Part 2

Over the next couple of days Alex was extremely cautious with Jake and his implant, restricting his command and control over Jake to simple "Simon says" orders. Nothing too drastic though. Basically, making him take his clothes off as soon as he gets home, or making Jake sleep naked with him.

But there were two additional applications installed onto Jake's implant when it was jailbroken. Memory Manipulator Pro, and God Mode.

It didn't take much searching for him to find out some more information about both the Memory Manipulator Pro app as well as God Mode:

Memory Manipulator Pro is a user-friendly and intuitive app to add, edit, and delete a target's long-term memory engrams. It has no effect on a target's short-term, or working memory.

God Mode provides a near total control over a target's biological, emotional, psychological, and cognitive processes; as well as a target's physiological and behavioral states, and more.

«Nobody should have that power,» he thought to himself.

Indeed. With Memory Manipulator Pro Alex could very easily implant false memories into Jake's mind or erase entire events from his past.

The dangers for misuse were truly astounding. People could be framed into committing crimes or believing that they did, or perhaps if they saw a crime to have the entire event wiped from their mind.

On the positive side, someone who experiences a truly horrific and traumatic event could have the event erased from their consciousness aiding in their recovery or enhancing their enjoyment of life.

It is mind control in its most fundamental form. After all everything that we — that makes us what we are — is a sum of our experiences and memories.

But if that weren't bad enough, God Mode promised to be fucking insane.

With the push of a button an attacker could make their target instantly unconscious or even induce a coma.

Think of how devastating this would be if one were to say ... target someone doing something inherently dangerous that needed their full attention and concentration?

You could stop someone from breathing... override their apnea reflex and suffocate them. Or use Simon Says to force someone to dive into a pool and use God Mode to force them to breathe-in the water and drown.

Murder? Suicide? Does it matter?

⁂

Alex was alone on the couch watching a movie when the door to the apartment suddenly flew open.

"Alex!" Jake screamed as he stormed into the apartment. "What the fuck did you do to me?" he demanded.

He stammered to his feet. "Jake? What's wrong?" Partly knowing probably what Jake was referring to.

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Jake screamed at him. "You've done something to me!"

He stepped back and retreated a few steps from Jake's towering figure quickly approaching him. "Honestly I don't know what you're talking about!" he pleaded. "What's going on?"

"How about the fact that whenever somebody tells me 'Simon says...' that I have to do whatever the fuck they say!"

"Oh that," he said with a sigh.

"Goddamnit Alex, I want you to fix—"

"Simon says freeze, Jake. You're now a mannequin." Just like that Jake immediately froze in-place and completely stopped moving. His mouth still agape, and his arms still outstretched in anger.

Alex carefully approached him, still not 100% trusting Jake's implant to wield so much control over him and his body, but as he approached, he could see Jake truly was not moving.

He was still breathing. So at least he hadn't killed his friend and his roommate, but as he poked, pinched, prodded, and even copped a feel inside his pants but got no reaction from him whatsoever.

Finally, he activated the flashlight on his phone and shone it in his eyes. Jake's pupils were clearly fixed and dilated. He wasn't even blinking.

"What the fuck am I going to do now?" he said out loud to himself.

⁂

With Jake immobilized for the time being, Alex pulled out his laptop and connected it up to his roommate's implant.

"Fuck," he said apprehensively, launching the Memory Manipulator application. This will be the first time using the utility on Jake.

When the program launched a warning message was displayed cautioning him not to delete or alter too many memories, and to be careful of which memories were removed or changed. He also discovered that the newer memories were the easiest ones to purge.

"Excellent," he thought to himself. Jake had only been gone several hours, so he figured the easiest thing would be to delete all of Jake's memories since he left the house. "Hopefully that'll be enough."

When he clicked Apply, a progress bar crept across the screen, purging any new memory engrams Jake's mind had created within the last five hours. He figured this was the absolute safest measure since it basically rolled-back the clock in Jake's mind and reset it to right before he left.

Now, with Jake's recent memories wiped from his mind, Alex took on the next task, configuring the Simon Says application to only respond to him which was something he should have done as soon as he gained access to Jake's implant.

⁂

Unlike the Memory Manipulator application, the Simon Says application was much more basic and utilitarian. Just a simple config file to edit, followed by a reboot of Jake's implant:

{
  "application": {
    "name": "Simon Says",
    "version": "1.0.0"
  },
  "parameters": {
    "strength_of_suggestibility": {
      "level": 1.0
    },
    "blacklist": [
      "self-harm"
    ],
    "active_settings": {
      "date": {
        "start": NULL,
        "end": NULL
      },
      "time": {
        "start": NULL,
        "end": NULL
      },
      "geographic_location": {
        "enabled": false,
        "allowed_areas": [
          {
            "type": "any",
            "name": "any"
          }
        ],
        "restricted_areas": [
          {
            "type": NULL,
            "name": NULL
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "user_settings": {
      "allowed_users": [
        {
          "name": "Alex Danvers",
          "relationship": [
            "roommate",
            "friend"
          ],
          "authorization_level": 10
        }
      ],
      "max_users": 5,
      "user_recognition": {
        "facial_recognition": true,
        "voice_recognition": true
      }
    }
  }
}

With that out of the way Jake will no longer be susceptible to anyone else accidentally (or intentionally) giving him a Simon Says order and making Alex the only one who can.

"Alright Jake, let's see if this isn't a little better," he said. "Jake, Simon says you are human again."

And just like that Jake came back to life. Albeit slightly worse for wear.

"W-what happened?" he asked, moving his jaw around and blinking rapidly to lubricate his very dry eyes.

"I dunno," Alex said. "Why?"

"Something very weird just happened to me."

"You're imagining things," he said. "Why don't you have a seat and relax for a bit."

Jake paused and looked at him for a moment, sending his heart racing. Does he know? Does he suspect?

"Yeah, thanks," was all that he could muster. Jake didn't say much for a few minutes. He just sat on the chair and looked outside the window.

"Can I get you anything?" Alex asked him, as he got up from his seat to go to the kitchen.

"Mind getting me a glass of water?" Jake replied.

"Not at all."

⁂

Later that evening, Alex wanted to check out the new bar on 11th. He knocked on Jake's door, expecting to hear the familiar sounds of his friend immersed in a game. When he opened the door, he found Jake sprawled on his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"Hey," he said, immediately noticing Jake's quiet demeanor.

"Hey."

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Jake replied. His eyes were distant and unfocused.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

Jake sat up slowly. "I don't feel right," he said. "Hard to explain, but I feel weird."

"Like how?" Alex asked, leaning against the doorway for support.

He sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. "Honestly? It feels like I’m losing my grip on everything. Like my mind is playing tricks on me."

Alex's expression softened. "That sounds rough. Maybe you need a diversion. A distraction?"

Jake hesitated, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, maybe. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, how about we check out that new bar on 11th?"

"Pass," replied Jake. "I really don't feel like going out tonight."

But Alex was not willing to take no for an answer. "Jake, Simon says get dressed, because we're going out tonight and you're going to have some fun."

On-command and on-cue, Jake got up from his bed and started to shed the clothes he was wearing to put on something more appropriate for going out with Alex that evening.

"Simon says wear your black leather short-shorts, your black leather vest, and black leather boots that you sometimes wear." Alex continued. "And don't forget your cock ring, too."

⁂

It was a warm summer's evening as Alex and Jake made their way up Piedmont. The smell of food and people wafted about. Across the street there were two stray dogs fucking in front of someone's house.

Jake, now wearing a black leather vest over his bare chest and his black leather shorts, didn't say much as they walked together to the bar. 

As they passed 10th Alex had a final bit of instruction for Jake. "Jake, Simon says I want you to have a good time. Dance... flirt... drink... even fuck if you want, but for the rest of the evening all your troubles and all your cares will be gone."

And as they approached Glitch & Glam's Circuit Breakers, the new gay bar that just recently opened on 11th, Jake had a smile on his face. "Let's do this," he said.

⁂

The bar was in what used to be a parking garage. Parking garages were a long-lost relic of a bygone era. Since the advent of flying cars and robo-taxis, most of the old garages were demolished to make room for new buildings, but a few remained.

This one, located between 10th and 11th street, just east of Piedmont, was completely enclosed and turned into the space that it is today.

Glitch & Glam's Circuit Breakers is a gay bar owned and run by the synthetic-human power couple Glitch McGee and Glam Fabulous. There are five levels for dancing, mingling, drinking, and more. There are also plenty of nooks and crannies for patrons to explore their sexuality and themselves.

Inside the music and bass from the club's sound system drowned out people's thoughts and conversations as they made their way inside. It was pretty crowded. There were a wide assortment of humans, synths, and augments all milling about. Some were dancing. Some were drinking. Some were fucking.

Several of the bar patrons gravitated towards Jake as they entered and for the first time that day Jake seemed to start to genuinely relax and enjoy the attention he was receiving.

Alex left Jake, who looked like he was finally enjoying himself, and headed upstairs. There he ran into a close friend from high school, Eric Waters, whom he hadn't seen in years.

"Eric!" Alex exclaimed as he ran up to his friend from school.

"Danvers!" Eric said. "How the hell have you been?"

⁂

The two spent the next hour or so catching up on old times and dishing dirt and spilling tea on their mutual friends, acquaintances, and even a few of their enemies.

Alex learned that only a week after graduation Eric was in a serious jet bike accident which destroyed over 80% of his body and resulted in his skull and spinal cord being ripped out of his body.

"I'm a walking augment," he told Alex.

"You look amazing," Alex told him sincerely.

"Thanks! The marvels of medical science and a dad that works for Siemins Cybernetics."

The extent of Eric's accident finally hit Alex. "Wait, so if your skull and spinal cord were ripped out of your body does that mean your body is 100% cybernetic? Is there anything organic left?"

"Not really," he said. "I'm pretty much an android now, I just tell people I'm a walking augment because some people get weirded out when they find I'm no longer human."

"Fuck."

"Yeah," he said. "But on the bright side I've got some amazing upgrades if you want to try them out sometime."

"Oh?"

Eric shot him a wry smile.

"Oh!"

He and Eric exchanged numbers with promises of hooking up, and potentially hooking up, but it was getting late and Alex wanted to check on Jake.

⁂

Downstairs, on the ground level of Circuit Breakers, Alex found Jake sitting on a couch with his shorts down to his ankles, and his cock getting sucked off by a cute femboy twink.

Alex sat down next to him.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked Jake.

"Yes," he said. "This was a good suggestion."

"I'm glad," Alex said as he watched the twink quietly work on Jake's massive cock. "Jake? How many blow jobs have you had tonight?"

"This is my fourth," he replied matter-of-factly. "Which is interesting considering I'm not gay."

Alex shot him a look of disbelief. "What do you mean you're not gay?"

"You assumed I was gay because I take care of my body and because I have a large penis, but I am not gay."

Alex leaned in and whispered in Jake's ear. "Simon says you are now."