The Kubic Kat
Page 14
He had been rather silent when Sally had picked him up. He wasn’t sure if it was from guilt over Fulvia, or depression about the children’s behaviour.
In the car he was somewhat reticent, which was not lost on Sally.
“So, Mr Grumpy, what’s up?”
“Oh, just thinking. My kids are a real pain.”
“Oh, okay. I was just worried you were missing Fulvia.”
What! How could she know? How much did she know? Mr Smith looked over at her and she was smiling at him from beneath her eyelashes.
“Oh come on!” she laughed, “It’s okay with me!”
“How… What… What do you…” he could not find the words.
“Honey, I am like you. I know everything. Or at least everything I want to know.” She shrugged, as if it did not really matter. “I was watching.”
“You were watching what exactly?” he gulped.
“Watching you, of course! Watching you with her. Watching how you kissed her and how you made love to her”
“And you say you don’t mind?” he asked incredulously.
“No, I don’t mind. It did make me horny. I mean, watching what you two did.” She blushed at the admission, “And I know it was very naughty of me to spy on you like that, but I wanted to see how you looked with her, whether you were the same as when you were with me.”
“And?” he was getting very uncomfortable.
“As I said, it made me horny. But you can fix that when we get back to my place.”
“You said you are like me? That you can know everything? What do you mean by that?” Could she also see the blocks?
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“Yes, I was walking to work. You blew me a kiss”
“And then what happened?”
“Some grit blew into my eye. Otherwise I would have spoken to you.”
“That was not grit that blew into your’ eyes. It was a connection swarm. They are inside you now. They are the things that help you remotely link up to all the computers and communication devices. They are in your optic nerve and in your auditory canal. And they are in mine too.”
“So you hear the voices?”
“Yes, and I see the vision overlay, and can control virtually every device in my vicinity, or anything that is connected to that location.”
He locked closely at her, and realised that there were no overlays shown on her. She noticed his focused gaze, “If you are trying to scan me it won’t work. The swarm can’t, or perhaps won’t, scan itself. But we can interface anytime we want.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, you use the remotes, what you call zombies, yes? You take over control of them, and what your mind wills is reflected in their physical movements, you sense what their bodies feel, hear what their ears hear, and see what their eyes see. Well, interfacing is rather similar, but you have far more options. For example we could swap.”
“Swap?”
“Yes, your mind would control my body and my mind would control your body. Once you get used to it, it is awesome. You can’t imagine how good sex is like that. Talk about role reversal!
“Here, hang on a moment while I park. It’s not good to interface while driving, so I’ll stop first, and then we can swap. That way you can drive the car.” She pulled the car over to the side of the road. He was about to get out, but her hand on his arm stopped him. She smiled, “Don’t be silly, we are going to swap minds, not seats! Just sit back, I’ll initiate, and you accept. It may be best if you close your eyes for the hook up.”
He leant back into the seat. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea, but he closed his eyes, regardless. The overlay appeared after a moment. A single box with a picture of Sally and an icon made from two interlocked arrows. A button beneath said simply: “Accept Exchange Interface?” He felt himself nodding his head and the overlay cleared.
When he opened his eyes it appeared that nothing had changed. He turned to look at Sally and found himself looking out of the side window instead. He turned the other way to look at her, but found himself looking into his own face. It was frightening to see himself like this, yet he could also see Sally in there somewhere. In the eyes, impish and bright, and in the crooked little grin she gave when she was being mischievous.
“How does it feel?” She/he asked him/her.
“Odd. Very odd.” It sounded ridiculous to hear his words spoken with his own cadence, but voiced by her mouth and in her timbre.
“Yes, I know! But come on, it is really amazing! Now we are going to stay that way for the rest of the evening!”
“You mean I can’t disconnect? I can’t end this ‘interface’ thing?”
“Of course you can, and I would never force you to stay that way if you really didn’t like it. It’s just that I want to spend some time being you, and watching you being me. It makes us closer. And then when I take you to bed it will be me who takes charge. I will be the one to initiate. It will be me that will be inside you. And I will be the one to kiss you!”
He definitely did not like the sound of that, and could not quite see the appeal of having sex with her in that convoluted manner. After all it would almost be like having sex with himself!
“Drive on!” she said, grabbing his/her arm with her/his hand.
He turned to the steering wheel, and wondered if it would not be better just to engage the autoDrive feature. He looked at his hands, only they were her hands.
“Just close your eyes for a moment, then look straight out of the windscreen and, drive! Impress me with your skills; I want you to scare me!”