Chapter 6

Phil

I hated sitting around and waiting, just a waste of time. Despite spending the last few months on our final vacation, I was still working on digging up any information on EIC and their last immersion reports. Not much was publicly available but I was able to make some calls to a few old contacts who gave me some access to a few new company servers.

It turned out that they had been performing illicit immersions over the last few years. Most of those going in seemed to be hired muscle working for the company. Seems like a minimum of such groups went in consisting of 6 members evenly distributed with 3 male and 3 female and a 50 percent survival rate While better than expected it wasn’t a shocking increase and explains why EIC didn’t publicize the results especially given the means they used to achieve it. Those means also would likely result in large fines and possible shutdown if any other company could show better results, so that didn’t help. They were already easily making billions each year from government grants to improve program success rates, no need to rock the boat and lose that cash cow.

Seats had already started being reserved for the next immersion groups at ridiculously priced fees. 30 people would be going in each reserved group and with how long the list was for the “special” guests, the vast majority of Earth would not be immersing for the next 200 years or so. Classism at its absolute finest, although I suppose we are also taking advantage.

I also found that, contrary to public knowledge, the Nexitus broadcasts were shut down not by Nexit leaving but due to EIC and ING lobbying for it. They were worried that even with the low success rates, riots would break out and the companies would be destroyed once everyone saw the perks of going being displayed on a daily basis while not having any way of enjoying it. We are after all still human and the progression of time scares the best of us.

I had just finished skimming up on the others that would be in our group when the alarm went off. I stretched my muscles as I stood up. Time to go wake up sleeping beauty and take a much needed shower. It was late in the afternoon and both Sarah and I had yet to take a shower since getting on the plane. Feeling grimy from travel, I walked to the bedroom and opened the door. “Hey, babe time to get up. I am going to hop in the shower if you want to come join me.” I started to raise the curtains as I heard rustling in the bed.

“Aghh! I don't want to get up. Can't I sleep a little more”? Sarah sounded muffled with the covers pulled over her head trying desperately to block the light.

“Not unless you want to stink when we meet up with everyone!” I retorted back. “I am going to start the shower, and you had better hurry and get your ass in here or I'll leave without you!” yelling back to her as I entered the bathroom. I turned on the shower so the steam could start to build up and heat the bathroom. Sarah had barely walked into the bathroom as I just finished taking off all my clothing. Looking at her I saw that she was watching me as I stepped into the steaming water of the shower.

“Your staring babe. Come on and hurry up, I want to try these jets out.” I closed the clear glass door of the shower. With all the steam, I could not see Sarah clearly, just a blur beyond the glass. Breathing deep, I put my head under the spray, soaking my hair and face.

I had just finished lathering up and was just starting to rinse off when the shower door opened and Sarah looked in. “Hey, can you wash my back love?” I said while closing my eyes and going back under the shower spray to rinse.

I heard Susan entering the shower and before long I felt her hands on my back, gliding smoothly across my shoulders while she washed. They didn’t stay there long. Slowly both of her hands slid around to the front of my chest and then her fingertips started moving downwards, lightly grazing my belly then lower before grabbing a hold of something much more pleasurable. Smiling, I groaned deep in my throat, her hands started slowly stroking up and down. I let the water continue to run around my head, savoring her touch. I became hardened at her attentive touch, recalling that this last month had been filled with moments like these. Letting go of me she moved around to my front, her breast grazing past my arm and pressing them into my chest. Grinning, I raised my hands to grasp her breast, but before my fingers even touched her she had moved away. Frowning that I did not get to touch, I started to open my eyes to look at her and to pout when her mouth slipped around my dick and started to suck.

Morning, I leaned forward placing one hand on the shower wall for support,“Babe you're going to make us late if you keep that up”. She looked up to me arching her eyebrows and continued with more vigor, refusing to let me out of her mouth. Resigning to her oral administrations I let her continue. Gently grasping her head between my free hand I threaded my fingers through her hair and leaned into her mouth so she could have full access to my length.

She pulled her mouth back and let her tongue swirl around the dip of my dick, and grasping the shaft she pumped her hand up and down. I was twitching in her grasp when she took me in completely into her mouth. She had me in so deep that I felt my dick tip down into her throat. Her moaning brought my gaze down as I looked at her. She was sitting on her ass with her leg to either side and her hands were palm down on the shower floor as she used them to help support herself. As I looked at her face, her eyes were slightly glazed over pleasure as she continued to deep throat me. She had absolutely no gag reflex and to top it off, I watched as her body became stiff with orgasmic relief. Fuck her mouth was hot!

She continued to deep throat me for a while. Breathing heavily, I could barely hear her mewing, as she began to finger herself while she continued to suck on me. Feeling the build up I held tighter to her head and started to thrust my dick forward. “Love! You're going to make me cum!” Feeling that she let her head be in my control I pumped faster. “Fuck!” was all I could utter as I gave my last thrust deep into her mouth. Emptying my load down her throat I felt her swallow around me making me groan and push in even further.

With a slight popping sound she realeased me from her mouth, licking her lips and moaning in pleasure at the lingering taste of me. Pulling her up from the floor I kissed her mouth, slipping my tongue so that I too could taste my cum that had coated the inside her mouth. Feeling satisfied from her oral administations, it was time for me to return the favor. Deepening the kiss, I pushed her back up against the shower wall. Her nipples were a stark contrast to the softness of her breast that were pressed up against my chest. I slid my hands down her shoulders down towards her breasts, cupping them gently I flicked my thumbs across her nipples making her shudder.

Tipping her head away from my mouth she gasped for breath. “God I love when you do that” she pushed her chest against my hands even more. As my left hand continued it kneeding administrations to the one breast. I moved my mouth to her right one and latched on tight and started to suck and lick her taunt nipple. She began to squirm and thrust her hips as I tugged her nipple between my teeth.

“Hold still” I whispered while licking her nipple again.

“I can’t. It feels so good, rub my clit and finger me. I want to feel you in me while I squeeze.” she gasped.

Happy to oblige to her request I moved my free hand down her body and cupped her mound. Giving it a gentle rub with the palm of my hand. I chuckled slightly as she moaned and pressed her mound harder against it. I circled her clit with a few fingers then dipped them in and began to rhythmically push them in and out making sure to hit both her clit and her g-spot. Her breathing now erratic, her hips began to thrust against my fingers timing it with my movements. Kissing and nipping at her neck her breath came faster.

Feeling her tighten around my fingers I heard her constant moaning. Pulling my fingers out, I began to use it with focused circling of her clit. The volume of her moaning increased as I continued to circle. Pushing hard against me, she begged “Please, please”! Noticing that she was on the cusp of another orgasm I waited, teased, and circled, till I felt her body begin to stiffen as she was building to the brink of her orgasm. Hearing her gasps and crys for release, I quickly thrust three of my fingers deep into her warmth pumping them hard against her g-spot. She cried out at the penetration and onslaught of my fingers. Her pussy squeezing them tightly over and over as she came to her climax.

I was still as she began to come down from her orgasm. Her breathing slowed and her body relaxed as I kept her pressed against me for support. Gently I raised my head and softly kissed her lips. Her sigh was quite audible as I removed my fingers from her still tight sheath.

“Now how about we get clean and ready to head out to the dinner”. Pulling her under the hot spray of water from the showerhead, I reached out and turned on all the shower jets.

We quickly got cleaned up with minimal distractions. We chose to wear our casual wear for the meal, no dress code was established and we weren’t sure what type of dinner it would be so we decided we might as well be comfortable. I quickly gave Sarah a rundown of each of the people we were likely going to be getting to know tonight and over the next few days.

“So you know that there are 4 other couples besides ourselves. Three of them bought their tickets for immersion. The last couple had been part of the gamma group involved in the biomechanics for body/mind transfer pods. They are the ones that created the initial specs and a part of the group that made the first prototype for the self-regulating gel sleep pods. So we won't be the only eggheads tonight. Other than that there was not much more that I learned so we will have to play it by ear” I explained to her while she was pulling her hair back.

“Thanks, hopefully I won't feel too awkward tonight. How do I look?” Susan asked as she turned to let me see the front and back of her body.

“Pretty damn hot! Those jeans are just the right amount of snug for your ass” I replied as I ogled her from head to toe. I wasn’t sure I wanted her to go out with those things looking like they were painted on but damn it was a view.

“Shesh, I think your retirement made you into a horny teenager! Comments on my ass, I haven’t heard this since we were first dating.” Susan laughed and shook her ass at me.

Coming up to her I held her close in one arm, and then grabbed her ass with the other hand, “You bet I feel like a horny teen again! Kinda hard not too when your pert little mouth sucks on me like it just did.”

Kissing her once again, I looked into her face “Love you… Now let us go and eat, I'm famished plus we don't want to be late, at least we get marked down for being tardy!”

Laughing together we gathered our room keys and made our way to the elevator. We keyed our way to the floor below us and held hands while listening to the standard elevator music. The elevator stopped and opened up to a well lit and fairly spacious lobby like area. Fairly high ceilings which had adaptive lighting to provide us with light that imitated being outside. The floors were white and gold inlaid marble. The walls were a cool cream with gold filigree along with the crown molding. Set in the center of the room was a small water fountain that was surrounded by plants Set in between the plants were couches that were set on thick rugs that helped to muffle your steps. Along the left side of the room was a clear glass wall that separated the lobby area from what could only be the exercise gym and swimming pool. Both seemed to be constructed of similar grades of materials. Only the best apparently for this immersion site. Wonder if they were all set up like this? Off to the right was a waist high counter where two assistants were sitting. Right behind them was a large monitor that had local news playing, a map of this floor, and a schedule of what appeared to be our classes and what times.

We walked up to the counter and asked for the general directions to the dining hall. They directed us past the fountain and to take the hall to the left and to follow it to the end. We walked in silence as we passed into the hallway on the left. Not too much going on here. Fairly basic but with the continued theme from the lobby area. Going past a few doors we came upon open french doors that led into the dining hall. It looks that most of the other couples had already arrived, and were talking to one another by the one and only table in the room. We started to walk towards the group for introductions when someone pointed to us saying loud enough for the rest in the room to hear.

“Ah, here we are the saviors of the hour. Let me introduce everyone to Phil and Susan. These two are the ones that pretty much made it possible for us to immerse”. The speaker appeared to be in his late 50’s. 5 foot 9, large in the belly and balding. His face was already flushed red from what appeared to be a whisky or scotch. “They were working in my district when they came out with their success rates”. Holding out his free hand towards me “I am Jonathan Hanks, Jon to my friends, it's a pleasure to finally meet the two of you. I read so many reports about you and your work that I feel that I already know you.”

Clasping his hand I shook it, “It is really nice to meet you in person. We couldn’t have done it without your funding, Mr. Hanks..”.

“Please, call me Jon. Phil, let's just say I was highly motivated to fund research advancement in this area. I wanted the immersion to be as perfect as possible before making personal use of it”. Letting go of my hand he gestured to a woman that was sitting in a wheelchair not too far from us, she was talking with others in the group. “My wife is the main drive for my, one can say, obsessiveness for program completion”. He called out to his wife,“Lilly come here and meet Phil and Susan”

She was a homely woman. Her wheelchair made her look so small. Soft brown hair was pulled into a bun, with almond shaped eyes behind glasses that framed her round face. She primarily had some asian features but there were also hints of native american as well. She wheeled closer to us upon hearing her name being called.

“Jon Hanks, you have not been pestering them too much have you”? Repermading him with a smile, she shook both of our hands.

“Not at all dear! I have just been talking about…”

He was not able to finish his sentence as the double doors that were closed abruptly opened and two individuals entered the room. The first was a pale man in a suit, of medium build, about 5 foot 8, and looked like he has not had to work a hard day in his life. He is too well groomed. Hair styled in the most current trend and not a hair was out of place with the amount of gel that was in it. You could see that his hands were soft and by fucks sake he must have had a manicure to keep his nails looking like that. Everything about him screamed I am soft dandy! He grated on my nerves. Men like this take what they want, whenever they want, regardless of the consequences.

The other man was the complete opposite of the first. He was well over 6 foot, dark in completion and he seemed slightly out of his comfort zone in the suit he was wearing. You could tell that his muscles were well defined even under the suit. He appeared like someone who knew the deadliest moves. His mere presence was intimidating and demanded strict attention. More than likely you would find him in fatigues or jeans and a t-shirt rather than a suit. He was following the first man but you could tell from his posture that he wanted to be in front, and in charge.

“Well we are all here and I am so glad to finally meet each one of you. My name is Michael Lane, the lead coordinator and representative for this immersion site” as the first man introduced himself. “This gentleman here is Major Jacobs, he is in charge of immersion training and general information about Nexitus. Now please let's all take a seat and we can get things moving along” he said smoothly as if he had practiced this introduction in front of a mirror frequently. My thoughts about this man, what a pompous prick!

We made our way to the table and took a seat. As we sat down Mr. Lane signaled and a group of assistance came in bearing papers, and pens. The assistants handed the items to each of the members of the group. I glanced at the papers briefly before Mr. Lane cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once again

“Here we have a waiver form and also a binding contract. I understand that you have already put a lot into getting here but we need to keep everything that you're going to learn just between us and the company. So please take your time to read through it and when you're ready sign on the line. If you choose not to sign our lovely assistants will escort you back to your room where you can stay the night and then you'll be promptly escorted off the property in the morning”.

For the next few minutes, I read through the paperwork, listening to the others quietly make comments and flip through the pages. I noted that the EIC has put in our requests for our body burial post immersion. The waiver was in place apparently at some point during our training we can and will encounter some situations that can cause bodily harm. In the binding section, it covered that any and all things seen or heard while in training can not be disclosed to the outside under any circumstances.

The rest of the paperwork was covering any and all contingencies, preventing anyone from finding a loophole to bypass the binding contract. Looking around I noticed that Susan was signing and looked like both Jon and his wife Lilly had already signed and were now sitting patiently for the rest of us. Sighing I signed, hopefully, this is not going to cause us any trouble.

Shortly after I was done everyone else looked to be done signing as well. “Excellent, just excellent! Now that everyone is done with the paperwork we shall collect these and then we shall have our dinner before I hand the floor over to Major Jacobs, where he will discuss the rest of your training and such. But for now please enjoy each other’s company and tonight's dinner.” The assistants walked around the table and collected the papers and pens and they then filed out of the room.

Dinner was an overall pleasant affair. We continued our talk with Jon and his wife Lilly and were able to get to know them better. Jon was involved with investments in nanotech that provided for him and Lilly greatly. Lilly, it turned out was not always crippled. She had unfortunately ended up in an accident during one of their spelunking adventures in brazil which had left her paralyzed in both of her legs. They, like us, had no children, and with a vast fortune and a desire for Lilly to walk again, they put everything into the immersion advancement.

We were also introduced to the others in the group by Jon, most were like him and Lilly financially well off and had bought the rights to be immersed. We strategically avoided Mr. Lane, but Susan and I made our polite introductions to Major Jacobs. The rest of the time we talked and dined with Jon, Lilly, and also with Billy and her partner Clair. They were the original designers that had made the immersion beds. Our conversations on tech associated with immersion lasted through dinner, and I found it a pleasure to get to know both of these women. Dinner came to an end as our plates and glasses were removed from the table. Mr. Lane then stood up and announced.

“Thank you all for the wonderful company during dinner, it was a pleasure to get to know you better’ he said with a cheesy smile on his face. “I will now hand the floor over to Major Jacobs and I bid you all, now at this time, fair journey into Nexitus.” With that hollow expression of sincerity, he exited the room with the doors closing behind him. Yep, definitely a pompous ass.