm afraid the hand must stand."

"But that's nine aces altogether!" Emilia slammed her hand down on the table, dislodging half a dozen other aces that had been glued beneath it. "Oh, come on. If you get caught cheating, you lose. Everyone knows that. Your ass is mine, Blithe, and I'm going to very much enjoy watching you..."

"But I didn't cheat."

"No? Then whose aces are these? Give it up. You've been caught red-handed. Whoever put these aces here, I say they're a dirty little cheater, and that means they lose the bet."

"Are we all agreed on that?"

"Damn straight!"

"Very good," said Blithe, nodding, as Angela Sharpe took a deep breath. Slowly, trying not to look at anyone, she began to unbutton her shirt.

"I knew you wouldn't get away with it," he said, smiling, as the uptight professional shimmied out of her pencil skirt, standing in front of everyone in nothing but her black underwear and stockings. Emilia watched in horror as the slim blonde unfastened her bra, exposing her small pink-nippled breasts to the chuckling crowd. "Cheaters never prosper, you know."

"Wait, but..."

"Emilia," said Angela, thumbs hooked in the waistband of her panties. She bent at the waist, mooning all her giggling underlings, painfully aware that she was supposed to be a boss and not a stripper, to roll them down her long slender legs. "Be quiet."

"But... I was going to win."

"That's gambling for you," Dr. Blithe said, shrugging. Angela was naked now, and looking expectantly at Emilia, whose fingers were fumbling with her buttons as twin pink spots blossomed in her cheeks. "Better luck next time."

And he watched in satisfaction as the unfortunate and very buxom blonde was obliged to strip completely naked in the middle of a very crowded workplace, in front of all her colleagues, all of which were having the time of their lives. The two bare blushing cuties stood in just their high heels, hands roving awkwardly over their bodies, not sure what to conceal and what to leave exposed to the merciless ogling of the crowd. Dr. Blithe watched with satisfaction, making sure both girls knew that he could see their tits.

"Now," he said. "I believe there was something about Rome."

"Oh, no! Not again!"