Set in the year 2045, shrinking technology came into existence and while you’d think something so incredible would change a lot, it didn’t change much at all due to the illegal nature of using it. Shrinking technology was largely restricted to research laboratories and the military where it was used on special ops missions. For the most part shrinking technology stayed out of the public eye.

Enter 25 year old Marcus in grad school studying philosophy. Marcus knew philosophy probably wasn’t the greatest idea due to the economic outlook, but hey, he liked it a lot so he went for it. Unfortunately, grad school meant student loans. And that meant being poor most of the time, so whenever an opportunity to make some extra cash came up, he jumped at it. One such evening he was looking through online postings for odd jobs on Craig’s list. He happened to click on a post requesting someone to take part in an experiment. Marcus didn’t really understand the intense science that was described in the post, but he caught a few words of it, and noticed that it involved the use of shrinking technology. He thought it was too good to be true once he saw how much it offered: $200 per hour. He immediately sent in his information and didn’t try too hard to understand the details and figured he’d just get the explanation once he showed up.

The next day he received an email from a woman named Hellen Miller. The email signature was signed with her position, she was the head scientist of the lab. Basically, she was very excited and surprised that someone had offered to take part in the experiment and wanted to Marcus to come in the very next day. Marcus excitedly agreed and couldn’t believe how lucky he’d gotten to find the job, though he was a bit confused as to why no one else had jumped on the offer.

The following was the post listing:

“””

Next Generation Innovations is seeking someone who is willing to take risks and take part in something larger than themselves. To be a part of something bigger. Applicants need only send in their name, age, and gender. We’d like the applicant to take part in an experiment studying the effects of volatile molecules emitted by certain bacterial metabolic processes. The bacteria in question are Brevibacteria, Propionibacteria, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcaceae,  Corynebacterium, Pityrosporum. All of these bacteria are found naturally cutaneously as part of the natural flora of homo sapiens sapiens. The testing will make use of a licensed size reduction machine to expose the participant to the metabolic byproduct of the aforementioned bacteria in-vivo using other applicants of the female sex. Males and Females are all welcome to apply, however the specific goals of this experiment are to test the effects of the Female microbiota on the Male olfactory and lingual senses.

“””

Marcus merely scanned it as he couldn’t understand 80% of it.

The email that Dr. Miller had sent to Marcus is as follows:

“””

Hello Marcus,

I’m very excited to have received your application! To be honest I wasn’t sure we’d get ANY male applicants, but we do have plenty of female applicants so you can be sure you’ll be paid very well for your participation. We have just one spot open for a male applicant, so please let me know ASAP if you’re interested in accepting this position. Consider this a formal offer!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Dr. Hellen Miller - Chief Researcher at Next Generation Innovations

“””

Marcus slept very well that night thinking about how lucky he’d gotten to land the position. And it’s a good thing too, because Marcus may very well be plagued with nightmares for the rest of his life.

To be continued

Enter 19 year old Stacy, in a similar position to Marcus, minus being a grad student but just as broke. A few weeks back from when Marcus found the ad she had found a similar one, however this one was geared towards women and seemed a bit more clear in its intentions.

“””

Next Generation Innovations is seeking applicants who is willing to go the distance in the name of science. We are looking for female participants between the ages of 18 and 28. We’d like the applicant to take part in an experiment studying the effects of volatile molecules emitted by certain bacterial metabolic processes. The bacteria in question are Brevibacteria, Propionibacteria, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcaceae,  Corynebacterium, Pityrosporum. All of these bacteria are found naturally and in abundance under the right conditions on a person’s feet. We will be testing the effects of the odor and taste given off by the feet specifically from the female sex and its effects on the male sex. Typically wearing close toed shoes will cause the feet to sweat which will allow the bacteria to flourish and increase the odor. The male participant will be reduced in size in order to increase the potency of the experiment so as to maximize the results of the study. The applicant is advised to prepare for the experiment by wearing close toed shoes for as long as possible, avoid washing the feet, shoes, and socks if worn. Potency of the applicants feet will directly affect their pay. Pay ranges from $20-$50 per hour. Please send in your name and age in order to apply.

“””

The further Stacy got through the advertisement the more scrunched up and disgusted her face appeared. 

“There’s no way this can be real. It’s so gross” she thought as she audibly gagged. She immediately began googling the company to see if they were real, and lo and behold, they were. “I can’t believe this. How are they even paying this much?” Stacy at this point had a deeply pensive look on her face. She rolled backwards in her computer chair and looked down at her feet covered in fuzzy slippers. She could feel how moist her feet were and how long she’d had those slippers, it had to be at least 9 years. She pulled one foot out and immediately felt the air begin to cool the sweat that coated her sole. She spread her toes looking intensely at them and felt the cool air hit the pockets in between her toes. She could also feel the heat emanating from her slipper on her foot. She knew her feet stunk already but it only took a few seconds for the odor to waft up into her nose causing her to wrinkle her nose. She proceeded to imagine a shrunken guy beneath her foot inhaling the scent. She audibly gagged again as she imagined a tiny nose pressed against the bottom of her sweaty foot. But then, something strange; she giggled. Then immediately went back to being disgusted. And then, a voice from across the room — her roommate Dana. 

“What the fuck is that smell? It smells like nasty feet.” She shouted in disgust without even looking up from her phone as she scrolled through Instagram. Stacy’s face went bright red as she slipped her foot back into the slipper. “None of your business!” Stacy shouted, then continued “but come take a look at this.” 

“I’m busy” Dana replied flatly.

“Oh, I guess you don’t want some extra cash for doing basically nothing.” Stacy replied half annoyed.

“Sounds like a scam” Dana retorted.

“No I totally looked up! Will you just come look?” Stacy gave on final go at getting her roommate in on the deal of a life time.

“Ughhh, fine” Dana grumbled as she walked on over to the computer. She stood beside Stacy as she read the ad as well, and experienced the same reaction. Pure and utter disgust and bewilderment. “This is so fucked up.” She whispered as her eyes continued reading on. Then, she got the pay section and began to think as well. “So this says some dude is gonna sign up to shrink down and smell our feet?” Dana asked herself aloud in a confused tone.

“And also taste them it looks like.” Stacy replied.

“And how the hell is he gonna do that?” Dana asked

“How the hell should I know. Lick them maybe.” Both of the girls looked at each other for a moment before Dana finally said, “Screw it I guess. Send in my name too.”

And with that, Dr. Miller had received her first two female applicants. They too received a very excited email from the good Doctor telling them that they’d be notified when a male applicant was found so that they could come in.

Two weeks later on the same day that Marcus Dr. Miller had reached back out to Marcus, that night she also reached back out to the girls. They were in their dorm as usual lounging around, when Stacy’s laptop made a notification sound. She nonchalantly opened up her email assuming it was related to classes. As she read it her eyes lit up and she began shouting, “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!! Dana! The ad was totally real! We’re in! She wants us to go in tomorrow.”

Dana lifted her head from her phone with an incredulous look on her face, “You serious? They actually found some dude who signed up for us to stick our nasty feet all over him? Must be some kind of freak”

Stacy nodded in agreement but said “Freak or not, this is basically free money.”

Dana agreed — “Agreed. Good thing I’ve been wearing these boots sockless for the past two weeks, I’m going for that $50 per hour rate.” Dana said with a slight smile on her face.

Stacy lifted her foot up off the ground encased in an old basically falling apart pink flat shoe — “Yeah you’re telling me, I think I can smell my feet even with my shoes on. Feels so gross.”

The girls laughed a bit more, pondering how it would feel to have a shrunken man at their feet in the current condition.

The next day Marcus arrived at the facility sometime in the evening. Upon entering he saw a pristine white room with a single reception desk at the back center of the room in front of a completely metallic door. Standing at the reception desk was a a young woman who looked to be in her early 20s. Marcus approached the woman at the desk and as he did so she looked up from the computer in front of her and smiled brightly.

“Welcome to NGI! How can I help you?” She spoke cheerily.

“Hi, I was accepted for as a paid participant for a research experiment here? I spoke to Dr. Hellen Miller.” Marcus replied

“Oh of course! Let me just search your name here.”

The woman typed Marcus’s name into the computer and after a few seconds her face went from a brief look of shock to one of disgust. 

“Um…are you sure?” The woman asked inquisitively

“Oh yeah, totally. I was made for this role” Marcus said, lying through his teeth as he had no idea what the experiment was actually about, but he definitely wanted to get paid.

She stared at him in disbelief for a moment before saying “wow…umm, ok I guess.”

Marcus at this point was somewhat concerned but he didn’t think much more beyond a simple “wow, what a bitch.”

The woman led Marcus through the metallic door which opened up into a long hallway with several more doors just like it along the walls. As they walked down the hallway towards one final door all the way at the end, the woman kept taking brief glances at Marcus, each one more disgusted than the pervious one. 

“So like, what do you think it’ll smell like? You think you can handle it?” The woman asked in an attempt to understand why he would have agreed to take part in such an experiment.

Marcus, not wanting to seem ignorant and afraid of being told he wouldn’t be able to do it, proceeded to confidently answer her.

“Oh yeah totally, no big deal. I do it all the time. Probably a bit bitter you know?” Marcus flexed his bullshitting skills pretty hard here.

The woman gave him a hateful glance while saying “Wow. I’d never be able to do that. Good luck.” She finished as they began to enter this final room. This room looked similar to the entrance except that it had no more doors, just the one they came in through. At the end of the room there was a tall chamber with a transparent glass door. The chamber seemed to stand on top of another smaller chamber beneath it. And the smaller chamber was connected to a completely glass box but with a carpeted floor. The glass box was about 10 inches tall and 2 feet long. The top of the box was made from a glass piece that looked like it could slide open. At the side of the room there was a line of comfortable looking chairs that someone could rest in. Finally in the corner of the room he saw what looked like a folded up spandex suit of some sort. 

“Please wait here for a moment while I go get Dr. Miller. In the meantime, please remove your clothes completely and put on the required suit for the experiment.” The woman said before exiting the room and closing the door behind her. Marcus approached the tall chamber and could see that its floor could swing down, leaving an opening to the smaller chamber beneath it. And that smaller chamber could also open up and allow access to the glass box in front of it.

Marcus proceeded to do as he was told. The suit felt a bit snug, but in a minute he was used to it and actually felt it was quite comfortable. He felt it had some electronics embedded into it, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Just a few moments after Marcus heard a knock on the door.

“May I come in?” He heard a feminine voice come from the other side of the door.

“Yeah!” Marcus replied.

In walked a beautiful looking woman wearing a tall lab coat and black loafers. She went over to shake Marcus’s hand.

“Hello, nice to meet you! My name is Hellen, I wanted to thank you again for coming in Marcus. You’re the only male who applied for the position so I was beginning to get doubtful we’d be able to carry out the testing, but then I saw your application and knew I had to act fast! Now I’m sure you read the description carefully right? You know how this experiment will be carried out?”

Marcus, again not wanting to seem stupid decided to bluff his way through it all.

“Oh yeah totally. All makes sense to me, let’s get this show on the road!” Marcus said feigning enthusiasm. At this moment he also noticed a strange odor in the air. A few moments passed and he finally placed it. It was feet. He could smell foot odor mixed with a slight hint of fruity lotion or something. He looked down at Hellen’s foot wear and could see that her black loafers looked absolutely destroyed and rancid. He began to wonder why the hell she didn’t get new shoes, but didn’t think anything more of it.

Hellen noticed where Marcus was looking and smiled at him. “Fantastic! I wish more people had a zest for the sciences as you do. I’ll just need you to sign this paper work and we can begin right away.”

Hellen handed Marcus a packet of papers that must have been at least 65 pages long. “Don’t worry about reading all the mumbo jumbo, it’s pretty much just expanded legalese on what the ad originally said. You can just sign the bottom of the first page and we can begin.”

At this point Marcus had felt the scent of her foot odor to be kind of strong and figured he’d just sign the paper so they can start the experiment and he can stop standing so close to her. After he signed it Hellen clapped her hands in excitement and and led Marcus over to the tall chamber. 

“Now this is the size reduction machine. Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing and it’ll happen almost instantly. ” Hellen said as she opened the door to the chamber guided Marcus’s movements into it. The use of a size reduction machine was pretty much the only part of the ad Marcus DID understand. He stepped inside without too much worry and prepared to be shrunken.

In a way he was kind of excited. Not many people can say they’ve had the experience of being shrunk, and he was getting paid $200 an hour, so this was a win win situation for him. Hellen walked over to the side of the chamber where there was a control panel and began entering some settings. In a few moments he heard the machine begin to whir up, the noise had a very mechanical ring to it, and then he was flooded with a bright blue light. He felt static electricity tingle across his skin. The floor he stood on began to receded further down into the smaller chamber that it rested upon until the floor had been completely removed. He now stood 10 inches further down from where he entered the chamber, meaning the small glass box’s roof was at about his upper shin. Suddenly he felt very light headed, and before he could even blink a very loud laser like sound rang and the room was a lot larger than not even half a second ago. 

Marcus couldn’t believe it. It’s one thing to read about it in the news and another to actually experience being shrunk down. He must have been an inch tall now. Everything around him was huge. For one, he now stood in the chamber and was completely blocked in on all sides. The walls were too high for him to climb out and exit the way he came in, and he could now see that the small glass box in front him had an opening to it from inside of the chamber where he was. He heard Hellen’s voice now.

“Marcus, looks like the shrinking was a success!” She was now holding a tablet of some sort in her hands and was looking intensely at it. “The suite you’re wearing allows me to monitor your vitals along with many other metrics of the experiment. Now I’ll need you to step inside the glass room in front of you. It has a lot of sensory electronics built into the carpeted floor that will allow me to track the conditions inside of it.”

Marcus, still in shock at his surrounds began walking forward into the glass box through the opening. After he did so Hellen pushed a button on her tablet and another solid glass panel slid over the opening sealing him inside the box. Marcus Wass caught off guard by this and it scared him a little. He wondered how he would breath if everything was sealed off. The floor beneath him felt very comfortable, and he could feel some air coming from it. 

“No need to worry Marcus, that chamber is well ventilated by funneling filtered air through the floor up into it. Now our female participants should be arriving soon, but I’ll begin the experiment slowly first and then increase the potency as we progress.”

Marcus thought to himself “Oh? There’s girls involved? Score! This is my best idea yet! And looks like it’s starting, meaning it’s time to start getting paid.” He finished his thought as he smiled smugly to himself.

Hellen kneeled down and completely removed the glass roof of the his chamber. She then stood back up and lifted one foot up towards the opposite leg’s knee. Her hand reached down and began tugging at her loafer. Marcus watched with a puzzled look on his face. “What is she doing?” He thought.

“I myself will also be taking part in the experiment, so I’ve been carefully preparing some samples for you with these old shoes of mine. I promise you they’ll certainly be enough to get you started. And there’s plenty more to come. My assistant tells me that you do this all the time so you should be very familiar with the odor.”

Marcus was now even more confused. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” He asked. Hellen could see that he was talking but she couldn’t hear anything from her tablet. “Sorry Marcus” she started, “Looks like the microphones in the suit are malfunctioning, I can’t hear you. Don’t worry, we’ll fix it soon. I’m just going to get you started and then go wait for the female participants.” 

Marcus watched as she pulled one of her loafers off with a sickening squelch sound, catching a brief glimpse of her foot which looked pretty on the outside but was was lined with a red imprint of how tightly the shoe was affixed to her foot. Her foot looked moist as well. As the odor quickly expanded through the room everything in Marcus’s head immediately clicked, and his face quickly turned into an expression that one could only understand as a look of utter doom and hopelessness. “Wait a second.” He thought, “An odor test? The disgusted front desk girl? Her asking me what I thought it would smell like? The bacteria found naturally? Her foot odor? Oh God no. This was a mistake. This experiment…I’m going to be smelling feet?” Marcus began to panic which caused his heart rate to increase which prompted Hellen to notice it on her tablet. 

“Fascinating” she said to herself. She tapped a button on the tablet to being an audio recording. As she recorded, she pulled off the other shoe as well and placed them in front of her. Then she kneeled down again and picked one up and held it over the now exposed glass box. 

“It seems the odor has spread to the subject’s area rather quickly and the body’s first immediate response is one of revulsion. This is evidenced by the quickening of the heart rate. Perhaps it is excitement as well. We shall continue until we understand the full depth of the subject’s reaction.”

Marcus immediately covered his nose. She now had the shoe in one hand held over the opening of the box and her tablet in the other hand. The odor assaulted Marcus the closer she got. He couldn’t believe just how bad it was. It was at least 10 times more powerful now at his size than when he could smell the faint odor at normal size. He began to feel sick to his stomach just from how cheesy and thick her foot odor was. She proceeded to place the loafers inside the glass chamber on either side with the openings faced towards the center of the box. She continued to speak to the recording tablet.

“Subject is now attempting to prevent the odor from entering his nose. I’ve placed my shoes in the chamber such that odor flow from the shoe towards the subject is maximized and spreads evenly throughout the chamber.”

While Hellen was potentially close enough for her to hear him Marcus began to shout and jump up and down.

“DOCTER THERE’S BEEN A MISTAKE!! I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS. PLEASE YOU HAVE TO LET ME OUT. THIS IS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDING”. Marcus had completely lost any thoughts of making money and just wanted to escape the predicament. The odor had gotten so much worse from her placing the disgusting, cavernous, humid, and rancid shoes that were now clearly trying to choke him with their stinky foot odor. There’s no way he could handle this. Each passing second the reality of the situation hit him more and more. ”Female applicants…” he though. “Oh God, I have to get out. There’s going to be more of them.” 

Hellen had noticed Marcus’s panic and didn’t react positively or negatively. She simply replaced the roof of the glass chamber until it was fit so snugly that the only air flow was from the technologically advanced floor he stood on. The odor now had nowhere to go and quickly got were and worse as it condensed inside the chamber. Marcus ran to the front of the box and began banging on it, pleading to be released.

Hellen spoke into the recorder again, “subject seems to be very bothered by the odor. This is very interesting. It seems no matter what, this odor causes a reaction in the amygdala stimulating feelings of disgust.” Hellen finally spoke to Marcus directly telling him, “Alright Marcus, please try to remain calm and just take deep breaths. I’ll be monitoring you through the suit to make sure nothing goes wrong. You should be aware that the floor you stand on is specialized for this experiment. It allows oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules through, but the volatile molecules that contribute to the foot odor collecting in the chamber are now able to pass, meaning the only place they can pass through is your nose and lungs. I’d like to see if it’s possible for the human body to actually filter the foot odor itself, meaning the molecules quite literally pass through your lungs and into your blood stream reaching a saturation in your body of foot odor, or if they are just re-exhaled, meaning there’s no way to reduce the odor at all, causing you to be subjected to it in perpetuity. Again, thanks for joining this experiment and being part of something bigger. I’ll come back once some of the other participants have arrived.”

As Hellen turned to leave the room Marcus screamed at the top of his lungs, begging to be let go. But unfortunately that wasn’t happening. Hellen left the room and shut the door behind her, allowing Marcus to bask in the thick humidity of her potent foot odor. 

And he hadn’t even experienced a real foot yet.

To be continued

It’d been two weeks now for Stacy and Dana from when they first saw the ad to when they accepted. They still couldn’t believe it was real, and they were slightly skeptical as they walked over to the research facility. Stacy with her pink flats and Dana in her ugg boots, both were disgusted by the slippery feeling of their now slimy feet, having gone 2 weeks without washing them. 

“I still kinda can’t believe this is real” said Stacy. “I mean like, really? What? Literally all we gotta do is rub our feet on this tiny dude and get paid?” She added. 

Dana replied, “This better not be some kind of elaborate prank otherwise I got my feet all gross for no reas—oh look! There it is” Dana shouted pointing to the building.

The girls proceeded to walk into the building where they were met with the same room Marcus was not a couple hours prior. They met with the same front desk assistant as Marcus. 

“Hi, we’re here to meet with Dr. Miller” Stacy spoke. 

“Great! May I please have your names?” The assistant asked. 

After entering their names into the computer, the assistant once again grew a disgusted look on her face just like when Marcus entered. 

“So this thing’s really going down huh?” She said. 

Dana made a surprised face as she responded “Wait so you know what the experiment is?” 

The assistant swiftly replied “Duh, I work here. I just didn’t think anyone would actually sign up for this. I mean I kinda get why you guys would do it, but the other dude…” she trailed off. 

Stacy then asked “Oh my god did you meet him? The dude who signed up?” 

The assistant replied “Yeah he came in a couple hours ago, seemed totally excited to do it, I felt like barfing…Crap! Dr. Miller would get on my ass if she knew I was badmouthing any of her experiments.” 

Dana laughed in response, “Hahaha don’t worry about it. We were just as surprised to hear that someone signed up for the male part.” 

The assistant chuckled in response. “I’m Ashley by the way.” She continued. 

Stacy spoke “Nice to meet you Ashley. So what’d the guy say?” 

Ashley felt safe to gush now, so she told them how it went. “Well his name’s Marcus and he seemed super excited to do the experiment. Like it was no big deal. He even said something really weird. He was like ‘I do this all them time’. Like wtf is that? He sniffs girl’s feet all the time?” Ashley finished. 

“OMG So he IS a freak I KNEW it” said Stacy emphatically. 

Dana then added, “Well I feel a little less bad now. He’s probably getting paid more than us anyways, at least I hope so.” 

Ashley then retorted, “You hope so?! Imo he shouldn’t be getting a dime since he likes it. He should just be volunteering.” Stacy and Dana giggled at that. “Well anyways, Dr. Miller is probably waiting for you guys, let me go grab her real quick.” Ashley said as she walked towards the metallic doors behind the reception desk. 

A few minutes after, Dr. Miller came walking through the door. “Hello! Welcome welcome!” She shouted, elated to see them. “I’ve been waiting eagerly for you guys.” She said as she shook each of their hands. “As you know my name is Dr. Hellen Miller, I’m excited to show you guys around. Come with me.” 

After exchanging greetings the girls, the 3 of them walked on over into the door and proceeded down the hallway. Dr. Miller led them into one of the side rooms first, not the same room Marcus went to. The door opened up to what appeared to be a regular office. “So first things first, I’d like to explain to you guys what you should be doing, and have you sign the waiver. Mind taking a seat?” Stacy and Dana proceeded to sit down in two chairs in front of the desk while Dr. Miller sat in her seat behind the desk. She pulled out two sets of forms, one for each of them. “You guys can sign these, they basically just say no matter what happens you have no liability, and that our male subject assumed all risk when agreed to join in.”

Stacy and Dana both simultaneously said “Awesome!” 

Hellen continued, “Now, to explain how this’ll go. Our subject Marcus was quite excited to get started. He’s in the experiment room now all ready. He has been placed inside of a special chamber that can selectively filter air. As you know his purpose is to inhale the volatile molecules coming off of your feet. He’s wearing a special suit that will allow me to monitor everything happening in his body. When you put your feet into the special slots that allow them to enter his chamber, it’ll change the content of the air on the inside. Using that in combination with his breathing rate, I’ll be able to tell just how much of the odor he’s inhaling. As mentioned in the ad, the potency of your feet will determine your pay. Minimum is $20, but after you’re done I’ll take a look at the readings from his suit and increase it from there depending. So I hope you’ve prepared appropriately” she finished with a wink. “You’ll have two hours to start with, but you may come back tomorrow and subsequent days to continue depending on how this goes today. Any questions?”

Dana immediately spoke up “So once we stick our feet in that’s it? We just leave them in there? What if he breathes through his mouth?” Stacy looked over at Dana somewhat disgusted that she’d even thought of that. Though she realized she had a point. If he breathed through his mouth it might lower their pay rate. 

“Good question Dana. The suit has a mechanism in it that can dial into nervous system via the electrodes along the spine of the suit. Basically, I have some control over his body. Once the experiment begins I’ll configure his suit so that his mouth stays closed the entire time.”

 Dana nodded understandingly. 

Stacy followed up “Do we have to do anything with out feet?” 

“Another good question” said Dr. Miller. “Technically you don’t. Once your feet are in the odor will fill the chamber and he’ll have no choice but to smell it. However, if you’d like, you can try to maneuver his body so that it’s closer to your feet. His shrunken form is incredibly durable, downright indestructible especially with the suit. So if you’d like to, for example, bring his nose in between your toes where the scent is typically stronger, you can do so since that’ll give even more information for my readings.” 

They both nodded slowly, understanding now. It really was that simple. Just make him smell their feet.

“Well, if that’s all then, let’s get started shall we?” Dana and Stacy both nodded in affirmation. 

Both of their hearts were racing at this point. Although it seemed very simple, they were apprehensive since this seemed to be so odd, so cruel, so strange. And yet, this person named Marcus supposedly read the same ad they did and signed up for it. Their confusion is understandable. Which led to their conclusion of him being some kind of pervert, along with Ashley’s confirmation of that theory. Upon entering the experiment room, both of them looked around and their eyes were immediately drawn to the chamber. What they saw was a small sealed glass box that looked to be coated in a layer of cloudy condensation on the inside. Upon getting closer to the box they peered inside through the cloudy atmosphere and saw a small human in the fetal position.

Stacy commented, “Is this him? It looks like he’s not enjoying himself.” She said slightly worried. 

Dana responded “Of course he’s not enjoying it, look at those smelly shoes in the box. Nobody could enjoy that, even some foot pervert.” 

Marcus could hear muffled voices now. It’d been a little over a couple hours now since Marcus was locked into the box. Unknown to him, this chamber he was in was actually a pretty advanced piece of technology, beyond just being able to selectively filter air in and out. It can also largely block out sounds, which Dr. Miller turned on before leaving him. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing how his environment transformed into some kind of small green house. He could now see Dr. Miller and 2 other women. 

“These must be the volunteers he thought. I have to get in contact with them, I need them to get me outta here!” Marcus thought. 

On the outside, Dr. Miller responded to Stacy’s comment, “Yes, though he was excited to get started it seems it’s already begun to bother him. But don’t worry, he was aware this could happen as it was all outlined in the form he signed before starting. I placed my old loafers in there to get the experiment started, and his body automatically reacted with disgust. It seems the moisture in those shoes was a bit more than I thought.” She finished with a giggle. 

Stacy after thinking about it for a moment changed from sympathy to understanding. “Well I guess it’s ok. He’s practically invincible and they’re just feet right? Like it can’t actually hurt him.” 

Dana turned and responded, “Yeah EXACTLY, just some feet.” Considering that they were both hesitant due to how cruel this felt, they both re-assured each-other that it was ok, but really they were just trying to make themselves feel better about being greedy, considering they were willing to subject this person to their feet who was clearly not enjoying this in exchange for some cash.

Marcus ran towards the walls of the chamber and began banging on them, however the sound it produced was mostly audible only from the inside due to the sound cancelling that was active on the chamber. The girls happened to see this and as they slowly convinced themselves that they weren’t doing anything to harm him, their thoughts towards him turned to that of pity. 

Dr. Miller explained further, “So you can just grab these two seats and set them in front of the chamber. This chamber is actually an awesome piece of technology loaned to be by another researcher friend. It’s double layered with a special material that allows me not only control whether or not sound get in or out, and whether or not air gets in our out, it also can allow things to enter through from the outside and not allow things to exit from the inside. You can just press your feet against the glass and it’ll expand forming an air tight seal around them as you push them inside. This’ll protect you from the odor, but more importantly will keep it all for him to inhale. Here’s a demonstration.” 

She proceeded to push her hand directly into the chamber and removed both of the shoes she’d placed in there earlier. Dana and Stacy immediately detected the faint odor waft into their unprepared nostrils. Feet. It smelled like feet. They shuddered at the thought that Marcus was exposed to that at his size and in such confined quarters. They were too distracted by the odor to realize how incredible the technology behind the chamber was. They proceeded to hold their breaths and brought over the two chairs. Marcus was watching this all happen. They brought the two chairs right in front of the chambers and gave each other a look, both nodded, and then looked back down at Marcus. 

“Sorry about this” Stacy said, even though Marcus couldn’t read her lips. 

Dana didn’t like how Stacy was thinking, “You have to stop feeling sorry for him, get outta your own head.” She said. 

Dr. Miller added “Well if it makes you feel better, his compensation is 4 times your max.”

Stacy gasped, “What?! Well never mind. Let’s make sure he does a good job then!” Dr. Miller agreed emphatically. 

Dana also chimed in “You see?”. 

“I’ll leave you guys to it then. By the way, here’s a box for your shoes in case you don’t want to be bothered by the smell” Dr. Miller said as she pulled out a box from the closet in the room that could be sealed shut and handed to them before exiting the room.

Marcus watched as Stacy and Dana pulled off their shoes. Stacy kicked off her flats by placing the toe of her left foot against the heel of her right shoe and pressed against it. The shiny pink shoe dropped and smacked agains the floor. Even without the sound, Marcus felt the shock wave on the ground which shook him to his core. It hit him that this was really about to happen. They were going to put both of their feet into this horrid smelly prison which was still saturated with the stale scent of Hellen’s over-worked feet, and all of that odor would be concentrated inside. Watching them speak and hearing nothing clued Marcus into the fact that somehow sounds were blocked. Stacy proceeded to do the same with her right toe now against her left shoe heel, and it too dropped with a smack on the ground. Dana meanwhile had couldn’t quite do the same. Her UGG boots were so snug on her feet she had to bring first her left foot up and pry the boot off with her hands, and then do the same with the left. Instinctively after doing so she brought her feet down close to the ground and wiggled her toes slowly, giving Marcus a view of the horrid future that was about to come. Stacy also brought her feet down close to the ground spreading her toes open and closed repeatedly. 

“Geez it smells gross in here now” Stacy commented. 

“Seriously. Well, let’s do this then.” Dana added.

As their feet approached Marcus backed up, but he felt like a deer frozen in headlights, his eyes fixated in front of him. He watched as their toes protruded the walls of his prison, inch by inch the 4 massive sweaty soles entered and filled up the space. Their feet were mere inches from his body before his senses came back to him and he quickly backed up the rear wall. He immediately noticed the odor in the chamber tripled, or at least that’s what it felt like. His back against the wall, he looked on as all 4 reeking feet landed with their heels on the ground, soles tilted upward giving him a view of their giant sweaty reddened soles. He could see a visible glisten of moisture coat their feet. Stacy scrunched her toes repeatedly showing off her pink nail polish, while Dana sported a deep navy blue nail color on her toe nails.

“Well, they’re in there now. He looks like he’s gonna puke” Stacy said. 

Dana replied, “Hell I would have already puked if I were him. He’s got both of our cheesy ass feet in there with no where to go. Imagine the smell.” 

Stacy turned her head “Umm, no thanks.” 

Marcus was barely holding on breathing through his mouth which seemed to help, even though with each breath he could have sworn he could taste the salty foot flavored air. But then, his mouth started to feel weird. There was some kind of tingling sensation. Then the muscles started to contract. 

“What the hell is going?!” Marcus kept thinking. The muscles around his mouth got tighter and tighter, and then his jaw, and finally his mouth started closing. “What is this??! How is this happening?!” Marcus shouted one last time before his thoughts were sealed off to the confines of his head, “HELP!! HEL—” and his mouth finally shut. Repeated muffled cries could be heard by the walls of his chamber, but that’s about it. Unable to hold his breath any longer he finally took his first real deep inhale of the odor that made up the air in his prison. He let out a long muffled cry as the full extent of the hot cheesy odor got sucked up into his nose, and went deep into his lungs, filling his whole body with the presence of their vile feet. He no longer had an out, unless he wanted to suffocate he’d have to keep breathing, which meant he’d have to keep taking in their foot stench.

“Look at that Dana! His mouth just shut suddenly. Looks like what Dr. Miller talked about works.” Stacy exclaimed. 

Dana satisfied said “Cool. Now it’s fair. But do you think we should…you know…do more?” Stacy looked at her with an unsure face. 

“I dunno Dana, he’s already stuck in there with our feet for the next two hours. That’s a long time to be tiny and stuck smelling some nasty ass feet.” Finished Stacy. 

“Well yeah, but he’s gonna get $400 for it, we might as well try to get as much as we can you know? Like yeah he’ll have our gross feet in his face, but like we might as well do it all the way.” Dana replied. 

Stacy muttered “I guess…” under her breath before watching Dana slide her seat forward getting her closer to the chamber. 

Dana started inching her feet closer to Marcus who immediately took off into the far left corner of the chamber. “Oh no you don’t” said Dana as she quickly used her left foot to block Marcus’s path. Marcus couldn’t believe how quickly those feet could move for their massive size, briefly forgetting that it’s not the feet that are giant but him who is tiny. Marcus stopped abruptly right before slamming into the toxic moist hunk of flesh that seeks to torture him and turned around to go the other way. Not that it would help. With Dana’s left foot blocking his path left, her right foot blocked his path to the right, and just in case that wasn’t enough there were another two giant stinky feet ready to capture him if needed. Not finding any other option, Marcus simply freaked out and curled up on the ground into a ball. This somewhat irked Dana. “Dude, stop being such a baby.” She muttered to herself, which caused a slight chuckle to come out of Stacy. With more dexterity than she knew she had, Dana pushed her big toe into him until he was against the back wall. It’d finally made contact, and it was a worst experience for Marcus than he expected. Although he expected being roughly shoved by a giant toe into the wall to be painful, he did not feel any pain. Instead he was met with the slimy moist texture of the toe and an odor that packed a serious punch. With nowhere for all of the foot stench to go it’d just been accumulating inside of his chamber, getting stronger and stronger. But now that one of the sources of that odor was touching him, he was even more disgusted. She pressed her toe into his body until she forced it upright against the wall as if he were a rag doll. Marcus attempted to fight back by pushing against her toe with his arms, but his hands just slid right off of it, causing his left arm to sink right into the gap between her big toe and second toe. He felt like his arm just sank into a wet, warm squishy mound of pudding, feeling how soft her toe flesh was and moist. The odor at this point had reached indescribable levels from his point of view. Unable to even open his mouth this whole exchange was causing him to breathe heavily, forcing more of the cheesy acrid odor into his nose. Feeling his arm go between her toes, Dana immediately squeezed her toes together, successfully trapping his arm in there. She then pulled her foot back dragging him along with it. With his body dangling from between the toes of her left foot, she expertly held him up in the air and brought her right foot to his body. And as if she were playing one of those arcade claw games, she spread her big toe and second toe on her right foot and carefully approached his dangling body, aiming to grasp his head in between her toes. As soon as she spread it a gust of foul foot stench was released into Marcus’s face as he watched on in terror while her foot approached his helpless body. He tried his hardest to pull his arm out but he had too tight of a grip. He looked up and saw her giant scrunched foot holding his arm in place, and looking forward he saw her other foot ready to seal him into a world of pure cheesy foot grime. Unable to even scream, he writhed uncontrollably as the toes eventually surrounded his head. A look of pure terror consumed his face, unable to be seen by Dana or Stacy as his head was now surrounded by the toxic foot flesh. Dana proceeded to slowly close her toes around his head, and release the toes holding his arm. His body was now dangling from his head alone, and all of his sense were consumed by her foot. 

“How the hell did I get myself into this mess!? This has to be illegal. This can’t be ok. I just want to go back. Please, I just want to get out of here. I never should have responded to that stupid ad” Marcus kept repeating over and over in his head. Unfortunately it was too late for that now, his world now belonged squarely in the realm of stinky feet. Surrounded on all sides by hot smelly foot flesh he could do nothing but breathe. There wasn’t much room, but there was a small pocket of air less than an inch large in front of his face, giving him the ability to breathe directly from her toe flesh. Pure unfiltered foot odor vapor was being sucked straight into his nostrils again and again and again. He could feel the stench makes it way into the deepest parts of his lungs, filling him more and more with the sickening feeling of disgust that these feet were consuming his entire being. Dana finally brought her foot down to the ground, laying his back against the ground but with his head still stuck between her toes. She then pressed her sole on his body sealing it to the ground. Marcus felt like history being was part of her foot. The immense pressure, the foot sweat soaking his skin, the odor driving into his nose, being completely surrounded by her foot flesh was a nightmarish hell for him.

Now that his body was secured on the ground, Dana released his head but kept her foot on top of him. She then brought her left foot and put it over her toes so that Marcus was now stuck looking up at a sky of stinky pink foot above the canyon of her toes. She pressed her sole into the gap between her toes bringing her sole closer to his face but not quite touching it. Finally she squeezed her toes a little bit tighter but not too tight. Just enough so that his head was being sandwiched by her toes on the left and right, and her sole covered the top of her toes. Marcus’s head was now effectively trapped in a tiny box with toe flesh to his left and right and a lid of her smelly sole. The odor was unbearable and the air was thick and moist. Marcus began to cry but it was indistinguishable from the foot sweat that had begun condensing on his face. 

“Perfect” said Dana. “Now he should be smelling absolutely nothing but my foot. A couple hours of this and there’s no way it’s not as potent as possible”. 

Stacy’s face was horrified at what had just transpired, feeling a bit sorry for the guy knowing that Dana’s feet have been unwashed and trapped in boots sockless for the past 2 weeks. Even so, she remembered that he was getting fairly compensated for this and decided to follow in Dana’s footsteps and go all the way. “That. is. so. fucking. gross.” Stacy said. “But screw it, move your foot Dana and give me a turn.” 

Dana laughed in response “Hahaha finally, I knew you’d come around. Go ahead, have at it.” Dana said as she removed her left foot from on top of her toes but kept her right foot pinning him down on the ground. Marcus saw her foot rise up as the lid to his foot box was removed and he could once again see the roof of his chamber. This only lasted a few seconds as another massive cheesy foot came over and re-sealed him, this time providing a slightly different foot odor. Both were horribly disgusting, but this one was a bit more sour while Dana’s was more cheesy. With Dana’s toes surrounding him and Stacy’s foot on top, their foot odors combined to produce something no human should have to experience. Breath and breathe he was completely and utterly dominated by their foot stench with no way to fight it. The tears mixed with foot sweat streamed down his face. It seemed the temperature in the chamber was regulated specifically to make it so that the feet could sweat, and a small pool of foot sweat begin to fill up inside of Marcus’s tiny foot box. He watched as beads of sweat formed from in between Dana’s toes and dripped down onto him. It wasn’t high enough to cover his face yet, but it was only a matter of time before that horrid cheesy murky liquid would threaten to consume his face.

For the first 30 minutes Marcus stayed pinned under Dana’s foot with his head in between her toes and Stacy’s sole squeezing down in between them nearly touching his face from above. The second 30 minutes Stacy removed her sole and Dana replaced it with hers. The third 30 minutes Dana removed her foot from on top of Marcus. He didn’t even have enough strength left to try running, but it wouldn’t have mattered because in a few seconds Stacy then put him back into the same position with her foot. Now it was Stacy’s foot pinning Marcus on the ground with his head in between her toes, and Dana’s sole sealing him in from above. The final 30 minutes, Dana removed her foot and Stacy replaced it, now completely consuming him in purely Stacy’s foot. And just like that, the 2 hours were up. Over time the girls had begun talking about other things with school and life. They knew time was up when Dr. Miller re-entered the room.

Dr. Miller took one look at the chamber and smiled. “Well well well, it seems you girls are naturals.” She observed how Marcus was nowhere to be found, so he must have been buried under the pile of feet they created. 

Dana and Stacy moved their feet off of him and let them rest inside the chamber while Marcus laid there, soaked in foot sweat and exhausted. 

“Feel free to put your footwear back on and meet me back in my office when you’re ready.” Dr. Miller mentioned as she stepped out of the room.

Dana and Stacy both looked down at Marcus who was still lying on the ground hyper-ventilating, his brain processing the past 2 hours as flashes of giant stinky feet plagued his mind’s eye. His entire world consumed by the potent scent of cheesy sweaty feet, unwilling to get any better as his prison refused to allow the stench to dissipate, instead keeping it trapped inside for his lungs to filter. 

Dana and Stacy giggled before Dana spoke “Well…thanks. You had the harder job, but this wouldn’t have been possible without us too.”

Stacy added, “I hope you’ll stick around. Dr. Miller said we might be able to come back again. This was the fastest 50 bucks I’ve ever made.”

Marcus still unable to hear them clearly responded to the muffled sounds of someone speaking by opening his eyes and looking in their direction, seeing their giant faces off in the distance smiling as their big putrid soles stared him down, flexing ever so slightly as if to taunt him. He watched small beads of sweat slide down their soles as he remembered the stinky murky foot sweat that threatened to drown him not 10 minutes ago. He was too tired to be angry and merely laid his head back down, allowing the flashbacks of his foot cage to dance across his mind once again. Marcus knew for sure he’d need therapy after this was over.

With that, Dana and Stacy collected their foot wear and headed over to Dr. Miller’s office to be evaluated.

To be continued…

Preview:

Dana and Stacy are evaluated. Getting a different grade than expected, they leave the facility determined to become better participants. Meanwhile, Dr. Miller contacts one of her colleagues to debrief on the results of her experiment. Her colleague has some interesting pieces of tech of her own and thinks she may be able to help Dr. Miller in her endeavors. Finally, Ashley contemplates participating in the experiment. Her long held secret would make her the perfect participant.