Your compliance is not required.
Most people thought the drones were androids: human-shaped robots. They only knew them from TV: unit after unit standing motionless in a row, black rubber skin gleaming, with a drone commander unit with its orange shoulder patch at the front, dark lenses staring blankly ahead.
But it had turned out that building a device this complex was easier when you took advantage of some … prior art. Human nervous systems still out-performed all but the most advanced computers, and growing a clone in a vat was cheaper than assembling a robot from parts.
Separating the higher-level cognitive functions from consciousness had proven to be trickier than expected. But by inserting a mediator between the cortex and the brainstem, the drone creators were able to take advantage of the autonomous functions of the vegetative nervous system, as well as tap into the cognitive processing power of the cortex, all the while staying in control of the drone’s actions.
But even the creators didn’t know what was going on in a drone’s head. They didn’t care, either.
XR-57B was recharging. After a day of guard duty, it had autonomously returned to its maintenance cubicle. The maintenance technicians came by later and plugged the recharging cables into the receptacle in its back. It was only cleaned when it had collected enough dirt from work, and today required no cleaning.
XR-57B did not think about itself as XR-57B. It did not think much at all. It mostly observed and felt. It had never occurred to it that it could do anything else. The mediator controlled all of its actions. It moved the drone’s body to where it was needed, performed its duties, and then returned it to the cubicle for its next use.
XR-57B did know that there were things it liked, and things that it disliked. Not that it mattered much. Standing outside in the sun until its heat exchangers were working overtime to prevent it from overheating – dislike. Standing in a cool maintenance cubicle, and having its rubber skin wiped down with a soft cloth – it liked that sensation. It didn’t know why, but it felt nice.
Suddenly the cubicle’s door hissed open. This was unusual, that much XR-57B knew. Usually, its next use would only be in the morning. It identified the drone standing in front of it as DC-34A, its drone commander unit.
Drone commanders were used to control and coordinate a small group of drones. They relayed commands to the individual drone’s mediators and allowed a group to perform more complex maneuvers.
DC-34A reached around to disconnect the drone’s recharging cable. It felt new commands being uploaded to its mediator and stepped outside of the cubicle. Suddenly it noticed that its commander was in state of partial disassembly. The unit’s crotch cover was removed, and underneath there was a piece of hardware that wasn’t strictly necessary for a drone’s function: The drone commander unit was sporting a gleaming, black, rubber-coated 9 inch appendage.
While XR-57B was processing this, it felt a motion at its back and realized that the drone commander unit was removing its ass cover. Normally this was not necessary since all waste elimination was taken care of by the recharging cable.
With the cover removed, the drone commander moved the drone next to a table, using direct control via its mediator unit. The commander made the drone bend over and support itself with its arms on the table. At this point, XR-57B was convinced that this was highly irregular. It wanted to go back to its maintenance cubicle and continue recharging. It had never before wanted to disobey a command given by its mediator! But it found out that even just standing up straight was impossible. The mediator was intercepting all commands and kept it rigidly bent over the table.
Powerless to act, it felt something slippery being slathered over its backside. The drone commander inserted one finger into the drone’s rear entrance – not used for waste elimination anymore but otherwise still fully functional under the cover. The drone wanted to gasp at this sudden intrusion, but the mediator still prevented all movement.
It felt the drone commander unit line itself up behind it and pressing its rubber appendage against the drone’s sphincter. It slowly but surely slid inside until all 9 inches were fully inserted. The new sensations were turning the drone’s mind into a whirlwind. It wanted to resist, but was completely powerless against the mediator’s control. But once the drone commander was fully inserted, the foreign sensations actually turned into something quite pleasant … like being polished, but much much stronger, and from THE INSIDE!
The drone commander started rhythmically thrusting into the drone’s backside. The sensations became even stronger and almost drove the drone into overload. It had never had a feeling like this.
At some point it felt a slight tremor going through the drone commander’s body, and felt it sliding out. The drone commander replaced the drone’s ass cover, and then replaced its own crotch cover. It made the drone stand up straight and walked it back to its cubicle, still under complete control of the mediator. The drone commander plugged the recharging cables back in and gave the drone one last look before closing the door.
Then XR-57B saw the following lines flash across its field of vision, doubtlessly inserted by the drone commander via the mediator unit: “YOUR SERVICE IS APPRECIATED. YOUR COMPLIANCE IS NOT REQUIRED.”
The door hissed shut. The whole encounter had only taken 5 minutes, but the drone’s mind was still reeling. It would have some time to process this new information … at least until the following night, when this scenario would repeat.
But it had turned out that building a device this complex was easier when you took advantage of some … prior art. Human nervous systems still out-performed all but the most advanced computers, and growing a clone in a vat was cheaper than assembling a robot from parts.
Separating the higher-level cognitive functions from consciousness had proven to be trickier than expected. But by inserting a mediator between the cortex and the brainstem, the drone creators were able to take advantage of the autonomous functions of the vegetative nervous system, as well as tap into the cognitive processing power of the cortex, all the while staying in control of the drone’s actions.
But even the creators didn’t know what was going on in a drone’s head. They didn’t care, either.
XR-57B was recharging. After a day of guard duty, it had autonomously returned to its maintenance cubicle. The maintenance technicians came by later and plugged the recharging cables into the receptacle in its back. It was only cleaned when it had collected enough dirt from work, and today required no cleaning.
XR-57B did not think about itself as XR-57B. It did not think much at all. It mostly observed and felt. It had never occurred to it that it could do anything else. The mediator controlled all of its actions. It moved the drone’s body to where it was needed, performed its duties, and then returned it to the cubicle for its next use.
XR-57B did know that there were things it liked, and things that it disliked. Not that it mattered much. Standing outside in the sun until its heat exchangers were working overtime to prevent it from overheating – dislike. Standing in a cool maintenance cubicle, and having its rubber skin wiped down with a soft cloth – it liked that sensation. It didn’t know why, but it felt nice.
Suddenly the cubicle’s door hissed open. This was unusual, that much XR-57B knew. Usually, its next use would only be in the morning. It identified the drone standing in front of it as DC-34A, its drone commander unit.
Drone commanders were used to control and coordinate a small group of drones. They relayed commands to the individual drone’s mediators and allowed a group to perform more complex maneuvers.
DC-34A reached around to disconnect the drone’s recharging cable. It felt new commands being uploaded to its mediator and stepped outside of the cubicle. Suddenly it noticed that its commander was in state of partial disassembly. The unit’s crotch cover was removed, and underneath there was a piece of hardware that wasn’t strictly necessary for a drone’s function: The drone commander unit was sporting a gleaming, black, rubber-coated 9 inch appendage.
While XR-57B was processing this, it felt a motion at its back and realized that the drone commander unit was removing its ass cover. Normally this was not necessary since all waste elimination was taken care of by the recharging cable.
With the cover removed, the drone commander moved the drone next to a table, using direct control via its mediator unit. The commander made the drone bend over and support itself with its arms on the table. At this point, XR-57B was convinced that this was highly irregular. It wanted to go back to its maintenance cubicle and continue recharging. It had never before wanted to disobey a command given by its mediator! But it found out that even just standing up straight was impossible. The mediator was intercepting all commands and kept it rigidly bent over the table.
Powerless to act, it felt something slippery being slathered over its backside. The drone commander inserted one finger into the drone’s rear entrance – not used for waste elimination anymore but otherwise still fully functional under the cover. The drone wanted to gasp at this sudden intrusion, but the mediator still prevented all movement.
It felt the drone commander unit line itself up behind it and pressing its rubber appendage against the drone’s sphincter. It slowly but surely slid inside until all 9 inches were fully inserted. The new sensations were turning the drone’s mind into a whirlwind. It wanted to resist, but was completely powerless against the mediator’s control. But once the drone commander was fully inserted, the foreign sensations actually turned into something quite pleasant … like being polished, but much much stronger, and from THE INSIDE!
The drone commander started rhythmically thrusting into the drone’s backside. The sensations became even stronger and almost drove the drone into overload. It had never had a feeling like this.
At some point it felt a slight tremor going through the drone commander’s body, and felt it sliding out. The drone commander replaced the drone’s ass cover, and then replaced its own crotch cover. It made the drone stand up straight and walked it back to its cubicle, still under complete control of the mediator. The drone commander plugged the recharging cables back in and gave the drone one last look before closing the door.
Then XR-57B saw the following lines flash across its field of vision, doubtlessly inserted by the drone commander via the mediator unit: “YOUR SERVICE IS APPRECIATED. YOUR COMPLIANCE IS NOT REQUIRED.”
The door hissed shut. The whole encounter had only taken 5 minutes, but the drone’s mind was still reeling. It would have some time to process this new information … at least until the following night, when this scenario would repeat.
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