The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

The girl felt the helmet being taken off her head. The room was unfamiliar, as was the woman in it, and the young Asian girl who stared down at her from the mirrored ceiling. Padded restraints were removed, and she was given clothes—a white T-shirt, white stretch pants and white sandals. Once she was dressed, she felt a little less chilly.

“Who...who am I?” she asked the woman.

“That is up to you to decide.” the woman said. “You have just completed voluntary erasure as permitted under the Erasure and Mindwipe Regulation Act, subsection two pertaining to its use as a psychiatric treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

“Huh?”

“I have to say it that way at least once. The short version is, you told us you didn’t want to know.” the woman said. She escorted the girl into another room. There was a bed, a TV, and a desk with two books on it: The Ultimate Book of Girls’ Names, and The Big Book of Chinese Girls’ Names. There was white everywhere. “Here’s your identicard. Don’t forget where you left it, OK?” The girl glared at the woman. “None of my other patients find that funny, either. Anyway, you can watch movies on the vid screen there, though R, NC-17 and X-rated materials are not available, and there’s a couple of name books on the desk. There’s a touch-screen interface, so when you pick out a name for yourself, put your identicard in the slot by the TV, choose ‘update ID,’ and type it in. Your case number is V7734 if you feel the need to go mingle before you’ve picked out a name.”

The girl sat on the bed long after the nurse was gone, staring at the white. Someone knocked at her door. Sitting up in alarm, she looked at the door to find a guy sticking his head in her room.

“Hi. Mind some company?”

“Uh...no.” she replied. He opened the door the rest of the way.

“So, just got wiped, huh?” he remarked. “These guys are big on symbolism here. The white clothes, the white room, supposed to symbolize your newfound purity and innocense.”

“Huh.” she responded.

“Yeah. Been here long?” he asked.

“As long as I can remember.” was her response. He laughed.

“Nice to know you’ve got a sense of humor.” he said. “I’m in the Caretaker program, myself, waiting for a patient to pick me.”

“Pick you?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s patient’s-choice, unless they have special needs that not everyone in the program can fulfill.”

The girl slid off the bed and wrapped her arms around the stranger. His arms came around her as well, in a way that felt warm and comforting. He maneuvered around until he could sit on the bed, and he drew her into his lap, still holding her close. It felt good—safe, somehow.

“My name’s Jon, by the way.” he said.

“I haven’t picked one yet.” she replied. “I...I feel so empty...lost...and until you showed up, alone.”

“Well, I’m glad things are improving.” he said, caressing her in a gentle way she found comforting. “Want some advice?” She nodded. With no reference from which to make her own decisions, benevolent guidance was more than welcome. “Don’t feel like you have to do anything that doesn’t feel right, and don’t let them rush you into a situation you don’t like.”

“Caretaker 9151, report to Administration.” said a voice over the PA system.

“Oops, that’s me.” he said, easing her to her feet. “I have to go. Would it be all right if I saw you again sometime?” She nodded eagerly. His hand brushed her cheek gently, and he smiled. She watched him leave with regret. Peering out her door, she saw him take a coded door, and then he was gone. She whimpered once, then decided she needed something to do. Taking her ID card, she left her room, wandering the corridors. There were places she wasn’t supposed to go, protected by coded locks, but most of the places were open. There was a lounge with snack and drink machines. Swiping her ID in the slot produced no results.

“Strip first, face toward me.” someone said.

“Huh?” the girl responded. There was a guy sitting behind a little window.

“You’d be surprised how many girls take off their clothes when I say that.” the guy said. He was nothing like Jon. His gaze said he wanted something, and that something was under her clothes. He picked up his own ID card and held it up. She looked at her own, comparing how he held his with how she was holding hers. She turned it over, and spun it around so that the two matched. The stranger nodded, and she swiped it again. A green light lit up, and a credit balance lit up.

“Is that the price?” she asked, looking at the multi-digit number in front of her.

“No, no, no.” the guy said, chuckling. “That’s your credit balance.”

“Oh.” she said, relieved. Somehow, knowing that she wasn’t completely without means made her feel better. She pressed the top selection on the drink machine, Dr. Pepper, and watched as a half-cred was deducted from her balance. A can of Dr. Pepper appeared at the lip of the machine. She picked it up and moved to the snack machine, staring at the selections for a minute before deciding on a half-cred Snickers bar. She took the snack and drink out of the lounge. She had no intention of eating or drinking under the watchful gaze of that man. She found another place, where there were others in white clothes. “Mingling,” the nurse had called it. “May I sit here?” she asked of a trio of young women at a four-chair table.

“Sure.” one of them responded carelessly. With no past or identity, other than a case number, there was little to talk about. They clung together out of simple loneliness, however, and the other girls shared what little experience they had to ease the way for her.

“Lunch is in two hours, by the way.” one of the ladies said. “It’s bland stuff, but it doesn’t knock too much off your balance. See that guy over there?” She indicated a fat man with an orange vest over his white outfit. “He spent all his credits on junk and junk food, then started going into debt. They put him to work on the cleaning detail, blocked his card on the snack machines and put him on BN loaves.”

“BN?” the girl asked.

“Bare Nutrition.” the woman said. “It’s about the same volume as three boiled eggs, and looks the same going in his mouth as it does going in the toilet.” One of the other women giggled, while the rest “Eww”ed. The girl got up from the table and seated herself at a chess board, looking at the pieces. One of the women who had been disgusted by the description of BN loaves seated herself opposite her and set up the pieces, explaining the rules as she did so. They played four games in two hours, and it took the woman longer to beat her each time. A tone sounded, and everybody rose and filed out to the cafeteria. The food was indeed bland and cheap. The girl went back to her room as soon as lunch was over, sat down and scanned through the name books. She smiled when Jon peeked into the room, and rose from her chair. She hugged him tightly.

“What did Administration want?” she asked.

“Somebody got into classified files, and they’re investigating everyone who has access to the computer core and wasn’t on camera at the time the breach happened.” Jon said as if it was nothing.

“But what if...” the girl began, but Jon’s finger gently touched her lips in a silencing gesture.

“Sweetness, I didn’t do it, so they only way I’m in any danger is if the real thief planted evidence to implicate me. None of my enemies are smart enough to do more than try to jump me from a dark alley, so the only way I’m getting evidence planted on me is if they chose a random employee to implicate and my number happened to be up.” He saw the lingering concern on her face and kissed her. She pressed herself against him and held him tightly as she kissed him back. She glanced at the door to make sure it was closed and secured, then edged toward the bed. She broke the kiss long enough to remove her shirt, and felt him respond positively to her actions. He removed his own clothes and made a separate pile on the floor. Her shoes and pants joined the shirt on the floor, then her undergarments. He leaned her back on her pillow and pulled the covers over them. His hands caressed her body with exquisite tenderness, and she moaned encouragingly. His cock was seven inches long, and she felt him slide gently inside with a moan of desire. She wrapped her legs around his and held him close, so only his pelvis could move. He kissed her again, moving his cock deep into her. When he sensed she was about to climax, he disengaged his mouth from hers and asked her to look into his eyes. She did, and rolling waves of ecstasy washed over her. He continued to thrust for almost a minute before he climaxed in turn, filling her with his hot cum. Her eyes sagged closed, and she slept. In her dreams, she was a pixie riding in Jon’s breast pocket, listening to his heartbeat as he went about his normal, workaday routine and occasionally looking down at her to give her a special smile that melted her heart. But shadowy figures in hidden corners kept doing bad things and blaming him for them, and only her witness protected him.

A tone jolted her awake. She looked around but the room was dark. She found some new clothes in the room’s dresser, grabbed a towel and took a shower. She heard somebody moving around in her bedroom as she got out, and peeked around the door. “Jon! What was that tone?”

“Oh, that’s just the shift-change tone so the afternoon shift knows it’s time for the night shift to take over.” he said. She hugged him, not caring that he probably hadn’t showered and she was just freshly cleaned.

“Is there any way to quiet the tones that don’t apply to me in here?” she asked. He moved to the wall screen and showed her how to navigate the options. The computer asked if she had chosen a name. “Not yet.” she said. She adjusted several of the room’s preferences. Jon sat on the bed and watched her until she was finished, then she joined him, and kissed him.

“Would you like a little help choosing a name?” he asked.

“Oh, would you?” she asked happily. He went to the computer, accessed the translator function and typed “Sweet” into a box, then tapped “Chinese Simplified, Romanized” on a list of possible languages. The result was Tián. He keyed in other words, such as Honey, Joy, Adored, Love, Jade, Precious, and so on and wrote down the results on a piece of paper if he liked them. He massaged her neck and shoulders as she read the list. His hands were skilled at finding knots she hadn’t even known were developing, and she surrendered to his caresses until her ardor rose, and she began to seek different stimulation entirely. This time she was on top, swaying her hips and letting her body make all the decisions. She came first, but kept going until she had brought him off. By that time, she was ready to cum again, and arched her back as a second orgasm washed through her. They went to the shower and cleaned each other in the close confines, then made out in the spray until a buzzer announced they’d used up her hot-water allotment. He turned off the water before it could cool too drastically, and dried them off, then put on his clothes again.

“I wish I could stay, babe, but I’ve got some duties to perform or they’ll dock my pay.” He kissed her palm sensuously so that she had to grab the bed before her knees gave out completely and dumped her to the floor. She watched him leave with regret. To distract herself, she grabbed the list. She kept thinking of him as she tried to read it, never once getting past the first name. She rose to her feet and touched the wall screen, slipping her ID card into the slot and updating her information.

Tián, as she was now officially known, explored the system until she found what she was looking for. Touching this control and that, she eventually found a number-entry screen. Keying in 9, 1, 5, 1, she found an image of Jon. The slightly-irreverent spark she found most affecting was in his eyes even in the otherwise cold and sterile official 2D image. She confirmed her choice three times, as the computer seemed poorly-equipped to register the fact that she had chosen her Caretaker before she had officially been introduced to possible candidates, even resorting to switching the Yes and No buttons between verifications. Eventually, however, it accepted her choice, just before she would have put her fist through the screen. With that accomplished, she went to the snack machine and bought a two-cred ham and cheese sandwich, a can of green tea and a bag of Doritos. She took these to the chess board and arranged the pieces for play. She munched idly as she contemplated the pieces.

“Waiting for an opponent, miss?” a man asked, seating himself across from her. He spoke with an odd accent.

“My name is Tián.” she responded.

“Good evening, Tián, my name is Thibudeaux—that’s T-H-I-B-U-D-E-A-U-X.” He shook her hand. Thibudeaux looked down at the pieces. “Sure you want black, honey?”

“I get tired of all the white.” Tián responded.

“Sure, sure. You wouldn’t be the first one to get tired of white before they left here.” He picked up a white knight and jumped it over his line of pawns. It was an interesting opening move, one her previous opponent hadn’t employed. Thibudeaux glanced occasionally at the janitors at their tasks, but proved a challenging opponent. It took five games before Tián guessed his strategy and came up with a counterstrategy.

“Not bad.” the man said when she had him cornered so he couldn’t move, but it wasn’t a checkmate—he wasn’t in check when she cornered his king so that it couldn’t move without being placed in check. She washed her hands and went back to her room, curling up in her bed.

“Morning, Tián.” Jon said. She turned and hugged him, favoring him with a long, hungry kiss. He smiled. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where are we going, Jon?” she asked, but followed willingly.

“You and I have been assigned a two-bedroom squat in the East Metropolis, Jerseyhattan District. It’s not much, but it has a terminal where you can access Teacher A.I. lessons and a tri-D for news and public-access programming.” He leaned closed and whispered conspiratorially in her ear. “I also know how to get the premium channels and filter out the crap they use to pacify the public.” Tián frowned.

“Yes, please.” she said. He hugged her to him and kissed her neck until she relaxed. He led her out of the building. Her chess opponents were waiting with smiles on their faces as she passed through the common room. The woman who had not yet chosen a name hugged her.

“You sure got a handsome one, girl!” she whispered, then laughed. Tián smiled, glad her opponent hadn’t giggled. Thibudeaux took her hand and kissed it in archaic fashion.

“Bon chance, Mademoiselle Tián.“ he said. She smiled, having no idea what that meant, but it seemed nice, so she decided to accept it in the spirit in which it seemed to be intended.

“Thank you, Thibudeaux.” she said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As they walked out of the building, Tián looked back to see the words written above the door: East Metropolis Erasure Center. “Oh, we’re already in the East Metropolis?” she asked.

“At the north end, in the old state of Maine.” Jon said. “It’s not too bad. There are still parks up here, like little islands of green in the middle of the city.”

“And why is it called a ‘squat’ if we’re assigned to it?” she asked. Jon laughed.

“Because even though it’s a legal dwelling, it’s not much better than the illegal ones that are officially unoccupied.” he said.

“Hey, pretty girl,” someone called, “why don’t you come over here and spend time with a real man?” Tián found herself walking towards the source of the voice, unable to stop herself. Suddenly, Jon was between them.

“Pay no attention to him, Tián.” he said, and she resumed walking with Jon. She could hear the man speaking behind them, but paid him no mind. She wondered about this.

“Jon, why couldn’t I stop myself?” she whispered to him when they got in the hover-taxi. Jon smiled reassuringly at her, but didn’t answer. The cabby asked something in Arabic, and Jon responded in the same language. Then the cab took off, rising fifty feet above the ground and setting a sane pace. Tián tried to look around at the scenery, but canyons of skyscrapers soon palled and she clung to Jon for comfort. That man had seemed untrustworthy to her. She was glad Jon had rescued her. But rescued her from what? Her own obedience? They exited the cab after a half hour’s travel and entered a tube-station. A string of cars pulled in just as they disembarked, and Jon swiped his ID for the fare. Tián clung to Jon, trying to pay no attention to anything anybody said.

“Here’s our stop, sweetie, let’s go.” Jon said after a seemingly interminable amount of time. They walked five blocks, which seemed a very long distance to her, but Jon explained that it was hard to get a cab in the squats. Tián turned her neck this way and that, on the look-out for danger. She stepped behind Jon as somebody with a broken bottle came at her. Jon sprang into action, displaying an economy of motion with which the assailant simply could not keep up, and soon the man was lying, bleeding and broken, in the dark alley from which he’d pounced. Jon led her to a building and they ascended a flight of orange plas-crete steps to the front door.

“You the new tenants?” asked a man so fat it was a wonder he could get around at all. Getting in and out through the doorways inside the building seemed out of the question, and there was a smell coming from his open door whose source Tián had no desire to contemplate.

“We are. I’m Jon, this is Tián.” Jon said. The man rose to his feet, and floorboards protested beneath him.

“I’m Sammo. I don’t expect we’ll be seeing much of each other unless there’s a problem, since the Erasure Center covers yer tab for as long as ya need a Caretaker, but try to remember it.” He extended one pudgy hand. Tián felt revolted at his touch, but kept her face neutral as she shook it. “Thanks for not wiping your hand on your clothes immediately, Miss Tián. I hope Jon here takes good care of ya.”

“I intend to, sir.” Jon replied. Sammo nodded once.

“Your squat’s number 1418. I ain’t got the budget to pay to have the elevator fixed, so you gotta take the stairs. The toilets are antique low-flow models, and when I say antique I mean back when there used to be gaps between the cities, so go light on certain ethnic cuisines, if ya know what I mean, and don’t put anything in ‘em that doesn’t come outta you. Trash pick-up is at eight in the mornin’. Don’t put it out before sunup or animals and scroungers scatter it, and the trash man doesn’t pick up anything that ain’t in a bag. Limit’s two bags a day, not my rule, and not larger than twenty gallons each, also not my rule. If ya wanna throw a box away, ya gotta cut it up. If ya wanna filter out the sublims on yer tri-D, ya gotta spoof the feedback chip, not just bypass the processor.”

“How’s the place for bugs?” Jon asked.

“’Bout like usual.” Sammo said. Jon led Tián upstairs, and Tián was soon glad she had no belongings. She was beat when they reached the level with their squat—though by her count they were actually on the thirteenth floor, not the fourteenth. Jon unplugged the tri-D and jammed a couple of probes into a wall outlet. The power went out, and a series of pops and flashes of blue light startled her. The power returned without much ado, though there were charred places in the ceilings and walls, and Jon fiddled with the tri-D, removing a chip and touching it to his wrist-unit, then pulling a second chip out of his pocket. Tián watched in fascination until Jon felt his task was completed and he plugged the new chip into the unit.

“’Spoofing’ the feedback chip?” she asked.

“Yeah, and it was a good chip, too. Best one I ever spoofed.” Jon said, opening the cabinet and withdrawing a jar of peanut butter, which he then smeared all over the feedback chip he’d taken out of the entertainment unit. He then threw the slathered chip out the window. “There, the rats should find that soon enough—faster than the Feds, at any rate.” He made up the bed in one of the two bedrooms, then lay down on it. Tián curled up beside him and sighed, wanting nothing more than to sleep, but unable to do it—until Jon told her to go to sleep. Then her eyes sagged closed and she drifted into dreamless slumber.

The first few days were spent in their squat, cleaning up after the previous occupants, watching tri-D features—though there was a bit of distortion in the hologram matrix, part of the price one had to pay to avoid the subliminal messages the government used to pacify the populace—or preparing meals, but mostly loving each other passionately and uninhibitedly. Jon had a wonderful imagination, and seemed to know all the best things to do to drive her crazy with lust and pleasure. Occasionally, he’d tell her to do something unusual. She didn’t understand why he wanted to do these things—many of them highly embarrassing, and even some that might get her arrested if a patrolman came by at the wrong time—but she didn’t question it as she obeyed. His expression was introspective and unreadable for some time after she did these things, but then he’d become even more loving than usual to make up for it. On the fifth day, Jon brought over a friend of his to watch the place while they went shopping.

“The security devices at the squat are legal—which means they’ve got built-in bypasses for patrolmen serving search warrants.” he explained as they walked. “Of course, the first time a patrolman on the take sold those bypasses to a crook for cash, the whole system was irreparably compromised.”

“Irreparably?” Tián asked.

“Well, irreparably within the budget the government’s willing to allocate to the problem, anyway.” Jon sighed. They stopped at a clothing store and got some more clothes for her. Then they went for groceries to restock their depleted pantry. Jon arranged to have the groceries delivered. They went back to the squat. “Go on up and put these away, sweetie, I need to talk something over with Sammo.”

“Okay, Jon.” she said, taking the bags with her clothes up the stairs.

“Hey, ‘sup, T?” Jon’s friend asked.

“Just putting things away.” Tián said.

“Did Jon tell you to do that?” he asked.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.” Tián responded, and strode quickly into the bedroom to hang the outfits in her half of the little closet. She took special care with the pretty blue dress Jon had picked out for her, claiming she could outshine the sun in it. She was just closing the door when she heard the man’s voice again.

“Hey, T, come here.” he called. Sighing, Tián went back out to the living room to see what he wanted. He had a set of tri-D recorders set up. “Here, stand in the middle.” he said. Tián complied.

“What’s this about?” she asked.

“Take off your clothes.” the man said. Tián scowled briefly, but her hands moved to the hem of her shirt and peeled it off, and her scowl became a look of panic. First the shirt hit the floor, then the shoes and pants, then her socks. She tried to stop herself from removing her undergarments, but she would have had better luck stopping a tube transport train.

“What-what-what’s going on?” she squeaked, terrified as her panties fluttered to the top of the pile.

“Don’t say anything until this is over, unless you’re told otherwise.” the man ordered. Tián wanted to tell him off, wanted to scream for Jon, wanted to say anything, but her voice refused to obey—or rather, refused to obey her. “Get down on your knees and open your legs wide for the tri-D.” the man said. Tears leaked down Tián’s cheeks as she obeyed, helpless. “Use those pretty, slender fingers of yours to play with your pussy, T.” the man said. His face was hard and cold, and Tián was beside herself with fright, but her body obeyed. “Don’t block the tri-D’s view, we wanna get all this on the card.” Tián blushed deep crimson, but opened herself more fully and kept her hands from blocking the units’ view. “Use your other hand and play with your boobs.” She obeyed, helpless to resist and wondering why. “Okay, let’s try this, then: Have yourself a nice, hard orgasm RIGHT NOW!” Tián’s eyes opened wide and she screamed. Her pussy spasmed and squirted as the commanded orgasm rocked through her. “You can stop now.” he said, and just like that, the orgasm ended. Tián curled up into a ball, sobbing. The door to the squat opened and Jon stomped in.

“What the hell, Fred?!” he demanded.

“It’s worse than we thought, Jon.” was all Fred said, shutting down and gathering up the tri-D recorders. He left, and Jon locked the door. He scooped the sobbing Tián into his arms and carried her to bed. He held her gently, lovingly, protectingly, while she continued to sob inconsolably.

“It’s over, baby, it’s over. I won’t let him hurt you again.” Jon whispered to her.

“I couldn’t...” Tián sobbed. “I couldn’t stop myself! No matter what he said, I couldn’t stop myself! I even...I even had...had and org-g-gasm when he told me to.” He held her tightly, caressing her, cuddling her, telling her he loved her. He was still doing it when she cried herself to sleep.

Over the next three days, Jon was every inch the careful and considerate lover. He phrased everything carefully so that she couldn’t interpret it as a command. They kept the tri-D off, and stayed in the squat. Late in the evening on the third day after the incident, Tián managed to bring herself to make love to Jon again. He was loving and passionate and ever so tender, bringing her to a release that paled the forced one to insignificance.

“I love you, Jon.” she whispered, snuggling with him.

“I love you too, baby.” he said.

“What happens if someone tells me to...” she began, but he shushed her gently. Someone knocked. He put on his robe and sent her to the bathroom. She went inside, covered her ears and hummed to herself so she couldn’t hear anything. Jon came in after some time. She saw he was alone and removed her hands from her ears, then turned around and kissed him. She felt something at her side and looked down to see a box in Jon’s hand. “What’s that?”

“A little present.” he said, and opened the box. She exclaimed with delight at the sight of the contents—orange ear-protectors rated for spaceport workers. Devices that could protect the human ear from the noise of shuttle drives would have no problem blocking out the human voice. He removed the plastic and put the protectors over her ears. She could see his lips moving, but couldn’t hear anything. She kissed him, then hugged him. It was a little awkward hugging him with the bulky protectors on her head, but she managed. He carried her back to their room, and they went to bed.

Tián was nervous as Jon led her on the twisting, turning path through the ancient, disused office building. He seemed to know where he was going, though one pathway looked pretty much like any other to her, and the whole thing was like a maze. They came to a stop in what appeared to be an empty hall, but he pushed open a hidden door in what looked like a blank wall, revealing what appeared to be a disused storage room. He pulled down a hidden ladder in the ceiling and gestured for her to remove the ear protectors, which had kept her from hearing any imperative sentences throughout the long walk from their squat.

“...and furthermore, the method you chose was very much unauthorized.” a stern female voice said. Jon had gestured her upward, to precede him.

“I had to tell her to do something she would ordinarily resist.” the voice of Fred said defensively.

“Most decidedly you have succeeded.” scoffed another voice.

“Had you sought advice from anyone in the organization with a three-digit IQ, we could have provided a dozen much better suggestions.” the first voice said scoldingly.

“Points to Number One.” Jon muttered. They emerged surrounded by men with assault rifles and SWAT-type body armor. Tián froze briefly, but Jon urged her on. The men nodded welcome. One, a Chinese male, smiled as if he knew her.

“Hey, baby sister, how’s things?” he asked.

“Do I...know you?” Tián asked. The male winced.

“Well, you used to.” he said. “You’re late, bro. They started without you.”

“But they won’t finish without us, Chang.” Jon said. He took Tián by the arm and gently led the way into a chamber, where a large crowd of men, women, and people who were barely more than children had assembled. There were even four aliens carapaced in environment suits. In an open area in the front of the room stood Fred. Eyes narrowed, Tián stalked up to him. He heard her coming—the sound of her two-inch heels across the boards was impossible to disguise. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it with a visible effort. Tián drew back her fist and drove it into his nose with every ounce of force she could muster, and he lay on the floor like a starfish, blood gushing from his nose. He rolled onto his hands and knees and tried to crawl away, but she got as good a running start as she could and drove her foot up between his legs, flipping him keister-over-kettle, and he curled up into a whimpering ball.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” an unfamiliar male voice said from the audience. Tián looked around and noticed that every male had his legs crossed. She sighed, and noticed that her hand was starting to throb. Someone came over and scanned her hand with a portable medical scanner.

“Nothing broken here, my dear.” the man said. Tián nodded gratitude, then did a double-take.

“Thibudeaux?” she asked. The man smiled and kissed the hand he still held.

“The same, chere.“ Thibudeaux said. She looked around, searching for other familiar faces, and there was Sammo.

“I have a secret exit that’s large enough for my, shall we say, girth.” Sammo said, anticipating her question. “If they figure I’m too big to get in and out of my office, they’ll stop at bugging my comm and leave me alone otherwise.”

“What’s going on here?” Tián asked.

“I believe it’s best if someone else fields that question.” said the first voice Tián had heard here. An ancient-looking woman in a wine-colored velour dress that looked as if it had seen her through an extreme weight-loss journey from morbid obesity to her current skeletal stature was seated in the center of the front row. She withdrew a tri-D card from the dress’s voluminous folds and handed it over to Jon, who inserted it into a display. A hologram of Tián appeared, and the flesh-and-blood Tián gasped.

“My name is Xu-Li Flynn, wife of William Flynn, sister of Zhu Chang, Number Three Hundred Sixty of the Jerseyhattan chapter of Liberty’s Heralds, born on the second day of April, 2194.” the hologram said. “My family has fought against the ever-more-onerous power-grabbing of Earthgov for generations, and we’ve never been afraid to make sacrifices in the name of the Mission. Recently, the Heralds got wind of a plot to insert obedience programming into the Erasure procedure. We have to confirm whether or not this is true, how extensive it is, and whether it can be counteracted. We have some of our members on the inside, but we haven’t been able to get the info we need, and time may be running out. The number of Erasures performed is classified, but Billy and Thi estimate there are no less than two hundred recently-wiped personnel at any time at the East Metropolis Center alone, with an average turnover of three or four days. We need someone who’s gone through the proceedure, and I can’t ask it of anyone else. I just have to trust in my own instincts and Billy’s wits.” Jon’s image entered the tri-D’s field of view, putting his arms around Xu-Li from behind.

“I won’t let you down, honey.” he said, kissing her. She turned in his arms and kissed him back. The recording ended.

“The public-pacification sublims?” Tián asked.

“Just one of too many assaults on our freedom, love.” Jon/William said. Tián put her arms around him. Her former self had married him, confirming that her instincts in certain matters were still reliable, but any experience she might have had before in other matters was missing, and she felt unsure of herself.

“What do I do now?” she asked. An environment-suited alien with seven seven-taloned hands on long, spindly arms attached to a rounded body came forward.

“The programming we must examine, to craft our deprogramming strategy.” it said. “Beyond that, this one will not probe, on solemnest oath.”

“Ambassador...” Number One began.

“Protected, this one is, by diplomatic immunity.” it said. “No interrogation can be made.”

“What about my past?” Tián asked.

“Restored, that can be.” the alien said. It extended a hand, and she accepted it. Her eyes rolled back involuntarily as the probe began.

Xu-Li opened her eyes to find herself in her own squat, her own bed. Her cat was licking her face and purring loudly. “Did you miss me, Jin Kuài?” she asked. She picked the orange-and-white cat up and carried him to the kitchen.

“Don’t let him fool you, I’ve already fed him this morning.” her husband said.

“How long was I out?”

“Long enough for us to get you back to your real home. Your brain needed time to reboot, as it were, after we undid the mindwipe.”

“What about that programming?” Xu-Li asked.

“Hop around on one foot.” William said with a smirk. She pretended to chuck him under the chin, but felt no compulsion to hop around on one foot. She put the cat on the floor, then leaned in to kiss her husband.

“Well, we can undo the wipe and deprogram the victims once we find them, but how are we going to find them?”

“Don’t worry, love, it’s being taken care of.” William said. Xu-Li frowned. “I know, I know, but we can’t have the Erasure Center identifying you. Or me, for that matter.” He scratched at his fingertips. “Damn, but these fingerprint remolds itch like poison ivy! I can’t wait to get rid of these, let me tell you! Anyway with the evidence we have, we managed to get every pro-liberty, anti-mindwipe, anti-subliminal-pacification and anti-two-party-system group anyone’s ever heard of on our side, thirteen alien species are putting pressure on the government last time I checked, and former President MacHeath, who initiated the subliminal pacification program, had a massive coronary when the ambassadors showed up at his front step. Of course, the fact that the P’rnditlaah was in the front might have had something to do with it. MacHeath was clown-phobic, you know.” The P’rnditlaah were humanoid, but resembled a certain 2-D horror-movie clown called Pennywise.

“Coulrophobic, Billy.” Xu-Li said. “So, what now?”

“We’re under orders to enjoy strict R&R, babe. Which means,” and he scooped her up into his arms, “that I get to enjoy having my wife back, hale, whole and compos mentis.” She gave a delighted squeal as he threw her onto the bed, then undressed and jumped in after her.