Chapter 7
Lena lay in Simi's bed, staring at the wrinkled ceiling paint.
What is today?
Her thoughts drifted lazily; her muddled mind could not remember the day, the hour, or the number of times she and Simi had reached heaven together. They'd stopped occasionally for food, bathroom breaks, quick naps to regain strength, and even a meaningful conversation or two, but they always returned to their lovemaking, sometimes with Lena controlling Simi, or vice versa, and sometimes without any commands at all. The database of techniques Simi had downloaded was comprehensive, and exhausting. Nevertheless, Lena couldn't wait to try them all; especially because she was no longer troubled by the thought of giving Simi orders. She stretched out her arms and legs, feeling for Simi's warm skin among the sheets, yet came up empty. She sat up in surprise, letting the blankets tumble from her breasts.
"Hello there, lover." Simi entered the room, fully dressed. She smiled at Lena's nudity. "Nice view."
Lena blushed at the compliment, but resisted covering herself. Instead, she threw the sheets aside, displaying her full body to Simi, and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. Her sore muscles and raw skin made her wince as she sat up. "Is it morning?" She glanced at the window to confirm there was daylight, then looked back at Simi. "You're leaving? Where are you going?"
"I got a text from Tom in my building design class. You know that Art Deco theater downtown that got sold last month? The new owners want to 'refurbish' it into an IMAX, but Professor Garisenda got permission for us to tour the place first, as a post-finals reward; I can't pass that up. We're meeting at the lecture hall in a half hour." She hefted her backpack from beside the desk. "You know, it's a shame these developers keep tearing apart these old buildings; they always have such great history, and usually a few hidden secrets."
"So, you're giving up
this,
" Lena gestured to her body, running a hand down her thigh, trying to lure Simi back to bed, "to go crawl around in some dusty old building?"
"Yep, I'm one-night-standing you," Simi joked, then chuckled, remembering. "Two-night. I'll be gone most of the day, so feel free to relax." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder towards the door. "I made some extra sandwiches, just in case; they're in the fridge."
Lena tried to pout. "I could order you to stay. I think you still owe me one."
Simi shook her head with a grin, then stuck her index finger in her mouth, wetting it. She leaned in and mischievously tapped the moistened finger on Lena's forehead, chanting: "Simi must go. Lena-bot will stay. Good Lena must obey." That tickled a few neurons in pleasing ways, so Lena nodded. Simi rubbed Lena's cheek with her hand, and Lena leaned into the touch. "And no having fun without me today. Just take it easy, okay? I'll be back later. Bye!" She swept from the room.
Lena heard the front door click shut a few moments later, and smiled to herself, thinking about what she could accomplish in Simi's absence. Then her smile faded; Simi had just forbidden her from pleasuring herself until she returned.
Well, there's plenty of time left for experimentation before the new semester starts, and it won't hurt to recharge myself for a day.
She stretched her legs, testing her muscles, noting the areas with complaints, and uttered a frustrated sound.
And no Simi around to rub on the Icy Hot cream. I should shower.
She lifted her arm and sniffed; the smell was... well, some of the odors weren't pleasant. And it gave her an excuse not to put on clothes for a few more minutes. She stood and headed for the bathroom, enjoying the movement of air against her bare skin.
At the door she paused.
Simi's gone. She'll be gone all day.
She turned; her eyes drawn inexorably to the closet.
The suit.
Simi hadn't worn it at all during their marathon lovemaking session, for obvious reasons. Her programming allowed E27 to execute commands without it for an hour at a time, after which Simi had jealously taken her turn. But Lena, however willing, and even under the guidance of Simi's training, could only pretend to obey her orders.
I can change that.
The suit is right there.
I'm here.
Simi's gone.
I could just-
"Shut up, brain," she muttered, trying to quell the compulsion growing within her. The temptation was nearly overwhelming. She backed out the door, and dashed into the hallway.
Trying to divert her thoughts, Lena slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She shivered briefly as she stepped beneath the water's flow; she'd set the temperature for lukewarm, and it was just a fraction too cold, but hot water would stimulate her over-sensitized skin, and she'd take longer to cool down. The tepid liquid sheeted over her skin as she scrubbed with the lather sponge, conscientiously cleaning every inch of her body. She washed her hair; it felt right to be at her best today.
Like a ceremony,
Lena realized.
I'm the sacrificial virgin, being cleansed and dressed for the ritual offering to the dragon.
She chuckled; the word 'virgin' certainly didn't apply. Toweling off after the shower was ritualistic too; she rubbed each part of her body thoroughly with the thick cloth, leaving no speck of moisture behind. A hair dryer blew the remaining water from her hair, though she worried momentarily about over-drying it. That worry passed:
don't want to drip into the suit and short it out...
The thought brought her up cold; she was fantasizing about putting on the suit again. Was that why she was so intent on cleaning and pampering herself? She quickly shut down that line of thinking, and turned to study her reflection in the mirror, pleased with what she saw. Thankfully, she was fastidious about trimming her body hair. Nothing would inhibit the suit's transceiver nodes from direct contact with her skin...
damn it!
With a rumble, her stomach announced the need for breakfast. But as she dressed and went on with her day, her mind kept tempting her with stray suggestions: the suit could program her to automatically select the proper clothes for the day's activities. There were steps to preparing and eating a bowl of cereal; the suit could program her to execute them. She already knew the program for washing dishes; the suit could finalize it. Studying for classes on her laptop would be inefficient; the suit could download the information to her brain...
I have to try it.
Seeking further distraction, she brought her laptop into the living room and set it on the coffee table. She flipped it open, and pressed the power button, but as the loading screen appeared, she caught herself glancing back at the hallway to Simi's room. She buried her face in her hands, frustrated; the files and windows on the desktop evaded her notice. "I'm in no mood to study," she whimpered.
I have to try it. I have to try it.
The coaxing whispers continued. She slumped back into the cushions, lost in the fog between temptation and virtue. She spent the next five minutes shivering on the couch, praying for Simi to walk back in the door, to stop her, talk sense to her, remove the seductive silver suit from the apartment... but the intervention never came. Anxiety gave way to pacing, and she quickly wore a worried path into the carpet around the room, flailing her hands, clenching her fists to try and distract herself.
I have to try it. I have to try it. I have to try it.
Barely ten minutes had passed before Lena's flustered roaming led her back to the door of Simi's room; it opened with a touch. She tried to resist, her flickering gaze taking in the total disarray of Simi's bed, the dormant computer on the desk opposite her, the sunlight streaming in through the blinds, the small shelf with Simi's knick-knacks and keepsakes. She'd noticed before that there were no family photos on the shelf or desk; Simi wouldn't need them, with her perfect recall.
Nor would I if I just...
Lena crossed the room to the closet; the sliding door rolled aside at her push. Simi's clothes hung in neat order within, but Lena shoved the hangars across the closet rod, leaving them crushed to one side.
Have to have to have to
There it was. The silver suit hung at the back of the closet, inert, unmoving, ominous. Lena took it out and held it up. She touched it, stroked the close-woven gray fibers, fingered the tiny metal bumps on the inside. She replayed in her mind all the times she'd seen Simi wearing it, remembering what it did to Simi, fantasizing about what it could do to her.
I have to put it on. I need to. I must!
One last desperate fit of sanity struck, and she tossed the suit on Simi's bed. Pausing for a moment, she plopped herself down in the desk chair and tried not to stare at the garment, while the litany of good and bad reasons for what she was about to do spun through her mind over and over, laced with Simi's reassurances about the suit's safety.
"With a little modification, things can be so much easier. Moving, learning, remembering, all that,"
the memory of Simi reminded her.
"I can download information directly into my brain. Once I download something, I never forget it. I just put it on, and plug it in, like you saw; the suit takes care of the rest. I have the computer input what I want to learn... It's perfectly safe; I control what the computer programs into me."
This is just a test run. I'll be fine, as long as I don't plug it into the computer, right?
Lena reasoned to herself.
