by ROUNAK PURI
"So do you think I look enough like Olivia Wilde in Tron: legacy enough yet?" said Joe.4
"Yes, you rock it" I said.
"Yes, the dressing machine just did it to me. I guess my hair has grown out so it's not weaving in the extensions in any more" he said.
Joe had told Kayla and I the story a while back - he had long hair in hippy poney-tail when he was captured and the machines had put him down as a girl despite the beard. Desperate he had managed to cut chunks off but the machines wouldn't change his 'setting' and just woven/glue in extensions like they would do any short cropped woman. Not only had they removed any 'unsightly' hair they had some way to make sure it wouldn't come back so Joe's beard and my armpits were as naked as the jungle after delivery of Agent Orange.
I told him about the lesson he missed for his visit to the hair machine. Apparently we could be password protected. That meant that if the owner set a password we would be muted about 10 minutes after they stopped 'using' us. The problem was if our owner forgot the password. Young human owners typically set passwords but then have a habit of forgetting them. They taught us about what kinds of passwords to accept. People had habits of setting long complex passwords like alpha nine six zeta seven then forgetting them.3
"The secret" said to Joe "is apparently to make sure they register an email address. Then they can activate the lost password key"1
"So let me get this right. You have an owner standing in front of you. You know it's him, he knows its you. and if they tell you to do something you can ignore them because your password protected. That's crazy?" said Joe.1
"It doesn't matter Joe The pain button doesn't work - only the automatics."1
"That's brilliant I can't wait not to do that" said Joe "but if they don't have an email account and no password your mute for life ?"
"That's about it. Number one reason for cheap slaves on ebay. Basically the only solution is to get a new collar"
"Pricey, plus dangerous".
We passed a new confused girl struggling along in their high heels, a new trainee.3
"Have you noticed how super competitive all the LA slaves are? It's all like 'I lived in Beverly hills and now I'm going to be the best slave in America"
"The term America is now deprecated. Use the term Region 1
"Yes, they should know certain things are only tolerated because they are done badly" I said.
"Huh ?" started joe "like what? Give me one good example. "
"Like advertising. if it was 100% effective we would ban it as brain washing. We only tolerate it because no one is that good at it. Slavery is the same. We should take pride in being slow and inefficient with it. An efficient slave is both unnecessary and a contradiction in terms" I said.
We walked on for a while.
"I know you're worried" I said
"It's about 66" Joe said begin careful not to use her real name in public.2
"She likes you" I said.
"I don't know why. I'm worried we won't end up together. Even if we end up in the same place I might be assigned a different girl friend, she a different boy friend" said Joe."I went to the principle again asking them to change my record"
"What did he say?" I said as lamely as possible, while I smiled.
"They can't change it and get everything fixed before the sale"
"But our owners don't want to sell products that are not broken but are returned, it would loose them money." I said. I also knew that girls got higher bids than boys so it might have been a deliberate fraud. I was being careful both prism and fellow slaves looking for brownie points were listening.+
"If I go with you now I'm likely to be returned. If I stay I can get my error changed and join you later" said Joe.1
"but if you're sold with us he might keep you."1
"I'm worried"Joe said.
"Remember to smile
"We all are. We've never done this before. Any of us" I said through gritted teeth.
Chapter 25/The end of term
20 seconds into the future /Slave systems Inc/Factory 7:: Area formally known as Aspen
Jenny's POV.
We enter the bid hall from the 'end of batch awards'. Principal Humbolt had given out awards to those the trainers and Prism surveillance system had picked had made various achievements including most submissive', 'behaviour most improved' , 'most obedient' ,'best presented' and finally the King and Queen of the end of batch show 'slave most likely to please master(or mistress)'. I naturally didn't want to have anything to do with this whole sell out parade (attendance was mandatory) and was most uncomfortable to discover I was 8th in 'behaviour most improved' category. Unfortunately there was no category for least ground down but experience but I decided if there was, I would have got it. The whole thing was made as unpleasant as a bucket of ice down the back of your neck to discover 88 had been chosen to present the valediction. She just stood there and parroted out everything the collar told her to say. Unfortunately ,it was brilliantly written ( not by her obviously ) and what was worse even brought a tear to my eye. I left for the bid hall wishing I'd kissed more ass which wasn't the mood I was looking for.
We were standing around the bid board it was the last day at the factory. It felt like the end of an era.
"10 minutes" said 1492.15
In 10 minutes we would all be sold. I stood arms around Joe and Kayla. We had our fingers crossed for all being sold together. The bidding that day had begun to move a few hours before. So far Joe and Kayla had all had been bid for by 904. 904 was the human slave owner which Kayla preferred. We all had 904 and Lord Rockwood as watchers. Everyone was looking at their numbers of watchers. With nine minutes to go the bidding start to move. Then 1750 came in. She had got terrible results in her tests, to be honest she came bottom. I liked her personally but she had walked into the robot surrender station looking for cigarettes. I had helped comfort 1750 when she had been in tears over her results. I helped her find her name - which she kept forgetting- on the big board. Within seconds she had huge numbers of bids, about five or six people were bidding over her. There were about ten lurkers - people watching her price but waiting to bid. 1750 quickly rocketed past our prices. Clearly dumb was the new black as Kayla said. I looked around bids where flying in like ticker a tape at a parade.
"Come on 904" Kayla said looking at the bidder for her and Joe.
I was twisted like someone was using my inside for a Rubic's cube. It looked I was being grabbed by the Cyborg. Suddenly I was being bid for by 904, for about 320 bit coins. So I was apparently worth more than a luxury holiday for the family in Europe for month.
"Come on 904" said Kayla.
"Ten seconds to go" shouted 1492
"Five" he said.
"four" we all said. The bid board was going crazy. 1750's biding was furious.
"three" we held our fingers cross.
"Come on 904" I said then suddenly wished I hadn't
Joe suddenly had 201 Rockwood has his highest bidder.
Joe's bid was then upped for 904. He was getting more than almost every boy in the room.
Suddenly I saw my self go to 201 Rockwood.
I felt like my friend was slipping away.
"Bid you fucker" shouted Kayla loudly. People were cheering future owners on.2
"two"
Suddenly both Joe, and I were being out bid by 201 Rockwood.
"Fuck you! BID!" shouted Kayla.
"One"
She was now being bought by Rockwood too.4
"Happy new year" someone shouted. Everyone let up a great cheer. I didn't think this was what being sold to a new master would be like. It felt like a success. It kind of felt good like I was wanted enough for someone to fight over. Kayla seemed to be in tears. She walked off
and Joe began to follow.4
"Leave me alone!" Kayla shouted. Joe held me. He knew that tone of voice.1
"Give her a minute. She needs to calm down" said Joe.
there was a huge buzz about the place like a combined 4D and U2 gig had just ended. Everyone was discussing how much they had been bid for. who was their new owner. Rockwood had paid a huge price for me possibly the highest in the room. What did he want me for ? Target practice. Something more wicked and disturbingly kinky with my flesh? He must have liked that shitty Profile page which Kayla got me to do. We had been forced to take it down after someone had pressed the 'Report this profile' button.
"Joe, Given I had just been captured, unwilling to made to look very sexy and then sold to a sociopath cyborg. Why do I feel happy? This should be the worst day of my life" I said .
"I guess because we are going to be together." said Joe.
"Are you nervous?" I said.
"Well I don't see the Robots and Cyborgs as easy to sass as the teachers. To them, we are property not product. It's going to be harder. I worried about what's going to happen to me when he see's me." said Joe.
"But we'll be able to face it together" I said.
"I don't know about you but I feel wiped, like Miley Cyrus has just rode me into a concrete wall. I'm going to find Kayla and go to bed" said Joe.
"Good idea I'll help you, by the way that analogy was seriously out of date " I said following him. "but 1750 got a good price? did you see?"+
"What I did see was the way Araneae got her to twerk with level 5 pain bolts?"7
*****
Chapter 26/Delivery
Flight to Washington 2.0 over Area 402::formally known as Nebraska
5642's POV.
I was sitting in the Amazon e-slave containment area of the delivery plane feeling like I was about to have christmas at grandpa's house. Which would be true if grandpa's house was balanced over the edge of a large spiky cliff. The wifi was switched off for the flight and this lack of distraction gave me an period of reflection I wasn't sure I liked.
I'd been wheeled unconscious into the processing centre, now I had walked helpfully into the packing department proudly strutting in my high heels. I had sat down and helped them attach me to a restraint system and encase me in shrink wrap up to my neck. The'y had filled the cardboard box I sat in with popcorn based packing beads,threw in a few of accessories and closed the lid, letting my head sit out of the box. Then stapled the lid down.They put some stickers on my box and my collar. I was officially packed. When my restraints had been checked they had deactivated the collar escape interdiction system. For the first time I could rest easy that any electronic malfunction would not mean instant death. That said, I was going to miss the place.
For the past weeks I had been fed the machines' view of things. We were shown how fast they were, how smart they were, how strong they were. I knew the story. We were stupid enough to create something which we knew could take us over, we'd still done it and we got what we had deserved. We'd had our shot and blew it. Evolution doesn't sit still, something better would always comes along eventually, if not robots then something else. Once the Native American's used to run America. Then the settlers had taken over. We might feel sorry for the Native American's, do what we can for them. Did the Native American's seriously have a chance of over throwing the settlers? Would we seriously consider letting them return America to a hunter gatherer economy? No. So why should we even have the arrogance to expect anything different under the machines rule? The Party was over.
We had been told humanity had made 905 species extinct, the European bear, the woolly mammoth, the sabretooth tiger. We might feel sorry for them but in the more or us vs more of them world we hadn't really stinted our selves. So slavery was actually far more than we could legitimately expect. If we really wanted to do something for humanity, domestication was the best option. As slaves we were on the for front of ensuring humanities long term survival. From dinosaurs, to us, to the machines it was all steps on the ladder of progress, we should be happy to take our service rolls as humanity inevitably passed into history. Think of slavery as a consolation prize, something the dinosaurs didn't get. It all seemed so reasonable and logical it was impossible to think of a flaw in it. It just felt right. I was annoyed with my self over it, they had won we had lost, if felt like that was just the way it was supposed to be.
If I did believe that, I reasoned, then I was thinking like an e-slave. Perhaps all this Jenny business was just petty self delusion? The old world was over. Should I just admit I was who I was 5642? 5642, I reasoned could be sad to leave the place of her re-boot. She could be comfortable that her birthday was reset to today, her delivery day. She could be worried she would be accepted by her new master Lord Rockwood and to do everything to command the high price which had been paid for her. 5642 could be comfortable striving to be exactly the right product and try to be constant in every way. 5642 could be comfortable with her friends and not have to worry about what would happened to them if Jenny left them behind while attempting that terrible e-act. I looked at 1066 and 1324, could I have the courage to ask them to call me by my real name 5642? Could I help them adjust to them selves and begin living a life again? Was it time to put Jenny behind me like a bad marriage? My collar had helped me realise that I had gone through all the stages of grief. Denial, anger, negotiation, depression and perhaps was it time finally for acceptance. I was grieving for who I was and what I had but would not be again. Perhaps what I was grieving for was the old me and perhaps if I recognised that I could achieve peace and acceptance of the new?
Or perhaps I told m myself, I was still the selfish, shitty, funny, brat I always was. A robot apocalypse wasn't going to change that, Not today. I'm a stupid human dick. Stupid and human enough to have no reasonable grounds to, but still feel hopeful. I'm sure if the Factory had given me enough time to think things through I might have gone for 5642 but Not today. I'm that kind of a person give me enough time to think and I'm my own worst enemy, but Not today. Unfortunately their obsession with keeping me occupied had backfired. I guess that backfire puts Jenny back on the map. They screwed up, I'm still me. Humanity 1 robots nil and the home team has the advantage. #### them.
Jenny's POV
"So long suckers!" I shouted as the ship took off. We all burst into laughter. 5642 ? 5642 my a$$.
"So no collars to rat us out so we can talk shop"
"Can we swear again?" said Kayla. The collars had got very very strict on the subject of expletives"
"Fuck yea!"
"Bollocks! It's so good to use that word again, what nice round fruity wonderful word!" said Joe.
I never thought I would have a day when my greatest luxury would be a course expletive. It was f***king amazing.
"Look we don't have time I want to talk about ...e..escape" I said. I found myself still stuttering over the last word I guess 50,000 simulated volts will do that to people.
On the one hand I think my plan to lull the binary masters into a false sense of security was working. I was also pleased. I was in the e-slave containment area with both Joe and Kayla so what ever was about to happen at lease I could see it through with some friends. How ever flying into the clutches of him wasn't filling me with a huge amount of pleasure but If I was careful it would be a short acquaintance only.
"Where are we?" I tried to figure out where we were by watching out the window.
"Nebraska I think we are going to the New Mechanical Order capital of Washington 2.0. Did you know It had started as an old google data centre near Broken bow and given its reach to both east and west coasts seemed like the logical position for the robot's capital" Joe did.
"That was seriously the most boring thing I've ever heard." said Kayla.
"They call it Washington 2.0?" I said.
"Or the central Hub" said Joe.
"No better" Kayla said.
The machines had clearly figured out what I hadn't, which is marching 400 miles in h
igh heels back to humanity wasn't going to be simple.
Hours later the plane started move towards a huge city of super towers but no huge ring of suburbia about it.We got closer and began to circle a building it was like a large pyramid. I looked out trying to keep a picture of Lord Rockwood's compound in my head.
I could imagine the realtor now. This recently built 4000 room home is set compound of 14 miles of 3 story wire fence topped with razor-sharp barbed wire. This contemporary building is equipped with all mod cons including e-slave torture chambers, swimming pool and gym. All set inside a massive pyramid shape building about the size of the White house. Add in a few lawns, parks and lakes all patrolled by machine gun carrying drones and you get the charming idea. Looking at the other buildings which lead up the main capital building and you would then think of Rockwood's tastes as slightly megalomanic.
****
Part 2 **Him** : the one I would learn to call master
A/N You know want? it's OK to start here! Let's face it sometimes you just want to cut to the chase. We all do, sometimes.
Part 2 has more plot, much more romance and fewer jokes (sorry). The joke machine has been on the blink lately - it started producing similes like 'dropping faster than dropping a peanut covered dolphin from a hot air balloon'. don't worry we've called the repair man. It should be fixed soon12
Just in case you want to catch up. RK + Reb.
PREVIOUSLY ON I'M A CYBORGS PET5
Hi, my name is Jenny Banks. What do you need to know about me? Well, I'm a 19 year old college girl. I've been captured by robots during a robot apocalypse. Robots and cyborgs now run the worldhelped by a few human collaborators which we call col-labs (boo hiss). I was fairly average, to begin with, but the robots operated on me big time and force me to have this super chic sexy body. Believe me, I wasn't happy about it. Not only that, we (slaves) are forced to walk around in these degradingly tight clothes which are literally made on us by clothes printers for our masters' pleasure. To top it all off the girl slaves have heavy makeup printed on them to make them all look the same.