by Alex Palange
“The name of this place was ‘The Dream Hotel’ but a few years later after the sex chairs were invented he started losing the business again, and this time he made a contract with the military to develop something that will help motivate soldiers. He received a lot of money for research and actually he developed something unique.”
“This story is becoming more and more interesting” I encouraged the boys to continue. Brian started,
“He developed a device utilizes electromagnetic waves to engage different parts of the brain. It can even stimulate the area of the brain that regulates desire.”
I started giggling,
“That seems outlandish. How exactly does that work?”
“It’s not exactly clear. They give you a drug that puts you to sleep. While you are unconscious they administer the electromagnetic waves. Those waves induce a dream state. In the dream state, you experience a desire to do something. After you awake you retain the desire.”
“No, that is impossible…” I said, but John interrupted me.
“Actually is possible because of the drug that they give you.”
“Okay, that makes more sense, but what kind of drug is it?” I continued asking questions and John answered,
“That is something that nobody knows. It was under a patent. Then between an accident and the side effects, the government shut down the research and registered the chemical as an illicit substance citing its highly addictive properties.”
“What kind of accident?” I asked.
“Nobody knows. It was never disclosed, but the rumor is that it caused a participant to turn on his commander, instead of against his enemies. We presume that his commander was abusing him and his subconscious desire for revenge was strong… between using the drug and technology … you can guess what happened… but we know for sure that the drug is not dangerous, and that is wasn’t actually addictive. We read the analyses and tests for the drug… It seems that addiction was used as an excuse to ban its use.”
“Okay, that is a good story, but I still cannot believe a single word. It is like a fairytale. And what is the point of technology that increases desire? You could have a desire to do something, but it is possible that you would still never do it…” I said skeptically. Then John continued,
“That drug not only makes you sleep one of the effects of the medicine is that it increases your adrenaline and energy. That effect takes effect after you awake. The desire becomes a compulsion. I’ve read some of the case studies upon waking the subjects are compelled to do execute the augmented desire. In one of the case studies a person played basketball all day after he awoke, and another swam almost for four hours. When she stopped she barely had the strength to get out of the pool.”
“I can believe that a drug could increase your energy and drive, but using electromagnetic waves to manipulate the thought process that can’t be true …” I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence, because John interjected,
“I can assure you that this technology works.”
“How?” I asked again
“Because I’ve tried it.” I looked at him with astonishment as he continued, “First I tried the medicine only, nothing happened, I only had a lot of energy upon waking then I tried them both…” He stopped because a phone started ringing. He looked at me and before he answered it he said, “I promise I will explain this all to you later, but now we need to speak with our boss.”
The instructions from our boss were simple and the work wasn’t that complicated but I needed to get familiar with the building and all the rooms. Brian offered to show me around and I agreed. Our boss asked Brian to transfer the video call to a droid, so he could follow us around the facility. My boss was more worried about how I would adjust to an extended stay in the real world, not about the work. I was dying to continue my conversation with the guys about the dream-wave technology, but from John’s reaction, I guessed that the conversation should be a secret from our boss.
First Brian showed me the room where I would sleep for the next few days. The room was a lot bigger than my apartment. It was a few floors up from the conference room that we were and when we arrive there, Brian told me that because I’m new on the team, they gave me a penthouse room, which is the biggest and most luxurious in the building. That was very nice of them. The penthouse was incredible. It had huge windows with a beautiful view of a real mountain, a bathroom bigger than my living room and a bedroom with a huge round bed in the middle. I left my suitcase there and we went down to the first floor where the gym was located. One of my tasks was to create the virtual reality environment for it, so the people would enjoy engaging in exercise. Then we went to a single-story building to the side of the high-rise hotel and we found ourselves in a huge salon which was absolutely empty One of the sides of this place really caught my attention. There was a depression in the center of the room. What happened here?”
Brian smiled and replied,
“That is a four season’s beach room. You will need to create a virtual map for the beach, and we will build real things according to your fantasies so that this room will be a mix between your fantasies and the real world. We will fill that depression with water and will bring sand here, sun chairs and anything that you are creating in your virtual world.”
“That’s an interesting idea,” I said “but all people here will need to have their glass on all the time. If someone removes their glasses he or she will see the walls and the real shape and face of the other people …”
“That is something that you need to be careful with.” My boss had joined the conversation, “first, now we have better technology and nobody will use the glasses. We have contact lenses, they are difficult to remove on a whim but if somebody actually does, they will see the real world and that is why you will restrict that change of the body shape and faces in your virtual world. That will be prohibited. “
“That makes my work easier.” I said as I smiled. We continued our tour.
“Now it’s time for the fun part.” Brian said and he brought me to the nightclub
We went back to the floor that housed the nightclub. Instead of an unfurnished room, there was a real nightclub with all of its amenities: a dance floor, real music, a bar, and modern furniture. I realized that you didn’t even need to be in the virtual world to enjoy this place. I was impressed by what had been built here. After showing me the nightclub, Brian lead me to my office, then he went to finish his work. My boss remained on the video call with me for few more hours giving me instruction about what needed to be done.
It was around 7 PM when Brian arrived at my door and asked,
“Alex, are you ready for dinner? I think you have done enough work for today. Come and join us for a dinner.”
“I am starving,” I said, “Where can I prepare the food?”
“We will be eating together every day at the bar. We’ve already prepared a dinner for you.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet.” I said. That was the first time in a long time someone had made me a meal.
Chapter III
All of my new teammates seemed to be very humorous and good-natured. They loved to joke and tell stories. It was enjoyable spending time with them. It was actually better than my virtual world, which I hadn’t thought possible. All three of the guys on our team liked to flirt with Kathleen. She seemed used to it and disregarded all of their inappropriate comments. She told me,
“In a while, you will become used to their inappropriate jokes. If I’m honest I’ll say that I actually like the attention. It’s nice to feel desired.”
“I don’t think I’ll mind feeling desirable.” I said with a smile.
Every chance I had I tried to ask questions about the mysterious drug and the dream-wave technology, but John always changed the subject.
It was Thursday night when John finally decided to tell us more about his experiences with dream-waves.
“Okay, I know I’m only going to embarrass myself but I’ll tell you more
about the technology.” After John said this we all fell silent.
I was afraid to take the whole dose of the activator but it still put me out for around four hours. When I woke up I had a pressing desire to run…” we all looked at John and started laughing.
“You just wanted to run? What is so embarrassing about that?” Sam asked.
“Ummm…” John resumed, “my drive wasn’t just to run … I had the desire to run naked …”
“Did you actually run naked?” Kathleen asked as our laughter busted forth.
“Yes, I did …” He didn’t have the chance to finish speaking because Kathleen interrupted him,
“I would have loved to see that. I’m only curious as to where you got that desire in the first place.”
“I had tested out a treadmill in the gym and I think I really had the desire to run, but I don’t know where the naked part came from.” He started laughing too.
“Wow,” she continued “after hearing about John’s secret desire, I am curious. What kind of desires do we all have lurking beneath the surface?”
She looked at Brian. He responded,
“I always wanted to play music in a nightclub, like a real DJ, and because we have a real nightclub here I think I want to be a DJ. That is my desire.”
“I really want to drive a motorcycle, we have one here…” Sam started “and I think I will.”
“I love dancing. We just found out we have a DJ here; I think I’ll dance all night.” I said.
“Oh, that’s a good one! I think I’ll join you on the dance floor.” Kathleen replied.
We all started laughing and making jokes about how John would run naked on the dance floor. I felt that working with these guys in the real world it is actually really fun. It was a fun night and we talked and laughed a lot, but John seemed a little bit worried. So I asked him,
“John, you look worried, is everything fine? “
He looked at me and replied,
“Oh, yes, everything is fine. I’m just thinking about …” He made a pause. Then he smiled at me and very cheerfully continued,
“Okay, it looks like we all have a “normal” desires, no crazy stuff. We just want to have fun. I really want to try the dream-wave again, but I am scared to try it alone. I have a proposal for all of you…”
We all looked at him in surprise as he continued,
“What if we try the dream-wave together?”
We all remained quiet. Brian was the first to break that silence:
“So you’re telling me, we still have the equipment and you want us all to try it out?”
“Yes, we have fully functional set in the basement big enough for all of us….”
“That’s good.” Brian interrupted him, “We have the equipment but we also know that it’s illegal. We have no idea what kind of side effects we could suffer from. Also, we don’t have the chemical activator…”
“That’s not exactly true…” John said with a sly smile.
“Which part?” I said joining the conversation.
“I have access to all archives and I can assure you that no adverse side effects have been reported after using the technology and I can show you the reports on why it was banned.”
“And why was it prohibited?” Sam asked
“The government was afraid of the possibilities. It was possible to change or augment negative desires. With this technology a person could be made into a super soldier focused only on killing. That’s why they shut down the project. They are ignoring all the positive ways the technology could be used. There isn’t any data to suggest that the dream-wave machine would be detrimental in a civilian context.”
“What about the drug?” Brian asked, “Is it possible to use the waves without the drug?”
“No, but we have enough of this drug. It is preserved in refrigerators. They shut down the project but not all of the chemicals and prototypes were confiscated.” John said.
John lead us to the lab in the basement, where we spent a lot of time watching and reading the archives to learn more about the technology and the activator. All the evidence showed that there were no side effects and that most of the participants were happy with its effects. Most of the case files contained video log interviews with the participants, and most of them reported using the machine for stress relief. We saw one about a couple that were really stressed from their jobs. They were buried in their crazy everyday routine. After they used the technology, they took a few weeks vacations at an exotic island. They said it was the best thing that they had done in their lives. We watched another couple, they tried the technology and the next day they got married. That was their biggest desire, but they were afraid to admit it to each other. There were also humorous situations, like the one with John. We saw people jumping around. There was another guy that just went to his room and slept for 14 h because that was his desire, but everyone in the video interviews reported that they felt really good and relaxed after they used the technology. Some of the people had desires that could not be fulfilled immediately so they used the virtual glasses to create an imaginary world where they could fulfill their desires. Everything shows that the dream-wave technology was safe.
A few hours later we went back to the bar to have a drink together, and Kathleen said,
“You know after everything that I’ve seen on those videos for the last few hours, I’ve decided that I would really like to try this. I am in. What about you guys?”
Sam immediately replied,
“Why not. I am in too.”
“Me too” I heard myself saying out loud Than we all looked at Brian.
He smiled.
“Why are you guys looking at me? Look at John, he is the person that needs to tell us when and how we are going to do this.”
“I think the best time will be Friday night.” John replied immediately.
“Why Friday?” I asked.
“Because Friday morning we finalize this stage of our project. After that, we are supposed to go home and wait for management to decide what the next step of the project will be. After the presentation, we will tell them that we would like to stay here over the weekend because we think that it will make the team stronger. I am sure that our boss will love the idea. If he buys it we will have few days to do what we want without anyone bothering us.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Brian replied. After we all agreed to our new scheme, we went to our rooms to rest and prepare for our big presentation.
Chapter IV
It was Friday. Everything went according to the plan. We presented everything to our management and they all loved our ideas. Our boss was really happy to see how well we work together. He was also thrilled that we wanted to spend more time together after work. After we asked him if we can stay here for few more days he replied,
“Of course, you can stay and you can use everything that that facility offers.”
Few minutes after all of our visitors left we all ran to the lab in the basement. John led us to a room with a huge round bed in the middle and he explained to us that we needed to lay down on this bed after we took the drug. The dream-wave equipment was located above the bed. It was hidden in the ceiling it would admit the waves while we slept. He also gave us blankets and explained that we needed to cover our bodies with them because the temperature will be kept really low in the room.
We took the drug and laid down on the bed. We started joking with each other and laughing a lot. In few minutes I felt like I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I presumed that I fell asleep. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was John words:
“You will be impressed how realistic your dreams will be.”
I don’t know what happened next and how long we were in the bed but when I opened my eyes again I was alone in the room. Nobody was on the bed, nobody around me. I stood up, opened the door, and started walking around to find where everyone went.
I felt strange I was full of energy and felt euphoric. It occurred to me that I might be d
reaming, John had said that my dreams would be hyper-realistic, so maybe this was my dream… but why was I alone?
I started walking down the highway. When I passed in front of the dressing room in the theater that facility has, I desired to go in and try some of the costumes. “Why not, this is my dream I can do whatever I want.” I told myself as I walked in.
There were a lot of fancy dresses and I started trying different ones. First I tried on a few pairs of sexy shoes, then a few cocktails dresses, and a few miniskirts.
I was topless wearing only a miniskirt when I stood in front of the big mirror. “Oh, I do look sexy” I started talking to myself while caressing my bare torso “My ass looks good.” I smiled in the mirror and at this moment I realized that I am not alone in the room. I turned around and I saw John walking toward me.
I smiled when I saw him, I should have felt odd, I was half naked and I didn’t really care about that. He didn’t say a word, he just sat on of chairs close to me and started staring at my boobs. Oh, he likes what he sees… and he’s hot … He was shirtless and shoeless. John had his skinny denim jeans. I felt like I had a thousand butterflies inside my stomach.
OMG, am I horny in my dreams too? I started laughing. I felt desire not only to fuck him but to tease him until he begged for sex.
I am even dirty in my dreams. That was the next thought in my head, then I looked at John with a playful smile on my face and I asked.
“Are you enjoying my dream?”
“Yes, you are beautiful and sexy. You know I could sit here and enjoy that view all night, but the rest of the team are already at the nightclub and waiting for us.”
“I really need a strong drink right now. “ I replied as I picked up a blouse to cover my breasts. I started teasing him, “My idea was to have sex with you first, but you convinced me to have a drink … so let’s go …”
He stood up as I approached him and he replied.
“They can wait, I would love to fuck you right now …”