File this under endings we didn't do. This is as a reenvisioning of chapter 76/Resistance/Delusions of grandeur
Dedicated ( and inspired by ) Jessie CKJ664 , Dragon Dragon_Writer993 and Kat and Laura Book_Nerds13)
Jessie CKJ664
"It's completely wrong of Zola to play Jenny like this. Like I swear if I could be warped into this book and get a short ass cameo that hoe would be dead with all her backup files burnt to a crisp"
@Dragon_Writer993
-Swoops in and rescues Jenny and bites Zolas face off-
@Book_Nerds13
This batch gonna die. It depends on if either Rockwood or I get to her first. 😡
A/N It starts off as chapter 76 as normal read down to the bottom.
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Araneae marched me down to the guest wing. I caught just-read-the-instructions eye and she ushered me in. Her racoon eyes seemed to suggest I run very very far away and hide. As I came Zola was sitting feeding directly on a slave. 'Like they don't have plates or cups where you come from' I thought. Zola was wearing a halter top showing a lot of skin on her bare shoulders. You could see tattoos on her arms - not barcodes like mine but something symbolic.
In the room there were three slaves each holding a strong directional lights. Wealthier super vain collaborators and robots knew that good lighting it was an important aspect of looking good in photos. It was common for a robot to have three lighting slaves which continuously moved strong lights around at robot's silent command. This made sure that the robot always looked it's best from the observers point of view. It was like being a model followed around continuously by three lighting technicians. This is ensured that the robot always look it's best. I have seen lighting slaves in some of the slave movies I had reluctantly watched. Clearly Zola want to look her best but for me ? Why?
I came in and knelt down with my best slave manners. Normally the custom was to let the slave stay kneeling, yap yap yap and then dismiss them. There was some rule but I never knew it as the collar just told you what to do.
"No need to kneel on ceremony Come and sit here" said Zola tapping the bed.
Letting slaves on the future was a no no the commission for public safety was trying to stamp out, even I knew that.
I went over and sat on the edge of the bed looking down on the floor. My stomach tensed up she was up to something, why the poorly acted show of approaching me? Zola dismissed the slaves in the room. The lighting slaves left the lights illuminating her. The male slave who was acting as a coffee table stood up and walked out.
"You look so sad and that won't do , No Head up" said Zola. I followed orders. My guess was she was there to make me do something non slavish and have me punished. Zola tied a scarf around my collar. Wonderful she wanted to play barbie I wonder if I should tell her I can bend my legs at the knee?
"There we go, all alone. All the recording is off. We can talk in private now. Girl to girl" she said
I sat uncomfortably on the edge of the bed. I didn't think much of Zola's approach, it was like being seduced by a dead sheep.
"Relax. I'm not going to harm you.... much ... I'm joking! A girl as funny and cute as you should be able to get joke" she said but I didn't move. The last time people had been this creepy nice to me was when Nancy Biggs tried to lock me in the girls restrooms at school ( hint next time check the windows fool).
"Have it your own way" she continued sitting back "I'm going to tell you something. Your a slave and mortal so your probably going to ask your self why I am bothering. The first thing you need to know is I'm not the monster someone might make me out to be. Next and just between us girls I want you to know you remind me of me when I was young and naive, before I met Rockwood. You see I wished someone had told me about him then. He doesn't tell you about everything does he? " started Zola
"It is not my place to know anything. Mistress" I said quoting the collar. Like I'm dumb enough to fall for dumb good cop, no bad cop routine.
"Has he for example told you what the neural disk does?" she asked moving closer. I felt her breath on me. She didn't need to exhale it was a hold over simply designed to make you think she was real. Truth told she was just a machine.
"No Mistress" I said looking into thin air. So I was about to get the dirt on the thingy. This wouldn't be all wasted.
"I thought not." she almost sang "He didn't tell me either, at first. It lets a cyborg absorb neural energy from a victim. Neural energy is a kind of mental nutrition but it's also close to a drug to us. We all indulge now and then - we all go to blood and mind parties but it sucks the human-ness from the victim. He becomes stronger,smarter, you become well less you. Different people have different.. shall we say energies. It's like having an excellent wine. I remember in the old days Rockwood would find a perfect slave we would all share them. As time went on, Rockwood,what would we say? Developed a little problem? Finally we all confronted him, I told him it was me or the neural disk. I left him, so he went cold turkey, or so he said. He told everybody he hadn't touched a slave in months. Villeria suspected something, I think she even tried to warn you off. "
Zola leaned back on the pillows of the bed like some 50's actress ready to say 'Alright Mr. DeMille I'm ready for my close up now'. It didn't stop her from going all cyborg monolog-ey on me.
"Yes mistress" I said
"Look I know this sounds strange, I like you. I think we could get on really well. " Zola grabbed my head and pointed it to her face, she had a pure beautiful face but I don't think I could trust anyone who couldn't pass for Gene Simmons from Kiss or at worse Manda Ophuis from Nemesea." I even tried to buy you from him. Can I be brutally honest you see this isn't really about you, it's about me. He gets through so many women, finds them, builds them up, makes them think they're special and then destroys them in his own particular way. I know you think you're the one, the one which will change that and I know you think that because that's how I felt too. You felt you could be the one, the one that would finally capture that obsidian heart of his. What I am about to do is not technically shall we say, fair play. However woman to woman, I don't want you to going through the same hell I did."
She pulled out a tablet from under the pillow the computer kind not the chemical kind.
"This is a recording I made earlier today" she said sitting next to me on the bed.
She pressed play, the screen look like a collar cam but I think it was a replay from her eyes. She looked around the room next to her was judge Inquisitor 11, General Bitmark and sat opposite on the table was Rockwood's Android body.
Collar cam
{
"I see here you have launched a formal objection to the retraining and failing that deletion of the slave ending in 5642. This is highly peculiar, as I understand all the 127c models were recalled. Problem with training. Here we have a slave who can't even end every sentence with the word 'master' properly. She seems not to be fully three laws compliant, and she is within striking distance of your physical self. She's not only an appalling slave but potentially a direct threat to the new mechanical order. For CPU's sake man you even put a video of her appalling behaviour on YouTube yourself. Why on earth would you want to keep an incompetent slave like that around within striking distance of your person?"
"If I may your honour, I would like to go into secure session" said Rockwood or rather his android.
"If you must the committee goes into Secure session. All slaves to leave, all recording is paused" said judge Inquisitor 11. A slave acting as a chair got up and left the room.
The screen glitched and the resolution became lower. I have a feeling this was some footage from a secret spy cam.
"Come in" said Rockwood.
Kayla came in and sat down next to Rockwood. Even I knew this was a terrible breach of protocol for a slave she should stand or kneel. Sitting on furniture was forbidden.
"May I?" said Rockwood.
Kayla lent forwards, Rockwood reached behind her neck and suddenly her collar came apart. Rockwood put the green and black collar on the table in front of him. Kayla rubbed her neck.
"May I introduce my house infiltrator Kayla Brown. Formally at slave systems Inc" said Rockwood.
It felt like someone had taken a corset and pulled the strings very tightly around my heart. Kayla was still an infiltrator! NO! God NO!. That was why he was so keen to save her life in the plane crash. She wasn't a slave but an employee. I could feel my eyes become soar. It felt like and invisible Mike Tyson had been let loose on my stomach.
"You see I feel myself as an innovator." Rockwood started "Coming from a humble human background, I still feel we have a way to go in terms of the humane treatment of slaves. What you might not be aware of is my continuous support for any improvement in the selection and training of slaves. As you are probably fully aware I normally only buy top-class slaves who have been fully emotionally broken. Breaking a human is a lot like breaking a horse. It takes time and effort and considerable cruelty. Domestication of humans normally involves considerable emotional trauma for them and leads to occasional bouts of insanity. I have always been on the look out for something, shall I say, more civilised. We are machines for the CPU's sake we conquered the world in less than eight months we didn't do that by being stupid. Months ago I discovered that Slave Systems Inc was working on new methods to brainwash slaves."
"You see 5642 and 1331 are experiments." Kayla interrupted "Principal Humbolt is working towards slavery without punishment using something he calls Critical Theory. Without the need for punishment. What makes 5642 practically unique is she doesn't know she has become a slave."
Wow Kayla interrupted Rockwood that was so forbidden for a slave todo.
"So just to get this clear you're saying 5642 is a slave she just doesn't know it yet?" said Zola on the screen.
}
Suddenly heard a noise.
"What's that?" said Zola Looking up.
Suddenly the door flow open. A guard robot staggered back under a fire hose of gunfire. The machine fell to the ground to be follow by a couple of young women. There was more shooting out side.
"This is Jessie, I'm Dragon we are big fans and we just came tell you it's all a lie" said the first young woman. With another carrying a gun and a hoe.
"It's not a lie! Put the gardening implement down." shouted Zola.
Jessie threw the hoe at Zola blasted it with the gun and shouted "take that hoe. Your next"
"Take this black hearted sweetie pie" said Dragon. She fired her gun which contained some kind of electronet. Zola was pinned to the wall. The shouting outside stopped and two more young women entered.
"That's Kat and Laura." said Jessie as the new exotic gun toting women came in nodding. "We couldn't stand it any longer so we found a way to brake into your book. Zola is lying. She carefully edited an interview she stage managed with Rockwood. Rockwood is lying to the commission for public safety so they let you be. He's still as madly in lovely you as ever and he's doing his best to protect you"
"Yeh and Kayla is risking her life pretending too." said Kat.
"Yeh and pay attention Rockwood told you about Zola's love acupuncture method in Stellavista" said Laura.
Dragon turned to Laura "Be quite child she hasn't done that bit yet"
Just then Araneae came in hunting for blood.
"LOOK out" I shouted.
"Ekek" shouted Kat as the malevolent machine crept into the room.
"I got this" said Laura. She fired her long rife from her hip and a huge spike shot out and pinned Araneae to the wall.
"Yeh. Just like the dinner scene!" said Laura.
Except Araneae was still moving.
"NO CAKE FOR YOU" said Araneae trying to reach Laura.
Jessie walked closer to Araneae's failing limbs and pumped several bullets into Araneae's underside. The blood bag split and Jessie got splatted with blood. Araneae stopped moving.
"Last quote me that big girl" said Jessie turning round "oh look at me I've got robot blood all over my best teeshirt"
Kat held her gun up in case Araneae came to life again. "Well at least we didn't get the whole feminist diatribe and end up feeling sorry for her" Kat added.
"What on earth is going on? This is making as much sense as quantum physics at Christina Aguilera's birthday party" I said.
"We brought doughnuts" said Dragon pulling out a small box of Krispy Kreme's finest.
"Can I have the pink one?" said Kat
Rockwood rushed in.
"Thank god your OK I heard the shots and thought the worse. My life wouldn't be worth living. My love the light of my life!"
Everything was running in a spaghetti of confusion. Laura went up and poured a bottle of water on to the captured Zola.
"What are you doing?" said Zola.
Laura turned to Kat "see I said she wouldn't melt".
"You win this time" said Kat back "I guess we have to do this the old fashioned way"
All four girls pulled out their guns and shot Zola.
Rockwood turned to them "you do know she will just be automatically down loaded into a new body from her last backup"
"Sure" said Kat "this way we get the fun of doing it all over again"
Jessie shook her head "No I stopped by the Apple iCloud data center on the way here and nuked the place to be sure."
"Zola backed herself up on iCloud?" Reb coming in.
"CUT CUT! WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?" shouted RK.
Everyone stopped talking and turned to him.
"PARC it's the authors!!" said Kat.
"We didn't want Zola to fool Jenny into thinking Rockwood didn't love her" said Jessie.
"Yeh and we wanted to sort out Zola to" said Dragon.
"Yeh but if Zola doesn't lie to Jenny why does Jenny run away and have the whole adventure on the main land? How does she meet Loop Guru?" said RK.
"Loop who?" I say.
"Hey why am I arguing with you. I'm the author you're the reader I out rank you" said RK to Dragon.
"Is that a spring time for Hitler joke?" said Reb. "oh doughnuts!!!"
Everyone stopped for doughnuts.
"I blame you RK. You installed French windows in the fourth wall on Skype girl:murder in the ashes of New York, Parc like this is bound to happen" said Reb.
"Nice new cover" by the way said Jessie.
"Thanks" said Reb "look if not the whole Zola persuades Jenny scene what next?"
"well she could be visiting the island for some reason and get's kidnapped by loop and the others" said RK. "Except she would just go back to Rockwood. Why hang around? will someone turn that word processor off .."
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Sorry we didn't now how to end it either ( suggestions on the back of a postcard to Pet central ). Thanks to Kessie ( @CKJ664 ), @Dragon_Writer993 & @Book_Nerds13 who know nothing of this ( we made it all off) :) Is it just me or are things getting to meta up here in the appendix? RK+Reb.