✅ A Dose of Humiliation

11. First Dose

This chapter is dedicated to Peter. Thank you for supporting me!

I tried again to persuade my dad not to do this to me. Mum said we should stop and think about it. But it was only Dad's opinion that Becker was listening to. He produced a box, again with the HumiliX logo on, as soon as Dad had said yes. He opened it to reveal two pre-loaded syringes. He spun one around in his hand like a gunslinger in some old western, and then pulled out the other syringe and spun it in his other hand. He was so elegant in the way he manipulated them, almost juggling as he passed them between his hands, that I might have applauded if I weren't looking at two months of humiliation being paraded in front of my eyes. He held them out, one in each hand, and Dad pointed at one of them. Nervously, like he expected it to bite.

"There's no need to worry," Becker reassured him again, slipping the other back into its box. "These injectors come with a perfect safety feature, which was in fact my contribution when I was working at HumiliX labs. An instant DNA test, which ensures that they can only be delivered to the intended subject. I can easily press the button –" he tapped the syringe down on the desk, with his thumb on the glass dome of the business end and the button against the laminate surface, and the only response was the flicker of a red LED. "– but nothing happens until it detects the intended recipient. Now, I see from the dose code printed on this one that your daughter may need some protection pretty soon. You should see the staff about that, this won't take long.

"I'm sorry, Lorna," Dad said, grabbing my wrist and putting one hand on my shoulder. I guessed that Becker was giving some indication where he wanted me to be, because a second later I was bent over the edge of the couch and it was the crazy pharmacist holding my hand up behind my back. "You need to learn to accept the consequences. And if you don't keep on doing those things, this should be the only time we have to help you like this."

He turned and went back to the main part of the shop. A second later, with a mutter of "I can't watch this," Mum followed. As soon as the door clicked closed again, Becker pulled up my skirt, and then to my surprise he was pulling my underwear down to expose my bare bottom. I braced myself for the sting of the needle, hoping that it wasn't as bad as the last one despite all the bruises in that area, but the pain I felt instead was a sharp sting. Was this freak spanking me?

"What the hell?"

"We just need to increase blood flow to the target area. The sensors say it isn't enough to ensure even distribution. It won't take long." I couldn't believe it; he slapped me again, and again. Each time was just enough to sting, but not quite enough to make me cry out. And then, after five or six swats, I felt a faint prick. It only seemed to last a second, and I might not have realised if there hadn't been a bleeping noise from the syringe. Compared to the first time, when Becker had been twisting the needle inside me like he was fishing for something, this was more like an insect bite; a single instant of pain too small to properly register.

My relief didn't last long, because as he pulled the syringe away – I could see a line of LED dots along the side in different colours, presumably indicating the success of the injection or something – I started to feel something under my skin. It was like a subtle ache, the feeling of muscles after unaccustomed exercise, perhaps, coupled with a feeling of warmth. And it was spreading along my veins, radiating out from the point of the injection. I felt it run down to the tips of my toes and back up again, while at the same time creeping up my back. It went straight up and down, until the return path from my legs hit my heart. And then it was everywhere at once, a slowly growing pain flooding into my face, my abdomen, my arms, and back down to my legs again. I could imagine the nanobots spreading inside me, although any scientist would probably go on for an hour about how they weren't technically nanobots. Whatever they were, they were moving around inside me, and they brought a little pain wherever they went.

I gasped as the feeling intensified, and just before I was about to cry out it started to subside. I could feel my face again, and my lips. A tiny knot of tension remained at the base of my neck, and I wondered if there was something special about that place. I could feel all the strange sensations draining out of my arms and legs, leaving a momentary numbness like pins and needles, and then it started to fade from my chest as well.

A minute later, my body felt mostly normal. There was a heavy ball of discomfort in the middle of my abdomen, with a tendril reaching out to the base of my spine. Another tiny bundle of those feelings remained at the back of my neck. Everything else was fine.

"The programmable proteins need to bind to specific receptor sites in the body," Becker explained. "Depending which programme is selected, it could take anywhere from five minutes to several hours for then to make the necessary changes. While they're installing, the symptoms of the selected dose may start to come in gradually, or may peak at a level higher than typical operation. For example, the speech impediment dose often has a twenty-to-twenty-minute period in which the patient is completely unable to speak at some point during the first four hours. I don't expect this will apply to your particular case, but you should start listening to your parents and not treating successful people as your enemy."

"You won once. I can live with it. I know people who've been through this."

"Just watch out. Once you've taken the Punishment Pill, your parents have authority as long as it lasts. If they tell you that they'll extend the punishment for breaking some rule, as long as they have a record to prove they warned you, they can extend that. They can add weeks or months to the effect with a booster shot. Or they can give you a booster that will make it a hundred times harder to hide from your friends. So make sure you do what you're told."

He was still rambling when I stormed out. It hurt like a fairly mild stomach ache, but I was already feeling like I could just ignore that feeling. He wasn't going to beat me.

"Your mother's gone home with the... supplies," Dad said. I hadn't been sure whether he would be waiting for me in the outer room. "I'll take you to school, but we can stop at a restroom first for you to finish getting dressed. And I hope you understand how much of a problem you're causing for us all."

"I don't feel so good," I mumbled, as nausea swept over me for a moment. Was that from the nanobots, or just my anxiety?

"If it's an inconvenience, I'll make sure she gets to school on time." I turned around and was surprised to see Serena still there. Had she decided to wait for me? I didn't understand. "The pill can cause dehydration and lower blood sugar, we'll get smoothies and something healthy for breakfast from the tofu bar. My car's waiting outside, it'll be quicker this way. And I asked Miss Herschel for notes for the math class, because I had an appointment. So we can catch up on the way back."

I didn't understand. Yes, we had a few lessons together, but this was a bigger favour than I could possibly have anticipated. Still, despite my dad's obvious disapproval, I couldn't stand sitting in a car with him right now. Serena struck me as probably the person least likely to tease about my new affliction, so I decided I could go with her for now.

I crossed my fingers.