Virtual Life Experience Pt. 02

A powerful force seemed to pull Jason toward the beast. It slowly turned its head to look at Jason and Nikki. When it met his eyes, Jason felt a sinking sensation of black despair. The beast seemed to be speaking to him on a subliminal level. "You are a worthless, insignificant being. You live a life of pointless suffering. Come to me and I will end it." He stumbled toward the monster. It was right. What did he have to live for? Letting the thing eat him seemed completely rational, the only logical solution.

Nikki took his hand as they both moved toward the creature. She was sobbing softly. "Let's do it,"she whispered. As they continued to approach the beast, the waves of depression felt like a solid physical thing sweeping over them. Jason felt his limbs getting heavy.

Somewhere deep in his brain, Jason had a contrary thought, fighting its way through the haze of despair. "This is wrong." Jason focused on it. A tiny seed of defiance grew in him. "Dammit, we are humans. We are superior beings with indomitable spirits. We may die, but we will die fighting."

He looked over at Nikki, dirty and wet and . . . beautiful. "She is my girl, my life, my everything. I must fight for her," he thought to himself.

"No, you are both pathetic. Why prolong your misery?"

"FUCK YOU!" Jason shouted out in rage. He pulled out his laser sword, energized it, and with every ounce of his remaining energy, swung it. The great beast's head was separated from its body. A wave of pain racked Jason's body and he and Nikki fell to the ground.

The crushing depression suddenly lifted. A moment later, Nikki was in Jason's arms, kissing him and sobbing. "Thank you, thank you. . . god, I love you," she blurted out between kisses.

"I love you too, Red."

They lay together in each other's arms, exhausted. Lingering waves of sadness slowly dissipated. The rain stopped and the sun began seeking openings in the cloud cover. It was almost as if the great beast had been the very source of the rainy weather.

"I'm starving. Do you think that thing is edible?" asked Nikki.

"I don't know. You felt its power. If it has some chemical basis, the meat may be toxic."

"But the sensations of despair disappeared as soon it was dead, so I don't think so. I don't want to walk away from thousands of pounds of food only to starve to death. We have to try it."

After about an hour of searching their surroundings, they found a dry patch under a rock outcropping and they found an oil plant to use for cooking. They each tried a small piece of meat, then waited an hour. When nothing untoward happened, they ate their fill. The meat was tender and tasted like steak.

"Oh my god, that was the best meal I have had in, like, forever," Nikki sighed.

Jason wasn't quite sure if it was just because they were so desperate for food, but eating the meat seemed to produce a slight euphoria, diametrically opposed to the effect the living beast had.

"What should we call that thing? Despairosaurus?" asked Nikki.

"Beast of sorrow?"

"Rain-dragon."

"Yeah, I like that, 'rain-dragon'."

After they rested for an hour or so, their bellies satisfyingly full, Nikki stood up. "Come," she said to Jason, and pointed to a sunny meadow they could just catch glimpses of through the vegetation. She grabbed his hand and led him toward it.

When they burst out into the bright sunshine, Nikki let go of Jason's hand and ran to the middle of the meadow. It appeared untouched by the black tide. She stretched out her arms and spun in circles, laughing. She was so beautiful when she was happy, thought Jason.

Nikki flung her wet clothes off. She turned and gave Jason a sultry look over her shoulder and said simply, "Come."

He didn't need to be asked twice. He took his clothes off and joined her in the center of the meadow. Nikki held her arms open, seemingly welcoming him into an embrace, but ducked to one side when he got to her and said, "Catch me!" She turned and ran, laughing.

Jason gave chase, running awkwardly with his stiff cock bouncing in front of him. Nikki was surprisingly nimble, dodging and weaving to avoid Jason's superior speed. They giggled like children as they played tag in the sunny meadow. Eventually, Jason dove and tackled Nikki and pinned her to the ground.

After they stopped giggling, Nikki looked at him with mock seriousness and said, "I've been a bad girl, I think you need to spank me."

Jason sat up and she got down on elbows and knees, her ass sticking up in the air. Jason gave her a playful swat.

"Harder, I've been way badder than that."

Jason smacked her butt harder.

"Harder."

Jason complied and she yelped in pain. She gave him a look of surprise and her lower lip began to quiver as though she were about to cry. Just as Jason felt a rush of sympathy, thinking he had really hurt her, she winked at him and put on an exaggerated pout. "That hurt. I wasn't that bad. Now you need to kiss it and make it better." She wiggled her ass in emphasis.

Jason kissed the red impression of each finger on her ass, then worked his way down and in until his tongue was lapping at the base of her slit. She sighed and rolled over on her back, spreading her legs to give him access.

He worked his way around and around the perimeter of her pussy until it was in full bloom, pink inner labia spreading open invitingly.

"Oh god, Jason, lick me. Yes, lick my pussy. Oh fuck that's good."

He licked the soft tender edges of her labia lightly, driving her wild with anticipation.

"Oh please Jason, suck my clit."

"Not yet."

"Please!"

He worked his way closer to the swollen nub, then retreated, then approached from the other side.

After repeating this a couple of times, Nikki lost control. She grabbed Jason's hair and pulled him to her, mashing his face into her pussy while she ground her hips. Jason swirled his tongue around her clit. Nikki burst into orgasm.

"Oh, Oh, Oh, I'm fucking cumming! Oh fuck yes!"

When her thrashing slowed down, Jason looked up at her with a wet face and grinned.

Nikki turned over and got back on her hands and knees and implored, "Fill me up with your hard cock. Fuck me."

Jason got behind her and thrust deep inside, the heat of her pussy enveloping him. He grabbed a handful of curly red locks and used it as leverage to pull her onto him repeatedly.

"God yes, fuck me harder!"

They fucked furiously until Jason felt tension building. He bent over her back and reached under her, rubbing her clit with one hand and fondling her breasts with the other. Moments later he erupted inside her with a groan. He kept rubbing her clit rapidly and soon she came again too, crying out in pleasure.

They collapsed in a heap in the grass. They lay side by side, letting the warm sun wash over them. Jason propped himself up on one elbow and studied her.

"I wonder how many there are," he murmured.

"How many what?"

"Freckles," he answered, and put a finger on a stray one just above her left breast. They were densely packed on her shoulders and became less and smaller toward her breasts until there was nothing but milky white. Jason played connect the dots.

"Mmmm," she responded languidly with her eyes closed, "you're welcome to count if you like."

He spent a few minutes doing just that until he noticed something. "Umm, Nikki?"

"Yes?"

"Your boobs are looking kind of pink, I think you should get in the shade."

"Dammit, I should have thought to bring sunblock."

They gathered their clothes and retreated to the forest.

"Maybe if you ask real nice, VLEC will send you some. Why don't you look into my eyes and ask."

"Oh cool, yeah, a care package." She laughed, but she did it anyway. Staring into his eyes, she said, "VLE Corp dudes, if you're watching, send me some sunblock. I promise if you do I'll show lots of boobies . . . and ass and pussy too."

"Really, was that necessary?" asked Jason.

"Oh don't be a prude. A bazillion people just watched us fuck." She turned her attention back to VLEC with her mock requests. "Oh, and send me some razors too. . . Oooh, and Oreo cookies."

"Double-stuff," said Jason, getting into the spirit.

"Chocolate covered double-stuff."

"And ice-cream."

"How can they send ice-cream? It will melt."

"They're smart, they'll figure it out."

"OK, fine, make mine Rocky Road."

"Mint Chocolate Chip."

"Send me some lasagna."

"Oh my god, yes! Lasagna and your finest Bordeaux."

They collapsed in fits of laughter at their ridiculous request.

Arizona State University, Earth

Mario was very worried about Marcella. He couldn't remember seeing her eat anything for the last two weeks. She was listless and could barely get out of his dorm room bed that they had been sharing for the past month. He had to drag her to class every morning. He kept begging her to eat, but she refused, saying she couldn't stomach anything.

The last two weekly Antola adventures had been duds. Nothing much exciting had happened since the black swarm. Jason and Nikki had been having great difficulty finding food. Nikki was looking gaunt and was struggling to do anything but lie around the camp.

Even the sex between Jason and Nikki was uninspired. Two weeks ago, they actually gave up in the middle of love-making because neither of them was into it. Last week, they didn't even try.

Mario knew it was no coincidence that Marcella and Nikki were both starving. He didn't understand how it worked, but he knew from past experience that Marcella had a psychosomatic response to whatever happened to Nikki. He had done some research and found that other VLE users around the world had reported this effect. Researchers were beginning to study the condition, called Virtual Reality Sympathetic Syndrome (VRSS), which affected about one out of every 10,000 VLE users.

"Marcella, you can't keep going this way, you need to eat. Here, have some of this." Mario handed her half of his ham sandwich.

"I can't. I want to, but I just can't."

"C'mon, just try. Just a little bite. Please?"

Marcella took a little nibble, then gagged and spit it out. "I told you, I can't."

"You need to see a doctor . . . today."

"He'll just send me to a shrink."

"I'm sorry, Marcella, but I think that may be exactly what you need."

"I . . . I know. Look, the next Antola package comes out tomorrow night. Let's wait until that's over. If they find food, I'll be fine. If not, I promise I will go see a doctor."

"Marcella . . ." Mario couldn't hold back his emotions, "I love you and I'm scared for you. What will happen to you if Nikki dies?"

"Don't say that!"

"No, we need to face that possibility. I'm terrified of what will happen to you if you are gaming her when she dies."

She was silent for a few moments, looking tormented. Finally, she said quietly, "I think it would be worse if she died and I didn't experience it. I think I would need that closure to separate myself from her. Otherwise I might be in limbo forever."

"I need to get to class," said Marcella. She got up and started walking away. Abruptly, she turned and ran back to Mario and embraced him.

"What was that for?"

"I just realized that's the first time you said you love me. I love you, too."

The next night, they gathered at Aziz's apartment. The pre-party was very subdued, both because the expectations were not high given the last few sessions and because of Marcella's condition. Over the course of the last few months, the partiers had become a tight knit group and their concern for her was genuine.

After some heated discussion between Marcella and Mario, they agreed to have Mario experience the first session and Marcella wait for a later one so that he could at least forewarn her of any tragic results.

Midway through the session, it began to look like tragedy was indeed imminent as Mario/Jason and Nikki nearly fell victim to the rain-dragon's psychological hunting tactics.

Thankfully, the session took a dramatically positive turn from there. Mario felt great relief as he sat with Nikki and ate his virtual fill of the tender rain-dragon meat. He took childlike delight in playing naked with Nikki in the meadow. The sex that followed was epic.

The VLE session ended with Mario/Jason and Nikki making their silly care package wish list. Mario left the chamber euphoric. The wide grin on his face told Marcella all she needed to know.

Once Marcella entered the chamber, Mario knew what he needed to do. The hour and a half session would be just long enough for a quick trip down the street and back to get what he needed.

When Marcella emerged, Mario greeted her with a plate of lasagna and a glass of red wine. She squealed in delight, wrapped her naked body around him and squeezed tight.

"My god I'm starving," she said.

She took the plate and the glass and sat in Mario's lap on the couch and began to eat. She didn't even give a thought to putting her clothes back on. Mario took advantage of the situation and let his hands roam as she ate. Between bites, she said, "pervert," but made no effort to stop him from feeling her up in front of everyone.

By the time she finished the last bite, Mario's fingers had found the wetness between her legs and he was playing with her clit. "Oh!" she gasped suddenly. Someone reached over and took the plate and the glass from her hands, as she looked like she was about to drop them. "Oh baby. Don't stop."

Without taking her eyes off her ecstatic roommate, Sasha reached between her own legs with her left hand and reached blindly to the side with the right hand, seemingly not caring who she connected with. Her free hand found a robe and Renee obligingly untied it and let it fall open. It wasn't until Sasha's probing fingers found pussy that she seemed to realize she was touching another girl. She turned her head quickly and was met by Renee's sultry smile.

"Is this OK?" asked Sasha.

Renee nodded her head, "Oh fuck yes!"

At that moment, Marcella orgasmed loudly.

"That's fucking hot," said Olivia. Feeling left out, she turned to Aziz, who had his cock in his hand. She lifted off her dress, then dropped to her knees and took Aziz into her mouth.

Zack, who had arrived late to the party, emerged from his turn in the ES2000 to the highly arousing sight of his girlfriend, naked and fingering herself and Renee at the same time. He hadn't known her to have any bi tendencies, but it drove him wild.

He came up from behind and embraced her, his hardness pressing against her ass. He whispered a suggestion to her, unsure of how she would react. "Lick her pussy while I fuck you from behind."

Sasha looked hesitant. "I've never done that with a girl before. I don't know. Renee may not be into that either."

In response, Renee sat on the couch in front of her and spread her legs wide. "Please? I've never been with a girl before either, but I've never wanted anything so fucking bad in my life."

Sasha dove into Renee's pussy with her tongue and Zack plunged his cock deep into Sasha from behind.

Later that night, back in Mario's bed, Marcella propped herself up on one elbow and looked at him. "We should start a petition," she declared.

"A petition for what?

"To force VLEC to send a care package to Jason and Nikki."

"You mean like lasagna and Oreo cookies?"

"No, I mean seriously useful stuff. VLEC owes those two big-time. If they can't rescue them, they should at least send them the equipment they need to have the best chance of survival."

"You know what? That's a really good idea. Let's talk to Aziz's dad. He's an exec in VLEC's off-world transport department. He'd know what they are capable of sending."

Washington DC, Earth

Leo was filled with self-loathing. He had been forced to face his deep character flaws in a very public way. The whole world now knew his face and knew that he was a heartless bastard who had hidden behind his computer alter-ego, Violet, to ruin the lives of dozens of innocent victims and ultimately lead many of them to their untimely deaths. His public media messages were filled with death threats. Part of him wished that someone would follow through and put him out of his misery.

While the public scrutiny was painful, the horror of facing reality in his own mind was worse. In retrospect, it was amazing to him what he had rationalized in his mind and somehow had been able to live with. When he finally stripped himself bare of these excuses, he recoiled in horror at what he found within; he was a monster.

He pondered suicide again, but he knew he didn't have the stomach for it.

Some would say he was lucky. He had somehow escaped arrest and conviction and hadn't even lost his job. The courts had focused on those that had a hand directly in the bribery and false testimony, and the corporate types who had orchestrated the illegal activities. Most of the people like Leo who were in-between, cogs in the wheel who knew their actions were supporting something very wrong but who were not blatantly committing crimes, were left alone.

Between the court cases and the congressional hearings, VLEC had taken a big hit, but not one that they couldn't absorb. A total of 32 employees were convicted. VLEC was ordered to pay $3 billion in restitution to families of those falsely accused and deported.

On the face of it, the biggest impact to the company was that all future profits from VLE sales of improperly deported subjects were to be placed in a charitable fund. While this would generate a lot of money, the hit to VLEC was not nearly as bad as it could have been. The initial language that was proposed from the congressional hearings was "all proceeds," but debate within the special congressional committee resulted in a change to "all profits." For most of the public, that was a subtlety that went over their heads, but made a huge difference to VLEC's bottom line. That meant the considerable costs of running the off-world VLE program would still be covered by sales revenue. Leo suspected that with creative accounting, VLEC would still end up keeping most of the income.

Leo saw a glimmer of hope at real redemption when he first heard of the movement that was sweeping social media. Some girl at Arizona State University had hatched the idea of sending a 'care package' to Jason and Nikki, by far VLEC's most popular off-world subjects who had been wrongly deported. The package would contain equipment and supplies to improve their ability to survive in the hostile environment of Antola. The girl had posed it as a petition and the idea exploded on social media. Within hours, celebrities and politicians were jumping on the bandwagon.

Leo approached his new boss. "Mr. Clark, have you heard of this 'care package' petition?"

"If you mean the one about sending stuff to those two in Antola, yes. What of it?"

"I think VLEC should get out ahead of this. It is an opportunity to improve the corporate public image, and quite frankly, an opportunity for me to redeem myself."

"How, so? I mean, I understand the corporate image part, but how do you fit in? It seems to me it would be all on the Off-World Transport Department."

"It's a question of what to send. Violet and I could run sims to determine what equipment and supplies provide the most impact on life expectancy."

"Interesting thought. I doubt Corporate would publicly mention you if they went through with it, though, so I'm not sure it is going to mend your public image."

"It's not about that." Leo couldn't hide the emotion in his voice. "It's about me being able to live with myself."

"Well, Corporate sure as hell doesn't care about that, but the idea may have merit from a PR standpoint. I will bring it up to them."

It was less than an hour before he was called to the office of the VP of Public Relations.