by: Ryver
 

Chapter 10
 

I woke up to the sensation of someone sucking on my cock. I looked
down, and saw Alex's black-maned head of hair bobbing up and down on
my shaft. I caught a garbled "mmrfng," as she noticed I was awake.

"Yeah, good morning,"  I responded as I relaxed into the sensation of
Alex slurping my shaft into her willing mouth, rolling her tongue over
the bottom of my cock, and occasionally fondling my balls with her
delicate hands. Occasionally she would hum, causing her whole mouth to
vibrate around my dick, and that finally sent me over the edge,
causing me to cum in her mouth. Good girl that she was, she dutifully
swallowed every drop, then looked up at me with a smile.

"Just a little thank-you for what you did for me."  I nodded, still
basking in my orgasm. Alex got up and walked to the bathroom, turning
on the shower. She turned around and looked at me. "Coming in?"  I
nodded, and slid out of bed naked, following her swaying ass into the
bathroom.

Alex turned on the shower, and stepped into the steamy water, letting
the spray shoot against her, soaking her face and chest immediately.

Once in the shower, I began soaping up Alex's body, paying close
attention to her tits, ass, and pussy. She moaned as I caressed her,
and stroked my cock with her hands full of body lotion, bringing me to
full hardness in moments. I stood behind her, my dick twitching
against her ass, and she pushed herself against me, sliding her ass
onto my cock. She reached around, and guided my cock into her back
door, and with a grunt and a shove, pushed onto me and began pumping
rhythmically on my dick. "Mmmmm. Fuck me in the ass. Uuunnh."  Alex
picked up the pace, and started frigging herself with one hand while
the other supported her against the shower wall. She began to cry out
in ecstasy, and I grunted in pleasure as we came together, my cum
leaking out her ass around my dick as I withdrew, and sprayed the rest
of my load on her ass and lower back.
 

Alex slumped forward, but I reached around and grabbed a tit and her
cunt, and pulled her back against me. I started massaging her tits
with one hand, while I plunged three fingers deep into her cunt and
rubbed her g-spot (about 1.5 inches in, on the front vaginal wall; it
requires a lot of pressure to stimulate it, but it's well worth the
effort). After a few minutes of this kind of attention, Alex let out
an orgasmic scream, and collapsed into me with a deep, satisfied sigh.
"Fuck, Aram. I might just have to steal you from Sarah." She laughed,
but it seemed she was only half-joking.

We rinsed each other off, and stepped out of the shower. I toweled
myself dry, but Alex just put on some pink panties, and looked at me.

"Umm, Aram?  I think I might have a little problem," Alex moaned, as
she began to rub her pussy and play with her hair as she walked into
the bedroom. "I, um... ooh, so good... uh, uh, uh, uh, uh!" she
trailed off as she halted mid-stride, and came to another orgasm. She
collapsed on the bed, still working her fingers in and out of her
juicy pussy. Through her moans and whimpers of lust, she managed to
get her sentence out. "I, uh, uh... might, mmmm, have asked you to
uuh, aah! To make me a little too sensitive-  Oh fuck!  Uhn!  Uhn!
Uhn!  Uhn!  AAAHH!  Ooahhh..." she finished as she collapsed into
another orgasm, looking up at me with a lusty expression. No sooner
had she cum, than she started tweaking and tugging at her nipples
while plunging her fingers deep into her slick, juicy cunt again.

I nodded, and since my balls were already feeling fine because of all
the fucking we'd just done, I walked back into my bedroom, and opened
Master PC, entering Alex's name. I typed, "Though you will retain all
of your sensitivity to pleasure, you will be able to focus and
function normally whenever you want to. Right now, you will have an
intense orgasm, and feel sexually satisfied for the rest of the day.
After you orgasm, you will fall asleep and wake up refreshed, once
your body is fully rested from your earlier activities."  I clicked
send, and heard Alex's signature guttural scream of ecstasy as she
came hard in the other room.

I leaned back in my chair, still naked, and reflected that things were
going pretty well, right now. That should have been my first
indication that something was about to happen to make my life more
difficult.
 
 

Chapter 11

Sarah was gone to a weekend business conference (she worked as a sales
rep. for a popular retail store, and since she was lower-management,
she was invited to the event). As a result, I had the apartment to
myself for a few more days. Alex was apparently working this weekend,
so I decided to hang out downtown, and cruise the mall. Yeah, it's not
the coolest guy-thing to do, but in my defense, there were some good
locally owned gaming shops. So sue me for liking PC platform games.
Some people meditate, I game.

I decided to take the bus, since teleporting everywhere all the time
could get suspicious after a while if I wasn't careful. I dropped the
change in the box at the front, and took an empty seat. There were
probably only half a dozen people on board right then. A few seconds
later, a Goth teenaged kid walks on, sits down across the aisle from
me, extends his hand for a handshake, and says, "Hi, my names Jack.
Where you headed?"

"Well, just headed to the mall to check out some games. How about
you?" I answer as I shake his hand.

"Oh, my mom wants me to pick up some things from JC Penny's for her.
She said it would be good for me to get out of the house," he winced
as he mentioned JC Penny's. Apparently it wasn't a place he felt his
image would be improved by visiting.

"Well, sometimes that stuff happens. Don't worry, once you're on your
own, you'll have different things pop up. Your girlfriend will ask you
to pick stuff up from stores like that."  He laughed.

"No way, man. Not my lady. She's too pure to visit even a Hot Topic."

"Ahh, well, there you go," I said, laughing and shrugging my
shoulders. "By the way, my name's Aram. So, any good raves going on
this weekend?"  I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well, there's one down in South Central. I hear Moby might even show
for it. Of course, people said he might be at the last one, but ..."
He shrugged and smiled. "No dice there, I guess."

The bus made another stop, and some big biker-types got on, looking
pissed. Each one looked about six and a half feet tall, and looked to
weigh about 300 lbs. Top that off with the malicious expressions, the
reek of booze, and the spikes on their jackets, and it didn't look
encouraging. They stopped at our row, which coincidentally was behind
three empty ones, and looked at Jack and me.

"What the fuck you doin' in my row?"  the big guy spat out between the
two-tooth gap in his top row of teeth. The bus driver looked back
briefly, but apparently decided against getting involved. At least he
didn't start the bus, though. The two guys behind Mr. Charming were
standing there, looking unpleasant. "I said, git the fuck up!"  he
raged, and grabbed Jack by the shoulder, pulling him out of the chair
and shoving him hard him down the aisle. This pissed me off. After
all, Jack seemed like a decent kid.

The lead biker looked at me and reached for me, when I got up and
punched him in the nose, causing a crunching sound accompanied by the
big guy in front being knocked back into his buddies. I gave them a
steely look, and said, "Let's take this outside."  I stepped into the
aisle, and looked over my shoulder to make sure Jack was all right.
Unfortunately, he was cradling his left arm, which if I were to judge
by the expression on his face combined with the weird slant of the
wrist, looked broken.

The guy with the broken nose whipped out a knife, and slashed at me,
cutting my t-shirt before I caught his wrist and slammed it against a
vertical pole in the bus, causing the knife to fall to the aisle
floor. "I said, outside, meat head."  But this apparently pissed these
guys off even more, and one of the guys quickly took out a snub-nosed
revolver, and shot me three times in the shoulder and upper chest,
knocking me back a few feet. I couldn't help but think, "DAMN, that
hurts!" even as I felt my healing ability stitching me back together.
Through a red haze clouding my vision, I used the Field to rip the gun
from the biker's hand, and to push them all down on top of one
another. After that, I used the Field to push them out of the vehicle,
and drop them unceremoniously on the sidewalk.

I looked at the driver as I walked out, not thinking about my
injuries, and stepped out of the bus. When I got out, I used the Field
to pick the bikers up in a whirlwind of force, and hurl them into the
alley next to the bar which it looked like they'd just come out of. I
left them there, clumsily struggling to orient themselves while on
their backs. Turning around, I got back on the bus and walked down the
aisle to check on Jack, who had moved back into the seat, and was
applying pressure to his upper arm. A middle-aged woman had moved
beside him, and she apparently had some nursing experience, because
she looked like she was trying to reset the bones.

I leaned towards them from the aisle, and said simply, "Here, let me."
The lady stared at me, seemingly feeling protective of her new charge,
but then leaned back and nodded. I smiled, trying to convey
compassion, and then extended my hand towards Jack's broken arm. I
placed my hand on his arm, and extended my healing ability to him, at
which point his arm began to mend itself. Once it was back to normal,
he flexed his hand, then looked at me with astonishment. Then he
looked at the woman next to him. "I thought you said it was broken?"

She just stared at his arm, and felt for the fracture she remembered
seeing. "It was. I don't understand how-" then she looked at me. "Who
are you?"

"Just someone who doesn't approve of bullies," I said as I sat down in
the aisle across from them. Jack looked over the woman at me.

"But I saw them shoot you. Three times, and-"  but the woman shushed
him.

"Maybe that's what you thought you saw."  She stared at him, hard, and
Jack nodded.

"Right," he said, catching on. "But you better get a new shirt," he
said, pointing to my bloodied, decimated upper half of my T-shirt. I
looked down, and shimmered (dematerialized, then materialized) out and
back with a new shirt. Jack just looked at me. "Wow. I bet you save
shitloads of money on your laundry bill."

"Sorry about the scuffle."

The bus driver spoke up suddenly. "Damn glad you did scuffle, son.
Those wanks were nothin' but trouble. They been a thorn in my ass for
two weeks now," he said, tipping his hat in the mirror with a smile. I
realized my cover could be blown by this incident, but somehow I felt
all right with that, I thought to myself. I guess I didn't really
expect to stay hidden forever.
 
 

Chapter 12

It was after dark, clock read as 11:30pm, and I was out of milk when I
looked in the fridge. "Damn. Guess I'll have to go to the store."  I
threw on some shorts, a t-shirt and some sandals, and grabbed my
wallet and my apartment key before I left. I looked in on Alex, too,
and saw she was sound asleep. "I guess I just recover faster than I
used to," I mused to myself as I left the apartment and walked to the
street.

I was probably a block and a half from the 711 when I heard a car
squeal around the corner a few blocks down the road, and shoot down
the street towards me. It was a black SUV, and looked well-taken-care-
of. I could only guess as to whose it was, but that point quickly
became moot as it started barreling right at me at what must have been
over 60mph. I stepped out of its path, but it adjusted course to run
me down, flashing its brights at me. One of the windows rolled down
and an arm holding a gun came out the side. I heard the cry, "There he
is!  Take him down!  Go!  Go!  Go!"  A few blasts were fired off at
me, but I used the Field to stop the bullets from harming me. I then
slowed the car down from whatever it was zooming along at to a much
more reasonable 5 miles an hour, at which point the guys inside jumped
out, guns drawn, and rushed at me, shooting as they ran. Then I used
the Field to rip their guns from their hands, and tossed the weapons
on top of a nearby building. One guy took out a handgun while I was
doing this, and shot me, causing me to stagger before my healing
ability began to fix me.

Another guy had whipped out another type of gun, and fired a round at
me. Except, this wasn't a regular gun. It was apparently some kind of
electric disruption weapon. Feeling stupid, I realized I should have
thought of situations like this, when I suddenly felt myself collapse
from the sudden pain in my chest, and black out. All I could think as
I lost consciousness was, "I just wanted to buy some damned milk."
 
 

Chapter 13

I woke up strapped, spread-eagle, to an examination table with a
breathing apparatus attached to my face. As soon as the people moving
around in the room noticed I was conscious, they adjusted some dials
on a nearby machine. I heard one of them mutter something in a
distorted voice like, "Damn, takes a lot to keep him sedated," before
I slipped out of consciousness.

When I woke up again, I was completely disoriented. I was in a dark
room, lying on what felt like a normal bed, except I was restrained.
My body felt all wrong; it shifted in weird ways, and I could only
guess what kind of sick experiments these people had performed on me.
However, beside the fact that it was dark, I was covered from the neck
down in what felt like a thick blanket. As these thoughts were racing
through my head, the lights came on, and the door opened, admitting
two people through the threshold and into the room. Both were wearing
white lab coats. One was carrying a clipboard, and looked like an
assistant. She was a hot blonde with nice mounds under her lab coat,
and sexy legs. The guy looked like he was 70, and had a drawn, gaunt
face, like he'd seen combat and battle-wounded, and it hadn't fazed
him one bit. He smiled when he saw I was awake.
 

"Good, you're still with us. I wondered if you'd make it there, for a
while."  He sat in a chair next to the bed and motioned to his
assistant for the clipboard. "Well, your case is very interesting.
Your body took longer than normal to respond to the procedure, but
once we altered it a bit to fit your remarkably unique physiology..."
he trailed off as he looked closer at an item on the clipboard. "Ah,
yes. That's right. Your name is... Aram."  He chuckled. "Well, I
suppose you're wondering what this is all about."  He reclined in the
chair, handing the clipboard back to his assistant, who took the seat
next to the 'doctor.'

He looked at me in the eyes for a moment, and then continued. "We're
experimenting with biological agents at this facility. Not that you
need to know, but there it is. You're here because some constituents
of this firm have deemed you dangerous to their interests, and
realized that you would be well suited to our latest studies. And
indeed, you have been. You see, we're experimenting with remapping the
human genome, or 'altering DNA,' if you prefer. You provided us with
both a unique challenge and a certain measure of medical leeway,
taking your 'healing ability' into account. I must say, it's been a
remarkable experience working on you."  He motioned to his assistant,
who approached the bed, and pulled the sheets down to my waist. I was
shocked when I saw what they'd done, even as I noticed a new sensation
in my groin and my chest as I saw the assistant stripping out of her
uniform.

I looked like a woman, complete with tits and a shaved pussy. The
assistant undid my restraints, and began to knead and caress my new
breasts as the doctor continued his speech. "You see, we were actually
quite successful in the procedure, despite the setbacks. You'll notice
that Kendra's ... administrations ... feel just as they should,
perhaps even more intense than normal. That's a feature I'm
particularly happy with, as it was one of my innovations with nerve-
cell research."  I moaned as Kendra began to lap at my new cunt,
causing my juices to start flowing, and my nipples to tingle with
pleasure.

"Research indicates that if you experience pleasure in your new body
early on, you're more likely to adapt well to it. And since we are
concerned about our patients' well-being, certain moments
notwithstanding, I'll leave you two together to get acquainted with
your new body. I hope you enjoy it. You're stuck with it for the rest
of your life, since there's no reversal therapy as of yet."  The
doctor rose from his seat and left the room, with a satisfied smirk on
his angular face. I heard the latch lock after he stepped outside, but
I was too lost in the sensations Kendra was eliciting from her oral
stimulation of my clitoris to really care. I decided to let this event
play out to see where it took me.

I couldn't help but think how amazing this felt. Despite the fact that
I'd been taken against my will, I had to admit I was actually enjoying
myself, if my moans of lust were any indication. I couldn't help but
moan in ecstasy as Kendra shoved her fingers up my snatch, and began
to massage my g-spot while she kept licking my clit. This sent me over
the edge, and I came hard.

But the orgasm was different; it was stronger, and washed through my
entire body, making me feel like I was glowing with sexual pleasure.
It was amazing, and damn it, I wanted more. After a moment, I pulled
Kendra up against me and kissed her long and deep, savoring the
sensation of our tongues licking each other.
I noticed an empty feeling deep in my cunt, something that wanted to
be filled by something thick and hard.

Kendra apparently noticed this, since my pussy muscles were
contracting around her fingers, and she got up and removed what looked
like a strap-on dildo from a cabinet. She put it on, never breaking
eye contact with me, and walked back to the bed, lifting me out of it
by the hand. She guided me over to the wall, and teased my nipples
with her tongue before turning me around to face the wall. She gently
guided the strap-on dildo to my aching pussy, and with a quick thrust,
shoved it in to the hilt.

She began pumping in and out at a steady pace, pinching and pulling on
my nipples, occasionally flicking the tips, as she fucked me from
behind. With each thrust deep into my pussy, I could feel my orgasm
building. "See, it can feel good if you let it," she breathed into my
ear as she nibbled on my neck, her dildo thrusting in and out of my
sopping cunt. I gasped, moaned and whimpered in pleasure as I felt the
stiff rod plunging in and out of my tight depths. I couldn't help but
push back against her increasingly forceful thrusts, as she kept me on
the edge of orgasm by kneading my breasts, and sucking on my neck and
ears.

I could feel myself close to exploding, but Kendra kept me from
reaching orgasm by slowing down, and easing off my aching nipples just
enough to keep me riding on the edge. "Uhn!  Uhn!" I gasped as I
reached around behind her ass, and pulled her closer, urging her to
speed up the pace.

"What's the matter, honey?  Having trouble cumming?"  she whispered
seductively as she tweaked my nipple with her thumb and index finger,
sucking gently on my ear. She reached around, and slid her smooth hand
down to my clit, where she began to tease my nub with a gentle rubbing
motion. She resumed her more forceful thrusting, until I felt my
orgasm hit me with the force of a runaway train. I screamed in
pleasure as the orgasm ripped through my body with wave after wave of
pleasure. I guess this set Kendra off, because she started moaning in
orgasm, too, having increased her thrusts to a hard, furious speed. I
felt her shudder when her orgasm hit her, as she squeezed my tits.
That gave me another mini-orgasm, sending a shiver of bliss through my
body.

As we lay down on the bed, cuddling in post-coital satisfaction, she
leaned over and whispered to me, "You know, I was like you used to be,
once. The corporation changed me, too."  She gestured briefly to her
breasts, face and pussy.

"What do you mean you used to be like me?"  I asked, wondering if she
used to be a Master PC user.

"You know, just a young meta-human with no real direction in life.
Cool healing factor, by the way," she grinned. "You know, someone no
one would miss. So they snagged me up, and used me for their little
experiments. Took away my manhood."  She sighed, and brushed a strand
of blonde hair out of her face. "You know, Doctor Zane is working for
some very powerful people. You'll find that just doing what they want
will make your life a lot better."  I nodded, trying to pretend I was
afraid of these people. In fact, the only reason I hadn't
dematerialized or teleported out of here yet was because the sex had
been so good, not because of being 'trapped' as everyone here seemed
to think I was.

However, I decided I needed to find out who these people were, and to
shut them down, if possible. After all, even though I could change
back and go home, that would only cause these wackos to take this to
the next level. They might start doing things to my friends and/or
family. I tried to put some fear into my voice; just a touch, enough
to make Kendra think it was genuine. "Wh-who are they?"

She looked at me softly with her big, blue eyes. "You've probably
never heard of 'em. They do big contracts; like military stuff, and
things like that. Call themselves Belltech. Mostly legitimate, but
with a few 'fringe' projects, like this one." She purred as she traced
a circle on my nipple. "Of course, the guys in charge are always
looking for a foot up on the competition, and I guess they figure this
genome-remapping project could give them a sort of ax to hold over
people's heads."

"So they're planning to blackmail people?"

Kendra laughed. "Well, duh!  Of course. How would you like it if you
were some big business tycoon, or a senator, and you knew these guys
could turn you and your family into sex-crazed bimbos?"  She laughed
as she gave my breasts a squeeze, causing me to moan in pleasure
against my better judgment. "Because make no mistake, that's what we
are now, to them," she said with a touch of regret in her voice.

"Do you like being this way?" I prodded.

She looked at me with a quirky expression, biting gently on her lower
lip for a while in thought. "Well, I don't guess that really matters.
I'm stuck like this, just like you are. You heard the doctor, and he
wasn't kidding. I've been like this for a few months, and I know now
that there's no way to go back, short of a miracle. And lately, God
hasn't been listening, if you know what I mean."  She looked down, and
looked like she was about to cry or something. "Damn, I hate these
female emotions," she whimpered.

"What do you mean?  Did you used to be a guy?"

"Isn't it obvious?  How many women do you know that like sex this
much?" she asked. I refrained from telling her about my girlfriend,
and just nodded consolingly, reaching out and drawing her into a hug.
She cried into my breasts, and we lay there for a while until we fell
asleep. Before I drifted off, I decided that this Belltech corporation
was going to experience some unpleasant changes, and soon. Dwelling on
that, I let myself drift into a deep sleep.
 
 

Chapter 14

When I woke up, I decided I needed a new residence, since my current
one apparently had "If you're powerful, please harass me," emblazoned
in big, bold letters all over it. I looked over at Kendra, still
asleep, and quietly got out of the bed. Out of curiosity, I stealthily
tried opening the door. It was still locked. "Figures."  I turned
around and headed into the bathroom attached to the room, and looked
in the vanity mirror. "Well, at least whoever did this has good taste
in women. After some thought, I decided that someone on the bus had
probably said something to someone, and been taken seriously. Or maybe
the bikers had said something, although I'd think that the alcohol on
their breath would diminish their credibility somewhat.

First though, I needed to know how long I'd been under the scalpel, so
to speak. I had no idea how long the process I'd been put through had
taken. So, scanning the bathroom for video cameras and sensors, and
finding none, I locked the door, and shimmered into my real body, in
normal clothes, to an alley behind a 711. I walked to the newspaper
machine and looked at the date. "Shit. A full week's gone by," I
muttered, mad as hell, but somewhat relieved it hadn't been much
longer, which it easily could have been. I reached out with the field
and felt that my city ships had been complete for almost a day and a
half, now. "Well, at least that's going along like it's supposed to,"
I muttered to myself, thankful for small favors.

I reached out with the Field and teleported two of my three city ships
into orbit around Venus, and let them gradually work their ways into
the lower atmosphere. I didn't want to cause any massive disruptions
in the atmosphere by the sudden appearance of two saucer-like
structures, which were each 33 miles in diameter and 5 miles deep. Due
to their streamlined designs, this only took several minutes.

I realized that I needed a corporate platform to connect the
technology I'd invented and implemented on Venus with the average
world citizen. However, even then, I'd have to be selective about who
was permitted passes into the cities. I decided I wanted creative, and
educated people. Nonetheless, I decided that a hostile takeover of
Belltech would fit the bill, so to speak. So, instead of going back to
where the creeps from Belltech had locked me up (hehe), I shimmered to
my room, and started up my Master PC.

I entered a query in the special text box. "Is there a way to find out
who is in charge of the Belltech corporation?"  I clicked send, and an
answer immediately appeared in a dialogue box which popped up next to
the special text box.

"YES. THE CURRENT LIST OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS AS FOLLOWS:

CEO AND DIRECTOR OF THE BOARD:  JAMES WILFORD HARRISON
BOARD MEMBER:                   DONALD CLARK REAVER
BOARD MEMBER:                   THOMAS WILEY O-SHEA
BOARD MEMBER:                   GEORGE JOSHUA KROGER
BOARD MEMBER:                   SAMUEL FRANCIS WORTHINGTON
BOARD MEMBER:                   NORMAN WILLIAM HENNISON
BOARD MEMBER:                   JACOB ABRAHAM ROTHSCHILD
BOARD MEMBER:                   RICHARD RYAN VANDERBILT
BOARD MEMBER:                   DRAKE PERCIVAL PORTER

IN ADDITION, THERE IS ONE MEMBER WHO INFLUENCES ALL THE BOARD,
INCLUDING THE DIRECTOR OF THE BOARD:

DIANNE REBECCA FORD HARRISON"

I sat back and looked at the list. I typed in another query. "Are any
of these people Master PC users?  Do any of these people have Master
PC users using the Master PC program for them?"  The answer came up
quickly.

"YES. DIANNE REBECCA FORD HARRISON IS A MASTER PC USER. SHE IS
CURRENTLY USING VERSION 1.5. THERE ARE NO OTHER MASTER PC USERS
AFFILIATED WITH ANY OF THESE PEOPLE."  I smiled to myself, and hit a
few more keys.

"Can I override Dianne Rebecca Ford Harrison's commands?"  I clicked
send, and waited for the response, which came quickly.

"YES. THIS VERSION OF MASTER PC IS ABLE TO OVERRIDE COMMANDS FROM
OLDER VERSIONS OF THE MASTER PC PROGRAM."  I almost laughed out loud
when I read this.

"Sweet!" I thought to myself as I began typing again. I brought up a
new file, and typed in "Dianne Rebecca Ford Harrison."  When her image
came up, I gave a whistle. She was hot. She looked to be in her mid-
20s, and had a body that a supermodel would be envious of. I assumed
she'd used the Master PC to 'upgrade' herself a bit. "Well, let's have
a little fun, shall we?"  I said as I began furiously typing changes
into her profile.
 
 

Chapter 15

Dianne Harrison was afraid as she felt herself walking into Belltech's
main office building in Bethesda, Maryland. She cringed inwardly as
she felt herself flash a dazzling smile at the receptionist, and
continue up to the board room, where a sensitive meeting was in
session. She brushed past security, who all nodded with a smile as she
passed, and threw the doors open to the board room. With one look at
her husband, a fit 50-something leading business executive-type, the
meeting was adjourned, and he was following Dianne back to his office,
where he closed and locked the door behind them as they entered. If
she had control of her body, Dianne would have shuddered at what she
heard herself say.

"Jim, we need to get rid of this company and its assets. It's become
too much of a burden. Effective today, I want you to sign over your
share of the stock to a buyer who has recently contacted me."
 

"Yes, mistress," James replied as he bowed his head to 'her' demands.
"I'll have Jacob take care of it this afternoon."

"No, you'll have Jacob take care of it NOW," she replied, terrified of
what was causing her to do this. Could there be another person who had
found the same program she had?  It was the only explanation.

"Yes, mistress."  James pressed the intercom, and told his secretary
to send for Jacob Rothschild immediately. He told her it was an
emergency. In less than a minute, Mr. Rothschild was at the door, and
was admitted inside. "Jake, we're signing our interests over to a big
buyer today. Get everything ready. What's the name of our buyer, and
what are the terms?" asked James.

"Startech Incorporated. Their rep's bringing copies of the terms to
sign. We just need to procure the title of ownership." Dianne
answered. Earlier in the day, I'd created an incorporated business
entity for this transaction. "We need this done now."  If Dianne had
been able to speak of her own volition, she'd be screaming now.

"Jim, this is highly unorthodox, you know," Mr. Rothschild said with
concern. "Are you in some kind of crisis that I should know about?
Will you be signing under duress?"  Jim laughed and shook his head no,
which seemed to pacify Mr. Rothschild. "Well, if you're sure. But you
know the board would have appreciated being advised of such a
monumental development."

"Thanks Jake, but I know what I'm doing," replied Mr. Harrison with a
genuine-sounding laugh.

"Very well, then. I'll begin arranging everything."  Mr. Rothschild
nodded and left to get everything processed. After all, things had
been crazy at Belltech ever since Dianne Harrison had shown up and
basically taken over. Maybe new ownership would breathe some of the
life back into the company, mused Jacob.

After five minutes had passed, Mr. Rothschild was back, and the rest
of the board members had come with him to find out what was going on,
concerned that they were on the way out once the merger-acquisition
was signed. James looked confused. "Where's the Startech
representative?"  he asked.

Several minutes earlier I had walked in through the front door in a
new body that I decided I would use as the Startech official
representative body. Slight, unassuming, and middle-aged looking, I
was in a black suit, with a starched white collar shirt and black silk
tie. I was wearing expensive shoes, and had brought a black leather
attaché. As the receptionist had received instructions about the
arrival of a Startech official representative, she handed me a
security pass, and had a public relations official walk me upstairs to
the main office.

When I arrived, everyone was looking at me expectantly. I strode into
Mr. Harrison's office with a smile and an outstretched hand. "Good to
meet you, Mr. Harrison. I'm with the Startech Corporation. Are you as
excited about the merger as we are over at Startech?" I asked, looking
at Dianne Harrison, who for all intents and purposes looked completely
relaxed and natural, just as I had instructed her to do earlier on the
Master PC.

"Well, it is a bit sudden, but yes I am," Mr. Harrison replied as he
welcomed me into the office, where all the papers were lain out for me
to sign. I walked in, took the forms I'd brought out of my attaché,
and set them on the table. Mr. Rothschild procured a beautiful onyx
stylus pen to use for the signings.

"Now, as a practicing attorney in the state of Maryland, I will
witness these proceedings," Mr. Rothschild announced professionally,
as I took the pen, and signed first my copy of the terms, then the
bank's copy of the terms, and finally the old owner's copy of the
terms. Summarily, Mr. Harrison signed all the copies, followed by Mr.
Rothschild. Then came the signings of the title, and I retrieved the
original for future deposit into a safe deposit box at a very secure
location; an impregnable vault in my private chambers in my city ship,
which was still sitting in the Snickers galaxy. I imagined even the
best thief in the world would have trouble sneaking it out of that
location.

The board of directors had mixed expressions on their faces, ranging
from complete disbelief to suppressed concern. I smiled as I shook
hands with Mr. Harrison and Mr. Rothschild, then put my copies of the
papers in my attaché and walked out with a big smile on my face. "So
that's what it feels like to fuck the system," I mused as I exited the
building and got into the limo I'd rented for a few hundred dollars at
the airport.

Once I was back at the airport, I shimmered to Venus and stored the
title and other paperwork in a safe deposit box in my private
chambers. Curious how the city looked, I stepped outside onto my ring
balcony, and was awestruck by the beauty of it. It was everything I'd
envisioned, and more, since actually seeing it was by far more
beautiful than simply designing it.

From my balcony, I could see the gleaming city spread out around me in
a perfect circle, which was in turn surrounded by lush forest and
verdant pastures, and then a ring of water, complete with waves. And
then, the retaining wall, which was a rainbow of color, like you see
in oyster shells. "And two of these are already on Venus," I remarked
to myself with a thoroughly satisfied sigh. Each city ship had the
ability to comfortably house around 50 million people, considering
that the city extended beneath the surface of the structure for many
levels.

With an unnecessary flourish, I shimmered back to my apartment, and
used the Field to move all of my belongings (particularly my computer)
to my city ship in the Snickers Galaxy. "Well, I guess this is home
from now on. And to think that I don't even have to pay rent anymore!"
 
 

Chapter 16

Back in Maryland, Dianne Harrison was just about to go mad, when all
of a sudden she felt a new sense of peace wash through her. All of a
sudden, she felt an intense loyalty to Startech, and to whoever owned
it. "James, just out of curiosity, what were the terms we signed on?"
she asked her husband after everyone else had left.

"Well, let's see. We agreed to transfer slush funds into two private
accounts; one in the Bank of Geneva, Switzerland, and one to the
Cayman Islands, in an amount of 5 percent of our net annual earnings
per account. And considering we're a 76 billion dollar company with
half of our gross earnings going to utility expenses per year, that
comes out to, what, oh, $1.9 billion per account per year, for a total
of $3.8 billion per year. A pretty hefty amount, really. Particularly
if you consider that this last year is to be paid retroactively, so
the slush funds have immediate resources of $3.8 billion as of this
afternoon at 5pm. It stipulated that we'd have to undergo some
corporate restructuring, to take place over the course of this fiscal
year. Oh, and on top of that, the new owner gets a hefty salary of
about $5 billion per annum, again last year's salary to be paid
retroactively."  He rattled this off like it was no big deal. "I guess
that means some of the board members will be taking pay cuts, unless
we start making a lot more money."

Dianne was silent for quite a while, but strangely found that she was
not upset (again, I'd programmed that response into her, since I
didn't want a threat to rear its head at some point in the future).
But James continued, "However, I retain my current role as a board
member, and I'm to preside as the fill-in CEO and Director of the
Board, except when Startech management decides to intervene.
Obviously, since they control the majority of the shares, they control
the vote on everything we do."  James shrugged. He was so used to
being controlled by Dianne at this point, that he was completely fine
with this arrangement.

Then, as the last command I'd programmed for Dianne, she closed the
doors, then sunk to her knees and gave her husband the best blowjob he
had experienced in the last five years since they'd been married.
 
 

Chapter 17

As I sat in my apartment that afternoon, drinking a bottle of $7
merlot to privately celebrate my easy victory over the company that
had tried to make me its property, I decided I would invest in some
real estate. So, I did an internet search for a reputable real estate
company which dealt in large-acreage properties. I got a young lady
with a smooth voice on the line.

"Hello, Tyburn Real Estate Office, Fiona speaking. How can I help
you?"

"Hello," I replied. "I'm interested in purchasing some property near a
large city to build a house on. But it needs to be a big piece of
land, because I value my privacy. Do you think your company would be
able to help me?"

"Certainly, sir!  Just let us know how much acreage you're looking
for, and a general vicinity of where you want it, and I'll contact one
of our agents immediately with the request."  She sounded like she was
smiling pleasantly as she said this.

"Great. I'm looking for at least a square mile of land, and I'd like
it to be near either Denver or St. Louis. Preferably something
elevated; you know, not in a flood plain or anything."

"Certainly, sir. And can I get your name and phone number?"  I gave it
to her, and she assured me that one of the company's agents would look
into it immediately. I was impressed when I got a call back in 30
minutes. I picked up the phone, and heard a velvety alto on the other
end of the line.

"Mr. Von Rhein?  Hello, my name's Gina, and I'm with Tyburn Real
Estate. I believe I've found a few properties that might be of
interest to you."  She lightly cleared her throat, and continued. "If
you have an email address, I can send you some photos and specs. Also,
if you see anything you like, we can meet and do a showing of any of
the properties you'd like to see."

"Thanks, Gina. That'd be great. Yeah, you can email those to me."  I
gave her my email address. "I'll look the pictures over, and get back
to you."  After we exchanged the usual parting pleasantries and hung
up, I checked my email account, and found the file she'd attached to
her email. I opened it and looked at the jpegs of the properties. The
one that jumped out at me was one set back a ways from I-70 in the
mountains, near Denver, Colorado. Basically it was a 12 square mile
piece of land, which composed the entirety of a valley, the
surrounding mountainsides (up to the top, and slightly over the edge
onto the other sides, and two narrow passes with one having a road
leading in from I-70. Also, there were two natural springs in the
area, with a waterfall from one, leading into a river that left via
the pass opposite the one leading to the main road. It had all the
space I needed, and it was easily accessible, since all the land
connecting to I-70 was part of the property. I got back on the phone
and contacted Gina.

"Hi, Gina, I believe I've found what I'm looking for. The Spring
Valley property looks just right. I'd like to look at it in person,
though."

"Great!" she beamed over the phone. "When can you be here?"

"How about in 15 to 30 minutes?"  I asked.

"Uh, how about 30?  I can have everything ready by then."

"Great, I'll see you then," I said as I hung up.

I surfed the net for a while, then shimmered to an alley near Gina's
office building in Denver. I walked in, introduced myself to the
receptionist, and was given a chair and some banal reading material
about cars and fishing to occupy my time. Luckily, Gina was out in the
front, carrying her purse and briefcase, in less than a minute.

"Well, you must live close by!" she smiled as we walked outside. "You
wanna drive, or you want me to?" she asked, putting a hand on her
purse.

"We should probably take your car. You know where you're going."  She
smiled, nodded, and unlocked a nearby Honda. Once we were in, and
she'd pulled out of the parking lot onto the main road, she looked
over and gestured at the mountains to the West.

"The property's very near Denver, just over the first rise, and a
little bit north, there," she said, pointing. "It should only take 20
minutes to get there from here. We pulled off of I-70 at a small,
paved road with a cattle grate on it. "Used to be a ranch," she
explained as we drove in. "Now it's only paved until the barn. After
that, there's a dirt road that continues in a ways."  Her car handled
the incline of the road really well as we drove through the narrow
pass at the south side of the property, and came over the rise.

The valley was breathtakingly charming, complete with a beautiful mix
of trees dotting the valley and hillsides. There was a forested area
deeper into the valley, and a more tree-speckled area toward the
front. In the middle was an open, elevated area where the barn was
standing. It was an old, dilapidated yellow barn, obviously unused for
quite some time. It would need to come down, probably. I looked over
at Gina and grinned.

"I'll take it," I said.

"Um, okay. We haven't discussed price. The owner's asking for 20 mil,
since it's so close to Denver, and the views will never be compromised
by developers building along the ridge line. Also-"

"I'll take it," I interrupted. "That figure's fine. Do you take checks
or money orders?"  She was staggered, apparently.

"Uh, well, of course. I brought the paperwork with me."  Apparently
she wasn't expecting to need it, but it's a good thing she was
prepared. She procured the documents, and I signed everything, writing
her a check at the end of the process. Her face was beaming, and she
shook my hand afterwards, maybe a little too vigorously, but I can't
really blame her. When I left her office, I could swear I heard
somebody whooping and yelling in a very happy-sounding manner.
 
 

Chapter 18

The rest of the money, of course, was to be used for funding private
projects, including mass production of new technologies I intended to
introduce to the world market over the next year. This would truly be
a unique era for humanity, if everything went according to plan. I had
decided that I would use the StarBell Corporation (the new
conglomerate name of the company) to build portals, holodecks and food
replication devices for people on earth. Those three things would set
the groundwork for interstellar travel and exploration, which is
eventually what I wanted to nurture in our society.

I shimmered home, and gave Sarah a call on her cel phone. She answered
in a panic. "I thought you were dead or something!  Goddamit!  Why
didn't you call me back this week?!  I was worried sick about you!  So
was Alex!" I heard her scream at me through the phone.

"Sarah, let me explain. I was attacked and detained by a group of
people. Where are you?"

"I'm at Alex's place. Why?"

"Just a second," I answered as I hung up and shimmered over there as
myself.

"What the hell are you-?!" she was yelling into her cel phone as I
appeared right next to her. "Oh. Hi."  She looked a little surprised.
"That's a neat trick. How'd you get stuck somewhere for a week if you
can do shit like that?"

"That's a reasonable question. I was kept unconscious most of the
time."

"Oh. Well, I'm just glad you're okay," she said, bursting into tears
and grabbing me in a tight embrace as she bawled onto my shoulder.

"Shh. Shh, it's okay. I'm back now, and those people won't be
bothering me again."  She looked at me with genuine concern.

"Who was it?  How can you be sure?" she asked, with tears in her eyes.

"I bought the company."  She gave me a confused look. "Well, kind of.
They signed it over to me today."

"What did you pay them with?  You don't have any money," she asked as
she leaned back from me a little.

"Well, I didn't have any money," I said with a laugh. "But I gave them
something that will make them a lot of money; new technology."

"Like what?"

"Teleportation stuff, interactive holograms, things like that."

"Oh," she said, her eyes going wide. "I didn't know you could build
that kind of stuff."  She wiped her eyes with the back of her right
hand, then put it back on my arm.

"That's just the beginning, hon. I've had a busy week. Oh, and I've
contacted an architectural firm about constructing a new house for
us." I said with a grin.

"Where?"

"I'm looking at some property on the Western Coast tomorrow. However,
there's another house that's already been built. Well, actually it's
more like a city, and it's on Venus, by the way," I said with a grin.

"Huh?  Are you crazy?  How the hell could you build anything on
Venus?"  She looked at me and shook her head. I just smiled
enigmatically.

"I could show you," I said as I shimmered both of us to the balcony
outside my private chambers at the top of the tallest building in the
city; the center of Venusian government. Sarah screamed when we first
got there, then calmed down when she realized we weren't going to die.

"Shouldn't it be windier up this high?" she asked.

"I've got atmospheric controls set to prevent problems like that," I
calmly replied as Sarah started walking toward the railing and looked
out across the structure, and beyond, through the rain clouds and onto
the lush surface of Venus.

"Holy shit, how'd you do all this?" she turned around with a
dumbstruck expression on her face.

"Well, it took more than a week," I said, spreading my hands
innocently. "However, I can modify the technologies used here for
earth, and clean up things like nuclear waste, and oil slicks," I
snapped my fingers, " like that. And then there's the controlled
fusion reactors that-"

"Controlled fusion?  As in, cold fusion, as in the thing that no one's
been able to figure out how to make work for over fifty years?"

"The one and only, except I optimized it and added safety features so
I can use it not only at its primary source, but also as a relay
source of energy. But that's also tied in with the teleportation
technology that I-"

Sarah put her fingers on my mouth. "Shut up. I don't understand what
you're talking about, but this is beautiful. We should charge rent."

"Well, I did say I was going into real estate development."  Sarah
snorted at this.

"Whatever. And how did you teleport us?  I didn't see any machine?"

"Well," I answered, "that's actually something that I built before the
rest of this. I made something that acts kind of like the Force in
Star Wars, but with a few differences."  Luckily Sarah was kind of a
Star Wars buff, so could relate to this explanation.

"Different how?"

"Well, we can teleport, for starters, and I can teleport large masses
through space pretty easily, too. And," I said as I started floating
off the ground, eliciting a shocked gasp from Sarah, "it's got a few
other applications which are pretty cool."

"Sweet!"  She got a gleam in her eyes. "You know, you should build a
lightsaber."  I laughed and shook my head.

"An energy sword?  Sorry, but the physics just wouldn't work very
well. I mean, have you ever wondered why those things don't just go
right through each other?  If they were actual energy swords, and not
colored sticks brushed over during the film development process,
they'd either explode, or pass right through one another. Cool idea,
but impossible to implement."  I shrugged my shoulders.

"Dammit," griped Sarah. "They kick ass, though."

"Yeah, it sucks, but you can't really argue with physics and expect to
win very often. I guess I could make blasters, but I'd rather stay
away from weapon development. There's really no good reason to have
them, in my opinion."

"Yeah, I guess they're only used for violence. After all, that's what
they're designed for, huh?"  I nodded with a resigned grin as I walked
up to the railing at the edge of the balcony.

"Besides, there's tons of stuff to create that doesn't hurt anyone.
Like this, for example," I gestured at everything beneath us."  Sarah
stood there with me leaning on the railing, and shook her head as she
put her arm around my waist as she looked at the sun setting on Venus.

"Damn, Aram. Damn."