February 25 2016:
*The True Master*
"What do you mean you found Beth?!" asked Tracy.
I pulled up the schematic on the computer, "I found out where the Company bases its operations in the City. She's apparently being used as the test subject for the newest variant of Doll, her and a dozen other people."
"Test subject!?" said Tracy her voice rising to such a level that I winced.
"If it makes you feel better all of this stuff is experimental!" I said.
Tracy turned to glare at me, Kate leaned over, "Not helping Master."
I nodded and continued, "The building where they are based had their servers slaved to back up to the facility that Jeremy got me access to. I essentially have access to everything but the most secure servers in the building. Those secure servers happen to be the research and they have the source code for the dolls so no joy on finding anything to help me deactivate your chips. It did give me the tracking database though."
Tracy blinked, "Tracking?" she asked.
I nodded, "The older model Dolls, like all of you for example don't have active tracking. You're supposed to ping the Company whenever you're plugged into one of the tablets so they can keep track of you that way. The newer model like Beth have actual GPS tracking."
I pointed at the small red dot representing her location inside the basement of the building she was in, her dot was clustered among a dozen other small red points.
Dr. Song frowned, "could you show us all of the Dolls, not just the new ones?"
I nodded and turned back to my computer, I had seen the raw data for this statistic already and it was not pretty.
It took my computer and the entirety of the server farm I had slaved to my process to sort through and plot the data. The map quickly expanded and flattened out showing the entire world.
A counter appeared at the bottom, and red dots slowly began to appear on the map.
Within moments most of the largely populated sections of the United States were covered, Europe, China, Russia, the Middle East, every continent save Antarctica had at a few. The counter on the bottom of the screen quickly tallied the active trackers, topping out at 22,894.
"They've been at this for a long time, and it's got to be an international effort," I said dejected.
They stared at the display for a long time, looking at all of the different dots representing another woman under the control of a chip. A few men too, the tracking data showed general statistics, although the women were by far the more popular choice.
"This is assuming that no one has done what I have as well, hacked into the dolls to figure out how they work and duplicated the process,"
"You think that's possible Master?" asked Kate speaking up for the first time.
I shrugged, "It's not impossible as I've proven, and this has to be a billion dollar market. You think competing crime syndicates are going to be content to let someone corner the market?" I asked.
Kate slowly shook her head.
"What about Beth? Can you hack her chip or something?" asked Tracy.
I hesitated, "The chips she has, and the programming inside of it are from what I can tell experimental, she's part of the first group they've tried them on, and hell she might have been the first. All of the data on its construction and protocols is stored offline in a non-networked server the data I have only referencing it. The new chip's designed to be in constant interface with a computer, to allow for more immediate and dramatic changes to the subjects programming."
I leaned back and pulled up the analysis of Kate's chip, "And I've only just started to understand how the programming in your chips works. Hers could be based off of it like an incremental upgrade or it could be a completely new framework, I have no idea."
Tracy was now glaring at me, and I sighed, "If I were able to get into it I have no idea what I would be able to do, I'm willing to bet I could hack into it but from there I have no idea what to do." I explained.
She stared at me for a moment looking like she was going to argue, but slowly nodded and backed away from me falling into one of the analysis chairs and put her head in her hands.
I blinked, considering the chairs for a moment as an idea struck me.
"What are we going to do to save her then?" asked Helen.
"I'm not sure, I need to test some things for now to figure out what might work," I hesitated for a moment, "We will be getting her back."
The three of them looked at me for a moment and I glanced over at the clock, it was nearly three in the morning and I was exhausted. I had been up working on getting into the Companies systems until Kate had come down to get me, and then we had woken everyone to tell them what I had found. I had gotten barely any sleep the night before and my head was pounding.
"I need to get some sleep first though," and getting to my feet I slowly made my way up the stairs, my eyes hurt just as much as my head and it felt as if I were walking along the deck of a ship in a pitched storm. The adrenaline surge from finding Beth already wearing away.
I could see that Tracy wanted to argue with me, and for once I was glad that the chip in her head was keeping her complacent.
Collapsing into the large bed I felt Kate lay down next to me, and reaching out I pulled her on top of me. She was dressed in only a thin camisole and I could feel the warmth of her skin through it. On top of me and with my hands on her body I could tell that she was excited, her chip thinking that despite my tiredness I might want her.
For once, their wasn't a dominate thought in my head with her pressed against me. I was tired. I had been going at this nonstop for months since the night Kate had shown up on my doorstep. I was nearing some sort of limit, and near the end of the rope was where people lost concentration and made a mistake.
Reaching around her I pulled Kate up until her head was on my chest, my arms around her shoulders simply holding her to me. I couldn't make a mistake, one slip up and she would be taken from me.
--
--
*The True Slave*
I woke up first, to find that I was still in the Master's embrace his arms around me and the musk of his skin and sweat flooding my senses.
I took in a deep breath, feeling like I was melting away completely in his arms.
"You awake?" asked Tracy.
Turning over slowly so as not to wake the Master I looked at her, "yes."
"Do you think we can get her back?" she asked.
"Why wouldn't we be able too? The Master doesn't give up."
Tracy nodded, "True, but despite that he's not any closer to turning off the chips is he?"
I frowned, "You don't think he will be able to do it?"
"It might not be possible for a single person to do it."
I glanced up at the Master's face, it looked different when he slept the stress that was usually on display gone.
"He will, we've made it this far."
Tracy sighed, "We have, but even after all of this, after we save Beth, after he deactivates the chips our lives aren't going to be the same. We've got the proverbial mark of the devil now. We can't go back to what our lives were, even looking back on it now I can't imagine doing that," she hesitated for a moment.
"Looking back on my life it feels like I was half asleep until the Master saved me. Like I wasn't really living, just going through the motions," said Tracy as she adjusted herself on the bed.
"It's like everything is clearer now, more focused and precise."
"We have implants in our heads. That's bound to do something to the way you see the world, reprograming people is possible, the rich and powerful are more corrupt and powerful than any other time in history, and they control the technology that could destroy the world. If those facts don't change your world view something is wrong with you."
"Do you two have to be talking this early in the morning?" grumbled Helen.
I glanced over at her, and then looked back at the Master and reaching out poked his cheek. He remained dead to the world and I turned back to Helen, "It's not bothering the Master."
"It's bothering me," she groaned and turning back around she collected half of the comforter on the bed and disappeared.
Shaking my head I slowly began to disentangle myself from the Master, in his sleep his arms were more relaxed and after some wriggling I managed to escape.
Standing up and silently stretching I made my way to the bathroom and turning on the shower stepped into the hot stream of water. For several minutes I simply stood in the stream of water luxuriating, my mind wandered to what the Master had discovered yesterday Beth's fate.
The Master would not stop, he would not leave her in the hands of the Company, not unlike how he refused to leave me under the control of the chip. Going up against the Company though was dangerous, and they wouldn't hesitate to kill us.
I opened my eyes as the door to the large shower opened and the Master stepped inside.
His eyes raked over me and demurely I struck a pose, extenuating the curves of my body for him to enjoy.
The Master smiled, "Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"I'm not sure Master, what do I get?" I asked even as he stepped into the water next to me, his body making it very obvious what he was going to do.
The Master reached out and casually flicked my left nipple, sending a shock of sensation through my body.
"What is it you want?" he asked.
"I'm not sure Master," I said as I let my hands drift down to grip a particular part of his anatomy.
He grinned, "I think I know exactly what you're after."
"You sure you don't see anything you want Master?" I asked.
"I see plenty of what I want."