The world seemed hazy, colors blurring together in a slow, spinning motion that was making her dizzy. The environment snapped into focus, lines sharpening until they delineated a bizarre sight.

She was standing in the middle of a colored plain, a nexus of pipes painted gunboat gray in the center of her field of view. The pipes extended off into the distance in both directions, the snaking edifice narrowing into distant, indistinguishable blobs. The sky was variegated, streaks of dour purple interspersed with striking red hues.

If the strange landscape hadn’t been sufficient to tell her that this was yet another dream, the figures laboring in front of her were. More drones dressed in yellow were standing next to the pipes, some of them stationary, some using silvery tools. They looked out of place, ladies in fetish clothing doing plumbing.

Looking closer, she noticed that one of the pipes appeared to be leaking, a purple substance oozing from an elbow joint. There were several slaves standing in the shallow pool formed by the leak. They appeared lethargic, their movements slow, a few of them more interested in groping their breasts than in patching the hole.

Their attention was not on the task at hand, their music slow and without strong cohesion. She pressed her pierced lips together, displeased with their lack of harmony. It was necessary to rectify this situation.

Her red rubber hands moved, twisting a knob on a device she held. The box was pistol shaped, with various levers and dials dotting the surface. A display on the top showed a square wave that increased in frequency as her hands adjusted the machine.

Satisfied, she aimed at the flagging drones and pulled the trigger. A purple field extended from the device in an arc, the air tingling with strange power.

The effect was dramatic, the distant drones perking up. They stopped pleasuring themselves and retrieved their tools, the slime from the pipes ignored as it dripped from their shapely, heeled boots. Their musical equilibrium restored, they began to work together to repair the leak.

Satisfied, Suzy let go of the trigger, supervising the drones to make sure that they wouldn’t lag behind again. As she watched, she clicked her tongue piercing against the roof of her mouth, enjoying the frisson of excitement that wound its way through her chest.

A gentle tingle of pleasure in her pussy made her happy. She was pleased that she was serving Hive. Everything was well with the world, the music balanced and in control.

Or was it? There was a faint nagging feeling that something was wrong. There couldn’t possibly be, though, she had seen the problem and had fixed it. That was the end of it.

She strode closer to the slaves, balancing on her platform boots, her skintight latex outfit flexing deliciously against her skin. Her pleasure from the omnipresent stimulation waned, displaced by concern that there was a problem that she hadn’t yet detected with her cohort of drones.

She looked them over critically, pacing back and forth. All of them were bound in yellow rubber outfits, their individuality hid beneath shiny face masks and glowing purple eyes, breasts enhanced and thrust upwards by severe corsets. Their only discernible difference was various colored strands of long hair, streaming from the circular openings at the tops of their masks.

They took no notice of her investigation as they continued to work, their efforts at repairing the pipe slowly starting to bear fruit. The leak was about half as bad as when they had started, though the pool at their feet had now increased to about three times the depth. Everything appeared to be in order, no unknown variances or behavior interrupting their synchronized labor.

Wait, what was that drone at the back doing? It seemed to have averted its gaze.

She opened her mouth, a sound of command issuing forth, a clarion call no true slave could resist. The drone’s head snapped around. Instead of the blank mask she expected, this slave had a face that looked like hers.

Its mouth moved, foreign sounds issuing forth. “Who… are… you?” the strange apparition ground out, its heaving chest emphasizing every syllable.

Her utter certainty of her control of the situation came crashing down around her, replaced by a strange feeling of disassociation. She could still feel the contentment and belief in the supremacy of Hive, but it was separate from her conscious mind, and no longer controlled her thoughts as it once did.

What scared her down to her core was the fact that she had liked being an overseer. She wanted to be in charge, wanted to have drones obeying her without question. Taking direct control of that drone had made her sexually aroused, for goodness sake!

No, that couldn’t be right. These strange feelings must just be left over artifacts from her conversion. She couldn’t possibly be that kinky! Could she?

She had half convinced herself that she wasn’t interested in controlling the fetish drones, but a single festering thought embedded itself in the back of her mind.

If this was all coming from an external source, why were her innermost dreams being invaded? If this was coming from her own imagination, did that mean that these fetish scenes were being generated from her own deepest fantasies?

This turmoil drew her attention inwards, the actions of the drones merely a background noise while she fought with herself. When she regained enough equanimity to take notice of her surroundings, the strange drone with her face had mysteriously disappeared. The rest of the pack was still working on the pipe, the leak almost sealed.

It took her a moment to realize that she was no longer seeing the drones from the viewpoint of the overseer. Instead, her consciousness was levitating through the landscape next to the shiny, red figure. The overseer paid no attention to her, watching the drones with one fist clenching the control device.

A bolt of purple lightning split the sky, the flash blinding her as a fork split off and buzzed around like an army of angry bees. She blinked, trying to banish the severe afterimage that blurred her vision, annoyed that she was experiencing physical reflexes in a dream.

As the blurs faded, she spotted a figure in purple stepping down an invisible staircase that had spawned from the lightning’s tip. The statuesque lady lifted her arms like a queen, staring as if she owned the entire dreamscape. And, perhaps she did - this was unmistakably the dominating persona she had encountered multiple times.

Her heart rate increased, a fight or flight response taking hold, but she found herself unable to move. No longer connected to the scene around her, her consciousness was affixed to one spot.

She found herself in a shimmering spectral body, an electrical field humming in a restrictive circle around her. Unable to flee, she stood immobile, watching the purple spirit inevitably draw closer.

The world seemed to pulsate in time with the lady’s movements, the beats resounding to each graceful step. Her confident strut emphasized every skin tight curve of the shiny purple latex that covered her body.

Light sparkled from black buckles that ran up the front of her crotch length boots, seamlessly integrating into her purple rubber undergarments and underbust corset. Her arms swayed in time to the music, gloves hiding them from view. She was every inch the anonymous Queen of her domain.

As the entity approached closer, Suzy expected a formless face covered in molded latex, as in her previous dreams, but this time she was surprised to see flawless skin constrained inside a hood. Long, purple hair sprouted from the top in an arcing ponytail, dangling down her back. The color coordination was a bit over the top, she mused, trying to extract some humor from her impossible situation.

When the Queen came close enough, she stopped, one foot in front of the other. Putting her hands on her hips, she considered Suzy’s floating figure. The world’s music seemed to pause as she examined Suzy’s nonexistent body, a sudden, inexplicable pressure coming from the imposing presence.

“Ah, there you are, my dear. I’ve been looking all over for you, but every time I catch up, you simply vanish. I’m starting to feel like you don’t like me.”

This time Suzy held her tongue, feeling steadier than she had the last few days. This was just one more weird thing to add to the pile, no need to get worked up.

She didn’t really know what she wanted, but she knew one thing - she was getting really, really tired of being out of control, at the whim and mercy of other people. “Who are you?” she demanded, verging on impertinence.

The strange woman laughed heartily, tilting her head to give Suzy a more direct gaze. “There's still some fight in you yet. Good! That might make this easier for you in the long run.”

As the laughter petered out, the stranger fixed Suzy with a curious gaze. “I am you. Or not. I’m just a figment of your imagination, one of your strangest and farthest flung fantasies. Or maybe, just maybe, I’m your future.”

“That’s total crap,” said Suzy, dismissing the bold statements with more certainty than she felt. “I don’t know what you really are, but you’re not anywhere close to being even a shallow copy of me.”

This statement seemed to amuse the lady even more. “You’re quite right, I’m not even a shallow copy of you… yet. However, nobody knows what the future holds, do they?”

She stretched lazily in her rubber outfit, letting the slick costume show off all her best lines. She was stunning and she knew it.

“Just look at you, you’re a bundle of conflicting emotions. You can’t even decide which thoughts you’ve been enjoying the most recently - the obedient, slave thoughts, or the dominant, controlling ones. How much did you enjoy commanding those slaves over there just now?” She gestured to the drones that were almost finished with their repair work.

Suzy looked at her rebelliously. “What if I did like it? Just because I enjoy being in control doesn’t mean that I want to be controlled as part of a Hive. I'm not going to turn into you, whatever you are.”

The apparition stared at Suzy. “All slaves are obedient, better slaves collaborate, but the best slaves aren’t slaves at all. They’re complicit, making sure nobody ever wants to leave.”

She ran a sharp, red tongue over her purple lips. “Which kind are you, I wonder? And how long can you afford to wait until you find out?”

Suzy tried to utter a denial, but her doppelganger pressed a purple finger firmly to Suzy’s lips, ignoring the crackling electrical field. “Shh, be quiet. Don’t be rude, I get to have the last word here.”

The figure clapped her rubber coated hands together, and the dreamscape began to unravel at the seams, the surrounding environment bleeding away into inky blackness.

“If I were you, which I may or may not be, I would think about what you really want before an outside entity enforces its will upon you. If you truly believe that it’s already too late to do anything, it will be. Your fate is entirely up to you.”

Her last words floated through the deteriorating landscape, until everything suddenly vanished.

***

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The alarm blasted right next to her head, blowing away any chance of introspection into her strange dreams. She sat up, a blind panic running through her mind, overwhelming everything else - she was late for work!

Her body ran like an automaton as she went through her morning activities, unable to concentrate on anything but getting out the door as quickly as possible. Even so, she still did her best to hide her rubber garments under her normal clothing, anxiety at showing too much of the shiny material in public overriding the overall imperative.

It felt strange to hide her new latex gloves under driving gloves, but it was the only way to pretend that she wasn’t completely helpless to remove them.

It wasn’t until she had stepped into the office that the urge to hurry faded, replaced by the slow, rhythmic hum of people at work. She wished to join them, but she noticed the clock on the wall. It was half past six. In the morning.

“What’s the matter, Suzy? You look confused!” The bubbly voice of Lainey lifted her out of her stupor.

Lainey looked ebullient as usual, her curvy form clothed in a turtleneck and skirt ensemble. In the rear cubicle Shiori worked diligently, paying no heed to Suzy’s arrival. The hum of the office whirred like a well oiled machine around them.

“Sorry Lainey, I’m just distracted,” apologized Suzy. “Good morning!” She peered at Lainey’s hands. “What’s that you’re wearing there?”

“I should ask you the same question!” Before Suzy could react, Lainey reached out and pulled off her driving gloves, revealing the shiny yellow latex hiding beneath. “Look, we’re a matching pair!” She beamed a wide smile at Suzy.

Startled, Suzy looked at Lainey’s hands. She too wore shiny yellow latex, the black Rankotech logo embossed on the backs of her hands. Nonplussed, she wondered why she should even be surprised - they had both taken packages home yesterday, after all.

“Cool!” she said, not really meaning it. She wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“It’s okay, I know you’re confused. You’re not quite ready for all this.” A faint hue of purple shone in her eyes. “I was confused for a while, too, but after I sat down and worked for a few hours, I started to fit in. You should do the same!”

A pulse of power reverberated through her body. Yes, that made sense. If she just listened to Lainey and lost herself in her work, everything would be fine.

“Thanks Lainey,” she murmured, slipping back into her chair and letting her concerns float away.

The headphones slid on effortlessly, dropping into place as if they belonged there. The screen lit, her jaw went slack, and her eyes unfocused. She began to type, the hiss of the headphones sinking deep into her brain. Pure bliss flooded her mind, the repetitive work taking away all of her fears and concerns.

***

The fog of intense concentration peeled back, returning her to consciousness. In a daze, she mechanically took off the headphones and set them on her desk.

The worries that had been gnawing at her came back to life. She was spending altogether too much time in front of a computer screen without even knowing what she was doing, or what it was doing to her. This could be a brainwashing reinforcement device, for all she knew, and she hadn’t even been attempting to resist its lure!

Why had she gone into work so quickly without even checking the time? It just didn’t make sense. Something about this place was changing her, making her do things she normally wouldn’t do.

It seemed, at least for the moment, that the office’s hold over her had waned. Maybe this was her chance to investigate, figure out what was really going on?

She looked around surreptitiously, checking to see what Lainey and Shiori were doing. If they noticed her sneaking out, there was sure to be trouble.

Shiori was working as before, her attention consumed by the glowing screen in front of her. That was strange - why had she been able to tear herself away when Shiori couldn’t?

That left Lainey. She was liking the girl more and more, but her vivacious personality made it extremely difficult for someone to escape unnoticed. She peered over her shoulder, eyes hooded. Sure enough, Lainey was working too.

Getting out of her chair, she started creeping towards the exit, when something shiny caught her eye. Lainey was wearing a pair of tall, glossy black, knee high boots.

The heels must have been several inches high, with thick, platform toes, shiny buckles running up the front. Inconspicuous zippers lined the interior of the boots for easy dressing. They looked like the type you’d wear to a club, not to the office. Why was Lainey wearing them here? And why did the sight of them send a thrill up her spine?

Her curiosity aroused, she leaned over to check out Shiori as well. Sure enough, her coworker was also wearing the same type of high heeled boots. She felt a little put out. If everybody else had been given kinky boots, where was her pair?

“They’re right over there,” said Lainey. She had turned from her computer screen, pointing near Suzy’s feet. “That’s what you were looking for, right?” Her eyes glowed with a purple hue.

Suzy wanted to say no, but that wasn’t true. She wanted, needed to put her feet into a pair of those boots. The desire had welled up inside her until it could no longer be denied. If she looked in the mirror right now, would her eyes glow purple too? Would she really care if they did?

Distracted from her original mission, she sat back down and ran her hands over the boots. The gloves she wore deadened sensations, but she still rejoiced at feeling the glossy surface. Yellow gloves juxtaposed with black boots, little worker bees in a large Hive.

“Here, let me,” said Lainey, lifting a boot from Suzy’s hands. She unzipped the side, peering at Suzy with a small smile. “You need to take your shoes off first, silly!”

Startled, Suzy dropped her hands to her feet and pulled off the flats she hadn’t even remembered putting on that morning. Lainey’s eyebrows rose, and Suzy stuck out a foot, allowing Lainey to glide the glossy boot up past her thighs until her heel was stuffed into the bottom.

As Lainey did up each buckle on the boot, her arousal increased, the sight of it clasping her leg jolting her clit. “Only one more to go!” Lainey announced, hefting the other boot in her hands.

Docile, Suzy watched with rapt attention as Lainey encased her other leg in another tall, glossy heel. Lainey zipped up the interior of the boot, turning Suzy’s legs into long, shiny black towers.

Seized by an unknown impulse, Suzy leaned in and kissed Lainey on the cheek. Immediately, her face flushed and she looked away. “S… sorry,” she murmured.

That was highly inappropriate! Where had that urge come from?

“No, no, it was my fault,” said Lainey quickly, going white. “I shouldn’t have been so forward. I… have a lot of work to do.”

Lainey retreated back to her desk, pretending to be busy, her short, sharp motions betraying the tenseness in her body.

Flummoxed, Suzy leaned back in her chair, trying to sort out her feelings. She didn’t even like women!

At least, she hadn’t in the past. Was this bizarre working environment changing her that much? An even more distressing thought nagged at her brain - would Lainey report this to Human Resources? Surely not!

As her mind spun in circles, her eyes drifted back to the workstation’s monitor, the Rankotech logo drawing her attention. Her fingers slid onto the keyboard, activating the display. There was more work waiting to be completed. Always more work.

Her thunderous thoughts started to calm as she typed, the muted display drawing away irrelevant concerns. Soon, without noticing, she had slipped the headphones back on and fell into a working trance, the beat of Hive pounding like a steady drum in her brain.

The tempo increased, her fingers humming along with it. All thought had vanished, blank eyes staring at the numbers as they flowed past her vacant gaze. In tune with the music, she barely noticed as the day flew by, the fascinating screen holding her rapt attention.

It was over soon enough, however, the imperative of Hive relaxing its iron grip at last. She blinked, her eyes dry from the intense work. Peeking over at Lainey’s workstation, she was embarrassed at the relief she felt when she saw that her co-worker was still deeply held within Hive’s grip.

She put down her headphones and stood up, balancing on the new heels. They already felt as though they were a part of her, comfortable and sexy with their glossy sheen.

“Goodbye!” she said softly, unwilling to disrupt Lainey’s work. It was time to go home and consider her options, which were becoming rather limited.

***

Another package was waiting at her front door. It shouldn’t have been unexpected, given the last few days, but Suzy was still surprised. She was already encased in Rankotech rubber that couldn’t be removed - what else could they possibly be sending her?

Bending over, she picked up the package with a rubber coated hand, balancing on her heels. Sure enough, it was addressed to her from Rankotech, another unassuming package likely containing further addictive clothing.

She was somewhat bemused, as she knew that she was in far too deep to stop now. Her breasts and thighs tingled, the fetish rubber clothing rewarding her for her obedience. If she listened, she could hear the soft throbbing of Hive synchronized with the erotic sensations.

She shook herself from her reverie, knowing that it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge. She was too excited to see what was in the package to be distracted, even though it would be so much easier to sink into the sensations and let them carry her away to another orgasm.

No, that would never do. She frowned, annoyed by the delightful distractions. “Quiet down!” she ordered, feeling silly about ordering inanimate objects to leave her alone.

To her surprise, the clothing obeyed, settling down. “Hmm, this has promise,” she murmured to herself.

Thinking, she ordered her bra to begin vibrating. When her breasts started buzzing in a pleasing fashion, she quickly ordered it to stop again. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge with her underwear acting like a vibrator!

Suddenly eager to see what was in the package and to complete her kinky ensemble, she fumbled for the scissors she had left out the previous day, tearing into the packaging. As expected, another piece of paper was included, the Rankotech logo printed boldly at the top. The contours were soothing, the logo’s pattern fitting comfortably into her psyche.

This time, the blocky letters spelled out: “ARE YOU OBEYING OR CONTROLLING?”

Suzy considered this statement for a few moments, confused. Was she obeying?

She liked the erotic aspects of Hive, she truly did, but she wasn’t sure about how far she’d actually go. How deep would she sink into the persona Hive was building for her?

Or was she the one building the persona for Hive? Did she feel comfortable being in command of the situation? It was hard for her to differentiate between the two, both possible futures blurring together equally.

Discarding the paper, she dug into the bundle at the bottom of the box, two black plastic bags soon spilling out their slippery contents. The item in the smaller bag folded out into a yellow latex shirt, containing pouches for her breasts, as well as a bold Rankotech logo in the upper right corner.

The other was a strict black corset, with steel boning. There was no logo here, but with the multitude already adorning her body, it hardly mattered. She was slowly being turned into an object, less and less human.

Eager to try on her new garments, she stripped out of her blouse and skirt, revealing the shiny latex beneath. Big, black Rankotech R’s proclaimed ownership all over her body.

It was hard, but she forced herself to stop admiring their sweeping curves. If she allowed herself to fixate on them, she probably wouldn’t come back to herself for hours.

The shirt had been pre-oiled, the zip at the front making it quite simple to pull over her head. She shook with excitement, pushing one arm, then the other into both sleeves of the garment. Her breasts slipped naturally into the cups, embraced with a perfect fit.

She smoothed out both arms, pulling the ends of her rubber gloves over the sleeves. The two of them mated seamlessly, making them one. All that was left was to zip up the front zipper, enveloping her entire upper body in shiny, yellow luxury.

It was almost too much to bear, her breasts pushed up and out, emphasizing their fullness. She could feel tiny nubs inside the cups that gripped her flesh. A large, black ‘R’ logo sat in place of honor at the center of her chest, the tight glossiness making her look like some sort of fetish superhero.

The physical sensations were close to pushing her over the edge, but she remained in control - she wasn’t quite done yet! Taking the pre-laced corset in her hands, she wrapped it around her waist and methodically did up the front until it clasped her midsection tightly in a warm embrace.

Now, finally, she was complete, her body wrapped in corporate splendor.

Her excitement was soon replaced with curiosity. Just how much fine control did she have over the outfit? What would happen if she fantasized about having just one nipple tickled?

She gasped, lust increasing as her right nipple was rubbed and tugged ever so gently. Mmm, that felt good! And what if both breasts were being sucked on instead?

The tickling was replaced by a gentle suckling motion, relentless stimulation of her sensitive nubs. Her face suffused with pleasure, she reached down to massage a breast, the other heading for her core. With the amount of pleasure rolling through her body, it wouldn’t take long for her to climax, and she wanted to savor every drop.

Her fingers penetrated her vagina, her warm lips pulsing in time to the vibrations of her breasts. She matched the rhythm of the pleasure, synchronizing her efforts with the pulse of Hive. She wanted more!

Her entire outfit came alive, squeezing and caressing, rolling over her trembling form. Her eyes flashed purple as she jammed her fingers deeper into her snatch, letting the beat flow through her, into her, opening up everything she was to the majesty of Hive. Mindlessly, she rode the waves, commanding them to ever greater heights.

Soon, she was cresting, speeding up to the precipice and teetering over the peak of pleasure. Tantalizingly close, one, two more strokes, her clit twitching with desire.

Unable to help herself, she screwed up her face, ordering the outfit to take control. It was happy to do so, clenching into all her most sensitive places, fondling her breasts. Her brain exploded, and she flowed down the rollercoaster, her pussy gushing out her pleasure.

Moaning with happiness, she relaxed, riding the warm afterglow on autopilot, sad that it was over so soon.

Or was it? Did she need to let it stop with just one orgasm? Did she have control over her outfit or not?

With a wicked purple gleam in her eye, she decided to spend more quality time determining just how far she could go.