The Reality Plague

by Doug Welch

  Liv hesitated until he moved back from the door and then entered the cube. He waited until she moved back to a safe distance, and then closed it.

  He felt uncomfortable, awkward. He fumbled for something to say. “Uh, I'm sorry, there's only one place to sit in the whole place.” He laughed nervously. “I wasn't expecting guests.”

  “That makes us even. I wasn't expecting to be a guest.”

  “Uh … we could sit on the floor. I have some coverlets. For the chair … that is.”

  “If it's not too much to ask, I would kill for a hot shower.”

  “Certainly. Uh … how have you been cleaning yourself?”

  “I haven't, and I smell like it. Hygiene isn't possible when you don't have a home, not in L.A.”

  Now that she mentioned it, he could smell her, a ripe earthy odor. “I have a robe, you could use that. We can put your clothes through the cleaner.”

  “Sorry. If you've worn it recently, I don't dare use it.”

  “OK, I'll order a new one. It'll be sterile. You can use it if you want.” He pointed to the bathroom door. “The shower is there. Would you like some food?”

  “After I'm clean. Then we need to talk.”

  “OK while you're showering, I'll order some blankets. That is, unless you want to sleep in the chair, I don't mind.”

  “Sleep in the chair? With you? I don't think so.”

  He blushed. “No, that's not what I meant. I mean, you can sleep in the chair and I'll stretch out on the floor.”

  She just stared at him. After a moment, tears appeared and started flowing down her cheeks. She jumped up, ran to the bathroom, and closed the seldom-used door. A sigh escaped his lips as the sound of her sobs reached his ears. It made him feel helpless. What have I done? I was just trying to be nice. Soon, he heard the water running, and the sobbing stopped.

  He rose and left the cube. Since Alice remained off, he needed to use the tower's common net-link, and he couldn't do it from his room. He placed the order for the extra robe and two blankets. He thought a moment, and then added extra food, and extra dental supplies. He reentered the room, and found her emerging from the bathroom.

  She carried her clothing. She wore nothing. The sight mesmerized him. He stared in fascination. No stranger to nudity, he typically wore clothing only to go out in public to the weekly engineering meetings. But the sight of her female flesh so near and yet unapproachable, acted as a potent aphrodisiac.

  She had blond hair that now framed her head in a glorious halo from the drying cycle in the shower. Images of the woman in the dream flashed through his mind. But Liv obviously had been starving, her flanks were skinny, her hips concave. Her breasts were small but well-formed; they would fit in his hands. The blond hair growing from her pubic area matched her head. He felt he had never seen anything so erotic in his life. The sight brought a flush to his face and scalp; a tingling sensation flowed over his body. Since Alice couldn't program his neuromechs, it had to be natural. He felt a powerful arousal, and had to look away.

  Liv moved to the kitchen and put her clothing in the cleaner. “Did you order some blankets?”

  He controlled himself, but still his voice came out as a croak. “Yes and some other things. I stipulated fast delivery. The stuff should be here by this evening.”

  “Do you have any sterile gloves?”

  “Yes, a few.”

  “Good. If we're going to do this, we need to be careful. Gloves will help. You mentioned food?”

  “Do you want me to get it?”

  “No, just tell me where it is.” She returned with a package, sat on the floor, and tore it open.

  Jake watched as she ate. She sat cross-legged. He couldn't look at her waist, a brief glimpse had revealed her pubic area, and he had flushed at the sight. He waited until she finished. “You seem to know a lot about the plague, what should we do?”

  “The disease is promulgated by three vectors. Breath, it's sort of like the common cold in that respect, touch – that's the reason for the gloves, and of course, sex. If we avoid all those, we should be safe. Of course if you have haz-suits, it would be better.”

  “I don't. I refuse to wear them.”

  “Stupid, but I understand.” She balled up the wrappings from her meal, rose from the floor, and padded to the disposal in the kitchen. “You can get comfortable if you want, it won't bother me.”

  He didn't know if he should. The current state of his body telegraphed his feelings exactly. It might be embarrassing. “Maybe later, I may have to leave the cube for something else, so, how are you feeling?”

  “How am I feeling? What kind of question is that? I'm homeless, I'm holed up with a maniac who doesn't have a care for his own life, and you ask how I'm feeling?” She looked confused, slightly crazed, and about to cry again.

  Jake felt stung by her words. The things that he wanted to ask, to tell her, would leave him vulnerable, subject to her scorn. He decided to change the subject to something more pertinent to their situation. “OK, I get it. I was just trying to make conversation. You said you were running. That implies that you're running from something. Is it a person? Is someone threatening you?”

  She laughed, nearly maniacal. “You could say that. And you'd be wrong. Let it go, Jake. For your own safety, for both our sakes, let it go.”

  The timer on the cleaner chimed, indicating her clothes were done. She rose from the floor and removed them. “I'll be in the bathroom. I need to think in private. We can continue this discussion later – or not. I would prefer not. It's up to you.”

  Jake scooted back toward the wall, and leaned against it. His mind encircled all of her cryptic comments. Never once had she given him a straight answer. She evaded, led the conversation where she wanted it to go, and constantly kept him at arm's length. He had no idea where she came from, or how she'd decided to choose him. Did it matter? He'd finally found her, his first opportunity for real human contact in nearly ten years. He had to find a way to keep her with him.

  After a long time, she emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed. She wordlessly dropped to the floor, glanced once at him, then buried her face in her knees

  They sat apart on the floor, not saying anything, staring at the blank walls and the chair, avoiding eye contact. To Jake, it felt strange to be this intimate, but so hopelessly far away. He waited as long as he could, but the urge to communicate finally broke his resolve.

  “This is getting nowhere. At least tell me something about yourself. How did you become homeless?”

  She laughed and threw her head back. “I can't Jake. If I told you, it would lead to another question, and that would lead to another and the final answer would kill you. I won't be responsible for that.”

  “Well, what can we talk about?”

  “Oh I don't know. How about the world situation? Answer? It sucks. End of conversation.”

  They reverted to silent brooding.

  “Do I know you, Liv?” He could see the surprise his question caused.

  She didn't say anything for a moment. “You can't know me, Jake, it's not safe. Hell, I don't even know me. I once used to think I did. Now… It's in the past. But the irony is… yes, Jake, of all the people in this world, I think you know me best.”

  Jake ignored the pain he could hear in her answer. “When I was a young child, Liv, I had a mother who held me, a father who taught me to be a man and a brother I loved, who was also my best friend. That's all gone. Now, it’s hard to find the borders between the real world and the false. I'm becoming lost. I eat in the net, work in the net and fuck in the net. I spend more time in a fantasy than reality. My family hugged and kissed and touched each other. We didn't live apart, we lived together. I want that again Liv. I want it so bad it's driving me insane.”

  “You're fortunate. I never knew my parents. They were killed when I was young.”

  “Who raised you?”

  “I was old enough to be on my own. It's a long depressing story and it's unimportant.” Her
words belied the look of pain in her eyes.

  “Have you ever had a friend, Liv?”

  She looked away, staring at the wall beside her for a few seconds before she replied. “No. I had acquaintances, but never someone I could call a friend.”

  “Could I be your friend?”

  “Don't go there Jake. Life's painful enough, and I can't stay here long. I'll have to leave. Don't make it any harder on me.”

  Jake cringed at the thought that she would go and leave him alone again. Maybe she's right. Don't get involved. “What do you plan to do?”

  “Me? Run. Run as far away and as fast as I can. Look for someplace to hide, maybe in the naturalist enclaves.”

  He arched a brow, “I thought they all died out.”

  “Maybe. I don't know. What other choice is there? I need to drink, eat – find shelter. Have time to work out my problems – if I can. I can't do it in a large city. I thought I could, but it's impossible.”

  “I could go with you, if you need help.”

  “Don't be ridiculous, Jake, you'd die before we could get there. Trust me, I know. It's impossible.”

  “Maybe I don't care. Maybe I'm so desperate I'll take any chance to escape from this nightmare.”

  “It's not a chance, Jake, it's a certainty. If you leave the city, you will die.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I can't tell you how I know.”

  “So, we're back to that, are we?”

  “Yeah, I guess we are.” She compressed her lips in a thin line, and looked away.

  They were quite for a while. Finally Liv spoke. “What do you know about the neuromechs, Jake?”

  He shrugged. “Not much, I'm a communications engineer. I just know they're parked in my brain.”

  She leaned forward and hugged her knees. “They're much more than that. Those nanomachines are one of the most significant inventions of the human mind ever created, nearly a life form by themselves. They're smaller than a human chromosome, silicon based, much like DNA in their makeup. They have gene analogues that can be used to store information and they inhabit every sensory and motor center in your brain. Fortunately they can't record thoughts, at least we weren't that stupid, but anything you say, hear, or see is recorded for your cube AI or any AI to deliver to the net. Certain keywords, visual images or spoken thoughts can be tagged, and if they are, bad things can happen. Things I don't want to happen. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

  Jake sighed. “I think so.”

  She didn't speak for a while. Finally her voice broke the silence. “Do you read romance novels Jake?”

  Startled by the turn of her conversation, Jake stammered. “N-novel? Do you mean old fashioned paper books? That kind?”

  “Yes, I used to own some. Would you like to hear a story? A romance story?”

  Jake didn't know where she led, but he decided to follow. “A romance story? Sure, go ahead.”

  Liv stared directly at his eyes, and began. “Once upon a time a sorceress lived in a magical kingdom. The sorceress was very knowledgeable about magic, and she could create marvelous things to make the kingdom better. But certain events lay beyond her powers, and one day a dark force settled upon the kingdom, putting everyone to sleep. They slept and they dreamed, locked in a fantasy world. The same force confined her in a magical tower which she could not escape. So she studied her magic constantly to find the words that would allow her to leave the tower, because by this time she had found the source of the dark force and the means to defeat it, but she needed her freedom.

  “A long time passed while the people in the realm dreamed, but finally the sorceress found the magical words that allowed her to escape the tower, and she began to wander through the kingdom in search of a magical talisman to bring the people out of their slumbers. Along the way, the sorceress saw a handsome knight. The knight was not dreaming, in fact he was awake and she felt drawn toward him. She hadn't experienced many relationships while she grew, her magical parents ignored her, and she was too busy with her magical studies and her work to pay much attention to that aspect of life, but she felt that she was attracted to the knight. Of course, it helped that he was the only person in the kingdom who was awake, but she felt that even if the kingdom teemed with people, she would still have been drawn toward him. She even dreamed about him, and in her dream, made love to him. It was wonderful, everything she'd ever hoped it would be, but sadly, she knew that if she approached him in the real world, the dark force would find him, and render him unconscious, to lie down and dream forever.

  “However, as she continued to search for the talisman she found that the attraction of the knight distracted her from her quest. In desperation, she abandoned any hope of happiness, and instead continued her travels to find the magic.”

  “Jake, I wish this story had a happy ending, but many romance novels don't.” She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.

  Jake remained silent for awhile, thinking. She's revealing something without saying it, but why? What does she want? “I think I read that novel. But my version contained a chapter that yours didn't. In my version, the knight met the sorceress in the dream and he knew. When he touched her hair, kissed her lips, and filled her body, he knew that this was the woman he wanted, the one he had to have, even if the world was filled with people. He knew that he would lay down his life for her and nothing, not even fear of the dark, would take her away from him. He would follow her wherever her quest led and protect her, even to the ends of the earth.”

  As his words echoed through the room the tears began to flow from beneath Liv's closed lids, trailing down her cheeks. After a while, she drew in a shuddering breath, and laughed through the tears. “The knight is a fucking idiot, Jake.”

  He laughed with her. “So is the fucking sorceress, and she hasn't a prayer, the knight wants her. I wonder if the blankets have arrived, I think I'll go check.”

  Jake took delivery of the supplies, handling them with sterile gloves at Liv's insistence. They argued about sleeping arrangements. Jake offered Liv the use of the chair. Designed for multiple-use as a net-world center, bed, and sex platform it provided enough room for two people to sleep snugly. Now with Alice shut down, it remained inert. Liv insisted that she would sleep on the floor, so after some discussion, he took the chair. The cube had only one large window and the building had not been cleaned in years, so the sunlight that managed to find its way in just emphasized the gloom. They ate the last meal of the day without augmentation. It tasted bland and unappetizing but Jake managed to choke it down. The cube lacked utensils for two, so they had to alternate the use of the one drinking glass, cleaning and sterilizing it in the microwave food warmer between uses. Their actions were awkward and inconvenient because they had to keep at a safe distance from each other. While they worked, Jake kept glancing at her, and occasionally caught her looking back at him. He seized every opportunity to crack a joke and make her smile or wince at him, and once she threw a food wrapper at him after some ironic comment started her laughing.

  Finally, they arranged their separate sleeping areas. Liv insisted that Jake get comfortable so they slept in the nude. When they finally settled in, Jake could not sleep. He lay awake, his mind casting about in random confusion, trying to anchor itself, to make sense of the situation he faced, to arrive at a solution.

  Liv's voice broke the silence. “Jake, are you awake?”

  He rose on one elbow trying to see in the dark. “Yes, I can't sleep.”

  “Neither can I… Jake? I've got a question.”

  “Yes?”

  “Will I be your special friend, your sorceress?”

  Elation flooded his body and his heart seemed as though it would burst from his chest. Finally he managed to choke out the words, “Yes Liv, I think I would like that.”

  “Thank you. I think now, I can sleep.”

  “I think I can too. Goodnight … milady.”

  “Goodnight, Jake.”

  
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  Chapter 3

  The Quest

  Jake woke, hoping he hadn't been dreaming. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, as a momentary panic had him moving to look down over the edge of his chair to make sure. He risked a peek; his heart feeling like it would rise up out of his throat. Relief washed through him as he stared down at the slight form cuddled in the blankets. It hadn’t been a dream.

  It felt strange in the room with a real, live, warm woman beside him. He stared at her, as her chest rose and fell with her breathing. She lay on her side, one leg tucked up to her abdomen, the other stretched out. She seemed caught in a dream because he could see her eyes move rapidly behind her lids. She turned over and the blanket slipped off, leaving her nude body exposed. He didn't look away, he just savored the moment. She raised her other knee giving him a clear view of her thighs and pubic area. The sight aroused him, and his groin responded, as his normal morning erection started to grow larger. He imagined stroking the tawny soft flesh of her breasts and sinking his himself into her sensitive and concealed sex.

  Jake couldn't look away. The urge to mate overpowered him. Erotic thoughts crowded his brain. He imagined himself burying his tongue in the tender flesh of her sex, her soft hair caressing his lips, as he licked and stimulated her to orgasm He turned over on his stomach and began to grind his groin into the soft synthetic fabric of the chair. An almost uncontrollable urge to join her on the floor and take her regardless of the danger from the plague pounded away at his self control. Jake started breathing heavily. He raised his hips and his hand strayed down to fist his painfully hard erection. He began to stroke himself. It wasn’t long before he shuddered from a powerful orgasm, and the aftermath of his pleasure glistened on his hips and chest. A little embarrassed at what he considered adolescent behavior, he rose from the chair, and padded to the bathroom to clean his body. Finished, he went out into the main room, grabbed some fresh clothing from the tiny closet, and began to dress.