Amber & Aaron: Interference?

May watched the couple with her knees drawn up to her oversized breasts. In the days since she’d arrived at Research, she’d traded her restrictive formalwear for a baggy hoodie and jogging shorts.

She couldn’t stop watching the pair. Sure, there were plenty of targets to monitor. The girls in LA who’d gotten the Hot Potato App were practically creating their own orgy bubble. There was a man using the Couple Connect app to hook his mistress up with his wife. And her Among Us inspired social experiment was about to drop on an unsuspecting college campus.

And yet, in spite of all of that, the monitor she couldn’t take her eyes off of was the one watching Amber and Aaron; the sweet, loving couple who used it responsibly and consensually. Their behavior ran counter to everything she thought she’d learned throughout her career, even to the basics of how she programmed her apps. They were designed to cause friction, lead to **** and create cycles of retribution. But between these two? Harmoney. Consent.

It wasn’t just that the pair defied expectations, of course. Something else nawed at her. Envy, maybe? God knows she’d never had a relationship this healthy. She wouldn’t be working here if she had. That was certainly part of it, but even more than that, watching the two was just interesting.

Abrams yawned as he returned to their station. He’d been away for a couple of hours now. Nobody here slept or ate unless they wanted to, but it was good to take breaks for one’s own sanity and he’d been on one.

“Man you should get down to mess hall,” He said. “They’re doing Indian day. Fantastic stuff.”

“Mmm.” She agreed, not really paying attention.

“Any promising new developments? Anything I should know about?”

She shrugged.

“HP4 is starting to ask some questions about everything but they’re pretty harmless. Other than that, these guys are the only ones doing anything interesting.”

She pointed at Amber and Aaron.

“These two are so interesting. They just had a big long talk about boundaries and setting rules for themselves.” She said. “We designs these apps expecting people to go crazy with them and these two just...figured it out. It’s really sweet, honestly.”

“Huh? Oh, CC5?” Abrams asked, looking over at them. “Yeah we just got an order to fuck with them.”

May’s eyes went wide.

“What? Fuck with them? But they’re doing so well!”

Abrams shrugged, popping something in his mouth.

“You should try these samosas. They’re awesome.”

He handed the bag toward them, but she batted it aside.

“Fuck with them how? Why can’t we just watch them?”

“I dunno, they’re not doing anything fun. Management wants to throw a wrench in it.” He said. “Why are you so worked up about this?”

“It’s sweet! They’re nice! Like, what the fuck Abrams?”

“Management’s not really into sweet. Besides, we’re not going to ruin them or anything,” He explained. “They’re playing a little game. Management just wants us to take away their safety rails. Make her earn her normal life back for real.”

“But....they’re….just having fun!” She protested weakly. “And they’re really cute!”

“Booooring!” Abrams said. “You really shouldn’t get attached to these guys, you know. It’s like naming your lab rats.”

“I always name my lab rats…”

“Your loss. Look...we’re just hijacking the game they’re already playing a bit. Nothing they wouldn’t do.” He said. “Granted, if she fails enough some of her changes will become permanent. We’re installing like a three strikes system but...hey, OW!”

His diatribe was interrupted as she began to furiously slap at his arm.

“What! The hell! Is wrong with you!” She growled. “Don’t you have any romance!”

“Hey stop it! You’re gonna spill my food!”

She withdrew and crossed her arms, blowing a red bang out of her face. Abrams took her cross expression in and sighed.

“C’mon, whaddaya want here? Orders are orders.”

“No! We deny orders all the time!” She insisted. “We just have to put in a counterrequest stating why. They usually listen if you give a good enough reason.”

A real argument suddenly came to her; a good one, even.

“There’s value in this! I mean, first of all, an app that lets our users act responsible could find a real market out there. And even if it doesn’t, there’s at least value in having a control group, right?”

Abrams rubbed his temples, clearly frustrated with her.

“I should have had you carted off when you got here. Look...Management’s handed down it’s order and we should go along with it. If nothing else, it’ll probably drive them together.”

She frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Think of it like this...if they’re as ‘sweet’ or whatever as you say they are, they should rally around each other, right? Outside adversaries and all that shit.”

“Anyone ever told you how articulate you are?” She sulked.

He ignored her.

“So we **** them into a real game. They have to cooperate to make sure she wins it. And that’s it, right? They get to go on with their lives and will probably be an even stronger couple for it.”

He shrugged.

“If nothing else, it’s a good experiment in adversity.”

She pouted. He was definitely towing the company line. But that was the problem, wasn’t it? They weren’t doing this for fun. Not exclusively, anyway. She had to concede he had something of a point too, at least from the company’s perspective.

Still, she felt like she was getting to know Abrams, and her estimation, he was a man who didn’t want to be bothered. She could buy some time for them by forcing the issue and sending a counterrequest. But if it was rejected, and she was by no means sure it wouldn’t be, wasn’t she just postponing the inevitable? She might even be able to find a way to help them somehow.

She thought about it and made her decision.

Author's Note: I am genuinely conflicted on whether to get them involved or not. Let me know what you think.