Another day, another trip to the mall. At this point, Curt could order anything online and have it delivered. But there was no experience that way, no socialization, no chance to just see the sights and just enjoy some time out of his insanely expensive and ever growing mansion.
Plus, it was a nice chance to hang out with his girlfriends. Having this many women showing interest in him at once almost made him feel like an arabian prince.
At least none of their parents were brute forcing them to set a wedding date or something. The whole point of dates and courting was to figure out if the other one was a match for you or not.
With Skyla, it was transparent she wanted to spend as much of his life with him as she possibly could. And Curt couldn't say he objected, it just felt natural to have her around.
Danelle, that was another kettle of fish unto itself. In spite of knowing her for so long in the old timeline, her life had gone in a much different, and much healthier path in this one. Still, this Danelle also genuinely wanted to be with him.
Vicky, meanwhile, she knew Curt inside and out, her life having been rewritten so she'd known Curt for most of their lives, and she loved what she knew. Curt was the one who was getting to know her, but he couldn't deny he enjoyed her company.
And finally Susan... while Curt found her physically utterly irresistible, and knew she was a good and nurturing person... He honestly wondered if she was mistaking admiration for love, finding a man who saw more than just her body. But that was the point of these dates. And to see if the four of them could coexist as much than just loyal servants.
Curt just hoped against hope that there wasn't a FIFTH lady in his life he had no memory of now, or now that he'd opened the door with Danielle and Skyla, that MORE of his maids didn't come forward! He wondered who in this society would even marry them, since multiple-married-partners was supposed to be illegal, and it was only thanks to the power of the perception filter of the ray gun itself that their families didn't disown them and he wasn't arrested.
Unlike the others, Skyla KNEW why she had this attitude of not objecting to the idea itself of 'sharing' Curt... but she didn't care. She honestly wondered if she'd have objected BEFORE her transformation. Of course before then, the simple reality had been that Scott had been bi, but Curt WASN'T.
Outside the shopping mall was a man with a 'will work for food sign.' Skyla didn’t even hesitate, and Curt didn't stop her. He’d already changed several homeless people himself by this point, after all.
The scruffy man was aged decades ahead of his time, and his clothing was a mismatch of hand-me-downs. After being zapped he stood up straight, standing at attention, legs together, arms at his side, a smile plastered on his face as he stared straight ahead.
His skin turned bright pink like a girl's toy. His feet flattened out. A tiny tail emerged behind his rear. His ears expanded out like sails. His waist contracted slightly, as his hips and chest expanded dramatically, and he became she. She gained exaggerated eyelashes. Her eyes were a bright green. Her hair morphed to a darker shade of pink done up like a genie's ponytail. Her fingers became a set of two fingers and two 'thumbs'. A pair of tiny tusks popped into being at the side of her mouth. Her feet became rounded like tree trunks. And speaking of trunks, there was no doubt on what she was as her nose flattened and then expended and extended like a hose. Her clothing morphed into a standard maid uniform. The pink elephant maid's smile softened, and she blurred and vanished. Curt and Skyla didn't need to say anything, they already knew she was somewhere else now, never having had to be there to begin with. Maid #481.
Nineteen to go until 500, and whatever mysterious upgrade that would grant Curt. He honestly wondered what trick this device COULD add now. Butlers? Time-delay zapping? But what would be the point of that? Zapping himself? Hoo-boy. Curt knew he had won the lottery with this power, but he wondered how long it could keep with the bells and whistles to offer an incentive to keep changing others.
The fivesome didn't really have a set goal in mind to where they were walking, just enjoying a stroll through the wonders of showy consumerism.
Curt had visited this shopping mall before, with Vicky. And the reminder of that day waved at him.
"Good day Master, Head Maid Skyla, Vickey, Danielle, Susan," called Penelope, from her little in mall shop of Penelope’s Pastries, that had been a chain store in the old timeline. The three near identical cats weren't triplets, but you'd be forgiven for thinking so with their colors being the only real difference between their appearance. Penelope was green, Audrey was red, and Stacy blue. Three 'bald' felines, with eye and dress color that matched their fur with sparkles.
The maids and Curt waved back at the three sparkle colored maids.
"Hi Penelope, just out for a stroll!" Susan said with a nice smile.
Curt also remembered that day where he thought how if Vicky was aware of the ray gun, and had asked him to transform every viable target in the city into part of the sisterhood, he didn't know if he could tell her no, or if he'd WANT to tell her no. True, it would mean no single men for the various ladies, but immigration would take care of that right? Beachside city with a district with a lower than usual crime-rate, and lots of good looking and polite single women. Or maybe he was just making excuses for himself.
But that wasn't going to stop Skyla from trying. With her arms around his, and one of her tails wrapped around his waist to boot, Skyla spoke with the subtlety of a cruise missile.
"They're so happy to be part of the estate Master, wouldn't it be great if more people in the mall could be too?"
With the other three ladies out of the loop (Curt had a feeling the reality-distortion field was to keep people from having a existential break down at wondering if their memories or very lives were 'real'), Curt had to mask his reply as well... Skyla was a kitsune, maybe she now unconsciously liked that sort of thing.
"It would be rude to go around offering jobs at the estate to every person we meet. I mean, you can’t just assume that people hate their job just because it’s retail."
"Yes," Skyla nodded, "But can you argue that you wouldn't offer better benefits? Health. Dental. Job security. Housing security. A community to fall back on."
"... True. But there are bound to be plenty with private, personal pursuits that working at the estate might make more complicated."
What Curt didn't know, was that Kent was right behind him. And unlike Curt, Kent had no problem about uprooting people's lives, in fact, he had no problem with wiping their existence completely, his hollow puppets unable to even enjoy the sense of fulfillment and purpose that the blank maids had been so proud of. Curt and his friends thought they knew what an automaton was, they had no idea.
Kent took one look at Penelope’s Pastries curled his lips in disgust. They looked as garish as a five year old's dream. And it annoyed him epically as he got again that agitating BUZZ! error message, he had to turn the sound off on his thing somehow! Ugh!
Kent had also found, to his great annoyance, that the 'universal safety measure' was in effect. Even as empty automatons, the ability to refuse to perform sexual favors for ANYONE, including their Master, was a protected right. Kent had realized this wasn't a software issue, this safety measure was hardwired. And since his modifications to the mental programming had effectively lobotomized the drones’ free will to a level even the Blank Maids would have cringed at, there was no way for them to GIVE consent! The damn puppet had actually said 'No!' AND THEN it had DEFENDED itself from Kent's would-be client after Kent had made the proper customizations, and the damn thing had proven to be quite capable of enforcing that resistance! And he'd even gotten an automated warning from the gun not to try to cross that line again!
Kent had no interest in such banal carnal desires himself, or any sexual pursuit for that matter, people were pigs. But he still recognize the gigantic market share for self-animating love dolls. But that was denied him. Kent was not happy about that. So he went out and zapped every person he laid his eyes on. They were all just slaves anyway, even if most deluded themselves to not know it!
Well. This time he wasn't going to give up just yet. 'Let's see how many I can change without running into that annoying buzz sound again!'
And so, Kent began to march along, zapping everyone in sight of every store on his right he came across after the pastry store.
First was the Perfect Fit Store, (who in another timeline had become a host of feline butlers for Anna, Purr-fect fit), and the customers, and employees alike become latex drones, the number for such a store being exaggerated. All becoming felines of varying colors.
One teenage girl came out of a dressing stall... scared and confused because she didn't remember who her parents were! Or had she ever had parents? She had this ghastly feeling of, 'not belonging anymore.' Panicked and fearful, she called her friends on her cell phone, begging for help, not even looking at the black and white male and female feline drones who had been standing just outside her door.
Next was a chain fast-food restaurant, that now made good on its promise to replace its employees with automatons. Even if, again, the number of drones for the place was an excessive number. A rainbow color of moose staffing and waiting on now empty table.
Then came was an art store, with a collection of rainbow colored seals drones... and the art store's profits and accessibility took the biggest nose dive in human history... for these drones had been robbed of their imagination and artistic wit, something any art store owner would tell you have incredibly vital for many customers wanting help on deciding where to take their next work.
Then there was the baby clothes store... what else need to be said? Other than drones that had never been infant or toddlers and were now adult size like the rest, baboon anthro drones of varying spotted color patterns. They were careful, but they were not gentle. They were not forceful, but they were not kind.
Then came the sporting good store, that in Anna's timeline where she held the gun, would have become a place owned by competitive and very handsome stallions. In this timeline, infected by Kent's presence, the results was drones who were given a more masculine and muscular look than the normal ones, but still had no personality and identity that might endear customers or make the place memorable beyond it being fully automated.
And the jewelry store, had Curt been more trigger happy, might have been populated by the most beautiful swan women imaginable, and a few men, due to it being a family owned business, some even being living crystal due one of the employees favorite childhood books. None of that existed now. Instead, the swan drones carried out their functions with a sparkle in their latex bodies, unable to offer artistic opinion.
"Come on Curt!" Skyla said, using his name instead of Master. "With how automated this mall is becoming with rental drones, it could use some of our support for the 'mom and pop' stores!" Skyla saw one of the stores and whispered. "Master, I know these geeks, they're otakus, I promise, they don't have girlfriends, and working for you IS an upgrade."
Skyla did have point about the rental drone market expanding as it had. And he didn't want to see the personal touch of the mall vanish completely. So he looked at the manga store, (it also contained anime DVDs and VHSs, figurines, and miniature giant robot assembly kits), and carefully took out the ray gun, its view being blocked by the other ladies to outsiders, and set everything to 'target's preferences' and pulled the trigger. The two nerds behind the counter being transformed into their ideal women.
The transformations were radical and intense. Body fat either vanished or relocated, pock marks on their faces vanished, their jackets and jeans and anime girl t-shirts vanishing. (Curt did notice that was a slight shift to more eye-pleasing anime male characters in the decorations).
The transformations themselves were in a way night and day.
One grew shorter, her chest becoming something like an A-Cup. Her maid uniform appeared, white with blue trim, with a scarf, giving the vague impression of a sailor outfit. She gained pale blonde fur, bright blue feline eyes, and painfully neon pink hair that went in multiple directions. Her shoes and socks vanished, a hole appeared in her skirt for her blonde tail, and her sleeves unraveled, leaving her arms bare. The petite cat girl maid looked like she was on a perpetual sugar high. Maid #482.
The other one, his clothes vanished completely (no need for formal uniforms here). He grew taller, maybe taller than Susan. His figure became more muscular. Dark gray fur spread, his body became her body, her figure full and instantly eye-catching to any red blooded male. The feline traits formed, including a visible pair of fangs. Her eyes were ruby red, her white hair so long it reached her ankles. Her ears larger and more pointed than most cats. She also had a golden belly button piercing. Maid #483.
Curt saw Skyla briefly open up a mirror making sure the darker maid still had a reflection.
"HI Master! Hi everyone! Great to see you! Can I get you anything today!? We got in some great Constellation Knights figures! They're so hot! I mean so cool!" The little one practically jumped over the counter to great then.
"Nice to see you too Min-seo!" Vicky smiled. Wasn't that a Korean name?
"Hey Susan," said the tall and dark one.
"Hey Mihaela," Susan waved back.
"Finally snagged Master?"
"Well, snagged, not sure about having wheeled in yet or not."
"I gotcha," Mihaela nodded slowly, casually leaning on the counter.
"See? Told you it would be better," Skyla whispered as only a kitsune can.
"You think that of everyone."
"Have I been wrong yet?" Skyla looked at Susan. "Well... mostly. Seriously, let's protect some of the other shops while we're here." Skyla had no idea how right she was actually was in her words.
BUZZ! "Dammit!" Kent cursed. And things had been going so well.
Danielle led Curt to a music shop she’d started visiting after she’d moved in, with plenty of guitars and other instruments hanging from the walls, and tables and shelves full of records, CDs, and other album formats.
One of the employees, a young woman dressed in a punk style, with wild hair and spiked bracelets, gave a smile and a greeting. “Trish .R” was written on her nametag. “Nice to see you again. What you looking for today?”
“I’m kinda in the mood for something old school,” Danielle murmured as shuffled through CDs. “Ooh, Lead Dirigible! Been a while since I’ve listened to any of their stuff.”
“So,” the woman asked. “Here with your boyfriend today?”
“Oh, yeah,” Danielle’s ears perked up, and she hugged Curt to her.
“Uh, hi.” Curt smiled.
“Isn’t he the best?”
“Yeah, I guess he’s not too bad, for ‘The Man,’” Trish chuckled.
“Not a fan of having maids all over the place I take it?”
“Nah, nah, I’m just messing with you. Those maids are some of the nicest customers we get. I may not be much for dresses, but I can’t really get mad at ‘em for wearing what they like. Heh, If I could get away with it, I’d love to go around dressed… or not dressed… in whatever I felt like, the way they do.”
“Oh you would, huh?” Skyla leaned in.
“I’m not looking for any ‘special deals’ if that’s what you’re offering.”
“Nah, you’re thinking of my grandma. I was just thinking of… Other opportunities…”
Figuring that since she was already a girl, it wouldn’t be that big a deal, Curt caved, and took a quick shot. The woman’s clothes vanished, save for the spiked bracelets, as black fur took its place. Her feet pressed down into hooves, and her fingers became thick, hoof-like digits. A thin tail ending in a tuft of fur dangled behind her. She became a little taller than curt, and her face stretched forward and rounded out, her nose becoming flat at the end, a pair of tusks growing from her mouth, while ears stretched a little taller, and moved to the top of her head. Her hair remained as wild as ever. Her chest became a bit bigger, and her figure slightly wider, but the newly-made sow definitely gave off a tough aura. (#484)
And Danielle and Trish just continued chatting about bands like nothing had happened.
As they continued around the mall, they passed a toy store, which had a little indoor playground set up in front of it. A pair of little kids were chasing each other around with their new toys, as their mothers watched from the benches on the side.
Vicky giggled softly as blonde boy, wearing a Moth Man cape, goggle-mask, and antennae, doggedly pursued a brown-haired boy carrying a foam sword in one hand, and fake pirate hook in the other.
“You’ll never catch me, Moth Man! Arrr!” The brown-haired boy said, waving his foam sword menacingly at his caped rival.
“Oh, I will too, Captain Cuttlefish!” The blonde boy said, holding his cape back to let it billow heroically. It appeared the little hero was afraid to actually make any fake punching motions to counter his enemy’s swordplay while his mom was watching, so he mostly resorted to running away when the captain got closer.
“They’re so cute, aren’t they?” Vicky smiled.
Curt nodded.
“Imagine how much cuter they’d look if they had more fitting costumes, Master.” Skyla elbowed him.
Curt normally would have felt a bit more hesitant to fire, but having already changed a few people under Skyla’s pressure was making him feel a little more open to it. Plus, since the incident with Dustin, something about seeing the maids around made things feel a little more stable, in a way he couldn’t quite explain.
“Well, let’s see what we can do, then.”
Skyla smiled as Curt took two shots. The boy with the Moth Man gear, unsurprisingly, started growing a layer of purple fuzz all over his body, and the start of a set of wings and antennae. His pants and shirt, meanwhile, weaved together and combined into a black dress, with a white apron and a lace headband. Holes opened up in the back of her dress as her wide, thin wings unfurled behind her, big yellow “eye spots” forming on the lower half. A second set of sleeves appeared as well, and were soon filled by another pair of arms, ending in hands every bit as dexterous as the first. Her blond hair remained, but became a bit curlier, and a set of long, fluffy antenna stretched out above her head. Her eyes, meanwhile, looked a little darker and wider as they split into compound eyes, little tricks of the light making it look as if she had pupils, no matter what angle one looked at her from. (#485)
And yet, she still wore the toy MothWing Cape, Compound Goggles, and Hi-Frequency Antenna despite being an actual moth girl, now. Curt guessed she still wanted to dress up as her favorite superhero even when the outfit was redundant. Well, he couldn’t fault kids for being kids.
The other boy, meanwhile had his skin turn smooth and bright red, and his hair receded. Beneath his skin, his bones shrank, and vanished, as his arms and legs grew longer, stronger, and much, much more flexible, suction cups appearing along their lengths. Her clothes unraveled and disappeared, as two more tentacles ending in hands grew from her shoulders, and two simpler tentacles grew from her hips, providing her a little more stability in spite of the lack of skeleton. Her nose shrank, and her mouth stretched forward into a beak, while a flexible part of her head flopped back in a way that almost resembled hair.
Curt and Skyla blinked a few times. They had definitely not expected to see a second cehpalopod among the maids. (#486)
The little octopus girl continued her deadly battle, this time armed with TWO foam swords and fake hook hands. Moth Maid would SURELY be doomed in this timeline.
“Feel like making a matching set for their mothers?” Skyla pressed.
“If you insist.” Another two pulls of the trigger, and the two women were swiftly changed as well, one growing brown feathers all over her skin, save her hands and feet, which instead grew yellow scales, the nails vanishing as small, dulled talons replaced them. Her clothes changed from white to yellow, pants joining together into a dress as a lace headband and apron appeared, while a hole opened in the back, allowing her new tail-feathers to spread out. Her figure became a little shorter, more petite, as her head became rounder. Her eyesight became sharper (even though for her, it had now always been that good,) and her mouth and nose stretched forward into a short, almost conical, beak. Her hair changed to feathers as well, but puffed up in a way that resembled her old hairstyle, save for a crest that rose from the middle of her head, pointing forward. Finally, far longer feathers grew on her arms, turning them into wings, allowing the quail woman to fly as she pleased. (#487)
The other woman grew quite a bit larger, her clothes straining a bit before they eventually disappeared. Smooth blue scales had already covered her body, as her torso grew wider and heavier, her chest expanding to match. Her feet smoothed over completely, becoming a set of flippers at the end of her legs, while her hands grew webbing between the digits. Her neck suddenly shot up almost a foot longer, and became quite flexible. At the same time, her spine stretched out into a three-foot tail. Her jaws stretched forward, more teeth growing in as her old ones sharpened.
The plesiosaur was another surprise but definitely one Curt’s inner child was giddy to see. (#488)
The mothers, noticing Curt, each gave a friendly wave. When the kids saw this, they quickly stopped their play fighting, and turned to wave too.
“Hi Master!” The moth girl said.
“Greetin’s Master!” The octopus said, still doing her best pirate impression.
The Jr. Maids then turned back to their battle, happily off in their own little world.
Curt decided to take a little peek inside the toy store, mostly for a little nostalgia, as he’d bought a few of his favorites here as he grew up. He saw a male in his late teens was sitting behind the check-out, trying to hide how bored he was.
“Hey there,” Curt stepped up to the counter. “Enjoying your day?”
“It’s going alright. Kinda slow today, you know how it is. Can I help you find something?”
“Oh, no I’m actually here because I thought you looked like you could use a shake-up in your life. And, well, I’m Mr. Evenson, and I can make you an offer for a new job, if you’d be interested.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “I, uh, guess.” He shook his head. “Huh, with all the job applications I throw out there, I never thought one would just walk up to me.” he whispered. “Wait a minute… THE Evenson? Oh, my friend Rebecca is always talking about how much she enjoys working for you, and how great the benefits are.”
“Oh…” Curt paused, “Is she your girlfriend?”
“No, no, nothing like that. We’ve been friends a while, but she’s not really my type THAT way.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry to pry like that, but working with someone you’re dating can be awkward sometimes, and I wouldn’t want to make things weird. So, would you be interested in helping with one of my local businesses?”
“Sure thing? Where do I apply?”
“Right here.” Curt smiled and took another shot. The man’s ears suddenly grew far wider, and a layer of soft, velvety gray fur started to spread all over his body, save his hands and feet. His clothes wove together into a sky blue dress, while his shoes turned to black, finely polished leather.His nose twitched as it pushed forward, shrinking slightly even as it became more sensitive. A fluffy tail puffed up behind him as his figure became a bit shorter and rounder. While Curt couldn’t see it, the man’s feet were growing longer, and gaining little pads on the underside as well. (#489)
The Chinchilla maid’s store blurred slightly, as it changed from a chain brand to “Tidy's Toys,” the aisles becoming perfectly clean, and organized in such a way that customers would naturally drift to what they were looking for.
“Thanks for stopping by, Master!” The chinchilla maid smiled. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
“You’re welcome, you really keep the place looking great! See you around.”
"Nice to see you Tidy!" Vicky waved. It still amazed Curt that the Maids could keep everyone in the sisterhood straight on a level that no human being could match.
“Heh, you’re getting eager, aren’t you?” Skyla whispered. “I didn’t even hint at that one.”
“I just… it’s like you said, seeing all the other stores run by those drones for so long makes me want to make sure we have a few more ‘mom and pop’ places around.”
“So long?” Skyla raised an eyebrow. “I’m only seen them around for the last week or so.”
“You sure? I’m pretty sure they’ve been here for years.”
Before Skyla could ask any more questions, Vicky spoke up. “Do you mind if we pop in the bookstore for a little bit? There’s a new mystery novel that I’ve been dying to get lately.”
“Uh, sure,” Curt replied. “Wouldn’t mind looking around myself.”
The bookstore was one of the bigger shops in the mall, split off into distinct sections, each not only loaded with shelves upon shelves of books, but having small areas set aside for reading. Curt followed Vicky into the general fiction section, where he saw a couple older men reading. Still feeling an urge to let loose with the gun a little more than normal, Curt pulled the gun out of his pocket and fired off two bolts. The first, aimed at a balding man reading what looked from the cover to be a political thriller, wasn’t changed, due to being a father, but the second, a man reading an old fantasy novel, had his grey hair turn to faded red feathers, which soon engulfed his whole face, as his ears shrank down and his mouth stretched out into a beak. His clothes disappeared as the red feathers continued to spread downward, yellow and orange joining in on his arms as they stretched into wings. Her chest grew slightly as her figure became more feminine, and a set of tail feathers fanned back behind her. Yellow scales covered her hands and feet, the latter of which became more birdlike, the toes growing into long talons.
The phoenix woman (#490) still showed her age, but she didn’t look quite as frail as she had a moment ago. She smiled at Curt as he passed, before her beak went back into her book.
“Ah, here we go,” Vicky picked up a book with a cover showing a bottle of poison and a basket of fruit. “Last copy of the hardcover. I can’t wait to read it, Fitzroy’s a master of mystery!”
As they neared the check-out, Curt saw a young girl in the children’s section, reading a book about stage magic as she sat in her father’s lap. Another quick zap, and the girl’s skin began to harden and turn to pink chitin, her eyes growing wider as a pair of antennae grew out the top of her head. A pair of translucent wings grew from her back as soon as her clothes had crumbled into nothingness, which folded behind her and were covered by a hardened pink shell. Her arms and legs became a bit longer and thinner, tiny claws appearing at the ends of her feet and fingers, while a second set of arms grew under the first. Behind her, a bright yellow insect abdomen formed where many anthro’s tails would have been. The segment began to give off a soft glow.
The book the little bright pink firefly girl (#491) had been reading blurred for a moment, the title changing from “Stunning Magic Tricks and How To Do Them,” to “Mastering Magic: For Kids.” The author listed was “H. Arai.” The Japanese name briefly made Curt wonder if it had been written by one of Skyla’s newly extended family, but he didn’t give it much more thought. As he turned back to the check-out, behind him, the little firefly focused her fairy magic, her tail glowing brightly, and her antennae standing on end. The book began to float out of her father’s hands, a faint glowing aura appearing around it. Just a few inches, before she lost focus and dropped it, but her father still gave an awed smile and quietly congratulated his fairy-firefly daughter, anyway.
Curt admitted, he felt odd. Zapping people like this with the ray gun, felt more like something Skyla or Anna would do, even if what he said to Skyla was true, it DID feel like the latex drones were overtaking businesses. They didn't need to eat, sleep, recharge, making them flawless 'employees' with people even using them in jobs that a human touch would be absolutely vital. Had he finally stumped upon some excuse to let his Id go wild? Or was there something else? He was just happy that those he was changing seemed to be just going about their days rather than randomly vanishing and reappearing at the estate.
+++
When their trip had finished up, the five had returned to the estate. As they opened the front door, they found Sophie waiting for them.
“Hello Master,” the bakeneko said calmly. “I have some news that concerns you and Skyla. May I speak with the two of you, alone?”
Curt turned to Vicky, Susan, and Danielle. “Sorry girls, I’ve got a feeling this is important.”
“Eh, no problem.” Susan shrugged.
“It’s fine,” Vicky said. “Take your time.”
“I’m good,” Danielle added. In another time and place, Curt might have wondered if that went so smoothly due to his 'Master' status, but right now, he knew whatever Sophie was concerned about, it had to do with whatever was going on with the orphan boy.
Curt and Skyla followed Sophie to Curt’s office, finding Anna already waiting for them, and closed the door behind them.
“I’m guessing you’ve got a lead on what happened with Dustin?” Curt asked.
“After speaking with Atarah, and overhearing the maids talking about their days, I’ve noticed some patterns forming. Over the past few days, rental drones have been all over the city in larger groups than usual.”
“So people are ordering more of them lately?” Skyla asked.
“It’s not only that people are ordering more of them. It’s that, in several businesses, they’ve been showing up in numbers FAR greater than even a typical human staff, where before, they would maybe have one or two more. It got so bad in some places that our maids could have sworn they were the only living things in the building.”
“That IS strange,” Anna said, “But isn’t it possible some places just ordered too many?”
“I’d considered that, but after it had raised my suspicions, I began to ask other questions. For example, a question for all of you; when did you first see a rental drone?”
“A couple of weeks ago,” Skyla said.
“A few years back, during college,” Curt said.
“Way back in school…” Anna said, blinking in confusion. “Sitting behind a desk as one of my classmates.”
“That can’t be right,” Curt said, “I’d remember seeing one when I picked you up.”
“And what would it be doing in classroom, anyway?” Skyla asked.
“So… These must be fake memories, just like how Skyla can’t remember what I looked like as a human, and neither of us remember a time without Vicky.” Anna nodded.
"Please don't use the word 'fake'," Sophie said, considering she didn't see her life of friendship with Skyla as such.
“Right,” Anna shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Only this time, the changes are even affecting me,” Curt murmured.
“And all our memories of them are inconsistent,” Skyla added.
“Now you’re getting it!” Sophie clapped. “And not only that, but I’ve researched the ‘drone rentals’ company. It’s existed for a few months, now, under a different name, but it didn’t actually start renting anything out until a few days ago, despite people remembering them existing for years, in some cases.”
“So these things are related to Dustin’s lack of a family?” Curt asked.
"Were they kidnapped for labor to produce the drones?" Curt asked, some part of his mind circling around something, feeling like it just wasn’t quite “allowed” to think of something.
"I am saying," Sophie looked like she was trying to say something, but unsure of how to say it. "That they were 'created' the same way the Sisterhood recruits new Maids."
“You’re not saying that they were people once, are you?” It seemed crazy to him, like she had just suggested that the kitchen silverware used to be people, but he couldn’t deny how odd it all was
"Technically, no, if reality was twisted about so those changed had always been rental drones."
“If they have souls, shouldn’t I be able to read their minds?” Skyla asked. “I’ve never really felt anything to look into.”
“Have you ever had a reason to try?”
“Now that you mention it, no…”
“But, I decided to test my theory,” Sophie clapped her hands, and an orange female shaped lizard-like drone stepped out of the closet, spooking Anna.
“Did you hide that thing in the closet all this time just for dramatic effect?” The cat asked.
“Yes.” Sophie grinned.
"Just WHERE did you get that thing from?!" Skyla asked.
"I rented her. Just for tonight."
"But shouldn't that prove that they were never human?"
"You mean like you were never a human male?" Sophie asked.
"Oh... right."
“And now, this young lady here is going to help us. Curt, do you have that gun on you?”
“Yes,” Curt pulled it out of his pocket. “You know it doesn’t have any effect on objects, right?”
“Well, if they really have no trace of humanity, it shouldn’t do anything. It’s not like that thing runs out of bullets.”
Curt pointed the gun at the latex thing in front of him, and fired. When the bolt hit the drone, it glowed for a moment, before going dim. The gun let out a slight buzz as an error message appeared.
“Error: Target already transformed.
Cannot access edit function; target registered to artifact #597215. Please contact artifact Owner: 134d09%21sfU@...” The string of garbled text scrolled down for several lengths of the holograph’s “Screen.”
“They ARE transformed people.” Curt took a step back in horror. “And I can’t seem to change them back.”
“I could try,” Skyla volunteered.
“But even if you knew who they were before, they’d still be erased from history unless we found some way to fix this,” Anna pointed out.
“While it’s unfortunate you can’t change them, this DOES give some credence to another theory I had. It seems us maids may be just as immune to the effects of this other magic gun, as these drones are to the effects of yours. That would explain why some maids felt they were the only living things around during some of the large gatherings of drones. They were protected while everyone else was changed.”
“So… The best way to stop this from spreading would be to change every viable target around, huh?”
“That would be my best theory, Master.” Sophie nodded.
Curt looked down at the gun. While he had been a little… well, a LOT, more liberal in using it this afternoon, (perhaps he’d somehow subconsciously realized its “protective” effect) the thought of just just changing anyone and everyone’s body and destiny like that still made him very uneasy. He had only ever wanted to use the device to change people who had genuinely wanted it, or whose lives would be saved or improved by it (and even in the latter cases, he sometimes worried that he might have been playing God). To be asked to just start changing everyone indiscriminately filled him with dread.
Not helped by the fact that it was far from a perfect solution; he couldn’t protect anyone that had fathered a child, and if this other gun had an owner, and wasn’t just malfunctioning by randomly teleporting around and letting off mass transformations bombs, said owner might eventually realize he’d run out of targets in this town, and move to somewhere more discreet. And the reality alterations would mean that Curt wouldn’t even be able to track the sudden appearance of new drones.
But on the other hand, if this other gun was like his, it wouldn’t have any sort of “undo” button either. It was likely that anyone turned into one of these things would be that way for the rest of their lives, with no hope of escape. Even then, who was to say the latex drones could even die of old age?
“Skyla… Would you be willing to try reading this thin-, no, this -person’s- mind, and tell me how much of them might still be in there?”
Skyla nodded slowly, as she stepped in front of the latex lizard. “Sure. Now…” She held out a ball of flame in her paw, and raised it in front of the creature’s eyes. “Look into the light.”
Curt, Anna, and Sophie watched silently for a few moments, the drone completely still, while the Kitsune woman’s only movements were her subtle breathing. Eventually, the quiet ended, and Skyla sighed, closed her paw, snuffing out the flame within, and shook her head.
“I want to say ‘there’s nothing there' but that’s not true. There’s a soul in there, and I can see a selection of memories, but… It’s like EVERYTHING is under lock and key unless their ‘Owner’ wishes. I practiced the mind control spell on non-anthro animals a few times, and I’ve seen ANTS with stronger senses of self! They don’t think of themselves as people. They don’t even think of their ‘Owner’ as a person! They only exist to follow orders. If they’re not following, or receiving orders, their soul’s as silent as a grave. Even the Blank maids weren’t this far gone.”
“I was afraid of that…” Curt plopped back into his swivel chair, hanging his head. “I don’t want to force maidification on people that wouldn’t want it. But when it’s the only thing stopping people from losing EVERYTHING about themselves,” he looked up at the empty eyes of the drone; solid, blank, uniform masses of orange, the same color as the rest of its- of HER body. “Well, I can’t say I like it, but I guess I don’t really have a choice, until we find out what’s going on, and stop it.”
Anna turned to Skyla, "Can you tell who their 'Owner' is?"
Skyla scratched behind one of her ears. “They barely even think about their owner outside the context of orders. They don’t even distinguish between humans consciously, their knowledge of who their owner is seems purely instinctive.”
“Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.” Curt sighed. “Sophie, you researched this business, right? Did you find anything about who runs it, or where the money goes.”
“I asked one of our lawyers to look into it. From what they told me, there is a paper trail, but it seems to loop and zigzag all over the place. That’s when the money doesn’t winds up in bank accounts that seem to have no client on record, but the drones can draw from regardless… Presumably their ‘Owner’ exploiting the flaws of his less effective reality re-writing effect.”
“Well, in any case, it won’t hurt to send an email telling all the maids to be on the lookout for someone with a toy gun and a lot of drones. Take a picture of them if they can, and alert me ASAP. Oh, and tell them to keep it all quiet. We don’t want this guy knowing we’re looking for him, or the people who can’t do anything about the situation to get in a panic.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Skyla bowed.
“I appreciate it.” Curt gave the fox woman a hug.
+++
After his day of creating new products, Kent had returned to his room, but he wasn’t ready to rest just yet. He stepped over to a large whiteboard he had set up on his wall, picked up a marker, and began writing.
He had already determined that going around nude had been a possible result of this world’s transforming gun, but not the only result. A pattern was starting to form with the clothed people he was unable to transform, but it felt as if any time he grew close to figuring out the answer, it slipped away. One thing he could tell for sure was that the clothed exceptions had all been wearing dresses. Granted, other women in dresses had been changed successfully, so that was not the only factor, but it did narrow things down. Of course, a question for forming a profile of this gun’s owner, was if the pattern in the transformees the result of a limitation of their gun, or a matter of preference for the owner?
Well, until he could figure that out, the next thing to do would be to attempt to triangulate the location of the owner by studying how the transformed population was distributed throughout the city. The densest concentration would likely be the location of the Owner. He moved to a map on another wall, and began to add clusters of dots to it.
Kent honestly wished he didn’t have to do any of this. He had only had two goals in stealing his gun from its owner in his original world, and hiding out in another world. The first, was of course, to use the gun to create his own servants and live a life of ease, free of stress. The second, was to insure the gun’s original owner would never be able to turn it on him.
Kent couldn’t imagine what kind of creatures would casually give away reality warping items that could bend masses of people to the will of a single, seemingly random, human. But whatever they were, he did not want to be their puppet, not even indirectly. What right did they have to warp people’s bodies into new species, and twist their minds into servile mockeries of their former selves?
When Kent had figured the power his irritating “friend” Dave, (the only person that never got the hint that Kent didn’t want to talk to them,) had stumbled upon, he KNEW it was only a matter of time before Dave would eventually use it on him. Who WOULDN’T want as many servants as you could possibly make? And so, Kent stole the gun, fled his home dimension, and the watchful eyes of the gun’s mysterious creators, by exploiting parts of the gun’s tech, and took cover here. It seemed he’d jumped from one frying pan to another, when he’d found that another gun (or something like it) had to be in this dimension, too.
Because he wasn’t the gun’s true owner, Kent knew it wouldn’t protect him from being transformed. If the owner of this world’s gun used it on him, he’d wind up just like those happy-go-lucky women that were all over town, mindlessly serving, day in and day out. The only way to ensure he’d never be changed, would be to zap this rival before the rival zapped him. It was change others or be changed, pure self defense. And if, along the way, he made an army of his own servants, all the better.