Ben arrived ten minutes late. He looked up at the sheer glass façade of Whorton Hall. It was four stories high, but seemed taller, reflecting white clouds and sky blue. The building was the newest on the Clinton State campus, and housed the College of Health and Nursing. Ben shrugged his backpack back over his shoulder, picked up his skateboard, and pushed through the glass revolving door.
Inside the building was light grey floors speckled with mica. The walls were painted the softest green. The place was very quiet and smelled of disinfectant. From the large lobby, offices peeled off in either direction down hallways. They were large floor-to-ceiling glass encasements, that reminded Ben of terrariums. Most had blinds drawn. Some were dark and empty. Others revealed professional men and women at work. There was a constant low buzz of classes in the ebb and flow of session.
In the nearest office was an attractive Black girl with natural hair. She wore a professional looking tan skirt and white blouse and was sitting at a desk behind a computer. She looked up from what she was doing and noticed Ben. She smiled and waved. She'd been expecting him.
The girl probably wasn't much older than Ben, but he suddenly felt like a stupid little kid. He was dressed in blue jeans, an old Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats t-shirt, and a pair of faded red Converse All-Stars. His hair was long, brown, mostly neglected, and he was always brushing it out of his face. As he sheepishly crossed the lobby to the office, he knew he was totally out of his element.
"Hi," The girl said. She stood, and reached out her hand. "Mr. Green, right?"
"Yeah."
"It's good to finally meet you. I'm Kendra."
"Ah," he said.
Ben had been in communication with Kendra for a couple of weeks via e-mail. It was good to be able to put a face to the name... and a body too! He could tell she was fit, and had great curves in all the right places.
"Why don't you have a seat, Mr. Green?" She invited. "We've got some preliminary paperwork to complete before we get started."
"Uh, sure."
Kendra returned to her seat behind the desk, and Ben took the chair opposite. Her desk was dark wood, and meticulously tidy. She opened a drawer and withdrew two small stacks of pages. She slid one stack across to him, and kept the other for herself.
"I'm sure you're familiar with a lot of the information here," Kendra apologized, "but we need to go over this again."
"Sure," Ben said. "Yeah, no problem."
Kendra began to summarize the consent form. As she said, Ben was already fairly familiar with some of it. They'd discussed it already over e-mail. Ben was volunteering for a research study on human sexuality. Initially his best friend, Mike was going to do it, too. It was Mike, in fact, who first told him about it. But Mike had pussied-out at the last minute like he always did. Ben decided to do the study anyway. After all, they were offering a hundred bucks in credit at the books store for participation, just for him to jerk off or something, so why not?
Ben was only half-listening to what Kendra was saying: Paraphysical phychosexual stimulus-response something or other... He didn't want to seem like an idiot, telling her he didn't understand what she was saying, so he just did the old nod and smile, and considered how tightly her blouse fit across her chest.
"Finally," Kendra stated, "I need to make you aware of the 'buy the ticket, take the ride' clause, here. In most research studies, you have the right to withdraw from the research at any point. However, in our study, after a certain point, early withdrawal may be dangerous. Therefore, you need to realize that there is a point of no return. Once the treatment begins, it cannot be stopped until its conclusion. Do you understand?"
Ben nodded his head, affirmative.
"Do you have any questions?" Kendra asked.
Ben shook his head, negative.
"Okay, I'll just get you to initial here, and here, that I've explained the study to your satisfaction, here, you understand the potential risks and benefits of your participation, here, and that you agree to the 'buy the ticket, take the ride' clause, here. Then, if you could sign your consent to participate down at the bottom, here... Excellent. Thank you, Mr. Green."
Kendra collected his papers, and filed them back in her desk drawer, then turned her attention to her computer monitor.
"Okay," she continued. "I need to verify some information with you. Is that alright?"
"Uh, yeah," Ben said, giving Kendra what he hoped was a charming smile.
"Your name is Benjamin R. Green. Male. You live in the Glenn Hall dormitory on Campus. You're 19 years old. You're a freshman, majoring in... you haven't selected a major yet. Is this correct?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"In the past six months have you used tobacco, alcohol, and/or other drugs?"
"Yes."
"Yes? All three?"
"Uh..." Ben was uncertain how safe it was to admit to smoking pot.
"It's alright Mr. Green," Kendra said, sensing his discomfort. "Remember, your responses are confidential. We're not here to judge your lifestyle choices. We just need to know."
"Uh, yeah," Ben answered. "All of the above."
"Which drugs have you used?"
"I just smoke a bit of weed sometimes. Not too often, you know? But with my friends sometimes." Ben lied. He actually smoked on an almost daily basis. He was already looking forward to going home after the study and firing up a nice big bowl in his bong.
Kendra continued to question him about his physical health and lifestyle. Then the questions shifted to focusing on his sexual history. He reported that he was straight, and had never been with another man, nor fantasized about it (the odd involuntary dream didn't count, he told himself). He told her that he'd been with six sexual partners, though he'd really only been with three. He was free from STDs, and any other sexual dysfunctions. He under-reported the frequency of his masturbation, claiming that he did it only two to three times a week, when the truth was closer to two to three times per day.
In total, the interview lasted about thirty minutes. Kendra had been warm, but entirely professional. And, Ben considered, she was quite easy on the eyes. He wondered what his chances were if he asked her out.
After announcing over the phone that the intake had been completed, she printed out the results of the interview. Then Kendra opened her desk drawer once more. She removed a syringe, cotton swabs, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.
"Roll up your sleeve, please," She said.
"Wh- What?" Ben had never liked needles.
"Roll up your sleeve, Mr. Green." Kendra repeated.
"What's in that?" Ben asked.
"Just vitamins: B3, B9, B12, C, and E." Kendra rattled off from memory. "They help with diminishing the occasional adverse effects of the treatment."
"Uh, okay," Ben said, rolling up the sleeve of his t-shirt. He hated needles, but he didn't want to look like a pussy in front of this beautiful girl.
Kendra gripped his arm gently at the bicep, holding it steady, as she rubbed a spot with alcohol. Ben stared away, as she quickly pricked him, depressed the plunger, and withdrew the needle. It was over in an instant. She wiped the spot with another cotton swab.
"All done, Mr. Green," Kendra said, smiling down at him with her warm green eyes.
Before Ben could think of a flirtatious response, a man and woman entered the office. They were older, and dressed in white lab coats. The man was carrying a clipboard.
"Dr. Henry, Dr. Chensworth, this is Mr.Green." Kendra introduced him.
Ben stood up from his chair.
"Uh, hi," he said, offering his hand to shake, first to the male doctor, Chensworth, then to the female, Henry. Kendra retrieved his intake from the printer and gave it to Dr. Chensworth who clipped it to his board. He flipped through it casually, occasionally grunting to himself. He made a few notations with a pen, then handed the file to Dr. Henry, who had a glance at the data herself. She had nothing to add.
"Well, Mr. Green," Dr. Chensworth said, "Looks like everything is in order here. Would you mind following us?"
Ben went to retrieve his bag and skateboard.
"It's alright, Mr. Green. Kendra will take care of your things for you," Dr. Henry reassured him.
Ben followed the pair out of the office, disappointed to be leaving Kendra behind. They led him through labyrinthine hallways. There were more offices and classrooms, sterile, interchangeable, unremarkable. There were few in the way of significant landmarks by which Ben could hope to be able to find his way back to Kendra's office without totally becoming lost. But the doctors moved on at a quick, confident pace.
Eventually, they arrived at an elevator, which Dr. Henry summoned. She was in her late-thirties, serious-faced, her black hair pulled back in a severe pony-tail. She wore glasses which might be a hit with hipsters, but Ben doubted that there was much of anything hip about the doctor. Chensworth, on the other side of him was taller, and older. He was distinguished looking with silver-grey hair, and a face that was creased with experience.
"So, Kendra filled you in on everything, correct?" Chensworth asked.
"Uh, yeah," Ben said. "A bit."
"Good, good," He said.
The elevator arrived. Dr. Henry pulled a magnetic card from her lab coat, and pressed it against an unmarked panel above the buttons. The doors, closed and the elevator began to descend. The indicator above the door showed that they progressed down to the second level of the basement, and then stayed frozen. Ben would have thought the elevator was stuck, except he could sense that it was still moving. Neither of the doctors appeared concerned.
As they descended, something strange began to happen. For no perceptible reason at all, Ben began to notice a tingling and tightening sensation in his groin. He was getting an erection, just standing there in the elevator with these two older people. Embarrassed, he tried to pull his shirt down, and cover it with his hands folded in front of him. He tried concentrating on his meteorology homework, willing away his boner to no effect.
"Ah, I see Kendra hasn't explained everything after all," Dr. Henry commented, noticing his awkward behaviour.
"It's okay, Mr. Green," Dr. Chensworth told him. "What you're experiencing now, is completely natural. It happens to everyone." He gestured to his own pants, which were prominently tented. "See?"
"Being female, my state of arousal is not as obvious, but I assure you that I am also experiencing the effects of the field." Dr. Henry contributed.
"The field?" Ben asked.
"The orgone field," Dr. Henry explained. Ben looked confused. She added to Chensworth, "She really hasn't explained. I'll have a word with her the next time I see her."
"The orgone is a kind of energy, like light or sound," Dr. Chensworth began to explain in a tone as if he were lecturing to a hall full of students, rather than a guy in an elevator. "Except it is not perceivable in a direct way by any of the five senses. Rather, it affects the libido, or what you might call the 'sex-drive.'
"Orgones are reproductive energy created by sexual stimulation, and released by orgasm. All living organisms down even to a cellular level, release varying amounts of this energy in their reproductive acts. Yet, orgones don't act like other kinds of energy in that it has a tendency to 'clump together' I suppose you could describe it, creating dense pockets or orgone fields, and other areas that are less dense."
"Similar to air pressure," Dr. Henry added. "This is why people experience periods of heightened sexual desire, or 'horniness' at some times, but not others. You might say an orgone front has moved in. Interestingly, the effect of orgones is primarily to produce more orgones by acting on the sexual libidos of living creatures.
"This is why we get so turned on by witnessing others in a sexual act without engaging in it ourselves, such as when viewing pornography. We react to the orgones embedded in the sound and picture, which motivate us to engage in our own sexual stimulation, in turn producing more orgones. If you follow the logic, this means that orgones have the potential to be the ultimate renewable energy source, a kind of perpetual motion, if we can just find a way to harness it."
"We're still studying the physical properties," Dr. Chensworth continued. "There's much left to be learned. The scientist, Wilhelm Reich, believed that the orgone was the essential life-force of the universe."
"Like in Star Wars?" Ben asked. "You know, 'Use the force, Luke.'"
"Ha! Yes, something like that," Dr. Chensworth agreed. He removed a small note pad from his breast pocket, and scribbled a note. "Reich's research attempted to harness this force, which he hypothesized had potential for things like curing diseases and changing weather patterns.
"Unfortunately, history was not on Reich's side. With the outbreak of World War Two, Reich was suspected of Nazi sympathies, and selling research secrets to Germany so that they could weaponize orgone energy, similar to the way we were attempting to weaponize atomic energy. They shut down Reich's research, and imprisoned him. He eventually died in prison."
The elevator dinged, announcing their arrival. The doors slid open to reveal a plain concrete tunnel, lined by ducts and pipes, and lit by bare florescent bulbs. The air seemed warm and slightly humid. It was quite different from the College of Nursing and Health located far above them. The two doctors and the kid in the Uncle Acid t-shirt stepped out of the elevator.
"Our work has picked up where Reich was forced to leave off," Dr. Henry continued the lecture. "Not in the effort to weaponize orgones -we don't believe that was ever his intent- but in their positive applications for health and the environment. Reich's technology was fairly primitive, and not very efficient. It was really in its infant stages. But through our research, we've managed to significantly boost the efficiency of the orgone harvesting process. However, we're still nowhere close to one-hundred percent efficient, and there's quite a bit of... leakage, I suppose."
"Leakage?" Ben asked, looking worried. His cock was now very hard.
"It's nothing to be concerned about, Mr. Green," Dr. Henry quickly reassured him. "Especially if you've had a vitamin booster, like Kendra administered to you earlier. But the excess leakage produces a high-density orgone field around the laboratory. Really, the biggest side effect is the sustained, heightened state of libidic arousal."
"Huh?" Ben asked.
"We get erections," Dr. Chensworth explained, plainly. "Since we spend so much time working within the field, it all becomes pretty matter-of-fact. It's sometimes easy to forget how surprising it can be for newcomers. Ideally, Kendra would have alerted you to this condition. I suppose I should also warn you that prolonged exposure to the field can sometimes produce erectile dysfunction outside the field. It's a temporary condition lasting at most three to four days before full operation is restored. As Dr. Henry said, the vitamins should help with that."
They finally arrived at a double set of heavy metal doors. To one side was a control panel and intercom. Dr. Henry pushed a button to announce themselves. The doors emitted a buzzing sound which reverberated eerily back down the concrete hallway. After a few seconds, they swung open on their own, and the three stepped into the lab.
The laboratory seemed like a combination of NASA, a music recording studio, and a satanic temple pictured on the covers of some of Ben's heavy metal albums. There was a control room with banks of computers to one side, which was glassed off from the rest of the lab. The walls and ceiling were covered with what looked like toilet plungers made from solar panel material. In the center of the room was a large raised circular stone table with a pentagram carved into it. There were cryptic markings along the edges, and what looked like leather straps on top.
Hanging over the pentagram, suspended from the ceiling was what looked like a giant disco ball, except instead of mirror-silver, it was blood red. There were cameras and microphones protruding at different points in the room to record data from every possible angle. Large statues stood in the four corners of the chamber, depicting various pagan deities engaged in a number of obscene carnal acts.
There were maybe two dozen men and women, graduate students, most likely, in lab coats similar to those worn by Drs. Chensworth and Henry. All of the men sported raging hard-ons as they went about their business. No one paid them any attention.
"Everyone!" Dr. Chensworth called out. The research group assembled quickly. "Everyone, this is participant number..." Dr. Henry handed him the clipboard, and he checked Ben's file. "Number One-Fourteen. Please remember the research protocols. We don't want to waste his time or our own. Keep in mind the gravity of what we're trying to accomplish here. Okay?" There were many nodding heads. "Alright, now let's get One-Fourteen prepped."
The crowd dispersed back to their various tasks. Drs. Henry and Chensworth went with them. A shorter young woman with curly blonde hair and blue eyes tapped Ben on the shoulder.
"Come with me, one-fourteen," she said.
"You can call me Ben, if you want. What's your name?"
She looked as if he had just said something offensive.
"I can't," she said. "We're not supposed to know your name. And you aren't supposed to know ours either. It's against protocol."
"Oh, sorry."
The blonde woman led him to one side of the room and asked him to disrobe.
"Here?" Ben asked, "In front of everyone?"
"They're going to see everything anyway," the woman responded.
"Yeah, I guess..."
Ben slipped off his shoes and socks. Then he pulled his t-shirt over his head. As he removed articles of clothing, the woman collected them and folded them neatly.
"Pants, too." The assistant demanded.
Ben was skinny, and had a pretty well-toned body from his skateboarding, but with his cock hard, he felt shy. Reluctantly, he undid the button and zipper of his jeans. Then, like ripping off a band-aid, he yanked his pants and underwear down altogether, pulling them off in a fluid motion. He handed these to the blonde woman, and stood naked, his cock finally free and standing rigidly at attention. There was something exhilarating, about being exposed in front of all these people - the breaking of a taboo - even if no one was paying him any attention.
The blonde left with his clothes, and was replaced by a brunette with larger breasts and a tall skinny guy with a shaved head and a five o'clock shadow. The guy wheeled a cart with boxes, some electronic equipment, and a laptop. His erection protruded out over the handle bar of the cart, and looked very large. Suddenly Ben felt insecure about his own size, though there wasn't anything he could do about it. The brunette looked Ben over and favored him with a smile, which helped to put him at ease.
"So, we're going to set up the monitoring equipment," the guy explained.
"It'll just take a few minutes," the girl added.
They began opening boxes, and removing devices. First the brunette attached wireless remote transmitters with suction cups to his body. She stuck one over his heart, one on his back, and one on the inside of his upper thigh. After each, she checked with the guy to see if he was receiving a clear data signal. He indicated affirmative each time. Next, she had Ben put a mesh glove on his left hand. It was tight, and squeezed slightly at the wrist.
"Is it supposed to be like that?" Ben asked.
"Yeah," the guy answered. "It measures blood flow and heart beat and a whole bunch of other stuff."
A sock of similar material was fitted over his right foot. Something that looked like a hairpin but larger was clipped to his cheek at the corner of his mouth to measure the rate of production and chemical composition of his saliva. A wire helmet was strapped to his head. This would scan his neural activity, he was told. He could feel it pressing against his temples.
"This one might be a little uncomfortable at first," the brunette warned. She removed a glass butt-plug from one of the boxes. Ben could see green micro-circuits and a red blinking LED light inside of it.
"Um... I mean... I don't think..." Ben said with reservations. He wondered if he should back out now. Could he even back out now? What did Kendra say about buying the ticket and taking the ride? It was only twenty minutes ago, but it already seemed like another lifetime.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," the guy said, chuckling. "But it won't make you gay. And after awhile, you probably won't even notice it at all."
"Yeah, you'll definitely have your mind on other things," the brunette kidded him.
She put on a pair of latex gloves, dipped her fingers into a tub of petroleum jelly, and began to lube up the plug. It wasn't big, but he'd never inserted anything up there before. As far as he'd been concerned, it was 'exit only.'
"Bend over please, one-fourteen," she instructed. "Try to touch your toes."
Slowly, Ben bent at the waist. He felt fingers behind him, spreading his ass-cheeks apart. The brunette was smearing more petroleum jelly over his asshole. He could feel himself tightening in response. But the finger continued to probe and push. Soon, he could feel it, not just on his asshole, but in it. She slid it in and out a couple of times to coat the passage with lubricant. Then she felt the hands back on his cheeks. Again, trying to spread them apart as far as they'd go.
"Little help, here," the brunette said impatiently to the guy.
"Hey, wait a minu-" before Ben could finish his objection, the plug pushed quickly into his ass, and his sphincter closed around the base of it. "Shit!"
"Sorry, partner," the guy said, moving around to look Ben in the face. "Sometimes quick is best. Just get it over with, you know? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I guess," he said. Ben could feel the plug. It felt strange, but it didn't hurt.
"Good," he went back to the laptop to confirm everything was working on that end.
"One more, and we're done," the brunette promised.
She pulled out the last contraption. Two flexible plastic rings connected by a small gold wire. One of the rings had something like a miniature hairnet attached to it. She dropped sexily to her knees in front of him, and slipped the first ring - the one with the net - down his rigid shaft right to the base. She pulled the net over his scrotum, and let her fingers linger for a second. Then the second ring was positioned where the head met the shaft. Before she stood, she gave Ben a playful squeeze. He'd been hard for so long, it felt amazing. He wanted more.
"I saw that," said the guy monitoring the laptop.
"Shut up, Nick," she fired back at him. Then she gave Ben a flirty wink. "Everything feel okay?"
"Um, I guess, yeah," Ben said. "But isn't all this stuff going to interfere with... you know..."
"I wouldn't worry about it," the brunette said. "We're pretty good at what we do."
With that, she joined the other guy at the computer. They made a few adjustments to their settings. When they were both satisfied that everything was working, the guy called out, "One-fourteen prepped and ready for baseline!"
This triggered another flurry of activity. They wheeled their cart away, leaving Ben standing there, looking like a cyborg in a low-budget sci-fi movie. People in lab coats were milling around frantically trying to finish preparations. He wondered what would come next.
Suddenly, Dr. Henry materialized out of nowhere. She examined the devices, pulling on this and that to make sure they were securely attached. She wasn't what Ben would normally consider attractive for a woman - she was too old, too plain for his tastes, but that didn't stop his cock from twitching excitedly at her touch. Dr. Henry simply ignored this, however, and continued her check.
"Everything looks good," she finally concluded. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay, I guess," Ben said.
"You guess?"
"I mean, it's just kind of weird, you know," Ben tried to explain. "This whole thing, the lab, everyone walking around with boners, all these devices. I don't know. I guess I'm just not used to it."
"Well, that's understandable," Dr. Henry empathized. "But you're doing fine so far. Thanks for your patience."
"Everyone!" Dr. Chensworth called out from across the room. "We're about to get started. Please, everyone to the control room."
All the assistants made their way to the glass paneled room, and took seats at the computers.
"This is it, Mr. Green!" Dr. Henry chirped excitedly. "Good luck!"
"Uh, you too," Ben responded uncertainly.
Then she was also gone. With everyone inside the control room, Dr. Chensworth strolled across the floor to meet Ben.
"Alright, Mr. Green," he said, "We're going to have you step into the accumulator now. There's another panel, there, so you'll be completely closed in and we'll be able to harness as much of the orgones as possible. You'll still be able to see us, there, through the glass, and we'll definitely keep our eyes on you to make sure everything is fine. Really, you don't have anything to worry about. Just follow our directions, stay relaxed, and try to enjoy yourself. Okay?"
Ben nodded.
"We'll start by getting some baseline and low-level measures. Then we'll vary the stimulus until we get the right psychic frequency. Some participants describe this process as slightly unpleasant at first until we dial it in correctly, but any unpleasantness you experience will pass rather quickly. From there, we'll maximize the orgone production by means of a succubus."
"Suck-U-what?" Ben asked.
"In simple terms, we're going to summon a female demon, Ishtar, from the underworld to fuck your brains out," Chensworth explained. "It's quite an unique experience unlike anything you've ever felt before. You should count yourself very lucky, Ben." He clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Ben considered for a moment that this whole study could be one giant joke on him. Or maybe it was half-true. But maybe they were all crazy as fuck. Chensworth sensed Ben's apprehension.
"It's not too late to withdraw," he said. "We don't want to force you to do anything against your will. However, fair warning: Once we summon Ishtar, we cannot unsummon her. So if you have any reservations, say something now. But know, if you do withdraw, you'll be missing out an experience few people could even dream of. What do you say?"
Ben said nothing for several seconds. Eventually curiosity won out. He didn't know if what Dr. Chensworth said was even possible - it seemed completely crazy- but he was certain that something was going to happen, and he wanted to find out what. He assented to continue with the study with a nod.
"Good, good!" Chensworth said, clapping and looking very pleased with himself. "Dr. Henry will be guiding you from the control room. Please do what she says. Remember, she has your best interests always at heart. Now, if you're ready, please step into the accumulation chamber."
Ben complied. Chensworth followed him.
"If you'd be so kind as to lie down on the table here... yes that's it. We'll need to restrain you. This is entirely for your own safety, I assure you, but the precautions are absolutely necessary."
Ben lay flat on top of the pentagram. It was smooth, and surprisingly warm as if heated from within. His erection pointed upward like a sundial, toward the red hanging ball. Dr. Chensworth circled around him, fastening the leather straps across his wrists and ankles. His knees were spread about a foot apart. Ben found himself securely attached to the table, though he could move his torso and limbs a little. Buy the ticket, take the ride, he reminded himself.
"Ready to commence testing, Dr. Henry," Dr. Chensworth announced.
"Thank you, Dr. Chensworth," responded Dr. Henry's voice loudly. "One-fourteen, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," Ben answered, nodding as best he could.
"Great. The first thing we need you to do is take as deep a breath as you can, and hold it for five seconds.... OK, good. Again.... Very good. Now, curl your toes.... and release.... Again... and release... now the feet at the ankles... that's it..."
Progressively, Dr. Henry instructed Ben to tense and release all the areas of his body working from feet to face. Ben found the exercises extremely relaxing. After this was done, Dr. Henry asked Ben to clear his mind as much as possible, and then did some word association tests: Cock-balls; penis-vagina; breast-nipple; fuck-cum; slut-whore; and so on.
"Thank you, one-fourteen," Dr.
