All events and characters are fictional. Copyright 2007 by James Adling. All rights reserved.
Chapter 2
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The explorer probe in Nicole's body was frustrated. It had made very interesting discoveries, confirming that this new host was largely the same as the original one. The differences were also very interesting and worthy of study. But this host's body was too healthy! The probe had not found an adequate number of cells it could safely infect without harming her, so it was just barely able to function, let alone do any analysis. Getting this raw data to the original host was top priority. But in its limited form the explorer could not launch return probes. It simply did not have the capacity in the right places to tickle the host's nose and produce a sneeze. Direct contact with the original host would be needed. But as the probe had observed all day, that kind of direct contact between hosts was rare. It had almost seemed as if the host had been teasing the probe. Over and over again, the probe had watched in excitement as Nicole ran towards another potential host, and then instead of coming into contact chased after and repeatedly struck a round white object. Even if the longed-for original host came into view, the probe dreaded that it would be similarly teased, even though the white object had not been in view for quite some time.
The host really had seemed to care about that white object. As the virus watched her interact with it, it had noticed that she seemed to be trying to direct it toward a particular oblong structure, and that each of the times that it went in to the structure, certain chemicals were released inside her brain. Were these rewards for reaching her goal? If the release of those chemicals could be controlled, perhaps she could be motivated to move towards another host as she had toward the ball. It would be surprising if these organisms weren't smart enough to act like the cells they were made up of, which were at least capable of chemotaxis: moving in the direction of increasing rewards.
* * * * *
Nicole was exhausted but overflowing with happiness. Her team had won their quarter-final match and she had scored 2 of their 3 goals. Scoring a goal was a huge thrill for her. It was almost a sexual thrill. Except forget the almost. It got her seriously hot. Even just thinking back on those goals did it. And she couldn't get them out of her mind. The coach had said they should call it an early night to be well-rested for tomorrow's semi-final match, and Nicole agreed, but she was having a hard time calming down. Sharing a room with 3 of her teammates made masturbation not an option, so she was on her way to the pool thinking that a nice cold dip might settle her nerves, or possibly that the hot tub jets might resolve her problem in the opposite way. In order to keep that second option open by being alone, she hadn't told anyone she was going to the pool. When she got to the pool room, she could see through the glass that there was already someone in the hot tub. That pretty much eliminates one option, she thought. Oh well.
She quickly stripped off her sweatpants and T-shirt and put them on the bench, then turned to go into the pool room. As she glanced at the man in the hot tub she suddenly recognized him as the man who had sneezed on her this morning. Then a huge wave of arousal hit her. What the hell? She stopped in her tracks. That line of thought had most definitely NOT been sexy. Was she developing a sneeze fetish? Whatever. She took another step forward and was hit by another wave. Damn. She looked at the man in the hot tub again and was instantly hit by another wave. This was bizarre. The guy really wasn't anything special. In fact, quite the opposite. He was lying there with his eyes closed, and nobody else was in the room. After getting a few progressively smaller waves just by looking at him, she found that she had to step closer to him to get a new wave of pleasure. She stood for a long time at the door without wanting to move. Opening the door would surely get his attention. Then suddenly he opened his eyes, turned his head, and saw her staring at him through the glass, producing the most intense wave of arousal yet. She moaned as she involuntarily sagged forward against the glass, panting. After a moment she recovered somewhat. What the hell was going on? This was just plain freaky! She turned and ran back toward her room in fear.
Jim wondered briefly what that girl's issue was, then rested his head again and relaxed with his eyes closed, trying to fix the image of her bikini-clad hourglass figure in his mind. What a goddess. But what his mind's eye kept focusing on instead was the bizarre expression on her face. Yes, it definitely looked like sexual arousal, but with way too much fear in it to be sexy. He had never seen anything quite like it. Eyes wide open, jaw slightly slack, face and upper chest flushed... Was she crazy? On drugs?
Outside the pool room Nicole and 16 of her teammates -- just under half of the team -- had gathered and were having an intense whispered conversation. The others had been on their way to use the pool, having quietly crept past the coach's room, when they ran into Nicole running away in fear.
"Nicole, I'm with you. I totally don't understand it, and it freaks me out, but I feel it too, just like you said. I know he's not attractive but it's like nobody told my body that."
"Thanks Jen, I'm glad I'm not the only one going crazy."
"I feel something weird too when I look at him, but for me it's more like a sense of accomplishment or something. Which I know makes no sense. It's not sexual at all. Just a really strong and sudden happy feeling, like I just did something to be proud of."
"So Helen, what you're saying is you're proud that you're able to look at this guy?"
"I didn't say it made any sense."
"I know what she means," said Kelly, "it's not sexual for me, it's just more of a giddy happy feeling. Like I want to jump up and down and laugh. Every time I look at him or move toward him. And I have no idea why!"
"Yeah, exactly. I feel that too." said Trisha.
"You guys are freaking me out. He's totally ordinary. He looks like George on Seinfeld."
"Yeah, crossed with Richard Nixon." This produced a chorus of giggles.
Nicole wasn't amused. "So none of the rest of you feel anything, really? Look closely."
"Oh wow I do all of a sudden," said Sarah, "Yeah! It's so amazing! I feel an overwhelming urge whenever I look at him... I can't stand it anymore. I need to go in there... And jump in the pool and totally ignore that loser! Come on girls."
Jim looked up as a dozen laughing girls entered the pool room. He guessed that they probably wanted the hot tub. Anyway, after a day in which he had ogled so many different girls, even though the impending bikini show looked likely to take the cake by far, this was too much. He was sick of feeling like he was being unfaithful to his wife, even just in his imagination. He was just about ready to be done anyway, so he got out and started drying off. He was keeping his eyes down while the girls stripped down to their suits, so he didn't notice that 5 girls stayed outside the pool room and stared at him with strange expressions. He finally looked up just as he was about to leave the pool room, and stopped still. The five girls he had sneezed on this morning were all staring at him.
For a moment nobody moved. They were 6 deer caught in headlights. Then Nicole suddenly grabbed Jim's pile of clothes and ran. Jim opened his mouth to shout but all that came out was a gigantic sneeze. He was paralyzed by another huge sneeze as he opened the door. Out in the hall the other girls were running after Nicole. Someone shouted "Nikki what the hell?" The rest of them were giggling hysterically as they ran.
As Jim hustled out, one of the girls in the pool called after him "Allergic to women?"
