At the Academy 3: Turning the Tables

continues from part 2

Part 3: Turning the Tables

It’s odd to wake up and find your surroundings completely changed. Roger was confused as he rose slightly out of bed, taking the bedroom surrounding him in. Display panel, bureau, closet, door – all the standard fittings for a reasonably priced hotel room with the antiseptic decorating style that went with a large chain. Of course, it took a moment as sleep fell away and he remembered that he really should be waking in the Baron’s large, circular, stone study. When that realization hit, he nearly leapt out of bed, ready for anything. His training rapidly took over and he relaxed a bit as he started to take full stock of his situation.

He guessed immediately that he was still in the VR suite – he doubted that he could have been taken off the station and to a hotel without the use of some significant amount of drugs and his senses weren’t dulled in a way that would indicate those had been used. But obviously, things had changed. Andrea was nowhere to be found, he was now dressed in contemporary clothing, albeit just his boxer briefs at the moment, and the décor was modern. He was obviously in a suite – the open doors to a bathroom and sitting area made that obvious. A quick look around confirmed both that Andrea was nowhere to be found and he wasn’t a prisoner in any way since all of the doors worked.

He decided to give himself some time to wake fully before trying to figure more out and headed for the shower after engaging all of the locks on the door to the hotel hallway. Not that it would matter if he was in some training scenario, since the computer would simply provide some other way for any programmed assailants to enter his rooms. But it was a logical step as he tried to remember what happened. In the shower, he replayed the previous night in the suite – Andrea bound in a suspended spread-eagle as he teased and tormented her (he remembered grinning at the amazing ability of the suite – that position normally would become horribly painful in a short while, but not when pressor fields suspended the subject). Her gagged moans and groans finally become climaxes when he allowed her release, her eyes vacillating between glares that showed a desire for revenge and plaintive looks that just indicated desire. In the end, he’d let her down and they’d made love on the bed without the benefit of any bindings in the tender and romantic way that only new lovers can seem to capture.

As he applied the soap he wondered what had happened? How in the hell had the suite…

Then he cursed to himself. Being a sucker, he’d allowed Andrea to check her messages and send some mail earlier in the day. She’d nearly begged him for the privilege since she was expecting to hear from family and wanted to send them a reply quickly. He suspected she’d done far more than that, and must have reached out to someone else at the Academy. Served him right for not watching her as she read and typed, but that had somehow seemed wrong at the time.

He finished his shower, half laughing and half cursing. Whatever was going on, he was sure of one thing – if Andrea were in control now it’d be an interesting experience. As he dried himself he heard a muted chime from the bedroom. Wrapping the towel around him, he headed back into the bedroom nearly expecting some type of attack. It never materialized.

Instead, he noticed that the display had a blinking light and chimed at him as he emerged from the bathroom. Someone had left him a message. He powered it on and hit the button to play messages, then listened as he finished drying himself and began to dress. No surprise, Andrea’s voice greeted him as she greeted him wearing a beautiful set of lingerie – stunning scarlet long nightgown that clung to her curves gorgeously, a wispy lace robe to match. Desire instantly flared within him.

“Good morning, Roger. Captain Salazar decided that it wasn’t quite fair for you to have sole control of the game we were playing and sent me a message asking if I’d like to see things spiced up a bit. I couldn’t very well say no to that, so the suite’s now on a random schedule for who has control. Every time we hit midnight, it’s going to pick someone new from our crew that will control the simulation, although he was kind enough to make sure I had first crack at things.”

Her smile was impish and seductive, and Roger immediately knew that he would be in for some interesting times.

“So I decided to give you a challenge. From the moment this message finishes, you’ve got four hours to pick out the perfect gift to please me. You’ll find plenty of options in the stores attached to your hotel. The rules are very simple – one box supplied by a store delivered to my suite in this hotel. But you’ll need to pick very wisely since it’s Christmas and we’re all alone. I’ll want my present to work out perfectly or I’ll be very upset and disappointed. And then who knows what will be in store for you.

“Four hours, dear. Think hard.”

The message ended and Roger smiled. Regardless of whether he found the perfect gift or not, he was sure that they’d end up having a good time. With the clock ticking, he hurriedly finished cleaning up and headed out the door.

Andrea hadn’t lied when she’d said that he should have plenty of options. A glance at the directory by the elevator showed a huge number of different stores of different types. Clothing, shoes, department stores, specialty food - the variety was nearly overwhelming. Roger decided to just start browsing all of them, making a list of candidates for a good while and finally circling back to the “winner” he selected after all was said and done. He started with the clothing shops, figuring that the right outfit always did a great deal to make a woman happy. But while that led to some good options, none seemed perfect.

Next came the jewelry stores. While the present wouldn’t last or be real outside of the VR suite, it still seemed a logical next step. For Andrea, it couldn’t be too gaudy or flashy, it would take away from her natural beauty. Something stylish and beautiful, but not overwhelming. He found a number of strong candidates and made notes, then headed out wondering where to go next. Food? Books? Music?

As he looked for another directory, he spotted a ticket service. Wandering in, he discovered that they were selling tickets to the greatest concerts of all time, obviously reproduced by the suite software from recordings and videos. He looked up Andrea’s favorite bands, finding several potential candidates. The helpful associate also gave some recommendations for similar styles of music that he thought might also apply.

As he walked out of the service, his stomach growled and he wondered about the time. Glancing at his watch he was surprised that somehow he’d spent an hour and a half already and really didn’t have a gift that he thought was really “perfect” yet on his list. Some that were close and might make it, but none that had him hit that “Aha!” moment where he knew he had it.

As he hit the closest fast food joint and grabbed a chicken sandwich, he decided to just wander a large department store and see if anything called to him for an hour. While the time might just be a waste, it might also be the inspiration that he needed to find that perfect something. He ate as he studied the directory, noting that he wasn’t far from a store that occupied eleven floors and offered a massive range of items. He finished eating as he walked that way.

Wandering the store was a bit of a blur. Appliances, electronics, cosmetics, perfumes, clothes, shoes – the store had literally everything as he made his way from the top floor to the bottom. Toys, games, even a travel agency in the store. The selection was incredible, but nothing seemed better than what he’d already looked at and much of it seemed worse. He glanced at his watch – two and a half hours gone – time to head somewhere else.

As he approached the front of the store, he saw a sign pointing to “Gift Advice.” Figuring that it couldn’t hurt, he followed it and stepped through the door under that sign as he arrived. It was a small booth with a computer terminal and a chair. Roger sat and was about to reach for the keyboard when a humming sound caused him to jump up and head towards the door. The screen for the computer vanished and a chrome figure, seated, rotated into view. It was female and attractive, and appeared to be constructed from different pieces of metal due to the seams that could be seen at the joints. Some of them even appeared to be flexible.

Roger tensed, waiting for the figure to somehow attack him when a slight hissing noise accompanied the chrome face suddenly opening, lifting out from the chin as though attached to a hinge at the top of the head. The face below was familiar.

“Amy! Are you okay?”

Amy’s skin had a slight sheen of sweat over it and her face was flushed. Her breathing was more rapid than normal, but nowhere close to hyperventilating.

“Damn, it took you long enough.” Amy panted as she spoke, then took a few deep breaths, seemingly trying to steady herself. “Andrea locked me in this thing with a promise that if I helped her play out her little scheme she’d let me have Ken to play with after. Of course, she didn’t mention the stimulation this damned suit would provide. You couldn’t have come here first?”

Roger smiled and sat down again. “Why come here first? There’s so many shops around that I wanted…”

“…to be an idiot. This chain of stores has gift advice to help you pick out the unexpected but perfect gift. But of course, you probably didn’t know that. Let’s get down to it, you’re running out of time.”

Roger pulled out the list of things he’d looked at and started to explain the pros and cons of each. Amy let him ramble a moment and then shook her head with a disapproving sound.

“Roger, do you really thinks she wants some thing as her present? Does she strike you as that kind of a woman? Do you really know that little about women?”

Roger stared a moment and said, “I’m not sure what you mean, Amy. I was trying…”

“…to find the perfect gift, yes.” She finished the sentence for him. “The closest you came was the tickets place, but even that’s not perfect, is it?”

Roger shook his head.

“We women-folk like experiences more than stuff. We want memories, not things. You should be looking for things to do with her even if there’s nothing permanent to leave behind. Andrea wants to be with you, not get something from you.”

“So if it’s not the tickets, then what…”

“You didn’t even stop at the travel agency here, did you?” Amy interrupted. “They’ve got all sorts of great packages. Find one you think she’ll like…ooohhhhhh.” Her sentence trailed off as the sweat returned to her brow and her breathing became harder. Whatever stimulation was built into her prison was apparently back on. As she arched her head back, she manage to get something out between panting, “Find… something… to… do… with her.”

Roger was about to respond, but the face plate rapidly returned to its original position and closed with a “click.” Roger could hear a muffled sound as the humming noise returned and the chrome-plated Amy rotated out of view.

It was a trap. It had to be a trap. Roger knew it was just about certainly a trap, but then, what if it wasn’t? What if Amy was really just helping him out and Andrea had given him this chance at a bit of insight if he were smart enough to take it? Roger sat pondering for a few minutes, wondering whether his girl was purposefully setting him up to fail or if Amy really was giving him an important clue to help him “win.” Amy did know Andrea better than anyone, that was certain. And if he hadn’t visited the advice booth to find her, then he’d never have heard what she had to say. Could Andrea have thought this all the way through, figuring that he’d visit the advice booth? Or was this just “the bone” that everyone had been accustomed to having thrown in to training simulations when someone did something particularly smart?

Roger decided – better to have a look at what was on offer than to pass it by and risk missing out on something good. What Amy said made sense on at least some level, and if it were a setup then he’d just have to play it out. He headed for the travel agency.

At the travel agency, nobody was manning the store. A sign indicated that they’d left for lunch about five minutes ago and would be back in about an hour. A large arrow pointed to a computer terminal that had their full catalog. Roger sat down and started scrolling through it. Weekends in exotic places, trips to far-off systems or countries, adventure experiences – they all seemed like great ideas. Then Roger thought for a moment about Andrea’s message. The suite might change control in 24 hours, so whatever he selected probably needed to be perfect for that amount of time.

He scrolled through the list to “Overnight Experiences.” These each appeared to be packages that lasted a single night and were all easier to afford (not that budget was likely to be a problem in this virtual world). Then, near the bottom, he saw a listing.

“A woman’s dream – a one night stay in our luxury hotel designed to cater to a woman’s every desire. All food and entertainment included in our specially designed lover’s suite.”

Roger decided to stop looking. He selected the overnight package and put in “Andrea’s suite” for the delivery address. The computer accepted that even though it never should have worked, and he smiled as he leaned back in his chair…

“Why Roger, it really is perfect!”

Andrea’s voice had a mix of pleasure and mocking glee as it reached his ears. Her face had a huge smile as she glanced at him, looking up from the embossed envelope and letter that announced her gift.

“You really did find the perfect gift, and I was sure you wouldn’t succeed. I supposed I can thank Amy for that, can’t I?”

Roger nodded, then grunted.

Andrea grinned as she ran her hand over his shoulders and chest.

“Of course, you didn’t read the package details closely, did you. The ‘Woman’s dream’ package happens to include packaging her man up for him quite nicely, doesn’t it?”

Roger grunted into his gag and struggled to no avail. Immediately after he’d chosen the package and paid for it, all of the staff in the surrounding area had pounced on him. Their simulated hands had stripped him naked, then stuffed him into a rubber confinement sack with more zippers than he could have imagined.

Each leg was in it’s own sleeve zipped around it with a heavier outer layer that welded them together also zipped solidly in place. His chest was covered by a separate piece with a large zipper running down the middle and smaller ones that provided access to his nipples. Then his arms were zipped into sleeves that held them securely to his sides and a final large piece that wrapped around his arms and chest that zipped him snugly into place up to his neck.

Finally, zippers that connected the leg binder to his upper half were done up around his buttocks, creating a strange cross of metal that seemed to highlight his growing erection. An inflatable gag was inserted into his mouth, then attached in place by a rubber mask that zipped up at the back of his neck and head, securing it firmly in place.

But they hadn’t finished there. They’d carried him to the gift wrapping section and festooned him with bright Christmas ribbons and bows, all the while ignoring his struggles and grunts. In the end, green and red ribbons added additional pressure at shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, and ankles. Then they’d taped the gift envelope to his chest, secured him to a hand cart, and made their delivery.

Andrea was grinning in a Cheshire cat sort of way as she loosened the zippers over his crotch and reached in to grab his erection. She stroked a few times, making him groan more, then rapidly zipped them back up. Then she vanished behind him, chuckling.

“The perfect gift indeed – my man just ready and waiting for me. Shall we see what else you forgot to read about that might be in the room you booked?”

As he felt the handcart tip back, Roger groaned and smiled at the same time, struggling for whatever stimulation he could get. Only a small part of him could focus enough to wonder what would happen at midnight…

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17.01.09