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The Western Cube

Chapter 8

Sponsored by GlynWolf

By Draconicon

_Agent Feliks, with what is likely my final entry. I was released from Level 0 after two months imprisonment, and it's clear that most of my codes have been erased from the system. I don't know what I expected. Greene clearly made the most of her election to Overseer after Krasnyy's failed populist revolt, and Gould's lack of ability to put it down. Most of the overrides are gone, or in her hands.

At the moment, Greene's putting on a stranglehold of rules throughout Volt City. Any leeway that Gould allowed has been completely stripped. Those that are found out after dark are sent to Level 0, where that sadist of a sheriff can do whatever he wants to them, or worse, disappeared.

This is new. This shouldn't be happening. Greene isn't supposed to have this much power; her election should have forced a shutdown of the system when the experiment was proven false. Instead -_

Tatyana hissed as the recording went crackly, the tigress leaning over the recording as she forced herself to patience. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the dead words of a dead man to come through again. It was her only chance to get any information about what had happened to the cube, and what waited for her on the upper levels.

Greene going mad was not unforeseen, but clearly Volt City had gone off the rails in more ways than one. From what she could infer, the whole place had been meant to prove that the capitalist ways would slowly push the people towards embracing communism, giving in and becoming part of the rebellion when they realized that even pseudo-capitalism would give them nothing in the long run. The Facility had probably set it up so that the experiment ended when Gould was toppled as Overseer, either as a successful populist revolt under Krasnyy or as a capitalist election that put Greene in charge, showing that this had failed.

And yet, the latter had happened, and the experiment continued on. The system had failed on some level.

The crackling eased, and she listened in as Feliks continued his report.

Greene is clearly on an authoritative decay. Her programming was never meant to encompass this sort of rulership. The limitations in her coding are starting to show. Everything that went into her being the push that was supposed to convince everyone of the failures of capitalism is coming out now, and she's going to get us all killed.

It doesn't matter that it's more 'efficient' to let us be free in some ways. It doesn't matter that we do better, function better, without her iron grip. What matters are 'profits'. She's set this up so that there's even more rules between the levels, more divisions than even Gould had gotten away with. The slightest breaking of the rules is a one-way trip to Level 0, at best, or held in the vagrancy cells until she decides what she wants to do with you.

And now...well, I'm hearing things from the managers when they come down. Some of her allies are being pulled to levels 5 and 6. We don't know what's going on, but it means that there's something big going on. Something - what's that?

A hissing sound followed, and then gagging. Tatyana shut her eyes, knowing the sound all too well. Feliks coughed, sputtering as he tried to continue.

_Must have...heard about...the rebels in the cube...she's gassing us...probably gassing...the whole place...

If anyone...finds this...there's gaps in the superstructure...gaps in the code...Gaps she's filled. Greene is..._

And then it went silent, save for the hissing. He must have passed out there, she imagined. Passed out to die in his sleep from the poison gas that had spread through Level 2 at the time.

Tatyana put the recording down, puzzling through the information that he'd left for her. Nothing good, that was for sure. If Greene had access to poison gas, that meant that she had the capability of utterly destroying everything that populated the cube in the first place. Including the tigress, for that matter, something that she would have to deal with sooner than later.

But why would she have gone through that particular step? What had Feliks uncovered?

Gaps in the code that Greene filled...

What was that supposed to mean? What had happened in the meantime, and why hadn't the people thrown Greene out during the next election?

Tatyana didn't have answers, but at least now she knew that there were questions that would lead to a way out. That was something more than she'd had before, and she'd take it.

But for now, she needed to find a way out. She had taken a nap, she had recovered, and she knew for a fact that Greene would be waiting on the other side of the gap between Level 2 and 3. The jackal AI would be pissed off from waiting this long, and probably trying to justify some sort of punishment. Tatyana would need to be ready for that.

Getting to her feet, the tigress began the process of scavenging through the office, ripping it apart to find anything that might be of use. The springs in the old office chair were something, as were the bits of metal that formed its frame under the cushions. She broke it down, pulling little bits and pieces off. The tool bag that she'd been carrying all this time came in useful, and bit by bit, she scavenged the office for little tools of various sorts.

The circuits of the computer, the power wiring, the desk itself, and everything else that she could put her hands on had some use. She managed to create a shock-wand that would serve as a minor defense tool, managed to create a few magnets that would help her out later. She put together several clamps that would allow her to ascend along the rope connecting this chamber to the upper parts of Volt City, and a few other tools that she would keep deep in the bag for now.

When it was all together, and she couldn't think of anything else that could be taken from this place without completely giving the game away, Tatyana pulled herself up through the ceiling panel once more. The darkness of the inside of the superstructure took her breath away, but she ignored it as best she could, attaching her new belt to the metal cord and beginning the climb back up.

Her muscles burned too much to take her past the opening that she'd escaped through before, so regardless of her hopes for a higher entry point, she had to slide back in through there. She grunted as she dragged herself up and through the hole in the metal, already hearing the grumbling and hissing on the other side of the stairway.

"Where is that woman...where is that thing...where is that Illegal? Where is that woman...where is that thing...where is that Illegal?"

Greene was cycling through the same line of dialogue over and over again, and Tatyana wondered, not for the first time, whether some coding in the AI had broken. It was clear that she hadn't been written for this role, never intended to be the Overseer for more than a few minutes before the project came crashing down in a failed ending, but something had obviously changed to allow her to function.

If 'function' was indeed the right word for the madness that had befallen Project West and Volt City.

Shaking her head, the tigress pulled her bag up so that the heavy part hung on one hip, the strap coming up between her breasts. All her tools were in the bag, but so far, the AI hadn't looked at it. Or even asked about it, for that matter. Even when she'd been stuck inside the cart-bot for the night, it had gone undisturbed and unmolested. Something about it seemed to mess with the AI's sensors, as if she couldn't see it or what was inside it.

She hoped that would continue.

Making her way up the stairs, she came to another one of Greene's electrified barriers. A scanner on the wall offered her the chance to present her ID, and as before, she lifted her leg and exposed the tattoo on the ball of her foot. It still sent an odd, inappropriate thrill through her to do something like that, and she shivered as she put her foot back down.

The barrier of electricity faded, revealing both Greene - her hologram self flickering in distracted annoyance before suddenly solidifying - and Level 3 as a whole. Tatyana had expected a series of lush houses, something less store-and-business focused than the level before, and she was somewhat correct. One end of Level 3 was a circle of well-appointed two-story houses, looking more like someone's townhome than anything else, and while there was little to actual 'land' around them, they clearly were given something to be proud of.

Before she could take in the rest of it, however, Greene stomped up to her. Rather than the rougher 'floor' of Level 2, where everything had been torture for someone barefoot, this Level was steel-coated from the sidewalks to the streets. Greene seemed to 'click' with her high heels for a moment, then flickered to being barefoot like the tigress, then flickered back to her high heels again before coming to a complete stop in front of the naked feline. She jabbed a non-existent finger into Tatyana's chest, narrowing her eyes.

"What were you doing, Illegal?" the Overseer hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tatyana said, stepping through the hologram. "I have work to do."

"You don't have anything of the sort."

"I am a manager now. That means that Mr. Silver will have something for me to manage up here."

"Oh, really? And in that case, what will he say now that you're late to work?" the jackal asked.

Late to - Tatyana gritted her teeth. She hadn't thought about that part; for that matter, the concept of being 'late to work' had been so impossible for her since she had gotten past being an experimental subject that she had all but forgotten that it was possible. Late for work. So long as the work got done, it hadn't mattered, but here -

She took one more step before the ground shifted under her feet. She stopped just in time, barely avoiding being slid right onto her ass as the metal panel moved upward, various restraints popping out from under it. The tigress went still, not daring to move and attract further attention.

Yet, Greene didn't stop there. The hologram flickered out of existence behind her, popping into sight in front of her once more.

"You cheated the system. I don't know how yet, but you did."

The same way that you cheated to get where you are? she wanted to ask, but she bit off the words. They were only going to get her in trouble, and she needed to keep at least a little semblance of freedom in this place. An angry AI was unavoidable. One that was pissed off enough to kill her? That was something else.

Greene leaned in, running intangible hands along her chest, over the tigress's exposed breasts. Tatyana stomped down on the sympathetic feelings, ghostly sensations of fingers dancing across her chest, memories of former gropings and worse that had happened in the cells when she was a subject. That was impossible here, even if Greene was able to play on the old lusts that she didn't want to think about.

The hologram ran her hands down Tatyana's body, coming to a rest right over the tigress's rump. She pulled herself closer, almost bosom to bosom, her breasts still bigger than they had been when Tatyana had first seen the Overseer. Something had changed in her programming, some small thing filled...

Filled in...

There was a clue there, something -

Then it was gone as one of the tendrils whipped up, slapping across the tigress's ass. She jumped, coming down and almost falling on her face. Greene chuckled, stepping back.

"You're late for work. And that means that you may be punished."

"I doubt that you can punish me much for that," Tatyana muttered.

"Nor do I imagine that you'll consider it a punishment. Illegals seldom seem to, considering what they get regardless."

She didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but she knew that there was more coming. She barely managed to catch her balance before the mechanical limbs came rushing from beneath the panel, seizing her by the ankles, and then by the waist. She was lifted off her feet once more, her legs forced apart so that the other tendrils could reach between them, one running some sort of wire-tendrils along her sex, while yet another -

Another opened up, going further, further, further up towards her clit. Her eyes went wide as she remembered one of the items on the report print-out.

Clitoral Extension.

The fantasies that the machine had forced into her head, of having her clit pulled into a tube and pumped hard, came back to her at that moment. She went from half-dry to drenched in a split second, her body reacting quite apart from her mind.

"Wait, wait!" she hissed.

"Mmmm, I don't think that you want me to wait. I think, little Illegal, that this is just what you want."

"Then...then it isn't a punishment, is it?"

"Oh, that's the delicious part. I'm starting to understand you, Illegal. You want this, alright...but you don't want to want it."

Greene moved forward, standing between the tigress's legs, her non-existent hands running up and down Tatyana's legs. They stroked along her knees, behind them, up her thighs, and her glowing fingers framed the tigress's sex. They would have been rubbing her if they were real, but they were far from that.

Greene looked up at her as the tingling wires continued to stroke, teasing her, getting her aroused enough for her clit to show itself. The other tendril pushed against her clit hood, sliding around the rising nub, getting a little bit more of the fleshy thing inside. It was constantly sucking, not hard yet, just enough to guide her clit inside. Other tendrils pushed her up from behind, lifting her so that she was suspended in mid-air as Greene smirked and continued her lecture.

"You don't want to want this...so I'm going to give it to you. A little Illegal like you shouldn't take long to be completely addicted to that kind of pleasure. With all those weaknesses you have, you'll soon want it more than anything."

"You...you're wrong."

"Shall we find out?"

"..."

"Heh, it was a rhetorical question."

The tube around her clit suddenly tightened as the suction kicked into high gear, and Tatyana screamed as the glass around her clit started vibrating. She arched her back, screaming and curling her toes, all but pissing her juices down her legs as she felt the pleasure hit her hard. The vibrations were strong, too strong, almost painful down there, but pain or pleasure didn't matter. It was intense stimulation, and her body had long-since been trained to take pain as pleasure.

And worst of all, her mind was rushing ahead of the stimulation, making her think of what else could be done, understanding what sort of pleasure could come from a machine like this. It charted the course of her needs, her wants, what her body would crave and the results of the physical and chemical reactions that would come from that many orgasms. She was already doing the math, finding out where her tolerances would come up short, and she didn't like the results.

Another, thicker tendril went to her ass. She felt it rubbing her pucker, then plunging in. The many stretchings that she had already taken had done a number on her, allowing it to just slide right in. At the tip, she could feel it swelling, mechanical chambers likely being inflated, and the thrusts in and out, in and out, were not a punishment in the strictest sense of the -

"MMMMPH!"

Tatyana screamed as the vibrations changed up again, buzzing up, then down, getting stronger, throwing in random bursts of faster ones then slower. The AI was already changing the focus of it, keeping her from getting used to the pleasure torment that afflicted her clit.

And through it all, the pump kept pulling. She could feel it getting puffier down there, harder, more sensitive. Biting off a whimper, the tigress forced herself to lean forward, looking down between her legs to see the...the damage, and -

"Nnngh...ah...ah..."

"Oh, my, look at what's happening to you already."

Greene loomed over the transparent thing between the tigress's legs, using her hologram light to illuminate the chamber. Inside, Tatyana's clit had already been forced to swell past the limits of her clit hood, stretching out by over an inch. Every throbbing, pulsing vibration, every tense bit of suction and release only pulled it out further, forcing her to grow.

Chemicals allowing physical relaxation in the tube, forcing the flesh to go slack and expand, fill with fluid, pulling it out tight to give room for more, rinse and repeat.

She knew what it was doing to her, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. Her clit pushed out further, reaching two inches, three, even four. It was looking more and more like a cock in miniature, and the tigress flinched and winced...

And dripped.

Each thrust of the tentacle between her cheeks made her wetter, and her clit throbbed harder. Her orgasm was right around the corner now, and there was nothing that she could do to slow it down, stop it, or...or anything. She whimpered, throwing her head from side to side, begging wordlessly for mercy, but there was none.

This was her punishment, she realized. Something that brought pleasure...but something that she did not consciously want.

"Cum, little Illegal...cum and break..."

She did one of those things. She came.

Tatyana squirted over the tube around her clit, her toes curling as she was forced over the edge. The tendrils dropped her, leaving her on all fours on the sidewalk as the various tendrils pulled back beneath the panels. Greene chuckled, kneeling down at her side.

"So, this is where your weakness lies, is it, Illegal?" Greene asked. "In things that your body wants, but your mind does not?"

"..."

"I think we both know the answer to that."

"What do you want?" she whispered.

"I...don't have to tell you that."

"Mmmph...I think..."

"Illegals don't need to think. And you..." POP! Tatyana gasped as the final tendril pulled off her clit. "You won't be thinking for some time. I think, given enough punishment, all your brains will go right down to that clit of yours. Or...heh...by the time that we're done here -"

"If you're the Overseer, you have responsibilities."

Tatyana had to cut in, had to interrupt, had to break the flow of conversation before Greene got any more information on what got her horned up. Clearly, the AI had gotten some, if not all, of the report that Silver had managed to get from her brain, but she had to keep Greene from adding to that list. She lifted her head up, fixing the hologram with a glare of desperation.

"You're the Overseer. CEO. That means that jobs must be accomplished. Tasks handed down. Mr. Silver promoted me, but is not here. You are the ranking authority, which means -"

"It means what, Illegal? You think that you have rights?" Greene asked.

"It means...it means either I am an employee, which means that you can tell me what to do, what you want done...or I'm not, and you can't."

"..."

"..."

"You...that's not...that's not fair!" Greene shouted.

"What do you want, Overseer?"

"I...I..."

"Nnngh..."

Tatyana struggled to get to her feet, but it was a struggle that meant something for once. She had managed to stymie and baffle the jackal, which meant that she could keep needling from below. This wasn't impossible to win, just very, very difficult.

Of course, there were consequences. She looked down, panting softly still, and shook her head at her clit. It stood out a full four inches over her sex, a meager excuse for a shaft, but something that was completely out of place on a female. It looked as if it was a little play strap-on, something that she had put on for someone else...

And it was hard. And very, very sensitive. Even the slight movements of standing up, the brushing of the 'shaft' against her thigh, was enough to leave her panting and gritting her teeth again at the 'unwanted' pleasure that coursed through her. It made her want to feel more, to see how much it would give her, but...

But no. She was not going to just...give in. She stood with her legs pressed tightly together, shaking her head as she crossed her arms.

Finally, Greene disappeared, clearly temporarily overwhelmed. The AI would be back later, she had no doubt, and when she did come back, there'd be no easy way of getting rid of her. Not like that, at least, and she'd doubtlessly have an answer, something that would either force Tatyana to do a job of some sort, or give Greene an excuse to throw her in some kind of prison. She had not forgotten about the vagrancy cells.

For now, though, I have time.

Level 3 was the level of the managers, and Level 4 was the level of the proprietors. She needed to own something if she was going to go up a level, which was going to be a lot harder than just getting through the loophole of being the one employee and getting the automatic promotion to manager. The various homes on the far side of Level 3 might have some credits or other wealth that she could cash in to buy a business, but...

She turned toward the other side. There were square 'hubs' that were connected via covered hardlines to Level 2. If she guessed right, then the hub squares were meant as a place for managers to interact with the different businesses in the lower levels without having to go down there for every little thing. If that was true, then that meant that there were ways for orders from the proprietors to come down...

And a way to see who was waiting for orders, and thus, when a business had gone defunct. And perhaps, just perhaps, a chance to set up her own business. After all, she was a 'manager', but employees could be claimed by other companies...

Let's see what the set-up is before we take this too far. There might not be a loophole to take advantage of...

But then again, there might be. She allowed herself a hint of hope as she walked down the street, wincing every few steps from the forced pleasure coming from her clit.

The first three hubs had been locked, and the fourth was not much better. It was in sleep mode when she walked in, dim and difficult to see in, but it was running, and that was enough.

She dropped her bag by the door, marching over to the single console in the center of the room. A quick examination confirmed that it was bolted to the desk it sat on, and that it had wires covered in a steel casing running out the back, across the desk and into the floor. The sides of the computer had various nodules, each one apparently available to a different plug-in.

Hmmm...no clear point of access there...

Kneeling under the desk, she found a scanner to present her ID to. That would grab the attention of someone, at least, and might even be what she needed to do to activate the hub. If that was the case, that would also get the attention of Mr. Silver, and possibly Greene, as well. No chance of sneaking things through once that started.

Pity I don't have any other IDs...

If she had a chance to go back to the houses on the far side, that would be worth checking. They might not all be registered as deceased just yet, so there might be chances to put access codes in.

For now, though...

She tapped at the screen, and then at the keys in front of it. The monitor came on, but only displayed the command to 'Scan ID', refusing to allow her entry without something to prove that she belonged here. It seemed that Level 3 was where the real security started coming into play.

But...

Tatyana opened her bag, pulling out a couple of her tools. She'd managed to jury-rig a welding torch of sorts, though not the most powerful one. It didn't need to be for what she was doing, however. Sparking it on and turning her head from the flames, she lowered it to the edge of the steel protectors for the wires under it. Holding the flames to the metal, she waited until there was no more hissing, and then released it.

A quick examination showed that she'd managed to cut a hole in and avoid the wires, which meant that she had a chance. Waiting for the heat to fade, she took a pair of pliers and a wire cutter from the bag, pulling the wires to her and slowly stripping the outer covering from it. She had a few small tools left, still, and this should just about work.

Once she slid a wire in, she pulled out the small hacker tools that had been confiscated at the police station, things she'd been able to add to in the small office outside the rest of Volt City. It was a weak signal, but -

Beep beep.

That did it.

She dropped her tools, hurrying around to the other side. The monitor beeped, opening up to reveal an unfamiliar OS. Didn't matter, considering that there was a business logo at the bottom of the screen that led off to something called 'Life Led Loose', which seemed to be a sexual wellness industry that - yes, was partially owned by Mr. Silver. Partially. He must have had a bit of a stake in it as well as in his own prostitution company.

Hoping against hope, she clicked on his name, and with a bit of working around, found the inter-network chat function. She started typing.

_Anon: I need help.

S: Who is this?

Anon: You can guess.

S: What are - girl, you are smarter than I thought.

Anon: You wouldn't be helping if I wasn't.

Anon: I'm in Level 3.

Anon: Best business to take over?

S: Not many options. After the organics died, any AI stakeholders took over.

Anon: Any willing to sell?

S: Not if it would piss off Greene.

Anon: You?

S: Not a chance, girl. I'm barely holding onto proprietor state now. Greene's encouraging all kinds of behind the scenes stock trading, and you've not seen stock trading fury until you've seen AIs doing it._

That was a problem. Seeing him on the board of part-owners had been a brief moment of hope. That hope was now dead.

She kept typing. There had to be a way forward, some way to get ownership of a company before she was found out.

_Anon: All of the companies are owned by AIs?

S: All the running ones.

Anon: What if I start my own?_

S: You'd need to drive one out of business first.

S: All current needs are seen to, and there's no room for a new company.

Anon: Doesn't have to last for long. Just long enough for Greene to buy it up.

S: Ah, and then you're an executive on the board?

Anon: Correct.

S: Hard to see that happening. It'd need to be a company she needed, something that she couldn't let slip. Hard to see a Whore getting that.

Much as she gritted her teeth, he had a point. She could, technically, 'start' a company that bought out her contract from Mr. Silver, but that would be barely funded before the others started attacking her for it. More to the point, there was no way that Greene would put down the 'funds' to buy it up and make her an executive as a result. She'd be stuck lingering in Level 4 for the rest of her limited days, until she either pissed Greene off enough to release the gas, or for the cube to lose power and drop her into the abyss. Neither of those options appealed.

But there had to be something else, or perhaps some_one_ else. Feliks's tapes had mentioned that some of the folk in the upper levels had disappeared before the gas was released. That meant that it was just barely possible that Greene had some people still alive on the upper levels, which meant that there might be allies that wanted to let her out.

Even that took her nowhere. She had no way of getting in touch, and even those helpful to her plight were still bound in the give and take of the capitalistic venture. She couldn't get something for nothing, and she had very little more to give.

What's useful enough for her to want to keep, and open enough that I can take a shot at?

There was no clear answer. There was, however, a shadow that was looming over her from behind. Tatyana slowly turned on her heel, looking back at the doorway to find Greene standing there with four floating drones behind her.

"I've decided what I want, Tatyana Whore," Greene said.

"...I'm sure. And what is it?"

"I want you to be a breeder."

"Below my station. Manager."

"Precisely. And a manager fulfills the duties that those below them are incapable of fulfilling, which is why you have a better position."

...Dammit. She trapped me.

"Of course, you could refuse," Greene said, smiling. "But then, as you are no longer doing your work, nor in your house, you are considered a vagrant. Not claiming a dwelling, not paying for anything...tsk tsk tsk..."

It was a perfect trap, and one that the tigress had managed to walk right into. Tatyana could have kicked herself, and very nearly did. The drones were waiting for her decision, and so was the Overseer.

And then, slowly, she realized that she had an opportunity. She glanced over her shoulder, scanning over the list of companies one more time, confirming what little she'd remembered. There was a chance here.

"...I'll resist."

"Oh, I was hoping you'd say that."

Tatyana expected an attack of various drone arms, electric prods, and more. She was ready for that, even planning to put up a show of a fight to make sure that it looked good for Greene's ego.

Instead, all four drones spat tranquilizer darts at her. Tatyana barely had a moment to feel the drug in her system before she collapsed.

The End

Summary: Tatyana gets some final information on the cube, and returns to the experiment to face some serious changes.

Tags: F/solo, F/Machine, Anal, Bondage, Jackal, Tigress, Femdom, Clit Play, Clit Pump, Forced Extension, Mind Games, Sci-Fi, Series, Orgasm, Cum, Humiliation, Barefoot, Nudity,