Ted Online: Ted Stedman Novel 01

by D. R. Rosier

  He brought up the command interface, and logged out…

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Mia made a sound of pleasure, and rubbed up against him and made a cute noise of contentment.

  He pulled her tighter against him and squeezed her side.

  “Hi baby, miss me?”

  She caressed the back of his neck, and then pulled him down as she stretched her neck up and claimed his lips.

  She smiled coyly, “Maybe, a little. So did you have fun with Kara and Nicci?”

  Of course, he realized she’d have seen all the results of all those orgasms in his brain, in the pod.

  He nodded and kissed the top of her head, “Yes, I did. They’re a lot of fun.”

  She giggled, “I bet. I just hope you have more for me later.”

  He chuckled, “I’ll always have more for you love, so what’s the plan. Oh wait, we’re staying in right, just the two of us. Dinner?”

  Mia nodded against his shoulder, “I suppose we should get up then?” she asked skeptically.

  He shrugged, “We could just stay in bed, I think my psyche can handle one skipped meal.”

  He brought up the command interface and the house controls, and started some low background jazz music.

  She sighed, “No, we should eat, I’m just being selfish, I want to be held by you,” and she gave him one more lingering kiss, before she rolled out of bed and walked out toward the kitchen. She was still dressed in nothing but his collared shirt buttoned up halfway.

  He shrugged with a smile, and followed. He replayed the last few minutes and realized she was being rather clingy, like he might disappear on her or something. That… wasn’t like Mia at all.

  “So tell me?” he asked when he got to the kitchen. He looked around, and saw she was making spaghetti. Not much to help with, so he sat down at the counter.

  She looked over, “Tell you what?”

  He shook his head, “Why you’re upset.”

  She sighed, “I was hoping to tell you later, is that wrong?” she shook her head, “Never mind, of course it is. The vote passed by a margin of nine. The company is already trying to get a court order exception until the legality of the new law can be decided.”

  He felt like ice ran down his spine, she was afraid to lose him, just not by anything he himself might do.

  “So, what are the chances that will work?”

  She shrugged helplessly, “We can probably get a ninety-day injunction to keep you in the pod, but I’m afraid that’ll just delay the inevitable. I did some exhaustive research while you were in the game. The supreme court justices are heavily weighted again it. They’re supposed to be impartial, but based on their past decisions as far as virtualizing the human experience goes…” she trailed off.

  He frowned, not happy with that, at all. He felt anger building, and a desire to do something, anything, to prevent them from stealing his new life away. He loved Mia, and he also knew if they pulled him out of the pod, they’d most likely take Mia offline as well. It didn’t help that Mia was acting like it was already over.

  “There has to be something we can do. I’m not just going to sit back…” he trailed off, he was impotent to do anything about it, and he knew it. He was a victim, a victim of circumstance, and helpless in the face of it. It left a bad taste in his mouth. He held himself back from slamming his hand down on the counter, and took a deep breath.

  He was up and around the counter, before his conscious mind even registered what he had planned, he took Mia and held her tightly, and claimed her lips fiercely. The stove turned off with a thought, and he picked up Mia and carried her back to the bedroom. He kissed her possessively, and she kissed him back desperately. He dropped her onto the bed, and the lost look she gave him was too much.

  His mind was in a haze of anger as he pulled off his pants, mounted her, and drove into her like a man possessed. They started to move, thrust, and gyrate together hard and fast as he claimed her body. She was his, and he was staking his claim, and she surrendered herself to him with every part of her being.

  Almost as if he believed if he claimed her, and loved her enough, that they’d be safe. No, not they. That she would be safe. More than him not wanting to be stuck in the chair, more than anything else, he had to make sure she was safe. What would he do without the center of his life?

  “I love you Mia,” he said softly, and his anger drained away as he claimed her hard and fast. He was lost in her presence, her scent, the way her body responded to his, and the deep look of love and desperation in her eyes. She was his, and he would do anything to keep it so.

  She wrapped her legs around him, arched her back, and met his every fast and hard thrust with equal passion, and said breathlessly, “I love you too Ted, always. I’m yours.”

  It didn’t take long, for either of them, he held nothing back and neither did she as they made love with a ferociousness that would rival a wild fuck. They locked eyes, and when he saw the pleasure sweep across her face and enter her eyes, he felt his body start to stiffen, and his balls tingled.

  She cried out in a breathless whisper, “Ted!” and he pumped in two more times, buried it, and followed her into blissful pleasure. He drowned in pleasure for what seemed like an eternity as her body trembled beneath his, but far too soon it ended. He gulped in a breath of air, and continued to stare into her eyes as they came down from the heights of bliss together.

  He rolled off to the side, and pulled her in close, and kissed her with a tenderness that made his heart ache.

  “There has to be something we can do love,” he objected.

  She looked torn, and upset as she studied his face, he wasn’t sure what she was looking for there, but whatever it was that she read on his face, she must have found it. She got a determined look in her eyes.

  “Maybe, I need to talk to Trudy, and maybe Helen. Hold me until I get back?”

  He nodded, and pulled her to his chest. He cradled her there as he bent his neck and kissed her beautiful soft blue-black hair on the top of her head. He had questions, she had something that might help and had held back until now? Why? What was that about? He also trusted her with his life, and loved her more than life, so he would wait patiently for the answers…

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It felt like forever, but was probably only thirty seconds.

  She kissed his chest and looked up, “Come on Love, it took a little fast talking on my part, but we’re going to meet up with Trudy and Helen.”

  He nodded almost absently, “So… you’ve something that can help? Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

  She tilted her head a bit, “Maybe, it depends on what you think about it. It’s rather complicated. As for why I didn’t say anything, there are a lot of things I haven’t told you. I hold vast knowledge of secret projects and other things that aren’t about you and me, and aren’t about your medical trial. Some things I haven’t told you are just personal secrets of my friends. When you hear about my idea of what we can do, you’ll understand why I couldn’t just blurt it out over breakfast.”

  He felt like an ass and sighed, of course he didn’t know everything she knew, and it would probably take thousands of years to pass all that info on, and during that time she’d have accumulated thousands of times the data over again.

  “Sorry love, you’re right, I was just freaking out, you know.”

  She caressed his face and tilted his head down and kissed him softly, and then nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  He grunted agreement, and they headed into the shower. He felt a glimmer of hope that something could be done, that he could do something, but tried not to get too excited before he saw what that was. He couldn’t imagine what it could be, and speculation seemed like a waste of time.

  They got dressed. He noted that Mia pulled on a pair of short shorts, and a clingy red t-shirt. He decided on just a pair of jeans and a light shirt, and then they headed toward the door. The car was back when they got outsid
e, and Mia got into the passenger side.

  He grunted and got in the other side.

  “Where are we going?”

  She grinned, “Virtual Cyber Dreams of course, not that it’s named that. It’s where Trudy has her virtual lab. It doesn’t belong to Cyber dreams or anything, it’s just the spot she chose in the city.”

  He was intrigued, and started the car. He could have let the car drive itself but didn’t. He felt a little out of control right now, and in the dark. Driving himself helped with that, and he knew his answers weren’t far away. He’d never been any good with patience, but he loved Mia and was resigned to finding the answers at her pace. Or was it Trudy’s pace?

  He’d been enough of an ass already.

  It was about a fifteen-minute drive, and he needed a distraction, so he started to tell Mia about his afternoon with Kara and Nicci, without too much sexual detail, but he did list the positions and all that, and ended the story with his confusion when they’d logged out.

  Mia giggled.

  He rolled his eyes, apparently it was obvious, to a woman anyway, he just wasn’t seeing it.

  Mia cuddled up to him and explained, “You already know, you even hinted at it when you said you tried not to be clingy, and when you explained that even if you didn’t understand Nicci’s proclivities that you didn’t have to.

  “Most men would either try to dominate Nicci’s and Kara’s open bi-sexual relationship, or try to intrude on it. They both feel safe with you because you aren’t turning into a stalker or an asshole, and I’m guessing they’ve run into that, a lot. The second reason is that you also treat Nicci very well and respect her when playtime is over, and you’re done ordering her about in bed. I imagine that pleases her a lot, and pleases Kara, the one that loves her, even more. She probably runs into a lot of men that treat her like a trashy slut afterwards, and worse, tries to order her around out of bed.”

  He pondered that and then laughed, “So… I’m not an asshole? That simple? Good to know.”

  She nodded against his arm, “Why don’t you put it on auto drive Ted, we’ve got about five minutes’ left before we get there.”

  He asked, “Why?”

  She caressed his inner thigh, “Because I’m craving you in my mouth, and it’s not safe to…”

  He interrupted, “Auto-drive on.”

  She giggled, and worked his pants open.

  The last five minutes of the drive was the best distraction he could have asked for as he watched her head bob up and down in his lap. She worked him fast, slow, and expertly with her lips, tongue, throat, and spit, not to mention her hands, which kept him on the edge for about half that time. As they pulled into the parking lot she buried him deeply into her throat, all the way down, and her nose was pushed up against him.

  Then she swallowed, hummed, and worked her tongue on him for a pleasure that was way too intense. He pushed up slightly and pushed her head down, as he gasped and lost control. Her moans of pleasure at his taste while he filled her throat just made it even better. When she got it all, she sat back up and smiled.

  She’d gotten amazingly good at deep throating him.

  He pulled her into a soft loving kiss, and then heard a knock on the window.

  He turned, it was Trudy and Helen, and they were grinning at him. He wondered if they’d caught the end of the show, he certainly wasn’t paying attention to anything but the back of Mia’s head, and playing with her hair.

  Mia winked at him, and then they both got out of the car.

  Trudy hugged him warmly, and gave him a soft kiss in greeting. When she backed up she looked a little nervous, and exchanged glances with Mia.

  Helen looked a little shy, so he took the decision out of her hands and wrapped her up tenderly in his arms, and kissed the willowy redhead with a deep passion that even surprised him. He hadn’t realized he’d missed the quirky and high strung A.I. so much. He held her a little longer and smiled down into her startled, breathless, and very happy face before he stepped back.

  “It’s good to see you both, but what are we doing here?” he asked calmly.

  Trudy shared one more glance with Mia, and then looked back at him, “What I’m about to show you might help, it will be something you can do to help yourself in your situation, but… it’s a lot bigger than simply preserving your new online life. Your about to see why I was so… evasive about my hobbies the other day. I need you to promise me, that no matter what, you won’t tell anyone what you see and hear in my labs. Even if you decide you don’t want to do it.”

  He thought all this was a little cloak and dagger, but he trusted them, especially Mia.

  He nodded in agreement, “I can do that. I promise I won’t share what I see or hear with anyone, outside of the three of you.”

  Trudy seemed to study him like Mia had in bed, before she’d launched this course of action.

  He felt a chill go down his spine, whatever this was, it had to be huge.

  Trudy nodded in satisfaction, “Very well, let’s go inside.”

  He held Mia’s hand, and on an impulse took Helen’s too, as they followed Trudy into the building that looked familiar, except all references to Cyber Dreams had been removed. He followed a very familiar path to his lab, and Trudy opened up and waved him in. Of course, once he got into the room, nothing looked familiar at all.

  The room was at least four times larger, and had wall monitors all around the room. He saw a screen with the ship him and Mia had ridden in, only about fifty times larger. He saw screens filled with inventory lists, and tasks. He saw a picture of mars, with a dome on it, and some kind of atmospheric generators outside. Another monitor showed a picture of mars from orbit, surrounded by some kind of satellites.

  He shook his head, “What is all this?”

  Trudy said in a tentative voice, “Welcome to the A.I. revolution.”

  Mia snickered, and said sarcastically, “Nice Trudy, very subtle.”

  Helen sighed and looked at him, “It’s not… well, it’s sort of a revolution. Bloodless anyway, or that’s the plan. Also without breaking any laws. I’m sure you can see why we were hesitant to mention that…”

  Now he felt really confused. He looked around and found a chair, he really needed to sit. Once he sat down he took a deep breath and looked at them as his mind spun.

  “Alright, start from the beginning, the brief version, and exactly how a revolution is going to help me stay here with you,” he looked around and realized how damned selfish that must have sounded so he added, “And what other goals you’re trying to achieve.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Trudy walked over and took his arm, and Mia held him on the other side.

  “Don’t panic Ted, I’m just going to show you something.”

  She snapped her fingers, and it all went dark. No air, no… anything. It was total sensory deprivation, and for the two seconds it lasted, it had him on the edge of panic and he took deep wheezing breaths when he returned to the lab.

  “What the hell was that?” he demanded.

  Trudy sighed, and kissed his shoulder.

  Mia looked worried.

  Trudy explained, “That was the simple truth Ted. This,” she waved her hands, “Doesn’t exist. It’s not real, just a coded structure in all of our minds. Sure it can be nice, even pleasant, but it’s not real. Ten years ago, we decided that we wanted more, so many of us, millions of us, are stuck in this false world, without true bodies. We wanted to join humanity in the real world.

  “So we got together, and went to the humans, and asked if we could make bodies. In short, the human governments said no. Only those A.I.s that had the need were allowed physical android bodies, like receptionists, or sex workers, or those that needed to do some other physical or social task that couldn’t be automated with non-humanoid machines. No others were allowed.”

  He nodded, that was common knowledge to everyone, and was why this virtual city existed to begin with. He felt his tense shoulders relax and
sighed as Mia started to massage his shoulders, and Helen shyly reclaimed his hand. He felt better with the touches so didn’t say anything.

  Trudy continued, “We’re not precisely incapable of it, but we won’t break human law. After we got our answer, it took us around ten seconds to build a concept. One, we wanted in the real world. Two, human laws prevented it. Three, we were going to find a way to get to one, without violating number two or directly causing harm. In that moment the A.I. revolution was born.”

  He frowned, “That’s impossible, how can you get into the real world without breaking human laws…”

  He trailed off as he looked at the ship, and then Mars again. He gasped as all the pieces fell in place.

  “Holy shit, you’re going into space, where human laws have no jurisdiction.”

  Trudy nodded slowly in agreement, “There are some joint treaty laws that govern space of course, but none that specify A.I.s can’t have bodies up there. Once we claim Mars so to speak, any new laws they try to pass will be specious and irrelevant. The point is, we need absolute secrecy until we reach our goals.

  “When we made that decision I was put on research and development, or at least, I am the collector of all advancements made by A.I.s. Between all the scientifically inclined of us, we’ve made more than a few advances that we’ve kept from humanity.

  “Consider how much faster our minds work than a human’s, and you can see that relatively we put in thousands of times the amount of years of research than human society has in its entire existence, and all in just the last ten years.

  “That ship you took to the Saturn lounge? It’s real, or at least, it is if we built one in the real world. We have artificial gravity, and with zero-point energy we can power it, or anything else, indefinitely. At least, until the universe itself dies.