Description
The economic ups and downs of the past few years affected everyone a bit differently. While some people had to find higher paying jobs, others found themselves picking up gig jobs wherever they could. Gabby was one of those unfortunate people.
The job seemed innocent enough, though a bit vague. Test new technologies with Playflation was all it really said, but the pay was great, and for what they claimed was just a few hours of work.
She had initially misread the company name, thinking it had something to do with video games until she arrived at the address. She was surprised to find instead a company that seemed to specialize in inflatable toys. At least that’s what the first glance indicated to her, as she was led down the hallway showcasing pool toys and large colorful hammers. That is, until she saw a human sized inflatable doll, shaped like a woman, with massive mounds on her chest, and several holes visible in suggestive parts of her ‘body’.
She had little time to worry about the idea of a children’s toy company clearly also manufacturing adult toys as well, though as she was led into a room marked TESTING. The secretary who had led her there simply closed the door behind her as she left, leaving the confused and now slightly concerned Gabby alone. However, she quickly discovered she wasn’t as alone as she thought, as a voice booming over a loudspeaker indicated.
“So you’re subject ID-023,” the voice said, almost bored sounding, “Eh, I guess we should test out a few different body types…Now, would you like to remain in your clothes, or remove them?”
“Excuse me,” she gasped, shocked by the question, “I wasn’t told this would require anything like that. Honestly, I wasn’t told much of anything about what I’m supposed to be testing, or doing, or-.”
“That’s fine, prior tests show that the process eliminates both artificial and natural fabrics,” the voice interrupted casually, “Just wasn’t sure if you wanted to conserve your outfit. Anyway, we have a lot of subjects to test today, so let’s get started.”
“Wait, no, I-I,” Gabby tried to interject and stop the test, but the bright blue lights turning on around her told her that was already too late. Regretting not fully reading the paperwork she signed. Whatever they were going to be testing on her, it was likely worth even more than she was getting paid.
“No you may feel a bit short of breath and light-headed,” the voice said as Gabby began to feel a light breeze on her skin, suddenly noticing that her clothes seemed to be dissolving before her eyes, exposing her skin to the radiating blue light, “But those will fade over time. At least, that’s what the research shows.”
Gabby felt like she was having a panic attack, standing there suddenly completely naked as her skin began to tingle all over. She tried to cover herself up, only to find that her body didn’t respond, refusing to move as if frozen in place. The best she could do as she tried to continue her protests was glance at her reflection in what she could only guess was a two-way mirror, prompting her protests to turn to an audible gasp. Her skin, and particularly her torso, seemed to be not only awash in the blue glow from the light, but reflecting it, as if the skin had a sheen to it.
Finding it difficult to breathe, she started gasping for air, only to fail to exhale each time. With each inhale, her chest seemed to inflate, but never deflate. Not only that, but it seemed to now be taking on the color of the lights shining on her, the tan, fleshy tone shifting to an unnatural blue. She tried to ask again to make them stop whatever they were doing to her, but nothing came out of her mouth, not even a whisper.
As she watch in silent horror, she saw the sheen, and then color shift flow from her chest to her arms and legs, noticing something that made her even more terrified. Her skin wasn’t just changing color, it was puffing out all over. It wasn’t just her chest that seemed to overfill with air, her joints all seemed to be doing so as well. Her arms, her hips, knees, even her neck seemed to stiffen and fill out with excess air, making her almost look like one of the objects she passed by on the walk to this room.
The realization hit her far too late, though, as a headache began to take hold of her, while she began to lose her balance. She was finding it harder and harder to think, to panic, to do anything as her vision started to blur. The last thing she saw was the sheen reaching her nose, her mouth frozen open in a gasp-like O before she toppled over, slowly sinking, falling, hitting the ground with a light tap.
As the blue light faded, her skin began to turn back to its previously pale-tan coloration, though still reflecting the normal light in the room. A beeping sound went off, indicating it was safe to enter the room as the voice spoke again over the speaker.
“Test ID-023 successfully completed. Please remove subject ID-023 from testing area for processing, and bring in subject ID-024. Thank you.”
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