Ghost in the Machine Ch. 11

Author's notes:

Hi guys and thanks for your patience. It was quite the labourous birth, but this is the first of three new chapters which will go up in rapid succession. As always, huge thanks to bikoukumori for a super-fast and thorough edit job.

Only adults having fun here. A word of warning, this story contains sex with a futanari. If you don't know what this means, please look it up.

#11: Odd Bedfellows

Talk about weird deja vu. Shine and I were sitting in the back seat of a cab, driving through the congested streets of downtown Berlin. Again, she held my hands in a death grip.

"Afraid of hospitals?" I had to ask. Shine shot me a brittle little smile and nodded.

"That's not all," she muttered. "I hate to be sidelined at a time like this. We should be looking for Cat together. After all, we're a team now, aren't we? And to think I have to leave you alone just when your... joystick has awakened..." Her hand unclasped from mine and brushed my crotch. My dick happily twitched under her gentle fingertips.

After Frau Schmidt had left us, we didn't waste more time than necessary. Shine had called Fleischer and asked him how quickly he could arrange for a Mindlink implant operation. He said it would take only a little more than a day, to call in some favors. Shine and I had spent the night, practically wrapped around each other, alternating between tender moments of caresses and whispers and almost frenzied fucking. My numbness, courtesy of overexposure to Cat's overwhelming brain stimulation, had completely dissipated and we found it highly ironic that Nero, Cat's evil doppelgänger, was the one who had reversed the condition by nearly frying my brain.

After a quiet cereal and cocoa breakfast, I helped Shine pack a little hospital bag. The morning trickled past, only punctuated by more horrifying news. Nero was slowly expanding his influence, gobbling up prominent West Coast systems. Most of the Seattle Cluster was still free, thanks to the surprisingly hefty defences a certain Redmond computing giant had in place there, but up and down the Los Angeles/San Francisco backbone, systems were going dark left and right. If this was his idea of "looking for Cat," I didn't want to think about what Nero would do once he seriously considered "taking over the 'Net." I felt we were running out of time.

When Fleischer called around noon, we were packed, anxious and ready to go. He gave us the details, which clinic to visit, which doctor to ask for, and before we knew it, we were sitting in the office of one Doctor Winter, a friendly elderly man, his pudgy cheeks plastered over with a strangely plasticky smile.

"Well, with the ...donation we have received, you can choose which model you want," he told Shine, indicating a series of translucent plastic boxes containing Mindlink implant demo models.

Most of the actual implant consisted of a jack casing, the whole thing around the size of a first-generation USB memory stick. The only immediate difference between the models were the plates surrounding the jack proper. The most basic implant, just a receptacle for the plug, had a simple plastic disc showing once the thing was "installed," while more advanced and expensive versions, which would include data storage, applications for note-taking or schedule management or even complete communication suites with cell phone or wireless uplinks would have titanium, gold or even diamond plates, showing everyone that the owner of the implant was some hotshot who didn't give a fuck about the possibility of brain cancer.

"Nothing too fancy," Shine said, tapping a box containing the current iteration of the same model I was using. It had good-sized data storage and a few other simple features but no transmission equipment.

"Ah, a good choice," Dr. Winter nodded eagerly. "Most of our young clients like this model for its simple, distinguished appearance and the easy-to-use-" Shine cut him off.

"Thanks, doctor, but can we get this over with quickly? No offence but the thought of getting a hole drilled into my skull makes me queasy. How long does it take anyway?"

The doctor tsk'ed under his breath but found his composure quickly enough.

"It is a common misconception you are uttering here, Fräulein Fuchs," he began. "With today's nanomachines, there is no need for brutish and possibly life-threatening barbarisms like using a drill."

Despite herself, Shine cocked an eyebrow and asked, "So, how do you get this thing through my skull then? Wouldn't it be much easier to plug the implant into the spinal column anyway? Like in the old 'Matrix' movies?"

"As far as I know, the scientists tried that in the beginning." I wasn't an expert on Mindlink implants, not by a long stretch, but my father was involved with the creation of the implant and he was all too eager to share his success story with visiting luminaries. I hated these "this is my wonderful family"-dinners, all fake smiles and small talk. And once you hear a story for the umpteenth time, it kinda stuck. "The main issue was the length of the implant and the fact it could cause mechanical problems with the neck vertebrae. At least that's what my fath-... what I heard."

Luckily, no one but me or maybe Shine caught my slip of the tongue. Nodding enthusiastically, the doctor explained:

"That's right. The skull provides a fantastic brace for the implant and the position just behind and below the ear allows for easy merging with the requisite brain regions. As for the duration of the procedure: The main operation takes about three hours. Luckily, your head is already shaved so we can skip that step. We will use nanomachines to weaken and dissolve a portion of the bone tissue and insert the main module. Once the module is set in, we will fuse these connection fins with your bone structure, making it an integral and almost indestructible part of your skull. Afterwards, we will release a capsule of nanites which will begin merging the connector pins with your brain tissue. This part of the procedure will take about a week, depending on compatibility and other factors."

"And when can I start using it," Shine asked, her hand clasping mine under the table.

"Well, after the merging has concluded, we customarily have a week-long tutorial period and some acclimation time. Even if it is only a special kind of jack, our specially trained staff of cyber-psychologists can help you-"

"Doctor, just in case you haven't noticed: I happen to have a pair of total eye replacements. I know how weird and alien cybertech feels. I think I can deal with it. One week? That's all it takes?"

"Well, if you put it that way... Yes, after about seven or eight days you are free to go," he conceded.

***

Once we were alone in the room Shine would occupy during her stay, her harsh attitude dissipated almost immediately. We ended up sitting on the bed, cuddling, Shine on my lap. Her head resting on my shoulder, she whispered, her breath caressing my ear, "I hate good-byes."

"Why so gloomy? I will visit you every chance I get. I pro-"

Shine shut my mouth with a quick kiss, her tongue flicking over my lips.

"Parker, be sensible. I will be out cold most of the time. There's no need to sit next to a sleeping veggie."

"Who cares? You're my sleeping veggie and I want to be with you as much as I can. Especially now," I teased, slipping my hand under her sweater, caressing her spine. I felt goosebumps erupting under my fingertips.

"What? Horny again," Shine jibed. "Just let me check..." Grinning, she leaned back and threaded her hand between our bodies, feeling around in my general crotch area. Of course I was hard as a pipe. I don't know what exactly Shine had that made me stir-crazy for her but obviously it worked.

"Since I've met you for the first time, beautiful," I purred.

"You're an awful liar. I had to practically rape you online before you came, remember? But I'm happy you're coming around to me slowly," she chuckled, a thoughtful smile on her lips.

"Who said online doesn't count," I complained, keeping her from falling with one arm while sliding my free hand up her front, wriggling my fingers under the sports bra she wore today and teasing her breast.

"All right, you win, you tease," she sighed. "But if you want to leave in one piece, you should go now."

"Why?"

"Because I'll have no other choice but to strap you to the bed and have my way with you," she threatened, her fingers half-closing around my dick for emphasis.

"I think I wouldn't mind that too much," I smiled. But just then the door opened and a nurse strode in, an elderly woman with a perpetually scowling face. When she saw us, almost dry-humping on the bed, the scowl deepened until it seemed she was about to swallow her own chin.

"I'd hate to interrupt but it is time for Fräulein Fuchs's preliminary check-up. Also, visiting hours are over. Auf Wiedersehen, mein Herr," she snarled, pointing at the door.

"No stupid heroics. I don't want to find your smouldering corpse when I return home," Shine said, her cyberoptics boring into my eyes.

"No stupid bullshit. I'll make sure to have someone watch over me while I'm away, okay?"

"Promise me you will not try any idiotic, stupid crap," Shine demanded.

"Cross my heart and hope to die, okay? I'll be careful,"

"No stupid bullshit, Parker. Promise!"

"Okay. I'll be sensible and I will pull no stupid bullshit. Fine?"

"No, but it has to do."

"Come on, you can-"

The nurse harrumphed, a really unpleasant sound, rheumy and wet, cutting me off. Shine sighed and slipped from my lap, her lower lip quaking.

"See you, Parker."

"Bye, Shine," I murmured. Slowly, with the eyes of the nurse boring into me, I left the room. For some reason, this parting felt seriously unsettling. With a surprisingly heavy heart, I left the clinic and made my way towards the nearest Stadtbahn station. It would be a long way back to Shine's flat. Our finances were almost completely spent and taking a taxi suddenly was a luxury I couldn't afford. So public transportation it was.

Surrounded by strangers in a crowded Stadtbahn car, I found myself looking back at what had happened in the last few days. Anxiously, I waited for the guilty conscience to kick in, to remind me that I was behaving like a moon-struck teenager or a complete idiot, for flying almost 6000 miles to see a virtual stranger. But there was nothing, no guilt, no regret. If anything, a mild case of confusion. Shine wasn't my type at all. Usually, I preferred the curvy, slutty type of woman. Or more precisely, that's what I usually got when doing the club circuit with Rich and my other acquaintances in college. But Shine was completely different. Her looks, for starters. The Alien 3 Ellen Ripley look did nothing for me and her eyes weren't helping either. But what she lacked in obvious charms, she more than made up for with warmth. She was actually the first girl who seemed to care about me, not my status as one of the Squier sons, not my money, just me and how I felt. Waking up next to her after my almost-fatal brush with Nero was unbelievably comforting and already I missed her. Giving up all my money for her was the best choice I had done in ages. I had done something worthwhile with it, after all. Shine wouldn't need to use that blasted eye-socket jack of hers any more. She wouldn't incur any risk to her health when going online, apart from any stupid illegal crap she might pull off. And I hoped after finding and warning Cat, we were done with stupid illegal crap. Nero was way too big for us to tackle. Or for me.

With startling clarity the realization hit me. Right now, I was completely on my own. Alone in a foreign city, without any of the resources I took for granted for so long, and now I was even deprived of the one comfort which kept me going. But being down about it wouldn't help me get any closer to Cat. And just like that, I was back in "work mode." It all led back to Cat, didn't it? How could you find someone, something that was so deeply integrated into the 'Net that it was practically a part of it? And how did you find it before its evil doppelgänger found and killed you? I was pretty sure that Nero would be out there, waiting for me. After all, I had been very close to Cat, practically inside her. Yeah, stupid joke.

With a jerk, the Stadtbahn came to a halt and the synthetic voice from the intercom announced that I had reached my destination. Walking the last few blocks to Shine's apartment, I tormented my brain. Who could I call for backup? Apart from Shine, there were exactly three people I sorta knew in Berlin. Fleischer, Frau Schmidt and this ... Arach person, none of which sounded like someone I wanted around while my mind was in the 'Net. Maybe it was time to get acquainted with Berlin's hacker elite.

***

The sensation of being rejected, of being left behind to die kept scratching at Nero's subroutines, even as the joy of killing flooded his receptors. Causing destruction and death numbed the incessantly repeating questions somewhat but never enough to totally drown that nagging feeling of inadequacy. With an angry snarl, he flexed his virtual muscles and watched, gleefully cackling, as the flight control systems of the San Francisco airport began transmitting deadly, altered flight paths to the jet liners zeroing in to it. The blossoms of colliding planes, crashing to the ground in huge fireballs was a feast for his virtual eyes. But to his dismay, the spectacle, the implied deaths of several thousand humans felt hollow, not the least bit as stimulating as the sensual intimacy of slowly scorching a single sentient brain, seeing the brainwaves flatline. Releasing the radar systems from his grasp, he returned to the devastated innards of his birthplace, Mindlink Central. There was a special someone he wanted to spend more time with.

By now, Nero had learned to control the appearance of his home system. Gone was the desolated, confused jumble of destruction, replaced by an octagonal cocoon of utter blackness, each seam, each corner outlined in a painful slash of neon red. And in the center hovered a single pinprick of golden light, a permanently opened data connection. Striding up to it, Nero made contact. After almost five days, a small eternity in the gigahertz-clocked world of the 'Net, he had a pretty good grasp of its systems and looking at the Mindlink implant at the other end of the connection gave him all kinds of inspiration. There were numerous safeguards installed of course, down to the firmware level, which should make unauthorized access from within the 'Net as hard as possible but, on the other hand, the whole system of intrusion countermeasures worked on inflicting pain and, often enough causing harmful levels of damage, right through that interface. So, what would happen if someone were to eliminate all these pesky safeguards? Only one way to find out.

***

Normally, I wouldn't have thought twice about going online but while I was repairing the damage Nero did to my recent avatar, I watched the news. The big headline this evening was the immolation of the San Francisco airport by four colliding airliners. No one knew exactly why four perfectly fine jets suddenly crashed but I would have bet the last few hundred Euros I had on Nero.

Everybody knew that hackers wouldn't advertise their services in the phone directory so I had to go looking for them online. The only other location I could think of was Tempelhof Market but after Mindlink's raid there, I wasn't too sure if business had returned to normal and I wasn't in the mood to brave that special kind of urban jungle just yet. Going online meant breaking my promise to Shine but there wasn't a way around it. The only thing I could do was to think about some kind of safety net.

My gaze swept the living room. The towel-covered couch, Shine's high-powered combat deck under the coffee table, still plugged into the wall outlets as if she just forgot to put it away... Just a second. There was a way I could safely go online! Quickly, I set up my deck then I parked Shine's directly next to it. Grinning like an idiot, I hooked both decks together with a network cable. After all, I did have some backup, sort of. Digging in my pockets, I found the storage chip I had Hibiko exiled on after that first sex session with Shine. Hopefully Cat's pupil could do more than scramble my appearance. I copied Hibiko back into my deck and gave her an account to herself then I copied my Dolph Lundgren avatar into my implanted memory, took the Mindlink cable from Shine's deck, plugged it into my jack and fired both decks up.

"Welcome, user zero-one-zero. Do you want to use the avatar data stored remotely for setup," the cool, disembodied voice asked.

"Yes."

The feeling of hanging in limbo, of utter helplessness persisted for only a few seconds as Shine's deck downloaded the information from my memory banks then I felt hard, cold marble under my fatigues-clad ass. I opened my eyes and stared up at a vaulted ceiling. With a smile I remembered the marble bedroom in which Shine turned me into a dickgirl for our mutual pleasure; this was a similar location. Sighing a small breath of relief, I rose and took a few cautious steps in the avatar setup chamber. My Russian commando was whole again, none of the hurts of my last brush with Nero remained. To the contrary, running on Shine's deck, the avatar felt shockingly lifelike, down to the unnerving sensation of my half-hard virtual dick rubbing against a tight-fitting pair of briefs. Or maybe I had just been way too anxious to notice these details before. Shrugging, I pushed open the door to the system proper and stopped in mid-stride. The church in front of me was breathtakingly beautiful, stained glass windows flooded the milky-white floor with primary colors, while a whole side of the high nave was stacked bottom to top with all kinds of hardware. I passed the tables lined with combat programs, taking note of things I might find useful later and headed straight for the ornately engraved wooden door which would lead me into my own deck via the network connection.

I opened it and stepped through, half-expecting to end up in the mustering square of the Russian army as before. But to my surprise, no blasts of icy air assaulted me, instead a warm spring breeze, laced with the smell of cherry blossoms wafted around me as I entered what looked like a plaza in Ancient Edo. On a bridge crossing a wide stream stood a single figure, wrapped in a white kimono with golden herons emblazoned on it, half-hidden under a pink paper parasol, long black hair gently swaying in the breeze. A few brisk steps brought me to her side. With a happy smile, Hibiko turned my way.

"Ninja-san," she exclaimed and hugged me, her parasol slowly drifting to the ground behind her.

"It's 'Parker,' remember," I said lamely and hugged her back, not wanting to give her any invitation for spontaneous sex. But of course, my body had other ideas. The feeling of her slender body against mine caused me to get hard in an instant, causing her to smile sweetly.

"For me, you'll always be Ninja-san," she sighed, suggestively grinding her pelvis against mine.

"Listen, Hibiko, I really need your help here," I began before intercepting her hands which were making a beeline to my belt and zipper.

"Then let me help you, Parker-ninja-san," she smiled, actually going to her knees.

"I am not here for sex, Hibiko," I said, more sternly than strictly necessary. With a gasp, she looked up to me.

"But Cat-sama said I should make you happy," Hibiko complained.

"There are more ways to make someone happy than just sex, you know?"

"Such as?" Hibiko asked, deftly freeing her hands from my grasp. Before I could stop her, she had them inside my combat fatigues and was caressing my dick. I gently pulled them away from me and hoisted the pouting beauty to her feet. Tucking my meat away, I stepped back a little, placing a hand on her shoulder. She tilted her head and looked quizzically at it.