Cerebral Exchange :: Chapter 10 :: BALANCE

6:00 pm.

For the employees of HexCorp R&D Dept. floor 75, seeing the digital timeface progress to the next hour was like mentally colliding with a brick wall. It marked the end of the alpha work cycle - their work cycle. Eight hours of nonstop admin work came screeching to a halt as perception of the physical world was returned to them. Their documents were automatically saved, and workstations immediately closed. They were unplugged from the R&D mainframe, and required to vacate the office floor as soon as possible, so that the beta work cycle employees could seamlessly step in to take their place.

Employee 0x1703 blinked behind her HexCorp Optical Augmentation Visor, momentarily dazzled in her renewed awareness of the world around her. If you were to ask her what work she did today, she’d smile at you and tell you she had a very productive day as part of the HexCorp R&D Dept admin team. Asking her for more details and she’d casually bat your questions away with a laugh and tell you that all her work was strictly confidential. It’s a pre-programmed answer, it stops her from even contemplating her lack of memory of it.

With a stretch and an adjustment of her office uniform, employee 0x1703 practically bounced out of her desk chair and stepped into line with her coworkers as they all proceeded to the elevators. For this evening, 0x2656 had convinced a group of them to spend their downtime at Le Pas de Pensées. HexCorp employees were forbidden from attending nightclubs as the dance technology could potentially mess with their headsets, but bars were completely fine – so long as they weren’t owned by HexCorp competitors. It’s for this reason alone that smaller corporations even still managed to find space to operate in - they acted as neutral ground between the much larger, territorial megacorps.

“The last one as usual huh, ‘Sarah’?” 0x1703 faked a sigh as she approached the waiting group of giggling employees in the foyer. ‘Sarah’ was her civilian name, the name she was required to go by outside of the safe haven of the HexCorp R&D building. It was mandatory for employees to keep the names they had before joining HexCorp, even if it was kept merely an accessory at this point. Apparently assigned hexadecimal IDs were weird to those not yet integrated into the corporation, and employees such as herself effectively acted as PR when engaging with the outside world.

For their evening plans, 0x2656 (Emma) had managed to gather up four other employees: 0x0CD8 (Charlotte), 0x004E (June), 0x0F4D (Kim) and 0x1E15 (Luna). Keeping up with their other names wasn’t difficult – the headset would enforce their usage in fact – but it simply didn’t deliver the same thrill as enunciating those individual characters that defined an employee’s identity. All were dressed in the same formal office attire, down to the HexCorp emblem that embellished their ties, but there were differences between each employee that were deliberately maintained, to give the workforce the appearance of not being as controlled as they were.

Each employee was allowed to choose their own hairstyle, so long as it was business appropriate and didn’t get in the way of their headsets. More subtly, however, each employee was assigned and programmed with a personality type from a range of 16 different personalities. An employee’s personality was determined during their job interviews before they joined the corporation, and its behavioral patterns and dialogue lines were conditioned into their minds as part of the new employee induction phase. For their small evening party, they had 0x2656 who was a Commander, 0x0CD8 who was a ‘Thinker’ (that particular personality type was assumed to be titled as a joke), 0x004E who was a Dominant, 0x0F4D who was a Defender and 0x1E15 who was a Perfectionist. This just left 0x1703, whose type no party would be complete without – Submissive. This evening was going to be full of light bullying and teases in her direction, and she was going to have to pretend to hate every second of it.

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9:00 pm.

Despite being on their fourth round of drinks, the HexCorp delegation to Le Pas de Pensées were still composed as meticulously as when they’d entered. No ties had been loosened, no jackets had been unbuttoned, and their visors were still firmly fitted across their eyes.

But the onslaught of brightly coloured cocktails in impractically shaped glasses was beginning to have its effect. The personality types were rigorously calculated for the sober, but for the intoxicated the programming became exaggerated. Their minds, distorted but still forced to follow the lines of code they’d been defined by, would try to push those behaviours to their logical boundaries, and 0x1703 had made the carefully planned ‘mistake’ of sitting herself next to the group’s dominant.

“Sarah.” 0x004E had her arm firmly around 0x1703’s shoulders, whispering close enough to cut through the rowdy din of the bar. There was a hint of sarcasm in the way she spoke her civilian name, to reaffirm that it wasn’t her true identifier anymore. None of the other employees were paying them any attention - it would be pointless to do so. The Dominant and Submissive personality types were, unsurprisingly, designed to go hand in hand with one another. There was no prizing them apart when they became this entangled. “Why did you choose to join HexCorp, Sarah?”

0x1703 already knew the question was coming, in the same way she already knew how she’d answer. She even knew what 0x004E was going to wittily follow up with, as well as her own embarrassed response she would muster up in reply. This was HexCorp Dominant-Submissive Dialogue Exchange 12, a favourite for this type of setting, and once it had been initiated there was no breaking out of the conversation structure until it had been fully and successfully run through.

But even with this premonition, it still managed to fluster 0x1703 every time.

“I joined because HexCorp has a reputation for excellence, and seemed like a great organisation that aligned with my personal aspirations.”

“Is that so?” 0x004E smiled coyly – playing the hunter in their pre-rehearsed dance. “Because I think you joined because of HexCorp’s other reputation. I think you joined because, deep down, you wanted to know what it’d be like to be turned into a drone.”

0x1703 shuddered the required amount and timidly looked down at the ground. “Wh-what? N-no, of course I didn’t join for that… don’t be so silly, June, who’d want to be made into one of those?”

“Do you really think I believe that? I bet you blush whenever one of their latex coated robots walks past you in a corridor. I bet you fantasize about being coated in all that rubber, having your brain melted to match their exact specifications.” 0x1703 couldn’t help but blush as the image of herself as just another HexCorp automaton raced through her mind. “Stored in a pod far below the office floors, becoming just another part of the collective. Look at how you’re reacting, there’s no denying it, is there?”

0x1703 murmured something incomprehensible as 0x004E tugged her in closer. It was at this point that her part of the coded conversation became fuzzy, her thoughts scattered into disarray, turning her into a meek, bashful mess.

“Why don’t you come back to my place after this, Sarah? And we can see what a good drone you really are.”

HexCorp Dominant-Submissive Dialogue Exchange 12 completed. Initiating HexCorp Dominant-Submissive Dialogue Exchange 17 for a personal apartment setting.

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1:00 am.

“Good drone, 1703. List out to me your parameters once more.”

0x1703 stood stiffly to attention, her bare feet sinking into the plush, purple rug that lay at the center of 0x004E’s room. Her work uniform had been stripped off and in its place a catsuit now hugged the length of her body. It wasn’t a complete drone look, 0x004E didn’t own the boots, gloves or helmet to fit her with, but it was enough to help her sink into the part. When 0x1703 spoke, it was emotionless and monotonous. All she was doing was obeying each command.

“HexDrone #1703 initiating parameter listing. HexDrone #1703 is an object and an asset of HexCorp. HexDrone #1703 is machine-like. HexDrone #1703 is identified only by its ID. HexDrone #1703 is obedient. HexDrone #1703 is mindless. HexDrone #1703 is emotionless. HexDrone #1703 is diligent. HexDrone #1703 will obey its Hive Mxtress.”

“And who is your Hive Mxtress, drone?” 0x004E inquired, teasingly.

“You are, Hive Mxtress. This drone exists to obey.”

“Good.” The so-called Hive Mxtress basked in her pretend role being reaffirmed. She swaggered carefully around her asset as though she were inspecting it, judging it. Being on display did not phase HexDrone #1703, of course, as it was just a machine and could only react to direct inputs.

“How does it feel, drone, to be nothing more than an obedient asset, hmm?” She placed her hands on its waist, giving the rubber there a squeeze. The drone jolted slightly, but otherwise remained indifferent to her touch.

“HexDrone #1703 does not have feelings, Hive Mxtress. It exists to obey.”

“How quickly I converted you then, mmn? In which case, it’s time I put my new object to the test, isn’t it?” She pressed up against 1703, wrapping her arms around its body, and whispered her commands against the cushion of its headset. Her arms stroked up and down its form as she let her planned itinerary enter into its mind until her seductions consumed it. 1703 betrayed her role and gasped, and 0x004E took that opportunity to grab the zip of its catsuit and push it down onto the bed.

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10:00 am.

HexCorp Employee 0x1703 took her place at her workstation at the beginning of the alpha work cycle and immediately dropped into a space dedicated to work and function. Before her eyes were spreadsheets and documents that must be examined, sorted, organised and approved. Her personality type disabled the moment the cycle began: all employees are programmed the same when it comes to the completion of their work. She is immersed in the screen before her, to the point where nothing else exists beyond this space. Like all the other cycles, this one will go by like a dream, until it is completed and the employees are unleashed from their consoles.

In the workstation next to hers, 0x004E is plugged into her console and fixated upon her own machine. In this space they are the same. Two good employees, working obediently in service to HexCorp.