Black Star

Chapter Nine

After that first meeting, things felt different with Ramona. He'd already arranged for Ramona to be waiting for him that evening. Asking Duke to switch to manual as usual so he could not be observed and then for her to release from her charging station. Whilst she dressed, he lay on the bed and for the first time in a long while appreciated how much he enjoyed her company. Ramona sat at the dresser and prepared her makeup, running the brush through her bright red hair. The atmosphere seemed lighter than usual, and they had laughed so much as he explained about the sample.

"They were physical then, you know that?" he said

"Of course, they were physical, it's natural. I've told you it's natural a million times?" tilting her head and looking up at the mirror.

She was right about so many things and it helped the way she could often reframe concerns he had. Later he set up the VR in his bedroom to immerse them in an ancient sunset across a mountain range. The amber light had highlighted her features and complemented her skin tone. He was liberated this evening, given permission by an ancient man to share his deepest desire with his accomplice guilt-free. When eventually, they shared that desire between them, Ramona had never felt closer physically. When it was over, he'd asked her to stay with him, and they slept entwined in a dizzy heap until morning. 

He woke to hear the whisper of the wardrobe door closing. Whilst Ramona remained hidden from the world once more, he got himself dressed and reactivated Duke. Like a child taking off a blindfold, his sage would continue as if there had been no break in proceedings. In the months and weeks that followed, he felt a growing realisation of how positive his relationship with Nova was becoming. Keen to remember this ancient man was a subject of his research and to keep the barriers in place. Having feelings for an inanimate object, merely a drone programmed to react with him in a pre-programmed way no longer scared him. Occasionally missing her company and imagining she was special, like a real-life partner. The underlying fantasy was that it wasn't possible to design and build a hundred Ramona A Stones with identical personalities. He knew deep down that was nonsense.

The real work with Nova progressed well and it became apparent that they had indeed made a connection regardless of his professional barriers. Bluu would never be far away but showed herself to be as alluring as many had suggested she would be. Tall and graceful with long features and hair that sat close to her scalp with clean skin. Her demeanour was always calm and receptive, proving an excellent choice for acting as a mentor and guide to his sample.

The time was well used and they'd learned so much from, and about each other and their respective lives. The meetings became less and less formal, and they would talk and debate outside of the official research time. Inside the work had continued whilst around Heathen media interest was growing and humans, in reality, were keen to see the caveman who had travelled through time. He was protected from the knowledge that his celebrity status was growing by the day. He was also becoming more and more relaxed and safe in his environment. It was only then that the doctor felt the time was right to work further in V-World. He was very excited at the prospect of accessing the caveman's mind and experiencing his reality from 500 years ago and being taken back to 2015. Nova had no choice about orientating himself with V-World if he continued as a citizen. He'd heard negative comments from Heathens about how and why he should be allowed to be a citizen. The population was precise and as one Heathen euthanised another was given as a surrogate. This would deprive someone of life who deserved it. This was all fancy and was going nowhere as an argument, Heathens population would remain constant and anyone deprived would never know they weren't born.

The day arrived when Touchreik felt it was appropriate.

"It's time for us to explore your world in a V-World environment, designed by you and controlled by you."