Vera Sanders pulled her Taurus to the curb in front of a small yellow house on Maple Street and waited for a moment with the car running. Usually Suzie was watching for her, and came out of the house with her gym bag the moment she pulled up. Both of them looked forward to their mornings at the fitness center. Today was Dance Aerobics.
Suzie didn't come out, so Vera laid on the horn. She waited another minute or so, and when Suzie still hadn't appeared, the brunette shut off the engine, got out of the car, and sprinted up to the door in her lavender and black spandex.
Rick answered the bell, shirtless and holding a beer. Rick was Suzie's husband. He was worthless, as far as Vera was concerned, even if he did make a lot of money as a computer software designer. His eyes fell immediately to Vera's chest.
"She says she'll be out in a minute," he told her. "You can come in and wait if you want."
Vera was tempted to go back out and sit in the car. She had little use for Rick, and didn't like the way he was checking out her form in the spandex. But it was hot outside. And anyway, Rick wouldn't misbehave with Suzie there. Suzie was petite, but strong willed. She didn't take any crap from Rick.
Vera stepped through the foyer, into the living room. "Hurry up, okay Suze?" she called out toward the bedroom as she plopped down on the couch. She kept her legs together and folded her arms over her chest so she would not be on display, but she needn't have bothered. Rick left her alone and went off into the kitchen. Probably for another beer.
Vera's eyes wandered around the room. Rick and Suzie had a nice place. Suzie had decorated well.
The young couple had gotten themselves a new toy, she quickly noticed. The computer that usually sat on the desk next to the television had been replaced by a newer model. This one had a twenty-one inch monitor.
The screen saver currently running drew Vera's interest. It wasn't one of the standard screen savers you see all over, but something different. It featured photographic images, but they were coming and going so rapidly that she could not make them out. It was just a blur, yet somehow she found the effect fascinating.
While keeping her eyes on this display, she called out another prompt to her tardy friend: "Suzie, we don't want to be late!" It was nearly eleven.
Something new popped up on the computer screen unexpectedly. Dancing across the rapidly changing background now was a tiny red ball, no more than a few pixels across.
Fascinated, Vera followed the random movements of the little blip from her perch on the couch. She was trying to catch the repeating pattern--didn't all screen savers have a repeating pattern? But this one didn't seem to. One moment the spot was up and to the left, the next down and to the right. Her eyes tracked the movement unerringly.
It was very relaxing...
#
Rick stood in the kitchen doorway, watching his wife's best friend on the couch. He had caught the way she kept her body covered as she sat down. The hot brunette wanted to flaunt her assets for the jocks at the health club, but she didn't want Rick to have a peek. She was always snubbing him like that.
Well, that behavior would come to an end today, he hoped, thanks to a little computer program he had brought home from the lab.
Compurape was a compilation project. He and two of his friends, both neuroscience majors in college, had put it together.
It had started as a lark. What if all the best research about subliminal conditioning, emotional response, neurotransmitters and the like, was put to work creating a program designed to make women "fall into your arms"?
They didn't expect to succeed. At best, they envisioned some goofy thing that they could hype and sell for a few bucks on the internet. But when the program was done, and they tested it, they found they had something real on their hands. Compurape did a lot more than "influence" women--it took them over completely. Now they were raking in the money.
Rick watched Vera nervously. He didn't have any doubts that the program would work on her--this new version was particularly effective. But he was nervous that his wife's luscious friend might not stick around long enough to let it do it's job. Vera was so worried about getting to her stupid aerobics class, she might bolt out the door.
Even as he was thinking this, Vera stood up and stepped away from the couch. Rick held his breath, afraid his afternoon was ruined. But Vera was not leaving; only stepping closer to the computer.
As he watched, the athletically built brunette gradually stopped fidgeting and grew still. She dropped her arms to her sides and riveted her gaze on the computer monitor.
She was caught now, for sure. And Rick was in for one hell of an afternoon.
#
Vera got up from the couch partially out of impatience that her friend was taking so long, and partially for a closer look at the computer screen. The images were clearing up, it seemed to her, and maybe slowing down. Or maybe it was just her ability to perceive them that was changing. Was that possible? She still didn't know what she was looking at, but she thought she was catching undertones...sexual undertones. Was that a male torso that flickered on and disappeared? The thigh of a woman? She was sure the word "submission" flew from one side of the screen to the other, followed by other words she didn't quite catch...
The little dancing ball made it hard to see the rest. She wasn't able to take her eyes off it--up, down, left, right... It was getting bigger, too.
No, not bigger.
Closer.
Lots closer.