Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 18:10:06 +0100 (BST)
From: Riley Jericho <rileyjericho@yahoo.com>
Subject: Against The Machine - ch 6

AGAINST THE MACHINE

CHAPTER SIX
by Riley Jericho
rileyjericho@yahoo.com


Noah woke. His mouth felt dry and his head throbbed slightly.

Crap -- what time was it?

He opened his eyes, expecting to see Donny still asleep as usual, or at
least the white ceiling. The ceiling? Yes, it was white, but it wasn't the
right one. He heard movement. Turning his head to the left he saw a man
standing at some unknown computer thing. For a moment he felt completely
disorientated.

This wasn't his bedroom, or any place in the care home. Where was he? Why
couldn't he move his arms or legs? Who was this man?

He sniffed and his nose flared. It didn't even smell like his bedroom!

Then, in a rush, it all came flooding back.

He'd been restricted to his room all day and most of the day before; on
lockdown after they'd picked him up at the Mall. He hadn't really been
running away -- at least not this time -- but he'd been in no hurry to get
back either; that was the truth!

They'd been a bit pissed. He had been told earlier that morning that there
was to be a `meeting'; they were probably downstairs in the office, talking
about him right now! Crap - he hoped it wouldn't end up him having to be
hypo-ed!

Secretly, he'd stopped taking the tablets. Quite a number of kids here were
put on tablets, but they made him feel lethargic and tired, and at school
it was hard to concentrate and keep up. The tablets were crap!

But if you weren't taking them like you were meant to and they found out,
then they would do you with the hypo instead. Donny was on the hypo now;
these days he just sat around all the time staring at the TV, hardly saying
anything. Or slept. For a while now, he'd been secretly palming the crappy
things and flushing them down the bog; maybe that's what they were mad
about?

He'd fretted for ages before the door opened and one of the assistants had
come to get him. He was one that was usually nice enough, but this time he
didn't speak. Crap -- maybe even he was pissed! The man kept a handgrip
firmly on his shoulder as he'd guided him to the office where they were all
waiting.

He hated the office; you only went in there when you were in trouble. They
were upset at first, reminding him how bad he'd been by running away and by
being rude to others. He guessed they'd figured out about the tablets
too. There were more there than he expected, and a few he'd never seen in
his life before.  But it made him even more nervous when suddenly they
changed tack and seemed to want to be nice!

They sat him on a comfy little sofa and the old hag came and sat next to
him; the care home director. Nasty cow she was; smelly cow too and her BO
made his nose wrinkle. She put her arm around him -- eeewww -- and started
saying how important he was to everyone.

He'd almost burst out laughing!

They said that they'd talked a lot about him and only wanted to
help. They'd all agreed it would be for the best. He'd looked around the
plush room suspiciously. What would be for the best?

They said that they were going to send him somewhere for a few days and he
relaxed a bit. A different care home? A new foster family? Perhaps that was
who the new people were? He didn't care; anything would be better than
where he was! He'd asked them about getting his things, but they'd looked a
little uncomfortable.

The old hag took his hold of his hands as if to comfort him but, too late,
he saw the nasty glint in her eyes. Instinctively, he tried to pull away
but she gripped him hard. Then he'd felt a pinch on his neck.

Crap! They hypo-ed me after all, he grunted. Now he was gonna end up like
Donny!

But he began to feel dizzy. This wasn't anything like the tablets! He
struggled, feeling panicky as the room swam.

It went black.

He remembered waking up in another place; one he'd never been to before -
strapped to some medical bed. It had been really scary. Was this what
they'd meant about helping him?

Then the rest of it tumbled into place. Some 'procedure' he was being
given; and the man who was watching him -- he'd been there too; the
Attendant that had put the funny ring on him, like he had with all the
others.

And Jack. He remembered Jack now -- the nice man.

Despite all that had happened to him, he felt surprisingly calm; almost
detached. "Oh, sorry," he yawned widely. "I must have drifted off again."

He twisted his head to fully scope out the room. "Where's Jack?"

The Attendant turned and smiled. "You're awake!"

"Jack's still sleeping I'm afraid. You'll be able to see him later again,"
he added. "How are you feeling, anyway?" he continued, checking the boy's
vital signs again to see that core brain activity was back within norms.

Noah yawned again. "Oh...OK...a little bit of a headache - not too bad
though. And a bit tired. Hungry too. When's dinner?"

The Attendant nodded, satisfied; the boy had come through it well. The
headache was pretty normal too; a legacy of 3.5 hours of brain
burning. Dinner was off, though, as he would be put to sleep shortly, to
remain unconscious for up to 15 hours; the first of the extended periods of
conditioning the Machine would embark upon.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Normally it took anything from three to five hours to complete the process
of Synaptic Remodeling. Everyone was a little different and it couldn't be
hurried in any way. There was little point in standing there watching and
he would usually leave them to the care of the Machine -- often to go to
attend to some other group that was also under his care.

When the Remodeling was completed, he would finally be able to disconnect
each of them from the umbilical in the knowledge that ongoing access to
their minds was already assured.

One by one he would move them from the Treatment Room to a place where they
could be stored and monitored over the long hours of reconditioning. Each
couch would be docked into a receiving bay where it fitted within a larger
containment module. The module carried all the monitoring equipment,
including its own umbilical and mating collar, and its incumbent was then
squirreled away somewhere by a computerised storage procedure.

And so it was with this group. Whilst each had lain comatose through the
Remodeling phase, he had worked to help prepare the new batch that had
arrived today, wielding brush and solutions to clean them up ready for the
medical inspections. He would see those new ones again soon when he walked
into the Treatment Room the day after tomorrow. As their couches raised
them up, they would see him and know it was beginning for them too.

 -~-~-~-~-~-~-

Group M-9985201 had now completed the Remodeling phase and he'd begun
transferring them from the Treatment Room to the holding areas. As wasn't
uncommon, a few woke up in-between one thing and the next, but most just
continued to sleep through.

He was glad that the boy was awake though and raised the backrest once more
so that Noah could see and he could give him some water to drink. The boy's
arms were still bound to the couch, but he swallowed, gulping down
gratefully as the Attendant offered up a straw. It didn't really matter how
much he drunk as, over the next few days in stasis, the various computers
and maintenance systems would keep him fed and hydrated, and dispose of any
waste.

"You know, Jack asked me to ask you if you wanted to come and stay with him
for a while after this. Maybe just while you both get properly
better. Would you like that?"

"Stay with him?" replied Noah. "With Jack? At his house for a bit, you
mean?"

The Attendant nodded.

"That's so weird!"

He suspected what was coming, but left Noah to finish his thought.

"It's just that that's so funny!" Noah continued, smiling brightly. "so
actually had a dream about that as well...perhaps it's meant to be! It
might be nice though..."

"Well, there you go then," confirmed the Attendant.

It was perhaps one of the small mercies of Synaptic Remodeling that none
ever remembered it; the memory of the burning white fire and agonizing
distress was completely wiped, lest it become a psychological scar that
even the best conditioning couldn't eradicate. The Machine could be
reasonably selective about memory deletion, but the mind was a funny thing
and it wasn't an exact science. For some it meant that much of the time in
the Treatment Room became a bit blurred; the fuzziness increasing closer to
the initiation of Synaptic Remodeling. That the boy could only remember
their previous conversation on this topic as dream was not surprising.

Noah may not have remembered it, but he in the meantime had been busy and
had already been in contact with the Social Care Administrate, expressing
what he felt would be in the interests of his patients! It was one of the
benefits of his job, his seniority, and particularly the fact that he
represented the Centre for Emotional Wellness that few people in other
government departments cared much to argue with him.

If that's what he wanted, that's what he usually got.

It was made easier in that the SCA also knew that, with this case, they
could bypass the normally strict assessment procedures for potential
adopting parents - mainly because the Attendant proposed that the Machine
would easily condition the man to be an ideal candidate for the job! That
said, he was already fairly sure there were no hidden dangers in the man's
psyche when it came to taking on the parenting of this boy - and even if
anything showed up, it would be programmed out.

He was confidant that wasn't needed here... in fact, very little was
needed.

For both of man and boy, there were bad memories that had emotionally
scarred them, but those scars could be healed. The worst of the memories
would be annulled, but not all. There were good memories too, and even some
of the painful ones could be good if they could be understood and managed
in the right way. Sad wasn't always bad, not if it helped you to appreciate
the good things that you now had.

At a profoundly deep level, the man had lost confidence in himself,
carrying a guilt that it had been he that had survived whilst his wife and
child had perished; deep down believing he had failed them at the time they
needed him most. It had emotionally throttled him over many subsequent
years and he'd never been able to form caring relationships since.

That is until this boy touched his life.

All these things could and would be looked into as part of the
reconditioning but, other than that, he only needed -- literally - to be
needed. At the same time, the Attendant planned to load the bases! He would
programme in a strong affinity between the pair; a sense of belonging
together; of love. He planned that they could -- and would - do well.

Playing God? No, he didn't see it that way. It was part of the treatment
plan and, by the time the conditioning was complete, he expected that the
bonded relationship between the two would be another foregone conclusion!

The boy glanced critically at his flaccid penis and at the metallic ring
buried comfortably in the sulcus. "Does this come off before I go home?" he
wondered aloud.

The Attendant shook his head. "No, Noah, that just has to stay there
now. But, don't worry - you'll hardly notice it after a while. Anyway, it
can do some really cool things for you!"

Cool things? Maybe...or maybe not. Whether what came now in their lives was
'cool' depended on your point of view, and was a prime point of contention
for those opposed to this treatment.

Frankly, for the boy (as it would be for all of the twelve), this small
circle of metal was now his one and only route to enjoy any of the
experiences or pleasures of sexuality. Traditional expressions of sex would
be impossible -- either alone or with a partner. It was impossible even to
gain an erection without the Machine, which was now the one that controlled
all the pleasure circuits of the higher brain cortex. Alone in their rooms
- if they had a mind to - they could frantically rub all they liked, but
there could be no arousal; nothing would swell; nothing would spurt. Never
again could they become erect of their own will or by any other form of
visual or manual stimulus with the hope it might lead to climax and
ejaculation.

It was pretty straightforward now. They just simply couldn't anymore!

Even if they tried to combine the two by connecting to the Machine whilst
bedding a girl - apart from the slight problem that the umbilical got in
the way (although they were looking at solving that) - the hard fact was
this; even if they did wear the ring and tried to engage in a sexual
encounter - penetrative or not - with a female, the girl knew it was
actually the Machine he was making love to (and vice-versa), not her.

And that was quite hard to swallow!

On the other hand, the Machine could create sexual experiences for those
who were mated to it that were unheard of by those who had never known its
caress.

What was better? He had no idea. In that respect, he could no longer
remember anything about what was before the time the Machine first made its
union with him. It felt right. Isn't that all that mattered he wondered
about it as he slid off the umbilical from the control; preparing to mate
the boy again prior to putting him to sleep once more. Noah looked somewhat
apprehensive, still able to recall some of the early parts of his last time
with that little collar.

"Do you have to put that thing on again...it's not very nice really!" he
muttered.

The Attendant grinned confidently. "Believe me, young man, this is now
nothing like it was before. It will never hurt again. In fact, trust me,
you're going to love it!"

"Does it always fit on there?" Noah asked, still not convinced, nodding to
his small ring.

"Yes, it does."

"Will Jack always have one too?"

"He sure will...you'll be like two peas in a pod!" the Attendant laughed.

The boy thought about it a moment. "That will be OK then. I was a bit
worried about going back to the home, 'cos they might think it weird, or
laugh, or something. But if we're the same, it won't really matter will it?
I think staying with Jack for a bit will be a good idea," he decided.

The kid was so cute!

Again, the Attendant wondered whether any of this had been necessary for
the boy. Didn't he just need someone who cared about him? Well, it was much
too late for that. What was done was done and there could be no going back
now.

One thing the boy would not need to worry about though, was feeling
embarrassed about having the implants or being mated to the Machine. The
conditioning saw to that and, within a few days, he would actually be
perfectly happy to drop his trousers without a second thought if it were
required. Getting them to remember to put them on in the first place was
more of a challenge!

It's not that those treated like this became exhibitionists; it's just that
they would be conditioned not to feel awkward or sensitive about their new
physical attributes and sexual identity.

It would be their life now.

He gently slipped on the collar and, after a moment of hesitancy, Noah
squeaked with delight as the Machine initiated the low level orgasmic
discharge that he had learned to enjoy.

"Now that's really nice!" he agreed as his breathing began to deepen. He
relaxed and flushed slightly as the Machine caressed him again. This time,
it was not at all like he had worried it might be. In fact, it was quite a
surprise - a really, really good surprise!

It certainly didn't hurt or make him feel desperate or tense. He just
suddenly felt really good - a deep down incredible good; damn sexy good, in
fact! It was almost as if he was watching from a distance. It was him, but
then it wasn't him. It was a bit confusing, but with feelings like this,
who cared!

And then the nice buzzing extended to his willy and, as he watched it,
something other than him decided it was going to grow again. The feeling
was delicious as he stiffened up.

"There," smiled the Attendant with a smirk. "That didn't take long did it?"

Noah grinned shyly. "Why did it do that?"

"The Machine did it Noah - it likes to make you feel good," he replied.

"It can do this too!" he added as he touched the screen to gradually
increase the degree of cortical stimulation. Noah gasped and his back
arched as the stimulation grew and, physically, every part of his body
seemed alive and dancing to the tune that was being played. It was a new
tune to him, but he found himself quickly joining in the song as the
Machine made love to him.

Slowly the Attendant lowered him down flat again and the Machine continued
to bring him close to orgasm, but not quite to release. A classic Machine -
engineered experience, it was able to create a sensation similar to the
ecstatic feeling most men have just on the brink of ejaculation; but one
that just never ended. It could keep this up for hours and in such a way
that the individual would never tire of the stimulation.

Noah continued to shudder and groan in pleasure as fluid welled up and
dripped from the end of his small circumcised glans. The Attendant watched
him fondly, glad to see how quickly the boy had seemed to adapt to the new
situation; it would make the upcoming task of conditioning much easier for
the Machine. He could tell Noah would take to a new way of life easily
enough.

"And it can do this," he whispered into the boy's ear, as the Machine set
off the deep and satisfying ejaculation. Not the screamingly painful one of
a few hours ago, but one that consumed the boy with beautiful pleasure and
took him gently back into unconsciousness in preparation for conditioning.

The Attendant smiled and locked the couch into the docking module. The
sides came up into position to keep him from falling out, and the Attendant
finally released the arm and leg restraints.

Childlike and peaceful now, the boy slept and the Attendant drew a sheet
across him to keep him comfortable. As the machinery drew him away to rest
for a while, he rolled comfortably over onto his side, still connected via
the umbilical, dreaming of a new life that was coming.

He processed the rest, and most slept through it, including Jack, who
snored slightly. At least it made him human - or mostly human - the
Attendant smirked to himself!

One that woke that he really would have preferred to stay comatose, was the
Hispanic lad.

Once he had got his voice back.....which was dry and cracked, he launched
streams of venom at the Attendant. Still, it was his duty to care, so the
Attendant lifted him upright and gave him something to drink. The teen
drank deeply for himself and then took another mouthful and spat it at
him. Fortunately he wasn't too good a shot on that occasion either, and it
mostly went over his clinical coat.

Pulling angrily at his restraints, the young man looked to his groin and
realised he was no longer tethered to the umbilical.

"FUCK YOU!" he screamed in triumph. "So it failed after all; the fucking
Machine couldn't do it. And now you're as good as dead!" he threatened. He
had no idea how he would escape - but he would. And he'd cut the balls off
this fucking fairy and jam them down his throat.

The Attendant watched him dispassionately. It was a common mistake those
that came out of the phase of Synaptic Remodeling often made; feeling
pretty much as they had before they came to the Centre, it didn't seem as
if anything had changed.

Again, it only seemed that way!

Perhaps, by this time, they were expecting to be zombies of some
description, or they would no longer able to remember who they were? The
assumption was that the process had failed on them - just as this Hispanic
boy, Carlos, clearly believed!

The Attendant had been irritated with him since he first arrived. Like all
of them, he'd tried to give Carlos his best professional attention, but now
he just lost patience at last and decided to end the matter.

"Oh, I shouldn't worry," he said softly, "I think everything went pretty
smoothly. Shall I show you?"

The boy looked confused; rebuffed by the lack of concern the Attendant
seemed to hold. A touch of dread touched him as the umbilical was slipped
out and he was mated to the Machine once more.

The Attendant only very slightly regretted doing this to him as he
instructed the Machine to disable the normal erection response; a simple
case of manipulating human physiology. For a man who was not used to the
Machine (and certainly before there had been any conditioning to reorient
his thinking), this could be incredibly off-putting and disturbing. Sex
without an erection was outside of their normal experience.

With this major external and physical sign of arousal fully disabled, the
psychological impact remained as the cortical arousal flew into action. He
didn't stand a chance. However hard he desperately willed something else,
it seemed to happen without him. The Machine showed him pleasure too, as it
jolted him again and again.

He frantically searched inside himself for some answer to his dilemma, but
found nothing as he was brought closer and closer to climax. Such was the
complete and utter control over him, it was a mere 15 seconds later, and
with a completely soft penis, that his toes curled and he squealed, "Oh
God....Nnnnggghh......!" and ejaculated spectacularly; a rapid and
rhythmical pumping flushing his semen onto the couch where his long flaccid
member hung.

With a look of dismay and resignation as he came down from the orgasm, all
he could say was, "Oh Fuck...!" and then the Machine dropped him into
oblivion. The Attendant wiped up the mess and sent him on his way.

Coming to the end now, the Attendant massaged a tight muscle on his
shoulder. It had been a long day. Tiring in ways he hadn't expected.

"Where's Ben?"

The voice was dull, filled with loss and failure. He turned slowly to
observe the owner, Nathan, the elder of the two young homosexual boys. The
last of his charges, the Attendant had assumed he was asleep like most of
the others, and had been busy setting up the docking module.

"He's asleep, Nathan."

"Asleep and being changed, you mean. Conditioning -- reorientation. Isn't
that what you all call it ...?" Nathan replied with soft bitterness and
self-recrimination. "It wasn't his fault! He was only fourteen for God's
sake and I let him down and now I've ruined his life!"

"Nathan, you knew what had to happen. There's no point in doing this to
yourself now."

"Who said it had to happen?" Nathan demanded angrily. "You? Someone else?
We weren't harming anyone. We were doing well in school and everything
else. What was so wrong?"

"It's the law Nathan," the Attendant replied simply. "Sex between boys is
wrong." As he spoke, he once more mated the boy to the Machine.

Nathan didn't even seem to notice the connection being made again.

"Wrong? WRONG?!" he shouted. "I can't help it...I love him -- how can that
be wrong!" He was flushed and emotional. "And anyway, how the hell would
you know? It's just a job to you!" he cried.

With the freedom that only comes to those who are conditioned, the
Attendant sighed and gently slipped down his loose medical slacks and
underwear to reveal the outcome of his own personal confrontation with the
Machine - the smooth skin where hair never grew anymore and the still tight
circumcision. A simple metallic ring nestled into his sulcus.

"You?" breathed Nathan, aghast, and then after a moment staring at the
Attendant in confusion, he added, "Why?"

"His name was Lucas," the Attendant offered with a shrug.

"You? You're... gay?" Nathan whispered in disbelief.

The Attendant nodded, his eyes flickering with memories lost.

"Then...yes. They said I...we...had homosexual tendencies," he added
softly. It seemed a distant thing now. "But I still saw him afterwards --
for a while. We stayed friends, just like you and Ben could still be
friends."

"But didn't you want more than 'just friends'?" Nathan burst out; tears now
spilling down his anguished face.

For the first time in more years than he could remember, the Attendant felt
a painful knot in his stomach. Could it have ever been different? Had he
lost something; something more important than just a friend?

"For pity's sake, why are you doing this? You of all people?" the boy
pleaded, his face awash with emotion. "You must know what you're doing to
us? Didn't you love him?"

It was with an unexpected sadness that the Attendant stared back into the
pain that once, a long time ago, had mirrored his own.

"I don't know," he admitted helplessly, touched by the despair. "So much
changed...I...I...I can't even remember anymore why it was so
important...."

As Nathan broke and sobbed, the Attendant lowered him into the darkness
that would change him too, ensuring that he also forgot who he really was.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AGAINST THE MACHINE
A story by Riley Jericho
rileyjericho@yahoo.com