Virtually His by Gennita Low

why I bother asking questions of either of you. Evasion, evasion, evasion. How’s a doctor supposed to make charts? Let’s begin then.”
    Either of them, huh? She was getting some good information this morning. Helen sat back up, offering her arm for the usual procedures. She looked at the door leading into the VR room. She had a few questions for her trainer, too.
     
    She found out that they called the new VR chair the Portal. She watched Derek and some technicians playing around with it, using the goggles, head-scan gear and the special gloves on themselves, as they adjusted and fine-tuned the machine with its straps and electrodes. The experimental gears and switches excited geeks like them. She could tell from their little whoops now and then that they were having the time of their lives.
    She shook her head, but was glad that she’d been allowed to watch them at work. She was going to find out as much as she could about the experiment and all the equipment, but being explained to and having it done to her were two entirely different things. Yeah, yeah, synchronized brain waves. A communications link that utilized her “talent.” But the reality—or the experience when it happened—was a jolt to any normal human being.
    “We’re activating the Portal, Miss Roston.”
    Derek’s voice jerked Helen back from her reverie. She was so used to people doing stuff to her body that she could drift off without even feeling needles. She took a deep breath.
    “Give me a sec.” She wanted to be in total control this time. Someone else in her head. Get used to that, Helen. She released her breath, then mockingly drawled, “A girl’s got to get ready when she meets a Greek god, you know.” She flexed her fingers. I want to get him closer. She smiled, and instructed softly, “Okay, proceed, Derek.”
    The darkness didn’t last as long this time. There was a quick prickle of awareness as something was turned on, then there he was, larger than life, in front of her.
    Helen couldn’t help smiling. Well, what was there not to smile about, when she had created this beautiful creature herself? Her eyes went lower and her smile turned into a wide grin. Who said a girl couldn’t have her cake and eat it, too?
    No need for greetings. “How do you like your changes?” she asked impishly.
    “I suppose any man would thank you for extra blessings,” he replied dryly.
    She waved her arms out experimentally. The sense of space was so real, even though her mind was telling her she was really in VR mode.
    “So, are you ever going to tell me what we do during these sessions? Besides me admiring your beauty, of course.” She had read the contract and the stages of experiments but this was the vaguest part. What exactly was this man to her? “How many times do we meet?”
    “Look at it as a getting-to-know-you kind of thing,” he replied. Was that a hint of mockery? “And we meet as often as we can.”
    Helen sauntered closer, tilting her head to the side a little as she looked up at him. “So this is like questions and answers? ”
    “Something like it. For now.”
    It was unnerving how the avatar just stood there unmoving. “Can you make yourself appear with clothes?” she asked.
    “No, you have total control over what I look like, Helen.”
    “Oh. Am I embarrassing you?”
    “But you wanted to.”
    “That’s not so!” Well, a little, but it was just her need to assert control.
    “Yes, control is very important to you, and I don’t blame you at all. Your life isn’t your own these days.”
    “ How do you read my mind? And how come I can’t read yours?” She wrinkled her nose. “Those brain wave sync tests, right? Somehow you can read my thoughts.”
    He shook his head. “No,” he assured her quietly. “Those tests aren’t advanced enough to read subjects’ minds, Helen. Let’s just say that I find this situation quite unique myself. The VR is supposed to let me see what your mind is projecting when