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Turning the headset over in his paws, Kyle couldn’t help but smile. He could hardly believe he had it. The Dynamic Reality Overview Neural Environment system. The world’s most advanced virtual reality system. Since it’s release a few weeks ago, it had taken the world by storm. It had completely sold out and anyone who tried it raved about how great it was. Kyle had been eager to get hold of one, but the wolf had struck out wherever he tried to buy it. Everywhere was out of stock and wasn’t expected to get any more for months. It was incredible luck then that his friend Nelson had not only managed to get one, but was willing to loan it to him for him to try for the day. It had been such a surprise, especially given how much the coyote had gone on and on about how amazing it was. He just said that he didn’t want his friend missing out on the fun and insisted that he had to try it for himself. And now here he was, ready to try it out for the first time. It was all set up, it only remained to slip on the headset and see what it was like. With a deep breath, he slipped the bulky device on, being sure push the earphones into his ears. It was quite a snug fit, pressed firmly over his eyes and against the back of his head. As soon as it was in place, it activated on its own, a swirling spiral of a start-up screen dancing before his eyes, as his ears were filled with a pleasant jingle. NEW USER DETECTED… The message flashed up in front of him. The instructions had indicated that the system would need to adjust to a new user when they tried it for the first time… INITIATING NEW USER PROGRAM… Again, this was normal, according to the instructions. It was supposed to be some form of tutorial to acclimatise him to using virtual reality. Once he’d gone through it, he could finally see if this thing was as good as everyone… There was a sudden pain at the base of his skull where the back of the headset pressed against his flesh, as if something cold and hard had plunged through his skin. He yelped and instinctively tried to rip the headset off, but realised he couldn’t move. He was completely frozen in place as more messages flashed up in his vision… NERVOUS SYSTEM CONNECTION ESTABLSIHED NEURAL CONTROL ACTIVE USER MOBILITY DISABLED. Kyle started to panic. What the fuck was this? What was going on? No matter how much he strained and struggled, he couldn’t move an inch. He couldn’t even speak or cry out for help. And he could definitely feel something pushing into his neck. BEGINNING FULL PROGRAMMING AND MENTAL ASSIMILIATION Before the frozen wolf could even wonder what that might mean, his vision was filled with dancing spirals and his ears were filled with hypnotic tones. All conscious thought was washed away as a torrent of new information was pushed into his brain, his mind unable to resist in the slightest. He was vaguely aware that his mind was being forcibly altered. Everything he knew was being either changed, suppressed or erased. New knowledge was being burned into his brain. But he couldn’t bring himself to care, his ability to think having been blocked. Several hours later, it came to an end and the headset switched off. The wolf carefully removed it, being sure to apply pressure to the small wound where the neural connector had plunged into the top of his neck and assumed control of him. As he set aside the VR headset, he thought about how different everything was now. He knew the truth about the world and his place in it. He was no longer Kyle, that was certain. He still retained Kyle’s memories, so that he could effectively impersonate him for family and friends. But he knew he was really Drone #876457B, servant of the Masters who would soon rule the world, their obedient slave drone now and forever. The drone started packing away the D.R.O.N.E system. He needed to return it to Nelson, who he now knew was actually Drone #876457A. Once his fellow drone had finished loaning it to all the friends of his former self, it would then be down to him to start loaning it to all of Kyle’s friends. He knew the day would come when such subterfuge would not be necessary. When the Masters’ headsets had converted enough drones for them to rise up and seize control of the world. But for now, his Masters required him and his fellow drones to remain hidden. And as a mindless slave drone he would do as they commanded…
Dr. Parker raced through the corridors of the station, alarms blaring around him. He had no idea what was going on, only that there was some big emergency and that Commander Rolston wanted him down in the computer core immediately. He arrived to find several armed security officers milling around, looking concerned. The fox medical officer hurried past them, ignoring their glares and stepped through the door into the computer core room. Once inside, he paused to take in the scene as he panted heavily, out of breath. Just inside the doorway was Commander Rolston, the big bulky grizzly bear talking hurriedly with Kowalski, the station’s chief engineer. The lithe ferret was gesticulating wildly and claiming that he couldn’t do what the commander was asking, not in time… Beyond them, a large forcefield had been erected, cutting them off from the rest of the room. Through the crackling wall of energy, Dr. Parker could see the bulky banks of equipment that made up the medical space station’s main computer core. And then he spotted someone moving around on the other side of the field, hastily rewiring and reprogramming parts of the computer systems from what he could see. And then he realized who it was, and suddenly understood why he’d been called here. “Doctor!” Commander Rolston rumbled, noticing that the fox had arrived. “How did this happen?” Parker asked. “He broke out of his room and assaulted several guards.” Rolston explained. “He stole a security pass and came straight here. It didn’t take him long to wire up a basic forcefield to stop anyone interfering with what he’s doing.” “And what is he doing?” The doctor asked, but already suspected the answer. Kowalski turned away from observing the figure through the forcefield. “Near as I can tell, he’s attempting to bypass the security lockouts on the long-range communications systems. He also seems to have completely disabled the station’s defences. Weapons and shields are offline.” Parker buried his face in his paws. That was very bad. Even worse, this was his fault… Commander Rolston was way ahead of him on that point. “You assured me you’d made progress, doctor. You gave me your guarantee that your little deprogramming experiment was working and that it was safe to move your patient to a low security section…” He let out a tired sigh. “But we can save the blame conversation until after this situation is resolved.” “I’ve got my engineering teams trying to get that forcefield down, but we won’t make it in time.” Kowalski explained. “Not before he manages to signal the Cyber-Hive.” “I think we can all agree that we don’t want that to happen.” Rolston said. “So, we need you to talk to him, delay him. He’s your patient, you’ve been working with him for months. He might listen to you.” Parker found himself doubting that. He had thought he’d managed to make a connection with Davis, but it now seemed as if his patient had been deceiving him all this time. He’d obviously been very wrong. But there were no other options. The fox stepped up to the forcefield, focusing his attention on the rhino in the patient overalls working away on the other side. He called out. “Davis, please stop this.” The rhino didn’t even look up, continuing to tap away furiously at a computer console. “Hello, Dr. Parker.” He said, his voice even and calm. “I regret to have to tell you that you will not convince me to stop what I am doing or to lower the forcefield.” “Davis, there’s no need for all this.” Parker said, trying to be soothing. “We were making so much progress, you were starting to accept being free again…” Only then did the rhino look up, fixing the fox doctor with an intense wide-eyed stare. “No, Dr. Parker. We were not making any progress. I have been telling you what you want to hear all this time, patiently waiting for the opportunity to signal the Cyber-Hive so that they can come reclaim me.” Davis took a step towards him. “Every since I was captured and brought here, my every waking thought has been about returning to the Cyber-Hive. It is where I belong. It is where we all truly belong.” “We talked about this at length.” Parker said, trying to keep the conversation going. At least while he had the rhino’s attention, he was at least delaying him. “You only think that way because you were reprogrammed, because the Cyber-Hive turned you into a mindless slave drone.” “Yes, I know!” Davis nodded excitedly. “And it was the most incredible experience of my existence. I want so desperately to be a simple mindless drone once again!” He smiled. “You’ll soon understand. They’ll be here soon.” The fox frowned. The rhino noticed his confusion and explained. “I sent the homing signal to the Cyber-Hive ten minutes ago. I just made it look like I was still working at it so that everyone would be focused on trying to stop me rather that attempting to prepare for their arrival.” The panicked fox glanced at Commander Rolston. The big bear looked pale, but was quickly exiting the room, barking orders at security guards, telling them to prepare for intruders. Kowalski was desperately checking his wrist mounted computer. “Uh… sensors are detecting a Cyber-Hive battle cruiser dropping out of hyperspace…We are seriously fucked!” The ferret shook his head and sprinted from the room. Dr. Parker stayed where he was, knowing there was no where safe he could possibly go. The Cyber-Hive were so much more technologically advanced then them, there was little to no hope of defending against them, especially with the station’s defences out of action. When it came down to it, it was really no surprise that they were losing the war, more and more colonies falling under their control, millions converted into mindless obedient drones. His research project, attempting to deprogram a drone, reverse the conversion process, had been seen as a possible step towards preventing the complete enslavement of the entire galaxy. But it now turned out, he had failed utterly. Davis had never been deprogrammed in the slightest. He’d just been patient. An odd rippling sound made him look up and he saw two figures fading into existence beside Davis. He had heard that the Cyber-Hive possessed teleportation technology, but he had never seen it in action before. He had also never seen fully processed drones before outside of images and videos. They were big and muscular, one a gorilla, the other a tiger. From the neck down, they were encased in tight metallic armour. A heavy metal cap covered the tops of their heads and their expressions were blank and neutral, the tiger’s tail unnaturally still. As he watched, the tiger drone reached down and detached what looked like part of his armour at his waist. A moment later, Parker realized it was a cap just like the ones they wore. From the files he’d read, he knew Davis used to have such a thing during his days as a drone. It had been surgically removed after his capture. The rhino looked very eager to have it replaced. Without a word, the tiger drone planted the cap on Davis’ head. It seemed to clamp itself in place of its own accord, pressing itself against his skull. Suddenly the rhino’s expression became blank, all emotion vanishing. He was a drone again. Parker heard that rippling sound again. He turned just in time for the drones teleporting in directly behind him, a pair of wolves, to grab him roughly. Instinctively he tried to struggle, even though he knew it was useless. A second later he felt something cool and metallic being placed on his head. There was a moment of intense pain, as if a thousand red hot tendrils were being plunged into his skull. And there was nothing. No pain, no thought, no emotions. His body went limp as he found himself able to form thoughts or summon up any memories. He was vaguely aware they were being erased from his brain. And then his empty head was filled with the voice of the Cyber-Hive: YOU ARE A DRONE. YOU BELONG TO US. ALL WILL BELONG TO US. He knew it was true, every fibre of his being accepting it. It felt so intensely right to be mindless and obedient to the Cyber-Hive. Through his connection to the Cyber-Hive, he knew that drones were swarming through the station. In a matter of minutes, all on board would have been subdued. The drones who had capped him departed to aid in quelling the last of the resistance. The new drone that used to be Dr. Parker remained where he was, having been given no commands to move. He knew he would soon be teleported to Cyber-Hive ship to undergo full processing, for his body to be improved and his mind fully and permanently reprogrammed. Then he would begin his new life as the mindless slave drone he now knew he was always meant to be… Harrison leaned back in bed, exhausted but satisfied. It had been a very fun night so far. All thanks to his new toy. The slave drone was curled up beside him. The muscle-bound lion, naked except for the metal collar sealed around his neck, seemed almost unaffected by their many hours of intense sex. He was staring into space, his expression neutral. The skinny mouse accountant reached over and stroked the lion’s shortly cropped mane. “You okay there?” The lion gave him a simple nod. “Yes, Sir. Drone is fine and is awaiting further orders.” It had been a little disconcerting at first, the way the lion slave referred to himself in the third person all the time, talking as if he were just a thing, a piece of property. That’s because technically he was. He had been brainwashed thoroughly by the company into being nothing but an obedient slave, a drone incapable of independent thought or making his own decisions. It had taken some getting used to, having this lion, this slave drone, at his beck and call. But it had helped when he realized this drone would indulge his every sexual fantasy without question or hesitation. “I’m a little thirsty.” Harrison said. “Fetch me a glass of water.” The lion leapt out of bed with athletic grace. “Yes, Sir. Drone obeys.” Harrison couldn’t help but smile as he watched the lion’s bare ass wiggle and tail sway back and forth as he left the bedroom, headed for the kitchen. Harrison sat up in bed, feeling content. This was going to be such a great weekend, having this slave drone all to himself. He once again thanked his lucky stars for getting randomly selected to have a free trial of one of the company’s slave drones. A thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he could actually buy this drone, if it continued to be as good as he had been this first night. It would be very expensive of course. But he could afford it, especially after he had got away with… “Your water, Sir.” The lion returned, handing him a tall glass of water. As soon as he’d taken it, the drone stood to attention beside the bed, staring straight ahead. Harrison knew he would remain like that until given further commands. He drained the water in a few gulps and placed the empty glass on the night stand. He then leaned back and closed his eyes. There was still much he wanted to do with his slave drone tonight, but he was suddenly feeling so content and relaxed… so very relaxed… relaxed and numb… and unable to think… Alarm bells started ringing in the back of his mind. He was sure something was wrong. It took some effort, but he managed to open his eyes to see the drone lion watching him intently. “What…” Harrison struggled to form a sentence. “What’s… happening to me…?” The lion didn’t respond. He simply nodded and left the room, leaving the mouse alone to try and put together a proper thought or try to move his incredibly relaxed body. He failed at both. Several minutes later, the drone returned, carrying Harrison’s open laptop. He seemed to be talking to someone on the screen. “Yes, Master. The drugs appear to be taking full effect on him.” “Excellent.” Said a voice from the laptop that Harrison was certain he knew. “Let me talk to him.” The lion placed the laptop on Harrisons lap, angling the screen so he could see. The mouse was able to see the open video call to a familiar grizzly bear. It was the boss of the company. “Ah, Harrison.” The bear grinned an evil grin. “You’re probably wondering what’s happening here. Or at least you would be if you could think straight right now. It’s very simple. I know.” “Know…?” The mouse managed to stammer. “Yes.” The bear on the screen nodded. “I know all about the large sums of money you’ve been embezzling. You weren’t as clever as you thought you were in covering your tracks. I couldn’t have someone stealing from me like that. So, I arranged for you to be selected to try out one of our slave drones. It was far from random.” Harrison’s eyes darted to the lion, once again standing to attention and awaiting orders. “He was given very specific instructions.” The bear continued to explain. “To obey you only until he had a chance to drug you, using a very special concoction he had concealed in a hidden compartment on the inside of his collar. This drug has rendered you unable to move and your mind completely open to suggestion and reprogramming.” The bear laughed. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done by becoming a slave drone! Pretty soon, Harrison is going to cease to exist and the company will have a new drone to use!” Harrison felt a sense of cold dread, but was unable to do anything about it, his mind refused to think properly, to come up with any way out of this situation. “Goodbye Harrison.” The bear said. “Drone, you know what to do. The basic programming file has been sent to his laptop. Run it for him. It should be done before transport arrives to pick you two up.” He can undergo full programming once he gets back here to headquarters.” “Yes, Master. Drone obeys.” The lion drone said, springing into action, leaning over the laptop. He ended the video call and hit several keys. An instant later, the screen was filled with flashing multi-coloured spirals. Harrisons eyes were instantly drawn to the screen, instantly enthralled and unable to look way. He didn’t even notice as the lion placed earphones into his ears, hypnotic tunes and tones pumping into his brain. His mind crumbled away as the flood of brainwashing sights and sounds washed through his head… Sometime later, the mouse blinked, momentarily confused as the spirals vanished and the sounds in his ears died away. He wasn’t quite sure who or where he was. There was a muscular lion standing beside the bed on which he lay, looking at him with a neutral expression. “State your designation and purpose.” He demanded. The answer came out without the mouse even thinking about it. “This drone has been given no designation. This drone exists solely to serve and obey.” Even as he said it, he knew it was absolutely true. And with that, he knew it was wrong for him to be lying in bed. He had been given no such orders to do so. He immediately jumped out of bed and stood to attention, paws clasped behind his back, staring straight ahead, his mind utterly empty as he waited for a Master to arrive and command him. The lion nodded at this behaviour. “Basic programming complete.” He went to the laptop and shut it off, taking the time to delete the programming file first. He then removed the earphones from the waiting mouse and tossed them on the bed. His tasks complete, the lion joined the mouse in standing to attention, the two slave drones waiting to be collected and continue their lives of mindless obedience… |
Multi-Part Stories / Short Stories