Ghost Lounges
This is the first story in what might become a series (depending on how much free time I have to write them). The first half of this sets up the scenario, but stick with it... it gets much more interesting in the second half (I think, anyway)! This one contains solitary exploration involving a 10-year-old boy, but future installments may contain much more. Of course, everything here is fictitious.
Ghost lounges seem to be the newest craze here in the Afterlife.
All over the City, I see places offering historical ghosting, natural-wonder ghosting, or even "adult" ghosting. One place near the science museum advertizes that it has "rapid advance" ghosting, and I've seen something called ghost "tracings" available at some of these lounges. The places seem to be extremely popular, but I've never ventured inside any of them.
I asked the guy sitting next to me at my local beer bar last week about them, and in between comments on the various Belgian barrel-aged ales we kept ordering, he told me all about ghost lounges.
Ghosting is similar to what I remember as virtual reality back in the 2020's, only with much more advanced technology. And, it's not exactly "virtual." Here, you put on a helmet which covers your eyes, ears, and nose. The helmet has clear glass in front, but this becomes a video screen when the machine is in operation. Sound can be heard clearly through unobtrusive ear phones built into the sides, and it is even possible to experience smells while ghosting. The only senses not incorporated into this technology are touch of any sort and taste (which would involve touch to the tongue). Mark, my friend at the bar, explained how the sensation of physical touch would mostly be unpleasant, seeing as how "ghosts" tend to travel through physical objects such as glass windows, wooden doors, and the floors of buildings. Who would want to feel that? Sight, sound, and smell, however... well, that's the whole point!
The first ghosting machines were used primarily by historical researchers. They would type in coordinates and a precise time and date, and the machine would insert them into that point of space-time. The user would then be able to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of whichever event was chosen. The problem with these original machines, however, was that the viewpoints were frozen. While users controlled the relative intensities of the senses and could turn their heads to view different sight lines, it was not possible to change one's position spatially or to advance temporally beyond the normal passage of time. If you wanted to witness the Battle of Hastings, you had to do so from one single position and watch in "real-time." This limitation would be overcome by later versions of the technology, however.
With today's ghosting, the user is given two joysticks on a hand-held controller. One of these controls spatial location and the other controls temporal advancement. By pushing the spatial joystick upward, the user is propelled in whichever direction he or she happens to be looking at the time (the technology is sensitive to the line-of-sight engaged by the user). Pushing that joystick downward allows backward motion (without the need to actually turn around and look behind). This allows one to continue to focus on a scene while backing away from it. Lateral motion can also be achieved by pushing the joystick to the left or right. The most recent innovation was the addition of up-and-down motions, previously only achieved by tilting one's head upward or downward and using the joystick as previously described. The new feature allows one to look straight ahead but rise upward or sink downward simply by pulling the joystick outward or pushing it inward, respectively. This is a handy feature for quickly changing floors in a multi-story office building, for example.
An even newer feature is the addition of the temporal joystick. With this, the user can either speed up or slow down the temporal advancement of the scene being witnessed. This is particularly useful when a user wants to witness something spoken in a long conversation; no need to sit through the first fifteen minutes of small talk before getting to the important parts. This controller also allows the user to "freeze" time or even move backward through a scene. This last has been described by many as slightly disorienting, but it is a useful feature if one's attention wandered during a critical part of a scene.
It should be emphasized the term "scene" here is being used to describe reality itself. When ghosting, the user places himself directly into his chosen point of space-time; what he or she witnesses are the real events that happened in the True Line. With ghosting (at least the commercial experiences offered in the lounges), there is no access to alternate lines. I didn't understand what Mark was talking about at the time, but I'd come to understand alternate lines later on. That, however, is for another story.
Five months later:
I love ghosting! I've been to several of the lounges located throughout the City, and have tried most of the various features offered at these places. With commercial ghosting, one doesn't have to research coordinates or dates; these places offer menus with those things pre-programmed. I got to watch a fight between a tyrannosaurus-Rex and a stegosaurus (the t-Rex won, of course). I didn't have to figure out when and where it would happen and then wait for hours, using my joystick to follow the animals around. The machine put me in the exact right location just moments before the fight would begin. I was able to use the controls to slow the action down and move around to different vantage points during the whole thing. As with all ghosting lounges, this one had a large red button mounted on the console next to the other controls; push it to instantly exit the experience. The sound and smells stop, and the glass in the front of the helmet turns clear so that the only thing visible is the private room in the lounge where customers enjoy their experience.
Nobody should be surprised in the least to learn that some of the earliest commercial uses of this technology exploited people's baser instincts. Just as some of the first films ever made were pornography, so too were some of the first-ever marketed ghost experiences. More than likely, someone started off in ancient Rome witnessing a meeting of the senate or some such, and then got distracted by someone walking by. Easy enough to turn one's head, propel oneself in a new direction, and follow that beautiful distraction to the baths, to the bedroom, or... well, you can use your imagination. Of course, with ghosting, there's no need to actually use your imagination, is there? That's kind of the point.
It wasn't long before people realized they could ghost themselves to the exact time and place their favorite celebrity was known to be present, and then follow that celebrity for hours until he or she went home and did whatever he or she did in private. It seems this technology was made for voyeurs.
Nowadays, one doesn't have to pick a target, follow for hours, and hope for something exciting. Just as with the dinosaurs, clever entrepreneurs have catalogued hundreds of thousands of "juicy" time-space starting points. One can browse through a menu sorted by type of person, type of act, duration, time period (ancient Rome and Greece are always fan favorites), or many other parameters. Once in the scene, the usual controls can be applied: one can change vantage points, get as close to the subjects as possible, listen in on pillow talk, or just inhale the scents that surround the scene. The action can be witnessed in real time or in slow motion, and highlights can be frozen and re-played. All of this from the comfort and privacy of a personal room in one of the "adult" ghost lounges.
There are hundreds of these scattered throughout the City.
I recently found a place called "Kids with Strange Toys." It specializes in ghosting experiences in which kids can be observed trying to stick various things up their butts or, in the case of little girls, their vaginas. I was only interested in boys, so asked for a menu. They offered a variety of time periods, and I chose "Twentieth Century America." In particular, I was interested in the mid 1970's. I always liked how boys tended to have long hair then, and perhaps a bit more innocence than their internet-savvy counterparts from the early 2000's.
Under 1970's America, there were subdivisions for writing implements (pens, pencils, etc.), fruits and vegetables, and "surprise me." I chose "surprise me," and settled on a boy of ten years of age who lived in Northern California. His name, according to the menu, was Jimmy and he had long brown hair, hazel eyes, and freckles. He looked thin (although the picture on the menu really only showed him from the shoulders up), and had a shy smile. His eyes twinkled, and I thought he was adorable.
I couldn't wait to ghost him and see what kind of private show he would put on. After informing the ghost lounge attendant of my choice, I was shown to a private room and given the helmet and controller.
The instant the attendant left, I checked the lock on the door (it was secure), shucked off all of my clothes, and put on the helmet. Once it was fitted correctly, I pushed the start button on the controller and was instantly positioned in the middle of a driveway of a suburban house in the hills overlooking Berkeley, California. Within seconds, a boy on a bicycle rode up the street and turned into the driveway where I was standing. Even after experiencing ghosting several times, I still have the instinct to jump out of the way or try to signal the people I'm ghosting somehow. Of course, the boy couldn't see me and if he rode into me, he'd just pass right through with absolutely no knowledge that anyone was actually there watching him. This is the nature of ghosting, after all.
But I was there, and I could see Jimmy's face clearly as he rode his bike up the driveway just two feet from where I was standing. He was smiling (that same cute smile he had on the sample image on the menu) and appeared as though he were looking forward to something fun. When he got to the end of the driveway, he got off the bike, opened the garage door with a key he had in one of his pockets, and put the bike in the garage. He then re-locked the garage door and walked around to the front door of the house. With another key, he unlocked the front door and stepped inside. He then closed the door behind him and I was alone on the driveway. It only took me a second or two to realize that I'd have to ghost my way into the house if I were to enjoy the show; of course nothing of interest would happen out here! So, with a few manipulations of the spatial joystick, I maneuvered myself through the front wall and into the living room of the house.
Jimmy was already walking up the stairs toward, presumably, his bedroom. As he did so, he began pulling his tee-shirt off up over his head. I quickly followed, not wanting to miss a second. On the landing at the top of the stairs, I found Jimmy shirtless and peeking into the various upstairs rooms. I think he was making sure that he had the house to himself. After reassuring himself that that was indeed the case, he walked into his own bedroom and shut the door behind him. I floated right through and found myself in Jimmy's bedroom just as Jimmy began taking off his shoes. He plopped himself down on his bed, lifted his right leg up, and pulled his canvas sneaker right off. He then did the same with the left foot. He was wearing practically knee-high tube socks, and they were slightly dirty looking. I maneuvered myself to be within a few inches of his feet, and took in the scent. Delicious! Jimmy then began peeling the right sock slowly down his leg, over his ankle, and then right off of his foot. As he did the same with the left sock, my attention was drawn to the sole of his right foot. I moved myself so that I was practically on the skin of the underside of his foot; I could see each muscle twitch as he wiggled his toes unconsciously. After the left sock was off, he put both feet straight out in front of himself, and leaned back on the bed.
I took this opportunity to closely examine his toes; they were gorgeous. His nails were clipped neatly, and there was just a little bit of sock fuzz between his big toe and index toe on each foot. He also had nice arches; his feet were perfectly formed and I could have stared at them forever...
Suddenly, Jimmy jumped up and headed for the cabinet in the corner of his room. He went to the top shelf, moved a bunch of stuff out of the way, and retrieved a small box which had been hidden near the back of that shelf. He brought the box out, opened it up, and began removing some interesting items.
There was a small jar filled with marbles, a couple of action figures, and a rubber tube which looked to be over two feet long. There was also a small tub of Vaseline and a roll of paper towels. Jimmy took them all out and laid them on the floor next to his bed. He then walked over to the closet across the room and adjusted the door so that the full-length mirror which hung on it would be in the right position. Jimmy wanted to be able to see everything that he would be doing to himself in that mirror.
Once he was satisfied, he walked back over to the bed and slowly unzipped the fly on his shorts. He unbuttoned them and then slowly slid them down and completely off. Jimmy was now standing in his tighty-whities, looking at his slim ten-year-old body in the mirror. I, of course, was looking directly at him. Back in the "real world" of the ghost lounge, my right hand ventured down to my extremely hard cock. Jimmy did a little dance in his underwear, and then quickly pulled those down as well. Now, he was completely naked and also hard as a rock. His circumcised penis was about four inches long, and less than an inch thick. The head was slightly curved to the left, but not enough to ever be an issue in my opinion.
After admiring himself a bit more in the mirror, Jimmy sat down so that his legs and feet were straight out in front of him and his back was against the legs of the bed. He then shifted position by bringing his knees up and leaning even farther back. When he did so, he spread his legs just enough to be able to look between them at his exposed anus in the mirror. I quickly repositioned myself so that I had a direct view; anus in front of me as well as the soles of Jimmy's feet just a foot or two above.
With his left hand, Jimmy reached for one of the action figures (G.I. Joe, perhaps) and then for the jar of Vaseline. He opened the jar, pushed G.I. Joe's leg down into the lubricating jelly, and then pulled it out and brought it to his hole. Gently, Jimmy pushed the leg of the doll against his sphincter until it penetrated him. Jimmy made a happy little gasping sound, waited about five seconds, and then pushed the doll's leg all the way (about 4 inches) inside. He did this by bending the other leg of the action figure out of the way. Once the leg was all the way in (I watched this intently, close enough to smell the sweet funkiness of a ten-year-old boy's unwashed butt hole), Jimmy began to rotate it. He did this for several minutes, all the while watching himself in the mirror and smiling mischievously.
After a while, he pulled the doll out of his rectum and brought the plastic leg up to his nose. He smiled as he took a deep sniff, and I quickly moved myself up to be able to sniff the thing as well. It smelled just as I expected it would...
Jimmy then opened the jar of marbles and took three out. He dipped them all at once into the Vaseline, and then brought one out and pushed it up against his sphincter. With his index finger, he gently pushed the marble so that it first stretched his hole and then, all of a sudden, popped inside. Jimmy's finger pushed slightly into his butt, following the marble. He then quickly pulled his finger out, grabbed another marble, and pushed that one up into his rectum following the first one. For the third marble, Jimmy decided to change position. He sat up and then got on his knees. Still looking into the mirror, he reached behind himself, leaned forward, and popped the third marble up his butt with a little giggle and a toss of his long, brown hair.
He reached into the marble jar and took four more out. After dipping these in Vaseline, he repeated what he had been doing but in a variety of positions. For one, Jimmy lay flat on this stomach with his legs spread wide. For another, he got into a squatting position. The last two Jimmy took standing up. I had difficulty seeing his anus stretch to accept these last two marbles; his cheeks were clenched when in a standing position so I just had to accept that the marbles had actually been inserted.
Proof of that came when Jimmy pulled off a sheet from the paper towel roll, laid it on the floor directly in front of the mirror, and then squatted down right over the paper towel. I got on the floor right behind him, so I had a perfect view of his muscle puckering and flexing. After a few seconds, I saw the opening begin to widen and the glass face of a marble poke out. Jimmy made a few wincing sounds, and I saw muscles tighten. Then, the marble popped right out and landed on the paper towel. Two more followed, and then a few seconds later, the remaining four came tumbling out onto the towel.
Jimmy stood up and then picked the paper towel up carefully as to hold all of the marbles. He took these over to a plastic bag he had sitting on his desk and stuffed them all in. Presumably, he'd sneak these to the bathroom later to wash them all off. They actually looked pretty clean, surprisingly. If only taste and touch were possible with ghosting; I really would have loved to pick one of those marbles up and roll it around in my mouth for a while.
Jimmy went back to his box and pulled out the remaining item. This looked like some kind of flexible tubing, about two or maybe two and half feet long, only about a quarter of an inch thick. One end was tapered and ended in a round bulb. I couldn't tell if that was the original shape of this tube, or if it was something Jimmy had fashioned out of other parts. It all seemed to be of the same soft rubber or latex, and I would soon be absolutely amazed at what Jimmy was able to do.
He picked up the tube and the jar of Vaseline and got up onto his bed. He lay flat down on his back, and then pulled his knees all the way up so that they were against his chest. With his hole completely exposed, he dipped two fingers on his right hand into the Vaseline jar and scooped out a good clump. He then spread that all over the rubber tube, from end to end. He made sure to get a lot on the little bulby thing at one end (the bulb was only a little bit wider than the rest of the tube). With his left hand (which wasn't covered in Vaseline), he lifted the tube so that the bulb pressed against his anus. Jimmy relaxed his head at the same time he pushed the bulb through the ring of muscle into his body. I saw a big smile form on his face, and he gently pushed the bulb in farther. After a five or six second pause, he positioned his thumb and forefinger on the tube about seven inches back from the bulb, which was now buried in his rectum. With a steady, gentle pushing motion, Jimmy slowly inserted the tube into his bottom. When his thumb and forefinger reached the ring of muscle, he moved them back another six or seven inches and grasped the tube.
Again he pushed, and again the tube slowly disappeared up into Jimmy's guts. He repeated this time after time, shifting positions slightly after each partial insertion. After a while, I was amazed to see that only an inch and a half of the tube was still outside Jimmy's body. He must have taken at least twenty-five inches of flexible hosing up his colon; I hadn't thought a ten-year-old would even be capable of that.
Jimmy rolled over onto his side, and pumped his knees up and down. I think he liked the way the rubber tube felt sliding around inside of his guts. After a while, he got off the bed and pulled another couple of paper towels onto the floor. He squatted down over the towels and slowly began pulling the tube out of his butt. He had pulled about eight inches out when he shifted position and lay down on the floor with his legs up. This gave me a perfect view of his hole, with that rubber tube disappearing inside and with Vaseline smeared all over.
Jimmy grunted, and the tube started sliding out without his having to even pull. Three, four, five... maybe seven more inches slipped out and onto the paper towel on the floor. With a determined yet still cutely mischievous look only horny ten-year-olds can achieve on his face, Jimmy pulled the tubing out the rest of the way. Inch after inch came out, and the smile on Jimmy's face told me just how much he was enjoying the feeling. Finally, the bulb popped out and now the entire twenty-eight inch length of tubing was lying coiled on the paper towel.
Jimmy gingerly picked it up, wrapped it in the towel, and put the whole thing into the plastic bag where he had earlier put the marbles. This went back onto that shelf in his cabinet, presumably to be dealt with at a later time. After cleaning up his room, he opened his door and headed straight to the bathroom. Naked, he sat down on the toilet and wiped his backside thoroughly with a dampened clump of toilet paper in order to remove all of the Vaseline. He dried his butt with a towel, walked back to his room, put on his undies and shorts, and began looking through some comic books which had been lying on his desk. His parents would be home shortly, and this ghosting experience comes to a close. With the image of the rubber tube buried in Jimmy's insides still imagined in my mind, I stroked my cock until I came, wiped it up with the little towel so thoughtfully provided by the lounge management, got dressed, and headed home.