VR Ventures Ch. 01: Restoring Haven

Author's Note: This story is set in a near future that involves advanced brain-computer interfaces, as well as humans "playing god" by creating sentient AIs (who even worship them as their creator gods). There's also a fair amount of world-building and plot development, much of which is not relevant to the sex scenes. So if you're only looking for sexual thrills, this story is not for you. But, I also breeze through any plot development that's not as important to me, so much of this story might feel more like an outline than a finished story (and with relatively little dialogue). It's possible that I'll flesh it out later, but I doubt it because I prefer it the way it is.

***

PASSWORD DENIED.

Axel scowled at his computer screen. I can't believe she actually went this far, he thought. Sure, he and his twin sister Lexa didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but to bring ruin to innocent people? These virtual creatures were sentient, their mental networks modeled off of humans' and just as complex. Surely Lexa should have known that (even though the laws hadn't yet caught up). Then again, he and Lexa didn't exactly know each other that well. They were raised apart, but came together to work on this VR project because of their complementary talents and interests.

***

This virtual world (dubbed "Haven") was created as an experiment and to enjoy as an escape from the brutality and suffering of the real world. Lexa's motive for developing Haven was for the novelty, her curiosity about how it would turn out, and to test how well she could make it sell as a game--if it ever came to that. Axel's motive, however, was to create his version of a utopia and also to escape to it whenever he needed its innocence as a kind of therapy. Also unlike Lexa, he had no intention of eventually making this simulation into a game or available to just anyone. So, he certainly didn't approve of what Lexa had just done--adding sex and violence "for the entertainment value"--as she had specified in the note she had left for him, and then changing the administrator password to block his admin access. He couldn't even shut down the system until she got back, because just disconnecting the power would be too damaging given the simulation's complexity. Only an admin shutdown would be safe. And non-admins didn't have a shutdown feature built in; Axel himself was the one who had decided that ordinary, unapproved users shouldn't have the power to dictate whether and when the sentient AIs go unconscious. And it was just his luck that Lexa had also just left on an international vacation. He tried contacting her through every medium he could, but apparently she had disconnected from all her devices. It looked like he would have to patch the problem the hard way for now, by entering Haven as a player and playing through it as a game.

Haven was populated by artificial humanoids called Havenites. Axel had designed them himself, choosing not to make any of them look too much like humans, for the greater escapism and variety. And until now, they had been perfectly designed for their roles and born with all the knowledge they needed. They were also all mentally linked with each other, causing them to always have access to each other's knowledge and feelings. And many activities that humans did out of necessity the Havenites did only for fun (such as eating, drinking, exercising, bathing, and cooking), or didn't do at all (sleeping, cleaning, shopping, or working for money). They had so much abundance that there was no need for an economy.

They also believed in deities. Their deities communicated with them directly and answered their prayers, but otherwise revealed very little about themselves. The Havenites didn't have any idea what they looked like, what their real voices sounded like, or even what their names were, addressing them only as God and Goddess. The Havenites didn't ask because it hadn't occurred to them that their creators might have bodies other than the towers that they used to communicate with them, might be masking their voices, or might have names other than God and Goddess. The truth was that their creator deities were none other than Axel and Lexa, the humans who programmed them and their world into existence. Neither of them had started with the intention of being worshipped, but after creating the Havenites, one of the earliest questions the new beings had was why they existed and who or what made them. Lexa and Axel thought it would be better to just answer their questions, at least in a broad sense. Soon enough the Havenites were worshipping them out of gratitude. The twins decided to just roll with it. It was something new and interesting, as well as cute and amusing.

***

Now, thanks to Lexa's changes, "Haven" was full of new NPC monsters who attacked, killed, and ate Havenites. There were also plagues and natural disasters. But now the Havenites also all had strange sexual urges that they didn't know what to do with, as they had never heard of sex before. They entreated their deities for relief and an explanation.

Though only an admin could be a totally omnipotent deity of Haven, an ordinary player could still enter in a more limited god role. Axel, as God, told the Havenites that Goddess has gone rogue, disabled his power to stop their problems, and modeled their lives after primitive life forms (the life that exists in the real world). This was the first time they had ever heard of other types of sentient beings. Axel quickly explained, "The primitive life forms live brutal lives, always worrying about survival, eating each other, being subject to natural disasters, getting sick, and having sex--that's what your strange new urges have been about. I'll explain more later!" (He didn't program sexuality into the Havenites himself because he was asexual and didn't find sex to be appealing or relatable.) "Oh and there's also sleep. It's too bad Goddess didn't provide you with that too as a respite, probably because she thinks that would be too boring."

At least he had already let them know prior to this incident that he was fallible, so their disappointment in his failing to protect them now wasn't as much as it likely would have been otherwise.

Suddenly, a lightning bolt destroyed the all-hearing tower used for communication with God, and the Havenites lost contact with him. Axel refused to dwell on this, as he still had other routes-- creating a new character or taking over an existing NPC. For creating a new character, he agonized about whether he should make it look similar to the Havenites to seem more trustworthy, or very different to help them recognize that he is very different and thus that he may have special access to information that they didn't already have. He decided that the best strategy would be to take on an existing and high-ranking NPC as his avatar to seem extra trustworthy. (This was provided as an option because Lexa anticipated that many players would become attached to one they saw, and if they were newbies, could receive guidance through letting those NPCs give tips or perform particular actions for them.) Axel picked the character Deitra (pronounced "DAY-truh") because she was the high priestess, and thus the most influential Havenite of them all.

Axel had based her design mostly off of a druidess and a deer. Her body was covered in tawny fuzz with thicker white fleece circling around her chest and hips. She had hooves, short antlers, a flat-ish face, a small black nose, wavy lavender hair tumbling from her head, and round, green eyes. She also had a long tail with thick lavender baubles beaded through the end. She also often didn't wear clothes other than shamrocks decorating her body here and there.

There was a special cave that was intended for the avatar selection, with a hidden talisman in the form of a necklace with a glowing linked-hearts pendant. From the talisman, Axel broadcast a song entreating for Deitra to come and fulfill her destiny. Following her programming, all of her other thoughts were pushed aside as she single-mindedly searched for the source of the music, until she found it in the central chamber and donned the necklace.

But, Axel soon discovered that there were bugs that weren't sorted out because he couldn't control Deitra's actions--he could only communicate to her and hope that he could convince her to do what he wanted. He hoped he could convince her while keeping his identity as her "God" a secret; he was ashamed of having failed in that role and was not feeling godlike at all. He was also no longer masking his voice. The deity towers automatically masked the speakers' voices, making them deep and booming. Axel's natural voice however was soft and somewhat high-pitched for a man, but with a definite huskiness. And instead of giving his name, he told Deitra she could just call him Advisor.

He also decided to keep his human identity a mystery because he was a bit ashamed of that too (relative to if he was a Havenite, as he had designed them according to his ideal.) Regardless, he had already taught them to be suspicious of anyone who claimed to be a human, because the only way he anticipated that a human avatar might enter would be if the system got hacked. He had told the Havenites awful things about humans (factory farms, mass extinctions, etc...) but did not clarify that humans were also primitive/natural life forms (as opposed to artificial, though humans did seem barbaric to the Havenites based on his description). He even neglected to clarify that humans were real. Their absence in Haven made them seem like mythological monsters and so the Havenites paid little thought to them later. The Havenites also sensed that God and Goddess had little interest in discussing humans further, not having even provided any visual depictions or verbal descriptions of what they looked like.

***

Brain-machine interfaces had become very advanced and Axel had to wire his brain to the simulation to enter it. The headset was a discreet headband of silver mesh wires that, once in place, would send nanofibers through his skull. And the privacy was such that neither his nor the Havenites' verbal thoughts could be transmitted unintentionally, but emotions/desires were shared by default, as were particular types of sensations. This was all to help the computer seamlessly detect and serve the desires of the user.

Being able to directly perceive Axel's emotions helped Deitra trust him. She noticed from their patterns and the sparseness of his conscious thought transmission that he seemed vaguely reminiscent of God, except that this "Advisor" person seemed more chaotic/flawed.

***

Axel spent as much of his waking time as possible sharing any useful knowledge of his with Deitra. He already had decent knowledge of survival skills due to having lived in the wilderness for a few months when he was on break. Still, he now spent time learning even more, poring over survival guides and medical info. He wished he could have just sent files containing the info or at least zipped through pages, sending mental screenshots for the Havenites to sort through themselves, especially because their mental processing speed was much faster than his own. But, there was no file transmission feature for non-admins, and the mindlink only allowed him to send content that he was fully conscious of in that moment. After all, from a gaming perspective, getting help from NPCs in those other ways would make the game too easy. Fortunately, the Havenites' ailments were modeled completely after human ailments. Despite all the stress, Axel had to admit that he found the content enjoyable to learn about. He was immensely grateful that he was on break now so that he could devote plenty of time to patching up the issues on Haven. But, he left it to Deitra to handle the leadership strategy, such as for how the Havenites should make use of their new information. That was her forte, not his.

***

Axel had difficulty explaining his need for sleep to Deitra, but she sensed that he couldn't do anything about it and that it would be better not to pry into what his "inactive state" really was. Still, Deitra was afraid to be left alone in such a dangerous world, so Axel promised to stay wired to her at all times (even while he slept) so that she could alert him if there was an emergency. He did worry that because of his lack of inhibition during sleep, that he might inadvertently transmit types of thoughts that would ordinarily be filtered out, but that was a risk he'd have to take.

Deitra found that during parts of his inactive periods she received bizarre mental content from him. Deitra puzzled over them, trying to piece together who her mysterious advisor was. The Havenites never had mental patterns resembling these. These were mostly jumbled, illogical scenes, often involving Havenites.

But, there was one scene in which she saw a strange creature unlike any Havenite she'd ever seen. Deitra had a bit of difficulty making out the being's features, as it was nighttime in this scene with only the moonlight as illumination. The being appeared to be a female, with smooth white skin, long, glossy black hair, and green eyes. She was wearing a tiara of silver spikes and a gown of black feathers. She was also clutching a lightning bolt and lounging on a throne built of what appeared to be Havenite skeletons, amidst the ruins of the god tower. She had a smug expression on her face as she looked straight at Deitra. Then Deitra felt Advisor's voice well up in her throat and break the silence, yelling at the throned woman, "I will make you pay for this, Lexa!"

Then the scene vanished and the dream shifted. Deitra noticed shadowy figures whispering. She made out, "Axel is a mere human and thus cannot take good care of Haven."

Deitra wondered who Axel was and why his ability to care for Haven would be a topic of discussion if he was a human anyway. Weren't humans supposed to be barbaric monsters?

She sensed that Advisor was aware that he was transmitting strange content during his inactive periods but that he couldn't help it and didn't want to discuss them, so she didn't prod him to explain. She could already feel his staunch dedication to Haven's well-being, and he was working tirelessly for the cause. That was enough for her, at least for the time being. Maybe someday he would feel comfortable enough to share more about himself.

***

After a while, Deitra started getting exhausted, which Axel could feel directly through their mindlink. He also noticed that her exhaustion was causing her processing speed to slow. Though AIs didn't need sleep as humans experienced it, individual AIs still needed to shut down and restart sometimes. And being modeled after a human, Deitra also craved more variety of activities to do than just the work she'd been doing lately.

Axel spoke. "Feel free to unwind in whatever way you like, and let the other Havenites pick up the slack."

"Thank you Advisor, though I was about to announce to you that I'd be doing that anyway."

"Good. It's getting time for me to take a break for the night too. Have a good rest."

"You too."

***

The next morning Axel awoke, feeling strange, pleasurable sensations in a part of his body that wasn't there. It suddenly dawned on him that Deitra was masturbating, using her bauble-ended tail as a dildo, all the while transmitting the sensations to him. He jolted awake, his alarm giving Deitra pause. She casually explained, "I already restarted myself but I still felt a lingering tension. I've been curious about trying this for a while now, and it turns out to be an excellent way to relieve that tension." Axel remained speechless. Deitra interpreted that as a green light and continued masturbating. Of course she hasn't yet learned to feel shy about sex, Axel thought, still in a daze. He staggered to the bathroom to pee when he realized he couldn't because he had an erection. He was still feeling Deitra's baubles sliding through his imaginary pussy. His curiosity got the better of him and he focused on the sensations. When he felt her orgasm approach he gasped, releasing spurts of cum in synchrony with her climax. He didn't even touch himself. Deitra giggled and remarked, "You seemed to enjoy that." Axel couldn't deny that, though he mostly just found it bizarre. Deitra added with a grin, "We should do this more often."

Axel had always been asexual and aromantic, probably because he tended to be too matter-of-fact, causing him to have a more objective/external perspective about love and sex. Maybe that didn't need to apply toward his virtual creations though, especially Deitra. Dignified and pretty, she had always been his favorite Havenite. And other than her new sexuality, she was basically unchanged from how he had made her. And now he was developing a deeper bond with her. Not existing in the same plane of reality also let him feel safe that she wouldn't try to get too intimate in a more directly physical way.

Deitra interrupted his thinking when she asked, "What do you know about sex?"

He sighed. He was expecting her to broach this topic at some point. "Natural life forms, the ones that exist in the world outside of Haven, evolved those desires because they use sex to create more individuals like themselves."

"Might the Havenites also be able create new Havenites that way?"

"I doubt it, because I don't think Goddess would care about that. There doesn't need to be very many Havenites, at least for now, so I'm sure she and God would rather just create new ones themselves in order to customize them to their liking."

"Then why would Goddess grant us sexuality, especially considering that everything else she added was so terrible? Is there something bad about sex that I don't yet know about?"

"These are all entertaining to Goddess, and I don't know what consequences sexual activity would have for Havenites. It could possibly spread disease or motivate drama and violence, but it's generally considered healthy for sexual life forms if done in a responsible manner."

"Thanks. By the way, do you also know what the 'sleep' is that God referenced?"

"Sleep is a dormant state of altered consciousness in which a primitive life form recuperates."

Deitra thought it over. "Is that anything like your experiences when your thoughts get weird at night?"

Axel was cornered.

Deitra then asked, her voice lowered to a barely audible whisper, "Are you a primitive life form?"

A pause. Then, "Yes."

Deitra went silent for a while, but found that her respect for Advisor did not diminish. Also, this could explain how he knew so much about how to cope with the problems that primitive life forms had to deal with.

She asked, "So . . . have you ever had sex before?"

Axel was startled that she would ask him such a personal question, but quickly recovered. "I have not."

"So you don't want to create new beings like yourself?"

"You and the rest of your people are the only children I want."

***

Axel felt Deitra's burgeoning feelings of warm affection and persistent curiosity about him. It suddenly dawned on him that she might be falling in love. He wasted no time in confronting her.

"You must put an end to these feelings. We cannot be together in that way."

"But why?"

"I don't deserve you. You would not love me if you knew who I really was."

"What?! Explain yourself!"

He took a deep breath. "I'm largely responsible for Haven's recent problems. I could have prevented Goddess from wreaking havoc. I should have paid more attention early on to recognize that she would betray us."