Title: Four Billion Toys
Author: Dominic H. Hugh
Chapter 24: Guinea Pig Required
I woke up with Claudia’s head on my chest, her dark hair spilling across my skin. Morning light filtered through the blinds, casting stripes across the bed. We’d fallen asleep tangled together after talking until nearly dawn, both of us too emotionally drained to do anything but hold each other. When we finally did make love, it wasn’t like before—not better or more sincere exactly, but different. There was a self-awareness to it, a conscious choice being made with every touch, every kiss.
“You’re thinking too loud,” Claudia murmured against my chest, her eyes still closed.
I stroked her hair, marveling at how soft it felt even after days without proper washing. “Sorry. Just… processing everything.”
She shifted, propping herself up on one elbow to look at me. Even with dark circles under her eyes and her hair a tangled mess, she was beautiful. “What’s on your mind?”
“I don’t know how to protect you,” I admitted. “Now that you’re free. I keep wondering if freeing you was a good idea. Not because it’s not right—it is—but because you were happy before. And now…” I trailed off, remembering what she’d told me about the men who had harassed her.
“Freedom in this world is kind of the opposite of freedom,” she finished for me, her expression thoughtful. “I get it. But it was still the right thing to do. For me, and it would be for all women.”
I nodded, pulling her closer. “I know. I’m just scared for you. And even if I wanted to free all women, my last command barely reached the people on my Discord server. Since no one else than the craziest out there seems to care about finding me or what I have to say, I have no idea how to make sure a command to free everyone would actually spread.”
Claudia sat up, the sheet pooling around her waist. “What if you included in your command that women have to pass it along to any woman who isn’t freed yet?”
“That wouldn’t work for sure,” I said, sitting up beside her. “Once they’re freed, they’d have no compulsion to obey that command. They’d be like you—able to choose. Most probably would but...”
“Hmm.” She chewed her bottom lip, thinking. “What about a timer? You could command that it takes effect in a month, giving time for the message to spread?”
I shook my head. “There’s no way to know if it would reach everyone. And even then, how do we make sure it propagates properly? Sure, it would be exponential if every woman shares it with two or more others, but what about language barriers? What about people in remote locations?”
Claudia sighed, leaning back against the headboard. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
I hesitated, then admitted the other thing that had been bothering me. “There’s something else. When I freed you, you freaked out. You were disgusted, horrified by what had happened.” I swallowed hard. “What about all the other women? Wouldn’t they want my head on a pike? Even if it’s just the women I… you know.”
“Had sex with?” Claudia supplied, her expression unreadable.
“Yeah. Or fucked with, in one way or another. I mean, maybe I deserve whatever punishment comes my way, but I don’t like the idea of ending up in jail for what I did.” I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated. “God, that sounds selfish, doesn’t it?”
Claudia was quiet for a moment, her fingers tracing patterns on the sheet. “It is selfish,” she finally said. “But it’s also human. No one wants to be punished, even when they know they’ve done something wrong.” She looked up at me. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t think you deserve jail. You didn’t ask for this power. You didn’t create this situation.”
“But I took advantage of it,” I said quietly.
“Yes, you did.” Her honesty was brutal but necessary. “But so would most people, I think. Maybe all people, given enough time.” She reached out and took my hand. “How can anyone resist it when no one else cares? The question is, what are you going to do now?”
We sat in silence for a while, both of us lost in our own thoughts. The problem seemed insurmountable—how to free billions of women across the planet, how to ensure my own safety afterward, how to fix a world that had been fundamentally broken but didn’t even realize it was broken.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Claudia finally said, sliding out of bed. She wrinkled her nose at her own smell. “And you should have one too, once I’m done. No offense, but you reek.”
“None taken,” I replied, watching as she padded naked across my bedroom toward the bathroom. “I know.”
As the sound of running water filled the apartment, I stared up at the ceiling, my mind racing. I was so grateful to have her back, so relieved that she’d chosen to return despite everything. But the situation was still completely fucked up. She was the only free woman in a world where women were property. How could she live like that? How could we build any kind of life together with that hanging over us? And if I did somehow manage to free all women, would I end up in prison? Would I be hunted down by angry mobs?
The water shut off, and a few minutes later Claudia emerged with a towel wrapped around her body, her wet hair slicked back from her face. She was smiling—not the full, uninhibited smile I’d grown used to, but a small, secretive smirk that made me nervous and excited at the same time.
“I think I have a solution,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “To all of our problems. But we need to test it first.”
I sat up, suddenly alert. “What is it?”
She shook her head, that mysterious smirk still playing on her lips. “Not yet. I need to make sure it works before I get your hopes up. But we’re going to need a guinea pig.”
“A guinea pig?” I repeated, confused.
“A woman,” Claudia clarified, her eyes gleaming with something that looked dangerously like excitement. “Someone we can experiment on.”
I felt a twist of unease in my stomach. “Experiment how, exactly?”
“You’ll see,” she said, standing up and dropping her towel as she moved toward my dresser, rummaging through it for something to wear, settling for one of my old sweaters. “But first, you really need that shower. You reek.”