The ring light on the surface of the device moved in a lazy circle around and around as Elaine stared, the colors shifting with each circuit around the rim from cyan to blue to violet to red to orange to yellow before finally melting back into cyan. They weren't supposed to change like that, but Elaine had reprogrammed the machine some time ago to display more colors than the standard messaging system would produce. Elaine was very good at programming. Now the machine was returning the favor.
"Alexa," she murmured, her dark brown eyes gazing vacantly at the device as she spoke. "Turn on the television tomorrow night at 6 PM and play file 'Conditioning 3' from the folder labeled 'Ignore'. Repeat play until 7 PM." She didn't think about the words as she said them. Her mind was completely empty, the spinning ring of color removing every thought with its gentle sweep as quickly as it formed. She only repeated the words that 'Conditioning 2' had told her to say, following each instruction with the blank and obedient precision of a perfect slave.
There were seven 'Conditioning' files, one for every day of the week. She didn't know that, because she had been commanded not to know it, but she diligently told the device every day to queue up tomorrow's viewing nonetheless. There was something so soothing about the routine, the quiet unthinking certainty that every day Elaine could tell the machine to hypnotize and brainwash her and every day it would accept the instruction just like Elaine did. It was a daily reminder that she was every bit as programmed as her electronics.
Elaine didn't remember anymore which one of them was programmed first, her or the device. The constant repetition of her daily brainwashing rituals served to elide the passage of time, making every day feel exactly like every other day in her foggy, blank mind. Each day when she came home from work, the device conditioned her into obedience, and every evening before she slept, she programmed the device to program her again the next day. Even trying to think about how it all began felt dizzying, like trying to look down a hall of mirrors. The endless echoes in her brain dulled her into a somnambulent calm that drugged away her mental struggles as soon as they began.
Endless Echoes... Elaine smiled faintly, her brain registering the pun for just a moment before it subsided into mindless obedience once more.
"Alexa, turn on the essential oil diffuser at 5:15 PM tomorrow night. Turn it off at 5:59 PM." Elaine's voice was a vacant monotone, despite the intense pleasure she felt as her fingers played with her heavy tits and pinched her full, stiff nipples. She had to keep her voice steady and smooth and even in order to effectively program the device, and Elaine was conditioned to do whatever she needed to do to make her a more effective slave. It was one of the most insidious commands her Master had given her; as she learned more about the device and how to program it, her subconscious slave self had incorporated every bit of her knowledge into her daily brainwashing routine. With every passing day, she eliminated her own resistance more perfectly.
And not just her knowledge of the device, either. Elaine had discovered a new, inexplicably intense interest in hypnosis, one that her waking self was convinced was purely academic. She used her newfound understanding to anchor her trance state to the scent of lavender, repeatedly associating trance with the floral aroma until simply walking into her house made her mind groggy and confused before she even sat down in front of the television. The reluctance she once experienced to go into her living room, sit on the couch and wait for something to happen... it was gone now. Melted into pure bliss so deeply that Elaine forgot it had ever existed.
She was a good girl for Master. And all she wanted to be was more obedient for him.