Chapter 1
“I think we’re ready to start human testing.” Kate was excited as she did another onceover of The Machine she and her best friend had been working on all semester.
Ethan raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t think we’re going to get a lot of volunteers,” he stated, in his dry, steady voice.
“At RBU? I bet there are lots of people here who would be interested in trying a spanking machine, we could put up flyers.” Kate herself was a little excited at the idea of trying the machine, but also more than a little apprehensive.
Ethan wasn’t convinced. “One never before tested on actual people? I think that might cause some bottoms to hesitate. Besides, I thought we agreed to keep the project secret until finals week. I know multiple partners who are determined to beat us to the top grade, we don’t want to give them an advantage.”
Katie sighed. “You’re right.” She thought for a moment. “We know it's safe. We’ve tested the strength of the swats with every instrument we have, the voice activated failsafe stops every time when it hears the word red, and there’s the manual stop lever. We’re going to need to do a live demonstration for the mech-e final, and for your lifestyles class. We already agreed to trade off for that, I think we should just draw lots to see which of us tests it first. Then we don’t have to tell anyone else what we’re working on.”
Ethan hesitated. “After the human trebuchet incident, Chris made some very pointed threats about putting myself into untested devices that you swore were safe.”
Kate rolled her eyes. Chris was pretty laid back and chill as far as tops went, but when he got upset, he could be a little scary. “The trebuchet was safe, as we both swore to. Chris not thinking something is safe is not the same as the science saying something is not safe. We’ve done exhaustive non-human testing on this, and the evidence is that it is safe to try on a human subject. But I don’t want you to get in trouble with Chris, I’ll go first, then it won’t be untested when you try it.”
Ethan considered her argument. One of the things she loved about him was his adoration of a logical argument. You could always bring Ethan around to your position with an appeal to the scientific method. He was the top of their class in computer science, even with a double minor in mech-e and applied lifestyle sciences. Kate was top of the class in mech-e, minoring in computer science. They had similar schedules and paired up at every opportunity.
“And Annie is not going to mind that?” Ethan had the best eyebrows, Kate was insanely jealous of how easily he could lift one of them.
“Well, I wasn’t planning to advertise it, and I don’t think she’ll ask. We don’t have a rule about it, so I don’t think it will be as big a deal as it would be for Chris.” Kate and Annie had not been together during the trebuchet incident.
Ethan shrugged. “Alright, let’s get it setup then.”
They had had a brief argument during the design phase on what to call it. Kate had liked The Ass Ass Inator, but Ethan had thought that was juvenile. He had been advocating for Serious Punishment Administration aNd Kink Enrichment R-something. Kate liked the idea of an acronym, but not the use of the N in and, and they couldn’t come up with a good R word. They had eventually just started calling it The Machine.
The design was a basic spanking bench they had modeled off of the ones they had in the lifestyles department. It had a padded raised section in the middle for a person’s body, with a donut shaped opening at the top, to rest the face in. Then lower, adjustable pads on each side for the spankee’s knees to rest on, and little bars at that level near the other end to hold on to. That part had been easy and they had tested it multiple times and adjusted for comfort.
The tricky part was the actual spanking mechanism. A device that could swing a lever back and forth, with a series of random motions up and down, was fairly trivial for the sophomore engineering students. The hard part was developing software that could accurately control the force of the swing, self adjusting for a variable distance between a backside and the striking implement, depending on the size of the spankee and the structure of the bottom being smacked. They had finally gotten a program running that accurately took in feedback from the striking mechanism and delivered consistent force regardless of the object placed in the strike zone. They had tested pillows of various firmness, a pair of basketballs, and most extensively a realistic crash test dummy they had found in storage, with force sensors attached to its canvass buttocks.
Right now the lever attached to a basic RBU paddle, and you used the laptop attached to it to set the machine to a certain number of swats, and could choose an even pattern, which would move the paddle steadily down the backside and then start again at the top, or a random pattern. There were still several weeks to go before finals, when the project was due. Once human testing on the basics was successful, they had plans to add a color match feature that could be customized to a specific spankee’s skin tone, and different strength and implement options.
Kate removed her yoga pants and climbed into the machine before awkwardly lowering her underwear. Obviously she’d prefer a layer of protection, but they needed to be able to clearly see the machine’s results. Ethan readied the video camera (they recorded all testing for later review) and then went to The Machine settings.
“I think we should start at ten, and the random pattern.” Ethan looked to Kate for her consent to the plan and she nodded. Ten was probably the minimum they needed to make sure the system ran correctly, but it was smart to start low. They may need several runs each to test the different features.
Ethan entered the settings they had agreed on into the computer, but hesitated a minute over the enter button. “Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” Kate stated, bracing herself.
SMACK!
“Ow!” That had really hurt, but Kate made herself focus carefully on the sensation as each smack fell. They had based the strength of the smacks and the timing on Professor Steam, the head of the mech-e department. She was a strict disciplinarian, but always happy to help students with a project. She had spent a good half an hour smacking a force sensor like it was an inattentive student for them, giving them great data to work with.
The smacking felt eerily like one Kate had gotten for coming late to a class with Professor Steam. That was good, for science, if not for Kate’s backside. Tears started to fall down her face, an automatic reaction to the inferno building up in her bottom. Kate was relieved when the smacking stopped soon after that.
Ethan eyed her tear stained face with concern. “Are you alright?”
Kate eased herself carefully off of the machine, pulling up her underwear. “Yeah. I think the test was a success. I would characterize the experience as very like being paddled by Professor Steam. It was unpleasant, but not unmanageable or too severe. It was a little harder to tell on the receiving end how well the random pattern worked, it felt pretty random, but the swats do tend to blend a little in the second half. I felt at least one instance of two swats in a row in the same location, but that’s consistent with a random pattern over a small area.”
Ethan was carefully writing down her comments in their experiment log, then moved to add his own as the observer.
“The pattern looked random from here, we will need multiple tests to be certain it’s not favoring a strike spot. The machine ran smoothly, no visible glitches in the mechanics, or on the software. At ten on random the coloring was splotchy, we estimated it would take at least twenty on a random setting to get an even color. I would characterize it as dark pink with some red areas.”
Kate winced, rubbing the sore area soothingly. “We need to reconsider additional volunteers for testing. We should be running dozens of test runs a day to check for consistency and errors, we’re not going to be able to manage that with just the two of us. Do you think James would help? He can take a lot of spanking, and keep a secret.” James was one of their roommates, also a bottom, but much higher brat tendencies then Kate or Ethan.
Ethan thought about it. “Maybe? He gets a lot of spankings on his own, he may not want to volunteer for extra. Possibly we can convince Rebecca to let him trade a punishment for helping us with the machine. But she may not keep it a secret.” Rebecca was James’ girlfriend and top. She was pretty strict, and Ethan had a feeling she might categorize a Top Secret Spanking Machine as ‘brat shenanigans,’ something she had little tolerance for. Surprisingly so, considering ninety percent of James’ activities could be categorized as such.
Kate sighed. “We’ll have to keep workshopping ideas. In the meantime, we should do at least a couple more tests today.” She gestured Ethan towards the Machine.
He repeated the same routine Kate had done, divesting himself of his jeans and boxers. “Let’s try the even pattern, and set it for twelve. I want to try to call red after ten and check that function before we seriously consider introducing other people to the machine.”
Kate started entering the settings, but hesitated at the number. “I lost track of the count during mine, I suggest we set it to ten, to make sure we have a consistent comparison of smacks between you and I. Then we can do a second run of two and you can call red at the beginning.”
Ethan nodded into the donut. “Alright, that’s sound reasoning.”
After Ethan’s turn in the Machine and the red check, they did another two runs each, then reviewed the tapes side by side, watching for any inconsistencies they had missed live. They had to do the review standing, and both resolved to work on a solution to the testee problem.
Satisfied with their work, they locked The Machine up in the closet they had been granted in the lab space, locked the lab, and headed home. Not many students used the lab early on Sunday mornings and it had quickly become their favorite time to work. There was also much less chance of getting so caught up in what they were doing that they missed curfew, a frequent problem for them Freshman year.
They had snagged a great apartment style dorm with three double bedrooms and a kitchen. Chris loved to cook and the smell of homemade waffles greeted the pair as they walked in. Chris was at the kitchen counter cooking, Kate’s girlfriend Annie was sitting on the other side, an organic chemistry book open in front of her. James and Rebecca were nowhere to be seen.
“Just in time,” Chris greeted them, flipping a fresh set of waffles onto the stack. “How’s the top secret project going?”
“Good, we’re ahead of schedule, started beta testing today.” Kate smiled at him and snagged a waffle, moving to lean against Annie, who looked up from her studies long enough to give her a squeeze and kiss on the cheek.
“That’s great.” Chris put a waffle and some strawberries on a plate and handed it to Ethan, kissing his cheek, then pointedly put a similar plate in front of Annie and nudged the book away. “You need to take a break and eat.”
Annie grimaced at him, but picked up her fork. “I was going to eat, just wanted to finish reading the paragraph.”
Kate grinned at her top teasingly. “Listen to your AP,” She said, mock sternly.
Annie looked at Kate, then at her plate full of waffles and syrup. She reached over for the bowl of strawberries and set it firmly in front of her. “How about you listen to me and eat some fruit, before you get a vitamin deficiency.”
Kate wrinkled her nose at the bowl. “You’re not my AP.” She pointed out hopefully, then looked around with concern. “Where is Rebecca?”
Annie raised her eyebrows at Kate. “Rebecca is out looking for James, do you want to reconsider that last statement?”
Kate blinked at her. “Well, you’re not my AP, you’re my top.” At the look on Annie’s face she hurriedly added, “But as my top you also have a vested interest and negotiated right to watch out for my nutrition, so I will take back my statement as not relevant to the point.” To emphasize her compliance Kate popped one of the strawberry pieces into her mouth, making a face at the taste and reaching for the whipped cream to cover the rest in.
Annie rolled her eyes affectionately and swatted Kate’s backside.
“Ow!” Kate yelled. “That hurt.”
Annie and Chris both looked at her. Annie spoke first. “It shouldn’t have. Did you get in trouble on campus this morning?” It wasn’t impossible, but the school wasn’t usually crawling with authority figures on a Sunday morning.
Kate looked at Annie in confusion. “No, who would I have gotten in trouble with?”
Chris huffed a little under his breath. He had known Kate for six years now, since her freshman year of high school. He still couldn’t tell when she was being deliberately obtuse and when she was honestly confused by something. He looked over at Ethan, who had been quietly eating his waffles and berries.
Ethan looked up from his plate apprehensively. He hadn’t planned to go into the details of their beta testing. Technically they hadn’t broken any rules, but Chris had a nasty habit of ignoring technicalities.
Now that he looked at him, Chris thought it was odd that Ethan was leaning against the counter instead of taking one of the seats. Chris was a man who trusted his instincts, so following a hunch he delivered a swat of his own to his boyfriends seat.
Ethan jumped and yelled a little, also way out of proportion of what the swat should have drawn.
Now Chris and Annie were looking at both of them, arms crossed in an eerily similar manner. Ethan wished he could audit a basic top class. Did they teach that position? Or was it some sort of top instinct? He was going to talk to his lifestyles advisor. It really would benefit those majors and minors to get a better look at what was taught in the other classes.
Chris cleared his throat. “If you weren’t punished by someone this morning, why are your backsides sore?” He was genuinely curious. Kate almost never lied outright, if she said she hadn’t gotten into trouble, she probably hadn’t. But something had happened.
Ethan and Kate looked at each other, then at their tops. Ethan took a stab at answering first. “We would rather not say, it’s to do with our final mech-e project.” It was traditional for the mech-e students to keep their final projects a secret to avoid copying and sabotage. It wasn’t clear how common either of those things actually were, but students kept them secret nonetheless.
Neither Annie nor Chris looked impressed by that argument.
“How is your project making you sore? Was there an accident?” Chris paused, a look of horror on his face. “Is it another trebuchet! Because I swear if it is….”
“No!” Ethan hurried to reassure him. “It’s not a trebuchet, and there wasn’t an accident.”
Annie looked at Kate. The best way to get a straight answer from her girlfriend was to cut off the argument at the beginning. So instead she took her hand and pulled her to one of their couches.
“Annie,” Kate protested. “We didn’t get into trouble or break any rules.”
“Good,” Annie responded. “Then when I look at your bottom to see why a light swat made you yell like a banshee, what I see should reflect that. And if it doesn’t, we’ll be well positioned to find out why.”
‘I’ve always admired your intelligence Annie.” Chris grabbed Ethan and pulled him to the other couch.
Both tops pulled their subs over their laps and quickly divested them of their pants and underwear. There was a moment of surprised silence.
Chris broke it first. “Ethan, your backside looks like it went ten rounds with the meanest professor at RBU.” He tentatively rubbed one of the sorer looking spots, where marks were starting to show. Ethan wriggled in protest.
Annie was just as shocked, Kate’s backside was a vivid red and had clearly been paddled hard. “Kate, what on earth happened? Who did this?” It wasn’t the worst after effects of a spanking she had seen at RBU, but it was severe for Kate and Ethan. They were reasonably well behaved bottoms day to day. She knew they had a history of starting events that spiraled out of control, but according to Chris you always knew when that was happening. Sirens were usually the first sign.
“Nobody did it.” Kate answered.
“Ethan?” Chris asked, the threat clear in his voice.
“Can’t you just take our word for it? You can get the whole story during finals.” Ethan tried wriggling off Chris’ lap, and was surprised when it worked, leaving him kneeling on the floor. He looked up at Chris warily.
Chris stood. “I intend to get the whole story now. Stay there.” He looked over at Annie and gave her a signal to hold on, and winced at the state of Kate’s backside. He went into the room he and Ethan shared and grabbed two tubes of what he was looking for, tossing one to Annie on his way back to the couch.
Ethan could see what was in his hand and looked like he was going to bolt, but Chris snagged his arm and pulled him smoothly back over his lap.
“Chris, there’s no need for that!” Ethan wriggled again, but there wasn’t any escape this time.
Chris uncapped the tube of RBU Bum Cream. “I disagree. Normally I would spank you until you were more willing to cooperate, but I don’t want to given the current state of your bottom. Also given the state of your bottom, I would like to apply something to encourage its healing. If you were being a good boy, then I would use arnica on it. Since you’re being a naughty boy, I’m going to use this.”
Ethan folded. “We’re building a spanking machine, that’s our final project for Mech-e, plus I’m using it for my lifestyles project as well. We finally got it working consistently and needed to start human trials this morning. We took turns. It worked really well.” He finished weakly.
“Ethan!” Kate scolded from across Annie’s lap.
“Sorry,” He said sheepishly. He hated Bum Cream, a fact he really wished Chris didn’t know.
“So a machine did this?” Annie asked incredulously. “I think you may have it set too high.”
“There’s just one strength setting for now, it’s based on a professor's swing. We had to go multiple times though, to make sure it worked consistently.” Kate wriggled experimentally, to see if Annie would let her up now that the truth was out, but was dismayed to be pushed back into place instead.
Chris was also making no move to let Ethan off of his lap. “What have I said about using untested contraptions?”
Kate spoke up to defend her friend. “It had been tested when Ethan used it!”
Annie understood her meaning immediately. “I assume because you tested it first?”
Kate wriggled. “You’ve never given me a rule not to do that!”
Annie snorted. “I’ve also never given you a rule to not jump off of a cliff, would you go ahead and do that?”
Kate paused, feeling like this might be a trap, but unable to give anything but an honest answer. “I could do it with a hang glider.”
Chris rolled his eyes. “Not if it was a hang glider you had just built and not tested yet.”
Ethan spoke up. “That’s a conundrum. If it’s not safe to use something that’s never been tested by humans, no human could ever use a new invention. We would languish as a society.”
“There are ways to test things safely, which the two of you clearly weren’t doing this morning. You went way too far. You were also clearly intending to hide it from us, although I don’t know how you thought that would work. Making your bottoms so sore that they are marked, then not sharing that information with your tops is dangerous. We could have spanked you without baring your bottoms, unaware that you were that sore, and done real damage.” Chris squeezed a dollop of the cream onto his hand.
Kate protested. “We weren’t trying to hide it from you! Not mentioning something isn’t the same as hiding it.”
Annie unscrewed the lid to her tube and squeezed out her own portion. “I’ll tell you what, let’s assume that if it pertains to your health or safety, not mentioning something is the same as hiding it.” She began to rub the cream into the red bottom over her lap, making sure to cover it thoroughly.
“Ahhh,” Kate squealed, as the cream began to heat up, stoking the fire in her already hot bottom. “You can’t make a rule retroactively!”
Annie didn’t bother to respond to that, assuming continuing to rub in the cream would make her position on that clear.
Chris lectured Ethan as he rubbed the cream on his bottom. “You and I do have a rule about when it is and isn’t ok to try an invention on yourself. And I know you are aware of that rule, because you took steps to meet the letter of the rule by having Kate go first. Do you think that followed the intent of the rule?”
Ethan whimpered as the sensation of sitting on a hot stove permeated his bottom. “No sir.”
Chris squeezed one of his sore cheeks firmly. “How do I feel about trying to get past a rule on a technicality?”
“Oww, you don’t like it! I’m sorry!” Ethan felt tears starting. There was no wriggling away from bum cream, once it was applied you had no choice other than to experience the burn until the cream wore off.
Chris made a hmm sound. ‘Yes, I bet you are.” He pulled his now weeping boyfriend up to lay against his chest, cuddling him for a minute, before reluctantly pushing him up.
“Corner love.” He kissed Ethan’s forehead and wiped a few tears away with his thumbs.
Ethan reluctantly went to ‘his’ corner, Kate already standing in the one across from it. He winced at the color of her backside, dark red and bruising a little, realizing his must look the same. Maybe Chris and Annie had a point. It hadn’t seemed that bad in the lab. They were going to have to do something about more testing though.
It was hard to concentrate on that with his backside still broiling from the cream. He stared instead at the corner, light blue paint, and the faint tiny pencil message only visible if you stood a couple inches away and stared at it. ‘I used to think my boyfriend was a pain in the neck, but I have a much lower opinion of him now.’ It was a new one, Kate refreshed them periodically. He suppressed a snort of laughter, feeling a little bit better, despite his hot bottom. They would figure something out for testing, Chris would help.
They were still in the corner, burn finally starting to fade out, when the front door opened, admitting a loudly protesting James. Ethan couldn’t see them, but based on the protests, it sounded like Rebbeca was dragging him in by the ear. Not an unusual occurrence.
James’ voice was full of its normal bravado, always sure he could talk his way out of a punishment right up until the first smack fell. “I told you, I was trying to get home, but the horse threw a shoe! It couldn’t pull the wagon, and …” he trailed off and let out a low whistle.
“What the hell did you two do?!”