The Experiment

by Naughty Sarah

Chapter 1

"I knew it," Jason muttered to himself. "One letter in my Inobx, and it had to be this one." In the past three years of his dealings with the government, they had always used private couriers to correspond, or more often the telephone. But when the message came via email, he knew that his three-year project was at an unsuccessful end.

From: Reginald C. Gunther ID: 223-9164

To: Jason Miffin ID: 350-1060

Message-ID: 6K113684/818802K3

Subj: Final Project Decision - Confidential

Dear Mr. Miffin,

It is with great regret that we must inform you that your proposal to refine, and implement the use of, the device we have discusssed has been denied. Unfortunately with budget cuts applied, this department does not have the resources to properly administer programs which consist primarily of research and development. I will personally keep the proper information on file so that, if the situtation changes, we might be able to continue work on what could be a valuable tool to our society. I also commend your work and thank you for your efforts to this point. Formal notification will be sent to OBC shortly along with cost recovery information.

Sincerely Yours,

Gen. R. C. Gunther

Human Services

He switched the terminal off. Government imbeciles. Not only did they make any sort of effective demonstration impossible, but they had to break the news through email.

Strangely, he felt little anger. He had a good time working on the project, excellent pay, at the mere expense of his social life. His time had been devoted to endless revisions, modifications, and testing of the Device. It wasn't his fault that the Federal people who came to test it were just too-- too-- boring to use it.

Unfortunately he'd never be able to prove that. He wasn't sure of the situations that caused the tests to fail. It worked for him, he felt, because he had a good imagination. Good enough to think up the device in the first place means that one must be good enough to use it.

The Device was a thought amplifier. Bred from some licensed Japanese electro-encephalographic technologies that never saw any use outside some experimental psychiatric clinics that (giggle) were now being sued for some sort of fraud, the Device was a miracle more stunning than the space program, the new light-speed superprocessors, or Ronco's solid-state IR laser turkey carving set.

It started out as a device which could clarify thought patterns for analysis by trained therapists, for use in mental hospitals. The Feds got involved when the NSA wanted to know if it could be used to read minds. Even if Jason could have spent a few years researching that application, he wouldn't think of it-- because certainly he wouldn't be ALLOWED to think of it if the device became a reality.

But Jason's employer, Omni Biotech Corporation, liked the idea of lucrative government contracts and encouraged him to continue with the development. Three years later, Jason and OBC had finished the thought amplifier, but this last email meant that there was NOBODY, and that meant nobody, interested in continuing with it. Now that OBC had no hopes of a $12 billion contract, Jason would probably be out of job.

Katie walked into the Lab. "Is that the TA-12?" she queried, pointing to the metallic blue box on the counter, without even saying hello.

Jason knew at that instant he was being set up. Katie never had anything to do with the technical staff. He had seen her around the building often enough, but learned quickly of her distaste for the techies, and had properly ignored her ever since.

Undoubtedly one of the OBC managers got a copy of the email and sent Katie in to cheer Jason up, rather than stopping in themselves. How unthoughtful. He didn't want to be cheered up. Katie was still standing there, though, and Jason racked his mind to remember what she had asked him.

"Yes, that's it."

Katie didn't waste a second. "It doesn't work, huh?"

Nice cheering-up job, Jason thought. He answered in a tone normally reserved for when you lose your best friend.

"It works fine. It just doesn't work for everyone, that's all. All the government people who tested it were so skeptical, so narrow-minded it couldn't have possibly worked." He wondered if he was rationalizing it or not.

Katie continued her insistent questions as if she had a list of them. "It works for you?"

"Yes. And most other people can use it too."

"Oh." It sounded like she just ran out of questions. "Sorry to be ignorant. I just don't pay much attention to what our experiments do, that's all."

Jason reached behind him and picked up the Device. "Have a seat," he said, pointing to a chair across from him. Katie sat. "All it is, primarily, is a thought amplifier. It looks to what you're thinking, and retransmits it so that you can see it more clearly. But the big advantage is that it transmits to others within a few feet. Want a sample?"

Katie nodded without saying a word. Jason started his long- rehearsed demonstration speech, required so that the visitors would know what's going on and would have some margin of safety should something go wrong.

"Touch your finger here for a second," he said, pointing to a small metal circle on top of the Device, which was in his lap. Katie did. "All you did was allow the device to calibrate itself to your..." (he hated the oversimplification)... "'wavelength', so you can participate. You know what the Device does, and it's easier to show you it's abilities than to tell you.

"All you have to know is this: This box cannot reproduce itself in this color in your mind. It's a safety device that took almost nine months to install. If I were to try to fool you into thinking that the demonstration was over, you'd notice that the box was red, not blue, because it won't let you see it any other way. There's a timer on the top that will end the demonstration in..." (he set the timer) "about ten minutes.

Chapter 2

"That's another safety device in case for some reason I can't turn it off. It'll also turn off on any sort of sensory disturbance, so you have to be comfortable before you can start." He elected to omit the usual comment about using the rest-room first.

"The final safety device limits the amount of pain and suffering you can feel no matter what happens to you. In the image that the box presents, you could stab yourself with a knife and would feel only momentary discomfort. And of course, you wouldn't sustain any real-life damage. That prevents the Device from being used to torture someone, for the most part. Now just clear your mind for a moment, and relax."

He looked up at her. She closed her eyes. He stole a quick peek at her uncrossed legs and the space between them, that had crossed his mind many times before. Why didn't she like the technical people? Such a waste. Oh well. He leaned back and pressed the switch to start the demonstration, then put his hands at his sides.

"Katie?" She opened hers without saying anything. The box was red, instead of blue. It was incredible-- she could have, by any other measure, been actually sitting there staring at a red box there with Jason. But no, the box was blue, and her eyes were closed. It just SEEMED that way. She moved her arms. They moved. Fingers too.

"Everyone always does that," Jason giggled. "Obviously it works with you. Yes, everything seems normal. Your fingers wiggle. And no, they aren't really wiggling in real life. But, for now, they might as well be."

"Incredible. You did this?"

Jason smiled. "Yup. Three years for this. But you haven't seen anything yet!"

They both got up. Just as they got to their feet, the walls and ceiling of the building vanished, revealing the trees, sky, clouds, and such outside. It may have been 41 degrees on the outdoor thermometer 5 minutes ago, but it was a comfy 70 or so now.

"How did that happen?"

"Easy. I just decided that the walls should go away, and even before I imagine it happening, it does. The Device reads what I'm thinking, and makes it seem like it's happening. It was all so simple once we got the basic theories straight. Notice how there's no detail left out?"

Katie looked around the room (what was left of it) and nodded.

Jason continued. "In actuality, that's not true. For all we know, none of the things we're not looking at this second exist. But once we go to look at anything, the image gets filled in from our own thoughts. For the most part, what we see, hear, smell, feel, or taste depends on who looks at it first-- it fills in the detail from that person's memory.

"The other person sees that as the first imagined it. But the person who's holding the physical box has the ultimate authority. Watch." A small metal box appeared on the counter, with a lid that was closed.

"There's an index card inside that box with a four-digit number on it," he said, "but I don't know what it is because I haven't decided on one. Why don't you open the box and see what it says?

Katie walked over to the box while Jason looked around outside. It was mid-afternoon. Some birds flew nearby, something not formerly present.

"It's 8322, the last four digits of my phone number," Katie reported. How did that happen?"

"Either because you wanted it to, or because the Device decided that it was the most likely thing to put there. I don't know your phone number and couldn't have put it there. See?"

Again, Katie just nodded. With that, the numbers on the card changed to 4199, Jason's office extension number. Jason explained. "You might create something out of your imagination... but if there is a conflict, the box-holder gets his way with reality.

"The problem with the tests was that the people who tried it either didn't have the imagination (faith if you like) to make the device work for them, in which case the only effect they ever saw was the box changing color, or they couldn't mentally lock on to the signals from the box, which meant that even THAT didn't happen."

Again, did he really know? Maybe not. It could take years of research. Oh well. "Come on, let's go."

Katie wheeled around and discovered that Jason had sprouted a perfect pair of wings, feathers and all. It was one of his favorite diversions, which he had developed after weeks of testing. He picked Katie up from behind; his arms fitting into the somewhat innocent space below her breasts.

She was very light because he had decided that she should be, at least for now. She didn't complain about it. In an instant Jason hunched down, and leapt into the air.

It was too fast for Katie, who felt that the exciting part had been rushed. They were already fifty feet above the ground, coasting over the trees towards downtown. With a few flaps, Jason lifted them both to several times that altitude. "Nervous?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine." It wasn't convincing. The only other person he'd ever taken on this tour couldn't take it too well. Jason pitched upwards a little bit and slowed down, then gained some more altitude, and generally swooped around a bit. The scenery was breathtaking, and the feeling was unparalleled.

"Afraid of heights?" Jason remembered how he had thought of the Device as a tool to eliminate such fears, the last time he asked that question. Katie didn't answer.

With nothing to lose as far as Katie's opinion of him, Jason did the only thing he could think of to remedy the situtation. He dropped her. Katie screamed, fell a few feet, and stopped in midair at Jason's command. She couldn't have done that herself. He stopped in midair and had her float up to him, facing him. "You see? There's nothing to be afraid of. You can't get hurt here. And I wouldn't let you get hurt anyway."

Chapter 3

She didn't look resentful. She looked down at the streets below, then reached down as if to see what was holding her up. It always seemed to take a while for people to get "the idea"-- that the constraints of reality no longer hold.

"It can be like an amusement park-- thrills without danger, or whatever amuses you."

Katie was now smiling. It was time for Jason to try and promote that idea. It was no fun here with someone that didn't understand, and it looked like Katie was beginning to. Jason continued.

"Take my hand," he said. "I think you've got the idea."

She did. Jason's wings disappeared. A moment later they started falling, from the five thousand feet (funny, we weren't that high up a moment ago) to the town below. Jason looked straight at Katie. She looked up at him. It had worked! She felt enough confidence in him to be able to take her eyes off the approaching Earth. He couldn't keep his feeling to himself.

"I'm impressed, Katie. You've got more inside than I credited you for. Congratulations." He pulled her to him, and held her tight. She wrapped her arms around him, and looked down.

Just before they reached the earth, a large pool of water appeared below them and they splashed harmlessly into it, coming to an almost instant stop. Katie, who had let go just as they reached the water, paddled back over to Jason and grabbed onto him again. He liked the feeling where she was pressing against him.

Finally, she spoke up again. "Can we try it again? Not the fall, I mean, but flying around? I'd like to try it out for myself."

Jason nodded. A moment later, they were both in midair, and Katie had developed some nice orange feathers. Jason followed Katie as she flew back towards the company, swooped down over the trees, and shrieked with excitement.

"I want to try landing," she said. "Will you go first?" Jason agreed, and lined up in front of her, feet down, heading for the flat roof of OBC's main building.

Then he was sitting in a chair, with the blue box on his lap. He looked at the top of it. "Timer's... No, there's still time left, must be..." He looked towards the door. His supervisor had walked in, and the noise had tripped the sensory-monitor device, ending the simulation.

"Good night, you two. Lock up the lab when you leave, OK?"

Jason and Katie both nodded. Jeff added a "Good night" as the supervisor was on the way out the door. As the door closed, he turned to Katie once again. "Always happens that way... There were only about 30 seconds left anyway."

"That certainly seemed like more than four and a half minutes," Katie exlaimed.

"It always does seem longer," Jason agreed. "It would be impossible to test, though, right? A simulated clock would go just as fast as you would imagine it to go. Everything else could speed up too. It just seems to be the way people think."

Surprisingly, although it was a few minutes after five, Katie wasn't leaving like Jason expected her to. Did she really feel like spending time with Jason? Maybe her opinion about techie types had changed a bit.

"Can we try it again? Everyone's gone now and I just had so much fun with you...?

Jason couldn't get his mind off the words 'with you' very easily. "Sure, I'm in no hurry tonight." He started to reach for the timer controls again, and Katie interrupted.

"Could I do it this time? You did it last time, and..."

Jason nodded and handed the box to her, touching the circle on the top after setting it in her lap. "We just set the timer for as long as we want-- maybe ten minutes would be better this time, and..."

Katie didn't wait for the explanation. She set the timer for four hours, sat back. An instant later, the box turned red. Jason got up, startled, and noticed the timer was set for 4:00, not 0:10. "How come you--"

"Because I don't want to be interrupted again. I can turn it off anytime before four hours runs out, right?"

"Yes-- you just IMAGINE you're holding the box, and are turning it off, and it does. Maybe we should do that, and fix the timer--" Jason reached for the box, but it vanished from Katie's lap before he could reach it. She had made it disappear. She could bring it back, but he couldn't. He felt uncomfortable at the prospect.

"I just want to play a while. I'm SURE you won't mind. You said you weren't going anyplace." Pointing to her lap, she added: "Pretty good, huh?"

"Um... Yes," said Jason, obediently staring at her lap. "OK, then, let's see what you can do. Want to go flying again?"

"Not right now. I was just thinking how you can do anything here-- like flying before. Anything." She looked straight into his eyes. "Must be pretty good when your company's getting horny, huh?"

At first, Jason thought she was talking about him. After all, the thought had crossed his mind since they first started the adventure. But no, he hadn't expressed that thought. Then maybe she was just being hypothetical. But the tone of her voice was telling him otherwise. He didn't know what to say.

Katie stood up, and wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself against him. "Remember? In the air? It was your idea, not mine. I don't know whether it was all the adrenaline, the thrill, or you personally. And I don't know how you felt, but it got me positively wet between the legs. Even if I was just imagining it."

Jason restrained himself at the thought of that wetness. He had felt a little something, but at the same time was worried about being a little too forward. But he had to say something.

"Isn't this a little... fast? I like you a lot. But two weeks ago you wouldn't have given me the time of day, much less admit what you just said."

"Maybe. I never really thought about you at all until about two weeks ago. I don't know why. I guess I started feeling guilty about the reasons I DIDN'T pay attention to some people. So, it seemed like the perfect opportunity when Rob asked me to see how you were doing. And..." (she ran one hand across his bottom) "...what a better way to meet? Perfectly romantic."

They were standing on a boat, facing a setting sun, with a violin playing in the background. "Or however else it should be." The corny sunset-boat-violin scene disappeared, leaving total darkness except for themselves. "Much better than meeting in a laundromat." Sounded rational.

Of course, rational was the last thing on Katie's mind. Jason had his arms around her. He slid his hands down across her derriere, feeling the soft fabric of the jeans she was wearing. She seemed to approve. But she let go of him. She stood back a foot or so.

Slowly, and tauntingly, Jason's clothes began to fade away. First his shirt, then his slacks, and without any hesitation, his underwear began to become transparent, revealing everything to Katie's eyes. He couldn't bring his clothes back. The awkward situation made his erection waver.

Chapter 4

"Neat," Katie exclaimed. "I just have to imagine it starting-- your clothes disappearing-- and unless I stop it, it happens by itself without me helping".

At first, Jason though "Neat" was referring to his naked body. But then he realized that he was an unwilling accomplice to Katie's vanishing-clothes trick. She had never seen him naked before, and so the vision that she now saw was constructed from Jason's own thoughts.

He was beginning, more and more, to feel like the student in this environment, when before he was only the teacher. He'd never done anything quite like this in the demonstration--

Katie's voice interrupted his thoughts again. The sexy tone in her voice had returned. "YOU'RE neat TOO, you know." She was staring, unashamed, at his previously private areas. She walked back up, still dressed, and touched his cock. He didn't complain. She looked at him straight in the eyes, and made her own blouse disappear, slowly like before.

No bra-- just two very nice tits were now visible. She still looked straight into Jason's eyes, watching them sweep down her body, hesitate, then look back up into her eyes. "I want to see you get hard. I want it to happen right here. Bigger, harder than you ever have before."

Jason obliged her. He felt himself starting to stretch right in her hand, growing, getting warm, and longer. Her grip tightened around him as he grew. He ran his eyes over her chest freely now, using the stimulation to carry out Katie's request. Finally he reached up and touched her breasts, which somehow seemed to excite him more than her. Her attention was on his growing member. He rubbed his fingers, then hands, then both hands over her tits, watching her nipples grow erect at his fingertips.

She let go of him. It felt cold now, but his cock didn't wither. Katie stood back, again, and this time revealed the rest of herself to him. Jason's eyes, as one might expect, focused on the little patch of brown hair between her legs-- as his mind focused on the infinite pleasure just beyond.

At this point Jason's mind was so fixed on the impending copulation, that even the unnatural absence of background didn't seem unnatural anymore. This wasn't imagination; it was reality. There was Katie, and Jason, and that was all. Nothing else. And Katie had decided, apparently, that there was only one thing to be done-- and it was just minutes away. He was impatient-- knowing that those minutes would seem SO LONG -- until he finally reached his goal.

Katie's voice was the sexiest he'd heard yet. "Touch me. Touch me all over. You know what I want. You know what to do so I get it."

Jason slid one arm around her, pulling him to her. Her bosom pressed into his chest again, and he could feel her nipples stiffening against him. He wrapped his other arm around her, and slid his hands over her buttocks. It was something he never thought he'd be doing. A few seconds later they were both floating, weightless.

Katie kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth, exploring it. Her hands went to his bottom also, one hand between his ass cheeks, rubbing the area around his anus. Nobody had ever done that to Jason before; he liked it.

Jason's hands approached her pussy. It seemed warm even before he touched the hair around it. He could smell her wetness. The scent was making him lose what little control he had left. He hesitated for a moment, giving himself final clearance to proceed, then probed through her pubic hair, touching the skin between her legs.

He rubbed the area for a minute before one finger felt her pussy's lips. It was wet inside. He spread them apart, and touched it. After a few seconds he knew what was where... She clenched him as one finger slid by her clitoris; and when a finger finally discovered the opening into her pussy, she grabbed his hand and pushed his finger inside. He slid it back and forth. His other hand was now on her breasts.

Katie came after just a few seconds. She pushed his hand against her. He felt a ripple inside her as her muscles contracted. She held him there for a moment, then let him slide out.

"Lick me," she demanded. "Learn what I taste like."

Jason wasn't bothered by that prospect. He floated away from her for a second, then she floated towards him, aiming her pussy towards his head. As he started to slide between her thighs, she locked her legs around him, squeezing him, locking him in place. She was getting him wet. His tongue instantly found its target, first sliding across her clitoris, and then inside. He swallowed her juices.

She came again, squeezing with her legs so hard that, for a minute, he couldn't breathe. Her pussy surrounded him. He felt another surge of liquid from within her. As soon as it was over, she released him, and they floated alongside each other. She had regained some of her control; yet now her pussy was aiming towards his previously ignored cock. She held on to him, and pulled him towards her, keeping a careful eye on his navigation.

Jason seemed to have some reservations. He hardly knew her, really, and that thought was starting to surface. That thought got through to Katie, who knew better-- that they both wanted the same thing and there was no reason not to have it.

"You have no choice now." The distance between their pubic areas continued to reduce. "Besides, I know what you want. You wouldn't have gone this far. You're not getting away now. You want me as much as I want you." She was right.

Jason insisted, though, not because he was unwilling, but because he was afraid that she'd regret it later, and would blame him for it. "It's too fast. Why are you rushing? I want to learn about you... get to know you..."

Katie didn't listen. Jason's cock touched the hair around her pussy. Then he felt the warmth at the tip of it. His cock still had some flexibility to it. In a short time-- almost too fast, Katie took him inside. The heat made him grow very hard, conforming to her shape.

She started to wrap her legs around him, and to slide against him. He grabbed her body, realizing that it was the last chance to save his rational self, and stopped her from moving. He concentrated on everything but the fact that they were now mating.

Chapter 5

She resented the fact that he was forcibly interrupting her pleasure. But it did return her faculties to her, long enough to realize once again that this wasn't really happening, and that she was in control of things. She hadn't heard what Jason said, but this time decided quite consciously to continue.

She could show her anger now without Jason being able to do anything about it. Besides, she knew that he was struggling to hang on to his mind, while her pussy did its work on him, her breasts and body draining his willpower.

"Shut up. It's too late. I'm screwing you and there's nothing you can do to stop me." The words, she figured, would send him over the edge and he'd stop resisting. Jason never thought he'd ever be in the situation of resisting a beautiful woman's advances, unless she was married or had some disease or something. But neither was the case now.

Her words were a temptation of defial. He placed both hands on her hips, and started to push her away, hoping she'd forgive him, and even be thankful that he gave her a chance to think rationally about her actions. His cock started to slide out. The tip was swelling inside her, though, at Katie's command. Jason felt his skin stretching. He didn't know how big he was, and he wouldn't feel much pain as long as the Device was working.

Katie's orifice tightened around the base of his cock. It had grown inside her, and she was growing tighter. He pushed harder against her hips, but couldn't slide out. He was locked inside her. He slid back in to try again, and this time the sensation of sliding into her warm flesh pushed him over the edge. Her words had come true. He lost his last reasons for stopping it, and his thoughts faded with only one intense purpose remaining. He started sliding in and out, making no further attempts to escape.

Katie giggled once. "That's it, animal. Fuck me. Then, maybe I'll let you go."

It was all a game, Jason and Katie both knowing the rules quite well. Each word, each motion, could do nothing but stimulate desire. Jason's attempt to "stop" her was played perfectly.

He probably knew it would excite her. And now, he was hers, undulating against her, and pulsating inside her. She giggled again once more, watching Jason turn into the animal she wanted, before her own thoughts turned again towards the act of mating. She grew hot inside as the excitement increased.

Katie was approaching her climax, but still had a handle on what was happening. Her words came one at a time, with each breath and each of Jason's thrusts. "I.. want.. all of.. you... inside.. deep.. yes..."

It took a few more seconds before Jason understood that Katie's words were not just the usual ones that come to a female mind in the heat of passion. With every undulation, he felt as if he was sinking deeper into her, deep between her legs, feeling more and more of her. But it didn't just seem that way... it was true.

Her pussy was widening, her pelvis growing, and her legs spreading, and all together, somehow, they were taking more than just his cock. He had somehow slipped inside her, and now much of his body was feeling her warm slipperiness. He was using most of his body, not just a small part, to excite her to orgasm.

Each of her motions caused her pussy to swallow more of him, as she urged him deeper inside. His torso was inside now, his arms around her legs, all of him sliding in and out like only his cock was doing before. His whole body had the exciting sensation that his cock had before--he was experiencing her in a way that could never happen without the Device.

Jason had less trouble now reminding himself that it wasn't really happening, thank goodness; because he had lost his grip on her legs, and her opening was devouring him, pulling his arms and head into her body, consuming him. He might have been able to see out through her cunt, but it was still only dark outside. She was losing her control over the Device-- her mind wandering towards orgasm and no longer maintaining Jason's sense of reality.

Jason started to feel closed in-- not sure whether her pussy was still open, or where it was, or what was happening at all. He came, and felt his own semen mixing with the wetness that was there all along-- but it didn't seem quite real... it was too much like a dream.

Neither Katie nor Jason, for the moment, could think clearly enough to define reality. Jason felt a sudden tightening around him, and a sudden flood of love juice around him. It was very, very tight, and as Jason returned to clearer thoughts, he had to tell himself he could breathe even while immersed in Katie's come, if that's what it was (it tasted like it) and that's where he was located.

Her orgasm seemed to stop for a moment, and then continue, and finally, it was over. He was back outside her, cock still inside, as if the wilder events never happened. Did she really pull him ALL inside after uttering those words, or did he just imagine it after she lost control of the Device? He'd have to ask later, but somehow that seemed like it would be an embarassing question.

Jason tried to turn around, out of her, then realized that they were still fixed together. Jason pointed "down there," Katie nodded and relaxed herself, and he slid out of her. They floated down towards the soft floor.

They had rested for quite a while, lying next to each other on the undefined black surface. Jason knew that in real life, they didn't need to rest at all. It just felt nice, for now. Katie was the first one to speak.

"Alright, enough of the black hole, here."

With that, Jason watched as Katie "painted" in an environment. Warm afternoon sun, blue sky with just a few puffy clouds, ocean off in the distance. As long as Katie was occupied with that area, Jason created a lagoon a few feet away, and the obligatory waterfall at the opposite end of it. Soft, grassy earth underneath. Still no clothes.

Chapter 6

He appreciated the naked female body next to his, which looked almost a little tan now, and didn't want to change anything. In fact, he couldn't remember what either of them were wearing before-- it all seemed so natural now.

Katie turned around and admired his work, while Jason admired hers-- faint salt- air scent, all the sounds of the surf, and even a few seagulls, which flew in lazy circles for as long as he stared at them. Quite pleasant.

The warm sun and cool breeze went well together. There were enough details now to make Jason seriously consider staying in a place like this more permanently-- rocky cliffs in one direction, and an innocent-looking wooded area the other way.

Best of all, there were no insects or other pests. Time was proceeding slowly, and they didn't rush themselves. They played with each other for a time; talked about themselves and each other, learning things that were suddenly easy to learn. Everything felt comfortable.

They swam for a while, made love again in a much more conventional, casual fashion, then walked on the beach, and then, at Katie's request, both went for a long flight over the area, trying to imitate (for a while) the way the seagulls floated into the wind, hardly moving.

They landed, returning to their normal form, walked along the shore again, talking. No sunburns here, thank goodness. Jason didn't credit the Device for all this. Katie had what it takes-- the imagination, spirit, and will to make it all happen, and she seemed to love sharing all her experiences with him.

Somehow, things would never quite be the same again. "How long is left?" Katie asked.

"Don't ask me. You have the Device, remember? The only way to actually look at the timer, is to bring the box back, and just read the time off the top. You can't change the setting from here, though. That can only be done in real life."

Katie held her hands out, and the red box reappeared in them. She peered at the liquid-crystal display. It read 1 hour, 17 minutes. "One-Seventeen, it says. We've used up most of the time we have."

Jason said, "Then it's about 7:44 back in reality. We'd be hungry (or have other bodily needs) not too long after the timer runs out... So we better just make good use of the time we have. I'll take you out for a REAL dinner at 9, then. Good thing today's Friday. When do you usually eat?"

"Pretty early, but I can eat late with no trouble."

Jason peered towards the box. "Good. If you got too hungry back in reality, the Device would shut off. Same if..." He trailed off.

"I used the ladies' room at about 4:30." That answered his question.

"Good enough. Then we'll be OK until 9 and don't have to worry about it before then. Of course, we could stop now--"

Katie cut him off. The box disappeared again. "No need to. Why leave early?"

Jason agreed, now thankful for Katie's decision to set the timer for four hours. He nodded.

Katie looked more serious now. "Jason, there's one thing I absolutely have to do while I'm here. You've been great so far, putting up with all my wishes-- like it or not. You've enjoyed it too."

Jason couldn't agree more. His eyes swept towards the ground. "Very much."

"Good. But I've got to try this while I'm here. You'll have to put up with this even if you don't like it. I don't think you'll mind at all-- I never have, but I'm not you. But I'd never forgive myself if I didn't experiment with this-- even if you'd never speak to me again. Understand?"

Jason nodded, confused. Why didn't she just ask what she wanted? Was she afraid that he'd say "no," and didn't want to give him that chance? And what hadn't they already tried? And how did she know she liked it if she never tried it?

Katie led him back to a point near the lagoon, where they had started. The sun had dropped a bit. "No, this isn't good enough. It's too perfect, and not realistic enough." With that, a door appeared. Nothing else, just a door. It was kind of pink, and had a little plate on it that said "Katie".

She took Jason's hand, walked to the door, and opened it. There was a complete room inside, where there was only a door outside. She'd seen too many Pink Panther cartoons, where such anomalies were commonplace. This was realistic? The room, of course, was Katie's bedroom. Quite roomy for a bedroom, it had all the details already in place.

She led Jason inside and closed the door, ending the beach/lagoon/waterfall environment entirely. All the details were already here, even a damp towel on the back of the chair and a pair of panties on the floor in the corner. The bed was made.

"Sorry, I didn't clean up this morning."

AHH. Now it made sense. Her room was FAMILIAR to her, and thus was infinitely more realistic than an environment created (literally) from scratch. This place had a real counterpart, and that eliminated the constant reminders that none of this was happening.

"Bet you'd never thought you'd see the inside of my bedroom, huh? Not many people have."

Jason was looking out the window into a parking lot, which belonged to a professional office next door. All he could tell is that they were on about the second floor of some kind of apartment building. Every bit of information was from her memory. Absentmindedly, he answered. "No, I never did. And your room isn't messy. You should see mine. I actually cleaned it today, but it's usually a mess until after I get home."

Katie pulled him from the window, reaching up for the shade, then realized that there could be nobody out there who could see in. "I'll show you the rest of the place later. But we don't have much time."

Jason looked impatient, somewhat frustrated because he didn't know what was going on. "Well, what do we do?"

"Just stand there. Just like that. Relax."

She reached for his cock again, which was in a semi-erect state and started to grow again at her touch. But she wasn't fondling him-- it seemed more like an examination. She stooped down and looked at it more closely, lifted it and examined his scrotum, and ran her fingers around it all.

Chapter 7

Then she just dropped it, and turned to look at herself. She set one leg on her bed, and took a quick glance at her own genitals, then took a quick look at her whole body in the mirror. Then she plopped down on her bed, one knee up, with a satisfied look.

Jason took that as an invitation. He advanced towards her bed, growing harder. But Katie stopped him.

"No, just stay right there. You'll join me in a few minutes."

Again, he was frustrated, confused, and, now, somewhat angry. But before he could say anything, he felt funny. Just a little. His erection had disappeared. Katie, again, was examining herself, with one hand near her thighs. She kept looking down there, then back at Jason.

Jason took the clue to look at himself. His scrotum was gone, and his cock was far smaller than it ever was before. He grabbed it, and felt it slide away, out of his fingers. Something equally eventful was happening to Katie, but her attention was still mostly focused on him. She was almost smiling while he was anxiously trying to figure out just what she was doing.

She didn't look right. For starters, the breasts he had admired so much were gone. Why would she do that? She liked 'em too. Jason reached for his groin again... and this time, found nothing there at all. The patch of pubic hair had nothing in the middle of it. It felt like his cock, somehow, was inside, but there was nothing for it to be inside of.

That drew attention away from the rest of his body, which was starting to change also. For starters, he had lost some height. And weight. The muscles that he was so proud of before, hardly showed at all. The hair on his chest, arms, legs, were all gone. His shape was changing, too. It wasn't until he felt a slight depression between his legs that he noticed the other changes, and with considerable fright learned what Katie had done.

He looked on the bed, and saw some sort of cock starting to emerge from her crotch. With all the exploration they had done, Katie had decided that she wanted to know what it felt like to be a man, and she was changing Jason into a woman, like it or not. Katie was starting to grow a little hair on her chest. She slid over, and now invited Jason to lie down next to him.

Jason had his fingers between his legs, trying to figure out just how he was changing. "Relax, you're only a little girl right now. Don't fight it. You can explore yourself later." Her voice was changing. The process, just like the disappearing clothes, had been started, and would continue by itself to completion unless Katie stopped it.

Jason, feeling helpless as well as speechless, climbed onto Katie's bed, stared at the ceiling, and then turned to look at Katie's developments. Her cock was almost fully-grown, and she had developed balls just like his were before. There was some on her chest, she no longer had a feminine figure-- at this point, for all practical purposes, Katie was a man, though it would take her a while to learn just what that meant.

Jason looked at his chest, which although was now hairless, didn't really seem different. He looked at Katie as if to ask what was happening. She understood.

"I'm sending you through it slowly. Feel what it's like to change from a girl into a woman. You might as well get the experience." And if you have anything to teach me, go ahead."

The word "girl" had an effect on him. It was hard for Jason to think of himself as a "girl," but now, he was. There just wasn't anything masculine left. Katie was maturing faster, but she was changing all at once. Jason was changing according to some schedule that Katie had defined. Jason made a few "touch-up" adjustments as Katie started her journey through puberty, particularly the annoying parts that came to mind-- a voice that wouldn't stay at one pitch, and so on.

But before long, she had grown to maturity, with complete genitals, hair on chest, and so on. Jason removed the only other reminder of Katie's former gender-- the long hair, trimming it mentally to a more appropriate length. Jason was wondering, though, how the Device would reproduce the effect of hormones-- or instinct, that had changed.

The best that could be done for now was for Jason to concentrate for a moment on the hought of male hormones being generated in Katie's new genitals, surging through her bloodstream in increasing quantity. She was done, now. Jason, however, wasn't. He had started to develop hips, and his pussy was complete.

But the rest wasn't happening by itself, or so it seemed. Jason explained the hormone/instinct question to Katie, who of course couldn't answer either, but promised to do what she could to connect Jason's new organs, and hormones, hopefully. Katie turned his attention to Jason. His areolas were widening, darkening, and had swollen a little, a sure sign of the next step towards womanhood.

He felt a distinct tingle in his chest, first in the area around the nipple, then spreading.

"You're growing tits, girl!" Katie exclaimed. "Funny how you have tits one day, before you can even see 'em, but suddenly you just know what's there!"

They both stared at Jason's chest. Now the whole area around each nipple was swelling.

His breasts enlarged, perky and cone-shaped at first. His areolas still seemed swollen. His breasts grew into the familiar round shape, now even with the areola, then grew yet more before the changes finally stopped. They drooped a bit to his sides. They seemed heavy to Jason, even though he was lying on his back. Katie ran her fingers over them lightly, then turned to talk to Jason. Her voice was deep and a little unnatural.

"I don't feel that different, really, except when I think about my cock, or that my tits are gone. I don't know just how I'm supposed to feel everywhere else, or if it's really the same."

Jason thought a moment, then answered in his new feminine voice, which sounded at least a little more realistic.

"I don't know if we'll ever know for sure. I-- I guess that most of the stuff is the same, but the Device just can't tell us that. The biggest changes would be our lifestyle, not the way our own bodies feel to us, I guess. But..." (he touched her cock) "...Some of it we can find out right now."

Chapter 8

The cock didn't grow at Jason's touch like he expected. Apparently the equipment was there, but the instinct wasn't, at least yet. Undoubtedly the Device was working on it, and the software he knew so well, was now madly trying to interpret each other's thoughts and sort out the neural patterns that probably were responsible for instinct.

"We don't have each other's instincts yet. We can try it anyway and see what happens."

As Jason said this, his fingers were still on the part of Katie's cock he knew was effective when it was his own.

"No, not yet," she replied. "Let's get a feeling for it first. I mean-- we're just out of puberty and rushing to lose our virginity before we even understand ourselves. You haven't even had your first period-- no, I guess I'll spare you that. You probably wouldn't like it and we don't have the time."

Jason was thusly reminded once again of the power the Device could vest in someone.

He started thinking of the political uses of it. Literally, you could cause someone great mental duress even though the Device would prevent someone from inflicting much physical pain. You could have someone raped by a goat in the middle of Times Square, and although it wouldn't do any physical harm or even be painful, it would be humiliating and unpleasant, and enough things like that could persuade anyone to do anything. Certainly something to look into if the Device gets any further "official" interest.

Katie was up now, and Jason got up too. She dressed them both, in clothes similar to the ones they were really wearing. It happened suddenly, and Jason realized that the tightness around his bosom meant that Katie had decided to outfit him with a bra. Given the size of its contents, it seemed necessary. Everything else felt normal except the lightness between his legs.

Katie looked quite normal in her selection of clothes. Jason looked in the mirror. It took a moment to really convince himself that the female in the mirror was, in fact, him. The fact that he couldn't hide his new figure, and that he didn't want to, piqued his interest. Katie took a quick glance at herself, adjusted her shirt a bit, and walked towards a door near the bed.

"Where are you going?"

"The bathroom. I'll be back." Katie didn't bother to close the door, and Jason didn't look to see what she was doing. Again, puzzling. The only time anyone would actually have to go is when they REALLY had to go in real life. The Device would create that sensation when it sensed that condition in reality. It meant that it was about to shut off the simulation.

But that didn't happen. He heard the sound of a zipper, then the sound of urine in the toilet, silenced for a moment, along with Katie's giggle. "I guess my 'aim' needs practice."

He sat on the bed and waited. The sound stopped, another zip followed by a flushed toilet, and Katie returned.

"Neat," she said. "I guess that's really handy at times. Not that I'd want to live with it forever, but it is definitely a plus. It really does feel different. You ought to try too. Maybe it would help this identity thing work faster."

Jason answered "You mean instinct. I don't have to... You can't get the feeling unless you really have to go. Besides..."

"Nonsense. You just tell yourself you have to go, and suddenly you do. Go ahead, I'll wait."