1:23 Ch. 05

Author's note: All characters depicted are over twenty years old.

*****

Chapter One Harriet's Dilemma

The university tech center had a small locker room and shower for graduate students and researchers who stayed overnight on projects. Harriet Kono stood in a shower stall under the flow of hot water as the shakes racked her body. She was alone, the locker room and shower were seldom used. She was near tears but stamped down on the urge. Her experiences in Kent Orlando's fantasy world had been traumatic and awful. Yet under all that was an undeniable thrill of sexual excitement. The moment Harriet shut her eyes to soap her face, the thrill intensified and her right hand slipped between her legs in automatic response. She opened her eyes, jerked her hand away from her crotch, then soaped her body vigorously.

"None of it happened," she reminded herself aloud as shower gel flew every which way. "None of it was real."

But the instant she closed her eyes to soap her face again Mila Kunis AKA the wicked witch of the west in all her green glory, cackled and mocked as she goaded her naked masked minions to ravage Harriet. Dirty hot excitement licking at the edges of Harriet's distraught mind. Her hand was between her legs again. She willed her hand away and moaned in despair as a fresh tremor shook her body. Shockingly, she was microns away from an orgasm. Angry at her lack of self control, she opened her eyes, quickly rinsed and slipped out of the shower. She grabbed a towel from a stack of them near the shower entrance and vigorously dried her body and hair.

She looked up at the ubiquitous round university clock over the door. Thirty one minutes had lapsed since she had entered then exited the world of the brain tube. Of those thirty one minutes only three of them had occurred in Kent's fantasy world. The remaining twenty eight minutes were of her staggering to the locker room tearing off her clothes and washing obsessively.

"Just three stupid minutes," she said and buried her face in the towel to stifle a moan.

It had felt like a whole day to her. It was disorienting the way brain tube messed with her sense of time.

"End this. Take the fucking thing off Kent's head," she babbled then quickly put the breaks on that thought.

The last time she prematurely removed the brain tube mid engagement the test subject had reacted violently. Guilt piled on top of her anxiety. That first test subject had been her cousin Alice Mihara. The moment Harriet had pulled the brain tube off her cousin's head, the girl started raving about how she needed to complete her fantasy so that she could save her friend Britt and travel to another dimension to find her way home. Harriet's attempts to calm Alice earned her a fat lip and a host of bruises. If not for Ashley and Joy showing up, Harriet might have been seriously hurt. She didn't want to go through that again. Plus Kent was no petite Japanese chick like her cousin. He was over six feet tall and an athlete.

Alice's fantasy world had been totally sexual. Harriet came up with the auxiliary helmet so that she could go in to guide Kent into less carnal areas of his psyche. She let out a mirthless laugh.

"Boy did THAT go wrong."

Harriet had found herself right in the middle of Kent's raunchy adventure and there was nothing she could do about it. To make matters worst, the helmet sought out her own dark sexual secrets. Fifty Shades of Gray was just holding hands compared to what the helmet came up for her. She shivered as the ugly voice of the wicked witch of the west filled her head.

"FUCK HER MY BEASTIES! COME ON HER FACE! COME ON THE LITTLE JAPANESE LAB RAT!"

Harriet rubbed at her face as imagined lines of warmth striped her from chin to forehead. The wicked witch's horrible cackling wouldn't go away and the urge to take another shower overwhelming.

"I gotta get control of this!" she said firmly.

She dropped her towel on a bench and with her thoughts racing way ahead of her, Harriet marched out of the dressing area and headed to her section of the tech research facility. It wasn't until she had her hand on the door knob of her office that she realized she was naked.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed.

Beyond panic, she looked around wildly as she fumbled to open her lab door. She slipped in, closed the door and quickly turned the lock. It was just pure dumb lucked that no one had been in the halls.

"Lolo Japanee girl!" she said. A fresh wave of the shakes made her hug herself. "No make," she whispered. She was too freaked out to notice that she had spoken aloud in local pidgin. Pidgin made her sound unscientific and she had gone to great lengths to purge herself of the it over the years. Her friends teased her about it constantly called her a Twinkie or banana, yellow on the outside and white on the inside.

Harriet now had scientific proof that what happened to Alice wasn't a fluke. She could no longer deny that the helmet had unforeseen side effects on the user. Alice had been under for just fifteen minutes. She dread to think what was happening to Kent as he closed in on two hours.

When the shakes subsided, she rummaged around her office for something to wear but found nothing. She went around the partition that divided the office from the lab where Kent Orlando lay in an adjustable hospital bed with the brain tube device covering most his head. On instinct, she crossed one arm over her naked c-cups and cupped a hand over her pubic area. She needn't had bothered, Kent was still deep in his fantasy world.

She spied Kent's backpack and went right for it. She vaguely remembered him saying something about going to the school gym after he was done here. In the backpack she found a clean t-shirt, a change of socks and fresh briefs. She threw on the t-shirt that hung pass her knees like a formless mumu. After brief consideration, she put on the underwear then the socks.

The shakes returned. As she hugged herself to wait them out she stared at Kent's chest rising and falling with the deep breaths of a person sound asleep. Her eyes went to the bulging erection straining to the left in his shorts. He'd been erect from the start. Must be painful for him, she thought. She pulled down the zipper of his cargo shorts, slipped her hand under the elastic of his briefs, found his solid cock and shifted it to the center. "That should help," she whispered. She held his erection for several long seconds thrilled by the firm warmth.

"Lolo," she whispered as she pulled her hand away and zipped him up. She located her I-pad and made notes like a good scientist. She put down the I-pad and looked at the auxiliary helmet hooked up to the larger helmet on Kent's head. Her hands shook. She knew she lacked the courage to go back in. She debated calling Mr. Imperial for help. He had offer her tech help. All she had to do was ask he had said.

"No way. I gotta solve this sex thing first," she said. She was positive Mr. Imperial would never trust her with an important project ever again if he found out about the sex. All thought, he didn't seem overly upset when he had read her report about the Alice situation. In fact he had doubled her budget. Still, she didn't want to chance getting on his bad side. She had heard rumors of how cruelly he would shun people that displeased him. One minute you'd be his precious right hand then next you knew you were on the outs totally cut off. But she still needed help to bring Kent to roost so she could safely remove the helmet from his head.

She considered calling on Ashley. When things had gone bad with Alice, it was Ashley Grant who had come to her rescue. Unfortunately, Ashley had brought along Joy Maeda. Joy and Alice were BFF and Joy had flipped seeing Alice in her deranged state. Joy had threatened to go straight to the police and Ashley, the university ethics board. Weirdly, it was Alice who had backed them down. Then Harriet remembered that Ashley and Kent had been a couple once.

"Nope, not calling Ashley for sure."

A shrill sound filled the lab and Harriet panicked. She rushed over to see what had gone wrong with the brain tube. Then she realized that the sound was coming from Kent's cargo shorts. It was his cell phone, she could see the display lighting up through the material in one of the pockets On the forth ring, she reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone. The name on the ID was Donny Stevenson, Kent's best friend back in Ohio. She rolled her eyes. Donny was crude and obnoxious. Worst, she had had a short ill fated affair with the guy back in her Ohio State days. Out of gross curiosity, she hit the answer button, covered the receiver with her hand and put the phone to her ear.

"Dude!" Donny said. "You're never gonna guess where I am? I'm in a fucking taxi on my way from Honolulu International airport! Surprise! My sister works for United Airlines and got me a cheep ass ticket! Let's go check out some hot Hawaiian babes and eat some poi and lau lau! I was thinking of looking up Harriet Kono. You know where she lives?"

Idiot, Harriet thought as she pulled the phone away from her ear. She had her finger on the cancel button when a crazy idea bloomed in her head. She put the phone back to her ear and said, "Hey Donny."

"Who's this?" Donny asked.

"It's Harriet Kono."

"Harriet?" Donny asked sounding surprised. "You hanging with Kent?"

"Yeah," Harriet said. "I could use your help with something."

"Anything," Donny said immediately.

"Good," Harriet said totally unaware that she was stroking Kent's erection through the material of his cargo shorts.

Chapter Two Serenity

"That's the second time it feels like somebody is grabbing my dick," Kent Orlando said standing with Alice Mihara in the cargo hold of the spacecraft Serenity.

"Get your mind off your genitalia," Alice Mihara said. "We have to figure out what our next move is."

"Getting clothed should be first on your list," Zoe Washburne, said as she gave the couple a dubious look. Kent was blown away being in the presents of the legendary Zoe Washburne of the science fiction TV series Firefly.

Zoe gave Kent a long stern look. He wished to hell he wasn't buck naked and erect as frat boy at a wet t-shirt contest. He did his best to will Mr. Happy away but the stupid thing just wouldn't budge. And it didn't help that the weird feeling of someone holding his dick persisted. Alice, petite and pretty with a classic slim Asian girl figure seemed unperturbed standing naked among strangers.

Zoe went to an intercom near the door, slapped at a button and said, "Somebody, find something for Mr. Orlando to wear. Check Jayne's locker. He looks about the right size. Something from River will do for Alice."

"Got it!" came a voice from the intercom.

"Everyone, meet me and our guests in the common room to parley," Zoe said.

Alice and Kent followed Zoe Washburne into a dim, narrow passage way. "They know our names," Kent whispered to Alice. "Can they read our minds you think?" Mind reading was not an unusual occurrence in the world of the brain tube.

"Yours maybe," Alice said. "I've been blocking my thoughts for years.

"River told us," Zoe said overhearing. "She's the one who got your message for help, Mr. Orlando."

They entered into the Serenity's common room. At the end opposite the hatch stood a slim young woman holding a bundle of clothes. "The devourers are coming," said the young women. She walked up to Alice and handed the clothes off.

"River Tam?" Kent asked.

"The devourers are coming for both of you," River said.

River had a pale pretty face with large dark eyes almost hidden behind her dark tangled hair. She wore a loose red and white flowery dress with a cream knitted sleeveless vest over her shoulders.

Alice started to dress. Kent kept Alice between River and himself to shield his awkward nudity from the young woman's relentless gaze.

"I'm twenty two, a woman fully grown," River said.

"Um ... okay," Kent said.

Is she sensing my discomfort or reading my mind, he wondered. River Tam was a very powerful psychic in the TV series. Was she penetrating his newly learned psychic firewall?

"It's been five years since the movie's release," River said.

"Um ... okay," Kent said, now positive that she WAS reading his mind.

"River must like you for she hardly ever talks," came a soft female voice from the entry hatch.

Inara Serra stepped into the common room. Kent's foolish erection twitched at the sight of the exotic courtesan. She wore an off the shoulder purple dress that hugged her figure, her hair a splendid cacophony of long dark curls. She was, hands down, his favorite of all the women in the Firefly series. Kent put both his hands on Alice's shoulders to hold her in place as his human shield.

"Stop pocking me with that," Alice complained swatting his erection that kept bumping her butt. Alice was now dressed in clingy brown slacks, a white blouse and dance slippers leaving Kent the only naked person in the room.

"So you all know that you're fictional characters from the Firefly series?" Kent asked doing his best to appear comfortable being buck ass naked in a room full of beautiful clothed women.

"We are REAL, Mr. Orlando," Zoe said seriously. "Don't ever forget that." Zoe removed her gun belt and put it on the the table as a solid reminder. Zoe was dressed in her classic clingy reddish leather brown vest, long sleeve brown shirt, hip hugging belt and tight butter nut pants.

Inara said, "In the world you come from we maybe creations of some writer's imagination but in the helmet, we live, we exist."

Kent still had trouble wrapping his head around the strange behavior of the people in his fantasy world. They knew they were frictional creations yet at the same time claimed to live real lives.

"We can die and become food for evil," River added awkwardly.

"River, you are a chatter box today," Kaylee Frye said suddenly among them holding a stack of folded clothes. The perky brunette looked at Kent. Alice mischievously stepped aside giving Kaylee the full Monty. "Nice," Kaylee said with a crooked smile. She wore loose khaki gray overalls with a clingy orange top beneath. Both articles of clothing were covered with the badges of her engineering profession, numerous oily stains. Her long, wild light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders. There were faint smudges on her chin and forehead. The woman made a dirty face look sexy.

Kent quickly stepped forward and took the bundle of clothes from Kaylee. Everyone watched him slip on a pair of boxer briefs, Khaki pants, a gray-green t-shirt, socks and army boots. There was a knitted orange cap in the bundle that he thought looked ridiculous. No way he was gonna wear it so he tossed it on the table next to Zoe's holster.

Alice said, "I was no fan of the series but I do remember there were three men in the show."

"My husband is dead," Zoe said flatly.

"The captain and Jayne are locked up in a federal jail," Inara said.

"After we help you we aim to break them out," Kaylee added.

"Simon is in the Capital ferreting out information about River," Inara said.

"He's a good brother," River said.

"You know anything about the program that destroyed my world?" Alice asked.

"Her name is Kate, she is legion," River said.

"Kate?" Inara asked.

"Silly name for a legion of death," Kaylee said.

"Whatever her name is she's deadly," Zoe said "I saw her minion's nasty work first hand. I'd prefer facing Reavers than that hoard again."

"If we can reach Harriet I think she'll help," Kent said.

Alice's features literally darkened at the mention of Harriet's name.

"Oh boy," Kent whispered realizing too late he had stepped in it for Harriet had been trying to kill Alice for years. He drew back expected Alice to transform into a murdering obsidian giant. The tension in the room heightened, Zoe inched closer to her holstered gun while the others moved away as Kent had.

After a couple of seconds of tense silence, Alice said, "We'll see." The skin on her face returned to normal but her expression remained dark.

"How do we find Harriet?" Inara asked.

"She usually finds me," Kent said. "She says she has to ease me out of this world or I'll freak out the way the real Alice did. Her peacock sidekick will appear first."

"If Harriet finds Kent will she disable Kate?" Zoe asked.

"I'll do my best to make sure she does." Kent said," I promised Neffie."

"She will not help," River said.

Everyone looked at the young woman.

"Why wouldn't she?" Kent asked.

"We are a blight on Harriet's achievements. She is determined to wipe us clean," River said.

"You know all this through your enhanced psychic abilities?" Kent had to ask.

"No, I read her emails," River said with a tiny shrug.

"Her emails?" Alice asked sounding doubtful.

"All her programs are accessible from the laptop she uses to launch into the world of the helmet," River said. "Harriet has put up strong defenses with changing complex log in sequences to prevent an outside invasion but it never occurred to her that one could come from within. The silly girl lacks imagination." River gave Kent and Alice a curious frown. "You two think too human. You are batu now."

Alice gave a dry laugh. "A friend name Brit would find this all very funny."

"What the hell is a batu? Kaylee asked.

Is batu part of a Firefly episode I missed?" Kent asked.

"In all our fourteen episodes and the one movie we never once mention a batu," Inara said.

Kaylee wrinkled her forehead in thought. "No batu I can see."

"This batu ain't us," Zoe said.

"Could this be one of Kent's sexual fantasies," Inara suggested.

"Isn't a batu one of those tall many limb dudes from Bassoom" Kaylee asked. She gave Kent a narrow look. "Man, you are one sick twisted puppy."

Before Kent could deny or protest, River said, "There are many Earthly meanings to the word batu: a Mongol Emperor, a type of stone." She plucked lint from her vest in a twitchy nervous way as she spoke. "But in this case it is not a word but an acronym. Binary-artificial-tech-unit not to be confused with biological-artificial-tech-unit. They are related but not the same thing."

"Whatever," Kent said in exasperation. "All this shit is irrelevant because I'm a real dude wearing some kind of dream helmet called the brain tube. Not a batu artificial thingy."

"When you are using the helmet or brain tube as you call it, you become batu," River said.

"Are you batu?" Alice asked River.

"No, I'm a creation of the helmet's programing. I'm just a very smart AI at the moment."

"And Harriet Kono invented all this?" Alice asked.

"Hardly," River said. "Imperial cooperation acquired a piece of wreckage found in the San Francisco Bay. It is rumored to be part of an alien spacecraft. Harriet's brain tube is constructed from parts of the wreckage. The people from Imperial Industries are deceiving Harriet. They know that the debris is not alien."

"If it wasn't from an alien space ship what is it?" Zoe asked.

River cocked her head to one side like a nervous bird then said, "The imperial people think it's an object from the future."

"Was it a robot hand?" Kent said with a chuckle. "Is this crossing over into the Terminator series." In his mind's eye he envisioned a fit Linda Hamilton from the second movie wearing sunglasses and toting a shotgun. The woman was a total hot MILF.

"Close," River said, "it was a shiny blue with the letters ISN in gold on the forehead."

Alice's eyes grew wide. "ISN? Imperial Space Navy? No fucking way," she said.

Chapter Three Auxiliary Entry

"Let me get this straight," Donny Stevenson said as he looked at Kent's inert form on the hospital bed. It bothered him the way the helmet thing covered most of his best friend's head and face. It bothered him even more that his friend didn't know that he was in the room. "He is lost like those dudes in the Matrix movie and you want me to go in and bring him back so that you can free him of the that brain helmet whatever he's wearing?"