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

by Nikki Sinclaire

  “Call computer in 1005,” she ordered her phone as she continued the highly undignified strut to her suite, trying to convince people who walked by that she was modeling a new fashion trend.

  “How may I help you?” she heard the computer respond.

  “Computer, lock all console access to my command only. Register my voice pattern as the sole access code and dematerialize any active consoles.”

  “Console access changed. One console dematerialized.”

  “Computer, let’s create a new program. Call it ‘Playtime with Tiana’ and base it on …”

  * * * *

  Derek turned quickly to the door as he heard it open. After being so abruptly shut down and locked out of the system earlier, he half expected to see a Space Marshall walk in. If it wasn’t for Tiana needing him, he would have left the room and found a different place to hide. Much to his relief it was Tiana.

  “Hi, Derek sweetie, it’s so good to see you’re still here.”

  Like where the hell else was he supposed to be?

  Her body vibrated with anger. The frigid tone of her voice shouted to him, in no uncertain terms, that he was in deep shit. Had she found him out? Had she turned him in?

  As she tossed her shoes to the side and removed the toe separators, she gave him a big grin that he accurately perceived as trouble, and sweetly continued, “You know, not having ever had a hologram of my own to play with, I’m curious as to how one would react to sex.”

  Hey, things are looking up.

  “I think I would like to play a little game with my little hollow wallow buddy,” she said, giggling as she baby-talked him.

  Derek didn’t know what to say, which was a good thing, for she didn’t give him a chance to respond.

  “Computer, run ‘Playtime with Tiana’.”

  Derek watched as the room flickered to empty and what appeared to be a dungeon materialized in its place.

  Oh, crap, the chick can program.

  To his right there was a body cage hanging from the ceiling just large enough for a human body to fit inside. Across from him, directly behind Tiana, he spotted a medieval rack complete with a leveraged tightening wheel that made it easier for someone her size to ‘stretch’ someone his size.

  Double-crap, she’s a really good programmer.

  “Computer,” she ordered in a seductive voice, “replace my Personal Attendant’s clothes with a loincloth.”

  Derek watched as his clothes vanished and a carefully positioned loincloth replaced them.

  “Never mind, computer, replace loincloth with a g-string.”

  To Derek’s chagrin the computer replaced the loincloth with a microscopic garment that must have been made from light-brown dental floss. She then approached him, placed her hands on his chest and slowly drew them to his sides, softly scratching his chest and nipples as she went along. Next he felt her attack him with her tongue, first tantalizing and tormenting one nipple, then, without pulling her tongue off his body, she dragged it across his chest to the other one and proceeded to sample its taste with gusto.

  I’m okay with this, Derek thought as the sensations she was generating upon his chest overtook him.

  “You know,” she continued, “you’ve pleasured me, but I haven’t pleasured you yet. That’s just not very fair of me, now is it?”

  Nope, not fair at all, nope, nope, nope.

  No sooner had he gotten used to what she was doing than he felt her working her way down past his tight stomach muscles, approaching the top of his g-string. Oh … my … goooooodnesss! Derek’s cock stood at attention turning the front of the g-string into a pup tent, his hands lose and limp at his side.

  She was going to blissfully place her sexy ruby red lips upon his … WHOA, WHAT’D SHE DO?

  While Derek had been floating around in sexual la-la land, Tiana had snapped a pair of handcuffs that were hanging from the ceiling around his now useless wrists.

  “Computer, retract chains.”

  Slowly, a winch in the ceiling above pulled the chains tighter, shortening their length and raising Derek’s arms up into the air, dragging his helpless body up with them, leaving his feet hanging just a couple of inches off the ground.

  “Now let’s dress me appropriately. Let’s see, computer, replace my clothes with the ‘Torrid Tiana’ outfit.”

  Derek’s jaw dropped, and found himself unable to contain a moan of shock (or pleasure, he wasn’t sure which) as he stared at Tiana standing before him wearing a black patent-leather bra and panties with a matching black patent-leather corset, all decorated with metal studs. Around her neck she had a black patent-leather choker with a metal ring that he assumed was probably used for …

  Who was he kidding, he had no clue what the metal ring was for.

  Black patent-leather six-inch spike-heeled sandals highlighting her pretty little toes, newly polished red, completed the outfit.

  Goodness gracious, was he developing a foot fetish now?

  She continued speaking in a low, sexy mixture between a sultry groan and her good ol’ Georgia drawl.

  “Very nice. I just know we are going to have so much fun tonight. Just you, and me, and a few of my toys.”

  “What kind of toys do you have in mind?” he asked, trying to keep his voice under control to avoid betraying the panic he was now beginning to feel.

  “Oh, just a few little things that won’t inconvenience you any since you are a computer generated character. If you were a human being, though, made of flesh that can tear and blood that can gush out of an open wound, then matters would be different. It’s a good thing holographs don’t feel pain.”

  “Computer, end program!” Derek commanded in panic as he hung there, watching and realizing the computer no longer obeyed his commands.

  “Silly boy, the computer only responds to human commands.”

  Tiana walked over to a gothic-looking armoire he hadn’t noticed until now. She opened it, revealing an impressive collection of rods, switches and whips. After taking her time and carefully inspecting each one under Derek’s concerned gaze, she finally settled on one.

  “I think we’ll go with a cat o’ nine tails,” she stated matter-of-factly.

  Derek prayed she was referring to an alien kitty cat. His hopes were quickly dashed when she approached him with a mean-looking leather whip in her hand. Each one of the nine ‘whips’ split off into nine strands that he had no doubt would rip through his skin in no time. If he hadn’t been so unnerved he would have calculated out the total number of strands. At the moment, though, such a calculation held little interest for him.

  “Ah, Tiana, I don’t think this is a good idea. Don’t forget, the upgrade gave me the ability to feel emotions and pain.”

  “Darlin’, I would never hurt you. Computer, turn off my Personal Attendant’s ability to feel pain. There, now you won’t feel a thing, and I’ll be able to whip you even longer, relying on the fact that I won’t be hurting you. Do scream and pretend like it hurts, though.”

  “Hello, it doesn’t work that way. I wasn’t designed to be able to turn off my senses, you know.”

  “Oh, don’t be such a big baby. You’re not real. Pain is not a reality to you.”

  Tiana lifted the whip and swung it with all her might hitting the wall beside him, just inches from his manhood. Derek heard the whoosh of the whip, felt the breeze that it created sweep across his chest and down past his favorite organ, followed by the loud crack as it hit the wall.

  “Shit!”

  “Oh, dang it, I missed,” she teased. “I was hoping on landing all 81 little strands on the tip of your holographic cock. Guess I’ll have to try again.”

  She released his cock from the pouch of the g-string. Wickedly, she stroked her long red nails down its length and back up. Teasing the very tip of his manhood, she bent down and wrapped the thin strands of the whip around its base, beginning to pull the leather tight. Tiana placed her hungry mouth on his cock and began to tongue the tip. She sucked him as
she pulled the cat-o-nine tail strands tighter.

  His rod twitched and pulsed with desire. It tremored with the need for release. He was getting closer. Tiana attacked his engorged member with a lust she had never felt before, for anyone or anything. Derek appeared confused between the need to breathe and the need to moan as both actions merged into a single sound that gave him away. He was readying to come. Tiana continued stoking his fire, feeling his cock twitch each time she pulled closer to the tip, until she sensed he was standing at the very edge of desire and about to jump off. Releasing him from her mouth, under his protesting and disaproving gaze, she brought a second whip into play and hit the wall with it.

  “NO! Have you lost your mind? You must be a pretty sick puppy to get off on inflicting pain upon another sentient being.”

  He still wasn’t admitting he was human. Oh, well, she would just up the ante.

  “Stop being such a sissy! Hmm. Maybe I’ll try something a little different.”

  Turning back to the armoire, Tiana thoughtfully perused the selection of whips and, after placing both whips back where she had originally gotten them from, selected a long bull whip.

  “Darlin’, you’re just gonna love this one. It is made of one-hundred-percent Peruvian llama leather. It won’t sting as much as the cat o’ nine tails would have, but it is easier to aim and it will rip up a bigger and deeper piece of your,” she giggled, “anatomy.”

  In utter shock, Derek watched her approach carrying what appeared to be an eight-foot bull whip.

  She’s too small to wield that big whip, he thought, moments before she swung the whip around the top of her head then flicked it straight ahead of her, where it made a loud cracking sound.

  So much for that theory.

  Derek’s cock still ached from the sight of her, not to mention his need for release, but his blood hadn’t pumped this fast ever!

  Tiana stopped for a moment, looked at Derek with her most intense, studious and academic look, before saying, “Did you know that when properly used, the tip of a bull whip travels so fast it causes a sonic boom? That’s what the crack you just heard is, you know.”

  “I’ll bet you’re a lot of fun during a game of Trivial Pursuit. Why don’t we play that?” Derek joked in the hopes that she would give up the current game.

  “You whine way too much. I haven’t even touched you yet,” she said as she lifted the whip back in the air.

  “Stop! Okay, okay, I know what you’re after. I admit it, I am not a hologram and I am a human being just like you. Please, put the whip down.”

  “What! You? Not a hologram? Surely you jest!” she teased in her finest southern belle drawl. Tiana appeared to truly be enjoying herself.

  “No, I’m serious. I’m the man who stumbled next to you at the courthouse back on Earth. Do you remember me? Please let me down and I’ll prove it to you.”

  “Well, if you’re a real person, not a computer program, and I let you down, won’t you be mad at me? Now I really can’t let you go. Why, you might try and whip me back.”

  “I would never do that. A gentleman never hurts a lady.”

  “Well, true, but you’re not a gentleman, you’re a convict that was, if I understood things correctly, on his way to jail on Lunar 5. Did you not like the other boys? Is that why you escaped?” she continued in a pouty tone.

  Derek finally began to understand. She’d been playing him.

  “Okay, I think I get it. You’re trying to teach me a lesson, aren’t you? How did you find out I was human? What gave me away?”

  “The wall-sized ‘wanted man’ portraits that Galactic Law Enforcement is broadcasting across the galaxy were a good first hint.”

  “Now will you let me down? Please?”

  “Only if you promise to tell me how you got yourself into this mess. I’ve observed you for close to a week and I don’t believe you are the thief you have been convicted of being. A liar, a voyeur and a pervert, maybe, but not a thief.”

  “I promise. Just please let me down, my arms hurt.”

  Tiana giggled, looking quite pleased with herself. She was no longer mad at Derek and, surprisingly, neither felt any danger from him nor seemed to give any credence to his conviction.

  “Computer, end program,” she ordered. Instantly, the cuffs around his wrists, along with the rest of the dungeon, dematerialized and were replaced with the room’s regular furniture. A very naked Derek Hart dropped the full two inches to the floor, landing on his muscular legs.

  Tiana dropped back onto the couch and made herself comfortable. “For the record, Derek, I still think you whine too much.”

  Chapter 13

  Solving the Puzzle

  Tiana felt a blush claim her face as she stared at Derek’s exposed and rather large … red alert, red alert, dangerous thoughts in attack formation! “Okay, Mr. Hart, you appear to be real enough, but you don’t seem to be wearing any ‘real clothes’. Would you mind putting something on?” She managed to get the words out, instantly cursing herself for suggesting he cover himself.

  “I can’t,” he responded without making any attempt at covering himself, quite comfortable in his current state of undress and arousal.

  “What do you mean, you can’t?”

  “When you ended the program, you also ended my clothes.”

  “Well, put on whatever it was you were wearing when you snuck in here.”

  “This is what I was wearing when I snuck in here.”

  “Computer, dress this man in jeans and a black T-shirt … err … make that a black muscle shirt.”

  The computer complied immediately by materializing the requested items of clothing on Derek’s body. The full impact of her actions sunk in. She had dressed him in a muscle shirt so she could continue to admire his body. What was she thinking!!!

  “Okay, I’ve fulfilled my end of the deal,” she said. “I’ve let you down and out of the goodness of my heart I’ve even clothed you. Now it’s your turn. How in the world did you get into this mess? The news feed said you were some kind of scientist.”

  Derek was starting to relax, but she could still see a little distrust in his eyes. Good. That’ll teach him. She chuckled to herself.

  “I was, or rather, I am. Six months ago I was the top expert in holography in the galaxy. I was a red-hot commodity, at least, until I met a certain lady, and I use the term ‘lady’ rather loosely, by the name of Melinda Harris. I met Melinda at a symposium at which I presented a paper on creating high-definition holographic objects with limited computing resources, my specialty, and the single piece of the puzzle that made holographic chambers affordable and therefore available to the masses. She was everything a man could hope for, or so I though at the time, and I fell hard for her.”

  Tiana squirmed in her seat at the thought of Derek with another woman. The thought of him getting physical with any female bothered her, but the thought of him caring for, or worse, loving another woman really pissed her off. Now that she knew Derek to be part of her reality, she found herself wantonly attracted to him, perhaps even emotionally attached to him.

  This is crazy, the man is an escaped convict.

  Derek continued his story.

  “I kept records of my work at home and often worked remotely from the house. To my delight, Melinda. being not just my lover but a colleague, was extremely interested in my work. I’d bounce ideas off of her. She would help me refine holographic objects. It was the perfect relationship.”

  The word ‘lover’ in the context of the conversation made Tiana sick. Bitch!!!!

  “Twice I caught her logged in under my user ID, looking over my latest refinements. I didn’t think much of it, as she was helping me with the work, but since it was a security breach and violated company policy, I asked her not to do it again and changed my password. Both times she apologized, and promised it would be the last time.”

  “I then started seeing reports on the nightly news of houses being burglarized. In each and every case, the house’s
security systems were bypassed as if it had been an inside job. All these homes belonged to wealthy people and had one other thing in common. They all had the household model holographic chamber I had designed. Eventually the Galactic Bureau of Investigation put two and two together and started checking out the chambers’ logs. Melinda was using my research, my company’s flagship product, to case the houses, track the owners’ movements, then rob them blind.

  Tiana could see Derek’s pain etched on his handsome face. His expression showed the feelings of betrayal he had thus far kept from her as he continued his story.

  “When the GBI tracked it all, wrongly, to me, Melinda disappeared. She just vanished as if she had never existed. It was the perfect frame and I was the perfect chump. My company went bankrupt and I went to jail. What hurt the most was that my stupidity had cost my family its name and its honor. For the first time in my life I was actually glad that my father was dead. It spared him the pain of seeing me, his only son, going to prison and seeing the family name tarnished to a humiliating state that it will never be able to recover from.”

  Visibly upset, Derek took a deep breath. “When you saw me at the courthouse I had just been sentenced to twenty years, and the Marshall you saw me with was escorting me to the Lunar 5 penal colony.”

  “When you fell in front of me that day,” Tiana asked, feeling both embarrassed and wary, “why did you mock me?”

  Derek looked stunned. “You thought I was mocking you? Tiana, I’ll own up to worship, adoration, immature behavior and heavy drooling, perhaps, but not to mocking. Why do you think I tripped and fell on my face? When I first laid eyes on you I melted into putty. My legs became noodles. I became irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was the vision of you, the beautiful and adorable creature that God had laid in my path at my darkest hour. Tiana Weiss, it was you who gave me the strength to escape and not give up on my life.”