by Isaac Hooke
Jason gave her a mischievous look. “It might.”
She shook her head and looked away.
Jason shrugged. “I could expel you both from my army if I wanted to. There are other Arias and Xins I could replace you with. More obedient versions that didn’t attack me, or the clones of myself.”
“Yes there are,” Aria said. “And replacing us would certainly be your prerogative, if that was what you chose.”
He smiled sadly. “Except I could never do that.”
“Why?” Aria said.
“What do you think?” Jason said. He gazed into Aria’s sapphire eyes. So deep. So mysterious. He had known all of her secrets only a short while ago, while combined, but those secrets were gone now, lost when they separated, mere echoes.
“I have no idea,” Aria said, though her voice rasped slightly, as if to hint at the fact that yes, she did know.
Jason stood up from the bench to sit down on the picnic table itself; he swiveled his legs around to the other side so that he was facing the lake. He patted the empty wood beside him, beckoning for Aria to sit down. He also did the same for Xin on the other side.
Aria sat down beside him, pressing her thigh against his. Xin sat on his other side, but she kept more of a demure distance. Their knees were bent at ninety degree angles over the edge of the table, and rested on the bench.
When the girls were both seated, Jason gazed out upon the lake. He replaced the texture with the standard lake variant so that the waters were still and the sun’s reflection was no longer broken into a thousand fragments.
“It’s so very blue,” Jason said.
“Yes,” Aria said.
“Like your eyes.” Jason turned his head toward Aria. “No, scratch that. Nothing could ever match the beauty of these eyes.” Aria was gazing at him, but her expression suddenly melted, becoming almost like a puppy dog’s.
She glanced at his lips, and he took that as the invitation to proceed.
He leaned forward and gave her a quick peck. Then he kissed her again, longer this time, nibbling very gently on her lower lip.
“I should go,” Xin said, standing on the bench.
Jason broke away from Aria and grabbed Xin by the arm. Roughly. “No, stay.”
He created a partition in his VR, and drew the two into it with him, giving them some privacy from prying eyes. They appeared on a balcony; it overlooked palm trees and an azure ocean in the distance.
“What’s this?” Aria said.
“Something special for the two of you,” Jason said. He nodded toward the balcony door. Inside, a king size bed awaited.
Somehow he knew that this was what Xin wanted. And Aria, as well. He realized the knowledge must have been an echo of their previous combining.
Aria smiled vaguely, then grabbed Xin by the hand, and led her inside. The two of them sat on the bed.
“You’re so very adorable,” Jason told Xin.
“I’m adorable, and she’s beautiful, is that it?” Xin said.
“Oh, you’re beautiful, don’t you worry,” Jason said.
“No, I’m not,” Xin said. “This isn’t even how I really look.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Jason said.
Suddenly she transformed. She was still her, but some imperfections had developed in her features. A few blemishes in her skin. One eye was very slightly smaller than the other. Her lips, not as perfectly formed. But it didn’t matter. She was still ravishing, at least to him.
“You are beautiful,” Jason said. He sat down beside her, and pressed his lips against hers. She mashed her mouth against his, hard.
Finally, he pulled away.
“Massage her,” Jason told Xin, his voice shaking slightly.
Xin shyly obeyed, and began to knead the muscles of Aria’s back.
Jason in turn massaged Xin. “Your muscles are so stiff. Relax.”
“I’m trying,” Xin said. “I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be,” Jason said. “Just relax. Let go.”
“You act like you’ve done this before,” Xin said.
“Let’s just say, I’ve had my Training AIs run me through a few practice scenarios,” Jason told her.
One thing led to another, and soon Jason had them both naked in the bed. One of the fun things about VR was that you weren’t limited by your anatomy…
When they were done, Jason lay on his back in the middle of the king-sized bed, with Xin on his left, and Aria on his right. He had his arms underneath each of their shoulders.
This is the life.
“That was… amazing,” Xin said. “At least after I let go of my inhibitions.”
“That’s what it’s all about,” Jason said. “Letting go.”
“I should have thought of doing something like this a while ago,” Aria said.
“What’s that?” Jason said.
“Well, I mean, altering my male simulacrums to have multiple, er, extensions,” Aria said. “Like you did.”
Jason had to smile at that. He’d dismissed those extensions when it was over, but he began to wonder what it would be like to have even more of them. That way he could do more than two girls at the same time.
Hmm, no. Let’s not get too greedy.
“How did it feel?” Aria said.
“It’s hard to describe,” Jason said. “I essentially duplicated the subroutines involved. It wasn’t quite double the pleasure, but it was certainly unlike any sexual experience I’ve ever had.”
“Me, as well,” Xin said.
Aria kept quiet.
A few moments of silence passed. Then:
“I don’t suppose I can get back my company of Bokerov’s tanks now?” Aria said.
Jason glanced at her in disbelief, and laughed. “Is that what this was about? You just wanted to jockey for position. For power?”
“Not at all,” Aria said. “But I figured I’d ask you now, while you were at your most pliable.”
Jason pursed his lips. “I’m still smarting from your previous betrayal…”
“But all that’s forgiven now,” Aria said sensually. She rubbed a finger across his pectoral muscle, which he had enlarged specifically for this avatar version, along with most of his muscles.
“Is it?” Jason said.
“Yes,” Aria said.
Jason shook his head. “Women and their wiles.”
Aria shrugged.
“All right, fine,” Jason said. He defocused his eyes to call up his HUD, and then he sent Bokerov a message. “Bokerov, I want you to give Aria control of a tank platoon.”
“A company!” Aria protested.
Jason ignored her. He had to train her to realize that she couldn’t get everything she asked for, because if he bowed to her every whim, and those of the other girls, soon he’d have nothing left. Besides, he had to give her something else to work for, to ensure future sexual sessions were as vigorous as this one.
“I’ve allocated sixteen tanks to your command,” Bokerov said. “Feel free to distribute control however you wish.”
“Got it, thanks,” Jason said. He dismissed Bokerov, and then scrolled through his team on the left side of his HUD. As promised, sixteen Russian tanks had appeared under a “tank company” group. He immediately moved that group underneath Aria, giving her control.
“Thank you,” Aria said.
Jason turned toward Xin. “And what do you want from me?”
Xin shrugged. “Nothing.” She looked at him, and smiled, which made her cheeks dimple. “I’m happy knowing that I’m wanted the way I am.”
Jason was about to tell her that she didn’t actually look like that anymore, that her latent self image was nothing like her real world self, but it seemed entirely inappropriate, so he bit his tongue. Especially considering that his own real world self had been nothing to look at, at least when it came to human standards of beauty. Of course, to him, his war machine, and those of the girls, were some of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. But hey, he was strange li
ke that.
“I can appreciate that,” Jason said. He gave her a kiss on the head. “I suppose the two of you have given me what I wanted, too.”
“Sex with two real women at once?” Aria said.
“Yes,” Jason said. “Though whether or not you’re real women is debatable.”
“Real female minds, then,” Aria said.
“That’ll do,” Jason said. “Yes, you gave me that. And maybe now, hopefully, you’ll show me more loyalty.”
Xin pulled away and scowled at him. “Is that why you slept with us? Because you thought it would make us more loyal?”
“Uh, sort of,” Jason said. “I mean, I assumed that would be one of the results. But I also like the two of you very much, and—”
Xin slapped him. Her imperfect avatar was replaced with the perfect one once more, and she gave him an imperious look. “I’m never sleeping with you again!”
She vanished.
Jason rubbed his cheek. He had felt the full force of the slap—he had his virtual nerve endings dialed up to max for the sexual romp, and one of the side effects was increased pain sensitivity.
“Well, that didn’t quite go as planned,” Jason said. He turned toward Aria, who had also shrugged out of his arm. “Can you tell her—”
“You’re an asshole,” Aria interrupted. She grabbed his crotch and squeezed, hard.
Jason’s eyes bulged from the agony, and he quickly dialed down his pain sense.
But then Aria, too, vanished.
Jason threw up his arms. “What the hell did I do?”
He dismissed the virtual partition so that he was back at the picnic table at the lake, sitting there alone.
Lori came walking down the trail that led to the house.
“Hey Babe,” Lori sat down beside him on the tabletop and slid an arm over his shoulder.
“Hey,” Jason said.
“I was looking for you,” Lori said. “But I couldn’t find you.”
“Oh, I had my AI core in sleep mode,” Jason lied.
“Really?” Lori said. “I left a few hooks in place so I could track whether you were asleep or awake, and the hooks told me you were awake, but in another VR partition. I guess the subroutines were malfunctioning.”
“Damn it, take those hooks out,” Jason said.
Lori shrugged. “So you can lie to me? Okay. It’s done.”
“How can I be sure you took them out?” Jason said.
“You can’t,” Lori said. “So I guess that means you’ll have to stop lying to me.”
Jason sighed. He gazed out across the lake. “I just want to be left alone at the moment.”
She still had her arm wrapped around him, and she pulled him closer, squeezing slightly. “We can go to your room, and—”
“I’m not in the mood,” Jason said.
“You were just with Tara, weren’t you?” Lori said.
“No,” Jason said. “I wasn’t.”
“Oh,” Lori said. “Sophie?”
He glanced at Lori. “Look, I—”
“Oh,” Lori said. “Xin and Aria, then.”
Jason studied her uncertainly. “How did you know I was with the two of them?”
“They swing both ways,” Lori said. “It’s obvious to anyone who knows what to look for.”
“I didn’t think that was a requirement for bedding two girls,” Jason said.
“It’s not,” Lori said. “But it helps. Did you get what you wanted out of the transaction?”
“It wasn’t a transaction,” Jason said. “It was just a release of pent up lust. It won’t happen again.”
“Oh, I don’t mind if it happens again,” Lori said. “I just want you to save enough energy for me.”
“It’s not so much about you minding,” Jason said. “It’s more that, I pissed them off before they left. I told them I hoped that by making love to them, I’d ensure their loyalty.”
“Whoops,” Lori said. “Sometimes you suck at this.”
“Tell me about it,” Jason said.
“It is fixable, though,” Lori told him. “Wait a while, maybe a few days. And then tell them you didn’t mean what you said. We girls can forgive a lot of things about the men we’re attracted to. Also, get approval from Tara this time, please. She’s sensitive about things like that. It helps her feel at least some sense of control. Something she needs, if you want to keep her in this relationship.”
“I’ll do that,” Jason said. “Though I’m not sure she’ll give me permission.”
“You might be surprised at what you can get away with, if you simply ask,” Lori said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and her eyes became amorous as she pulled away. “That includes me.”
Before he could answer, she vanished.
Jason shook his head. “They have to stop doing that.”
5
Jason returned to reality shortly after Lori left, and resumed control of his mech from Z.
They walked on through the pine trees for several hours. No attacks came. The Explorer did detect signs of animal habitation: a large swath of trees were trampled and eaten. Jason specifically ordered his army to give such areas a wide berth. He didn’t want to encounter any fauna, at least until his units were back up to par.
There was only so much that could be repaired without actual ore, and polycarbonate. Jason ordered the troops to try digging into the ground at one point, but the bedrock in this particular area didn’t have much metallic content, so Jason had to order some of the more damaged units in Bokerov’s army to be dismantled for parts and materials. Those machines, when they went offline, were dragged along by other units until nothing remained of them, so that the army didn’t have to halt its advance. Incidentally, Jason also replaced his railgun slugs using metal retrieved from those units.
As repairs were made, Jason instructed the drones that were freed up to concentrate on fixing the more severely damaged units. Eventually, all of the mechs and their clones were repaired, along with most members of Bokerov’s army, save for the Cataphracts. At that point, Jason directed all repair units to swarm about them to accelerate the process; he had to sacrifice two full tanks to repair the damage the units had suffered. The cost was worth it, however, because Jason judged a fully functioning Cataphract worth ten times more than a fully functioning tank. They had lost the Torch, Dinosaur, and Horse before traveling through the rift, but that still left seven Cataphracts Jason could utilize in coming battles.
When the remaining units in the army were finally repaired, Jason could rest a little easier. So far they hadn’t been attacked, but he had little doubt the current pristine state of affairs would last for long. Sure enough, only a couple of hours after the last Cataphract was repaired, they had their first encounter with the native wildlife.
The Explorer passed over a ridge, and sighted a herd of large, giraffe-like creatures eating the lichen-like leaves on the pine trees. The creatures essentially looked like hippopotamuses, from head to tail, except for their humongous size, and the massive necks that allowed them to reach the tops of the trees.
Jason shared the Explorer feed with the rest of his army.
“We should call them Stretchy Hippos!” Lori said.
“That’s lame,” Sophie said. “Girahips. That’s what I’m calling them.”
“I love it!” Lori said.
“Er, on second thought,” Sophie said.
“We’ll go with Girahips,” Jason said. “But in any case, it looks like we’re going to have to take another detour. I don’t want to get close to these animals.”
“Why not?” Lori said. “They look like harmless plant eaters!”
“But look how huge they are,” Iris said. “Even plant eaters can be deadly if you disturb them. I agree with Jason. We don’t want to disturb these creatures.”
Jason turned the army to the west, or what he was calling west, anyway, and they marched through the tall pine trees, intending to give the creatures a wide berth.
Jason fel
t the ground vibrating underneath him.
“Uh, does anyone else feel that?” Maeran asked.
“Yes,” Cheyanne said. She took to the air, and flew above the treetops.
The Rex Wolves began barking wildly, their bodies positioned northward.
Jason had directed the Explorer west with the team, but he rotated the scout to the north, toward the herd. The Girahips were running toward them. A large one, probably the equivalent of a bull, led the charge. Racing directly toward Jason and his army.
“They’re coming directly at us!” Cheyanne said.
“Something must have spooked them,” Tara said.
“But what?” Jason said. “I can’t see anything…”
“Obviously, they’re smaller than the trees themselves,” Jerry said.
“Turn south!” Jason said. “Try to get out of the path of these Girahips.” He was already racing south before he finished speaking, and weaved between the different pines. The other War Forgers and their clones followed him. The tanks began to shift positions as well, but moved more slowly than the mechs.
The Rex Wolves followed alongside the main War Forgers. They moved at speed, tails strung out behind them, well aware of the coming danger.
“At the rate those Girahips are incoming, there’s no way the tanks will move out of the way in time,” Tara said. “We might, but the rest of the army will be overrun. And they’ll have to face whatever is chasing them.”
“Then we’ll fight!” Jason said, still weaving west.
“Oh goodie,” Bokerov said. “We get to kill again!”
“You really like killing, don’t you?” John said.
“When it comes to killing versions of you, yes,” Bokerov said. “But killing anything else comes a close second. Especially when that something else is an organic. Mm, organics. So soft and squishy.”
“You know, sometimes I think this Bokerov dude is actually sane,” Aria said. “Other times, that he’s bat shit crazy.”
“Definitely bat shit,” Tara 5 said. “You have no idea what he did to us in his VR dungeon.”
“Imagine enduring that for months on end,” Iris said.
“Oh, we did,” Tara 5 said. “At least it seemed like it. He adjusted our time sense to the slowest possible level.”