Chapter 8

56

Through most of the night, Ai didn’t sleep. She left her borrowed body resting, but kept her mind out of standby. Instead, she went into half-dive, her attention all on her kybernet.

Kaitlin’s behaviour had her curious about, well, Kaitlin. About how to connect with her. She remembered that Kaitlin had once liked to draw, so she pursued that. And Tony’s excited babbling had her curious about memory recording, so she pursued the combination. Memory recordings of people drawing.

There were many: artists streaming the entire process of creation. Most were only sight and sound, showing and telling without touching. They were fascinating to watch, seeing art move from a few vague lines into items of beauty. It reminded her of her frustrations with her own lack of coordination. Maybe seeing, maybe feeling how these other artists did it would help her.

There weren’t as many of those recordings. The extra sensory dimensions made the files much larger, and most artists couldn’t see the point. Ai focused on the muted sensation of pencil in hand, trying to visualise moving it herself—

Then Tony shook her awake, jolting her out of half-dive. “Ai!” In the dark, she couldn’t see his face, but she could hear the agitation in his tone. “Ai, I need a bionic hand!”

Concern flashed through her — but no, no, she could feel his grip on both her shoulders. She sat up, the covers falling away from her body. “Sir, your hands appear fine to me.”

“No, no, not on me,” Tony said. She recognised his tone better as sleep cleared from her body. It wasn’t just agitation; it was excitement. “Not like that. I need one for remote.”

Ai noticed something pertinent. “Sir.”

He continued. “I’ve been reading research all night. Studies of neural responsiveness to bionic replacement limbs — a lot like the neural monitoring we did this afternoon.” He didn’t realise how far past midnight it was.

“Sir,” she repeated.

“And over and over, the brain response is the same,” he said. “But then, Director Talosi’s blog mentioned this one hand, the Airgetlám. It has a remote mode too. I looked into it, and I couldn’t find any real data, but customer reviews say the remote mode feels dull, just like—”

“Sir!“

That jolted him off his rails, and he noticed some things. Like how he felt her shoulders under his hands: skin on skin, nothing else. “ ... you’re naked, aren’t you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you’ve been trying to tell me.”

“Yes, sir.” She wouldn’t have minded, herself, but she knew he would.

“Um.” His blush was audible, laced through his tone, though it didn’t literally glow. “Sorry. I’ll, um, get back into it.”

She caught him with a hand on his shoulder. “Sir, you should head to bed.”

“But—”

“You still need some sleep before class, sir.” She gave a hard stare in his direction, though he wouldn’t see it.

He whined, but... “Alright. You’re right. I, uh, might need a coffee in the morning.”

She smiled. “I’ll have it ready, sir.”

“Please.” He shuffled out more slowly than he’d come in, abashed rather than excited.

Ai sank back into the bed. Her body would benefit from some more sleep. She closed her eyes...

Tony in bed with her naked body. He hovered over her, his hands on her skin.

The thought intruded on her, undid her attempt to relax. She rolled onto her side, trying to banish it; she ended up picturing Tony curled in close behind her, gathering her into his arms. She laid on her back again, and her mind gave her the image of Tony on top of her. The warm sheets and covers made her try to imagine how his fingers would feel, on tender nudity.

For an hour, those thoughts kept drifting through her head. Eventually, she sighed and threw the covers off. Maybe starting her day early, and focusing on work, would help clear her mind.

57

Hours later, focusing on work had not helped. Perhaps the body’s hormones had just decided that today was a day for desire.

Her hot yoga only highlighted the heat deeper inside her, and the tension in her core and hips that no stretch could release. At least, no stretch she could do on her own. The whole time she got Tony out of bed, the back of her mind provided ideas for what to do with him in bed.

After he left, she went on her run. The whole route, she was aware of eyes on her. Even dressed more modestly than Ai’s first two days, Kaitlin’s body still called for attention. Now, she knew the attraction for what it was. The strangers on her route didn’t interest her in the same emotional, psychological way that Tony did ... but her body’s hunger didn’t care about that. To her body, physical interest could be enough.

While she ran, a short message came in from Tony, a small text box entering her vision. (Ai, can you do something for me?)

(Always, sir.) She resisted the urge to make suggestions.

A shopping list transferred along with the next message. (I need the Airgetlám. I only need it for the hand, but it’ll need some kind of basic arm, too. And—)

(You won’t need the surgery that usually goes with it, ) Ai finished, reading through the list. (I’ll get this delivered. You get back to school, sir.)

(I’m already at school.)

(Not mentally. I’ll take care of this; you focus there. See you at home.) Though she chided him, she still smiled. Such distractibility was so very ... Tony.

Her attention returned to her surroundings, and something caught her eye. Something in a store window. While she bought Tony’s shopping list online, she got something for herself in person.

58

When she returned home, she first stopped in her room to deposit her spoils and collect some tools she’d need. Then she needed a shower, for many reasons.

The first spray of hot water pulled a sigh from her lips. That heat trickling down her back wouldn’t come close to what she craved, but it was more sensation than she’d had before. Every little bit counted. Even just scrubbing her arms made her squirm.

She took her time lathering herself. Ai did what she could with Kaitlin’s hands, while her extensions drew along her back and down her legs. Put together, they reached every inch of her skin. Every caress, even just the soft spreading of soap, heightened the anticipation for when she’d stop playing around. Yet however persistently her body asked for more, she went at her chosen, slow pace.

When the shower rinsed her off, her toes curled and her mind spun. Cleaning off that thin layer of sweat allowed Kaitlin’s sensitive skin to breathe in the steamy air; to feel the drumming of water and rub of fingers.

Anticipation gave way to impatience. She gave lip service to hygiene, but the way her fingers ‘scrubbed’ her mound had nothing to do with cleaning. Yet even that was still only foreplay. She’d brought those tools for a reason.

She mounted them on the shower wall: a suction-cup dildo, settling perfectly at hip height and standing readily at attention, and a generous coating of water-resistant lubricant. Then ... she ‘mounted’ them on the shower wall.

Facing the wall head-on, she lifted and braced a knee against it, opening herself up for the toy. She had to take her time, sinking it into herself only bit by bit. Its breadth was just too much: even with that coating, and even with how much she craved more, it filled her so tightly that she couldn’t just force herself onto it. Even the faux-glans was enough to make her whine from the internal pressure.

Her hands curled, clawing at the shower wall. She had only her left foot still on the floor, and that leg shook from the feeling of the toy burying ever farther inside her. Instead, she put her weight forward. Her breasts flattened against the shower’s hard, smooth wall; her forehead rested on it as she clenched her teeth. The hot water rained all around her, its soothing drum helping her to relax enough to keep sinking forward.

Finally, the front of her left thigh touched the wall. There was still some length of toy left over, but from that angle, that was as far as she could go. She rested and regrouped, gasping as she leaned against the wall. Rippling tremors squeezed down on her invader here and there, rubbing her nerve endings across the shaft, even without her moving her hips. Each brush set her off more, heat and pressure rising within her.

But it wouldn’t set her off enough, and she knew it. With a growl, she pushed herself into motion again. Only short ones, little rolls of her hips that kept her upper half laid against the wall. Getting that toy to fit in the first place had been a struggle; she wouldn’t risk it slipping out and needing to go through that again.

Even those little twitches fed the fire. She moaned, her voice a keen edge, buried against the wall and drowned by the sound of the shower. Over time, her body warmed to the invader, and she had an easier time humping against it. That heat built up, now a familiar companion. That familiarity meant she knew what to expect, excitement feeding back into the raw pleasure. Just a little more...

Then she heard it. A buzzing in her mind, more insistent than any bell. A visitor was in the lobby for her, with packages.

“Fuck!“ While she shouted that aloud, her mind shut off the shower and invited the courier up. Tony’s shopping list was delivered already? Really? That convenience couldn’t have come at a less convenient time.

She had a moment or two before the courier would reach the door. Just long enough to regret how short the time actually was. She pulled herself back, undoing her impalement with one last groan. No time to dress, so she just grabbed a towel to wrap around herself on her way out of the bathroom.

One second after the first knock, she opened the door. The courier stood in the hallway, a laden cart hovering near his ankle. He was a pale young man, with a cap pulled low over his cutely handsome features. “Is this the address for Tony—” Then he noticed Ai and her state of dress. His eyes could have popped out of his head, and his jaw could have hit the floor. “ ... Cruise?”

Ai shivered, gratified by the way he looked at her. She’d seen a lot of attraction, but never someone quite so gobsmacked. Maybe her body’s craving had a good point. No, she didn’t have any emotional interest in him, but she didn’t need to. The handsome young man wouldn’t at all mind if she grabbed his tie, pulled him inside, and treated him like a sex toy for a few hours...

Instead, she pulled her attention back to the present. “That’s correct.”

“Oh,” he mumbled. “Good.”

She waited through a moment of silence, then prompted him. “Do you have a package for me?”

That, for some reason, made him blush harder than Tony had when he saw the maid uniform. “Yes! Yes, a few things. Um, sign here, please?” A window popped into her vision, asking for her confirmation.

She found it curious that people still used the old terms. Once she stamped her serial number on the window, she and the courier brought Tony’s boxes in to pile on top of the coffee table. The courier hesitated, trying to find an excuse to stay, but soon departed.

That left Ai again in privacy. As soon as the door was closed, she dropped the towel to the floor. Yes, she would have to pick it up eventually, but it was a matter of principle. The interruption had suspended the mood without breaking it, and she needed to finish what she’d started. Rather than return to the shower, she brought the show — herself and the toy — to the bedroom. Though it couldn’t attach quite right to the bedding, the dildo’s base was broad and sturdy enough to stand upright.

Seeing it pointing toward the ceiling like that, remembering how big it had felt, gave her a whirlwind sense of trepidation and excitement. Even worse than before, she wanted to just slam herself onto it ... but she had to go slowly, had to be careful.

She approached from the side, bending it towards herself rather than trying to stretch above the thing’s full height. At least she was still warmed up for it; and outside the shower, the body’s natural lubrication was better help. She pushed the wide head past her folds, whined for the first few inches, and then could finally throw a leg over it and mount it properly.

In reality, she was alone in bed with an inert sex toy. But the way she moved — bouncing on it, riding it — would it be any different if she did have a lover? It felt good, felt right to move like that. As her pleasure grew, she let instinct and body-memory take over. For that ‘dance’, she didn’t mind if she moved like Kaitlin.

Kaitlin...

Ai closed her eyes, attention turning to the bedroom’s cameras. Would Kaitlin look like this? Ai didn’t have her distinctions of ‘style’. Naked, there was nothing to say that body wasn’t Kaitlin: that creamy-skinned body, long legs straddling the toy, hips rolling and full breasts bouncing with eager passion. Without Ai’s signature makeup, those were simply Kaitlin’s features, growing increasingly tense with pleasure.

Why did that dissociation make the experience so much more erotic? Ai became a voyeur to her own masturbation. Every motion, every rocking roll of her hips, inflamed the pleasure inside and put a more beautiful look on that face. That gave Ai more drive. She rode harder, urging more delight to spark through that body.

And she touched more. It started with both hands grasping her breasts, arresting their bounce with the firmness of her kneading. She marvelled at how good her hands felt on them, but also how good they felt in her hands, soft and yielding under her squeezes.

Need tightened within her. Kaitlin’s face scrunched up, her brow furrowed and her lower lip bitten. She just needed a little more.

One hand slid down her body. She felt the fluttering of her abdomen, fit muscles standing out tensely as her body rolled. Her hand slowed with anxious trepidation as she approached her clit. It ached, it throbbed so much she worried any touch may be too much. Her fingertips circled the hood, not quite touching it.

That was enough. She screamed to high heaven as her body thrashed out of her control. Her head threw back, scattering her blonde locks; her spine tightened into an arch, breasts jutting forward; her hips kept moving on autopilot, humping for her life, while her sleek thighs twitched with uncontrollable tension.

The very back of her mind had room for one question. Would Kaitlin’s orgasm look the same?

She flopped over onto the bed. Like a suspension wire, it seemed that tension had been the only thing holding her up. Her lack of sleep caught up with her.

Not that she slept yet. While Kaitlin’s body lay boneless, she used her extensions to clean up, including the towel she’d left in the living room. At the same time, she spent a little while crafting an outfit for her virtual avatar. Even if she was physically naked, she could still ‘wear’ something more representative and appropriate.

Once she was done, she let her body drift into the semi-sleep of VR. It was almost time to meet with Kaitlin.

59

Lightyears away, Kaitlin stirred from a deep, well-earned slumber. Parts of her body were still sore, but she mostly felt a heavy, bone-deep satisfaction. She couldn’t get the smile off her face if she tried.

Tangled in the bed sheets, she rolled onto her side to look at Fergus, still asleep beside her. The night before, once they’d got back to her on-land hotel room ... well, he’d made his jealousy up to her and then some. She’d be surprised if either one of them could walk at all that day. Kicking the sheets off, she curled up closer to Fergus’ side. Asleep, he looked so handsome and peaceful. And with the sheets thrown off — except for one wound around his ankle — she had a great view of his bronzed, toned form. It made a nice bit of eye candy to keep coming back to. She alternated her attention between ogling him and some light reading.

When he woke up, he yawned long and loud, and stretched in a way that brought full attention to the shifting of muscle under his skin: the strength of the arms stretching above his head, the set of his pectorals, the tightness of his firm abdomen...

All thought of reading dropped from her mind. She ran her hand over his chest. As nice as it was to look at, she even better liked touching his chest. “Hi there.”

“Hey.” He turned to her with that lascivious smile of his, his gaze roaming her body with as little shame as she had roamed his. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Oh, you know.” She made a show of thinking about it, her gaze turned towards the ceiling. “Still working it out. We haven’t tried that Hawaiian place yet, that should be good for lunch. After that, maybe a walk on the beach, we haven’t done that in a while. Was looking over some pamphlets for where to go for dinner later on. Maybe somewhere with a show to go with it.” All the while, her fingers still played across his skin, heading slowly south. “Why? Did you have an idea?” While she injected her tone with all the innocence she could manage, she ran her fingers along his hardening shaft.

He answered her teasing by grabbing her hips. She laughed as he pulled at her, shivering with the thrill of drawing out such a primal response. Though she followed it willingly, she didn’t follow it as easily as she could have. She made sure it took some wriggling to get her situated. Fingers were nice, but it was so much more fun to tease him with her slit, grinding on him as she took her position—

And then she was on him, in more ways than one. Straddling a lover like that was one of her favourite positions. With her knees on either side of him, her stable, wide-spread stance let her just drop herself onto him.

Impaling herself sent a shock of pleasure radiating out from her core, her voice high and tight to contrast with Fergus’ masculine grunt. Her upper half slumped forwards; she barely caught herself with both hands on his chest. Ooh, what a chest. She curved her hands into it. Every time she rolled her hips onto him, she felt that well-defined bulk with another squeeze, treating her lover like a doll for her to play with.

Bit by bit, she straightened from her slumping, until she sat upright on him. He simply laid back, basking in the sex, taking in the view. With a grin, she showed off more: she stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, letting her hefty, bouncing breasts demand his attention. She dialled up her exhibitionism, all guns blazing for her audience of one.

Immediately, his face lit up into an expression of carnal worship. His hips held still for her to ride at her vigorous leisure, but his hands came up. He grabbed her breasts, and his grip almost stopped their bouncing. Almost, but not quite: her riding was too hard, and her rental body too busty, to control.

With every movement, there came a few squeezes. Her fingers dug into his chest; his hands kneaded her breasts; and most intensely, her inner walls clamped around his swelling, drooling length. More, just a little more...

She took one hand off him, bringing her fingers between her thighs. At first, she teased like she normally would, but her rental body wasn’t as overwhelmingly sensitive as her birth sleeve. After taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she pressed her fingertips tightly to her clit.

Explosions went off within her. Her graceful riding turned into wild bucking, blissful convulsions she didn’t even try to control. Her back arched higher and tighter, thrusting her chest into Fergus’ hands while she screamed to the ceiling. He finally joined her motions, humping upwards to keep the pleasure going ... and as his voice harmonised with her ecstasy, those thrusts forced his seed deeper inside her.

A few minutes later, she could think again. She found they’d moved; they were both slumped on their backs, heads pointed in opposite directions, and he was still buried in her. “Yeah,” she murmured. “Yeah, we might do some of that too.”

He laughed, his tone breathy and tired. But he still started moving, drawing away from her and rolling to the bed’s edge. “Come on, we should go get breakfast. Well, close to lunch now.”

Closer to lunch. That reminded Kaitlin of her appointment. “Oh, um. You go ahead, I’ll be out soon. I have some messages, and a V-meet to get to. Got to keep up with things at home, you know?”

Fergus frowned, but eventually, he shrugged. “Alright.”

Once she was alone, Kaitlin turned her attention to the virtual. She found a message from Ai. Worry flashed in the first second she saw it: did Ai need to reschedule? But no, it was another video message.

Kaitlin was left giggling, her grin pressed into the bed sheets. She’d have to remember that trick the next time she had to wake Tony for something. Could she even do that thing with the speakers? She’d have to check.

And ... she rolled the video back to one particular point, when Ai passed the mirror. It was only a moment, not even something she’d caught on purpose, but it gave Kaitlin a look at her.

No makeup. Yet even without it, Kaitlin could see differences in how she wore the same face. Ai’s expression was more relaxed, more neutral. Kaitlin’s face was only that straight when she got really tired, but that wasn’t how Ai looked. She was alert and focused, just ... also calm. Or maybe just restrained. It was a good look.

As were the tank top and yoga pants she’d worn for the run. Maybe a little more modest than what Kaitlin would wear, which was a shame.

A shame? Kaitlin caught that thought and looked at it closer. Was she thinking about Ai, undressed?

The moment she asked herself that question, the answer became yes. She’d seen that body countless times, in countless mirrors. She was so familiar with it, with how it looked when she was in it, that she couldn’t imagine how Ai would look. She couldn’t imagine herself moving with such grace. Couldn’t imagine what a seductive gaze would look like from that calm face. Her heart leapt into her throat and beat faster, quivering with nervousness and excitement.

She could imagine what it would be like to touch that body. Her hands slid up along herself. She’d spent so much attention on Fergus’ masculine chest, but now she cupped her own — bigger and softer than the one back home, than the one with Ai behind it, but the gesture helped her to imagine the many times—

Kaitlin shook herself. Where was her brain even going with that? She cleared her head ... but couldn’t clear the dithering excitement deeper inside herself.

Dammit, she’d just had sex. Now she felt that heat rising again ... and right in time for her to dive into VR. She didn’t want to be late.

60

As Tony came out of class, his brain was overburdened. He had too much to think about all at once: absorbing the information from his lecture and classes, at the same time as planning the next steps for Relive. Kybernet windows filled so much of his vision that he could barely see where he was going.

He kept notes running for the day’s topics. While he could go back over the memories again any time, summarising it into his own words helped to remember it in the ways that mattered. And he had some experiments to do with that bionic hand. If all went well, that would give him some insights to help with the actual engineering.

“Oh, I didn’t see you there,” someone said.

He kept walking, no attention to spare for the speaker. Yet even then, he couldn’t keep his brain completely busy. He still had just enough room for some thoughts to drift back to Ai.

“I said, I didn’t see you there.” The voice was still close by, coming from behind a window of Airgetlám schematics.

He was thankful for Ai on a lot of levels. Without her, he couldn’t possibly have made it to class. And thanks to her, he could just say he needed an Airgetlám and some other materials, and she could fill in the details. She was a lifesaver.

But more than that, he remembered the texture of her skin under his hands. The feeling, more psychological than physical, of having her naked but hidden before him.

“Dammit, pay attention to me ignoring you!”

It wasn’t the first time. He remembered that massage, with only oil separating his skin from hers. Staying behind her had been the only thing that kept her nudity out of view. She hadn’t minded at all.

Obviously, commanding her into his bed would go far beyond the pale. But he’d already asked her to dress up for him before. Could he ask her to dress down—

He walked right into someone. The jolt minimised his windows, revealing Sonia reeling from the impact. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there.”

Sonia scowled at his apology for some reason. But she tossed her red curls and put a smile on her face. “Whatever. But since you’re right here, I’ve got to say. So—”

Tony glanced aside to check the time. He really needed to get some lunch and get back to work, so he started walking.

She kept up, walking by his side. “—so sorry to hear about that projector. I’m sure yours would have been so impressive, but Rico’s—”

“Projector?” He furrowed his brow. That rang a bell, though gently.

“Holo-projector,” she said. “Your project? For the League?” She pouted, folding her arms. They pressed into her chest, lifting her breasts towards her top’s lace-trimmed neckline.

He had been working on a miniature holo-projector, hadn’t he? He’d grown so absorbed in Relive, he’d forgotten.

Speaking of which, he still needed to get through lunch and back to work. “I don’t have time for this.” As he walked away, he pulled his windows back up. For those experiments to go as smoothly as possible, he needed to plan out all the details ahead of time.

Though he couldn’t see the look on her face, he could just barely hear Sonia sputtering behind him. Okay, that was worth sparing some attention, though he still didn’t look back.

61

Virtual reality made it so much more convenient to get dressed. Instead of spending fiddly minutes on actually changing her clothes, Kaitlin only had to adjust her avatar. Instead of applying makeup, she just set her eyeshadow to indigo, her lipstick to glossy red.

She considered her outfit. Would it be weird to really dress up, like in one of her favourite dresses? It would be weird, right? Definitely. So she kept the basic format the same: a skirt suit. She added her favourite long, red stockings, and swapped the blouse for a red silk one ... which she buttoned a little lower. That wasn’t too much, right?

When she finished, there were still five minutes until the appointment. But when she joined the server, she found Ai already sitting and waiting.

She panicked. Had she missed some timezone change? “Shit. Am I late?” She rushed to Ai’s side. “So sorry I’m late. I could swear—”

“You are not late, Kaitlin.” Ai’s smooth, calm tone infected her. She turned away from her work. “I merely connected early, to spend some time in virtual reality. For ... my own reasons.”

Kaitlin finally took in some details. Ai sat behind an easel, with a tray hovering close by to offer an array of pencils. “Oh, you’re drawing! Can I see?”

Ai hesitated. “I had hoped that using virtual reality instead of actual neural impulses might improve my manual coordination. But...” Blushing faintly, she turned the easel towards her. A self-portrait, or a portrait of Kaitlin; it was hard to tell. Not bad work, other than... “I still can’t draw the other eye.”