Zodiac v1.01: Quality Control

Ada's heart thumped relentlessly. Her body was covered in sweat despite the cold night air. Her blouse was so ripped up that she was practically wearing strips of cloth over her bra. Her skirt, now a few flaps of denim, now barely covered her crotch, revealing her bare legs and boots. The rain drizzled, forming puddles where she sat. She had to keep moving. She checked that her pistol was fully loaded. Just one more magazine.

She needed to find shelter. Maybe not a safe house - the warmth, food and supplies would have been welcome, but she knew that the most dangerous threat was not the monsters, but other people. That's what zombie survival guides taught. Stay away from supermarkets and gun stores. They attract people. People can't be trusted.

She moved quickly but stealthily, following the alleys and walls when she could, ducking into corners and scanning the streets, keeping her hands relaxed but ready. She didn't need to engage the zombies that were mindless walking the streets. She didn't need that kind of attention. She heard gunshots somewhere, a few blocks away. Someone was desperate. Noise attracted the monsters. This was her chance to make a move. She dashed across the street, slipped through the apartment doors and climbed the stairs. She had to make sure it was clear before setting up camp. At least she could gain a vantage point from the higher floors. She approached the darkened hallway and leaned against the wall, pointing her gun down the narrow space. She could hear something in the next room. She made sure her safety was off.

A hand suddenly pierced the wall beside her head and grabbed her around the neck. Another hand burst through and held her torso. She was dragged through the crumbling wall and hurled into the room, falling over a coffee table and dropping her gun. The beast leapt onto her. She delivered a perfectly-timed kick that knocked it aside. She reached for the gun, but the beast got to her first, pulling at her torn clothes. She allowed the top and bra to snap off, lunging for the gun, twisting around and firing several shots at the dark shape. She kept on pulling the trigger. The beast collapsed. Her gun was empty.

She crawled away, unarmed and half-naked. As she reached the hallway, she was pinned down by something. A boot. She sensed the barrel of a gun pointed at her head. She had drawn attention. "What do we have here?" a deep voice asked.

She turned around, displaying her bare breasts at the survivor. The rain and her heavy breathing accentuated her ample chest, and the rogue survivor liked what he was seeing. He helped Ada up. There was a long way to go, but she was sure that he would receive her gratitude.

* * *

Felix sat at his workstation. He had been sick for the week and the emails had piled up. It would've been a lot worse, but Ada was a capable assistant. He had never worked with anyone like her - professional, and powerful, but focused on the product. What made her unique, however, was her willingness to get the dirty work done herself. Ada entered the lab, smiled, and placed the earpiece on the desk.

"How was it?" Felix asked.

"It was pretty hot," she replied. She excused herself and made for the women's bathroom.

Short, brutal, honest. That was Ada. That was what the company needed. It had been a huge risk. Everything. The research and development. The product testing. The technology. The market. They had dared to break into a market that hadn't yet existed. Sure, there was Google Glass and Oculus Rift, but this was something completely mind-blowing - and literally, in some cases. Felix looked at the giant promo poster displayed in the lab - a reminder of their corporate goal. Zodiac: Live Among The Stars. Explore the space inside your mind. The marketers captured the galactic scale of their project and tapped into the popular imagination to launch their product. And it was a success. He picked up Ada's earpiece. Billions had been spent to create this. The metallic, futuristic-looking earpiece was, on its own, a bit of colourful moulded plastic with a circuit-board. What made it unbelievable was what it connected to.

Virtual reality. It had be touted as the next big thing for decades, but no technology ever came close to achieving it. The Zodiac did. No fragile overlays or fake objects. The Zodiac was placed over the ear, transmitting electronic signals that put the user into a state similar to REM sleep. The Zodiac then played the user's choice of program, creating the environment and scenario directly into the subconscious and allowing the user to experience it like a lucid dream.

And it worked. The first programs were, appropriately, space exploration simulators. Then the company launched more products, and eventually began outsourcing development to a select number of entertainment companies, seeking to break into the gaming market, and that was what brought in the profit. No controller needed. Live the game. The Zodiac had its place in every household.

But what really got the Zodiac into the target niche was a clever move from Felix. It was a bold proposal, and management had every right to ignore the idea. But, someone up there had good business sense. His suggestion had a historical basis: trends in technology were dictated not by the gaming or entertainment industry, but by the pornography industry. That was the case with VHS tapes, and the internet. Sooner or later, the adult entertainment market would begin looking at new virtual reality technologies to deliver new experiences, and the Zodiac was the perfect device with its proven capabilities and unparalleled immersion.

Rather than wait until some independent coder created the first app, Felix pushed the company to begin their own R&D. At first the board was reluctant to openly develop adult products, but Felix suggested creating a development branch that was not directly promoted by Zodiac, but worked directly with product engineers to facilitate faster development. This branch, codenamed "Blackhole", was led by Felix with the goal of creating apps for the adult entertainment market.

That's where Ada came in. She was on the design and development team at Zodiac and applied for the lead development role at Blackhole. A young genius, only just entering her 30's, Ada was different from other members of the Blackhole team. Not least of all: she was the only female. She understood that while the market was mostly males, she knew that there was a virtually untapped market for products aimed at women. Sexually repressed and unwilling to admit it, women would find solace in using the Zodiac for "personal" experiences. As Ada put bluntly: tap into female fantasies and the company will triple their revenue.

Ada made sure that everything created by Blackhole was good enough. Men were easy to please. Show some tits, and the experience is complete. Women needed something more engaging. More emotion. More action. Something that they would never experience in real life. It had to be sexy. Ada liked sexy. She was already a looker in real life - black shoulder-length hair, smooth Asian skin and cute glasses - but she could live out her imagination as someone else inside the Zodiac. And if she couldn't do that, the program was put back into the development cycle until it met her standards.

Ada returned from the bathroom, freshened up and with a guilty glint in her eye. Putting it aside, the two team members sat at the centre desk and walked through the evaluation forms. Ada noted everything down. "Environment design was bland, but well executed. No glitches experienced. Gunplay was fun. Felt honestly terrifying. Sex appeal was great. A bit more development on the characters and you've got something." Ada signed off her sheet. "Women love this sort of thing. Believe me."

"Getting stripped by zombies?"

"No. The whole experience. Being chased. Finding people you can't quite trust. That's the sexy part."

Felix made an exaggerated shrug. "Beats me. That's why you're the expert." Felix looked through the timelines on his spreadsheet. "We're a little behind schedule. Feel like another test?"

Normally doing continuous testing was not recommended - the technology wasn't understood well enough to understand the effects of prolonged use. Time was a different matter when inside the Zodiac, but devices were hard-coded to wake the user after a maximum of one hour. "What's this one about?" Ada asked, picking up her Zodiac earpiece. Felix uploaded the data into the device from his workstation.

"You'll love this one. It's an undercover cop thing."

"Was never into it," Ada replied. "But I'm sure there's something more interesting than snooping around."

"You'll see," said Felix. "Enjoy."

* * *

The scenario was one of the instant-action ones, which Ada loved. As much as plot and complexity were important in hitting the right buttons, using the Zodiac was like a game - sometimes you just wanted to get straight to the cool bits. She was an undercover cop - one who had already been caught. She was suspended from the ceiling by a chain with her wrists tied together. She was wearing a very low-cut black evening gown that covered very little, completely revealing her sides and legs. She was braless, and soon to be pantyless too. One of the thugs was sliding her thong down her legs. He tossed it aside and began to nuzzle into her crotch, sending her into a spasm of uncontrolled pleasure.

This was more scripted than usual. She recognised a prompt that told her to struggle against the ropes. She could feel the knots loosen, but she was fighting against the intensity down below. Though she wanted to enjoy the danger a bit more, she was a bit too efficient at getting free and she fell onto her captor. She rolled to the side. The thug was already on top of her, but she responded to the reflex prompts on time, kicking him in the abdomen and toppling him head over heels. He came at her again, and she evaded. She was always a perfectionist and got a thrill from getting things right on the first attempt. Her movements were flawless, and after several passes, the bull-headed thug was out cold.

Ada had worked up some sweat, but she knew that this was only the beginning. The stage was designed well, with subtle hints in the background and walls that indicated which way to go. She had been captured in some kind of cave, and she could hear the sea close by. Maybe she was on an island. The passage led to a ladder, which she climbed. There was a sentry watching the hole, but he was relieving himself in the bushes. Ada scrambled, sticking close to the dark trees, and moved until she approached a small house with a light in the window. Sensing that this was where she was meant to go, she crept closer. She could see the shadows of two men inside. She stopped and listened.

"The drug should be taking effect," one of them said. "If we can keep Harry from getting his hands on her, we'll see what our guinea pig will do. From our previous tests, our increase dosage will feel like someone's fucking her inside out. She'll be desperate for some dick. Then she'll be yours and mine."

Then, right on cue, Ada doubled over.

"Unnnngh!"

She was barely able to stifle her moan. Her boobs felt sore, as if an invisible pair of hands were squeezing her nipples, sending her into a spasm of ecstasy. At the same time, her legs opened, revealing her swollen, dripping pussy. One hand went to her breast to massage it, the other slid right into her moist vagina. What had they done to her? She was insanely horny, and having her bits so easy to access made it unbearably tempting to push herself to a climax. But what if it didn't end?

"Hey, hey!"

Shit, the sentry! Ada was barely able to keep steady on her feet. Using the cover of darkness, she slipped away again. The guard alerted the two men in the cabin. Ada slipped into the woods. Although she had a head start, her progress was impeded by her erratic spasms of pleasure. She couldn't stop, not even for a moment of relief. She had to push on. Forgetting about stealth, she ran through the undergrowth.

Next moment, she couldn't move her legs. She looked down to find them buried up to her thighs in thick, soft mud. She tried jerking her legs free, but they wouldn't budge. The clearing quaked and she slipped deeper. No! Quicksand! She used her arms to pull one leg free, but it was no use. She was trapped and sinking quickly. Not only that, the sand was exciting her sensitive nerves, and with her crotch inches away from the approaching quicksand, she was on the edge again. This time, she couldn't contain her arousal. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, and it still felt like she as screaming at the top of her lungs. This, of course, drew attention. Her three pursuers stood at the edge of the pit, watching her, strangely quiet. They were enjoying the show. It only got more intense when the mud shifted and she sank to her waist. The sudden drop overwhelmed her, and her body twisted back and forth, feeling the sand caress her pussy, teasing every inch of her skin. Her hands were out of control, pinching her nipples in a paradoxical manner, trying to ease the tension but only making herself more turned on. Then, when the quicksand claimed her breasts, she completely lost all semblance of control. Everything felt like it was trying to fuck her brains out. She orgasmed again and again and again. It just wouldn't end.

It did end, eventually. She didn't know how many times she orgasmed, but she woke up covered in sweat. In reality, she had also orgasmed numerous times. Her panties were soaked with her cum and she felt exhausted. The visions in the Zodiac had more than translated into the real world. Once she took a moment to regain her senses, she realised that the game wasn't over. She had reached the one-hour lockout time. She took the earpiece off and returned to the office.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I figured you were enjoying yourself, so I didn't want to disturb you."

"I was that loud?" Ada asked, blushing. She was a lively one, but she did have some modesty. They both expected this in their secretive work, so neither of them made a big fuss about these moments. "That was incredible. I loved the scenario. Getting chased around by the bad guys while wearing a skimpy dress - sexy. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has those fantasies. The sex drug - far out, that felt real. And the quicksand - who would've thought it was such as a big turn-on? I thought it would've been a buzzkill."

"Quicksand?" Felix stopped writing. "Strange. The developer notes don't mention quicksand in the scenario. Sounds a little niche to me, but I guess it makes sense. They must've left it out in the documentation." Felix shut his workstation down. "Alright, let's get some rest. We've got some more work to do tomorrow."

* * *

Even after a cold shower, Ada still felt horny. She had been through so much in her Zodiac trial that she had missed out on feeling it in reality, and living alone without a partner, she needed satisfaction. Though she knew she shouldn't spend too much time in the Zodiac, she needed something to relieve her tension. Her personal Zodiac was a commercial model, unlinked to the Blackhole Project, so she only had the publicly available applications. She picked one of her favourite relaxation scenarios: the tropical beach.

Being a family-orientated product, the Zodiac did not allow for nudity. The closest was a selection of skimpy outfits in certain areas, and app zones such as the beach were popular hubs for online interaction. It was the closest thing to actually being with someone in the virtual world, and the live translator allowed one to understand any user from around the world. Her public avatar was loosely based off her own appearance: glasses, long silky black hair, and a modest figure. She picked a thin flowery summer dress and a straw hat. The white loading zone transitioned into the exotic fantasy beach. She heard the birds first, and then the waves. Her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the virtual world. Thousands of people enjoyed these social hubs, though for intimacy the zones were limited to a few dozen in each instance. Ada sat by the bar, sipping on a drink and looking out at the expanse of sea and sand ahead of her. A man in a red aloha shirt smiled and sat next to her.

"Hello," he said tentatively. He kept his smile, his avatar displaying its perfect white teeth. His face was mildly tanned, with a ragged brown beard. "Do you come here often?"

"You could say so," Ada replied. The Zodiac system allowed users to scan others for profile information. Patrick S., from Chicago. The occupation fields were blank. The awkward silence suggested that Patrick was also scanning her profile. Strange how the Zodiac mimicked real life. It was a phenomenon that the developers had failed to break, and a large number of users preferred to remain as anonymous "lurkers". Ada adjusted the straps on her dress, showing off as much cleavage as the program would allow in this area. She figured she might as well pique his interest the old-fashioned way. "Shall we go for a walk?"

"Of course, Ada," Patrick replied, smiling again.

There was no intent behind this invitation. Most Zodiac users just wanted people to hang out with. The parameters of the Zodiac programs restricted any intimate contact, and the simulator did not process any of the physiological reactions to virtual stimuli. It wasn't a dating tool (though that was in the development phase, according to internal gossip). So, it was just a gentle stroll down the beach. They followed a boardwalk down to the open sand, where they walked barefoot along the water's edge.

"You're a quiet one," Ada said, noticing that Patrick had walked alongside her with no sign of starting conversation.

"I'm a little shy around women," he replied.

"Pretty ones?" Ada asked, dropping a hint.

"Everyone." Patrick gazed ahead. "I thought the Zodiac would help bring me closer to other people, but you know, it seems to drive me further away. It's like...everyone's already got people to hang out with, you know? Kind of like real life."

Exactly like real life, Ada thought. But she was an employee of Zodiac, and she had to keep her opinions to herself.

"So why do you use the Zodiac?" Patrick asked.

"Oh, just seeing people, I guess." Zodiac employees were discouraged from revealing their connection to the company. That was the kind of attention that you didn't need.

"Must be fun, meeting people," Patrick mused.

"To be honest," Ada continued, "I spend most of my time in the solo experience." The Zodiac had an "offline" mode for those who wanted to enjoy the apps without interacting with other people. Focus groups showed that despite the huge drive for multiplayer experiences, a large segment of the market didn't want to use the Zodiac to connect with other people and wanted to treat it like a gaming console.

"But you're in the public server," Patrick replied, seemingly reading Ada's pondering mind.

"I don't know. Maybe I like being alone around other people. If that makes sense."

"Oh. Like being a closet exhibitionist?"

"That's a strange comparison, but...yes, in a way. How about you..."

Ada looked around. He was gone. This was a normal occurrence in the Zodiac. There were still connectivity issues, and users simply dropped from whatever area they were in. Or maybe it was Ada that had disconnected, leaving her in a solo instance. She glanced around at the procedurally generated beach - a marvel of programming that meant that no experiences were truly identical. She shrugged and wriggled her toes in the soft sand, watching her feet dig into the golden sediment. Then she noticed something odd.

She was naked.

She was alone, so her immediate embarrassment dissipated, replaced by confusion. Her intimate understanding of the Zodiac told her that nudity was not even meant to be an option. Avatar glitches normally reverted to a default clothing set, but here her clothes had completely vanished, as if she had chosen nudity. Her light brown nipples were firmly erect, and her shaven pussy lips were open for all to see, if any were watching. This encounter worried her.