Shared World Project - Ch 1

This is the first chapter of a new project, something that will be part of a shared world. Hope you enjoy! 

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“You’re telling me there’s a way to interact with my dead fiancé?” I leaned back, more than skeptical… but also, I hated to admit, somehow hopeful. Damn LivreCorp and their ability to grab a guy by the balls and make him squirm. 

At first I’d considered myself lucky to be selected for the alpha testing, but now that I knew their reason for selecting me, I wasn’t so sure. 

The Asian lady who, under any other circumstance would’ve had me trying to lean back and catch a glimpse of more of those legs that seemed to go ever on, smiled, pushing a holo-pamphlet my way. It floated in the air, a screen of green and blue on the rims, images of me and Katie popping up all over it. 

“The system checks all data, cross-references everything you give us with what we can find on the net—and trust me, there’s a damn lot.” She smiled slyly, looking me over as if she had knowledge of some secret I wouldn’t want out. “If you can tell the difference, your money will be refunded. Your satisfaction guaranteed. However,” she leaned forward, uncrossing her legs in a way that certainly would’ve given me the view, if I wanted it, “why obsess over the dead? I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but… I’m familiar with your work, Mr. Fairbanks, or should I call you Ryan?” 

I frowned, took a breath, and then shook my head. “Sorry, Cynthia, was it? My heart belongs to Katie. If there was any way I could just let her go, believe me, I would.”

“I… see.” She straightened up, pursed her lips, and allowed just a hint of annoyance to show before her smile returned. 

“Do you make many sales this way?” 

“Sorry?”

“Hitting on your potential customers.” I shook my head. “I mean, I’m flattered, but this can’t be good for business.” 

She quickly looked around. “Please, don’t tell anyone. It’s just… I’ve followed your work. Your paper on transcendence is, I hear, one of the motivations for creating our program here.”

“Then you also understand how important this is to me.”

She nodded, returning to the holo screen. Clearly, she was hoping I’d let the issue go. I didn’t mean to be a dick, but I wanted to get to business, so was glad to let her continue. Her fingers moved in place with a small piece of clear plastic, and Katie appeared on the screen. To see her there was a good reminder of how I could possibly turn down someone like Cynthia. Katie was everything a man like me would want, with her caring eyes staring out from behind red glasses, black hair pulled into a ponytail, and little dimples when she smiled. She was looking at me, smiling, tilting her head as if she was really there, and unsure what to think of my actually being there, too. 

“What… what’s this from?” I asked, starting to feel a bit creeped out. 

“LivreTech,” Cynthia said, grinning. “This is LivreCorp top tech, right here. What you’re seeing is the result of all I’ve been telling you about. You go into the system, this is the Katie you interact with. And trust me, it’ll all seem just as real as the first time you kissed, the first time you—”

“I get the idea,” I interrupted, guessing where she was going with that by the seductive look in her eyes. Damn, this lady didn’t quit. 

“You two can walk along the Nile, relax over champagne on Mars, or run along a field chasing kobolds in your favorite video game. Whatever suits you.”

I leaned back, fingers steepled, and inadvertently got that glimpse I’d been trying to avoid—yup, no panties for this one. She must’ve known I was coming, I thought, then remembered how she’d excused herself to go to the bathroom soon after my arrival. She couldn’t have gone to remove her panties, right? I chuckled, unable to believe what I was turning down. 

But hey, if their version of Katie was so real I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, that’d do it for me. 

“Thank you, Cynthia,” I said, and she was biting her lip, watching me. Waiting. “I’m sold. But next time, leave the panties on. It’s… a bit much.”

She blushed, hit confirm, and then lowered her voice as she added, “Company discount, just for you.”

“That won’t be necessary.” 

I stood, offered her my hand, and then turned, looking around. “Don’t suppose you have a bathroom for me to use before we get started?” 

She showed me the way, then lingered at the door. “If you’re… you know, and need help.”

“Thank you, Cynthia. You’ve been more than helpful.”

With a shake of my head, I left her there at the door, wondering if I wasn’t making a mistake. If Katie were alive, would she want me obsessing over her in some virtual game? No, she’d want me to move on, I just couldn’t. 

Of course, she’d read my mind. I wanted it out of my system, so made for a stall, ensured the place was empty, and then quickly tugged one out. The last thing I needed while in the system was to be thinking about the image I’d seen of her shaved pussy, and feel guilty about it. So instead I pulled up an image on my cell, one I had of Katie holding my dick in her mouth and giving a peace sign. It was stored several layers down to avoid people randomly finding it, and saved for this exact purpose. 

I still remembered that day, the way she’d gone down on me right before my big job interview. And hey, I’d gotten the job as a dispatcher. We had joked for the rest of the year that it had all been thanks to that blowjob, and every time after that one of us had gone down on the other, we’d pondered on what good luck the day would bring. 

At the moment I flashed back to that glorious time, her tongue tantalizing me, her hand stroking my cock. And in less than a minute, it was done. Good timing, too, because the door opened as I was cleaning it up, Cynthia calling out, “Ryan, is everything okay in here?”

For fuck’s sake, I thought. “All good, thank you.” 

“Well, your payment went through. We’ll have you all set up whenever you’re ready to head home.”

“Home?” I flushed and stepped out of there. 

“Oh, yes. We will be able to process all of the information from the privacy of your living room. You simply put on the gear and nerve-sensors, and the system does the rest.”

I’d been expecting to be plugged in here, to have it be this big deal. Apparently, there’d been no need for the self-quicky after all. 

But at least it put me at ease, leaving any temptation toward this woman gone as I walked out, nodded my gratitude, and followed her to finish the process. 

That night I was going to be back with Katie. Not the real Katie, of course. She was gone, buried in El Cerrito, California on the hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. But this was as close as I’d ever get again, and I’d take what I could get.