A Virtual Reality, Part Three: Intentions Abound

To safely experience the intimate encounters she was too afraid to pursue in real life, Gillian Lawrence, crack digital security analyst and part-time hacker, breached a high-security virtual reality simulation prototype, uploading her consciousness for a quick weekend escapade.

She was supposed to be long gone before anyone noticed her physical presence. She couldn’t have anticipated the facility-wide viral attack that corrupted the VR lab’s AI, Sheila, who was modeled after an erotic film actress, or her intense interest in Gillian’s sexual “education” inside the simulation.

So far, Gillian and her friends successfully escaped the Horde invasion and, trekking through the Southern Mountains, encountered an unexpected ally on the road to Tor Sylonia, the ruling seat of the kingdom. To decipher the encrypted message Joshua had received from JSA 674 before his connection was severed, they need to find the missing encryption keys. Can they do it before Sheila enslaves the people of the simulation? But first, can Gillian survive the distractions of the simulation and the outside world?

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“Care to dance?”

“What?” His pale blue irises were encircled by a ring of dark blue and his eyes were framed by thick black lashes and crowned with heavy black brows.

“You’re excellent with a rod, but how good are you with a blade?” he asked, his voice softer, his face a fraction closer. One corner of his mouth twitched toward a grin.

“Uh…oh!” I realized what he was asking and flushed. “Passable.”

“Care to dance?” he repeated.

I stepped back, putting at least a full yard between us. “Blunted or sharp?”

“Sharp,” he said, fully grinning now. “No fun without any risk.”

“True.” I smiled back. “Foil or broad?”

“Definitely broad.” He pulled his sword from his scabbard, which he still wore. Most of the men had removed their swords.

I lifted mine from the pile of my coats, which I had removed when we moved the gathering into the tent, drew it slowly, then held the blade tip up before me. “Me, too.”

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