2019-09-30 - spike - The New Shop 134

Author: spike
Title: The New Shop 134
Date: 30 September 2019

Chapter 134
With the married couple dealt with, for now at least, it was time for my pet project…

The troll.

I left room two and turned towards the store, then paused mid-step… A better idea…

I did an about-turn and headed in the other direction, tapping and dragging onto my armband as I went. This one, I named slave instead of Blank for the program. Blank might not register with it.

Slave would be something it would understand. Recoil in terror at the sound of it but understand all the same.

I entered control and walked up to Alpha.

“All caged?”

“The ones you sent down there, yes. What did you have in mind for the next one?”

“Which switch shuts off the immobilisation from here?”

He pointed. Four dials and a button.

“First dial, level. This level, the next dial is for room number. If it’s store, there are three areas, shop floor, backroom and warehouse. The lower levels, just one dial required until B4.”

I nodded. “And that requires all four, so you can select individual cells?”

“And individual cubicles. You want me to turn it off from here? Now?”

“We know it’s a waste of air. Let’s scare the shit out of it. No human contact at first. Just the program, ordering it to work.”

Alpha chuckled. “How long?”

“Couple of days. Work, sleep, wash. Blacken its eyes when it’s in the wash and we can feed it.”

“Couldn’t agree more. I saw some of the things it did. Some of the things it said.”

“When?”

“Luke let me look at his phone after you left.”

He reached for the control.

“Actually… Before you do that…”

“Yes?”

“How about we leave a knife just inside the door to the wet room?”

“Oh god!” Alpha cackled. “I’ll go down and do that now. Don’t do anything until I get back. Turd deserves it. It’s got a lot of bad karma to work off.”

He dashed out of the room.

I followed his progress. Back room, collect the knife, down to B4. He opened the door, dropped the knife and returned.

He was back in five minutes. “Let’s do this.”

I nodded. “Do you want to hear what it hears?”

He shuddered. “I swear, if I hear that voice again…”

“No. You had the default. It uses the best approximation I could come up with of my voice, now.”

“What do you mean, approximation? Why not just copy it?”

“No… Not my voice now. My original one.”

“Really? Won’t it just be touching panels?”

“I did keep some of the modifications Blank added, Alpha. Custom messages, for example.”

“Go on then.”

I dragged my ident and Alpha’s into the supervision slots. Listen in, but not suffer for disobedience in other words.

“Done… If you could…”

Alpha nodded, turned the first dial to four, the second to two, the third to two and the fourth to cubicle four. He pointed at the relevant screen and pushed the button.

The blank crumpled like a rag doll. It shook its head, crawled out of the cubicle and forced itself to its feet. It looked down at itself and jumped, looked around and rushed over to the mirror.

It spent a few minutes trying to wrench off the chastity, then it tried the mouth. Obviously failing utterly. It stepped closer to the mirror, shoulders slumped and studied itself. Then it brushed its chest and went wild caressing itself.

“I think it’s time.” I selected its job and hit activate.

“Slave, go to the left-hand mirror and press the far edge.”

It froze and looked around.

“Slave, go to the left-hand mirror and press the far edge. You have thirty seconds to comply.”

Alpha shuddered. “Even with your voice… those words...”

“I know, Alpha. I know. How are you, now? Has the shrink helped?”

He nodded. “Hell of a lot.”

“I could remove you from the supervisor list if it gets too much for you?”

“No. No. I want to hear what you do to it.”

I nodded and returned my attention to the screen.

It’d obviously spotted the door. It ran to it, tried to force it open.

“You have twenty seconds to comply. Failure to obey will result in punishment, slave.”

It shook its head, noticed the panel and hit it.

“Unauthorised access.” It jumped from the shock. “You have ten seconds to comply.”

The realisation of what the plug could do must’ve been enough. It bolted to the mirror and pressed it. The mirrored panel swung open to reveal a door and another panel.

“Press the panel, slave.”

It hesitated. Probably because of the first shock.

“Press the panel. You have thirty seconds to comply.”

Again, it tried to wrench at its mouth. It gripped its neck, twanged its suit and froze. It pulled it again with the same result. I think it was finally coming to the realisation that it was in serious trouble, but still it didn’t hit the panel.

It folded its arms.

Alpha stared at it. “What the hell is it doing?”

“It probably thinks the shock it received earlier was the only intensity.”

“But the first one is, isn’t it? Wasn’t that bad. It was only continued failure when it got to fucking hell levels.”

“That was Blank’s modification, Alpha. Punishment intensity doesn’t increase, now. Master did up it from the level I set when testing though. To seven.”

“Seven!?” It came out as almost a yelp.

“In Q’s words, slaves need to learn to obey. They learn when that starts shooting up their ass. Your maximum was ten though, remember.”

“I’d rather forget if it’s all the same to you.”

I nodded and pointed at the screen just as the twenty-second warning sounded.

Ten… Then… Oh god did it leap into the air.

“Continued failure to follow orders will result in continued punishment. Press the panel.”

Oh god did it dive for that panel. The moment it hit it, the door slid open to reveal a janitor’s closet fully stocked with cleaning supplies, some of which I’d used before my hell began when I was cleaning out the flushing cylinders. There was also a sink with a mixer faucet.

“Fill the bucket, slave. One part detergent, ten parts water. Mop the wet room.”

It looked at the ceiling as if to say “seriously?”

“Now it’s my turn.”

“What are you going to add?”

I tapped away and hit send.

“Task to be completed in one hour. Failure to complete the task in the time frame dictated or to sufficient standards will result in severe punishment. Success will result in reward. Begin.”

Alpha chuckled. “Masterful.”

“Of course. I was promoted to silver to make use of my dominant characteristics. This is the first time I’ve been given free rein.”

“You realise you set it up to fail, don’t you?”

“Why? How long does it normally take to mop the floor? I don’t think it took me an hour when I did it.”

“Depends on the blank. Between forty-five and an hour ten would be my guess.”

“Well, if it fails, it’ll find out what the consequences are.”

I returned my attention to the screen. The bucket was full and steaming. It hauled it out of the sink, put it in the wet room by the mirror and grabbed a mop.

We watched its progress and it wasn’t impressive at all. It’d only managed a quarter of the room at the half-hour point and it was leaving pools of suds and water in its wake.

Clearly, it had no idea how to mop a floor.

Alpha chuckled. “Fuck me, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so shit at the job.”

“Probably lived in its mom’s basement. Had her do all the housework… Have we got anymore background on it yet, by the way?”

Alpha nodded, flipped the keyboard out of its hiding place and tapped for a minute to reveal a profile. Everything Q had learned about it since his initial fetlife search.

“The profile should be on your armband anyway, shouldn’t it?”

“Good point.” I checked it and nodded. “And everything else. I’ll study it tonight.”

I tapped on my armband again and hit send.

“Thirty minutes to completion of task.”

At the sound of the voice, it started to rush which lead to even more mess, more suds.

“Are you going to tell it how to do the job properly or keep on punishing it for the rest of the day?”

I chuckled. “I’ll tell it… Well… The program will. No human contact for the first couple of days. I’m tempted to freeze it back in its cubicle too. Let it think that room is its entire world before slowly revealing more.”

“So, tomorrow, mop the cells?”

“If it completes this job and polishes all the piping around the wet room I might move it on to that, yes. Just the one cell block, first of all. It won’t see the elevator until it’s summoned to speak to me.”

“Were you like this with your slave?”

“No. She knew how to cook, clean and sew. I did punish her for incomplete or inadequate jobs though. Sometimes I think she did it deliberately. She liked to be whipped. Probably just as much as I do.”

I was just about to type in the fifteen-minute warning when it spotted the knife.

It rushed over to it, examined it, cut a notch in one of the cubicle walls… It looked around and rushed into one of them.

Alpha switched camera views, this time we could see it from above. It was sawing at its butt!

“That’s new.”

Alpha giggled. “What the hell is it doing?”

“I think it’s trying to remove the plug. Ten out of ten for originality, I’ll give it that. One demerit for attempted escape and another for damage to master’s property, though.”

“Yeah, and the rest. Look at that mess.”

It continued for a few minutes, reached around trying to find the hole it’d failed to make so it could rip out the plug but, finding nothing, it looked at the knife more closely, ran its thumb along the blade and then noticed the metal filings on the floor. It backed into the wall in shock and sank to its ass with its head in its hands.

I looked at the clock in the corner of the screen and tapped away.

“Ten minutes to task completion.”

It looked up in alarm, sprang to its feet and ran back to its mop, but it only managed another few feet before its time expired.

“Task incomplete. One minute. Quality of work, deplorable, one minute. Damage to master’s property, one minute. Attempt to escape punishment, one minute.”

Alpha chuckled. “Can’t we make it a nice round five?”

“Any suggestions?”

Alpha sighed. “OK, four minutes. Which program are you going to use?”

“There’s a few pain ones…” I selected one, set the time to four and hit activate.

It collapsed into a ball the moment the first shock struck and quivered, then writhed as the intensity and sensations changed.

I allowed it time to get back to its feet after its punishment had completed before I did anything else, but when it was, I tapped away again.

“Further instruction required. The mop must be rinsed and wrung before applying to the floor. Begin again. Mop up the mess you created last time. You have one hour. Change the water. Begin.”

We’d been watching it for another ten minutes, and it was doing a better job this time, when Q spoke. Alpha jumped, so it was obvious he heard him too.

“I commend you on your training method, Artemis. I won’t interfere. I won’t give you orders concerning that one. After all, if I did, it wouldn’t be fair if I punished you for failure if I had an input.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“But I do have a suggestion. Your choice whether you disregard it or not.”

“And your suggestion, sir?”

“Make it a week. Not two days.”

“A week, sir?”

“Hear me out. At this point in time, if it wasn’t plugged, it’d be shitting itself. It’s very likely in a state of panic and terror. Where am I? What the hell’s happening? I can’t be a slave! I’ve got to get out of here! You get the idea. That fear will eventually be replaced by resignation. By a dull acceptance. I believe when it finally gets a chance to speak to another human being, it’ll be much more pliable if it’s given the chance to fall into a routine.”

“Oh, god… I know I’ve said it before, sir, but god, I love you. I accept your suggestion, sir. It’s brilliant! But I won’t be able to supervise it all the time. Neither will Alpha, sir.”

“I know. Summon the hunters. Well, all except Eleven and Eighteen. Eleven and the other newly named slaves will be blanked at the end of the day and placed with the police and the newbies. They can talk, allow them the opportunity to practice their sign language and help to teach them what I offer for this life. There’s no point blanking Eighteen, he’s instantly recognisable and there’s no point instructing him on the operation of the computer in control. He couldn’t use it. The other hunters can.”

“The computer, sir?”

“It has access to the database, Artemis. It can be used to assign tasks and issue your custom messages and all silvers have a fob to issue punishments and rewards. Just ensure it’s set for that particular blank and password locked. Write a list of acceptable phrases so nothing hints at a human behind the scenes. Everything it hears should, I think you’ll agree, sound artificial.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll do that now.”

“When they have been instructed, return to room two. We completed its scan some time ago. We concentrated on the kidneys and the nanites are at work. We believe we can restore enough kidney function today to keep it stable. It’ll require a few more sessions to fully repair one kidney and another week to repair the other. My doctors are convinced it can be fully healed in that time frame. It will need a drink of water, soon. One litre. That will allow the kidney to flush itself out, but don’t be alarmed by the colour of its urine. There will be red in there from the scar tissue the nanites removed.”

“Yes, sir! Permission to pass the news down to its husband, now we know?”

“Granted, Artemis. A little less harshness this time.”

“Yes, sir. As for this one… When it is put in with the other slaves, sir… “

“Yes?”

”Request permission to be blanked too. I know I’m in charge now and I’m not asking for a long term blanking. Just overnight in the cage opposite it, sir. I can easily return to the shop floor each morning and be unblanked while in the elevator as long as I’m alone, sir.”

“Speak to it on equal terms while in bed and as a superior when not? Granted. Oh, when the policemen have had their first sign language lesson, I will speak with them. I will be in a suit though. Allow them to see your Master Q marking. It’s a meaningless affectation after all and offers no hint to my true identity. My face, however, would.”

I nodded.

“Good. Anything more?”

“Oh, there was one thing… When we perform the evaluations on the cops, permission to test them… more fully, chastity removed when bound, sir? Kowalski appeared to experience some discomfort down there when I was explaining the CBT gear, sir.”

Q chuckled. “Very well. For them, it’s acceptable. I imagine the rest of them won’t thank you for the abuse though.”

“They were warned that an evaluation in the dungeon was part of their induction, sir.”

“True. When the time comes, ask. I’ll issue the release code. Ensure the chastity is replaced at the end of the evaluation, however. And it will not be released again until it’s time for them to leave.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Q out.”
* * *
It didn’t take long to instruct my brothers on the use of the computer for controlling Blank. A quick visit to the scanner to feed that blank some water and I headed down to the cages, stopping to collect a chair from the rec room on the way.

I sat facing that blank’s husband and tapped away.

“Wake up. I have news.”

It jerked, turned and recoiled. Then its shoulders sagged and it made a typing gesture.

“No. It’s unlikely you’ll be granted access to the laptop again.”

It stiffened and prodded its mouth tube.

“I’m going to tell you a story, but I’m not going to use this.” I tapped my armband. “First, are you aware what happened in Atlanta last year?”

It nodded and made a “boom” gesture with its hands.

“Are you aware what happened a few weeks later?”

Again, it nodded, this time making a throat-slitting gesture.

“Good. Because the one in Atlanta they claim to have killed that day… Was me. I barely escaped with my life.”

It shoved itself away from me so hard it banged itself against the bars opposite.

I started to sign. Slowly at first but gradually increasing my speed and reducing the size as I went.

“N.o . I.m . n.o.t . t.h.e . b.o.m.b.e.r . b.u.t . t.h.e . b.o.m.b.e.r . w.a.s . h.e.r.e . . I.t . t.h.o.u.g.h.t . i.t . c.o.u.l.d . u.s.e . t.h.e . s.u.i.t . a.s. a . m.e.a.n.s . o.f . e.s.c.a.p.e . . E.n.q.u.i.r.e.d . a.t . a . f.e.t.i.s.h . s.t.o.r.e . i.n . A.t.l.a.n.t.a . a.n.d . o.n . h.e.a.r.i.n.g . t.h.a.t . b.e.i.n.g . i.n . s.u.c.h . a . s.u.i.t . w.o.u.l.d . l.e.a.d . t.o . i.t . b.e.i.n.g . t.r.a.n.s.p.o.r.t.e.d . o.u.t . o.f . t.h.e . c.i.t.y . a.n.d . e.v.e.n.t.u.a.l.l.y . o.u.t . o.f . t.h.e . c.o.u.n.t.r.y . i.t . t.o.o.k . o.n . t.h.e . s.u.i.t . 1.5. m.i.n.u.t.e.s . a.f.t.e.r . d.e.t.o.n.a.t.i.n.g . t.h.e . b.o.m.b.s . It was a permanent suit, just like ours. My master always conducts background checks but nothing came up until there was an act of vandalism in the store. It destroyed thousands of dollars worth of stock by pulling a shelving unit down causing a domino effect. Unfortunately, when I volunteered to be blanked in the hope of finding out who did it, one of the newer slaves here took a short cut with our cleaning. It removed all our cores at once and got them mixed up. It took days to unscramble the mess and over a week for the error to come to light. Unfortunately, I ended up with the terrorist’s core. It’s our only means of identification.”

It got the idea. Its gestures were tentative at first.


“W.h.y . a.r.e . y.o.u . t.e.l.l.i.n.g . m.e . t.h.i.s?”

“Before I continue, how long did the doctors give him? If he only had dialysis?”

“F.i.v.e . y.e.a.r.s . M.a.y.b.e . t.e.n”

“And how long if they found him a kidney?”

“T.h.e.y . s.a.i.d . i.t . m.i.g.h.t . f.a.i.l . a.n.d . h.e.d . n.e.e.d . t.o . r.e.t.u.r.n . t.o . d.i.a.l.y.s.i.s . i.n . 1.0 . t.o . 2.0 . y.e.a.r.s”

“And finally… What would you have given, if he could be restored to full health?”

“W.h.a.t.s . t.h.e . p.o.i.n.t . i.n . a.s.k.i.n.g . t.h.a.t? . H.e.s . d.e.a.d! . A.n.d . y.o.u . k.i.l.l.e.d . h.i.m!”

“Answer the question. What would you have given!?”

“E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g! . O.K. H.e . c.o.u.l.d.v.e . h.a.d . b.o.t.h . m.y . k.i.d.n.e.y.s . i.f . i.t . m.e.a.n.t . h.e.d . b.e . n.o.r.m.a.l . a.g.a.i.n! . . I . w.o.u.l.d.v.e . d.i.e.d . f.o.r . h.i.m! . . W.h.y . a.r.e . y.o.u . d.o.i.n.g . t.h.i.s?” It started to sob again.

I returned to my armband, satisfied it’d got the idea. “I told you that story for a reason. One of the injuries I sustained was a gunshot wound that pulverised one of my kidneys. I arrived back here with a shattered leg, so bad they said it was like putting a million piece 3D jigsaw together and a broken arm too! They repaired me using something else my master invented. Something the world outside is very unlikely to see for decades. The reason the suit is impossible to remove now, the reason it can freeze as it does is because it’s made from graphene. Master discovered a way to mass produce whole sheets of the stuff. No-one else can do that, yet. All they can manage is a few flakes. He discovered other uses for it and one of those is currently helping your husband.”

“H.e.l.p.i.n.g? . H.e.l.p.i.n.g . h.o.w?”

“Graphene allows the creation of something previously only seen in science fiction. And I was the guinea pig. He might’ve held off on testing them on a live subject but I would’ve died without them. Nanites. Microscopic molecular machines so small they can swim around in your blood stream and repair individual corpuscles. In your husband’s case, using research gained from my loss of a kidney, they’re repairing his. My bones were repaired by them with such efficiency my leg could bare my weight after less than a week. They cut off the blood supply to the damaged kidney to stop internal bleeding and even dismantled it, returning its nutrients to my body. Effectively my body absorbed the damaged kidney and now, it’s as if I was only born with one. They believe they’ll have both his kidneys back in full working order by the end of two weeks.”

“Y.o.u . d.o.n.t . s.e.r.i.o.u.s.l.y . e.x.p.e.c.t . m.e . t.o . b.e.l.i.e.v.e . t.h.a.t . d.o . y.o.u?”

“What alerted you that he was ill? What symptoms did he exhibit that caused you to go to the doctor?”

The blank was obviously getting used to this new method of communication. It sped up and reduced the size of its gestures, just as I had.

“He started to look bloated. He had headaches. He was always tired. We thought it was just a bout of the flu until he had his first seizure.”

“Well, then. Keep an eye out for those symptoms. If he isn’t getting dialysis or any of the drugs your doctor prescribed, he should begin showing them soon. He won’t. I’ve been informed that they will have restored twenty percent function in one of his kidneys by the time he returns to you today. You are lucky. Very lucky. You said you’d give your life to save him. Consider it given. Only instead of dying, you’re a slave. How about that?”

“But it wasn’t given! You took it! You took me!”

“Physically, we took you. But not up here.” I tapped the side of its head. “Give yourself to my master. Willingly, now. Submit to him and I guarantee you’re gonna love it. Once you’re convinced your husband’s healed, do that.”

“I… But I’ve got a life!”

“Had. Consider old you dead and this you, a whole new you, a whole new life ahead of you. A life in a suit that feels like heaven that you’ll never be free of. A very long life with a healthy husband by your side. I said my master would keep you together. He never breaks a promise. Forget your old name. It’s gone, along with that life.”

“My name? Forget… How the hell do I… What is my name, then?”

“My master assigns all slaves with the same name initially. Blank. That’s your name and you, your husband and over one hundred other slaves all share it. I like the anonymity. When I said earlier that I was blanked, I meant it. I have markings on my suit that denote rank and name. A name my master gave me. He can remove it with the flick of a switch. When he does, I’m just as much a blank as you are.”

“Blank? How the hell can he expect me to accept that?”

“It’s a small thing. It gives you something to work towards if you want to earn a name. A lot of them don’t. They like being blanks and a name grants some responsibility, a level of mastery over the blanks. Some even turn one down when offered. One way to earn one is to win.”

“Win?”

“In the next race.”

It stiffened. “The same ones we saw in the club? Those looked awesome!”

I chuckled. “I know. And you’re in the next one.”

“I… I’m… Fuck me!”

“Seeing some good in it now? As I said, a whole new life. A whole new perspective. See it as something good, Blank.”

“How many?”

“Races? That depends on a few factors. After the races, the performance of each dog is assessed and points are awarded. Also, the hunters,” I pointed at myself. “or rather, the hunter who gained the most points, gets to choose another slave to join us. If that happens, every race as a hunter. If you come in first place, you’ll earn a name and again, a lot of races. Otherwise, just one. But this isn’t your final destination. My master lives on an island and they race there too. It’s hot there though, so they don’t run for days. Overnight events, regularly.”

It slumped onto its pillow and looked at me.

“As I said, Blank… I don’t expect your submission or acceptance straight away. It’s a huge leap, but you will. Now, during our talk upstairs, your husband held the fob. You need to also. It’s compulsory for all slaves to experience it so they know not to try.”

It leaned on its elbow facing me and held out its hand.

“Try to hold it for ten seconds.” I handed it the fob.

The usual happened, the curling into a ball, the writhing, the hands shooting to its throat. It did manage the full ten seconds though, before it dropped it. I snatched the fob up again as it collapsed back onto its pillow.

It gasped for breath for a minute before leaning back onto its elbow and looking at me.

“There’s no way out, is there?”

“I did say that. Do as I advise. See this as a godsend. As the best thing that could possibly have happened to you.”

“You said there was a lot to love about it, but apart from lack of responsibility… What, exactly? I didn’t worry about money, we earned enough to live comfortably. Now? Stuck in a cage for the rest of”

I held my hand up. “Trust me. I know you might consider it a major loss. I was pretty well off myself before this. If you do have significant assets my master does permit you to write a will. He has the contacts required to make sure it’s a will that’ll take precedence, he can also organise a reason for your… disappearance. One that can, if you wish, make things easier to handle for your families.”

“You were well off?”

“Very. Millionaire. Co-founder of a software company.”

“And you like this?”

“Like it? I actually prefer it! I said I loved this life. I wasn’t kidding. You can to, if you allow yourself to… First on the agenda… Hold up your hand when this starts to hurt.”

Level taken, I gave it a zap with one of the pleasure programs and sat silently watching it squirm for five minutes.

The moment the program ended it collapsed onto its back and again, gasped for breath. Its head snapped to face me. “What the fuck was that?”

“Just because you’ll never see money again, doesn’t mean you won’t receive payment for your work, Blank. That’s how you’ll be rewarded from now on.”

It shifted in the cage, sat with its back to the rear bars with its legs crossed. “OK, you have my attention. You said no responsibility, but that’s not entirely true is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have some, obviously.”

“True, but I earned it. I enjoy being a blank just as much as I enjoy being Artemis. Yes, I am my master’s highest ranked suited slave. Yes, I run this operation, now or at least, the slave compound part of it. He owns a lot of humans too. Alpha, the man who was with me belongs to him. He’s as permanent a slave as us but his mark is a tattoo. He runs the store and I believe he’d willingly wear the suit if given the chance.”

“What else is there to like?”

I nodded and selected Alpha. “Could you unlock cage two one two?”

A beep, a clang and the door swung open.

I stood and beckoned it out. “Follow me. And grab the chair.”

I led it to the wet room first of all. I figured it needed food and water by now, for one thing and a piss for another and it did need to understand what total control meant.

I pointed at the drain in the centre of the room. “I imagine you need to relieve yourself by now?”

It froze. “I… now you mention it, yes. Damn it’s like flicking a switch sometimes, isn’t it? The moment your mind goes to something it happens.”

“Stand over the drain.”

It put the chair down and stood where it was told, then looked at me in alarm. “I can’t! Something’s blocking me… Oh fuck, that hurts.”

I held up the fob and hit the button. Piss and lots of it.

“I did say total control, Blank.” I switched to Alpha. “Lockdown wet room 2, I think it’s time we fed it.”

After the feeding, a tour and then back to its cage. That should be enough.