The Virtual Man [The Virtual Reality 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF

become lost among, the 1,200 passengers a starship this size probably carried.
    “Hey, buddy!” The voice seemed to echo in the hold. “You, naked man! What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.”
    No shit, Sherlock
. The words rang in Derek’s ears with the urgency of a fire alarm.
    Realizing he had been discovered by one of the ship’s baggage handlers, he ran to the nearest exit hatch, quickly scaled the ladder and escaped onto what appeared to be some kind of a mall with restaurants and shops. Fortunately, it was deserted. All the passengers must still be in their staterooms settling in and awaiting liftoff, as safety rules required. Lucky break!
    The fact he had made it this far attested to the fact that Lady Luck had been smiling upon him. Wasting no time, he hoisted himself up onto a balcony directly above him and tried the door that led into the suite. He had to get out of sight. The door was locked. Knowing his very freedom depended on it, he kept on climbing from balcony to balcony until, at long last on the top floor, he found an unlocked door. Hiding to one side of the balcony, he looked through the glass, past the curtain sheers. The holographic Personal Attendant, one of his own designs, was delivering the customary pre-flight instructions to the room’s occupant.

Chapter 5

The Suite
    As the Attendant waited for the beautiful redhead’s response, the ship vibrated softly, indicating its departure from the spaceport.
    “No, I think I’ll manage,” she told it, turning away. As the hologram exited, she commanded, “Computer, materialize console.” The room’s console materialized before her.
    Derek watched from the balcony as she searched for a program. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized her. It was none other than the woman at the courthouse. Why her? What was fate up to? For the second time in the same day, he asked himself the same questions. Why did he care? What was it about her?
    She was not ‘supermodel’ beautiful, but, that had never appealed to Derek. Was it the fiery red hair or the soft pink complexion with the cute little freckles? It had to be her eyes.
What eyes!
His thoughts returned to the sadness he had observed in them earlier. How could such a sweet little thing —
Okay, okay, darling sex goddess
— have anything to be sad about. She ought to be waited on hand and foot by all other inhabitants of the galaxy, and have all traces of sadness erased from her life before they ever happened.
    Entranced by the captivating woman, he wondered what it would be like to bring those eyes back to life.
Wait a minute, that’s how I got into this mess
. He remembered the ‘love’ he had shared, how he had given his heart completely, just to be used and framed for
her
crimes. All his dreams and aspirations cruelly crushed by the person he had trusted with his soul. What an idiot he had been. He would not repeat that mistake. His heart was permanently closed for repairs and no one, particularly someone of the fairer sex, was allowed in!
    As Derek watched silently, the woman selected and executed a program. All furnishings and decorations in the room vanished for a few seconds, showing the empty room in its true form, as the computer rearranged matter into what Derek recognized as his ancient Earth Roman Bath program. The back wall sported four evenly spaced ionic columns, holding up a vaulted ceiling. Centered within each pair of columns and built directly into the wall were arched niches proudly displaying sculpted busts of Caesar Augustus, whom he had modeled after one of the janitors from his former company. A six-foot-wide bathing pool ran the length of the wall to the left of where he stood, with fountains on either side cycling what he knew to be water at a perfect 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Between the pool and the back wall was a polished tiled deck with a stone bench to one side and a massage table on the other. Fragrant Tyrenian orchids floating on the water