The Shared Dream Ch. 01: Brynlee

I think we all imagined getting here differently. For me, I came in a train, the cars suspended under a monorail. To me, that seemed futuristic, and seeing a distant cyberpunk city emerge from around the mountain was just where my head was at. That seemed cool.

I'm sure others came differently. Some people might have just taken a plane, others might have driven a flying car, or a rocket. Some might have skied down a massive hill, braving the cold and snow.

That was the whole point, of course. The only limit was your imagination. When you were here and plugged in, the world was anything you wanted it to be.

Our group was small, only six people plugged into the machine. I was part of the small group of influencers, our task clear. Spread the word as far and wide as we could so the richest people in the world would spend their money and live out their wildest fantasies. Aside from us, we had a man with cancer, probably for PR reasons, a singer out of France, and Sam, the tour guide.

The demonstration was only scheduled for ten minutes.

"But don't worry," Sam was saying, "The computer processes everything so much faster than the human mind can. When you're plugged in, it works with your brain, and it processes your thoughts for you. You can live entire lives in just a few minutes, and you can do whatever you want."

"Still," the singer asked, "Why only ten minutes?"

Sam gave a corporate laugh, "I suppose," he started, "I could give the safe answer, say it's still new technology, we're still working out the kinks and don't want to over strain it- but that's boring. Let me say this instead: Ten minutes is more than enough to blow you away."

I don't understand how the computer made sense of everything. At all. I was in some futuristic city, and I heard Sam talking to the singer about how she'd come through a library. I'm certain we were all seeing different things, our worlds wildly different, but the six of us had gathered and began to look between each other.

A few, I noticed, had already started to play with their imagination. Dan was no longer sickly, his hair no longer gone. His weight had doubled in muscle, and his skin was fuller, tanner, like he'd gone his whole life without the disease. Natalie, another influencer, had been more subtle. Her face was a little less masculine, the jaw more rounded. The stubble on her upper lip seemed waxed clean, and her smile seemed a little more sincere.

"I'm glad everyone could join me," Sam said, wearing that same PR smile, "And I'm happy to see some of you are already starting to play."

Dan was still looking around. I have no idea what he was seeing, but his jaw had fallen as far as it could.

"Do you seriously mean," he began, "We can do anything? I could live like the rich and famous? Have a yacht? Live like a playboy?"

"Anything," Sam agreed, "And so much more. When I say anything, I truly mean anything. All that, that's stuff you could do in the real world, given the right circumstance. In here- you could be the yacht. Control the weather. Have super powers. That's the whole point. We process your imagination in real time and let you live out your wildest fantasies."

Kyra, the other influencer, stepped forward, "Everything feels so real."

Sam laughed, "It's as real as anything else. It's just stimulating your brain, the same way it works in the outside world. To you, there's no difference at all."

He paused and took a look around the awestruck group. "Maybe we need a demonstration. Brynlee, come here."

I took a step towards Sam. I tried to see something genuine in those soulless eyes, but everything about him seemed fake.

"I want you to shoot fire out of your hands."

The notion sounded ridiculous. I raised my hand slowly, and tried to concentrate on flames. It barely took a moment's thought and a flamethrower came gushing. I watched as the eyes around me went wide, and Sam burst out laughing.

"And don't you think," he continued, "We could use a few more people here? I mean, for you it's a city right, is six people really enough? Try to imagine some friends."

I don't know if it was him or me, but the city roared to life. We weren't a small group of six anymore, we were a city of millions, all going about their day, as if the city I'd dreamt up had been here for generations.

"And let's all get on the same page," Sam said. He raised his hand and gave a single snap. The world shimmered, and the others saw the same thing as me.

"Woah," Natalie muttered, most jaws hanging open.

"In here, ten minutes works out to about three days," Sam explained, "And when you're in here- you're gods."

Dan was the only one not looking at the sprawling city. He was hanging on to every word with unmatched focus.

"In theory though, you could stay in here as long as you wanted right?"

"In theory," Sam agreed.

Dan looked down, taking in the body that was so far removed from the atrophied one he'd left in the real world.

"That sounds pretty nice," he said slowly, "I think, you might have just won your first customer."

It took maybe ten minutes before I started to dread the end of the demonstration. Three days, simply wasn't going to be enough.

I'd walked around as a guy, just to see what that was like. I gave myself superpowers and fought off muggers, my hair always perfect, my skin iron. I stormed aboard a pirate ship and cut them down, freeing the scared captain from his ropes. I walked on alien worlds, cast magic spells, and once I was absolutely sure I was alone, I imagined the perfect boyfriend and slipped below deck on my private yacht.

It wasn't too difficult to invent Ryan. I'd been fantasizing about someone like him, as long as my mind had been keeping me up before bed. He had dark black hair, to counter my blonde. I'd always been a sucker for vibrant hazel eyes that looked like they could pierce into your very soul. He had a slightly crooked nose, like he'd broken in in a past life, and stood tall at 6'4". I gave him a swimmer's physique, and a perfect seven inch penis. Over the years, I'd crafted a perfect cocktail of a personality, not too clingy, but always thinking about me. Always ready to be my cameraman without a second thought. He was confident, and funny, and the moment I'd thought it all out, he was standing right in front of me.

He gave me a smile that melted my heart and held his hand out, every movement matched my desires before I had a chance to think them. He spoke with a voice as smooth as caramel, and let me deeper into the yacht. We passed a half dozen rooms, changing as I looked at them, one second a gym, and the second I imagined a sauna, the world morphed and changed, matching my godly vision.

"Sauna," he laughed, "You didn't think we'd get sweaty enough?"

But I didn't have to. I realized. This world didn't have any rules. If I wanted I could fuck with the stamina of an olympian, never breaking a sweat, never taking a moment to wheeze or catch my breath.

Damnit, I thought. Ryan was next to me, but fully nude, his tan perfect all the way up his thighs. I have to be careful with my thoughts. I let them wander for one second-

I forced myself to imagine clothes, and he was beside me again, an open button down and boat pants.

He gave another laugh, "Probably more appropriate for the ocean."

There's no way to convey how hard it is to not picture a guy naked when you know you're not supposed to. He sat in front of me, as real as flesh and blood, and all I wanted to do was place my hand on his abs, rip my clothes off-

"You don't think they can see what I'm doing, do you?"

I knew he wasn't real, some deep part of my brain never forgot that, but standing opposite a human, one as perfect as Ryan, it's impossible not to reach out and talk to him.

All he did was look at the porthole. He grabbed the curtains and threw them open, staring down the world. "Who cares if they can see us?"

"No, I meant-" Would he know what I meant? Were the programs allowed to know it was all just a big computer?

"I know I have nothing to be ashamed of," Ryan said. He turned back towards me, and grabbed me by the hips. "And keeping you from the world- that just seems criminal."

He leaned forward and started to kiss me, and any scruple I had melted away. His lips seemed molded for mine, a perfect match, and I couldn't stop myself from throwing my arms around his neck. His taut stomach was pressed to mine, and suddenly there were no clothes between us. My head twisted, working his lips from every angle, as his erection started to grow, slowly rising against my thigh.

I fell back and imagined a plush bed. I brought him down by the neck, and fell against a mountain of pillows and blankets. My leg curled, wrapping around his back, while his fingers curled, pressing white marks into my skin.

I didn't have to tell him to fuck me, he knew the perfect moment to lean forward and start to thrust.

It could be, I realized, Just a little bit bigger.

His penis started to grow inside me, filling me up until my eyes went wide, an intoxicating mixture of joy and pain. I tapped his chest, and fought a gasp, begging him to thrust. I looked up, watching his strong arms hold me, and I started to edit.

The way his muscles folded mid thrust. I changed that. From below his chin didn't look quite as pointed, his cheek bones not quite so angular. I played with his eye color, staring deep as they raced from hazel to an alluring blue, never leaving my side. His hands ran across my chest, keeping me pinned by grabbing my breast. I wanted him to touch me everywhere at once, a hand between my legs, one holding my neck in place, choking me, one pinning me down, another working my nipples. I didn't care how it got done, I needed the touch, and somehow his hands worked godly magic.

I let myself get curious. I imagined him cumming, spraying across my chest, but I pictured him going right back in, never stopping, never waiting to recooperate. I let my hands slip on my stomach, my fingers rolling in the cum as he continued to stare deep into my soul. I shot out my fingers and smeared it between his abs, tracing the ripples.

More, I imagined. A second penis, maybe his, maybe a magical floating dildo, I never worked out the specifics, worked it's way into my ass. It moved in opposite time with his thrusts, the ecstasy never stopping. My fingers started to grip the sheets, my toes started to curl, and I realized I could orgasm whenever I wanted. I could force my heart to beat as fast as possible, my eyes to shoot wide in ecstasy- and I let go.

Ryan moved in perfect time with my body. Wave after wave crescendoed through me, my entire body shaking, and I didn't want it to stop.

A thousand hands were holding me, massaging me, working my labia and pinning me in place.

I won't get tired, I realized, How the hell am I ever supposed to stop?

I never had to answer that question. If either of us started to get sore, I could have commanded the pain away. If either of us started to bore, I could have constantly molded the world to fit my deepest desires.

But the world had started to slow.

It hadn't been my command, and nothing seemed to affect me, but Ryan's mouth hung open and his body moved in slow motion, almost frozen in time.

It was like the system was rebooting, and the world started to turn pale. The yacht, the ocean, everything started to fade away, until I was back with the other group, standing in a small circle, nothing but whiteness around us.

We all turned to look at Sam, desperate for an explanation, but he too had started to slow. I took a cautious step forward. I started to reach out, curiously, when he faded with the rest of the imagined world.

A red emergency light started to flash, and the five of us stared between each other. A loud whirring sound started to fill the air, and the world started to come back to life, our powers back, but Sam never returned.

Kyra ran off, already creating a world out in front of her, but Natalie and I remained. She tapped her watch, and tried the emergency contact line, she didn't get an answer.

"Someone will notice something is wrong," Dan offered, "They'll come unplug us."

"Didn't you hear him?" Natalie asked, "Time works differently in here. I'd be surprised if a second has even passed out there since we started. We could be in here for years-"

"Wait a minute" I realized, "Are you telling me we're trapped?"