All in the Name of Science Pt. 03

Part 3: Participation

At five minutes before 9:00 a.m. on that Saturday morning, I found myself standing in front of Nanigan Hall, questioning my decision to participate in this study. I noticed a few other guys including a few athletes I knew milling about like me in front of the women's dorm notorious for wild parties and sexual hijinks. We had all been there before, of course, but it was usually an evening or all-night event. Showing up outside Nanigan at 9:00 a.m. was a novel experience for us all.

One of the guys, Brendan, I recognized from the Soccer team as well as from one of the parties that Nanigan Hall held during the winter. He was a nice enough guy, so we spent a few minutes making small talk outside as others arrived and joined us. I think we were all waiting until the last minute to approach the door, a bit apprehensive about what this trial would entail.

At 9:00, a tall guy from our group went over and rang the bell as we all gathered behind him. Two of the women from Nanigan Hall answered the door wearing white lab coats over their more comfortable winter clothes, smiling broadly. They ushered us inside the large foyer of the building and pointed us to the parlor off to the side to leave our coats.

"Welcome, guys," the tall, dark-haired woman greeted us. "Thanks for being so punctual. We've got a lot to do today and we're looking forward to getting started with you. I'm Marla."

"And I'm Trina," the shorter blonde woman added. "If you drop your coats in there, we'll get you downstairs and get started."

We all left our coats and stood in the foyer in mostly sweats or basketball shorts and sweatshirts. Our two hostesses next led us down the stairs to Nanigan Hall's social room, the scene of many a crazy party. We all started smiling on the way down, remembering all the fun times we'd each experienced at past events. Today, however, the social room was set up very differently. Instead of themed lighting, a tight press of sweating, half-dressed bodies and a few bars around the side, this morning the room felt practically empty.

Down the center of the room, between the two rows of center columns, lay eight mats about the size of sheets of plywood but with padded surfaces and carry straps. To one side was a large carpet in front of one of the side sofas with a couple other chairs gathered nearby. One of the bars was clearly set up with a large tub of ice and bottles of water. And surrounding the whole space were lights, brightly illuminating the mats and seating area. As we entered the room and were ushered towards the seating area, we also noticed that cameras were placed in several locations also surrounding the mats and seating, however they all appeared to be off for now as no lights were visible.

Trina directed us all to find comfortable spots to sit on either the furniture or the carpet while Marla grabbed a few bottles of water to pass out to us. I found a comfy spot on the carpet between Brendan and Tommy, another guy I had seen regularly at parties. He was more of a frat boy than an athlete, but he had a killer sense of humor and seemed to get more than his share of female attention. To be honest, I was a little jealous of him before, but with my newfound relationship with Tricia, that envy was a thing of the past.

"Thanks for joining us, boys," a shorter Hispanic woman joined us. "I'm Carmen and I'll be directing the study with you today and in two weeks." She may have been short, but she moved with sultry authority as she walked through our group to stand between us and the central area with the mats.

"I'm an Engineering major working on an interdisciplinary capstone project with several Psychology majors. I believe you've already met Marla and Trina. We live together here at Nanigan Hall and together came up with a great idea for a project that would have a real benefit to men and women everywhere. We were fortunate enough that NightPlay Products sponsored our research and has been helping with prototyping our solution."

"NightPlay Products?" Tommy asked. "Isn't that the sex toy company?"

"They make products to enhance intimacy," Carmen corrected, "but yes, that's the company. In this case, they're helping us address a problem that affects almost 40% of men at some point in their lives: premature ejaculation."

"You're all here because you gave the same answer on that question in our qualification questionnaire. Before you hurt yourselves doing the math, you all said 'occasionally.' If it helps, that is actually the most common answer among college-aged men, with slightly more responses than those who said 'never' to that question." At this, I noticed several of the guys looking around the room, surprised at some of those who were selected to participate with them. They way some of these guys talked in the locker room or on the field, you would think "never" was already too frequent for them.

"The purpose of this study," Carmen explained, "is to test the design of a new device that will help train men to delay their orgasm until they are ready--or their partner is ready--to experience it. You'll be involved in testing this device several times today and again in a couple weeks. Along the way, Marla and Trina will be taking note of your reactions and your comments during our discussions between tests. To help with this, in a few minutes we will ask for your consent to record this session."

"So, you want to record us playing with your device and talking about it?" the tall guy asked.

"Well, technically, the device will be playing with you, but I'll explain how that works next so you know what you're volunteering for." Carmen reached into a nearby box and retrieved one of the devices. It looked like a rectangular box about 14 inches long by four inches square. On one of the long sides, two parallel slits about two inches apart traveled the length of the device. A loop made up of two Velcro straps hung out at one end of that pair of slits. The straps passed through a crescent-shaped cradle which was mounted across the two slits. She then presented a hollow tube made of a transparent jelly-like material, picked up a banana and inserted it into the tube with the end of the banana protruding on each end. Finally, she placed the encased banana in the cradle and tightened the Velcro straps to hold it in place.

"This is the Ejaculation Control Trainer or ECT for short," Carmen explained, indicating the device. "By now, you've probably figured some of this out. You insert your "banana" into one of the jelly sleeves and strap the ECT device around it. The ECT device is then mounted to a bracket. When the device is turned on, it will move the cradle up and down along the tracks on the side, stroking your "banana" in the process." She demonstrated by turning on the device and holding the banana upright. As the machine whirred to life, it began moving the jelly sleeve up and down the banana.

"The device can be controlled by a smartphone app which can alter the speed, length and position of the strokes and even the rotation of the sleeve as it travels." As she explained this, the machine picked up speed, stroking the banana faster than before, rotating back and forth around the banana as it traveled. It then slowed down and started stroking only the tip of the banana, then traveled to the base for a few more strokes. "For our purposes, we can sync all eight ECT devices to one smartphone so that all eight of you will receive the same, um, stimuli."

At this point, one of the other guys--I think his name was Brad--asked incredulously, "You want to pay us $100 each to let your device jerk us off? That's the easiest money I've ever made!"

"Yes and no," Marla answered. "First, there will be opportunities throughout the tests to earn more than the $100 base compensation. We'll explain those opportunities as we get to them. Also, remember that the goal of participating in this study is to NOT let the device jerk you off. It will stroke you, but the point of this machine is to teach you to resist ejaculating, even when you are being stimulated."

"Still sounds like an easy $100 to me," Brad quipped.

"We'll see," Marla smirked back at him. "Are there any other questions?" she asked the group of us.

I don't know about the other guys in the room, but my head was trying to wrap itself around the idea that we were all going to let these machines try to get us off while we were trying not to let that happen. The resulting stunned silence allowed Marla to continue.

"Between tests, we'll take some time to discuss what happened and what you were feeling. Then we'll discuss strategies to delay your orgasm the next time."

Carmen stepped back in. "Before we explain the method we'll use for the first test, I'd like to ask all of you to read and sign the consent and non-disclosure forms Marla and Trina are handing out." As she said this, we each received two forms and a pen. I took a moment to glance at the forms but, as expected, they each contained a lot of words. Most of it was legalese and I didn't want my eyes glazing over this early in the day. I just signed both forms and returned them to Trina. The other guys were all busy doing the same thing.

Once Trina and Marla had collected all the forms, Carmen explained the first test of the day. "This first test is intended to set a baseline for each of you. Your only goal is to hold out as long as you can. When we're ready, you'll each undress and lie on one of the padded boards." She indicated the mats I noticed when we entered the room. "Trina, Marla and I will then attach the devices to their stands. While we're doing this, another set of volunteers will place the jelly sleeves over your erections. Of course, they may have to help you get erections first. Just let them do what they've been instructed to do and remember, this is all in the name of science." She smiled knowingly at us.

"Once everything and everyone is ready, your volunteers will help attach your jelly sleeve to your ECT device. We'll start the devices nice and slow and then gradually increase the stimulation in different ways. All you have to do is lay back, relax and enjoy the test. Oh, and you'll also want to hold back. The last man to cum will earn himself an extra $100."

A brief murmur of excitement passed through the group of us. I'm not sure whether we were turned on at the thought of the test itself or the opportunity to double our earnings simply by holding out as long as we could. Either way, we were all clearly excited to get started.

At an unspoken signal, a door opened and eight other women from Nanigan Hall entered the room, each holding a large canvas bag and a jelly sleeve. "Here they are," Trina said. "Gentlemen, these are the volunteers who will be assisting you. Ladies, please choose one of these men to help with the tests." The eight women split up, each heading toward one of us. When I looked up, I noticed that Tricia was heading my way with an excited look in her eye.

"Hey, Stud," she grinned up at me. "Ready to do this?"

"With you here, I'm ready to do a lot more than this," I answered her, smiling broadly.

"OK, Boys," Marla prompted. "Time to get naked. Put your clothes in the bag your volunteer will give you and then lie down on one of the eight padded boards in the middle of the room."

After a communal moment of indecision, we all looked at each other and shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time we had undressed in public. In my mind, it was just like changing into or out of my lacrosse uniform for a game. Just without a uniform. I started removing clothes and dropping them in the bag Tricia gleefully held out for me. When I was down to my boxers, I looked quickly around the room. The other seven guys were in varying stages of undress, including two who were already completely naked. I dropped my underwear into the bag and prepared for the most unusual experience of my young life.

= = = = = = = = = =

Tricia took my hand and led me over to one of the eight padded boards. I noticed that Brendan was on one side of me and a few moments later Tommy's volunteer brought him over to the board on the other side of me. At least I knew my neighbors. This will be one hell of a story for the three of us to discuss over a beer sometime.

As we were undressing and moving to the boards, Carmen, Trina and Marla were busy turning on all the video cameras and then installing the brackets and ECT devices on each board. The ECT devices were mounted on short poles which in turn were inserted vertically into the boards about one third of the way from the ends closest to the center of the room.

Tricia directed me to lay down on the board with my head on the outside end and my legs straddling the ECT device on its pole. She grabbed a bottle of the lube that was being passed around, pumped a bit into her hand and then reached out to start working my dick. I was currently about half-hard, trapped between arousal at the prospect of being jerked off and discomfort with the idea that a machine would be doing it. Because Tricia already knew how to press my buttons, it took her less than a minute to have me completely hard and ready for the jelly sleeve. She added a little extra lube and then slipped the sleeve over my erect member. With the sleeve around me, Tricia had me scoot down the board until the device was a few inches away from my crotch. She then wrapped the Velcro bands around the jelly sleeve, trapping my dick in a vertical position up against the side of the ECT device. Gradually, all the other men were similarly prepared, and Carmen addressed us again.

"OK, Boys," she said. "We're about to get started. Remember, do whatever you have to do to hold out longest. There's an extra Franklin waiting for whoever cums last." Then raising her smartphone, she tapped a button, and all eight machines began stroking us simultaneously. Carmen made a quick note on the clipboard she was carrying.

It took only a few seconds to get over the weirdness of the situation. Here I was, lying naked on a padded board with seven other naked guys lying on their own padded boards around me. We each had our erections strapped to an experimental machine by one of the girls of Nanigan Hall and those machines were now stroking our trapped cocks slowly up and down, trying to make us cum. It was weird, but the jelly sleeves and the stroking felt really good, and I was soon thinking more about how much I enjoyed this than about how uncomfortable it made me feel at first. As the machine glided up and down my hard cock, it felt oddly like a cross between a handjob and a blowjob. At the end of every downstroke, the top couple inches of my dick stuck out the top of the sleeve, before being engulfed again on the upstroke. It was definitely different from fucking, since none of the girls I'd ever met had an opening at the other end of their pussies.

Speaking of girls, Tricia was kneeling next to me, watching the machine stroke me with a sparkle of intense interest in her eye and a big smile on her face. Every once in a while, she would reach over to stroke my chest or play with my nipple.

"Do you mind?" I asked her after the second or third such attempt. "I love when you touch me, but I'm trying NOT to cum here, remember?" In reality, the machine was stroking only about once every two seconds, slowly enough that I was in no danger of reaching an orgasm any time soon. Still, I didn't want to hurry the process at all.

"Oops...sorry!" she grinned sheepishly. "I just can't help it." I smiled my forgiveness back at her.

At about that time, the sound in the room went up in pitch as the machines started stroking us faster. Again, Carmen wrote something on her clipboard as we each started receiving a stroke approximately once each second. The intensity was noticeably ratcheting up. Tricia's intensity ratcheted up a bit too. She was now watching my dick as if she were settling in for her favorite TV show. To be fair, so was I until I realized that would not help me hold off. I lay back down and started thinking about lacrosse plays and physics homework to distract myself from the pleasure starting to radiate through my crotch.

As I glanced around the room, I noticed several of the other guys doing the same thing. Brendan on my left was busy chatting about some class assignment with the girl who was his volunteer while Tommy had his eyes screwed shut tightly and appeared to be counting something in his head. To his right, the really tall guy was laying back completely relaxed as if he were enjoying a spa day or something. His breathing was steady and even and he looked like his mind was a million miles away on a beach somewhere. His long, thin cock was starting to drool pre-cum already, but he wasn't showing any signs of an approaching explosion. His pretty volunteer sat behind him holding his raised hands in her own and breathing with him.

After a minute or two at the current speed, we all heard the machines start to speed up again just before Carmen made another note. They were now pumping us about twice per second. I had jacked off and fucked faster than that, so the speed wasn't an overwhelming problem. The problem was that the device started adding some rotation on each stroke; as the jelly sleeve stroked upward, the sleeve turned about a quarter-turn and then turned back again on the down stroke. I'd had a girlfriend in high school who had tried that on me after reading about it in some magazine and I remember that I didn't last long for her. I've matured a bit since then and I've gained a lot more control, but I couldn't deny the twisting motion was really ramping up the sensations down below. I started replaying in my head all the hits I could remember taking in our recent Lacrosse games. The memories of the pain helped, but they couldn't completely block out the pleasure the machine was creating.

Someone across from us moaned. That didn't bode well. I looked up and couldn't tell for sure who it was, but It sounded like Brad, who was directly opposite me. He was clenching his fists by his side while his voluptuous volunteer tried her best to distract him. She was distracting all right, but I'm afraid her curves wouldn't help his current efforts at all.

"OK, Ladies," Carmen called out. "It's time to add some lubrication for your guys." At that signal, all the volunteers leaned over and squirted an additional pump of lube directly over the exposed tips of our cocks. The constant motion of the machine immediately spread it down my shaft and eased some of the friction I was starting to feel.

Brad also appeared to ease up a bit as the lube reduced the sensations he was receiving from the device. His volunteer had the poor timing to celebrate his improvement by clapping her hands and bouncing up and down enthusiastically, which in turn jiggled her substantial tits in front of his face. He lost it. In a loud groan of dismay, his cock erupted, spraying cum straight up in the air. As the machine continued to pump his spasming organ, his cum landed back on the open end of the sleeve and was quickly joined by a second and a third emission. The constant motion of the machine quickly churned his reclaimed cum into a white froth coating his cock. Just as he was starting to twitch and squirm from the discomfort, his volunteer touched a switch on the side of his ECT device and the machine stopped.

Man, I thought. That was just in time. I can't even imagine what it would have felt like if she had forgotten to turn it off. The fast, tight strokes and twisting motion right after cumming would probably be enough to melt my brain. Tricia must have been thinking the same thing because all of a sudden she looked down at me with a wicked expression in her eyes.

Once the first man came, some of the others started dropping like flies. On my right, Tommy barely made it to the end of Brad's orgasm before he also began crying out, "I'm cumming!" His cum didn't shoot as high, but there was a lot of it and it all oozed into the sleeve surrounding his cock. In a few seconds, he was also coated in a white foam of his own making. His volunteer reached out and mercifully shut his machine off. "Shit," Tommy declared with what little brain function he could muster at that moment. He seemed pretty pissed at himself.