Facility Seven, Part One

         Janet awoke with a start. She immediately noticed two things about her surroundings: She wasn't where she remembered falling asleep, and she wasn't wearing any clothing. As the sleep faded from her mind her vision and thought clarified and she took stock of the situation. She was lying on a round bed, nicely furnished with sheets, blanket, and pillows. The room she was in was roughly 10' by 30'. The floor seemed to be of some dull white material, the same as the walls and ceiling. She could see no doors or windows, or anything at all on the bland walls. Perhaps strangest of all was that she could discern no source for the soft light that lit the room. It was as if the light came from everywhere.

         Janet stood, wrapping the sheet around herself in unconscious modesty. She figured idleness wouldn't tell her anything more about what was going on, so she decided to yell. "Hello? Is anyone there? Where am I?" The room, lacking any form of communication, or ability to comprehend what she said for that matter, declined an answer. "Well this is great," she said to her self aloud, "I guess I'll have to find a way out of here on my own.

         She approached one wall at random, having no clue which direction was which, and gave it a closer inspection. It seemed to be of one solid piece of the same material that composed the floor, and had no flaws what-so-ever. As she moved around the room, closely inspecting all four walls and the floor, she realized that the entire room was too perfect, too flawless. "Nothing can be this perfect," she said to herself. As if on cue the walls, floor, and ceiling shimmered briefly, then disappeared.

         She found herself in a room, roughly 30' by 30' feet square. The floor was a rather drab shade of grey, and the walls were lined with holo-projectors. She was no longer alone. A man, in his middle years with short hair greying at the temples and a distinguished-looking beard framing his face, approached her. He was holding some sort of a tablet pc and writing quickly with a stylus. He wore what looked to be a standard white labcoat. "What in the hell is going on?" Janet demanded.

         "Congratulations," he replied, ignoring her question, "you have passed the first and maybe most difficult test, and rather quickly I might add. You should do very well here, very well indeed."

         "Test? What are you talking about? I've got questions and you had better have answers," Janet declared angrily. Despite her apparent anger, the was more than just a touch of fear detectable in her voice, and on her face.

         "Of course you do, Janet. Let me lead you to your quarters and we will discuss things on the way. Then we can get you settled in and ready for the next test. My name is Dr. Revell, please, come along." The doctor put his arm around Janet's shoulder and began to lead her toward the room's lone exit.

         "Why the hell not," Janet thought, "it's not like I have any other choices at the moment." As they exited the room into a hallway floored in beige with white walls, she asked: "Where am I? What sort of facility is this? What in the world was that in that room, I've never seen anything like it?"

         Dr. Revell smiled as they walked along the hallway, passing plane white doors with small computer panels beside them. "This is Facility 7, located deep beneath Dallas, Texas. The purpose of this facility is a long answer, but I will try to explain all that I can. 60 years ago this planet was visited by a craft from another world. Another galaxy, actually. Inside that ship were seven aliens, refugees from their home planet, possibly the last of their species alive. They had journeyed from a system on the exterior of the Andromeda galaxy, fleeing a conquering army the likes of which they had never before encountered."

         "The voyage took them almost 100 solar years, a lifetime to us but not such a long time for their race. They told us of the army that was sweeping across the universe, conquering all it came across. And they told us that our galaxy, The Milky Way, is the last unconquered galaxy. Since that time we have secretly been studying their technology, slowing integrating certain aspects into the public realm, while keeping most of it secret. The goal of this facility, and the others like it, is to develop anything that can aid us in the coming fight against this terrible foe. But while other facilities work on more conventional weapons and the like, this one has a different aim, but perhaps the most important one of all. The conquering race, the Ne'Qui'Shu as they call themselves, have most curious weakness, it seems."

         Janet was walking in stunned silence, barely paying attention to the turns they were making through the complex network of hallways. She could scarce believe what she was hearing. But for some reason she felt inclined to believe this stranger. "What is this weakness?" she asked, fully caught up in the story.

         "The Ne'Qui'Shu seem to be allergic to laughter. They have become so cold-hearted and cruel during their conquest of the Universe that laughter has become almost a poison to them, weakening them and rendering them helpless. What we are developing is a sort of massive 'gun' that uses laughter as ammo. Firing this 'gun' at a Ne'Qui'Shu fleet would severely cripple its effectiveness and give us a fighting chance to defend the galaxy." As Dr. Nevell finished his story, Janet noticed a light in his eyes, a light of conviction and hope that removed any doubts she had as to the truthfulness of his wild tale.

         "You are going to harness laughter as ammunition. Where are you getting the laughter from?" Janet was now truly curious, and found that a part of herself wanted to help in any way that she could.

         "Ah, now that is where my line of work comes in. We will harvest the laughter from women, test subjects as yourself. It is our understanding that women produce the most potent laughter. And so my purpose is to find and test women to be our 'laughers'. We only want the most potent ones, to ensure that we will be operating at peak efficiency." Dr. Nevell finally came to a stop at a door no different from the countless others that they had passed, and pressed a code on the panel. The door opened to reveal a simple yet nicely furnished quarters, featuring a small living space, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Dr. Nevell ushered Janet in and they sat in opposite chairs.

         Janet, figuring this to be her quarters, didn't even bother to ask the question. Instead, she inquired, "But how do you get the women to laugh, tell them jokes for hours at a time?"

         "No," Dr. Nevell chuckled, "we tickle them. It is the most effective way to promote constant, enthusiastic laughter."

         Janet felt a tingle of nervous excitement travel down her spine. Janet loved to be tickled, had loved it since the time she was a small girl. Almost every one of her relationships had ended because her boyfriends and girlfriends had found her overwhelming desire to be tickled bizarre. And so the 27 year old woman, though quite pretty in face and body, was single and had been for over a year, finally giving up on a relationship. "So I'm going to be tickled while I'm here?" she asked, a gleam in her eye.

         "Yes, is that a problem?" Dr. Nevell replied. He hadn't failed to notice the gleam in Janet's eye, and he was confident of her answer. He was not disappointed.

         "N-no.. that isn't a problem at all.. I-I actually kinda like to be.. t-tickled," Janet stammered, hardly believing her ears. Though she still felt some trepidation at the suddenness of all of this, she was at the same time more excited than at any other time in her life.

         "Excellent," replied Dr. Nevell. "In that case, care to come with me to your next test? I guarantee you will enjoy it."

         "I think I would like that very much," Janet said. "Lead the way."

         "Alright," Dr. Nevell said, "you are all strapped in. How do you feel? Are you comfortable?"

         "Yes," Janet replied, "this contraption is actually quite comfy." The 'contraption' to which Janet referred was more or less a dentist's chair. She laid on her back with her arms over her head, coming together at the wrists in leather straps connected to the chair. Her legs were likewise held together by leather straps at the ankles. She was not stretched so tight as to be uncomfortable, just enough so that she wouldn't be able to prevent any tickling.

         "Are you ready, Janet?" Dr. Nevell asked, for the first time a hint of mischief creeping into in his voice. "I know I am."

         "Y-yes, I'm r-ready," was Janet's uncertain reply. Janet loved to be tickled, but at the same time she had never been tied up before. She felt shivers of excitement course through her body, at the same time mixing with pangs of anxiety towards her situation. Adding to this was her nudity laying there on the table; Janet wasn't a shy girl, but nudity in front of strangers was not an everyday occurrence to her either. Her brain was buzzing into overload with the conflicting emotions. It was but a pittance compared to what was to come.

         Dr. Nevell walked over to one wall and touched a seemingly ordinary panel. The panel raised up and a shelf roughly 1 foot wide slid out. Arrayed on the shelf were a few different feathers, some string, an electric toothbrush, and a pair of bizarre looking items the likes of which Janet had never seen before. Dr. Nevell picked up two identical feathers that looked like they might have come from an eagle. "I think we shall start out with something simple," Dr. Nevell said as he approached Janet's upper body with the feathers in hand.

         Janet stiffened with expectation, but already a slight grin was beginning to creep onto her face. When Dr. Nevell began to teasingly stroke the feathers in her underarms, the grin grew wide and was accompanied by a bubbling of giggles. Janet's body tried to squirm away, but much to the delight of her brain -- and Dr. Nevell -- the bondage left her nowhere to go. Dr. Nevell continued the teasing strokes for a couple minutes, not pushing Janet, just priming her body and mind for the real tickling that was to come. Janet's giggling laughter continued unabated, her body practically writhing with pleasure even as it tried to escape the tingling sensations firing all along her armpits.

         Dr. Nevell began to let his strokes drift down onto Janet's ribcage, and her giggling kicked up a notch. She wasn't full on laughing yet, but it was definitely tickling more than before. He made sure that he traveled over every inch of her ribcage with the feathers. After a few minutes of this he decided to send one of the feathers into her navel and the other to dance along the undersides of her breasts.

         "Oh my g-g-god that t-tickles!" Janet cried as she simultaneously felt a feather playing in her belly button and another drifting along the undersides of her breasts. Janet had quite perky B-cup breasts, and they were becoming perkier by the second as they were tickled by the feather. Her giggling was finally ramped up into full blown laughter, and Dr. Nevell grinned to himself as he knew that this was still nothing compared to the tickling that was to follow.

         "My, my, we have ticklish breasts," Dr. Nevell exclaimed to Janet as he continued to work the feathers. "I shall have to make a note of that in my report."

         "Stop t-tickling m-me... k-keep tickling me... just sh-shut up and t-tickle you bastard," Janet managed to get out between bouts of laughter. She was in absolute heaven even as her body strained desperately to escape the tickling. Suddenly the tickling stopped and Dr. Nevell replaced the feathers on the shelf and began to write things down on a tablet PC. "That was the most intense tickling of my laugh," Janet said as she slowly got her breath back. "But I have a feeling that things have only just gotten started."

         "Right you are, my dear," Dr. Nevell replied as he put down the tablet PC, picked up the electric toothbrush, and walked to stand at Janet's feet. He flicked on the toothbrush, and as it began to whir and hum, he smiled and said, "now this might tickle just a bit."

         It must have tickled more than just a bit because Janet exploded into laughter as the toothbrush made contact with the sole of her right foot. Dr. Nevell just held the brush in place for a few moments before he started to roam it all about Janet's instep. She was already laughing just as intensely as before, and Dr. Nevell had a feeling he knew how to change that, but decided to take things slow.

         Once he had covered all the instep on Janet's right foot a few times, he moved the brush first down to the heel, and then up to the ball of the foot. Janet's laughter didn't increase, but it didn't decrease either. She was once more caught in a cycle of begging for the tickling to stop and begging for it to continue as her mind and body waged a war against one another. And yet somehow when Janet saw Dr. Nevell grin especially wide she knew what was about to happen, and managed to shout, "Yea-no!" before he directed the toothbrushes whirling bristles up under her long, soft toes.

         Janet's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and gales of laughter burst forth from her as she felt the toothbrush buzz its way under each and every toe, back and forth. Neither she nor the doctor could decide which toe was the most ticklish, but as long as they were all this ticklish neither seemed to care over much. Dr. Nevell kept this up for a minute or two and then switched the brush over to the left sole to start the whole process all over again.

         A few minutes later when he finally shut off the toothbrush, Janet was panting, her hair in wild disarray. "That was insane," she exclaimed.

         "Indeed," Dr. Nevell noted as he marked things down on his tablet PC once again. "Well, this test has one last phase and I think you are gonna like it."

         "I have a feeling that we both will," Janet said, not forgetting the pleasure that the doctor undoubtedly was getting from this whole ordeal.

         Dr. Nevell just smiled as he once again put down the tablet PC and walked to the shelf. This time he picked up the two strange contraptions, which to Janet looked like the most convoluted bowls in the galaxy. He placed one on each of her breasts and she could feel the strange bowl conform itself to hug her breast without squeezing it. "What are these things?" she asked without fear, just a sense of curiosity.

         "You'll find out in a moment," Dr. Nevell replied. He then flicked a small switch on the top of each one and Janet found out what they were for. As soon as they were turned on she experienced what felt like fingers kneading her breasts, causing her to giggle but also to moan at the same time.

         "This is wonderful," Janet moaned as the bowls continued to work her breasts.

         "You don't know the half of it," Dr. Nevell replied, and he flicked the switches again.

         Janet erupted into laughter as she felt tiny feathers whirl at high speed across her nipples, immediately causing them to stiffen, which in turn just allowed more of the feathers to stroke them. Janet was beyond heaven; she was in a place she could never have imagined and all she wanted to do was leave and stay forever. It was at this point that Janet felt the strings being pulled slowly between her toes.

         Dr. Nevell almost stopped with the strings as soon as he started when he heard Janet's laughter ratchet up to heights he had never imagined possible. It would seem that his first test subject was very likely to be his best. He thought that she might be able to provide the ammunition for an entire Laugh Gun by herself, and decided he would do everything he could to keep her stationed at the Earth.

         Janet at this time didn't care where she was stationed, as she had moved beyond any sense of anything except the pleasure and tickling being applied to her breasts and toes. When it finally stopped, Dr. Nevell had already finished writing on his tablet PC by the time she was able to say anything. "When's the next test?" she panted heavily.