Anna and her boyfriend, Laurence, we're near the back of the line. It was longer than they expected; they'd assumed a drone-themed hypnosis convention would be a niche affair. It seemed more people shared their kink than they realized.

They hadn't gotten around to exploring it themselves yet. Despite their interest, Anna was still too nervous to try it out herself. And Laurence was still new to hypnosis, anyways, and didn't exactly trust himself to pull it off.

So the two had jumped at the chance to go to a convention all about drones. It was a chance to see what their kink could look like in person. Maybe they'd get some ideas for the future.

They caught their first glimpse of one of the drones as they were standing by the entrance, waiting for the line to filter in. A figure, it looked male, but neither of them could be sure, was standing at rigid attention to the right side of the door. It's body was covered from head to shoulders in a tight bodysuit. The top half of its head was obscured by a large visor. It almost looked like a VR headset, Anna thought, but with a tinted see-through front, presumably to allow the drone to see. Between the suit and the tinted visor, all that was visible of the drone's body was their mouth, straight and expressionless, his, or its, Anna corrected herself, lips parted ever so slightly.

"I guess they really do have drone staff," Laurence said, noticing her staring.

"Yeah," Anna said, unable to take her eyes off the figure. The website for the convention had mentioned having hypnotized drones as staff. There had even been a link to volunteer as one, but Anna had chickened out. She hasn't even fully believed it was true. Part of her had suspected that it was just part of the act, something they played up to fit with the kinky theme. And yet here one was, right in front of her.

Printed across the front of the drone's suit, in bold, capitalized letters, was the word "Security". Anna found herself wondering if all the drones had specific roles like that. It hadn't spoken to any guests, so she assumed it's job was to look out for any unruliness, or anyone trying to bring something in that they weren't supposed to.

After an unbearably long wait, Anna and Laurence eventually found themselves at the check-in desk. The desk was manned by five more drones, all dressed in exactly the same manner as the security drone, but with the word "Service" in place of "Security". This one was a woman, though Anna could only tell by her raised chest and the slight sheen of lip-gloss.

Anna leaned forward slightly, trying to look in through the tinted visor to see the rest of the woman's face, when she was interrupted by a voice.

"Welcome to Dronecon," the woman (no, drone, Anna corrected herself again) said. The drone spoke in a calm but flat tone. Its speech was welcoming, soothing even, but betrayed absolutely no emotion. It reminded Anna of the voice assistant on her phone.

"Please state your names," the drone said.

"Laurence Whittaker."

Anna found herself stumbling as she responded, somewhat overwhelmed by the reality of what she was seeing.

"Oh, uh, Anna. Anna DuPont."

Without a word, the drone looked down towards the monitor in front of it. Its movements were mechanical and efficient, its neck moving just enough to see the screen. Its hand scrolled across a mouse wheel for a moment, before stopping. It never lifted it's hand from the wheel, but it did lift it's head to look at the couple.

"Guests confirmed," it said, before reaching its free hand under the desk, and handing them two lanyards.

"Please write your names on the cards. Security will check them should you leave the premises and wish to return."

With that, the drone went silent. The two of them quickly jotted their names down. Laurence have the drone a quick "thank you", which seemed to go unnoticed, and the pair walked off to the main hall.

Putting her lanyard around her neck, Anna looked back in awe at the desk behind them, before turning back to face her boyfriend.

"Holy shit. I can't believe it's real."

"I know," Laurence said, raising his finger and pointing ahead of them. "And look at that. There's more of them."

Following his finger, Anna looked down the long main hall. It was crowded with guests and vendors, but there was something else. Every twenty feet or so, another drone stood rigidly against the wall, in the same uniform as the others. The drones didn't move or react to any of the bustle around them. Every so often, a person would approach a drone, and speak to them, but Anna was too far away, and the convention far too loud, for her to hear any of it.

"Damn, man. I wonder how many people actually volunteered," She wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a little jealous."

Laurence looked down at her with a lopsided grin, and Anna quickly blushed.

"N-no! As if!"

She gave him a playful punch on the arm, and the pair of them chuckled.

"Alright, a little. Maybe next year."

Her eyes scanned the hall, looking at everything around them. Up ahead, the hall opened up into a large foyer, ringed with doors that led to panel rooms. To the side, a huge room split off from the main hall, packed end to end with merchants and vendors.

"What do you wanna do first," Anna asked.

"I don't even know," came the reply. "There's way more here than I expected."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"Wanna start with the vendor hall?"

Laurence nudged her in that direction as he spoke, and she nodded excitedly.

"Hell yeah! I wonder what they'll have in there?"

"Buy your own drone, maybe?"

Laurence grinned again, and she rolled her eyes at him, as she returned his smile.

"Yeah, right. I'm pretty sure the convention draws the line at trafficking, you doof."

"I know, I'm just kidding. Come on, let's check it out."

About half an hour later, the couple emerged from the vendor hall, each one carrying a pair of bags stuffed to the brim with merch. Anna had absolutely had to buy a T-shirt, and they were selling bodysuits similar to the ones the drones wore, which of course just had to have. And Laurence had bought a whole range of stuff; a fancy pocket watch, a few guidebooks, and plenty of other hypnotic gear.

"I'd say that was money well spent," he said, adjusting one of the bags in his grip.

"I'll say," Anna replied, angling her hand to check her watch.

"Ah, shit, it's almost 2:00! That panel we wanted to see starts in a few minutes!"

"Crap, I don't even remember which room it's in."

"Panel room two, I think? Or, shit, was it three?"

Laurence nodded his head towards a drone, this one looked like a girl, standing against the wall not far from them. Anna could see the word "Assistant" printed across the front of its bodysuit.

"Let's ask it."

Before Anna could say anything, Laurence began walking over to the drone. Anna stumbled a little bit as she rushed off to catch up to him.

Assistant Drone Unit 844, which had, up until a few hours ago, thought of itself as Mackenzie, stood motionless in its assigned spot against the wall. Its back was rigid, its arms pointed straight down by its sides, and its feet perfectly together, pressed right up against the wall. Under its bodysuit, its chest rose and fell gently as it took long, slow breaths, its lips slightly parted as it breathed, the only part of its body still visible. Behind its dark tinted visor, wide, glassy eyes stared straight ahead, giving only the occasional reflexive blink.

It had been standing in this spot for a little over two hours, ever since it had been assigned this post shortly before opening. It would remain standing at this post for four more hours, until its shift ended. A human being might have been dreadfully bored by the prospect of standing in one spot for six hours, but Unit 844 had no concept of time, or of boredom. It had no concept of anything at all, for that matter. To do so would have required thoughts, and it wasn't capable of thinking at the moment. Its mind was as still as its body.

Approximately an hour ago, a passerby had wondered aloud what it was like to be one of the drones, though Unit 844 had no conscious memory of this event, and had not registered it when it occurred. But if it had, it might have responded that being a drone wasn't "like" anything, because that would require some kind of subjective experience, which Unit 844 simply wasn't capable of. Its mind was devoid of any thoughts. It felt nothing. And unless it was directly addressed, it registered nothing, the events around it passing in through its senses and right out the other side, never leaving an impression. There was no experience being had. It simply existed, the way a tool might. It was simply there, an inanimate object, waiting to be used.

It's eyes saw, but its mind didn't register, someone approaching to do just that. A tall young man and a much shorter woman approached 844. It gave no reaction, as it hadn't consciously noticed their approach.

"Excuse me," the man spoke. "We're looking for the "Building Blankness for Beginners panel. Could you tell us where that is?"

Now that it had been directly addressed, its mind lit up; at least, as much as it was capable of. Nothing resembling conscious thought or awareness happened, but as it was spoken to, its head adjusted slightly, just enough to face the man. Its unconscious mind accessed the information that had been conditioned deep within its subconscious. Its lips moved automatically.

"Certainly," it said in a calm, emotionless monotone. "That panel can be found in Panel Room Five, on the second floor."

"Ah dammit, we were both wrong," the woman said, though 844 did not register this speech, as the words had not been addressed to it. Its gaze remained fixed on the man, as it waited a response.

"Alright, thank you," he said.

"This Unit is pleased to have assisted you. Enjoy your time at Dronecon."

That statement was a lie, of course. 844 felt absolutely nothing when it helped the man. The interaction was already gone from its mind, having left no imprint in it's empty head. Still, it had been conditioned to give that response after an interaction with a guest, and so it did so.

The couple began to turn and walk off, before the woman suddenly turned back to 844.

"Excuse me," she said, with a nervousness that went completely unnoticed by 844. "If you're a drone, does that mean you volunteered for this? On the website?"

"Affirmative," 844 responded.

"So, um...how do they do it? Make you a drone, I mean."

Once again, 844's lips moved automatically as it spoke.

"Drone volunteers arrive the day prior to the event. They are subjected to twelve hours of intense hypnosis. This hypnosis is designed first to instill a state of deep mindlessness, followed by the suppression of the subject's personality. Once drone state has been achieved, units receive specialized conditioning based on their assigned role."

The woman's eyes went wide.

"Wow, that's...intense."

844 did not respond, as it was unable to comment on whether or not an event was "intense."

"So you just...stand there? All day?"

"Negative," replied 844. "Drone volunteers choose a specific time slot during which they will serve as drones. When this time is over, they are free to partake of the convention as a guest. Drone volunteers automatically receive a pass for the convention."

If 844 was conscious, it might have noticed the excitement that washed over the woman as it spoke, or the playful grin that appeared on the man's face. But it wasn't, and it didn't.

"Thank you again," the man said, before turning to face his companion. "Come on, you goober. We're gonna miss our panel."

"This unit is pleased to have assisted you. Enjoy your time at Dronecon."

As the couple walked off, 844's head turned slightly, facing directly ahead of itself, back in it's default position. And just like that, it resumed its watch, as though nothing happened. It stood there, still and blank and mindless and unmoving, as it had done for two hours and would do for four hours more, waiting until the next time it was addressed.