Thursday, July 17, 2014

Dark Incarnate - Chapter 5 Book 2


Dark Incarnate Chapter 5 Book 2
By Mr. Black

Land Ho!



An abstract sense of adventure had captured Kelly that day.  She slowly drifted deeper and deeper into sleep unaware and unable to form the exact feeling into words.  The first Sailors must have felt a similar feeling.  All of human achievement meant nothing on the open seas with only the stars to guide.  A journey far away from safety and a warm bed, a journey to where nothing was certain.  Even as time and technology progressed and the blank area of the ocean marked "Here Be Monsters" were erased there would always be that supreme test of courage.  Whether it's a single ship or a fleet emerging from mist on the high seas or the depths of black space, there will always be an unmistakable magic of leaving and returning home.  Home never quite feels the same, but was it home that changed or you?

Kelly's pallid face, smooth and still as a porcelain doll, gave no hint of the dreams to come.  Her sleep quickly pushed down into deep REM sleep.  The line between waking consciousness and a dream is so elusive it's sometimes indistinguishable.  Unlike most dreams that slowly emerge out of the dark, this one was fast as falling off a cliff.  There was no sensation of falling or arriving, her dream-self just was.  It all made perfect sense, you never question the purpose or plot of a dream.  Perhaps in dreams we visit a distant reality that could of been.  In that place perhaps those characters dream of us in their sleep.  They would imagine our world and place in time silly and our life struggles just as curious as we see theirs. 

Kelly was vaguely aware she had entered a dream.  Her dream-self was the same girl, of her mind, but different too.  She and the dream-self had a different values system.  Not installed by forced, but one that had slowly evolved over many years of different experiences.  Spectator Kelly was curious about the room where she stood.  A clean and rugged place hewn out of naked bamboo.  The smell was rich and invigorating, it must be in a forest or wild place.  Before they moved to Spencer her father had taken her to a sauna; this place had the same feel but much larger and infinitely more open.  The night sky was above her, no roof.  A warm and humid breeze pushed fluffy white clouds around  in a sea of stars bathed in bright moonlight.  The timbers ended in a rough point; the room was a locker, a place to change clothes.  Dream Kelly had donned a one piece bathing suit and threw the wooden door latch open while spectator Kelly realized it was some resort.  She wasn't quite sure what to expect but on the other side must be a large swimming pool, or remote hot spring.  Her expectation of a blissful haven for relaxation and peace was assured by the songs of the night that surrounded the small changing room.  The chanting of tree frogs and cricket calls gave the atmosphere a breathing life that soothed with the ebb and flow of creature calls.  The door swung open into the fresh open air.

Huge boulders and masses of rock dominated the area which was surrounded by thick tall jagged pines stabbing into the night sky like razor teeth.  This place must have been chiseled into a mountain side; it would have been impossible to bring the incredible rock in.  There were no other changing rooms in sight.  The one she had emerged from was a singular example of human craft, everything else was wild.  Dream Kelly knew this to be one of several such locations.  A long winding path lead to the secluded spot.  The two were as one, though separated by a lifetime of infinite possibilities defined, the dreamer accepted the knowledge as her own.  She approached a lip in the rock where a very faint steam rose.

At first she thought the sound was water, but it was too thick.  Bubbles and scoulching air bubbles in the pit sounded more like thick mud than clean water.  The dream self never faltered, and with a clean white towel across one arm she approached.  The dreamer saw what was in the pit and though their minds were one, Kelly revolted against the impossible barrier of being asleep.  The closest thing her mind could jump to was a pool of spaghetti noodles, but this grotesque sight could only come from a nightmare.  The dream-self was calm and relaxed approaching the pit with eager appreciation.  The Latin phrase "ad idem," of one mind, forced her to see the pit in a different light.  Her other self recognized it as a luxury rather than a nightmare.  As a child she had enjoyed running her fingers though warm noodles, this sensation translated only much more intense.  The dream self slid her naked foot into the warm writhing pool.  Tiny red tendrils like energized red worms explored her toes, soft heel, and gentle arch.  One even reaching like a strong vein up to her ankle.  There was no end, no sense of size or scope.  The pool indicated an infinite expanse and depth.  Kelly's mind fought what the other girl relished, but something about her calm resolve and willingness allowed Kelly to see beyond fear. 

The girl sat on the edge as if it were a cool lake or stream.  Soft hairless calves submerged in a never resting swirl of red appendages.  Kelly's analytical mind tried to understand and grasp what they were.  Was it a gathering of smaller creatures?  Most were very long and thin, others were fatter but just as long.  She felt they should be connected to something like the tentacles of an octopus.  It was hard to imagine so many long thin featureless things living in one spot.  These questions begged and hinted at a more disturbing one; what were they attached to? 

Several had slowly inched their long red length up the short distance to her knees.  Dream Kelly giggled as one tickled under her tender kneepit.  The sensation was just as real and vivid to the sleeper. 

Kelly's sleeping body gave a quick twitch and kicked Billy on the couch.

Her feet were well submerged and stronger tentacles nuzzled her arches.  The gentle massage was undeniably pleasurable.  Slowly working their way up the larger tentacles poked and massaged her lower legs until they rose to the open air and pulled back.  A dumb show of intelligence, but an intelligence still.  What was their purpose?  Her mind was repulsed in an instant and for good reason, but the girl had come here seeking them out!  There was no violence, no reason to fear this loving massage.  Kelly was confused and swirling in her own misgivings and questions when the girl inched deeper into the pool.

Dreams often feel mushy like wandering in a cloud or dense fog.  The inexplicable understanding and sense of presence gripped Kelly like an iron fist.  Everything felt so true and real.  Veracity was a solid, tangible, and immutable object; Kelly was here, she felt the strange warm massage gripping her legs like a warm mouth ready to swallow her up.  The person she was, the dream Kelly, leaned back on her palms savoring the incredibly thick muscle soup of tentacles.  The series of events and nuance life decisions that divided them was so thin that only the vague awareness of dreaming kept them apart.  Memories of the past days trauma were gone just as Kelly's ability to consciously call up her fathers name or conjure his face were gone.  That part of Kelly's brain was shut down.  Another more primal and uncontrollable, yet somehow shared region of the brain was active. It wasn't just active it was on fire. The hot bath felt good.  Every inch of skin on her legs was being rubbed by slick sensual muscle.  Below the top layer of tiny red spaghetti the tentacles grew larger and stronger.  The larger ones, still no more than a finger, caressed her skin poking and nubbing along imaging her body like a map. 

Kelly slipped over the edge and into the pool.  The buoyancy was much heavier than water; it held her more like sinking sand.  The slight shove sunk her only as her mid thighs.  She was momentarily stuck struggling to stay upright.  The appendages were so absorbed in loving her legs that when she jumped in the mass recoiled almost scared.  Like a wave the tentacles acted as one, rippling outward from where Kelly now bobbed like a knife stuck in melting butter. 

The one piece bathing suit covered her generously and was cut conservatively where it counted but she had no idea what to expect.  A deviant part of her mind wanted it.  There was no longer a question of whose mind, just the anticipation of indulgence.  The sleeper pressed her knees together and moved her sensual hips for a moment.  Steam rose off the swirling things and brought a smell that in deep sleep was impossible to place.  However, the rich organic smell comforted her.  With no foul scent of rot or bad bacteria she relaxed again letting them nuzzle and prod her lower thighs as she eased back against the granite edge.  Floating in a sea of tangled rope the heat was like a drug turning her into mush; a plaything of the pit.  As the surface stilled Kelly closed her eyes wondering if she should push herself deeper or wait.  Questioning ropes poked their way up her legs not missing one inch of milky smooth skin.  As they approached the surface Kelly looked down to see the tips for the first time.  Well rounded and featureless the intelligent prehensile phalluses nosed their way up to her upper thighs.  She had started to sink again and her sweet spot was only inches above the steaming soup.  Excitement built in her chest as watched the searching creatures push and prod.  The inside and back of her legs were especially tender, she couldn't stifle a giggle.  Five vines curled a short distance into the dry night air around her legs.  Her heart beat faster and faster, not out of fear but because her body would lead them all to the same place. 

Kelly's body wasn't her own.  Candace had been the first to take it and push her beyond the limits of her childhood.  Then there were the others...  This time through the duality of personas, Kelly herself was expanding her willingness and knowledge of her body.  Three fleshy fingers tested the build of her lower butt while another scooped into the sensitive bridge between her leg and sweet spot.  The tendon was sensitive but the swollen mound of her pussy savored the the glancing attention.  They pushed into the soft give of her backside curious about it's defined shape yet plush tightness.  Feeling the new crease of bathing suit against her skin they didn't seem willing to push under or test the fabric.  She wondered if they were all singular beings, part of a hive mind, or attached to some master creature.  They acted in unison, once one learned and tested the fabric seam the others didn't.  They were only gathering knowledge.  The prodding did continue over the body of the suit.  Kelly was being driven mad by their lack of intuition.  Her shoulders hunched and shoved against the rock lip pushing her lower body under the writhing surface at once.  The intense heat broke her arms out in goosebumps.  The suit had been dry but the slimy mucus soaked in and it stuck like a second skin.  The suit was modest and not loose; it form fitted her like a glove and the mark of her body's pubescence was obvious.  Her body had been working up it's own saliva between her legs, but it was nothing compared to the pool.  Her biological secretions met the mucus and mixed. 

Electrical impulses race through our body's nervous system and neurological pathways so that we can think and feel, the sentient creature of the pool lived similarly.  The mucus was a neuro-transmitting medium, and idle tentacles neurological pathways of it's ageless history.  The young girl's mammalian biology was not read, or even tasted, but her pheromones a drug to be sensed and experienced not just perceived.  This ugly horror of nature existed as the third dimensional expression of an ethereal consciousness.  And it was about to enjoy her.

As It tasted her sex something different emerged from much deeper in the muck.  Swimming like a fearless predator this tentacle was filled with passion and purpose.  At the site the gentle massage had taken new form.  Like a thousand tongues caressing her nerve endings, Kelly was overcome.  Though her chest was  above the surface they reached a few inches into the harsh air to taste the bottom of her breasts through the suit.  Kelly was breathing hard with a gentle moan.  Her head swirled with dizziness, she could barely hold it up.  With eyes closed she fell deeper and deeper into the world of the flesh.  Not experiencing sensory deprivation, but an overload of touch, her other senses were shutting down.  Her body reacted without conscious thought.  Totally relaxed she was hardly aware that her knees had been brought up spreading her sex wide.  She couldn't get enough, even her hands ran though the spaghetti savoring the hot tendrils between her fingers.  She tried to close her hand around a bunch.  Careful not to pinch she ran along the length as far as she could and slowly back.  How did they not get tangled?

Such indulgence had never happened to her.  Kelly wanted it so badly.  Her hands came up to slide the suit straps off her shoulders.  The slimy wet touch felt cold in the mountain air above the surface.  The blue suit still molded her body as the top fell lose waiting for the right tug.  Her chest was still covered but only because of the form fit and sticky mucus.  Kelly reached back and pushed up against the pool lip submerging her to the neck.

Her eyes rolled back with heavy lids.  her bare neck was cradled and rubbed like a turtleneck sweater.  She was relaxed not to sleep but something just short of insanity.  hundreds of wormlike tentacles spilled into the loose top cradling her small breasts.  More ran down her back like running water.  The suit was tight and only a few inquisitive strands tested their limits inside.  They felt amazing, held tight to her skin by the suit, but they didn't push beyond her lower back or stomach.  Kelly was infuriated and driven mad with desire and exponentially increasing passion.  There was no thought of moving, her hands moved on their own taking the straps and pulling them down.  As she peeled the suit off a rush of hungry tentacles enveloped her naked body to the hip with their dance.  Her legs lowered against no resistance as she slipped the bottom off. A concentration swerling crazed red tips dove against the fresh skin.  Kelly's eyes bulged she knew vaguely what to expect but the sensation of a thousand tiny tendrils fighting for a chance to massage each pore on her soft butt, and fighting to be the first to taste the unique flavor of her clenched anus was mind blowing.  Her swollen pussy was engorged with blood and puffy, ready to receive and guide any impaling rod into her center.  The tentacles only teased, but playing with her outer labia and tiny clitorus at the apex of her slit pushed Kelly over the edge.

Only mere seconds after she was naked her body was rocked by electric convulsions of constant orgasm.  There was no rest.  No sooner had she crested the first building wave a second threatened to build and explode.  Fully naked now as her bathing suit drifted into the abyss Kelly was immersed in her own world of brain stimulation.  Her body was positioned again knees up.  The mass savored the unique drug that flowed from her flower.  Kelly's vulnerable slit begged to be violated.

The predator arrived.  Thick and strong, the muscled tentacle claimed it's place at her vortex.  Ribbed with heavy veins, it rubbed up and down across her belly and breasts.  It's tip ended just short of her chin and the length unknown met Kelly sandwiched between her butt cheeks.  She unconsciously wrapped both hands around the thick shaft at her chest.  It was incredibly warm and meaty, yet soft enough to curve to her body.  The ghostly meat slid back and forth even though she gripped the outer shell.  The sheath slid back to reveal the sensitive tissue that was to be used against her.  The fleshy tip tasted the night air unafraid.  Kelly shivered  feeling the shaft moving inside the sheaths length as it rose and fell testing further with each slip.  The thing was an shameful perversion of nature, but some primal part of her brain saw it's use and purpose making it equally beautiful.  And desirable.  Her whole body trembled as the thing continued to poke into the air.  She gripped it tightly as her heart pounded thinking of this ghostly passage of meat in her inside her soon.  Lost in the sensation of the pit, Kelly's eyes had closed and she jumped when it touched her face.  Gently it prodded her face and neck until it felt the corner of her lip.  Tasting her soft pink lip and saliva it wanted more and pushed hard.  Kelly turned away and left it pressing against her cheek.  Her eyes flared this creature was so dumb!

Kelly lying on the couch didn't wake up but Billy's stir did bring her up one level from deep sleep.  She was still dreaming but became aware of the dream again.  She was still lost to it, but the vague awareness that she was lost was returning.  Her body was on fire with desire and she didn't want the dream to end.

Kelly turned away and left it pressing against her cheek.  She pulled at the body of the giant phallus and only yanked the sheath down further.  It was nudging her face trying to chase her mouth and gain entrance between her thin lips when she reached up with slimy hands and gently pushed it away.  The thing was a squishy blood bag covered in nodules like a misshapen raspberry.  It recoiled at her rough fingers and nails, but she gently urged it lower below the soup.  Time was short, and she had to have her bliss.  The dream Kelly wasn't about to let this go moment escape.  The sentient creature understood and finally pushed it's domed head against her lower lips.  Her body spread open onto the beginnings of the tip.  Her outer and inner labia were ready to swallow it deep inside when the world washed away.  The dream didn't wash away fully, but like strong soap still clung to Kelly as she was forced awake.  Her hands were between her legs and her knees together trying to rub out a few more moment of ecstasy.

Kelly's own alarm clock yammered out a loud annoying sound piercing the morning quiet when night turns to day.  Billy had borrowed the clock.  Everything was fuzzy, her mind, her eyes, and her sense of self.  Billy was already up and headed up the stairs to the bathroom.  It wasn't clear to Kelly what had happened during the night or what Billy thought of it.  She was trying to make sense of that herself, but glad to have him gone.  Water pressure in the pipes groaned as Billy started a shower.  He hadn't even asked, but with how she had been acting the past few days, leaving him to go outside or ignoring his shower, she understood why.

Her eyes would barely open and the world was blurry.  She stopped the unconscious rubbing between her legs only knowing that she felt a greater need than ever before.  Why did the dream have to end?  Her arms came out from under the thin blanket to rub her eyes clear but smeared musky cream over both eyes.  The first thought was that she peed during the night, but the smell was unmistakable.  Kelly threw the covers back and stood.  Her thighs glistened to her knees with a corresponding wet spot on the couch.  A bolt of fear ran though her wondering about Billy, but she knew better.  Thankfully he was in the shower for now.

The afterglow of the dream still clung to her like the sleep in her eye.  Kelly ran up the stairs ashamed of what Billy might see, or had already seen.  She had never been so wet before.  Walking up the stairs Kelly wished she had wiped her legs dry.  She felt so obscene and lewd.  After all it wasn't just water, her sex was covered her body's slimy lubricant.  Her body autonomously prepared her for sex.  With the dream still hanging on, she couldn't deny a desire.  She raced into her room to change.  A guilty smile inched across her face as she used the discarded panties to wipe between her butt cheeks and rub between her legs.  Donning fresh clean PJ's Kelly stared out her window trying to make sense of it.  She still felt the dream hanging on and her body continued to produce more slime.  Her lower lips felt slick again and her stance shifted to savor it.  She was primed and ready like never before.

Even with the previous day's victory and revelations the same weakness that overtook Candace threatened her.  Was it just the dream?  And was that dream an attack or her own?  Standing at the window the solution, however unlikely hit her.  The dream catcher!  She had to trust the old man.  With the powerful linger of last night’s desire she had to force herself to believe she didn't want it.  That she didn’t need it.  The Kelly from the day before would have slapped her silly and out of this captivating spell.  She hardly noticed but she arched her back to make her sex more accessible while she shifted savoring the slick.  If someone touched her it would break the trance and send her screaming, but how she wished to be touched!  Her nerve endings felt charged and ready to blow, buzzing with excitement and unable to release that charge.

Kelly reached back to slide her hand over her toned and dimpled lower back and under the elastic rim of her pajamas.  Her skin was firm and soft she speared her hand between her butt cheeks and spread them wide.  Even after she wiped her feminine juice away her skin still held the feel of it, like a moisturizer that had soaked in.  Something had ravaged and raped her tiny clenched anus once, but in this moment that felt so far away.  The nerved endings responded thankful to be touched.  She pressed her hand flat spreading herself open to feel the tight orifice.  She thought of the long tunnel that ran though her entire body and that tiny clench was the cap.  It had never occurred to her to think of an anus as a sexual organ, but she couldn't deny how hers had been used to milk the monster of it's poison.   Maybe it was just the moment, this strange intrigue that made her question the horror of that day, but as she stood here now she felt great.  It was horrific but her body was fine, her organs unharmed, and her skin felt fresh, clean, and very healthy.

The true ache and need dripped like a leaky faucet.  Kelly bent over fully now, not even looking out the window but laying her face against the ledge.  She was covered by the loose pajama pants, but there was no denying she wished to open herself up to an invisible audience.  Her outer labia was swollen and red full of need.  Kelly's own nose recognized her musky scent as an open call to use her lubricated body.  Her hand covered to pry open her slit exposing the dripping pink flesh to the air.  She could feel her empty tunnel, could remember the feeling of that meaty shaft sliding inside the veined protective sheath of her dream.  If something took her now...

Billy squeaked the bath faucet off and grabbed a towel.  It was a towel he had washed in a load of laundry.  Billy was quite proud of that.  If only Kelly would notice.  She had come to sleep with him on the couch and maybe she wasn't comfortable, but she didn't seem to sleep much.  All night she tossed and turned.  He hadn't got a wink since she joined him.  And that probably meant she wouldn't be going to school again.  A full week out was sure to catch attention.  So much had happened Billy felt like he was living a separate life from what he knew before, and he was really worried Kelly wouldn't go back.  The year was almost over, and all he could do was try to be there for her.

Even without Candace showing her the way, Kelly knew exactly how to touch her yearning crotch.  As if the duality of personas persisted Kelly’s mind, her rational non-hormone flooded mind, told her she shouldn’t act like this.  But hand and hips moved on their own.  She argued with herself, so much had happened to her this one act was nothing but a mere touch, and a very wanted one.  Her mind was filled with all the depraved events that had been forced upon her life.  The things her hands drew and created were so vivid and real, painstakingly brought out of nothing.  How could she deny her part in this most intimate process and lie that it didn’t affect her?  Were these things pushed onto her pure mind by the darkness or was that the lie as well?  All the while her fingers pushed and pulled between her swollen labia and over her clitoris.  What about Billy, what she had done to him the first night when he took a shower, and then later?  Candace was another matter altogether.  What about how her body had been manipulated so many times?  With Candace it was willing participation on her part, others where a form of torture, but was she not changing?  All of them, from her closest new friends, to George the predator bus driver, to the very pit of darkness wanted her to give something up.  Not just to give up but to give herself up.  And here she was flirting with that very idea.  Kelly's legs screamed as they stretched further arching her butt up and spread wide as she played with her sopping wet vagina.  She was living the lie that she was better, that she could hold out and stand up against the darkness of human nature.

Kelly’s hand was soaked to the wrist now and her pleasure rose and fell in ebbing flow threatening a tidal crash, but every time full release neared her thoughts changed and she shied away. 

They all wanted her.  She had something they all coveted and spent their lives trying to get.  Kelly knew it in a blinding moment of clarity.  From Candace’s dog that sniffed and chased her cunt up the stair and down to the spoiled brat’s room-- (And Candace was spoiled in every sense of the word, her father had ruined that ripe fruit; Darkness had spoiled her and she would never be a prize compared to Kelly.)-- To the lowest grub and larva and their corrupted counterparts. 

Kelly could not hold in a soft unconscious moan as she gently lowered her chest and face to the floor still holding her butt has high and open as possible.

The reaches of space and time wanted something that she carelessly flaunted.  The richest man in the world couldn’t flash and throw around such wealth.  The richest or most powerful couldn’t come close to having what she possessed.  And here she was so unprotected, so willing, so naive, that an animal not fit for anything more than table scraps could have her.  Kelly’s mind saw that thing she drew for Candace and she knew what it was.  She knew what that bloated knot was for.  It was to seal the deal in the beast’s moment of triumph, to lock the silly girl into receiving all its semen.  What an incredible mechanism to raid her body with.  Steal her beautiful DNA for its offspring and ruin her body draining her pure essence for its vile propagation and future. 

Kelly's face was red as she held her breath pushing against the coming orgasm.  It was a face others had forced her to have, but never on her own.

The bloatfly had wanted the same thing; it didn't need her bodies fertility though.  It wanted to use her for an incubator, they all did.  All of those huge buzzing creatures wanted to fill her sweet spot bulging with eggs, use her to carry their thriving young to term.  She would be bursting with babies (pun intended).  No need for a pregnancy test! 

Her heart pounded fluttering like wings pushing veins and red flushes all over her pale sweat soaked skin.  Kelly came by her own hand for the first time.  Her orgasm was strong enough to send tiny squirts onto her pajama bottoms.   She was breathing again, first in deeps gasps but quickly back to shallow wisps of building pleasure.  On her knees Kelly still wasn't satisfied and her hand still worked.  Not sure about the obscene thoughts flooding her mind, Kelly didn't have any motivation to question them though. 

Billy opened the bathroom steamy bathroom door.  The exhaust fan hummed.  Kelly heard him and it only could only think of his penis.  It wasn't the first she had seen, well maybe the first real one, but it certainly was the first she had touched... and tasted... It was so unique a thing she didn't know could exist.  Once you reach an age you believe you've seen it all, but then you learn the moon is actually made of cheese and get a taste.  It had bobbed in front of her face giving off a not so pleasant aroma on the night of their first "test".  She could see it so clearly, if she drew it, it would come to life!  It was dribbling pre-cum when she first touched it with the tip of her tongue.  When the whole thing entered her mouth she still didn't connect that it was actually suppose to fit in her pussy, but she knew now.  She wanted it.  It's large girth stretching out her tiny body.  Billy had so much pubic hair and even some on the shaft, it would enter her and rub her sensitive places raw.  And the head of it, she had run her tongue around the flared rib.  It would be stabbing into her as deep as country boy Billy could pound.  When he had enough, when he felt he'd taken from her innocence enough, Billy would cum.  She imagined him right now.  What if she drew herself with him now?  Billy mason holding her by the hips shoving her on and off of his shaft until he bottomed out for good pouring everything his body had to ensure she took his seed. 

For the rarest moment in her life Kelly was submissively on her knees and wanting.  For all of Billy’s past desire the irony could kill as he took a turn out of the shower and headed downstairs totally unaware of the girl around the corner.  He had passed within a few feet of seeing her, but he was trained not to look and not to be curious.  Kelly’s heart slowly calmed and she slid her body to the floor exhausted and defeated.  She didn’t get what she wanted and the act of seeking it out would fully wake her from the dreamy haze and she knew it.  Her lust filled head was blanketed by sleep again.  As Kelly drifted off she hoped for another dream but none found her.  Meanwhile Billy prepared himself for school and left without a word.

It was sometime after noon when Kelly finally roused.  Her dreamless sleep had been restless on the carpeted floor.  She was famished and stiff but one idea couldn’t wait.  She had to get to the canvas.  Maybe it came to her while she rested, an idea she had been slowly formulating since her decent from Weathertop, but what if she could contact or talk to someone though the canvas?  She had so many questions for Red Hawk and it was out of the question to go see him again.  The long walk back up the mountain would be liberating yes, but extremely dangerous.  Her world had expanded so much it didn’t even feel like hers anymore.  But what were the limits?