Zodiac v1.01: Quality Control

Then she noticed something else. While she had been distracted with her sudden loss of clothing, she had been continually sinking into the sand. Now she was up to her knees. The beach app simulated a few things, but quicksand was NOT one of them. The feeling of the warm beach sand creeping up her bare thighs...actually felt relaxing, like a soft massage. A shudder ran through her body. She remembered her encounter with the quicksand in her Blackhole testing. She began to feel hot. Her fingers wandered towards her crotch. The sensation was too...real. She had been through this dilemma many times in her Blackhole hours. She wanted to pleasure herself, but she had to go through the testing checklists in the given time frame. Now, she had the freedom to enjoy the situation.

Sure, may as well.

Her pussy lips were moist and warm, allowing her fingers to slide in naturally, sending an immediate pulse of pure pleasure through her virtual body. She stroked herself, rocking her body back and forth as it was consumed by the moving sand, until it too joined in with her play, kissing her labia and caressing her buttocks. It was so sudden and alien, she jerked her hand free, gasping in virtual ecstasy. She had never orgasmed this quickly before. She sighed, allowing herself to sink to her hips. The sand continued to tickle her crotch, giving her another shudder of excitement. This was as a good as real life, she thought. But it wasn't real. It was just another Blackhole app.

Wait, this wasn't Blackhole. It was Zodiac. She was on her personal Zodiac connected to the public server. None of this was possible in Zodiac's virtual world - not the nudity, and certainly not the masturbation. The quicksand gurgled around her waist. This wasn't part of the beach app either.

That was enough glitches for one day. When her entire day job revolved around finding glitches, she really didn't want to log more. She executed the quit command.

Nothing happened.

The quicksand sucked her down to her ribs.

She tried again, but with the same result. She waited, then tried again. Sometimes, lag would prevent a user from leaving the Zodiac immediately, but this was typically no more than ten seconds. However, it was not unknown for users to become unable to voluntarily leave their own virtual realm, in which case it was like being unable to wake from a dream. The fail-safe for these circumstances was an automatic lock-out that sent a signal to the user's brain after 60 minutes had elapsed in real life so that they would wake. Unfortunately, like in dreams, time was warped in the Zodiac, so there was no way for a user to see how long they had actually been inside, though the time would never exceed the hard-coded one-hour. Users could configure alarms for shorter periods, but Ada had disabled these as a matter of convenience using her developer access - she had to spend longer periods in the Zodiac, so she didn't need an alarm every 15 minutes. It was like hitting the snooze button over and over.

One final attempt at disconnecting failed. She sighed. She had to wait for the hour to run out, however long that was. Normally this would not be an unpleasant experience, but stuck in a solo instance on a secluded beach meant there was nothing much to do.

And there was the fact that she was trapped in quicksand.

The sand cupped her breasts like a living bra. She shuddered as it slowly inched over her mounds, oozing into her cleavage. The sand was beginning to get too intimate with her bosom, so she pushed down on the sand with her hands, lifting her chest free. Then her hands broke through the sand's surface, and she slipped back down. Her breasts rested on the sand once more, being pushed up before, within seconds, they were consumed in unison. Her arms were pinned by her sides, and she could do nothing but watch her hard nipples pop under the surface. Soon, all that was left above the surface was her head and shoulders. That's where she stopped. Unmoving, partly because she had reached a floating point, but also an innate fear of going under. The sand stopped moving, encasing her in its grip, keeping her there. She stayed that way for what felt like an eternity.

Then the lock-out signal kicked in.

* * *

"Thank the stars that's over," Felix sighed. "For now, at least."

It was always tough to get their agenda across to the Zodiac managers. Of course, money was a driving factor - spend money to make money. But doing it covertly through the Blackhole project was a risk, one that could turn the publicly available Zodiac device into a banned product worldwide and plunge the company into ruin. Felix hadn't quite figured out how to integrate the Blackhole products. His original model was an alternate portal separate from the main Zodiac server, so that the same device can be used to access Blackhole, but the Blackhole apps were isolated from Zodiac. This did not please the Zodiac management. They wanted to keep their product untainted, and any hint of adult material on Zodiac was an absolute no. But the potential revenue was too good to pass, and Felix had made his point: if they didn't take the opportunity to establish themselves as the pioneer developer for adult content, someone else would take it from underneath them, and sweep the Zodiac market too.

Felix kept his thoughts to himself. Ada was napping in the passenger seat. Felix was used to her feeling fatigued - the testing sessions were long and she was the only woman on the team, so she had the extra load of playtesting for her entire demographic. Felix didn't envy her. Today, however, felt different.

"Are you alright, Ada?" Felix asked as they returned to the Blackhole office. "You look really, really out of it. How about you take the rest of the day off? We can catch up on Monday."

"Felix, have there been any bug reports on users being unable to log out?" Ada asked, ignoring his suggestion.

"Uh, just the usual. Pretty rare, mostly lag, and the lock-out kicks in. Why? Was there something in the previous product test?"

"No." Ada drifted off, her silence unnerving even for Felix.

Ada collected the documentation for the apps they had lined up for testing. She'd get through at least one, maybe two before she had to clock off. But first, she wanted to check something. She took off her jacket and let her hair down. It had been a horrible morning. She had overslept and turned up nearly an hour late. She hadn't had time to do her makeup or even find her bra. She had spent all morning in a stuffy jacket trying to stay awake. Now she tossed her jacket aside and undid the upper buttons on her blouse, allowing herself to feel relaxed and comfortable in the relative privacy of the test room. She attached the Zodiac earpiece and closed her eyes.

Jenny of the Jungle. Even the cheap knockoffs had found its way onto Zodiac and, by extension, Blackhole. But this was the sort of product that was bound to make money: cheap thrills, like a one-night stand. Ada had already reviewed the app and found it to be a cheesy, under-developed soft porn scenario, but she chose to return to the app to see if her suspicions were correct.

The scenario involved a plane crash. The protagonist of the game, Jenny, was your typical busty brunette who had to find a way to survive in the jungle, and the player was a man (or woman) who also survived the crash. It was more akin to a puzzle game or an item-finding game than a true adventure, with basic prompts to progress through the story. Being a Blackhole app, the player was able to interact with the environment and Jenny in other ways not appropriate for the public version already available on Zodiac.

Ada got her bearings and examined her own character, modelled loosely off her Zodiac avatar. Her clothes were tattered: her khaki blouse was shredded to the point where it barely covered her breasts, and her skirt barely existent. Ada actually liked this simple, if not overly used outfits. It fit the closet exhibitionist inside her. She was reclined in the co-pilot's seat. Beside her was Jenny, who was just regaining consciousness. In the Zodiac version, she would have been wearing a khaki blouse and tight shorts. In the Blackhole version, she had lost most of her blouse, exposing her full, soft breasts. She was struggling with the seatbelt.

"Hey," she called out. "Hey, find something to cut me out!"

The opening section of this game was a tutorial, designed to help new players orientate themselves with the environment and become used to the (soon to be) repetitive nature of finding the right item for the right purpose. She had been through this half a dozen times before. The item needed in this case was a survival knife, which was located in a knapsack in the back of the cabin. She retrieved it promptly. She paused as she stood over Jenny.

"Help!" she called out.

Ada placed the knife down and grabbed Jenny's boobs. She squeezed the soft mounds, pinching hard at Jenny's nipples.

"Help!" Jenny repeated.

The program was not designed for this and her responses were limited, but this was what they had in mind. The majority of the target audience were happy to enjoy this simple experience, something that could never be done in real life. It was part of Zodiac's - and Blackhole's - objective: to provide an environment where the impossible would be possible. After months of product testing, Ada began to wish that someone would be as rough with her as she was with Jenny. Whether that would be a Blackhole reality was something she had to wait and see.

Once she was done playing with the reactionless Jenny, she cut the straps, prompting Jenny's next (cheesy) line. "We've got to get out of here. I've got a sinking feeling about this."

They emerged from the broken fuselage and surveyed the area. The (now obvious) pun from Jenny was made even more obvious: the plane had crashed into a swamp. Being the clueless protagonist that the player had to rescue from peril, Jenny hopped onto the partially buried wing and walked over the soggy brown mud, making it several steps before stopping.

"Come on!" she called out, not noticing that her boots were disappearing into the mushy soil. She made a show of it, putting her hands on her hips and pouting - this particular version of Jenny not coded to react to her partial nakedness, resulting in her breasts jutting toward Ada. "What are you waiting for? We've got to move." That was the cue. The player could see her slowly descending into the mud, her legs being swallowed by the slurping mire. "Oh no! It's quicksand!" The cries and the struggling were tantalising enough, but now with her boobs jiggling around, it was as much eye candy as anyone could ask for. "Ugh, find a rope, quick!"

Ada sat on the wing and watched passively. She took her boots off and felt the rich-smelling earth ooze between her toes. She had been through this a dozen times before. It was a timed segment. The rope was a little harder to find, but the player had plenty of time to retrieve it and rescue the hapless woman, but Ada wasn't here for that. She watched as Jenny struggled, sinking to her thighs, and then to her hips, repeating the same line over and over again. When she was up to her waist, her pleas changed. "Hurry! I'm getting too deep!" This was meant to be the prompt for the player to follow the prescribed series of actions. Instead, Ada stepped into the quicksand without the rope, walking over to Jenny. Each step made her sink deeper until she was also up to her crotch. "No!" Jenny called out. "We need the rope!"

The scenario was now locked into a game-over situation, where the player now had to wait out the last moments. This was the thrill that Ada really looked forward to. With the quicksand encircling their waists, she grabbed hold of Jenny and kissed her, forcing their bare chests to rub against each other. Jenny became passive, no longer screaming obvious cues. The quicksand reached their breasts, swallowing them in one gulp, leaving only their heads and shoulders exposed.

"Oh no, we're going to die!" Jenny cried out. "What do we do?"

Ada flicked her hair back nonchalantly. "Execute log out command."

The area faded to white, and Ada opened her eyes. She was once again reclined in her soft chair in the familiar Blackhole test room. The clock indicated that only fifteen minutes had passed.

There was a knock on the door, and Felix entered. He took one look at Ada and immediately swung the door shut again. "Sorry, did I disturb you?"

Ada's movement while in the Zodiac had made her braless breasts fall out of her shirt. Ada quickly fixed her immodest appearance before Felix returned.

"I got a call from Germany," he said. "We have a situation. One of the Zodiac testers, Helene, isn't responding to exit commands."

"Helene?" Ada raised her eyebrow quizzically. "I thought I was the only female tester."

"Apparently the Zodiac EU branch had their own ideas and launched their own covert research project. Unfortunately, we're so secret, they thought they were onto something new. Now they've made a mess of things. Blackhole has a rigorous quality control program, as you know. Zodiac EU doesn't have that experience, and they've been testing programs from...dodgy sources. The temptation of big profits from the adult market was too much, it seems. Now one of their testers is locked in."

'Locked in' was the ultimate fearmongering term the media - and product rivals - used to criticise Zodiac. The VR experience was too real. People thought it would replace sleep and cause psychological problems. The fantasy of being trapped inside the device and being unable to wake up was unfounded and publicly dismissed by the company. That was, however, the catalyst to the implementation of the one-hour lock-out time: to make sure that nothing like it could possibly happen.

"They disabled the lock-out," said Felix, sensing Ada's thoughts. "Yeah, it's pretty stupid. I told you they had no clue what they were doing. When you're testing something that should belong on the dark web, you've got to keep safeguards."

"So what can we do?"

"Fortunately, unlike our test servers, the EU branch maintains an online link to their testers. Technically they're all private, invisible instances, but we have administrator override. EU contacted the global branch who got in touch with me. They need our expertise to investigate. I'm connecting you to Helene's instance. Do what you can. It's not our fault, but we're all part of Zodiac, and we all lose if this is a real problem."

Ada attached the Zodiac back over her ear. "Then let's fix this problem."

* * *

Normally Ada received a design brief on the products she tested. However, as she had been thrown into this one as an emergency measure, she had no idea what she was getting into. It made her feel nervous and excited. It was an authentic adventure, and the setting did not disappoint. It wasn't a cheesy jungle girl rip-off or a typical action/drama flick. The first thing that flashed into the simulation was a crack of lightning that made Ada's hair stand up. Her hair and clothes were damp from the light rain. Ahead of her was an old track leading to an illuminated doorway. She ran towards the light, her eyes gradually adjusting enough to see that it was a large mansion. The path was flanked by gnarly branches, and she could have sworn they were reaching out to her. She swung the heavy door open and slipped inside before, with an ominous creak, the door slammed shut.

Ada could now make sense of the simulation. The interior of the mansion was dimly lit with lanterns, with certain rooms brighter than others. The whole interior was run-down, with cracked floorboards, cobwebs along the ceiling and flaking wallpaper. The smell was damp. In flickering light, Ada could see that she was wearing a tight figure-hugging sweater and a pleated miniskirt with tall socks and brown shoes, reminding her of a certain television character. If she was assessing the scenario, she would already be giving it ticks. It was genuinely spooky. There were no corny lines of dialogue, superficial tutorials or nonsensical button prompts. She was lost and alone in an empty mansion.

The lights drew her eyes to a large painting hanging in the hallway. Framed in gold, the painting depicted a middle-aged man with well-groomed hair and a stylish short moustache and beard. His eyes gazed emptily towards the sky with noble dignity. In his arms was a half-naked mistress; her hand reached for his crotch while his hands fondled her breasts. Various garments were tossed around her feet. The bottom of the frame showed only the words: "The Count". Ada was mesmerised by the details of the painting, especially in how the nobleman was groping the young lady. She could almost feel the Count's presence in the hallway, looking over her shoulder, his cold breath freezing her body, wisps of air brushing over her neck, invisible fingers creeping over her chest, and another draft lifting up her skirt. Ada snapped out her trance and pulled her skirt back down. Another icy draft blew through the hallway. This one felt different. Then Ada realised that her panties had somehow vanished, and her skirt only just barely covered her now-exposed crotch. Despite the cold, she shivered with a warm excitement. She didn't know what to expect next.

A warm light flickered through one of the doorways, revealing an open fireplace. It guided her into the drawing room, away from the chilly hallway. She stood by the fire and felt the blood return to her hands and legs. Finding an old soft chair behind her, she sat down. Without warning, something grabbed at her ankles. Her wrists were also held down fast. She screamed. She was pinned down by skinny, pale hands that seemed to have appeared from the chair itself. She tried to wriggle free, but the bony fingers clamped down on her limbs while more hands joined in. One held her head in place. Two more hands appeared around her torso, and in perfect unison, grabbed her breasts. Caught off guard, she moaned and squirmed; the ghostly hands groping relentless at her ample bosom. Outside of her view, another hand emerged between her legs.

The sudden intrusion made her yell. She had no chance to resist. The phantom hands had every part of her body covered - grasping, caressing, fondling. She felt the fingers stroke her clitoris, increasing the intensity as it inserted itself into her pussy, curling its fingertip and stroking her in just the right spot. She arched her back in ecstasy and tried to break free, but more hands grabbed her thighs to hold her down, forcing her hips back into the chair, and the fingers thrust deeper - two, then three. It was getting too much. She had never felt anything like this before, not in any VR scenario. She expected sexual arousal, but this was so real it felt genuinely horrifying, and that fear made the excitement even more intense. She wanted to orgasm, but the hands knew what they were doing. They kept on stopping when she was about to cum, keeping her on the edge, working on another part of her body to keep her stimulated but not enough to satisfying her craving urges.

A moment of silence followed, and everything became relaxed. The hand that was fingering her pussy retreated, and all other hands disappeared, leaving Ada gasping and covered in sweat. Before she could finish the job herself, she heard someone walking behind her.

"Are you all right?"

Ada turned to find a tall woman. Her golden hair was tied back in ponytail. She was completely naked, showing no inhibitions about her perfect round breasts being on full display, nor her cleanly shaven crotch. Then again, in the VR world, you technically aren't naked. Any embarrassment stemmed from the user's subconscious. That was a study that would happen one day.

"I'm okay," Ada replied, standing up shakily. "Just caught off guard. Helene, is it?"