Surge

The technician hummed a chirpy song as she finished the last of her diagnostics on the pod. Re-sealing the unit with a click she turned to the anxious homeowner, who stood wringing his hands behind her, near the door leading out of the basement.

"I have no idea where she was getting all that power," the technician shook her head as she spoke. "But I've upgraded the cable gauge and raised the limiter so she'll be safe to use till we can swap her out next week." She turned back to the pod and continued. "I'm not going to lie, though. This is a pretty extreme case. If I were you I'd make as much hay while the sun is still shining."

"Of course." He puffed from behind his mustache. "It's clearly working very hard."

The technician shook her head.

"No, no. 'Working hard' is an output of 4.0 at 160 bpm. 'Working hard' is an uptime of 16 hours a day." She gathered the last of her tools together and put them into the heavy bag. "What you have here isn't hard work, it's nothing short of a medical miracle. This focus produces on average 5.6+ output, and clocks in 18.5 hours a day. I've seen focuses put in this level of effort for a few days, maybe a week. But she's almost seven months into her contract and still pulling these figures. This could be a new company record. I guess that's why the lab wants it back."

Again the homeowner was unsure what to do with this information. All he had done was sign up when the salesman had come to his house eight or nine months earlier. They'd offered a power solution that would give him total energy independence, and even a tidy little kickback if he could keep his energy consumption down and keep his focus on track with the occasional prodding surge.

All of this talk about output hours didn't mean a lot to him, but it was a different story for the engineer. She'd made a long set of complicated notes after her diagnostics. The unit's controlling program had developed some unusual characteristics. Somehow there were protocols and processes that she'd never seen before, maybe even true originals. It was like the machine had been conducting tests while it pulled o-power out of the focus encased inside.

It was true though, that the pod was programmed to try and figure out which combinations of stim, rods and pheromones worked best on different focuses. But the ingenuity of this particular pod was well above the standard parameters. Of course the technician could never admit that to a customer though; the company had put so much money into marketing the machines as non-experimental and predictably safe.

The technician finalized her notes and cleared the machine for transport. Holding out her clipboard she asked the homeowner for a signature and reassured him that he would be compensated for any lost output from a new unit. Just before she left, she leaned down and peeked through the viewing portal. Nothing unusual, another young woman who looked to be sleeping deeply lay naked in the pod. The curves of the pod's bed fit her perfectly, but the small window hid from view all of the machinery of the pod.

Although she appeared to be sleeping, the screen reported that the focus was still outputting almost 1.6 in o-power. The technician shook her head again; her boyfriend loved to wake her up by gently teasing her when she was sleeping and the second he hit somewhere sensitive she was awake in a bolt. There was no way she would be able to sleep though so much stimulation. This focus was really something new.

The pod was collected later that week and swapped out with an early contract replacement. This new focus was a solid performer with decent levels, and had been chosen to keep the homeowner from grumbling too much. It took a team of three laborers to maneuver the pod onto the racking and up into the van for transport.

"Is she plugged in yet?" asked the lead courier, a large, blunt company kind of man.

"Just getting it now... there we go." One of the assistants called back.

"We aren't supposed to travel with her plugged into the truck, are we?" The third man asked.

"If this bitch runs as hot as engineering think, she can power the truck for an hour or two no problem. Besides," he continued as the two others secured their seat belts. "If they care so much about their precious focus girls, why do they make us ship her without waking her up? It wouldn't take three of us to move this if she was out and about, would it?"

He reached back and pushed the surge button on the pod's control screen. As they were doing the final checks, securing latches and straps, the pod began to make gentle whirring sounds. Inside an unseen combination of stim vibrations and artificial pheromones began to soak into the focus, increasing both its bpm and energy output.

"Shit look at that, she does run hot. Poor bitch. I wonder what will happen when the lab coats get to her."

The pod cycled through the surge as the truck pulled into traffic and eventually out onto the highway. From deep inside the core of the unit the computer took in the change of surroundings. It adjusted the temperature by a degree or two, and took advantage of the vibrations of the truck to test a new method of full body stimulation. It logged the results, all the while pulling as much o-power from the captive focus as it could bear.

The truck arrived at the facility ahead of schedule with suspiciously full fuel cells. Another set of technicians unloaded the pod and took it down into the facility through the engineering and production departments, and down into the research and development sector. All around them were half completed prototypes for new pod designs, and experiments that tested every part of o-power generation and infrastructure.

She was wheeled past arsenals of long silicone rods, some thin and tactical like curling fingers, some thick and beastial with huge bulbs and knots. There were stim patches in all shapes and sizes. There were vibrating wands that buzzed so loudly and powerfully they sounded like a swarm of bees.

Exhausted from her earlier surge, the focus saw none of this. Although even if she had been awake all she would have seen was the bright fluorescent lights on the roof wheeling by as she turned down the corridors toward the "Maximums" testing area.

The engineer she was assigned to for testing was a quiet and shaggy man of about 30. He signed the con note and wheeled her pod the final distance over to its new home in the testing bay. He connected the thick orange cable that would carry energy out, and the green one that pumped in nutrients. He also attached a new set of smaller, clear cables for testing purposes. They snaked back across the room over to a workbench, some directly into tanks with different chemicals and pheromones, while others plugged into a set of monitors, broadcasting her vitals onto screens above the desk.

Finally there was a thin black cord that connected the pod's computer control directly into the mainframe of the facility. Logging into the unit was a challenge - for whatever reason this pod seemed stubbornly resistant to participating in diagnostics. Shrugging the technician let it go and turned his attention down through the viewing portal and onto the focus who laid below.

The assignment he had received was simple: investigate the source of this focus's outstanding power output and see what lessons could be learned. He was then to test a few new pieces of equipment for their efficacy and report back on what the best use of such a high-powered focus should be.

First though, he would need to establish some baselines, and then see what the initial maximums and limits of the focus were. Following protocol he jabbed the shock button a few times, sending a small pulse of electricity across the stem pads over the focus's groin. It was always best to wake them up gently, jumping straight into something too heavy was like trying to run a car down a highway in the wrong gear - it just put needless stress on the system, and he was planning to put the system through a lot of stress.

Her vitals ticked up immediately, so quickly it was practically pavlovian. Before he had even been able to commence the surge program her system was responding. Both bpm and o-power were already up and rising quickly. The pod seemed to sense what was coming as well, because the surge button popped up onto the display as if inviting the technician to press it. He smirked at its eagerness, and pressed the button, taking some notes as the gentle clicks and hums of the pod intensified.

Blinking in the bright light, the focus noticed the change of view coming in through her small portal to the outside world. Clearly she was no longer in the basement she had spent the last seven months. The harsh light here made her think she might be in a hospital, but before she could think any more clearly about the change she gasped in surprise. The broad head of a vibrating rod came directly into contact with her slit. It adjusted the vibration minutely, moving to a spot just above her clit and hovering just far enough above the skin that the rod almost whispered against her. She smiled, closing her eyes, gratified that her lover knew her so well.

Her bpm climbed steadily without any further movement or action from the pod. After almost two minutes of complete motionlessness she began to squirm, bucking her hips the tiny amount she could in a desperate attempt to get more contact with the vibrator. Her joy was edging over into frustration as the pod held the vibration just further away than she wanted. It must have been the pod's favorite game at the moment, and she never knew what it was waiting for when it played at teasing her like this. Stealing a glance at the small monitor inside the pot she saw that her bpm was high and that the power output was high too, why wouldn't it just press down hard and drive her to full o-burst? Surely if the goal was to pull orgasm energy out of her it should be trying harder to make her orgasm?

But the machine knew her too well. It knew if it pushed her over the edge to full burst in the first few minutes, she couldn't sustain the surge for as long as when she was edged at the start of a session. So it edged her, increasing the vibration but still refusing to bring the warm silicon head of the vibrator into direct contact with her.

Three more heart fluttering minutes passed and still the pod had not bought her all the way to burst. She clenched her eyes tight in frustration and began to whimper something that might have been "pleased please please". A range of sensors took readings from her and decided that the moment was still not right. The vibrator shut off entirely, and the absence of any stimulation was such a shock to her system that her bpm continued to rise for a few seconds still.

Outside the machine that technician stood in silence. Although edging protocols had been designed there was no record of one being used in a Surge episode. This teasing behavior was so cunningly executed that somehow the pod was extracting surge level power output without even touching the focus. Whatever was happening here was well beyond standard operating procedures.

Suddenly, without any warning or fanfare the vibrating rod flared back to life hard and pressed down on the small smooth space just above the focus's clit. The jolt to the power output was stunning and the focus was in full o-burst in less than two seconds. The strength and intensity of the waves were staggering to watch. The technician counted six, then nine, then 14 contractions, and still the focus continued to burst.

Seemingly pleased with its results the pod pulled back the vibrating rod, and repositioned itself just off the surface of her skin. Once again its vibrations whispered onto the sensitive place just above her slit. There was a small but noticeable drop in power and bpm. The technician noticed the pod pumped in more oxygen as the focus took big, gulping breaths. From here the novel edging protocol started all over again, this time buzzing just off her body for a full 12 minutes.

Once again the results were astounding. After the initial drop the focus's bpm began to climb steadily, the next burst building up inside her. The pod took several breaks cutting the stimulation entirely before gently reapplying it again all just off the surface of her body.

The technician had seen all kinds of the pressure tests and endurance sessions during his time in research and development. He has even written a few protocols that were especially fiendish - the general consensus was that whatever it took to get more energy output and did no damage to the focus was fair game. But even with all of this experience the calculated relentlessness of the pod in this surge was a whole order of magnitude more intense.

Deep inside the pod, the focus felt like a primitive creature. She felt like a beast in heat, thrashing desperately to get just a bit more stimulation and end this edging. Somewhere in the back of her mind she mused in amazement over how such a small sensation could have such a huge impact, but most of her attention was on the throbbing pulse of her crotch.

Instead of pushing her over the edge through the teasing vibration, the pod quietly positioned a slim rod of warm silicon, positioning itself just over her slick and sticky slit. It paused, almost like it was considering if this was the right thing to do.

But the first move didn't come from the rod poised to drive into her. First the vibrating head that had been teasing her mercilessly for so long clicked forward the tiny distance to make contact with her clit directly. Before she could even blink the pod drove the silicon rod deep into her needy pussy. As the rod slid into place inside her, she could taste the familiar musky scent of the pleasure-crave pheromone.

The combination was too much, and she began to burst almost as soon as the vibrator touched her skin. Her orgasm rolled through her like a sea in storm, the strong muscles of her groin clenching hard around the girth of the rod. In her chemical-heightened flush of animalistic heat her mind fuse all of the feelings and sensations into a single waterfall of pleasure. The peak of the power she generated from this o-burst alone caused a power surge across the room - if she hadn't been here in the testing rooms with all of their electric shielding she could have blown one of the circuit breakers. Had she still been down in the basement a surge like this could have burst sparks from the control board and even start a fire.

Snapping out of his amazement, the technician jerked his head from screen to screen, assessing the risks. The output monitor recorded a peak of 9.00, but seeing as that was the highest number on the gauge he didn't actually know how powerful this burst was.

The focus was still strapped into the pod, still locked in this cycle of edging, teasing denial and full throttle, earth-shaking orgasm. Now he had some warning about how much power she could put out the technician took a few extra precautions, and went back through the logs to try and figure out how this was possible.

The programming was far more sophisticated than the standard operating system the pods shipped with. He furrowed his brow, trying to ignore the clicks and hums as the pod next to him pummeled the focus into orgasm after orgasm. The only testing he'd seen that even came close to these results was one of the first human trials, back when o-power technology was being investigated. Results like this were still uncommon, but sometimes when another person had direct control over the pod's movements, before the AI control programs had been written, they could push focusses into these figures. When it came to o-power, only other humans understood how to make humans feel this good. The pod was a machine, and the idea that it was learning how to treat a focus like it was an intimate lover was something the technician was not prepared for.

He canceled the rest of the surge protocol and initiated cooldown procedures. Once again, the pod was strangely resistant, ignoring the request. After a few attempts it conceded and began the gentle in and out stroke used in the cooling down protocol. The focus, feeling the drop in speed, was more than a little surprising. Usually surges ran for longer, but then again clearly something had changed in the pod and her surroundings. All she could do was go along for the ride.