Walking up to her home’s holosuite entrance, Jessica activated her most recently completed program, “Computer, load program ‘Death Blade’.”

A few seconds later, the computer responded, “Jessica. Program ‘Death Blade’ loaded. You may enter when ready.”

Smiling, I slipped the straps of my dress off my shoulders, allowing its silky material to pool on the floor around my feet. Then, stepping out of the discarded dress, I pressed the door’s access switch and wearing nothing, but high heels entered the holosuite.

Pausing just inside the closing doors to admire the massive and horrifyingly sharp-looking blade, I locked the matching steel restraint cuffs around my wrists and ankles. With the restraint cuffs secured, I turned to the large wall mounted computer interface and said, “Computer, unlock the platform's restraint points.”

“Jessica. Restraint points released.”

Smiling I laid back against the platform, carefully positioning the cuff attachment rings within the open restrain points, “Computer, lock the platform’s restraint points.”

With a metallic click the restraint points locked close, “Jessica. Restraint points locked.”

Taking a deep breath, “Computer, activate restraint tensioning.”

The screw drives within the four restraint mounting plates activated, slowly but steadily drawing my arms and legs outward until my body became as taut as a bowstring.

“Jessica. Restraint tensioning complete.”

Pausing, I checked the tension of the restraints, verifying that except for my hands, head and somewhat wiggling my feet, I couldn’t move an inch. Perfect.

I could already feel a dull ache developing in the small of my back, as I set the time limits, “Computer, set minimum activation time to fifteen minutes and the maximum activation time to sixty minutes,”

“Jessica. Minimum activation delay set to fifteen minutes, with maximum activation delay set to sixty minutes.”

Glancing over at the computer interface to reassure myself that the delay values were correct, I realized the moment of truth had finally arrived, “Computer, run program ‘Death Blade’.”

As I watched the voice interface went from enabled to disabled, the program status going from loaded to running and the interval time starting to update.

“Jessica. Random activation delay calculated. Voice interface disabled. Program ‘Death Blade’ running.”

Leaning my head back, I briefly closed my eyes. For better or worse, with the voice interface disabled, I was now fully and hopelessly committed, and in less than sixty minutes, there was a chance that I’ll experience my darkest nightmare, as that razor-sharp blade kills me. That unstoppable blade effortlessly bisecting my torso from my crotch up to the underside of my ribcage, in what promises to be an agonizing and truly obscene explosion of blood and gore.

Hearing a faint beep, I opened my eyes and glanced over at the holosuite’s computer interface, as a delightful sensation of terror caused my heart to skip a beat, the elapse time having just passed the fifteen-minute mark. Now, depending on the computer’s randomly generated activation delay, my next breath might well be my last.

A renowned holosuite programmer, Jessica applied her considerable skills to developing cutting-edge horror themed products, the ‘Death Blade’ program was no different. Experienced within a commercially certified holosuite, the system's mortality override would prevent the victim from being butchered, converting the solid rendered blade into a purely optical representation just before the blade reaches the victim, then converting it back into its solid representation the moment it finishes passing harmlessly through her torso.

When I acquired my home holosuite, the system’s mortality override was the first thing I disabled. During testing of my products, it really didn’t matter how many holographic victims died during testing. Of course, there’s still a twenty-five percent chance, I’ll survive this deadly peril because when the computer calculated its random activation delay, the minimum delay value used is zero minutes. So, if the randomly generated activation delay fell in the first fifteen minutes of the entered minimum delay block activation, I’ll survive. At the end of the hour, the ‘Death Blade’ program returns to loaded status, and the voice interface is automatically re-enabled. Once, that happens, I can simply order the computer to unlock the platform’s restraint points, freeing me.

The elapse time is almost thirty-eight minutes. I’ve never felt more alive. My mind gripped with a delightfully seductive mixture of sensations, almost unimaginable terror while at the same time intensely sexual arousal, at the horrifyingly erotic thought of that razor-sharp blade suddenly sliding toward me, brutally disemboweling me as it savagely rips through my body.

As I watch the elapse time ticking upward, perhaps counting down the final moments of my life, I find it profoundly disturbing, that while I’m terrified of dying in unimaginable agony, that, deep down, I still so desperately desire for it to happen.

I helplessly watch as the elapse time finally reaches sixty minutes. I can feel my pounding heart subsiding as a powerful sensation of relief washes over me, but at the same time I feel an intensely erotic sensation of disappointment, almost like having sex without the orgasms.

The faint beep from the holosuite’s computer interface announcing, the system state switching from ‘running’ back to ‘loaded’, as the system’s voice interface returns to ‘enabled’ and the elapse time reset to zero.

I was about to order the computer to unlock the platform's restraint points, when a darkly mischievous thought entered my mind. Pausing for a moment to reassure myself that I really wanted to do this, I said, “Computer, using the currently entered minimum activation time and the maximum activation time, run program ‘Death Blade’.”

As I watched the voice interface once again went from enabled to disabled, the program status changing back from loaded to running as the interval time starting to update.

“Jessica. Random activation delay calculated. Voice interface disabled. Program ‘Death Blade’ running.”

Smiling, as I considered that perhaps, I’ll have better luck this time...