Brainstormed Ch. 01

She was caught off guard as she was not expecting "that talk," but agreed that they should get some sort of plan going. Agreeing to forming a plan, affectively put off the getting pregnant part, at least for a little while.

The discussion drifted to finance and Nate was talking of a company that he had heard rumors about. The scuttle butt was this small unknown business had developed the technology to record, and then replay a person's thoughts. They hadn't yet successfully made a recording that could be played back in another person's mind. She asked Nate if he was going to invest in the company, and he replied, "I'd love to, but it seems too risky to me. My research reveals that they haven't made it work, even in a limited capacity. I can't recommend that my investors dive in on something that many scientists have craved to be able to do, but none have seen success. Naturally, I'm going to keep an eye out."

Becca acknowledged Nate's assessment, but remained interested, "I guess so, you're right, you couldn't take that kind of a chance."

Some days later, still intrigued by the company that her husband resisted committing money into, she did a little poking around the internet. Becca found the company's web site, "trpb.com." Thought Recording and Play Back.com. On the site she discovered that if accepted, they were offering subjects $200 to test their equipment, and one of the test sites was going to be in Memphis, only ninety minutes away. She called the listed number, answered preliminary questions, and was approved. She made an appointment the following Tuesday, and decided to keep this project a secret.

Being able to drive to Memphis without Nate's knowledge would be easy. Being a teacher, she was off in the summer and he worked Monday to Friday. She decided that she wanted to look into this company, at first by herself. Nate could be included later, maybe, if it was something to pursue.

Tuesday morning, she drove to Memphis, to the address given, a kind of cheesy looking place. She figured the infant company's capital was low, so the less elaborate building was not a source of concern to her.

Upon entering she found that several people had responded, she signed in and took a seat. The wait was about one hour and then, Jessica Beil, was called. Becca had decided that she would use a fake name in case this turned into some kind of scam.

She went inside a room that looked like a NASA control room. Waivers were signed, instructions were given, contact phone number recorded and she was clearly told that she could quit at any time, and still get the $200.

They hooked her up with a wired contraption that covered her head like a beauty salon hair dryer and began giving her simple tasks to do. Separate colored blocks, write an unrelated sentence, then view some video, some of it rather risqué. While watching the video she experienced a young woman touching her arm, as if to give a manicure, though the touching was more intimate than needed for doing her nails.

The tasks had been explained in advance, but the researchers warned that there would be some unusual occurrences. The staff also told Becca that everything done was needed for the testing and not to worry. Just before Becca's testing was completed, she was touched on her left thigh by a guy, a cute guy. Then Mr. cute guy began massaging her thigh. Had she not been forewarned of unusual events, he may have been slapped. As it was though, she used the "this is part of a scientific test" explanation to allow a stranger, this cute young guy, to caress her leg. She had been surprised, but was definitely not angry, enjoying the unexpected attention was a more accurate description of Becca's reaction to the guy's actions.

As she drove home, she wondered if she'd ever hear from that company, but they gave her $200 for the effort, so it wouldn't be a total loss no matter what.

Nate and Becca enjoyed a great sexual romp that night, something about her day's activities had her really stirred up. Maybe it was being up to something on the sly, but more likely it was the unforeseen contact by the young man touching her leg that was spurring her horniness, "Jess" had been called to action again, and Nate wasn't complaining.

The week went normally, except for the increase in erotic activity, but Becca had always been enthusiastic about sex. That Wednesday she got a text from TRPB, they wanted her to contact them ASAP. She called the number given and she was told that they would really like to speak to her in person, the next day, if possible. She said right away, "Sure, I can come in the morning... sure, 10am is fine."

On arriving at TRPB's facilities, she was directed to a conference room immediately. A man and woman came in to talk to her, from appearances they were persons of authority with the company and introduced themselves as Dr. Michael Smith and Dr. Katelyn Jones.

Dr. Smith began, "Miss Beil, we, Dr. Jones and I have reviewed your test results several times and I must say, the results are quite extraordinary. We have never had a subject recorded with such clarity, and with an astonishing playback quality, making playback for another individual possible."

"Exactly what does that mean, Dr. Smith?" Jess (Becca) asked.

"As I am sure you are aware, we are trying to be the first to record one person's experiences and have another person relive those experiences as the recording is played back. The first and most difficult aspect of this was to find a person capable of making a usable recording. Then a second person is fitted into the headset and the playback initiated. The goal of course is for the second person to actually 'live' the event, it being just as real to them as it was for the original subject that made the recording," Dr. Smith said.

Dr. Jones jumped in, "Miss Beil, Jessica, what we are trying to accomplish is, a woman such as yourself does an activity while wearing the headset, that experience that she has is recorded. Then another woman places the headset on, and we replay the recording that was made. Her brain receives the signals from the headset, which are amplified, overriding any weaker signals that are normally being sent to her brain by her body. She would smell what you smelled, taste what you tasted, emotionally feel what you felt. They would be saying words you said, thinking the thoughts you thought, and then remember the event exactly the same as you remembered it. The possible uses would be unlimited, including teaching complex skills, like flying a jet fighter. Imagine if we could hook up a student pilot and let them actually experience flying the jet correctly? Other uses could be recreational, for instance, climbing a mountain, like the Matterhorn or even some sexual thrill."

"Oh my God, you can actually do that?" Jess (Becca) asked.

"We hadn't done very well until you came along. For some reason, that alludes us for now, recordings of your mind are unjumbled and very stable. Most people can't be recorded at all, the signals are too weak. Only a few are strong enough for the apparatus to capture, but those have had too much meandering, unrelated thoughts that, shall I say muck up the recording. You seem to be able to filter out all of those extra thoughts, and focus solely on the task at hand," Dr. Jones added.

"You keep saying woman, why not a man?" asked Jess. (Becca)

Dr. Smith answered, "We do hope to succeed with a man. Trouble is, you are the only one, man or woman, that has made a usable recording."

"I didn't make any effort to do anything special," remarked Jess (Becca).

"We know, and that is what is so extraordinary," Dr. Smith said, then continued, "Jessica, we would love for you to do a few more tests for us today, if you would."

Jess answered quickly, "Please, just call me Jess, and sure, I'm good to go."

"Well, my dear, we have to talk first, because we are going to ask you to do some things that may not, how shall I say, fit your moral code," said Dr. Jones, who was going to be the one handling the more delicate points of the proposal.

"Dr. Jones," Jess began, but was interrupted by the doctor.

"How about we suspend the formal titles, especially considering how closely we may be working together? Please call me Katelyn, OK?"

"And I'm just Mike, OK?

"Well if we are all getting that personal, Jessica Beil is not my real name," said Becca.

"I thought so, we had already tried to do some research on you and came up empty. Listen, if it's anonymity you need, your personal data will only be known to Mike and myself, all other references to you will be to an assigned number," promised Katelyn.

"OK, my name is Rebecca Wells, Becca."

"Glad we are able to trust each other, Becca. Mike and I are requesting that you trust us further, as we are requesting that you allow us to do recordings, while you have sexual contact with someone," said Katelyn.

"Wow, you jumped right past the fighter pilot and mountain climber and straight to me doing it with somebody. Cheating on my husband? Or are you suggesting that I try to get him to come in? Why the sex stuff right away?" Becca was no longer jumping at the opportunity.

"Ok, Becca, time for full disclosure. Getting funding has been very difficult for us. We were forced to consider options that normally would have been outside our comfort zone. Our work is so important to us, that we felt if we could get a working demo going, we might be able to pull in other money," Mike's explanation was being dragged out slowly.

Katelyn stepped in, "Becca, the only financial people that would take us seriously, were some tycoons in the porn industry."

"Oh, my god," Becca exclaimed.

"Believe me, it wasn't our first choice, but they are funding everything you see. Naturally we tested hundreds of women that do adult films and none of them were workable, not one could make a usable recording." Katelyn had begun her sales pitch.

"Becca, do you know what 'Virtual Porn' is?" Katelyn asked.

"Yes, sort of, I guess. I've seen virtual games at a party, with special visors and all, I assume it's the same, except with sex, right?"

Mike answered this one, "Yes, that's exactly right. The money people, have been pouring an unprecedented amount of funds into the 'virtual sex' version of porn, without achieving the payoff that they expected. What we are trying to do here is light years beyond virtual sex. If we could make it work, I am confident that we could get them to invest hundreds of millions. Then we could expand the technology toward the other applications that we are really interested in."

Then Katelyn added, "Here is the offer: We would like you to do some testing today, with a man whom we have screened, which includes all health concerns. You would be assigned an ID number, however you may continue to use your alias, 'Jess,' while making the recording. He will have no access to your info, nor will you have access to his.

If you agree, and this is successful, more opportunity may be discussed, however you would be paid $5,000 for today's work that should only involve an hour. You may find comfort in realizing that at no time does your face appear, this would only happen if you looked into a mirror, and we have removed all mirrors from the set. You must realize that you would be the first person, man or woman to be recorded like this with playback capability ... what do you think?"

Becca replied nervously, "I am fascinated, and it is exciting to think that I may be the only one that can do this. However, my main concern is my husband. It is cheating. It can be described as science and we can pretend that it is all about making history, but it is still me, having sex with another man. If Nate found out, he would hate me, and he would divorce me."

"Becca, we will take every precaution to protect your anonymity. You must realize by now that finding you has been extraordinary for us and we would do nearly anything to appease you." Katelyn pronounced.

"I need to think about this, it is cheating on my husband, after all," Becca said and looked down at the floor with guilt.

Mike stepped in with a proposal, "Look Becca, it's almost lunchtime. Why not let our driver take you downtown, have a fancy lunch on us, do some thinking and we'll talk when you get back."

"OK, I am hungry. Be back at 1pm?" she asked.

"Take as long as you would like, then we'll talk," Katelyn assured.

So, Becca was taken to the fanciest restaurant in Memphis, had a lunch suitable for a queen, including two glasses of wine.

She was intrigued by the offer. For the first time in her life she was being told that she could do something that possibly no one else in the world could do. Having sex with a man other than her husband, that other women would be able to relive was powerful. Perhaps they would be able to have the best sex of their lives, because of her. If this thing that they wanted to try worked, there could be an awful lot of money to be made.

Those were the positives, but then she thought, "The only thing is Nate. I love him, if he found out, it would finish us. It is cheating, it's wrong. He would never be alright with this. But should I let that hold me back? Most certainly, he would never find out. This wouldn't have all of the traps of an affair, I don't even know the man, there's no feeling for him, or him for me."

At 2pm Becca was back in the conference room with Drs. Smith and Jones (Mike and Katelyn.)

Katelyn asked, "Did you come to any conclusions?"

"Yes. Your offer is exciting, in that I might be the only person in the world capable of making your project work, though I suppose that there might be others that could do it. I'm guessing that I could get you to up the amount of money significantly also, but it doesn't matter. I just can't do something to my husband like that, it would destroy us. So I'm going to say thanks, but no thanks," Becca declared.

"What if we upped the offer to $20,000?" asked Mike.

"I would be willing to pay 100 times that to repair my screwed-up life, if Nate found out. I really love him. If you get to where you want to record something besides sex, get back to me," Becca answered, then said goodbye and went home.

The rest of the year passed quietly, with Becca getting an occasional text from TRPB Corp. checking to see if she had changed her mind, which she hadn't. Then all hell broke loose.

When Nate came home from work, he was extraordinarily aloof when Becca greeted him. Something was off, he was terribly distressed, she asked him, "Baby what's wrong?"

Nate tried to stall, to protect Becca from the horror that was becoming his life. She wasn't having it though, her man was in pain and she would help. Becca would do anything to ease her love's trouble.

She took hold of both of his arms, forcing him to look into her eyes and said, "You tell me what it is, tell me now. I love you with all of my being, whatever it is we'll face it, and resolve it together. Now tell me!"

"I'm in trouble, big trouble. Somehow, some one has embezzled a lot of money out of the accounts that I handle. Company security came into my office today, informed me that I had to leave the premises pending investigation of my theft of over $300,000, that I would be informed of the outcome and I had to surrender my company credit card, my access pass, lap top, and company cell phone. I didn't do this, I didn't take that money."

"Nate, I know you, I know you aren't capable of such a thing. If there is money missing, then some prick is setting you up, any idea of who that could be?"

"Becca, that just it, I don't have a clue. I'm locked out. I don't know what evidence they claim they have against me or anything else, I'm completely in the dark."

"Have you called Bill? He knows you better than anybody, except for me; he'll have to realize that this can't be right," Becca questioned.

"No, I haven't. He probably isn't allowed to take my calls anyway," a dejected Nate replied.

"Well he'll damn sure take mine, or I'll go to his house and beat on the door until he answers," and with that Becca called Bill's private number.

Bill (Nate's friend, supervisor and man who arranged for Nate's promotion) answered on the second ring, "Hello Becca, I'm assuming that this is not a social call."

"Bill, what the fuck is going on?" Becca began, being much more aggressive than she wanted, but couldn't help herself.

Bill responded without returning her aggression, he understood, "Becca, they told me that I'm not allowed any contact with either of you."

"You've known Nate for a long time, you know he didn't do whatever it is that they are saying."

"I know Becca, I do know him, but I've seen the evidence. It's bad. Listen, I want to help, but I'll get fired if they catch wind that I'm telling you anything."

"I swear on my life that we'll not tell anyone that you are involved, not even his lawyer, when he gets one. Please Bill, he's so destroyed, he thinks that he is going to be charged with fraud and theft."

"Is he there? Let me talk to him."

"I'm here Bill," Nate said after she switched her phone to speaker, "I didn't take that money, it would mean everything if you believed me."

"There are only a few things that I know for absolute certainty, one of those is that you aren't capable of this," replied Bill.

"I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that," Nate replied, barely able to get the words out.

"Ok guys, I think you realize that I'm putting my career and my family's well being in jeopardy. Here's what I'll do, I'll tell you what I know now, keep you informed of the exact developments as the company investigates, and use my access to sniff around on my own."

Becca responded, Nate was unable, "Bill we love you, and we realize the spot that you are in. You will never be revealed, no matter what. Thank you so much."

"What they have right now is, an off shore account seemingly set up by Nate, money transfers through dummy companies from accounts under Nate's responsibility to that off shore account. The procedure seems to be a long-term scheme, starting several months ago. It was designed to take relatively small amounts of money, disguised as trading costs and divert them to that account.

The main problem is that all of the transactions have Nate's finger prints all over them, his computer was used, with his access codes and passwords. What doesn't make sense to me, is that the amount stolen is relatively small, $300 K and not millions. Of course, the company feels that they nipped this in the bud.

The truth is, they discovered the shortage by accident. Some new hire accountant, noted a discrepancy and took it upstairs. They will likely have the Security Exchange Commission involved by tomorrow.

You need to move as much money as you can, to a place controlled by someone you trust, do it now, tomorrow may be too late."

Becca responded again as Nate was falling apart, "Bill are you saying Nate is going to be arrested?"

"I believe that is inevitable. The company will likely make a show, for the benefit of the investors, that no amount of stealing is tolerated. Once the SEC is involved, Nate will be facing federal prosecution, just paying back the money won't fix it." Bill concluded then added, "Get a burner phone, so will I. All further communication will be through them."

They all said their goodbyes and Becca got on her computer and transferred all of her and Nate's cash on hand money into Becca's parents' account, which had her name on it also. She then called her Mom and filled her in on what was happening, and directed her to transfer the money to an account that did not have Becca's name on it.

The next morning, at 8am sharp, Becca and Nate's coffee break was interrupted by a knock on the door. FBI agents were at the door, several squad cars with lights flashing were on the street, and Nate was arrested and taken into custody. He hadn't even secured an attorney yet, Becca would see to that.