Countess Zero

You should try out one of those new Neural Hallucinogenic Biochips, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

“Why, pet, are you not having fun?”

“Not especially, and quit reading my thoughts.” I grumbled, kneeling on the plexitile floor and staring down intently at its hexagonal pattern and my fishnet adorned thighs. Not because I was enamoured by its tesselating geometry or my own stylish fashion sense or anything, but because raising my head was an act of defiance against her. Attempting to even sneak a look up garnered a quick reaction from her riding crop - and my brain made the pain real.

Instead, I was commanded to ‘stay down, good pet’. She was very specific in her orders. ‘Legs slightly spread, back of hands resting against thighs and slightly open, head down, immobile, good’. Any shuffling and the whip was brought down hard. Speaking without permission? Two whips. But the worst offense of all - reaching for the chip currently slotted firmly into the back of my cyberbrain ports - would result in a barrage of pain, rendering me gasping on the floor in misery.

Reassuring myself that she wasn’t real didn’t help. I could hear her heels as they circled around me. The soft tones of her voice hummed in my ears as she pondered what to do with me. It felt like she was in the room with me, no matter how much I knew she wasn’t there at all. It made my skin crawl.

“Oh, pet, so much resentment. Don’t you forget, this is a submission of your own design.”

Okay, so perhaps I did a little modifying of the chip before I plugged it in. It just seemed so tame, so I simply switched off the safeword functionality and the AI limiters. When I hack something, I hack it good. Nothing beats my handiwork, which is of little reassurance when said handiwork is punishing me for trying to verbally shut it down.

She stepped before me and stopped, twisting her boots in my direction. The PVC was unrealistically clean and glittering as though it were under the light of a studio setup. She lowered her crop and I felt the edge of it tracing under my jaw. “Well, pet, do you have any ideas you wish to share?”

“I do.” I grimaced, knowing that whatever I said was doomed to be ignored. “I think you should shut down, Countess. I think you should let me go back to being the one in charge here. This was clearly a mistake.”

“Mmmn, so you’re going to be a brat, are you?” She crouched down gracefully and forced my head up in the palm of her hand. I was greeted by her face, the face from the cover of the packaging, ‘Countess Zero’, so mesmerizingly beautiful. Black lipstick, black eyes, black tongue. Her lips curled just slightly, emphasising her smug satisfaction in her own victory and your surrender. She knew in any scene that she was all-powerful and in total control, which wouldn’t be so intimidating if I hadn’t given her exactly that.

Her voice was unreasonably smooth, like it was woven out of silk. She figured out I was weak to that very quickly, which was made all the worse by the knowledge that it was just a program generating it in my own brain. “Well then, how will I put you in your place?”

Her words were followed by a tingling sensation at the back of my skull, like immaterial tendrils worming their way into my mind. I choked, and a robotic voice spoke in my ear ‘Warning, Mindhack Detected - Deploying Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics.’

“Wh-what are you doing? H-heymmpphHHgH?” Her hand, coated in rubber, pressed firmly to my lips and sealed them shut. She was pushing me back, forcing me down with my back pinned to the floor. Her other hand gripped my flailing wrists and overpowered me, holding them above my head.

I knew she wasn’t there. I knew that, in reality, I was firmly pursing my own lips together, and that my arms were trapped because my brain could not defeat the mental bondage that was denying my muscles the strength to raise them. I tried kicking - at her, at the ground, no use. “HHhHMMPPGH!?”

“Shhh, little pet. This is what brats get. They get discipline.”

‘Wa̵r̷ni͡ng͡,́ N͠èu̕r͢a̕l ͢B͡reac̵h D͟e͟te͏c͡te͜d͡ - ͠I̕ntru̶śi͜o̸n̶ C̕ou̶n̡te̵r͞m̸ęas͠u̴re̸ş ̨E̶lec̀tro̡n̵ic͡s̵ ͟ar͢e ̛F̷aíl̕i͜n̡g.͠’

I whined and wiggled pathetically under her. I could feel those ghostly tendrils, burying into my mind, studying me, observing my resistance, and gradually beginning to turn me. The Countess was staring gleefully into my pleading eyes. It was like looking up into the abyss, I was ascending into them. Lost in a weighted nothingness that was crumpling my being into a ball and rewriting it into whatever she saw fit.

‘W҉̨w͏̴̴̨̡a̡͟͞ŗ̷̶̵̶n̶͢͢ìn҉̛͘g̛͞Ȩ̕͜R̴͘Ŗ͘͢͢O̸̸͘͏R̢͝͞E̷҉̡͘R̀͟͢R̷̶Ǫ̴̷͡R̵̴s̷̀͝ý́͢͡s̴̸t̡͜͞ę̷m̷̕҉̢͞N͟͢҉̴́Ơ͘T̷͟Ŗ͜͠͡è̀͞͞s͘͜͡ṕ̸o͟͠͏n̵̛d̸̡͘͘͢i̸̧͘n҉̧͜g̢̛̀͟͝’

There was a jolt, then my mind went silent. At that moment, I was gifted perspective. My gaze unfocused, dripping out from her eyes and allowing me to see her face in full the first time. Her perfect face.

She released my wrists and they lay there, limply above me. She knew I wouldn’t resist any further. She raised herself to her full, flawless height. Looming over me like a Goddess might loom over her subjects from the heavens. I was entranced by her visage. Speechless in her presence. Gradually, my body was once again given the privilege of motion, and I pulled myself back to my knees and resumed her commanded position.

I would not speak unless in response. I would not look up unless commanded.

“There we go, pet. Isn’t it so much better when you behave?”

“Yes, Countess.” I shuddered blissfully, as I knew in my heart that it was true.