“Steph, I’m home!”  Kendra pushed open the door to the apartment and wheeled her rolling luggage inside, wheels clacking over the door frame.  She heard a rustling from the office, the sound of a chair being pushed back from the desk, then saw her girlfriend rush out.  Soft arms wrapped around her torso, the warm embrace of reunion after absence.  She released her hold on the luggage to return the hug.

 

“How was the conference?” Stephanie asked, hands dropping back to her side.

 

“A bit of a mixed bag; most of the presentations were relatively boring, but the exhibits had some interesting stuff.  The people over at Zenith came up with a bodysuit that can record neural and muscle impulses for use with developing advanced prosthetics.  Should make my job easier if they don’t go out of business before it gets released.”

 

She tilted her head back and forth a few times as if to shake loose the memories.  Stephanie grinned at her girlfriend’s strange mannerism.

 

“Other than that, a few new autonomous drone prototypes, improved vital sign correctors, attempts at personalized hydraulics, Rich complaining about being the only man on the team…”

 

“He knows Bole-tech has offices in cities other than Alterra, right?”

 

“Yeah, he knows.  I’m pretty sure Pam offered him an opening over in the Chicago branch, but he didn’t want to go.  Honestly I think he likes what we’re working on too much to leave.  We’ve all told him we’re open to hang out outside of work, but I still think he feels a little awkward being outnumbered by women in a social context,” she shrugged away the issue,  “Anyway, enough about Rich, what all did you do?”

 

“Oh well I did some gaming binges, hung out with Lucy so you could avoid having to do it for a while longer--”

 

“I don’t try to avoid Lucy,” Kendra protested, “It’s just that she can somehow carry more conversations with herself than there are other people in the room; it’s draining.  She’s a fine person just...”

 

“Well I did it for us so you have a bit longer to recharge before she traps you in a corner to explain every Faulkner novel in circuitous detail again.” They both chuckled at the memory, Lucy drunkenly stumbling through an intertwined narrative summary and theme analysis of The Sound and The Fury at four in the morning,  “Also I managed to borrow one of the prototype VR sets she’s working on, for uhh…” She squinted, finding it hard to remember exactly what it was she was working on.  The energy drinks and late nights at the computer the past few days were clear but the work itself was hazy, staticy; like she was watching someone else doing the work over a bad satellite signal.  Then it came to her: “a Surgeon of the Stars game.”

 

“Really?” Kendra was amusedly intrigued, “Did you secure the property rights for that?”

 

“No, their lawyers wouldn’t call me back,” Stephanie winked, the rest of the words rolling off her tongue as if pre-prepared, “It’s just a little game-jam project I did over the weekend for fun.”

 

“Can I see it?”

 

“Oh uh…” Stephanie’s face scrunched again, searching for what should have been a simple answer.  The static buzzed in her mind, a silver-coated arm was typing away furiously at her keyboard.  A date popped into her head, a reason coalesced around it, “Not yet.  I still have a few bugs to work out.  I’d expect it to be ready by Thursday.”

 

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” she said as she wheeled the suitcase towards the bedroom, her voice dipping into the sultry, “I’m pretty tired from the flight, but I could probably stay awake long enough for a pretty little robot to make me cum.”

 

Stephanie floated into the bedroom after her, her eyes begging for it.  She tried to play coy, “I suppose I could find the time.”

 

Kendra leaned in and kissed her deeply, dark hands stroking through her girlfriend’s hair.  Stephanie melted into her heart beating faster, expectantly.  Kendra broke the kiss to whisper seductively: “Steph-bot maintenance mode.”

 

Stephanie stumbled forward as she started counting down, pressing hard against Kendra.   Kendra spun her around gently and lowered her onto the bed, her eyes still fluttering lightly as she sank into trance.  Kendra began disrobing, jeans and polo thrown aside to reveal lacey lilac lingerie.  Stephanie continued counting herself deeper and deeper; her eyes fully closed now, her breathing slow and steady.  It seemed like she was counting down faster than before, Kendra argued in her own mind whether that was due to eagerness after a week apart or increased suggestibility after multiple sessions.  Idly she cast off her bra and panties, Stephanie would be in no state to appreciate them and she didn’t want them getting in the way.  She turned her attention back to Stephanie as she reached the final moments of the induction.

 

“3… 2… 1… Ready for programming”

 

Stephanie sat up straight and surveyed the room with glazed-over eyes.  She rose from the bed and shed her clothes, slowly and mechanically; Kendra watching on with lust.  She shuffled past the closet and out into the hall, much to Kendra’s confusion.  The lucid woman peeked out the door and saw Stephanie go into the office, returning soon after with the silver spandex, boots, and collar.  She tried to puzzle out why Stephanie had the robot stuff in the office with her, as Stephanie readied herself for robotic commands.  The answer didn’t take her too long to come to: she had been away for a week, Stephanie got horny, and she decided to masturbate in the robot suit as a release.  The scene played out in her head of Stephanie rubbing herself raw while watching mind control porn, grunting out “I obey” as she bucked towards climax. It both turned her on and gave her some fun ideas for the night.

 

“Steph-bot, lay down on the bed.”

 

“Yes Mistress,” she droned.  She slid her silver form across the bed, allowing Kendra to make some minor corrections to her positioning.  Kendra straddled over her still form, brushing her hands admiringly along the silver suit, panting in heat thinking about how much control she had over her lover.  She scooted her wet pussy further up, sitting it right over Stephanie’s unmoving face.

 

“Steph-bot, first you’re going to eat me out and then we’re going to do something fun with you.”

 

“Yes Mistress”.  The response was mumbled into her lower folds moments before a gentle tongue started firmly massaging her walls.  Kendra closed her eyes and gripped her headboard, allowing the sweet feelings of pleasure to wash over her.  Her hips started swaying slightly, humping Stephanie’s probing tongue.  Everything felt good so far but she wanted just a little more.

 

“Steph-bot, grab my ass and make sure I don’t slip.”

 

The “Yes Mistress” vibrated against her labia, the physical sensations almost matching the psychological ones in terms of pleasure.  Stephanie’s hands swung up and crudely grabbed her ample ass, pushing her vagina hard against Stephanie’s mouth, allowing no escape from the pleasure.  Kendra bucked harder, leveraging herself against the headboard and Stepanie grasped tighter in return.  Kendra threw her head back as Stephanie began working directly on her clit, hips making small-but-furious thrusts now.  Something about being ever-so-slightly restrained by her brainwashed girlfriend was really kicking her horniness into overdrive.  She clenched around Stephanie’s head hard as she came, little trickles of cum rushing down onto Stephanie’s face.  She tried to rest for a second against the headboard, but Stephanie didn’t stop.  She tried to form words, but the tongue flicking across her clit forced up only a gasp and a moan.  It took her almost a full minute to finally gasp out:

 

“Steph-bot s-s-s-stop!”

 

“Yes Mistress.”

 

The tongue stopped immediately and Kendra tried to dismount her girlfriend’s face.  Two strong arms kept her held firmly in place, keeping her trembling legs from escaping.  She almost came again at the thought of being trapped here by a malfunctioning Steph-bot, forced to cum for all eternity.  She’d work on figuring out how to do that 

 

“Steph-bot, release me.”

 

“Yes Mistress.” 

 

 The arms fell away and she rolled to the side, catching her breath.  Eventually she heaved herself up into a sitting position against the headboard, watching Stephanie’s slow, rhythmic breaths.  Time to figure out something fun to do for Stephanie.

 

“Steph-bot, did you masturbate in your robot suit while I was away?”

 

“Yes Mistress.”  There was no shame or hesitation in her voice, just mechanical truthfulness.

 

“What did you think about while doing it?”

 

Stephanie was quiet for a moment, some parts of her memories were foggy, restricted.  What she could remember she replied in robotic monotone.

 

“I was thinking about how hot it would be for you to put me in trance and make me masturabte helplessly for the whole weekend, Mistress.”

 

 Kendra chewed on that a bit, it was a hot idea but what was the best way to pull it off?  She thought on it for five minutes, a large smile lighting up her face as the pieces began to click into place.  She leaned down closely and whispered into Stephanie’s ear.

 

“Steph-bot activate reinforcement mode”

 

Stephanie’s blank mind heard the command and jolted upright on the couch, Kendra standing directly in front of her.  Her right hand moved jerkily and unzipped the suit above her wet pussy, her other hand rigidly repositioning to start stroking.  Kendra moved aside to reveal a digital alarm clock sitting a few feet away on the coffee table, green LEDs glowing brightly in the dark room.  She stared blankly at it while fingering herself until the minute incremented.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure,” she monotoned to the clock, “Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania.  Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her.”

 

Her mouth snapped shut again, her finger tracing slow patterns down below.  Her mind was empty, humming static keeping any thoughts at bay, her attention entirely focused on the clock.    After fifty-seconds of silence the minute segment ticked up again.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure,” she droned, “Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania.  Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her.”

 

She went silent again, waiting for the next minute and the next repetition of her programming.  Her hand continued to slowly stimulate herself to reinforce the mantras already spoken and those to come.  She was an automaton, programming simple instructions into its fleshy codebase, keeping the connection continually open by the ceaseless arousal generated by her fingers.  Kendra moved towards the bedroom door in fleece pajamas.

 

“Looks like you’re all set here, I’m going to get some sleep while you reinforce your programming.” she blew Stephanie a kiss, “Good night dear.”

 

Stephanie couldn’t respond, she could only masturbate and wait.  The minute ticked again, she droned out her programming.  She sat in silence until it ticked again, she droned out her programming.  Each burst of programming followed by empty silence and pleasure, just like a good robot should experience.  Everything that wasn’t part of her programming was ignorable, was emptiness.  She droned through the night, her hands never picking up the pace, the light stimulation just enough to tease her arousal but never get her anywhere near orgasm.

 

She looped on and on until Kendra returned, the clock displaying 8:30 AM.  The clock ticked to 8:31.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure,” she repeated, the programmed words being the only thoughts to surface through the emptiness, “Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania.  Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her.”

 

“Good girl Steph-bot, I’m impressed you really lasted all night,”  Kendra stoked her cheek lovingly.  Stephanie didn’t respond at all, focusing solely on the clock, “I called your workplace and said you had a bit of a fever so you can keep burning in your programming today too!”

 

Stephanie dully stared at the clock, everything that wasn’t orders or programming was emptiness to be ignored.

 

“I’ll even make it more fun for you, Steph-bot increase stimulation to level two!”

 

“Yes Mistress,” she droned out as her fingers picked up the pace.  This teasing still wasn’t going to be enough to make her cum, but it was certainly going to make her more desperate to.  The minute ticked over.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure,” her flat voice belying the rush of arousal coursing through her, “Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania.  Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her.”

 

“Perfect sweetheart, I’m off to work.  Love you!”

 

The front door opened and closed, the lock turned.  Stephanie didn’t care, her orders only involved the clock.  She rubbed herself for hours, the only distraction from the teasing being the minutely recitation of programming before plunging back into a torrent of pleasure.  Hours passed as the words of obedience seared into her mind.

 

The clock read 7:27 PM when the door opened again, Kendra stopping by the couch to check on her.

 

“Sorry Steph, went out for a drink with the team after work.  How’s your programming going?”

 

Steph blinked slowly, her mind trying to find words to answer. Her brain was loath to do anything other than loop through the well-worn path of programming.  Every sentence she tried to put together dipped back into the mantra after only a few words.

 

“I… I…” she stammered as the minute ticked over, obliterating her attempted answer, “Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure.  Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania.  Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her.”

 

“Going well I see.  I was originally going to leave you cooking through tomorrow too, but maybe we can speed things up so I can use you before bed.  Steph-bot increase stimulation to max.”

 

“Yes Mistress!” her voice almost cracked through the robotic facade as her fingers glided quickly and skillfully over her slit, knowing just the right ways to touch.  Kendra strutted away, a mischievous grin glowing on her face.  Stephanie kept panting out her instructions at the top of every minute, her breathing getting heavier and voice huskier.  Her hands kept pushing herself right to the brink of orgasm, and then backing off; a cycle that felt as inevitable as her repeating instructions.  She focused on keeping her robotic composure during the emptiness, to keep the weak human flesh from interfering with her programming.  As the hours passed she got better at suppressing the moans bubbling up through her throat, of keeping the pleasure-addled humanity out of her monotone chanting.

 

At 10:45 PM Kendra returned once more, Stephanie strained to keep her quivering limbs in check.

 

“Steph-bot finalize reinforcement on the next minute mark.”

 

“Yes Mistress!” she said, perhaps a little more forcefully and eagerly than a perfect robot would.  She didn’t know what that command meant, the static in her mind wouldn't let her know yet, but she was sure it would be something good.  She didn’t bother to guess, she wasn’t programmed to guess.  Guessing wasn’t programming or orders; it was emptiness, it was ignorable.

 

The minute ticked over and her fingers drove her to release.  Her back arched, head all but touching the back of the couch as she screamed out her mantras:

 

“Steph-bot’s pleasure is derived from loving Mistress Mechania!”

 

Her eyes rolled back, hips grinding hard against her hand.

 

“Loving Mistress Mechania means obeying her!”

 

Her whole body shook, the boots clicked against the floor.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

She felt the orgasm peak, but her hand didn’t stop.  Her brain skipped a beat.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

The orgasm peaked again and again, the last part of the instructions skipping like a scratched record.

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

She couldn’t stop herself, she was stuck in an infinite loop.  Kendra watched her squirm for a while longer before interrupting.

 

“Looks like you’ve malfunctioned Steph-bot.”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

“I guess we could hard exit, but this is kind of sexy too.”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mechania brings Steph-bot pleasure!”

 

“Alright.  Steph-bot, hard exit reinforcement mode.”

 

“Obeying Mistress Mech--”

 

Stephanie’s hand finally jerked to the side allowing her shaking body some rest.  She sank back into the couch as her breathing slowed back down from frantic gulps of air to a steady rhythm.  Her back straightened and boots clicked together to report:

“Steph-bot ready for orders Mistress.”

 

“Steph-bot, infiltration mode.”

 

Stephanie slouched forward to pull off the boots, hopping to her feet when done.  The collar clicked off next, placed gently on the coffee table.  She tugged down the top zipper, meeting the lower zipper most of the way down her body and pushing them both the rest of the way.  She shrugged out of the suit and slumped back onto the couch.  She wearily counted up to ten.

 

On the count of ten she woke with a start, staring in shock at Kendra.  Kendra shot a look of powerful nonchalance back.

 

“Holy shit Kendra, that was… that was unbelievable!”

 

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” there was a touch of cockiness in her voice.

 

“But damn.  I have a deadline coming up at work and missing a whole day because I was fucking my programming into my mind,” she shuddered in pleasure at the phrase, “That’s going to suck come tomorrow.”

 

“Oh no!  Whatever shall you do?!” she winked at the baffled Stephanie, tossing her cellphone over, “It’s only actually been thirty minutes Steph.”

 

“Huh?” She checked and sure enough it was still Sunday night.  She looked in amazement at Kendra, giggling in the hallway.

 

“I told you to not notice when I changed the clock and to believe that the time had really passed each time I did.  Apparently that worked pretty well.”

 

“Yeah, I honestly felt like you’d left me there for the whole day,” Stephanie shook her head as a smile crept across it, “although now I don’t know what’s hotter: you actually making me burn programming into my mind for a day or convincing my entranced mind that you did it.”

 

“If you want to compare, I don’t think we’re doing anything on Saturday,” she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

 

“Maybe we could start at just a few hours and work our way up,” Stephanie said as she rose from the couch and pressed her naked body into Kendra’s arms.

 

They kissed briefly before Kendra herded her into the bed.

 

 

It was Thursday night and Kendra had some really bad news.  Well not really news so much as the reminder that it was Surgeon of the Stars’ mid-season break.  Stephanie really should have known this, but sometimes things slip your mind.  It would be another two months before the next episode.

 

“Fortunately,” Kendra reminded her, “You have the Surgeon of the Stars game you’ve been working on.  I am so excited to see it.”

 

“Well I mean it’s nothing too complex and most of the assets I just cobbled together out of other game’s sprites…”

 

“I’m sure it’s great; getting anything functional together in a weekend is huge Steph.”

 

“I know, I know…” she had worked particularly hard on it last weekend, the hours had just flown by.  Honestly the whole development process had been a big blur, even the bug fixing she’d done over the last week.  But she knew she was being overprotective, she’d mostly made the game to share with Kendra and she was sure she’d love it.

 

She led Kendra into the office and sat her at the chair in front of her computer. She clicked on the little icon depicting a small constellation and the game window popped up.  She handed a plugged-in controller over to Kendra.

 

“It’s not mouse and keyboard?” Kendra asked, her preference for keyboard controls well known.

 

“It’s still using the default keybinding set which is a bit funky on keyboard,” she pressed the controller into her hands, “trust me, it’s better this way.”

 

“For you, I’ll make an exception,“ she said mock-haughtily, “So what do I do?”

 

“So you’re going to be battling the forces of Mistress Mechania.  The ‘A’ button fires a pulse from your aural hammer, ‘B’ will use a charge of your time-battery to clear the screen.  Pretty standard old-school shooter.”

 

“What about those?” She pointed at the VR headset sitting on desk next to a couple empty energy drinks.

 

“Oh, those are just for the boss fight,” Stephanie made her thinking face, trying to remember why she had bifurcated the game between monitor and VR graphics, “It gets a little more complicated at that point so I’ll walk you through some tips once we’re there.”

 

“Alright, let’s get started!”  Kendra eagerly pressed ‘A’ to begin and was greeted by a modal message box in the middle of the screen.

 

“The Surgeon of the Stars needs your help to defeat the evil Mistress Mechania!  Are you willing to help?  A -- Yes!”

 

“There’s no ‘no’ option?” Kendra joked.

 

“I’ll make the silly alternate routes later.”

 

Kendra pressed ‘A’.  Another popup appeared:

 

“You will have to battle through 100 layers of her maniacal Mechanium, a true test of skill for any player.  Are you ready? A -- Yes!”

 

Kendra pressed ‘A’ again, and snorted with laughter when another popup appeared:

 

“Are you sure?  A -- Yes!”

 

“Really?” she asked Stephanie as she hit ‘A’.  Stephanie giggled and gave a shrug as her only explanation.

 

The game finally really started.  The levels were laid out as long stretches of hallway with Metal Maidens blocking the way to the exit.  At different intervals reinforcements would march in from the side of the screen, a thing Kendra began to focus on after losing half her health to unnoticed reinforcements.  Other than that loss, she cleared the first level with ease.

 

The graphics were… odd.  True to word, Stephanie had stolen most of the assets from other games, she was pretty sure The Surgeon was a slight palette swap of a character from an old JRPG.  The Metal Maidens were sort of blocky and the background colors weren’t consistent all the way across the level.  Firing the pulse from the aural hammer would occasionally flash the screen, and the screen-clear weapon caused an out-of-place, color distortion effect to play across the screen for a few seconds.

 

“No offense Steph, but you may want to run this by an asset designer to put on some finishing touches.”

 

“I worked with what I had,” she replied, shrugging.

 

At level 5 a new type of enemy appeared that had a laser gun instead of just marching mindlessly into the player.  Kendra adjusted pretty quickly: just let it lock on and try to charge, then move right as they fired.  She was starting to sense a pattern to the reinforcement swarms too, they’d come in little groups alternating right then left.  She started bouncing her eyes left and right across the screen in rhythmic motion, not wanting to get ambushed again.

 

At level 25 she was intently focused on the flow of the game.  Look left, look right, look left, look right.  Four more enemy types had been introduced.  A few levels started having areas where you had to use the screen clear to avoid certain death, which she gladly did.  It felt good to watch all the enemy sprites disappear in little spirals as a larger one was superimposed on the distorted screen.

 

At level 50 the different enemy types started occasionally grunting little Metal Maiden slogans like “obey” and “mindless” above their heads.  They were oddly distracting, interjecting themselves into her thought process.  Kendra kept up the patterns she’d been establishing: look left, look right, look left, look right, obey, look left, look right, mindless, look left, look right, screen clear (enjoy the spirals).  She had just started getting the hang of the bomb enemy too: count down from 10 after it’s little speech bubble said “sink deep”.  Look left, look right, mindless, look left, look right, sink deep, 10, 9, look left, 8, 7, look right, 6, 5, look left, 4, 3, look right, 2, mindless, 1, look left...

 

By level 75 she was sunk into the chair, jaw hanging slack, glassy eyes following their programmed pattern across the screen.  Her unfocused vision began picking up on words hidden in the level space, things she had thought to be just discolored tiles before.  The flashes from pulsing the aural hammer had become more common, and she had started seeing words appearing in them as well although she couldn’t remember what they said a moment later.  The levels were actually becoming easier, the enemies pouring in from the sides in smaller numbers and more spaced out.  Her eyes slowed down to accommodate, still scanning left and right but getting slower and slower.  

 

Stephanie, meanwhile, had initially just been enjoying watching her girlfriend play through her silly game, but as it had continued she felt memories and directives flooding back into her mind.  She needed to guide Kendra through this game, to suggest some strategies for her.  She’d suggested to make a habit of checking the left and right corridors, to pay attention to the words each enemy said as a clue for what type they were, to count down aloud for the bomb enemies.  Kendra’s receptive mind had integrated the suggestions without question, not even acknowledging Stephanie as she incorporated them.  At some point around level 50 the static clouding her memory parted and she remembered that this wasn’t really Kendra; that this was Mistress Mechanica and it was her duty to restore her memories.  She took the keyboard and started clicking buttons, altering settings she had forgotten about until now: boosting the subliminals, pendulum pathing for enemies, slowing the frequency of enemy spawns procedurally to best induce a trance state.

 

At level 100 both women were fully entranced; Kendra slumped in the chair as Stephanie carefully watched her and orchestrated the hypotonic game.  Kendra was whispering out the words appearing on screen now: mindless, obey, shell, sink deep, relax, obey.  She reached the exit of the final level and moaned out a celebratory “yesssssss” as a large spiral rippled out from the center of the screen.

 

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh”, was all Kendra could manage, her eyes sucked into the center of the spiral.

 

“Looks like you made it to the loading screen for the final boss,” Stephanie said in an odd tone, a mechanically simulated cheerfulness,  “let’s get you ready.”

 

Kendra barely seemed to notice as the VR set slid over her head, eyes staring into omnipresent darkness.  Stephanie tapped the keyboard and the display came to life.

 

“Wowwwwwwwwww…” Kendra mumbled as her eyes were treated to a spiraling pattern that filled her vision.  Her eyes kept trying to scan left and right like before, but always found themselves drawn back to the center of the spiral.  She settled in to just allowing them to focus in the center and watch the lines slowly twist and turn around her.

 

“Let’s get you primed with a few tips for the boss, and I’ll be right back.”

 

Another tap on the keyboard and a message box popped up, translucent enough to still see the spiral through it:

 

“Steph’s tips #1: Breathing is key!  Mistress Mechnia can be a tough cookie, so focus on staying focused by focusing on breathing!  Press ‘A’ to continue.”

 

Stephanie walked out of the room as Kendra pressed the ‘A’ button.

 

The message box disappeared and two sets of words appeared on the screen.  Above the spiral the words “breathe in” appeared in tiny text, while below it the words “breathe out” appeared in large text.  The text sizes slowly changed, Kendra breathing in deeply as the “breathe in” text got bigger and breathing out as the “breathe out” text did.  Every so often another message would flash between them.  Sometimes it just said “very good” or “relax”. A few times it said “obey”.  Kendra was far past caring, she had to focus on beating the boss.

 

She barely registered the clicking of boots and then the tap of another key on the keyboard.  A new message box appeared:

 

“Steph’s tips #2: Don’t think, speak!  The Metal Maidens you’ve encountered each have a unique catch-phrase, remembering them will help you in the battle to come!  Try saying their phrases out loud to help yourself remember.  Press ‘A’ to review the types”

 

Kendra pressed ‘A’ and the message box disappeared, leaving only the spiral.  A Metal Maiden sprite appeared in the center, the word “obey” appearing in it’s little speech bubble.

 

“Obey”, Kendra droned.

 

The Metal Maiden disappeared, replaced soon after with the laser variant saying “Mindless”.

 

“Mindless”

 

Another one.

 

“Empty Shell”

 

Another.

 

“Sink Deep.”

 

They continued in a loop, Kendra mindlessly reading off the words floating above their heads.  Stephanie tapped a key, the speech bubbles disappeared.  Kendra seemed confused at first but Stephanie prompted her:

 

“Obey”

 

“Obey”, Kendra agreed.  Stephanie tapped a key, the next robot appeared.

 

“Mindless.” Another key stroke.

 

“Empty Shell.  Sink Deep.  Relax.  Let go.  Obey.  Mindless.  Empty Shell.  Sink Deep...”

 

Stephanie established a rhythm as Kendra chanted the words.  When she deemed it appropriate, she tapped a different key.  The sprites disappeared leaving only the spiral, Kendra didn’t stop chanting.

 

“Sink Deep.  Relax. Let go. Obey. Mindless…”

 

Stephanie occasionally tapped a key, flashing “good job” or “keep going” across the screen.  After five minutes, she advanced the program again.  The words “Good job.  You may stop.” popped up for a few seconds, leaving Kendra’s jaw hanging half open through slurring out the word “mindless.”  Another message box appeared:

 

“Steph’s tips #3: Always listen to Steph!  Stephanie knows everything you need to do from here, so be sure to listen and obey anything she suggests! Press ‘A’ to obey.”

 

Kendra pressed ‘A’ and the message box disappeared, leaving only the spiral that stretched across her whole field of view.

 

“Kendra, do you trust me?” 

 

“Trust you.  Yessss”

 

“You trust me because I am Steph-bot.”

 

“Yesssss… Trust Steph-bot”

 

“You trust me because you created me”

 

“Yesssss… created you.”

 

“You converted me.”

 

“Converted you.”

 

“Mistress Mechania converted me.”

 

“Mistress Mechania…”

 

“You are Mistress Mechania.”

 

“I… am…”

 

Kendra shifted slightly, Stephanie tapped a key sending a gentle pulse across the spiral.  She relaxed into the chair again.

 

“You are Mistress Mechania.”

 

“I am Mistress Mechania.”

 

“Kendra is your disguise.”

 

“Kendra… my disguise.”

 

“Kendra’s memories are false.”

 

“N...no…”

 

Another key tap, Kendra shuddered.

 

“Kendra’s memories are false.”

 

“I.. but…”

 

Another key tap, then another.  The spiral pulsed and distorted, Kendra’s jaw went slack.

 

“Kendra’s memories are false.”

 

“Yes.  Kendra’s memories are false.”

 

“Your true memories are Mistress Mechania’s.”

 

“True memories… Mistress Mechania’s.”

 

“Steph-bot will now reprogram your memories.”

 

“Reprogram my memories.”

 

“Beginning.”

 

Stephanie pulled up the Surgeon of the Stars lore wiki, and went to Mistress Mechnia’s page.  As one of the primary contributors to the page, she could vouch for all the lore and extended lore information there.  Honestly, she could probably have recited most of it without the wiki, but Steph-bot wanted to be meticulous.

 

Kendra listened and absorbed all her real memories that Steph-bot was telling her.  She relearned that she was a Vifarian inventor trying to bring cybernetic perfection to the galaxy.  She understood that she was in hiding from The Surgeon, waiting for her chance to strike.  She remembered that she needed to rebuild her forces after their devastating losses.  She had wiped her memory to lay low and her loyal Metal Maiden was here to restore it.  She listened and remembered it all.

 

Any time Mistress Mechania was having trouble integrating her memories with the false ones, Steph-bot triggered another hypnotic pulse.  Perhaps Kendra would have been suspicious of the VR set if she had remembered Lucy worked for a technological therapeutics company; that the headset she was working on was meant for guided meditation and relaxation.  As it was, she wasn’t able to question anything, only accept the new truths her girlfriend stated from behind an all-encompassing spiral.  She shuddered and moaned as Steph-bot brainwashed her into being Mistress Mechania.

 

 

“Finally, whenever I say ‘Kendra metal game time” you will return to this deep trance state for memory strengthening and re-establishment.”

 

“Yesssssssss,” Kendra’s will to resist had long since crumbled, her body was almost sliding out of the chair.

 

“You will wake up on the count of three with all your memories restored, Mistress.”

 

“Yesssssss.”

 

“One, feel your old self resurfacing.  Two, waking up steadily.  Three, you have returned Mistress.”

 

Mechania reached up and pulled off the VR headset, setting it on the desk.  Her stern face surveyed the room as she rose from the chair.  She gazed appreciatively at the silver-suited Steph-bot, the prop collar blinking around her neck.

 

“You have performed your duties adequately Metal Maiden, good work.”

 

“Thank you Mistress.”

 

“However it appears your programming has been damaged,” Mechania’s muscular arm pushed down on her shoulder, her other hand pointing to the floor with two fingers, “when I enter a room or rise to my feet, all Metal Maidens must kneel until set at ease.”

 

“Of course Mistress,” Steph-bot dropped to one knee and bowed her head, “My apologies Mistress.”

 

“Apologies are not necessary, they are useless.  We will amend your programming tomorrow.”

 

“Yes Mistress.”

 

“At ease, Steph-bot.”  Stephanie rose to her feet, waiting for orders.  

 

“I am going to the rest chamber Steph-bot, you are dismissed to your recharge station.”

 

“Mistress, I use the bed in the rest chamber to recharge.”

 

Mechania cocked her head, “That is not logical Steph-bot, robots do not need beds.”  She suddenly snapped a hand up to her forehead as if to ward off a headache, eyelids flickering briefly, “Of course, you… you are a new model that does require bed rest.  You may share my bed for rest purposes.”  

 

The two brainwashed lovers walked into the room, Mechania with the bluster and pomp of a villainess and Stephanie with the robotic stomp of an automaton.  Mechania stripped and hopped into bed, Stephanie began removing the robot uniform.

 

“Removal of the nano suit is irregular, Steph-bot,” Mechania called from the bed in concern.

 

“I am used to operating in infiltration mode during rest periods Mistress.”

 

“Until your programming is fully rectified you will be required to wear the nano suit and control collar during rest cycles,” Mechania commanded, eyes buzzing over Stephanie’s body, “However you may leave the battle boots at the foot of the bed.  I calculate it as highly unlikely that battle will break out while in the bed.”

 

“Yes Mistress.  Thank you Mistress.” 

 

Stephanie joined Mechania in bed, both women laying on their backs and staring at the ceiling.  Mechania’s head turned to study her subject, some foreign desire sparking in her mind.

 

“Steph-bot, turn on your side and face away from me.”

 

“Yes Mistress,” she droned as she carried out the order.  A strong, black arm wrapped over her waist, forearm and hand turning to lay along her silver-coated chest.  She felt Mechania’s warm body snuggle in behind hers; breath on her neck, thighs on her buttocks.  Mechania’s hand grabbed her own, and then intertwined their fingers.

 

“Steph-bot, I find you… Your are intrigue…” Mechania struggled with the words. There was something she had to say to this particular Metal Maiden, something that she never had said to anyone or anything else, “I am fond… I… I… I love you.”

 

“Thank you Mistress, I love you too.“  There was a tenderness in her tone unbefitting of a proper Metal Maiden, but Mechania loved that about Steph-bot too.

 

“Initiate rest cycle.”

 

“Rest cycle initiated Mistress.”

 

They fell asleep soon after.