Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Living the Fantasy Savant By David Farr This story contains scenes unsuitable for the reading pleasure of minors. Should such senses offend you, or if it is illegal for you to read them, please stop now. The previous parts of this story (in order of release and occurrence) are: Griffon Pyri Kybui While it is not necessary to read these stories in order, it is suggested. They can be found, along with all my other works at: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/ ***** The printer hummed as it spat out another page of her assignment. Jeanne Seniors stood watching, her books bag held tight to her chest, as she waited while it spat out all fifty pages of her work. All things being equal, she would have preferred writing it by hand. Unfortunately her history lecturer had stated that, because of his failing eyesight, he would find it easier to read printed word. Meaning of course, that he would mark easier. She sighed, and at that moment the printer next to her buzzed into life and started, very slowly, producing pages. Curious, she turned to look, and watched as a full colour photo dropped into the paper tray. Gasping she stepped over and snatched it up. The picture was of her roommate, Hikaru. The small Asian woman was stretched out on a divan or bed of some kind, and was wearing nothing. She stared lustily at the camera, breasts thrust and legs slightly parted. With growing horror Jeanne watched as photo after photo fell from the printer, each one as erotic as the last. 'There have be two dozen at least,' she thought, 'and these seem only like the best of the bunch. I can't believe Hikaru would do this!' "Excuse me," a voice said from behind her. Jeanne turned suddenly, to find one of the computer rooms demonstrators standing behind her. He glanced down at the papers in her hand. "I hope these aren't yours." A blush rose on Jeanne's face as she glanced down at them. "Ah... no... I just saw them and was... um... shocked... you see, she's my roommate." The man cocked one eyebrow. "Oh?" Jeanne shook her head to clear it, then looked up at him. "I know she wouldn't do something like this! Can you tell me who was printing these?" "Well, I could check the print queue to find out, but there'd be no point really." He stepped past her to collect another few pages that had printed out while they talked. "I've already had a dozen complaints from people finding them in their e-mail. It seems the original sender sent them to one of the first year mailing lists. Every student doing Computer Sciences will receive them." "Oh, god," Jeanne breathed. "Yeah. I don't doubt that it'll be all over the campus by the end of the day," he frowned. "I feel sorry for your roommate, really, but it's out of our hands." "I suppose I should go tell her about it." "If she doesn't know already," he returned grimly. ***** It should be known that Jeanne was not a plain girl, despite the fact that she got none of the attention that her roommate received, even before the pictures. Jeanne was, however a very thin girl, not supermodel thin, thankfully, willowy would be a better description. She wasn't well built, and her clothes hid the slight curves she had. About the only thing that didn't attract people's attention to her was her long golden tresses. Poor eyesight forced her to wear a pair of wire-rimmed round glasses, which help to turn off most of the guys, not that she cared. She was also a very kind, if shy, person. After Hikaru learned of the pictures, Jeanne spent a lot of time trying to help her roommate, but in truth she didn't help much. She was better with old books than with people. As the weeks went by she watched her friend, one of few, slowly sink into depression. ***** Jeanne hung up the phone and reached for the book. Why the library suddenly needed it returned, she didn't know, but she had promised to run over with it right away, despite it being seven at night. One of the "perks" of living on campus, she guessed. "Hikaru, I have to go out for a little while," she called as she grabbed the book from the table. As she stepped from her bedroom she still hadn't heard a reply, so she stepped over to Hikaru's room to glance inside. The small oriental was sitting at her computer, tapping away at the keys and staring into the screen. Shrugging helplessly Jeanne simply turned away and left. It wasn't until she had reached the bottom of the stairs that she noticed the rain striking the window panes of the dormitory. Sighing she turned and headed back up the stairs, returning to her room. After a few moments of fumbling with her keys, she let herself in. "Hey, Hikaru, I came back for my umbrella." She picked up the object in question and started towards the bedrooms. "Is there anything you want..." She trailed off as she reached the door. Hikaru's room was now empty, the computer's monitor still glowing. "That's funny, I'm sure she didn't pass me in the corridor." Shaking her head, Jeanne left again, heading to the library, book and umbrella in hand. When Hikaru didn't return at all for the next day, Jeanne called the police. ***** The last box was sealed, ready to be stored. It felt, Jeanne thought, like she was burying her missing friend. Hikaru's parents had stopped by for a single day, they hadn't even started their own search for their daughter. It was as if they didn't care about her. That certainly seemed the case when they had asked Jeanne to dispose of all of Hikaru's things. Instead Jeanne had packed them away in boxes, well, except the computer, that now sat on her own desk. It seemed a little disrespectful, but the machine almost needed to be used, not stored away. Maybe she was just strange that way. Pushing the last box into the pile with the others, Jeanne made a mental note to call the storage house to come and pick them up. Stretching, she stood and walked over to the desk, and turned on the computer. After about a minute of booting, Windows finally came up, and immediately a browser window opened. Curious, Jeanne let it connect, she carefully copied Hikaru's setup in her room, so everything, even the Internet connection, was working. A page popped up, and Jeanne remembered it from the day Hikaru went missing, it was the same one that Hikaru had been on the screen after she had disappeared. Only it looked different now. The picture was... more real, she supposed, and it looked like... nah, it couldn't be. She quickly clicked the close browser button and the window vanished. After disconnecting the computer from the net, something Hikaru had reminded her to do every time she had used it, Jeanne spent a little while just browsing through the applications on the hard drive. Suddenly the phone on the desk next to her started ringing, causing her to jump. She picked it off the craddle. "Hello?" "Darling, it's daddy!" the voice came from the phone. "Hello father," she returned. "I'm surprised I caught you, I'd have thought you would be on your way by now," he commented. Jeanne glanced at the clock, and noticed the time. She was supposed to be meeting her parents' plane in half-hour, and it would take that long to get out to the airport. "Oh, sorry. I got carried away packing away Hikaru's things." "Hikaru? Oh, right, you're roommate. I'm sorry to hear about that. Look, don't worry about coming to meet us, one of our flights was fogged in and we've missed our connection. So it's good that you haven't left." "When's the next flght?" "Oh, we'll arrive tomorrow morning, but I just regret not being there on the eve of my daughters nineteenth birthday." "That's okay father. I'm sure I'll live through it." "Of course, baby." He paused and Jeanne could hearing someone else talking in the background. "Your mother says you should lock the door, go to bed and have a good night's sleep. Nineteen is a very important age, you know." 'No it's not,' Jeanne thought. "Okay father, I'll do that. Good night." "Good night." True to her word, as soon as she hung up, Jeanne switched off the computer and got ready for bed.