Chapter 1.8 New Home

Melinda opened her eyes and sat up quickly, nearly hitting the lid of the capsule, which had opened just in time. She vomited violently and leaned sideways, getting rid of the latest food she had eaten. She felt dizzy, and the image before her eyes was blurry.

An employee of the corporation approached her.

"What a strong reaction you're having," she wondered a little.

When the vomiting was over, Melinda felt better. Her head was barely dizzy and her vision was returning to normal. She felt the dried salt trails of tears on her cheeks, and her body cover in a thick layer of foul-smelling fat. About her lower body, she dreaded to think.

An employee gave her a clean towel and Melinda wiped her face.

"How long has it been?" She said with some difficulty.

"An hour and a half," said Simone, who approached them, "you're the last of the group left. Congratulations on passing the test."

Having said that, she then handed her a bottle of cool mineral water. Melinda took it and greedily began to drink the water with trembling hands. After drinking a full bottle of mineral water, she stared at Simone. And after catching her breath, she asked: "What the hell happened out there? I died in there!"

"No way," Simone disagreed, shaking her head, "with any threat to your health, the program will automatically abort the test. Even if you can't give the command yourself."

"But, I..."

"It was probably an illusion during the test. That's what the program is designed to do," Simone said.

"Illusion?"

"Yeah."

'Yeah, like I believe that… Fucking illusion,' Melinda thought, but she didn't say it.

To her, the sensation was indistinguishable from the real thing. Her right hand still ached and itched. Melinda unconsciously scratched it with her left hand. The unpleasant dissonance in her sensations did not go away.

"So, I pass the test? " She asked instead.

"Yes," Simone confirmed, "thirty-two of the thirty-six girls passed.

'Four of them failed, ' she thought, "And what's now?"

Simone examined her dirty body and shook her head.

"Next, I'll walk you to your apartment on the 39th floor."

"The 39th? "Melinda wondered.

"Yes," smiled Simone," the view from there is amazing. And I suggest you take a hot bath right away. You smell awful. You shouldn't have strained yourself so much at the test."

She took a step back and tried to disperse the nasty air in front of her with her hand.

'You said it yourself to endure as long as possible!' resented Melinda in her heart.

After a minute she was able to get up from the pod. Her fears were partly confirmed - the ureter could not withstand the abuse of the body. But thank goodness, nothing more solid came out of her body. Melinda staggered slightly to her locker, with which an employee helped, and then helped gather her things.

"I'm ready," she said to Simone, after a few minutes.

"Aren't you going to change? " She asked, still wrinkling from the smell.

"No, I'm not up to it," Melinda shook her head weakly. She wasn't sure she could do it.

"Okay, let's go then," Simone sighed and offered her hand as support.

Ten minutes later they were out of the elevator on the 39th floor.

"Floors 36 through 39 are the women's wing," Simone said, "floors 31 through 34 are the men's wing."

Luckily for Melinda, the apartment was not far from the elevator. The number on the door was 3933.

"Put your pass on it and the door will open. There's another mechanical lock on the inside. If you need privacy."

Melinda followed the advice and applied the pass to a panel near the door. The panel turned green and the door opened outward.

"Get some rest," Simone said as she left, " tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. there's a meeting in the cafeteria. Don't be late."

Inside, the apartment looked large with a neat, laconic design with plenty of plastic in it. The first room, the living room, was a medium-sized three by three meters. A dresser, a desk with a computer and an armchair, a small sofa, and a widescreen TV on the wall. One door led from it to a bedroom. It was the same size, three by three. There was a linen closet, a single sheeted bed, and a small nightstand at the head of the bed. One wall in the room was solid glass with only half of the blinds open. The other door from the living room led to a smaller room, about two and a half meters by three meters, which was empty. Only a soft carpet on the floor decorated the room. From this room, there was another door. It led to a restroom. There was a toilet, a bathtub, a shower stall, and a washbasin with a large mirror. One wall was also solid glass with blinds closed.

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Without thinking, Melinda opened the hot water faucet and began to draw water into the bathtub. And while the water was running, she carefully took off all her clothes. She immediately tossed her sports bra and shorts into the trash without a second thought. Leaving her naked, she climbed into the bathroom. Touching the hot water made her body ache and she had to clench her teeth and endure it. As the water began to fill and cover her body, the pain began to fade. Melinda gradually began to relax and even closed her eyes, resting her head on the back of the tub.

Feeling the discomfort, Melinda opened her eyes. It was still light outside, but the bath water was already cold. It looked like a long nap, and if it hadn't been for the cold water… She stood upright in the tub. Thin streams of water cascaded down her body. She lifted her arms up, stretching and pushing her full, firm breasts forward. She decided to do a couple of body stretching movements. Her full breasts swayed in rhythm with each movement. It's a little distracting and frustrating.

'Why are they so big,' thought Melinda, stopping and taking her breasts in her palms.

She sighed, and her gaze caught on the gray murky water beneath her. Melinda hurriedly stepped over to the marble floor of the bathroom. Despite the return of lightness from the hot bath, her body still needed a thorough cleaning. She touched the hair on her head with her hand. Once soft and silky, it was now stiff and greasy and sticking out in all directions.

Melinda bent down to let the bathwater out. The unpleasant sight of water made her grimace, but she reached for the cork with her hand nonetheless. An unpleasant thought flashed through her mind, 'How will the game capsule smell if you get out like that every time?'

Shaking her head, she headed to the shower cabin to rinse off the rest of the filth and return her hair to its silky appearance. There she found two shampoos, one with chamomile and one with mint. She put the chamomile shampoo away right away. She never liked the smell of chamomile. Turning on the shower and adjusting the temperature, she got under the currents of water.

She liked the mint shampoo. It smelled nice and made her hair silky to the touch again. Looking at the tub, then at the shampoo, she giggled merrily. She turned on the hot water in the bathtub again and poured half the shampoo into it.

While the water was filling up, she went to look for some new underwear to wear. So, she walked into the living room naked and not even the slightest bit embarrassed. If there had been someone in the living room at that time, a pretty young girl or a boy, for example, she would not have minded it at all. Since her divorce from her husband, her relationships had not been going well. Although she had enough casual affairs, none of them had developed into anything serious.

She should have a replacement set of underwear in her bag. She quickly shook the bag out on the table: a sundress, panties, a small towel, and a T-shirt.

"That's it?" She surprised. Probably when she packed the bag, she forgot to put it in.

Sighing, she took her panties and T-shirt with her and went back to the bathroom. The water was already quite full with foam to the brim. She immediately climbed in there happily.

Melinda spent another hour and a half in the bathroom. Finally, after playing in the bathtub to her heart's content, she returned to the living room in her panties and T-shirt. She found her phone, which showed the time 8:15 p.m. Tomorrow morning she had to go to the hotel and get her things. And then have time to get back before the 9:00 a.m. meeting in the cafeteria.

She sat down at her table and turned on the computer. Quickly she found a transport map of the city. To her relief, there were no transfers from here to the hotel. Setting the alarm for 5:30 a.m., she went about her other business. First, she checked her phone records. Her mother called three times. Then she checked her messages. To her dismay, there were dozens. Most were from people she knew from the Eternity game, but one was from her mother, which she read immediately.

- Melinda, honey, where the hell are you? I came to check on you this morning, and you were gone. And what's this story about getting fired?

Sighing, she dialed her mother's phone. After a couple of seconds, the other side picked up the phone.

"Hi, Mom."

"Melinda, honey, where are you? I'm worried about you."

"I'm in the ***."

"What are you doing there?"

"There's my new job."

After talking for a few more minutes, she finally hung up. During her divorce, her parents sided with her husband, which caused a nasty separation between her and her parents. After the divorce, she did not return to their home and did not speak to them for a year. Then the relationship slowly began to recover, but it was never as warm as it had been before the divorce.

After making her mood a little bit worse by talking on the phone, she decided it was time to go to bed. Tomorrow she had to get up early.

The next day she woke up even earlier than the alarm clock. The morning sun would not let her sleep. The morning rays fell on the skin of her face. After a little more wiggling, she did get up.

Melinda's journey to the hotel and back was exhausting. The subway was full even this early, and she returned literally ten minutes before the meeting began. By the time she arrived at the cafeteria, the whole group was already there.

"You're late," Simone said when she saw her approaching the group.

"Sorry, I had to pick up my things from the hotel this morning," Melinda began to make excuses.

"You couldn't pick up your things after the meeting?"

The girl's excuse obviously didn't convince Simone. She looked at her suspiciously, demanding further explanation.

"My room reservation ended at 9:00 a.m. I thought three hours was enough time to go to the hotel and back, but it turns out I was wrong."

Simone watched the girl carefully for a couple of seconds, especially looking at her face. Then she sighed.

"Okay, then," she agreed, "but next time, give me notice in advance."

"Certainly," Melinda replied, and nodded in agreement.

Simone glanced at her watch. Then she looked around again at everyone in the group.

"Since everyone is here, then let's begin," the girls who were present stepped closer, "as of tomorrow, you officially become employees of the corporation. Your documents are filled and the contracts are signed. I brought them with me and will give them to each of you shortly," Simone showed everyone the heavy leather folder she had with her, "you will also receive personal bank cards to which you have already been awarded two thousand dollars of bonuses for your participation in the test."

The girls got excited and began to discuss who would spend it and where. Simone had to interrupt them to continue the story.

"You will have a free day today. You can do whatever you want, as long as you are in good condition tomorrow. At 8:30 tomorrow morning, everyone comes to room 46 on the 19th floor. Beta testing starts at 9:00 a.m. It will last 8 hours every day, 7 days a week. If you need a day off, let me know in advance. Now I'll call your name and you step up and pick your documents."

Simone then began calling out names one by one. The girls walked over and picked up their documents. Melinda was near the end of the list. As she picked up her documents and was about to leave, a young girl of about twenty-two approached her.

"Um, Milinda," she called out.

Eva, that was the girl's name, was of average height and comparatively thin with a small high chest. She had a pretty face with playful brown eyes and long ginger hair.

"Yes, Eva. Did you want something? " Melinda asked her.

"I'm going into town for some shopping. I know a couple of clothing stores that are having a sale. And if you don't mind, we could go through them together."

Melinda often noticed the looks of the girls directed at her. And Eva was one of them with a bright greedy gaze.

'Why not,' Melinda thought. Besides, Eva was a local and knew the town pretty well.

"Okay, I accept," she told her.