Announcementcontent warning: consensual mind control"See?" I said as I gestured at the small screen. "I can't think of any other way to interpret this. It makes it sound like our world's just some kind of computer simution. Like nothing's real, it's all fake. Maybe we're fake too?"

  I was back at my desk again, with the ptop open and that realm editor up on the screen. Gwen was standing next to me on my right, while Chels was to my left. And both of them were still naked, but I was almost too uptight to even notice.

  About thirty minutes had passed since I first started freaking out about our world just being some kind of game or something, that none of us were real. I'd gone upstairs to Chelsea's bedroom in a panic, and interrupted the pair while they were talking and listening to music. And they'd done their best to calm me down, before asking to see for themselves what got me so freaked out.

  "Ok," Gwen said slowly. "But I don't see anything that proves this data is specifically about our world, or proves our world isn't real. There's lots of games and movies and stories set in 'current day modern Earth', but those are all just fiction. Maybe that's what this is too?"

  I shook my head, "I don't think so. I mean, it expins how the ptop can do what it does, right? It's not editing reality, because none of this is real. It's just, I don't know, changing data in a server somewhere. There's nothing magical or fantastic about it. It's just updating some numbers on a drive, that happens to be the ptform our entire existence is running on."

  "Look here," I added as I exited the realm editor and unched the character editor instead.

  It took a few seconds to load my character sheet and navigate to the css field, then I opened up the detail screen and pointed. "See here? It says root level SysAdmins can access and modify all parameters in all realms. That means this isn't the only one. Like the realm screen said, this isn't 'Earth', its just 'Earth 742'. There's probably a thousand other Earths out there, each one running a different program."

  "There might even be non-Earth worlds too," I sighed. "Alien worlds, or fantasy worlds, or who knows what else?"

  My best friend frowned as she stared at the ptop screen, but she'd gone quiet for the moment.

  Then Chelsea spoke up, "I've actually heard about this. It was one of those physics meets philosophy kind of things? Maybe with some math thrown in there too. Basically it boiled down to, if simuting reality was possible with really advanced computers, then statistics say we're way more likely to be on a computer-based world than a real one. Because the virtual worlds would outnumber the real ones by a huge factor, or something along those lines."

  "I've also seen people point to stuff in physics as proof our reality was running on a computer," she added with a shrug.

  When neither Gwen or I responded she continued, "Like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? Or how we haven't been able to find proof of alien civilizations in the gaxy. Or the way photons act like both a particle and a wave? I don't know all the details of how that stuff works, but it's like, examples of how reality has all these weird edge cases that don't make sense? And some people point at those and say it's because the computer running our world can't handle the complicated maths, so they just program hard stops and limits or something."

  By the time she was done both Gwen and I were staring at the cute blonde in surprise.

  "How do you know all that stuff?" my best friend asked.

  Chelsea smirked, "What, did you think I was just some dumb jock or something?"

  "Ok I'm no genius," she admitted a moment ter. She was still smiling though as she expined, "I used to date a guy who was into fringe physics theories. He liked talking about that stuff, and I thought it was really interesting."

  The way Chels was smiling and taking this reality-shaking news so calmly left me confused and maybe even a little irritated at first. Then I remembered the notes she'd added to her character file. She made it so she was comfortable with anything the ptop did to her. This was different, but in a way it still came from the reality-bending computer. So maybe that's why it didn't seem to bother her.

  I was still freaked out though, and the stuff Chels said didn't do anything to make me feel better. I turned to stare at the little pink computer as I sighed, "So all those fringe theories are probably true. Our world and everyone on it is all just some virtual reality program on a computer somewhere. Nothing's real, not even us."

  "That's not necessarily true," Gwen responded. "Remember that old movie, the Matrix? They were living in VR but the people were still real. They were all just plugged into it."

  I frowned, "That's not much better. Either way everything we know is fake."

  "It's not fake," Chelsea stated. "Whether our world is VR or not, it's still the same world it was yesterday. You and me and Gwyneth are all still the same people we were yesterday. Different bodies notwithstanding."

  She continued, "Everything you've experienced, everything you've done and seen and learned, all that's still real to you. Same goes for Gwen, and for me. All three of us are living thinking feeling beings. Whether there's some kind of 'super-reality' that sees us as data on a computer or brains in a jar doesn't change our own lived experiences. And it doesn't have to change how we behave or how we act towards each other either."

  "I get that this is freaking you out Lisa," she added softly as she moved closer. Then she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a gentle squeeze, "But you feel real to me, and I hope I still feel real to you. And isn't that all that matters?"

  "I guess," I sighed. "Maybe."

  Chelsea gave me another comforting squeeze then said, "Honestly Lisa, I think the bottom line is the same as always? Life is what we make of it. Real or virtual it doesn't matter, as long as we make the most of it."

  She finally let go of me after that, but she stayed close. I wasn't sure what to say though, and I still felt overwhelmed and freaked out by the whole situation.

  "Chelsea's right," Gwen spoke up again. "I get why you're freaked out, I kind of feel the same? But Chels summed it all up pretty good. It's still the same world we've always lived in. The only thing that's changed is maybe we've learned a little more about it."

  A second or two ter she frowned, "Ok that's not true. There is one thing that's changed since yesterday."

  "What's that?" Chelsea asked.

  My best friend pointed at the little ptop, "Lisa's got god-level access. Not just to our world, but all of them. If she's right about this stuff then there's probably a whole multiverse out there, and my best friend has god-like power over all of them."

  "Oh right," the little blonde's eyebrows crept up. "Wait, so does that mean we could actually visit other worlds? There must be a way to travel to them, right?"

  Gwen smiled, "I bet there is! There'd pretty much have to be. Oh! I wonder if that's where some of our myths come from? Like if there's a fantasy world, maybe an elf or a unicorn wandered into our world somehow, and that's how we know about them?"

  Chels frowned, "Huh. Maybe? Or maybe stuff like the ancient Greek gods were just devs with power like Lisa's got? Except instead of cute pink computers they probably had period-appropriate dev tools."

  "Right," my friend agreed. "Some sort of lightning device for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, stuff like that. That sounds so cool! I wonder if Lisa could make souped-up tools like that for us?"

  After a moment she added, "I don't mean like tridents or lightning machines, but something that fits now? Like a smart-watch with special powers or something."

  I finally shook my head and sighed, "I haven't even figured out how to get us a house yet, so let's not get carried away. Ok?"

  "I know it's possible," I continued, "But so far the only way I've found to do it isn't ideal. I know there's got to be better options, but this stuff is all really complicated."

  "You have root access though," Gwen frowned as she gestured at the ptop. "You're like a mega-goddess of the multiverse."

  I grimaced, "No I'm not. I'm just a teenage hacker who somehow got her hands on the real multiverse mega-goddess's ptop. Right now I have no idea how all this stuff really works. I'm trying to piece it all together based on what I can learn by messing around with a couple editors, but I have to go slowly and carefully. I really don't want to break anything or mess stuff up."

  "The real Lisa probably had loads of training and experience so she'd know what she was doing with this stuff," I added with another sigh.

  Gwen and Chels were both quiet for a second or two.

  "We get it Lisa," Chelsea replied as she gave me another little hug. "I know you're doing your best. And I'm sorry the whole reality thing got you so freaked out. I hope you're feeling a bit better about that now?"

  I had to think about that for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. I might still be in a bit of shock about it, but I'm not panicking anymore. Thanks for helping me with that Chelsea."

  "I'm gd you're feeling a bit more grounded now Lisa," Gwen commented as she leaned closer and delivered a hug of her own. "And I'm here for you if you need to talk more about that stuff, or anything else."

  I hugged her back as I replied, "Thanks Gwen. I really appreciate it."

  "Wait a sec," I added a moment ter. I let go of her and frowned, "I just noticed you're calling me Lisa again, not miss. Does that mean you're not a maid anymore?"

  Gwyneth shook her head, "Of course not. I'm still your maid. But I'm also your friend, and I could tell you needed a friend right now more than a maid."

  I ended up staring at her for a second or two as I processed that, before smiling. It made me happy knowing she could turn off the maid thing whenever she wanted. "You're right. Thanks again."

  "Do you want to take a break from the ptop stuff?" Chelsea asked. "Or are you going to keep at it? And would you like Gwen and I to stay and keep you company?"

  It only took me a couple seconds to think that over, then I shook my head. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation earlier. You two can get back to that if you like? I'll be fine."

  "It's totally ok Lisa," she assured me. "I'm gd we were able to help."

  Gwen nodded in agreement, then she and Chels turned and headed back upstairs together. And with the two of them gone my attention finally returned to that little pink computer once again. It still had my character sheet up on the screen, and I ended up just staring at that for a while as I thought about everything my companions just said.

  That reminded me of how Chelsea seemed to be taking things way too calmly, which in turn led me to back to the suspicion that the prospect of our whole world being fake didn't bother her because of the notes she'd left on her character sheet.

  After another minute or two I reached out to the ptop and scrolled down through my own sheet until I got to that notes field. There was just a single sentence in there, that Chels added when I let her have the ptop. It read, "Be more confident and more of a domme when you're in bed with Chelsea."

  It was overly vague in some ways and too specific in others. I knew what she hoped it would do, but we hadn't had a chance to find out if it worked or not because we hadn't been in bed together since she added it.

  I stared at that text for another minute or so, then finally pressed the backspace key. The note quickly disappeared word by word, until all that remained of the original text was the first three words, "Be more confident."

  That seemed like a good start. I wanted to be more confident all the time, not just in bed. Then after another few seconds to organize my thoughts, I began to type out some additional instructions. And as I did so, I couldn't help feeling a little amused at the idea.

  When other people decided to try and change themselves it usually took weeks or months of ongoing effort, and even then there was no guarantee of success. Thanks to the ptop I could just directly edit myself. Although that thought in turn left me a bit uneasy. If it worked as well as it did for Chelsea then I was basically tinkering with my own brain or personality. So I needed to make sure I got it right the first time, and that the message was clear and direct without any risk of misinterpretation.

  "Be more confident. Respect the ptop's power, but don't fear it and don't be freaked out by it. It's just a tool, just another computer, and you know how to use computers. Don't be afraid to use the ptop, but don't let the power go to your head and don't let it change your morals."

  After reading it over I decided to add one more line, although that was more for Chels than for me. I reworded the instruction she had in there originally, "When it's appropriate, be a better domme for your submissive partners."

  I gave the whole thing one st read-through just to be sure, then before I could change my mind I went ahead and saved it. As the blue LED came on I closed my eyes and focused. I was curious to see if I'd notice the moment when my thoughts changed.

  PurpleCatGirl