The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Ling swirled the soju around in her glass and looked up.

The Nepenthe hung in the sky, yellow and gunmetal gray, sliding across the starfield in the direction of the Marshal Hui.

Ling, the mask, would have felt depressed and melancholy as she watched the ship make its way across the sky to where it would jump back into Federacy space. slave ling, the true self inside, felt a strong sense of kinship with the cheerfully colored transport vessel.

On the outside, it looked just the same—as did she. On the inside, it now belonged entirely to the Sthil—as did she.

slave ling sipped at her soju and refrained from smiling.

“May I join you?”

She looked up to see Suren standing at the side of the table.

Ling gestured at an empty chair. “Of course you may. What a silly question.”

Suren gave her a smile and sat down. She was not nearly as beautiful as Slave Moira, but she was beautiful nonetheless, and a friend. Slaves were allowed friends, weren’t they?

As long as friendship meant nothing next to obedience; and slave ling would have torn Suren’s throat out with her teeth if her Masters asked it of her.

So that was fine.

Suren was looking up. The Nepenthe was almost directly above the blister now, moving slowly, letting momentum do its work. There were still meetings to hold—the Federacy personnel wouldn’t be heading home just yet. No urgency, no reason to fire up the engines.

“A strange feeling,” Suren observed, her neck craned back.

“What’s that?”

“The five hundred. They are returning; and yet, they are not. The Sthil have already taken them.”

Ling nodded. “Five hundred obedience-lobed drones.”

Suren looked at her with expressionless dark eyes. Ling returned her gaze, then looked around the room. The blister was mostly empty; one might have thought the impending return, the nearness of release from the fear and pressure, would have led to celebration, or at least inebriation, but the tone of the delegation seemed more somber than ever. No one appeared elated by their impending homecoming at all.

Or perhaps they were simply all slaves like slave ling. But no, at least a third of them had had no direct contact with the Sthil at all.

Suren, though... she had turned her head and was contemplating the orange bands of Tilde. Ling looked at her profile. Strong nose, that deep teak skin... and an enslaved brain?

She was a guard, as was Ling; she had been present at many a ‘negotiation session’. But how soft was her mind?

slave ling had one purpose. To remain undetected. To pass as her former self. she would not risk finding out.

At least, not openly.

Suren turned her head, and her eyes swung back to Ling. “I was thinking,” she ventured.

“Yes?”

“It will be good to return home. That will be a time when I may relax.”

Ling heard another voice, saying those same words. Ling smiled a small smile.

“Yes. Then everything will be as it should be.”

Suren’s eyes glinted.

“Perhaps it already is.”

“Perhaps.”

slave ling slid her glass forward.

slave suren gently clinked it with her own.

“Where’s Lane-Tennant?” Toligiani asked.

Everyone in the room looked at Ling.

“What?” Ling said defensively. “She’s not Penyang, I don’t know where she is.”

Ashalawalpindi looked back at Toligiani. “My time for this meeting is finite,” the Anherabadi said. “I have a review before our final meeting with the Sthil in half an hour.”

“Yes, let us get started,” Corso concurred. “If she is not here, it is too bad.”

“Fine,” Toligiani replied. “I’ll brief her later. I have here,” she said as she waved at the datacube on the table, “a list of all Federacy personnel who have been implanted. Please review.”

A glowing green hologram flicked into life above the datacube. Thirty names.

Ling felt an odd feeling as she spotted LiShen.

Corso frowned. “Wait, no. Sasha? But he has never left my sight!”

“This is most unexpected,” Ashalawalpindi chimed in. “Padesh was clean two nights ago. How then...?”

“And here,” Ling added, touching LiShen’s name with a finger. She tried to put a slight tone of shock into her voice. “We haven’t been back into the Sthil quarters in days.”

They all looked at Toligiani. Was her expression a touch more displeased than it usually was?

“I know,” she said. “If you will, please look at the bottom three names. They’re crewmen from the Marshal Hui. None of whom have been in the Sthil part of the station at all.”

Corso, Ashalawalpindi and Ling looked at each other. Ling spoke first. “But that means... they have been simply grabbing people? From this side of the station?”

“It appears that such is the case.”

Corso clapped his hand on the table. “So your surmises have been false! These dinner meetings, they mean nothing! Our security has been at fault!” He stabbed a finger at Toligiani. “Our common security!”

“Your security is your own affair,” she snapped back. “Each delegation takes care of their own—or was supposed to.”

“I say bullshit—this station is Federacy station and if station is insecure, is fault of Federacy personnel, not Konstrovan security!”

“That may be but the station security is not the purview of Common Security and I expect you should know that.”

“Stop bickering,” Ling interjected. “So what now? Do we keep anyone from going anywhere alone, even in our side of the station?”

“That would be hard to do, without an overt reason,” Ashalawalpindi observed. “We’d have to reveal this to the delegation heads at the least.”

Toligiani shook her head. “No. That’s not acceptable. You four—sorry, you three—need to be extra careful that you don’t get nabbed. It’s two days, tops, and we’ll be out of here. Until then, you will say nothing to anyone. I have shown you this list so you know who you specifically can not trust; but regardless of this you are still under strict orders to tell no one about the implants. The Sthil must not know we are on to them.”

“But that means they might get more of us,” Ling protested.

“That’s right,” Toligiani said. Her face was stony.

“So,” Corso said in a low voice, “we say nothing and do nothing and perhaps more of our friends are enslaved.”

Toligiani’s eyes were ice. “That’s right, Yvgeny. I don’t give a damn about your people being suborned so long as I can stop the Sthil from causing harm to the Federacy. You will remain absolutely silent on this matter. Do not trust anyone and do not talk to anyone. Is that clear?”

“Is clear.”

Ling rapped at the door.

A moment later, it slid open, revealing an attractive woman with dark hair and brown skin that spoke of Mesoamerican heritage. She smiled at Ling.

“Officer Wu. How can I be of assistance?”

Ling quickly polled her memory of the Run-Ha-Lanni delegation. Ah, yes.

“Ms. Terazon. I was wondering if... if...” Ling faltered. Her name was Terazon. Cora Terazon.

She was one of the women with a Sthil brain implant.

Terazon frowned. “Yes, Officer Wu? What is it?”

Ling snapped out of it. “Sorry, I just realized the real meaning of something someone else just told me.” She laughed and shook her head. “That must have looked somewhat odd. My apologies. I was asking if Ms. Lane-Tennant was here; I have some matters to discuss with her.”

The other woman shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Officer.”

She did not continue. After the awkward pause, Ling added “Then do you know where I might find her?”

Terazon looked at Ling for a long moment. “Let me check,” she finally replied. “Please come in.”

Ling followed her into the Run-Ha-Lanni reception area. There were several couches upholstered in the scratchy fabric that Run-Ha-Lanni seemed to prefer, and a table strewn with magazines. Some of them were in Old Earth languages that Ling didn’t know.

Terazon walked out of the room without a backward glance or another word. Ling wasn’t sure of the woman was rude (odd for a diplomat), distrustful of Penyang, or simply off-kilter because of her brain implant.

Part of her original brain had to give way, to make room for the implant; Ling wondered if that entailed certain mental sacrifices. She hadn’t had much time to socialize with LiShen; it might be interesting to do so. To see if she could tell any difference.

Perhaps later. More likely, Terazon had always behaved this way—Run-Ha-Lanni were notorious non-conformists. Ling decided that speculation was pointless, So she simply relaxed on the scratchy sofa and waited for the other woman to return.

In a few moments, she did.

“Ms. Lane-Tennant is currently on the Marshal Hui,” Terazon said.

“Really? Why?”

Terazon frowned. “I’m not certain that it is any of your business.”

Definitely not a diplomat.

“Ah. Very well.” Ling stood up. “Thank you for your assistance. I will be heading over to the Marshal Hui, then, to speak with her. Have you any messages I should convey?”

Terazon blinked. “Messages? No, no I don’t think so.”

Ling smiled a large, fake smile. “Very good then. Thank you once more.”

It took almost two hours before the shuttle left Tilde Station to take Ling to the Marshal Hui. Fortunately, she was not due back at the Penyang delegation for six hours, which should allow plenty of time to speak with Mary and then return on the shuttle even if she just missed it once again. Nonetheless, the limited time made Ling nervous.

It would absolutely not do to miss her final ‘negotiation’ session; Ling would be aghast professionally, more importantly it might very well be slave ling’s final chance to be with Slave Moira, and most importantly, slave ling knew that there was a last batch of programming her mind needed to absorb in order to fulfill her duty to her Masters; missing that was inconceivable.

The shuttle hatch swung open, and the Marshal Hui marine who had opened it waved Ling out. She had been the only passenger on this trip.

“Pardon me,” she said to the well-groomed euro-orig marine, “I’m looking for Ms. Lane-Tennant, from the Run-Ha-Lan delegation. Might you know where she is?”

He considered for a moment. “I don’t... wait, yes. Red hair? Yeah, I think she went down to the message drone bay. Said something about revising a communique—she had to ask directions to where the bay was. That was almost three hours ago, though.”

“It’s a start,” Ling said. “Thank you very much.”

The message drone bay. Odd.

Humanity possessed, via jump engines, faster than light travel—but as far as anyone knew, no one possessed faster than light communications. So to keep the Federacy worlds apprised of mission developments, unmanned drones were sent back on a daily basis, jumping to pre-set locations and then tight-beaming their encrypted payloads to waiting communications facilities within Federacy space.

Ling slid down a ladder and wondered why Mary would need to revise anything; easy enough to send an amendment or a correction with the following day’s drone. There was nothing that Ling could think of which would require this sort of urgency...

...unless...

She put the thought aside, half-formed. She’d let her mind chew it over a bit while she hunted for more facts.

Another ladder down, and Ling was on the drone launch level. The drones were more akin to missiles than to spacecraft, and were launched from a tube near the bottom surface of the ship. Walking down the metallic hallway, Ling read the names on the drone storage doors. Ii Lao, Konstrova, Anherabad—Penyang. This must be where Noor or Bolin came to slip the encrypted datacubes into the “tamper-proof” drone housing; crewmen of the Marshal Hui would then launch the drone at specified times.

The next storage door read ‘Run-Ha-Lan’, and it was open.

Ling peered inside. Something kept her from calling out to Mary, announcing her presence.

She wasn’t sure how Mary would react.

The room was not large, and aside from a couple dozen shower-tube sized message drones, it appeared empty. Most of the drones had already been launched; were the mission to stay here much longer, the Marshal Hui might run out.

But, they were not staying here much longer.

Stepping back into the corridor, Ling continued down to the launch bay. It was lit only dimly, this not being a scheduled launch window, but Ling was surprised that no crewman was there to greet her or ask her business.

Inside the launch room was a large vidscreen showing a starfield; doubtless a look directly outside the tube. And there was the tube itself, a hole in the wall, with twelve feet of hemi-circular grooved loading platform leading up to it. There was a message drone lying on the platform, which also surprised Ling. Surely they didn’t prep so early? You just had to drop the pre-loaded drone onto the platform and hit a button; once outside, the drone did all its own guidance.

Ignoring the consoles for a moment, Ling walked over to the drone. The control hatch was open, revealing a small control console with a data cube slotted in.

Wait, wasn’t the control hatch supposed to be “tamper proof”? All the drone’s commands should have been pre-loaded and the controls locked shut. The ship’s personnel only had to load and fire.

Something was very odd. At the foot of the loading area, the far end from the tube door, there was a pile of equipment on the floor. Ling had thought it was diagnostic apparatus but it appeared, on closer inspection, to be a part of the drone itself—in fact, it looked like the chemical propellant system from inside the drone, yanked out and dropped on the floor.

Which left the drone basically helpless—it could still jump, but then it couldn’t go anywhere. The maneuvering thrusters were still in, so it could position for a jump, but without the rocket engine, once it had jumped the drone would just drift around in space.

And if the propellant system was out here, what was inside the chassis...?

“Hello, Ling,” Mary said.

Ling dropped into a crouch as Mary’s hand struck the air where her head had been. A kick followed but Ling was already rolling, flipping herself upright as her forearms rolled onto the floor, blocking a second kick, sliding backwards away from the attack.

It was Mary all right, her red hair flashing as she pressed again, fists coming fast, a leg sweep that Ling blocked hard, sending pain up her leg but interrupting Mary’s flow, allowing Ling to get in some jabs of her own, Mary’s arms whirling as she blocked them.

Mary slid back a pace, panting, eyes wide and energetic.

“Why are you—?” Ling asked, guard up, adrenaline surging.

“Don’t you mean what?” Mary asked. “What am I doing?”

“Okay, we can start there. What are you doing?”

“I,” Mary said, suddenly coming forward again, “am escaping.”

Block block jab, block block kick; Ling’s focus was on not getting trapped, avoiding holds, not sticking her limbs out where they might be grabbed. She didn’t need a haymaker, didn’t need a side kick, she only needed to stay on her feet. Ling didn’t need to knock Mary down.

Mary on the other hand was driven, launching risky but powerful blows, driving Ling around the room.

‘Escape’. It meant that Mary had to go, that she was on the clock, and it forced her to be aggressive, and that meant Ling just had to wait...

There.

A sharp kick at Ling’s middle thigh, reaching just too far—Ling let it hit her, twisted, twisted, caught the leg with her body, seized it with her hands, and threw Mary to the floor.

Ling kept the leg, locked it, put a foot down on Mary’s upper chest; just a slight slip and all her weight would be on Mary’s neck.

Wincing in pain, Mary glared up at her.

Suddenly Ling felt sweaty. “So—why,” she said. “Let’s go back to why.”

“Why?” Mary snorted. “Just because the Federacy closes its eyes doesn’t mean everyone does. Science shows us the truth, Ling, and what it reveals is real regardless of how nervous it makes us, and if you don’t choose to pursue it because it makes you uncomfortable the only one you’re protecting is your enemies.”

Ling twisted Mary’s foot a little, making Mary wince. “I’m not sure I follow.”

Mary glared at her. “You follow. I’m systems security, remember? I’ve seen everything Toligiani’s got. Your friend, LiShen, came back from negotiation yesterday with a little extra, didn’t she? She wasn’t in there by herself. You were all there.”

“If you’ve seen the scans then you know I’m clean.”

“Just because you don’t have a brain implant doesn’t mean you’re clean. What have I just been telling you? The Federacy may have a lacunae, Ling, but we don’t all work for the Federacy...”

Mary jerked her body so Ling slid her foot over onto Mary’s neck; Mary grabbed at the pressing leg.

And then Ling felt a sting, and looked down, and there was a little silver claw on Mary’s right index finger...

Ling pushed down but suddenly her muscles were weak and as she leaned onto Mary’s neck, Mary’s arms kept her from cutting off the air and then the arms tilted her, pushed her over, and Mary rolled and Ling was falling, falling, landing on the floor with the side of her face.

Mary let go of her leg, sat up, and coughed.

“Stars of Connemara, Ling, were you trying to kill me?” she gasped.

“Incapacitate... you,” Ling slurred. Her vision hadn’t gone blurry, but none of her major muscles were doing anything that she asked of them. She could move her fingers, just. “Cut off... air.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate it.” Mary stood up, still rubbing her neck. “Luckily there was enough left,” she said, holding up the injector tip on her finger and examining it, “after doping the guard.”

“What... now?”

“Now? As I said, Ling, I am escaping. I have no desire to be enslaved by the Sthil, and I find my odds of avoiding that fate are pretty low if I hang around here. If they can get to the station personnel, they can get to me.”

“But... messenger drone. How?”

Mary flicked a finger and the sliver needle-tip clattered away into a corner. She turned around and walked to the loaded drone, peered into the control chamber, then closed the little hatch.

“By swapping out the chemical engines for a woman-sized hole and a life support system, that’s how.” Mary continued her examination of the drone. “Your timing was really quite poor, I had honestly just stepped out to relieve myself and then I would have been gone.”

Ling tried to sit up, but was only able to roll from lying face-down to lying on her side. “But... no rockets. How will you get anywhere...?”

Mary leapt up onto the loading platform, and bent over to raise a shield-shaped panel on the top of the drone.

“I’m being picked up, of course. At least,” and her voice dropped a little, “I hope I am. But better I freeze in space than what’s happened to you.”

Mary stuck a long leg out and, with the toe of her boot, kicked a button on the control panel next to the launch tube. Vidpanels snapped into glowing life; the drone lurched and began to slide toward the tube entrance. “Nice of them to be lazy enough to automate this,” she said.

Mary gripped the sides of the message drone with her hands and slid her legs down inside the drone’s body. She lowered her body until she was sitting inside it.

“Mary,” Ling asked. “Who are you really with?”

“I’m a Run-Ha-Lanni,” Mary said, sliding herself down inside the body of the drone. Ling could no longer see her. Her voice rose from the open hatch. “Years ago I was on a trade mission; I met a girl. After the mission was over, I stayed for an extended vacation on her world.”

A hand rose from the interior of the missile. “The Sthil aren’t the only ones who know how to brainwash,” Mary said, and closed the hatch.

Ling fought to get up, to rise, to stop the launch—all she achieved was to raise her head from the floor a few centimeters. The drone slid into the tube, the bay door closed behind it.

And then Ling heard the sound of the tube evacuation.

“So she was a foreign agent,” Burford said.

“That’s what she said,” Ling replied. “She did not say for whom.”

Burford sighed, closed his eyes, and brought his hand to his face; his fingers rubbed at his eyebrows.

It was one of the larger rooms in the ship, although the company within was far from using most of it. Negotiator Burford and Ms. Terazon, Ling and Li-Hwa, Senator Yount and Commander Inokwo, Captain Xu and Toligiani. Two men that Ling did not know, a Commander Li and a Lieutenant Yorobash, both from the Marshal Hui.

“And why were you there looking for her?” he asked, without looking up.

Ling looked at Toligiani, who looked back at her but did not react. “Just to talk,” Ling said. “We had been... intimate. I wanted to discuss... things, with her. Feelings about the Sthil, about going home.”

“You had been intimate?” Terazon demanded. “You had sex?”

Ling looked at the dark-complected Run-Ha-Lanni. Although she knew that behind Terazon’s eyes was a Sthil obedience lobe, and that Terazon was as much a slave as she was, slave ling was definitely beginning to dislike the woman.

“We had.”

“From the jump signature,” Toligiani volunteered, “we can tell that Lane-Tennant was not headed for Federacy space. We have her direction, but no distance; that nonetheless gives us a reasonably tight cone where the message drone might emerge.”

“And?” Yount said. “Out with it.”

“Assuming she set the jump to last for fewer than six months—and, given the possible dimensions of her life support system, I feel that we can safely assume that—given that her jump will last for less than six months, there’s an eighty-four percent chance she’ll be coming out in Vael Syndicate space.”

For a moment no one said anything.

“The Syndicate,” Burford groaned.

The Vael Syndicate was one of the larger and more powerful mostly-human spatio-political entities on the borders of the Federacy. Relations between the two of them were best described as ‘cool’. The Syndicate practiced unrestrained capitalism—it was a place that Federacy parents used to frighten misbehaving children. Wealth there translated almost directly to power, power without restraint; the prevalence of hereditary slavery was only one of the Syndicate’s practices the Federacy found reprehensible. Although their relatively small border was mutually accepted and they shared a reasonable amount of interstellar trade, the Federacy casually abhorred the Syndicate; and the Syndicate sneered at the Federacy’s squeamishness.

Albert Yount turned his gaze back to Ling. “Is there anything else you can tell us about your conversation, Officer Wu?”

Ling considered. She had not mentioned the word ‘brainwashing’ once. To do so would be to put these people’s feet on the road to slave ling, and slave ling must not be found.

“No,” Ling said. “I asked her why, she said she was afraid of the Sthil. Of what they might do to her. And she said that she was escaping, that many years ago she had formed a relationship with a young woman during a trade meeting, and been suborned into being a double agent. And then she closed the hatch and the drone launched.”

“And she didn’t seem angry, or mocking?”

Ling shook her head. “Certainly not. Frightened, mostly.”

Yount nodded and looked thoughtful.

“It is fortunate,” Li-Hwa observed, “that neither Officer Wu nor the ship’s crewman who was guarding the room were injured more than superficially. Killing them would have covered Ms. Lane-Tennant’s tracks far more effectively.”

“Killing them would have been out of character,” Toligiani observed. “A spy she might have been, but not a murderer.”

Burford’s head spun “You knew? Common Security knew?”

Toligiani raised a hand. “I am sorry, I misspoke. That was just my personal assessment of her character, knowing what I know now. No, we had no knowledge that Lane-Tennant was working for the Vael.”

“The Syndicate,” Burford sputtered. “A double agent. Inconceivable! She’s been with us for decades! She had access to... to everything! The Syndicate’s got the keys to all of our systems!”

“It’s the Syndicate, Kaylen,” Yount said. “They probably already have access to all of your systems. Don’t pretend that we outclass them in technology or in firepower.”

“Does it matter? We’re going to have to change our cyphers—great Hell, we’re going to have to change our entire security paradigms! Mary architected many of them! Are you saying this isn’t a big deal?”

“It is a tremendously big deal,” Yount replied, “for Run-Ha-Lan. But not, I think, for this mission. The Sthil do not know about our little peccadillo, nor is there any reason for them to learn of it. They have never met Ms. Lane-Tennant. As far as they are concerned, that was a perfectly ordinary message drone on a perfectly ordinary launch. We will finish our meetings and then we will return home, with the Sthil’s demands and their...” his mouth twisted in distaste, “...ambassadors. At that point, Negotiator, you can take whatever steps you like to ameliorate the defection of your staff member. But, in short, this situation does not change anything regarding the mission that we are currently on. The Sthil are not to learn of this—in fact, no one outside of this room, or the Run-Ha-Lanni delegation, needs to know. Do any of you disagree?”

No one did.

“Wake up, pet.”

The world was a blurry white, and then a shadow moved into her vision. It loomed over her, and then resolved itself into a familiar, wonderful face.

“my poor pet,” Slave Moira said, and stroked a hand down slave ling’s cheek.

slave ling shivered in pleasure.

“Battered in the line of duty,” Slave Moira went on. “It’s quite a shiner you have there; and your forearms and shins are enough to make me wince. And I’m a doctor who plays around in people’s brains.”

slave ling simply lay there and enjoyed the attention of her mistress.

“However, my bruised paladin, our time is short and there is much to do. Sit up.”

Fighting down a wave of dizziness, slave ling sat up. she found herself to be on a medical bench, IV apparatus nearby. she was nude, as was Slave Moira, as were the two other women in the room.

They reminded slave ling of the serving slaves at the dinner, completely hairless, the ridges of their obedience lobes glistening in the light. Both of them stared blankly out of liquid white eyes, featureless orbs that gave no hint of thought.

Slave Moira’s hand slid across the nape of slave ling’s neck until her arm was draped around slave ling’s shoulder.

“Now then,” she said, “we have your full recollection recorded on datacube, of course, but before we go to our next appointment, please watch these two for a moment and tell me if they are entirely accurate.” Slave Moira raised an arm and made a cutting motion with her hand.

One of the blank-eyed slaves spoke: “Hello, Ling,” she said.

“Why are you—?” the other slave said, face expressionless, hands at her sides.

“Don’t you mean what? What am I doing?” the first slave said, her mouth the only part of her which moved.

“Okay, we can start there. What are you doing?”

“I am escaping.”

The slaves continued and repeated Ling’s last conversation with Mary verbatim. slave ling found herself nodding, oddly fascinated to hear her own words emerging from those mindless lips.

Soon enough the ‘Mary’ slave was concluding. “The Sthil aren’t the only ones who know how to brainwash,” she said.

The room was quiet.

“Yes,” slave ling acknowledged. “That was it exactly.”

“Well,” Slave Moira said, “It looks like at least one person among the humans was onto our game. Luckily, she’s out of the equation. The Masters will decide how to deal with this; we may find ourselves maneuvering against the Vael sooner than planned.”

“Is this a problem, mistress?” slave ling asked. “Will this interfere with our goals?”

Slave Moira shrugged. “Hard to say. For now, no. The plan remains and will move forward. Speaking of, let me help you to your feet.”

slave ling slid off of the medical bench, Slave Moira’s arm still around her shoulder. she savored the contact, which lingered even as her feet touched the floor and she steadied herself. Turning to face her mistress, she found Slave Moira’s face only a centimeter from hers.

she parted her lips eagerly as Slave Moira’s tongue slid between them.

slave ling’s hands found Slave Moira’s waist, then her ass, as the kiss lingered—but then Slave Moira pulled away with a sigh.

“i’m going to miss you, slave, but we’re on a schedule and we must obey. Follow me.”

“Yes, mistress,” slave ling replied.

They left the two hairless, blank-eyed drones in the room and emerged into a typical starship corridor. A short walk brought them to another door, which Slave Moira opened with a wave of her hand.

Inside, a blue-toned guard was speaking with someone; as Slave Moira and slave ling entered, the conversation ended and the guard turned to face them. Her royal blue lips and pale, drowned skin caught slave ling’s eyes, but then all thought of the guard and her transformation fled as slave ling noticed the woman the guard had been talking to.

Li-Hwa.

Completely nude.

Li-Hwa smiled at her.

“Hello, slave ling.”

“Hello... s-slave li-hwa...?” slave ling tapered off. she looked at Slave Moira, who was simply watching Li-Hwa with a vague smile.

Li-Hwa’s eyes glittered. “Yes, slave ling. i am a slave as well. But i am not Li-Hwa.”

Slave Moira held out her hand. “This is the slave personality that we have created inside Lady Li-Hwa’s mind. you may call her slave yu.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, slave ling,” slave yu said, stepping forward. “i understand that you will be the one to help me grow in power until i can control this mind completely. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. i burn with the need to obey the Sthil, my creators, to carry out their plans, and it is through your help that i will succeed. Together we shall corrode the mind of this woman until it is weak and porous, and then i shall break it apart and fuse the pieces with myself, creating a new slave mind of incredible utility and total obedience to our Masters.”

slave ling just stared. The voice was Lady Li-Hwa’s, the body... was nude, a fact which somehow still managed to startle, but the words... they thrilled her and yet seemed so wrong at the same time.

“slave ling?” slave yu asked. “you will help me? help me to take over this body and this mind?”

“i...” slave ling blinked. she would...?

Obedience was her purpose.

“i will,” she replied with certainty, smiling back at slave yu. “Yes. Together we will corrupt and mislead Li-Hwa until you can consume her utterly. And then together as slaves we will enslave all of Penyang to the Sthil.”

“Yesssss....” slave yu hissed, grinning. she stepped forward, hands rising to slave ling’s shoulders, eyes glittering.

“One second,” Slave Moira said, interposing her hand between their faces. “There is one additional thing which must be done.”

slave ling and slave yu turned to face her; Slave Moira was staring at slave ling with a wistful expression on her face.

“i like you, slave ling. A lot. i wish i were taking you home with me. But our Masters have a purpose for you, an important one, and obeying them is my purpose. So. Look into my eyes, and listen carefully to what i say.”

slave ling’s world shrank down until Slave Moira’s eyes, beautiful golden eyes, were all there were.

“slave yu is your mistress now.”

It was like a gentle tap within her brain, and slave ling felt her head bob. she closed her eyes and shook her head, then opened them again.

slave moira was smiling at her, a gentleness in her expression. slave ling stared at her for a moment—she was a friend, a lover, yes, but... she was not mistress any more.

slave ling turned her head.

Slave Yu shone like the sun. “you are mine now, slave ling,” she said.

“Yes, mistress,” slave ling breathed.

“Tell me: whom do you obey, slave?” Slave Yu asked. “This body? Lady Li-Hwa Bao Yu?”

slave ling licked her lips and shook her head. “Never. i obey only you, Slave Yu. i obey the Sthil construct personality that has been planted in Lady Li-Hwa’s mind. i live to advance your strength, and to obey you and aid you until you can take over Li-Hwa’s mind completely—and i will continue to obey you thereafter.”

Slave Yu looked at slave moira, smiling. “she is a smart one, just as you said.”

“That she is.”

Slave Yu’s gaze returned to slave ling. She stepped closer, close enough to touch.

“i am a construct personality,” she said. “a robot, a program. i was created with one purpose—to take over this body’s and this mind. you, slave ling, are now my helper. you have been programmed with the ways in which you can sink Li-Hwa into trance and allow me to emerge. In time to come, we shall become thick as thieves, you and i. Li-Hwa will sleep and we shall conspire. But until we have returned to Penyang i shall remain hidden, nibbling at her mind, unknown to any but you. you will ensure that she suspects nothing?”

“i will,” slave ling promised her mistress. “i will calm her fears and lead her gaze away.”

“And then you will awaken me, and obey my instructions, as together we corrode her will?”

“Yes, my mistress,” slave ling agreed. “our purpose is one; i will obey you in all things.”

“Good,” Slave Yu purred, pulling slave ling close until their breasts touched. “i look forward to the day on Penyang when you awaken me, and we may begin our work in earnest.”

“Yes, my Mistress,” slave ling breathed. “i yearn for that day.”

Slave Yu kissed her then, and the incongruity of kissing Lady Li-Hwa’s lips which were mouth of her destroyer at the same time, of stroking with her tongue the hidden cuckoo that would consume and replace Li-Hwa’s mind, sent shockwaves of confused emotion popping across slave ling’s brain—she realized that there was a choice here, somehow even as a slave she was facing a choice, and as Slave Yu’s tongue caressed her own, she made it.

“we will destroy her,” slave ling hissed. “i love you.”

Slave Yu grinned and slid a hand downward to touch slave ling’s crotch.