The Machine

PART II: Storage

"Remove your clothing, dog!" the robot commanded.

Jax did as he was told. The tight shock collar around his neck was a good reason to comply. He didn't think about the situation nor what he did right now anymore. Instead he ran mostly on autopilot. He sat down on the floor to remove his shoes and pants. The leash was quite tight, the robot didn't give him much leeway. Taking off the pants was tedious, but Jax didn't dare to stand. He remembered the punishment from a few minutes ago still very well.

Since the gates closed the temperature inside the ship seemed to raise slowly so he wasn't cold anymore. But he left his underpans on. Why the hell did he need to be naked? And how should he remove the shirt while still being on that fucking leash? He stopped and the robot seemed to notice.

"Go on, Dog!"

"Obviously I cannot..." Jax began but was stopped by pain.

"Dogs don't talk" the robot replied.

Angry Jax turned towards the robot and started to pull on his shirt.

"Woof woof woof!"

He felt ridiculous but to his own surprise the robot seemed to understand. It's two hands grabbed Jax's shirt and tore it apart as if it was made of paper. Then it grabbed his underpants and did the same. Jax suppressed his protest.

"Put everything in the box!"

Jax crawled over to he box and threw his stuff in. It felt a bit like throwing away his whole life up to this point, but he didn't have the energy to keep that thought. The box closed merged back into the wall and a strong pull of his leash grabbed Jax's attention.

"Follow!" ordered his guard. Then it turned and started to walk down the corridor.

The collar tore at his neck and Jax tried clumsily to keep pace. It wasn't easy as his knees ached on the hard surface. With a few big steps the machine reached a door Jax hadn't seen before. The door slid apart to reveal a larger room. Lights came one. The robot entered and so did he, but his bare foot got stuck in a floor rail and the pain made im gasp. The robot's head turned around and it's cold eyes fixed him for a second, but nothing else happened.

Obviouly no violation of the 'dog rules', Jax thought in a mixture of sarcasm and despair.

Then the robot made a few more steps into the room and more lights revealed the sides, a series of massive doors on each. The frames were glowing a green light.

Jax instantly knew what this was. The voice from the ship did call him 'prisoner', right? And this was exactly the place for it: A prison! Or some futuristic version of it.

The robot pulled him on to the other end of the room. In front were another 4 doors, but much smaller. In fact they looked like garbage disposals. But these doors also had a green glow all around. A quick pull on the leash let him catch up. The door next to him changed its light into blue, unlocked audible and slide open to one side. It was dark inside. But the bit of light that fell in let him see that the inside was neither taller nor wider than the opening.

"Dog will be locked in punishment cell." the machine explained.

A hemisphere of white light appeared around the robot and Jax. Another force field? What for? As if he had any chance of escaping here. Jax's heart began to run again. It wasn't that he was claustrophobic or such, but that was cruel! He looked up to his guard and the machine looked back down to him. Then it reached for his collar und Jax could hear the leash hook snap open.

"Go in immediately or punishment mode will be extended!"

What did it just say? Did it mean that this so called 'punishment' could end if he behaves well? Would he even be able to escape? Would his guard let him go? In a situation with no way out, that could be just one! Jax turned around under the watchfull eye of his guard and crawled backwards into his cave.

"Good dog!" the robot commented when he was in completely and the door closed with a roar.

There he was now: naked and without any chance to escape. Inside a strange ship, in a high tech prison. He was screwed. Jax would have liked to scream or cry but he wasn't sure if that could activate the collar again. So he remained silent. There was a little window of thick glass integrated in the door and Jax was able to see the robot leaving the room before the glass became blurry and the lights went off. The only light remaining was green - and some red now.

Darkness. The cell was made of steel all around. No compromise here. Jax hoped he wouldn't run out of oxygene. Given its size it was really more a dog cage. Of course this was punishment - for whatever reason. It fit to the treatment of the robot.

The only good thing about this place: It wasn't cold in here. The cell seemd to adapt to Jax' body temperature. And now, as the adrenaline was slowly decreasing, he noticed how very tired he was. He was at the end of his powers and in his mind was nothing more but white noise. He lay down and just fell asleep.

(tbc)