Algorithm
Part 31
Alice awoke from her rest after having managed to fall asleep for a few hours. Head pounding and throat itching, she groaned and reached across for more water. Her stomach felt simultaneously like a black hole and a raging volcano. Food was not something she was willing to entertain right now, but it was important that she stayed hydrated.
It was nice that she was able to oversee the success of her plans at Josh’s apartment however. With her friends nicely enslaved, the apartment, and therefore the Algorithm, was secure and under her direct control. No more people using it and chaos resulting. It was hers, just like her slaves were now hers. However regretful that she started experiencing an energy crash and had to leave her slaves waiting for her, she felt like it would be a good initial test of just how obedient they all would be.
She looked at her phone and considered calling them back right away. It had been just a few hours, but she wondered how long it had felt for her slaves, kneeling and staring into nothing, not permitted to do or say anything. Would they get bored or try to resist? Or world they stay like that for as long as it took for their Mistress to call them beck?
Alice put her phone on charge and left it by her bedside table before donning her dressing gown. She glanced back at her phone with an amused smirk before leaving her room. Her slaves would wait, it hadn’t been long enough a trial yet.
She left her room with her empty water glass with further hydration on her mind. She might even be brave enough to try a herbal tea. More than once, those had been good at helping her feel normal again after a particularly rough stint on drugs, but picking the wrong flavour had also historically made her feel like death, so it wasn’t a decision without risk.
While rummaging through the kitchen like a zombie, Alice heard Marion emerge from her room and enter behind her. She turned to see Marion’s kindly yet concerned expression.
“You’re up?” Marion forced a smile. “How’re you feeling?”
Alice quickly considered this. More than ever, that was a complicated question. Physically, she felt like a worn out rag doll with vertigo and a hyperactive hamster running riot through her stomach. Mentally, she felt like plans and ideas were falling into place in a way they never had before. She had a new understanding of people who exuded confidence, and suddenly reading expressions and the emotions behind them was effortlessly easy compared to before. Emotionally, she felt like she had been reborn. Old demons had been smothered into submission, harmful cravings that once made her feel powerless had dissolved into dust, and past experiences, the memories of which filled her with doint and dread, now fuelled a passion she had never felt before: Control of her life, and the direction it would go in.
All of that was too much to divulge though. Marion wasn’t ready to see who Alice was now, or rather what she had become through Tiffany’s fantasies. Instead, she wobbled a flat hand in the air in reply to Marion. “Okay, I guess. Getting better.” She shrugged. “Need more rest, I think.”
“Oh good, I’m glad you’re improving.” Marion’s expression remained friendly, though Alice could see her roommate’s eyes scrutinising her, looking to pierce through the lie if it was there. Alice smiled faintly, knowing that Marion would only see what Alice allowed her to.
“You don’t need to worry,” she reassured her oblivious roommate. “I’m done with all that crap. For good.” She didn’t need to mask any truth there, she knew she was done with the drugs, the alcohol, even the cigarettes. She had something much better now, something infinitely more powerful.
Marion’s expression fell, and she looked away to try and hide it.
“What?” Alice asked, frowning. “What is it?”
Marion couldn’t hide her distress, but simply shook her head. “Nothing. It’s nothing,” she insisted. “You need to rest still, it’s okay.”
Alice sighed heavily. “You don’t believe me,” she said bluntly.
Marion opened her mouth in protest but then stopped herself. She shook her head apologetically and then grimaced as she said, “No, I guess I don’t.”
A strange calm filled Alice. The old her would have gotten angry or sad at Marion’s words, she would have either way been upset at her friend and roommate having no faith in her. But Marion’s position made complete sense. Alice’s track record had been awful. Why get angry over a completely reasonable viewpoint? She patiently waited, and when Marion realised Alice wasn’t going to say anything, she continued.
“It’s just, Alice… It’s just you said that last time. You said that the last three times. I’m sorry, I want to believe you, I really do.” Her eyes were getting glossy.
Alice resisted the urge to snort in derision. How she played things here was important. She had no specific urge to turn Marion into her slave, but such a move would be necessary. Alice couldn’t have her slaves coming and going doing all manners of chores and services for her at all hours without Marion noticing something was up. Soft and naive though she was, if things got too intense for her she could raise an alarm with Alice’s mom, her professors, even the police if she walked in on something particularly irregular. No, much better for her to kneel with Alice’s other slaves than be a potential problem from the sidelines. Alice decided quickly that Marion would be better off her slave in any case. She was walked all over by her friends, and Alice herself in the past had always dragged her along to events and places she really didn’t want to go to. That, and her anxious energy when it came to schoolwork made Alice think that a thorough reprogramming to remove the undesirable personality traits would be in Marion’s best interest.
But right now, she was scared for Alice, and possibly scared of her. She needed to be sat in the chair and have the Algorithm used on her, which meant getting her to Josh’s, which meant putting her mind at ease. Tricky, sure, but Alice didn’t have many doubts anymore, so she quickly formed a strategy.
“Hah, yeah I wouldn’t believe me either.” Alice sighed, an embarrassed smile playing across her face. “Every time I work so hard to stay clean and pull my act together can be undone with one crisis of confidence.”
Marion’s look of concern only grew. “What crisis of confidence? Why didn’t you talk to me?”
Alice focused on crafting a look of ashamed guilt now as she stared at the floor. “Because you were stressed enough with your own studies and commitments. I’ve leaned on you too many times, I could never forgive myself if I pulled you down with me because I stopped being able to cope.”
She glanced up at Marion who seemed to be lapping it up. Her roommate was shaking her head with a horrified expression. “Alice, no! You can always come to me. If I ever made you think you couldn’t I’m so sorry!”
‘Here come the tears,’ Alice thought. ‘Perfect.’
Sure enough, Marion’s Glossy eyes had given way to a downpour of emotion.
“No, I’m sorry!” Alice insisted, opening her arms for Marion to run into them. “I know I shouldn’t have hid it, I’m just so stupid.”
“You are not stupid, Alice!” Marion said heatedly. “Never say that! Never put yourself down! You’ve come through so much, you’re so strong and smart, honestly I wish I could be more like you.”
‘Be careful what you wish for…’ Alice thought in amusement to herself. Instead of saying anything, she just stroked Marion’s hair and gently comforted her.
Eventually, Marion pulled away from the embrace and brushed herself down. With a more measured expression, she sighed. “You can always talk to me, Alice. Always.”
Alice smiled bashfully. “Thanks, Marion. I love you, you know.”
Marion smiled gratefully and pulled Alice into another hug. “I love you too, you crazy lady.”
With her head on Marion’s shoulder, Alice let herself a gloating smirk. ‘And that’s your greatest weakness,’ she thought. ‘That’s why you’re going to agree to this next request.’
“Hey,” Alice said softly. Pulling away, she looked Marion directly in her auburn eyes. “We’re hanging out at Josh’s place this Friday evening. I know you usually do your class assignments then, but you should come!”
Marion instantly looked uncertain, but Alice saw a conflict in her expression rather than outright disinterest. “I don’t know Alice…” she mulled, “I just don’t think your friends like me that much.”
“Of course they do!” Alice reassured her roommate. “I know you think that because of that time you asked Josh out, but you didn’t know he was gay, there was know way you could know, he was only out to like our little gang.”
Marion blushed and looked off to the side. “I guess… It was just...”
“Embarrassing?” Alice offered.
“Yeah. Extremely.” Marion moaned, burying her face in her hands.
“And yet,” Alice placed a comforting hand on Marion’s shoulder. “If you think about it objectively, is it even half as bad as some of the stuff I’ve done?”
Marion opened her mouth, looking like she was about to disagree entirely, but then she paused and mulled it over.
“Yeah,” Alice chuckled. “See that silence, that speaks volumes! And let me guess, Erin has made you uncomfortable pretty much every time you’ve met her. Right?”
Marion bit her tongue guiltily, and then burst out into a soft laughter under Alice’s expectant gaze.
“Trust me, Erin grows on you, and soon you always want her around. You’ll see what I mean, I promise.”
Marion chewed the information over in her head before wavering. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”
Alice beamed. “I can work with that. Don’t worry, it’s just going to be a relaxed evening, nothing life changing whatsoever.”
“Sure.” Marion nodded. “I’ll let you know, okay?”
“Sounds good.” Alice nodded, before going back to looking for a cup and a box of red bush tea.
“So… um…” Marion fidgeted as she watched Alice. “What are you up to now?”
“Fighting constant exhaustion and trying not to throw up,” Alice responded in a deadpan. “Why?”
“Well… Think you’d be up for watching Mulan with me?” Marion asked cautiously.
“I’d love to,” Alice replied. “But be warned, I’m going to fall asleep on you before they make a man outta her.”
Marion nodded with a grateful smile. “Sounds good to me.”
Lucy couldn’t for the life of her focus on her studies, she was too exhausted and frustrated. She just couldn’t muster the will to give a fuck about the underlying metaphors crafted by Edgar Allan Poe, she just desperately missed her Trevor. She simultaneously wished she could run to him, but also she wished she could forget all about him, erase the words that haunted her head, and move on with her life.
After attempting to study and craft an essay on The Raven for what felt like a fortnight, she slammed her laptop shut in frustration. Why did people even like that poem anyway?
She should just go to Josh’s apartment and demand he help her deprogram herself. A good girlfriend would ensure she was true to herself, after all, right? No matter what? Maybe?
No! She needed to wait until she got a message from Josh. Trev had told her to stay away from him, and she wouldn’t be able to enter if he was there, not until she could get his subconscious suggestions out of her brain. And worse, if one of his insidious lady friends were there they’d tell him immediately. Plus, she was supposed to be leaving them alone, and if they were there she would probably force herself to leave. In hindsight, making them all swoon for her man wasn’t perhaps the wisest strategy.
On the other hand, she had programmed them all to obey her, which she could surely use somehow. In all honesty, she did that to them because she wanted to make sure that even when they were all with Trev, she was still top of the pecking order. Now that intention might be bringing other benefits. But she’d have to somehow give them suggestions without contacting them or even seeing them. Tricky. If it wasn’t for Trevor’s angry insistence that she avoid them, she could simply order them to assist her.
The idea that they would be helpless brought a thin smile to Lucy’s lips. Surely it was worth trying?
She grabbed her phone and threw on a pair of shoes before she excitedly exited her room into the dorm corridor. She distractedly returned a greeting or two from some of the girls she knew on the floor and made it as far as the building’s exit before she scampered back to her room like a frightened puppy.
She couldn’t just ignore Trev’s request, could she? Would doing so make her a bad girlfriend? Or would letting him dictate that to her when she knew better be what made her the bad girlfriend? And besides, what if Trevor had reprogrammed those skank friends of his, already leaving them immune to her suggestions? Or what if Josh had simply lied to her as a ploy to get her to stare into that enigmatic machine of his so he could do god knows what to her brain?
No, no she needed to think this through. If Josh had really been lying then why make her wait before inviting her over? He said Trevor was there and he could just say some words to put her in trance the moment he saw her. She believed Josh was genuinely trying to help her, for what little good that was for her now.
It meant she had to wait for his message that it was safe to go to his apartment. She eyed the door constantly, continuously trying to convince herself of a reason she could still go now. Between that and checking her phone for a message that never came, she felt like she was drowning in indecision.
Getting increasingly restless, she left her room purposefully once more.
It was many hours of kneeling later that the phone screen lit up with a video call. Night had fallen and the apartment was shrouded in darkness. They had each of them gotten up to go to the toilet once since Alice told them to stay and kneel, and each of them came right back. There had been no conversation, they hadn’t even looked at one another. They had all simply obeyed.
Tiffany blinked in surprise when the phone started ringing. She quickly glanced to either side of her, and seeing that none of her fellow slaves seemed sure who should answer it, she took it upon herself to crawl over to the phone. After pressing the answer button, she quickly retreated to the place she had been kneeling before, and her heart leapt with excitement when she saw her Mistress’s face smiling on the screen.
“Good evening, slaves,” Alice chirped. “It looks like you’ve all been wonderfully obedient, yes?”
“Yes.” They all nodded and replied, though more out of time with each other than prior to their prolonged stretch of kneeling.
“I didn’t really mean to keep you all waiting this long.” Alice shrugged. “You can all move now, maybe stretch your legs, make yourselves more comfortable.”
Immediately, all four slaves collapsed or rolled to relieve the discomfort in their knees. Erin exhaled loudly and clutched her shins, Trev lay flat on his back, Josh started doing jumping jacks to loosen up, and Tiffany curled herself into a ball, her eyes still fixated on Alice.
“I’m impressed though,” Alice remarked. “You really all stayed there and kneeled that entire time?”
Tiffany nodded meekly. “We each had to go to the bathroom at one point Mistress, but otherwise, yes.”
“I see, I see,” Alice mused, smiling as she examined her slaves in turn. “And all of you are still naked, I hope you aren’t too cold. The real question is, what to do with you all now?”
Erin moved towards the phone and bowed her head. “Anything, Mistress. We are all your loyal slaves to command.”
“Please command us, Mistress,” Trev echoed.
“We could work more on the Algorithm, Mistress,” Josh suggested. “There’s still a lot to do to it before it can automatically enslave people for you.”
“All in good time, my slaves.” Alice smirked, twirling her hair. “Right now let’s plan a little, come up with some ideas.”
“What ideas, Mistress?” Tiffany asked, feeling enticed at the prospect of fulfilling the wishes of her Mistress.
“I know, Tiff, why don’t you tell me what you would do if you were me right now? What would your next move be?”
Tiffany answered almost instantly. “Recruit more slaves, Mistress.”
Erin, Josh, and Trev looked at her expectantly. When Alice remained silent, Tiffany continued.
“If each of us invites one friend over tomorrow, at different times to keep them isolated, we can get them in front of the Algorithm and then they can be reprogrammed to serve your will. Once we’ve done that, you’ll have eight slaves instead of four, and if each of us then invites another friend, we can quickly grow you an army of loyal, devoted slaves to take care of your every need.”
Alice nodded slowly, her amusement plain on her face. “I like the sound of that, slave. Very efficient. Very enterprising.”
“I can take care of all the details for you, Mistress,” Tiffany said proudly. “I will gladly coordinate your other slaves to serve your best interests. All you have to do is let me know your wishes, and I’ll devote all my energy to fulfilling them.”
Alice looked at Tiffany with a calculating expression. “Ahh, so you’ll be my primary slave, will you, Tiff? You’ll command all the others, be my main girl, so to speak?”
“Yes, Mistress!” Tiffany exclaimed before biting her lip in excitement. “I’ll be all that and more. I’ll be everything you want me to be.”
Alice’s eyes glinted with sinister intent. “There is just one problem with that, Tiffany dear…”
Tiffany shifted uncomfortably, not taking her eyes off the phone screen while Erin, Josh, and Trev all perked up and looked at Tiffany with curious concern.
“Mistress?” Tiffany asked nervously.
“You seem to think that I prize you as my special slave,” Alice remarked in an amused tone. “Like you’re better than these other slaves. Like I care about you in the slightest. I just need you to know that you’re as worthless as dirt to me.”
Tiffany exhaled sharply, feeling her cheeks burn red and shameful arousal flood through her.
Alice shook her head with a bemused smile. “You really thought, what? That because I enslaved your weak pitiful mind first that I’d put you in charge of these other worthless fools? That you’d be in charge of anything? Your delusion would be adorable if it wasn’t so fucking tragic.”
Tiffany could feel tears stream down her face. Wave after wave of humiliation washed over her, she felt that she was so small she could vanish into nothing. Yet each venom filled word from Alice simply made her more horny. She shivered with arousal at how pathetic she felt, and knew that Alice, her perfect Mistress, could berate and ridicule her for hours upon hours and at the end of it she would still obey devotedly with a smile on her face and obedience ingrained like petrified roots in her heart.
Alice continued, her smile fading, a cold glare taking its place. “You’ll understand soon, Tiff, that your place is below rock bottom. Right now I’ve programmed this personality into you, but I could return you to your original self with the snap of my fingers at any moment. It’s that old self, the original you that I’m interested in. Right now she still has ideas of rebellion, of escape, she still thinks her mind is her own.”
Tiffany listened intently, although confusion was growing in her mind. Why was her Mistress talking about the old her? She didn’t want to go back to being like that, she didn’t want to be her own person again. She was Alice’s slave, and she didn’t want to be anything else. She found herself shaking her head fervently.
Alice clasped her hands together and leaned towards the camera. “As long as you can have your old personality put back by anyone, you’re not how I want you. I want that original Tiffany to be as hopelessly obedient to me as you are now. I want her to be every bit as pathetic as you, unable to disobey, ready to be everything and anything I want her to be. Don’t you want that too, slave?”
“Yes!” Tiffany blurted out without missing a beat. “Yes, Mistress!”
“Of course you do.” Alice smiled coyly for a moment. “So here’s what’s going to happen… When I snap my fingers, you’re going to become that original Tiffany again. You’ll no longer feel my programming in your head, even though it’s only a trigger word away. You’ll be the you that you were before you ever fell under my control, before any of this Algorithm crap happened. But anything I describe to you will happen to you like it’s real. If I tell you to feel cold, you will feel cold. If I tell you that you feel a knife stabbing your gut, you’ll double over in pain. You’ll be as you were, but your entire perception of reality will be warped by my words. Do you understand?”
Tiffany ran through it all in her head, feeling equal parts terrified and exhilarated. She was about to be mindfucked into obedience all over again, she was sure of it. She nodded her head slowly and reverently replied, “Yes, Mistress.”
Alice snapped her fingers instantly, watching intently for Tiffany’s reaction.
Tiffany felt the strangest sensation come across her, like she was falling asleep but waking up at the same time. Things that she was so sure about just moments ago now felt hollow and fake, while thoughts she couldn’t have imagined thinking flooded her mind in an overwhelming torrent.
It all came back to her. Her freedom, her un-brainwashed independent and critically thinking mind, and her feelings, pretty much all of her feelings. All of it at once. Too many to handle. Mind numbing terror, blood boiling rage, incredible grief, overwhelming guilt, insufferable humiliation, powerful arousal, and that was just the first wave.
Frozen in place, looking at the cold, calculating expression on the face of the blonde beauty who used to be her friend, Tiffany couldn’t hold back the tears that poured from her eyes and dripped from her chin. As the emotions waged war within her, she stopped being able to feel how hard her heart was hammering, how cold the air was all across her naked body, or how painfully aching her legs and knees were after that long frozen stint kneeling on the floor. Instead, a comforting numbness enveloped her completely. She felt like her mind was floating out of her body, like there was simply too much going on in there for her consciousness to be inside with it.
Just her thoughts now, much more manageable, though still pretty bleak. There was no sugarcoating it. She had failed. She had lost. She had played with fire and had been consumed by it from the inside out. She calmly analysed her situation from the cold emotionless floating sanctuary that existed outside her body and quickly concluded that there was nothing she could feasibly do to salvage the monumental mess she has made.
She had turned one of her best friends into a heartless monster and doomed the rest of her best friends to a lifetime of total internal enslavement. And more would follow. Hannah wasn’t safe, she would be like a lamb to the slaughter. Everyone that Tiffany knew, she would coax into sitting before the Algorithm. Everyone that they knew would then be vulnerable.
Everyone that ever trusted Tiffany would be forced to kneel before Alice. She had betrayed them all.
And for what? A taste of a fantasy that she had never thought through? She had wished for this situation on countless occasions as she probed the depths of her dark imagination. She had fantasized about losing all control, of becoming completely and helplessly obedient to a power much stronger than herself. Of course, she had equally fantasized about being the one with absolute power, to have those surrounding her be like puppets on her strings, living toys for her amusement and pleasure. That one hadn’t exactly worked out either. That one was the one she truly wanted too, as it would have allowed her to explore both sides of the coin that was her nature. But she had failed. Quite, quite miserably.
And now here she was, her faculties intact but somewhat overwhelmed by everything that had happened and the gravity of the consequences that she had never spared a thought for. How long had she been silently sobbing as Alice watched anyway? What would she even say now?
“Why?” The word slipped out of Tiffany’s mouth in the same moment she thought it, her voice a bland, emotionless drone, a symptom of her disembodied apathy. “Why bring me back?”
Alice’s face broke into a wide, predatory smile at hearing Tiffany speak. “My my, Tiff, remarkably calm, aren’t we?”
Tiffany ignored Alice’s jab, instead pressing her question. “You’ve won, Alice. Click your fingers again and I become your happy obedient slave. Bring her back, and let me rot in the depths of her psyche.”
Alice shook her head slowly while chuckling. “Oh Tiff… That would be too easy! Come on now, think this through. We don’t know if instructions from the Algorithm eventually wear off, and we don’t know what its limits of control truly are.”
In Tiffany’s detached state, she could feel the tug of emotions, desperate to pull her back into her body and consume her once more. She pictured herself stuffing it all down, lest she break down before she could get any more answers out of Alice. She shook her head and sniffed derisively “So what? You want to test the limits on me?”
“Yes and no.” Alice shrugged. “I just mean to break you, the real you, so that you’re every bit a slave as the artificial personality that I can activate at will. And I doubt it’ll be instant either, but the good news is that we can return you to how you are now again and again and again as many times as we need to fully drive the process home. If we happen to push some limits and learn a few things along the way, then hey, bonus!”
Even in her numbed state, Tiffany felt a chill overcome her. Alice wanted to break her will, reinstate it, and break it again on endless repeat. Well, endless until Tiffany was well and truly brainwashed.
Enjoying Tiffany’s numb silence, Alice continued. “I just can’t be satisfied with the quick fix solution of ‘Abra Kadabra, you’re a slave now, do this and that knowing that it’s not really who you are deep down, you know?”
“Why not?” Tiffany asked pointedly. “I mean, you get your slave, I obey you completely. How is that not what you want?.”
“Oh, Tiffany…” Alice smirked. “Don’t you even remember, Tiff? You made me. You made me want to do this to you. To break you. To train you. It’s not my fault that this just so happens to be the way I want to do things based on the way you programmed me.”
“This isn’t what I wanted,” Tiffany replied bluntly. “Look, do whatever you want to me, but leave them out of it.” She gestured to Josh, Trev and Erin who were watching the interaction with silent interest.
“I will do whatever I want to you, Tiff, and I will use my other slaves in any way I want, specifically to break you, over and over, again and again.”
Tiff looked around her. Trev and Josh stared unwaveringly at the phone and Alice, while Erin glanced back at Tiffany, her eyes full of pity.
“Josh,” Alice addressed him airily. “You’d do anything I command you to, right?”
“Anything, Mistress,” Josh said respectfully.
“Perfect.” Alice smiled. “Start typing a post on whatever social media you use the most. Make it in your own style, but tell the world how you’re gay and you just can’t hide who you are anymore.”
Josh hesitated for a nearly imperceptible small moment before he nodded and reached for his phone. “Yes, Mistress,” he said, turning his attention to typing his post.
“What are you doing, Alice?” Tiffany demanded.
“Don’t submit it until I tell you to, slave,” Alice added, ignoring Tiffany and instead turning her attention to Erin. “Erin, dear. Do you have any nudes of yourself on your phone?”
“No, Mistress.” Erin shook her head briskly. She visibly gulped in anticipation of Alice’s next words.
“Alice, stop!” Tiffany seethed.
Alice pretended like Tiffany wasn’t there as she cocked her head at Erin. “Take some now, slave... Get a good few exceptionally naughty pictures of yourself ready to upload to all of your social media accounts.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Erin said, trying not to sound nervous as she too reached for her phone.
As Erin started to take provocative and explicit selfies, Alice turned her attention to Trev, who looked anxiously back.
“You’ll obey me Trev, no matter the command I give you, won’t you?”
“Yes, Mistress,” Trev replied with a slow nod.
“Even if it’s something you would never want to do normally?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Good boy,” Alice cooed. She shot Tiffany a mocking glance, her coy smile piercing through Tiffany’s numbness and causing her to feel a pang of pain in her chest.
“Do you still have that photo of you with the bong from last year? Was it at Erin’s birthday or something?”
“Yes, Mistress.” Trev nodded. “Her friend brought it. Mike, I think it was.”
“Look for it. Get ready to upload it everywhere with a message saying how you’re completely stoned right now.”
“Alice,” Tiffany said firmly. “You can’t do this.” She could feel all the swirling emotions that she left behind, it was the rage that was seeping back into her consciousness now. Shaking slightly, she embraced the anger at how Alice was using her power, the rage at how helpless she had made Tiffany feel, and the fury of how little she seemed to care. She clung onto that rage and didn’t let anything else in.
“Tiff,” Alice replied mockingly. “I think you mean I shouldn’t do this. But really, I can do anything I want, and I have you to thank for that. But in the interest of fairness, I’m going to give you a choice here.”
Erin, Josh, and Trev all looked to Tiffany now, their eyes full of apprehension. Tiffany sighed heavily, and had to concentrate on speaking calmly. “What choice is that?”
Alice smiled widely, savouring the moment. “Option 1 is that you can choose to leave now. I won’t stop you. You’ll leave knowing that not only did you lead your friends into becoming my helpless slaves, you also ruined their lives outside of their devotion to me. Because let’s face it, Tiff, I’m going to have so many good obedient boys and girls I’m not going to know what to do with them all. I imagine I’ll only need a very small amount of time from each one, so I don’t see why they can’t live a reasonably normal life otherwise. That is, if you choose the second option.
“Option two is that you choose to stay, and submit to me of your own free will. I guess you’re being emotionally manipulated into it, but not directly controlled by the Algorithm. Every word of submission you say, and each act you do will feel so nice to you, it will feel so good, so normal, so… perfect. The more you submit, the more you will want to submit. The more you surrender yourself, the more you will want to be my slave forever and ever. It will become your new normal, your sole reason to exist. You’ll be willing to ruin your life for me just to show me how devoted you are. Being my slave will be who you are, it will be the natural development of your normal personality. The old you will be well and truly gone.”
Alice watched expectantly as Tiffany let this information churn and crumble through her mind. Was freedom actually an option here?
Abandon friends to horrible fate. Josh kicked off his team, possibly disowned by his parents. The thought occurred that this would make Alice lose the Algorithm, but they could just move the setup to her apartment, then she would truly have direct control. Erin posting nudes of herself all over the internet. Over her regular social media even. It would humiliate her, and surely haunt her for years to come. And Trev, uploading a post admitting to the use of and showing himself using drugs. Even if weed was on the verge of being legal in the state, it could still get him kicked out of school and make his parents stop paying for his apartment.
And even if Tiffany did submit to Alice, right here, right now, what was to stop the evil heartless blonde from just doing it anyway? Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but any day she got bored and wanted to watch her slaves suffer.
It wouldn’t make a difference. Alice had all the power. Tiffany had none.
Tiffany closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. She wanted to punish herself for eternity for the way she had created the hell around her. From the very start of discovering what the Algorithm could do, Tiffany had made so many wrong choices. Walking away from the friends she condemned would be one more wrong choice. Sooner or later, her choices and actions were going to catch up with her. This way, she at least had one final piece of control.
She had control over how it all ended.
Her throat dry, she turned her attention to her enslaved, naked, helpless friends. “I just want you to know that I love all of you.” Her words were strained and quiet as she held back the floodgates of more grief than she could handle. More tears poured down her face. “And I want you all to know that I’m so very, truly sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Including you, Alice. Honestly, I’m most sorry for you. I wish I could take it back.”
Even on the phone screen, Alice rolling her eyes was apparent enough. She then shook her head and scoffed. “Save me the soppiness, Tiff. Have you made your choice yet?”
Tiffany nodded solemnly. She shuffled herself so that she was once more kneeling before Alice. She took a deep breath, and let herself sink back into her body. The rage collided with the grief, with the sadness, with the guilt, and yet she still felt a surge of arousal over just how much she had fucked herself over. Openly sobbing now, trembling with more sensations than she knew how to contain, she struggled to croak the words. “I want to be your slave, Mistress.”
Instantly, a wave of calm washed over Tiffany. It wasn’t enough to quell the implosion of grief, regret, and everything else that was still painfully twisting her gut, but it had certainly taken the edge off everything. This would be the correct choice. This would be worth it.
Alice leaned forwards so her eager face filled the phone screen, her eyes ablaze with triumph as she watched Tiffany’s surrender.
“I will serve you as your slave, Mistress,” Tiffany said between sniffs. “I will serve and obey with complete loyalty and devotion.” Again, the negative emotions dulled within her, and hints of clarity and serenity started to seep in. This felt nice. It felt right. She inhaled deeply once more, then dove in.
“Please Mistress, I beg of your compassion and mercy, spare my fellow slaves from exposing their secrets and vulnerability to the world. Destroy me instead. I will post anything to anywhere. I will walk the streets naked for your amusement. I am your helpless, pathetic, powerless slave. Everything I do is for you. I give you my life to use or discard as you please.” The anger and everything that was there before was being doused by layer after layer of calm happiness. Tiffany’s tear stained puffy face couldn’t help but break into a slight smile. There was no denying it, submitting to Alice felt so good, so wonderfully right. She saw how much Alice seemed to be focused on her, clearly enjoying her submission, and couldn’t help but continue.
“Please control me, Mistress. Please take over my life, take my choice away, become the voice in my head, and the purpose in my heart. I am your slave, Mistress, now and forever. You are perfect, Mistress, and I am your humble, loyal, devoted slave for life.”
Tiffany was smiling dreamily now, dopey happiness pasted on her face. The rage, the guilt, it was all a distant memory now. She was floating on a haze of contentment, she had never been at such peace. She was Alice’s slave, it was so simple. She might not have always been Alice’s slave, but it felt like her life had naturally progressed to this point.
This was surely the end of her story. She had chosen this, and it felt like the most welcome decision she had ever made.
Tiffany was gone. Alice’s slave remained.
Alice watched the smiling, checked out Tiffany on the screen of her phone and sighed in satisfaction. Her hands wandered, feeling the sensuality of her skin, wishing she was with her slaves to have them massage her and pamper her in all the ways she deserved. Though really, she felt silly complaining. That display by Tiffany just now had been everything she had hoped and dreamed for, a self expressing descent into complete servitude.
“Okay, slave, when I snap my fingers again, Slave Tiffany will be back in the driver’s seat, with all of my programming reinstated in your mind. Understand?”
“Yes, Mistress.” Tiffany dreamily smiled at her.
Alice clicked her fingers and Tiffany blinked a few times. “I love you, Mistress. Thank you for making me your slave.”
“That’s quite alright, slave.” Alice smiled. She shifted where she sat, starting to feel uncomfortable being in that position for so long. It was time to wrap things up for the night. “And there’s something you need to be aware of.”
“Anything, Mistress,” Tiffany replied enthusiastically.
“You are at the bottom of the ladder among my slaves. All of my other slaves will be encouraged, actually, required to use you for their own purposes and enjoyment whenever they see you. It might be just to relieve some tension, or to put you to work doing their chores, or their college work, I don’t really care. But you may consider yourself everyone’s slave, everyone’s bitch and toy.”
Tiffany visibly shuddered at this. “Thank you, Mistress,” she said reverently.
“And the rest of you, you are to use Tiffany for your own enjoyment, satisfaction, and utility whenever you feel like, understand?”
“Yes, Mistress,” Erin, Josh, and Trev all replied.
Alice waved a hand casually. “Oh, and you can forget about the posts you were getting ready to send. So long as you serve me above everything else, I see no reason to mess around with your lives too much. As long as you realise that those lives are now second in priority to serving me. Clear?”
“Yes, Mistress,” they replied once more.
“Good. Now, we’re going to be doing that brainwashing exercise with Tiffany every day until who she used to be is well and truly gone,” Alice said matter-of-factly. “I don’t know if it’ll take days, weeks, or months, but we will be breaking her will every day, and I want some ideas from all of you about how to do it. Give me five ideas each by the end of the day tomorrow, we’ll all meet up over there after classes finish. I want to enjoy you all in person tomorrow. Tonight, I honestly need to get more rest again.”
“Are you feeling like you’re improving at least, Mistress?” Erin asked.
Alice nodded. “I am, thank you slave. I just need more time, more rest, then I’ll be better than new. Oh, and as much as she was speaking out of turn, Tiffany did have a good idea. If you think you can naturally invite somebody over to use the Algorithm on them, then do that tomorrow. I want to have several new slaves before this party on Friday evening. My plan to deal with Dillon requires us to have plenty of bodies so we’re ready for… different scenarios.”
“Of course, Mistress,” Erin agreed. “I could probably bring Mike if he’s willing to blow off the skate park.”
“Should be easy enough to get Bobby over here under the pretence of games and beer.” Josh shrugged.
“I could get Lucy here no problem.” Trev nodded. “I still have triggers for her, Mistress. I could program her for you if you like.”
“No,” Alice said with a coy smile. “Use your trigger on her, sure, and bring her here, but I want to program her myself. I have a special reward for her in mind.”
“I’ll have Hannah over here for you, Mistress.” Tiffany grinned. “I can’t wait for her to be a slave for you like me.”
Alice smiled and clasped her hands together. Today, one slave had become four. Tomorrow, four would become eight. She wondered what the day after would bring. “Okay, my lovely slaves. I need to rest now. It’s gotten rather later as well, so get dressed, go home, and get some rest. You shouldn’t miss classes tomorrow, we don’t want any of us getting kicked out, but I’ll see you all there at the end of the day.”
Her slaves professed their undying obedience to her once more before Alice ended the call. She then flopped back onto her bed, feeling fatigued once more.
She was tired of feeling exhausted. Had she not been going through her withdrawal pains, she felt she could have achieved so much more already. But she sighed, not worrying too much about it. Tomorrow was a new day, and the world was hers for the taking.
Erin slogged up the dank staircase to her apartment, dragging her feet as she approached the door. Her legs ached from all the kneeling she had obediently done at her Mistress’s behest. Her knees in particular had really felt it, she needed to be off her feet for at least a few hours. It was late, she was tired, and she was done with the day. She was obviously incredibly grateful to be Alice’s slave, but she knew she could only serve if she got some quality rest.
When she reached her doors she stopped short. A piece of paper had been pinned to her door. The word “RENT” had been scrawled in marker on it with more exclamation marks than could be considered polite.
“Fuck…” Erin muttered, tearing the paper down and crumpling it up as she wrestled with the sticky lock on the door. She finally got the door to open with an uncomfortably loud clanking noise. She silently prayed that the noise didn’t disturb her landlord who lived down the corridor. The last thing she needed was that sleazy old bastard giving her more hell. And because of the way tonight had gone, she was behind with rent. Perfect.
She carefully closed the door behind her and started dumping her coat and kicking off her shoes.
“Home sucky home…” Erin muttered under her breath. Her dark, shabby apartment was barely more than a single room with an ensuite toilet in a cupboard. She always looked forward to the days that crashing at Josh’s place was a viable option.
Light from the streetlamps outside poked through the broken blinds enough for her to see a dull outline of all the crap strewn about the room, but a glow of orange on some kind of shiny surface immediately caught her attention. She squinted in the light and thought maybe she should try turning on the temperamental main light in the room. As she got closer, she started to think it was a computer screen.
When the screen sprang to life a moment later, she was instantly bombarded by a bright swirling multicoloured pattern.
“What the…” She uttered, before she realised what it was that she was looking at, what it was very quickly going to do to her. She snapped her eyes shut, but the waves of warm relaxation had already started sweeping through her. Even with her closed eyes, she could still see the patterns on the screen swirling before her. She tried to keep her eyes closed, but found that they simply had to see what the pattern would morph into next. Her eyes crept open, and she found herself calmly entranced by the screen in front of her.
Part of her knew she should break free of the snare, but she was so tired, and so sore, and the lights that swirled made everything feel so nice and unimportant.
And then words began to appear on the screen, and Erin found herself reading them avidly, then moving to obey...