Beta Days (06/12/2017 - Part 3 added)

Part One

Ally had the world at her feet. Qualifying for top honors in the field of computing at Uni, she was young, ambitious and driven to succeed. With her idols being Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Ally aspired to work in the development of new technology. Ally had planned to move to California, rent an apartment and find local work until Silicon Valley came calling. Having already submitted her resume to companies in the state, Ally was positive it would not be long before the door to opportunity opened for her. A role model in the town, Ally’s academic and selfless personality had made her popular amongst friends, who were in envy. Her family were immensely proud of her achievements, and were confident she would have a great career. Ally vowed to keep everyone up to date using her Facebook page. After a brief embrace on the driveway, and a reminder to stay in touch, her parents and sister waved as she drove off, excited about what the future would bring.

Six months later…

The rain droplets trickled down the glass as Ally sat on the bench, trying to work out a coding algorithm for a program. Scribbling notes on the space provided, she almost forgot the unlit cigarette resting between her lips, awaiting her attention. Taking out her bic lighter, she sparked the wheel, a large butane flame erupted. She leant the tip into the flame, as it became engulfed, and glowed red. As smoke filled her mouth, her cheeks caved in as she inhaled sharply. As the smoke caressed her lungs, the cravings died down, and she felt more relaxed. “That’s it – it’s complete.

The guys should be happy with this tonight.” Ally thought as she completed the coding on the pad. Ash embers flickered as inhaled smoke made its way down her nostrils and spiralling into the air. Ally spent most work breaks alone in the small isolated shelter smoking, reflecting on her fading Californian dream.

After chaining another cigarette, Ally was back at her workstation, completing another technical support call from a complainer over broadband.

“Hey Ally, what’s up?” Tracy, her work colleague from the sales team said.

“Not much. Just another satisfied customer. How can I help?” Ally groaned in response.

“I am fundraising for a charity down the street. I am doing a half-marathon. Fancy donating for such a good cause?” Tracy beamed.

“Sorry I got no change on me today, er, try me tomorrow.” Ally responded, looking for an excuse for her eccentric work colleague to find another target.

“Probably got no money coz of your dough spent on cancer sticks. Not very bright for someone with all those qualifications, me thinks. See you later alligator.” Tracy joked awkwardly as Ally predicted the usual daily dig at her nicotine addiction.

As day turned to night, Ally returned to her apartment to share her findings with the Hive. The Hive were an underground network of hackers, usually working on weaknesses to computer applications and programs. They were glad after Ally contributed her workings on a breakaway code for their latest project. During the chat session, Ally would chain-smoke and drink Wine. She found the cigarettes gave her focus on being able to interpret specific coding areas, and the drink soothed her depressed mind. As the empty wine bottles mounted up, so did her loneliness, she suddenly felt angry. Ally lit a fresh cigarette, and ranted about her life to date in the chatroom. The rented apartment she had was a money pit, with an unreliable landlord who had no regard for her tenants. Her internet connection was also unreliable too, often kicking out when required. While receiving rejections from companies in Silicon Valley, she had to settle for a job offering broadband support to customers. The work was only meant to tide her over until she could gain a foothold in a computing empire. Ally found the work demeaning and tedious, while she was unable to form friendships from her colleagues due to their “inferior intellect”. Due to work patterns, Ally had also been unable to maintain contact with her family back in Utah. The combination left her feeling depressed and worthless. Ally found solace in visiting local bars and drowning her sorrows in alcohol. She seemed to have a natural affinity with wine. Smoking seemed to follow naturally to fill the void of disappointment she felt.

“Why cant I get a break?” Her last message read, before she was disconnected by the Hive admin. One of the chatroom ground rules was no personal life information discussed, as it attempted to maintain the anonymity of the users to the secret online community.

As Ally smoked with intensity, grabbing another bottle of wine, a message popped up onscreen:
“Hey there. I’m sorry u were kicked out of chat. Miserable fuckers I say. I’m sorry 2 hear ur down on ur luck.”

Ally inhaled again, as she read over the message from a person she didn’t notice in chat. The user ID handle was simply V3N0M.

“Uve proved ur credentials tonight with that coding puzzle solved. These nerds take u 4 granted. They r not ur friends.” V3N0M added.

“Too fucking right.” Ally typed as smoke smouldered from the lit cigarette between her lips.
“U fancy another challenge?” V3N0M suggested.

“U offerin’?”

“Something like that. I’m looking for someone to debug a new program I’ve created. The app is at beta stage and needs tested.”

“Yeh sure. Tell me more. What’s your real name?”

“Rule One is no names, no personal information. This is an opportunity 4 u 2 test a state of the art program. If successful, I will reward u 4 ur troubles. U could b @ the forefront of a revolution. Rule Two is that u cannot share any of this app with anyone else. No1 can know until the app has been fully tested. U break my trust, then our arrangement is over. U still want 2 proceed?”

Ally chuckled as she exhaled downward towards the keyboard.

“OK I agree. What do I do?”

“Click on the below link.”

Ally complied, clicking the hyperlink V3N0M sent her. A browser opened up a grey screen with panel buttons down the left and right side of the screen. Ally noticed the address bar was blank after loading. This guy ain’t taking any chances, Ally thought.

“What is this?” Ally typed as she tapped her cigarette against the desk.

“This program scours and finds social media profiles from all the major organizations, including Facebook, Myspace, etc. The app is set up to find vulnerabilities of privacy settings throughout each unique profile. It potentially also allows users to access and edit profile details remotely without logging in.”

“U mean I can edit someone else’s profile without their knowledge?”

“Exactly.”

“Now click the Search button on the screen.” V3N0M typed.

Ally clicked the button and saw various fields appear, including a surname, forename and placeholder window.

“Think of someone you know, maybe a neighbour or a work colleague. Use the entries. U can use the placeholder to identify the correct profile.”

Ally thought immediately about her eccentric colleague Tracy Crowe. It may be fun to fuck with her, she considered as she typed in her name into the fields, and clicked a Look Up button at bottom of the screen.

The application browser went blank for a few moments, then returned a page of find results. Thankfully, there were few results that came back, and Ally scrolled down them until she saw an entry with her colleague’s cheeky smiling avatar. Smug prick, Ally thought as she clicked OK.

The next screen opened up with several tabs running vertically across the screen, ranging from Profile Picture, Hobbies, Music, TV Shows, Movies, Vocation, etc.

“Once uve found some1, u will now have complete control of their profile. In theory, u can edit any part of it, then click Accept to confirm changes.” V3N0M reminded Ally as she skimmed through Tracy’s profile.

After a few moments scrolling through uploaded photo albums, recent posts and favourite music, her views of Tracy were vindicated after noticing a disparaging post made about smokers in her neighbourhood.

Fuck Tracy, she deserves this. Ally said to himself as she lit a new cigarette off her old butt. Once the tip was alight, she drew deeply while clicking on the Post tab onscreen.

Clicking the post remonstrating against smokers, Ally clicked Edit and began typing. Removing the anti-smoking content in a text box, Ally typed “Smokers rock!”

Ally chuckled to himself as she Saved the edited post.

After grinding out her nineteenth cigarette, Ally went to bed as fatigue set in.

The following morning started like every other, with a coffee and cigarette awakening her senses. After beating the morning traffic, Ally settled back into her role as helpdesk operator. Complaints about routers not working, landlines down, bored Ally beyond belief, and she could feel the pang for nicotine rise with each ticking moment on her clock. As soon as the clock sounded 1000 hours, Ally marched as usual out of the building towards the shelter for peace. The morning dew stuck to the shelter as the sun peered out from behind the grey clouds. Ally removed her pack of cigarettes, extracted a filter and placed between her parched lips. With no hesitancy, she sucked deeply as the flame engulfed the end, glowing fiery red. Ally sighed as the first nicotine hit shook her body with glee. As she inhaled again, her eyelids closed involuntarily and the moment seemed to last an eternity as the smoke flooded her lungs.

“Hey there.” Ally’s peace was shattered as she saw Tracy standing in front of her.

“Hey, I got your money…” Ally remembered Tracy’s fundraising, and handed her sponsorship cash.

“Cheers, but I was needing something else…” Tracy implied sheepishly, nodding towards the pack of cigarettes sitting next to Ally.

“Oh right, here you go then.” Ally handed the pack and lighter over to her colleague. Without further thought over her actions, Tracy removed and lit up a cigarette like a pro. As her cheeks caved in, Tracy sat down beside Ally and sucked deeply on the cigarette, devouring every moment. Ally almost coughed smoke out, now remembering her actions from the previous night. Ally sat in shock as formerly anti-smoking Tracy embraced the cigarette like a seasoned smoker, desperate for every drag.

“Don’t you just love this? It won’t be good for the marathon, but who cares. Smoking rocks!” Tracy said excitedly, examining the burning cylinder between her fingers. Ally was in disbelief as her work colleague puffed contentedly on the cigarette like a natural nicotine addict, with no recollection of her views 24 hours earlier.
“When did you start smoking, Tracy?” Ally asked, testing the extent of this new development.

“Oh can’t remember. It just kinda happened. No regrets. I’ve always thought smokers were cooler.”

Ally and Tracy continued to smoke and chat, and further shared smoke breaks throughout the day gave Ally a new perspective of her work colleague. Every time Tracy bummed a cigarette and smoked, Ally could feel a tingling sensation in her groin. She could feel a growing attraction to her former annoying colleague. She had a few relationships with girls when growing up, but never was serious. Watching Tracy devour cigarettes now showed her colleague in a new attractive light. They discovered they had a few things in common like favourite foods, although Tracy liked Katy Perry. We’ll have to try changing that, Ally laughed to himself. Not only did Tracy now smoke, but her work colleagues had only known her as a smoker, and not the anti-smoking preacher who chastised smokers.

Later than night, Ally returned home to her apartment and rebooted up her computer. Logging back into the Hive private domain, she found her access to the chat room had been removed. Lighting up a cigarette and pouring a glass of wine, she considered sending a grovelling message to the administrator to be allowed entry.

“U there?” a message suddenly appeared on-screen. It was from V3N0M.

“ Yeh.” Ally replied as she sucked again on her cigarette.

“Did your change stick?”

“Fuck yeh – either that was a freakin’ coincidence, or some serious otherworldly shit from ur app. It is awesome.” Ally responded.

“There is only one way 2 find out. Try another edit.” V3N0M suggested.

Ally loaded Tracy’s profile back up through the application, and looked up her musical preferences. As expected, Katy Perry was listed. Removing her avatar, she replaced with Disturbed, and Accepted/Saved.

Thirty minutes later, Ally checked the application against most recent posts. Tracy had added a video link for Disturbed – Land of Confusion, followed with a caption “Awesome!”

Ally decided that night to burn a copy of a Disturbed album for her new smoking accomplice.

Part Two

“So, Tracy, what did you think of their new album?” Ally asked as they sat on the bench inside the smoke shelter.

“I thought it was awesome! David Draiman is just amazing.” Tracy replied, as the rain fell around them.

Ally quickly lit up as Tracy spoke about her favourite tracks from the album. Ally took quick successive puffs, feeding her starving lungs after a busy work morning. The nicotine surge shot through her system, delivering the now familiar sense of peace. As the sensation settled, her attention immediately shot back to her work colleague as she extracted her “first” pack of cigarettes.

“Marlboro Lights? Nice…” Ally thought, exhaling a jet of smoke outside the shelter.

“You will be glad I don’t have to bum from you anymore.” Tracy beamed as she flipped the lip back of the gold and white pack. The filters sat exposed, waiting to be selected by Tracy’s nimble fingers. Like a moth to a flame, Ally was mesmerized as she watched her work colleague carefully remove a cigarette from the pack, and hold the stick between her fingers. Closing the pack and laying it beside her on the bench, Tracy admired the cylinder for a moment, before placing between her lips.

“Woah, Tracy looks sexy as hell!” Ally thought, spellbound by the sight of the new smoking companion.

“What you lookin at?” Tracy teased, as the unlit cigarette bounced between her lips, catching Ally’s stare.

“Nuffin…” Ally responded, as she returned her attention to her own cigarette, taking a deep puff.

“Good. You could make a girl like me paranoid.” Tracy joked as she removed a small blue bic lighter. Ally watched, intrigued, as Tracy sparked the lighter to life. A steady flame burst, and Tracy lowered the tip and sucked deeply, as smoke billowed from the end. As the end sizzled, Tracy tipped her head back, cheeks caving in, trying to suck in as much of the creamy smoke as possible. After a second, Tracy sharply inhaled into her crying lungs, and allowed the nicotine to hit her system with its pleasure. All the while, Ally pretended not to look in amazement at the smoker she had just created a few days ago. While Tracy pursed her lips to exhale, oblivious to the changes she had undertaken, Ally considered where the fascination had came from.

Tracy needed little encouragement to join her smoking comrade on breaks, as she felt complete with a cigarette burning between her fingers, and smoke flowing into her lungs. Ally now found she got as much satisfaction from appeasing her own growing cravings to watching Tracy’s habit grow in front of her eyes.

Since using the application to turn Tracy into a smoker, Ally felt different – smoking felt exciting to her now. That first morning cigarette now seemed more intense than ever before, as if she had just started smoking for the first time, but without the negative elements. Each drag gave her more pleasure than the last, wishing she could hold the friendly smoke in her lungs forever without letting go. Her own habit now blossomed from a pack a day to almost two packs a day overnight. No matter where she went, whether frequenting her local bar, or going to her grocers, she felt her senses were heightened around smokers. Ally would involuntarily hone her attention on passing smokers on the street, to commuters at her nearby bus stop. She had to stop herself staring obviously as people puffed away contently, oblivious to the captive audience they now had.

Things intensified later than night, back in the apartment, when she was sitting by herself, watching television. After dealing with a programming algorithm, Ally would normally settle down to flick through television with a smoke and a glass of wine. As soon as a programme featured a smoking scene, Ally sat up and watched with intense interest. The burning cigarette on screen consumed her thoughts, and she found herself feeling tingly between her legs. She found herself matching each drag on screen with her own, as if mimicking the actions on television. In one particular scene on a suburban drama, she watched as a group of smokers lit up together. As the onscreen smokers puffed away and spouting dialogue, Ally could feel her body become erect. With curtains drawn, Ally dangled the lit cigarette in her lips, and stripped to her waist. She matched the drags of her fictional counterparts on television, and ran her free hand down her erect nipples, moaning in ecstasy as the feeling strengthened. Eventually, Ally could no longer hold in the tingling sensations ravaging her body, and she climaxed into her knickers. Panting furiously, Ally ground out the cigarette butt and lit up again. The smoke flowed through her lungs, coating and caressing her body after her climax. Ally sat back on the sofa, her thoughts in a whirlwind of questions floating in her mind over what she had just done. While confused by the new sensations, she smiled as she felt elated for the first time in years. She had truly discovered the true joy of smoking.

After a while, Ally began flicking through television channels, specifically looking for other smoking scenes on television to satisfy her growing desires.

Part Three

The following morning, Ally locked her apartment door with an unlit cigarette dangling between her lips. Walking towards the kerb, she flicked her bic lighter and lit the end, sucking in deep the warm welcoming smoke. From waking up, she had smoked three cigarettes – two with her morning coffee. As Ally walked towards the bus stop, she puffed intensely, a regular cloud forming around her as she passed people on the street. Despite driving, Ally quickly found it was cheaper to travel by public transport, with her workplace forty minutes away from home. As she approached the bus shelter, she was familiar with her fellow passengers. Despite spending over 2 hours per week in their company, she never spoke to them. Within the group of fellow commuters were a couple of guys in college blazers talking about sports, an elderly lady paying attention to her dog and a mature woman tweeting on her phone. There was nothing particularly riveting about the group of commuters, until the woman stepped away from the shelter. Here we go, Ally thought, as the woman extracted an e-cigarette from her bag and sucked on the plastic tip. The end glowed blue, and she could hear the bubbles hiss from within. She watched as mass volumes of vapor billowed from the woman’s mouth. While the motions mimicked the art of smoking, Ally knew the true raw joy that the habit provided. For the six months in LA, Ally watched this pattern repeat itself every day, watching the woman with growing fascination as she indulged in the fabricated activity.

With V£N0M urging further tests to be ran, Ally now concluded she found her next project to trial. Over the course of the past week, her bus journey became a surveillance mission, watching the woman’s every movement. Ally would intentionally sit behind the woman, and watched as she sent messages on her phone. From eavesdropping in conversation, Ally established basic details, such as the woman’s name and email address. Being exiled from The Hive, and with no computer algorithm to work on, testing the rogue software application was now her focus between work.

Back home that night, after channel hopping through more smoking scenes, Ally went to the bedroom for some “relief”. After pleasuring herself, she logged online and clicked back into the application V£N0M had sent.

After opening up the interface, she did a name search on her fellow commuter.
Sandy Patterson

“Shit”. Ally said aloud, as no results were returned.

Ally then tried the email address copied from her phone. After a few moments, the interface returned with one match.

Sandra Livermore

Ally clicked in and opened the profile. Once the photo and location had been verified to match her commuter, she celebrated by lighting up a new cigarette. She discovered her bio confirming Sandra was engaged, explaining why she couldn’t find her by her phone ID, which was clearly not updated. Taking a deep hands-free drag, she began skimming through Sandra’s post history.

As Ally cycled through the posts made, she puffed vigorously on her cigarette. Many of the associated posts appeared to be updates on her quit smoking efforts. According to the profile, Sandra was currently in her third attempt in recent years to quit the “vile habit”. De-ashing her cigarette, Ally considered what would happen if she began deleting posts altogether. Placing the filter between her lips, as smoke floated up to her eyes, she began selecting and removing each post which made a reference to her quitting smoking. Each post deletion was met with a deep drag, as if to accentuate her intentions. Ally considered this would be a good exercise to prove the legitimacy of the application, and its true power.

After making the changes, Ally quickly saved the profile and logged off the interface, when she suddenly noticed a pop up message on her screen – it was from V£N0M.

“Hiya how are u? What r ur findings on my program thus far?”

“Well I think it’s too early to tell, to be honest. I have noticed some elements of ur program work, but think it could be down to coincidence.” Ally lied, playing down the significance so far.

“What are your intentions with this program, if it is a success?” Ally asked as she dragged again from her cigarette.

“I am not prepared to discuss this, as I outlined before. I gave u an opportunity 2 b beta test my software. R u saying u wanna quit?” V£N0M responded.

“No…Of course not. I am just curious.” Ally defended.

“When I recruited a beta tester, I didn’t expect them to challenge me on my intentions. Their job is simple – use the software, verify its usefulness, and give me a report at the end. If are having second thoughts, maybe I should cut u loose…” V£N0M stated.

“No, it’s fine. I just wondered what happens next after testing.” Ally asked innocently as she toked on her cigarette again.

“I will let u know in due course, once I have had a report back on ur findings. Bye.”

With that, V£N0M’s ID tag disappeared from screen. Ally finished her smoke, and went to bed attempting to sleep, as thoughts repeated in her mind; What is happening to me? Will the latest interface test work?

The following morning began as every other recently – three morning cigarettes before leaving the apartment and heading towards the bus stop. Ally took her usual standing position, adjacent to the shelter, to finish her the last smoke from her pack, while watching the commuters sit inside on the bench. Suddenly, she noticed the woman stand up and walk outside the bus shelter and rummage inside her bag. As if in slow motion, Ally watched closely as the woman removed her hand from the bag with a pack of Camels. Sandra removed a cigarette from the pack and placed between her parched lips. Next, she extracted a pink lighter from the pack of Camels, presumably for convenience, and lit up quickly. Ally inhaled in unison with her fellow commuter as nicotine surged through their bodies. Sandra showed no awareness of her smoking cessation efforts, and her deep pulling style seemed a perfect fit for Ally as she smoked with purpose. Ally was excited by this development, and concluded that the application had to be real. By removing posts, she effectively altered the history of a stranger, affecting their association to smoking. It was clear from the cheek-caving inhales that Sandra loved smoking before her recent quit attempts, which she would never recall, after Ally’s intervention.

Noting the bus was running late, Ally took the plunge and approached the commuter.

“Hiya, can I bum a smoke? “ Ally asked timidly.

“Of course. We are a dying breed, us smokers must stick together.” Sandra boasted as she dangled the cigarette between her lips.

“Thanks. I am Ally.” Ally smiled graciously as she accepted a cigarette from the commuter’s pack, before lighting herself up.

“No problem, I am Sandra.”

I know. Ally thought wickedly as she welcomed the Camel smoke into her addicted system. As clouds of natural smoke circled around them whilst they talked, Ally knew bus journeys would never be dull again.