State of Compliance

Alicia dropped her skirt, and then her panties. They were simple white briefs, probably all she could afford. I imagined her wearing some of my best underwear, back at my house. We were close enough to the same size, at least around the waist. My butt was smaller and perkier. Her cheeks were longer, but just as toned as her legs. I'd seen them plenty of times.

Thankfully, the State was reasonable about footwear on its streets and on business properties. As long as they were transparent gel, they could stay on.

The inspection went about how one would expect. The compliance bot was large enough to provide Alicia with plenty of support. She didn't have to do much of anything besides open her mouth. Her collar and chastity device blinked and occasionally pinged. We briefly lost eye contact due to the scan, but soon reclaimed it. Alicia was obviously sex-dead, and had endured a very different two years than I had prior to her release. Her gaze spoke volumes, but I only understood some of the chapters. Bits and pieces of past conversations filled in some gaps. She was obviously traumatized every time she was inspected, but she seemed somewhat grateful for the Level Zero bots. I didn't know how bad the Level One bots were. I'd never asked her. She'd never volunteered.

I saw it in her eyes when a probe entered her vagina, and again for her anus. The oral probe's first foray was fully visible, and after that, Alicia's well-trained insides barely noted its passage down into her stomach.

A thought occurred to me, then. I was surprised that it did, because I was still sex-dead, but that surprise didn't last long. I knew I was having a Moment. We still knew about those. They still appeared on television shows and in movies. Most of the ones we watched unfold on our screens were about finally understanding why the State was so good and necessary, or why a soldier had to lay down their life for it. I think most of us still knew that those weren't the only ones. People still got married, after all. They still had children. They still made friends.

My Moment was complicated -- as complicated as the relationship between me and Alicia. I had feelings for her that transcended sex. I was scared. I didn't want to offend her. I didn't want to abuse her. I wanted to slowly persuade her, until the decision was hers -- or at least mutual.

I discovered, after having my thought, that I wanted her - just her -- so much that I was willing to toss all the rest aside.

"I request permission to make contact with Alicia, Level One citizen, if she's compliant," I said loudly. I didn't know if it would work, but I suspected. I was a Level Zero, after all, and she was 'just' a Level One.

Alicia's wet eyes bugged out of her head.

The compliance bot didn't stop working, but its insides began whirring and clicking like mad. I felt and heard my collar blink and ping. Alicia's did the same. Even my chastity device got in on the action, though it didn't disrupt my sex-death at all. For a brief moment, I was worried I was going to be on the hook for a fried bot that probably cost more credits than I made in a year.

"Permission..." the bot began coldly. "...Granted! Level... Zero... citizen!" Just like that, its tone was friendly and harmless again.

I stood quickly. I practically pushed the chairs out of the way; I was lucky I didn't bump the table and send my water flying. I got in as close as I could to Alicia, and I waited. My Moment had already begun. I wasn't going to abandon it halfway through.

"You were... cooperative, and are... compliant," the machine intoned. "Cooperation...and...compliance...are rewarded."

I felt myself shaking. My body knew it had such a narrow window. The oral probe withdrew enough so that I knew -- or guessed, really -- that it was only inside her mouth.

"Mmmph? Wmm mrrm hrmm?"

I didn't bother trying to figure out what Alicia was trying to say. I knew that if I did, I would chicken out. I waited until I saw her eyelids flutter. I swooped down and took one of her glorious nipples into my mouth. I placed my left hand at the other.

"Hnnng!" she cried out, her mouth still full of inflated probe.

I gave her breasts and nipples an hour's worth of love in fifteen seconds. I did everything I could. I wanted her to stay sex-alive forever. My collar and chastity device crackled with confusion. They knew I was still sex-dead. They simply didn't know what to make of my request, or my actions. The network couldn't understand sexual selflessness, because it didn't need to. I wondered if a human might actually review my record, possibly for the first time ever.

I could feel the change in Alicia. I knew the exact moment when my body was no longer doing anything for hers. I knew I had to withdraw, because, implicitly, I'd only been granted permission to touch her during her reward. Outside of rewards, such contact was considered gauche. For all I knew, Level Ones weren't allowed to do it at all.

I moved away and found Alicia's gaze again. I saw everything in her eyes, and it gave me hope. Outrage, betrayal, shock, and disbelief didn't play alone. There were others. I knew there was something in them for me.

"I request a third party time check," I said loudly.

The bot whirred.

"Level One... citizen has been inspected... recently," it stated flatly. "Third party will be charged... zero credits."

I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised that they didn't give Level Ones credits. Still, it was the principle. Alicia deserved better. She was trying so hard. She was getting inspected so often, and I was partially to blame. I searched her eyes for some change. I thought I saw one. I couldn't be sure I hadn't just wished it.

Alicia waited until the compliance bot was well and truly done with her. She forgot to lower her tank top, or retrieve her skirt and panties.

"Beth, what the fuck?" she panted out. The orgasm had drained her, but she wasn't flying high. Level Ones are different. Compliance is rewarded, but not as much. Alicia had clawed her way up from Level Two in record time, but I'd seen it those first few weeks. At Level Two, compliance was presumed -- in other words, not rewarded at all.

I stood dumbly and let her retrieve her purse. I saw the cheap, disposable wipes. I immediately offered her one of my better, reusable ones. She hesitated, but then sighed and accepted it. I did finally avert my eyes. I let her clean herself and get dressed.

When I judged that she was clothed again, I turned my head back and looked her in the eye.

"Alicia, please let me touch you," I implored her.

Her face screwed up in confusion. "Why?" she asked. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm in love with you," I said. Her taste was in my mouth; it was courage. My Moment wasn't over. "I've been in love with you for years. Please let me touch you. Then come home with me. Your curfew isn't until eight on Saturdays. I'll pay for a State car. I'll do anything. Please."

I was a terrible person, I knew. Alicia knew it too. Her life had been hard, though, and she'd learned to work the angles. I saw her do it. I didn't care. I needed her.

"As wrong things go," she said, "that's pretty wrong." She played it off as a joke.

I didn't. "I know," I said. "It's awful. I'm awful. I just can't bear it anymore. Come home with me. Let me sponsor you."

"Huh," she replied. "You actually said it. Out loud. Just like that. Cards on the table. That's... not nothing."

"I know," I replied. My chest was tight. My stomach was in knots. I didn't know what else to do.

Suddenly, I did.

"I submit to voluntary full inspection!" I shouted.

The compliance bot heard me. It slowly turned and plodded back towards the two of us.

Alicia's eyes changed. She was still working the angles. She still wasn't overwhelmed by my generosity, or by my grand gesture. Still, I knew I'd moved the needle. I thought I had. I wished for it, really, really hard.

"I give this Level One permission to assist me with preparation!" I shouted. "I consent to be touched!"

I spun around and sought out all the gawkers. I spread my arms wide. I invited them -- challenged them -- to look. There were a few more than there had been before. Alicia's inspection had drawn some out from various shops and buildings. My outbursts had brought them scurrying right back. I even saw a few vague shapes behind windows, higher up. The more the better, I decided. It would make the grand gesture grander.

I offered myself to Alicia. She made a choice -- not the final one, but it was something. She moved in and peeled off my T-shirt all the way. She ogled my pale, modest breasts. She squatted down and tugged on my bottoms, then stood back up. The compliance bot looped around her, and she tensed when it drew near. I silently begged her to just focus on me -- any part of me she wanted. Then, the compliance bot was behind me. I opened my mouth. I spread my arms wide again. I submitted to inspection.

"Thank you, citizen!" the bot cheerfully exclaimed. "You will not receive credits or a complimentary dose for your voluntary inspection, but compliance will still be rewarded!"

The message required no patchwork. As rarely as it was delivered, it expressed a clear policy.

I felt it, then, in my private place -- the one that no probe could ever reach. I beat the sex-death, just a hair, just a fraction. I thought of all the people watching. I thought of my nakedness. I thought of Alicia, clothed, ogling every part of me: my smooth pussy, my soft tummy, my smaller breasts and my slender limbs. My pelvis got hotter -- a hundredth of a degree? Less? The human skin can feel a bee's wing dropped from half an inch. I knew, just as surely as I knew that my vagina had produced one tiny bead of its own lubrication before the bot had sent those commanding pulses through my device.

I never stopped looking at Alicia's beautiful face. I searched her gaze -- no, her everything -- for any hint that she was softening, warming, believing... loving.

I took all three probes. I saw the red light shine in my eyes. I felt it everywhere else on my skin. I let the bot triple-penetrate me, right there on the business property, for all the Zero zone market square to see.

Alicia pursed her lips. She looked away from my nearly-naked body -- only the chastity device and my gel-shoes remained -- and thought about something, hard.

She looked back up. "I request permission to touch Beth, Level Zero citizen, if she's compliant," she said.

The bot whirred. Our collars blinked and pinged.

"Denied," the bot said flatly.

I felt a few tears form, but honestly, the faint look of disappointment on Alicia's face was reward enough.

"Congratulations, citizen!" the bot said, cheerful once again. "You were... cooperative, and are... compliant. Cooperation... and... compliance.... are... rewarded!"

I kept my hands away from my breasts. It took almost all my willpower. I still orgasmed, long and hard. Alicia watched. Everybody watched. I wished I was on State television, but not for myself. I wanted to prove to Alicia that I was willing to endure everything she had, just to be with her.

I came down, and felt sex-death creeping back in.

"I want you," I whispered, as soon as the withdrawing oral probe would let me. My new private fire kept the numbness at bay for just long enough. I said it, and I meant it.

Alicia helped me dress. She was quick about it.

"Can I touch you?" she asked.

"Can I touch you?" I asked her right back.

We both said 'yes,' and then we kissed. That answered my question from earlier, I supposed. Neither of us felt anything sexual. I didn't need to. I hoped she didn't either.

The kiss broke, and Alicia firmed everything up. I didn't blame her at all.

"If I come home with you every Saturday," she said, "you'll sponsor me. You'll do everything you can to get me to Level Zero, even if it costs credits."

I nodded so hard that I strained my neck. "I'll worship you, Alicia," I said. "We'll get inside, get these things off-"

"Level Ones' don't come off, Beth," she said, interrupting me.

I shouldn't have been surprised. I was, though. Then I was angry. Alicia had made one terrible mistake. She'd paid so much. The State... maybe the State wasn't always reasonable. My stomach flipped at the thought. My heart began to pound. I tried to refocus on what was right in front of me.

"Then mine won't either," I said, and it was her turn to be shocked.

I took her hand. I brought it to my long, brunette hair. I urged her to put her fingers in it, so that she could grab it and tug it, if she wanted.

"Do it to me," I whispered. "Everything you want. Everything they did to you. Anything to make you whole again. I want it. I want you to be my warden. My client. Make me your Level Two -- your Level Three. Rape me, Alicia. Rape me, and don't let me cum. Every inspection you take when we're together, I'll take it too. Every single one. I love you. Please."

The storm rose up again in those beautiful, brown eyes. Once again, they contained everything. For a few moments, she couldn't work the angles. She was finally overwhelmed. Nothing made sense to her. Everything made sense to me.

"You fucking watched," she whispered. It was death, but it was fire, not ice.

"I deserve to be punished," I whispered back, "and you deserve to be the one."

Her breathing got heavy. Her nostrils flared. Her hand tightened in my hair. I knew I'd won.

"You don't get to cum..." she said.

I nodded again.

"...today," she finished. "After that... I'll decide. Sometimes, I think, I want to make you."

My eyes widened. I pushed the sex-death away another fraction. Ninety-nine percent became ninety-eight. I felt so powerful. Alicia was going to be in charge of me, just how I'd always wanted it, and there wasn't enough room for both her and the State. The State, the almighty State, had to move. Two percent. I knew it would be more, the further we went.

Alicia looked at me, and I saw the question in her eyes. My pounding heart leapt. My feelings were so far beyond sex, and yet, I was able to think about it. I was able to want it. Two percent.

I answered her. "From my ass," I said. "Strip me. Bind me. Gag me. Stuff me. Rape me up the ass, and make me cum from it, like a Level... I don't even know. I don't know. Alicia, I love you. I don't even know."

"Like a Leader, probably," she said. It was a bitter joke upon her lips. "Like an Elite." She looked away again, but she refocused quickly. I decided it was because she was getting impatient. She wanted to come home with me.

"If I make it to Level Zero," she said, "I might not stay with you."

I nodded again. I didn't believe her for a second. Even if she did mean it, I had time. I would win her over. I'd change all the angles. She'd love me. She'd stay.

"Okay," she said. "I can wait to eat. Let's go home."

That final word was better than any State dose I'd ever taken.

I led the way, but only like a dog on a leash. She kept her hand gripped around my long hair, and only released it when we had to be inspected. She took two anally, two vaginally, and one orally. I volunteered for every single one she endured. I ended up earning two hundred credits from the ones I caught myself. She didn't join me for those. I was glad she didn't. She watched. I was thrilled she did.

Jake waved from his window. I could tell he approved. I had the vague sense that if he knew Alicia was a Level One, he'd have been even happier. It was a strange time to be alive. Old folks had more spirit than young ones. I was beginning to feel like an exception. It scared me, but I wanted more.

I was true to my word that afternoon. Once we were back inside my house, I didn't take the chastity device off. I removed my State collar, but I showed her my play ones. She put one around my neck, and made it tight. She didn't bother with a leash. She used my hair.

Of course she didn't rape me. How could she have? She spanked me, slapped me, bit me, pulled my hair, fisted me, smothered me with her asshole until I almost suffocated, and destroyed both of my holes with the biggest dildo in the house. I didn't cum a single time, but I pushed the sex-death away even more. Ninety-six percent, by the end. I was a goddess -- no, she was. I was her priestess. The State was empire -- cold, mechanical, and secular -- and she was beating it back.

I rode with her in the State car back to her apartment block. I paid for it, of course. Once again, I volunteered for every indignity she suffered. The setting sun was pinker and harsher there; it was under a Level One dome. Alicia stripped me naked in the sad, dirty streets of her zone, twice, and I was fully inspected each time. The assorted gawkers weren't nice or polite, like Jake. They weren't clean or well-to-do, like at the market square. Most of them weren't even all that attractive. Alicia wasn't a mere diamond in the rough. She was a priceless power core that had been dropped into a waste treatment plant. I had half a mind to believe they'd done it on purpose.

The bots were ugly and clumsy. Their voices were, too, and even their special tone for Level Zeroes was a bad joke. I had to work hard to cooperate. I was sure I looked even more the fool, shifting, spreading, and squatting. When my compliance was rewarded with a sharp, rough orgasm -- terrible food, and such small portions, just like the old joke -- it was impossible to tell the cheers from the jeers. Ninety-five percent. Rude, dirty, and ugly as they were, I silently thanked the gawkers. Even the crappy bots had helped.

She wouldn't let me see her apartment. She was ashamed. She said that the State channels were on in perpetuity, and that they were enough to drive anybody mad. I told her that anything she saw or heard -- whether she liked it or hated it -- she should do to me the next Saturday. She nodded. The storm in her eyes pushed further away from the bad, and closer to the good.

I probably had six months, at least. By then, I knew that that storm would be passion and love, all for me. She'd stay. When her chastity device finally came off, I'd make my mouth its exact opposite, every single day, for as long as she wanted. I'd take every sick day and vacation day I had saved up. I'd dip into my meager savings. I'd be her prisoner, inside our tiny suburban home, for as long as I could afford to be. Sometimes, she'd make me cum. She wouldn't let me have it easily. She'd teach me to cum like a bitch -- her bitch.

The next day, we met at her zone's administrative hub. I loudly gave her permission to touch me. She immediately grasped onto my long, brunette hair. I'd braided it just for her.