Chapter 5

Interlude 1

The stylist finished up with Julie’s hair and handed her a mirror. She loved it. As captivity went, she was mostly treated quite well. “Thank you, Paul, it’s lovely,” she said.

Also visible in the mirror were two of Julie’s guards - right now, Sunny and Katarina. Any time she was away from her cell, or any time her chastity belt was removed for biological necessities, at least two guards would stand within arm’s reach, ready to subdue her. Doctor Hephaesta knew her prisoner’s power: she knew that even a quickie orgasm, unsupervised, might give Julie the power to escape. Even if she couldn’t escape, Julie might choose to shake the earth and bring the ceiling down on her underground lair. Of course, Doctor Hephaesta had built the lair underneath one of the most densely populated cities in the world, just to insure against that option.

Octavio was sitting on the table when Julie was led into the procedure room. He was wearing a suit, but the top several buttons of his shirt were undone. “As beautiful as ever!” Octavio said. He leapt to his feet and approached, kissing her hand. Meanwhile, two technicians removed Julie’s sun dress and chastity belt.

“Good afternoon, Octavio,” Julie said.

“Please tell me today will be the day,” Octavio implored. “Please let us finally make love as a man and woman should. Let me appreciate the real you, and let me give you experiences from your wildest dreams.”

Julie smiled politely. “No thank you, Octavio.”

“I just don’t understand,” he told her. “You know that she’ll take what she needs from you. Why not allow yourself some human comfort in the face of the inevitable?”

“It’s a matter of principle,” Julie explained, not for the first time. “I will not willingly feed my power to your boss’ machine. She’ll just have to keep raping me.”

“That makes me sad. Farewell, then,” Octavio said, and left.

The technicians strapped Julie down on the procedure table, and put her feet in the stirrups. Doctor Hephaesta would be along shortly with “The Tool”.

Chapter 5

Dana was getting used to easy orgasms. She found that she liked to start by browsing drawings of couples being intimate - especially two men. After a little of that, she would read some erotic short stories, touching herself along the way. At that point, she could pretty much come whenever she wanted: it was easy. She even had enough memories of the drawings and stories that she could summon them to mind and get herself off without the computer or her printouts. On the days that she didn’t visit Kai’s apartment, Dana took many baths.

She did make an effort to keep sampling other types of porn out there on the Internet, if for no other reason than to justify continuing to come to Kai’s apartment. So far none of the fringe stuff had appealed to her. Mostly she just liked the fairly mainstream stuff: couples together having intimate sex. Romance was a plus. She was also zeroing in on her “type”: male, definitely; tall; athletic; smart and kind. Ideally, blond...

It was an accident that Dana found Kai’s memoir of his sex life with Quake Girl. He had published it to the Internet after the Quake Girl sex tape had gone viral, in an attempt to set the public opinion right about his lost love. Dana had found it reposted as just another erotic story. She couldn’t believe how much it turned her on, even though it made her cry at the end.

And then there was the video. She shouldn’t watch it, she scolded herself; but she watched it anyway. The sex was a huge turn on, and whoever had edited the multiple camera views together had done an excellent job. But what truly amazed her was that all through this video of a chipper petite Asian chick getting banged by three guys, you could really feel how much Kai and Julie loved each other.

Dana wanted that. Something like that could probably never happen to her, but she longed for it anyway.

Kai was coding furiously when Dana knocked on the door with his lunch order. The client had demanded a last-minute change before tomorrow’s deployment. They couldn’t wait until the next release, and they couldn’t postpone this one. Kai needed to make the change now, and it had to be perfect.

“I think I’ve figured out my ‘type’...” Dana said leadingly, as she and Kai exchanged money and food.

“That’s awesome,” Kai said with uncharacteristic distraction. “I’d love to hear about it, but I can’t right now. Work emergency.”

“That’s cool,” Dana said with a hint of disappointment. “Is it still cool if I come over tonight and use your guest room?”

“Absolutely,” Kai told her. “But if it makes a difference, I’m going to be home. I’ll probably be working all night.”

“Okay.” Dana said.

Later that evening, Dana was lying on the bed in Kai’s guest bedroom. She had tried surfing porn and masturbating, but for once she found she wasn’t in the mood. Maybe it was Kai’s presence in the apartment, or maybe it was his nervous energy. Or maybe something else: Who the fuck can tell? She mused. Instead, she read a Heinlein book from the library, and periodically focused her exotic perception on Kai in the next room.

Kai was in the home stretch on his work effort. If the database query he was writing returned the expected number of results, the rest of the plan would fall into place. It still could be wrong, of course, but there was no time for proper testing. Every once in a while he heard a popping noise, but he put it out of his mind. There was probably something wrong with the apartment’s pipes or something. Whatever it was would have to wait.

Kai had just flopped into the couch with a beer in his hand when Dana emerged from the bedroom. “All done?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes, thank god,” Kai replied.

Dana wasn’t sure what to do. Is this an opportunity? She asked herself. Should I sit next to him? How close? Maybe the chair would be better. Should I kiss him? Or maybe just get on my knees and blow him? Is that what a girlfriend would do when her man just finished a stressful day? She wasn’t his girlfriend, she reminded herself. Is that what a girl who wanted to be his girlfriend but wasn’t in his league would do? She also didn’t know the first thing about blowjobs. I’d probably just make a clusterfuck of it and make him hate me.

“Beer?” Kai offered. Dana shook her head.

“So what’s up with you? You said you’ve made some discoveries?” Kai asked and gestured toward the couch. Dana sat a half-seat away from him.

“Yeah. I think you were right - I just needed to figure out what turns me on. I think I’m ready for a mulligan on my virginity,” Dana explained.

“Not with Benny...?” Kai joked.

“Fuck no!” Dana replied.

“Well then, got anyone in mind?” Kai asked. The stress of the day had been slowly bleeding off, but it was clear that he was still wound tight.

Dana slid right up next to Kai, her heart beating quickly. “I was hoping it would be you,” she said. Summoning all of her courage, she put her hand on his thigh. “I know you’re experienced - you’d know how to do it right. And we like each other and I trust you.” She looked down. “And I’m attracted to you like no one else. I mean, if you find me attractive.”

Kai put his arm around Dana, and took her hand in his. For a split second she thought he would kiss her, but he didn’t. “You’re absolutely stunning,” Kai began. “Any guy would be lucky to have you as a friend, much less a lover. But I’m not sure I can give you what you’re looking for.” His face took on a far-away look. “You know I...”

“I know you’re still not over her,” Dana interrupted. “I wouldn’t ask you to give that up. But don’t you get lonely? Couldn’t we be together, just for tonight, without dishonoring what you and she had?”

Kai looked in her blue eyes and considered. He smiled. “Maybe we could - but not tonight. Like you said, you deserve someone who’s going to do it right, and I am just way too tired right now.”

Dana nodded, disappointed.

“I’ll tell you what,” Kai went on, “let’s plan to go out tomorrow night. No promises or expectations, but we’ll see where we end up. Sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Dana said.

Kai cradled her head and pulled her into a kiss. It was a strong, assertive kiss, even if it only lasted a moment. A warm flash swept through Dana’s body.

“I’ll make reservations at Hideo’s,” Kai said, standing and leading Dana to the door. “It’ll be a chance to dress up.”

Dana couldn’t believe how good Kai looked in his suit: he looked like he belonged in a fashion magazine. Dana herself was wearing an outfit almost entirely borrowed from Benny’s mom. Despite her current tensions with Benny, his mother was thrilled to finally get a chance to treat her like the daughter she never had. Her sleek red dress was restrictive in unfamiliar ways, and the kitten heels they had settled on were a challenge to her coordination. None the less, she felt pretty, and she thought she saw that reflected in Kai’s eyes.

Hideo’s was not the sort of restaurant for casual vulgarity, but despite her best efforts, Dana slipped repeatedly. Kai told her about some of the ins and outs of the software business. It struck her as odd that a guy who’s so clearly smart and knows computers so well could be so astoundingly mediocre at Kriegswaffen, but she kept that observation to herself. She enjoyed her first taste of sushi, and hoped that that boded well for losing her virginity later in the evening. The time with Benny, she had decided, didn’t count.

Standing by the bed back at Kai’s apartment, he kissed her neck while removing the sparkling necklace and earrings she had borrowed. It made sense, she supposed - you wouldn’t want to risk any snags while engaging in whatever sort of primal acrobatics they were about to perform. This is it, Dana thought, amid shallow breaths and quickened heartbeats. He’s getting ready to fuck me. It wasn’t anticipation she was feeling: it was anxiety.