Part 1

Chapter 1: Frustration

Damon Saunders drove home through the country lanes. He didn't notice the splendour of the spring fields dappled with the evening sunshine; he failed to register the myriad small signs for farm fresh produce. No, Damon Saunders was thinking, seething silently, about his recent meeting. He had been axed; redundant after all his work and input into the programme - it was an outrage! Damon's thoughts flew back in to the present with an unwelcome jolt. He threw the steering wheel to the left and brought the Ford to a shuddering halt, skimming the damp verge. Damon raced out of his car to shake a clenched fist towards the rear of the disappearing tractor.

"You stupid bumpkin, didn't you see me? You can't just pull out of gateways like that!" Damon shouted at the shadowy driver, whose only reply was two dirty extended fingers thrust upwards with vigour.

Damon checked for damage, sure enough the bumper was ripped from its shattered mounting by the impact with the sodden verge.

"Oh bloody great, can today get any better?" Damon raged at the azure blue sky.

Damon soon realised he had no details of the tractor or its wayward driver. He slumped his weight forwards onto the cars bonnet, and hammered his fist into the unforgiving metal. Swearing profusely, and cradling his sore knuckles with his undamaged left hand, Damon returned to the drivers seat. Where he just sat, as the final indignity descended upon him - he had to tell Alice. Alice, who had moved to the depths of the Norfolk countryside, and had given up her teaching post; just to save him commuting time, Damon's depression deepened.

Alice was, on the other hand, in a very good mood. She had finished painting the spare bedroom, tidied the lounge and prepared Damon's meal. Alice liked things neat and tidy, and now they were. This left her the luxury of a whole hour for herself. She slipped into the study to check her e-mails; she sat at Damon's desk and logged on.

Her face fell - he had forgotten to log out again, this was a real pain, and so typical of him. Damon had a lot of good points but his absent-mindedness coupled with his impatience annoyed her intensely. Not only was he likely to forget to logout, but also he had hacked the security to stop the account automatically terminating after 10 minutes. So now she had to figure it out! Alice's eyes scanned the page for the logout button, click, the screen started to close.

Then a message popped up 'Dr Saunders - run program viability check?' a yes or no dialogue awaited a response. Another of his little reminders, damn. She fumed a little and pressed 'yes', the box disappeared only to reappear an instant later; in frustration she jabbed several times at the yes button without further affect.

In annoyance, Alice hit the no button. The affect was immediate. The screen blanked and then 'Abnormal termination - run default full program - unprotected?' OK or cancel, the menu asked politely. Alice was sick of this she hit cancel. The screen blanked momentarily and then flashed up 'Illegal command - line 807 abort... running Webb's 1.7... boot routine.

As Alice stared, the screen filled with rich swirling colours. Subtle changes blended the colours continuously, and the effect was glorious. Alice couldn't take her eyes from the screen. Eventually the screens colours merged into a bright purple that shimmered in liquid currents. Gradually the purples deepened in shade, and Alice felt her self relax into its depths, a warm secure feeling washed over her.

The warmth increased slowly until it became a heat. Alice felt her panties dampen as her fluids wept into them. Then in an instant, the program ended. The computer returned to the desktop and the mundane image of a green hill. The screen flashed blue, and then blanked; this would normally have sent Alice into a blind panic, but not today. Alice forgot about her e-mails, forgot about Damon - she just stood and walked purposefully from the study.

Chapter 2: Invention

"Are you sure that was wise?"

Lorraine Skelly asked the seated chairman. Geraint Jones had over-reacted in her opinion.

"Not only wise, but essential, he was the only one who could have put all the parts together. If he was given long enough he would realise this is not pure research," Sir Geraint paused, "and, we are about to go live!"

"Live, we can't - I mean, we're not ready" Lorraine gaped at the suggestion.

"Orders, supersede opinion in this case - even yours" Geraint quipped with a twinkle in his eye.

"It's not possible, I'll talk to the Ministry" Lorraine threatened.

"The order came from the Ministry," Geraint grinned as he laid his trump card, "Webb goes live, this week".

Conversation stopped as a flushed scientist entered the room.

"Yes, and it had better be important," barked Geraint.

"There has been an unauthorised external run of the program," the scientist voice quavered in fear.

"What!" Geraint exploded.

"How?" Lorraine asked.

"Saunders was logged on from home," the scientist explained "but there's something odd"

"Which is?" Geraint grimaced.

"He ran the full program!"

"The full unprotected program?" asked Geraint.

"Um, yes - it doesn't make much sense, does it?" asked the scientist shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Which version?" Geraint innocently enquired.

"Final, 1.7"

"Then he has more of a problem than we do" smiled Geraint.

Lorraine frowned "You mean 1.7 is fully activated?"

"Yes, we'll be seeing Dr. Saunders again - that much is certain" Geraint laughed in derision.

"I'd better prepare then," Lorraine replied, and she darted through the door in purposeful haste.

Lorraine set about her tasks with her normal efficiency, outwardly calm, but inwardly in turmoil. She knew enough about the program to fear meeting Dr. Saunders again. She really doubted his mind control algorithms were perfected - the results could be unpredictable and dangerous. The first job on her agenda was to prepare the immobilisation pod - the indoctrination had to be secure.

Her fears reduced, as the first pod came on-line faultlessly.

"Skelly to John, prepare Webb 2.0 for execution"

The intercom crackled.

"Are you serious Skelly, we have a subject?" Johns voice betrayed his surprise.

"Not yet, but one's expected soon!"

"Male or female?" asked John.

"Why does that matter?" Lorraine asked, her brow bunching.

"Erm, two versions of 2.0, one for males, the other females" replied John.

"Why?" Lorraine enquired.

"To be honest, I'm not cleared to know - level 25 classified data" John answered frankly.

"Level 25! We have a level 25? I'm a 15, I thought that was the top," gasped Lorraine.

"Me too - but there we are - there are another ten levels above us - at least!" John's voice sounded a little quieter.

"Male. John, look I want to know more about this, who do you report to at the ministry?" Lorraine asked in a hushed tone.

"Classified, but I don't report to the ministry - that is all I can tell you" John's speech dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"You don't report..." Lorraine's repetition was cut off by Johns sudden retort.

"Program 2.0 for male confirmed, Dr. Skelly" John's voice sounded formal.