; ; Mick peered around the cluttered, strip-lit electronics lab while he ; undressed efficiently and smugly. He'd replied to her emailed request ; for volunteers as a response to the ribbing by his drinking chums from ; the University Rugby Club: He'd once confided to them that he thought ; he could have made a good male stripper. He looked the part: a ; virtually hairless body like a Rodin sculpture, with a slightly ; brutish face rendered unthreatening by a scruffy mop of straw-coloured ; hair, giving him (when clothed) the appearance of a viscount who liked ; to race vintage Bugattis. He relished (and often received) lascivious ; stares from women.
; ; He was also intelligent, wealthy, charismatic and unaware of any ; immediate danger.
; ; He could see the pale-blue glow of the phosphor characters reflected ; in the lenses of Alice's large glasses. Her eyes were small and ; pale-lashed, two fruit flies behind the thick lenses. A small beak of ; a nose and, down-turned mouth gave her the look of an emaciated, ; featherless owl.
; ; Mick, to one of his friends, had previously described her "a bit of a ; minger" and "either a total nutcase, nympho or a dyke, possibly all ; three". He would turn out to be at least 33% accurate in this ; character assessment.
; ; "Do you spell your last name with an 'E'?" She pecked at the keyboard ; with two ink-stained and almost nail-less fingers
; ; "..A..R..K..E. Okay! You're entered in the system. Now Mick, do you ; know why you're here?" She peered at him myopically from across the ; lab bench.
; ; He had a sudden urge to say, "So you can watch me play with my dick" ; but decided to play it straight.
; ; "Yes, I got your email along with all the other lads in the team. Not ; that any of us understood much besides the fact that you wanted ; volunteers -- male volunteers, for a kind of 'lie detector experiment' ; for your final year thesis.
; ; You know, if you weren't such a genius, we'd all have thought – I ; mean, you're going to get a first anyway, so why bother? Everyone ; knows you've cleverer at biophysics than – than that chap in the ; wheelchair. I bet you'll end up winning the Nobel Prize."
; ; "Wheelchair? Oh, Stephen Hawking. Not actually the same field. 'Why ; bother?' Well, Mick, I just want to make sure of my theory."
; ; "What exactly is your theory? – Answers on one side on the paper ; only."
; ; "Well, putting it simply, I'm ascertaining whether the M2 segment of ; acetylcholine receptor channel displays different physical ; characteristics in, erm, young men than it does in other people. You ; see I believe that... Sorry, boring! Anyway I'll hopefully publish my ; thesis in the Journal of Bioelectronics. You can read it then, if you ; want."
; ; "You're going to discuss me masturbating in an electronics journal!?"
; ; Alice, as Mick had expected, took this question seriously and sought ; to allay his anxiety. "No, as my email told you, all volunteers will ; be assured of absolute anonymity, no names, or photographs, and ; besides..."
; ; "Besides what? Don't know how to describe this?" He hooked three ; fingers under his ample penis. God she was either a total sociopath, ; or was absolutely brilliant at keeping a straight face.
; ; "...Besides, I don't think that I'll have enough room for any detailed ; descriptions of individual subjects' behaviour". Alice's lips twitched ; and she adjusted her glasses slightly. Mick took this gesture to be as ; close as she could get to actually smiling. Chalk one point to ; him. "Okay. Just breaking the ice".
; ; There was a pause while Alice returned to the computer keyboard and ; tapped furiously. Lines of code scrolled frantically up the screen.
; ; "What's going on now? Hey how long is this going to take, I'm going ; out tonight".
; ; Mick was hoping to "slip one in" later with a girl he'd met yesterday.
; ; "I'm kicking off the program. Okay it's initializing now. In a few ; minutes we'll be ready to start. In the meantime I'll wire you up with ; the probes."
; ; "What probes, look, I'm not into..."
; ; "The probes, Mick, have two functions." Alice assumed the tone of a ; science lecturer giving an oft-repeated talk (which was exactly what ; she was doing). "In the first place, they measure information about ; your skin resistance, body temperature, the ratio of certain amino ; acid components of your sweat, and relay those measurements through ; these wires, to my computer here." She tapped the side of her monitor ; with the chewed end of a ballpoint pen.
; ; "In the second place, they act as transmitters, sending signals back ; from the computer to your body in the form of slight electrical ; sensory and motor stimuli to your skin. And the muscles below your ; skin." Mick noticed her flick an almost guilty glance at his ; chest. Victory.
; ; "Olfactory input is also utilised," she continued, looking up hastily, ; "Again all under programmatic control. Observe that plastic horn above ; your head..." - he snickered at the word - "... well, that device will ; waft a series of largely subliminal aromas to the vicinity of your ; nose.
; ; "Finally, this VR headset will display a computer-generated sequence ; of sounds images, providing audiovisual feedback."
; ; "Well," said Mick slowly with a grin that showed a two-hour old ; chewing gum, "You know, it all sounds to me like you're basically ; going show me a film. A porn film! It's not one I've seen, is it?"
; ; "You can tell me afterwards."
; ; "Aah. Hang on, I think I get it! You'll be able to tell what turns me ; on, just by looking at the output of your program, right?"
; ; "Only after the data has been analysed. But that's not the main ; purpose of the exercise".
; ; He rubbed his nose and leaned back, anticipating an amusing fairground ; ride. "Well, wire me up, Doctor McCoy!"
; ; Alice walked around the lab bench over to him and began attaching the ; probes to his forehead, cheeks, neck, shoulders, arms and hands. Each ; one trailed a thin pair of wires. "I doubt if it interests you in the ; least," she chattered, to avoid the awkwardness of their sudden ; proximity as she leaned over him, "but the heart of the system is ; actually a very sophisticated neural net, which completely reprograms ; itself over one hundred thousand times a second..."
; ; "Well, you're a neural nut, anyway", Mick said, not nastily, while ; Alice continued attaching further probes to his eyelids, the sides of ; his nose, his chest, stomach, waist, knees, even to the soles of his ; feet.
; ; "Hey, you forgot one bit." Mick thrust out his pelvis.
; ; "No I didn't," Alice replied, handing him the final four probes. "But ; I think I'll leave the last few for you to do yourself."
; ; "Alright, if you want to pass up a chance of a lifetime..." Mick ; shrugged, which loosened one of the probes on the nape of his ; neck. Alice pressed it back while she instructed him on the exact ; placement of the final probes.
; ; "And now we're almost done. I'll put the VR headset on you myself, so ; we don't dislodge the probes on your face. There, all ready. Now ; please rest your hands gently on the end of the armrests... and please ; try to keep still and not to talk".
; ; Alice returned to her side of the lab bench and resumed tapping at her ; computer keyboard.
; ; " Okay, Mick. Relax. Can you see a small reddish dot in the foveal ; centre of your field of view?"
; ; The dot was impossible to avoid, following his eye movements ; precisely. As Mick watched, the dot began to distort and pulsate. It ; grew steadily, past the edges of his vision until he felt as though he ; were engulfed by a swirling, blood red sea. He heard, (imagined he ; heard?) a humming, burbling noise, the synaesthetic analogue of the ; image.
; ; After few seconds (minutes?) concrete images began to form. Mick's ; eyes roamed. The probes on his temples and eyelids monitored the ; smallest dilation of his pupils, or flicker of his optic muscles.
; ; The pictures seemed almost random at first: houses, trees, buses, a ; schoolroom, cows in a field, a palm beach by moonlight.
; ; Gradually Mick noticed that images of people started to ; predominate. There were film stars leaving the Oscars, famous ; politicians, even students from his own college. A woman that looked ; like his brother's wife flicked in and out of view too quickly for him ; to recognise for sure.
; ; He could feel the probes working, as though thousands of ants were ; marching purposefully in complex patterns all over his body. He dimly ; imagined the ants continuing their march back and forth along the ; wires connecting him with Alice's computer.
; ; He smelled oranges, heard galloping horses.
; ; Soon the images started clustering around a definite theme. Women, ; girls, young men, attractive, sometimes naked or semi-naked crowded ; the screen. Some of the women were real dogs, he murmured to himself ; vaguely, others were fit! Fuck, some of the men were pretty fit too, ; he thought privately. Numbers flashed past on Alice's screen.
; ; "Oh, shi-i-it...!" Mick murmured. He'd begun to sense that every time ; he lingered on an image he liked, other, similar images began to ; cluster around it, almost as though they were vying for his attention.
; ; The images were becoming definitely sexual now – Well-endowed ; smooth-skinned men posing in handcuffs, ice-blond Nordic girls licking ; each other's breasts, raven-haired dominatrices brandishing whips.
; ; The ants on his skin were now racing about crazily -- the probes were ; stimulating him quicker and more powerfully. The pulses made his ; muscles twitch and convulse. The feeling was not unpleasant. He grew ; hard.
; ; Now Mick's skin felt like a bubbling sea of lava. The meaty aroma of ; overheated sex engulfed him. He heard a cooing, sighing chorus of ; women calling him from a vast crater in a black desert. "Come down to ; us, come lower, that's right, down the stairs, the spiral stairs..."
; ; He moaned. Sweat dripped from his nose and ears. His eyes fluttered ; closed. The chorus, from a great distance it seemed, sang, commanding ; him to keep looking. The images raced down upon him like a flock of ; maddened pigeons. Every photo he'd ever masturbated over, every man or ; woman who'd given him a real or imagined sexual thrill seemed to ; surround him, touching him, prodding, stroking, poking, scratching, ; tickling, licking him.
; ; His penis felt as if it would tear itself apart. He was about to come, ; he knew it... but "Not yet... not yet...you are not deep enough..." ; the voices sang to him.
; ; Suddenly the mood changed, the images becoming more disturbing, more ; ominous, stranger, and also more detailed – realer but more ; fantastic. Violently, like a rush of black lava they erupted from a ; grinning volcano in his mind.
; ; Now they coalesced and cooled... now they were reality...
; ; ...He was in a familiar bedroom, crimson, cream and white. Two ; identical scrawny girls (he recognised them, they were one of his ; friend's twin nieces) sat naked on him facing his feet, one on his ; erection, one on his face. His hearing muffled by her legs, he heard ; the girl on his face say, "This is what you get for stealing my ; Snickers, Uncle Mickey", as she began defecating in his mouth.
; ; The girls bobbed and jiggled on him, singing and giggling. Then he ; felt panic as he realised he could no longer breathe – they were ; going to smother him. He came, yielding to the sensation of their ; small, cool buttocks pressing against his face and groin...
; ; ...He was in a curtained alcove in a bazaar that smelled of cumin and ; saffron. A grotesquely fat Asian-looking man appeared and smiled at ; him revealing a gold tooth. The man was naked except for a yellow ; chiffon neck scarf. He was oiled with patchouli and ylang-ylang.
; ; He turned away to show Mick a great oily behind, and backed slowly ; towards Mick until it pushed against him. Mick's penis slithered ; between the huge slippery cheeks and he came deep inside the man, who ; crooned and wiggled, urging him on in a strange language. The man ; farted loudly with every thrust.
; ; Mick twisted and tightened the scarf at the man's neck with his right ; hand, while with the other he reached around and grabbed the man's ; short, wide erection, feeling hot semen trickling down his wrist as he ; strangled him...
; ; ...Now the scene changed to the college library where a very tall and ; sinewy vulture-woman with red-lidded eyes and a cruel grimace came ; nose to nose with him. She screamed a fierce curse in his face and he ; became paralysed.
; ; With a swoop of her arms she dug deeply and powerfully into his flesh ; and quickly tore through into his abdomen with her long, black ; razor-sharp nails. She ripped him open like a dolls' house, reached ; inside him, wrenched out his stomach, and began to devour it like a ; starved dog, covering her face with his blood.
; ; Then she dropped suddenly to her knees and chewed off his penis while ; he stood helpless and transfixed, unable even to scream in agony. She ; lifted it and held it close to his face, waving it at him ; triumphantly. She grabbed him by his hair and jerked his head down ; towards it. He began to weep. He watched his disembodied member ; ejaculating in her tight grip. She laughed, and leaned towards ; him. Licking his ears, she hissed at him that she would suck out his ; eyeballs while he bled to death...
; ; ...Now he beheld a paper-white young girl with crimson hair by Munch ; laid out spread-eagled on the cold tiled floor of a vast church.. She ; was emaciated and tubercular looking. She breathed quickly and ; shallowly, almost in a faint. He knelt, lifted her pelvis and fucked ; her. He turned her and fucked her anus. Turned her and fucked her ; mouth, eyes, ears, hair. He pinioned her arms as he lay on her, ; watching a trickle of his semen drip slowly from her lips, mixing with ; a sticky stream of blood from her nose.
; ; She begged him soundlessly to stop.
; ; He stifled her silent cries, squeezing her nostrils together with one ; hand, holding her lips together with the other. He watched her, ; feeling the ever-weakening attempts to free herself, till she ; expired. He fucked her corpse again and again, tearing and grinding ; her lips with his teeth. He heard her flesh rend as with superhuman ; force he hooked his arms around her legs and pulled them completely ; apart from her body...
; ; ...Then, suddenly, the hallucinations stopped. He was once more in the ; electronics lab. Standing before him was Marie, his date for that ; evening. She was naked. Alice was nowhere in sight.
; ; Looking down at his arms he saw that the probes were still ; attached. They had slowed their stimuli until there were only ; intermittent sparks. He felt his face convulse with weird tics.
; ; "Marie", he said, "You're early, we're not due to meet till ; later. Fuck, you look sexy!"
; ; He only vaguely remembered what Marie looked like, having been pretty ; drunk when he first met her last night on a pub-crawl. He recalled her ; as a typical cheerleader type, with streaked-blond hair and a "fit" ; figure. Big tits, not too big though. Strong, runner's thighs.
; ; But now as she stood before him her skin was a rippling surface of ; living, swirling erotic tattoos. Her labia seemed to continuously ; unfold like a shiny, bulbous flower, drawing him to her ; inexorably. Her glistening nipples were large and black-brown.
; ; She gave off a magic perfume that captivated him, distilled from all ; the sweat and secret potions of all the whores since the dawn of ; time. He staggered towards her, almost swooning with desire, inhaling ; the maddeningly sweet, animal smell.
; ; She stepped back. "Mick. It's me, Alice. You're awake now," she said, ; in a familiar voice.
; ; She reached her hands to her hair and pulled slowly upwards. Her arms ; appeared to grow impossibly long as she continued pulling. Her hair ; and face stretched and stretched, ludicrously, eventually pulling off ; like a latex mask.
; ; And he perceived that she was indeed Alice. But her body remained just ; as agonizingly desirable. The face was Alice's, but transformed by his ; deranged senses into a sucking, fluttering, pouting essence of ; sexuality. As he stared in dim awe at her purple evolving lips, he ; felt a tsunami of an orgasm rushing towards him. He plunged into her, ; drowning his face in her hair, frantically breathing in the ; overwhelming perfume till he choked and drooled.
; ; He came, deep inside her, for minutes. When his orgasm was abating she ; pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes. "Come. Again. Now." She ; said. He lunged and immediately came again, sharply and ; painfully. Over and over, she pulled away a little and repeated the ; order. "Again. Come. Now." and he came. His felt his heart spasm. He ; must stop, before he suffered a coronary. But he knew he couldn't ; stop, not until she let him go. But she didn't let him go. The orgasms ; were dry now, and excruciatingly painful. Come. Now! He gripped her ; electric hair with one hand and her gyrating buttock with the ; other. He closed his eyes and clung onto her desperately as she ; writhed, a shipwrecked man to driftwood, praying for the wave that ; would finally drown him.
; ; Finally she released him and spoke. "You will now dress, and then go ; through that door into the next room, where you will find a bed. You ; will sleep on the bed. When you awake, you will remember none of what ; has happened to you. You will get up and leave quietly through the ; fire exit at the far side of the next room."
; ; She removed the probes and placed them carefully on the lab bench.
; ; Mick dressed, swaying slightly, eyes half closed. He left the lab and ; instantly collapsed on the bed in the next room, unconscious.
; ; Alice dressed, resumed her place at her computer and typed a few lines ; of instructions. The computer beeped.
; ; There was a knock at the door. A tall, athletic looking boy came in ; with a slight smirk on his face.
; ; "Hi. You're Paul Morphy, right? Thanks for coming. Please remove all ; of your clothes and sit on the blue chair on the other side of this ; lab bench to me... OK, You're entered into my system. Now Paul, do you ; know why you're here?" ; ;