The Collegeworld Ch. 06

"There's still a major difference. If I was an agent, which of course I'm not, and I was courting a woman and buying her gifts, I would do that not just to have sex but to develop a more meaningful relationship. It sounds like you have some magic drug that will just make me able to treat them like cigarettes, use once and then throw away."

The doctor got up and started to pace back and forth.

"I see, I see. Please do not take offense, but I genuinely assumed you would want to activity mainly for the sake of the physical relief, and potentially to have a fun source of exercise. For this purpose agents are perfect since we can have interactions like that without that having any effect in the real world, or really, even in the simulation. Let's say an agent would be unhappy about the experience after the fact? We'd just revert them to the last checkpoint. Then, from their subjective point nothing had happened."

"Sorry, can you repeat that? Revert?"

"Surely they covered this in the basic training, but possibly you have not administered this treatment during your short time here. Yes, essentially revert their memory back a few hours or about a day. Longer than that and other agents will start to react strangely to their loss of memory, but a hour or two and nobody usually minds."

"Ok, I get it. Seems handy."

"But utterly useless for you in this instance. I understand you hold the belief that agents are more human than what many others believe, and you believe we should treat them more humanely than we sometimes do. This is admirable," the doctor said, "especially considering that holding this belief is objectively denying some physical pleasure from yourself."

The doctor continued pacing around the room, deep in thought.

"However, this does present a dilemma. What is the line between acceptable and unacceptable chemical use in the simulation moral system? Is using a cologne to smell better cheating? What about brushing your teeth? Using makeup? And looking at it differently, how about working out to elicit a primitive attraction response? Basically agents, and to be honest us humans as well, are trying to cheat their way into each other's sexual organs all the time."

There was no denying the doctor sort of did have a point.

"I see you're thinking about it. Why don't you tell me your thoughts?" the doctor said, seeing Thomas' furrowed brow.

"I never thought about it in that much detail, to tell you the truth."

"Would you wear a scent that made you more attractive?"

"I guess it depends on how much? If it increased my chances a little bit, then yeah, sure. If it made people just flat out fall in love with me, something they'd never do otherwise? Probably not then."

"It sounds like you have some personal searching to do, son. How about you stick to non-sexual forms of exercise for now?"

"Exactly my thoughts."

###

The doctor's appointment had not been quite as helpful as he'd hoped but at least he'd gotten some free food out of it, sludge or not. However, his wish of a science-y fat zapper device had been unfulfilled.

Speaking of unfulfillment he realized there was one more thing he had to do. He didn't want to, but it was the only way to go on.

Thomas was feeling sour as he walked, dragging his feet as much as possible, trying to delay his arrival. But no matter how much he tried he couldn't avoid finally arriving there. Once there, he swallowed hard and took out his phone.

Christine answered at the first ring.

"Thomas! I've been trying to reach you all day. What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, everything's good. Can you come outside? I want to talk with you."

"Sure, I'll be there in a sec."

In less than a minute the door opened and she rushed to him. She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh my god, I'm glad you're fine. I was worried something happened."

"Something did happen, Christine," he said, stepping back from her hug and locking his hard, cold eyes with hers.

"Thomas, you're scaring me."

"No need to be scared. I have simply come to understand that I can't stay in contact with you. I have been thinking about you too much this semester and it has impacted my psyche too much. I will ask to change lab times. I'm sorry about this but I hope you can understand."

"Thomas, I-"

"Please, Christine. There are no hard feelings and you really did let me down as gracefully as possible. However, I need to focus on myself now and I simply can't do it if I'm still around you. I am truly sorry."

He turned and walked away, refusing to hear anything she shouted after him.

###

The first time Thomas went to the gym was hard. Furious at himself for having been so rude to Christine he pushed himself too hard and almost puked in a trash can next to the squat rack. At least the sludge was good.

The second time was better. He used more reasonable weights and managed to finish an actual set.

For the third time he asked Adonis to join him. After their workout Adonis donned his hazmat suit and went to observe the ladies' locker room. Thomas ignored his pleas to come perv with him and instead went to finish the math homework.

He still kept clocking in as Adonis every day. Every Monday night he'd go to pick up the cash envelope and took it to Lina's home. He'd leave the envelope under her door. Sometimes he'd go inside and watch her sleep, increasingly often with a trace of happiness on her face.

His sessions with Lara were hard. He wasn't used to opening his heart up to someone and it was a struggle to tell her his secrets, his innermost feelings. He didn't tell everything, of course. Anything he did for the people running the world was obviously off limits, but he told her everything else. How he was starting to get over Christine, how he masturbated less frequently and watched less porn, how he had made a new friend, Adonis, and despite their differences was starting to bond with him.

She kept pushing him to volunteer more. Thomas was struggling to explain the fact that he already did more unpaid work than was in any way reasonable. He'd frame it as "helping Adonis with errands", which did not impress Lara.

"Really, Thomas. I understand you feel it is important to help your friend, but I'm talking about something that lets you help the whole community and meet more new people. How about one of those campus orientation guides? I just got an e-mail about it today, asking for volunteers to help some new transfer students get on board."

His ears perked. Surely this would be better than handing out hot soup to people on Sunday mornings. Just show people around the campus? He could do that.

"Sure, I'll sign up," he said.

"Really, this is great, Thomas! I feel we have made a breakthrough," she exlaimed.

"If you say so."

"Moving on to other topics. I also see you appear to be getting healthier and healthier every time I see you. Wonderful job. Maybe I should hire the same personal trainer," she added, winking.

It had been much easier to explain that he'd hired a personal trainer than to tell that his diet and exercise program had been created by Doctor 0.

"I will let you know when he starts taking new clients again."

"With those results I can see how he's so busy..." her voice trailed off.

Honestly, Lara was among the last people on the campus to need a personal trainer. He'd been scheduled to do a few check-ups to her since that first time so he was intimately aware of her body, probably more so than she herself was. The dossier said that she was starting to get sexually frustrated and at the same time was worried Jason, the guy she was seeing, was trying to push things too fast. She felt desires rising within her but felt masturbation was wrong. This created a conflict that she could not possible resolve herself.

Luckily she didn't have to. That's why the park was staffed with technicians.

Thomas could see the results of his work clearly whenever he had a therapy session with Lara either just before or just after he was scheduled to release her tension. The day after the treatment her cheeks would be flushed and her eyes would be sparkling and she'd catch herself smiling into the distance before noticing it and focusing back to Thomas. It was cute, really, but even then it didn't match the experience of being in the room with her lying naked on her bed, squirming as the official treatment tool did its work inside her.

"Thomas, are you listening?"

He startled back to the present moment.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. Could you repeat?"

"It's all right. It seemed like a pleasant memory. Do you want to talk about it?"

Did Thomas want to talk to Lara about how her body twisted and curled when she came, how her fists clenched, how she bit her arm to subconsciously quiet her screams?

Yes and no. For now, no.

"Maybe another time. So, what did you say earlier?"

"Just that I hope you didn't take my compliment about your improving health personally. I simply wanted to congratulate you on your self-control."

"It is quite fun, actually. I think what I was missing before was structure, a program to follow, plus the initial spark of course. It's great I get to work out my anger and frustration."

"That's great! Speaking of spark, you still haven't talked with Christine?"

"No, I haven't. She keeps trying to call me, but I don't think I can talk with her. I regret that I was so harsh with her, but that was the only way I felt I could break free."

"I understand, I understand."

Thomas wasn't sure she did. She didn't know he also had to keep treating Christine. Supervisors typically kept assigning agent treatments to techs that had treated them before.

Christine was a mess. Her sexual frustration had stabilized since she'd bought that new vibrator, but emotionally she seemed distressed. Every week Thomas would be tasked to go into her and Lara's room, strip Christine and himself, and cuddle with her until bad dreams left her and her breath stabilized. More often than not he would massage her breasts while his erect penis would leak precum to her thighs.

It was a hard job but someone had to do it.

"Thomas? Are you thinking about her right now?"

Right, he was still in Lara's office.

"Uh, yes, kind of. Mostly just about some stuff from before. I want to reconnect with her, but I can't risk it before I know I am over her."

"Yes," she nodded. "That is a good idea. If you want I could be a messenger between you two. I could tell her that you are doing well and that you regret how things turned out, but you want to try to rebuild a friendship later, perhaps next semester. Is that something you want me to do?"

"Yes, please. That would be very nice."

"Great! Well, I see we are out of time. See you next week, Thomas!"

"You too, Lara."

###

Thomas drank his nutrition sludge as he walked to the Resident Life building.

"Yes?" an attractive blonde in her late twenties behind a desk asked.

"I heard there is need for new campus orientation guides? I would like to help with that if I could."

"Yes, absolutely! What year are you?"

"I'm freshman, but I am pretty familiar with the whole campus. I do, uh, geocaching, so I move around different buildings a lot."

"Oh, no worries about that. It's not so much about being a literal guide as it is just being someone the new students can talk to about mundane matters. Let me see...yes! I know we'd have one. So, the reason I sent that notification out today is that we have a sudden mid-semester transfer and no free guides right now. Could you start already today?"

"Today? Uh..."

"Please, say yes! This is a very special student. We want to give her the best possible start here. How about you help me and I'll see what I can do to move you to a private dorm room for the spring semester?"

"Oh, wow. Yes, absolutely, I can start today."

Surely Adonis could complete one workout on his own.

"Fantastic! I will call her immediately if you don't mind."

The blonde took her office phone and pressed a few buttons.

"Miss Couture? Yes, this is the Resident Life office again. We have a new guide who is available to show you around. When? Well, I suppose that is negotiable. What time would you prefer? Yes, I see. Let me ask him. Yes, it is a him. Is that fine? Great."

She put the phone against her shoulder and turned back to Thomas.

"The student, Genevieve Couture, would like to meet up with you as soon as possible since she has practice later today. Is there any way you could meet her already for lunch, say within the next thirty minutes?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't have any pressing homework right now."

"Great!" She picked up the phone again. "Miss Couture? Yes, the guide, Thomas, will meet you for lunch. He is wearing...let's see...jeans and a hoodie. Yes, I know, not all that descriptive. Oh, I know! I will give him a badge. Yes, one of those bright yellow ones you saw. Great!"

The blonde put down the phone and flashed her flawless white teeth at Thomas.

"I am in your debt, Thomas! This was such a good timing. I just started this job and I so very much want to give a good impression, so when we had this surprise transfer and nobody to help her I started to panic and I was worried that my supervisor would...well, never mind that. Let's just say I will try very hard to make sure you get that private room. If there's anything else I can do, don't hesitate to let me know, okay?"

"Uh, right. So what do I actually do with this Genevieve?"

"Just answer any questions she has, ask what buildings she has classes in and show her how to get there, that kind of stuff. Basically, let her ask what she needs to ask. Some students ask a ton of questions, others don't. Let her steer and just go with the flow."

"Got it. So, a badge?"

###

Thomas was standing outside the student union building in his dark jeans and dark hoodie, and a bright yellow badge that said "RESIDENT LIFE", with "Thomas" written underneath with a black marker.

He spotted Genevieve from afar. Behind her gracious step and poised composition was unmistakeable unfamiliarity of her surroundings that every new student was familiar with. She was dressed in a long, white coat and her hair was hidden behind a fur hat. She seemed to be of medium height, though her build was hard to judge due to the coat.

As she got closer Thomas waved at her, and she waved back. She took the last steps with a light spring on her feet and stopped closer to Thomas than most girls did. Her face reminded him of something.

"Hi! I'm Genevieve! You must be Thomas."

She was his companion. The naked goddess that he had known for a grand total of one day. The woman that had been bound to him, to serve his every sexual desire. Her body had been flawless, her face like an angel. He could still feel her fingers on his back as she opened the knots he didn't even know he had.

The one woman that would have willingly, so to speak, had sex with him, and he'd turned her down. This very same woman was now standing in front of him.

Shit. Don't be weird. Not now.

"Yes, hi," he managed to say, still trying to piece together the image of her body. "Nice to meet you, Genevieve. Are you hungry?"

"A little bit. What do you usually eat here?"

"Actually, most of the time I pack my own lunch. I kinda eat this nutrition liquid thing. But we have a pretty good salad and sandwich shop here if you're not into salt and grease."

"That sounds great! Lead on."

Thomas ordered a bacon melt for himself. Genevieve went for an avocado bagel.

"Is it your first day on campus?" Thomas asked after the first bite.

"Yes. I understand my sudden arrival was so...sudden, and I appreciate the flexibility everyone here has showed in helping me. I arrived last night and today is officially my first day of school."

"So where did you transfer from?"

"It is a little embarrassing, but for the past few months I have not been studying much. I was at the U.S. Figure Skating Olympic training camp and there I studied as much as possible on my own."

"Olympic training camp! Wow, that is so cool."

She looked down at her plate.

"It was. But since I'm here it means I wasn't selected."

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry, Genevieve. I understand it must be disappointing. I still hope you will have good time here, even if it's not the Olympics."

She looked back at him. "I'm sure it will be. And I can still skate."

"That's right. So what will you be studying?"

"Quantum information! Isn't that cool?"

"Holy cow, that is actually really cool. I didn't know we even taught that here."

"It's kind of a tailored program. Mostly graduate courses," she said quietly.

"So what you're saying is that not only are you basically an Olympic-level skater, you're also a physics genius?"

She was looking at her half-eaten sandwich again, not saying anything.

"Sorry, Genevieve. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, Thomas. It's just that I've been hearing all my life I'm special this and special that. While I'm here I just want to be a normal freshman, just be me."

"I understand. Well, how's this. I promise I will not make a big deal out of it, but with one condition."

"What's that?"

"If you win a Nobel you'll give me an autograph."

She giggled. "Fine. Deal. So, what about you? What do you study?"

"Actually, I'm also in physics. Just regular physics."

"Cool! Maybe we'll see each other around. So can you show me the physics building next?"

They walked the couple of hundred feet from the Union to the Moriarty Building which hosted the Physics, Math and Informatics departments. The weather was crisp but the air was calm and by the time they got back inside their cheeks were showing a healthy glow of red.

"So, here we are. First floor is classrooms and offices. Second floor is more classrooms and labs. Third floor is mostly research labs and professor offices."

"Do you know where Dr. Bergenheist's office is?"

He did. He'd been there many times, often to pick up a certain envelope full of cash.

"Bergenheist? Isn't he with the math department," Thomas managed to say, barely keeping his voice calm.

"Yes, but since quantum information is heavily math-based I was told that I would be working mostly with him the first year."

"Ah yes, that makes sense. Well, let me show you the office. It's on the third floor."

Dark, violent thoughts filled Thomas's mind as they climbed the stairs up. Genevieve's perfectly shaped buttocs swaying in front of him did not even register in his mind. Bergenheist? That slimy, disgusting pig. There was no denying that the man was brilliant in his field, but if he did anything even slightly inappropriate with Genevieve he'd ruin the good professor, destroy his life.

A familiar face stopped Thomas and Genevieve in the corridor.

"Hello, Thomas," Lina said, waving at him.

"Hello, Lina. Lina, this is Genevieve. She is a new undergraduate student in quantum informatics. She will be working with your advisor this first year. I'm volunteering as a new student guide and I'm just showing her around the campus. Genevieve, this is Lina, she is working on her Ph.D. with Dr. Bergenheist so it is possible you guys will see each other regularly."

"It is nice to meet you, Genevieve," Lina said. Her smile was genuine, but Thomas couldn't avoid seeing the faint shadow of a dark cloud of terror in her eyes. No doubt Lina was thinking the same as Thomas was.

"I'm so glad to meet you too, Lina! Maybe you can tell me some helpful tips on how to work with Dr. Bergenheist."

"Of course," Lina nodded, the smile having left her lips.

"Well, we better get going. I will see you in class, Lina," Thomas broke the conversation.

He showed Genevieve all that she could need to know about the building, including offices of people she'd likely need to interact with, the break room, the student lounge, and so on.