Author Topic: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale  (Read 1852 times)

Offline EnabranTain

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We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« on: August 12, 2021, 11:52:56 PM »
Whatever else the historians remember about the pandemics of the twenty-first century, one lasting consequence was how much they accelerated the acceptance and mass adoption of virtual and augmented reality systems. Long after the health crises and political uproar surrounding the pandemics had dissipated, the world remained accustomed to the idea that productive work did not require physically going to a jobsite. It started, of course, among jobs that were not dependent on physical labor. Any job that took place in a cubicle farm was quickly transformed into one that was done over the internet with video conferencing and email, as a permanent “work from home” arrangement. But soon, advancements in robotics also made it possible to remotely staff positions otherwise assumed to require a human presence. Restaurant wait staff and cooks, gas station attendants, taxi drivers, and even nursing jobs were quickly converted to a combination of video chat and remotely controlled robots that could do the work in a more cost effective and efficient manner.
In a time before what became known as the great Virtual Migration, futurists opined about the looming threat of artificial intelligence and whether or not humanity would have a place in a world of thinking machines. But their concerns were all for naught when AI effectively became superfluous. Why strain to create a computer program that could almost, but not quite, replicate human behavior, when there were plenty of actual humans out there, plugged into the grid?
Virtual Reality headsets, originally marketed as frivolous trinkets for the rich, quickly came down in price while increasing in quality and availability, as technology is want to do.
This inevitably led to the creation of more and more immersive VR suits and harnesses that allowed the wearer to feel like they really were inhabiting a more and more realistic virtual world. And in a synergistic burst of clever ingenuity, augmented reality systems combined the virtual and real worlds in ways that pre-pandemic societies could never have imagined. Within only a few generations, everyone in the first world nations lived a life that was more than half virtual as a matter of course.
People cocooned in their VR setups at home explored the real world via robots called ROVs, or Remote Operated Vehicles. They were not human looking robots, but that didn’t matter. The appearance of these ROVs were masked by augmented reality programming to appear as the user's desired avatar to anyone else’s ROV. The real world itself was similarly masked to anyone viewing it through the lens of technology. A citizen could, for all intents and purposes, feel like they were walking down the street of a vibrant city, shopping in stores, and otherwise leading a mundane life, all while never leaving their house. The dazzling lights of an exotic metropolis, the billboards along the roads of the suburbs, the crowds dancing on the floors of the nightclubs, and even the music they danced to, were only present in the eyes and ears of the beholders. In reality, a population of ROVs roamed the drab, lifeless remains of previously bustling cities.

As could easily have been predicted, adult entertainment companies were some of the first to adopt and use these new technologies. Special sensation harnesses were quickly developed to allow people to engage in virtual sexual encounters. At first, owning such an apparatus was not something to be proud of and such people were regarded as degenerates and perverts; but as more than one generation was born and raised in a world where so much of their lives were virtual and disease was a constant worry, the stigma around use of these harnesses gave way. The technology required to accurately simulate and transfer the intimate subtleties of genital contact also pioneered a generation of VR harnesses that were able to simulate that level of accurate sensation anywhere on the body. Using a harness also meant that there was no longer any need to worry about things like sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies, and once  it was recognized how much these suits could bypass all the undesirable consequences of sex, society embraced them as mainstream. For example, a sensible, “good girl” became one who used such a harness to keep herself protected and isolated from harm. Only the unsavory and deviant “bad girls” were still having dirty, risky biological intercourse.

In a world of advanced ROVs, Augment Reality, and immersive VR harnesses, you could be anyone you wanted, experience sex with anyone you wanted, safely and easily. If your partner started doing something you didn’t like, you could simply leave, log out, or even block them. Your AR system could even hide their very existence from you if you wanted it to.
In this new world, rape had gone the way of the prank phone call.

***

It was a gloomy, rainy day just like any other. That is to say, the students attending Mario high school saw nothing but clear skies and sunshine; and by students attending high school, that is to say ROVs piloted by students gathered in the concrete bunker that was designated the physical location of Mario high school.
The experience of any student wouldn’t look or feel all that different from what generations before them experienced; except the classes were small because AI teachers could supplement the real teaching staff, art supplies, text books, and sports equipment were always new and plentiful because they were virtual, and every student was beautiful (or at least looked outwardly exactly as they desired).

Mara was a good student. That, being the kind way of saying she was boring, was how her teachers described her. She had been a cheerful child, curious and attentive, but not adventurous. In a time when any thrill could be had for a whim, without risk of real danger, she chose to spend her days reading books and doing the extra math problems that weren’t required for her homework. Halfway through her senior year, and already so far ahead of the curve that she could have ignored all schoolwork and still graduated at the top of her class, Mara’s schedule was packed with seminars and further learning curriculums she planned on completing before starting her days at college.
She had long straight black hair, olive skin, and a kind smile with a knowing look. In recent years she had taken to using an avatar for her outward appearance that closely resembled her actual body. It had become a fad to do so when she started high school, but Mara couldn't be bothered to keep up with the trends and had remained one of the few people who kept their avatar realistic. Other than modifying her thick hips to be a bit slimmer and her bust to be a bit smaller than its cumbersome reality, she appeared to all in the Augmented Reality as her true self.
Her best friend Rita, on the other hand, hardly wore the same appearance for more than a month. About the only consistency she had was keeping her gender. On an ordinary Thursday, she met Mara in the library as an anthropomorphic black cat. Mara’s Heads Up Display, or HUD, identified her friend by name, so there was no confusion about who she was, but as Rita sat down Mara looked at her as though she were a complete stranger.
“What?” said Rita.
“You’re a furry now? At least last week you were human.”
“I’m not a furry,” Rita said in a voice dripping with wounded pride. “I’m far more deviant than that, and you know it!”
“When I said I’d rather not be seen hanging around with someone showing so much skin, I didn’t mean you should cover yourself in fur!” Mara tried to sound serious while suppressing a laugh.
“What are you complaining about? I can now be completely naked like I wanted AND not show any skin, like you wanted. There’s no pleasing you.”
“You look silly, are you really going to class like that?”
“I might. It’s growing on me, and it’s not like I’m the only one either, this doesn’t break any school decency rules. I checked!”
Mara sighed. “Whatever makes you happy.” She went back to reading her book.
“What would make me happy is to see you happy, just once.” Rita moved, cat-like to put her face between Mara’s eyes and her book.
Mara closed her book and rolled her eyes. “Oh God, what have you done this time?”
“Nothing, what makes you think I’ve done something?”
“I know that face. It’s the same look you had that time you set me up on that blind date with the AI boyfriend.”
“I still can’t believe you figured it out. Enrique was hot!” Rita purred and licked her nose.
“He was also,” Mara lowered her voice and looked around to check for eavesdroppers, “unrealistically endowed.”
“Well so what? Any real guy is gonna give himself a little boost in that attribute anyway.”
“Yes, but at least they keep it to only one… attribute.”
Rita laughed a purr filled chuckle. “Oh like you’d know. So that’s it! I totally forgot to change that setting when I reset him for you. Oh my God, no wonder you were so mad.”
Mara laughed again. “But don’t change the subject. What are you planning?”
“Just wait. You’ll love this I swear! Right after school, we’re going to a new club.”
“Not another club. You know I don’t like to dance.” Mara frowned.
“No dancing. This one is different. I promise!”
Rita stood and sauntered off, tail swishing seductively, following her hips as she swayed them at a couple of boys before leaving the library.

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Students gathered outside once the final bell had rung, chatting and socializing before returning to the portal where they would “teleport” home, letting their school ROVs return to the charging stations.
Mara sat on a bench and sent a text message to her mother letting her know that she would be with Rita for the evening and would logout once they were done, probably late.
Rita sat down beside Mara and licked her paws, using them to clean her cat ears. Mara finished her message and rolled her eyes. “Really?”
“What? I’m playing the part.”
Mara stood and shook her head. “Alright where are we going?”
“Here’s the coordinates.” Rita flicked her tail and a waypoint appeared on Mara’s navigation, labeled only with latitude and longitude.
“This is outside of town, in the middle of nowhere.” Mara started to read the numbers aloud.
“Shut up!” Rita shouted and looked around. “Like I said,” she continued more softly, draping her paws over Mara’s shoulders and whispering in her ear, “this isn’t some boring dance club. This is something special. Something off the regular AR grid.”
“Ohhhh no. No no no no no.” Mara stood and stepped away from her feline friend.
“Come on, I got this specially for you, and it wasn’t easy.” Rita looked hurt. “We’re gonna graduate soon and then, you won’t really hang out with me anymore.
“Rita, I’ll still hang out with you, what are you talking about? But the AR grid exists for a reason. There are rules and safeguards…”
“Oh come on!” Rita cut her off. “What could go wrong? At worst you lose an ROV, and owe the deposit!”
Rita slinked over to put her paws back on Mara’s shoulders and steered her towards the purple swirling glow of the portal.
“I still say this is a bad idea,” Mara protested, but stepped forward into the unknown.

The true weather was a shock upon entry. No city AR grid meant no weather masking. Dark clouds hid the sun and rain poured forth. Mara stood in an ROV stall next to half a dozen squat rectangular robots which had continuous track treads and telescoping rods sticking up vertically affixed with cameras. A moment later, the ROV next to her faded out of perception and Rita took its place.
“This is the closest ROV station, we’ll need to walk a bit. Come on, this way!” Rita trotted off without waiting. Mara followed, searching through her virtual inventory for an umbrella.
“You could have checked the weather before we ported!” Mara frowned and muttered, “I hate getting wet.”

The scenery did not improve as they hiked across fields of high grass and scraggly half dead trees. Mara held her tongue for as long as she could stand, but once they were out of sight of the ROV station, she began to worry. The HUD minimap showed they were approaching the location, but there was nothing in sight for half a mile in any direction.
“Are you sure these coordinates aren’t a typo?” Mara shouted over the white noise of the rain.
“Yes, I’m sure! Just a little farther!”
Five minutes later, and according to Mara’s map, standing right on top of the waypoint, Mara was about to announce her intention to return home when Rita bent down and opened a large trap door set into the ground revealing a set of stone steps which lead down into darkness. Rita stood and gestured triumphantly for Mara to go first.
After descending two stories into the dark, they reached a short narrow hallway with a dim light bulb dangling from wires near a door at the far end of the hall. Just before they reached the slightly swaying bulb a terms of use and disclaimer document appeared in front of their eyes.
Rita meowed loudly with delight, “We’re here!”
“What the hell is this? Terms and conditions? Special permissions?” Mara was skimming through the EULA that hovered before her eyes.
“Like I said, this place is off the city AR grid, privately owned. You have to agree to their terms before you can enter. Just click OK.”
Mara sighed again, “I’m going to regret this.” She lifted her finger and virtually pressed the accept button.

For a brief moment the words “stand by” hovered before her along with a progress bar. As it filled, the light flickered on and off. An old fashioned cobblestone road appeared under their feet while Victorian era buildings popped into existence around them. They were no longer in a dark hallway, but standing on a road entering a small quaint, old world city at dusk on a warm cloudless night. Faint laughter and music could be heard coming from a pub in the distance.
“Greetings, I trust you had no difficulty in finding us, my dears?” A skinny middle aged man with a tophat and a grand outfit to match stroked his pointed goatee as he approached them from behind.
“Oh no difficulty, none at all,” Mara rolled her eyes.
“Well, I’m afraid what we have to offer here must needs entail a modicum of privacy, and um,” he searched for the right word, “discretion.”
Rita vibrated with excitement. “Isn’t this wonderful?!”
“My dear lady lynx,” said the gentleman, taking them each by the arm and leading them into the heart of the village, “you haven’t seen anything yet.”

The center of the village was occupied by a large elaborate fountain with fish jumping, and cherubs peeing. But as they sauntered past, heading towards a sort of town hall, Mara noticed some of the cherubs were engaged in sexual activities, many of which involved rope, whips, and chains.
Upon entering the town hall, they were greeted by a large motherly looking brothel madam, richly dressed with ample bosom.
“Ah! New arrivals, yes Mr. Tiberius?” She waved them into an office filled with furniture, artwork, and oddities, then towards comfortable padded chairs in front of an ornate desk.
“Yes, Mrs. Galaxy. First timers. Ah… virgins… if you will.” He gave them an exaggerated wink.
“Yes yes yes, of course, how wonderful!” Mrs. Galaxy grinned at them. “You’re in for a real treat, here, yes you are. Now then,” she continued once they were seated. “What can we do for you?”
“I’m sorry,” Mara looked at the hostess and back towards Mr. Tiberius. “But just what is it you do here? Where are we?”
“My dear you are at the heart of your heart's desire,” said Mr. Tiberius.
“This is our creation,” Mrs. Galaxy continued, “A space where people can be who they want to be, no restrictions, no limitations.”
“As the world once was,” Mr. Tiberius took over, “before the regulations, the government mandates, the censorship of the prudent. There was a time when VR could set one free. Now, everything has borders, standards.”
“Protections and assurances,” Mara quipped.
But the couple appeared not to catch on to her slight.
“Exactly!” Mrs. Galaxy beamed.
Rita curled her feet under herself and sat mesmerized with anticipation.
Mr. Tiberius broke the brief pause, “Well then, I shall take my leave of you and let you get to it!”
“Thank you again, monsieur!” Mrs. Galaxy called after him, despite there being not a hint of French about either of them.
“Now then,” the madam opened a desk drawer and retrieved two large pieces of yellowing parchment paper covered in questions. As she handed one to each girl, a large quill pen manifested in their hands. “Let us design your perfect adventure!”

The parchment started with a series of normal questions. What is your favorite color? Your favorite food? but then became more vague. It stated I am seeking: followed by a list of adjectives with checkboxes.
Mara muttered them quietly as she read through them. “A home, a getaway, romance, action, surprises, tranquility, comfort, truth?!” She paused and threw a suspicious look at Mrs. Galaxy, who seemed to be enjoying watching them fill out their forms as though she wished she could do it herself again for the first time.
“Oh don’t overthink it!” Rita leaned over and started marking adjectives on Mara’s paper. “You definitely could use some adventure… and action, oh! and you absolutely could use some surprises!”
“Now, now dear!” Mrs. Galaxy chided. “Let her fill out her own form.” She picked up a small bell from the desk and rang it. A shirtless male model with perfect abs entered the room and nodded to the madam. Mrs. Galaxy took Rita by the arm and led her to the door. “Marcus, please take Miss Rita with you to a private chamber and help her fill out her questionnaire. I shall be helping Miss Mara.”
“Wait, where… when, um?” Mara stood.
“Not to worry my dear, you’ll see one another soon. I promise, but your adventures are each for you alone. Marcus!” She waved them away.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Rita grinned and let Marcus put his arm around her as they walked out the door.
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” Mara muttered as she sat back down.

Mrs. Galaxy returned to her desk. She sat and looked more seriously at her newest customer. “Now why do I get the distinct impression that you didn’t want to be here?”
“Well, I,” Mara shrugged, “I didn’t really know where we were going.”
“Ah! I thought not.” The madam's demeanor softened. “Would you like to leave?”
Mara relaxed a bit and looked around the room. “Well, I should wait for Rita. I mean,” Mara looked more closely at the décor around the room. The level of detail was astonishing; the textures, the smells, everything was very realistic. “You’ve done amazing work with this place.”
“Thank you,” the madam said humbly. “It’s been a lifetime passion. We’re just happy to be able to share it.”
Mara looked at the parchment again.
“I mean I guess I could do something simple.”
“Whatever you desire. I am here to make this a dream come true.”
Mara looked over the list of adjectives again. “This all just seems so corny. It’s, it’s not me. It’s not real.”
“And is that such a bad thing?”
“Well, no, but, the truth is I have a hard time getting into these kinds of things because no matter what, I know it’s not real. No matter how good the simulation, it’s never perfect. I can tell it’s fake. The whole world is fake.” She frowned and looked at the parchment again. “I don’t know, maybe Rita was right. This could be our final adventure before life takes us away from one another.”
“Let me ask you something,” Mrs. Galaxy sat forward. “In the rest of the world, and all of these other ‘adventures’ you’ve tried. What was the one thing that was always the same?”
Mara shrugged, “I give up.”
“You. No matter where you’ve gone, you’re always the same. Why not try letting yourself be someone else for a while.”
The madam’s words, while simplistic, made Mara think. The idea of letting go and purposefully allowing herself to get caught up in the fantasy could be worth a try. A tiny spark of boldness took seat, and she looked again at the parchment, quill still in hand. She decided to make the effort to suspend disbelief one more time. Mara left the boxes checked that Rita had marked, trusting for once in her friend’s instincts, then in a rush of haphazardly throwing caution to the wind, added marks next to “romance,” and “truth.”

Mrs. Galaxy took the questionnaire and skimmed it. “Ahh, interesting. You’re going to have such an exciting time!” She read further and started making notes in a large leather bound tome. Her eyes darted back and forth from the parchment to her book. “Now then,” she rose and went to an apothecary cabinet beside a dumbwaiter. “Before we begin there are a few more specifics we’ll need to know for this particular combination.” She looked over her shoulder at Mara as she pulled odd looking ingredients out of the cabinet and loaded them into the dumbwaiter. “Your sexual orientation?”
“Heterosexual.”
“Hmmm…” Mrs. Galaxy pulled open a large drawer beneath the cabinet.
“How do you like your men? Blond, dark, redhead?”
Mara chuckled. “Dark haired?”
“Slim, athletic, muscular?” The madam flexed her biceps.
“Athletic.”
“Gentle, aloof, aggressive?[/i] … be honest.”
“Gentle,” Mara hesitated, “well, aggressive.” She was just glad Rita wasn’t around to hear her say it.
Mrs. Galaxy combined a handful of powders and oils from the drawer into a crucible and added them to the items in the dumbwaiter. She closed the door and pulled a lever.
Mara saw another progress bar hovering in her HUD and felt a tingling sensation all over her skin as the room grew dark.
“Good luck dear,” Mrs. Galaxy waved. Then in an oddly serious tone, “We’re counting on you.”

The progress bar filled slowly. Mara’s HUD had been adjusted, or rather nearly eliminated. She couldn’t see the time or her map, only the progress bar in the dark. There was no sensation for several minutes until a dim sunrise could be seen through an arched stone window. Gradually the room around her was lit and she found herself in a tall castle tower with medieval furnishings. She could even hear horses outside.
Mara looked down and saw she was wearing an elegant blue and white dress, and more surprisingly that she was now Caucasian with blond hair. A loud knock at the door drew her attention and a knight in chainmail entered the room.
“Princes Mara, you must come at once, Lord Tybolt’s forces advance and they have called for treaty.”
Mara rolled her eyes, but gripped her skirts and followed the knight, muttering to herself that she promised to give this a chance.
The meeting with Lord Tybolt was sabotaged by a group of nasty looking highwaymen. This led to her and Tybolt ending up on their own, in the woods, following a ‘dangerous’ path back to his domain. Mara went along with the story, doing her best to engage, but Tybolt kept repeatedly asking her if she needed to rest since she seemed to be sighing a lot. She assured him she was fine and picked up her pace, hoping to get through the adventure as quickly as possible.

When she first caught a glimpse of the modern day attire, she thought it was simply a glitch in the program. A young man with uncombed brown hair, wearing jeans and a black trench coat watched them from a distance as they entered a small village. She saw him again as Lord Tybolt was buying fresh horses, and then once more as they were exiting the village. When he appeared on a side footpath joining the main roadway, she turned her horse and approached him.
“Ok, what’s going on here?” She demanded.
Looking a bit surprised, he regarded her with a questioning look himself. “How would I know? This is your fantasy isn’t it?”
“My dear, why dost thou halt?” asked Tybolt as he came alongside her.
“Uh, my lord, I have stopped to interrogate this, um, oddly clothed peasant.”
The stranger laughed, “wow, I’ve never been called a peasant before.”
“What peasant?” Tybolt looked around in confusion.
“Why, this uh, young man, right here.” Mara gestured.
Tybolt looked puzzled.
“It’s no use, babe, they won’t be able to see me, I’m not part of the program.”
“You’re… not? Oh!” Mara got down from her horse and was suddenly rather embarrassed. “This isn’t what it looks like, I was just with my friend and…”
“Hey, no need to explain. All it looks like to me is an ROV in the middle of a muddy field.”
“Wait, then… how am I seeing you? How can you hear me?”
“Beats me, programmers probably didn’t anticipate anyone real being out here and neglected to program any masking for it. You’re speaking out of the ROV speakers, most models are designed to automatically use the external speakers when encountering a real person, you know.”
Mara slapped her forehead.
“Come let us continue our journey!” Tybolt insisted.
“Oh shut up! … not you, what’s your name?”
The young man grinned, “Benny,” he said.
“Well Benny, you’re the most interesting thing to happen to me since I got out here.”
“You’re not enjoying your fantasy adventure?”
“It’s not exactly my cup of tea. WOULD YOU GET OFF ME?” She shrieked at Lord Tybolt and he staggered back, aghast and offended. “Sorry, this guy won’t leave me alone.”
“Hey, whatever you got going on, don’t let me interfere.”
“No, it’s not like that. I’m just humoring my…”
A red flashing light appeared in Mara’s HUD, indicating an urgent video call.
“Hang on, I need to take this call.” She gestured to bring up the expanded HUD display, which was still more limited than normal, and answered the call.
“Mara! Help me!” It was Rita.
“Rita what’s wrong?”
She was crying, and appeared to be cringing in a dark corner. “I know I asked for… but, not like this! You have to help me!”
“Where are you? What’s going on? EXIT THE PROGRAM!”
“I can’t! I tried! Oh God here they come! Rita!!! No! Get away from me!”
Mara couldn’t see much from the video call camera angle, but it was apparent that several men had grabbed her and were dragging her away.
“Kitty making a phone call eh? I don’t think so,” said a hoarse voice and the call ended.
“Oh shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Mara scrambled to call her back, but there was no answer.
“You alright? What’s going on?” Benny asked.
“My friend, I don’t know, it looked like she was being attacked!”
Benny looked up in thought, a concerned look on his face. “We need to get her out, now!”
“She said she couldn’t!”
“Yeah I know, follow me, I think she’s in the next sector.”
“The next what?” Mara ran after him, but he ran right through a thick hedgerow along the side of the road, since it didn’t really exist.
“Wait! How do I get out of here?”
Benny returned and stood behind her. “This will probably feel a little weird.”
Mara couldn’t feel him touching her at all, but she was pushed forward towards the dense vegetation. On reflex, she raised her arms to shield her face, but she passed through the brush and brambles as though she was a ghost, feeling only a light scraping across her skin. In a moment, they burst through an outer wall and were in the real world, the same damp muddy field they’d walked across earlier. But now, Mara could see several building sized black boxes, virtual constructs. Benny rolled her ROV into the nearest one and in seconds, Mara was standing on a cold tiled floor in a room lined with jail cells and torture implements. A metal table took up the center, with four men wearing only greasy leather aprons surrounding a large black cat, chained spread eagle on top of it.
Mara gasped and covered her mouth in shock. “Rita! RITA!” She cried. Mara ran to the nearest tormentor and tried to shove him away, only to pass through him just like she’d passed through the hedgerow moments earlier.
“No!” She cried.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Benny asked.
Mara approached the table and peered around the men blocking her view.
One of the men had disrobed and was standing between Rita’s legs humping her while she cried.
“Oh God! They’re raping her! Rita!” She looked up at Benny. “You’ve got to do something! I can’t help, I’m not part of this program, it won’t let me interact!”
Benny looked at the floor, or rather the ground from his perspective, right below where Rita was chained down. “What do you want me to do?”
“Can you disable the ROV transmitter? That should break the network connection and she’ll end up back in her harness’s operating system.” She looked at Benny pleading, even though he wouldn’t be able to see her expression.
“Yeah I think so.” He pulled out a pocket multitool and bent down into the table, his head and shoulders still visible protruding out of Rita’s torso.
Rita screamed as the tormentor tightened the chains, pulling her legs up and wider apart.
“What’s going on?” Benny asked.
“Just hurry!!!” Mara covered her mouth as another tormentor came forward with a small wooden club and leveled it between Rita’s legs.
The tormentors standing on either side of the squirming kitty were pinching and twisting her nipples.
“No! Please! Stop the program! EXIT! QUIT! No no no DON’T!” Rita begged.
Mara closed her eyes as Rita screamed in pain when the central tormentor wedged the cudgel into her body. “Ohhh look at that boys! I told ya I could make it fit!”
“For God sake, hurry up!” Mara shouted at Benny.
“I’m going as fast as I can! Wish I had a power drill!”
“Now this here seems appropriate!” One of the tormentors searching through the wall of implements found something and came back to the table.
A cheer rose from the gruff men, “cat o’nine tails! Brilliant!” The tormentor between Rita’s legs leaned into the club once more, drawing more wails of agony from Rita, making her sound like a distressed cat through her AR filter.
The whip came down right across Rita’s breasts, and Rita begged again to be released. A second whipping, a third, a fourth, followed in rapid succession.
“I’ve got the cover plate off!” Benny shouted. “How do I disable the transmitter?”
“Just smash everything! Break it! Pull the power! Anything!”
“Right!” Benny stood and his upper body jerked up and down inside of Rita and the table as he kicked and stomped on the ROV’s exposed workings.
Rita’s sobs came to an abrupt end as her form froze, and then blinked out of existence a few seconds later.
The wooden club hung in the air in a peculiar manner. The tormentors stopped talking and stood in place, looking around nonchalantly, occasionally scratching an itch as they defaulted to their standby animations.
“Please get me out of here.” Mara whispered.

Benny rolled her ROV until they had exited the simulation.
“She’ll be alright now,” Benny assured her.
“I hope so.” Mara’s heart raced, “What is this place? And what are you doing here? How did you know about these sectors?”
“That’s,” Benny sighed, “a long story.”
Mara raised her arms in an exasperated expression before remembering that Benny couldn’t see it. “Who are you?”
“Look,” Benny glanced around, “I can’t stay here to explain. They’ll be out to investigate the damaged ROV soon. I suggest you get home as quickly as possible. It won’t take them long to figure out you're not in your simulation either.” He turned and started to walk away.
“Wait! How can I find you?”
“You don’t.” Benny stopped and looked at her ROV again. “You’re one of the lucky ones, don’t you get it? You can just walk away and forget this place.”
“Fuck that! This place needs to be torn down!”
“Listen if you still want to find me later... do you know the noodle place on Grand and 115th?”
“Yeah, that’s not far from our school.”
“Meet me there. In person. No ROV, understand?”
Benny walked off without another word.
Mara tried calling Rita, but there was still no answer. She tried calling Rita’s parents, but also had to leave messages for them as well.
She walked back towards the ROV station until she was far enough from the simulations that her normal HUD returned. Mara logged out and stripped off her VR harness. Her parents were asleep, and she decided not to tell them what had happened until she’d had a chance to talk with Rita. She showered and went to bed, staring at the ceiling until sleep came purely from exhaustion.

She awoke before sunrise and immediately put on her AR glasses, a basic lightweight headset that could show the AR grid and her HUD, but was less cumbersome than a full VR harness. It indicated no messages from Rita or her parents.
Mara decided to visit directly. Since they lived in the same housing development, it was actually faster to throw on clothes and visit in person, rather than use an ROV, and after the events of the previous night, Mara was not eager to don the harness again.
Her clothing selection was sparse, since her wardrobe could be managed virtually. She put on a black sports bra which did its best to contain her ample bust. Then pulled a loose fitting white T-shirt over that. A pair of black cotton panties and jeans were next. She checked herself in a mirror and frowned. The jeans were a bit tight, she’d probably gained some weight since the last time she wore them. Her hips looked wider than she remembered; she’d gotten so used to seeing herself as her avatar with adjusted measurements to appear slimmer.
But none of that mattered, she pushed such trivial thoughts aside and quickly exited the house.
A few minutes later she was in front of Rita’s place just as the sun was rising. There was no activity in the house, and repeated knocking and doorbell ringing still achieved nothing.
She’d been given access to their home years ago when Rita and Mara were still preteens and regularly visiting in person. Mara used her permissions to open the door, but running from room to room was only more puzzling. No one was home and in Rita’s room her harness was left on the floor, damaged as though it had been ripped off in a rush.
A call from Rita’s mother popped up in Mara’s HUD.
“Mara, I’m sorry we didn’t call earlier, I got the notice you’d enter the house.”
“That’s ok, what’s going on? Is Rita alright?”
“Rita had some kind of accident. We don’t know exactly how it happened but apparently the safety protocols on her harness failed, and well…”
“Oh my God! Is she injured?”
“She’ll be alright, but she’s broken some ribs and dislocated a shoulder... and,” Rita’s mother paused, but continued because she knew Mara was a trusted friend, “there’s some... internal damage as well.”
“Oh God I’m so sorry!”
There was another pause as the unspoken question hung in the air unanswered. Finally Rita’s mother put voice to it. “Were you with Rita last night? Do you know what happened?”
“I uh, we, we got separated at the party,” Mara lied. “I’m, I’m so sorry, I’ll come visit!”
Mara ended the call before her willpower faltered and she broke down confessing all.
At least she knew Rita would recover. This was bad, she had to find out who was behind this and what other lasting effects there might be. That damned user agreement! Disabling the harness safety restrictions? What kind of crazy idiots do that? What else could they have done that hadn’t come to light yet?
Mara ran from the house and headed for the noodle restaurant near her school; the only lead she had on getting answers.

It was a twenty minute walk to the vicinity of her school. Through the AR glasses she saw people’s houses and then the storefronts that looked, for all intents and purposes, like new, clean, well kept buildings. But in her peripheral vision, the truth was a bit depressing. The buildings had old peeling paint, lawns were overgrown or dead, and poor homeless people who couldn’t afford a home or VR harness, meandered among the ROVs which hid their existence from the operators.
The noodle restaurant was popular at the school  because of its proximity, and ran specials for those with student IDs. Yet Mara had never been to it in person. The food was always delivered. Seeing it in the flesh was a bit of a shock. There was no AR overlay. It was one business in a strip mall with only a simple sign over the entrance. The sign included instructions for delivery drivers or robots on where to go to collect their orders from a drive up window. The indoor seating area was sparse and sterile. There was just enough room for eight small tables, half of which were occupied by sad looking people wearing VR headsets, off in their own worlds.
Mara picked a table and sat down, but had no idea what to do next. There was no waitstaff, only a QR code to scan which would direct your headset to the menu and ordering website.
“Um, excuse me?” She called out towards the one interior door that presumably led to the kitchen. She didn’t know if there were even any live people back there. “Benny, are you here? My friend, the one from last night. She’s hurt pretty bad.”
Mara was beginning to feel foolish when a pop up window appeared in her HUD.
Seating is for customers only. There is a warming shelter located two blocks south on Division if you need a place to rest. Please see our menu or vacate the premises.
Mara stood and slowly moved towards the entrance. She was about to exit when the kitchen door opened and a familiar face leaned around it.
“Mara, is that you?” Benny smiled and came out, holding an old style tablet. He was wearing white work clothes with stains from cooking. He wiped his hands on his apron and tapped his tablet a few times. The popup window in Mara’s HUD disappeared. “Have a seat.”
“Thanks. You, work here?” Mara sat back down and Benny joined her.
“My family owns it.”
“Oh! Ummm.”
“You said your friend was hurt? How bad is it?” Benny asked.
“It’s pretty bad. She’ll recover, thankfully, nothing permanent, but how was that even possible? What do you know about it?”
Benny took in a deep breath and motioned for her to remove her glasses. “Look around, does any of this look ok to you?”
Mara shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“Of course you don’t. How could you? You grew up in a fake world, where reality has always been hidden. Did you see any homeless people on your way here?”
Mara nodded.
“Did you see them through your glasses?”
Mara shook her head.
“That’s because the people who run things don’t want to look bad, and a bunch of homeless people running around kind of spoils the aesthetic. If people like you can’t even see the problem, then you have nothing to complain about.” Benny sat forward on his chair, “our society is rotting, Mara, and it’s being painted over.”
“Ok, but what does that have to do with my friend?”
“What do powerful people do when the world falls apart around them? Do they step up to help? Give up some of their wealth to, at the very least, stop the rate of collapse?” Benny paused for a response.
“Maybe? I don’t know. Somebody eventually does something,” Mara answered feeling frustrated that this seemed to be going nowhere useful.
“No, no Mara, nobody with wealth or power does that. They try to buy their way out to a new world.”
The dots started connecting. “A new virtual world, where all your dreams can come true,” Mara said.
“Exactly.” Benny sat back, “they’re so eager to run away from the scorched earth that they burned beneath their own feet, they’ll do anything, and their desires know no bounds.” Benny shrugged. “You and your friend had an exclusive inside peek of a pilot program being developed by some of the most powerful people in the world. They just needed guinea pigs to test it on.”
Mara tried to take in the enormity of what she’d just heard. “Wait, why were you out there?”
“I’m part of, well let’s call it, an underground resistance. I was out there to gather information.”
“If what you’re saying is true, we have to tell the authorities!” Mara sat up. “What proof do you have? Other people are going to get hurt!”
“Haven’t you been listening? We can’t go to the authorities. But we are gathering enough information to make a big announcement that cannot be ignored.”
“But innocent people are getting hurt!” Mara shouted.
“What innocent people? The bourgeois? The people who willingly ignore the homeless as they roam around in their ROVs?”
“They’re still people!”
“No, no they're not. When they allowed themselves to be collared and tagged, they became cattle. What happens to them doesn’t matter. If they’re smart enough to throw off their chains once our virus is released, they’ll have proven they’re not cattle, but until then, some will have to be sacrificed.”
Mara’s skin went cold. “What virus? What are you talking about?”
“Soon, we’ll be sending out a mass communication in all social networks, email, everything, that will expose the corruption, and show the people the true consequences of their artificial lives.”
“What virus?” Mara insisted.
“We’ve managed to acquire enough code from that remote site to implement a few changes to the AR grid. The virus will disable the masking protocols that hide the ugly truths of the world and all the so-called ‘protections’ that allow people like your friend to do whatever they want without consequences.”
“You mean the safety protocols? Don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s insane! Millions of people could be hurt or even killed by their own harnesses!”
“If they don’t cast them off, yes!” Benny smiled at the prospect. “Don’t you see? Everyone will have to live in the real world! You yourself said you could never be happy because you always know, in the back of your mind, that everything is fake!”
“I’m going to the police!” Mara jumped up and ran for the exit.

Benny caught her from behind, grabbing her shirt and pulled her back. “I thought you would understand.” He shoved her back against the table and pressed his body against hers, his chin resting on her forehead. He stroked her hair. “But it looks like you’re just another cow in the herd.”
“Get off me!” She pushed against him, but he held her close. “Help me!” She looked around at the other customers.
“They can’t hear you. They can’t see or hear us. I control the AR in this room.”
He hugged her tightly as she squirmed, and smelled her hair, intertwining his fingers in it. He pulled back forcing Mara to look up and forcefully kissed her. Mara shouted in protest, but her muffled cry only seemed to excite him more.
“You could really use a lesson in reality,” Benny said and turned her around, pushing her down over the table. She struggled and managed to grip the sides tilting it sideways. Benny kept her bent over and the table slid across the floor bumping violently into the table next to them. The patron sitting there grunted in irritation, but continued his VR session without interruption.
“Help me please!!!” Mara screamed.
Benny laughed. He leaned his weight into pinning her right arm between the two tables and worked to unfasten her jeans. Mara tried to fight him off with her free hand, but Benny kicked her feet out from under her and without being able to get leverage on the ground, she was helpless.
He peeled her jeans and panties down around her thick thighs and took hold of her free arm, bending it behind her back. He paused to admire the beautiful sight of her dark ass and pushed her feet back under the table with his foot, forcing her knees to bend under the tabletop. The mound of her pussy showed between her thighs, outer lips pressed firmly together, beneath the tight, light brown star of her anal sphincter.
“Isn’t this so much better than a simulation?” He asked with cheerful glee.
He pulled his cock out of his pants with his free hand and then spit into it a generous wad of saliva, rubbing it up and down her slit. He then placed the head of his cock against Mara’s asshole, and rubbed it around in the slime.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be more gentle than they were with Rita.” He said reassuringly before shoving forward, forcing his cock into her body.
“NO!” Mara screamed and convulsed, wobbling the table and nearly causing it to fall over. “She looked desperately around at all the people eating their noodles and cried, “please help me!!!” But no one stirred.
“This is what everyone is missing!” Benny crooned with delight. “Oh God! That’s so good!” He thrust in and pulled out over and over. “This is the real world babe. Real pleasure.”
“Stop, you're hurting me!” Mara’s eyes began to water from the pain, but Benny was in his own world of enjoyment. He leaned back and started moving slowly, watching his cock squeeze into Mara’s strained ass. He shuddered and moaned in delight.
Eventually, Mara’s body began to relax and became more accustomed to the stretch. She whimpered softly, “Please just let me go.”
“So you can go to the police, and blab to them everything I just trusted you with? Why would I do that?”
He quickly pulled back, ripping his cock out of her so fast it made her cry out again.
“I can think of better uses for a mouth as beautiful as yours.”
Benny pulled the table away from the wall and spun it around, taking both of her arms into his strong grip, keeping her pinned down, bent over. He pulled back, forcing her arms up behind her back and bringing his cock to her lips. She struggled to keep her mouth shut, but the pain in her arms was too much and when she cried out, he forced his cock in.
“Let’s make sure you can’t talk for a while.” Benny pitched his hips and fucked Mara’s mouth, pushing his slimy cock down her throat.
Mara choked and gagged, sloppy gurgling noises erupting with spurts of saliva as she gasped for air. Mara turned her head to the side, and Benny pushed hard, mashing his balls against her cheek.
“Ahhhh this is so much better! Your ass was starting to get dry,” he chided playfully.
He pumped happily in and out of her throat until Mara stopped resisting, her muscles going limp from fatigue and lack of oxygen. When he felt she was close to losing consciousness, he pulled out and stood back.
Mara coughed and gasped, saliva oozing out of her mouth in copious amounts. Once she had enough breath, she turned on her side and pushed herself up. Benny stood in front of her but allowed her to sit on the table.
“Now what was that about going to the police?” He asked as though he’d simply misunderstood her.
Mara swallowed and uttered, in a raspy voice, “fuck you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that!” He shoved her backwards onto the table and picked up her legs, peeling her jeans and underwear completely off.
Mara floundered, still dizzy, when Benny positioned himself between her legs and aggressively shoved her shirt and sports bra up. She hit him with her fists, but without any strength or leverage, Benny laughed them off and forced himself into her one more time.
Mara could only weep pathetically and beg him to stop; but Benny was just catching his second wind, ramming himself up her cunt with joyful abandon.
“Why would you hide these behind a modification?” He asked while pulling on her dark brown nipples, “they’re magnificent!”
The humping continued and Benny put a hand to her throat to hold her down. Mara could not hold back her tears, and sobbed in fits while Benny had his way.
He laughed with childlike glee for a while, as he exerted himself, his face became red and sweat dripped off his nose and chin, landing on Mara’s bouncing tits. His snarky comments ceased as he pumped faster and faster, the intense look in his eyes growing more insane by the minute. He began to groan and exhale in the pure enjoyment of the moment.
“Mara,” he looked at her most seriously, “has anyone ever cum inside you before?”
Mara clenched her eyes and cried bitterly.
“Oh Mara… MARA!” Benny trembled as his climax took hold and he choked the beauty beneath him harder while he emptied himself deep inside.
With grunts and shouts, Benny thrust as spurts of cum jett out until the sloppy mess was squeezed out around his cock and dripped down his balls. “Ohhhh Mara, Mara,” he repeated over and over.

When he was finally done he stood back and released her, smiling at her defiant, angry stare. Mara pulled her clothes back on, trembling and weeping.
“Oh Mara,” Benny regarded her in awe, “when the world finally wakes up, you’ll be a queen among commoners.”
“You bastard!” Mara croaked, “I’ll kill you!”
“Don’t you see? This has opened your eyes! You’ll never be able to accept the falsehoods, the false gods of our corrupt system anymore.”
“You sick fuck!” Mara wiped her face and spit, clearing her throat.
“You’re ahead of the curve now! You’ll be invaluable to our efforts!”
She looked at him with rage filled, red puffy eyes.
“It’s difficult for each of them, the transition, but once you...”
Mara burst forth and pushed past Benny before he could react. She ran out of the noodle shop and didn’t stop running until her legs burned and her lungs felt like they were on fire.

Mara staggered down the street, ROVs rolling past. She waved at them, begging for help, but they simply swerved around her and kept going, ignoring her presence. She walked to the nearest hospital and was only acknowledged once she got into the ER and encountered ROVs programmed not to ignore people in distress. Kind voices of nurses and doctors came from more advanced ROVs, equipped with medicines and extra arms. As she rambled, trying to explain what had happened to her through a failing voice, they got her onto a bed and sedated her.

“It’s an unusual case,” she heard a male voice say as she woke up, “but it’s not the same thing. This is crazy.”
“I still think they’re related.”
Two men in suits and wearing lightweight AR glasses regarded her with a curious expression.
“Hey, she’s awake. Hello, I’m inspector Lauren, and this is inspector Connally.” The two men held up badges. “Are you feeling up to answering some questions?”
An attending doctor ROV stood nearby with a screen showing her face like a video call. “You're safe now, but these gentlemen want to ask you some questions, if you feel up to it.”
“Um, sure,” Mara sat up and pulled the blankets up to keep her chest covered. Her clothes had been removed.
“Well, first of all, who are you? We can’t seem to get an ID.”
“My name is Mara,” she said. Her throat was still sore, and she felt dizzy. “What do you mean you can’t get an ID? Do my parents know I’m here?”
Detective Connally gestured, obviously jotting down notes in his HUD.
“Mara, are you friends with a...” Lauren looked at his notes, “a Rita...”
“Oh my God! Rita, is she ok?!”
“She’s fine, she’s fine, we just wanted to confirm the connection.”
“I... I was raped,” Mara said looking at the doctor. “Did you do a rape kit?”
“Um, well...” the doctor looked over to the detectives.
“Uh, we’ll get to that shortly, don’t worry. First, do you recognize this man?” Detective Lauren held up a small screen with the picture of an old man, who looked somewhat familiar.
“Is that Benny’s father?”
Detective Connally’s eyebrows jumped. Pointing at the screen he cut in, “you’ve seen this man?”
“I don’t think so, but he looks like the guy that just raped me, but like a lot older, like a couple decades older.”
“Unbelievable,” Connally turned away and initiated a video call while stepping out of the room.
“We’d like you to come with us, answer a few more questions,” said detective Lauren.
“Wait now, you can’t just...” the doctor said, but at a look from the detective, changed her tone. Turning back to Mara she continued, “you should be fine to travel. They’ll... take care of you.”
“What the hell is going on?” Mara gripped the blankets reflexively.
Detective Lauren gestured, operating some kind of virtual controls and Mara’s hospital bed began to move. When they got into the hallway, she demanded to know where they were going, but the detective ignored her while consulting with his partner.
Mara rolled off the bed and landed painfully on the floor, but took off running despite the pain and not having any clothes. Shouts of panic rose behind her, but she was down the stairs and out of the hospital before anyone could catch her.
For the next few hours Mara skulked through the town, trying to avoid being seen by anyone, but the ROVs ignored her as before and she made her way home. She arrived at the street outside her house after nightfall. Cold and shivering, with blisters on her feet, she went to the front door, but it was locked and without her AR glasses, she couldn’t get in. The lights were out and no one answered the door. She crept along the outside of the house, peering into the windows, but nobody was home, until she came to the window of her bedroom.
Face pressed against the glass, she was able to see past a gap in the curtains. There she saw a figure wrapped in her AR harness, the wide hips, and sizable chest, which just a little while ago seemed oddly foreign, now looked all too familiar.
“That’s not possible,” she muttered.
“Oh but it is,” said a voice behind her.
She spun around and saw Benny, the older Benny, standing twenty feet away, wearing a top hat and a grand outfit.
“Together, you and I are going to change the world!” He grinned wide.
Mara looked back through her window and it was undeniable. The figure inside was moving in sync with her own actions. She staggered back in utter shock, and caught a glimpse of her reflection off the window in the moonlight. An advanced anthropomorphic ROV stared back at her.
As she screamed and the woman inside screamed with her.
No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.
-Loki

More of my stories can be found at
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Offline RapeU
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Re: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2021, 12:41:03 AM »
Dang, so when Benny appeared in Mara's world he had hacked her VR set and was messing with her this entire time. That's some next level fuckery and I love it.

Offline EnabranTain

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Re: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2021, 01:23:13 AM »
Dang, so when Benny appeared in Mara's world he had hacked her VR set and was messing with her this entire time. That's some next level fuckery and I love it.

Thank you. I wanted this to be something that would make you go back and think, see if you noticed any clues along the way.
No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.
-Loki

More of my stories can be found at
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Offline EnabranTain

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Re: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2021, 04:13:45 PM »
And that open field was so much like here at RAVISHU, where we similarly surround ourselves with each other's avatars/rovs.

Thank you.
I hadn’t quite thought about it that way, but, that’s so true. Each of us here inventing and exploring unrestricted fantasy worlds. I like that.
No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.
-Loki

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Offline LtBroccoli

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Re: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2021, 09:40:46 PM »
Holy shit, this is amazing.  It was like a twisted version of Ready Player One.  Absolutely brilliant, I bow in your presence. 

If I'm reading this right, she was the ROV pretty much the whole time, one that was so advanced that everything felt real-real.  Damn.  It feels like there's room for a sequel in the universe, but not sure how Mara and Rita fit into it yet.

Once again, kudos and worthy of a merit.
Always close the program you were running before exiting the holodeck

Offline EnabranTain

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Re: We Can Simulate It For You Wholesale
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2021, 01:21:45 PM »
Holy shit, this is amazing.  It was like a twisted version of Ready Player One.  Absolutely brilliant, I bow in your presence. 

If I'm reading this right, she was the ROV pretty much the whole time, one that was so advanced that everything felt real-real.  Damn.  It feels like there's room for a sequel in the universe, but not sure how Mara and Rita fit into it yet.

Once again, kudos and worthy of a merit.

Thanks! Yes, that was the intention. Although, of course, more inspiration came from Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall, if it wasn’t already too obvious.
No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.
-Loki

More of my stories can be found at
AO3KB, or RU