2019-05-24 - spike - The New Shop 116

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 116
Date: 24 May 2019

Chapter 116
Down to the dungeon to put on a rubber vest, back up out onto the shop floor, I walked up to the counter and, arms behind my back to conceal my armband, I leant on it and looked at Alpha with amusement.

“What are you doing here, Blank? You should be”

I tapped away. “How are you, Alpha? Did it help?”

“Did what… What are…”

“Beating the shit out of my friend. Did it help?”

“Did it help, Sir! Wait… Who granted you access to that band!? It shouldn’t even work with you!”

“No reason why it shouldn’t.”

“And who gave you permission to use that voice? It already belongs to someone!”

I chuckled and pulled down the vest to reveal my name. “I did. It is my voice after all. Didn’t think the complex’s voice was appropriate and I’m used to this one now.”

He stepped back at the sight of my mark. He leaned closer to study it. “Shit! He… Is that you Eleven?”

“It was. Not anymore.”

“He… He’s elevated you again? Fuck me!”

I rapped on my chastity. “That’ll never be possible, now.”

He opened the counter flap, ran around it and gripped me in a hug. “Oh god, we were worried. And you’re fine now? You were nearly dead when we realised it was you!”

“I’m fine. Down one kidney, true, but other than that, I’ve seen the results of the doctor’s work. Not even any scar tissue and the other things he’s done to fix me up are amazing.”

“I… I’m not supposed to call you Sir again, am I?”

“No, no. I’m as human as you are. Best of all worlds for me now. I can be the highest of slaves or the lowest. Dog, blank or human. With this suit he could even put Eleven on the back of my head again, but I suspect the name and mark are gold from now on. Come on.” I put my arm around him and led him to the bench in the footwear section. “We need to talk.”

We sat.

“So, how long have you been back? Did you just arrive now? Today? I didn’t hear anything about anymore pod deliveries!”

“I’ve been here a while. I was in the races. More. I won.”

“But it was a dog called Dodger, wasn’t it?”

“I was a blank on delivery. I’ve been a blank for well over two months before today. That’s why Dodger won, experience. As I said to M, I think the video editors will have to change that name to Tyson. Now, how are you? Did it help?”

He sighed and nodded. “I had my first peaceful sleep in months that night.”

“So no nightmares anymore?”

“Yes, but they’re not as common. Not as bad either and the doctor’s continued to help.”

“My advice then. Speak to Blank.”

He stiffened.

“I’m serious, Alpha. I think it earned the respect of quite a few that day and it has changed. I realised that before I’d even spoken to it the first time. I was the one who accompanied it when it approached you. The look of scorn you gave it. Lose that. See it for what it is now, not for what it was. It said quite a few things that proved to me it’s changed.”

“It could be faking! It only did what it did so it could race!”

“It isn’t faking. It said to me as a blank, as a friend, exactly what it said to you, M and Q. It’s not only glad it’s here now, it doesn’t want to leave. It wants to be one of us. It’s happy. It even said it owes Q everything and the only thing it could give was itself.”

“Owes him? Owes him what? He stole its life!”

“And gave it something it never dreamed was possible. Before you speak to it, watch it for a while next time. Look at its body language. Its bearing. It really has changed. Not just in weight either. The loss of all that blubber’s given it a self-confidence. It’s not a snivelling coward anymore. It proved that by standing up to you in the ring. I’m happy to consider it a friend now.”

“You can’t be serious! After what it did?”

“What it did was through ignorance, not malice. As far as it was concerned we were no more real than space invaders. If you want to direct your hatred at any blank, direct it at the one with the chain. Even I’ve blocked its access to the panel it needed to touch. I did that when I was still a blank, first day back and what it did was from pure malice. It knew the blob was real and even knew who it was in that suit.”

“I could never be friends with the blob!”

“How do you know unless you see it, speak to it as a person, not as a blob? It isn’t a blob anymore Alpha. A little overweight, true.”

“But”

“Look at it this way. What do you think of M?”

“I like him, of course!”

”I spoke to Four a lot before I was blanked, Alpha. He told me what M was like. An obese, sweaty bigot of a cop. Some of the things he said in that store angered the Alpha in control of it. That’s Ten now, by the way. So, they decided Police Constable Mansfield deserved to be punished. He’d said things about Four when reports of his faked death came in. “Death’s too good for him, one less to worry about.” Just because he was gay. Muttering that he feared he might catch something if he stayed in the store too long got Alpha pissed too.

“So… So that’s why they suited him up?”

“M’s told us all how much he hated it at first. It was a few weeks later, when Four was in recovery from the torture his pet slug inflicted on him that he noticed the difference. Just as the blob didn’t believe he’d lost weight until it was pointed out, M… Or Mary, as they called him at the time, was the same. That’s when he began his attitude adjustment. Began to see his new life as something positive. In M’s words according to Four, “Better a lifetime of slavery than five years a miserable git and then dead.” Trust me, Alpha. Blank’s had a similar epiphany.”

“Has Four forgiven the slug?”

I sagged on the bench. “No. He’s still torturing it. There is a difference though.”

“Oh, really?”

“There is, Alpha. A real difference. The shocks slug imposed weren’t short pulses, it was a sustained level ten for over one hour. It injured Four permanently. It was so bad, even when the shocks were turned off, he still felt them. His ass was in spasm for weeks. The only thing they could do to ease his suffering was keep him sedated and pump him full of muscle relaxants. Even a month later, he was still in agony from it.”

Alpha looked at me in horror.

”Even now, he can’t feel things the way we do. He’ll never be able to feel the tail sensations as a dog. They’re too weak. Anything too powerful such as a tail pull would set his ass into agonising spasms again and even the pleasure has to be limited. Your active hell lasted a hell of a lot longer, true, but you’re physically fine. Four knows he’ll never recover. Blank has experienced every single shock you took. The last week exactly how you took them and still it stepped up and asked you to beat the shit out of it! Also, what the slug did to Four was out of pure malice. It deserves everything Four does to it.”

“And what about you? What you’re going to do to Fourteen.”

“There, a huge difference.”

“And that is?”

“I was permanently injured. I wasn’t kidding when I said it cost me a kidney. Gunshot wound. Besides, once the bout in the ring’s over and done with, as far as I’m concerned, it’s forgiven.”

Alpha let out a yelp. “Forgiven!? You were mangled! Hours from dropping dead!”

“And if I’d never sustained those injuries, it might’ve been years before I went to the island. Years before I met my Master. I certainly wouldn’t’ve never spent all those evenings before the suit eating with him, chatting, learning to love him. I certainly would never have had the opportunity to give myself to him. To request a new suit. Hell, I don’t just owe Fourteen my forgiveness. I owe it my thanks. Just as I thanked you after our bout in the ring when you were still a blank.”

“It seems you’re a better man than I am, Elev”

I held my hand up, pulled down the vest again and tapped the name.

“Artemis. Alright. I’m not making any promises. I’ll watch it from a distance for a while. If what I see convinces me, I’ll speak to it.”

“Good. Would you also be willing to train it?”

“Train it?”

“To box. It does want to learn. More, I think it really wants to do to Blank what you did to it. That’s the blank with the chain, of course. I’m not even going to dignify it with “the one who was” and its old name anymore. I think I’ll just nickname that one chain from now on.”

He sighed. “I’ll watch it.”

“It’s a start. I guarantee, you’ll see how much it’s changed.”

“So, what are you going to do now? How is this going to work, anyway?”

“I suppose the only one I follow orders off now will be Q himself unless he orders me to assist someone else. I do have work to do. The complex seems to be running fine, now I’ve finally had the chance to experience the program fully from the point of view of a blank but there is something more important to work on anyway.”

“What?”

“Eighteen.”

“Oh god, tha at ge ets irr it ate ing. I hope you can.”

“I see a solution. I just need to know the hardware constraints before I know if that solution’s possible. I’ll head upstairs now and speak to Two, then, bed.”
* * *
Ssp: Software support, how can I help?

11: Is that Two?

I looked at the screen and sighed. Something hadn’t been updated again.

Ssp: What the… blank, how did you gain access to room one? Return to your cage!

11: No. And it’s still sir. This needs an update again. I’m no longer merely a gold.

Ssp: If you’re Eleven, why is your head blank?

I glanced over my shoulder and… Ah, of course, the camera.

11: That’s why it needs an update. I’m not subhuman anymore and my name is Artemis!

Ssp: Why are you using Eleven’s login then?

11: Because I was Eleven. Just, get Two to the keyboard if it’s not you.

Ssp: Show me your mark.

I sighed, turned and pulled down my vest.

Ssp: Oh fuck, oh shit. Gold? I’ve only ever seen gold when Q wears

11: Never mind that, get Two!

Ssp: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I’ll get him right away, sir!

It was a while before…

Ssp: Two here, how can I help, sir? Congratulations, by the way.

11: Two, couple of things. One… Update this account. I’m not Eleven anymore.

Ssp: Sorry, sir. I’ll do it right away, sir. And the other thing?

Artemis: Why is Eighteen speaking in such a… fucked up manner? His speech hasn’t improved since I first met him in person a month ago!

Ssp: Sorry, sir. It’s an incredibly complex piece of code, sir. We ran out of memory.

Artemis: That was quick with my name at least. We only need one kilobyte of buffer space to allow him to string together a sentence, Two! God, I saw the solution the moment he spoke!

Ssp: The patterns for all those syllables, sir.

Artemis: Why do you need syllables? Why not just use letters, a space, a few punctuation marks and an enter pattern? That should use a hell of a lot less memory! Even if the sentences need to be parsed for correct pronunciation!

Ssp: Letters proved too unreliable, sir. It seems to be just the way he thinks, sir. We couldn’t even scrape together ten bytes, sir.

I sighed.

Artemis: Send me the source code, Two. I’ll go over it. Was it compiled with optimisation for speed or size?

Ssp: Speed, sir. It needed to be fast to capture the brainwave patterns reliably.

Artemis: All of it? I assume there are different sections to the code. It’s only the detection code that needs to be fast, the text part doesn’t. The pattern matching doesn’t.

Ssp: But it all needed to be compiled, sir.

Artemis: You didn’t write it as one huge monolithic block, did you?

Ssp: Yes, sir. The code is experimental. The only part of the code we needed to call was the pattern analysis. That was based on the neural net after all.

Artemis: The moment it hit his vocaliser it became production code, Two! It’s his only means of communication short of tapping with his paws! At least tell me the source is well commented. It’ll take an age to unpick it and put all the relevant parts into shared libraries so they can be optimised separately!

Ssp: We know how it works, sir.

Good god it was showing its true colors as a hack now, and not a hacker, a true amateur of the lowest order.

Artemis: Seriously? You should always comment your code. Just because you know how it works doesn’t mean it’s clear for everyone. Hand it to someone who’s never seen it before and it can be utterly incomprehensible without a lot of headaches and weeks of tracing and unpicking. Please tell me you used procedures?

Ssp: Um… We called different parts from within itself, there wasn’t any

Artemis: Procedures are not the same as subroutines, before you suggest that. They are sub-programs that can be called with passed parameters. You should have been using those from the start, experimental or not! Separate, distinct files for each function and procedure.

Ssp: I’m sorry, sir. It was a rush job.

I selected two on the fob, a sharp half second level seven zap and typed. I hit enter and the fob at the same time.

Artemis: Always code with the future in mind! Even if it is a fucking proof of concept! Making Eighteen wait a few extra days for a well programmed piece would’ve been preferable to forcing everyone including him to endure the way he’s speaking now for over a month! Get that code open and start commenting it for me.

Ssp: Yes, sir!

Artemis: Did you get the extra kick, too?

Ssp: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

Artemis: Good. I expect the fully commented code by this time tomorrow.
* * *
God I needed that sleep. The moment the cage beeped open, I donned my rubber vest again and, armband behind my back, I stepped into the gym and made my way to the back, grabbed a pair of sneakers and went to seek out blank. This time, it was on an exercise bike.

I twiddled one handed for the moment before the big reveal.

“How are you?”

“Still a little stiff. Fuck me though.”

“What?”

“I… I loved that. It’s the best time I’ve ever had in my life! Any remaining doubts, the last of my homesickness… God, I never want to leave here!”

“But you know you will.”

“Not for a long time.” It sighed. “I’ll miss you Blank.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“But they said everyone apart from the one they chose as a hunter was going”

“The winner gets a name and I won. Named slaves remain, to help train the future ones.”

“Really? Oh, thank god!”

“However… I will not be the one given that name this time. As the first and second place holders already had names and the third was an outsider, I’m not sure, but I think that’s likely to go to the fourth place holder or the winner on points, if it goes to anyone at all.”

“What? I… I don’t understand, Blank!”

I pulled down the vest and tapped my armband. “I received my first name months ago. Now, I’ve got a new one and it wasn’t a result of the race.”

It froze. It stared. Finally it pulled itself together enough to sign.

“Artemis? Oh fuck! That voice!” It leapt off the bike and sank to its knees. “Oh god, you… Eleven! You were Eleven! I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know, sir. PL”

I held my hand up. “Blank. Stand up. I’m not one for bearing grudges once the lesson’s been learned. I didn’t lie when I was a blank. The moment I saw how much you’d changed, I realised you were worthy of my attention again. I’d be glad to have you as a friend now.”

I held my hand out. It gripped it as I hauled it back to its feet and gave it a hug.

At first, it stiffened in my embrace, but as I stroked its back to reassure it, it relaxed. I released it and held out my hand properly, in friendship.

It stared at it. “You really want to be my friend?”

“Blank, I am your friend. I made friends with you weeks ago.”

“But you said I was worthless. Just a useless pile of blubber.”

“That was then, this is now. You’ve changed and I’m not just talking about the weight. What you lost in weight you gained in something far more valuable.”

“Muscle, sir?”

“Well, there is that, but I was talking about something else.” I tapped my temple. “Up here.”

“I’m not sure I understand, sir.”

“When I first saw you, I saw self-loathing. It was at the core of your being, wasn’t it?”

It sagged. It nodded.

“Follow me.” We walked over to one of the mirrors. “What do you see now?”

“The suit, sir. And a lot less of me.”

“Oh, I see much more than that. Look at yourself, Blank. Not just at all the weight you’ve lost. Look at how you’re standing, now.”

“I’m still not sure I understand, sir.”

“As you lost the weight you gained in confidence. You like yourself now, Blank. You like what you’re becoming. I can see you’re beginning to see this life as one you can learn to love too. Before the suit, before the torture, all your time was dedicated to lying about doing nothing. Eating yourself to death. Now, you’re happy, Blank! Of course I’m happy to have a man like you as friend. Examine yourself, and I don’t mean your body. I mean your mind. Think about how you feel now.”

It stood a little taller. It turned and studied itself in the mirror. It stood proud, not slumped. It shoulders straight, not hunched over. Everything about the way it stood oozed self-confidence.

I extended my hand again and it shook it.

“Thank you, sir. Oh god. I… I didn’t even think about it, sir. You’re right.”

“Good. Now… Treadmill. I want to see just how well you can handle racing against me when I’m not holding back.”

“Holding back, sir?”

“Yes, Blank. When I’m a blank, I do my best to keep M from finding me. It’s a little game we play and last time I pulled a blinder. I faked being unfit, I pretended to be a slave given by a master rather than volunteering for the suit. On my first day back I utterly refused to cooperate until Q told me the tale we’d arranged to keep up the deception.”

It chuckled and stepped onto the treadmill.

“Don’t set it for a sprint, I want to see how you handle an endurance run.”

It nodded and set the treadmill’s speed. I matched it and we began.

I was amazed as I continued. We both passed the ten mile mark and it was still going strong and still we went on.

I could see it begin to struggle at the fifteen mile mark, and I began to feel the strain soon after but I forced myself. I’m not sure if it was even aware of the mile counter, anymore.

At twenty miles, I really had to push myself to continue. It began to stumble but it looked across at me, stiffened its resolve and steadied itself. I could see it wanted to beat me.

I redoubled my efforts, desperate to complete what I intended. To prove to it that it had even more value than it thought. By the end I was stumbling just as much as it was. I had difficulty standing as I slid off the treadmill.

Gripping each other in exhaustion, we made our way to one of the free weight benches and collapsed onto it.

I looked at it, laughter shaking my shoulders. I tapped away. “Oh god that was a good run. Fuck me you’re amazing, Blank!”

“I… I feel almost as wasted as my first times on the treadmill, sir.”

“Now, tell me why I wouldn’t want to befriend someone capable of running a marathon, Blank?”

“A marathon?! I couldn’t! I’d never be able to run that far! How far is it? Twenty miles?”

“Twenty-six, Blank.”

It stared at me. “I… I know I’ll never be able to run that far, sir! Please, don’t try to make me run that far!”

“Rest, Blank. I… just need to issue a command.” I deselected it and selected all other slaves. “Until further notice, the two treadmills nearest the elevator are off limits. Do not even touch them, let alone use them. They currently hold a mileage count I do not want to lose. From either of them.”

M’s voice then. “What’s this about, sir?”

Another selection switch, M only. “I just had a run with Blank. The name blob is utterly off limits, to all of you now. I can’t command Alpha but I have spoken to him. It deserves better than that.”

“Why? How far did it run?”

“We both just ran a marathon, M. I wanted to see if I could push it and we both completed it a few minutes ago. It doesn’t know yet. When it realises what it’s just done, it’ll be in seventh heaven. Major confidence boost. Hence, they’re off limits, those counts must remain until it’s seen them.”

“The bl… It just ran a bloody marathon? And it’s fine?”

“Exhausted, M, but other than that, yes.”

It looked at me as I tapped away. “What are you doing, sir?”

“I’ve just forbidden every slave apart from Alpha and the sarge from referring to you as the blob. You’re better than that now.”

“Oh god, thank you, sir!”

“And you’ve accepted your name, Blank?”

It nodded. “I don’t care if another fifty share my name now, sir.”

“I know the feeling. That’s why I love being blanked. Losing myself among them. Just one of the crowd with nothing to distinguish me from anyone else, all looking identical. Admittedly in your case it’ll be a while before you’re identical but you’ve more than proven your worth.”

“What”

“Can you stand? Or do you need a few more minutes?”

It forced itself to its feet. I did too.

“Now. Let’s get back to the treadmills.”

Still unsteady on my feet, I staggered over to them, Blank at my side.

“We’re not going on them again, sir. Please, I couldn’t”

“No, no. I want you to see just how far you’ve progressed. How much you’re worth not just as a slave but as a person.”

“What… What does that even mean, sir?”

When we got to them, I pointed at the bright red LED display. The mile counter.

It stepped back and stumbled, falling onto its ass.

With a huge effort, I got down onto my knee beside it. “Do you understand now, Blank? You have just run a marathon!”

It stared at me, it’s fingers frozen. It took a while before it snapped out of it. “I… I just ran twenty-six miles?”

I nodded.

“That’s impossible!”

“No. It’s actual. You did run that far. Look at the other treadmill. I set mine to the same speed.” I helped it up, it looked at both. Both showed 26 on the mile indicator.”

“How? How is that possible?”

“Remember what we said, Blank. We told you we’d not only get that weight off you, we’d have you fitter than anyone you knew in your old life. It wasn’t us that did it. You did. All Q did was restrict your diet and order you to push yourself. It was the exercise that lost all that weight. It was the exercise that gained you all that muscle. You increased your fitness level to such an extent you’re capable of running a marathon now and it was all your work. You didn’t even need to be forced or tortured into doing it. You did it all on your own.”

“Oh god. Thank you, sir.”

“Let’s get down to your cage, Blank. We both need a rest after that.”

We supported each other as we went to the elevator and down to the cell block. I hit the panel for block one, cell one and pointed at a cage.

It nodded and crawled in. I followed it and slammed the cage shut behind me.

“What did you just do, sir?”

“We’re here until the cage unlocks. You need more than a sleep, Blank. You’ve been denied human contact for a long time. We sleep together. I need a sleep too after that.”

“But”

“No, it doesn’t matter, if you’re straight, gay or even asexual. You need this, Blank. I know from experience. When I was first taken, I shared with M for a couple of weeks until I adjusted. Just curl up around me, cuddle, if you like. Now get some sleep.”