Blue Root

CHAPTER FOUR

While giving an admittedly boring speech at the Fifteenth Annual Media Delivery Summit Awards Ceremony, Brad noticed a few guys smacking their Blue Root controllers. That didn’t surprise him, and it certainly didn’t encourage him, either.

Speeches were already the bane of his existence. He didn’t need to know that some jerk-offs were getting exactly that while he spoke about the year’s best in media delivery components and systems. Hell, maybe he was jealous. Nah, speaking in public while masturbating wasn’t something Brad could do. At least not with any credibility or linearity.

When the emcee took over, Brad was thankful. He needed to find the mens quarter before he started doing the pee-pee dance in front of the five-hundred-person audience.

“Hey Brad. Not a bad speech. Only half the crowd fell asleep this time.” Mike Moffat, Brad’s former boss and now business partner of sorts–the guy who told Brad he needed to start his own company–greeted him with a handshake. Where the hell did Mike come from? He hadn’t been in the audience, had he?

Brad shook Mike’s hand. “I didn’t think you were gonna be here. Did I miss a memo?”

Mike shrugged. “I’m slumming, I guess. Goddamn networking shit to do. At least the yawnfest is over.”

Behind the string of tradeshow curtains, Brad couldn’t put a location on the mens quarter so he started walking toward the outer edge of the ballroom, hoping Mike would follow. “Yeah, but at least it’s quality if not quantity at this thing.”

Lumbering along next to Brad, Mike craned his head. “You know where the piss wall is in this place?”

“Nah, but I had the same idea. I’m thinking lobby.”

“Hmmm…yeah.” Mike nodded.

Brad kept his voice low so as not to attract too much attention as they made their way along the ballroom wall toward the main doors. “When are you gonna give me that new Theatris module to try out? Is the Odeon transition getting in your way?”

“Yes and no.”

“Dammit. I tried to make it a clean switch. Are the guys hating you or something?” Brad held the door for Mike. The mens quarter was just across the way, near the end of the bar.

Mike gave a dismissing wave of his hand. “The techs are a little grumpy, but don’t worry about it.”

There were some guys milling about in the mens quarter, but a few urinals were free. Brad went straight to one and started unzipping his pants. “Okay. Sorry. I just never planned on it being anything bigger than a backdeck operation.”

Mike stepped up next to Brad and got himself prepared. “I’ll be passing along a Theatris box or two in due time.”

It was on the tip of Brad’s tongue to mention the Blue Root, but because of the nature of that beast, he held back. You don’t start talking about a sex toy in public, especially while taking a whiz.

“Hey,” Mike looked at Brad, “have you tried out the Blue Root?”

Nice. Brad nearly dropped his dick mid-stream. Fumbling, he managed to keep control, but his hands would need a good washing. Didn’t Mike know proper pissing protocol?

One of the other guys cleared his throat and two more headed out of the quarter as Mike enthusiastically continued much to Brad’s dismay. “That thing is incredible. It’s got all sorts of attachments and programming. Whoever came up with it is probably raking in zillions by now.”

“No doubt.” Brad kept his eyes focused on the blue zolatone wall in front of him. He didn’t want to think about how many guys recognized him from his speech. He didn’t want to think about whether or not his pants were splashed. He didn’t want to think about anything other than pissing and getting the hell out of there before Mike started talking about Blue Root escapades or some other thing Brad didn’t want to know.

“Rose got me one a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me until I tried it out with her while I was in Chicago for the CEDIA show. Even through a network, that thing had incredible response.”

“Really?” Brad gritted his teeth, prepared for the worst. The whole quarter filed out–likely in fear of what was to come.

But Mike didn’t go into detail. “I’m already looking for a way to provide vids and audio to match the programs. Give it another month or two and that’ll be in your ‘to be reviewed’ pile as well.” He seemed to know what he was doing. But sex toys and media delivery? When did they ever go hand in hand?

Finished draining, Brad put himself back together and headed for the sinks. “Actually, maybe I should review the Blue Root now so that when your stuff comes out, I’ll be able to tie it together easier on my site.” It wasn’t his normal fare, but the thing did warrant a kudo or two.

“You should.” Mike started washing his hands. “No one has used Bluetooth technology like this. And if this thing hits as big as I think it will, by the time I get our Theatris and Odeon support out for it, we won’t know where to hide all the revenue.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something, Mike. Rosemary can always use another schoolhouse or two.” Brad chuckled. Mike’s wife was always volunteering to help the kids who fell through the cracks. Make education more accessible and a hell of a lot more fun in hopes of getting the kids motivated to succeed.

Hell, his last year in high school, Brad’s motivation was the big boot print in his ass. Once he’d started working for Mike that year, Brad made more money than his father. Something his dad should have been proud of, but couldn’t look beyond his own shortcomings to realize. He flat kicked his kid out of the house, leaving Mike as Brad’s sort of surrogate dad for the next few years.

“Hey, speaking of significant others, you haven’t mentioned a squeeze lately. Last I heard, you were buying expensive baubles for yet another bubblehead.”

Brad shut off the water and started drying his hands. “I know, I know. Don’t remind me.”

“I tell ya. Ignore the ones who want money. Find one who’ll settle for a cup of tea and conversation.”

Brad shook his head. “I’d rather have tea and talk than filet mignon.”

“I’ll be your date police. Next time you think you wanna date a woman, run her by me first.”

“I might take you up on that.”

“Do it.” Mike grinned as he finished drying his hands, but then his expression changed as he pointed toward Brad. “What’s wrong? Without a Blue Root, you can’t get a hold on your own dick?”

Oh no. Brad looked down at his pants. There was a dribble from his crotch to his knee. Oh no, no, no, no.

“Use the dryer.” Mike chuckled. “I hope it doesn’t stain.”

Brad was utterly mortified. He awkwardly shuffled and lifted his leg to get it near the dryer mouth, but the angle was wrong. The hot air was…well…hot and threatening to blister his skin. How did one gracefully get out of this? At least no one else had walked in.

As though nothing unusual was going on, Mike went on with the conversation. “As soon as I’ve got a beta version ready, I’ll let you know.”

Brad’s pants dried nicely, restoring the rest of his confidence. “Sounds good. I’ll do up a review for the Blue Root tonight. Look for it in the morning.”

“Will do.” Mike led the way out of the mens quarter as Brad did yet another satisfactory visual check of his pants.

“See you later, then.” Brad was so very ready to go home. “Say hi to Rose for me.”

A horde of mediaphiles burst into the lobby. Some headed for the doors, others for the bar.

“Sure.” Mike nodded once, his universal “goodbye”.

After wading through the crowd, Brad headed home, the Blue Root review already percolating.

>>><<<

Under normal circumstances, Jeuley might have been peeved that her corner was quiet again. But not today.

Of the four guys she’d measured and suited, one of them was wearing his Blue Root, which asked to connect with her, prompting her to power hers down before he wondered if he’d crossed up with the display like Bradley March had done.

Another of the guys asked her more questions about the Blue Root than he did about suits. He bought two grey ones, but he seemed more interested in his Blue Root than anything else. Because of that, she hurried him through the checkout process while biting her tongue. There was no need to get into trouble with the Prixus censor board–especially over another cock-centered idiot who probably didn’t know a thing about the world outside of sexual escapades with himself.

Thankfully, one of the customers was a normal transaction. But that was probably because he was of the older generation who didn’t have a decent computer. Jeuley couldn’t function without high-speed access to information or entertainment. That’d be pure hell…or the clink again.

The last fellow bought a Blue Root for himself and his wife, and then started grabbing extra stimulator patches. Jeuley was tempted to give him Carnal Bacchanal or one of the new ones she’d been working on. But he’d interrupted before she’d gotten that far. He was so enthusiastic about sharing with his wife, Jeuley could hardly get in a word edgewise. It was probably better to keep her programs private for now anyway. Shareware didn’t bring in money.

Because of the lack of customers, she’d had the time to create eleven more Blue Root programs and test them throughout the day. Aside from being a little weak in the knees, testing wasn’t half bad. It could’ve been a lot better if Bradley March was helping, but–

Her Blue Root vibrated three times, breaking her short reverie. Only one more hour before closing. Maybe she could crank out another program mod. Then she’d really have a good arsenal to play with when she got home. It was hard enough not to let her imagination run wild with images of Brad’s torso, or ass, or eyes, or…

“Hey girl!” Rachel made her way through the racks. “That Carnal Bacchanal kicks ass. I sent it to all my sisters.”

Jeuley saved her work and looked up. “All your sisters have Blue Roots?”

Rachel laughed. “Well, they do now. Word travels fast.”

“I’m working on a bunch more programs, too. Maybe I really can replace the human male with a sex toy.”

“Oh come on, you don’t really wanna replace men. I mean, they’re still good for a few things other than sex…

“Such as?”

“Lifting heavy things for instance.” Rachel grinned.

“True. I know I’m just being horrible. But who says any of them are even good at sex?!” Jeuley grabbed her tablet and turned it so Rachel could see the program screen.

“Oh, don’t I know that.” Rachel chuckled. “What are you showing me?”

“See, this little console here can make my Blue Root with all of its patches outperform any man when it comes to fucking. I mean, he can have fifteen tongues if I wanted him to. He could last three strokes or three hours. Whatever I feel like.”

“Oh my God. That’s so cool.”

Jeuley scrolled through the programming and pointed to a command line. “See this? I found a synchro that allows audio. So, if you wanted to hear how great you are, a male voice, or female if you’d like, will be heard through the speakers on your tablet or your home stand-alones. The audio feature isn’t real easy to get to, but you can talk to your Blue Root, too. It accepts voice commands.”

“You’re kidding.” Rachel’s attention was glued to the screen.

“Check it out.” Jeuley pulled her sleeve back, revealing her controller, and started pressing the necessary menu and set-up buttons. “It’s buried, but you can turn on the voice stuff and tell it what to do. It can’t talk to you unless there are Bluetooth compatible speakers around, but think about it. I can fabricate everything except the flesh and blood.”

“Holy shit, Jeulmist has been busy today!”

“Yup. And it’s almost closing time. Tonight, I’m gonna hack in and see if I can hook up vid capability. I haven’t found anything that would suggest video linkage, but maybe I can build the right platform for it.” Jeuley saved her work again and closed out the screen.

“You are so it. Damn. Y’know, you should market this stuff. It wouldn’t be hard.” Oh no. Rachel had that look. That nutty-but-yet-supportive look. “Think about it. I mean, they’ve gotta be making a fortune off this thing with all of their accessories and stuff. You should cash in on some of that with your programs.”

“The problem is driving traffic to my commerce site while staying anonymous. I don’t know all the laws, but there’s gotta be one that says no one can hack this far into the Blue Root. They’ll want royalties or send a Guido.”

“Then, you’ll do like you always do and get smarter than the problem, Jeuls. Duh.” Rachel shook her head. “I gotta get back to the corner to help shut it down. You think on this for a while. I know tomorrow’s your break day. Oh, and by the way, I did a couple searches on Bradley March earlier today. All I can find is that he graduated top of our class, but then after that, he fell off the planet. All of his links were outdated and broken.”

“Yeah, I did a couple searches, too. You’d think a nerd like that would’ve done something with himself. Maybe he really is living in a shack somewhere. There weren’t even jail records.”

Rachel turned to leave the suit corner. “Funny, how things can change in the blink of an eye. A few years ago, all of your links were broken, too. Check ya later!”

“See ya.” Jeuley began her closing ritual. She’d forgotten that she’d fallen off the virtual planet. And more times than once. Too many fraud cases forced her into obscurity until it all blew over. That was how she’d come to work for Adrian the flamboyant freak with more money than sense. Well, that was harsh.

Adrian always meant well, but sometimes he went a bit too far over the top. Which is why there was no way in carrot juice Jeuley would even consider getting with him and his company to try a distribution of her Blue Root programs. Rachel was right. These programs could somehow be converted to money. But Adrian was not the person to trust with it.

Jeuley set out for a night of limited sleep and comprehensive programming. She would find a way of making it profitable even if she never slept again.