A woman with the features of a hybrid tigress purrs at me, reaching out a clawed hand. "You shouldn't be alone, sweetheart. Come with Mama. Mama take good care of you."
A pair of well-oiled muscular men grin and beckon from where they lounge on a padded mattress. "Ready for a reverse harem, luv? Once you double-tap, you never go back. We guarantee it."
Others reach out, stroking my arms and legs as I pass and offer even lewder suggestions. I have to break some tourist's wrist when he gets too aggressive. He screams and shouts curses after me, but the mocking laughter of his friends drowns out his threats. I ignore them, making my way past the activity until I reach my destination.
The Spider's Lair.
It's an all-black Moroccan-style building gilded in gold, crouching in the middle of the glittering domain like a poisonous insect. A massively-muscled woman with gold skin and horns sprouting from her forehead stands by the door and watches my approach with glittering red eyes. I stop and look up at her.
"Nox is expecting me."
She grunts and slaps a heavy hand against the sensor, opening the door. I edge past and enter Nox's den of vice.
The darkness swallows me immediately. Lighting consists solely of neon strips that haphazardly glow from walls and mark walking sections of the floor, barely illuminating the guests on chaise lounges and cushions on the deck. Incense burns in holders, casting trails of smoke through the air. Bodies gleam under the dim light, covered in a sheen of sweat from their unbridled lust, engaged in every sort of sexual position without a care for who sees them. Others simply lay back in a haze of hookah smoke, eyes glazed from the intensity of their high. I can barely breathe, eyes watering from the atmosphere of sweat, smoke, and heavily perfumed air.
Nox's quarters are further down in a private rear room. A masked figure in full latex bondage gear allows me to enter. The spherical room is slightly brighter, illuminated by oil lamps and candles. Nox lies on his stomach, eyes blissfully closed. His body is lean and chiseled, milk chocolate-toned skin glistening. His hair is twisted into short dreadlocks on top, shaved close at the sides. A naked woman in red body paint and nothing but a devil mask on straddles his back, rubbing massage oil into his muscles by sliding her taut, slippery nakedness against him. She glances at me when I enter, eyes unreadable in the shadows of the mask.
Nox lifts his head, a playful smile on his lips. He is unfairly handsome: perfectly symmetrical face, thick eyebrows shadowing brown eyes so bright they appear golden. Unlike most Immersers, he doesn’t bother with a creative avatar. In here he's only slightly altered his looks, creating a flawless version of himself.
His voice is deep, colored with a musical Caribbean accent. "White Rabbit. What a pleasure to see you again."
"You know that's not my name, Nox."
"You don't know why I call you that? It's because of your hair." He chuckles. "And the way you always hopped to do whatever Dabria asked."
"Very funny."
"It's a better name than Enigma. That's a bit too on the nose, isn't it?"
"Can we speak in private?" I nod at the girl grinding against his back as if trying to meld her oiled flesh to his.
He laughs in response. "Come on, White Rabbit. You know the girl isn't real. Nothing you say or do will affect her in the least."
"She's a program. That means she can be compromised."
"Just like the spy camera in your eye that reports back to your masters?" He grins at my expression. "I know all about it. Knowing is my business, as you're aware. Don't worry; I muted your feed as soon as you entered the building. As for the girl, I wrote her program. Just like I wrote this entire city block. Everything you see around you was created by my mighty hand."
I fold my arms. "Your masturbation hand, you mean?"
He raises an eyebrow. "You don't like my domain?"
"I'm sure you're not interested in my opinion. Not when you're doing so well for yourself." I make sure to put as much scorn in my voice as possible.
He only seems amused as he pushes himself to a sitting position. The devil girl adjusts in response, standing behind him and continuing to massage his neck and shoulders.
Nox gives me a calculating look that reminds me that behind the casualness is a sharp and ruthless mind. "Still mad at me for leaving our little summer camp? Dabria's merry band of hand-picked soldiers; bred to do her bidding without question."
"No. You’re a big boy. You made a decision, even if it was to join the enemy."
Rich laughter is his answer. "The enemy. Still spewing Dabria's philosophy even after she betrayed you?"
"She didn't betray me. She lived to fight another day. Survival at any cost. Just like she taught us."
"She taught us bullshit." For the first time, Nox's face turns serious. "Her lost boys and girls. Her little minions, young minds ripe for manipulation. Programmed just like the machines she's so determined to bring down. No different than the Haven breeding camps where machines raise children to be future compliant residents."
Angry heat burns my face. "It wasn't like that. Dabria gave us a home. Taught us to take care of ourselves. Gave us a reason to live."
He snaps his fingers and the devil woman vanishes, winked out of existence. Leaning forward, he narrows his eyes. "I can't believe you're still spouting that nonsense, Enigma. When are you going to wake up and realize you were just a tool in Dabria's hand? Used when she wants and discarded when she has no more use for you? She left you to Cyber Corp and did nothing while they rebuilt you as one of their cyborg slave agents. Face reality, Enigma. Dabria never cared about you or anyone else except herself."
"You mean like you?" I bite off every word furiously. "Can't beat them, so you joined them — is that it? Did you sell us out, Nox? Was that why we ran into that ambush?"
His face completely alters, staring in disbelief. "Do you really think I'd do that to you?"
"They knew we were coming."
"Of course they knew. The Collective knows everything. Their eyes are always watching, their ears always listening. Surveillance is practically sorcery these days, White Rabbit. Cyber Corp, the HSSC and their masters practice their black magic without restraint, reducing the term privacy to an oxymoron. You actually thought you could break into a federal facility without their knowledge? Then you're living in a world more virtual than this one."
The words sting, but I brush them aside. "Oh, right. Are you proud of your little cyber-sex kingdom, reducing people to their base instincts?"
"Reducing people?" He laughs again. "Look at you. You spent so much time being a soldier that you don't even know what makes people tick. You think you're in some ideological fight to save humanity. From what?"
He spreads his muscular arms out, gesturing to his abode. "This is humanity. Seventy-eight percent of visitors to Elysia end up here or one of the millions of identical setups. With Sleepers, it's ninety-five percent. Why?"
"Because Immersion attracts perverts."
"Because sex makes the world go 'round, White Rabbit. There's never been a drug created that's more addictive. You can never have enough and never have too much. And here the possibilities are endless. Sex without consequences. No diseases, no pregnancies, no panicked regrets the next morning. No one denying you at the last minute. No unpleasant sex funk, no worry about flatulence at unexpected moments to ruin the mood. Everyone is free to explore any curiosity or fetish they might harbor, without judgment. Without identity. Want to swap genders and experience sex from the other side? You can do it here. Gay curious? You can dip your toes in the waters here, and no one will ever know. Let your freak flag fly, no matter what it is. And no worries about performance either. Every climax is explosive, every experience mind-blowing."