David drummed his fingers on the table, his knee bounced up and down. He looked over his preparations one last time: fresh flowers, homemade dinner, a crackling fireplace... was this too much? Maybe. Would it even matter if things played out the way he'd intended? Maybe not.
If this worked how he hoped, he'd be able to do the impossible; he'd be able to sleep with Christine, his best friend since high school. He thought back to her many rejections over the years, some were gentle and some left him broken hearted for months after. In the end, she was the cute girl next door with a beautiful smile and a progressively more rocking body the longer he'd known her. Not supermodel skinny but with full, flowing curves around her ass and chest, strong thighs and a toned layer of muscle underneath her soft exterior.
He jumped, pulled from his dream, as the lock clicked and she walked into their shared apartment, now with his touches of romance scattered about. He clicked the remote as the speakers hummed out a chill low-fidelity beat, masking other frequencies hidden underneath. She set down her coat and slumped as she looked at him.
"Come on, David," she groaned. "This again?"
"No, no come on. This is just a friendly dinner."
"A friendly dinner with candles and wine?"
"Not just any wine, a Meiomi Pinot Noir, your favorite."
She paused, it's not that they hadn't tried to date a few times over the years, they were best friends after all and had been through a lot together. High school, puberty, college, various flings and flirts throughout, but there had never been a spark, at least that's what Christine had said. No chemistry or sexual attraction, and now in their early adult life they were roommates. Totally platonic roommates. Great.
"Just one drink?" David asked.
She considered it, half listening to the music. She softly bit her lip, finally meeting David's gaze with something a bit more mischievous in her eyes.
"Just one drink."
David grinned.
* * *
Two days earlier.
David was day-dreaming of Christine as he typed the strings of data his lab assistant was spouting out. A short low frequency droned from the speaker of his computer.
"And how does that make you feel?"
"Um, sad. I guess?"
"On a scale of 1-10, how sad does it make you feel?"
"5? I know that's not really high, sorry."
David sighed, it was not very high. So far his PhD research topic had been a total bust. Looking for psychological connections between abnormal frequencies had been such an interesting topic when he'd chosen it. But now, after 5 months of half-hearted studies with no obvious connections, he'd been reduced to testing on his undergrad lab assistant.
"It's okay, Allison, I need you to be honest if we're going to actually prove something here." He checked the time and the other tests remaining for today. He'd been experimenting with varying frequencies of naturally occurring sound patterns. So far the so-called "golden ratio" was a golden waste-of-time. Next he just needed to test the QRS pattern so he could go home and jack off thinking about Christine for the billionth time.
"A few more then we can head out."
"Okay!" she squeaked.
As the tone began to play, beginning almost imperceptibly and increasing in volume David glanced over at Allison. She was timid and meek in all the ways Christine was not. A brilliant engineer who'd been glad to take on the research job he'd offered her, Allison lacked the confidence to make much of her razor-sharp intellect. Despite spending so much time in the office with her he'd never really found her very attractive. She was tall (for a woman), skinny, and her brown hair was always flat and straight; covering up half of her face. David didn't know what kind of body she had due to the fact that all she ever wore was jeans and a black hoodie, concealing any feminine features she might have had.
David blinked, realizing he'd been lost in thought once again. The sound had been playing for longer than the 15 second test and Allison was looking uncomfortable. She sat dazed, shifting in her seat, with her face bright red as she held a blank, almost worried expression.
As soon as he pressed pause, she bolted up. "I have to go!" She exclaimed before shuffling quickly to the door and out of the lab. David remained, staring at the waveform that was open on the computer, it had only been playing for about a minute.
David smiled as he typed in the notes section of the mp3 file.
Requires more testing.
* * *
The next day he'd approached Allison's desk with caution, not wanting to scare her away.
"Hey, so what was that about yesterday?"
"Oh, um, yeah. I'm sorry, that sound was really unsettling," Allison slouched more into her hoodie so it went up to her ears, covering most of her face. David could see it was regaining it's red sheen from yesterday.
"That's okay, I was just hoping we could gather the data from it. Since it
is
the only one that's given any kind of measurable reaction." His finger began to tap on her desk with a bit of eager worriedness. It was true, David had been up all night thinking about the effect that the sound had had on his assistant. And as a scientist he was being honest, this did need a few more tests to prove some things out, maybe just not the way Allison had intended.
"I guess we can record the data," she said hesitantly.
"Perfect," David clapped his hands together. "Let's head to the sound room."
"Wait, can't I just tell you here?"
David did his best "disappointed professor" look at the girl. "How about we take this as a learning opportunity and you tell me why we can't do that?"
She sighed, looking down, "We need to control as many elements as possible to not interfere with the data collection."
"Bingo, now let's go."
The sound room was an empty office in the lab that had a few comfy chairs set up and a place for David's laptop and speaker. Unlike the main lab it had no direct view of the hallway or outside, thanks to the double set of doors.
Once they had settled inside David set everything up and began a recording so he didn't have to worry about typing. "Tell me what you felt yesterday."
"May 29th, when listening to waveform 491, this is Allison Smith..." she began.
"Very thorough Allison, but I already have that information typed out. I just want to know your experience."
"Oh! Y-yeah, sorry....habit..." she paused, not wanting to proceed.
David let the silence go on, until she finally broke. "It- it made me feel warm."
"Warm how?"
"About a 7....or 8."
"No, Allison, what kind of warmth did waveform 491 make you feel? Explain."
"Like," she paused again, looking for the right words. "A warmth deep in my body, a very natural one, it made me uncomfortable and I wanted to leave. Probably a 9 honestly. There. Are we good?"
David examined her face, wondering. A psychological effects of a sound wave producing emotions he'd expected, but not a physical sensation. Were these two things related? And Allison was so uncomfortable by just a bit of warmth? No, something didn't add up and he thought he might know why.
"That was great Allison, now I'm going to play it again and we-"
"What?! You can't play it again, I thought we already had the data on it? That's what I just told you."
"Allison..." he reproached.
"Observations must be collected as soon as possible, any interference or room for human error could skew the observers perceived emotions. You're right." David smiled, it had been almost word-for-word from his methodologies paper. He never would have imagined it would be useful in a situation like this.
"You're right. Now, we're going to do this in stages, you let me know if it gets too much for you, okay?"
She nodded. He pressed play.
The QRS wave was the essential waveform of a heart beat, the small buh-bum that was now sped up to thousands of times per second so it became a high pitched ringing. This time David did not drift away into thought, he watched as Allison's face became red, her knees clenched together and her breathing became heavy. After 15 seconds he stopped the noise.
Allison slumped down, looking relieved but antsy.
"How did that feel Allison?"
"Fine, warm. About an 8."
"What kind of warmth?" David pushed a bit. Her eyes darted from his.
"...The- the same as yesterday...?"
"That's not good enough Allison, we need more data. Accurate and reproducible." The previous night he'd tried some tests on himself, short bursts of the sound at varying amplitudes. Nothing. He assumed that after spending months forging the building blocks for these sounds he'd become somewhat immune to whatever effect or lack thereof they had.
He needed to know
the actual effects before he could get excited.
He pressed play again.
Allison jerked upright, opening her mouth to say something and then, not trusting what would come out, she closed it tight. 15 seconds passed, then 30, he watched as her brow furrowed and the shifting in her seat began.
"We need to know, otherwise the whole project is a wash. Your research experience will mean nothing and all your time will have been wasted." She was blushing again, trying not to make eye contact with him. But more than that, she seemed turned on? It seemed too good to be true as David noted her increasing ticks and twists of a strange pleasure. The woman almost seemed like she was watching a porno play out in front of her, but he couldn't be sure. How do you feel, Allison?"
She did her best to hold back the word as it jumped from her mouth, almost a plea, "H- Hot."
"Very good," he tapped the spacebar, pausing the frequency after spending a few seconds drinking in Allison's belabored expression. She stood up immediately, face a bright red and with tears welling up in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to say that."
"Sit down," he said, voice firm. To his surprise, she did. They had never had the most substantial boss/employee relationship, but now she was following his orders?
"Like I said, this won't mean anything if we can't record the observations, Allison." Maybe a stronger approach would help her come clean. "So quit messing around and help the experiment here. Answer questions directly and without so much god damn hesitation."
She nodded, "Allison Smith, longer exposure to waveform 491 caused increased temperature and feelings of higher...," she paused. "-libido." David's eyes widened.
"Elaborate please, then we'll be done with this test."
