Treasure Chest: Venus Online 3 (LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem)

by Jeremy Zenith

  He had to admit to being surprised. "So you're not, like, jealous or anything?"

  She shook her head. "No. We're not married. And I'm polyamorous and bisexual, so I assume you won't mind if I sleep with Chetaara or Scarlett, too."

  "More than fair."

  "Okay. We're good." She closed the hatch and crawled out from under the console. After brushing dust off her back and legs, she began tapping keys. "Um, I'm gonna test the radiation exhaust filter. It can cause impotence in human males so you, uh, might not want to be here."

  He quickly headed out of the engine room with his head spinning. Xana was bisexual, too. That couldn't be a coincidence that three beautiful women all wanted to join his party, and have sex with him and each other without being jealous. It was a totally unrealistic male fantasy.

  He loved it.

  Chapter 6

  Suzanne Winters poked at her meatloaf and mashed potatoes with a fork, trying to look like she was eating it. In reality, food was the farthest thing from her mind. All she could think about was Venus Online.

  As her alter ego Lady Necralia, the undisputed ruler of the empire that dominated the virtual Galaxy of Venus Online, she had a thousand things on her plate. A civil war had sprung up in the Stanil System between her troops and the native armies. The Republic of Allied Worlds had opened a new front in their war on her eastern border. The delivery of two hundred new battleships from the Capricorn Corporation was going to be delayed due to a shortage of torrannium. Yet of all her concerns, only one thing dominated her thoughts: Byron Jones.

  Across from the dinner table, her husband Trent coughed in an obvious way to get her attention. She looked up to see him giving her an expectant glare under the brim of his baseball cap.

  "Ain't that right, Suzy?" he asked.

  She blinked and it took a moment to notice her two children Billy and Grace stared at her, too. Obviously they had been talking about something and she had missed it. She thought about trying to bluff her way through it then gave up.

  She sighed and put down her fork. "I'm sorry, sweeties. My mind was a thousand miles away. What did you say?"

  Trent clenched his fists on the dinner table. "I said that you would make it up to the kids. You know, for not going to their party on Saturday."

  "Yeah." Grace waved her hands over the table. "We can go play mini-golf! Jackie and her mom are going this Saturday!"

  She lowered her eyes back down to her plate. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be able to make it."

  The kids went "awww" in chorus.

  Trent stood up and leaned over the table. "Kids, how about you grab a cookie and head on into the living room to watch TV? I got something to talk about with your Mom."

  The two kids squealed as they jumped off their plate, grabbed a cookie out of the jar, and scurried into the living room.

  As the theme music for Doctor Vroom came out of the living room, Suzanne kept her eyes on her plate. She hated looking around at her dingy and tiny trailer home in the first place, the exact opposite of her sprawling castle in Venus Online. Yet this time, she didn't want to look up to meet her husband's eyes because she knew the rage she would find in them.

  "This has to stop," he hissed.

  She picked up her fork and cut a tiny piece off her meatloaf. "What has to stop?"

  "You know damn well what I'm talking about. That fucking egg you climb into all day long."

  She put the meatloaf into her mouth and chewed it slowly. It tasted like nothing compared to the roasted chikkow her virtual chef had created for her dinner just a few hours ago. "It's not an egg. It's a virtual reality simulator."

  "I don't care what it's called. You're obsessed with it. Ever since you got it, me and the kids don't even see you. You spend all day and all night in that thing. You only come out to eat, sleep, and piss and you didn't even do that today."

  She raised her eyes to glare at Trent. "Actually, I don't have to come out at all because the pod has IV drips to give nourishment and hydration, and a catheter and bladder system for waste products. When the company installed it, they said the pod could keep me alive for over a year without leaving it. I only came out to the real world to try to avoid this exact conversation we're having, but there doesn't seem to be a point to that anymore."

  "Shit." Trent ran his fingers down his face. "You're addicted to this thing. That's what you are. You're an addict. What is so great about that stupid virtual thing anyway?"

  She laughed. "Are you serious? What's so great about being the ruler of an intergalactic empire?"

  He shook his fists. "But it's not real!"

  "It feels real."

  "Is that really better than this? Your real life?"

  She snorted. "Oh yeah, my real life. Living as a housewife in this shitty trailer home, scraping by paycheck to paycheck. Why wouldn't I want that? In Venus Online, I can be anything I want. You should try it. I can get you an invitation."

  He planted his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes. "You know I don't like video games. And even if I did, what would we do with the kids if both of us are stuck in some fake world?"

  "They make pods for kids, too."

  Trent slammed his fists on the table. "Enough!"

  She stood up as she glared at him. "No. It's not enough. It's just the beginning. I'm just ahead of the curve. You'll see. Pretty soon, everyone will be living in these VR pods."

  He jabbed a finger at her. "You've gone nuts, Suzanne. I'm about to call the men in the little white coats on you."

  "Go right ahead. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work." She pushed away from the table and stalked away from the dining table set up in the kitchen.

  As she walked past the living room and down the hallway, she paused at the bathroom door. She could see her reflection in the mirror, and it shocked her as it always seemed to lately.

  In the game, Lady Necralia had a mountain of flowing white hair.

  In the mirror, her limp brown hair hung in uneven bangs from when she cut it herself to save money on a hairdresser.

  In the game, Lady Necralia had a curvy but slender body with huge breasts, a flat stomach and a bubble butt.

  Here, she had a flabby body from giving birth to two kids and eating too much junk food.

  In the game, Lady Necralia wore a bikini made of spiky bone that hugged her big boobs, and showed off the crack of her ass and impossibly long legs.

  In the real world, she wore a stained and beaten yellow dress that draped over her like a tent.

  Why would anyone want to live in a body like hers when they could have a body like Lady Necralia?

  She stomped into the office and slammed the door. Locking it behind her released a flood of relief. She felt safe again.

  As she lay down on the couch for her virtual reality pod, she thought back to when she received a mysterious email inviting her to the game. To think, she had almost deleted it, thinking it was a spam email. On a whim, she opened it and clicked on the link and her whole world changed.

  She made sure to keep her head inside the web of sensors at the head of the chair before reaching down to activate the virtual reality pod.

  The sinking feeling swept over her, and she opened her eyes to find herself back in the throne room of her castle. Looking out at the massive chamber gave her a swell of pride and peace. Paintings and murals of her lined the walls. Two rows of dozens of her Death Trooper soldiers lined up before her, all leading up to the platform where she kept her throne made of human bones. It was a little over the top, but she loved it.

  No time had passed since leaving Venus Online. Most players in the game experienced a time dilation effect where days in the game could pass while only hours passed in the real world. Something similar happened to her while inside, but game-time seemed to pause when she left and start back up when she came back. She wasn't sure how it worked, but assumed it had something to do with the deal she had made with the Orb.

  The Orb had appeared to her only a few hour
s after starting the game. She didn't know where it came from or even what it was. Was the Orb a living entity or a mechanical intelligence? Was it a non-player character or a real player? If it was a real player, who was behind it? She didn't know, and the Orb refused to answer any of her questions about it.

  Yet it knew everything about the game and even her darkest secrets. It had revealed its plans to her, and made her an offer she couldn't refuse: follow the Orb and she would rule Venus Online.

  Suzanne had never considered herself an evil person, even though she liked to troll on Internet forums and usually picked the bad guys in video games to play. Venus Online had brought out a side of herself she didn't know was there.

  The brutal acts she had done as Lady Necralia shocked even her, but also made her feel free and powerful. She was Darth Vader, Sauron, and Voldemort, all rolled together with a dash of Adolf Hitler. She had slaughtered whole planets and wiped out entire races in her quest for power. If Venus Online had been the real world, she would be considered the greatest mass murderer in history. Yet she still wanted more.

  The truth was that all the death and destruction turned her on in ways she'd never dreamed of. She had access to all the men and women she wanted through her slave trade, and their torture and death at her hands made her cum like no man or woman ever had. Just hearing the reports of her armies laying waste to the Galaxy made her wet.

  The Orb had made her powerful enough to do anything she wanted in the game, but it had also warned her of the one thing that could stop her: a player who would come called the Outsider. After years in game-time, she had come to believe the Outsider would never show up, but now this Byron Jones seemed to be the one. She feared him taking away her power, but also dreamed of watching him cower at her feet. With his death, there would be no stopping her.

  For a moment, her husband's words broke through the illusion. She remembered this was all just a game. It wasn't real. At least, not yet. She hated thinking of her real life, and the argument with Trent filled her with rage.

  As Lady Necralia, Suzanne raised a hand tipped with claws on the gloves. "Bring a slave to my playroom. I need to relax."

  One of her minions bowed. "At once, your majesty."

  She settled back in her throne, thinking of how she would make the slave suffer. General Deth liked to use his Torment Tower, but that seemed too impersonal. She liked to use implements that let her inflict pain with her bare hands.

  No matter what she did, it would be nothing compared to when she got her hands on Byron Jones.

  Chapter 7

  From his seat on the bridge of the starship Icarus, Byron Jones watched the view of the planet Jamaki Four as it approached.

  Scarlett's chrome skin gleamed by the light of the sun as she sat in the pilot's chair, working the controls. "I just wanna go on record, and say I think this is bullshit."

  From the captain's chair, Byron shook his head. "No, it's not. It's work."

  Scarlett flipped a switch with a quick, angry gesture. "Yeah, shitty work. You've got a whole galaxy out there with aliens and robots and evil empires and pirates, and we're stuck hauling boxes around like fucking FedEx."

  He sighed. Her outspoken attitude made her interesting to be around but didn't make it easy to work with her. "Scarlett, if we're gonna get credits, we have to take missions."

  She snorted. "Yeah, and I hate fucking grinding."

  In the co-pilot's chair, Chetaara flattened her pointed ears and flicked her tail below her seat in annoyance. "The Master knows of what he speaks."

  He nodded at her. "Thanks for your support, Chetaara."

  She gave him an encouraging smile.

  Her beautiful breasts had stripes on them just like the rest of her body, which only made them more exotic to him. The nipples were erect, pointing at him as if in agreement or cold, he wasn't sure. She seemed to note his attention, because she brushed a hand up her stomach to tease her left nipple. His cock throbbed at the sight of it.

  Scarlett either didn't notice or didn't care. She stuck her tongue out at Chetaara. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer. I'm not sayin' it's all bad. I'm just sayin' I can't wait until we're kicking ass again."

  She snapped off a salute to him. "But your wish is my command, Cap'n. Let's make it happen."

  He glanced over at Xana working on a nearby console. She had become the ship's engineer by default, and done a great job, too. In the hours since they had picked up the medicine and headed to Jamaki Four, the ship's engines had become quieter and the vibration in the floor he hadn't even noticed had disappeared.

  More than that, she maintained a quiet presence aboard the ship that contrasted well with Scarlett's outspoken manner. It was nice.

  She looked back at him and gave him a little smile. He smiled back.

  As the Icarus drew closer to the planet, Byron realized they might be putting themselves in danger. He didn't know anything about alien diseases. "Is this plague contagious? Like, can we catch it?"

  Xana shook her head. "Um, yes and no. The plague is contagious but not to us. The disease only infects species with a specific gene that's extremely rare throughout the Galaxy. Unfortunately, the gene is hereditary so entire races are vulnerable to it. Whole planets like this one can be infected quickly and wiped out. Fortunately, with the right medication, the plague can be treated."

  "Then it's high time we gave them the right medication."

  The communication screen lit up with the face of a feathered alien. It said, "This is a warning to all species approaching Jamaki Four. This planet has been identified as a carrier of the Choroba Plague. If anyone aboard your ship carries the N1CPQ mutation, it is highly advised to avoid contact. Please confirm if you have carriers of the mutation."

  "I'm sending the all-clear." Chetaara tapped keys. "We have clearance to deliver the medication to Govagi City, capital of the nation of Govag, Master."

  Byron held out a hand, feeling like the captain aboard the USS Enterprise. "Make it so."

  Scarlett snorted. "Who are you, Jean-Luc Fucking Picard all of a sudden?"

  He put down his hand. "Just let me have a little fun and do it."

  Scarlett smirked. "Okay, okay."

  The Icarus plunged into the dark clouds over a large brown continent on the planet. When it broke through, it flew over a bleak and dry desert. At the heart of the desert, the Icarus sailed over a broken city. Buildings had shattered windows and streaks of black on them, like they had been through a fire. As his spaceship made its way to a tower with lighted spikes, only one or two other ships came and left in formation.

  The Icarus shuddered as it settled, and Byron unbuckled himself from his seat. "Let's save some lives."

  Scarlett unbuckled herself and hurried over to run her hands down his chest. "You need any help putting on your armor, baby? Or taking it off?"

  Her hand dropped down to rub the bulge in his crotch.

  Chetaara giggled. Even Xana covered her mouth and smiled.

  He felt his face grow hot. "Uh, not right now. I think I can handle it. We have a delivery to make."

  OBJECTIVE: COMPLETE DELIVERY

  REWARD: 100 XP

  Scarlett's full lips dropped into a pout. "Oh, poo. You're no fun."

  He did put his armor on, watching his stats jump up as he got them on. Chetaara put on her armored suit as well. Scarlett said she didn't need armor because of her metal skin.

  When he asked her, Xana shrugged. "I, um, don't like confrontation. I'm fast and I can go invisible, so I tend to stay out of the line of fire."

  She touched her necklace, and the black liquid that formed her body suit peeled off and flowed up into it. He had a wonderful view of her naked body and perky breasts before she vanished.

  He felt soft lips brush against his in a quick kiss.

  Her voice seemed to come from his left as she said, "I'll just follow you."

  "Okay." Byron headed for the airlock as he turned to Scarlett. "You have the cargo?" />
  She patted the gray metal box tucked under one arm. "All present and motherfucking accounted for."

  He tapped the keypad and the airlock swung open.

  A foul smell hit him as the outside air flowed over him. It smelled like trash and rotting flesh. The city outside looked even worse than it had from the air.

  All around the Icarus, small aliens with gray skin and black eyes sat or lay on sidewalks and against walls. They coughed, sneezed, and some threw up. On a corner not far from the landing area, a pile of alien corpses smoldered as men in hazard suits threw more bodies onto it.