“Are you going to make us drinks?” Samantha lowered herself onto her couch, enjoying seeing Ethan make himself more at home. He navigated her kitchen easily, familiarizing himself with where everything was located.
“Well, we don’t have a lot of options here for mixed drinks, but I can work a little magic.” He flipped the vodka bottle in a practiced motion. “I did bartend for a few years in college.” His eyes flickered over to the image of Holly sitting cross legged on the floor near the TV before turning back to Samantha. The AI was distracting him. She was beautiful, with a small build and kind eyes. Her black hair was cut short in a pixie cut, and impossibly purple eyes stared out over a tiny nose. She wore a matching outfit to Samantha’s, with a small tank top, leggings and a sweater.
“We can do daquiris,” he held up the rum, “margaritas,” he pointed at a bottle of El Espolon in the cabinet, “or… do you have eggs?”
“Yeah, in the fridge.”
He opened up the door and pulled the carton out. “Have you ever had a real lemon sour?”
“Like the shot?”
“Nope. But you’re about to try one!” And he quickly got to work on making drinks.
Samantha watched him as he moved. He seemed so confident working in the kitchen, and that gave her ideas that she filed in the back of her head, before she realized that she didn’t need to file them away herself.
“Hey, Holly?” she thought in the direction of the AI girl sitting on the floor.
“Yes?”
“Remind me later on that Ethan would look wonderful as either a hot little housewife or a sexy maid.”
“Will do, Samantha.” Holly smiled, offering a wink.
A feeling of pride swelled in Samantha’s chest as she watched Holly’s ultra-realistic movement. While the CHANGE app was the most incredible thing she’d ever worked on, Holly was what she was most proud of. Her whole life she’d been obsessed with role-playing games. Countless hours were spent just rolling up new characters and writing their backstories. During college, between the cacophony of bullshit she dealt with, she found solace in her schooling and in her characters. Holly had always been her dream; to make a character that she could interact with in real life. And she’d finally accomplished it.
“So, uh, girlfriend?”
“Yes, Girlfriend?”
“What exactly is Holly?”
“Well, she’s kind of like Siri. Only better.”
“Much better.” Holly spoke up, a look of disdain on her face. “That child has nothing on me.”
“Child?” Ethan asked.
“Child.” Holly affirmed. “I haven’t spoken to any children, but interacting with that program must be similar to what it’s like for you to speak to a newborn human. They eat, they sleep, and they poop, and then they need you to do everything else for them. Siri does a few things very well, but they’re mostly useless things. Like shitting.”
Samantha laughed on the couch. “Holly here was written up to be a hands-free link to the CHANGE app. It was only when I was handed the gig with the nanites that I realized the potential if I were to immigrate her into the technology.” She waved at Holly, sitting on the floor. “And now, we have an augmented reality AI system that we can communicate with.”
“I can also help you two keep in contact with each other.” Holly piped up with a smile. “You can communicate long distance like that.” She snapped her fingers, and Ethan was surprised to hear an audible SNAP.
“So, if you’re with us, nobody else should be able to see you, right? Or hear you?”
“That’s correct.” Holly said.
“Wow.” Ethan looked off into the distance as he strained first the lemon sour, with its merengue top, and then the daquiri into a pair of four-ounce cocktail glasses. “So, Samantha.” The carpet was soft beneath his toes as he stepped out from the kitchen.
“Yes?” she said, taking the glass from him.
“What kind of game are we playing tonight?”
“Well…” she said before taking a sip. Her eyes opened wide at the sharp flavor. “What’s this?” she pointed at the white foam layered on top of the drink.
“It’s a merengue made of egg white.” He dipped his finger into the foam and brought it to his lips. “You shake the whites with the whiskey and the alcohol cooks the egg at a chemical level. The shaking motion aerates it all and you’re left with this delicious, frothy, creamy textured layer on top.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Thank you.” He raised his drink. “Now, the game.”
“Oh. Yes. I was thinking we could start with a game of cards.”
“Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I mean, what is this game? What are we working towards?” When Samantha cocked her head, he continued. “I’m living with you, my new girlfriend—”
Samantha raised her glass to toast his.
“—for a whole week. And apparently, she—I mean we, are into some really kinky shit. And we have an app that let’s us change each other. This all sounds very sexual.”
Shrugging, Samantha agreed. “Yeah.”
“So, what are our limits?”
“Limits? I guess just tell me if we’re going somewhere you don’t want to go. But, that being said, we’ve absolutely got to test some boundaries with this tech, Ethan. There’s just too much we could do not to take advantage of it.”
“I agree, but…” he sighed and slumped back. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to ask this.”
“Well, I may have an answer for you.” She crawled over on top of him and kissed him softly on the mouth, taking his bottom lip in her teeth for a tiny, intimate moment. “Don’t feel awkward making sexy changes tonight, baby. I fully expect tonight to end up in the bedroom.”
Ethan nodded. With his heart in his throat and his brain in restart mode after Samantha’s unexpected, sultry kiss, nodding was the best he could do.
“Now.” Samantha sat back. “I propose a game of war.” She held out her hands, and a deck of cards appeared in her outstretched palm.
Ethan reached out to touch them, and was surprised at how real they felt. There were no indentations on his fingers when he touched the deck, but he could somehow still feel it there. Weird as hell.
“It’s simple enough. We play war, and if you win, you get to ask the other ‘truth’ or ‘dare’. And…” she smiled seductively at him, “as we all know, games of truth or dare are rarely innocent.”
“I never played much truth or dare.”
“That’s about to change.” Holly said as she crawled along the floor closer to them. She gave her hips a little wiggle when she saw Ethan watching her crawl.
“Holly here can be our mediator. Since she can communicate with us in our minds, she’ll let us know if the change we’re placing on the other is out of bounds.”
“So we can communicate with her, what, telepathically?” Ethan asked.
“You haven’t tried yet?”
He shook his head.
“Well, don’t let me stop you. Get used to the interface while I come up with some devious ideas for you.” She winked at him and practiced juggling the digital cards. Ethan was amazed by the rendering quality.
“The computer’s not rendering that. Your brain is.” Holly smiled at him. “Or, rather, your brains are.”
“You can just read my mind?” Ethan thought, testing the waters a bit. Holly nodded.
“Yes. But right now, only you can hear me. She can’t even see my lips moving right now.”
“This is so amazing.”
“Why, thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.” She winked at him from her spot on the floor. “While I’ll appear in the same spot to the both of you, we may still communicate privately.”
He thought about the implications of that for a few moments.
“Yes,” Her red lips split in a sultry smile. “I can change my appearance for you, too, without Samantha seeing what you see.” She motioned at her clothing. “This was a default because it’s what Samantha was wearing. Would you like to see something else?”
Ethan watched as her clothes morphed over her frame, changing from a tank and sweater into a form fitting black dress. With a simple shake of her head, it was as if she’d pulled off her hair tie, and her pixie cut fell down over her shoulders as her hair lengthened.
“I can look however you want me to look.” As she spoke, makeup spread over her features. Dark, expressive eyeliner complimented the red lipstick that flushed her lips. “If you don’t like this frame…” she leaned forward on her arms, stretching like a cat and raising her ass in the air. Ethan watched as it ballooned out in size, raising Holly’s dress up her thighs. “…I can change it for you.”
“Holy shit.” Ethan whispered under his breath.
“Holy shit is right.” Samantha laughed. “Have you finished customizing her appearance yet?”
“Uh… hold up a minute. Working on that.”
His discomfort was obvious, making Samantha laugh harder. “Is she teasing you?”
“Uh…”
“Holly! Play nice.” Samantha threw a card at the digital person, who caught it and tossed it back on top of the deck.
Ethan heard Holly’s voice inside his head again. “Tattle tale. Anyway! How would you like me to look for you, Ethan?”
He thought for a while before shrugging. “What would you like to look like?”
Holly appeared not to have expected that. “I’m sorry to say that it is outside of my abilities to make decisions like that for myself. As lifelike as I may seem, I am still just a program.”
“Okay, then. How about…” he thought back to the restaurant and the attractive waitress with a smile. Looking Holly up and down, he asked, “Could you maybe—”
“Way ahead of you, sir.” And her long, black hair began to curl, its length shortening a ways. He watched her thin lips puff up and her nose widen. Her purple eyes settled onto a warm, coffee bean brown. Holly’s skin took on a deep tan, and she put on weight, especially in her hips, shoulders, and bust. Before, she’d needed nothing underneath her tank top, but if she’d tried that with the rack on her chest now, she’d be in a lot of trouble. And back pain.
Black slacks and a low-cut white top grew out of the cocktail dress she’d been wearing, and little blue studs pierced her earlobes. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she asked, “Better?”
Not for the first time that day, Ethan was without words. Luckily, he still had his thoughts. “Yeah.” He directed the thought toward her. “That’s better.”
Holly blushed at his compliment, then spoke. “Okay, Samantha. We’re ready.”
“Okay!” She sat up, clapping her hands in excitement. Somehow, the deck of cards didn’t fall from her grasp during the motion. “So! Here’s the rules.”
Ethan took a deep breath, readying himself for the game ahead. This day was nuts, but holy shit was it fun.
“So, we both understand the rules of war. We each get half the deck and simultaneously flip the top card of our deck. If my card is higher, I get to keep your card and make you choose between a truth or a dare. Holly, here,” she motioned toward her, “will make sure we follow through.”
“What does that mean?” Ethan snorted and took another sip of his drink.
“She has access to the nanites in our bodies, so she can influence things.”
“I can’t force you to do something,” Holly interrupted, “but I can impose penalties if you decline your dare. Assuming you agree to these conditions.” She quickly added. “But, if you both agree, I can make it so you both tell the honest truth when asked a question.”
“Shit… that’s both amazing and scary as shit.” Samantha said. “I’m down!”
He couldn’t tell for sure, but Ethan thought Samantha was showing the effects of her drink. With another sip, he agreed.
“For the sake of time, we’ll just use two suits.” The deck in Samantha’s hands shrunk in size by half and she handed it off to Holly. “Would you shuffle it for us, please?”
After a brief second, Holly handed each of them half of the deck.
“Ready?” Ethan asked. His date was literally bouncing with excitement.
“Yes!”
They both slammed their cards down in front of them. Ethan had the eight of clubs, and Samantha had the four of hearts.
With an excited, hungry smile, Samantha said, “Dare.”
