The meeting was dragging on as we waited for someone from management to attend. The women in my team were talking amongst themselves as I just sat and played with my phone. I was here for college credit, six months in an office with five other women with whom I shared nothing in common. It had only been a week, but it was already dragging. My team leader; Ashley was a late-forties early-fifties woman with auburn hair and a wicked fun streak. I could always hear her laughing with the other women. Then there was Sarah, she was around 30 and she always had something going on, usually collecting for a run she was doing. Katey was quiet and mousy and roughly thirty five, I don't think we'd exchanged a single word. She was small and overhearing conversations, I think she has a few kids. Jessie was almost as boisterous as Ashley. At 24, she was just a couple years older than me. She didn't seem to want to leave behind the college lifestyle, always out partying, hungover quite a lot in work. She was quite petite and had died red hair. Finally there was Melanie, she was the one I'd had the most contact with. Melanie was kindly and showed me the ropes around the place, but there was a glint of mischief in her eye. Melanie was tanned and had straight black hair, she looked to be around forty.

The conversation amongst the team, rather stereotypically, had turned to shoes. Specifically 'Humies'. Humies were a relatively new creation. Following overcrowding in prisons, the government sanctioned the worst offenders, the ones who would not be getting out, to be changed. New technology had been developed which meant a human could be reconfigured into an object. These prisoners became the very first Humies. They were shapeshifting shoes, they could be programmed to any design, any shape, any size. When released, the shoes were incredibly popular, selling out in just five minutes. With demand like that, the supply needed to be filled, but no one could decide who was left to undergo the procedure. There were a few volunteers at first, the kind of people who were into it and happily gave up their humanity, but in the end there still weren't enough to go meet demand. After one woman tricked her husband into becoming one against his will, a law was passed that consent was required for the procedure, and for the procedure to be made reversible. Since then a steady stream of Humies have popped up on temporary bases but still they were much sought after.

"My sister's partner is into that stuff" Melanie boasted "Every couple months, she’s had him have the procedure and gets to have a Humie for a couple weeks"

"Have you ever tried him?" Katey asked, curious.

"Once, it was divine. It was like he was made for my feet. It was a wretch having to take him off" Melanie sighed.

"I read it's like that for everyone. Wearing one is like having a massage the entire time!" Sarah added.

"Just seen one on eBay, guess how much?" Ashley said, reading the listing off her phone.

"Couple thousand?" Jessie guessed.

"Six figures" Ashley said, a bit down beat.

"Fucking hell!" Jessie blurted out, before realising she was in a workplace "Sorry... but come on. At the end of the day they're just a pair of shoes."

"They're the only shoes you'll ever need though. They can be anything" Melanie reasoned "A ready-made pair are ridiculously priced, but the procedure is only a couple hundred dollars."

"What, find someone willing to undergo it?" Katey asked, sounding cynical.

"Well we're not going to find anyone willing to go permanent, but maybe if we can find someone who'd be willing to put up with a couple weeks or so, we could pass it around ourselves and all get to enjoy a Humie for a few days" Melanie suggested.

"You don't think your sister's partner..." Ashley asked.

"No, she says he won’t go through with it if it's not her who’s wearing him. He was furious that she let me wear him" Melanie glumly stated.

"What about looking online for someone?" Sarah suggested.

"Just done a search, the guys willing to do it are charging now. Starts at over a thousand" Ashley said, grumpily, turning her phone off at the bad news.

"Pervs are making a mint off of this" Jessie muttered.

"We just need someone who'd be willing to do it in exchange for something, someone who has no real important business to attend to..." Ashley said, before turning to me and smiling "Hey Dan…"

"No" I said, bluntly.

"You don't even know what we're going to ask" Sarah said defensively.

"I'm not deaf, I'm not going to be your goddamn Humie!" I barked.

"After you're done, we'd let you go. No need to hang around here, we'd tell your college you did an admirable job. You'd get full credit, for less than a month’s work. Think of what you could do with all that free time" Ashley tempted.

Damn, that got me. I was swamped recently and the offer of getting to do nothing for five or so months and getting full college credit was enticing. Too enticing to turn down, I mean how bad could being a Humie for a few days be, anyway?

***

I managed to negotiate them down to Ten days as a Humie. 10 days then I would be totally free, no commitments, no pressures. I just kept trying to focus on what was beyond the 10 days, but my mind kept pulling back to it. What would it be like? Would it hurt, would I retain my senses? Who would be the best person to be under? Who'd be the worst? I couldn't sleep that night, so I stayed up looking into testimonials from people who had undergone the procedure.

Surprisingly most were positive, talking about an initial sensory overload, but in the end it just was fine. I couldn't help reading the bad reviews though, where they say they were mistreated and still have the foot taste on them. I tried to ignore them, they were a low percentage. I was going to be worn by five women, so I had a good shot of having a decent experience.

After work the next day, Ashley, Sarah, Melanie, Katey and Jessie accompanied me to the labs where the transfiguration happened. Inside there was a waiting room and a reception desk. All of us walked up to the desk, which had a stern looing man in a lab coat sitting behind it

"Hi, my name is Ashley Finnegan, I called ahead about a Humie procedure" Ashley smiled to the man behind the desk, he looked up from his monitor and scanned us from left to right, before his eyes fell on me.

"Is this who will be undertaking the procedure?" He asked dryly

"Y-yeah" I said sheepishly. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Can you accompany me into the storage room for a moment" He said, gesturing to a door behind him. When we all moved, the man raised his hand "Just the gentleman, please ladies"

Looking back at the group, I followed the man inside the storage room. Closing the door behind me, the man grabbed a clipboard

"I need to ask you a couple things for legal reasons. I find it best to ask the... subject... alone"

"OK"

"You are undergoing this procedure out of your own free will, you are not being blackmailed, bullied or threatened into doing this, correct?"

I thought for a second. I was doing this because of what Ashley was offering me. If I said no, would she withhold a good performance review from me? I didn't think so, they seemed like good people, I doubted they would do that. "Does bribed count?" I asked

"So long as you knew what you were getting into, bribery to undergo the procedure is technically legal"

"Then yeah, I consent out of my own free will"

"Excellent" The man noted, scribbling down on his notepad. He then opened the door and allowed me to leave. I re-joined the group who had looks of mild concern on their faces. Concern turned to relief as the man also exited the room and cleared his throat "Right, please fill out this form and report to waiting room B. We will collect you from there"

I sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room and quietly filled out the form. As I was doing so I took a glance at the shoes on the group's feet, knowing that soon I would join their number. Ashley had a pair of old sandals on that had seen better days, Sarah was wearing converse as she idly rocked her feet. Katey was wearing low heeled black leather shoes, Jessie was in flip flops and finally Melanie was wearing a pair of black bowed ballet flats. I wondered which of them would be kindest to their feet, I wondered which would taste the best. Shaking the weird thoughts out of my system I finished up the form, signing my name and triple checking the duration box read ’10 days’. Just as I finished up the man emerged from the adjoining room

“OK Sir, I’m ready for you” He called

“What do I do with this form?” I asked

“If you could put it on the front desk, my assistant will bring it through when we need it”

“I’ll take it” Melanie said quickly “You get yourself ready in there”

I smiled at her as she took the form from me and left the room. I could help looking at her shoes as she walked though. Would it hurt to get stepped on? I guess I’d find out soon enough…

***

I walked into the room which was bright white and seemed very sterile. In the centre of the room was a large MRI style machine. The Man offered me a seat which I took.

“Hello, my name is Dr Harris and I am the attending operator of this Humie Tech facility” he said warmly

“Hi, I’m Dan” I offered, still nervous

“Don’t worry, everyone gets cold feet at this point, but let me explain what’s going on” Dr Harris continued, he smiled after I winced at the expression ‘Cold Feet’.

“Once you strip down, we’ll put your possessions in our safe storage locker. Then you will lie down here and we will feed you into this machine here. The machine will ‘restructure’ your body into-“

“Does it hurt?” I interrupted

“I’m told it feels most unusual, but I’ve had no complaints about pain previously”

“How many have you done?”

“Two”

“Just Two? I’m your third?!” I exclaimed

“Now, this is a very rare experience that only a handful actually take up. But don’t worry we know what we’re doing. Now as I was saying, the machine will restructure your body into its new default form, which will be shapeless. You’ll remain like that until you are programmed, from then on, you’ll remain in the form that your owner desires”

Owner. Hearing it being put like that put a damper on things. I was just going to be an object, a possession. I’d have no agency, no free will, I’d just belong to someone. I decided to repress my negative feelings remembering that after 10 days, I’d be free. Dr Harris instructed me to strip off behind a screen. I did so and placed my clothes and belongings in a marked box. I guessed I wouldn’t get to go on my phone for over a week now. After I was done, Dr Harris instructed me to lie on the bench which would be inserted into the machine. Dr Harris placed some medical roll over my privates, which eased my embarrassment a little.

“In your altered state, you will be able to hear, see, taste, feel and smell, but you will not be able to move or talk. Now in order that your focus can be kept, we will fix your eyesight and perception on just one single shoe. We had a few glitches first time round when the Humies were fully aware of both shoes. Your owner will program where they want your vision, but it will default to the insole of the right shoe”

Hearing Dr Harris talk made this all seem very real. In a few short minutes, I could be a shoe. Heck one of the team might wear me home. I wasn’t ready for this. As I started to fret a woman in white walked in with a clipboard.

“Ah, Nerris” Dr Harris smiled “Is that the form, excellent, we can begin. Now Dan, Nerris is going to give you a small sedative. This will just make your body relax so you don’t move during the process.”

Before I could react, I felt a sharp pain in my arm where Nerris was injecting me. This was it. I felt my body get very heavy. As a test I tried to lift my arm, but it was no good. Once satisfied, Dr Harris started plugging some data into the machine which whirred to life. I closed my eyes as I felt the machine do its work. It was reshaping me until I felt nothing familiar. I opened my eyes again, but I was surrounded by darkness. I seemed to be in an enclosed space, I felt formless, no part of me was familiar. Without the luxury of sight, all I had was the sounds of the outside world, which seemed distant. I heard the machine stop whirring and my world jostled a little.

“Is that him?” I heard someone say, I think it was Katey

“Yes, this is your Humie. I’d advise you don’t use him until tomorrow morning though. Sometimes activating one early can cause… instability”

“And how do we use him?” Sarah enquired

“You see this panel on the front of the box? It’s loaded with thousands of designs of shoe. Just pick the one you want and press the initialise button. Your Humie will take shape immediately”

“Right well I picked the long straw, so I get him first” I heard Ashley say. The first foot I’d be under would be hers. I didn’t know how I felt about that.

“One last thing, ladies” Dr Harris called “At the end of your Humie’s transfiguration period, please bring both him and the box back here. Otherwise you’re going to have a naked young man appearing where your shoes used to be

“So he turns back automatically” Melanie asked

“Yes, just bring him back here on the last day and we’ll sort everything” Dr Harris said, and that was the last I heard from him. My box was jostling again, I was being carried. I had to face it, until I was human again, I would be worn by five different women for two days apiece. I hope I’ve made the right decision here…