2019-06-28 - spike - The New Shop 121

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 121
Date: 28 June 2019

Chapter 121
I don’t know how long I slept but the cage was open when I awoke.

I scrambled out and stood, testing myself. A little stiffness but my legs didn’t feel like Jell-O. I made my way to the Gym. I needed a good workout to blow the cobwebs out.

The place was empty when I arrived so I began my work out on the treadmill, moving onto the rowing machine and exercise bike before switching to the weight machines that didn’t require a spotter.

God I felt better after that, full of energy for the day ahead and I knew what I’d be doing with that day. I made my way to the elevator but before I could tap on my armband, Q’s voice rang in my ears.

“Good to see you back on your feet, Artemis. Make your way to the rec room. I decided you should be the one to inform a few blanks of their new, permanent, status. Especially as one of the blanks in question is Moonbeam.”

I froze. Moonbeam? Oh god this should be good. I increased my pace, deselected everyone and typed. “Thank you, sir.”

There were six blanks seated at a table when I arrived. I jogged over, tapped each to build up a list and selected them.

“For this, bring your chairs and form a circle.”

I grabbed one myself and placed it in an open area and they placed theirs as instructed.

“Before I begin… Which one of you is Moonbeam when in dog form?”

The one opposite put its hand up.

“How long have you been in the suit now? Did she ever let you out?”

“No, sir. She kept her promise, sir. I spent all but Sundays as Moonbeam. I’m missing it already.”

“I have some news for you, Blank. You were removed from the suit four days ago. You’re in a new one. One that will remain a part of you for the rest of your life.”

“But I thought Master Q said he’d never allow a permanent suit out into the world, sir! I was told temp only even though… Oh god, I’m…”

It shuffled off the chair and performed a thanks. “Is that why she’s not come to collect me with the rest, sir?”

“Not quite. She isn’t coming to collect you. You’ll never see your old home again. Q will not allow such a suit to be owned by another unless he’s absolutely sure of the conditions such a slave will be kept in. You belong to Master Q, now.”

“He’s taken me? From my Mistress? But she said she’d never allow that!”

“Things change, Blank. According to my master, she decided to resume her role as a slave herself. She knows how much you love being a blank so she gave you to us. You’re one of us now.”

It inched back onto the chair and stared at me.

“I will say this, she seemed excited to receive the final prize you earned for her. Very pleased with your performance indeed. I was on display when she received her envelope. She even grabbed Alpha by the tie and kissed him on the forehead. Considering her wealth, I was a little surprised by such a reaction.”

“Wealth? How did you know she’s”

I held my hand up. “I know, because the money she inherited came from me, Blank. Now you’re one of us, it’s safe to tell you a secret I’ve been keeping from her for well over… I think it might even be almost a year at this point. You lose track of time as a slave. It doesn’t mean anything anymore. I was her original Master.”

“Adam!? You’re Adam?”

“No. My master gave me the name Eleven, which I was perfectly happy with. Now he’s chosen to elevate me to the status of full human and renamed me Artemis but, yes, before the suit, my name was Adam.”

“But she told me what happened! She said you pleaded with her, desperate for anything that would help you learn to submit?”

I nodded. “It took a while, but what she said that day opened a door. A door I willingly stepped through. I did learn to submit and quite frankly, this suit is the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m more a slave now than I was ever a master and I know that will never change. What’s more, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“Why keep it from her?”

“I didn’t know how she’d react. I’d learned to submit by the time I saw her for the first time when I had any capacity to express myself and if I had told her, she might have gone to the police. I was effectively kidnapped, after all.”

“What do you mean, any capacity?”

“The first time I saw her, I was Tyson, in the park with the Sarge, M and Slasher. I think the next few times, I was frozen, on display. It was a while before I met her in a mobile state with my armband to speak with. By then, I was happy in my situation. More than happy.”

“So I’ll never see her again?”

“Never say never. After all, I thought I’d never see her again and we’ve spoken many times. If you do see her, I very much doubt you’ll be in a position to speak though. You’re likely to be upstairs, on display in the store or Moonbeam.”

“Upstairs? The store…”

“It’s right above us, Blank. The store is a part of this complex. The top button on the Elevator.”

It shook with what I could only assume was laughter.

“How do you feel?”

“I’ll miss her, sir. I’ll miss being Moonbeam, too. I will get to be him again, won’t I?”

“Oh, you’ll be him again, don’t worry. We will have another race before you leave. I’ll see if I can organise something else too. Even on the island, you’ll be able to race but I don’t think you’ll be a husky there. Far too hot. Bare dogs only. No fur.”

It nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

One of the others gestured then. “Does this mean…”

“That all six of you are permanent? That my master’s accepted you as his property? Yes blanks. That’s exactly what it means.”

“But… How? The suit was a temporary one? I was told I… I…”

“Second thoughts, Blank?”

It sighed. “I… No, sir. No second thoughts, I knew what I was getting into. Hoped anyway. Does this mean the suit was permanent all along, sir?”

“Oh no. Not in any of your cases. You five were recruited thanks to our friendly neighbourhood bartender, correct?”

They nodded.

“My master owns him too, but he works as an outside agent. A recruiter. Part of their arrangement is that all slaves he points towards the store are in temporary suits until my master’s satisfied. Sometimes, slaves taken in the store often begin in permanent suits from the start but you did begin as temporary slaves. Yours became permanent because each of you expressed a desire to never get out.”

“But, it’s the same suit!”

I chuckled. “It’s not y’know. Four days ago, you were sedated and the old suits were removed. The bulbs holding the tubes down your throat in place were drained as was the gag and a new solution injected before a new, permanent suit was applied. You’ll never be free of it now.”

“New solution?”

“The old one could be dissolved and drained, for removal of the tubing. It’s how temporary suits work. The new solution is made of the same substance as the suits and once set… well, you know nothing can remove it.”

That was of course a lie. I knew one thing that could, but I also knew how tricky such an operation was from first-hand experience.

A couple of them shifted on their seats, obviously in some discomfort as their chastity did its job.

“Now I want absolute honesty from you. Feelings? I decided as this might be a shock to at least one of you, a group therapy setup might be appropriate, hence the circle.”

I pointed to the one on my left.

“Me, sir? Oh fuck, I’m glad, sir. I wanted this ever since I first saw the suit, sir. Ever since Luke told me it was possible to become a true slave, I craved it, sir. Now it’s real, sir!”

The other four nodded. Moonbeam paused, sagged in its chair and nodded too.

The one on my right gestured then. “It was the pleasure that was a clincher for me. Oh fuck I need more of that. That’s what made me say to M that. I wanted it permanent, sir. Now I know I’m a slave for life, once a week!”

I chuckled. “If you think that’s good, I had a full day of it after your suits were changed. It took me four days to recover.”

Three of them sat bolt upright at that.

“How…”

“My suggestions have made a lot of improvements over the last year, Blank. The dog races. My idea started those. Q made the refinements that led to the races themselves but it was my initial suggestion. The program that controls you? I wrote it. I’ll tell you this now. There is one way to remove the suits. I wasn’t being entirely accurate about absolutely impossible, but for all intents and purposes, it is. My original one was removed due to injury. It needed to be to save my life. My master offered me my freedom. I used that freedom to give myself back to him in the full knowledge of what it meant.”

“A way to remove”

I held up my hand. “Currently, nothing on this planet is capable of removing the suit, Blank. My master has the means to manufacture something that can but he will only do it in a very specific situation. Unless you earned his respect as I have, you would be sedated when such a removal occurred and remain asleep until a new one could be applied. You’ll never be free of it. There’s a difference between you and me, after all. You have committed your life to him. I didn’t. Not initially anyway. You saw what I said to Moonbeam.”

“Why did you tell us?”

“A reassurance, mainly. Injuries do occur. The island can be a dangerous place. Blanks have been removed from their suits in order to treat them, but, as I said, they were suited again before they regained consciousness. As far as they’re concerned they were in them all along. There have been a few deaths there in the past five years too. Accidents. I told you because I felt you should know if you were injured or taken ill, it wouldn’t be a death sentence. He has extensive medical facilities and a highly qualified staff. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here telling you this.”

“So, we could get a day of it?”

“If you save up your pleasure, I suppose you could. Do well in the races to earn more and you could accrue that much, given time. If you do, speak to me. I’ll speak to Q to ask his permission. In such a situation you need to be constantly monitored so it can be stopped if you run into difficulties. If you’re on the island by then, speak to any one of the golds about it and tell them you want to experience the day. M will be there and he’s experienced it too. He’s leaving for the island soon, along with most of the rest here.”

Moonbeam seemed a lot more relaxed. “So, if I ask not to use my pleasure for a few weeks… Add on the pleasure I earned in the races… I… What’s it like, sir?”

“Indescribable. I will say this though, when my new suit went on, it was a real struggle to get into.”

“Struggle, sir? But it was” it paused, chuckled. “Super easy, barely an inconvenience!”

I shrugged. Obviously some joke I didn’t know about. Probably some internet thing. “It’s not like yours. It has a few… additions and one of those edged me for hours as part of that day of pleasure. You won’t get that, so, you’ll have to ask M what it was like. This suit is fucking amazing.”

“Amazing how, sir?”

“I’m a walking billboard and the suit has TENS built in for muscle stimulation. For situations where I’m frozen for days. Should mean I’ll be back in action a lot sooner than a normal blank.”

“Billboard? So he could write anything on you?”

I nodded. “Anything he likes. I am his property. Now, did any of you have anything to say? No restrictions this time.”

All of them signed “No, sir.”

“If anything does come to mind, see me. Dismissed. Return to your work.”

As they ran to the elevator and I was about to put the chairs back, I had an idea.

“M, what was the number of the blank Twelve made piss itself?”

“What, sir? How… You were there?”

“Twelve knows, surprised he didn’t tell you. I was the blank who told it to ask. When it looked around and asked how to tell if it was speaking to a… an N word… I knew it needed to be punished and what better way. I couldn’t do it being a blank.”

“I’ll send it to your armband now, sir.”

“You might as well come up too. All golds. After all, you’ll be leaving us soon. I need to make sure Twelve’s done as I suggested concerning that blank before you go.”

“Sir?”

“Speak to it rather than constantly torment it. Try to understand it. It isn’t its fault. It’s how it was raised, among a family of bigots. All their friends were too and it wasn’t just race. It was gender and sexuality as well. It was forced out of the family home at gunpoint when its father found out it was gay.”

“You said, sir. Still a shock hearing that.”

“M, if you’d had a gun and a kid… Back before the suit…”

“Yeah. I see your point. I’ll head up there now. I’ll tell the rest and the blank too if you like.”

“Thanks. Send the blank up first, I want a word before Twelve gets here.”

“Will do, sir.”

It arrived a few minutes later. It looked from side to side, it appeared jumpy, almost a bag of nerves as it finally made its way to the chairs.

“Sit, blank.”

“Yes, sir.” It did as it was told.

“Now, permission to speak freely.”

“Sir?”

“About anything.”

“Anything, sir?”

“Yes. Any fears, any concerns, what’s going on in your mind? Don’t worry, you won’t be punished.”

“Please send me home. I… I don’t think I can stand this anymore!”

“You committed your life to my master, Blank. The suit guarantees that commitment. You know it can’t be removed. It’s as much a part of you as your arm is.”

“But, I… I hate this, sir! I can’t”

I held my hand up. “What about this life do you hate?”

“Everything!”

“Why in god’s name did you commit to a suit you hated? Well, you’re stuck with it now. You know you’ll die of old age in that suit. You’re never getting out. Now tell me the truth. It isn’t everything. What is it?”

“Twelve! OK! He’s been making my life hell for… I don’t know how long. Jesus, to be out there as a dog without him on my back every minute of every fucking day was heaven for me and he makes sure I get the worst jobs every time.”

“Worst? I thought Fourteen was the one cleaning out the flushing cylinders?”

It shrugged. “I know I do the ones for blocks one and four, sir. It’s disgusting!”

“Ahh, it’s not that bad.”

“How do you know? You’re one of them!”

“Not always. Sometimes, I’m a blank and I was a blank when he dragged you across the table. I was the blank who advised you to speak to him. To make peace. So yes, I have done that job. You can’t smell it, so, no, it’s not that bad. You are a slave. Your purpose in life is to work. It doesn’t matter what the job is, you do it and you do it well and you should do it without complaint, pleased that you’re serving your master. You do understand that?”

It nodded.

“I know you attempted to speak to him. Has he tried to make peace with you yet? I didn’t order him to but I did advise it.”

It nodded.

“And?”

“It wasn’t like I had any choice, was it, sir? I sat with him, we played cards. Doesn’t mean I like him though. I hate his guts, sir!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? He’s been making my life hell, sir!”

“And is that the only reason you hate him?”

“Of course it is, he’s”

“You caused this, not him. If you’d been a master and one of the slaves under your command had said I ain’t workin’ for no faggot, how would you have reacted? What you said to him was much the same, worse if anything.”

It sagged in its chair. It nodded.

“Now, who has the right to be angry with whom?”

“He does, sir.”

“And you don’t hate him because of his race anymore? Just because of what he’s been doing to you?”

It sat bolt upright at that idea. “I’d never…”

“Take the blame, Blank. Redirect that hatred to those cretins who raised you. Your old family. Hate them for doing this to you. They screwed your life up so many times in the past, let this be another one to add to your tally of wrongs they’ve committed. Twelve is trying now.”

It nodded. “I’m just glad I’ll be gone from here. Maybe I’ll like it on the island, sir.”

“Yes… well… Don’t think that gets you out of Twelve’s reach.”

“What? Why? He’s not going to order me from here is he?”

“No. M and Twelve will be going with you this time. We have enough high ranked slaves here and with you joining them, they need more golds.”

“He’s… He’s going to be there?”

“He is. But he is trying, as I said. Set your hatred aside, Blank. Burn it. Redirect it towards your family. End the cycle. He will too. I strongly suggest you take a deep breath and try to be friends with him because he’ll be one of your superiors for a very long time. Unless you really put your back into it, impress Q and gain a couple of promotions becoming gold yourself, he’ll always be a boss.”

“But I don’t know what to say to him, sir!”

“First thing you should ask is for his forgiveness. Ask him to tell you his story, you tell him yours. I bet there won’t be many differences, apart from maybe being forced out at gunpoint. You never know, even that might’ve happened to him. It’s not just red necks who’re homophobic, Blank. The only way to fix this is getting to know, more, to like each other. You’ll make your life a hell of a lot more pleasant and might even begin to like it again.”

“Thank you, sir. At least M’s going to be there. I like him.”

I sniggered.

“What, sir?”

“Do you know why M’s even here? In a suit?”

It shrugged. “Same reason we all are?”

“Oh no. In his case, he was jumped while on an early morning walk, injected with muscle relaxant to render him helpless and forced into the suit. Probably about six or so years ago.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he was a bigot too. He was a cop. Snide remarks and insults aplenty when anyone in the gay or fetish communities were beaten, killed or went missing. Then, he did it to number ten. In those days, Ten ran the store in London where they recruited just as we do here. A few off color remarks in front of the man he was searching for, he was on display at the time and M thought he was talking to a shop dummy… A few more insults thrown the store’s way… They decided he needed to be punished and in his case what better way than make him one of us?”

“But I liked him! Why did you tell me that? You want me to hate him too?”

I rolled my eyes. I would’ve tutted too if I’d been capable. “He is a good guy now. Hell, he’s my best friend. The point is, he did become one of us. He learned to accept what had been forced on him and even thanked them a few months later. The reason I told you is because situations change and the people in those situations change with them. You can change too, just as M did but you have to be open to those changes for it to be a pleasant experience.”

“And if I wasn’t open?”

“Then it’d be an unpleasant one, just like you’ve been getting. You would still change, everyone does. Look at me, from master to one of Q’s favourite slaves, elevated higher than any suited slave ever and I couldn’t be happier.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I glanced across as the elevator doors opened and Eighteen trotted over followed by the others. I chuckled. Diablo and the newest, Twenty-one were with them and already marked as such.”

M paused and tapped. “Why the circle, sir?”

“Better than the tables, you might as well grab another two chairs. Widen it a little, we can all see each other without craning our necks like this. Remember to leave a space for Eighteen.” I reselected Blank. “I believe you have something to say.”

It looked over its shoulder, stiffened and stood. It walked around the chair and when Twelve was near, collapsed to its knees. Trouble was, it had its back to me.

“Include me in what you say, Twelve.”

He nodded, watched the slave for a minute and tapped. “Not yet, but we’ll talk. Properly this time, once we’re done here.” another pause and “I know. I was angry, who wouldn’t be? People like you” he took a deep breath. “Yes, I know. I know. Artemis told me you had a rough…” He nodded. “Sit back down, Blank. Once we’ve finished this, I will talk to you and… Yes, and we’ll tell each other our stories. Now sit.”
* * *
The rest of the meeting was, well, to tell you the truth, pretty dull. Just a little catch-up on my part having been out of it for five days.

A chance for everyone to chat with M and Twelve, a chance to find out what was happening to the terrorist, which was, and I chuckled at this… Nothing. No pleasure, just darkness and immobility.

It was in transit, but they’d waited until the sedatives had worn off before they started the shipping process, transmitting every sound outside the pod into its ears.

The crate being hammered closed around it. The sounds of fork lifts loading it into trucks, the engine starting, sounds of traffic enroute, and the route? The roughest journey possible, every bumpy road between New York and Atlanta, they would take. It’d feel every jolt, every turn of a corner, every hill, probably growing more panicked and fearful with every passing mile.

Its pod had been programmed to feed it sedatives only in the final hour of the journey so it could be removed and dumped. At least I’d slept through the whole trip. It still had a few more days before it arrived. They were taking their time to keep it on edge. To make it suffer.

Other than that, the new batch of slaves due to arrive after the current batch are sent tomorrow would be delayed for a week to allow the new golds to receive some training and this time, I wouldn’t be blanked. I’d be the one in charge. It was the Nineteen and Twenty-one who’d enjoy that. Eleven would too, so, they’d have different names for the next race.

We’d be down a hunter. Probably just as well. It was unlikely there’d be as many dogs running this time.

The meeting dispersed, Twelve and Blank moved to a table and I nodded at Seventeen. “You’re with me.” I selected Blank. “Blank, come up to room one. It’s time we started.”

As I walked to the elevator, Seventeen joined me at my side. “Started what, sir?”

“We’re going to be doing a little programming. Well, I say a little…”

“Programming, sir? And a blank?”

“Not just any blank, Seventeen. I know you only called it a script kiddy but it showed enough aptitude to be able to alter and even add to mine. It’s a large job, might take weeks but it needs to be done.”

“But the program running this place seems fine, sir. What more does it need?”

“Oh, it’s not that program. That’s done unless the odd bug crops up. We’re fixing Eighteen’s voice. He is stuck like that forever remember, he needs it.”

“And you’re allowing… But I thought…”

“It’s earned itself a hell of a lot of respect. Do you know what happened? I think it might’ve been yesterday? With Alpha?”

“No. What happened? We were all in the dungeon, having a final bit of fun with the outsiders before they were dogged up again and returned home.”

“Alpha spoke to Q and convinced him to free Tyler.”

“Tyler?! Codemaster? He’s free? How? the suit”

“Is only removable with a very dangerous form of knife. It’s gone now, destroyed, and Blank gave itself to Q. It had the choice and it took it. It doesn’t want to be free anymore. Don’t forget, it also obeyed his command to push itself. It’s happy as it is now.”

“Fuck me! After everything it’s been through? It turned down”

“Turned down being returned to what it had been? Turned down the opportunity to eat itself to death? Damned right it did. It wants to impress its master, so, we’re placing some trust in it. It’ll help its self-esteem no end. Something it lacked in its previous life.”

“I… Sorry, sir, I don’t know if I can work with it.”

“I thought you said you were going to spend more time with it?”

“Socially, sir, yes, but… You know what I said about it when it came to coding, sir. How it was?”

“Put everything you knew about it to one side. If anything, you should be thanking it.” I got to the elevator, hit the panel and glanced back to see Seventeen frozen to the spot. “Go on…”

“Sir… Thank it? For torturing you?”

“Seventeen… where would you be without it?”

“Sir?”

I sighed. “If it hadn’t stolen my code, you would never have even seen a suit. Hell, even then, if we hadn’t taken Blank, you would’ve continued to think it was just a game, wouldn’t you? You realised the blob was Codemaster. That’s what got you started on your quest to find out more. To join us!”

“Jesus, I… I suppose I do owe it my thanks, after all.”

“I’m surprised it took you so long to put two and two together. Don’t worry about it being arrogant when it comes to programming. I imagine we’ll have a few things to teach it.”

The elevator opened and Blank was already in there. We stepped in, I hit the panel and the top button.

“It’s now, sir? We’re starting on the program?”

“Yes, it’s now. Probably going to take weeks to unscramble.” I explained the problems to both of them as the elevator opened and we continued to the staircase and room one.