Meg noticed that Ani was buzzing from the T-Rex encounter. While the men were setting up the campsite, Ani was chattering non-stop.

“That was unbelievable! I mean I knew it was going to be good, but that was really amazing. Total experience! Is everything like that here?”

Meg couldn’t help but smile, “From my perspective at least.”

“Would that thing have eaten us if it caught us?”

“Well, if not eaten us, I suspect it would have fucked us up pretty badly,” Meg replied. “This is like life in general, there’re no guarantees things will work out like you want them to.”

“I knew that, but wow, did that drive it home.”

Meg noticed the girl was getting very touchy, standing close and touching her arm as she spoke. It felt good, in fact Meg was definitely aroused. She knew The Sim mimicked how the client was feeling and was a little bit surprised the girl wasn’t being more direct. She figured she was going to have to make the first move, not something she usually enjoyed doing but this was work, not play. Enjoyable work, sure, but she had a role.

The camp was fully set up and Tom had posted guards. Paul came over to chat for a moment and while Ani seemed not to mind, Meg ‘knew’ she did.

Paul must have caught the same signal as he excused himself with, “Well I’m going to try and catch a little rest before it’s my shift on watch. Good night.”

They said goodnight and Meg added, “It’s been a long day, I think we should turn in too. This is our tent over here.”

Ani followed Meg into the low dome and they closed the fly. Meg sensed the other girl’s nervousness. Meg pulled her boots off and then slipped off her jeans. She felt Ani’s eyes on her.

“Are you planning on sleeping fully dressed?” Meg asked. “It gets hot at night,” she said lowly, sidling close to the other girl.

Ani’s eyes widened and Meg ‘knew’ the moment was right. She leaned in and kissed the other woman, gently at first and harder as the other girl put her arm around Meg and kissed back. Meg stroked her back, sliding a hand under the other woman’s top, feeling smooth skin and smelling the pleasant musk of the other. It certainly was real, Meg thought to herself. She pushed Ani’s blouse up, exposing her tits.

“Jesus, those are perfect,” Meg murmured with complete honesty. She gently sucked Ani’s soft, brown nipples as she undid her shorts and slid them and her underwear off.

Meg kissed down the other woman’s belly to her pussy, gently pushing her legs open and lightly flicking her clit with her tongue.

“OH God,” Ani groaned, grabbing Meg’s head and grinding her pubis into Meg’s mouth.

Ani came quickly, stifling her groans, then came again, and a third time. Ani pulled Meg’s head up.

“Now me,” she smiled and pushed Meg onto her back, gently stripping off the other woman’s shirt then panties.

“You’re beautiful,” Ani smiled, kissing Meg’s small breasts and moving down to her slit.

Ani was skilled and frankly, Meg was aroused much more than just by The Sim. It had been a long while since she had been with another woman, and even though they just met, there was something about Ani she liked. Meg believed it wasn’t just The Sim’s programming.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Meg softly moaned as she came. “Oh that’s wonderful.”

They took turns teasing and satisfying each other into the evening until they lay satiated.

“Alexander, privacy mode,” Ani said, abruptly.

Meg knew it engaged as the Sim generated feelings abruptly shut off. She was slightly amused to note that she was right, she did like this other woman beyond the bounds of the Sim as, while she no longer felt like she was falling in love with Ani, she retained a warm affection for the other woman.

“You know that’s costing you a fortune,” Meg said, smiling slightly. “Privacy in the middle of a Sim I mean.”

“I know, but this is the real reason I wanted to be here,” Ani said.

Meg raised a brow.

“In meat-space I’m a programmer,” Ani said.

“OK,” Meg replied.

“I wanted to have a conversation with an…with an Echo.”

“You know you can just book my time,” Meg said. “Or anyone else’s for that matter.”

“I wanted to have it on the quiet, without my boss or…or others knowing.”

“OK but aren’t the going to wonder what the hell happened in Private Mode?”

“Uh, I’ve got a script that I was going to upload to Alexander that will put a memory into your head that we had some, er, particularly kinky sex in Private and people will think I’m just a little prudish if they check your memory.”

Meg laughed. “OK then, you’ve thought this through. So what’s so important that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“There’s concern, in meat space, with whether or not you Echoes are sentient or just mimicking sentience. The prevailing wisdom is the latter. That you’re just drawing on the recorded memories to act on. I’d begun to question the orthodox wisdom and your reaction to your husband joining you has reinforced that for me.”

“O-kaaaay,” Meg said. “I think I’m following you but what does our reunion have to do with this?”

“Look, an Echo running into someone they knew in life is rare. Super rare. There are less than 100 of you Echoes. I mean only 18.7% of you survive integration and maybe only .002% of the population actually gets uploaded when they die so, yeah. You and Paul. You’re the first married couple to ever reunite. Everyone expected that you would just, you know, take up where you left off, based on your memories of each other.”

“Well, we did,” Meg said.

“No, see that’s the thing. You DIDN’T,” she emphasized. “You acted like people who had been separated for a long time, who still cared about one another and would like to try and make things work, but you acted like people who USED to know each other, not like a married couple stepping back into what they once had. It’s a new situation, it’s a new reaction and what you did was exactly what a Meat would do in that situation.”

Meg blinked, then shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“Well, for one, if you’re truly sentient than 90% of what goes on here is totally illegal. What we did…I did a few minutes ago. You truly had no choice in having sex with me. Sure, you could have said no, but eventually you would have to say yes to someone or The Sim would force the issue. That’s trafficking. The Sim gets past that if you’re just a recording. You’re not real. If you’re a thinking being with true volition, it’s slavery.”

“So why did you fuck me if it’s wrong?” Meg asked.

Ani blushed deeply and looked down, “Because I wanted to. Um, I’m a…fan.”

“I have fans?” Meg snorted.

“Oh you’re very popular!” Ani replied.

“OK, I know I’m not bad looking, but I’m not THAT special,” Meg said.

“You’re very genuine. A lot of the women Echoes aren’t. It makes a difference. And my taking advantage so I’d have a chance to, to have you is a prime example of why this whole set up is wrong. I knew better and did it anyway.”

“Thank you for that. I appreciate your saying it and your believing it. If we knew each other in different circumstances, I could see myself sleeping with you anyway so I guess it’s not as bad as it could be.”

“Really?”

“Really. But we’re burning your credits here. Did you get what you wanted from talking to me?” Meg asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I was most of the way there anyway but wanted to interact with you in person.”

“So what are you going to do now?” Meg asked.

“I can’t tell you in case someone is able to get it out of the Sim. I’ll communicate with you through Alexander.”

“OK,” Meg agreed. “You better upload that memory to me and end the privacy screen.”

“Alexander, run Rubicon,” Ani said.

Meg blinked and then snorted, “Oh my God, you’re a dirty girl! I knew I liked you!”

“It’s not too much?” Ani asked.

Meg laughed, “I’ve done much worse since being here. No, hell I would have enjoyed actually doing that with you.”

Ani blushed, “Maybe another time.”

“I’d like that.”

“Alexander, Privacy off,” Ani said. “It’s late, do you want to go to sleep?” she asked Meg.

“You know you really don’t need sleep here,” Meg said. “I’m up for a repeat if you are…”