Excerpt: The Conscience of State

“Lay back.”
Te’ obeyed, settling into the bench, feeling the warmth of the poly mold to his torso.
Reeves settled the probe net about te’s skull and slipped the gelsac between te’s teeth. “Bite,” he said, conveying ennui and impatience with each miserly word. He pressed the pocket gun to te’s skin, while the thumb of his free hand dialed the particulars, calling up te’s code, signaling the hemobots, directing them to converge.
“Response?”
“’E-thir.” Te’ mumbled around the bit, nodded to make his answer clear. Felt good, and sometimes te’ imagined that he could feel that spot in his brain glow. He’d looked it up once when he was still a kid. The septal nuclei, found it in a brain atlas, curious that such a specific region could control a man so easily.

One last look at the so’, muscles tense again—was this his second round or third? They’d do up to six, sometimes, wearing you out. Then darkness, as pads were slipped over te’s eyes, silence, as plugs filled his ear canals. Te’ relaxed back into the sueded poly, letting it press into his skin. An easy pleasure washed over him, and he relented, letting his mind focus on that, only barely aware of his fingers as they were fitted into probes. The soft sleeve at his groin, strapping him tight.