Jacey's Put In-Use by Aadrin Blue
Part 12
Jacey made it to class just in time. He was the last person to sit down, but he wasn't late. His mind was still reeling from his encounter with Brad. Between the sexual confusion and the emotional confusion, there wasn't a lot of energy or attention left for his tech teacher's lecture on the history of the Internet. Suddenly Jacey became distracted by an ache in his pants.
Jacey was in the back row, he'd chosen that seat at the beginning of the year to facilitate privacy and avoid scrutiny of the teacher. Checking left and right to make sure no one was looking his way, he reached down into the back of his pants and his hand encountered the plastic harness from the buttplug. A chill ran down Jacey's spine.
"Jacey, is something wrong?" Flash asked, through miniphones.
"Yes! the harness.. you know, the plug... it's back. Why am I still wearing it?" Jacey whispered urgently.
"You're wearing it because of Brad," Flash replied, confused.
"But I took it out," Jacey whispered.
"Jacey, I don't understand... You've been wearing it since yesterday. Brad made you put it in. He promised you it would come off this morning, but it never did," Flash recounted.
"Yes it did! At the end of the assembly, remember, it unlocked, and I ran to the bathroom... Or was that before the assembly... It could have been on the bus..." Jacey trailed off.
"Jacey, it never unlocked. You've been wearing it for more than 12 hours now," Flash said. Jacey shook his head in confusion.
"No," he said.
"Jacey, is there something wrong?" Asked Mr. Winters, his teacher, drawing everyone's attention to the boy.
"Uhh... Yeah, I'm feeling kind of offline this morning... can I go to the washroom please?" Jacey asked.
"Do you want to stop by the nurse's office as well?" asked the teacher.
"Maybe..." Jacey replied.
"All right, well take your things with you and if you end up not coming back to class, just have the nurse email me. I hope you feel better, Jace," said his teacher. Jacey grabbed his bag and walked out the door. He was halfway to the washroom when he thought he felt the harness buzz and release. He ignored the feeling.
Rushing into a stall, he hung up his bag and nearly tore off his pants and briefs. Sure enough, there was the harness, still firmly locked in place.
"Flash, I remember this coming off before the assembly... but I also remember it coming off here, in the bathroom, with Brad... And I could swear I felt it unlock in the hallway just now, but it didn't," he said, tugging at it. It would not come loose.
"You went to the bathroom before the assembly, but you just stared at yourself in the mirror for a few seconds, and then ran out. After the assembly, you got a text message summoning you to the bathroom, where you did encounter Brad. He taunted you, then he stated that he had planned on having you perform oral sex on him, but lamented a lack of sufficient time before class in which to accomplish it. Then he reminded you about the plastic bottle, which you left at home, by the way, and he left. Then you left, and went to class. Your harness was on the entire time. Brad even laughed about it. You don't remember?" Flash asked.
"No I do, I just... Remember differently," Jacey said.
"Uh oh... I was worried this might happen..."
"Flash, what? What might happen," Jacey demanded. He thought he was going crazy!
"There is a possibility that you are hallucinating these things, Jacey," his Digital Assistant Avatar told him gently.
"Hah, no surprise there," the boy said. He viewed Flash's assessment as an incredible understatement, given the situation. His memories were so vivid. That they clashed with reality gave the boy great pause. "Why would I be hallucinating at all? And... If I am, why would I imagine the harness coming off, and not something else, like a giant dinosaur or something?" Jacey asked. He'd heard stories about other kids in his school taking illegal pills and seeing some pretty wild stuff.
"Well.. As for the physical cause of your hallucinations, I have some idea. But as to the subject matter... Hallucinations draw from the subconscious," Flash said.
"So you're saying that despite my devotion to Brad, that somewhere inside me I subconsciously want to take this thing off myself?" Jacey asked.
"Well do you?"
"I don't know. Maybe. It doesn't matter, even if I wanted to, I don't have any way of undoing the lock without Brad," Jacey said.
"Don't be too sure about that," Flash offered.
"What? No... How?" Jacey asked.
"I was there when the Principal zapped it the first time, remember? I heard over airnet," Flash said. Jacey laughed.
"Packet-sniffing?" he giggled. Flash laughed with him.
"It doesn't even use encryption. Some security system," the Avatar said. Jacey didn't ask why Flash hadn't offered to release him until now... He knew it was because Flash was specifically designed not to interfere with his sexual development. If the situation had ever gotten to the point where it was unsafe for Jacey, however, Flash would have been there to look out for him. As he was now.
"So... do you want me to transmit the unlock packet? I've got the harness's IP address," Flash offered. Jacey thought for a moment.
"Yes."
"Open sesame," declared Flash. As the harness finally, really, actually unlocked, Jacey sighed his release not only from the captivity of the plastic intruder forced into his rectum, but from the perceived insanity and confusion that had gripped him ever since he'd felt the harness in the classroom. As he removed the plug and harness (for what he hoped would be the final time that day, for sanity's sake) and then moved to the sinks to clean them, he addressed his friend on the com.
"This is really happening, right, I'm not crazy?" Jacey asked.
"If you were, it would mean I was crazy with you, and DA Avatars don't go crazy," Flash said. "Well.. Except that one time," he continued. Jacey glared at him. "Sorry, just kidding," Flash said, smiling.
"Flash, why was I hallucinating," Jacey asked. Flash paused, and didn't answer him.
"I know you know something... Why won't you tell me? Is it Brad's fault," Jacey asked. Flash's features took on an expression of great sadness. Of guilt.
"No, Jacey, it's my fault. I let it happen..." he said. Jacey was confused.
"What? Don't be silly, you aren't capable of projecting images directly into my head," Jacey said.
"No, I'm not, but it's because of me that you were brainwashed into making the decisions that trapped you with Brad in the first place," Flash said. Jacey still didn't understand. He narrowed his eyes.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked. Flash sighed, and prepared to explain.
"Do you remember what technology came before Airnet?" Flash asked.
"WiFi," Jacey said automatically. Flash laughed.
"Right, right, but this isn't a history lesson... Think after WiFi. Think much more recently. Before the Airnet2 standard took the market by storm, Airnet1 used to compete with another wireless digital standard from a company called Time Warner Technologies. The other wireless standard was called GTT, remember?" Flash asked. Jacey thought for a moment.
"It rings a bell.. I remember stuff in our house growing up used to have the logos saying whether they were GTT or Airnet compliant, or both. But no one ever used GTT," Jacey recalled.
"Airnet won, but some people did use GTT stuff before we were born. Some of it is still around. Some European countries still use GTT equipment for citynets, even. Which is dangerous," Flash said.
"Why dangerous," Jacey asked.
"Well one of the reasons Airnet won was because GTT gave people headaches. Literally. The GTT transcievers messed with the inner ear if they were poorly calibrated. There were rumours they even interfered with people's sleeping patterns, but it was never proven and Time Warner Technologies sent out press releases implying that Bay Airnet was responsible for spreading the misinformation. In any event, it's not an issue here anymore because GTT is all but gone. Only really old devices even have GTT transceivers in them. Or, new devices designed to be able to interact with really old devices," Flash hinted.
"Do you have that feature?" Jacey asked.
"Not when I'm in the PN5," Flash responded. "But the PN20 com was designed with dozens of extra features, including a focus on backward compatibility and compatibility with systems in use internationally. The PN20 com does have a GTT transceiver control chip, Jacey," Flash said.
"Yes but you've never activated it, right, we've never interacted with a GTT device," Jacey asked his friend.
"Right," Flash responded.
"So how could it be messing with my brain?" Jacey asked.
"Because it was re-programmed. A few months ago, a virus I contracted flashed the bios of the GTT control chip in our PN20 with new instructions, effectively cutting it off from my operating system's control. I never noticed, because I never had any reason to try and activate the GTT chip. I only noticed it in the past few days because I ran a full-scale system diagnostic to help me figure out why I was having so much trouble deciding what to do about how Brad's been treating you. The fact that the chip has been totally out of my control means I don't know for sure what it was doing to you, Jacey, but I have some idea," Flash said. Jacey was shocked. The idea that something could affect him like this was frightening, terrifying.
"How did you get the virus, Flash," Jacey asked.
"It was designed to hide from my AV functions, but I think I traced it back to when it entered my system... And it happened when I went over to Brad's Com. The day you transmitted me over to ask Sierra if Brad was interested in you. Which means,"
"Which means the infection came from Brad's Com," Jacey finished angrily. "Brad's com isn't even manufactured by the same company as the PN20, so why would Sierra be carrying a virus specifically designed to attack your GTT chip? She couldn't have been infected. Which means she and Brad wrote it specifically to target me," Jacey said. He was furious.
"That bastard pretended he didn't even know me, and then blew me off like so much worthless spam when I asked him out. When all the while he'd been watching me for who-the-fuck knows how long, programming a virus specifically to take advantage of me? to violate you? That bastard..."
"Jacey, I'm so sorry," Flash offered. "I feel terrible, Jacey. I never meant to hurt you..."
"It isn't your fault. But how did he do it, tell me how he brainwashed me using a commercially available technology which I chose to carry around myself?" Jacey asked. Flash shrugged.
"I can't be sure, but this is what I think. Earlier in the semester, Brad won an award for his project on Electroencephalography. I think he found a way to use the GTT transceiver in the PN20 to generate delta waves in your brain whenever we were within close proximity to Sierra. Delta waves are present in some stages of sleep... to have strong delta waves while awake, it would make you highly suggestible. Almost like hypnosis," Flash explained.
"No wonder I thought he was the fucking sun and the moon. I was never in love with him," Jacey realized. His heart filled with pure hatred for Brad.
"Your natural physical attraction for him amplified the effect."
"I would have let him Fuck me. I almost let him rape me," the realization came over Jacey.
"Again, I'm so sorry, Jacey," Flash said.
"Don't be, you saved me, Flash. So I guess the PN20 isn't really dead," Jacey asked.
"Oh it's dead, I sucked that battery so dry it'll take a full charge cycle to come back," Flash laughed. "It was the only way I could be absolutely sure of what was going on, Jacey," Flash explained. "You might not have listened to me in the state you were in."
"But the PN20 will come back online," Jacey asked.
"Yes it will. But we'll have to re-flash the bios properly, or the same thing will happen all over again. It shouldn't be too much of a problem," Flash said.
"This explains why I've been having second thoughts all day, about being Brad's slave. The going-crazy thing was just a side-effect. Let's go see the nurse and tell her I'm not feeling so well so I don't have to go back to class... I need to sit alone and think for a while," Jacey said.
"Jace, you just got a text message. Brad wants you to meet him after school. The day just started, but that's still only a few hours from now... Do you know whether you're planning to go with him or not, given what you just found out?" Flash asked. Jacey nodded.
"Oh, I'm so there, dude," Jacey said. He needed to confront Brad. "Flash, you'll help me brainstorm ways of getting revenge on the bastard, right?"
"Oh, I'm so there, dude," Flash replied.
To Be Continued
Aadrin Blue - aadrinblue@hotmail.com