Virtual Darlene: A Crime Thriller Story (Digital Part Three) Read online

  Virtual Darlene

  A Crime Thriller Story

  Digital Part Three

  by Owen Carlysle

  all rights reserved copyright 2013 by Polaris Mystery In Action

  They stepped into the break room at just after noon, and the sounds of ping pong balls, air hockey discs, and upright video game cabinet beeps filled the room. A few employees played basketball, and Flight noticed a large buffet spread out over six or seven tables. Employees walked through it piling green olives, pasta salad, chicken wings, sandwiches, and shrimp cocktail onto their plates. “You got some kind of a special occasion happening today, Arthur?”

  Grainger shook his head. “We cater lunch every day here. We cater breakfast on Mondays and dinner on Thursdays because a lot of employees stay late so they can have early on Friday.” The CEO turned. “Do you want to get a plate?”

  Flight shook his head. “I’m good. Let’s just get to it so I can finish the preliminary work on the investigation.” He felt stupid saying it. There wasn’t a damned thing the game would tell him, but the thought of seeing a virtual Darlene fighting with horny aliens or whatever seemed like a worthy distraction, and he went with it. Grainger led him into the same high security hallway. He was gratified to see the security guards were still at post.

  “Go get some food, boys. The police have already been here so we don’t need to secure the scene anymore. Enjoy lunch and spread the word. Eight thirty tomorrow morning I want all security staff together in…” He turned to Grainger and asked, “Do I have a conference room?”

  “Just have Darlene pick one for you and book it.”

  “Okay. I want all security staff together. We’ll post wherever it will be a little later today.” The men nodded but didn’t leave. “Dismissed, boys. Go eat.” They finally left, disappearing around the same corner they’d turned to arrive earlier. Flight made a mental note to follow the corridor later and determine where they’d originated.

  Grainger pressed the buttons on the keypad, swiped his card, and pushed the door open. Flight wondered why the interior door wasn’t sealed, but he was grateful that he wouldn’t have to cut any tape. When they reached the room with the giant screen, he saw that Grotek’s office door was taped shut.

  Grainger walked to the platform and pressed a button on one of the poles. Light streamed down on it, revealing a chair that looked like a car seat where only a vague shape had been visible. “Um, you’ll want to take off your jacket and…um, your…well, you kind of want to be naked.” Flight watched as Arthur pulled what looked like paper out of a dispenser he hadn’t seen and put it over the seat. Then, he walked back to Flight. He held a sealed plastic bag with what looked like a hunting vest inside. “There are really clear instructions. You want to make sure the contact points, the little silver circles, are against your skin, and the sleeve…um, where you put your…” He shrugged and pointed to his crotch. “It’s adjustable, so you don’t have to worry if it seems tight or loose; it will adjust while you play.”

  Flight stood and stared as Grainger walked away. He heard the low sound of electronics powering up, and flashing lights appeared on the side of the platform. He wasn’t close enough to see it clearly, but the setup reminded him of an entertainment center with digital screens, equalizers, volume controls, and switches. The plastic bag seemed very heavy. Grainger turned and said, “We’re ready as soon as you get the apron on, Mr. Flight.”

  It was all very bizarre, and Flight was ready to call it off, but the screen suddenly flared to life and a seven foot picture of Darlene naked filled the screen. A disclaimer reading Eyes Only: This product contains protected and copyrighted trade secrets along with all of the severe consequences of misuse scrolled across the screen, but Flight’s eyes returned to Darlene’s breasts, made a bit more perfect and slightly unrealistic by the CGI, but still real enough to command attention. He shrugged his jacket off to let it fall to the floor. It took him a moment to decide what to do with his gun, but in the end he just let it drop on the jacket until it was covered by his shirt, his pants, and then his undergarments.

  The Apron was surprisingly intuitive. It wasn’t all that different from a bullet-proof vest except for the hole for his penis and the long sleeves. He felt a bit of embarrassment, but it passed once all the buckles were fastened and the snaps were in place. He stood watching the words run on the screen beneath Darlene’s ass until Grainger told him again that he needed to sit down. He walked to the seat and sat. Grainger took cords from the seat and plugged them into the Apron. “Um, unless somebody buys the chair—it works with nine or ten of our games and runs almost a thousand dollars—the apron would usually just plug into the console.”

  “Uh, okay.” Flight still felt foolish, but animated Darlene looked good. Very good. Flight took his arm and pulled up a section of Velcro. Lights flickered on five buttons with basic shapes in glowing lines—triangle, diamond, square, trapezoid, and circle.

  “Um. There are twelve scenarios in this one. We programed forty-eight, so we’ve already got the next three sequels.” He pressed a button and Darlene disappeared, replaced by a menu right out of the porn section at Harkee’s Video a block from Flight’s apartment. Grainger pressed buttons and highlighted, Please Officer! I’ll do anything. “Um. Since we don’t have a lot of time, I’m just going to put it on autoplay. There’s an interactive mode, but it will take a while to teach you how to use it. I’ll be in my office, and you can just get me when you’re done.” He pressed a button and the menu dissolved into a picture of Marilyn sitting in what most television shows portrayed as an interrogation room.

  Flight was vaguely aware of Grainger placing some kind of a helmet over his head, and the image changed so that he felt reasonably like he was in the room with Darlene. He felt the CEO press another button, and Darlene stood. She bit her lower lip and said in a voice that definitely didn’t belong to the executive assistant, “Please, Officer, let me show you how grateful I am.” She leaned forward and put her arms around him. Flight had to resist the urge to hug her in return as he felt her hands run over his back. The technology was impressive. If it weren’t for the unnatural weight of the apron on his chest and arms, the illusion might have been perfect.

  He was amazed at the sensations as she trailed her hands over his chest and the feeling matched her movements. He felt himself growing aroused, and the apron obviously did as well, because Darlene’s animated eyes grew wide and she said, “You’re so big officer.”

  He almost laughed at the corniness, but then he felt it. He felt it as she fell to her knees and took him into her mouth.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, Flight staggered off the chair, pulled off the apron and pulled on his clothes. He felt dirty and disgusting, but even as he did, he knew he felt that way mostly because he’d imagined it was Darlene, not because of the game itself. If it had been a girl he’d never met, he would have thought of it like a porn movie and not felt nearly as bad.

  Bullshit. That was no porn movie. It wasn’t. Flight wasn’t dirty when he was a cop, but even so he’d let a number of call girls walk by paying the fine on their knees. His dick knew its way around a mouth. He shook his head. A video game console had just given him one of the best blowjobs—if not the absolute best—he’d ever experienced. It made no sense, but the game adjusted according to his responses. Darlene had even pulled away for a moment when he got close to tell him she was going to swallow.

  No goddam it! It wasn’t Darlene. The experience was so damned real. He could still feel her. He wondered if he’d be able to look at her without thinking he’d slept with her. He wondered if she knew how damned explicit the thing was. He started to head down the office to turn away, but he stopped and turned around. He walked back in and went to the console. The game had returned to the menu screen. The other scenarios made his head spin.

  Evidently, he could have Darlene the cheerleader. He could have Darlene the twins. He could have rough sex with bondage and whips. He could be the one getting whipped. He could have had anal sex with her. There was even a scenario with a digital man who would take her with the gamer. It was like an East European whorehouse, all on a disc. Grainger wasn’t as smart as the thought he was. He could have charged thousands for the game.

  He realized he’d left the apron the floor and wondered what the hell to do with it. Jesus, the evidence of his…game…of his game was there. How the hell did people deal with it? Was it—

  “It’s washable, you know.” He jumped at the sound of Darlene’s voice and whirled around. He could feel his face grow hot and was thankful for the dim lighting, at least until he realized the lighting came from the image of her naked body on the screen along with a menu of various experiences she offered. He realized he was actually trembling from the embarrassment, actually nervous.

  Darlene on the other hand had an amused and playful smile on her face. “You just pop out the box on the arm, reseal the flap, and throw it in the washer. The instructions recommend cold water and air drying.”

  “I…” His voice trailed off. He couldn’t thing of a damned thing to say.

  Darlene took advantage of it. “So, did you bend me over the workbench and take me from behind? Maybe you watched me licking my twin while she sucked on you? Did you smack me around a little bit, or did you—”

  “Jesus!” He rushed over to the platform, but he
couldn’t figure out what to press. He started hitting random buttons on the seat, but nothing worked. “How the fuck do you turn this thing off?”

  Darlene giggled, “What’s the matter? No round two? Have you tried the double penetration yet? I hear it took an extra eighty-seven hundred lines of code, and they had to make the gamer be the one in my ass because there was no way to get the feel of the other guy’s thrusts…” The horror stricken look on Flight’s face evidently worked to stop her because the playful tone disappeared. “God, I’m sorry, Flight!” He kept pressing buttons. “The green one all the way to the left and below.” He pressed it, and mercifully, the screen went black.

  He let out a long sigh and felt his heartbeat start to return to normal, but his face still felt hot. Soft light flooded the room, and he saw Darlene had moved to a nearly invisible switch next to the entryway. She turned around and smiled a little sheepishly, “I’m sorry. I usually can’t help myself. I was out of line.”

  You sure as hell were. “No, really. I was just…” I was just filling your mouth. “I was just…Jesus, I had no idea what it was I was about to see. I thought I’d be moving around, you know, killing aliens and seeing a little animated you screw the hero on screen as a reward or something. I get it, Grainger tells me to change into the apron, and the next thing I know you’re like one the call girls I used to arrest.”

  “Ah. Please officer! Isn’t there anything I can do?” He turned bright red again, and she stopped. “I’m sorry. Look, I knew it was an adult video game, but I had no idea it was like that. When I saw it, I re-read my contract. Sure enough, it was all exclusive, but it’s kind of weird to think that every man in the company thinks they’ve screwed me.”

  Flight shook his head, “No way. I’m sure they all know the difference between what that was and reality.” No fucking way they did. Hell, he saw her mouth move and remembered how her lips felt. It was bizarre and more than a bit perverse.

  “Maybe.” She smiled, but the smile was thin. “Anyway, I’m down here because I got a call from the detective. He said he needs you to call, something about your appointment in the morning moving to the afternoon. Once you’re settled in, I’ll be handling your schedule for you, but right now, I got nothing to work with.”

  “Thanks. Uh…God this is awkward.” He walked over to the apron, picked it up and stuffed it into the plastic bag. “What the hell do you say to a girl you didn’t just sleep with?”

  She laughed, “You know, if I ever do sleep with anyone at the firm, I’m sure there’s no way in hell I’ll live up to that damned game.”

  She turned and headed out. As he watched her rear end move, Flight decided there was never a more inaccurate statement uttered in the whole history of humankind. He shook his head again, and since he didn’t know what the hell to do with the bag, he carried it with him. He figured it was time to take a look at his office, to get started with whatever it was he needed to do to get things in security squared away. He’d finish Grainger’s prep at three or four o’clock.

  He walked out of the room, through the entryway, and into the hallway. He started for the corner from which the security guards had come when his cellphone rang.

  “Flight.”

  “Um, hi. It’s me, Arthur.”

  “Hi there.”

  “How was the game?”

  He felt his cheeks flush again, but there wasn’t even a trace of humor or sarcasm. The kid was sincere. “It was very realistic.”

  “Great.” Was that pride he’d heard, like he’d just been told his zombies really looked dead, his aliens looked vicious, and the level bosses were perfect? “Um, I was hoping you could come back up to my office.”

  “Sure. We need to finish up with the prep for your interview. I was planning on making my way up there in an hour or two.”

  “Um, can you come up now?”

  He wondered briefly if his job would involve a lot of babysitting. “It can’t wait, Art? I really want to get to know the security situation.”

  There was a long pause. “I think we need better security, Mr. Flight. Gordie Gilton is dead. Another knife, but this one is in his neck.”

 

 

  Owen Carlysle, Virtual Darlene: A Crime Thriller Story (Digital Part Three)

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