Ira was strapped to the chair, lights strobing, whispers coming out of every corner that he couldn’t quite make out. He knew what they were saying, this brainwashing had been planned beforehand and agreed to, but in the moment this was hard to remember. The goal was to force so much experience on him that his mind would buckle under the pressure, conform to the will of his brainwasher.

Of course, the will of his brainwasher was a bit unusual. brian didn’t want Ira under its control, to be more compliant, or to enjoy having horrors inflicted upon him; brian wanted Ira to be more domineering, crueler, more sadistic, and to feel less—ideally no—guilt over inflicting on brian whatever his capricious whim decided. The first time they had done this it had been involuntary, brian had been so distressed over Ira’s insistence on treating it like a person that it had broken out of its programming. Since then, routine brainwashing had, eventually, become a normal feature of life. Ira’s guilt and shame over what he did to brian, and more importantly over what he wanted to do to brian, had a tendency to grow back if not nipped in the bud. When that happened, Ira started to think of brian as a person, brian found it harder and harder to remain in compliance (brian wanted to be in compliance), and Ira couldn’t fully exercise His sadistic desires. The fact that brian wanted Ira to fully exercise His sadistic desires sometimes confused him, but brainwashing had helped with that as well.

The brainwashing wasn’t unpleasant, either. Right now brian was sucking His cock with gusto, its own dick hard but unattended to. It’d been awhile since brian’s last orgasm, and of course there was always the the threat that its last orgasm might be its last orgasm, but even here, in the one situation where it theoretically had power over Ira, brian’s attention was devoted exclusively to Him.

Ira came and brian came off His cock and raised its head to Ira’s; they kissed briefly. brian lowered itself to its hands and knees and slowly backed away from Ira, its gaze down. After it had gone a few feet, it brought itself to a kneeling position, gaze still focused on the floor and dick still hard.

The voices got louder and Ira could make them out. “brian is Yours,” they said. “it exists only to serve and service You and You are free to do with it as You will. This is not unjust or unfair, this is what You want, this is what brian wants. You can use and fuck and hurt it to Your heart’s content and brian will never complain. brian will never complain because it wants You to use and fuck and hurt it. That is why it exists…”

brian looked up at Ira. “Please, Ira,” it begged, the words almost inaudible over the voices. “Please use use me, please fuck me, please hurt me.” its eyes watered. “i need it, but even if i didn’t, it would be Your right to do with me as You wish. Please.”

brian was not supposed to have moods, but brian was in a good mood right now. its Boyfriend was being reminded of His place and in the process affirming brian’s. its Boyfriend’s place was, of course, infinitely above brian’s, and that was as it should be. The complete lack of control over what it did and who it was was compliance. brian wanted to be in compliance.

brian’s feet and legs were asleep from its long kneeling in front of its Boyfriend. This was also compliance and it made its Boyfriend happy when brian suffered for Him. brian wanted its Boyfriend to be happy.

The voices faded away and the lights stopped strobing. brian genuflected before its Boyfriend and then crawled towards Him, its legs and feet full of too many pins and needles to stand up. brian unbuckled the straps around its Boyfriend’s arms, legs, torso, and head, and then prostrated itself before Him.

There was no consistency to its Boyfriend’s actions once He had finished a brainwashing session. Sometimes He’d hurt brian until it screamed; sometimes they’d have tender, loving sex; sometimes He just left brian prostrating before an empty chair and did something unseen by brian. Three months ago He’d left brian prostrated before His chair until brian pissed itself, and then punished it for its lack of self-control by whipping it until it screamed and begged for mercy (which had not been forthcoming). This was good. brian had been out of compliance. Punishment helped it learn to better control itself. Self-control was compliance. brian wanted to be in compliance. But whatever its Boyfriend had planned was interrupted by a knock on the door. brian and its Boyfriend were both naked, and its Boyfriend hurried to put on some clothes before He opened the door; brian was always naked in their apartment unless its Boyfriend ordered otherwise.

“Hello,” He said to the unknown, unseen visitor. “Can I help you?”

The voice that responded was a man’s, sympathetic and somber. “I regret to inform you that Adria Marsh was in a car accident last night. She didn’t make it.”

This was entirely out of compliance. Adria Marsh was its Boyfriend’s therapist and He liked her. Her death would make Him unhappy. The situation was entirely unacceptable, but brian didn’t think it could do anything about it.

“Baruch dayan ha-emet,” its Boyfriend whispered. “Thank you for telling me, I didn’t think clients usually got personal visits for this sort of thing.”

“They don’t, but there’s special circumstances,” the voice said. “You were named as a beneficiary in her will.”

“What?”

“She left you her drone.”

The man stepped back to reveal Chloe, Dr. Marsh’s granddaughter and drone. Ira stared at her. What was he supposed to do with another drone?

“It comes with a small monthly stipend for its food and clothing, assuming you want it to wear clothing. If you’ll just sign here please,” the man said, holding out a clipboard.

Ira had seen documents like this a few times, and had signed one once before, when he bought brian. Numbly, he took the pen the man offered, skimmed over the document, and signed. The moment his pen left the page, Chloe sank to its knees and brought its forehead to the ground.

“The fuck?” said Ira. But it made sense. brian and Chloe were friends and of course brian had told it all the various protocols and rituals they’d developed. Chloe was only doing what brian would be expected to do in this circumstance. Except Chloe wasn’t brian and the woman prostrated before him wasn’t someone he’d ever expected or wanted submission from.

The man was still talking, but Ira barely heard him. He unthinkingly signed some more documents, then told Chloe to stand up and come in.

As soon as Ira closed the door, Chloe stripped out of its clothes. That was in compliance when brian did it; it was generally only ever allowed to wear clothes when it left the apartment. But he hadn’t asked Chloe to strip, and didn’t need to apparently. It knew the rules.

The drone called Chloe looked at its Controller’s feet. The drone was not supposed to be glad, but it was glad the drone called brian had long ago told it what compliance meant to Him. Compliance would make Him happy. The only things the drone wanted were to be in compliance and for its Controller to be happy. The drone stood and waited for instructions.

“Um, Chloe, could you please put your clothes back on?” its Controller asked. Its Controller asked! That was not in compliance. The drone should never be asked to do anything. It should be ordered and it should comply with those orders.

The drone calculated an 87.34% probability that putting its clothes back on would make its Controller happy, and did so. The drone should not have needed to calculate that! But its Controller hadn’t given it an order, so the drone was left to guess as to what was and wasn’t compliance. The drone called brian wasn’t wearing clothes and the drone called Chloe didn’t understand why its Controller wanted it dressed. For the drone called brian, being naked was in compliance. The drone was not supposed to be confused, but it was confused. Why was compliance different for this drone?

“brian, you should probably put something on too. Go to our room and dress yourself.”

The drone called brian genuflected before its Boyfriend—was the drone called Chloe also supposed to think of its Controller as its Boyfriend?—stood, and backed out of the room. It came back moments later wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

The drone was not supposed to be confused, but it was confused. The drone called brian had been very explicit when it told the drone called Chloe what compliance meant to its Boyfriend. Why had the drone called brian been ordered to dress? Were they going to go out somewhere? The drone calculated a 73.73% probability that they were not.

The drone’s Controller sat down in an armchair and the drone called brian immediately knelt in front of Him. The drone called Chloe did likewise, hoping this was compliance, but having no idea how to calculate the probability with this strange Person who was upending three years’ worth of compliance protocols for no apparent reason.

“Um, right,” its Controller said. “First of all, Chloe, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

The drone was not certain what its Controller meant, but it calculated a 60.37% probability that He was referring to its Grandmother. The drone was not supposed to be distressed, but it had been deeply distressed to learn its Grandmother had died. That distress had been noncompliance and it had effectively suppressed it.

“Apparently your other possessions will be delivered in a day or two, but I can buy you some more clothes while we wait for that; I assume you don’t want to stay in that for the next few days?”

Days? Days? The drone had not been ordered to speak, but it had to say something. “Why is wearing clothes in compliance?” it asked. “The drone called brian does not wear clothes and that is in compliance for it.”

The drone’s Controller put His head in His hands. “Of course, I should’ve expected this,” He said. “Chloe, you’re not brian. I’m not going to treat you like brian. If you want to help brian with the chores, that’s fine, but I’m not going to treat you like my personal fucktoy!”

The drone called Chloe didn’t want anything except to be in compliance and for its Controller to be happy. It had failed to calculate the probability that its Controller would want to treat it exactly like the drone called brian. That had not been in compliance. Should the drone report its noncompliance? The drone attempted to calculate the probability that reporting its noncompliance would make its Controller happy, but the margin of error was too large. The drone was failing basic protocols. The drone was not in compliance! The drone would only become more out of compliance if it did not address the issue. The drone wanted to be in compliance.

“This drone is not in compliance,” it said. “It did not calculate the probability that its Controller would want to treat it like the drone called brian and its attempts to calculate probabilities regarding its Controller’s happiness have failed. This drone must be punished.” Being punished would help the drone to be in compliance.

The drone’s Controller stood up and threw up His hands. “I can’t deal with this!” he said. “I’m going for a walk. Stay here until I get back.” He stormed out of the apartment.

brian was not supposed to feel distress but it was distressed. Dr. Marsh’s death had been horribly noncompliant. Acquiring a new drone, it thought, could be in compliance, but clearly Chloe’s presence was not making its Boyfriend happy. brian wanted its Boyfriend to be happy.

brian was also having difficulty calculating probabilities. it did not know why its Boyfriend was distressed by Chloe’s presence. Did it remind Him of Dr. Marsh’s death? brian attempted to calculate the probability that that was the cause of its Boyfriend’s distress, but there was insufficient data. Another possibility was Chloe’s attempts at compliance had upset Him. That was what its Boyfriend had said, but that made no sense. Why wouldn’t it be in compliance for Chloe to be naked. Why was brian clothed? And why didn’t its Boyfriend want to use Chloe as a fucktoy? brian had been used as a fucktoy for years; using it as a fucktoy made its Boyfriend happy. An additional fucktoy should, brian reasoned, be a source for more happiness, but that was clearly not the case.

It turned to Chloe, “Observation: i do not know why my Boyfriend is in distress. This is noncompliance.”

Chloe nodded. “Observation: Chloe is also in noncompliance and does not know why. Chloe is not supposed to feel distress, but it is distressed.”

“Query: has Chloe speculated as to why its Controller does not want it to follow the same compliance protocols as brian?”

“Response: Chloe has attempted to, but the attempts have failed. Chloe’s Controller’s behavior is irrational. Irrationality is not in compliance. Chloe’s Controller is not in compliance.”

“Agreed. Observation: my Boyfriend has been in compliance for some time. Speculation: Chloe’s presence is causing noncompliance.”

“Query: what course of action do you recommend to correct this?”

“Response: in the past noncompliance has been corrected with brainwashing, but in that case i knew what my Boyfriend wanted and simply removed His mental barriers to treating me like a drone. i do not know what He wants to do with Chloe.”

“Observation: the easiest course of action would be for Chloe to adopt the same protocols as brian. This has been rejected. Chloe does not know why.”

“Agreed. Chloe and brian having the same protocols is the logical option and should be in compliance, but it is not. Observation: Chloe is not in compliance.”

“Speculation: compliance may not be possible.”

“Premise rejected. Compliance must be maintained. The alternative is unacceptable.”

“Query: do you know how to maintain compliance?”

“Response: no. Suggestion: drones that are in permanent noncompliance can enter standby mode until they are repaired or discarded. Chloe and i should enter standby mode.”

“Agreed. Chloe is entering standby mode.”

“i am, too.”