Virtual Life Experience Pt. 05

Purple followed close behind them. To their right, Jason could see other mechs emerging from the other structures and angling to intercept them. Purple moved up to place herself between the humans and the other mechs. Jason felt a strange energy all around him. His hair raised at the back of his neck and all over his body. Suddenly a burst of light surrounded the group, but didn't reach them. Jason could see that the sphere of light around them was connected by a jagged beam, like a lightning bolt, to one of the mechs. It was like they were in a protective bubble. Jason realized that Purple was shielding them from the attack.

Purple's mech seemed to stagger when a second and third beam connected to the protective sphere. Blue stumbled as well, reacting to Purple's distress. Purple seemed to recover, and they pushed on.

The shimmering shape coalesced into a large structure as they approached it.

They reached the structure and a door opened. The humans dove inside. Purple stopped just inside the entrance and turned to face the oncoming mechs. She was going to make a stand to protect the humans.

They ran down a wide hallway. Ahead, Jason could see a huge open space. "A hangar," thought Jason. A glass partition slid open as they approached. A series of dark toroidal shapes made of shiny material sat in the center of the hangar.

Behind them, Jason could hear the crackle of electrical arcs. He could feel the electricity in the air. Blue cried out and stumbled. She struggled back to her feet, her face contorted in pain, then fell again, sprawling on the floor. "We have to keep moving," Jason said, "Purple won't be able to keep the others out for long."

Jason helped Blue up, "Blue, block Purple out of your mind . . . you did it before. That should block the pain."

"No . . . Blue can't," gasped Blue, "Blue need Purple. Purple help humans escape." She pointed to one of the toroids. "Transport."

Jason scooped up Blue and tossed her over his shoulder. "C'mon," yelled Nikki. The humans ran toward the toroid. Jason took Blue's words to indicate that the object was a vehicle of some sort, though he didn't see a way into it, nor did he see an exit from the room large enough for the object to pass.

As they approached, a rectangular seam appeared on the side of the toroid facing them, then a hatch folded down and an angled ramp extended to the floor. The group scrambled up the ramp and entered the transport. As they passed into the sleek shape, Jason felt Blue go limp. Once inside, a large curved hallway extended to the left and right. The hallway to the left lit up.

Jason turned to face the open hatch. There was a lighted panel just to the right of the opening. Taking a chance, Jason pressed his hand against it. The panel blinked, the ramp retracted and the hatch began to shut. Just before the hatch blocked his view, Jason caught a glimpse of CTP mechs bursting into the hangar. Two of them were dragging a third between them . . . Jason presumed that was Purple, now incapacitated.

Jason turned and headed down the left hallway. The others followed him. The walls and ceiling were featureless and smooth, the floor had a pebbly texture. They came to an intersection. The hallway they were in continued around its curved path, but another hall branched off to the right. It lit up as they approached. They took the hint and headed down this branch. It looked to be a dead end, but as they approached the seemingly blank wall at the end, it slid aside revealing a larger round room. The humans burst into it. Along the cylindrical wall at the perimeter of the room were a dozen cylinders like that in Purple's structure. Beside one was a mech. Beside each of the others was an open spot for docking a mech, with various umbilicals terminating in empty plugs.

"What the fuck do we do now? I don't think we have much time before the CTPs get to us," said Nikki. Even as she said this, there was a crackling noise and the toroid shuddered a little. The CTPs were trying to break in.

Jason lowered Blue's limp body to the floor. "See if you can find any sort of controls, I'll try to revive Blue. She may know something," Jason replied.

Blue stirred and opened her eyes.

VLEC headquarters, Earth

Mario ambled back into the room containing Marcella in the ES3000 chamber. "You hungry? Bring your sexy ass out here and get some breakfast," he called out to her.

"No . . . you need to get in your chamber, now!" Marcella's voice sounded strained. Something about her tone sent chills up his spine. He quickly disrobed and entered his chamber. He chose Brandon. His vision came into focus and his body was jarred into a dead sprint. "What . . ." he huffed.

"The CTPs killed them all, we're the only ones left!" he heard Marcella gasp over the commlink.

Mario looked around him as he ran. Jason was just to the right of him, Nikki was just behind him and Blue was leading the way. A mech, presumably containing Purple, was alongside them. Mario's heart pounded and his lungs burned as they escaped into the structure and made their way into the hangar. Blue fell. As Jason tried to help her up, she reached out and grasped Mario/Brandon's wrist. Mario suddenly felt a strange sensation in the back of his brain, like there was another presence there. Thoughts of pain, confusion and desperation pushed their way into his head. Jason scooped up Blue and threw her over his shoulder. She let go of Brandon's wrist and Mario's brain cleared.

"Woah!" Mario exclaimed in surprise.

Marcella answered him over the commlink. "Did you feel that too?"

"Only when Blue touched me."

"I'm feeling Blue's . . . presence. So much pain!" she said in a strained voice.

"Are you OK? Maybe you should disconnect."

"No! She needs me."

Mario thought that didn't make sense. He was about to argue with her, but he thought better of it. A lot of this didn't make sense, but he knew he had felt Blue's presence in his brain.

He looked up and realized Blue had gone limp over Jason's shoulder. "Marcie?"

She didn't answer. Alarmed, Mario was about to end his session and pull Marcella out of the ES3000 chamber when he heard her whisper, "I lost contact with her."

They arrived at the control center of the toroidal craft. Red was frantically poking about the walls looking for some kind of controls. She touched a lit panel and the walls of the room suddenly projected the hangar outside. Mechs gathered around the craft. Several were touching the shut access hatch. The outcome looked bleak. Surely, they would make their way in momentarily.

Jason lowered Blue to the floor and tried to revive her. She opened her eyes after a few moments, looking groggy. Brandon crouched down beside her, reached out and cradled her head. She fixed her gaze on him and grabbed his arm.

"Purple's gone . . . I can't feel her," said Blue.

Mario felt her presence in his brain again. This time there was no pain, but she seemed confused and he could feel her searching. She seemed to recognize his presence. "Help!" Mario was startled.

"Help Blue . . . help Blue find Purple." . . . came a voice in his brain.

His mind responded, "I'm Mario. . . I'm far away . . . on Earth . . .the human's planet. I don't know how I can help."

He paused, waiting for acknowledgement, but it didn't come. After a moment, he remembered sheepishly that the communications were delayed . . . and one way. What he was experiencing was several hours behind what was happening on Antola. For all he knew, Blue and the others were all dead now. If she was there to receive his mental greeting, and it were even possible to actually send it, it would not reach her for several hours and there would be a similar delay in her response back. He realized she was indeed addressing Brandon, but he was somehow picking up on the mental telepathy through the VLE link with Brandon.

Mario could feel Blue continuing to search.

Antola

Blue grasped Brandon's wrist. "Help!" Brandon was startled. He had heard Blue's voice clearly in his head, but her lips had not moved. She had not spoken aloud. He could feel her presence in his mind. Warm and loving, but worried. "Help Blue. . . help Blue find Purple."

He could feel her searching, probing.

"Ah, Blue found Purple," Blue said aloud after a moment, sounding relieved.

Even as she said this, Brandon felt another tiny, barely perceptible presence in the back of his brain. He focused his attention on it. It was Purple. He knew it. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by a dozen or so other entities, forcing their way into his brain. Waves of hate, anger and fear swept over him. He had a mental image of the dark entities wrapping themselves around Purple, strangling her, holding her down, trying to pry something away from her. He mentally burrowed in amongst the malevolent tentacles of the other CTPs to see what Purple had. It was a mental image of the shut entrance hatch. She was trying to keep it shut with her remaining resolve. The others were attacking relentlessly.

"Blue, what do we do? The CTPs are going to break in at any moment," said Brandon.

"We have to help her keep the hatch shut."

He concentrated on the tentacles pulling down on the hatch. He found he could pry one away with his will, but it was immediately replaced by others. In his mind's eye Brandon saw an image of the hatch slowly beginning to open. The CTPs were too powerful.

A word formed in Brandon's brain. It seemed totally inappropriate for the situation and he brushed it aside angrily. It repeated: "orgasm." He realized it was emanating from Purple. "What the fuck?"

Blue understood first. She tugged on Brandon's wrist. He was watching the image of the CTPs outside, projected on the wall. He turned to look at her. She shot him a hungry look and demanded, "Blue wants orgasm, now!"

Brandon looked at her, stunned. He turned to Jason. "Is she delirious? We are about to get fried by the aliens and she wants sex?"

"Lick my pussy!"

Jason looked puzzled for a moment, then his face cleared, "No, she is making perfect sense. Do it."

"But . . . "

"Look, Blue is mentally linked to Purple. The other CTPs have invaded Purple's mind. CTPs can't handle extreme human sensations. Orgasms incapacitate them. So lick her like your life depends on it . . . because it might."

Blue's hands guided Brandon's head between her legs. He gazed at her approaching damp lips. He felt himself stiffening at the prospect.

In his mind, however, the CTPs began grasping at him, wrapping tighter and tighter, stifling his sensations, trying to crush him. He found his resolve slipping and he could see the image of the hatch creeping further open. He felt like he was drowning. He tried to focus all his attention on his tongue and began working Blue's pussy furiously.

"Mmmm . . .," a moan escaped Blue's lips. Brandon felt curiosity among the CTPs, then confusion. He felt their grip loosen a little. Blue began rocking her hips in little circles as his tongue explored her soft folds of damp pink flesh.

"Oh fuck! Blue feels good!"

Brandon's brain was inundated with sensations. Blue was mentally projecting her arousal to him, while he could feel alarm beginning to spread among the CTPs. They began to unravel their grip on Purple, but she went on the offensive, grasping at them, not letting them escape the sensations.

"Don't let them escape," Brandon heard Blue's voice in his head.

Brandon wound his own mental tentacles around the panicked CTPs. Despite his efforts, they kept fighting him off. Brandon knew they couldn't afford to let any of the aliens break free. "We need help!" he projected to Blue.

Blue grabbed Jason's wrist. "Oh!" she gasped as Brandon shoved his tongue deep. "Jason help Blue!" she implored. Jason looked startled as he felt Blue pushing into his consciousness.

Jason bent down and began sucking on her nipple. Not to be left out, Nikki snuck between Jason's legs and began sucking his cock.

"Oh Brandon, fuck Blue now!"

Brandon plunged himself into Blue in response. He felt her hot pussy squeezing his cock, grasping and pulsing.

As the sexual tension rose, Brandon could feel the CTPs resolve weaken. They became pliable. He drew them in. They trembled, giving in to the sensations emanating from Blue. She was channeling not only her own pleasure, but that of all the humans in contact with her, through Purple to the other CTPs.

Brandon fucked Blue hard and fast. Her breath was becoming ragged. Nikki got on all fours and Jason began fucking her from behind. Nikki grasped Blue's hand to transfer their sexual sensations also.

Brandon was teetering on the edge. One by one, he felt the presence of the CTPs drop from his brain as they were rendered unconscious by the powerful sensations. Suddenly Blue went rigid as an immense orgasm gripped her. She let out a cry and her pussy pulsed wildly. Brandon couldn't hold out any longer and let the waves of pleasure wash over him as he came.

As Blue lay twitching from orgasmic aftershocks, Nikki and Jason came hard beside her.

Blue opened her eyes and pushed up against Brandon. He resisted her, not wanting to lose the sensation of being inside her. "Blue launch transport." Snapping back to reality, Brandon scrambled off her. She got to her feet, staggered a bit, then made her way to one to of the cylinders against the wall, as cum dripped down her leg. She put a hand on the cylinder and closed her eyes, concentrating. The transport shuddered to life. Brandon looked out at the CTPs surrounding the craft. None of them were moving. Several had tipped over on the floor. He could not feel their mental presence.

Blue opened her eyes and reached out to Brandon's wrist. She pointed to the ceiling of the hangar. Brandon looked up. He saw a seam open in the ceiling and a sliver of sunlight shone in. He felt Blue's presence in his brain again, seeking.

"Blue need help. Open roof."

Brandon focused on that sliver of light, willing it to expand. He grabbed Nikki's hand. She caught on and grabbed Jason's, completing the chain. Brandon felt their focus joining his and Blue's. The ceiling groaned, as though it had not been opened in a long time and needed grease. It began to open, gathering speed until it reached its open stops with a shudder.

The transport lifted off the floor, swayed a bit, then suddenly shot skyward through the ceiling and continued to accelerate. The ground rapidly disappeared beneath them. A few minutes later, the ship broke through the Antolan atmosphere into black space.

VLEC Headquarters, Earth

Mario sat on the sofa just outside the little rooms that contained the ES3000 chambers. He was spent, relieved and happy. The humans on Antola had escaped what seemed like certain doom. In the process, they had shared an epic sexual experience. Through the amazing technology of VLE, he had been able to take part as though he were really there. Hollywood couldn't have scripted a more engaging adventure than that which he and Marcella had partaken of.

He chuckled a little. Marcella had been so sure that the adventurers needed her help somehow. Even now, she remained in the chamber, too stubborn to admit that she was wrong. What could they have done anyway with a one-way data connection, several hours delayed at that? Still, he was grateful she had insisted on them coming to VLEC headquarters. As a result, they were the only ones on Earth who were privileged to experience live gaming of the final chapter of the Antola adventure. Later in the week, VLEC would edit the feed and publish it to the public.

Mario dozed off. Later, he awoke with a start.

"Mario!" Marcella's voice called out from her chamber. "Mario, get back in your chamber. Blue is asking for you!"

"What?"

"She wants you!"

"That makes no sense."

"Just get in there," Marcella implored, exasperated.

Mario climbed back into his chamber. He selected Brandon again. He found himself in the ship, standing beside Blue. Brandon was talking to her. "I'm sorry . . . I just don't know. It's not my area of expertise, I'm a biologist. I never paid much attention to astronomy."

Jason spoke up, "Are you two telling me we're lost?"

"Technically, no," said Brandon, "I know exactly where we are. I just don't know where Earth is from here."

"Blue is lost," Blue said matter-of-factly.

Marcella came on the commlink, "You need to back it up a few minutes."

Mario requested a replay of the last 5 minutes of feed. His vision blurred, then coalesced again.

Blue reached over and grasped Brandon's hand. Mario once again felt her presence pushing its way into his mind. "Mario? Mario help Blue? Blue find human planet."

"Marcie, go get Leo." Requested Mario.

He heard her leave the chamber. As an afterthought, he yelled out, "Put some clothes on first!" He was too late, she was already gone.

"Hold on Blue, I am getting help."

He left his chamber. A few minutes later, Marcella came back, leading Leo by the hand. He was a bit red in the face and trying to hide his erection as this gorgeous naked young woman led him into the room. The fact that Mario was also naked made him even more uncomfortable. He didn't know quite where to look.

"Marcella has been trying to explain what's going on, but frankly, she's not making sense. She says you're talking to the clone girl."

"Telepathically, yes."

"That's impossible."

"OK, then I'm doing the impossible."

"Look, I can buy the telepathic part, but the data takes 2 hours to get here from Antola."

"It has been a very slow conversation," Mario quipped with a grin.

" . . . but there are only receivers on our end. None of our VLE from off world was set up to transmit any data back, precisely because of the time delay issue. Ironically, having two-way communication would ruin the sense the user has of experiencing the adventure himself. Plus, it would be prohibitively expensive."

"Look, all I know is I sensed her presence in my brain and I reached out to her. Hours later, she called me by name and asked for help."

Leo was silent for a few moments, deep in thought. "You know, for years, some VLE subjects have claimed they could sense the reaction of their audience. We all assumed it was the power of suggestion. There was this one guy who had a theory . . . we all thought he was loopy. Something he called "data climbing." How certain types of feedback might be able to migrate "upstream" back to the source so long as the data stream was continuous . . . He described it like a salmon swimming upstream. . . "

Marcella interrupted him, "I don't care how it happens, they need our help. Can we focus on that?"

Leo looked chastised. "OK, what's going on?"

Mario and Marcella described the events that led to their current situation. "Can you help?"

"Well, I'm no astronomer, but Violet should be able to analyze the data feed, pinpoint where they are and map a course to Earth. I'm not sure how we can transmit the information, though." Violet was the nickname of VLEC's sophisticated computer simulation tool.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Get your digital girlfriend to locate them in the universe," suggested Marcella.

Leo linked Violet analyze the sensor data from the point where the ship left the surface of Antola. Between the acceleration forces acting on the bodies of the travelers and the visual data, Violet was quickly able to determine their location, at least where they were two hours ago, as well as their trajectory and speed. She developed a course to bring the ship to Earth and ultimately dock with the ISEA station in orbit around the planet.

"OK, now how do we transmit this information to the clone girl in a way she will understand and can execute it. We have no idea how the CTP ship controls actually work. For that matter, I don't think she does either. It appears that so far when she thinks it, the ship reacts."