Grace stopped dead just moments after entering the lab, her feet rooted to the spot with shock. Behind her, she scarcely even registered the closing of the door other than to lean forward a little to make sure her long red hair didn't get caught in the gap. She was too intent on the vast, complex array of electronic equipment in front of her.
"You told me you were dismantling that thing, Russell!" she said indignantly to the man in the lab coat who was in the midst of adjusting the controls. "You asked me to come over and help you take it apart!"
He looked at her mildly, his pale blue eyes only showing the faintest traces of concern. "I did say that, Grace," he replied, finishing his adjustments and stepping out from behind the bank of instruments to head in her direction, "but I'm afraid it was something of a necessary deception. It's time for the next test, and I kind of suspected you wouldn't come if I asked."
"Of course I wouldn't have come!" Grace snapped back. "I don't want to ever get near that thing again, not after...after..." She struggled to remember the exact details of what had happened the last time she was in this lab; but somehow everything seemed vague, like someone had bored a hole in her mind and the memory had fallen into it. She couldn't really remember what the machine had done to her; she couldn't even remember exactly what it was for, even. But something in the back of her mind was warning her about it, and that was enough for Grace. "You did something to me," she hissed out, her green eyes flashing with anger. "I don't know what, but you did."
Russell patted her on the shoulder. "You don't remember, do you?" he said in soothing tones. Grace shook her head, still annoyed with Russell. "I'm not surprised. You suggested that paranoia and memory loss could be a side effect of the initial treatment. That was why you told me to lie to you, if I had to, in order to get you back in here." But only slightly annoyed. It was hard to stay mad at Russell; he had such a winsome, charming face, and a sort of adorable scruffiness to him. His hair always seemed to grow out faster than he could dye it blond, his stubble always seemed to grow a little faster than he could shave it, and his clothes always seemed to wrinkle right after he put them on...the net result was a man who looked like he'd just been through a tumble dryer. It was awfully hard not to find that cute.
Grace frowned, the impact of his words only just now making themselves clear to her. "I suggested?" she said. "No, that doesn't sound right. I wouldn't have said that, I know it. You showed me in here, and you...you..." She blinked, trying to gather her thoughts. She'd been having so much trouble concentrating, lately. She felt like she'd been awake for three days straight. Her mind was constantly sidetracked. Whole trains of thought just dead-ended into a vacant stare, never to be found again. She just felt so muzzy, ever since...since...she couldn't remember. Probably more of the memory loss that was a side effect of the machine.
"And I showed you the design of the machine," Russell prompted her. "And you said it looked fascinating, and asked me to test it out on you. We agreed that I would need to make very sure you came back for the second treatment, because the side effects of the first treatment might make you reluctant to come back and reverse the effects. Doesn't any of this ring a bell, Grace?"
"It...um...kind of," Grace said, suddenly blushing. She actually didn't remember any of it; instead, a surprisingly vivid mental image came to mind of her, stripping out of her lab coat and kneeling on the floor in front of him. She was rubbing and fondling her own tits, flicking the nipples with her thumbs as she begged to be allowed to suck her new master's thick, hard cock. Her pussy was dripping wet, her smile was vacant and dreamy as all her thoughts just vanished into the hole at the bottom of her mind except for blissful obedience, and all she wanted to do was suck and fuck Russell like the slut she knew she was. And then he unzipped his pants and pulled his dick out, and she couldn't help herself. She had to deep-throat it, the need overwhelmed her and she licked and slurped all the way up and down the shaft before plunging her whole mouth onto his hard cock.
As soon as the thought arrived, it was gone again. Grace shivered, caught between embarrassment and arousal. She'd been having these distracting sexual fantasies a lot the last couple of days. Every time she was around another man, or even a woman for that matter, she'd find herself lost in long, vivid fantasies of submitting to them sexually, letting her mind go completely blank and becoming nothing but a human sex toy for their pleasure. Even when she was alone, her pussy throbbed with need, making it difficult to think about anything else sometimes. She'd masturbated quite often, just to take the edge off so that she could try to get something productive done, but it hadn't really helped.
Russell had featured in a lot of those masturbation fantasies, and looking at him now, Grace felt a sudden, irrational fear that he knew it. "I...I should go," she said, acutely aware of the heat between her thighs. "I have work to do." She actually planned to slip off to the restroom and finger her pussy for a few minutes so that she could think straight about what Russell was saying, but he didn't need to hear that.
"Grace, we really do need to get you back into the machine for another treatment," Russell said, gently steering her away from the door and towards the machinery. "You'll understand perfectly once you go through the process again. None of this will worry you anymore, I promise."
Something about the way he said those words just seemed to latch itself into Grace's mind, deep down. She felt so confused, now, and Russell sounded so certain. If only she could think clearly about all this, just for a moment. But her mind was a muddle of vanished memories, lust, and scattered thoughts. It felt like days since she'd been able to think straight, ever since...
She stopped dead, looking at Russell with suspicion in her eyes. "Why don't you try the machine this time?" she said, her voice deceptively mild.
