Up-Grades II — Reconnaissance
by Writer345
Chapter Six — Saving Sally
Day nine...
Two uncertain days had ed since the encounter in the cafe and Mil just couldn’t seem settle to anything.
Two uncertain days interspaced with restless nights of broken sleep and vivid drone-infested dreams.
Two days of pretending that the hands that had caressed her body didn’t belong to a silver skinned drone.
Two days of wondering if the Hive had got into her head and she was already lost.
She kept everything to herself however even though the rest of the small unit seemed to know exactly who she was involved with. Colin even seemed envious as he had tried flirting with a couple of the drones that he had met around the village and got precisely nowhere.
She had met TW-07 several times since their afternoon of ion but there had always been other people present or they had both been engaged in work-related tasks. The meetings had been affectionate but by necessity, brief; much to Mil’s regret.
She had bumped into Gaynor and Len in The Slater’s Arms on her most recent night out and now regarded them as good friends although they seemed to think of her as a future daughter-in-law. Do Drones get married? She wondered and although it seemed unlikely, Alwena’s parents clearly did not seem to share this view.
Then the job reasserted itself and Mil was called on to take the train up to Scotland and check up on an old friend. Colin, who seemed to have acquired the job of ‘duty driver’ ran her the few miles to Machynlleth train station so that she could catch the first train of the day. She travelled up in civvies with her new uniform packed up in her travelling bag. It was a long journey with three changes of train and Mil spent it daydreaming about beautiful buxom silver women: or rather one beautiful buxom silver woman in particular...
Late that evening Staff-Sergeant Perkins found herself in the sterile embrace of the Preston Pans Psychiatric Clinic, a small but highly secure government-run facility nestled in the lush Scottish countryside just outside Edinburgh. The modern buildings stood out against the greenery like a collection of gleaming white pebbles in a mossy stream. The concrete walls were high, the fences inside them a further obstacle to keep people out as well as in. On top of these precautions the air itself seemed to be charged with a palpable tension that even the birds sensed causing them to seemingly avoid the place.
She was shown her room and given a meal in the staff restaurant and then it was bed and another night of dreams about hairless silver women. Next morning, after breakfast she was briefed by the redoubtable Dr Vivienne Walker, a slim brunette with piercing blue eyes and an air of quiet authority, who turned out to be an eminent psychiatrist and an expert in the deprogramming of brainwashed cult . Dr Walker seemed to know more about the intended function of the newly created military unit to which Mil belonged than Mil did and seemed pleased that the government was at long last ‘taking the threat of the evil cult seriously’. And although Mil did not agree with either of the words she used to describe the Hive, she didn’t argue with the doctor as she knew that she would learn more by listening.
“A little later this morning I am going to be working with our star patient, Staff-Sergeant,” she said said quietly, “and would like you to sit-in as an observer since you were instrumental in her rescue. Your presence may just provide a real-world anchor for her to relate too since I am told that she is an old friend of yours.”
Mil knew too whom she must be referring, but didn’t say anything other than to thank the doctor and agree to assist.
Walker then escorted her across the facility, pointing out various buildings and explaining their function. It was a modest complex of a dozen or so structures, all of which achieved the impossible by appearing both light and modern yet grim and menacing at the same time.
It was in one of these buildings, that the drone once known as Sally Carter was sitting or rather, reclining on a padded chair, her silver body gleaming even under the mellow subdued lighting of Investigation Room Three. Dr Vivienne Walker paced backwards and forwards in front of her. Sally’s hairless head was bent slightly to the side, as if listening intently to the doctor’s words. But she wasn’t really listening as she had no doubt heard it all before.
“You say that you are TW-06,” Dr. Walker said, her voice measured and calm. “But what does that mean to you?”
Sally closed her eyes and smiled gently. “It means that I am no longer just Sally Carter.” She replied, her voice a soft yet confident purr. “I am part of the Hive—part of My Hive. I am... fulfilled.“
Dr. Walker nodded, her face a mask of professional interest. She had heard similar responses countless times before, usually from the lips of cult ; occasionally from others too, whose minds had been controlled. They were all the same, reciting their mantras of peace and belonging while boasting about receiving an infinite supply of rice-pudding. The victims might differ but the responses were eerily consistency. Yet, there was something about drones... something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Cult tended to denounce their previous identities... Drones did not—they embraced them.
Walker carried on her voice deliberately monotonous as she asked inane and simple questions that elicited similarly pointless answers. This questioning continued for sometime until suddenly the doctor’s manner sharpened and her questions suddenly changed tack.
“And do you your life before the Hive ?” She asked, her pen poised above her clipboard.
“Of course I do and I’ve told you all of this many times before, doctor. I was happy most of the time, particularly when I was younger, I had loving parents who never even shouted at me. It is my past and it was idyllic.” Sally said, her eyes opening to reveal the gleaming blue irises that Mil ed. “But the Hive is my present and my future. I am happy all of the time now.”
The doctor sighed, her heels clicking against the lino. She had tried every psychological test known to mankind, every ethical interrogation technique she had been taught and a few she hadn’t, but had made no headway. Drone conditioning was deeper than any she had ever encountered. Yet, she was not one to be easily deterred. She had seen the light of humanity shine through the crust of the darkest and most extreme examples of mind control and she was determined that Sally would be no different.
But as the time ticked by and the questions grew more pointed, Sally remained unflappable. Her answers were always the same, an acknowledgement not a rejection of everything past. “The past is another country, Dr Walker, latterly it wasn’t always a happy place for me which is why I emigrated.”
Dr. Walker could feel the frustration building inside her, a pressure cooker with no release valve. Yet she knew that she had to maintain control, had to keep pushing. She knew that the Hive’s control would collapse and that the girl would become a free person once again if only she could maintain the psychological pressure.
“What about your family?” She asked, changing tack. “Do you have any thoughts or feelings for them?”
Sally’s smile grew a little sad. “They were part of my past life,” she said. “I am part of the Hive now. My Hive sisters never judge me and find me wanting.”
The doctor’s heart went out to the woman in front of her, to the soul she believed to be trapped within the gleaming metallized shell. “And what about Gerald Carter?” She pressed. “Does that name mean anything to you?”
For the first time, Sally’s expression twitched. A flicker of humanity crossed her silver face, so fleeting that Dr. Walker almost missed it. “He is. my father,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“And do you feel any connection to him?” Dr. Walker asked, her voice gentle.
The drone’s eyes searched hers for a moment before dropping to the floor. “Of course I do,” she said emphatically. “I love my daddy dearly. He didn’t understand me when I was growing up, but he did what he thought right out of love. If anything I understand him much better now and can empathise with his difficulties.”
There was nothing in the way she said it that indicated that she was lying. Not even the smallest crack in the facade, so where was Vivienne Walker to start? Would she ever see a glimmer of hope or hint of hesitation in the sea of silver that, Canute-like, she was confronting and attempting to hold back?
The doctor nodded, her eyes never leaving Sally’s. “TW-06,” she said, using the drone’s Hive designation deliberately, “I’m here to help you who you truly are.”
Sally’s smile remained, unwavering. “But Dr Walker, I know who truly I am,” she said, her voice calm and soothing,“and I am proud to be part of something much larger than myself.”
“But what about your feelings?” Dr. Walker pushed. “Don’t you miss your old life? Don’t you long to return to your friends? Your family?”
The drone was silent for a moment, as if considering the question for the first time. Then she spoke, her words measured and precise. “the Hive is my life and my family.” She said. “I feel no need for what came before.”
The doctor felt a twinge of frustration at the surety of Sally’s words. She had heard this before, in the voices of soldiers who had been brainwashed by enemy forces and in the utterings of cult who had been rescued from their messiahs. But there was something about a drone’s transformation that was different, that was more complete, more... final.
“But what if I told you...” Dr. Walker said, her voice taking on a new urgency. “...what if I told you that there was a way out of the Hive? A way for you to be free again?”
Sally’s eyes narrowed, and for a split second, Walker thought she saw a flicker of something that she mistook for doubt. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced by that same serene smile. “But I am free.” TW-06 said. “Do I take it that you intend to end my freedom, Dr Walker?”
Mil, who it must be ed was present in he room as an observer and had been instructed to keep quiet unless invited to speak nevertheless felt a chill run down her spine. Was it possible that even after all of this, Sally was still fully under the Hive’s control? Or was she just that good at playing along?
“I understand that you might find it hard to believe,” Dr. Walker said, her
voice calm once again, “but I assure you, it is true. Gerald Carter, your father, is working tirelessly to find a way to save you.”
Sally’s expression didn’t change, but Mil noticed a slight tensing in her shoulders. “Daddy is a good man,” she said, “but he does not understand the reality of the Hive.”
“But what if he does?” Walker asked, leaning forward. “What if he’s been working with people who know how to break the Hive’s hold on you?”
The drone’s smile grew, a little sad. “Then I pity them for their ignorance.” She said. “For the Hive is a partnership, it does not seek to exert control.”
Slowly her smile faded. “If you remove me from the Hive and bestow this gift of freedom upon me that you are promising, then would I be free to return to the Hive, Dr Walker? Or would you brainwash me into not wanting too?“
The room grew quiet, the only sound the faint buzz of the fluorescent lights above. Visibly shaken by this development, Dr. Walker sank into a chair, her eyes never leaving Sally’s. “We will continue tomorrow,” she said finally. “I am confident that, in time, you will come to see things differently.”
Sally nodded. “As you wish,” she said, “but I know exactly who I am. Can you truthfully claim the same, Vivienne?”
Sally suddenly looked across at Mil who was observing from the side of the room. She smiled. “How are you, Miss Perkins?” The eyes, the big blue eyes seemed to sparkle. “Please accept my congratulations on your being allowed to re the colours: I know that the army is your life. You helped me when I was a troubled adolescent and I will always be grateful to you for your and kindness. I know what it cost you so please that I will always be in your debt and hope that you still regard me as a true friend.”
As Mil and Dr. Walker left the room, the doctor couldn’t shake the feeling that the institute was fighting a losing battle. The Hive’s grip on Sally was too strong, too entrenched. Yet she thought that she had seen a brief moment of doubt, a flicker of something human. It was a glimmer of hope, however faint, that she clung to. This was the one thing that gave her hope as the two of them made their way to the safety of the facility’s control room in a building a hundred yards away.
“We have to find a way to reach her,” Mil said, trying to hide the turmoil inside herself, her voice low and loaded with an urgency she no longer felt. “We can’t just leave her like this.”
But deep inside, a voice seemed to ask. Why not? The drones are free and happy yet Walker is trying to destroy all of that
Dr. Walker nodded, her eyes distant. “I know,” she said. “But we’re running out of time. the Hive is spreading, it has hubs all over the country, and if we don’t find a way to stop it...”
Her voice trailed off, but Mil knew what she was thinking. If we can’t save Sally, then what hope is there for the others?
In the control room banks of large screens displayed feeds from all of the investigation and holding rooms. A few held drones who Walker considered to have once been human but, in here view, were now nothing more than robots—gleaming instruments of the monstrous Hive’s monolithic will.
Mil, who knew a certain drone intimately, couldn’t help but wonder if they were indeed lost causes or even if they should be a cause at all.
“We’re going to need to go deeper,” Dr. Walker said, her eyes on the screens. “We need to understand how the Hive operates, how it controls its drones and that’s where your unit comes in.”
Mil nodded, her eyes scanning the screens intently. However her mind wasn’t in it for she was completely focused on what Sally Carter (aka TW-06) just said to her... Two drones had proclaimed their friendship for her in just a few days... God! She thought. I need someone to talk too, but who can I trust
“Maybe it’s time we looked at this from another angle.” Mil said, her voice breaking the tense silence in the control room. Several present gave her wary looks but knew better to interrupt a conversation that Vivienne Walker was engaged in. No doubt they didn’t wish to be subject to her wrath.
Walker raised an eyebrow, looking up from her clipboard. “What do you mean, Staff-Sergeant Perkins?”
Ignoring the cold, formal voice Mil took a deep breath, her eyes flicking from screen to screen. “What if the Hive isn’t the one in charge here?” she suggested, her own voice low. “What if it’s the drones themselves? What if they’re the ones pulling the strings?”
Walker snorted, a disbelieving smile playing on her lips. “That’s preposterous.” She snapped. “I’ve studied cults for years. the Hive fits the the usual pattern to a tee: charismatic leader, brainwashed followers, the whole kit and caboodle.”
“But what if the pattern isn’t the whole story?” Mil persisted. “What if the drones are the ones making the decisions, and the Hive is just a... a front for something else? And on a different note: who the hell is this Charismatic Leader that has everyone scared shitless?“
The doctor’s condescending smile faded and her eyes narrowing as she considered Mil’s words. “And what would that something else be?” she asked, her voice sceptical.
Mil shrugged. “I don’t know,” she itted. “But think about it. The drones are the ones out there, interacting with the world. They’re the ones with the power. the Hive could just be a construct, a way for them to organize, to relate to each other.”
Walker stared at her for a long moment before shaking her head. “You’re grasping at straws.” She said firmly. “The Hive is a well-documented phenomenon, I know how it works. And besides, it is impossible for there to be a cult without some Messianic, God-like figure controlling the the cult . It would fall apart if there wasn’t someone for them to worship.”
Mil couldn’t help but feel a twinge of frustration. “But what if we’re wrong?” she asked. “What if we’re looking at this all wrong?”
“Then you’d better come up with some evidence to your fanciful theory.” Walker said, her voice clipped and dismissive. “Because until then, I’m sticking with what is documented.”
Mil nodded, her mind racing. She knew she was onto something, but she didn’t have any answers. Not yet.
As they left the control room and walked down the hallway, the echo of their footsteps the only sound, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that the walls had ears.
“You know,” the psychiatrist said suddenly, turning to face Mil, “the Hive is like an onion.”
Mil looked at her, her brow furrowing. “How so, Ma’am?” She asked, trying to keep the scepticism from her voice.
“When you peel an onion,” the doctor began, her eyes distant, “you start with the outer layers. They’re tough, they protect the core. But as you peel back each layer, they get thinner, more delicate. And when you finally get to the centre, it’s just a tiny, soft, fragile thing that will be on it’s own and vulnerable. No longer surrounded by all that you’ve removed. If we can get through those outer layers it will cause it to collapse.”
Mil nodded, not quite following where this was going. “And the Hive is the onion?”
“Precisely!” Walker declared emphatically. “We’re peeling back the layers, trying to get to the heart of it. The more we remove, the greater our understanding and the closer we get to finding a way to save people like Sally Carter.”
Mil remained silent, her thoughts racing, she knew that the Doctor was wrong but also knew that it was pointless to say so, instead she just nodded and snapped out the single non-committal word, “Ma’am!” Which was how every soldier replied to an officer who they knew was talking utter bollocks!
She knew all too well the feeling of being on the outside looking in, of not quite belonging. She had felt that way in the army, and now, in this strange new world of the Hive, she felt it more than ever. Yet here she was, she had been told that she was a part of something that could potentially save her former comrades, her friends... and possibly even Sally. But, she thought to herself, would we actually be saving them or destroying their utopia?
The doctor’s words echoed in her mind as she returned to her quarters in the accommodation block, the sterile hallways of the psychiatric clinic seemed to be closing in around her. The onion analogy was a clever one, Mil itted to herself, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to the Hive than just layers of control. Something deeper, more fundamental. She suspected that when the final layer was peeled away it would reveal a central void: all of the life being in the layers.
In her room a short time later, Mil was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her thoughts drifted back to her own Alwena, her own TW-07, to the warmth of her eyes and the seductive whisper of her voice. The way she had been touched in both mind and body, the way the drone had made her feel was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She reached down to adjust clothing where it was tight around her crotch in an attempt to get more comfortable. Suddenly the memory of Alwena’s hands on her body sending a shiver through her very being and her hand slipped under the web belt around her waist. The hand, which seemed to have a sentience all of its own, began to move.
Suddenly the doctor’s voice interrupted her from the other side of the door and cut through her reverie. “Mil, are you okay?”
Mil sat up with a start, her hand still between her legs. “Yeah,” she called out, her voice a little too high, “just... thinking.”
Walker looked at her, concern etched on her features. “I couldn’t help but notice how tense you were today. I’m a doctor,” she said, “you know that you can talk to me. I’m here to help.”
Mil nodded, but she didn’t trust herself to speak. She knew what she was feeling wasn’t right, but she couldn’t explain it, not even to herself. The doctor was still outside, so she forced a smile. “It’s just... a lot to take in,” she said.
Walker nodded, her expression softening. “I know,” she said. “But we’re all going to get through this together.”
Mil nodded again, her smile feeling more natural now. “Thanks for the offer, Dr. Walker.” She said. “I just... I need some time to process everything. I’ll give you a shout if I need help.”
The doctor left, her footsteps fading as she moved along the corridor. Mil lay back down, her hand finding its way back to her cock. She began to stroke it, her memories of Alwena guiding her movements. It was the wrong thing to do at this moment in time, she knew that, but she couldn’t help it. The recollections and feelings were just too intense, too all-consuming. Her beloved drone seemed to be whispering too her as her hand set up the all-consuming rhythm.
As she played with herself, her thoughts drifted to Dr. Walker. So dedicated, so determined to save the drones from the Hive’s control. Yet, she couldn’t see what Mil was beginning to suspect—that the drones themselves were the ones in control. It was so obvious; they were the ones who controlled the Hive and not the other way around.
As she reached the peak of her arousal, she was interrupted by another knock on the door. She froze: her heart racing as primordal guilt surged up out of the depths of her past. What if someone has seen me? What if they know what I’ve been doing? Why the fuck is it any business of theirs?
The knock came again, more insistent this time.
“Staff, it’s me,” came Collin’s gruff voice, “we’ve got a situation.”
Mil jumped up, quickly adjusting her clothing and wiping her face as she moved across the room. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before opening the door. “You’d better come in and tell me about it.” She said, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside.
Resplendent in his new uniform, Collin stepped into the room, his eyes scanning her briefly before focusing on the floor, almost as if he was avoiding looking at her. “Colonel’s sent me to fetch you back, things seem to be coming to a head in Corris Uchaf.”
Mil nodded, her mind still racing with the implications of what she had just heard from Sally and her own feelings for Alwena. However, she knew that she had to focus on the mission in hand, but her drone-encounters were blurring the boundaries between the two different worlds that she was part of.
She began to pack her kit, not that there was a lot of it as she had not yet been issued with everything. “Okay, Corporal, tell me what’s going on.”
“The Colonel’s been given intel suggesting that the Hive’s operation in the quarry is ramping up.” Collin said, his voice tight with tension. “They seem to be busing in more Synthetics, and the village is... well, it’s changing. They’ve spread into Corris and Machynlleth too. There seem to be silver tits everywhere you look!”
Mil chuckled at his description, despite the gravity of the situation. “Everywhere?”
Collin nodded, his face stern. “Seems like it. The villagers are getting suspicious of us and of what’s going on; they seem to prefer the Hive to the Army. The Colonel’s worried that if we don’t move soon, we’re going to miss our last chance to get our own people back.”