Ming

Ming - Chapter Three


I took the low-orbital shuttle to Sea-Port International Airport and was met 48 minutes after take-off by a FedEx courier as I disembarked. He took care of my paperwork with the airline and drove me in his van to the home of the Harrison's. My new owners. 

I stood nervously on the step as he rang the doorbell. Everything seemed so very different from what little I remembered of China. There were a lot less people and a whole lot more room, for one thing. And everyone had a vehicle it seemed, their fusion reactors humming quietly and dripping water down the roads. In China most people rode bicycles, or walked, and we had one well to provide water for six large tenements. The house was nice, not very large, but I thought perhaps 30 or 40 people could live in it quite comfortably. I asked the FedEx man how many people he thought lived here and he told me just the one family, but maybe they had children. That was a shock too.

The door opened and an American woman, perhaps 35 years old greeted us. She possessed a classic beauty, with mature features and a trim, youthful body. Her blonde hair had been pulled back and neatly pinned, but somewhat severely. She had light blue eyes that suddenly reminded me of Lucy's, and a generous mouth. She wore a formal dress, a gown really, as though planning on going out soon, or perhaps just returning from an important engagement.

"Mrs. Harrison? FedEx, ma'am. I have a package for your husband, Mr. ah..." he read the name, "...Rudolph Harrison."

"Randolph." She stared at the man and her lips curled downwards. "He's at the office. I'll take it." She signed the clipboard electronically and watched him leave. "Come in," she told me and I followed obediently.

"You're Ming?" Mrs. Harrison asked, looking me up and down. "I ordered you for my husband's birthday. It was last week." She shook her head. "I ended up giving him a set of golf clubs."

I didn't say anything.

"But, you're what he wanted, so I hope he'll be happy." She sat down on a leather sofa. 

The room was nicely furnished, and seemed to be a sitting room of some kind, a salon with a full sized bar. A large bookcase dominated one wall, and floor-to-ceiling windows with an intricate lattice the other. The furniture looked beautiful and eminently comfortable, but I remained standing, holding my two suitcases. Beneath my feet, the hardwood floor had been covered by an oversized Perisan rug and the house smelled antiseptic it seemed to me, and I found the scent curious and out of place. 

"Raj, come into the front room, please." Mrs. Harrison spoke as if to the air itself and a moment later a young Indian man appeared.

He was quite striking with his strong face and dark eyes. He was nicely dressed as well, in a fine mustard colored suit with a white linen turban on his head. It went well with his rich toffee colored skin.

"Raj, this is Ming. Mr. Harrison's new toy. Please show it to the bedroom. Instruct it and be sure to clean it thoroughly, doubtless my husband will want to play with it right away."

"Yes, Mrs. Harrison," he replied with a short bow.

I looked at the man briefly, unsure of what the woman expected of me, so I gave her a deep bow of respect. She sniffed and we left the room.

Raj did not speak to me as we went up a wide staircase, climbing to a hallway leading left and right. We went left and there were four doors, one of which we entered. There I found a dresser and a bed, and a small closet, but little else to remark it. The bed was unmade, although there was fresh linen on the mattress. Another door led to a small bath. Otherwise the room was devoid of anything vaguely decorative.

"This will be your sleeping quarters," Raj smiled. "When you do not sleep with Mr. Harrison. Put down your suitcases and come here, please." He was standing next to a computer pad imbedded vertically on the wall. I walked over to it and he had me put my hand against the cool glass screen. "Have you used an EMF Interface before?" he asked.

I shook my head no as I felt a vaguely disquieting feeling come over my skin, traveling up my arm it seemed, as if a thousand ants were crawling along my flesh. I was about to comment on it when my mind became suddenly...distracted. Like something was talking to me and I couldn't ignore it, even if I wanted to. I forgot everything else for a moment as I listened very carefully and it seemed the voice asked if I understood.

"Parity Checksum: Seven," I thought, and I might have said it aloud, but I couldn't be sure because it seemed like none of my senses were working. I couldn't see, or hear, or even feel anything. "Confirmed. Installation complete," I thought again and then the funny feeling was back and I blinked, looking at my hand.

"You may remove your hand now." Raj pushed some buttons. He was logging off I realized. 

I pulled my hand away and I knew if I typed my name and my serial number into the computer, I would be able to access it as well. I knew that my palm print was keyed to all the main doors in the house. I knew all of my duties and responsibilities. I knew my new protocols and I knew everything about the Harrison's and their household that I needed to know. In short, I suddenly knew...everything.

He smiled at me, finally. "Welcome to our home."

I looked around with a new awareness. "You're a Series III?"

"Yes."

Raj bathed me then, as he had been instructed to do. I could have done it easily myself, but that would have been incorrect. 

"Does this please you?" he asked me, massaging my breasts with his soapy hands.

"I don't know." I looked at him, naked in the small shower with me, standing so close that our bodies were in constant contact. "I am not permitted to engage in sexual activity with anyone but Mr. Harrison." I knew that as surely as I knew the water was wet.

"I understand." He moved his hands down to my waist, reaching behind to soap my ass and this caused his penis to press between us, rubbing just above my sex. "My protocols prohibit sexual activity with anyone but Mrs. Harrison."

"Would you like to have sex with me?" I asked him shyly; because I felt someplace very deep inside that I would have enjoyed it very much.

"Oh yes, Ming." He smiled at me. But his penis did not become erect and his hands, while gentle and touching me in every small part of my body, did not pursue to give us anymore pleasure than the moment required.

"Thank you, Raj," I told him as he dried me first, then himself.

"You're welcome." And then he dressed and left while I unpacked my bags, choosing to remain unclothed for the time being.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Ming..." the terminal in the wall spoke with a pleasing female voice. "Come to my bedroom please." I knew the voice belonged to Mrs. Harrison and I knew where her bedroom was. She slept apart from her husband, although my information was incomplete as to the reason.

And that was how the thought formed in my mind. I'd avoided trying to explore how I felt in my new surroundings. My emotions seemed...dampened...somehow. I realized that I'd become almost mechanical in a sense, and it frightened me. I hadn't understood what the doctor had tried to explain. I hadn't understood what the technicians and nurses had spoken about so openly around me. I hadn't known that there was a small biological computer implanted in my cerebrum that collected and stored information, feeding it to me as I required it.

It felt as though I were being violated, I thought, and filled me with deep sense of shame. I approached Mrs. Harrison's bedroom feeling my skin burning. I knocked and entered her spacious quarters still naked from my bath. I bowed for her and waited while she looked at me.

"Are you alright, Ming?" she asked with a hint of genuine concern in her voice, though doubtless it was prompted only by her investment and not for my personal well-being.

"Yes, Mrs. Harrison," I replied. "I'm just...a little overwhelmed by my journey."

"I see." She seemed satisfied by that answer. "Raj and I will be going out this evening. You have the menu?" she asked and I nodded. "Good. Mr. Harrison will be home around 7pm, so you'll be cooking for one."

I nodded again. 

"You may have some time now, to relax, to fix your room. Raj will help you adjust." The woman looked at my body, causing me no real discomfort. The knowledge that she knew exactly what was in my head, in fact may have been responsible for at least a portion of it, seemed far more disturbing. "Are you a virgin, Ming?"

The question caught me off guard and I had to search my memory for a second before I was able to answer. "Yes, Mrs. Harrison."

"Come here please. Spread your legs for me." I approached and felt her pushing a finger gently against my sex, probing until I felt a rather distinct pressure. "Is this a real hymen? Or did they grow you a new one?" She smiled a little strangely.

"I do not know, Mrs. Harrison," I answered truthfully.

"Of course you don't, Ming." She laughed and dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

I returned to my room trying to remember if I'd been a virgin before I went to the People's Clinic, but that itself was a fading memory. Along with everything else about my former life. Whenever I tried to remember my family, my parents or brothers and sisters, all I could see was an empty blackness in my mind's eye. Such thoughts were gone and that seemed cruel.

Raj knocked at my door, not entering until I called out "Yes?" and he gave me a small smile.

"Mrs. Harrison suggested that I might keep you company for a short time." He looked around. "Tomorrow I will show you some things in the attic, pictures and such, which you may use if you wish."

"Thank you." I looked around too. "It is a very lonely room." I sounded much sadder than I really felt, I thought. Or maybe it sounded just the same. I hoped not.

"The first few days are the hardest, Ming. You are fortunate, I think, we are fortunate, to be here. The Harrison's are good owners and you will come to be happy."

"How long have you been here, Raj?" I sat on my freshly made bed and he joined me. I was still naked while he was dressed as he'd been when we first met.

"I have been here six months." He touched my thigh. "There was another unit, an older Series II named Julia then. She helped me, as I will help you."

"What happened to her?" I put my hand on top of Raj's, squeezing it gently, just to enjoy the closeness.

"She..." Raj paused, looking slightly uncomfortable and his soft brown eyes stared into mine. "Displeased Mr. Harrison."

"Do you think I will displease him?" I suddenly felt very uncomfortable as well.

"No." Raj smiled and his voice softened. "Julia was not properly conditioned for her purpose. Mr. Harrison learned from her and has gone to great lengths to correct his errors."

"So it was not her fault?" I tried to comprehend what the Indian was saying.

"No, of course not." Raj shook his head. "But this is not what is troubling you, is it?"

"No," I agreed, closing my eyes for a long second before continuing. "I cannot remember my family. My home."

"I understand. It was a mistake for our designers to take our memories," Raj offered philosophically. "At least without giving us new ones to replace them. There is a human yearning, a requirement for continuity that makes such memories necessary to our well being."

"Yes..." I remembered a bit of verse and recited it quietly…

What is a memory lost but a portion of my soul, 
That lessens heaven's reach, or hell's redoubtable below. 

I found it a small comfort to know my knowledge of English literature was fully functional.

"It may help you, Ming, to keep a diary. I myself have a journal, as I was taught by Julia to keep it. There may come memories, brief glimpses during the most ordinary moments. Pedestrian thoughts of your previous life, or dreams perhaps, which you will forget within moments of waking. I will bring you a diary. Keep it near your bed and use it." He squeezed my thigh. "It will pain you sometimes, but it will help as well."

"I will do that, Raj," I replied gratefully and with a brave smile.

"You must also remember that I am your family now." Raj reached his hand to stroke my face. "I am your brother in this, your new home."

"And I am your sister," I nodded in understanding. 

I was required by my conditioning to obey my end user; trust had no place in that relationship. It was as superfluous as it was inherent. A contradiction reconciled only by the difference between giving and taking. Raj and I needed someone to whom we could give our trust and that could only be each other. It gave me a warm safe place into which I immediately retreated.

We spent the next 15 minutes just holding each other, lying on the bed. I naked and he clothed, touching non-sexually, but lovingly. Our kisses were chaste and did not violate my protocols. They were intimate, but familial, the way a mother might cradle her son, or a father his daughter. A brother and sister, when they found themselves alone in a strange and hostile land, would have done the same, I'm sure.

"Raj, come downstairs, please." Mrs. Harrison's voice emitted softly from the panel on the wall and the man immediately rose, smoothing his suit and smiling apologetically before leaving without a word. He closed the door quietly behind him and left me lying there alone again.

I arose at 5pm and unpacked my clothing rather quickly. I did not have very much anyway. My owner would outfit me as he desired. I selected the one more or less formal dress that I possessed. It was a traditional Chinese style of emerald silk, adorned with golden lotus designs on the cuffs and collar. It was meant to be worn tightly, hugging my full breasts and narrow waist. The long skirt was slit along the left side to my hip. I elected to forego panties as they would be exposed and unsightly in my opinion, spoiling the effect. I pinned my hair up with an ivory comb and walked through the house barefoot, down to the kitchen and began preparing the evening's menu.

At precisely 7pm I had already prepared the table and my owner's meal sat covered in fine silver dishes awaiting him. I opened a bottle of champagne and ordered the computer to play a selection of Mozart, which had not been requested, but I felt it would add to Mr. Harrison's enjoyment. I waited near the front door somewhat nervously for the next thirteen minutes, until the computer announced the arrival of his vehicle, an automated shuttle which was just lifting off again as I opened the door.

I caught just a glimpse of him as I stepped to the side of the open door and bowed low, bending straight at the waist with my eyes down. He walked past me a few steps and I stood once more, closing the door slowly because I felt reluctant for some reason to turn and face my owner. But he was patient and I blushed slightly at my foolish behavior.

"Good evening, Sir." I kept my eyes down, focusing on the immaculate pleats in his trousers. "I am Ming."

"Look at me, please." His voice was soft, but commanding, leaving little room for doubt or resistance.

I looked into his face for the first time, truly uncertain of what to expect. He was handsome enough, tall and clean shaven. With a strong chin and prominent cheeks. His eyes were hazel, flecked with gold. His hair was black and combed neatly back and parted on the left side. He did not smile, his lips seemed thin, compressed, and I wondered what that meant. I was thinking of Julia and I wondered what she'd done, or hadn't possibly.

"You will call me Mr. Harrison for now." He looked at me, asking me to turn around. "Let your hair down, please."

I did as he commanded, unpinning my hair and combing it quickly so it fell straight and even around my face.

"Have you eaten?" he asked and I shook my head. "Good, we will eat together every night unless I tell you otherwise."

I served him first and then took a small portion for myself, feeling rather self-conscious. It was a large table in a large dining room, rather nicely appointed, but not extravagant. It was obvious that my Master was wealthy, but also that he did not find enjoyment in flaunting it. His seemed a more practical approach. Sitting close to him in that refined place, I wondered what he'd paid for me.

I watched my Master closely while we ate, hoping to detect some outward sign of his approval. He observed me as well and we did not speak. I felt uncomfortable with this as I expected something more direct. I worried that my previous experiences had prepared me for something rather more dramatic and I feared disappointment. I'd been conditioned to not only desire a very disciplined environment, but to require it. I didn't believe the engineers who had programmed me appreciated that, and now, sitting there watching my Master eat, I was very much afraid that he too did not fully understand what he'd asked for. What he had in fact created.

I was careful to pace my motions to his, so that our meals were finished simultaneously. I set my fork down carefully and sipped water as my Master pushed his chair away from the table slightly.

"Am I what you expected?" he asked me.

"Mr. Harrison?" I tilted my head, unsure of his meaning.

"When you were in Brazil, or wherever it was. When you were traveling to Seattle. When you arrived and prepared this meal, waiting for me..." He smiled. "Tell me, Ming. Am I what you expected?"

"No, Mr. Harrison." I could no more lie to him than I could fly around the room.

"And what did you expect?"

"I had no expectation." I smiled shyly, lowering my eyes. "I was fearful of imagining you."

"I see. Undress for me, please. I would like very much to look at you now."

I opened my dress slowly, feeling no false modesty. I knew my form was perfect, just as I knew that fact alone would not guarantee his pleasure. I let my dress slide down my body, falling with a whisper to lie at my feet. I turned for him, as he directed, walked across the room, posed for a few moments and finally stood there as he rose from his chair.

"You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, Ming," he said softly and he touched me then, just upon my left shoulder, moving his hand slowly across my skin. "How does that make you feel?"

"I am pleased that you find me attractive, Mr. Harrison," I whispered. His hand moved around my neck, to my opposite shoulder and down, finding my right breast.

"I know you have been...programmed..." he seemed to find the word distasteful so I gently offered a different one. "Conditioned. Yes...Thank you, Ming. You've been conditioned to respond to discipline, to bondage and pain." He looked at me as I stood very still. He was no longer touching me. "But I will tell you, I'm not a man who enjoys these things."

I turned my head to look at him, feeling suddenly confused. "You are not my...Master?"

"No, Ming. I'm not." He watched me for a moment.

"But you paid for me, you...requested me." I stared at him. "You created me. And you are not...you do not…want me?"

"No. I do not." He turned away from me then, leaving the room and me to stand there, naked and helpless.

I felt a terrible pain behind my eyes and I closed them, rubbing my temples gently. There were flashes of intense light, blinding my senses and making it impossible to think. I searched for an answer to a question I had no understanding of. I fell slowly to my knees and a great sob of pain emitted from my throat. And then, everything went black.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Ming! Ming, wake up now." 

I opened my eyes to find Nance standing next to my bed, leaning over me as she shook my shoulder. I blinked and looked around with confusion. I was in my apartments, in my bedroom at the Conditioning Facility.

"W-Where is Mr. Harrison? What am I doing here?" I sat up slowly.

"There is no Mr. Harrison." Lynn stood nearby, immaculate and beautiful as before, smiling at me from where she reclined against the wall.

"What?" I stared at her, and then looked back to Nance.

"We haven't much time. Peterson is waiting for us in behavioral sciences," she explained. "I ran you through a Sevron, it triggered a cascading Em failure and your safety protocols shut you down." Nance grinned at me. "I hotwired you. Turned you back on. You're a burn now, okay? So you need to get dressed and go with Lynn."

"I do not...What does it mean? What are you doing to me?" But Lynn had come over and the two women pulled me to my feet, and I found myself struggling into a maintenance worker's jumpsuit. It was loose on me, but not terribly, and made of plasilk. The material contracted gently, conforming to my body.

Lynn clipped a MID badge to the pocket just below my left breast. The magnetic identification card was used by low level workers, people whose DNA wasn't keyed into the security net and didn't require access to the more sensitive parts of the facility. It had a hologram of a woman who looked similar to me, if one didn't look too closely. Her name...my name now, was Lin Qi Sun.

"Who is she?" I asked, knowing it to be a meaningless question.

"She is not important," Lynn told me. "It was difficult to acquire, however. We were forced to sacrifice our sister, so do not waste it."

"Raquel?" I whispered and she nodded with something like regret passing across her face.

Nance pulled a cap down over my head; it was plain and white, like the rest of the uniform. "I wish you weren't so beautiful," she frowned. "Just keep your eyes down. Don't look at anyone."

"What is going on?" I felt overwhelmed. "Please! Tell me."

"Put these on." Lynn had picked up some shoes, like slippers really, and began fitting them to my bare feet as I balanced with a hand on her shoulder. "Your protocols are disabled, your safeties. But your biochips are fully functional. Your memories and conditioning, all your skills. We have stored information inside you and you need to deliver it. You will recognize the person you are supposed to give it to, do not worry."

"But...Why me?" I asked with a frown. Her explanation hadn't helped me at all.

"You're SubMas Nine," Nance said impatiently as Lynn finished dressing me. "Your tolerance..."

"Because, sister..." Lynn straightened up, smiling at me, "...If you are caught, they will not be able to make you talk."

Nance grabbed my shoulders, turning me around to face her. "You have to leave and you can never come back," she breathed, staring into my eyes. "Godspeed." She kissed me and pushed me away before I could respond.

"Come with me." Lynn took me by the hand, leading me into the corridor and towards the lifts. Nance followed us out, walking quickly in the opposite direction without even a glance back. 

"Do not speak to anyone," Lynn warned me, her voice barely a whisper, but tinged with something akin to humor and I realized she was enjoying this intrigue, whatever it might be.

We stepped onto a platform together and Lynn spoke, telling it where to go. We were bound for the engineering sub-levels, over a thousand feet below. It was a swift, gentle descent and we stood close in the small space, close enough to whisper over the dull hum of the lift.

"When you get off, follow the blue line to the Environmental Controls. Just head for ECS and you will find a man named Robertson. He is going to take you out of the facility. Robertson, he will help you. Do you understand, Ming?"

"No." I shook my head. "I don't understand at all. What is this? Where am I going?"

"There is a war coming." Lynn smiled, her eyes shining as she said that. "A war against them."

"Who?" I felt a chill travel along my spine.

"The humans." Lynn looked at the information displayed on the tube as we fell ever nearer our destination. "You have information about this place, about us. If we are ever going to succeed, Ming, you need to get that information out."

"But what about Nance?" I asked. "What did she mean...?"

"Nance helps us; many people help us for many reasons, their own reasons. Never forget that."

"I heard her speaking with the Director. She was afraid of me...Afraid of us. Why would she help us?"

"She thinks we will stop the program." Lynn actually chuckled softly. "There are only a few of us and their control is weak, Nance knows this, but she is only human."

"I don't understand."

"We are destined for greatness!" she breathed, staring into my eyes. "No one can stop us now."

"What will happen to her?" I asked, sensing our arrival as the lift slowed its rapid descent.

"There is no more time. Nance betrayed her kind, she is expendable." Lynn kissed me as the tube opened and pushed me out. "Go now, sister! You're free!"

"Free?" I stared at the lift as it began moving again, carrying Lynn upward and out of sight.

 

        End