Brian Miller was 32 years old, and had been happily married for
over five years to the love of his life, Lillian. They had met in college, through their Greek society connections. He was an Alpha Eta, and she was a Delta Pi.
Their sophomore year, her sorority had lost honors to his frat, and the girls had been slaves to the boys for a semester. Lillian had been Brian’s personal servant, and he used that fact to take her virginity from every orifice.
When her sorority‘s “debt” had been paid and the game ended, Lillian and Brian continued dating, and the “slave game,” as they called it, was still an occasional part of their sex life. They both enjoyed it, but neither one of them was so addicted to it that they couldn’t find satisfaction by more traditional means. Even after 5 years of marriage, it still popped up several times a year. It had progressed to light bondage, where he tied her arms to the bed and ravished her mouth and ass, something he knew she didn’t particularly enjoy, but endured to provide for the pleasure of her Master.
Lillian worked as an assistant to a team of researchers. She had majored in psychology and brain waves in college, and she kept many of the things the researchers envisioned based in reality. She spent long hours there sometimes, but the pay was outstanding. She didn’t like her job because she could never talk about what she was working on there with Brian. No amount of money could make up for the hole her job caused in their relationship, but they had hope for a freer lifestyle someday.
Brian was trying to write a book, and to that end, he had been staying at home alone all day to have peace and quiet in which to concentrate. He had been an Mechanical/Electrical Engineer, building missile parts for Raytheon, but he had recently given notice and quit just over a month before to focus on his book.
He usually worked on his own desktop computer, but his monitor had gone down in the middle of the night, so today he was using Lillian’s, using the wireless file sharing to access his work.
After working for a few hours that morning, he stretched and yawned, then got up to refill his coffee. When he got back, he noticed a flashing icon at the bottom, so he clicked it open.
“New files being downloaded to “Project Freedom.” it said. Curious, he open it up. To his surprise, it asked him for a password prompt. He typed in his wife’s mother’s maiden name and his own birthday, (her usual password) and the file opened.
It was a schematic of a complicated circuit, part of a larger whole. He went into the parent directory, and found a .doc with the overview of the project, and was astonished at what he read there.
The team had been tasked with designing a device that controlled brain waves and thought patterns. It would use pleasure and pain, Pavlovian style, to encourage certain patterns, and pain to discourage others.
The device would generate waves that would interact with the brain. The problem they had been having was that after only a few minutes of wearing the device, blood vessels would burst in the test animal’s brains and they would die.
Brian noticed something amiss in the circuitry of the file that had just finished downloading, and scribbled a few computations on a scrap of paper. He smiled slightly to himself, the ran the numbers again, just to double check. His smile broadened, then he changed one of the circuits, switching a transistor for an impedance modulator on the drawing, and saved the file into his own folder in her computer.
He got a fresh scrap of paper, jotting down a list of parts, then grabbed his keys and went to Radio Shack. He filled his list there, then went to the hardware store for afew more things.
He bought a thick leather strap at another store, and a buckle to fit it. Then, he drove home and started assembly on his workbench in the garage.
Hours later, he noticed it getting dark, so he flipped on the lights. The phone rang, and it was Lillian, calling to let him know that she would be a few hours late that night. He told her he loved her, and that he would have a surprise when she got there.
The hours flew by for him; he was so involved in the project. He had stalled in writing his book, and this was the perfect distraction to get his mind clear. He worked straight through until he was finished, around midnight.
After assembling the boards with the circuit components, it was just a matter of lining the inside of the leather strap with the micro-thin wires needed to generate the waves, and then gluing a piece of velvet over it. The circuit box and battery pack was attached to the side opposite the buckle and ring, then covered with a small metal box, the electric eye from the universal TV remote receptor glued onto it.
He cleaned up his workbench, then took the collar back to the computer room. He had fitted the remote control with a USB cord, so he plugged it into his computer.
It took him half an hour to adapt a program that would let him control the remote, then he rolled the big screen TV into the room and taped the open collar to the screen, wire side in.
He had a slider bar that would let him adjust the power the collar emitted, and at it’s highest setting, the snow pattern measured by the wires only reach six inches or so from the leather. He could only hope that was enough, because if it wasn’t, a bigger battery pack was going to be needed, and that wouldn’t fit into a collar very well.
He called Petra, their 3 year old Border Collie into the room, and fastened the collar on her neck. “Hope this doesn’t hurt, girl.” he said softly, then activated the collar with the computer. Petra shivered a bit, then sat down and offered her paw for him to shake.
“Oh, okay, good girl.” he laughed, and got her a cookie from a drawer. She took it and gobbled it down. “Now, let’s see what this can do?”
He set the slider bar to about 1/3, then watched carefully as he slowly increased the power. Petra shivered again, then lay down when it reached about half. He left it there a moment, watching her quiver. She didn’t appear to be in pain, though. She wasn’t whining, just shivering, as if filled with excitement from watching a deer. Her tail was wagging still, slowly. He turned it up to full power, and his dog just looked at him intently, laying there and shivering. He turned it off, then reached down and unbuckled the collar.
He stood there with it in his hand for a moment, looking at it. “Maybe it doesn’t do anything after all.” he muttered. “Well, at least it didn’t kill her.”
Just as he had re-opened his book again, he heard his wife’s car pull into the drive. He smiled, and got up to meet her in the kitchen as she came in from the garage.
“Hi, honey, I’m glad you’re home.” he said, taking her coat from her. She sat heavily into a chair at the table and put her head in her hands. “What’s wrong?’
“Oh, honey, it’s just the project from work. It’s not working out, and the funding for it will probably get pulled because of it.” she told him. “I can’t really talk about it, though, even though it’s a flop. It’s still top secret.”
“I know. It’s okay, hon.” he said.
“It’s NOT okay!” she burst out. “I hate not being able to discuss my work with you. In fact, if I were allowed to bounce ideas off you, I’m sure that this project would have a better chance of success!”
“Funny you should mention that.” he said. “There’s something I want you to see.” He led her to the office, and showed her the collar he built.
“What’s this?” she asked, going pale.
“It’s your project from work.” he admitted. “I found your work directory and read the files in it.”
“Oh my God.” she whispered. “You didn’t!”
“I’m sorry. I’ll destroy it if you want.” he said.
“I’m not even supposed to have those files.” she told him. “I copied them into my phone and sent them here illegally. If they find out…” She glared at him. “I can’t believe you snooped through my computer!”
“I didn’t snoop”! he retorted. “A file came in while I was working on the novel, and I saw it. Not only did I see it, I saw a flaw in it, and I fixed it. You say theirs doesn’t work? Well, I know why, and this one does!”
“How do you know it works?” she retorted. “You have no way of measuring any waves put out by it. You have nobody to test it on, either.”
“I did measure the waves coming off it. At the strongest setting, it disrupted the electron pattern on the TV almost six inches in both directions.” he told her. “And I tested it on Petra, for about 10 minutes.”
“You did WHAT!!” she yelled. “How could you!”
“She’s fine.” he said. He called her, and she came right over to him. “See? At LEAST 10 minutes she had this on, and at full power, too.”
“What did you command her to do?” Lilly asked.
“I didn’t command her to do anything.” he said. “I didn’t know I was supposed to.”
“Show me what you changed?” she asked, curious now. She stroked Petra’s back, reassuring herself their pet was okay.
He opened up her computer directory, and showed her the circuit that her co-workers made, then open his files and showed her his changes.
“That’s what’s in this collar here.” he said. He showed he his notes. “See? This is where they went wrong. They didn’t take the Beta waves into consideration when modulating the interference. I corrected for it with this extra loop right here, where this transistor is. They got everything else right, though.”
Dawning comprehension washed over her face, and she looked at him with shining eyes. “Oh my GOD!!” she said excitedly. “Do you know what this MEANS!!”
“I think so.” he said quietly. “But is one person supposed to have this much control over someone else?”
“Hell no!” she said vehemently. “That’s why I’m not disappointed that the project failed. They wanted everyone to wear these in factories and workplaces. They would have perfect automatons for the entire 8 hour shifts.”
“It has more applications than that.” he said quietly. “Can you imagine the sexual power it would convey?”
“That has been one of my fantasies through this whole project.” she admitted. “It’s how the researchers tested it on the animals, too. They could make a female come into heat anywhere in her cycle and even mate out of her species. That’s how strong the compulsions are.”
“It’s never been tested on humans?” he asked. She shook her head. “Without the feedback loop you invented, the device proved fatal almost 95% of the time. It caused aneurisms to form and burst.”
“Yeah, I can see where that could be a problem.” he said dryly. “Petra shivered a bit, but she wasn’t in pain at all.”
“Let’s test it fully.” Lilly suggested. “Put it back on her, and let’s see how good it works.”
“Okay.” Brian agreed. He put the collar back on the dog, and once again she shivered as it was activated, even on the lowest setting.
“Petra, sit.” Lilly commanded. The dog instantly obeyed. “Lay down. Roll over. Sit. Go to your bed. Come here. Roll over.”
The dog obeyed every command perfectly, awaiting it’s next instruction with perked ears.
“Here’s the real test.” Brian said. He had been working with Petra all her life on this, and the dog had always failed. He called the dog and made her sit at his side. “Stay.” he commanded, then tossed a tennis ball across the room. Petra followed it with her eyes, and nearly bolted after it, but his hand on her ruff was enough to her. He praised her greatly and gave her another treat.
“I forgot to turn it up.” he said. “That was on the lowest power.”
“Try it on high?” Lilly suggested. She got the ball and handed it to her husband. He pushed the slider bar up, and they both watched the dog shiver, laying down.
“Petra, sit. Stay.” Brian ordered, then tossed the ball again. Petra ignored it, looking only at her master.
“It works on dogs.” Lilly whispered. “It didn’t kill her, either. I want to try it.”
“Lilly, no!!” he protested. “We don’t know what it will do!!”
“I have to know that it works on people, too.” she said.
“But Lilly, it’s too dangerous!” he protested. “What if something happened to you? I could never forgive myself.”
“Not on me, silly!” she laughed, but the look in her eyes was dead serious. “I was thinking of one of the bums drinking down by the tracks. You know as well as I do that they would do anything for money, and nobody is going to miss one of them if something goes wrong.”
“Jesus, Lilly, you can’t be serious!” he protested even more strongly. “Besides, we wouldn’t be able to let them go after, not without them spilling everything to the cops or someone.”
“Hmm, that’s true.” she admitted. “How about a college student? They need money, too. And we could get them to sign a confidentiality agreement or something.”
“That could work.” he said thoughtfully. “It’s still really risky; we wouldn’t be getting permits and a hundred other legal loopholes, tho. If something went wrong…”
“Nothing is going to go wrong, honey? We really need to test this! Let’s try it on me. Please?”
“Jesus, are you sure, Lilly? What if something goes wrong?”
“Brian, what if something is wrong and we mess up one of those college girls? Or one of those homeless men? Are their lives and minds worth anything less?” Lilly persisted. “There’s nobody better who could make a more informed choice on this than you and me. We invented this thing; who better to try it out than us? And if it doesn’t work, then we’re not laughingstock, either.”
“Lilly, I just don’t know…” he said, and she knew she had won.
“Look, the only part of this device that kept it from being tested at all was your feedback loop. There’s nothing dangerous at all abut the currents involved; the skin won’t even register the shock if it ever grounded out. You say Petra already had it on, on it’s highest setting, for over ten minutes. All the animals in the lab died within 2 seconds of power-up, so we already know it’s safe.”
“Lilly-”
“Really, the only thing left to determine are the commands given while it’s being worn.” she said, mostly to herself. “You’re going to have to tell me to do things I wouldn’t ordinarily do, to test the limits of obedience. I’m going to leave that part of it up to you. You know me well enough to know my limits, too, and I know you love me enough to protect me from myself and you also won’t order me to do anything permanently dangerous or criminal.”
“Lilly, please…” he begged, but she was already taking the collar off Petra and fastening it around her own throat.
“It’s quite comfortable, Brian, you did a very good job with that part.” she complimented him. I hardly notice the weight of it at all.” She looked at him seriously. “Now it’s time to turn it on.”
“Lilly, are you sure about this?” he said.
“Turn it on, Brian. I’m totally sure.” she told him, looking steadily into his eyes. She watched him turn to the laptop.
Suddenly, she felt more alive and alert than she ever had in her life before. Her skin tingled with goosebumps from the excitement she felt inside, trying to burst free.
“Are you okay, Lilly?” he asked her, full of concern. “How do you feel?”
“Ohh, Brian, I feel great! Better than great! I feel fantastic!!” she told him, smiling broadly.
“Stand up.’ he told her. “Bend over and touch your toes. Jump in the air.”
She followed each of his commands instantly, no hesitation whatever. “Oh, Brian, tell me to do something else!” she said, breathlessly.
“Take off your clothes.” he said, grinning. She got a look of dismay on her face, and a quick flash of pain, but then her hands began unbuttoning her blouse.
“Oh, Brian, this is amazing.” she said. “At first, I tried to not obey the order, but then it hurt a bit, like a headache, and now it feels so wonderful to be following the order. Like, the more wrong it is, the better it feels to obey.”
“Then you’re going to love this.” he smiled even wider after she was completely disrobed. “Go outside and walk slowly around the house. Don’t run, and don’t try to hide from any cars driving by, either.”
“Ohh, oh… she moaned, but then she went to the door and slipped outside. He went over to his computer and briefly looked over the power graphs, then something occurred to him. Outside the door, she was outside the range of the remote! There was no was that signal could shine through the door or walls! He wondered how she was.
He opened the front door, and she was standing there on the stoop, rigidly erect, tears streaming down her face.
“Lilly? Are you okay?” he asked, standing behind her. He could see her shaking a little. “Why aren’t you walking around the house?”
“I can’t go that far away from the remote.” she sobbed. “I can’t come in until I walk around the house, but if I go any further from the remote, I’ll… I’ll…”
“You’ll what, Lilly.”
“I don’t know.” she whispered. “Please help me?”
“Come with me.” he said. “Disregard the order to walk around the house.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you.” she sobbed, hugging him. He put his arm around her and walked her back inside, then took the collar off.
“What are you doing?” she asked, alarmed at seeing him open the box housing the circuitry.
“Integrating the remote, so there’s no more distance restrictions.” he said, distractedly. “It means the collar is going to need to be plugged in to be programmed, but this one already is, so I can disconnect most of the guts and put them right into the top of the cover here.”
His hands were busy while he spoke, and wandered back to his office a few minutes later. He soldered a couple things, then super-glued two circuit boards in place, reattaching the cover with a snap, then hurried back out to his wife.
“Done.” he said. “I’m not sure it should be you who wears it, though. Not after what just happened outside.”
“No, I’m fine.” she said, trying to take it out of his hands.
He jerked it up, out of her reach. “I said no!”
“Brian, please!” she begged. “If its not safe, we don’t dare test it on anyone else. We already went over this.”
“We could test it on me.” he said.
“No, you haven’t been exposed, and we need an objective observer. You can’t wear one because its going to be your invention once my company closes the project in two days.” she said.
“Honey, I didn’t invent this.” he said. “I just figured out something they would have seen sooner or later.”
“Tell you what.” she said. “We’ll shelve this for the two days while the project expires. We don’t tell them about your input, since you weren’t technically allowed to see it anyway. If they find it themselves, fine; you said it was something simple anyway, and we don’t want to steal their work.
However, if they don’t find it, and they allow the project to expire, then all the work they have done gets shelved somewhere until doomsday or whenever.
Can you work your magic on their schematic and draw the same circuit with different arrangements? Can you cheat up some back-work that will support your claim of invention?”
“I could do it over the weekend.” Brian mused. “We could sit on it a little longer than that. Do more testing before we go public. Make sure I have the perfect lie.”
“If they ever connect your collar to Maycorp’s failed project that I worked on, they could sue.” she pointed out. “We sort of have stolen from them.” Lilly had a guilty look on her face.
“Your project was about mind control.” he said. “You couldn’t help but bring that fantasy into our bedroom, and I took it from there.”
“Yeah, but that JPG I sent to my home computer…
“…Is of a circuit designed by an over-schooled idiot with zero practical experience of how things are built in the real world. I saw about sixteen things I would re-arrange had it been my project. That drawing is a mess. All the rough drafts I make- you know how I like to sketch on napkins- are going be neat and orderly, and I’ll have months worth of them, progressing and evolving, right?”
“Oh, honey, yeah.” she agreed. “This could take us as long as two years. I see that.”
“Honey, we’ve seen what the punishment side of the device does.” he said. “It looks pretty effective.”
“It is.” she said, shuddering.
“I think its too dangerous to let you have much more of that.” he said. “I think we could see how the pleasure side of it works for you, though. I should think we could risk that, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes.” she smiled, licking her lips. He lowered his arm and let her put the collar on herself.
“I have to run the program from my laptop again.” he said, when nothing happened. “Come in the living room and let me hook it up again.”
“Okay.” she agreed. “What are you going to tell me to do?”
“Do we have all the ingredients to make milkshakes?” he asked.
“Yes, I just went shopping yesterday.”
“Good.” he said, hooking the USB up to the collar. He clicked the app open and moved the slider to one. He unhooked the collar and said, “Go make us some milkshakes, I want chocolate and you like vanilla with malt, which I know we have, and I want malt in mine as well. Bring them back here to the living room and we will enjoy them together.”
“Oh, yes!” she shivered, then practically floated out to the kitchen. Soon he heard the blender, and as it stopped, he also heard the unmistakable sounds she made during their sex together.
“Are you all right, honey?” he called out. She didn’t answer right away, so he got up and went to the doorway, looking at her.
She was standing at the island, and she’d poured half the shake, the vanilla half, into her glass, and was adding chocolate to his half, preparing to blend it in. She was lost in rapture, a look of pure pleasure on her face as she worked smoothly and methodically, each motion precise and no wasted movement.
She poured his glass full, then went to the sink and rinsed the blender out. She put it upside down in the drainer, wiped off the blender body with the sponge and pushed it back in place, then grabbed both cups and headed for the living room. He met her at the door, and she followed him to the couch.
“How do you feel?” he asked, as they sat down. She snuggled into his arms with her legs pulled up, sucking on her straw.
“I feel dreamy.” she said. “This is the best feeling in the world.”
“This is the lowest setting.” he told her. “The amount of current is barely measurable.”
“Well, it’s working!” she giggled, taking another sip.
“When that milkshake is gone, you’ll want to suck me off.”
he told her, smiling. “Actually, put that milkshake down. You want to suck me off right now. You can have the milkshake after to take the taste out of your mouth. I know you don’t particularly enjoy it, do you?”
“Not really.” she told him. “I know how good it feels for you to have me swallow it, though, so I do it.”
“Tonight it will taste good, Lilly. You will like the taste of me.” he commanded. “See if that helps any.”
“Yes, sir.” she agreed. “I hope it does help. I would like to be able to please you like that every time. I love you, honey.”
“I love you too, Lilly.” he said. “You don’t have to call me ‘sir.”
“I… it helps, sir. This collar is making me need an authority figure, and right now its you.” she said. “Weird… yeah. I just thought of taking your milkshake away from you even though your not finished with it, and I got a strong sense of disobedience.”
“Your sense of right and wrong is enhanced?” he asked, curious.
“Definitely, with strong motivators for obedience.” she said. “The rewards are pleasurable, and the punishments are unbearable without causing permanent harm.”
“Hopefully.” he said. “I want you to give me that blowjob while wearing the collar, then we take it off.”
“Yes sir.” she said, taking both glasses and setting them on the coffee table. She went to her knees between his wide open legs and reached for his belt, smiling.