Chapter 9: Analysis

February 19 2016:

The True Slave

I rushed down the hall of the clinic and burst through the doorway into the waiting room. The Master glanced up at the sound of the doors, and seeing the distress on my face, he quickly stood and walked towards me. I felt tears pricking at my eyes and trepidation over what I had to tell him.

"The Doctor saw,"

The Master's eyes hardened and he opened his arms. Running forward I let myself fall into him; I was safe here, nothing could hurt me in his arms except any pain the Master wished me to endure.

The doors opened behind me.

"Can I help you?" asked the Master, addressing the woman.

"My patient left before I could finish examining her," said the doctor.

"She's finished and we would like to leave. I'm sure you understand, doctor," the Master trailed off prompting her.

"Dr. Song. If you leave now I will be forced to file a police report," said Dr. Song.

The Master shifted, and opening one of my eyes I saw him glancing nervously around the room.

"Dr. Song, if we could take this to your office," he said.

She growled something, but with Marcus's arms wrapped tightly around me I couldn't turn around to look at her.

The Master, still holding me, followed the doctor back into the clinic to fix what I had messed up.

February 20 2016:

The True Master

"So you are going to cover this under doctor-patient confidentiality?" I asked, somewhat bemused that the small Korean woman was able to rationalize what she had found on Kate with such a simple concept.

Dr. Song nodded. "It is her business even if, like you claim, she is unable to remember anything. Implanting those things would be illegal but as far as I know there is nothing illegal about having experimental implants" she said.

I nodded in agreement, although I had a feeling that wasn't exactly the spirit of the law. Still I wasn't going to complain.

"You cannot remember anything beforehand correct?" She asked addressing Kate.

Kate nodded. "Nothing since before I met the Master," she said.

Dr. Song frowned like she wasn't particularly fond of that address is seemed, but she didn't say anything. When Kate had come running down the hallway on the verge of tears last night with a doctor slightly shorter than her in tow, I hadn't known what to do.

Dr. Song pointed at Kate's neck and then glared at me. For a moment I had considered taking Kate, who had a small brace on her wrist, and just running out of the small clinic, but the combination of her injury, the lack of information we had provided, and the doctor seeing the implant would at least warrant a police report and then The Company would have been crawling all over the small north-west town.

I had allowed the irate doctor to drag the four of us into the back office, wherein I explained everything. She had sat through the explanation somewhat impassively. When I finished explaining she had turned to the three of my Slaves and asked if what I had said was true. The three had quickly affirmed it, and in a huff she reached out and quickly slapped me across the face.

"You are good man but you still deserve that if what you said is true," she had said.

Rubbing my cheek I had nodded in affirmation but said nothing else.

She had mulled everything over and told us to come back in the morning so she could go over Kate again without the rest of the medical staff in the clinic. They opened late on the weekends.

"So this Company, you are going to try to find the woman they kidnapped, Bethany?" asked Dr. Song.

"Yes, but it's going to take a long time; their servers are well-protected and their assets hidden. Even with the information I've already stolen I can't get much on them," I said.

Dr. Song frowned again but didn't comment on it.

"Will an x-ray disturb the implants?" she asked, turning to the machine.

I thought about it for a moment, "They shouldn't. I wouldn't want to do it without reason though," I said.

"I want to see the implants and how far they go," she said.

"That would be helpful but then I'm not a surgeon, and don't take this the wrong way but you're working in a clinic inside a strip mall. I doubt that qualifies you for neurosurgery," I said.

Dr. Song smiled. "No, I'm not qualified right now. I was a few years ago," she said.

I looked over at the woman. She didn't look to be anything over thirty.

"Why not now?" I asked.

"Malpractice suit; I performed an experimental tumor removal procedure on a fourteen year old girl. Taking it out the traditional way would have left her with significant brain damage to the point of putting her into a vegetative state. I removed the tumor and she lived for another year before the cancer returned with a vengeance and my surgical malpractice was discovered, everyone thought she had simply been the one in a million chance to not become a vegetable. The family sued and my medical staff turned on me saying if I had performed it in the traditional manner she would have lived, which is true. She would have lived a life in a bed with no mind to speak of. I gave her an extra year," said Dr. Song.

"Now I fix bones and abrasions. Hardly challenging."

"When was this?" I asked.

"2008," she said.

"How old are you?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

She grinned, looking sideways at me. "That's rude. I am old enough," she said.

I rolled my eyes but didn't push the issue.

"I won't get anything detailed with the equipment here, but it will give me a general idea."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?" she asked.

"Why are you helping? And don't say that it's your moral code as a doctor, what's that thing called?" I asked.

"Hippocratic Oath," she said. "Why that is not reason enough?" she asked.

I raised an eye at her. "No one is that altruistic. If you are, then you're also naïve as hell," I said.

Dr. Song chuckled. "Alright fine, I'm curious. Like I said, I've not had a challenge in years and you are already operating outside of the law. You can't sue me and take away what little this stupid job pays," she said.

I turned to look at Kate who was sitting up on the medical examination bed with Helen and Tracy. "Well, what do you think? It's your head," I said.

"I'll do what you think is best, Master," said Kate.

I sighed. "Kate, I want your honest answer, not the one you think I want," I said.

Kate quailed slightly and shook her head. "That's a confusing order Master. What I want is what you want!" she said and lowered her head into her hands very clearly on the verge of a breakdown, the last twenty four hours had not been that much fun for her.

"I'll do it," said Tracy.

"Kate I rescind that previous order," I said as she continued to clutch at her head. It was disturbing to see her like that. Perhaps more disturbing were the implications, if even under direct orders she couldn't take initiative. Well she took initiative without orders, but only to perform actions she knew I would appreciate or approve of. I really needed to dig through the coding more to figure out what was going on.

Tracy hopped off of the bed as Dr. Song looked at Kate. "Is she alright?"

"She will be, but it's another programming conflict to try and sort out," I said.

Dr. Song pursed her lips but turned to Tracy. "Could you lie down on the table? This machine wasn't actually built to take head x-rays, so it might be a bit awkward," she said.

Tracy nodded and leaned over the table putting her head underneath the detector. Dr. Song nodded and hit the keyboard. After a moment the picture flashed up onto the screen. Taking a step forward I looked at the screen and in the process of tilting the LCD to get a better look I slipped small USB drive into the back of it.

I could now access the clinic computers from home, and if needed, delete everything. Safety measures in place, I looked at the image. I was no doctor but it was easy to see where things were off, the implant started at the base of her skull and small wires trailed from it into the middle of her skull which on the screen looked like it was empty.

Dr. Song looked at it for several minutes.

"This cannot be removed," she said and pointed at the screen where the wires were floating in the middle of the skull. "It's too deeply embedded."

"No chance?" I asked.

"Not without risking serious brain damage. Whoever did this was able to stimulate neuron regrowth to attach the chips to the brain. It's the only way an implant that deep in the brain would function, taking them out would cause severe internal hemorrhaging and destroy entire sections of the lower brain. Autonomic functions would be severely compromised. Even if the patient did not die after surgery they would need to be hooked to life support to live," she said.

"Neuron regeneration? I thought that was impossible," I said remembering my basic College biology course.

Dr. Song shook her head. "It is illegal, though not impossible with modern technology. It requires stem cells and for some reason our illustrious government has banned those experimenting with their use. No public research is available, due to the ban. I don't doubt that companies are working on it, though. Once the laws are repealed it will be a competitive area of medicine."

She leaned back and turned to me. "I could try cutting away at the connections that lead to the brain if you tell me which ones to cut. The implant would remain but it would hopefully be rendered inert," she said.

I shuddered slightly at the idea. "We're not there yet, and we might never be. If I can figure out how to turn the chips off safely, then leaving them in won't cause any more harm will it?" I asked.

Dr. Song pursed her lips but nodded. "It would not be ideal, but it would be safer than trying to extract them," she said.

"Alright then, question time," I said.

Dr. Song raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Are you going to expose us?" I asked.

"If I was?" she asked.

I grimaced. "I would do something to prevent you from saying anything."

"Like?" asked Dr. Song, pressing the issue.

I glared at the small woman. "Do you want me to threaten you? I'd feel sick afterwards, but the three are mine to protect. I'll do anything to make sure I keep my promise to Kate and free her from the chip. I haven't yet had to kill anyone to keep that promise, and I hope I won't have to." I sighed and glanced over at Kate who was staring at me, an odd expression on her face. "But I will if needed. I'm already going to hell, so why not add on a few more sins," I said.

Dr. Song rolled her eyes and stepped over to Kate. "Is he always this melodramatic?" she asked.

Kate giggled and then winced and put a hand back on her head. "The Master is intense, but we kind of like it," she said.

Dr. Song harrumphed and then turned back to me.

"You said you were developing a way to map the associations of the chips to neurons in the brain?"

"Yes," I said.

"I want to see what you have collected," she said.

I thought about it for a moment. It didn't really matter if she came back to the Lodge. Even a mention of us in the area would have The Company scouring the place and we would be found in any case. It was probably better to gain her trust and expertise. Showing her the data I already had would be a good peace offering.

"Alright."

She looked surprised for a moment, but her face quickly went back to being neutral. "Good. I will follow you in my car," she said and walked out of the room.

I blinked.

"She's direct," I said.

Kate rolled her eyes. "She likes you, Master," she said.

I glanced over at her. "She likes me? I doubt that," I said.

"Why?" asked Kate.

"Because I'm me, and despite what the chips put in your brain I'm not some Adonis, and I'm definitely not suave enough to pick up a woman just by talking to her," I said.

"This might be the chip reacting though, you seeing what you interpret as competition for my affections. You three beat up the last person who got between me and you, and now you're fending off what you see as competition," I said.

"Nope," said Tracy.

I turned to her. "No? How can you tell she likes me then?" I asked.

Tracy grinned. "Female intuition," she said.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "The mysterious ways of women," I said.

The three of them smiled back at me and I just shook my head. Women, even when they had mind control chips implanted in their heads, were confusing as hell.

"This is it?" asked Dr. Song, looking at the data grid I had constructed to show the variations in brain patterns.

"Yes," I said.

"Why is the data not in a standard EEG format?" she asked.

"Because I don't know how to read that," I growled. "I converted the raw input into what I know, the mapping algorithms used to monitor artificial neural networks," I said.

She frowned. "This is not a precise science. From what I understand, computer scientists deal with discrete units, correct?"

"Yes."

"The human brain does not operate in such a manner; it is analogue, and in order to be correct, any analysis done on it must be in analogue as well," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Everything's analogue though if you go down far enough. I don't want to study their brains, I want to study the implant and how it interacts with their brains!" I said.

"I want to see this data in an EEG format if you could do so please," she said, leaning back from the computer screen.

I wanted to turn around and yell at her that it wasn't so easy, but I held my tongue and brought up the raw data. Thankfully I had kept it in the raw formats, though I now had to write another interpretation program to sort out all of the data and display it at the correct frequencies.

"This is going to take a little while to do," I said without turning around to look at the Doctor.

"Fine. When you are done I will examine the data." Standing up, she stomped out of the lab and upstairs to the kitchen where the three had retreated. Dr. Song and I were not getting along.

The True Slave

The doctor opened the door and stepped into the kitchen. Tracy and I turned around to look at her as Helen remained focused on the pan in front of her. She wasn't the greatest cook, but she was learning, and still needed supervision to ensure she did not confuse garlic salt and sea salt.

"Can I get you anything Doctor?" I asked, stepping forward towards the woman.

She shook her head and moving around sat down on one of the tall bar chairs at the island.

"I want to ask you some questions," said Dr. Song. "That is allowed, correct?"

"The Master has never given us commands to say or not say anything," I said coolly.

She nodded. "Although he might have made it so that you say that," she said.

I cocked my head to the side. "You're taking this all in stride, Doctor," I said.

Dr. Song smiled. "Like I said earlier, this is an actual challenge, and I cannot fathom a reason someone would implant something in their brain, or buy what looks like nearly a hundred thousand dollars of computer equipment to fool me into something. Occam's razor and all that," she said, waving her hand side to side.

I frowned but nodded.

"So may I ask my questions?"

I glanced at Tracy and she imperceptibly nodded. "Yes, although we might not answer you," I said.

The doctor's lips twitched. "Marcus has sex with you?"

"Yes."

"And you don't feel like he's taking advantage of you because of the chips?" she asked.

I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. "No, when I first found him it took a while to convince him to have sex with me, I was the one who instigated. He was my Master and I needed him to take that level of control. If he had not, I would have left to find a Master who would use me. The urges were strong back then," I said.

"Your libido was high?"

"Beyond what I imagine is anything close to natural," I said.

"So this company manufactured slaves that had to have sex?" she asked.

"No." It was Tracy who now spoke up.

"Kate's a special case. She fought off the chip somehow, even though it did continue to affect her. It resulted in a loss of her memories before she was a doll," said Tracy.

Dr. Song frowned. "Retrograde amnesia is a rather severe medical condition, despite someone digging around in your brain I find it hard to believe you have not remembered anything. Though if the memories do not come back soon, I fear they never will," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

Dr. Song sighed. "The brain doesn't like to waste anything. If you're not using a part of your brain, even if it is damaged, the brain will reroute and fix as much as possible, erasing any structures that were there. This is why even under normal conditions people slowly forget things. The human brain does not have infinite capacity, so it keeps what is needed and used then deletes the rest."

"Oh," I said. I might never get my memories back? I didn't really miss them, how could I? But then the Master wanted me to get them back.

"It's a pity I don't have the equipment for blood or tissue analysis, I really would like to see how your bodies are being affected by these chips. Besides heightened libido is there anything else out of the ordinary?" asked Dr. Song.

Helen nodded. "We can eat as much as we want and not gain an ounce."

Dr. Song chuckled. "That's certainly nice. Anything else?"

"No period," said Tracy.

"Now that is interesting. Can you be certain that this company didn't remove your reproductive organs altogether? Surgery?" she asked.

"No. Breasts are always perky though, and a little bigger. No sagging whatsoever," said Tracy.

Dr. Song considered this for a moment. "This could be done with very precise hormonal manipulation. I have to wonder through, with everything that has been done to you, are you able to heal any faster? A perfect human specimen would be able to recover from injury at an unprecedented rate, and with an artificial chip controlling actions it might be the case that you are perfect specimens," said the Doctor.

She glanced back at me and I shuddered under the intensity of her gaze. "We'll get a chance to see that with your injury. Bones grow at a fairly consistent rate so we should be able to see any deviance from standard times to heal."

I nodded and then trying to divert her gaze, tactlessly switched topics.

"You need equipment. Does the clinic not have it?" I asked.

Dr. Song shook her head.

"No, it's not a hospital. The most we do is patch stuff up, not diagnose. If you need that you get sent to the hospital," she said.

"The Master might be able to provide money to buy equipment," I said.

Dr. Song blinked, for the first time looking surprised.

"He would do that?" she asked slowly, a very disturbing smile spreading across her features.

"The Master wants to remove the chips, and the money is from the people funding The Company, for the most part," I said.

Her smiled widened. "You know I might just fall in love with him myself. I've always wanted a lab of my own," she said.

The Doctor was suddenly very happy, and turning around, she walked back down the stairs to the basement.

Tracy glanced over at me. "Why do I get the feeling that was a bad idea?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I got the same vibe, you think she's a mad scientist?" I asked.

Helen shook her head. "No." She considered it for a moment and then grimaced. "Maybe."

The Apprentice

Rolling down the small berm I casually got up and dusted myself off. I winced at the scratch in my new leather jacket; I needed to be more careful. Still, I was a long way from the office building and I doubted that the security cameras would be able to pick me up here.

Reaching into my jacket I pulled out the small scope and held it to my eye. The building was fairly standard by all definitions, just a regular looking rectangular cookie cutter of a building with no originality in its design anywhere, except for the increased security which was laughable. At the front where the parking lot met the road was an actual guard station with some fat sap sitting in it blearily watching his phone.

In the modern age buildings like this held more valuables than banks; corporate data was worth millions. The only issues being that you had to know what to steal and who to sell it to. With the information that Marcus had given me I knew exactly what I was going after and I had a set paycheck, bigger than anything I had gotten in years. Another few jobs like this and I could go back to California, something I hadn't thought I would be able to do until the turn of the decade.

Still, this wasn't going to be like walking into a store and palming something, then walking out. Breaking in here was going to take some serious skill and coordination, and I didn't really have much experience doing something like this.

I was going to do the job though. I would never admit it to the geeks like Marcus but the digital age was a marvel; you could steal something and leave a copy of it behind so it didn't even look like you took anything, but that kind of took the thrill out of it.

Settling against a nearby tree I yawned and held the scope to my eye again. It was boring work but I needed to make sure no one was working in the building and find out when it was emptiest. Taking the time to prepare was what separated a thief from a thug.

The True Master

Dr. Song looked up from the results and rubbed at her eyes. "Do you have coffee? Or caffeine pills?" she asked.

Standing up, I went to the small fridge in the corner of the lab and opening it, pulled out two energy drinks. She grimaced at the sight of them but nodded, accepting it. She cracked the can and chugged down half, then set it on the desk. I drank a more reserved amount.

"This is confusing as hell, to be completely honest. I have no idea how any of them are even walking around!" she said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"These EEG results look like someone has taken two separate patterns and mashed them together. A person who had results like this would under normal conditions be in the middle of a full blown seizure!" she exclaimed.

"Well for all we know they might be, the chips have access to the entire lizard part of the brain," I said.

Dr. Song nodded. "They do, but like you said, no higher brain functions. Whoever constructed this interface was a genius. Sadistic, but a genius. From what I know, not even DARPA has a working BCI interface on something like this level," she said.

"The computer programming is the same way. There are algorithms in use that blow anything I've ever seen out of the water, reducing what normally takes a thousand lines of code into a 100 line algorithm," I said and then paused, "How do you know what DARPA is researching?"

"These people are not stupid, I can see why you are hesitant to try and fix them," Said Dr. Song ignoring my question.

"I promised them I would," I said.

Dr. Song considered me for a moment and then nodded. "Fine, but I'm going to need some equipment. Kate said you had the money I would need to purchase it."

"So this morning you were ready report me to the police, and now you're asking me for money?" I asked.

"Kate said it's not even yours, something you stole from the people who financially back The Company? I need more advanced medical equipment if I am going to get anywhere with this, and the clinic is laughable in those terms. Unless you want to take them to the hospital and run the tests there?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes but nodded. "Fine, you give me a list of what you need and I will get it. Specific model numbers and the suppliers I can get it from. I need to hide the funds somewhat, considering I did steal them," I said.

"Fine, you'll have it tomorrow."

"Good."

Turning back around to my computer I glanced at the security feeds. Kate, Helen, and Tracy were all getting dinner ready, spaghetti it looked like. They were each in matching aprons and lingerie. Had Dr. Song not been here I knew the lingerie would have been absent.

"So do you like them?" I asked Dr. Song.

"As a medical practitioner I'm supposed to remain detached," she said but then smiled slightly. "They are strong despite what has happened to them, and they all seem to adore you."

"It's the chip; they have to like me," I said.

"It's more than that, Kate especially," said Dr. Song.

"She can't remember anything else but being with me, and I can on a command send her spiraling into a mind shattering orgasm. It's simple conditioning, she likes me because of that," I said.

Dr. Song stood up and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't actually think that do you? You said yourself that the state they are in at the moment is a blend of their personalities and the chips' programming. Can the person, not just the chip, like you?" she asked.

I shook my head letting out a small laugh. "I'm a loner with no friends or family. I got my degree and ended up doing lackey tech support out of college. I lived in a crappy apartment and I'm not a model of male physique. So no, I don't have much faith in the idea that women enjoy throwing themselves at me. I'm enjoying it while I can," I said.

"You are a pessimist," said Dr. Song.

"Realist," I countered.

She shrugged and held up her hands. "Fine, I'll find the serial numbers of the equipment I need ordered. I'll be over in the morning with the list. You have a cell phone number I can call?" she asked.

"No, I tossed everything electronic like that. No point in running if they can track you. Just come around in the morning. We'll still be here," I said.

I glanced back at my monitor.

"You can stay for dinner," I said.

Dr. Song shook her head.

"No thanks. I have a feeling they want some alone time with you," she said, pointing at the screen. Turning around I could see that Helen had her hand inside Kate's robe even as she continued to stir the pot on the stove.

I rolled my eyes. "They are a handful," I said.

Dr. Song watched the screen for another moment and then tearing her eyes away from it turned back to me. "I can imagine."

"So tomorrow bright and early?"

"Yes."

Leaning back into the pillows stacked up behind me I smiled and looked down at Kate. She was curled up like a cat next to me.

"Do you ever wonder about what your life was like before this?" I asked her.

Kate yawned and looked up at me.

"No," she said.

"Really?"

She nodded. "That wasn't me, I'm different now than whoever I was. All I have ever been is your slave and that's something I'm perfectly happy with," she said as she put her head down on my chest. Reaching down I put my hand onto her head and slowly began to weave my fingers through her hair. Kate sighed contentedly as I pulled at it.

"It's strange, I think about everything up until I met you and none of it really feels real, like I was sleepwalking through life and nothing really mattered until you turned up." I said as I continued to play with her hair. "I get to play hero now, I'm taking on an organization that will kill us given the chance, and I have a beautiful woman to fight for. I think that covers half of the action hero tropes, all we need now it a training montage to whip me into shape so I can do kung-fu," I said.

Kate rolled over to face me and my hands slipped out of her hair.

"Master?" she said, a little apprehensive it seemed.

"What?"

"Why are you fighting for us? Why did you help me?" she asked.

"It's the right thing to do," I said.

Kate rolled her eyes. "As much as you might want to be that altruistic, Master, no one is that simple," she said.

I smiled and leaning down put a small kiss on her forehead. Kate shuddered and leaned into the contact.

"Like I said, I feel alive for the first time in my life but more than that I'm not lonely anymore. I'm not a people person and I had already isolated myself after college. I had no friends and no one I was close to. If I did date or marry it was going to be settling just to try and have someone in my life with me. Now I have you, at least for a little while. I plan to enjoy it," I said.

Reaching down I brushed my hand along Kate's nipple and she shuddered again, a smile breaking through the pensive look on her face.

"Do you want children, Master?" asked Kate.

I paused for a moment, blindsided by the question.

"Not really no, why do you ask?"

"If you do you would need to have sex with a real woman, I can't have children," she said.

"Real woman?" I asked, unsure what she meant. Her sterility wasn't a surprise, it had been in the Doll manual. I'm wasn't sure what the Company did but it was a surgery, so I didn't think she had any reproductive capacity left. It was the same for every Doll, even if I fixed her head I didn't think that would come back.