Obey!
The dystopian story about a system conform man, forced to be a Guard dog. Inspired by Terry Gilliam's movie "Brazil".
Inspired by Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" (1985).
Hank Lewis was a normal, hardworking guy. He paid his taxes and was a loyal citizen, obeying the word of the Great Leader. "All hail the Great Leader!" he said with pride. The Great Leader was a good leader, a fair ruler and never failed. They had it good here in Gem City, Hank thought and couldn't explain himself, why there were rebels saying otherwise. Stupid kids!
Once in a while he had to report one of them. He wasn't happy about it, but it was for their own good. At least, that's what he thought. What really happened to them when they where caught by the Watchers was of no interest to him - until one day.
Like every morning Hank made himself ready for work. He was about to prepare his tie when he heard the doorbell. He took a fast sip from his coffee and went to answer the door. Behind it he found a big, grim Watcher. A firm man, muscles like a bull, short hair, black leather uniform and intimidating sunglasses. "All hail the Great Leader!" he growled with a deep voice. Hank gave him a friendly smile and replied: "All hail the Great Leader! How can I help you, Officer?"
"I've come to pick up your Dog, Mister Lewis!" Hank was puzzled. It had been the first time a Watcher wanted something he couldn't provide, and that made him a little nervous. "W... what dog? I don't understand, I have no dog!" The Officer took a long grim look down at him. "I'm supposed to collect a Dog that was chosen for our K9 unit. You're aware it's a crime to hide him from us!"
Now Hank was in panic. There must have been a misunderstanding. "N... n... no! I wouldn't even dream to fool a member of the Great Leader's Watchers Department, you have my fullest respect. B... but..." - "But what?" the monstrous giant asked with a warning tone. "But... as a matter of fact... I don't own a Dog. I'm sure, you can clearify that with your system!" He pointed at the small tablet the Officer had attached to his belt.
The grim Watcher made a pause, looked at him like he was a cockroach waiting for his boots. Then he finally picked up the tablet and checked his data. "Here it is: Hank Lewis...!" - "Yes, that's me!" All of a sudden he was grasped by the knot of his tie, thrown against the doorframe and bellowed at: "Listen, Buster! I'm not in the mood for your lousy jokes! So tell me where you have that damn mutt of yours or I swear, I break your face!!!" But Hank was unable to say anything. He was terrified, completely overwhelmed by what was happening.
The cop decided to throw him inside, on the floor. He handcuffed him and took a closer look at the interiour. Too afraid to move or even to think about what he could do, Hank simply waited until the Officer stopped his rampage through his possessions, searching for evidence of a Dog that didn't exist. He found nothing of course, so after kicking the lying Hank a couple of times in the gut, he arrested him and brought him to his car.
At the station the whole mess was cleared up, but it didn't help: There was no human male registered with the name Hank Lewis, but the supposed Dog. Obviously there had been a glitch in the system, mixing up data. Under normal circumstances this would have been accepted as a mistake, but according to the assumption, the System was without fail, there could've been only one "logical" conclusion: That Hank, despite his human appearance, was indeed a Dog and as such officially assigned to the K9 program.
Hank himself had no choice in that matter. To say they're wrong would be treason and cost him his life. Also, he was a Dog now, so everything he would say had no meaning after all, weren't it for barks and whining. They took all his possessions, his ID, his clothes and his dignity. He was stripped off his clothes, only allowed to walk on all fours. If he tried to stand up, they threatened to put him down. They fastened a special collar with an electroshocker around his neck, gave him the necessary examinations and vaccinations.
The Watcher forced to take care of him wasn't all too happy about the obvious humiliation and kicked him around, like a stupid bastard. At the end of his first day, Hank was led to the kennel and feed Dog food. Hank had trouble to swallow it. It tasted horrific. An hour of solitude and barking surroundings later and they finally turned off the lights. The floor was cold, but he was too tired to stay awake anyway.
The next morning, another Watcher came. He led him and the other Dogs outside to the backyard, where they could relief themselves. The other Dogs were suspitious, poked their cold, wet noses in every inch of his body. Some barked and crowled at him, he backed down and played the obidient lesser one. What else could he do? The Alpha, a big grim Rottweiler named Chuck mounted him. He let it happen. He was too afraid to resist and there was nobody he could ask for help.
The rest of the day, he and the other mutts were assigned to new handlers. To Hank's great misfortune it was the same Officer that had treated him like crap already and now forced him to humilitating tricks, a mean grin on his face. He had to run a lot again, which was a torture for his back, because he could only run on all fours. He had to jump over obstacles, search out contraband (something he failed miserably, of course), learn how to attack and bite (his jaw hurted horribly after this), and what's the worse, had to learn how to obey his master's every command. Even if it meant to lick his boots!
Hank had normally no compliance issues. But this was different! He had no trust in his new master, he was a complete dick. Other people were in his eyes nothing compared to him, a Watcher, a Law enforcer - he WAS the Law! Hank had to do whatever he said. If he commanded him to attack someone, even if he'd done nothing wrong, there was no hesitation. Either this "thug" or him!
Back at the kennel, late at night, Hank was crying. He couldn't cope with what was happening to him. And for the first time, he cursed the Great Leader and his sadistic Minions. When he realised what he'd just said, another half hour had passed. Nothing happened! Under other circumstances, a SWAT team had come and arrested him for that. There were cameras and microphones everywhere... but not in the kennel. He realised it just yet: There was no point to record any audio in here, all there was were just Dogs. Dogs couldn't talk, ergo Dogs couldn't say something against the Great Leader! The first time in his life Hank could say whatever he wanted. Coincidentally, it was the first time he had found good reasons too.
Because of his lack of the necessary abilities he was soon transfered to the mines, where the air was so toxic the Watchers as well as their Dogs had to wear special armor made of robotic hydraulics, circuits, metal and oily black rubber. This way the Dogs of course couldn't take in scents or attack anyone with their razor sharp teeth. Their main purpose was to intimidate the prisoners and bark if some of them tried to escape.
Forced into his new armor by a big, horrible machine at his new kennel, he was finally inextinquishable from the other Dogs in his unit and his newly assigned handler who didn't even knew he was a human, treated him like any other canine partner he had. Which was still with a firm hand, but far better then before. It was still a hard job. Inside the armor it was constantly hot and stuffy, smelled like burned plastic. Its weight, although stabilized by hydraulics, put more pressure on his already tortured body.
And for the first time he saw what happened to people like those he had reported. They had to do Hard labor under inhumane conditions, they don't even had proper suits like the Watchers or the Dogs, just Gas masks that barely worked. This wasn't the paradise the Great Leader had promissed, this was hell and the Watchers were the demons that enforced it. And he himself? He tried to defend himself, that he hadn't known. But he knew that wasn't the point. The point was he hadn't questioned the system!
Hank felt bad and promissed himself, he would find a way to make amends. But for now he was just a Watcher's Dog led on a leash, looking like the monster he felt to be. At the moment he couldn't do more then to play his role, bark at prisoners and wait patiently for the right moment. It took him a while. He grew accustomed to his life as a Dog, to the food and the company of the other Dogs. He had nearly forgotten he was a human when the chance finally came!
His handler and the other Watchers were busy screaming at some poor old guy who was too tired to continue working, when Hank found something on the ground he had rather not expected: A tiny communicator! It was none of the modells the Watchers used, it looked more like a DIY build device, probably from one of the prisoners. Hank immediatly realised this was the moment he'd waited for.
The problem was, he couldn't just pick it up! His armor was build so his feet resembled bigger, firmer versions of Dog paws. He couldn't use his muzzle either, it was just a mask with vents and a speaker to distort his "barking", so it sounded more horrifying - or in his case hide the fact he wasn't a real Dog. Luckily enough he found a way by carefully kneeing on it, so it could slid into a gap behind one of the panels of his armor. He managed to hide it before his handler returned and they continued their patrol.
That night, back in the kennel Hank analysed the device. He could work undisturbed here, because the kennel was fully automated and no human staff was needed here. The Communicator seemed to work on one frequency only, which suggested its porpose was to reach some specific people. Maybe rebels! Hank was nervous as he decided to turn it on and speak to, whoever it was on the other side. Click. "He... hello?" He just realised he hadn't spoken a word for weeks. "Falcon 7, is that you?!" a voice replied. Hank cleared his throat before he answered. "No, I'm... it's hard to explain! I found this communicator..."
A week later he'd gained their trust. He had refused to tell them about where, or for that matter, "what" he was and why it was possible for him to speak his opinion as freely as he did! So they had of course their hard time to believe he wasn't one of the Great Leader's henchman, until he provided them with all the informations about the mine, the personell and entrance codes, without demanding anything in exchange.
A few days later they confirmed he wasn't lying and it seemed the resistance had found a way to infiltrate the mine with their own fake Watchers, who "transfered" one of the prisoners Hank later assumed to be the mysterious "Falcon 7". Back at the kennel they thanked him for his assistence, he was of big help to them. Hank wanted to do more for the resistance and promissed to provide them with updated informations. But it wasn't necessary!
The Watchers had no idea what was going on! A week later the Great Leader was assassinated and replaced by Falcon 7, who turned out to be his long lost brother and the actual heir to the throne. All Watchers were put on trials, most of them taken into custody and some of them, like the big bully who'd tortured Hank, even executed. After a while they'd also freed the Mine dogs and were surprised to find an adult man, dirty, unshaven, full of bruises and scratches, in the heavily stinking kennels.
There was no Hank Lewis in the system anymore. The poor man was simply registered as Mine dog # 27 and as such send to a hospital. He was still struggling to return being a Human again, when the Rebel leaders found out about him and the new Leader paid him a visit, to thank him for his service. He offered to fulfill him every wish he had. But all Hank wanted was to stay a Dog - being treated much better, of course. He'd learnt to hate the old Hank Lewis for what he'd done to others and just wanted to live out his life on all fours, serving a good master.
And so it came to pass, that Hank was named the new Leader's First Guard dog. He was surgically transformed. His arms and legs replaced with canine-like prostethics, his face elongated with a firm muzzle, his ears and eyes changed, his complete skin covered in white fur and so on. He even got a real wagging tail. In the end he was barely distinguishable from a real Dog.
He was fitted with a new, more comfortable collar, as well as a silver and gold-covered Harness with the royal red Eagle on his chest. He looked marvelous! When he wasn't patrolling the palace with the Royal guards, he had fun playing with the Leader's children or resting under his favorite tree. He couldn't been happier...
But of course, it was all just a sweet dream Mine dog # 27 had, before finally losing his mind!