2018-07-20 - spike - The New Shop 69 dudes

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 69 dudes!
Date: 20 July 2018

Chapter 69
The cages opened with their now familiar beep and clang and we all scrambled out.

M tapped on his band. “I wonder what surprise he has in store.”

“I’m sure we’ll find out.” I glanced across the room as Beta tapped on his.

Nothing happened.

He shook it, looked at it. I gripped myself in laughter and walked over to him… it. I tapped, hit enter and held out my hand.

“Give me your armband, blank.”

It jumped. It looked around, its hand shot up to the back of its now totally black head.

It signed. “Blank?”

I prodded its chest. There was no mark of ownership either.

It nodded and removed its band. “What’s it like, sir? Down there?”

“I enjoyed it. You might too. Only one way to find out. Even better, we’ve got no idea how long you’ll stay like that and even better still, I’ll be joining you down there in a couple of days. Come up with a story and stick to it. No clues, no hints. You know how far I went to avoid identification last time. You do the same. You’re a blank. I won’t tap you until you’re lined up with the rest.”

“Yes, sir. Should be interesting at least.”

“Do keep aware of any problems the other slaves might encounter though. Like I did with our dyslexic friend.”

“Yes, sir.”

We got to the elevator, this time when we entered and I tapped the panel, my voice sounded out.

“Weight discrepancy detected. All slaves must press the panel.”

We all did but when blank pressed it, it jumped and the voice sounded again.

“Unauthorised slave detected. Gold or silver authorisation required to continue. Please press the panel or eject the slave.”

I tapped it again and the doors slid shut.

They opened to reveal all the other slaves, human and dog. The blank who’d been Beta joined them in the line-up.

M stepped forward. “We’re got another batch arriving today. You will welcome them. Each of you will spend time in rotation in the cells to teach the others how to speak.”

One of them held its hand up.

“Rocky?”

It nodded.

“You, we’ll allow to share a cage with your teacher. He can teach them, you can use it as practice. Three slaves capable of teaching, sixteen slaves due. It will leave one alone in a cell without help on the first night but that can’t be helped. Eleven.”

“Yep?”

“Rec room for you.”

“Who’s going to man the control room? Came in useful a couple of times.”

He nodded. “I’ll ask Alpha and the doc to sit in there to observe just in case any slaves become violent. Twelve, Gym with thirteen and fourteen to assist you in their assessment. I’ll take the dungeon with fifteen and sixteen. Any questions?”

One of the blanks put his hand up.

“Yes?”

“What was that, sir?” It pointed at its ear. “I’ve never heard that voice before.”

My turn. “You, all slaves below the rank of gold in fact, are now controlled by a computer program. It will tell you where to be, when and what to do when you get there. If you delay, if you loiter, it will warn you first and punish if you persist. This is just a field test of a system I’ve been working on for the past few months. If it works, it will become live, permanently.”

A couple of them shifted uncomfortably in their chastity.

“Computer control?”

I chuckled. “Bit of a turn on, blank?”

“I didn’t think about such a thing until you mentioned it but now you have, hell yes, sir.”

“Workout now, wash and flush, then go and have some fun. We’ll call you when the slaves have arrived.”
* * *
We donned our rubber the moment the first pods arrived.

As our current slaves lined up along the wall of the rec room, Alpha activated lockdown on that level and we blackened the eyes of the new arrivals, removed each from their pod and lined them up to face their more experienced counterparts.

Of course, removing them in such a way meant physical contact so each was added to our database, armbands and fobs without the need to tap them in turn. I did jog over to Beta and tap him half way through though, utterly ignoring what the band displayed. M and twelve followed my lead on that detail.

I faced the original slaves and signed. “As I don’t know which one you are, Beta, we’ll turn our backs, you take your place among them when you unfreeze.”

The last of the pods shoved back into the elevator, we applied their chastity, walked across to the wall and the slaves were released. A wait of a minute and we turned and stood before them.

“I’ll let you do the honours this time, eleven?”

“Thanks, M. Welcome home, slaves. This will be the only place you see for the next month or more. At the end of your training, you will take part in a race. As one of those.” I pointed at the dogs, sitting on their haunches beside our current slaves.

“Today is assessment day. Today, you will each be tested both in physical fitness and your affinity for all things fetish. There are no limits. Anything we do you will allow without complaint or resistance and if you do resist, you will be punished severely. You belong to my master and he determines every single thing about your life from this point on. Everything. We control you utterly. You can’t see without our permission, you can’t hear, you can’t even piss unless we permit it and that will never change. Get used to it, this is your life now.”

A few of them looked around as if in a panic.

“Yes, it’s a shock for some. That is the situation though and there’s no point in sugar coating it. You belong to master Q and only he determines your fate from now on. If you excel in your duties, you will be rewarded. If you fuck up, you’ll be punished. Welcome to permanent, inescapable slavery.”

I stepped back and M stepped forward.

“The slaves and dogs before you have been here for some time, speak to them. Well, let them speak to you and you will learn how to communicate without voice because you will never have use of that again. You’re voiceless, faceless rubber objects and each and every one of you shares the name blank. If you gain a promotion, you will be given a name. I am M. He is eleven. And these are twelve to sixteen. All of us began our lives as blanks. Over the course of today each will be called, you’ll follow the orders you receive. Eleven will speak to each of you. I will assess your fetishes and Twelve will assess your fitness. Now though, feel free to look around.”

And with that, M, twelve and the silvers walked to the elevator.

I took my place on the far table and called the first.

The first two had nothing interesting to offer as far as I was concerned. Both eagerly submitted, both expressed it was beyond their wildest dreams or other such sentiments and neither had any skills that might interest Q.

So, neither of them had been the panicked trapped ones. That much was obvious.

Then the third jogged over, sat and looked at me. This one at didn’t seem nervous either.

I opened the laptop so it could type… for now.

“Tell me a little about yourself.”

“Yes, sir. This is my destiny, sir. It’s what I was born for. To be owned and this suit, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“Good. You’ve accepted it. Some have trouble with that at first. Continue.”

“Ben Goddard, sir.”

“No. Forget that name, you are blank. You may be blank for the remainder of your life. What did you do?”

“I was a car mechanic, sir but I knew I wanted a Master. I knew I wanted bondage from a very early age. I also realised almost at the same time as my first…”

“Your first what?”

“My first…” It shifted uncomfortably. “My first masturbation, sir. I was turned on by strange things. Plastic carrier bags started it off, I’d poke holes in the bottom and wear them as underwear. God, that feeling. Nothing compared to the suit of course, but it was amazing at the time.”

“Carrier bags? That must’ve been a tight squeeze.”

“I was young, sir. Think it was about twelve or thirteen when it put one on the first time. When I got too big for those, that’s when I discovered rubber, sir.”

“Good. Very good. Anything sporty? Pass times? Hobbies?”

It nodded again. “Tennis when I was younger, sir. I’d just started getting into golf when I found the store, when I learned about the offer of slavery. I was also into antique restoration, sir.”

“Tennis, possible I think, using the equipment in the gym. Golf, not so much. I have no idea if my master has a golf course on his island but antique restoration? As a hobby?”

“Island?”

“Your new home, the last place you’ll ever see. It’ll be a while before you go there. Now” I closed the laptop and signed, very slowly. “It’s time you learned to communicate without that.”

It got the idea. “y.e.s. s.i.r.”

“You can enhance it with mime, if you think miming is quicker than spelling. It can lead to misunderstandings though. Antique restoration as a hobby? Explain.”

“My dad taught me, sir. How to clean, make slight repairs to furniture and paintings. He owned a… Well he called it an Aladdin’s cave, sir. Just a shop dealing in junk but when something more valuable came in…”

“How good are you?”

“Good enough to be accepted by a local museum as a volunteer, sir. I even worked on some of their more valuable works, sir.”

”I’ll be sure to pass that on to master Q. He may even find a use for it. Did you work out?”

“I ran, sir. But I’ve never been a member of a gym.”

“Well now, you are and what’s more, attendance is mandatory. Do you have any questions?”

“Yes, sir. You said no limits. None?”

“Many of the things subs and human slaves consider limits are impossible for us, but yes. No limits. You do as you’re told when you’re told to do it and you do it well. It doesn’t matter of it’s cleaning the floors or being tied to a cross and whipped. You have no free will anymore. No choices. Why? What were your limits?”

“I know fisting and unsafe anal aren’t possible anymore, sir. I also avoided piss and shit and I’ve never been a big fan of pain.”

“Today, you’ll just have to put up with some of that. Urinal and whip, cane, paddle, nipple clamps, you name it, we’ll do it to you. After today though, the dungeon is for your enjoyment. Those things are to determine your turn ons and offs and for Master’s enjoyment. He often watches. Don’t worry about scat. Not something we do. I would seriously advise you follow your orders if you want to avoid pain. You know the pleasure the plug is capable of, you also know the most severe pain possible with it. Don’t fuck up, you won’t be shocked painfully again.”

It nodded. “You… you pointed at those… those dog things, sir?”

“Yes. As I said, at the end of your training, you will be put into one of them and be trained as a dog for several weeks. The culmination of that training is a race.” I looked around and pointed. “Go to that television. Watch and enjoy. When you do, I’m Tyson. Thirteen is Bandit, Fourteen, Thor, Fifteen, Duke and Sixteen, Slasher.”

“And the three already in dogs?”

“One’s a customer of a fetish store we’re affiliated with. He requested a week. That’s what he’s got. The others are Muttley and Prince, they performed poorly in the race, last place among the outsiders for Muttley, last place overall for Prince. They will be spending the next month like that, only allowed out on Sundays. ”

“Fuck!”

“What’s more, they love it. We all do. I even fantasise about being put into one of those permanently, the rest of my life as a dog. I know that won’t happen though.”

“Permanent? Like that?”

“Just as I’m currently permanently like this, yes. I love being a dog. I hope you will too.”

It took a deep breath. “Seems I’ve got a bit more than I bargained for, sir.”

“Yes, well. That is to be expected. You’re nothing but an object now. Something to do anything we like with. Don’t worry, that doesn’t include snuff. My master cares about the welfare of his property. Over the coming week or so, all the new slaves will be taken upstairs and placed in a scanner to identify any potential health problems so they can be dealt with before they become real problems.”

It nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Dismissed. Go and watch that video and when you have, drag a few more over to watch it too.”

“I will, sir.” It got up and bolted to the TV.

I tapped mechanic, tennis, golf and antique restorer into its details and moved on to the next.

I interviewed five more who had little of interest to say and summoned the next.

This one did look nervous. Its body language, jumpy, it looked from side to side. Finally, it sat.

I tapped it and glanced at its background. Alabama born and bred this one. It didn’t look as fit as most, it had a bit of a belly on it.

Again, I opened the laptop.

“Why so nervous?”

“It’s what you said, sir.”

“About your fate, everything about your life now being controlled? About being a slave?”

“I want out! I know I asked for this but it’s too much, too quick!”

“Tough. You committed to this the moment that suit was cured. This is your life and you have only two choices now.”

“But sir, please. Get me out of this thing!”

I sighed. My foot shifted and kicked something so I looked under the table. Thanks M, you’re a godsend. It was the bag of knives. I reached down, took one and placed it on the table.

“You committed to a lifetime of servitude, blank. Your choices, embrace it and learn to love the life you’ve been given or hate it and spend the rest of your life in a living hell. Exactly the same life, only your attitude towards it differs. Just to prove my point, try the knife on the suit. I permit you to test the blade on the table first.”

Of course, it did. It sawed both the table and the suit. Sawdust fell from the table and metal dust from the suit. As with so many others, its hand began to shake as it did so.

“This can be an amazing life, blank. The best things that ever happened to me happened after I put on mine. Now, tell me about yourself.”

Its shoulders began to shake, this time I knew it wasn’t laughing. I gave it a minute.

“Tell me about yourself, blank.”

It continued to sob.

I tapped a message, pointed the fob and it leapt a foot into the air. “Blank! I gave you an order!”

“Sorry, sir. Sorry. Oh god what have I done? How can you like this?”

“Tell… me… about… yourself. One thing I didn’t mention was we permit you to breathe too. We control every single thing about you.” I pointed the fob and left it panicked and gripping its throat for thirty seconds. “You will obey every order given, blank. I don’t care if you made a mistake. You are here. This is your life and you will do as you’re told.”

I gave it a minute to pull itself together again and pointed at the keyboard.

“I was born in Alabama, sir. We moved to San Francisco when I was twelve. That’s when I realised being gay wasn’t the bad thing they always said it was, sir. I love bondage, I love being whipped but my entire life?”

“Why did you take the suit? You’ve been background checked which means you had weeks to decide. You were informed about the suit’s permanence.”

“I just got swept up in it. The excitement of being a slave, sir. The… Oh god! And now I’ll never see anything but this place?”

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, blank. This place is amazing. This is just the rec room. A place to socialise, read, play games or watch the odd porn on the TV. Of course, as a slave you only watch what my master provides but he does have an excellent taste in it. Downstairs, we’ll work you hard in the gym to lose that belly of yours and down again, we’ve got a dungeon beyond your wildest dreams. I know I was harsh with you but you have to understand the reality of your situation. This is your life and you will never know another. This is not the only place you’ll see however.”

“It… it isn’t?”

“Every slave trained here will eventually make their way to our master. Yes, eventually, that will be me too. Now, that place, that’ll will be your final destination and it’s a paradise. Other than that… Look over there at that TV. Watch it and return.”

I watched its back as it walked over. I watched it freeze.

I gave it five minutes. “Blank, return to the table.”

It was slow in responding again, but I left it the time it needed to tear itself away from the screen. It backed away for a few steps before turning and walking back.

“God, sir! What the hell?”

“Dog racing and you will be one of those dogs.”

“But I couldn’t walk… How long did it take?”

“About four days.”

“I couldn’t walk fifty miles on two legs, let alone four, sir!”

“That may be the case now. It won’t be when you’re trained. We’ll get you fitter than you’re ever been before. OK, job, hobbies, sport?”

“Desk jockey, sir. Nothing interesting in that.”

“What profession?”

“Call centre, sir.”

“Liked the sound of your own voice, did you? That’s gone now, remember. Permanently.”

“I know, sir. There’s no need to rub it in.”

“Oh, there is. You are having difficulty. You need to put everything about your old life behind you. Forget it. Skills? Hobbies? Sports?”

“I can speak five languages, sir. Fluently. I was on an international desk.”

“Really? Which ones?”

“As well as English, French, German, Spanish and Russian, sir.”

“And do you think you could teach others those languages? Or non-English speakers English?”

“I… Suppose so, sir. Why? Has a slave been taken that can’t?”

“Not yet, but mistakes have been made in the past. I imagine it might happen eventually. Master Q might find a use for you either way. He may even begin recruiting in other countries. Pass times, hobbies, sports?”

“I love model making, sir.”

“From plastic kits?”

“Oh no, sir. I start from the basics, sir. Wood. Sometimes metal. I’m quite good at the fiddly bits, sir.”

“We’ve had the odd artistic type before. I’ll speak to Q and see if he can add something to the rec room equipment.”

“Really, sir? Oh god. Thank you, sir.”

“Understand. Nothing belongs to you. A slave does not own property. Even if you make something, it belongs to Q, not you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now, I’ve shown you what we can do to force, to coerce and to punish. You’ve been in a pod for I don’t know how long, so you know some of what the plug is capable of.”

“Yes, sir. That’s one thing I want more of, sir.”

“Well you’d better learn to accept it then, hadn’t you? Because every week, those who do well here, those who don’t fuck up, get one hour a week, at least, of this.”

I pointed the fob and selected the second program I’d experienced.

It stiffened in the chair and only relaxed when I turned it off five minutes later.

“Fuck me! How long was that, sir?”

“That was five minutes. Believe me, an hour feels like an eternity.”

It relaxed even more and nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Now, you didn’t mention sport.”

“I love watching Nascar and pro-wrestling, sir.”

“Oh god. A pro-wrestling fan? We’ll knock that out of you. Here, I teach real wrestling and you will take part. We also box. Master Q has a passion for boxing so both of those are compulsory.”

“Wrestling?”

“Yes?”

“Against other people in these suits?”

“Yes.”

“Writhing around with each other? In… Oh fuck that’s hot!”

“Glad you’re starting to see the good in your situation because fuck me, it is. Heaven or hell, blank. Entirely your choice but either way, it is forever.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

Another one called, it sat and I opened the laptop. It closed it and shoved it to one side.

Its fingers were slow, a little fumbly, but it’d certainly got the idea without getting it from me.

“It’s alright, sir. I know.”

“How? You’ve only been here a couple of hours.”

“I watched. I’m a quick learner.” It looked around the place. “I can’t believe I’m here. Oh god this is amazing. It’s really real.”

“What?”

“This place. He’s here isn’t he, sir.”

“Who?”

It looked from side to side conspiratorially. “I’d like to apologise, sir. I never thought I’d get a chance to in person but when I saw that suit… Oh my god.”

“Please talk sense blank. What are you talking about?”

“I hurt you, and for that, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Hurt me? According to your profile you’re from San Diego! I’ve not been to California in years!”

It sagged in the chair a little. “I spent weeks searching. Trying to find out more about the place, sir. I know we’re in New York. I know we’re near a fetish store. I’ve even been in, seen it, seen you on display, sir but to find myself here. Oh fuck, I found the holy grail, sir.”

“What the hell?! Have you told anyone?”

“Don’t worry, sir. I know it scared the shit out of me when I first realised it was real, but I quit that forum.”

“Forum? Codemaster’s forum?”

“You know about it?”

“Know about it? I’ve been watching! We all have. Kyle and Vixen’s constant bickering did get old very quickly though. How did you find us? Ho… you do realise what you’ve done, putting that suit on don’t you?”

“I know sir. I know it’s for life and my god what a life. I can’t wait to find out what’s in store, sir, and seeing that race video. I know I’m going to love it here.”

“You… Shit, you’re that Thor guy?”

“Thorthechundergod, sir. Yes.” It chuckled. “Is Kyle still torturing him?”

“He is. It is losing weight though. Not sure how much now but the last time I checked it’d lost fourteen pounds. Still a few hundred to go before it’s fit to do anything though.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on… errr… It?”

“It. Yes. And get used to it because that suit means one thing. Objects have no gender. When you regain your humanity with a gold name on the back of your head like me, then, you resume he and his, until then, you are an it too. As for being too hard on it…”

“Sir, it’s been months!”

“And it hasn’t even come close to experiencing the pain it caused us. What pain did you cause me, by the way?”

“I was one of the ones who made you pass out in the corridor, sir. Oh god, at the time I found it hilarious, until deadman told us it was real.”

“You caused me no pain, blank. Irritation yes, but not pain.”

“But I saw you”

“We’d replaced our plug cores by then. All that was just an act to keep it engaged so we could trace it. We did. Once it was traced, we enacted level two and focused your game entirely on the blob. Unfortunately, in that time, one of us received every single shock. The one you need to apologise to is Alpha. He was in a pod at the time and utterly helpless. We didn’t know he kept the same slave ident during his time in that thing until weeks later. He’s receiving psychiatric treatment right now because of what happened to him.”

It recoiled in the chair so much it nearly toppled backwards. It gripped the table to stop itself.

“Fuck! Oh fucking hell!”

“Now do you think we’re being too hard on it? It has a way to escape Kyle’s evil clutches. It so far hasn’t plucked up the courage to try.”

“A way out?”

“Of the game, yes. Of the suit. Never. That is, as I’m sure you’ve been told, permanent.”

“That’ll teach him for dabbling in things he’s got no idea about.”

“IT, blank. It. It’s even less worthy of a personal pronoun than you are. Get used to calling it that. It.”

“So how does it get out?”

“Simple. It resists. It refuses to obey Kyles commands and when it’s received every shock we did, it’s free of the game.”

“Oh god that’s clever. But it hasn’t even tried?”

“It’s a weakling, a coward and by god it’s whiny. Glad I never have to hear that voice again. We’ll get it fit even without Kyle’s help if he does get tired of torturing it. Waste of a good suit otherwise.”

It did the conspiratorial look again. “Sir… How would you like to capture Kyle too? I can tell you where he lives.”

“You’d do that?”

“Don’t see why not. He’s a monster! He knew that blob was real and yet he not only continued, he relished in it. Who else is still playing?”

“Only one. Vixen.”

“But… I liked her! I thought”

“She’s a moderating influence, blank. She’s stopping a lot of the things Kyle does. That’s why they’re always bickering on the forum. Him telling her to butt out. Her telling him to stop or at least slow down.”

It nodded. “Good. Sir, in my opinion, Kyle deserves this more than the blob does. Codemaster can’t have known it was real. We didn’t find that out until after it’d been taken.”

“That’s true. I’ll speak to my master later. I think it’s time we begin this interview properly. I take it you’ve been a closet fetishist for years then? That the game was a little escapist fantasy?”

“No, sir. I’ve studied a lot about it since and a lot of it sounded appealing though.”

“You’ve never experienced any”

“None, sir.”

“Jesus! You’re in for a shock when you get called down to the dungeon.”

“Perhaps. I’m looking forward to it, sir. I want to see what people like about all that.”

“Let’s just hope you find something to like because this is your life now.”

“I know, sir. But I did enjoy the immobilisation when I was on my way here. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It was amazing. Not to mention what else went on…” it pointed. “down there, sir. And as for the dogs… Were you one of them?”

“One of them? I was the first. It was my experiences running home after being stolen that started the whole race thing.”

It nodded. “The beast of Queens.”

“That’s me. Now, profession, skills, hobbies, sports.”

“I was a programmer, sir. I never hacked though, not in the media sense of the word at least. Avid gamer as you know. Geek through and through, sir.”

“I was a programmer too, in my previous life and I’ve kept it up in this one. You’ll experience the program yourself. The one codemaster stole.”

It sat bolt upright.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t complete when it stole it and it circumvented a lot of the safety protocols. The elevator one in particular is still causing it a lot of pain. Mine is complete. A slave transit control program. That was all it was ever intended to be.”

“So, what? It’ll order me? Move me from place to place without human intervention?”

“All slaves apart from golds. Whether master Q decides to include us in it later is anyone’s guess, but yes. It tells you to do something, you do it. Skills other than programming? Hobbies? Sports?”

“Nothing I can think of that’d be relevant here. I suppose you could say I’m the stereotypical geek, sir. Hate sports. Love playing roleplaying games, not that I imagine I’ll get to play anything like that anymore. I did keep active though, sir.”

“Active how?”

“You try running away from a band of orcs or demons, sir. LARP. Live Action Role-playing, sir.”

“Those freaks who run around with rubber swords casting spells at each other?”

“That’s a little closed minded, sir. It is fun and when you talk about freaks, you can’t get much more freaky than this.”

I chuckled. “Touché. As for roleplaying games, have a look in the gaming cabinet and library.” I pointed. “I noticed a lot of unusual board games in there. There might be more. I imagine you have some questions?”

“A few, sir. What does he need all these slaves for?”

“Decontamination, blank.”

“Decontamination?”

“Yes. Master Q purchased an island some time ago. Once you’ve completed your training, that’s where you go. These suits aren’t just to get your rocks off. They’re indestructible. Protection. Add a filter for your nose tubes or in the really bad places, an independent air supply and we can go anywhere. He’s bringing it back to life.”

“Shit! Really? What killed it?”

“I’m not entirely clear on the details there. Some kind of chemical weapons plant exploded. He bought the island for a song because of it. The parts that have been restored though… It’s been described by several I’ve spoken to as a paradise now.”

“Thank you, sir. Now I know I made the right choice. Can I speak to h… it, sir? Codemaster, sir?”

“If you can find it when you have some free time, you can try. It hasn’t been taught to speak yet. I doubt it could even see your hand gestures from three feet away.”

“You’ve not spoken to it?”

“Oh, we’ve spoken a couple of times. It was provided with the laptop, with the wifi card removed of course. After all, we had to tell it about the out we offered it. Since then though, no. Entirely its choice and it’s too cowardly to even try.”

It nodded. “I’ll try to get through to it, sir. If it’s too cowardly to do it by itself, could it ask to be frozen to force it to endure them with no escape? No way for it to perform?”

“I suppose that’s one idea but we’re allowing it to make those choices. Quite frankly, it’s too fat to be of use to anyone right now so in my opinion at least, the longer it’s out of our hair the better.”

It nodded. Then its shoulders shook.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sir. I’m laughing. I just came up with a doozy, sir.”

“Go on.”

“Level three, sir. Have Kyle staring at the screen with baited breath waiting to find out what’s next, sir. It’ll have to wait a while, though, sir. His screen saying “Level three with a countdown and when it hits zero, you hit him. Next thing he knows… Boxing ring, facing the blob, sir.”

“That could be a year away. The blob’s in no fit state to be fighting yet.”

“That’s true. I take it I won’t be here when it is ready?”

“No. Well, you might. It depends.”

“On what, sir?”

“On how well you do in the races, blank. If you come first, you’ll be named and take your place with us, training each new batch of slaves. One of the benefits of being a hunter is, each race, the winner among us gets to choose the next hunter. So far, we’ve got five. After the next race, it’ll be six. I suppose after that we might go into rotation unless the number of dogs increases considerably.”

“And those are the only ways to remain? I’m not sure I want to stay here after what you said about the island.”

I shrugged. “Depends how much you want your idea to come true. Or how much you want to help your friend. It is a friend, right?”

“I’d not go that far. Friendly, maybe, but… How much of a friend can you be when you spend all your time online? It was an asshole a lot of the time. I know everything. I’m a genius. I’m better than all of you put together, bow down to my awesomeness. Look what I’ve cracked this time. Bit it in the ass in the end. Meeting it in person changed my opinion of it completely. I’d half believed it before I met it.”

“And after you’d met it?”

“A douchebag of the highest order. So up itself it could tickle its own tonsils. Now it’s got something else up it. It wasn’t even a talented programmer. Just a script kiddy.”

I nodded. “The algorithm we used to trap it was something I helped concoct. Something we used in a few of our games. Encryption but with two solutions, one incredibly easy, one incredibly hard. When it started hitting us, we slammed that encryption in place disguised as a server upgrade. It cracked the easy one, into a sandbox.”

“Our games?”

“Probably not heard of us. Small mobile gaming outfit but we made a name for ourselves with a few games.”

“You’d be surprised, sir. Most popular game?”

“Clash of continents. Millennium’s eve?”

“Shit! Really?”

“What?”

“You… you died in a yachting accident didn’t you, sir?”

“You are a clever one aren’t you? Yes.”

“But I thought you were married!”

“No, not married, she was my slave. Now she’s taken on the role of mistress. Got all the gear after all, I left her everything in my will. When you watch the race properly, Moonbeam’s hers. She’s keeping him as a dog for the time being. She likes having a pet.”

“Shit! That’s intense! I” Its head jerked to the side suddenly. “I… think that’s me, sir. A voice just told me to go to the elevator and press the panel.”

“Go on then, I’ll speak to you later. Don’t know when, but I will. I like you, blank. I like your attitude.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Dismissed.”