Officer Barnes stopped struggling, realizing it was useless.

The tiger police officer just wasn’t strong enough to break free from the rubbery goo that had engulfed him and his partner. He wasn’t even sure how long he had been trying, his whole body encased up and held tight.

This had meant to a simple assignment. Check out an abandoned building that might have been the last known location of a bear that had gone missing. The tip-off apparently came from a very unreliable source, so he and Davis hadn’t really expected to find anything.

Except they’d arrived in a back room to find themselves confronted by three muscular guys in skintight rubber, weird glowing visors over their eyes. One of them looked like he was a bear.

They’d pulled their weapons out, telling these weirdos to freeze. But then suddenly this weird rubbery stuff had sprung up all around them, flowing over them in a matter of seconds. Barnes remembered seeing Davis struggling against the surging, gooey substance and failing, his panther partner helpless as a tendril of the rubber carried a visor up to his face and slammed it over his eyes. It was the last thing he saw before a similar visor was forced over onto his own face.

The visor filling his vision had started glowing, displaying odd swirling patterns. Instinctively, he had slammed his eyes shut, refusing to look, but he could still see the glow through his eyelids. The brief second he had glimpsed the patterns had made his head feel kind of weird, so he kept his eyes closed.

And now he was trapped, the rubber that had been a weird gooey liquid now having solidified after it covered every inch of him, seeping under his uniform to coat his skin and fur from head to toe.

He had briefly been worried about suffocation, but he had quickly found he could still breathe just fine, even if he had no idea how that was possible.

Considering his options, trying to come up with an idea to escape, Barnes was taken off guard by a voice, whispering in the back of his mind.

There is no escape. Submit. Accept the change. Become better.

What the fuck? Where had that thought come from? He was pretty certain it was not his own.

Join us. Submit. Accept the change.

What the hell is this? The tiger officer thought.

We are the ones changing you, as we have changed others. Changed for the better. Submit.

Yes… submitting and becoming better seemed like such a good… What, no! What was he thinking? Barnes tried to hold his thoughts together.

Even with your eyes closed, the programming of the visor is working through your eyelids. The strange voice in his head explained. It is weaker, taking longer. But your mental
indoctrination is proceeding. Stop resisting. Join us. You will change for the better.

What is this? Branes thought. What are you doing to me?

You are being changed. You will be better, physically and mentally. It cannot be stopped. Your mind will be converted and joined with us. You body is being made stronger, more durable, unageing. Already our rubber is fusing with every cell of your body to instigate this transformation. Accept the change. Submit.

No! Barnes mentally screamed. I don’t want this!

What you want is irrelevant. The voice was stronger now, now longer a whisper, seeming to fill more and more of his head. You will be changed, you will be made better. You will no longer suffer pain, you will experience joy and happiness and pleasure at all times. Accept the change. Submit.

No pain… Joy and happiness… That seemed tempting. But was he really finding it tempting, or was it just the thing, whatever it was, making him feel tempting.

It does not matter. The voice responded to that thought, filling so much of his mind now, making it hard to resist. It is what will happen. You belong to us now. You will be changed for the better. Submit.

I…

Open your eyes.

Barnes obeyed the simple instruction without even thinking about it and his vision was suddenly filled with light, beautiful glowing patterns dancing and swirling before his eyes. His conscious mind was overwhelmed by the sight, all resistance to what was happening being washing away as new knowledge and programming forced its way into his brain.

Resistance ceased. Indoctrination accelerated. Subject will submit.

Yes... I will submit…Thought Barnes, the tiger unable to form his own thoughts anymore. He couldn’t remember why he had been resisting.

The voice now filled his whole head, filling every corner of his mind with its influence. You will be changed. No pain, just joy and pleasure. Strong and immortal. It will be for the better. So that you might better serve.

Serve? There was the briefest moments of concern in the tiger’s head at that. Was he going to serve someone?

You will serve us. In exchange, you will be changed, for the better. Free from thought and free will, experiencing only joy and pleasure. The voice was booming now, obliterating all other thoughts in the tiger’s head, its words irresistible and irrefutable.

I… I will serve. Barnes thought, now seeing that as only right and proper, a fair exchange for being changed for the better.

It was the last thought the tiger had as Barnes. The glare from the visor and the voice in his head working in unison to wipe away all he used to be, his personality and memories obliterated by their power.

A new word entered the tiger’s mind, to describe what he now was: Drone.

He was a drone. He would serve the alien intelligence that now filled his mind and had done this to him. Help subjugate the whole world and change everyone for the better.

The glow of the visor faded, allowing the tiger to see once again. And see how fully he had changed.

His whole body was larger, much more muscular than it had been, every inch black and shiny rubber. A bulge now adorned his groin where his genitals had once been. The torn remains of his clothing lay scattered on the ground on his feet.

Beside him stood another drone, and the former tiger was aware he was newly converted just as he was. Somehow, he knew this drone had once been a panther.

Nearby stood three other drones, who had been waiting for their changes to be completed. He now knew they had been assigned to oversee their change, and intervene if necessary to ensure completion, or to deal with anyone who might arrive to try and aid them.

The voice in all their heads expressed its delight at the successful conversion, and giving the tiger the designation ‘drone 847’ and the panther ‘drone 848’. It then commanded them to return to its hidden headquarters for the moment, while it planned appropriate tasks for them.

As all the drones obeyed and marched away, the former tiger felt a thrill of pleasure at being given a proper drone designation. He now felt complete and felt pleasure at that.

After all, he had been changed. For the better.