matrix. You had to concentrate. If your mind wandered it could be a bitch, especially if you did VR on the job, like air-traffic controllers.

"If you knew what you were doing though, you became the machine, you became the VR landscape because basically, your mind was linked directly to it."

"Cool," Celeste said, blowing on Regina's left nipple.

"Not right now, dear, I'm on a roll here." Regina ran her hand down Celeste's stomach, fingernails scrabbling playfully at her belly button. Celeste giggled.

"So this Japanese giant gets our design and we get nothing. Buddy blamed me for the mole thing because I insisted we hire the little chancre. He was good, his resumeŽ was, that is, I just didn't check him out by the painstaking method Buddy accused me of missing.

"We started work on another interface, one that worked on the principal of neuro-connections without surgery. By the time we broke up we were working on one that connected through the tongue and the tissues of the mouth. This one, this butt-plug monstrosity is the grandchild of that and I wrote half the code that makes it work and I'm going to get the motherfucker back, kill that sonofabitch and steal the designs. I'll be rolling in it.

"Imagine, kid, going into a mall, plucking suits and jewelry off the racks, software and hardware, into the cart without the need of those annoying little credit chips. Just hold your palm up for the scanners to check and you're on your way. A trillion credits! That's how much I'll make. Come on, we're going over there."

Regina stood, her breasts hitting Celeste in the face as she rocked her body to her knees and finally staggered to her feet.

"Here, put this on, keep your hair inside it, and scratch your bush while you're here, like this." Regina showed her. Celeste used one finger instead of four to do the same and Regina said,

"No, not like that, like this," and demonstrated on the young woman.

"Regina!"

"Look, doll, we can't leave anything behind. Not even a pube! This will loosen whatever you might drop while we're over there. No fibers, nothing, except maybe a few flakes of dried skin, but they could conceivably be carried on the wind."

"But... I have to get dressed."

"No. You don't. Let's go."

"But we're naked!"

"That's the idea, sugar."

Regina's whole body quaked as she walked, the toll of her many years and gravity's effect upon all those fat cells. Celeste watched and could feel herself becoming aroused. She scratched at herself one last time, the way demonstrated and skipped away to follow Mother.

"Hair all up under the cap? You've got so much of it! Good, doll. Let's go."

There was no one in the halls of the apartment building but there was one old woman in the elevator. She ignored their nakedness completely, as though she saw it on the vidscreen every day, which she did. The parking lot was on the roof which is where they exited the elevator. "The wind, it's cold!" Celeste hugged her arms to herself. She stood, waiting for Regina to open the door and was startled for a moment at the giant mushroom before her with the yellow cap and small breasts, but then realized it was only her reflection in the glass.

"That's okay, kid. I do my best work when my nipples are hard." Regina laughed raucously and opened the door on her side of the flitter. "Get in and strap down. We're going to take a fast ride."

Regina's hands danced over the controls, which lit up the cab like the old Manhattan skyline. Finally the door opened and Celeste climbed in and clicked her harnesses in place. Without warning, Regina hit the boost control and the craft launched itself straight up two hundred feet in three seconds. "Woah!" Celeste objected. "Keep doing that and this cab is going to smell like moo goo gai pan for months, and I'm not kidding."

"That was the worst, but hang on."

Below them other flitters cruised by at various altitudes.

"Aren't we kind of high up? I mean, we could get a ticket, and we're naked."

"We're just going to have to risk it, kid. The faster we get there, the fewer people will see us. Besides, people only expect ambulances and police vans at this altitude. No one will even look up at us."

"Okay, Regina. You're the boss."

"Good girl." Regina put her hand on Celeste's bare knee and the flitter took a sharp right turn, pushing the girl into the passenger door. "Here we are."

"Already?"

"It's only a little over two clicks."