Message-ID: <51680asstr$1123485001@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Mail-Format-Warning: No previous line for continuation: Wed Aug 14 16:30:23 2002Return-Path: <joebrolly@gmail.com> X-Original-To: ckought69@hotmail.com Delivered-To: ckought69@hotmail.com DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:mime-version:content-type; b=QV+Y1udMTLgpV1XGq5PFYaqJ7v1lIER9KrvUSr8aekv+p03MPhNx5yrByfViTdegSv0ZO/DJKdxisNtw9yjvW6+pJgXjPenOZmcdIUABdEyt1y2RSjWfri3xsQQMSklVdSuz611RJx463zGhaEg0td9clV36Rl+nk4xNlA0daaE= X-Original-Message-ID: <7b1075ab05080720546c15796e@mail.gmail.com> From: Joe Brolly <joebrolly@gmail.com> X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:54:40 -0500 Subject: {ASSM} Genie Chronicles - CH15/?? (MF, Fant, Magic, Cons) Lines: 1062 Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 03:10:01 -0400 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org> Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: <URL:http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2005/51680> X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Story-Submission: <ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, hoisingr <1st attachment, "GC-CH15.txt" begin> Genie Chronicles (c)Joe Brolly joebrolly(at)gmail.com The following piece of fiction is intended as ADULT entertainment. It contains material of an adult, explicit, sexual nature. If you are offended by sexually explicit content or language, or are not allowed to read this type of material due to age, legal restrictions, or any other reason, please DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. All characters and situations in this story are fictitious; any similarity to any actual persons or situations is purely coincidental. The author does not necessarily condone or endorse any of the activities described in this story. This story may not be reproduced in any form for profit without the written permission of the author, Joe Brolly. This story may be freely distributed to non-profit sites with this disclaimer attached (please do me the courtesy of an e-mail if you add it to a site). All comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism can be directed to the e-mail address at the top of this document. Praise (constructive or not) is also welcome. Copyright Joe Brolly, all rights reserved. Chapter 15 They arrived bright and early with their new toys the next morning, actually beating most of the employees in. One of those they beat was Jamie, as it was Nick himself who let them in. "Good morning! You guys sure look chipper for this early in the morning. I guess you didn't lose too much sleep, after all." Jack smiled. "Just a little." He actually did have a bit of trouble getting to sleep the night before until Jennifer brought her talented hands into play. After that he slept like a baby, at least until she woke him with her talented hands on an entirely different and un-baby- like part of his anatomy. "Shall we tackle that backup?" "Yep. You know where the room is. Just wait for me to notify everyone, especially our telephone customer service folks. I am sure they will be getting calls. I'll be there in just a minute." "Okay, we'll wait for you." Jack and Jennifer made their way to the server room and sat to wait. Both Nick and Ms. Cooper showed up a few minutes later. "Okay, you're on." Jack removed a small box from his case and got ready to hook it up to the server. "What's that?" Ms. Cooper asked. "It is an external hard drive. I use it for my own backups and to transport large files if I need to. You don't have a CD writer on the server, so this will be the fastest way to back-up the files." "Very well." He held his breath and plugged the drive into the server. After a few seconds a message popped up telling him it was ready to use. He released his breath. First step down. "Alright, that's ready." He looked at Nick, "Time to shut down the server." Nick nodded. Jack selected to quit the server program, then clicked 'Ok' that he was sure. "Done." He started the files copying. "I'm backing up, now." He made sure it was going, then said, "This will take a little while. The external drive is a bit slow on this older PC." "How long is a 'little while'?" Ms. Cooper asked. Jack looked at the progress bar. "Probably about 20 minutes." "I'll be back," and she left. "Can I do anything here to help?" Nick asked. Jack shrugged. "Nope, not at the moment." "Well, I won't hover then. Let me know when the back-up is done." "Will-do." Jack sat and watched the glacially creeping status bar for a moment, then decided he needed something to distract him. *So, when we were talking about Ms. Cooper in the car the other day, I think we decided what would probably make her the happiest is to find a guy who would accept her and who she would be happy with, yes?* *Pretty much.* *So, sounds simple enough.* *Nope.* *Why not?* *It's a problem of the cone of association again. She doesn't know anyone, you don't know anyone... basically there is no one I can reach through any associations that fits the bill, at least not yet.* *Bummer. So, can you keep, like, an ongoing search for someone as new 'associations' are made.* *Yes.* *Cool.* Jack continued to watch the bar until it finally filled. He double- checked to make sure the files had copied successfully, and then sighed with relief. "Be right back." He walked quickly to Nick's office and stuck his head in. "Files are successfully copied." "Great! So that's it? I thought you said a couple of hours." "A couple of hours for the server to be down. That was the first emergency step. Now I need to update your site with the new products, back it up again, then crank it back up." "Well then don't stand here talking to me. Go man!" Nick said with a smile. Jack went. When he got back to the server room, Ms Cooper was there. "Where have you been? We need to get this back up as soon as possible." "Nick asked me to let him know when the backup was complete." "Okay, so get it going again." Jack explained the same things he had just outlined to Nick. "Very well. Get to it." She left again. Jack got to it. About an hour later, he reappeared in Nick's office. "All done. Test it, if you like," he said, pointing to Nick's monitor. Nick did, and saw that not only was the site back up, but the new products were displayed on the front page in the "Just In" section. "That's awesome, Jack. Thank you." "Sure." He handed Nick a couple of CDs. "Here's the backup. I burned them on my laptop. I recommend you store those somewhere safe and secure, preferably offsite. Keep in mind that this is a snapshot in time. Any changes made to anything on that server after this point will not be backed up unless we do another one." "I understand. What would we lose if something happened?" "Well, the site itself is pretty static, except for some basic usage statistics. The big thing would be customer and purchasing records and the log files." "Hmmm. Credit card transactions happen pretty much in real time, so we can always get a record of those. Packing slips and invoices print from shipping's PC, so we would have a paper record, but I guess we still want to make sure we keep the electronic records. What do you suggest?" "Well, there are a couple of options; the manual, cheap way, and the automated, costly way. The manual way would be for someone to suspend the shopping cart engine of the site long enough to back up the records. It's made so you can stop that engine without shutting down the site. It would take probably five to ten minutes, during which time a purchaser would get a message saying 'please try again in a few minutes.' "The costly way is to purchase a separate backup software package that can back up open files, or work with the web server software to close files, back them up, and then reopen them again. The web server software is made to do that with little to no effect on it's availability with the right backup software." "How much is 'costly'?" Jack shrugged. "Not too bad. The software probably goes for less than two hundred dollars." "What would you do?" "Well, since the web server will hopefully only be running for another couple weeks at most, I would go the manual way and have someone come in here first thing every morning and back up the records. The only problem with that is weekends." "Hmmm. We've got a staff of operators here over weekends. The weekend manager is pretty sharp. Do you think she could do it?" "I would think so, if I showed her how. It's pretty easy. Does she also work during the week?" "Yep. Usually Wednesday through Sunday." "Well, can you have her work with me tomorrow through Friday mornings long enough to show her how to do it? I can show her tomorrow, help her Thursday, and watch over her shoulder on Friday. You or someone else you assign might want to watch, too. By Saturday morning she should be able to do it on her own. Oh!" Jack snapped his fingers. "I forgot. I have a meeting Thursday morning with another client. Hopefully the backup can wait until I get here early Thursday afternoon, if she will still be here." "She will, and that sounds like a good plan." "Good. Next, the new network box is in place and working, so all of your connections throughout your office should be hot. Oh, and here is your receipt and change. There's a rebate on it if you want to send it in." Nick laughed. "Okay, thanks Jack. Let me tell everyone the site is back up." He picked up his receiver. "I'm headed toward our closet, uh, office." Jack grinned to show he was just giving Nick some grief. "If you talk to Ms. Cooper, you might mention that we are ready to start working on the product photos. I'm sure she wants to be in on that." Nick nodded in acknowledgement as he started talking on the phone. Jack was setting up his new camera and tripod while Jennifer arranged the lighting when Ms. Cooper showed up. "Nick said you were ready to start shooting some of the product photography." "Yes ma'am. We thought you would want to assign the order of the products, and be here at least for the first few shots." "Yes. I'll go get the first items I want photographed." By the time she returned Jack and Jennifer were ready to go. Jennifer took the first item to be shot and arranged it on the black display in what she knew to be its best advantage. Ms. Cooper wasn't happy with it, however, and insisted on changing it. And so it went for the first several products. It was very frustrating, having Ms. Cooper forcing them to take less than ideal shots. They quickly figured out that this was a control issue, though, and reacted to her demands courteously while silently developing and refining a system where they would set up a shot almost perfectly, then gently nudge her into changing it to perfect while having her think it was her idea. They felt a bit guilty for manipulating her in such a manner, but soon found that once she had some experience, they no longer had to nudge her most of the time. She was seeing what needed to be changed herself. After that they eased into more of a collaborating interaction with her, rather than intentionally setting things up less that ideally just so she could fix them. They worked steadily with only a quick break for lunch, and by the time the end of the day rolled around they had put a pretty big dent in the product line. Perhaps more importantly, it appeared that Ms. Cooper's attitude toward them had warmed, however slightly. *Baby steps, Jack.* He agreed. A couple more days of similarly exhausting work, including Jack apologetically telling Ms. Cooper that the first few photos had not come out quite right due to a lighting error and would have to be retaken, and the product photos were finished. "Now comes the fun part; writing all the descriptive text for the items," Jack smiled grimly late Wednesday afternoon. "What about the promotional text on the product flyers. What's wrong with that?" Ms. Cooper asked. "Well, we can use it for some, but..." Jack picked up the closest flyer handy and started reading. "... The new Phaser Cock will send blast after blast of Phaser energy across your bow and straight into your reactor core." He looked at Ms. Cooper with a raised eyebrow. The corners of her mouth quirked in a small smile, the first they had seen, and a significant victory. She said, "Okay, maybe not that one." Only slightly surprising to Ms. Cooper at this point, and of course coming as absolutely no surprise to Jack, they found that Jennifer had a 'gift' of almost poetically being able to describe the products in such a way as to incorporate both the fanciful ideas behind each product with a fairly accurate description of what to actually expect from it. They agreed to hit the product descriptions hard and heavy Thursday afternoon. -------- The meeting on Thursday morning that Jack had mentioned to Nick was with Margaret at Smith and Brown, so Thursday morning eight AM found him sitting in Margaret's office. "So, things are going better around here?" "Much, thanks in no small part to you." "Well, like I said before, I was just protecting my own butt." She grinned at him. "Well, it certainly has become a nice one to protect, if you don't mind my saying so." Jack raised an eyebrow and checked her tote board. It didn't look like she was really hitting on him, just doing a bit of flirting, although a dangerous bit as far as sexual harassment went, so he replied. "Thanks. Now what would happen if _I_ told _you_ that you had a nice ass?" She shrugged and grinned. "With me, nothing," She pointed at a small sign on the wall that said 'Any Sexual Harassment Committed In This Room Will NOT Be Reported. Instead, It Will Be Graded', "although I wouldn't say it to anyone else." "Not even Ms. Jacobs." "Absolutely not, unless..." Jack just smiled. "Well, you did help get rid of her arch nemesis. I hear she eats men alive, though, so you're in for a challenge. But not today, she's in a meeting." Jack soon found that pretty much everyone interesting was in meetings that morning. He liked and respected Margaret, but felt little attraction to her (although she did have a nice ass), so after the few items that they had to discuss regarding S&B's website were exhausted, she went on to other things. Not, though, before Jack whispered "you have an awesome ass" in her ear on the way out of her office, causing her to choke and then apologize to whoever was on the other end of the phone held to her other ear. Just before he went through the door, she held her hand over the receiver and whispered, "That'll earn you an A." The remainder of Jack's morning was slow and boring, at least until an invisible Genie suggested CEO Jack screw his 'temp executive secretary' on a desk in an empty office. She even appeared wearing a pair of sexy glasses, her hair tied up in a tight bun, and with a steno pad from somewhere, just to make things authentic. "I'm afraid that there are certain things that I require while I dictate, Miss Holiday." Perched on the corner of 'his' desk, revealing a demure yet tantalizing bit of crossed-legs beneath the hem of her skirt, executive secretary Holiday looked over her glasses at him. "I will accommodate you in whatever ways you require, Mr. Phillips." "Very well, remove your blouse, skirt and panties, bend over the desk, and prepare to write, please." In elegant, economical movements, secretary Holiday removed her conservative cream blouse and skirt, revealing matching cream bra and stockings...and no panties. She gave him a professionally attentive expression that also managed to be both challenging and sultry as she moved to bend at the waist over the desk, her long, perfectly toned legs spread wide. They were made even more shapely, if that were possible, by her cream colored heels. Jack stood and moved behind her. He unzipped the fly of his temporary thousand-dollar-suit pants while contemplating her bud, which was fully exposed between her taut, spread cheeks. It was somehow still virgin, and he was sorely tempted to change that. After a moment's consideration, though, he decided against it. Her rear deserved its cherry to be taken in a much more leisurely and thorough fashion. Besides, Jack found that, in addition to any (marginally) leg-shaping properties they might possess, her heels were also just tall enough to put her glistening vagina at the perfect 'dictating' height. Placing his tip at her entrance, he grasped her narrow waist and slid into her tight tunnel to the hilt. She moaned softly. "Did you say something, Miss Holiday?" "No sir." Supporting her upper body's weight on her forearms, she placed tip of pen to pad. "I am ready to take your dictation whenever you wish to begin." He began. In her position she could do little but receive his long, strong thrusts as he pressed her legs against the desk. She actually appeared to be 'taking notes' as she panted and moaned, so CEO Jack tried to angle and time each thrust for maximum insightful impact. He seemed successful, as they both had entirely satisfying orgasms many pages later. Although the office had an executive bathroom, there were no supplies, so Jennifer cleaned them up magically and returned them to their regular clothes. She disappeared again long enough for them to make it out of S&B's parking lot, and then popped into the passenger seat, grinning smugly, to show Jack where she had taken down every grunt and groan in shorthand, even during orgasm. -------- They arrived at FI shortly after lunch. After working with the weekend manger to perform the daily backup on the web server, they got to work on the text descriptions for the products. Jennifer sped through them, although every once in awhile she would throw in a zinger that got Jack rolling, just to make sure he was paying attention. A couple of them even cracked up Ms. Cooper. Jack was pleased to discover that she had a beautiful smile, showing off her strong, white teeth, a surprising set of dimples, and high, round cheeks, all to great advantage. He didn't think she was comfortable enough with Jennifer and him to say so yet, though. Friday afternoon saw them finished with most of the text, and in a status meeting with Nick, Alice and Ms. Cooper. "...so, the photos and text for most of your products are done. Now Jennifer and I just need to tweak copies of the photos for the 'PG' version of the site, and then get the site itself populated with all of the products. After, that, well, I need your input. Once the photos and text are in, the site will be ready to go insofar as it has the same contents as your current one. The question is, do you want to switch to it then, or wait for the demo photos and instructional text?" Nick thought for a moment. "Can you give me some time frames?" "Well, we'll work though the weekend, and have the basic site finished early next week. After that..." "I know we have been saying we want this thing as soon as we can, but I hate to have you working over the weekend," Nick interrupted. Jack smiled. "Not a problem. Such is the life of a self-employed web designer. Some weeks we work hard seven days a week, and some weeks we have a fairly light work load," *or blow the whole week trying to solve some stupid puzzle* he added mentally. Jennifer, who was sitting at an angle where the FI folks couldn't see her face, stuck her tongue out at him. "...so don't worry about that. "So. The initial site will be ready, say, Tuesday. If we decide to switch your site over to it then, we will first need to test it to make sure everything is working; the shopping cart, credit card transactions, etcetera. That would mean going live around Thursday, unless you have a day after that which would be better for the switch. "If you didn't decide to switch over then, we would start the demo photographs and instructional text on Tuesday or Wednesday. Figure about a week and a half to get all that done and added to the site, so that plus the two days testing would put you around two weeks from this coming Monday, give or take, if you decide to switch over after those demo photos are added." Nick contemplated this. "Hmmm. Well, with the concern you have raised about our existing server, I think it might be best to switch over as soon as we can. We'd like to perform a bit of a marketing blitz for our new look, but we'll probably hold off on that until at least the demo photos are posted, and perhaps even the videos. That should work out well, actually, as we can have the site running for a couple of weeks to iron out any issues and make sure it's spinning like a top before the big campaign, which will hopefully bring in lots of traffic." He looked at Ms. Cooper, who nodded her agreement. "Sounds good." Jack replied. "Don't forget, I do print advertising as well, and would be happy to help you with your 'blitz'. I already have all of your artwork and everything." "We have already discussed that a bit, Jack, and will most likely get you to help us. We just need to decide what we want to do," Nick said "Great. Well, we will leave you for today. Have a good weekend, and we will see you Tuesday morning, that is unless you need me for something before then. Feel free to call if you do." "Will-do. Thanks again for all your hard work, both of you." Once the meeting broke up, Jack pulled Ms. Cooper aside. "Do you have time for a couple of quick questions?" "Sure." "Do you guys sell many batteries?" She shrugged. "Some. Why?" "Well, I can set up the site so that it will suggest additional or related items whenever someone views or purchases an item. I thought I might add a suggestion to buy batteries any time an item is purchased that needs them, maybe even suggest a regular pack for 'lightweights' and a large economy pack for 'horny devils' or something." Ms. Cooper had been nodding since halfway through his suggestion. "That's a great idea, Jack. Do it." "Alright. The second question is; would you like me to set up any other related suggestions, such as 'if you are purchasing this Home Light Bondage Kit, you might also want to consider; ball gags, nipple clamps' etcetera?" "Can it do that automatically?" "Not exactly. It does have the ability to track users' purchases - anonymously, of course - and then, once enough purchasing data has been collected, display the 'other buyers of this product have also purchased yada yada,' message you may have seen on other e-retail sites. But initially the related suggestions would have to be linked manually. Plus, manual linking is more likely to sell items, as the other way could show completely unrelated products that someone just happened to buy together." "Isn't that time consuming?" Jack shrugged. "Somewhat. As I assume you would want to have a say in what suggestions should be made for what products, as you have the most experience with what is bought with what, I figure we can work on that here in spare moments and still have it pretty much done by the site's 'Grand Opening' you are planning." "That sounds good to me, Jack." "Okay, well, have a nice weekend." "You too, guys." As they were walking to the car, Jennifer said, "Those were both good ideas, Jack." "Thanks! Just trying to give them their money's worth." -------- Saturday morning saw Jack staring at his computer, dreading the drudgery of adding all of the product photos and descriptive text. And he would have to do each one twice, once for the PG version, and one for the R/X version. Why the hell did he have to come up with _that_ idea? At least he had been able to creatively wish Jennifer enough skill to help him. They worked through a couple of items, and then Jack had a thought. "Jennifer, now that we know how this is all going to work and have done a few of these products by hand, just to say we have, can I wish that this website be constructed as we have planned, although tweaked in any way necessary, to give the shopper the ultimate titillating and satisfying shopping experience for all their erotic needs, leaving us a free, romantic, sexy weekend together?" Tingle. "Yup. Done." "That was easy." Jack sighed and stretched happily, feeling like a kid let out of school. They had no problem making sure the weekend was both romantic and filled with lots of sex, much of it kinky, just to make sure the requirements for the wish were met. Sunday was especially easy, as a rather severe thunderstorm knocked out the power for most of the late afternoon and evening. That was fine with them. A few magically created candles and oil lamps - suspiciously shaped lamps that in other circumstances might beg to be rubbed, Jack noticed - provided all the light they needed. They had planned to relax on Monday, as well, enjoying the guilty pleasure of being lazy while everyone thought you were working, but it wasn't to be. Early Monday morning, the phone rang. "Hello," Jack mumbled. ... "What? Why?" ... Jack sighed. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up. "What's going on?" Jennifer asked. "That was Nick. He said it looks like last night's storm knocked out a lot of their equipment, including the web server. I'm going in to see what I can do. He accused me of jinxing the server. He was kidding. Mostly. I think." They hit the head, threw on some clothes, Jack rubbed a razor over his face, and they hit the road. Traffic was light this early, so they made record time. Nick came to the front door at their knock. "Thanks for coming, guys. Sorry to get you up so early." "No problem. Let's take a look at the damage." The web server was well and truly dead, although it was possible that the power surge or whatever had not done major damage to the PC, and it could be fairly easily repaired. Still, it was far from the only victim. Almost everything on the same power circuit was fried, regardless of the (cheap) surge protectors most of the equipment was plugged into. This included all the network equipment and several other PCs, although remarkably it looked like the cable modem had somehow survived. Jack had brought his laptop, so he hooked it up to test the modem. As he was starting up the laptop, Ms. Cooper entered. Jack said in wonder, "Yep, it still works, don't ask me how." "So where does that leave us, Jack." Nick asked. "Well, it's possible that all the server PC needs is a new part to get it going again. Or, it could be completely fried. The only way to know is to try that part -it's inexpensive, and easy to find - but even at best, we're looking at a couple of hours to get it going again, and if something else is wrong, well," he shrugged. "Okay, so what's the next option?" Jack looked at Jennifer. He kind of hated to admit that the new website was ready early, as it would set the bar awfully high for future performance, but it didn't look like there was much of a choice, not if he wanted to give the client his best. "Your new website is actually pretty much ready to go." "What? How can that be? I thought you said it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. What did you guys do, work on it the whole weekend, forgetting to sleep?" "Yeah, we went pretty hot and heavy all weekend," Jack replied, not entirely untruthfully. It just wasn't on the website. "We got into a groove, and just kept going, figuring we would take today to catch up on our sleep." At least the last part was true; they did plan to nap to make up for some lost sleep. Both Nick and Ms. Cooper were looking at him suspiciously. "What?" He threw up his hands. "Alright, you got us. We worked all weekend non-stop on your new website while directing the storm here last night to have it strike just right so that it would take out your web server so you would have to switch to the other one this morning." Nick chuckled, Ms Cooper snorted, and Jennifer thought at him, *Now you see what it feels like to have coincidences blamed on you.* Jack turned so that only she could see his face, gave her a lopsided smile, and thought, *Yeah, well, now that you mention it, I'm not convinced this isn't really your doing.* He was answered by a loud, surround-sound raspberry reverberating through his head. He winced, and then turned back to Nick. "So, the way I see it, we can do one of three things; we can try to repair the current server, as I said. At best, that's a couple of hours if it's just the power supply, the part I mentioned. At worst, the server is completely fried. That leads to option two, which is to build another server from one of your existing non-fried PC's, or a new one. That would probably take most of the day. "Third is to switch to the new site now. It is already loaded up on my server. Your web address does not point to that server, and it will take several hours at least to get the change made, but until then I can run a utility here on my laptop to redirect the traffic." "I'm not sure I understand that last part," Ms Cooper said. "Okay, think of your web address, your URL, as your web phone number. Right now your phone number still rings here, but there is no web server running to answer the call. We need to switch the number so it rings at my server, which can answer the call. That process usually takes a day or so for this situation, but the guys at my ISP, who take care of this sort of thing, are very helpful and might be able to get it done faster. In the mean time, I can run a utility here on my laptop, or another PC, that can forward your web 'phone calls' to the new site until your 'web phone number' is moved." "Okay, that makes sense." She looked at Nick. "I don't think there is any question, that's what we need to do." Nick looked questioningly at Jack, who said. "That's definitely my recommendation. The only thing we miss by switching today is the testing, and I feel fairly confident the purchasing side will work ok. Ooooo!" Jack said as something occurred to him. "What?" everyone else chorused. "The website will work fine, but with your network fried, it will be a bit of a challenge getting your orders to the warehouse." "The old site would print out orders to the printer back there. What would the new one normally do?" Ms. Cooper asked. "Basically the same thing. A client runs on the PC that their printer is attached to. It automatically retrieves the orders, and can be set to print the orders, or beep when new orders come in and allow your employees to review and print them manually, and lots of other stuff. Training your guys to use the client would have been part of the couple days of testing. Now?" he shrugged. "Trial by fire. I guess the only thing to do is to load the client on the same PC in here that is running the other utility. Did shipping and receiving's PC get fried?" "No, I don't think there was any damage back there." "Well, I volunteered my laptop, but in light of the shipping issue, I recommend that we bring their PC and printer here and load both the forwarding utility and the shipping and receiving client on it. Once that is done, all visitors will be directed to the new site, and all orders will print out here. We can hand-carry them to the warehouse to be filled until we get the network back up." In the mean time, I suggest we send someone on a shopping trip to buy some new network equipment. You might even be able to return that new box I bought a couple of days ago as defective. Not quite honest, but," he shrugged. "I can make a list of what you need." "I can go do that." Ms. Cooper said. Jennifer surprised both her and Jack by saying, "Want some company?" Ms. Cooper shrugged. "Sure." By this time most everyone had come to work, so Nick called back to the warehouse to have a couple guys bring up the PC and printer while Jack made his shopping list. He handed it to Ms. Cooper. "Give me a call on my cell if you have any questions, although I'm sure that two gorgeous, intelligent women shopping for networking equipment will have every techie sales guy in the store falling over themselves to be of assistance." Jack realized the danger of these words as soon as they left his mouth, but he was relieved and pleased to see Ms. Cooper simply blush slightly at his praise. The ladies went shopping, and Jack got to work on the PC that the warehouse staff brought to him. Within an hour he had the PC temporarily forwarding all customers to the new website until his ISP could move FI's web address to his server, which he had called to request at top priority, and he had it printing orders received from the new site. The ladies returned with their purchases not long after, including breakfast sandwiches for everyone. Jack was so busy and distracted that he hadn't realized this was the first time he and Genie/Jennifer had been apart since he had opened her vessel until they returned. He was happy she was getting independent enough to have gone, while at the same time a bit disturbed that it hadn't been a bigger deal. He discovered he had missed her, too. *How did it go?* He asked. *Fine. I tried to get her into some friendly chat. You know, general stuff, nothing personal.* *And?* He felt what he equated to a mental shrug. *She was friendly, but reserved. As I said before; baby steps. You were right about one thing, though. There was certainly no problem getting all the help we needed. I was my usual reserved self, of course, and...* *You mean you flirted shamelessly?* *Yes. And while she was a bit shocked initially, and although she didn't participate, I think once she got over her initial surprise she saw how much fun it can be. Maybe you should sabotage their network again so we can go on another shopping trip.* Jack was about to retaliate for that comment, but just then Nick came in to check up on things. "Got everything you need, Jack?' "For the network, I believe so. I'm starting on it now." "Okay, let me know how it goes." "I will." As he began opening boxes, Jack asked, *Do you realize that was the first time we have been apart since I opened your puzzle box?* *Well, physically separated by a greater distance than we have been before, perhaps, but not apart. We are never more than a thought apart, Jack.* *So, I could have talked to you while you were shopping?* *Sure.* *What about your protective abilities? Were those still in place?* *Of course?* *For both of us?* *Yes.* *Huh. So what if I would have needed or wanted you for something?* *Then I would have been with you in an instant.* *What about Ms Cooper. Would she have simply seen you disappear?* *Well, to protect our anonymity, I could have done several things; have her and everyone not notice my absence or my return, leave a copy of me behind, etcetera.* *You can make copies of yourself?!* *Well, not full copies. They couldn't grant wishes. She gave him a naughty look. But they would be fully functional in many other ways.* *Huh... uh, good to know.* Jack knew if he explored that line of thought right now he would never get anything done, so he hit the network with a vengeance. Near the end of the day he had the network back up and all non-fried PC's connected to it. He gathered with everyone else for a quick status meeting. "All the PC's still working are back on the network and the internet. My ISP has informed me that your web address will be routed to my server sometime tonight. I'm sorry it wasn't sooner. At this point, I plan to leave shipping's PC where it is until the morning to continue forwarding your customers to my server. In the morning we'll move it back to the warehouse and I will give Alice and her folks a crash course in how to use the client software. After that, well, it's up to you. I can either help you try to get the rest of your equipment running, or I can go back to working on the website." "You've been a lifesaver, Jack. I don't know what we would have done without you. Thanks for the offer to help with our hardware, but there are plenty of techs around we can get in here to do that. We need you back on the website." "Sounds good to me," Jack gave a lopsided grin, "although, keep in mind, we are actually a couple days ahead of schedule." He turned more serious. "I would recommend having whoever you get work on the web server first. Even though we have been doing the manual backups up through Sunday morning, and Shipping and Receiving should have a printout of all the orders after that, it would still be a good idea to get it back up and running if you can, just to make sure nothing got missed and to make a final backup of the files." Nick said, "Very well. We'll get them to do that first. Anything else, anyone?" There wasn't, so the meeting broke up. Exhausted, Jack and Jennifer went home after Jack confirmed that Jennifer's protection powers would make sure he wouldn't go to sleep at the wheel, or at least the auto pilot would take over, on the drive home. Once they arrived safely, Jennifer fixed them a quick snack, and then they passed out while watching TV. The next morning Jack confirmed that FI's web address was now going directly to the new site on his server, and then he disconnected Alice's PC and moved it back to shipping. As promised, he gave a quick but thorough lesson on the use of the shipping and receiving client. Alice was thrilled with all it could do, but, "There's no way I'll remember all that crap, Jack!" Jack grinned back and handed her a laminated card. "Here is a quick start card for the client software. Tape it up somewhere handy. It tells you how to do most of the standard stuff. For anything else, well, I'm just across the way there, you know. Just wait for the stunning red head to come out of the booth to grab the next toy, and ask me anything you like... unless you want to come model some of the stuff? You know, to give her a break." Alice just snorted and slapped his arm. "Shoo!" Jack performed a quick final tour of the building to make sure that everything he had done was still working, and to check in with Nick. He then went to Ms. Cooper's office and knocked while poking his head through the door. "We're ready to start the demo photos, if you want to be there." "I do. Give me fifteen minutes." Fifteen minutes was just enough time to get the photo booth ready. They finished just as she walked up. "What order do you guys suggest we do this series in?" she asked, a marked change from her attitude at the beginning of the first round of photos. "Well, as these are meant to show the products in use correctly in addition to providing a bit of titillation, I think we might want to start with the products which your customers seem to have the most problems with, or that you have the most complaints or returns on. I'm going to try to post these as we go, so those can be up first." Ms. Cooper nodded. "That makes sense. Let me go consult with Alice on returns for a minute, and I'll be back with a few items." While she was gone, Jennifer started removing her clothing, much to Jack's enjoyment. She stopped at a hunter green lacy bra, matching panties, and black stockings, real ones. It seemed that hunter green was becoming her signature color. It sure matched nicely with her dark red tresses and deep green eyes. *Show off.* Jack thought, admiring her silk-encased gams. *Lech,* she replied, making sure he got the best view. *I like the green.* *Thanks! Me, too.* When Ms. Cooper returned, she saw Jennifer, stopped short, and said, "Oh!" Jennifer looked up innocently. "Something wrong?" "Uh, no, I just didn't expect... uh... no, nothing's wrong." She held up a box. "It's kind of ironic that you guys picked the Buzzy Buggie as one of your demo toys, as it is actually one of the ones we get the most complaints about." "Really? I have no complaints about it." Jennifer said, blushing a bit but grinning cheekily. "Yes, well," Ms. Cooper didn't seem to have an answer for that, so she simply handed Jennifer the box. Jennifer set it aside for a moment to remove her stockings and panties. She did this without any overt eroticism, but then she didn't need any. Jack's cock was rock hard long before the silk panties floated to the floor around her ankles. He thought to try to hide it before deciding how ridiculous that was. He was likely to be hard for most of the next week, and if he was constantly trying to hide it, all he would accomplish would be to call more attention to it. Ms. Cooper would just have to get over it, if she insisted on staying for this whole shoot, too. Besides, although he couldn't really get a good look without giving himself away, a few quick glimpses seemed to confirm a bit of a bulge in the front of her skirt, as well. Jennifer proceeded to strap on the Buggie, performing more 'innocently' cock-hardening bending and squatting in the process. When she finally had it like she wanted it, she reclined on the pillows covered with black cloth and positioned herself for the camera, but Ms. Cooper stopped them. "Wait! You don't have it on correctly." "I don't?" Jennifer looked at her doubtfully. "No. I think that's why we get so many complaints." She moved closer to Jennifer. "It's actually supposed to be, um, higher." Jennifer shifted it a bit. "Here?" "No, uh, over your hood." "Really? Here?" "Not quite. It's..." Jennifer removed her hand and pointed to the bug. "Can you show me?" "Uh..." Ms. Cooper said self consciously. Jennifer smiled and nodded encouragingly, and Ms. Cooper reached out a slightly shaking hand to grasp the bug and move it, careful not to touch Jennifer's privates. "There?" Jennifer said disbelievingly. She reached out to grasp the battery and control unit wired to the Buggie. She twisted the control knob, and the Buggie started buzzing. She winced. "I'm sorry, Ms. Cooper, but that feels really unpleasant." "But the instructions..." she held up a flimsy sheet of paper. Jennifer took it. "Ms. Cooper, this looks to be a bad translation of a bad translation. If the customers are trying to follow these, that probably explains a lot." She flung the paper into the air, and it fluttered down several feet away. "Please move the Buggie down about an inch or so." Ms. Cooper reached out and gingerly did as Jennifer asked. It slid below Jennifer's hood and nestled, buzzing, against her clit. She sighed. "See how it fits in snugly there? In that location, I had two orgasms while Master Photographer got the 'lighting right' during the photography for your demo site." It was Jack's turn to redden and shrug. "I see," Ms Cooper said, distracted a bit by the idea of possibly seeing the bug cause a repeat performance. "Might I ask, have you tried this product yet?" Jennifer asked. Jack thought this a dangerous question, but then realized it was fairly appropriate to ask of an attractive woman who happened to be the VP of purchasing of a major adult toy distributor, as long as you assumed said VP didn't have a penis. Ms. Cooper stuttered a bit then said, "No, not yet." "Well, my experience is of course that of only one woman, so perhaps you should try it, or have some of the other female employees try it to see if they have the same experience. Jamie up front, for one, would probably be quite willing to try it for work, if she hasn't tried it for pleasure already. Why, I bet even Alice would be willing." This earned her an "ewwww!" look from both Jack and Ms. Cooper. "What? She's a woman too, you know!" "Ummm... I might take an informal poll later. Just go ahead and shoot it like you have it for now." Jennifer gave her a naughty grin. "What, do you mean still running?" She didn't move to cut it off, so Jack shrugged and set up the shot. Jennifer was able to hold off until he said he had the photos he needed, but then her body shuddered strongly. Jack was certain he saw a bulge in Ms. Cooper's skirt this time. And so it went for the rest of that day and most of the next. Jennifer's earlier prediction proved correct, as the area by the booth soon became heavily traveled. At first Ms. Cooper scowled at whoever walked past, until Jack said, "It's your call, of course, but they aren't bothering Jennifer or me, and Alice won't let them get too far out of line, so perhaps you should just consider it a free fringe benefit for your folks to enjoy on their breaks or whatever." Ms. Cooper couldn't say too much to that. Jack and Jennifer obviously had things well in hand, and if she were completely honest with herself she would have to admit that the only reason she was staying back here was for the same reason that was drawing the heavy traffic. So, she lightened up. She felt even better when Nick wandered back, muttered a 'whoa!" under his breath and stopped to watch for awhile. Jennifer was currently posing for the photos for the LongDong. Jack shot a series of pictures as the dong disappeared. All of it. Nick was part of the traffic wearing a crease in the floor after that. They shot until about two thirty on Wednesday, and then stopped to write the instructional text for the items they had photographed. Not surprisingly, Jennifer seemed to know just what to write. Finally Ms. Cooper threw up her hands. "It's like you've used every single one of these things extensively!" Jennifer just smiled and shrugged. Ms. Cooper shook her head and left them to it. They finished right at five, and left with everyone else. They had a simple dinner when they got home. After that Jack again wished the website updated, as for some reason they were both very, very horny. They enjoyed some leisurely but quite creative and effective mutual orgasmic stimulation, and then hit the bed early, satiated and very tired. -------- Margaret at S&B had called to ask Jack to skip this week's meeting entirely, as things were just too crazy. She told him that there was really nothing which needed doing on the website at the moment, and that she would tell the boss they had consulted. Therefore, Thursday went pretty much the same as Wednesday, until, on one of his afternoon walk- bys, Nick waited until the current shot was done and then said, "How goes it?" "Good. These demo photos obviously take longer to shoot than the first product ones, but we should stay on schedule, perhaps even a little ahead." "Great! Would it help if I stopped this..." he indicated the high traffic zone. "Nope. Like we told Ms. Cooper, it doesn't bother us at all, your folks seem to enjoy sneaking peeks, and Alice isn't letting things get out of hand. Besides," he continued in a stage whisper while pointing in Jennifer's direction through his other hand, "I think the talent performs better with an audience." "I heard that!" floated up from the luscious form lounging on the black- covered pillows as she applied some vicious-looking nipple clamps for the next shot. Nick grinned. "Very well. I also wanted to let you know - you too, Susan - that I've just found out I will need to be out for a couple of days for some personal reasons. I should be back next Tuesday or Wednesday." "Is everything okay?" Ms. Cooper asked with a concerned frown. "Yeah, just a few things I need to take care of. Well, I've held you guys up long enough. Have a good weekend, and I'll see you next week." Everyone said bye, then Jack asked, *I hate to pry, but is there anything I should know about Nick? Can we help him in any way?* *Nothing sexual that I can see.* *Oh, well, keep an ear out, will you?* *Sure. Now shoot the damn photo, these things hurt if you aren't good and revved up, which I am currently not.* Jack grinned. *Well, we can get you good and revved whenever we do any other clamps if you think you can hold still for the photographs.* She just looked back at him flatly. He continued to grin. They finished the day, and Jack and Jennifer went home to start into motion a plan Jack had been contemplating. While he hoped everything was okay with Nick, his absence would actually help. <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. 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