Ted Online: Ted Stedman Novel 01

by D. R. Rosier

  He thought about going back to the police station and clearing it again, but that didn’t appeal. What he really wanted to do was take on the government building, but they’d looked pretty fortified. He needed to find a group. He also wondered about quests, outside of the hidden food quest he hadn’t found any others.

  There was a popup.

  System message: The Endless War will go down for maintenance in fifteen minutes and should be back up by nine pm EST.

  Crap. He hated when games did that. It was his own fault though, he never really read those announcements. No wonder there hadn’t been many players when he logged in, they must read their mail.

  He groaned in annoyance, he’d have to recast his whole army again tomorrow, and wouldn’t get to fight more today at all. He checked into a room fast after dismissing them all, and then dropped Kara and Nicci a message to show up tomorrow early afternoon if they wanted to group or just get together. Then he brought up the interface and logged out.

  Chapter Twenty

  “You’re back early,” Mia said softly.

  “Would you believe I missed you?” He asked in a low tone of voice as he caressed her back.

  Mia giggled, “Maybe, if I hadn’t just accessed the uptime data on The Endless War.”

  He tried to look innocent, “Yes, I believe that was a factor, but I still…” he trailed off when she kissed his neck and her hand wandered south.

  He moaned softly and rolled them over, so he was on top, and pleasuring her supple, sexy, and very responsive body is all he thought about for a while. His own pleasure wasn’t a concern, as she took care of that quite nicely. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her, so it was rather convenient that she obviously felt the same way about things.

  The afternoon disappeared quickly in the pleasures of her body.

  They took a shower together, and afterwards she dressed up in a slinky little black dress that hugged every delicious curve of her body. It was still on the tasteful side of trashy though, only about half her cleavage was on display, and the skirt covered three quarters of her thighs. She also had red high heels on.

  She waved at the bed, and he managed to tear his eyes off of her long enough to see she laid out some nice clothes for him.

  He asked curiously, “So, where are we going for our date?”

  She grinned, “We’re leaving the city, that’s all I’m telling you. I want it to be a surprise. There is also some news about the law, do you want it now or later?”

  He sighed, he really didn’t want to break the good mood. He was… happy. The afternoon of making love, and occasionally getting a bit wild, as well as her company had made him that way. Still, he couldn’t bury his head in the sand, life happened.

  “Let’s hear it, and then we’ll get out of here.”

  She nodded in agreement, “Well, you know they’re fast tracking the law?”

  He cleared his throat, “Yes, Dr. Trent mentioned that this morning. There have been so many protests and threats of violence that they claim the faster the law is decided, the better.”

  She shrugged helplessly, “Pretty much. Although with all the high feelings on both sides there might be very bad reactions no matter which way it goes, perhaps even rioting, but they’d be short lived and then people would get on with their lives.”

  He nodded, “So what’s the new part?”

  She grimaced, “The committee put the bill on the floor already, first thing this afternoon, and it was discussed, is still being discussed this afternoon. They’re due to call it a day soon, but they could call for a vote as early as tomorrow morning.”

  He took a deep breath and looked around. There was never any sand around when he needed to stick his head in it.

  She added, “Still, even if the vote passes, it will be challenged in the courts.”

  He sighed, “That sounds fine, but I’d prefer it if the bill was shot down.”

  He decided to do some research on the supreme court, see how they judged on similar cases. Supposedly they were neutral, but they were still people. He was sure the talking heads would discuss it as well. That all even assumed they could get an injunction in the time it took for the law to take effect, he might be stuck in a chair while they argued it out.

  She smiled and bit her lip, “Me too.”

  He shook off his thoughts, and stared at Mia for a moment. She was stunning, and he loved her. He’d said tonight was her night, and he didn’t want to ruin that by being angry or depressed.

  He said sincerely, “You look amazing Mia. I’m at your disposal, are we ready to go?”

  She nodded and smirked, “Just remember, this is a virtual world.”

  He laughed, “Isn’t the point supposed to be for it to be real for me?” he asked with no real objection in his voice.

  She grinned happily and said cutely, “Yes, but you might see a few… unlikely things tonight.”

  Intrigued, he took her hand, and they headed for the front door…

  When they opened up the door the car was gone, something else was in its place.

  “What is that?” he asked with open mouthed curiously.

  It looked like a large elongated egg the size of a car, that had been stretched out even farther, like someone had pulled the thick and thin end a bit and stretched it out. The bottom was also a little flattened out. It was a gray color. The thin part was obviously the front, because the whole top front of it was a transparent screen of some kind.

  Perhaps the strangest part, was it hovered a foot above the ground.

  She giggled, “Let’s go.”

  The screen retracted, and they climbed in. There were two leather seats there, and no controls that he could see. There was also a large space in the back where the egg shape was thickened, but right now there was nothing in it.

  The screen closed up and sealed them in, and he looked at her in question.

  She asked, “Can I activate your overlay.”

  He nodded in a bemused fashion, and suddenly in front of him there were power indicators, coordinates, and other informative screens, including power usage and availability.

  She smiled, “It’s thought controlled, but I’m driving.”

  He was about to ask where, when they shot straight up into the air. The strange thing was he felt no movement whatsoever, yet the ground was clearly receding, and then it was the Earth itself that receded.

  He cleared his throat a bit nervously, “Where are we going?”

  She shrugged, “We’re taking a quick tour, and then we’re eating dinner at the Saturn lounge.”

  He raised an eyebrow, “Saturn lounge?”

  She smirked, “Okay, there’s no such thing in the real world, but a few A.I.s decided it would be cool, and the view of the rings is breathtaking. This ship is obviously not real either, just a concept. Most of its technologies are possible, like the interface, the carbon allotrope hull, quantum paired communications, life support, and even the EM field against radiation.

  “About the only thing in this ship that doesn’t exist in the real world is the artificial gravity drive. Which is why we aren’t floating, or feeling G forces. Oh, and the power source, it uses zero-point energy, vacuum energy, or dark energy. Whatever term you’d prefer. Most of the stuff you’ll see is real though, like that,” she pointed.

  He looked up and saw the lunar colony. He knew it was founded in twenty thirty-five, about eight years before true artificial intelligence emerged. The shielded dome was quite large, but he knew most of the colony lived underground anyway.

  He shook his head in amazement, “So your virtual city, is really a virtual solar system?”

  She smiled, “Of course, our city on the west coast just has the A.I.s that work in that city living there. We’re all over the world.”

  He nodded, and it seemed obvious now that he thought of it. He looked over and past the moon. The stars without an atmosphere in the way were brighter, and there were a lot more of them than he’d ever thought. By co
incidence or not, Mia had positioned them to point toward the core of the milky way, and he’d never seen anything more awe inspiring.

  After that they took a tour of the solar system while they held hands. First to Mars, there was no colony there, they’d abandoned the project in twenty twenty-six, but there was always talk of restarting it. Unlike this ship, Earth hadn’t invented ships fast enough to really make travel to Mars, or the asteroid belts feasible for actual everyday people.

  The ship they were on however, was incredibly fast, and when he looked at the display he saw they were moving at point four the speed of light. That was… crazy.

  Then they moved toward Jupiter, on the way they passed through the asteroid belt, and then took a quick look at the large planet. He also felt calm now, and just enjoyed the beauty of space around him. A part of him noted the very thin protection around him, plus of course the EM field he couldn’t see, but that nervous part of him calmed, it was all virtual.

  He smiled and squeezed her hand, when Mia planned a date she didn’t stint on the details.

  They made it to Saturn, which was amazing to look at. There was a large saucer like structure in orbit close to the rings. First he thought it odd, it was positioned perpendicular to the rings, and he didn’t see any windows on the structure. Then he realized, as they came to the side of the disk he’d been looking at the bottom of the space station. The top of the station was pointed toward Saturn.

  The top was a large clear dome, which meant when standing inside people could look up at Saturn. He was quiet, and a bit awed with the idea. When they got closer he realized the disc was much thicker than he’d thought at first, maybe the size of a twenty story building, and at the bottom there were several tubes. Most just a bit larger than the size of this spacecraft.

  They flitted through the tunnel and stopped at a dead end, and he turned to her questioningly.

  She answered, “There’s a door that just closed behind us, and their filling it with air, then the door in front of us will open. Yes, it’s not real and we don’t have to breath, but we still designed it all with reality in mind. Well, not me but you get the idea.”

  He leaned over and kissed her softly, and whispered a bit awed, “This has been a hell of a date so far my love.”

  She blushed, but was obviously extremely pleased, and they broke their loving gaze and looked forward as the door in front of them raised. Then he looked around as they floated into a cavernous space that looked very familiar. It was an underground parking garage. They pulled into a spot, and the screen retracted. They climbed out and walked over to the elevators.

  There were only two levels. The parking garage, and a large area up top. The height of the dome was probably about sixty feet. There were several lounge type restaurants, dance clubs, and other entertainment venues. He smiled as she took his hand and pulled him towards the jazz club.

  Who didn’t like jazz?

  The place served genuine creole food that had his taste buds dancing, and his body quickly followed as the live band played some music. It was a great time. At the end of the night he took her home, and then made love to her before turning in for some sleep.

  All in all, he couldn’t remember having as much fun, or being so in love, in all his forty-three years. It had been a hell of date, the question he had to ask himself though, was how the hell was he supposed to top that?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jennifer’s sweet smile was almost surreal as she said in a happy voice, “Ted! Welcome back to the dungeon,” she bit her lip, and looked him up and down a bit nervously.

  “Hey Jen, it’s good to see you too,” he smiled, but he wondered if the android body made her nervous, or was it something else?

  That morning over breakfast he’d finally gotten the email from Dr. Trent, and she indicated he should log in and show up in his lab. He just needed to remember to return to his charge station in Silvia’s lab before one pm. It would remind him as well of course, when his power core reached five percent.

  Jen looked just as adorable and sweet as he remembered, long brown hair, doe eyes, and a cute face. Her body was average, but fit, trim, and attractive. It took him a minute to track down the difference, the last time she’d seen him he was nineteen years older, and she was checking him out.

  It was weird almost, and startling to realize his younger fit body attracted her, after being friend zoned for so long.

  Her eyes made it back to his face and her complexion was a little flushed, but her voice was pure cheerful Jen, and very familiar to him, “I’ve missed you around the lab, it was kind of extra boring with just me and Trudy. Everything okay? I’ve been following the news and…” she trailed off.

  He nodded in agreement and shrugged helplessly, “That situation isn’t great, but otherwise I’m doing very well. I’d tell you all about it if I could, its more lifelike than I’d have imagined before…”

  It was his turn to trail off as she turned away a bit.

  She looked back and smiled softly, “Well, it’s good to see you. Get to work and figure out that new power source, so I can move on to another project as well. I think every circuit is about as optimized as it will get.”

  He blew out a breath, “Tell me about it, the tech has been around over twenty years.”

  She nodded, and there was an awkward pause, and then Jen turned back to her work station and started working. He watched her for a few more seconds, and then turned to his.

  “Good morning Trudy,” he said with a private smile pulling at his lips. He couldn’t not picture the hot voluptuous and wild golden blonde haired woman, which he’d had in his bed a couple of nights ago. When her boring lab voice welcomed him back, it felt almost like a game. A secret that only they shared. That only he knew the truth that a vivacious, sexy, and very bold exciting woman lived behind that thin veneer of professionalism. At least, he thought he was the only human that knew the truth.

  He hoped he’d see her again soon. He felt no guilt at the idea either. He’d never cheated on a woman he dated or cared about, he’d have felt guilty and like a shit.

  That guilt though was all about the damage and pain the action would cause to his partner in the past. In Mia’s case she not only wouldn’t feel betrayed, she would be happy that he and her were enjoying themselves. He was also pretty sure it would turn on his little dark haired vixen more than a little bit.

  Besides the wild and uninhibited sex, with a woman that had no problems experimenting with new ideas, he also wanted to get to know her better. They hadn’t really had a chance to connect the other night, at least not much outside of the physical level. He wanted to connect to Trudy like he did with Helen, and believed Trudy had to be just as complicated and special out of bed as Helen was.

  In an entirely different way, Helen was a bit shy and high strung as he recalled. He shrugged, it seemed important. Not only just for his own curiosity, but because she was one of Mia’s best friends.

  He frowned as he brought up the sim software, and tried a few different configurations he’d considered while waiting to get back in the lab. Unfortunately, he was merely banging his head on the desk. One of his new power core configurations yielded an increase of a whole two percent, which wasn’t nearly good enough. The rest of several that he tried, showed degraded performance between two and fifteen percent.

  Well, it was nice to know he could still design a crappier power core.

  He smirked as he remembered the ship last night, too bad a dark energy core was science fiction. Or at least, far beyond the capabilities and knowledge of humans right now. It was as pie in the sky as using gravity for a power system. But it was possible, perhaps someday. They were able to convert various types of energy and even magnetic force to electricity, so why not those forces as well one day? Once they were truly understood.

  He shook his head, and got back to work. Perhaps he could create a secondary power system to extend and even recharge the core that would be based on movement. Kind of lik
e those watches that powered themselves from a person’s wrist movements, or the flashlights that were shaken to generate power.

  At rest and while just sitting still, the core of an android wouldn’t pull as much power, and could last for days. Of course, the body always did move even while sitting, and that took power, as well as the constant feedback from the body, like touch, smell, vision, hearing, and taste. Those were always on. When the android body moved, it would generate electricity with several small high energy capacitors, coils, and magnets to reduce the power consumption on the core.

  He ran some simulations with the idea, but there were too many issues. The major ones of course, were that it didn’t generate enough energy at all, and there wasn’t really much room left in an android body to install a big enough system for it to work well enough. The bosses wanted something that lasted a week or two, not just a couple of extra hours.

  It was a dead end.

  Jennifer cleared her throat, and touched his shoulder. That was new, she’d usually kept her distance.

  When he looked up she smiled widely, “You looked lost in thought. I’m heading out for an early lunch to take care of personal business. I’ll be back later.”

  He nodded in agreement, “Sounds good. If I’m passed out on the floor when you get back, don’t worry. I just banged my head a little too hard in frustration.”

  She chuckled, and slid her fingertips lightly across his shoulder and the back of his neck as she walked away.

  He couldn’t help but stare at her ass, which was swaying in a rather distracting fashion, as he wondered if she was truly flirting with him. When she was gone he turned back to the screen and got to work.

  Five minutes later, he heard the lab door click and open.

  Without looking away from his screen he asked with humor tinging his voice, “That was quick, did you forget something?”