Vesta - Painworld (25 page)

‘But that will not mean you can slack off in my absence. Of course, VESTA's memory banks could monitor your efforts anyway, but I have thought of something even better, something you can see for yourself. Look!' She jerked a forefinger towards the first obstacle, a low brush fence.

‘On the far side of that is a wooden plate on which you will have to land. Every time you do, the counter there…' she pointed to a small shed-like structure that stood alongside the fence on the inside of the stake perimeter and Lianne saw there was a round aperture, through which a painted figure zero was visible ‘…will advance by one.

‘For every hour I am absent, I shall expect to see an average of thirty circuits recorded there and for every circuit under that, you will receive a dozen lashes with a weighted whip. You will only stop when instructed either by myself, or by William. And I tell you now, William will appear within minutes of you failing to maintain your targets.

‘Of course,' she said, looking down at Lianne's legs, ‘you cannot sensibly be expected to jump even these little fences like that; those tethers will only snag your ankles. So, we must first change them.'

To one side stood a small cart, a tarpaulin covering it, and from this Christina produced another set of straps and chains. Before removing the ankle to collar set, however, she began putting these in position to take their place.

The two cuff sections were designed to fit about the thighs, more like sleeves than cuffs, lacing tightly to compress the muscles so there was no danger of them slipping below the knees. From their lower edge, thin chains extended to clip to the same collar ring that held the tethers from the ankles and these Christina now exchanged, thus ensuring that Lianne maintained her stooped posture without giving her the chance to straighten up, even for a few seconds.

‘That's much better,' Christina pronounced, finally removing the ankle cuffs themselves and coiling the chains in her hands. ‘And now, off you go my little pony. Plenty of time for mindless exercise, plenty of time to reflect upon your sins. Just think, poor little Amber, you'll be spending the rest of your life like this, running, jumping, dancing to the whip and having your hot little cunt serviced by anyone who fancies it.

‘I think you'll actually be something of a net asset to friend Naylor's overall operation, but meantime, pony girl slut, just remember you're my filly from now on and when I tell you to jump, all you think of is how high. So - jump!'

Without warning she lashed out with the coiled chains, which bit deeply into Lianne's taut flesh, sending her stumbling forward on her awkward hooves so that she was forced to break into a trot in order to keep her balance, her arms still being pinioned uselessly to her sides.

Within a few short, faltering strides, she was at the first fence and had no option but to jump over it, barely clearing the top with an awkward half hop. Behind her she heard Christina break into a guffaw of delighted laughter, but already, with the second fence looming ahead, she was forced to concentrate on things nearer at hand.

 

Even before she had realised that something was wrong, Nadia was beginning to think Marlon still had quite a lot of work to do before VESTA would meet the standards she was seeking. True, the surroundings were realistic in every detail and the characters were indistinguishable from real people in every way, except that perhaps there was one way in which they differed, and that was the all-important one, so far as she was concerned.

All three of her current ‘victims', whilst presenting a variety of choice that opened up any number of possible combinations, lacked one vital element - spirit. In the real world, Nadia knew only too well, even the best trained and most docile submissive would at least betray some sort of reluctance, whereas this trio did exactly what she told them and the chains and cuffs, let alone Nadia's switch, were totally surplus to requirements.

There probably were dominants who would welcome such passivity, she thought, but as yet Nadia was still to meet them and certainly she could not think of a single one of her current extensive client list who would not pick up on this and probably complain vehemently about it. Still, she reflected, these were still early days and Marlon had explained that these scenarios worked better when the characters in opposition were all hooked into real ‘players'.

‘You three are pathetic,' Nadia said, smiling sadly at her charges. ‘Not an ounce of go in any you.'

She had already fastened Gina over one end of the whipping horse, face up, her arms linked beneath the padded top with a length of fine chain, her ankles cuffed to the two supporting legs so that her thighs were widespread and her shaven sex gaped open. Troy had then been led forward, arms still cuffed behind his back, erection bobbing obscenely before him, and Nadia had released Becky's wrists and given her instructions, passing her the switch as she did so.

The younger girl had obediently stepped up, grasped Troy's burgeoning shaft and pulled it towards Gina's waiting sex, positioning the head between the glistening lips and then pushing against his buttocks so that he entered her. Then, stepping back and to the side, she had brought the leather braids whistling around in an arc, so that as they slashed across his firm buttocks, he thrust in and out of her in an involuntary lunging action, a sharp gasp accompanying his reaction.

Again the switch rose and fell, but Nadia shook her head and held up her hand.

‘No, no, no!' she cried. Becky stopped, but did not turn to face her and Nadia let out a deep sigh of frustration.

‘Can't you at least try to put something into this?' she said, at the same time aware that she was addressing what were only electronic images, but hoping her intervention might trigger some response deep within VESTA's data banks. She decided that maybe it was best to lead by example.

‘Troy,' she ordered, ‘pull out of her and turn around.' With calm deliberation, Troy withdrew and pivoted to face her, his organ still glistening from Gina's juices. VESTA had got that much right, at least. She reached down and swiftly detached the studs that held the triangular leather crotch piece over her own sex.

‘Stand still,' she said, and moved up to him, raising herself even taller on her toes, gripping his penis and straddling it. ‘Now,' she said, as she sank down over his length, pleasantly surprised by the pure physical contact, ‘this is what I mean by putting something into it.'

Gripping his shoulders she swung her legs up and around, crossing them behind the small of his back, and quickly began to raise and lower herself on him, astonished at how good it felt.

‘Now,' she breathed, ‘this is more like - oh shit!' She swung her legs back around and dropped her feet to the floor, lifted herself clear of him and stepped back, slapping him hard across the face as she did so. He flinched and his cheek reddened immediately, but he scarcely took a backward step.

‘This is a waste of time,' Nadia rasped. ‘I'd be better employed seeing how some of the others are getting on and I just hope they're having better luck than I am. Now, what's the phrase? Oh yes.'

She uttered the failsafe words and waited. Nothing happened.

‘Bag and baggage,' she repeated. There was a slight shimmering in the air and the image of Troy blinked out, but Nadia remained in the room with the two women. She tried again. This time the women dematerialised, but everything else remained the same. A third try brought no further change, so Nadia turned back towards the door, hand extended towards the handle. It turned, but the door itself refused to open.

‘Bag and baggage!' Nadia shouted, but to no avail, and that was when she began to realise that something might be seriously wrong.

 

‘I hope this so-called problem isn't going to cause any serious delays,' Christina said. Jurgen Koenig smiled and shook his head.

‘No problem at all,' he assured her. ‘I was just telling Mr Naylor all about it. What appears to have happened is that a small executive file somewhere has crashed and that has caused some minor malfunctions to a couple of the terminal ports, that is all.'

‘Who's connected to the ports in question?' Naylor asked, his eyes narrowing. ‘It wouldn't be our little genius friend, by any chance?'

‘No,' Koenig assured him. ‘His port is functioning normally. I believe he is currently spending his time hanging in an isolation suit - based on your original design, I believe?' he added, turning back to Christina.

‘He was when I last looked in on his circuit,' Christina confirmed. ‘I have a few other ideas for him, but they will have to wait. Right at the moment I have other more pressing matters to deal with. So who are the two?'

‘Ah - Miss Muirhead and the Sanderson girl.'

‘And they don't present any sort of threat?' Christina demanded, suspiciously. Koenig waved his hands in the air.

‘Threat? What threat could they possible pose? They cannot disconnect themselves from the complex, neither are they on ports that could in any way be made active. In the meantime, I'm afraid they may become a little bored, as VESTA is unable to input any new data into their particular scenarios.'

‘So, you didn't finish telling me what you were doing about these faults,' Naylor said. ‘I presume you don't just intend to sit back and do nothing?'

The German smiled. ‘For the moment,' he replied, ‘that is precisely all I can do. You see, this VESTA is a very complicated lady, as indeed is the brain of her creator, and he is even better than I anticipated. The system is almost foolproof and, if I wore a hat, I should take it off to him.

‘VESTA is possessed of her very own fault diagnosing and correcting programmes. If I were to interfere at the present time I should risk crashing the entire system.'

‘You mean the bloody computer fixes itself?' Naylor said, eyes opening wider.

Koenig nodded. ‘Mostly, yes,' he said.

‘And if this isn't a “mostly” situation?' Christina interjected. For a second or so, Koenig appeared confused by this, but then his English grasped her meaning.

‘Ah, I see,' he said. ‘Well, if VESTA cannot cure her own ills, then naturally I shall take over and sort out the glitches, but I have a feeling it will not come to that.'

‘How long before you'll know, either way?' Naylor said.

‘Difficult to be as precise as I should like,' Koenig admitted. ‘It is possible, you see, that the diagnostics and repair packages will find the faults within a matter of minutes, but it is also possible that they will have to run through their full repertoire of tricks. In some ways, it is almost a matter of luck.'

‘I thought computers didn't rely on such human weaknesses as emotions and luck?' Naylor snapped. The German shook his head again.

‘As such,' he agreed, ‘they do not. However, we mere mortals who are responsible for their initial programming are not fortune-tellers and even the little Marlon has to trust to his instincts concerning the way in which he structured these packages. Of course, logic dictates a certain running order, but as I have said, this is not a pocket calculator we are dealing with here and, since the original programming, VESTA has been adding things at a rate well beyond any human ability to keep pace with.'

‘But if this machine is so bloody perfect and powerful,' Christina pointed out, ‘how come it's developed a fault in the first place?'

‘That, my dear lady,' Koenig said, patiently, ‘is the way of these things. I could sit here all day and bore you to sleep with theories and explanations, but I fear you would be little wiser for the tedium of the experience and I say that without intending any insult upon your undoubted intelligence. Suffice it to say that, as the English say, these things will happen and are sent to try us.'

‘But it can be fixed, one way or the other?' Naylor said.

‘Oh yes,' Koenig confirmed. ‘The very worse scenario would mean two ports down for maybe twelve to fifteen hours, and that is only if VESTA does not heal herself, as it were.'

‘What about the rest of the system?' Christina demanded. ‘I have plans that I would rather not postpone.'

‘The remainder of the system is functioning perfectly,' Koenig replied. ‘I have run extensive checks.'

‘And what if something else goes wrong, while we're all in there?' Christina suggested. Naylor looked round at her.

‘All of us in there?' he echoed. ‘Who said anything about all of us being in there?'

‘I assumed,' Christina said blandly, ‘that you would all like to watch my little show with the firebrand artist?'

‘But it would be risky if we were all under and something else went wrong,' Naylor pointed out. ‘Then we'd all be stuck.'

‘Not at all,' Koenig said confidently. ‘If any of the active portals become corrupted they immediately deactivate and the subject regains consciousness. In fact, the same would happen with the passive portals after two hours, but I have over-ridden that facility in the case of our two current subjects. I assumed it would be less troublesome to leave them safely in their limbo for the time being.'

‘It would,' Naylor agreed. ‘But I'm still not sure...'