They are changing me, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m scared, alone, and hungry, and I’ve lost track of how much time has passed since I’ve been brought down here, wherever here is. It doesn’t matter much now since they are controlling me, forcing me to do things and I can’t stop them no matter how hard I try. I wish for it to be a bad dream. I wish desperately for it to be a bad dream, but it’s real.

My name is David Morrigan. I was captured last night, at least, I think it was last night. Now they’re taking me down a hallway and I’m not sure where they’re taking me. I don’t want to go but they’re making me, they’re making me go. I want to stop, I want to stop but I can’t- Either way I’ve got to pull it together. Somehow, I’m going to find a way out of here, and I’m going to report this. Whoever these fuckers are they have no right to abduct people.

In the meantime I’ve got to hold on to my name. I’ve got to make sure I hold on to my name. David. They’d done so much to me, they’ve made me do and say things, even change who I say I am, at least on the outside. They can’t change what I know and I know that my name is David, not what they’re making me call myself. I’ve got to hold on to this story, to myself, what happened to me. I was walking down the street back home, it had been a rough day at work and I’d just gotten fired. Said that the company had to make cuts in order to keep it running. With more and more computers managing the machinery at the power plant, my co-workers and I weren’t needed anymore. So I’d spent an entire night at the bar, and then walked on home alone- one of those low cost houses in the Yellow Zone, the dirtiest area in the city where low-pay workers end up.

They came at me so fast. I couldn’t even tell where they had come from. All I knew is that they were all around me, these people who weren’t people. They wore cloaks, so I couldn’t really see their faces save for the one coming at me from the front. It was a bald man with a face so pale he looked almost dead. And his eyes were blank, expressionless, like one of those newer human-replica androids that were being manufactured.

He grabbed my right arm so hard that I actually cried out in pain, still it was flesh and bone. This person was human. Before I could react, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my head, and then everything went black.

The next thing I knew I was in a black room, laying on my back on a cold, steel floor. Everything was painted black. The walls, the ceiling- everything. I rolled over to get up, and I realized that I had no clothes on.

I quickly scrambled to the corner of the room, covering as much of my self as I could. I tried to figure out what was going on, tried to figure out where I was. My head was spinning, and nothing made sense. Then suddenly, a door appeared.

There was no door there before it appeared, at least, none that had been visible to me. I remained huddled in the corner, my heart suddenly beating faster as I realized that I was about to meet my captors.

Three men walked into the room. Like the man who had attacked me the night before, they were all bald they had all pale, almost blue skin, with expressionless eyes. Now that they weren’t wearing cloaks, I could see the leather jumpsuits they were wearing, along with the metallic clamps attached to their necks. One of them was holding a syringe with a clear green liquid in it. Another one was holding a small, metallic box. Overcome with fear, I got up on my feet and tried to run past them-

And the next thing I knew, one of them had grabbed me by the neck and slammed me down onto the floor on my back. In pain, I wasn’t able to fight back when they turned me over on my back and held me down.

I felt the cold sharp point of the syringe enter the back of my neck, and the whole world around me started to blur, and I stopped struggling. Whether it was a sedative, I wasn’t sure, but all I knew was the sudden rush of pleasure that washed over my entire body as I felt it relax.

They stopped holding me down, getting off me.

“Drone X31-55C will stand,” one of the three men intoned in a flat voice.

I stood. I didn’t want to, but I stood up. That was when I realized that I couldn’t move my body anymore. It just stopped doing what I wanted it to do. I couldn’t run, couldn’t blink, couldn’t scream. ‘What the fuck is going on?’ my mind shouted on its own, unable to move my mouth anymore.

“This drone is Drone A41-79B,” the man standing directly in front of me said. “Drone X31-55C will obey all instructions given by this drone throughout the assimilation process.”

“Acknowledged,” I heard my own voice replied. It was flat and emotionless- the same as theirs.

“Drone X31-55C will accompany these drones to room 25-A for the first stage of assimilation,” Drone A41-79B said.

“Acknowledged,” I heard myself reply again.

They turned and walked out of the room with me following them. I couldn’t stop, no matter how much I tried. The exit led into a huge corridor bustling with activity. All around me I could see more of these men dressed in leather jumpsuits escorting other naked prisoners. As I passed some of these prisoners, I saw that there were metallic clamps attached to the back of their necks. They were following the drones, but I could see that their eyes were different. There was still one emotion in their eyes- fear.

The drones in front of me led me to a wall which slid open to reveal another room. They then took me into another black room, except that there were electric lights lining the walls, and a metallic chair that looked like a dentists’ chair at the right side of the room. There were panels and machinery surrounding that chair, as well as plastic tubes and wires leading towards what looked like a draining system beneath the steel grating that was the floor.

“Drone X31-55C will stand in the right side of the room,” Drone A41-79B ordered.

“Acknowledged.” ‘Why can’t I fucking move?’

The next thing I knew, the drones were standing around me. One was holding what seemed to be an electronic razor. The other two were holding what appeared to be bottles containing clear liquid. The first wasted no time and started shaving all of my hair off my head, and continued on to shave the hair on the rest of my body- armpits, eyebrows, everything. The second and the third started smearing the liquid over the rest of my body using brushes. The liquid felt cold and oily, and somehow, I got the feeling that it was there to keep my hair from growing back. All the while I continued screaming inside my head.

It made no difference.

Once they were done, one of them brought out from one of the cabinets in the room what appeared to be a black jumpsuit identical to theirs.

‘Oh God, no…’ I recoiled inside my mind.

“Drone X31-55C will assist in putting on the suit,” Drone A41-79B said.

‘Fuck no! Leave me the fuck alone!’ “Acknowledged,” I heard my flat voice say.

The drones assisted in putting on the suit and I cooperated. I lifted my feet to help them put my legs in, and held my arms at the right angle as they were slid into the long sleeves which ended in gloves where my fingers fit in perfectly. Behind me, one of the drones sealed up with a kind of tool which it had picked up in the room. They performed their duties quickly and efficiently, and I noticed, without talking to each other.

“Drone X31-55C will take its place on the assimilation chair,” Drone A41-79B intoned.

“Acknowledged,” I replied again. ‘Oh God PLEASE! This can’t be fucking happening!’ The drones stood on either side of the chair as I sat down. My feet and arms were strapped down, and a broad leather belt was strapped across my waist.

“Stage two of the assimilation will now commence,” one of the drones said, his wide vacant eyes staring into mine.

One of the drones circled around me, and I felt the metal clamp removed from my next. For the next few seconds, my body was mine again.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! LET ME GO! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LET ME GO N-

And then I felt a familiar rush of calm wash over me as my body relaxed again. I noticed that there were two tubes with an endless supply of that green fluid pressed into my neck, and countless other tubes and wires were pressed through openings in the jumpsuit through my flesh. The power of the drug they were using on me was overwhelming- I didn’t know why but the pleasure I felt was so intense that I couldn’t care that I was being strapped into a chair. Could care that tubes were inserted through my mouth, my ears and one particularly large one was pressed into my ass. Whether they were extracting or putting things in just didn’t matter. There was only that overwhelming wave of pleasure.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that sharp objects were cutting into the back of my neck, smoothly, surgically. Still I felt no pain. The drug had numbed everything. I felt more metallic objects being fastened to the back of my head, closer to my skull, some were put directly into the holes they were boring into my head. Still I sat there, caught in the bliss the drug was giving me. Eventually they stopped cutting and started mending, and before they cut the supply of the drug being fed into my bloodstream, they reattached the metal clamp to the back of my neck.

The pleasure soon subsided, and I was myself again inside, though my control over my body was gone.

“Drone X31-55C, verbal communication will cease at this point. We have learned that this can be somewhat confusing initially for freshly assimilated humans. A more efficient mode of communication will be instituted. Drone X31-55C will learn to adjust to this mode quickly.”

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I felt one of the mechanical things they had forced into my head come to life.

‘Is Drone X31-55C in communication with this unit?’ I heard Drone A41-79B say, though her mouth hadn’t moved.

‘Affirmative,’ a voice inside my head answered.

‘Drone X31-55C will use this mode of communication from this point onward,’ Drone A41-79B said. ‘Drone X31-55C will not initiate any communication until further notice.’

‘Acknowledged,’ I heard my flat voice answer. I wondered how this was happening to me. But that part now seemed smaller, somehow. ‘Dear God…please make it stop…’

‘SILENCE.’ I flinched on the inside as Drone A41-79B boomed inside of my head. ‘Drone X31-55C will NOT initiate any communication until further notice.’

‘Acknowledged,’ I heard my voice repeat itself. Apparently there was another level of thought where the drones couldn’t hear me. Keeping my thoughts at that level, a mental whisper, I urged myself to remain calm. The drones were removing the straps holding me to the chair.

‘Drone X31-55C will accompany this drone for the final stage of the assimilation,’ Drone A41-79B instructed.

‘Acknowledged.’ I rose and stood from the chair before I followed them out of the room.

We entered the hallway, and Drone A41-79B led the way. I walked past other drones, leading naked men and women around who were being controlled by the metal clamps at the back of their necks. I could tell how far gone they were by the looks in their eyes. Some still had fear in them- the rest, the ones who had been assimilated had empty eyes. Their eyes saw everything, but there was no personality in them. Empty shells directed by machinery.

We went the down the hall past some doors where other people who had been dressed and operated on like me were following other drones. I tried to run. I tried to get my body to obey me, but there wasn’t any difference from before. If anything, I felt less in control now. This body didn’t feel like mine anymore. I could feel the probes inside my head, like dead worms. Something told me that they wouldn’t be dead for long. Since they had been put there, I felt like I was looking at everything, feeling everything through a filter. Sight, smell, sound…nothing felt right anymore.

Now they are taking me into another room. As Drone A41-79B had said- it was the final stage of assimilation. Would that mean that I am going to die, and my body will live on? If that is the case, somehow I welcome it, over having to watch as my body moves around at the control of others.

No! I mustn’t think like that! I must escape!

The last room is a huge room, almost as large as a football field. As far as the eye can see are glass cylinders, with panels outside them being operated by other drones. As I pass them, I see that some of them are filled with a crystal blue liquid, with one drone in every tube, a single thick cable attached to the clamps at the back of their necks while others were attached to various other parts of the body.

The drones leading me stop outside one of the open tubes.

‘Drone X31-55C will enter the assimilation chamber,’ Drone A41-79B says.

My only response is obedience.

‘Drone X31-55C will turn around.’

The drones accompany me into the tube. One of them kneels and starts attaching cables to my knees, ankles and waist while the main, largest cable is attached to the back of my head. I can only stand frozen- a statue only capable of whimpering and sobbing at the back of my mind.

Once the last cable is installed, the drones step out, with Drone A41-79B stepping out last, his eyes locked on to mine. If I could beg with my eyes, I would. As it stands I have no control of even that anymore.

‘Drone X31-55C will now commence the final stage of the assimilation.’

The glass tube closed, and blue liquid started to pour into the room through openings in the floor.

I shrink inside my mind, trying to gain some distance as the cable, supported by the liquid lifts me off the floor. All my efforts to remember who I am up to this point so that I can escape appear to have been useless all along. What the liquid, that has now completely filled the tube, is for, I don’t know. But I am not drowning somehow. It would be pointless for them to let me drown after everything they have done to me so far.

The word ‘panic’ is an understatement to my state of mind as I breathe in almost voluntarily, having the liquid fill my lungs. The probes at the back of my mind are coming to life, and the wave of pleasure that the drugs had given me is back, and its stronger than before. I am soaring and my worries are beginning to leave me. Nothing hurts. Nothing matters. I can feel my suit tightening around my skin, but I don’t care. God help me but it feels so good, even if my body is now shaking violently.

Inside my head I feel the probes working, sending electrical signals that quickly wrap around my brain. That small space which I have been allowed to occupy so far is quickly shrinking, and I desperately attempt to fight the pleasure and grab my memories before they slip away and I become nothing.

‘Why is this happening to me? Why?’

And for once, a voice answers. It is not one of the drones, it is more mechanical, deeper, more powerful.

‘Citizen David Morrigan, congratulations for being selected for the Hive program. Participation in this program is what you have always wanted, what you have always craved. Individually you serve no purpose to society anymore, but through the Hive you will service society, along with the rest of your brothers and sisters from the Yellow Zone. Your existence will be for the survival of your brothers from the higher zones. We have saved you from living in poverty. Your will henceforth be known as Drone X31-55C. You will now work and stay in the newly installed Power Plant 8-391C to keep the planetary shield operational. Do not resist the modifications that are being applied. We are helping you become better. You are no longer David Morgan. You are now Drone X31-55C. You are now Drone X31-55C. You are now Drone X31-55C. You are now Drone X31-55C…

“I won’t listen, I won’t listen, I won’t listen… I am David Morrigan. Fuck you. I am David Morrigan. I am David Morrigan…born in 2088, at…where was I…my father was Alex Morrigan my mother was Christine... she used wait for me in the kitchen when I come back from….what did she make? What did she look like?...Fuck…I am David Morrigan…I am David Morrigan…I am David Morirgan, I am David Morirgan…I am Drone X31-55C, assigned to Power Plant 8931-C, commissioned from Assimilation Pod 25…”

-

With its programming complete, and its suit sealed to its dermis, the liquid started draining from the tube, lowering freshly assimilated drone onto the floor again.

As the liquid finished draining from tube, hot air fans started blowing inside to dry up Drone X31-55C before the assimilation pod opened and the Drones A41-79B, A33-42J and H28-01M started efficiently removing the cables attached to its body. Drone X31-55C heard communication pass between the three drones, but made no response as none was directed at it.

‘Citizen David Morrigan, perform diagnostic check.’ The freshly-assimilated drone now recognized the authorative voice as the Master Server.

‘Negative,’ the drone replied. ‘Citizen David Morrigan has been fully converted to Drone X31-55C.’

‘Acknowledged,’ the Master Server replied, then, as it was programmed, it responded to the expected answer and repeated the command. ‘Drone X31-55C, perform diagnostic check.’

‘Acknowledged,’ the drone replied, and ran a quick check of its systems. ‘This drone requires maintenance. This drone will require a rest period in 18.3 hours.’

‘Acknowledged,’ the Master Server replied. ‘Drone X31-55C will report to Maintenance Station 4, then proceed to assimilation station 55-V to assist Drones B31-66O and G42-56N in the assimilation of another drone. Rest period will begin in 18.3 hours at quarters 17-E.’

‘Acknowledged,’ Drone X31-55C answered. It stepped out of the assimilation pod and started walking towards the maintenance station for sustenance, hydration and evacuation of solid and liquid wastes. As it stepped out into the hallway, it walked past other drones towards its destination. All was orderly and efficient. Communication passed between it and the other drones, and on occasion, the Master Server. With all unnecessary programming, memories and personality fully assimilated now, David Morrigan was now a complete part of the Hive. His knowledge of mechanics and electronic engineering would be fed into the main database, and used to further better the functioning of the entire system. He no longer had to worry about working hard for food or money, a place to stay or sexual desires. He had been rescued.