Built

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?

—Nietzsche

 

1.

 

Sophie walked through the club aloof and unfeeling. She was unaccompanied and proud of it. As a single woman she didn’t feel the need—like so many other women—to constantly have a man by her side, even in a sex club. Especially in a sex club. Though nominally the club and its ilk were open to the adult public full membership was only extended to male-female couples. With the one exception of single women who met a certain level of beauty and willingness to participate in the kinkier aspects of modern society.

As it happened Sophie met both criteria.

Those in attendance at the club were from a select slice of society, not the richest and certainly not the poorest. They were the hardworking professionals that kept their technology-bound world functioning. The upper echelons of society would never deign to go to something as mean as a semi-private sex club; they had their own clubs for such purposes. And certainly the lower rungs of society would never be admitted—they either didn’t have the education or money to join. While Sophie wasn’t a member of the uber-rich she rubbed elbows with them on a regular basis and had been invited—and attended—their clubs on more than one occasion, but she preferred to be with her own type where she was most comfortable.

Walking through the interconnected rooms Sophie took in all the activities. She wasn’t in a hurry to make a decision as to what she was going to do this evening. There was a group in one of the common rooms surrounding a VR deck. It was a standard deck with eight cables extending outward from the purple oblong main console giving this particular model the nickname of “the squid”. Each cable was plugged into a port above and slightly behind each participant’s right ear. There were seven people currently connected to the squid, four men and three women. They were all lying down on low couches, heads on small pillows, their expressions blank, their faces slack, mouths slightly open with tongues slightly protruding, their eyes were open but unfocused. The group might have been dead except for the steady rise and fall of their chests. All were naked though that was hardly necessary, none of the action that was taking place was actually physical. They were all in a virtual world created and moderated by the man sitting next to the squid.

Large dildos had been inserted into the three women; each dildo was held in place by stretchable straps so they wouldn’t inadvertently be ejected if the body spasmed or had an uncontrolled seizure. These devices weren’t just common sex toys. The dildos were wired to the squid. Similar devices were strapped to the men’s hips with their erect cocks inserted into the long plastiscene-silicone tubes. Again, these devices weren’t strictly necessary but most who used these VR consoles found that they enhanced the experience. Sophie had seen the external devices taken to an extreme where the participants would be in full-body plastiscene suits to stimulate every nerve ending in the person’s body, but focused on the nipples, genitals, and anus…and any other body part the player had a fetish for. She found that a bit silly. The cable plugged into their cranium port provided more than enough stimulation to the body’s nerves. The buzzing and humming coming from the sleeves and dildos added to the experience but weren’t necessary.

“Care to play?” the squid’s operator asked her. “We need a fourth woman. It’s a surreal orgy in there.” He grinned at her. His lips were stained blue from some artificial stimulant and his eyes were nearly as glazed over as the people who were connected to his squid.

She just shook her head. “No thank you.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” A cable trailed from behind his ear but wasn’t connected directly to the squid. It went into an adaptor. Sophie was certain he was collecting the emotions and sensations experienced by the players. She was also certain he was going to sell recordings of those same emotions and sensations later on the gray market that existed for such things.

“I prefer my sex to be real, not virtual,” she added after he looked away. If he heard her he gave no indication. There would be another woman walking by soon enough who would be happy to play and happy to have her emotions stolen and sold for the pleasure of others.

Sophie kept walking. There was still much to see and experience. A dealer tried to sell her a stimstick as she passed by an open invitation room. The woman inside the room was taking on all those who wanted a piece of her pussy. Each man that approached her had thirty seconds to cum, if he was unsuccessful he went to the back of the line. After brushing aside the dealer she watched for a minute. There were a few women in the line of a dozen eager to fuck an anonymous woman. Each woman wore a fake, but surprisingly realistic-looking, cock jutting up from her crotch. Sophie wondered if the fake cocks were simply toys held in place by the women’s cunts or if the women were fleshchangers, half-man, half-woman at their whim.

What she saw tempted Sophie but she wanted to be fucked this night, she didn’t want to fuck another woman. She wasn’t above having sex with a woman, or multiple women, but it wasn’t what she wanted or needed at the moment. She moved on.

She was naked except for her shoes, spectacles, a bracelet, and an elaborate hairband holding her long black hair into an ornate bun. Normally she liked to have her hair down and loose during sex, but she had come directly to the club from her office and hadn’t bothered to release it yet. She found that loose hair made her blend