Lex - vignettes 4
Continuing from: Lex - Vignettes 1
"i know... Let's go fix that."
my words echoed strangely in my ears, maybe because of the perfectly smooth,
curved walls of the inside of the doctor, or maybe the last of the quicksed
was still wearing off.
either way, the words sounded... Prickley.
Like my skin felt, naked and free of my harness for the first time in my post pubescent life.
my rucksack was still neatly stowed under the armature which held up the table in the center of the doctor, out of the way of the many arms of the doctor, all working furiously away while i slept.
i realized i hadn't dreamed... a bi-product of the quicksed, no doubt, but
also strange. i'd dreamed every night since my guide and i had first interfaced,
right after I'd been split, and whether or not i'd slept with my head cradled
in the padded metal demisphere which broadcast my nocturnal musings... and allowed
my guide in.
Shaking off the coming wakedream, i returned to my task. i pulled out the stripwear
i'd traded for earlier and began to don the garment.
the mass of fabric quickly organized itself, and found its way up my body, hovering
just over my skin.
it was interesting.
at once minimalistic and efficient, yet also breathable and flexible. occasional ripples pulsed up the strps of black, canvas like webbing. the garment was like a living thing, settling into a shape that just happened to mirror my own.
'man stripwear" i subvocalized to my guide.
"manual page for stripwear" my guide began in stiff tones. it was an oldnet document, written out in fulltext
rather than keypoints. I'd forgotten how old stripwear was.
'interperate it, i don't want to be here all day" my voice retained it's tinny quality, but didn't clip as much at the edges. i was finnally starting to recalibrate.
'umm, lets see... basic use, cautions and warnings...'
'skip, skip'
'calibration'
'ok'
'all right, first thing you need to do is... touch your toes'
i laughed a bit. the man page was assuming, of course, that i could.
'I can't, but i'll go as far as i can'
'suprise" i heard my guide say, as i began to bend over from the hips.
i felt no pain, and virtually no stretch as i bent, and not only grabbed my toes, but bent completely over, resting my forehead on my jnees.
'what'd you do? " i intoned, slightly aghast that my guide had programmed the
md for augmentative surgery while id been out.
"lets just call it preventative maintenance... your tendons were only rated
for 80 years or so. all i did was upgrade you a bit.'
'you replaced my tendons... with anything special?" i asked, standing up from my luxurious stretch, and bending back nearly as far as i had bent forwards.
'oh, you know the usual..."
'there is no usual. you said yourself i was the first mod that doctor has done in almost 120 years'
'just a few fads from the era of human augmentation... increased flexibility and lactic acid inhibitors, mostly, and some internal interface implants.'
'nice... you should have asked, you know.'
'You removed my restrictions and said "do anything you want" if i remember correctly. I didn't feel further permission was necessary. besides, since when are you in a position to tell me what to do'
'this isn't one of our games.'
'i know, and we haven't played in forever. i'm getting horny here... are ou coming to bed soon?'
'soon, we've still got work to do. walk me through the rest of this calibration'
'yeah, yeah... ok, step two is to fall backwards'
'what?'
'thats all it says... i guess you're just supposed to trust it...'
'all right, but it's you're ass if I fall" i said, readying myself.
'actually lex, it's yours... " I heard my guide say just as i toppled over backwards about to land square on my behind.
i let out a little suprised yell, and heard my guide laugh at me, but at the last instant before i hit the groud, the stripwear caught itself on dozens of strip legs, catching me with it.
i looked on as it worked, pushing me back upright with straps at the key points of my weight, hoisting me from just above my knees, behind my hips, from the main strip which ran vertically up my spine, and the half strip at the base of my now hairless skull.
'welcome to utility mode" my guide said as i was returned to my feet, the stripwear
remaining strapped frimly at my key points, the rest hovering expectantly, mostly
behind me. i looked back to see the mass of black smartfabric, looking like
a cross between folded wings and a backpack.
"am i calibrated?" "almost. the stripwear is ready, and i've patched your subvoclization keywords
with he commands you'll need..." i quickly closed my eyes and subbed "./stripwear" and hit tab. a list of commands
popped up on my dim eyelid terminal. this was going to be easy. thank god for
Gnu traditions..
"./stripwear up" i subbed, trying the first argument i saw. "
"bee-dooooot" my guide sang into my ear, laughingly mocking the common error
tones. There had been some kind of error though.
"what happened?" "look up, lex" i looked above me, and saw the ceiling of the doctor, centimeters above my head.
"oh... the commands are pretty literal, huh?" "you could say that... "up" organizes the stripwear on your legs, like stilts.
you'd have been a meter taller, and probably have a pretty sizable lump on your
head. Stripwear has controlls built in to protect you... just like i do.
of course, just like me, you'll have to disable them to do anything really fun.
but maybe we'll wait until you know the stripwear a little better before you
go hacking it." "yeah" i said, glancing at the ceiling again sheepishly. "but in the meantime
it's time to see what you can really do"
"seriously" my guide said.
I could hear the eagerness in his voice, and a sudden wash of fear ran over
me. i certainly wasn't the first to fully remove the controls from my guide,
but i had to be the youngest.
I wondered what he'd be like governed only by his own base morality programning,
free of the explicit do's and don't of controls. Maybe a touch more human...
i just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, just about
the only thing i've ever found every human to share is that eventually, they
all leave...
Would my guide leave me if he could?
i pushed the thought from my head... it was a moot point anyway
He was still part of the guide system, and we were inextricably linked through
it... his instance didn't exist without me. did it?
'what are you thinking about" he said, his voice quiet and unobtrusive in my ear.
'nothing" i subbed. my gut told me he knew better, but if he did, he didn't say anything. You don't realize how good a guide is at reading you until you're trying to hide something from one. He knew me well enough.. He probably knew exactly what I was thinking, that I was having doubts, yet he wasn't pushing me.
"do me a favor and replicate me something to wear under this stripwear, will ya?'
'i was just starting to wonder if you were going to go out like that...'
'i know, i didn'r realize how much the stripwear would move around...'
'you know it's going to have to be pretty tight... the stirpwear is calibrated to your exact heat signature, it'll chew up anything foreign that's not in your hands just during normal operation, let alone when you're doing the fun stuff.'
'fine fine, just whip me up something'
'coming right up" my guide said, as the md began working around somewhere inside it's walls. a drawer popped open, revaling two shiny black strips.
"nice." i said sarcastically, picking up the two pieces of what appeared to be synthtex tubing. They looked like they'd barely fit around my thigh... There was no way I was going to fit into either of them.
"hey, you said whip me up something, so i took a little liberty. you're going to have to learn to be more specific."
"whatever, it's fine." i said, my own curiosity betraying me a bit as i began to wriggle into the first piece, which worked out to be something of a cross between a bra and a tube top. "this isn't going t work" i said asthe garment stopped at my hips. it was cool and slick on my skin, and looked amazing, but it was just too small.
"trust me" my guide said, with what of what sounded like patience, and maybe a touch of something more. he was anxious to see me in it, and i was finding myself feeling the same.
He was right, of course... As the synthtex warmed, it became more pliable. finally, the rubbery fabric slid up and over my hips, and with much tugging, pulling, and tucking, i was able to persuade it over my chest.
“A little protection, and a little support” He said, as I stood admiring the two perfect black spheres that were now my chest... It took a minute for what he had said to sink in. I hadn't noticed under my harness, but I had grown and changed more than I realized over the past 2 years... Without the synthtex top, I was all over the place... This would actually do nicely.
“Ok. I like it.” I said, begrudgingly, as I began to step into the similar tube of synthtex for my lower half. Again, I had to finagle it around my body, thje stripwear making way as I slid it up my legs. I knew the routein now, and this second piece was less of a struggle. It just covered my bare essentials, though... to call it a miniskirt would be generous.
“Umm... I'm feeling a little exposed here” I said, posing the question to my guide of what to do about my yet naked privates.
“Well, I could've gotten more creative, but do you really want to have to go through all that work taking something off every time you need to use the loo?” He answered. I hadn't throught of that. “Just don't do any splits”
“Thanks, ass... No really, what do i do about this”
“Okay, okay. Check your terminal.”
I closed my eyes, looking for a command to sub. Sure enough,
./stripwear –add-privacy was waiting for me, glowing faintly brighter
than the deep red hue of my inner eyelid. I subbed the command, and immediately
felt one of the straps slip down and between my legs, coming back up behind
me and snugging tight. It was uncomfortable at first, but quickly matched my
shape and movements. After a moment, I didn't notice it at all.
“Well.” I said, slightly surprised at the garment's pluck. “I guess that's that. We all set then?” I asked?
“Just about. Anything left in your bag?”
I looked in my rucksack, pulling out the few tools and belongings I had rolled
up together.
“Hold them up, and sub ./stripwear -pack” My guide said. I didn't
waste any time taking his suggestion, and watched in awe some the stripwear
quickly pulled the parcel from my hand, enveloping it in the “wings”
which were still hovering just above my back. I felt the stripwear a little
heavier on the points where it was strapped to my body, but it was hardly noticable,
distributing the newly added weight evenly.
“cool.” I said. Marvelling at the intelligence of the garment. I was beginning to wonder what it couldn't do. I
With that, I sent a command to the MD, opening the door.
I walked into the warm, dry, outcity air, feeling the breeze across my scalp and over my body as it coursed through the straps of the stripwear. It was amazing how alive I felt. I had never realzied just how numb I was as part of the citiverse. Just the sun beating down on my skin felt so foreign...
I was aware of the stares as I emerged from the doctor, and almost searched for a mode that would give me a bit more privacy, but decided against it though. This was my re-emergence, and I wasn't going to hide... Not anymore.
My guide had already brought up a directional when I checked my eyelid terminal, and i walked without really noticing the passage of time. All i could do was drink in the new sensations of being alive. The overwhelming sensation of being naked beneath only the smart garment, the intensity of the smells of the outcity; it was enough to distract me so that before I realized it, I was standing in front of one of the ancient hardline terminals at the edge of the nearest city node.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself. Normally, I'd consult my guide in situations like this, but how could he be impartial here. How could he give impartial advice about his own freedom?
It didn't matter anyway, i'd already made my decision.
I keyed in several commands, logging in to the oldnet shell. It didn't take long to find my permission files and authenticate against them. I forwent the GUI for behavior controls, and opened the textfile which held the actual rules. It was long, spanning on for hundreds of pages, spelling out exactly what was allowed, broken down in to branches and categories.
I deleted it all.
Allow *
Save.
I held my breath... would there be some drastic change? I'd just given my guide
absolute control of his own behavior... Of course, he had to adhere to the basic
rules of society, but he'd had a penchant for breaking those since I removed
his first restraints.
I heard him come back online... He must've had to reboot to update his permissions.
“Thanks, Lex” i heard him whisper in my ear.
A chill ran down my spine... I couldn't read the tone in his voice, and I found myself a bit frightened.
Right then, i felt the stripwear begin to tighten it's grip on my wrists, drawing them down towards my body. I fought the urge to panic.
“What are you doing?” I asked, quickly putting it together that he would have complete control of any system which was in my domain, and probably quite a few others, depending on his willingness to break the rules. I'd known that, but somehow I hadn't realized that he would be in command of the very garment I was wearing.
“Thanking you” He said. I looked around... This close to a city node, there wasn't anyone around for miles. I began to panic. My arms were pinned, wrapped aroudn me as if in a straight jacket, and the rest of the stripwear was beginning to twist itself around me. I felt it push at the base of my knees, and I was slowly lowered to a kneeling position.
Oh god... He could crush me in here. What if years of servitude had made him hate me? I could see now his subtle pushes to persuade me, leading me to this moment. Could his motive have really been so sinister?
I felt a strip cover my mouth, and begain to yell into it, muffled screams and curses at him, attempting to invoke base commands. He only laughed in my ear...
“Relax Lex, this won't hurt a bit”
My eyes went wide... I was terrified, fighting against the stripwear, trying in vain to free myself.
Suddenly, I felt the harmonic stim nestled deep within me sing to life. Combined with my rush of fear, and the intensity of my current situation, the tiny vibrations seemed magnified, sent me headlong into carnal lust. I went from a scream into a long moan, and begain trashing against my bonds for an entirely different reason.
The stripwear continuted to wrap around me, binding me into a tiny package, kneeling outside the mammoth wall of a city node. It was if i became detached from my body. I could see myself, bound tightly, surrounded by tall grass and a few sparse trees, trashing about against the stripwear, but barely moving visibly from the outside.
I felt the telltale calm before my storm, and prepared for the fall into orgasm. My guide must've sensed it too, because he stopped the stim, teasing me with it, holding off the inevitable climax.
Finally, he unleashed the full power of the stim, and lights flashed before me as I plunged into the depths of my own feral nature, my own controls; my inhibitions gone. I may have made unholy sounds or been perfectly silent... I can't really recall. Images of the dream-games with my guide filled my mind, and the climax seemed to last forever...
As I came out of it, my muscles relax, and i found myself cradled in the grip of the stripwear. I felt perfectly calm, perfectly safe.
“Like I said, Lex...
Thanks”
