I woke up early, drowsily, lying there wondering whether I should bother getting out of bed. Reaching up, I found the appropriate button by feel. The voice said it was two AM. I lay back and sighed. Shit.

Why had I awakened, I wondered? I slowly became aware of the sound of rain falling outside, falling hard. A sudden blinding flash of light and a loud BOOM answered my question about waking up. A thunderstorm. What fun.

I closed my eyes and listened to the rain, to the thunder. Through my eyelids, I could see the flashes of lightning. I wondered how my housemate Stella was holding out. She had always been the timid sort, and she was probably huddled under her blankets, or maybe turning the sleep induction system up to full. I grinned. The hell with sleep induction. I liked storms.

I reached up and found where I had hung my unit the night before. Grinning happily, I slipped it over my head, the visor falling into place, the headphones drowning out the sounds of the storm. Still without looking, I reached back and found the controls for the unit. From long experience, I knew how to program it by feel. I could do a lot of things by feel.

I pressed start.

My body went limp. My mind was instantly emptied by the powerful hypnotic effect of the program. But this was just the beginning.

Slowly, very slowly, I felt a warmth building within me. I had selected a slightly different program this time. This one didn't induce the climax instantly, like the one I usually used.

I lay there, the storm raging unnoticed outside, as I felt my body responding to the sensations the unit projected into my waiting mind. It had been a while since I'd used this program, and the soft warm glow which was slowly changing to a burning desire was quite appealing.

Higher and higher I went, my mind locked into the patterns and images created by the unit. I knew that my body had long since ceased to be my own. I was now totally under the spell of the program, and there was no escape until the unit brought me to climax. I was now a physical part of the unit, my body and mind interleaved seamlessly with the sophisticated system.

There was now a burning sensation between my legs, and through the pleasure-induced haze, I knew my own scent when I inhaled. God, this was great. I have to use this more. No more of this sudden BANG, and it's over.

After all, that was what men were for, right?

I lay helpless, totally subject to the program's effects. Nothing could stop me now, nothing could stop my slow journey to ecstasy. I myself had ceased to exist, becoming an entirely sexual entity. And until I climaxed I was totally powerless, totally dependent on the unit.

Oh, God... Oh, God, this is great. Oh... Oh... Ohhhhh...

There was darkness. Silence. My mind echoed with nothingness. It was as if I was drifting through space, without even the soft glow of the stars. I lay there, unable to think, unable to move, my body unresponsive.

The program had stopped.

My arousal still intense.

It was exquisite.

Random thoughts came to me, and then were gone. Unit failed. Have to... have to wait... it will come back on... have to cum... cum... have to cum... Oh, God... So close. So close. So good... Cum... Have to... Want to.

Have to.

But I lay there, unable to move, unable to think any more clearly. I didn't know that the storm had knocked out a power station. I didn't know that the power company's estimate was four hours until it was repaired. I had no way of knowing how long I would be there, helpless, waiting for that most intense of sexual pleasures, waiting to be released from my artificially- induced state of trance and arousal. I didn't know Stella was huddled in her room, terrified, crying.

There was no sense of time. There was no sense of anything. I just was. There was just pleasure, that maddening, stimulating, almost-there feeling. My pussy, had I known, was totally wet, my clit throbbing in vain, waiting for the stimulation I could not provide and the unit was also now incapable of providing. There I was. I was there. There was nothing but the agony of being almost there. Almost there.

I didn't hear Stella get out of bed and run into my room, still crying. She had a battery light, and shone it on my bed. I didn't know it.

Stella gasped. I didn't hear it. She saw me there, nude, the unit covering my head. I don't know if she recognized the scent which filled the room. I didn't see her walk slowly towards the bed.

I didn't hear her call my name. I didn't see her shrink back when I did not respond. I didn't see her stand there for a long time, staring at me in the dim glow of the battery light.

She came closer again. I didn't know it. I just lay there, waiting, waiting to cum, to be released from this wonderful spell. This was heaven. This felt so good. This was so annoying. I wanted to cum so bad, I was almost there, almost there.

Stella's nostrils flared. Her eyes narrowed as she directed her battery light between my legs. They then widened as she saw my glistening flesh, my lips wide, waiting, waiting. My throbbing clit. She stared. I didn't even know she was there. I was just waiting. Waiting.

Another roll of thunder, another blinding flash of lightning. I was not aware of it. Stella jumped three feet in the air, and scrambled into my bed hysterically as soon as her feet hit the floor. I sensed movement, but had no way to process that information. I didn't know my housemate was in bed with me. I was just waiting. On the edge.

She lay beside me. Her battery light had fallen, broken. I didn't know that. In the pitch darkness, Stella huddled beside me, her body pressed against mine, as the thunder rolled on. I felt something touching me, but had no idea what it was. I couldn't appreciate the softness of her skin, or the soft scent of her shining hair.

More thunder. Stella screamed and grabbed me. I didn't move. I didn't know what was happening. She lay there, clutching me, crying softly. Deep, unsteady breaths. Inhaling. Inhaling my scent. Her nostrils twitching again as she finally realizes what she's inhaling. She looks down but cannot see my sex in the darkness.

Another blinding flash of lightning. Stella doesn't move, instead, she is staring fixedly towards my lower body. There. In the flash she sees the spot. There. Darkness. Stella's hand moved slowly.

I drifted aimlessly, an orgasm waiting to happen, nothing more, nothing less. I was an orgasm. Waiting. Waiting.

Stella's hand paused as she felt the heat rising from me. She stared through the darkness at my face, covered by the unit's visor. She couldn't see me anyway, and I didn't know she was there.

I waited. Waited.

A blinding flash of light. A loud rumble of thunder. My body arched back, my mouth opening in a soundless scream of total abandon. The climax which shattered my nervous system had come in harmony with a lightning bolt and a thunderclap. I shook violently, groaning in ecstasy. Oh, thank God, the power came back on, I thought dimly. I thrashed around wildly, still responding to wave after wave of pure pleasure. God, it seemed so different this time. Oh, God... Oh, God...

I screamed out loud. The program had never done anything like this before. This was the most intense, the most totally satisfying sex I had ever imagined. It was almost as if...

Almost as if...

I paused, gasping for air. The sensations didn't diminish. Moaning, I ripped the unit off my head, amazed that I was able to do so, amazed that I had been released from it's control before the program had ended.

I looked down. In the darkness, I saw nothing. But I heard sounds.

Wet sounds. What the HELL...?

Movement. Soft flesh against my own. Soft warm arms around me.

Lips pressing against my shoulder, moving to the side, to my neck, up, my chin, finally finding my lips after their erotic search.

Someone was kissing me. Someone with soft skin, soft lips.

Another flash of lightning. Shocked, I got a glimpse of Stella, my timid housemate, her face close to mine, her lips against mine.

It hadn't been the program at all. The power was still out. Dazed at this realization, I inhaled sharply as he fingers slid once more into my sex.

In the darkness, my arms went around her. The unit was knocked off the edge of the bed. In the darkness, our bodies tangled together, totally under the spell of each other's passion, our hands between each other's legs, Stella and I didn't notice.