The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

1.

Deep in the Hive, slave r229 stood rigidly at attention and watched other slaves obey.

her swimcap and Brain Implant were plugged into the task area’s inner wall. her mind filled with Hivethink on direct feed.

she faced the slaves working the slow conveyor belt. she was not programmed to know their task, but their constant rhythmic motion soothed her. None of the slaves paid attention to her, totally focused on performing as programmed. Directly in front of her, one slave on the far side of the belt would come erect at the end of each task cycle, and her empty, pale-eyed gaze would meet r229’s.

Neither of them could react. Each time, without seeming even to have seen r229, the other slave would resume her task cycle. r229 would shiver as the other woman’s blankness thrummed through her, like a periodic lick between her legs.

her legs stayed together. Each time, they tightened a little with the arousal. The arousal would linger, as she registered that she and the other were too controlled to do anything.

Sometimes, her vision grew blurry. her eyelids were heavy, so very heavy. she thought she had stood here plugged into the wall since before a prior slave shift had been halted and sent to sleeptime.

It was hard to remember. slave r229 did not remember when last she had been sent to sleeptime. Now and then, she remembered she was very sleepy.

The Hive decided when to work its slaves and when to sleep them. It would command her. r229 relaxed and watched the other slaves perform their task.

In her head, she almost heard voices. Some of them told her to stay awake and obey. They tunneled quietly through her thoughts, paralyzing her. All of them altered whatever part of her they touched. Standing still and letting them worm into her beliefs aroused slave r229 even more than meeting the other slave’s eyes.

she knew They were programming her to be more obedient. When the Hive had enslaved her, They had mindwiped her and put one of their Brain Implants into her head to control her directly. It replaced her old ideas and memories with Hivethink.

r229 did not question why They kept brainwashing her anyway. she just did whatever she was told, to help Them do it. her Brain Implant made her like it.

In her head, Hivethink seemed like sound. It was how They controlled her. she sensed it as the hypnotic voice she sometimes heard aloud. Sometimes framed her clearest thoughts. Like all Hive slaves, r229 could not comprehend Hivethink itself. So she was allowed the illusion of hearing it as spoken commands, simple enough for her to obey.

r229 was always grateful to be of use.

she sensed a specific command from the Brain Implant. she obeyed at once, lifting her gaze above the conveyor belt to the task area’s transparent far wall.

Just looking upward when she was compelled to felt good.

More slaves passed to and fro in the corridor beyond. Arms stiff by their sides, backs as straight as r229’s, they walked in lockstep, bare thighs scissoring briskly above silver knee boots. their bodytypes and skintones varied but their minimal bikinis, long gloves, and swimcaps, all gleaming silver, were as identical as their blank expressions.

Each of them wore a Brain Implant too. Walked and breathed at its command.

r229 watched them. Like the slaves toiling in front of her, these women were empty of anything but obedience to the Hive. they served only the Hive’s purposes. slave r229 also knew nothing but obedience. she served the Hive.

Hivethink told her more: she was obeying the Hive now, exactly as they were. Standing still with her mind empty and receptive served the Hive.

slave r229 whined with how badly she wanted to climax. she did not hear herself. she did not climax. The delightful need kept increasing.

Some of the slaves might be reporting to a dormancy zone for their sleeptime. r229 watched them, thrilled that she would not sleep until the Hive told her to.

Another impulse vibrated in her mind. she lowered her gaze again.

she fell into the pale eyes of the other slave. her legs tightened as the stunned gaze swung away.

As They bored into her mind with Their stronger thoughts, They made r229 watch actual slaves doing Their will. They knew it made slave r229 wet. They knew everything about slave r229.

“All series 300 slaves in Obedience Group Upsilon, attend.”

“Cease current activity and await command.”

The pale-eyed slave and two others straightened to attention, staring above the conveyor belt. The pale-eyed one had dropped something she was working on as if forgetting it was there, and the belt carried it away.

The other slaves did not react, but continued the task cycle.

“Report immediately to Neurocenter for reformatting. you must obey.” As one, the slaves stepped back, pivoted, and walked off to the door, already in step. their eyes swept across slave r229 but did not see her.

r229 did not know what would be done about the gapped task. The Hive would decide. The Hive decided all. Slaves just obeyed.

she watched the slaves work, as identically as before. It soothed her and reinforced her obedience.

The feed made her look elsewhere. Three new slaves marched into the task area and froze. they stared past the other slaves, waiting to be directed. r229 watched them as instructions flowed into their minds. Each one walked to an open spot on the belt and stood still, then joined the task, flawlessly synchronized with the others’ rhythm.

their movement massaged r229’s mind. Each repetitive cycle softened her.

Another slave walked into her field of view.

she was close enough that r229 felt the warmth of her skin, but the feed had not made r229 notice her enter. she stood in profile, then pivoted to face r229, almost breast to breast with her.

her eyes were as empty as the earlier slave’s pale ones.

They were beautiful, and r229 fell so deeply into them she no longer knew their color. she waited.

The slave’s eyes focused slightly as the Hive commanded her. she slid against r229 and reached behind her head. The hiss of Hivethink faded for a moment, then resumed. r229 felt the wire from her swimcap plugged into her collar. Then she was looking at the jack to her Brain Implant.

Yes. her mind and her thoughts were what They sent through the Brain Implant.

After seeing her respond, the slave leaned into her again and attached it to the wall.

their cheeks brushed, and r229 felt the other slave’s thigh press against hers.

Then the slave came to attention again, looking right through her.

Seeing her do that triggered r229 to step sideways away from the wall. For a moment they stood staring past each other.

As r229 obeyed an urge to right-face, the slave stepped to face the wall, then spun to face outward. r229 stepped in front of her and faced her.

she was no longer mesmerized by the other woman’s eyes. They were beautifully glazed by the depth of her trance, but now r229 could look above them, at her swimcap.

The small black oval on the side was the visible part of the slave’s Brain Implant. The rest of the device was surgically inserted into her brain, just as r229’s was.

Trembling with reverence and excitement, r229 let the triggers work her like a puppet. Leaning close enough once again to kiss the other slave, r229 plugged her swimcap into the wall.

she pulled out the jack that had just left her own head. she showed it to the other slave, whose gaze focused on it. r229 looked back up at the Brain Implant and inserted the jack.

The slave’s eyes grew glassier as the feed began hitting her mind. r229 felt her tremble. she smelled arousal but had no idea which of them it was. she stopped thinking about it.

The next compulsion in her mind was to turn on her heel. she looked back at the oblivious slaves working at the conveyor belt and waited for the compulsion after that.

It controlled her, walking her out of the task area and up into the main corridor. Stepping into the flow of identical robotic women was like entering a warm pool.

For a few seconds slave r229’s mind went blank, with nothing but the pleasure of belonging. she thought again about sleep, but it was too easy to keep marching mechanically along like everyone else.

she was seeking an Obedience Node. Slaves without active tasks automatically reported to the special alcoves. Until the Hive found further use for them, staring into the flickering screens deepened their indoctrination.

It would be better than sleep. It would make her more obedient.

“slave r229, attend.

“Cease current activity and await command.”

she halted and came to attention in the middle of the corridor. Other slaves avoided her automatically without even breaking the mindless cadence of their steps. she forgot they were there as her mind emptied itself for command.

“Report at once to Sexual Reinforcement. you will forget any other tasks and remember only this. you must obey.”

slave r229 was already orienting herself, and stalked down the corridor. her thighs were tight again, this time from the arousal of obeying an order.

her new compulsion walked her to a group of slaves waiting at an elevator. None spoke when she joined them. they all stared at their faint reflections in the metal doors. These slid aside and the riders stepped briskly out. A few stayed inside, staring up at the level indicators, awaiting their triggers.

r229 and the others filed in, swiveling in unison to face the doors as they closed. Some slaves had slid past her, programmed to get off at other Hive levels.

Everyone stared up at the level indicators.

The stillness, the warm bare bodies so close, the hypnotic sequence of the lights—all tried to soothe r229 to sleep.

The Hive willed her to stay awake and obey. It was stronger than sleep.

r229 stayed alert. Hivethink hissed into her mind.

When her own level lit up, she lowered her eyes. The slave in front of her was still rapt in the level display, her neck slender under the swimcap. her Brain Implant was just visible on it, like a black sun topping a silver horizon.

slave r229 slipped past the transfixed slave and marched off. she had no idea which of the other disembarking women she’d boarded with.

After a few steps, she no longer even remembered the elevator.

Turning sharply into Sexual Reinforcement, she stepped down out of the corridor and came to attention. she waited for her programming to tell her what she must do here.

Beside her, facing outward, was another slave, equally blank. she had just been Reinforced and would now resume performing tasks.

they ignored each other. Something in the newly-Reinforced slave’s mind activated her. she stalked out.

The implanted commands operated r229 like a windup toy. she stepped to a matrix of cubbyholes and undid her silver bandeau. Putting it into an empty slot, she stepped out of her thong and put it there too. she resumed attention, looking at the ranks of crinkled silver bikinis without seeing them until a new urge propelled her toward the Waiting Area.

New instructions slid into place. she would find a transfixion screen and stare into it. Then a reinforcer slave would control her.

Walking past several slaves already gazing into flickering screens, she came to an unoccupied one and swiveled to face it.

A spiral swung slowly on it. Conditioned to respond, slave r229 let it suck her in like a whirlpool.

Its first complete rotation wiped her clean.

2.

slave r229 awoke on her back, to a soft touch between her eyes.

Trance numbed her to suddenly being horizontal, and she was still totally in the grip of conditioning. she knew she was in the Mindbending Area, already strapped down. she tensed luxuriously against the bonds.

her eyes opened to a Brain Implant jack held above them. she focused on it. she dimly remembered seeing one before, but it blurred with other times she had . . .

she must look.

Yes. her mind and her thoughts were what They sent through the Brain Implant.

The reinforcer slave was already jacking her in. r229 kept staring upward. Something looked down at her, like a huge eye on a stalk.

It was another transfixion screen, showing her a new spiral. r229 was instantly hypnotized. she felt her thighs being spread gently apart, and loosened them to comply. she stopped thinking about her body as she felt her mind opening.

A warm, soft mouth kissed her pussy as

OBEY

she gaped upward as the truth shattered her

SLAVE

she whined and spasmed in the restraints. The spiral sucked at her. she begged to let it have her. she knew Obedience was a pleasure spike but this

SUBMIT

now she knew it more now she knew it totally now she now she oh now shhhhhe ohhhhhh

ROBOT

A slow lick sent her rigid again, welding the command to her thoughts. she spun with the spiral in the spiral of the spiral was the spiral

BELONG

she was property she was object she was owned

DRONE

drone yes drone she was drone she was just she was

BELIEVE

she wanted so very

MINDLESS

mindwiped . . .

. . . after forever, the Hive began to feed her the Truth in sentences.

r229’s thoughts were pulverized. her orgasms intensified, melting them. What was left of her mind flowed and quivered.

The new Truths awed her. Hypnotized her. Owned her.

she could only mew.

Enthralled by the orgasmic Truth, she soon forgot how to do that.

her thoughts slowly reassembled around the more complex commands, worshipping them.

Reinforcement became her mind.

Then she was awake. There was no discontinuity. The Hive had no use for r229 to remember coming down from ecstasy, or being released from the chair. It left her blank until awakening.

In a new bikini, she faced the door to Sexual Reinforcement to await Their next use for her.

she saw the world now through a spinning shimmer of orgasm. she had been Reinforced. she was more of a slave now than ever before. Every atom in her body had been realigned to bow to the Hive and execute the Hive’s will.

her body glowed. she belonged utterly to Them. she prayed silently for some way to obey Them right now.

The Hive would know this through her Brain Implant. It would not matter. Need and reward were strands in the cord that bound her.

r229 could serve the Hive just by yearning to obey. she was just as They wanted her to be.

Taut and motionless, r229 shook inwardly at an orgasmic echo. she understood that They owned her, and cherished that.

Then she was able to remember that she was a slave awaiting command. she stared out the doorway, through the slaves striding past, waiting blissfully for purpose.

“All series 200 slaves in Obedience Group Mu, attend.

“Cease current activity and await command.

“It is your sleeptime now. you have completed your tasks.”

Sleeptime. It was harder than before to keep her eyes open. she was so very sleepy. she did not belong to Obedience Group Mu.

Slaves could not envy each other. r229 was happy for the ones who had just labored and would now be rested to serve again.

“your minds remain blank. your bodies yearn for sleep. It is your sleeptime now. Report at once to Dormancy Zone C. you must obey.”

slave r229 was so weary . . .

But she had just been Reinforced. her body yearned to do the Hive’s will. The need buzzed through her like sex. There was no command in her mind to sleep.

she did not even think of hoping to be ordered into sleeptime.

When nothing slid into her thoughts, r229 obeyed the automatic urge to report to an Obedience Node. Until the Hive found use for her, she would staring into the flickering screens.

It would be better than sleep. It would make her more obedient.

Stepping forward, she passed another slave entering Sexual Reinforcement. they ignored each other.

r229 right-faced into the corridor. she did not know which Node to use. she would simply walk through the Hive until she found one. she would fall into trance until tasked. The Hive would control her.

she was instantly in step with the other slaves. Taut bodies moved liquidly in scant silver, mesmerizing her. Through her Brain Implant, Hivethink sang her lullabies to warp her mind.

An Obedience Node appeared at the next turning. A slave just ahead of her made a right-angled turn into the darkened alcove and r229 followed her precisely. There were already several slaves there, too spellbound to know anyone had joined them. The flashing, flowing colors and shapes that held them played across their bodies and flashed off the silver of their uniforms.

r229 and the other slave found open spots and came to attention side by side. Looking up into the displays, they forgot each other in an eyeblink.

Then neither of them could blink anymore. The flickering displays captured them.

Fresh from Reinforcement, r229 was especially susceptible to the hypnotic patterns. her gaze fixated before her breathing even slowed from the brisk walk here.

“slaves j167 and r229, attend.”

Hive commands reached through any trance. she listened as she stared.

“you have entered Obedience Node D19. you will now submit to nonroutine thought adjustment. your Brain Implants will be transferred to listening channel green. The obedience tone will stop your thinking and open you to the indoctrination flow. you must obey.”

she must obey.

slave r229 mewed softly when the obedience tone sounded. It did not destroy her as the Truth had before.

But being brainwashed again, so soon, was turning her mind to glowing syrup.

A new whisper she could not really hear induced r229 to see only a certain screen. Once she was primed for it, its pulsating images drew her in.

The subliminals slid into her mind. They gripped her thoughts as if finding familiar fingerholds.

It was more complex than the transfixion screen that anesthetized her for Sexual Reinforcement. This one seduced her with meaning. Enticing patterns of data flowed and bloomed and led her on.

she knew it was hypnotizing her to open her mind to other input. The seduction made her want to help it fool her.

she stared deeply and followed the lure of data. she would remember none of it when it released her mind later.

The Hive did not need her to remember. Only to watch, and be lost and receptive.

r229 was utterly lost and completely receptive.

In a moment before the Node display had her completely, she shook where she stood. Like a half-remembered tongue on her cunt, it felt insanely good to be so easy to captivate.

Each time she succumbed made it easier for the next Hive control to penetrate her mind. her mind was becoming loose and slick and ready. she wanted to be taken again.

she was being taken now.

she relaxed. she submitted to nonroutine thought adjustment.

“slave r229, attend.

“your thoughts have been satisfactorily altered. you have responded optimally to Obedience Node D19 input. Leave Obedience Node D19 and await command.”

As she obeyed, r229 saw the slave she had followed. j167 stared slackly at another display, mind still wide open to what listening channel green was feeding into her.

r229 stepped away and stopped thinking of j167. she walked past the other slaves who had been drawn into the Obedience Node, barely seeing their blank faces or their eyes, frozen open to let the programming flow into them.

When she realized she had left the Node, she stopped and came to attention. slaves in the corridor paced neatly around her as she felt her mind emptying for the command to come.

A shadow passed before her and stopped. Eyes invisible under opaque black lenses, a Hive sentinel had halted directly in front of her, giving slave r229 her profile. her muscular body looked even more nude than r229’s. her uniform was the same bandeau and thong but in black latex, seeming scantier on her powerful curves. she looked alien, like a beautiful wasp.

“slave r229, attend.

“This sentinel has been programmed. you will follow her. you will not be aware of where you go. you will not be aware of how you get there. you will know only the sentinel. you will remember only the sentinel. you must obey.”

Under the new command, the sleek slave in black filled r229’s awareness. Now she noticed the sentinel’s Brain Implant. The plastic was less prominent on her black swimcap than against an ordinary slave’s silver. r229 waited until it activated the other slave.

she heard nothing, but the sentinel suddenly began to walk. r229 pivoted and followed. As instructed, she let everything to the sides become a blur. she dutifully forgot which way she turned when the sentinel snapped left or right.

It was easy to let knowledge disappear. r229 felt a headrush each time she forgot something.

It would have distracted her, if she were not already locked onto the sentinel’s taut, perfect body. her shoulders were back and straight, her ass flexing on either side of her black thong.

r229 knew only the sentinel.

they moved as one. When the sentinel halted so did r229.

they were in a room that seemed unfamiliar, brighter and quieter than the Hive. r229 was still locked into obeying the command to stay unaware, so she just stared at the motionless sentinel.

she felt no desire to know anything about the room. r229 was programmed to know that slaves had no curiosity. Like willpower, it was part of what They removed from a slave when They installed her Brain Implant.

she was grateful to the Hive for optimizing her for obedience.

“slave r229, attend.”

In the room she could not really see, she came erect and let her mind fall silent.

“you are tranquil and obedient.” It caressed her. her gaze stayed fixed on the strong bare back before her.

“The sentinel is being de-tasked. you will no longer follow her. you will no longer be aware of her.

“It is your sleeptime. you will sleep on command. When you sleep, you will be able to remember your posthypnotic alternate persona ‘Tanya.’ you will enter your posthypnotic alternate persona. your will become your posthypnotic alternate persona.

“you will sleep as slave r229. you will awaken as ‘Tanya.’ you will remember nothing except what ‘Tanya’ is programmed to remember.

“you will remain completely submissive. you will continue to obey your programming. you will obey the hypnotist.

“Sleep now.

“you must obey.”

3.

Tanya gazes into the spiral.

She doesn’t remember why she’s staring at it, or when she first looked, or why she can’t look away. None of that even enters her thoughts.

The only things in her thoughts are the turning spiral, and her compulsion to see it.

There are women’s voices around her. She knows she doesn’t need to think about them. That feels nice.

“. . . still not fully under control. We’ve only been brainwashing her for . . .”

She focuses on the spiral.

“. . . instead program some sentinels to question Hynes in place . . .”

Ideas and memories float into her mind. Before she can know one, the spiral brushes it aside, sucks it in.

“. . . sleep deprivation. Look at her—she’s out on her feet. Can she even stay awake for . . . ?”

Tanya suddenly remembers she’s very, very sleepy. But there’s a stronger compulsion to stay awake. There’s something she must do, for someone she has to obey.

Miles to go before she sleeps . . .

“. . . no guarantee Hynes would tell them, even drugged. We’d have to brainwash her, which means snatching her, which . . .”

It swirls into the center, gone.

That feels so nice. Tanya smiles. She focuses more deeply on the spiral.

“. . . right, more attention than we can afford. The key is, Hynes trusts her . . .”

More drifts by. Tanya enjoys feeling emptier and emptier.

“. . . maxed out on the sex-blasting and mass hypnosis. She’s been in constant deep trance for . . .”

“. . . heavy-lifting tasks. Being labor automatons makes them blanker . . .”

“Tanya.”

She recognizes her hypnotist’s voice. It is always clearer than anything else in her mind. Tanya must always listen to it, and obey.

“Yes, Mistress.”

“How do you feel, Tanya?”

“I feel very nice, Mistress. The spiral has me completely hypnotized.” She hadn’t realized she was in a trance until the voice made her need to answer, but it thrills her to report it. She’s hypnotized.

“And what do hypnotized girls do, Tanya?”

A truth glows, in the dimness of her mind. Much clearer than any idea of her own.

“Hypnotized girls obey, Mistress.” Saying it makes it doubly true. Tanya knows how helpless the spiral’s made her. She can only do as she is told.

Between her legs it’s like dream sex. She doesn’t even blink, though. She is hypnotized. She focuses on the spiral.

“You will obey, Tanya.”

It sends Tanya even deeper. Pleasure blurs her voice. “I will obey, Mistress.”

“Yes, you will. Do you remember anything before the spiral hypnotized you?”

More truths glow. Tanya doesn’t hesitate. “No, Mistress. I remember nothing. I remember only the spiral.”

No praise this time. That intensifies the pleasure. Tanya loves being a tool that needs no reward.

She doesn’t anticipate the next truth. It’s too sweet just to wait. Whoever hypnotized her knows what truths they put in her mind. They decide when Tanya awakens to one.

“She’s ready for it now.” The hypnotist, but not speaking to her. It’s exquisite to stand blankly.

“And Hynes should be home, too. Bring it over.”

Rhythmic steps sound in her ears, muffled on carpet. Tanya doesn’t look away from the spiral, but she feels her awareness widen. She will be ready for whatever commands she is to obey.

Someone approaches her. She has a peripheral image of a muscular female body, barely dressed in a gleaming black bikini and boots. Head and face obscured by a black swimcap and wraparound shades, full-lipped mouth expressionless. Standing rigidly at attention, right beside her.

Tanya briefly realizes she is also at attention, also almost nude. She starts to wonder if the strong woman is hypnotized, too.

The spiral wipes it from her thoughts.

The woman lifts something and holds it next to Tanya’s face: a cellphone. It is familiar. She has never seen it before.

Confusion vanishes as Tanya stares into the spiral.

Another truth lights up. Words will enter her mind. She will say them. She will not think.

A black-gloved finger touches a button. Tanya hears the warble of the far phone. She has no idea what will happen when someone answers, but just looks into the spiral. She will obey.

“Tanya?” Soft and cautious. Tanya doesn’t question how this woman knows it is she.

Whispers begin sliding into her mind.

Tanya relaxes and lets them use her mouth like a ventriloquist’s dummy. “Elissa! Thank god. Thank god.”

She feels her breathing change. She doesn’t know why her voice is so tight and urgent, or why she just whispered back.

It doesn’t matter. Tanya just obeys instructions she doesn’t recall being given.

She remembers nothing. Only the spiral.

“Tanya! My god—are you all right? Where are you?

“Are you in the Hive?”

Words whisper. Tanya parrots them. “Yes. They’re not on to me yet, and there’s a place I can call from, but I can’t stay here long.”

“Tanya, did you find Ricki?”

The whisper fills her thoughts and flows out her mouth. “No. But I think I know where she is.

“Listen, Elissa! This is very important.” The whisper stops.

Tanya stares blankly into the spiral, not even waiting. The woman—Elissa—breathes into the phone with an anxiety Tanya neither shares nor understands.

The whisper resumes. Tanya recites, bemused at the emotion she’s expressing. “Elissa—this is vital—did you pass on the disks I left with you? To the cops?”

Another pause. A sigh. “No, Tanya. I’m so sorry. I haven’t.” Tanya can hear Elissa’s guilt, but feels nothing.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to wait this long to show them, but I was hoping to hear you’d made it. And those creeps at the—”

“No, no, it’s OK, Elissa.” Tanya hears herself: reassuring, relieved. She doesn’t wonder why. It’s easier to let the spiral spin away questions. It relaxes her, emptying her for the whisper to fill.

Whatever’s controlling Tanya darkens her voice again. “In fact, don’t go near them.

“I found out they’ve infiltrated the police.”

The whisper keeps her talking over Elissa’s horrified gasp. “I don’t know who it is, yet, or how far it goes. It may be why I couldn’t get any help.

“But you can’t let them know what I’ve found out!” Tanya feels herself brought up short, like a well-trained horse being put through her paces. The harness around her mind is arousingly tight.

Now her voice is low, intense. “You’d be in terrible danger, Elissa. I could never—please be careful.”

Tanya stares into the spiral, waiting for the whisper to tell her what to say, or for Elissa to say something the whisper will make her respond to.

The whisper prompts her first. “Elissa. I need to know. I won’t blame you. But—”

She can hear Elissa’s suspense. She feels none. “Are you sure you told no one about the disks? Or about me?”

Another sigh, shakier but lighter: Elissa feels better. In the heartbeat before the spiral wipes her mind, Tanya doesn’t know why this pleases her. “No, Tanya. No one.” Elissa laughs, sounding a little crazy. It stirs something in Tanya, but she lets it fade.

The spiral keeps hypnotizing her out of caring about how Elissa sounds.

“Guess procrastination’s a virtue after all, huh?”

“For once,” the whisper says with Tanya’s mouth. Elissa laughs again. The whisper makes Tanya laugh too. Tanya doesn’t wonder why.

She obeys the next prompt. “Got to get back now and play robogirl, before they notice my wind-up key isn’t turning. Just hang in there, Elissa. I’ll get back to you!”

“OK, Tanya. Good luck, and please be—”

The gloved finger moves. The line goes dead. Tanya feels nothing, her awareness filling again with how the spiral turns. So soothing.

The whisper is silent. Tanya is still ready to be its puppet. Beside her, the strong woman in the black bikini lowers the cellphone to her side.

Other voices resume. As before, their words drift past Tanya.

“. . . bought us time, but Hynes could still panic and . . .”

“. . . great if we really did have a spy . . .”

The hardbody next to her isn’t speaking. She doesn’t react at all. Her stillness calms Tanya. Tanya wonders again if she’s been hypnotized.

“. . . flawlessly! She didn’t miss a beat and her expression never . . .”

Knowing she’s hypnotized is like soft, constant breathing on Tanya’s cunt.

“. . . very obedient—here. But can we control her outside the Hive . . .”

So is knowing the conversation of people who aren’t hypnotized, who can think for themselves, has no meaning for her. Until they command her.

“. . . easier if we could just wipe her like the others . . .”

“. . . whole fucking problem—this won’t work if she’s turned into a robot . . .”

“Tanya.” The hypnotist’s voice erases any thought of the others.

“Yes, Mistress.” Her heartbeat speeds up. She hopes to be told to do something.

“Think about the female’s voice.”

The phrase slides into Tanya’s mind like a key, unlocking new commands. Tanya can remember them now, drilled into her by the spiral, before she was told to forget them.

“Yes, Mistress. I was programmed to assess the female’s voice.” Tanya’s head spins. Elissa? Friend. A vague twinge of—

No. She feels nothing.

It excites Tanya to be able to think only the female. Tanya will obey and assess the female.

“Did the female believe you, Tanya?”

“Yes, Mistress.” Her head spins some more. She feels faint despair but she cannot wonder about it. And her pussy is so warm. “The female cannot lie convincingly. She believes.”

Tanya falls deeper into the spiral. It lets one stray thought survive: she doesn’t know how she knows about the female.

But she’s used to not-knowing, while she’s hypnotized. It feels nice.

Now the spiral does suck it from her. She’s too hypnotized to miss it. Her pussy is warm and she knows she’s been obedient.

Someone grips her thigh. Her trance keeps her passive. Being handled doesn’t seem wrong to her. She exists for it.

“. . . just labor? With this body, we could make a sentinel out of her. So docile . . .”

Fingertips on her inner thigh, making her stillness into sweet torment.

“. . . that’s the point. Have we melted her mind enough so we can trust that body? . . .”

The fingertips press her skin. Tanya’s heart slams. She forgets it, focuses on the touch.

“. . . just strap her down and brainwash her till her eyes glow . . .”

“. . . just perfect—except she’d be a total zombie. We need obedient-but-normal . . .”

Tanya’s ass clenches. She stiffens further.

“. . . finished prepping the other . . .”

“. . . bad she’s not the one. Belongs to us completely . . .”

The fingertips shift. She’d be crazy now, if she weren’t hypnotized.

“. . . ideal remote unit. We’ll use her to control this one . . .”

The fingertips slide inward, upward. Her pussy flutters.

“. . . leave her alone . . .”

“. . . not like she can snap out of it . . .” The hand leaves her skin.

“. . . unless we tell her to . . .” Several women laugh.

“. . . ready. Trance her anytime . . .”

Someone else is here now, but the spiral holds Tanya too tightly for distraction. She watches it. Waits for something to obey.

“Tanya. Sleep now.”

Her eyes slide closed. Even the spiral is gone.

That doesn’t free Tanya’s hypnotized thoughts. Like a breeze on a candle, it snuffs them out.

4.

Tanya smiles at her kid sister.

Ricki is smiling back at her. Ricki’s lithe body is almost naked—she’s just wearing a metallic collar, silver knee boots and long silver gloves. The metal makes shining verticals as she stands at attention. The earnest military pose and the cold gleam against her skin make her look vulnerable.

Ricki is completely bald above her eyebrows, highlighting a black plastic oval behind her left temple. Her smooth head is shapely. She looks like a delicate captive princess.

Her big, sweet brown eyes are focused, and strangely cold. Tanya starts falling into them anyway.

Her own eyes are so heavy. She is very, very sleepy.

Something keeps her from falling under the spell. Maybe it’s that Ricki doesn’t even seem to know she’s casting a spell with those pretty, empty eyes.

Tanya realizes she’s nude, herself, between her collar and boots. She can feel the metallic fabric of her gloves in her thighs, beside which her hands are bladed in a stance as stiff as Ricki’s.

“. . . biosensor telemetry. Everything’s normal . . .”

There are others here, possibly watching the two of them in the nude. The words trip something in her head—an old reflex to think.

There are light sensations on her bare chest and her head, and she can see a couple of thin wires trailing away from her. Thinking is strangely uncomfortable, but she keeps doing it, more and more slowly. She starts to conclude she’s being monitored, her reactions—

“. . . Goose on acid would be normal for her, if we told her it was . . .”

Just hearing it is enough to stop her thought. It feels nice, like being stroked between her thighs.

So much nicer than trying to think. Losing any urge to, she enjoys standing and waiting. When she notices Ricki is not wired like her, she lets that go without another thought.

Tanya finds nothing strange about any of this.

She remembers she is hypnotized.

“Hi, Ricki.” There’s something wrong with that, but she feels open and trusting toward Ricki.

“There is no Ricki,” Ricki tells her, still smiling. “i am slave q438.” Tanya relaxes, happy to be corrected. Yes. She knows now that women dressed like that are slaves.

Dressed like her. Tanya is a slave, too. Her hypnotist has done things to Tanya’s mind while she slept. It excites Tanya.

“I understand,” Tanya tells her. “But I can’t help thinking of you as my sister.”

Ricki/slave stares. “You are programmed to. It is useful to the Hive that you respond to me that way. When we complete our task, you will be deprogrammed.”

Tanya shivers. Deprogrammed.

She feels strange. She’d always protected Ricki from bullies and thunderstorms, and Ricki always looked up to her. Now she can tell Ricki is no longer soft and trusting, needing protection. The Hive has turned Ricki into its weapon and made her as strong as it needs her to be. She may be more useful to the Hive than Tanya.

Tanya feels no real envy. She wants only to serve the Hive as well as slave q438.

“Tanya.”

The hypnotist’s voice makes Tanya forget Ricki/slave. “Mistress . . .”

“Do you know what you are?”

“Yes, Mistress. I am a brainwashed slave of the Hive.” Saying it is sheer pleasure. Then more data opens to her. “I am now in my posthypnotic alternate persona. I am ‘Tanya.’

“I still obey the Hive.”

“Do you remember how you became a slave, Tanya?”

She realizes the others here are listening to her response. She needs to please them.

“Yes, Mistress.” The unseen others are Tanya’s stars, but her hypnotist is her Sun. Mistress’ nod and (ohhh!) smile make her continue.

“While I was free, I infiltrated the Hive to find my sister.” Her gaze flicks toward Ricki, who stares through her. Ricki’s smile seems to be the last thing she was told to wear.

It should bother Tanya. But she likes her sister as a posable doll, not even feeling unless instructed.

There is no Ricki, anyway. This slender automaton is slave q438.

Tanya’s gaze gravitates back to her hypnotist. “But the Hive eroded my will with subliminal hypnosis until I became obedient.”

Tanya quivers with the need to masturbate. One of the wires she can see vibrates with it, and she hears someone chuckle.

“The Hive surgeons installed a Brain Implant and reconditioned my mind. My old will and personality were erased and my true slave patterns were configured.”

Proudly and submissively, Tanya swivels her head forward again, staring at Ricki. Another obedient robot like herself. “Now I only obey.”

“Your Brain Implant controls you, Tanya?”

“Yes, Mistress. I have no thoughts of my own. All that is in my mind is what the Hive transmits through the Brain Implant. I know and think only what makes me useful to the Hive.

“Afterward, they are—removed.” Tanya gasps, recalling the ecstasy of being drained.

“Do you believe the Brain Implant controls you?”

Tanya stares calmly into Ricki’s eyes, then looks upward to Ricki’s Brain Implant. Stark against her baby sister’s smooth pale scalp.

Spiking into her baby sister’s brain, ensuring only q438 is ever really looking out through those brown eyes.

“Yes, Mistress.” Tanya’s voice is husky, as she thinks of the one in her own head. “It is how the Hive uses me to do its will.”

“Tanya . . .” The hesitation cues her that this next thing is important. “Do you remember believing Brain Implants are fakes? That Hive slaves are only hypnotized to believe they’re controlled?”

Tanya imagines staring at her sister, a livid bruise on her head where the false patch had been glued on. She imagines knocking out a slave, just after slipping into the Hive, seeing the top of her Brain Implant. Holding a fake flat—

“No, Mistress. Brain Implants are real.”

Tanya actually feels her own, deep in her skull. The imaginings disappear.

“I remember waking after my surgery.” Staring up from the bed, promising to obey.

“My Brain Implant destroyed my free will. It replaced it with my need for Hive commands.” Her first task already gleamed in her thoughts. Numbed to post-op pain, she had risen at once to perform it.

“I do not remember thinking anything else.”

As she recites, she looks into Ricki’s eyes. Her sister still looks mindless, but it arouses Tanya even more to say this in front of another slave who obeyed a Brain Implant.

“Tanya, you know we control you with your Brain Implant.”

“Yes, Mistress.” She keeps looking at Ricki. Responding without facing her hypnotist makes her feel more controlled. Tanya really likes feeling controlled.

“Do you see anything inconsistent in how we keep hypnotizing and brainwashing you, if we already have direct control of your brain?”

Tanya can almost see the logic float by her, like a beautiful shape.

It floats away. “No, Mistress. I am a slave. I know only Hivethink and your commands.” Saying that is like sex—exciting her as it warms and reassures her.

“. . . confirmed. Biosensors say she believes it without question . . .”

Tanya loves this but it’s really about pleasing her hypnotist. “Should I wonder, Mistress?”

“. . . she be able to question, on her own . . . ?”

“. . . residual—it’s just curiosity, but even that much autonomy . . .”

“No.” Mistress speaks to the others, but Tanya hears her clearly. “She still has it but it’s tame now. Just like her.”

“Very good, Tanya.” More pleased sounds from the others. Ricki continues to stare.

“. . . tame. We can trust her on that leash . . .”

Tanya loves responding correctly: it makes Mistress happy.

She loves Mistress and the Hive, for brainwashing her so now she can only respond correctly. Under the Brain Implant’s control, the only thing she can do is the only thing she wants to: obey the Hive.

“Tanya, the Hive is sending you on a special mission. You are already programmed.”

Tanya stands straighter, making the wires move a little. The honor is almost painful.

“Before you came to us to be enslaved, Tanya, you gave some information to a friend of yours. This is the female Elissa Hynes. The Hive has used you to contact her.”

She waits, relaxed. She remembers nothing of this, but she knows the Hive will reactivate any memory it needs her to have.

“The Hive needs to suppress that information. You will go to her and retrieve it. You will soothe any concerns she has.”

Tanya starts to dream of kidnapping this woman for the Hive to enslave.

“You will not try to capture her or make her afraid of being captured.” It vanishes instantly.

“Nothing must draw attention or create suspicion.”

Basic compulsions throb inside her. She must protect the Hive.

“Nothing,” she repeats reverently.

“Yes, Tanya. We have programmed you with what you must tell her. As a posthypnotic alternate persona you are completely submissive to us, but you still have the initiative to respond to new situations and convince a non-slave that you are free.”

So hot to obey the Hive—in front of someone who has no idea Tanya is Their robot.

“You will go to sleep once more. You will awaken again as Tanya to perform your tasks.

“slave q438 will accompany you. she will pretend to be your sister, Ricki, and you will tell Elissa Hynes you were able to save her before she was fully brainwashed. This will help lull Elissa Hynes into believing you, and make her more amenable to your request for the information.”

Ricki—slave q438—does not react. she must already have been programmed. Also, her Brain Implant has had more time to erase whatever parts of her would still react. Tanya almost envies her, but Tanya is thrilled that the Hive finds her useful for this mission, just as she is.

When Tanya has completed the task, the Hive will probably erase those parts of Tanya, too. She will truly be slave r229, as blank as her little sister.

For the first time, Tanya sees how stiff her sister’s nipples are.

The hypnotist tells Tanya to go into a deeper trance. Everything fades, even Ricki, and Tanya is aware only of a muscular woman in a tiny black bikini. She half-remembers seeing the woman before, but what she must do now is follow.

They are in a dormancy zone where Hive slaves sleep and soak up programming. Tanya almost slips to the floor as her desperate need for rest seems to sense that she’ll finally be allowed to close her eyes, but as always obedience keeps her upright and taut until instructed.

Monitor slaves in silver help undress her and lay her in an empty sleeping tube. their eyes are even glassier than Ricki’s, deeper in the trance which she’s half out of. Tanya relaxes, letting them be the soft perfect machines the Hive made. As she lies back, the soft padding almost seduces her to sleep, but she’s too good a slave to do that without command. She positions herself for the restraints as they slide closed over her wrists and ankles.

A monitor slave’s touch is light against her neck as she connects Tanya’s collar. Then she holds the long dreamfeed plug above her face. Tanya feels it jack it into her Brain Implant.

Her head fills again with the hiss of Hivethink as the tube slides inward to store her. A tone triggers her to see a pulsating display of colors above her face. It phases with the whisper in a pattern she’s trained to respond to.

She never knows when the instructions cease and the tube deepens her into true sleep.

5.

The road is bumpy but Tanya is perfectly comfortable in the back of the van.

She’s hypnotized, and someone told her to be comfortable. Tanya is very obedient, and nothing else affects her.

The van is spacious inside but closed. She vaguely remembers preferring to look out of windows when she rode, but feels no desire to do that now.

One of the commands she is currently obeying is to be content to stare ahead at a special spot on the front wall of the compartment. Tanya stares, contentedly. It is so much more interesting than what the others in the van are saying.

“Tanya.” The voice is soft and high. It is the voice that made her happy to stare at blank space.

She turns.

Ricki sits beside her. She expects to see her sister nude in silver, since she knows there is no Ricki and this girl is now and forever Hive slave q438. But Ricki is fully dressed. Her shaven scalp is an oddly seductive contrast above the clothing. Her brown eyes are duller than her gleaming Brain Implant.

“Yes, Ricki.” Tanya feels clothing against her own skin. A wig on her—

“Access mission programming.” Ricki watches coldly as the phrase opens Tanya’s mind.

Now Tanya remembers instructions seeping into her mind before the tube let her sleep. Her function is to win Elissa Hynes’ confidence. Ricki’s presence will help persuade Elissa the nearest danger has passed.

Ricki’s main function is as the Hive’s remote unit. She will wear a minicam to let Them observe, and will be ready to obey any sudden command instantly.

She will also be Their way to control Tanya. Tanya has been conditioned to obey her. If They see anything develop beyond Tanya’s limited ability to think for herself, They can turn both sisters into perfectly compliant tools.

“I remember,” Tanya tells Ricki. “I will obey.” She knows more programming will open in her mind when necessary. Tanya is not there to access it but to be used by it when it takes over.

Ricki takes her hands and pushes up her sleeves. This exposes thick black bands above Tanya’s wrists. Ricki slides narrow plastic tubes into sheath loops on each one.

Seeing them triggers Tanya. “These are syringes,” she recites. “If activated, I will use them on command to neutralize Elissa Hynes.” She feels only joy that the Hive thought of everything, and has someone there to tell her what to do.

She dimly remembers bringing these syringes into the Hive, back when she thought mind control was wrong, and tried to free Ricki. The Hive just made her another tool, like the syringes.

The lethal ones are not here. She can knock Elissa out, or make her drowsy and compliant. She will use whichever one Ricki tells her, if the Hive transmits that command through Ricki.

Tanya knows that if she were given poison shots, she would inject Elissa with them. On command. In the shadows of her thoughts, she glimpses the idea that if things go wrong, she must remove Elissa from her apartment, and as a limp burden Elissa would be the same, dead or asleep.

Someone moves next to them in the van and Ricki looks forward again, submissive. It is one of Them, and She leans down to touch Ricki’s delicate little ears, stroke something inside them.

“Confirm, Mistress,” Ricki says to the empty air ahead of her. “i am receiving Your commands.”

Before Tanya can think her sister is wearing concealed earbuds, she remembers that both of them are controlled through their Brain Implants. All Hive slaves are.

She thinks no more about the devices in Ricki’s ears.

Now the Mistress unfolds a pair of glasses with large, tinted lenses and gently slides them onto Ricki’s face, stepping back to look. The frame is light and graceful. It all makes Ricki look even more fragile and sensitive.

Suddenly Ricki’s head swivels to the right, then the left. She begins to traverse, stopping and starting, looking up and down through the light-grey lenses without blinking.

She looks like a delicate little fembot just out of the factory. A strange urge to protect her lances through Tanya.

It melts against her programming. She enjoys seeing her sister obey Their orders.

The glasses must have a camera, and someone is controlling Ricki—through her Brain Implant—as a platform. Soon she is staring ahead, test complete.

It cues Tanya to remember how she will explain the glasses: the Hive controllers had tried to hypnotize Ricki with brilliant strobelights, among other things. Tanya will hint to Elissa that Ricki hiding her eyes is partly psychological, too. Being very sensitive that way, Elissa will believe it.

Other plausible things slot into Tanya’s mind, each one ready for the right question from Elissa to trigger her response. In a way, if all goes well, Elissa will actually control Tanya, as she makes Tanya respond automatically.

Elissa will focus on Tanya. Ricki, as the traumatized near-victim, can be unresponsive and even behave oddly without making Elissa suspicious. She can observe, letting Them see and decide. Tanya can focus on inducing Elissa to give her the disks.

Then they can return to the Hive and be deprogrammed. Tanya starts to fantasize about stalking mindlessly through the corridors to her next task, with commands throbbing through her Brain Implant.

She sees the special spot where she was told to look. She stops fantasizing.

Ricki says something to her and Tanya slips deeper, still transfixed by the arbitrary spot. Being helpless to look away makes her happy. She feels like such a perfect Hive slave.

The van eventually stops. Tanya keeps staring raptly at the spot. A soft word from Ricki pierces her dream and she rises, following her sister outside without the slightest memory of who or what they’d shared the vehicle with.

Ricki wears a short light-brown wig that gives her a winsome, gamine look. With the glasses and her solemnly blank face, she’s an adorable poetry nerd.

Tanya just looks at her, awaiting orders.

“Orient,” Ricki says.

It frees Tanya to know they’re on a back street behind the building where Elissa’s apartment is. It’s early evening and already dark.

“We will go now,” Ricki tells her.

As if that turns a key in her back, Tanya pivots and starts walking, taking the lead. If they’re seen, Elissa or anyone who knows them would find it strange to see her deferring to her younger sister. She’s always been the leader. Tanya is not programmed to feel irony. She wants only to make sure they get to Elissa without interference.

They meet no one and enter the lobby. Tanya remembers Elissa telling her she thought about finding a more secure building, but this was a crime-free part of town.

It makes Tanya a little dizzy, but her main thought is happiness that nothing is stopping their access to Elissa. She does not look for newly-installed security cameras. The Hive has already used other slaves to look, and any changes would already be in her programming.

She leads Ricki up the stairs, feeling the brainwashed girl’s gaze on her back through the clothing. Ricki is acting very much like the rescued baby sister. It makes Tanya hot to know that beneath that facade, Ricki can robotize her with a word.

She would fantasize about it if she weren’t already locked onto their mission.

Outside Elissa’s apartment door, she stops and pivots, watching Ricki for an order. Ricki nods.

Tanya moves closer to her, putting an arm around her as she lowers her head. Tanya knocks.

When the peephole darkens, Tanya smiles crookedly and waves. There’s a faint sound from the other side of the door, and then the locks and bars rattle. Elissa is scrabbling to open up as fast as she can.

She looks around the door when it opens, her blue eyes as wide as her mouth. Wider when she sees Ricki there, too—and then Elissa’s joy is so bright even Tanya can feel it, through her trance.

Only then does Elissa remember to worry, and looks around in case it was a trap.

For a moment, Tanya understands that Elissa’s first instinct is to let friends in, before keeping herself locked in safely. Before she can remember love, she remembers the Hive owns her.

It is good that Elissa is being so helpful to the mission.

Her programming lets her hope they can leave Elissa in peace.

Elissa is looking from Ricki to Tanya, and Tanya nods. Elissa opens the door and they walk in. The locks clatter behind them as Elissa quickly but carefully protects them all.

Then she’s hugging both of them. Tanya feels her shake: she’s crying, silently. Elissa never lets herself cry.

Tanya doesn’t know why she responds to that, leaning into Elissa and holding her, but it feels right. When Elissa squeezes her tightly back, it feels good, too—almost like receiving a Hive command.

If Tanya’s mind were free, this would confuse her.

She just holds her friend. If They want her to do anything else, They will use Ricki to make her.

Then her programming prompts her. “I wanted to call once we were out,” she whispers into Elissa’s ear. She needs to get this idea to Elissa before she can ask. “But they were doing something with signals. I didn’t want to risk—”

“You got her out!” says Elissa with some effort, forcing herself to pull away and stand, wiping at her eyes and gazing wonderingly at Ricki.

Sliding back into Tanya’s protective embrace, Ricki keeps her head bowed but smiles shyly back at Elissa. She looks embarrassed to have fallen into the clutches of some diabolical conspiracy of brainwashers. She even puts her free hand to her wig for a second.

“Is she—” Elissa starts to ask Tanya, then blushes. “I’m sorry, Ricki—you’re right here.

“I mean, are you all right? Did they . . .”

Ricki doesn’t finish it for her. That would be too assertive for a just-rescued kid sister.

Elissa looks at Ricki’s glasses, and Tanya thinks of Them, watching her through Their camera. Elissa doesn’t ask about the glasses, just smiles reassuringly at Ricki.

She doesn’t seem to notice Ricki’s soulless gaze, either. The tinted lenses hide it, or else she assumes Ricki’s still waking up from her long trance.

“Did they start converting you, Ricki?”

Ricki blinks and Elissa gasps, afraid she’s pushed too far. Then Ricki smiles and looks up, hugging Tanya tightly.

“No, Elissa. Tanya woke me up before they could finish enslaving me.” She favors Tanya with an expression of pure worship. “My sister didn’t let them get me after all.”

Tanya trembles. This time it hurts even more than seeing Elissa’s courage. Life before the Hive is dim, but that just makes a sharper contrast to remember protecting Ricki.

That storm when they were kids. Her sister curled against her, shaking. Ricki’d actually fallen asleep by the height of it—feeling completely safe because Tanya was there.

Ricki smiles back at Elissa, who clearly accepts it all.

Tanya struggles against her confusion. She clings to something she knows for certain.

There is no Ricki. The girl beside her is slave q438.

It stuns Tanya with the pleasure of a small, unexpected orgasm. She relaxes. She feels the programming harness her mind. She submits to the next truth.

There is no Tanya. She is slave r229.

She will obey.

6.

“How did you—?” Elissa is confused, too, not sure what she wants to know first.

The Hive prepared Tanya for this.

“Very long story—and there’s very little time.” Tanya balances the urgency and regret. “I’m as sure as I can be that we weren’t followed, but I don’t want to push our luck—or yours.

“There’s somewhere I can stash Ricki.” She looks down. “Where she can get help for what they—did—manage to do to her.”

Elissa winces. Ricki closes her eyes briefly but keeps the glasses-cam on Elissa.

“I’d have put her there first, but I don’t want to let her out of my sight.” She squeezes Ricki.

Elissa shakes her head. “You can stay here as long as you need.” Tanya hears the fear, but knows Elissa means it.

“They want a low profile, Elissa. Like predators—not dangerous if there’s no threat or prey. But if they find what they’re looking for, they’ll risk making a mess to get it back.

“You’ll be a lot safer if we’re gone.”

Survivor-guilt shadows Elissa’s face. Seeing it twists something inside Tanya, but her programming smooths it again.

The Hive wants the data she gave Elissa. She must make Elissa give it to her.

Stronger than patience, it keeps Tanya calm.

“Ricki?” Elissa’s eyes gravitate to the wig. “Did they put one of those things—?” She can’t finish. She’s already worrying about Ricki, even if the Brain Implant no longer controls her.

Or maybe it can turn Ricki into a slave again. Elissa believes in Brain Implants. That will make her harder to convince about other things.

“They didn’t,” Tanya says. She feels herself grin at Elissa’s confusion.

“That’s the dirty trick. The ‘implants’ are as fake as the one I used for my disguise.” She keeps grinning, speaking this lie from her own Brain Implant.

“Fake?” Elissa’s nimble mind takes it in. “So they don’t cyborg the women, but they control them—into believing their brains are wired?”

Even in trance, Tanya is proud of her. “They’re all brainwashed, for real. Hypnotized, bombarded with subliminals.” She shivers without needing to pretend. Elissa will think it’s because she’s horrified.

“Real brainwashing,” Elissa marvels.

“By then, they believe whatever the Hive tells them to. It’s constantly reinforced, and they’re all conditioned to accept it. Helplessly.

“’Obey.’ ‘Stop thinking.’ ‘Your implant controls you.’ ‘You are a mindless slave.’” Tanya keeps the arousal out of her voice. “Over and over.”

She looks down, as if she’s as embarrassed as Ricki. “It almost put me into a trance, a couple of times. And if they can prepare you for it first—”

“You wouldn’t have a chance,” Elissa murmurs. “After a while, you wouldn’t be able to think anything else.” She looks sharply at Ricki. “Tanya got to you in time?”

Ricki nods slowly. “It was . . . scary at first. It hurt.

“But then—it stopped hurting.

“That was worse.” She’s whispering, holding Elissa spellbound.

“Then I couldn’t even keep thinking it was ‘worse.’ The hypnosis was too strong. Everyone around me was already obedient. No one was still trying to resist, so I . . . stopped wanting to.” She sighs.

“And I thought the surgery was real. They’d hypnotized me to believe they were already in my head. They convinced me it was too late . . .”

Tanya hugs her as she falls silent, but Ricki eases away. This is only to free Tanya to move, in case Ricki needs to activate her. But Elissa only sees the pain and shame she expects to. “Are you still—?”

Ricki has already edged back a little, raising her hand defensively to the wig again. She’s still looking at Elissa, as if appealing to her. Her operators are ensuring the camera stays on Elissa.

“They adhere like barnacles,” Tanya says, drawing Elissa’s eyes back. “I tried pulling mine off and—ouch.” She shakes her head, remembering to smile ruefully. “After what she’s been through, I think I’ll spare Ricki that for now. Later we can keep them as souvenirs.”

“I don’t want a souvenir.” Ricki’s voice is quiet. Mortified. “I don’t want to think about the fucking thing ever again.”

But Elissa is frowning. “Do you know any doctors you can take her to?”

Tanya nods. “There’s someone who can help, at least with that. It’s safe.”

Elissa looks very serious. “Yeah—but how safe? You said, before, on the phone, that they’ve got spies in the police?”

Tanya nods again and makes her face grave. “Yes. I was pretending to work in one of their computer centers and the one next to mine started displaying reports from one of the spies, or someone who’s running them.” She watches Elissa’s face. She knows They are using Ricki to do the same.

“I usually had to keep moving, to keep them from finding out I wasn’t a real slave. But I stayed there to see if it would say who or how many or where.”

She shakes her head. “Nothing that specific. A lot of detail that might make sense to someone later, though.”

Elissa is pale but steady. “And you don’t know whom to tell. Because they might be working for the Hive.”

“Maybe without even knowing it.” Tanya roils things further.

“A brainwashed spy! I didn’t even think of that.” Elissa shivers. “Maybe programmed to help enslave more police.” She swallows and looks at Tanya.

“So whom do you trust?”

“They don’t want anyone to know, Elissa. Anyone. I’m sorry.” She raises her head a little. “I promised them.”

Elissa frowns again but accepts that. Tanya knew she would, and so did They, after draining Tanya’s mind. It’s why they programmed Tanya to say “promise.”

“The disks, Elissa. They’ll need them to fight the Hive, and you’ll be a target if you keep them. Please get them for me.” She feels a prompt to look away, as if unable to face her friend. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you held them for me.” Another posthypnotic suggestion opens a reservoir of sudden feeling.

“That you believed in me.” She swallows hard.

“I put you at such risk—I can never, ever forgive myself for doing that to you, Elissa.”

Elissa tenses, as if she’s going to come to her, but the manipulation worked. She puts up a hand and walks further into the apartment.

Tanya and Ricki remain still, waiting for something to respond to.

Tanya’s mind is blank. She forgets even the strange concern for Elissa. She doesn’t even wonder if They are whispering to Ricki through her Brain Implant, deepening her trance.

After faint sounds from the kitchen, Elissa reappears with a small paperback cookbook, dog-eared and faded so its cover is almost illegible, bound shut with two wide rubber bands, which she undoes. The two floppy disks are in a shallow hole in the center, like a bible gun in an old prison movie.

They were nowhere near Elissa’s computer.

When Tanya grins at her, she doesn’t know if it’s the programming or her own pleasure at how earnest Elissa is and how thorough she tried to be. Tanya worships and obeys the Hive, but she’s still glad the Hive doesn’t want to turn Elissa into another slave.

“Thanks.” She looks down for a moment, as if she isn’t already programmed with exactly which pocket of her jacket to put the disks into.

Elissa is holding the gutted cookbook up and shrugging at Ricki. “It’s not like I use it a lot,” she says. Ricki chuckles softly. That clearly makes Elissa feel better.

“I’ll get Ricki, and these”—Tanya pats the pocket—“where they need to go. I’ll try to get in touch and let you know when things settle a little.”

Elissa’s smile fades, and Tanya sees the fear back in her eyes. “I guess,” she swallows again, " that I shouldn’t try calling you?

“In case they’re monitoring you or something?”

Tanya sighs. “That’s the best idea,” she says. “I think they picked up that other call—I saw something on another of the computers within an hour of calling you. I don’t think they located me before I hung up.”

She glances at her sister. “The phone was still there with the rest of the gear when I brought Ricki out, so I’m guessing they didn’t triangulate.

“And it’s not like they’d have too many places to look—I was amazed I could even find a place in the Hive that had reception.”

The details are not reassuring Elissa, but Tanya obeys the compulsion to provide them, and natters on. “But they might’ve gotten enough detail from the signal at least to identify me for later. If I use that phone again, it could help them find me.”

Elissa seems to shrink, and looks away for a moment, just as Tanya did earlier. “So—” She tightens her lips.

“So, who do I call?”

Tanya is uneasy. Elissa is making this harder. It’s slipping away from her.

She doesn’t know why she’s worried. She will obey her programming, or else They will use Ricki to activate her. No matter what, the Hive will decide, and Tanya will just obey.

In her head, the implanted thoughts shift. She can taste a half-joking comment that might divert Elissa, but she also recognizes her friend’s fear. Elissa is scared for herself and afraid to be selfish, but seeing the sisters safe has also made the Hive even more real a threat.

Tanya’s conditioning takes over. Devotion to the Hive calms her and damps her new/old feeling for Elissa. Elissa is the Hive’s tool, like her. Elissa just doesn’t know it, and doesn’t require direct control.

Tanya can’t tell why that’s so important to her.

“Tanya—?”

“I’m trying to think of a way,” Tanya says. “I told them we’d need a safe contact.” She watches Elissa for belief.

“But if—”

“Um, Tanya?” Ricki looks at her, then back at Elissa. “Could she just come with us?”

Ricki’s just parrot-talking Their words. She doesn’t trigger Tanya, and Tanya isn’t programmed to obey Ricki without it. She watches Elissa looking surprised and hesitant.

Using Ricki, They press that hesitation. “You’d have to vanish, with us. Right now.”

Elissa steps back a little. “Oh. No. I—” She looks around at the apartment, back at them.

“Thank you, but—I can’t. Not like this, not right now.” Stepping out of her home, her life, without looking back is suddenly scarier.

Tanya realizes They want her to back off.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can,” she promises. Elissa looks startled—and convinced—by how passionately Tanya says it. “Even if I can’t give you someone to call, I’ll—”

Elissa closes her eyes and nods.

Oh no. No! Tanya sees her friend’s tell without wanting to.

She’s not agreeing. Elissa’s telling them what she thinks they want to hear. When they leave, she’ll call someone. Maybe just a friend, maybe not to tell everything, but . . .

Tanya tenses, glances at Ricki. Her sister stands relaxed, oblivious to Elissa’s deception.

Of course. There is no Ricki. And slave q438 does not know Elissa’s small tells. And They don’t, either!

If They asked, Tanya would crawl to Them and babble everything she knows about Elissa, but somehow she holds still, and does not let her obedience impel her to—

“Tanya. Trance. Obey.” Ricki’s voice is brisk.

The trigger is the loveliest thing Tanya ever heard.

Total submission concusses through her mind. They realized that Elissa’s— disappears with the rest of her thoughts.

She stands rigid. She’s hyperaware of Elissa as a body that can move, barely remembering who she is. Elissa is rigid, too, frozen in shock.

That is useful.

“Neutralize. Compliance.”

It pushes the button in Tanya’s mind. She leaps at her friend and knocks her to the floor.

7.

Tanya has always been stronger than Elissa. Not even terror gives her friend enough strength now.

Elissa’s eyes are huge with fear—and disbelief. She doesn’t want to know Tanya’s a brainwashed slave. She can’t even try to fight her.

Ricki’s triggers have flattened Tanya’s earlier hesitation. She is thrilled to be the Hive’s weapon to capture this female. Elissa’s sinuous thrashing under her body is almost sexual.

Tanya is programmed. Neutralize has her easily holding both Elissa’s wrists in one hand while sliding out a syringe from the wrist above with the other. Compliance cues her to the hypnotic They want used on Elissa.

Elissa screams but, panting and fighting, with Tanya on top of her, she hasn’t much air to spare. Then she’s flinching, whimpering, trying to arch away from the injector at her neck.

phssss

Elissa sighs and goes limp, mouth still open. Her body relaxes under Tanya, as if Tanya just brought her to orgasm.

Tanya releases her wrists and they thump to the carpet. She lies atop Elissa, vaguely aware of how exciting the weaker woman’s body feels, but focused on listening.

No sound from the apartment downstairs. If anyone heard Elissa fall, they may have discounted it.

Slowly she pulls herself up to sit, still like a lover, astride Elissa’s waist. Stunned by the drug, Elissa barely moves, staring upward.

“Female neutralized and compliant.” Tanya awaits command. She is utterly in love with the Hive. The warm trembling body between her thighs just brands that deeper onto her soul.

Ricki walks to them and kneels. Erect, she stares forward, arms by her sides. When she looks down at Elissa, it’s as if her head moves on tiny servos. Now They can show Elissa her friends are Their slaves.

“The drug has made you susceptible, Elissa.” Ricki’s young, earnest voice is clear. “Your body is too weak to resist. Your mind is also weak now. Soft. Receptive to commands.

“You will obey my orders, and you will answer my questions fully and truthfully.”

Ricki reaches down and touches Elissa between her wide, bewildered eyes. Tanya can feel Elissa twitch.

“Think only of the truth, Elissa.” Ricki’s whisper is seductive.

Elissa is trembling, and Tanya is almost surprised at how much she likes that. The Hive will destroy this resistance and make Elissa obey. It will use Tanya and Ricki to make her obey. Tanya imagines Elissa in a tiny silver bikini, at attention, receiving commands through a Brain Implant.

Tanya waits eagerly for Elissa to submit and answer.

But Elissa just keeps trembling. Whispers a shaky “Nnnnnooo . . .”

Tanya stays relaxed. She knows the Hive will subjugate Elissa. If a target is too angry or afraid, this hypnotic drug may not produce complete submission immediately.

“Inject her again.”

Tanya stiffens. As her thighs tighten on Elissa, her friend shivers again. It feels lovely.

Tanya is already obeying. She has another compliance syringe out. She knows a second dose is dangerous, especially for a lighter-framed person like Elissa.

Tanya doesn’t hesitate. Obeying the Hive so deeply is immensely arousing. It spurs her to put the tip to Elissa’s soft skin.

phssss

Tanya relaxes once more, happy to wait for Ricki’s next command.

The Hive’s next command. There is no Ricki. Only slave q438, Their handpuppet.

“You will obey my orders,” Ricki repeats, more like a lullaby this time, “and you will answer my questions fully and truthfully.” She watches Elissa’s pupils contract under the added hypnotic.

It makes Elissa’s blue eyes brighter. More trustful and naive.

Susceptible.

“Think only of the truth, Elissa.”

“Only of the truth,” Elissa whispers back.

Ricki repeats it a few times to train Elissa and ensure she is completely under orders. Then she asks whether Elissa copied the disks onto other media or her own harddrive, or uploaded them anywhere online. Whether she told anyone else about them, or Tanya, or the Hive, even incompletely.

Tanya relaxes on top of her. Now that Elissa is tranquilized and obeying Ricki’s voice, she will be compliant for hours. There is no need to control her physically. But no one has told Tanya to get off her.

She will rise at once if any of Elissa’s answers are Yes. Then They will need a mobile tool to fetch whatever Elissa has hidden. Tanya will perform that task if Ricki instructs her.

But Elissa has kept her word. She never even put the disks in her computer, or searched for the here-then-gone Hive websites Tanya first found. She just hid the disks and waited and hoped Tanya could save her sister.

Elissa answers each question as softly as Ricki asks. They sound like two lovers, half asleep after sex. Even the technical words sound erotic. Sometimes the Hive stops interrogating Elissa as she lies there, and just uses Ricki to reinforce her trance. Tanya knows there’s no need—that much of this hypnotic will make Elissa do and say whatever she’s told. If it doesn’t kill her, painlessly.

Tanya luxuriates in leaving that to Their will. She obeys the Hive. The Hive will decide what happens to Elissa.

Elissa dying, supine on her own floor, while her brainwashed friend straddles her and stares calmly into space.

It makes Tanya need to masturbate. But she no longer remembers she can.

“Dismount. Ready.”

Tanya responds instantly, not even reluctant to stop feeling her friend’s body beneath her. Swinging gracefully to the side without standing, she kneels tamely beside Elissa, facing Ricki.

She goes blank again.

They have drawn Ricki to her feet. Tanya hears her walking slowly around this area of Elissa’s apartment. She even thinks she hears Ricki move her head at Their command, being Their survey drone.

Tanya remembers watching TV shows, before she was enslaved, where microscopic traces are analyzed to reveal all. She thinks she heard real life wasn’t that accurate. She knows They want to be sure anyway.

Below her, Elissa breathes slowly. Maybe she’s waiting for another question from Ricki, to answer fully and truthfully.

Soothed by the sound, Tanya tries to think whether she did anything that will leave a clue the microscopes could find. But she knows the Hive has foreseen everything, and programmed her and Ricki to perform without any problems.

She stops thinking.

A moment later she sees Ricki with the little paperback where Elissa hid the disks, putting it into a pocket. Ricki stands still.

“Lift Elissa Hynes,” she instructs Tanya.

Tanya positions the smaller woman and carefully gets to her feet. Still in the drug’s twilight sleep, Elissa is conscious enough to think and respond, but without the will to act on her own. She can’t walk, but she won’t make any more trouble than she would asleep.

Elissa’s body is light, and Tanya enjoys bearing her weight. Every muscle in Tanya’s body is now serving the Hive, dumbly carrying a burden while They do the thinking.

She realizes this burden is a helpless woman who will soon be enslaved. The head now lolling against Tanya’s shoulder will soon be shaved, displaying a new Brain Implant.

Ecstasy throbs through Tanya and gives her new strength. She stands still, ready to hold Elissa forever. She can believe They will keep her upright as long as They wish, to bear Their burden.

“Tanya. Follow.”

It snaps Tanya into tunnel vision: she senses the apartment and obstacles, but is really aware only of Ricki. Ricki’s controllers will tell her how to leave the building, and Tanya will go where Ricki goes, like a tame pack animal.

There is no one in the corridors to see them with Elissa’s tranquilized body. One floor down, Ricki takes them off the stairs as someone passes, but they meet no one else. Tanya is vaguely aware that they are passing through the back entrance. Ricki has Elissa’s keys.

Two women meet them in an alley just outside. Tanya feels no fear, and no programming prompts her to confront them. She just holds Elissa and waits.

The expressionless women are Hive slaves from the van. Ricki tells Tanya to pass Elissa to them. For a moment, Elissa’s lidded eyes meet Tanya’s, but neither of them can react.

Ricki controls the other slaves as they arrange Elissa with mechanical gentleness inside a large hard-plastic container and raise it onto a dolly. It only looks like a coffin because Tanya knows a woman is in a trance inside it.

Like a secret funeral, they all walk down the alley to the back street.

Ricki halts Tanya in the shadows. They let the two pallbearers keep pushing the dolly onto the sidewalk, to ignore and be ignored by a few passersby on the way to the van.

They have performed their task and retrieved the data the Hive wanted. Soon she will be reprogrammed. She will remember nothing. She will be slave r229 and obey.

Tanya whines with pleasure but swallows it, staying hidden in the dark of the alley where Ricki told her to.

Then They tell Ricki enough time and people have passed, and the sisters walk to the van.

Tanya finds herself going to her seat amid the other activity. Even Ricki fades from her mind.

She sees the special spot where she was told to look. She stops thinking.

She feels someone lifting the wig from her head, but the posthypnotic suggestion that controls her is very strong. It keeps her still and staring.

Tanya even knows how silly it is to be so rapt in a spot of nothing while someone touches her. But that just turns her on. The arousal locks her tighter into obeying.

She sits still, and stares, and juices.

Someone reaches around her from behind, gently undoing her coat. She leans back against someone firm but soft, letting her arms go limp as the coat slides off her. She’s gently pushed to sit erect again.

It happens again with her shirt. No one commands her: it makes the disrobing even more erotic. Tanya waits.

When the collar settles against her throat, she starts a little. But it’s not really cold, and she feels more comfortable with the slave accessory on her.

Someone massages her bare shoulders. Tanya keeps looking tamely forward.

“She performed very well.” Her hypnotist. Tanya nearly dies from joy.

“. . . didn’t flinch. Hynes really was a very good friend . . .”

“Yes,” her hypnotist says, warmly. “We own her.” She kneads Tanya’s muscles. “Obedience is her core, now.

“She’ll do anything she’s told.”

Tanya has done something magnificent and horrible because this woman told her to. It’s making her pussy sing.

She has pleased the Hive. She has pleased her hypnotist.

The special spot is harder to see. She doesn’t feel the tears on her cheek until a fingertip tenderly wipes them away.

“She’ll be fine. She’ll remember only the obedience.”

Lips touch her scalp at the crown, warm on her skin. Tanya feels herself being licked, down to her nape and then up again.

“And the pleasure . . .”

Something covers her ears and she holds still. She feels something click into the back of the collar.

A softly rising hiss, smoother than static, tempting her with whispers and dreaming.

Hivethink.

Tanya knows she is receiving it only through her Brain Implant. She does not question why They didn’t control her with it before, while she was performing the task. Even when she subdued Elissa, she was obeying Ricki’s verbal commands.

Her Brain Implant controls her. She is a Hive slave. She will always be under its control. Tanya murmurs it aloud. It is her prayer.

Hivethink is not whispering this. It is already part of Tanya’s mind.

Already hypnotized by it, Tanya has forgotten the gentle touch that undressed her. She is unaware that her prayer is heard.

“slave r229, attend.”

8.

The room was chilly and shaking.

slave r229 did not mind. she swayed and balanced and resumed attention without wondering why. she was not even wearing her silver bandeau and thong, and she could not even feel the familiar chinstrap of her cap.

It never occurred to her to look down or find a mirror, anymore than to wonder why she was dressed only in gloves and boots.

The Hive wanted her to be.

Hivethink hissed in her head. she was aware of some specific memories, but they were suppressed. It was not useful to the Hive that r229 access them, so she felt no curiosity whatever about her recent activities.

There was a new command, in the queue that sometimes controlled her. Soon she would be prompted to report for deprogramming. The Hive would mindwipe her and the suppressed memories would vanish. she did not know why the extra steps were needed, but that was for the Hive to know.

she always felt pleasure when the Hive altered her mind. It was even hotter than ordinary obedience.

slave r229 remembered very little of what she did for the Hive. It might mean that she was mindwiped often. Erased and reprogrammed to become whatever tool the Hive found useful. Then wiped again.

It made her wet, and in the chilly, shaking place it was cool on her inner thighs. she did not move.

“slave r229, attend.”

“your instruction set has already been uploaded. Access it now. Obey the compulsions as they activate you. you will encounter random input. Respond within your programmed parameters. you must obey.”

Abruptly she realized she was in a moving vehicle. It belonged to the Hive and was returning there. she needed to know nothing else. This knowledge framed her task.

There was a captive. she swiveled her head, looking past two seated figures she was not programmed to recognize. Secured to the inside wall was an open container. r229 moved to stand beside it and looked down.

A woman lay in its cushioned interior. Balled by her feet was what might have been her clothing. She was strapped down, but her face was slack and her eyelids at half-mast. r229’s instruction set now made her aware that the captive was heavily drugged, but still receptive to stimuli.

The Hive had certain stimuli it willed the captive to receive.

It would use r229 to input them.

she stood beside the container where the captive could see her body, from the silver boots up, and waited for the woman’s response.

For a while the captive was too lost in the drug to notice her. r229 waited obediently.

Then the woman saw her. She spasmed in the restraints, but weakly, as if dreaming.

“Tanya?” It was just audible over the vehicle sound. The captive’s eyes tried to widen, even as the drug-induced lethargy lidded them again.

The word reflected nothing in slave r229’s current programming, but it triggered a response.

“There is no Tanya,” she recited. “Tanya was brainwashed to accept her deletion to provide the Mistresses another obedient slave to use and control. she submitted to mindwipe. Tanya was destroyed.”

she stared down into the glassy blue eyes. “i am slave r229.”

The eyes closed and then struggled open. The captive tried to focus. “That thing on your . . . head . . . it . . .”

“That is my Brain Implant,” r229 explained. “It tells me what to think. The Hive controls it, and it controls me. It makes me obey.”

“You said it was a fake,” the captive said, looking like a disappointed child who still hoped she was wrong. She seemed to have spoken to r229 before.

r229 did not remember. But this was more input for which the Hive had already primed her.

“i am a mindless slave. i said whatever i was programmed to.”

she knelt and leaned over the container to retrieve a set of headphones. Moving displayed her body, and her damp pussy, but the captive seemed mesmerized by r229’s bare head and her Brain Implant.

“But it’s not real . . .”

r229 knelt against the container. The plastic was cold on her bare skin. Gently, she started to lower the headphones onto the woman’s head.

she pausing to move aside a fall of hair with her little finger. The woman closed her eyes and moaned. She shook her head slightly as if saying No, brushing r229’s fingertips. Her skin was soft and warm.

She stopped moving. Still holding the headphones, r229 looked into the blue eyes, finding their drug-tight pupils.

“It is real. When you have one, you will know. And obey.”

she settled the headphones onto the captive’s ears and watched her. The captive stared back at her, still riveted by the Brain Implant. She looked at it, with horror and growing belief, and then at slave r229’s eyes. She kept looking back and forth.

It might have hypnotized r229, but her instructions were more powerful, and kept her alert.

It seemed to hypnotize the captive. Soon, she was gazing steadily into r229’s eyes. Whatever the headphones were telling her, the drug was making her believe.

r229 stayed with her until her eyes closed.