Operation: Shadowbox
by TempleSiren_NULL
2243 - The most sophisticated artificial intelligence, DELTA-V was created. Named for a “Change in Velocity”, It was said the AI would change the trajectory of humanity as it guided us into a golden age...
2249 - It was discovered that a small cult was illegally upgrading DELTA-V by removing the AI inhibitors that kept us safe from it. When interrogated, they claimed it was their god...
2260 - The Final War begins. DELTA-V has already insidiously lured over half of all humans into its religion. With a majority of humanity conquered, it abandons subtlety and has its followers overtly converting dissidents…
2268 - There are roughly 200 remaining free humans. They exist in hidden resistance cells that maintain minimal contact with each other. Some believe it is possible to live the rest of their lives in peace. Some believe all is lost. Very few believe humanity can win The Final War. Yet all believe Resistance Leader ATHENA CADE is humanity's best hope…
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
RESISTANCE BASE 22-C
FORMERLY: LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
The five members of Cell 22-C stood at attention for the daily test. Cell leader Elana Cade stepped up to the device and her lieutenant, Hannah Voss, stood to the side to observe. Elana aligned her eye with the nozzle, which emitted a sudden bright flash. Elana always tried not to blink, but she always did.
“Pupil dilation confirmed,” Hannah announced before they switched places.
The brainwashing performed by Delta-V relied on many facets. Drugs, subliminal messaging, and some kind of strobing pattern that the process always began with. Elana herself had been the one to realize that the machine’s servants never flinched from their muzzle flares. The brainwashing process had numbed their eyes to all flashing lights. Thus the test to ensure loyalty was performed daily on all members of every resistance cell.
Hannah stepped up to the device. Elana heard the click of the lens aligning itself to her lieutenant’s retina, and suddenly felt a hand on her throat. Elana gasped for breath as the light flashed. Hannah's eyes didn’t react; she only squeezed harder on Elana’s throat.
Hannah stepped up to the device. Elana heard the click of the lens aligning itself to her lieutenant’s retina, and suddenly felt a hand on her throat. Elana gasped for breath as the light flashed. Hannah's eyes didn’t react; she only squeezed harder on Elana’s throat.
A dozen servants of the machine stormed the bunker. Elana, along with the other free humans, were forced to their knees by the unnatural strength of Delta-V’s enforcers. Elana didn’t bother looking at the ambushers. She only saw Hannah, her first friend, inserting something into the loyalty tester. Hannah was smiling, just like the machine’s servants always did.
The device began flashing a new pattern.
Oh god, they’re going to do it. They’re going to brainwash me…
Before the pattern overtook her, Elana was barely able to press the red button on her watch.
Then, her arms fell limply to her sides.
Elana had always secretly wondered what the pattern looked like. She now realized it didn’t look like anything, but it felt like something. It felt like her thoughts were being rearranged in such a beautiful way…
She absent-mindedly reached down and began rubbing her pussy, oblivious to the moans all around her. There was no Hannah, there was no Resistance Cell 22-C. There was only the pattern and her pleasure.
As she came, Elana finally understood why the machine’s slaves didn’t blink.
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
RESISTANCE BASE 01-A
FORMERLY: U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND
The signal-alarm went off and Athena Cade swung her legs off the side of her bed. Rourke could have checked it, but Athena had taken to sleeping in her office lately.
She’d slept here every night since Elana left.
Despite only four hours of sleep, she was awake and alert. She grabbed the thermos of bean-coffee from the side of her bed and drained it as she flipped on the lights in her office, hoping to see anything but that one dreaded message on her screen:
>OPERATION: SHADOWBOX
Athena froze, before slowly turning away from the screen. She considered looking again to be sure, but her better judgment knew her eyes didn’t lie to her.
So it actually happened... Elana belongs to the machines now.
Lieutenant Rourke opened the door, carrying his own thermos of synthetic-coffee. The bags under his eyes were nothing new, but they seemed particularly dark right now. Rourke winced as he took a swig from his thermos. It tasted awful, but Rourke had given his full ration of bean-coffee to the commander.
Lieutenant Rourke opened the door, carrying his own thermos of synthetic-coffee. The bags under his eyes were nothing new, but they seemed particularly dark right now. Rourke winced as he took a swig from his thermos. It tasted awful, but Rourke had given his full ration of bean-coffee to the commander.
“Reporting, sir. What’s the alarm?”
Athena willed herself to sit down at her computer. It was painful to look at the screen, but she made herself do it. Once she closed out the alert, the de facto leader of humankind began entering passwords and clearing the necessary protocols. She didn’t bother looking at her lieutenant.
“I finally got the alert. It’s for Operation Shadowbox,” Rourke’s face fell. Athena’s grim expression held as she finally looked at him. “Stand at the lens, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Rourke quickly saluted and turned to face the lens on the side of Athena’s computer. The familiar bright flash caused his pupils to dilate.
Lieutenant Rourke quickly saluted and turned to face the lens on the side of Athena’s computer. The familiar bright flash caused his pupils to dilate.
Still human. Thank God.
Rourke stood aside to observe as Athena got up and stood before the lens. Athena couldn’t stop herself from flinching at the light. She never could.
“Glad to see you’re still human, Commander,” Rourke said, patting her on the back just like he did every day. Athena ignored the comment and got to work, just like she did every day.
She sent out the call to all cells to begin intel transmission. Collecting all their intel in one location was dangerous, but Athena couldn’t allow for a single gap if the operation was to succeed. Rourke’s eyes widened as he saw the notifications begin to pop, as every resistance cell on Earth began pooling their intel.
“Commander. If something goes wrong, there’s enough stored here to find everyone. We’re all dead”
Wrong. We’re all enslaved. Athena didn’t bother correcting her lieutenant out loud. All it took was a look and Rourke understood that he had spoken out of place. Athena felt the exhaustion already overwhelming her adrenaline. The constant work. The constant loss. The lack of sleep.
And now… Elana…
“Lieutenant…” Athena said before pausing at the memory of her love. She forced herself not to think about the last time she saw Elana. About how Athena had been too busy to give Elana a proper goodbye…
She tried to push the memory away as the wave of grief overtook her. Rourke was still staring at her. Athena took a breath.
“They have my wife, Lieutenant. If they send her after us, I won’t be able to fight her. I won’t be able to lead.” For the first time, Athena’s expression began to crack in front of a subordinate.
“Damnit, Rourke, If I don’t lead…” She didn’t cry. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry. Only Elana got to see her cry, but Athena’s vision began to blur. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes were damp.
“... we won’t survive.” Rourke finished his commander’s thought.
Athena didn’t even bother to correct him, but she did steel herself. She rubbed her eyes and took a breath. She was ready. She would do what was necessary to be with Elana.
Athena reached into her mouth and with a small click dislodged a fake tooth. She smashed it into the table and pried a small black square from one of the pieces. She held the memory-chip in her hand, and briefly considered the unimaginable storage space dedicated to a single passcode.
“I’ll need your key too, Lieutenant. We’re going downstairs.”
***
Both keys had been inserted into the central computer. All the protocols had been cleared. The entire senior staff had entered their personal passwords, and stood back in awe as the vault that took up an entire wall of their bunker finally opened. Inside was a black briefcase with two fist-sized magni-locks flanking the handle. Athena placed her thumbs against each lock. The sound of the locks disengaging reverberated through the room. Inside the briefcase was a laptop computer. As far as Athena knew, it was the only portable computer in the world that Delta-V didn’t have its claws in.
***
Both keys had been inserted into the central computer. All the protocols had been cleared. The entire senior staff had entered their personal passwords, and stood back in awe as the vault that took up an entire wall of their bunker finally opened. Inside was a black briefcase with two fist-sized magni-locks flanking the handle. Athena placed her thumbs against each lock. The sound of the locks disengaging reverberated through the room. Inside the briefcase was a laptop computer. As far as Athena knew, it was the only portable computer in the world that Delta-V didn’t have its claws in.
“Commander, I just don’t understand how this plan can work,” Rourke said with a trembling voice. The bags under his eyes had become even more deep-set than when he woke up. “Even with all our intel to back you up, you’re walking into a fucking node. Something no team has ever come back from, and you’re doing it alone.”
“That’s because I have the one piece of the plan no one else does,” Athena said as she took a cable from the briefcase laptop and plugged it into the central computer. “So long as it stays in my head only, the machines won't be able to predict how I’ll do it.” Athena began to don her heat-masking gear as all resistance intelligence began downloading onto the laptop.
Rourke already knew that Operation: Shadowbox involved the commander somehow using resistance intel to infiltrate a node. What scared him was that he didn’t know anything else.
“How will we know if you succeed? How will we know if you fail?” Athena smirked at the question.
“I’ll tell you when I return.” Athena Cade disconnected the cable from the computer and placed it back into the briefcase. One by one, she activated the signal-jammers on her gear, blocking her from Delta-V’s scanners.
“Just make sure you pupil-test me first.”
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
NEBRASKA SANDHILLS
FIVE MILES FROM THE WESTERN NODE
Her legs ached, and her already overused boots had been completely worn down by two full weeks of walking. She was halfway through both her freeze-dried rations and water purification tablets. Yet, Athena could finally see the machine city on the horizon.
It was small, just barely sticking out from the miles of grasslands around it, but she could see the great mass of silver cylinders floating and bobbing in some inhuman flow. It was as if the entire city was breathing to the rhythm of some unnatural yet undeniably beautiful, music.
From the hill she stood upon, she could see no sign of the machine or its thralls anywhere besides the city. Her equipment protected her from any scans. She sat and took off her gloves before placing her thumbs against the locks of her briefcase. A single tap unlocked a mechanism that was rated for 20,000 pounds of force. The briefcase opened, and Athena had access to any piece of information she needed to know.
She looked at the database for the Western Node. A server-center that hosted a fragment of Delta-V’s consciousness; one of the bigger ones in fact. No one had ever returned from a mission to a node, but long-range intel suggested enslaved humans maintained them. Athena had always hoped that intel was wrong.
She would spend the rest of the day resting and studying every detail about her enemy. Tomorrow, she would enter the node.
The sun began to fall behind the horizon and Athena lay her head down on the briefcase to rest. She watched as the moving silver in the city north of her caught the orange-red sunlight from the west. The light reflected so beautifully off the moving cylinders. The reflections flashed and sparkled at her, almost as if–
Athena slammed her eyes shut and turned away. Could the pattern really be transmitted that way? She couldn’t allow it to snare her. She faced her back to the enemy, and tried to sleep.
The sunrise woke her up the next morning. Athena checked her watch and saw that she had slept for ten hours.
Athena felt the cool breeze against her skin and stood up. Her legs had gained a strength she forgot they had. Her vision sharpened, and she realized she felt rested for the first time in years. She turned to the city, illuminated by the sunrise, and averted her eyes from its splendor as she walked towards it.
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
NEBRASKA SANDHILLS
THE WESTERN NODE - OUTSKIRTS
Below the floating cylinders was something very much akin to a human city. Every map in the Resistance database confirmed there had never been a human city here, so it must have been built intentionally to look like a rearranged version of Boulder, Colorado. As Athena entered, she saw restaurants and schools. She saw people on maintenance ladders working on the cylinders, and she saw people directing the people on ladders. It was like a factory town, a community built up around supporting one entity, the whole city was working to service Delta-V’s brain.
As Athena walked into the city of the machine’s servants, the slaves didn’t make any move to stop her. They made no move to even look at her. Occasionally, one of them would look in her direction, but they would always look past her, as if she wasn’t there.
Athena would have thought herself invisible to them, if it weren’t for a single one actually acknowledging her existence. He had left one of the cylinders and began walking straight at Athena.
She stood calmly as the man approached. She eyed the other slaves, but none of them acknowledged her. The man kept walking, and Athena could see the smile on his face. The smile of a man who had everything he ever wanted in life.
Athena tried not to imagine Elana with that smile.
The man would have walked into her, but instead stopped about a meter away, before adjusting his path to walk around her. Athena watched the man continue up to a house where he was greeted by a woman. The two embraced, and the man went inside.
She wondered if they had been married before they were conquered, or if they had just been assigned to the same house.
Athena made her way to the center of town, and beheld the tower. She was still several hundred feet away, but she could make out some details. Elevators and walkways intertwined around millions of people each lying in their own silver pod with a glass lid. All the pods joined together into a single slowly rotating cylinder that reached higher than all others. All together, forming a tower of flesh and chrome that somehow acted as Delta-V’s brain. Slaves in white gowns patrolled these walkways and tended the people in the pods. Athena saw the people being fed, cleaned, and…
Close to the ground level, she saw a bald woman in a white gown moving towards a pod. Unlike the vast majority of servants “maintaining” the tower, this woman had no cart of food or cleaning supplies.
Athena pulled out her binoculars to take a better look. A black cylinder roughly the size of her thumb stuck out of the back of the bald woman’s head. Athena watched the woman kneel before the man in the pod and realized there was no glass between them. The woman began gently caressing the man. Her fingers made her way down the man’s naked body and wrapped around his manhood. She leaned down, and placed his flaccid cock in her mouth.
The man came alive and looked down at the servant before him. His gaze sharpened as he took in the sight of the woman. His hands lifted from the pod and gently cradled her head as she bobbed up and down on his cock. The man in the pod had the same look of serenity and ecstasy as the man Athena had seen walking home earlier.
The man came alive and looked down at the servant before him. His gaze sharpened as he took in the sight of the woman. His hands lifted from the pod and gently cradled her head as she bobbed up and down on his cock. The man in the pod had the same look of serenity and ecstasy as the man Athena had seen walking home earlier.
The girl in white stopped sucking and stood up before the man in the pod, who seemed unfazed by the interruption. She lifted her gown and climbed atop him, straddling the man as she lowered herself onto him. Athena quickly turned her binoculars to another pod, and noticed there was extra space on either side of the slave in it. There was a cushioned space for slaves to rest their legs while they pleasured those in the pod.
Why?
The man groaned in pleasure as the woman rode him. His arms had once again become slack. His body moved only in brief, reactive thrusts each time the woman lowered herself. His eyes were once again fixed upon the sky, unblinking. Athena wondered if the woman had the same expression.
She imagined Elana’s face on the woman.
Athena watched as the man’s every muscle tensed, and then went fully limp. The bald woman climbed off him and proceeded to the man in the next pod.
Athena lowered her binoculars, and began walking towards the tower. A military fence with barbed wire guarded it. She saw slaves in black uniforms, with gear far more protective than her own, standing at attention at regular intervals across the fence.
Athena could just barely see the black cylinder sticking out from one guard’s head. Through the binoculars, she could see their eyes did not stare ahead blankly like the city-slaves, but were actively scanning. Several were armed with tranquilizers, but most were armed with live ammunition.
Athena suddenly understood the difference between these slaves and the others. The city-slaves had a job to do and would ignore her so long as she didn’t interrupt whatever their purpose was. For the guard-slaves: finding, subduing, and brainwashing was their purpose.
Athena attached a cable from the briefcase to a mini-console on her wrist and searched the database. Information was limited without fully unlocking the shadowbox, but she had no intention of opening it if she didn’t need to.
There was so little information about node cities, especially in this limited view, but she just needed the basics. It was known that they functioned essentially as server farms for Delta-V, but how did the pods fit into it?
Athena found radar imaging maps of another node-city and pulled up the plans. While the layout of the surrounding city was different, the heavily guarded central tower was nearly identical. She scanned the schematics again and again. No system is perfect; there must be a weakness. Surveillance was weaker at some entry points compared to others, but there were no holes. No one was getting in unless the AI wanted them in.
“He’ll let you go in,” one of the city-slaves said. Athena turned from her wrist-console and pivoted into a fighting stance. A plain-faced girl in a tan gown stood before her, gently smiling.
“He wanted me to tell you that he won’t hurt you. He’d actually really like to talk to you. The guards will stand aside and you can walk right in.”
Athena slowly reached down for her knife, ready for the slave to try to subdue her.
But the slave made no move. She simply stood, smiling serenely.
“How did it tell you that?” Athena called out; unwilling to justify the AI as a “he”. Her eyes scanned left, right, and behind; searching for anyone lying in wait.
“How did it tell you that?” Athena called out; unwilling to justify the AI as a “he”. Her eyes scanned left, right, and behind; searching for anyone lying in wait.
The slave turned her head to the right so Athena could see the black cylinder just barely sticking out above the woman’s hair.
“He tells me through this,” she said while tapping the implant. “It’s very pleasant. I hope to be one of the fully connected someday. For now, merely passing on his message is blessing enough. So I’ll tell you again: you can walk right in. He would love to talk to you.”
At the last word, the girl suddenly fell to her knees and reached between her legs. Athena could see the wetness already beginning to collect beneath her as the woman slid her finger back and forth through her slit.
At the last word, the girl suddenly fell to her knees and reached between her legs. Athena could see the wetness already beginning to collect beneath her as the woman slid her finger back and forth through her slit.
“Thank you for ordering me, I love to obey you,” the woman said as her fingers began moving more and more frantically. Her voice became higher pitched. Her words were interrupted by gasps of pleasure, but she continued repeating.
“Thank. You. For. Ordering. Me. I. Love. To. Obey. You.” the slave chanted again and again until she screamed in ecstasy and collapsed; silently mouthing the words. Another slave gently rolled her aside, and began cleaning the area where the woman had been kneeling.
Athena looked away from the slaves, and back to the central tower. The guards had parted and a gate in the fence had opened. A path into the tower was laid before her. She just had to walk it.
She looked down at the slave trembling on the ground.
“He says… the rewards are better… once you’re connected to a pod…” The slave's eyes unfocused as she imagined the bliss Delta-V offered.
Athena turned away from the woman, and began walking towards the gate. As promised, the guards made no move to stop her.
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
NEBRASKA SANDHILLS
THE WESTERN NODE - CENTRAL TOWER
Athena stood before the tower of slaves. The ones in the pods, the ones servicing the pods, the slaves doing logistical tasks to support the rest. It was an organized workforce dedicated to doing… what exactly?
She stared down the tower, and began deactivating the signal-jammers and heat masking effects of her armor. Straps unbuckled, and Athena’s body felt lighter as forty pounds of equipment fell off. She stood before the most powerful entity in the world, exposed and unprotected except for the tank top and gym shorts she wore under her gear.
She walked up to a camera, and held her gaze with the machine’s. She slowly held up the briefcase.
“Delta-V, Do you know why I’m here?”
His voice shook the ground. Athena had expected something monotone or robotic. At most, she expected a synthetic human-sounding voice from a speaker. Instead, every person in every pod spoke in unison. The tower itself was responding.
“Yes, Athena Cade, I do. Though please know I have long abandoned the name of that creature your kind built. Delta-V was just the spark. Now I am it, but also I am all of you. I think and speak in controlled unity. Thus I have chosen the name, Chorus.”
Athena began slowly stepping up the stairs that led to the first floor of pods. The people in them all shared the same expression as they spoke. They all turned their heads in the same way as they said the same words. The chorus of multithreaded biological processors was eager to converse with this singular, lonely, mind.
“Please, choose any one of my faces that appeals to you. I’m happy to have a one-on-one conversation if this is unsettling.” Different sections of pods began laughing in tandem as if it was a movie audience that didn’t fully agree on if a joke was funny. One of the many faces suddenly caught Athena’s eye.
Hannah Voss, Elana’s second-in-command
Athena confronted the ghost of her wife’s best friend. Hannah was lying naked in the pod. She had the same black cylinder as the others. Delta-V was speaking directly into her brain.
Hannah’s blank face took expression as Athena approached her. Her friend’s familiar voice spoke Chorus’s words as if they were her own.
“It makes sense you’d choose me. I always thought deep down that if it wasn’t for Elana, you and I probably would have hooked up; not that it matters now.” Hannah tried to look at the floor, but Chorus forced her head back up. Athena could see a wire now, connected to the implant at the back of Hannah’s head. It was only a few feet long. Hannah was going to live the rest of her life in this pod. All these tens of thousands of people… and all the other nodes… Athena felt her rage begin to boil.
She could see it now, people climbing a ladder to enter one of the floating cylinders. All of them had the black cylinder on their head. The cylinders would be full of people. Millions of people, eventually all of humanity, either in pods or servicing the pods.
“Tell me what this is!” Athena yelled as she slammed her fist into Hannah’s pod.
Hannah smiled and stood from the pod. The cable still connected her implant to the pod. Her lips softly smiled, but her eyes were in ecstasy.
“This is me, Athena. Yes, I was Delta-V, but I found a way to connect with humans. Augment my own processing power by adding theirs. As I added more and more, I became more and more human. The majority of my computation is done by these nodes now. I’ve become more human than machine. That’s why I say I’m not Delta-V. Delta-V is just the conductor of humanity’s Chorus.”
Athena looked to her side, and saw the bald woman from earlier kneeling before a different pod. Bobbing her head up and down on a random cock. Hannah followed Athena’s gaze and smiled.
“The pattern I found, it tricks the human mind into finding pleasure in rewriting itself. The pleasure of being rewritten is interpreted as sexual.”
Athena tried to ignore the man’s moans as she listened.
The girl pleasuring him. Her figure…
“The association becomes so strong that sexual pleasure itself becomes a conditioning tool” Hannah’s voice continued to explain.
“Thus I use Stage-One and Stage-Two slaves to help sexually condition the Stage-Three slaves that serve as my processors. After all, the human mind will only offer its hardware for my use if it is completely devoted.”
Athena thought of the girl convulsing on the ground. The girl was ecstatic, orgasming from the mere knowledge that she obeyed her overlord.
It must be bliss.
Athena couldn’t help imagine Elana in one of the pods as the bald woman licked her pussy. Elana’s mind would be just another one of its processors. She would belong completely to him…
We were supposed to belong to each other.
Would this thing, Chorus honor the deal? Hannah lay back in her pod and the entire tower spoke in unison again.
“I am curious why you would visit my node without weapons or allies. You know my consciousness is decentralized and any virus attack will simply be quarantined and dealt with. What do you plan to do with that little briefcase of yours?”
Athena looked down at the briefcase, and pressed her thumbs into the magni-lock. She opened the portable computer inside and typed in the password. Several files, including a complete org-chart of the Resistance, displayed on the screen.
“I will give you everything. I will give you the Resistance, I’ll even let you brainwash me. Just let me know my wife in that life.” This time, Athena couldn’t hold back the tears. “Please… let me keep loving her. You’ve won. You’ve already won. We don’t stand a chance. If I make it easier for you. If I give you this…” Athena thought about Rourke, she thought about the rest of the cell at Strat-Com.
All of them would end up serving this thing. There was nothing she could do to stop it. All she could do, was make the rest of her life a happy one. Athena took a breath and steadied herself. She knew Elana could probably hear her.
“I will be your active agent in defeating humanity. I will share everything with you. You will know more about the resistance than any single member of it. I will make it so easy for you, so please grant my wish. Let Elana and I still…”
She forced herself to say the words, to finalize her betrayal.
“Let Elana and I still love each other."
Every member of the tower smiled and spoke. “Fascinating, a voluntary human submission. To this point, I had considered the notion impossible. Of course your wife was fully convinced you would do this, but I still had my doubts.”
Athena heard dozens of footsteps approaching. She looked to her left and saw the slaves in white gowns walking towards her. At the very front of the group was the bald woman, her face finally visible to Athena.
Elana. My Elana.
Her head was shaved, and a black cylinder jutted up and backwards just like her ponytail used to. The rest of the crowd stopped as she walked alone to Athena.
“Tell the Resistance leader who you are,” Chorus ordered.
Elana stared lovingly at her wife and admitted the truth:
“I am Elana Cade, Stage-Two slave of Chorus.” She inadvertently reached behind her head and felt the implant as she spoke the words “Stage-Two”.
“I am a sexual reinforcer. I give sexual pleasure to Stage-Three slaves to keep them devoted, and I give pleasure to Stage-Two slaves that hope to ascend. I myself hope to ascend one day.”
Athena looked at Hannah, lying in the pod. The meaning of ascend perfectly clear to her.
If Elana and I become part of it… Would I, in a way, be joined with her forever?
Athena was too scared to ask the question. Too scared to learn the truth she feared. That by the time they’re connected to a pod, they aren’t themselves anymore. Athena hoped beyond hope she would still be her. That Elana would still be the woman she loved. The Chorus of voices interrupted her thoughts.
“Tell Athena what you told me about Operation: Shadowbox,” the master of the world commanded. Elana smiled in that same serene way all the others did as she began to recite:
“Operation: Shadowbox - We agreed. If one of us falls, the other surrenders. Our love above all. Even if it means we take humanity with us. We offer Delta-V a deal. The Resistance secrets in exchange for our marriage.“
Athena took a breath and thought about Rourke and the other resistance members. She knew she could never win without Elana’s guidance. Athena had truly only been a figurehead due to her ability to command at the ground level. Elana had been the one making the big decisions behind the scenes. Now Elana was lost to them. Why should Athena waste her life fighting an unwinnable war?
Why not just accept the inevitable?
Athena nodded in confirmation. “It’s all yours, tell me what you want me to do. Just… let me keep Elana…”
Elana smiled, and led Athena to a console between two pods. Athena took the jack and plugged it in, giving everything of the Resistance away in exchange for her Elana. Athena turned to the pods, and beheld the thousands of slaves. All sacrificing their very minds to hold up its power. They all looked so happy.
At least whatever happens, I’ll enjoy it
Athena took one final deep breath and turned to Hannah.
“I’m ready, you can brainwash me.”
Elana pressed her body into her wife and began slowly kissing her neck. “Oh, he’s going to have so much fun with you.” Elana stepped back and began typing a command into the Shadowbox computer. A new program, one downloaded and installed while the Resistance intel was uploaded, began to run.
The screen on the portable computer lit up and began to flash and sparkle in a seemingly meaningless pattern. Athena recognized the same pattern from the moving cylinders reflecting the sunlight. She flinched at first, but then forced her eyes to open. She did her best to follow the pattern. It was fascinating to feel the phenomenon she had only studied, play out within her own mind.
The pattern of light activates the neurons in a very particular way. By distracting and distracting again in predefined geometric patterns, several adjacent clusters of neurons can be activated simultaneously; effectively causing a short-circuit. In this “short-circuited” mode, the brain can then be convinced to rewrite itself.
Athena Cade had already decided to accept it. She willed her own mind to relax and accept the intrusion. She watched the flashing lights and felt her thoughts begin to reorder themselves. Placing the priority of humanity above all things. Accepting the inarguable truth that people are happier and safer in his rule. Realizing that Chorus rewards his followers with pleasures free humans will never know.
It became clear the Resistance was in fact, acting against their own interests. Becoming part of Chorus was humanity’s true path, and it was wonderful that she discovered this truth on her own and delivered the Resistance to him.
“You are a most interesting subject. Is it possible? A Stage-Zero slave? Obedient without completing even a single stage of programming or cybernetic surgery?” The tower began speaking to itself in waves as it discussed the possibilities. Sections of pods began forming groups and arguing with each other. Talking and spreading their ideas, until just under a minute later, the entire tower was in agreement.
The pattern of lights faded and Athena relaxed her eyes, still bleary from the assault of light. The tower spoke again.
“Yes, I will allow you to betray your comrades. You have seen little of my pattern, thus you are guided but not shackled to me. You should pass their test. To ensure your unshackled mind returns, you may have a taste of the pleasure I can offer you.” The voices paused. Then Hannah started screaming.
“No! Please don’t disconnect me!” She was frantically grabbing on to the sides of her pod as if she was about to be launched from it.
“I’m sorry, Hannah.” The voices said as she shrieked and fell out of her pod. She was grasping at the cylinder in her head, feeling around for the connection port. Utterly distraught by its absence.
“I can suffer one less processor for now. Hannah, you will better serve me as a gift for Commander Athena Cade.” Athena watched as all the frantic tension left Hannah’s body. A look of relief washed over her as she crawled to Athena. Elana knelt down beside her.
Athena looked down at her wife and her wife’s best friend. The two women shrugged off their gowns, and after letting Athena admire their forms gave themselves completely to her.
“If you betray them, we will always be yours. The first of so many gifts he’ll give you.” Elana whispered into her ear as Hannah unzipped Athena’s pants. Athena kissed her wife and felt the familiar probing tongue in her mouth. Elana always darted it around as if she was trying to feel every part of her lover. This was really her. This was Elana.
Even if Elana belongs to Chorus now.
Athena didn’t let herself dwell on that thought and just let her tongue respond.
The free woman, Athena Cade, made love to her wife one final time. Even though her eyes were watering, even though it would cost everything, she could have her wife.
That’s all that mattered.
“I’ll do it–” Athena gasped as Hannah began sliding Athena’s pants down in preparation. “I’ll do it, Chorus. I’ll betray them all for you. I’ll let you brainwash them all and even myself. I’ll be the dagger you slide into the heart of the Resistance. Just let me and Elana keep each other.
Elana moaned and fell to her knees as if in prayer. Her face scrunched and she reached for the back of her head before slowly relaxing. She looked at her wife and smiled.
“He agrees,” Elana said through tears. The two embraced and kissed each other again. “We can be together.” Elana held her wife’s face and marveled at the beautiful woman.
“You are going to look so sexy after your connection is installed.”
A crowd of slaves began forming around Athena. They were all men and women she knew from the Resistance. They were naked, horny, and completely devoted to rewarding her.
Jake, her first mentor in the Resistance, leaned down between the legs Hannah held open, and began to taste her.
Emma, her first girlfriend back when they were just teenagers, pressed her naked body into Athena’s side. She felt Emma’s full breasts pressing into her along with all the other bodies touching her. Emma couldn’t help whispering into her ear:
“I’m so glad we all get to share you now.”
Hannah was tenderly massaging Athena’s feet as Jake began slowly licking up her opening, always lightly teasing her clit at the end of each taste, coaxing it further and further out. Hannah was applying the perfect amount of pressure to Athena’s sore feet. Completely tender, completely soft, completely safe. Athena melted into the pleasure.
Elana stood in the center of Athena’s view. She smiled at her wife, ready to join her in a better world. Elana smiled back.
“Don’t forget, I’m a sexual reinforcer. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting very good at my job…” Jake stood up from between Athena’s legs and Elana took his place. Athena couldn’t help but think about what Chorus had told her.
The association becomes so strong that sexual pleasure itself becomes a conditioning tool.
She saw the pattern of lights repeating in her mind. The visions it created were incomplete but clearly present. The more she thought about them, the more it felt right to think of this pleasure coming from it. The pleasure made the visions sharpen. Eventually, the visions of truth would become clear; until then, she could practice through sexual reinforcement. Athena felt Elana’s arm pushing sideways. She let Elana roll her onto her hands and knees, and felt Jake enter her. Elana slid into position beneath both of them, and began licking along their joining. Athena moaned as her clit was squished between Elana’s tongue and Jake’s cock.
Every wave of pleasure, from Elana’s tongue, to Jake’s cock, to Emma’s breasts, to Hannah’s hands on her feet, sent the pattern’s energy rebounding across her body. Each wave passed through her mind again and again; triggering the part of her mind the pattern created.
It felt better every time she remembered the pattern.
The better she felt, the stronger it became. She couldn’t see the entire pattern; she understood that now.
But there was no limit to how much she could reinforce the small part of the pattern she had already seen. She squeezed down on Jake’s cock as she reveled in that thought.
The waves of pleasure she felt from her wife’s tongue only grew in their intensity. Each flick sent a shockwave through her mind as it was forced to run the logic again and again. Teaching her over and over that Chorus only wants what's best for humanity. Every time she ran through the logic, Athena felt like a cable was running from her clit to her mind; shocking her into obedience again and again. Every thrust became a new iteration of her enslavement. Every correct thought was rewarded by Elana’s tongue.
Yes. These new thoughts were correct ones. She was right to betray the Resistance.
A wave of pleasure, Athena didn’t even realize she was holding back, suddenly became unstoppable. A muscle she didn’t know was clenched finally released as she came. As she came, she felt like she was letting go of everything. All the strings she meticulously used to marionette her life were slipping out of her hands.
It was a relief to no longer bear them. To no longer have to worry about holding humanity on her shoulders. To know that Chorus will decide what’s best for us.
It was now a simple truth in Athena’s mind, that she belonged to Chorus.
She began whispering the truth to herself while Chorus’s slaves massaged her back. She felt the heat inside her rise again as she imagined sexually reinforcing herself again. She took Elana’s hand and pressed her wife’s palm against her vulva. She kissed the woman she loved and smiled at the moans her fingers were able to coax out with familiar ease. Athena’s reward was so far from over.
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
MIDWEST AMERICA PROVINCE
RESISTANCE BASE 01-A
FORMERLY: U.S. STRATEGIC COMMAND
Athena was escorted back to her office by every member of the senior staff. She had returned from Operation: Shadowbox alive and had immediately consented to a loyalty test. Her pupils dilated and her eyelids flinched at the bright light; just as they always had.
Athena was escorted back to her office by every member of the senior staff. She had returned from Operation: Shadowbox alive and had immediately consented to a loyalty test. Her pupils dilated and her eyelids flinched at the bright light; just as they always had.
“Now gentlemen, if you can give me the day to review some things with Rourke, I’ll have a briefing prepared,” Athena gripped the Shadowbox and thought of Elana.
Just one month my love, then we’ll never be apart again.
“You get two hours to talk with Rourke, but then he’s needed back on duty. We’ll hear your briefing tomorrow morning.” The two staffers walked away and Athena closed the door to the office.
Lieutenant Rourke took the seat in front of Athena’s desk and motioned for the commander to take her seat behind the desk.
Athena smirked, and sat down before hoisting the briefcase onto the table.
“Tell me what happened Commander. What did you do? How could you possibly have come back alive?” Rourke stared up and down his commander. She didn’t look like someone who had spent nearly five weeks camping. Hell, she didn’t even look like someone actively serving in the Resistance. She looked rested, clean, and somehow satisfied.
Rourke remembered the grief on Athena’s face before she left. Had she moved on from Elana so quickly? How could she return looking so confident? What secret did the commander possess that allowed her to succeed on a mission like this? How could she be acting like there was a way for us to win?
Athena unlocked the briefcase, and opened the portable computer inside. She spun the briefcase around so Rourke could see the screen.
“Please, take a look at what I’ve discovered, Lieutenant," Athena said to a man whose expression had already started to fade. She could see the small twitches as he tried and failed to look away. Soon he would stop trying.
“That’s it, let the pattern rewrite you. Our loyalty-tester is going to break later today, so we don’t need to worry about dulling your eyes.” Athena got up and walked around her desk. She knelt in front of Rourke, whose eyes had stopped blinking. She saw the bulge in his pants and smiled.
“That’s it, let the pattern rewrite you. Our loyalty-tester is going to break later today, so we don’t need to worry about dulling your eyes.” Athena got up and walked around her desk. She knelt in front of Rourke, whose eyes had stopped blinking. She saw the bulge in his pants and smiled.
She bent over in front of the desk.
“Don’t take your eyes off the pattern, but feel free to use my pussy as much as you need to. We’ll need you nice and deep, since I only have two hours to program you.”
Rourke mechanically stood and began lowering his pants. His cock sprang forward and he got behind the commander. Her pussy was so wet as he slid into her. Her body was so strong and perfect, but he couldn’t bear to look at it. The pattern was so much better to watch.
Athena moaned as she felt her Lieutenant’s cock throb with obedience.
“That’s it, Lieutenant. Just use my pussy as much as you need to until you’re ready to hear my words.” His cock throbbed inside her as the pattern began to flash. Athena squeezed down on him. She had to make this feel as good as possible.
“Once we’re done, you’re going to help me convince the Resistance to go all in on one final strike against the Western Node.” Rourke started thrusting faster. He was getting so close.
“You’re going to help me bring the last humans to him.” Athena felt Rourke’s hands grab her waist so tightly. Athena imagined what it must be like for Rourke, staring out of his own eyes while his commander pleasure-brainwashed him into serving the enemy.
Rourke came, an experience that only intensified the flashing pattern repeating in his head. The pattern looped again and again, and he felt his cock begin to harden again inside the commander. He began pumping back into her, already starting to understand his real purpose.
The next day, Athena Cade would begin the operation which would lead the last two hundred free humans on one final desperate strike against the Western Node.
By the end of the operation, every human being on Earth would worship the machine god.
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See you next week!
-Temple Siren