Becca’s chocolate brown eyes were wide and bright.  She’d only just crossed through the heavy security door leading into the restricted area and already she noticed a stark difference from the unrestricted side of the lab, which was only made up of the waiting room, restrooms, and a few exam rooms.  On this side of the door, there was so much more going on!

Immediately upon walking through the heavy security door into the restricted area, Becca saw a door on the west side of the corridor open and out walked a familiar blonde girl wearing fancy, skin-tight yoga pants. 

“Oh hey, Becca.” Brandi said with a smile.  Becca smiled and waved shyly, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the new environment that these girls seemed to feel so comfortable in.  At the end of the hallway beyond the blonde teenager, where it joined another hallway running perpendicular, Becca could see the occasional flash of a busy woman in a lab coat walking by.

Brandi was wearing the same stylish yoga pants she’d worn on the drive earlier, but she’d changed her shirt from the button-up to a standard t-shirt and her pretty, dirty blonde hair was now up in an endearingly sloppy bun.  

“Hey Brandi.” Jane said, her face a bit more red than it was when she originally picked Becca up.

“Whatsup Jane?” Brandi asked.

“Not too much, just uh….I’m just taking Becca to Dr. Walker’s office for her screening appointment.”

“Oh, coolness!” Brandi said with enthusiasm.

Becca curiously peeked over Brandi’s shoulder to see the room that the blonde had just come out of.  The placard read:

Acclimation Therapy: Activities and Procedures

“Yea..” Jane said, clearing her throat.  “I’m going to be helping Dr. Becotte with some metric monitoring and then I’m going to get some lunch.  Wanna join me?”

“Oh, no can do.” Brandi said with a frown, “I’m about to head over to the fitness center for an hour or so.” 

“Ohhh” Jane said. Her shoulders slumped and she looked a little disappointed.  “Acclimating, I’m guessing?”

“Always!” Brandi responded in a friendly, chipper tone, holding up in her left hand what looked like one of those biodegradable cup-holders, but instead of cups, the container was securing what looked like several little containers with push-top lids, almost like those black cylindrical tubes that held camera film but smaller.  

“How many do you have there?” Jane asked.

Brandi looked at the container in her hand.  “I’ve got 6 with me right now…and figuring an hour and a half or so on the exercise bike, I think they all might get their fifteen minutes…we’ll see!”

“Wow..that’s a lot!  It’s gotta be hard doing this all on your own.  When is Dr. Kleinhardt coming back?” Jane asked.

“Hopefully soon!  I think she’s traveling for some seminars or something but it feels like it's been forever, huh?  Anyway, I didn’t get a lot of time to talk with her but she schooled me on the basics…stuff like ABA…and of course, Acclimation Therapy!”

“What’s ABA?” Jane asked.

“Oh, Applied Behavior Analysis.” Brandi said from memory.

“Good to know it's not just us chemists and microbiologists that have to memorize all these acronyms.” Jane said dryly, and then the black-haired girl’s eyes widened as Brandi let out a loud laugh, her messy blonde bun bouncing.  A hand rushed to cover her mouth followed by a cute, quiet snort.  

Jane was looking a little flush. She cleared her throat nervously.

Brandi gathered her composure and continued, looking not only at Jane but also at Becca, “It’s basically the science that modifies behavior, and in the case of R&R Labs, we’re dealing with the behavior of the subjects during rear-housing.  Sometimes it’s really easy to encourage them into the behavior we want..ermm…I mean…I don’t remember exactly how Dr. Kleinhartd worded it but she put it way better than that…but anyway…sometimes all they need is a little boost…and other times, they need…well…a slightly harder nudge.”

“Well, if Dr. Kleinhartd doesn’t ever come back, I bet a million dollars that Dr. Walker and Dr. Bexley make you the main AT.  They love you here.” Jane said, fidgeting with the ID badge hanging around her neck.

“You think so?  Oh, you’re too sweet.” Brandi said, eyes pinched shut from smiling as she wrapped her arms around Jane in a big hug.

Becca noticed Jane become even more flustered and the black-haired girl's hands came to rest awkwardly on Brandi’s narrow waist.  Had those hands drifted down any further, that grip would have had to widen considerably.  Jane’s pale face turned even more red.

“Don’t they have an exercise bike in the AT room?” Jane asked when the hug broke, peering around Brandi and into the room she’d just come out of. 

“Yeah, but it's not as good.” Brandi said, her hand momentarily disappearing behind her back; Becca guessed she was addressing a wedgie or something. “And plus, I think Quinn is in there on one of the bikes now so I’ll have someone to talk to while I’m working.”

“Oh okay…” Jane started to walk away and Becca was about to follow her, but then Jane stopped and said, “You know, if you ever need a workout buddy, just let me know.” 

“Sure thing, Jane; that sounds fun!” Brandi said with a big smile.  “Well, I should probably go.  Gotta get some bike time in for this one.” the blonde said, looking over her shoulder.  

Jane giggled but Becca tilted her head in confusion. As Brandi walked away, Becca couldn’t help but watch the rhythmic sway of her hips again.  Her ass was quite large, and it had a way of sucking any available eyes and attention out of the room.  

Jane cleared her throat awkwardly, “Anyway…sorry about that…let’s keep moving.”

Becca and Jane walked down the Post-RT corridor.  Immediately, she noticed signs plastered all over the walls, mostly ones that said:

RESTRICTED AREA: STAFF, PARTICIPANTS, AND POST-RT SUBJECTS ONLY!

The two made a right onto the same corridor that Brandi had just turned onto.  This must have been the main corridor of the R&R Lab restricted portion because there were so many women!  Most of them all wore lab coats and they were all so very busy, but not a single one was too busy to give a huge, friendly smile to Becca.  One woman had a few of those cylindrical containers that she’d seen in Brandi’s hand earlier.  Another woman literally had a shrunken boy, probably about 2 to 3 inches tall, standing atop what looked like a surgical tray balanced in her hand like a waitress carrying a serving tray.  He looked so cute getting carried by her! While the woman was polite like all the others, she seemed in a hurry so Becca decided not to bog her down with questions about the tiny boy she was carrying.

Some women waved and some even said hello to her as they walked by.  Even women who were walking in groups, discussing things that Becca would never in a bajillion years understand herself, would literally pause their conversations to smile warmly and say hello.  It made Becca feel incredibly safe and welcome. 

Becca saw another heavy security door.  

“What’s this?” Becca asked, looking back toward Jane who was staring down the corridor.  When Becca followed her gaze, Becca saw that Brandi was all the way down the other end of the hallway making another right, and then once Brandi and her big, shaking butt were out of sight, Becca had Jane’s full and undivided attention.

“Sorry, what?” Jane asked.

“I was just asking what this is?  What’s SSF-2?”

“Oh, we pronounce it like “SEF”.  It’s the Subject Storage Facility…one of them, anyway.”  Jane pointed further down the corridor, “that next room is the other Subject Storage Facility.”

“That’s where you…store them?” Becca asked.

“That’s where they wait until their Participants are ready for them. Let’s take a left here.” Jane said. 

Becca followed Jane like a lost puppy, taking as many quick glances left and right as she could.  She passed the R&R Break Room on the left, where she saw several women at one of the tables and they were watching television.  On the right side was a room called:

R&D LABORATORY #2: COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS

Next was another room she could barely pronounce:

R&D LABORATORY #1: MASS SPECTROMETRY

“We’re almost there.” Jane said.

On Becca’s left side was a room with a woman sitting behind a big, oak desk writing notes into a notebook.  The room was called:

SUBJECT PSYCH EVALUATION

Next to that room was a very similar room, only there was no one in there at the time.  Its placard read:

PARTICIPANT PSYCH EVALUATION

And then Becca came to what must have been the most important room in the entire building. Becca stopped at the window and peered in.  There was a lot of equipment in the room, nearly all of it she didn’t recognize.  The few items she did recognize were shelves upon shelves of cylindrical containers filled with various powders and liquids.  There was also a fair amount of electrical equipment such as big gray panels and big gray boxes sitting right next to them.  She saw white PVC piping that ran from these boxes over to the largest object in the lab.  It was a behemoth of blinking lights and spinning motors.  It was fascinating and eye-catching.  Was that really what she thought it was?

“Is that…ummm…” Becca started to say.

Jane backtracked to join Becca at the door and peered alongside her through the small window.  Jane politely but with very little interest simply replied, “Yup..it's a pre-RT subject.”

Becca couldn’t help but blush as her chocolate brown eyes fell on him.  He was in pretty good shape, something she could easily deduce since he was undressing.  He was standing directly in the center of the clinical, sterile room, removing his shirt, pants, boxers, and finally his shoes and socks.  

Naked as the day he was born, the cutie.  

“What’s he doing?” Becca asked curiously.  She looked over at Jane, who was not nearly as interested in what was happening.

“If he’s undressing, he’s probably getting ready to complete Reduction Therapy.” Jane said matter-of-factly.

He was blonde, handsome, athletic, and he looked a little nervous…too nervous to notice two girls peeking in on him, from the looks of it.

There were stainless steel tables and small, short stainless steel stools tucked up under them.  Atop the table was a stack of neatly folded clothing, presumably his.  

But why was he just standing there naked?

As if she’d heard the question, a woman appeared from behind the shelving.  She was carrying a 3 or 4 gallon container.  

“Is that Dr. Walker?” Becca asked.

“No no, that’s Dr. Bexley.” Jane replied.

It looked like something that the handsome man could have easily carried himself so it was kind of amusing and kind of cute to see this short woman in a lab coat try and carry it herself.  Dr. Bexley took it over to the giant contraption in the corner and opened the cylindrical tube.  She brushed her raven-black hair off her forehead with her sleeve and then removed a scooper from the cylindrical tube.  Dr. Bexley then added several liberal scoops of the strange pale-pink powder to one of the containers attached to the behemoth contraption and then shut the lid.  

“What’s she doing?” 

“Just getting everything ready.” Jane said vaguely.  

Dr. Bexley took her position directly in front of the handsome naked man.  He towered over the short doctor, but she looked so much more confident in this moment than he did. Becca supposed being naked in front of a pretty, fully clothed girl in such a setting could be a bit off-balancing..and it probably didn’t matter how short she was.

Becca’s eyes widened as the raven-haired doctor began touching the naked man.  First on his shoulders and then over his pecs, pressing and massaging.  His expression had changed from discomfort to a mixture of confusion and pleasure.  Her gloved fingers went lower, over his nipples and continued down to his flat, rock hard stomach, where she spent some time pressing with her palms and leaning in for a closer look.  And then…her right hand looked so incredibly small…comparatively speaking.  Becca couldn’t believe what she was seeing…the raven-haired doctor’s hand had drifted down his waist and now she was slowly wrapping her short little fingers around his big, fat, rock hard–

“We should probably keep moving.” Jane said, startling Becca out of her trance.  

Becca was blushing as she turned to focus on Jane, who was standing only a few feet away in front of a closed wooden door. 

“This is Dr. Walker’s office here.”

Becca was tempted to steal one more look through the window, but she resisted the urge and approached Jane.  

“Umm…is he…..mine?” Becca asked, gesturing toward the Reduction Therapy room where the naked man was being seen by Dr. Bexley.

Jane followed Becca’s gaze with a look of confusion.  Becca suddenly realized that she’d used the word ‘mine’ when referring to the boy that was to be tucked into her butt; maybe that rubbed Jane the wrong way?  Before Becca could rephrase her statement, the black-haired girl’s expression softened and she chuckled.  

“Oh, no, no…not him.  I don’t think he’s been paired yet so he’ll probably just be paired with the next Participant that signs up.”

What an interesting thought.  Becca hadn’t realized that the subjects didn’t get to choose or sign off on their Participant.  The 20-year old was in good shape and reasonably attractive by her own standards; her boy could have done a lot worse.  However, it must royally suck for the boy that has to stay in a really undesirable butt.  What a weird thought…but then again, it's not like she got to pick which boy would go in her butt.  If she had her choice, she definitely would have picked the naked cutie in a heartbeat…but life isn't always far and you can’t always get what you want.

“Yours was selected a while ago and he’s been waiting for you. Are you ready to meet Dr. Walker?  I know she’s excited to meet you.” Jane said with a smile.

“Did she say that?” Becca asked.

“Not to me specifically…but Dr. Walker is always excited to meet every Participant.” Jane replied.  She held out a hand.  “It was really nice meeting you, Becca.”  

“You too, Jane.  Thank you.” Becca said a little nervously.  

The two stared at each other for a few moments in awkward silence before Jane chuckled again, taking the liberty of knocking on Dr. Walker’s door for her.  

Her heart was racing like crazy as she heard soft footsteps on the other side of the wooden door. She took one last look up at the placard on the wall next to the door she was about to enter.  The placard read:

RRO-1

Dr. Katherine Walker

Becca turned around one last time to see Jane walking away.  She didn’t even turn her head to look into the Reduction Therapy room…she supposed that working here, one might get used to seeing that kind of thing although she could never picture herself getting used to it…or getting used to any of it.  And yet, she was entertaining the idea of keeping a shrunken boy in her butt…a boy just like the one she was ogling a second ago.  

And no..not just entertaining it…doing it.  

Becca had just flown from New York to North Carolina

Becca was here.  

She took a deep breath as she watched the doorknob twist, brass squeaking against the door’s bracket framing.

“Becca Young, I presume?”

“Yes, that’s me.” Becca said, nervously tugging at her shirt.  She broke eye contact just for a moment but then looked back up.  

“We finally meet. I’m so glad you could come.”

Becca accepted Dr. Walker’s handshake.  The doctor’s hand was a little smaller than hers. The doctor herself was a few inches shorter than Becca, who was not all that tall to begin with at 5’-6”.  Although Becca was certain that she, Dr. Walker, and even that very short black haired doctor with the naked cutie would tower over any one of the boys here.  

“Yeah, it’s really nice to meet you.  Thanks for giving me another chance.” Becca said.

Dr. Walker’s eyes softened and a smile spread on her face, “We were more than happy to, Becca.”  The doctor took a step to the right, clearing the door frame into her office, “Please, why don’t you come in.”

Just as Becca cleared the doorframe and Dr. Walker shut the door, the black telephone on her desk began ringing.

Dr. Walker rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry, Becca…the staff knows that I am busy speaking with you so this must be important.  Just one moment, please.”

Dr. Walker returned to her side of her desk and Becca heard two loud clunks that sounded like shoes thudding and rolling against the ground.  The young doctor scooted in upon her chair and answered the phone.

“Dr. Walker.”

“...”

“It’s okay; tell me what happened?”

“...”

“...oh, dear.”

Becca took this moment to take a closer look at the office.  She wasn’t sure what she was expecting the office of R&R Laboratory’s lead scientist to look like, but she didn’t suppose it would look like this.

There wasn’t much to it. It looked like just a typical, every-day office.  

On the walls were various degrees and awards all with Dr. Walker’s name on them.  There were quite a lot of them. Amongst the various degrees conferred to the young doctor, Becca also spotted what appeared to be some kind of paperwork documenting the establishment of R&R Laboratories.  She quickly scanned for the date, which was 2001.  

‘Wow, they’ve been doing this for over 5 years?’, Becca thought in disbelief.

There was a plain gray filing cabinet tucked up into the corner on the east side of the door and a long wooden table that ran along the east wall.  As brilliant as this young doctor was, she appeared a bit messy.  Atop the table were scattered papers, manilla envelopes, and a few strange devices.  Everything seemed to be chaotically and randomly placed.  The tiny contraptions looked very futuristic…even alien-like, all in varying degrees of disassembly. Most of them looked like handguns with thin green slabs of plastic emerging from a spaghetti of green, white, black, and pink wires.  Becca also noticed a glass chess board with pretty pink and pretty blue pieces.  There was another decent-sized desk with a dark wooden top in the center of the room.  Atop the desk was a large CRT monitor and gray keyboard.  The desk was littered with papers and on the other side of the desk was a chair that looked similar to the ones in the breakroom. 

Becca didn’t want to make herself too comfortable in the doctor’s office, but she noticed something on the far end of the table that she wanted to see closer.  Aside from the degrees and the chess set, it looked like a piece of art.  It was made up of two glossy black spheres that had been pressed together and overlapped.  This dual sphere object she spotted looked like the only other personal item in the entire office.  It rested upon what looked like an old, tattered Dearforms shoebox and upon closer inspection, Becca noticed there was an inscription positioned dead center on one of the spheres. In gold lettering, the inscription read:

All sorts of things can happen when you’re open to new ideas and playing around with things.

-Stephanie Kwolek

At first, Becca thought that was the only text on the plaque, but upon closer inspection, she saw there was just one other thing further inboard, inscribed nearly right on the point where the large spheres met.  Becca had to squint to see it due to how small the golden text was and its position between the overlap points of the two spheres. Becca could read the inscription, but she didn’t understand what it meant.  

SR+ds

Was it some chemical formula? Initials? An inside joke?  

“...Alright then. Well, I do appreciate you letting me know but we can address this later.  Thank you.”

Dr. Walker hung up the phone.

“I’m so sorry for the disturbance, Becca.” Dr. Walker said, going as far as to unplug the data cable from the phone to make sure there were no more interruptions.  The brunette woman held up a hand, gesturing toward the seat across from her desk.

“Please have a seat.”

Becca slowly lowered herself onto the seat cushion, appreciating how comfortable the seat was as she neatly set her fidgeting folded hands down in her lap.  

“I hope everything is okay.” Becca said.

“Oh, everything is fine.  No need to worry.” Dr. Walker assured Becca.

It was such a surreal moment for Becca.  She was here in Dr. Walker’s office, just casually chatting…as if she wasn’t here for the craziest, silliest reason in the whole world.

This was the woman responsible for the boy inside that lady Lori's butt.  For all the girls out there with boys in their butts.  For the boy that would…

Becca gulped

...soon be in her butt. 

What a silly thought, but not quite so silly as it should be...because it, in fact, was reality.  Becca fixed her eyes on Dr. Walker and marveled at how relatively normal she looked, all things considered.  Plainly pretty, but not exceptionally beautiful.  She wore thick framed glasses that magnified kind and wise eyes beyond her years and the doctor wore a disarming smile.  Despite the wisdom in her face, she appeared young.  Older than Becca was, for sure, but no more than 6 or so years by her estimate.  

Becca's eyes drifted down Dr. Walker's cherubic cheeks, her oval-shaped jaw and chin, down her thin neck and paused on her chest.  The brunette doctor wore a white, unbuttoned lab coat.  Underneath the coat was a tight black shirt that showed ample cleavage.  While the doctor’s intriguing brown eyes were distracted retrieving Becca’s file, Becca glanced curiously and a bit jealously at the doctor's generous bust.  Becca noticed the reflection on Dr. Walker's large glasses change as the monitor screen changed, and now Dr. Walker's attention was back to Becca. 

Dr. Walker smiled, sliding the keyboard out from in front of her, shifting a messy stack of papers, and folded her hands on one of the only dark-wooden spots of the otherwise cluttered desk.  "Becca Young, I must just say again that It's wonderful to finally meet you." 

Becca smiled nervously.  "It's nice to meet you too.  I didn't expect you to be so--"

"--young?" Dr. Walker said, cutting off Becca's question to which Becca nodded her head silently.  

"I heard that a lot more when I was a teenager, I still hear it from time to time." Dr. Walker’s gaze lifted for a moment as she appeared to reminisce, and then her gaze returned to Becca. 

"I assure you, Becca.  I have all the experience, competence, and passion to ensure completion of these experiments.  Trust me, you are in good hands with us." 

Becca sheepishly asked, "…and the boys?" 

Dr. Walker smiled, "Yes, Becca.  The subjects are safe as well.  In fact, this is all for their wellbeing, I'm sure you'll recall.  I believe you met Lori out in the waiting room?" 

“I did. She seemed really nice…but jeez…” Becca trailed off.

“Something wrong?” Dr. Walker asked quizzically.

“Oh no, nothing wrong…she just seemed so…good at this. And so confident.” Becca said, her eyes down on her feet.

"Well, not everyone starts out that way!” Dr. Walker said with a smile.

“Believe it or not, Lori was a bit apprehensive about housing a subject in her rear when this all started.  She had actually almost withdrawn herself from the experiment.  And then, even after initiating her participation, there were still some…growing pains.  You see, Lori would come in and admit to us that she had been taking things easy on the subject...giving him extended breaks from her rear...modifying her sitting behavior to lessen the load of weight on him...things of that nature.  Her concern centered around the fact that her rear end is exceptionally large as I’m sure you noticed.”

Becca nodded enthusiastically and couldn’t help but giggle nervously at her instinct.

“Well, I assured her that the large size of her rear was not something to worry about.  In fact, it was and still is actually beneficial to the subject’s wellbeing.  She came around a bit to my insistence that she live her life for herself and not the subject, but old habits die hard…and she briefly fell back into her ways.  One day she woke up sick and spent all day in bed under the covers, the subject nestled deep between her buttocks as he usually was.  Due to her fever, her body temperature was higher than normal and she thought the heat accumulating in her rear from being on her back under the covers was probably much more considerable than normal.  Against her better judgment, she decided to extract him from the safety of her gluteal cleft.  She removed him and set him down on her nightstand...planning to put him back between her glutes in just a few moments, but the cough medicine she drank was taking its effect and she drifted off to sleep before she could return him to the safety of her rear."  

Dr. Walker took a sip of her coffee and licked her lips. 

"Not much later, she was awoken to the sharp snap of a mouse trap in a normally inaccessible corner of her bedroom." 

Becca's hand rushed to her mouth as she gasped.  "Oh no...was her boy okay?" 

Dr. Walker solemnly moved her head.  

"Lori leaped out of bed and ran to the mouse trap and saw…”

Becca held her breath.

“...nothing.”

Becca sighed.

“Immediately next to the triggered trap was the subject, shaking like a leaf.  He must have activated it by mistake and the sharp, hostile sound must have paralyzed him with fear.  It's a good thing that he did not find himself in the trap’s path because, as resilient as these subjects are, there is no doubt in my mind that the strength of that trap would have instantly killed him.  Lori informed me that it was the worst she'd felt since starting the experiment.  She informed me that she felt like she had let me down...and that she had let the subject down.”

Becca wondered what the boy could have been doing?  The world was surely a scary place for such a little thing…maybe he was off exploring?  Becca suspected she would be upset with her boy if he went off exploring without her.

'Here I was with the job of caring for the little guy...and he almost died because of me...because of my bad decision.' 

“That's what she said to me, Becca.  Do you know what she said to me next?" 

Becca’s brow was wrinkled as she shook her head no.  The 20-year old had 100% of her focus on Dr. Walker and the captivating story.

"She told me that letting the subject out of her rear end was a mistake.  Letting him have a break was a mistake.  All those trivial things that she thought were important to him…things like breathing air not filtered by her underwear and glutes, feeling light and ambient air on his skin, smelling the pleasant aroma of her bedroom air freshener…but above all else: treating him like something that could take care of itself.”

Becca nodded her head solemnly.

“None of that mattered.” 

Dr. Walker paused for just long enough to make Becca a bit uncomfortable, and then she began speaking again.

“...and not only did it not matter, but adjusting his confinement schedule for the subject’s perceived benefit was a huge, dangerous mistake.”

Dr. Walker tied the story up neatly with a bow.  "She picked him up right then and there, not a single word to him...lowered her pajama bottoms and forced his trembling body back into her rear.  From that day forth, Lori promised us that the subject would only be removed from between her buttocks when necessary."

“Wow, I hadn’t really thought about how dangerous the world is for a tiny person.” Becca said in shock.

Dr. Walker nodded her head. “It certainly can be.  But that’s precisely why we have such dedicated Participants!  Rest assured that Lori’s subject will scarcely find himself in dangerous scenarios going forward.”

‘Cause Lori is gonna keep him in her butt all the time now probably…’ Becca thought.

“Alright, Becca.  Now that you're here, let's continue with the process.  We were able to address a lot of things over the phone, but there are still a few more items we must check off the list." She said, standing from her desk and approaching the door, holding it open for Becca.  

“Nothing too demanding, but they will be…physical activities.  Let’s make our way over to the Participant Screening and Activity Room.” The brunette doctor said with a smile.  

~