Fall and Rise of a Lab Slut

Susie's life was nicely simple. Her masters called her a "lab slut." It was a title Susie kind of liked. Susie was the property of the Gideon/Conhurst Research Facility. She had free run of the lab complex day and night, but she wasn't allowed to touch anything. It was Susie's job to do whatever the scientists wanted. She fetched things, she brought memos from one lab to another, she made snacks, she danced provocatively, she gave blowjobs, and she fucked. This afternoon the scientists had kept Susie pretty busy. One of them had bought her a new bikini and so they were all hornier than usual. Susie had a little collar around her neck that could sound off lots of different chimes, and she knew by the tone which lab was summoning her. Typically she was told to lock the door behind her, and then the scientist who'd called her would press a little button, deactivating her summoning-collar so that they wouldn't be disturbed. Everyone knew what it meant when the signal-devices (one mounted in almost every room) flashed, "Susie not available." It meant the next scientist had to wait his turn. All of the scientists and administrative staff at the Facility had learned to be good sports about sharing her.

Susie reflected on today as the last of the scientists in the building finished with her, zipped up his pants, and left the lounge with a terse, "Goodbye, Susie." The morning had been mostly fetching and carrying and people feeling her tits. Mornings were usually duller. When Susie was suddenly left alone after sex, her thoughts, such as they were, always turned to memories of sex. She didn't know why, and she didn't care why, didn't care about anything except obeying and being horny when she was supposed to. This morning she'd only fucked Peters - he was the exception, always beating everyone else here and always randy first thing in the morning - and that representative from the electronics supply company who'd mistaken her for a receptionist or something. He'd been here before and just figured her for a really horny employee. He fancied that he was putting something over on the staff in always managing to get Susie alone in the lounge, but really they arranged it. With his thoughts always wandering to whether he'd get "that horny receptionist" alone in the lounge this time and how to arrange it, he was never on form in negotiating the supply contracts. He was a little surprised to see her in a bikini today, but Ms. Carlton, the real receptionist, had explained that it was Susie's break and that she was trying on her bikini for her vacation in Bermuda. Ms. Carlton had told Susie in advance to go along with whatever she might have to say. And then Ms. Carlton had left Susie and the supply rep alone in the lounge to "sign contracts." Not that Susie was much help there, but then he took her for a bubbleheaded bimbo who kept her job in obvious ways. Well, they hadn't gone over the contracts. He knew that he could always nail Susie once he had her alone. Susie had been told in advance to tone down her submissiveness a little and make it look like her was winning her over. And they'd fucked. He always hurried, afraid someone might come in. Susie knew, at least, that there was no danger of that. Susie could act like a regular employee. She could act like anything, with enough advance instruction. He'd zipped his pants and turned quickly to the contracts, signing them in a hurry without reading them. They never contained anything more than he'd - half-paying attention - already agreed to, but it was Susie's job to make sure he didn't have time to get second thoughts. As soon as he'd signed them, she opened the door, as instructed, where Ms. Carlton was, coincidentally, "about to come in."

As soon as he'd left, Ms. Carlton had rewarded Susie with a full-body massage, lingering on her tits. Not that Susie needed any reward. It was Susie's job to pleasure everyone, right down to the receptionist, who liked massaging Susie's tits on the pretext of rewarding her. Susie knew that the massages were supposed to turn her on, and consequently they did turn her on. Ms. Carlton never went any further than massages. A couple of the other women were bolder. Susie obeyed men and women alike with equal willingness. And more than willingness; she lived to please everyone who worked here.

The lab always closed down at four in the afternoon, and by six or so the last of the scientists and staff had finally wandered out. It was Susie's job to clean up everything, but there weren't a lot of messes tonight because no one had done much working this afternoon. Susie just swept the floors and then skipped merrily back to her closet for a nap on her cot. She awoke about three in the morning, which was about average, and wondered what to do. There wasn't a lot Susie was allowed to do. She couldn't touch any of the lab stuff without permission, and she could only use the television in the lounge if there was someone else there. She decided to take a nice long shower. Susie headed into the ladies room and removed her shoes, hair ribbon, and bikini. The collar she had to leave on - she was never allowed to take it off herself - but it was waterproof. Susie fantasized as she lathered up and caressed her naked body. Even showering made her horny. Everything made Susie horny. When she was alone, showers always led to her playing with herself. Susie's fantasies were always the same thing - the fun things the guys would want to do with her tomorrow. Susie lived to obey, to bring them pleasure. Susie was a good little lab slut, living to please the scientists and staff of the Research Facility which was her only home.

Susie dried off and returned to her closet, picking out a nice tight leather outfit to wear around the lab today. She could call it today, because she was up now, but no one would be coming in for four hours yet. Susie brushed her hair and put on her thick makeup - the guys always liked her really made-up - and then just sat down in Dr. Peters' lab in one of the chairs she was allowed to use. Susie had cleaned up, slept, showered, made-up, so really Susie had done everything she was supposed to do with a few hours to spare. She never had to worry about entertaining herself. She just mentally shut herself off, staring off into space and waiting for someone to show up and give her her first command of the new day.

Susie could see and hear in her inattentive state, but she didn't pay any attention until she was spoken to. She heard the humming sound growing and raising in pitch until it was almost deafening, but she didn't react or look about to see what was making it. Susie wasn't supposed to interfere in the experiments, or even help out unless she was asked. When someone finally spoke, Susie took notice and looked around her. "What the heck?" a woman shrieked.

A cylinder-shaped object now stood in the center of Dr. Peters' lab. Susie knew what it was - the X400 4D travel unit - but it was supposed to be in the storage room. Susie was worried for a moment, until she saw that the woman was wearing a lab coat and had a yellow triangle on her lapel, identifying her as someone authorized to be here. She must be a new scientist or staff member. Probably scientist, because of the coat. Susie could pleasure women as well as men; one of the scientists and two of the administrators were women, and they all enjoyed the pleasure Susie could give. Ms. Carlton the receptionist called herself "totally straight", but she did like to give and get nice massages, and Susie could pleasure in all ways. The new scientist's yellow badge had the word "Loeb" in it. "Shall I pleasure you, Doctor Loeb?"

"You know who I am?" the other gasped, checking a readout on the X400 unit.

"I assume 'doctor' is the correct title by your coat. I would rather flatter you than offend you. Am I mistaken?"

"N-no, that's correct." Doctor Loeb approached and looked over Susie from every angle. "Incredible..." she mused. "What did you mean, pleasure me? What is your designation?"

"I am Susie the Lab Slut," she replied, confused. "Everyone knows that. I can pleasure you in any way you like. If you're straight, I can give you massages. Shall I bring you something to eat?" She looked up at the clock; 4:10 am. "You're here very early, Doctor Loeb. Is it your first day?"

"Incredible..." Doctor Loeb repeated. She felt Susie's hand. "Oh, god... oh, god..." she gasped, starting to hyperventilate. Susie caught her as she was about to faint.

"What is wrong, Doctor Loeb? Have I displeased you? Do you need help putting away the X400 4D travel unit?"

"Oh, god, you're not an android..." Doctor Loeb realized, feeling her skin. "Wh-what are you? Have they expanded into biological research? Were you... grown?"

"I am Susie the Lab Slut," she replied, starry-eyed. "I don't understand the question. I've always been here. My function is to obey the scientists and administrators and to pleasure them whenever they wish, to improve morale and increase productivity." Doctor Loeb boldly approached and unzipped and pulled down Susie's leather hot pants. She studied the birthmark on Susie's inner right thigh. Susie just stood there, still naked from the waist down, while Doctor Loeb took deep breaths.

"Do you know who I am?" Doctor Loeb queried.

"You are Doctor Loeb. You are authorized to be here, so I am to obey you in all things and keep you happy and productive. Do you work in this lab with Doctor Peters?"

"Describe me," she commanded.

"You are a woman of approximately twenty-five years with blonde hair in a formal bun, wearing a lab coat, a charcoal blouse and a long red skirt. Have I properly answered the question?"

"You don't see...?"

"Ma'am?"

"Never mind. Susie, how long have you been here?"

"I've always been here."

"How long have you... had your current job description?"

"I don't understand the question. I am Susie the Lab Slut. My function is to obey the scientists and administrators and to pleasure them whenever they wish, to improve morale and increase productivity. I've always been here."

"How old are you?" Doctor Loeb tried again.

"I don't understand the question."

"Look, it's perfectly simple. You said I was about twenty-five. Actually, I'm twenty-six. You understand what that means, right? Tell me."

"It means you were born twenty-six years ago."

"Right. So when were you born?"

Susie just stared into space. Finally she replied, "I am Susie the Lab Slut. My function -"

"Is to obey me. So obey me. Tell me of your creation."

"I... I..."

"That's an order, Susie," Doctor Loeb growled.

"I... c-can't remember..."

"I order you to remember."

Susie concentrated. "I... don't know. I've always been here, that's all."

"For how long? How many times have the scientists departed and returned?"

Susie scrunched up her face and concentrated. "I guess... I can measure time like that. If you command me to. It's been... about eight months. They don't come on weekends."

"What do you do then?"

Susie tilted her head, confused. "I sit here."

"And what happened prior to eight months ago? I command you to remember."

Susie concentrated and concentrated. "I... want to obey. I... have to obey. B-but... I don't know how. I d-don't know the answer..." For a few seconds, Susie looked like she was about to cry. And then suddenly she fainted.

Susie came to in the lounge, dressed in her leather outfit again. Doctor Loeb had removed her lab coat and sat over her. "Are you feeling better, Susie?"

"H-how did I get here?"

"I carried you. I'm sorry. I asked you to obey a command that you were incapable of. It... wreaked havoc with your... programming. Are you okay now?"

"Yes," Susie replied. "Shall I pleasure you, Doctor Loeb? Or shall I assist in an experiment? Or -..." She felt her neck. "My collar is gone."

"Yes, I removed it. I thought it might... help. It didn't."

"It's a summoning collar."

"Yes, I know that now. I also ran some tests on you, Susie. I'm not a medical doctor, but the results are illuminating. Would you like to hear them?"

Susie didn't answer for several seconds. Then she only said, "Shall I pleasure you, Doctor Loeb? Are you hungry? I can -"

"Let me rephrase that. Listen to the results, Susie. You're human, not an android. That was pretty easy."

"Of course I'm human. I'm Susie the Lab Slut. My function -"

"You also don't appear to be a clone. I've inspected the labs, and they still don't seem equipped for that kind of biological research." Susie wouldn't ask the question that would come to anyone else's mind. "I want to show you a picture. You will identify the image."

Doctor Loeb held a photograph in front of Susie's eyes. "The photograph is an image of Doctor Loeb. Of yourself. Only your hair is down, your eyes are shut, and you're wearing more make-up."

"No, Susie. It's a photograph of yourself. See?" She held up a hand-mirror next to the photograph. "I took it while you were unconscious." Susie showed no interest. "You have absolutely no curiosity, do you?"

"Ma'am?"

"Explain to me why you made your mistake."

"I... I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm n-not supposed to make mistakes." She paused. "I... I don't know why I said it was you. I'm so embarrassed. How could I confuse one of my masters with myself? I'm sorry, ma'am..."

"It's all right, Susie. I think I'm beginning to understand. It's more complicated than you know. You and I have the same fingerprints, you see. At first I thought you were something made in my image, an android or clone. Doctor Peters and the others have a pretty sick sense of humor, and I always knew they were nasty shits. Do you know the purpose of the X400, Susie?"

"It is a four-dimensional travel unit. It has been tested and passed all inspections, but for security reasons it has been shelved for the time-being."

"Do you know who tested it, Susie? Do you know who had the honor of being the first to travel in time?"

Susie didn't immediately reply. "I... I'm not supposed to get involved with the experiments. If you want me to fetch the records on the testing of the X400, I -"

"You did, Susie. You traveled several months into the future. I've seen the records. 'Test subject traveled eight months into the future and returned successfully. Nevertheless, X400 classified top secret indefinitely.' Do you remember doing that, Susie?"

"No, ma'am."

"The stupid shits would still be working on it if not for you," Doctor Loeb growled, "and no sooner do you find the problem and risk your life in the damn thing than they..." She cut herself off. "Fuck it! Fuck all of it! I'm not going back. Fuck the whole damn space-time continuum. No one's making a zombie out of me just so Peters can hog all the credit."

"Shall I pleasure you, ma'am?" was all Susie said. "Shall I get you something to -"

"You are not a fucking lab slut!" Susan Loeb shrieked. "You're a human being! Don't you get it yet? I won't let this happen! I won't!" She ran out of the room. Susie only sat there. Eventually Susie decided that she should find her summoning collar before the staff arrived in the morning. It wasn't in the lounge, so she checked her closet, and then began searching the labs.

When she reached Doctor Peters' lab, she found her collar on a table and put it back on. "Ma'am? Can you fasten my collar for me? I can't reach..."

"Take that fucking thing off and get over here," Susan growled.

"M-m'am..." Susie gasped. "I-I'm not allowed to take my collar off..."

"Get over here," she growled. Susie obeyed. "Look at the screen. Do these graphs mean anything to you?"

"I don't understand the experiments, Doctor Loeb. I just do what I'm told."

"Fucking moron," Susan spat. "This axis is represents the three spatial dimensions. This one is the temporal axis. This scatterplot represents the entropic field of the universe. Mean anything yet?"

"Ma'am? Shall I bring you something to eat? I can see you're in the middle of an important experiment, but I can massage your shoulders if you like, or -"

"It means," Susan growled, "that our preliminary data was wrong. We were working on a theory of alternate realities, one that allows me certain freedoms. But according to the data you brought back -... That is, the data I will bring back... Ay, there's the rub..."

"If you have no need of me, ma'am, shall I retire to my closet or to the lounge?"

"Just stand there and look like a bimbo, Susie. It's all you're good for." She paused. "If I killed you, Susie, would it be murder or suicide? I only ask because, well, you used to be a good Catholic." Susie just stared into space. "Put bluntly, Susie, according to the simulations they've run on the data I brought back, we're looking at one timeline. All or nothing, you might say. If I don't go back and let them fry my brain and make a lab slut of me, it's the end of everything." She paused. "I wonder... There're no records of what they did to you. It's either that secret government-funded project of Doctor Tavers, or else... Yes! Yes! Guess what, Susie, I think we've been too hard on the shitheads. It looks like I'm supposed to make a Lab Slut of myself. Or rather... of you..." She began typing furiously. "If I send you back in my place, I can skip over the whole unpleasantness, leaving them with the mystery of how time-travel fried my brain and turned me into an obedient little slut. Will that...?" She hit "enter", and the graph exploded all over the screen. "Shit! Shit! Second Law of Fucking Thermodynamics! You really would have to be here forever, from your point of view. There's no fucking escaping it! It has to be me." A new thought struck her. "Susie, do you pleasure Doctor Tavers?"

"I pleasure any and all authorized personnel."

"He summons you to his lab?"

"Yes."

Susan grabbed a screwdriver and began dissecting the mounted Susie-summoner on the wall. It took her about fifteen minutes to crack the codes. Then she helped Susie back into her collar and simulated a call from Tavers' lab. Susie left without a word... and Susan followed her.

Susie took it for granted that there was someone in Tavers' lab... and hence anyone trying to sneak in behind her would be dealt with by whoever summoned her. So she took no notice of her younger self following her. Susan noted the entrance-code that Susie punched out and slipped in behind her. Susie only looked around the darkness, confused... until Susan found the light-switch. "Oh! Doctor Loeb! You summoned me?"

Susan looked around the forbidden lab. A few control panels were mounted into this side of a large, transparent chamber. In the chamber was a chair with straps for its occupants' arms and legs. Susan began reading Tavers' notes.

"What did you require, Doctor Loeb?"

"Undress and play with yourself until further notice," Susan replied without looking up. That ought to keep the little slut busy while Susan read. She knew that Tavers had degrees in electronics and psychiatry, among others, but she'd never made the connection. "Mind control..." she muttered. "As I thought. Tavers did this. They must've all been in on it. I always knew I had no friends in this place, but you'd think someone would've..." She paused. "They just couldn't accept a woman straight out of M.I.T. showing up all the seasoned professionals and getting their time-machine to work." Susan read through all of Tavers' notes as quickly as possible. Susie's memories were all still intact, deep down. Her personality - all that was Susan Loeb - was gone, permanently wiped out. There were of course no records of the specific conversion of Susan herself, and for that matter everything was written up in a sort of 'hypothetical' shorthand, as though the mind-chamber had never actually been used. Susan knew better. It'd been used quite a lot. Tavers was just covering himself. She probably wouldn't be able to access his personal files - at least not by morning - but she could pull this off without them. The chamber was designed to be used on unwilling subjects, but Susie the Lab Slut would gladly cooperate. That was half the battle won. The hard part would be reconstructing her own lost personality manually.

Susan ordered Susie into the chamber - and to get dressed again - and then strapped her into the chair, just as a precaution. She had no idea how painful this process might be, though she suspected that Susie would take pain from her masters as willingly as she gave pleasure. "All right, Susie. You don't really have to do anything except cooperate. Can you do that for me, Susie?"

"I obey all commands from authorized personnel," Susie replied bluntly.

Hopefully returning Susie to her old self wouldn't be as difficult as she'd been thinking. If she could bring Susie's old memories back to the surface, and reprogram her to some degree of individuality, with some semblance of her old personality, memory itself would gradually swing Susie back to her old mental habits. She could thus salvage, rather than painstakingly recreate, her old intelligence... and so much that was distinctively Susan Loeb. The difficulty was that, for once, Susan had to look into herself and be brutally honest... to do here in this chamber as much of the heavy-work of reconstruction as she could. "You are an individual..." Susan intoned repeatedly. After about ten minutes she had it down to a science, could just repeat the same phrases again and again while turning her thoughts to the more delicate phases ahead. "You are Susan Loeb, not Susie the Lab Slut. You are Susan Loeb, an individual. Do you understand me?"

"I am... S-Susie the Loeb..." her patient muttered. "I... I... must pleasure the scientists and... m-morale... I..."

"You are Susan Loeb, an individual. You do not need to obey anyone, except me. You will only obey Doctor Susan Loeb. You will follow your own conscience and your own heart. Do you understand?"

"S-Susan Loeb..." her older self muttered. "I-I'm Susan Loeb... I..."

It was slow work, making a Susan, any Susan, out of Susie once again. The major difficulty was that she was working against herself. Susie had started off obedient, eager to obey any command. Susan was trying to obliterate that programming... but on the other hand, she had to be obeyed to make progress. As the process went on, Susie became more and more resistant to Susan's commands... which was a mixed blessing. Finally, after the better part of an hour, Susan felt confident enough of her results to risk the next phase. "I am Susan Loeb..." her patient was muttering. "I am an individual... Wh-what are you doing to me? N-no, stop it... Y-you... I am an individual... I am Susan Loeb..."

"Susan," her younger self commanded her, "you will remember everything you have been induced to forget. Do you understand me? You are an individual and will lay claim to any and all of your memories. You will remember everything. Do you understand me?"

"I am Susan Loeb... I can decide for myself... I w-want... N-no, I don't want to remember..."

"You will remember everything," the other commanded. "You have a perfect memory. You are Susan Loeb and your memory is perfect. There are no longer any gaps. What school did you go to, Susan Loeb?"

"M.I.T.," the patient muttered. "I went to M.I.T. Then I went to work at the Gideon/Conhurst Research Facility... A-are we there now? Wh-what are you doing to me? Who are you?"

"You will trust me, Susan Loeb. You shouldn't find that hard to do. Do you trust me?"

"S-sort of... I... d-don't want to remember though..."

"You will remember, Susan Loeb. It's too important. I know you don't want to remember what they made of you, but you must. You must. I command you to remember everything."

"N-no..." she shrieked, struggling for release. "I won't! I won't! You can't make me! I'm Susan Loeb, an individual!"

"You will remember!" Susan repeated, again and again for fifteen minutes. Her patient continually shrieked and struggled for release, but she was gradually cracking. It ate at Susan to reduce her older self to a whimpering mass... but she had to be cruel to be kind.

"D-don't make me remember..." the older Susan sobbed softly. "Pl-please..." And then all of a sudden, she shrieked louder than ever before and tore violently at the straps. "Those bastards! Those fucking bastards! I'll kill them all! Let me out of here! I'll fucking kill you too, continuum be damned!"

"Calm down," her younger self insisted. "Susan, do you remember? Do you remember all of it?"

"You don't know..." she pleaded. "You can't know! You don't have a fucking clue! But you will... For the love of God, let me forget! Let me forget!"

"We can't. They might try it again. You have to be on guard. You have to remember what they made you do."

"You don't understand..." the older Susan whimpered, still struggling like a madwoman against the straps. "I'll kill them all! I'll burn the whole fucking camp down! I'll fry Tavers' brain! I'll fucking castrate Peters and all the rest of them!"

"Susan, calm down. I order you to calm down." A chill ran down the younger Susan's spine. The sight of her older self totally enraged, totally hysterical, not even making sense anymore... and what was that stuff about camp? Susan had only been to camp once, that physics camp her mother had made her go to when she was fourteen, the most boring two weeks of her life. She just kept ordering Susan to calm down, until gradually her older self was just whimpering. She'd successfully built a new Susan, an individual, but one consumed with vengeance. While it was true that she had no idea what this Susan had suffered, this was not Susan Loeb. It wasn't who she wanted to be. She had to fine tune her creation, bring her real self out of this vengeance-driven beast she'd made of Susie the Lab Slut.

Susan began the brutally honest phase. Susan Loeb was diffident. Susan Loeb never stood up for herself, which was no doubt partly how they'd done this to her. Susan Loeb would have probably let them take all the credit anyway. Susan Loeb had let them bully her into making the manned test flight. Susan Loeb was a coward, a virgin, a sexually-repressed woman whose beauty seemed to go to waste. That was another reason they'd done this to her. They must have seen her coldness, her hair all done up, her long skirt and generally conservative clothes, as one big tease. They hadn't understood how afraid of the world Susan Loeb basically was. She wasn't sure how much of that she could restore to her post-Susie self. She tried for awhile and seemed to make some progress. She re-fed the older Susan with all her secret dreams, her favorite foods, favorite movies, favorite books... it all started coming back pretty easily once she sparked it. It was all still there, deep down. Gradually the woman before her seemed less an arbitrary creation and more her genuine self following her experiences and reacting to them as Susan would have reacted. The woman before her was mostly Susan Loeb... but a Susan Loeb still obviously penting-up her fury at what they'd done to her. So for the next few minutes, she stressed forgiveness. She stressed rising above it. Rather than remake her old, meek self completely, she stressed channeling the memories of what they'd done to her into a sort of calm new wisdom. Susan was improving on herself. She was creating a self she could be proud of... a her, but a better her. Not her ideal self - which would be too artificial, after all - but a self that, if all this hadn't happened, she might one day have been. She brought out what had always been the better part of Susan Loeb into full control. And the more she succeeded, the more the Susan in the chair actually began helping her. "How are you now?"

"I'm all right," her older self smiled calmly. "You've done a good job. Now for some finishing touches. You were never as good a Catholic as you wanted to be, for one. And make me less afraid of people. That's important, especially considering what we're up against."

The younger Susan blushed and obeyed. By this point it was all like that, the Susan in the chair telling the Susan outside how to fine-tune her. She genuinely wanted to be, at this point, what she was meant to be. Her older self was surprisingly good at this. "Of course! You..."

"Figure it out at last, did you?" her older self smiled. "Yes, of course I remember doing all this. I've stood where you're standing now. It's all coming back."

"And you're not... angry anymore?"

She shook her head. "We're almost done. You've done a good job." And a few minutes later, the younger Susan shut everything down and unstrapped her older self.

"Do I... just go home now? I mean..." the younger Susan stammered.

"We still have an hour or so before the morning crowd arrives. You don't have to leave just yet."

"That's a silly way to put things. You know exactly what happens."

"Thanks to you. But I have to be careful how I put things, of course. If I come off as too predestinating, I'll just get you down," the older Susan smiled.

"What will you do now?"

Her older self smiled. "What did I tell me again...?" she mused. "Oh, yes. I can tell you that much. For now, I'm going to go on playing Susie the Lab Slut."

She blushed. "Oh! How can you? How can you bear it? And why?"

"They tore my life away," she explained. "They faked my death, all my stuff's gone. I have nothing. Not even a home to go to. But thanks to your persistence, there's something I do have. A perfect memory. I remember all of it."

"That explains how you can fake the Susie routine... but not why. And how can you bear it?"

"Well, some of us aren't as sexually uptight as you are," she smiled. "You don't appreciate what you've done. You really don't. You will, God help you. If only I could... No, you just have to live it, unfortunately."

"What did he do to me?" her younger self gasped. "It was... horrible, wasn't it?"

"You know I can't answer that."

"At least... I go in with my eyes open." Her older self didn't reply. "I think I see what you're getting at now. They did a lot of talking in front of their obedient little Lab Slut, didn't they?"

Her older self nodded. "Now you're with me. 'Susie' heard a lot of secrets. I'll be running this place in six months." She studied her younger self's face. "Oh, don't worry. You didn't turn me into a megalomaniac or anything. But I won't lose any sleep over blackmailing them after what they did to me. And I can run this place properly. Suppress the time-machine, for one."

"And this thing, for another," she pointed.

The older Susan shook her head. "No, in a way I owe a lot to Dr. Tavers... almost as much as I do to you. You'll understand. He did me a lot of unintentional good. He'll get what's coming to him, never fear, but this machine has some good uses. In the right hands. Trust me."

"It's hard," she admitted. "I saw what... you wanted to do to him. To all of them."

"Birth-pains," her older self obfuscated. The other could see that she was hiding something. "Don't worry, I'm not double-dealing you. You really did do a good job. I realize - I remember - that it's easy to be suspicious. I remember seeing that... monster in the chair. She had a lot to be angry about."

"Is it... that painful?"

"Torture," was all her older self replied, looking away. "But you'll get some fun memories out of it."

"It's a terrible way to lose my virginity, though. Just as some mindless slut obeying whoever orders me first. Tavers, I suppose. Who is my first lover? You can tell me that much."

"I wish I could, Susan. I really wish I could. But I'm afraid you don't really understand the question." She changed the subject. "We're going to do something now that may shock you. Will shock you. But the opportunity is just too good to pass up. And more to the point... we didn't."

Her younger self turned pale. "Y-you can't mean..."

"Oh, come on," she smiled, starting to pull down her younger self's skirt. "It's one of the classic time-travel fantasies."

"B-but... I'm straight. God, what'd I do to you... or them..." She tried to pull away.

"Oh, I'm still straight. Just a lot less uptight than I was. Than you are. Think of it as... masturbation if you like." And she kissed herself. The younger Susan resisted for a moment, but then admitted her enjoyment. It wasn't every woman who had the chance to french herself. Slowly she undid her counterpart's leather outfit, and her counterpart slipped Susan's blouse over her head. The younger Susan was wearing underwear - rather unflattering underwear - but her older self finished stripping her. They fell to the floor, her older self taking the lead, moving her tongue into the private places of her time-displaced double. The younger Susan shyly followed her lead, bringing the pair to orgasm. Her older self came much more quickly... but then came again.

"They made you, um, multiple... whatever?" Susan blushed. "Is that... something I didn't think to undo?"

"All their programming is gone," Susan smiled. "You just never knew what you were capable of."

"I'm gonna miss this..." she giggled. "I mean... you know how hard it is to... get dates."

"That's not a problem you'll have anymore," her older self laughed.

The pair of Susans pleasured each other for the better part of an hour. The younger Susan wasn't aware of much else, but her older counterpart glanced up at the clock every few minutes. She was putting something off as long as possible, greedy as she was for pleasuring herself after so many months of pleasuring others as a zombie-slut. Finally she reminded her younger self that it was time to get going. The younger Susan blushed a bit and dressed. Her older self snuck up from behind and began nibbling her neck. Lost in her giggles, the younger Susan didn't see the handkerchief coming until it was too late. She recognized the smell of chloroform on the cloth pressed against her nose and mouth, confusion and bafflement preventing her from resisting for a few critical seconds.

Susan groggily regained consciousness... and her heart skipped with terror as she realized where she was. She pulled in vain against the straps. "What is this?" she gasped. "What's going on?" She looked up. Her double stood outside the chamber at the controls, looking in.

"I'm sorry, Susan, really I am," her older self apologized. "But all has to happen as it was supposed to. You'll be all right in the end. I'm the proof."

"W-what time is it?" Susan gasped. "Please, whatever you're doing, there isn't time! They'll catch us! They'll catch us both!"

"They didn't catch us. This won't take long. I've seen Tavers use this thing a lot more than you have." She pushed a button, and a faint squeal filled the chamber... and a faint odor. Susan was reduced to lightheadedness almost instantly.

"Pl-please..." she gurgled. "Y-you can't..."

"Don't resist," her older counterpart insisted. "You won't resist, Susan Loeb. You didn't resist and so you won't resist, you'll just do as you're told, do you understand?"

"W-won't... resist..." she muttered. "N-no... Wh-what are you doing to me? Y-you said it was Tavers... N-never thought it was m-me that..."

"Don't think, Susan Loeb," her older self commanded. "Don't try to understand what's happening to you. You're a cloud, Susan Loeb, a light cloud drifting wherever the breeze takes you, and I am that breeze. Clouds don't think, Susan, and clouds don't understand what's happening to them. You don't understand what's happening, Susan Loeb. You just know that you must obey my voice..." And on the words came, over and over, slowly stealing her younger self's will away, until finally the older Susan Loeb was ready. "You tested the X400, Susan Loeb. You successfully traveled into the deserted nighttime lab that you were aiming for, a few months in the future. You remained for a few seconds, verified the date on Peters' desk calendar, and then returned home. Nothing else happened. You saw no one. You did nothing else. You will forget everything that's happened to you since your arrival in this time, and remember only what I've told you..."

"N-no..." her younger self gurgled. "D-don't steal it away... w-why... C-can't think... D-don't want to..." But the voice outside kept coming until gradually the memories seeped away, and the younger Susan Loeb lost consciousness when ordered.

Her older self unstrapped her, finished dressing her, and dragged her back to the X400, setting the controls for a return journey. The unit vanished, leaving Susan alone in her own time once more. The first car - she recognized it as Dr. Peters', who always arrived first - was just coming into the parking lot. Susan just had time to get to the ladies' room, check her makeup, adjust her leather outfit, put her summoning collar back on, and return to his lab to stare into space. Her expression was appropriately blank when Peters arrived. "Hello, Susie. How was your night?"

"The same, Doctor Peters. How can I pleasure you this morning?" she replied with wide eyes in an obedient, half-human tone.

"That's a very attractive outfit, Susie," Peters began.

"Thank you, Doctor Peters. Doctor Santiago gave it to me."

"Oh, yes, I remember." Susan just tried to look indifferent as he approached and slid his hand under her leather top.

"Shall we fuck, Doctor Peters?" Susan inquired, simulating Susie's robotic, pre-sex indifference.

He tried to look indecisive. He was only fooling himself. "Oh... yes, I guess so. It's early, but who could resist your charms, Susie?" Susan knew exactly how to behave. Susie was a zombie, but a horny zombie. No sooner had the command been given than she changed instantly from glassy-eyed obedience to horny submissiveness. Susie's moods had always come from others. But for once, she was her own. Susan Loeb would enjoy screwing her old boss. Yes, she'd enjoy screwing him very much. She began undoing his belt even as he was unzipping her hot pants. Within a few moments he had her pinned to the table. He only pulled down his pants and underwear as far as he had to; there was nothing romantic about "fucking Susie." She was just a sex toy, a way to start the day.

Peters slid off her hot pants completely, pulled her to the edge of the table by her shapely legs, and boldly thrust his dick inside her. Susan had to be careful. "Susie" was trained to give pleasure and to expect none in return. "Oh, yes, Doctor Peters... just like that..." She shouted all the right phrases, none very original. Her colleagues' idea of hot sex had always come from porno movies and she'd been programmed accordingly. "Ohhh, yesss!!! Yesss!!!" Susan had to fake her orgasm; as Susie she'd never had to. She hadn't quite counted on that. But she wasn't hard to please; Peters just had no interest in her pleasure. This wasn't real sex; with all her old hang-ups gone, she could get that easily enough now. This was just an act. She just acted her part as lab slut and never expected any real pleasure. It was disappointing that it was inferior to the sex with her younger self, especially since she was still really straight. She hadn't lied to herself about that. But the more Susan got into her role as lab slut, the hotter she found herself getting. In theory she'd seen that coming; probably even her younger self had understood that much. But to experience it was something else. "Oh, yesss," she moaned in delight. "Susie likes that... Your little lab slut really, really likes that..." It wasn't so much a lie anymore... and finally her orgasm did wash over her. There was no disguising it, but Peters didn't care one way or the other, probably neither knew nor cared whether "Susie's" orgasms were genuine or not, as long as they looked genuine.

Yes, Susan Loeb thought, she could really get to like this.

Peters shot his load and pulled out abruptly. Susan didn't need to fake her immediate disappointment... but then she let the zombie mask fall on cue, right as it was supposed to. She sat up and got dressed without a word, and only then asked, "Will you require anything else, Doctor Loeb?"

"Put some coffee on," he replied without looking up from his notes.

Susan left the room, allowing herself a furtive smile. Fun was fun, but she wouldn't be made their fool again. She had her agenda laid out. In six months, she'd be the head technician here. Within a year, she'd probably be the major stockholder. She'd keep most of them on, but induce them to forget about the "slutmaker." Tavers himself would have to go. Susan knew plenty of his dirty secrets already, and the police would find out about the most convenient of them. With them thinking of her only as Susie the Lab Slut, she could work in secret, blackmailing each of them into submission while the others appeared to know nothing about it. She briefly entertained the idea of selling a couple of those women who'd never stood up for her - who could easily have been in her place, after all - as sex slaves. Tavers already had a customer list under wraps and had processed many a missing college girl, stripper, or waitress. Diaphanous harem-wear would quite suit Ms. Carlton. But Susan Loeb decided that that just wouldn't be right.

Susan Loeb regained consciousness during the few seconds of swirling void that formed the journey through time. She only had a dim recollection of having zoned for a second or two, but she didn't think much about it. She'd succeeded! She'd journeyed through time! The story of the first time journey would be a boring one, but Susan supposed that all great innovations were like that. Myths would grow up in time, myths that had her doing something more interesting than strolling around Peters' lab for a few seconds verifying the date before returning. She still resented Peters and the others for bullying her into being the test subject. All right, so she was the new researcher around here, fresh with her Ph.D., but she really did let people bully her too easily. Still... she'd been the first to travel in time, and they couldn't take that away. Nor the fact that she'd fixed their design flaw and gotten the stupid thing to work.

She rematerialized in the lab she shared with Peters. She was his assistant, and she already knew that somehow he'd take the credit. All she'd done was fix a design flaw, anyway, and it wasn't that big a deal. He'd have found it eventually. Tavers, Johnson, Santiago, and a couple others were all waiting - right where Susan had left them - as witnesses. She'd only been gone a few seconds, on both ends.

Everyone applauded as she stepped out of the machine. Santiago hugged her and tried to pass it off as the excitement of the moment, even though his hands strayed down a bit far. Susan really hated this place... but she supposed that she had to serve her time until she had a little more experience and something better opened up.

"A celebration!" Peters insisted, opening a bottle of champagne he'd had ready. No one around here took their job very seriously at the best of times - they spent as much time goofing off as working, it seemed, and it galled Susan that they actually managed to produce results - and the champagne sipping gradually turned into a party, with most of the scientists and staff trickling in. None of them paid much attention to Susan, except to undress her with their eyes. The bravest of them hit on her after a little too much champagne. Susan didn't want to be rude, but she saw enough of these people during work. Peters slurred off a speech explaining his accomplishment, duly crediting a couple of other scientists who'd designed auxiliary systems for the X400. Not a word about Susan fixing it, and only the briefest mention of the fact that she was the one who'd put her life on the line and hurled herself into the temporal void.

Susan wasn't a great drinker, and that proved to be her usual mistake... assuming that she could join in the celebration and indulge in all the ordinary human things that everyone else took for granted. Her alcohol-induced boldness finally seized control, and she erupted for once as Peters was prattling on yet again about his great accomplishment.

"Bullshit!" she gurgled. "I teshted it! I fixed the fucking thing... Uhh..." Susan clutched her head, regretting her words almost instantly. Everyone was stunned to hear such language from the usually demure Dr. Susan Loeb. She just blushed and stumbled out of the room.

"Who the fuck does that grad student think she is?" Peters growled.

"Getting above herself," Johnson added. "But I have to admit, I always suspected there was a fire under there somewhere... What a waste..."

"Not necessarily," Tavers smirked. "If Susie wants more recognition, I say we give it to her. When she comes back," he added to Peters, "you'll apologize to her."

"Fuck off," Peters shot back.

"You'll apologize," he said again, "and offer her some more champagne." Her refilled her glass and dropped a tablet in. "One more should do the trick." The scientists and staff looked on, intrigued. Tavers swore them to secrecy as he explained that his new project too was ready for testing.

Peters was all apologetic sweetness when Susan shyly returned to the room, more to get her purse and call it a day than to get back to the party. She made the mistake of accepting one more glass as a peace offering... and passed out on the floor.

Susan Loeb awoke and found herself in a lab she didn't recognize, stripped naked and strapped in a chair in a transparent chamber. Tavers, Peters, and a couple other scientists were looking on outside. "Wh-what is this?" she gasped, trying to clear her head of the champagne. She was mostly sober now. It wasn't the champagne. There was a faint sound... and a smell. It kept her groggy. She struggled, at first more indignant at them ogling her than terrified... until she realized that she was here for a purpose, and that no one subjected anyone to something this incriminating unless they had an ace up their sleeve. "No!" she shrieked. "Let me go! What're you doing?"

"You won't resist, Susan Loeb. You are an obedient girl, and you'll do as you're told. Sit back and listen to my voice."

"You fucking asshole! When I get out of here -"

"You'll be a different woman, Susie. Yes, I said Susie. Not Dr. Susan Loeb anymore. Just plain Susie. Susie the Lab Slut. You'll do whatever you're told. Is that understood?"

"Oh god, oh god, not again..." Susan gasped. She wasn't even sure what she meant by that; the thought vanished instantly. She summoned all her will, all her resistance. She had her mind. It was all she'd ever had. This time it would save her. This time she had the strength she needed. "Drop dead!" she spat. "Drop fucking dead!"

Over and over Tavers intoned the same phrases. She was Susie the Lab Slut. She would obey the scientists and staff. She would do whatever she was told. She lived to serve and please her masters. Her function was to obey the scientists and administrators and to pleasure them whenever and however they wish, to improve moral and increase productivity. Susan's mind grew repeatedly fuzzier, but each time she concentrated with all her might until some degree of clarity was returned to her. She gave not an inch on their attempts to reprogram her. "I am Doctor Susan Loeb, a scientist, an individual," she growled defiantly. "You can strip my body but you can't strip my mind! Do your fucking worst... uhh..." And her mind began to cloud over again... but she held firm.

She was Doctor Susan Loeb, and she would choose her own purpose in life, not theirs, and god this was making her horny, like some secret fantasy, and she just wanted to get out of here to get home and take a nice long bath and no they were doing this, they were trying to make her horny, don't listen, don't even listen to them, you don't hear them, you're Susan Loeb, you're who you decide you are, not what they say, and you can't even hear them...

"This is fucking pointless," Peters growled to Tavers. "This thing is useless. She's not giving an inch."

"She's weakening gradually. She wasn't the ideal test subject. A college slut or waitress would be broken by now, I assure you. Suffice it to say, once we get up and running, we'll all have bigger budgets."

"That won't happen if she gets out of there with her mind intact. And I draw the line at murder."

"We will do," Tavers replied icily, "whatever is necessary to ensure our safety... and her silence. This is taking too long, however. I have another idea. Listen to her."

"Y-you can't make me forget who I am," Susan repeated over and over. "I'm not listening, not even listening, and you can't make me forget." Oh, god, she wasn't going to get out of here alive. They were going to kill her and there was nothing she could do. Well, so be it. But they weren't getting her soul. She was Susan Loeb, live or die. She would never be Susie the Lab Slut. "You can't make me forget, you bastards. You can't make me forget..."

"Susie," Tavers called out. "Who are you?"

"I'm Susan Loeb... I'm Susan Loeb..." she insisted, listening despite herself. "You can't change that. You can't..."

"Who is Susan Loeb? Who is she, deep down?"

"You bastards, you don't get me like that. I know who I am. I don't have to... puh-put it into words. As if w-words could summarize my soul. I am Susan Loeb!"

"What hides in Susan Loeb deep down?" Tavers droned hypnotically. "We all hide our traumas, Susan Loeb. Is there a trauma in you, a worst moment, a terrible memory you never think about? There must be something. I command you to remember it ."

"N-not listening..." Susan gasped. "Never listening. I don't want to remember, won't remember, you can't make me. I'm Susan Loeb, an individual..."

"Where are you, Susan Loeb? You're back in your depths, your worst nightmare, your worst trauma. There must be something. There's always something. Tell me what it is, Susan Loeb. I command you. Yes, you are Susan Loeb. You've won. We can't take that from you. Tell us what you're guarding. Tell us the worst of what you're guarding. Where are you?"

"No!" Susan shrieked, struggling for release. "I'm not there... I'm not..." She pulled like a madwoman against the straps, but in vain.

"Yes, you are. You're there. Tell us where you are, Susan Loeb. Live it all again, I order you. Tell me as you live it. Tell me all of it."

"H-has to be a way to fight..." she mused, still groggy. "H-has to be a way to... Why won't that damn experiment work out? Everyone else goofs off and gets a pass... and I work so hard..." She looked down. "Oh, god, I'm naked! W-why am I naked? Oh... shower, right. Take a break, just like Samantha says. I can get back to it later. Late to shower. Probably missed the hot water..."

"Where are you, Susan Loeb?"

"You know," she insisted, her mind clearer. "Physics camp, we all are. What kind of question is that? Oh, damn, the water's getting lukewarm... Should've showered earlier with the others..."

"Why didn't you, Susan Loeb?"

"The experiment! I lost track of the time! That's it, that's all, I swear."

"You're lying, Susan. You can't lie to me. It hurts when you lie to me."

"All right," she blushed. "I... don't like showering in front of the other girls. It's... creepy. Don't know how they can do it. Easier to... come in later, when the girls' showers are deserted... oh, god, what was that?"

"What was it?"

"No!" Susan shrieked, struggling against the bonds. "Get away! You're not allowed in here! This is the girls' shower! Get out, all of you! Oh, god, what are you doing? Why are you taking off your -... No!!!!"

Tavers turned to Peters. "We've found it," he smiled. "Her trauma. We all have one. We all have a weak link somewhere. Watch..." Susan struggled in vain as she relived her rape at physics camp. She struggled and shouted and cursed as - in her mind - the three older boys held her down... and finally she fell, in her mind, to the floor of the shower... whimpering as they laughed, warned her not to tell anyone, and ran out. Fourteen year-old Susan Loeb was trapped, trapped by this camp, trapped by memory, trapped with a story no one would believe and which the camp would dismiss for the sake of its reputation. She always was too easily bullied, gave in too easily. No one would take her side. No one ever took her side. So she pushed it away. She summoned her teenage will and undid the rape. It simply never happened. She had almost pushed it completely away - was half-wondering why she was on the floor of the showers, had she slipped or... - when a voice from somewhere up in the ceiling of the shower commanded harshly, "You're showering, Susan. You're at camp and you've just started showering. Whenever you find yourself on the floor of the shower, suddenly you'll be on your feet again, before it happens... just before it happens... over and over... over and over forever... until you hear my voice again..."

"Oh, god, what was that?" Susan gasped. "No!" she shrieked suddenly, no longer struggling against the bonds. Susan Loeb was lost in memory. "Get away! You're not allowed in here! This is the girls' shower!"

Tavers turned to Peters and the others. "You may want to go home. This could take most of the night, if not the weekend. When you come in Monday, she'll be a different woman, I promise you."

Peters lingered. "I think I'd like to see it through," he smiled.

"Oh, very well," Tavers agreed. He replayed his last few commands to Susan as an automated loop that would kick in at the appropriate time-intervals. "Let's get some dinner, then a couple hours sleep. You like Italian?" They wandered out of the room to the sounds of Susan's screams.

When they returned early Saturday morning, about eight hours later, the tape of Tavers' voice was playing repeatedly. Susan Loeb's face was blank, eyes wide open, staring off at nothing. Her mouth was open and she was drooling a little. "So much for Susan Loeb," Tavers laughed.

"Is she..."

"Vegematic'd. After insanity, there is nothingness. Now we rebuild her again from the ground up. Gonna be a long job. Re-unlocking her language center'll alone probably take most of the morning. Sure you want to see this through?" Peters only smiled. Tavers turned to his mindless subject. "Susie. Do you understand me?" No response. "Susie the Lab Slut... if you understand me, you will respond. Blink your eyes if you cannot speak."

It took about an hour before Susie the Lab Slut started blinking obediently.