Service Doll 323
By InescapableTales
* * * * *
"Doctor Singer?"
The Doctor turned around in his chair without getting up. "You must be Jini,"
The younger man nodded. "A pleasure," he said, looking a little lost. "I'm excited to work with you."
The Doctor looked at his half-extended hand as the man glanced around the room. He glanced at the bank of controls and monitors in front of him, not entirely hiding his smirk.
"Just call me Singer. I don't stand on all that ceremony and ritual. That's for my girls. What did the HR idiots tell you we were doing today?"
"Well," said Jini, glancing down at his folder, "I'm here to brief you on the psychological aspects of-"
"The robot perv girl, right?" the doctor said with a cynical smile. "Never needed a shrink to tell me how to do my job before, but they say I have to put up with you for now. Do you like girls?"
"Uh, yes I do. I'm not here to tell you what to do, Doctor."
"No? Why, then?"
"I'm Just here to ensure that programming and mental adjustment are accomplished with-" he paused as the Doctor's brow furrowed, darkening in the glow of the control system. "I'm here to help. You're the boss."
Singer relaxed fractionally.
"You know what they call this program?" he asked, a gleam in his eye.
"Control, Utilization, and Mastery by Sensory Override & Cooperative Kinesthetics, right?"
Singer broke into a lecherous grin. "Eh? I named it myself. It's my research, my protocols. You're the psych student. Tell me what I think about a shrink helping to esnrue these sluts' programming and mental adjustment?'"
"Post-graduate researcher. You want my real assessment?"
Singer nodded with a grunt.
"Something went wrong with one of the last girls. You're worried about what will happen to you if this goes wrong. And you're pissed off because you know you need my help."
Singer scowled. "Bullshit. What did the HR recruiter say about me?"
"Nothing. They were very circumspect. But they had a lot to say about pitfalls, given how new this protocol is supposed to be."
"Idiots, aren't they?" Singer mumbled, drumming his fingers loudly on the edge of the control panel. "Alright. Since I can't get rid of you, you might as well share what you've got while I boot her up."
* * *
Pira was surprised her arms finally moved; the dream had seemed so real, and sleep hadn't left easily. She half remembered something over her face, but it was just a flash. And then the dream, all those hands, everywhere. She'd had such dreams before, where her body couldn't move, and she just had to lie there and be touched, but they'd never been half so real.
How had she gotten to bed anyway? She'd arrived for the seminar at the Women's Holistic Resource Exchange off campus right on time, folded her umbrella, and then.... She could picture the outside of the building, but when she tried to remember anything past the door, she drew a blank. Now, somehow she was at home and the room was dark.
She turned over and reached for a light, then jumped, pulling her hand back. Where she'd expected to find a little rustic wooden side-table, there was a cold, chromed surface with rounded edges. She looked around. The room was getting lighter on its own, the change gradual, but much too fast for dawn.
* * *
"So," said Jini, gingerly leafing through the sheaf of papers, "we've got a 23-year-old female undergrad in literature. Took a couple years off before college and worked odd jobs. Scouted online based on her social media and erotic fantasy content. Recruited after she RSVP'd for a seminar in... looks like some kind of erotic self-hypnosis mixed with new age themes."
"Yeah, yeah," Singer said impatiently. "Middle-class family, moderately religious upbringing. Parents loved sky daddy. I've read the brief. Less bullshit -- what have you got for me?"
Jini crossed his right ankle over his left knee and sat back. "Well, she's independent and intelligent. introverted, with a high sex drive. Appears to be bisexual, but struggles to connect with people and has had few partners. She's active in several online fetish communities, and her fantasies focus around control by a high-tech, malevolent force that transforms her.
"Quite imaginative," he added abstractedly, looking down through the mirrored glass.
"So we're the malevolent whatsit and our tech is sky daddy," Singer said, scornfully. "Now we just put her through her paces like she wants."
Jini looked up. "It's not quite that simple. First of all, there are some ritualistic elements she needs to get in a receptive space -- they're all over her writing."
"Skin her like Skinner. Got it." Singer chuckled, looking over at Jini, who'd started rubbing his temples.
His expression soured.
"What? What did I say?"
"Nothing. Look, she wants a certain kind of, uh, manipulation. Wants to be... I guess 'outsmarted' is the word. Why don't I just show you as we go along."
"Outsmarting some lit undergrad chick from inside her own brain. However shall I face such odds?"
Jini sighed. "Just start me the process."
* * *
Pira watched the strange room come into view. It was shaped like some sort of science fiction silo. There were cylindrical steel walls, topped by a high, dark, domed ceiling, lost in shadow. Diffuse light flowed in from hidden track lighting high up the walls.
She shifted silently and shuddered, angry at herself that she'd only just noticed. There were so many things wrong with the room. The air was odorless and silent -- no upstairs neighbors clomping around, or smells of pot or incense, or her housemate's reheated leftovers. Even the bed was wrong. The mattress didn't creak when she moved, and the posts were way too high. It fit with the sci-fi theme -- some kind of canopy bed made out of thick steel members, rounded at the edges.
She turned, spotting a glow out of the corner of her eye. The side table was a seamless rectangle with curved corners, and the top surface was pulsing with soft light. It formed into words when she looked.
"Welcome. Touch to begin."
She reached out and tapped the surface, sending ripples of light flowing out from the spot.
* * *
"Alright, read off the stats."
"Vitals are good," Jini said. "Blood pressure is a little elevated, but she's taking it pretty well, all things considered."
Singer looked at him. "Sounds like we can push it then, right? Let's introduce her to her robot overlords."
Jini shook his head. "Start her off really slowly. Something relaxing, pleasant."
"You're kidding, right? This girl's horny for this shit to begin with."
"Trust me. I've read all," he cleared his throat, "all about her fantasies."