"Virtual Kiss" by Klaus ´The Sphinx´ Zepf

Silence all around. Only disrupted by short, quick bursts of sound - the computers' means of communication among their kind. A plane was formed out of nowhere. It hung there in an odd angle and totally off-level, but that didn't matter at this place.
A figure appeared on this plane, transparent at first, but within seconds it became solid. It was a young man in his mid-twenties. He wore dark pants and a white shirt whose neckline was open down to the middle of his chest. His black hair was tied together at his neck to form a little pony-tail and his deep-blue eyes inspected the surroundings.
He murmured a few words and then started waving his arms about like crazy. At the same time the landscape began to change: some areas of the plane were lifted, the surface was textured with grass and a tree grew within seconds to full height somewhere nearby. Meanwhile the altered plane formed low hills around a littles valley with a huge beech tree in it's center. A small stream flowed through it's just created bed next to the tree, silent at first, then with a faint murmur. Flowers began to sprout on the grassy hills, after a while butterflies were flying around and another little while later the sound of softly chirping birds could be heard.
The man stopped waving around and scrutinized his work. He seemed pleased with the result. Then he moved his index-finger in a pushing gesture on a distinct point in the air. A short acknowlegding beep sounded, then he murmured another few words before he sat down on the grass, obviously satisfied. It seemed like he was waiting for something special.
He didn't have to wait long, though. Only a few minutes later a flash of light appeared behind one of the hills and then quick footsteps approached the valley. The young man got up and awaited his guest while standing next to the beech.
A young woman entered the valley, gasping for breath. She seemed to be a few years younger than him, but she was of extraordinary beauty: About five feet and seven inches tall, with full breasts and wavy, rainbow-colored hair, that was hardly in any order. She wore torn jeans and a short, red top that revealed the silver ring in her belly-button as well as the entwined tattoo around her right upper arm. Her two-inch-nails were polished light-blue and her lips sparkled with the same color.
When she was only a few steps away from the young man she cried out full of joy: "Angel!"
With a smile on her face she flung herself at him, so both of them fell to the ground. There they kissed ardently.

Silence. Only the occasional beeps from the netservers. And a soft and joyful groaning and smacking. Then, after a sheer eternity, the lips of the two lovers parted. Tenderly he stroke her wild hair.
  "Oh", she sighed absently. "How would I love to touch you just once..."
  "But you're touching me right now, Lisa", he said.
  "No. I mean REALLY touch you... in flesh and blood, so to speak."
Abruptly Angel stopped his caresses. "You mean it?"
  "Yeah", Lisa answered dreamy, "but unfortunately that's impossible..."
  "Hmmm", Angel said. Then, after a short hesitation he stated: "All right! Let's meet tomorrow!"
  "What?" Lisa was startled. "B...but that's impossible!"
  "Why not?" Angel asked and smiled at her.
  "Er... I... well...", Lisa stuttered, "I... I have an appointment tomorrow... important business."
  "Well, then tonight. At eight." Angel said and rose from the ground. "At the Nakatomi Station lounge. You live in town, right?"
  "Yeah, sure, but..."
  "Great! 'till eight then!"
  "But..." Lisa wanted to protest, but Angel had already smacked a kiss on her mouth and seconds later he vanished with a shimmer from the net.
Lisa stood speechless for another few minutes and fully realized the consequences of this slip of her tongue. Now it had happened: Angel would find out the truth about her. Damn! Of course, this had to be happening sooner or later! What should she do now? She loved Angel after all!
With a sigh she logged herself out of the Cyber-Net.

With a faint hum the MagRail glided through the rainy city. It's guiding-rails wound their way like an endless white snake between the gigantic skyscrapers, whose tops with the blinking red lights almost touched the heavily clouded evening sky. Huge, oversized billboards and dazzling neon-signs shone their rainbow light onto the wet asphalt deep below the MagRail and produced multiple reflections in the puddles.
Lisa didn't see any of this. She just stared at her feet and chewed her nail nervously. Only a few minutes and then: She would finally meet her fairy-tale-prince, the man of her dreams, in flesh and blood.
Involuntarily she scratched herself behind her right ear. Those damn datajacks always started itching in rainy weather. Lisa had the two sockets implanted three years ago on request by her boss, so she could work even faster and more effective as the company's head-programmer.

The train stopped with a jolt and knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up and realized she had reached her destination: Nakatomi Station, a small MagRail station not far from the center of town. She got to her feet, tugged at her plain, black dress, checked her hair-knot and hurried to the exit.
After putting her ID-card into the slot the gates quickly opened up. She now entered the waiting lounge, a dome made of acrylic glass, about ten meters high and almost 30 meters across. It was at least 40 years old and contained several rows of waiting seats. It's walls were plastered with vid-screens which showed everything one might have expected in a train-station-lounge, from maps of the MagRail network up to commercials. Manned ticket booths or even automated ticket-machines had been removed long ago. They weren't needed anymore. Whenever someone used his ID-card at the gates, the computers noted the passenger and automatically debited a certain amount of credits from his account. Those without money weren't allowed access.

Lisa looked around nervously. Her heart was beating wildly and the blood was pounding in her ears. She could catch sight of Angel at any moment and when that happened there would be no turning back. Slowly and with trembling knees she crossed the lounge and eyed every single passenger thoroughly. Part of her wished not to find Angel, so her swindel wouldn't be revealed, but some other part of her was longing so much for him she almost couldn't wait to see him, even though it would be for the last time. Could he ever forgive her?
But, no matter how closely she looked, her fairy-tale-prince wasn't to be found. Glancing at her watch she moaned: No wonder! She was ten minutes too early!
Partly relieved she sat down on a waiting-bench. So many questions concerned her: Would Angel forgive her? And if he did, would he still love her? Lisa let out a deep sigh. It wasn't exactly a good idea to start a relationship with a lie. It never was. But it had happened nevertheless.
When she and Angel had first met, it had been love at first sight. This had taken part inside the Cyber-Net, during a virtual shopping-tour. Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on the point of view) she had had her net-image "polished" a bit that day. Within the colorful worlds of the cyberspace a dreary, unattractive girl like her had no chance to find the man of her dreams. So she had programmed herself this freaky outfit for the virtual worlds.
And it had worked! She had met Angel and he'd fallen in love with her instantly. They had met inside the net more and more frequently, and eventually Lisa hadn't been able to think of anything besides their next rendez-vous. But now...

  "Excuse me. Is this seat still vacant?"
The voice woke Lisa from her reflections. In front of her stood...
  "Angel!" Lisa cried joyfully and smiled at the newcomer. Those blue eyes were unmatched...
Then she noticed the two mounds unter his shirt: a woman!
Lisa felt her face turn red and her ears were burning like fire. Embarassed she dropped her eyes.
  "I... I'm sorry! A mis... mistake! Of course, the seat's free!" she murmured.
This was so embarassing! She had smiled at this woman as if she was in love with her. Surely she now had a false impression of her.
But to Lisa's surprise the stranger didn't seem troubled by that because she took a seat next to Lisa.
Lisa stared at her seat-neighbour from the corner of her eye. She wore a neon-green colored sweatshirt and her black hair fell freely to her shoulders. The stranger must have noticed Lisa's stare, since now she turned around.
  "Something wrong?" she asked.
As quick as lightning Lisa looked straight ahead again and lowered her head even more. By now it's color could surely match the brightest tomatoe.
  "No, n... nothing!" she answered. "Sorry!"
So embarassing! She would have given a fortune to be able to sink through the floor right now.
The stranger was startled for a moment and then broke out in laughter.
  "Don't worry, I won't bite you", she said.
Now it was Lisa who turned around.
  "Where did you get this funny idea?" she asked upset.
  "Well", grinned the other, "you look like you just fell into a pit full of hungry lions. What is it that you're so afraid of?"
It was curious. Even though Lisa could swear that she'd never before seen this woman, she couldn't help but feel somewhat familiar with her. Somehow, Lisa knew she could tell her about all her troubles.
  "I... I have lied to my boyfriend", Lisa said and stared at the floor again. "I pretended I was someone else. I played a fictional character because I was afraid that he wouldn't love me anymore if he knew who I really am."
It was all flowing from her, just like her tears. "Oh I feel so miserable. We have a date here, but if he's gonna see me like this he will surely hate me and I will never see him again and..."
  "Hey, it's alright, calm down", the stranger said and gave her handkerchief to Lisa. "It surely can't be that bad..."
  "That's what you think!" sobbed Lisa and wiped her tears with the handkerchief.
  "I'm sure, if he really loves you, he'll forgive you", the other said. "But you oughta tell him!"
  "You really think so?" Lisa sobbed.
  "Absolutely!"
The stranger got up and raised two fingers in a greeting-gesture to her nonexistent hat: "See ya", she said, went to the entrance gates and boarded the MagRail. Seconds later the train departed and soon vanished into the dark, rainy night.
Now Lisa was all alone on the bench again. But she couldn't get the stranger's words out of her mind.
  'If he really loves you', she had said, 'he will forgive you.'
Strange! There had been something familiar about this woman, but Lisa couldn't tell what it was.
Nevertheless she had been right about one thing: She had to tell Angel the truth!
Glancing at the watch she realized that it was already 20 past 8. Angel hadn't shown up yet. Lisa decided to wait for another five minutes or so and then head home with the next train, if Angel didn't show up until then. If she wasn't able to tell him here she would do it inside the Cyber-Net!

The door slid open with an electronic buzz.
  "Light!" Lisa ordered.
Immediately the computer complied and let the ceiling lights blaze brightly. Without hesitation Lisa entered her living room outfitted with elegant designer-furniture and sat down at her private Cyber-Net-terminal.
  "Activate screen!" she said. The super-thin monitor responded at once.
Then she leaned back and grabbed the cable that was connected to her terminal. Carefully she stroke a few strands of hair that had escaped the knot to the side and plugged the two connectors into the data-ports behind her right ear.
  "Establish linkup with Cyber-Net. Virtual experience mode!"
The computer replied: "Connection in 5 seconds, 4... 3... 2... 1..."
Lisa closed her eyes. It always was an exiting experience when she dove into the Net.
Only darkness and silence at first. Then the blackness faded away and was replaced by bright shining colors; almost psychedelic. It was as if one flew through a long, dark tunnel and then emerged into paradise.
It was quiet in this part of the Net, only interrupted by occasional short soundburst-sequences. Normal humans couldn't catch the sense of this computer language, but Lisa's implant had a huge integrated programming library that enabled her to actually understand this electronic babble.
With a voice command she called up a virtual interface that was hovering in front of her. She touched some of the keys which were floating around freely and the virtual representation of her body was cloaked with the three-dimensional image of a girl with wild, rainbow-colored hair and torn jeans. Angel should at least recognize her when she was going to tell him the truth.
Then she punched the coordinates of their secret hideout into the virtual pad and whithin seconds the computer had transferred her virtual body to the designated location.

The place was just as she remembered it: small, cozy, peaceful.
Angel was already waiting for Lisa as her virtual body materialized between the tree and the little stream. He had been sitting on the grass and rose to his feet now.
  "Hello. I'm glad you've come", Angel started.
  "Hi", Lisa replied hesitantly. Instead of hugging and kissing him instantly as she used to, Lisa stayed at a distance.
Angel seemed to notice it too and so he continued: "Oh, I'm so sorry my dear! I got caught in an important meeting and so I couldn't get there in time. But we could..."
  "Angel, please!" interrupted Lisa. "It's not your fault. You wouldn't have recognized me anyway."
Angel frowned.
  "Why? What...? Why's that?"
  "I have lied to you", it burst out of her. "In reality I look totally different. These clothes, this whole appearance is only a delusion I created so a hunky guy like you would notice me in here."
And with a sigh she added: "Well, and it DID work fine..."
With these words she called up her virtual interface and typed a command-line in. Within seconds the false image dissolved and revealed her true appearance. With lowered head Lisa said: "That's how I really look like. I can understand very good, if you don't love me anymore..."
Angels laughing made her stop. She looked up, irritated. But it wasn't a spiteful or bitter laugh; it sounded rather... amused.
  "What's so funny about that?" she broke out.
  "The whole thing", Angel answered, shaking with laughter. When he had calmed down again he added: "My dear Lisa, we are inside the Cyber-Net, the Net of unlimited possibilities! Only few people dare to go in here without a cover-identity, especially since those virtual ID-chips have become so cheap. Here you can be whoever you want, do whatever you want, without anyone knowing who you really are."
  "That would mean you've known all along", Lisa concluded. "And you didn't say a single word?"
  "Why should I? Who should deny you the chance to be the girl you wanna be here inside the Net? Not me, for sure! Nor am I the man I pretend to be."
  "You?" Lisa asked unbelieving, then she grinned: "You wanna take me for a ride, huh? You've probably just changed your name."
Angel sighed.
  "No, my name's really Angel. The rest is a lie."
With that, Angel activated his own interface and pressed some of the floating keys. His form flickered for a moment as if it was to disappear, but nothing happened.
  'Ha, nice try!' Lisa was about to say when she suddenly noticed the subtle changes on Angel. She was speechless at first: Her beloved Angel was - a woman!
Completely stunned Lisa stared at Angel's blue eyes, his black hair now falling open to his shoulders and the two definitely female body parts that swelled beneath "his" shirt.
The woman from the lounge! Now Lisa knew why she had seemed so familiar to her.
  "Y... you... you... you a... are...?" Lisa stuttered.
  "Yeah", Angel nodded. "I had planned on telling you some time ago, but I knew that it would hurt you. And then one day I had to admit to myself that I had really fallen in love with you..."
Angel turned away when her voice faded, so that Lisa wouldn't see the tears running down her cheeks. After a few seconds she had herself under control again.
  "You will surely hate me now for having fooled you for such a long time. I will make it easier for you - I'll leave you now."
With these words she turned to go.
  "Wait!"
Surprised, Angel spun around. With a few strides Lisa had reached her and grabbed her hand.
  "Don't go!" she said.
And to confirm her words she kissed Angel on her cheek.