2019-01-14 - spike - The New Shop 95

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 95
Date: 14 January 2019

Chapter 95
Dog training resumed the next day and this time, the techies had come through with the baton style trackers. No more balls for these two.

For one thing, with Brutus in his doggy state I wanted to get him used to the idea of collecting things other than balls. I doubted I could explain to him in a way he could understand but once he’d seen Caesar returning with a few and being rewarded for it, I hoped that should be enough.

Both the dogs bolted the moment they were out into the badlands and Caesar had returned with three before Brutus returned empty jawed with his tail between his legs.

I knelt and stroked him. Petted him. “Brutus, heel. Caesar, fetch.”

Caesar nodded and bolted again. His tail erect.

Again, he returned with a baton. I waved it before Brutus’ nose. “Seek, boy!”

His tail left its home between his legs and he bolted, returning with a baton a few minutes later.

I sighed with relief. He’d got it. The moment he dropped it at my feet and I’d put it into my bag, I gave him a very good dog and pointed. He bolted again to get the next.

We did this twice that day, once for a few hours after dark. I looked up and smiled. The moon was close to full and the stars out in the badlands were stunning. There was enough light and both performed admirably. They were ready.

Tomorrow night they were in for a lot of fun.

I took them down to their cages and summoned the trainers to the rec room, but before I left, I knelt before Caesar and deselected everyone else.

“I… think I’ve come up with the perfect cover story for my blank when back at the store, I think it’s a doozy. I want to see how your tail reacts.”
* * *
His tail had reacted just as I’d hoped and now, I stood in the rec room as the trainers gathered.

The moment the last of them arrived, I lined them up and stood before them.

“How have the dogs been doing? The event’s tomorrow night.”

Rascal signed first. “Mine’s ready, sir. More, he loves it. He wants…” it looked a little uncomfortable. “I don’t think he wants to win, sir. I think he wants what I got.”

I chuckled. “So he’s guessed, has he? I think you might have a few trying for last place, blank. I wouldn’t worry.”

Its shoulders shook with laughter.

“Have any of them found their dog?”

Two of them nodded.

“How deep are they?”

Dash’s shoulders shook. “He’s deep, sir. He understands what I say but I need to take it slow, sir.”

“And yours?”

Rebel shrugged. “He knows what being a dog means, sir. He loves it too. Another one for the last place position, I think, sir.”

I pointed at Psi. “And yours?”

“It took a while, sir, but he got used to the suit eventually. I think he’ll put the effort in to win, sir. I have a sneaky suspicion he wants out, sir.”

“Well, when all the dogs are brought together tomorrow, I’ll inform them of the penalty for coming last. I’ll also mention the rewards for getting the top three spots.”

“How will it be worked out, sir?”

“That will be explained to them after the event. Don’t want it to influence their performance. As far as they’re concerned, they just need to collect those trackers and return them to the start. There will be other points to be awarded though. How many times have they been out?”

All of them replied the same. “Every day, sir.”

Saxon nodded. “We kept them out of sight of yours though, just as instructed. When you went out the beach exit, we went out the other two or waited until you’d returned, sir.”

“Good. Should be a nice surprise for all of them when they see the others. I wonder how Brutus’ll react.”

“Why, sir?”

“Because he’s in really deep. He’s lost himself in the dog so completely he doesn’t understand anymore. Nothing but the training band commands. I suspect we’ve got a dog after my own heart there.”

Rascal’s shoulders shook. “I began to feel that way near the end, sir. I was in a long time though.”

“And I envy you for it, Rascal. I’d love to be a dog for that long. Maybe next time, I will, but that won’t be for a while.” I sighed. “I want to find Tyson and become him so deeply I feel like that.”

All of them nodded.

“Good. Continue their training. We begin tomorrow evening. Dismissed.”
* * *
“How are they, sir?”

“All sedated. All decontaminated. It’s been a struggle with that one.” The doctor pointed at the one at the end. “He was in a bad way. Almost died, we had to give him a massive hit of stimulants and atropine just to keep his heart going. We won’t know how well he is until we try to wake him.”

“Atropine? Isn’t that”

“A counter to nerve agent, yes.”

“How long, do you think? I’m likely to be a blank by the time they’re awake again, aren’t I?”

“That’s a bloody good point, Eleven. You’re ready to replace your suit!”

“I am, sir, but Q mentioned the possibility of giving me a new name. I think it’d be prudent to wait until he’s completed his race and returned to himself before replacing this one. I don’t know what he’s got in store for me yet, sir.”

“New name?”

“The only thing I could think of is maybe the new number one, sir. One requested it be blanked on Boxing Day, sir. It’s not happened yet, probably due to everything else getting in the way, but I think it might. It is its choice and it wants to be a blank for the rest of its life.”

“Very well. We’ll hold off until after the race.”

“Maybe the day after that, too sir. It’s a slow and painful process getting back on your feet the first time after being a dog for so long.”

“I can imagine… And it improves?”

“It does, sir. Your body adjusts the more you go into the dog, sir.”

He chuckled. “Just realised.”

“What, sir?”

“I’ll be a blank too when you get into your permanent suit.”

“Still feeling a bit scared, sir?”

“Just a little. A lot of anticipation too of course. I want to experience it. I’d like to see the outside of this compound. Maybe engage in a few of those outdoor sports too. It’s been a long time.”

“I’ve not done any of that myself yet, apart from running with the dogs. It is good to get out there though, sir.”

“Well… You’ll be glad to know, everything we intended for you is now complete. The injuries you endured are all healed fully in an astoundingly short amount of time. You’ve probably noticed the improvements we’ve made.”

“I did notice I wasn’t out of breath after running… I’m not sure how far I ran but…”

“Yes, I can tell you some of your improvements now. Every artery is as good as new, all the furring, the fat and cholesterol deposits… Gone. The same with your capillaries. Perfect blood flow to every part of your body. Your lungs, a lifetime of living in a polluted city… Cleared. Quite a lot of obstruction builds up due to smoking, diesel fumes, general wear and tear. You’re effectively a newborn, the amount of damage we’ve fixed.”

“Just as long as I don’t start teething when you pull my old ones, sir.”

The doctor chuckled. “No, no hope of that. When you have put on your permanent one you do have one final session in the scanner however.”

“I thought you said I was fixed, sir.”

“Yes, one final thing to do once those teeth are out. The nanites will fill the holes left by your teeth with bone. One thing removal of all teeth tends to cause is degeneration of the jaw. As age progresses that can lead to a severe under bite. Fill the holes with bone, reinforce the jaw, prevents any such degeneration. Fairly simple fix. It won’t take long for them to do that.”

“Jesus, doc! You think of everything!”

“Well, we think of everything. It’s not just me, y’know. I’m just the public face of the medical centre, there are a few of us. I’m no surgeon.”

I chuckled. “I was wondering about that, sir.”

“Very well, dismissed. I’ll see you in a day or two.”
* * *
It was time.

The five dogs trained by the previous racers all stood in the gym as I lead Caesar and Brutus and placed them with their racers.

At the sight of them, Brutus ran over and nuzzled a couple, going down into the lets play pose.

“Brutus. Heel.”

His tail was going into overdrive. Excitement at seeing so many dogs. He didn’t respond, rolled over and performed the play action again.

“Brutus. Heel.”

He looked at me.

“Heel, boy.”

His tail dropped and he trotted over to join me.

I pointed at the place I wanted him. “Stay!”

“As you all know, we’ve been planning something. This time, it isn’t a race however. One hour before sunset, we’ll send you out into the badlands and you have until five hours after sunrise. You’ll be back and forth a lot over the coming hours.”

A few cocked their heads in that I’m curious manner.

“What we have in place of a race is a scavenger hunt.” I walked across the room and picked up a baton. Then walked back to face them. “This contains a tracker, similar to the ones you’ve been training with in the tennis balls. Your job. Retrieve them. As many as you can in the allotted time. When it’s one hour to the end of the event, you’ll all be summoned back. Just to make sure the distant ones get back before it gets too hot to be running around out there.”

Tail wags. Good.

“How you gain possession of these batons is entirely up to you. Find them or steal them, we don’t care but one thing we haven’t mentioned yet. There is a threat out there. Something for you to avoid. I won’t say what. I’ll let you find out for yourselves. Pay attention to the senses you’ve been trained to use and you may even manage to avoid it. In the original races, a pull of the tail would freeze for thirty minutes. Here, that’s five. It’s a much shorter event. Also, your protection freeze is programmed in again. Clench your jaws and you’ll freeze solid to protect you from falls and other dangers. Don’t fall too far, it won’t protect you from a cliff. As with the tail pull, this protection has been modified. Now, it lasts until ten seconds after you release the jaw again. You control how long you remain frozen. Test it now.”

Six dogs froze solid. I sighed. I didn’t think Brutus would understand that. Oh well, just have to hope his instinct’s as strong as his connection with his dog persona.

I went down the line, unclipped their name tags and clipped on a tracker each.

“These trackers are for our benefit. Drones will be following you. One per dog. We’ll be broadcasting the footage to the store in New York and afterwards, the people who edited our footage will be editing that to produce a television program for our slaves to enjoy.”

A lot more tails wagged.

“Now, for the rewards. You will be assessed on your performance. The number of trackers you retrieve is a major part of it but other factors will be taken into account too. We won’t tell you what they are until after the event but… First place, three hours of pleasure, three days free of duties and access. Second, two, third, one of each. There will be other rewards and as there was with the races, there’s also a final place penalty.”

The tails shot up and wagged faster at that.

“Yes, I think you’ve guessed. Final place is remain a dog for one month. I’ve been informed a few of you want that. It might be a fight between you who manages to come in last place. Be warned, I said the assessment of your performance will be based not just on number of batons. Attempting to sabotage your score may actually increase it depending on what you do.”

Another couple of tails shot up in surprise.

“There will also be prizes for your trainers. Try to do well even if you do want to be a dog for another month, they deserve a reward too. Come, boys.”

I turned to the elevator. All the dogs followed. It was a tight squeeze but all managed to fit in as we returned to the surface.

Through the exit, the SPF misting room, through the airlock, the dogs gathered outside. The moment the last was through, I stepped through to find Four waiting for me.

“You know what to do?”

He nodded. “Keep a tally, get the ident of every dog that returns with a baton. Simple stuff, Eleven. Doesn’t take a genius.”

“True. It is going to be a long night though.”

“I can handle it.”

“Don’t forget, if any sit on their haunches looking at you expectantly, turn the baton off, shove it in your bag and shout “Fetch!” Is six in place too?”

“Entrance two. Yes. He knows what to do too.”

“Good.” I selected all the dogs. “3 2 1… GO. Fetch boys!”

All of them bolted off into the wastes in different directions. “I’d better get back in there. Time for me to become Tyson again. I turned and as I did I spotted the two batons already in Four’s pack.

“What are they for?”

“One, home tracker. They’re seeking food. The other’s for you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. It’s a predator tracker.”

“But I’ll have one on my collar.”

“Idea put forward by the techies. You carry that, drop it somewhere, suddenly, two predators in the field. Decoy. If one of the dogs plucks up the courage to retrieve it, remove it from play, bonus points for him and while he’s moving, they’ll see him as a predator too.”

“Oh god, that’s genius!” I chuckled. “I’ll be sure to pass that one on to our lot when I get back there.”