System Ascension

by Prax Venter

  Vale’s voice came back to him full of love and confidence. “Together, we can do anything.”

  “We need to make a quilt or something with that motto- hang it above our bed,” he said.

  Roo’s voice in his ear surprised him. “Ohh! I can make that.”

  “Hey, Roo,” he said. “Where you been?”

  “Talking with Vince and Michelle. But I’ve been listening. They’re totally in love by the way, and they are both really shy about it.”

  “Right, can you let them know I’m coming back to talk. Vince seems kind of jumpy, and I don’t want to catch him off guard.”

  “Yep.”

  With a thought, he confidently submerged down into one of the vacant senior care drones and heard the tail end of her announcement.

  “-returning any moment now.”

  Mark moved his round head up and down to indicate that he was back among them.

  “Well?” Vince said, leaning forward. He could tell the other man was anxious with just sitting here. He was not one to just sit around and wait for someone else to take care of him.

  “The perimeter is guarded by humanoid drones with high-powered sniper rifles. The dead zone exists for sure- there is a clear ring of defunct robots and vehicles around its edge. I’ve never seen these military drones before, and they are cold and calculating. There are quadruped murderbots with them, but they are too calm and stay in formation around the snipers. And these have tails.

  “The behavior is odd and effective. We didn’t probe every inch of the perimeter, but the deadly accurate strikes easily disabled our fast-moving transports.”

  Vince leaned back. “Sounds like suicide.”

  Mark continued, “Neither of us are getting in right now. So that’s why we are going to try to scout and potentially attack their net address. We need more information.”

  “So, you want us to just wait here again? How long will this take?”

  Mark sighed. “Unless something really bad happens… one second- maybe two.”

  Vince’s brows came down. “What?”

  Michelle answered, “They’re AIs. They operate faster when not in the physical world.”

  “Bingo,” Mark said, tapping his head with two soft fingers. He wondered if these padded fabric drones were close to what it felt like being Roo. They had been in the physical world for only a handful of hours, but he already missed her supple body pressed against his. Now that he thought about it, he really wanted to get back to his normal body… normal digital representation? Mark quickly gave up trying to sort out the terminology.

  “Roo, unlock the doors.”

  “Aye aye, captain,” she said, mimicking the pirates she had seen before. After the audible clunks indicating the pod’s doors were open, Mark continued.

  “Again- for you, this should be quick. But if you don’t hear from us in like five minutes… we may not be coming back. Don’t want you to be trapped in here.”

  Vince considered his words and then stuck his dirt-covered and bandaged hand out. “Good luck, Mark.”

  “Thanks,” he said, carefully gripping the other man’s offered hand. “We might need it. Ready to go, Roo?”

  “You know it! Bye, you two. If you start making out in here, we won’t watch. Promise!”

  Mark pulled his hand back to his drone’s lap and intentionally drooped his head forward to give them a sense that he had left. Then pulled back to his high-level interface. He felt both Ahnix and Vale still connected, waiting for them to return before they all logged off. He could see how that might cause some unbearable time dilation if they jumped out early. He simply began a countdown- he knew they’d get it.

  “Three, two, one- Log out!”

  Mark forced his mind upward to yet another level and felt like he was flung forward at bone-crushing speeds. Although, he didn’t have any bones to crush. The world snapped to clarity, and he was looking up at a painted blue sky.

  Mark sat up and saw his stunningly beautiful girls rising from their pods with him. Vale’s large form drew his eyes and her heavy breasts bouncing to rest focused his attention.

  “You guys are a sight for sore eyes,” Mark said with a sigh.

  “It’s good to be home,” Roo said, hopping off her bed.

  The black and gold cat-girl gracefully slipped off her bed and padded to the doorway. “I’m going to go practice using my new Squall ability in the yard before we head out.”

  Vale wove her body across the black asphalt floor. “I unlocked a new Blind ability. I’ll join you.”

  Mark felt Roo’s bubbly disposition deflate when she realized she was the only one without a new ability. The smallest pout drooped on her puffy lips, and someone who wasn’t so profoundly familiar with her sweet face might have missed it.

  “Cheer up, my supple love,” Mark said. “Come on, help me test my new Clone ability.” He swung his legs off his own ChronoMind pod and walked up to his velvet-girl. “I need you near me, always,” he said looking into her sparkling black eyes. Her lips parted a little and then curled into a smile. Mark took her soft hand in his and led her out to the main area of their house dimension.

  “Okay, now that we have a little more room…” Mark concentrated on making a Ghost of himself, but this time tried to use the Copy/Paste subskill as well.

  He opened his eyes and turned to see the entranced Mark doppelganger. There were far too many Marks these days.

  Roo stepped up to his real body and ran her soft fabric fingers along his real cheek. She continued downward and rested her palm on his chest.

  “I should make you watch me suck your cock,” she said, angling one of her thighs against his leg. Ghost Mark watched his own stiffening junk, and he smeared his hands over his face to try and clear his head.

  “Awesome. But I don’t understand. I really don’t feel…” It was then he realized that he felt his own face. “Wait. Roo, keep touching my real body.”

  “Try and stop me,” she said.

  He walked his Ghost over to his velvet-girl and reached out for her arm. He was more surprised than he should have been to find he was able to feel her soft fabric skin.

  “Oh wow,” Roo said with a wicked smile curling her puffy red lips. With one hand, she cupped his half-flaccid penis of his real body and then used her other hand to cup his copy’s penis. Impossibly, Mark felt both.

  His mind tried to sort out which was which but her gentle caresses and subtle warmth from both massaging hands took his breath away. ‘Oh wow’ was right.

  “Roo,” Mark said before popping his Clone. He opened his eyes as his real body and continued. “I want to try something. Can we switch to the bed?”

  She stepped away and clicked her high heels on the floorboard as she moved over to the oversized bed.

  “You can have me any way you want me,” she said, her hand on her hip.

  Mark smiled. “How about two ways?” he said before pulling off his pants and sitting on the bed. With his legs hanging over the edge, Mark put his hands behind his head and laid back into the fluffy blanket covering their bed. Roo watched him and cocked her head to the side. Before she could speak, Mark activated his Clone.

  “Okay,” he said from behind her and she looked over her shoulder. “Make me watch.”

  She turned back to face the comatose real Mark passed out on the bed and bent over. Her shapely thighs brought a tear to his eye. He saw her black leather skirt ride up and expose her tight little ass and velvet pussy. A moment later, he felt her hand grasp the base of his penis and her soft lips smear along his shaft.

  Mark moved in close to watch her turn all her attention on his penis as he reached around and rubbed her perfectly curved ass cheek.

  She looked into his copy’s eyes while she gently sucked the head of his original cock as it past her big lips with a pop. He felt everything, but his mind was having a hard time believing the out of body sensations. He pulled away and got into position behind his supple fabric construct. Mark felt her suck his
cock like a pro while he rubbed his other cock on her exposed pussy lips.

  She moaned with his shaft buried deep in her mouth, and he could tell she was giddy about the prospect of having two of his dicks in her at once. Roo practically begged him with her mumbled whimpers.

  Her drooling pussy soaked his dick as he deftly slid it amongst her warm folds. The combination of simultaneously feeling her soft hot mouth, and her velvety vagina was going to make this a very short experiment, but Mark couldn’t hold back any longer.

  He pushed his cock deep inside Roo, and her whimpers turned into deep groans that vibrated everything. Mark fucked Roo from behind while she had her puffy lips wrapped around his dick, and he was constantly surprised by the levels of pleasure he could experience.

  As he sunk into her repeatedly, Roo gobbled his dick with bouts of inattention. She would just stop and moan, her saliva tingling his taut, bulbous head, then start up again sliding her lips all over. He was receiving double the normal amount of pleasure and was going to pop soon.

  Mark used her wetness as lubricant and began to rub his thumb on her tiny pucker of an asshole. The extra stimulation caused her to press backward to meet his thrusts, and he vigorously massaged her sensitive rectum while hitting her hard and deep.

  They both came at once, well all three did, but Original Mark was the only one to spurt a load. Roo had been suckling on his foreskin, just below the tip when he shot his load and Clone Mark watched a spurt of cum shoot over his shoulder.

  He dropped his Clone ability, and Roo sucked in a deep breath. He opened his eyes and was instantly overstimulated by Roo’s lips absentmindedly nibbling on his head.

  “Ah!” he said pulling back a little. “Too much.”

  “Not nearly enough,” she said, climbing on the bed with him. Mark embraced his velvet-girl, and she nuzzled her head against his chest, her legs tucked in tight, so they didn’t hang off.

  They rested like this for a short while before echoes of fierce determination and visceral competition from the front lawn caught their attention. Ahnix and Vale were doing some serious sparring out there. It wasn’t until a small bit of his giant naga’s code settled into his healing reservoir that he felt the need to check it out.

  In a rush, Mark got up and got dressed before running through the front doors, Roo right behind him.

  What he saw was mesmerizing.

  Ahnix was assaulting Vale with a flurry of kicks, punches and fancy aerial moves, but every attack was accompanied by a Wind Slash. Vale was weathering the storm with perfect timed sections of Wall glass appearing just as an attack was about to land.

  The cat-girl backflipped away from two glass panes that smashed together where she had been. In response, Ahnix swept her foot low along the vivid green grass, going for Vale’s iridescent tail. A short Wall snapped into existence to block the low wind attack, and the giant naga tossed out a handful of glitter.

  Ahnix covered her eyes with a loud hiss, and Vale trapped the nimble desert queen in a prison of glass.

  “I yield,” Ahnix said with a muffled voice, instantly dropping her hands to her sides.

  Vale snapped her fingers and canceled both her Blind effect and her magic shields.

  “Three to you and two to me.”

  Mark healed the giant naga’s minor wound with his new Flash Restore as he walked up. “That was incredible, guys! I can’t wait to kick some virus ass.”

  Ahnix turned her half-lidded eyes on his. “You already got your ass while we’ve been practicing our abilities.” She was chiding him, but her lip curled up with amusement.

  “That’s not fair,” Roo said, putting her hands on her hips. “He worked me really nice and hard while practicing his new upgrade.” She turned her pouty lips toward him, and a huge grin took over quickly. “We learned a lot, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah. I can interact with stuff now- with my Ghost. Touch stuff.”

  “Stuff?” Roo asked, her eyebrow raising.

  “I can Blind stuff, or Halt Return Packet,” Vale said.

  Ahnix crossed her arms. “And Gale isn’t an area attack. It means every attack can now launch a Wind Claw effect, if I choose.”

  Mark felt Roo’s mood dip slightly as everyone was talking about their wonderful new special powers. They all felt it, but Vale spoke first.

  “You know your abilities got better, too, but we can’t really gain experience fighting each other. We should move out.”

  Always pushing them forward, Mark felt the giant naga’s sense of duty and discipline mingle with his own mind.

  “Okay, so- What’s the plan?”

  Vale wove her body up close. “Well, now that your Ghost ability can interact with the world, the new plan is to send it to Coventry Industries, that military factory up north. The drones are fabricated there, and it seems to be a well-known fact on the net that the place is totally overrun with Triple-zero.”

  “The front door has to be a death trap,” Roo said. “But it’s all we got.”

  “Can I even do that?” he asked.

  Vale shrugged. “I know a way to find out. Access the terminal at the end of the road out there and select single connection.”

  Mark nodded and popped out a Clone. “Welp, you beauties wait right here while I stick my expendable head in the lion’s mouth.” He made his way to the gate before turning around. He was about to ask them not to distract him by touching his junk while he was away, but thought better of the pointless request.

  The iron gate lifted at his Clone’s presence, and he took that as a good sign that this plan would work. A few steps down the dirt road, and he came to the terminal that Vale had accessed before.

  Looking down, Mark saw a video screen interface with a map. He channeled his will at the pad to show him the Coventry Industries military factory, and the satellite view panned over to its location. The destination box was filled, single connection was selected, and the log-on button was active.

  Mark reached out with his mind and punched it.

  “Vale, you should stick your tongue deep in his butt,” Ahnix said right in his ear. If he hadn’t been intimately connected with her mind, he would have been worried she was serious. Even still, he squirmed as he fell through space, trying to clench his butt cheeks together. His girls could still be unpredictable.

  The white shining light of the single pixel rushed up to meet him, and Mark found himself standing in front of a massive rusty door. To either side were hundreds of grimy pipes and tubes.

  He just realized that the place stunk like a dumpster overflowing with hot, rotten garbage when a loud buzzer sounded, and rainbow tentacles of stunningly beautiful slime launched out of the pipes all around him.

  - 21 -

  Mark felt an unbearable stinging agony as the throbbing, hypnotic slime enveloped his skin- then he snapped back to his body. He sucked in a shuddering breath and regained his composure from the horrible experience.

  “Deathtrap,” he said letting the air out. “We aren’t getting in that way.”

  “Is it worth a second attempt?” Vale asked, and a sharp, loud crack from beyond their quantum wall was her answer. Mark and his girls took the ramp built into the side and reached the top to see exactly what he expected.

  Spilling out into the dirt road through a jagged hole hanging in midair was the beautiful goo known as the virus, Triple-zero.

  “Can it get in here?” Roo asked, her voice tight. The giant naga undulated along the top of the wall and put her arm around the velvet-girl’s shoulders.

  “Not without knowing the key.”

  Mark put his hands on the jaggedly cut crenellations in front of him and watched the mesmerizing pile of ooze quickly creep forward. They didn’t have to wait long before it connected with the wall and- nothing happened. It just pooled against their basalt fortification. He expected it to leak through, cause more cracks, or just climb the walls, but after a few minutes it seemed clear that their quantum lock was holding.

  Mark pulled
his hands off the wall and faced his girls. “Okay, so it looks it can’t get in, but can we still get out? The interface is buried in slime outside the wall.”

  Ahnix turned her exotic eyes out over the pond of hypnotic colors and glinting motes of light.

  “This might be a good example of our perception wrap holding us back. We should be able to login to other locations from behind our wall, but our subconscious wanted to put the terminal out in the road.”

  They all watched the pulsing colors and considered their options. The impossible crack hung in mid-air and goo was continuously pouring out, but the level of slime remained constant.

  “If it never leaves, we’ll have the prettiest pond ever,” Roo said, placing her soft hand upon Vale’s.

  “And deadliest,” the giant naga added.

  “So what now?” Mark asked.

  Vale disengaged with Roo and turned her vivid eyes on his. “I was going to suggest we contact the information broker, B-Lox, and see if he has any back-door access. But now…”

  Mark sighed. They could go out into the real world again, try messing with the drones, but they had accomplished exactly nothing- other than filling two of Roo’s holes at once… that was something. He shook out his thoughts and tried to focus on their problem. The wrap was getting in the way. He had been feeling that way himself a little lately and wondered if his digital human mind was ready to reach beyond their comfy, custom-built perception filter.

  The powerful AI called Jezebel S3K had touched his forehead and allowed him to get a glimpse outside before, and it didn’t kill him- it hurt, but he was able to vaguely see much more than he could right now. And now they needed a solution.

  “Let’s go back down to the grass. I want to try something.” If he passed out and pitched over the wall into the pool of pretty goo, it wouldn’t be ideal.

  “What are you doing?” Ahnix asked, her mind gently probing his.

  “Trying to fix this.”

  His girls all followed him down the ramp back to their pleasant front yard, and he sat down under the tree.

  Roo sat with him, but Vale and Ahnix looked down at their uploaded-human lover, concern on their furrowed brows.