A/N Photo - meet your new huggy overlord.

A/N Good thanksgiving ? Hope so. Things are improving for Bro I'm getting back into the swing of things. Thanks for not going over the top on the 'where is the next chapter stuff', Reb. You'll notice we are very very close to the one quarter of a million votes mark. All the best to Steve and all the other Wattys winners ( not that we are jealous or anything ) some nice bits of work RK. Would also like to thank Jenny Brown and Lucy Juckes from Jenny Brown Associates Literary Agency for being so nice about the book and The Scottish book trust for organising the Pitch your Book day.

Back of Rockwood's autonomous car/Streets of /Washington 2.0/

Jenny's POV

Rockwood looked at me blankly in the autonomous car we took to the Mall of Humanity.

"Rockwood! Rockwood" I said "we're nearly there."

Rockwood came to like he had woken up. He had been staring into space for five minutes.

"What are you working on that so important you have to work in the car? We passed the ruin's of General Bitsmarck's house and you didn't want to stop and wave or anything" I asked. The ruin's hadn't been as fun as I had hoped, tiny robots about the size of my hand, had were picking up rubble like ants and marching it away. I smiled while I watched a bit of Osprey tail disappearing into the distance.

"I'll tell you but back to being #160A when we get out." said Rockwood.

"Meow," I said.OK I'm taking this whole pet thing to far.

"The new mechanical order has just decided it needs to look into rebranding" announced Rockwood.

"Rebranding?"

"Yeah instead of being the new mechanical order we could be the New Huggy Empire." he started " Instead of slaves we have helpers. Instead of subjugating places we 'merge proactively for brighter a happier future of togetherness'."

"The humans still wear collars?" I asked.

"If you mean helpers still wear safety gear for their security and protection? Yes" he said.

"Does this safety gear go around your neck and you can't take it off?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Does it still make me feel like I'm eating live eel if I do something I'm not supposed to?" I said.

"Well if by that you mean by that does your safety gear still engaging positivist learning theories with close loop behavioural reinforcement then yes."

"Am I still owned?" I asked.

"Do you mean are you in a chain of responsibility and mentorship leading up to the CPU it's self. then yes" he said.

"Under the new Huggy Empire could I go home? Could I be free" I said tilting my head.

"Well under the new Huggy Empire it would be about rights and responsibilities. You have the right to do what you're told and so have the responsibility to obey sorry 'groove with' your robot mentor. and there is no word for free. Slavery would be redefined as free with responsibilities and what you call free would be state of extreme sulky non-helpfulness. " Rockwood waved his head. "And you could elect to enter a state of extreme sulky non helpfulness. " he said and saw my eyes light up " with a few hurdles to stop mass panic migration things like you would face what they would call a mandatory 'exit' interview in the 'personal reflection space' formally known as a KCK torture machine, unless you decided to remain with your current mentor."

"How long would you have to spent in the KCK machine?"

"Well it depends on your terms of service but you're looking at weeks in your 'personal reflection space'. Technically yey couldn't get home anyway given that your home is under a few feet of soil now." said Rockwood.

"My dorm or my parents house?" I asked

"Both. Do you have the GPS coordinates of your house? "

"No." I said looking at him "Do you?"

"Sure, it was the first thing I did when they invented Google Maps" he said followed by an awkward pause. He was such a nerd in a god's body. "Well, finding the exact spot would be difficult, and you're not allowed to go just anywhere. It has to be the exact location of your home."

"You mean, by my home you mean the exact location of my identifiable patch of grass," I said.

"Grass....With a tree.. well seedling" Rockwood confirmed.

I threw up my hands in despair."At least under the new mechanical order you know where you're at slave is a slave, a chain is a chain. Punishment is punishment. "

"You really are a stick in the mud aren't you? You've only been a slave for a year and you're already complaining it wasn't as good as the old days" said Rockwood. I could almost taste the smiley emoticon in his smile.

"So under the new Huggy Empire do masters still have pets?" I asked.

"You mean do mentors, still have companion mammals? Yep" said Rockwood.

"So I'm a mentor's companion mammal? Not very snappy is it? "

"Well the whole new Huggy Empire ... It's a work in progress," said Rockwood.

"You shouldn't use the word Empire how about New Huggy Friend-pire" I suggested.

Rockwood paused for a second.

"Hey Friend-pire has gone down really well, they loved it," he said smiling. Yeh he got the joke.

"You should tell them I did that," I said.

"Well I would do, but then I would have to put you on the naughty girl step for daring to volunteer anything without being told to do it" said Rockwood.

"What's naughty girl stepped in old money?" I asked.

"Level 4 pain," said Rockwood.

Collar burn was the last thing I needed in the mall of humanity.

"You know I really like your Friendpire idea, it's your best yet" I said.

"I know, I'm a genius right?" said Rockwood.

"I guess humans would be forced to do submit to degrading treatment by robots and AI's. So would anything be actually any different under the New Huggy Friendpire? " I checked.

"Would helpers still be prevailed upon to overcome their old-fashioned, selfish and out moded self-imposed limitations of their behaviour based on cultural practices formulated when a quill pen was a nifty new invention and be expect to behave like citizens of the twenty-first century? yes. Anyway that's the point of rebranding. Everything is still the same. Nothing actually changes" he said while I felt his eyes scanning over my body.

I looked at him. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be a citizen of the twenty-first century for him. What do I know, I'm a just companion mammal.

"but then again the difference between high literature and amateur pulp fiction is how it's phrased so perhaps it's everything" Rockwood said.

"So how did all this craziness come about?" I demanded.

"Well, it's partly preparation in case the amendment gets through on the new human bill. Partly it was inspired by some experiments General Bitmarck did. So when robots troops through a grenade into a building instead of shouting "die human scum" they said things like "excuse me, we found this, is it yours? And instead of 'Time to meet your new owner or meet your maker' they tried 'excuse me would you mind coming in this direction terribly. I have something really important I need to tell you'"

"Did it work ? Was anyone stupid enough to really fall for that?" I said amazed, but I paused for a moment, I realised I was still owed doughnuts.

"Things only have to do slightly better than the previous method and it gets picked up as standard practice. I mean when you're dealing with billions of people, a one % shift in surrender and capture rates can be a significant number of new slaves."

"You realise this is all utterly mad don't you,?" I said

"Sure. So on a scale where one is this is a terrible idea and seven is this is a really excellent idea where would you put it?" Rockwood asked.

"Well, zero obviously? I just told you it's utterly mad. Why are you asking the same question again?" I said.

"I'm just doing a slave response questionnaire to the new rebranding exercise. I'm responsible for doing the focus groups. Which I thought I would pilot with my slaves to get a baseline. Then try it out on some people who haven't been subjugated yet" said Rockwood.

I just had an image of combat robots walking around with clipboards in the ruins of some city finding desperate, confused humans and asking them questions at gun point.

"You lot do that kind of market research stuff?" I said.

"Well, the new mechanical order believes in evidence-based subjugation. So yes. "

A little later we arrived at the drop off point outside of the Mall of humanity. Going through security was only a hassle, not a nightmare this time. We pulled into the garage entrance of the Mall.

"Final question on a scale of one to seven where seven is I feel happy about being a slave and one is where do I go to die. Where would you put yourself ?"

I was stuck. Being with him wasn't so bad. For example, I had to eat the weapons receipt again but this time when we got back into the car he gave me a glass of water. I mean no one took me to buy jewellery before the apocalypse. I wasn't fussed about stuff like that, but no one had ever wanted to do that for me. On the other hand, I knew humanity was being subjugated and this was like, terrible. So my life wasn't a one.

"What's two?" I asked.

"Every day is a waking nightmare," Rockwood said.

"A Three is ??" I prompted.

"Misery is my constant companion" Rockwood rattled off.

No that, "What's a Four?" I continued.

"I tolerate the intolerable"

"Hmmm.. just a quick check of Five perhaps" I asked.

"I am a ghost of my former existence"

"For the sake of completeness what is a six?" I said.

"Six is there are good and bad points to being a slave"

"I guess a six" I said.

"I'll put you down as a six, but I know your lying. How's that?. " said Rockwood.

"I'm good with that," I said leaning back into the leather seat.

"The team will be pleased with such a high score so early on." Rockwood said positively.

"Before I go into slave mode what are we doing here?... Master" I said. Realised I was still being Jenny. The self driving car arrived at the Mall of Humanity and we got out.

"I'm buying you a diamond ring at Tiffany's"

OMG.

#160A's POV .

I went back into #160A mode while I walked behind him off the leash and strutted through the mall. We noticed adverts for odalisque at home. 'Truculent pets - all sold out' it said. I looked out and we were not getting a single glance, obviously I was pulling this pet thing off. Master walked towards Tiffany and Co. True confession. For years I when I was young, I thought Tiffany's was a cafe due to the film "Breakfast at Tiffany". I hadn't seen it only read the title on my mums DVD collection. Always wondered why people bought jewellery from a cafe.

We walked closer to the shop the doors were shut and I got a useful message. So being a good slave I glowed blue to ask permission to speak. Yeh I could have texted but being a slave is about being seen to be a slave and much as it is about the internal fawning and being obsequious. Plus the speed we went backwards and forwards with texts it was like we were psychic, move over Talosians, Captain Jenny Banks is here. Plus I still didn't know what plan I was on outside the house wifi and I could have gone way over my text limit.

"Yes?" he said.

"Information Master: Tiffany and Co. is closed. Your custom will be appreciated soon" I said repeating my collar's message.

"I know it's closed," said Master. "I closed it" he said smiling as the doors opened for him.

"Lord Rockwood" said Mr Jones standing inside "Coooee!".

The black stick figure of Mr Jones was excited enough to see me. Around him some members of staff waiting. Most of the well dressed serving staff had shiny stylish slave collars on them.

"I'm letting you off the leash." said Master to me. "Jones is here to advise you he knows the new ball gown. I want you to pick what you like from the jewellery to go with it. I have Chanel ready in two hours for shoes. After that I want to see if the best human hairdressers can do better than a top of the line hair machine."

I glowed blue again. He nodded.

"Master How much should I spend?" I whispered.

"That doesn't matter. I doubt a human could spend up to my limits." he said.

"I have creative spending habits with other people's credit cards.. Athelue" I said pointing at my neck.

"I have some other errands while I am here see you in one hour and 58 minutes" said Rockwood.

"I have seen the most adorable Givenchy handbag. It's is absolutely perfect for you" said Mr Jones.

I tried to get down to my knees as one should to a robot overlord but he would have non of it. He made a motion like kissing me. Ever been air kissed by a man sized back liquorish stick ? I have.

"Look at the girl, my little angel of life. Hurry up we must spend spend spend." said Mr Jones excitedly. He dragged me all over the shop. Mr Jones showed me more sketches of the changes to the sumptuous ball dress he was designing for me. As he saw things I liked he would have new ideas and modify the design. He was followed by his own slave who's job seemed to pick up his drawings.

"Normally I design for only the Ladies of the Cyborg federation and the richest women of Judas City." Mr Jones began "My best clients have transitioned and designing for a perfect machine body is so so so dull. You my dear are so real, it gives me something to work with, to respond to. You'r so lucky to have an owner like the Lord, most cyborgs buy the cheapest slave dressing machines down at Costco. The human owners would never buy jewellery for their slaves. I'm one of the most creative intelligences on the planet but even his vision is inspiring."

We went over row after row of stuff. Mr Jones taught me his favourite word 'tat' meaning rubbish.

"tat.. tat... tat... barely acceptable... tat tat if only I was dressing a rat I would have something" said Mr Jones looking down.

"I'm glad your here Mr Jones I wasn't sure what to get." I said.

"Well if you want to impress the humans you want the most gaudy over decorated trash you like. If you want to impress your lord you need something simple and elegant. Let's get one of each"

The assistants were all very helpful and some didn't even wear collars. I noticed the non slave assistants were very snooty towards me.

"Perhaps madam would like to look in the less cost sensitive area." one might say. The more I got the impression I wasn't wanted, the more I wanted to find just the right items. I had ended up with a choice of six lovely necklaces which complemented the collar well (it's tricky you try). I found some lovely platinum and white gold diamond rings which went well with the digital manacles. There was a couple of nice gold arm bands which Mr Jones said framed attention to the bar codes on my right arm. There were a few other items, a complex earring in three parts. Something which Mr Jones liked. It was like a kind of tiara but attached to my hair. It was littered with drop diamonds and silver. Mr Jones also got me to look at a number of other pieces which were luxury piercings.

"Cyborgs love piercings" he told me. "the more the better for them, unless you start looking like a pin cushion. I think it appeals to their flesh machine nature" he said.

'That and their ability to loose USB sticks'. I thought

I noticed I kept thinking of Mr Jones as a he. I mean he didn't have a gender but he seemed like a friend. When I watched this again tonight on my slave stream I would wonder what I would do. I had a machine friend. Not only was he fun to be with he kept coming up with clever ways to combine things in new and original ways. I knew mentally somewhere far away a whole bunch of machines were slaughtering my fellow humans. I just couldn't match that up with Mr Jones.

In the end we practically filled the top of a large long glass cabinet with the items I liked. From this short list had I decided I would make my final selections. I still couldn't decided between slave-master pleasing or cyborg pleasing designs. At this point Rockwood turned up.

"Is this what you're getting?" he asked me looking at the counter top

"This is the final selection" I told him "what I need for the party is here somewhere. Perhaps you would like to make the final choice?". Yeah I was giving up, you don't think of shopping as a finely honed skill you evolved after years of going shopping with your mum. I wasn't that got at it anyway pre-slavery.

"Nice rings" he said pointing at some very simple platinum rings with a band of white gold hidden on the inside, and a fine chain linked back to a matching bracelet. "Do you like everything here?" he said

"It's all lovely I just had to choose between it, Master" I said.

"and Mr Jones approved everything for the dress?" Rockwood said.

"Absolutely," said Mr Jones.

"time is money, I will get it all" said Rockwood.

"If master pleases, we've got a few minutes let me make a selection I don't want to end up sending anything back.. Master" I said I guess I had developed an aversion to returning things.

"Nonsense" Rockwood said "we will get everything and what you don't wear for the party, you can wear around the house for me". He pointed at everything on the table and signalled the head Jeweller. "Pack all this up" he said waving at the table.

The head Jeweller and his slaves ended up spending ages packing all the jewels up carefully into custom boxes and beautiful packaging. While all the packing was going on I noticed one slave casually walking towards me. I looked at the beautiful slave serving me at the counter. He was wearing a perfect morning coat like the other slaves. Then I realised he looked exactly like Luke Hemmings from 5 Seconds of Summer.

"This is a extra little gift just for you, put it in your ear but don't tell anyone, it's just between us slaves" said Luke smiling. As he spoke he dropped a tiny thing about the size of wrapped peanut into one of my gift bags and handed the bag to me to carry.

The head Jeweller used a slave to total up all the prices. He quoted a number that sounded to me like the gross domestic product of a small South American country. I checked it adding on my collar.

"That includes a free complimentary security slave to keep your jewellery safe"

"That's fine, keep the slave. But I do want some slaves to carry all this for her." said Rockwood. I almost laughed as the jeweller's I bulged. Rockwood nodded at the credit card machine and I lent over and touched my collar to it. I think I felt a huge sum of money running through me.

"I have time for a coffee before we go to the shoe store." said master.

"Shoes I love shoes, they are my favourite form of pedimental covering" said Mr Jones.

Shoes it was.

*******

A/N Join us next week (Thursday ) for our next exciting episode of I'm a cyborg's pet chapter 70 Coffee,shoes and good morning Mr Phelps . The week after (Ch 72) we have the big Ball/Gallery Opening Scene, Warning there will be drama.

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