Disclaimer thingy: I hold no liability if you read this story and are offended, a minor, a nun or other churchgoer, a space monkey, He-Man or Covenent Grunt. I also have no liability if it turns you into any. Please email all comments to Darkside007@gmail.com, and all hatemail to FAQ@IRS.gov. Have fun. :)
Karen stood in front of the building, just off campus. The sign on the front was as meaningless and bland as could be: "Arlington Associates", which wasn't any more helpful than the ad:
Entry-level positionHigh daily wages, short hoursEasy workOpen-mindedness a requirementApply at 1-800-555-4800.
The lack of any details in the ad, or when she called the number, which was only a call center, really bothered her. But she scored an interview, so it was worth at least checking it out; she needed the work, after all. Her scholarships were about to run out tomorrow, and if she didn't find a well-paying job soon, she was totally screwed. No family, no house, nothing.
Inside the atrium, she gave her name at the front desk and was given directions to an office on the fifth floor. She started heading to the elevator, but decided to take the stairs, on account of how packed it was. She was grateful for her size 5 feet, they let her get away with sneakers and change right before the interview. After making her way up to the fifth floor landing, Karen crouched down, unlaced her sneakers and put her pumps on the ground. Stepping out of her sneakers and into her heels, she stuck her sneakers in her handbag and headed to the office for the interview.
She reached the open door and stepped inside. In the outer office a secretary was typing, well, something.
"Ms. Baker?" The secretary asked as she continued typing. On getting a nervous nod; she said, "He's just finishing up another interview, he'll be ready for you in a few minutes."
"That's fine; I'm early anyway," Karen said. She took a small mirror out of her purse, slid her dark blonde hair behind her ears, straightened her glasses, and adjusted her blouse and skirt. She did a quick check of her pantyhose and shoes, and waited.
About ten minutes later, a tall brunette walked out followed by a fit man in a brown suit. After a few words, the brunette left and the man said, "You must be Karen, please come in."
"I'm glad you came in, Karen. I'm Tom, I handle recruitment for the company, and you seem to be exactly the type of person we're looking for."
Karen perked up, "Really? What does the company do, anyway?"
"We provide specialized services to various clients" On seeing Karen's shocked face, he stammered, "No no no no. No prostitution, no. We offer servers for up-scale parties, temporary secretaries, wait staff for hotels and hospitals, among other things."
"You're a temp agency?"
"Eh... Kind've. Our employees are...unique. More reliable than other agencies. Anyway, you've got the job if want it. I have a contract right here, all we have to do is fill in the blanks."
Karen was surprised, she didn't expect the interview to go this easy. "Sure, if it's all basic work, I don't see what the big deal is."
Tom grinned. "Outstanding, we can get all these forms filled out, and then if you're free, we can even start your training, such as it is."
Karen was a little confused by that last comment, but was eager to get started. "Alright. I was planning on spending the rest of the afternoon job-hunting anyway."
"Alright, well, I just need you to read and sign the contract. We can head down to the training facilities now, if you want. I have a clipboard here so you can read it as we head down."
"Well, Ok, I guess..."
"We can stay here if you want, but the sooner you start your training, the sooner you start getting paid. I figured you'd want to get started right away. I don't want to pressure you, of course. Your call."
The contract wasn't that thick, and it wasn't in one of those painful micro-fonts either, AND she had seen the other interviewee leave, so it wasn't likely this was a scam. "Alright, let's go. I can read it on the way down."
They both got up, Tom took the clipboard, attached the contract and handed it to Karen. They headed to the elevator, Karen occasionally glancing up to make sure she didn't walk into anything. While they waited for the elevator, Karen leaned against the wall, tapping her heel impatiently. After what seemed to be the end of time, the elevator opened and they were able to go down.
"Wait a minute. 'Remote control of the employee's body'? What does that mean?"
"Exactly what it says. You'll have to undergo a minor procedure, and some brief excer-"
"Like, surgery? I'm not sure I want to do this anymore..."
Tom held his hands up in front of his chest. "Nothing invasive, you won't even notice anything, but we'll have to knock you out for the procedure. Security concerns."
"Ok, but still, total control?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds. We can't do your head, and it only activates when we want it to. For the rest of the time you won't notice any difference."
"This is a little scary. Are you sure this is really a good idea? I couldn't be trained, like, more traditionally?"
"Don't worry too much about it, it's a little weird, but we've been doing it for awhile, and it's almost perfectly safe."
She paused. This was the only job she had half a chance in hell of getting that would let her stay in college, let alone not eat dog food. If she didn't take this job, she might as well un-enroll now, and save herself the trouble. Hell, if someone asked her what she'd do for $75 an hour, she'd have said "Anything but porn". But still...
"I'm still a little worried about my control."
"Don't worry. We'll only be ordering you around on the job, which is the point."
"I dunno"
"Well, we're almost here, so you might as well go through with it. Once you're done working for us we'll undo everything. You need the money for college right?"
"Yeah, b-"
"Great!"
They got out of the elevator as the doors opened into what looked like a dentist's office. Tom spoke to the fellow in the lab coat, "Zach, we have a new girl here today, she just signed up. Get her set up, and have her run through the training. I have a few clients she can work for in the upcoming weeks."
Zach smiled and pointed at the dentist's chair in the middle of the room, "If you could just lay your purse on the counter and take your shoes off, we can get started." Karen looked for Tom, but he had already headed back up the elevator. Shrugging, she complied. "I'm gonna have to knock you out for the procedure, alright?"
Karen swallowed, she did need the money, after all. "Yeah. It's all explained in the contract, actually. Kinda weird place for it, hunh?"
Zach laughed, "You think you can explain it?"
Karen just shook her head as Zach hooked the mask up.
Karen woke up later on a mattress sometime later. Looking around, she could see she was in a different room. Getting up she noticed something strange on her feet. She sat back down and put her feet up on the bed. On her feet were a pair of what looked like thin ballet slippers, and her hose were missing. She panicked a little bit, but she seemed fine. She scooted off the bed, and stretched. Whatever they had used to knock her out was really nice. She checked her appearance in the mirror on the wall before realizing it was a two-way mirror. Her blush made her look purple, but she recovered, and tapped on the glass. She startled the hell out of somebody, if the crash she heard through the glass was any indication. A radio voice startled her in turn.
"Oh, hey Ms. Baker, glad to see your awake, uh... Just head into the next room, get changed, and wait for instructions"
"What about my hose?"
"Sorry, but we needed them off. We have everything on camera in case you're worried"
Not completely satisfied, but willing to move along, she headed into the next room. It looked somewhat like a gym, with a few balance beams and sawhorses scattered around, among other equipment. Her foot collided with something soft, and she picked up the gym bag, opened it up and saw the clothes inside. She looked around and saw a small privacy curtain. Inside the booth the curtain made, she took out the clothes and saw that it was just a bodysuit, cut a little short in the arms and legs. Still a little shy, but aware of the money the job paid, she got took off and folded her clothes and put them in the bag. She tried to take her shoes off, but they seemed to be stuck. She'd ask about it later, for now she put the bodysuit on over them and stepped out.
Almost immediately she heard someone crackle over the speaker:
"Ms. Baker, please remain calm while we get everything calibrated, this may be a little disconcerting."
She nodded, but her attention was caught by her left arm, moving by itself. She could swear she felt a string pulling on her wrist, even as her hand opened and closed and made complicated signs. Her arm froze in the air, and was soon joined by the other, in the same way. With both her hands held out over her head, her right leg suddenly raised itself, getting tugged at the knee, and then the ankle, until it was straight out. Her foot flexed a little while, and her knee swung back and forth a few times before it lowered. She could feel her weight shift as her left leg started rising, and did the same thing as her right. Her arms, despite not having moved from such an awkward position, didn't hurt at all, but she was still getting nervous.
"Maybe we should hang on a- oh!"
She gasped as her body was thrown forward and she started walking, her legs manipulated by those puppeteers behind the gym's mirror. She wished she had kept her bra, at least, when they jogged her around the room.
She panicked for a brief second, and cried out "Oh my God!" when she leapt up to the balance beam, her arms still above her head. She really panicked when she started doing cartwheels across it, yelling at the controllers to "cut the shit". She flipped off the bar, breathing very hard. She tried to tell them that she had never done that before, and that they need to be careful, damnit, when she felt a tingle on her feet and burst out laughing. Her head rocked back and forth, even though nothing else moved. The tickling faded and she stopped laughing and started dancing.
Her first response was "What the hell?" Doing what she thought was ballet, jazz, and even tap, but without any noise, her body turned and faced the mirror. She couldn't believe what saw, it looked like her, but her reflection was doing things she never dreamed were possible. Eventually, she came to a bow and could move herself again. She went straight for the mini-fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She got the cover off the sports bottle when she felt a pull on her wrist. The blast of water she got on the face ended logical thought for a moment, but when she recovered she shot a furious look at the mirror.
"Sorry, sorry."
"Ass, that wasn't funny! I could've gotten hurt! You should've found out if I could do that stuff, what if something happened!"
"Karen, please cal-"
"YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN ME KILLED!"
The next voice over the speaker was a lot harsher. "Ms. Baker, I understand you're a little shocked, despite the explanation in the contract. Understand, however, that we know what we can and can't do. You're in great shape, we gave you a full physical while you were unconscious, and you've given us your medical history. Everything else was just a matter of co-ordination, which is the point, so CALM DOWN!"
"But I-"
"That's quite enough. We need to continue your training."
"Well, alright."
A small panel in the wall slid open, and there were three shoe boxes on a shelf just inside.
"We'll need you to try each pair of shoes over there."
"Umm... Ok" She walked over to the shelf and opened the first box. Inside there were a pair of baby-blue 3" pumps. She put them on and stood up straight.
"Alright, now walk to the other end of the room, please."
She started walking, feeling a little weird doing it. She reached the end, and turned around. Her mouth formed a surprised little 'o' as she started walking back. Her head snapped forward as she walked backwards a little, still looking a little surprised. She walked all the way to the back, took the heels off, and put on a pair of black dress flats. Standing up, she looked at the mirror and said "I can put my own shoes on, thank you." She shrugged and walked across the room, walked back, took a few steps backwards, and switched the pumps for a pair of 6" heels, the kind you only see at fetish shops, and started walking across the room. It took about 2 steps before she was yelling at the mirror and she turned around and took them off.
"Alright. That's about it. Ms. Baker, you can dressed again, here's your things," Another panel slid open, "We given you a set of hose, too. Also, you can keep what you've got on now. We'll need you to leave those slippers on for the duration of your employment, except when you bathe. They give us a reading on your current stance, balance, and whatnot, helps you stay standing. Uh... I think that's it."
She went back in the booth and started to get dressed. When she tried to put her bra on, her hands just... stopped. She couldn't finish getting the straps over her shoulders, even though she could do anything else. Rather than deal with these jerks any longer, she decided to stick the bra in her purse, when she noticed her hands were empty. Looking down, she saw she had her bra on. Slightly confused, since she thought she could feel her controlled movements, she finished getting dressed, slipped her heels on, and made her way out of the building, and headed home, preferably to fall asleep quickly. She was beat from her training, and it all seemed to catch up with her at once.
Questions? Comments? Things-you-want-to-see-happen? Email me!
Props to William Pratt, Jay Petto and Julian Coreto for helping with edits. They were a lot of help, go read their stuff!