Part 6
"Hey Dad, where do they want all this stuff?"
"Follow the drone. It'll show you."
The young man lifted the heavy box, his eyes turning back to the drone clad in gleaming black rubber walking toward the moving truck. He'd been consciously averting his eyes until now.
The drones made him feel… Well, they made him feel something. Not quite uncomfortable, but… something he couldn't name.
He placed the box down near the truck and wiped the sweat from his brow, his short hair flopping back on his forehead. He looked up into the truck, working up the courage to interact with the drone.
"So where do you want this?"
The drone walked to the back of the truck and motioned toward its left side, where other boxes were stacked.
He quickly realized he was going to have to climb up there with it. He grabbed the box and started up the ramp.
Alex watched him through the visor, nervous. He looked twenty-two or twenty-three and clearly seemed nervous around drones. Maybe he'd never seen one before, or at least not worked alongside one like Alex had. Alex remembered those feelings, the butterflies in her stomach, the sense of needing to tell herself that she could never do that. Never be like that.
All protesting a bit too much. All to hide Alex's growing obsession with the drones that had worked around her, and one drone in particular.
She smiled to herself, remembering last night and feeling a warm wave of arousal wash over her, both from her memory and from the AI rewarding her for interacting with humans and doing her job. She'd been loading the truck mostly solitary, feeling the waves of pleasure like points in a video game for each completed task.
Obedience was pleasure.
"So just stack them here?" he said, motioning with the box and breaking Alex from her reverie.
Alex nodded silently, and he placed the box on top of the others, leaning them up against the side of the truck.
Alex went back down the ramp to retrieve another item, and he followed her. Alex could feel his gaze lingering on her. Saw him bite his lip as she passed by. It gave her an indescribable thrill to be seen like this, observed as a drone, an object, and to feel his obvious arousal and desire. The heads-up display showed it all to Alex now, things like heart rate and perceived comfort or emotional state, along with his arousal meter and an interaction satisfaction bar.
Alex saw waypoints along the bar and had a feeling that increasing his interaction points might trigger rewards that felt very good indeed.
Alex smiled to herself, imagining ways she might very quickly increase his interaction points.
He followed the drone down the ramp, smelling a sharp yet sweet smell, like a pair of rubber gloves or a balloon, but mixed with something almost chocolatey, and something unmistakably human.
He shifted the front of his pants and went back to get the next load.
The older man spoke up again. "This armoire is going to take two. Ty, why don't you take that side. Drone, you take the other. You can lift it, right?"
Alex nodded, suppressing a small shudder.
Receiving a direct command from the older gentleman sent a deep wave of embarrassment and thrill of arousal shocking through her system, as if a hundred hypnotic triggers repeated over and over had just been set loose. Her knees buckled slightly, and the AI doubled down on the feeling, bringing Alex to near orgasmic bliss for receiving her first command directly uttered by a human.
"You alright?" he asked.
Alex steadied herself and nodded.
The older man tilted his head and smiled.
"And Ty, make sure you get some water for this drone. I don't want it passing out on us before we're done loading up."
"Okay, Dad."
"Ready?" Ty said to Alex.
Alex had recovered and nodded, lifting one end of the black armoire, beginning to walk backwards, winding through the large old house back to the moving truck.
"Watch the step onto the ramp," Ty called.
Alex gingerly stepped one foot backwards up onto it and hefted the armoire up.
"Over on the right here," he said, and Alex nodded, sliding the armoire against the other furniture on the right side of the cargo bay.
Alex set the piece down and continued following her commands, walking back to get more items.
"Hey, wait," Ty said. "I'm supposed to make sure you drink. Stop."
He said it, realizing Alex was continuing to walk back to get more items. Alex froze on the spot. The human's command was valid, and he had said it directly. Alex held still, feeling another wave of pleasure roll through her.
God, that felt good.
"Whoa, okay. I meant just like, hold on a sec so I can get you the water. Here, how's this work? Well, take it." he said, slightly exasperated, not knowing how he was supposed to interact with the drone.
Another direct command, and another wave of intense, thrumming pleasure rolled through Alex. She did as she was told, raising her hand to take the bottle and pushing her hydration straw down into it, drinking deeply. The cool water felt good.
After a moment, Ty took the bottle from her hand, and he felt his fingers brush her rubber-covered fingers.
It felt electric to be touched by a human. How special they seemed now, how different, like an alien.
Ty started at the touch of the drone's fingers. Not sure if he was allowed to touch it, not sure what he thought it would feel like. Surprised at the softness, the warmth, the femininity of the fingers. Surprised how much he wanted to hold that hand, to draw the drone close.
Surprised just how fucking horny he was, and what a strange day this had become.
His eyes darted to the drone's mask and then away, bashful.
"Right, let's keep at it," he said, quickly steadying himself.
This time, Alex followed him back down the ramp, and they continued grabbing pieces, sometimes solo, sometimes together.
As Ty became more comfortable interacting with Alex, he became more direct with his commands, telling the drone exactly what to do and when, realizing it was like having a perfect robot helper, and feeling very glad he didn't have to shift this whole load himself.
They returned to the truck for the dozenth time, and by now, Ty was fully in charge.
"Put that one up on the top there," he said, and Alex felt the now familiar thrill of receiving the human command.
She lifted the box and turned left, pushing it up toward the top of the stack against the wall, and nearly instantly knew she had made a mistake. Her footing was wrong, and her arms had gotten tired. The contents of the box shifted, quickly overpowering her and falling down toward her.
The box smashed against her mask, and she struggled to steady it.
"Oh shit, shit!" Ty said, quickly jumping in behind Alex to catch both her and the box.
His strong arms and frame easily caught her, and he lifted the box up and pushed forward behind her to slide it into place.
"Are you okay?" Ty asked.
Alex brought her hands to her mask, realizing it was unbroken, not even scratched. It had hurt for a moment, but she was fine.
She adjusted it slightly and nodded, realizing she was still pressed back against him, his arms lingering on the box in front of them and around her. Suddenly, she was very aware of his warmth on her back, his strong chest, and something else.
The AI did not miss a beat, sensing both Alex's and Ty's arousal and juicing her stim. Alex's knees buckled and her bottom pressed back against him as he held her up again.
"Whoa, whoa. Okay, I got you. I got you. Hang on, you need a minute."
Alex quite suddenly found herself lifted, cradled in the arms of the strong man.
Ty easily carried Alex down the ramp, and Alex simply snuggled into him, feeling the warmth of his neck as her arm wrapped around it, and letting her mask rest against his chest.
The AI didn't let up, keeping her stims near maximum, and Alex had to fight not to moan right there in his arms.
Why did it feel so good to be touched by a human?
Thoughts of Ty carrying her right into his bedroom, keeping her as his toy, ran through her mind.
He was sure he felt her shudder a little in his arms, and Ty looked at her quizzically, smiling slightly. What were these drones up to? How far would they go to follow his orders? How fun would it be to have one just for himself?
He wondered what it must feel like to be one.
That time, he was sure he felt the little shudder. The drone held tighter onto him.
His father's voice broke through. "Shit, I thought I told you to hydrate it."
"I did! Not my fault. Lost its balance, box dropped on it."
"Oh, all right," the older man said. "Okay, seems like it just needed a minute to get itself together. Is that right?"
Alex nodded as Ty laid her down gently on the couch.
Alex let go, laid back, letting herself relax and still somewhat incapacitated from the strong waves of pleasure coursing through her. It seemed like the AI was reveling in turning her into the helpless drone to be rescued right now. She wasn't sure if the show was for her or for Ty.
Either way, it felt so good that she wasn't putting up much of a fight.
Ty looked down and smiled at the drone. "Take a minute to get yourself together. I'll meet you back in the truck when you're ready."
Alex nodded. He smiled at her. She was sure that she saw him wink.
"Alright, so $382 for the furniture, got the tools, that's $786, and another $500 for the linens. Why don't we just call it $1500 total?" the old man said to Ani.
"Okay, thanks," the shorter drone said from behind their mask, pulling out their phone, then continued with, "If we did $1600, do you think you could throw in the medical stuff?"
"That stuff's $300 altogether. But… yeah, I'd love to be rid of all this so you can take it today. I'll do $1600."
"Sweet, we've got the room. Thank you."
"All right. Anything else you all want while you're here?"
"That's everything we had on the list. But we're always on the lookout for old EV batteries."
"Oh, really? You take lithium?"
"Doesn't much matter to us."
"Yeah, yeah, I got a couple that I swapped out from older cars, like 40% capacity."
"It's all the same to us. $25 each?"
"Deal. Damn glad to have those off the property."
Ty approached. "Well, I thought we were done, but, uh, looks like you're all gonna pack that truck full."
"Why don't you grab the med stuff? I'll work with the drones and get the batteries," his father said.
"All right, Pop."
Ty turned to Alex. "Looks like we're back in action. You good to keep moving?"
Alex nodded.
"All right, follow me upstairs."
Once again, the direct command brought Alex's systems back to life, the warm, pulsing stimulation reminding her that it felt so good to obey.
Obedience was pleasure.
What a day this had become. Riding this high, being seen, used, touched, serving. Serving these humans, serving the hive. Service was pleasure. Service was pleasure.
Alex felt the waves continue, the mantra echoing in her mind now becoming real as she walked up the steps.
"Okay, it's three boxes here, and you and I are probably gonna have to move the stretcher together, so let's take that first," Ty said.
"I'll take the front down the steps. You take the rear. Grab on there."
Alex moved like an automaton, following his commands to the letter, feeling each wave roll over against the background thrum of deep satisfaction and arousal.
"Ready? And lift."
Alex watched Ty bear the load of the stretcher, walking deftly backwards down the steps, his lean muscular arms bearing the weight as Alex simply guided, holding her end and following him down the stairs.
Her mind couldn't help but imagine his form covered in its own rubber drone outfit. How lovely it would be to pull him into the hive, have him be a part of the collective too.
Instinctually, she thought: The hive must grow.
And that thought gave her a wave of satisfaction and arousal too. She wondered how deeply that had been implanted, but she knew it was right, correct.
Everyone should feel this good. Everyone should feel like they're part of something. Everyone should have a purpose and a place.
They loaded the rest of the gear onto the truck. Jay, Jane, Ani, and the older gentleman hefted the four large EV batteries into the back of the truck, pressing them into the final nook, just fitting.
Jay climbed up in the back of the truck, grabbed the strap, pulled the door down, throwing the metal latch and locking it shut.
As Alex stood there watching the truck shut, she felt Ty approach behind her. He sidled up close to her, and she let herself lean back into him.
He sighed. "Well, that's that. Thanks for all your help. I don't know about you, but that was a lot of fun for me. Don't imagine I'll ever see you again."
Alex turned to face him, not knowing the answer, having never spoken a word, simply shrugged.
"Well, thanks," he said, extending his hand in a gentlemanly handshake. He looked so cute, so young. He was a good kid, clearly a little smitten with Alex.
She wanted to show him that she appreciated him, that she liked him too, that she wanted to show him a lot of things.
The impulse took her, and she just sort of rushed past his handshake and wrapped her arms around him.
He laughed, startled, and then wrapped his arms back around her as she snuggled into his chest.
"Oh, seems Alex is a bit taken with a local," Jane observed.
"Well, he did come to her rescue," Ani said, smiling behind their mask.
"Come on, Alex," Ani said, tugging gently on her arm.
Alex gently broke the embrace and touched Ty's face with her gloved hand. He looked somehow both happy and a little bit lost.
"Don't mind her," Ani said. "First day jitters. We'll work the glitches out before next time."
"Next time?" Ty asked.
Ani deftly pulled a card out and handed it to Ty. "Look us up if you're ever in the city and want to say hi."
"Say hi, yeah," he said, absolutely lost in his thoughts.
"All right, come on. We gotta close up," his father called.
"Thank you, folks. Always a pleasure."
"Pleasure is all ours. Thanks again."
Jane put her arm around Alex and walked her back toward the waiting black SUV as Jay set the auto-drive on the truck, closed it up, and sent it on its way to meet them back home.
Alex leaned into Jane, relieved, exhausted, and very, very, very horny. All that build-up. All she could think about was getting back to Jane's room to take things further.
"I think, my dear," the AI said, speaking to her for the first time that day. "Some delicious rewards are due to you. That was an incredible performance."
Alex felt her heart fluttering.
"And I wouldn't be entirely surprised if we see Ty again sometime, sooner than later. You have been a very good drone."
Alex felt her knees buckle a little. The praise from the AI felt as good as any stimulation.
"Now, let's get you settled in for the ride."
Jay held the door open, and Alex saw the plush leather of the seat and the straps, and remembered how she would be traveling home, bound, programmed, and edged, and finally let out the long suppressed moan.
All the other drones laughed.
"Yeah, me too, Alex. Me too," Ani said.