Okay, this is top secret, so you didn’t hear this from me, right? But there’s a tank. I mean, not that thing you invade dusty deserts with, but something like a fish tank, and what’s special about it is, that it’ll save prims! So like every object you rezz in it and keep in it will have a lower prim count than it normally does. Nobody knows exactly how it works. It’s said that it contains a script that will mess with the sim mathematics, causing the region to count the prims wrong. Of course, people up high (at LL) don’t like it, but they too can’t figure out how it works. And the scripter won’t tell a thing. Some say he’s dead, killed in a car accident in Oklahoma City by a woman who later became the sister-in-law of a government official. It’s rumoured he’s in the CIA, so maybe they deported him to Mexico, and things are getting really serious from there. But I can’t tell that right now, it’s too important.

(With regards to Lena C.)

Sails danced on the horizon. White like gull feathers, they lined the horizon. They were four galleons, with an occasional merchantman to supply them. The lone figure that stood atop the small ridge overlooking the bay turned and looked down at the port for a while, where a few merchantmen lay wary with their sails shortened, biding their time.

Slowly, the figure turned and walked down again. The embargo went into its third month now, and he had an appointment with the governor. Not that he could take on even one of the galleons, leave alone all four of them, but the people were getting nervous, and he was the only privateer in port. Leisurely he strode down to the governors mansion. It was a warm sunny day, and clouds were lining the skies just like the white sails of the galleons.

“Captain Firecaster,” the governor smiled broadly as he saw him.

“Just call me V, gov’nah,” V replied.

The governors smile soured as if he suddenly tasted a lemon. “V, it is good to see you again. We…”

“we talked about the situation before, gov’nah. There is no way for me to get past them, or even near them,” V interrupted him.

“Yes, yes, that was before.” The governor stretched his words like a man who was used to enjoy hearing himself talk. “But there are good news! My messengers finally returned, and there will be aid, finally! There are Men’o'War coming!”

“Good,” replied V sharply. “Then I’m no longer neccessary. Call on me when the…”

“No, no, good V, you are most important to the mission,” said the governor hastily. “We need you to distract them while the Men’o'War can take them by surprise.” With elaborate sentences, the governor laid out his plan, pointing at different spots on the map that hung upon the wall. V nodded. “When will this start?” he asked finally.

“Tomorrow,” said the governor. “They are close already. You have to get ready.”

“Aye,” answered V shortly and walked out.

She slept rough that night. The moon stood full outside the window to her room, casting it in cold white light. Earlier, she heard her father talk with that foreign captain again, and even though she did not understand all that had been said, she could feel that something was coming. She wondered if it was a good thing, as the embargo was filling the air with tension, but for some reason, she had a very bad feeling about it. The moon didn’t help either, so she spent most of the night, laying awake in bed, listening to the sounds outside, until she finally fell into a deep and tired slumber.

Someone grabbed her. She jerked awake, trying to scream, but a hand over her mouth muffled and gagged her. She got pulled out of bed in her white nightgown and her arms were held back rough. Someone put a piece of cloth into her mouth and bound her wrists while a cool night wind blew through her open window. She was confused, trying to come to her senses, wondering if she was dreaming, and tears were streaming down her face. Finally, the man turned her around and in the moonlight she recognized the tall captain of the privateer. He smiled at her and then slung her over his shoulder.

She got carried away roughly, not remembering much of where they went or how long it took. Finally, they paused under a large tree and he removed the cloth that gagged her.

“What are you doing with me?” she asked trembling.

“I’ll hold you ransom, that’s what I’ll be doing,” he replied. “You might be the only chance for us to survive that madness.”

“But I have no money…” she stuttered.

“Bugger the money,” he snarled.

“But…” she trembled even more. “But… what else do you want?” She looked down at herself in her skimpy night gown. “I… I have never been with a man.”

He eyed her. “Listen. There are no Men’o'War. There are no reinforcements. There is no surprise attack. There is nothing. Your father is sending me and my men to certain death so he can claim the bay got conquered by the French and get rid of his allegiance to the crown. And now, while I couldn’t care less about the welfare of the british colonies, I have a fine vessel and a crew of 13 hands to care for, so maybe he will reconsider if he learns that you are among the passengers.”

She fell silent. They continued their way down to the port side by side, her wrists still bound, but the gag removed from her mouth. She knew her father would probably play a different game with the captain, but she was too afraid and agitated to think clearly. When they reached the ship, she finally broke the silence. “Look, Sir, I…”

“Just call me V,” he said.

“V… my father will not do anything for my sake.” She lowered her eyes. “I got adopted.”

She didn’t know how long she was held in the small room on the ship. It seemed like hours. Finally, he entered the room again, carrying a candle and a sack. He sat down on a crate and eyed her silently. “Very well, erm…”

“Elena,” she said.

“Elena. The plans have changed. We will leave right away.” He threw the sack on the floor. “Get dressed.”

She stared at him. “What will you do?”

“We will row out to sea and try to enter one of the galleons unnoticed…” He paused for a moment as she started to remove her night gown. Inch by inch her silky white body appeared in the candle light, until she stood before him all naked. His gaze wandered across her breasts, her hips, the dark triangle covering her pelvis. “You could have dressed AFTER I left,” he said quietly.

“Yes,” she answered. “I will.” She approached him slowly until she stood just inches away. “But I am your prisoner, Sir. Your property, if you so want.”

“Bollocks,” he replied. “Nobody’s anyones property. Not unless you’re one of the poor black sods and get carried away by a slaver.”

She moved her hands across her nipples, feeling them harden, and a curious feeling started to grow between her legs. She wandered them further down, along her sides, until they rested on each side of her pelvis. Slowly, gently, she pulled her pubic hair apart, opening her pink labia in front of his face. “What if I want to?” she asked.

He stared at her, unsure of what to say, as she already got to her knees in front of him. She smiled shyly and reached for the bulge that was showing through his pants. Slowly, nervously, she opened the buttons and pulled it down, gasping at the sight of his hardening dick. She touched it, feeling it grow in her soft warm hand, and instinctively started to stroke it. He moaned. His eyes closed for a moment, overwhelmed by her advance, enjoying it. She watched the expression on his face, afraid that he could be angry at her, but when she saw him smile softly, she followed the wonderful feeling that grew more and more inside her.

She arched down, her hair falling onto his loins. The smell of him intoxicated her, and she finally kissed the tip of his dick in her hands. It felt soft and warm, and a little wet around that little hole. Before she knew what she was doing, she licked it, tasting a strange, salty taste. feeling it pulse and harden even more at her touch. She started taking it into her mouth, her lips wrapping around the head. It almost filled her already, but she tried to move it further in, sucking it softly. Wetness was running down her legs, and she hoped embarassedly that he couldn’t see it. Quickly, she tried to suck harder, wanting to get his hard cock deeper into her mouth. She felt it hit the back of her throat already when it was not even halfway inside. Looking up at him with his cock inside her mouth, she could see him smile at her.

“God, you really want this?” he gasped. She nodded while caressing his dick with her tongue in her mouth. “Do you know what that entails?” She just sucked harder. He moaned loud, gasping for air. “God, girl! You better watch out or I will be…” She took the dick out of her mouth again, stroking it fast. Her hand rubbed hard across it, lubricated by her saliva. More wetness was forming at the tip, and she watched it curiously, as suddenly it erupted and gushes of sticky white liquid hit her face. She instinctively took it in her mouth again, feeling it jerk there, tasting more and more of the salty cream. It filled her mouth until it slowly ceased and started to get limp quickly. She let the dick fall from her mouth, looking up at him. Wet sticky spots covered her face and hair, and the cum inside her was dripping from the corners of her half-open mouth. He breathed hard as he looked at her, calming down slowly. Finally, he uttered a single word: “Swallow.” She oblieged.

They were sneaking down corridors in the dark, only illuminated by an emergency lighting that made their bodies shimmer, both wearing their bodysuits as almost as open as they had int he office and followed the floor layout of the plan. They descended stairs in the shadows, crawled across balustrades, slid along darkened walls, until they reached the ground floor, pausing in a corner, listening intently into the darkness of the building.

Footsteps. They peeked into the half light of the entrance and saw two guards in uniform, boredly walking their routes until they stood by a pillar and talked. El and V silently slipped past them and entered a storage, crawling past boxes in the darkness, heading towards a cabinet. Their goal. “The red box!” El whispered as he tried to open the doors. It was locked, and while V was trying his luck on the lock again she nervously looked around. The guards might be patrolling this area too and god knows when they might be here.

El nervously went through your pocket, finding the vibrator again which she eventually decided to take along, unable to part with it. She was running her hand along it, suddenly remembering something that struck her as curious. It was rattling when she used it. There was something inside. She took it out of her pocket, unscrewed the bottom and several small keys fell out.

“Look what I found!” she giggled. V turned around, unnerved. “You could’ve TOLD me you had the keys!” he whispered. El laughed. “I was USING them!” After a few seconds of try and error, they found the right one. The cabinet swung open and there were several small boxes inside, among them a red one just as described by their client. They took it out and El shook it, wondering what would be inside. “Do you think we can OPEN it?” she asked.

V didn’t answer and instead crawled in the shadows towards the exit, listening intently to any sound. Her curiousity got the best of her and so she opened the box. It contained something that gleamed in the dark. She ran her fingers over it and it felt all rough and edged but was cylindrical with a thicker end. She giggled. “I love cylindrical,” she thought as she took it out and weighed it in her hands. It was very heavy and by the dim light that gleamed over it she could see, that it was solid gold, intricatly covered with beautiful gems that seemed to glow in the dark. A sceptre of sorts. It gave her ideas.

V knelt beside the door hearing someone move outside. The door handle turned and his breath halted. Silently it swung open and a flashlight beam followed by the dark shape of a guard entered. He hit the guard with a plank as hard as he could and the man slumped without a sound. V grabbed him and carried him into the darkness behind the boxes.

El closed her eyes and moaned, enjoying the feeling of the gems rubbing along her clit, the knob spreading her labia as her mind wandered, wondering which queen might have used it before her and if it brought her equal pleasure. Somewhere, something thumped to the floor, but she was miles and centuries away, taking a sceptre up her cunt, massaged by her chamber maid who caressed her breasts, her nipples; licking them as the sceptre entered her deep, masterfully tailored to the size of her cunt. She moved it in and out, slowly at first, until her slimy juices covered it all, going easier, deeper, faster, when all at once a lightbeam fell upon her. It illuminated the scene of her sitting in the darkness, holding the sceptre deep inside her. A female voice behind the flashlight gasped and said: “What’s going on here?”

El smiled her innocent smile and suddenly leapt towards her in a high jump, grabbing her flashlight while hitting her chest. The female guard fell to the floor and her gun slid sideways under some boxes. El squatted over her, her sceptre filled cunt close to her face and whispered: “Hello chamber maid. Time to suck me.”

She pulled the sceptre out of herself and sat fully down on her face, pressing her cunt hard on her mouth. The woman gagged and gasped for air, then opened her mouth, feeling juices flow inside. She tasted them, sucking at the labia and clit of that woman that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Not before long, the guard moaned and seemed to enjoy it. El looked down at her, lighting with the flashlight and watched her suck while she could feel her lick deeper and deeper. The guard woman was quite short. She wore her brown hair long but had it hidden under her cap, which had just fallen off. She seemed to enjoy wearing makeup, even at work, as her red lips started to get smeared by El’s juices.

El she started to move up and down her face, moving her hips and let her lick further down towards her ass. She reached for her clit and rubbed it fast, hard, as she felt her tongue at her anus, which was still damp from his sperm. She smiled at the thought of her tasting it while she rubbed even harder and felt it coming on already.

El looked down at her face, buried beneath her cunt. The dark lined eyes of the guard were closed as she was tasting her, licking and playing. El relaxed and let it gush all over her face, bathing her in cunt juices and smeared her mascara all over her face. It took the guard woman by surprise and she was trying to swallow the juice as El could hear a voice close to her ear. “What the hell are you DOING?”

She moaned softly. “I’m having fun with our treasure,” she replied. V looked down at the gasping woman, her face all wet, and the slimy sceptre laying on the side. El bent back and reached up to him, whispering: “Come, my king and SHOW me how good you can wield your sword.” She went down on all fours, arching her butt high up while spreading the legs of the guard woman. Her hand wandered inside her pocket and grabbed a pair of scissors which she used to cut the pants of the guard open in the crotch. For a moment she admired her beautiful lingerie as she could feel her buttocks get parted once more, and the one thing that fit her better, and could take her harder, and deeper, than any sceptre, or any other thing was entering her ass once more: His massive cock.

Before the guard could gather her senses again she pulled her panties aside and pushed three fingers inside her cunt, starting to fuck her fast, just as her ass got probed by the warm, big cock. Her king was fucking her, taking her like in the old days of yore, when she used to take audiences sitting on his dick, or let chamber maids lick her while he filled her ass. And even when she was still his slave and was kept in his dungeon to get fucked over and over again to his liking, it was HIS cock she obeyed. But that lowly chamber maid, who had shaven her horny cunt to appear even hornier, SHE will not get his cock. SHE will get the fuck of her lifetime instead, as the queen shoved her hand hard inside her, hearing her gasp, moan, scream, thrash, getting fucked through her ripped clothes until the queen could feel her cunt convulse around her wrist, pulling, while that hard cock kept pounding her asshole, driving her wild, and she felt it coming on. Unable to control her body she rammed her fist hard up the cunt of the guard as they both screamed, squirting hard, feeling her asshole get filled with hot cum once more.

She let her hand glide along the sceptre, as the sunbeams fell through the windows in their office. The gems were blazing, as if lit by an inner fire. For days they had been unable to contact their client, and it seemed he had pulled out of the deal. “What will we do with it now?” El asked. V read loud from the latest Avastar as his feet rested on the desktop. “Three days after the robbery of the Norman Exhibition, police still found no trail to the thieves. The security guards concordantly stated they didn’t see anyone in or around the building. How the sceptre of Eleanor of Castile disappeared remains a mystery. Bay City Police chief Dick Morris stated that ‘investigations continue in all directions and we ask the public to report any suspicious actions they might witness’.”

He threw the newspaper on the desk. “We might as well bring it back,” he sighed. El pouted. “I already put the vibrator back. Even WITH the keys!” she said. “I’m keeping this one. I’ll put it to BETTER use than they anyway!” V smiled and looked outside where the sun set beyond the portlands over a Bay City evening.

The streets of Bay City are paved with high rising buildings which were mostly erected during the first half of the previous century. There were only a few skyscrapers in the city, most buildings stopped at a modest height of about 20 or 25 meters. The Firecaster Building was no exception. Though it slumped slightly on one end as its girders were giving in to gravity, its glass roof was on par with the surrounding buildings, which, although mainly unnoticed by most residents, made for a convenient way of traveling almost invisibly through the city. Therefor, nobody noticed the two black dressed figures which were balancing along the parapets, jumping from roof to roof through a Bay City evening.

They crossed the street under a large board announcing the special exhibition of norman treasures of the 13th century, which was held this week in the museum. Even though the museum was their destination as well, they weren’t particularly interested in the exhibits themselves but rather in a small red box, which their client had specified to them. She didn’t tell them what the box contained or why it was of value, and they didn’t ask. Their job was simply to retrieve it, so all they needed to know was where it was stored, and how to get there.

The venting system was the highway throughout the building. They carried with them a copy of an old blueprint of the museum’s layout. All rooms were connected by a network of venting shafts, as the building was constructed in an era when venting was just starting to be used in construction, and the shafts were large enough to let two people crawl through them alongside each other.

When they reached the roof of the Bay City Museum, it started raining. Large drops splashed on the concrete plates the roof was constructed out of. Both figures were dressed in tight black body suits, their faces covered with black glasses and painted dark with ash. Only their hair glistened in the starlight, red and blonde, a man and a woman. He unscrewed and lifted the top of a venting outlet and they both climbed inside, crawling through the clanging metal shafts that ran along the ceilings. His partner led the way, which gave him plenty of opportunity to adore her figure in the tight bodysuit as she wriggled along, occasional beams of light outlining her body when they crossed a grate.

“You like staring at my butt, don’t you?” she asked, as if reading his mind.

“Be glad I can’t SLAP it in here,” he mumbled.

He tried to concentrate on the map to find a way through the labyrinth of shafts and corridors when suddenly a sharp shrieking sound made them stop as they crossed through a room that was labeled ‘office’ on the layout.

“What was that?” he hissed.

“Not ME!” she whispered back.

“That’s what you ALWAYS say,” he remarked. “But there…”

All at once, the hooks that held the shaft gave in to their weight, and they dropped hard down into the room, falling out of the broken metal frame as it hit the ground. For a long while they just lay there, listening alert into the silence of the building, not daring to move or even breathe. Nothing happened. If anyone had noticed their descent, they didn’t do anything to investigate. Carefully they got up again, lighting a dim flashlight to explore the contents of the room. They were standing in front of a large oaken desk, presumably an antique. Across it was a door, which – according to their plan – would lead out to a corridor on the third floor of the museum. Along the walls were several bookshelves and cabinets, some large potted plants and a group of leather seats and a table in one corner.

“You search the desk while I try the door,” he whispered and sneaked across the room. It was locked. The flashlight flickered along the walls as she searched through the drawers of the desk while he tried to pick the lock with the few tools he had with him.

“Damn, can you find a key somewhere? It’s no use with this crap…” he whispered as he turned to look after his partner, surprised to see her suck on a glistening metal cone while the flashlight lay on the desk, illuminating her features.

“Look what I found,” she giggled as her tongue slid along the sides of the vibrator, cleaning the remains of its previous owner. He watched her mesmerized as she slowly pulled down the zipper on front of her bodysuit, opening it all the way down to her crotch. As usual, she wore nothing beneath. Her nipples were peeking hard around the borders of the zipper, as she ran the vibrator down between them, across her belly to the soft pubic hair that circled her crotch. With one smooth motion she sat down on the desktop, spreading her legs towards him.

“Mmmmh,” she moaned as the vibrator found its way between her labia and the gleaming shaft disappeared inside her.

“God, El!” he whispered, unable to avert his eyes from the scene. She took little notice of him as she moved the vibrator in and out, leaving wet streaks all over it. Moaning louder, she lay back on the desk, arching her hips up as the zipper continued to open the bodysuit up her back. As her soft buttocks appeared, she quickly took the vibrator out of her cunt and inserted it between them.

“Mmmmmh, god!” she gasped. “Who would’ve thought they’d think of our ENTERTAINMENT while we’re here?” She held the vibrator inside her anus with one hand while grabbing the flashlight with another, pointing the handhold at her wet labia, which were swollen and wet by now, and gently pushed it in. Moaning loud, she rolled down the desk, turning her back towards him as she bend over the desktop. “God, I need you inside me now!” she whispered trembling as she pulled the vibrator out of her butt again. “Please!”

He quickly unzipped his own suit, relieving his dick from the painfully tight confines of it’s crotch, feeling it hard and warm in his hand, pulsing already. He approached her from behind as she spit on her hand, rubbing her saliva between her buttocks.

“Mmmh, you need my hard cock, my little whore?” he whispered close to her ear.

“Oh yes, very MUCH so,” she moaned.

“In your ASS?” he asked as the head of his cock was already rubbing against her buttocks.

All she gave as a reply was a long moan. She pushed back against him, forcing his cock to enter her anus, almost screaming as she felt it part her. She waited for a moment and relaxed, then felt him thrust inside her as the pain ceased, filling her with pure pleasure. He thrusted inside her hard, filling her up completely as the flashlight sat firm and deep in her cunt and she sucked her own juices off the vibrator, enjoying the moment of complete fulfillment. She felt him go harder and faster, slowly losing control over his own body and making her lose her own control as well as the one sensation that was taking over all others was his massive cock in her ass. Finally, the orgasm swept like a wave over her, thrusting the flashlight out and gushed down on the floor, as she felt his dick jerk in the grip of her anus, pumping warm wetness inside her.

They were sinking on the ground, breathing hard, holding each other tight. She kissed him softly, giggling as she saw the small sign on the desk. “Do you think the director would mind that I had ‘borrowed’ her vibrator?”

Shadows crawled out of the canals as the sun sank wearily beyond the portlands, casting the streets of Bay City in a fiery orange glow. The traffic slowly ceased as the street lamps sprang to light one by one, welcoming the nightfall with flickering beams. They made the onslaught of darkness both more and less harsh at the same time, as the cold-lit walks of light they created only made the shadows that lined them seem deeper and darker than they already were. It was silent in this part of town, after the business hours were over. Only a few people hurried through the parks and streets, trying to catch the late tram home. None of them observed the one shadow that was moving among all the others, gliding through the unlit alleys, the dark spaces between trees and far corners of sidewalks.

Land prices were extremely high in these parts, and consequently, most buildings were offices, banks or shops. The few people that actually lived here had to be well-off citizens. The moving shadow paved its way towards a strange, run-down building whose skeletal frame rose high among the surrounding buildings. He had observed it for a while now. It was inhabited, there was no doubt about that. It had certainly seen brighter days though, as he remembered it once housed a classy shop of exquisite and high-priced cosmetics and accessoires. Ever since the breakdown of ’09 though, the building fell apart. Broken panes now shattered the weary walls, as branches climbed out and along them, seeming to sustain the girders to keep the whole house from collapsing. The few parts that were still intact were however still used by the original inhabitants, whose name was still etched in stone below the intricate stained glass window that arched the entrance. Firecaster.

They owned large parts of this area, as the Firecaster Building itself sprawled along pavements for almost 100 meters. The place might lay in disrepair, but the shadow concluded there would still have to be money somewhere inside the building, and tonight he was determined to get it. He passed the car that had been parked in the attic and kept changing colour almost every day, presumably sprayed by neighbourhood kids in some desperate attempt to search for graffiti-free surfaces. He lurched through the strange indoor garden that formed as plants grew through the broken floor tiles and windows after the place was deserted, and finally reached the doors. They were set into a supplementary wall that separated the abandoned from the unabandoned part of the building. The windows were all dark, as they had been for three consecutive days by now, and even though the mailboxes seemed to get emptied, he had no doubt that the owners were not at home.

The doors were locked, of course. He had tried them before, and there was no way to open them, as they were fitted with a sophisticated locking mechanism, which allowed only the key holders to enter. There were, however, ways around this, and he had sufficient experience as a burglar to bypass them. The room he entered was high, wide, and dark. Lamplight streamed through the windows on one side, while the moon lit the room from another. He could make out a kitchen in the corner, a bookshelf in another. Large paintings on the walls, and a gigantic fireplace right in front of him, blocking his view of the rest of the room. Carefully he set one foot after another, as he set out across the softly creaking wooden floor towards the back of the fireplace. As he reached it, he paused for a minute, contemplating if it was safe to use a flashlight now, as his spine suddenly froze at a sound.

Crackle. The fireplace crackled. He halted his breathing, listening intently, hoping his senses had betrayed him. But there was no doubt: Someone must have lit the fire recently. His mind went rampant. How could this be? He had seen nobody come or go. He had observed the building all day long and there was only the set of doors he had just passed to get into the room. He sank to his knees with his back against the fireplace, breathing slowly. He inched towards the edge of the fireplace, trying to get a better glimpse of the room, while calculating routes to escape if he was spotted. And suddenly, very faintly, he heard voices. There was the deep voice of a man with a strange accent, who muttered some half-whispered remarks. “…Cake or death?”

“Chocolate!” giggled a female reply.”You give me chocolate or you DIE!”

“Momentarily. Just leave your gun.”

“Chocolate!” – “Wack!” – “Ouch!” – “Don’t make me shoot you!”

The man mumbled a half-serious remark and they both resorted to a series of sounds and soft laughter, while the shadow could hear his heart beat deafening in his chest. He did not plan for this situation, as all houses he had entered so far were empty at the time. He was masked and wore a green bodysuit and helmet, so even if he had to make a run for it, he might still get away unrecognized. This was little comfort however, as the people behind the fireplace seemed to be armed. He had to find a way out.

“You want the bra back on?” the woman drawled.

“Not at all!” he said in a soft, deep voice.

“You want the thong… off?” she asked innocently.

There was a deep humming coming from the man as the shadow glanced hastily around. The two people seemed to be busy with each other, and he wanted to take the opportunity to look for an escape. There was a stairs going up, and he took them sneakily as softly as he could. He found himself in a strange room, part bath, part bedroom, part study. While he hastily scurried from wall to wall, looking for any window that could be opened, the shower suddenly started. He almost fell into it as he panicked, looking for a way to turn it off. Below, he could hear the woman sigh. “Dammit. Why can they turn the water on and NOT off!”

The man laughed.  ”I’m pretty sure the Bay City Water Departement runs on us alone.”

“That, and the Police Departement!” the woman chuckled. The shadow hid trembling behind a curtain, listening intently to all the noises in the house. Below, the conversation continued.

“I bet you are ECSTATIC!” the woman drawled.

“Uhhh. Well it MOVES kinda slow,” he moaned.

“It just seems to flow IN AND OUT of FLUIDITY” she said laughing.

“You’re not making this ANY easier, Missey!” the man chuckled.

“I just want to keep you aBREAST of the situation!” she giggled,  It all COMES with the changes going on… I don’t want it to draw to a CLIMAX too soon, I was afraid with the shower running it would be too WET here…”

A sharp sound, as if something was slapped, suddenly echoed through the room, and the woman moaned loud. He slipped from behind the curtain, quickly trying the rest of the windows. They all couldn’t be opened. If there was a way out, it would be downstairs.

He descended the stairs again, hearing clothes rustling, and the two people breathing harder, while shreds of their conversation could be heard over their panting.

“You wouldn’t make your little… hungry…”

“I would make her… empty herself… all over…”

They both moaned loud, and the shadow decided that this was the best opportunity to leap for an escape. He headed for the door, trying to get out again, as he heard soft clicking sounds behind his back, and two calm voices speaking to him.

“Welcome to Bay City. How can we help you?”

And Dream looked at him, his perfect creation, wanting to give it the one last thing he still had that no other creature had. And he pulls out the beautiful glowing gemlike figure. It glows in his hand as he looks at it lovingly, knowing what it will do. And he gently reaches DEEP inside him, as he winces, feeling the pain of the placement. Feeling it hurt.

And Dream removes his hand, empty, looking at him. He takes a deep breath, almost a little lost, feeling such great pain and such overwhelming love at the same time. And he looks up at him, questioningly, as if to ask: “What now? Why would you give this to me, and leave me so lonely? I was not lonely before! Why would you do this?”

And Dream smiled lovingly at him, as his gentle hand rests on him, closing his eyes, putting them to slumber.

And then, her creation begins. He forms and molds, reaching deep into the space he had placed the glowing gem and gently breaks it in two, watching his sleeping body jerk, as though it felt the pain of the love torn. And he lovingly took the half and put it in the middle of the new creation, his creatura, so that the two would forever be joined, never to be happy unless they were together, whole, complete, as he intended.

Forever.

(by El)

Disclaimer: I had wanted to write this article for a long while now, and am still hesitant to do so, but I believe it’s of interest to the public and may help others who might run into the same situation as myself.

I joined Second Life (SL) on 31st March 2007. I made myself a couple of avatars back then, which I deleted shortly thereafter, so my main avatar in SL was Shyft Sands, registered on 1st of July 2007. At the time of the events of this article, I had one other avatar, going by the name of Vanish Tomorrow (VT). However, all my assets were with Shyft Sands, VT was simply used to keep land tier low.¹ I was quite engaged in SL; I joined Second Life Mentors in 2008, I had a fair share of creations and ran a small business, I owned a whole mainland region worth of land, distributed over several regions. I performed as a musician and DJ inworld at a number of events (most importantly on the Burning Life festival 2009). I never made any kind of profit. Most of the things I did, I did for free, simply because I enjoyed doing them.² I had my place inworld, I had a small circle of good friends, I had (and still have) a wonderful partner, and I had sufficient tools, land and prims to build to my hearts content.

There were some things that I was sceptical about, though. Ever since I joined SL, I felt uncomfortable with the simple fact that this very advanced (and, in my eyes, really important and revolutionary) concept was controlled by a single company, in whose hands all the inventories, all the infrastructure, all the money transactions, all data and – along with all that – all policies and decisions lay. I was not a notorious critic, I never went public with my opinions about their policies or anything else, I simply tried to be wary, and help others be aware of the risks and policies they would have to deal with, when they joined or lived in SL. All in all, however, I believed Linden Labs (LL) to be aware of their power and responsibility, and I trusted them to deal wisely and carefully with the money and virtual property they were entrusted with.

Over time, I saw a couple of changes happening, which enraged residents to some extent, and I noticed the company and community to change as well. I never was too affected with these changes though, I simply noticed them. I made it a habit to watch the SL blogs for upcoming changes to policies, as well as stay informed about them through several in-world groups I belonged to. That way, I had heard that by November 4th 2009, usage of the CryoLife client, which allows making backups and copies of textures and objects, would be disallowed by LL.³ As the fact that I had no control over my own inventory, that loss of inventory (sometimes loss of the whole inventory) had occured to several people I knew personally (as well as myself), and that I could not transfer things I bought for myself (some of them several times, as I have had several avatars) on to a new avatar of mine, if I ever should retire Shyft had been bothering me all the time I was in SL⁴, I thought that this would probably be the last chance to make backups of my own things as good as I could, and so I downloaded the CryoLife client on November 3rd 2009.

It wasn’t hard to get actually, all it took was to ask google about it. Being a Mac user, I had to run it on a virtual windows environment on my machine, and I tried it a bit. I was mainly curious about what it could do, and got intrigued by some features I had never before seen in SL or thought possible. I read about CryoLife on the Alphaville Herald and still was amazed that it could do what it was notorious for doing: I could open and save any texture on any avatar I encountered (including myself), I could backup .xml files of any object that was rezzed inworld, and re-upload them. It was a backup tool, but could also be used as a copybot to get assets without the consent of their creator or owner. I experimented a little with it, teleporting all over the grid (using VT for that) and tried to find out how it worked, and what it could copy. Many, if not most shop owners already had installed a defense mechanism which identified CryoLife Users from their shop as soon as they teleported in, but it seemed the client worked over great distances (actually as far as the drawing distance would rezz objects). I copied some avatars and objects just because it was interesting to see what other avatars consisted of. I never gave anything of these things away, or used it for myself, and I never intended to.

On November 4th 2009, while still trying the client out, VT was disconnected from SL. Up to that point, I had thought that when LL stated that “Residents who use third party viewers with the functionality described above to violate our Terms of Service or Community Standards, will be warned and then suspended from the service”, they meant that residents would be warned and then suspended from the service. If they gave me a warning, I never received it. I need to add that the email registered for VT was obsolete at that point, so if LL tried to contact me via VT’s email, I am to blame that I didn’t get it. After this incident, and after I found that I was unable to log in as VT, I thought about what happened, and how I should adress it. VT was a premium account, and paid 25 US-$ per month on tier fees, and I was not sure what would happen about these fees or the associated land holings, would they not be paid anymore. I could not access the VT account on the SL-site either, it simply told me to contact them via phone to verify my account. So I did.

After going through the verification, the call center told me that the only thing I could do to get the account back, was to submit a ticket to LL. So I did. I submitted the ticket, using my main avatar Shyft Sands, stating what I did and what happened and asked what I would need to do to re-enable VT’s account, offering any help neccessary to undo whatever I had done wrong. As a ‘reply’ to this ticket, my account Shyft Sands got terminated as well, and I was permanently banned from accessing SL through any computer I accessed it with ever since I joined (and, probably, from any network I accessed it with, too, but that’s unconfirmed). I got a statement from LL, stating that they had reviewed my appeal, and found that the permanent closure of my accounts was “was justified and correctly applied”. There would be “no refunds or exchanges for any unused time on your subscription, Island purchases, Linden Dollars, or inworld objects, items, or content.”. The ticket was signed with ‘Customer Support, Linden Lab’. It did not tell me, which part of the TOS or CS I violated, nor did it tell me how this conclusion had been reached and what I could do if I felt unjustly accused.

I made myself a new avatar the same day, using my correct RL name, as well as the very same credit card I used for Shyft Sands. I could not access SL using the native Mac environment, but found that I could log into it without problems using a virtual windows machine (of which I can make an infinite number using virtualization software; however, operating SL is awkward, not only because of windows). I got in contact with my partner and friends, telling them what happened and talking about how to deal with it. It was a serious blow to me, and the first thing I worked on was to try to keep damage as low as possible. I found that I could still access the beta grid using my old avatars, and thus make a backup of my inventory, especially of my own creations. Also, the land holdings were still there, as they were group owned, and obviously would remain with the group as long as the tier was covered. Also, some of my objects which were still rezzed in-world, could be taken by my partner, as she had the ‘privilege’ to edit and take my objects. (Not everything could be transferred that way, though, even if the original object was transferable.) On the bottom line, I lost all my inventory, and was forced to access SL in a way which made it hard to enjoy.

After the initial shock waned, we had to think about how we could go on. I thought it pointless to appeal to LL any more, as the two previous tickets did not have any positive effect. So, the first impulse was to start with a new avatar, and keep my head down and be more cautious. At the same time, I started looking for alternatives to SL, only to find that there weren’t any that were appealing to me – all of the alternatives lacked at one or more aspects. Either the graphics were bad, or the interaction and creation tools were too restrictive (or not there at all), or the terms of service or setting was not what I was looking for. What I wanted, was an open, virtual world, where I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I would not violate RL laws.⁵

1. I’ll probably explain the concept behind this in another blogpost regarding land and tier, for now you’ll have to trust me on that.
2. In fact, I paid a monthly sum of 195 US-$ to Linden Labs for tier fees (in addition to two premium accounts).
3. I really can’t find the blogpost that said so, as it’s impossible to find anything on the SL Blogs anymore. The closest I could find was the post on LL’s third party policies.
4. my inventory consisted of around 14.000 items for which I paid between 500 to 800 US-$ over the course of 2 years, including one of the few complete collections of Primout Cars
5. And, given my above explanation, I do believe I didn’t break any RL laws – at least not those relevant to the country I live in. And yes, I know the law.

The closest thing to what I was looking for was OSGrid, which I joined just a few days after the incident on 9th of November 2009. I have to admit, I was sceptical at first, as the project appeared to be very bleak and years and years behind of SL by number of residents, performance of the grid, technology available and in-world creations and economy. It took me a while (and still does, I think) to open myself to what OSGrid is and the different approach it takes on virtual reality. As of the time of this writing, however, I am certain that OSGrid and the Open Simulator project is what I really need and had wanted SL to be all along.

My one base belief is that more free is always better, both for an individual, as well as for society as a whole. The web itself is built around free and open technologies and software, so I am most certain that the future of the web will always take the path of freedom. For a long time I had assumed that LL knows about this, and will eventually open up and become free (just as M Linden stated in his new year’s blog post), but despite all their claims at being open, I had to realize that LL can not, and will never become open. This is not because they’re evil or misguided or plain ignorant, it is due to the nature of their business.

Linden Labs is a webspace provider. They make money (a lot of money, in fact) by renting out servers. That’s the core service behind the Second Life software. In the end, it all revolves around land tiers, and land is nothing else than server space, and tiers are the rental fees for that server space. Linden Labs controls all land in Second Life, and will never open that market up to others (as their competitors will be much cheaper and much better). And most long-term residents own land. Even if they don’t rent it from LL directly, they will pay indirectly for it, as their landlords will have to pay their tiers to LL. In fact, the biggest businesses (and most profitable ones) in SL revolve around land trade.

Even if you don’t have any land for yourself, you still contribute to it whenever you buy something from an inworld store, as the shop owners will have to pay tier for their stores. Actually, to be a profitable business in SL, you’ll have to overcome a certain ‘critical mass’ that will cover your land tiers first. Only then, you’ll make profit. (Not many of the shop owners I know make much profit beyond covering their own tiers. I certainly never did.) Every other aspect of the service serves to bring people to eventually pay tier to LL. And to understand all the improvements and changes that were and will be made, you have to keep one thing in mind: LL’s business always comes first.¹That’s not as heartless as it sounds when remembering that LL is a capitalist venture, and it’s the nature of such to strive for revenue and nothing else. But this also means that: a) there will never be any changes to the SL service which will threaten this business model (which means, there will especially never be a way to rent server space from someone else than LL for use in SL) and b) no matter how things are being promoted on the blog or website, in the end, the driving force will be to further LL’s business. It is not, and never has been, about the residents, unless it means that these residents will in one way or another be drawn to spend some more money on SL.

To make some kind of comparison, think of LL as the AOL of virtual worlds. AOL had the same business model when the internet became mainstream, giving its customers all kinds of content on their own servers, and offering them everything the web had to offer through their own services. Needless to say, in the end the customers didn’t want that protected and walled garden, and left off to the wild spaces that are the real world wide web, and LL knows that the very same thing will happen, once SL starts to open up. Therefor, I think it’s safe to say: they never will.

And that’s alright, because others will. Just as the WWW is based on free and open technologies, so will the future of virtual worlds be based on free and open technologies. Any closed source, proprietory approach is eventually a dead end, as it will lead to a secluded portion of virtual worlds, which will keep some people entertained, but will never further the development of the internet, no matter how good the services are. And for this reason, I decided to stick with the service, that works on building an open sourced and free platform for the virtual reality to come. It certainly will move beyond Second Life, integrating technologies and services which LL will not. Simply because it can, simply because it doesn’t have to make business considerations and fear for losing its hold on it’s ‘product’. As there is no hold. It’s with us all.

1. Some examples for this are the openspace pricing changes of early 2008, the acquisition of XStreet SL in 2009, which was a threat to tiers, as the marketplace offered merchants the ability to sell their goods without needing to have a shop inworld.