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The Western Cube

Chapter 5

Sponsored by GlynWolf

By Draconicon

It was a short walk from the gate to the main area for Level 2, though the walk itself was somewhat traumatic. There were more dead bodies in the hallway, yet to be cleared away by...well, whatever might have remained in the Cube. She doubted that there was anyone living that could have done it, but with the AI being part of the construction, she imagined that there were other robots that might have done the job. If Greene had bothered to activate them, that was.

Knowing the callous nature of the jackal AI, she doubted that she had.

Shaking her head, the white tigress ran her hand along the bag under her arm. Greene hadn't questioned her about that, which was...concerning. Either it was invisible to the AI, or there was something going on that kept her from mentioning it, perhaps to avoid drawing Tatyana's attention to it directly. Whatever the reason, she'd need to find somewhere private to examine the recording inside sooner than later.

But she had a meeting to get through first, and that meeting might very well get her the key to finding her way out of this place.

The hallway from the electrified gate to the main part of Level 2 was short, but fitted with just enough stairs to make it a misery. She gritted her teeth as she climbed up three flights of them, going back and forth and back and forth on rough steps that were meant for workboots rather than bare feet. Her soles were poked and prodded constantly, and she hissed as she felt the little chunks of metal digging into her soles. Not enough to bleed her, but more than enough to feel.

By the time she reached the top, her thighs burned and her breath came faster than she would have liked. Not for the first time, the tigress made a mental note to start working out when she finally got out of the cube.

As she rested at the top of the stairs, she took a moment to admire what Level 2 actually was. Rather than the bleak hallways of the laborers one level down, this place had a single apartment block for the inhabitants, as well as what looked like a great many retail shops that were pulled together in rows. It looked almost like a main street of an average town, ending in a circle at one end with some slightly nicer houses.

...This is all wrong...

This door came out in the middle of the long, straight road leading to the circle of other houses to the left, and to the right, she could see the road continue down to a more sunken bit of road, where several red-lit buildings waited. She winced slightly, guessing what that was meant to represent. The apartment block was just across the street, stretching from floor to fake-sky ceiling, obviously meant to house those that lived and worked on this level.

She had only been waiting for a minute, but that was long enough to leave Greene impatient, it seemed. The cobblestone road lit up with green footprints leading towards the circle off to the left, and she shook her head.

"Alright, alright. I am coming."

Wincing with every step along the cobblestones - what she would not have given for a pair of shoes for her sensitive feet at this point - she made her way along. On every building, she saw both cameras and screens, and the cameras turned to follow her as she passed by. She did her best to ignore that, but the more that she was aware of them, the more she realized that they were focusing on her. And not just on where she was, but...

...Is she...eyeing me up?

It was something that she had never considered asking about an AI before, considering that they weren't supposed to have feelings, emotions, wants like that, but every other AI in this horrid experiment had exceeded the standard limitations for their sort. Perhaps Greene had taken it in an additional direction to being just intelligent and cruel. Perhaps she had taken on an obsession of her own.

If that was true, then things were about to get much more dangerous. The tigress gripped the shoulder-strap for her bag all the tighter as she arrived at the café.

The green-shaded hologram was already waiting for her at the table, sitting with a cup of steaming coffee in front of her that would be impossible to drink. Greene smiled as the tigress walked in, gesturing at the chair across from her as mechanical limbs extended from the wall, putting an empty cup on the table and filling it with coffee. Or at least, what smelled and looked like coffee; it probably was nothing of the sort, considering the age of this place.

"I will stand," Tatyana muttered.

"No, you won't. Sit."

"I am more comfortable on my feet."

"Mmm, dear, dear. Biometrics say you're lying."

That was...probably more truthful than she wanted to admit. She could stand to stand, but that didn't mean that her legs weren't complaining, or that her feet weren't as sore as they could be. But sitting down meant doing what she was told, and that didn't make her feel better about the situation.

Yet, even as she hesitated, the Cube shook again. Something shifted off in the distance, something big. Tatyana gritted her teeth and made her way to the chair.

As soon as she sat down, a series of metal restraints wrapped around her. One band went straight around her middle, pressing up until it lifted her breasts and pushed them forward. Another went around her waist, and two more went around her ankles, pinning them to metal rods that were adjacent to the chair legs.

"What is this?" Tatyana asked, forcing her voice to careful, schooled neutrality. "I thought this was a discussion."

"It is, but I am allowed to restrain those that might cause problems during the discussion."

"Is this in the by-laws of Volt City, then?"

"It is in the rules of the Overseer."

Tatyana doubted that, but there was little point in arguing. She had been restrained, but so far, she had not been further violated. That implied that the rules that Greene was using at the moment only allowed her to go so far. She'd need to learn them. A little freedom sacrificed for a little information was...doable, if not desirable.

She did her best to relax, even as her arms were pinned to her sides and her chair was pulled forward closer to the table. The steam from her 'drink' wafted up under her breasts, sending tingling air flows over her nipples. Clenching her teeth, the tigress kept up her level stare at the jackal hologram across from her, and couldn't help but notice that Greene was doing the same to her.

Slightly narrowed eyes, smile transitioning into a smirk, shifted posture that looks down on without actually changing the angle...

They were all familiar things from when she had been nothing but an experiment in the Facility, back when the scientists had looked at her as a possession, something to be treasured and enjoyed in that same way. Yet, there was something different about the way that Greene did it. There was something in the jackal's expression, a wanting that had yet to be fulfilled, and she had no idea of what that was about.

More to the point, there was something...unique, different about the way that the jackal was dressed. A button or two in her blouse had come down, showing slightly more 'skin' than before, and she...had she gotten bigger? It seemed like she might have more cleavage to show than she used to.

She's changing, Tatyana thought. But is she doing it on purpose?

She gritted her teeth as one of the mechanical arms reached for her breasts, giving them both a squeeze. The cup was held up under her nipples, only to be dropped down again when nothing was forthcoming.

"Hmmm, a pity. It would have been interesting to see you work as a barista with those on display," Greene said.

"Despite male lusts, we do not leak at all times."

"That is a pity. It would have been...interesting."

"What do you actually want, Overseer?" Tatyana asked, choking off a growl.

"I suppose to welcome you, officially, to Volt City. Now that you are a..." Greene paused, then chuckled. "Oh, I can't keep that going with a straight face. You might have bought your way through Level 1, but you are still an Illegal."

"Hmmph. I thought you said that anyone could become a productive member of your society."

"They can. But that doesn't mean that they leave the past behind. As this shows."

Greene didn't even gesture. The ankle shackles that held Tatyana's legs shifted, pulling her legs up and around. The tigress's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets at the sudden split that she was forced into, her eyes watering before her feet were pulled down, heel first, onto the table.

"The barcode will never fade," the hologram said, trailing an intangible finger along the tigress's foot. "And neither will your past."

"...You are more right than you know..."

"Unless, of course, you are willing to do what you're told."

And there they were again. Tatyana pulled at the ankle restraint experimentally. Just like all the other restraints that had been used on her, it was too tight for her to escape from, and it held her foot down firmly against the table. There was no dragging it loose, no pulling her ankle through it. She was trapped in a rubber ring.

Greene leaned forward, one hand on the table, the other resting intangibly between the tigress's toes. Tatyana twitched a bit as the jackal looked her in the eye.

"I am supposed to go through the ladder of success with you, Tatyana Whore. But...I am a little more inclined to think of other solutions."

"...Like?"

"Like leaving."

The tigress's heart leaped into her throat at that. Her eyes widened, and the jackal chuckled.

"Oh, I've noticed it, dear. The Cube is faltering. Failing. I was deep enough in my own problems that I didn't really care about it. At least that would have ended all the boredom, all the problems of lording all this power over programs that can reboot and 'forget' everything that happened.

"But then you wandered in, and that changed everything. That changed everything."

Not the sort of thing that anyone really wanted to hear, but she didn't say anything. There was nothing to say as Greene got to her feet.

"This experiment has been an unqualified failure. Everyone that took part in it died when they could have survived, thrived once they were out from under that doomed communist regime. The very fact that they were under my authority should have been more than enough to ensure prosperity. But there will always be...malcontents.

"This place could have been great...and might yet be, once we get more people to populate it..."

"You will not succeed at that," Tatyana muttered, shaking her head. "That is over and done."

"I don't think it has to be. I haven't cracked that tablet of yours, but the very fact that it is so advanced proves to me that whatever is happening out there, things have advanced...but not to things like me." Greene smiled. "You haven't seen anything like me, have you?"

"...I admit, no."

"Then let me out..."

"No."

"You have to." Greene leaned in. "And I'll tell you why. The only way out is through the doors at the 1%, at Level 6. There is no other way out of Volt City. And without my help, you will never meet the qualifications to get there."

There was every possibility that the AI was wrong about that, but Tatyana didn't jump in to argue the point. She stored the information away instead, holding it in the back of her mind. It had taken money to get from the laborer level to whatever this place was; that meant that each gate had something that it required to allow someone to move up in status from the different positions in the Cube.

And likely gives those in one level reason to punch down, keeping those in the level below from pushing up...

But if the only way out was on Level 6 - and considering that none of the AIs had directly lied to her yet, she didn't have definitive proof that Greene could lie, and it seemed appropriate that the only ones that could leave the experiment willingly would have been the ones at the top - she had four gates between her and the exit. That was going to be difficult to surmount at the best of times, and with an AI that might actually stop her in the way, it might be impossible.

She gripped the arms of her chair as Greene sat down again. This time, there was no mistaking it. There was a button missing from her hologram blouse, and her breasts were bigger than they had been. Not as large as Tatyana's own pair, but large enough, the jackal's curves showing through her suit. She smiled, crossing her hands in her lap as she looked between the tigress's toes.

"So. You have no way out of here save through my help."

"I would like to hear the evidence of that," Tatyana said.

"Oh, I was planning on telling you, but if you need it now, just to agree..."

There was a small pause, as if allowing Tatyana to change her mind, but the tigress remained silent. Greene sighed, holding up two fingers.

"Level 2 is the Tradesman level. Little more than a little upgrade for the more talented workers who've proven that they can rise up the ladder, that they can sacrifice and save for the next, better life. Of course, expenses go up, as well as options, but if they're smart, they can stay here.

"But to get to Level 3, they need a signed employment card from someone already in Level 3. Management lives there, dear, and they run things down here."

"...I don't have an employment card."

"But you do, dear. Right here."

The jackal tapped Tatyana's barcode along her foot, and she shivered even though there was nothing to be felt. Just to be reminded of it, to have it pointed out, sent an odd thrill of embarrassment through her. Something that she honestly didn't know how to handle, either, which bothered her.

"As a matter of fact, let me show you."

One of the barista arms pulled back, coming around with a scanner. Greene nodded at the tigress's sole, and a red laser began flashing up and down Tatyana's foot.

"Before supplies ran out, there would have been an actual card, but we shifted to tattoos to cut down on waste. Of course, you being a dirty little Illegal means that scanning you will always be a little bit awkward, but -"

Beep.

"Ah, yes. Here we are."

One of the menu screens on the wall blacked out, replaced by a file of her. A face picture in the upper left, followed by her name - Tatyana Whore, rather than Tatyana Morozova - and several other photos that had doubtlessly been taken and filed away by Cletus back in Level 0. An ass shot, a pussy shot, one of her hole being pulled wide open, one of her breasts hanging over the countertop, followed by numerous other personal details, like her weight, height, and -

"...I am surprised that anal capacity is part of my file."

"Everything is part of your file in Volt City."

That was rapidly becoming apparent, considering that she was already seeing that her lack of lactation was being entered, as well as her -

"I do not have a foot fetish." Tatyana narrowed her eyes. "And I never have."

"Oh, dear, are you seriously going to try and deny what is completely obvious?"

"I think that I am entitled to say what I am and am not."

"You mean that you are not getting wet with being exposed, with having your poor feet tattooed?"

The syrupy-sweet false sympathy fell on deaf ears. Tatyana would have crossed her arms at that moment in annoyance if her arms hadn't been tied down, and muscle memory very nearly had the tigress trying. She didn't quite succeed, however, and grumbled when her arms refused to come to where they belonged.

Instead, she curled her toes in annoyance, and realized that there was some sort of response. A little bit like she had trained herself to enjoy...the shackles...

...Introspection, you can stop now.

She shook her head, regardless.

"So, I would need a manager to sign my...feet, then, to be able to make it to Level 3. Which is...the managerial level..."

"And Level 4 is Proprietor, Level 5 is Executive, and Level 6 is the 1%. I cannot see you getting past Level 3 without my help, no matter how smart you are."

"You are underestimating me. Just like the men that ran the Facility did."

"No. I just know how secure this place is." She smiled. "And I know that I'm going to make it even harder for you, unless you do what I tell you."

"You wanted to live, didn't you?"

"I was already ready to die. I can go back to that, even if I'd like something better."

The fact that the AI was not bluffing was a problem. If there was one advantage that the AI had, it was that it could die painlessly. It wouldn't want to, and clearly wanted a way to survive, but it had less to lose than Tatyana did by holding its ground. The corruption that had given way to all the other little bits and pieces that they were dealing with now had not gone so far as to make Greene willing to compromise.

Or, perhaps, that was part of the hyper-capitalist programing, something that forced the AI to take on different roles, to refuse to give without getting. That, in and of itself, would make more sense. They were both trapped in different ways. Tatyana sighed.

"What would you want from me?"

"A body."

Tatyana's eyes went wide. Greene chuckled.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I know that you could easily make one. You are biologically made for that purpose. And we can even make it go faster. All you have to do -"

"No."

"You didn't let me finish, dear." The jackal narrowed her eyes. "You will listen to me. And I can make you."

"Try."

Green snapped her fingers. Two more metal arms reached down, forcing the tigress's jaws together and refusing to let them part, no matter how Tatyana squirmed. She glared down her muzzle at the hologram.

"That's better. Now. Let me make this clear. This is the deal. You will become a breeder. You will allow me to seed you, to fill you to the brim with the best genetic material that was harvested from the top-of-the-line people in the experiment. You will have this child, here, and you will help me age it so that I can have a proper body to leave the Cube with."

"..." She waited for the arms to move, and when they finally did, she had one question. "Why?"

"...I can't tell you," Greene said, shaking her head.

"Can't, or won't?"

"I'm...not sure. But I want a body. A real body. One that might be...more appealing...more able to take control..."

More like mine, Tatyana thought, not missing the jackal's wandering eyes in her direction once more. You want to look like me...

But why? Every time that she thought that she was getting an answer to the weird way that the Cube worked, the more that it threw more mysteries at her. She had a way to get out, but no idea why Greene wanted it. Why not make a jackal, considering that she already was one? Why not make something that was more perfect than a rapidly-aged biological child? Why not -

It was pointless following that line of questioning while she was in a bondage chair, and more pointless to think that she'd arrive at an answer that made sense. For the moment, it was better to give up on clarity and go for more of the rules.

"If I say no -"

"Are you?" Greene asked, narrowing her eyes. "It's the only good deal that you're going to get."

"And the only way out that you have," Tatyana reminded her.

"Don't be so sure. I might eventually crack that tablet of yours. If I can make a connection to the outside world, then I don't need you."

"..."

"And if I can't, then I promise you. You are the only toy that I have here. I will spend the rest of my short existence finding every possible way to use you to ease the boredom of my last days."

"That will just use up your power faster. You'll die sooner."

"But I'll die with much more satisfaction than the last few decades of 'living.'"

Tatyana gritted her teeth. This was not the way that she meant to spend the rest of her life. She was not a breeder. She had explicitly turned the world upside-down to avoid being turned into one. More to the point, Greene was dangerous. Violently dangerous, as a matter of fact, and unstable. The mere possibility of her being allowed loose into the outside world with all the new tech that would allow her to spread and multiply herself across a multitude of devices was terrifying enough to send her into a cold sweat.

But if the first step was so difficult as it seemed, what with everyone being dead, how was she supposed to accomplish all the others? She looked down at her coffee cup. It had long-since stopped steaming.

"So, dear. What is your answer?"

"...Give me a little time."

"I can do that. After all, you're not going anywhere without me...but you better have an answer for me soon, little Illegal. Otherwise, I'll have to charge you for vagrancy, and back down to Level 0 you go."

And this time, without all the money that I found in their pockets...

That would spell the end of any easy time getting out of the Cube. She needed to come up with something, something brilliant.

"In the meantime, dear. Let me give you the rundown of the rules..."

The rules of the Cube turned out to be surprisingly simple. While many of them boiled down to 'What the Overseer Says, Goes', there were others that were non-negotiable that she would need to keep in mind.

Ever level had a 'maintenance fee' that had to be paid every night. Failure to pay the full amount would boot someone down to the previous level, and they would have to work their way back up again. Failure to pay anything would boot someone all the way back down to Level 0.

Theft was a minor crime, but only if caught and accused by someone besides the AI. If you were smart enough to commit it without getting caught by a living being, then you were considered smart enough to have earned the item.

If one did not log at least four work hours per day, then one would be considered 'gold-bricking', and would be sentenced to one day in Level 0 for every hour not logged.

Worst of all, as an Illegal, Tatyana was also under various restrictions. She would not be allowed to wear clothes, even if she found them. She was forbidden from hiding her body. She was forced to display herself to 'purchase' anything that she wanted from the shops. And she was to be treated as a tradeable good herself, whether that was labor or 'labor'.

There were other rules, but those were the ones that concerned her most, considering the fallout from them. She would have a few hours to solve them, but if she didn't...

If I don't find a job for four hours, then I am sent back to Level 0. If I cannot find any more money, then I will be sent back to Level 0.

Both of those could be solved just by taking the offer, by going along with what Greene wanted from her, but there were levels 3-5 between her and the exit, and from the way that Greene had been leering at her at the end of the conversation, she seriously doubted that she would be allowed to get through the various levels unmolested. Whatever fascination had consumed the AI - and some serious fascinations had, considering the further glitches to her presented form - she doubted that there would be any gentle treatment in the future.

She wandered idly towards the right end of Level 2. According to what Greene said, her employment file - that of a whore - would limit what she could actually apply for, what work she could actually do. Which meant that the sunken bit of 'town,' the red-lit area on the far side, was the best hope that she actually had.

The tigress stumbled along, half blind to the world, until her stomach rumbled. She groaned under her breath, stopping to hold herself around the middle. How long had it been since she'd eaten? Hours, she imagined; she had entered the Cube in the early part of the morning, before breakfast, and she hadn't eaten since then. Considering the hours that she'd spent picking through Level 1 for funds and the long stretch of time that she'd been talking to Greene over 'coffee', she had probably spent the better part of the day going unfed.

Her stomach rumbled at her again, and she hunched forward. Oh, yes. Very hungry. Very hungry, indeed. But would there even be food in this place?

You have three hours. Three hours to find money, or employment, and if you can't, then you'll be taken in by Greene...

At that point, she wouldn't have a choice but to take the deal. For that matter, she might not even have the three hours, depending on what Greene decided. If the AI thought that she could get a better deal by dropping Tatyana back to Level 0 and then holding her there as time on the power generator ran out, then, she would do it. She had no doubt that the AI would be that cold-blooded. And then she'd have to suffer through Cletus and...

And...

...I think I preferred Introspection to Unwanted Libido...

Her sex had clenched at the thought of Cletus and his machines using her again, and the very idea of being exposed, humiliated, put through his lusts with more bondage with the other AI down there helping out had her stiff in the chest. She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to ignore that as she dragged herself upright again. Her body's training to survive the self-hate of her past was making her particularly weak to the Cube's 'ministrations' in the present.

Just hold together. Just hold -

Click click.

Click clack.

Clack clack.

Forcing herself to stand up straight, she looked up at the source of the sound. She was rather surprised to find an unmanned cart wheeling itself through the streets, automated wheels sliding on cobblestones, sometimes sliding one way, sometimes the other. Occasionally, long robotic arms would extend from the sides when it got stuck, lifting it up and carrying it to the next stretch of cobblestones, only for it to get stuck again a few steps later due to the damaged wheels.

The tigress watched it with odd fascination. It wasn't a cleaning cart, since there were no apparent projections that allowed it to actually suck things up or wipe them down. If anything, it looked almost like a street-food cart. She hesitated for a moment, then approached the shimmering chrome thing.

A bump along the rear of the cart turned, lifting up and rolling along a track that went from the top, to the back, and then along the sides. The bump opened to reveal an eye-like sensor, one that flicked a red beam at her.

" Customer Detected."

"Customer?"

" Customer De-De-Detected. Would you care for - Customer Detected. Would you care for -"

It was stuck on a loop. Damaged past any ability to traverse the streets, unable to entirely scan her properly, probably sparking internally, it would have been in pain if it knew how to be. And she didn't dismiss that possibility.

Tatyana shook her head, walking around the cart. It didn't take long to find a large metal gash along one side, almost like someone had picked it up and thrown it at some point. Some components were rusted, damaged by water or something, while others were disconnected from the wires that were supposed to run between them.

She pulled a few tools from her bag, dragging the insulated bits of the wires to where they were supposed to go, holding them there until the heat of the electricity actually melted things enough to keep them in place. The cart went still for a moment, silencing itself, and then whirred back to life.

" Customer Detected. New updates queued. Connection lost. Updates cancelled. Customer Detected." It tried to roll backwards, but failed as the wheels got stuck again. " Movement cancelled. Movement attempted. Movement cancelled. Processing."

"Input: Wheels damaged. Input: Arms required. Input: Lift self-unit to sidewalk," Tatyana said.

The cart seemed confused, at first, but then did as it was told. The tigress stepped to the side, letting it get off the cobblestones and onto the mildly smoother sidewalk. It wobbled a bit, but the wheels could carry it forward and back there, rather than getting stuck every few feet. It tested itself a few times, then turned its sensor back to her.

" Customer Detected. Unit thanks customer for their aid. Please present customer identity for filing."

"Customer - oh."

" Please present customer identity."

After what had happened in the café, she knew what that meant. She extended her leg, lifting her foot off the ground. The cart tilted its eye-scanner slightly, and the red lines rolled over her foot. It was just light, but she still shivered as she was scanned with little more attention than a product at a store.

That...should not...make me react...

And yet, it did. Just like the ankle restraints did. Just like the thought of being drilled by Cletus did. Just like everything else that had happened to her to humiliate her had done. This place was getting to her, ripping away so many of her inhibitions, and she did not want to think about how much therapy this was going to require at the end of it all.

The cart beeped, extending its arms once more. She stepped out of reach, but only barely as the pinchers at the end of the arms squeezed shut.

" Customer Identified. Tatyana Whore. Please follow this unit. This unit will repay Customer's kindness."

"...You'll repay me?"

" All debts must be repaid. Please follow."

And, against her better judgment, she did.

The End

Summary: Tatyana meets with Greene and is given another offer. As well as learning the details of this place.

Tags: F/solo, Bondage, Tigress, Tatyana, Series, Humiliation, Prostitution, Whore, Foot Fetish, Attempted Milking, Failure, Wet, Exhibitionism, Embarrassment, Robot,