Back to work

"<Level 4 synchronization unlocked>

Congratulations, valued customer, on unlocking a new synchronization level! As you gain familiarity with your QEBP, and it with you, you will be able to access more exciting features!

Level 4 features include but are not limited to:

* Persistent entangled suggestion

* Malleable manifestation

* In Veritas

We hope you enjoy the new possibilities opened up by these exciting features, and that you look forward to more in the future!"

It took you 15 minutes of mopping to get the sperm off your floor. It had congealed in strange and disturbing ways, and you didn't relish the idea of your apartment permanently smelling like cum.

After that you collapsed onto your bed, barely remembering to dismiss your Cassie skin, and slept most of the Sunday away. When you woke up, you were greeted with the now familiar synchronization level up notification.

You fix yourself another bowl of instant oatmeal and sit down at the table. You hate this stuff but you're too paranoid to go out again today and get something else. Though after idly slapping the semi-gelatinous grey surface with your spoon for a minute, you push it away and will your hunger to disappear. It can't be healthy to keep doing that, if you're not careful you could end up starving without even noticing. But eh.

"Persistent suggestion" feels uncomplicated. It just embeds a suggestion into an Entangled's mind and keeps it there without you needing to constantly whisper it to them. You know, with the same mysteriously provenanced certainty as you've known how all the other features have functioned, that this is more potent, and can only safely be used for a simple concept once per person per day. It will behave itself like any other belief or self-evident certainty, only making itself known when the Entangled tries to reason or think about something relevant.

The other two are interesting as well, but this is one you'd like to try out right away. It ties in well with something you've been thinking about for the Bridget plan. You've been worried about the possibility of being caught ever since she showed how sloppy you had been, and have come to the conclusion that the best thing you can do is get some insurance. Specifically, make yourself irreplaceable to someone in an important position.

You think back to that first day with Viv, how she'd talked about getting Jo from HR to fire you. You've looked it up on the company intranet and sure enough, Joanne Dupert was head of HR at Corp. Inc. You've also checked your own QEBP intranet and found that a bleached blonde woman fitting the company picture of a Joanne Dupert is listed in your roster.

Having the head of HR think you're invaluable would be pretty useful. It would at the very least give you a buffer if things go bad, or if someone has it in for you. But the question is: What would Joanne need from you?

You lean back in your chair, fingers interlaced on your stomach, and bring up Joanne in your mind's eye.

It's late in the day, but still bright outside. Your view is centered on a woman in her early 40s. She's sitting at a table in what looks like a juice bar, accompanied by two other women. All three are wearing matching pink tracksuits, and are sipping on giant glasses full of something dark green and chunky. Eugh. Your oatmeal seems a lot more appetising all of a sudden.

Joanne has medium short blonde hair in a layered sidecut that brings the word "Karen" to mind. Her otherwise flat body is significantly filled out in the chest area with a pair of very eye catching, protruding mounds. There's no way those are real.

She swallows her sip and makes a face. "Why did I agree to go here again? I can barely taste the gingko in this"

One of her friends answers "We just thought it would be nice to... go somewhere new Jo. Try something else?" she gives a shy smile at the question.

"That's the fucking problem right there then, isn't it Hanna? You thinking? Try not to do that in the future". Jo tries another sip then puts the glass down on the table. "I'm going to go get a refund for this. There's no fucking way there's gingko or even turmeric in here. Some of us have a job you know, we actually need to use our brains for a living". She gets up and stomps off towards the counter, leaving her friend looking down into her glass.

She seems really into dubious superfoods. And also kind of a bitch. Hm... you think there's something but... is it too specific? Will she accept it? Fuck it, let's see what happens.

You lean forward into your chair, resting your arms on your knees, thinking carefully how to phrase this. Then whisper to Joanne, who is in the middle of arguing with a tired looking cashier.

"You can not get any work done in the day until you have drunk a full load of semen from Richard Smith, the IT worker in the basement"

Joanne hitches in her tirade, looking confused, and goes silent for a moment. Long enough for the cashier to get a chance to give her a refund so she can stop blocking the line. She takes the money without looking at it and walks back to her table with a frown on her face.

She sits down heavily and turns to her other friend, "Kay, you tried doing the cumshake thing right? How did that work out for you?"

Kay brightens up at that and says "Yeah! I got my neighbor, you know the guy with the mustache, to do it for me every morning, he was so helpful! Bert can't perform that often he says, so I really didn't have a choice. I had to stop when my neighbor moved though, real shame, it did wonders for my skin!"

Joanne looks slightly annoyed at the outburst of positivity, but asks "Did it have to be from someone special?"

"Oh yeah! I'm sure Jay, that's what I called him, neighbor Jay, though I think his full name was like Jason or something, he was special, super smart and he worked out a lot. You can't just get anyone's cum, it has to be the right guy"

"Hm". Joanne looks skeptical still, but picks up her glass and sips it, just as a waiter was coming over to take it away.

You break the connection and stand up to stretch. You'll see how this goes tomorrow.