The Virtual Man [The Virtual Reality 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (4 page)

As the prisoner transport arrived at the spaceport, Derek spoke to the Marshall for the first time since the courthouse. “How are we traveling? Military or commercial transport?”

“Not that it should matter, but we will be boarding a short-range freighter that will take us to Lunar 5 where you will be serving your time. I will sign you over to the Warden and be back here in time for dinner. Be smart and make life easier on both of us—don’t try anything funny.”

Though his fate appeared sealed, Derek was in too high a spirit to throw in the towel. Who was that woman? He was heading to prison for the next twenty years, yet he was giddy over the cute little redhead at whose feet he had fallen. He wondered what her name was. More importantly, he wondered why he cared. Instead of torturing himself with guilt and regrets as he had been for the last few months, his new attitude had him focusing on his surroundings and preparing to avail himself of any opportunity for escape. As he and the Marshall strolled through the spaceport’s baggage check-in area, Derek applied that genius IQ and his outside-the-box thinking to solving the most significant problems of his life. He needed to figure out how to escape and clear his name.

Much to his and the Marshall’s surprise, the same woman from the courthouse shoved past them, almost running into some man and his two kids. She was probably worried about missing her flight. He would be missing the next twenty years. The Marshall turned his attention to the woman, taking his eyes off Derek and, for just a second, releasing his grip on Derek’s arm.

“Hey, look, Romeo. It’s your new girlfriend. I think she’s come to see you off.”

A plan came together in Derek’s mind in a fraction of the time it takes most people to blink. This was the opportunity he had been anticipating. Knowing he had at best two or three seconds to make use of it, Derek hurled himself onto a conveyor belt moving checked luggage. Behind him he could hear the Marshall cursing and giving chase. The belt quickly dumped Derek on an anti-gravity luggage transport, which proceeded to scan the destination code off the label in his pocket and, having identified the starship on which it belonged, sped off at a fairly significant speed.

Derek hit the flat, rectangular deck of the transport harder than he normally would have. Apparently, the Marshall had reacted quickly and had already activated the restraining suit. Not only was the outfit designed to be an eyesore and an abomination to fashion designers everywhere, but it was also equipped, he recalled, with a built-in magnetic mesh that enhanced the pull of gravity, and thus increased the prisoner’s weight by a factor of five. Theoretically, the suit made it easy to recapture an escapee.

Yes, he supposed, it would have been easy to recapture him if he had not planned his escape out in detail in the seconds it took to jump from the Marshall’s side onto the conveyor belt. Derek’s fingers raced across the keypad of the suit’s locking mechanism as he tried to hack it open. In a matter of seconds, Derek had slipped out of the unlocked suit, relieved a large suitcase of its contents, and concealed himself inside.

Momentarily, he felt the suitcase being moved from the transport to its destination’s cargo hold. He knew that at this point, the luggage transport would return to the terminal taking with it the restraining suit that was still stuck to its deck by the enhanced gravitational pull. Derek was certain that the Marshall would waste precious time tracking the suit through its built-in homing device, under the incorrect assumption that he would still be in it.

Derek opened the suitcase he’d used for his getaway and got out, for the first time realizing that, having discarded the single garment he had been wearing, he was now stark naked.

Immediately, he began rummaging through the sea of luggage in the ship’s cargo hold, trying to find suitable clothing so he could mingle with, and become lost among, the 1,200 passengers a starship this size probably carried.

“Hey, buddy!” The voice seemed to echo in the hold. “You, naked man! What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.”

No shit, Sherlock
. The words rang in Derek’s ears with the urgency of a fire alarm.

Realizing he had been discovered by one of the ship’s baggage handlers, he ran to the nearest exit hatch, quickly scaled the ladder and escaped onto what appeared to be some kind of a mall with restaurants and shops. Fortunately, it was deserted. All the passengers must still be in their staterooms settling in and awaiting liftoff, as safety rules required. Lucky break!

The fact he had made it this far attested to the fact that Lady Luck had been smiling upon him. Wasting no time, he hoisted himself up onto a balcony directly above him and tried the door that led into the suite. He had to get out of sight. The door was locked. Knowing his very freedom depended on it, he kept on climbing from balcony to balcony until, at long last on the top floor, he found an unlocked door. Hiding to one side of the balcony, he looked through the glass, past the curtain sheers. The holographic Personal Attendant, one of his own designs, was delivering the customary pre-flight instructions to the room’s occupant.

As the Attendant waited for the beautiful redhead’s response, the ship vibrated softly, indicating its departure from the spaceport.

“No, I think I’ll manage,” she told it, turning away. As the hologram exited, she commanded, “Computer, materialize console.” The room’s console materialized before her.

Derek watched from the balcony as she searched for a program. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized her. It was none other than the woman at the courthouse. Why her? What was fate up to? For the second time in the same day, he asked himself the same questions. Why did he care? What was it about her?

She was not ‘supermodel’ beautiful, but, that had never appealed to Derek. Was it the fiery red hair or the soft pink complexion with the cute little freckles? It had to be her eyes.
What eyes!
His thoughts returned to the sadness he had observed in them earlier. How could such a sweet little thing —
Okay, okay, darling sex goddess
— have anything to be sad about. She ought to be waited on hand and foot by all other inhabitants of the galaxy, and have all traces of sadness erased from her life before they ever happened.

Entranced by the captivating woman, he wondered what it would be like to bring those eyes back to life.
Wait a minute, that’s how I got into this mess
. He remembered the ‘love’ he had shared, how he had given his heart completely, just to be used and framed for
her
crimes. All his dreams and aspirations cruelly crushed by the person he had trusted with his soul. What an idiot he had been. He would not repeat that mistake. His heart was permanently closed for repairs and no one, particularly someone of the fairer sex, was allowed in!

As Derek watched silently, the woman selected and executed a program. All furnishings and decorations in the room vanished for a few seconds, showing the empty room in its true form, as the computer rearranged matter into what Derek recognized as his ancient Earth Roman Bath program. The back wall sported four evenly spaced ionic columns, holding up a vaulted ceiling. Centered within each pair of columns and built directly into the wall were arched niches proudly displaying sculpted busts of Caesar Augustus, whom he had modeled after one of the janitors from his former company. A six-foot-wide bathing pool ran the length of the wall to the left of where he stood, with fountains on either side cycling what he knew to be water at a perfect 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Between the pool and the back wall was a polished tiled deck with a stone bench to one side and a massage table on the other. Fragrant Tyrenian orchids floating on the water completed the scene.

Derek had a plan. “Computer, materialize console and a barber,” he whispered.

Apparently satisfied with her selection, the redhead went into the sleeping area and undressed. On the way to her Roman Bath, she grabbed a towel and wrapped herself in it. By the time she came out, Derek was ready for her. Wearing nothing but a short toga, he nodded formally from his place in the middle of the room.

“Greetings and salutations, empress. My name is Derek Erecticus, your humble servant and masseur.” Derek had wanted to add a character with that name to the program, but quality control rejected the idea as being too cheesy. Now, with the rest of his life hanging in the balance, he would be that character. To be in the room with her wearing just a towel, that was living!

* * * *

Tiana stood there, dumbfounded. She had heard that the realism of characters within holographic programs had been significantly improved in the last few years, but this one was amazing. The program’s author had not missed a single detail. She studied the virtual man before her. It was more realistic than her Personal Attendant. It had a handsome, clean-shaven face, curly jet-black hair, baby-blue eyes, finely sculpted legs and clearly defined, muscular arms, all framing a brawny chest and a ripped torso to die for. She would have probably designed him minus the chest hair, and perhaps given him more of a tan, but overall, the programmer had outdone himself or herself. It must have been a woman who designed this work of art.
He had one hell of a user interface!

“Shit, don’t you guys ever knock?” she snarled, hoping the computer would finally get the message.

“I beg your pardon, Ms. Weiss, but your humble servant is merely part of your program.”

“How do you know my name?”

“The ship’s computer and I share the same database. I looked it up for your benefit.”

Tiana supposed that made sense. “Well, call me Tiana. Ms. Weiss sounds old and matronly.”

The last thing she needed, particularly after the day she’d had, was to feel old and matronly.

“As you wish, Tiana,” Derek replied. She had never heard her own name sound better. It seemed to roll off his tongue.

Tiana crossed her arms, tilted her head and stared at him, her cursed engineering curiosity getting the best of her. Finally breaking the silence, she asked, “Are you anatomically correct?”

Appearing a little flustered, he responded after a short pause. “Yes, I am. Why do you ask?”

Is he blushing? Since when did they program modesty into these things?

“Just curious. They seem to have done a really outstanding job on you. The programmers, I mean. You are a close approximation of a real man, less sterile than my Personal Attendant.”

“Actually, I am your new Personal Attendant. I am an upgrade.”

Tiana walked slowly up to him.
This was one hell of an upgrade!
She’d have to have a word or two with her technical support people upon her arrival at the Magellan Outpost. Slowly circling him, she lifted the back hem of his toga, exposing two perfectly formed butt cheeks.

“What an amazing amount of detail. Look at the curvature, the skin tone. Hmmm.”

Tiana hauled off and slapped the right cheek to see what would happen. It bounced and even turned a shade of red. She placed her hand on it and it felt warm to the touch. She squeezed it and it felt soft, yet muscular. Derek silently allowed her to experiment. As she continued her examination, she moved directly in front of him and lifted his toga , this time exposing his manhood. Tiana outlined it with her index finger. As her nail grazed him, she was surprised to see his penis hardening.

“Very anatomically correct indeed,” she murmured. “And nicely sized.” The engineer in her was fascinated as she thought through all the algorithms that must have gone into that simple reaction.

She heard Derek clear his throat, apparently to get her attention.

“I am programmed to respond to all stimuli,” he stated with a straight, emotionless face, even as his penis grew longer and thicker.

“Of course,” she responded nonchalantly. “I’d like my massage now.”

That’s odd. He got a stupid smirk on his face when I said that.

Tiana casually walked to the massage table, undid her towel in the front and lay down on her belly, draping the towel over her back. She turned her thoughts to the Magellan Outpost. What would it be like living in a settlement with minimal sunlight? Would she be able to endure the two years? How would she manage …
Ohhhhh!

Derek had adjusted the towel so that it just covered the soft curves of her butt and upper thighs, leaving the upper portion of her body completely exposed. In the process, his fingers had touched her. Shivers traveled up and down her spine and those shivers had now settled deep, somewhere inside her feminine folds. Her lust quotient had made a jump from non-existent to hyperspeed in a fraction of a second, and she had the moisture to prove it!

What just happened? Is that damn thing leaking electrons on me or something?

She listened, hyperaware of the hologram’s every sound as he picked up a bottle of oil and opened it. She could hear and almost feel the oil as he poured it onto his large hands. As the heat of his skin warmed the oil it started to release an intoxicating smell throughout the room. When would she feel that touch? Where would she feel first contact?

She felt him begin by gently rubbing the instep of her left foot, first with his fingers and palms, then with his knuckles. The highly anticipated touch set her body to quivering. She felt the day’s stress begin to melt away. The warm oil made his touch feel like silk gliding on her sensitive skin. He exercised her toes, giving each one his undivided attention, before, too painfully slow, he began making his way up her calf.

A soft moan escaped her delicate throat as she felt the strong and gentle hands continue their upward trajectory along her thigh.

With both thumbs side by side on the back of her thigh and the other fingers on either side of it, Derek continued massaging his way up her leg, slowly, taking his time. She felt his hands make their way underneath the towel to where her upper thigh merged into her now soaked center. How could a stupid hologram, a computer program, make her feel this way? It felt so real.