2019-05-18 - spike - The New Shop 115

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 115
Date: 18 May 2019

Chapter 115
I was back on my feet and on my way to the wet rooms in no time. Beta accompanied me.

“How the hell did you do that, blank?”

“Do what, sir?”

“I saw some of the live footage from the drones. You were almost out of bounds so many times…”

“It took a lot of effort, sir. It hurt, I’ll admit that and my dog didn’t want to stay so close to the edge, but I managed to keep him on target, sir. I knew the hunters would want to avoid it.”

“Your dog…”

I chuckled. “Master was right, I found him. I didn’t just find him, I let him take over completely, but when the pain started, I got a little bit… woken up, sir. I could nudge, guide him. It’s almost like another person up here… Well, not person… Dog.”

“What’s it like?”

“I’ve never experienced anything like it! Joy. Pure joy and no worries. Just the love of life, the love of the run, being a dog, sir.”

The elevator doors opened, through the cell block, into the wet room, I stood in the cubicle, froze solid and Beta connected everything up.

The pumps pumped, the liquids flowed. I was cleaned inside and out and after the hot air cycle ended, I remained frozen for quite a while.

The moment the freeze ended, a voice entered my head. The same computer voice that’d summoned me from the outpost.

“Remain in your cubicle until the last of the blanks has departed, then go to the mirror.”

I did as I was told. The blanks filed out, the wet room was empty and I wandered over to back wall.

“Remain still.”

I stood to attention and waited.

“Calibrating.”

Calibrating? Calibrating what?

It didn’t take long for me to find out. Like a video sweep on a seventies TV show, my suit turned from solid black to solid gold! I looked like a fucking Oscar.

Again, a sweep, this time, a checkerboard pattern, a grid, a dotted grid, then just dots which reduced in size and distance until I was evenly gold and black, a muddy brown. The suit swept again, large dots, then patterns. Zebra stripes, tiger, leopard spots, feathers, leaves, camouflage. Everything was monochrome. Gold and black.

Another swipe and a return to black and the golden arches appeared on my chest. Then the KFC logo, Burger King, Subway, Apple, Microsoft.

I looked around. God, he said this suit was special.

Again, it returned to black.

Something stirred on my chest and as if being written directly onto it, “Property of Master Q” appeared. It wasn’t silver. It too was gold!

What did that mean?

Then above that, written again, “My name is” appeared.

I boggled. My name is what?

More movement. More writing.

“Odysseus”

Hmmm, well if that’s what he wants to

A line appeared through it and it vanished. Other names appeared. “Jason.”, “Heracles.”, “Hercules“, “Columbus”, “Aragorn.”. Each time a line crossed it out and it vanished.

I could see where his thoughts were taking him. Heroes famous for taking long journeys. Well, I’d certainly done that. Then, a different tack. “Orion” appeared.

Orion? A hunter! I liked it, but no. Another line, it vanished too.

Artemis.

This time, a line didn’t cross it out. It didn’t vanish and a second later, Q’s voice rang in my head.

“Remain still for a few more seconds. Look at your arm.”

I did.

Stripes appeared. There was something odd about them. They seemed shallower than normal army stripes and pointed down. First one, then two, three… When I expected a fourth over the other three, a crown appeared instead. They vanished and a large crown appeared about the same size as the stripes. That vanished too and in its place an elaborate one… A unicorn and a lion facing each other against a shield with a crown on top?

Of course… British army ranks. Had to be.

That vanished as well and then I spotted changes on my shoulder. Pips. Again, starting with one, moving up to captain, then a crown again followed by the crown shifting slightly up my shoulder as pips appeared beneath it. When the third pip appeared they formed a triangle rather than a line.

After that, more symbols, crossed swords is it? Then a crown and finally, a crown, pip and crossed swords?

So, I… Don’t know what those ranks meant but I have a sneaky suspicion they ended at general.

“Yes, I think you can guess what this renaming means. I’m elevating you again. To full human status and I name you Artemis. You now outrank the golds and are equal to the Sarge, Alpha and all my human slaves here. For now at least. I liked that idea, that comment you made about the officers abusing their privates. I realised some time ago that silver and gold were just too coarsely grained and army ranks seem to be an ideal way to go about things now that we have so many. Even a blank could earn a stripe or two. Go up to the rec room.”

Fuck me! I immediately sought out the nearest camera, sank to my knees and performed a thank you.

Another look in the mirror, folding my arms in various ways to see if I could conceal my new mark… Easy.

I rushed to the elevator and hit B1. It stopped and another marked slave entered. It… No, a glint of gold, he looked at me.

“Eleven?”

“Not anymore, N. Shush though, not a word. I want to surprise them.” I moved my hand.

He stepped back. “He’s… He’s given you a human name? He’s elevated you again?”

I nodded. “Same rank as you when you’re out of the suit now. He mentioned the possibility I might be renamed but I had no idea and fuck me, this suit… It’s amazing!”

“Amazing how? Is that why it was so hard to get it onto you?”

“Must be. I’d say it’s about three hundred dots per inch! The letters wrote themselves on me. He went through a few names before he settled on this one.”

“No wonder it was a struggle!”

The elevator stopped and I stepped out, arms folded to conceal my new name to find all other the named slaves present. Well, all the suited ones.

We strode confidently to the TV and stepped in front of the rest.

Q smiled down at me as I felt a tap on my shoulder followed by M’s voice.

“Blank, what are you doing here? This is a meeting for named slaves. Get down to the gym to loosen yourself up!”

One hand still covering my new mark, I turned and signed with the other. “M, I’d like to introduce you to N. It’s only a temp suit so he’s normally called Nicholas. One of Q’s human slaves. He loved being a dog so much Q granted him the chance to race.”

“You didn’t answer”

I held my hand up and removed the other one. “I’m not a blank and you call me sir, now.”

“Artemis? Who the hell…”

“Wasn’t the original name I was given, M. Dodger won that race for a reason.”

“Practice? You’re from the island?”

“Oh, much more practice than that. I imagine the video editors will need to rename Dodger when the series is produced.”

“Rename?”

“To Tyson! It’s me, M!”

M swept me up in a hug. He held me at arms length and stared at me for a minute before tapping again. “Fuck me, I… How?”

“We came in with the last shipment.”

“And you were Dodger? But he… You… Oh bloody hell, Eleven, that was a fucking brilliant disguise! Even if we’d sent you down as a blank from ‘ere I would’ve never twigged it was that one.”

I chuckled. “That was the idea. And it’s Artemis now. You might as well get used to it.”

Q sounded amused. “Enough with the twiddling, Artemis. M, give them the armbands I ordered you to collect.”

“Oh! Oh, of course! Sorry, sir.” He rushed to a table and returned, handing them to each of us.

I strapped it on, logged in, selected my profile and turned to Q.

“Thank you, sir. I had no idea… I thought I was the highest a suited slave could be! When you mentioned renaming I expected One.”

“Yes, well… You’re special. There won’t be many more granted that honour believe me. The things you’ve done, the things you’ve improved and given, the things you’ve endured.” He sighed. “Trust me, you deserve it.”

”Why did you choose Artemis, sir? Not that I’m objecting, but I am curious why that over Orion. He was a hunter after all.”

“Ah, but Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and many of her followers also took her name. Before you think the name is female, most of her followers were male.”

“So, best of both worlds for me, sir. A human slave in a suit and still a blank at the push of a button.” I glanced from side to side. “How was it for you, sir? At the outpost?”

Q took on a pained expression. “Worse than I imagined it could be. You were right. I received a punishment almost as soon as I got there. And for what?”

“Sweeping the floor, sir?”

“Ah, happened to you too? They tried to warn me but I refuse to live in such filthy squalor! I” he shuddered. “To make it worse it didn’t even explain what I’d done wrong!”

“Have you punished it yet, sir?”

“No, no. But I did have it reassigned to the compound and put Nine in its place. I also ensured full cleaning kit was supplied and gave it orders to make sure it was spotless before the next blanks arrived.”

I nodded.

Q had an evil glint in his eye when he asked the next question. “What did you have in mind for it?”

“Can you reconvene in the rec room with all slaves present, sir? They deserve to witness this. I imagine a lot suffered at Eight’s hands before now.”

M nudged me. “What’s this about Eight? It seemed a decent enough bloke when we trained it in the shop!”

“Utter psycho, M. Absolute bastard. Expects all the blanks under its command to act like robots. Specifically ordered to do nothing unless told to. If you then follow its instructions to the letter it punishes you for not doing things the way it wanted anyway. Do something without its instructions, zap. It forgets to tell you to do something to complete the task, so you don’t do it, zap.”

“But… Why?”

“Maybe we’ll find that out because by the time I’ve done with it, by god it’ll know what it put us through!” I returned my attention to Q. “Sir, at the end of this, are you going to blank it? You mentioned another silver…”

“Yes. It doesn’t know it yet but it already has its new, blankable vest and hood.”

“Can you get a chain, sir? Same purpose as the one around the blank that was Kyle. So all the other blanks can recognise it?”

“I like your way of thinking. Yes, we’ll have it applied the moment”

I held my hand up. “Sir, I think it’ll have more impact and do more good if we allow one of its victims to apply it. When the blanks are all present, I’ll order four of them to step forward. The other blanks at the outpost when I was there, sir. I’ll offer them the opportunity to put on the chain.”

Q doubled over in laughter. “Oh god, I love it. How will you call them forward?”

“We gave each other nicknames, sir.”

“Of course! Silly of me. We reconvene in one hour. Q out.”

The screen turned off.

“What was that all about?”

I turned to M. “I told you. Eight. Oh my god is it going to suffer? It wasn’t just me it punished. Q went to the outpost as a blank to replace me. It doesn’t have a leg to stand on. There’s nothing it can say that’ll defend its attitude or actions.”

“I can’t understand it.” He sighed. “Oh well. So, what’s it like there?”

“Until I was assigned to the outpost and placed under Eight’s tender mercies? Loved every second of it. Oh god you’re in for a treat there when you finally get there.”

I glanced around and knelt before Eighteen. “So, how did you like it? Racing?”

“I luv ed it. It was ab so lu tly am aiz ing sir.”

“You’re still… They’ve not” I sighed. “Don’t worry. I’ll get your voice fixed. I’m surprised Two hasn’t come up with the solution yet. I suppose I’ll have to see what hardware constraints there are on your tag, but… That can wait a little while longer. I have some catching up to do here since I was forcibly exiled. It’s been… a very interesting few months.”

“You thi ink you can fix thi is?”

“I saw a solution the moment I first heard you in the store.” I chuckled. “I was the blank afraid of losing my arms and legs. I had to keep up the act.”

Eighteen’s shoulders shook. “Goo ood one. And you we er the one who thou awt we we er ter ror ists?”

I nodded.

“And be four then?”

“Eleven. I think we met in the store. If we didn’t meet, I was there, on display when you came in.”

He nodded. “Mu ust be it. The err we er a few each ti ime.”

I went around the rest. Seventeen, I shook his hand and welcomed him to the club in person, something I’d been unable to do.

As for Fourteen…

“You, me, boxing ring. Tomorrow night.”

It nodded. “Yes, sir. I deserve it. I deserve more than the blob got.”

I nodded back and rushed over to my brothers. To Thirteen and Sixteen. Fifteen was with them of course. “God, you’ve got no idea how difficult it was when I saw you chasing those dogs. Restraining myself. Stopping myself from joining you out there.”

Sixteen chuckled. “Is it true? You became him?”

“Yep. And you can thank N over there for letting me know it was possible. If he hadn’t lost himself to his dog, I might never have tried.”

“How do you do it? I was a dog a long time. He was one even longer.” He nodded at Fifteen.

“For me… I suppose it’s a bit like meditation. Just relax and let all your cares just drift away, let your thoughts follow. Only instinct, your dog remains. I hope you succeed. It’s the best feeling it’s possible to have. Just a dog, basic commands the only things you recognise. Humans just make sounds apart from the few like your name and orders you recognise.”

It shuddered. “God. I’m not sure I’d like that. Losing my mind?!”

“To be replaced by being overwhelmed by what I can only describe as a pure joy. A joy for the run, for the hunt, for just life itself. Nothing matters anymore.”

“What if I was stuck like that?”

“I for one wouldn’t care. A dog for life, not just for Christmas.” I chuckled. “I’d love it. I hope it takes longer each time to snap me out of it until it’s impossible. I want to be a dog.”

It nodded. “Later, sir. Tell me how to do it. Train me, to, sir. Please. I’d like to find Slasher and become him too.”

“I will.”

We waited.

Eventually, the screen flickered back into life. This time, Q, Four and Ten stood with a whole host of slaves behind them.

“We’re ready, Artemis. I’ll hand over to you for now.”

“Thank you, sir. Eight, step forward. Stand beside your master.”

One of the slaves looked from side to side, it shuffled forward.

“Yes?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir? Err…”

“Explain yourself.”

“Explain what, sir?”

“Why do you abuse the blanks under your command? Worse, why do you torture them? Deny them even a thought! Keep them in abject squalor!?”

“Who told you this, sir? Lies! Whichever blank. Oh my god I’m going to”

I held my hand up. “Is everyone paying attention?”

Four, Ten and Q all nodded.

“Good.” I pointed my fob, selected level seven, slave Eight and activated.

It collapsed onto the floor and began to writhe.

As it did so, I signed.

“Point one! A slave is a living breathing human being with a mind and ideas. It is capable of using that mind to perform actions without instruction!

Point two! You never punish a slave without telling it what it’s done wrong!

Point three! You do not punish a slave for performing actions without your consent if those actions improve things for other slaves or our master!

Point four. If you do punish a slave you do not fucking well explain its faults during the fucking punishment!

Point five. If a slave performs its actions exactly, to the letter, as you ordered you do not punish it!

Point six. I’ve been informed that your outpost is fully equipped! You denied your blanks access to any form of recreation. Why were they denied access? You locked them in their cell each day!

Point seven! You never apply punishments for hours for doing as ordered! Ever! I think I can guess the program you select for such a punishment. I know how painful that punishment is and I also know that once started it cannot be cancelled!

Oh, and one final point! If a punishment renders a blank unconscious, you fucking well seek medical attention! You do not kick it in the side repeatedly in the hope of waking it up and, failing to, leave it!”

I pointed my fob and turned off the pain.

It took a while to crawl to its knees. It scrambled to its feet and glared at the screen.

“What the hell was that for?”

“I already told you what it was for! Don’t make me repeat myself or I’ll fucking well do that again!”

“But I couldn’t see anything with…” It stepped back.

“Ah, you recognise that conversation, do you?!”

“Where is it? Where’s the blank who told you these lies?”

“You dare to accuse me of lying? Master… Would you care to tell it what else it did?”

“Gladly.” Q wasn’t smiling now. “When warned not to sweep the place by the other blanks there, the blank did so anyway, not wanting to live in the filth you forced on them. The moment you came in you activated a high punishment leaving it writhing for minutes! Did the blank get any explanation from you? No. The other blanks had to tell it, and what they told it… You do deny the blanks any form of initiative. Something I value in a slave. You deny them a fucking mind! And the blank fell foul a few more times over the next two days when following your orders to the letter. Failing to do something you expected when ordered specifically not to do anything unless told to.”

“That’s a lie! How can you take the word of a blank over mine?”

“You accuse me of lying too!? A little bit of a clue for you, Eight. Artemis was one of the blanks you punished for sweeping the floor! The one you forced to endure an hour long pain program for obeying your orders to the letter! Formerly known as number Eleven, I elevated him today, to full human status. Why? Because of the hell he’d endured, not just at your hands but elsewhere too. Because of the services he’d performed for me. What’s more, when he was sent with samples to the compound he waited until Six could see him. Explained the situation. Explained why he couldn’t return fully to the compound even though I had ordered his return the previous week! You ordered him to remain, threatened every blank under your command with punishment if one failed to return. He saw no choice but to return to you and when he did come back to the compound the next day, Six accompanied me, Eight. I was the blank who replaced him! I was the other blank who swept the fucking floor and ended up writhing on it!”

“You, sir? How can you be a blank?”

“Simplicity itself. I put on a suit after hearing some of the things going on at your outpost of course! I went to see for myself! You can’t deny anything because both of us witnessed it, endured your punishments for nothing first hand! Now do as Artemis ordered! Explain yourself! Explain your behaviour. Why do you torture my slaves for nothing?”

It looked around as if trapped but at the same time, its shoulders began to shake. I could tell this wasn’t laughter. “Three’s dead! That’s why! OK? They killed him! He… He was my best friend! I was growing to love him!”

Q looked down at the pitiful excuse for a slave with scorn. “What do you mean, they killed him!? It died as a result of an accident! If anything a blank saved it and another blank! A blank died in that accident!”

“That’s what they say! They’re the only witnesses! They killed him! Blanks are fucking scum, they deserve everything I’ve given them and more!”

“Did I deserve that too? Did Artemis? He certainly wasn’t in the factory during the accident. He was in New York when it occurred!”

“How was I to know you were one of them, sir?”

Q tapped something on his armband and a slave rushed off. I caught a glimpse of his number as he did so, that silver two.

Q glared at Eight with fury in his eyes. “The blanks did not kill Three and I’ll prove it. You haven’t seen what happened but we did! There was a drone in the vicinity when the accident occurred. If anything, the blank who died tried to save Three. It pushed it out of the way of the falling wall. It sacrificed its life to save it!”

“They killed him!”

“It. And they did… not… kill it! Your hatred is misplaced, Eight. Wait and see. Two’s on the way to retrieve the video footage now.”

I nodded. “Sir…”

“Yes, Artemis?”

“I pointed at the slaves behind him.”

Q nodded. “Yes.”

“Bucky, Beany, Dragon, Chell… Step forward.”

There was movement in the ranks as four slaves shuffled through the throng.

“Good. Four, could you…”

Four nodded and tapped each. As he read out the numbers I entered them into my armband and selected all four.

“We’ve not even started on its punishment yet. I thought as you suffered at its hands, you deserved the opportunity to help with that punishment.”

All of them started signing at once.

I couldn’t follow it all but the general gist of it was four thank yous.

“Dragon. Grab it. Hold its hands behind its back.”

Eight stared at the screen, then behind it.

Dragon stepped forward and gripped Eight by the wrists, yanked its arms behind its back and held it firm.

It struggled but Dragon had a good grip.

“Sir.”

“Yes.” Q held up a chain and padlock.

“Chell, take the padlock. Beany, take the chain. Hand the other end of the chain to Bucky. I think all four of you deserve a small part in this.”

They did, but I could tell from their postures they looked a little confused.

“Now, Beany, Bucky, one end each, chain around its neck. Chell. Lock it.”

It was almost like a light bulb moment. All three of them straightened, looked much less confused and did as they were told. The padlock gave a nice, loud, satisfying click.

“Dragon, release it and step back.”

Dragon nodded and did so.

The moment Eight’s arms were free it started signing again.

“What is this!?” It pulled at the chain.

I stared at the thing… I imagine my expression would’ve been similar to Q’s under the suit. “That, Eight, is so the other blanks will always be able to tell you apart. They’ll always be able to recognise you. I imagine quite a few have a serious grudge against you.”

“What do you mean recognise me? I’m Eight! I’ve got a big fuckoff number on the back of my head!”

“Not for long.”

Q nodded. “Two’s in his office now. Watch, Eight. See for yourself.”

The rec room on the screen vanished and in its place… A view from above. It looked like a warehouse. One wall was in ruins and through it, figures could be seen, one with silver on its head. The resolution was too poor at this distance to distinguish a number but it was clearly Three.

There was a blast from further into the factory. The blanks and Three seemed unaware of it until the shockwave hit. Three had its back to the wall as it began to buckle, to lean inwards. A blank a few feet away saw the danger, ran over and pushed Three full force away from the wall. It turned to run as the wall collapsed on top of it. It convulsed and lay still.

Three looked around in shock, it rushed back towards the fallen wall along with another blank. Most of the other blanks were too far away to do anything as the ceiling collapsed but one of them, dodging falling masonry, leapt in, dragged Three and the blank out, hauled them over its shoulder and ran out of the warehouse.

The screen switched back to the rec room.

Eight shook its head. It stepped back and sank to its knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

Q looked down at it, no longer a look of scorn but one of sorrow. “I’m sorry, Eight, but even with this revelation, you need to be taught a lesson. Such hatred. Such abuse of my property.” He pointed his fob and instantly, the mark of ownership vanished. “Stand up, Blank.”

It looked around.

“Yes, you. Look at your chest.”

It did. It sprang to its feet. “You can’t do this to me! We had an agreement!”

“You gave yourself to me, Blank! You are my property and I will use you as I see fit!”

“You said I’d be named from the start! That’s the only reason I agreed”

“And what did you use that authority for, Blank? You need to learn what it is to be a blank before you return to any form of status! I sentence you to one year as a blank. I’ll review your case then. If at that point I deem you worthy, your name will be reinstated. If however, you prove to be troublesome, if you are not worthy of that honour, you’ll remain a blank for the remainder of your life! Furthermore, if after two years as a blank you still prove to be a problem slave you will be sold! Is that understood?”

“But I can’t be a blank! Not that! Anything but that! Please, sir! I’m sorry!”

“It’s a little bit late for that! You should’ve come to me with your concerns! The truth would’ve been revealed to you then rather than taking out your grief on innocents! Number nine was the blank who saved Three’s life that day. It saved another blank too. That was enough for me to elevate it. It has your job now. It spent a long time as a blank so it knows how to treat them well. You will learn the same.”

“Please!”

I sighed. “Sir, does it still have the same core ID?”

“It does.”

“Good. Blank. Look at me!”

Its gaze snapped from Q to me.

“You are now going to experience the hell you put the five blanks under your command through when you didn’t order them to return. When you didn’t order me to change back into my boots and I returned to the outpost in flippers. Exactly following your orders is not a crime!” I selected the program and pressed. “This is also the program you threatened to force us to endure a whole day of if any of us failed to return. A day!”

It started to shift about from foot to foot uncomfortably.

“What… What have you done? Turn it off!”

“It can’t be turned off, Blank. You know that. You forced five slaves who followed your orders explicitly to endure what you’re about to now. It feels like an eternity in hell but it only lasts one hour. You’ll learn. That program was not designed as a fucking punishment. It was designed as a pain pig reward you sadistic pile of shit! Now you suffer it too!”

“Please! You can’t”

“I already have! You never, ever punish a slave with a program you’ve not experienced yourself! I wouldn’t wish this punishment on any blank no matter the crime under normal circumstances but in your case I’m prepared to make an exception! You used that on us! How many more? How many more have you forced to endure that hell? Now you’ll know never to use it again if you do regain your status.”

It wasn’t long before the full force of the program knocked it off its feet.

It writhed, it crawled to its knees and pleaded during the lower intensities and collapsed back to the floor as its higher ones swept it away again.

“Four, tell it what I said when I had it on the floor the first time.”

Four nodded. “I will. Don’t worry. Fuck me, I never even realised.”

“Six said the same thing. The blanks were probably terrified of it. Now it’s one of them.”
I selected all the blanks. “Don’t kill it. By all means take out your grudges on it. A lot of you suffered under its control. Now it’s your turn to get your own back. Chell, Dragon, Beany, Buck…”

They stepped forward again. “Yes, sir?”

“We made a pact. Don’t let its demotion get in the way of that. I want all of you to continue to work your way up to silver, understood? I know the only intention was to give you all a chance to beat the shit out of that thing but now, you have the capability to overtake it. To outrank it. Try.”

They twiddled at each other and one of them nodded and replied.

“We will, sir. Thank you, sir.”

I looked up at Q. “Sir. Any chance of putting up the event videos? There was only one when I got here. Event three.”

“We removed them because everyone’d seen them.”

“I haven’t, sir.”

“God, why not? They were available the whole time you were a blank here.”

“The first week, I was on the chain gang, sir. I was too wasted from the work to do anything but crawl into my cage. After that, statue duty and then… Well, you know where I was last, sir. No TV there. I’d like to see how I did. Still a little hazy, allowing the dog full control.”

Q nodded and chuckled. “There is a TV there but I know what you mean having experienced it myself. I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Q. Out.”