Kelri's Gain Part 2: The Plan

The full series can be found on my deviant art with occasional character illustrations on my deviantart. You can find this story here: https://www.deviantart.com/juxtaterrestrial/art/Kelri-s-Gain-Part-2-The-Plan-775...



   A dull week followed Kelri’s defeat at the Second Saturday Stuffing Competition. Both in preparation for the next contest, and to assist in losing the weight gained from that weekend binge. Kelri drowned her hunger in liters of water daily.



   The records office for the hospital was massive, reflecting the size of the bureaucracy of the local health systems. Seven hospital campuses created massive amounts of paperwork to be stored, collated, and categorized. The plaque on her cubicle read ‘Kelri Rivera, Manager: Department of Clinical Aggregation’.



   Her decorations on her desk were sparse but sentimental. A calendar of scenic vistas from New Zeeland hung on the wall. A yearly gift from her mother to remind her of home. A few faded photographs were pinned to the opposite wall: cherished childhood memories preserved in Polaroid. Most of them had food pictured in them. A motivational poster was stapled above her computer screen: a partially filled glass of water with a message about perspective. As a joke to herself she crossed out the ‘half’ in ‘half-full’ and replaced it with ‘always’: a reference to the volume of water she consumed daily.



   There was a knock on the cubical. It was Connor. He was the youngest and newest employee under her supervision. The team always called him new despite being a veteran in the department for two years because of rare it was for someone to leave the company. He was taller than Kelri, but so were the rest of her employees. He was clean shaven but rarely took the time to seriously tame his dirty blond hair.



   “Morning Ms.Rivera.” He announced himself.



   “Oh Connor. Did you -” Kelri spun in her chair.



   “Yeah, I finished that report at the last minute on Friday. I had to push some of the other workload back though. You always give me the hard cases don’t you?”



   “I know I can count on you to get them done. The other ones are not as time sensitive. Though it’s best if you get them done soon. No harm done.” She smiled and waved him off.



   She opened her email to see what came in during the weekend. Record requests. Meeting preparations. Server downtime notifications. Huh? She thought looking at a message that came in that morning. The spam filter must be slipping. The subject line spoke right to Kelri’s soul however. ‘I can guarantee improved performance in your next contest, Kelri’.



   She hovered over the delete button. Its instructions ran through her head. It was probably a phishing email, or worse an attempt to gain access to the database through her. She couldn’t click. It can’t hurt just to look can it? She knew in her mind that it could. That’s what the infosec guidelines said. She opened the email.



   Kelri,



   I hope this one gets through to you. You don’t know me. Consider me… Well I’m a huge fan of yours from the Contest at Marco’s. I’m also concerned about your performance. No, not in a bad way. I think I can help you win…



   Without solid reason, her heart fluttered. Her face flushed. She continued reading.



   ...How could I resist helping such a beautiful lady… Sorry. Just stating the obvious. I’m in a position to be aware of various experimental treatments. One of them caught my eye and I thought of you. Normally there are recruited for very secretly. Government funded stuff: you understand. I can get you into one.



   I look forward to hearing back from you, assuming the spam filter doesn't get me this time.



   Respectfully ~ Your Secret Advisor.



   Kelri took a deep breath. This has to be a phishing email. This is a test from IT. Why would they use my eating contest to lure me though? Too much risk. She deleted the email. She stopped and opened up the trash bin. One a post it note she took down the email address, then deleted the message for good.



   She checked over her shoulder and with a racing heart she sent a message to the email from her phone.‘What do you want? What is this treatment you’re talking about? Why should i trust you?’



   The secret advisor replied immediately. “I just want to help, that’s all. It’s more interesting to me if you win that competition. Why should your trust any email from a stranger. What I can do is set you up an appointment to join the trial. You can go to the office and ask as many questions as you want. No strings attached. You don’t like it? You can leave at any time. Or if you’re feeling scared you can avoid the appointment.”



   Kelri gulped. All her instincts rebelled, but the hunger for victory growled in her stomach. She sent a reply. “Set up the appointment.”



   The secret advisor replied. “10/26/2020, Aspera medical center, building 4154, Dr.Logus’s office”



   ***



   As if it was possible the rest of the week passed even slower. She argued back and forth between keeping the appointment, but each time she stretched her stomach with gallons of water, her mind was pushed further toward keeping the appointment. Friday came.



   The office was the same as any other office on the campus. She checked and was brought to a waiting room with all the standard doctor’s equipment. They took all her vitals and a detailed history. Here height was the expected 5’5”.Her weight came to 125lbs, higher than she wanted, but the stress had hindered her weight loss after the contest. Doctor Logus entered the room, engaged in some standard physician banter before explaining the trial.



   “You know it’s actually a simple trial. A single dose of medicine and then you check in some time down the road. This is an experimental trial for limited application biomedical nanotech.”



   “What?” Kelri tilted her head is disbelief.



   “It’s cutting edge stuff. It’s probably years away from common use. But the programming allows for a very powerful but limited scope. These nano bots are programmed to help the body heal in interesting ways. They encourage cells to divide, and then the re-position the cells in specific new way. The idea is we can enlarge or shrink tissues as needed. Lengthen or shorten a tendon with an injection. That sort of thing. In this case the trial is to manage stomach volume for use in gastric patients. The idea is that we could increase the stomach capacity of people who have through eating enough or decrease the stomach size of patients needing dramatic weight loss.”



   “Oh.” Kelri suppressed a gasp. Her pulse raced.



   “Now you’ve been assigned to get the increased size version of the test. Lets see your preparation… I see you’ve filled out out preparation paperwork to the T. Your starting volume is...Wow. 4.5 liters?”



   “I’m a competitive eater. I - well I keep track of that.”



   “I’m conflicted. This would probably get you an unfair advantage. But you’re a perfect case to test the limits of the treatment. You should be aware of the side effects: Increased appetite and resulting weight gain -”



   “I’m meticulous in my meal prep. In my years as a competitive eater I’ve never gone above 130 lbs. I have the willpower and the experience to do what I have to.”



   “If you say so. You might also experience indigestion, nausea, gas or bloating. All resulting from a large change in the gastric system. Also the effect should be reversible with the same treatment. We can discuss that at your next appointment.”

Kelri gulped for air. This was the moment of choice. “I - do it.”



   The doctor nodded and opened a large syringe with a matte silver liquid in it. Doctor Logus swabbed and sterilized the skin right below the sternum and number it. Using a large needle he injected the silver liquid right into Kelri’s stomach. It was as if she just swallowed a whole milkshake as the thick cool liquid coated the inside of her stomach. She sighed in relief as the needle was withdrawn.



   “What do i do now?”



   “Instructions are simple go home and do what you’ve been doing. Go home and fill your stomach up with water till you feel full. After that you want to avoid feeling full for at least a week or so while the nanobots finish up their work. You don’t want to disturb the new structures they’re building.”



   “Well I suppose I can do that.”



   ***



   At home Kelri still felt the heavy cool liquid coating her stomach. She prepared a hovel of pillows to relax in, then followed her usual routine. She filled up 4 liters of water into two pitchers. She emptied one into her stomach. Then another. She filled up one more and put down over a quarter of it. This was routine. She waddled into the living room gingerly massaging her bloated belly. She fell asleep wrapped in blankets smiling while clutching her full stomach.



The full series can be found on my deviant art with occasional character illustrations on my deviantart. You can find this story here: https://www.deviantart.com/juxtaterrestrial/art/Kelri-s-Gain-Part-2-The-Plan-775...