Battle for the Known Unknown Ch. 02

"All I want to do," Paul said in a heartfelt voice, "is to make love to you."

And this, of course, they did.

None of the women to whom he'd made love in the real world was nearly as satisfying a lover as Blanche. None of them were as uninhibited. None were as responsive to his need for love nor so unconditional and unselfish in their giving of it. The software that governed Nudeworld had actually improved the experience of lovemaking to a level that the pleasure he got from it was more addictive, more satisfying and more easily available than he'd ever found in the real life equivalent.

Blanche took his penis—a somewhat more impressive version of his real one—and slipped it into her mouth. Her hands stroked testicles that were both hard and tender in equal measure. Her head bobbed up and down as she stimulated his penis towards an erection that strained the taut muscles of his stomach and was no doubt in the same state as his real penis in the comforting grip of the virtual portal.

When he smelled Blanche's skin or nibbled her nipples or chewed at her odorous vaginal lips, these were sensations that were more real than real, as the software was designed to be. She felt so solid, so actual, so very real that Paul's pleasure was marred only by the nagging knowledge that he could never wholly forget that Blanche was in truth nothing more than an avatar in a virtual world shared across the Solar System by many millions of people.

When their lovemaking eventually progressed to full-blown fucking, which as usual was after about ten minutes, this itself was a pleasure that exceeded anything in Paul's real life. His only regret was that he'd been so busy recently at the university in the throes of research that he'd neglected Nudeworld for so long. The strong odour of sex that assailed Paul's nostrils was so perfectly simulated that the real smell of sex seemed paltry in comparison.

Blanche was an energetic lover given to cries of ecstasy in response to Paul's relentless pounding and who didn't mind at all when, following the convention of virtual world sex, he followed vaginal sex with the anal variety and climaxed by ejaculating on her face and mouth. Very few women in real life enjoyed such a routine in their romantic conjugations, but here in virtual space there wasn't a single woman who didn't accept this as the fulfilling climax of a session of carnal pleasure.

"Now what shall we do?" asked Blanche with semen still dripping down and off her chin. "Do you want to make love again?"

In one sense Paul did, but he'd exerted himself so much that he wasn't sure his real life counterpart could cope with the strain. The feedback mechanism of the virtual portal ensured that his energy levels and vital requirements could never be neglected. In the first few centuries of virtual world simulations, there'd been many celebrated incidents of people who'd starved to death by remaining in the virtual world for longer than their biological functions could cope. Since then, the software developers had built mechanisms into cyberspace to ensure that the real people were kept fed and watered.

"I fancy a drink," said Paul. "Let's go to the pub."

There was no alcohol or drugs of any kind on Godwin. There was no law proscribing it, but like anything for which there was no perceived need there was also no corresponding supply. Here in Nudeworld, Paul could get drunk as often as he liked while knowing that there was no real life hangover to contend with and that his drunkenness would evaporate as soon as he disengaged himself from the world.

"Sounds like a good idea," said Blanche who very rarely disagreed with any of Paul's suggestions. These had in the past taken him and Blanche up in a space ship to the nearest adjacent settlement remarkably like the one they'd just left, up a tall mountain that they ascended by an archaic helicopter, and even by boat across an ocean that was a mere three kilometres away. Going to the pub was no big deal, even though the nearest equivalent in Godwin was a fruit juice bar half a kilometre from his home. Paul's real body would gain the same sustenance as his avatar, but while he appeared to be chewing on deep-fried chicken wings and hamburgers the real Paul would be chewing on rather more wholesome vegetables and fruit. While his avatar was sinking an unwholesome series of beers and vodkas, nothing alcoholic at all was being inflicted on his real-life liver.

The hundred metre walk to the Technician's Arms was a voyeur's paradise. None of the men, women or children that Paul and Blanche passed by wore any clothes. But for Paul the true oddness wasn't so much the nudity but the frozen-in-time representation of a capitalist world in what was presumably meant to be in Earth or Venus orbit. Above their heads was a rush of flying vehicles that transported people to destinations that could be more than a thousand kilometres away. There were shops with windows, although none of them were selling clothes.

In Godwin there were no shops, everyone was a pedestrian and there were no distances greater than a hundred kilometres.

Eventually, Paul and Blanche entered a pub whose doors opened to a dimly lit interior where several people were already drinking and where an androgynous android was serving drinks. Naturally, this android was naked like everyone else.

Or almost everyone else.

What startled Paul was that no one else seemed to notice this. Not even Blanche. There at the bar was sat a man who was nursing a glass of whiskey from which he took the occasional sip. This in itself was no matter of concern, but this man was fully clothed. He was dressed, in fact, in a very realistic facsimile of a twenty-second century suit, even down to the neck scarf and thick cotton trousers.

What was more startling still was that this man seemed to be old. Old people were everywhere in the 33^rd century, just as much as in the 38^th but they never looked old. And this man had definitely aged. He had grey hair and a lined face which framed a peculiarly wise and serene expression.

In all his life, Paul had never seen, either in the real or virtual world, anyone who looked to be more than a biological age of about twenty-nine. And this man's apparent biological age must have been at least sixty.