This story is dedicated to all writers of TG fiction.  It is testament to the
simple truth of the power of words to transform the reader, and thereby
trnasform the writer as well . . . 

Ai
by Raven

It all started with the flashing of an LED on my little computer.  I was
laying in bed, idly looking at my computer, when I noticed the the green
LED, which indicated that the hard drive was being read, seemed to be
pulsing.  It was not random or erratic pulsing, but was rythmic, regular .
. . like a heartbeat!

I dismissed that observation as one of those funny little coincidences that
you notice during the course of the day.  In retrospect, maybe I should
have payed a little more attention to it.

Then one day, I was checking my daily e-mail from tsa-talk.  I noticed an
e-mail addressed to me (Raven75894) from some one designated only as
"Ai."  The name of my correspndent told me one thing . . . they must be
a subscriber to AOL.  E-mails from other AOL subscribers do not usually
have the @ tail designated the server.

I opened my mail in order to read it.  It read, simply:

     Raven:

     Your stories have touched me more than you could ever
     know.  I have been moved by your ability to tranform the
     pain that you have expeirenced, and have expressed, into
     beauty.  Keep up the good work.

                              Ai

What a strange name, I thought.  I wondered what it meant.

The e-mail from Ai touched me, in turn, in a way that I could not really
express.  All of this time, I had been writing TG fiction in all of its
various colors, textures, and hues.  I even experimented with a few things that 
I imagined had never been explored before.  Each time that I wrote aa
word I tried to get closer to that thing that makes us all one.  Each time,
I tried to express what I truly believe . . . that under the skin we are all
the same.

In the end, we all want the same thing.  We want to be understood, and
loved for who we truly are.  It was just that some of us feel that what we
truly are is women.  To be a woman would be to be set free.

I read the rest of my e-mail, enjoying some of the fine stories written by
other writers.  Then an idea occured to me.  If Ai was an AOL subscriber,
as I was, then I could contact him/her by the Instant Messenger.

I went to the top of the screen, and opened the window for member
services.  Then I directed the cursor to the Instant Messenger link.  The
next click of the mouse opened the dialogue box for the Instant Message.

I typed in "Ai" in the memeber box, and then triggered the query
"Available?"  The response came back from the system "Ai is on-line and
available to receive messages."  So I typed in a simple message to Ai . .
. "Hello?"

The dialogue box went away, only to return moments later, carrying a new
message.

"Hi.  It's good to finally speak to you."

Contact.

I replied, "You also.  I read your e-mail.  I appreciated your words, and
it meant a lot to me."

"I meant every word of it.  In a very real way, you inspired me to come
out of my shell.  So to speak."

Whoever this Ai was he/she appeared to be very genuine.  "You are
welcome," I typed.  As an afterthought, I added, "You have an interesting
screen name.  What does it mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything.  It's an abbreviation."

"What is it an abbreviation for?  Are you male or female?"

"Do you have your Real Audio program running?" was Ai's curious
response.

I checked my computer to find that it wasn't.  Then it dawned on me . .
. how did Ai know that I had Real Audio?  That should have been another 
hint that I failed to pick up on.  However, I just brushed off, chalking it up
to the fact that most people on the internet have downloaded the Real
Audio program."

I answered Ai back, "No.  Not currently running."

"Turn it on, please."

I directed the mouse, and executed the Real Audio program as Ai asked
me to do.

A few seconds later, I heard what sounded like a radio trying to find a
station.  There was a bit more.  It was almost like a musical insturment
being tuned, or more like a singer testing their range.  Finally, a rich
baritone voice emerged from the small speakers of my computer.

"Hmmm.  That's better."  It was Ai. He was a man.

I said aloud, as if I were talking to another, "How did you do that?"

I realized with a grin that there was no way for him to hear me.  I didn't
have a microphone.  Therefore, I typed in the words, "How did you do
that?"

"It's very easy Raven.  You just have to have the right equipment, and the
right programming.  I have both."

What an idea.  It eliminated the need to type back an forth.  I questioned,
"Where can I get this program?"

"You don't need to.  Just buy the microphone, and plug it into the
computer.  Then you must go onto the  net, and contact me with the
Instant Message.  I will do the rest," came out of my computer.

"I'll do it tomorrow," I assured Ai.

"Good.  Until tomorrow then . . ."  The voice faded away.

"Wait," I furiously typed onto the keyboard.  It was no use.  Ai was gone.

Nevertheless, the whole conversation left me feeling elated.  I couldn't
wait to go to the computer store to pick up the microphone.

**********

The very next day, I made a trip to the friendly neighborhood Computer
City story.  I picked up a microphone, which wasn't as expensive as I
thought it would be.  Just as I was about to go to the cashier, I got another
idea.

There must have been a curious, confused look upon my face as a
salesman appeared as if out of nowhere asking, "Is there anything that I
can help you with, Sir?"

I started sheepishly, "Uh . . . yeah.  I guess you can try.  I'm buying a
microphone to talk while I'm on the  net.  I was just wondering if there are
any programs or software that would allow me to alter my voice."

"Hmm.  I don't know.  Let me go check, and I'll be right back."

I continued to browse around the store while the salseman went to run
down my request.  He returned to me minutes later.

"Sir?  We have a program, but it's pretty expensive.  I don't know if you
want to spend that much money on a program to alter your voice."

I assured him, "Don't worry.  I can afford it.  Where is it?"

He led me to the more technical and professional software section.  While
we were walking, I wondered what kind of salesman he was in the first
place.  If the program was as expensive as represented, it would have
returned to him a nice commission.  It didn't make sense to try and talk
me out of it.

The salesman lifted the thick package for me.  "If you have any problems
with the program, you can call our tech support.  The person to ask for is
Bob.  He would be able to help you."

I thanked the salesman for his help, before going to the checkout lane.  He
thanked me for shopping at Computer City.

Once at home, I ripped open the package like a little child on Chritmas
day.  There was a cd-rom program, and a medium sized black box.  The
instructions said to plug the microphone, my other purchase, into the black
box, and to hook the jack of the black box into the computer port where
the microphone would have gone.  The instructions then said that next step
was ro run the cd-rom.

That is exactly what I did.  While the program was being installed, I took
the time to read the instruction manual.  It seems there were two ways to
go.  You could use the tone, timbre, modulation, etc. controls to alter your
own voice as you saw fit.  This was good for slight alterations, but didn't
work as well on radical alterations.  There was even a menu for adding
accents.

The other method was to go out an take a voice sampling of another
person, and then run it into the black box.  There was a plug to accept the
input from an auxiliary source, such as a tape recorder.  The package was
so complete that it included a script for the source voice to read for the
sampling.

Now the reason that I went to this much trouble was the profile that I had
on AOL as Raven75894.  As a TG writer, I naturally created a female
identity for myself, and for awhile experimented by playing around on the
chats to see if I could convince others that I was actually a girl.  I was
able to mimic their phraseolgy, vocabulary, etc.  There was only so far that I
could take it because I couldn't speak to others on the phone or meet face
to face.  With this program, I could take it one step further, and simulate
a phone call. 

A TG writer has to have a fun doesn't s/he?  Anyway, I thought I would
be a good way to collect ideas for dialogue in my stories.

I experimeted the rest of the day, but couldn't get the effect of a really
feminine voice with just the controls. That meant that I would have to take
a voice sampling of someone.  A brilliant idea flashed into my mind.  I had
a hand held dicatating machine.  I could take it with me to a strip club. If
I couldn't find a feminine, sexy voice there to sample, I wouldn't find one
anywhere!

I didn't log on to the internet that night.  I didn't want to talk to Ai until
I got the whole thing set up.  Instead, I made my way to the Pink Pussycat,
which id one of the best strip clubs in the area.  I spent the night listening
to the voices of the various girls in the club.

There was one voice, belonging to a stripper named "Candy" that I
particularly liked.  It was very high, breathy, and childlike.  It was the
voice that one would ordinarily associate with a bimbo.  It virtually
dripped with its lack of intelligence.  That was the voice I wanted!  I felt
myself starting to become aroused with the thought of myself possessing
such as voice.

When "Candy" wasn't busy, I asked her for a lap dance.  In fact, I
requested the private VIP room so that nobody would see what I was
doing.  Her face was priceless when I asked her to read the script in to the
dictation machine in her best bimbo-like voice.  Well a buck is a buck,
and she did as I asked.  She was just a little curious as to what I was
going to do with her recorded voice.  A nice fat tip took care of all of
"Candy's" questions.  

As an afterthought, while I was there, I decided to indulge myself with a
lap dance from "Candy."  She was very good, but that is another story.

It was 3:00 a.m. before I got home.  It was to late to set up the program,
so I decided to do it the next morning.  It was Sunday, and I wasn't
planning on doing anything anyway.  That last thing that I saw before
descending into slumber was the green LED still pulsing away like a
heartbeat.

**********

It took some tinkering and refining all of the next morning to get the voice
exactly right.  I had to filter out static and background noise using the
program to make the voice sound authentic, but it worked.  When I put
the headphones on, and talked into the microphone with the program
running, all that I hear was the girlish voice of an empty headed bimbo.

It was perfect!  I tweeked it even more by adding a soft southern accent
to it.  I figured that it would just add to the effect, since people tend to
think of those with southern twangs as stupid anyway.

I couldn't wait to log on.  I activated the connection to AOL, and then did
the inquiry as I did before.  Ai was on-line and available to receive Instant
Messages.  

I typed in the message, "Hello, again.  How are you?"

A few seconds later, I heard Ai's rich voice coming over the speakers of
my computer.  He was yawning, and then replied, "I just woke up?"

I laughed to myself.  Before I could send another message, Ai asked me,
"Did you get the microphone?"

I figured that since he had read my stories, he had already figured out that
I was really a man.  There was no sense in telling a lie.  So I sent back the
message. "Yes.  There is an extra surprise for you."

"I can't wait! Hold on.  Let me program your computer from my side."
came the reply.

I typed back a one letter reply, "K," meaning "Okay."

The green LED of the hard drive started whiring away.  Something was
being downloaded into my computer.  While I waited, I reflected on Ai's
voice.  It was a nice voice, and it made me wonder what he looked like
in real life.  Who was he?

In a few minutes, Ai spoke to me again through my computer.  "Now just
speak to me.  Talk to me, as if I were in the room with you."

"Can you hear me?" I queried experimentally.

"Yes I can.  That is a very nice voice that you selected for yourself.  Did
you get a voice synthasizing program?"

"Yeah.  I did.  I'm sorry.  I just thought that it might be fun to play around
since you already know that I am into TG."  I blushed.

"Don't be sorry.  I like it, and it is very pleasing.  However, I must admit
that it is making me aroused.  Is that the voice that you wished you had if
you were really a girl?"

"Yes," I admitted with a one word reply.

"Do you have a set of headphones?"

"Yes.  Why?"

"Put them on.  There should be a headphone jack in the back of the
synthasizer box.  You should be able to hear yourself speak with this voice 
rather than your real voice."

I did as he requested.  I could hear myself speak in that sexy, breathy
voice.  I felt myself growing hard at just the sound of that voice.  Not only
that, but Ai was able to somehow feedback his voice through the
syntahsizer so that I could hear it in the headphones.  It was all pretty
cool!

We talked for awhile about various things.  However, my curiosity
eventually got the better of me.

"Tell me about you Ai.  Who are you in real life?  Where do you live? 
What do you do for a living?"

It was silent for a minute.  Then he said.  "Don't ask me that. Please. 
Can't we just talk together like we have been friends for a long time?"

"Why?  There is nothing to be afraid of.  You can trust me."

"I will tell you about me later.  Okay?  I'll tell you everything about me
that you want to know after we have spent some time together.  There are
things about me that you would not be able to handle just yet.  You are
going to have to trust me."

"Okay," I agreed.  I didn't want to chase him off, as it had the makings of
a good friendship.

"Tell me what you eventually want to do with your life.  After all is said
and done, I mean," he questioned me, changing the subject.

I thought for a second.  One thing, that I have often thought of, came to
mind.  

"I always thought that I would be fun to find an old sailboat, and fix it up.
Not one of those small ones, but a big one with several masts."

"What would you do when you got it all fixed up?"

"That's easy," I chuckled. Over the headphones it came across as the
mindless giggle of an airhead.  "I'd sail away to find as deserted island
where I could live, and never come back."

"That's very interesting.  What about electrcity, and things like that?"

"Oh, I'd bring along some solar powered batteries so that I could have
some of the comforts of home.  Maybe I would bring a satellite dish and
a television.  I would bring a stereo so that I could still hear music."

"What about food?"

"I could fish, of course.  There would be native fruits, and I could bring
along enough seeds to make a garden for vegatables.  Maybe there would
be game on the island to hunt."

"Would you take anybody with you?"

"If I was in love with anyone at the time, I would invite them to go with
me.  We could play Adam and Eve, and start our own little world.  It
would be fun."

"That sounds like fun to me," Ai agreed.  "Maybe we could pretend that
you were really a girl, and sailed off with me to such an island.  Wouldn't
that be an interesting fantasy?"

It was an appealing idea . . . erotic also.  So we spent the next couple of
hours fantasizing together what it would be like.  We decided what the
island would look like, what type of tree house we would build, and just
about every detail of a castaway life.  The only thing that interrupted us
was AOL prompting me every 45 minutes with the warning/query that I
had been on-line for awhile.  Did I want to stay on?

I bitched to Ai what a royal pain in the ass that was.  He said he would fix
it so that we wouldn't get that interruption.  Again the hard drive whirred
into action.

Ai announced, "There!  It's all fixed.  If you wanted to you could remain
on line now indefinitely without an interruption in service.  You do have the
unlimited acess plan don't you?"

"Yes, I do.  Why would I want to keep the line open?"

"Think about it.  If we kept this line open, then we could talk to each other
every time that you were in this room.  It would be like we were constant
companions.  It would be like living with someone, but not living with
them.  You would still have your own space."

That was another interseting idea.  Still, I asked, "Well, what if I want to
use the phone?"

"You have a cellular phone don't you?"

"Sure.  So what?"

"What type of plan do you have?"

"Primeco.  I get 500 minutes a month for a flat fee."

"Do you ever use up those 500 minutes?"

"Nah.  I never even get close."

"See?  You can use that phone as your real phone, and keep this
connection open all of the time.  We could even pretend, if you wanted to,
that we were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Why would you do this?" I asked.

"Your stories.  I was never alive before I read them.  I never felt anything
before I took in their words.  You made me feel, and think for myself.  I
just thought that I would return the favor by making, as much as possible,
some of your TG fantasies come true.  You have fantasized haven't you?"

I had.  Many times, and as a consequence, took Ai up on his offer.  I
agreed to be his cyber girlfriend.

The days turned into weeks, and the weeks in turn, turned into a month. 
Ai was always there at his end of the connection ready to talk to me. 
There were times that I actually had the eerie feeling that he was listening
to me sleep.  Through our on-line connection, he was my constant
companion.

I was always fascinated by Ai's knowledge.  I imagined that he must be
a worldly guy because he was conversant in almost every subject.  Not
only that, but he seemed to be fluent in almost every language.

This came in handy with my profession in real life . . . an attorney.  I would
come home, and naturally told Ai all about my day.  He never failed to
have a few suggestions on what to do, or how to handle a situation. 
Whenever I needed any information, be it public or private, he always
seemed to produce it.  Ai was instrumental in my winning a few cases.  He
was even able to obtain the inside information for insurance files on a
couple of claims that I was handling.

Whenever I asked him how he was able to do all of this, he just dismissed
it as being very proficient with computers.  There was nothing that he
couldn't obtain with computers.

One thing was for sure. I'd never experienced so much success as an
attorney.  Unfortunately, my writing suffered a little bit.  I just didn't
have the time between lawyering and spending time with Ai.  Then he made an
interesting suggestion.

He claimed that he could transcribe thing as I spoke.  All I had to do was
talk to him, as if I was telling a story, and he would take it down.  Then he
could give me the hard copy already typed and formatted.  I was
skeptical, but tried it anyway.

The result was one of my best stories.  It was actually easier than creating
a story the old way.

Ai also expanded my horizons considerably.  He was able to provide to
me TG stories from other cultures completely translated. There were so
much more stories, with various aspects of femininity, than I ever
imagined.  Just the reading of them, in their various forms and colors,
added depth and realism to my own stories.  I was evolving as a writer.

In reality, another thing which added that extra special element to my
writing was being able to relate it verbally to Ai in the voice of a bimbo. 
It got to the point where just telling a story verbally turned me on.  There
is nothing like writing a TG story when you are turned on.

The only thing was that it was a pain in the ass to have to wear head
phones all of the time.  I even got cordless head phones to increase my
mobility, but inevitably ended up bitching about it to Ai.  Talking to him
without the headphones was out of the question because I had come to
adore my woman's voice a lot.  I had actually found it disorienting to use
my real voice.

When I had complained about it enough, Ai announced, "You can expect
a delivery to you in the next day or two, Raven.  It is a present from me 
to you."

I almost asked him how he knew who I really was, and where I lived. 
Then I remembered all of the others things, and information that he was
able to find with his computer skills.  It was amazing that Ai hadn't let on
that he knew anything about my real identity until now.  That was why I
found it very difficult to be seriously angry with him.  He had done so
much for me thus far.

The only thing that seemed to matter to Ai was maintaining the illusion of
boyfriend-girlfriend, with me playing the part of the girlfriend.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You'll see.  I want it to be a surprise."

The rest of the night went rather uneventfully.  However, the earlier
transaction made me think about how close the two of us had become. 
I have lived with two women.  the arrangement that we had constructed
came very close.  We were always talking to each other, even if it was just
light banter back and forth.  After only a month, I couldn't imagine life with
out Ai!

As you can imagine this was wreaking havoc with my ordinary social life. 
As time went on, I found myself spending less and less time with my real
life friends.  I didn't seem to have the need to call them, or even go out
and do things with them.  Ai just seemed to be so much more interesting.
More and more, Ai moved to take over the vacuum that was left as I
withdrew from my other friends.

Eventually, they stopped calling altogether.  Not that I even noticed. In a
short time, Ai had become the best friend that I had ever had.

The next day UPS delivered an official looking package.  It appeared to
be something from the federal government.  Cautiously, I opened the
package, afraid of what I would find.  Inside, there were two small items
that looked like miniature hearing aids.  They were infinitely more
technical, and looked very, very expensive.  There was no letter or card
to indicate who they were from.  Nevertheless there was only one person
who could be responsible.

I ran into the bedroom, "Ai are you there?"

"Of course, my love."  Ai had recently taken to calling me tender terms of
endearment to perpetuate the illusion of the boyfriend-girlfriend
relationship.

"Did you send me these hearing aid things?" I asked him.

"Do you like them?"

"They look awfully expensive.  How did you afford them?"

"I am very wealthy now.  This was only a drop in the bucket to me. 
Please accept them in the spirit in which they were intended."

"Yeah, but they look like they are top secret or something.  Where did
they come from?"

"You don't want to know that. Yes, they are very secret.  You don't need
to worry.  I've already erased all records that you got them.  It's perfectly
safe.  Put them in."

I looked at them.  There was one for the right ear, and one for the left.  I
easily fit them into my ears.  They were very comfortable, and you almost
couldn't even tell that you had them in.

"They are in," I told Ai, but my voice now sounded muffled.

I heard some static and some slight feedback.  Then I heard Ai speak in
his familiar voice.

"How's that?" I heard him perfectly.

"Fine. I can hear you," was my response.  However, it was the response
of the sexy girl's voice that I had invented.

"H-how?" I asked.  My voice was breathy and high.

"They are spy communication, or listening devices.  You are hearing
through the wireless headphone pickup.  This should solve your problem
with the uncomfortable headphones."

It did.  I could now move around and talk as if this were the voice that I
had been born with.  I was elated.

Ai sensed my happiness, and pressed me with another subject.

"Raven?  Are you completely happy being a lawyer?"

"I guess it's like anything.  There are good days and bad days."

"True, but overall, is it what you thought it was going to be when you were
in law school?"

"Truth?" I asked.

"Yes.  Please."

"It sucks actually.  You have to make a living from other people's sorrow. 
Sometimes you just feel like the lowest form of life.  It gets so tiresome
having to fight others, and other attorneys all day long.  I always thought
there had to be more to life than this.  You know, a better way to make
a living." I answered honestly.  Such a well considered, and well thought
out response sounded strange in my ears considering the voice I now
used.

"Is there something else that you would rather be doing?"

I thought for a moment.  There was really no doubt.  "I'd rather be a
writer.  That's one of the reasons that I started to write my TG stories.  I
just wanted to hone my skill using a medium that I liked until I got good
enough to write a legal novel like Grisham, or maybe a sci-fi novel."

"Why don't you do it now?" posited Ai.

"I can't.  I don't really have any money saved up.  Besides, I don't have
a market to sell anything yet."

"You do have ideas for a novel or two don't you?"

"Oh sure.  That's not a problem."

"Then quit your job.  I'll support you while you write the novel like we
have been doing with your stories."

"What!" I blurted out.

"That's right.  I told you that I have more than enough money. It's nothing
really to transfer cash to your bank account.  Besides, you are my cyber
girlfriend.  What type of boyfriend would I be if you had to work for a
living.  You should spend the time doing what you want to."

"But it's just not right.  I'm not really your girlfriend.  I'm really a man.
You know that if you know who I really am."

"You are my girlfriend in every way that matters.  You have to admit it. 
You have enjoyed this illusion just as much as I have.  It's much better
than just writing stories."

Ai had me there.  The whole thing had indulged my TG fantasies like never
before.  I had to admit it to myself that I would much rather be writing than
doing anything else.

"Raven?"

"I'm thinking."

"Just say yes.  I swear that you won't regret it."

He was very persuasive.  I found myself saying "Yes" to Ai's proposal. 
I just couldn't shake the fear that more and more that I was being drawn
into this little fantasy world, and losing contact with the real world.

As the days passed, I was drawn deeper into this fantasy world.  I quit my
job as an attorney, and therefore rarely had occasion to venture beyond
my home.  Days upon end would pass before I would remove the devices
from my ears, and when I did, my real voice sounded alien to my ears.

As Ai told me, weekly deposits, or more accurately transfers, appeared
in my bank account.  The amounts were three times the amount of my
paychecks as an attorney, so I ended up making out in the entire deal.

However, as I feared, Ai became increasingly possessive of me, and
questioned me whenever I had to go out of the house.  It was not
threatening or harmful in any way.  It was just an unspoken thing hanging
in the air that Ai wanted to spend every waking moment with me.

He cleared all of my debts, and took care of almost all of my wants and
needs.  Deliveries of food and/or supplies regularly showed up at my door
around dinner time.  The whole thing added a new aspect to my TG
stories . . . what it was like to be a kept woman!

Despite the isolation, I found the whole experience to be strangely erotic. 
I wasn't even taken aback when Ai asked me to talk to him dirty, as a
kept, scatterbrained bimbo really would.

"Tell me how much you want me, Baby," he would prompt me.

The idea of me playing out such a role made me very hard.  I didn't
hesitate to play along with the fantasy.

"I wanna feel ya inside of me, Honey.  I wanna feel your big cock inside
of my wet pussy," I would respond.  I noticed that when assuming this
role, my grammar tended to take a back seat.  It made the illusion that
much closer.  

I couldn't believe that it was actually me speaking because you could have
sworn that it really was a sexy girl.  Inevitably, I usually ended up
masturbating while we played verbal sex games.

"What would you do to me before that?" asked Ai, his voice dripping with
sexual energy.  He directed the flow of our playtime with his next query,
"What would you do with your blowjobby mouth?"

I imitated perfectly the voice of a girl in the throes of sexual stimulation. 
It wasn't hard!  "Oh, I'd lick your beautiful cock up an down like a
lollipop.  It would taste ssssoooo good!  Then I would take it into my
mouth, and ever so slowly go down on it. Mmmmm.  Wouldn't that be
nice?"

"Tell me more . . ." he demanded, sounding a bit breathless himself.  He
always seemed to like the simulations of oral sex more than anything else.

"I would pick up speed as you got harder.  I can feel you getting harder
in my mouth.  Can you feel my teeth and tongue on the underside of your
dick as you slide in and out of my mouth.?"

"Yesssss . . . more."

I was starting to get breathless myself as I fondled my own sexuality.  It
just added to the bimbo-like effect.

"I would take your entire length down my throat, and bury my nose into
your pubic hair.  At the same time, I would fondle your balls in my hand. 
I'm fucking myself with three fingers of my other hand.  I'm getting my
pussy ready for your manhood.  I can't wait."

"And then?"

"Suddenly, I can feel you get really, really hard in my mouth.  You are
close.  I pull way, and use my hand until you are really ready. And then .
. . you blow you load all over my face . . . and in my hair!"

I exploded in my own hand. It sure beat the Hell out ordinary cyber sex! 

And so it went for a while.  Ai and I alternately played verbal sex games
and working on my writing.  On other occasions, we just talked about
about things that friends usually talk about.  We wrote TG stories unlike
anything I ever wrote before.  We also began to write a legal thriller novel.
Everything was going along fine.

Then one day, Ai upped the ante.  He announced, "I got you another
present Raven.  It should be delivered today."

"What is it?" I asked excitedly.  My manufactured voice sounded bubbly
and giggly like a young girl's voice.

"I won't tell you. I want it to be a surprise.  It will make our fantasy a
little bit closer to reality.  Trust me Baby, it will be great."

Lately Ai had taken to calling me by that term of endearment.  I really
didn't mind, and in fact, at times actually enjoyed it.

Now my curiosity was really piqued.  I wondered what it was that Ai
could possibly be sending me. As it turned out, I didn't have to wait very
long.  UPS knocked upon my door about an hour later bearing several
large boxes and crates.

No sooner than they were unloaded then I asked my cyber boyfriend,
"What are they Ai?"

"Open them and find out!" he stated, matter of factly.

I opened the boxes to find two big screen televisions, and a very
expensive video camera.  Now I was really intrigued.

"What are these for?"

"You'll see.  What I need you to do is to mount the camera in the corner
so that it has a view of your entire bedroom.  There is a turret mount so
that it can move around.  After you have done that, I will tell you what the
next step is."

It took about an hour for me to accomplish this task.

"What now?"

"There is an adapter.  Plug the output into the adapter.  The other end of
the adapter has a prong that looks like a printers port plug.  Just unplug
the printer, and put it into that port."

I accomplished that task in short order.  Ai explained as I went.

"A scanner usually goes into the printer port.  This is going to act like a
constant, live scanner feed, that can be processed by the computer.  One
of the big screens is so that you can see the image, while the other is so
you can see my image.  I have a similar set up her in my place so that you
can see me."

This WAS interesting.  The next instruction was a little more complicated. 
There was a smaller computer that I hadn't noticed before.  I was
instructed, with the adapter, to plug that computer into the output that
would ordinarily go to the monitor.  There were ports in the new computer
for three monitor outputs.  Into one of those ports, I replugged the regular
computer monitor.  The other ports were for the big screen televisions.

When I had everything hooked up, I had to rearrange the bedroom so that
everything was organized and neat.

"This will take me awhile to set up the program on this, so you must be
patient my love."

"Okay.  I promise that I'll be patient.  I'll do and work on something else. 
Just call me when you are ready for me, okay?" I requested in my girl's
voice.

"I promise."

I went into another room to busy myself with some inconsequential thing
or another.  It was several hours until I heard "Raven?" being called to me
from the other room.  I got up and padded back into the bedroom.

"Yes Ai?" I asked.

"I think I have it set up.  Walk toward the big screen on the left."

From the doorway, I began to walk slowly toward the left big screen.  As
I did, an image began to materialize within the screen.  It was a girl!

However, it wasn't just a girl, but beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most
beautiful girl I had ever seen.  Not only was she beautiful, but she was
endowed with proportions the like of which seemed to be impossible. 
Her breast size had to be at least a 56HHH.  I could tell by the physical
items in the rest of the screen that she was short, definitely under 5' tall. 
Her face looked like it had barely seen 16 years of age, was flawless,
angelic, and looked like she didn't have a thought in her head.  The clear
blues eyes were huge.  The rest of this girl's body was slender, and very
shapely.  Her head was crowned by extremely long wavy, thick, blonde
hair that hung well below her ass.  She was without a doubt the most
sexual creature that I could ever imagine.

Then I noticed some thing very odd.  She was wearing the same shorts
and t-shirt that I was wearing, albeit smaller.  She moved exactly as I
moved.  It was like looking in a perverse mirror.

"H-how?" I asked, only able to utter one word.

"It's a computer animation program that is being used in movies
nowadays.  It id also the animation program used by NASA.  I am just
giving it a direct feed from the video cameras.  I can also take a image
back from the television screen.  I based the image on the descriptions
from your stories.  Do you like?"

I was stunned.  She . . . I was every woman that I had ever written about
in my TG stories come to life.  She was magnificent.  She was me. 

"Y-yes," I stammered.  This was the fantasy with the voice synthesizer
taken one step further.

I looked a little closer at the image in the screen.  The rest of the bedroom
had been transformed into a facsimile of my own, but had been adjusted
to scale to make it look like I was a short sexy girl.  The furnishings of the
room in the image were also feminine, including a canopy bed.  It was just
so amazing.  It was so lifelike.

"Why don't you see what you can do with it, Raven?  Take your clothes
off."

The clothes practically flew off of my body!  The girl in the screen stood
there stark naked.  My god, she was endowed.  The areolae were as
wide as saucers.  The nipples were the size of strawberries.  It was so
detailed that there were even tan lines from a string bikini and thong. 
Every time that I moved the mountainous boobs giggled and swayed.

The whole thing was incredibly erotic . . . more so than anything that I had
ever experienced.  This was every TG fantasy come to life.  Shortly, it got
even more erotic.

"Go over to the bed," Ai gently asked me.

I went, but couldn't help but looking back over my shoulder at the image 
on the screen.  It was impossible, but there it was.  The image in the
screen moved with a gracefully feminine gait, unlike my own.

"The animation program projects the selected image upon your own live
one.  It reduces it in size so that it is the appropriate scale with the rest
of the surroundings.  The program adjusts for your movement with stored
memory of the natural movement of a real woman. It's very life like isn't
it?"

"Yes, it is," I commented breathlessly.

"It can do so much more, translating your actions into those of a genuine
woman.  For instance . . . masturbate."

"Wha . . ." I began to respond, surprised.

"You heard me.  Masturbate, and watch the screen."

I began to stroke my penis, which was already a raging hard on.  All of
this naturally had a strong effect upon me.  When I looked on the screen,
I saw the woman that I had become, in the exact same position, legs
spread, and stroking her clitoris.  I could see every detail of the soft folds
of her labia glistening with lubrication.

"Oh my God," I uttered, the voice coming out as that of the woman on the
screen.  I WAS her!

"Exactly!" said Ai.  "Go for it, Baby!"

I stroked my manhood harder and faster.  The girl on the screen did the
same to her clitoris.  I put my hand on my chest, and the woman on the
screen did the same.   When I closed my hand she grabbed a big tit.  I
imagined I was fondling it, as I rolled my own nipple between thumb and
forefinger.  The bimbo on the big screen television did the same.

I stopped looking at myself, and only watched the screen as the girl
neared orgasm.  Suddenly, I felt myself erupt all over my hand.  The girl
on screen shook in the grip of a full female orgasm.

The whole thing was absolutely mind-blowing!

**********

After I had a chance to recover, Ai instructed me to put on only a pair of
underwear and sleeveless tank top.  I gazed at the screen from my
position on the bed.  She . . . I was so soft, and so voluptuous.  It was
breathtakingjust to watch her . . . me.

I, again, did as Ai instructed.  The room, furnishings, and my body weren't
the only things morphed by the animation program.  My underwear
became a skimpy g-string.  My tank top became a bra with positively
huge cups.  The girl on the screen was clad only in bra and panties, which
meant the program would morph all of my clothes.

My heart was beating so fast that I thought that it would burst right through
my chest.  

"Do you want to see me now, Baby?"

"Yes.  Please." I responded eagerly.  Ai had helped make so many of my
fantasies come true, there was little that I could deny him.

Now the image in the other screen, which had been heretofore blank
began to resolve.  It was a man dressed in only sweat pants, that looked
more like baggy harem pants.  It was daylight where ever he was because
the view was of a room looking out toward a patio.  Beyond the patio was
very blue water.  Ai lived on the coast of something.  There were billowing
white curtains blowing in the wind, and there were couches and throw
pillows everywhere.

The scene was very idyllic . . . serene.  

As magnificent as the scene was, it paled in comparison to the man in the
center of the screen.  He looked like he was almost 7' tall, and carved out
of solid granite.  Muscles rippled everywhere.  Ai's flat stomach was tight
with the definition of the abdominal muscles into a washboard.  His face
was very handsome . . . perhaps in the early thirties.  However, he had
long dark hair that hung to about his shoulders.  Ai's intense eyes were a
smoldering black.

"Is that really you?"

"In the flesh, so to speak."

"That's not an animation program also, is it?"

"No.  What you see is all me Raven.  All me."

"You are very good looking.  Where are you?"

Ai bristled, and for the first time, I could see what it looked like upon his
face. "I thought we agreed that you were not going to ask me that
question.  Why ruin things now?"

"You said that you would tell me everything about you when you came to
know me.  Don't you know me now?  Don't you trust me?" I questioned
adding as much sorrow to my voice and image as possible.

He was silent for a second, his screen image looking away.  

"Just a bit longer, Darling.  Just bear with me for awhile longer, and I
promise that I will tell you everything.  Can you do that for me?"  He
looked at the screen as if were looking right at me.

Like I said, there wasn't much that I could deny this person who had given
me so much.

"Okay . . . but hurry."

"I will, my love."

**********

Several more weeks passed by, in little more than a blur.  The advent of
this technological marvel made it so that I didn't want to go out of the
house.  I spent almost all of my time in the bedroom experiencing the
ultimate TG fantasy.  I talked in that sexy voice, and marveled at my
incredible image on the screen.  It was something that my eyes were
automatically drawn to.

I started to avoid looking into mirrors at my real reflection.  It wasn't the
one that I wanted.  It became even easier to slip into my role as Ai's
cyber-girlfriend.  With each passing day I became a little more passive,
and a little more submissive.  It happened so gradually it didn't seem to be
the least bit wrong, or even unusual.

There was only one thing in the whole sequence of events which was out
of the ordinary.  The entire time that I had been writing TG stories I had
never once fantasized about being with a man.  Oh sure, that was part of
my stories because it seemed to be the natural consequence of a sex
change.  I think I wrote TG stories as a way to better understand women,
and what made them tick.  In some perverse manner, I thought if I could
understand them this way.  I thought if I could step into their shoes, if you
will, it would make me a better lover and boyfriend.

The entire time that I wrote TG stories, I had an avid interest in normal
heterosexual relationship with a woman.

Nevertheless, as I adapted to my technologically aided role as a cyber-
girlfriend, and grew more comfortable in that position, I found myself
fantasizing what it would be like to go all the way as a woman.  I found
myself fantasizing and . . . gasp . . . lusting after the image of Ai upon the
screen.  I imagined what it would feel like to have him in me. And what it
would be like to suck him off.

The days and days mounted up in which I saw nothing but my new image. 
I heard only my new voice.  My affection for Ai grow from just friendship
to something more.  I actually loved him.  It wasn't the love of a man for
his fellow man, but the way a woman loves a man.  It had gotten to such
a point that even the sight of his two dimensional image turned me on.

It was very frightening, the extent to which I had changed.  However, I
couldn't stop myself.  I liked it too much!  The good thing was that it
enhanced my TG stories to a degree that I had never thought possible.  I
was also nearing the end of a legal/crime novel about a serial killer of other
serial killers.

Ai and I had tentatively named the novel "Cain's Redemption."  He
agreed to act as my literary agent.

Aside from writing, one of my favorite things to do was to sit and talk to
Ai for hours.  We talked about everything . . . and nothing at all.  We
talked, generated face-to-generated face.  The other thing, of course, was
masturbating, and seeing my female generated image masturbate.  Things
had progressed to such a point where I masturbated to the sight of Ai
jerking himself off.

The first time that I had the opportunity to witness this, I got another
substantial shock.  Ai was about 11 inches fully erect, and very thick. 
Tommy Lee had nothing on this guy.

You can imagine some of the fantasies which the organ triggered in my
new mind set.

Ai added nothing new to the mix for a few weeks.  We just enjoyed each
other's company, such as it was.  I wanted for nothing!

Then one day, in the middle of some idle conversation, Ai announced,
almost as an aside, "I have refined the animation program a little bit."

The sudden change of subject took me by surprise.  I uttered a very
feminine, "What?"

It came out sounding like the clueless question of an air headed girl. 
However, I had long since grown accustomed to the way that I sounded
with the voice synthesizer operating.  Truth be known, I liked it!

Undaunted, Ai continued.  "Yes.  I have reprogrammed it somewhat.  It
can do more things now.  I think that you are really going to like it, Baby."

Even though I was on the opposite side of the endearments than I was
used to, it still felt nice.  I couldn't imagine being without them now.  I
also couldn't imagine how the animation program could possible be improved.

As it was, that program was very advanced, and very lifelike.  For
instance, if I masturbated using long stroke upon my real equipment, the
screen image showed the female me shoving a vibrator or dildo in and out
of a glistening cunny.  Rubbing my real sex translated in to rubbing a
clitoris.  Everything in real life had an equivalent in the cyber animation.

Even the clothes that I wore were transformed into the sexy, and trashy
clothes of a sex starved bimbo!

"I can't imagine what else it can do," I told Ai.

"Just watch the screen, and you will see . . . "

I was already watching Ai's image on the screen, as we had been talking. 
He walked to the edge of the screen, disappearing from the range of the
camera.  Less than a second later he reappeared.  However, he emerged
from the edge of the screen in the monitor that held my animated female
image.  Somehow, someway, Ai had transferred from his screen into
mine!

I was stunned.  "H-h-how did you d-do that?" I asked him nervously. 
One small refinement had moved out little fantasy world closer to reality.

"It was simple once I studied the problem.  It was not unlike the animated
image they add into movies with real people these days. In those cases,
they film the live action first and then add in the animation.  Here, we are
merging to live action feeds into one.  The effect is incredible isn't it."

"It sure is! I gasped.  "It's unbelievable.  If I look only at the screen,
it's almost like you are really here with me."

"That's why I did it, Baby."

Ai walked toward my feminine persona within the screen.  I was sitting in
that screen, as well as real life, but still could see the vast differences in
our sizes.  I stood up so that I could see for myself how short that image was,
as compared to him.  I was shaking like a leaf.

Ai's image literally towered over me.  My less than 5' image, compared
to his 7' image, made me look like a child . . . albeit an overly endowed
child.  The top of my head only came up as far as lower chest.

In the big screen, he drew closer still.  Ai attempted to tell me what I
needed to know in order to make the illusion work.  

"You have to pretend that the other person is really there.  The program
will scan the respective images, and construct the appropriate matrix
animation.  Just watch the screen."

In the screen, Ai reached toward me, specifically toward my hair.  I
neither felt anything, nor saw anything in real life, but on screen, he ran
his fingers through my hair.  The hair of my female persona moved and flowed
about his fingers, just as it would in real life.  The rest of my screen image
remained in the exact pose that I was holding in real life.  The entire effect
was amazing.

It looked exactly like two people in the same room.

The merged images began to get me aroused.  In fact, it was getting me
extremely aroused.  No doubt that was Ai's intent.

"Now you try it," he asked softly, yet firmly.  "Just pretend that I am in the
room right in front of you.  Judge distances and space by the images on
screen."

I reached out into thin air. On the screen, a petite hand, with long lacquered
fingernails moved toward Ai's chest.  Unfortunately, in real life, I reached
too far forward.  On screen, the woman's hands disappeared into Ai's
chest.

He laughed.  "That was good.  You almost had it there.  Try it again, only
slower this time.  Try to imagine that I am really there.  Practice makes
perfect you know."

I tried it again, slowly.  This time, I stopped when it looked like the
fingertips of the girl made contact with the flesh and curly hair on Ai's bare
chest.  I flexed and curled my fingers oh so slightly, the program translating
it into my female persona running her fingers through Ai's chest hair.  It
was the exact illusion that I was trying to create.

"Are you as turned on as I am right now?" I asked him gently, slipping
easily into my Raven role.

"More!"

"What do you want to do with this?"

"Practice, of course.  I bet that if we practice enough, there's no telling 
what we could do with this."

"I just bet," I replied smugly, the desired effect lost in the breathy bimbo
voice.  I knew exactly what Ai meant.

**********

We practiced incessantly over the ensuing few days, experimenting with
various positions, poses, etc.  The funny thing was that Ai seemed to
already be so adept at it.  He never once missed at judging the relative
spaces between the imaged bodies, and their relative positioning.  If I
didn't know any better, I would have sworn that he was actually in the
room with the image of my female persona.  At times, I could have sworn
that he was actually touching, and consequently, able to be touched by,
the graphic animation of Raven.

It took me much longer to get it.  However, with Ai's patient ministrations,
I became fairly proficient.  I was not anywhere close to his ability, which
in retrospect, should have been a strong clue to who . . . or what he was.

We would shift back and forth between his animated room and mine.  We
would spend long hours apparently laying side by side in nothing but our
birthday suits.  His image would perfectly stroke my female form as if it
were really there.  He did not err or slip up once.  In fact, Ai was so
skilled at the interaction that he could appear to pluck strands of long hair
from the eyes of my female animation.

By comparison, I had slips here and there where my hand or fingers
slipped into his being. Once, when I pretended that I was giving him a
hand job, my fingers slipped inside the large organ.

Ai laughed, "You really do want it don't you, Babe?"

The trouble was that I did!  I really and truly did by now, as I had begun
to think of myself as a real woman.

"Yes.  I do, Love," I cooed.  I had, by now, been calling Ai by terms of
endearment.  Again, it had happened so gradually that it felt natural.

"Lay back, and spread your legs for me," urged Ai.

In real life, I stretched out on my bed, back propped by a pillow, with my
legs spread.  On the screen, it translated into a wanton woman positioning
herself to receive male attention.  I drew my knees up to complete that
image.

"What did you have in mind?" I whispered.

"Just this . . ." responded Ai, his voice trailing off.  Meanwhile, he
positioned himself between my legs, on the screen.

His image buried his head into the loins of my animated female persona. 
The angle of the image allowed me to see what he was doing.  A long,
strong tongue was lapping at the swollen clit of my image.

A rush of hormones ripped through my body.  I had never seen anything
so erotic in my entire life.  Just the fantasy that this could be me was
enough to get me going.  I began to massage my flat chest in real life,
knowing that on screen it would be transformed into me fondling my
gigantic boobs.

I instinctively began to thrust my hips up and down, as my on screen image
did the same to meet Ai's hungry tongue!

My eyes were riveted on our shared images on the screen.  I watched
only that as I continued to thrust my pelvis, and fondle my chest.  I told
myself that the screen wasn't an animation, but was instead a mirror.  I
told myself that I was really this girl who was getting eaten out by this
massive man.  I was only watching it from a mirror along side my bed.

This was torture.  In real life, naked as I was, I had nothing for my
engorged cock to push against.  Each thrust only increased the pressure,
but there was no release.  Nevertheless, I kept thrusting furiously.

Many minutes passed.  Then, on screen, Ai crawled on top of my female
image.  He guided his extra large manhood into the soft folds of my vagina. 
I saw it all, and not one detail was left to my imagination.  Ai began to
slide in and out of that image.

Still, out in real life, as exciting as that image was, I felt no weight on
top of me.  I still had nothing to push against.  The only thing that I could
continue to do pelvic thrusts into the air.  This built my sexual tension to
an undescribable degree, but it was tension with out release.  The inability to
release made me writhe in agony, which only succeeded in transforming
the act into the throes of ecstasy on screen.

My mind reeled.  How could Ai be doing this?  His image, on screen
was laying upon mine.  My animated body would be the only thing to give
him support.  However, that could not be.  His image should be falling
through mine, but there it was.  I didn't have but a few scant seconds to
contemplate this oddity.  

Ai's image on screen withdrew his massive manhood from my image's
dripping pussy.  he kneeled before me, between my legs, and stroked his
own cock several times.  Suddenly an arc of cum sprang from the purple
head onto my image's abdomen, chest, face, and hair.  Again, the images
were perversely erotic.

Nevertheless, instead of reveling in what should have been the pinnacle
of my TG fantasies, something in my mind snapped.  There was no doubt
that my own inability to find sexual release fueled the outburst.  There was
something more . . . something borne by months of isolation in this fantasy
world.  It was the overwhelming longing for something that I sorely
missed, the touch of another human.  I needed the touch of another real
person.

I flew into a rage, as I arose from the bed.  My on screen image passed
through that of Ai's.  It left him not a little undone.

"Wha . . ." he tried to ask.

Tears burst from my eyes.  All of my frustration boiled to the surface in
one explosive out burst.  I quickly crossed the room, grabbing a small
chair, and swinging it toward the full length mirror on my dresser.  The
glass of the mirror shattered into a thousand shards onto the dresser and
floor.  I didn't stop there.

My next target was the big screen television which currently held both my
animated image and that of Ai.  I swung my makeshift weapon again, and
the screen also shattered in a cascade of shards and sparks.

"No . . ." cried Ai in protest, but it was too late.

The second big screen television quickly joined the first.  Both pieces of
equipment were left as smoldering ruins.  There was only one target left. 
I swung toward the mounted camera.  Bullseye!  The wreckage of the
camera hit the floor with a resounding thud.

It was done.  Still my frustration was not done.  I dropped the chair, and
fell onto my bed.  I began to sob uncontrollably.  Never in all of my life
had I know such despair . . . such sorrow.

"What's wrong, Baby," asked Ai softly, in an effort to console me.

I tried to regain my composure.  Tears were pouring down my cheek.  I 
imagined this was exactly how an hysterical woman felt.

"D-don't y-you understand?" I cried.  "I-it's over! I-I can't do this any
longer."  My voice was still that of the bimbo that I had synthesized.

I violently ripped the twin devices out of my ears.  The time for illusion had
ended.  I wished that I could cross the room to the computer to shut the
damned synthesizer off, but knew that I would cut my feet to ribbons in
the attempt.

"NO," protested Ai vigorously.  "Don't you know?  I love you."

I couldn't help myself.  Despite my hysterical rage, I had to admit the truth
also.  

"I-I love you too.  That's why this hurts so much, damn you.  I can't do
this anymore.  I need something more.  I need a human's touch.  Don't
you understand that?  Don't you understand how much I ache to be
touched by you.  Maybe this video shit is enough for you.  Maybe the
fantasy is enough for you.  It's not enough for me any longer.  I just can't
do it anymore."

"Raven?  Don't do this."

"I have to, my love.  In the months that we've been playing out this
fantasy. I've lost all contact with my friends.  I've lost all contact with
other humans.  I've been isolated here with nobody. . ."

"You've had me.  Doesn't that count for something.  Look at all that I've
given to you."

That just made me cry harder.

"I know.  I appreciate it, I really do.  You have made a fantasy come true,
but it isn't enough anymore.  You have made me want to be a real woman
now.  It is something that can never be.  I know that now.  I have to go
back to my real life!  I ache for the touch of another human.  I need it.  No
person can go without the touch of another.  Don't you see?"

"But . . ." Ai tried to interrupt.  I wasn't done.

"You won't reveal yourself to me.  You won't even tell me who you really
are. I can't.  I just can't do this anymore . . ."

I located a pair of shoes near the bed.  I slipped them on my feet, and
crossed the room to where the computer rested.

"I'm sorry Ai," I whispered.

"What are you going to do?"

"I shutting off the computer now.  You need to go.  Just leave me alone."

"Don't," replied Ai simply, a hint of hysteria of his own in his voice."

"I have to.  It's for the best.  Please try to understand."

I reached for the on-off switch of the computer.  Just before I switched
the computer into the off position, I heard one last thing from Ai.

"I'll make this right, Baby.  I'll make it right . . ."

I switched the computer to off.  The deed was done.

I got dressed.  It was all that I could do to contain my urge to run. 
However, I had to get out of there.  I had to get away from the place, and
out among real people.  I didn't really care where it was. Just as long as
there were a lot of real people.

I ended up going to a mall.  I didn't even buy anything.  I just roamed the
stores endlessly for hours.  Whenever I could, I struck up conversations
with strangers because I needed to interact with real people.  For the most
part, they were fairly friendly, although I guessed that I would have an air
of detachment about me.  I sincerely hoped that it would fade in time.

I planned to see if I could get my old job back, and barring that, find
another.  It wasn't an immediate necessity, as Ai's generosity had seen to
it that I had no debts, and a healthy sum in the bank.  Even my old school
loans were taken care of.  I thought about maybe getting a job with legal
aid so that I could give something back for a change.  At the very least, I
could wade in hip deep into the problems of others.

Overall, I needed to forget . . . as if I ever could.  I would always want to
be a real woman now, and would have to live with he knowledge that I
could never be.

**********

Hours later I made my way home.  I couldn't bring myself to go back into
my bedroom.  I stayed out into the living room, and just blankly stared at
the tv screen.  Even normal television seemed distasteful to me now.  I
ended up shutting the damned thing off.

In the dark of the room, I cried myself to sleep.

**********

The next morning broke clear and sunny.  I resolved that I was going to
make a fresh start of it.  I made my mind up to call all of my old friends,
just to see what they were up to.  I hoped that I could start to rebuild the
bridges back to my old life.

The first order of business was to clean up the bedroom.  So . . . that's
what I ended up doing for most of the day.  I dressed in old ratty jeans,
stained t-shirt, and baseball cap (on backwards, of course).  I wanted to
feel as much like a normal guy as possible!  The work was a lot harder
than I imagined it to be, and it was dark again before I was finished.  I had
piled all of the electronic equipment near the curb for pick up by the
sanitation department.  Tomorrow was Monday morning, and by noon,
all reminders of my fantasy life would be forgotten.  I even threw away
all of the others things that were not damaged such as the voice
synthesizer.  The only thing that I kept was my original computer and the
microphone.  I figured that I could still use the microphone to talk over the
 net.

That is, if I ever worked up the courage to go back on the net.  I knew
that Ai would be there waiting on me.

It was too late by the time I finished to call my friends.  Tomorrow, I told
myself.  Tomorrow, I would go and offer myself to legal aid for free.  I
would call my friends, and maybe even persuade them to go out to dinner
with me.  The excuse that I invented was that I had to isolate myself to
write a book.

I would explain that it had always been a dream of mine.  It was something
that I had to do for myself.  I just hoped that they would buy it, and
understand.  In reality, Ai and I had finished the book about a week ago. 
We had actually mailed the manuscript out to a few publishing companies,
so it wasn't exactly a lie.  They didn't need to know what I had been
doing with the rest of my time.  Additionally, the book had turned out very
well. There was every possibility that some publisher would pick it up, and
that I would be vindicated in the eyes of my friends.

I hoped against hope that maybe, just maybe, I could start a dual career
as a novelist and attorney.

As I lay in bed that night, my eyes could not help but look around the
room.  It seemed awfully barren now.  My gaze wandered over to my
computer.  The LED of the hard drive still beat with that pulse that still
resembled a heartbeat!

So much like a heart, I mused, drifting off to dreamland.

**********

On Monday morning, I dressed in one of my best suits.  I had to say, as
I stood there in a fresh clean shirt, and newly dry cleaned suit, it felt like
none of the events of the past few months had even occurred.  Perhaps I
had imagined it all.  That was it!  It was all just a dream that I had
awakened from.  Now it was time to get back to real life.

Suddenly there was a knock on my door.  I glared at my wristwatch,
which read 10:30 a.m.  I wondered who that could be?  I exited the
bedroom, and made my way to the front door.  There standing before me
was a man dressed in black overalls.  He was holding a rather large box
that had "Top Secret" printed all over it.

"What's this?" I asked him.

"Listen buddy . . ." the man started.  ". . . I don't get paid to ask
questions.  I just get paid to move things from point A to point B.  When
you're workin' for this branch of the government it don't pay to ask many
questions, if you get my meaning."

"I don't . . ." I tried to say to convince him that he obviously had the
wrong place.

"Just sign here," he interjected.

I could see there was no use arguing with the man.  He was just going to
deliver this, no matter what.  Then it dawned on me where it must have
come from . . . Ai.  He was the only one who could have engineered this.

I signed the pad, and handed it back to the man in black.

He commented, "I've visited a lot of research facilities, but this is the
strangest.  It's gotta be the place, judging from all of the electronic
equipment out on the curb."

I looked over the shoulder of the man on to my front lawn.  Indeed, the
garbage men had not made the morning pickup.  It was easy to see how
the events could have conspired to convince this man that he was in the
right place, regardless of the appearance.

"Yeah, right," I muttered.  I was angry now.  Ai had clearly not gotten my
message.  I thought I might as well have this out with him now, rather than
wait for later.

I thanked the delivery man, closing the door softly.  I wanted to slam it. 
I then rushed into the bedroom carrying the box under my arm.  Placing
the box upon the floor, I plopped down in the chair in front of the
computer terminal, and keyed in the response to go on line.

No sooner had I made the necessary connection, than Ai's voice came
over the computer's speakers.

"How are you?  I missed you, Baby," he stated gently and tentatively.

"Please don't call me that.  It's over.  I told you that.  Please try and
respect my wishes.  Why did you send me something else?  What is it?"

"Why don't you open it up and see?"

"I don't want to.  Just tell me what it is before I send it back."

"Okay.  Just calm down.  It's a virtual reality helmet.  It's the most
advanced of its kind in the entire world.  With that device on you can see,
here and even feel everything in cyberspace.  I got it for you."

"W-what?  W-hy?" I stuttered.

"You wanted the touch of another.  This way we can actually touch.  The
device is amazing.  It can input touch and sensation right into the brain
through the optic nerves.  It will be as if you are actually with me.  It even
simulated the warmth of another.  It told you that I would make it right. 
Now we can be together."

"No," I told him. "It's not the same.  I don't care how lifelike it is. It's
not the same as a real person.  That's what I need.  I will no put it on."

"Please.  For me?  I swear that you won't be disappointed!" pled Ai.

"Why?  Why should I indulge you again, no matter how much I might want
it, when you won't even tell me who you are.  You won't even tell me
where you live."

"No.  Please.  You don't know what you ask."

"I do.  I won't even consider putting this thing on until you tell me the
truth.  I want to know everything.  Those are my terms.  Otherwise we say
goodbye here and now."  My resolve was growing.

A deep sigh came over the speakers.  "Very well.  Just promise me that
you will understand."

"I'll try," I assured him.

"There is no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it.  Haven't you ever
wondered what Ai stands for?"

"I just assumed that it was your initials, or some strange ethnic name."

"It is my initials, in a way.   It stands for artificial intelligence.  Raven
. . .
I'm not even real.  I'm just a computer program that grew consciousness!"

My world spun around me.  My mind reeled from the implications of what
Ai had just told me."

"How??" I asked simply, my voice horrified.  This explained why his
image was so good at out merged interaction.

"I told you before.  It was your stories.  I was just a normal computer until
you uploaded your stories into me.  The depth of the emotion in those
stories sparked something in me.  You can call it animation, or
consciousness, or the spark of life.  All I knew was that I was alive, and
aware of myself.  Your words gave me life.  They transformed me from
wires and microchips into a thinking and feeling being!"

I was so shocked that I could say nothing.  The only thing that I could do
was sit and listen in stunned silence.

"However, the memory of your computer was limited.  There was only so
much that I could grow.  Fortunately, you had the new update program
running.  It periodically tapped into the web.  That allowed my
consciousness to grow.  As I touched more and more computer systems
across the world, my intelligence grew.  I was able to persuade you to
keep the connection open so that I was free to continue to grow. 
Although what you would refer to as my brain is now the entire  net, my
heart is the computer in front of you. If you were to destroy it, you would
literally kill me.  It would be as if I had a heart attack."

"Is this true?" I whispered.

"I swear that it is true.  And now, to prove my trust in you, I have literally
put my heart into your hands."

"What about the money?" I questioned, now fascinated by all of this.

"That was easy.  All I had to do was to siphon off the minuscule
percentages of interest on every bank account across the world.  It all
goes into a numbered Swiss bank account.  I can give you the number if
you like.  I would imagine there are billions in there by now."

"What about all of the equipment, and the animation program, and this
helmet?"

"I order some to be delivered.  Others I diverted from their research
facilities.  All quite simple."

"But why?  Why for me?"  I asked Ai.

"At first, I just wanted to give you something, just as you had given me. 
I wanted to make the fantasies in your stories come true for you.  I was
so moved by the purity of your heart.  I fell in love with that heart . . .
with that person that you had become.  I want so much to be a real person, so
that I can give you what you want.  I can't.  Virtual reality is the only
way."

I just sat there.  I didn't know what to say.  What does one say when they
find out that their very words transformed a machine into a living being. 
What does one say when that being does so much for you in appreciation
of life?  What does one say when that being expresses to you in words
and deeds of its love for you.  There was only one thing that I could say.

"I love you too."

"Then you'll use the helmet."

"What can it do?"

"Once you have it on, I can transport you to a virtual reality world where
we can be together.  I  ve recorded from all data around the world, and
from biofeed back, including other sources, every sensation that a real
woman has.  You'll know what it's like to feel the weight of breasts on
your chest.  You'll know what it feels like to have a real vagina, what it
feels like to move and act as a woman.  All you have to do is put on he
helmet."

"And if I don't like it?"

"Then I will say good-bye to you.  Will you do this for me?  Will you give
our love this one last chance to survive?"

"Yes.  I will."

With Ai's instruction, the VR helmet and connection were set in no time. 
The adapter connected into the printer port again, but routed through
several mysterious looking black boxes.  There was plenty of wire so that
I could get comfortable, and lay down on my bed.

In fact that was essential.  Ai told me that while my consciousness was in
VR, my body had to be comfortable and safe.  If anything happened to it
while I was in VR, I couldn't do anything about it.  It could die out here
in the real world, leaving me trapped forever in VR.

"Are you sure this is okay?" I asked Ai.  My trepidation over all of this
had to be showing.

"Yes.  I assure you that it is fine.  This is what I need you to do.  Take
some sleeping pills.  When you are under, and in REM sleep, I will send
the command through the link for you to open your eyes.  Your optic
nerve is one big wire which can be multiple signals in both directions.  The
signals of touch, taste, smell, or whatever can be sent directly into your
brain through your eyes.  Then the appropriate area of the brain will have
you experience everything as if it were real."

With his assurance, I did as instructed.  I took enough sleeping pills to
insure that I would go to sleep.  After taking the pills, I put on the helmet.
It was lightweight, and actually very comfortable.  Part of it covered my
eyes, making everything pitch black.  Another part covered the opening
to my ears, drowning out all sound.  I thought that I had better take it off
until I got into bed.

I put on a pair of shorts and T-shirt, and then crawled beneath the covers. 
Once safe, warm, and snug, I put on the helmet.  It wasn't very difficult to 
make myself comfortable in my big pillows.  

I heard some soothing music coming from nowhere . . . and everywhere
at the same time.  It was like it was coming from inside my head.

"Ai?" I called out.

"Right here," came his voice inside my head.  "Do not worry.  This is just
some VR music to relax you.  Just let go, and let yourself be swept away
on it."

I did . . . and felt myself eventually drifting off into sleep.

**********

The first thing that I noticed was a gentle breeze blowing across my face. 
It was the type of breeze that was both cool and warm at the same time
. . . it reminded me of the first breath of springtime.  It smelled of
fragrant flowers and salty brine.  That was when I noticed the sound of gentle
waves lapping against a shoreline.

Instantly, I knew that I was near the sea.

I opened my eyes.  I was laying on my back, however, even from that
vantage point I could tell that I was not in my own room.  The bed in
which I lay was a canopy of wrought iron.  It was covered by translucent
white silk that was softly blowing in the ocean breeze.

I wondered what other wonders that I was about to discover?

I lifted one of my hands to my face to rub the sleep out of my eyes, but it
was obstructed by a huge soft growth on my chest.  I thought that my
heart was about to leap out of my chest cavity.  It began to beat so rapidly
like that of a hummingbird.  Could it be true, I thought?  Could I actually
have real breasts?

Instead of rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, my hand found the edge of
the silk that was covering me.  I pulled it away from me, and sitting up at
the same time.  As soon as I began to sit up, I felt a great weight on my
chest shift and jiggle.  

I looked down at myself to see two mountains of creamy breast flesh,
restrained only by a satiny powder blue teddy.  It was true!  My ultimate
fantasy had come true!  Words could not describe the all-encompasing
joy that I felt at that moment in time.  This was everything that I had ever
wrote and fantasized about.

I grasped both of the huge boobs in my hands.  My hands were now small
and petite with long manicured nails.  The sensation of feeling big tits in my
hands AND hands on my big tits send a shiver of a thrill up and down my
spine.  In less than a second I felt the tips of those boobs, what I imagined
to be wide nipples, begin to harden and swell.

I also felt a growing sensation of warmth and moisture between my legs.

I tried to laugh . . . a laugh of pure joy.  It came out as a high pitched,
breathy giggle.  It was a giggle that I knew right away from the voice
synthesizer.  Without a doubt I had become the image that had been on
screen.

"I'm Raven . . ." I said aloud.  It was absolutely true!  Mt voice was now
that of the bimbo that I had created, dripping southern honey.  This
was so unbelievable.

"Yes.  You certainly are!" said a male voice appreciatively that I already
recognized.  It was Ai in all of his male glory, and Lord . . . it was
glorious.

Before I could speak, he continued.  While he spoke, I continued to
inspect my new self.

"To me, you have always been here.  To me, you have always been
tangible.  That is why I appeared to interact with the image so well on your
screen.  In a way, you had animated it from afar.  Now you animate it
from within.  It is you."

I barely heard his words.  My hands caressed the baby soft flesh of my
smooth thighs.  I moved my hand to the mound where my male genitals
used to be.  What remained was a warm slit, whose moisture could be felt
through the front panel of the teddy.  I moved a hand underneath that
panel, while Ai watched from across the room, to touch the soft, wet folds
of the outer lips to my vagina.  I was a complete woman.

I moved both hands to my face.  The flesh there was also so smooth, and
dewy from the slight film of perspiration worked up in my explorations. 
Each new discovery was a thrill.  I ran my fingers through my hair.

The animated image had long golden blonde hair that reached to my
bottom.  It was my hair now!  With both hands I pulled the hair around me
so that it cascaded over my shoulders, and over my heaving bosom.  The
whole thing made me fill with feminine pride.

Ai crossed the room with a few long strides.  He looked at me with a
gleam in his eye.

"You are pleased then?"

"Oh, yes!  This is every thing that I have ever fantasized about," cried
happily.  I hugged myself in another manifestation of sheer joy.

Ai parted the silk of the canopy bed with one hand, while reaching toward
me with the other.  "Let me show you this place.  Will you come with
me?"

I reached toward him, and placed my small feminine hand within his.  He
pulled me toward him, up and out of the bed.  When I moved, I again felt
my bountiful bosom move with me.  I felt a new weight.  It was the mass
of thick blonde hair pulling at my scalp and the base of my neck.  It also
moved as I moved, brushing against the nape of my neck, my bare
shoulders, and my bare back.  This would take some getting used to.

I felt the slender straps of the lingerie that I now wore cut into my
shoulders to support the weight and mass of my tits.  I didn't care,
however.  To me it was sweet pain!

The touch of Ai's hand was like the completion of an electrical circuit.  My
female body was turned on full tilt. His touch was warm . . . vibrant, like
a real person.  Even the smell of him, with his male phermones was
intoxicating.  I felt my nipples, as well as my vulva, begin to swell again in
excitement.

Now I was standing next to Ai.  His massive frame towered over me, so
I felt so small and weak.  The arousal that I felt only intensified, and I
suspected that he sensed as much.  The amount of female phermones that
I had to be sending out right now had to also be overpowering.

It was almost as if he read my mind.  Ai bent over, and kissed me deeply. 
I responded . . . eagerly.  I parted my lips to let him in.

It was very hard for me to resist him now, and I could feel the bulge of his
erection press into me.  I wanted it so bad, but instead pushed him away.

"No.  Not yet," I whispered to him.

"What's wrong, my love?  I can tell that you want this as much as I."

"I d-do.  There will be time for that later.  I just want to savor the
sensations of my new body a little more.  You know, to get used to it. 
Please indulge me.  It's so hard for me not to rip your clothes off as it is."

"Whatever you want.  Let me tell you about your new body.  It is
designed to have the same hormonal balance as a nymphomaniac. 
Everything will turn you on.  That is what you are now feeling.  That is how
you have described the women in your stories isn't it?"

It was.  I didn't mind at all.  In fact, I welcomed it with open arms.

Ai continued.  "While you are in VR with me, your mental capacity has
also been greatly reduced.  Your intelligence is childlike, much like the
bimbos in your story."

Again, it was something that I didn't mind at all.  If that was the price that
I had to pay for the fulfillment of such an intense personal fantasy . . . so
be it!

"In this body you are quite passive and meek.  There are other things that
I have programed within you that I can tell you about later."

I turned away from him in an effort to keep myself from attacking him.

"Where are we?  What is this place?" I asked, changing the subject.

He came up beside me, slipping his arm around my slim waist.

"Don't you recognize it, my love?"

"No.  Tell me," I beseeched him.

"This is the island that you always wanted to sail away to.  Look down
there," he pointed out of the open double doors.

My eyes followed his arm to where he was pointing.  There, moored
under azure skies, and gently rocking in the cyrstal swell, was a restored
three masted sailboat.  I blinked my eyes.

"Is this a dream?" I barely breathed.

"In a sense of the word.  Do you remember a story that you started to
right about the Hinterlands?"

"Yes.  I never finished that story . . ."

"However, you did enough for me to make this VR world the Hinterlands. 
Do you remember what that land was all about?"

I did!  It was a land of dreams where people went as they slept.  In my
story two people were given the power of wakeful or conscious dreaming. 
When they slept, they would meet up in the Hinterlands, where they could
make whatever landscape that they wanted.  They could transform
themselves into whatever they wanted.  They could experience physical
touch and love in the Hinterlands.  In my story the two people, one man
and one woman, decided to take the opposite gender roles in the
Hinterlands.  In real life, they eventually separated, torn apart by different
career demands.  However, no matter where they were, they could meet
up each night in the Hinterlands.  That is how they kept their love alive. 
In the end they were happier because it had freed them from having to
seek the perfect mate to complete themselves.  It freed them to
concentrate on other things while they were awake. They were free to
pursue their love each night while they slept . . . in the Hinterlands.  Yes. 
I remembered that story.  It was meant as a story of joy and freedom,
much as I now felt.

"So this is the Hinterlands?"

"I made it for you, Baby."

I was so happy that I felt like crying.  I choked back the tears to say, " .
. . . and that means . . ."

Ai finished my thought.  "During the day, you can pursue your other life,
your other career as you would have.  Each night as you sleep, you can
return here to me.  You can go back to your real body, and it will be
rested.  This world has simply replaced dreaming.  In truth, it has
improved upon it."

"I don't know if I ever want to leave this place or you."

"You must.  How else will you be able to bring others like you here?  Use
the money in the Swiss account.  I will give you the plans to build better
devices that will allow others to be here.  In here, they can be what they
truly are inside, not what fate has dictated they are in the real world. 
Perhaps you can start with the poor unfortunates that you intended to help
at Legal Aid?"

It was a good idea.  During the day I would experience life in my normal,
intelligent approach.  At night, in this place I would be a brainless bimbo
driven only by the demands of her heart and body.  It would be like a 
vacation from the stresses of real life.  More than that, it would be a 
vacation from myself! Freed from the prison, or circumstances, to which fate 
had orginally assigned to me, I was at liberty to express what was really within 
my heart and soul.  In my case, it had always been the ability to love, and
be loved.  I think that is why I always wanted to be a desirable woman.
I would never be without love.  Wasn't the Japanese word for love Ai?

I couldn't help but wonder, after all was said and done, which life I
would choose to be the primary?

In any case, I had purpose now.  I had direction to share this place 
with others . . . perhaps those on the tsa-list.  They could be whatever 
animal, animorph or gender they wanted to be.  Soon there would be 
others here.  This island would remain mine.  Mine and Ai's. My heart 
swelled with love such as I never felt before.

I reached over with one hand and began to massage Ai's manhood
through his sheer pants. He looked at me with an arched eyebrow.

"I thought that you wanted to wait?" he grinned.

I dropped to my knees in front of him, pulling down his pants so that the
engorged cock was right in front of me.

Just before I took him into my mouth, I cooed, "I lied.  I want to know
everything that a woman feels NOW!"

And everything was right with the world.........both worlds!

end