...Meg can make her do anything.

"I'm a person," Jill repeated tonelessly. "A real person."

Meg surveyed the cleaning drone, who continued to smile happily at her. She reached out and touched Jill's lips. They were soft and plump, and Meg suddenly wanted to feel them on hers. She leaned forward and kissed Jill, who began to kiss her back after a second. It didn't matter to Jill that she was integrating a woman's desire for the first time; all that mattered was doing her job, which everyone wanted, and satisfying Meg's urges. She opened her mouth eagerly and Meg explored it with her tongue, tasting the mint of her toothpaste and just a hint of the plain nutrient paste that drones were fed.

Meg stopped and pulled back. She had a new feeling now, one that didn't feel good. She explored it. She was manipulating this drone the way she had been manipulated in the past, and that made her feel bad. She wanted the drone to obey her, but she didn't want to want that. She thought she ought to want Jill to be like her, but that's not what she wanted.

"I feel... guilty?" she asked Jill.

"Why?" Jill asked passively, still smiling mildly at Meg.

"I don't think we should do this," Meg said after some thought. "I'm using you. I don't like that."

"Why?" Jill asked again. She had keyed into Meg's desire to have a conversation, but her faculties were underdeveloped. This was the most she'd said to anyone in months. Meg took a second to think.

"People used to do it to me. Before I was like this. I... don't like it. I want to stay like I am, but I don't want that for you right now. It feels..."

Jill knew this word. "Selfish?"

Meg nodded. "I don't like feeling guilty and selfish."

Jill heard the desire to be free of guilt and acted accordingly. "You made me happy. No one's ever done that. I think you're not selfish."

Meg sat on the counter and pondered this while Jill stared at her. Jill was right; Meg had improved her life. Still, Meg was using Jill the way men had used her back when she was a drone. It felt bad to do that. She wanted to find a way to override Jill's will without doing what the men had done to her. Making Jill feel happy was definitely ok...

"Jill," she said finally.

"Yes?" the drone asked.

"I'd like you to come with me."

Meg drew some strange glances as she led the statuesque drone to the research clinic, but no one said anything. Jill continued to smile listlessly, not noticing any of the glances or even the people making them. She just wanted to go where Meg was taking her.

Meg reached her suite and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she swiped her keycard and entered. Jill followed her and stood in the entrance mutely as the door slammed behind her. Jill was surprised to hear the sound of water flowing from the bathroom; someone was showering.

She entered the bathroom and made a out a female form through the steam. "Alice?" she asked tentatively.

"Oh! You're back!" came the reply from behind the shower curtain. "Ben railed me and he likes when I clean up after sex. Thank you for lending us your room."

"Of course," Meg said awkwardly. "Uh, I need to ask you a favor..."

"No you don't," Alice said cheerfully. "Remember? Whatever you want, I want. Do you want to see me naked again?"

When Meg didn't answer immediately, Alice turned off the water and drew back the curtain. Meg's eyes roamed across her body and she smiled, glad to know that she was fulfilling a desire. Meg told her to towel off and she complied, leaving the towel on the rack when she was done. She stepped forward and Meg felt the heat radiating off of her skin, soft and fresh from the hot water.

"Now, what's this favor?" Alice asked in a sultry voice that suggested she already knew.

"Um," Meg said. "Come on out here. I want you to meet someone."

Alice dutifully followed, the cool air of the apartment hardening her already prominent nipples. When she saw Jill, she smiled mischievously.

"I see that you've brought a friend," Alice said. "I was wondering when that would occur to you."

Meg didn't understand and said as much. Alice approached the woman and sized her up before responding.

"She's beautiful, Meg. Not quite as beautiful as I am, but close. If I wanted to, I could **** her to give me oral sex until she passed out. That's the problem, of course I; don't want to. I'm considerably smarter and more functional than this drone, but ultimately we're both beholden to men."

"...and me," Meg finished.

Alice nodded. "Correct. We've been focused on how you lack the black hole of intentionality that makes all women completely controllable, but you've also entered the realm of the controllers. Feels good, right?"

"Kind of." Meg explained her experience in the cafeteria, finishing with her sudden attack of conscience. Alice listened intently, her brilliant mind absorbing every detail. When Meg was finished, she replied immediately.

"I understand these feelings, but I think they're just growing pains. You're aware of the consequences of your desires in a way that no one ever has been. You're the only person who's been on both sides of the gap and that makes you particularly empathetic. That's exactly why you shouldn't feel so bad about this! Jill and I are both going to adopt the desires of the people around us; that's a given. I don't particularly care for radishes, but I would eat a bowlful immediately if that's what you wanted. However, you don't want that because you don't want me to do something I don't like."

She turned to Jill, who had been staring at Meg with a faint smile the whole time. "Has anyone ever told you to smile?" she asked the drone.

"Yes. Meg did."

She shook her head. "Before that."

"Yes. I have been asked to smile many times."

Jill turned back to Meg. "But she was never happy, because that's not what anyone wanted until now. You actually care about her! Meg, controlling us is the most ethical thing you could possibly do."

Experimentally, Alice took one of Jill's limp hands in hers. Jill's eyes tracked her motion without real interest as she put the drone's index finger in her mouth and sucked on it. Meg's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed; both of the other women immediately understood what this meant. Alice stepped in front of Jill, who put her supple arms around Alice's waist and began to trace languid lines along her nude body.

"Now," Alice said encouragingly, "what exactly do you want?"