Chapter #5Bodyswap machine by: sdaze   It was another regular day in the recently refurbished store. Liz was walking around holding a clipboard going through her pre-opening checklist in her usual efficient manner.
As she turned a corner and walked towards the main display area the sight before her caused her to stop dead in her tracks. She was so surprised she nearly dropped the clipboard. "What the chuffing heck?" she cried out loud.
In front of her was a large machine of some kind. It occupied most of the open area. It was about two metres tall and had a grey metallic finish. Lots of chrome protuberances covered it's body and there appeared to be two largely spherical objects, each big enough for a person to sit inside, on the front of it. Her view of those was obscured by the bulk of the boxy machine. As there were no obvious controls, Liz surmised she was standing behind whatever it was.
From her viewpoint, she could see a number of staff members standing in front of it gawping at the machine with a great level of curiosity.
Between Liz and the machine was John the janitor. He seemed to be completely ignoring the large apparatus as he cleaned the floor trying to get his mop under the bottom of the nearby shelving.
Liz walked over to him and pointed at the machine. "When did this get brought in?" she asked the older man.
John stopped his mopping. He turned to Liz before shrugging and said, "No idea, it wasn't here last night when we left and it was here when we came in," he said.
"So who put it there?" Liz asked her emotions turning from shock to annoyance.
"It was a giant purple man wearing a monocle."
"Really?"
"No, I just told you I wasn't here, so how would I know?"
Liz frowned at him, in no mood for his early morning quips. "No need for sarcasm. Didn't you think to report it to management?"
John shook his head, "I assumed it was for some kind of promotion."
"Promotion? Promotion? What on earth could we possibly be promoting that requires this hideous contraption?" To emphasise her point Liz tapped the body of the machine with her pen, instantly she could feel a strange vibration through it.
John shrugged again. As a humble janitor he considered such ideas, somebody else's problem.
"Can we move it somewhere out of the way till we figure out what's going on?" Liz asked finding it difficult to believe the corporate higher ups would have authorised this.
John's eyes opened unusually wide. "You can see how huge the thing is and it's mostly made of metal by the looks of it. It must weigh five tons at least and there's no wheels I can see. Also it's flush with the floor, you'd need a crane or something to lift it."
"Hm...," Liz said as she pondered the problem. A tiny panel on the top of the machine squeaked opened briefly and a puff of steam came out. "Can we turn it off at least?"
"I doubt it," John said as he walked over to the machine. He put his hand around a thick silver cable that came out the back of the machine. It travelled vertically disappearing into the ceiling above their heads. He tried to give a shake but it was quite firm. "It looks like it is wired directly into the electric. I'm judging three phase going by the thickness of the cable. I can't see any kind of connector." His hand moved to a pipe about an inch across next to the power cable. It also went vertically in parallel with the electrical connection, disappearing into the ceiling tiles too. "Seems to be plumbed into the cold water system as well."
Liz looked up and down the utility connections wondering why the machine would need both power and water. It seemed like a dangerous combination. "Well can you at least cordon it off."
"I'll see what I can do," John said before he put his mop into the wheeled bucket. He pushed it off and disappeared around the corner.
Liz's heels clicked as she walked around the large machine. She got a better look at the other side of it as she moved. She could see the front of the spheroids had large perspex windows in them. They each made up about a quarter of the dome. Peering inside one, she could see what looked like a very basic seat comprised of an upholstered cylinder. There were a few illuminated push buttons next to the seat. Hanging down from the roof of the inside of the dome was some sort of multicoloured light. It throbbed dimly as the colours changed.
As she leaned over she noticed a tiny gap in the metal that seemed to cover the whole dome shape. Her discovery revealed the window was actually part of a sliding door mechanism that would split the pod open.
As she continued to walk around it, she saw more controls on a panel between the two spherical pods. None seemed to be a power button. Dozens of cables and pipes seemed to emerge from each pod into the large metal box the control panel sat on.
Liz could hear a murmur behind her as the staff discussed the strange mechanism.
"What is it Liz?" asked a concerned sounding Ellie.
Liz turn around to address the crowd. "I'm not in a position to discuss it at the moment," she said to them before smiling at the cleverness of her own half-truth. "You'll be informed at the appropriate time. Right now we're getting ready to open and you all have your assigned tasks." She'd basically told them the show was over for now.
Reluctantly the crowd all wandered off. Standing there watching them slowly disperse, a sound caught Liz's attention. It sounded distinctly like giggles.
She turned back around towards the machine. The sound seemed to be coming from the side of the machine she hadn't investigated. There wasn't a huge amount of space between the sphere and the shelves. Suspecting someone was hiding behind the machine skiving, she walked around it.
"Nicola!?" Liz said surprised to see the older woman standing there laughing her head off.
Briefly caught unawares Nicola looked up at Liz and stopped her high pitched laughing. It was evident though she was struggling to contain herself. Her cheeks bulged and then she burst into another giggling fit. "Sorry..., Liz...," she gasped between breaths.
Liz was confused at why she was hiding and what was so funny. "Why are you laughing?" Liz asked.
"I'm tiny..., ...like real short, everything-everything looks big and strange." This moment of lucidity lasted only a few seconds before she descended once again into loud laughter. "And I'm a woman..." That seemed to trigger her even more and she bent over double as the humour overwhelmed her small body."
"Um, that's all kind of obvious," Liz said now concerned something was wrong with her colleague.
"I know it's daft isn't it," Nicola said as she once again calmed down. She stretched her arms out in front of her and examined her hands. "How can I reach anything, I'm like a T-rex." The joke once again caused her to chortle loudly.
Just then Nathan walked up holding a plastic cup containing water. "Hi Liz," he said as he walked past and handed it to Nicola. "That might help," he said as Nicola brought it to her lips. She quickly gulped it down before messily wiping her lips with her sleeved arm.
Nathan reached his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Better?" Nathan asked.
Nicola nodded, before looking back down. "The boobs are nice," she remarked as she gently touched one of her own breasts through the fabric of the shirt.
Nathan smiled. "Don't get too excited, you haven't seen the stretch marks yet."
"What the chuffing heck is going on here?" Liz asked loudly after witnessing the odd events in front of her.
Both Nicola and Nathan stared at her.
Nicola answered first, "I think I need to pee. It feels weird though."
"Must have been the water," Nathan said, "I know it goes right through me."
Nicola was about to walk away when she suddenly remembered Liz was there.
"It's okay luv," Nathan reassured her, "just go, I'll explaining everything to Liz. We don't want you wetting your knickers and that is dangerously easy for a middle-aged woman to do."
"Nathan!" Liz said angrily as Nicola quickly walked off, "that's no way to talk to Nicola."
Nathan nodded before he said, "Yes it was a bit uncouth but I think it's all been a bit too much for the poor dear. Couldn't waste time mincing words."
"What's been too much for her?" Liz asked.
"Using the machine."
"She used it? What does it do?" Liz asked, taken aback she'd been so reckless.
Nathan pointed at the machine. "We both did. It swaps bodies. I'm Nicola."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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