Note: My format will naturally separate the sub action and gold action until towards the end, so if you are not interested in my story, you can just skip to the good stuff in the second section :) –Bas
 
 

Chapter 2

Captain Crane stared moodily out of Seaview's main window, following the movements of the mini-sub as it prowled around the wreckage of Golden Touch. The sight of the wrecked vessel lying on the bottom brought a sick feeling to the pit of his stomach, one that he always felt at moments like this. In his minds eye, the wrecked pleasure yacht became the telescoped and imploded hull of USS Scorpion, and memories came flooding back of friends and colleagues from that doomed submarine. Only a sudden attack of appendicitis had kept him, a young officer fresh out of the Academy, from going on her fateful training run to the Med. He had always felt guilty about not being onboard with the rest of the crew when she went down.

"Something troubling you, Lee?"

"No Sir, just wishing we could get a lead on what happened here." Crane responded to the Admiral testily. "We've been searching the wreck for hours now, and we don't know anymore than the fact she was ripped open from below."

"Well, at least we know there was more to it than your average shipwreck. And the look of that damage tends to mesh with Briton's version of the events.

"That still doesn't put us any..." The Captain was interrupted by the "Whoop" of a sound-powered phone box, and he reached over to the bulkhead and picked up the handset. "Bow Observation, Captain Crane"

"Sir, this is the 'Enj'." The ship's Engineering Officer sounded muffled over the line. "I've just been speaking with Petty Officer Rodgers, he says he found some contamination in the sea water. I've ordered the evaporator secured for now."

"Did we have an accidental discharge?"

The Admiral, overhearing, lifted an inquisitive eyebrow at the Captain.

"No Sir, we checked that right away." The Engineer answered. "It's very low level, not a real problem. Lucky we weren't filling the Potable Water Tank at the time. But there's more to it, Sir. Rodgers ran a whole gamut of tests on the sample, and compared it to some sea water stored in the Trim Tanks we know came from out in the Atlantic..."

"And!?"

"Perhaps we'd better come up and show you. The Nav's here, and he's got some input too."

"Very well, the Admiral and I will be waiting." He hung up the handset in triumph. "I think we just found our break!"

The Ship's Navigator, Engineer, and Petty Officer Rodgers came bursting into the bow compartment out of breath, like they'd almost ran the whole way, with charts, files, and clipboards in tow.

"Well, what's the scoop?" the Captain asked the Engineer anxiously.

"I'll let Rodgers start out, this is really his baby."

The young Petty Officer, barely twenty years old, stood up, and unrolled a large poster labeled 'CHART OF THE NUCLIDES'. "Well, from the sea water sample, I got some real low level radiation, but it was odd, not like from one source, but a couple. Some beta-gamma, a little alpha, even some trace neutron. All up and down the chart, all barely above minimum detectable. This would indicate that the water was recently exposed to a real high neutron flux, just like in our reactor core. Only in this case, the water has lots of junk in it to get activated and stay radioactive for a while. Most of the stuff only has half-lives of a few seconds, but there are a few in there that get up into the two, two-and-half day range." The Petty officer poked a stubby finger at a few isotopes on the chart.

The Admiral and Captain exchanged glances

"Wait," Rodgers said, with a buck-toothed grin a mile wide. "It gets better. I decided to run it through the Mass Spectrometer, and well, see for yourself." He produced a pair of colored transparencies, both with many peaks and valleys on a wavy graph. "This is the local sample, and this a sample of 'Normal' Sea water." He overlaid the two, and there were some drastic differences. "First, there's a shitload... excuse me Sirs... a lot more Helium in the water than there should be, especially Helium-three, which should account for only .0001% of the total Helium. Here its about 5%, and there shouldn't hardly be any Helium at all!"

The Captain gestured towards the graphs "What about this valley, higher up?"

"Well that's even more interesting. That’s where, in the 'Normal' sample, there are trace amounts of gold. Here- nothing. Zilch. Its all gone."

"That will be all Rodgers, and thank you, you've earned your pay for the next decade."

Beaming with pride, the young Petty Officer left.

Captain Crane turned towards the Admiral. "Well, what do you make of it?

Nelson looked speculative, and pursed his lips slightly. "The Helium can only mean one thing- that boat that Briton reported must use the fusion of natural occurring deuterium in the sea water as its source of power. That also explains the neutron flux, and it fits Jules Verne's description of the Nautilus' propulsion in his book.

"Are you telling me that someone in the 1800's developed fusion!? Even today we don't have the materials to contain that kind of reaction." The Engineer blurted.

The Admiral stroked his chin, and thought for a second before replying. "Well, it could be Cold Fusion. That wouldn't even require moving parts, just electricity. They could just run the sea water itself through the right material, apply current, and the matrix would squeeze the atoms together, combining two deuterium atoms into a Helium-three and liberating a high energy neutron, providing heat to the system.

"What about the gold?", pondered Crane.

"I dunno, maybe its a catalyst and gets used up somehow, or gets deposited in the process. Anyhow, what matters is, we can track that boat!"

"I'm not so sure...." The Navigator spoke up.

"Why not?"

"This area of the ocean floor," he started, unrolling a chart as he talked, "for about a Mile around is somewhat of an anomaly. No currents, just a very still cold layer. That’s why these traces stayed concentrated and didn't just dilute away. Heck, if we were a day or two later, the radiation would have decayed away anyhow. Once back in the open ocean, normal currents and tides will have long since obliterated any traces."

"We can at least get a track out of here, in a general direction, right?"

"Sure, but after a few thousand yards, it'll be gone".

"That’s OK. Look, these guys just pulled off a big crime, one sure to bring every Navy in the world running." The Captain stalked up to a wall chart. "My guess is they ran straight back to their base, balls to the wall!" His voice rose with the excitement of the chase. "They've gone a century undetected, so they must not be ones to take stupid risks. If we can get even a general track, I bet we can follow it right to them!"

The Admiral looked on approvingly. "Let’s get to it then!"

Tyra looked around the Dining Hall, scanning the faces of the women filling the room. It was decorated, like everything else in the Keep, with copious quantities of gold. Spread out on the table in the center was tray after tray of exotic dishes, and goblets (gold, of course) of a sweet-tasting white wine. Mingling around with the women were some of the Baron's men, who all looked cut out of the same blond-hared blue eyed cookie cutter. Golden statues, all of women, lined every wall.

"Pleeze, miz Banks, have a glass of vine," one of the men asked her, in a thick German accent.

"No thanks, I'm not thirsty." He was kinda cute, in a Nordic way, but like everything else here, he gave her the creeps. A lot of the other girls were having no trouble warming up to the men at all, especially after a few glasses of wine. Many had already wandered off with men to the dark reaches of the castle. Just like the big Hollywood parties back home, she thought. Hadn't she seen that guy leaving with Liz earlier? She was a little surprised at seeing Hurley fooling around, so soon after leaving that twit husband of hers. But of course, he had been the one to cheat on her with a hooker while they were still married. She'd slunk out with one of the Baron's men looking like a doe eyed Geisha, her high necked blue silk dress slit up to her pelvis, and her raven hair done up in a bun with a gaudy butterfly clip

She turned towards Chloe, who was on her third glass, getting a little tipsy, and chatting up a particularly handsome example of the Baron's men.

"Hee heee *hiccupp*" She covered her mouth slightly, and tried to look coy. Her latex covered cleavage heaved like Jell-O in a hurricane when she giggled.

"Jonesy, is it me, or are there a lot of girls not here?" Tyra asked.

"Oh they're probably just off having fun." She batted her eyes at the German, who looked on appreciatively. "Which is where I'm headed," she said, slipping an arm around the soldier.

"Well. I'm worried, and we haven't seen Elle since she left with the Baron."

"Oh I'm sure she'll turn up!" she answered over her shoulder, angling the man towards a dark hallway. "Toodles!"

Tyra watched several other couples sauntering off. "What the hell!?" Tyra said aloud, to no one in particular. "Is it a full moon or something?"

Elle sauntered down the hallway, arm in arm with Baron, examining some more of his work. She had stopped and had one glass of wine at the banquet, and was beginning to feel lightheaded. I must be becoming a lightweight., she thought. To the Baron, she said "I just can't over these. Every one is a masterpiece! How did you find the time to do so many?"

"Well, I've been doing it a very long time, and this a kind of art school. I pass on my techniques to my students."

"Techniques, plural?" she queried

"Yes, I have perfected many different sculpting methods over the years, each one adding its own special 'flavor' to the result, if you will."

"Always gold, no marble, no bronze?

"Why would I use anything else?" The Baron answered haughtily. "Other materials capture beauty, but gold is beautiful by itself. Even in its raw form, it shines with almost internal light. Applied in conjunction with the natural beauty of a woman, it amplifies, and merges with that loveliness, the new whole being far greater than the sum of its parts." Nemo stroked the golden leg of a statue as he spoke, his eyes wide open in awe as he looked upwards. The piece was of a girl in a 50's style bikini bottom, , hands on her face like that 'Home Alone' brat, with a typical cheesecake expression of wide-eyed, open mouthed boudoir surprise. She stood with her shoulders back, chest out, and up on tippy toes. Elle noticed that she even had a bouffant hairdo and those pendulous, pointed breasts that were the standard of beauty back then. All was rendered in gleaming gold, down to the individual strands of hair.

"Show me. Show me how you do it." She said huskily her eyes widening, feeling her self becoming aroused.

"Hmm. Perhaps later, when we have much more time. Let me ask you something first. I could not help but overhear, as I came into the room earlier, your lament at the poor results of your calendar bodypainting experience. Have you ever thought about doing another one?"

Blushing slightly, she said "You saw that?"

"Oh yes. as you can tell, I'm a big fan of all things gilded. I too, was somewhat disappointed at the results, but no picture of your beauty could ever truly be called flawed."

Elle had been turned on at the time, thinking about herself all gold, and she had been let down when the pictures didn't look as metallic as she had imagined, more like a deep tan than anything else. The sight of all these beautiful statues was making her think about it constantly. They were so wonderful, so.. golden. She wanted to be like them.

"Well, y-yes", she replied. She was feeling more light-headed. Was it getting warmer in here?

"Well, perhaps something can be of arranged", he said, lifting a heavy golden pocket watch by its fob chain and clicking open the case. "My, my, look at the time."

As he spoke, he played the light reflected from the watch case across her eyes. "Look at the golden light. Isn't it lovely? Yes, you feel it, don't you? You need release, you to be fulfilled."

With that, she took a glazed expression, but it was immediately replaced with one of lust. He grabbed her and pressed her to him, kissing her passionately. She responded in his arms and began rubbing herself against him like a cat. She had only one thought now, and that was lust, for this man. She would do anything he desired.

"Not so quickly, my dear," he said, pushing her away. "Let us try to rectify the less than satisfactory results of your painting experience."

Lost in lust, she obediently followed him into to a large, well lit chamber. Inside, there were more of the ubiquitous golden statues, but all these seemed to be of one theme, similar to fellatio piece she remembered from the room they awoke in. All were women caught in the throes of lovemaking, seemingly at the height of release. There was one girl on her back, legs straight up in the air, with arched feet and pointed toes, mouth open in silent scream of ecstasy. Another was a woman down on all fours, with a mane of long golden hair thrown backwards, head in mid toss.

"Wow" she breathed, becoming even more aroused, if that was possible. A little voice in her head was trying to tell her something, but she ignored it completely and it went away.

"Would you like to slip into something more comfortable?" Nemo unzipped her dress and peeled it down, revealing a flimsy, sheer black bra, that did not help one bit in forming her bosoms into perfect globes. No help was needed. Soon the dress and bra were a memory, and she was clad only in a garter belt, panties, and stockings. She started to remove the clasps holding up the stocking, but Nemo interrupted her.

"No, No. I'd like it very much if you kept them on. Here, allow me." He knelt down before her, and produced a small penknife, with which he cut the thin string holding the front and back triangles of her panties on both sides. He then removed them from under the garter belt, revealing a neatly manicured bush. Without hesitation, he buried his face and began circling her clitoris with the tip of his tongue.

"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed, and arched back as if a thousand volts of electricity had shot through her. She grabbed the back of his head with her hands and pressed him tighter into her crotch.

He continued for a few minutes, and then stood up abruptly

"Whhaa... why did you stop?"

"I told you I wanted to help you. Come this way, Cheri"

She followed him into the next room, which was empty except for some kind of apparatus like a spraygun, a basket of thin gold rods, and some kind of electrical generator with an attached tank.

"Whhh..."

"Shhhh.. I want to illuminate you, not with mere paint, made of pigments trying to emulate the purity of the element, but the wonderful substance itself. I assure you that it is perfectly harmless." She was too lightheaded to even think about it. She only wanted release, and the thought of being golden was an overpowering image.

"Yesss!"

With that, he took her over to the machine, and turned a few knobs and switches, There were splotches of gold spray all over the floor and walls in this area, and Elle shivered with anticipation.

Nemo stuck one of the thin rods into a holder inside the gun, and there was an electric spark and whoosh of air as he pulled the trigger. A fine jet of gold mist erupted from the end. "Now, hold still. I'll start at the bottom." Nemo began spraying her feet, still clad in 3" heeled black pumps, and they immediately took on the yellow glossiness of gold. He move upwards, starting the jet a little away and moving it across her, terminating the stream only after it was completely past her. "We don't want any runs or drips, do we?" Elle could only coo with pleasure at the feeling of the spray, like millions of warm little needles on her flesh. Nemo continued upwards, coating first one silk clad leg, then the other, making sure to coat her shoe bottoms as well.

"You see, my dear, this spraygun actually melts the pure gold rod with an 100,000 volt electric arc, heating it to 3000 degrees and vaporizing it completely. The Compressed air blows the vapor through a nozzle, and by the time it reaches your lovely skin, it has cooled into an almost microscopic dry powder, particles so small that they stick to you, and each other, quite readily, like a dry paint." At this time Nemo was spraying her lovely trimmed bush, so his exposition was lost in the waves of endorphin pleasure rushing through her brain. He spread her rear slightly, to ensure a good even coat between her heart-shaped ass cheeks. Upwards he swept, coating flat stomach, perky nippled rounded breasts, and swanlike neck with lustrous metal.

"Now close your eyes and hold your breath!" He said, waiting for compliance before continuing with her face. Lastly, he took a small comb, and began lifting her medium cut, straight brown hair in small sections, ensuring each strand, and her scalp, was evenly coated before moving on. The warm gold spray had the effect of a blow drier, and her now gilded hair had a little more bounce than before.

"There all done. Lets have a look, shall we?" He led her by hand back into the first room, and in front of a full length mirror.

She gasped in shock at what she saw. This was not like any gold paint job she had ever seen. She did not appear painted, but like smooth, polished gold itself. There was no cracking of her coating where her joints flexed, or sign of any brush strokes. The garter, stockings, and heels seemed to blend into her, shining with the same golden gleam as the rest of her. The only part that did not appear to be transmuted into pure gold were her large brown eyes, staring out from behind golden lashes. She was transfixed at the sight of her own beauty.

She began massaging her own breasts, and he slowly bent her forward, having removed his trousers while she stood staring. She gasped in delight as he entered her golden, moist cunt from behind, and felt herself building into a frenzy of a climax, bucking against him and reaching back across her arched back in an attempt to touch him. all the while she continuing to stare at her own gilded reflection in the mirror before her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from her own golden image, but as she reached the greatest orgasm of her life, she reflexively shut her eyes tight, and lifted her head back with a scream in her throat

It never came out.

Suddenly, she found she couldn't move. Couldn't open her eyes. Even her hair seemed to be stiff. She made low moaning sounds in her throat, even as the throes of her climax continued to wash over her. She heard Nemo's footsteps recede behind her, and then return, with the sound of a squeaking cart accompanying.

"Before you go completely into suspended animation, my golden lovely, let me explain what has just happened." Nemo sounded like a cross between a high school physics instructor, and a kid in a candy store. "You are standing on a metal plate, which generates a force field through any conductive metal that comes into contact with it. And gold, my dear, is the best conductor there is. I invented this device to allow the riveted, cast iron hull of the Nautilus to withstand the crushing pressure at the depths by which modern U-boat performance is judged. Always trying to keep up with the Jones’s, as the Americans say. Anyhow, I also took the liberty of putting a special chemical in your wine that not only rendered you highly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, but will place you in almost timeless state of suspended animation. Coupled with the effect of my force field, my dear Elle, this will preserve your beauty forever, not dead, not alive, just gorgeous, and golden. Nemo directed a jet of the gold spray inside her wide open mouth, and coated everything inside. He then walked around to her rear, and made sure every bit of her exposed sex was coated. Elle really didn't notice, as she was still being rocked by waves of orgasmic energy, now reflected back and forth inside her. She slipped off into a fugue like state, and time and space had no more meaning for her. Just gold.

Nemo redressed, and then ran a hand carressingly along Elle's now cooling backside. Her arms were still flung backwards from her shoulders, and the entire pose looked almost exactly like an old-style Packard hood ornament, just infinitely more beautiful. "I wonder if anybody still remembers what a Packard hood ornament look likes, he thought to himself, as he straightened his tie and left the room.

End Part 2