The sun was shining brightly in the midday sky over the quiet little plaza. A handful of merchants and food carts were set up in various locations, and pleasant smells wafted through the entire area. The day couldn’t have been better for a get-together of friends.

Shawn took a bite of his sandwich and checked his phone. As usual, he was early and the rest of his crew was running late but he didn’t care. It was such a nice day that he was content to snack and wait. As he scrolled through various posts on his phone he heard his name being called out.

“Hey Shawn! Long time no see!”

He lifted his gaze and smiled as he saw his friends Jeff and Mark. They had all been friends for longer than any of them could remember and the two approaching him had taken that friendship to the next level and were dating now. They both sat down and Shawn started chatting. A few minutes passed as the two went over what they had been up to recently, but their story was cut short by a loud shout.

“What’s up losers!”

The three friends turned to see another one of their gang, William, sauntering towards them. Out of their entire group, he was definitely the handsome one. Blessed with a muscled body and a charming face, he was admired by all and he knew it. As he plopped down in the seat, Shawn couldn’t help but admire his friend’s physique, it was clear he hadn’t skipped his workouts at all during their break.

The four friends spent the better part of the evening reminiscing and telling stories of what had happened to them during their summer break. Shawn was glad to be around them again and enjoyed every minute. As the sun was starting to set in the plaza, he noticed that one member of their group had never shown up.

“Hey have you guys heard anything from Zach? I sent him an email about out get together. He didn’t reply but you know how he is about communicating.”

They all looked at one another and shrugged. Shawn thought it was weird and had a pang of worry hit him. While Zach never really replied to things, he always ended up getting the messages. He had always been a bit of a loaner, keeping to himself and doing his own thing. They started talking about him when William perked up and grabbed his phone.

“You know, he emailed me a while back. Let me see if I can find it. You know he was always fairly open with his crazy sex life, right? Well he messaged me about some website or forum or something that…ummm…catered to his weirdness.”

As William flipped through his past messages Shawn couldn’t help but recall exactly what he was talking about. He has vivid memories of conversations he had with Zach about about his sexual escapades. He loved talking about his gear and showing it off. Memories of all the times he had seen Zach’s black rubber suit and various masks flickered through his head. While none of his friends really shared the same enthusiasm openly, he knew that it made Zach happy to share his passions and Shawn wasn’t one to rain on his parade.

William suddenly stopped as he found what he was looking for.
“Yea, here it is. Hey Jeff, I know this isn’t really your thing but in order to get a free premium account on here to this new site I found, I need you to sign up for a trial account.”

William’s face flashed an unamused expression and he paused as he scrolled through the rest of the email.

“The rest is just a banner for a free trial to some porn site called The Rubber Hive. I never really put much attention into it…although I wish he would just make a fake email rather than use mine for spam. I don’t think I ever bothered to do it. That’s not the weird one I was thinking about though, give me a sec.”

Now that he knew the name of the site, finding the email he was looking for was much faster.

“Here it is, check this out….man I forgot how weird it is.”

“Greetings Pre-drone William, this is drone ZT-0798 and it has noticed that the Pre-drone has not responded to the offer to join the Rubber Hive. To help facilitate your conversion, this drone is wanting to send a free gift courtesy of it’s Drone Master as well as extend a free premium membership of the site. If the Pre-drone has any questions, please reach out to drone ZT-0798 on therubberhive.com”

William rolled his eyes at the email and tossed his phone back onto the table.

“Seems like he really got into whatever they’re selling. I hope he didn’t end up joining some weird cult or something.”

Jeff looked over at the phone and realized the time. He quickly apologized, turned to Mark and pointed it out. Mark saw the time and grimaced.

“Oh crap, sorry guys. We have to go. Jeff’s parents are coming to visit for a few week or so and they should be arriving at the airport in little under an hour. If you guys hear anything from Zach, let us know, okay?”

The two men quickly packed up and rushed off, leaving Shawn and William sitting in the plaza to discuss their missing friend. William noted Shawn’s concerned expression and sighed. He knew that Shawn had a tendency to stress and overthink things which often led to a worst-case scenario mindset.

“It is getting pretty late but don’t worry man. When I get home tonight I’ll see if I can make an account on that site and message him through there. I’ll let you know what I find out. Don’t be you and stress yourself to death.”

Shawn nodded, while still worried trying to not let it show to his friend.

“Thanks man, I just don’t like the how weird his last message was and how he seems to have disappeared. Let me know if you find anything out, ok?”

William nodded and reassured his friend a little bit longer before bidding farewell and heading home himself.

Shawn left shortly afterwards. His entire walk back to his apartment was consumed with concern for his friend. When had decided that as soon as he got home, he would check out that weird site himself too.

After a quick shower, Shawn sat down at his computer. He checked his emails and noticed he had one from The Rubber Hive. The headline stated a friend sent him a free trial and he curiously opened it.

“Hey Shawn, this site is making me send a referral message to a friend to sign up. Figured I’d send it to you to check it out because I know you’re going to do it anyway.”

Shawn smirked at the message. William knew him too well apparently. He clicked the link in the message and was immediately brought to the site’s registration page. He was surprised it didn’t really require much information at all. Just his name and email and that was it, no payment information or anything that would have given him any pause. A few moments later, he was greeted with another email.

“Greetings Pre-drone Shawn Miller. The Rubber Hive is pleased you have accepted our invitation and we look forward to your full integration into our network. Please enjoy tour premium membership courtesy of Pre-drone William. We recommend you watch the Introduction video to learn how to setup your profile and navigate the site effectively.”

He thought about building his profile a bit more but realized that it wasn’t necessary for what he needed to do. He just wanted to send a message to Zach and see if he would respond here.

As he pulled up his friend list, he saw that ‘Pre-Drone William’ had already been added to his contact list, having been added from the referral email. He rolled his eyes when he saw that his profile picture was him shirtless showing off his toned body. Of course, he had to show off wherever we went.

He navigated to William’s page and noted how much more complete it was compared to his own. He looked at at his contact list and was surprised to see a handful of other ‘drones’ were listed there too. He couldn’t have been a member on there for longer than an hour at most and already had quite a few people on his list. He browsed William’s contact list, which was made slightly harder by the fact that almost every profile picture was identical.

In every picture was a chest and up shot of a ‘drone’. Tight rubber gripped their entire body. Their faces were obscured by gasmasks with blacked-out lenses and around their necks were thick silver collars. The identical images combined with the fact that their names were all mixtures of letters and numbers, finding a specific one that he couldn’t remember exactly took more effort than it should have.

Eventually, he found a user by the name of ZT-0798, who sounded vaguely familiar from the conversation earlier and quickly sent a message asking if he was all alright and to please reply to let him know. Not seeing much reason to browse further into the site, he closed the browser and yawned. Satisfied that he could do all he could for the time being he decided to call it a night and head off to sleep.

The next couple of days went by without any news. Shawn tried reaching out to William a couple times but only received very basic replies back that did little to ease his nagging concern. Eventually, he settled back into his daily routines and his worries slid to the back of his mind. After a particularly tiring work day, he returned home to find he had an email from TheRubberHive saying he had a new message from ZT-0798. He excitedly logged back into the site and read the message.

“Greetings Pre-Drone Shawn, ZT-0798 is functioning optimally and pleased that both Pre-Drone William and Pre-Drone Shawn have chosen to join the hive. This drone looks forward to the pre-drones’ eventual integration. It has also noticed that Pre-Drone Shawn has not yet finished its profile. It recommends watching the Introduction video to aid in the initial setup. If Pre-Drone Shawn has any further questions, please reach back out to ZT-0798.”

The message caused the concern itching in the back of his mind to rush back in force. The cold, almost mechanical manner that the message was typed in didn’t sound like Zach at all and he was about to send William an email about it when he noticed that his icon on the website showed that he was currently online. Figuring it would be faster, he sent ‘Pre-Drone William’ a message. He immediately received an automated reply that read;

“Greetings, this Pre-Drone is currently performing its’ daily maintenance and cannot reply at this time. It will receive messages and be able to reply once it has concluded its session.”

The message raised more questions than answers. What did that even mean? Daily maintenance? Shawn wondered if perhaps William had actually started to get into the whole drone thing? He never had the impression that William was into this kinky stuff but he was never one to shy away from a porn site. He sighed and sat there as he wondered what he should do. Deciding there wasn’t too much he could do at the moment, he flipped his browser over to some random videos and sort of lost track of time as he watched dumb video after dumb video. About an hour passed before he heard a notification sound from his other browser window. He opened up the site again and saw that William had responded.
“Greetings Shawn. Apologies for the delay. I was chatting with another member on here and couldn’t respond. I also have been in contact with Drone ZT-0798 about his condition and have been assured that it is doing fine. I am actually quite thankful for ZT-0798 for introducing me to the Hive. This site has so much more to offer than either of us thought. It’s so hot. I can’t stop thinking about it. I was discussing this with ZT-0798 and he was even kind enough to send me a free gift courtesy from the Hive. This site has opened a door that I didn’t even know existed inside myself and I’m loving it. ZT-0798 invited me to one of the sites “Conversion Centers”, apparently it’s some sort of underground meetup for members. Invite only sadly. He said he would be there so I think I’m gonna go and chat with him a bit just to make sure he is alright. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get back.
Take care man, William”

Shawn really didn’t like that he was going to something alone but he knew that William was more than capable of taking care of himself. At least he would be able to talk to Zach and finally put his concerns to rest. He quickly sent him another message asking for a few more details and noticed something different in William’s profile picture.

He pulled up the picture larger on his screen and saw what Zach must have sent him as a gift. While the picture was mostly the same shirtless image as before, he now had a thick metallic collar around his neck. Shawn also noticed that William’s eyes seemed different. His usual piercing eyes seemed distant and cloudy and he had an almost blank expression plastered on his face.

About a half hour passed by with no reply to his message and Shawn figured he wasn’t going to get one and signed off the site. With an annoyed sigh, he flipped back to his dumb videos and proceeded to waste the remainder of his night.

The next day was fairly busy for Shawn. Between his job and figuring out what he was going to do for his next school year, he simply didn’t have the time to think about what his friends were up to. He received a text from William while he was in the middle of a morning meeting but completely spaced it until he returned home that evening. When he checked his phone and remembered, he cursed himself. He was so worried about his friends that he wasn’t there when they were trying to reach them…what a good friend.

“Hey man, call me when you get this. I need to tell you something.” was all that the text said.

Shawn immediately tried to call William’s cell but it was sent directly to voice mail. He left a message but was really starting to panic now. The only other way that he had been able to get in reliable contact with William recently was through TheRubberHive and quickly logged on to send him a message.

He was slightly confused when he didn’t immediately see him on his contacts. Where he used to have a drone icon for Zach and that shirtless pic of William, he now had two identical drone icons. One for ZT-0798 and one for WD-6452. He decided to just click on an old message and discovered that this new drone was now the account that had been William’s.

He frantically typed out a message to William and asked him to give him a call when he received the message. Within a minute or two, he heard the notification sound and hurriedly opened it.

“Greetings Pre-Drone Shawn. WD-6452 apologizes for causing distress. It met up with ZT-0798 and was officially inducted into the Hive. WD-6452 is functioning optimally and would like to assist the Pre-Drone in any way it can. If Pre-Drone Shawn is available at available for a meeting. WD-6452 will arrange a meeting with itself and ZT-0798 to alleviate any concerns it may have. Please respond with a time the Pre-Drone is available and the meeting will be arranged.”

Shawn weighed his options for a long while before deciding to agree to the meeting. He stared worriedly at the site, at the two drone pictures that were his best friends and let out a very frustrated sigh. He needed answers and knew deep down that his friends were in trouble and needed help. He messaged back saying he was free the next day in the afternoon. Almost immediately he received a reply.

“WD-6452 is pleased and is looking forward meeting. As a courtesy, this drone is sending Pre-Drone Shawn a free gift from the Hive. Please wear it to the meeting. It will allow entry into the Center. The address is listed below.”

He noted the address below the message and sent a quick email to Jeff and Mark about what had been going on and if they could find the time to tag along. Their response was quick but unfortunate. Both replied that they were busy entertaining Jeff’s parents all day and wouldn’t be able to. He cursed his luck and responded back with the time and address and to contact the police if they hadn’t heard from him by tomorrow night.
Exhausted from the day, he quickly found himself drifting to sleep.

The next morning came quickly as Shawn immediately started planning what he was going to do. He had the address of the Center and a time when they were expecting him but he had no intention of meeting them on their terms. He decided that he would scope out the area before and see if he could see behind whatever curtain they would try to pull over his eyes. His concentration was broken when he heard a knock on his door.
It was still early in the day and wasn’t expecting anything so he was fairly surprised when he opened his door and found a box sitting outside. He curiously picked it up and brought it inside. Reading the label he saw that it was addressed to him and the sender info simply read TRH. He set the box down on his table and quickly opened it.

A sweet scent hit his nostrils as he opened the flaps and he froze when he saw the contents of the box, immediately realizing where it came from.
Inside the box was a metal collar and cuffs for both his wrists and ankles. He realized this must be the ‘gift’ that they wanted him to wear to their meeting. Picking up the collar, he examined it closely. It was perfectly smooth and shiny except for a small engraving on the back that read SM-1583. He furrowed his brow as he examined the other items. They all seemed like basic metallic cuffs, nothing too special about them. He set them down back into the box and smirked. There was no way in hell he was wearing any part of that.

He took a few more moments to psyche himself up and steel himself for his attempted rescue mission. Anxiety and panic were coursing through him but his friends still needed him and he had to do something. He gathered himself and departed. Even though he had no intention of putting them on, he still took the box with the ‘gifts’ with him. Just in case he may need them for something.

His GPS brought him to an abandoned industrial part of town that he was unfamiliar with he parked a few blocks away from his destination. He figured it would be easier to get a good look around if he didn’t approach directly from the road.

Luckily the path to his destination wasn’t too difficult to reach from alleys and side pathways. In no time he was crouched down behind some stacked pallets looking at the entrance of the ‘Conversion Center’. Outside by the door stood a single rubber-clad drone. He had only seen one before in the profile pictures and this was one completely indistinguishable from any of those. Tight rubber suit, thick gasmask, collar and cuffs.

He cursed and mentally kicked himself, of course, they would have someone guarding the entrance. He sat there pondering his options. He couldn’t go through the door as is and from his viewpoint, there were no windows at the floor level he could sneak in. He saw a few openings higher up on the walls of the building and while he wasn’t out of shape, there was no way he could physically get himself through any of them. Movement from ahead caught his attention and he refocused as he saw someone approaching the entrance.

Shawn had to do a double-take to make sure he was seeing things correctly. The man approaching the entrance was completely naked except for the shiny collar and cuffs. The man’s movement was steady and consistent. He expected the drone to turn to the man or acknowledge him in any way but instead, it simply stood there and let him pass, not appearing to even notice him.

An idea started to form in his mind. As loathe as he was to admit it, it was looking like the cuffs and collar were going to be necessary for his infiltration. He quickly returned to his car and snagged the box. He knew he would have to get naked and wanted to change in private but his car was simply too far away so he decided to just head back to his hiding spot and change there. At least the box would provide a bit of shelter for his clothing while he was inside.

It took longer to build up the confidence than he would have liked. He slowly pulled his clothing off and held the cuffs in his hands. First was the ankle cuffs, the cool metal was surprisingly comfortable as he clicked them shut. Next was the wrists, he had expected the metal to be uncomfortable against his skin but found that even though they were a little heavy, they were barely an annoyance at all. Finally, he gripped the thick metal collar, the name SM-1583 shining in the sunlight, and took a deep breath.

The collar clicked around his neck he felt the metal resting on him. The added weight from the collar seemed to actually relax him a little bit, like a heavy blanket. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in a nearby window. While he thought he looked ridiculous he also had to admit that he looked kind of sexy in this getup. After a moment more of self admiration he realized that it was time to go. A few deep breaths was all it took for him to quiet his nerves, the weight around him seemed to be effectively warding off the worst of his anxiety. Before he could second guess himself he started walking toward the entrance, emulating the steady stride from the man from earlier as best he could.

As soon as he was in sight of the drone he knew there was no turning back. He was in clear view of the drone and needed to act and behave exactly like he was expected to or else his plan would be foiled before it even began. He realized as he was steadily approaching though that he had absolutely no idea what he was expected to be doing once he got inside but forced himself to continue his steady stride toward the entrance. He would have to adapt quickly and learn to hide among the pre-drones quickly.

Anxiety gripped him as he walked past the drone. His heart was pounding and he half expected the drone to effortlessly see past his charade and stop him. To his surprise, however, the drone paid him no mind as he found him entering the facility undetected.

He focused himself as he crossed the threshold into the building. As soon as he entered he saw a handful of pre-drones, all wearing nothing but their cuffs and collars, doing various things. Some were standing along the wall, and some were walking in a line down hallways that led further deeper in. To his surprise and relief, he didn’t actually see any actual drones, although he was sure that the pre-drones could detect him just as easily if he slipped up.

Making a split-second decision between falling in line and walking deeper in or simply lining up along the wall. He realized that the longer he was there the longer he risked detection and decided to stand along the wall and at the first opportunity he had he would quickly tuck himself in at the end of one of the lines passing by.

He stood next to a rather handsome pre-drone and surveyed the surroundings the best he could. The rooms were stark white and looked and smelled very clean. A faint odor of some type of chemical permeated the room as if it had just been cleaned. The room was fairly uneventful and he decided to study the room’s inhabitants for a little while.

All of the pre-drones passing through the room moved with purpose but not mechanically like he would have thought. It was more like they were excited to get wherever they were going than mindless marching. He expected their faces to be blank and distant, but instead, they all seemed to be more peaceful than anything else. Their eyes were cloudy and distant but they looked more content than blank. He started to feel like he was getting a basic understanding of what he would need to emulate to blend in and started to feel himself relax slightly. He could do this. This would work.

He watched a line of pre-drones pass by him and felt like this was the chance he needed to get further in. He waited for the line to pass and timed it perfectly to break out of the line along the wall and join the line like he was supposed to do so.

The line walked for some time, heading deeper and deeper into the facility. Shawn found it relatively easy to follow the drones as they led him to who knows where. He initially started to mentally map out his location but after a handful of turns and hallways, he found his map was all but tied around itself. He instead focused himself on his hiding. It was rather easy to to simply stare at the pre-drone in front of him and walk in line. As long as he did that he could avoid being caught and was content to follow until he found what he was looking for.

Passing through a large doorway into a room lined with padded chairs all facing a theater-like screen brought him out of his daze and he started to panic on the inside. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing and needed to figure it out before he was detected.

Luckily following the pre-drone ahead of him let him in the correct direction as the line of pre-drones settled into the chairs one by one until all were seated. He sat down expecting the chairs to be cold against his bare skin but found it soft and warm. It seemed to hug his body and he relaxed his guard as he sat there. He noticed that pre-drones had sat down next to him and realized that at some point during the march into the room he had stopped being the end of the line and the fact that he pulled that off without detection further pushed the panic and anxiety from him and let him relax even more.

The lights suddenly dimmed, which afforded him an even deeper sense of security. The screen in front of him slowly lit up and Shawn could see that it had started playing a video depicting drones and pre-drones performing various tasks as words like DRONE…OBEY…RELAX…PLEASURE occasionally flickered across the screen. Shawn had enough of his mind about him to close his eyes to shield him from the video.

He sat there thinking to himself about this current predicament. He realized that he didn’t have much idea what he was trying to achieve. He came there to save his friends or at the very least, gather enough information to be able to go to the police about it. Now that was relaxing in this chair trying to hide among the pre-drones he realized that he had most likely seen enough to justify contacting the authorities. Now he just needed to get out.

The only issue he could see now was that all the pre-drones travelled in groups and he aimlessly walking through the halls to the exit would almost immediately get caught. The only ones he had seen that moved alone were the drones themselves. He would need to learn how to be a drone rather than a pre-drone to be able to escape. His mind raced in an attempt to how he could learn to be one effectively without him being able to observe one directly. Like a lightbulb turning on, the realization hit him. He was literally sitting in a room where he was supposed to be learning that exact thing.

The light from the screen hurt his eyes for a moment but he quickly adjusted to it and watched. When the video had started it showed simple activities being performed but now it was showing more extreme content. The drones had the pre-drones bent over and were ploughing their ass with large rubber cocks. He noted that all the pre-drones still had that expression of contentedness and bliss on their faces. He watched on as the sexual acts changed every so often and the words continued flickering across the screen as Shawn studied it intently. Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention faintly and he glanced over.

The pre-drones to the left and right of him were rhythmically stroking their erect cocks. Shawn wondered for a moment if he should do the same to blend in but right as the thought crossed his mind he realized he already was. His hand stroked at the same pace as all the others and perfectly in sync with the other pre-drones. He relaxed again, sinking deeper into the seat as he focused his attention back on the screen. He didn’t notice a thin line of drool slipping from his mouth as he stared.
The video suddenly stopped and the lights brightened back up but it took Shawn a second to realize it. He blinked a few times and saw that the drones were starting to get up. He stood up with them before he could really put any thought into it and started walking out of the room in line with the others. Being in the middle of the line, he would have a harder time breaking free of the group and heading back toward the entrance but for some reason that didn’t concern him too much. He felt content to walk in line for the time being. Eventually, an opportunity would show itself, until then he simply had to follow along like a good pre-drone.

He walked on and on, further into the facility. At some point, he passed by a window and although he couldn’t see out of it, he noted how dark it appeared to be outside. The sight confused him slightly. How was it getting dark outside? He had only arrived a short while ago and it was mid-morning, wasn’t it? Did he fall asleep during the video? His mind was trying to rationalize his problem but the more he focused on it, the less he seemed bothered by it. It didn’t matter how long he was there, he was successfully hidden and would be out as soon as he could. The sense of comfort slowly calmed his nerves back down.

A few more minutes of walking and his entire line of pre-drones stopped in front of a large metal door. They all stood there staring ahead as if waiting for something to happen and Shawn was no different. He stared at the back of the pre-drone in front of him and felt the weight of the collar around his neck. Those two things brought him peace and comfort and that was all he needed.

Without any warning the door in front of them opened up and a line of rubber-clad drones marched out. Shawn watched in the corner of his eye as they passed. All wrapped entirely in black rubber, gas masks enveloping their heads and hiding their faces. Eyes hidden behind blacked-out lenses. Silver collars around their necks and cuffs around their ankles and wrists. He watched as best he could as they passed and felt a slight pang of envy as they did. He needed to find a way to disguise himself as one of them to successfully escape this place. A short moment after the drones exited, the line of pre-drones started marching into the room. The large metal door closed shut behind them.

Inside the room, Shawn could see rows of what he could only describe as pods. Spherical chambers with an opening on one side and a chair similar to the one in the theatre sitting inside it. The pre-drones all marched into the pods, one by one. Shawn entered the pod and sat down in the chair. His body sank into the comfortable seat and a wave of relaxation coursed through him. As he stared out the opening of the pod he realized that it obscured a lot of vision and could most likely sneak around the room a bit if avoided walking past the openings.

He heard a faint click followed by an electrical whir and his chair started humming softly. He attempted to get up but found that the cuffs and collar were being magnetically fasted to the chair. Try and he might he couldn’t get them to even budge. He looked up and saw an apparatus descending from the ceiling of the pod and finally realized he was in trouble. In his attempt to not get captured, he captured himself.

The contraption lowered itself slowly over his head and he could feel something press into his ears. He tried to struggle but the machine didn’t miss a beat. A warbling noise suddenly filled his ears as screens on the inside of the device started flashing spirals and static. The sudden shock and panic he was experiencing lasted only a moment before the subliminal programming being pumped into him started to take effect.

He sank into the seat and a feeling of intense relaxation washed over him as the device around his head washed his mind. He realized that his friends must have gone through this same process and felt the same feelings he had. A warm pleasure coursed through his being as he thought about how happy and content they must be as drones. He had been worried about their well-being but now he understood that they were better this way. Pre-drone Shawn would be better off this way too. He felt so relaxed and happy that he didn’t notice that his cock had gotten rock-hard.

He felt something shift in the seat of the chair and something hard rising up from it. The device made everything alright in his mind as he felt a long, hard, slick shaft ease its’ way into his hole and start thrusting in a slow and steady motion. At the same time, he felt something warm and soft wrap itself around his cock and start rhythmically stroking in time with the shaft in his ass.

With his mind being overwhelmed by the entire process, the pre-drone wasn’t able to notice that liquid rubber had slowly started seeping out from the bottom of the device around his head. Warm black goo slid down the entirety of his body. The warmth coursing through his body intensified as the liquid rubber solidified around his frame and pushed him even further into bliss. Within minutes it had become a tight rubber suit and enveloped him entirely in its pleasurable embrace.

The final touches of his conversion were when the device around his head shifted and tightened. The screens flashing into his eyes suctioned themselves to his face and he felt a warmth envelope his head. The screens flashing in programming into his mind faded slightly to return his vision to him, although he was now looking through blacked-out lenses of a gasmask sealed around his head. The earbuds trapped in his ears never ceased their mind-numbing program as his entire being was being reprogrammed.

Time lost meaning as Pre-Drone Shawn was reprogrammed and fully integrated into the Rubber Hive. All thoughts of individuality, his friends, family, and life were all replaced with a single directive of being an obedient drone and growing the hive whenever possible. It was just another drone in the hive. It would be a good drone and obey.

Hours later the newly finished drones all exited the pods, each one identical in every way aside from the collars engraved with their designation and SM-1583 was no exception. It walked in line with the other drones and exited the room, passing the next line of pre-drones awaiting conversion. The drone was pleased to see the hive was steadily growing and would need to contact its former friends to spread the joy of the hive to them as well.

A few days later Jeff checked his email and saw the messages from Shawn. The email concerned him and he had wished that Shawn hadn’t done anything alone but he knew Shawn well enough that if he had something stuck in his head, he wouldn’t let it go. He kept checking his emails and noticed one from TheRubberHive and that a user by the name SM-1583 had sent him a message. He knew that was Shawn from his previous email and opened it.

To view the message, he needed to create a profile on the site. He was slightly annoyed by this but his curiosity got the better of him and he signed up for the site. He clicked through the site, just hitting the next button whenever he could just to get through it. He didn’t realize that he didn’t need to complete the entire profile creation process and was surprised when he clicked next and a video popped up on his screen to aid in his profile creation.

He went to close the window but something about the video caught his attention before he could. It was a fairly basic video but he felt like he could faintly make out something in the background of the video and focused on it, not realizing he was sinking further into its’ devious design.
Before long he found himself naked and mechanically stroking himself as he stared at the screen. Pre-Drone Jeff completed his profile and topped it off with an upload of a shirtless picture of himself as the profile icon. His eyes were cloudy and distant. He sat in a mindless haze for a while after the video had ended, his face relaxed and content.

When he finally came to his senses he saw that the site had a pop-up asking for him to refer a friend and immediately typed in Mark’s email. He would spread the joy of the Rubber Hive to anyone he could, like a good pre-drone.