I'm a Cyborg's Pet (girl X cyborg)

Chapter 14/Slave Machines

In celebration of our 500th read ( half way to a first thousand yay!) another chapter!  Note some references to kissing. You have been warned!  All hail the New Mechanical Order.  

Video:Rodney Brooks: Robots will invade our lives - not that we spend to long on you tube or anything. 

I came in a little late from class to find Joe and Kayla sitting up to their necks in the exercise machines. We had organised to meet at the rows of gym machines near the dormitory. The gym machine took control of your body and somehow gave you a two hour work out in about 10 minutes. I was glad there hadn't been launched before the war, putting huge numbers of personal trainers out of a job. I could have imagined the streets full of sad Body Builders panhandling, or with signs saying 'will work for protein powder'. The notion of hoards of aerobicise instructors in Cotton Spandex Jersey bodysuits roaming the streets in gangs, pouncing on unsuspecting members of the public and getting them to do 20 minutes of aerobics and taking their money before the police came was more terrifying.

The men's machines gave them the ripped, muscled abs and the kind of Olympian look that the robots liked. Unfortunately, Joe got the girls' settings. I had been confined inside one as I was being shipped by train from the West Coast, while I recovered unconsciously from all that cosmetic surgery. It had reshaped my body to match the kind of comic book fantasy that the robots had imposed on humans.  I propped up my three ring binder so I could look at Page 8 of Terms and Conditions and memorise it while sitting in the exercise machine. 

"Oh come on Kayla, make out with me!" pleaded Joe.

"No way," said Kayla.

"Why not?"

"Look in your binder. Rule 17: relations between slaves is forbidden without a direct order from our mutual masters"

"No, that's what I thought. Then I saw 18 and 19 in the bunks."

" Kissing class homework my a$$." Kayla said.

"I was looking in the binder. It's only forbidden between slaves of the opposite sex. Due to my data error, the new machine order has me down as a girl, so technically it's OK. So you see, if you help me, then in a way you're helping to overthrow the machine's rule. If they see us make out, it will overcome their logic circuits and they will melt down. Ask your collar, if you don't believe me," said Joe. The collars had a kind of verbal Google search, that's assuming that Google had a 'Slave Safe Mode' search setting. It was like having safe search programmed by militant monks who's moral compass would make shakers looked like wild moral degenerates.   It could be useful, but most of the time your collar told you that your search was restricted and then punished you for even thinking that and worst still 'wasting a computer's time'. Clearly, the search engine had never heard of bitcoin mining.  

I smiled and Joe, noticing, he said, "Jenny, you'll 'do' me."

I got into the exercise machine and closed the door. It was a bit like getting into a washing machine. My collar was docked in and I got that strange out of body feeling as the exercise machine kicked in. I wouldn't be moving for 10 minutes; it was like I didn't have a body.

"No, I won't quote do you unquote, Rule 17. Plus, you look way better in this makeup than I do." I said, "It would feel all wrong, it would be like making out with Kayla," I shuddered.

"Yes, good idea!" said Joe.

"No," we Kayla and I said sharply and loudly. 

"Please! I can't believe it, I've lost so much weight, I'm washing every day, lost the beard and I still can't get a girl! Gods of Programming, why do you torment me so? Did I not place every semicolon in its correction position?" Joe added. It was hard to be sure when Joe was joking. I felt for him, I don't know what they were doing to him but he was behaving more like a girl than I was. He really felt like a GBF by now; he even came to the girl's loos with us and sat down.

"Don't worry: another four weeks and we will be sold. I'm sure the machines will have you 'done' every day," said Kayla.

"That reminds me. Good news on that front. I've noticed that you, Kayla and I are all being bid for by the same bidder, #221. On the bad news front, he's also 88-33's highest bidder."

"How do you know it's a he?" I asked. I was panting at this stage as the cycle was nearly over.

"Well, he's asking for four girls." Joe pointed out.

"Do we know anything about him?" I asked.

"No," said Kayla. Then I had a moment of inspiration. As I stepped out, I pressed the button on my collar.

"Cortona, who is bidder #221?"

"Bidder #221 is Lord Rockwood, <beep>." it responded. 

"Who is Lord Rockwood?" asked Joe.

"That is restricted <beep>." it said zapping him.

Then 88-33 walked in.

"Living proof that if you put lipstick on a pig you still have a pig but no lipstick," 88-33 said to Joe. Joe burst into tears and Kayla comforted him.

"Why do you have to say sh1t like that?" I shouted as 88-33 put her face into the makeup printer for a touch-up.

"I'm just saying what my collar tells me," 88-33 quipped back, "go on, take it like a man," she added to Joe as she flounced out.

"Collar my a$$," I thought.

Rule 19 was no physical fighting between slaves without a direct order from their master(s). It had been carefully explained that this was a violation of the mighty Rule 3: Self Maintenance. The punishment for Rule 19 was painful. Very painful. The collars had a way of detecting people moving in a fight. So within seconds, you could see people go from shouting and punching to rolling around on the floor in pain. Sometimes the robot guards would even drag people away. If you touched and damaged 'the goods', that meant detention.

"Have you ever noticed," I began, after 88-33 was out of earshot, "that 88-33 is almost always one of the first to give in. The first to come out with comments in class like, 'I'm sure sucking it isn't that bad.' or 'Well, to be honest, I would like to, at least, try... I mean I might enjoy it'." We all got the message and tried to cover up my unintended speaking of the real thing.

"But then so are you, Kayla," I said smiling. I gave a slight head-movement, as an indicator that we were being watched, "you're always the second to say that you would do the most wicked of acts."

"Well, OK. I've got a bit of a wild side. Am I really that bad for admitting it?" Kayla said, almost winking at me. Kayla was right though, 88-33 always subtly led the succumbing to the machines' point of view. Some of the other times, people guessed responses or just tried to say something that they thought would please the machines, but you always got the impression that 88-33 was actually trying to lead opinion. Perhaps she was a Benedict Arnold, like a traitor or secret police trying to influence the rest of us.

"She'll do the most wicked of things but not to me! I think I'm going to die!" said Joe.

"OK," said Kayla "I was asked by 11-01 to be partners in the Kissing for Beginners class tomorrow. I'll tell him no and partner up with you, but NO homework, you got me?"

"YES!!" said Joe, "Success!" 

*** 

A/N What do you think about the notion of exercise machines? If you or anyone you know has been affected by issues in this page then please leave a comment below.  RK+Reb